gas prices not looking up. or are they?

With gas topping off at $3.90 a gallon, I thank God for the existence of the Saint Joseph's University shuttle because I haven't driven my car in days.

Speaking of days, the average price of a gallon gas has steadily risen for the 19 (NINETEEN!!) days. What's the cause for these apocalyptic rising gas prices? Soaring oil prices.... This occurred when fears that tensions with Iran could lead to an all out war. Advocates of using the Keystone XL pipeline that runs from Canadian oil fields to the Midwest say that the pipeline will bring more oil into the United States and lower prices. However, many experts say the pipeline won't give much impact at the pump and may even raise prices.

It's getting to the point where I have to decide whether I'm going to put gas in my tank or eat for the rest of the week. Something's gotta give.

Codename VJJ: The Right to Control Your Private Parts

Realizing that I do indeed (voluntarily) attend a Catholic Jesuit University, this may be a polarizing topic but it happens to be one that I support fanatically---women's rights.

As with the progression of society, as new incidents arise, a novelty vocabulary is introduced. "A new term has emerged for the leaders of states where abortion laws have tightened: 'gyno-governors'". 

Pro-Choice advocates are calling for Pro-Life advocates to 1) stop calling themselves Pro-Life and instead say "Anti-choice" because that is essentially their standpoint, 2) stop trying to control women's (blutnly) vaginas--be it, the use of birth control (preemptive measures) or abortion (last-resort).

Of course, there's always two sides to a story. While Pro-Choicers want women to be able to control what they do with their reproductive organs, Pro-Lifers say that proponents of women's are basically pushing an agenda that influences, and makes acceptable,  thousands of women having loads and loads of sex, taking (or not taking) birth control and then, in drones, piling into abortion clinics going wild over their freedom to terminate pregnancies... 

While I find it hard to believe that upholding women's rights to contraception and abortion will cause people to disregard safe sex principles any more than they do already, I understand the sentiment that Pro-Lifer's fear. I'll just say that it costs A LOT less for society (in terms of health care, government benefits/funds) to prescribe birth control to a woman (and if we want to take it there, provide abortions) than take care of a (unwanted?) baby (pre-natal care, delivery fees, hospitalization, day care, elementary school, high school, college.....it goes on).

Instead of forcing your views on others about their bodies, how bout we try and make our country better? 

Melo Gone, Orange Gone

So Syracuse is out of the big dance. (Cue the lame "dance references" that ESPN loves to throw in our face during the first few weeks of March.....) Syracuse is taking off its tuxedo and putting it the closet for next year. They are shining their shoes before they put them back under their bed. They call the limo driver and tell him he has to pick them up early. (Okay, let's stop that now.)

Anyway, unfortuately Fab Melo, Syracuse Orange's leading rebounder was declared ineligible to play in the tournament a few days ago for 'academic reasons'. I know the NCAA is very big on maintaining the legitimacy of the 'student-athlete' title--- school comes before sports, as evidenced in the placement of the words around the hyphen---but please, can we punish players for school stuff at ANOTHER TIME ???? Not during March???? Its the BIGGEST college sports activity, March Madness, and you choose to punish a player for an academic offense now? Why didn't you do it during Winter Break or something? This leads to the question of "What was his offense, exactly?" and until I get a good answer on it, I really can't be too harsh on the Syracuse brass about this.

A little less blogging, a little more bio

Hey, so I just realized that I never really introduced myself and what this blog is (supposed to be).

here are some fun facts

*I am a 19 year old Accounting Major (Criminal Justice Minor) at Saint Joseph's University.
*Northeast Philadelphia born and raised.... attended West Philadelphia Catholic high school...
*Eagles, Phillies, Flyers, Dallas Mavericks  i root for the Sixers but they are not my favorite team.... . It's a Dirk World, we're just living in it.
*This blog is an assigned activity by my Marketing professor, Stephen Gallagher (who does blog, so check him out)
*I played basketball for four years in high school, play ice hockey for Saint Joseph's, and am the epitome of the phrase "gym rat"
*I enjoy writing, and my style is very satirical (as you may have guessed). I enjoy using words to make people think. Also, wrote for my high school newspaper for four years
*When my high school was supposed to close down, I wrote a farewell and it got printed in the Philadelphia Daily News and put on philly.com, you can read it here:  http://articles.philly.com/2012-01-12/news/30620191_1_football-team-west-catholic-boys-alma-mater

*I enjoy making friends but have a hard time remembering people's names (ironic).
*I am applying to enter into a Officer Program with the United States Marine Corps
*After my years of service, I plan on working with a government agency (FBI hopefully, but IRS/DEA would be cool) in an effort to investigate and aid in the investigation of white collar crime as a forensic accountant
*HARD.CORE. FALL OUT BOY FAN.
*last two albums i bought: "Soul Punk" by Patrick Stump and "Take Care" by Drizzy Drake
*habitual insomniac
* i don't say bye when hanging up the telephone....

Madson's Tear = Phillies Catch a Break

http://espn.go.com/mlb/spring2012/story/_/id/7731716/cincinnati-reds-closer-ryan-madson-miss-season-elbow

Things have been a little testy at Citizens Bank Park as of late. Chase Utley is ailing and Phillies' General Manager Ruben Amaro, Jr. admits that he's worried about it. Ryan "The Big Piece" Howard is still hobbling around with a busted Achilles.Roy Halladay hasn't been as lights out as his regular self.   But there's a bright side to this: the former Phillies closer Ryan Madson, who Philadelphia let walk in the offseason, has a torn ligament in his throwing elbow and will miss the entire 2012 season..

Now, you may be wondering--Liana, how is this good news for the Phillies? Well, I guess it's really not, but we ended up getting lucky. If Madson was still a Phillie, we'd have to add him to the injury list. But since he's not, we don't.

Misery loves company?

NCAA Touts Being a Giver, but won't let Athletes Receive

As March Madness invades college campuses all over these United States, a topic is continuously brought up: the plight of the student-athlete. The student-athlete is held to the same standards as other students in the classroom but has incredibly more strenuous out-of-classroom obligations.

Former Duke grad, ESPN Senior NCAA Men's Basketball Analyst Jay Bilas is a critical proponent of student-athletes being able to make money from their talents when they are in school. He does not propose that the colleges pay student-athletes but that the athletes not be punished for receiving compensation for whatever endeavors they choose to partake in. Read his article here

I fully agree with this. College athletes admittedly get some leeway when it comes to classroom regulations but they are a huge money maker for their respective colleges and because of the time commitment cannot make their own money in a work-study job as their non-athletic counterparts can.

Why is this relevant to marketing? The NCAA is making it a point to run its commercials telling its March Madness viewers that they use the money made by Collegiate Athletics to continually fund scholarships for athletes and contribute the excess money to its member schools. Having a scholarship to a school is nice but doesn't mean much when you don't have pocket money to buy yourself a few slices of pizza when you've just won the National Collegiate Athletic Association Men's Basketball National Championship.

Let the athletes make money.

Mets Making Amends

As a Phillies fan, I consider Mets (and their fans too?) to be the scum of the earth. (Yankees are really no better). But today, its not really about baseball at Citi Field. The owners of the Mets  has agreed to pay $162 million to try and rectify the record-breaking Ponzi scheme conducted by Bernard L. Madoff. The victims of the scheme were represented by Irving H. Picard and he brought the lawsuit against the owners of the Mets, Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz, and it was to be tried in Manhattan federal court this Monday after a year of delays. Picard accused the owners of ignoring warnings that Madoff was running a fraud and they had ignored the warning signs. The $162 million will make Wilpon and Katz the "net losers" of the Madoff scheme.

Marketing wise---this stinks for the Mets, they aren't really known as the most profitable team and now their owners must shell out nearly 200 million dollars. Also, I can't see how aligning your team in such a polarizing topic as Madoff could be good press.

This interests me a lot because I"m actually minoring in Criminal Justice to build up a foundation in Forensic Accounting--where I can investigate and aid in the prosecution of white-collar criminals.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/20/sports/baseball/mets-owners-pay-162-million-to-settle-madoff-suit.html?_r=1&hp

Mixed Martial Arts Injuries causes Stir in Marine Corps

The United States Marine Corps is looking to reduce injuries inflicted upon by leisure participation in mixed martial arts. The Military Medicine journal, knee injuries are the most common ailment among service-members partaking in MMA, with the second common being shoulder injuries. The USMC reported 159 injuries in 2009 which was a whopping 62% increase from the previous year. As a result, the Marines have begun to "provide a framework and minimum standard for commanders and service members wishing to participate in MMA competition".

Mixed martial arts has blown up in the last decade--exponentially gaining a very strong fanbase with loyal fans. MMA has grown with the rise of the sect: Ultimate Fighting Championship (and other organizations) and has challenged boxing in popularity. Clearly the marketing of the UFC has helped make MMA a house-hold name and an activity that many love to partake in.

Why is this article important? Well, I aim to join the Marine Corps as an officer upon graduation and I find it interesting that the popularity of a sport is making the Marine brass make new rules/standards for the entire Corps. That's a hats off to the marketing of mixed martial arts.

http://www.stripes.com/news/marine-corps/marines-aim-to-reduce-mixed-martial-arts-injuries-1.171990