Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Whose Idea Was This?


I don't have good fashion sense but the Seahawks' third jersey is horrible.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Tom Tomorrow


I don't feel like posting every This Modern World cartoon to Facebook, but I like this entry.

http://www.salon.com/comics/tomo/2009/09/22/tomo/index.html?source=rss

Monday, September 14, 2009

Looks Like Another Tough Year For Patriots-Haters

After a brief year to celebrate the Patriots' defeat in the Super Bowl and missing out on the 18-0 season, it looks like the Patriots are up to their old tricks -- secretly dominating the game but losing, only to have the opponent make seemingly a minor miscue (running back a normal kick off with the hands team on the field) lead to a turnover and a touchdown (fumble). I don't think I can handle too many more of these. Good thing I'm working during the Patriots / Jets game.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

What are you reading?

This is an interesting article about what people are reading on the NY subway. The NY Times took a poll with about 8000 respondents and here are the results.

Is it a bad sign for Newsday that more people said they read the Washington Post than Newsday (a local Long Island paper)?

I'm Not Watching the US Open

But after reading Richard Sandomir's article in the NY Times, I wish I had been...





Sandomir points out a number of silly questions and interviews by Shriver, including the moment above, but also interviews with Michael Phelps and Alec Baldwin.

The NFL Blackout Policy is Obsolete

The NFL recently announced that blacked out games would be available the next day online for a few days for fans to watch.

In my opinion, the NFL blackout policy is a relic from when it was first initiated.

If you're not familiar with it, the blackout policy is a rule that states if a game is not sold out, it will not be available live on television for that local market. I suppose when this rule was initiated in 1973, fans chose not to pay for the games and would prefer to sit comfortably and watch them at home. Or somehow the NFL was afraid that empty seats on television would be embarrassing.

The way that television and sports are today, this is a pretty obsolete and ridiculous rule, in my opinion. Do fans really consider the decision of whether to go to the game or just watch it on television? I think that fans who really want to go to the game will go, regardless of its availability on television. Those who don't like to attend sporting events or can't afford the cost, just won't go. If it's not on television that isn't going to change the minds of those people who can't or choose not to afford it.

To me, the policy is implying that there is no difference between watching the game live and watching it in person besides the price and that people who watch at home are somehow freeloading. Going to a game in person requires not just the financial investment but also a big time commitment of getting to the stadium and waiting through all the traffic. On the flip side, there are benefits of being at the game as well, such as being part of the crowd, being able to see the whole field, tailgating and socializing.

Now with DirecTV, if a game is blacked out, a fan is probably more likely to go to their local bar that has a satellite dish than to the game anyways. Maybe they should black out unsold games on DirecTV so that people will move back to their local metropolitan areas and go to the game instead.

So would you go to more NFL games if your team was blacked out? I think you'd probably just stop being a fan. After all, the best advertisement for the local team is the actual games themselves! I expect that in the near future this policy will be reversed.

Monday, August 31, 2009

Disney Buys Marvel

I just hope they keep making comics...

Friday, August 28, 2009

Burger King: Is this too much to ask?

I ordered the following at Burger King (confirmed on the Drive-thru LCD)

Chicken sandwich, no mayo
Onion Rings
Diet Coke


I received:
Chicken sandwich WITH mayo
French fries
Sprite
and bonus attitude when I pointed out that everything was wrong

At least I got a bonus?

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Jets vs Ravens

This blog post by Tim Graham at ESPN.com pretty much sums up my opinion of last night's game, so why rewrite what has already been written?

http://espn.go.com/blog/afceast/post/_/id/2164/a-few-thoughts-on-sanchez-clemens-etc

Monday, August 24, 2009

Craziness at Citi Field

The Mets, who have been going through an agonizing season, lost with a game ending unassisted triple play today. ESPN keeps saying how this is the "second time ever for a game ending triple play." But what I find even more remarkable is that this is _not_ the first time a game has featured a triple play AND an inside-the-park home run! This is what makes baseball so crazy - it's almost impossible to do something that's never been done before.

Thursday, August 06, 2009

Sexism in Comics

Check out this discussion about a sexist remark made in a recent comic - was it really necessary to say that Green Lantern was involved in a three-some?

From Comics Should Be Good at CBR

Tuesday, August 04, 2009

Clinton Goes to North Korea


Psychologists must have some sort of field day whenever they think about North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. The way he has his country practice diplomacy is so odd and appears childish and he always seems to relish any sort of gesture that appears to elevate his status. Case in point - Bill Clinton's surprise, "private" visit to N. Korea to help free two imprisoned journalists. I'm glad the two young women get to go home, despite the fact that I'm sure some will criticize the journey as placating North Korea. Nobody must be buying the assertion that this was a "private" trip - who meets with Kim Jong-il and not talk to the President? Especially when your wife is the Secretary of State! But regardless, North Korea's press agency released this photo of the two leaders, what do you think was going through Bill Clinton's mind when they took this? This type of thing has to be somewhat awkward for any politician.

Sunday, August 02, 2009

Shorter Names

I recently heard that Pizza Hut was changing its name to "The Hut" because they wanted to try and show that they were more diverse. Now I'm reading that Radio Shack is planning on changing their name to "The Shack." www.theshack.com redirects to Radio Shack, but www.thehut.com is an electronics store.

Will this be a trend? These new names sort of sound like some sort of 21st Century marketing scheme that will seem really dated in about 10 years.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Self-Love

No, not that kind!

It took me 4 years, but I just noticed this blog got a mention on news.com. I don't think it's been mentioned in the 4 years since.

The post that got mentioned was part of the "blog community response" to a story about daylight savings time.

At least they credited me, unlike one of the Yankee blogs that relayed my story of searching for Yankee tickets but didn't credit me!

I may not post here often but I still have an ego.

Moving and Chia Obama


It's been a while since I've posted in this space, mainly due to a relocation in early July to Miami. Miami is quite a different place from NY, and I've been wondering if I could do something fun on the blog about the transition but so far, I haven't really had the time to even work on the blog.

But I just saw a commercial for Chia Obama... It comes in two forms - "Happy" and "Determined!" I guess everybody is trying to cash in. What better way to honor the President?

Tuesday, June 02, 2009

NYT Spoils SVU

I didn't think it was possible, but the NY Times spoiled tonight's episode of Law and Order SVU for me by featuring a story about a character's demise on their front page, only 30 minutes after the episode completed airing here on the east coast. This is about as bad as the NY Times movie reviews that give away the entire plot of the movie.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Obama's Honorary Degrees

People associated with Notre Dame are upset that the school honored Barack Obama with an honorary degree because of his views on stem cell research and abortion. Similarly, the Daily Show recently featured a story where Arizona State University students also were upset about conferring an honorary degree to the President.

Aren't honorary degrees sort of a silly formality anyway? It's not like it changes anything about the honoree. Do we call someone "doctor" if they get an honorary doctorate? Ultimately who cares?

Furthermore, aren't there going to be pro-choice students getting actual degrees at Notre Dame this year? Based on this logic, they should be prevented from getting their actual degrees?

Finally, I saw an article where the President was referred to as "the worst baby killer in the nation." Do we really need all the exaggeration? Last I checked, the President does not perform abortions, have the power to make laws about abortion or have the power to overturn abortion legislation.

Lakers / Houston Game 7

If the Rockets beat the Lakers in game 7 today to advance to the Western Conference Finals, I think we can look at the series as one of the all-time upsets in the NBA. But let's not get ahead of ourselves -- the Rockets need to win first.

Sunday, May 03, 2009

Madden 2005 Super Bowl

It's Year 12 of my Madden 2005 franchise (roughly 2016-2017) and the Super Bowl features the NY Jets vs the NY Giants. If only such a Super Bowl would actually happen!