Introducing the New Website

If you've been on the "Spreadsheet that Hates Your Team" ride from the beginning, you might remember the various versions of things. There was the posts on the old man forum. Then there was a Tumblr page (holy shit, it's still there). From there, it was a Wix page, then a Wordpress site (that was a dark time), then the current ghost.org configuration with this newsletter you're reading right now.

And now, it's time for Version 6 (Six? Geez).

Let's go over some of the basics. ghost (and the newsletter) isn't going away. It's kind of two websites in one--the standard ghost newsletter, blog, etc stuff and all the data stuff, which is now in an app subdomain that will eventually be an app on your phone (far easier to read in the bleachers during the JV game!). What's new? Kind of a lot!

Schedule

You'll remember the scoreboard page from last season. This is that on steroids. Let's look at a date from this past basketball season as an example.

Pretty self-explanatory. You'll see the teams, a link to where you can find it streaming in the corner, and the Stax Index. Here's the fun part:

Each of the day's games has a submit button (these are dummy games) where you can submit a final score or a score of a game in-progress. Maybe a halftime score or maybe for football season an update after each touchdown. People can do whatever. For each sport, it'll have a slightly different input (baseball has innings instead of quarters) and you can put notable stuff in there, like who scored more recently. This will be great for scoreboard watching late.

Once a final score is entered, it'll automatically update the Heal Points. You don't even have to wait until the AD enters the score tomorrow or until I can get home and update the spreadsheets. You'll have updated Heal Points before you even leave the bleachers. And if other games are also being entered, you get the idea.

Heal Points

The Heal Points have long been a favorite feature and now they're better. Expand the heals and you'll get details.

The green bar is the Win% that you might recognize from the Tourney Guide. It'll show you how strong (or weak) a team's performance was in a given game.

This is a paywall feature and will be available for Basketball, Baseball, Softball, Lacrosse, Soccer, Field Hockey, and Football (and maybe Volleyball).

Team Page

The arrow next to a team name will take you to a team page, which has a summary.

It'll also show you what each team's Tourney Odds looked like with a day left in the regular season (so I can see what it'd look like). There's a fun feature where it tells you just how many Heal Points a win was worth.

You might want to keep your subscription going.

And a team's roster with stats. There's even a spot for Pronunciation!

This is pulling the tourney stats from this past season, which you can find in full here:

I've been dialing this is pretty hard to set up a scenario where a lot of team and player stats can live in one place along with Heal Points, schedules, and streaming links. This can handle regular season stats for a number of sports, all the schedules--including things like the Cony League schedule in the summer--and a bunch more stuff that I either haven't locked down yet or you'll discover when spring sports go live.

Poke around and you'll find some stuff. If this streamlines things on my backend as much as I think it will, I should be able to do a full stat breakdown for spring sports, including Tourney Odds!

Stay tuned.

On George Hale

You've probably seen the George Hale news by now.

How WVOM handled Bangor radio legend George Hale’s firing on the air

George Hale, who turned 94 this year, has been on the media scene for more than 70 years, a rare length for a career here or anywhere else.

Bangor Daily NewsMichael Shepherd

Bruce Biette, vice president and chief operating officer for Blueberry Broadcasting, went on the air to inform listeners that Hale had been let go. By phone. While on vacation.

On Facebook, I called this cowardly and I stand by that.

You can't have grown up in Maine without knowing the work and voice of George Hale. He's a legend in the state, having been on the air for 70-something years, and regardless of really anything, that sort of track record deserves a certain level of respect. Instead, they called him on his vacation to let him go over the phone.

This couldn't have come to a surprise to Hale. He's 94 years old, after all. There had to have been conversations about retirement, but you still owe the man the decency of waiting until he gets back from vacation. Actually, I'll expand that: you owe any of your employees the basic human decency of not firing them over the phone while they're on vacation. That's the sort of classless, chickenshit behavior that invites everything karma can deliver in your direction. And if you're in middle management at a small station in a dying medium, maybe don't test it?

Full disclosure: I worked for Blueberry Broadcasting back in the day. But I had the decency to quit in person. Like an adult.

Apparently WVOM has "offered Hale a tribute show down the road", which is a strange choice for someone who is 94 years old. It's like telling a graduating senior that you'll handle something in a couple of weeks or so. It's the sort of promise you have zero intention of honoring.

Hopefully Hale sticks around long enough to see Biette join him in the unemployment line.

Speaking of classless business decisions, the Ringer laid off some talented people. Guess that Netflix deal wasn't as lucrative as we thought.

Spotify Layoffs in Podcast Group Cut 3% of Headcount, With Staffers Let Go From The Ringer and Spotify Studios

More job cuts have come in Spotify’s podcast group, including layoffs at The Ringer, Spotify’s podcast network and sports and pop culture site.

VarietyTodd Spangler

Brewer's Matt Pushard made it to the bigs with the Cardinals.

Brewer’s Matt Pushard reaches Major League Baseball with St. Louis Cardinals

Former Witches and UMaine pitcher reacts to making ‘The Show’

WABIBen Barr

Hoffer has an all-star team out.

Hoffer’s High School Sports girls’ basketball all-star team

Welcome to the first annual Hoffer’s High School Sports girls’ basketball all-star team, which is comprised of schools from Cumberland County, as well as Thornton Academy. The 2025-26 season saw dynamic individual performances, unforgettable games and ultimately one team, Cheverus, capturing a Gold Ball. Our coverage area had no shortage

Hoffer's High School SportsMichael Hoffer

That's enough for now. Check out the new website updates. I think you're really going to like them.