It's all about the marketing...

I was watching SportsNite on Comcast SportsNet Chicago tonight when they ran another commercial touting tickets to the White Sox. That got me thinking about how different teams try to market themselves.

First, I wondered if the Cubs ever do any marketing. After asking my wife if she's ever seen more, I came to the conclusion that this is their entire marketing budget:

Chicago Cubs baseball: Wrigley Field.

Nothing more, nothing less. Of course, it doesn't hurt that the Cubs are winning, or that they became obscenely popular during the 1980s and 1990s during the Harry Caray years even while fielding some pretty pathetic teams.

But for those who do advertising, here are some of the best out there, starting with the White Sox, who have had some pretty creative pieces, including this one from this year:




The Minnesota Twins had a fun one (a nice poke at the rival Cleveland Indians) with this spot. However, you can't beat singing at the ole ballpark as part of their "This is Twins Territory" campaign:



The Mariners had a bunch of good ones a couple of years ago, including this piece of work featuring the glove of Adrian Beltre:



Others of note include the Kansas City Royals, including a spot touting the new Jumobtron Scoreboard as part of the renovations at Kauffman Stadium (and particularly funny now that it features Billy Butler who was sent down to AAA Thursday) hitting batting practice balls that destroy the old scoreboard).

You can't beat fun at the old ballpark, I guess...

Kansas wins national title

The final score from San Antonio:

Kansas - 75
Memphis - 68 (OT)

Congraulations to the Kansas Jayhawks for winning their fourth national title in school history. It was a heck of a game, though.

Of course, for me as an Iowa State fan, this is bittersweet, as Kansas ranks up with the Green Bay Packers, Detroit Red Wings and St. Louis Cardinals in terms of teams that I may respect, but still cannot like.

I also had trouble with Kansas winning because of Bill Self, who bolted Illinois for the KU job five years ago. Of course, the beauty part of this, if I want to be petty, is that he is the leading contender to become the next coach at his alma mater, Oklahoma State. He of course says he won't leave, but this comment on the Sporting News story about the speculation says it all:

Self also told ORU he wasn't leaving, Tulsa he wasn't leaving, and Illinois wasn't leaving.


Regardless, Iowa State now has this to look forward to: the first national champion to contend with in conference play since, well, the last time Kansas won it in 1988 as a member of the Big Eight Conference.

Please let this happen...

The Sun-Times is reporting Bears coach Lovie Smith visited former Arkansas running backs Darren McFadden and Felix Jones Monday ahead of the NFL draft April 26 and 27. This could mean the end of Cedric Benson's short run as the Bears' main guy, which obviously never really worked out (too many injuries, too little effectiveness).

Whether the Bears could nab McFadden remains to be seen. Da Bears pick at number 14 in the draft, and McFadden is projected to go somewhere around picks 4 to 6 (currently owned by the Raiders, Chiefs and Jets). Plus, the Bears' main need still remains on the offensive line, which went from bad to worse during the course of last season.

Still, if the Arkansas phenom did find his way, we could envision a nice rivalry of running backs with the Vikings' Adrian Peterson, who tore up the league last year with 1,341 yards and 12 touchdowns (including a three-touchdown day at Soldier Field on Oct. 14) in route to the Rookie of the Year award.

Plus, he would be the most fun and um... interesting athlete since a certain Mr. Dennis Rodman.

Da notebook - March 24, 2008

Blackhawks
-- The business section in Sunday's Chicago Tribune has an interesting look at new Blackhawks chairman Rocky Wirtz, who took over the team when his father, Bill Wirtz, died in October. In the last five months, he had revitalized the team, hiring president John McDonough away from the Cubs and beginning to restoke interest in hockey in a place where many thought it was dead.

-- The team also is near a deal to televise all 82 of its games next season, reports the Tribune's Teddy Greenstein. WGN and WPWR-50 are two possible stations to pick up the 30-odd games not currently covered by Comcast SportsNet and Versus

-- It was a good day as the Hawks beat St. Louis 5-4 on an overtime goal by Patrick Kane. The win puts Chicago within four points of the eighth and final Western Conference playoff with only six games to play

Cubs
-- In Mesa, Ariz., it looks like Kerry Wood has won the Cubs' closer job. At least until he gets hurt again.

-- At the same time, manager Lou Pinella is scheduled to announce on Monday whether Jason Marquis won a job in the starting rotation over former Ryan Dempster or new/old pickup Jon Lieber.

-- An injury to lefthander Scott Eyre and some suddenly free agent outfielders could lead to the Cubs picking up some centerfield depth, says the Sun-Times.

White Sox
-- The Sox will honor former great Harold Baines with a statue outside of U.S. Cellular Field on July 20, according to the Tribune.

Bulls
-- The Sun-Times' Jay Mariotti comments on the Bulls' plans to raise ticket prices even as the team continues to tank its season away in true Reinsdorf fashion and implodes in every unimagible way outside of the Knicks.

Iowa State & Iowa
-- The Cyclones' women's basketball team advanced past the first round Saturday, beating Georgia Tech in Des Moines. They play C. Vivian Stringer's Rutgers squad today.

-- Meanwhile, the Iowa women are out of the NCAA tournament after losing to Georgia in Norfolk, Va., while the Iowa wrestling team claims its first national title since 2000.

Big Ben is gone!

The Bulls, as close to imploding as they are (if they haven't already), made a big move earlier today, trading away Big Ben Wallace to Cleveland as part of an 11-player deal also involving Seattle.

In the deal, according to the Chicago Tribune:

The Cavs get Wallace, Joe Smith and a second-round pick from the Bulls as well as Wally Szczerbiak and Delonte West from the SuperSonics. The SuperSonics gets Adrian Griffin from the Bulls and Ira Newble and Donyell Marshall from Cleveland. The Bulls in return get Larry Hughes, Drew Gooden, Cedric Simmons and Shannon Brown from Cleveland. Of course, this is assuming the league, which K.C. Johnson of the Tribune expects it will.

In the end, this could be a good deal, but it has its bad points.

First, the Bulls give up on Wallace, who was brought in before the 2006-07 season for $60 million from the Pistons. Big Ben produced 6.4 points and 10.7 rebounds a game in his first year as a Bull, but dropped to 5.1 points and 8.8 boards this year. He had expected to be the missing piece in providing a quality big man to push Chicago back into championship contention since the Michael Jordan era.

The Bulls also lose out on Joe Smith, who was averaging 11.2 points a game and providing some nice stability and veteran leadership to a young team.

Both those guys go to defending conference champs Cleveland, who are currently fifth in the playoff seeding. Lebron James gets a solid big man to help him on the boards, and they get that same veteran leadership.

In return, the Bulls gets center Drew Gooden and guard Larry Hughes. I used to hate Gooden with a passion while I was attending Iowa State and he was starring at Kansas. Of course, I could probably say the same for Kirk Hinrich, and look where he wound up. Gooden was averaging 11.3 points and 8.3 rebounds a game. The Bulls trade a couple of rebounds for some more scoring than they had with Wallace. Plus, Big Drew is seven years younger than Wallace, and will be able to contribute more on a young team.

Larry Hughes could work or not (how's that for decisive!). The 9-year veteran is averaging 12.3 in 32 minutes a game, but is shooting about 38 percent from the field. His shot selection has been so horrid at times that a Cavs fan site called "Hey Larry Hughes, Please Stop Taking So Many Bad Shots" with the actual address of heylarryhughespleasestoptakingsomanybadshots.com was created (and they are now celebrating). Plus, Hughes has a monstrous contract ($12.3 million) and could push out Ben Gordon, who is a restricted free agent after this season. Plus Hinrich makes $10 million next season, Johnson said in the Tribune, so this is getting expensive.

It's a matter of waiting and seeing if owner Jerry Reinsdorf has raised the white flag again with John Paxson.

Giants win Super Bowl!

Do you believe in miracles? The Giants have won the Super Bowl!

A contrast of two competing towns at Super Bowl XLII. First we have the front page of the Web site for the New York Daily News:


Then we have the front page of the Boston Globe, lamenting the end of the Patriots' run for a perfect season:


The New York Daily News's Gary Myers already is punching in with his 2008 predictions.

My question, though, is what will Bill Simmons and the Boston-loving bunch at ESPN say about this Monday. We can only wait and see.

Super Bowl predictions

Super Bowl XLII is upon us, and it’s time for some predictions:

-- The Fox pre-game show will last a record 63 hours, leaving studio Terry Bradshaw sputtering like Dan Rather during coverage of the 2000 presidential election.

-- Bill Belichick will swipe his NFL-required game sponsored clothing with some homeless guy he meets in downtown Phoenix. The homeless guy is last seen hitching to Vegas wearing an ad for Reebok.

-- Tom Coughlin will attempt to crack an Elvis-type smile, and wind up on the Giants’ injured list.

-- During the national anthem, Fox will show the first of its 964 shots of Tom Brady’s girlfriend, model Giselle Bundchen.

-- The first of 23 replays of Peyton Manning winning last year’s Super Bowl will be shown, causing every Bears fan in Chicago to angrily swear under their breath at Rex Grossman.

-- The 1972 Miami Dolphins are spotted in the north end zone, rapidly stabbing the right shoulder of voodoo dolls of Brady.

-- Patriots defensive back Rodney Harrison gets the first of his three game misconduct after slapping Giants QB Eli Manning who kept asking him about performance-enhancing drugs.

-- Manning’s father and former Saints QB Archie Manning, especially after he storms the field to defend his son from Harrison. Harrison retaliates by wearing a paper bag on his head.

-- Oh yeah, and the game. The Patriots will narrowly achieve their perfect season, winning the game 20-19 after Giants kicker Lawrence Tynes invokes memories of Scott Norwood and misses a game winning 46-yard field goal that sails wide right.