Week Links

These got me talking …

Legality of some Pa. marriages is questioned
This one caught my eye because I know some people who were ordained by the Universal Life Church. I was even there when it happened. We had some time to kill after Fitness Walking. Yes, I got credit for walking. We were sitting in the computer lab and two of my friends decided to get ordained. It required them to fill out a form. It was all very official looking and by official looking I mean it was a web site with a form. I decided against it on the grounds that I could make my own certificate, if I really wanted one, and I felt thing signing up would get me involved in the subsequent legal proceedings that were likely to be associated with this organization. There was one wedding performed. While I’m not sure how much the bride and groom talk anymore, I don’t believe there was ever a divorce. I guess now they can rest easy that they can pretend the whole thing never happened.

Comcast holds the line on Big Ten
I’ve talked about this a few times. While I love the idea of having more Big Ten coverage and a chance to watch some Penn State sports besides football and basketball, I’ve been on Comcast’s side the whole time. Two things in this article stand out to me. First, something I’ve been curious about it how much money is actually on the line. According to this if Comcast puts the channel on expanded basic, BTN gets $60 million a year and if it puts it on the Sports Teir, BTN only gets $2.5 million. The article states that the Sports Teir has only 4% penetration. However, those Sports Teir numbers are going to grow. NFL Network is now on the Sports Teir but NFL games don’t start on the channel until Thanksgiving. Also, have some confidence in the drawing power of your channel. The BTN will draw even more subscribers. Getting some money has to be better than nothing at all, especially when you don’t have to do anything extra, the channel is already broadcasting. The second point in the article is even more important and something I hadn’t thought of before. Every major sport has (or will have in baseball’s case) a channel. The Big Ten is the second conference I know of to have a channel (I haven’t been upset that I don’t receive The Mountain West’s channel, which I believe Comcast has a part of). Pretty soon the other major conferences will follow suit. Then it’s going cost a bunch to pay for all of these channels. There won’t be any need for the ESPN PPV packages for college football and basketball. Everyone will be paying those prices and more because all those games will be part of the channels. While I’m an alum of a Big Ten school I want to see games from all the other conferences just as badly. I already subscribe to Verizon’s sports package so that I can see Pac10 and Big 12 games that Fox College Sports shows. I’m an odd case. There are lots of people that don’t care about sports at all, these are people I refer to as ‘people I’d rather not associated with,’ who don’t need to be paying for a bunch of channels they are never going to watch.

TV Related

Table Cloth Challenge
Someone explain to me why there isn’t a Japanese Game Show channel. At least GSN should have a Japanese block which would wind up being so popular it would need its own channel.

Creed Thoughts
Creed from The Office has a blog. I usually don’t even bother reading ‘in character’ blogs. However with Creed I had to make an exception.

Late Night Subdivision

Colbert on Fresh Air
Stephen Colbert has been everywhere promoting his book. I really liked this interview. Its about 45 minutes long so it gets a lot more in-depth than any of the others. He also talks a lot about the character he plays on the show.

Jimmy Kimmel Does Product Testing on Kids
I miss being able to watch Kimmel every day.

It’s official: Conan moving to L.A.
Sure, the show will probably be exactly the same. It definitely won’t be better. So why move?

Fox Considers Joe Buck for Late-Night Show
I can only support this if it means that he won’t be covering sports any more. Who am I kidding? There is already a Tim McCarver show and I still have to listen to him.

Sports Things

Giants Linebacker Injures His Ear
Lesson: Don’t stick a cotton swab in your ear in a crowded locker room.

An Error-Plagued Game, but From the Broadcast Booth
I’ve thought TBS has done a great job covering the playoffs. Although broadcasting a signal already puts them in a tie with Fox and ESPN. I would like to see more of these types of articles, besides in blogs, calling out announcing mistakes.

Fun Stuff

Exploits of a Mom
If you are a fan of SQL injection comics, then this is for you.

Top 40 Demotivational Posters
People in my job love these things. The mocking variety, just like these. My favorite out of this group has to be the Free Candy van.