Alfie To Return To The Senators' Lineup

     I don't get it.  How does Daniel Alfredsson get destroyed by Carl Hagelin, suffers from a concussion, and then returns to the lineup just a little over a week later?  Is he Superman?  Brendan Shanahan says he thinks Hagelin is a good kid, but whether intentional or not you see him skate at Alfie and then elbow him in the face.  And it's not just an elbow... Alfie's head gets mashed between Hagelin's hard knock and the boards, yet he is fine a week later.  I swear he has super powers.  The flaw in Shanahan's system is if there is an injury or not.  Hagelin received a 3 game suspension while Matt Carkner received a 1 game for his quarrel with Brian Boyle.
    Carkner's role in the lineup is to start and carry out beef.  He intentionally elbowed Brian Boyle in the head and then continued to repeatedly punch him in the face against the boards until everyone jumped on him.  If the NHL wants to crack down on targeting the head, how is Carkner's actions only a 1 game suspension.  Hagelin claims he was just trying to finish the check, but Carkner clearly tried to injure Boyle.  Injury or not, if the NHL wants to banish head injuries from targeting the head, Carkner should be out 5+ games.
     It doesn't even matter if Boyle is significantly larger than Alfie.  The actions taken upon Boyle are clear intentions of injury.  Alfie is much smaller and of course he is more likely to get hurt.

Big Push For The Olympics

     NBC Sports is launching is biggest promotional campaign for the Olympics ever.  It plans to broadcast 30 second commercials across 20 TV channels and 66 websites upon the last 100 days leading up to the Olympic games in London, 2012.  The effort started Wednesday, April 18, 2012 with 16 year old swimmer, Missy Franklin, on the "Today Show".
    100 days after Franklin's commercial airs, these ads will reinforce the message "The world comes together in London," said by NBC's John Miller, head of their sports agency.  The NBC Sports Agency is responsible for marketing and branding NBC's sports division worldwide.  Another feature to their ad campaign will revolve around the top advertiser, General Motors.  These ads will commemorate the top 30 most memorable moments of General Motors from past Olympics and viewers are encouraged to vote for their favorite moment online at NBCOlympics.com.
     NBC has partnered with Comcast.  Many of the commercials will air on Comcast owned channels, in the homes of Comcast users, and also on NBC affiliate channels.  More advertising will occur at NBC theme parks, gas stations, Best Buy stores, and American Airlines.  According to NBC, this is their biggest Olympic campaign yet.  NBC's research shows that past viewers enjoyed the Bejiing and Vancouver games and are very likely to tune in for this summer's Olympic games.  Who would doubt this?  The Olympics are popular worldwide - bringing pride, unity, and success to different nations.

     Once the Olympics start, NBC's focus will shift from past Olympics to current Olympian stars.  Some of the top athletes anticipated to be showcased are Michael Phelps, Kerri Walsh, and Jordyn Wieber.  Sponsors of the U.S. Olympic Committee will also be integrated into the campaign.  These sponsors include Coca-Cola, Anheuser-Busch, and BMW.  It's said that Coke will focus on conversations with "Olympic hopefuls", Anheuser-Busch will feature youthful music, and BMW will highlight footage of the top athletes.

Casinos Are A Go

     The NFL finally allows teams to accept advertisements from casinos.  This should lead to huge amounts of cash flooding into the NFL.  Why haven't they approved this earlier?  Are casinos that shady and unethical?  People love them and even Bob Kraft tried to bring one to Foxboro.  The allowance of casino advertisements will be valid until March 31, 2014.  Of course the NFL has to give it a test trial before going forward, right?
     Being the last of the major four leagues to allow casino advertisements, it's obvious the NFL has set major restrictions on the types of advertisements by casinos.  Ads can only appear in stadium, limited to the venue's concourse and upper bowl areas.  Radio and print, television, digital and mobile device ads are all prohibited.  Also, the ads cannot be sports themed, betting on sports, team logos, and players and coaches.  All ads must have a positive message and refrain from mentioning about the possibility of "winning it big time".  Also, the casinos agree to donate 5% of their deals value to the league's anti-ganmbling program for their employees.  Oh yeah, it gets even better.  The league demands that each club displays ads on mediums where the audience expected to be 70% ages 21 and older.
     Casinos seem to attract a certain type of person.  Who is to say that ads will make more people gamble?  If anything, it will pile up some serious cash for the NFL to work with.  Not like they already need it.