Sunday, February 28, 2010

The Year of the Tiger

So Gatorade has dropped Tiger Woods as a paid endorser. If I was Tiger Woods I would have my revenge. I would wait until next February and I would get back at Gatorade, Accenture and AT&T all at the same time. Go Michael Corleone at the end of Godfather I on them. Here's how I would do it.

I would negotiate with one of the networks who was not carrying the Accenture Match Play tournament to broadcast a weekend skins game with Tiger Woods, another pro like maybe Notah Begay and a couple of big name celebrities who also happen to be excellent golfers like Kevin Costner and Tony Romo or Justin Timberlake and Tom Brady. Think about that. What would you rather watch? The Tiger-less Accenture match play or a skins game with Tiger and some famous buddies? The ratings for Tiger's skins game would kill the Accenture broadcast! Tiger could more than recoup the money he lost from the Accenture endorsement by producing this skins game. If he made it a regular yearly thing then the purse size for the Accenture event would shrink because the networks wouldn't be getting the ratings to subsidize the payouts. The message to the rest of the PGA would be clear - don't screw with Tiger.

Getting revenge on Gatorade would be simple. During the course of the skins game someone could start a conversation on diet. Rehydration could be part of the discussion and Tiger could say that the best thing to do is simply to drink water. What about replenishing the nutrients lost from sweating? Tiger could suggest water and a banana then. Then he could drop the bomb that if you have to have a sports drink then use Powerade. Why not Gatorade? Tiger could say in a moment that would seem like he thinks he's off camera, "I always thought that Gatorade tasted like piss."

Sales for Gatorade would plummet.

Product placement would take care of AT&T. Have Tiger use a Verizon or Sprint phone a couple of times to send or receive a text. He could name drop a couple of other famous people that he's texting with the implication that they use the same wireless carrier. On top of that have his caddy continually drink Coke or Diet Coke (Pepsi is the owner of the Gatorade brand).

The ratings for such an event would be huge. Tiger's revenge could be both complete and profitable. If they are not going to love you - make them fear you.

Saturday, February 27, 2010

MLB Defaces Irish Flag

Every St. Patrick's Day you see plenty of advertisements and banners which are really just words and images superimposed on the Green, White and Gold of the Irish flag. As a first generation Irish-American (note I never use the hyphenation but for the purposes of this post I thought it relevant) I've never taken offense at this practice.

Having said that - I do agree with the American in Ireland that Major League Baseball is clearly in the wrong here. MLB is won't even let Little League teams take the names of their franchises without paying licensing fees. No way should MLB be allowed to turn a profit off the defacement of a nation's flag.
God Almighty

Am I the only one who's disappointed that God Almighty doesn't use an American made machine gun?

Friday, February 26, 2010

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

This morning right before waking - I was dreaming of getting and responding to emails for projects I'm working on. That might be a sign that I'm working too hard... Does promiscuity prevent extinction? The Paris Hilton Theorem?... The Doctor Who episodes starring the new Doctor played by Matt Smith will debut in the US on BBC America April 17th... Excellent essay on Jeff Bridges who seems like a genuinely fascinating guy. If Bridges doesn't win an Oscar for Crazy Heart then I'm guessing that he could finally win with his role of Rooster Cogburn in the remake of True Grit. I wish Vegas would take bets on stuff like this... Red Sox in good shape for baseball draft. These picks should not be underestimated when it comes to building a winning franchise. Clay Buchholz was taken with the pick the Sox got when Pedro Martinez signed with the Mets. The trade for and letting go of Billy Wagner could prove to be of Theo's best moves when it's all said and done... Video of octopus mimicking flatfish, lionfish, and poison snake. Really cool!... Today would have been Johnny Cash's 78th birthday...

Thursday, February 25, 2010

A Death in Florida


I feel badly for the family of woman who died at Sea World. I really do. I'm also kinda sick of the "what do you want - it was a KILLER whale" quips. I have to agree though that the people making those quips have a point.

The Killer Whale is the foremost predator in the world. Not even close. And we think we can use them for our amusement with impunity? Have we become so disconnected from reality to think that? The Killer Whale is a wild beast. Now we are supposed to be surprised when it acts wild? Wasn't that supposed to be part of the attraction in the first place?

Lion tamers used to be the big thing when circuses where the main attraction across the country. It was the element of danger and the fact that a tamer could get these kings of beasts to do anything on command that was fascinating.

I've seen the show at Sea World and I was entertained. Very entertained. But the older I get the more I'm fascinated by what these majestic creatures do in the wild and the more I'm saddened to see them captured and confined for our entertainment.

And I agree that reports that give the animal human traits are just silly. What's next reports that Tilly's neighbors all agree that she was quiet and kept to herself?

Monday, February 22, 2010

Linky Links

Miscellaneous stuff I found interesting.

- Hitler's Reaction To Last Night's USA Hockey Victory Over Canada. The last line is killer.

- Won't some MLB team give Kris Benson a shot? Won't someone think of the boobies.

- Wow - this sounds like a bad episode of CSI meets NCIS. Amy Bishop may have booby-trapped buildings with herpes bombs.

- Double wow! Mariana Trench to scale

- Scorpion Venom Could Make a Safe Alternative to Morphine

- 10 animals with the longest life spans

- Photo gallery taken by orbiting astronaut in the last week

- Code of my blog set to music - this tune will be in my head all day
Net Neutrality

Reason looks at Net Neutrality.

Worth the time.

HT Instapundit
Linky Links

Some stuff I found interesting and wanted to share.

- Interesting - stacked decks for Texas Hold'em where the dealer wins no matter how they are cut

- Interesting look at what it's like to be a rookie NFL referee

- 35 Spectacular photos from the ocean

- Death in the skies (we have a mother-f*cking shark on the mother-f*cking plane)

- You never have them touch! Sorry if this offends anyone but I just found it very funny.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Johnny Damon Signs with Tigers

Johnny Damon has signed a one-year $8 million contract with the Detroit Tigers.

Just a reminder that back on December 22nd I wrote, "Prediction - Johnny Damon signs 2-year, $16 mil contract with Detroit." I was right about the dollar amount but wrong about the number of years.

Maybe later today I'll be done patting myself on the back.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

I really, really want to see someone in one of those flying squirrel suits go off the long jump ski ramp. You could go for like a mile if you were wearing one of these suits. I'm assuming there's some rule against that though... Every once and a while I see the phrase "the crack of doom". It's normally in some sort of Lord of the Rings type prose. However, every time I read that I can't help but think that would be an awesome name for a Madonna biography... Cool - from Twitter to TV. William Shatner to star in #$%@ My Dad Says... Interesting - per Rob Neyer - Mark Prior hasn't thrown a single professional pitch since his 26th birthday... Birth Control in the Victorian Age... It's really not coincidental that the phrases "trust me" and "f*ck you" have the same number of letters... Ben Affleck set to direct Yankee wife swap movie The Trade. I'd go to this movie - maybe with my wife and another couple even.... I think of jetBlue as a NY based airline yet according to them they are the official airline of the Red Sox... Cool - Super Velcro... My friend insists that Shaun White is the lovechild of the kid from Mask and Cher. Now that he's said that I can't get that out of my mind...

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Linky Links

Some stuff I found interesting and thought I'd share.

- 10 fascinating people you've never heard of

- Eric McErlain is a fascinating person but I hope you've heard about via His Off Wing Opinion. Anyway - Eric has a new gig.

- Carnivorous plants - cool. Be sure to read the text that goes with each picture. Feed me Seymour.

- Great Tweets of Science

- Sharona, immortalized in Knack's "My Sharona," now sells real estate

- Discovery of female sex hormone progesterone in walnut tree shakes up known differences between plants and animals
Haiti and Cuba

A strange thought struck me this morning - what if the earthquake that hit Haiti had hit Cuba instead? Would we have been as concerned? Would we have blamed the death and devastation on Cuba's failed mode of government? Would we have kept our pocketbooks closed? Would our government even allow aid to a country with whom we have banned any sort of trade? Would Guantanamo Bay have become the hub for all relief efforts?

I think the last sentence is true. Our military is leading the relief efforts in Haiti and I think the same would have been true for Cuba too.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Linky Links

Some stuff I found interesting and wanted to share.

- Eric McErlain supports the troops and thinks the IOC is a bunch of tossers. I agree with both positions.

- Weapon of Choice - one of the best music videos ever! Christopher Walken 2012!

- Bugs and Cranks have 4 things about baseball that gets under their skin. I'll agree with pitch counts and Hall of Fame voting.

- Central Fall RI to fire every high school teacher. To which I say - Good! The school is among the worst in the state with the current teachers - how worse can they be with a new crop or just rehiring the teachers who want to be there? The union overplayed their hand badly. I think we'll start to see more examples of this hubris on the part of the teachers unions and the taxpayers sick of footing the bill.

- T-Shirt Wars. Great Stop Motion Video

Sunday, February 14, 2010

WTF?

Valentine's Day Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations on this sunny Valentine's Day.

Interesting column on David Jonathan Drew (aka JD Drew). I think Bill James called him the guy who played for three franchises but was despised by four. I've never had a problem with Drew. It's just strange that so many will think him over paid while so many others will argue he's under-rated... On Valentine's Day in 1859 - Oregon is admitted as the 33rd US State... Best shuttle image ever... If you replace the words "My Sharona" with "Ray Liotta" - the song by The Knack becomes so much more fun... A Brief History of Pretty Much Everything - Very cool video... It occurs to me that there are many parallels between Drew and another JD - JD Salinger. Salinger is known for The Catcher in the Rye while Drew is the catcher in right field. Both shunned interviews and detractors said they wasted their talent. Fans of both tend to over sell their accomplishments (however Catcher in the Rye was not the best book ever written and there is more to baseball than OBP). Drew was supposed to be the next Mantle while Salinger was going to be Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald all rolled into one... Now I'm going to have nightmares about Derrek Lee trying to backdoor me... Twenty-one years ago Iranian leader Ruhollah Khomeini issues a fatwa encouraging Muslims to kill Salman Rushdie the author of The Satanic Verses. I'm amused at how ineffective the fatwa has been until I start thinking that we've had a defacto fatwa against Osama bin Laden and have been just as ineffective (of course we know for sure Rushdie is still alive - OBM? Not so much.)... I'm also amused that today is both Valentine's Day and Pat O'Brien's 62nd birthday. Here a blast from the past - Valentine's Day Pat O'Brien Style.

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Saving Boxing with the Winter Olympics

First off let me say that I did not watch any of the Winter Olympics last night. There's a very god chance that I won't watch any of the Olympics at all unless I'm in a bar and it's the only thing on or if USA hockey makes the medal round. There's not just a whole lot about the winter Olympics that interests a guy like me.

Speed skating? Downhill skiing? Curling? Does anyone search out these sports during the other years between Olympics? And don't even bother asking me about ice skating. My manhood is not to be questioned in that manner. The pageantry of the opening ceremonies? That's a joke. When did the biggest competition between hosting countries become how long and expensive the opening ceremonies can become? A huge game of top the last Olympics holds no interest to me at all.

So how does the Winter Olympics and NBC interest a guy like me? I'll tell you how.

Ice hockey is a big part of the Winter Olympics which is right. Ice hockey is a winter sport. But so is basketball and yet basketball is played in the summer Olympics so as to not interfere with the NBA or college basketball. Basketball played in its natural time of year would lead to higher ratings for the Winter Olympics by bringing in guys like me to watch. We all know that David Stern would never allow that though. So what about other sports where wintertime is when they normally take place anyway?

You could easily move sports like boxing, judo and volleyball and others into the winter games. Easily. And such a move wouldn't benefit just the Winter Olympics - it could also benefit the sports involved.

Take boxing for example.

You could hand out boxing medals at both the Winter and Summer Games. Boxers like Oscar De La Hoya, Sugar Ray Leonard, and George Foreman all made their first marks on public consciousness in the Olympics. Boxing could generate much needed interest matching up say the heavyweight champion from the Beijing Games with the Gold medalist from the Vancouver Games. Or rematch the Gold and Silver medal winners. Any number of promotions could arise just by adding boxing to the Winter Olympics and keeping it in the Summer Olympics as well. Boxing is dying because just one or two boxers have name recognition with the buying public. Having boxing during both Olympics would help change that and maybe, just maybe jump start interest in the sweet science.

Plus a guy like me might even tune into watch speed skating if I though a good boxing match was up next in the Winter Olympics.

Friday, February 12, 2010

A True Grit Remake?

A True Grit remake? Really?

My first reaction was "this is crap". So I checked IMDB and there really is a remake in the works. With the Coen brothers writing, directing and producing. With Jeff Bridges in the Rooster Cogburn role and Matt Damon taking on the role that Glenn Campbell had in the original.

Now I'm conflicted. On one hand True Grit is an American classic. You don't mess with those. On the other hand - the Coen brothers don't make crappy movies (well maybe a couple).

I'll hold out judgment till after I see it. And I will go to see it.

Happy Valentine's Day America

This map is very cool - especially with Valentine's Day right around the corner.
Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Peter Gammons makes an excellent point about the Johnny Damon to the Braves rumors. If signing Johnny Damon blocks Jason Heywood in any way then it would be a deal that the Braves and their fans would regret. I still say that Damon winds up with the Tigers... Images of irony... Funny line from Jimmy Fallon who thinks that Tiger and Toyota should team up for a comeback with the slogan: “Tiger and Toyota, we swear we can stop”... I'm pretty sure it was Bill Simmons who brought the idea of "that guy" into popular culture. But it was this guy who came up with a reference chart... Sad but I have to agree with Kevin Nealon that 'The Who' should start calling themselves 'The Was'... Has Rock Band and Guitar Hero been replaced by people tending a fake farm on Facebook? That's what has happened in my household at least (disclaimer - I've never played Guitar Hero and I'm not on Facebook)... Jimmy Fallon is starting to grow on me. I've even come to terms with his bit part in Band of Brothers... I blame the dip in the stock market this week on all of the companies Peyton Manning does commercials for tanking after he threw that interception on Sunday... Now that Patrick Kennedy is not seeking re-election - I put the over / under on his next drunk driving arrest at six months...

Miscellaneous videos:

- Farmers Daughter- Awesome Double Meaning

- Tom Brady on the golf course at Pebble Beach

- How to clean your balls with Axe

- Idiot Cuts Electric Cord with Scissors

- Deep zoom into Mandelbrot set (the Thumb Print of God)

- I reacted pretty much the same way

Sunday, February 07, 2010

Linky Links

Some stuff I found interesting and thought I'd share:

- The blizzard fridge

- Tweet of the Day - from @JimGaffigan:
The Hummer limo is really the douche bag chariot.

- Behold the power of gravity!

- Idiot Cuts Electric Cord with Scissors

- Jimmy Johnson used to compete at the highest levels of college and pro football. Now he's competing with Smiling Bob "the big wood". This is both sad and funny at the same time.

- Tweet of the Day (Part 2) - from @BorowitzReport:
Rielle Hunter believes that someday she & John Edwards will "be together." She's right, if she means in Hell.

- Verlander deal makes Lester a steal. Kudos to the Red Sox for their forethought in signing Jon Lester when they did.

Saturday, February 06, 2010

Ralph Houk - Badass

Ralph Houk passed away today - in his honor below is a post I made about him a while back.

File this under you learn something new every day. I knew Ralph Houk as the respected baseball manager who took the reins of the Boston Red Sox after his best years as a manager had been used up by the New York Yankees. I knew his nickname was "The Major" but I never knew the nickname was a literal moniker.

It turns out that Ralph Houk was every bit the badass in World War II that Dick Winters of Band of Brothers fame was. Like Winters - Houk entered battle as a Lieutenant and finished the war as a Major from the result of battlefield promotions. Both fought in the Battle of the Bulge and like Winters - Houk was wounded in the calf but returned immediately to combat.
Houk received the Purple Heart, Silver Star, Bronze Star with oak leaf cluster, four campaign stars and clusters during his service in Europe. "He was an extremely popular platoon commander," Fiore explained. "His baseball training helped."
Ralph Houk - leadership through being a quiet badass. My hat's off to you sir. Read the link provided but keep in mind that much seems to be left out of the story. Fighting in the Battle of the Bulge? Three days alone behind enemy lines and coming back with a bullet hole in your helmet? Capturing 9 Germans during a patrol? There seems to be much more here behind the story but badass leaders like Houk wouldn't brag.

RIP Major

Friday, February 05, 2010

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Here are some incredible photos of Saturn and it's moons taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. Fascinating and breath-taking... In Schulter, Oklahoma it is illegal for a woman to gamble in the nude, in lingerie, or while wearing a towel... Back on December 22nd I wrote, "Prediction - Johnny Damon signs 2-year, $16 mil contract with Detroit." I may have been high on the dollars but I still stand by my prediction that he signs with Detroit... Happy 68th birthday to Roger Staubach. Wow - 68? Really?... The Baron... In Fairbanks, Alaska it is illegal to feed alcoholic beverages to a moose... The New York Mets are an 18 to 1 shot to win the World Series. Talk about a sucker bet. It would be interesting to compare the over/under for wins this season for the Mets to what is expected from the Nationals. A good case could be made that the Nationals could win more games... Not quite helping Haiti... In Nevada it is illegal to drive a camel on the highway... The favorites to win the World Series right now are the Yankees at 3-1, the Phillies at 6-1 and the Red Sox at 7-1... Other strange state laws... Today is Laurence Maroney's 25th birthday. He was taken with the 21st pick of the 2006 NFL draft by the New England Patriots. Maurice Jones-Drew was later taken with the 60th pick. Just sayin'...

Thursday, February 04, 2010

Morning Links

Some stuff I found interesting and wanted to share.

- Demon Sheep? I can't ever recall laughing so hard at a political ad.

- Some pretty amusing T-shirt designs

- Conan O'Brien - Old Time Baseball. Just awesome.

- Cool - new underwater plane. I want one!

- Call of Duty - Women's Edition

Wednesday, February 03, 2010

Super Bowl Commercials



With the Super Bowl coming up - I thought I'd repost my favorite Super Bowl Commercial of all-time.
Pete Maravich

It is easy to forget how awesome Pete Maravich was. Watch this highlight reel of some of his college exploits. Also remember that he played in the days before the 3-point line. He would own every scoring record in history if he played today and spent 4 years in college.

HT The Big Lead
Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Liquid glass. Sounds very interesting. If I still wore ties - I'd coat all of my ties in this stuff to end the pain of coffee stains just before a big meeting... Polyamory is Wrong!... Pass rush specialist Charles Haley may have had more of an impact for the teams he played for than Deion Sanders but Sanders had a better publicist which is why Deion is considered a slam dunk by many for the Hall of Fame while Haley will need help. Haley has as many rings in football as Derek Jeter does in baseball... Diet Coke is unhealthy!... I don't know anything about Audubon High School in NJ but it seems they must have a head football coach who is good at grooming QB's. First he had Joe Flacco who starred at Delaware ad then in the NFL with the Ravens, then Steve Rizzo who is a QB for Colgate and now Brandon Hill who looks like a top incoming QB prospect for UMass... Happy 58th birthday to Red Sox great (and Angels average) Freddy Lynn... Awesome - Leonardo da Vinci's Resume from 1482...

Tuesday, February 02, 2010

Very Telling Difference

Senator John Kerry is on Twitter (@JohnKerry) and has 4,395 followers but is ONLY following Al Gore and Barack Obama.

Newly elected Senator Scott Brown (@ScottBrownMA) has 19,498 followers and is following 2,754 people on Twitter.

I think that is a very telling difference. John Kerry needs only listen to Gore and Obama while Scott Brown is actually listening to every day people.
Barack O'Bama and Jimmy Carter

One point of comparison between the 44th President of the United States and the 39th occurred to me last night (or I should say re-occurred to me since I may have made this point before).

In Carter's re-election campaign of 1980 he faced a primary challenger from within his own party. Ted Kennedy viewed 1980 as perhaps his last shot at the Presidency and this viewpoint of privilege coupled with Carter's weakness as President made Teddy take a shot at the title. Wikipedia characterizes the 1980 Democratic National Convention as one of the "nastiest in history". Carter went into the general election greatly weakened by Kennedy's challenge. Ronald Reagan was then swept into office in large part with the mandate to fix the mistakes of the Carter Administration.

Likewise, Barack Obama's popularity is plummeting and it would not be too much of a stretch to see Hillary Clinton view 2012 as her last shot at the Presidency. Her viewpoint may be that she was short-changed by Obama and his 2008 promise everything campaign which allowed him to sweep into office. A bare knuckles primary challenge could cripple an Obama re-election bid allowing a Republican to retake the Oval Office in 2012 much like what happened in 1980.

I wish there was someplace to place a futures bet on the Republican field beating President Obama in 2012. I'd bet the max allowed.
Andre the Giant - Epic Drinker

Many people will be binge drinking this weekend during the American Bacchanalia known as Super Bowl Sunday. Nobody, however, will come close to matching the drinking exploits of Andre the Giant. Andre once drank 119 standard 12 ounce beers in one six-hour sitting. Think of that. That's one beer every three minutes! Consider this mind-blowing stat:
Andre drank 7,000 calories worth of booze every day. The figure doesn’t include food. Just booze.
Holy crap!