Friday Blogdome: Kobe Bryant endorses Turkish Airlines, Los Angeles Armenian community protests

Turkish Airlines is going to start non-stop service from Los Angeles to Istanbul next March, and they wanted to raise their profile in America and abroad with an international star as an endorser. Meet Kobe Bryant. He’s big worldwide and pretty much the king of Los Angeles, so the two sides inked an endorsement deal. Kobe will appear in a promotional film for the airline, make visits to Turkey and get paid for the use of his image to promote the primary airline of Turkey. Which has enraged the sizeable Armenian community in Los Angeles (maybe half a million people). They have promised protests and maybe a boycott. [Pro Basketball Talk]

Mark Cuban Believes He Can Topple BCS Without Destroying Bowl System. “Obviously, like everyone else, as a college football fan, I hate the BCS simply because of all the inefficiencies. My orientation is, if there’s something that everybody hates and there’s all kinds of inefficiencies and there’s a lack of transparency, then somewhere in there is a business opportunity. … For the amount of money that I would consider spending on a baseball franchise, you could take that money and probably turn the BCS upside down and create a playoff system, so we’ve started the process of looking at that.” [Sports Radio Interviews]

Metrodome collapse in gingerbread and other “sweet” holiday scenes. A historic event isn’t truly a cultural touchstone until it’s a muse for artists. The Metrodome collapse has already achieved such status, having been sculpted in the tastiest architectural medium: gingerbread. [The Hot Dish]

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