PTI with Dan LeBatard and Jason Whitlock

Whitlock:Welcome to PTI I'm Jason Whitlock hey Dan how about that Phillies-Yankees trade
LeBatard:Dan LeBatard
Whitlock:First up today the Phillies trading Abreu and Lide for some minor leaguers
LeBatard: Dan LeBatard
Whitlock: (Fairly obvious observation about the situation put in the most boring way possible and/or andecdote about when he played football)
LeBatard:DAN LEBATARD!

Uhh I think Nike and Wendy's have the same Marketing firm

That Nike commercial with the guy who sees a runaway ice cream truck blowup after a high speed chase in a dried up river and the Wendy's commercial where the guy sees the unicorn while eating that terrible dollar sandwich are exactly the same. I wish I could find the video but this it how it goes

Guy coming back from being out: You won't believe what I just saw while I was [eating a crappy chicken sandwich/running] there was a [unicorn/high speed chase]

Girl dumbfounded: [There's a dollar crispy chicken sandwich at Wendy's/you ran to the river?]

Maybe test audiences enjoyed the overstunned by product angle so much that they used it in two different campaigns for different companies.

USOC to Philly: You Suck!

This is a pretty harsh headline from the newspaper of the city who lost the bid. I personally think Philly could maintain an Olympic Game if they got more hotel rooms, cops, and less shootings but at least we had enough stadiums.

LeBron and the future of the NBA

With Wade and now Bosh following in LeBron's footsteps and taking shorter contracts the NBA is at a crossroads. If the Heat, Raptors, and Cavs contend then they will keep their stars and they will form identities for their teams and the league as a whole. If they don't then things can go two ways; either they go to larger markets and succeed and the NBA will be able to continue on with trying to regain the popularity it enjoyed when Jordan played (even though it should be aiming for the '80s popularity because of the amount of superstars and second tier stars). Or all proven stars will take shorter contracts as unproven role players continue to take long term contracts and teams will become shells of role players with players coming and leaving interchangably. Hopefully one of the first two happen.

Conspiracy Theory from LeBron/NBA

Everyone started whispering that LeBron was leaving Cleveland after his contract was up when he didn't decide to sign the Max extension the Cavs offered him. Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony had agreed to the Heats and Nuggets offers, respectively. It did not seem like he could do any better unless the rumor was true that a bonus kicks in that significantly increases the amount he makes from his endorsements if he moves to a major market. Then it came out that LeBron agreed to a deal and later it was revealed the deal had a twist. He decided to take a three year deal with a player option for a fourth at $60 million. He called Wade and Anthony and told them about his idea. He saw this as his ultimatum to the Cavaliers. Get me enough help to start winning championships within the next two years or I will either be traded during, or leave after, my third season. I have the option for the fourth season which is just a way to get more time to figure out an extension to stay with the Cavs dynasty that was formed. All of the sudden the small town Cavs are the Packers of the NBA and people kill themselves for tickets and watch everyone of his games on TV. He also realizes if him, Carmelo, and Wade truly make the league competitive and give teams time to clear out their caps they have the choice of where to go and, more importantly, share in the extra revenue they produced for the league by the better play and increased popularity. It also gives their own team time to clear out room to pay them when they would become free agents, and (of course) stay competitive which seems most important for these three guys. LeBron's small town Cavs have tried, but people like Larry Hughes and Damon Jones have not complemented LeBron enough to help the team get to the NBA elite. Carmelo is having difficulty getting along with George Karl, along with the fact that the Nuggets seem a long time off from competing especially after agreeing to sign Nene to a five year $60 million contact (which makes Carmelo's acceptance of a Max deal with the Nuggets puzzeling). Wade has to weigh his options in post-Shaq/Riley Miami, and whether or not he can truly shine and compete with LeBron in popularity in Miami or if he has a better chance somewhere else. Can either Wade or Anthony be LeBron's rival, the Bird to his Magic. It is looking like Wade can fill that roll, but one of them would need to move to the West to help make the Finals truly relevant again. Either way these deals help both the NBA and their stars add extra directions on where the players can help take the league in the future. I'm sure LeBron's endorsement deal also kicks in if he wins a championship, if he can't do it there him (and the NBA) can find a team that can or at least a big market team. Dwyane (and the NBA) are assured that either the Heat stay competitive after Shaq leaves at or before the end of Wade's contract or he leaves for somewhere that will allow him to compete with LeBron. I don't know why Carmelo took that deal, but this makes the NBA all the more interesting the next couple seasons. But it is getting a eerily WWE feel to it.

Crazy Baseball Cards

So my two friends and I went to the mall today and one of them decided to get some baseball cards just for the hell of it. In one of the packs there was a card for Matthew Thorton. Now you think to yourself who does Matthew Thorton play for. Well he died in 1803. No, he's not Honus Wagner, he's one of the representatives fron New Hampshire to sign the Declaration of Independence. Well why is he in this pack of baseball cards? Well he's part of a series the baseball card company decided to do to I guess enhance kids' knowledge of American history. If you collect all 50-some signees then you get the entire document when you connect the back of the cards. Now to me this seems like a lame attempt to make the company to make themselves seem like they care about education, but what if this actually works? What if kids start trading people from history: "Dude, I'll trade you two Thomas Jefferson's for a George Washington?" "I don't know Washington was a President, dude." "But dude Washington went from the Red Coats to the Yankees in '75, and Jefferson had more illegitimate slave children." This could be a whole new way of learning kids would be trading the Magna Carta for three Articles of Confederation's. Caesar Augustus taking over power for Julius Caesar and winning the battles at Phillippi would be like a rookie card. And everyone would throw out their Jame Buchanan. This maybe a revolution in learning.

Rocky VI (Balboa)

I get excited about very random movies. The movie I've been excited about for the last four month has been Snakes on a Plane. Just to hear Samuel Jackson say "We have to get these mothafucking snakes off this mothafucking plane!" is well worth ten bucks. Now I have my movie for the winter, your head might explode if you watch this so make sure you don't drink pop rocks and soda before you do or I can't be responsible for what happens.

If you can't be 'em in the regular season, beat 'em in useless exhibition

Congratulations to Ryan Howard who won the home run derby, the second year in a row for a Phillie. You may have forgotten that Abreu won the contest in 2005 even though he's hit 16 home runs since. Well I mean I guess if we can't enjoy baseball in October we can tune into the Derby and for one night in July be a champion.

Don't Go to Bowling Alleys in the South

...or maybe you should since between this guy and Iverson apparently bowling alleys in the Virginia/Maryland area are pretty crazy.

Hey New Jersey: You sure this is a good idea?

So as most Delaware Valleyians(ites?), families on vacation, and compulsive gamblers have learned New Jersey (Corzine) has shut down government activities including beaches, state inspection sites, state courts, and dun dun dunnnn casinos. Corzine and the constitution he is hiding behind says that this is the action that is supposed to be taken when no budget is figured out for the fiscal year. This constitution is almost 60 years old and came out before casinos came on the scene, plus the Dirty Jerz is in a deficit. Now I'm no new fangled economist, but I don't think cutting out all money making activities for the state and costing the state $2.2 million a day is a good way to get out of a deficit. Now while down the shore I am scared to go outside because the grandmom with six teeth and a cigarette in her mouth is wondering the streets without any slots to play and an unusually muscular right arm. But I am sure Corzine is feeling the pinch in his mansion while all the workers do not get paychecks. But hey apparently the six decade old document is right so why don't we just assume its 1947 and hunt some commies while they figure out the budget.

This is stoopid

There is a group trying to make spelling more phonetic (No it's not the pussycat dolls which was my first thought with their hits Don't cha and Be wit' chu leading the way). I just feel like this is a group of people who just did not do a very a good job at English and spelling in school and want to make it easier on their kids who will ultimately have the same problem. The article is annoying because all of the suddent the writer will start writing in the retarded English and even though it is supposed to be easier I have to translate it. Now I know learning that the 'b' in lamb is silent is a tough concept but this is the most universal language in the world we can't just start changing how we spell because English has some nuances that need to be learned in school or at home. Trying to read this is like looking at the back of a mediocre rap album and trying to read what the name of the songs really are. This is the step before everyone starts writing in Instant Messenger. Imagine starting a paper: "George Washington waz th furst prezident ov Amerika", lol, ;). Maybe if they spent less time trying to change something that has been around for hundreds of years and more time learning it they would not be in this mess.

I wish I knew how rappers dance

Maybe one of them can write a song about how they dance, because I really have no idea how rappers and gangsters dance.

Gene Wojciechowski also thinks steroids might be a problem

I really do not understand why this guy is a writer for ESPN he needs to change his name to Captain Obvious. Real fans understand that the All-Star voting is bullshit. Its a popularity contest especially for people who are not real fans of the sport and think the sport revolves around them. Now I'm not gonna name their fans but let's say they are both in the northeast and one begins with a Y and ends with ankees and the other are the Red Sox. So now the AL team composed almost entirely of Red Sox and Yankees while a bunch of players who deserve it (Jim Thome for one) have to hope they get picked as a reserve. Hmmm so who can I blame for this, well its the Yankees and Red Sox fault to begin with. They spend so much money to beat with each other now all the other AL teams have to spend more to even compete with them. Combined the Yankees ($194M) and the Red Sox ($120M) spend over 300 million dollars. On average the AL spends 11 million per team more than NL teams. And it does not help that all ESPN focuses on are the Yankees and Red Sox, and casual fans aren't exposed to other teams while players like Varitek gets voted in over a player like Joe Mauer flirting with .400.
American sports are embracing money and the mainstream while the diehard fans are alienated. I'm a Sixers and NBA fan, I watch and follow NBA more than almost anyone I know, but I can't watch ESPN because every NBA story is about Shaq or Kobe. Luckily we have had Iverson to get us some attention (but since ESPN is super white it is usually bad or about a trade). But no one truly knew how good Dallas and Phoenix were until the playoffs and the NBA would not let the Mavs win because they are just not as marketable as the Heat. But when baseball, hockey, and basketball went on strike who was there waiting for them to come back. I just want to go back to the day where I was rewarded for being a true fan rather than being bored by the mindless banter about topics any true fan knows and understand already. But hey as long as ESPN makes money who cares about integrity. To break it down I have included this equation that has become the business model for ESPN.

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