- Call the NFL and its players whatever you want, just don’t call them completely clueless. Greedy, sure. Out of touch? Undoubtedly. Unable to compromise when dividing up $9 billion in revenues? Yup. But the league realizes that fans are growing extremely wearing of the ongoing labor dispute after 10-plus week of the back-and-forth bickering. Commissioner Roger Goodell pointed out Wednesday the negative effect the labor battle is having on pro football. "Clearly it has had an impact on the fans," Goodell said. "We see it in various metrics. There's been a noticeable change, TV ratings were down on the draft roughly 4 million people. NFL.com traffic (is down), we see that." What? NFL.com traffic is down? Just because no football business is going and there might not be a season? Who’s not riveted by hearing about the exciting legal battle in which the players and owners are waiting on the 8th U.S. District Court to rule on a lawsuit by the players seeking to have the lockout declared illegal? "Fans want certainty," Goodell added. "We can't underestimate that the fans are going through challenges just in the general economy." Yes, but that doesn’t mean either side is going to cede any ground. When the legal struggle resumes in court on June 3, a three-judge panel will hold hearings on the league's appeal to uphold the lockout. From there, the judges will likely take several weeks to issue a decision and in the meantime, the two sides are scheduled to start another set of mediation sessions on June 7. The owners just wrapped up their annual spring meetings and while those meetings featured lengthy talks about the labor dispute, no deadlines have been set -- yet -- for the opening of training camps, which usually begin in late July. Such a “drop-dead” dead is in the offing somewhere in the near future, but canceling a prominent part of the preseason schedule would undoubtedly infuriate the fans even further. As they gathered for their meetings, the owners were presented with a full range of plans for the season’s scheduled opening weekend, from the first game on Thursday night at Lambeau Field to commemorations of the Sept. 11 attacks on the first full Sunday of games. Those games are not yet in danger, but the longer the lockout goes, the more that changes. "We're not at an Armageddon date," Eric Grubman, executive vice president of business operations for the NFL, explained. "We're not staring that in the face this week." Teams are beginning to consider the possibility of having to move their training camps (if they actually happen) because the colleges and universities many of them use for camp would likely be unavailable if the season is pushed back at all. So the big question, obviously, is whether the Super Bowl in Indianapolis is in danger. Not according to Giants owner John Mara, it’s not. “You're going to have the Super Bowl here, I'm confident of that," Mara said. Somehow, it’s difficult to have as much confidence as Mara supposedly does……….
- Crap on people’s dreams much, Advertising Age? The national advertising magazine clearly fancies itself an arbiter of all things ad-related and felt the need to crush the dreams of the good folks of Buffalo, N.Y. be deeming its new slogan as empty and not giving people a reason to visit. The theme, crafted by a group of more than 70 volunteers from the community, local advertising agencies and members of the Visit Buffalo Niagara group in Buffalo, is "Buffalo: For Real." A piece in Ad Age noted that, "Tourism slogans are reliably corny, but last week New York state took the grand prize for "Huh?" with a newly anointed slogan for its fair city to the north that's best known for it's proximity to Niagara Falls and everyone's favorite 25-cent bar snack." Ad Age staffers admitted to having a hearty laugh at the slogan, but why? What on Earth did they expect Buffalo to do? Would “Come see our 50 feet of snow each winter!” or “Stop and see us for our beautiful two weeks of summer sandwiched between 11-month long winters” have worked better? No offense to the folks in Buffalo, but there’s really nothing they can say or do that is going to make their city anything other than what it is: a depressing, industrial city that’s best viewed from several thousand feet in their air as one’s plane passes over it on the way to somewhere more interesting. Dottie Gallagher Cohen, president of Visit Buffalo Niagara, would surely (and wrongly) disagree with that statement. "We have developed a concept that has tested well with our target audience, the cultural tourist. Over time, we and the 70 or so community leaders who participated in the branding process, believe that Buffalonians will see the expression of the brand and will support it. We will not be swayed by those who would like to define us as a town only known for snow and chicken wings. We are an authentic place rich with art, architecture and history assets. For Real." Okey doke, D. Your city may be “real,” but it’s also really ugly, really depressing and really covered by snow for like three-fourths of the year (meteorological figures approximate). Like Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Detroit and so many other cities around the Great Lakes region, it is neither interesting nor desirable as a vacation destination - for real………….
- Too much of a good thing doesn’t apply when it comes to revolution and for opposition groups in Egypt, the philosophy could not be less relevant. After ousting former President Hosni Mubarak from office and expecting quick and drastic change, those groups have been largely disappointed with the results they have seen from those who have assumed power. Demands to try Mubarak and his sycophants immediately, end military courts, replace the military government with civilian leaders, reform the constitution and delay the September elections have gone unfulfilled and needless to say, opposition leaders and their followers aren’t going to stand for that sort of thing. Thus, tens of thousands of them filled Cairo's Tahrir Square on Friday for what was hyped as a "second revolution." They angrily chanted their demands and boldly displayed them on signs and banners. The common theme was continuing the revolution until its primary goals are achieved, with those goals being security and stability — or something like that. Pundits were quick to cite the protest as further evidence that Egypt's progressives have failed to organize themselves post-revolution and seize the opportunity place in front of them. Their inability to coalesce into a united political force capable of overtaking the Muslim Brotherhood doesn’t bode well for their chances in Egypt’s upcoming election. Ahmed Maher, general coordinator of the April 6 uprising, filled the same role for Friday’s event. He called the gathering proof of how well activists can reconcile their differences and work together. Indeed, four diverse liberal and secular groups issued a joint list of demands in putting on the event, demands that included guaranteeing Egypt will be a civil state, ending military courts used to try protesters and other civilians and postponing the elections until the groups are better able to compete. "We have dozens of political ideologies with different approaches, like center-left or communists or center-right or seculars, and it's normal to have differences of opinion and approach between all of them," Maher said. "Islamic parties don't have those divisions because they are all based on one ideology." Liberals have claimed they are at a significant disadvantage against the more established Muslim Brotherhood, but critics insist they could still do a much better job of getting their message out than they currently are. But hey, nothing gets the message out quite like a riot or protest………….
- Is it too soon to declare Microsoft’s first entry into the tablet computer market a failure? After all, the maker of the world’s worst operating system is set to debut a version of its Windows 8 designed for tablet PCs next week and one week from being introduced is more than close enough to know that a Microsoft product is going to suck. Windows President Steven Sinofsky will present a version of the software with a touchscreen interface at the All Things D conference next week and when he does, that software will reportedly be running on a tablet based on Nvidia’s Tegra chip. While the new operating system isn’t expected to be out until next year, providing a physical entity to fulfill the rumors of a Microsoft tablet that have been circulating for months would be a wise move on the company’s part. Not surprisingly, Microsoft is continuing its trend of reaching for success by attempting to blatantly rip off Apple, this time by using the Metro interface developed for Windows Phone 7 in the way Apple has done with the OS for the iPhone and iPad. Microsoft has actually tried a few tepid forays into the tablet field, first in 2010 with the “slate PC,” a model running Windows 7 and Amazon’s Kindle software. That hunk of technological trash was essentially a stripped-down PC lacking a keyboard and it failed miserably, as all Microsoft products tend to do. All the way back in 2000, Bill Gates unveiled something called the Tablet PC at the Comdex convention. The Tablet PC was nothing more than a laptop with a rotating screen and stylus functionality and it too crashed and burned. Of late, Microsoft has been taking an even greater beating than usual in the computer market and sales have been über-slow for its crap-tacular products in large part because of a surge in sales for Apple’s iPad and iPad 2. To compensate, Microsoft is now attempting to bribe students into buying a PC by offering a free Xbox for those who buy a PC costing $699 and up from participating retailers. A successful tablet would make an even bigger impact in the battle, but we are talking about Microsoft here and the chances of a successful tablet coming from that group of tech tools is somewhere between the odds of the Cleveland Cavaliers winning next season’s NBA title and The Situation being awarded a Nobel Peace prize shortly thereafter…………
- What do you do with someone pathetic enough to both be a judge on American Karaoke and be fired by American Karaoke so it can bring in talentless pop hack Jennifer Lopez in her place? Give her two reality shows on your basic cable network, of course! Former AK “judge” Kara DioGuardi has somehow managed to land on her feet after getting the boot from the world’s biggest karaoke contest, signing a deal with Bravo for not one, but two reality shows. Her first project, Platinum Hit, will be music-centric, as music centric as a show centered on a person with no musical credibility or integrity can be. But one Kara DioGuardi show simply wasn’t enough for Bravo and so the network has inked a deal with DioGuardi for a reality show centering on her life as a “Why the hell are you famous again?” reality TV actress. The show, brilliantly titled Kara, is set to air this year. Eli Lehrer, the vice president of development at Bravo, is inexplicably fired up about the chance to add two DioGuardi-based shows to his network, saying, “People have one perception of DioGuardi, but this series will peek behind the curtain and reveal much more interesting and multi-faceted aspects of this incredibly successful, talented artist and business woman." Umm, no thank you? "We believe her dynamic personality and fascinating career will resonate with our audience and reflect our pop culture brand,” Lehrer continued. Look bro…..you’re not selling me on this one, okay? She, like anyone else who associates with AK for even one second, is musically dead. Besides, how is investing two hours of TV viewing time a week in a person who, much like Paris Hilton is well-known without having contributed anything of worth to the world, a wise choice? But let’s give DioGuardi a chance to sell her new projects and hope she can present a winning argument. “I am excited to broaden my relationship with Bravo. I am a fan of the network and appreciate how their programming gives the audience a bird's eye view into different industries and really uncover what makes people tick,” she said in a statement. Umm…..no again. I’ll take a double pass on these two shows and keep on moving, but thanks for wasting everyone’s time with this garbage…………
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