Tiger Wood's Comeback Controversy

It's been a slow journey back to #1 for Tiger Woods, but he finally made it with a win last weekend. But not everyone is impressed with his new Nike ad. What is Rick Reilly's opinion over at ESPN?  Here's another opinion of sportswriter Christine Brennen via video on CNN?  What does she say about Tiger AND Nike?This report has some more responses AND a statement Nike released in response to the backlash. What do YOU think? (Speaking of Tiger and Nike and controversy, here's the Tiger/Nike commercial from 2010 with analysis FYI).

March Madness Update

It started over a week ago with 68 teams, but after tonight's games all of the Sweet Sixteen matches will be over and, will be down to the Elite Eight. There have been quite a few UPsets including 3 of the top 4 teams being ousted from the tournament prematurely.

Here are a few questions

1. Who are the Cinderella teams?  How many of the teams made it to the Elite Eight?
    Why is the name of a fairytale princess being used here? 

2.How are the individual conferences doing? Here's a quick summary of the main conferences and how they were doing earlier on in the tournament.Which conference had the most teams?

3. What questions do YOU have? 

An Unconventional Pope

Pope Francis has gotten a reputation of breaking with tradition, over and over again.
Here are just a few examples.

Greeting crowds up close and personal
What will he wear?
Where will he live?
Footwashing on Maundy Thursday..

In summary, here's a column that mentions some of the above and more. Do you think the columnist or writer of the article has a favorable opinion of the pope?
...

Understanding Sports Commercials

Here's  a Coke Zero commercial and  Buffalo Wildwings commercial that both focus on March Madness. Do you understand the significance?

Watch this Sprint commercial. The man in the pajams is NBA star Kevin Durant. Do you understand the humor?

And what season is starting soon....baseball! This ad has a lot of idioms and special vocabulary used for sports!

Any questions?

March Madness 101

Here are a few links if you want to read up more on March Madness. Some of the articles have a lot details, but use your skills to find the information that you are interested in.

1. History of March Madness

2, How March Madness Works  NCAA basics to Final Four

3. March Madness confined to basketball crazy Americans

Are you wearing green today?

According to the United States Census statistics, there are approximately 36.9 million people in the United States who claim to be of  Irish decent (people who have relatives who were born in Ireland). However, there are only 122,000 Irish born currently residing in the country. These numbers may seem pretty small considering that the population of the United States is over 315,500,000.

So then why is this serious religious holiday in Ireland, called St. Patrick's Day, being celebrated  in the United States this weekend? Here is some BASIC information on the day and then some MORE if you are really interested.

Meanwhile, I have some questions for you...

1. How is GOOGLE honoring it on their search page (only viewable on March 17)
2. What do people in Chicago do to their river? And WHY do they do that?
3. What is a shamrock and what does it have to do with the day?AND Where and when was the first St. Patrick's Day Parade?

Awaiting your questions, please post them in the comments below or email AskESLilly@gmail.com

The Madness of March Begins

If you work with Americans or have American friends, I am fairly confident that you will hear much discussion about this next topic. So whether you follow American college basketball or not, here is an opportunity for you to "to get on the train" and start understanding and joining the discussions around you.

Yes, the next exciting sports event that is starting in the U.S is called March Madness, and it's actually the championship tournament for the top college basketball teams in the country. Don't be confused if you are seeing a lot of college basketball games on tv this weekend, those are the individual "conference' or league championships that will help determine some of the teams in the national tournament.

Things get rolling today on Selection Sunday. This is when  the teams are announced. However, actual games won't begin until later in the week.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. For now, let me just share a few links so you can get some background information. First the wikipedia article.  And here is an article predicting where the teams in the Big Ten  will place (i.e. what "seed" they will be). This article was written before the Big Ten tournament began, but it's an introduction, none the less. (Since  the University of Illinois is my alma mater, and they are in the Big Ten, so I must confess my

And here are a few questions to guide your listening and reading over the next few days.
How many teams will be announced on Sunday?
Any surprises? Anyone snubbed?
Who is expected to/ will be the four NUMBER ONE SEEDS?
(and we are not talking about names of plants see definition number 3)
How long does the tournament last?

I will be explaining things as we go but meanwhile...What questions do YOU have?