Best Commercial Ever

So we've posted a lot of videos of late, but I must say this one is the best. It's the new Federline commercial from Nationwide. It was supposed to be aired during the Superbowl, but due to complaints and demands from the Fast Food Chains of America, it got pulled. Nationwide is now do a viral ad campaign with it.

Follow this link, and you can see it.

God Bless You, Old Spice

Whoever is the new marketing director at Old Spice is a genius. I haven't laughed so hard at commercials well, ever... These may be the best two commercials ever made. I hope they keep it up for the Super Bowl.

Manly:


Bruce Campbell:

Where are my account docs?

Ted got published!

So I'm a big fan of BlueGraySky, an ND blog site that has some pretty darn good coverage of ND stuff. I usually check it a couple times a day during the football year, and basketball for that matter. Anywho, I came into work today, and as is my routine, I looked at BlueGraySky and saw that the results from an entry competition were posted. I was just looking through who they gave credit to, and lo! there was "Ted Heffernan"!

Now, there can't be too many Ted Heffernan's in the world, and I know my brother is one of them. So I ask him: Ted, did you enter the contest? And if so, I believe that since you were one of 24 guys mentioned with honor, you must have written a pretty good entry. Get it posted here! I want to read it!

For those of you wanting to see Ted's name, or just read a great blog, you can't click here:

ND National Championship 2009

My humble prediction. Look, I am as distraught about the Sugar Bowl loss as everyone else is. Even worse, I have to live with all these LSU idiots for the next year and a half. It has been merciless and unrelenting since Wednesday. I even had to go to an LSU-themed birthday party today for a 2-year old! However, I see VERY good things in the future for the Irish.

2007: Gator Bowl
2008: BCS Bowl
2009: BCS Championship (win)

Yeah, I know it may be wishful thinking, but let me throw these stats your way regarding recruiting rankings for the sophomore through senior classes at some elite schools. I used those classes because they make up the VAST majority of starters on most teams. These numbers represent the recruiting class ranking based on Rivals and Scouts over the 3-year period from 2003-2005.

USC Rivals 1.7 Scout 2.7
LSU Rivals 8.3 Scout 7.7
Michigan Rivals 9.3 Scout 5.0
Ohio State Rivals 20.7 Scout 14.3
Notre Dame Rivals 28.0 Scout 20.7
Penn State Rivals 44.0 Scout 30.0
Illinois Rivals 43.6 Scout 40.0

So what does this tell us? Obviously, LSU has completely outclassed us in recruiting during a period of time during which Ty basically failed to recruit any top guys. I have to say that was evident as the Sugar Bowl wore on. We just couldn't keep up with those guys. However, think about our last 4 losses. It is the same story every game:

OSU 2006: We are in it till the late 4th quarter. We have an opportunity to tie it up, but fail. Then OSU adds on a late TD to make the score more lopsided (and causes every media member to forget how ND was in it till the end)

Michigan 2006: Despite an early disaster, ND fights back and is playing respectfully until we just get shut down in the 3rd quarter.

USC 2006: We are really in it until we fail to get off to a good start in the 3rd quarter. Then USC just pulls away.

LSU 2007: Another early disaster until ND ties it up before half. LSU dominates after that and wins going away.

Some would say this shows that Weis is a bad coach and can't make adjustments. What it really shows you is how good a coach Weis is. He is able to take lesser athletes and scheme a way to keep in the game. Unfortunately, we just can't keep it going long enough. Remember, with Ty and Davie, we were dropping losses to the BYU, Purdue, BC and Syracuses of college football. It was ugly! Now, we are winning the games we are supposed to win. Look who we are losing to!

We'll get there. It will just take a bit longer than we all hoped. By the way, since Weis took over, we have the Rivals #7 and Scout #6 ranked classes the past 2 years, including this year. This year's class isn't even done yet! There isn't much difference in the #1 class in comparison to the #5 class, but there is a huge difference from #5 down to #20. We'll be right in it in 2 years!!!

JT - D in a B

If you haven't seen the Justin Timberlake skit from SNL a few weeks ago, I've posted it here. It's not exactly a PG rating, as the entire skit was censored on SNL, but this has to be the funniest skit off that show since Matt Foley.

To all you guys out there, please do NOT get me this gift next Christmas.

eBay Is Over

I used to really love eBay. You could find anything you ever needed on there, and always for a great price. Any junk you needed to get rid of - there was always a person willing to buy! Unfortunately, eBay has gone steadily downhill to the point where I may stop using it altogether.

The first crack in the system was the bid sniper. Did you ever have a bid on an object that got outbid, like 2 seconds before the auction closed? You actually thought you won the auction, only to see somebody else got it - for $1 more than your bid! You got sniped. These jerks slowly have taken over bidding, making any bid a battle to get the last bid in.

Snipers have directly led to another problem with eBay - overpriced items. The great deals you used to get on eBay are a thing of the past. Perhaps it is the competition to win an auction that fuels increased bids. People get eBay fever, bidding higher than an item is worth in an effort to win! It never ceases to amaze me why someone would buy a used item that they could get BRAND NEW for a couple dollars more. Hey, enjoy your lack of warranty and don't forget about those overpriced shipping charges!

Finally, the age of Power Seller has arrived. These are the morons who use eBay as a storefront to sell their garbage. A lot of these people are entrepreneurs who buy merchandise at wholesale and sell it with a markup to make a quick buck. However, I bet a bunch of them are crooks who steal from trucks, warehouses and people's homes only to resell for pure profit. eBay has become the internet Black Market!

I would like to leave you with an example of my recent run-in with a Power Jerkoff on eBay. This is the mindset of the typical eBay seller these days. As background, I have a set of Polk Audio RM Series II satellite speakers (5 speakers + sub) that I bought in 1998 for $599. These speakers served me well for almost nine years, until one of the satellites died. I went onto eBay to see if I could find a single speaker to replace it. Amazingly, I found a guy who was selling a set. Even more amazing, he was asking for $275 for the set, when you could buy a brand new Polk set for $279.99 (I guess speakers have become more affordable in 9 years)! This is a 9 year old set of used speakers that he admitted had some damage, but still sounded great. Of course he didn't have any bids, so I was hoping he might want to make some cash and sell me a single speaker to replace mine. The following email exchange is verbatim. I couldn't make this stuff up. Please note the excellent grammer.

Ted
I have the exact same system you are offering. The problem is one of my front speakers died. I am looking for a replacement - a single front speaker (the one with the granite finish, NOT the rear speaker). Not to be mean, but you could purchase a BRAND NEW Polk RM6005 set with a sub for less than what you are asking for your set which is about 9 years old. Would you be willing to sell me a single front speaker? Better to make some cash than nothing at all!

ragpickers33460
Your are VERY rude and selfish individual.

Ted
What is wrong with you? A simple, No, I would prefer to sell this as a set, would have sufficed. I asked a very legitimate question, and pointed out a VERY obvious fact. If you are going to be a complete jerk about it, good luck. I see you have another bidder now. Maybe he will be fooled by your outdated item and pay you unlike the last guy who apparently came to his senses!

ragpickers33460
Actually that last guy was a crook and is nolonger an Ebay user, with your attitude you'll end up the same way!One can only hope. would you take the arm of the child so YOU could have a Complete Set? All about you....my reputation speaks for it's self. god we get all kinds..

Ted
Are you actually comparing a speaker set to a child???!!! Are you completely INSANE? I never said anything rude or criminal in any way until you started accusing me of things after asking a question. I will not be responding to any further messages by you.

More Engagement Media!

Check out the following engagement media mania:

Pictures (along with all Christmas 2006 pictures): CLICK HERE

Engagement

So this past weekend Bridget and Bryan (I finally spelled his name right) finally got engaged. Apparently Bryan had the go-ahead from Dad since September, but because we Heffernan boys are so intimidating, or maybe because he was nice and wanted to let Dad's bank account recharge a little longer, he waited until New Year's Eve dinner to propose. Apparently Bridget accepted, as the pictures below of she and Bryan hugging was either them being happy or a final farewell.

Now Bridget and Bryan have lots of decisions and plans to make for their wedding. Where will it be? Who knows! There are lots of people that will be asking this question, and prodding them, and making suggestions, but I think we should all stay out of it and not open our mouths- it's Bridget and Bryan's decision! I am not going to say a word.

...but I will include some pictures for you to guess at...