Merill Lynch: Time to Pull Plug on Mobile ESPN

MediaWeek reports that "Merrill Lynch issued a note to investors calling for ESPN to "throw in the towel" on its branded mobile phone service."

Jessica Reif Cohen and Michael Kopelman at Merill Lynch wrote that "it is time for Disney to pull the plug on Mobile ESPN." The pair charged that "since Disney launched the service with much fanfare during Super Bowl XL, the company has had little luck landing paying subscribers."

Regarding the initial $399 pricing for a Sanyo handset and the subsequent reductions in price, Merrill Lynch stated “the model does not appear to be a particularly attractive use of capital."

Cohen and Kopelman estimated that "ESPN Mobile will lure a mere 30,000 subscribers over the course of this financial year, well below their original estimate of 240,000. Along with the losses generated by a second Disney-branded phone service, ML expects that the Mouse will lose $135 million on its experiment in FY06."

RPW Convention Recap

Last weekend, I attended the Republican Party of Wisconsin's State Convention in Appleton. I was impressed that bloggers were actually welcomed at the convention. Boots and Sabers, Right off the Shore, and Lakeshore Laments among other conservative bloggers attended the convention.

Overall, the conventioneers were upbeat and optimistic. Many looked forward to the November elections, especially "dumping Doyle." Tommy Tompson's speech on Saturday summed up the conventioneers complaints about Doyle with a focus on his lack of leadership and failure to lead on a strong Voter ID bill. No matter what other pundits suggest, Tommy Tompson's speech does exhibit strong support for Mark Green. This was readily apparent in his speech and his humorous claim that the Green Bay Packers would climb out of their slump under Doyle and win the super bowl under Mark Green as Governor.

Mark Green's speech had stern criticisms of Doyle's record, such as failing to lowering property taxes and regressive position on expanding education opportunities:


...
Jim Doyle had his chance to help our taxpayers, and he failed.

He failed by vetoing a property tax freeze three times in just three years and now those taxes have risen another $600 million....

Jim Doyle is standing in the schoolhouse door, blocking thousands of families from their dreams. But you and I are going to kick the door in.

We'’ll support charters, we'll support choice and we'’ll support home schooling and we'’ll never settle for second best when it comes to our kids' education....


It seemed to me though that overall character of Green's speech focused on positive remarks on the character of Wisconin's citizens and ideas for reform.

You are going to hear a lot from me in the coming months about what I think is wrong about the Doyle administration, but it comes directly from a deep-seated belief in what is right about Wisconsin.

Green discussed his beliefs in the importance of family values, Wisconsin's love of the outdoors, strong enforcement of the law, and belief in a Voter ID requirement. Interestingly, Green touched on the fact that is parents are immigrants and his belief that we should honor legal immigrants by "stemming the tide of illegal immigrants."

The Attorney General's race also looks promising for Republicans with two strong candidates in J.B. Van Hollen and Paul Bucher. It is interesting to note that even though both candidates asked for a no-endorsement at the convention J.B. still edged out Paul Bucher in the endorsement process and the straw poll.

You can check out the results and other info about the convention at the Wispolitics Convention Blog.

On the flip side, there were a minor number of protestors outside of the Convention on Saturday. I only noticed one with a sign; they didn't have much of a presence.

This is going to be an exciting election year in Wisconsin.

Mitch Albom: Something bigger than the Super Bowl

Let's get serious amid fun, games
Mitch Albom

For most of my life, charity meant writing a check.

But a few years ago, a former professor of mine scolded me for not doing more. He told me if you're in the public eye, you can rouse people to action.

So today, with your kindness, I'm going to try and do that, because I heard a story a few weeks ago and I couldn't get it out of my head.

The story, in essence, was that, with the city's encouragement, a local homeless shelter was going to offer a three-day "party" over Super Bowl weekend that would provide food and a big-screen TV -- and would also cut the visibility of our most downtrodden citizens.

Other Super Bowl cities tried similar ideas. Many defend it as being a good host.

Personally, I kept thinking about Feb. 6, the day after the Super Bowl. I had this vision of the shelter doors opening, and hundreds of homeless people being nudged out into the cold, essentially being told, "Party's over. Good luck."

Continue Story



What's next? How Detroit stays Super
Mitch Albom

One man wrote he was going to bet $25 on the Steelers, but he figured the homeless could use the money more.

One woman wrote: "My husband is laid off, but we have food to eat and a warm house to sleep in." So she sent a check.

Letter by letter, heart by open heart, what began as a small notion became a large reality.

"Now what?" a reader asked in this newspaper Tuesday. The Super Bowl is over. The hype is gone. "Now what?"

Here's what.

Today, at 2 p.m., inside the Detroit Rescue Mission on Third Street, a group will gather to announce the overflowing generosity of people here and around the world.

More than $150,000 has been raised for S.A.Y. Detroit, a charitable concept to help Detroit's homeless that we started less than two weeks ago.


Continue Story


These are two stories from Mitch Albom. About a real Super Bowl issue and how someone in the public view can affect real issues. This story is old. I actually just realized that I had never published it. Super Bowl is just the super bowl. This is what we should be doing; however, not just during the Super Bowl.

#128

World Cup equals Super Bowl, only better

EUGENE, Ore. – For those of you who don't like soccer, I've got a question for you: Have you watched a game of this year's World Cup?

If the answer is no, then you can't still say you hate football, as it's called everywhere but in the United States. You have to check out a match before judging soccer.

What the World Cup is to soccer, the Super Bowl is to (American) football, the Tour de France is to cycling, and Wimbledon is to tennis. It's the crème de la crème, where the sport’s top athletes compete.

It’s the month-long party of an event that’s so special it takes place only once every four years. Simply, it's the best place to see the best soccer players play.

And boy are the games exciting. Take Argentina's 2-1 overtime win over rival Mexico in the round of 16, when the Argentines scored the winning goal on a Superman of a kick from outside the penalty box.

That's not good enough for you? Try Germany's victory over the same Argentina squad in the quarterfinals - but this time on penalty kicks, AND after the host Germans needed a late goal in regulation to tie it at 1-1 and send it into OT.

Still not piquing your interest? How about France’s come-from-behind 3-1 knockout of its neighbor, Spain, in the “elite eight.” Longtime soccer god and one of the best players ever, Zinedine Zidane – who is retiring after this World Cup – added the finishing touches with a goal in stoppage time for the French. They scored two goals in the final 10 minutes for the victory.

And yet, you haven’t seen anything you like yet? Well then look at the stands. The fans go insane for the World Cup. (That’s the only word to describe it: insane.) They root, they holler, they sing, they dance, they chant, they jump, they yell, they complain, they cheer, they celebrate, they riot, they march, and they cry – all for a sport that most Americans couldn’t care less about?

That doesn’t make sense, or does it? Yeah, it does make sense, perfect sense, actually. Americans don’t know the meaning of a real pastime, a true passion, even if it hit them in the face with a soccer ball kicked by David Beckham’s right foot.

So what can we do? I understand there are many more sports to choose from here in the U.S. I’m not asking people to stop following baseball, basketball, or football (which happens to be my favorite sport, followed by soccer).

I just ask that people give soccer a try.

And I’m not talking about soccer in the U.S. What’s the league called here, “Major League Soccer”? Oh no. I’m talking about “real” fútbol, meaning pretty much everywhere it’s played in the world, besides the United States.

Go to Brazil, Italy, England, Ireland, Argentina, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, anywhere in Africa, heck even Ukraine or Australia or Iran. That’s where soccer is followed and watched closely, where it’s exciting – hey, what a concept! – and where the players can actually play the sport.

In other words, anywhere that isn’t the U.S.

Early favorites: Pats-Cowboys matchup awaits in Super Bowl XLI

Peter King's Monday Morning QB
Posted: Monday May 29, 2006 7:49AM;
Updated: Monday May 29, 2006 7:51AM

The envelope, please. The combatants in Super Bowl XLI, on Feb. 4, 2007, at Dolphins Stadium?

The New England Patriots vs. the Dallas Cowboys. You heard it here first.

All kinds of great angles. Belichick-Parcells. Bledsoe-Belichick. Kraft-Parcells. Brady-Bledsoe. Parcells and his son-in-law, Pats VP of player personnel Scott Pioli, on opposite sides. Maybe we'd call it the Dallas Pioli Bowl. There are two weeks between the conference championships and the Super Bowl this season. We'd need two months to cover all the angles. That's how many good stories would be connected to this game.

And we haven't even mentioned Terrell Owens yet. Or Jerry Jones.

So many good stories that Terry Glenn might make the 17th paragraph of the Associated Press' Super Bowl preview. Might.

Now we get to the idiotic part of the story: defending the pick. I remember picking Minnesota-New England for Super Bowl XL at this time last year, and after I made the pick, I was the toast of the Twin Cities. Talk and print media in Minnesota were all excited about the Vikings getting props from a national columnist in the midst of an exciting off-season. You can see where that got them. Sex-boatgate. Daunte Culpepper playing and acting his way out of town. Mike Tice getting whacked. New England at least won the AFC East and a wild card game last year. Minnesota won nothing but scorn. So please, take this not with a grain of salt, but with a pound. The Super Bowl is eight months and a week away, and I very much reserve the right to change my mind.

Over the last few days, I filtered my pick down from eight teams. Seattle, Carolina and Tampa Bay were my other NFC teams. San Diego, Indianapolis and Miami were my other AFC teams. When I woke up Saturday morning, I was thinking Carolina-Indianapolis. Then Carolina-San Diego and Dallas-San Diego. I knocked out San Diego because of Philip Rivers' playoff inexperience. I dropped Miami because I don't trust Culpepper to play 16 games, and I really don't trust his backup, Joey Harrington. I eliminated Seattle because I think they'll lose home field advantage with trips to Denver and Tampa Bay in December. Though I really like Bucs quarterback Chris Simms, I'm not sure I can totally trust him yet.

Carolina and Indy? Very, very tough. I can't find much not to like in either team, and I could see both winning the Super Bowl. But history tells me they're too chalk. Only once in the last decade have the Super Bowl teams been in their conference championship games the previous season. There's usually a surprise. Like Seattle and Pittsburgh last season. Who figured they'd make it? Who figured Baltimore and the Giants six years ago, or the Patriots five years ago?

Maybe Indy's lost too much on defense with David Thornton and Larry Tripplett now in Tennessee and Buffalo, respectively. Maybe Dan Morgan once again can't make it through 16 games and the playoffs in Carolina. Maybe DeAngelo Williams isn't the 1,300-yard guy John Fox thinks he is. Maybe the offensive line continues to torment the Panthers. Maybe Steve Smith and Keyshawn Johnson duel from 10 paces at midseason, tired of screaming for the ball. Maybe it's just an unforgiving late schedule -- at Washington, at Philly, Giants at home, Steelers at home, at Atlanta, at New Orleans to end the season. I don't know. It's a long season and things happen.

I like Dallas because it has answered every question I have for them but two: Is the offensive line good enough and will the secondary have any more meltdowns like the one it had in the last two minutes of the Washington game last year? We'll see. And I like the Cowboys even though they may have to win a road game or two in the playoffs to get to Miami because they just might go 3-3 in the toughest division in football right now.

There's some risk, to be sure, because Owens is a living, breathing incendiary device. But all kinds of silly chemistry things can happen once the year begins. What I like about this team is it addressed almost every one of its major needs entering the off-season. The Cowboys got a kicker with some clutch misses on his resume, Mike Vanderjagt, but he's better than any guy they've had in years. They got the best player in free-agency in Owens, who's also one of the five best offensive forces in football when he's mentally right.

They got a second blocking/catching tight end in the second round in Notre Dame's Anthony Fasano. They got the kind of stonewallish strongside linebacker in the draft -- Bobby Carpenter -- Parcells must have to play the 3-4 the way he wants. That's a really good 3-4 right now, and it could be superb if DeMarcus Ware provides the kind of pass-rush his potential says he can.

I like New England, even though so many leader-type vets are gone. There are still five left -- Brady, Tedy Bruschi, Richard Seymour, Mike Vrabel and Rodney Harrison. That should be more than enough to compensate for the loss of Willie McGinest, but I don't like Adam Vinatieri leaving, especially to the team that has the best chance to torment the Patriots in the conference, Indianapolis. But life will go on.

This team will be better on offense, with a real alternative to Corey Dillon in first-round pick Laurence Maroney. And you watch, the fantasy tight end sleeper this year will be third-rounder Dave Thomas from Texas. The kid's a keeper. Great hands, great route-runner. Brady's going to love him, and he'll find him six or seven times in the end. Write it down.

You know what else I like about Dallas and New England? Their schedules. December looks like it'll be kind to both teams. The Cowboys finish with three of four at home (New Orleans, at Atlanta, Philadelphia, Detroit). Look at New England's final eight games: Jets, at Packers, Bears, Lions, at Dolphins, Texans, at Jags, at Titans. There's a chance they'll be favored in all eight.

So it's Dallas-New England ... unless after touring the camps this summer, I feel like picking two other poor, unsuspecting teams.

Oh, you want a score?

Parcells goes out on top. Dallas 23, New England 21, behind six catches (two for touchdowns) by Owens.

After the game, Parcells hugs his owner, retires, hugs his son-in-law and takes the first plane to Saratoga the next day. He'll go out a winner.

Early favorites: Pats-Cowboys matchup awaits in Super Bowl XLI

Peter King's Monday Morning QB
Posted: Monday May 29, 2006 7:49AM;
Updated: Monday May 29, 2006 7:51AM

The envelope, please. The combatants in Super Bowl XLI, on Feb. 4, 2007, at Dolphins Stadium?

The New England Patriots vs. the Dallas Cowboys. You heard it here first.

All kinds of great angles. Belichick-Parcells. Bledsoe-Belichick. Kraft-Parcells. Brady-Bledsoe. Parcells and his son-in-law, Pats VP of player personnel Scott Pioli, on opposite sides. Maybe we'd call it the Dallas Pioli Bowl. There are two weeks between the conference championships and the Super Bowl this season. We'd need two months to cover all the angles. That's how many good stories would be connected to this game.

And we haven't even mentioned Terrell Owens yet. Or Jerry Jones.

So many good stories that Terry Glenn might make the 17th paragraph of the Associated Press' Super Bowl preview. Might.

Now we get to the idiotic part of the story: defending the pick. I remember picking Minnesota-New England for Super Bowl XL at this time last year, and after I made the pick, I was the toast of the Twin Cities. Talk and print media in Minnesota were all excited about the Vikings getting props from a national columnist in the midst of an exciting off-season. You can see where that got them. Sex-boatgate. Daunte Culpepper playing and acting his way out of town. Mike Tice getting whacked. New England at least won the AFC East and a wild card game last year. Minnesota won nothing but scorn. So please, take this not with a grain of salt, but with a pound. The Super Bowl is eight months and a week away, and I very much reserve the right to change my mind.

Over the last few days, I filtered my pick down from eight teams. Seattle, Carolina and Tampa Bay were my other NFC teams. San Diego, Indianapolis and Miami were my other AFC teams. When I woke up Saturday morning, I was thinking Carolina-Indianapolis. Then Carolina-San Diego and Dallas-San Diego. I knocked out San Diego because of Philip Rivers' playoff inexperience. I dropped Miami because I don't trust Culpepper to play 16 games, and I really don't trust his backup, Joey Harrington. I eliminated Seattle because I think they'll lose home field advantage with trips to Denver and Tampa Bay in December. Though I really like Bucs quarterback Chris Simms, I'm not sure I can totally trust him yet.

Carolina and Indy? Very, very tough. I can't find much not to like in either team, and I could see both winning the Super Bowl. But history tells me they're too chalk. Only once in the last decade have the Super Bowl teams been in their conference championship games the previous season. There's usually a surprise. Like Seattle and Pittsburgh last season. Who figured they'd make it? Who figured Baltimore and the Giants six years ago, or the Patriots five years ago?

Maybe Indy's lost too much on defense with David Thornton and Larry Tripplett now in Tennessee and Buffalo, respectively. Maybe Dan Morgan once again can't make it through 16 games and the playoffs in Carolina. Maybe DeAngelo Williams isn't the 1,300-yard guy John Fox thinks he is. Maybe the offensive line continues to torment the Panthers. Maybe Steve Smith and Keyshawn Johnson duel from 10 paces at midseason, tired of screaming for the ball. Maybe it's just an unforgiving late schedule -- at Washington, at Philly, Giants at home, Steelers at home, at Atlanta, at New Orleans to end the season. I don't know. It's a long season and things happen.

I like Dallas because it has answered every question I have for them but two: Is the offensive line good enough and will the secondary have any more meltdowns like the one it had in the last two minutes of the Washington game last year? We'll see. And I like the Cowboys even though they may have to win a road game or two in the playoffs to get to Miami because they just might go 3-3 in the toughest division in football right now.

There's some risk, to be sure, because Owens is a living, breathing incendiary device. But all kinds of silly chemistry things can happen once the year begins. What I like about this team is it addressed almost every one of its major needs entering the off-season. The Cowboys got a kicker with some clutch misses on his resume, Mike Vanderjagt, but he's better than any guy they've had in years. They got the best player in free-agency in Owens, who's also one of the five best offensive forces in football when he's mentally right.

They got a second blocking/catching tight end in the second round in Notre Dame's Anthony Fasano. They got the kind of stonewallish strongside linebacker in the draft -- Bobby Carpenter -- Parcells must have to play the 3-4 the way he wants. That's a really good 3-4 right now, and it could be superb if DeMarcus Ware provides the kind of pass-rush his potential says he can.

I like New England, even though so many leader-type vets are gone. There are still five left -- Brady, Tedy Bruschi, Richard Seymour, Mike Vrabel and Rodney Harrison. That should be more than enough to compensate for the loss of Willie McGinest, but I don't like Adam Vinatieri leaving, especially to the team that has the best chance to torment the Patriots in the conference, Indianapolis. But life will go on.

This team will be better on offense, with a real alternative to Corey Dillon in first-round pick Laurence Maroney. And you watch, the fantasy tight end sleeper this year will be third-rounder Dave Thomas from Texas. The kid's a keeper. Great hands, great route-runner. Brady's going to love him, and he'll find him six or seven times in the end. Write it down.

You know what else I like about Dallas and New England? Their schedules. December looks like it'll be kind to both teams. The Cowboys finish with three of four at home (New Orleans, at Atlanta, Philadelphia, Detroit). Look at New England's final eight games: Jets, at Packers, Bears, Lions, at Dolphins, Texans, at Jags, at Titans. There's a chance they'll be favored in all eight.

So it's Dallas-New England ... unless after touring the camps this summer, I feel like picking two other poor, unsuspecting teams.

Oh, you want a score?

Parcells goes out on top. Dallas 23, New England 21, behind six catches (two for touchdowns) by Owens.

After the game, Parcells hugs his owner, retires, hugs his son-in-law and takes the first plane to Saratoga the next day. He'll go out a winner.

The US's last game

Despite all of the optimism I tried to maintain, something deep inside me told me the US was not going to perform well today. This unfortunately came to fruition. I could try to get upset about one of the best officials in the world making a really bad call that resulted in a penalty kick been awarded to Ghana, but that blown call wasn't really what decided everything for the Americans. It was plain and simple that they did not perform as well as expected. This definitely did not look like the team I have been watching for the last two years. Oh well, I guess it's time to just simply get back to watching the World Cup for the pure enjoyment.
I was, however, touched by how important this game was to the Ghanaian nation. The federal government there gave a half-day holiday to everyone in the country and even required their gold mine, one of their chief moneymakers, lower their use of power so everyone in the country would have enough electricity to be able to power the televisions and watch the game without any hindrance. That type of fervor is what I miss most about not living in Europe and I am watching soccer. I can still recall a 1990 walk down and unseasonably warm street in Nürnberg Germany and hearing the same television channel, which happened to be showing a 1990 World Cup, emitting from all of the open windows (they do not have air-conditioning and normal houses in Germany). I was able to follow the game play-by-play until I descended into the subway entrance. I will not even go into the celebrations I witnessed when Germany one that particular World Cup. After seeing all of this dedication to a sport, I think it's ironic that people here believe the Super Bowl is watched by everyone and thus the most important game in the world. I know, the NFL executives claim the Super Bowl is watched by over one billion people every year, nonetheless, I believe the figures are definitely not even close to these claims. I have seen figures as low as 93 million and as high as 300 million watch the Super Bowl yearly, but all one has to do is look at the 1.3 billion which watched the opening game of this World Cup and the projected 1.5 billion that will have the pleasure of watching the final game and even the greatest skeptic will understand that the World Cup is truly the most important single sporting event and the most watched in the world. Well, perhaps not the greatest skeptic, but the majority of people would concede this point.
Perhaps if total ratings worldwide were considered for every game, 64 of them, then this would give some idea of how important this sporting event is to the remainder of the world. Enough of my soapbox rantings. To bring these ramblings to a conclusion, I would simply like to say that I was extremely disappointed with the performance of the US team. People can blame their defeats on many things, but it is simply that the players did not perform when they really needed to.

Pasadena City Council voted unanimously to place a measure on the ballot aimed at luring a team to the Rose Bowl.

It proposes giving the league rights to play at the stadium for 25 years in exchange for a 500-(m) million dollar stadium renovation, 500-thousand dollars a year in rent, and other considerations.

City Councilman Chris Holden says passing the measure would relieve Pasadena of paying 200-(m) million dollars for renovations he said are needed at the Rose Bowl.

But the initiative is opposed by West Pasadena residents, preservationists, and other city leaders, including Mayor Bill Bogaard.

Meanwhile, a committee of N-F-L owners heard stadium presentations last week from Los Angeles, Anaheim and Pasadena.

They could decide later this month whether to approve a Southern California franchise.