“Michael Phelps is leaving Beijing as a global sports icon. He’s now with the likes of the Michael Jordans, Tiger Woods and Roger Federers and he’s earned every bit to be in that elite company,” says the head of global sponsorship at Visa, one of Michael Phelps’ sponsors.
The brands seem to agree and are clamoring for a piece of Phelps, Inc. He’s endorsed by Speedo, AT&T Wireless, Powerbar, Omega Watches, Pure Sport, and Kellogg’s. Phelps will soon adorn the boxes of not only Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, but Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes as well. His $3 to 5 million per year in company endorsements will be multiplied by ten, strategists project.
But Michael Phelps isn’t the only Phelps with value. Mrs. P, who has received more prime-time coverage than most Olympic athletes in Beijing, has a sponsor list of her own. After taking “the hearts of America in terms of parenting and mom of the year,” per Phelps’ agent, and being named “Mom of the Games” per People, she is doing some work with Johnson’s Baby (of J&J), the ADHD Foundation, and Chico’s, the ladies clothing store. Yep, Mrs. P appears to be a fashion icon - after she was seen clad head-to-toe in Chico’s at the Olympics, the company’s “phone lines have been ringing off the hook. Women everywhere want to know how to get Debbie’s look,” says Chico’s Brand President. Though I simply don’t believe that can be true, this potential boost in Chico’s branding could be huge for the company, considering its stock price has seen a 75% decline in the past year. Check out the Debbie Phelps Collection, it could be your lucky charm too!
It may soon be time to say goodbye to the gray whale, the gray wolf, the wild yak, and the iconic bald eagle (and 1234 others), and the laws that protect them. That’s because in his 11th hour, Bush is trying to overhaul the Endangered Species Act.
The ESA was created in 1973 when Nixon decided current conservation acts were inadequate and called upon Congress to pass more comprehensive legislation to protect endangered species. The purpose of the ESA was to protect species and “the ecosystems upon which they depend.” There are currently 1238 endangered animals and 747 endangered plants on the list, which is updated daily.
Under the ESA, any project that may disrupt the ecosystem and impact an endangered species must be approved by the Fish and Wildlife Service or the National Marine Fisheries Service. For example, if the Department of Transportation wanted to build a bridge somewhere that could damage the ecosystem of the Florida Scrub Jay, the plan must undergo an independent review by scientists at the FWS or the NMFS. Between 1998 and 2002, the Fish and Wildlife Service conducted 300,000 consultations. And the National Marine Fisheries Service conducts about 1,300 reviews each year.
The proposed overhaul would allow the Department of Transportation to determine if the project would disrupt the ecosystem. The goal of such measures is to end one of many environmental reviews that federal agencies and developers blame for delays and cost increases on many projects. Federal agencies and private developers say the process of reviewing each project has killed some worthwhile projects. So I guess they’d rather kill the species than the project.
Luckily, Obama opposes the act, stating “we should be looking for ways to improve it, not weaken it.” McCain so far has no comment. The proposal was laid out in the Federal Register, and allows a public comment period of 30 days. Mind you, that public comment period was shortened from 60 days to 30 because per an Interior Department spokeswoman, “It was determined that we needed to move forward in a timely fashion.”
Poor National Enquirer. Nobody believed you when, in October 2007, you cried “Edwards Cheating Scandal.” Wikipedia didn’t even heed your call.
While you were digging into the Edwards scandal - publishing stories about his affair with filmmaker Rielle Hunter, his illegitimiate child, how he paid his aid Andrew Young (who is married with children) to go live with Hunter under the guise that he was the one having the affair, and following Edwards to the Beverly Hilton hotel where he met Hunter and the child – major newspapers were sweeping the story under the rug. They ignored your plebian cries due to your lack of credibility, and instead, published front pagers about an unproven alleged McCain-lobbyist affair.
But look at you now. You were right! John Edwards admitted to the affair, and papers everywhere are vindicating you.
Oh, how they should have known! You’re not the alien searching tabloids that I thought you were (it’s true, I searched far and wide for an Enquirer alien story to little avail). I must have had you confused with Weekly World News. You know, the mag you share the check-out stand with? Bat boy ring a bell? Nay, you just write about celebrities and politics. Usually about plastic surgery gone wrong, Brangelina’s escapades, secret affairs of the stars, or cellulite. Lots of cellulite. But when you get a story, you dig. Deep. You cracked the Jesse Jackson illegitimate child case, you uprooted the pic of Donna Rice sitting on Gary Hart’s lap, and you exposed the story of Limbaugh’s drug problem. And now this!
What a world it would be if the other publications heeded your cry! “Change” may not have been the buzzword of the summer. That’s because Hillary would have received the Democratic nomination. If others believed you and pressured Edwards to admit to his affair, Clinton would have received his votes and won Iowa. At least that’s the view of Howard Wolfson, former communication director for the Hillary campaign. Could it be true? I suppose we shall never know.
Have you noticed that every Olympic swim event is also a record smasher? It seems like every swimmer (and not just Phelps) is seconds ahead of the daunting green world record line, smashing it to smithereens. So how is all this record breaking possible?
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Tech Doping – The new Speedo LZR RACER suit, which was developed by scientists from NASA, “feels like a rocket coming off the wall,” said Phelps in a team interview. “The water just runs off the suit.” The suit has “ultrasonically welded” seams that mimics a shark skin, holds in the swimmer’s abdomen in the best position, allowing him to take in 5% more oxygen, and takes an athlete 30 minutes to get into. The suits are so powerful that US Swim Coach, Mark Schubert believed every swim record could be smashed at Beijing.
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Pool Depth – The pool in Beijing, known as the “Water Cube,” is 3 meters deep, instead of the previous depth of 2 meters. This allows swimmers to dive deeper and continue their push off “dolphin kicks” for a longer period of time. Olympic medalist and commentator Rowdy Gaines says, “It’s just deep enough to where the waves dissipate (and) the turbulence dissipates down to the bottom.”
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Pool Lanes – There are ten lanes in the Water Cube, instead of the usual eight, leaving the outside lanes open. This reduces turbulence and enables swimmers to go faster. “It’s by far the fastest pool in the world,” Gaines says.
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Practice – Sponsorship for swimming has increased, which allows athletes to avoid retirement for longer, and thus practice more. Mark Spitz, the Olympic swimmer with the most gold medals before Phelps, retired at 22 after the Munich games due to his inability to make a living as an amateur athlete. Back then, the Olympics only allowed amateur athletes to compete. Phelps, on the other hand, is now 23 has an estimated annual earnings of $5 million, and will be awarded an extra $1 million dollar bonus from Speedo if he reaches or beats Spitz’s record.
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Non-Tech Doping - Gary Hall Jr., previous Olympian 50-m freestyle champion, seems to think so. “Can suit technology distract from another issue?… I’m telling you this, I train with an international group of swimmers and all of them have stories and a few of them have had offers.” Hall likens today’s “blame it on the suit” situation to that of the ‘76 East German women’s Olympic swimming team. Though, he seems to be the only one speaking out about this so perhaps he’s just bitter he didn’t qualify for Beijing.
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“Top Secret” Technology Math Tool - Professor Timothy Wei, of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., helped develop top-secret, state-of-the-art equipment and mathematical techniques that USA Swimming coaches have been using to help to make swimmers go faster. He uses water flow diagnostic technologies to see how each swimmers’ motion affects the flow of water. Learn more from (or become more confused by) this video.
potato-potato-potato! Do you know what that sound is? Maybe you don’t recognize the onomatopoeia, but you must certainly know the actual sound. It’s the Hog Call! The rev of a Harley Davidson - one of the most recognized sounds from one of the most recognized brands in the US.
So what’s “potato-potato-potato?” It’s the sound that Harley tried to trademark back in the 90s. In 1994, Harley filed a registration for a trademark of its V-twin engine sound. It read “the mark consists of the exhaust sound of applicant’s motorcycles, produced by V-twin, common crankpin motorcycle engines when the goods are in use.”
Though it was denied, there are, indeed, some sound trademark applications that made it through. About 300, in fact. Some of the most recognized are:
- NBC’s musical notes G, E, C played on chimes. NBC was the first to trademark a sound for its radio broadcasting services in 1950.
- MGM’s lion’s roar
- The song “Sweet Georgia Brown” for The Harlem Globetrotters
- Tetris’ “electronic Russian folkstyle tune,” owned by Elorg Company
- Intel’s 5 note ding
- “D’Oh” spoken by Homer is owned by Fox
- The 9 bars of musical chord in the key of B Flat that typically opens a Twentieth Century Fox movie
- Looney Toons Theme Song, owned by Time Warner
- The spoken letters “AT&T” with a music in the background
- “Cha-Ching,” owned by Checker’s Restaurants
- “Yahoo!” sung in a yodeling style
- Nokia’s default ringtone
- Mister Softee’s Jingle
- “Hello and Welcome to Moviefone,” owned by America Online
- The sound of the crowd & bell from the New York Stock Exchange’s trading floor
- TiVo’s popping sounds (in 2 and 6 tones)
- Pillsbury Doughboy’s giggle
Can’t you just hear them already? If not, head over to the US and Patent Trademark Office where they have sound files to refresh your memory.
