As I could have predicted, Papa John's 23-cent pizza idea backfired yesterday. So many people showed up at the 86 stores throughout Ohio that mayhem reportedly ensued. Meant to be a goodwill gesture after a Washington D.C. Papa John's location printed LeBron James "Crybaby 23" shirts for the first round of the playoffs against the Wizards, someone tried to be cute with the "23" and got the decimal point wrong...   Read More

Thousands of Northrop Grumman workers are celebrating their tanker win today in Los Angeles -- even though the deal is on hold as the U.S. Government Accountability Office examines a Boeing challenge. We're at the party and I hope to post video later. As I've blogged many times, Boeing isn't rolling over on this one.    Read More

Michelle Wie shot four over par Thursday at the Michelob Ultra Open. Doesn’t sound like a total breakdown... We’ll assume she’s not going to shoot about four under today to make the cut. So let’s say you are responsible for making the Michelle Wie decision at Nike, Sony and Omega. When do you say, “We’re outta here.”   Read More

Atom Films is again hosting a contest for "Star Wars" fan films, except this year the winners will be aired on Spike TV. Fans have been spoofing or reconfiguring the movies for years, and, at some point, George Lucas realized copyright be damned! The smartest move was to embrace the love. Also: Your e-mails re Boeing.   Read More

I obviously don't see or hear about everything that is out there, so that's why I count on you readers to send me sports biz happenings that you think are of interest. Major props go to Brian Degan of the Bruins, who sent me this unbelievable sponsorship the Bruins did with Gillette. We've seen sponsorships on Zambonis before, but this is ingenious.    Read More

When Kobe Bryant was accused of sexual assault almost five years ago, the pitchman in Bryant fell off the face of the earth. Coke, which was using him for Sprite, shelved his ads and replaced him with Lebron James when his contract expired. McDonald's didn't renew him, neither did Nutella and Spalding.    Read More

With Tiger Woods sitting out, Wachovia was facing the prospect of having a no-name champ win its golf tournament. But the suffering bank gave the average person a reason to care when they announced a national consumer promotion tied to the winner's score in the tournament.   Read More

Sponsoring Kentucky Derby winner Big Brown paid dividends for UPS. The package delivery company garnered $1.4 million worth of exposure from partnering up with the horse that was named after it, according to Joyce Julius & Associates, a sponsorship evaluation firm.    Read More

While thumbing through “Parade” magazine yesterday, the fluffy publication that you find tucked inside some Sunday newspapers, I noticed an ad for Pfizer’s stop-smoking drug Chantix. It caught my eye because the company had stopped doing what’s called “branded” advertising for the pill earlier this year because of new safety concerns...    Read More

Tell me if this isn't the most ingeniously parasitical way to make a living: There are some guys who videotape themselves going around Hollywood digging through celebrity trash, and then they turn that trash into treasure on eBay.    Read More