new favorite blog

CJ Nitkowski, MLB journeyman reliever is pitching in Japan this year. His very often updated blog is a really good read and is becoming part of my morning routine.

Radio Daze

something happened on the way from the suburbs. Wifey and I were driving back from Niche in Geneva last Saturday and she asked that we listen to FM radio. After learning that my car had FM radio, she switched the channel to Q101.

Q101 is an alternative radio station that is pretty popular. (At the very least, its well-advertised). Anyway, within 5 minutes, the following commercials players

-An Ad for a downtown strip club
-An Ad for a strip club in Cicero
-An Ad for Jimmy John's
-An Ad for a strip club in Indiana
-Two Ads for a low-cost car insurance
-An Ad for New England Teddy Bears
-Another Ad for Jimmy John's

Now, I must ask... who the hell is listening to radio at 9PM on a saturday night? A bunch of reckless, horny, hunger young men who like sandwiches, girls and occasional send teddy bears to strippers the next day?

Someone really needs to explain this to me.

for the ladies... a saving tip from wifey

Hey ladies,

Have you checked out the new deodorant from Dove? The scent is called smooth cashmere and wifey claims that it smells just as good as the $20 deodorant she buys at Bloomingdales from Donna Karan. It only costs about $4. That's a $16 savings you can use to buy stuff for your husband.

Click here to get a free sample.

G for the money

I like women's basketball. I really do. It is entertaining and since Duke has been pretty good in recent years, I can even have a rooting interest.

Here's what's not so cool and big pet peeve for me-- women's college basketball salaries. Guess how many women's college basketball programs make money. Guess? Remember that almost every top 25 program plays in packed arenas with big games on national television. Done Guess? Did you guess 20, 40? 60?

Here's the answer... TWO.. and barely. Uconn and Tennessee, two powerhouses who sell out 20,000 person arenas on a weekly basis. And Tennessee barely makes any money.

Why is this important and why do I care? Because over the past few weeks, several high profile women's college basketball jobs have opened up and Duke coach Gail Goestenkors has been named as a candidate for many of them. As well she should since she has led Duke to four final fours in the past eight years and this year's team is ranked #1 in the nation.

Coach G currently makes between $250-300K, based on recent estimates, well below the $1MM the UConn and Tennessee coaches make and well below what the likes of Texas, LSU and Michigan will be offering for a top coach. Many Duke women's fans are upset that G will bolt for more $$ and are urging Joe Alleva and Dick Brodhead to give me a big raise.

I will be very disappointed if Duke ponies up more dough to keep Coach G. Women's basketball loses $$ at Duke, despite an outstanding team. Given the dynamics of sports, this is unlikely to change anytime soon. Since there is only really one sport providing $$ for Duke Athletics, it is basically a zero-sum game for non-revenue sports. Every additional dollar you give Coach G will be a dollar taken away from the swimming, lacrosse and wrestling teams. I don't think thats a good trade.

I don't wish Coach G any ill will. If she can make more dough, she should go for it. I am sure that Duke will have people lined up the door to fill G's shoes and coach a perenniel top 10 program.
My response: You Go, Girl. Literally.

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History of television, part one

50 years from now, when they teach a class in reality television, Sanjaya's performance where he hugged a crying obese 8-year old will rank among the all-time greats right next to Real World New Orleans' David singing "Come on be my baby tonight".

Television

earlier this week, I ws talking about how bad television was. With S60 on its way out, Friday Night Lights not looking much better Antonella off American Idol and Janice Dickinson at the end of her season, there is NO must-see television for Mark. However, I saw October Road on DVR this morning and finally saw something with promise.

originally, i thought it was going to be another sappy What about Brian, however, this was much better acted and writen for a more intelligent audience. (channelling Aaron Sorkin). With its Grey's lead-in, I hope it does well.

As an FYI, Lee Norris (the actor who played Minkus on Boy Meets World) is a recurring character in this show. Thanks IMDB.

Peeves and Complains

1) Fox Sports' NASCAR covered. Noone on TV or via the internet can you find our when the race actually starts. It is probably a way to drive rating of the prerace shows, however, it might end up working in reverse with lots of fans missing the starts. I definitely wouldn't want to be an advertiser with a big spend on the first C-Break. For a sport that literally revolves around its fans, I would expect more.

2) Brian Grossman. This guy is the slimiest realtor in Lincoln Park. He sends out obnoxious mailers every week and is our development snoop. He is constantly peering in our townhouse to see how it compares to his listings. If you are thinking of moving to Lincoln Park, DO NOT BUY A HOUSE FROM BRIAN GROSSMAN.

3) Franco Turinelli. The Black Widow has struck again; another one of his associates has quit. I believe this is 7 in 2.5 years. At some point you would think that the William Blair partners would stop giving Franco new associates. He is ruining William Blair's reputation in the finance community

outKoached...

for one day, Ted roof was not the worst coach for a high-profile Duke athletic teams.

some highlights from our basketball team tonight

- young players who haven't developed
- an offense that runs away from its most effective weapon in the 2nd half
- an defense that can't adjust to a change in strategy from the other team
- poor decision making at key positions
- horrible unforced turnovers
- your best offensive weapon form the first half sits for most of the second.

I could write a book about this. But if coach K wasn't famous with 25 years of success, everyone would be calling for his head.

Wow

Antonella lost. So did Sundance.

I'm done watching Idol for the year. Hopefully, lots of others are as well.

Over the Hills

If you ever want to very dirty, read this!

Not sure that I can every watch The Hills the same way again. Spencers talks about making a sex video with Heidi and posting it on the internet.