mmmm, Gumbo.

Good morning, ladies and gents! Hope your week has gone well.

I have a bunch of thoughts floating around in my head and wanted to put them down on the greatest site in all of the land...Here we go.

MLB
Bud Selig can suck it. That jack was asleep at the wheel during the home run era, and allowed the moon shot increase to be blamed on the mythological "live ball" instead of cracking down on PEDs. Now, we know everybody and their moms in the league was juicing (except about 10% of the players)...and he's throwing A-Rod under the bus.

It is true though, A-Rod admitting he had cheated is very un-baseball like. Why didn't he like repeatedly like the rest of the schleps who have been fingered by various investigators?

I say hats off to A-Rod...and I've already forgiven him. Clemens, Bonds and the rest of you un-repentant liars can suck it.

But Alex, no one will ever forgive you for dating Madonna.

Meggy Tejada- hats off to you for pleading guilty, and begging for forgiveness from the fans. Granted, you shouldn't lie under oath, but he's just protecting the ole boys network of the MLB.

Valuable lessons above- Don't cheat. Don't lie...or bad things happen to you. But if you do, act like a man and admit your mistakes.
EsPN
The Entertainment Programming Network recently suspended Scott Van Pelt for stating his opinion about Bud Selig stealing MLB's money...and he got suspended for a week. Supposedly, Seligs feewings were hurt. It does hurt when you're nailed as a fraud...and you know you're one.

And speaking of frauds, EsPN needs to drop the word Sports from their title for once and for all. Sports Center is filled with more human interest stories than highlights these days...and the only reason they keep their ratings is because there's no serious competition.

Maybe if Van Pelt would handle himself like a professional, a la Chris "stupid pun here" Berman, he'd get somewhere. In my opinion, Van Pelt ranks up there with Dan Patrick, Craigers and Mayne as the best SC anchers of all time. If the Network wants to push entertainment, use Kenny Mayne more!

Much like Patrick, Van Pelt will probably wisely move on soon...I hope he does.

Nike
Some of you know, I am in my profession because I grew up a huge fan of Nike basketball shoes. But, I fell out of love with the footwear and equipment giant back in college. So, my opinion isn't too surprising.

But Nike is a shadow of its former self. Granted, they still have a giant portion of the market share in footwear and apparel, but their focus has clearly changed. On many of their products, a woven label reads:

"Engineered to the exact specifications of championship athletes"

Well, like so many things in the world, that's become marketing drivel. As you heard earlier in the week, Nike bailed on their meetings with Purdue players last summer for no apparent reasons. The meetings were set-up so Purdue captain, Chris Kramer could give his input to Nike prior to their changing of Purdue's uniforms. Instead, Nike will do whatever the hell they feel like...and Kramer and Co. will like it!

As a product designer, the philosophy of designing at the end user instead of for them pisses me off. And the fact that marketing decides Nike's direction instead R&D teams along with athletes is a far cry from Phil Knight's original vision of the company that he no longer runs. No matter, it's time for Nike, like EsPN, to simply stop pushing a pack of lies upon the consumer, and state what they are- a fashion sporty brand. 14 year old girls love their stuff though...so that's positive.