Saturday, August 25, 2007
News Updates
A couple of quick updates from the editorial desk on some older posts...As predicted, it is "whoopee" a whopping 10.57 million units sold for the Wii. The Nintendo Wii has now outsold it’s competitors in the next generation gaming system contest to date. It has passed Microsoft XBox 360, which got out to an early lead, and relegated Sony’s Play Station III, to 3rd/last place. Sony’s Play Stations have traditionally been the latecomer, the last to be released system, but have taken over total sales down the final stretch. This time, however, the momentum seems to be shifting in Wii’s direction. As the Clarion noted previously, word on the street is big for the Wii. The gamers love the bowling, boxing and tennis. Big sports game designer EA Sports has announced it going to shift programming resources to develop more games for the Wii.
ESPN’s SportsCenter is lame and getting lamer. The Clarion hammered ESPN a few weeks back for an awful, cheesy segment on SportCenter called “Who’s Now?” It was atrocious claptrap, faux-faux make news from nil. It was reminiscent of the days when ESPN Classic was doing Sports Century specials on Anna Kournikova, proclaiming her one of the athletes of the century. Turns out the Clarion wasn’t alone in his upset and distaste with the inane “Who’s Now?” segment. ESPN’s Ombudsman reports that this was one of (or the) single most commented on piece of the year for SportCenter, “No single topic has ever drawn the volume and intensity of unsolicited complaints to either my or my predecessor's mailbox that this sports popularity contest has.” See her article here.
Finally from the world of golf, a few months back the Clarion detailed the mouthy South African trying to run it at Tiger Woods. Mistake Rory Sabbatini, mistake. It blew by so fast at the beginning of August the Clarion didn’t get a moment to drop a note on it, but Sabbatini who had baited Tiger, got a chance to play against him in the final round at Firestone Country Club. Tiger is not a man to talk smack to, he is in the Michael Jordan mode of competitor, talk smack to Tiger and he will administer the beat down. In the final round of the Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone, Tiger took the folding Sabbatini apart by eight strokes. The Clarion was reminded of Sabbatini’s final round choke because he grabbed the first round lead at this week’s PGA tournament in Westchester. And he promptly imploded in the second round, like the gagging bum he is, from a 63 in Round One to a 71. In a monument to how irrelevant the newly instituted Fed Ex PGA not-playoffs are, Tiger didn’t even bother to show up for this week’s opening round tournament. He will advance anyway. Don't ask. Not only are these playoffs utterly meaningless, because Tiger wrapped up the Player of the Year award when he won his Major at the PGA, but the payout is tricked up, too. The PGA Tour and Fed Ex are billing them as having a $10 million dollar payday for the winner. Ooops, except, the winner doesn’t get $10 million, 2007 dollars, instead they get annuity worth $10 million only available when they reach age 52. (Untouchable until then, and subsequently devalued by years worth of inflation...not that it is anything to sneeze at, but it isn’t a $10 million dollar prize per se, either.) Two hot golfers besides Tiger to keep an eye on in next year’s Majors, the finally healthy Ernie Els, and the up and coming, bigger in the bigger moments, K.J. Choi.
One more update, this one on Britney Spears, the Clarion continues to pine for her recovery and rehabilitation. She is getting some help from her old media rival, Christina Aguilera. The talented singer Aguilera has booked Spears to headline the opening of her new nightclub, LAX, in the Luxor hotel in Las Vegas. Hopefully, Brit in contrast to her recent foibles, can have a good gig.
ESPN’s SportsCenter is lame and getting lamer. The Clarion hammered ESPN a few weeks back for an awful, cheesy segment on SportCenter called “Who’s Now?” It was atrocious claptrap, faux-faux make news from nil. It was reminiscent of the days when ESPN Classic was doing Sports Century specials on Anna Kournikova, proclaiming her one of the athletes of the century. Turns out the Clarion wasn’t alone in his upset and distaste with the inane “Who’s Now?” segment. ESPN’s Ombudsman reports that this was one of (or the) single most commented on piece of the year for SportCenter, “No single topic has ever drawn the volume and intensity of unsolicited complaints to either my or my predecessor's mailbox that this sports popularity contest has.” See her article here.
Finally from the world of golf, a few months back the Clarion detailed the mouthy South African trying to run it at Tiger Woods. Mistake Rory Sabbatini, mistake. It blew by so fast at the beginning of August the Clarion didn’t get a moment to drop a note on it, but Sabbatini who had baited Tiger, got a chance to play against him in the final round at Firestone Country Club. Tiger is not a man to talk smack to, he is in the Michael Jordan mode of competitor, talk smack to Tiger and he will administer the beat down. In the final round of the Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone, Tiger took the folding Sabbatini apart by eight strokes. The Clarion was reminded of Sabbatini’s final round choke because he grabbed the first round lead at this week’s PGA tournament in Westchester. And he promptly imploded in the second round, like the gagging bum he is, from a 63 in Round One to a 71. In a monument to how irrelevant the newly instituted Fed Ex PGA not-playoffs are, Tiger didn’t even bother to show up for this week’s opening round tournament. He will advance anyway. Don't ask. Not only are these playoffs utterly meaningless, because Tiger wrapped up the Player of the Year award when he won his Major at the PGA, but the payout is tricked up, too. The PGA Tour and Fed Ex are billing them as having a $10 million dollar payday for the winner. Ooops, except, the winner doesn’t get $10 million, 2007 dollars, instead they get annuity worth $10 million only available when they reach age 52. (Untouchable until then, and subsequently devalued by years worth of inflation...not that it is anything to sneeze at, but it isn’t a $10 million dollar prize per se, either.) Two hot golfers besides Tiger to keep an eye on in next year’s Majors, the finally healthy Ernie Els, and the up and coming, bigger in the bigger moments, K.J. Choi.
One more update, this one on Britney Spears, the Clarion continues to pine for her recovery and rehabilitation. She is getting some help from her old media rival, Christina Aguilera. The talented singer Aguilera has booked Spears to headline the opening of her new nightclub, LAX, in the Luxor hotel in Las Vegas. Hopefully, Brit in contrast to her recent foibles, can have a good gig.
Labels: ESPN, golf, Pop Culture, sports, technology, television
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