Following CBS’s long-standing “policy” declining to air controversial ads — yet opting to air Focus On The Family’s pro-life ad — CNBC’s Sports Business Reporter, Darren Rovell, reported via Twitter today that ManCrunch.com’s ad has been rejected. (Here is the original item from CNBC: http://bit.ly/9tc203)

Here’s the spot. What do you think? Acceptable to air during the Superbowl?

Since we’re counting down the days to the start of the 2010 Winter Olympics from Vancouver, I thought I would post some of my favorite memories from Olympics past. First up, The Miracle on Ice.

OK, folks… I swear I never planned for L&G to be stuffed full of videos. I thought it would be insightful content flowing out of my brain, through my fingers to the keyboard, and out into the universe to you.

However, It would appear that I have, again, been sidetracked. Watch…

I’ve been giving the upcoming Presidential inauguration a lot of thought lately.  A changing of the guard.  Another opportunity to get it right.  An opportunity to do so much to correct the many wrongs of the past eight years.

Living here in Chicago, this transition in leadership is palpable, and in talking/emailing with friends and family, Chicagoan’s are not alone.  Thinking of the build up to President-Elect Obama’s swearing in, the feelings and emotions seem familiar and the national psyche is, for the first time in a long time, optimistic and proud.

The last time I can recall this sense of positive national spirit was February 22, 1980.  Anyone remember what happened that day?  It was the “Miracle on Ice” day.  It was the day that the United States Olympic hockey team beat the Soviet Union.

It wasn’t even for the gold medal, but rather the playoff rounds to get to the gold medal round (we went on to beat Finland in the medal round to win gold).

There was so much going on in the world. Some countries loved us. Some countries hated us. There was a lot going on at home, too, and most of it was depressing — a lot like it is now. Everyone was worried, and something to rally around, to inspire us, to bring back a sense of national pride, was exactly what we needed. Oddly, after the “Miracle on Ice,” things felt differently. We were different. We were proud again.

I am sure that there is nothing I could possibly write about President-Elect Obama that hasn’t been penned already. I can, however, look forward to witnessing United States history on Tuesday from a very interesting perspective. On Tuesday, January 20 when Barack Obama places his hand on the Lincoln bible and take the oath of office, I’ll be watching from Dubai. A mere 50 miles (as the crow flies) from Iran, just down the road from Saudi Arabia, and a stones throw to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Now, as a friend who lives in Dubai pointed out, most “locals” don’t know or care when the United States is holding the inauguration. For me, however, it will be quite odd to not be “at home” to witness such an historic event, and I’ve already planned my day around being in front of a television (most likely CNN or BBC) to view THE moment when America changes forever.

“Optimistic.” “Proud.” That’s how I’m feeling about Tuesday’s inauguration, just like I did back in 1980. All I can really say, is that its been a long time coming! America needs new leadership. We need to feel proud.

When the clock ticked down at the ice rink in Lake Placid so many years ago, when the crowd went wild inside the arena, one could open the front doors of their homes and almost hear the roar all over this nation (kind of like at the end of Horton Hear a Who). I suspect that a similar sound will echo from town to town at noon next Tuesday. And, while it won’t be noon in Dubai, I’ll try to do my part to join in the national celebration!

From El Paso, TX…   Well, we witnessed today one of the worst football games in history!  The 75th Annual Sun Bowl featured the fighting Panthers of the University of Pittsburgh and the Beavers of Oregon State.  Both pathetic.  Neither deserving of a win.

I think that the Pittsburgh Post Gazette said it best:

There are many words to describe the way Pitt’s offense performed in the 75th edition of the Sun Bowl.

But words such as awful, atrocious, terrible, horrendous, disgraceful and embarrassingly bad probably aren’t strong enough to describe the Panther’s performance.

Despite the inadequacies, Pitt still had a chance to win all the way until the end because of a tremendous effort by its defense against an undermanned and equally inept Oregon State offense — bit it just wasn’t meant to be as the Panthers couldn’t make one big play to pull out the victory.

The result was a 3-0 triumph by No. 24 Oregon State in a game played in front of a sun-splashed, near-capacity crowd of 49,037 at Sun Bowl Stadium.

The game was so poor, in fact, that the largest cheers by far came when the Village People performed at halftime and set a mark according to the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest performance of the “YMCA” dance.

To sum up the game, I’ve seen many a high school games that were far more impressive and exciting than this “toilet bowl” game.   The only thing that saved the day — aside from the Village People, of course — was the beautiful weather in El Paso!  I actually had to use sunscreen for the first time in months!

While I am incredibly disappointed in the OSU-Pitt game, I am happy that both Oregon and Oregon State brought trophies back home, and that the Pac 10 teams had a pretty good showing during the Bowl season.

Now that this odd football possession of my body has concluded, I’ll return to fairly normal postings.

Oregon: 65
Oregon State: 38

Another Civil War game is over, and the Mighty Ducks from the University of Oregon emerge victorious!