Thursday, December 8, 2016

Clowning Around

Okay, so where am I?

Well, I am sitting at my office marveling at the ESPN news alert that just came through my phone:

"NHL: Vegas Golden Knights' trademark request denied due to 'likelihood of confusion' with logo for College of Saint Rose."

Seriously?

I mean boys, I wrote you back in June suggesting that a phone call to the Media Guy might be a wise idea to line everything up.

When I say "boys" I am talking directly to NHL Commish Gary Bettman and Vegas Golden Knights owner Billy Foley. I told them that I "sketched out five-year plan for the growth of hockey in the desert."

Guess what? They didn't call and now they can't even get the logo or the team name right.

I can't really get my head wrapped around this today. You can't be denied the basic identity of your franchise before you even have a team in place. These are basic rules of the game. Call it Media Guy Law #141, if you will. Then I read this headline: "NHL won't reconsider Vegas Golden Knights name, despite trademark denial" as the NHL backpedals trying to defend their faux pas. *SMH*

Offer still stands boys, er, gentlemen: Call the Media Guy!

Speaking of clowns...

I'm still recovering from Black Friday. I mean clicking around Amazon, Target, Tiffany, and the TeamLA Store searching for 75% off deals is a lot of work. My index finger is sore and swollen.

*Sigh*

And, everyone around me are going a bit nuts as the stock market continues its rise and projections skyrocket for the best sales in post-Thanksgiving history.

I don't do Black Friday. Have you ever been to one? It's nothing short of anarchy. This is why I urged America to shop right right last year. I have no clue if it is working. All I know is that Amazon and I get real close this time of the year.

You can blame the media for the insurgence of Black Friday sales. The first story on every local newscast, every 24-hour cable special interest story and top shelf on most online sites is about Black Friday. PR companies for the retailers - media and large - crawl all over themselves to get the stories out on their big sales and deals. For retailers, it's the day on the promotional calendar that can't be ignored. One day the roosters will come home to roost on this shopping phenomenon.

While we are worried about what to get for Christmas and the whole bullying fears that came out of the election, we see that people are standing up for the rights of all...even clowns!

The staff at City Lights Bookshop, a Canadian bookstore say a sign banning clowns from the store was a joke and the two clowns who confronted the owner went way too far.
No Clowns Allowed?

The two clowns took offense to a sign in the store's window that had a picture of a clown with a red circle and line through the image, indicating no clowns.

Police arrived. No charges were filed.

On Twitter, the bookstore tweeted: "no clowns have ever been banned in the shop" and "physically intimidating and yelling at a woman is not the way to get your demands met. A decent face-to-face with respect and kindness is..."

The bookstore has not taken the sign down.

Maybe it could be the Vegas Golden Knights logo.

Clown Gallery: Top 10 of All Time
10. The Poltergeist Clown. A child's worst nightmare comes to life.
9. Killer Clowns from Outer Space: bloodhound balloon animals, killer shadow puppets and more!
8. Krusty. Never believe the on-screen persona. 
7. Pulcinella. The most clever of all.
6. The Joker. Oscar-winning Mayhem.
5. Pennywise. Any clown that can shapeshift is amazing. Stephen King = genius. Duh!
4. Fizbo: The ass-kicking clown that will twist you like a balloon animal.
3. Ubu Roi: the antihero — vulgar, dishonest, voracious, gluttonous, evil and cowardly.
2. Vegas Golden Knights: see above.
1. Ronald McDonald. It wasn't the burgers making kids heavy. It was the clown scaring kids from leaving their houses.
Honorable Mention: 
Wedding Crashers