Thursday, July 20, 2006

RPW Convention Recap

Last weekend, I attended the Republican Party of Wisconsin's State Convention in Appleton. I was impressed that bloggers were actually welcomed at the convention. Boots and Sabers, Right off the Shore, and Lakeshore Laments among other conservative bloggers attended the convention.

Overall, the conventioneers were upbeat and optimistic. Many looked forward to the November elections, especially "dumping Doyle." Tommy Tompson's speech on Saturday summed up the conventioneers complaints about Doyle with a focus on his lack of leadership and failure to lead on a strong Voter ID bill. No matter what other pundits suggest, Tommy Tompson's speech does exhibit strong support for Mark Green. This was readily apparent in his speech and his humorous claim that the Green Bay Packers would climb out of their slump under Doyle and win the super bowl under Mark Green as Governor.

Mark Green's speech had stern criticisms of Doyle's record, such as failing to lowering property taxes and regressive position on expanding education opportunities:


...
Jim Doyle had his chance to help our taxpayers, and he failed.

He failed by vetoing a property tax freeze three times in just three years and now those taxes have risen another $600 million....

Jim Doyle is standing in the schoolhouse door, blocking thousands of families from their dreams. But you and I are going to kick the door in.

We'’ll support charters, we'll support choice and we'’ll support home schooling and we'’ll never settle for second best when it comes to our kids' education....


It seemed to me though that overall character of Green's speech focused on positive remarks on the character of Wisconin's citizens and ideas for reform.

You are going to hear a lot from me in the coming months about what I think is wrong about the Doyle administration, but it comes directly from a deep-seated belief in what is right about Wisconsin.

Green discussed his beliefs in the importance of family values, Wisconsin's love of the outdoors, strong enforcement of the law, and belief in a Voter ID requirement. Interestingly, Green touched on the fact that is parents are immigrants and his belief that we should honor legal immigrants by "stemming the tide of illegal immigrants."

The Attorney General's race also looks promising for Republicans with two strong candidates in J.B. Van Hollen and Paul Bucher. It is interesting to note that even though both candidates asked for a no-endorsement at the convention J.B. still edged out Paul Bucher in the endorsement process and the straw poll.

You can check out the results and other info about the convention at the Wispolitics Convention Blog.

On the flip side, there were a minor number of protestors outside of the Convention on Saturday. I only noticed one with a sign; they didn't have much of a presence.

This is going to be an exciting election year in Wisconsin.

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

News You Can't Use: Sports Illustrated

In his latest hit piece on the Oakland Raiders, our favorite Sports Illustrated writer—the one who penned the widely panned “story” about Eddie DeBartolo and Carmen Policy potentially buying the Raiders—ranks Mr. Davis 25th in his evaluation of NFL owners, down in the dregs with the likes of the Bidwills and Yorks. Guess who ranks 22 slots higher? Daniel "Money for Nothing" Snyder of the Redskins. Talk about intellectual gymnastics. Take this guy's pen away before he hurts himself.

Here’s the relevant excerpt:

"Raiders chief executive Amy Trask says her boss, who turns 77 on the Fourth of July, "is as vital and vibrant as ever." Unfortunately, his franchise is in ICU, with dubious talent and a miserable stadium situation made worse over the years by lawsuits, Davis' aversion to marketing (because, after all, they're the Raiders, and everybody loves them) and an initial miscalculation of a once-rabid fan base's collective fervor. The good news is that Davis cares about nothing besides the Raiders; the myth, however, is that he wants to win at all costs. That fallacy was exposed when Marcus Allen mysteriously disappeared on third downs and in goal-line situations in the early '90s, and it suffered another blow when Davis decided not to try to extend Jon Gruden's contract after the coach led the team to the AFC Championship Game in his third season."

Of course, our author neglects to mention that the Raiders went to the Super Bowl in the season immediately following Gruden’s eventual departure. He neglects to mention this because it disturbs his worldview. You see, Mr. Davis is an all-powerful meddler when things are going bad for the Raiders, but a mere pawn of Jon Gruden when things are going well, and Bill Callahan’s team was actually Jon Gruden’s team, even though the great Jon Gruden was on the other sideline during that Super Bowl, coaching his team, not Tony Dungy’s team. You got that?

Check out Raider Raza’s compendium of praise for Mr. Davis—does this sound like one of the worst owners in the NFL to you? Mr. Davis helped pioneer the AFL-NFL merger, assembled some of the greatest football teams in NFL history, racked up three Lombardi trophies, blazed executive trails in both race and gender, was elected to the Hall of Fame and won the AFC West three times in this decade. Yet he is one of the worst owners in the NFL? Don't tell me that the past doesn't matter—you're the one who brought Marcus Allen, and thus the past, into this discussion.

It’s particularly ironic that, while dissing Hall of Famer and law-abiding citizen Al Davis, our author writes love letters to convicted criminal and NFL pariah Eddie DeBartolo.

And what’s this about an aversion to marketing? Once the Raiders got control of their own ticketing operations this year, they began marketing the hell out of season tickets. They’ve gone so far as to assign a personal service representative to each season ticket holder. Click here to read comments from myself and others about the success of this new ticket marketing approach.

Additionally, the Oakland Raiders consistently rank in the top five in NFL team merchandise sales. How can you achieve such a distinction without, at some level, being a savvy marketer?

And that, Raiders fans, is news you can’t use.

P.S. Thanks to Mad Stork 83 for tipping us off to this piece.

Monday, July 17, 2006

one super bowl, please; hold the football

i'm one of those "watch the super bowl for the commercials and halftime show" kind of people, so needless to say, i appreciate an innovative tv-spot (and random breast exposure, but that's a different story). so when i came across boards, i was hooked. their screening room is especially fun... commercials, amination, short films, and a good set of music videos (including gnarls barkley's "crazy"). being cable-deprived, every little bit helps.

thanks marty for the heads up... and yes, that folgers commercial is super-creepy. and awesome.

Monday, July 10, 2006

Super Bowl champ plans to confront Bush

Joey Porter, The Mouth of the Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers, is looking forward to his team's trip to the White House next month:
Yeah, I got something to say to Bush, I'm going to have a swagger when I walk in there, too. I'm looking forward to it. I have something to tell him, too. I don't like the way things are running right now. I feel like he has to give me some of my money back, so I got something to tell Bush.

What would you say if you had a captive audience with the President?

Super Bowl champ plans to confront Bush

Joey Porter, The Mouth of the Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers, is looking forward to his team's trip to the White House next month:
Yeah, I got something to say to Bush, I'm going to have a swagger when I walk in there, too. I'm looking forward to it. I have something to tell him, too. I don't like the way things are running right now. I feel like he has to give me some of my money back, so I got something to tell Bush.

What would you say if you had a captive audience with the President?

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Italy to the Finals

Any Americans who still don't 'get' 'soccer' should do whatever it takes to watch the full 120 minutes of the Germany/Italy semifinal. It would be even better if you could get the British announcers. Watching this game tonight one starts to understand what it is about Football - the ITV announcers were so absolutely thrilled at the end of this game, that you would have thought they were the home team radio announcers announcing their team's victory in the Super Bowl. But they were utterly disinterested viewers in terms of which team went through. They were, though, utterly interested in seeing a great game. And what a great game it was!

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Super Bowl

By any measure, the Super Bowl is one of the most watched television programs of the year. The game tends to have high Nielsen television ratings which usually come in around a 40 rating and 60 share (i.e., on average, 40 percent of all U.S. households, and 60 percent of all homes tuned into television during the game). This means that on average, 80 to 90 million Americans are tuned into the Super Bowl at any given moment. It is also estimated that 130-140 million tune into some part of the game.

Sunday, April 16, 2006

bowlraidersfanss new articles for Sunday, April 16, 2006Super Bowl legacy is pain for some, promise for others (Detroit News)
M ore than two months after Super Bowl XL, I was beginning to wonder: With the daffodils in bloom and winter's last blasts over, what had that blowout in Ford Field really wrought?

VFW delivers food to Northport Veterans Hospital on Super Bowl (Massapequa Post)
For the eighth year in a row, VFW Post 7763, Massapequa Park, fed 200 patients at the Northport Veterans Hospital on Super Bowl Sunday. Hero sandwiches, salads and sodas were provided. Shown in the photo, left to right, are Vanessa Smith of the V.A., Commander Richard Begandy, Past Commanders Stephen Piller, Robert Duffy and Alan Arcery and members John Bruder, Roy Solvang and Ed Feltman.

Drum corps 'Super Bowl' marching into Rochester (Rochester Democrat and Chronicle)
The Drum Corps Associates World Championship is returning to Rochester after a 10-year hiatus. The annual competition is considered the "Super Bowl" of drum corps contests and could draw 14,000 people to the city.

Keaton makes pitch for Pirates to spend money (Kansas City Star)
Perhaps sports fans in Pittsburgh deserve a bad baseball team because they can still bask in the Steelers winning the Super Bowl.

NFL Network growing in stature, popularity (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)
Super Bowl XL was the third covered by the NFL Network, which may be around for at least 40 more.

Super Bowl star Hines Ward meets mixed race Korean children (phillyburbs.com)
SEOUL, South Korea - Beaming Kim Gwan-woo couldn't hide his excitement at getting to meet Super Bowl star Hines Ward, a hero that the 7-year-old Korean boy wants to emulate.

QB donates Super Bowl rings to La. Tech (CBS Sportsline)
Steelers great Terry Bradshaw donated his four Super Bowl rings, College Football Hall of Fame ring, Pro Football Hall of Fame ring, Hall of Fame bust, four miniature replica Super Bowl trophies, and a helmet and jersey from one of his Super Bowl victories to Louisiana Tech.

Las Vegas posts busiest ever February for visitors (KRNV)
Chinese New Year and Super Bowl parties helped to make February the busiest on record for Las Vegas. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority says the area attracted 2.8 million visitors, up 0.9% from a year earlier.

NFL Football Schedule 2006 (KWWL-TV Iowa City)
NEW YORK - April 6, 2006 - The defending Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers, marquee teams, storied rivalries and sibling rivalries highlight NBC’s return to the National Football League as the NFL today announced its 2006 slate of games.

Postseason berth on line (Denver Post)
When the Colorado Crush plays the Kansas City Brigade today at Kemper Arena, team owner John Elway will meet a former Broncos teammate and they can compare Super Bowl rings.