Baracketology

How many stories are going to be written about who President Obama has in his March Madness brackets?  That's what I was asking yesterday, because the stories were out of hand.

Apparently I'm going to have to endure more, because not only is there reporting on who he picked, but we now are getting updates on how he's doing.  Eleven out of 16 on day one.  Who cares?  (And that's not so great by the way).

I know he likes basketball, but let's face it, he picked UNC to win the whole thing, even though their best player has missed three games, may not play at all, and if he does play, will not be 100%.  As Coach Williams (UNC) said, Obama picked Carolina because he attended a practice last fall, when he was on the campaign trail.  He drove to the basket, and the players let him score.  Or as Williams put it, "Tyler [Hansbrough] didn't take his head off."

Also surfacing is a report that Coach Krzyzewski (Duke) said he wasn't concerned about Duke not being in Obama's Final Four, because the president should be focusing on the economy.  It was a big enough story that Coach K's wife felt compelled to text the White House an explanation.

It's just plain silly.  First of all, Coach K is 100% right.  Second, Coach Williams said the same thing when he was asked about Obama picking his team as the eventual champion.  And third, who cares?  Obama isn't supporting Duke.  Coach K (a republican) almost certainly did not support Obama. They're even.

Is this going to become a regular thing?  Does President Obama have a fantasy baseball draft coming up next week, and will we learn who he picked?  Round by round?  And will the fantasy baseball standings be published throughout the season, so we can see how his team "Hail2the Chiefs" are faring?  Maybe Joe Torre will text him with a scouting report on how Russell Martin's (catcher) knees are holding up.

I realize that Obama used some "hip" methods to get elected.  The Internet is cool, so he used it.  March Madness is cool, so he's using that.  I'm not convinced, however, that our president needs to be (or appear) cool...at least not this way. 

I also don't believe for a second that he's spending significant time poring over his bracket.  I think he filled one out (who doesn't?), while sitting up in bed, and it took him about 10 minutes.  I'm almost sure (geez, let's hope) that the media is paying more attention to his bracket than he is. 

Chinese Smog and Censorship

Apparently Beijing is so polluted, there's a concern about athletes not giving peak performances. This primarily affects the endurance runs, swims and biking. Athletes will be wearing protective masks until the races begin.

The possible solution? Seeding the clouds. That's right. Sending a plane up to mess with nature, produce some rain and wash away the pollution temporarily. This isn't so much to protect the lungs of the athletes. It's to make sure we get good television. Apparently when the Olympics aren't there, no one is working on the pollution problem. God forbid we lose a few televised sporting events, though. Let's get science to work on that.

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Meanwhile, it has come to light that China will be censoring some journalistic reports during the Olympics, if the reports include information extraneous to the Games. Originally journalists were told they could report on the Games and any other issues in China without interference (i.e., clearance from the government).

The IOC says they didn't have the power to tell China what to censor and what not to censor. Why not? It's the Olympic Games. Either China wants to host them, or they don't. A likely explanation is that the IOC had leverage on China when the whole thing was being set up, but now that we are to the point where the IOC can't change locations, China decided it had the leverage.

Whoever selected Beijing as the site should have taken these factors into account.

Hollywood Publicists

What a strange job, acting as publicist for a Hollywood star. Recent reports are that the actress Scarlett Johansson (co-star of one of my favorite movies "Ghost World") is marrying some actor from Canada I've never heard of. The news story contained one brief quote: "They're both thrilled," Johansson's rep Marcel Pariseau told People Magazine. Did Marcel sit up all night thinking "What am I going to say if they ask me about the marriage? It has to be something really good. But short. Simple. And sweet. What would Scarlett say if she were answering the question directly, which of course she is totally unable to do. I've got it: 'They are very happy'. Nah. Too boring. 'Thrilled' is better. Or 'absolutely thrilled'...eh, maybe that's too much. It's a Hollywood romance. It can't be that thrilling, and it will be over soon. Think I'll stick with 'thrilled'. Got to remember to say 'both thrilled' though. Don't want anyone thinking that one is thrilled and the other is merely happy. That would be too much like the Angelina Jolie/Billy Bob Thornton romance, and we don't want to be associated with that, especially after Scarlett's character went down on Billy Bob during that car scene in 'Man Without A Face', which resulted in her character's untimely death. We don't want anyone to die here." Apparently, after having her wisdom teeth removed Scarlett dipped one of the removed teeth in gold and gave it to her now fiancee as a birthday necklace. Wonder what Marcel had to say about that one?

What is News?

Specifically, what is sports news? ESPN's sportscenter this morning has a story about Brett Favre. Nothing surprising, except he has retired, and they keep asking him if he is still retired. But the real news story? He's going to be on the cover of EA Sports Madden '09. How is this news? When Pete Rose was on the Wheaties box, did the 6:00 news report it? There's too much t.v. programming. I imagine its rather difficult to fill all that time, so I shouldn't be surprised. But 300 channels, 24 hours a day. That's a lot of space to fill. Hence the dime-a-dozen sitcoms, the non-news news stories, the liberal-conservative pundits fighting each other, the non-journalist pundits telling us what to think, and the dominance of Law and Order and CIS and their abundant spinoffs.

Whopper Freakout

I actually visited www.whopperfreakout.com. I'm not proud of it. Why did I do it? Two reasons, really. First, I wanted to see if it was real, or if it was just something funny to say on the commercial. Second, I'm so happy NOT to see the creepy Burger King on the commercials, I was in some sort of euphoric state that clouded my judgment. I didn't stay long. Does that make it better? It's just a collection of commercials showing people getting upset about the Whopper not being available. What I like about the commercials is how seriously people take it. To me, that's not a commentary on how good Whoppers are. It's a commentary on Americans.

Irresponsible Headlines

Headline: Ringo is Dead What did you think when you saw that? Yeah, me too. The least talented (but equally famous) member of The Beatles seems to have died. Or not. The headline is for Hall of Famer and Green Bay Packers "great" Jim Ringo. I've never heard of him. I've watched sports since the early 70s...thousands of football games. Never heard the name. I worked as a sports producer in television. Never heard of him. My not having heard his name does not diminish how great he was -- if he was great -- but if I've never heard of him, I think it's fair to say that "Ringo is Dead" will not trigger Jim Ringo in the minds of the general public. I bet 90% of those in Green Bay, Wisconsin, thought of a drummer first and a football player second.