Tretakoff vs. Tretakoff

Yep, today's the big game. My beloved and undefeated Dallas Cowboys play host to my hometown (and also undefeated) New England Patriots. Tom Brady vs. Tony Romo. Randy Moss vs. Terrell Owens. Jerry Jones vs. Robert Kraft. All amazing matchups, but none compares to the biggest blood feud: Amy vs. Me. Yep, my wife has blossomed into a full out Pats fan, and we're going to the nearest sports bar to watch the battle unfold. Why? In the Bay Area, the biggest game of the season thus far is trumped by the Raiders vs. the Chargers.

As part of NBC's whopping $3.6 billion dollar contract with the NFL for Sunday Night Football, NBC wisely got a concession out of the NFL: "flex" scheduling to allow them to select the best game for the Sunday Night national audience. So why are we not enjoying the "Highlander" ("There can be only one") game in the comfort of our own home? Alas, flex scheduling does not start for 6 more weeks. NBC has to be grinding their teeth at this, while bar owners and DirecTV Sunday Ticket customers must be gleefully chortling at their good fortune.

So, tomorrow at 1, feel free to watch that ticker for the updates. While the Boys leads the series against the Pats (7-1, since 1971), opinions are divided on the outcome here. New England clearly is loaded on offense, and has a big chip on their shoulder this season, after losing last year's AFC Championship game to their arch-rivals, the eventual Superbowl champion Colts, and being accused of cheating in the first week of this season. Dallas has the #2 offense in the league, and Romo has proven he's a genuine star, but his 5 interception performance last Monday night has to have him rattled. Dallas is clearly primed for the upset, but ESPN put the game through Madden 08 simulations, and predicts Brady comes through in Big D.

In any case, at the end of the night, one team will no longer be undefeated, and this may indeed be a preview of the Superbowl...or a divorce. :-)

All I have to say is...How 'bout them Cowboys?

Comments

Anonymous said…

What can I say but your wife obviously knows football better than you!

My prediction: Pats win by 10 or more points and Amy trash talks the entire second half.

Sunday, October 14, 2007 at 5:55:00 AM PDT

Anonymous said…

Way to go, Kreskin! Yeah, it was JUST like that, though we had several dozen other Pats fans to help her along in the bar we watched it in. Sigh. At least I get to keep the marriage...

Monday, October 15, 2007 at 1:48:00 PM PDT

Loyalty Review: Kohl's Yes2You

As some of you know, I've spent over 15 years in the customer loyalty space. So, when I come across a new retail loyalty program, I can't help but see the pluses and minuses. After this many years, it's kind of ingrained. Periodically, I'll share my thoughts with you. Today, it's Kohl's turn under the scope. Let's have a look, shall we? I've divided the review up into three sections: what's good about the program, what's bad about the program, and what I'd change about it. That last one has some actual value: I charged hundreds of dollars per hour for loyalty program consulting, and had over a dozen clients, before I moved to JustAnswer FT. But, being a pandemic and all, I'm giving it away for free here. Kohl's, you're welcome. Here we go! The Good Sign up is opt in Seems odd to praise Kohl's for this, but in department store loyalty, this is a rarity, and a smart one. It means the customers who are opted in are already prime...

Revisiting Star Trek: The Next Generation: Season 1

I recently started rewatching Star Trek: The Next Generation from the beginning. I have nothing but fond memories of the original run in the 1980s, given how excited I was for a new Trek series in my lifetime (I had only reruns and the movies to stoke my Trek interest), and it recently occurred to me that, while I diligently consumed every TNG episode, I had not experienced the series since it's original run. Why did I do this? Well, a few reasons: With the triumphant return of Sir Patrick Stewart to the smaller screen as the venerable Jean Luc Picard , I thought it would be interesting to contrast this version with the previous, and see how far he has come. It would add color to the character, as well as Sir Patrick. Frankly, with the COVID19 lockdown, the series I have binged upon have been intense, dark, and disturbing. Combined with the activity of the world, including insane politics, homicidal police who seem to view people of color as "prey," rather than their ch...

The Icarus Effect

This morning's news started with the latest grim proof of overdevelopment in a tough sector: SkyBus Airlines shut down , less than year from when it started. Never heard of Skybus? Not surprising; they chose to focus on trips from Ohio to the West Coast for ridiculously low fares. Yes, you read that right: the airlines' unique niche was that they focused on trips from Ohio . Was air travel such an amazingly profitable business that we needed that much segmentation and focus? Of course not. A year ago, when Skybus was just getting off the ground (har har), fuel costs were at an all time high. United was still in bankruptcy; Delta, a fellow airline with a major hub in Ohio, was just exiting Chapter 11. And yet, "irrational exuberance" led investors like Nationwide Mutual Capital, Huntington Capital Investment Co., and Battelle Services Co. to ignore the obvious signs of risk, and dive into what was a dubious investment. Today, they, and the passengers who were lured by ...

Tretakoff Musings

Search This Blog