Dylan Casey

[Beech Mtn]

What I find interesting is that when you google-search news items for Floyd Landis, the suggested search is Floyd Landis divorce. I can't imagine that FL's divorce was ever a huge news story with lots of articles and lots people performing that search.

All year, since the Floyd emails went public, you could search under his name to see what had been written recently concerning the USPS allegations. For a long time, when you started typing Floyd's name in a Google news search box, the suggested searches were Floyd Landis divorce, Floyd Landis emails, and Floyd Landis doping. But now the FL doping suggestion is gone (that one gave lots of links about the USPS investigation), and the only suggested search term that comes up is for his divorce.

Can somebody explain why his divorce would still be such a hot topic that it pops up as a search suggestion, but not Floyd Landis doping, Floyd Landis investigation, etc.? I can't imagine that there was ever so much demand to search for articles on his divorce.

 

[131313]

yeah... you know what?

--edited by mod as the ratio of **** compared to language we welcome here pointed the wrong way.

I was going to leave my own DC experience out of this, but since Saunders can't tell a story without swearing, and because my own experience is probably funnier, here goes:

I did some sh!tbag local race in CA a couple of years ago, a muti-lap circuit deal with about a 5K climb. On lap 2 I'm on the climb, still nose breathing and rooting around in my pockets for something (probably my phone) and let a very small gap open. Next thing you know, some knucklehead is putting his hand almost on my crotch and slinging me about 4 places back? I didn't even know who it was, but someone else mentioned the name: Dylan Casey. We were going so slow I couldn't even get that mad about it, though he almost took out a few other dudes in the process. The race suddenly got hard soon after that, and I never saw him again.

Fast forward to the parking lot, where I'm rambling on to anyone who will listen that I was clearly the strongest guy in the race but rode the last 2 laps with 30 psi in my rear tire (true story), asking complete strangers to "come on, feel my tire, REALLY", "oh the INJUSTICE"...then complaining that all the amateurs have it in for me, etc.

Then I hear the guy parked next to me telling a much more interesting story, about some clown attacking the gruppetto so he can lock down 38th place (in a field of about 50 guys). The rider? Dylan Casey.

Solid move...

I don't even really understand the transgressions the conspiracy theorists on here are accusing him of committing, but based on what I witnessed, I'm inclined to just roll with it and say "yeah, he did that, too". Just because.

 

[BotanyBay]

What I find interesting is that when you google-search news items for Floyd Landis, the suggested search is Floyd Landis divorce. I can't imagine that FL's divorce was ever a huge news story with lots of articles and lots people performing that search.

It was never a news story. Not by itself. The word "divorce" only started appearing last year, as people came to know that he was living in a cabin in Idyllwild and training alone (and racing alone). It's very curious that the term "divorce" would be added (I've noticed that too BTW). Almost as if to deliberately twist a knife every time he tried googling his own name. A jab meant just for Floyd.

 

[BotanyBay]

I was going to leave my own DC experience out of this, but since Saunders can't tell a story without swearing, and because my own experience is probably funnier, here goes:

I did some sh!tbag local race in CA a couple of years ago, a muti-lap circuit deal with about a 5K climb. On lap 2 I'm on the climb, still nose breathing and rooting around in my pockets for something (probably my phone) and let a very small gap open. Next thing you know, some knucklehead is putting his hand almost on my crotch and slinging me about 4 places back? I didn't even know who it was, but someone else mentioned the name: Dylan Casey. We were going so slow I couldn't even get that mad about it, though he almost took out a few other dudes in the process. The race suddenly got hard soon after that, and I never saw him again.

Fast forward to the parking lot, where I'm rambling on to anyone who will listen that I was clearly the strongest guy in the race but rode the last 2 laps with 30 psi in my rear tire (true story), asking complete strangers to "come on, feel my tire, REALLY", "oh the INJUSTICE"...then complaining that all the amateurs have it in for me, etc.

Then I hear the guy parked next to me telling a much more interesting story, about some clown attacking the gruppetto so he can lock down 38th place (in a field of about 50 guys). The rider? Dylan Casey.

Solid move...

I don't even really understand the transgressions the conspiracy theorists on here are accusing him of committing, but based on what I witnessed, I'm inclined to just roll with it and say "yeah, he did that, too". Just because.

I guess ex-pros are the worst kind of Fred.

 

[alpine_chav]

That would be very poor behavior by an employee of the publicly-traded Google, particularly given the scrutiny Google is receiving regarding search results.

Which scrutiny is this? Links please

 

[BotanyBay]

Which scrutiny is this? Links please

Oh brother, just Yahoo (hehe) Google and EU in the same search string. The EU is gunning for Google over search results manipulation.

 

[Race Radio]

It was never a news story. Not by itself. The word "divorce" only started appearing last year, as people came to know that he was living in a cabin in Idyllwild and training alone (and racing alone). It's very curious that the term "divorce" would be added (I've noticed that too BTW). Almost as if to deliberately twist a knife every time he tried googling his own name. A jab meant just for Floyd.

The exact same thing happens if you write "Betsy Andreu" it suggests "Betsy Andreu Divorce" and they are not even divorced

 

[BotanyBay]

The exact same thing happens if you write "Betsy Andreu" it suggests "Betsy Andreu Divorce" and they are not even divorced

I think we're on to something. I wonder what comes up with Novi?

 

[BotanyBay]

BTW, if people don't know what we're talking about...:

In other words:

Lance? Good. Dylan? Good. Betsy, Tyler, Floyd, Frankie?

BAAAAAAAADDDDDDDDD!!!!!

 

[Polish]

OMG - when I google "Tin Foil" it shows:

"tin foil hat"
"tin foil on my head"
"tin foil Betsy Andreu origami sculpture"

 

[jimbob_in_co]

OMG - when I google "Tin Foil" it shows:

"tin foil hat"
"tin foil on my head"
"tin foil Betsy Andreu origami sculpture"

I think I speak for many people of varying opinions when I say....
"That was uncool".

(I see someone has moved on to the ANGER stage of grieving.)

 

[Benotti69]

BTW, if people don't know what we're talking about...:


In other words:

Lance? Good. Dylan? Good. Betsy, Tyler, Floyd, Frankie?

BAAAAAAAADDDDDDDDD!!!!!

why would Dylan Casey have even half the hits of Floyd or are there lots of Dylan Casey's

 

[BotanyBay]

And BTW, you'll find google results of OTHER people talking about the article... You'll even find SI's Bonnie Ford's article that talks about the article.

But you won't find a direct link to THE article, even with the most direct search string that one can imagine. Someone interfered here.

 

[BotanyBay]

why would Dylan Casey have even half the hits of Floyd or are there lots of Dylan Casey's

'Cuz he's so gosh-darn CUTE in a suit...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oxrI2OjhSo

 

[Mambo95]

And BTW, you'll find google results of OTHER people talking about the article... You'll even find SI's Bonnie Ford's article that talks about the article.

But you won't find a direct link to THE article, even with the most direct search string that one can imagine. Someone interfered here.

Click on 'Everything' rather than 'News' in the left hand column and you'll get plenty of links to the article right at the top of the page.

Type 'Sports Illustrated' and any sportsman you choose in with the news filter on and you won't get many links at all to the SI website (there may be one or two). This is because it is primarily a magazine rather than a news provider.

 

[BotanyBay]

They treat other magazines as "news sources". Why not SI in this case? I thought that high traffic trends put top stories up high in the results. And especially so if many "news" sources are linking TO it.

I do see a #2 ranking when I type the name of the article and the magazine (when I click "Everything")... but still, seriously, the Google News result should have been higher. It didn't even register a direct mention.

Offbeat: See the macabre discovery on search suggestions of you search for Dylan Casey on Youtube. Weird.

 

[Mambo95]

They treat other magazines as "news sources". Why not SI in this case? I thought that high traffic trends put top stories up high in the results. And especially so if many "news" sources are linking TO it.

The SI article was published over a week ago. Most of the news stories, on any topic, that come up are from today.

Interestingly, if you use the predictive search term thing with the news filter on and type in 'lance armstrong' (at the time of this post), you get:

lance armstrong
lance armstrong doping
lance armstrong federal investigation
(and nothing else)

I do see a #2 ranking when I type the name of the article and the magazine (when I click "Everything")... but still, seriously, the Google News result should have been higher. I didn't even register a direct mention.

If you type in exactly the same search term as you did previously (rather than a broader term), then you'll get the first four hits all linking to it.

Really, if you want to show a conspiracy that someone is manipulating google results, it's best not to try to do it by manipulating google results yourself.

 

[BotanyBay]

Really, if you want to show a conspiracy that someone is manipulating google results, it's best not to try to do it by manipulating google results yourself.

I know the name of the publication and the name of the article, and that's a manipulation?

 

[Mambo95]

I know the name of the publication and the name of the article, and that's a manipulation?

No, but picking filters and mixing around search terms until you get a screen grab you like, is.

Seriously, if you want to demonise Armstrong, go ahead. There's plenty of perfectly sound doping allegations to get you teeth into.

But, this whole google conspiracy is crazy and makes you look a touch desperate, to be honest.

 

[BotanyBay]

No, but picking filters and mixing around search terms until you get a screen grab you like, is.

Seriously, if you want to demonise Armstrong, go ahead. There's plenty of perfectly sound doping allegations to get you teeth into.

But, this whole google conspiracy is crazy and makes you look a touch desperate, to be honest.

I didn't even know there were filters I could manipulate, to be quite honest. Everything you see is WYSIWYG. No rigging, no manipulations, no search strings designed for maximum damage, and most importantly, no omission of less damaging results. All of these screen grabs were the first terms I attempted entering. And I did them in a span of about 3 minutes.

A test is being designed as we speak. The guy designing it is skeptical of my suspicions. I can live with that. And if I must eat crow, I will. I'm not accusing anyone of anything. But I'm not afraid to display facts that I compile, and I'm not afraid to point-out that there are curious circumstances and a definite personal connection that exists.

 

[BotanyBay]

From today's Bikezilla http://bikezilla.blogspot.com

*UPDATE

I have a poll up on Bikezilla.blogspot.com (blogspot / blogger is owned by Google). It's a tongue in cheek poll about who my readers hate. It comes out heavily against Lance Armstrong.

At least 20 responses were entirely eliminated tonight (27 Jan 11). BAM, just like that. Sadly for Lance, it only reduced his "hate rating" from 64% to 62$.

Don't be surprised if Bikezilla on Blogspot is soon shut down by Google.

Don't worry, you'll still be able to find me on Wordpress.

 

[dbrower]

I'd say for borderline celebrities or regular folk, "divorce" is the sort of thing that the People magizine readers look for, and is a plausible suggestion. LA is far more than a borderline celebrity, so more useful keywords pop up.

-dB

 

[BotanyBay]

I'd say for borderline celebrities or regular folk, "divorce" is the sort of thing that the People magizine readers look for, and is a plausible suggestion. LA is far more than a borderline celebrity, so more useful keywords pop up.

-dB

Of all the things that people might google Landis or Betsy for... Divorce is not high on the list, especially if it's not been reported.

From Google Trends....

"Besty Andreu divorce":
http://www.google.com/trends?q=Besty+Andreu+divorce&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all&sort=0
(This search, as entered in the screen grab, does not warrant enough volume to get a graph)

"Floyd Landis divorce"
http://www.google.com/trends?q=Floyd+Landis+divorce&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all
It ranked, but by no means a lot of volume

"Frankie Andreu divorce"
http://www.google.com/trends?q=Frankie+Andreu+divorce&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all&sort=0
(not enough volume to show a graph, yet enough volume to warrant a search suggestion from the same company)

 

[elizab]

Of all the things that people might google Landis or Betsy for... Divorce is not high on the list, especially if it's not been reported.

From Google Trends....

"Besty Andreu divorce":
http://www.google.com/trends?q=Besty+Andreu+divorce&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all&sort=0
(This search, as entered in the screen grab, does not warrant enough volume to get a graph)

"Floyd Landis divorce"
http://www.google.com/trends?q=Floyd+Landis+divorce&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all
It ranked, but by no means a lot of volume

"Frankie Andreu divorce"
http://www.google.com/trends?q=Frankie+Andreu+divorce&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all&sort=0
(not enough volume to show a graph, yet enough volume to warrant a search suggestion from the same company)

Frankie nor I have ever been married to anyone else nor have we ever divorced each other to some people's dismay ("I don't know what he sees in her"). Very weird indeed.

 

[Colm.Murphy]

Frankie nor I have ever been married to anyone else nor have we ever divorced each other to some people's dismay ("I don't know what he sees in her"). Very weird indeed.

As entertainment goes, this strikes me as funny in a peculiar sort of manner..

Doing a quick google news search of people who had recently divorced in Hollywood, typing just their name, the term "divorce" is listed in "suggested searches" in the third line position for Kelsey Grammar, and not at all for Sandra Bullock (hubba).

I am not sure any sense can be made of how google's suggested search terms that populate under the search box as you type. It is highly suspect that for Landis and the Andreau's there IS that term as a suggested item.

If you click through on Floyd Landis Divorce, there are 52 items searchable but only if you click the "Archives" option on the left nav.

So, while there could be a grand PR conspiracy engineered to suggest negative or distracting search options related to prominent names who've stood opposed to Lance, making heads or tails of how it all "works" seems like a futile exercise, unless we can get a google employee to reveal some inner secrets of their algorithmic search process.