Mark Cuban has announced he will leave “Shark Tank” after two more seasons. I’m sad to hear that because it means there won’t be anyone on the set to call bullshit on entrepreneurs trying to make bogus claims about their businesses. For example, they’ll say their product increases your brain health and Cuban will immediately look skeptical. Then, when he asks what kind of scientific evidence they have to back up their assertions, they’ll wriggle and wither and he’ll emphatically say, “I’m out!!” None of the other sharks ever does this, to their shame.
A report this week says Las Vegas may charge people with misdemeanors for stopping on pedestrian bridges over the strip to take in the view. I’ve been on those bridges many times and experienced the crowds — particularly the one over Sands Avenue between The Wynn and The Venetian. People stop there because it’s a good place to get a view of The Sphere, and they stick around to watch its graphics change a couple of times and take multiple photos. I hope the measure is defeated. Or if it’s put into effect, it isn’t used as a way to harass some of the buskers playing music or homeless folks selling cold water on hot summer days in an effort to make a few bucks from passersby. Either way, while the human congestion can be annoying for anyone trying to just pass through, treating tourists like interlopers is not going to be good for business or the image of The Strip.
NY Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who tore his Achilles’ tendon on the fourth play of the first game of the season, finally admitted this week that he’s not going to return to the field this year. It wasn’t that long ago he was offering upbeat appraisals of his condition and predicting he’d be back soon. But I have a feeling that watching the team’s dismal performance — particularly its offensive line, which has allowed the other Jets quarterbacks to be sacked 47 times already — made him realize how dumb it would be to risk further bodily harm on behalf of a completely lost cause.
Speaking of the NFL, its statisticians should make a change in the way they count incompletions. When a quarterback throws a perfect pass but the receiver drops it, that shouldn’t count against the quarterback, but rather as a mistake by the receiver.
And finally…
In a recent update to its iPhone operating system, Apple added a feature to the Music app that will make it cross-fade from one song to the next with no space between them. It sounded like a good idea, so I turned it on, but after a few days I realized they got it wrong. Having spent the first 20 years of my radio career as a disc jockey, I can tell you the key to segueing from one song to another is to start the second one at full volume, so its intro is heard over the fade of the previous tune. With Apple’s cross-fade option, the second song fades up, which means its opening lick gets buried — especially if you increase the fade time, which users can do (but shouldn’t). I’m sure you can think of plenty of iconic songs with powerful opening chords. Why would you want them lost in a cross-fade?