The Page 1 story in the Post-Gazette this morning about the possible enhancement of Andrew McCutchen's "brand" should he be named the National League's Most Valuable Player today had the following interesting fact about the endorsement income of a couple of contemporary athletes. The NBA's LeBron James earns between $40 and $50 million a year in endorsements. Peyton Manning is the NFL's biggest endorsement earner with $15+ million per year. Baseball's highest such earner is the Yankees' Derek Jeter who pulls in about $9 million a year. I would not have guessed that baseball's highest such earner would be pulling in so much less than his hoops and gridiron colleagues. The story didn't mention who the NHL's biggest earner is.
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Are you watching the current edition of Golf Channel's "The Big Break"? This season is called the "Big Break - NFL" and it features six three person teams consisting of a male and female golfer and captained by a retired NFL star (Jerry Rice, Al Del Greco, Chris Doleman, Mark Bulger, Tim Brown, and Mark Rypian). One team each week earns a loss, and when you accumulate two losses, the entire three person team is eliminated. Anyway, it took until the seventh week of the season before one team finally got two losses and were sent packing. I won't spoil anything by saying which NFL star was the first to go. I will say that the biggest jagoff among the NFL'ers is turning out to be Chris Doleman. Sorry about that, Pitt Panther fans, but there you are. Interestingly enough, Doleman's team remains undefeated.
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Took a look at the holiday movies that were featured in the Post-Gazette this morning. Nothing jumping out at me as something I ABSOLUTELY HAVE to see. One interesting one is Martin Scorsese's "The Wolf of Wall Street" starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Saw a trailer for it awhile back, and it looks interesting.
I do not plan on seeing anything about hobbits, bows and arrows, or super heroes.
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I read an oldie this week - "Hercule Poirot's Christmas" by Agatha Christie, written in 1938. This one was vintage Christie: a miserly, wealthy old curmudgeon summons his four sons, three daughters-in-law, and a granddaughter to his English country manor house for Christmas. Throw in another unexpected visitor, and a couple of suspicious servants. On Christmas Eve, the old man is murdered quite violently and his body is found in a room that is, you guessed it, locked from the inside. And it just so happens that Hercule Poirot is spending the Holiday with his old friend, the local police superintendent.
Most Christie scholars will tell you that she produced her greatest works in the 1930's, when she produced 17 novels and numerous short stories. They will also tell you that THIS particular novel does not fall within the scope of those great works, and I would happen to agree with them. Although, it is still a lot if fun to read. And almost "Downton Abbey"-like in it's depiction of life in the Manor House.
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