Monday, February 8, 2010

Who Dat? Nobody!




We are borrowing the headling from today's online edition of "The Times-Picyune," the daily newspaper for New Orleans, a city celebrating in sheer jubilation since the New Orleans Saints beat the Indianapolis Colts 31-17 yesterday in Super Bowl 44. The game was played in Miami. The Saints were a 10-point underdog.

In accordiance with an agreement he made with out-going New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard (see profile on our sister blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time") will be giving Nagin a variety of items from local establishments, including cookies from IndyAnna's Catering and pork tenderloins from Indy restaurant Mug N' Bug.

Ballard's spokesperson Lacy Everrett told Franceca jarosz of "The Indianapolis Star" that while disappointed with the game's outcome, Mayor Ballard was excited to be sharing gifts from his city with New Orleans.

Chris Kirkman of "The Times-Picayune" reported that the Saints' celebration parade will begin at 5 p.m. on Poydres Street in front of the Superdome, according to the New Orleans Police Department. It will end at Convention Center Blvd. Many of the Saints' players, including Super Bowl MVP quarterback Drew Brees and running back Reggie Bush (pictured here) are expected to ride on floats.

The Super Bowl ads are also a point of water cooler discussions today. Lana Groves of "The Deseret News" (Salt Lake City, Utah newspaper) reported that local marketing group Letter23 determined that the ad featuring people acting like dolphins and jumping through hoops was the best Super Bowl ad.

"The perfect commercial is a mix of monkeys, attractive women and monster trucks," said Letter23 president Kelly Cassady.

The Super Bowl ad featuring former University of Florida quaterback Tim Tebow and his mother which endorsed pro-life political views was expectedly criticized by Nancy Keenan president of the pro-choice advocacy group NARAL, which is starting a 'Throw a Penalty Flag against CBS' fund-raising campaign of its own.

Though generally supporting liberal and Democratic cnadidates politically, NARAL has been criticized by Democratic party partisans for supporting moderate Republicans like New York mayor Michael Bloomberg and former Rhode Island senator Lincoln Chafee (both now independents)in the past.

The group Focus on the Family, a right-wing Christian organization based in Colorado Springs, Colo., started by evangelical psychologist James Dobson sponsored the $3 million ad which told the story of how Tebow's mother Pam Tebow, who was advised by her doctors to have an abortion because of a medical complication, but she decided otherwise.

NARAL stated that the ad does not reflect the harsh reality that many women face when placed in challenging circumstances.

In an online column on the liberal blog "The Huffington Post," Keegan said that Focus on the Family uses sexist language on its web site by stating that women should seek out 'wise advice' because 'the hormones of pregnancy make reasonable decisions more difficult.'

CBS has previously declined ads from progressive groups, such as Moveon.org, which made this decision even more controversial than it may have been otherwise.

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