Weekly Whatever – 9-Inning Punishment Edition

Southwest Airlines ‘Bags Fly Free’ commercial, is another reason it’s the highest profiting domestic airline. Even their ads are economical. One camera, one shot (unedited) with a clever voice over. They could have shot that commercial in less than an hour. They simplify everything they do and it works.
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How anyone can sit at a Sunday afternoon Rangers or Marlins game, in August, is beyond me. It borders on cruel and unusual punishment. It’s over 90 degrees and over 85 percent humidity. If they made terrorists sit through 9 innings in Miami, we would have found Bin Laden years ago.
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Simply put, the Red Sox can’t beat the good teams. Since the All-Star break every above .500 team has won the series (they trail Texas, as I write this, in the middle innings). David Ortiz and Jason Varitek are both shot.
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Although I love its deli and produce, Whole Foods, doesn’t please my kids. Truth is, a lot of organic snacks taste like cardboard. I’m not a picky eater, but I often take chances on things at Whole Foods and am disappointed when I get home. Trader Joe’s is my new favorite. It’s fast, fresh and has great pre-cooked chicken options.
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Ever notice how baseball purists seemingly hate every baseball announcer. NFL fans don’t seem to have the same contempt for their broadcasters. Maybe baseball fans, demographically older to begin with, are just crankier and more miserable people. Or maybe baseball fans, as they are prone to lecture us, are just much smarter and have higher standards.
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For being the sport’s premier franchises, the Yankees and Red Sox have shockingly mediocre radio broadcast teams.
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I grew up reading Sports Illustrated with its brilliant photography and writing. They will always have their three million subscribers, but according to two of my SI sources, they were late to the party on their website and still don’t take it seriously enough. I like it, mostly because of Peter King, but it doesn’t have much of a ‘stick’ quality. I’m on it and off it, in minutes. With all the smart people who have worked, and still do, at that magazine, you would think they would be a monster on the web. Yet it’s typical of the print mind set. They never seem to understand, it’s about more than just the writing. Yahoo Sports, with the digital mindset, delivers huge numbers. So does ESPN, so does CBSsporstline. Shouldn’t Sports Illustrated, with its name recognition, be a bigger player on the web?
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Friday Night Lights. a book about high school football, is a best seller. Wonder how a high school baseball book would do.