Some Holiday Cheer

Milk Is Expensive At Walmart

One of the false impressions that Walmart tries to create is that they always have the loweest prices around. Recently I was in Walmart, and while there, I picked up a gallon of 2% milk for $3.19. A few minutes later, I stopped by my pharmacy. The pharmacy also sells milk, so I decided to check their prices to see how much money I saved by buying it at Walmart. Much to my surprise, the 2% milk was $2.49. No sales price, just their everyday price. A few days later, I stopped in my local convenience store. While there, I decided to check their milk prices. The price for 2% at the convenience store was $2.69. So, the bottom line is that Walmart has a big markup on milk, and you are better off picking up milk elsewhere.

New England Patriots

Less than two years have gone by, and I’m still amazed that the NFL and the press have managed to keep people from asking more questions about the Patriots’ cheating ways. Although the NFL has done its best to sweep this incident under the carpet, some of you may remember that the Patriots got caught with a videographer on the NY Jets sidelines during the opening game of the 2007 football season. Apparently, the Patriots would film the coaches of the opposing team during the first half of games in an attempt to steal the coaches signals. By halftime, they were able to decipher which plays the coaches were calling, which would then help them during the second half. Strangely, the NFL did NOT force the Patriots to forfeit the game in which they were caught red-handed, despite being caught blatantly violating NFL rules. The Patriots’ defense? The cheating didn’t help them that much. Which of course, begs the question, why do it? And the follow-up? How long have you been cheating? The Patriots were coming off of a 5 year period with unprecedented success, winning 3 Super Bowls in 5 seasons (I think … too lazy to look this up right now).

I think that the NFL realized that a cheating scandal involving the Patriots was a serious risk to their product. In addition, the press tends to make a lot of money off of sports coverage, and had some serious motivation to help the NFL with their cover-up.