A FEW MO' THINGS, 8/7/12
I know I posted this yesterday, but the Ragu ad that made its debut during the Olympics deserves some analysis. I discussed this ad at length with 700WLW producer Randy Slack yesterday and we came up with questions about the spot that need to be answered....
1) While it doesn't look like our star has been deprived of many meals, you must wonder why, at 8:00 at night, he's yet to eat dinner? What kind of irresponsible parents are we dealing with here that they'd break off into the bedroom to have sex instead of making junior some grub? And remember, as he charges up the steps he's holding books that I presume are school-issued textbooks. Either this young man was told he had to finish his homework before he could eat - a reasonable request - but instead he has to wait for his folks to wrap things up between the sheets before eating.
I recall being a kid with great fondness. And there were times where my parents made the "can't eat until the homework is finished" directive. But implied in that directive is that once the homework is finished, food will be served with no delay. What lesson is this boy learning about verbal contracts if once he wraps up his studies he has to wait for his meal?
Or perhaps there's something else at play. Maybe this kid is a remedial student and needs assistance with his homework. Now, he not only has to wait for the adult activity to cease before he can eat, but he's gotta wait for homework help too. This probably means that he doesn't sit down to get his homework started until 10:00, which is when most kids his age are going to bed. Assuming his homework lasts about an hour, and figuring in dessert and the routine of getting ready for bed, this kid is in bed at 11:30pm at the earliest. Most kids need eight to nine hours of sleep, so now this kid is behind the eight-ball the next day, dragging because he's a little sleep-deprived and still battling the sight of his mom getting plowed right before dinner.
Bad parenting? No, awful parenting.
2) Did mom and dad screw before cooking up a pot of spaghetti for this kid? He's wearing the same clothes as he's eating his Ragu-laced pasta as he was when he popped in on the nookie? This raises some concerns about what time this child is actually finally sitting down for dinner? If the banging occurred at 8pm, at minimum, the spaghetti is being served at 8:45. That's a little late, no? And as traumatic as walking in on your parents having sex must be, it has to be even weirder to sit down for a meal with them immediately after they're done? Shouldn't this kid be entitled to go into mom's purse and pull out a $20 bill so he can order a pizza?
3) Randy makes a good point. As the kid charges up the stairs, he's only yelling for his mother. This is important when you flash ahead to the last scene as he's eating spaghetti. In that scene there is a man sitting at the table with him, but look how well-dressed he is. If that guys was the kid's father, would he have really taken care of business in bed, cleaned and put on a nice button-down shirt so late at night? We're guessing no. So what we're dealing with here is either a single mom who got a mid-evening booty call or a married mother who's taking advantage of her husband being out of town. Either way, that's not the kid's dad.
-Programming Notes: ESPN1530 at 3:04, 700WLW at 6:05. The Weekly Chat tomorrow at 9am. Maybe we'll actually start on time.
-Party Notes: We're at Dave and Buster's tonight for the Reds and Brewers. We start at 8:00. I will have giveaways. They will have food and drink. You will have fun. But only if you're there.
-The Reds lost. Not a big deal. What is a big deal is that the starters have had their issues recently. It could be a bump in the road, or it could be a slight sign of fatigue.
I exclude Arroyo from this because he's consistently been at or above 200 innings since he came here, and last night's issues were simply a matter of leaving a couple pitches a little too high in the zone, but it's worth wondering how the rising inning totals of the others will affect their performances in the final third of the season, what plan B is, how much they can afford to go to plan B, and what the impact of all this will be on the postseason, if the Reds get there.
Homer Bailey is already over his career high in innings pitched. Mike Leake is on pace to exceed his previous career high by about 17 innings (not at all an unreasonable jump, but still), Cueto will likely blow past 200 innings for the first time, and while Latos is on pace comparable to last season's total (194.1), there's a good chance he goes over 200 innings for the first time.
This is a good thing. Inning totals only rise collectively if the starters stay healthy, and the Reds starters have enjoyed a remarkable run of good health. But still...given this team's reliance on their pitching it's fair to wonder what will be left in the tank for these guys and how effective they'll be as they get close to the finish line.
-Vin Scully was the best, is still the best, and will always be the best. And this is why.
-It doesn't feature the Bengals, but Hard Knocks makes its debut tonight, and I'm mildly excited about it.
-God knows we can't have the Olympics without people being upset....
*Serena Williams kicked the hell out of Maria Sharapova in the Women's Tennis Gold Medal Match, then did a dance that people didn't like.
*Gabby Douglas didn't wear a red, white, and blue leotard, and now morons are calling her unpatriotic. Oh, and her hair is also controversial.
*The US Women's Gymnastics Team is being called "The Fab Five." Jalen Rose is unhappy about this, of course. If they truly want to be called the Fab Five, they'll have their gold medals taken away and their wins will be vacated.
*Canada is of course always crying about something.
We also have the tanking badminton players, basketball players being punched in the nuts, and Ryan Lochte admitting that he urinated in the pool. I miss the days when the only thing anyone got worked up over was a positive steroid test.
-Radio show later, and a blog previewing it. Show up at the watch party at Dave and Buster's tonight and check out the USC Song Girls at Lake Tahoe.
