By John Y. Brown III, on Mon Feb 4, 2013 at 9:15 AM ET
From wardrobe malfunctions to Beyonce’s half-time show with more highlights than the first or second half, some are claiming the NFL is starting to use too much sex to sell football.
Starting?
Hmmm. I am old enough to recall this little Super Bowl commercial from the early 1970s.
It didn’t warp me or cause me to buy Noxema. Or to become a bigger Joe Namath fan.
It did to me becoming a Charlie’s Angels fan a few years later at age 13.
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I have a confession to make.
You know how some people say that for many women going to the Kentucky Derby is all about the hats?
Well….I have a similar dirty little secret.
I watch the Super Bowl mostly for the commercials.
Then the football.
And then the hats.
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My personal Super Bowl story.
It wasn’t way back when. Actually, it was year ago last January. The NFL had helped successfully pass anti-concussion legislation in over 30 states (mostly states with NFL teams) and now was going to the remaining states hoping to make a clean sweep on this important health issue for our student-athletes. Kentucky was selected because the timing seemed ripe.
Read the rest of… John Y. Brown, III: Super Bowl Wrap Up
By John Y. Brown III, on Fri Feb 1, 2013 at 12:00 PM ET
“You look just like…”
I have never liked hearing this sentence and I suspect most people don’t. It means someone else out there in the universe is basically a carbon copy of you and, hence, one of your is unnecessary. Or at least you aren’t as special or unique, a feeling we all like to have.
I had someone tell me yesterday, “I can’t remember the person’s name….Oh, the name doesn’t even matter. But you (speaking to me) look so much like this guy…..(Pause)
Actually, it’s a silhouette of a generic male. I know that sounds nondescript and dull. And may even sound like an insult but I don’t mean it that way. It’s just whenever I see you, I think of that black silhouette image of a generic person. There’s just something about you that reminds me of this image….It’s so odd. And really uncanny”
OK. That really didn’t happen to me.
And I hope it never does.
I can deal with being told I look like a real person. But when I am ….it sometimes feels as uninspiring little like this imaginary interaction.
Q: I’m a veteran lobbyist in a midsize state. I have a client I’ve represented for six years. Decent client, pays fine, nothing to write home about. Now a large firm that is typically on the other side of things wants to hire me away—for twice the money. What should I do?
—Initials and Location Withheld
Good question. Depends on your financial circumstances and the value you place on your professional reputation, loyalty and your principles—assuming you have them. Let’s go one at a time:
1) Do you need the money badly? Is your practice struggling? Do you have a family to support? Start at 0 and add 1 point for each “yes.”
2) How important to you is the respect of your peers?
“Very” = subtract 2
“Somewhat” = subtract 1
“Not very important” = 0
3) Do you think loyalty is an extremely important trait, a somewhat important trait or a not very important trait in a lobbyist?
“Very” = subtract 2
“Somewhat” = subtract 1
“Not very important” = 0
4) Do you think it’s very important, somewhat important or unimportant to agree with your clients’ view?
“Very” = subtract 2
“Somewhat” = subtract 1
“Unimportant” = Do Not Pass Go: Proceed directly to “Free Parking” in the office of your new client.
Tally your points. If you have a positive number, take the new client and drop the old one. If you have a negative number, stand pat. If you’re at 0, flip a coin.
While we’re on the subject, a Missouri lobbyist named Brian Grace just issued a challenge to his corridor colleagues: Take on one nonprofit group pro bono as a client. Should you decide to switch teams, I recommend that as a way to ease your conscience.
Q: Okay, I know you usually do questions from politicians, but how about politicians’ spouses? Here’s my question: My husband just got elected to the state Legislature. I’ve heard it’s a cesspool up there. And I’ve already caught him checking out one of his interns as she was walking away from him. Let me be honest: I love him, but he’s not a great-looking guy and so I probably shouldn’t worry. Or should I?
—E.B., Location Withheld
Yes, you should worry. He’s got three strikes against him already: 1) He’s got enough of an ego to seek office, which suggests that he probably enjoys attention; 2) You caught him ogling his intern; and 3) He’s not very good-looking. You’ve misinterpreted No. 3. You think that because of his homeliness, he won’t be able to attract women up there? I can promise you, it won’t matter. Handsome pols/athletes/movie stars are probably less likely to cheat—they’ve had a lifetime of opportunities for romance. For those who are less attractive, the initial brush with fame may be their first chance for significant romantic opportunities, and thus more difficult to resist.
Kissinger noted that power is the ultimate aphrodisiac. He was referring to the presidency, not the power of a minority party freshman rep in the Wyoming Legislature. But to a 20-year-old sophomore at Casper College, that could be a distinction without a difference. Remember, when you’re a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Whoops, sorry, bad pun.
Read the rest of… Jeff Smith: Do As I Say — A Political Advice Column
By John Y. Brown III, on Thu Jan 31, 2013 at 12:00 PM ET
My delusion of getting LinkedIn attention and an apology.
I like using LinkedIn. It’s a useful and efficient business networking social media tool, in my opinion.
And so I was amused at first, then overjoyed, and ultimately circumspect a few weeks ago when it began raining LinkedIn “acceptances” in my email box.
I knew over the years I had requested a number of LinkedIn connections that had gone un-responded to. And I wondered why this or that person may not have “confirmed” me.
Was it something I said? Did I remind them of someone they dislike? Or am I the person they disliked–and kept others who reminded them of me from being “confirmed” on
LinkedIn?
I just didn’t know.
It started with a trickle. First two, then four, then nine, then 14 LinkedIn confirmations –all in the space of a few hours one day.
“Well, what do you know?” I thought to myself. “I feel I hit the social media jackpot. I guess all those people who never responded are all finally coming around. And at nearly the same time.” Which seemed odd….but the thought was replaced quickly with the self-serving, “Well, it’s about time.”
And then I began wondering “Why now?” Was it the ad in the airport just breaking through. Was there some effort at LinkedIn to end the moratorium on people who had requested to be linked but were in the “questionable” category?
But before I could think through that remote possibility here came 10 more confirmations. And then another five and another seven.
“What the heck?” I thought to myself.
By the end of the day I had lost count. I had at least 300 new LinkedIn connections. All in one afternoon. The likelihood they were all coincidentally people I had requested but hadn’t yet decided until today seemed not only unlikely —but downright delusional.
And then I got an inkling. A few friends who are more colleagues and acquaintances began asking “Did you mean to ‘Link’ to me the other day on LinkedIn?”
I checked my LinkedIn account. By the end of day two I had about 600 new LinkedIn connections. If this trend kept up, I would soon be closing in on Richard Branson of Virgin airlines as the most linked to member of the social media site. I began to wonder if Mr Branson (well, “Richard” now to me) had experienced a similar dramatic surge like mine.
And I realized, at last, it wasn’t a sudden burst in my popularity or people coincidentally seeing the value of linking to me on a social media site. No, something far less impressive and a great deal more humiliating. I had inadvertantly “blast requested” LinkedIn connections from every single person whose email address I had in my Outlook account that could be found on LinkedIn (that wasn’t already connected to me).
Of course, this last and more plausible explanation is a little unsettling and embarrassing. I would like to apologize to everyone I contacted and also thank those that are now “linked” to me.
I think.
I actually want to hold off on a formal apology (and thank you) until I can be sure.
I’d like to hold on ….for just one more night….the convoluted idea that finally, at last, all the people who had gone silent to my LinkedIn requests saw the error of their ways and rose up to link to me. Simultaneously. All in a matter of just a few hours.
I may be able to stretch it out for two more days and nights with this pleasant delusion.
So please be patient waiting for me to get back with that formal apology.
Oops. Gotta go. Just got 12 more new “confirms” on LinkedIn.
By Jonathan Miller, on Wed Jan 30, 2013 at 9:00 AM ET
It’s now time for your favorite contest, “Guess the Jew-Fro!”
Today’s entry, at left, comes to us from a loyal reader, who apparently is using this as a blackmail attempt against the picture’s subject.
The winning guess in the comments section below wins a FREE SUBSCRIPTION to The RP’s KY Political Brief, an email wrap-up of the day’s Kentucky political news, delivered to your inbox every weekday morning.
(OK, anybody subscribe to The RP’s KY Political Brief for free. Just click here to sign up.)
To get you started on the contest, here are 3 hints:
1. The picture is 40 years old.
2. The owner is not really a Member of the Tribe; BUT
3. From his neurotic sense of humor, he is certainly classifiable as Jew-ish. Click here to read why.
By Lauren Mayer, on Tue Jan 29, 2013 at 3:00 PM ET
I know there’s a lot going on politically right now, between immigration reform, deficit ceiling craziness, and gun control, and it may seem hard to find much in the world that is even remotely bipartisan.
But certain human experiences connect us all – as I was reminded by watching the way Sybil’s childbirth death on Downton Abbey affected both the privileged gentry and the hard-working servants downstairs. Birth, marriage, death, putting on our trousers one leg at a time – it helps me to remember that even those with whom I vehemently disagree still love their families or enjoy good dark chocolate. And on the same day Downton Abbey aired that episode, I had my own version of one of those experirences-which-unite-us-all . . . my younger son took possession of his first car (an ancient one he got from my ex, his dad, with 300,000 miles on it, but it runs!)
Suddenly after two decades of my life revolving around my kids and their various activities, doctors, etc., I’m mostly done with driving them, and that’s something we can all relate to! (or as they would say at Downton, “something to which we all can relate . . . “)
By John Y. Brown III, on Thu Jan 24, 2013 at 12:00 PM ET
The McRib Code
The McRib sandwich is back at McDonalds . But there is far more to it than the simple reintroduction of failed fast food sandwich for about the 19th time in approximately 31 years.
I have combined the DaVinci Code formulas and validated them through Nostradamus’ projections that reference a similar irregular phenomenon.
And it is not pretty.
How bad?
Almost enough to make you want to go Mayan.
After you’ve eaten a 2 for 1 McRib. Just know there more at stake. ; )
By Lauren Mayer, on Tue Jan 22, 2013 at 5:00 PM ET
In case you’ve been under a rock for the past week, dethroned cyclist Lance Armstrong ‘told all’ to the queen of the confessional, Oprah Winfrey. And most people reacted much like Claude Rains’ character in Casablanca upon learning about gambling at Rick’s – “we’re shocked, simply shocked” – or something to that effect. The highly promoted, well-publicized interview covered many subjects, but I was surprised that Oprah stayed away from the good stuff, or at least what seems most interesting for a hopeless romantic like me who knows nothing about competitive cycling (but is addicted to Downton Abbey and Jane Austen): his love life! Armstrong has certainly been a cad to his teammates, trainers, sponsors, and anyone else he’s sued or insulted (and I love his defense of all the horrid things he said about his teammate’s wife, claiming as long as he didn’t say she was ‘fat’, all the other names he called her were okay). But he’s been spectacularly awful to his romantic partners, dumping his first wife for a glamorous rockstar, whom he then very publicly dumped because she wanted kids, ironically next taking up with a child star (okay, Ashley Olsen was an adult by that point but she still looks like a teenage waif), and then adding insult to injury by having two kids with the newest girlfriend.
I’m hoping the resilient and talented Ms. Crow will pull a Taylor Swift and write some devastating new song about Armstrong’s betrayal of her, but in the meantime, I’ve taken a stab at it myself.
From wardrobe malfunctions to Beyonce’s half-time show with more highlights than the first or second half, some are claiming the NFL is starting to use too much sex to sell football.
