Chris Whalen’s Random Life

First of all I would like to congratulate the New York Giants. They flat out played better than the Patriots and deserved the win. Their standard 4 man rush had too much speed both on the outside and the inside for the Patriots line to handle, and that is what ultimately kept them from being able to execute their offense and win the game.

This is more about the way the rest of the country feels about the Patriots. Those of us who live in New England have a difficult time understanding why it seems the entire rest of the country hates the Patriots so much. And I can tell you from personal experience this is not imagined. The part of the country that may have the healthiest hatred I believe is Pennsylvania and of course, Indianapolis. The level of vitriol there is more than just palatable.

The Patriots have gone from the lovable underdogs in 2001 to the loathed juggernaut in 2007. Any team with sustained success will develop a level of dislike from everyone else. Add in the Belichick personality, the lack of personality on the team as they seemingly dispassionately destroy everyone and then just for fun mix in some Spygate and you have the recipe for a team that may be more despised than the Yankees of the 1990s, Raiders of the late 70s and early 80s, and the Cowboys and Steelers of the 70s. From my travels there seems to be no depth to the level of hatred for the Pats despite the general level of like for Tom Brady…although that too is slipping.

The Patriots are about to go through some monumental changes. There are several key free agents, players who might retire (see my post from last week), and the possible suspension of the coach (ESPN is right in reporting that is Commissioner Goodell finds there is more Spygate evidence than that will be the outcome for sure). That is something we as fans can not control, we can only react to. And hope that it does not diminish the level of joy those Superbowls brought us at the time.

The problem is that in New England we are spoiled. We have been so fortunate as to see the Red Sox win two World Series in recent years, the Patriots win 3 Superbowls that we forget what is was like in the early 90s when the Patriots were going 1-15 (I was at every home game that year), the crowed were unruly at best and the fans were merely hoping for a .500 season, a playoff berth was unthinkable but the ultimate goal. We never let us think about the Superbowl. That was a bad memory from the ‘85 Bears…

The truth is most US Cities’ sports teams hope for the playoffs and try to get hot at the right time. It is the nature of most of professional sports. College as well. Every city is hoping for that magical run that brings a deep playoff run and just maybe a shot at a championship. We have become too spoiled here in New England. We have become like hte Yankee fans of the 90s, the Steeler fans of the 70s, the LSU fans every year, that somehow we are OWED a berth in the championship, as ridiculous as that sounds to someone NOT a fans of those teams. That is just the product of living in an area that is enjoying unprecedented success in it’s sports teams. We need to just enjoy what we have and enjoy each year individually.  We may never live through something like this again!

So embrace the hate Pats fans! The hate is just because everyone else wishes they could experience what you are experiencing. Nevermind what might happen with Sen. Spector, or Matt Walsh, or not getting Johann Santana, we have enjoyed 3 Superbowls and are in position to contend for more for many years thanks to a stable coaching staff and ownership, #12, and BTW the #7 pick in the NFL draft this year.

Would you rather be living in Kansas City or Atlanta or Buffalo???? I didn’t think so….  

Here’s to a return trip to the big game!!!!!       

Doesn’t the Senate Judiciary Committee have anything else to do? First there was the major league baseball hearings, where famously Sammy Sosa forgot he spoke English, then the subsequent report, and now Sen. Arlon Spector wants more answers to the Video controversy regarding the Patriots and week 1. Are you kidding?

Now I understand the Senator is an avid Eagles fan, and often calls into Philadelphia sports radio, and keep in mind the letter he sent to Commissioner Goodell was sent the week before the Patriots-Eagles game, which is a bit suspicious. But the Patriots broke a rule, were punished, were probably the most scrutinized team in NFL history after that, can we finally let it go? It is time to move on. The commissioner was very clear today that the Patriots broke a rule and were punished for it, that the videotaping had little to no effect on any games, and that trying to steal signals is rampant and actually expected in every sport.  

The problem with getting any branch of the Federal government involved with any sport really is motivation. What would the goal of a government agency be to investigating any sport where an actual crime has not been committed? Sports by definition are entertainment. This just seems like grandstanding to me. What would the government as an organization gain by investigating any sport? We can certainly tell what a given politician would gain, but with no actual crime committed I fail to see the role of any government agency in Sports. Are we next going to have Senators bring Hollywood actors in for testimony if they may have done steroids prior to that last big bicep action flick? Basically the same thing. Just as many young people look up to famous actors as athletes. And what about tennis? With the betting and drug use scandals that have faced the ATP lately, how come there has been no senate investigation there? I was always under the impression that gambling was considered far worse than drug use (see Pete Rose).

As in with anything, I always try to look at the purpose and end point for a given action. Getting any government involved in professional sports just seems to me dubious at best in terms of both. I see no relevant motivation or an outcome that would have any type of effect on the sport or the way a given sport is managed. I just don’t get it.         

The Patriots, whether you love them or hate them, are on the verge of a historic season. The 4th Superbowl appearance in 7 years, they have been very consistent. Part of that consistency has been the ability to keep the core of the team intact, while picking up free agents or trade for lesser known players that fit their system. One thing thing we should look at is if the Patriots are fortunate enough to win, how will their team change? There are several key players going into free agency and several very key verterans that may consider going 19-0 a perfect way to pull an Elway- retire while on top.

Let’s assume the 2008 salary cap number will be about $116 Million. Generally accepted that it will be in that range. Let’s take a look at players that will be free agents and how much of cap room they could free up…

Asante Samuel - Cap hit for 2007 $7.8 million

Rosevelt Colvin - $4.5 million

Randy Moss - $2.5 (assuming the Patriots do not pick up the option)

Jabbar Gaffney - $595k

Troy Brown - $820k

Eugene Wilson - $2.1 million

Now that is a total of about $17.5 million of cap space freed up. However, that also means losing your top WR, one of your top LBs, and your top DB just for starters. All of which are going to be expensive to replace. If the Patriots were to try to keep Samuel and Moss, that in and of itself would probably require more than the cap room this makes available. The question is will they sign and for how much?

The more interesting list is the veteran players under contract for next year that may very well decide to retire at the end of a perfect season. These players could leave huge holes in the Patriots on both offense and defense. Now let’s just look theortically at who could possibly retire…

Kevin Faulk - 2007 Cap charge $1.9 million

Tedy Bruschi - $1.7 million

Rodney Harrison - $1.5 million

Junior Seau - $1 million

Now the challenge here is that these are part of the core of the Patriots. The team jsut would not be the same without Bruschi, Faulk, Harrison, and Seau has played very well in his two years. The possible retirement of these players only frees up about $6.1 million in cap space. That is not nearly enough space to replace all those players and starters at those positions. Not to mention dramatically changing the makeup of the team.

In theory, the Patriots could be around $23.4 million below the 2007 salary cap number. Now if the salary cap really goes up to $116 million, that means the Patriots could be around $32.4 million under the 2008 salary cap (not including any accelerators on signing bonuses etc. which I could not find data on). However, it could mean replace 4 of your top 4 receivers, 3 of your 5 top linebackers, your starting corner and strong safety, and an absolute TON of leadership. With a roster this deep, young players (except James Sanders at safety for one), really have not had the chance to get allot of experience. Will the Patriots be starting Sanders and soon to be second year man Brandon Meriweather at safety? Randall Gay back at corner? Pierre Woods and Oscar Lua at linebacker? This could mean Kelly Washington back at WR as the deep threat to go with Welker, assuming the Patriots do not want to pick up the option to pay Stallworth $9 million next year. And who would be the new thrid down back?

19-0 would be historic but could also help to transform the Patriots into a middle of the pack team next year. Perhaps one on the bubble for making the playoffs. It will be very interesting to see who of this group they bring back and how the draft is handled this year. 19-0 may be a good time for a few executives to exit as well rather than deal with rebuilding.

Which players come back or are brought back will be the stories to follow in the next few months. Regardless, the Patriots could look dramtically different in February.      

Months ago I wrote an entry that was an adjunct to a project I had done several years ago. Mainly about the economics of sports stadiums. Usually the argument made for building a stadium for a team revolves around the tax revenue generated by the stadium itself. The problem is that the revenue generated there rarely actually comes to fruition for paying for the stadium. The real win is to use such a construction project to change the spending patterns of the people in an area in order to revitalize that area. Like in Baltimore, build a stadium in a place that needs help, and people will start getting used to spending time there on non-game days. In New England the new “man” mall is the same idea. Get people coming to Foxboro for something other than a game a create something more than an event driven revenue stream for that real estate investment.

Is this model coming online? The battle online has evolved into a battle for content, not access. Whereas the Comcasts, Verizons, etc. of the world battled in the prior few years to give customers access to the internet, now that battle is over. Access to the internet is rapidly becoming commodotized and only far greater access speeds than the norm can garner a premium price. The spending pattern is changing and moving to content.

In terms of the NFL, with the rules governing content distribution (the 45 second clip rule etc.)  the battle is more about where you get your content from than how to access it online. Do you get your NFL content in this case from NFL.com or AOL or ESPN etc. All have far different models for licsensing and paying for content. The question is where will the consumer want to go to consume. I think the day is near at hand where consumers will be subscribers to the NFL, HBO, etc. as separate or bundled entities and consumer the content from those sources anywhere. So rather than being a subscriber to Comcast, and only having access to the channels they provide, soon you should be able to subscirbe to NFL Network, HBO, ESPN, BBC and have that content on a channel by channel basis pushed out to your TV, Mobile, PC over any of the companies that provide access. This is one of the drivers of the bidding war over the analog TV signal.

As many of you probably do not know, the old analog TV signals are up for bid. Comcast, Verizon, Google seem to be the front runners for these frequencies. All for different reasons. Comcast according to Federal rule can only ever have 30% market share for cable TV, the are in the high 20s, where is their growth going to come from? Google wants to create (we think) a giant free WiFi network with the frequencies which obviously helps their market share.Verizon already owns somehting like 70% of the US internet backbone and would like to keep that level of marke dominance. All have very different reasons but it still comes down to price pressure driving the cost to access the internet down and consumers looking to get the content they want how they want to get it. The new x-Box allows you to hook up to your TV and show internet based content on your TV. The convergence of access to the internet is coming. TiVo was really the first device to actively use the internet in conjunciton with your cable box, that was only the start.

So in the midst of the NFL/Comcast battle, the frequencey bidding war ( I think we  are a year or so from resolution) there is the battle for how consumers get their content. This is a fundamental change in the spending patterns from the consumer. The premium pricing will be at the level of the content creator of content distributor level, not the internet or broadcast TV level anymore. So watch for your current providers of internet access, mobile phone, and TV all start to look the same and provide the same services. Just look at where VOIP has come, now everyone offers a version of it.

The bottom line is, how the market evolves will determine how you can pick and choose what content you will subscribe to. The spending pattern is changing. Now it is a question of how else your internet access can be leveraged and therefore how YOU are monetized as opposed to just monetizing, at a premium, the connection itself.  

The battle for control has become over the rights to content. Distributors will be the dominant media companies of hte next few years, not the cable or phone companies. Despite what Comcast and Verizon want to be….now you know why the NFL is so militant about who and how it’s content gets delivered, they know if is their revenue stream of the future…….  

Recently I had the chance to view a segment from a Boston based reporter spending time interviewing fans at an Indianapolis bar while watching the Patriots/Jaguars games. It was interesting to see the reaction. First of all, the Colts fans really do consider their team “the classiest” team in the NFL and one that always does things the “right way”. Their description of the Patriots was along the lines of ‘disreputable’, “classless”,”cheaters”, etc.

Let’s look at the facts shall we? First of all, having been on the sidelines for Colts and Patriots games, Colts players talk almost as much trash as San Diego players. Clearly more than most any team. The amount of taunting from their players is at least equal to that of the Patriots, who are certainly guilty of some of that as well. I still don’t get the classless and cheaters reference. The VideoGate incident was for one game and did not affect the outcome of that game. Anyone associated with the NFL will tell you it had more to do with where the Patriots were filming than the content itself. It did not affect the outcome of that game, and they were justifiably punished for it. Enough already….I do find it interesting however when I go to a Colts game in Indianapolis that while sitting in one of the last rows high in the stadium, there is a TON of crowd noise coming from behind me. Interesting since the only thing behind me was a few rows of seats, oh and SPEAKERS. Piping in crowd noise is something the Colts have been accused of in the past by the Steelers, Jets, Bengals etc…

I will say this, Tony Dungy is a high quality person, one that we could use allot more like these days. But let’s not be so naive as to say the Colts don’t look for every edge like every other team does.

The real item I wanted to get to was the punt, pass and kick winners. How can fans be so classless as to boo the 14 year old winner from New Hampshire because she is wearing a Patriots jersey? All the kids were wearing a jersey from their favorite team. No one else was booed. This was just a 14 year old girl who won a competition. Here in New England I have seen kids win similar contests and wear Yankees hats, Jets, Giants and the like and not be berated for it. Just another example of the moral superiority Colts fans think they  have. As much as I respect Tony Dungy and hopes he comes back next year, having travled all over the US and been to games in every NFL city, I will not miss the Colts fans. There are loud, obnoxious fans everywhere but no one has the smug attitude of the Indianapolis fan.

This past year while in San Franscisco on business, and wearing my Patriots hat, I ran into a group of Colts fans downtown. All wearing their gear, and good for them. They decided to approach me over by the crooked street, making fun of the Pats etc. And that is fine. I congratulated them on their Superbowl and told them to enjoy it, there is never a greater feeling than the first time your favorite team wins a championship. It is always the best championship. I was promptly told to F- off that the Colts would win several in a row and shut out the Pats. It is starting to sound like Red Sox v. Yankees fans in the late 1990s! It is just a game, enjoy it and let other people enjoy their team. Stop trying to make your team sound better by disparaging others.                     

So much for my rant, usually my posts are much more detailed about league issues etc. But recent events just wound me up a bit about Colts fans….let’s face it, there is no team in the NFL full of angels, they are just people like everyone else representing all sides of life, let’s not build up any team to be more than it really is, a team put togehter for entertainment value only…..

This past weekend I had the opportunity to watch the long awaited Patriots/Giants game from a market other than either Boston or New York. With the battle going on between the NFL and the cable companies (Peter King at SI.com wrote a great article breaking it down) did anyone else notice the game broadcast turned into a sort of NFL Network infomercial? It really did seem like every other ad was not only for NFL Network, but taking shots at large cable. (I really liked the one in the diner where patrons were talking about letting the cable companies keep the makeover shows and shopping channels!). While we can talk at length about the effort Roger Goodell went to bring the game to the fans because so many fans wanted to see it, or the role government or the other networks had in this broadcast….it is pretty clear that part of the deal was definately a large media buy. I really would be interested to know if anyone kept track of how many spots NFL Network had on the other networks carrying the game. Certainly the networks have the ability to sub in their own ads, we see it all the time on cable, but the deal certianly looks like the NFL had the opportunity to run a certain amout of it’s own advertising. Certainly it seemed to be allot more than what I usually see on the NFL Network broadcasts (yes I subscribe and watch regularly).

What will the impact be? The NFL has proven to be exceptional at PR in the past, despite the Pacman Jones and Michael Vick issues. Is this an attempt to build a groundswell of support for them during what proved to be the most watched regular season game in year? I certianly hope so. I have no love for the cable companies and certainly believe there is more than enough margin in their pricing to support the NFL Network. Big Cable has to see that the future of content in general lies with the content producers, not the distribution mechanism. The NFL has consumable content with a large demand, a recently saw a study that stated 52% of all US residents consider themselves NFL fans. Dwarfing the other sports ( I think baseball was second at 28% or so).

The real question will be how will this affect the NFL content strategy or will it? The NFL does not allow content of more than 45 seconds to be shown by networks without a fee it is my understanding. Does the popularity of this game give them a platform to make the content more consumable on more vehicles more easily? Such as the ability to see entire games on my PC or mobile? Or subscribe to NFL Network and consume the content anywhere through the TV, PC, XBox, mobile etc?

I think beyond the cable battle, this game may prove to be the market test needed to make the decision on how, where, and what pricing model would be used to make NFL content more available and consumable.       

Recently I was talking wiht some friends about the differences between FIFA and the NFL when it comes to advertising. The general comment was that NFL fans do not want to see corporate logos on the team uniforms. They just feel at some level it is a sellout and do not understand why European and other soccer teams do it. NFL fans are even uncomfortable with logos on or around the field. Something corporations pay huge dollars for. The NFL maintains strict control over the uniforms, and actually has someone at each game to make sure each player adheres to the uniform code on the field and sideline. Fines are levied for not conforming.

I agree that watching a FIFA match has a different look and feel to it because of the corporate logos on the uniforms as well as in the names of some of the teams, but the reality is it is needed. The NFL enjoys large TV contracts supported by advertising. And there are plenty of advertising breaks, the quarter, 2 minute warning, change of possession, timeouts etc.   The reality is the soccer has none of these breaks. There really is no stoppage of play before the half etc. There are no timeouts, commercial breaks (the NBA has TV timeouts even). Therefore there really is no real estate or time to put commercials in. As a result to support the TV contract and the revenue of the team/player contracts, they have sold what they have, which is visible logos on hte uniform itself. In essence since the signage on the sideline and on the field is a similar deal to what an NFL team could get, the lack of TV Spot sales has to be made up for somewhere and that somewhere is on the uniform. Perhaps longterm this could become a revenue stream for the NFL, but I hope not, it really does give the league and actually all of our sports leagues, a unique look as opposed to overseas. The revenue model for soccer is just fundamentally different because of the structure of the game. And let’s not kid ourselves that their superstars make any less money than NFL superstars, it is just not true. With those payscales, teams need to maximize their revenue over and above ticket sales to pay competitive player salaries. The real challenge is that their is no salary cap in soccer in Europe, so the team that generates the most revenue can really afford better players. The stakes are higher as well since a team that finishes poorly in the league, can be sent down to a lower level league. Kind of like the Kansas City Royals being sent to AAA ball for poor performance. Now THAT would be really interesting to adopt in the US!!!       

Ok, it has been a crazy year in the BCS. It seems that every time a team is ranked first or second, it immediately loses. This year has really challenged the ranking system. But let’s think about this, does LSU or Ohio State really deserve to be in this game? All year I heard LSU fans talk about because the SEC is so tough, LSU deserves to be there, also because they are LSU after all and it seems that fan base feels playing for national championships is their birthright. But the reality is, when is really counted, they lost! TWICE! Overtime or not they lost! Ohio State is nearly as bad, playing one of the worst non-conference schedules I can remember, and they still have a loss! The Big 10 just isn’t what is used to be. I think this year is as bad as 2004 when Auburn easily should have played USC for the title, and somehow Oklahoma did. I just don’t get it. Enough of these schools that feel that because they are who they are they should always be in the national championship game. That’s why coaches at those schools don’t last long (such as why the hell would Arkansas fire their coach after all the success they had? He was obviously so bad he was unemployed for an entire day!). And why when you talk to coaches they will quietly admit some of the big name schools are actually terrible jobs to have. Alabama, Nebraska (who else is enjoying the year they had!), Notre Dame, the list goes on. Bring on a playoff system! I would love to see Hawaii, who is undefeated but really hasn’t played anyone, take on Missouri, or LSU. Who else can really test those teams? Virginia Tech and Missouri? THAT would be fun! Or a team that got hot at the end USC, could they put a playoff run together…we will just never know….

But can the big name (and name only) branded schools just not keep telling us how much better they are than everyone else? The numbers just don’t add up. The current system just rewards playing crappy schools out of conference and scheduling your toughest in conference games early, so you have time to recover if you lose one…

Sorry for the delay. Lots of travel of late. Including a very interesting trip to London. I had the opportunity while there to talk a great deal about the NFL. It was only a few weeks after the Dolphins game and since I was wearing my Patriots hat…..allot…..I got allot of questions about the NFL, how it runs, the appeal, etc.

For the first time in my many years of traveling to London, I saw local London kids playing American football in the park. Given it was only catch, but that was really the first time I have ever seen that. I had to stop and play! As part of that I had some great conversations with the Parents….

One interesting point, kind of in the same way Europeans associate themselves with a team and a city, Manchester United as an example, the people I talked to had done the same with the NFL. As an example, the families I spoke with that now considered themselves Dolphins fans after the game, instantly considered themselves fans of each Miami team. They had purchased merchandise for the Dolphins, Heat, Marlins and even the U of Miami (sorry NHL….no takers). I found the cross marketing very interesting. The idea that if you were the fan of one team from a city you should be a fan of every team in a city, even if you don’t live there….

We chatted a great deal about NFL Europe. The general consensus there was that Londoners would sell out a real NFL game every time every week , at least that’s how they feel. But they felt, and most of Europe felt, that NFL Europe was a second class product, the minor leagues etc. (which is kind of was) and as a result felt a little insulted to be given not the top tier product. There was some fascination with arena football however, mainly due to the pace of the game. Overall there was strong sentiment that the NFL would do well there if given a real team.

Regular season games in London are a challenge however, from the travel to the revenue sharing of home game revenue to the cost structure of having a team there. Right now it seems uneconomical for a regular team to be based there and difficult at best to hold occasional games there.

There are parts of the NFL that these fans wanted to see adapted by their FA Cup teams hoever. Number one being the salary cap. The idea that everyone has the same payroll and level playing field was very appealing. As was the way the draft is help by the NFL, not at all like the professional soccer teams over there. These folks felt FIFA could learn allot about marketing and digital content distribution from the NFL as well (not sure on the latter, but the NFL can sure market!)

It was great to see my favorite sport enjoying some success over there. I really do think the NFL will continue trying international expansion, kind of like the NBA 30 years ago. The advantage there being the NBA had an Olympic presence which means government funding in foreign nations for grass roots programs, the NFL will not enjoy that and will have to come up with other ways to fund a grass roots building of the sport. So for now if probably makes the most sense to go after adjunct markets like Mexico and Canada (Toronto Bills? Mexico City Chargers?). China brings a whole new challenge since they really have nothing remotely close to the NFL over there. But I am talking to some folks over there about what an NFL entry might look like, stay tuned! After all the Patriots are owned by the same family that owns International Paper, a company with HUGE interests in China…hmmm……              

This looks like the game of the week for sure. A very talented but underachieving San Diego Chargers team v. a loaded but coming off a physical loss to the Patriots Indianpolis Colts team. Unfortunately the Colts have 10+ people on the injury report, it really would be a shame if the effect certain players have on the game by not playing were the determining factor.

Let’s start with the Colts O v. ‘Bolts D. Joseph Addai has proved he can run on anyone, anytime. Great back to have in the Colts zone blocking scheme. Bascially let the line block straight ahead and have Addai find a hole. After the ‘Bolts gave up 296 to Adrian Peterson last week, is anyone confident that San Diego can stop anyone on the ground? The Vikings are 3-5 not 8-1. And they ran the Chargers into the ground. Has anyone seen Sahwne Merriman anywhere lately? I read the box score, I know he played…what, is he in the NFL version of the witness protection program? With or without Ugoh the Colts have a line plenty good enough to push around the Chargers. I expect a balanced attack from the Colts, much as they have done all year. Addai with around 120 yards rushing, 60 receiving and 2 TDs. Manning in the 220 range for yards and a TD.Fairly modest numbers for the receiving core as well, really no need for them to step upm which is good since they may have only 2 healthy…

When San Diego is on offense, they certainly have the talent. LT, Rivers, Gates, and new comer via the Siberia of the NFL - Miami comes Chris Chambers. The Colts D is banged up. They may well still be missing their starting corners and linebackers. Their philosophy always has been to not adjust, bascially this is what we run, beat us. Kind of the opposite of the morphing week to week Patriots D. With all the Colts injuries, if LT gets less than 25 carries, Norv Turner should be fired on the spot. Then flogged, tarred and feathered, and run out on a rail. If Coach Turner has half a brain (debateable) LT should get 25 carries for 130 yards and 2 TDs. At least another 50 yards receiving as well. Gates should have a field day as well. The Colts really have no one to match up with him. And can we stop the James Sanders is the greatest safety ever talk? Where was he against the Pats? Face it, Troy Polamauu is much much better.   The Colts just lack defensive firepower right now…that’s why Rivers will throw for 250 in addition to LT’s numbers. 2 TDs as well.

All in all this should be a pretty entertaining game. Probably allot of big plays on both sides. With the undermanned Colts and the underachieving Chargers, this is a game perfect for one or the other to step up. I actually think the Chargers take this one. Again, assuming Turner actually gives LT the ball. But if he pulls a typical Norv, and uses LT as a decoy, the ‘Bolts will get blown out. call that getting Norved…

All things considered, and taking into effect that possibility of getting Norved…’Bolts over Colts 28-24. 350 yards of total offense for each team. 2 turnovers each. A mild upset and a great game. This could actually mean Jacksonville and Tennessee get within a game of the Colts for the division lead. Colts make an attempt at saving their season, and Rivers gets a chance to return to the form of last year. This Ryan Leaf imitation has got to end!

Enjoy the game! This could be one of the most entertaining games of the year.