Saturday, April 01, 2006

Next Buys Disney! Steve Jobs Plans To Transform Disney World


Steve Jobs, Chairman and CEO of Next, Inc., as well as Apple Computer, annouced that Next purchased Disney for just north of $234 billion today, in a hostile takeover. Jobs and his investment bankers used Next, believed dead, as the holding company for their takeover bid.

"I'm ready to bring Disney into the 21st Century," Jobs said as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs stood behind him with perfect Disney smiles.

Jobs also revealed plans to transform Walt Disney World in to the real EPCOT, or Experimental Prototype Community of Tommorrow. "Walt never got to see his dream come to life. We're going to make it happen. There are too many problems in our cities not to have an urban lab of some kind. EPCOT will be just that."

He also said that Disney would convince the NFL to allow it to establish a franchise in Los Angeles. "We can clear up the mess that the other deals the NFL's looking at are, and build a new kind of sports company around the new LA franchise."

Jobs also took time to appologize for how Disney treated A.A Miline, the creator of the "Winnie The Poo" cartoons, who claimed Disney owned it $200 milllion in back revenues from the "Poo" property. "Disney will do everything to clean up this mess," Jobs said, "and restore Winnie The Poo and Tigger, too, to the Disney family."

April fool!

Commissioner Tagliabue Press Conference, Annual League Meeting Orlando, FL -- March 29, 2006


From NFL Media.com

Commissioner Tagliabue

Good afternoon. We've covered a lot of ground since I saw you on Monday. I think in a nutshell
we had a really good report from the Competition Committee. You've just heard about all of
that. Once again they've done a terrific job, and I think the membership recognized that with the
endorsement they had of most of their recommendations. Other than that, we had many reports
and a lot of discussion about short-term things -- 2006 season -- and some long-term things --
business in the United States -- and some discussions about where we are headed internationally
in Europe, Asia, and elsewhere.

I know that you have many different subjects on your minds, so I'll go ahead and take your
questions.

Q: Are you still confident that you can retire in July (with a successor in place)?

PT: Am I still confident I can be out of here by July? I think so. Yes. It doesn't really matter
whether it's the 28th of July or the 10th of August. The only reason we've talked about July is
because that's I discussed with Dan Rooney, and we estimated that this could take four months.
If it takes two and a half, fine. If it takes five and a half, that's fine, too.

The one thing that might be extended, just in terms of being practical, is that there's a dead
period in the league from June 15 to July 15 where not a lot happens on any front because most
clubs take vacations. I'll be taking some vacation then, too, which we did discuss with the
owners. The practicalities of the NFL calendar are that when minicamps end in mid-June, a lot of
teams go to part-time schedules. Coaches take vacations, players leave, front office staff leave,
and they don't resume until sometime after the Fourth of July. That's got to be factored into the
timeline.

Q: So you are confident you will not have to go through the next season as Commissioner?
PT: Yes. Other than as a fan.

Q: What are the odds that the NFL will play a game in China (in 2007)?

PT: I think they are increasing. We've had some discussions on that. Our own international
people have been to China a number of times. I was there last May and met with representatives
of the city of Beijing, their Olympic Committee and the Mayor of Beijing. We and NBC have
been having those discussions. I think there's an increasing prospect that we could have a game
there in August 2007, which would be the beginning of the one-year countdown to the following
year's Olympics, which will begin on 8/8/08.

Q: Can you comment on the size and makeup of the search committee for the next
commissioner?

PT: We've talked to the owners about a committee of no fewer than six and no more than eight,
but that's not cast in concrete.

Q: When will the committee be announced?

PT: Probably sometime next week.

Q: If you could reflect back on the Cleveland situation 10 years ago, how do you view that
problem as it arose and how it was resolved?

PT: I guess I view it today pretty much as I viewed it then. It was a very traumatic thing for the
Browns' fans, the franchise and the league. The traumatic aspects of it were compounded by the
fact that Baltimore had had a similar trauma in '84 -- losing its team. So we had two cities, two
states, and two groups of fans -- great fans for many, many decades -- to deal with. Great
traditions. Some of the greatest players ever in the league played with the Colts and the Browns.
So that was very traumatic. I think the solution that was reached involved some considerable
give on all sides. Mayor White was terrific. Al Lerner was terrific throughout. Hopefully the
solution that was reached, which was novel, was one for the long term.
One of the personal regrets is that Al's health caught up with him, and he couldn't be there to see
a Super Bowl. I know that is the team's goal, that's Randy's goal, but it would have been nice if
Al had been there to pursue it.

Q: Do you continue to keep playing regular season games overseas?

PT: I think that we had an excellent report by our new head of international -- Mark Waller. We
presented the idea that going forward after 20 years of preseason games in non-U.S. venues,
starting with the Cowboys and the Bears in '86 in Wembley Stadium up through Tokyo last
summer, that the priority now has to be to institutionalize arrangements to have live, regularseason
games plus other important NFL events such as the Pro Bowl, for example outside of the
U.S. because the fans now are interested and they want to be part of the regular season or want to
be part of other events like the Pro Bowl. So that's going to be our focus, and we started some
conversation yesterday with the owners about what kind of a structure, what kind of
commitments it would take from all the teams to institutionalize that so the obligation of playing
a game every now and then, a regular season game, outside of the United States would become a
part of the normal team participation in the National Football League.

Q: Do you view the Mexico City game last year as an experiment or a success?

PT: I think it was a resounding success. I think it was built upon the preseason games we had
down there. It built upon the fan interest that's there. It was a resounding success both in Mexico
and the United States, and the two teams (49ers and Cardinals) view it that way, as does the
whole league.

Q: Regarding Los Angeles, you already have a 32-team template that works perfectly. Does
that mean the league would have to move a team into Los Angeles once that situation is
settled out there?

PT: Not necessarily. We've operated with odd numbers of teams. We've operated with divisions
with different numbers of teams. We'll be looking at all kinds of alternatives. I think that the key
thing here at this meeting was that we had a positive reaction to the proposals that have been
developed by our staff with the Coliseum and Anaheim. I'm expanding our working group of
owners by adding six owners to the five we've had. We'll now have an 11-owner group and
we'll be expecting to have meetings either in April or early May with representatives of the
Coliseum and Anaheim to put this to hopefully some decision at our May meeting.

Q: Is the escalating cost of building stadiums a deterrent to this project or to expansion
because then you'd have a huge fee to build a stadium and then another huge fee to
purchase a franchise?

PT: Yes. I think the escalating cost of anything in life, the escalating cost of a pair of shoes are a
deterrent to having two or three pairs. It's sort of obvious. So yes, it's an issue.
I remember when I was a kid I had baseball spikes and I wanted to run track, and my father told
me to run the mile with baseball spikes, which was not good for your feet, because two sets of
spikes were unnecessary. They were expensive. So I've always had that philosophy. In fact, I
won the state high school high jump championship with baseball spikes.

Q: It must have been a weak field?

PT: It was a weak field. Very weak. That's a different issue. Costly shoes and a weak field -- you
can still succeed.

Q: Will the search committee hire the consulting firm or will you?

PT: It would be a decision the committee would make after we interview multiple firms.

Q: Are you concerned about the perception of officiating in the playoffs with so many fans
convinced that there were bad calls?

PT: No.

Q: Why didn't you fine Mike Holmgren for his comments?

PT: We discussed that with Mike this morning. He said earlier in the meeting that he wanted to
make it totally clear that the Steelers won the game fair and square and he emphasized that at
several different points during the meeting. Then I spoke with him this morning, and he spoke
with me. He said that he just wanted to express strong appreciation for the relationship we've
had and what he's learned from me. I felt the same way.

We talked about the fact that Mike Holmgren was one of the first coaches, if not the first, to
emphasize to me how important it was for me as the commissioner to make myself accessible to
the assistant coaches, to the coordinators. We talked about a meeting we had in Green Bay when
he was the head coach and I was visiting training camp and expected to spend most of my time
with the players, or with the head coach, or with the Packers executive committee. But Mike
urged me to have lunch with all the assistant coaches and coordinators. Then Fritz Shurmur
wrote me a note later saying he'd been in the league for 34 years and never had had a prior
conversation with a commissioner, but it was one of the most important things that ever
happened in Fritz Shurmur's life. From that point forward, whenever I went to training camps, I
would meet with assistant coaches and coordinators whenever I could.

We talked this morning about learning from each other, and then he said that he knows he
popped off a little bit about the officiating after the Super Bowl. I told him I had a letter on my
desk written by my staff to fine him, but that that particular letter falls under the category of
something I learned a long time ago -- the first draft of a letter is better put in the trash can than
sent to the addressee, which means you should think twice before you start firing letters off. I
think the issue is resolved.

Q: How important is it that this search committee be diverse economically and
geographically? Is that important?

PT: Yes. We had some discussions yesterday with the owners about whether the committee
should be one owner from each division or whether there was any one factor that should
determine how the committee would be composed. I expressed the view that there was no single
litmus test, that if you wanted to have a representative committee, you'd have to look at multiple
factors. That's the way we'll approach it.

Q: There's a lot of complaints from fans about too much drinking in the stands. What's
your stance on that?

PT: I think we've had fewer complaints on that than we've had on the doubleheader games
starting at 1:00 P.M. in Jacksonville.

Q: Who's complaining about that?

PT: I thought that's what you asked me the other day. Were we going to start that Dallas-
Jacksonville game at 1:00 P.M. or 4:00 P.M.?

Q: But seriously, don't you get complaints like that?

PT: I'm sure the teams do and sometimes they get to my attention. We've had programs over the
years with the teams run through the league about fan behavior, and the teams make it a big
priority including having their security people be very attentive, policies about when beer is
served, when beer is not served. We have technology in the stadiums, cameras and other
technology, to identify unruly fans and revoke their season tickets. So, yes, that's part of sports.
It's part of American life, I guess. That happens at the beach, too, not just at NFL stadiums.

Q: On the issue of minority hiring, there seems to be fewer minorities on the offensive side
of the ball in coordinator positions. Have you looked at that at all?

PT: We have looked at that. I think over the years the numbers have kind of flipped back and
forth. At particular points in time it seems like there would be more on the defensive side, other
points of time, more on the offensive side. Why that is, no one seems to know.
We've tried to encourage the teams, if it's an issue of responsibility, to broaden responsibility. If
it's an issue of participation by position coaches in meetings with the coordinators and head
coaches to try to address it. It's something that's been discussed, and we try to address it
internally with our diversity committee and with some of the ways that we structure programs at
the coaching seminars that we run in May. The answer is yes.

Q: With the NFL Network preparing to broadcast its first regular-season game this
Thanksgiving, considering the billions of dollars that are involved with other networks,
what do you see as the potential for the Network to broadcast more games in the future?
Has the idea of pay-per-view ever been entertained?

PT: No. Our focus for the next six years is the eight games. We're going to be very careful to
make those incremental in terms of when they are played. When you boil it all down, it's about
three or four incremental national games. We had some Saturday games on CBS and FOX which
are now kind of folded into primetime and will be run on the NFL Network. I think we've gone
from 92 national games to 96 or something like that. It's a very small increment. There's been no
discussion of pay-per-view. It really is an effort to get games that otherwise might be regional
telecasts or national games on other networks in a couple of instances onto a nationally distributed network.

Q: If the Kansas City proposal were ever to get approved, would putting those extra games
on the NFL Network be a consideration?

PT: It's not something we've ever discussed, because I have never thought the idea of expanding
the playoffs was compelling. It's not anything we've ever discussed and I wouldn't anticipate
that. I think the playoff games will remain on our outside networks, if we ever have any more
games. Like I said, I don't think it's a good idea. We're going to discuss it at the May meeting, in
terms of expanding the playoffs.

Q: Why do you like the current format as is?

PT: Because it works. I think that when you go beyond that, you get into dilution and other
issues you shouldn't be getting into.

Thank you very much.
###

Friday, March 31, 2006

Michael Eisner as NFL Commissioner? Just Say No


Some silly goose with a sports mag I will not name floated former Disney head Michael Eisner as a candidate for the NFL Commissioner's job.

Please don't hire him.

Eisner's not in the NFL tradition of politically adept negotiation and positive relationships. He's a man with a public reputation for boardroom combat. Witness his high-profile tussles with his "former friend" Mike Ovitz. Can you see that played out in the NFL? I can, and with terrible results.

Stick with COO Roger Goodell as the next Commissioner. Roger's in the mold of Pete Rozelle and really understands what the NFL is all about.

Hiring Mike Eisner -- and this is not personal -- would be a major mistake. It's not his flair for producing good entertainment programs I question -- though others may considering his latest programming flop -- but his ability to get a diverse group of NFL owners to agree. My fear is tha Mike will take sides openly -- if not hostages.

Thursday, March 30, 2006

Raiders In Hunt For...Joey Harrington!? Can You Say "Trade Bait"


If the Oakland Raiders do strike a deal with Detroit Lions quarterback Joey Harrington, it will give them a set of four quarterbacks, all of which can start for the Silver and Black: Harrington, the recently signed Aaron Brooks, second-year man Andrew Walter, and sixth year man Marquez Tuiasasopo.

Wow.

The Raiders will almost certainly keep three quarterbacks, so one has to think that they're going to use one of the others as trade bait to move up in the draft. It's the only logical move.


Stay tuned.

Raiders get OK to meet Harrington
Oakland already has three QBs signed
By Bill Soliday, STAFF WRITER
Oakland Tribune


Having signed Aaron Brooks, are the Raiders still in the market for a quarterback?

That possibility was raised when the Detroit Lions said the Raiders were one of several teams that had requested permission to speak with Joey Harrington regarding a trade.

Harrington, the Lions starter since his rookie year, remains on the Lions roster, and Detroit is expected to explore a trade after adding Jon Kitna and Josh McCown in recent weeks. Failing to trade Harrington, it is believed the Lions will give him his release on June1.

The Raiders had no comment on the Harrington report.

The Raiders acquired Brooks earlier this month as a free agent who was formerly the starter in New Orleans. He joins holdover quarterbacks Andrew Walter and Marques Tuiasosopo on the Raiders roster.

Coach Art Shell, speaking with reporters at the owners meetings in Orlando, Fla., said nothing was concrete in terms of which of the current three quarterbacks would be designated the starter.

"He (Brooks) is coming in to compete against the two kids," Shell said, noting that the new Raider was not opposed to trying to win the job.

"The job has not been given to him. We went to dinner together, talked about a lot of things, and he said, 'Coach, all I want to do is compete.' The biggest thing for him is to get away from where he's been. Mentally erase as much of what happened and just dive into what we're doing with the Raiders. Come in, have fun, compete and he'll have success."

As for the holdover quarterbacks, Walter and Tuiasosopo, Shell said, "We feel pretty good about (them). Those two kids are outstanding talents. With the competition at that position, I think we're pretty solidified at that position. But we're always looking to upgrade in all different areas."

Addressing speculation the Raiders might be inclined to draft a quarterback on April29, Shell deferred comment for the moment.

"We don't know who we're going to draft, to be honest with you," he said. "We don't know how this thing is going to go (and) won't rule anything out. The Raiders' history is take the best player available, and (with) the draft, it changes every day."

During his meeting with reporters, in his first public comments since a press conference upon his hiring on Feb.11, Shell said the decision to hire Tom Walsh as his offensive coordinator was based on a comfort level he felt with the man who held the position throughout his first tenure with the Raiders.

Walsh has not coached in the NFL since 1994 and in recent years has been out of football totally while running a bed and breakfast and serving as mayor of a small town in Idaho.

"He's a great football mind," Shell said. "He's a smart guy. He knows what I want, how I want to do things. He knows the system I like to run.

"He hasn't been involved in the NFL, but he's been involved in football. We've been talking for about two or three years now about football. I told him if I ever got back into this thing, I want (him) to come with me. I really feel good about him. He's going to do well. Having Tom back is a real plus to me because he knows me."

EXTRA POINTS: Confirming earlier reports, the Raiders will play in the Hall of Fame game in Canton, Ohio, on Aug.6 against the Philadelphia Eagles. The 5 p.m. game will be televised on NBC. Former Raiders coach John Madden and the late Reggie White, who played for the Eagles (as well as the Green Bay Packers), are scheduled for enshrinement. ... The remainder of the Raiders' exhibition schedule finds them playing the Vikings in Minnesota on Aug.14. Specific dates for home games against the 49ers and Detroit that follow have not been set, nor has the exhibition finale at Seattle. ... The Raiders have played in the Hall of Fame game twice, defeating Dallas 20-13 in 1979 and Green Bay 19-3 in 1993.

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Ravens and Steelers Lead NFL in 2006 Compensatory Draft Picks


NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE

WWW.NFLMedia.com

NFL-18 3/27/06
NFL ANNOUNCES 32 COMPENSATORY DRAFT CHOICES TO 19 CLUBS

A total of 32 compensatory choices in the 2006 NFL Draft have been awarded to 19 teams, the NFL announced today. Under terms of the NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement, a team losing more or better compensatory free agents than it acquires in a year is eligible to receive compensatory draft picks.

The number of picks a team receives equals the net loss of compensatory free agents up to a maximum of four. The 32 compensatory choices announced today will supplement the 223 choices in the seven rounds of the 2006 NFL Draft (April
29-30). This year, the compensatory picks will be positioned within the third through seventh rounds based on the value of the compensatory free agents lost.

Compensatory free agents are determined by a formula based on salary, playing time and postseason honors. The formula was developed by the NFL Management Council. Not every free agent lost or signed by a club is covered by this formula.

Three clubs this year (Buffalo, Seattle and Washington) will receive a compensatory pick even though they did not suffer a net loss of compensatory free agents. Under the formula, the compensatory free agents these teams lost were ranked higher than the ones they signed (by a specified point differential based upon salary and performance).

The following 2006 draft picks have been determined by the NFL Management Council:

ROUND CHOICE/
ROUND OVERALL SELECTION TEAM
3 33-97 New York Jets
4 33-130 Denver
4 34-131 Pittsburgh
4 35-132 Baltimore
4 36-133 Pittsburgh
5 33-165 Green Bay
5 34-166 Baltimore
5 35-167 Pittsburgh
5 36-168 Philadelphia
5 37-169 Tennessee
6 33-202 Tampa Bay
6 34-203 Baltimore
6 35-204 Philadelphia
6 36-205 New England
6 37-206 New England
6 38-207 Indianapolis
6 39-208 Baltimore
7 33-241 Tampa Bay
7 34-242 St. Louis
7 35-243 St. Louis
7 36-244 Tampa Bay
7 37-245 Tennessee
7 38-246 Tennessee
7 39-247 Detroit
7 40-248 Buffalo
7 41-249 Seattle
7 42-250 Washington
7 43-251 Houston
7 44-252 New Orleans
7 45-253 Green Bay
7 46-254 San Francisco
7 47-255 Oakland
Picks 251-255 are supplemental compensatory picks (based upon draft-order formula) to fulfill the number of draft choices
permitted by agreement with the NFL Players Association in the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Following are the compensatory free agents lost and signed by the clubs that will receive compensatory picks in the 2006
NFL Draft:
BALTIMORE Lost: Bennie Anderson, Gary Baxter, Marques Douglas, Edgerton Hartwell, Casey
Rabach, Travis Taylor
Signed: Tommy Polley, Keydrick Vincent
DENVER Lost: Reggie Hayward, Kenoy Kennedy, Donnie Spragan
Signed: Stephen Alexander, Keith Burns
DETROIT Lost: Stephen Alexander, Stockar McDougle, Mike McMahon
Signed: Rick DeMulling, Kenoy Kennedy
GREEN BAY Lost: Bhawoh Jue, Marco Rivera
Signed: Adrian Klemm
INDIANAPOLIS Lost: Rick DeMulling
NEW ENGLAND Lost: Joe Andruzzi, Adrian Klemm, David Patten
Signed: Monty Beisel
NEW YORK JETS Lost: Anthony Becht, Jason Ferguson, LaMont Jordan, Kareem McKenzie
Signed: Derrick Blaylock, Barry Gardner, Lance Legree
PHILADELPHIA Lost: Derrick Burgess, Jermane Mayberry, Ike Reese
Signed: Mike McMahon
PITTSBURGH Lost: Kendrell Bell, Plaxico Burress, Oliver Ross, Keydrick Vincent
Signed: Cedrick Wilson
ST. LOUIS Lost: Bryce Fisher, Matt Lehr, Tommy Polley
Signed: Chris Claiborne
TAMPA BAY Lost: Keith Burns, Cosey Coleman, Chartric Darby, Dwight Smith
Signed: Anthony Becht
TENNESSEE Lost: Andre Dyson, Shad Meier, Antowain Smith

TOTAL 2006 NFL COMPENSATORY DRAFT PICKS
Baltimore -- 4
Pittsburgh -- 3
Tampa Bay -- 3
Tennessee -- 3
Green Bay -- 2
New England -- 2
Philadelphia -- 2
St. Louis -- 2
Buffalo -- 1
Denver -- 1
Detroit -- 1
Houston -- 1
Indianapolis -- 1
New Orleans -- 1
New York Jets -- 1
Oakland -- 1
San Francisco -- 1
Seattle -- 1
Washington -- 1
TOTAL -- 32

NFL CLUBS WITH MOST COMPENSATORY DRAFT PICKS, 1993-2006 *
Dallas -- 25
Green Bay -- 24
Philadelphia -- 23
Buffalo -- 21
Baltimore -- 20
St. Louis -- 20
Tennessee -- 17
Pittsburgh -- 16
New England -- 15
New York Giants -- 15
Arizona -- 14
Jacksonville -- 14
Tampa Bay -- 14
Minnesota -- 12
Detroit -- 12
San Francisco -- 12
Seattle -- 12
Kansas City -- 11
Miami -- 11
Chicago -- 10
* 1993 was first year that compensatory draft choices were awarded.
# # #

Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez Calls Lou Dobbs "CNN CHIEF DUMBASS" - Film At 11


The New Mexico Latina Blogger is serious in this post on the US Media's approach to the news on the immigration policy matter. And I'm inclined to agree with her on several points.

...While I'm not touching the "dumbass" comment regarding Lou Dobbs, I think his approach on this matter is really a bit much. He looks like Archie Bunker on this matter, and it may be that CNN cast him in the roll of a kind of "Bunker" for ratings. But to fan the flames of race hate is a terrible way to make money. It's bad public policy too.

Check out her view by clicking on the title of this post.

80,000-Volt Shocking Suitcase

And it only costs $1,000! No kidding. Just click on the title post link to read about it