| The PCS Rankings (Pop Culture Standings) |
| Updated: November 18, 2008 |
| News Item | Comment |
| Mark Cuban | | Current | Previous | Pct. | Rise/Fall | | 1 | - | 0.9878 |  | |  | The Securities and Exchange Commission is suing the owner of the Dallas Mavericks under accusations of insider trading. The most damning evidence against Cuban is that he was acting on a stock tip from an NBA referee. The SEC seeks upwards of hundreds of thousands of dollars in penalties, along with forcing veteran shooting guard Jerry Stackhouse to take a desk job at the commission's Fort Worth branch. In terms of Cuban's efforts to buy the Chicago Cubs, this is about as helpful as hinting he would rename Wrigley Field as Steve Bartman Stadium. |
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| Pittsburgh Steelers gamblers | | Current | Previous | Pct. | Rise/Fall | | 2 | - | .928 | | |  | When the refs incorrectly disallowed Troy Polamalu's TD on Sunday's final play against San Diego, gamblers lost out on -- by one estimate -- $32 million because the Steelers did not cover the spread. Coincidentally, it cost that much to buy off the officiating crew in Super Bowl XL against the Seahawks. |
| Total Request Live | | Current | Previous | Pct. | Rise/Fall | | 3 | - | .886 | | |  | After 10 years and 2,247 episodes, MTV is replacing its signature video countdown and pop icon infomercial with a show about carburetor maintenance. OK, maybe not about carburetor maintenance, but a show guaranteed to a) have nothing to do with watching music videos and b) in some way cross-promote Lauren Conrad. |
| Obama's BCS obsession | | Current | Previous | Pct. | Rise/Fall | | 4 | 1 | .868 |  | |  | The President-elect vowed to 60 Minutes that he plans to "throw his weight around" behind getting a playoff system instituted for college football. He also said that the billions more in TV revenues that this would generate would be redistributed to the National Hockey League and Major League Soccer. |
| Church sex challenge | | Current | Previous | Pct. | Rise/Fall | | 5 | - | .691 | | |  | A pastor of a Dallas mega-church is asking congregants to have sex for seven straight days. Husbands were ecstatic until they learned that each day's sex was expected to be performed with their spouse. In response, Victoria's Secret will unveil a "Sunday Best" line of lingerie. |
| Tie NFL game | | Current | Previous | Pct. | Rise/Fall | | 6 | - | .650 | | |  | Going into their game, you'd think the 5-4 Eagles were better than the 1-8 Bengals. Thanks to their 13-13 tie, we know that Cincinnati incompetence is worth as much as Philadelphia laziness. Wonder if Donovan McNabb's favorite line from Caddyshack is "Would you like to tie me up with some of your ties, Ty?" |
| NASCAR Chase for the Cup | | Current | Previous | Pct. | Rise/Fall | | 7 | - | .586 | | |  | Jimmie Johnson wins third title in a row. A fourth should be helped by the fact that sponsorships are evaporating. Only seven teams will race a full season in 2009 -- and four of those teams must lose their floorboards so drivers can race Flintstones-style when they can't afford gasoline. |
| Victoria's Secret $5 million bra | | Current | Previous | Pct. | Rise/Fall | | 8 | - | .579 | | |  | Yes, the 1,500-carat bra worn by Brazil's Adriana Lima at a show taped at Miami's Fontainebleau Hotel is a buoyant extravagance. But as a public service, know that you can donate $1 a day to provide exotic bras to underprivileged college students who are stripping their way through tuition payments. |
| Joe Paterno | | Current | Previous | Pct. | Rise/Fall | | 9 | 2 | .660 | | |  | Penn State is on a collision course for a Rose Bowl rematch against Oregon State, a team the Nittany Lions beat 45-14 in September. That could be dangerous to JoePa's health: If he sees his boys lining up against those Beaver uniforms, he might think he's seeing his life flash before his eyes. |
| Unreleased Beatles song | | Current | Previous | Pct. | Rise/Fall | | 10 | - | .547 | | |  | Sir Paul McCartney is gung ho on releasing an experimental, nonsensical 14-minute song called Carnival Of Light. Good luck to fans ready to pay to hear Paul banging pots and pans together, Ringo gargling, John burping, George kicking a cat and someone punching Yoko Ono in the nuts. |
| Spurrier in The Swamp | | Current | Previous | Pct. | Rise/Fall | | 11 | - | .469 | | |  | Once upon a time, the Ol' Ball Coach used to gleefully run up the score on overmatched chumps at Florida Field. Now, after a 56-6 beatdown by Urban Meyer's Gators, he knows what it's like to get a taste of his own visor throw. |
| Kenny Chesney | | Current | Previous | Pct. | Rise/Fall | | 12 | - | .461 | | |  | At the Country Music Awards, he was named entertainer of the year for the third year in a row. Wow, and NASCAR just had the same league champ three years in a row. Do you think the country music-NASCAR demographic was swayed by any "change" messages in the last election? |
| Heisman Watch: Tim Tebow | | Current | Previous | Pct. | Rise/Fall | | 13 | - | .445 | | |  | He's thrown for 19 TDs and run for 11. Now can Mr. Nice Guy bring himself to vote for himself? There could be an internal struggle that sounds like Adam Sandler's "Are you too good for your home!?" plea to his golf ball in Happy Gilmore. "Just write your NAME! You know how to write your own NAME!" |
| Wanda Sykes | | Current | Previous | Pct. | Rise/Fall | | 14 | - | .428 | | |  | Does she still do voiceover work for Applebee's commercials? Maybe we'd eat there more if we knew that was the place to be to find hilarious gay black women. And it would now appear that all that sexual tension with Larry David on Curb Your Enthusiasm was just acting. |
| Warren Sapp | | Current | Previous | Pct. | Rise/Fall | | 15 | - | .420 | | |  | The refreshing thing about seeing Sapp's semifinal showdown on Dancing with the Stars against Lance Bass and Brooke Burke is that he's going up against people who have more coordination than his defensive teammates on his final year with the Raiders. But when can we see a breakdancing Al Davis? |
| Also receiving votes: Tampa Bay Lightning fire coach Barry Melrose after 16 games (ESPN called. They wanted their mullet back). ... Bob Stoops (Sooners chief does not have a vote in the coaches poll, but Mike Leach and Mack Brown do. Talk about forgetting to bring your knife to a gunfight). ... Shaq's Scrabble commercial (from now on, we'll mind our P's and not worry about Shaq's Q's). ... Kentucky basketball (team loses opener to VMI. Tubby Smith would like to point out that the Wildcats football team lost to Vandy the next night. Ouch!) ... ESPN outbids Fox for rights to BCS games (does this mean ESPN talking heads will stop lobbying for a college playoff system?) |
 PCS Crystal Ball: Feb. 3, 2013: After spending the whole season listening to fans and the media calling them washed up glory-hogs, Donovan McNabb connects with Terrell Owens as they each find redemption in the final seconds of the third overtime of Super Bowl XLVII to help the Cincinnati Bengals win their first NFL title -- 19-13 against their former team, the Philadelphia Eagles. |
| Archive: Sept. 9 | Sept. 16 | Sept. 23 | Sept. 30 | Oct. 7 | Oct. 14 | Oct. 21 | Oct. 28 | Nov. 4 | Nov. 11 |
