Quick Hits

For the non-sports fan, the following may not have huge interest for you so you can turn away now and I won't be offended.

Catching up in the world of sports, and entertainment too:

- Kobe Bryant's ex-maid wants to spill the beans about Bryant and his wife, Vanessa. We're not sure what those beans are but chances are they would be extra-juicy, which is why Bryant is exercising the confidentiality agreement in place between the couple and the former maid, Maria Jiminez.

- John Daly tried to quality for the U.S. Open but failed. It was Big John's first appearance in the U.S. since the PGA Tour suspended Daly for six months. According to a recent story in Golf World, Daly has been playing on the European Tour. He also signed another endorsement deal, this with a maker of shall we say "loud" golf pants and attire. John has never shied away from making his torso a walking billboard, invoking the NASCAR style of sponsorship marketing and brand placement.

- Kansas football fans will be brunching at their tailgate parties this fall. The Jayhawk schedule already has two morning games on the home slate--Duke at 11:00 a.m. on September 19 and Southern Mississippi at 11:30 a.m. on September 26.

- The question in the NBA Playoffs is not whether or not the Lakers will win the championship but whether Orlando will win a game in the best-of-seven series.

- Happy 70th birthday to college basketball's biggest ambassador, Dick Vitale. While watching Vitale do a college game has almost become unbearable, his love for the sport and passion for the college game is undeniable.

Road trip

There's nothing like hitting the open road and seeing America, is there?

Uh, not so fast there, buster. Observations from a weekend road trip:
- Don't trust Mapquest. Repeat--don't trust Mapquest.
- "Drive friendly, the Texas way." Yeah, right...that 90-mile-an-hour on Highway 75, weaving in-and-out of traffic--very, very friendly.
- Did you know the parking meter was invented in Oklahoma? Yeah, I didn't either. But, it said it, right there on that sign on I-35. Must be so...
- Isn't a turnpike meant to be a highway where you pay money but can go fast and not stop frequently? That's not the experience on the George Bush Freeway in Dallas.
- I wish there was a Braum's close by...

Anniversary of Normandy invasion

Today is the 65th anniversary of the greatest invasion in military history--the day when Allied Forces stormed the beaches of Omaha, Juno and Sword at Normandy on the French coast, beginning the effort which would ultimately lead to the defeat of Germany in World War II.

Let's give thanks today to those U.S. "citizen soldiers"--those many men who left jobs, schools, wives, children and families to fight to save the world from tyranny. May their stories not be forgotten.

Happy Birthday, Ron

Happy Birthday wishes to Ron Livingston, who turns 42 today. Livingston is the ex-Sprint pitchman who is best known for his role as Jack Berger in the Sex and the City television series. Berger, of course, is the guy who infamously broke up with Carrie Bradshaw via a sticky note. Not good form, Jack...

Livingston is currently in production on Salesmen, a 2010 movie which also stars Steve Buscemi, Martin Landau and Steve Zahn.

Quick Hits

- Manchester United, the New York Yankees of European football (or soccer), is changing the primary sponsor of its players’ jerseys. In European football, primary sponsors occupy the coveted spot on the front of player jerseys—a practice which has not yet caught on in the U.S., although the WNBA is considering it. AIG had been the previous sponsor on Man U’s unis but the spot, beginning next season, will be taken by Aon, a Chicago-based financial services company. AIG’s previous deal with Man U was for $93 million over four years.

- Sign of the apocalypse: The season opener of Jon & Kate Plus 8, on TLC, drew 9.8 million viewers on Monday night. That is up from the 4.6 million who viewed the previous episode.

- In case you missed it, Sasha Baron Cohen’s entrance, as Bruno, at the MTV Movie Awards. Cohen, err Bruno, in bare-bottomed pants dropped onto Eminem at the ceremony, causing the hip-hop celeb to storm out of the auditorium. Word out today is that the stunt was actually staged and not spontaneous.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcZXju1yVqY

- Dollar General’s 1st quarter earnings jumped to $291 million, up from $182.7 million a year ago. Profits for the discount retailer went from $5.9 million a year ago to $83 million for the quarter! As these results showcase, Dollar General is one of the few retailers benefitting from the economic downturn. Rivals Family Dollar Stores and Dollar Tree have also performed well.

Casey at the Bat

In honor of the anniversary of this well-known poem, and given it's baseball season, we say "Happy Birthday" to "Casey at the Bat." The poem, penned by Ernest Thayer, first appeared in the San Francisco Examiner on June 3, 1988. The poem was so well known, and loved, that a U.S. stamp featuring Casey was commissioned in 1996.

Here, on its anniversary, is "Casey at the Bat."

The outlook wasn't brilliant for the Mudville Nine that day;
The score stood four to two, with but one inning more to play,
And then when Cooney died at first, and Barrows did the same,
A sickly silence fell upon the patrons of the game.

A straggling few got up to go in deep despair. The rest
Clung to that hope which springs eternal in the human breast;
They thought, if only Casey could get but a whack at that -
We'd put up even money, now, with Casey at the bat.

But Flynn preceded Casey, as did also Jimmy Blake,
And the former was a lulu and the latter was a cake;

But Flynn let drive a single, to the wonderment of all,
And Blake, the much despis-ed, tore the cover off the ball;
And when the dust had lifted, and the men saw what had occurred,
There was Jimmy safe at second and Flynn a-hugging third.

Then from 5,000 throats and more there rose a lusty yell;
It rumbled through the valley, it rattled in the dell;
It knocked upon the mountain and recoiled upon the flat,
For Casey, mighty Casey, was advancing to the bat.

There was ease in Casey's manner as he stepped into his place;
There was pride in Casey's bearing and a smile on Casey's face.
And when, responding to the cheers, he lightly doffed his hat,
No stranger in the crowd could doubt 'twas Casey at the bat.

Ten thousand eyes were on him as he rubbed his hands with dirt;
Five thousand tongues applauded when he wiped them on his shirt.
Then while the writhing pitcher ground the ball into his hip,
Defiance gleamed in Casey's eye, a sneer curled Casey's lip.

And now the leather-covered sphere came hurtling through the air,
And Casey stood a-watching it in haughty grandeur there.
Close by the sturdy batsman the ball unheeded sped-
"That ain't my style," said Casey. "Strike one," the umpire said.

From the benches, black with people, there went up a muffled roar,
Like the beating of the storm-waves on a stern and distant shore.
"Kill him! Kill the umpire!" shouted someone on the stand;
And it's likely they'd a-killed him had not Casey raised his hand.

With a smile of Christian charity great Casey's visage shown;
He stilled the rising tumult; he bade the game go on;
He signaled to the pitcher, and once more the spheroid flew;
But Casey still ignored it, and the umpire said, "Strike two."

"Fraud!" cried the maddened thousands, and echo answered fraud;
But one scornful look from Casey and the audience was awed.
They saw his face grow stern and cold, they saw his muscles strain,
And they knew that Casey wouldn't let that ball go by again.

The sneer is gone from Casey's lip, his teeth are clenched in hate;
He pounds with cruel violence his bat upon the plate.
And now the pitcher holds the ball, and now he lets it go,
And now the air is shattered by the force of Casey's blow.

Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright;
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout;
But there is no joy in Mudville— mighty Casey has struck out

Mid-week musings

- What is it about working in an airport security job that is a license to be surly, slow and generally unlikeable? I know that's a sweeping generalization but, c'mon--how many nice airport security folks have you met?

- If anyone doubted the power of NFL programming, take notice that the Emmy Awards announced that they have moved their telecast up a week, to September 13, to avoid a direct conflict with an NFL double-header.

- Mad Men doesn't start Season Three until early August. Argh...

- Target announced a partnership with Daily Candy, the email newsletter and website which covers fashion and pop culture. The retailer has called this partnership Red Hot Shop, which will be a special section at target.com. The site will feature products from up-and-coming designers, articles and artwork--all from the editors of Daily Candy.

- Have you checked out Microsoft's new search engine, Bing? The venture is designed to cut into Google's wide lead in search but it's hard to imagine ever saying "I'll Bing it."

- Quote of the day: Jeff Zucker, president and chief executive of NBC Universal, in an interview with Wall Street Journal, "Apple is the only people in the world that get to set both the wholesale and the retail price." Zucker's quote had to do with Universal's pricing dispute with i-Tunes.

- What do Bono and the Palm Pre have in common? Bono is co-founder of Elevation Partners, a private equity firm that has a 25% stake in Palm. The financial support of Elevation Partners was used to help fund development of the Pre, the new smartphone, exclusively from Sprint, which will launch in the next few days.

Titanic's final death

The oldest known survivor of the Titanic died on Sunday. Millvina Dean, who was all of two months old when the ocean vessel hit an iceberg in waters off Newfoundland in 1912, passed away in a nursing home in London at age 97.

Dean was lowered into a lifeboat on that April night and survived along with her mother and two-year old brother. Her father was one of the more than 1,500 passengers and crew who perished in the disaster.

The fate of General Motors

It’s hard not to consider today’s news about the bankruptcy protection for General Motors without thinking back to the now infamous quote by Charles Wilson, president of this automobile conglomerate in the 1950’s. Wilson, at the time, said “What’s good for General Motors is good for the country.” This saying became synonymous with healthy big business benefiting the overall health—and wealth—of the United States. My, how times have changed…

So, even though it was uttered over 50 years ago, this week's quote of the week honors goes to Charles Wilson, former president of GM.

Changing brand identies

Have you noticed that some major brands are going through major brand identity changes? The New York Times published a summary of identity changes currently in the works in yesterday's edition, noting that the new logos are trending towards "warmer, fuzzier."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/31/weekinreview/31marsh.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Warmer,%20Fuzzier:%20The%20Refreshed%20Logo&st=cse

War-Mart is the most visible brand which is changing. The world's largest retailer is replacing its all-capitals logo with a lighter blue, upper/lower case naming and a "spark" (their word--not ours) visual identifier after the name.

Kraft Foods is also changing. They've gone to an all-lower case approach on the name and a whimsical "flavor burst" (again, not our words) at the end, along with the line "Make Today Delicious."

An interesting trend seems to be the nod towards green/the environment. Many brands who are undertaking change have incorporated the color green, or blue, along with a visual identifier (e.g., a leaf on grocer SuperFresh's logo) which indicates environmentally-friendly.

Typically, changing one's brand identity is meant to improve differentiation. By heading the same direction, many of these brands now risk looking the same.