Sunday

Sorry to miss yesterday. I was here most of the day, but I just never took the time to post an entry.

I had originally thought about going over to DM for the Saturday night championship game to support my pal Pete's son. But the game wasn't scheduled to start until 8:45, which is past my bedtime. So I begged off. I don't think my attendance would have helped. They got beat by 20 in a game that didn't look that close at the times I checked in on it on the tube.

At this point in the family picks competition, the Eastern Iowa branch of the clan sucks.

A Discovery rider from Spain just won a big 7-day race in Southern France (Paris -Nice) with a charge up the last mountain on the last day. I have followed the race on the Internet. Really amazing how much cycling goes on in Europe. They also say that there is a new major sponsor in the wings for next year to replace the Discovery Channel. I wonder if that sponsorship is contingent on all of the riders staying drug-free? It should be.

3 is back on her way home to IC. Sounds like the trip was a success, but she also was looking forward to getting back to IC (and Chicago).

Anybody notice that the Chicago Bulls have been playing in green uniforms the last couple of games? Another marketing scheme for sure. Ugly. Then again, the black uni's that they trotted out a few years ago aren't that much better, and they have stayed in the rotation. Whatever it takes to sell a few more jersey's.

A case study for MBA programs might be the dust-ups that have surfaced this year in NASCAR between some of the new sponsorships of certain teams and NASCAR corporately, or existing deals on other established teams. The 31 car has been the Cingular Chevrolet for the last several years, but AT&T acquired Cingular last year, is phasing out the Cingular brand, and wants to put the well-known AT&T logo on the car. But NEXTEL is the primary sponsor for the Cup series and has veto on any conflicting sponsorships. AT&T has recently sued NASCAR under a free-commerce argument to get the logo on the car.

A lesser conflict popped up this week with the 7 car and Robbie Gordon's sponsorship from Motorola. Another NEXTEL exclusiveness problem. It sounds like they have that one worked out for today's race in Hotlanta.

All of this is a little interesting since Sprint bought NEXTEL a year or two ago and they are dealing with the probable phasing out the NEXTEL name.

I'm headed out to get some fresh air this afternoon. I plan to come back this evening to get a few more things done in preparation of the busy week ahead.

Be careful out there.