NCAA rim shots

If you've been watching the NCAA tourney, you've probably seen the Sprint commercial. It starts off showing a cute little girl playing the piano. That's great, though I have no idea what it could possibly have to do with phone service. Problem is -- the piano playing audio we hear on the ad doesn't match what that little girl's fingers are doing on the keyboard. Not even close. Hey Sprint. Can't you and your ad people at least get that part right? Or is truth in advertising asking too much?

I love Charles Barkley. Always have. What a hoot. From his TV commentary to his golf swing -- the dude's hilarious. Even some of his own commercials are yuk-worthy, but the latest versions give me pause.

From Alec Baldwin to Samuel L. Jackson, the line is long of those that have hawked a certain credit card over the years, while wanting to know "what's in your wallet"?  Remember those vikings running around a few years ago looting and plundering everything while advertising for the same company?

Here's what I know. Years ago, yours truly had one of those credit cards in his name, but I didn't know about it. Somebody had signed me up. Though I never physically possessed that piece of plastic, I was the master member on the account. Next thing I knew, I got a bill out of the blue for over 16 thousand dollars. Yours truly isn't one to sweat a few bucks, but 16K had a way of getting my attention.

So I called them up to straighten it out. It went something like this----
1) Spend a few minutes trying to navigate your way through the automated voice prompts.
2) Get put on hold for 15-20 minutes.
3) Explain the situation to a service representative, but they can't help you. It falls under the purview of another department. Please hold while they transfer you.
4) Another 15-20 minutes.
5) Go over it all again only to be told this sort of matter requires a supervisor. Please hold.
6) 15-20 more.
7) After explaining it yet again, be told by that "supervisor" such a case needs to be brought to the attention of the fraud unit. Please hold.
8) Yep.
9) The person at the fraud unit sounds suspiciously like the first person I talked to an hour and a half ago.
10) Say you are getting tired of the runaround and demand to talk to somebody that can resolve the situation.
11) Repeat steps 2 through 8. It is now over 3 hours and absolutely nothing has been accomplished.
12) From 1 to 10 above, get hung up on along the way.
13) Start all over.

It took me a couple weeks of this madness on a daily basis before the matter was finally resolved.

So with all due respect to Al, Chuck,Sammy Jack, and those loveable heathens, that piece of plastic is the LAST thing I want to be associated with again. And NO, it was never any of their damn business what's in my wallet anyway.

Kentucky/Louisville was a very compelling matchup. How could any hoops fan NOT get caught up watching such a rivalry game? As you know, UK prevailed and will move on to meet Michigan for a berth in the Final Four.

It was almost mandatory viewing but, in a way, it was hard to watch as well. Why? Because of the coaches. John Calipari of UK, and Rick Pitino of Louisville. Dealing with a credit card company is one thing. But these guys..... This is not to say they're somewhat unctuous, but every time I see either one of them on TV, I feel the need to go take a shower for some reason. Viewing both at the same time for a few hours while their teams are playing each other had a way of -- well -- let's just say that long, hot, bubblebath soak I just climbed out of made me feel a lot better.

A parting shot. Ya gotta love that Lowe's commercial. You know, the one with the average schmuck putting the finishing touches on his self-installed ceiling fan, then going over to wall, and flipping the switch to turn it on? Only then to watch it short out, drop from the ceiling to smash his coffee table. And in the next scene, watching that fan get thrown through his front window into the yard. Maybe not the smartest thing to do, but I suspect we've all had days when Murphy's Law kicked in and were tempted to do something similar. Nonetheless, unlike Sprint, THAT'S truth in advertising.

And last time I looked, Lowe's was the major sponsor of a pretty good NASCAR driver. Some guy named Jimmy that's won a few things in the last several years. That honesty thing has a way of working out sometimes......