Speaking of footballs…
The official NFL footballs are still made in right here in the USA – by Wilson Sporting Goods in Ada, Ohio. Every year during the lead-up to the Super Bowl the networks send a camera crew out to the sleepy Northwest, Ohio town (any Ohio Northern grads in the house?), to document the old ladies in their smocks making footballs. The folks at Horween took some great pictures on a visit to the factory which you can see here.
one of the last great american manufacturing stories.i have had the pleasure of working with wilson sporting goods, in a marketing capacity, on and off for many years. there is a good ada, ohio montage located at the following link: scroll down to the last clip.
http://mediacabin.com/mctv/
Have a lot of friends that went to ONU. Funny, all these years and I had no idea Wilson was there. Thanks for the heads up!
The years of wear on that table where that old boy is working is fantastic.
Ran by the factory on a daily basis. Spent 3
years at ONU. Regal Beagle is one hell of a bar.
REAL America in Ada.
http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=139457
looks like this blog will finally have to be up-front about some things
I am upfront about what I cover on ACL. I always point out if I write about someone I represent with my PR firm.
relevance? i have read this blog for a while and enjoyed it. i really liked the idea of the american list when you first started it. but it does feel like the focus is becoming less balanced and wandering into strange “everything american is automatically great and remarkable” territory. some is, some isn’t. just gets a bit disconcerting when it’s all either one or the other. not that you asked, but there’s my voice in the mix for what it’s worth.
Andrew — your thoughts are appreciated. Honestly, I just post what I like and try not to pay too much attention to a theme or trend, even if that is Americana. ACL is just a balance sheet of my likes, wants, obsessions, thoughts. No rhyme or reason really. If you like it, you like it; if you don’t, you don’t. I would still hit the publish button regardless — even if there were a million people reading it or just my mom.
Also, I think it is interesting that this topic of my topics comes up so frequently. I don’t see that sort of thing come up in the comments of other blogs similar to mine. Maybe I am held to a higher standard, or maybe I am just fucking annoying to people. But at the end of the day it is a passive medium, you (the reader) come to ACL and not the other way around. New tag line perhaps? ACL, easy to avoid.
well said. fyi – i plan to keep reading.