Britney's back, I guess.

MTV should get an environmental award for how many times they recycle Britney Spears. At their annual Video Music Awards, Britney, somehow, won three video awards. I had no idea she was still relevant.

I just don't understand how many of the young folks I work with day in and day out say her music "sucks" but she still ends up winning these awards. Is it just image? I'm guessing so.

To her credit, she atoned for what critics said was a horrendous performance last year.

I don't think British comic Russell Brand will be coming back for another host job. That was horrible. Check out any clips on YouTube of this clown's act.

The GOP backdrop

It appears there's more of a story behind the video wall that was behind John McCain during his speech. Read on. Oops!!!!

McCain's backdrop baffles California school
Fri Sep 5, 6:26 PM ET
LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Staff at a California school were scratching their heads on Friday after their facility mysteriously appeared as a backdrop during John McCain's Republican Convention speech.

A giant image of Walter Reed Middle School in the Los Angeles suburb of North Hollywood was one of several pictures projected onto a backdrop at the Republican Convention on Thursday as McCain addressed delegates.

However ABC and online reports have speculated McCain's campaign could have intended to show a picture of the prestigious Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington D.C. rather than a relatively obscure school in California.

A McCain campaign spokesman was not immediately available to comment on the reasons for the selection of the photo. But Walter Reed Middle School's principal Donna Tobin said in a statement that use of the school's image had come as a surprise.

"It has been brought to the school's attention that a picture of the front of our school, Walter Reed Middle School, was used as a backdrop at the Republican National Convention," Tobin said.

"Permission to use the front of our school for the Republican National Convention was not given by our school nor is the use of our school's picture an endorsement of any political party or view."

Walter Reed hospital was at the center of a national scandal in 2007 after revelations of negligent patient care at the facility. Reports revealed how wounded soldiers convalescing at the hospital were often lost in a bureaucratic morass as outpatients, or housed in rooms with moldy walls, holes in the ceiling and infestations of rodents and cockroaches.

Winners and Losers

The winners of the week go to the mighty Bowling Green State University Falcons who upset the 25th ranked team in college football last week, the Pitt Panthers, by a score of 27-17. BG hosts Minnesota tomorrow. Go Falcons!

Another winner of the week...even though I lean left, I have to give John McCain his props for giving a civil speech. He attacked the Democrats but didn't come off arrogantly doing it. I also have to respect the guy who takes the national stage and gives credit to his mom. That scores points with me.

Democratic readers of this blog...I'll give you a moment to recover from that last statement before you proceed.

My loser or losers of the week go to the person or people who gave the green light to putting on the video at the Republican National Convention that showed the tragedy of 9-11 and attempted to make the case that John McCain will keep us safe. There is no need to show the second plane slamming into the World Trade Center. As I have written a couple times now, using someone's and this country's worst and most horrific tragedy for political gain is sick.

Another Loser of the week is Linda Hogan, Hulk Hogan's ex. According to Yahoo News, in divorce papers, it says that Linda Bollea's monthly expenses include $7,258 on clothing; $1,318 on grooming; $6,100 on vacations, the documents state. Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, spends $102 on clothing by comparison, and more than $38,000 on legal and accounting fees. Women readers of this blog, can you please help me out. Why would a woman need $1,300 for grooming...a MONTH? That's over $300 a week! I would run out of space spending over $7,200 in clothing a month. The news article doesn't say how much Hulk, I mean, Terry spends on tanning and uh, "weight lifting supplements."

McCain's big night

Tonight was John McCain's big night. Thankfully, the "presumptive" prefix is now off all of the candidates.

I thought McCain's speech tonight was pretty good. Sure, he got off his jabs at Obama but I thought he was very diplomatic about it. He didn't belittle or demean Obama's resume as Palin did.

I thought McCain did what he had to do. He barely mentioned Bush as he wants to distance himself from Dubya. He played up his war service as kind of a way to make the people of the country believe his heroic and valiant efforts as a veteran will carry over to the White House.

I have give McCain props for bringing up education. This hasn't been touched on too much during the campaigns. He mentioned unions as well as good and bad teachers and schools that don't do well but I was hoping to hear some connection to No Child Left Behind. Would he reform it or keep it as it is?

The Republicans and their supporters made a big stink about Obama's "Greek like stage." Being a broadcast teacher, I was distracted by the "video" background of McCain's stage. Too many times, on medium shots (chest up) of McCain, we saw bright blue in the background (see above picture) and when the shot went wide, it was revealed that that blue was part of a shot of the sky with the American flag. Or we saw a loud green in the background. I thought something was wrong with the background and it looked to me like a weather forecaster's "green screen" or "chroma-hey" background.

While looking for some images to upload on this blog, I went to Yahoo news which carries news/photos from the Associated Press. When I worked in media, I tried to give people a fair representation in the press. If they interviewed poorly, I tried not to let it show on the air by doing some serious editing or some other means to minimize the damage. How could the photo below be used? That's such an awkward picture!

Governor Palin

Ok, I preface this with a disclaimer. My thoughts do not represent any organization or institution. They are merely my own thoughts and reactions to this campaign.

I have to say that Governor Palin's first speech on this grand of a stage was impressive. She came off well. However, as her counterpart, Joe Biden has already said, during her approximately hour long speech, gas prices, foreclosures, affordable college tuition, and the middle class were all missing from the speech. Heck, I don't remember hearing any references to Gulf Coast, which was hit hard by another hurricane, which altered the convention. And before you ask, "Did Obama say anything about those things?" Yep. He did. You better believe I'll be listening for these things tonight during McCain's speech. How about affordable health care?

I just find it hard to attach credibility to someone who blasts "big oil" companies on one hand and in the same speech, she acknowledges that her husband works for an oil company and a relative who opened their own service station.

Somebody from the right needs to straighten me out on the whole experience issue. Governor Palin says because she has been mayor and governor (executive experience), she therefore, has more experience for the top office than Senator Obama. If it were up to me, I think I would rather have someone who has been in Washington and knows lawmakers and can navigate the mess that is in Washington. People have been blasting Obama's foreign policy experience. What is Palin's foreign policy experience?

Getting back to my initial impressions of Palin's speech...I think my favorable impressions of Palin's performance relate to the fact that my expectations were so low and she did better than I expected. She is no Admiral Stockdale (Ross Perot's running mate). This wasn't a case of me having high expectations and having her met them.

I read that John McCain met Palin ONCE in person and called her on the phone once before asking her to be his running mate. Last night, a Republican strategist said on tv that Mitt Romney was initially going to be offered the spot and then that offer was reneged because of Hillary's speech last week. I think most of the criticism towards the Palin pick is because people see her as unqualified.

Final note: I watched last night from 10 o'clock through the end of Palin's speech. As has been a criticism of the Republicans and especially Bush, whenever the public opinion goes south, the gameplan is to bring up 9-11. Rudy Giuliani referenced it and then Sarah Palin mentioned that her son would be going back for another tour of duty "a week from tomorrow on September 11th."

Choice of words.

A few posts back, I mentioned how some headline writers were using the word "raps" with Obama in terms of criticizing McCain and that I doubt we'll see that word used with McCain's camp.

Today's Toledo Blade has an interesting headline that accompanies a story about Barack Obama's visit to Michigan over the weekend. Here it is.

Article published Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Obama adds 'soul' to plea for victims
By TOM TROY
BLADE POLITICS WRITER
DETROIT - Barack Obama vamped a few words from Motown songstress Aretha Franklin's classic "Chain of Fools" here yesterday before turning serious about the storm that forced millions of people along the Gulf coast to abandon their homes.

*****Now, while the article mentions that Barack made a reference to an Aretha Franklin song, do you think the author of the article, intended there to be a hidden racial double meaning with the use of the word "soul"?

Furthermore, again, do you think that we would see "soul" put in quotes in a headline describing John McCain if he did the exact same speech?

Fantasy Football

Every year, a group of guys get together and draft football players to have make believe games every weekend. This is a simple explanation of fantasy football. Last year, my team, the Massillon Hitmen won the Total Points Championship as well as the Most Improved Franchise Award (as designated by the Al Davis plaque). I didn't win the whole thing. A very worthy opponent beat me in the final contest.

However, I am looking forward to another fun year. I took a couple risks in drafting Ricky Williams and Edgerrin James. If it pans out, it will look good. Last year, I drafted Tony Romo, Terrell Owens, Randy Moss, LaDanian Tomlinson, Jamaal Lewis, and Braylon Edwards. Owens, Moss, and Edwards had their issues in the past and fellow team owners thought I was nuts. But at the end of the season, I had at least one top five player in the QB, RB, and WR positions in the NFL. That's just lucky.

My league held its draft yesterday and I was able to get Romo again. I also drafted Kellen Winslow and Braylon Edwards again.

Ah, the excitement of football.

Just a hint for an early "Winner of the Week" for next Friday, it might be a certain college football team that pulled off an upset.