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Obama Staff: We Need More White People
By Tommy Christopher (Political
Machine)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 5:05:00 AM
Filed under: Democrats, Barack Obama,
Breaking News, 2008 President, Race
During a Michelle Obama appearance at
Carnegie Mellon University, the school
paper The Tartan reported the attention-
getting phrase: The Tartan's
correspondents observed one event
coordinator say to another, "Get me more
white people, we need more white people."
To an Asian girl sitting in the back row,
one coordinator said, "We're moving you,
sorry. It's going to look so pretty, though."
"I didn't know they would say, 'We need
a white person here,' " said attendee and
senior psychology major Shayna Watson,
who sat in the crowd behind Mrs. Obama.
"I understood they would want a show of
diversity, but to pick up people and to
reseat them, I didn't know it would be so
outright."
Michael Goldfarb of The Weekly
Standard has a stranglehold on the
meaning of this passage: The Obama
campaign discriminates against people of
color, and their own supporters no less, in
what is presumably a misguided pander to
white voters.
Michael Goldfarb is a sack of crap.
I mean that metaphorically, of course. If
you took a sack and filled it with crap,
there's no way you could get it to type
something that stupid. However, in
'Mother' - New Obama Ad
By Greg McNeilly (Political Machine)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 3:54:00 AM
Filed under: Barack Obama, Ads, 2008
President
Barack Obama, who is spending $2.2
million a week in Pennsylvania, has added
American colloquial parlance, a person
who speaks falsely or misleadingly is said
to be "full of shit," which a sack of crap,
and Michael Goldfarb, most certainly are.
I'm not going to waste a lot of time
trying to explain how people have tried to
"flip the script" in this campaign, trying to
paint the Obama campaign, and black
voters, as racist. I read the crap on our
message boards every day, and if a truth so
obvious eludes people, what's the point of
deconstructing it? To systematically
segregate and discriminate against and
oppress an entire race of people, and then
have the balls to call them racist because
they're separated from us by the
separations we imposed?
I know, many white people will object to
the use of the words "we", or "us." Barack
Obama cannily identified the source of a
lot of white frustration in his "A More
Perfect Union" address, this idea felt by
many of us that we, individually, have
enjoyed no privilege derived from our
whiteness, yet we feel the sting of black
anger. Even more, many of us feel
divorced from responsibility for the black
plight in America because we never owned
slaves, or refused to hire a black person, or
tossed around the N word.
Those are all excellent points. The
rationale is certainly appealing. The fact of
the matter is, we do need more white
people. In this case, "we" is the collective
soul of those in our nation who yearn for
an end to the legacy of racism, and a
some new spots to his rotation. The first
:30 second ad is titled "Mother."
Another Obama spot is a :30 second ad
titled "One Voice."
And another Obama :30 second spot
titled "Quiet."
All of these spots have appeared
07/04/08 - 09/04/08
beginning to the struggle of all American
brothers and sisters against the Goliaths
who have pitted us against each other for
centuries.
We need more white people to believe
that our system is still rigged against black
people, that racial profiling and
discrimination are inherent to our law
enforcement, criminal justice, and prison
apparatuses.
We need more white people to recognize
that the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow
continues to tilt the playing field against
black people today, even if it doesn't seem
to be helping us. We need more white
people to understand that the horror and
elsewhere, previously with minor tweaks
Even with the recycled material, Obama's
media team does a phenomenal job of
creating an emotional tone.
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LibertyNewsprint.com U.S.
Analyst upgrades:
MSC Industrial,
depravity of lynchings are not something
you can "just get over."
Prudential plc, GrafTech
Senator Hillary Clinton illustrated this By Eric Buscemi (BloggingStocks)
point very well in her controversial Submitted at 4/9/2008 4:48:00 AM
statements earlier in this campaign about
Martin Luther King, Jr. and LBJ, and her Filed under: Analyst reports, Analyst
husband made it, less directly, by upgrades and downgrades MOST
comparing Senator Obama to Jesse NOTEWORTHY: MSC Industrial,
Jackson. Prudential plc and GrafTech were today's
MLK needed white people, and he got noteworthy upgrades:
enough of them together to achieve what • William Blair upgraded shares of
seemed like miracles. Jesse Jackson MSC Industrial
needed more white people, but he couldn't (NYSE:
get them. So he became "the black MSM
candidate," a guy who couldn't win. ) to Outperform from Market Perform on
The controversial part is not that they valuation and improved execution
needed white people, it's why they needed following the company's Q2 results.
white people. They needed white people • Keefe Bruyette raised
because we were, and still are, enlisted in Prudential plc
the system of oppression. If we remain (NYSE:
silent, or refuse to recognize the problem, PUK
we contribute to the heavy weight of the ) to Outperform from Underperform as
boot on the neck of black America. We they believe the company's targets will be
may not be pressing down, but neither are exceeded.
we trying to lift it off. • Oppenheimer upgraded
So, sacks of crap everywhere would want GrafTech
you to read this story and believe that (NYSE:
Michelle Obama is discriminating against GTI
black people by wanting more white ) to Outperform from Perform based on
people on the stage behind her. I believe strong fundamentals, improving margins,
there should already be more white people and a strong 2008 order book.
standing behind her, and I am proud to be OTHER UPGRADES:
one of them. • HFF Inc.
Permalink| Email this| Linking Blogs| (NYSE:
Comments HF
) was raised to Overweight from Equal
Weight at Morgan Stanley.
• Lehman raised
Canadian Natural
(NYSE:
CNQ
) to Overweight from Equal Weight.
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2 Politico* Business*
Border Crossings Down With Economy
By Liza Porteus Viana (Political
Machine)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 4:40:00 AM
Filed under: Bush Administration,
Featured Stories, Immigration So,
apparently as the U.S. economy continues
its downward spiral, so do the number of
illegal immigrants crossing our borders
trying to get to the land of prosperity.
It could be a combination of nasty
economic conditions and illegal immigrant
crackdowns that caused the number of
border apprehensions to drop 17 percent to
347,372 from Oct. 1, 2007 to and March
31, 2008, the Wall Street Journal reports
today. The U.S. Border Patrol today told
Political Machine the number of
apprehensions to date since Oct. 1, 2007 is
357,466, nationwide. The Journal reported
that the drop was particularly significant in
the Yuma, Ariz., sector, with
apprehensions plunging 76 percent during
that period, as well as in Tucson. That
could also be because a new Arizona law
that went into effect Jan. 1 cracks down on
employers hiring illegal (I mean, er,
undocumented) workers. Compare the
national apprehension numbers to date to
that of 602,392. That's the number of
apprehensions for that same period in
2006.
The Border Patrol says tougher laws and
infrastructure (including border fencing
and vehicle barriers) have helped stem the
tide of migrants crossing the border. "We
have more manpower, we have new
infrastructure, we have new technology. A
combination of the three is what is
working," Ramon Rivera, an assistant chief
with the U.S. Border Patrol, told me today.
The Border Patrol had only 9,000 agents
along all the U.S. borders a few years ago;
they now have 15,800. Various border
Circuit City (CC) posts surprising 4Q earnings numbers
By Eliza Popescu (BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 5:18:00 AM
Filed under: Earnings reports, Forecasts,
Good news, Consumer experience, Circuit
City Stores (CC) Shares of electronics
retailer Inc. (NYSE: CC) have been
soaring this morning after the company
reported an unexpected fourth-quarter
sectors also are rolling out initiatives like
"Operation No Pass," "Operation
Lockdown" and "Operation Lifeguard," the
latter of which focuses on smugglers
leading illegal immigrants across irrigation
canals and ports of entry.
But the Journal reports that some
economists say the financial situation of
the U.S. and the ailing housing market are
also contributing to the trend. Meaning, in
part, as the demand for new houses
decreases, so does the demand for illegal
(cheaper) workers that construction
companies often hire to build them. The
Border Patrol, however, points out that
farms are actually among the largest
profit. It was the first time in the last six
quarters when the retailer was able to post
a quarterly profit.
For the quarter, Circuit City announced
that its profit climbed to $4.85 million, or 3
cents a share, up from a loss of $4.25
million, or 3 cents, reported in the same
period a year ago. The company's move to
lay off employees to cut costs proved
employers of migrant workers, and that the
number of apprehensions was decreasing
before the economy started tanking.
The San Diego Union-Tribune recently
reported on how decreases in crossings
along the San Diego-Tijuana border,
whether they be casual shoppers or
workers, is causing some area businesses
to feel the pinch.
Speaking of the border fence, the New
York Times published an article yesterday
about how Homeland Security Secretary
Michael Chertoff is using unprecedented
powers - approved by Congress - to get the
border fence built. Last week, Chertoff
issued waivers suspending more than 30
efficient in its fight against weak sales.
Analysts were expecting the retailer to
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laws he said could interfere with the
"expeditious construction of barriers" in
Arizona, California, New Mexico and
Texas. Those laws protect things like the
environment, endangered species, farms,
and Native American graves, the Times
says. The paper cites a 2005 Congressional
Research Service report on the delegation
of such power.
"Criminal activity at the border does not
stop for endless debate or protracted
litigation," Chertoff said in a statement last
week. "Congress and the American public
have been adamant that they want and
expect border security. We're serious about
delivering it, and these waivers will enable
important security projects to keep moving
forward. At the same time, we value the
need for public input on any potential
impact of our border infrastructure plans
on the environment - and we will continue
to solicit it."
HSToday reports that 14 Democratic
members of Congress, including House
Homeland Security Chairman Bennie
Thompson (D-Miss.), declared their intent
this week to urge the U.S. Supreme Court
to take up a case against the use of waiver
authority by Chertoff to build the fence.
The lawmakers will file an amicus brief by
April 17 on behalf of Defenders of
Wildlife and the Sierra Club, which have
petitioned the high court to declare
Chertoff's authority unconstitutional.
"This blanket waiver of laws like the
Clean Air Act and the Safe Drinking Water
Act is a clear and disturbing abuse of the
Secretary's discretion," Rep. John Dingell
(D-Mich.) said in the statement. "Congress'
efforts to seek justification for this waiver
from DHS have been stonewalled, which
leads me to believe none exists."
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show a loss of 7 cents per share in the
quarter.
Taking a look at the company's quarterly
revenue, we see a decline of 8% to $3.65
billion, compare with $3.95 billion last
year. For this period, the second-largest
U.S. electronics retailer posted a drop of
10.4% in same-store sales. Quarterly
revenue numbers missed analysts'
Arcelor Mittal
(MT): A 'steel'
among cyclicals?
By Steven Halpern (BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 4:36:00 AM
Filed under: International markets,
Newsletters, Commodities, Stocks to Buy
"I've never been a big fan of deep cyclical
industries, such as autos, chemicals, and
steel; the companies tend to have violent
swings in their results as a result of
economic cycles," observes Chuck
Carlson.
However, says the editor of The DRIP
Investor, "Every so often I'm willing to
make an exception for a well-run cyclical
company. Arcelor Mittal(NYSE: MT) is
such a company." Here is his review.
"Arcelor Mittal is the world's number one
steel company, with 310,000 employees in
more than 60 countries. It has
demonstrated the ability to navigate the
often-difficult waters of the steel industry.
"For investors who are looking for stocks
that should hold up in an inflationary
environment, Mittal should be of interest.
The company has pricing power -- for
example, the company just announced a
$100-per-ton price increase on its carbon
and high-strength low-alloy plate steel
products for all North American orders,
effective May 4.
Continue reading Arcelor Mittal (MT): A
'steel' among cyclicals? Permalink| Email
this| Comments
predictions for sales of $3.79 billion,
according to Thomson Financial.
Continue reading Circuit City (CC) posts
surprising 4Q earnings numbers Read|
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Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
Housing and Trade Next Up for Admin.,
House
By Mark Impomeni (Political
Machine)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 2:30:00 AM
Filed under: Bush Administration, House,
Democrats, Economy, Trade It was a busy
day on Capitol Hill yesterday. While most
were focused on the Senate side of the
Capitol for the Iraq hearings with Gen.
David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan
Crocker, The Bush Administration and the
House of Representatives were setting
their sights on the housing and trade
markets. President Bush formally
transmitted the Colombia Free Trade
Agreement to Congress for its
consideration, while the House was taking
up its version of legislation introduced in
the Senate last week to help ease the
volatile housing market.
On trade, the president held a White
House event attended by members of his
Cabinet and the Colombian Ambassador to
sign the letter sending the trade deal to
Congress. In his remarks before the
signing, President Bush said that the deal
would strengthen U.S. national security,
help the economy, and provide vital
support to an important ally. Some
Democratic leaders in Congress are
skeptical of the deal, and most free trade
legislation, because they believe that past
free trade deals have worked to send
American jobs overseas. Sen. Hillary
Clinton, for example, recently said that she
would vote against the Colombia Free
Trade Agreement. But the trade agreement
would open a two-way road between the
two nations and builds on agreements
already in place with other Latin American
nations like Peru, Chile, and Panama.
Congress has 90 legislative days, not the
Phorm Edits Negative History Right Out Of Wikipedia
By Michael Masnick (Techdirt)
Submitted at 4/8/2008 8:38:00 AM
Phorm, the controversial"former" adware
company that is aggressively defending its
new ads-based-on-your-clickstream
program, despite some serious questions
about its legality apparently became a little
same as ninety calendar days, to vote the
deal up or down with no amendments.
The House this week begins debate on a
housing package designed to bring more
Federal help to struggling homeowners.
While the Senate is working on tax breaks
and grants to states and localities for the
purchase of foreclosed homes, Democrats
in the House want to expand the role of the
Federal Housing Authority (FHA) in
mortgage underwriting. Rep. Barney Frank
(D-MA), Chairman of the House Financial
Services Committee, has a plan to allow
the FHA to guarantee up to $300 billion in
mortgage loans that lenders would agree to
write down, or reduce the principle owed.
Under the plan, struggling homeowners
who can demonstrate that they can make
new, lower payments would be eligible to
have their loans restructured. Critics,
including House Minority Leader Rep.
John Boehner (R-OH), charge that the plan
puts taxpayer dollars at risk if the new
mortgages go into default and amounts to a
huge Federal bailout for lenders and
irresponsible home buyers.
In an effort to head off Congressional
"overzealous" in its defense, editing its
own Wikipedia page to erase many of the
negative stories about the company. Of
course, doing that backfired pretty quickly,
as the company got called out on it (and
the edits got reverted). While first
suggesting that it was merely trying to
correct "inaccuracies" (such as questions
Politico* Tech* 3
action, the Bush Administration signaled
its intention to expand its own voluntary
program, set up last year, under which
struggling homeowners with good credit
and payment histories can rewrite the
terms of their loans with the cooperation of
the nation's largest mortgage lenders. The
Administration's plan, dubbed FHASecure,
is similar in design to the House version
but smaller in scale. Under the proposal to
be announced today, lenders who agree to
write down existing loans will have the
new mortgage backed by the FHA. But the
Administration would only allow
restructuring of loans already backed by
the FHA and would pay for it through
premiums for mortgage insurance already
being paid to the agency by the
homeowners. The White House says that
this approach is expected to help close to
500,000 homeowners by the end of the
year and will not spend any new Federal
money.
Hollywood Leaks Oliver
The twin issues of housing and trade
reflect a growing consensus in Washington
that the American people's attention has
Stone's 'W' Script
shifted from Iraq and terrorism to By Brandon Barker (Political According to Robert Draper, author of
economic issues. Both sides are seeking to Machine) 'Dead Certain: The Presidency of George
gain the upper hand on the economy as the Bush,' "It leaves you with the impression
Submitted at 4/9/2008 2:01:00 AM
November elections draw near. It is a that the White House is run as a fraternity
measure both of the growing success in Filed under: President Bush, Humor, house." And Jacob Weisberg, author
Iraq and the growing concern about the LOLection Oliver Stone's buzz-laden Bush of"The Bush Tragedy," was skeptical of
economy that Iraq has been largely pushed biopic, which the director hopes to release Stone's wishes to make a "true portrait" of
off the front pages and to the back of the while the President is still in office, opens the man.
public's collective mind. Even as Gen. in front of Texas Rangers Stadium in Some scenes--in particular, one in which
Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker testify Arlington, Texas. President Bush, wearing Bush flies a plane while intoxicated--are
to Congress on Iraq, the Administration a polo shirt and Dockers, stands in center merely based on hearsay. While others--
and lawmakers are looking ahead to field holding a baseball. The crowd roars. like the one in which Bush flies to Iceland
politcal battles closer to home. Somewhere in the background, wearing a to spend the day with a boy who crank-
Permalink| Email this| Linking Blogs| chicken outfit, is the guy from 'Borat.' calls him--are dead-on fact. When asked
Comments 'W', which IMDB slates for a 2009 about the accuracy of certain events, the
release, will star former-Goonie Josh screenwriter said, "I have no comment
Brolin as President George W. Bush, other than the fact that I have read 17
Elizabeth Banks ('Scrubs') as Laura Bush,
Oscar-winner Ellen Burstyn as, gulp,
books on Bush."
An early scene in the film, which
over its legality?), the company admitted it Barbara Bush and James Cromwell (the features an enormous bottle of vodka, is
was a bit too aggressive, and was farmer from 'Babe') as George Herbert after the jump:
Walker Bush-Stamos. B. Brandon Barker is the author of the
unfamiliar with the rule that you're not
supposed to edit your own Wikipedia Recently, The Hollywood Reporter novel Operation EMU.
entry. leaked the first few pages of Stanley Permalink| Email this| Linking Blogs|
Permalink| Comments| Email This Story Weiser's script to Bush biographers to Comments
gauge the accuracy of the portrayal. As of
now, reactions are mixed.
4 Politico*
Bill Clinton, Colombia, and Mark Penn
By David Knowles (Political
Machine)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 2:17:00 AM
Filed under: Hillary Clinton, Democrats,
Barack Obama, Featured Stories, Trade
Mark Penn's recent reassignment within
the campaign of Hillary Clinton came after
it was learned that Penn's lobbying firm
met with the government of Colombia to
promote passage of a trade bill which
Hillary officially opposes. The appearance
of talking out of both sides of your mouth
was something that Clinton knew would
damage her chances with working class
voters in Pennsylvania (and elsewhere),
but, oddly, Penn wasn't fired outright for
his indiscretion. Why, you may ask, would
Clinton keep Penn on the payroll?
Well, as Sam Stein writes in The
Huffington Post:
But within the Clinton campaign, Penn is
not the highest-ranking adviser with
financial ties to groups and individuals
supporting the passage of the measure.
Former President Bill Clinton has earned
hundreds of thousands of dollars speaking
on behalf of a Colombia-based group
pushing the trade pact, and representatives
of that organization tell The Huffington
Post that the former president shared their
sentiment.
So you see, how could HIllary fire Penn
The Turning Point
By Dave (Political Machine)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 1:08:00 AM
Filed under: Hillary Clinton, Barack
Obama, Featured Stories, 2008 President
Roger Simon has an article out today
where he asks the question, "Where did it
all go wrong for Hillary." And he answers
the question with Iowa:
Iowa is where Clinton needed to strangle
the Barack Obama campaign in its crib.
She needed to do him in at the very
beginning, while her inevitability argument
still had credibility.
True, some in the Clinton campaign were
worried about Iowa. Mike Henry, her
deputy campaign manager, wrote a 1,500-
word internal memo saying Clinton should
skip the state entirely and spend her time
for an activity her husband was engaged in,
as well?
The larger matter, of course, is central to
the contest between Barack Obama and the
former First Lady. Each Democrat has
made revising already-signed-agreements--
so that they are more friendly to workers
rights and the environment--a top talking-
point.
Both have taken ample shots at NAFTA,
and a controversy remains as to which
and money elsewhere.
And as we now know, she came in an
embarrassing third place and Obamania
was born.
But I think even that was not the turning
point. The turning point was when McCain
became the presumptive nominee. All the
campaign was the one who contacted the
Canadian Government to assure them that
the anti-trade-agreement rhetoric was just
bluster. When that story broke, Obama's
campaign was the target, but as more was
learned, Clinton's people, too, felt the heat
of the spotlight.
Lastly, Hillary Clinton's datebook
revealed that she'd spent a whole lot of
time pushing for passage of NAFTA,
though on the campaign trail she often
sudden, the electability argument that
Hillary had going for was blown out of the
water. The Republicans had, wildly
enough, elected the one candidate that for
Barack was perfect for him to run against.
An old white man that generates very little
excitement among his own base, let alone
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claims otherwise.
Free and unfettered trade is indeed a sore
point with many an American voter,
especially those on the losing end of a
global workforce re-alignment. Everyday,
we witness the further morphing of our
economy: away from manufacturing, and
into service. With a few notable exceptions
(construction, defense, and the tech-sector
come to mind), we no longer produce the
things people use, we serve that which
others have made for us.
You may be asking yourself: Why
should we want to restrict or oppose free-
trade deals? Isn't protectionism an un-
American concept? While there's no
simple answer to these questions, a few
points raised by the good people at Public
Citizen might be worth considering before
we expand the NAFTA model to places
like Colombia. And as some commentators
have pointed out, the time to get these
deals right is before they are actually
enacted.
In short, it seems likely that neither
Clinton or Obama would actually be very
successful at amending NAFTA or
CAFTA, but hopefully we've learned
enough from our past mistakes not to make
them all over again.
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moderates and independents. And the polls
immediately began showing that in the
general elections Obama does better versus
McCain.
So now Hillary has no electability
argument, her experience argument is
almost as thin as Obama's and she has little
to no excitement around the base. The only
thing she has left is the Clinton power base
and that too is slip sliding away. She could
still win if Obama implodes, but he's going
to have to implode. Hillary can't beat him
on her own.
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In 'An
Obama
Minute'
By David Knowles (Political
Machine)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 2:38:00 AM
Filed under: Democrats, Barack Obama,
Featured Stories, 2008 President,
Fundraising
Via New York magazine comes word of
an "ostentatious" PR stunt that supporters
of Barack Obama are hatching. Dubbed,
"An Obama Minute" a Web site has been
created in the hopes of generating $1
million bucks in 60 seconds (10,000
donations of $100 for those of you without
a calculator) on April 21, the day before
the Pennsylvania primary. Since the Web
site lists 1PM as the appointed time at
which money will magically fall from the
sky, I assume that the furious pointing and
clicking will last until 1:01PM.
This election cycle has seen a few of
these hybrid fundraiser/publicity gambits.
What's more, they've proven effective.
Apart from those who'd seen the movie "V
for Vendetta" how many people knew
about Guy Fawkes before Ron Paul
dropped his money bomb on that hallowed
day?
Of course, any of the candidates could
ask his or her supporters to wait until a
specific day or hour or minute and
generate what seems like an impressive
amount of cash. The question is whether or
not you can keep it up. On that score,
Obama and Clinton don't seem to have
much to worry about.
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Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
Iran Defies, Obama
Complies
By Justin Paulette (Political
Machine)
Submitted at 4/8/2008 10:37:00 PM
Filed under: Barack Obama, Iran
AP is running a story entitled, " Iran
assembles more advanced centrifuges as it
continues enrichment program." Yet,
having received contrary information on
the exact location, method of installation
and type of centrifuges in question, the
world is again left wondering what exactly
Iran might be doing with all that nuclear
enrichment hardware.
In light of this new affront to the
international community, and despite three
sets of UN Security Council sanctions (the
most recent imposed last month), Iran
spent yesterday celebrating "National
Nuclear Technology Day." The original
title, "National New Way to Sweep the
Jews into the Sea Day" was apparently
scraped at the last moment.
In response to Iran's inching ever closer
to potential nuclear armaments and Gen.
Petraeus' assessment that Iran is
sponsoring terrorism in Iraq, presidential
candidate Barack Obama has called for . . .
more talks with Iran. Coining his
conciliatory approach a "diplomatic surge,"
Obama's too-cleverly named strategy
would be accompanied with a retreat of
U.S. Armed Forces from Iraq.
Obama's lack of serious appreciation for
foreign affairs and conflicts has not yet
caused him much fret - as his foil thus far
in the Democratic contest has proved
equally frivolous. However, should Obama
win the nomination, he will soon find
himself grossly over-matched by a
contestant with vastly superior
international relations credentials and a
willingness to speak of victory in
unhesitating tones. The general election is
going to prove a very different contest for
Sen. Obama.
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Matthews On the Way
Out?
By Jay Allbritton (Political Machine)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 5:16:00 AM
Filed under: Gaffes, Media Media
Bistro's advance coverage of a profile
about MSNBC's Chris Matthews written
by Mark Leibovich to be published in
NYT Magazine Sunday offers a very
candid look at the Hardball host. The piece
reveals that Matthews may not be at
MSNBC for long and that he reveres Tim
Russert, distrusts David Gregory and
resents Keith Olbermann.
Perhaps the biggest revelation in the
article is that Matthews essentially told
Leibovich that he was insincere when he
famously apologized to Hillary Clinton.
According to an alternate version of the
preview at Huffington Post Matthews is
quoted as saying, "I was tonally inaccurate
but factually true." When asked if he had
been forced into the apology, he said, "Oh,
yeah, of course I was forced into that. No,
no, no .... Phil [Griffin] asked me to do
that."
The story is full of anecdotes that tend to
characterize Matthews as a thoughtless oaf.
In one encounter, Matthews told actress
Kerry Washington that the head of
MSNBC wanted her on Harball, "because
you're beautiful." After a long pause
Matthews added, "And because you're
Economy is in recession, Bloomberg economist
survey says
By Joseph Lazzaro
(BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 5:30:00 AM
Filed under: Forecasts, Bad news,
Recession Economic growth in the United
States will halt in the first six months of
2008 amid a consumer spending
slowdown, a new Bloomberg News survey
released Wednesday indicated.
The world's largest economy will
contract from January-June 2008,
according to the median of 62 economists
surveyed from April 2-8, 2008, Bloomberg
News reported. A majority now predicts
black." He then proceeded to hand
Washington a business card while referring
to himself in the third person, telling her to
call "if you ever want to hang out with
Chris Matthews."
Leibovich characterizes Matthews as
"openly contemplating 'the second act' in a
career that has already featured several"
after his contract expires next year.
Leibovich's sources at NBC claim they can
get better ratings for the $5 million a year
Matthews earns.
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Comments
that the U.S. economy is, or will soon be,
in a recession.
Economist Glen Langan, who did not
participate in the survey, said Wednesday
Politico* Business* 5
PG&E Corporation
(PCG): Share price
defines a bullish 'pennant'
By Larry Schutts (BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 5:00:00 AM
Filed under: Good news, Technical
Analysis, Stocks to Buy
PG&E Corporation(NYSE: PCG) is an
energy-based holding company, serving
some 15 million northern and central
California residents through subsidiary
Pacific Gas and Electric Company. The
firm owns and operates electricity
generation facilities, over 150,000 miles of
electric lines, nearly 50,000 miles of
natural gas pipelines, and underground
natural gas storage fields. Competitors
include American Electric Power(NYSE:
AEP) and Edison International(NYSE:
EIX).
Investors were pleased last week, when
PG&E said it expected FY08 EPS of $2.90
-$3.00 and FY09 EPS of $3.15-$3.25.
Analysts had been expecting $2.96 this
year and $3.19 next year.
Continue reading PG&E Corporation
(PCG): Share price defines a bullish
'pennant' Permalink| Email this| Comments
that aside from the oil / oil services sector
and agricultural exports, there's little that's
positive about the U.S. economy right
now.
"It's the worst economic picture since the
2001-2002 recession, clearly," Langan
said. "And given the housing sector's deep
slump, a lack of job creation, and a tapped-
out consumer, it's difficult to see where the
economic growth is going to come from."
Continue reading Economy is in
recession, Bloomberg economist survey
says Permalink| Email this| Comments
6 Business*
Analyst initiations: Jefferies Analyst downgrades:
Corinthian Colleges, MSC
Group, Quality Systems,
Techwell Industrial, HBOS Plc
By Eric Buscemi (BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 4:54:00 AM
Filed under: Analyst reports, Comerica
Inc (CMA), Analyst initiations, BHP
Billiton Ltd ADR (BHP), Rio Tinto plc
ADS (RTP) MOST NOTEWORTHY:
Jefferies Group, Quality Systems and
Techwell were today's noteworthy
initiations:
• Friedman Billings initiated
Jefferies Group
(NYSE:
JEF
) with a Market Perform citing the
difficult underwriting environment and
challenging credit market.
• JMP Securities initiated
Quality Systems
(NASDAQ:
QSII
) with an Outperform rating and $35
target. The firm expects the company's
practice management and electronic
medical record solutions to benefit from
growth opportunities within the
ambulatory market.
• Techwell
(NASDAQ:
Squeezing the middle class so the Superclass prospers
By Peter Cohan (BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 4:00:00 AM
Filed under: Rich in America, Housing
The New York Times reports that in
2007, the median family made less --
$60,500 -- than it did in 2000 -- $61,000.
Meanwhile, that family's costs have spiked
-- oil is up 342%; wheat, milk, and egg
prices have doubled or tripled. And the
dollar has lost 65% of its purchasing
power. But no worries -- hedge funds are
making out well. DealBook reports that
John Paulson, who famously profited from
selling subprime short last year, made $3
TWLL
) was assumed with an Overweight rating
and $14 target at Thomas Weisel, as they
expect TWLL to have continued stable
revenue growth given its market leadership
and increased global security demand.
OTHER INITIATIONS:
• Bernstein initiated
NetSuite
(NYSE:
N Corinthian Colleges
) with a Market Perform rating and $23
target.
• Keefe Bruyette started
Comerica
(NYSE:
CMA
) with a Market Perform rating and $37
target.
• BHP Billiton
(NYSE:
BHP
) and
Rio Tinto
(NYSE:
RTP
) were assumed at ING with Buy ratings.
Permalink| Email this| Comments
billion in 2007. I don't know how much he
made in 2000, but I'd bet that he's better
off now than he was then.
Newsweek reports that people like
Paulson are part of a new Superclass that's
prospered in the last seven years. The
Superclass is a group of a few thousand
government and business people who
control most of the world. How many and
how much? Newsweek notes: "The top 50
control almost $50 trillion in assets. The
heads of the world's biggest corporations
are also members; the top 2,000 support
perhaps 500 million people, generate
almost $30 trillion in sales and have well
By Eric Buscemi (BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 5:12:00 AM
Filed under: Analyst reports, Analyst
upgrades and downgrades, Kimberly-Clark
(KMB), salesforce.com inc (CRM) MOST
NOTEWORTHY: Corinthian Colleges,
MSC Industrial and HBOS Plc were
today's noteworthy downgrades:
• Piper downgraded shares of
(NASDAQ:
COCO
) to Neutral from Buy as they expect the
company to face difficulty maintaining
Title IV lending at its high default rate
schools.
• Jefferies downgraded shares of
MSC Industrial
(NYSE:
MSM
) to Hold from Buy on valuation, as there
is not enough upside to their $50 target to
maintain a Buy rating
• Credit Suisse lowered
HBOS Plc
(OTC:
HBOOY
) to Underperform from Neutral to reflect
over $100 trillion in assets."
Thanks to tax cuts passed in 2001,
Paulson probably paid a lower tax rate on
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
Dell (DELL) may
take sovereign
fund investment
By Douglas McIntyre
(BloggingStocks)
the weakening housing and mortgage
environment. Submitted at 4/9/2008 4:12:00 AM
OTHER DOWNGRADES:
Filed under: International markets, Deals,
• Salesforce.com Live coverage, Competitive strategy, Dell
(NYSE: (DELL), Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Russia,
CRM Middle East
) was cut to Market Perform from Usually, when sovereign funds put
Outperform at Bernstein. money into a company it is simply a
• B. Riley lowered financial investment. Dell(NASDAQ:
Iomega DELL) may have unlocked something
(NYSE: more. According to The Wall Street
IOM Journal: " Dell said it is in talks with a
) to Neutral from Buy. government-owned entity in Dubai about
• Goldman downgraded establishing a joint venture to further
Bare Escentuals increase the personal-computer maker's
(NASDAQ: sales in the Middle East." In other words,
BARE the computer company will get value well
) and beyond cash.
Procter & Gamble For Dell, it is a brilliant move that shows
(NYSE: government funds can do more than just
PG write checks. The PC market in the Middle
) to Neutral from Buy and East is large and growing very rapidly.
Kimberly-Clark Corp. The US company may have found a
(NYSE: template for improving its market share
KMB around the world through forming joint
) to Sell from Neutral. ventures with local pools of capital. Dell's
Permalink| Email this| Comments growth in may markets has been hurt by
the improvement of share by Hewlett-
Packard(NYSE: HPQ), and the rise of big
computer companies Lenovo and Acer out
of China. All of these companies need to
improve their business in growing markets,
like the Middle East and Asia, if they want
his $3 billion than the median American their earnings to move up.
paid on his or her $60,500. Specifically, If the Dell venture in Dubai works, it
Paulson could have paid 15%, the long- would be wise to look to sovereign funds
term capital gains rate, on his income from in Russia, China, and Singapore for similar
shorting subprime. The median family paid deals. Dell's market share in many of these
a 25% rate on its income. That capital regions is in trouble. Who better than the
gains rate was 20% in 1997 so Paulson locals to help them?
may have paid $150 million less in taxes Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at
thanks to that 15% rate. But the most 24wallst.com. Read| Permalink| Email this|
interesting part is how Paulson profited. Comments
Continue reading Squeezing the middle
class so the Superclass prospers Read|
Permalink| Email this| Comments
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
High school seniors fail
economics
By Michael Rainey (BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 4:24:00 AM
Filed under: Bad news, Adobe Systems
(ADBE), Economic data, Housing, Federal
Reserve American high school students
know little about the basics of finance and
economics, and the problem is getting
worse, according to a report from the AP
today.
The majority of high school seniors
answered basic questions about finance
incorrectly in a nationwide poll conducted
by the Federal Reserve. Fed chairman Ben
Bernanke called for better financial
education, and linked the woeful state of
basic economic knowledge to the housing
crisis.
Bernanke said, "In light of the problems
that have arisen in the subprime mortgage
market, we are reminded of how critically
important it is for individuals to become
financially literate at an early age so that
they are better prepared to make decisions
and navigate an increasingly complex
financial marketplace."
It's hard to disagree with him on this
point, but a cynic might wonder if a poorly
educated population is really the source of
Greenspan: No Regrets
(Portfolio.com: News and Markets)
Submitted at 4/8/2008 5:00:00 AM
The most contentious campaign of the
year isn't between Obama and Clinton, it's
over the legacy of Alan Greenspan.
The former Federal Reserve chairman is
an astute politician. And so, even without a
book to promote, he is making another big
public push, spinning his view in the wake
of the rescue of Bear Stearns and moves by
Congress to deal with the housing crisis. In
the housing crisis. Sure, Americans don't
know much about the power of compound
interest or how to calculate net present
value, but that's not why the economy is in
trouble. The housing bubble was produced
by people who knew what they were doing
-- mortgage brokers who winked at "liar's
loans" and sophisticated bankers who
created new financial instruments to get rid
of the bad debt. All of these people were
highly educated in economics and finance.
The problem isn't ignorance but a lack of
integrity and regulation.
Continue reading High school seniors
fail economics Permalink| Email this|
Comments
an opinion article in the Financial Times
on Monday and in an article based on a
series of interviews with Greg Ip of the
Wall Street Journal, Greenspan defends his
record, contending he is being wrongly
blamed for the credit crisis.
Critics, he says, are ignoring the factors
that led the Fed to cut interest rates under
his leadership and are being selective about
the record in second-guessing him.
"I was praised for things I didn't do," Mr.
Greenspan tells the Journal. "I am now
A John Mack Lovefest
(Portfolio.com: News and Markets)
Submitted at 4/8/2008 9:30:00 AM
PURCHASE, N.Y.— Morgan Stanley
shareholders might not be happy with the
stock price, but they appear to be confident
that John Mack is the right person to be
manning the ship.
At the bank's annual shareholder meeting
here this morning, the supporters of Mack's
leadership widely outnumbered the
dissenters. And even the dissidents were
mostly complimentary and cordial.
After Morgan Stanley suffered a huge
trading loss and $11 billion in write-downs
last year, Mack made the largely symbolic
gesture of refusing a bonus for 2007. In
front of about 100 shareholders this
morning, the Morgan Stanley chief
executive called the write-downs "an
embarrassing loss" and claimed full
responsibility for them.
The gesture seems to have worked. A
shareholder proposal to adopt a so-called
say on pay, which would give shareholders
a vote on executive-compensation
packages, failed to garner enough support
to pass. Nearly 37 percent of the
shareholders voted in favor of the
resolution, which was proposed by the
American Federation of State, County, and
Municipal Employees union and rejected
by management.
John Keenan, the union's representative
at the meeting, was pleased with the
outcome. "Anytime nearly four out of 10
shareholders vote for change, it sends a
strong message to the board," he said.
A proposal for Morgan Stanley to adopt
human rights policies on investments
being blamed for things that I didn't do."
Greenspan tells the Journal that he was
"wrong about the improbability of a
housing bubble."
"Yet he has long maintained that bubbles
are an unavoidable feature of a dynamic
economy," the Journal says. "No sensible
policy, he maintains, could have prevented
the housing bubble."
His critics are not being swayed by the
latest from the stump. Barry Ritholtz of the
Big Picture blog, who describes him as
impacting Sudan was dropped after an
Amnesty International representative said
it had such a "productive dialogue" with
the bank's management.
And even CtW Investment Group, a
union-backed pension fund that had
publicly criticized Mack's leadership and
called for shareholders to withhold votes
on two board members as well as Mack's
chairman position, seemed practically
enamored of him this morning.
Bill Patterson, CtW's president,
commended the firm for its openness, its
outreach, and for engaging in a "superb
dialogue" in recent weeks. Still, he
explained to shareholders that the board
needs an independent chairman to keep
better checks and balances on
management. "The board needs the
capacity to be able to stand up to you," he
told Mack.
But few shareholders agree. Mack
received a full 94.5 percent of the votes
represented at the meeting for his
reelection as chairman. In fact, all of the
board members received more than 90
percent of the votes cast.
During a question-and-answer session, a
handful of shareholders stepped forward to
raise issues or question certain decisions
made in the past year. Mack underscored
the firm's focus on liquidity right now,
choosing to forgo share buybacks or taking
on risks in investment opportunities such
as distressed securities.
With regard to the subprime crisis, Mack
said that he believes we are in the "final
innings," but he concedes that today's
market environment is tougher than he's
seen in his 40 years in the business.
"the grand architect of a Fed era which will
forever be known for easy money and
nonregulation," says"Alan Greenspan
seems to be hell-bent on destroying what
little reputation he has left."
The main argument against Greenspan is
that the Fed failed in its regulatory
oversight at a time when financial
institutions' holdings of opaque, over-the-
counter derivatives ballooned.
The Institutional Risk Analysts,
discussing the failure of Bear Stearns,
Business* Biz Buzz 7
Morgan Stanley believes it will continue
for the near term, so its focus on liquidity
will remain a priority.
One shareholder, who identified himself
only as a resident of Purchase, called Mack
out for firing former co-president Zoe Cruz
late last year instead of stepping down
himself. She oversaw the trading desk that
was responsible for the losses last year.
"Either you both should be here, or you
both should be gone," this shareholder
said.
Mack explained that the board had made
the decision to let some executives go and
wanted him to remain.
Perhaps the board has good reason: His
ability to quiet even the mere rumblings of
a shareholder uprising was certainly
impressive.
Plenty of investors seem content to
overlook the fact that Morgan Stanley's
shares are right around the same level they
were at when Mack returned to the helm
three years ago, as Portfolio.com's Dan
Colarusso noted recently.
Only one vocal shareholder raised the
issue of the stock price during this
morning's meeting, but even he barely
paused before continuing to shower Mack
with praise for a job well done.
In turbulent times, it seems most
investors would rather just see a calm
stoicism than a high share price.
Related Links
Wall Street Requiem
Morgan Stanley: Eminently Stoppable
Fighting for the Scraps at Bear
notes, "by replacing exchange-traded
securities with ersatz O.T.C. instruments,
Greenspan and the quant economists who
dominate the Fed's Washington staff have
created vast systemic risk that need not
exist at all and that now threatens our
entire financial system."
Related Links
Steady as It Goes
Policy on the Fly
Should the Fed Buy Securities Outright?
8 Biz Buzz
Mark Penn's Missed Microtrends
(Portfolio.com: News and Markets)
Submitted at 4/7/2008 12:30:00 PM
A t least nominally, a conflict of interest
with a foreign client, not bad strategy, cost
Mark Penn his perch atop Hillary Clinton's
message machine.
Still, Penn is widely blamed for the
Clinton campaign's struggles, having
dictated the campaign's reliance on
"inevitability" and "experience," and
rejecting the need to establish the
candidate's "likeability."
Penn's biggest lapse, however, may have
been his failure to correctly apply his
signature approach, the creative
segmenting of the electorate. This allowed
Barack Obama's campaign to artfully
leverage support from small groups who
swing great weight in the limited universe
of Democratic primary and caucus voters.
Penn gained national notice when Dick
Morris handpicked his polling firm, Penn
Schoen & Berland—a 20-year fixture in
New York City's rough political
world—for Bill Clinton's 1996 reelection
team. President Clinton's comeback victory
helped Penn Schoen & Berland attract
major corporate clients while continuing
its work for politicians like Hillary
Clinton, Al Gore, and Michael Bloomberg,
all of whom spent lavishly on polling.
(I was a client—a happy one, I should
note—of a unit of Penn Schoen & Berland
that provides research services to Condé
Nast Publications, which owns
Portfolio.com, and I once worked—also
happily—for Geoff Garin, the pollster
newly selected to replace Penn on
Clinton's campaign.)
In 2001, advertising conglomerate WPP
Group bought Penn Schoen & Berland.
Penn became C.E.O. of Burson-Marstellar,
the WPP-owned public relations and
lobbying giant, a position he has juggled
with his work on for Clinton.
On March 31 he met with the Colombian
ambassador to the U.S., a Burson-
Marstellar client, to map a strategy to
persuade Congress to pass a bilateral trade
agreement with Colombia. Senator Clinton
opposes that pact, and has made doubts
about free trade an issue in her tight
primary race in Pennsylvania.
In the ensuing firestorm, Penn had to
resign as chief strategist for Clinton.
What was surprising about Penn's tenure
with Clinton's campaign is not the conflict
that ended it (talented campaign strategists
often lend their skills to corporate clients
between election cycles), but Penn's failure
to apply his own theories as well as the
opposition did.
Penn is the best-selling author of
Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind
Tomorrow's Big Changes. This book
mirrors his approach to elections: identify
influential archetypes, like 1996's Soccer
Moms, and fine-tune campaign proposals
(for example, requiring parental-control "V
-chips" in all new TVs) to win them over.
Microtrends applies this analysis to the
social sphere: Penn's "microtrends" involve
tiny but visible segments of the population
who are growing in size or influence due to
social and economic forces—like the 1
percent of California youths who list
"sniper" as a career goal.
The book's critical reception was mixed.
While it gained some corporate cachet,
political writers showed Penn no love.
Influential blogger Ezra Klein called
Microtrends "so epically awful as to take
the entire polling industry down with it."
Maureen Dowd snarked that "the chapters
all read like reports that Mr. Penn wrote
for clients," and compared the names he
gave his population segments—among
them Shy Millionaires, Mildly Disordered,
and Uptown Tattooed—to "a new lineup of
Fox reality shows."
But perversely, Obama's success has
vindicated Penn's microtargeting approach.
This year, microconstituencies that could
easily have fit Penn's book were poised to
make a huge splash in the relatively small
Democratic primary pool, swelling 2004's
turnout of 16 million by 80 percent.
(Primary and caucus voters are a small,
skewed fraction of those who cast ballots
in November, estimated at 122 million
voters in 2004 and certain to grow this
year.)
Receptive to messages of inspiration,
change and political reform, groups like
newly energized Internet donors, nostalgic
middle-aged liberals, freshly recruited
pundits, and atypically upscale
independents have provided Obama's keys
to success.
Online Donors. Foremost among the
influencers are a new wave of political
donors, who have always been a
microconstituency. Most Americans
donate to charitable causes like churches,
medical research, even pet rescue—not
political candidates. The total number of
donors to all presidential candidates in
2004 totaled just one million—less than
0.5 percent of the adult population. But the
Web has caused this smallish universe of
political donors to rise sharply: Obama's
backers now claim that, if nominated, he
alone will attract two million donors by
November.
These new donors' influence goes far
beyond the attitudes changed by the ads
they fund. They have rewritten the rules
about how quickly a candidate can
capitalize on sudden momentum, and
pumped previously unseen amounts of
cash into the campaign industry. These
new online donors are perfect specimen of
a Penn microgroup: small, but growing
rapidly as a result of new outside forces
(the Internet, here).
The Obama campaign's message
perfectly suits the motivation of the kind of
person who puts money behind a
candidate: the desire to be part of
history—a claim Clinton could have made
as well, but rejected in favor of the
"inevitability" approach. How many people
are inspired to donate to the inevitable?
Political Junkies. Once, political
aficionados were too few for their votes to
have noticeable impact, and surveys
showed voters rarely based their choices
on strategic considerations. But their ranks
have risen ever since Theodore White's
1961 book The Making of the President,
1960 invented the mass market for political
strategy.
This year, that audience is expanding
thanks to a plethora of inside-baseball
politics programs on three cable news
networks and a growing stream of political
websites. (They're still a
microconstituency: the peak audience for a
top political chat show is well below two
million.)
Political views aside, these aficionados
share an obsession with the rules of the
game, the ups and downs of the daily news
cycle, and process and story-line rather
than policies. This year, it seemed that
every undecided Iowan interviewed at a
rally was second-guessing the candidates'
strategies or weighing their "electability."
Dedicated political hobbyists could
easily tip the scales in a state where, even
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
in this record year, Democratic caucus
turnout was just 250,000. Relatively
upscale and educated, they can indulge
their political passion by volunteering,
attending rallies, donating, and, of course,
voting.
Obama's history-making quest proved far
more appealing to political junkies than
Hillary's theme of the steady workhorse.
Politicos love an exciting contest, and hate
"inevitability"—and may now rally to
Clinton only after it appears some are
trying to force her from the race.
Entry-Level Pundits. The steady increase
in programming hours, columns, and
websites devoted to political strategy fuels
an ever-growing demand for analysts and
bloggers who can explain the election.
Many local newspapers now have their
own political blogs, while TV and talk
radio need ever more guests with some
pretence to political expertise. Even
amateurs can get into the act, by
commenting on blogs (or clawing their
way into a Frank Luntz focus group).
But, rather than making political analysis
more diverse, the relative inexperience of
the expanded punditocracy, and their
exuberance for the "horse race," produces
more pack journalism. The conventional
wisdom becomes more entrenched,
skewing the information that flows to
voters.
This year, Obama stoked media
excitement that translated into a constant
message over the airwaves. The Clinton
campaign seemed to ignore this rising class
of political interpreters, making no attempt
to court them—in fact, infuriating them
with a heavily packaged campaign that
played into their stereotypes, and mocking
the pundits' very purpose by claiming
Clinton's victory as "inevitable."
Independent Crossovers. Independents
who vote in Democratic primaries aren't
"typical" independents: they're more
upscale, and much more politically
engaged.
One stubborn barrier to the long-awaited
development of a third party in the U.S.
has been the reality that self-described
independents agree upon almost nothing; a
surprising majority of them are downscale,
poorly informed and disengaged with
politics.
A much smaller group fits the stereotype
of the thoughtful, nuanced independent:
liberal on social issues, perhaps, but
fiscally conservative. These are the ones
who might cross over to vote in a
Democratic primary.
The one thing most independents do
have in common is visceral dislike for the
major parties. This is why Obama's
message of post-partisanship works so well
for them. Independents who vote in
primaries tend to be well informed and
engaged with the political process. They
are predisposed to Obama's central themes,
which concern politics itself (activism,
unity, reform) and are more concerned
with Hillary's campaign tactics than her
policy proposals.
This year, the importance of states with
open primaries has given the upscale
independent voter new leverage; the
relatively small electorate gives them large
potential impact if they break a particular
way. In Virginia and Wisconsin, nearly
one in three Democratic primary voters
were independents or Republicans; exit
polls showed they tilted heavily toward
Obama.
Weepy-Eyed Boomers. Not every Baby
Boomer is a nostalgic liberal or ex-Yippie.
The "great silent majority" shunned the
demonstrations and sit-ins. But the early
Boomers for whom late '60s activism was
formative are a small but visible group,
now at the peak of its influence. Many of
them are politicians, journalists, or donors.
For many of them, the wounds of the
seminal year of 1968 never healed. Those
who chanted "the whole world is
watching" saw their hope and excitement
dissipate. The promise of that slogan was
never fulfilled, and as these children of the
'60s start to enter their 60s, their sense of
unfinished business takes on urgency.
Now Obama—seemingly Robert F.
Kennedy and the Rev. Martin Luther King
rolled into one—offers them a two-for-one
redemption of 1968's political
assassinations and the illusion of picking
up where America left off.
The Obama campaign has fed the
fantasy, converting their iconic Kennedy
endorsements into a Camelot video ad.
Meanwhile, Hillary—a genuine icon from
that era, thanks to her Wellesley
commencement address, which Life
magazine profiled in 1969—neglected to
MARK page 10
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
Must Sue TV?
(Portfolio.com: News and Markets)
Submitted at 4/8/2008 11:30:00 AM
How times have changed for NBC
Universal. The one-time home of "Must
See TV" is now taking the Weinstein
Company to court over rights to Project
Runway.
Since when does a niche reality show,
running on Bravo, an NBC Universal cable
channel, and generating little more than a 3
percent household rating on its best night
this season, justify what will no doubt be
an embarrassing and expensive lawsuit?
Not to mention an ugly and public fight
between two media titans, Jeff Zucker and
Harvey Weinstein?
But NBC Universal is clearly desperate.
Cable networks have become an
increasingly important part of its television
business. According to the 2007 annual
report of NBC parent General Electric,
NBC Universal's cable
business—including CNBC, MSNBC,
USA, SciFi, Bravo, and Oxygen—make up
half the company's profits. And USA is
currently the biggest cable channel
anywhere.
So NBC Universal is fighting for every
inch.
"If I'm Bravo and I'm enjoying drinking
at the trough of upscale women and gay
guys that love cool, urban, creative
programming, if someone is stealing my
signature show and one that already has a
big audience, that's pretty troubling," says
Eli Holtzman, the creator of Project
Runway for Miramax Television in 2000.
Dreamliner Nightmare
(Portfolio.com: News and Markets)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 5:30:00 AM
Boeing has again delayed delivery of the
plane on which it has bet its future, the 787
Dreamliner.
The first delivery of the plane, originally
scheduled for next month, is now expected
for the third quarter of next year. It is the
third delay to the schedule.
"While significant progress has been
made assembling Airplane No. 1, the first
flight is being rescheduled due to slower-
than-expected completion of work that
"It dilutes their brand."
Brad Adgate, senior vice president at
media-planning and buying agency
Horizon Media, adds that the strength of
Runway's online viewership and robust
web offerings, including blogs by cast
members, designer photo diaries, and
cameos from past contestants, also makes
it an attractive show. "It has repositioned
Bravo and become a flagship program,"
says Adgate.
And it is not as if the main franchise is
pulling its weight. Since the 2001–2002
broadcast season, the NBC network has
suffered a steady decline in ratings, down
to a low of 5.8 percent of households in the
2006–2007 season, when the network
placed fourth, behind Fox. NBC is
wrestling with a fractured viewing
audience as the ratings for network
television in general are declining.
In its lawsuit, filed Monday in New York
Supreme Court, NBC Universal contends
that the Weinstein Company, led by
brothers Bob and Harvey, had promised
the company the right of first refusal
before selling the airing rights to another
cable channel.
The lawsuit alleges that Harvey
Weinstein promised, at a lunch at the
Beverly Hills Four Seasons, not to
"embarrass" Zucker when it came to
renegotiating the rights to the show.
Instead, he signed a deal in secret with the
Lifetime channel on February 7 but
continued to negotiate with NBC for two
months.
"I think that [Zucker and Weinstein] had
traveled from supplier facilities into
Boeing's final assembly line, unanticipated
rework, and the addition of margin into the
testing schedule," the company said in a
statement.
The 787, a sleek, fuel-efficient plane,
made its public debut this summer to much
fanfare. It is competing against the long-
haul, superjumbo A380 made by its
European archrival, Airbus. There are now
817 orders for the plane.
Not only is the delay a huge
embarrassment to Boeing, but it means that
airlines that have ordered the planes will
a friendship, but they have different
definitions of the word 'friend,'" says
someone familiar with the personalities
involved, who declined to be identified out
of concern about professional
ramifications. "I would say that Jeff's
definition of 'friend' is a lot closer to the
one that you and I would probably have."
This person speculates that failed movie
projects at the Weinstein Company have
made money tight and that Lifetime's
reported $150-million-plus offer for
Runway was too rich to ignore.
Asked to comment on the lawsuit, an
NBC representative said only that the
company has "continuing legal rights
related to Project Runway, including a
right of first refusal to future cycles of the
series, which the Weinstein Company
unfortunately has refused to honor."
But when asked whether, if NBC is
successful in court, the company would
hope to bring the show back to Bravo,
where it made its debut in December 2004,
the spokesperson wouldn't rule out the
possibility.
In a statement, the Weinstein Company
said that the lawsuit was without merit.
Holtzman does not expect any personal
fallout between the two media moguls.
"These guys have been around the block so
many times that this is all just business."
Related Links
The Future of Network TV?
In Groundbreaking move, NBC to Use
TiVo's Viewership Data
Bad Week for NBC - Or For Nielsen?
seek billions of dollars in compensation.
And Boeing has been spending to try to
overhaul its supply chain in light of the
problems getting the Dreamliner to
production. In March, the company bought
out a partner's half of an assembly plant in
South Carolina.
Related Links
Takeoff Delay for 787
It's Boeing's Turn to Show Off Its Orders
Oasis in the Desert: Airbus Lands a
Jumbo Emirates Order
WaMu Gets Its Deal
(Portfolio.com: News and Markets)
Submitted at 4/8/2008 8:00:00 AM
Private equity used to be about changing
the rules: taking on new targets, using
different management tools, inventing new
ways to obtain financing.
By playing by the old, conventional
rules, private equity is raising even more
eyebrows. T.P.G., formerly Texas Pacific
Group, is leading a group of investors to
pump $7 billion, with virtually no
leverage, into the nation's largest savings
and loan, Washington Mutual.
With the deal, T.P.G. resembles
Vanguard, Legg Mason, and
Barclays—mainstream institutional
investors who also happen to be big
shareholders of WaMu already.
As Andrew Ross Sorkin of the New
York Times put it in his DealBook column
today: "The buyout kings have been
reduced to playing in the same sandbox as
the rest of us."
Under the deal announced today,
Washington Mutual sold the investor
group 176 million shares of its common
stock at $8.75 per share, or $1.54 billion. It
also issued 55,000 convertible shares that
have an exercise price of $8.75 per share
for $5.5 billion.
T.P.G.'s founding partner, David
Bonderman, who served as a director of
WaMu from 1996 to 2002, will return to
the board.
Washington Mutual also said that it
expects to report a first-quarter loss of $1.2
billion, or $1.40 per share, as it sets aside
$3.5 billion for bad loans. It is also
slashing its dividend to 1 cent per share,
down from 15 cents, a move that will save
it $490 million a year. Shares of
Washington Mutual tumbled 9 percent, to
$11.99.
There have been a number of prominent
minority investments by private equity
firms in recent years. At first glance, few
look promising.
Deutsche Telekom: Blackstone Group
bought 4.5 percent of the German
Biz Buzz 9
telecommunications giant for 14 euros a
share. It also got a seat on Deutsche
Telekom's supervisory board. Today, the
shares traded at 11.28 euros, or $17.17.
Sun Microsystems: Kohlberg Kravis
Roberts & Co. invested $700 million in
Sun in January 2007 through convertible
notes with an conversion price of $7.21 per
share. Sun shares are trading at $15.45.
Palm: Elevation Partners invested $325
million in convertible stock in June 2007.
The conversion price is $8.50 per share.
Palm shares are now at $5.60.
MBIA: Warburg Pincus agreed in
December 2007 to buy 16.1 million shares
of the bond insurer at $31.00 per share.
MBIA is currently trading at $13.35.
To be sure, the use of convertibles in
some of the examples above will guarantee
a yield, and private equity firms generally
have a longer time frame than most other
money managers.
Still, why do the same thing that other
big investors do?
For one thing, the private equity firms
need to put the billions of dollars they have
raised over the last year to work, as Sorkin
and others have noted.
And they are certainly able to make big,
risky bets that other big investors can't (a
pension fund), or won't (the risk-averse
Warren Buffett), or have come to regret
(the sovereign wealth funds).
With the high-yield debt markets still
seized up, there are few other investing
alternatives available to private equity.
The Financial Times' Lex column
contends his deal could be the wave of
private equity's future, saying that firms
"will increasingly target distressed
companies which require capital and have
scope for a big profit if the business can be
turned around."
Related Links
Citi's Big Loan Clearance
When "Best" Isn't Good Enough, Call a
Lawyer
Blackstone: The First of Many Private
Equity IPOs
10 Biz Buzz Gadgets*
Apollo Set for Liftoff
(Portfolio.com: News and Markets)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 8:00:00 AM
It's easy to see how tempting it might be
for Leon Black to take his private equity
firm, Apollo Management, public right
now. After all, if one group of investors
has spurned your shares in one place, why
not just try selling those same shares to a
different investor group in another place?
That's essentially what Apollo is trying
to do with its planned initial public
offering announced yesterday. Last
summer, the private equity firm sold its
shares on a private exchange for
institutional investors for $24 per share,
raising $716 million. On Monday, they
traded for $14 per share.
The plan, according to the firm's
regulatory filing, is to sell those shares on
the New York Stock Exchange for $14
each, raising $418 million. The hope is
that, by opening up the offering to the
broader investing public, the shares will
regain some of their losses.
It's hopeful. But we all know that hope is
not a plan.
Indeed, the timing of this filing is so
Saving Face at Facebook
(Portfolio.com: News and Markets)
Submitted at 4/7/2008 9:00:00 AM
In 2004, three Harvard alumni filed a
lawsuit against Facebook founder Mark
Zuckerberg accusing him of stealing the
idea for Facebook from them. Since then,
Zuckerberg has become a very, very rich
man.
Rich enough, it appears, to make the
lawsuit go away.
The New York Times' Bits blog says that
Facebook is close to settling the
lawsuit—filed by two brothers, Cameron
and Tyler Winklevoss, and a colleague,
Divya Narendra—that accuses Zuckerberg
of stealing the source code, design, and
business plan for Facebook in 2003.
At the time, Zuckerberg briefly worked
as a programmer for the plaintiff's own
peculiar that it's hard to find any good
reason for doing it now.
Let's start with the obvious: Other private
equity firms that have ventured into the
public markets in the past year have
nothing but failure to report. Shares in the
Blackstone Group reached $38 on their
opening day last June, and today they swap
for exactly half that. Shares of Fortress
Investment Group are faring even worse:
They trade for $13.34 today, down from a
high of $34 last summer.
Secondly, Apollo finds itself in the
headlines this week for another reason:
Linens-N-Things, which Apollo took
private in 2005 for $1.3 billion, is
reportedly on the verge of bankruptcy.
And that's not the only Apollo holding
that's in trouble. Last year, it took Realogy
Corp., the parent of Coldwell Banker and
Century 21, private for $6.6 billion. Earlier
this year, Bloomberg reported that the debt
used to finance the transaction had fallen
so low that it rendered Apollo's equity
investment in the deal essentially
worthless.
These are not exactly the type of news
items to help an I.P.O. road show gain
fledgling social-networking site, now
known as ConnectU.
Terms of the settlement, if indeed there
is to be one, have not been disclosed. A
Facebook spokesperson declined to
comment on legal matters. Portfolio.com
emails to Tyler Winklevoss and Divya
Narendra were not immediately returned.
The lawsuit had been the source of much
consternation to Facebook, because its core
assertion contested Zuckerberg's claim to
have founded Facebook while at Harvard.
At the time, Winklevoss described
Zuckerberg's actions to Portfolio.com as
"premeditated, well thought out,
duplicitous, and conniving."
"We were shocked and in utter disbelief,"
Winklevoss said, describing his reaction
when Zuckerberg launched Facebook in
2004. Zuckerberg, Winklevoss said, had
momentum.
And thirdly, if Apollo needs capital,
there should be plenty of places other than
the public markets to find it. The firm has
already raised money from selling stakes to
Calpers, the Abu Dhabi Investment
Authority, and Credit Suisse. Plenty of
limited partners in private equity firms
continue to show interest in becoming
general partners.
In fact, if Apollo needs permanent capital
and can't find it anywhere but the public
markets, that's an even more troubling
selling point to potential new investors.
Of course, Felix Salmon reminds us on
his Market Movers blog that this is Leon
Black we're talking about. Perhaps the only
reason why he's taking Apollo public in
this environment is simply because he can.
Related Links
Blackstone: The First of Many Private
Equity IPOs
Carlyle MD: The Blackstone IPO was
"Highly Successful"
A Private Equity Tsunami
done so after promising to help build
Harvard Connection, now known as
ConnectU. "This was our idea, and Mark
stole it."
Eric Goldman, director of the High Tech
Law Institute at Santa Clara University,
said a settlement would remove an obstacle
to Facebook going public, an outcome that
Zuckerberg is thought to be shooting for.
"It's fairly typical for a company to settle
major litigation in anticipation of a major
corporate event like an I.P.O. or an
acquisition," Goldman said. "Settling the
litigation reduces one of the risk factors
that might depress valuation."
In the months since the lawsuit revved
up, Facebook has exploded in popularity
and received a$240 million investment
from Microsoft, valuing the company at a
cool $15 billion. Zuckerberg himself is
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
MARK
continued from page 8
offer her contemporaries any sense of
completing the mission of their youth.
Quarterlife Activists. It would be a
mistake to believe that the typical 21-year-
old can be found chanting "Yes We Can"
at an Obama rally. Every post-'60s
generation has seen its own popular cause
sweep a certain segment of the young: anti
-nuclear power in the 70's, apartheid in the
'80s, globalization in the '90s. For all their
visibility, these were fringe
phenomena—most Americans aren't eager
to join a movement.
But some are. After Vietnam, no youth
cause translated into electoral politics until
2004, when Howard Dean managed to
harness the idealism and the need to
belong that characterizes the young and
educated. He also pioneered the use of
Web tools like social networking and
blogging to channel that political energy.
Obama offers young idealists a huge
upgrade over Dean, with a better-focused
message and a more inspiring delivery.
Still, 20-something activists may be the
one group that Penn and the Clinton
now thought to be worth over $1 billion,
making the 23-year-old techie the youngest
billionaire in the world.
If the settlement goes through, it would
represent a softening of Facebook's
position toward the suit.
Last fall, a Facebook spokesperson
lashed out at the Winklevosses and
Narendra, saying, "It is unfortunate but not
surprising that others falsely claim credit
for [Facebook] after its enormous success."
Related Links
Facebook's Day In Court
Facebook Dispute: It's Not Just Business,
It's Personal
Zuckerberg Looking for His Grownup
campaign can be excused for missing.
Hillary's every-mom appeal is light years
away from the idealistic dreams of a young
Obama supporter, and probably no one
attends a Clinton event in hopes of
hooking up.
But considering the accusations that
Penn had almost microtargeted the Clinton
campaign into oblivion, it's ironic how
thoroughly he missed the importance of so
many small groups that did so much to
benefit her opponent.
He provided no mechanism to harness
the enthusiasm of online donors, no
redemptive vision for nostalgic boomers,
no sense of fresh thinking for upscale
independents, and, until late in the game,
no exciting storyline for the political
junkies and entry-level pundits.
Related Links
Clinton, Short of Cash, Taps Her Own
Coffers
Obama Bucks
The Long, Hard Slog
Iomega acquired
by EMC for $213
million
By Darren Murph (Engadget)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 1:44:00 AM
Filed under: Storage Not even a month
after we heard that Iomega was warming to
a revised takeover bid from EMC, the two
lovebirds have finally let their true feelings
be known. Announced today, EMC is
acquiring the famed Zip Drive
manufacturer for $213 million. The final
figure is nearly $7 million higher than the
one proposed in March, and the all-cash
agreement worked out to $3.85-per share --
5.8-percent higher than Iomega's Tuesday
closing price of $3.64. Also of note,
Iomega will be picking up the tab on a $7.5
million termination fee to the shareholders
for a canceled deal involving China's
ExcelStor Group, and EMC stated that it
didn't expect the acquisition to "have any
material impact on its full-year earnings."
[Thanks, Khattab]
Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
Citi's Big Loan Clearance
(Portfolio.com: News and Markets)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 4:30:00 AM
The months-long clearance of debt used
to finance buyouts and acquisitions is
culminating in a blowout sale that may
indicate a bottom to this troubled market.
Citigroup is near a deal to sell $12 billion
in loans to a group of private equity firms,
according to a number of reports today.
Apollo Management, known for profiting
from distressed securities, is buying
roughly half of the loans, while TPG,
formerly Texas Pacific Group, and
Blackstone Group are buying the rest. The
three firms are paying from the mid-80
cents to 90 cents on the dollar for the
loans, according to the reports.
It's an extraordinarily large sale of
corporate loans, but as Megan Barnett of
Portfolio.com reported in February, a
number of large corporate-loan portfolios
have been coming on the market, dumped
by investors fearful of price drops that
What's Next for Merrill?
(Portfolio.com: News and Markets)
Submitted at 4/8/2008 5:30:00 AM
John Thain, chief executive of Merrill
Lynch, seems to be spending an awful lot
of time in Japan just a week before Merrill
is expected to report an ugly first quarter.
That has led to speculation that the Wall
Street firm will announce an alliance with
Mizuho Financial Group, the world's
largest bank.
In comments to reporters today, Thain
declined to comment on possible alliances
with Mizuho, which announced in January
that it would invest $1.2 billion in Merrill.
"We are not being specific about it at this
moment,'' Thain said, according to
Patent Attorney Inadvertently Explains Why Design Patents Are Often Unnecessary
By Michael Masnick (Techdirt)
Submitted at 4/8/2008 12:03:00 PM
Andy Blair writes"In an Op-Ed
promoting 'shoring up' design patent
protections, Chris Renk inadvertently
would force their liquidation.
A successful sale of Citi could revive a
market for buyout debt that has been
moribund since the credit markets seized
up last summer, halting a wave of
dealmaking. Simon Nixon on
Breakingviews.com agrees that a
successful sale could steady the market.
"But even a $12 billion sale would make
little dent in the $200 billion backlog of
leveraged buyout loans currently stuck on
bank balance sheets," he notes.
The three private equity firms are
essentially doubling down on their own
deals, as Michael J. de la Merced and Eric
Dash of the New York Times point out.
Some of the debt being sold helped finance
the buyouts of Harrah's, Alltel, and TXU,
they say. The advantage to the firms, of
course, is that they understand the
underlying business better than other
investors.
The Financial Times' Alphaville blog
wonders where the private equity firms'
Bloomberg News.
Thain also repeated comments that
Merrill will not need to raise more capital,
but will continue to shrink its balance
sheet. The firm has raised nearly $13
billion since the credit crunch hit it last
fall.
"We deliberately raised more capital than
we lost last year," Thain said, according to
Reuters.
Merrill is set to report first-quarter
earnings on April 17. Many analysts are
expecting the firm to take a loss on an
additional write-down of several billion
dollars.
shows us why in many cases design
patents are unnecessary. He spends a
couple of paragraphs talking about how the
patent prosecution process is long and in
many cases designs are obsolete by the
time protection is granted. Renk then
financing to buy the debt is coming from,
suggesting that perhaps Citi will take a role
in a joint venture with the three firms.
That would mean that Citi isn't quite
shedding all of the $12 billion right away.
Still, any deal would go a long way
toward reducing Citi's deal-debt exposure,
which, at the end of last year, stood at $43
billion.
Under Vikram Pandit, its new chief
executive, the bank has been steadily
writing down its debt portfolio and
shrinking its balance sheet. Citgroup may
announce a write-down of as much $16.8
billion, primarily on its collateralized debt
obligation, when it reports first-quarter
results on April 18, estimates the research
firm CreditSight.
Related Links
Trading Places
Deals: A Difference a Year Makes
When "Best" Isn't Good Enough, Call a
Lawyer
I Saw The Future Of
Social Networking
Anyone who’s been reading this blog for
more than a few
SAWmonths
pageknows
12 I’m bullish
By Michael
on mobile Arrington
social networking.
(TechCrunch) Submitted at 4/9/2008
The space is wide open at this point - no
spends another paragraph or two talking
about eroding enforceability. This
demonstrates that innovation is happening
despite questions about whether protection
will be available or effective. If patent
protection is an unnecessary component in
Newsweeklies Struggling
To Adapt To The Web
By Timothy Lee (Techdirt)
Submitted at 4/8/2008 10:11:00 AM
The Wall Street Journal has a good article
looking at the decline of the major
newsweeklies, Time and Newsweek. Each
has gone through a round of employee
buyouts, and they're struggling with how to
adapt to the new media environment
created by the Internet. Newsweek's editor
is frustrated that his magazine has "this
image that we're just middlebrow, you
know, a magazine that your grandparents
get." The web creates two fundamental
challenges to a weekly magazine like
Newsweek. First the web has raised the bar
for timeliness. By the time the typical
recipient of a newsweekly actually reads it,
some of the articles will describe events
that occurred close to two weeks ago. That
makes it hard to compete with a news
cycle that's measured in hours rather than
days. It's no surprise, therefore, that people
who grew up with the web aren't that
interested in subscribing to Time and
Newsweek. Fortunately, the newsweeklies
appear to be addressing this challenge
fairly well by beefing up their websites.
We've praised Time for being one of the
first mainstream media sites to make
decades of archives freely available (and
searchable) online. Unlike a few years ago,
the Time and Newsweek websites are now
clearly much more than an afterthought,
with a stable of high-profile bloggers and a
variety of original multimedia content.
These kinds of features go a long way to
attracting younger readers.
The more fundamental challenge,
though, is the sheer number of new
competitors in the media marketplace. A
sharp increase in competition almost
always leads to the erosion of market share
for the incumbents, even if the incumbents
execute perfectly. In this case, the
the innovation equation, that pretty much
negates the need to grant a temporary
monopoly to incent that innovation. So the
real reform necessary is not reinforcing
protections, but evaluating whether they
should be there at all, and if so in what
Biz Buzz Tech* 11
proliferation of new options means that the
demand for mainstream "middlebrow"
reporting isn't as big as it used to be. Most
people don't want to read the same generic
mix of news that everyone else is reading.
They want to customize their news,
reading more about subjects they're most
interested in and skipping subjects that
don't interest them. That means that the
20th-century model, in which a handful of
national media outlets publish "the news"
that everybody reads, isn't going to work
any more. Whereas a generation ago, most
people subscribed to one newspaper and a
couple of magazines, in the future people
will cobble together their own mix of news
from dozens of different websites, and
from aggregators like Digg and Google
News.
This means that sites will be more
successful covering a few topics really
well (and attracting a lot of links from
other sites for their best coverage) than
they will trying to cover every topic and
often producing superficial, mediocre
coverage. It also means that it's not
reasonable to expect that most of a site's
traffic will come from people who visit
their home page on a daily basis. Rather,
traffic is driven by being a part of the
online conversation and getting other sites
to link to and comment on your work.
That's going to be a culture shock for a
news organization that is used to having a
more or less captive audience of several
million subscribers who gets its magazine
each and every week.
Timothy Lee is an expert at the Techdirt
Insight Community. To get insight and
analysis from Timothy Lee and other
experts on challenges your company faces,
click here.
Permalink| Comments| Email This Story
form."
Permalink| Comments| Email This Story
12 Tech* Web 2.0
SAW
continued from page 11
one has created an application that has
gotten enough traction to go mainstream.
That’s party because of tech limitations -
browser based networks don’t leverage the
power of the mobile device, and client
based applications are blocked by service
providers and handset limitations.
But it’s coming. A few years from now
we’ll use our mobile devices to help us
remember details of people we know, but
not well. And it will help us meet new
people for dating, business and friendship.
Imagine walking into a meeting,
classroom, party, bar, subway station,
airplane, etc. and seeing profile
information about other people in the area,
depending on privacy settings. Picture,
name, dating status, resume information,
etc. The information that is available
would be relevant to the setting - quick
LinkedIn-type information for a business
meeting v. Facebook dating status for a
bar.
That requires a social network that has
presence, location and contextual
information about you. It needs to know
where you are (via GPS or triangulation),
if you are in business or personal mode,
and similar information for the people
around you. It also needs, at a basic level,
the ability to sort and browse the people
around you based on their picture and
name, and what they are looking for
(dating, investments, job, friendship). Once
this network is established, you’ll know
everyone’s name who’s around you (if
they choose to share it), and enough basic
information to jog your memory if you
know them, or meet them if there’s mutual
interest. Poking someone on Facebook is
great, but “poking” them when you’re in
the same bar as them can result in much
more immediate social gratification.
The mobile social network that wins will
go way beyond, say, Facebook’s iPhone
site, which doesn’t leverage location
Viral Videos Go Berserk, South Park Style!
By Stan Schroeder (Mashable!)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 2:37:11 AM
This is…this is just…no, nothing can
prepare you for this. South Park does it
again, and this time it’s payback to all
those viral videos which have been
tormenting us and our Facebook profiles
for years now. Time to feel the Chocolate
information, or help you meet people
around you.
So when mobile social network startups
reach out to us, we give them a lot of
attention. I waded through a bunch of them
in September 2007, and followed up with a
look at LimeJuice in December.
Frankly, MySpace and Facebook could
lock up this space simply by focusing on it,
but as far as I can tell from discussions
with execs at both companies, they’re
more focused on each other than in
dominating the mobile space. That creates
an incredible vacuum for a startup.
Start With The iPhone
In February I wrote a post called “ Will
There Be A (Successful) iPhone-Only
Social Network?” and presented an
argument that the iPhone SDK presented a
compelling opportunity to launch a mobile
social network while avoiding the chicken
and egg problem that any new network,
and particularly a mobile network, would
encounter. iPhone penetration in Silicon
Valley, and among early adopters, is so
high that the application could spread
virally among those communities. As the
network gains traction, it could expand to
Google’s Android platform and grow from
there.
iPhone users are the perfect group to
launch the network to. They’re passionate
and elitist, and will like the idea of being in
an iPhone-only club. Go to a party and see
a picture and first name of everyone there
who’s holding an iPhone - then meet them
and add them as friends. Then, once
mutual friendship is established, see those
people wherever they are in the world,
along with presence information telling
you what they’re thinking, or up to.
I believe in the idea so much that I
explored putting together a team to build a
basic network on top of the iPhone SDK.
But I abandoned that idea last week when I
saw a live demo, on the iPhone, of an
Pain, b***h!
ShareThis
---
Related Articles at Mashable! - The
Social Networking Blog:
Watch All South Park Episodes Online
for Free
MTV To Give South Park Episodes For
Free
upcoming social network that does
everything I called for in that February
post.
It’s Coming
The startup behind the new application
won’t let me disclose their name yet. But
the application is awesome. It shows you
everyone around you who has it installed
on an iPhone (default privacy is set to off,
but can be changed). Users can scroll
through nearby users, and set filters for
men, women or age ranges. If you find
someone interesting you can pull up their
profile and ping them. If they respond you
can start a chat, on the phone or in person.
Of course, they can also choose to block
you.
Location is based on the triangulation
feature of the iPhone, which is accurate
enough to get this going. And the startup
thinks they’ve found a way around the fact
that third party iPhone applications can’t
run in the background(meaning you’d have
to have the application open, and not use
any other iPhone features, to run the social
network and see others). They explained
the work around in general terms to me,
but asked that it remain confidential for
now.
As I said, I saw the app running on an
iPhone and even the early prototype left
me speechless. It will, I believe, prove to
be very popular, and very valuable.
The image shows a mockup of the
functionality I saw working live on the
phone (I should be able to show a photo or
video of it running in the next week or two
as well). Look for a launch when the
iPhone app store opens this summer.
Credit for that awesome image at top of
post is to Hank Grebe at MediaSpin.
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Viacom’s SouthParkStudios to Offer
Online Hub for Comedy Content
Flash MashMeet is Tonight in NYC
MySpace Launches a Trailer Park
Comedy Central Comes Back To
YouTube
AlwaysOn is On and FlashMashMeet
Approaches
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Meetro Abandoned for
Lefora, A Hosted Forum
Solution
By Mark Hendrickson (TechCrunch)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 3:00:37 AM
Meetro is finally coming out of the closet
with the hosted forum solution we
anticipated last October, and it’s pretty
much what we expected it to be: a white
label platform like Ning except without all
that social networking humbo jumbo, just
good old fashioned discussion threads.
The product, once codenamed
“Makaha”, is now officially known as
Lefora. The team behind Meetro has
effectively abandoned Meetro for Lefora,
dropping all development and support for
“the world’s first location-aware IM client
and real-time social network.”
Much of Lefora’s feature set should be
familiar to anyone who used forums in the
90s (they haven’t changed much since
then). But it also supports capabilities not
found with many modern-day forum
solutions, such as the ability to easily
embed YouTube videos, files, and images.
Lefora uses Amazon S3 storage to host
files uploaded to its forums, currently with
no storage caps.
Lefora also surfaces the hottest topics
and most recent activity on a special
homepage, in addition to providing the
standard structural overview of a forum.
Membership to one Lefora forum can be
easily extended to membership of another,
since all of them access the same user
base.
The look and feel of Lefora forums can
be customized extensively with CSS
modifications, pre-made themes, and color
adjustments. Categories and widgets, such
as those for polls and hot topics, can be
managed via drag-n-drop. The company’s
working on an API that will allow
developers to add their own widgets to the
gallery, although you can already add your
own custom, HTML-based widgets.
Moderation is an important element of
forum management and Lefora has decided
to build their own spam detection engine
from the ground up. The engine is similar
to Akismet and that used by Gmail in that
it leverages data from many properties to
detect and eliminate spam more
effectively.
When we first wrote about Meetro’s
plans, many commenters were skeptical
that the web needed a Blogger for forums.
CEO Paul Bragiel insists that forums are
still very popular, with the top 2,000
forums boasting over 200m registered
users.
He believes Lefora will not only make it
easier to create forums, but it will “light
them up” as well since the platform has
been designed with SEO optimization in
mind. Threads are given URLs that reveal
their topic, as with blogging platforms like
WordPress, instead of ones that look
suspicious to search engines. If Lefora
takes off, we might expect to see even
more search results point to discussion
threads.
In its current form, Lefora is a pretty
solid product but not without its quirks,
bugs, and inconveniences. The design
editor could use some UI improvements
and there’s no simple way to reset your
password as a user. Also, Lefora has yet to
feature some premium capabilities that
more serious customers will demand, such
as domain masking. But all in all, the
service is off to a good start.
Join a test TechCrunch forum here.
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Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
Yahoo Refugee Tim
Cadogan Lands at OpenX
As CEO
By Erick Schonfeld (TechCrunch)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 8:15:55 AM
Executive recruiters are still loving
Yahoo. Another former Yahoo executive
has landed as the CEO of a startup. This
time it is Tim Cadogan, an advertising
senior vice president who left Yahoo in
February. He is taking the helm at OpenX,
a startup which distributes an increasingly
popular open-source ad server. More
details from TechCrunch UK:
London-based open-source ad server
startup OpenX is biting the bullet and
moving to Los Angeles. In addition,
former Yahoo senior vice president Tim
Cadogan will take the CEO job at the
startup funded by Index Ventures, Accel
Partners and others, reports Kara Swisher.
OpenX has about 30 employees, including
10 developers in Poland, but not all will
head to the US. This is probably a
necessary strategic move for the ad
company, heading to the capital of media
and entertainment, but it’s a shame to see it
move out of London.
Cadogan was with Yahoo for five years
in its search unit and was later SVP for ad
products. OpenX (which recently and
controversially changed its name from
OpenAds) serves about 30,000 Web
Special License Plates Let Certain California State Employees Avoid
Tolls, Red Light Cameras
By Michael Masnick (Techdirt)
Submitted at 4/8/2008 7:03:00 AM
With all the fuss recently over red light
cameras, Boing Boing points us to a
fascinating story about how somewhere
around one million Californians have
special license plate that basically shield
them from toll booth transponders and red
light cameras. Basically, the system was
publishers on 100,000 Web sites in more
than 100 countries. OpenX has raised
about $21 million in funding since 2007.
Besides Index and Accel, other investors
include First Round Capital, Mangrove
Capital and O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures.
Former AOL head Jon Miller also recently
joined its board as chairman.
Current CEO James Bilefield, another
former Yahoo exec and British national,
will stay with them “through the transition
and as an adviser to the company” - which
doesn’t exactly sound like a long term
arrangement.
His first act should be to change the
name back to OpenAds. OpenX is simply
too vague and awful (although it does
signal that the company may try to expand
beyond simply serving ads). CrunchBase
Information OpenX Information provided
by CrunchBase
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the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
originally designed for police, putting their
license plate info in a special secret
database to shield home addresses from
criminals who might want to hurt them.
That system is no longer needed because
DMV records are all now private. But one
of the unintended consequences of the
system was that it became nearly
impossible to send a remotely recorded
ticket (such as via a toll booth reader or a
NY Mets Rickrolled... But
MLB Uses DMCA To Shut
Down The Fun
By Michael Masnick (Techdirt)
Submitted at 4/8/2008 10:03:05 PM
Rickrolling, the geek-inspired prank of
tricking folks into watching a video of
Rick Astley's pop hit "Never Gonna Give
You Up," has been way too popular over
the past few months, but looked like it was
finally going to die a painful death thanks
to NY Times' coverage and YouTube's
April Fool's joke. But, apparently the fun
was just getting started. The NY Mets have
been running a contest to see what song
will be played during the 8th inning of
home games all season. While there were a
bunch of preset choices, the Mets also left
a write-in options -- leaving open the
opportunity for Digg and Fark to "Rickroll
the Mets."
And... it worked... sorta. Apparently, the
write-in votes dominated the contests, but
the Mets are backing out of the agreement.
Instead of accepting the Astley song,
they're playing it and a selection of other
songs over the next few games to see
which one gets the biggest fan reaction --
red light camera) to the guilty party --
since you couldn't get their address. It even
works in some cases when people are
pulled over by police, because once the
plate is looked up the record indicates that
the plate is in this protected category, so
officers often let the driver off for being
"protected."
To make matters worse, California has
made it quite easy for state employees of
and will then use that song all year long.
However, the Astley song got the home
opener nod, and was played during the 8th
inning of Tuesday's game.
Now here's where the story gets
interesting. Digg celebrated the
achievement by linking to a video on
YouTube of the song playing. But the folks
at MLB Advanced Media wasted
absolutely no time at all in rushing out a
DMCA notice to take the video down,
suggesting that it wasn't a big fan of being
Rickrolled. Of course, it wasn't fast enough
for the video to be saved by others[ed: link
removed]. And, of course, there were some
fans at the ballpark who also recorded the
Rickrolling live. Man, that's a lot of
booing. While MLB shouldn't be able to
take down those fan videos, given how
MLB has claimed ownership over all sorts
of stuff, I wouldn't put it past them to try.
Either way, would it really have been so
troublesome for MLB to leave that brief
video clip up?
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all different types to get their license plate
on the list, and from the sound of it, at least
a few folks are abusing the privilege. The
article found some who owed tens of
thousands of dollars in unpaid fines for
abusing toll lanes. It seems clear that many
state employees are aware of these
"benefits." The article notes that museum
security guards actually made sure to
include a clause in a recent labor
Tech* 13
Stephen King Slams
Attempt To Ban
Violent Videogames
By Michael Masnick (Techdirt)
Submitted at 4/8/2008 11:48:00 PM
After yet another court recently tossed out
yet another law that would ban the sale of
certain video games to children, it appears
that the state of Massachusetts is next up in
the lengthy list of states wasting taxpayer
money in order to appease some
grandstanding politicians who want to
"protect the children." However, the video
game industry has an interesting ally this
time around. Writer Stephen King spoke
out harshly against the proposed ban while
stating plenty of common sense:"What
makes me crazy is when politicians take it
upon themselves to play surrogate parents.
The results of that are usually disastrous....
What really makes me insane is how eager
politicians are to use the pop culture as a
whipping boy. It's easy for them, even sort
of fun, because the pop-cult always hollers
nice and loud. Also, it allows legislators to
ignore the elephants in the living room."
While perhaps not quite as eloquent as
some others, it's nice to see the press
picking up on King's feelings, rather than
simply parroting the politicians' dubious
claims concerning the need for such laws.
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agreement that would allow them to get
these secret plates. At this point, it would
appear there's simply no reason to keep
these secret license plates in existence, but
they're still there basically just to be used
by folks who want to disobey traffic laws
and get away with it for free, no matter
how often they're caught.
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14 Tech*
Doom And Gloom Hits
Silicon Valley
By Erick Schonfeld (TechCrunch)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 9:35:47 AM
You didn’t really think that Silicon
Valley would be immune to the general
convulsions in the overall economy, did
you? I am not sure it is as bad as the NYT
gleefully makes it out to be, but there is
growing evidence of a tech slowdown,
including M&A deals and IPOs drying up,
slower job growth, signs of weakness on
Web advertising, cautious corporate IT
spending, and rising costs for companies
that offshore their labor force due to the
decline of teh dollar.
The latest numbers from the National
Venture Capital Association show that the
startup economy was starting to feel some
pain in the first quarter. Venture-backed
M&A deals hit the lowest level in a
decade, with only 56 deals announced in
the first quarter, down from 83 in the
fourth quarter of 2007. The IPO market
also dried up, with only five venture-
backed IPOs, compared to 31 in the fourth
quarter of 2007. (See chart above). The
average amount raised for each IPO was
$56.6 million (down 42 percent quarter-
over-quarter). And the average M&A deal
size was $124.6 million (down 40 percent
quarter-over-quarter)
The overall value of disclosed M&A
deals in the first quarter was $2.5 billion,
compared to $8.4 billion in the fourth
quarter of last year:
Diving a little deeper, Internet deals still
dominated the first quarter of 2008, with
12 deals valued at $1.7 billion. But the
number of deals where investors are taking
a loss is going up, and the number of deals
with outsized returns of 4 times or more of
the amount of venture capital invested is
going down. Are our readers in Silicon
Valley feeling the effects of the downturn?
Please share in comments.
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Gadgets and Applications, Delivered
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Adobe Launches Media
Player, Adobe TV
By Duncan Riley (TechCrunch)
Submitted at 4/8/2008 10:10:32 PM
Adobe has launched Adobe Media Player
1.0 and a Adobe TV.
Adobe Media Player is a cross-platform
Adobe AIR application that offers content
discovery and interaction. Companies that
are offering content for the player include
CBS, MTV Networks, Universal Music
Group, PBS, CondéNet, and Scripps
Networks.
Adobe Media Player offers playback of
streamed, downloaded or locally-stored
video in Adobe Flash and can be viewed in
1080p, 720p or 480i resolutions. iTunes
style the player allows users to subscribe to
television shows and other content and
automatically receive new episodes when
they are available.
Adobe TV is available at tv.adobe.com
or as a network in Adobe Media Player and
offers “expert instruction and original
series programming” about Adobe
products. Adobe TV offers four channels
targeted at Photographers, Designers,
New RIAA Argument: Throwing A
Promo CD In The Garbage = Unauthorized
Distribution
By Michael Masnick (Techdirt)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 1:22:00 AM
Last summer, the EFF sued Universal
Music Group, after UMG had eBay
takedown the sales of certain CDs. The
CDs were promotional CDs, purchased
legitimately by a guy going to LA record
stores. However, UMG claimed that the
CDs, as promotional items, were still the
property of Universal Music Group. The
EFF charged that UMG was abusing the
law, specifically by ignoring the right of
first sale, which is enshrined in copyright
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
Video Professionals, and Developers.
Content comes from “Adobe evangelists,
leading trainers, subject matter experts,
and luminaries.” Over 200 videos are
available for the launch.
The media player can be downloaded
here
Update: screen shots added. Interestingly
the service doesn’t appear to have
geographic blocking on CBS content. I
couldn’t get Jericho to play (error
message) but CSI not a problem from
Australia, where as every other site with
CBS content would automatically block
me and anyone else outside of the United
States. Lets hope it’s a feature, not an
oversight that might be corrected.
CrunchBase Information Adobe Systems
Information provided by CrunchBase
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law allowing you to resell CDs or other
works that contain copyrighted material. In
response, UMG has now filed a brief that
says that throwing out a promotional CD is
unauthorized distribution.
Effectively, UMG is saying that merely
by putting some fine print on a CD, it can
effectively "own" that CD forever. If the
court agrees, this would have some rather
stunning ramifications, effectively wiping
out the first sale doctrine. Record labels
could then include similar language on all
CDs, not just promo CDs, and then
basically create its own copyright rules,
Google
Rips Down
HuddleChat
By Michael Arrington (TechCrunch)
Submitted at 4/8/2008 8:11:34 PM
Google showcased HuddleChat, a real-
time chat application, as one of many test
applications (directory here) to show off
their new Google App Engine platform last
night.
Some bloggers noted that the application
was a rip off of Campfire, a 37Signals
product. And 37Signals CEO Jason Fried
used HuddleChat as a PR opportunity,
telling ReadWriteWeb“We’re flattered
Google thinks Campfire is a great product,
we’re just disappointed that they stooped
preventing any use other than what the
record label decided to allow. That would
seem to go against much of historical
precedent (and basic common sense)
surrounding copyright. Courts in the past
have noted time and time again that just
because you say something is true, it
doesn't mean it necessarily is true.
Hopefully the court will make that point
once again.
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Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
Marilyn Monroe's Estate Loses California Lawmaker Wants To
Rights To Photos After Fighting Change
Pretending Infinite Goods Are Tangible
To Make Her A New Yorker By Michael Masnick (Techdirt)
By Michael Masnick (Techdirt)
Submitted at 4/8/2008 4:49:00 PM
It appears Marilyn Monroe's estate didn't
think all the way through its strategy of
posthumously moving the famed star to
New York. Apparently, her family
convinced California tax authorities that
Monroe had been a New York resident, in
an attempt to avoid paying taxes on the
estate in California. Unfortunately for the
estate, that would also mean that Marilyn
Monroe's publicity rights died with her. As
Against Monopoly points out in the latest
example of the bizarre effects of
intellectual property rules, California
allows "rights of publicity" to live on after
death -- meaning that images of famous
people still need to be licensed. However,
Network Solutions Hijacking
Unassigned Sub-Domains
By Duncan Riley (TechCrunch)
Submitted at 4/8/2008 6:52:05 PM
Network Solutions is hijacking
unassigned sub domains and delivering
link filled holding pages for hundreds of
thousands of sites.
Win Betteridge runs GotGame.com and
contacted TechCrunch with the details:
For instance, app.gotgame.com resolves
to a Network Solutions page with text
links, including “Poker Tournaments” and
“Texas Holdem Games.” The same is true
of any other unassigned sub-domain. We
have spoken to customer service a few
times about fixing this problem…
I don’t know if this is standard practice
for a hosting company, but this strikes me
as another case of Network Solutions
unreasonably profiting at the expense of its
customers.
Law To Tax iTunes;
New York says your right of publicity dies
when you die. So, a court has now ruled
that, thanks to Monroe's own estate
claiming that she was a New Yorker,
there's no longer a right of publicity for
Monroe, and photographers who own
Monroe photographs shouldn't have to pay
her estate (as they've done since her death).
This has photographers claiming that the
estate has been unfairly demanding
licenses for many years. Next time,
perhaps Monroe's estate will just pay the
taxes it owes. But, in the meantime, we get
to see the bizarre impact of rules such as
"publicity rights" which have forced
photographers to pay to use photographs
they took for many years.
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According to a search on DomainTools
there are 294,438 sites on the same
Network Solutions IP address as
GotGame.com. I ran a test on the sites
listed (for free) by DomainTools and every
single one had the same issue: unassigned
domain names with link filled Network
Solutions holding pages.
Yet another reason to not use Network
Solutions.
CrunchBase Information Network
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CrunchBase
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Submitted at 4/8/2008 7:27:00 PM
Slashdot points us to the news that a Los
Angeles (surprise, surprise) area politician
is pushing to change a California law that
requires sales tax on the sale of tangible
goods. He wants the law to be adjusted
such that digital goods would be
considered tangible goods so they can be
taxed. Effectively, this is a way of
applying a sales tax on iTunes downloads
as a way to make up the California budget
shortfall. Considering that the
entertainment industry has been trying to
convince the world that intellectual
property is no different than tangible
property, it's not surprising that a politician
coming from LA would see no problem
GOOGLE
continued from page 14
so low to basically copy it feature for
feature, layout for layout…We thought that
would be beneath Google, but maybe its
time to reevaluate what they stand for.”
Frankly, the reaction is fairly ridiculous.
But this is apparently a fight that Google
doesn’t want to be involved in. They
pulled the application and replaced it with
the above notice.
I wonder if Darren Delaye, Braden
Kowitz, and Kyle Consalus, the Google
developers who created HuddleChat, had
much of a say in the decision. And why,
since HuddleChat is not an official Google
product, was it Google that made the
decision to pull it down and not the
developers who created it? Google was
with pretending infinite goods are tangible
goods. However, it seems likely that such a
plan would backfire. If anything, it will
push more people to look for alternatives
(potentially unauthorized) alternatives if
California forces an unwanted price
increase on iTunes. Also, if the law starts
treating digital goods as tangible goods,
will that give people other rights -- such as
the right to do what they want with the
content after purchase? It looks like there's
plenty of opposition to this plan, so it
probably won't go very far. In the
meantime, though, does someone want to
explain the difference between tangible
goods and infinite goods to Assemblyman
Charles Calderon?
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very careful to say that they were not
affiliated with HuddleChat while it was up
- that, apparently, wasn’t the case.
As far as I’m concerned, this is the first
case of censorship on the new Google App
Engine platform, and a bad precedent.
Our test application for Google App
Engine is here.
Update: If you are as outraged as I am
over this :-), join this Facebook group
demanding that Google bring back
HuddleChat.
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Tech* 15
Amie Street
Loves
Prostitutes
By Duncan Riley (TechCrunch)
Submitted at 4/8/2008 11:58:51 PM
When you think of prostitutes, you
usually think of vice and the dark side of
the Valley, and not something most
startups would want to be associated it.
Independent online music service Amie
Street not only loves them, they’re
probably praying for more.
In March New York Governor Eliot
Spitzer’s predilection for high class call
girls was splashed across the media
worldwide and his favorite hooker of
choice was Ashley Alexandra Dupre.
Between tricks Dupre dreamed of a singing
career, and her outlet of choice was Amie
Street. Dupre’s two singles not only broke
Amie Street records for sales volume, she
also delivered a massive bounce in traffic
for Amie Street. By the end of the month
Amie Street’s traffic had more than tripled
according to both Quantcast and Compete
(charts available on Amie Street’s
Crunchbase page here).
There’s no later traffic data to see how
much of Amie Street’s new traffic stuck
around, the bump certainly didn’t hurt
Amie Street’s profile.
See Michael’s January 2007 review of
Amie Street here. CrunchBase Information
Amie Street Information provided by
CrunchBase
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16 Tech* Gadgets*
H-1Bs Run Out Almost
Immediately Yet Again
By Michael Masnick (Techdirt)
Submitted at 4/8/2008 2:39:00 PM
Just like last year, and as pretty much
everyone expected, US immigration
officials note that they've received tons of
applications for H-1B visas-- way more
than the 65,000 allowed by Congress, just
in the first day of eligibility. That means
that they'll switch to a lottery system and,
once again, plenty of highly skilled
technology talent will be working for
foreign competitors rather than US
companies. It's truly a shame that so many
people in this country seem to incorrectly
think that jobs are a zero-sum game.
Yahoo Enters The Analytics
Business By Acquiring IndexTools
By Duncan Riley (TechCrunch)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 4:54:03 AM
Yahoo has entered into a definitive
agreement to acquire the assets of Tensa
Kft., better known as IndexTools.
IndexTools offers web analytics software
with a focus on delivering a “highly
customizable and scalable analytics
platform.” The service competes with other
analytics providers as well as Google
Analytics and Microsoft adCenter
Analytics.
Yahoo said in a statement that upon
completion of the acquisition, IndexTools’
assets well be used to expand Yahoo’s set
of online marketing services, with
additional capabilities enabling third-party
Bringing more highly skilled workers into
this country helps create more jobs. The
idea that allowing workers into the country
decreases jobs here (or even decreases
wages) is simply incorrect. Those workers
still exist and will still compete with you
for jobs -- it's just that they'll be doing it in
other countries where they can undercut
you even further and put even more
pressure on your own company to close up
shop. Not allowing skilled workers into
this country is a much bigger risk for
American jobs than letting them in.
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developers to monitor and optimize the
traffic performance of their applications to
follow later in the year.
The price of the acquisition was not
disclosed with the deal expected to be
closed no later that June 30. CrunchBase
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by CrunchBase
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CrunchNetwork May 1 Mobile Meet
-up in NYC
By John Biggs (TechCrunch)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 7:07:33 AM
Sign up now for the CrunchNetwork
Mobile Meet-up for free booze, prizes, and
a chance to rub shoulders with the
members of the TechCrunch, CrunchGear,
and MobileCrunch teams.
We’re holding it upstairs at Red Sky @
47 E 29th St in Manhattan [ Map]. Doors
open at 7pm, May 1, 2008 and close
whenever our booze runs out.
The event will feature a special Nokia
Demo Space with loaner N95s to
document your revelry as well as RSVP here and I look forward to seeing
giveaways from Nokia, Samsung, and a you at our par-tay.
few other companies who shall remain Gold Sponsor
nameless. That said, if you’d like to Palladium Sponsors
sponsor the event or supply giveaways,
drop us a line at tips @ crunchgear dot
Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because
it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
com.
Viewsonic busts out a bevy of customizable
digital photo frames
By Donald Melanson (Engadget)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 5:23:00 AM
Filed under: Displays There's nothing like
an impending holiday to get companies
rushing to get their appropriately-themed
products out the door, and Viewsonic's
now following Memorex's lead with a slew
of new digital photo frames aimed at
Mother's Day shoppers. This latest batch
includes ten frames in all, including 7-, 8-,
and 10-inch varieties (both widescreen and
4:3), each of which boast interchangeable variations of the 8-inch DPX802 model, which boast white finishes, and include
bezels to suit your decor. At the head of which packs an 800x600 resolution and 128MB of memory, along with some basic
the pack is the 10-inch DPX1002 model drops the video playback, or one of three media-playing features. According to
(pictured above), which packs a decent incarnations of the 7-inch DPX702 model, Viewsonic, the whole lot is available now,
1024x600 resolution, along with 400 which offers up a 800x480 resolution and with prices ranging from $130 to $209.
cd/m2 of brightness, a 400:1 contrast ratio, drops the MP3 playback as well. Rounding Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments
and the usual video and MP3 playback things out are the 7-inch widescreen
features. If that's a bit more than you're DPX704WH, 8-inch 4:3 DPX804WH and
looking for, you can opt for one of three 10-inch widescreen DPX1004WH, each of
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper Gadgets* 17

EMT Paintball Sentry Turret

renders your personal militia useless
By Darren Murph (Engadget)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 1:22:00 AM

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Automated paintball machines have been
spotted holding down a-many of forts, but
it's still been relatively hard to find one pre
-built and ready for purchase. Enter
Evolution Model Technology, whose
Paintball Sentry Turret is mighty enough to
mow down even the deepest of crosstown
rival cliques trying to get up in your area.
Arriving in wired and wireless versions,
the unit is available with water- or winter- you better have one incredible stash of
proof armor, can be controlled remotely valuables to protect before pulling the
and features a head that rotates 350- proverbial trigger.
degrees and tilts 90-degrees. Best of all, [Via technabob]
the cold blooded plastering machine can be Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments
customized to the hilt for those living in
seriously dodgy locales, but considering
the $1,399.50 (and way, way up) price tag,

Memorex pushes out two digiframes for proactive

More info on Quake 3 for the
iPod touch
By Joshua Topolsky (Engadget)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 2:50:00 AM
Filed under: Gaming
That video we saw the other day of two
iPod touches running a networked Quake 3
deathmatch sent ripples through the iPod /
iPhone community. Those of you doubting
the authenticity of the clip can probably
put some fears to bed, as GameCyte has
gotten a hold of the programmers, and they
make it fairly clear it wasn't some
elaborate hoax. According to developers
Cameron and Marcia Tofer of
Hermitworks, they managed to get the
game up and running on the touches in,
"Between eight and twelve hours," using
jail-broken units, no official SDK, and
modified code that added basic
accelerometer support. The game in the
video is being hosted on one of the devices
and played over a local network -- and the
Tofers claim that running a full 64-player
match wouldn't be out of the question.
Unfortunately, there aren't any plans to
make this demo public, as the team is
working on original content for the
platform. So... email petition anyone?
Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments
Mother's Day shoppers
By Darren Murph (Engadget)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 3:25:00 AM
Filed under: Digital Cameras, Displays
Oh sure, Mother's Day is over a month
away (in the US), but don't let mama know
that reading this post was the only thing
that reminded you. If you're suddenly
stricken with panic, take heart, as
Memorex has a new duo of digital photo
frames sure to make the woman most
special to you smile. Purposely designed
connectivity. As for the former, you'll find
four interchangeable inserts and a SD /
MMC expansion slot, while the latter
provides a 4-in-1 reader and oodles of
floral patterns. Interestingly, we've no idea
if either will be seen outside of K-Mart,
but both frames can be purchased at the
aforesaid retailer next month for $89.99
apiece.
with "feminine graphics," the Special
Occasions and Floral models both feature 7 Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments
-inch 480 x 234 resolution panels and USB

David Dorman appointed as Motorola non-executive Chairman

By Darren Murph (Engadget)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 4:25:00 AM
Filed under: Cellphones We won't say
that Motorola's on the up and up, but just
after ridding itself of that pending litigation
between it and Carl Icahn comes word that
a fresh face will be succeeding Ed Zander
as non-executive Chairman of the Board.
David Dorman, former chairman and CEO
of AT&T, has been selected by Moto's
Board of Directors to take over Zander's
chairman seat after he retires on May 5th.
According to Greg Brown, president and
CEO of the company, he feels that Dorman
is "ideally suited to serve as Motorola's
excitement about working with Dave as it
"moves forward with its plan to create two
independent publicly traded companies and
improve the performance of the Mobile
Devices business." Good luck in there, Mr.
Dorman.
chairman," and he made known his [Image courtesy of USA Today]
Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments
18 Gadgets* TV*
iPhone contacts search and
meeting invite revealed
By Joshua Topolsky (Engadget)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 4:07:00 AM
Filed under: Cellphones, Features
Remember that sweet little magnifying
glass from the iPhone SDK demo? Well
apparently we all weren't having a shared
hallucination -- it's in the enterprise version
of firmware 2.0. Thanks to a tipster, we've
now got shots of the search bar clearly
hanging out at the top of the contacts list.
While we're unraveling mysteries, you'll be
happy to know that the little drawer button
-- which did nothing in the regular old
firmware we had -- is actually a meeting
invitations folder, which displays the
number of requests just like the SMS and
mail icons. Other changes? Enterprise
users don't get the app store or iTunes store
icons. Boo. Check out the gallery below to
see just exactly what we're talking about.
Now, on to finding JFK's real killer!
Gallery: iPhone contacts search and
meeting invite revealed
Permalink| Email this| Comments
Van Der Led's WM2 cellphone is
Slayer approved
By Thomas Ricker (Engadget)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 12:47:00 AM
Filed under: Cellphones, Wearables
Can it be? Why... why yes, a watch with
integrated cellphone we might (might!)
actually wear. The Van Der Led WM2 is a
quad-band GSM watch with itty bitty 1.3-
inch, 260k color touchscreen display,
stereo Bluetooth, up to 240-hours of
standby or 300-minutes talk, and 1GB of
storage for a few of your MP3 or MP4
AMD's quad-core Opteron processor now available in
select systems
By Darren Murph (Engadget)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 2:13:00 AM
Filed under: Desktops
Some seven months after AMD first
tooted its horn about creating the " world's
most advanced x86 CPU," the quad-core
Opteron is finally shipping. Effective
today, consumers eager to wrap their
brains around all that purported power can
find the chips residing in a variety of HP
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
files. Better yet, from a distance, those
uber geeky keys on the numeric pad look
just like the glittering wrist studs capable
of mesmerizing Death Metal, she-groupies
backstage. Yours for €300 (about $471 US
Rubbles) starting Monday. Actual product
pressed to flesh in the gallery below.
Gallery: Van Der Led's WM2 cellphone
is Slayer approved
[Thanks, Gydo W.]
Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments
machines (read: servers) as well as in
systems from other "distributors, system
integrators and specialized OEMs."
Lauren Graham
for Office spin-off?
By Allison Waldman (TV Squad)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 4:20:00 AM
Filed under: Watercooler Talk, The
Office, Casting, Reality-Free So, while
we've been speculating here on our own
about The Office spinoff, others are doing
the same. TV Guide's Michael Ausiello,
one of my favorite TV chatters, was asked
in his column about said Office spinoff and
whether it may be the perfect spot for
Lauren Graham. Hmm...very interesting.
Ausiello agreed with the writer, that
especially in light of the big deal Lauren
inked with NBC, it makes sense. He wrote,
"It would be insane not to at least consider
Graham for the gig. Are you with me?"
Continue reading Lauren Graham for
Office spin-off?
Permalink| Email this| | Comments
Unfortunately, little is said about the
widespread availability of the CPU beyond
that, but at least it's getting out the door in
one way or another, right?
[Via CNET]
Read- Opteron heads to select partners
Read- Opteron now available in OEM
platforms
Permalink| Email this| Comments
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
WD's My Passport Essential: now in 11
different colors
By Darren Murph (Engadget)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 4:54:00 AM
Filed under: Storage
Face it: Western Digital's My Passport
Essential family of portable hard drives
was hamstrung from day one. After all,
with just about every other external HDD
from the company coming in any amount
of colors, who exactly is going to be
kosher with just black? Never fear, as
WD's dutiful painting squad has stepped
up and given prospective buyers 11
different hues to select from. Each drive
comes in 120GB, 160GB, 250GB and
320GB capacities and gets all the juice it
needs via USB 2.0, but choosing between
WEbook Pandora Project:
Crowdsourcing the Novel
By Kristen Nicole (Mashable!)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 7:14:23 AM
The music community has done a pretty
good job of determining ways in which the
online world can be used for marketing
and networking purposes. While the
collaborative effort has yet to grow as
technological advances make their way
into web-based media-creation services,
there are a number of ways in which social
media and networking can be achieved on
the Web, especially when it comes to
finding ways in which e-commerce can be
leveraged for empowering musicians to
become autonomous in the larger
marketplace.
A few initiatives have started down
similar paths for other forms of media,
including writing. Wired, for instance,
worked with a collaborative writing project
that resulted in an article for the
publication. Even novels have been made
with a wiki, crowdsourcing mentality in
mind.
WEbook is one of those organizations
looking to the community for the creation
of a collaborative piece of work, and now
WEbook is launching a platform to do just
that. Launching its public beta today,
WEbook is hoping to form a following
candy apple red and banana yellow could
really slow up the checkout process.
[Via I4U News]
Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments
around community-sourced content, with a
commerce segment attached to the
collaborative effort.
Funded by Greylock Partners and other
individual investors, WEbook is creating
an online destination site that also acts as a
marketplace for creators to earn revenue
from their work. In selling content across
established stores like Amazon and Barnes
and Noble, WEbook’s “Pandora” project
will be a collaborative work that’s sold in
the mainstream markets. Additionally,
WEbook is adopting another recently
popularized model in the media sector and
will be giving away some of its content for
free, via mobile phones (get it here).
Will this model work? As publishers are
hesitant to adopt such models, and even
more still shy away from web-based
distribution methods for sales, WEbook is
hoping to become a leader in this particular
movement, which is already permeating
other forms of the media industry. Even
without the collaborative effort, Amazon
and other services have become standards
for the self-publishing sector.
Wikis and collaborative publications
don’t seem to be losing any steam, though
the time and editorial resources required to
create a complete collaborative work that’s
publication-ready is still a rather involved
process. Overall, I think projects such as
this will begin to pop up across various
media forms, most prominently in written
works, though the commercial value and
revenue models may need to be tweaked
for optimal success.
ShareThis
---
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Pandora Now Free!
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International Users
Last.fm and Pandora - Music Discovery
Services
Flickr Dips Its Toe into
Video-Sharing. How Will
You Use It?
By Kristen Nicole (Mashable!)
Submitted at 4/8/2008 6:12:15 PM
The day many of you have been waiting
for: Flickr adds video. It’s now a
multimedia sharing site, that involves both
photos and videos. How excited are you?
For video sharing, you’ll need a Pro
account, however. Bummer. That’s most of
you Mashable readers anyway, so it
shouldn’t be too big of a deal.
Clips up to 150MB can be uploaded, and
given Flickr’s brand as a sharing site for
serious amateurs, the alternative of free
YouTube, and other sites, won’t hinder
Flickr’s entrance into the video space just
yet, though the space limitations will likely
be an issue for a good chunk of its user
base.
Webware reports that Flickr will be
scaling up uploaded content, which is an
appealing necessity for its existing user
base. With the growing interest in quality
videos from an individual user standpoint,
especially on the mobile front, this could
be an optimal time for Flickr to finally
make its move into video. As with photos,
there are a number of privacy settings to
take advantage of, licensing, as well as
tagging and geotagging capabilities. So
what will you do, now that you can upload
videos on Flickr?
Here are some ideas to get the creative
juices flowing:
Gadgets* Web 2.0 19
Build a Flickr slide show tool to support
photos and videos
Make your FriendFeed stream that much
more exciting
Take a close up video (as opposed to
photo) of your eyeball, and speak in a
really flustered voice, like on the “Blair
Witch Project”
Have yet another place to share clips of
your dog running around the yard
Build on its uploading API
Let us know how you feel about Flickr
adding video, and how you’ll be taking
advantage of the new features.
Beg Flickr to increase the space
limitations
(image credit: CNet)
ShareThis
---
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Social Networking Blog:
Flickr Video Said To Be Launching Next
Month
Yahoo Video Relaunches, Now With
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Flickr Adds Better Upload Tools
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YHOO, Is Flickr Getting Ready For A Big
Upgrade?
Flickr Downtime Continues
ClipShack: The Flickr of Video, Again!
Flickr Goes International: 7 New
Languages
20 Web 2.0 Movies*
uvLayer’s Web Interface Eventful MySpace App:
and IM Integration. Is it Tell Your Aritsts Where
Enough? You Want Them to Go
By Kristen Nicole (Mashable!)
Submitted at 4/8/2008 4:25:17 PM
uvLayer’s video application, built on
Adobe AIR, launched a couple of months
ago as a downloadable application for
viewing and organizing video content
according to your personal preferences.
Even though this looks really cool, I was
concerned about uvLayer’s two-step
download process, as well as it’s lack of
accessibility as a web-based tool.
uvLayer is looking to solve this with the
release of a web-based application, which
has the same fluid (relatively) interface and
overall feel of the downloadable
application. This should help uvLayer
aooeal to more users that would like to
utilize the service’s video aggregation and
organization tool. But is that enough?
There are a number of video aggregation
tools, and the majority of them have a head
start on uvLayer, as well as interactive
social sharing tools and recommendations
in terms of search and discovery for users
to find more media to consume. uvLayer is
making steps to address the social sharing
aspect by adding integrating with IM
clients including AIM and GTalk, as well
as applications for existing social networks
like Facebook(which uvLayer already
Photobucket, MySpace App: Indirect Collaborative Albums
By Kristen Nicole (Mashable!)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 6:06:13 AM
The latest integrated social networking
application to come from Photobucket is
Top Pics, for MySpace. It’s a way for you
to display your favorite photos from both
MySpace and Photobucket, within an
application that’s accessible to your
MySpace friends, and vice versa. If you’re
not into the whole sharing thing, then
photos can be kept private as well. Yep.
That’s private, on MySpace.
supported).
We were already aware of uvLayer’s
plans for layering in support and
integration with other social services,
which wil be an important step for
uvLayer’s hopes for expansion. An ability
to further leverage one’s friends on AIM or
Facebook will allow uvLayer’s
recommendations, which involve te ability
to see what their friends are watching in
real time, an opportunity to grow much
faster than it would have otherwise. I’m
still waiting to see how uvLayer will turn
this into recommendations and additional
search metadata, but uvLayer is getting on
the right track.
ShareThis
---
Related Articles at Mashable! - The
Social Networking Blog:
UVLayer: Watch and Share Videos on
AIR
Firefox 3: Codename Gran Paradiso
The Most Gorgeous Ajax Interface Ever!
Shockfolio Releases iPhone Interface
PictureTrail Launches Flicks 2.0 for
Slideshow Creation
New Look For Bebo
Fuser Launches a MySpace Killer; On
Facebook
What this application boils down to is a
way for you to centralize your Photobucket
and MySpace photos, and organize them
accordingly, whether that be for personal
or public purposes. What’s more, is friends
can contribute to each others’ galleries in
the indirect sense: you can aggregate
photos not only from your own
Photobucket and MySpace accounts, but
from your friends’ public Photobucket and
MySpace accounts, as well as
Photobucket’s library of public images.
It will be interesting when Photobucket
By Kristen Nicole (Mashable!)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 6:05:31 AM
Global event-finding tool Eventful has
launched a MySpace application, called
My Top Artists. This lets users choose
their favorite performers and display them
on their profile pages. Eventful will take
this input and offer upcoming events from
these designated artists, for the local cities
of the users. Being an integrated
application on MySpace, the My Top
Artists app also lets users share this date
with friends.
I know there are a lot of music apps out
there, most of which let you display your
favorite artists. It’s an expected occurrence
to see these pop up all over the place now
that the MySpace platform has been
opened up, and there were already a great
number of widgets that provide some of
the same information and can be placed on
MySpace profiles as well. But Eventful has
a unique feature, called the “Demand”
service, which lets users determine where
an artist (or political figures, etc.) should
have their next concert.
This “Demand” service has also made its
way into the MySpace app, which is
probably among the most useful aspects of
Eventful as a service and marketing tool,
and MySpace incorporate tagging and
commentary from these publicly used
images, and are able to create a image
search engine based on an individual’s
social sphere, which is the contributing
factor to Photobucket’s Top Pics apps.
Given the collaborative way in which
friends can be leveraged for creating group
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
and quite useful as an integrated social
media tool as well. Will artists be more
likely to take heed to the “Demand”
feature if its integrated into the most
prominent social network known for
music? We’ll see how artists and other
public figures can benefit from an
application that integrates action-oriented
feedback from users for the purpose of
gaining market research/insight, and
leverages it for their own brand
management.
ShareThis
---
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Social Networking Blog:
Twitter Interface for Eventful: Fact of
Fool?
Eventful Working with Presidential
Campaigns in Grassroot Efforts
Eventful Launches Facebook App for
Bringing Artists to Your City
Eventful Hosting Energizer Encore
Competition for Third Straight Year
Eventful Demands $7.5 Million - and
Gets It
Obama Launches State Profiles on
MySpace
Planypus to Launch Social Site for Event
Planning
albums using apps like Kaltura’s, along
with Facebook’s existing process for
showing photos of yourself that have been
uploaded by others, its clear that taking the
photos of friends, which are likely to be
related to you at some point, is becoming a
better way of creating a relevant montage
for users.
ShareThis
---
Related Articles at Mashable! - The
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Digg Pics Gets its Own Application
AFI Dallas: Fest
Wrap-Up in Words
and Pictures
By Kim Voynar (Cinematical)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 1:02:00 AM
Filed under: Festival Reports,
Cinematical Indie, AFI Dallas
The second year of AFI Dallas was a big
hit with locals, with ticket sales way over
expectations. Big kudos have to go to fest
director Michael Cain e* and his stellar
team for working out the kinks from last
year's fest and making everything flow
smoothly this year, while programming a
huge lineup for Dallas cinephiles. Here are
some of the pics; a rundown of this year's
fest highlights is after the jump:
Gallery: AFI Dallas 2008 Official Pics
Gallery: AFI Dallas 2008 in Pictures
Continue reading AFI Dallas: Fest Wrap-
Up in Words and Pictures Permalink|
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Millions of MySpacers Rejoice:
Photobucket Videos are Back
MyBucketSpace: Mashable Readers
Approve
Photobucket Now Has Meez
Photobucket’s Slide Show Upgrades for
More Customization
Breaking: Photobucket Acquired By
MySpace (Update: Confirmed)
Photobucket Albums Get New Look
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
Trulia Adds Google
StreetView to Home
Listings
By Paul Glazowski (Mashable!)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 8:38:53 AM
House hunting? Then you’re probably
scouting for listings around various real
estate sites. And in your exhaustive
searches for a colonial or a rustic flat or
any number of other options, you may
have happened upon Trulia. Not a bad
place to look. Extensive offerings. Nice
feature set. And as of today, a
complementary StreetView map
integration, courtesy of Google. In a
partnership made official this week, Trulia
users can not only parse address numbers
and neighborhood data and the like, they
can also take a little virtual stroll around
the block thanks to those snazzy camera
vans roaming around the nation and
snapping pics at ground level.
Of course, this visual novelty for Trulia
users is only available where those
vehicles commissioned for the StreetView
project have roamed thus far, but hey, at
least there’s something to dabble in, right?
Yahoo Acquires Analytics Company
IndexTools
By Stan Schroeder (Mashable!)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 6:34:37 AM
According to a press release this morning,
Yahoo has acquired Hungarian analytics
company IndexTools for an undisclosed
sum. IndexTools offers an analytics
platform that gives online marketers
detailed insight into the effectiveness of
their web business. They boast a 98%
customer retention rate, and constant
growth since 2002. The deal with Yahoo
will be completed in the first half of 2008.
Here’s a hint of what Yahoo plans to do
with IndexTools: “ the first group of
customers to benefit from these enhanced
Pete Flint, Trulia’s CEO says that listings
in 30 US cities are currently offered with a
side dish of SteetView, and more material
is to be added in real-time as it is captured.
Editor’s Note: Stay tuned for an
interview with Pete Flint, CEO of Trulia,
on the Mashable podcast.
ShareThis
---
Related Articles at Mashable! - The
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Look Out: Six New Cities Added to
Google Street View
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Houston, This is Google Street View
tools will be more than 150,000 small-to-
medium businesses marketing on the Web
with Yahoo!. Additional capabilities
enabling third-party developers to monitor
and optimize the traffic performance of
their applications are expected to follow
throughout the year following the
acquisition.“
ShareThis
Pownce Adds RSS, Support
For More Video/Photo Sites
By Stan Schroeder (Mashable!)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 1:47:37 AM
Here’s a small but sweet collection of
latest updates for all you Pownce lovers:
Pownce finally supports RSS and ATOM
feeds (something that Twitter has had for a
long time), so you can follow people’s
updates in your favorite feed reader. Also,
if you post a link to a video or a photo on
one of the following sites: YouTube,
Flickr, Vimeo, CollegeHumor, Zooomr,
Photobucket, Ustream.tv, Viddler, Qik,
Google video, Metacafe, Revver, and
Viddyou, it will show up right there in
your notes.
There’s more. Various Pownce tools are
now collected on this page -
pownce.com/tools/, and you can set some
advanced privacy options here
pownce.com/settings/privacy/.
Finally, those of you who like to meet in
person (yuck) can go to a Pownce brunch
when they happen in your town. I’d go, but
---
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Yahoo Starts Layoffs While Deciding
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Yahoo’s Playing with our Mashing
Emotions Today
Yahoo OMG. Get Your Celeb Gossip
Here.
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The Daily Poll: Is Microsoft-Yahoo
Inevitable?
Yahoo Adds Wikipedia to oneSearch
Mobile Results
Yahoo Closing their Auctions Service
Web 2.0 21
apparently this requires me to go “
outside,” and I’ve never heard of that
place.
ShareThis
---
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A Quick Conversation with
Mefeedia’s Frank Sinton
By Mark 'Rizzn' Hopkins
(Mashable!)
Submitted at 4/8/2008 6:05:50 PM
Mefeedia is the edited online video
repository that gets their content from a
15,000 video sites; we covered them
recently when they received a $250,000 in
angel funding. Kristen Nicole caught up Now and Save $200
with Frank Sinton today at the Video Genius.com Funded, Blogster Sale,
Search Summit today, and got to do a NYTimes Widgets, Tag Maps, Yahoo
quick interview on camera using the Answers, Social.com, MeFeedia, AOL
FlixWagon service. QVC, TutorLinker, Film.com, Skype Pro
ShareThis Miro Releases Updated Version for
--- Internet TV
Related Articles at Mashable! - The ClipShack: The Flickr of Video, Again!
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MeFeedia Raises $250k for Video Video Ads
Aggregation
FireAnt - Best Vlog Directory Yet
Video Search Summit 2008: Register
22 TV*
Bo Bice: The TV Squad
Interview - VIDEO
By Jason Hughes (TV Squad)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 3:02:00 AM
Filed under: American Idol, Video,
Interviews, Alumni, News and Gossip
Way back in the early days of American
Idol, and by early days I mean "Season
Four," there was a girl who was a little bit
country and a long-haired fellow who was
a little bit rock and roll. I think we all
know who went on to win that season, but
that southern rocker was a pretty amazing
presence of his own. In fact, they were so
strong together in the final, they both
released "Inside Your Heaven," the Idol
single for that year. And they even
swapped spots at number one with the
track.
Now Bo's out promoting See the Light,
his latest album which is more true to his
southern rock roots. But that doesn't mean
he's not willing to take a break from his
touring schedule to spend some quality
time with the kids down at American Idol
Camp this summer. The program, which
began last year, is for 10-15 year olds and
runs in five two-week sessions throughout
the summer.
There, kids can go to learn about the
music industry and hone their craft as
musicians, as well as experiencing all the
traditional things that make summer camps
Secret Talents of the Stars reactions - VIDEOS
By Isabelle Carreau (TV Squad)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 5:23:00 AM
Filed under: OpEd, Music and Variety,
Watercooler Talk, Celebrities, Game Show
I had no plans to watch CBS' Secret
Talents of the Stars last night. When I
heard about this competition show, I
thought it would be tacky. George Takei
singing country music? Come on! I may be
a Trekkie but I can admit this match up is a
tad weird (more on him later). Plus, 10
p.m. on Tuesdays for me right now is
devoted to watching the Dancing with the
Stars results show (I tape it and fast
fun, just with the added bonus of hanging
out with and learning from Idol alumni like
Bo. For more on Idol Camp check out the
official American Idol Camp website. For
more on my chat with Bo Bice, follow me
after the jump.
Continue reading Bo Bice: The TV
Squad Interview - VIDEO
Permalink| Email this| | Comments
forward through it) and then Hell's
Kitchen(I tape it as well). So why did I end
up watching it? Simple, I watch Big
Brother at 9 p.m. and was waiting for
Ticked off Jamie Lee Curtis
vents on Oprah - VIDEO
By Allison Waldman (TV Squad)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 2:01:00 AM
Filed under: Daytime, Video,
Cable/Satellite, Celebrities, Talk Show,
Reality-Free I'm not a regular Oprah
watcher, but on Monday I happened to see
actress Jamie Lee Curtis' appearance. I've
been really curious about Jamie lately,
especially since seeing her on those
Activia yogurt commercials. Damn, she's
just two years younger than I am and she
looks great! What is in that yogurt
anyway?
But Jamie Lee was on Oprah to vent.
Turns out that the cover shot she did for
AARP magazine, which the editors chose
to proclaim as a nude shot, was a sham.
The picture was not a naked photo shoot.
She was wearing a strapless top and was
photographed in a swimming pool. The
illusion of nudity was created by the way
they cropped the picture. Jamie Lee said
she was shocked. She held up a copy of the
magazine and said to Oprah and the world,
10:05 because DwtS always finishes late. I
didn't want to flip channels so not to hear
who was voted off the dance competition,
so I ended up watching the beginning of
STotS where figure skater Sasha Cohen
admitted her secret: she's highly flexible
and wanted to do a contortionist routine.
Since curiosity got the best of me, I
decided to watch the entire segment and
ended up being impressed.
Continue reading Secret Talents of the
Stars reactions - VIDEOS
Permalink| Email this| | Comments
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
"Isn't it fascinating that this constitutes
being naked. What the f*ck are we talking
about? In my world, this is called strapless.
I didn't go around saying I was topless."
Continue reading Ticked off Jamie Lee
Curtis vents on Oprah - VIDEO
Permalink| Email this| | Comments
Oprah
developing new
show for Dr. Oz
By Allison Waldman (TV Squad)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 5:04:00 AM
Filed under: Industry, Daytime, Talk
OPRAH page 22
Reasons why I
think ABC should
renew Miss Guided
By Isabelle Carreau (TV Squad)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 4:03:00 AM
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows,
OpEd, TV Squad Polls, Watercooler Talk,
TV Squad Lists, Reality-Free
TV Squadder Paul Goebel reviewed the
series premiere of the ABC comedy Miss
Guided. He wasn't sure what to make of
the show after the first airing and I must
admit that I also had my doubts about this
new comedy. Judy Greer is a joy to watch
as guidance counselor Becky Freeley but
the comedy was predictable and the cast
way too beautiful to portray a real high
school. However, I decided to stick with it
and ended up enjoying the show's
storylines and characters as well as the
interview-like tidbits.
The series aired its season finale last
week and is now awaiting ABC's upfronts
to know if it'll come back next season or
have to close the books. To help ABC
make its decision, here are some reasons
why Miss Guided should be renewed.
Continue reading Reasons why I think
ABC should renew Miss Guided
Permalink| Email this| | Comments
OPRAH
continued from page 22
Show, Reality-Free Please file this item
under the "Duh" file: Dr. Mehmet Oz,
Oprah's favorite medical expert, is getting
a spin-off talk show. Harpo Productions,
Oprah's company, is developing a Dr. Oz
talk show to commence fall of 2009.
According to insiders, the Harpo team
had meetings with distributor in Chicago
last month. A medical talker with Doc Oz,
OPRAH page 23
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
Boston Legal: Tabloid Nation
By Paul Goebel (TV Squad)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 12:32:00 AM
Filed under: Boston Legal, Episode
Reviews, Reality-Free
( S04E15) "Life's a cabaret, man." -
Denny Crane
Christopher Rich is one of my favorite of
Alan's adversaries not only because he's a
"hoot" himself but because he is one of the
few lawyers who give back to Alan exactly
what he dishes out. As much as I adore
Alan Shore, it pleases me to no end to see
him get frustrated almost to the point of
anger. Who knows, one day, he may even
lose to someone like Melvin Palmer but I
won't hold my breath.
When Alan lost his temper with Melvin,
it was great. I can't remember ever seeing
Alan look so embarrassed. I guess we
shouldn't be shocked that a guy who has no
The Daily Show: April 8, 2008 -
VIDEOS
By Annie Wu (TV Squad)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 1:38:00 AM
Filed under: OpEd, The Daily Show,
Episode Reviews, Reality-Free"Dick Move
of the Week": A cheap shot from the
Barack Obama campaign last Wednesday.
To lure youngsters away from a Bill
Clinton speech on-campus, Obama
supporters gave away tickets to a Dave
Matthews concert. Ouch. Wow, The Daily
Show has been doing all sorts of things to
my vocabulary. After the show
permanently ingrained "douchebag" into
my everyday conversations, I now fear that
"dick move" is going to start working its
way into my language. Hey, when you
watch a show four times a week,
mannerisms are bound to get picked up.
This also poses the possibility that I'll start
ability to suffer fools also has a deep
seated fear of clowns.
Continue reading Boston Legal: Tabloid
Nation
Permalink| Email this| | Comments
having nightmares about animated purple
penises wearing Chuck Taylors.
Continue reading The Daily Show: April
8, 2008 - VIDEOS
Permalink| Email this| | Comments
ABC still interested in Leno
By Allison Waldman (TV Squad)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 1:35:00 AM
Filed under: Late Night, Industry, Reality
-Free So, Disney CEO Robert Iger was
having one of those yummy breakfast
confabs talking about the future of the
network and new media, alternate
platforms and all those other fun buzz
words about how we're going to be
watching shows in the next few years.
Then, kind of as an aside, he was asked
about Jay Leno. With the end of Leno's era
as the host of The Tonight Show looming -
- and Conan O'Brien chomping at the bit to
take over -- Mr. Iger said that he wouldn't
rule out ABC going after Jay.
Ken Auletta of the New Yorker pressed
Iger about Leno, to which the ABC head
Big Brother 9: PoV Competition #9
By Jackie Schnoop (TV Squad)
Submitted at 4/8/2008 6:02:00 PM
Filed under: OpEd, Big Brother (US),
Episode Reviews
(S09E27)"I stirred the pot for no reason."
- Adam
Nah, Adam. I like it that you shook
things up a bit. Adam's latest nominations
in the Big Brother 9 house alienated his
alliance. We're talking about a house
OPRAH
continued from page 22
which I bet will be called Ask Dr. Oz-- the
name of his successful segments on
Oprah's show -- would follow in the
footsteps of Dr. Phil. Remember, Dr. Phil
McGraw began his life as a talker by
appearing on Oprah in infrequent hours
that were a de facto pilot for his own talk
show. Dr. Phil then launched in 2002, as a
Harpo production, and has been a big time
hit. He's even challenged Oprah in some
markets.
Continue reading Oprah developing new
show for Dr. Oz
Permalink| Email this| | Comments
man squirmed and said, "It's not something
we typically comment on."
Continue reading ABC still interested in
Leno
Permalink| Email this| | Comments
which puts James on the block week after
week. Then he wins veto week after week
and saves himself. Well, there was that
The View Discusses Thomas
Beatie
By Hollywood Grind
Submitted at 4/8/2008 6:21:06 PM
The ladies from The View discussed the
woman who calls herself a man named
Thomas Beatie. Some of the best points
were: she still gets a pap smear because
she has a uterus and a vagina, debate if
testoerone she took will harm the baby,
wondering how she can call herself a man
yet have a baby like a woman, and my
number one concern, concern over the
psychological damage that will be done to
the child due to its confusion over its
parents gender issues, sexuality issues, and
TV* Gossip 23
time that the houseguests all voted him
back in after they had evicted him. If they
all want James out of the house so badly,
their approach just isn't working, is it?
Read on past the jump for the full review
of tonight's show.
Continue reading Big Brother 9: PoV
Competition #9
Permalink| Email this| | Comments
stigma from society in general. Some
heterosexual parents are deemed unfit, so
why hasn’t Thomas Beatie been deemed
unfit due to her obvious psychological
issues?
© Copyright HollywoodGrind.com 2006-
2008. All Rights Reserved. Related posts:
• Thomas Beatie on Oprah
• Thomas Beatie is Pregnant
• Elisabeth Hasselbeck Reveals Son’s
Name on The View
• Damon Wayans Gives Don Imus Two
Thumbs Up
• Rosie Coming Back to MSNBC
24 Movies*
Uwe Boll Trashes
Michael Bay, Eli Roth and
Anti-Boll Petition
By Erik Davis (Cinematical)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 3:02:00 AM
Filed under: Celebrities and Controversy,
Fandom, Trailers and Clips You might
remember how the other day Cinematical
and FEARnet writer Scott Weinberg clued
us all in to an interview FEARnet
conducted with the infamous director Uwe
Boll. Shortly after our post hit, it quickly
made its way all over the web -- with
thousands upon thousands of people
signing a petition to stop Boll from making
anymore movies. See, in the interview he
said he'd stop if the petition was signed by
one million people. Not sure if he knew
this at the time, but the internet loves a
challenge.
Well, now, Boll has put out a video
asking fans to start up a pro-Boll petition.
Oh yes, and he wants one million folks to
sign that as well. I love this guy -- hearing
him, he sounds like the bizarro Arnold
Schwarzenegger. Why does he want you to
sign a pro-Boll petition? Well, because --
and I quote -- he's "not a f**king retard
like Michael Bay or other people running
around in the business ... or Eli Roth
making the same sh**ty movies over and
over again. If you really look at my
movies, you will see my real genius."
He's definitely a unique individual -- I'll
give him that. Then again, this could be
wonderful promotion for his next film
Postal, which comes out in May. Hmmm ...
maybe Boll is a genius. Check out his
scathing video message after the jump
(and, yes, it's probably NSFW).
[Thanks Anthony]
Continue reading Uwe Boll Trashes
Michael Bay, Eli Roth and Anti-Boll
Petition Permalink| Email this| Comments
EXCLUSIVE: Images
from 'The Wackness!'
By Erik Davis (Cinematical)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 5:01:00 AM
Filed under: Comedy, Drama, Fandom,
Movie Marketing, Images
Known in some circles as "that movie
where Sir Ben Kingsley hooks up with
Mary-Kate Olsen," The Wackness
premiered at this year's Sundance Film
Festival where it was met with an
unbelievable online reception. Just about
everyone I spoke to fell in love with this
quirky drug-related dramedy from director
Jonathan Levine( All the Boys Love
Mandy Lane). While I didn't get the chance
to see it (our own Scott Weinberg did),
these good vibes have me all antsy to
check out The Wackness when it hits the
Tribeca Film Festival later this month.
Here's a bit from the synopsis: "... Luke
(Josh Peck) is a socially uncomfortable
teenage pot dealer with no friends, issues
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
with his parents, and a whopping lack of
confidence with girls. He trades weed for
sessions with his therapist, Dr. Squires (Sir
Ben Kingsley), whose much-younger wife
(Famke Janssen) is slipping away from
him. Squires, a drug-addled shrink with a
hairline retreating to the back of his neck
and a state of mind slouching back to
adolescence, is an unlikely role model-but
the two of them forge a friendship based
on a mutual need: neither one is getting
laid."
Check out both exclusive photos
(including a larger version of the image
above) from the film in the gallery below.
The Wackness arrives in theaters on July
3rd. (And is it me, or does Kingsley have a
little Keitel going on in that pic?)
Gallery: The Wackness Permalink| Email
this| Comments
Cinematical
Seven: Mock-
Rock Comedies
By James Rocchi (Cinematical)
Submitted at 4/8/2008 3:32:00 PM
Filed under: Comedy, Music & Musicals,
Cinematical Seven, Lists
British rock journalist Nick Kent
perfectly summed up pop music by nothing
how the best rock combines the Byronic
and the moronic. That uneasy mix of
poetry and poses, swagger and stagger,
makes rock and roll ripe for mockery --
and, with Walk Hard arriving on DVD this
week, what better time to name a few great
comedies that have mocked rock and
punctured the pretensions of pop?
1) Walk Hard
Starring John C. Reilly as roots-rocker
Dewey Cox, Walk Hard doesn't just stick a
foot out to trip up Walk the Line; it also
manages to spoof The Beatles, Brian
Wilson, Elvis and much more. (Indeed,
Walk Hard follows such a carefully-crafted
timeline as it travels through pop music
history, it almost feels like a second take
on the brilliant, underseen Grace of My
Heart, another film that spanned decades
through musical styles.) With a brilliant
supporting cast and Reilly's cement-headed
self-centered performance in the lead role,
Walk Hard is that rare parody that
nonetheless still loves what it mocks.
Best Line:"Wait a minute, son: Dewey
Cox has to think about his whole life
before he performs. ..."
Continue reading Cinematical Seven:
Mock-Rock Comedies Permalink| Email
this| Comments
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
Rogue Giving Femme- Chloe Sevigny and Zooey
Centric Comic Book a Chance Deschanel Team Up for
- 'Hack/Slash' on the Way 'Divorce Ranch'
By Eugene Novikov (Cinematical)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 2:02:00 AM
Filed under: Comedy, Horror, Focus
Features, Comic/Superhero/Geek We
haven't had much luck with female comic
book heroes, perhaps because the only
ones that have made it to the screen have
been halfhearted spin-offs from male-led
franchises. Audiences quite justifiably said
"no, thank you" to Elektra and Catwoman.
Rogue wants to change that by adapting
Hack/Slash, a female-led comic book that's
actually distinctive, with a protagonist who
is no one's sidekick, thank you very much.
Justin Marks, who is also writing the
upcoming Street Fighter: The Legend of
Chun Li for Fox, will take a pass at the
screenplay, and music video and
commercial director Todd Lincoln will
make the film his feature debut.
Hack/Slash tells the story of Cassie
Hack, a cute goth girl who survives an
attack by a brutal slasher villain named the
Lunch Lady, recruits an enormous sidekick
named Vlad, and travels the country taking
out slashers and serial killers wherever she
finds them. As you might expect, the
comic book has horror and comedy
elements, and the movie is expected to
have the same. If nothing else, this sounds
Daniel Radcliffe Will Go Naked on Broadway
By Monika Bartyzel (Cinematical)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 4:32:00 AM
Filed under: Celebrities and Controversy,
Exhibition It's official! Harry Potter,
otherwise known as Daniel Radcliffe, is
heading to Broadway. Back in September
of last year, I posted about the Brit's plans
to reprise his starring role in Equus on
Broadway, dropping trou for a whole new
set of fans. Now Yahoo has confirmed it.
The young actor will make his Broadway
like it might please the legions of Buffy
fans who have been waiting for someone
to take the Vampire Slayer's place. And
horror geeks might be pleased to have
something that toys with their genre's
conventions, though I would as soon not
witness the return of Kevin Williamson.
If you're familiar with the source
material, please weigh in below.
Permalink| Email this| Comments
debut on September 5 of this year, in
previews for a limited, 22-week run that
will stretch from September 25 to February
8 of 2009. Yes, folks, that means he'll be in
New York City as Harry Potter and the
Half-Blood Prince hits theaters. I'm
thinking that the chances for a big
premiere in the Big Apple are pretty
darned good -- and just think -- if you book
tickets for the play around November 2,
you can have a double Radcliffe whammy!
Thea Sharrock is directing the play,
By Eugene Novikov (Cinematical)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 5:35:00 AM
Filed under: Casting, Fandom Zooey
Deschanel is a film nerd goddess. I get the
sense -- I could be wrong about this -- that
people who aren't at least moderately
intense cinephiles aren't, by and large,
aware of her existence. Everyone who has
learned to recognize her, on the other hand,
seems to adore her absolutely. And lately,
even the hipster music scene has been
getting a taste: " She & Him," Deschanel's
lovely indie-pop collaboration with
guitarist M. Ward, has been winning over
fans like crazy. I am totally on board with
the mini-phenomenon. She is not only
adorable (I love that photo), she's cool, and
endlessly charming.
Zooey may have more name recognition
after her starring role in M. Night
Shyamalan's The Happening, depending on
how that one goes over this summer. In the
meantime, she is teaming up with another
indie it-girl -- Chloë Sevigny-- for Divorce
Ranch, a seemingly low-profile period
comedy about a woman (Sevigny) who
comes to Nevada after World War II for a
which is based on the true story of a
troubled young man who blinds horses
quickie divorce that will let her marry a
wealthy man. Deschanel will play her
assistant, and TV, film and theater vet
Michael Lindsay-Hogg will direct. I'm a
big fan of Sevigny -- another actress with
little name recognition outside of film
geekery -- as well. This project sounds like
an indie kid's wet dream. Permalink| Email
this| Comments
with a metal hoof pick. Richard Griffiths
(who plays Uncle Vernon in the Potter
franchise) will also reprise his role as the
psychiatrist who treats Radcliffe's troubled
lead. Now the question becomes: Will
Daniel's nudity and smoking create an
uproar here as well? He is now 18, so that
should stop some of the skin qualms, but
the Big Apple certainly isn't the most
smoke-friendly city these days. Permalink|
Email this| Comments
Movies* 25
It's Official: Fourth
'High School
Musical' on the Way!
By Monika Bartyzel (Cinematical)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 4:02:00 AM
Filed under: Deals, Disney, Scripts,
Family Films, Home Entertainment As
much as it would make fans of Zac Efron,
Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, and the
others happy to see them together again,
it's not quite an uplifting premise for a
Disney Channel movie to see them all fail
and have to re-do their Senior Year.
Besides, Zac is starting to bring his
mainstream, post- Musical career together
now, so I would think that it would be
hard, if not impossible, to get him back for
another installment. Nevertheless, The
Hollywood Reporter has posted that the
Disney Channel is continuing the series.
Silly me, to think that graduation would be
the end of it, since High School Musical 3
is, well, "Senior Year."
The Disney Channel is so keen on
continuing the series that they've already
started working on the next one. Most
likely, this will be a new television movie,
rather than another big-screen adventure,
and they're currently writing the script
now. Disney Channel Worldwide president
Rich Ross says: "Are we going to have all
the cast back? Probably not. Will we have
some of them? I hope so." The juniors are
now seniors? Freshman now sophomores?
Continue reading It's Official: Fourth
'High School Musical' on the Way!
Permalink| Email this| Comments
26 Movies* Sports*
Slate Posts Spoiler-Happy 'W' 'Fanboys' Ernie Cline Sells
Script Review 'Thundercade'
By Eugene Novikov (Cinematical)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 3:32:00 AM
Filed under: Scripts, Politics The script
for Oliver Stone's W-- a project we've been
discussing a lot around here lately--
apparently leaked to several news outlets
this week, and Slate has posted a
delightful, albeit spoiler-heavy, review.
Now, the extent to which a George W.
Bush biopic can be spoiled is debatable,
and a lot could change from the October
15, 2007 draft (titled Bush rather than W)
that Slate got its grubby paws on, but the
review does give away a good number of
specific scenes, lines and moments, so
proceed with caution.
Slate's prevailing impression is that the
screenplay is heavy on Bushisms ("Is our
children learning?") and common
perceptions that have become clichés
(Bush as alcoholic fratboy). Indeed, some
of the lines they quote sound like
something that I, having done no research
and possessing virtually no insight into the
man, might come up with if asked out of
the blue to write a movie about Bush's life.
Let the Tiger Coronation Wait
(WSJ.com: The Daily Fix)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 10:59:00 AM
(If you’re looking for today’s Daily Fix
column, it’s here.)
Tim Carroll offers his Masters pick:
Now that the media has handed out the
major tournament trophies for 2008, let’s
review:
Tiger Woods won the Masters because
ESPN said so, the U.S. Open in June
because NBC wanted him to, the British
Open in July because it made for really
great ratings for ABC, and CBS had Tiger
finishing up the Grand Slam in a runaway
because it was a wonderful lead-in to the
fall programming. Tiger even went 5-0 in
the Ryder Cup in September simply
because, well, he’s Tiger and it makes for
great TV. And the U.S. romped 27.5-0.5 in
the Ryder Cup, missing out on the clean
sweep only to give Johnny Miller
(On the decision to invade Iraq, for
example: "I think it's time we stopped
standing around with our dicks in our
hands, and raised the stakes on ol'
'Husseny.'")
Continue reading Slate Posts Spoiler-
Happy 'W' Script Review Permalink| Email
this| Comments
something to talk about on the final day of
the match.
Don’t hand Tiger the green jacket yet.
(Getty Images)
OK, not really, but equally not really are
the ads that ESPN is running to announce
it is broadcasting the par-three contest on
Wednesday and the first two rounds of the
Masters this year. The ads talk of how
Tiger is going for history this year.
History? His 14th professional major and
fifth green jacket? Nah, Jack Nicklaus did
both. It’s an allusion to Woods winning the
Grand Slam this year. And it’s likely an
illusion.
Memo to everyone: Please calm down
and remember the boys have yet to put a
tee in the ground, have yet to hole a single
putt, have yet to wipe a sweat-stained brow
after a power lip-out leaves a putt longer
than the original. And we all know how
well the media is at predictions, don’t we,
By Elisabeth Rappe (Cinematical)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 2:32:00 AM
Filed under: Comedy, Deals, Scripts,
Comic/Superhero/Geek, Games and Game
Movies As the smoke cools on the
Fanboys drama, the boys behind it are
managing to find work elsewhere. The
Hollywood Reporter writes that Ernie
Cline, co-writer of the never-to-be-seen
film, has just sold his comedy spec
Thundercade to Lakeshore Entertainment.
(And yes, that's Cline to the right. I think
writers should get pictures too.)
Thundercade is the story of a video game
junkie facing a midlife crisis who learns
that a young punk had broken a record he
set as a teen. He and his two best friends
embark on a journey to reclaim his place in
video game history and win the world's
ultimate gaming championship,
Thundercade.
Sounds a bit familiar, doesn't it? A bit
like a journey of some geeks to Skywalker
Ranch. But it also sounds a little like an
adult version of The Wizard, which I have
President Giuliani?
Certainly, Woods is a prohibitive
favorite. Las Vegas lists him as even odds
in a sport where if someone — other than
Tiger, of course — has a winning
percentage near 10%, it’s a monster,
monster year. Woods won five PGA Tour
events in a row, and then his streak ended
when he plummeted all the way to fifth in
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
fond memories of. Anyway, at least
Lakeshore will not actually cut out the
midlife crisis bit because it strikes them as
a bit sad.
Continue reading'Fanboys' Ernie Cline
Sells 'Thundercade' Permalink| Email this|
Comments
his last event. Check out the stats pages on
PGATour.com and you don’t need a
workout for your scrolling finger to come
across Woods’s name in scoring, money,
putting, greens in regulation, etc. And, yes,
in last year’s four majors he finished
second, second, all the way down to 12th,
and first. And, yes, this year’s majors — or
at least the middle two of the U.S. and
British Opens — set up very well for
Woods. But let’s all calm down: From now
until August is a long time to
hyperventilate.
So if not Woods, who does win the green
jacket?
Chad Campbell does all the things that a
Masters champion needs to do — he hits it
long enough and well enough, but more
importantly he putts well enough — and
his second-place showing on Tour this past
week portends well.
Phil Mickelson has shown he can win
Welcome to the Daily
Fix’s 2008 Seasonlong
Baseball Contest
(If you’re looking for today’s Daily Fix
(WSJ.com: The Daily Fix)
column, it’s here.)
here. And his short-game coach Dave Pelz
told me in a conversation about a month
ago that Mr. Mickelson’s wrist was hurt
worse than people thought last year, but
now is completely healed. Mr. Mickelson
has already won once on Tour this year. A
third jacket for him is not farfetched.
But the Fix Pick is K.J. Choi. He is
second in greens in regulation this year,
sixth in scoring average, has won once this
year, and, after getting off to an awful start
last week, rallied to finish 11th.
And, who knows: If my prediction is
right, maybe I’ll run for president!
Mr. Carroll, a news editor at the print
Journal, always wanted his Dad to be
president so the family could bowl in the
White House. He can be reached at
tim.carroll@wsj.com.
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
WELCOME
continued from page 26
The Detroit Tigers are Fix readers’
consensus pick to win the World Series,
for the first time since 1984. Of course, the
Tigers promptly started the season by
losing their first seven games, so the 134
readers who entered the Daily Fix
seasonlong baseball contest can take solace
in the fact that the World Series winner is
just one of 20 questions. Predicting Barry
Bonds’s home run total (most think he
won’t have any); the first player to be
released or traded (so long, Richie
Sexson); and the most-improved team
(break up the Rays!) is just as important in
this test of forecasting skills.
This roundup of reader picks may come
late, but the first week of the baseball
season generally doesn’t mean much, as
New York Sun columnist Tim Marchman
pointed out this week. Unfortunately for
Mr. Marchman, one early return that does
seem to matter is the Tigers’ early woes —
he’s a guest entrant in the Fix contest,
along with eight of our other favorite
baseball writers, and he picked the Tigers.
Marchman, Joe Posnanski and Jeff Passan
are newcomers to the contest this year,
joining veterans Deadspin’s Will Leitch,
Jon Bois and Nick Dallamora from the
Dugout, Larry Borowsky, Alex Belth and
Joe Sheehan from Baseball Prospectus
(here are the returning sextet’s 2007
picks). Below they share their predictions
for the season, along with some
commentary. If you didn’t think the eephus
pitch, Minnie Minoso, a young, sullen
Nick Markakis, Leavenworth, Jimi
Hendrix, Residence Inn, Sunday school,
“Michael Clayton” and a bronzed llama
could all make it into one MLB column,
you haven’t read these guys enough.
Also returning from last year are the
winner and runner-up among our readers.
The winner, Matt Viereck, expects the
Tigers to beat the Cubs in a World Series
with lower ratings than last year. Also, he
thinks the Giants will finish with the
majors’ worst record. Runner-up Steve
Saeger likes the Mets to beat the Tigers in
October. He thinks Barry Bonds will hit 12
home runs. Meanwhile, the first prize of
the 2008 contest goes to Elie Mischel, for
getting in the first entry.
On to the picks. Answers may not add up
to 135 because some readers omitted some
answers. Readers picks come first. Last
year’s right answer in bold, where
applicable. Want to weigh in on how the
season, and this contest, will play out?
Please sound off in the comments.
THE BASICS(point value in
parentheses)
1. Which six teams will be division
winners? (5 each)
AL East: Red Sox 105; Yankees 27; Blue
Jays 2.
AL Central: Tigers 95; Indians 39.
AL West: Angels 98; Mariners 33; A’s 3.
NL East: Mets 101; Phillies 22; Braves
11.
NL Central: Cubs 86; Brewers 37; Reds
6; Cardinals 4; Astros 1.
NL West: Diamondbacks 60; Dodgers
40; Padres 18; Rockies 16.
More than 43% of readers picked
identical division winners in the AL: the
Red Sox, the Tigers and the Angels. And
there were just five picks, total, for teams
that didn’t finish first or second last year.
There was far less unanimity in the NL,
where all but five teams got at least four
votes.
Alex Belth: Red Sox, Tigers, Mariners,
Mets, Cubs, Rockies.
I’ve actually found myself avoiding
reading too much about the coming season
this spring. Not an easy trick when you
maintain a daily blog. This is now the sixth
Opening Day I’ve blogged on Bronx
Banter. When I started, there were only a
handful of Yankees-related sites. Now,
there seems to be dozens, including
professional blogs by journalists like Pete
Abraham, Joel Sherman, Kat O’Brien and
Tyler Kepner. The constant stream of
information and analysis helps make this
something of a golden age for baseball
fans. At the same time, I find it all to be
overwhelming at times. So, in the interest
of having a fresh perspective going into the
year, I’ve tried to read as little as possible,
only keeping myself familiar with what is
happening, not intimately so. This general
feeling of needing a break also has been
heightened by the departure of Joe Torre,
the decline of George Steinbrenner and the
beginning of the final year of Yankee
Stadium.
That said, it should be another
compelling year for the game in both
leagues. The NL West is exciting and it’ll
be interesting to see how the Mets perform
after their regrettable finish in ‘07. If Pedro
and Johan remain healthy, each home start
will be an event, kind of like the old Doc
Gooden days. I think the Yankees may
have trouble relying on so much young
pitching; still, they still have a formidable
team with a lot of players I find easy to
pull for. The defending champion Red Sox,
once again, look to be tough. The Indians
should regroup from their disappointing
playoff exit and be strong too, but I’d be
lying if I didn’t say that the Tigers are the
team I’m most interested in watching —
their offense is just staggering.
Jon Bois: Red Sox, Tigers, Angels, Mets,
Cubs, Dodgers.
The American League’s division winners
are slam dunks compared to the National
League’s. Why? The designated-hitter rule,
naturally. The AL is a real-world computer
program comprised of flesh, wood, leather
and dirt. It’s an algorithm, played out with
simple dice-roll probability. When NL
teams send pitchers to bat, they’re putting
baseball’s primary mathematical unknown
into play. Sure, you know the pitcher is
probably going to suck at the plate, but you
don’t know how or how badly he’s going
to suck. The NL wild card is truly a wild
card, as is nearly everything else that
happens in this wretched league. Take the
2007 Diamondbacks. There’s no way a
team with a negative-20 run differential
could win an American League division.
Madness.
I also blame the designated hitter
whenever I stub my toe or spill my beer.
Larry Borowsky: Red Sox, Indians,
Angels, Mets, Brewers, Diamondbacks.
A lot fewer gimmes than usual — the
Mets are the only no-brainer pick
(although the D-Backs pick required only
the brain stem). The Braves, Cubs and
Yankees would not look out of place on
this list; the Mariners have two Cy Young
candidates (Felix Hernandez and Erik
Bedard), and the Phillies have Chase Utley
and Ryan Howard and Cole Hamels. I
don’t like the Tigers’ pitching at all, so I’m
picking against them.
Nick Dallamora: Red Sox, Tigers,
Mariners, Mets, Brewers, Rockies.
Will Leitch: Red Sox, Tigers, Angels,
Mets, Cubs, Diamondbacks.
Tim Marchman: Red Sox, Tigers,
Angels, Mets, Cubs, Diamondbacks.
Jeff Passan: Red Sox, Indians, Mariners,
Mets, Brewers, Dodgers.
Red Sox are a no-brainer. Indians benefit
from Detroit’s bullpen and Seattle from the
Kelvim Escobar injury. The Mets and
Brewers are too talented, and I rolled a
four-sided die to get the Dodgers.
Joe Posnanski: Red Sox, Tigers, Angels,
Mets, Cubs and Diamondbacks. I feel good
about none of these. Maybe Arizona.
Joe Sheehan: Red Sox, Tigers, Angels,
Mets, Cubs, Diamondbacks
Carl Bialik: Red Sox, Indians, Angels,
Mets, Reds, Rockies.
Jason Fry: Red Sox, Tigers, Angels,
Mets, Cubs, Padres.
2. Which two teams will win the wild
cards? (5 each)
AL
Yankees 51
Indians 33
Red Sox 19
Tigers 15
Blue Jays 7
Angels, Mariners 4
NL
Phillies 24
Braves 19
Mets 16
Rockies 15
Diamondbacks 14
Cubs 11
Padres 10
Brewers 9
Dodgers 8
Reds 4
Astros, Cardinals 1
Just 11 readers choose their AL wild-
card pick to win the league crown, and just
three expect the wild-card team to go on to
win the World Series. Those numbers are a
similarly paltry 17 and five, respectively,
in the NL. Yet a wild-card team has made
each of the last six World Series.
Meanwhile, more than 57% of readers
expect the AL wild card to come from the
East, which makes sense given that the
Red Sox or Yankees have taken the extra
playoff spot in four of the last five seasons.
Belth: Angels and Phillies.
Bois: Yankees and Braves.
Their lineups are strong enough to reach
the playoffs, but their pitching rotations
hold too many unknowns for them to win a
division race.
Borowsky: Tigers and Reds.
I don’t really think the Reds will go, but
they’re a fun novelty pick. They vaguely
remind me of the D-Backs from last year
— young talent out the wazoo. Not even
Dusty Baker can ruin this much potential.
Dallamora: Yankees and Dodgers.
Leitch: Yankees and Brewers.
Marchman: Yankees and Braves.
27
Bronx partisans will continue to stay
curiously silent about the corrupting
effects of allowing second-place teams into
the playoffs.
Passan: Tigers and Cubs.
Solace for Cubs fans: A wild card has
made each of the last six World Series.
Posnanski: Yankees and Phillies. I want
to say Cleveland, but I suspect the Yankees
will find a way.
Sheehan: Yankees and Braves.
Bialik: Yankees and Braves.
The Tigers can’t pitch.
Fry: Indians and Braves.
Watch out, Met faithful, the Braves are
alive again. Oh yeah: Eat it, Steinbrenners!
3. Which two teams will go to the World
Series? (15 each)
AL
Tigers 49
Red Sox 38
Indians 17
Yankees 14
Angels 12
Mariners 3
Blue Jays 1
NL
Mets 62
Cubs 17
Diamondbacks, Dodgers 13
Phillies 11
Braves 6
Brewers 5
Rockies 3
Cardinals, Padres 2
Some 22 readers predicted the Tigers
would face the Mets, and another 20
predicted a rematch of the Mets-Red Sox
series in 1986. One of these, Samuel
Sanchez, writes, “Mets in seven, only this
time it will be Ortiz at Shea with the boot.”
Belth: Tigers and Mets.
Bois: Tigers and Braves.
The Tigers possess the playoff
experience they lacked during their 2006
run to the Series, both from holdovers from
that team and from the newly-arrived
Edgar Renteria. Aside from being an
excellent player, Renteria has played in
two Series and is a clubhouse leader. I
think Dontrelle Willis will find his throw
again, and the acquisition of Miguel
Cabrera will make the Tigers’ lineup the
scariest in baseball. I’m picking the Braves
because I always pick the Braves. If for
some reason Mike Hampton stays healthy
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enough to pitch 150 innings, Atlanta will
possess one of the best rotations around.
During off-days they should store him in
that vat of fluid that they kept Luke
Skywalker in while he recovered from his
encounter with the ice monster. I have a lot
of other great ideas.
Borowsky: Red Sox and Diamondbacks.
The D-Backs’ rotation is the best in the
NL. They’ve got good defense, a good pen,
and I like their manager. They could use
another hitter, but they’ve got the trade
chips to land one (and they could always
pick up Barry Bonds, who played his
college ball in Tempe). As for the Red
Sox, they’re a near-perfect balance of in-
prime stars and breakthrough youngsters.
Dallamora: Tigers and Brewers.
This is starting to become a little too
cliché, but the real World Series is going to
be the ALCS. I’m seeing the Red Sox
taking it to seven games again, but it’s the
Tigers’ year to bring it home.
Leitch: Red Sox and Mets.
Marchman: Red Sox and Cubs.
Boston and Chicago will win the
pennants, inciting unprecedented levels of
sepia-toned columnizing by people who
have no idea what they’re talking about.
Passan: Indians and Mets.
Sorry, Cubs fans: No wild card this year.
The Indians’ pitching is deep and hitting
will return to form, and the Mets have the
best pitcher in baseball, a talented offense
and superb up-the-middle defense.
Posnanski: Red Sox and Mets.
Sheehan: Red Sox and Mets.
Bialik: Yankees and Mets.
This may be wishful thinking: I want to
be in New York for a Subway Series,
having missed by 90 miles last time
around.
Fry: Indians and Mets.
4. Which team will win the World
Series? (30)
Tigers 29
Mets 27
Red Sox 23
Yankees 12
Indians 10
Angels 8
Cubs 7
Braves 4
Dodgers, Phillies 3
Brewers, Diamondbacks 2
Cardinals, Mariners, Padres, Rockies 1
Just 51 readers expect the NL to win the
World Series. Two sweeps in three years
will do that to a team’s repuation.
Thanks to the addition of Miguel
Cabrera, the Tigers are readers’ favorite
pick to win it all — but they started the
season winless. (Associated Press Photo)
Belth: Tigers.
Bois: Braves.
I’m picking the Braves again because I
always pick the Braves again, and also
because it gives me the opportunity to talk
about them some more. I believe Matt Diaz
is one of the most underappreciated hitters
in baseball. He hit .338 last year, and his
splits (.318 vs. lefties, .356 vs. righties)
more than justify a full-time slot in left
field. Yunel Escobar, who hit .327 last
year, wasn’t the best infielder, but should
improve defensively now that he doesn’t
have to play three different positions.
Borowsky: Red Sox.
I can’t pick the Sox to repeat — it’s
boring. There hasn’t been a repeat champ
in almost a decade, and that was the Yanks
so it doesn’t count (the last team other than
the Yankees to repeat was the Blue Jays, in
1993). But am I really picking the
Diamondbacks? Ah, screw it: the Sawx
win again.
Dallamora: Tigers.
Leitch: Red Sox.
Marchman: Red Sox.
Boston will win in the 19th inning of
Game Seven at Wrigley Field, having
come back from at least two sizable
deficits. One also naturally supposes that
this game will involve a Cubs pitcher
walking the bases loaded and then giving
up a grand slam on an eephus pitch,
Alfonso Soriano tossing a live ball into the
stands on account of having forgotten how
many outs there are, or something else of
the sort.
Passan: Mets.
Santana at least twice, Pedro and Maine
filling the other slots, Wright and Reyes in
the swing of their primes. The only thing
that could screw this up is Willie Randolph
and, well, come September, if this looks
foolish because of him, at least I’ll have
been prescient in one respect.
Posnanski: Red Sox.
They won’t be able to talk about curses
in Boston for a long, long time.
Sheehan: Red Sox.
Predicting who will win short series in
October is hard enough in October, so
consider this just a vote for the best team.
No playoff team has better than a 1-in-5
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
shot in October, and, most years, worse A’s, Astros, Rangers 1 Felix Hernandez (Mariners) 5
than that. See the answers to No. 11 for one reason John Lackey (Angels), Chien-Ming
Bialik: Mets. why the Orioles are such a popular pick for Wang (Yankees) 4
Fry: Mets. this one. Rich Harden (A’s) 3
I write this every year it’s even plausible. Belth: Orioles. Fausto Carmona (Indians) 2
Is it a jinx? Possibly. But since I want it to Bois: Orioles. Jeremy Bonderman (Tigers), Mark
happen, wouldn’t NOT writing it when it’s The Orioles have two good players: Nick Buehrle (White Sox), R.A. Dickey
plausible just be an attempt to trick the Markakis and Brian Roberts. MSNBC’s (Mariners), Scott Kazmir (Rays), Daisuke
baseball gods, and therefore an even bigger Tony DeMarco seems to think that Roberts Matsuzaka (Red Sox), Gil Meche
jinx? Some people pore over VORP and could be out the door soon, which would (Mariners), Johan Santana (in a trade from
advanced stats; I ponder the butterfly effect leave them with one good player. And the Mets?), Dontrelle Willis (Tigers) 1
of my wishes on the baseball cosmos. Markakis? As kids, Nick and I were in the National League
5. Which team will have the best regular- same Cub Scout den in suburban Atlanta. Johan Santana (Mets) 77
season record? (10) He and I raced our cars against each other Brandon Webb (Diamondbacks) 18
Red Sox, Tigers 33 in the Pinewood Derby. My car won. I Jake Peavy(Padres) 16
Mets 29 offered to shake his hand, but he responded Cole Hamels (Phillies), Dan Haren
Angels 14 with, “Whatever, you don’t want me to (Diamondbacks) 5
Yankees 12 win, you don’t care,” and angrily stomped Roy Oswalt (Astros), Carlos Zambrano
Diamondbacks 5 off. He grew up to be a star baseball (Cubs) 3
Indians 4 player, and I grew up to blog about him on Aaron Harang (Reds), Chris Young
Mariners 3 the Internet. But as far as I’m concerned, (Padres) 2
Cubs 1 that fateful day makes me the winner. John Maine (Mets), Brad Penny
Just 35% of readers think that the team Borowsky: Giants. (Dodgers), Ben Sheets (Brewers) 1
with the best record will win the World Dallamora: Orioles. Belth: Verlander and Santana.
Series. And barely a quarter of readers Finally, an easy one. Bois: Halladay and Santana.
expect an NL team to have the best record Leitch: Giants. Halladay has already won a Cy, and
— all but 6 picking the Mets. Marchman: Giants. finished third and fifth in voting the last
Belth: Mets. San Francisco will have a season so bad two years. My process for determining my
Bois: Red Sox. that the Dolan family will charter planes prediction went exactly like this: “Johan
Their mix of veteran leadership and full of basketball writers and enraged fans Santana. Oh wait, he’s in the NL. Uh, Pat
young talent is tuned perfectly to rack up to the Bay Area just to make themselves Hentgen.” Then I pulled up the Blue Jays’
105 wins. As an aside: I’m now 25 years look good by the contrast. Isiah Thomas Baseball Reference page. “Did Pat
old, which makes me older than a decent will be seen munching a hot dog in the Hentgen change his name to Roy
number of players. I can actually say stands, pointing and laughing at Giants Halladay? I can’t imagine why he would,
“young talent” and mean it. It’s unsettling. management, and loudly boasting that even but then, I haven’t watched a Blue Jays
Borowsky: Red Sox. he wouldn’t field a team whose average game in years. Halladay it is.” Cy Young
Dallamora: Red Sox. age was 37. voters tend to get excited about wins, and I
Leitch: Red Sox. Passan: Orioles. think Santana will rack up 22 of them.
Marchman: Red Sox and Mets, in a tie. Especially after they trade Brian Roberts. He’s moving to a pitcher’s league and will
Passan: Mets. Posnanski: Orioles. enjoy plenty of run support.
I remember the Mets of April and May It’ll be Baltimore or Pittsburgh. Does it Borowsky: Felix Hernandez and Santana.
2007 (34-18), not the ones from June matter? Two proud 1970s organizations. Dallamora: Verlander and Santana.
through September (54-56). Sheehan: Orioles. Leitch: Verlander and Santana.
Posnanski: Tigers. Just barely behind the Giants. It’s a Marchman: Sabathia and Santana.
Sheehan: Red Sox. necessary part of the process, but the These are admittedly incredibly
Bialik: Red Sox. Orioles are going to be almost unwatchable unimaginative picks. I would pick Josh
The last three teams in their division will this year. Beckett, as one almost expects that his
provide lots of easy games. Bialik: Nationals. back problems will recur in perfect
Fry: Tigers. They won’t get a new-ballpark bounce. proportion to the number of 18-hour flights
6. Which team will have the worst Fry: Giants. he’s asked to take, but taking him at his
regular-season record? (10) 7. Who will win the AL and NL Cy word one has to slate him behind Sabathia
Orioles 48 Young awards? (10 each) and his marvelous array of hat angles.
Giants 23 American League Passan: Felix Hernandez and Santana.
Marlins 17 Justin Verlander (Tigers) 42 If you asked me two years ago, I would
Royals 15 Josh Beckett (Red Sox) 24 have thought Felix Hernandez would gain
Pirates 14 C.C. Sabathia(Indians) 20 30 pounds instead of lose them. When I
Nationals 11 Erik Bedard (Mariners) 14
Rays 3 Roy Halladay (Blue Jays) 8 WELCOME page 29
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walked into Seattle’s clubhouse, I didn’t
recognize him. His arm is the same, and
with his slider unleashed by the Mariners
and his conditioning likelier to keep him
deep into games, there’s no reason he
shouldn’t break out. Santana with Shea is
like Jimi with a Strat.
Posnanski: Verlander and Santana.
Verlander becomes the first AL pitcher
in three years to win more than 20. Santana
has a monster year for Mets.
Sheehan: Felix Hernandez and Santana.
Bialik: Carmona and Santana.
Fry: Felix Hernandez and Johan Santana.
8. Who will win the AL and NL MVP
awards? (10 each)
American League
Miguel Cabrera (Tigers) 46
Alex Rodriguez(Yankees) 43
Manny Ramirez (Red Sox) 14
Grady Sizemore (Indians) 9
Magglio Ordonez (Tigers) 7
Vladimir Guerrero (Angels) 5
Victor Martinez (Indians) 2
Travis Hafner (Indians), Torii Hunter
(Angels), Derek Jeter (Yankees), Justin
Morneau (Twins), David Ortiz (Red Sox),
Placido Polanco (Tigers), Jorge Posada
(Yankees), Dontrelle Willis (Tigers) 1
National League
David Wright (Mets) 43
Matt Holliday (Rockies), Ryan Howard
(Phillies) 14
Prince Fielder (Brewers), Jose Reyes
(Mets) 10
Alfonso Soriano (Cubs), Chase Utley
(Phillies) 8
Mark Teixera (Braves) 5
Albert Pujols (Cardinals) 4
Chipper Jones (Braves), Jimmy
Rollins(Phillies) 3
Carlos Beltran (Mets), Derreck Lee
(Cubs) 2
Jeff Francoeur (Braves), Alex Gonzalez
(Reds), Matt Kemp (Dodgers), Aramis
Ramirez (Cubs), Hanley Ramirez
(Marlins), Johan Santana (Mets), Ryan
Zimmerman (Nationals) 1
Belth: Cabrera and Utley.
Bois: Cabrera and Chipper Jones.
If I’m supposing that the Braves will
make an improbable run to the World
Series, I need to be consistent with my
improbable prediction and suppose that
their injury-prone clubhouse leader will
lead them there. At age 35, Chipper is a
better player than he’s ever been.
Borowsky: Sizemore and Pujols.
I picked the same two guys last year;
Pujols pert near snuck off with the award
(and he might have won it if us sabermetric
types ran the voting).
Dallamora: Manny Ramirez and Prince
Fielder.
I picked Manny last year and he had his
worst season in 10 years. By my logic I
should learn that he’s an aging All-Star
and pick Alex Rodriguez. This, of course,
results in him going bonkers in a contract
year, leaving me to kick my own behind
when he picks up the award. I’m
outsmarting you this time, baseball god.
Leitch: Alex Rodriguez and Wright.
Marchman: Cabrera and Teixeira.
Cabrera will not deserve it, but his 150
runs driven in will trump the 25 that
bounce off of and drop past his
outstretched glove. Teixeira will deserve it,
and the team that signs him for $25 million
a year coming off his peak season will
deserve what they get most of all.
Passan: Alex Rodriguez and Utley.
Sorry, but A-Rod was so much better
than anyone last season, it would be
foolish to pick against him. Utley, not
Jimmy Rollins, would have won NL MVP
had he played a full season last year, and,
at age 29, he’s about as good as he’s going
to get.
Posnanski: Jeter and Beltran.
I have this weird feeling that this will
finally be the year Jeter wins it. I always
pick Beltran to win in the NL.
Sheehan: Cabrera and Wright.
Note: will win. “Should” is an entirely
different matter, especially in the AL.
Cabrera’s RBIs and new-car-smell will
carry the day, but his defense will trim his
true value down.
Bialik: Rodriguez and Beltran.
Fry: Cabrera and Wright.
9. Who will win the AL and NL Rookie
of the Year awards? (10 each)
American League
Jacoby Ellsbury (Red Sox) 42
Evan Longoria (Rays) 39
Clay Buchholz (Red Sox) 18
Joba Chamberlain (Yankees) 10
Daric Barton (A’s) 8
Carlos Gomez* (Twins), Adam Jones*
(Orioles) 3
Ian Kennedy (Yankees) (2)
Erick Aybar* (Angels), Carlos Gonzalez
(A’s), Phil Hughes* (Yankees), Dustin
Pedroia* (Red Sox), Jonathan Van Every
(Red Sox) 1
The Cubs’ Kosuke Fukudom, who had
played 1,074 games for Japan’s Chunichi
but none in the majors before this season,
is the favorite for the NL’s Rookie of the
Year award.
National League
Kosuke Fukudome (Cubs) 38
Geovany Soto (Cubs) 17
Joey Votto (Reds) 13
Jay Bruce (Reds) 11
Cameron Maybin (Marlins) 10
Johnny Cueto (Reds) 7
Clayton Kershaw (Dodgers), Andy
LaRoche (Dodgers) 4
Hiroki Kuroda (Dodgers), Jayson Nix
(Rockies), Colby Rasmus (Cardinals),
Justin Upton* (Diamondbacks) 3
Chase Headley (Padres), J.R. Towles
(Astros) 2
Homer Bailey (Reds), Yunel Escobar*
(Braves), Evan Longoria (traded from
Rays?), Lastings Milledge* (Nationals),
Alexei Ramirez (traded from White Sox?),
Troy Tulowitzki* (Rockies), Edinson
Volquez* (Reds), Delwyn Young
(Dodgers) 1
*No longer eligible for the award (see
eligibility rules here)
Cueto made a strong first impression,
striking out 10 batters with no walks —
and by one analysis compiling one of the
best major-league debuts in history.
Belth: Buchholz and Fukudome.
Bois: Buchholz and Homer Bailey.
Bailey had an awful Spring and was sent
to Louisville, but I believe he’ll be called
back up before too long. Reds manager
Dusty Baker has already proven his ability
to get the most out of young pitchers, and
he can do the same with Bailey. Granted,
he’ll probably trot him out to throw 340
innings, run him into the ground, and
sacrifice the rest of his career, but what’s a
vase if you don’t break it?
Borowsky: Barton and Bruce.
Dallamora: Buchholz and Fukudome.
Leitch: Longoria and Soto.
Marchman: Buchholz and Soto.
Clay Buchholz’s award will, along with
continued great pitching from Justin
Verlander and Scott Kazmir, help provoke
a scouting bias toward beanpole pitchers,
an entirely welcome development.
Geovany Soto’s award will prove an
inadequate salve for the above-mentioned
Game Seven.
Passan: Longoria and Cueto.
Posnanski: Longoria and Fukudome.
Fukudome becomes the latest Japanese
star to win the inappropriately named
“Rookie of the Year” award.
Sheehan: Longoria and Fukudome.
Bialik: Buchholz and Fukudome.
Fry: Longoria and Fukudome.
TEAMS(all remaining questions 10
points each. All questions include regular-
season games only.)
10. Which NL team will score the most
runs? And which AL team? (5 points each)
NL
Phillies 58
Rockies 26
Mets 17
Cubs 14
Brewers 10
Braves 5
Astros, Diamondbacks 2
AL
Tigers 77
Yankees 37
Red Sox 16
Angels, Indians 2
Belth: Phillies and Yankees.
Bois: Phillies and Tigers.
Unfortunately for them, the Phillies lack
the pitching to win more than 85 games. I
wonder whether Ryan Howard would hit
so many home runs if someone let him
know they were all going to waste.
Borowsky: Phillies and Yankees.
Dallamora: Brewers and Red Sox.
Leitch: Phillies and Tigers.
Marchman: Rockies and Yankees.
In the NL, Chicago will score the most
among teams that don’t play in a pinball
machine. ( Humidor or no, Coors Field still
has freak-show tendencies.) The Yankees
will bludgeon people to death as usual.
Passan: Phillies and Tigers.
The Yankees are getting too old, and
even though the Tigers have some rings on
their tree, I’ll take them by 15 runs.
Phillies ahead of the Braves simply
because of their ballpark.
Posnanski: Phillies and Tigers.
Philadelphia, because the Phillies
ballpark is roughly the size of a Residence
Inn Suite.
Sheehan: Braves and Tigers.
Bialik: Phillies and Tigers.
Fry: Cubs and Indians.
11. Which NL team will give up the most
runs? And which AL team? (5 points each)
NL
Marlins 38
Pirates 20
29
Nationals 19
Astros 13
Rockies 12
Giants 11
Reds 8
Phillies 5
Brewers 4
Cardinals 3
George Sherrill and his fellow Orioles
hurlers are expected to lead the AL in the
dubious stat of yielding the most runs.
(Associated Press Photo)
AL
Orioles 65
Royals 25
Rangers 24
Rays 13
White Sox 2
Mariners, Tigers, Twins 1
Belth: Marlins and Orioles.
Bois: Marlins and Orioles.
See my Markakis anecdote above. He
can pitch a fit, but unfortunately for the
Orioles, he cannot pitch a baseball.
Borowsky: Astros and Orioles.
Dallamora: Marlins and Orioles.
Leitch: Reds and Rangers.
Marchman: Rockies and Rangers.
Colorado will allow the most, but
Florida’s runner-up performance will be
far more impressive in context. Texas will
continue to labor under whatever curse it is
that they suffer from.
Passan: Nationals and Orioles.
Sucks to be a Beltway baseball fan.
Posnanski: Marlins and Orioles.
Sheehan: Marlins and Orioles.
Bialik: Nationals and Rangers.
Fry: Phillies and Rangers.
12. Which team will have the most-
improved record, measured in increase in
total regular-season victories?
Rays 49
Reds 20
White Sox 12
Royals 10
Dodgers, Tigers, Mariners 5
A’s, Marlins 4
Cubs, Giants 3
Blue Jays, Braves, Brewers, Pirates 2
Astros, Mets, Nationals, Orioles,
Rangers, Twins 1
Belth: Blue Jays.
Bois: Braves.
Braves, naturally. They’ll win 98 games,
which won’t be enough to catch the Mets,
WELCOME page 30
30
WELCOME
continued from page 29
but will be enough to clinch a wild card by
mid-September.
Borowsky: Brewers.
The very quiet addition of Mike
Cameron is huge: The resulting defensive
shuffle (Bill Hall to third base, Ryan Braun
to left field) will improve the Brewers by
at least half a dozen games. They’ll have
Yovanni Gallardo around all year, Dave
Bush will probably pitch better, and for
once Ben Sheets had a healthy spring;
maybe this’ll be the year he finally makes
all 32 starts.
Dallamora: Rays.
Leitch: Rays.
Marchman: Rays.
Tampa Bay would have to botch things
pretty badly not to win out here.
Passan: Rays.
When they finish the season at .500, it
will be the best moment for the franchise
since Vince Naimoli’s wife got popped for
running a red and he asked the cop: “Do
you know who I am?”
Posnanski: Rays.
Sheehan: Rays.
There won’t be that many great leaps
forward this season, in part because not
that many teams were all that bad last year.
Bialik: Royals.
They should have won five more games
than they did last year, based on run
differential.
Fry: Rays.
13. Which team will suffer the biggest
decline, measured in decrease in total
regular-season victories?
Rockies 26
Twins 16
Indians 13
Angels 12
Cardinals 10
A’s 8
Red Sox, Yankees 6
Brewers, Giants 5
Astros, Mariners, Padres 4
Orioles, Phillies 3
Braves, Diamondbacks, Marlins 2
Blue Jays, Mets, Rangers 1
Belth: Yankees.
Bois: Twins.
In addition to losing the best pitcher of
his generation, they also dumped Torii
Hunter, an underappreciated Carlos Silva,
and future star Matt Garza. You know
what you do when you want to mail in a
season? You get rid of your talent and sign
Livan Hernandez.
Borowsky: Rockies.
They were a .500 team until mid-
September last year, and they look like a
.500 team to me again. I’m counting on
them not repeating the 14-1 finishing kick.
Dallamora: Twins.
Leitch: Rockies.
I don’t think my Cardinals are going to
be as terrible as everyone thinks, but
maybe I’m just saying that to avoid the fact
that Todd freaking Wellemeyer is in our
rotation.
Marchman: Mariners.
A great number of people will express
disbelief at the huge decline from an 88-
win team that added Erik Bedard, and will
continue to scoff at the idea that there are
stable, predictable relationships between
runs scored and allowed and win totals.
Passan: Cardinals.
By June, Pujols will be begging for
surgery to get away from this mess.
Posnanski: Rockies.
Maybe the Rockies. Maybe Seattle. I’ll
go with the Rockies, but I don’t feel good
about it.
Sheehan: Orioles.
The Giants will be right here as well, as
will the Phillies.
Bialik: Diamondbacks.
They should have won 11 fewer games
than they did last year.
Fry: Cardinals.
Let’s see Tony La Russa’s annoying
micromanaging and paranoid fantasies get
them out of this fix. I’ll feel for St. Louis
fans, but not for him.
14. Rank these teams in order of regular-
season wins, most to fewest: Nationals,
Pirates, Orioles, Devil Rays, Royals.
Nearly 60% of readers –77, to be exact
— think the Rays will do best of these
teams. Just seven picked the Orioles, who
were the pick of 73 readers to have the
worst record of the five. The most popular
ranking: Rays, Nationals, Royals, Pirates,
Orioles. In all, 53 of the 120 possible
rankings were selected.
Incidentally, they’re now the Rays, not
the Devil Rays, as the Fixers erroneously
called them in this contest. Reader William
Backer deducted points from us for this
gaffe; at least he didn’t fine us.
Belth: Rays, Nationals, Pirates, Royals,
Orioles.
Bois: Royals, Rays, Nationals, Pirates,
Orioles.
I’m choosing to believe what I read
about new Royals manager Trey Hillman.
He seems like a Joe Girardi type, which is
exactly what that team needs.
Borowsky: Rays, Royals, Pirates,
Nationals, Orioles.
Dallamora: Orioles, Nationals, Pirates,
Royals, Rays.
Leitch: Rays, Royals, Pirates, Nationals,
Orioles.
Marchman: Rays, Nationals, and Pirates,
with the Orioles and Royals tied.
(Note the high correlation, also on display
in San Francisco, between being terrible
and having a really great ballpark.)
Passan: Rays, Royals, Pirates, Nationals,
Orioles.
Posnanski: Rays, Royals, Nationals,
Pirates, Orioles.
I think this question is just plain mean.
That’s all. Mean. I should refuse to answer
it on principle. But since I have no
prinicples…
Sheehan: Rays, Nationals, Royals,
Pirates, Orioles.
Carl, you owe the Rays a dollar.
Bialik: Royals, Rays, Pirates, Orioles,
Nationals.
Fry: Rays, Nationals, Royals, Pirates,
Orioles.
Still, all of those teams can plausibly
think better days are coming.
INDIVIDUALS(Asterisk denotes partial
credit will be given.)
15. Which manager will be first to no
longer be managing his team (whether
fired, retired, resigned or otherwise not
managing) in 2008?
White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen,
shown arguing on Opening Day, isn’t
expected to last in his job much longer by
dozens of Fix readers. (Getty Images)
Ozzie Guillen (White Sox) 26
John Gibbons (Blue Jays) 17
Dave Trembley (Orioles) 14
Ron Washington (Rangers) 11
Bruce Bochy (Padres), Ned Yost
(Brewers) 9
Tony La Russa (Cardinals) 7
Charlie Manuel (Phillies) 6
John McLaren (Mariners) 5
Manny Acta (Nationals), Willie
Randolph (Mets), John Russell (Pirates) 4
Joe Girardi (Yankees), Lou Piniella
(Cubs) 3
Cecil Cooper (Astros), Bob Geren (A’s)
2 Nathan (Twins: $6) 4
Dusty Baker (Reds), Bud Black (Padres),
Bobby Cox (Braves), Ron Gardenhire
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
(Twins), Mike Scioscia (Angels), Eric
Wedge (Indians) 1
The only immune managers, in the view
of our readers, are those who manage
teams with very low or very high
expectations: Red Sox, Rays, Royals,
Tigers, Marlins, Diamondbacks, Dodgers,
Rockies, Giants. Amid this paranoia, one
reader even predicted Phil Garner’s repeat
departure would come first. Incidentally,
Guillen is also the most likely pick
according to a betting Web site.
Belth: La Russa.
Bois: Fredi Gonzalez.
…because Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria
tends to fire managers for no good reason.
Borowsky: Gibbons.
Dallamora: La Russa.
Leitch: Yost.
Marchman: Guillen.
Guillen threatened to run for mayor of
Chicago a while ago, so once he’s fired he
should look into maneuvering his way into
the Illinois Senate seat I expect will open
this year. Alan Keyes got 27%, and he has
no world championships as far as I’m
aware.
Passan: Guillen.
Or: Likeliest to have a Tom Wilkinson-in
-”Michael Clayton” meltdown.
Posnanski: Guillen.
I’ll go with my old friend Ozzie Guillen.
That curtain seems about read to close on
that act. Who is managing Pittsburgh now?
Oh, John Russell — he just started. He’ll
be fine. Dave Trembley in Baltimore
seems like a good guess too, but he’s
probably also too new.
Sheehan: McLaren.
Bialik: Trembley.
Fry: Gibbons.
16. Who will be the highest-salaried
player (based on 2008 salary) released or
traded?
All dollar figures are 2008 salaries, in
units of $1 million rounded to the nearest
$100,000, and are based on USA Today’s
salary database.
Richie Sexson (Mariners: $15.5) 10
Jason Giambi (Yankees: $23.4) 9
Miguel Tejada (Astros: $14.8) 7
Carlos Delgado (Mets: $16), Todd
Helton (Rockies: $16.6), Juan Pierre
(Dodgers: $8) 5
A.J. Burnett (Blue Jays: $13.2), Joe
Jason Bay (Pirates: $6), Coco Crisp (Red
Sox: $5.1), Mike Hampton (Braves: $16),
Andruw Jones (Dodgers: $14.7), Melvin
Mora (Orioles: $7.8), Alex Rodriguez
(Yankees: $28), Barry Zito (Giants: $14.5)
3
Bobby Abreu (Yankees: $16), Beltre
(Mariners: $13.4), Lance Berkman (Astros:
$14.5), Pat Burrell (Phillies: $14.3), Jose
Contreras (White Sox: $10), J.D. Drew
(Red Sox: $14), Adam Dunn (Reds: $13),
Jim Edmonds (Padres: $8), Nomar
Garciaparra (Dodgers: $9.5), Ken Griffey,
Jr. (Reds: $8.3), Brandon Inge (Tigers:
$6.2), Jeff Kent (Dodgers: $9), Carlos Lee
(Astros: $12.5), Hideki Matsui (Yankees:
$13), Andy Pettitte (Yankees: $16), Brian
Roberts (Orioles: $6.3), C.C. Sabathia
(Indians: $11), Jim Thome (White Sox:
$15.7), Javier Vazquez (White Sox: $11.5)
2
Daric Barton (A’s: $0.4), Joe Borowski
(Indians: $4), Milton Bradley (Rangers:
$5.3), Bartolo Colon (Angels: $16), Joe
Crede (White Sox: $5.1), Kyle Farnsworth
(Yankees: $5.9), Eric Gagne (Brewers:
$10), Jay Gibbons (Orioles: $5), Orlando
Hudson (Diamondbacks: $6.3), Randy
Johnson (Diamondbacks: $15.1), Kyle
Lohse (Cardinals: $4.3), Daisuke
Matsuzaka (Red Sox: $8.3), Kevin
Millwood (Rangers: $10.4), Mike Mussina
(Yankees: $11.1), Carl Pavano (Yankees:
$11), Manny Ramirez (Red Sox: $18.9),
Ivan Rodriguez (Tigers: $12.4), Curt
Schilling (Red Sox: $8), Jason Schmidt
(Dodgers: $15.2), Ben Sheets (Brewers:
$12.1), Ichiro Suzuki (Mariners: $17.1),
Mike Sweeney (A’s: $0.5), Mark Teixeira
(Braves: $12.5), Woody Williams (Astros:
$6), Dmitri Young (Nationals: $5),
Michael Young (Rangers: $6.2) 1
According to 10 readers, Richie Sexson
won’t be with the Mariners by the end of
the season. (Associated Press Photo)
Multiple readers selected Alex
Rodriguez and C.C. Sabathia, the
defending MVP and Cy Young Award
winner, respectively of the AL. Gibbons
and Williams, both released before their
teams’ openers, make less money than
dozens of players on this list, so the Fix
has some time to defer the decision as to
whether they count.
Belth: Giambi.
Bois: Nathan.
When I was a little kid, one of my
favorite storybooks was titled, “As Right
WELCOME page 32
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
Parker, Lady Vols Claim Title
(WSJ.com: The Daily Fix)
Submitted at 4/9/2008 11:41:00 AM
Tennessee joined Kansas as NCAA
tournament champions Tuesday night, as
Candace Parker scored 17 points and
grabbed nine rebounds to lead the Lady
Vols to a 64-48 rout of Stanford, marking
the end of Candice Wiggins’ stellar career
with the Cardinal.
But reducing the title game to Ace and
Ice is too simple, John Smallwood writes
in the Philadelphia Daily News.
The tale of a title-game defeat: Lady
Vols everywhere. (Associated Press Photo)
” ‘Ace’ got the support that both she and
‘Ice’ agreed would be the difference,” he
writes, noting that Ms. Parker (Ace) and
Ms. Wiggins (Ice) had said the
championship game “was going to about
the best team, not the best player. It was
going to swing on which supporting
players would make Tennessee or Stanford
the better team. With Parker struggling due
to an injured shoulder, her teammates —
Alberta Auguste, Nicky Anosike, Shannon
Bobbitt and Alexis Hornbuckle — did
what you would expect of four senior
starters who already had won a national
championship. With Wiggins just
struggling, her teammates — Kayla
Pedersen, Jayne Appel, JJ Hones and
Rosalyn Gold-Onwude — played the way
you might expect three sophomores and a
freshman to play in their first
championship game.”
Ms. Parker is projected as the top pick in
Wednesday’s WNBA draft, to be joined
within a few picks by Ms. Wiggins. (And
will they both go to Russia in the
offseason?) But first, Scott Ostler ponders
the final thud of Ms. Wiggins’s collegiate
career in the San Francisco Chronicle.
BASEBALL CONTEST
See how Fix readers, the Fixers and
some of our baseball writers see the season
playing out, in a roundup of the Fix’s
seasonlong baseball contest.
MARCH MADNESS Wondering who
won the Fix’s March Madness contest, and
how? Wonder no more: Carl has the
results, and commentary from the winners.
“Stanford, which had been picking up
momentum like a Cardinal-colored
avalanche, was stopped cold by a quicker,
tougher, fiercer foe,” he writes. “The Vols
forced 25 turnovers. Twenty-five! Stanford
couldn’t even inbound the ball at times. It
was a valuable life lesson for the Stanford
women. Never get into a wrestling match
with an octopus. The Vols were all arms
and legs and double-team traps and triple-
teams. … The Vols are a team, much more
than simply Parker, backed by the
legendary Death Stare of their coach, Pat
Summitt. They were a swarming, hungry,
mature (five seniors), well-oiled machine.
They smothered Stanford and the Wiggins
mystique.”
***
Who’ll win the Masters?
Tiger Woods, obviously.
Next!
***
Wait a minute! Not so obviously! That’s
what Fix golf guru Tim Carroll says in his
Masters preview: “Please calm down and
remember the boys have yet to put a tee in
the ground, have yet to hole a single putt,
have yet to wipe a sweat-stained brow after
a power lip-out leaves a putt longer than
the original.”
His pick for the green jacket? It’s not
Eldrick.
***
The Boston Red Sox — who started the
2008 season on the other side of the world
what seems like a very long time ago —
finally made it to Fenway Park for their
home opener, complete with handing out
World Series rings, welcoming back a
redeemed man, and thrashing the suddenly
pathetic Detroit Tigers.
The feel-good story of the day was 1986
World Series goat Bill Buckner, who threw
out the first pitch. “The pause lasted a full
13 seconds,” Amalie Benjamin writes in
the Boston Globe. “Bill Buckner sat at a
table in the Fenway Park interview room, a
microphone in front of him, and pondered
the question. Had he had second thoughts
about throwing out the first pitch at
yesterday’s home opener and celebration
of the 2007 World Series win? … His eyes
grew wet and red. Dwight Evans, seated
next to him, reached out and put his arm
around Buckner.”
Bah, says Sean Crowe on Bleacher
Report, arguing that’s just more Red Sox
mythologizing.
“Every time his name is brought up,
history is completely re-written to make
Red Sox fans look bad,” he writes.
“Boston hates Buckner. Boston never
forgave Buckner. Boston blames Buckner
for the curse. Its all crap. Garbage.
Hogwash. In 1990, Bill Buckner made his
triumphant return to the Boston Red Sox.
This was four short years after the 1986
World Series, when old wounds were still
fresh on Red Sox fans minds. So, given the
way things have been portrayed, we must
have booed him off the field, destroyed his
confidence, eaten his first born and
banished him to Canada. After all, were
the awful Red Sox fans who blamed our
cursed baseball team on his bad fielding,
right? As a matter of fact, he received a
five minute long standing ovation on
opening day.”
***
The homecoming was a lot less sweet for
the New York Mets, taking the field at
Shea Stadium for the first time since they
completed their epic gag job by getting
pummeled by the Florida Marlins on the
final day of the 2007 season and missing
the playoffs. Fans cheered new ace Johan
Santana and gawked at Citi Field, now
looming behind the outfield wall — but in
the late innings they wound up booing
luckless reliever Scott Schoeneweis and
first baseman Carlos Delgado, who erased
a good day at the plate by firing a double-
play ball into the Philadelphia Phillies’
Chase Utley. The Phils won, 5-2; the Mets
are in last place. (And in New York, it’s
never too early for it to be getting late.)
“This was supposed to be a day of
pleasant nostalgia,” writes Joel Sherman in
the New York Post. “But by the end of yet
another Mets loss to the Phillies, their
ninth in a row, all that was rekindled for
the Shea Stadium fans was how much they
disliked this team the last time they saw it
together. The regrouped Mets made just as
bad an initial impression at the last-ever
Shea opener. The largest first-game crowd
in the closing stadium’s history booed
Scott Schoeneweis and Aaron Heilman and
ultimately the whole team more lustily
than they booed Jimmy Rollins.”
***
The horror show that is the New York
Knicks has been well-chronicled, but the
Fix has never seen the mess plumbed quite
so deeply and pitilessly as Jeff Coplon
does in New York magazine. Virtually
every sentence stings, so it’s hard to pick a
representative few, but here’s a taste:
“Theyve been called the worst team in the
history of pro basketball, but theyre really
much worse than that. These Knicks are
worse than the fire-sale 41 Phillies or the
expansion 62 Mets or the 76 Tampa Bay
Buccaneers, who were perfect in their
winlessness. Theyre the worst of the worst
because of how theyve lost, in petulance
and complacencyand with management
that bulldozed any critic it could not
ignore. … Now that the [Isiah] Thomas era
is dead, the obituary can be written. The
temptation in these moments is to gloss
over the faults of the deceasedto remember
through a lens, brightly. But Isiahs tenure
was so contemptibleso bereft of redeeming
value, on court or offthat such tenderness
Sports* 31
is hard to muster. In the Knicks me-first
self-regard, theyve blasphemed the most
gorgeously collaborative of games.”
***
This year the ever-flowing ink of
sportswriter elegy is bathing Yankee
Stadium, in its final year before the
Yankees open the new version of the
House That Ruth Built. Not much ink is
flowing the way of a place that’s seen
more than 2,000 spring-training games: Al
Lang Field in St. Petersburg, Fla. (Jason
went to Met spring-training games there in
the mid-80s, and remembers being
astonished to find he was about the same
height as the Mets’ Wally Backman, who
also stepped on the future Fixer’s foot
while hurrying to the bus.)
Al Lang’s long tradition seems to be at
an end: The Tampa Bay Rays are
relocating to Port Charlotte next spring,
and eyeing the site for an open-air stadium.
If this is the end for Al Lang, it couldn’t
ask for a better farewell than the column
ESPN’s Jayson Stark wrote a couple of
weeks back.
“Lou Gehrig trained here,” he writes.
“Stan Musial trained here. Grover
Cleveland Alexander and Tom Seaver
trained here. Joe DiMaggio got four hits in
his first spring training game as a Yankee
here. Don Zimmer hit the first Grapefruit
League triple in the history of the Mets
here. Babe Ruth once launched home runs
here that traveled across First Avenue into
the balconies of the now-defunct West
Coast Inn. Mickey Mantle once smoked a
mammoth, game-winning, opposite-field
home run here that high-hopped off the
asphalt beyond the left-field fence and
plunked into the turquoise waters of
Tampa Bay.”
– Tip of the Fix cap to reader Don
Hartline.
Found a good column from the world of
sports? Don’t keep it to yourself — write
to us at dailyfix@wsj.com and we’ll
consider your find for inclusion in the
Daily Fix.
32 Gossip
WELCOME
continued from page 30
As Right Can Be.” It was about a poor man
who bought some sharp new shoelaces.
The shoelaces only served to highlight the
dullness of the rest of his possessions, so
he bought new shoes, then a new jacket,
then a new house. The story ended with his
property being repossessed by the bank.
It’s a good read. Anyway, the Twins are
currently in the process of telling this story
in reverse. Johan Santana was the new
mansion; Torii Hunter was the horse and
cart, and Joe Nathan is the snappy new
vest. The shoelaces are Kevin Slowey.
Borowsky: Burrell.
Dallamora: Buerhle.
Leitch: Thome.
Marchman: Pujols.
Passan: Jose Vidro.
Only redeeming quality is that he doesn’t
strike out in a lineup full of guys who do.
But with Jeff Clement and Wladimir
Balentien waiting, why are the Mariners
sticking with a sub-.400 SLG DH? Runner
-up: Nomar Garciaparra, making the $8.5
million Vidro is, and probably just as
likely a designate-for-assignment.
Posnanski: Eric Chavez.
Sheehan: Contreras.
I never, ever, ever get this right.
Bialik: Giambi.
Fry: Delgado.
17. Which starting pitcher who’s
changed teams (a group that includes
Johan Santana and Dontrelle Willis) will
earn the most wins?
Johan Santana (Twins to Mets) 111
Dan Haren (A’s to Diamondbacks) 8
Erik Bedard (Orioles to Mariners) 6
Dontrelle Willis (Marlins to Tigers) 4
Livan Hernandez (Diamondbacks to
Twins) 2
Shawn Chacon (Pirates to Astros), R.A.
Dickey (Rangers to Mariners), Brett
Tomko (Padres to Royals) 1
Among top picks, last year Santana and
Haren had 15 wins apiece, Bedard had 13
and Willis had 10.
Belth: Santana.
Bois: Santana.
“Your search for ‘johan santana good
baseball fellow’ returned about 38,300
results (0.24 seconds).”
Borowsky: Santana.
Dallamora: Santana.
Leitch: Santana.
Marchman: Santana.
Santana will win more games than he
pitches. Some guy somewhere in Ozone
Park will remain really angry that the Mets
gave up Carlos Gomez in the deal, and will
repeatedly call Joe Benigno to express his
views on the use of leverage in
negotiations.
Passan: Santana.
I’m nothing if not consistent.
Posnanski: Santana.
But I think Willis has a good year too.
Sheehan: Santana.
He could have an obnoxious record, 26-3
or something.
Bialik: Santana.
Fry: Santana.
18. Will anyone reach the 20-20-20-20
threshold (in doubles, triples, home runs
and stolen bases) that Curtis Granderson
and Jimmy Rollins reached last year? If
yes, who?
No one 76
Jimmy Rollins (Phillies) 21
Jose Reyes (Mets) 13
Curtis Granderson (Tigers) 11
Hanley Ramirez (Marlins) 7
Carl Crawford (Rays), Grady Sizemore
(Indians) 2
Ryan Braun (Brewers), Ichiro Suzuki
(Mariners) 1
Belth: Jeter.
Except instead of 20 triples he’ll be hit
by 20+ pitches.
Bois: Ramirez.
These days, answering “Hanley
Ramirez” when asked “who will do good
in baseball” is like answering “God” in
Sunday school.
Borowsky: No.
Dallamora: No.
Honestly, I’m thinking Hanley Ramirez,
but saying “no” is a lot easier than picking
the player correctly.
Leitch: No.
Marchman: No.
Absolutely not. Eight guys have hit 20
triples in a season since integration.
Passan: No.
The closest will be Grady Sizemore.
Posnanski: No.
Rollins could do it again if he gets 800
plate appearances or whatever crazy
number he got last year.
Sheehan: No.
It’s kind of a fluke thing. You need a
million plate appearances, not that many
walks, the right park…
Bialik: No.
Fry: Reyes.
19. How many home runs will Barry
Bonds hit?*
Barry Bonds won’t get much of a chance
to add to his record home-run total while
attending basketball games such as this
Lakers-Kings matchup. (Associated Press
Photo)
The mean was four, while the median
and mode were zero (98 readers thought
Bonds would remain stuck at 762). The
highest guess was 24. In a season with
more than 42 at bats, Bonds hasn’t hit as
few as 24 homers since 1989.
Since this is a Major League Baseball
contest, incidentally, we’re only counting
homers Bonds hits in the majors — though
several readers wondered if we’d be
including homers in Japan — or a federal
penitentiary.
Belth: 0.
Bois: 0.
It’s starting to look as though Bonds’
legal problems won’t prevent him from
playing this year. What will prevent him
from playing is the truth that no team with
any measure of ego or self-respect will
want him. I suppose that narrows the
candidates to San Francisco and Baltimore,
and even those two strike me as very
unlikely. On the legitimacy scale, his role
as a pinch-hitter in San Francisco would be
more of a joke than his role last year, and
less of a joke than Minnie Minoso’s return
to the White Sox at age 54. We can only
regard the teams’ refusal to sign Bonds as
an act of collusion if we view the Coates
family’s decision to shoot Old Yeller as an
act of collusion. I’m not saying Bonds is a
dog; I guess I’m just saying that he
contracted rabies defending his family
from a prairie wolf.
Borowsky: 0.
And 74, for the Cell Block 6 Raiders in
the California Institution for Men.
Dallamora: 10.
Prison ball counts, right?
Leitch: 0.
If Bonds were on the Opening Day roster
of, say, the Mariners, they could win their
division. Teams ignore him at their own
peril.
Marchman: 19.
13,429 if we’re counting home runs he
hits while bitterly playing MLB 2k8 on his
Xbox, 19 if we’re counting the ones he hits
for the Yankees after he’s signs for a
prorated $30 million, a bronzed llama, and
a framed letter of general apology.
Passan: 0.
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
Let the dying die, would you?
Posnanski: 0.
Don’t know how we would count the
balls hit out of Leavenworth.
Sheehan: 18.
If I say “zero,” the best I can do is tie.
Bialik: 11.
Fry: 0.
20. Will average television ratings for the
World Series go up or down from last
year’s 10.6?
Up 87, Down 47
Belth: Down.
Bois: Up.
Just barely. Not sure if I’ll be
contributing, though. I’m volunteering my
apartment as a Nielsen household,
purchasing 25 televisions, and tuning them
all to re-runs of “The Wire” in an effort to
convince HBO to order a sixth season. I
want to find out whether Bubbles helps
with the dishes.
Borowsky: Down.
Toni Braxton
Ya can’t go wrong betting on baseball
TV ratings to go down. Hospitalized
Dallamora: Up. By Hollywood Grind
Leitch: Up.
Submitted at 4/8/2008 5:42:01 PM
Marchman: Up.
Way up, as the prospect of a Boston- Toni Braxton was admitted with
Chicago World Series hints at the possible pericarditis to a St. Rose Dominican
creation of a pocket universe right there on Hospital in Las Vegas after her show at the
the field. Flamingo Hotel and Casino. After the birth
Passan: Down. of Braxton’s second son, Braxton suffered
Under 10.0. Baseball’s greatest trick: from pericarditis.
Nearly quintupling its revenue over the last Pericarditis is a swelling and irritation of
15 years in spite of plummeting TV the pericardium, the thin sac-like
ratings, something that would kill the NFL. membrane that surrounds your heart.
Posnanski: Up. Pericarditis often causes chest pain and
If it’s Red Sox-Mets as I predict, then sometimes other symptoms. Pericarditis
yes, way up from last year. Cincinnati- may be acute or chronic. The sharp chest
Tampa Bay would draw quite a bit fewer, I pain associated with acute pericarditis
fear. occurs when the pericardium rubs against
Sheehan: Up. the heart’s outer layer.
… courtesy a longer, more competitive Most often pericarditis can be treated
Series. using ibuprofen, or a powerful anti-
Bialik: Up. inflammatory steroid like Dexamethasone.
Though New Yorkers will have to watch © Copyright HollywoodGrind.com 2006-
in droves to make up for apathy elsewhere. 2008. All Rights Reserved. Related posts:
Fry: Up. • Toni Braxton Diagnosed with Breast
Seeing the Red Sox annihilate the Cancer
Rockies was fun if you lived in
Massachusetts. Otherwise, not so much.
– Tip of the Fix cap to Thomas Sperber,
Patrick Houston, Nick Dallamora, Alex
Belth, Richard E. Peck and Tim Marchman
for suggesting contest questions.
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
Memphis, Kansas Ride Free-Flowing Style to Title Game
(WSJ.com: The Daily Fix)
Submitted at 4/7/2008 12:29:00 PM
If the men’s Final Four, with its
unprecedented four No. 1 seeds, really
featured the nation’s four best teams, then
Monday night’s championship game in
San Antonio features the two most-
deserving teams, by far. Less than five
minutes into the early game Saturday
night, Memphis took the lead over UCLA
and never trailed again en route to a
comfortable 78-63 victory. Kansas did
better, never trailing in 40 minutes against
top-ranked North Carolina. The Jayhawks
ran out to a 40-12 lead, then withstood a
North Carolina comeback bid and won, 84-
66 (to the great relief of CBS analyst Billy
Packer).
The surprisingly easy wins extended to
eight games the streak of Final Four games
without a thriller, with none since Illinois
lost for the second time all season to North
Carolina in the 2005 final more than three
years ago. Suddenly cautious columnists
aren’t guaranteeing that Kansas-Memphis
will be a nailbiter, but they do expect an
entertaining game. “If you watched the
way Memphis roared and Kansas soared,
you understand one thing with perfect
clarity: you can’t expect a photo finish
today,” Mike Vaccaro writes in the New
York Post. “But you can expect a hell of a
lot of fun.”
Left to improvise, Chris Douglas-Roberts
devised a baseline drive and emphatic
dunk in the second half of Memphis’s
victory over Kevin Love and UCLA.
(Associated Press Photo)
Coaches Bill Self, of Kansas, and John
Calipari, of Memphis, deserve much of the
credit for authorizing their players to lead
themselves and design plays. Lexington
Herald-Leader columnist John Clay traces
that back to their common mentor, Larry
Brown, who while power-walking with
Mr. Calipari was offering tips Sunday
morning. “In a profession known for
exorbitant salaries and overcoaching,
Calipari and Self are much more inclined
to let their guys, well, just play — to the
point where after his team rolled to a 40-12
lead over North Carolina on Saturday, Self
proclaimed, ‘There were times when I
didn’t have much control over what was
going on out there,’ ” Mr. Clay writes.
Letting great players freelance results in
beautiful improvisation, notably a surfeit
of lobs for dunks. “Sure, it takes discipline
to run it right, to set the screens, to make
the right cuts, to deliver the precise pass,”
Joe Posnanski writes in the Kansas City
Star. “But, in the end, it’s also about letting
players enjoy the games. It’s about getting
players to think on their own. It’s about
getting out of the way and remembering
the game isn’t about coaches; the game is
about players. That’s how Self and
Memphis’ John Calipari coach basketball.
That’s why there will be some alley-oops
tonight.”
Chicago Sun-Times columnist Rick
Telander says Messrs. Self and Calipari
and their brethren get too much credit this
time of year, but it’s understandable
because their familiar faces contrast with
the exiting underclassmen. “What does
allegiance to a university mean to a gifted,
often poor athlete who sees no grandeur in
being an ‘amateur’ — whatever that means
beyond very, very low-paid — and the
possibility of professional league wealth?”
Mr. Telander writes.
Memphis junior Chris Douglas-Roberts
has stuck around long enough to suffer
Elite Eight disappointments each of the last
two seasons, and to surpass that round this
year. He’s almost surely done with college
hoops after tonight. The San Diego Union-
Tribune’s Tim Sullivan re-creates the
moment when college coach first met
future star: “The body language was lousy.
The effort was erratic. The shooting style
was unorthodox and the jump shot was
flat. But the results were remarkable. John
Calipari’s first impression of Chris
Douglas-Roberts conjured a twisted
wreckage on the side of the road. The
Memphis coach was repelled and yet
riveted, simultaneously bewildered and
bewitched.”
In the Louisville Courier-Journal, Eric
Crawford flashes back to the NBA
prospect’s family history. “Chris Douglas-
Roberts grew up in a 110-year-old house in
Detroit, the one his grandparents moved
into when they moved from Louisville,”
Mr. Crawford writes. “The one where
Laura Roberts raised eight children after
her husband died, half of whom went to
college, all of whom became successful in
their lines of work.”
Mr. Douglas-Roberts is constantly
reminded of his family by a tattoo bearing
the name of his mother, Judy. Another
tattoo quotes Psalm 37. His teammate
Chance McGrady “permanently wears a
quotation from Nobel Peace Prize winner
Bernard Lown, developer of the
defibrillator, that tells the world: Men
capable of seeing the invisible can achieve
the impossible,” Denver Post columnist
Mark Kiszla writes, in urging fans not to
jump to steroetypical conclusions about
this ink-decorated squad.
As for Kansas, several columnists write
that tragedy helped forge the close bond
between Jayhawks evident at their best
moments, such as in their furious start
against North Carolina. “This Kansas team
that will play Memphis in tonight’s
national championship game was forged of
many things,” Richard Justice writes in the
Houston Chronicle. “It has a terrific coach
in Bill Self, a wonderful tradition, and
some of the bluest of the blue-chip recruits.
Kansas has something else, something
that’s hard to measure and harder still to
understand. Kansas has a toughness and
closeness born of pain and tragedy.”
Darnell Jackson left the team briefly last
year to care for his injured mother, and
teammates still drop in on him to make
sure he’s OK.
His teammate, Sasha Kaun, lost his
father as a teenager in Russia, and his
mother, Olga, still suspects foul play.
When Sasha first arrived in the U.S., he
wasn’t a basketball prospect but a
beanpole. Then he developed an appetite
and a sterling academic record, and
colleges came calling. “Kansas appealed
most to him,” David Whitley writes in the
Orlando Sentinel. “Maybe the winters
reminded him of Siberia, where Olga
remained. Kaun was no longer homesick,
but he sure missed his mother. She would
have had a hard time comprehending her
son’s development. He became a computer
whiz like his father. It’s probably safe to
say Kaun will be the only player tonight
who has constructed a robot for a class
project.”
***
Seven times this season UConn’s
women’s basketball team had faced a
fellow top 10 team, and five times it won
by at least 10 points, including a 12-point
defeat of Stanford in November. But in the
rematch Sunday night in Tampa, the
Cardinal stunned the Huskies, 82-73, to
advance to the championship game
Tuesday night. Notable Stanford alumnae
were on hand, Ann Killion writes in the
San Jose Mercury News: “The women who
began and sustained the magic at Stanford
bore witness Sunday night to perhaps the
most magical run by any Cardinal team.”
LSU almost pulled off Sunday’s second
Sports* 33
upset when senior Erica White sunk two
free throws to put the Lady Tigers ahead of
Tennessee, 46-45, with 7.1 seconds left.
But a last-second put-back by Alexis
Hornbuckle gave Tennessee another title-
game berth and sealed LSU’s fifth national
semifinal defeat in five years. LSU’s
accomplishment remains impressive,
Carter Gaddis writes in the Tampa
Tribune: “They overcame the death of a
beloved coach, the scandal-ridden
resignation of another coach and the
ravages of Hurricane Katrina. For five
consecutive seasons, under four different
coaches, nothing kept the Louisiana State
Tigers out of the Women’s Final Four.”
A packed Forum in Tampa obscures a
big challenge for the women’s game. “In
its attempt to make the women’s tourney
mirror the men’s, the women’s basketball
committee stepped on the gas, expanding
the tournament field way too quickly and
going to neutral sites before there was
enough evidence that people would
actually show up,” Andrea Adelson writes
in the Orlando Sentinel. “Take an early
round game in Los Angeles last year,
which drew 878 people.”
***
Gib Shanley, longtime radio broadcaster
for the Cleveland Browns, died Sunday at
age 76. He was there for the Browns’ last
championship — and for their more-
plentiful disappointments. “In Shanley’s
voice a measured amount of emotion could
be heard, depending on the situation,”
George M. Thomas writes in the Akron
Beacon Journal. “The moment his voice
dropped on the radio during the infamous
Jan. 4, 1981, playoff game against the
Oakland Raiders in an arctic Municipal
Stadium as the Browns were driving to
take the lead, it was apparent what had
happened.”
Found a good column from the world of
sports? Don’t keep it to yourself — write
to us at dailyfix@wsj.com and we’ll
consider your find for inclusion in the
Daily Fix.
34 Sports* Gossip
March Madness Contest Results
(WSJ.com: The Daily Fix)
Submitted at 4/8/2008 10:55:00 AM
(If you’re looking for today’s Daily Fix
column, it’s here.)
Congratulations to Greg Martinek and
David Hudson, the only Daily Fix readers
among the 86 entering our March Madness
contest who picked all Final Four teams
correctly and chose Kansas to win it all.
Mr. Martinek won the contest by a wide
margin. He’ll be joined in the Daily Fix
Skybox of Champions (which by now
resembles a Titanic lifeboat, but anyway)
by Mr. Hudson, who finished second, as
well as by Chris DeLotell and Stephen M.
Schleicher, who tied for third. Dr.
Schleicher managed to edge into the top
four despite picking UCLA to win it all,
thanks to his perfect Final Four picks and
piling up points on the earlier questions.
It was clear to Mr. Martinek, president of
an electronics-manufacturing company,
that the four top seeds were the four best
teams. In the semifinals, the 50-year-old
from Brookfield, Wisc., reasoned that
UCLA couldn’t match “the toughness,
strength, and length of Memphis.” As for
Kansas-North Carolina, “A game played at
such a fast pace was going to be
determined by the team with superior
depth, and it was.” His comments about
the final, emailed to me ahead of time,
proved prescient: “This type of game
would favor Kansas due to their being a
much better free-throw- and three-point-
shooting team than Memphis.”
It took the runner-up, Mr. Hudson, about
10 minutes to put together his contest
entry, he estimates. The 28-year-old
Oklahoma City fixed-income broker and
Oklahoma State graduate based his
champion pick on school ties: “My mind
said UNC, but luckily my heart said
Kansas (Big 12 ties, OSU alum Bill Self),”
Mr. Hudson writes. “Rock Chalk Jayhawk.
Now let’s go talk to Bill Self about that
vacant OSU head coaching position.”
Mr. DeLotell, a 21-year-old from Mason,
Ohio, says he chose Kansas “because I
simply thought it was the best combination
of talent and coaching in the tournament.”
The senior at the University of Kentucky
nonetheless was rooting for Memphis on
behalf of his nine-year-old brother, who
stood to win $60 in his pool if the Tigers
won the title. “Luckily, he fell asleep at
half-me and missed Memphis’s late-game
choke at the foul-line and in the strategy
department,” Mr. DeLotell writes.
“Always foul with a three-point lead in the
last 10 seconds!”
Read on for how the contest played out,
with correct answers bolded.
1. Which will be the team with the
highest seed number (16 is higher than 1)
to win in the first round?(Winners in
italics.)
Winthrop (seed 13) 12; Georgia (14) 10;
Temple (12) 9; Siena(13) 8; Villanova(12)
6; St. Joseph’s (11) 5; Baylor (11), Cornell
(14), Davidson(10), St. Mary’s (10) 4;
Kansas State(11), San Diego(13) 3; Boise
State (14), George Mason (12), Oral
Roberts (13), Western Kentucky(12) 2;
American (15), Cal State-Fullerton (14),
Kentucky (11) 1.
Siena and San Diego both went on to
lose to No. 12 seeds in the second round.
Most readers erred on the conservative
side, with 15 correctly picking first-round
upset winners but choosing one with too
low a seed.
2. Which No. 1 seed will win by the
fewest points in the first round?
UCLA 30; Kansas 29; Memphis 17;
North Carolina 8.
None of the games was close; Kansas
and Memphis both won by 24 points, while
North Carolina won by 39 and UCLA by
41. These blowouts presaged the relatively
easy path for all four teams — particularly
North Carolina’s — to the Final Four. But
they were poor indicators of the results of
the national semifinals.
3. How many teams outside the power
six conferences (ACC, Big East, Big 10,
Big 12, Pac-10, SEC) will make the Sweet
16?
2.6 was the average answer, 3 was the
median and the range was 0 to 6.
Four broke through, as predicted by 11
readers. Only two of these Sweet 16 teams
are surprises: No. 12 seed Western
Kentucky of the Sun Belt and No. 10
Davidson (Southern Conference). Top seed
Memphis from Conference USA and No. 3
seed Xavier (Atlantic 10) also advanced.
Three of them advanced to the Elite Eight,
and Memphis made the championship
game.
4. Which conference will see the highest
number of its representatives reach the
Sweet 16?
Big East 61; Pac-10 13; ACC 6; Big 12
5; SEC 1.
The Big East and Pac-10 have three
teams each. For this question, Stanford’s
last-second leaner to beat Marquette in
overtime was critical. The Big 12 led in the
Elite Eight, with Texas and Kansas — and,
most importantly, led all conferences with
one national champion.
5. Which of the following bubble teams
will advance the farthest in the tournament:
Oregon, Kentucky, Baylor, Kansas State,
Villanova or Arizona?
Kansas State 25; Arizona 16; Baylor,
Oregon 12; Villanova 10; Kentucky 7;
none (all lose in first round) 4.
Only Kansas State and Villanova won,
and Villanova advanced to the Sweet 16.
6. Which player will score the most
points (total points, not points per game) in
the tournament?
Tyler Hansbrough (North Carolina) 63;
Kevin Love (UCLA) 9; Darren Collison
(UCLA) 3; Wayne Ellington (North
Carolina), Brandon Rush (Kansas) 2; Joe
Alexander (West Virginia), Darrell Arthur
(Kansas), Chris Douglas-
Roberts(Memphis), Roy Hibbert
(Georgetown), Chris Lofton (Tennessee),
O.J. Mayo (USC), Derrick Rose
(Memphis) 1.
Chris Douglas-Roberts finished with 140
points, though he’ll lament three that got
away — his only missed free throws, all in
the final minutes of regulation in the title
game. Only reader Bob Trost got this one
right. Davidson’s Stephen Curry, despite
playing two fewer games, finished a close
second with 128 points. Derrick Rose
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
finished with 125 points for Memphis.
7. Which freshman will score the most
points (total points, not points per game) in
the tournament?
Kevin Love (UCLA) 49; Michael
Beasley (Kansas State) 12; Derrick
Rose(Memphis) 11; O.J. Mayo (USC) 7;
DeJuan Blair (Pittsburgh), Austin Freeman
(Georgetown) 2; Gary Johnson (Texas) 1.
Rose finished with 125 points, well
ahead of Love’s 99.
8. Who will be named Most Outstanding
Player in the Final Four?
Tom Cruise
Tyler Hansbrough (North Carolina) 42;
Kevin Love (UCLA) 21; Darren Collison Movie Valkyrie
(UCLA) 6; Brandon Rush (Kansas) 5;
Darrell Arthur (Kansas), Chris Lofton
(Tennessee) 2; Antonio Anderson
Delayed Again
(Memphis), Michael Beasley (Kansas By Hollywood Grind
State), Mario Chalmers(Kansas), Roy Submitted at 4/8/2008 4:21:42 PM
Hibbert (Georgetown), Ty Lawson (North
Carolina), Brook Lopez (Stanford), The new Tom Cruise movie Valkyrie
Derrick Rose (Memphis), Jessie Sapp looks okay in the video below, but there
(Georgetown) 1. seem to be problems with getting it ready
Chalmers finished the Final Four with for release. First the release date was
six assists, seven rebounds, seven steals moved from July to October of 2008, and
and 29 points — three of them tying the now its been pushed back again to
title game with a couple of seconds left in February 13, 2009. It’s not a fourth of July
regulation. He was chosen only by contest movie, and it’s not a Halloween movie, so
winner Greg Martinek. I guess Cruise and his partners decided
9. Which teams will make the Final Four Valkyrie is more of a Valentines Day
(10 points each)? movie. I had no idea this was a love story.
East: North Carolina 79; Tennessee 4; (It’s not)
Louisville 2. © Copyright HollywoodGrind.com 2006-
South: Texas 39; Memphis 22; 2008. All Rights Reserved. Related posts:
Pittsburgh 12; Stanford 8; Marquette, • Tom Cruise Always Acts Surprised
Michigan State, Kentucky 1. • Robert Downey Jr. in Blackface
West: UCLA 76; Duke 4; Drake, Xavier • Tom Cruise Takes Hand Washing
2. Seriously
Midwest: Kansas 49; Georgetown 21; • Will Smith is a Great Marriage
Wisconsin 7; Clemson 5; Kansas State, Counselor
USC, Vanderbilt 1. • Xeno and Scientology Under Attack
10. Which team will win the
championship (30 points)?
North Carolina 36; UCLA 32; Kansas 9;
Memphis 3; Georgetown 2; Stanford,
Tennessee, Texas 1.
The two reader favorites were
overmatched and outplayed in the semis.
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
Jayhawks Are Champs After Chalmers Caps Furious Comeback
(WSJ.com: The Daily Fix)
Submitted at 4/8/2008 11:02:00 AM
Kansas’s comeback from nine points
down with two minutes left in Monday
night’s national championship game
required several missteps by Memphis. But
the Jayhawks also had to play nearly
flawless basketball for those two minutes,
and the subsequent five minutes of
overtime. And so they did, capping a
closely matched and thrilling title game
with a 24-8 run that featured 8 of 10
shooting from the field, including the first
seven shots, and 6 for 6 from the free-
throw line.
Kansas wasn’t the most-consistent team
in college basketball this season, but in its
peak moments, and at the very end, it was
indisputably the best. To get to the final,
Kansas used a 40-12 run at the start of its
game against North Carolina, then finished
on a 30-16 tear to defeat the No. 1 team in
the country.
Mario Chalmers celebrates his already
legendary three-pointer to force overtime.
(Associated Press Photo by Eric Gay)
Neither run had to be executed under as
much duress as the championship-
clinching finish. To force overtime,
Sherron Collins had just a handful of
seconds to drive the length of the floor,
dodge Memphis’s attempts to foul him (he
said later he thought he was fouled), and
get the ball to Mario Chalmers. Mr.
Chalmers then discovered a narrow space
between defenders draped over him, rose
and hit a three-pointer. (And probably
made CBS broadcaster Jim Nantz regret
his declaration a few minutes earlier that a
Derrick Rose jumper for Memphis was
“the shot of the tournament.”)
That shot will be forever celebrated by
Kansas basketball fans, Joe Posnanski
writes in the Kansas City Star. “Kids 50
years from now will be shooting the
Chalmers shot in driveways from Pittsburg
Eminem Mom Gets Sued
By Hollywood Grind
Submitted at 4/8/2008 5:15:00 PM
Debbie Nelson, the mother of Eminem,
has been sued by her ex book agent. After
she made a deal to sell her "tell all" book
to St. Francis, from Liberal to Hiawatha,
from Cuba to Dodge City to Chanute,” Mr.
Posnanski writes. “Grandparents in
Wichita will call their grandchildren in
Olathe to talk about what they were feeling
when Chalmers took that shot, the way the
ball arced, the way it fell. Farmers in Cuba
and teachers in Salina and doctors in
Garden City will talk about the shot
forever. There were precisely 43,257 fans
in the Alamodome on Monday night to
watch Kansas win its first championship in
20 years, but as time goes by there will be
100,000, then 200,000, then a million who
will say they were here.”
Danny Manning, hero of that last Kansas
championship, was among those 43,257.
“Not even Danny and the Miracles, the last
Jayhawks to cut down the nets (as a No. 6
seed) needed a shot like Chalmers’ in their
finale,” Luke Winn writes on Sports
Illustrated. “Twenty years later, Danny
Manning had a prime view of the Mario
Miracle, as the assistant coach who had
prepared the team’s scouting report of
Memphis for the title game. Ed Hightower,
one of the refs from ‘88, was working the
floor the floor again in ‘08, and while
Manning said he was thinking ‘deja vu’
when Chalmers launched it, the reason was
not Hightower. Chalmers had hit the exact
same shot — on the same play — to take
Texas to overtime in last season’s Big 12
tournament.”
Mr. Chalmers practiced that shot with his
father, Ronnie, as a child in Alaska — he
follows recent Alaska basketball stars
Trajan Langdon and Carlos Boozer, who
both played for Duke. Ronnie went on to
coach his son at Bartlett High in
Anchorage, then followed Mario to
Lawrence to serve as Bill Self’s director of
basketball operations, a hiring that
displaced Mr. Manning and seemed fishy
to some at the time. But its significance
last night was in keeping father and son
close together for the shining moment.
about her son, she cut her agent out of the
deal. The agent claims he "came up with
the idea of Nelson writing a book about
being the mother of Eminem." The agent is
asking for 25% of Nelson’s earnings. So
far the book has sold 100,000 copies in the
“Mario Chalmers hugged his dad tightly
after the game,” Jill Painter writes in the
Los Angeles Daily News. “Ronnie cried,
and he was pretty sure Mario had tears in
his eyes, too. It was a wonderful moment
between father and son, one that’s been
difficult to navigate for Ronnie, since he’s
part-time assistant, too.”
While Mr. Chalmers justly won Most
Outstanding Player at the Final Four, it
should have been a close vote. The
Jayhawks followed the blueprint of recent
champs by spreading the scoring load
evenly. They are the fourth-straight
champion with at least four players
UK, and will start selling in the U.S. this
averaging in double figures, and the third
straight without a 15-points-per-game
scorer. Half a dozen Jayhawks have NBA
prospects, but none were named to the
first, second or third All-America teams.
Mr. Collins, for one, came off the bench
last night but played 34 minutes and won
bragging rights over his erstwhile Chicago
high-school rival, Mr. Rose. “In June, Rose
most likely will have the ultimate bragging
rights when some NBA team turns him
into an instant multimillionaire,” Dana
O’Neil writes on ESPN. “For now, though,
Collins is the toast of Chicago.” MARCH
MADNESS
Wondering who won the Fix’s March
Madness contest, and how? Wonder no
more: Carl has the results, and
commentary from the winners.
BASEBALL CONTEST See how Fix
readers, the Fixers and some of our
baseball writers see the season playing out,
in a roundup of the Fix’s seasonlong
baseball contest.
Mr. Rose could have ended his college
career in triumph, but instead he missed
one of two free throws with 10 seconds
left, paving the way for Mr. Chalmers’
date with history. Seconds earlier, his
backcourt mate, Chris Douglas-Roberts,
missed a pair of free throws. Those misses
were chalked up by most columnists today
to Memphis’s Achilles Heel — free-throw
shooting. The Tigers may have ranked
339th out of 341 NCAA schools from the
stripe, but until that unfortunate dry spell,
they had hit 80% of their free throws over
the prior four games. And Messrs. Rose
and Douglas-Roberts were both a
respectable 71% from the line this season.
Nonetheless, the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s
Doug Lesmerises is right to call the end of
regulation “the greatest marketing
campaign for free-throw shooting videos
ever conceived.”
Bricked free throws have been good to
Kansas late in recent NCAA finals. In
week.
Not so long ago Nelson sued her own
son too.
© Copyright HollywoodGrind.com 2006-
2008. All Rights Reserved. Related posts:
• Eminem Hospitalized
Sports* Gossip 35
2003, Syracuse missed three of four free
throws in the final 24 seconds, and five of
its last six overall, to leave Kansas with
another last-second three-point attempt to
force regulation. That one was blocked.
“History tells us, it should be pointed out,
that the free throw was not a part of the
original basketball rules,” the Fort Worth
Star-Telegram’s Gil LeBreton writes. “The
free throw rule was soon added, however,
shortly after 1892, by Dr. James Naismith,
the first coach at the University of Kansas.
That’s a long time to wait for a payoff, but
the Jayhawks will take it.”
***
One tournament ends just as another
begins. The NHL playoffs start
Wednesday, and, stunningly, they will
include the team from Washington, D.C.
“A Capitals story that shamed most hockey
fairy tales, a dream that seemed almost too
silly to speak for months, came true in the
pandemonium of Verizon Center last
night,” Washington Post columnist
Thomas Boswell wrote Sunday. “A team
that was the worst in the NHL on
Thanksgiving day, but climbed and clawed
for months, finally reached the playoffs on
the last day of the season with a 3-1
victory over Florida.”
The Caps clinched with a win before a
sold-out crowd, which supports Kevin
Greenstein’s thesis that the NHL is
heading in the right direction. Mr.
Greenstein tallies the positive indicators
and has an interview with league
commissioner Gary Bettman in the New
York Sun.
– Tip of the Fix cap to reader Garey G.
Ris.
Found a good column from the world of
sports? Don’t keep it to yourself — write
to us at dailyfix@wsj.com and we’ll
consider your find for inclusion in the
Daily Fix.
• Eminem Mom Has Breast Cancer
• Eminem Accused of Being Fake by His
Mom
• Eminem - Without Me
• Eminem divorces wife for second time
36 Gossip
Lindsay Lohan Sued Again
By Hollywood Grind
Submitted at 4/8/2008 5:31:54 PM
Lindsay Lohan has more legal problems.
This time her former bodyguard, David
Kim, is suing Lindsay for intentional
infliction of emotional distress, breach of
oral contract, and state Labor Code
violations. Kim is asking for $55,000 to
compensate him for work he did as a
bodyguard, which required 24-hour service
at a rate of $4,000 per week, and an
additional $2,800 per week for evening-
only work.
It would be cheaper for Lindsay to just
settle this, and other cases that come up,
rather than accrue legal bills from her
attorneys. Lindsay isn’t finding much
work, so she needs to start budgeting. For
instance, when Lindsay arrives at a nice
restaurant, she could just give a few bucks
to the homeless guys always standing
outside to provide her with protection from
the paparazzi. Those guys smell, and they
have bugs crawling on them, so no one is
going to go near them, or Linday. Plus,
Lindsay would be helping the homeless,
which means she will still have friends
once she goes completely broke.
© Copyright HollywoodGrind.com 2006-
2008. All Rights Reserved. Related posts:
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Picture
Patrick Swayze Doing Better
By Hollywood Grind
Submitted at 4/8/2008 8:22:41 PM
Patrick Swayze has pancreatic cancer, but
it is responding to treatment. His
physician, Dr. George Fisher, said:
"Patrick Swayze continues to respond
well to his treatment for pancreatic cancer.
Because of his excellent response, he will
continue the same therapy at Stanford."
Swayze’s wife Lisa Niemi added:
"We’re thrilled and grateful for the
positive response Patrick has shown
towards his treatment. Also, we can’t help
but feel that all the prayers, meditations
and good thoughts sent his way by
everyone has made a difference. Thank
you!"
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
Swayze is undergoing chemotherapy, but
not radiation treatment at this time,
according to his rep. Pancreatic cancer is
almost always fatal. The most a person can
hope for is a little more time, which it
seems like Swayze might get, but it
probably won’t be a lot of time.
© Copyright HollywoodGrind.com 2006-
2008. All Rights Reserved. Related posts:
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• Patrick Swayze Gets Some
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• Patrick Swayze Smokes Three Packs a
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• Patrick Swayze Has Pancreatic Cancer
Pete Doherty
Goes to Jail
By Hollywood Grind
Submitted at 4/8/2008 5:04:59 PM
For a while there it seemed that Pete
Doherty was mister untouchable, because
he was given like 400 second chances by
the court. On Tuesday, in a London court,
Doherty was sentenced to 14 weeks in jail
for violating his probation. There is no
official word on what Doherty did to
violate his probation, but it’s possible he
may have been too high one day, and
forgot to visit the court to give them an
update on his progress.
© Copyright HollywoodGrind.com 2006-
2008. All Rights Reserved. Related posts:
• Mischa Barton Makes Plea Deal in DUI
Case
• Rob Lowe Sues Nanny
• Adolphus August Busch Arrested
• Remy Ma is Going to Jail
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Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
Naomi Campbell Officially
Banned from British Airways
By Hollywood Grind
Submitted at 4/8/2008 5:53:04 PM
British Airways has decided to ban
Naomi Campbell for life from flying on
their airline, after she was arrested last
week for a disturbance, which led to her
spitting on an officer who then arrested
her. Virgin Airlines wasn’t sure they
would allow her to fly with them either,
saying:
“Any decision regarding her future travel
with us would depend on the outcome of
any court proceedings.”
Naomi’s rep said:
“Naomi has been flying with BA for
nearly 30 years and has been a good
customer. She hopes this can be resolved
amicably."
Naomi can afford to fly in a private jet,
but I’m not sure if they are allowed to
transport wild animals.
© Copyright HollywoodGrind.com 2006-
2008. All Rights Reserved. Related posts:
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Mischa Barton Makes Plea Deal
in DUI Case
By Hollywood Grind
Submitted at 4/8/2008 5:01:09 PM
Mischa Barton(22) has made a plea deal
with the prosecutors that will keep her out
of jail. In the deal Barton will serve a three
-year Unsupervised probation term, attend
a three-month alcohol-education class, and
pay a fine of approximately $1,700. The
marijuana possession charge will be
dropped.
It’s really good to know that celebrity
justice is still the law of the land. Too bad
it’s not the same for us little people.
Barton said:
"Obviously I’m 100 percent responsible
for my actions in this case. I’m really
disappointed in myself. I don’t know what
to say about it, except that I’m not perfect,
and I just don’t ever intend to do
something this stupid again."
I can’t wait to hear Barton’s excuse the
next time she gets a DUI.
© Copyright HollywoodGrind.com 2006-
2008. All Rights Reserved. Related posts:
• Pete Doherty Goes to Jail
• Rob Lowe Sues Nanny
• Adolphus August Busch Arrested
• Remy Ma is Going to Jail
• T.I. is Going to Jail
Gossip 37
Yi So-yeon First
South Korean
Astronaut
By Hollywood Grind
Submitted at 4/9/2008 4:44:12 PM
Yi So-yeon(29) is a biotechnology
researcher, but today she has become the
first South Korean Astronaut. Yi was
launched into space from the Baikonur
cosmodrome on April 8. She blasted off
with the International Space Station (ISS)
Russian cosmonauts Sergey Volkov and
Oleg Kononenko aboard a Russian Soyuz
TMA-12 spacecraft. Yi will return to Earth
after 8 days in space. Yi ha!
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2008. All Rights Reserved. Related posts:
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