Earlier this week I promised to deliver a sequel to my critically acclaimed critical look at Vince McMahon and a small sampling of what is surely a plethora of bad business moves. Surely, I could easily push this promise aside just like Vince pushed all his promises aside to Brett Hart in the mid-90’s. However, I am a far more noble man than Vince McMahon could ever hope to be, and unlike him I care not only about the financial success of ETS Daily but also the happiness of all my readers even if it means slightly more work. Fortunately for me the two usually go hand in hand; something Vince would be wise to learn and something ever fan would surely benefit from. Moving on: We’ve already talked about the past (Hulk Hogan) and the future (Bryan Danielson), so now let’s take a look at the middle ground.

HHH (Hunter Hearst Hogan): Before getting to the substance of my article, I feel it necessary to take a quick detour. I will however continue along the same road, that road being one paved with tumultuous insults and criticisms. While HHH is no were near as bad a worker as Hulk Hogan was he surely is undeserving of the praise and position he receives. Like Hogan, HHH took moderate ability (below average in Hogan’s case) and politicked his way to the top. For each man the world revolves around them, their egos bigger than their arms and their move sets as small as their brains. *HHH was once a great worker, but would now much rather incorporate himself into comedy skits in an attempt to mock (devalue) other workers. Thus making him a culprit in Vince’s bad investments. However, Vince’s guilt in this situation is slightly different. In this case as was the case with Hogan, Vince is guilty of overinvesting in a one dimensional dime a dozen worker. To put it in terms of the Olympics, HHH is a bronze medal worker (ironically the same color as his skin), yet Vince is continually puts HHH at the top of the podium. HHH wears the big gold belt around his bronze colored waist and every second he does he devalues it. Just liked a cheap “gold” necklace the next poor soul to wear it is stuck not only with an ugly green tinge on their skin, but also layers of low-priced bronzer. By selling bronze as a certified gold product, Vince is messing with the free market and the economic idea of rational self interest, he isn’t getting a fair market return on his investment and the fans aren’t getting what the paid for.

Elijah Burke: Initially Vince was guilty once again of attaching a prestigious product (Burke) with a steaming pile of shit (Sylvester Terkay). Rather than use Burke for his talent which includes tremendous public speaking skills and even more superior athletic ability, Vince thought it better to use his gift of gab to get a man who lacked any skill over. Fortunately for a brief period of time Vince allowed Elijah to spread his proverbial wings. During this time Elijah’s “stock” grew, he proved to the world he could walk the walk and wrestle the wrestle, he had established a fan base, a move set and even some catch phrases (5-UP!). Sadly, circumstances were reminiscent of the lead character in a recent motion picture masterpiece; Vince had only appeared to learn his lesson and quickly reverted to his old ways. After barley a year (counting from the firing of Terkay) of shining through the filth that is a majority (although not all) of the WWE roster and sporadically appearing on TV; Burke was fired. Vince had made some major investments (including a Wrestlemania match), he had bought into Burke stock low when he was a relative unknown and had fired him when his stock was high, as a bonafide athlete (albeit one who frequently jobbed out). While such methods work great in the stock market, wrestlers are the type of stock that pay weekly dividends rather than lump sum payments at the time of sale. When you build up a wrestler you hold on to him until he stops paying dividends, when he loses the ability to work, not when they are at the top of their physical game. Luckily Vince isn’t the only investor in the market, and Elijah seems to be doing quite well for himself in a place that allows him to utilize his assets and the fans to appreciate them.


While I would love to say that Vince has learned from his mistakes and that the product is on a never ending upward swing, I am not that naive. Luckily for ETS Daily readers that means that more Vince articles will surely be posted in the future

It has come to the attention to myself, and the rest of the ETS Daily staff have become aware of some problems with out current comment system. While we are unable to rewrite the coding for the site, we have found another way to accommodate our legions of loyal fans; who up until now have been unable to get into contact with us. That being said, ETS Daily is proud to announce the launching of the official ETS Daily Form Spring Me. We encourage all our fans having trouble with our current comment system to leave hate mail, constructive criticism, article comments, praise for your favorite ETS staffer and suggestions for future articles at http://www.formspring.me/ETSDaily .
You can also connect with us at our brand new Myspace at http://www.myspace.com/etsdaily

We look forward to hearing from all of you.

Below is my letter to EA Sports, it is my personal suggestions to EA about how they can improve the realism of their game NBA Live 10. There isn't really much of an intro I can give you, just read and you'll understand.

Dear Electronic Arts,

I’m writing to inform you of some less than realistic portions of your game NBA Live 10. I have no complaints about the gameplay or the graphics, those are both stellar and I love the way you’ve improved them every year. I do however have a complaint about the atmosphere you present in certain arenas in the game, specifically the IZOD Center. Now, I understand that you try to make the game enjoyable to play even if specific teams make that unbearably difficult, although I think you could significantly improve your game by making it painfully realistic. I am a fan of the New Jersey Nets and part of the atmosphere I love at the ‘ZOD is the horrific silence during most of the game, in your game however, there is usually a fair amount of cheering. The fact that the arena always appears almost full is also something of concern, in recent history futility and lack of fan support has been a staple in the culture of the New Jersey Nets. I think since the Nets don’t have any players good enough, or with enough personality to have a cool pre-game ritual animation, you should just have the camera pan over the empty seats of the IZOD Center, and show the local fans of the visiting team cheering. That would add a lot of realism to your game in that aspect, also you don’t show many animations during stoppage of play, maybe a quick look at CDR tweeting on the bench, or Yi disgracing America during the National Anthem would make the gameplay feel more like watching a broadcast. My last complaint is lack of team specific announcers, I would play your game until my xbox melted the disc if you added commentary from Ian Eagle and Jim Spanarkel, also a halftime show with highlights of the first half and what the NJ Nets like to call “Ask the Announcers”, a ridiculous segment full of trivia, fan questions, and crazy hi-jinx.

I’m sure my suggestions could be applied to many teams with a little local flair based on fan input, especially since the NBA is a four or five team race to the championship now. A large part of what keeps NBA fans coming back for more is how hard we laugh at how pathetic many of these teams are, and even more than that, how ashamed most fans are to be affiliated with such failure.

Thanks for hearing me out, and I hope my suggestions can help develop your game to a new level of realism.

Very Truly Yours,

“The Pez Dispenser”

Writer - ETS Daily

http://minustheets.blogspot.com/

Today I come to you with some unfortunate news: the NBA is on course to become the NFL. Sadly, I am not talking about getting multiple games every Sunday, on every major network. No what I am referring to is the NBA’s rapid transition into over-regulation, the likes of which this country hasn’t seen (with the exception of the FDR, the Obama, and the Goodell administration). Shades of this move could be seen earlier this season when the NBA fined Milwaukee Bucks rookie Brandon Jennings not for his ridiculously stupid haircut, but for twitting 45 minutes AFTER the game had ended. Soon after the NBA’s resident libertarian Mark Cuban criticized a referee’s poor performance in a game via twitter and was fined $25,000. After the initial fine Cuban fired back with a another tweet stating “can’t say no one makes money from twitter. now the nba does” (notice the lack of capitalization of NBA a clear sign of Mark’s lack of respect for the NBA). Such a move would have caused the more sane and conservative Roosevelt roll around in his grave, as ability to criticize the government and other authority figures was paramount to his belief system.


Despite such erroneous policies, David Stern thought he hadn’t done enough to justify his massive paycheck (in 1996 he had a $35 million five year deal and I assume its only risen), all while the NBA is set to lose roughly $400 million after four years of losing $200 million a year (presumably all from the WNBA and the NJ Nets). But as one of the highest paid commissioners in all of the 90’s who was Stern to look to? Roger Goodell (student of Bud Selig) the epitome of an overpaid and his fascist No Fun League.
While there is surely numerous examples to prove my point I will only focus on the most recent. In a clear smack in the face to Social Darwinist, Stern has decided to ban the chewing of straws during games. Not only does this policy seek to protect people from themselves something that makes Social Darwinist squirm, but it also contains a hallmark requirement for an unjust law; it targets a specific individual. That individual being Dallas Mavericks Star Caron Butler. While some will say this is an attack on Butler, I am wise to the ways of David Stern and realize that this is really a attack on Mark Cuban owner of the Mavericks. Butler has been chewing twelve straws a game for over 12 years now, clearly safety is not Stern’s concern. So why now?


Cuban has been very uppity as of late, with his appearance on WWE Raw and his twitter war and this is Stern’s way of sending him a message. Stern hopes that by changing up Butler’s in-game rituals he can throw him off his grove and derail the Mavs from their previously assured playoff spot. Want further proof? Stern has yet to ban Lebron for chewing gum; gum if swallowed not only poses a chocking risk, but also as revealed in a 1998 study by the Journal of Pediatrics: if swallowed gum can accumulate in the intestines causing intestinal pain and constipation. Will it is doubtful Stern will retreat on this issue, the least he can do is sever ties with Goodell and study under the tutelage of Cuban on issues of law and liberty.