The @49ers new football home will be called Levi's Stadium. CEO Jed York calling it the "Field of Jeans."

— NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) May 8, 2013

In the insanely crazy years of the California Gold Rush from 1849 to 1855, hundreds of thousands of people poured into San Francisco and the surrounding areas. Levi Strauss was one of them, but he didn’t come for gold. He came to establish his family dry-goods business and help clothe and outfit all those 49ers looking to strike it rich.

Strauss, of course, had hit on a formula that would make him and his family exceedingly wealthy. Now a whole different kind of 49ers will be benefiting from his legacy.

Word came Wednesday that the denim powerhouse Levi Strauss & Co. would shell out $220.3 million over 20 years to put its name on the new Santa Clara stadium that will be home to the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers starting next year. That price is one of the heftiest in pro sports and should help offset the $1.2 billion it is taking to build what will now be called Levi’s Stadium.Continue reading...

"We've run a campaign like nobody's ever seen," says Herman Cain's Chief of Staff Mark Block in the above campaign video. It's certainly a campaign ad that nobody's ever seen, unless taking a drag of a cigarette after a few inspirational words is the norm for campaign advertising. That's right. He's puffing on a cigarette.

In times where the healthcare crisis is top of the political agenda, as people grow more conscious of obesity and setting a good example for kids (witness Michelle Obama's Let's Move! campaign), not to mention the FDA's initiative to help people STOP smoking, why in God's name would you include a shot of someone smoking, let alone your Chief of Staff, in your promotional video if you are running for the highest position possible in the United States of America?

"The message behind the ad was to our supporters that we're on a roll," Block told Fox News. "We're excited about what's happening." He added that "a lot of the people on the staff said, 'Just let Block be Block.' That's what it was all about."

It's all about keeping the common touch, he added. "I'm not the only one that smokes in America for God's sake," he told Fox. "It was a choice I made and it was at the end of the ad. The real message that we're trying to get through was the Cain train is on a roll." So if the political hack develops a hacking cough, now you know why.Continue reading...