'Why Melky Why?'

File this under Fast Turnaround: The Baseball Project has jumped on the troublesome (if you're a Giants fan or baseblal purist) news that San Francisco star Melky Cabrera had been suspended for 50 games for using testosterone, which is illegal under pro baseball rules. 

The Baseball Project, as you might suspect, is a band whose focus is on baseball-themed music. I'm hesitant to call it a supergroup, but its members do include alumni of The Dream Syndicate, REM and Young Fresh Fellows. And they're getting pretty good at not only interpreting baseball history but jumping on the news of the day. 

Cabrera's suspension was announced Wednesday afternoon, and The Baseball Project delivered this ditty earlier today. One may argue the song written by Scott McCaughey (the Young Fresh Fellows guy) is a stretch lyrically and musically, but let's set that aside for a moment. 

Click to read more ...

Why Apple and the Green Bay Packers are so much alike

My Packers stock certificateThanks to Santa, aka my wife, I'm now the owner of an NFL team. OK, part owner of the Green Bay Packers, courtesy of a recent stock sale the team unveiled to fund stadium improvements. I've been a diehard Packers fanatic since 1971, and this gift may go down as one of the best ever. 

For $250, plus shipping and handling, I now own one share in the team, for which I get a nice stock certificate, access to the company's annual shareholder meeting, and discounts at the Packers Hall of Fame. Unlike a publicly traded stock, this certificate cannot be sold or traded and has no direct monetary value.

Critics of the Packers' stock sale/purchase ask, "Why would you pay $250 for something that's not worth anything?" It's a valid question but assumes the stock must have a market value instead of the enormous sentimental value that has driven the sale. 

Diehard Packers fans can speak passionately about why being a shareholder is worth $250 or more, but just in case any of them may have forgotten, the Packers have done a masterful job of reminding their fans why they and the organization are special, and not just because Green Bay is the only publicly owned professional sports team in America. 

With the stock certificate comes a "brand book" -- a small CD-sized booklet that eloquently reminds the owner of the things -- big and small -- that make the Green Bay Packers different than any other pro sports franchise in the United States. 

In 28 easily read pages filled with big pictures and short sentences, the stockholder is quickly reminded why their $250 investment is far more than a piece of paper. 

Case in point:

Click to read more ...

Curiosity separates great journalism and lazy journalism

Journalism is a business where there's always something to do, stories to cover, deadlines to meet.

It's work that can be a grind, particularly when you wait for stories to land in your lap. But journalism can be magic when you dive into the unknown, led only by a single tip that may or may not pan out. 

Sadly, I regularly encounter journalists and other professionals who lack one key trait that separates the average from the great: curiosity. 

Tim Layden of Sports Illustrated is a great journalist. Case in point is "The Forgotten Hero," an extraordinary tale that started with a solid tip about a long-forgotten small-college athlete but grew into a much larger story about a dying man whose zest for life inspired everyone around him. 

"The Forgotten Hero" is Mike Reily, who played football at Williams College in the early 1960s. His life was cut short by Hodgkin's disease, and by all accounts the world lost a great one. 

But that's just a small piece of the story. 

Click to read more ...