Over the past five years we have heard it all from the three major American automotive manufacturers. We have heard of record profits due mainly to strong SUV sales. And now we are hearing how the economy has shifted their power and they are now on the verge of bankruptcy.
You will hear many pundits debate this and talk about different ratios and how the CEO's mismanaged the company. This is all true, but the solutions they seemingly offer do not help our understanding of what is going on inside the car companies. Not enough of the real world is savvy enough to understand contract law as it relates to unions. Very few of the real world can understand the complex financial structure in which union leaders have their retirement funding.
What we can understand at our level is lack of focus. We all have to deal with this every day. We have to plan for the future. We learned this lesson in the 1980's. If you spend everything you earn, at some point, your earnings will go down and you will be left with nothing but "stuff." After all, how much are those expensive electronics really worth?
This is the same problem that happened at the automotive manufacturers. They were so busy living in the moment, that they forgot to plan for tomorrow. Well, tomorrow arrived last year with sky0high gas prices and no relief in sight. Due to an economic melt down, we did receive some much needed gas price relief, but what will the automotive companies do now? Will they go back to business as usual using the bail out money to "tide them over" until the economy picks up again, or will they finally see the light and change the way they do business.
Every business goes through a cycle and if you rest on your laurels, eventually, you will die as a company. If you want to keep going, you have to innovate; stay ahead of the competition. It is time for American ingenuity to take over and for the "Big Three" to reassert themselves.
How, though, are they supposed to do this. Well, I think they have to look at what the future holds economically. They need to change the way they do business from top to bottom.
First of all, I think that they need to come up with a new way to run the company from the top. There is no reason that the CEO of any company should make $500 million in bonuses, regardless of his success. Unless a CEO is a majority stockholder (greater than 50% of the company's stock), he should be paid a salary plus bonuses based STRICTLY on profits, not sales. These bonuses should have a cap and anything above said cap be paid in stock options.
Second, innovation NEEDS to be "job #1." Without innovation, the company WILL fail. It is not "innovative" to find new concepts for an SUV... or to put more gadgets in an existing SUV. It is lazy and it is not working. What is innovative, changing the way America sees transportation and changing the way they BUY cars.
We are too advanced with information too readily available to be stuck buying cars like the old days. Look, I worked at dealerships, there was a reason for them in the past, the reason for them needs to change. Think about it, why are there hundreds of vehicles on a new car lot? So they can sell them quickly. But this leaves the dealer tied up into the millions and tens of millions, so rather than truly assessing his customers needs, he sells what he has.
Why not assess a customers needs and sell him something that fits those needs. Use innovation to create the ability to do so... as an example, virtual reality can really get a customer to understand a new vehicle, this can be set up fairly easily. Obviously, customers want to know how a car drives, but why have a hundred of the same car on the lot? I say you have one or two of each model on the lot, and let a "distributor" (who cannot sell to anyone but dealers), hold higher inventory selling something more specific to each dealer. If a customer goes in on Saturday and wants a red Ford Ranger, after he has agreed to the purchase, the dealer orders the correct vehicle from the distributor and within 48 hours, the customer still has their car.
From the Corporate perspective, we need to find a way to get cars that are more competitive with Toyota's and Honda's. Stop worrying about bigger and make more competitive cars. Just the other day, I had a customer come in to my shop and say he was going to be glad to get out of the rental. He was in a Malibu and it just didn't compare, in his mind, to his Camry. The difference? It did not have the same ride and feel. It still had all the bells and whistles, but not the same ride.
Also, I believe a dealer should not be limited to selling a specific make, he should be able to order ANY new car from his distributor and sell that car... then a dealer's success will no longer be dependent on the successful innovation of a specific company, but on his ability to service his customers.
These are but a few of the ways to make our car companies better, we need to think of even more.
The most important thing, in my opinion, though, is to rid themselves of the overbearing union which benefits very few at the expense of very many.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Friday, January 2, 2009
Change of Pace
Well, this blog started as an ode to my extreme distaste for John Canzano... I will ALWAYS speak my mind regarding his inaccurate columns and ridiculous commentary when needed. However, I have decided that I want to also comment about many things other than a moron who has no place in journalism.
So, tonight, I stick with sports. Utah may have made the best case yet that the BCS system is still broken. In 2004 the team went undefeated in the regular season and became the first "BCS Buster." Most sports fans do not need this history lesson, but it is relevant to the discussion.
While the team got into the BCS, they were set up with a no win situation. If they lost, BCS proponents would be able to say that they did not belong... but, because they were playing a Pitt team that was nowhere near the caliber of the best teams in the country, winning would only be viewed with "well, Pitt wasn't that good." This is exactly what happened.
This year, in their infinite wisdom, the BCS tried to set up Utah again... pitting them against Alabama ina virtual home game for the Crimson Tide, everyone outside of Utah expected the rout. Everyone wanted to, once and for all, show the world that the non-BCS schools just cannot hang with the "real" big-boys.
Then Utah went out and dominated Alabama. The BCS cannot hide it's warts any longer. While I am certainly not going to definitively state that Utah is the best team in the country, they deserve a shot at the NC. It is time for a modified playoff system.
I know what most of the complaints are, but mine is modified to an 8 team playoff where winning your conference is more important than scoring lots of "style" points.
There are 6 BCS conferences, conference champs get an automatic bid tot he playoffs. The 7th bid goes to the highest rated non-BCS conference champion (this year that would be Utah). The other 4 conference champions (this year, Sun Belt, Conf-USA, Mt. West and Mid American) play each other in a 2 game "play-in" for the final BCS spot.
In order to keep the lower tier bowls involved (and likely create more interest) these lower tier bowls are used for these play-in games. As an example, this year, the Motor City Bowl could have hosted the MAC Champ v. The Sun Belt Champ on Dec 13th (Buffalo v Troy) while the Poinsettia Bowl could have hosted the Mt. West v C-USA (Boise State v. E. Carolina) The winners face each other at a "home" site to be determined by the BCS (highest rated of these two winners team plays a home play-in game).
This gets us our 8 teams. Each of the traditional New Year's Day Bowl games hosts their traditional match-ups where possible... so this year that would mean
Fiesta Bowl: Oklahoma v At large
Rose: USC V. Penn State
Sugar Bowl: Florida v At Large
Orange Bowl: Va Tech v Cincinnati
The winners of these would meet the following Saturday with a HOME team... the BCS #'s would dictate who gets the home games. These would be the national semifinals. Finally, the following week would be the National Championship game at a rotating site... but not necessarily tied to the four main ones... it could even be tied to the Super Bowl site.
Now, this solves nearly every problem mentioned by those who claim that the system we have is fine. First, there can be no arguments of who deserved it more. In order to get in you MUST win your conference... if you don't, you have no reason to complain.
Second, this does NOT extend the season by much more than it already is... in my system, the National Semi-Finals would be on Saturday, January 10 and the NC game would be January 17th. This years game is on the 8th... so it would only add 9 days...
Third, the traditional bowls would STILL get theirs... AND they would be able to get back to more traditional match-ups ALL ON NEW YEAR'S DAY.
Fourth, the National Semifinals on campus... talk about your SERIOUS MONEY... those who think that the current system generates more money... have no clue how much money would be generated by on campus semifinals.
Fifth, the lower tier bowls would still get very attractive match-ups... think about it, in my scenario, look whose still out there for bowl games, only the likes of Texas, Ohio State and Alabama.... not bad for the second tier bowls to get those teams!
Sixth, this would IMPROVE early season Out Of Conference (OOC) games. Why? Well, if you know that losing to a quality team will not knock you out of the National Championship race, wouldn't you be more willing to schedule the tougher teams? After all, playing tougher teams early will get you more prepared for your conference schedule... thereby ENABLING you to have a better shot at a national title.
Seventh, Notre Dame haters, this means that, if Notre Dame wants access, they HAVE to join a conference... no more independents! (I am sure whichever conference they joined would allow them to maintain their own TV contract)
Are there other ideas? Sure, but most of them call for nearly scrapping the entire Bowl system, I know that is not going to happen... so why ask for something you KNOW you cannot get? Let's try to push something that has a chance... in order to get what we the fans want (a playoff), we MUST recognize that we have to keep those things in tact that the current system holds dear to it's heart, the Bowls and the BCS.
Finally, the ONLY way to take debate of who "deserves" to be in a playoff, you must make the entrants contingent upon being conference champions... Do I think Troy is a "better" team than Alabama? Nope. But Troy won their conference and Alabama did not.
Win your conference and you're in. Lose and go to a lower tier bowl... I also think, by the way, that this would RAISE the stature of some of those lower tier bowls.
Now, let's see if somehow this little blog can get discovered and that the powers in college football see the light. Otherwise, we might just as well go back to the pre-BCS system and just let people "vote" for a National Champ. Until then, the national championship will still likely be decided by who scores the most style points to get to the game (that's you Oklahoma).
So, tonight, I stick with sports. Utah may have made the best case yet that the BCS system is still broken. In 2004 the team went undefeated in the regular season and became the first "BCS Buster." Most sports fans do not need this history lesson, but it is relevant to the discussion.
While the team got into the BCS, they were set up with a no win situation. If they lost, BCS proponents would be able to say that they did not belong... but, because they were playing a Pitt team that was nowhere near the caliber of the best teams in the country, winning would only be viewed with "well, Pitt wasn't that good." This is exactly what happened.
This year, in their infinite wisdom, the BCS tried to set up Utah again... pitting them against Alabama ina virtual home game for the Crimson Tide, everyone outside of Utah expected the rout. Everyone wanted to, once and for all, show the world that the non-BCS schools just cannot hang with the "real" big-boys.
Then Utah went out and dominated Alabama. The BCS cannot hide it's warts any longer. While I am certainly not going to definitively state that Utah is the best team in the country, they deserve a shot at the NC. It is time for a modified playoff system.
I know what most of the complaints are, but mine is modified to an 8 team playoff where winning your conference is more important than scoring lots of "style" points.
There are 6 BCS conferences, conference champs get an automatic bid tot he playoffs. The 7th bid goes to the highest rated non-BCS conference champion (this year that would be Utah). The other 4 conference champions (this year, Sun Belt, Conf-USA, Mt. West and Mid American) play each other in a 2 game "play-in" for the final BCS spot.
In order to keep the lower tier bowls involved (and likely create more interest) these lower tier bowls are used for these play-in games. As an example, this year, the Motor City Bowl could have hosted the MAC Champ v. The Sun Belt Champ on Dec 13th (Buffalo v Troy) while the Poinsettia Bowl could have hosted the Mt. West v C-USA (Boise State v. E. Carolina) The winners face each other at a "home" site to be determined by the BCS (highest rated of these two winners team plays a home play-in game).
This gets us our 8 teams. Each of the traditional New Year's Day Bowl games hosts their traditional match-ups where possible... so this year that would mean
Fiesta Bowl: Oklahoma v At large
Rose: USC V. Penn State
Sugar Bowl: Florida v At Large
Orange Bowl: Va Tech v Cincinnati
The winners of these would meet the following Saturday with a HOME team... the BCS #'s would dictate who gets the home games. These would be the national semifinals. Finally, the following week would be the National Championship game at a rotating site... but not necessarily tied to the four main ones... it could even be tied to the Super Bowl site.
Now, this solves nearly every problem mentioned by those who claim that the system we have is fine. First, there can be no arguments of who deserved it more. In order to get in you MUST win your conference... if you don't, you have no reason to complain.
Second, this does NOT extend the season by much more than it already is... in my system, the National Semi-Finals would be on Saturday, January 10 and the NC game would be January 17th. This years game is on the 8th... so it would only add 9 days...
Third, the traditional bowls would STILL get theirs... AND they would be able to get back to more traditional match-ups ALL ON NEW YEAR'S DAY.
Fourth, the National Semifinals on campus... talk about your SERIOUS MONEY... those who think that the current system generates more money... have no clue how much money would be generated by on campus semifinals.
Fifth, the lower tier bowls would still get very attractive match-ups... think about it, in my scenario, look whose still out there for bowl games, only the likes of Texas, Ohio State and Alabama.... not bad for the second tier bowls to get those teams!
Sixth, this would IMPROVE early season Out Of Conference (OOC) games. Why? Well, if you know that losing to a quality team will not knock you out of the National Championship race, wouldn't you be more willing to schedule the tougher teams? After all, playing tougher teams early will get you more prepared for your conference schedule... thereby ENABLING you to have a better shot at a national title.
Seventh, Notre Dame haters, this means that, if Notre Dame wants access, they HAVE to join a conference... no more independents! (I am sure whichever conference they joined would allow them to maintain their own TV contract)
Are there other ideas? Sure, but most of them call for nearly scrapping the entire Bowl system, I know that is not going to happen... so why ask for something you KNOW you cannot get? Let's try to push something that has a chance... in order to get what we the fans want (a playoff), we MUST recognize that we have to keep those things in tact that the current system holds dear to it's heart, the Bowls and the BCS.
Finally, the ONLY way to take debate of who "deserves" to be in a playoff, you must make the entrants contingent upon being conference champions... Do I think Troy is a "better" team than Alabama? Nope. But Troy won their conference and Alabama did not.
Win your conference and you're in. Lose and go to a lower tier bowl... I also think, by the way, that this would RAISE the stature of some of those lower tier bowls.
Now, let's see if somehow this little blog can get discovered and that the powers in college football see the light. Otherwise, we might just as well go back to the pre-BCS system and just let people "vote" for a National Champ. Until then, the national championship will still likely be decided by who scores the most style points to get to the game (that's you Oklahoma).
Brand Canzano connected?
Since leaving the University of Oregon, Myles Brand has been on a mission... a mission to reform college athletics. Unfortunately, he appears to have the same disdain for athletes and coaches that John Canzano does.
We know that they were at Indiana at the same time and that they both share a dislike for any coach or athlete who has more power than they think is right. Is it any coincidence that the same guy who happened upon Darius Miles in a strip club was also around during the famous female student getting yelled at incident of Bobby Knight's undoing?
Of course not, this is how yellow journalists work... they pick a target then set him up in a situation that will incriminate them. Why? So they can "report" the "incident" and make a name/buck for themselves. This is the kind of "journalist" (term used VERY loosely) Canzano is... a low life scumbag who cannot help but pick on those who he deems unworthy of praise.
He does this knowing that he will be able to pick the verbal fight, then, if the coach doesn't respond, Canzano can write that he was correct all along... if the coach does respond, Canzano can say write additional columns saying the response was poorly timed; incorrect, andy number of things.
Because coaches, you see, have better things to do with their time than sit down and respond to every ridiculous comment that an IDIOT like Canzano puts in the paper...
The funny part is, the little plot of Brand and Canzano to rid the world of coaches and athletes appears to not be working.... oh well, maybe John Boy can take Brand to that strip club where he "accidentally" saw Darius Miles and buy him a beer... but if you see them, make sure to let me know so I can write up how they have lost their dedication to their profession because they spent a little free time somewhere other than where they "should" have.
BTW, it shouldbe fun to note that the Weasel pile of crap known as the Bald Faced Moronic Hypocrite actually let a post go through without changes... wonder if dumbass is reading my blog? (I did, after all, send him a link!)
We know that they were at Indiana at the same time and that they both share a dislike for any coach or athlete who has more power than they think is right. Is it any coincidence that the same guy who happened upon Darius Miles in a strip club was also around during the famous female student getting yelled at incident of Bobby Knight's undoing?
Of course not, this is how yellow journalists work... they pick a target then set him up in a situation that will incriminate them. Why? So they can "report" the "incident" and make a name/buck for themselves. This is the kind of "journalist" (term used VERY loosely) Canzano is... a low life scumbag who cannot help but pick on those who he deems unworthy of praise.
He does this knowing that he will be able to pick the verbal fight, then, if the coach doesn't respond, Canzano can write that he was correct all along... if the coach does respond, Canzano can say write additional columns saying the response was poorly timed; incorrect, andy number of things.
Because coaches, you see, have better things to do with their time than sit down and respond to every ridiculous comment that an IDIOT like Canzano puts in the paper...
The funny part is, the little plot of Brand and Canzano to rid the world of coaches and athletes appears to not be working.... oh well, maybe John Boy can take Brand to that strip club where he "accidentally" saw Darius Miles and buy him a beer... but if you see them, make sure to let me know so I can write up how they have lost their dedication to their profession because they spent a little free time somewhere other than where they "should" have.
BTW, it shouldbe fun to note that the Weasel pile of crap known as the Bald Faced Moronic Hypocrite actually let a post go through without changes... wonder if dumbass is reading my blog? (I did, after all, send him a link!)
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Paranoia? Or just plain insecure?
Whatever it is, John Canzano certainly displays it on a regular basis. I have left no disguise on my disdain for Canzano's writing. He shows an incredible lack of journalistic integrity and has used his position as a means at exacting personal revenge on anything and everything related to the University of Oregon; but especially Mike Bellotti.
Recently, this fool wrote himself into a corner thinking he would be able to once again bash Bellotti. He made an assumption, however; a wrong assumption. You see, he wrote a column recently calling the 2008 Holiday Bowl a "must win" game. He did this on his own personal belief that the Ducks would lose and he would be able to ride high on his pulpit and "prove" he was right; that Bellotti could no longer win those "important" games.
The problem is, his assumption turned out to be wrong. The Ducks won and for the first time in a long time, he had to eat his own crow. This was fun for me to read, because I could see the pangs of frustration between the lines... this must have HURT Canzano's pride beyond belief... and that brought me great joy.
While reading through his blog posts this morning, I noticed some people referring to his writing skills... I kindly pointed out THE TRUTH about his history... I merely pointed out that he hasn't done too badly for an Oregon kid who had to go to Cal State Chico to play baseball. I merely pointed out that he was not even a journalism major, hence accounting for his lack of journalistic integrity. Rather than let a post where I merely stated the truth to go through, he could have simply chosen not to print the post. That would be understandable. Instead, he chose to COMPLETELY reword my post to read: (Interesting since his show is called "The Bald Faced Truth")
Now, anyone who knows me or has read this blog would know that I would never post such drivel about such a ridiculous excuse for a journalist as I have ever seen. Yet, there was the Clown named Canzano changing the words to suit his own ego.
That is wehen it occurred to me... Canzano has been on this bender against Bellotti for quite some time... but why? BAM, it hit me... Canzano cannot STAND the attention he thinks he deserves going to someone he thinks is beneath him... Canzano feels as if his profession is somehow, more noble and worthy of praise than that of a football coach. Especially a coach who wields as much power as does Mike Bellotti.
This is the epiphany for me, Canzano writes the way he does because his ego has been bruised. He has ALWAYS felt he deserved more glory than he received. His father, you see, was a pretty good baseball player... played up to AAA level in the minors... but sadly, young John never quite measured up to pops. He was never the best player... not in the state of Oregon, not in his league and not at his high school. He couldn't even get the local schools to give him a sniff... so he wound up at Cal State Chico.
All that time, John Boy fancied himself better than those getting more recognition... and his anger at the truth boiled within. Even in college, he did not study journalism. He says he wanted to be a writer, yet he never studied the art... wonder why? Maybe, just maybe he was looking for a way to "get back" at all those people who he felt had wronged him. He just did not know how, until he figured out that the written word carries a lot of power to get back at those who have done him wrong. Not being a trained journalist, he was never in position to work in any other capacity than a columnist.
Really, he became nothing more than a yellow sports journalist. Doing everything he could to anger others and draw attention to himself by doing so. But you might wonder, why such disdain for the University of Oregon.
Well, that hit me too... when you read Canzano's bio, you might notice that he briefly covered the Indiana Hoosier basketball team while Bob Knight was their coach still... well, during that time (1998-99) guess who the President of Indiana University was... yep... Myles Brand, former University of Oregon President... I will have more on this tomorrow!
Stay tuned, the psychosis that is John Canzano's obsessive hate will continue!
Recently, this fool wrote himself into a corner thinking he would be able to once again bash Bellotti. He made an assumption, however; a wrong assumption. You see, he wrote a column recently calling the 2008 Holiday Bowl a "must win" game. He did this on his own personal belief that the Ducks would lose and he would be able to ride high on his pulpit and "prove" he was right; that Bellotti could no longer win those "important" games.
The problem is, his assumption turned out to be wrong. The Ducks won and for the first time in a long time, he had to eat his own crow. This was fun for me to read, because I could see the pangs of frustration between the lines... this must have HURT Canzano's pride beyond belief... and that brought me great joy.
While reading through his blog posts this morning, I noticed some people referring to his writing skills... I kindly pointed out THE TRUTH about his history... I merely pointed out that he hasn't done too badly for an Oregon kid who had to go to Cal State Chico to play baseball. I merely pointed out that he was not even a journalism major, hence accounting for his lack of journalistic integrity. Rather than let a post where I merely stated the truth to go through, he could have simply chosen not to print the post. That would be understandable. Instead, he chose to COMPLETELY reword my post to read: (Interesting since his show is called "The Bald Faced Truth")
John Canzano was named national sportswriter of the year in 2004 by the Press Club of Atlantic City and his Associated Press awards speak for themeselvse. He's terrific. I wait in my driveway every morning for the newspaper and can't wait to see what he writes.
Now, anyone who knows me or has read this blog would know that I would never post such drivel about such a ridiculous excuse for a journalist as I have ever seen. Yet, there was the Clown named Canzano changing the words to suit his own ego.
That is wehen it occurred to me... Canzano has been on this bender against Bellotti for quite some time... but why? BAM, it hit me... Canzano cannot STAND the attention he thinks he deserves going to someone he thinks is beneath him... Canzano feels as if his profession is somehow, more noble and worthy of praise than that of a football coach. Especially a coach who wields as much power as does Mike Bellotti.
This is the epiphany for me, Canzano writes the way he does because his ego has been bruised. He has ALWAYS felt he deserved more glory than he received. His father, you see, was a pretty good baseball player... played up to AAA level in the minors... but sadly, young John never quite measured up to pops. He was never the best player... not in the state of Oregon, not in his league and not at his high school. He couldn't even get the local schools to give him a sniff... so he wound up at Cal State Chico.
All that time, John Boy fancied himself better than those getting more recognition... and his anger at the truth boiled within. Even in college, he did not study journalism. He says he wanted to be a writer, yet he never studied the art... wonder why? Maybe, just maybe he was looking for a way to "get back" at all those people who he felt had wronged him. He just did not know how, until he figured out that the written word carries a lot of power to get back at those who have done him wrong. Not being a trained journalist, he was never in position to work in any other capacity than a columnist.
Really, he became nothing more than a yellow sports journalist. Doing everything he could to anger others and draw attention to himself by doing so. But you might wonder, why such disdain for the University of Oregon.
Well, that hit me too... when you read Canzano's bio, you might notice that he briefly covered the Indiana Hoosier basketball team while Bob Knight was their coach still... well, during that time (1998-99) guess who the President of Indiana University was... yep... Myles Brand, former University of Oregon President... I will have more on this tomorrow!
Stay tuned, the psychosis that is John Canzano's obsessive hate will continue!
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