McAdvertising

Guess what people! It’s almost time for the Olympics and I am stoked. I love the Olympics. It is the one event where the world’s best athletes in their respective sports gather together and compete to see who can call themselves the best. It is a time of greatness, competition, sacrifice, and advertising…

Wait… advertising? Yeah, I’m talking about advertising. Look around. Every major sporting event is now sponsored by one or more (usually more) major corporation. Take for example, The Olympics. It is being sponsored by several major companies that include Omega, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, and Visa.

Some of the Olympic sponsors make sense, like Omega. Omega is a timepiece manufacture, and since all Olympic events have to keep time for one reason or another, it makes perfect sense to have a company like this as one of the sponsors. However, some of the sponsors make no sense to me at all.

Mc Donald’s for instance. It boggles my mind as to why a sporting event like the Olympics is sponsored by a fast food chain like Mc Donald's. Have you had a Mickey D’s burger lately? They are just as much a heart attack waiting to happen as ever, not something one would expect a world class athlete to be eating on a regular basis. Yet, back in the 70’s they were able to latch themselves onto the Olympic name and they put enough money into it that they will never be gone from the games. And people wonder why there is a childhood obesity problem in this country.

The Olympics should be a time when we are inspired to better ourselves physically. Yet we now receive a double message because of sponsors like McDonald’s and Coke. That message being you can still eat fating food on a regular basis and be able to compete at an International level which is a complete lie. Go talk to any Olympic athlete. They will tell you that they are very careful about what they eat and drink. Yeah, they will have a McGrease Burger and a Coke from time to time, but it is very rare for them to do so.

Now, do I you to go out and start a revolution demanding new advertising sponsors for the Olympics? No, let be honest. Too much money is involved, and for a company like McDonald’s to feel it would be in there best interest to pull out as Olympic sponsor, a lot of things would have to happen internationally. I do think the world would be better off if McDonald’s chose how they advertised during the games a bit differently, but that also isn’t going to change any time soon.

Fareware to the Pro Bowl

REPENT! The end of the world is NEAR! The football season is almost over! THE END IS UPON US! I know that most of you don’t feel this way, however I do. Football for me is the greatest sport that has ever been created. One of my favorite quotes is, “In 7 days, God created the heavens and the earth and rested. And on the 8th, he created football to get Adam away from Eve for a few hours on Sunday.”

For those who are completely oblivious to the world of football, the end of the season is marked by the postseason playoffs ending with the Super bowl and then the Pro Bowl in Hawaii. Wait what…. The Pro Bowl is in Hawaii? I thought it was in Florida this year and the week before the Super Bowl. Well, this year the game the NFL is calling the “Pro Bowl” is going to be the Sunday before the Super Bowl in Florida.

However, I refuse to call this game the Pro Bowl. Don’t believe this lie the NFL is trying to push on us. IT’S NOT THE PROBOWL. The Pro Bowl is a game that is supposed to be for the fans, where the fans can pick the players they feel are the best in the league and then watch those players play w/ and against each other. However, this year things are going to be different, many of the marquee players that were selected to go to the Pro Bowl have either said that they will not be going, or may not be able to make it cause they playing in the much more important Super Bowl or are hurt.

Take players like Larry Fitzgerald and Tom Brady. They have refused to come because they are still recovering from injuries. Also there is Payton Manning. He has become a Pro Bowl fixture during his career and he loves to play in the Pro Bowl. But this week he will be playing against the Jets in the AFC Championship Game. If he were to lead his Colts to a victory in that game, he would not be able to play in the Pro Bowl because he would have to use that time rest and prepare for the Super Bowl.

Now answer this, if the Pro Bowl is a game for the fans, where the fans pick the players, why has it at a time when some of the players will not be able to go. The answer is Money. The NFL feels that they will be able to sell more tickets to the Pro Bowl if the game is during “Super Week” before the Super Bowl and in the continental United States. Now I agree that having it in a Place like Florida is better that having it in Hawaii. Reason being that Hawaii is too expensive and too far away for the average person. But they may be more inclined to go to Florida or California to see the game. I don’t have a problem with the location of the game, just the time.

Another thing that is being lost with having the Pro Bowl before the Super Bowl is all the skills challenges and competitions. I personally enjoy watching all the players run through drill against each other. One of my favorite competitions is when the quarterbacks show just how powerful their arms are. Another competition I enjoy is when the “fastest” players race each other in heads up relays and one-on-one races. Things like this will now be lost because many players will either be resting cause they were playing in the playoffs, or they won’t come cause the meaning of these completions are lost.

Now, how do we go about correcting this huge and very insulting change to the Pro Bowl? The Answer is simple. Don’t watch it. Contrary to popular belief, most of the money the NFL makes is from television advertisements. If people don’t watch the game on television (or internet) the networks will not make any money on the game and they will inform the NFL that people were not watching the game and pay the NFL less money. The NFL seeing that they made less money will then have no choice but to change the time of the game back to a few weeks after the Super Bowl, thus making it a game for the fans again.

We must take responsibility for this and take it upon ourselves to show the NFL that we do not appreciate. Rise up! Take to the streets! Go out eat. For God’s sake, do something other than sitting your but down in front of the television and DO NOT watch the Pro Bowl!

The Effect of Music

Lately I have been listening to a lot of symphonic music, just enjoying the beauty of it. The more I listen to these songs, the more I think about the emotional impact music has on us; not only as individuals, but as a society; and the more I feel the need to express those thoughts to you. I think Ralph Waldo Emerson says it best, “Music takes us out of the actual and whispers to us dim secrets that startle our wonder as to who we are, and for what, whence, and whereto.”

People say that a book can take us to far distant lands and times, experience things that we would never have the opportunity to in our life. But I say that it is music that defines those things, makes us FEEL those experiences. Think about it, would Darth Vader have had the same effect on us without the Imperial March? No. He is defined by that 3 min long piece of music, just as a person is defined by the music they listen to.

Each person has their own "Musical Fingerprint" Don't believe me. Go look at your best friends iPod. Dollars to doughnuts says that they have different songs on there than you do. Yeah, there will be similarities, but their iPod will have songs on it that yours doesn't, and yours will have songs on it that theirs does not. I firmly believe that if you want to know who a person is and what they believe, go scroll though their iPod. But why is that?

The reason is that music has some deep emotional connection to us all. Just like a movie is incomplete without a soundtrack, so our lives our incomplete without music. Someone once said, “Music speaks what cannot be expressed, soothes the mind and gives it rest, heals the heart and makes it whole. (Music) flows from heaven to the soul.” And its true.

When I think about individual emotions, certain songs come to my head. When I think about anger, heavy songs like "Bombshell" by Powerman 5000 come to mind. When i think about fear, songs like “The Imperial March” come to mind. Love: "Breathing" by Lifehouse. Happiness: "If I Had a Million Dollars" by Barenaked Ladies. Sadness: "Aerith's Theme" from the Final Fantasy 7 soundtrack. Pride: "The Star Spangled Banner" or "Enterprising Young Men" from the new Star Trek movie. And the list goes on for all emtions

But music just doesn't define our emotions. It defines many our experiences as well. For instance, when i hear the song, "War" by James Horner off the "Avatar" soundtrack, I am taken though a wide range of emotions I have felt in my life, like the emotions i have felt all through my dad's battle w/ cancer. But its not just limited to that. I am also reminded of the greatest game of football I ever played in. It was a cold, rainy night in November when i was in the eighth grade, and the team we were playing was our cross-town rivals. It was a very hard fought, cold, muddy game that I cannot express in words. But this one song expresses everything I felt during the course of that ONE game over 10 years ago and that I had never realized that I had felt till now.

Several of you are probably wondering why I am writing this. Well, the music I have been listening to A LOT as of late has been from the "Avatar" soundtrack. And as I listen to it, I cannot help but feel and emotional response to the point of my eyes welling up w/ tears. A lot of people who know me will tell you that I am a very emotional person (even though I don't see it at times) but I rarely get emotional enough to start tearing up. And for not just one song, but several to bring tears to my eyes is an accomplishment in and of itself. And these are not all tears of sadness. When I listen to this soundtrack, I do not relive the movie, but rather I am taken though an entire emotional journey of my life (like that game so long ago.) I go from places of sadness, to anger, to joy, to love, to pride, and much, much more. No other song or soundtrack has done this.

Now I cannot help but feel sad. Many people will never get the opportunity to experience what I have never felt until now. Some of you reading this will never understand not only why I feel this way, but why I must share these feelings with you at all. Most of you will agree with me that you feel some kind of emotional connection with music. But until you find that one song that defines who you are, that one song that forces you to relive your whole life's emotions and experiences you will never fully grasp these words. Mary Kay Ash best summed this up by saying, "“Most people live and die with their music still unplayed. They never dare to try.”