Baltimore Ravens History Short But Successful

Relative to other NFL teams, the Baltimore Ravens history is short considering their inception was in 1996. As part of the AFC North Division, they were established via a move of the Cleveland Browns to Baltimore in 1995. Art Modells intentions were to move the entire organization, which included their name, players and equipment to Baltimore. The NFL commissioner arranged for Modell to leave all names, colors, uniforms, and franchise information in Cleveland. The commissioner's decision kept the option open for a new Cleveland Browns team to be re-organize sometime in the future. Thus, Art moved his team to Baltimore. In 1996 Baltimore Ravens history began as an expansion team, same players, but everything else was new. As for Cleveland, eventually a new franchise was created in 1999, keeping their same name and colors.

The Baltimore Ravens history is unique considering their transition from their former town Cleveland. Unlike other NFL franchises that moved to another location, the Ravens established a new team name, new colors, and an entire new franchise. This move left many Browns fans feeling abandoned and angered. The Cleveland Browns fans had always been diehards and the move was not taken kindly. The move, however, created a new fan base for the team, and most of the original Browns players were traded, retired, or moved on to other endeavors.

Art Modell initially hired Ted Marchibroda as the coach; he was well regarded for his contributions with the Baltimore Colts in the 1970s and the Indianapolis Colts through the early 90s. Ozzie Newsome, former Browns tight end, was named director of football operations, and then promoted to the Vice President and General Manager position subsequently. Throughout Baltimore Ravens history, they have played in Memorial Stadium, until 1998 when the newly built Raven Stadium was commemorated in Camden Yards. This same year the team lost their quarterback Vinny Testaverde to New York Jets and was replaced by Jim Harbaugh initially and then Eric Zeier later.

Rod Woodson joined the team soon after, but the Ravens went on to have three losing seasons, which caused a new head coach to be named. Brian Billick became the head coach of the Baltimore Ravens in 1999, and they also acquired Tony Banks as the quarterback for that season. Model sold his team due to financial troubles in 2000, giving 49% ownership to Steve Bisciotti. In 2004, Bisciotti purchased the other 51% of the team for $325 million, and he became the sole owner of the Baltimore Ravens.

For the first time in the history of the Baltimore Ravens, after a formidable season with a 12-4 record in 2000, they chalked up a Super Bowl win! Their defense played a major role in their success in 2000, ranked as the best the league. They played in the Super Bowl in Tampa against the New York Giants, winning 34-7 and clinching the Super Bowl XXXV title. This win made them the fourth pro football team from Baltimore to win a championship, following in the shoes of the NFL Colts, the USFL Stars, and the CFL Stallions. The team didn't have much to note after this season, aside from financial problems, which required them to get rid of many key players in the 2002 season. The 2004 season brought the final transfer of ownership into the hands of Steve Bisciotti, ending Art Modell's 40 year career as an NFL owner. Modell still acts as a consultant for the team, and still has his own office at the Baltimore Ravens headquarters.

Looking back in the history of Baltimore Ravens, they have had slow starts to their seasons. This changed in 2006; the Ravens began with a 4-0 record, to the credit of Steve McNair's performance that year. They ended up with a 13-3 record that season, and won the AFC North title. They faced the Indianapolis Colts in the second round playoff game, where they lost to the future Super Bowl champions that year, the Indianapolis Colts. 2007 was a challenging year, ending with 5-11 record, losing 9 out of their last 10 games that year. After that losing season, Brian Billick was dismissed. John Harbaugh was recruited to coach the team in 2008, which led the Baltimore Ravens team back to the playoffs. In the final round of the 2008 playoffs,they lost to the eventual Super Bowl champions Pittsburgh Steelers. Defense has played a major role in the Raven's success. With the leadership skills of a veteran like Ray Lewis, their defense is consistently ranked among the top 5 in the NFL. The Ravens continue to show dominance in 2009 by battling their way into the post season, their notable running game and relentless defense helped them trounce the Patriots to move closer to another Super Bowl appearance.


Copyright (c) 2010 Matthew Love

The Perfect Network Marketing System!

Network marketing is hard. Don't kid yourself and truthfully don't even attempt a network marketing venture unless you either have or plan to put into place a highly potent and highly duplicatable network marketing system
geared for 2005 and beyond.

Before I tell you what a perfect network
marketing system
should look like let's talk about what doesn't
work for most
network marketers. As I'm sure you probably
know, network
marketing is notorious for having a 95% failure
rate. Let's
talk about why.

Have you ever heard of Occam's razor?

Basically it states that the simplest
explanation for a
phenomenon is usually the best. We'll use this
theory to
explain why more than 95% of network marketers
fail.

Ready?

Most network marketers fail because the
marketing methods
that they are taught don't work 95% of the time.
Pretty
simple right?

So we're led to ask the logical next question,
what are most
fledgling network marketers taught?

Well, I can only speak from my experience, but
what I was
taught was to buy and cold call leads.

Now, I'm not going to say this doesn't work, but
I will say
is that after six months of cold calling leads
for 3 hours a
day with very little success this tactic doesn't
work for
me. Don't get me wrong some people are very good
at cold
calling leads, but most people aren't.

What happens to most people after they've spend
thousands of
dollars on leads with very little success after
months of
effort?

They give up.

Another factor contributing to why most network
marketers
fail is the type of leads they use. Why does the
type of
leads make a difference?

Business opportunity leads, the leads most new
network
marketers are told to use, are generic. These
leads answer
an ad that just asks them if they want to be
financially
free, or make money from home or something like
that.

Well ... of course they do!

But that doesn't mean they want anything to do
with YOUR
network marketing program. When the average
network marketer
calls these generic bizz opp leads the leads
don't know
anything about the network marketer's business
and for the
most part honestly don't care. This leads to
the fledgling
network marketer hearing a lot of "NOs".

Hearing NO all the time leads to quite a bit of
self doubt,
both about the network marketers own ability and
the
validity of their association with their network
marketing
company. Negative feelings begin to harbor and
as I said
before eventually the network marketer gives up,
usually
with 3-6 months.

The fledgling network marketer's perception of
their
business goes from one of opportunity to one of
complete
doubt and negativity. Reality follows
perception, so because
the fledgling network marketer believes both
themselves and
their business as having little hope this
becomes TRUE.

That's basically why 95% of network marketers
fail if you
asked me.

So how do we change this paradigm?

We build a Perfect Network Marketing System!

Now we get to the good stuff! What does a
perfect network
marketing system look like?

For the average home based network marketer to
be successful
certain thing MUST be in place. I will list them
here:

o Lead capture page designed specifically for
specific
Network Marketing Company:

This page must contain strong sales copy that
tells the
prospect why he wants to opt in for more
information. The
best way to do this is to offer a High Value
Free Report in
exchange for there contact information.

o Free Report specifically designed for Network
Marketing
Companies Opportunity:

The free report must be highly informative. It
must explain
all of the features and benefits of joining the
network
marketing organization as an independent
distributor and
must focus on the support and resources
available to the new
recruit should they choose to purchase a
distributorship.
The company's products and compensation plan
must be clearly
explained here as well. If possible,
testimonials should be
used, as they are extremely powerful sales
conversion tools
in this portion of the sale process.

o Follow up Email System:

Attached to the Free Report there must also be a
follow up
system that continually markets through email
the program to
the lead. Most leads don't act immediately and
must be
marketed to at least 7 times before they take
action. The
email follow up system must have strongly worded
sales copy
and must have a system for getting through spam
filters.

o A Continual Feed Back System that uses the
Fear of Loss:

Along the with email follow up system there must
be a
feedback system that will alert the prospect by
email when
new prospects opt into the system and invoke the
fear of
loss during this process by telling the prospect
that if the
next prospect in line upgrades to a paid
position before he
does then he will forever loose commission on
that prospect.
This is an extremely powerful psychological tool.

o Strong Support:

It's one thing to get someone to buy a
distributorship, but
it's a totally different thing get them to work
the business
effectively. There must be an email follow up
system once a
new distributor signs on to ensure that he
receive adequate
training on how to market successfully. There
must also be
human support at this point. So, there must be
strong
relationships built between upline and new
distributors.

o A Good Product or Service:

In order for this entire marketing process to
work, the
system must be back by a strong and ethical
network
marketing organization that sells a high demand
product that
people need and would purchase even if there
were no
compensation plans attached to it.

o You:

You must be an active part of your business. You
must be
willing and open to learn new ideas and tactics
at all
times. You must have a passion for your business
and truly
believe in the product that you plan to build your
organization around.

In Conclusion:

I've listed the basic component's a of a perfect
network
marketing system. This system will involve NO
cold calling
because the prospect will opt in to request more
information
specifically about your business before you even
talk to
them.

Cold calling generic bizz opp leads and hearing
a lot of
NO's is what causes most network marketers to
fail. We want
to avoid this at all cost. This is what this
system is
designed to do!

By having your prospects opt in specifically for
more
information about your product and business plan
and then by
giving them a detailed report explaining all of
the above
before you even speak to them your chances of a
successful
sales conversion will greatly be increased. The
email
follow-up and fear of loss systems will increase
your
chances successful sales conversion even
further. These
factors will cut down on the number of NO's that
the you
must endure before success. This will increase
your home
business's duplicability vastly.

Further, having uniform training and exceptional
support are
the basics and must be present.

So,

Before you spend another dollar on your network
marketing
efforts ask yourself if you're using a perfect
network
marketing system. If your answer is no and you
aren't having
any success then ask yourself what you can do to
change your
system to one that will work for you and your
future
distributors using the principles that I have
detailed
above.

I struggled with network marketing myself using
the old
fashion methods, but as soon as I studied
internet marketing
and how to apply it to network marketing things
got a lot
easier. I was able to spot network marketing
organizations
that were specifically positioned for internet
marketing and
earmark what I thought to be the best of the
bunch. After
that, it was simple a matter of choosing the one
that with
what I though had the "best product".

You can view my choice here:
a result of making this choice I recruited new
members my
very first day without having to call anyone or
hear
thousands of NOs. All I do is get traffic to my
website and
I make money.

Network marketing can certainly make you rich,
that is ... if
you have the perfect system in place!

Network Administration and Security are in High Demand

One of the fastest growing careers lies in the field of technology. As every company hurries to become more acclimated to technology, the need for network administration and security increases. No one can stop the spread of technology. It has pierced every corner and shadow of our society. Businesses especially, have become almost completely reliant on the benefits computers and networks offer. Choosing a degree in network administration and security is a step in the right direction to becoming a high valued asset in the world of business.

While the unemployment rate remains at all-time highs, there are jobs available. It is just that those jobs require specific knowledge and talent. Many of those jobs are related to fields of technology, such as computers, networks and their security. Without a properly trained group of applicants, these positions will remain open. It may be bad news for companies out there, but it is great news for you. There are colleges, like ASA: The College for Excellence, that offer degree programs in network administration and security. Enrolling in these programs will put you a step above everyone else in your graduating class. Attaining a degree in that field will make you a sought after commodity by businesses all over the country and perhaps even in foreign countries. Everyone needs people to setup and manage their technological tools.

Another perk to the industry, besides finding it easy to get a job, is the pay. Network administrators and network security specialists place top in the list of earners right out of college. The advantage of majoring in a high demand field is that companies are willing to pay you well even if you lack experience. Since the need for new administrators and security specialists in technology will only increase as the years go by, everyone wants to recruit fresh talent. It is one thing to graduate from college knowing you have the skills to get a good job. It is quite another to be recruited as soon as you graduate, knowing that you will have a choice of positions. Job security has become all the more important with the current state of the economy, so picking a field that shows incredible job growth is very smart. It means you will always be able to find a great paying job, with no cap on growth potential once you get that first foot in the door.

Technology is going to be a big part of the future in business. Choosing to major in network administration and security will open many doors of opportunity. With the lack of trained and experienced individuals in the industry now, you are sure to have plenty of job offers and potential earnings limited only by your ambition.