Super Bowl XLV Dallas / Arlington: Welcome To A Spread-Out Super Bowl

This blogger has formed the Oakland bid to host the 2005 Super Bowl (we lost to Jacksonville), and attended six Super Bowl games. Of all Super Bowls, Super Bowl XLV, pitting the Pittsburgh Steelers against The Green Bay Packers in Arlington, Texas, will be the most "spread out" one in NFL history.

"NFL Major Events," are split primarily between Dallas, Arlington, and Ft. Worth, and while Dallas itself will be the Super Bowl party center, the happenings are so spread between cities that the overall economic impact (commonly said to be $300 million) of the contest will be dampened.

Still, a little benefit is better than none.

A More Transit Connected D-FW Metroplex

This blogger got his undergraduate degree in City Planning from The University of Texas At Arlington before heading to Cal-Berkeley for the Master of City Planning Program. What I know about what's called the Dallas - Ft. Worth Metroplex is that it's large and mostly car-oriented, but it's not LA. It's 15 miles between Dallas and Arlington and another 15 miles from Arlington to Ft. Worth.  Those cities are served by the I-30, which is now called The Tom Landry Freeway.  It's the central traffic spine of the Metroplex.

In the 80s, mass transit was a new concept to Texans, and DART was the subject of public meetings (some I attended) before it was formed in 1988.  Rail travel was a dream then and the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) System was a desired model.  But now the Dallas Area Rapid Transit System connects North and South Dallas, and something called the Trinity Railway Express (TRE) connects Dallas, Irving, the DFW-Airport, and Ft-Worth.

The one problem is the TRE doesn't have an Arlington stop, and that's where the Super Bowl will be played. The D-FW Airport is 10 miles north of Arlington, and to this day, there's no major rail connector between it and Arlington.

Still, kudos are due for the planners for the "North Texas Super Bowl" for at least trying to form a mass-transit oriented experience in a metropolitan area known for its freeways. But as a massive Super Bowl Party-goer it's obvious that the best bet is to rent a car, and then get ready to pay through the nose for it and for gas because you're going to be driving everywhere.

For example the NFL Experience, the giant interactive NFL family-fun convention, commonly located next to the stadium, is 15 miles away from it in Dallas, at the Dallas Convention Center. The "Taste Of The NFL" where you can enjoy foods from top chefs in various NFL cities, is in Ft. Worth. The "Sports Career Expo," is in Richardson, Texas.

You get the idea.

All of this also means that you should have no problem getting a hotel room somewhere in the Metroplex. Heck, maybe you can land a sublet dorm room at UTA for cheap (just kidding). But the wide geographic spacing of Super Bowl events, great for spreading the event wealth, is going to make for a very confusing experience for Super Bowl, attendees, both veteran and rookie.

Stay tuned.

Rashard Mendenhall Dry Humps Ben Roethlisberger After Steelers - Jets Game

(Parental note: this is for anyone over 17.)

Rashard Mendenhall Dry Humps Ben Roethlisberger After Steelers - Jets Game!?! After the Pittsburgh Steelers lined up in the "Victory" Formation and snapped the ball, Steelers Running Back Rashard Mendenhall wound up spread eagle over Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. But rather than help his QB to get up, Mendenhall, who played a key role in the win as the leading rusher, decided he was going to dry hump Roethlisberger.

In fact, as the video shows, Mendenhall was so "into it," he didn't stop until another teammate intervened.

This brings up a number of questions. First, is Rashard Mendenhall Gay? Second, does this mean UC Berkeley Professor Harry Edwards was right when he said that there was a homosexual element in sports that's not talked about? Third, what does Ben Roethlisberger think about what Rashard Mendenhall did? Fourth, what do you think?

This blogger thinks it's hilarious. It reminds me of the line the late Dennis Hopper's character Frank said in the classic Blue Velvet "Let's fuck! I'll fuck anything that moves!"



 But the question of "the Gay element" in the NFL has, of late, lurked just below the surface of normal media view. Rashard Mendenhall's dry hump act is bound to bring it back to the surface.

Pittsburgh Steelers 24, NY Jets 19: Steelers Run Defense The Difference

In the wake of the Pittsburgh Steelers AFC Championship win over the New York Jets, the talk is how Steelers Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger somehow finds a way to win big games. But for this blogger, one number, and only one number, describes their win: 70.

As in 70 yards rushing allowed by the Steelers Defense.

The Jets, known for their punishing ground game, averaging 4.4 yards per carry, were held to 3.2 yards on 22 carries. Then the Jets had to take to the air to slow down the clock, score, and make the game close, let alone stand a chance to win. Jets QB Mark Sanchez threw 33, completing 20, for 233 yards and two touchdowns, but it wasn't enough.

Indeed, had the Jets used their offensive strategy of the second half, in the first half, they may have won the game. Junking their run-based game plan, the Jets went to a five-wide-receiver shotgun formation, and smartly threw short passes, none over five yards. New York feasted off the receiver runs-after the catch, and when they wanted to fool the Steelers, they went play action, then rolled Sanchez out. There he threw the touchdown pass to pull within five points of Pittsburgh in the 4th Quarter.

But it was not enough, too late.

The Pittsburgh Steelers were able to run out the clock and win the 2011 AFC Championship Game.

But encapsulated in the victory is one offensive play set that could give the Steelers Defense fits if they don't prepare for it.

Stay tuned.

Green Bay Packers Beat Chicago Bears 21-14, Win NFC Championship

Congratulations to former Cal and now Green Bay Packers Quarterback Aaron Rogers and his team, along with Mike McCarthy, their head coach, for winning the 2011 NFC Championship Game, 21-14 at Soldiers Field in Chicago.

This blogger can't believe it; the game's full of "what ifs."

The Chicago Bears will certainly be thinking about them during the offseason. What if Bears Quarterback Jay Cutler connected with Wide Receiver Devin Hester and scored - twice during the 1st Quarter? What if the Bears Defensive Coaches prepared for the Packers "Pats Style" play action passing game? What if Mike Martz had his offensive system ready to adjust to the Packers' exotic blitzes?

A lot of what ifs for the Bears, which will be followed by a lot of "shoulds." Like, should the Bears keep Mike Martz? (Even with all of the errors, yes). And the Bears definitely must keep Head Coach Lovie Smith, as he made the right moves in turning what seemed to be a failed season into a winning one, one game from the Super Bowl.

A sad day for Chicago, and for this Chicago-born and raised blogger.

Meanwhile, the Green Bay Packers are headed to the Super Bowl in Dallas. They will play the winner of the upcoming New York Jets vs. Pittsburgh Steelers battle for the AFC Championship.

Green Bay Packers have 20-14 Lead vs. Chicago Bears, NFC Championship 2011

With 8:29 to go in the 2011 NFC Championship Game, the Green Bay Packers are clinging to a 14-7 lead. (No more, they just scored to make it 20-7 The Packers are ahead because of an offensive coaching move the Bears should have prepared for, but did not. And Jay Cutler's out of the game after hurting his knee.

The Packers Take A Pats Page

The Packers gained over 100 yards passing in the first half alone mostly on a play design popularized by the New England Patriots. It features an off-tackle run action with both the fullback and the halfback. The quarterback, in this case Aaron Rogers, moves over to the run action and fakes the handoff. But rather than drop back, he pulls up and throws to the split end running the deep drive (some call it deep slant) pattern. Because the linebackers are up biting on the run fake, and there's no safety in the way, the window to throw to the split end is open.

The way to stop that play is for the defense to use "bump-and-run" coverage and throw off the timing of the pass by jamming the receiver. The problem is the Bears use cover two zone or play single-high safety with eight-in-the-box and no bump-and-run. That leaves open the window the Packers Aaron Rogers exploited for big gains in the first half.

UPDATE. While the Bears got the ball back, they just coughed it up on an interception returned for a touchdown. It's now 20-7.

Can The Bears Come Back?

Now the question is can the Chicago Bears come back to even make a game of it? I'm really disappointed in Mike Martz' offensive game plan. It seems to forget the short pass, and has largely failed to pick up the Packers safety blitz packages. Part of the bad play is also due to Quarterback Jay Cutler, who missed Devon Hester for big gains three times in the first half.

Now, hold on, as this blog is written, the game changes fast. The Bears went on a fast drive to score, it's 20 to 14 and we've got a game again.

Wowsers!!

Kanye West - Flashing Lights: The Genius Of Kanye West

For all of his pop-culture missteps and interrupting of Taylor Swift at the 2009 MTV VMAs, one thing is consistently overlooked: Kanye West is a musical genius.

Flashing Lights, West's modern classic about a relationship gone bad, is but one example.

Consider that while Flashing Lights was released November 16th, 2007, and as part of the album Gradulation, it's still one of the most-played nightclub songs in the World.

Indeed, it has been used for the Ciroc Vodka commercials, and in several video games. Pitchfork called it the "fifty-second best song of the entire decade." Pitchfork's Ryan Dombal wrote:

It's classic Kanye-- self-possessed, superfluously art-ridden, probably too clever by half. In Kanye's post-everything museum, da Vinci sidles up next to a bust of Julius; a Karen O-repping blog post follows one dedicated to 10-ft. tall "Chewing Gum Sculptures"; Parisian house mingles with stadium hip-hop. "But what do I know?" goes the hook, pop-pushing curiosity still intact

Flashing Lights is the result of a collaboration between Dwele with additional vocals provided by Connie Mitchell of Sneaky Sound System, an Australian electronic group. Mitchell said that while she had reservations about Hip-Hop, and had not known of West at the time, collaborating with him on Flashing Lights changed her mind about it.

Here are the lyrics:

Flashing lights, lights
Flashing lights, lights
Flashing lights, lights
Flashing lights, lights

[Kanye West]
She don't believe in shootin' stars,
but she believe in shoes & cars
Wood floors in the new apartment,
couture from the store's department
You more like L'eau de Stardee shit,
I'm more of the, trips to Florida
Order the h'orderves, views of the Water
Straight from the page of your favorite author
And the weather so breezy,
man why can't life always be this easy
She in the mirror dancing so sleazy,
I get a call like where are you Yeezy
Try to hit you with a 'Oeur de Whopee'
Till I get flashed by the paparazzi
Damn, these nigga's got me,
I hate these nigga's more than the Nazis


[Dwele]
As I recall, I know you love to show off
But I never thought that you would take it this far
What do I know? Flashing lights, lights
What do I know? Flashing lights, lights


[Kanye West]
I know it's been a while,
Sweetheart, we hard-ly talk, I was doing my thing
(From: http://www.elyrics.net/read/k/kanye-west-lyrics/flashing-lights-lyrics.html)
I know I was foul bay-bay,
a-bay late-ly you been all on my brain,
And if somebody would've told me a month ago
Fronting though, yo I wouldn't wanna know
If somebody would've told me a year ago
it'd go, get this difficult
Feeling like Katrina with no fema
Like Martin with no Gina
Like a flight with no visa
First class with the seat back I still see ya
In my past, you on the other side of the glass
Of my memory's museum,
I'm just saying, Hey Mona Lisa,
come home you know you can't Rome without Caesar


[Dwele]
As I recall, I know you love to show off
But I never thought that you would take it this far
What do I know? Flashing lights, lights
What do I know? Flashing lights, lights


As you recall, you know I love to show off
But you never thought that I would take it this far
What do you know? Flashing lights, lights
What do you know? Flashing lights, lights


Flashing lights, lights
Flashing lights, lights


[Fade out]
Lights, lights, lights, lights...

AFC and NFC Championship 2011 - Steelers and Bears Will Win

On Sunday the AFC and NFC Championship 2011 are upon us. Save your brain, the Steelers and Bears will win. Why? Over the last 11 games, the home team has won 8 times. That's a 72.7 percent home field win rate advantage. Moreover, the Packers' win over the Atlanta Falcons came on the fast track over the dome that defines the Georgia Dome. The temperature? About 70 degrees.

The NFC Championship Game will be played outdoors at Soldiers Field in Chicago, and in temperatures that may be as low as 8 degrees. The elements will play a factor here and that wasn't the case in Atlanta for the Packers.

Additionally, the Chicago Bears know the Green Bay Packers and Lovie Smith, more than any other coach in 21st Century Bears history, understands the objective is always to beat the Packers. He said so when he was hired.

The other x-factor is Bears Offensive Coordinator Mike Martz. He saves his best work for championship games, and its been a long time since he's been with a team in this position. Look for Martz to bring in new formations to confuse the Packers and cause receivers to be wide open.

Pick the Bears to blow-out the Packers.

The home field advantage also applies to the Steelers versus the Jets. Moreover while the New York Jets defense is good, The Steelers have the NFL's number one ranked defense. The Jets Offense is going to have a hard time getting anything going in a game that means so much to a team playing as much for history as it is against the Jets.

If the Steelers win, they will hold the NFL record for Super Bowl appearances with nine.

Pick the Steelers.

Steelers vs. Bears in Super Bowl 45, with the Chicago Bears winning it all!

Animoto Pre-Crunchies Party, San Francisco, CA 2011 #Tech

The Crunchies, the annual Tech Community event hosted by Tech Crunch with Venture Beat and Gigaom got off to a rousing start for those invited to the Animoto Pre-Crunchies Party. The event, staged to present the online platform's new offices at 333 Kearny St. in San Francisco, was every bit the "go-go-era" happening.

The ultra-modern glass and utilitarian office provided the perfect backdrop for an audience so tech, hip, and sexy, with black the prevailing dress color, that it looked like the set for a stylish sci-fi movie. Yep, DJ included; this is the 21st Century. Moreover, Animoto is a 21st Century product.

Animoto is a platform that takes your uploaded photos and music and other media and turns them into high-quality videos. The video can, if you wish, be shared with YouTube, RealBird, or other platforms. Animoto has been on a fast growth path, with over 1 million visitors as of this writing, and gained 750,000 sign-ups in just three days via its Facebook app. This blogger is a registered user of Animoto, and was before this blog post and the interview with Brad Jefferson, its CEO.

Back To The Animoto Party

The party was well-attended, with about half of the revelers going to The Crunchies, and the other half, not. Some familiar friends to this blogger were there, like Sylvia Paul, the East Bay PR specialist Fast Company calls a "Silicon Valley Public Relations Icon", and who's known for her lunches connecting brilliant and interesting people and sometimes just plain good-old folks.

Andrew Mager was there, and someone known to this space since 2007, when Owen Thomas, then the Editor of ValleyWag, had his Friday cocktail gatherings at Moose's. Now, Mager's with SimpleGeo, a platform that allows you to make location-based apps.

There was an abundance of four things: pulsating music, conversation, food, and drink. Add to that the eye-candy (for girls too, I hope, but some of the guys, new to this kind of party said they were actually surprised the women looked so good! Seriously.)

Around 6:30, Jefferson announced that those going to The Crunchies should leave to board one of two complementary busses headed to the event at The Palace of Fine Arts.   Cool.

Now, I expected a standard large "airport bus" style vehicle with all seats facing forward.

Hell no.

What we got was a bus that was a giant limo, with all seats, save the ones in back, facing sideways, and a stripper poll at the center.  And if you think I'm kidding, look at the video.  You'll see it.

We were allowed to bring our drinks on the bus and Animoto provided more buckets of bottles of beer for the riders.  The drink, the rocking bus, the company, the pole, and the sideways passenger positioning, and one man's claim that a woman on the bus invented the Internet, made for an interesting trip to the The Crunchies.

Thankfully, I know my cut-off point for cocktails, and I hit it on the bus.

Besides, I had to do some live blogging.

CNN Should Get Keith Olbermann Now Before Fox News Does

If CNN has any hunger for success, any backbone or spine, and any interest in gaining ratings, the Cable News Network would grab Keith Olbermann and sign him to a contract today. To say that MSNBC will be hurt by Keith's ouster is an understatement.

MSNBC has nothing else to offer to even half-way challenge Fox News in the prime time show segment areas. Keith grew into the MSNBC theme park attraction; the Cinderella's Castle around which all other shows were connected to like the spokes in a wheel.

Now, the hub is gone.

MSNBC President Phil Griffin's famous ego battles with Keith prove once again that ego is first the friend, then the enemy, of success. If Griffin wants to prove he's a capable manager of top-notch talent, he has to find a new way of dealing with people who have large egos. Keith's a diva - deal with it. It's worth it.

CNN needs Keith Olbermann. It's prime time show program ratings are terrible. Parker / Spitzer still hasn't taken off. Piers Morgan's not going to catch on any time soon unless he tweaks his show, and Anderson Cooper 360 isn't the powerhouse it used to be.

CNN needs a spark, and Keith Olbermann, with his following of millions of people, can provide it.

More on the Keith Olbermann ouster here.

Keith Olbermann Leaves MSNBC

USA Today online is one of the many news sources reporting that Keith Olbermann has permanently left MSNBC:

"There were many occasions, particularly in the last 2 years, where all that surrounded the show — but never the show itself — was just too much for me," Olbermann said.


The 51-year-old had the MSNBC's highest rated evening anchor. The New York Times reports that in 2008 he signed a four-year contract extension that estimated to be $30 million.

The Crunchies By TechCrunch - Livestream Live Blog

The 2011 Crunches are underway, and it starting with a great piano solo by someone no one knows the name of. Whatever his hame, and you can see him on livestream, he's good. Jmmin.

The hosts are Sara Lacy and Paul Carr. Great for Sara. But I'm not going to any place she tells me to go to. (Just kidding.)

The Awards. Best Technology Achievement: Google Self-Driving Car. Runner-up: Quickie. Sara Lacy said the last year's runner up was Google Wave, so who wants to be that? Ha.

Next: Best Internet Application Award: Pandora wins the award (!) Rdio is the runner-up. Owen Thomas of VentureBeat is pissed. He yells "WRONG!" I said "RIGHT!"

Best Social Application: Presented by Google VP Marissa Mayer. (It's obvious she's been working out the abs by the way.) The winner: Dailybooth. Twitter is the runner-up. (No Foursquare? Shocking.)

Best Social Commerce Application. Presented by Chris Sacca, who's bashed Blippy for being actually founded by Indian labor, who are over-used and under-recognized. The winner is Groupon and the runner-up is ShopKick.

Best Booststrapped Startup:: Addmired Runner-up was Instapaper.

Best Enterprise App: Of the nominees here, I'm rooting for BuddyMedia, but let's see what happens. The Runner-up is Millienial Media, and the winner is BuddyMedia (I got it right.) But the applause was almost nil.

Best Clean Tech: ( I think the presenter Matt Marshall of Venture Beat may have had too much wine, but..) The runner-up is Kopenik and the winner is SolarCity.

Best Time Sink Application:  Runner-up is Angry Birds and the winner is CityVille.

Bad joke about MySpace by Sara, using a poster (redone) from Weekend At Bernies to say it was being supported by friends (Weekend at Bernies was about a person, Bernie who was dead that two young men tried to make others think he was alive.)

Best International: Viki (well deserved). Runner-up: Soluto.

Best Design: Runner-up: About.me. Gogobot is the winner.

Best Device: Runner-up: X-Box Connect. Winner: iPad

Sara says we're in the home stretch - 20 down. And she takes time to tell us how the next category has nothing to do with Julian Assange. Now...

Best Touch Interface: Winner: Flipboard Runner-up? Matt Marshall says he thinks it was Instagram.

Best Mobile Application: Winner: Google Mobile Maps.

Angel of The Year: Runner-up: Ron Conway. Paul Graham is the winner.

VC of The Year: (Hopefully it's Fred Wilson, but let's see.) Runner-up is Fred Wilson. Yuri Milner of DST is the winner.

Founder Of The Year: Runner-up: Dennis Crowley. Winner: Mark Pincus of Zynga.

CEO of The Year: Runner-up: Mark Zuckerberg. Winner is Andrew Mason of Groupon. Andrew Mason is just a hoot. He says he has no idea why he's got the award and it's good because it comes before he "can fuck this up."

Best New Startup Or Product Of 2010: Runner-up: Square. Winner: Quora!

The founders of Flipboard and Instagram live together as roommates, by the way.

Best Overall Startup Or Product: Runner-up: Groupon Winner: Twitter. Wow. Facebook didn't win this year.

And it's over! The 2010 Crunchies are history. Now on to the party!

Jersey Shore Episode 4 Season 3.

Last night was the forth episode of the third season of Jersey Shore on MTV. This episode was filled with drama and emotion along with laughter. This was definitely the best episode so far and definitely can be considers one of the best episodes EVER in the history of Jersey Shore.

In the beginning Snooki is still in jail for her public intoxication and JWOWW is seen wearing a "FREE SNOOKI" shirt. I seem to remember this over the summer while the season was being filmed - does anyone remember reading JWOWW's twitter account and seeing a tweet about "bailing Snooki out of jail, the things I do for that girl" or something along those lines? Should have done a screenshot, but didn't think that'd be necessary at the time. Anyway, that brings up a question of how was she able to tweet - maybe an Internet cafe.

Snooki gets back to the house and is lectured by her father.

Courtesy of MTV

Deena goes to the club with Mike, Vinny and Pauly (MVP) and turns it into MVPD. She becomes a stereotypical drunk girl that a majority of guys find to be "hott" as she makes out with other girls and takes body shots off them as well. Not all guys find girl on girl action to be appealing, but MVP seemed to be enjoying the show.

Deena ends up with a guy named Dean who looks exactly like Ronnie - faux-hawk and everything. This guy looks just like Ronnie and the guys keep calling him Ronnie. Since Deena is hooking up with Dean (oh ha, Dean and Deena) they find it right to bring him back to the house and try to fool Sammi.

To the surprise of MVP[D] when they bring Dean up to the bedroom where Sammi and Ronnie are asleep and tell the couple that they found someone who looks just like Ronnie, Ronnie responds, "Are you talking about Dean?"

At this time the guys are all laughing and find it hilarious. Deena is downstairs at this time getting into some more casual attire, but upstairs Ronnie reveals to the boys that another similarity between Dean and him is that they both have girlfriends named Sam.

Well, that doesn't seem to matter when Dean tells Deena he has no girlfriend as they cuddle and grope one another in the hot tub.

Then, one of the world's most hilarious scenes in television history (okay, maybe that's a stretch, but it was so hilarious that even Dennis Rose, who refuses to admit he likes Jersey Shore,  laughed out loud):

Since Dean looks like Ronnie is in the hot tub with Deena, who is not Sammi, Pauly and Vinny decide to talk about writing Sammi a note about Ronnie cheating on her again. How could he? They say they will type up a note and use big vocabulary so no one will know they wrote it. Those who saw last season will find this hilarious and understand the reference to JWOWW and Snooki writing a note.  A video clip can be found here.

In the morning after Dean and Deena do everything except have intercourse Sammi tells Deena that Dean has a girlfriend - she plays it off like "whatever," when really it actually is a big deal since the night before he was going on about how he's single: hope the other Sam had fun watching that.

Tom and JWOWW start to have some problems - JWOWW is going out with her ex-hook up Roger who she has had a crush on since high school. It isn't until the after show (which was on immediately following this episode) that she is able to explain herself and for once she is relatable and it is really heartbreaking to really hear what she went through, but while watching the episode it just seems like she's being unfaithful to Tom by going around with another guy. While watching the episode eyes can be rolled at her for doing what she yelled at Ronnie for doing, but those who watch the after show know that the two cannot be compared.

JWOWW's breasts do a video with Pauly as a voiceover, but then the episode's tone changes.

JWOWW and Tom have a break up, and JWOWW's dad lets her know that Tom has left her dogs at the house. JWOWW and Snooki immediately drive to New York and get her dogs, but when Snooki goes upstairs to use the bathroom she sees that Tom stole her bed. Tom also took a very expensive watch, some files and a hard-drive that contained photos of JWOWW from when she was younger and with her mother all before the age of 21, and since her mother is very sick now she would like to be able to keep those memories. On the after show she updates that she still has not received her hard drive back.

JWOWW introduces Snooki to a "gorilla juicehead" named Nick who she at first is apprehensive about since he is part Italian, but then she decides to have sex with him. Over the summer while filming the two were seen and there was blog posts talking about the two and Snooki finally finding the perfect guy, but the two have since split - but it's still fun to enjoy during watching the show.

The previews for the next episode include Sammi crying and saying that she needs to go home - so this could prove to be even more dramatic.

Stay tuned: this season is definitely one that will end the Jersey Shore series with a big bang (if in fact this is the last season).