LOS Phoenix SUNS

 Grant Hill (left) and Steve Nash (right) in their new jerseys.

As a demonstration of solidarity with the Latin American community in Arizona, the Phoenix Suns will become 'LOS PHOENIX SUNS' in their Game 2 playoff tilt against the San Antonio Spurs.   Suns owner Robert Sarver ordered the new threads this week and is using them to make a political statement in defiance of a new state law signed last week by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer which specifically targets Latin American labourers in the state.  The new law "makes it a misdemeanor for immigrants to be in Arizona without proper documents and allows police officers to request proof of status if there is a "reasonable suspicion" that the person is in the country illegally."  It was designed by politicians to help curb the stream of illegal Latino immigrants into the state.   University applicants have also been boycotting Arizona Colleges in protest of the prejudicial law.  Good for Sarver and LOS SUNS, I hope they keep these uniforms on and stick it to Brewer and the state with a lengthy playoff run.

Philly Fan Tasered at Ball Game

Intriguing thinking on Nike's part

Anybody who's seen Nike's new ad featuring Tiger Woods can immediately sense its unconventional marketing approach.  The commercial features narration by Woods' late father Earl, whose vocal likeness to his son's is unmistakable, and uses the parental figure to allude to both the golfer's very public indiscretions and his psychological makeup.

It's a reverse tactic on Nike's part.  In many ways, the ad further exploits Woods' behaviour as a means to promote, well, Tiger Woods.  It's also shrewd and well played, since Woods' currency as a 'refined' public personality -  his past life -  has run out.   It'll be interesting to see how the public responds to it.  To me, it's engineered to a tee; not unlike the material promoting Woods before his legendary public meltdown.  "Woods the man" has always been controlled and calculated, much in the way that "Woods the professional golfer" has taken to the links.  His public persona has always been manicured.  What this commercial makes abundantly clear is that press conferences with the crying, confessions and hugging (of sponsor representatives!!!) are very much part of the act as well.  It started with the shirtless tough guy photographs that Annie Leibowitz took of Woods for Vanity Fair, produced prior to the debacle and released afterward, and takes us to this point with Nike.   Good times or bad, Woods will remain a sculpted figure in the media, it is who he is.   

Neo-Nazi Afrikan Group fires warning shot at World Cup 2010

Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging logo

 Eugene Terreblanche

As promised, problems have already begun for World Cup 2010 organizers as The Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB), a South African White-Supremacist group formed in the 70s, is threatening racial violence at the tournament after their leader Eugene Terreblanche was murdered.  Terreblanche formed the group in reaction to former South African Prime Minister Balthazar Johannes Vorster's liberal views.  Strangely, Johannes was pro-Apartheid.  I guess Terreblanche was seeking a more visceral control of the state from the country's leadership post.

81 Days before Kickoff

With 81 days to go before the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa kicks off, hotel arrangements have not yet been made for the football squads...  Disorganization indeed. 

Stay tuned to Defending Champions for coverage leading up to the event.

In this Corner - up on the site...

Up and Running

Finally got my own website up and running...  I've permanently placed the URL in my links section.

www.marclosier.ca

Research, process, new work, etc...  Check it out!