See That Clock Up There?

It says 20 days till the first spring game, and that's not a moment too soon. There is absolutely nothing going on at this moment ... nothing. See:

I've searched the entire galaxy, and here's what I've come up with for discussion topics today:

• 
  
• The Cubs have hired a new ad agency -- Foote, Cone & Belding.

  Frankly, I think this is a good move. If you've seen some of the promotional spots for the team that have run on various TV outlets over the past few years, about the nicest thing you can say about them is that they're pretty lame. Maybe the new agency can fire up a new image.

• As noted in my interview with author Andrew Zimbalist the other day, it appears that we may be in line for another several years of baseball labor peace. Yesterday, Don Fehr said that he doesn't see major issues when the current Basic Agreement expires on December 19:
  "What I can say is that the overall atmosphere of the sport is such that there are a lot of reasons that people on the outside should be optimistic about our chances of reaching an agreement," Fehr, the head of the baseball players' union, said Thursday at a luncheon hosted by Fox Sports Bay Area.
• Also, I read this last night and thought it was a joke:
  Al Michaels was traded from ABC to NBC for a cartoon bunny, four rounds of golf and Olympic highlights.

  However, that characterization is absolutely correct. "Oswald The Lucky Rabbit", a character Walt Disney created several years before Mickey Mouse, had appeared in 26 short cartoons before his rights were sold to Universal in the 1940's -- and Universal, of course, now is part of NBC.

  Oswald is headed back to Disney, along with:

  cable rights to Friday coverage of the next four Ryder Cups through 2014. NBC also granted ESPN increased usage of Olympic highlights through 2012 and other NBC properties through 2011. NBC, in turn, gets expanded highlight rights to ABC and ESPN events.

  And Al Michaels is headed to NBC, along with John Madden and ABC's former producer and director of "Monday Night Football", for NBC's new Sunday night NFL package.

• Finally, Barry Rozner says:
  Nevertheless, in the unlikely event Aramis Ramirez stays healthy, it?s not impossible to see the Cubs competing for a division title this season.
  OK, but then he goes on to say...
  Then again, it?s not impossible to see Mars through a Cracker Jack decoder on a foggy day in May.
  Hmmm. Better go look at that picture above again.

Discuss amongst yourselves.