random facts, tidbits, articles and most importantly my thoughts about things that i find while aimlessly surfing the web...
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Architecture, College Football, Baseball, Hockey, March Madness, The Economy, Corporate Corruption, Incomptent Leadership, Tulane, Atlanta, Florida, etc.
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travacado's thoughts
or at least "others'" thoughts that I find interesting...
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Sunday, January 26, 2003
Hall leads Preds by Lightning
A Predators team that's often been as good as defeated when falling behind early offered yet another example of how times are changing last night.
Trailing the Tampa Bay Lightning by two goals late in the second period, the Predators increased their determination level, improved their scoring chances and improbably rallied for a 3-2 victory.
Rookie Adam Hall capped the comeback with the winning goal midway through the third period, and his fist-shaking, knee-pumping celebration helped send the 14,560 in the Gaylord Entertainment Center home in the same kind of mood.
The fans had witnessed a bit of a rarity, as the Predators (16-21-8-4) overcame a two-goal deficit to win for the first time since Dec. 29, 2001, when Bubba Berenzweig beat the Detroit Red Wings in overtime.
''I think earlier in the season, when we had a lot of injuries and other problems, this game probably would have been 2-1 and just stayed 2-1,'' Predators Coach Barry Trotz said. ''But I think now we believe we can come back, we believe we're capable of creating offensive chances and we believe we're capable of doing a lot of things.''
The Predators ran their record to 6-3-1 over the past 10 games and are starting to see some tangible results of their improvement.
Mired in last place in the Western Conference for almost the entire season, they temporarily jumped into a tie with Los Angeles for 11th place, pending the outcome of some late games last night. (By John Glennon, The (Nashville) Tennessean) View the entire article
So who's laughing now?
They first made their mark on America's consciousness more than a quarter century ago, a frequent Johnny Carson punchline on the Tonight Show.
Now, after 26 years of jokes, pratfalls and painfully close brushes with fame, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have the booking they've always wanted: a debut appearance on tonight's show.
The Super Bowl.
Finally, they have a chance to make a new and lasting mark on the national stage. And this time, the intro goes more like Heeeeere's Jonny, as in Coach Jon Gruden, who has guided the franchise to the brightest of NFL spotlights.
For most of their torturous journey, it seemed the Bucs might never get to the big game.
This, after all, is the club that redefined futility with its legendary 0-26 start, a record that should be safe for the ages. So bad were the Bucs that opposing teams feared being the first to lose to them. The club's most entertaining feature may have been the biting one-liners of late head coach John McKay. For example, placekicking hopeful Pete Rajecki told reporters in '76 that McKay's presence made him nervous. The coach responded: "Tell Mr. Rajecki I plan to attend all games." (By Dave Scheiber, The St. Petersburg Times) View the entire article
A Walk To Wrigley
Philip Bess, author, professor, architect, and urbanist, took this series of 48 photos during a walk from Chicago's Lincoln Square neighborhood to Wrigley Field for a baseball game. These photos highlight both the urban fabric of Chicago's north side and the Cubs' "Friendly Confines." (Courtesy UrbanPhoto.org)
CUE THE BREASTS, IT'S MILLER TIME
A Beer Company's Abomination of a Commercial
The Miller Lite "Catfight" commercial explained:
Beer Exec: "We've tried everything since 'Tastes great/less filling.' We've tried the 'best beer' strategy. We've tried Kung-Fu. Dick. Celebrities. Pilsner. Bar talk. And we keep sinking. Find the answer!"
Breasts
Agency Guy: "Well, there's always breasts."
Beer Exec: "Breasts?"
Agency Guy: "Yeah, you know, hooters. Boobs. Jugs. Headlights."
Beer Exec: "Now hold on. This is 2003. Aren't we, as an industry and a society, past that? Isn't the nakedly sexist parading of women for the base amusement of male arrested adolescents degrading for everyone involved? Are we so desperate? Have we sunk so low?"
Agency Guy: "Britney Spears. Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. Victoria's Secret. Howard Stern. Maxim. The Man Show."
Beer Exec: "Find me a pair of breasts! Big ones! No, make that four breasts! Is there still such a thing as mud wrestling? How about if we make it wet-cement wrestling instead? And, hey -- could they be lesbians?" (By Bob Garfield, AdAge.com) View the entire article
View the Miller Lite "catfight" ad in question
These aren't your grandfather's ads
Consider football commercials then and now.
Used to be, it was "Mean" Joe Greene and his tattered jersey, and a wide-eyed kid with a Coke. Used to be, it was a star and a fan connecting; it was generosity, it was hopes and dreams, gratitude and warmth. It was earnest with a capital E. So much wholesome good feeling shooting through the screen you almost wanted to touch the TV.
The game was rough, yes, but it had a soft underbelly; it was human, and ultimately comforting.
Macintosh hurled its sledgehammer towards Big Brother in 1984.
And there was a time not so very long ago when you might be treated to high-concept, to something that would shake up your world. There was a time when a renegade Mac woman with a sledge hammer (was it the hammer of freedom? was it the hammer of justice? was it the hammer of love between the brothers and the sisters all over this land?) would bum-rush the stage and bring the Big Brother-man and his dreary, double-think conformity to its knees.
The game was a think-piece and a revolution, a clash of styles and strategies, a contest made up of equal parts force and fundamentals.
And in the old days, guys sat around the campfire regaling each other with stories and sipping a Michelob. They were warm, and cheered by the company, and glad in the knowledge that it just didn't get any better than this.
In the dying light of their fire, the game was comradery, and a haven from the hassles of the work-a-day world.
These days, it's a little different.
These days, it's post-punk frenzy, tailgate dogs, mud-slop games ... and twins. It's excess and gluttony. Quick-cuts. Crowds. Mayhem. And twins.
Hug a TV, grab a fistful of ice-cold Coors, eye a couple of twins. Revel and Rock On. The game is a spectacle, a party, a riot. It's carnival time and the masses have taken to the streets. With those twins.
Nowadays, the age-old Miller Light debate between "tastes great" and "less filling" ends up in a fountain bath and a mud wash. Nowadays, it's the T in titillating that gets top billing. It's tight shots on the fantasy channel -- so much quasi-erotica on the screen you almost want to touch the TV -- and the whole thing wrapped up in a wink-and-a-nod bow around two caveman boys and their incredulous dates.
The game is unleashed urges and dreams, now. Urges and dreams, and, sure, the nagging suspicion that maybe you can't always get what you want, but maybe, maybe also the slightest, sneakingest hope that if you try sometimes, you just might find, you just might find, you get what you need, ah yeah.
And today, a guy snuggles up on the couch with a Bud and a girl wearing her ex-boyfriend's sweatshirt. Every line is a thinly-veiled ... check that, not-at-all-veiled, double ... check that ... single-entendre about size, feel and satisfaction.
And this game today -- the one on the field, the one between you and her -- is just another anxious, joke's-on-you chance to be reminded of who and what you ain't.
Times have changed.
The question is, have they changed for the better or worse? Do these new spots represent an evolution or a devolution?
Yes.
On the one hand, quick-cuts are annoying, the pitch is a splatter-gun mess of simple equations between eating, drinking, watching, playing and flirting. The twins thing is just an excuse for thrill-shots, and everything is turned up, like Nigel's bass, to 11, for no other reason than, well, it's one more, isn't it?
On the other hand, that's a catchy tune, and there's something appealing about the unapologetic, reckless fun of the spot. It's almost admirable how they've reduced the thing to its essence.
On the downside, the catfight ad is practically soft-core, the punch line is a tag-on, a free pass to do anything, and, I'm sorry, there's no way those are real.
On the upside, it goes over the top to rope you in. The inappropriateness of it is what makes the punch line work, and the punch line is everything. This is a spoof on guys, guys with quotes, guys being "guys." The spot is at their expense and, to its credit, it uses their most meathead impulses against them and makes them like it.
The whole Bud couch scene plays like elementary school kids giggling and making jokes in the bathroom. Makes me think I've seriously underestimated the enduring cultural impact of "Porkys."
At the same time, it's so blatant it's kind of interesting. Not in itself, but in the way it skips blithely over the line between what you can and can't get away with. Bud ends up banking not on the joke but on the idea that they're edgy. And they score bonus points, too, for cutting against the grain and putting the woman in the driver's seat and the guy on the objectified spot.
The thing that makes the ads work is that they're hard to get a straight, simple read on. They're base and sophisticated at the same time, and they know, and are willing to mess with, their audiences. You can't dismiss 'em, can't flat-out love 'em, and can't forget 'em.
The old spots were great, but they were innocent and you never had to think about them.
These are entertaining and ironic -- you have to wrestle with them: are you repulsed or do you dig them; can it be both?
That devolutionary-evolutionary doubleness is what makes them effective.
It's either that or the hot smokin' babes.
I can't be sure.
It ain't easy to figure out. It's hard work, I tell you.
I'm beat just thinking about it.
I think I need a drink. (By Eric Neel, ESPN.com's Page 2)
BIG THIRST FOR ‘CATFIGHT' CUTIES
THE stars of Miller Lite's controversial "Catfight" ad campaign are becoming two of Hollywood's hottest commodities.
Tonya Ballinger and her brunette co-star, Kitana, have tongues wagging across the nation with the saucy spot in which they settle the old "Tastes Great/Less Filling" debate by ripping off one another's clothes and wrestling in a vat of muck. Now the pair are getting offers from all over.
"We've been having a lot of fun," Ballinger tells PAGE SIX's Ian Spiegelman. "We're getting a ton of calls, and everybody recognizes us."
Ballinger, a Chico, Calif., native, says she's already been contacted about doing work for Guess? jeans, and Katana just got back from shooting episodes of "Wild On . . . " in Belize for the E! network.
A spokeswoman for Stuff magazine confirms that the mag is already scheduling a photo shoot for the combative cuties that will be featured in the May or June issue.
Asked if the pair would be pictured in the heat of battle, the rep replied, "The concept has not yet been determined, but probably not." We were assured, however, that, "They will be very scantily clad."
Though many people enjoy the fun-loving beer commercials, some feminists are already gnashing their teeth. A spokesman for Miller Lite, however, says the brewer has received an equal amount of positive and negative e-mail over them.
"It was great," Ballinger says of the two-day shoot. "We had a lot of fun. We were trained by a stunt woman."
But was it really mud they wrestled in? Ballinger confides, "It was some kind of food substance. It was actually really, really hard to move around in - like quicksand or cement." (From PageSix.com)
The Predators (since the trade of Mike Dunham) have finally started to show the spunk and improvement expected last season after the gret strides they made in 2000-01. And their 6-3-1 stretch couldn't have come at a better time since this week Nashvillans are starting to remember that they have a hockey team after the NFL's Titans lost in last weekend's AFC Championship Game.
The Bucs will win the Super Bowl. Just a feeling that got magnified when I heard this morning on NFL Countdown that the Raiders starting center has been sent back to Oakland... My pick: Bucs 24, Raiders 21 (but now maybe more...) Look for Derrick Brooks to get an interception and maybe if the stars are in alignment the Bucs will finally return that elusive kickoff back for a touchdown!
While Football is America's true passion, with the cold temperatures across the country this week I thought that it was a perfect time to look towards Spring and what better way that with a visit to the Friendly Confines...
I do not understand the "huge" uproar about the Miller Lite "Catfight" commerical. I think Eric Neel's article sums everything up. Where is the outrage regarding Enron, the so-called "pressing" need for War in Iraq and the "expolsive" situation in North Korea? Instead we are arguing about sex-plotation in a beer commerical. OF COURSE their is SEX in a beer commerical, how else are they supposed to sell that swill? (See my comments regarding the Coors Light twins in October 2002.)
While the Bucs will win tonight's game, the Raiders definitely win the battle of "eye-candy" on the sidelines...
Carrie Riley, Tampa Bay Buccaneers Cheerleaders; Lindsey Hanson, Raiderettes
CHEERLEADER OF THE WEEK
Pamela, Miami Dolphins Cheerleaders
TIDAL 1:33 PM
Sunday, January 19, 2003
Delmore, Preds get OT win
EDMONTON, Alberta — In a matter of minutes, the Predators turned a disappointing road trip into a near break-even swing last night.
Defenseman Andy Delmore's overtime goal capped an improbable rally for the Predators, as they captured a 3-2 victory despite trailing by a goal with just over a minute left in regulation.
Vladimir Orszagh began the turnaround for the Predators (14-20-8-4) with just 1:02 remaining, wheeling around the Edmonton net and tying the game by throwing a backhand between the legs of Oilers goalie Jussi Markkanen.
It was Delmore who provided the winner 3:35 into overtime, collecting his 15th goal of the season when he whistled a long wrist shot by Markkanen to quiet a shocked capacity crowd in the Skyreach Centre.
''It started with Scottie Hartnell making a really determined play and taking the puck to the net,'' Nashville Coach Barry Trotz said. ''The puck came around to Dellie, there were a lot of bodies in front, and he just let go one of his patented laser beams.''
The Predators wound up their four-game road trip at 1-2-1, as opposed to making a long flight home from Edmonton with a four-game winless streak.
That would have been quite an about-face, considering the Predators carried a season-high four-game unbeaten streak into the trip and had lost just twice in the previous 10 contests before departing. (By John Glennon, The (Nashville) Tennessean) View the entire article
Today it's okay to root, root for the home team
Media homers are predominantly offensive ... but having seen -- even shared -- pains of tormented generations of Bucs fans, from followers of 0-26 originals in 1976-77, to ticket-buying victims from the exasperating '80s, on into the excruciating early '90s, is it okay if an old sports writer -- just for today -- puts a gentle muffler on objectivity and pulls for Super Bowl deliverance from so many who overpaid dues?
Philadelphia, where Tampa Bay emissaries historically flub, offers one more cold, inhospitable, severe January examination at Veterans Stadium, the lousiest of football arenas. Oh, they're quite deserving, those gritty Eagles who excelled with revolving quarterbacks, but might this finally be the Bucs' time?
I want it most of all for a Tampa Bay community long desperate to experience the ultimate in major-sports exuberance and pride, and also for a lot of bygone players and coaches -- many of whom I have had to splash with angry ink -- but guys who did a lot of good stuff during far too many bad seasons.
Do it today for Lee Roy Selmon, the most achieving of Buccaneers, a Hall of Fame defensive end and a Hall of Fame human being, and never forget his eloquent, linebacking brother Dewey who served with those 0-26ers alongside a QB named Steve Spurrier, defensive memorables Mark Cotney and Richard "Batman" Wood and a sweetheart of a tailback, Ricky Bell.
Do it now for Tampa Bay athletes who did the unexpected in 1979, making an NFC Championship Game, armed with quarterback Doug Williams, the relentless Selmons and another linebacker with smack, David Lewis.
So many of them will be watching Bucs-Eagles '03, their tummies a bit softer and heads grayer or balder. Imagine the range of emotions if today's sons of Dale Mabry step ahead, at last, to the biggest show in American sports. (By Hubert Mizell, The St. Petersburg Times) View the entire article
Windows 2003: Titans hoping to seize opportunity
OAKLAND, Calif. — El Nino continues to blitz the weather patterns of the California coast like Bill Romanowski on a supplement-enhanced rush, but there is a different breeze blowing through the bay today.
The window of opportunity is open. But not for long.
''It is hard to get here, I'm telling you,'' Titans Coach Jeff Fisher said. ''When you get here, you might as well take advantage of it.''
Both Titans and Raiders have come to this moment of truth in a pro football league that offers few guarantees. With the NFL's salary cap, inverted draft order and various other devices intended to level the playing field, staying at or near the top for more than a couple of years is either difficult or impossible.
Before the NFL went all socialist on us, you could patiently build a team for the long haul, throwing money at any shortcomings, working the angles, building for the future. Not now. Like Raiders Coach Bill Callahan said the other day: ''I don't think you are finding any teams in this league that are on a four- or five-year plan.''
Everybody is playing on borrowed time, with the Raiders and Titans as prime examples. Between now and next season, both rosters are going to have more rewrites than a John Grisham novel. You'll need a scorecard to tell the names at the summer mini-camps.
Compared to the Titans, who may still have enough players in or near their prime to contend again next year, the Raiders are in full put-up, shut-up mode. They were built for this season, this game, this moment. It is a veteran, star-struck roster that is nearing critical mass. (By David Climer, The Tennessean) View the entire article
Here is what I think. The Bucs will find a way to beat the Eagles. They will finally win a game in sub-freezing conditions. They will in the third (and final) attempt win a playoff game at the Vet. I might be the only person that watched last Saturday night's Falcons-Eagles game and thought that Philadelphia did NOT look impressive. Atlanta is a young football team that self-destructed with multiple penalties and a key interception. Derrick Brooks will once again score a defensive touchdown but more importantly Keyshawn Johnson will too: Bucs 20-Eagles 16.
As a former Titans season ticket holder, I really want them to win. And I think that they can win. But, they won't. For some reason I just think that it is Oakland's time. However, it will be a lot closer that the (national) media types think: Raiders 28-Titans 24.
On the local Orlando front, this Time Warner-Sunshine Network fiasco has to end. The problem is that no one in Orlando seems to have noticed let alone care. Evidently, no one misses the Magic, Lightning, SEC and ACC basketball games! Oh well, I guess that it is now time to find a place where DirectTV is available to not only get Sunshine and FOX Sports Net Florida but the entire NCAA Basketball Tournament and Miami Dolphins football via the NFL's Sunday Ticket.
CHEERLEADER OF THE WEEK
Beth, St. Louis Rams Cheerleaders
TIDAL 11:43 AM
Sunday, January 12, 2003
Win easy as 1, 2, 3
Herman Boone might have seen it coming, but certainly not like this.
Looking to add an extra piece of motivation leading up to his team's AFC divisional round playoff game against the Steelers, Titans Coach Jeff Fisher turned off the lights during a meeting at the team hotel Friday night and showed clips from Remember the Titans.
When the lights came back on, there was Boone, the high school coach who was the inspiration for the movie.
''He told us we were going to win because we were Titans. That kind of gave everybody goose bumps,'' defensive tackle John Thornton said. ''He told us the game was going to be close, we were going to trade scores and we were going to win at the end, and that is how it happened. It's funny.''
But even Hollywood couldn't have scripted the ending of Tennessee's 34-31 overtime victory yesterday over the Steelers. No one would believe it.
Fireworks before the game-winning field goal? A quarterback leading a game-winning drive with a chunk of his thumb missing? The Titans winning despite committing four turnovers and losing several key players to injuries?
It all happened. And after the smoke cleared, the Titans found themselves just one win away from the Super Bowl. They'll play the winner of today's Raiders-Jets game in next Sunday's AFC Championship Game.
''I've never seen anything like this game,'' Titans defensive end Jevon Kearse said. ''It was the longest 60 minutes of football.''
And then overtime started — and the true wackiness began. (By Jim Wyatt, The (Nashville) Tennessean) View the entire article
Preds win in OT
Having been told earlier in the day he would be taking over the role as Predators interim captain, Scott Walker demonstrated his leadership in the best way possible last night.
He collected a pair of goals, including the winner 37 seconds into overtime, as the Predators downed Phoenix 4-3 to extend their unbeaten streak to a season-high four games.
When the Predators take to the ice tonight against Chicago, Walker will be wearing the ''C'' for the first time in his NHL career. He'll keep it until Greg Johnson returns from the concussion that sidelined him in the fifth game of the season.
''It's really exciting to be named the interim captain, and it was great to get a little momentum going,'' Walker said. ''I'm one of the older guys on this team, and I think it'll be easy to be a leader because everyone works so hard. It's basically just putting a letter on my shirt.''
Walker put a dagger into the hearts of the Coyotes last night in front of an announced crowd of 13,390 in the Gaylord Entertainment Center, as he slapped the rebound of Karlis Skrastins' deflected backhand past Phoenix goalie Jean-Marc Pelletier. (By John Glennon, The (Nashville) Tennessean) View the entire article
CHEERLEADER OF THE WEEK
Tina, Washington Redskins Cheerleaders
TIDAL 5:13 PM
Wednesday, January 08, 2003
Preds stop Blues
Only the most diehard Predators fan would have dared given the team much chance at earning two points heading into the third period last night.
Having mustered a measly nine shots on goal over the first 40 minutes and battling a St. Louis team that hadn't lost to Nashville in eight games, the situation hardly seemed promising for the home squad.
Throw in the fact the Predators were playing without three injured regulars, and things looked even more dire.
Somehow, though, the Predators stuffed a game's worth of effort into one period and managed to come up with a couple of points in their 2-1 overtime victory over the Blues.
''We had a lot of guys that were running on fumes tonight,'' said Predators Coach Barry Trotz, whose team was playing for the third time in four nights.
''This stretch of the last six games or so, we've played some really good opponents in a pretty short span. But in the third period, we just had that attitude that we were going to get a point — or two.'' (By John Glennon, The (Nashville) Tennessean) View the entire article
'Bachelorette' turns tables --- but will equality fly?
There's a word for a woman who dates more than a dozen guys simultaneously, kissing and canoodling in serial fashion and skimpy tops.
It's "easy." As in, how easy must it have been for ABC to decide to order up six episodes of "The Bachelorette," beginning Wednesday night?
On "The Bachelor" last spring, handsome Harvard grad Alex Michel wooed and winnowed an initial pack of 25 lovelies down to successively smaller groups before settling on the final two. The show's shotgun wedding of romance (viewers were told that Michel would choose one to propose to) and brutal reality (he chose but didn't propose, the rat fink!) was a surprise hit.
When the second "Bachelor" came around last fall, a "Survivor"-esque 26 million people tuned in to watch Missouri banker Aaron Buerge pop the question to nervously cackling New Jersey school psychologist Helene Eksterowicz. Even "The West Wing" --- which had seemed as unstoppable as a presidential motorcade --- lost viewers. There were Wednesday-night viewing parties and Thursday-morning talk-radio kibitz sessions.
So why not try it again? This time, though, it's one woman who gets to have her way with 25 men before choosing one to --- presumably --- marry. The bachelorette is Trista Rehn, the ex-Miami Heat dancer and memorable first runner-up in Michel's cruel game of love. It's not just a woman, you could practically hear the ABC execs salivating --- it's a woman scorned! (By Jill Vejnoska, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution) View the entire article
The Bachelorette official site
HEAT Dancer: Trista
ESPN Page 2's Ten Burning Questions for The Bachelorette
Girls of Maxim Gallery: Trista Rehn
TIDAL 8:51 PM
Sunday, January 05, 2003
Packer legacy met its match
Green Bay, Wis. -- Somewhere along the way to the Falcons knocking the green and the gold right out of the Green Bay Packers, the cow jumped over the moon.
That was right after elephants flew, fish began to bark and Lambeau Field became a 67,000-seat morgue.
The Falcons won Saturday night. They dominated. They drop-kicked the Packers' legacy from here to next season. They sprinted to a 24-0 lead before Vince Lombardi and the rest of those Green Bay ghosts could arrive from the past.
As for the present, it belongs to the Falcons and their extraordinary quarterback. Despite operating with two damaged shoulders, a bad thumb on his throwing hand and leg cramps, Mike Vick willed his team to excellence. He also helped their cause with the accuracy of his left arm and the elusiveness of his legs.
The Packers still haven't tackled Vick. They barely damaged shoulders, a bad thumb on his throwing hand and leg cramps, Mike Vick willed his team to excellence. He also helped their cause with the accuracy of his left arm and the elusiveness of his legs.
The Packers still haven't tackled Vick. They barely touched him. He rebounded from a five-game slump to resemble the other guy.
No, Vick was better than Brett Favre, the Packers' master of dramatics. While the other guy has done these things for years, Vick is in his first full season as a starter.
That's why Vick expressed his admiration for Favre and his ability to continue the Packers' mystique. But, "It's like the weather in Green Bay," Vick said earlier in the week. "If you allow all of that stuff to affect you, it will." (By Terence Moore, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution) View the entire article
CHEERLEADER OF THE WEEK
Susan, St. Louis Rams Cheerleaders
TIDAL 2:36 PM
Wednesday, January 01, 2003
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
NFL as "Swingers"
Part One Part Two
TIDAL 6:54 PM
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