So pappy is starting a new venture and at the very least, it appears he has not decided not to drag anyone but himself down with this one. While all those other failed ventures, this one, for sure this time is going to reinvent....well..Mike North I guess and isn't that really what its all about?
Ed Sherman interviewed Mike North for this next cant miss brain child of Mikes, found it to be typical Mike North spin control. Here are a few tidbits from the column.
"It's Webio with eyes," Mr. North said.
I am not even going to try and figure out what that means, its Pappy speak for, "I have no clue what to say".
Webio. If you recall, that was Mr. North's attempt to start a sports talk radio station on the Internet in 2009. The enterprise fell apart when it was disclosed that his partner, David Hernandez, had funded the station using money from a Ponzi scheme. Mr. North also has tried but failed to sustain two morning TV shows since leaving WSCR-AM/670 in 2008. However, Mr. North hardly has been idle since WBBM-TV/Channel 2 canceled "Monsters and Money" in August.
"Mike has 900 ideas a day," his wife Be-Be said.
Well....then this attempt to do something productive can only mean this will succeed....maybe not. Mike can come up with all the ideas he wants, but when you check recent history, it has never turned out well for him, when in control or creative control, its has a shelf life of 10 months for Mike.
Mr. North has decided the Internet is the place to be. Beginning next Monday, the schedule will include a "5 Minute Half Hour Newscast."
"It's news for people with ADD," he said.
It's not for people with ADD, its for people with a IQ in the low two digits, lets just be honest here. Mike North will never be confused with Bill Kurtis, he doesn't get that, so while no one will hire him for his thoughts outside sports, his only other way to spew his mis-informed and dysfunctional thoughts outside the realm of the sports world is to do it on his own website, which is a good thing I guess since he cant get more then 10 hits a day.
He will post daily commentaries under the heading of "I'm Just Sayin'." Other features include the ever-popular "Bookie Priest." Also coming soon: the worldwide release of Mr. North's music video, "Caucasian Man," which features a cameo from Mike Ditka.
Old failed bits, but will work now, why? Again, this goes back to Mike not being able to create anything new, you can change the title, but when the material is the same crap you have used over the last ten years, why even bother?
But he knows enough to see the potential for content and advertisers. His sponsors range from American Mattress and the city of Rosemont to Tom's Deli.
American Mattress is a prime sponsor of the page Mr. North bought in the Chicago Sun-Times. However, that deal expires Friday, and it appears unlikely it will continue in print.
So...let me see if I have this right, he is a money machine, marketing genius but continues to lose sponsors once their deals are up. What Mike has is "guys" not corporate sponsors, that is a huge difference.
"Our sponsors have said they don't know if they want to continue in print," Mr. North said. "This is a chance for us to bring in big businesses and small businesses. It's great that our sponsors believe in us."
Name one big time sponsor, just one. You have a chance, but when you drag your uneducated ass into those meetings, no one will touch your projects with a ten foot pole....that has been proven. This is just a excuse for losing the sun-times gig, again, pappy-speak.
"The beauty of this is that it is a work in progress," Be-Be North said. "If something works, we'll keep doing it. If it doesn't work, we'll try something else. We're going to be constantly evolving and responding to the people."
That must be on their business card because that is exactly what they have said since leaving The Score. Nothing has worked, nothing will work as long as Mike is in control. Mike has to learn that time moves forward, we all get old and so do the bits that he did 10 years ago that might have been mildly amusing.
Yes, Mike keeps his name out there, yes Mike makes a effort, but from what I have seen this is about Mike making big bucks again and that just isn't going to happen. Mike got lazy when the big money came his way, he also became a blamer, his product, his gig, but for sure never his fault. Rock bottom on career level is within eyesight Pappy and when it happens, who will be left to blame?
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