Batter up: Yesterday, I played the part of blogger poster child in Philadelphia for a room full of academic librarians and academic journal publishers. (Mom would be proud.) They were taking part in a day-long conference about Web 2.0. The organizer of event was nice enough to invite me even though she knew I am not a fan of the term “Web 2.0″ (my beef: it’s an unnecessary buzzword that tries to tie together a lot of other buzzwords and acronyms to make something old seem new — and funding-worthy).

Right before I talked, Sean Forman, a math and computer science professor at St. Joseph’s University spoke about Wikis. I don’t follow baseball, so I wasn’t familiar with Sean’s truly incredible website, Baseball-Reference.com or his equally staggering collaborative encyclopedia about baseball a wiki called the Baseball-Reference Bullpen.

Because of Sean’s presentation, I now know that real wiki people call it “wee-key,” not wick-ee, like I do. From now on, I’ll be pronouncing it that way also. (Sorry, but I can’t reveal the secret handshake.)

Joy: Today is like Christmas for Vanderbilt fans. It’s like Christmas, if Christmas came only once every 22 years. I’ve always thought it was a joke to attach the word “rivalry” to the annual match-up of the two in-Tennessee SEC football teams. They often play close games, but in the end, the University of Tennessee always comes out on top. But this year, the stars lined up: the best Vanderbilt team in the 25 years I’ve been following them (at least the best quarterback, although they’ve had some good ones) playing the worst UT team I’ve ever seen (ironically, with some of the most talented players). And, very unfamiliar to Vanderbilt fans, the fairy tale played out the way it’s supposed to today: a 28-24 come-from-behind and hang on for dear-life victory. Amazing. There is joy in Mudville.

Note: Who knows? If this keeps up, Vanderbilt may have to start paying its coach more than its president.