Marc Ryan

An added dimension

mryan — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 03:09:07 +0000

After experimenting for over two years, ESPN is poised for the future beyond hi-def television, 3-D.
On September 12, 2010, ESPN transmitted the USC-Ohio State football game in 3-D to theaters on the on each campus and to Hurst, Texas, Hartford, Connecticut and to ESPNZone restaurants in Anaheim and Los Angeles, California. Audience members were impressed if not thrown by quick moving action captured by this new application of technology – “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” this was not!

Buoyed by the success of that game, ESPN unveiled plans for a dedicated 3-D channel at the Consumer Electronics Show in January of 2010.
Today, ESPN3D made its debut in June with the World Cup South Africa-Mexico tilt. Since 3-D demands its own equipment and personnel, ESPN3D will carry 25 of the 60 World Cup games in 3-D. That only a few thousand of the 98 million homes that see ESPN is 3-D capable is of little concern: much like TV Sports in 1936, the 3-D revolution is in its evolution.

Men at Work

mryan — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 16:56:45 +0000

This song was on my puter when Ms. Nee stopped by for consultation for her final project.
-It’s one of my favorite tunes from the 1980’s. It also violated copyright!

iPad Mania

mryan — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 15:31:39 +0000

In an attempt to cut expenses (and be environmentally friendly) WFXL-31-Fox in Albany, Georgia is switching from paper scripts to iPads.
That’s cool.
Made me think of Robert Jordan and Jackie Bange of WGN in Chicago. How would their adapt their commercial break routine if they didn’t have paper scripts?

Oddest job interview ever.

mryan — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 14:05:31 +0000

Can you imagine that job interview?

“Is your mother a prostitute?”

“No, just a convicted drug trafficker.”

He changed his mind!

mryan — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 02:07:28 +0000

Scott Sicko
After passing on the NFL, Scott Sicko signed with the Dallas Cowboys Tuesday.
He wanted to make sure he “made the right decision for himself and fiancé`”. Me suspects the fiancé` wanted Scott to go to Jared instead of Marvin’s.

I’ve been looking up NFL rookie salaries and can not find a definitive number, but according to various unreliable sources, the NFL first year player minimum is 285 K.
Good luck, Scott Sicko. Wish you signed with the Jets.
Oh, and since you’ll make more in a month than I do in a year, wanna help a guy out? My car is about to crack 100 thousand miles!

Well, how about that?

mryan — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 15:45:29 +0000

Scott Sicko played football for UNH and as early as last October, had NFL scouts interested in him.
Despite that, no NFL team drafted him over the weekend. But after the fact, my NY Jets, (oh, the headline writers in New York would have had fun with that name!) Jacksonville Jaguars (seriously, who wants to live in Jacksonville?) and the Dallas Cowboys offered him a contract. -The Cowboys practically guaranteed him a spot on the team. And he turned them down. Young Mr. Sicko has decided to pursue his education. You have to admire that.
On the other hand, in a time when millions of college grads are facing unemployment, moving back with the ‘rents, taking a McJob or two in the meantime, he is walking away a good paycheck. And the question is: seriously?
Then again, he is a history major and could very well wind up as super duper muckety muck at some major league college or university. In which case, I won’t be asking “seriously?” but, for a job!

Too Sexy for my shirt.

mryan — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 23:01:49 +0000

DWTS

Big news in advertising this week. ABC turned down an advertisement from Layne Bryant because it was too sexy.
The ad was for lingerie and was to air on Dancing with the Stars. Now what sense does that make? FOX had similar problems but offered to air the spot in the last ten minutes of American Idol. Lane Bryant thinks this is a case of discrimination of the plus sized.

Powder Blue

mryan — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 04:31:41 +0000

Infield

Major League Baseball honored Jackie Robinson on April 15 and over the next several days by having each player wear his #42. That’s a tradition that goes back to 1997, when MLB marked the 50th Anniversary of Jackie Robinson broke the “color line”.
Jackie Robinson was not only the first African-American to play in the Major Leagues, he was a civil rights pioneer.
But while they honored Jackie Robinson, some teams wore uniforms from the 1970’s. (See picture above.) And there’s the horror. In the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, eleven of the 26 teams wore powder blue uniforms. (You can review the history of MLB team uniforms here.) Many of the other teams wore other colors with similar ghastly results. They even wore burgundy.
It was a dark (if not colorful time) in our National Past time, my children.

But let me ask you this: You have had the chance to look these uniforms over and you see how ugly they are. Why’d they wear them?

Turn off your cell phone!

mryan — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 14:05:12 +0000

Sunday night during the 2010 ACM Awards 2010 ceremony, an all too common thing happened. But I am getting ahead of myself. First, Carrie Underwood made history at the Academy of Country Music Awards on Sunday night, becoming the first woman to win entertainer of the year twice. But during her acceptance remarks, her cell phone went off.
Carrie, it’s an awards show. You are not hailing a cab. Leave your purse with your Mom, you can trust her. You are on national television (and now, all over the Internet). Last thing you need to worry about for the next minute [is] your phone.

As I say, leave it with your Mama.
And oh yeah: Praise the Lord.
And no texting!

Ariel Antigua

mryan — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 02:52:22 +0000

There is this kid out there named Ariel Antigua and he is everywhere. He’s a kid from New Jersey and there are stories about him on Bleacher Report, Huffington Post. And Deadspin.com.
He is of course, on You Tube.

Funny thing is, can’t find a thing about him in The Bergen Record, The Atlantic City Press, WCBS in New York, KYW in Philadelphia or at Philly.com or any number of New Jersey newspaper websites. Nor on NewsLibrary.com.

But he is on this website and that website and many others.
Aha! So here we have an Internet sensation. This kid could be a prodigy or a case of a super hyped kid by relatives that a few web sites glommed onto. But ya know what? When I think of prodigies, I think of Franz Liszt, Georges Bizet and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. All great musicians…and messed up human beings.

Reminds me of Todd Marinovich, the NFL washout whose father programmed his NFL future when he was in the crib.
So, in 15 years we will be reading about Ariel Antigua…on either ESPN or Tru tv.