Month: October 2009

Coach Del Rio sacks QB Garrard’s radio show

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Jacksonville Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio just told his star QB David Garrard to nix his weekly radio show ASAP:

Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback David Garrard thought hosting a weekly radio show would be a good idea. He was meeting fans, answering questions, giving away tickets and previewing the team’s upcoming game.

[…] When Del Rio learned about Garrard’s Friday show, which aired the last three weeks, it was canceled faster than a network television dud.

He chose to do the show on Friday because it’s rarely an NFL travel day, didn’t interfere with his family time and wouldn’t conflict with team meetings, film study, workouts or practice. But his mistake may have been not keeping Del Rio in the loop.

[…] Del Rio was less than impressed, mostly because Garrard was talking about things unrelated to the next opponent two days before the game. So the coach went directly to Garrard and squashed the weekly segment.

“He said, ‘As a father figure, I’m just trying to tell you this isn’t good late in the week like this,'” Garrard said. “‘You can field things early in the week and … rehash the past game. But late in the week, you want to be studying your film, you want to be with your family and you want to be off your feet, relaxing.’ I totally understand where he’s coming from.”

via Del Rio cancels Garrard’s weekly radio show – NFL – Yahoo! Sports.

Del Rio’s story is that he had no idea that Garrard was doing a local radio show so late in the week?

Even without the ridiculous “father figure” angle Del Rio apparently took with Garrard (Garrard is 31, Del Rio 46), this seems like a heavy handed move that says more about sloppy Jaguars marketing than it does about David Garrard. These types of local radio shows are marketing tools where a franchise QB can put losses in perspective, talk up big wins, and sell the team’s “character” to fans. I would think a pro sports franchise would have marketing resource dedicated to keeping abreast of all of its players regularly scheduled appearances and helping players not run afoul of their professional duties. In addition, instead of telling Garrard to ditch the show, couldn’t they just help him reschedule the weekly appearance?

The Jaguars franchise has not been doing too well in the ticket sales department. They are in danger of having many of their home games blacked out due to low ticket sales. This would mean a huge loss in revenue for the organization. The Jaguars probably explain away their financial woes as direct byproducts of the recession and a city who is apathetic about pro football, but poor integration of marketing can also have a negative effect on the bottom line.

Cyclists, Do you wanna ride? Philly’s for you

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Philadelphia is number one for bicycle commuters:

Among the nation’s ten largest cities, Philadelphia had the highest percentage of commuters who use a bike; higher than New York City, Chicago or Los Angeles. Philadelphia also tied for 10th among the country’s 60 largest cities and the second highest percentage among east coast cities (only Washington DC has a higher percentage).

Philadelphia’s percentage of commuters who bike is nearly three times the national average of 0.55%.

  1. Philadelphia 1.6% (6th largest city)
  2. San Jose 1.2% (l0th largest city)
  3. Chicago – 1.0% (3rd largest city)
  4. San Diego 0.9% (9th largest city)
  5. Los Angeles – 0.9% (2nd largest city)
  6. New York – 0.6% (1st largest city)
  7. Phoenix – 0.8% (5th largest city)
  8. Houston – 0.4% (4th largest city)
  9. Dallas – 0.1% (8th largest city)
  10. San Antonio – 0.1% (7th largest city)

National Average – .55%

via Philadelphia Bicycle News: Philadelphia is No. 1 Among Big Cities For Bicycle Commuting.

Now if we can just get the South Street Bridge re-opened ASAP and keep people from riding around the streets on those damned ATVs.

Thrown Stones from Glass Houses?

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Letterman, like any late night talk show host, had some zingers for Clinton:

“Well, President Clinton has gotten himself a new dog. You know, I think it’s changing his life, kind of brightening him up. He’s teaching the dog to sit up, to beg, to roll-over, you know, just like he did with the interns.”

via Letterman Haunted by the Ghosts of Monica Lewinsky Jokes Past – Bill Clinton – Gawker.

Now that Letterman has his confessed his own intern f*cking issues to stem any speculation due to his grand jury testimony against and the successful apprehension of his would be extortionist, the decade plus of Clinton/Lewinsky jokes like the ones chronicled by Gawker are laughably hypocritical.

Thankfully Letterman took 10 minutes to lay it all out there, and his trysts should be fair game for other comedians, but outside of Bill Maher, Chelsea Handler or Jimmy Kimmel, I doubt any of the other late night hosts would take it there. He also gets somewhat of a pass from many folks because all this came out in the context of Letterman being victimized. The bigger worry for Letterman, now that his extortionist has been caught, is probably concerning sexual harassment claims that may be filed as a result of his behavior with these woman during, before and after his affairs with them.

UPDATE:
Leno and Fallon got some quick jabs in. Maher wasn’t as derisive, but he had a few jokes as well. Shows what I know.

Also, Letterman’s current employees were not aware he was going to confess to TV land.

“Only the show’s producers knew what was about to go down,” adding that many “Late Show” staffers learned of the situation watching off-stage monitors in real time as Letterman weaved his tale. So the routine in which the audience was prepped, which usually involves a heavy emphasis on laughing and applauding often and loudly, was not altered in any way.

via Sources: ‘Late Show’ staffers were unaware of Letterman’s bombshell – Yahoo! News.

“Every Saturday, Rap Attack, Mr. Magic, Marley Marl”

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No one my age, who listened to hip-hop, could forget that line from Biggie Smalls single “Juicy”. He was paying homage to a legend who has passed away Friday, Oct 2nd.

DJ Mr. Magic, one of hip hop’s conduits to radio, died Friday of a heart attack.

via DJ Mr. Magic, rap radio pioneer, has died.

Before Torrents, MP3’s and iTunes, these mix tape shows were the source of new music. Growing up in Harrisburg, we had no hip-hop radio stations and I didn’t have BET until late junior high school. My only recourse was to take blank cassette tapes whenever we visited anyone in Philadelphia, New York or New Jersey and record a hip-hop mix-tape show so I could take it home and learn all the latest. Mr. Magic pioneered this format of Radio show and the “mix-tape” hip-hop tradition.

Obama Administration bans text-ing while driving for 4m Federal employees

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Passing regulations and laws with the effect of banning text-ing, putting on makeup and reading newspapers while driving all seem like good ideas. and long overdue.

A recent study out of the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute found that those who texted while driving increased their crash risk by 23 times; the state of Utah recently made headlines by passing a law threatening 15 years in prison for those who end up in an accident thanks to texting and driving.

According to the GHSA’s helpful table on cell phone driving laws, 18 states plus the District of Columbia already ban text messaging for all drivers, while nine states ban it for “novice” drivers and one state restricts it from school bus drivers only.

via Obama bans “texting while driving” for 4.5M govt workers – Ars Technica.

Is such a law so hard to pass? Is there anyone who disagrees with this ban?

Erin Andrews Stalker Arrested

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Michael David Barrett is the stalker who followed ESPN sideline reporter Erin Andrews around the country, drilled peep holes and filmed her nude inside the privacy of her hotel room. The FBI has arrested him on charges of interstate stalking.

Agents said they believe Barrett called many hotels to find out where Andrews was staying and requested a hotel room next to hers. Investigators said the eighth video was likely taken at another hotel, which Andrews couldn’t identify.

FBI agents said Barrett also made reservations at a Milwaukee hotel where she stayed in July 2008. They found her door’s peephole similarly rigged, but he didn’t check in at that hotel and the furniture in the room did not match furniture seen on the eighth video.

Barrett tried to sell the videos to TMZ, but an employee there informed Andrews’ attorneys, according to the complaint.

via Arrest made in ESPN reporter’s voyeur video case – More Sports – SI.com.

Is it that easy to get information from hotel front desks?