Are you ready for some football?

Football seems to be on people's minds today as several of the top trends around the web have to do with the sport.

Over at Google, the search "jets coach trips player" is moving up the top 10 list. The NFL is investigating an incident in which an assistant coach for the New York Jets tripped a Miami Dolphins player running along the sideline. Coach Sal Alosi's behavior was poor and illustrates the darker side of sports, but it isn't exactly the first time this has happened in football history. Stories abound, especially at the college level, of players and coaches coming off the sidelines to make a tackle on a lone runner. As anyone who has watched from the sidelines can tell you (and as a former coach, I can attest) sometimes the urge to go in there and do it yourself is almost unbearable. I guess for some, it is just too much to take.

The other big story in football is the New York Giants/Minnesota Vikings game. With the upper midwest being pounded by a winter storm. The storm was so bad, in fact, that the New York players' private jet was diverted to Kansas City. When it appeared the team would not be able to make it in time for Sunday's game against the Vikings, the game was rescheduled for Monday night. Then, Sunday morning, God made sure his thoughts about the Vikes were known when he collapsed the roof of their stadium.

One of the biggest things tearing up the Web today is Miley Cyrus AKA Hannah Montana partying it up with a big ol' bong. Cyrus, who has made a habit of being a poor role model to my tween daughter, was apparently captured on video by friend during a party held a few days after her 18th birthday.

In the video, which you can see at the TMZ Web site, shows Miley clearing smoking from the bong. What's not so clear is what she's smoking. Although "miley cyrus smoking pot" is trending high on search engines right now, sources are saying the drug is actually an herb called salvia.  The herb produces hallucinogenic effects when smoked. It is legal in California, but the government is looking to put the smackdown on it like they did with K2 earlier this year.

In other celebrity sightings, one of the top trends on Yahoo! right now has to do with television host Kelly Ripa and why the heck she's hobbling around on crutches. It turns out that Ripa, who weighs about 6 pounds, had fractured her hip. Apparently being bone thin and exercising like a maniac is bad for you. She doesn't need surgery, but she will need to rest. The doctors ordered her to have no exercise for six weeks. Maybe by then she'll have a body mass index that's in positive numbers.

The new status theme on Facebook seems to be the "numbers game." People send you a message with a random number in it and you use that number in your status along with your thoughts about the person who sent it. The result is this: 

"2012-- The fact that you chose this number is a prime example of why I love you so much! You're independent spirit amazes me every time I see you and I envy your ease with fashion. Your hilarious and fun to be around, the perfect addition to our family! :)"

So the person who you're writing about knows its about them, but everyone else is in the dark (unless they know the person well enough to guess it.) I think the more interesting way to do it would be to post comments anonymously in your status box and leave everyone to wonder if it is about them.

Top Google trends for Dec. 9:

As usual, the top trends on Google at the moment are an eclectic mix. At the very top of the list is Howard Stern, the self-proclaimed King of All Media. However, since his move to satellite radio and the end of his cable show on the E! network, I rarely hear much about Stern anymore. He's still out there doing his thing, but I personally think he's lost much, if not all, of his relevance.

Apparently, he's renewed his contract with Sirius satellite radio for another five years. He calls them the innovators and "real geniuses." Stern also says he will likely retire when this new contract expires.

An L.A. Times blogger talks about the deal here.

Also trending high this morning is the decision by President Obama to grant a pardon to Percy Cummings. For those of you who haven't heard about the case, Cummings was being held with bond on a charge of sexually assaulting a TSA agent. The pardon apparently came after WikiLeaks released documents pertaining to Cummings' arrest.

It's an interesting story, except for the fact that it is completely bogus. The story was first "reported" on the Web site Dead Serious News, a satirical site similar to The Onion. However, like many such stories, people can't tell the difference between fact and fiction and the story is spreading.

The folks over at Snopes.com break it down here.

And finally, cancer makes its way into three different entries on Googles current top 10 list.

First is the death of Elizabeth Edwards who died this week after a battle with breast cancer. This leads to the Westboro Baptist Church which plans to stage one of its protests at her funeral. The Huffington Post has a copy of the WBC flier. If you can figure out what their talking about, let me know.



The other cancer related item is the sad news that the legendary singer Aretha Franklin has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The cancer is a particularly lethal one with few surviving more than four years. Most will probably remember the disease most recently from actor Patrick Swayze's public battle with it.

Not much information is available, but the L.A. Times has an article.

In my case, I think the most creative ads are those made for light beers. Budweiser has a long tradition of funny, original and clever advertisements.

That being said, I don't think many ads have an effect on the purchases I make. I usually am not one to purchase brand name products. When you make a teacher's pay and have a wife and four kids, you look at price more than the name on the package. If the generic brand is of nearly the same quality, we go with it over the name brand every time.

The advertising slideshow I presented in class has some good ads in it, but this is another of my favorites:

Books, who needs them? According to surveys,
most young people today do not read. Discuss your
reading habits and explain why you think they are what
they are. What impact do you think the decline in literary
consumption will have on mass media consumers?

I love to read books and do so as much as possible. This usually consists of reading for 30 to 45 minutes before bed as a way to relax. I would read significantly more, but the rigors of life as a teacher, grad student, parent, etc. consume too much of my time.

I am currently reading Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kessey, which I would recommend as an excellent example of character development and non-linear storytelling. Over the Christmas holiday I saturated myself in science fiction by Robert Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke. Both were visionaries and astute thinkers not only in science, but also in politics.

I think the decline in literary readership is creating a citizenry lacking in the ability to consume more than just bite-sized pieces of information. It also is leading to inability to process information and relate it back to life in a critical way.

Like many of you, I too am guilty of letting print-based media fall by the wayside. For there are several reasons for this, with the main being the availability of these media in electronic versions. I still the Marshall Democrat-News every day even though my subscription ended months ago. I just read the paper on-line.

I read print media when I am in locations with no access to the Internet. (Restaurants, doctors' offices, etc.) In these situations I will usually buy a copy of USA Today or read whatever magazine is kept in the place. I prefer Time and Newsweek, but will read People, Us Weekly or Entertainment Weekly if that is what is on hand.

Reading for me falls somewhere near watching television and ahead of viewing movies, but as I said before it is usually the digital version of traditional print media.

Media Convergence

In class we have discussed the concept of media convergence: when the content of two media come together. For example: TV Guide is a magazine with content that focuses on the television medium.

Another example we discussed in class was the Smashing Pumpkins adaptation of a film by Georges Mielles for their video of the song "Tonight, Tonight"

Here is the video


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_f7LF3IiKI

And the original


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aI0BmQaIIR4