This week’s Reads Listens Views debuts with a new look and feel to the RSP blog. Check it out.

New Design

I’ve been hunting for a cleaner, photo-friendly blog that is easy on the eyes. I’m hoping this design does the trick. The top menu has simpler categories for your perusal, including drop-downs for additional topics.

Seeking my most viewed posts, my tweets,  my archives, a way to search the site, and how to follow the blog? Scroll to the bottom and you’ll find it all there. This is the third new design of the blog in three years, but I’m hoping it will be the last major change for while.

If you’re new to the RSP blog, welcome to my weekend post Reads Listens Views. This is my chance to post links to articles, performances, and photos I’ve found in recent weeks that I want to share. Some of this content has to do with football, but most of it doesn’t. You might not like everything in this post, but chances are you’ll like something.

Stay tuned later today for my latest Futures at Football Outsiders. I’m profiling this year’s match-up between Ohio State’s star cornerback Bradley Roby – a top prospect with sub-4.4 speed – and Wisconsin’s Jared Abbrederis, a former walk-on whose technique trumps Roby’s athleticism for most of the game.

I recently bought some exercise mats for both of my offices. Sitting for hours a day becomes more difficult on the body with age. If you’re a desk jockey, this exercise might be helpful.

Listens

Reads 

• Trauma City – Steve Volk is an excellent journalist. His work on post traumatic stress disorder in our cities is essential reading.
• The Science Behind Posture and How It Affects Your Brain – More practice advice for those of you in the white-collar world.
• The Vigilante of Clallam County – A long-form piece on a man’s plot to kill pedophiles. You may finish this piece feeling surprisingly ambivalent.
• Kyle Kinane vs. Pace Salsa – Corporate terrorism or hilarious prank? I don’t care, this is hilarious.
• The Dark Side of Data – A TED Talk on what kind of data your cell phone is collecting . . . minute-by-minute in detail.
• Your Brain on Poverty: Why Poor People Seem to Make Bad Decisions –

Views

Football Reads

• Smart Football Resources – Lately, I’ve been asked a lot about what to read in order to learn more about the game. Smart Football and its recommendations is always a great start.
• Seahawks and Saints Best at Finding Hidden Gems – A Doug Farrar post at SI.com.
• Cian Fahey’s Film Room – A look at the Steelers, Jaguars, and Sean Lee.
• Word of Muth – A look at Lane Johnson and the Eagles versus the Cardinals.
• Football in The Year 2030 – Cool Concept with Football Outsider’s editor Rivers McCown as a panelist.

Thanks

I have a great base of readers. For those of you new to the Rookie Scouting Portfolio, the publication is available every April 1. You can learn more about the RSP here. If you want to see samples of the play-by-play notes I take to write the analysis, you can find them here. And to download past versions of the publication (2006-2012), go here.

Remember, 10 percent of each sale is donated to Darkness to Light, a non-profit devoted to preventing and addressing sexual abuse through community training in schools, religious groups, and a variety of civic groups across the U.S. I’ll have an announcement before the year is over about what the RSP donated to D2L as well as a plans for the 2014 RSP.