Archive for October, 2007

Oct29th2007

How Sweep it is!

Published
by
geoff
10 months ago
in Celebration and Sports
. 1 Comment

World_Series_trophy.jpgYES! It is over. Couple tense moments. Couple moments looked like pre-game batting practice. But I’ll take it. Anytime. My phone has remained somewhat silent for the last week, except for my girlfriend’s sister (she lives in Denver) realizing that the bet she made with me was a lost cause. Most of her texts were “Oh Crap” and “Oh God” and “Dammit”. Sweet! Free El Azteca for me!

The lead-off HR by Pedroia was a sign of great things to come. Boston had a great team coming into the series and now we get to look forward to next year. Savor this one for a second… Starting 4 rookies (Dice-K, Pedroia, Ellsbury, Okajima) in the series, couple young arms getting into the pitching staff, and hopefully, hopefully, the resigning of Mike Lowell and Curt Schilling.

I do love the classy move by Scott Boras and A-rod - let’s wait till the middle of game 4 in the world series to announce to the world that its not about playing baseball, its about making money. I can’t stand him and pray that the Sox don’t go after him. I want him to end up on a team that plays the Yankees though, and love to hear the greeting he’ll get. Just not the Sox. Or offer him a dollar a year. It might be the only chance he has to play in the WS.

I think the nation needs to thank Jacoby Ellsbury for giving stoner’s and college students free tacos. Don’t forget to go grab yours tomorrow. How many homeless people do you think will show up? I think they need to change the offer from 2-4 PM to 1-3 AM. This is definitely some food I don’t want to eat without numbed tastebuds.

And Bostonians, just incase you’ve been on a remote island or still hammered from last night (it’s highly possible) the parade is tuesday. I’m sure it will showcase some incredible dance moves by Jonathan Papelbon - which reminds me more of jazzercise than synchronized tribal celebrations. Its not quite Elaine “Seinfeld” quality, but I have no doubt it will go down in history with the rest of these classic performances.

Thanks for the good year.  I now leave the diamond for the ice.  Let’s go Penguins!

Oct28th2007

And now a word from our sponsor…

Published
by
geoff
10 months ago
in Marketing and Sports
. 0 Comments

cbspiggybank.jpgI’m not sure if its just me. Probably is. Normally is. I think sometimes I notice this just because I spend so much time working and thinking about this stuff… But CBS has got to be the biggest money whore in college football.

I spent my saturday watching the UGA/FLA game - “the worlds largest cocktail party” (I’m sure that was dubbed by a proud alumni - half the attendees are in college and underage. There’s no drinking going on!). Couple things you are guaranteed: 1) a pretty good/heated/trashtalking on the field, 2) some colorful outfits, and 3) two sets of the most ANNOYING fans in college football (the funny part about that is they each call the other the most annoying). My favorite line heard on saturday - “Who are you rooting for?” “Mother nature or god. I want a hole to open up and swallow both teams and especially their fans”.

Anyway, while watching the game, I started taking notice of everything that was “brought to you by”. Its nice how fluidly the sportscasters let “Liberty Mutual” or “Tampax” roll off their tongue while sending us off to halftime or a game break. Do you think some guy at CBS is sitting in his office going “hmmm…what else can we sell?”. Nothing like bringing in a little secondary income from the game. This is what I ended up with:

  • Pizza Hut Pregame
  • Pontiac Keys to the game (CLEVER!)
  • Applebee’s Starting line ups
  • Home Depot instant replay (complete with a flying HD logo)
  • Geico Halftime Report
  • Liberty Mutual Game Break
  • VzW game ticker
  • The NEW AT&T Sportsdesk
  • Geico Scoring Recap (who doesn’t love that gecko)
  • Sonic Heisman Watch
  • Wrangler 5 Star Play of the Game
  • Ruby Tuesday Player of the Game
  • Red Lobster Scholar Athlete (oh, the slobster. tasty vittles. I dream of Shrimp fest)

Did I miss anything? How about the “Depends Bathroom Break”? Or would that be better sponsored by FloMax? “This two minute snack run is brought to you by Fritos.” That’s it! Sponsored commercial breaks. Brilllll-YANT! (Patent Pending) We’re talking about slight overkill here people. Take it down a notch CBS. I know we want to maximize dollars, but maybe do a little study after the game. What do people remember? When you leave a 4-hour party after having thirteen 30 second conversations mixed in with drinks and casual chit-chat how much to you recall? When spread thin, the effectiveness and recall comes close to ZERO. Why don’t you act like responsible marketers and help your clients. And let me enjoy the game without the barrage of products.

Oct24th2007

Red Sox in the World Series

Published
by
geoff
10 months, 1 week ago
in Sports
. 0 Comments

red_sox1.jpgI only have a couple things to say - Let’s Go Red Sox! Let’s Go Red Sox! Let’s Go Red Sox! Let’s Go Red Sox! Let’s Go Red Sox! Small heart attack during the Cleveland series, but let’s get going for the big prize. The curse is already gone. AL East title streak is over.
Dear Yankee fans, enjoy the series. Thanks for all the text messages during the ALCS. You of all people should know that being up 3-1 does not mean its over. And I’m sure you heard, Guiliani is pulling for the Sox. I’m not sure who his adviser is, but whoring for votes in a blue state is not going to help, especially in Taxachusetts. Doesn’t he know that Massachusetts is on the opposite wing? Probably will end up only pissing off a lot of NY voters.

But don’t be bitter. All is not lost. A-Fraud will probably opt out of his contract and you guys will be rid of the biggest Houdini impersonators (i think his act only performs in October).

Sox in 6.

Oct23rd2007

I deserve a star on the walk of fame

Published
by
geoff
10 months, 1 week ago
in Hollywood and Marketing
. 0 Comments

yourName2a.jpgIs the Hollywood Walk of Fame for real? Do people really take this seriously? If I hadn’t seen it myself, I’d think it was some mythical place that you needed some type of credential to get in. But NO! It does exist. And its more fun when you see an absolutely hammered homeless guy piss all over someones star (true story!).

I don’t want to talk about whether it exists, but its legitimacy. Can you just buy a star? PR stunt? Xmas gift from an agent? Ricky Martin recently received his “star”, #2,351 on the boulevard recently. I’m going to make it my sparetime task to get a star. Hey, I did a voice-over for the animated series Cubix, as the DJ Robot. That’s gotta be worth something.

This past year, the walk was decorated with such screen luminaries as Erik Estrada (yes, Officer Frank Poncherelo), thespian Donald Trump, and Miss America (ooops, I mean Playboy Centerfold) Vanessa Williams. With that crew, makes me wonder - what is the criteria to get your own star? I mean, who could forget Estrada’s work on “The Surreal Life” and “Armed & Famous”? Did you know they really aired?? How about Vanessa Williams? Her body of work (no pun intended. haha - I’m funny…HI FIVE!) includes blockbusters “Johnson Family Vacation”, “A Diva’s Christmas Carol” (I heard she really got into her character), and I’m sure if you dig deep into your DVD collection, you will find a copy of “Eraser”, where she shared the screen with Ahhhnold. I believe the academy got it wrong when they bypassed this classic. You might as well line up Paris Hilton. She’s got her Emmy performance on “The Simple Life” (I think she was already recognized by AVN for “One Night in Paris”).

So, who is the selection committee? Is it the same as the MPAA rating committee? A bunch of soccer moms and PTA presidents? I mean, Big Bird and Pee Wee Herman have stars. Really? Now, here’s the confusing part, Pee Wee is a character (beee-leeeve it!). Paul Ruebens is the actor who brought Pee Wee to life (literally). So, we got a bird and a kid/man/pervert. Thank god the boulevard is balanced by the likes of Motley Crue, Kiss and Alice Cooper. Two guys that I can think of that don’t have a star - Robert Redford & Clint Eastwood. Why not? I would think their body of work and contributions to entertainment would far exceed that of Vanna White (ooohh Vanna) and Destiny’s Child (WHAT?! Didn’t they burn down houses or something?). Now, for Clint Eastwood, if you follow the Paul Ruebens philosophy, would “Dirty Harry” get the star? And would he get to blow someone away (please say Britney Spears, or at least feed her to a temperamental cougar) at the ceremony?

Anyway, so here’s your part. I want in. Here’s the nomination page. The committee doesn’t meet until next June (worky work busy bee!), so we have a little time. I need to raise $25K. Yes, you have to pay for these things. So, your dollars will be put to good use (if not, I’ll throw a big party). I promise to thank all the little people. By little, I mean those who give me money. Help now! I’m racing against Weird Al Jankovic for the beginning of 2009, so start filling out the nomination sheet!

Oct21st2007

Everyone loves a parade

Published
by
geoff
10 months, 1 week ago
in Atlanta and Clowns
. 0 Comments

chewy.jpgSing it with me - “The Freaks come out at….(dramatic pause) Day?” Ahhh… The Halloween Parade.

I love Halloween. You get a chance to see people’s creativity and ingenuity. Not to mention going to some party at someones place and laughing all night long. During college, of course, it was this moment where the “inner vixen” came out from the ladies. (me, complaining?  uhhh…)  Cowgirls, nurses, vampires, etc…  Anyway, its just fun. Let yourself go. We’ve gotten older. We’ve now traded candy for stocked punch with dry ice, and trick or treating for just “treats”.  But the costumes are still good.

The parades push it over the edge, in a good way. Nothing quite says “sexy” like mid-40’s man adorned with sock stirrups in his mothers nightie. I have to put Atlanta’s parade at #3 on the all-time Halloween parade list. Slightly behind San Fran’s (in the Castro) and way behind NYC’s West Village parade. Those both just get nutty. This was a little tame, but I think the freeflowing street booze helped out to add to the insanity. There was a group of vikings (Atlanta’s Womens Roller Derby team - the rollergirls) who were definitely keeping up their end of the party.  This year’s version in Atlanta had plenty of action not to mention some gender confused costumes (including a Wonder Woman that “just wasn’t right”). We had a great vantage point this year. A former co-worker of mine has a house (thanks joel.  btw - kick-ass media room!) right on the preparation route. So, we got to see them all get set up and lined up.

Anyway, if you missed it, here are some pics. See you next year and Happy Halloween!

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