Category Archives: Evolution

BILLINGS The evolution of the Billings Skyview girls basketball program has several layers.

Among them, ending a lengthy state tournament drought last season, a defense that went from ranked 11th in a 15-team league last year to fourth out of 16 teams this year, and the development of Brooke Berry as a facilitator as opposed to simply a scorer.

Building on that theme is the continued emergence of 6-foot-2 freshman Breanna Williams, who led the Falcons with a career-high 23 points in in fourth-ranked Skyviews 55-47 win over Billings Senior Friday night at the Skyview gym.

Williams ran the floor, picked off nine rebounds and generally seemed to always be in the right place at the right time to be on the receiving end of a couple of Berrys six assists.

I trust her with the ball and with every single thing she does, said Berry, who entered the game leading Class AA in scoring (18.8 ppg) and assists (5.0 apg). I mean, shes a very balanced player. Shes definitely learned how to play off me and weve developed that relationship to where she knows when Im going to drive and exactly where to go where Im going to find her.

The Falcons, who improved to 8-3, find themselves tied for second in the Eastern AA with Bozeman. Theyve won seven of eight and earned their fourth consecutive win over the Broncs.

It was a smooth night offensively for Skyview, which also received 15 points from Berry and seven from MG Spotted Bear. But it also seemed like the Falcons could never shake Senior, which was still within four points with two minutes to go after a basket by Allie Cummings trimmed what had been a 10-point Skyview lead.

Senior brought it, I mean, they just flat out brought it, Skyview coach Brent Montague said. I thought our girls did a really good job withstanding that, that wave after wave. We did some good things and found a way.

The Broncs saw their three-game winning streak end despite 22 points from Cummings, who hit four 3-pointers. They slipped to 5-5 and two games behind Great Falls (with four to play) for fourth place and the chance to host a playoff game.

Things wont get any easier, either. Senior plays Saturday at home against third-ranked Billings West, which is unbeaten at 11-0.

Though his team never led after it was 14-13 to end the second quarter, Broncs coach Connor Silliker said he sees progression from his team.

(The Falcons) had some extended runs that we had a hard time keeping up with, but Im proud of my girls, honestly, he said. Allie Cummings had a hell of a game, she really did it on both ends of the floor and was a scrapper for us and made some big plays.

I think were growing. If that game shows anything, its that we can compete with some of these upper echelon teams in the conference.

Billings Skyviews Breanna Williams drives on the baseline during a game against Billings Senior Friday, Feb. 19, 2021, at Skyview High School.

Billings Skyviews Brooke Berry tries to cross up a defender against Billings Senior Friday, Feb. 19, 2021, at Skyview High School.

Billings Seniors Brenna Linse tries to make space for a shot against Billings Skyview Friday, Feb. 19, 2021, at Skyview High School.

Billings Skyview coach Brent Montague and his team cheer during a game against Billings Senior Friday, Feb. 19, 2021, at Skyview High School.

Billings Seniors Brenna Linse tries to make space between multiple defenders against Billings Skyview Friday, Feb. 19, 2021, at Skyview High School.

Billings Seniors Allie Cummings splits the defense on her way to the basket against Billings Skyview Friday, Feb. 19, 2021, at Skyview High School.

Billings Skyviews Breanna Williams puts in a layup against Billings Senior Friday, Feb. 19, 2021, at Skyview High School.

Billings Seniors Lauren Cummings launches a jumper against Billings Skyview Friday, Feb. 19, 2021, at Skyview High School.

Billings Seniors Allie Cummings attempts a floater against Billings Skyview Friday, Feb. 19, 2021, at Skyview High School.

Billings Skyviews Allie Montague wrestles for the ball with multiple defenders against Billings Senior Friday, Feb. 19, 2021, at Skyview High School.

Billings Senior head coach Connor Silliker cheers on his team during an offensive run against Skyview Friday, Feb. 19, 2021, at Skyview High School.

Billings Skyviews Allie Montague takes a deep jump shot against Billings Senior Friday, Feb. 19, 2021, at Skyview High School.

Billings Skyviews Jessi Henckel shoots a short jumper against Billings Senior Friday, Feb. 19, 2021, at Skyview High School.

Billings Seniors Lauren Cummings takes a fast break the other way against Billings Skyview Friday, Feb. 19, 2021, at Skyview High School.

Billings Skyviews Morning Grace Spotted Bear drives past a defender against Billings Senior Friday, Feb. 19, 2021, at Skyview High School.

Billings Skyviews Brooke Berry drives to the basket before pulling up for a floater against Billings Senior Friday, Feb. 19, 2021, at Skyview High School.

Read more from the original source:

No. 4 Billings Skyview shows continuing evolution in win over Billings Senior - 406mtsports.com

We just hit the two year point for Gregg Berhalters term in charge of the United States Mens National team, and to mark the occasion, Im doing a comprehensive review of the team since he took charge. This is part three of that series, and today, we will be talking about tactics. Part one covered roster selections, and part two focused on dual nationals. The series will conclude next week with a discussion on the player pool.

In a way, the tactics section of this series was always going to be the most difficult for me to write. Its one thing to describe and critique the tactics of a single game. Its another to look at a series of games and reach a conclusion about the whole thing. The core problem is sample size.

In 2019, the USMNT played a total of 18 games: 8 friendlies, 6 Gold Cup matches, and 4 Nations League matches. In 2020, the team played only 4 matches, all of them friendlies, while so far in 2021, theyve played just one at the end of January Camp. That gives us a mere 14 competitive matches to judge from over two years. And quality is a factor. Of those competitive matches, only 4 came against nations ranked in the top 75 according to FIFAs rankings: Jamaica, Mexico, and Canada (twice). As a result, we are forced to evaluate the team based on friendlies and the potentially experimental approaches brought to them. The way Berhalter had the USMNT play versus Mexico in the Gold Cup final was very different from how he had them play in a friendly. Because of this, some of the conclusions will necessarily be extrapolations. That said, theres still a clear and interesting story here, a set of changes in Berhalters tactics from when he first took charge to the present.

Under Berhalter, tactics have taken a far more central stage than under either Arena or Klinsmann before him. Both Arena and Klinsmann generally played a version of the 4-4-2 with a diamond midfield, with the fullbacks expected to play aggressively up the field. However, in hindsight it seems that the tactics and formation choices were more about being able to put the best players on the field at the same time rather than a deliberate plan to control particular aspects of the game. The flaws were clear and were identified by the opposition. Against strong teams, the US could successfully sit back and attack on the counter. But weak CONCACAF teams realized that they themselves could sit back and force the USMNT to hold a lot of possession. Then, by selectively pressing specific players, they could effectively shut down the American attack, and they could suck the center backs into taking positions they were uncomfortable with and where they could be exploited. And thats exactly what happened, with the US struggling in most of their qualifying matches, until, ultimately, they failed to make it to the World Cup.

Given that context, Berhalter came in with a mandate: modernize the USMNT.

Of course, you have to ask what the hell modernizing actually means. Ahead of him actually taking the job, the speculation was that Berhalter would try to have the USMNT play like the Columbus Crew had in MLS while he was in charge. Berhalter himself talked at length about disorganizing the opposition through possession. When the games actually started, the focus seemed to be about experimentation.

The big attraction in terms of tactics was the prospect of Gregg Berhalter playing Tyler Adams as a hybrid right back. I already explored the hybrid right back scheme pretty thoroughly last year, and, quite frankly, I think its way over-emphasized. We saw the tactic in 3 friendlies, all victories, before it was shelved. And, as I explained in that linked piece, its very unlikely to be coming back.

Its a shame that the hybrid right back gets so much attention because there was a lot of structural stuff there in that first January Camp that has had a more enduring influence. The players looked more comfortable with the ball. Instead of everything going through Michael Bradley, there were alternative options to progress the ball forward. Almost all the positions were structured; in any given line up, almost nobody had anything close to a free-roaming role. There was the deep lying midfielder who shuttles the ball across. There were the long balls to players out on the wings. And, of course, there was the insistence on playing accurate passes to maintain possession, even when pressed. All of these things have been mainstays.

We can also throw in the 4-3-3 formation. While it disappeared for much of 2019 in favor of a 4-2-3-1, it was there at Berhalters start and came back in 2020. Berhalter has been nothing if not consistent. Whats more, I would say that these changes actually do represent steps towards modernization and they are likely irreversible. Even if Berhalter were fired tomorrow, we should expect these things to stick around under his successor.

Which brings us to the fact that in 2019, I actually did suggest sacking Berhalter. That position was hedged on events that did not come to pass, but I think the point still stands. There came a point where performances warranted that conversation.

For the most part, this series has been generally positive towards Berhalters decisions. I tried to take a more neutral position in the first part and merely state the fact that Berhalter was trying out a lot of young players, but I am not about to pretend like I dont support those decisions. Meanwhile, I outright praised Berhalter for his handling of dual nationals, though I perhaps should have spread more of that love to Earnie Stewart and Brian McBride.

But I cant legitimately talk about tactics in the same way. From a strict results perspective, in competitive play, Berhalter met (but did not exceed) expectations. My standards going into 2019 were to get to the Gold Cup final and then not be humiliated by Mexico, and to top the group on Nations League. Lo and behold, thats what happened. The team mostly strolled to the Gold Cup final, falling 1-0 against a better Mexican team in a game that the US perhaps should have won. And then the team topped their Nations League group. Like I said, strictly meets expectations.

But looking at the competitive results belies the fact that the actual experience was much more dire. Soccer fans, perhaps particularly Americans fans, tend to equate possession with beautiful play. Given that Pep Guardiolas Barcelona team glorified (I would say fetishized) possession and happened to be, from 2009 to 2012, the best club team in history, at least by my reckoning, its understandable that people would associate possession with excitement and success. However, Berhalters MNT side of 2019 demonstrated that, all too often, possession soccer is tepid and stale. But I dont watch the USMNT for beautiful play. No, I want to see the US win. For me, anything else is merely extra. So how did results go? Well, the team was extremely successful at stomping minnows. But they largely struggled to score goals against decent teams, scoring only 12 goals in the 11 games against teams ranked in FIFAs top 75, and of those goals, 7 were scored in only two games. Ok, so the team struggled offensively. What about defensively? In those same 11 games, the team conceded 14 goals. So, erm, not so good.

Look, if a team neither succeeds in consistently scoring, nor in consistently defending, that team is dysfunctional. You can talk all about important players who are missing and growing pains, and perhaps those concerns are valid. But the point still stands, something was not working. When the team looks like this, you have to make changes. And, indeed, after the defeats against Mexico in the Gold Cup, some changes were made. Berhalter shuffled Christian Pulisic to the wing and pushed Weston McKennie into the most advanced midfield slot. Over the course of the next 4 games, those changes would help drive the MNT to win ... [checks notes] ... one game... against an extra-bad Cuba. That brings us to the lowest point in the past two years, the abysmal 2-0 loss against Canada in Nations League.

Its difficult to make sweeping declarations about that dreadful game in Toronto. Its a datapoint of one. Maybe the players really just had an off day. But I think its more likely that the disconnect between the midfield and defense, the inability to consistently advance the ball up the field, the empty possession, the struggle to win the ball back in midfield, and the failure of the midfield to contest second balls were all systemic issues. Likewise, its difficult to say that the solid 4-1 victory on the return fixture was a result of Berhalter being forced into pragmatism, or something else. We've not had a competitive match since, and the team appears to now be on a completely different tactical direction entirely, deviating both from that victory and the bad play that came before.

I spent 2019 bloviating about how badly the USMNT missed Tyler Adams (chronic injury) and how the team couldnt win the ball back. But if you want to take a tactical analysis of the problem, as well as a look at how the team has changed (I tentatively say for the better), then you want to look at the press. In the modern game, everything revolves around how, where, and when to press.

A press is where a team makes a decision to try and actively win the ball back in an organized manner. If you have a high press, the team generally is always trying to win the ball back. Alternatively, you can decide to press only when the goal is in danger, usually called a low-block. Finally, you have the middle ground, where the team doesnt always press, but also is also more proactive than merely trying to park the bus.

The big difference between most pressing systems is where the defending team actively tries to press the opposition and win the ball back. That place on the field is called the line of confrontation. Ive got three different defensive postures depicted here, with the line of confrontation in each scenario depicted as a dotted line. In each picture, the blue team is defending in a 4-4-2, while the red team is attacking with a rough approximation of a 4-3-3. These match up with what the USMNT play in defense and attack respectively. Notice, in the low block, the line of confrontation is very close to the defending teams goal, and the defending players are bunched very tightly together. In the mid block, the line of confrontation is higher up the field and the defensive players are not as bunched together. In the high press, the line is almost at the attacking teams goal and every defending player is very close to an attacking player.

Each of these defensive set ups have their own positives and benefits. Low blocks tend to be defensively solid because they clog up the area in front of goal, but come with the downside of severely hampering the attack and can be physically and mentally exhausting when playing against high quality opposition. Examples of good teams that play low blocks include Atletico Madrid and Jill Ellis USWNT. The high press is good at suffocating the opposition and forcing turnovers in dangerous places. The drawbacks are that teams have space in the back to attack if they can get around or over the press and playing in this style tends to also be physically exhausting against good opposition. Chile won a series of Copa Americas with the high press. The high press is also associated with Bayern Munich and Liverpool. The mid block tends to be more flexible than the other two, but lacks the offensive or defensive upsides. It also tends to be less energy intensive than the other two. Its important to note that teams dont have to always pick one of these defensive styles. Teams may start a game in a high press, grab a goal, and then sit in a low block. Or the decision to press or not to press can be based on in-game context. Jurgen Klopp coined the phrase gegenpress, which is where a team presses aggressively when they immediately lose the ball, but, after a few seconds, switches to a less aggressive defensive shape. Theres lots of versions of this: press if theres a back pass, press on throw ins, etc.

For most of 2019, Berhalter had the US in a mid block. And it sucked. The team ended up disconnected and disjointed. And those problems were exploited in the 3-0 friendly against Mexico and the 2-0 loss versus Canada. But after that, Berhalter decided to change things. In the 4-1 win over Canada, the team actually fielded a low block. McKennie returned to the midfield pivot and let Canada have over 60% of the ball. The tables had been turned; Canada was feeling powerful but found themselves unable to do anything. The MNT counter-punched their way to an easy victory. Perhaps this low-block style was the way forward for the US? Thats doesnt appear to be what happened.

In a kind of weird way, Berhalters tactics have matched the broader steps of tactical change over the last decade. Both Klinsmann and Arenas 4-4-2 resembled the kinds of play of the late 1990s and early 2000s, an era where attacking players were given loads of freedom to drift across the field. Can you imagine David Beckham at right mid in todays game? Absurd! Berhalter represented a step towards the kind of possession-focused positional play that Barcelona team made so popular with tiki-taka. But the thing is, tiki-taka died a very violent death in 2013, when Bayern Munich decimated Barcelona 7-0 over both legs of the UEFA Champions League semifinals. The consequences of that game trickled down to the rest of the world, with everyone realizing that you could kill a possession game with dogged defending and heavy pressing. What happened to the USMNT in 2019? They lost to a Canada side dedicated to dogged defending, and they lost to a Mexico side comfortable with heavy pressing.

Which brings us to the next stage, and to the present. In November 2020, Berhalter trotted out a 4-3-3 against Wales, with a midfield of McKennie, Adams, and Yunus Musah. The team wasnt able to get a goal, but they completely throttled the Welsh attack through a high press. And this showed signs of where the US was going. The team was still a possession- heavy side. But now, they were also a counter-pressing side. When the US lost the ball, they would try and win it back immediately. No more of this mid-block nonsense. No, the team, specifically the midfield, would attempt to win the ball back as soon as possible. Winning those turn overs in turn would create openings to attack. This would catch the opposing team off guard after all, they were just about to attack and leave their defense disorganized. The team wasnt able to quite pull this off against Wales. But we did see goals from this kind of play in the subsequent matches against Panama, El Salvador, and Trinidad and Tobago.

Switching to a counter-pressing style has suddenly thrust Weston McKennie into the central role for the team. I spent 2019 complaining about how we needed Weston McKennie to play deeper and to win the ball back on behalf of the team. Well, McKennies winning the ball back, but he isnt playing deeper. In fact, hes clearly become one of the key attacking weapons for the USMNT. Indeed, based on McKennies club performances, it seems Berhalter was on to something before anyone had caught on.

The job of both central midfielders is essentially to do everything. They need to be able to cover ground and quickly press opposing players to win the ball back. They need to be able to burst into the attack. They need to be able to link up in the final third with other players. And they need to be able to make late runs into the box and score goals. Weston McKennie happens to be an exceptionally well rounded player who can do all of these things. On top of that, since joining Juventus, its clear his awareness and concentration have also improved. At just 22, Id have to say hes become the lynchpin for the USMNT.

The thing is, the USA really needs two McKennies. Theres two spots in that midfield, after all. Of course, we wont need literally the exact same skill set at the other midfield spot. Its okay if McKennies partner is a little bit more of a dribbler or a creative passer. But that player still needs to be well rounded enough to participate in both attack and defense. Theres a number of prospects for that spot: Yunus Musah, Brendan Aaronson, Sebastian Lletget, maybe Owen Otasowie, or even Paxton Pomykal if he can get and stay healthy. But it also means that a number of players are not going to be considered. Defensive-minded players like Alfredo Morales arent gong to be considered for that spot, nor will pure attackers. That rules out shifting Pulisic or Gio Reyna back to midfield, and possibly precludes Duane Holmes entirely. Alternatively, I could be extrapolating without enough information. But I dont really think so.

Its early days in terms of whether the current tactical set up will work; well have to see how the team does in the March international window with the full national team. So far, we are playing Northern Ireland. Keep an eye out for an announcement of a second match. While the tactics over the last few years have not been smooth sailing, Im feeling optimistic about the team going forward. But thats enough from me. What do you think? Was there a tactical wrinkle that I missed, something a got wrong? Let me know in the comments below. Well be back next time to finish up the series with an evaluation of the player pool.

Stay safe.

See the rest here:

Two Years of Berhalter: Tactical Evolution - Stars and Stripes FC

Wouldnt even hurt a fly.Screenshot: Paramount Pictures

When most people think of Psycho, they think of Alfred Hitchcocks direction, Bernard Herrmans shrieking score, and Anthony Perkins vulnerable yet terrifying performance as Norman Bates. They probably dont immediately think horror franchise, but Psycho did turn into one over the years.

This year marks the 35th anniversary of Psycho III, which happens to be the entry directed by Perkins himself. So in honor of the horror classic and the somewhat diminishing rewards of its sequels, were taking a look back at the iconic character whos been making movie lovers afraid to take a shower since 1960and who certainly evolved a quite bit over the years.

Robert Blochs 1959 novel came first, but Norman Bates (Perkins) made his biggest and most lasting impression in Alfred Hitchcocks acclaimed adaptationstill as suspenseful and shocking today as it was over 60 years ago. Norman enters the movie near the end of act one, his aw-shucks demeanor offering a deceptively calming mood shift for the frantic Marion Crane (Janet Leigh), who checks into the Bates Motel mid-flight after impulsively stealing $40,000 from her employer. Little does she know the young man who makes her a sandwich and rambles on just a little awkwardly about his controlling mother and his taxidermy hobby will end up sealing her doom.

G/O Media may get a commission

Perkins boyish appearancethats candy corn Normans snacking on throughoutfakes out the audience too, although since we know Hitchcock is pulling the strings, we have a good idea early on that the little old lady sitting in the window of the Bates house isnt quite what she seems. That last scene with the buzzing fly, when Norman has completely given himself over to Mother, yields one of the most chilling facial expressions cinema has ever captured.

Directed by Richard Franklin (Cloak & Dagger), Psycho II opens with a replay of Psychos most famous scene, as if anyone watching had forgotten about Marions fatal shower. Then we flash-forward to the present day to see Norman (a returning Perkins) being released from the institution where hes been held the past two decades. His freedom goes against the strenuous objections of Marions sister (again Vera Miles), who identifies herself as Lila Loomis in a little bit of scriptwriting that fills in a big blank: clearly, Lila married the late Marions boyfriend Sam Loomis (John Gavin in Psycho) sometime between the two films.

Youd think sending Norman back to live in the house behind the Bates Motel (now under sleazy new management, courtesy of Dennis Franz) would be seen as an exceptionally bad idea, given all the traumatizing stuff that happened there. Norman and his doctor (Robert Loggia) both have misgivingswith good reason, as it turns out, because the past quickly comes back to haunt Norman when Mother starts reaching out from beyond the grave. Or does she? And if its not herwhat kind of an asshole would try to turn a reformed Norman Bates psycho again?

Written by horror regular Tom Holland (Childs Play, Fright Night), Psycho IIs lively script is sprinkled with references and winks to the first film (anytime Norman gets near a knife, there might as well be a neon sign illuminated on screen making sure we notice). The supporting charactersincluding Meg Tilly as Mary, a down-on-her-luck young waitress at the diner where Norman starts workingare pretty one-note, even as Mary and Lila reveal a hidden agenda that Norman doesnt pick up on until its too late.

Perkins, who brings layers of nervous yet deeply weary energy to his most famous role, is obviously the main attraction here. When he finally does the thing youve been waiting for him to do the entire movie (with a shovel this time, braining his homicidal auntwho claims to be Normans real mother), hes somehow still incredibly sympathetic.

Perkins himself directed this entry in the series, which opens with a woman screaming THERE IS NO GOD and never really pauses to take a breath after that. The story picks up in the aftermath of Psycho II, and we find Normans been coasting on the goodwill of the locals, who believe hes owed a second chance after being targeted by Lila and Marys mindfuckery in the previous film. Little do the good people of dusty Fairvale, California know: the breakdown that Norman started having at the end of Psycho II is about to rise to a crescendo.

The past is never really past...it stays with me all the time, Norman tells Tracy (Roberta Maxwell), a pushy journalist whos taken an interest in his life story, and that observation becomes quite relevant when Maureen (Diana Scarwid), an ex-nun living with her own towering regrets, blows into town and immediately triggers Norman due to her resemblance to Marion Crane. Norman and Maureen spark a romance after he...rescues her from a suicide attempt in her Bates Motel room bathtub (cabin one, natch)...after creeping into her room dressed as Mother intent on stabbing her to death just like he did Marion.

Psycho III gets melodramatic (and somehow makes the riddle of just who, exactly, Normans birth mother really was even more confusing), but Norman almost gets a girlfriend out of it, and the weirder the story gets, Perkins performance gets exponentially more unhinged but also full of surprises. The scene where the sheriff almost discovers a body stashed in the Bates Motel ice cooler while Norman looks on with giddy horror is pitch-black comedy gold.

This made-for-TV sequel, directed by horror veteran Mick Garris and written by Joseph Stefano (who also penned the original adaptation), is really more of a prequel as the title suggests, though we do get Perkins as part of the frame story. Psycho IV follows along as an increasingly jittery Norman calls into a talk radio show (hosted by a chain-smoking CCH Pounder) to weigh in on the subject of matricide. Through his storytelling we see his formative years play out in flashback, with Henry Thomas (eight years post-E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial) playing teen Norman and Olivia Hussey as his cruel and abusive (yet also inappropriately seductive at times) motherand we get a glimpse of Normans increasingly dangerous present mindset.

Hes actually been living a relatively normal life with his wifea doctor he met during his hospital staybut is edging closer to the old Norman on the occasion of his birthday and his mounting fear that his pregnant wife will give birth to a Bates who carries on the stab-happy family tradition. Its an interesting enough approach to the story, but it suffers from the fact that the flashback structure (and the fact that we know Normans life story pretty well already) robs the film of any tension whatsoever. Perkins is fine but most of his performance is literally phoned in, which is hardly the most thrilling way to spend time with him.

Psycho IV: The Beginning wasnt actually the first time Norman Bates was played by an actor other than Perkins. That honor goes to Bates Motelnot the TV series, which well talk about in a moment, but a surprisingly sentimental 1987 made-for-TV movie apparently intended to kick off a series that never materialized. It steps outside of the continuity of the two Psycho sequels that preceded it (and retcons a thing or two from the 1960 original), imagining that while institutionalized after the events of the first film, Norman (played by Kurt Paul in flashbacks and still photographs) befriended a fellow patient named Alex, a scared little kid whod killed his own abusive father.

As were told in a sappy voice-over by one of the facilitys doctors, Norman became a father figure to Alexforming an extraordinary relationship that lasted over 27 years, until Normans death. After we sit through Normans funeral, we find out he left the motel to Alex (played by Bud Cort as an adult), whos about to be released into a world (clutching an urn holding Normans ashes!) hes not really prepared to face. While Normans troubled legacy inevitably filters into Alexs story once he starts running the Bates Moteltheres a Scooby Doo plot, plus some actual ghosts for good measurePsychos redeemed killer looms over everything with a benevolent spirit unseen in any other portrayal of the character so far.

Hey, remember when Gus Van Sant did a shot-for-shot remake of Psycho? On paper, an interesting experiment. Once committed to film...it felt like a novelty until the whole Ok, this is entirely excessive and unnecessary vibe started taking over. Vince Vaughn plays Norman; hes more physically imposing than Perkins but the rest of the performance (like the movie itself) is basically an elaborate homage sprinkled with a few awkward little additions.

Bates Motel ran for five seasons on A&E, styled as a prequel to the original movie but set in a Twin Peaks-y coastal Oregon town, circa the present day. The series cleverly put its own spin on the source material, boasting an outstanding castespecially Freddy Highmore as the quietly spiraling young Norman and The Conjurings Vera Farmiga as his fierce mother, Norma. Altogether, it helped the show come into its own (including fashioning an entirely new ending to the Psycho storyline, which arrived in season five) while always staying respectful to the original material. Psycho II has its charms, but if you hunger for a fresh, nuanced take on Norman after watching the original film, its hard to beat Bates Motels creative approach to the never-boring Bates family.

Where will we meet Norman next? Though no new Psycho projects appear to be in the works currently, it seems like only a matter of time before some intrepid creator comes up with a new way to fire up that neon sign above the Bates Motel. And presumably, if the events of Psycho IV are to be believed, theres a new generation of Bates offspring running around out there...

For more, make sure youre following us on our Instagram @io9dotcom.

Read the original here:

The 60-Year Evolution of Psycho's Norman Bates - Gizmodo

February 19, 2021

I never thought I would grow up to be a Cat Daddy, so thats one more thing I was wrong about.

After my retirement, cats started arriving as frequently as Social Security checks. Some briefly, but others liked the amenities and decided to hang. I am up to three cats, which is manageable, but I worry that they wont stop coming, and I will have to eat cat food with them or start a GoFundUs page.

The problem with cats is there isnt much return on the investment. It is all about the cat. They eat and sleep and when the mood is right permit you to rub their belly. Oh yea, they will occasionally deposit a maimed rodent, dead or soon to be, on the porch.

As far as being a companion, they are aloof. Nothing like dogs, who actually return the affection.

Ive always been a dog person, but havent had a dog since Poker, my German shepherd, died in 1992. I never got another dog because I was rarely home and dogs need companionship. Cats could care less about company.

My conversion to Cat Daddy status was not by choice. It was either feed them or watch them starve.

Let me introduce them.

Boots was my first, emerging from The Jungle in July 2018 as a kitten, probably just a couple of weeks old at the time. I videotaped our courtship and put them on Facebook, including his first foray into my humble home, and a star was born. It wasnt me.

A tuxedo cat, Boots is a handsome fellow, perfectly symmetric, regal even. He once told me that he was actually born in a tuxedo. But hes no longer much use for the ladies if you know what I mean.

Weve written two books together Boots and Me: Life with the King of the Jungle, and Boots and Me: Getting Down to Business that hover around a single premise, Boots making fun of me. He says there is an infinite amount of material.

Hundreds of books have been sold, raising several thousand dollars to share among two local rescue groups, the Robeson County Humane Society and Frannys Friends. If you want one, both or a really cool T-shirt, let me know. I will be cutting a check soon to the Humane Society.

A couple of months ago Juice arrived, a grown tabby cat who is a male and whose age I have no clue. I named him Juice because he was orange, not after O.J. Simpson, a football idol of my childhood who fell out of favor when he cut off his ex-wifes head. That was a dealbreaker.

Juice, unlike Boots, is an outside cat, rejecting daily invitations to come inside no matter how wet and cold it is outside. I think he is traumatized from the one time he did come inside. When the door closed behind him, he morphed into a pinball in search of an escape. When none could be found, he levitated and found himself atop a 7-foot-tall hutch. It made me question all I believed about gravity.

He stayed there for an hour hissing at me until I had enough Bud Lite to get up the nerve to toss a towel over his head and grab him. His hind right paw dug into my right arm as I opened the door and gave him a good toss into the yard. The blood loss was minimal, but it was all mine.

Juice was back on the top step eating 10 minutes later, so he doesnt hold grudges.

Juice is still a male in every sense, apparently territorial, and returns each day with fresh wounds on his face. He is on a steady diet of antibiotics. I am concerned that he will return with injuries so bad I will have to get him to a veterinarian. Should that happen, I will be the one with flesh wounds.

His fighting mate is another tuxedo who arrived a few weeks ago. I dont know for sure this cats gender, but I suspect it is a male because he and Juice make war, not love.

Full grown and perhaps kin to Boots, this fellow is glad to eat the cat food I put out, but our relationship is distant. I have not gotten within 15 feet of him before he flees into The Jungle, so he hasnt yet qualified for a name. If he does, a Facebook friend suggested Oreo.

On Thursday night, during the midst of an unnamed hurricane and with temperatures near freezing, Juice, the unnamed feral and Opie hes an opossum named for the Ron Howard character on Andy Griffith were outside, social distancing, soaked to the bone, staring at the back door, waiting to be fed.

Boots was inside, sleeping on a pillow, warm, comfortable and content. Every once in a while he would rise from his slumber, saunter to the back door, and gaze at the three. I dont know what he was thinking, but I have ruled out sympathy.

As he often reminds me, its good to be King.

See the rest here:

Transition to green energy needs to be an evolution, not a revolution - The Robesonian

Traditional advertising has done one thing really, really well over the past 70 years. Its stolen attention. What I mean by that is, advertising was created to take time away from content consumption and shift it to brand/product awareness. Think of it this way: back when we used to watch cable TV, what would happen every 7 minutes or so? A slew of television commercials that lasted for 4 to6 minutes.

As you were reading an article on Forbes.com what would happen as you scrolled down? A thumb stopping ad for BMW that took up your entire computer screen. If you were reading an interview in Sports Illustrated magazine 25 years ago, what happened as you turned the page? A full page ad that took your attention away from the content you were consuming. The same thing happened if you were in your car 30 years ago, listening to Howard Stern. Suddenly, youd hear an ad for prime ribseven though you were a vegetarian. We used to encounter countless ads from various places that had varying degrees of applicability to our lives. But social media and streaming services have started the process of changing the game entirely.

Think about it. How much cable television do you currently watch? Can you name evenoneclose friend who doesnt subscribe to a video streaming service? Studies show that close to 70 percent of US households have a TV/movie subscription, so even if you have a friend that uses cable, its likely he or she is using Netflix as well.

Dont believe it? This year,Netflix racked up more views on their platformthan viewers of cable and satellite TV combined. Although I havent done the research myself, I live by common sense and by paying attention to culture. The growth potential of HBO MAX, Disney Plus, Amazon Prime, etc and Hulu is alarming or exciting depending on what side you sit on. Conservative estimates show that up to30 percent of households were cord cutters, meaning they turned away from cable altogether, in 2017. That was in 2017, now lets think about that number in 2021.

What does all this mean? It means that television commercials are in major friction against the market.Collectively were watching less TVand were spending more time on our phones. Entertainment has continued to evolve, and with it, so has human attention. With this in mind, its key to understand a few pieces of information.

Number 1, this is not a childish phenomenon. Yes,the pandemic accelerated cord-cutting, but this isnt a new trend. Social media isnt just for teenagersin fact, there is no social media. Theres just mediaa media landscape that has changed rapidly.Today, more than 80 percent of each generation uses social media.Meaning, your GenZ kid is just as likely to have a social media presence as her grandma. The internet doesnt care if you believe me or not, it doesnt care if youre not willing to learn its language. It will move on without you. Therefore, your marketing strategy needs to evolve.

Number 2,influencers are the new editors in chief.You, as a marketer or business leader, cannot underestimate the importance of internet culture. That doesnt mean that the traditional way of advertising has died, and you should forget about old methods that may have worked in the past. It does mean that you cant afford to write off these new creators who are disrupting your space.DoggFace208 is a perfect example of this. Through the years, Ocean Spray has spent millions upon millions of dollars to grasp less attention and cultural relevance than DoggFace208 garnered in 1 minute. Side note, kudos to Ocean Sprayfor jumping on to that attention and adding to thenarrative (Ill go further in-depth on that cultural moment in a later article).

As I mentioned before, traditional advertising steals attention from what the consumer actually wants to consume. Advertising execs do this with thehopethat the consumer might want to buy or be aware of what he or she is selling. Take that and flip it, now youre giving time to a consumer who youknowwill want more information about what youre offering. Look at the big picture and understand whats happening in social media. Most platforms give us a single stream of feed dynamics. People are consuming content from many different parties (individuals, brands, publications, etc.). If a brand were to understand how to make content or how to team up with influencers to create far more native and contextual content for that stream, they would have a far greater upside.

When a TV show goes to a commercial, you can feel it. When you integrate a marketing campaign, whether youre doing it yourself or youre working with an influencer, it can be a little more seamless. That is the point. What does this look like in real life? Collaborations and sponsorships with influencers; supporting the things and people adjacent to the target audience you want to reach.

Above all, you have to realize that the market decides whats impactful now, not executives in a boardroom. Customers have always decided what they like, but television commercials and radio ads havent given advertising execs a feedback loop. They did not provide quant and qual metrics. These metrics, created immediately within a social media environment, shape insights for social media marketers that can be used to educate brands and produce more effective messaging. The comments section matters, which leads me to my next point.

Number 3, you might want to hire apost-creative strategist. You need someone who is willing to understand everything: the platform, the target audience, and how it relates to what you want to do. This person is going to be a key member of your team, the one who informs your content strategy. The PCS is a person that recognizes where the attention is and where it could go.

Post creative strategists pay attention to the comments from the creative that you put out. This allows for 20 percent of everyones creative team to just be creative. Now, they can create solely to receive insights from the consumer. Whether its strategic and you made the content specifically to get insights about questions you have, or if its the serendipity of a volume of comments that you read when the intent was to just build awareness around your productyou now have this rich feedback loop. Somebody whose business is about beingearsfor your brand is completely imperative. We live in a world today where the majority of brands focus on theirmouth, i.e. what they say. Using social media as a consumer insights tool is imperative, hence why the PCS matters so much. However, 99 percent of marketers arent thinking about this role.

Ultimately, its important to remember that the media landscape is constantly evolving.

Effective social media strategies arent built overnight. They take patience, humility, and an abundance of empathy. You have to give something back to your community, find value in providing entertainment or informationyou have to give something of value in exchange for the time that youre taking away. For example, Im very stressed with making sure this was a valuable 7-minute read for you. To summarize, you have to ask/earn their attention, rather than demand it.

This might sound scary, and counterintuitive to everything youve been taught. But, youve got to make it about them. Once you approach your content strategy with the mindset of giving, rather than taking, youll be ready to provide so much value to your end consumer.

Reprinted by permission.

Here is the original post:

Advertising Through The Years: The Evolution of Attention - AlleyWatch

New York, Feb. 18, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Evolution of Electric Vehicles Transforming the Global Automotive Lubricants Industry" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06025970/?utm_source=GNW The key end-user segments covered in this study are passenger car motor oils (PCMO) and heavy-duty diesel oils (HDDO).

The study analyzes two major vertical markets: lubricant additives and base oils. The major additive types used in these products are detergents, dispersants, antioxidants, viscosity index improvers (VIIs), and pour-point depressants (PPDs).

The trend of the use of various base-oil groups Group I (<90% saturates, >0.03% sulfur, 80-120 viscosity index (only mineral oils)), Group II (?90% saturates, ?0.03% sulfur, 80-120 viscosity index (only mineral oils)) and Group III (?90% saturates, ?0.03% sulfur, ?120 viscosity index (Includes synthetic oils and other oils)) is analyzed. Lubricants are selected for a vehicle based on a variety of requirements such as durability, emission levels, length of drain intervals, and ability to improve fuel efficiency. The requirements vary depending on the customer preferences, global and regional regulatory landscape, and the brand and model of the vehicle. This report tracks the industrys transformation and seeks to identify future opportunities that exist for lubricant manufacturers. The study analyses the change in the product landscape because of the high growth of electric vehicles (EVs) and variants in the automotive industry. The market for automotive lubricants and additives is greatly impacted by other Mega Trends such as the Covid-19 pandemic, changing international trade relationships, sustainability targets adopted by governments and regulatory authorities, and the miles driven by end customers around the world. The competitive environment in the lubricant additives market is highly skewed towards the larger market participants because of the high entry barrier for new entrants due to the significant amount of capital expenditure required. On the other hand, the finished lubricants market is highly fragmented amongst the smaller participants, while the major share of the market is held by a few global companies. The automotive lubricants and additives face regulatory pressure from organizations such as the US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) and REACH that mandate the use of products with reduced emissions. They are also mandated to adhere to the specifications put forth by organizations such as the American Petroleum Institute (API), International Lubricants Standardization and Approval Committee (ILSAC), Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA), and the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA). There is an increasing trend of customers demanding lower viscosity oils that also provide for higher drain intervals between oil changes. Manufacturers are increasingly investing in product development to enhance environmental sustainability and product efficiency. The research analyzes the global automotive lubricants and additives market. Volume and revenue forecasts have been provided from 2017 to 2027. At the sub-segment level, the analysis focuses on the additive types and base-oil groups used in these products. Competitive structure and market share data have been provided at the top level. The base year is 2020 and the forecast period ends in 2027.Author: Christeena ThomasRead the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06025970/?utm_source=GNW

About ReportlinkerReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.

__________________________

View post:

Evolution of Electric Vehicles Transforming the Global Automotive Lubricants Industry - GlobeNewswire

Although the widespread and sudden shift to remote workearly last year was a shocking change, a pre-existing movement toward more flexible work options was already well underway, making some companies better positioned to weather the upheaval.

The short-term outlook for the future of workplaces, particularly offices, is marked by uncertainty as the recovery from the coronavirus pandemiccontinues. Recent data paints a dim picture of marketstrength with a national office vacancy rate at 14.2% in December 2020, according to a Yardi Matrix report. All cities tracked were above 10% vacancy, with Houston topping out at 22.1%. Bay Area office vacancy was 14.3%. With market turbulence expected to continue at least through midyear, questions swirl about what the future holds for office product.

A focus group of 32 office owners, occupiers and placemakers conducted by Cushman & Wakefield along with George Washington Universitys Center for Real Estate and Urban Analysis, revealed that above all, flexible and adaptable work environments are the defining feature of future workplaces. In their report, Workplace Ecosystems of the Future, the authors found that though the focus group participants rated the work-from-home experience as better than expected with high productivity levels, many workers are missing the culture and collaboration that drives innovation in in-person environments.

Courtesy of Matthew Millman

CBREs San Francisco office located at Salesforce Tower.

These testimonies and research findings provide further evidence that people still need a space to collaborate, innovate and stay connected and the office provides that, Cushman & Wakefield Global Head of Occupier Research David C. Smith said in a press release. The pandemic has given us the opportunity to test remote work. Moving forward, occupiers will need to strike the right balance between remote and in-office work, and our research indicates a need for fundamental change in the culture and flexibilityof the real estate industry in order to remain relevant in a post-pandemic environment.

Hybrid work ecosystems are in development among companies like Google and Salesforce, with occupiers expectations of movement toward hybrid models increasing from 29% pre-COVID to 81% post-COVID, according to a survey by CoreNet Global and Cushman & Wakefield. The Workplace Ecosystems of the Future report forecast that office workers, on average, will work remotely between one and a half and three days per week post-COVID.

Such flexible work environments arent new for some companies. Unlike Yahoo, which made headlines for banning employees from working remotely in 2013, CBRE had already opted for a different approach by launching its Workplace360 initiative in 2011. Over the past decade, CBRE has turned 90 of its global offices into free-address, flexible, collaborative, technology-enabled destinations of choice for employees. The heart of the initiative gives employees greater control over where they work, whether it be more space options in physical offices or technological upgrades that facilitate remote work. Internal research showed that 93% of employees were satisfied with the changes and didnt want to return to the assigned desk model.

The flexible model enabled employees to be better prepared for the pandemics onset as they were already trained on how to access and share files when working from home, according to CBREs Corporate Real Estate Global Lead Peter Van Emburgh. As some CBRE employees return to offices, investments made in amenities and technologies like Liquid Galaxy, an immersive multi-screen presentation tool powered by Google Earth that cant be used remotely, have paid off, he said.

The key driver for any space is choice, and our future Workplace360 enhancements will shift some space allocation from individual spaces to collaboration spaces, and well introduce new space types and technologies that support the distributed workforce, Van Emburgh said. For example, the conference rooms, enclosed focus rooms and reservable offices will be equipped with video capabilities to provide a balance for in-person and virtual attendees in meetings.

Expectations for office amenities like flexible workspaces, dining options and recreational areas were high in the Bay Area pre-pandemic, which resulted in competition between companies to attract the most talented employees with luxurious campuses. Post-pandemic, the expectations will likely continue to be high and come with added demand for safety and wellness elements.

Fitwel, a healthy building platform and certification developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and now run by the Center for Active Design, had experienced an 80% year-over-year increase in the use of its services pre-COVID, according to Fitwel President and CEO Joanna Frank. Last year, despite hardly doing any business in Q2, Fitwel experienced a 140% increase in the use of its services during 2020. In response to the pandemic, Fitwel developed a Viral Response Module that established best practices for mitigating respiratory diseases in buildings. Frank said it is crucial for the commercial real estate industry to gain trust from users.

We just did this survey with a huge swath of investors globally, Frank said. They are all planning to continue to prioritize health as they are looking for investment in real estate. If the investors are looking to invest in properties that are prioritizing health and are measuring how they are supporting and promoting the health of stakeholders within their properties, [the CRE industry as a whole] will continue to prioritize health.

Healthy workplaces have far-reaching implications for the productivity andmental and physical health of employees. They pose a host of equity issues as significant disparities exist regarding access to healthy work environments for different demographics. Frank said one of the essential facets of a healthy work environment is giving employees choices about how and where they work.

However, these issues are hardly limited to traditional offices. The pandemic posed grave challenges to health care facilities maintaining safe environments for staff and patients alike. A lack of both space and flexible spaces resulted in hospital beds lining hallways and overall capacity maxed out. These outcomes will likely result in more overflow areas and multifunctional designs incorporated into future facilities, according to HOK Regional Leader of Healthcare Hunvey Chen. Chen also said that the rise of remote work would impact the real estate assets of health care systems with an increase in outpatient and clinic-style facilities for treating a broader range of conditions while hospitals may increasingly be reserved for the sickest of patients. This will, in turn, give rise to more medical office buildings that are more suited to the needs of telehealth services.

The surge in telehealth service beginning last March caught many of our providers off-guard, Chen said. Our medical office buildings werent prepared for the sudden influx in telehealth needs. In future buildings, we will need to incorporate carefully designed, private spaces that can accommodate societys new comfort with telehealth treatment.

Technology, in general, is expected to feature more prominently in buildings moving forward in the recovery. For example, a 125K SF Class-A office project by developer SteelWave near completion in Sunnyvale named Central Station, features UV light air purification in the lobby and touchless fixtures throughout. MERV 14 filters in ventilation systems and more access to outdoor space will likely become commonplace.

Courtesy of Matthew Millman

Cove, which began as a coworking space company, has more recently launched a building technology platform as a way to modernize existing buildings. Established on the East Coast, the company plans to expand to three office buildings in San Jose this month. The platform includes an app that allows building occupants to unlock doors, reserve amenity spaces and schedule cleanings of conference rooms, among other functions.

I'm very bullish on the notion of the evolution of the office and how the office can modernize to meet that demand, Cove CEO Adam Segal said. That doesn't mean that there's going to be an increase in demand for space, but there's an increase in demand for solutions. This is an opportunity for ownership to differentiate and really capture that demand.

Cove is one of many companies trying to address the rise of a hybrid work model and demand for healthy spaces. Food ordering platform Sharebite recently partnered with HqO, a commercial office building tenant operating system platform, to facilitate contactless lunch delivery services to office workers. URBN Playground is an amenity management firm that operates lifestyle and wellness programs in commercial and residential buildings. Another company, Essensys, has a software platform geared to enhance the overall experience of office dwellers. Among other things, it provides collaboration tools for employees and asset flexibility pathways for landlords.

While all these tools may help with efficiency, Navitas Capital Managing Partner Gary Dillabough, who has helped develop office and mixed-use projects in the South Bay, thinks that making offices desirable places to return to is a multifaceted equation. He said that live-work-play environments in dense downtowns that allow for short commutes would create the kind of flexibility that is in demand. Such urban environments would enable employees to, for example, leave work briefly to attend their childs school play and then quickly return to the office afterward.

I think the best tools are the things that are inspiring and help keep you healthier and help keep connections to nature, being able to walk outside your door, fresh air, having sunlight coming in, just feeling healthy, Dillabough said. Those are going to ultimately make you more productive and make a better experience. Thats what we're really fascinated by and it's a little harder to deliver.

Such momentum toward flexible work options may help kick-start a thriving office market once again. However, the anticipated hybrid models will likelydiminish the total square footage of offices in general. The Workplace Ecosystems of the Future report forecast decreases in annual net absorption for offices due to remote work. Market simulations revealed an average change in net absorption by -0.28%, with -0.18% in San Jose and -0.4% in Austin.

Demand is going down; there's no question, as a whole, the sheer absorption of space is going to go down, Segal said. The question is where is that demand going to go and what's the willingness to pay. Quite frankly, I think there's a high willingness to pay for the right solutions. How are you positioning it, so you're solving problems instead of just offering people space.

CORRECTION, Feb. 18, 10:45 A.M. PT: A previous version of this story had a caption for the first image that referred to it as a rendering when it is an actual photograph. The caption has been updated.

Excerpt from:

Workplace Must Adapt Or Die, But Evolution Was Never Optional - Bisnow

How has the Opportunity Zone marketplace evolved over the past 2+ years and how will it continue to evolve going forward?

Peter Truog is founder of The Opportunity Exchange, a marketplace that connects impactful Opportunity Zone projects to capital sources. The Opportunity Exchange is a key partner in OZ Pitch Day.

Click the play button below to listen to my conversation with Peter.

The Opportunity Exchange builds community & economic development software that helps community leaders ideate, develop, and build more inclusive communities. A portion of their work focuses on helping communities connect Opportunity Zone investors to impactful projects in their city, county, or state.

Hosted by OpportunityDb.com founder Jimmy Atkinson, theOpportunity Zones Podcastfeatures guest interviews from fund managers, advisors, policymakers, tax professionals, and other foremost experts in opportunity zones.

Jimmy: Welcome to the Opportunity Zones Podcast. Im your host, Jimmy Atkinson. Last November, I hosted OZ Pitch Day 2020. And a key partner for that event was and continues to be The Opportunity Exchange. The Opportunity Exchange is an OZ marketplace that builds community and economic development software that helps community leaders ideate, develop, and build more inclusive communities. A portion of The Opportunity Exchanges work focuses on helping communities connect Opportunity Zone investors to impactful projects in their city, county, or state. And that work is much of what well be discussing today. Joining me today is the founder of The Opportunity Exchange, Peter Truog. And Peter joins us from Cleveland, Ohio. Peter, its great to have you back on the podcast. Welcome.

Peter: Yeah. Thanks for having me, Jimmy. Glad to be back on.

Jimmy: Yeah, you bet. So I do want to recap OZ Pitch Day 2020 with you, Peter, and all of the work that you and your team at The Opportunity Exchange did to make that a great event and to add a lot of value for some of the fund issuers who participated in that event. Ill get to that a little bit later in the episode today. But first, for those who may not be aware, you were a guest on this podcast way back in November 2019, over a year ago now, when The Opportunity Exchange was just getting started. You guys were just a few months old then at that point. So, to start us off today, to get the conversation rolling, Peter, can you just give me and our listeners a high level update on how The Opportunity Exchange has evolved since our last interview? And maybe you can give an update on the OZ marketplace as a whole as well.

Peter: Yeah, absolutely. Im happy to kick things off in that fashion. And, you know, its really quite an experience being back on the podcast again. When we were last on we were, as you mentioned, just in the very early stages. We had been working on The Opportunity Exchange for just less than a year at that point. And so now coming back on, you know, almost a year and a half later, its interesting as I was thinking about some of the things to talk about on the podcast to reflect a little bit on what weve learned since we were last on and think about what to share. So, for the folks who maybe are encountering us for the first time or not familiar with our work, my name is Peter. Im the co-founder of The Opportunity Exchange. We build software that helps community leaders ideate, develop, and create impactful projects in their community.

And as Jimmy mentioned, a major focus of our work to date has been around supporting communities as they think about initiating kind of proactive strategies to capture opportunities with regard to the Opportunity Zone incentives. Where we started as a company was very much focused on the idea of facilitating a marketplace to help community sponsored projects, community aligned projects, better connect with Opportunity Zone capital. My background in community economic development along with my co-founders background in government technology really led us to this point of departure where, collectively, we saw just a lack of tools available to municipalities, counties, states that would enable them to more proactively and more in real time build an inventory of potential OZ projects and kind of get the word out about those and to facilitate connections with those projects with this new investor class that the Opportunity Zone incentive created.

And so thats where we started, was really on supporting the kind of community aligned side of the OZ market, specifically by working with cities, counties, and states to help them stand up a digital community marketplace via which Opportunity Zone investors could connect to deals in their community. That was really where we were focused when we were last on the pod in November of 2019. We, at the time, were working with between, you know, 5 to 10 different states and cities, helping them kind of get these early building blocks in place with Opportunity Zone strategy.

In the intervening, I guess, 14 months or so, a lot has happened. You know, the pandemic aside, there has been just massive change in terms of I think the level of understanding around the Opportunity Zone incentive. And some of the strategies that particularly communities are deploying to try to capture the benefits from that incentive. Two things that weve seen which we can go into more detail over the course of this conversation are, one, I think our recognition that while, you know, this marketplace idea, this need to really be thoughtful about the connectivity of projects to capital, its certainly one of the needs that exists in this space.

Theres been a growing recognition and I think identification of other needs that also exist perhaps earlier in the process before a given fund or before a given project might present to an investor, that would be really impactful for communities to be able to take advantage of as they think about shepherding deals on their way to market. And so weve really been focused on not only understanding what some of the other pain points are in the process for community and economic developers or project sponsors as they take deals to market, but beginning to address some of those needs as well. I think the other theme that weve seen is not only this need for kind of a deeper toolkit, if you will, a deeper ecosystem of tools that communities and sponsors can avail themselves of, but also a growing, I guess, exploration on the part of particularly cities and counties around how this incentive will fit into sort of longer-term community and economic development strategy that community may be pursuing.

A lot of what we saw initially was a number of sort of very discrete Opportunity Zone focused efforts that were, you know, laser targeted on trying to develop a strategy for a given city to take advantage of the OZ incentive. What were seeing now is a recognition that in the longer-term, those approaches, which initially started as very OZ-centric will need to be integrated into the longer-term sort of economic and community development vision for communities in order to be sustaining. And so were seeing a lot of places begin to experiment with how best to do so. And to integrate some of the learnings and support that theyve developed OZs over the course of the past two years into their work more generally. Im happy to go into more detail and talk about this kind of more generally. But those are two of the big themes that weve been discovering over the course of the past year in the work that we do. And also that weve been working on a bit as well to begin to address some of those needs that have arisen.

Jimmy: Yeah, thats great, Peter. I actually would like to drill down into those points here in a moment. As a listener, if youve been listening to this podcast over the last few weeks, you know, recently I had Steve Glickman and Ira Weinstein on the show a short while back, and throughout the course of that show, we had identified several groups of key stakeholders in the Opportunity Zone ecosystem. And, you know, what I love about what youve done, Peter, is The Opportunity Exchange really attempts to bring all of those different types of stakeholders together to see the different types of deals and to match capital with those deals. Those stakeholders that you go after, specifically, are the Opportunity Zone investors themselves, the real estate developers, and deal sponsors. I believe you have some business deals listed on the website as well.

And of course, the keystone to make all of this happen are the Opportunity Zone communities and community leaders themselves. So, yeah, could you drill down into those two points you brought up, the growing recognition of needs that exist for communities? What can communities do? What are some of the best practices youve seen? And I think the other point that you made was about tools and layering other tools into Opportunity Zones. Tell us more about that as well.

Peter: Yeah. Well, thanks, Jimmy, for so succinctly summarizing the different folks who engage with the Opportunity Zone. Youre absolutely right, with The Opportunity Exchange, youre absolutely right. Those are kind of the three parties that weve built the platform around. With the thesis being, you know, the transparency and connectivity of those groups, the greater that we can help facilitate interactions between those parties, the more well be able to unlock the community aligned outcomes that this incentive was really designed to try to help facilitate.

As a company, like you were saying, we focus primarily on building tools to help enable those community leaders to really build that ecosystem in their community and enable better connectivity from the other two parties you described between investors and deal sponsors. And so, Ill talk a little bit about some of the evolution that weve seen in terms of how communities are thinking about approaching that challenge from an OZ perspective, and then share a couple of reflections on how were starting to see that bleed over into other types of work they do beyond OZ.

But starting with Opportunity Zone, specifically, you know, I think the journey has been winding for communities as theyve thought about, you know, the role that they can play here. As folks listening will well now, you know, its not necessarily clear when, upon first glance, what role the public sector has to play in shaping the Opportunity Zone market in general, right? Investors can come together with project sponsors and make deals independent of public involvement. And its not like other community economic development sort of incentives or programs like new markets where theres a need for public sector involvement. Opportunity Zone incentive can happen entirely within the private market. And so, initially, a lot of communities were saying, Well, what role is there for us to play here in shaping how these fields might unfold in our community?

And right from the beginning, we saw a handful of approaches begin to emerge. You know, a lot of communities perhaps began their work by building a community perspective. This was something that was pioneered in a few places, the Accelerator for America put out a really helpful template for communities in terms of thinking through how to do this. And this was one approach that communities took right off the bat to try to introduce themselves to investors in a way that was really compelling and kind of market forward. Building on the community perspectives idea that a lot of communities sort of initiated the Opportunity Zone work with, we saw a number of communities then begin to stand up ways to showcase, in real time, deals that they wanted investors to be looking at in their community. This was a key way that we started as a company working with cities and states by helping them to stand up these portals.

But over the course of the past 12 months or so, we really saw an evolution in terms of what those needs look like. While there was a lot of really promising progress that was made when it came to beginning to more proactively build these pipelines and communities, it was really clear that more tools would be needed to help projects advance along the sort of project development process so that they could ultimately be more competitive when they went to market. And so some of those tools that have come up have been things like, a lot of the projects that we see our community partners working with oftentimes begin the process maybe at an earlier stage of project development.

And, you know, building a pro forma for their deal is something that can be quite challenging for them, or perhaps theyve never put together sort of a one-page tear sheet for their project that they can use to pitch an investor. And so weve been thinking about ways to really deepen the suite of tools that we can provide the sponsors along that process so that as they navigate their path to market, they have a continuum of resources available at their disposal that they can avail themselves of along the way.

The second way that were working on trying to make this more repeatable for communities is thinking about ways to have those resources be more available, more visible, more readily accessible, and more standardized so that, from the municipality side of things, as they think about scaling this process and supporting more and more and more sponsors through this work, you know, theyre able to do so in a way that doesnt demand a one for one increase in their time and capacity or resources as they think about ways to more deeply support sponsors in their community.

And so I think this has been a really common theme that weve seen over the course of, you know, the past six months, especially as it became clear that the first step for a community was often to stand up a marketplace to showcase deals, and then really became apparent that things like providing this more deep technical assistance around deal structuring or deal financials, or kind of legal and accounting implications for specific projects, those needs really emerged. And I think were seeing communities begin to challenge themselves more and more around, you know, how do we make those resources available to OZ projects in our community. I think, and Im sure, you know, a lot of the work that youve done, Jimmy, through this pod and like the folks that have engaged in this community youve built has really been, I think, really critical to making that happen.

Perhaps 12 months ago or when we were first on in 2019, it wasnt necessarily even a level of familiarity with the OZ incentive generally to enable folks to get to the second order questions around, Okay, I know this is something Im interested in. How do I make it work? But were consistently starting to see those next level questions or sort of more deeper questions around perhaps specifics of applying the incentive to a given project rather than what is the Opportunity Zone incentive in the first place. More and more become things that were commonly seeing on behalf of communities. Thats a bit about what weve been observing around sort of the evolving way that were seeing communities wade into this Opportunity Zone landscape writ large.

Jimmy: Yeah. Thats great, Peter. Excellent observations overall. You know, I dont disagree with anything you said. And it is nice to see how the ecosystem has evolved the way that it has over the last year or two in that, yeah, people arent, you know, the key stakeholders are no longer asking, Okay, what is this program? Theyre diving deeper into the questions. Of course, you do still have new investors, new people getting turned on to the program every day who need that basic one-on-one intro to what Opportunity Zones are. But for the most part, at least the key stakeholders, the fund issuers, the deal sponsors themselves, the communities themselves have a pretty firm grasp of the program now. How do you expect the marketplace and The Opportunity Exchange in particular to continue to evolve over the next few months or throughout the course of this year?

Peter: Yeah, absolutely. Very pertinent question as were sort of in the early part of 2021, thinking about, you know, what are our goals and objectives for this year is something weve been spending a lot of time thinking about over the course of the past couple months. You know, Id be remiss, I know that theres such a big focus on this podcast to kind of providing actionable resources and information. So I realized I alluded to a lot of tools and resources that are out there in my sort of previous comment and just want to be specific about, so, for folks who are listening, how they can access some of them. And then it will be very clear, I think, as Ill share those, and then kind of can use that as a stepping stone into where were headed next, and how all these things come together.

But I laid out a couple of specific pain points that communities and sponsors face going through this process and just want to be forthright in directing folks to resources that are out there to be helpful. One is, I mentioned the aspiration for many communities to put together a community perspective or a community kind of marketing profile. I alluded to or mentioned the Accelerator for Americas template for how to do so. Thats a great place to get started. Weve also partnered with Opportunity Alabama to build a community profile building tool that can really help facilitate the process of kind of digitized community perspective building as a way to help make that work more maintainable, visible, and scalable across, you know, neighborhoods in your city or counties in your state.

The second thing I alluded to that I wanted to mention was the pro forma development as a challenge that many sponsors face, or as something that a lot of community development officials kind of regularly encounter in their work, but maybe dont always feel fully equipped with how to answer questions around, you know, what does the return profile look like for this deal and what assumptions were made in terms of thinking about how that return profile was generated? The Governance Project created a really helpful tool called GroundUp, which sort of is like the TurboTax for pro forma modeling. It walks folks through a step by step process to build a pro forma for a particular real estate deal or you can access it at groundupmodel.org. Its free to access there. But I encourage folks who are curious about that to go and check that out.

Finally, I think there was a big interest by a number of communities and sponsors around community impact. Jimmy, its something that you highlighted right off the beginning as something thats kind of core to the vision of Opportunity Zones. A really helpful tool in terms of thinking through some of those questions around how certain projects may deliver benefit to the communities in which theyre in. The Urban Institute built a really useful Community Impact Assessment Tool, which I recommend folks to check out. Weve partnered with them and are integrating that into The Opportunity Exchange so folks who have projects on the platform can immediately avail themselves of the ability to use that scorecard as well as the pro forma tool that I mentioned.

And so, just wanted to really help folks who are thinking through some of these questions themselves, ensure that thats providing kind of direct resources and links and things for you all to go check it out as you listen, in case any of these pain points are particularly germane to your work. In terms of how this all comes together, and then I think where we see sort of this market heading is, one, a continued desire to explore and add tools to this project development toolkit in the first place.

So I think if there are folks who are listening who have ideas or who have stories that would be about your experience kind of navigating the OZ project development process, either from the community perspective, or project sponsor perspective, or an investor or fund perspective, I would love to have a conversation with you to continue to understand sort of what other needs might exist and how can we be helpful in helping solve those pain points.

I think the other thing that we commonly observed is, and this alludes to something I brought up earlier, were seeing an expansion in terms of the way that communities think about integrating Opportunities Zone into their community economic development strategies. So, if I take a specific project, for example, a lot of times the process that will happen will be maybe the sponsor wants to build a mixed use space with some commercial space on the first floor or perhaps some market rate and affordable housing units above, theyll go through the process to begin to structure, you know, Okay, what is the kind of market study look like that will support the viability of this deal? How do we think the financials might come together? Theyll begin to engage with one of the cities or municipalities that we work with via The Opportunity Exchange.

And over the course of that work, we often see kind of the realization that, you know, this might be a really viable and great project. But for any number of reasons, maybe Opportunity Zones might not be exactly the right tool in this instance. One of the things that we see happening more and more often is then communities being proactive and saying, you know, Okay, thats all right. Theres other tools that are out there. Lets be thoughtful in terms of how we can connect you to other sources of capital that might be more appropriate for the type of project that youre working on.

And that last step is something that I think will be really critical to watch in the coming 12 months as we think about sort of the longer-term integration of some of this OZ work into how communities approach community economic development from on a more regular basis because it will really signal the integration of a cohesive sort of network where, you know, any project thats going through the development process and need some assistance from the public sector, will be able to enter into this ecosystem and not only access the continuum of tools that will be able to help it kind of navigate any step in the process.

But once they start to think about that capital attraction step, therell be sort of this more accessible and more built-out menu of options, if you will. In the case where, you know, Opportunity Zones is the right choice for a project, great. Theres been a lot of investment on behalf of everybody whos probably listening and helping to build that ecosystem over the course of the past couple of years. But thinking about connectivity to other sources of capital is a big thing that we anticipate being more and more important for folks as they kind of integrate this work into their ongoing operations from the community economic development side of things.

From our perspective, thats something that were really focused on. We began working with a couple of different CDFIs across the country. Were working with the list office in Detroit, as well as a group in Alabama called Neighborhood Concepts to help them build out more sort of digitized application intake review mechanisms for managing the work of their loan funds within their CDFI. And for us, this is one way to begin to wade into that sort of capital connectivity piece that I was just alluding to, to begin to provide a wider array of options for sponsors who are using The Opportunity Exchange to help bring their deal to market so that theres a greater connectivity for them as they think about, All right. Well, who should I be talking to when it comes to thinking about how the financing for this project might work?

Jimmy: Yeah, tremendous, Peter. A lot to unpack there. A lot of great resources that you rattled off. For listeners out there today, I will have show notes for this episode at opportunitydb.com/podcast. And Ill be sure to link to all of those resources on this episode show notes page, the resources that Peter just mentioned. A lot of great online tools there. And its important to be able to take advantage of these tools. I mean, so far, you know, in the first couple plus years of the program, tens of billions of dollars have been raised by Opportunity Zone funds and theres still a lot of money left to be raised out there over the life of this program over the next several years, until we run up to the end date year-end 2026 as it stands right now.

A couple other tools that I want to mention, Id be remiss if I didnt mention them are, one is a community platform that we just launched from OZPros.com is OZworks Group. That community can be accessed at OZworksGroup.com. And the goal there is for us to put together all of these different stakeholders into one platform where they can really interact and meet. And weve already had several success stories come out of that in the early days there. So I encourage you to check out OZworksGroup.com when you get a moment. And then, you know, I also haveand well be talking about OZ Pitch Day 2020 here in a minute, Peter, but also wanted to mention the fact that Im doing another OZ Pitch Day event in March coming up pretty soon here. So, you can check out whats on tap for that event by heading to OZPitchDay.com.

And were gonna have more funds present their different investment options for you investors out there who may be running up against a March 31 deadline. Thats the deadline that was extended by the IRS back in January, on January 19th they extended out that deadline once again. So if you missed the old December 31, 2020 deadline, you now have until the end of March of this year, 2021, to still rollover capital gains that may have been accrued along certain timeframes going back as far as 2019 in some cases. So thats a couple of plugs I wanted to make sure that I got in there, Peter.

Jimmy: Yeah. No, its really exciting. Ive been following along with OZworks work as its been merging. And I think it really fits into a lot of the same themes that weve been talking about over the course of this podcast, you know, having a deep set of resources and tools and advice for folks to be able to avail themselves of as they consider how Opportunity Zones might fit with their work. And to make that advice really accessible on a regular basis for folks, I think, its really exciting what youre what youre putting together and Im eager to continue to follow along and help out as we can.

Jimmy: Yeah. Well, thanks for that, Peter, thanks for your support so far on that endeavor. I appreciate it. I did want to kind of wrap things up here by recapping the OZ Pitch Day that we partnered on back in November of 2020. It took place on November 17th of last year, 2020. For those who are unaware, it was a one day all day Opportunity Zone pitch fest, essentially, hosted by OpportunityDb. And I partnered with Peter and his team at The Opportunity Exchange to help put it on. And just to briefly recap it, we did have 12 different qualified Opportunity Funds pitch their different investments throughout the course of the day. We had over 1,200 investors register for the event. And I believe we had close to 500 of them attend that live online event throughout the course of the day on November 17th. And many more who have watched the recording of the event since then, it was really incredible to see the way that it all came together. And Ive gotten great feedback from those who had attended the event.

I sent out a survey shortly after the event asking people, Hey, how did you like it? You know, what did you think? And are you actually going to invest in a qualified Opportunity Fund? And you know, one of my favorite questions that I got responses to from that survey is, I asked, Did this event, did OZ Pitch Day improve your likelihood of investing in a qualified Opportunity Fund? And I was blown away by the fact that 83% of the respondents said yes. And I have heard, anecdotally, I dont collect hard data on this, but anecdotally, Ive heard from several, multiple of the qualified opportunity funds that presented that day that they did raise capital as a direct result of being involved with that event. You know, millions and millions of dollars were raised from investors who were pitched to on that day.

So, that was great to hear that it was successful both for the investors who attended and for the fund managers who pitched during the course of the event. So, Peter, turning to you now, I wanted to ask you if you could tell our listeners what The Opportunity Exchange did for three of the presenting qualified Opportunity Fund partners on the event, Urban Catalyst, USG/OZIs Investors Choice OZ Fund, and Origin Investments. I know that you got involved with those three funds to build out their listings on your marketplace. Can you go into a little bit more detail there about what youve done?

Peter: Yeah, absolutely, Jimmy. Its awesome to hear some of the updates and enthusiasm that was shared back about the events. From the way that we were involved, as we mentioned before, one of the kind of key folks that engages with The Opportunity Exchange is this investor and fund base that we have. And so, when Jimmy approached us about his ideas for a Pitch Day and how he thought the event could come together, it was sort of a natural fit for us to figure out how to work together to make the event successful. What weve done is put together three fund portfolios for the three funds that Jimmy mentioned, Origin Investments, USG/OZI Investors Choice, and Urban Catalysts. You can find those at theopportunityexchange.com/opportunitydb/portfolios. If youre curious to see, you can go there.

Id encourage everybody whos listening, you know, visit the podcast notes, go to the URL I just mentioned. Youll be able to see the three different funds that weve set up. And you can look at the different projects that are going to be part of those different funds. You can understand a little bit about what the vision for the fund is, and then, you know, reach out and get connected to those groups. Id encourage folks who are curious to learn more, to visit those different profiles and get connected. This was a really exciting event, I think, in general because of its focus on really providing a dedicated venue to help facilitate, you know, not only the sort of information sharing, you know, to your point, Jimmy, the fact that folks are saying, Hey, this made me more likely to engage with this incentive in general, is an awesome outcome. And I think its testament to the sort of continued learning and continued ecosystem building work that everybody in this OpportunityDb ecosystem is committed to doing.

And it was also really special because of the amount of space that was given to the different funds who were pitching at the event to really be able to go into detail about kind of their vision and the work that they were hoping to do. It was a really unique event from our perspective. And, yeah, we were really excited to be able to help out, you know, bringing some investors to the event and then also showcasing these fund profiles here over the course of the coming month. Again, the place to go to check them out is theopportunityexchange.com/opportunitydb/portfolios. Youll see the three portfolios for the different funds that we mentioned. Oregon Investments, Urban Catalysts, and USG/OZI Investors Choice. You can click on them, see some of the deals that theyre working on. And I encourage folks to reach out and connect through some of those profiles to learn more.

Jimmy: Yeah, fantastic. And thank you once again, Peter, for partnering with me on OZ Pitch Day and partnering with those three qualified opportunity funds in order to get their portfolios up on your website. Its tremendous. And, again, just to reiterate what I said before, really pleased with how the first OZ Pitch Day went last November. And again, for those who may have missed that event or for those who liked it and want to do it again, I am doing another one. I am planning on doing multiple OZ Pitch Day events throughout the course of this year.

And the first one for this year is coming up on March 9th. And you can learn more about that at OZPitchDay.com. Its positioned such that it is a few weeks before that March 31 deadline that many investors are facing. So, the idea being attend OZ Pitch Day, learn about several different Qualified Opportunity Funds, and maybe youll find one you like and you can place your capital gains into one of those funds before that deadline arrives.

For our listeners out there today, as I mentioned before, I always produce show notes on the Opportunity Zones database website where you can learn more about todays episode. You can find those show notes at opportunitydb.com/podcast. And there you will find links to all of the resources that Peter and I discussed on todays show. Peter, again, thanks for coming on the show today. Its been a pleasure.

Peter: Yeah. Thanks so much for having me, Jimmy. I look forward to coming on again in 18 months from now and talking about what more weve learned. Thanks so much for the opportunity to share our thoughts with you today.

Jimmy: Awesome. Thank you, Peter.

Read this article:

The Evolution of the OZ Marketplace, with Peter Truog - OpportunityDb

Three conformations of the DNA double helix: A (left), B (center) and left-handed Z (right). Credit: David S. Goodsell and RCSB PDB

Darwins theory of evolution should be expanded to include consideration of a DNA stability energy code so-called molecular Darwinism to further account for the long-term survival of species characteristics on Earth, according to Rutgers scientists.

The iconic genetic code can be viewed as an energy code that evolved by following the laws of thermodynamics (flow of energy), causing its evolution to culminate in a nearly singular code for all living species, according to the Rutgers co-authored study in the journal Quarterly Reviews of Biophysics.

These revelations matter because they provide entirely new ways ofanalyzing the human genome and the genome of any living species, the blueprints of life, said senior author Kenneth J. Breslauer, Linus C. Pauling Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology in the School of Arts and Sciences at Rutgers UniversityNew Brunswick. He is also affiliated with the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey. The origins of the evolution of the DNA genetic code and the evolution of all living species are embedded in the different energy profiles of their molecular DNA blueprints. Under the influence of the laws of thermodynamics, this energy code evolved, out of an astronomical number of alternative possibilities, into a nearly singular code across all living species.

Scientists investigated this so-called universal enigma, probing the origins of the astounding observation that the genetic code evolved into a nearly uniform blueprint that arose from trillions of possibilities.

The scientists expanded the underpinnings of the landmark survival of the fittest Darwinian evolutionary theory to include molecular Darwinism. Darwins revolutionary theory is based on the generational persistence of a species physical features that allow it to survive in a given environment through natural selection. Molecular Darwinism refers to physical characteristics that persist through generations because the regions of the molecular DNA that code for those traits are unusually stable.

Different DNA regions can exhibit differential energy signatures that may favor physical structures in organisms that enable specific biological functions, Breslauer said.

Next steps include recasting and mapping the human genome chemical sequence into an energy genome, so DNA regions with different energy stabilities can be correlated with physical structures and biological functions. That would enable better selection of DNA targets for molecular-based therapeutics.

Reference: Energy mapping of the genetic code and genomic domains: implications for code evolution and molecular Darwinism by Horst H. Klump, Jens Vlker and Kenneth J. Breslauer, 4 November 2020, Quarterly Reviews of Biophysics.DOI: 10.1017/S0033583520000098

Jens Vlker, an associate research professor in RutgersNew Brunswicks Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, co-authored the study, along with first author Horst H. Klump at the University of Cape Town.

Funding: U.S. National Institutes of Health, NRF (Pretoria, RSA).

The rest is here:

DNA Energy Code: Survival of the Fittest Phenomenon Is Only Part of the Evolution Equation - SciTechDaily

One of the major challenges for pitchers this season is the jump in innings, as theyll go from pitching in a 60-game season last year to a full 162-game slate this year.

Angels left-hander Andrew Heaney is well aware of that and prepared himself this offseason to get ready for an increase in workload. He made 12 starts last year, throwing 66 2/3 innings with a 4.46 ERA and 70 strikeouts compared to 19 walks. But he's had experience with building innings back up -- he was injured in 2017 and threw just 21 2/3 innings, only to bounce back in '18 with 30 starts and a career-high 180 innings.

"I took a little less time off from throwing than normal, Heaney said via Zoom on Wednesday. Maybe two to three weeks. Two weeks off from lifting and then kind of got going again. It made for a little bit more of a slower escalation for throwing, but I think it's a good thing. I feel really good. So, I'm glad."

Heaney, 29, made another change this offseason, purchasing his own Rapsodo pitching device and a slow-motion camera to better track his throwing sessions. It allowed Heaney to measure things such as his spin rate on certain pitches, while also using the slow-motion camera to analyze his grips and how the ball was coming out of his hand.

Heaney consulted with former Angels pitching coach Doug White to get a better feel for the data he was receiving, as Heaney did most of his throwing on his own at his offseason home in Oklahoma.

"For the most part, I was kind of on my own, and so I felt like I needed a little bit more of that feedback," Heaney said. "I wasn't specifically working on any single pitch. I think I just wanted to get a better understanding of what I do, how I can be better with it. You know, what little changes I can make here and there."

Angels manager Joe Maddon believes those little changes can be something as simple as changing Heaneys pitch mix to get better results. Heaney has above-average strikeout and walk rates, but he has had trouble limiting hard contact in recent seasons. He's struck out 188 batters and walked just 49 in 162 innings over the last two seasons, but he has also posted a 4.72 ERA that's slightly above the league average.

"He's got great talent," Maddon said. "He's got such a quick arm and gets that carry to the baseball. The big thing for Andrew, for me, is to really understand how to utilize his weapons and how to put them away. That's it. It's probably a game planning or sequencing, because he has all this ability. He has all the tools in the toolbox, but he just has to parcel them out better."

Heaney, set to be a free agent after the season, is buying in to changing his methods on the mound -- especially since this is his seventh season with the Angels, and the clubs in the American League West are very familiar with him and his arsenal.

"I think that there is an element of my game that I am a little bit stubborn," Heaney said. "I know I have a good fastball. I like to throw my four-seam, I like to move it in and out, like to try and get it in on guys' hands. Maybe our new front office will bring in some new information to help us. But I've been stubborn, and I've been in the same league -- and let's face it, there's not an element of surprise any more. So I think an evolution needs to happen with how I approach hitters and the way I use my stuff."

See the article here:

Heaney: 'An evolution needs to happen' - MLB.com