You’ve already got your Mineral Water Bowl, your Beef ‘O’ Brady Bowl, your Little Caesar’s Bowl, Chick-Fil-A Bowl, and Outback Bowl. 

This just in: News comes from Idaho Press Tribune that the Idaho Potato Commission has signed a six-year naming-rights deal that will have two college football teams squaring off in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.

Finally, vegetables will get a representative at the smorgasbord known as college bowl games.Continue reading...

The NFL Players Association announced today it has informed the NFL, the league's 32 team owners and related parties that it has decertified, effectively renouncing its status as the exclusive collective bargaining representative of the players of the National Football League. Now the matter's headed to court as the NFL team owners move towards a lockout.Continue reading...

They aren’t even playing the actual game on the “frozen tundra” of Lambeau Field in Green Bay this weekend. But the national media still can’t get enough of the city that is the unique home of the Green Bay Packers, who are playing the Chicago Bears – in Chicago – on Sunday afternoon for the National Football Conference championship and the right to advance to the Super Bowl on February 6 in Texas.

Latest to step up and profile “Titletown” – so-named during the Packers’ successful era in the Sixties – is the Washington Post, with a story this week about Green Bay, its devotion to the Packers, and how denizens are gearing up for the big game that will actually unfold a couple hundred miles to the south in Soldier Field.Continue reading...

“Yeah, 1983… 27 freakin’ years ago!” blogs Al Watts, ”Almost every news story about at-home dads asks, 'So you’re a Mr. Mom?' or uses 'Mr. Mom' in the title of the story or shows a 'hilarious' clip of Michael Keaton in the 1983 movie, Mr. Mom."

It's 2011 and everyone's still trying to figure out how to appeal to the legions of men who are stay-at-home care-takers and shoppers.Continue reading...

Can a tortilla chip find happiness as a socially-conscious organizer of reunions?

It may be a strange question, but that was the theme of the latest campaign from Tostitos brand chips from Frito-Lay, introduced at halftime of this week's Bowl Championship Series college football game. Also known as the Fiesta Bowl, Auburn beat Oregon with a last second field goal to win the national BCS championship.

During the halftime show — which also saw ESPN hype 3D and the Aflac duck rousing fans on Facebook — Tostitos, which has been reuniting friends (above), surprised some families by reuniting them with their loved ones serving in the military, brought to Arizona from Iraq for the occasion.Continue reading...

We all love the Aflac Duck, who recently celebrated his 11th birthday. Regardless of politics, gender, ethnic origin, he's an equal opportunity charmer. So where’s an ecumenical, bi-partisan duck to give allegiance when the Oregon Ducks play the Auburn Tigers in the Fiesta Bowl Championship Series title game tonight?

The smart marketers at Aflac posed the question on their mascot's Facebook page and have since seen a 3,000% increase in traffic – high even for a beloved brand mascot. Flooded with comments from supporters on both sides, and photos of tigers consuming ducks, Aflac had tried to buy ad time at the game, unsuccessfully. Turns out, it's had more viral buzz from Facebook than it might have had with a TV spot.Continue reading...

ESPN 3D promotes tonight's Sony-sponsored 3D event: the Tostitos BCS National Championship Game, aka the Fiesta Bowl. The No. 1 team in the US, Auburn, will face-off against the No. 2 team, Oregon, at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, AZ, as they vie for top spot in the 2010 NCAA Division. 

Google may stop complying with Chinese Internet censorship requests and shut down operations due to cyber attack. [NY Times]

Conan O'Brien rejects 12:05 timeslot, prepared to leave NBC. [NY Times]

Toyota to introduce two new Scion vehicles in 2010. [WSJ]

Nintendo Wii game console to stream Netflix movies. [NY Times]

Football sponsors launch digital initiatives in preparation for the summer World Cup. [WSJ]

Ferrero abandons Cadbury bid. [Times of London]Continue reading...