Monday, September 29, 2008

Canada and The Hockey Theory

What's the US' biggest problem right now? A failing economy? Two complete idiots running for president? Terrorism? Rising gas prices?




ALL WRONG!!! It's CANADA!!!!

That's right folks. Canada has been slowly infiltrating American Territory with the use of a secret weapon: HOCKEY.


Hockey is a beloved sport by millions of Americans. But beware sports fans; hockey is just one way that Canada is slowly gaining power over the United States.


How does hockey give Canada an advantage over the United States. Well it is widely known that Canadians are the only one's who play hockey. Hockey also involves ice and fist-fights, two things that Canada is good at. Ever wonder why the NHL has teams in places like Los Angeles, Anaheim, Florida, Atlanta, Nashville, and your beloved Raleigh?


Canada is just trying to get us used to all the cold weather. When they take over, they will ship all the Americans to the the Yukon and all the Canadians will move to Florida and California. The main soldiers for the Canadian army are these so called "hockey players." A few other things that hockey does for Canada is makes Americans less suspicious of people with gross Mullets, strange French names that only SportsCenter anchors can pronounce, and people with ugly broken noses.




















We all need to join in the petition to remove hockey from the South. It must be done now before it's too late.

Friday, September 26, 2008

The Week of Theories

Everyday of this coming week I will presenting one of my famous "theories" (you can probably hear Ashley groaning in the background). While my "theories" don't exactly fall under dictionary.com's definition 1 of a theory (a coherent group of general propositions used as principles of explanation for a class of phenomena: Einstein's theory of relativity) they do fall under definition 6 (contemplation or speculation). I hope everyone enjoys.

Theory Number 1: The Cheesecake Factory was designed for women.


I've been saying this ever since my first visit to a Cheesecake Factory which took place on a trip to Arizona in 2005. I was reminded of this theory last night as my family and I enjoyed a combined birthday dinner at the Cheesecake Factory for me and my sister. There are several elements to this theory. Interestingly enough, at least one female or another has argued against each point of this theory. The first is easy enough: the name of the darn restaurant is "The Cheesecake Factory" for crying out loud! What woman is going to turn away from a restaurant named after every woman's favorite desert? Especially when the afore mentioned restaurant specializes in that very desert? Seriously try to name a woman you know that doesn't like some form of cheesecake.

Time's up! Couldn't think of one? Me neither. But even if you did, the Cheesecake Factory has so many flavors of cheescake that even if you don't like cheesecake, they still have a flavor of cheescake that you will like, whether it's Chocolate Oreo Mudslide, Brownie Sundae, or the Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake.

The next element is the gigantic portions served at the Cheesecake Factory. You might be scratching your head wondering, "Why do large portions appeal to women? Don't women usually prefer small salads, soups, sandwiches, and pastas?" While that may be what Panera Bread wants you to think, I believe the Cheesecake Factory has found a more effective way to bring in female patrons. You see, the large portions make women feel good because no matter how much they eat, they're not going to be able to finish their meal. I mean I can't even finish a meal at Cheesecake Factory, so how is the average female going to be able to finish it? The fact that when women get up from the table, there's still food on their plates makes them feel like they did a good job of watching what they ate even though they've probably gorged (that word's for you Laurie) themselves.

Another element of the Cheesecake Factory that is appealing to women is the aesthetics. See below:

Seriously, if you take a woman to a restaurant that looks like this on the inside, she is like putty in your hands. Women just love the sculptured cielings, the soft lighting, the fancy artwork, the wierd Egyptian faces on the tops of the columns, even the waiters wearing all white. If you don't think that all of that was done to please women, ask a guy what he likes most about the Cheesecake Factory. I guarantee he's not going to say, "It just has the most ambience of any restaurant!"

Well that's my theory on the Cheesecake Factory and I didn't even get into the super long menus with ads for diamond rings or so many food options that no matter what you'll find something you like. Ladies, you just need to admit that you were suckered in by a great marketing scheme. Gentlemen, you just need to suck it up and take your wife/girlfriend there the next chance you get.

Tomorrow's theory: The NHL and Canada's Attempt to Takeover America












Monday, September 22, 2008

Nike Sportswear




Nike has recently released a new high-fashion, boutique line called Nike Sportswear. The items in this exclusive line can only be purchased online or at specialty boutiques in New York and Los Angeles.


The line features retro shoes and clothing that has been updated with the newest Nike technologies. For example, the Nike Air Max 90 running shoe has been updated into the Nike Air Max 90 Current which uses the Nike Free technology in the forefoot. See below:







Other products featured by the new line are the Nike Dunk basketball shoe and the Nike Windrunner track jacket both seen here:

Another great feature of the Nike Sportswear line is that almost all of the products in their line are available for customization on NikeID.com. Even if you're not going to buy anything, it's a lot of fun to play around with the different colors and materials for each shoe.

Fantasy Football

Many of you have probably already caught the fantasy football bug. For those of you who haven't, I don't recommend it. It's not worth it.


While this is not my first season "playing" fantasy football (I "played" last year but never kept up with it and thus finished in last place), it may be my last. I was on the fence about "playing" this year because I wasn't sure that I would have the time to keep up with it and being a huge sports fan and a sport management major, I did not want my friends to think I was completely stupid.

So I agreed to play in my friend, Jeremy's league. I did tons of research before the season began to decide who I would draft. When the draft rolled around, I felt very confident about my chances. Then I ended up with the first overall pick and selected the consensus #1 LaDanian Tomlinson. I also picked up Drew Brees and David Garrard as my QB's, Steve Smith, Donald Driver, and Santana Moss at WR, and Willie Parker and LDT at RB with a steal of Matt Forte as a back up RB. I thought I was set.



Well Tomlinson hurt his big toe in week one and Steve Smith was suspended for punching his own teammate but I was able to still eek out a win. Weeks 2 and 3 I've had to face the two highest scoring teams in our league and I've gotten destroyed because LDT's still not playing, David Garrard has been horrible, and everyone else with the exception of Santana Moss has underperformed.

The bad thing about fantasy football though, is that it's so addictive. I can't go to bed on Saturday with out checking injury reports and making sure that my roster is set for Sunday. Then on Sunday I can't rest until I see how my guys performed that day. I wouldn't even mind spending this much time following my fantasy team if I was winning but having all my players sit out is killing me and I can't take it anymore.

What are your feeling on Fantasy Football? Try and see if you can convince me to play again next year.

Friday, September 5, 2008

Slamball Is Back!!!

Slamball is quite possibly the greatest sport ever invented... ever. It combines basketball with trampolines. Who didn't do that as a kid in your driveway? I know I did. Well Slamball had a good run on Spike TV back in 2002-2004 but it went away for a while. Well no need to worry, my friends. Slamball is back and it's on tv! Tune into the Vs. Network Saturday afternoons to catch high flying hard hitting action. The championship game will be played on CBS too! Me and my good friend Zach are doing a project for our sports finance class on Slamball. For those of you not as familiar with Slamball, I encourage you to watch the following video:

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Good News!!!

So today we were given some great news!!! The Foreign Exchange will be dropping their second album "Leave It All Behind" next month. For those of you who don't know, Foreign Exchange is the combination of rapper, Phonte from Little Brother (out of Durham, NC) and producer Nicolay (of the Netherlands). The two first collaborated with the classic 2004 album Connected. They are well-known for being one of the first groups to make an album without actually ever seeing each other. Connected was made by sending files back and forth over instant messenger. "Leave It All Behind" is scheduled to drop Oct 7 on iTunes and Oct 14 in stores as a double album with disc 2 featuring full instrumentals. Below is what the cover will look like. I love it. I can't wait.



Step Brothers

2 of my favorite NBA point guards, Steve Nash & Baron Davis, goofing off together in LA. Enjoy!