Ever since the Miracle on the Hudson US Airways flight a few weeks ago, the National media now is reporting each and every bird strike on a commercial airliner. Again this morning, the Today show had photos of a flight which departed Denver yesterday and had a bird strike, reportedly an "eagle", without documentation.
How much longer will it be before PETA starts protesting commercial air traffic and calling for an end of the airlines? Of course, PETA will have to fly in the airport protesters first.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Madison Ave, you wasted millions today
The Super Bowl is over and the commercials have been aired. As someone who has never been a member of a focus group and annually reviews the latest offerings of the overpaid minds of Madison Ave, here is my review of what we watched this last Sunday of football.
Well worth 3 Million dollars for the viewership-
Budweiser- An annual top tier producer of top notch commercials. This year 2 of the top five commercials involved the Clydesdale's. One with the dancing horse and the other with the immigrant horse.
Doritos- Used slapstick comedy to sell the product and their two spots were funny.
E-Trade- They used the baby in advertising once again and they skirted the major money of game-time but still put up great ads. Kudos.
Average commercials-
Grease Monkeys from Castol oil
Pedigree-Get a dog
Coke Zero- remake of the Mean Joe Green Coke ad from the 70's. This ad connected with me and my friends however meant nothing to the 20 somethings watching.
Coca-Cola- ad where people morphed into cartoon characters from video games, and as the Coke Zero ad meant nothing to the 20 somethings, this ad meant nothing to me. Maybe it balances out? Maybe a waste of 6 million dollars.
Bridgestone- This company spent heavy this Super Bowl period. Obviously they are betting on folks putting tires on their old cars instead of buying new cars. The Mr/Mrs Potatohead ad was ok, they sponsored the halftime show, but the second half ad where astronauts were walking around a virtual Mars and then turned around to find their rover on blocks and the tires were stolen. Very funny, however, it wasn't Mars they where they were walking, it was Florida Ave. in Washington DC or downtown Detroit.
This year's Super Bowl saw a few shining lights in selected commercial spots, but once the Champion was crowned, the game was over, all the wings and 9 layer dip consumed, we have come to the giant waste of money list of commercials, and there are many this year.
Losers-
The worst commercial this Super Bowl was without a doubt, brought to you by Pepsi. Pepsi had several ads hawking their new "manly" diet drink and they crossed over the line to the stupid by wasting 3 million dollars to stage a faux McGyver episode, named Pepsuber in the commercial. Obviously Pepsi didn't run this ad past focus groups before signing the 3 million dollar check. Perhaps one of the worst Super Bowl ads I've ever seen.
Overstock.com- Carlos Boozer- Loser ad
Careerbuilder.com- Loser
Land of the Lost movie promo/faux Today show ad- Sucked
Cars.com- Sucked out loud
Hyundai- major loser
Hulu.com-
I don't know what this company is or does, but after trotting out the fat Alec Baldwin who quickly advertises himself as a TV star, does nothing to make me want to search for hulu on the net. The Baldwins disgust me. Every last one of the non talented members of the clan. Hey Alec, weren't you going to move to France in 2004? Are you still here? Your weight gain in the past few months is making Jessica Simpson look like Paris Hilton. Please speed up you exit of this country and take the rest of your non-talented family with you. Bye-bye now.
GE-
Oh, the parent company of NBC, MSNBC, CNBC decided to jump into the advertising realm. I don't believe they paid 3 million for 30 seconds. The advertisement in the 4th quarter, showing a likeness of the scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz singing, If I only had a Brain, while touting their website for ecomagination, was just sick. If I only had a Brain was a great music selection for the advertisement because no one at GE, or for that matter at any NBC associated networks has a brain. Go Green, GE wins. Current unlucky shareholders of GE have lost however because no one running the company has a brain.
Cash 4 Gold-
Half way through this ad I thought it was a spoof, once I realized it wasn't, I felt very sorry for those folks involved.
Well, I'll wrap up the commercials here. I've not gone to any websites yet to see who texted in which commercials folks enjoyed the most or been involved in any survey. You read my posts here, and it's raw, as I feel it, I post it. Regular readers know about my affinity for animals in advertising. I've not gotten to figure out how many ads involved animals just yet, but I was in a room with over 100 people today and when the Castrol ad "Grease Monkeys" came on and the guy kissed the monkey at the end of the ad, there was a collective, aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh, from all the women in the room. So lesson learned here for free, once again, you have a product to sell with advertising budget for TV, involve an animal and if you can kiss it and escape local felony charges, put it on TV.
Well worth 3 Million dollars for the viewership-
Budweiser- An annual top tier producer of top notch commercials. This year 2 of the top five commercials involved the Clydesdale's. One with the dancing horse and the other with the immigrant horse.
Doritos- Used slapstick comedy to sell the product and their two spots were funny.
E-Trade- They used the baby in advertising once again and they skirted the major money of game-time but still put up great ads. Kudos.
Average commercials-
Grease Monkeys from Castol oil
Pedigree-Get a dog
Coke Zero- remake of the Mean Joe Green Coke ad from the 70's. This ad connected with me and my friends however meant nothing to the 20 somethings watching.
Coca-Cola- ad where people morphed into cartoon characters from video games, and as the Coke Zero ad meant nothing to the 20 somethings, this ad meant nothing to me. Maybe it balances out? Maybe a waste of 6 million dollars.
Bridgestone- This company spent heavy this Super Bowl period. Obviously they are betting on folks putting tires on their old cars instead of buying new cars. The Mr/Mrs Potatohead ad was ok, they sponsored the halftime show, but the second half ad where astronauts were walking around a virtual Mars and then turned around to find their rover on blocks and the tires were stolen. Very funny, however, it wasn't Mars they where they were walking, it was Florida Ave. in Washington DC or downtown Detroit.
This year's Super Bowl saw a few shining lights in selected commercial spots, but once the Champion was crowned, the game was over, all the wings and 9 layer dip consumed, we have come to the giant waste of money list of commercials, and there are many this year.
Losers-
The worst commercial this Super Bowl was without a doubt, brought to you by Pepsi. Pepsi had several ads hawking their new "manly" diet drink and they crossed over the line to the stupid by wasting 3 million dollars to stage a faux McGyver episode, named Pepsuber in the commercial. Obviously Pepsi didn't run this ad past focus groups before signing the 3 million dollar check. Perhaps one of the worst Super Bowl ads I've ever seen.
Overstock.com- Carlos Boozer- Loser ad
Careerbuilder.com- Loser
Land of the Lost movie promo/faux Today show ad- Sucked
Cars.com- Sucked out loud
Hyundai- major loser
Hulu.com-
I don't know what this company is or does, but after trotting out the fat Alec Baldwin who quickly advertises himself as a TV star, does nothing to make me want to search for hulu on the net. The Baldwins disgust me. Every last one of the non talented members of the clan. Hey Alec, weren't you going to move to France in 2004? Are you still here? Your weight gain in the past few months is making Jessica Simpson look like Paris Hilton. Please speed up you exit of this country and take the rest of your non-talented family with you. Bye-bye now.
GE-
Oh, the parent company of NBC, MSNBC, CNBC decided to jump into the advertising realm. I don't believe they paid 3 million for 30 seconds. The advertisement in the 4th quarter, showing a likeness of the scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz singing, If I only had a Brain, while touting their website for ecomagination, was just sick. If I only had a Brain was a great music selection for the advertisement because no one at GE, or for that matter at any NBC associated networks has a brain. Go Green, GE wins. Current unlucky shareholders of GE have lost however because no one running the company has a brain.
Cash 4 Gold-
Half way through this ad I thought it was a spoof, once I realized it wasn't, I felt very sorry for those folks involved.
Well, I'll wrap up the commercials here. I've not gone to any websites yet to see who texted in which commercials folks enjoyed the most or been involved in any survey. You read my posts here, and it's raw, as I feel it, I post it. Regular readers know about my affinity for animals in advertising. I've not gotten to figure out how many ads involved animals just yet, but I was in a room with over 100 people today and when the Castrol ad "Grease Monkeys" came on and the guy kissed the monkey at the end of the ad, there was a collective, aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh, from all the women in the room. So lesson learned here for free, once again, you have a product to sell with advertising budget for TV, involve an animal and if you can kiss it and escape local felony charges, put it on TV.
Did you make money on my suggestions?
I said take Arizona and the points- you won
I said take the over on total points-you won
Take the over on the first punt over 41.5 yds-you won
Take the over on Warner passing for more yards than Big Ben-you won
Take the over on total kickoffs at 9.5-you won
And I have to take a moment here with the final successful suggestion, take the over on Larry Fitzgerald of 83.5 yards. I specifically wrote that Larry would get 127 yards receiving and 1 touchdown. Larry ended the game with.........127 yards and 2 scores. And there are you folks out there paying 900 numbers to get the "betting line" from so called experts. You might likely be the same folks buying the ShamWows and the razor blade sharpener at 4am, but I give this information for free because as a public service I'm trying to stimulate the economy. Anyone with a computer Internet connection could have made serious jing this final Sunday of the NFL.
If you missed out on today's game, return in 8 months once the start of the next season starts up and the quest for the Champion of Super Bowl 44 starts once again. Have I mentioned how much I despise basketball and NASCAR? Maybe once or twice.
Congrats to the Steeler fans.
I said take the over on total points-you won
Take the over on the first punt over 41.5 yds-you won
Take the over on Warner passing for more yards than Big Ben-you won
Take the over on total kickoffs at 9.5-you won
And I have to take a moment here with the final successful suggestion, take the over on Larry Fitzgerald of 83.5 yards. I specifically wrote that Larry would get 127 yards receiving and 1 touchdown. Larry ended the game with.........127 yards and 2 scores. And there are you folks out there paying 900 numbers to get the "betting line" from so called experts. You might likely be the same folks buying the ShamWows and the razor blade sharpener at 4am, but I give this information for free because as a public service I'm trying to stimulate the economy. Anyone with a computer Internet connection could have made serious jing this final Sunday of the NFL.
If you missed out on today's game, return in 8 months once the start of the next season starts up and the quest for the Champion of Super Bowl 44 starts once again. Have I mentioned how much I despise basketball and NASCAR? Maybe once or twice.
Congrats to the Steeler fans.
Super Game-Sad Day
After 4 weeks of preseason, 17 weeks of regular season and a month of playoff games, we've finally arrived at the climax of the season. The Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona Cardinals are the final teams standing. The two weeks leading up to the Super Bowl are usually filled with all sorts of news surrounding the game, but this year, it has been a very quiet period. No player arrests, no hookers, not much of anything.
The line on today's game hasn't moved at all after opening at Pittsburgh -6.5 and the over/under is 47.0 pts. I've taken Arizona and the points. I'd take the over if I bet the points.
For the Super Bowl, Vegas takes bets on every aspect of the game. Who wins the coin toss, who scores first, how many field goals will be made, even how long it will take to sing the National Anthem. Many of the wagers are on player performance. Odds makers are saying Kurt Warner will throw for more yards than Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger. The over/under on that wager is 23.5 yards. I'd have to say take the over. Warner needs 364 yards to over take Joe Montana's career Super Bowl passing yardage record of 1142 yards. I can't see Kurt putting up 365 yards against the Steelers defense. A few other over/under wagers:
Total yards by Willie Parker. 75.5 take the over
Total receiving yards by Cardinals' Larry Fitzgerald 83.5 yards. Take the over. Fitz gets 127 yards and a score
Total distance of the first punt. 41.5 gross yards. Even though the Cardinal's punter has injury issues, I'd take the over. There is little wind in Tampa and it's a friendly kickers stadium.
Total kickoff returns by both teams. 9.5 kicks. Over, I suspect 11 total kickoffs.
My prediction for the game is Arizona 27 Pittsburgh 21
Outside of the game, many will be the commercials. Last year's showing was weak and I'm hoping for some improvement this year. Although, some of the efforts coming out of Madison Ave in the playoffs have been wretched. If the Geico eyeballs and the myopically challenged dingbats from H and R block are any indication, there will most likely be alot of wasted money this year as well.
This is also the saddest day of the year because when the final gun sounds sometime after 10pm at Ray Jay, football fans will have to wait another 8 months until the toe hits leather once again.
Bucs fans will be facing uncertainty this upcoming season with many new faces leading the squad. We can hope for a successful free agency period and solid draft because next years schedule looks tough on paper at this time. Go Bucs!
The line on today's game hasn't moved at all after opening at Pittsburgh -6.5 and the over/under is 47.0 pts. I've taken Arizona and the points. I'd take the over if I bet the points.
For the Super Bowl, Vegas takes bets on every aspect of the game. Who wins the coin toss, who scores first, how many field goals will be made, even how long it will take to sing the National Anthem. Many of the wagers are on player performance. Odds makers are saying Kurt Warner will throw for more yards than Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger. The over/under on that wager is 23.5 yards. I'd have to say take the over. Warner needs 364 yards to over take Joe Montana's career Super Bowl passing yardage record of 1142 yards. I can't see Kurt putting up 365 yards against the Steelers defense. A few other over/under wagers:
Total yards by Willie Parker. 75.5 take the over
Total receiving yards by Cardinals' Larry Fitzgerald 83.5 yards. Take the over. Fitz gets 127 yards and a score
Total distance of the first punt. 41.5 gross yards. Even though the Cardinal's punter has injury issues, I'd take the over. There is little wind in Tampa and it's a friendly kickers stadium.
Total kickoff returns by both teams. 9.5 kicks. Over, I suspect 11 total kickoffs.
My prediction for the game is Arizona 27 Pittsburgh 21
Outside of the game, many will be the commercials. Last year's showing was weak and I'm hoping for some improvement this year. Although, some of the efforts coming out of Madison Ave in the playoffs have been wretched. If the Geico eyeballs and the myopically challenged dingbats from H and R block are any indication, there will most likely be alot of wasted money this year as well.
This is also the saddest day of the year because when the final gun sounds sometime after 10pm at Ray Jay, football fans will have to wait another 8 months until the toe hits leather once again.
Bucs fans will be facing uncertainty this upcoming season with many new faces leading the squad. We can hope for a successful free agency period and solid draft because next years schedule looks tough on paper at this time. Go Bucs!
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Carolina on my mind
James Taylor must be restless this evening. Can you say, BEAT DOWN at home, where the Kitty Cats went 8-0 during the regular season. Jake Delhomme delivered several birthday presents to Panther fans tonight, 4 interceptions and a fumble. All you Panther fans coming to the various message boards talking about how the Bucs wasted their season, just take a look at tonight's game you goobers. The Panthers lost as the #2 seed to a team which had a 14/15 losing record playing teams on the east coast, and a team which has never won back to back playoff games. Talk about a wasted season! One and done with the #2 seed. Happy birthday Jake Delhomme, best wishes from the Bucs fans.
NFL memo to the NFC South, thanks for participating
Memo to all you Bucs homers who held out hope until the final week of the regular season, knowing in you hearts and minds that the Bucs would travel to Arizona and beat the Cardinals. Wouldn't have happened. Arizona beat down the upstart Atlanta Falcons and this evening, Kurt Warner is shredding Carolina at home. Bucs fans, you remember visiting Carolina back on December 8th, giving up 300 plus yards on the ground. Arizona has held Steve Smith without a catch until 30 seconds left in the 3rd quarter. Interesting that a 9-7 division winner is beating down the two teams from the division which won the most games this season. Yet, the message boards prior to the playoffs were filled with comments on how the Cardinals would have been an easy take down for the Bucs. I don't think so. And it's time for Bruce Allen to stand behind his comments yesterday regarding spending the 40 million the Bucs are under the salary cap, especially with the CBA agreement in 2010 so questionable.
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