Big MLB news in Free Agency

Throughout the 2011 MLB season, Albert Pujols was labeled as a free agent after the St. Louis Cardinals and Pujols couldn't agree on a contract. The big discussion heading into the Winter Meetings, naturally, was Pujols.

Originally, the Cardinals, Chicago Cubs, and the Miami (formerlly Florida) Marlins were the teams giving offers to Pujols. However, the Marlins bcked down and the Los Angeles Angels of Anehim came in as a suprise contender.

Pujols signed with the Angels for 10 years with a no-trade clause included. Additionally the Angels accquired pitcher CJ Wilson, who played for the Texas Ranger, ironically the team that would lose to the Cardinals in the 2011 World Series.

Big shakeup at Penske

Last week, Steve Addington came over from Penske Racing's 22 car to replace Darian Grubb on the #14 car driven by now 3-time champion Tony Stewart. That was just the beginning.

Due to an incident at Homestead-Miami involving ESPN pit reporter Dr. Jerry Punch and pressure from sponsors Shell, Pennzoil, and Dodge, Kurt Busch and Roger Penske parted ways on Monday, leaving Penske Racing with only one driver, Brad Keslowski in the #2 car, unless a replacement driver can be found.

This adds another wrinkle in the yearly "silly season" tradition for 2012, adding Brian Vicker's unknown future with Red Bull shutting down it's NASCAR operations after 2011, among others.

2011 NASCAR season review

From the moment Trevor Bayne won the Daytona 500 to Toney Stewart winning the championship, the 2011 Sprint Cup season was an exciting one.

Stewart tied Carl Edwards in the points system, but held the tiebreaker due to his 4 wins in the Chase compared to Edwads' win at Las Vegas.

With Stewart's championship, it signaled the end on Jimmie Johnson's 5 year championship run from 2006-2010.

Merry Christmas NBA fans!

Last Saturday, the NBA players and owners agree on a new collective barganing agreement (CBA), thereby ending the 2011 NBA lockout. The new deal must be ratified by both owners and players before going into effect for the next 10 years.

With the lockout virtually over, the league will start playing games on Christmas Day, over a month after the season was supposed to start.

Personally, I thought that there wouldn't be an NBA season this year, but I was proven wrong, epecially when talks had broken down in mid-November and a lawsuit was filed by the NBA players.

AT&T U-Verse frustration

So I was in St. Louis at Mark's parents house and they have AT&T U-Verse installed. I had no problems with the system before and coming back from Chicago for Thanksgiving on Saturday.

Then, it went weird. I was watching MLB Network's 20 Greatest Games when at times, the picture would freeze and then shut U-Verse down. Here's what would happen:

1. The picture would freeze but you could still hear what was going on for a few seconds OR
2. No sound, like hitting the mute button, but the picture was going.

Either way, this would require having to fiddle with the remote to get U-Verse to breifly work, problems apperar, repeat. Not ot mention, it would shut the TV off.

This continued until I had Mark fix it. After that, it was back to normal.

This is EXACTLY why I'm glad we have Xfinity.

 

                                                                  (not actual image of what happened)

Ford Championship Wekend update

With the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and Nationwide Series finished, all that remains to be decided in Miami is the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

The Camping World Truck Series Championshi[p was won by last year's rookie of the year Austin Dillon, who drove the #3 truck for Richard Childress, who is his grandfather. The Ford 200 was rain-shortened and won by Johnny Sauter.

The Nationwide Series championship was also by a driver who won rookie of the year last year: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in the #6 Ford Mustang for Jack Roush. In addition, Roush also clinched the owners championship with the #60 Mustang driven by Carl Edwards. The Ford 200 was won by Brad Keselowski.

Edwards heads into tomorrow's Cup race ahead of Tony Stewart by 3 points, making this the closest the Chase for the Sprint Cup has been heading into the final race.

 

Pepsi Throwback's lack of Coke competition

In 2011, after 2 years of limited-time runs, Pepsi maid their sugar-sweetend drinks Pepsi and Mountain Dew Throwback permament products to the Pepsi lineup.

What does Coca-Cola have? Nothing mass-produced, aside from Mexican Coke. The reason is simple:

Where Pepsi knows there's a diference between sodas with sugar and High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS), Coke says there isn't a difference in taste, and that to them a Coke is a Coke, no matter where you are.

Me? I prefer Pepsi. No Coke Throwback, no problem.

One race left!

Two racers enter, one racer wins

That's the outcome of the Chase for the Sprint Cup this Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway for the Ford 400 for the final race of the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup season.

Heading into this Sunday's race, points leader Carl Edwards, who finished 2nd to Kasey Kahne at Phoenix yesterday, leads Tony Stewart, who finished 3rd, by 3 points.

Additionally, this year will mark the end of Jimmie Johnson's 5 year championship reign, which lasted from 2006-2010.
 

Paterno should've retired.

The ongoing sex abuse controversy at Penn State took a weird turn of events involving former  footballcoach Joe Paterno yesterday. Earlier, he told his players he was planning to retire at the end of the season, with Saturday's game against Nebraska his last home game. However, the Board of Trustees had other plans instead that night, firing Paterno in the process.

What followed were student riots, people chanting things like "We Want Joe!" and "One  More Game!" As a result, Saturday's game will be instead the first game for interim coach Tom Bradley, who is a longtime Penn State supporter, who played for them in the late 70s and joined Paterno's coaching staff in 1979.

  

Lions/Bears preview

This Sunday the Detroit Lions will face the Chicago Bears in Chicago following the BYE week for the Lions. The last time the two teams met was during Monday Night Football in Detroit a few weeks ago. Both teams won their previous games; Lions winning in Dever, Chicago winning in Philly, also on MNF.

I say to all Bears fans, THE DETROIT LIONS WILL WIN ON SUNDAY AND MAKE IT DIFFICULT ON CUTLER! GO LIONS!!!

The game will air on Fox at 4:15 on Sunday

     VS    

What's wrong with Nickleback?

Last week a petition against Canadian rock band Nickleback appeared on change.org, opposing that the band shouldn't play at the Detroit Lions upcoming Thanksgiving Day game against the Green Bay Packers at Ford Field.

While the petition has been successful (nearly 50,000 signatures) according to an article by the Detroit Free Press, the National Football League hasn't said who would be performing on Thanksgiving Day.

Why the controversy? People in Detroit don't want them performing simply because they're terrible, yet they're very successful worldwide, and insist on a local act like Bob Seger, Kid Rock, to name a few.

My opinion? All this national attention is good and bad for Detroit, depending on how you look at it.

Two races left, two-man race for the championship

After yesterday's NASCAR race at Texas, race winner Tony Stewart trails Carl Edwards, who finished 2nd, by 3 points with two races left, heading into Phoenix.

However, the big story was Kyle Busch parked by NASCAR officials for the Nationwide and Sprint Cup races at Texas. Why? On Friday during the Camping World Truck Series race, Busch, driving the #18 truck for his own team was wrecked by Ron Horniday in the #33 truck for Kevin Harvick Incorporated, bringing ou the caution. Shortly afterwards, Busch intentionally wrecked Horniday under caution, sending him into the wall and ending his hopes at catching Austin Dillon, who drives the #3 truck for Richard Childress, his grandfather. As a result, Denny Hamlin drove Busch's Nationwide car and finished 2nd to Trevor Bayne in the Nationwide race, while Michael McDowell drove Busch's Cup car and struggled.

2011 is a Season of Change in NASCAR with 3 races left.

Heading into Sunday's race at Texas Car Edwards leads Tony Stewart by 8 points after Stewart's win at Martinsville and Matt Kenseth's frustrating day. What does this mean? Simple:

The past 5 championships have all been won by Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe's Chevy from 2006-2010. With Johnson 6th in the standings 43 points behind, this could finally be the year we have a different winner of the Sprint Cup since Stewart won it back in 2005.

 

What happened to MTV?

Back in 1981 a new television channel made its debut. The channel, called Music Television (MTV) played music videos nonstop and exposed many artists from Michael Jackson, to Madonna, and others. Over time however, the format changed, reducing the amount of videos played to now where they are only played in the morning from 3AM to 9AM during the week.

So, what exactly became of Music Television now? Here is what happend:

Reality TV shows have taken a good portion of TV time on MTV away from music. One example is Jersey Shore which I don't watch (I avoid MTV at all costs) The acronym Music Television was dropped in 2010, because it was clear that music wasn't a huge part of MTV anymore, and still isn't.

Here is a comparison of the MTV logos:

Then:

Now:

No Lions on Sunday, no problem.

With the Detroit Lions record at 7-2 after their win in Denver last week, the Lions have a BYE week this Sunday, meaning there isn't a game until they head to Chicago next Sunday.

But that doesn't mean there's no football. There are other games on FOX and CBS this week, such as the New York Jets going to Buffalo to face the Bills or New England Patriots hosting the New York Giants in the afternoon. Sunday night is the rivalry match between the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers on NBC. And speaking of the Bears, they play on Monday Night Football on ESPN against the Philaadelphia Eagles.

So, No Lions? No problem.

No NBA this November? Meh.

Today is supposed to be the day the NBA starts the 2011-2012 season. However, there is a lockout going on, and as a result the entire month of November is cancelled this season, preventing the Dallas Mavericks from raising their championship banner against the Chicago Bulls tonight.

Do I care? No. One, I don't watch a lot of NBA basketball, and two, our team, the Detroit Pistons haven't been doing good the past few seasons. I'm not ticked at the NBA and the players for this ongoing lockout, and I know that I can watch the Detroit Red Wings as well.

Oh, and one more thing, you SHOULDN"T create a super-team like what LeBron did in Miami. NOT COOL!

Top 10 greatest advertising slogans

As an advertising freak who watches tv commercials on YouTube and took advertising classes in high school, I have a list of 10 advertising slogans that have been effective in selling products on the tv screen.

10. It's the real thing. Coke.
This was famous in a classic ad for Coca-Cola from 1970 titled "I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing"

9. Have it your way
Burger King's current slogan emphasizes the fact that their famous Whopper is made with your favorite toppings

8. Have a Coke and a Smile 
Mean Joe Greene had a change of heart when this slogan was used in a Coke ad in 1980. The ad was remade in 2009 with Troy Polamahu with Coke Zero.

7. See the USA in your Chevrolet
With Chevy turning 100 this week, one of their famous slogans deserves to be on this list.

6. You're in the Pepsi Generation.
Ever since this slogan came out in 1963, Pepsi has focused on the younger generations of Americans under the "Pepsi Generation".

5. We try harder
Avis rent-a-car has always been in second place in the car rental buisness behind Hertz, and they know it.

4. The choice of a new generation
Pepsi used this slogan in the 1980s continuing on the success of the "Pepsi Generation". Pop stars such as Micheal Jackson, Madonna, (who did an ad with "Like a Prayer" that was banned in 1989 after her music video received public outcry) Tina Turner, David Bowie, and even Michael J. Fox.

3. Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun
Those are the ingredients on a Big Mac, McDonald's famous sandwich. And it's very confusing to say.

2. Where's the Beef?
How can anyone who hasn't seen the commercial either on TV in 1984 or on YouTube not like this ad? What this ad did was help boost sales for Wendy's. There's even a "Where's the Beef? T-shirt that appeared in an ad for Wendy's new Dave's Hot and Juicy burger recently.

1. Have You driven a Ford lately? 
If Ford were to reuse a legendary slogan in today's advertising, I think this is what they should use. It was effective, and it sold cars in the 1980s and 90s.