Why Newspapers are Dying

It has been all over the news for the past several years about the death of newspapers. They actually mean that revenues are down and the corporate giants that own the papers are worried that they don't continue to make more money every year. Newspapers still make a very nice profit, but I think the quality may be going downhill because they have to try to do more with less.

For instance, a few weeks ago there was a front page article in the Wall Street Journal about how people like to chew ice. Front page. Wall Street fricking Journal. I had to check my calendar to make sure it wasn't April Fools day. With economies all 0ver the world ready to melt down (pun intended) and a very important Presidential election going on the Journal decided it needed to get on top of this ice trend. Turns out that many people love to chew ice as a snack and they sometimes go into fast food restaurants just to get a cup of ice or two. This is not flavored ice like a Sno-Cone, or what we in Philadelphia for some reason call Water Ice, just the plain stuff. Connoisseurs pay very close attention to the "chewability" of the ice, we're not talking about those big cubes here but "Nuggets" or "Pearls" and shaved ice.

The burger chain Sonic is well known for their ice. Maybe chewers know this because they read it in a forum on the ice chewing web site (I haven't checked out the site- I'm a bit afraid- I hear they have recipes). Apparently one Sonic store in Texas (part of the southern US "Chew Belt") sold 13 - ten pound bags of ice in ONE WEEK last month. That would be a gross profit of nearly $20.00! Wow! Maybe the economy can be saved from recession after all.

Of course there is a big market for home ice machines too. Country music star Vince Gill got a big "Scotsman" ice machine for Christmas from his wife Amy Grant. Vince is a long time ice chewer - he hates to go on tour in Europe because they are so stingy with their ice. No Sonic franchises in Europe yet, huh?

Obviously I found this article very entertaining, but I didn't know the Journal was supposed to be so funny. Maybe next week they'll have a whole batch of Ben Bernanke walks into a bar jokes. This all seems more like USA Today material- a chart about per capita ice consumption with some spiffy graphics. Fun fact: Compulsive ice eating is called "Pagophagia"

Green Movement Blues

Damn - there goes my New Year's resolution about writing in my blog at least two times a week. Maybe starting right now. January was a very busy month, both at work (tax time) and family (birthdays and such).

But today I can only write about one thing- it is Superbowl Sunday of course. You may recall back in September when I wrote about the start of the football season (The "Green" Movement) I said, as Eagles fans, we might need some cheering up this season. Boy, have I ever been more correct? This was one of the worst sports seasons I can remember. Not because there were so many heartbreaking losses and stupid mistakes (there were) but because I truly lost my passion for the team. People who have watched football with me will tell you that my personality usually changes a bit during games. I am one of those scream and curse at the TV trash talking kind of fan. I scare pets and children and generally get very worked up. All this is not unusual among Eagles fans, in fact, as crazy as I can get, I am not close to crazy, beer swilling, tailgating, no shirt wearing in December fans. It's just that I'm usually more level-headed and I don't curse and throw things too much. Some people don't even know I'm a fan. I can tell you that during most seasons my mood is definitely tied to how the Eagles do. If they lost I wouldn't want to watch any of the post-game coverage or listen to the sports radio station- for several days. A win would mean a good week- I couldn't get enough game coverage , food would taste better and all would be well with the world- until the next Sunday. It all felt very personal, and I know that many sports fans have the same feelings.

This year was different for me and I'm not sure when it happened. The first game was discouraging, but not devastating yet. Maybe it was their first win when they scored 56 points against Detroit and gave us hope. Maybe it was the Bears game when they let them march down the field 97 yards to the winning score. Maybe it was getting humiliated at home 38-17 by the hated Cowboys. I'm not sure, but somewhere in there I stopped caring and started to think- "You know this just isn't a good team and it would be better for them to lose" Not so they would get a good draft pick, but because maybe the coaches would learn from a sub-par year and make some real changes. For that reason I became much more conflicted, I wasn't living and dying with every play, I even fell asleep during a few games (oh yes- I still watched all the games) It is very hard for me to admit that I wish they would have lost a few more games- the .500 record they ended with just makes the season seem almost acceptable. Hopefully next year I'll be back to my "normal" almost manic football frenzy. For now I'll watch the Super Bowl and wonder if Patriots fans are worried that their teams' only loss will be in the most important game. I'm glad I don't have to worry about that this year- I'd hate to root for an undefeated team- too much pressure.