I saw this commercial when I was getting ready for work this morning and it is amazing.

Had a life-altering experience this weekend as the girlfriend and I ventured to Ikea in Orlando. It was not her first time in the store but it was mine and I was blown away. I think Ikea has a genius business model and I am a little surprised that given the store’s tremendous success both in the United States and abroad that it hasn’t been imitated. The store was just smaller than an aircraft carrier and seemed to house more customers than Rhode Island has citizens but the stuff is incredibly a) cheap and b) aesthetically pleasing in a modern, quasi-hipster sort of way.

What I will say is while I love the pair of lamps, silicone tipped tongs and slotted spatula, and $1.99 cutting boards, I would never ever attempt to assemble some of the larger furniture pieces the store offers. Walking into the store, you notice all the people backing their SUVs up to the Returns/Exchanges department, a look of defeat on their face, as they haul the flat box that was supposed to be that trendy-looking armoire back to its home.

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Good for San Diego, bad for football

I watched the end of the San Diego/Indianapolis playoff game this weekend from an elliptical machine at the gym, in front of a guy on a treadmill, rooting rather loudly for the San Diego Chargers as the game neared its finish. I suspect that this guy had no particular alliance with either team and wasn’t rooting for either team but rather rooting against the Colts, presumably because they were the favorite in the game. I felt like shaking that man and making him realize what the Colts losing meant. What it meant was that one of only TWO games that we will get to watch next week will feature a Chargers team that lost to the Patriots by 24 points earlier this season. In contrast, the Colts lost to the Patriots by a mere four points, in a close contrast that was the highest-rated Sunday afternoon game since at least 1987.  I would suggest getting a good movie to watch before Sunday’s Giants/Packers NFC Championship game/Brett Favre lovefest at 4:30. This thing is going to get ugly early. I’ll take the Patriots by 65 points.

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Shut up, Philip Rivers

Did anyone see the Chargers quarterback jaw-jacking with Colts fans at the end of Sunday’s game? I am tired of this kid. Shut up and play. What I’ll say about Rivers is that he has done an awful lot of talking and fist pumping for a guy with 21 TDs to 15 INTs on the year and not to mention.. HE DIDN’T EVEN FINISH THE GAME! If you had nothing to do with the outcome of a game, which he didn’t give credit where it’s due, in this case to Billy Volek, you can’t be trash talking to anyone. I’m tired of Philip Rivers. The dude has been to a single Pro Bowl and is lucky to be playing on a team with LaDanian Tomlinson and Antonio Gates.

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T.O. Cries

That’s all…

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Toshiba’s Hail Mary 

Word in the tech world this morning is that Toshiba is slashing prices on its HD-DVD players. The players, one of which I happen to own, will now range in price from $150 to $300. This is all fine and good but what Toshiba doesn’t seem to realize is that the problem isn’t the cost of the players. The problem was never the cost of the players. They are losing the format war agains Blu-Ray because studios have aligned themselves with the Sony’s technology and signed exclusive deals. What this means for consumers is that sure, they will have a top of the line HD-DVD player but they won’t have any High Definition content to play on it. I think it’s very unfortunate that this has played out the way it has for consumers. Consumers are the real losers here because instead of allowing the market to play out and consumers decide which technology they prefer, the studios have decided it for us by signing this exclusivity deals with Blu Ray or HD - DVD (much more so the former than the latter). My hope is that the two sides can make some sort of agreement that will allow the Blu Ray discs to be formatted to play on the HD DVD players or else a lot of consumers will be out a lot of money.

Dead horse files assault charge against Rev. Al

As some of you may have heard, Golf Channel analyst Kelly Tilghman has been suspended two weeks for a remark she made while calling the Mercedes-Benz championship last weekend.

On air, Tilghman joked that to stymie Tiger Woods’ dominance on tour young golfers needed to “lynch him in a back alley.” Tilghman has since apologized for the remark and has received the suspension I’ve mentioned above. Tiger’s camp has accepted her apology and the whole thing appeared to be over. A very poor choice of words into a live microphone had earned Tilghman two weeks off from work and a fair share of embarrassment.

If only that were the end of this story. Rev. Al Sharpton, as he seemingly always does, has interjected on behalf of… well at least himself, saying that Tilghman’s comments were no less inflammatory than Don Imus’ famous comments about the Rutgers womens basketball team and that Tilghman ought to be fired.

I should preface this post by saying that I think this country needs people like Rev. Al Sharpton serving as a watchdog for civil rights.

Al Sharpton is just flat out wrong about Kelly Tilghman. What he does when he injects himself into situations like this is compromise his own legitimacy as a leader and as a public figure when called upon to lend his voice to causes that are actually socially significant (the Jena Six most readily comes to mind).

You absolutely cannot make the comments that Tilghman and I do not condone making those types of comments because of the emotions and years of vicious violence they invoke. But Imus and Tilghman are not the same because there is nothing in her past that suggests that she is bigoted in any way (her friend, Washington Post columnist and PTI host Michael Wilbon said as much on last night’s program), the same cannot be said for Imus who, on a number of occasions, referred to Illinois Senator Barack Obama as “that young colored fella.”

Leave Kelly Tilghman alone, Al.

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Playoff Picks

GREEN BAY over Seattle

NEW ENGLAND over Jacksonville

INDIANAPOLIS over San Diego

DALLAS over New York

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When did Sports Writers become gossip columnists?

Does anyone really, truly, honestly care where and with whom Tony Romo spent his off weekend?

It is an absolute embarrassment to our profession that sports writers are asking Dallas Cowboys players and coaches what they think about Tony Romo heading to Cancun for a couple days during the Cowboys off week. A trip, it should be noted, he did not take alone, pro bowl tight end Jason Witten went along.

Romo broke no team rules by going, didn’t miss any practices or team functions. In fact, Cowboys head coach Wade Phillips instructed his players to get away from the game for a couple days. So what’s the problem? Do we care at all if Marco Rivera mowed his lawn over the weekend? Or if Marion Barber took a nap, played a little Call of Duty 4 and went to see No Country for Old Men? No and we shouldn’t care about this.

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Am I really excited about a flick called Cloverfield?

Answer: Very much

Ever since this film began it’s somewhat cryptic viral marketing campaign, I was interested to see what producer J.J. Abrams had in store. The trailer is out (and below) and what I like most is that they let you know just enough about the plot but leave it at that. Too many times trailers are giving away the movies they are advertising for to lure moviegoers into theaters. This film doesn’t need to do that and I’m itching to see what this movie has to offer.

That being said, I’m not expecting a whole lot. My guess is that this is a monster movie in the same vein that we have seen monster movies before and I hope that, after seeing the film, my favorite part about it isn’t the build-up before I saw going to see it.

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Senior Bowl adds some more big names

Add to the list of players committed to playing in this year’s Senior Bowl, five LSU Tigers. Those players are Jacob Hester, Craig Steltz, Early Doucet, Ali Highsmith and Chevis Jackson.

They join a nice contingent of players from the SEC who’ve committed already.

Also announced this week were Missouri tight end and First team All-American Martin Rucker, Texas wideout Limas Sweed, and Biletinikoff finalist Jordy Nelson from Kansas State.

The final rosters are to be announced on Sunday, Jan. 20 and will be posted here on The Bottom Line. This year’s Senior Bowl will be played on Saturday, Jan. 26 at 3 p.m. and will be televised on the *sigh* NFL Network.

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Sampson vs. Weber, Round 1

It’s a big afternoon for Indiana sports Sunday as the Colts kick off against the Chargers at 1 and IU and Illinois square off at 4:30 in Bloomington. If you thought the relationship between Bill Belichick and Eric Mangino was contentious, watch the IU game on Sunday on CBS. These are two men who genuinely hate each other’s guts, due in large part to Weber’s belief that Sampson contacted Gordon after the guard had verbally committed to play at Illinois in 2008. Sampson claims a member of Gordon’s family initiated the contact with his staff and that led to Gordon de-committing to Illinois and signing with the Hoosiers. What we have here is a good, old fashion Big Ten Bloodfeud and while the game Sunday won’t come close in the palpable hatred department at Feb. 7’s game in Champaign, it should be entertaining none the less. The end of game handshake will be like Patriots/Jets minus Belichick assaulting a photographer.

Is the Worldwide Leader trying to prevent Trent Green from going back to the NFL and possibly suffering brain damage after a string of concussions?

I’m not sure but never have I seen a network trot a guy around the way ESPN has plastered Green on every one of its shows on both television and radio. He was the featured guest on PTI last night, on Sportscenter offering analysis on this weekend’s NFL playoffs, doing the same on NFL Live and twice when I’ve gotten in my car today, he has been on ESPN Radio. So what gives?

While his analysis is well-articulated and informative, it’s hardly insightful or particularly entertaining. His performance as analyst matches that of his career as an NFL quarterback: Efficient, consistent but not particularly exciting or noteworthy.

Joe Gibbs retires — again

After an emotional year, Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs retired as head coach of the Washington Redskins this morning. Gibbs had limited success in the four years since his return from retirement but this does little to tarnish his reputation as one of the greatest NFL coaches ever. I never really sensed that Gibbs was all that enthused about his return and I understood why he came back in the first place.

It now becomes very interesting to see what happens in Washington. Surely, defensive coordinator Gregg Williams will be an option but perhaps not a big enough name for owner Daniel Snyder.

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Time for hoops 

With the college football season now officially behind us, I can now shift my attention to college basketball. My beloved Hoosiers tip-off tonight against Michigan on ESPN and while John Belein’s Michigan team  is struggling, any road win in the Big Ten is huge. I like IU’s backcourt as much as any in America with Eric Gordon, Jamarcus Ellis, Jordan Crawford and now AJ Ratliff coming back from missing the first part of the year with academic ineligibility issues. The frontcourt features some real bruisers with DJ White, Mike White and 295-pound, former Chipola Junior College star DeAndre Thomas. Go Hoosiers!

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Senior Bowl staffs announced 

The coaching staffs from the 49ers and the Raiders will be coaching the North and South teams in this year’s Senior Bowl.

This year’s game could be a good one with the list of players committing to play including Kentucky quarterback Andre Woodson, Georgia Tech running back Tashard Choice, Alabama wide out DJ Hall and corner Simeon Castille and Oklahoma State wide receiver Adarius Bowman.

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Raging Rocket

I honestly don’t know what to say about Roger Clemens’ press conference yesterday in which he played a taped conversation between himself and former trainer Brian McNamee, a tape that did more to muddy the waters than it did to clarify anything. What struck me about the press conference was Clemens’ crankiness about having to answer semi-pointed questions from reporters. It leaves you to wonder how he’ll respond to flat-out accusatory questions he is sure to receive when he appears before Congress as he said he intends to do. The McNamee/Clemens issue is likely never to resolve itself in any definitive way but the fireworks have been, at the very least, entertaining.

Another BCS title loss to another SEC team for Ohio State.

I think the gameball from last night’s BCS title game  has to go to LSU offensive coordinator Gary Crowton. I’ve been very critical of the Tigers’ offense all season long, calling it bland and boring but great playcalling paired with near-perfect execution nullified the nation’s top defense. As a note to Ohio State coach, Jim Tressel may want to start recruiting cornerbacks that can tackle and defend the run — and the pass while they’re at it. Never in my life have I seen a team so unable to defend the option. Hats off to Ohio State defensive end Vernon Gholston who played the option perfectly everytime LSU ran it. His assignment is the quarterback and everytime out he forced the pitch but no one was home to take the pitchman and it resulted in at least a five yard gain every time out.

LSU’s won by doing the little things right. They didn’t commit bone-headed penalties, didn’t turn the ball over and converted, consistently, on third down and that’s how you win big games.

Offensively, Todd Boeckman looked confused and lost all night and the blitz packages Bo Pelini was calling weren’t all that complex. I feel for Jim Tressel, whom I believe to be one of the classiest coaches in all of college football, because I sensed that he wanted to go downfield but the lack of speed on the outside and Boeckman’s spotty accuracy prohibited him from doing so and testing Craig Steltz’s replacement at safety in coverage. One things for sure after last night, Brian Robieski, Brian Hartline and Todd Boeckman better think twice before declaring themselves eligible for the NFL Draft.

As far as whether or not this game solidifies, once again, the SEC’s dominance, I’m not nearly as sold on that as everyone else appears to be. I think that the top three teams in the SEC (see: Georgia, LSU, Tennessee.. sorry Florida) are  as good as any in America but their middle of the pack teams (see: Auburn, Alabama, Kentucky, Arkansas, South Carolina) are certainly no better than the middle of the pack teams in the Pac 10 and Big 12.

I do think this game was a crippling blow to Big Ten football however. As a Big Ten alum, today hurts a little bit, losing to the SEC — again — but the conference isn’t where it should be and I attribute that primarily to poor non-conference scheduling by the elite teams in the conference. Michigan shouldn’t be scheduling Appalachian State (and probably won’t again after what happened this year), Ohio State shouldn’t be scheduling Youngstown State, Penn State shouldn’t be scheduling Florida International and Temple. To be considered the best, you have to play and beat the best and the Big Ten’s elite teams didn’t play the best until the end of the season. Conference commish Jim Delany would do well to get in the ear’s of the conference’s athletic directors and urge them to play tougher non-conference games for the betterment of the Big Ten as a whole. Getting stomped, repeatedly, on national television isn’t good for a conference with a new television network and it certainly isn’t going to help recruiting nationally.

For the LSU fans, enjoy your championship because this team is about to hemorrhage a Gator-esque number of players, particularly on defense. Check out the starting seniors this team is losing:
Ali Highsmith, Early Doucet, Matt Flynn, Craig Steltz, Jacob Hester, Jonathan Zenon, Chevis Jackson, Kirston Pittman, Glenn Dorsey.

Enjoy it while you can.

Great graphic on ESPN.com leading up to tonight’s National Championship game. I really hope that it’s a game worth watching for at least three quarters. Enjoy the game. Live on FOX, 7:30 p.m. CST.

The Associated Press is reporting that Hawaii coach June Jones is leaving Hawaii to become the head coach at … wait for it… SMU.

This is a story that makes absolutely, positively no sense to me. As I sit here trying to reason why Jones would leave a school that, gets no nationally credibility mind you, to coach a team that went 1-11 last year. I get that it’s a challenge to put SMU back on the map but of all the jobs open in college football, he takes this one? Granted he will make more than $2 million a year, which one would be crazy to think didn’t factor into this decision in a big ole way but why this job.

Hats off to SMU athletic director Steve Orsini who has managed to bag former UNC head coach Matt Doherty to coach the Mustangs men’s basketball team and now Jones, who was mentioned in connection to a number of big-time head coaching vacancies including UCLA.

I am just blown away by this story.

The New American Gladiators was good wasn’t terrible

Had a chance to watch American Gladiators 2.0 as I’ve taken to calling it and thankfully, the re-make is very similar to the Mike Adamle/Larry Czonka-hosted version of the early 90s that I loved so much as a kid. They’ve returned all the old games with a set of new HGH-inflated Gladiators. Back are old favs like the cleverly-named Wall, Joust, Gauntlet and my personal favorite, Powerball, not to mention the return of The Eliminator with its ziplines and reverse motion treadmills.

The one thing I don’t understand about Gladiators 2.0: what’s with all the water? When a contestant is tugged from the rings in Hang Tough, more often than not in an extremely homoerotic fashion, he falls.. into water. If he isn’t able to scurry up up the wall in…. Wall, he falls… into water. If he gets his pummeled about his head in joust, he falls off his platform… into water. Even the eliminator features a water-based element or two. What’s with all the water? Why not have the contestants falls headlong into a vat of Extra Virgin Olive Oil or what happened to the big cushy mats of my childhood or a ball pit?

While the show may be enough to make me tune in on Monday nights, sans Heroes, it will not be enough to pull me from tonight’s BCS title game.

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Tonight’s the night

The college football seasons ends tonight in New Orleans with a game I am genuinely, truly excited to watch. I have no idea how Ohio State will come out and play, after having almost two months off but the same can certainly be said for LSU, who’s most recent game was more than a month ago. Make no mistake, the beginning of the game is huge for both sides. Ohio State wants to come out and control the tempo of the game, slow it down and grind it out until the end. If they’re able to do that from the outset, it boasts very well for the Buckeyes. But, if LSU is able to get some big plays early on and get a big lead, Ohio State will have to abandon the run, the strongest part of their offense, and rely on Todd Boeckman and against a veteran secondary like LSU’s that could be all she wrote. In a close game though, I’ll take Ohio State as I find Les Miles’ late game judgment to be suspect at best.

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The Rocket takes former trainer to court

The news this morning is that Roger Clemens has filed a defamation suit against former trainer Brian McNamee, who indicated the pitcher had taken HGH in the Mitchell Report. I do not think that because Clemens filed this suit that it automatically means that he is innocent.

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Bring in the noise

Is anyone else tired of the San Diego Chargers? Between LaDanian Tomlinson, who is becoming increasingly self-aggrandizing, Shawne Merriman, that HGH-addled freak and Philip Rivers, who is far too mouthy for how medicore his numbers are, I’ve grown tired of the theatrics. I understand that football is an emotional game but I don’t need to see Shawne Merriman dance around like a moron after every tackle or Luis Castillo do the samba after getting his only sack of the day. You know, for a team that complained after New England mimicked Merriman’s lights out dance, this Chargers team does an awful lot of celebrating.

More playing, less talking.

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DVD Wars 

I was at the gym when I heard on CNBC that Warner Bros. had inked an exclusive deal with Sony’s Blu Ray to distribute their titles. News that was particularly hurtful considering my recent holiday purchase of an HD DVD player. I’m not quite old enough to remember the VHS/Beta wars of the 80s but I can certainly empathize with those consumers. It really is tricky, not knowing which technology to invest in. For me, the Warner Bros. news hurt because it meant one thing and one thing only: No Dark Knight HD-DVD for Pat.  Now, I know I’m jumping the gun a little bit on this one given that Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins sequel won’t hit theatres until July but still, a little sad..

I have just started reading Michael Ruhlman’s The Elements of Cooking. I know the litterati will scoff when I say that I normally avoid introductions and prologues like the plague but I think it’s important to read Ruhlman’s introduction, written by pal and Bottom Line fav Anthony Bourdain, to understand the intent of the book. It appears as if Ruhlman set out to write something of a reference book for novice chef. Notice that I don’t use the word beginner because I think, as it has been pointed out, Ruhlman’s book has a tone that suggests that he assumes a certainly culinary knowledge has been attained by the reader prior to picking up Elements. That being said, Ruhlman’s writing is informed, concise and passionate. It conveys quite well that cooking and teaching people to appreciate cooking is something he cares a great deal about. For the home cook serious about making good food, it’s definitely worth a read (thus far).

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