Alyssa's Post about Michael Jordan

When analyzing Alyssa's post on Michael Jordan and his advertisements with Haines I tended to agree with most of the claims that she made. I agree with the fact that Michael Jordan is one of the most famous athletes known across the world. Michael Jordan is the face of basketball from country to country. Everyone knows who Michael Jordan is. I think that the example of Haines is one of the more well known advertisements, but one of the least productive advertisements that Michael Jordan was hired for. There are many ways to sell products and in my opinion a typical model would have done a better job at selling this underwear.
The reason why I think that Michael Jordan didn't have as much of an affect as he did with the rest of his sponsors is because underwear is a very broad topic that everyone wears, it is not specifically targeted to one audience. To put it in better words who would be the best at selling a Nike golf club? Obviously Tiger Woods, he is the best golfer in the world and the most well known athlete in all of sports, or even another example, who would be the best seller of a football? Probably, Tom Brady or Brett Favre. These two are the most well-known quarterbacks in the league. When trying to sell a certain product you need to consider your audience, and look at different marketing techniques you could use to reach that target audience. What Haines should have done before they hired MJ was consider a couple things, is the cost of getting MJ going to benefit us in the end, and number two even if he does benefit us the most is the cost benefit ratio the highest it could possibly be? I'm sure these questions did come into play, but the facts are Michael Jordan isn't known for his Haines advertisements, he is known for all the other advertisements that he has taken part in. He is known for all the companies that he has been a part of and had a tremendous impact on. The article that I listed below is an article discussing all the advertising campaigns Michael Jordan did and the success he had with them.


http://adage.com/century/people075.html

A Last word

The topic that I chose for my persuasive paper and speech was salary caps in professional sports. I thought that this was a very interesting topic to choose, one because most of us in this class are athletes, and two because I hadn't known much about all the different sports caps, yet had a strong opinion supporting salary caps. I learned a lot from the research I did and to me it became obvious that there are three main reasons why salary caps should exist in all sports. First, salary caps create competition between all teams amongst the league. Second, it creates equality amongst big city and small market teams, making it an over all exciting league. Finally it puts more money in the hands of the owners who improve each teams franchise, which overall improves the quality of the league. To refute any of these facts would be just ludicrous.
When I say that all professional sports need a salary cap, I am more referring to the fact that major league baseball needs a salary cap because they are the only professional sports team that doesn't have one. One significant fact that I think everyone opposing salary caps should know is the Yankees have won 27 out of the last 106 World Series. (Clayton, 2007) That is over 25%! In professional sports none the less, it is a monopoly. Another supporting fact is the Yankees have spent over 70 million dollars more than any other team in the MLB. (Clayton, 2007) Statistics don't lie. With nine All-stars in a line up of nine players of course you are going to win more games than any other team in the league.
So you sit here and read these ridiculous facts that I present you and you ask yourself well I mean come on it's the MLB what can we honestly do to have any impact or difference. That is where I say to you there are several things that we can do to have an impact on the MLB. First off we can create blogs such as the one we are on right now. Don't make it a personal blog whatsoever because it is going to be shared with thousands and thousands of people. Represent yourself with some very good facts supporting your opinions and more and more people will begin looking at the situation the same way we are. The second and final thing that you can do is go onto the MLB website and get a hold of the people in charge of the league, either by starting a community chat on the website or trying to talk to them personally. In my opinion a community chat would be easier. There are things we can do. There needs to be a salary cap in professional baseball. Small market teams like Milwaukee don't have anywhere near the resources to compete year in and year out with teams such as the Yankees, Angels, Dodgers, Phillies, or Red Sox. There needs to be a change. Below is a good starting point for either of the options that I stated above.

http://www.mlb.com/blogs/

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=betweenthenumbers/salarycap/060405

Tiger Woods Good vs. Tiger Woods Bad

Before Tiger was caught red handed with over three hundred text messages and voicemail there was much debate about the true facts to the story. There were many stories initially about Tiger Woods and his wife some people didn't know what was true, was there an affair? Why was Tiger Woods driving out of his house so aggressively that late at night? Why was his back window bashed in? If he was leaving his house and there was no alcohol involved how did he veer off the road so terribly? Both of these articles discussed some of the facts and opinions of the story before the truth came out. 

The first article that I have a link to discusses some of the reasons why Tiger could be in the situation that he is in. The other one discusses some of the reasons why it wasn't anything dealing with him cheating on his wife. In my opinion, I think the first article does a very good job convincing the reader of the many reasons that Tiger would be driving out of his house the way that he was, explanations of the accident, and reasons why his wife would be the first one at the scene of the crime just by chance with a 3 iron in her hands. 

My overall opinion of the article hasn't changed. I have always thought that Tiger was guilty of something because to me, there is no other explanation for the accident. If it wasn't alcohol related, and it was right outside his house, there is only a few possible things that could have happened. All these articles did was show me what lame excuses there are of why Tiger is innocent, and prove more and more about how badly Tiger was in the wrong. Its a shame to say because Tiger is my favorite golfer, but Tiger was definitely in the wrong. 

http://www.theimproper.com/?p=798

http://ideaion.com/113/tiger-woods-scandal.htm

The world of advertising grows larger each year. Each year a different professional athlete or actor picks up a different endorsement contract. Then they do multiple commercials, newspaper and magazine ads, and even radio ads. This chain of events has gone on for minimally the past 50 years and will continue to go on and increase until the day that we all pass away. The key to this chain is the more popular name that you endorse, the more of an affect that advertisement will have on your company, in most cases. Although everyone wants the top athletes or actresses, there is a price that must be payed. This price is often a considerable amount higher than a company can afford. Which brings me to the man himself in advertising, Tiger Woods.

Although Tiger Woods' recent publicity hasn't been positive he still is one of the most known names in all of advertising. The commercial that I am going to talk about are his commercials with Buick. In my opinion, Tiger woods is a perfect person for nearly all advertising. The Buick commercials that he did stress the fact that Tiger Woods drives a Buick. Many people watch these commercials and think to themselves well, if Tiger Woods drives a Buick why wouldn't I want to. Tiger is an extremely appropriate person for all car and personal item commercials because everyone wants whatever Tiger Woods has.

I think that Tiger will do a good job at endorsing the product that he is selling regardless of what it is. I haven't looked up the facts, but I would be completely shocked if the amount of Buick's sold before Tiger was endorsed compared to when he was hasn't sky-rocketed. Tiger Woods is said to be one of the most famous professional athletes in the world. If the company does decide to endorse him, the amount of profit they get for their investment will be plenty worth it. 

Self evaluation

In my opinion, my demonstration speech was a success. I thought I did many things well, but I also think that I had a couple of places where I could have improved. When evaluating yourself on a speech that you had just presented you need to look at several things to consider how you did. These things are the speech itself, how you presented yourself, your visual, the time of your speech, your introduction and conclusion. These key points to a speech are the basis of your evaluation and if you perfect them it will be a rare occasion that you receive a grade that you are not content with.
I had many strengths in my speech that really pulled it together. These strengths consisted of the speech itself, the visual, and the time of my speech. The speech itself was perfect amount of time and presented very well with a lot of content. I had a very good visual with the power point, putter, and golf ball and I used these visuals very well. To have a good speech good visuals are important, especially a demonstration speech because the quickest way for people to learn things is by watching someone actually do it themselves.
The weaknesses that I had in my paper were few, but important. Although I wouldn’t consider my introduction and conclusion weaknesses I would say there was definitely room for improvement. They were both on the short end with little content and little enthusiasm. This was important because having good enthusiasm and a good introduction with that enthusiasm is key in getting people interested in your speech. As for my conclusion, it was rushed because I knew I had been up in front of the class for quite a while and tried wrapping it up quickly, a big mistake. It is a lot more important to deliver a good conclusion and be a couple seconds over the time than rushing your conclusion. The final thing that I think I could have improved on was my overall enthusiasm and eye contact. Although I was going off my power point rather than note cards I still needed better eye contact with the audience to get them involved. As for my next speech I will continue to do the things that I did well this time, and hopefully improve upon my weaknesses.

BLog 5

The recent article that I read posted on Trisha’s wall was called “Tests Find Wide Range of Bisphenol A in Canned Soups, Juice, and More.” This article had to deal with the many dangers of Bisphenol A, otherwise known as BPA. BPA has many related diseases that go along with it including; a heightened risk of breast, prostatecancers, diabetes, and heart disease, all not good diseases that can often prove to be fatal. BPA was found in Canned objects such as soups, or plastic bottles that an any day drink would be put in. These diseases are not only caused by BPA, but any contact with BPA can often trigger the start of the disease.

The daily upper limit of BPA is around 50 micrograms per kilogram of weight which has recently been tested and found out as a dangerously high number of BPA for a daily intake. These numbers were based on tests done in the mid 80’s rather than the recently done tests suggesting a much lower intake. Some studies show that even the slightest amount of BPA such as, 2.4 micrograms per kilogram of body weight, can be dangerous and cause an abnormal reproductive system. Something that nobody wants going on in their body.

There has been many movements recently done to try to change the amount of BPA recommended for intake today. There has also been a movement to change all cans so they contain no BPA what so ever, to completely reduce the risk of having it affect you. There are many other articles related to this article I read including: http://atmizzou.missouri.edu/jun03/plastics.htm. This article discusses the many different dangers of BPA, and really clarifies the points that were made in the article that I read. It even more so discusses the fact that we need change, we need to not package anything in plastic bottles to eliminate the risk of getting these related diseases.

I think that this article is a very good article that does a great job discussing the dangers of a otherwise unknown chemical. It highlights all the things that we need to do and shows how we can take action. In my personal opinion I think we need to move fast and really make sure there are fewer health related problems from BPA each and every year.

http://civileats.com/2009/11/02/tests-find-wide-range-of-bisphenol-a-in-canned-soups-juice-and-more/

Blog 4

The product that I did my claim on was Reduced fat, “Kettle Cooked,” Lays chips. The statement that they are reduced fat, and “Kettle Cooked” are two indications that they would be an overall, healthier chip. Although these chips are better for you than normal lays potato chips the claims that they make saying reduced fat and “Kettle Cooked” have little difference in the caloric value.

These chips are graded by two different experts and both of these experts give the chip a C in quality and overall healthiness. As far as eating a chip that is healthy and a good snack these chips would be not the number one option. There is 10% of your daily amount of fat in one bag, and 12% of the saturated daily fat. There are many healthier options when looking into a potato chip to eat, one of the main options would be baked lays chips. These have only 5% of the RAD of fat, and 3% of the RAD of saturated fat. Saturated fat is our main concern and a 7% difference is quite the difference.

These facts to me give a good representation of why we need to check our health facts before every food that we eat. A very little difference in the actual food and taste, yet a large difference between the fat in one bag to the fat in the other. When on trying to maintain a healthy diet every fat gram counts, especially saturated fat grams. As for me I would not eat the reduced fat, “Kettle Cooked” chips, one because of the unhealthiness of them, and two because of the fact that they taste exactly the same as another food that is a lot better for you. Although I am not a big chip fan, I have come to realize that not many chips are good for you so every time you decide to buy a bag of chips you should really look into the label and make sure you are making the healthiest, best decision, and that choice would not be the reduced fat, “Kettle Cooked” chips.

http://caloriecount.about.com/calories-lays-kettle-cooked-original-potato-i83694

http://www.slate.com/id/2099034/

McDonald's Vs. Real Hamburgers

Nothing tastes better than a fresh, home-cooked cheeseburger, but the problem with a good home-cooked burger is the amount of time it takes to actually prepare the meal. As fast paced and rapidly moving as our society is today convenience is more important than quality, a real shame. A McDonald's cheeseburger has many distinct features in comparison to a real burger. The smell is grease, the taste is grease, and the look is grease. No but really a McDonalds cheeseburger smells like a greasy slab of meat. The odor of the meat comes out from in between the patties. The patty itself is about a fourth of the size of a real cheeseburger patty, but probably just as bad if not worse for you, and as for the taste. The taste is good, yet greasy. The texture of the meat is no where near the texture of a real cheeseburger. It is very small, almost rubbery and doesn't fulfill the taste that you are actually desiring.

The fake food has very few nutritional aspects to it. The burger patty is very unhealthy for you and does not give you the essential proteins that a real burger patty does. The grease basically overrides any protein or quality nutrients that were once in the patty. The McDonalds patty is not nutritionally equivalent to a real ground beef burger. Don't get me wrong the juice and fat that come out of a fresh ground patty aren't exactly the picture of health, but the protein and other nutrients that it does contain almost equate to the bad aspects of the meal.

There are very few reasons that I have switched over to eating this fake food. One of the few reasons are convenience. In the day I have very limited time during the day, and very little accessibility to a grill and fresh meat. The other reason I have switched over is the amount of money that the food costs. For a double cheeseburger at McDonalds it is only one dollar and is prepared in less than five minutes. A system that is very hard to beat, besides the fact that the ratio to nutrients and calories is few to many.

Yes, I do think that I will end up switching back to the real food. I can only stand so much of the fake cheeseburgers that I eat, and in the future years I will have many different opportunities to grill a real burger. Next year I will have my own house and my own car a much easier way to get back and forth from the grocery store for some fresh ground meat.

http://ezinearticles.com/?McDonalds-Hamburger-Recipes---The-Secrets-to-Making-Them-Taste-the-Same&id=2415985

McDonald's Vs. Real Hamburgers

A little Breakfast in the Morning

The meal that I decided would be a good meal to create was a breakfast. There are many components to a good breakfast that are necessary in the process of creating a healthy start to the day. I went to the store to pick out all the tools and foods I would need to prepare my meal. The first place I went was the bread section. I picked up a nice loaf of 12 grain, whole wheat bread, my favorite kind. Next, I ventured on over to the dairy section of the store to pick up some 1% low fat milk, and a couple of fresh eggs for my omelet. The last thing that I needed to pick up before I headed back home to create my feast was a bag of hash browns. Ore-ida hash browns really hit the spot when next to a three egg omelet at the very start of your day.

http://www.helium.com/items/1432017-preparing-an-omelet

The food was bought and now it was time to prepare the meal. First I took a thin slice of butter and spread it across the bottom of the pan. This helps the omelet from sticking to the bottom of the pan, making it incredibly easier to flip. Second, cracked my eggs into a mixing bowl and used the 1% milk that I bought to whip the two together to create a creamy mixture of milk and egg. Next, I took the hash browns and threw them in a different pan, also covered with a thin slice of butter and started the process of cooking. The eggs came next, I took the eggs and threw them on the already prepared cooking pan and began letting them really sizzle. I took the final step in preparing my meal by getting the toaster out and putting my 12 grain, whole wheat bread right inside the first two slots. A couple minutes went by and I continued stirring and mixing up my eggs. Then I got over to the refrigerator for the final touch, cheddar cheese. Probably the worst thing for you in the entire meal that I created, but a necessary piece to a good omelet. Time went on and I scrambled my hash browns and folded over my omelet, at this point I had even taken out my toast and spread a thin slice of butter across the first and second slice. Finally, I took out the hash browns and slid them onto my plate, added a little ketchup to really hit the spot, and then topped them off with a pinch of salt. Then came the omelet, folded over and created to perfection all the omelet needed was a pinch of salt to really give it some flavor. And there it was, the meal that I set out to make was created and boy did it look good. Now it was time for some chow. Each step of the cooking process made me realize what so many people go through every day of their lives to start out their day with a good breakfast. It was very time consuming both at home and at the store, but in the end it was definitely worth it.

I definitely would have to agree with Michael Pollan's claims about the changing ways of our society and the fact that we have switched over to eating "Fake" foods instead of the real foods that we need to be eating. In my meal I tried finding as many real foods as possible, yet I still had a couple of processed aspects, the hash browns, and the milk, both processed foods that aren't essentially good for you in any means. I don't think the meal I ate and prepared affected my opinion in the slightest book. After being in a nutritional science class, and reading Michael Pollan's book I knew what to expect when it came down to the standards of eating real food and not fake food. That is why I tried making nearly all components of my meal with real food. It was extremely tough, but I somewhat accomplished the feat. After seeing the facts of healthy eating and really looking into what Michael Pollan discusses concerning essential nutrients and vitamins I am really beginning to understand how to eat and why I need to eat that way. I know in the end it will lead me to a much healthier and better lifestyle.

nytimes

A little Breakfast in the Morning

Home Cooked vs. McDonalds Hamburgers

In Defense of Food

Eat more fruits and vegetables. Michael Pollan gives away the secret to a healthier appetite and a healthier way of living before you can even get into the novel, but those are not the only secrets he shares with his readers of, "In Defense of Food". He gives you tips in keeping a healthy diet and describes to you how the "western diet" has led to many chronic diseases such as heart disease and cancer. In my opinion I think all of the things that Michael discussed in his first four chapters have very good justification and good reasoning behind all of what he believes in. My favorite point he brings up is how the american diet has consisted of scientifically manipulated foods, not real foods. Oh, but wait they are good for you because they say low in fat on the front, but what us people and consumers don't realize is the scientifically altered state of these so called "low in fat" foods are really worse for us than organic foods with lets just say twice the fat in them.

"To guide us we had, instead, Culture, which, at least when it comes to food, is just a really fancy word for your mother. What to eat, how much of it to eat, what order in which to eat it, with what and with whom..." (In Defense of Food, Pollan, pg. 3) This priceless quote hits America's eating habits on the head. The general american society believes in science, because how can they not? It is a nutritional Scientists job to produce better food for you and give you a better chance of having a longer, healthier life, but what they don't realize is what scientists have to work with is already processed, unhealthy, inorganic food which regardless of how you break it down and reconstruct it is flat out unhealthy.

The history of food that is broken down and discussed in the first few chapters of Pollan's book is a very interesting thing to break down and understand. Pollan does a great job at showing how the diet started, and how the science of food first blossomed onto the scene in the late 1800's, early 1900's. He shows the discovering of Macro and Micro nutrients and how we need to get so much of some and not as much of the other. All in all I think the first couple of chapters really pull you in and engage you in this very interesting, factual book.

http://www.blogcatalog.com/blog/blogonocom-wordpress-blogs/49379726fedadb0cb120150e70c3e470

This recently posted blog discusses Pollan's book and really justifies the fact that good food is "real food", not "diet food". This argument is one of pollan's main discussions in his first couple of chapters, when he talks about real food he means organic food, natural food. Food that you can go to a farm and get regardless of how many supposed calories it contains. This blog post is a live example for someone who bought into the system of Pollan's book. Although she doesn't quite put Pollan into the sainthood category, she discusses the fact that there has never been so many common sense answers presented to her the way that this book had. There is one more american convinced, now there are millions more to go.