Day 14: Crazy 8 and Masala
On Day 14, went to see Crazy 8, a new kids clothing store by Gymboree. For dinner, ate Indian cuisine at Masala in the River Park shopping complex.
March Madness Kicks Analysis #1: Shoe Sponsorship
Pssst. Wanna know a secret? If your men’s basketball program is sponsored by Nike and wears Nike shoes during the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, you have a good chance of winning a National Championship. Starting this century, go ask Duke (’01), Maryland (’02), Syracuse (’03), Connecticut (’04), North Carolina (’05), and Florida (’06, ’07). That’s 7 of the last 8 championships.
How does this year’s field shoe up? Let’s take a look.
Percentage of Sponsorship
Count of Sponsorship
Nike teams took a dip this year representing 60% of the dancing teams, down from 69% in 2007. My data is still flawed though with 5 unknown sponsorships (not much photo coverage of UMBC, Cornell, Miami, Saint Mary’s, and Mississippi Valley State) and needed verification on two possible independents (Cal State Fullerton and Western Kentucky). Adidas got two more teams, going from 15 to 17 teams this year. And1 and Reeboks are nowhere to be found, and Winthrop continues to be the sole rep for New Balance.
Taking a look at the shoe sponsorships by Regionals doesn’t reveal a lot.
But what is a little interesting is that the three stripped Adidas accounts for three of the four top seeded teams. UCLA, Memphis, and Kansas all ball in Adidas kicks while only the Tar Heels of North Carolina rep Nikes. Is this the year for Adidas to come through?
Who Doesn’t Need An Energy Boost?
Everyone needs a boost of energy now and then, and there’s a whole market of energy drinks to choose from. But there’s none sexier than the Playboy Energy Drink. That’s right, Playboy has gotten into the beverage market with their drink featuring “horny goat weed.”
The drink is in limited distribution in the Miami, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles areas starting this month.
Technorati Tags: caffeine
Day 11: Easter Picnic
With the doctor’s approval to leave the house, the entire family attended an Easter Picnic on Day 11.
Scouting March Madness
Since the Madness of March officially starts tomorrow with the selection of teams going to the Dance, I did a little bit of scouting, catching parts of the UCLA-Stanford PAC-10 matchup. I was impressed with both teams but while I was watching Stanford looked in control.
I didn’t watch the entire game and later learned that UCLA pulled out a close victory. UCLA always finds a way to win, either by luck or by toughness. Should I pick them to go far this year? My main concerns for this team are the close calls, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute in a cast, Kevin Love’s back spasms, and the frightening look of Lorenzo Mata-Real.
No Effen Flava on Top Chef Chicago
Top Chef Season 4 premiered this week with no effen flava left on the show. Sixteen chefs are going up in 24 challenges and after the first challenge, the flava’s all gone with Nimma packing up her knives. You’ve heard the phrase “variety is the spice of life” but the cast of Season 4 looks, well, blanched.
The third season of Top Chef featured a little more racial diversity with its crew. There was the winner Hung, brother man Tre, so-close-to-the-finals Sara, and the younger Sara N. Season 4 counters with Nimma, Filipino Dale, Manuel, and a ton of effen swearing, you motherfathers! No $h*t, I’m not counting the Grecian Spike.
However, there is a some lifestyle diversity in the Windy City. Jennifer and Zoi are an outed Lesbian couple both in the competition, Mark is from New Zealand and represents all the Hobbit chefs of the world, and Erik is the laid back bad ass who would like to open up a “shack on a beach in Hawaii and cook in flip flops and aloha shirts. Andrew is the Marshall Mathers of the crew, cussing and swearing and bringing more white man hip hop than Justin Timberlake. Richard is the culinary scientist and of course, there’s Los Banos’ own, Ryan, who doesn’t know what chicken picatta is (well, neither do I but I’m not vying for the title of Top Chef).
Over the course of the season, I’m sure personalities and fan favorites will emerge, making the Wonder Bread complexion a little less noticeable. Based solely on their bios, I’m going with Dale. Check out his kicks in his bio’s pic – Dale’s rocking the classic fire red Jordan III. Now that’s a way to pay homage to Chicago’s own legendary Airness, Michael Jordan.
Technorati Tags: television, Top Chef
Day 9: Pho for You
A cool, overcast day in FAT means warm Vietnamese pho for you.
A side story belongs here. While eating pho at May Cafe, this couple sat in a booth next to us. See them in the background? The older guy and the Asian female?
They gave me an icky feeling. When sitting down, the guy told the female what side of the booth to sit on. She looks much younger than the guy and was well made up. She might have had some work done, not sure. During lunch, the guy reached over the table to fix her hair. They seemed normal and happy enough, but still gave me a weirded out vibe.
Deal or No Deal Casting in Hawaii
I gave up watching the stupid Deal or No Deal game show awhile back. Yes, it was interesting for a short time, but it got redundant even if the producers tried an emotional gimmick or two.
Who knows, in the time I haven’t been watching maybe there was someone supremely confident or someone who used a quirky picking strategy.
Whatever the case may be, there will be a casting call for new contestants at Pearlridge Uptown on March 29. And yes, it is now confirmed. Playing this contest requires no skill whatsoever. Need proof? Just check out the criteria for candidates:
Candidates must be at least 18 or older, project an energetic, charismatic attitude and think quickly on their feet. No other skills are necessary.
Technorati Tags: Deal or No Deal, Hawaii
Does This Mean Tivo Series2 is Ending?
Tivo is bringing YouTube to its boxes later this year if and only if you have a Tivo box running the Series3 OS. The Series3 OS is found in Tivo Series3 (no duh) and Tivo HD. So far, this new feature isn’t slated for Series2 boxes. Does this mean Series2 is ending?
This is one of my concerns with getting an older Tivo unit running Series2. How long will Tivo support and advance Series2 with Series3 already out?
Technorati Tags: television, tivo