STATS LLC is a global sports statistics and information company – the company name originated as an acronym for "Sports Team Analysis and Tracking Systems". It was founded on April 30, 1981^[1] by John Dewan,^[2] who became the company's CEO. STATS was an outgrowth of the grassroots non-profit Project Scoresheet, a volunteer network created to collect baseball statistics, prompted by a suggestion made by Bill James, who later joined STATS for a time. In 1987, STATS developed a reporter network for Major League Baseball and provided research for NBC's postseason baseball coverage, and by 1989 was doing the same for ESPN's broadcasts.^[1]

While the company initially focused only on baseball, in the 1990s they expanded their focus to the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, the National Hockey League, the Women's National Basketball Association and many other sports.^[1]

STATS was bought by Fox Sports in 2000,^[1] and is now a joint venture between News Corporation and Associated Press, which each hold 50% since the merger of STATS with AP Megasports in 2005. Since that time, the company has been known as STATS LLC.

On March 5, 2009, the company announced the purchase of PA SportsTicker wire service from Press Association, a UK news and information company. It had previously been owned by ESPN.^[3] It had also been in Jersey City until July 11, 2004 before being forced to move to Bristol by ESPN, who sold the company to the Press Association in 2006.

STATS LLC is headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois,^[4] with corporate offices in London, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Beijing, Bangalore, Dubai, Mexico City, Chicago, New York and Los Angeles.^[5] The company covers 85 sports leagues and over 55,000 events a year.^[6] The current CEO is Gary Walrath.

Litigation[link]

In 1996 STATS and Motorola won on appeal a court case brought by the NBA, which was trying to stop STATS from distributing in-game information via a special wireless device created by Motorola. The victory in this case has played a large part in other cases where professional sports leagues have tried to suppress live in-game information being distributed by other outlets.^[7] STATS is currently the NBA's official provider of statistics.^[8]

Subsidiaries[link]

• STATS Europe
• Data Stadium (major shareholder) - Japan's leading sports information provider.

Notes[link]

External links[link]

• Official Website

Keller Williams
Williams at Langerado Music Festival March 9, 2008 Photo: Steve Moyles
Background information
Also known as	K-Dub, Keller
Born	(1970-02-04) February 4, 1970 (age 42) Fredericksburg, Virginia, United States
Genres	One-man band, rock, jam, progressive bluegrass, dance, funk, folk, alternative rock, jazz, reggae
Occupations	Musician, songwriter
Instruments	Vocalist, guitar, bass guitar, percussion, theremin, synthesizer, piano
Years active	1991–present
Labels	SCI Fidelity, Basil Leaf Music
Associated acts	The String Cheese Incident with Keller Williams Umphrey's McGee Yonder Mountain String Band Keller and The Keels The WMDs The Rhythm Devils
Website	http://kellerwilliams.net

Keller Williams (born February 4, 1970) is an American musician from Fredericksburg, Virginia, who began performing in the early 1990s. He is also known by the names K-Dub or just Keller, when performing. Williams' music combines elements of bluegrass, folk, alternative rock, reggae, electronica/dance, jazz, funk, and other assorted genres. He is often described as a 'one-man jam-band' due to his frequent use of live phrase looping with multiple instruments.^[1]

Touring[link]

Though primarily a solo artist, Williams has toured with several bands that include Yonder Mountain String Band, The String Cheese Incident, Umphrey's McGee and Ratdog, and has frequently performed at The Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, the AllGood Music Festival, Summer Camp Music Festival, and the The Rothbury Festival.^[1] Williams has an audio taping policy of his performances, and for non-commercial trading of the recordings but use of video or flash photography, or any recordings for profit are prohibited.^[2]

Keller Williams Incident[link]

Keller Williams Incident is a collaborative performance between Williams and The String Cheese Incident. They have performed together, and Williams' 1999 album Breathe was released collaboratively as the Keller Williams Incident. Williams and SCI began collaborating after Williams saw the band perform in Colorado; offering to play with the band in exchange for free ski passes.

Larry Keel and Keller Williams jamming on a riverboat, May 25, 2010.

Keller Williams with Moseley, Droll and Sipe[link]

Williams also frequently performs with a backing band as "Keller Williams with Moseley Droll and Sipe". Formed in 2007 as the WMDs, they first played at the Bonnaroo music festival. The group consists of Williams on rhythm guitar, Jeff Sipe on drums, Keith Moseley on bass, and Gibb Droll on lead guitar. They changed their name from the WMDs in 2008.^[3]

Keller & The Keels[link]

"Keller & The Keels" is a bluegrass project consisting of Williams and the husband and wife combo of Larry and Jenny Keel. The trio released Grass in 2006, a collection of both original and cover songs. They released Thief, an album of cover songs, in May 2010.

The Sexy Bitches[link]

Keller played a side project with members of moe. and Umphrey's Mcgee at Summercamp 2009 called "The Sexy Bitches," not Keller McGee, as the group is sometimes named on the internet.

Instruments[link]

A self-taught musician, he usually performs with a variety instruments connected to several synchronized Gibson Echoplex Delay units, which allow him to play a riff once on an instrument, record, layer, and repeat it. This lets him play unaccompanied on stage, helping him to recreate the sound of a full band. He also uses a wide variety of effects, including an envelope filter expression pedal, wah pedal, a Line 6 tap delay, a Roland guitar synth, and a Talk Box.

His main guitars used are a Martin HD-28 and D-35, an Alvarez/Joe Veillette MTB baritone, a Gibson Chet Atkins SST Acoustic Electric Guitar with synth pickup routed to a Roland synth processor, a Fender Precision bass, an Avante baritone acoustic guitar, a Rick Turner baritone 12-string, a Tacoma Thunderhawk, an early 50's tempo and a Gordon Anderson custom 8-string.^[4]

In addition, Williams incorporates a variety of acoustic and electric percussion instruments into his live sets, most notably a Roland Handsonic HDP-15 drum machine. He also frequently performs on piano, a theremin, a Korg Kaossilator, a Macbook, and a set of Boomwhackers percussion tubes.

Other projects[link]

Williams currently hosts the radio show Keller's Cellar which has a live online stream and is pre-recorded at Wally Cleaver's in Fredericksburg, VA.^[5]

Williams recently started the "Once a Week Freak", on his website where every week he had released a new song from his new 2009 album "Odd". Upon release of every single song on the album, he released the entire album in a single download. And due to the large success of this idea, Williams has now chosen to keep the "Once a Week Freek" project going and releases a new song/video or two each and every week, usually on Wednesday. These tracks consist of live performances of previously recorded songs, unreleased covers of other bands' songs, or just different renditions of his own recorded music.

Williams played as a member of the Rhythm Devils with Grateful Dead drummers Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart at the Gathering of the Vibes festival in 2010. Williams then appeared with the Rhythm Devils in 9 July shows on their summer tour.^{[citation needed]}

Kdubalicious is a project involving Keller Williams on bass/guitar, Jay Starling on dobro/keyboards, and Mark D on drums. Kdubalicious is Reggae/ Dub/ Funk. Keller's project Kdubalicious formed in late 2010, and the group continues to play occasional shows. There was a unique winter concert held on a turf field in Fredericksburg, VA featuring Kdubalicous w/ Larry Keel, Jenny Keel, and John Starling in December 2010.

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

Keller Williams on February 3, 2006 at the Ridgefield Playhouse

• Freek (1994)
• Buzz (1996)
• Spun (1998)
• Breathe (1999) - (with The String Cheese Incident as Keller Williams Incident)
• Loop (live) (2001)
• Laugh (2002)
• Dance (2003)
• Home (2003)
• Stage (double live) (2004)
• Grass (2006) - (with The Keels as Keller & The Keels)
• Dream (2007)
• 12 (2007)
• Rex (Live at the Fillmore) (digital download) (2008) - (with Jeff Austin and Keith Moseley as Grateful Grass)
• Odd (2009)
• Thief (2010) - (with The Keels as Keller & The Keels)
• Kids (2010) (Children's Album)
• Bass (2011)

Compilations[link]

• High Times Presents Rip This Joint - Various Artists (2001

Guest appearances[link]

• The J. Case Show - Julian Casellas (2010)
• Seeds - Martin Sexton (2007)
• Chateau Benares - Sanjay Mishra (2006)
• Collision - DJ Harry (2004)
• On The Road: 04-14-02 Ann Arbor, MI - The String Cheese Incident (2002)
• On The Road: 04-13-02 Chicago, IL - The String Cheese Incident (2002)
• Solar Igniter — Modereko (2001)

Videos[link]

• Sight (2005, DVD)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Live recordings by Keller Williams at the Internet Archive
• Mike St. Thomas, "Keller Calling: An Interview with the King of Energy", Outside Bozeman