London 2012 Olympics Logo Looks Like Swastika

There's a petition going around that calls for the organizers of the London 2012 Olympics to scrap the logo they came up with because they just plain don't like it, and that it will cause epileptic seizures.

Well, when I got my first glance at the logo, I could not get out of my mind how much it looked like the German Swastika. I'm not kidding. The logo has that same four-square-corners rotating around a center look as the Swastika.



Moreover, it looks like someone knew this, and decided to turn the logo so that it was more square than diamond. But what if you turned it so it was more diamond that square?

You think maybe the logo designer was a Neo-Nazi? Look at the picts in this blog and make your own conclusions.

Senator Barack Obama Ties Senator Clinton In Polls - Chicago Sun Times Not Happy

Senator Barack Obama's now tied with Senator Hillary Clinton in the latest USA Today / Gallup Poll. But that's not something the Chicago Sun Times wants you to know. They immediately came out with an article that tries to douse water on this news, by saying that all other polls show him behind her.

The trouble is those polls are old. The Sun Times reporter who wrote this, Scott Fornek, was either trying to help in some small way to cause Barack to lose the race, or he was just plain being sloppy. Whatver the case, I wrote this letter:

Hi Scott,

I read your article on Senator Obama's tie in the polls with Senator
Clinton. I'm writing because I'm plain sick and tired of how the
media -- including you -- distorts any positive news about Senator
Obama because it seems you don't want someone black and male in the
White House.

Look, the USA Today poll was just released; why compare it with older
polls which show him behind, but you report it as if these polls were
out on the same date. They were not. The point you should make is to
show how Senator Obama's campaign is picking up steam, because that's
what your own information shows.

Please stop trying to manipulate a message and just report the news.

Thanks,

--
Zennie Abraham, Jr.
Chairman and CEO
Sports Business Simulations
510-387-9809
http://www.sbs-world.com
http://www.sbstickets.com

Institutional Racism: Fox News Can't Tell One Black Person From Another

This is stupid, and is a great example of why diversity in society is so important. Fox News showed a clip of Representative John Conyers but reporting that he's indicted Representative Bill Jefferson. Here's a video on the error by TPMtv..:

Mike Nolan Wants To Wear Suits Full TIme All Season

According to a small news bit in the SF Chronicle, SF 49ers Head Coach Mike Nolan wants to have a suit on for every game. I personally support this, and I really don't understand how this casual kick was allowed to become institutiionalized. Apparently Reebok likes the idea, too, but for just two games. Yikes. Make it for all games.

You'd think that in an NFL that wants to give kids the right images, they'd back Nolan's call in a hurry, eh? Next, they should make Hybrid Cars the official vehicles of the league.

49ers Add Defensive Tackle Sam Rayburn - SF Chronicle

This is a huge addition -- excuse the pun -- for the 49ers. Depending on how they scheme, the Niners may be building the best defense in the NFC West. They've certainly got the right mix of youth and experience.


49ers sign Rayburn, bolster line
Kevin Lynch, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 6, 2007

The 49ers bolstered their defensive line by agreeing to terms on a one-year deal with former Philadelphia Eagles tackle Sam Rayburn. The contract includes a small signing bonus and some playing-time and sack incentives, according to Rayburn's agent, Jason Brown.

Coach Mike Nolan, when asked about the prospect of signing Rayburn on Monday, said he admired the lineman's toughness. Rayburn fits Nolan's model of a rugged, run-plugging player, who's not averse to occupying blockers while linebackers make the tackles.

Rayburn made the Eagles as a rookie free agent in 2003, had his best season in '04 with 46 tackles, six sacks and eight quarterback hurries. Before the '04 season, former 49ers general manager Terry Donahue tried to trade Terrell Owens for Rayburn, but instead the Eagles sent Brandon Whiting, who lasted only a few games in San Francisco before injuring his knee.
Rayburn dipped in production while struggling with an elbow injury (35 tackles, one sack) in 2005 and last year, he hardly played.

"They wanted to play the first-round guys" Brodrick Bunkley and Mike Patterson, Brown said, "which they should."
Brown also said Rayburn lost weight, dropping from 310 to less than 300 pounds.

"He's in great shape now," Brown said. "He's about 310."

Rayburn is to sign his agreement Sunday and will take part in next week's team practices. Brown said that Rayburn would compete as Bryant Young's backup or possibly play nose guard.

Heitmann ready: Center Eric Heitmann's first assignment Monday after returning from his broken leg was to drive-block 320-pound nose guard Aubrayo Franklin.

"I was like, 'Oh, this will be a good test,' " Heitmann said. He passed that test and took part in most of the team's practice Monday and Tuesday.

Heitmann's tibia was shattered Dec. 14 when Seattle's Darryl Tapp fell on him.

Heitmann was greeted by cheers when he entered the huddle this week. So far, he has taken 12 of 18 snaps with the first team during scrimmage. He'll probably be up to the full complement soon.

"All the drill work, pushing sleds, it feels great." Heitmann said.

Whew, Mangini wasn't whacked

(From Newsday's Neil Best-His Coverage of Sports on the Air

Whew, Mangini wasn't whacked
June 5, 2007

Someone had to do it, so I broke the news early last night to Eric Mangini:

The Emmy Award presentations are Sept. 16 in Los Angeles, the same day his Jets play in Baltimore.

"That's OK," he said. "I don't think they give awards for non-speaking parts."

Mangini was being modest. He nailed his cameo on the penultimate episode of "The Sopranos" on Sunday night, his most compelling acting since a stint last year on another of his favorite shows, "Sesame Street."

In a scene taped Feb. 8 at Silvercup Studios in Long Island City, Mangini and his wife, Julie, dined at Artie Bucco's fictional restaurant, where Artie informed Tony Soprano that "Mangenius" was in the house.

Tony said he should go over to say hello, which he did, in a series of shots seen only from a distance. Mangini was seen clearly in profile, but Julie only from behind.

"The back of her hair looked really good," the coach said sheepishly.

Mangini called himself "a huge fan of the show" but is not entirely sure why he was invited. "They're very secretive about how scripts evolve," he said.

He initially thought it was a joke when he learned he was wanted. It was not, and two days later, he was on the set. Julie, an avid Bruce Springsteen fan, was most excited about meeting Steven Van Zandt, who plays Soprano's consigliere, Silvio.

Left unexplained in the script was why Mangini was dining in New Jersey.

"It could have been after a game," he said. "We didn't explore the motivation very deeply."

And why did Soprano act as if he knew him? Did it have something to do with the bet Tony made on the Jets earlier this season before a fictional 42-10 rout of the Chargers?

"I was pleased with that," Mangini said, meaning the final score, not the betting part.

The coach and his wife kept the cameo a secret from all but a few close friends. Now he can fully bask in the honor of taking part in one of the most honored shows in history, after only one season as a head coach in New York.

"It was fantastic," he said. "I love the show and just have always respected the story lines and think it's incredibly well done ... I'm disappointed it's coming to an end."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Too Bad They didn't get him in last year! he could have come back this year as a Football coach in over his head with Tony. Yeah Right.............At least it wasn't something to do with gambling.

Mark Cuban's Wrong - Potential UFL Team Owner Says No Based On Zennie's Blog Post

I just received a call from a friend of mine back east, who -- I can't use real names, corporate or otherwise, to protect the persons involved -- told me that a family member who works for a major comunications and media organization with significant monies in sports, happened to be talking about my blog post called "Why Bill Hambrecht and Mark Cuban's UFL - United Football League - Will Fail" while her bosses were overlooking the article on her computer.

"Wow," one of them was reported to have said, "Maybe this guy ( referring to me) -- knows what he's talking about. After all he's made this XFL Simworld and had the Oakland (Alameda County) Sports Commission. He must know something."

Fully on the basis of my post, this organization that owns a large and famous arena decided to avoid making overtures to establish a UFL team.

It proves that, unlike Mark Cuban in the case of the UFL (I don't know the man), there are people out there who listen to the voices of reasons and analysis. "Competing With The NFL", as Cuban puts it, is purely silly.

Akon Tosses Small Teenager - Acts Stupidly; Crowd Eggs Him On

Well, it seems this kid decided to throw a ball at Akon. But rather than have him removed from the concert, Akon uses this as a "stage" to show how stupid he is.

Now this confirms just how stupid both Akon and his audience are. I mean let's face it. If this kid he threw off the stage were not small, Akon would have been the one tossed off stage. As it is, I hope the boy's parent sue Akon. First, Akon had his handlers go after the kid for some reason, then bring him to stage against his will, where Akon assaults him.

Period.

There's no one way anyone can justify Akon's actions. Whatever's gotten into this brother, he should have it removed immediately. And on that note, here's the video:

"With Leather" Gets On "ProFootballtalk.com" - Mike Florio Whines Over A Taste Of His Own Medicine

I had to laugh when I saw this on today's Profootballtalk.com website:

There's a blog thing out there called WithLeather.com, which has said mean things about us in the past.

Hey, we can take it. We've been called a lot of things, many of which are accurate. But we never, ever, ever, ever (did we say "ever"?) make stuff up.

Another thing we never, ever, ever, ever (did we say "ever"?) do is go with a tip that a guy has been arrested or committed any other type of misconduct that could damage his reputation, unless we have solid sources who have verified the information.

Over the years, it has caused us to miss out on "breaking" many a story that eventually became public, such as the rumors that Joe Horn fathered a baby with Willie Roaf's wife. But, on the bright side, we've never been taken to People's Court (or any other court of law).

It's one of the benefits of that law degree thing that the Poobah picked up 16 or so years ago. We know where the line of liability is, and we stay the hell away from it.

On Monday, WithLeather.com is doing the lambada on that line by going with unverified tips that Bengals linebacker Odell Thurman beat the crap out of some dude over the weekend, returned with a gun-wielding posse, and later tried to buy the victim's silence.

Maybe the information is completely accurate and, if so, kudos to the site for getting the truth out there. But it's one thing to be wrong about a trade rumor; it's quite another to be wrong about something that inflicts even more damage to a guy's image than he already has inflicted himself.

In this case, if the tip turns out to be embellished at best or fraudulent at worst, the folks at Fat Penguin Media will need to be ready to post a retraction before the process server shows up at the headquarters in Mesa, Arizona.

And if the tip is on the money, it might be time for Odell Thurman to throw out his cleats, because he'll never, ever, ever, ever (did we say "ever"?) need them again.

There's some truth to what Florio writes here. I've not know for Profootballtalk.com to make things up, but I have seen them use racially insensitive photos on too many occasions. I've called them on it, and pointed out the harm that that action causes.

So it's for that reason I'm not unhappy that Profootballtalk.com is getting negative press.

Mark Cuban Says Advertisers Have Leverage In Pricing Ads For Video - Really?

In his latest blog post, Mark Cuban takes a look at the impact that Nielsen's release of commercial data has had on the discussion of how ads in videos should be priced.

He says "So riddle me this. If the Internet is the ultimate DVR for video, will advertisers put comparable pricing parameters on internet video that they are trying to put on TV DVR commercial viewing ? If they do, and only pay for videos viewed within 3 days of the video being posted, won't that put a huge crimp in the internet video business ?"

My basic reponse is that there's an apples and oranges comparison here. Videos are ran over and over again each day. Plus, because they're within an optimized webpage, they're looked up in a search engine. Thus, if the video concerns a Paris Hilton issue that is discussed on the TV news, the search for that will go up, and thus cause a new round of views for the applicable video.

For the video meter to stop running in this case would be unfair and not negotiable from the standpoint of the video producer. A commercial withing a video, or a sponsored video is part of the video. Thus, it "moves" with the video -- if the video is found on Mamma.com, the ad will be there, and so on.

This is an entirely new approach to commercial message distribution. I don't think one can compare it to current TV commercial economics. I also don't think advertisers really have a good clue what's going on in new media. Many of them can't even define Web 2.0

Mark Cuban Responds To My "UFL Will Be A Failure" Post

Mark Cuban , a key player in the proposed United Football League, responded to my blog post which states in detail why the UFL will fail. He writes

"then again, there are people who read press reports and think they are an expert on someone else's businessplans...

i like our preparation better.

m"

What's interesting is this comment falls right into my take that much of the push behind football league proposals like the UFL is ego. Think about it. Cuban referes to "our preparation" as if he's not willing to listen to outside voices of reason. That's a sure receipe for disaster.

A good analysis must also take into account dissenting voices. Not true for Cuban and the UFL team, it seems. One has to admire -- to a degree -- the PT Barnum level of hubris, but it's also what blinds Mr. Cuban to the spectre of failure.

Moreover, Mark doesn't have a UFL simulation, so he's flying blind!!

But that aside, and while I hold and with a simulation that is the basis for my charge that the UFL will fail...Thanks for the response, Mark!

Mark Cuban's Right - CD's Are On The Decline

Mark Cuban's certainly totally wrong about the football business , but he's right on regarding compact disks and their future as a music distribution system. Just check out his blog and its references.

As I think about it, I can remember the last time I listened to music on the CD and that was in a car. But I've not done that anywhere else: not at home, for example. I watch movies on DVD, but music on CD's? Only in the car. It's a matter of time before one's able to just plug in their iPod and use it as a full car stereo for all cars, not just a few.

But Mark's totally wrong about football; the UFL will fail.