What was your highlight of College Football's opening weekend? Was it Pam Ward's comment, during Northwestern's victory over Syracuse, that the NU players were looking toward the sideline because they "want to go for it" on 3rd and 9? Was it the demolition of Michigan by a non-BCS foe for the second year in a row (HA!)? Was it UCLA's comeback to beat Tennessee, which was exciting and dramatic and WAY too late on the east coast for a good Nachoman to actually watch?
I'm not sure. I didn't watch college football like a journalist, I watched like a casual fan, meaning I didn't make any notes on the games. So today's post will discuss overly dramatic weather and commercials.
Hide the women and children!
My favorite football commentator, Tuesday Morning Quarterback, regularly takes media outlets to task for creating drama where none exists, or for acting as if mild drama were a cataclysmic event. The Nachoman himself has on occasion excoriated local news channels for causing public panic when severe weather approaches, and then congratulating themselves after the “threat” passes as if the station saved lives by sending a man in a raincoat to the beach during a category 1 hurricane. Gustav’s landfall near New Orleans gave me an opportunity to observe disingenuous headlining from several websites:
The August 30 Yahoo headline indicated that Gustav was “approaching” category 5 status, and the text below suggested that it “could” turn category 5 before making landfall.
September 1 8:00 AM headline: the “powerful category 3 storm” is about to make landfall.
September 1 11:00 AM headline: “Gustav Weakens [to category 2], but country still wary.”
Monday in his si.com column, Peter King discussed options for the New Orleans Saints in case the city were destroyed by hurricanes this or next week.
Tuesday on SI: “Saints will play in New Orleans on Sunday.”
No wonder reasonable people underestimated Katrina. Every hurricane, in New Orleans and elsewhere, is hyped as if Armageddon were on the way. Local TV stations interrupt regular programming with giant beeping graphics whenever a severe thunderstorm watch is in effect.[1] Stop the madness!
Since I can’t afford to waste any more of my time, I’ll waste yours
The greatest ad campaign of the past decade, in the Nachoman’s not-so-humble opinion, has been Bud Light’s “Real Men of Genius” radio series. Since I listen to the radio so infrequently anymore, and since only a very few of these became TV ads during major sporting events, I have only heard a fraction of the 60-second spots. That is, until now…
Imagine my enthusiasm upon discovering the entire series of ads in mp3 format (for free). I challenge the Nachoman readership to go to this site to hear as many as you can stand. Post a comment indicating your favorite. I hereby begin by voting for “Mr. Really Big Pet Snake Owner,” though “Mr. Nudist Colony Activity Coordinator” might take a close second.
(P.S. Does is sound as wrong to you as it does to me when the announcer closes with "Anheuser-Busch, Fort Collins, Colorado" rather than "Anheuser-Busch, St. Louis, Missouri?")
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