Its my first video interview posted, and although I say “yeah” and “uh huh” too much its okay so I thought I would post it here as well as the site has been pretty crappy. I promise Monday all will be well and I’ll be back with a vengeance (as if you really cared)
Angels pitcher John Lackey is a pretty smart guy. He blogs for Yardbarker, lives by the ocean, and more importantly learned from former Angel,Bartolo Colon, that you can’t hit up the post game buffet after every game when you only pitch one out of five.
We were lucky enough to nab him after Wednesday’s game against the Oakland A’s and tried to find out more about the Angels fantasy league and what it would be like if the Angels had their own reality show.
After getting nudged a couple times by our lovely camera woman, I got the hint I should probably ask Lackey some questions about baseball (cut me some slack…. I didn’t major in journalism). We were also able to learn the best way to optimize a post game celebration as well as the food and drink combination needed to lead the AL in ERA. Apparently Cliff Lee got the note this year, but Colon didn’t.
I have given love to Electronic Arts in the past for solid commercials in the past. Today I am going with them again for a pair of solid commercial.
The first commercial doesn’t come off as anything special at first. However the end of this dude’s story is just crazy. One madden 2 point conversion for $100,000, that’s freaking epic.
Next is the new Tiger woods ad that leaves you thinking its got to be fake just like Ball girl, Lebron, Ronaldino, and other similar ads. However initial reaction thanks to this video is that it’s actually real.
I watched a pretty copious amount of football this weekend. Here are some things that have stuck out.
College
After the first two weeks of the season it looks like the Heisman race has tightened up. The biggest favorites (Chris Wells and Tim Tebow) have not distancted themselves with Wells status hurt by missing week 2.Pat White’s performance against East Carolina really kills his chances.
Guys who have made up some distance on that lead pack include a handful of players from the Big 12 including Sam Bradford, Chase Daniels, and why not Colt Mccoy. However the guy who is probably towards the top may be Georgia’s Knowshon Moreno. Big games loom in the coming weeks for a handful of these big contenders.
- East Carolina is legit
- Jimmy Clausen looked a lot better in the opener agaisnt San Diego State, although the Irish were very lucky in getting the win. 3 tough games coming up agaisnt Michigan, Purdue, and Michigan State. Should be interesting how the Irish fair.
- Cal put up 60+ on Washington State. Jahvid Best for Heisman? Early on Cal looks like the second beat team in the conference.
- I have boldly proclaimed this year the Big 12 will shine, although the SEC has been sharp thus far. As it stands now out of the top 13 teams in the country each conference has a whopping 5 teams. After the top 13, the SEC and the Big 12 have no more teams ranked in the top 25.
- Next week is a huge for the Big Ten, who hasn’t faired well thus far in 2008. Ohio State takes on USC, Michigan travels to Notre Dame, Purdue hosts Oregon, and Wisconsin has to take a very pesky Fresno State team. With 3 out of 4 games being on the road, it will be at telling slate of games for the confernce as a whole .
NFL
- The Bengals are the biggest underachievers in the NFL. They just don’t play with passion. Marvin Lewis get your resume ready.
- The AFC is reeling rigt now. The Colts open up their new staduim by getting trounced by Kyle Orton’s bears, the Patriots lose Tom Brady for the season, and the Chargers lose a nail biter to the Panthers. Anyone else envision a Steelers Cowboys superbowl?
- Teams that really stood out in a positive away include the Bears, Panthers, Falcons, Steelers, Eagles, and Bills.
- Teams that stood out in a bad way include Redskins, Texans, Rams, Seahawks, and Bengals.
I was mocking a Brent Jones commercial endorsement at work when a colleague brought my attention to Baltimore area auto dealership Eastern Motors. The jingle is catchy, the footage is terrible, but the celebrities are top tier.
They are almost so bad, that they are good.
Enjoy.
Shockingly if you search on youtube, this is just the tip of the iceberg for Eastern Motors who have a myriad of pretty substantial celebrity endorsements.
I have devoted the whole day to watching college football. Woke up at 7:45 just to make sure I watched some Gameday and the LSU vs. Appalachian State kickoff.I’ll update this from time to time today. Got both tv’s running and all the channels.
8:50- I thought Appalachian State would at least give LSU a good game. 17-0, and I don’t see this one tightening up at all. The difference in line play is huge.
Initially I questioned if Clemson vs Alabama really deserved Gameday over Illinois vs. Missouri. The Missouri game is and will be a better game, but Nick Saban gives the Alabama game more star power. No doubt if Saban was not at Alabama, Gameday would be elsewhere.
9:30- Terrelle Pryor is getting his first whole series in the Buckeyes third drive. 3 out of 4 first plays were passes. Ran first a first down on the nice draw. So far so good 3-3 passing. Drive stalled out in red zone, but it should be noted that he was with the second string offensive line. Would love to see him with the first string line. Looks to be attempt to get some experience under a lot of the freshmen’s bets (Shugarts, Pryor, Thomas, Brewster, Posey and Adams I think were all in on that drive.
Virginia Tech is struggling.
10:30- Good half for the Buckeyes. Defense was awesome, offense was ok but not dynamic.
Sean Glennon is pissing me off.
Akron is giving Wisky a good game. Florida and Tebow haven’t exploded yet.
10:55- Chris Wells could have a serious ankle injury…..I feel sick…. He isn’t putting any weight on it, what so ever. Really not encouraging. Hoping for the best…… Really worried about this.
God damnit. The cart to the locker room. Also Robiskie was banged up on his TD catch. This is not good. Need to be healthy for USC game.
11:04- I hope to god this isn’t a ruptured achilles. Honestly the way it looked, and the way they are looking at him, its very possible and that’s a horrible injury to come back from.
11:25- Terrelle Pryor got to have a drive with the first string O line and got to run the spread option a handful of times. Drive culminated with a real sweet Vince Young like 20 yard TD. Mind is still on Wells. Going to drink some beer and think positively. I am thinking that maybe if it is the achilles, he might come back next year to pump his draft stock up again next year.
11:30- Upset alert…Pitt is losing to Bowling Green 20-17 and looks to be getting the ball back… Stay tuned.
In way more important news, Wells is back on the sideline, limping with a boot on. The fact he is putting weight on it is encouraging. I handicap that there is a 50% chance he will be back for the USC game. Let’s see what the report is.
11:44 - East Carolina has made it a game with Virginia Tech. 2 point game with 3 minutes to go. …..
The rephs just blew a big one for Bowling Green. They scored a defensive TD off a fumble to take a 2 score lead. Unfortunately there was in advent whistle and they have to take possession around midfield instead of having the TD.
Below is a link to my latest article on Bucknuts. It doesn’t focus on the Buckeyes but rather stuff to keep an eye out for in the Big Ten and the country.
In one of the segments, I outline why the west coast is a little lacking in college football fanaticism compared to the rest of the country.
I attribute to 4 factors.
1) Pac 10 Schools are in major cities with pro sports teams
2) The Expansive Region the Conference Cover- Hard to follow teams on the road
3) The Time Difference- Gameday at 7:30 am?
4) Local importance on media, music, entertainment, and technology
Speaking of the Pac 10, I find this story from The Wiz of Odds fairly entertaining.Below is a picture of Arizona State’s new practice facility. As you can see it has a pressurrized bubble roof that keeps temperature down in the desert heat..
Interesting design, an airbag/tent design. Kind of seems like a bad idea. Well only weeks after its completion, it turns out it is. A huge storm whipped through the area and this what’s left of the facility. Below is the after picture.
It’s time for bed, but not before some interesting tidbits to come through in the last couple of days.
- The Big Ten Network and Time Warner Cable have reached a distribution agreement. Last week talks heated up as both sides engaged in a back and forth posturing/propoganda battle. This is huge for the BTN as another 2.5 million people will get the network on basic cable in the Big Ten region, and also sets the groudwork for future distribution on the sports tier for those outside the Big Ten Region.
The timing of this annoucement also coincides on the day that ESPN announced an extended agreement with the SEC, effectively killing the possibility of a launch of a rumored SEC Network.
- Pacino and De Niro in a new movie coming out? I couldn’t dig up much on Righteous Kill other than a trailer I saw earlier. Although its big news that these two have teamed up again, expectations on IMDB are very tepid with community members skeptical that 50 cent also stars in the movie. Another fan said that the title sounded more like a Stephen Seagal movie compared to a classic De Niro and Pacino film.
- Lastly I checked out the new MTV show tonight Exiled. I liked the concept. A bunch of bratty kids who had obnoxiously over the top Sweet 16 parties, are still brats (shocker!) and need some type of intervention. So why not send these MTV made prissy pre madonas to a third world country to toughen them up a bit?
MTV pays the bill and lines them up with some type of third world boot camp exotic destination in order to “open their eyes” to real life struggles.
The whole appeal to me was seeing these kids struggle and suffer. Yeah its basic schadenfreude, but these kids are in need of a thorough public belittling. Unfortunately though the show comes off as an extension of Sweet 16, with you ultimately end sympathizing with the kids and rooting for them.
The problem is that there is already a show like that called Made, where young kids overcome their shortcomings to achieve something that’s seems outlandish. Exiled was just more fluff that will most likely perpetuate these kids’ obnixious and pompous egos instead of a whole hearted reality check.
It all must snuck up on me, but watching the USA basketball team was a real treat. Being told it was on Sunday morning in the US (true except for on the West Coast), I thought I had a day until the big game. Having not seen any basketball this Olympics, it was great to see a very entertaining and competitive Gold medal game.
Below are some random thoughts
- I give a lot of credit to Mike Krzyzewski. Yeah he had the best talent by far, but he got the team playing their best ball, meshed together a bunch of guys who don’t play together, made defense a priority, and most importantly kept the team laser focused on the prize at hand.
For whatever reason Coach K is not really embraced by sports fans. Maybe its that he always wins, he is kind of boring, and Duke is overpimped by ESPN. Regardless of how you feel, you have to appreciate the job he did with this team.
- Dwyane Wade is back and played a hell of a game and tournament. No doubt he will be a top 5 player next year in the NBA. My questions is are the Heat a top ten team in the NBA next year? Sounds ridiculous considering they are in the East and last year they were one of the worst teams in the East.
Regardless Wade, Marion, and now Beasley present a nice trio of players. Although supporting talent is few and far between, its very possible that the Heat could still be be a top tier contender at least in the East.
- Marc Gasol will be an All Star in the NBA. The East has Bosh and Howard, but Gasol showed he can hang with them and at times even dominated the two All stars. With Memphis having Conley, Gay, Mayo, and now Gasol, they become a team to keep an eye on over the next handful of years as a possible up comer to challenge Boston, Detroit, and Cleveland. So Memphis plays in the West, something that slipped my mind. Regardless the Grizzlies are building out a nice squad with Conley, Gay, Mayo, and now Gasol. Gasol showed he can play at the same level as Bosh and Howard and will now look to get the Grizzlies into conetion again.
- Rudy Fernandez showed me some game and I am kind of thinking that its 3-1 that the Blazers win a championship in the next 3 years. Its very possible the Blazers will have three of the best rookies in the NBA next year with Oden coming back from injury, Fernandez who looks ready to contribute, and Jerryd Bayless running the point. These three to go along with Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge makes me think they are the most likely to succeed the Spurs as the premier Western Power House.
- A year ago and a half ago, I had a friend asked me if I were to build a 3 man basketball team, who would I pick. I went with Chris Paul, Chris Bosh, and Lebron James. At the time he didn’t know who Paul and Bosh were. I have to say I don’t know if I would change my answer now. In particular Bosh is a guy that continues to grow on me. Dependable, smart, and with good range for a big man. Its a shame he is lampooned in Toronto.
- Just one man’s opinion, but I thought it was pretty lame that Spain puts player’s first names on the back of their jerseys.
- The announcers were all over Ricky Rubio the young prodigy point guard, rumored to be a front runner for the top pick of the NBA in 2010. While its a little early, I can definitely see him being an elite point guard in the NBA. A little raw in some areas I would say he is on par with guys like DJ Augustin and Jerryd Bayless who were top picks on this year’s draft. That’s quite impressive considering he still has two more years to mature. Tonight he hung with DeRon Williams and Chris Paul, while making Jason Kidd look his old age.
Below is cool highlight reel with a lame soundtrack of Rubio.
With the college football season less then a week away, its becoming an intruiging storyline of the Big Ten Network can reach distribution deals with the remaining cable companies who have yet to broker a deal with the upsttart sports network.
2 months back Comcast joined Dish, DirectTV, Verizon, ATT, and many others to carry the network with rumblings that MediaCom and Time Warner were reopening up negotiaions.
Earlier this week, Gene Smith (Oho State’s Athletic Director), made an announcement informing fans that Time Warner negotiotions had stalled and that those looking for the network should look for diffrent providers.
Smith’s email effectively painted Time Warner as the bad guy. Time Warner has struck back by proposing to allow BTN football games to be available on a pay per view basis. While Mediacom seems to have brokered a last minute deal for distribution, Charter Communication’s is still negotiating , the BTN and Time Warner saga has become a half hearted posturing and rhetoric war between the two companies.
The pay per view proposal was a half ass posturing move to paint the BTN as the bad guy (not saying they aren’t). Time Warner does not seem to be legitimately pursuing a deal and is more dragging their feet in negotiations to give the appearance to subscribers that they are pursuing a deal.
The BTN but Time Warner on blast once again.
“Time Warner is well aware that it cannot selectively choose to air a network’s programming in lieu of full carriage. In addition, offering to do so to a customer base it has effectively ignored for the past year in not carrying the network is counter-productive and creates both confusion and false hope.
“While proposals have recently been exchanged, there is a wide gap between what Time Warner and its other competitors would seem to agree is reasonable and fair. Somehow America’s top cable operator, largest telephone company and two satellite providers have each decided to make the Big Ten Network available to their customers. There are another 230 or so similar companies, serving more than 55 million homes and seven out of every 10 folks in the eight Big Ten states, that each carry the network, too.
“Time Warner has already had more than 18 months to decide to offer the Big Ten Network to its customers, and in a statement Wednesday said ‘we are ready to carry the network.’ Fine. Then they should carry the network, and at terms comparable to the network’s other agreements. Or they should tell their customers they have decided not to. Either way, fans deserve to know the truth.”
The bottom line here is that this is a war of attrition and both sides are pretty dug in. BTN has some pretty solid distribution, but covets getting Time Warner in the fold. Time Warner is poorly run company and has done some internal analysis that probably shows that the amount of money it will cost to broker a deal is more than the amount of subscribers the company will lose, especially if they continue overstating their intentions and progress to reach a deal.
The trut is that the company is slowly bleeding customers. Some because of this, some because their product is average, and a lot because their customer service and market strategy is garbage. They should take a page out of Verizon, ATT, and the satelittle companies and put am emphasis on consumer needs and wants rather than then bottom line.
After a week of moving and bumming someone else’s internet, Benkoo.com is back and in full effect. Lots of cool things in the works, but for now I’ll just leave you with this.
