Why was this blog labeled spam?

Last week, this blog was frozen for a day or two (that's why there were no posts on Friday). I also received an e-mail telling me that this space was designated as a potential "spam blog". I don't know what that is, but I guess it's bad. I replied to the e-mail, and on Saturday we were back in business. I had no idea why this was designated as such.

Then I read this article this morning:

Web loggers who are campaigning against Senator Obama's presidential run are accusing Google and Obama supporters of silencing them after their Web logs were marked as spam and their accounts temporarily frozen.

On Thursday, hours after publishing a post about an online petition demanding that Mr. Obama publicly produce his birth certificate, an associate professor of business administration at Brooklyn College, Mitchell Langbert, found that he could no longer access his Web log.

It goes on to describe the whole scenario. I'm not one to get into conspiracy stuff, and I doubt Google did this to go after anti-Obama blogs. I mean, sure, I don't like the guy, but it's not like I am pro-McCain. The simplest explanation is usually the correct one, I think:

A spokesman for Google, Adam Kovacevich, said in a statement that an overzealous antispam filter was responsible for the blocks.

"We believe this was caused by mass spam e-mails mentioning the 'Just Say No Deal' network of blogs, which in turn caused our system to classify the blog addresses mentioned in the e-mails as spam," he said. "We have restored posting rights to the affected blogs, and it is very important to us that Blogger remain a tool for political debate and free expression."

..."I don't think" Google has "malicious intentions at all, it's just that spammers can literally overrun a service if you're not careful, so their defenses have become overzealous," a spokesman for WordPress, Matthew Mullenweg, said in an e-mail.

"We always have human review before turning off an active blog," he said. "People invest so much time into their blogs, to treat it with anything less than the utmost respect is criminal."

I can understand the conspiracy-peddling from these guys since Google has shown a distinct left-leaning bias in the past. However, no one reads this except some people I know. Also, I am certain I have zero influence over anyone from anything I write here.

Wisconsin is in a tizzy

We've all heard about how that selfish jerk Brett Favre (who would soon become local hero Brett Favre if he comes to the Bears) wants to come back and play after announcing his retirement. Packer fans are pretty worked up one way or the other about the whole thing.

Yesterday a bunch of them held a rally outside Lambeau Field in support of Favre. Yes, they are dorks who couldn't even stay home and watch CC Sabathia pitch for the Brewers. Instead, they tailgated at their protest:

The crowd of more than 100 chanted "We want Brett," and carried signs reading, "Favre for President" or "Favre Forever." Many in the parking lot wore No. 4 jerseys, tossed footballs and grilled.

I think they really just want to get away from their wives with an excuse to spend their summer Sundays drinking beer and eating sausage:

The rally in Green Bay, Wis., was the brainchild of brothers Adam and Erick Rolfson, who on Friday tried to think of a way to keep Favre in Green Bay. Another rally is planned for Monday night in suburban Milwaukee and every Sunday thereafter at Lambeau Field until Favre is back.

MLB draft preview

The baseball amateur draft is tomorrow, and Kevin Goldstein over at BP has been on it like white on rice (or, at least on white rice). Today is his mock draft. I think it's open to non-subscribers, so check it out.

If Kenny Williams gets Justin Smoak (as Goldstein predicts), I will be a happy guy. Slugging college first basemen drafted high tend to do well (or so I hope), and the last time the Sox took one was in 1989 with Frank Thomas. With Jim Thome in the last year of his contract and Paul Konerko's deal expiring after 2010, the Sox could easily move Konerko to DH in 2010 and have Smoak as the everyday 1B. I'm giddy at the thought, especially since the farm system is bereft of impact hitters (I love you, Josh Fields, but you don't count). The Sox haven't drafted this high since 1990, which ended a streak of 4 years of top ten picks of Jack McDowell, Robin Ventura, Thomas, and Alex Fernandez. That was the backbone of those stud early 1990's teams that couldn't quite get past the Blue Jays and then Indians.

Goldstein is also going to have a chat over on the site later today, and it may also be open to non-subscribers.