potatopotatopotatopotatopotatopotatopotatoAARGH!

[eyesroll]

So...any other Wisconsinites sick of the Harley worship?

For those of you not in the know, Harley-Davidson is celebrating its 100th anniversary this week. 250,000 bikes and their riders are expected to pump millions of dollars into the economy here. Overall, a good thing, with courteous and experienced riders.

But the press is really going overboard, at least in my opinion. Everything ties into H-D. Actual news gets bumped for "team coverage" of H-D. There were 9 separate accidents on the freeway during rush hour yesterday, and 5 people were seriously injured, but the news and traffic reports focused on "oh no! Bikes overheat in heavy traffic! This couldn't have come at a worse time!" and not on the stupidity that caused at least two of these accidents -- one rider got distracted by waving at spectators on an overpass and plowed into the car in front of him; another genius neglected to tie down a cooler in a boat that he was towing, causing it to fly loose and smack into a biker-- or on alternate routes, general safety or the condition of the injured.

Giddy newscasters are actually saying "potatopotatopotatopotatopotatopotatopotato" at random intervals (that's the sound a Harley engine supposedly makes, but I can't hear it).

Our local Fox affiliate is probably the worst (big surprise there). They've got team coverage from all over, and have been dedicating what seems like 3/4 of their non-sports-and-weather coverage to H-D. I'm waiting for:
"Thanks for joining us tonight. President Bush resigned today, expressing remorse and taking the blame for lying the country into Iraq. But first, breaking news -- Chief Meteorologist Vince Condella joins us live from Harley -Davidson headquarters on Juneau, to let us know about the affect all of these engines will have on the chance of rain we've got tonight!"

Sorry. I got stuck in the traffic last night and I am NOT PLEASED.
</rant>

[Kolesar]

1. My company is 100 this year.

Too bad nobody can pump up their ego by purchasing a 600 volt motor starter with alloy contacts. Ironic is that we are from Milwaukee, too!

[GOPisEvil]

2. It all ends this week, though right?

All the celebratory hoo-hah? I think I read that on a news crawl at the gym last night.

Edit - what's with the potato sound? :wtf:

[eyesroll]

4. The celebratory hoo-hah ends Labor Day

but "potatopotato" is enduring.

I'm not sure who came up with it, but it's apparently onomatopoeia for the sound a Harley-Davidson engine makes.

I've never been able to discern said engine. But maybe it's because so many people here have modified their bikes to make them audible from three states away.

[GOPisEvil]

6. Oh, I know the sound...I can tell a Harley from another brand of bike.

Whoever came up with that repeating potato thing needs to be drawn and quartered. Newspeople giddily repeating over and over? :puke: Mix in some professionalism people!

Why do some Harley owners feel the need to rev their engines loudly? I mean, we see you and hear you already. :eyes:

[trof]

13. I prefer "ta-pocketa-pocketa-pocketa-pocketa-pocketa"

"We're going through!" The Commander's voice was like thin ice breaking. He wore his full-dress uniform, with the heavily braided white cap pulled down rakishly over one cold gray eye. "We can't make it, sir. It's spoiling for a hurricane, if you ask me." "I'm not asking you, Lieutenant Berg," said the Commander. "Throw on the power lights! Rev her up to 8,500! We're going through!" The pounding of the cylinders increased: ta-pocketa-pocketa-pocketa-pocketa-pocketa. The Commander stared at the ice forming on the pilot window. He walked over and twisted a row of complicated dials. "Switch on No. 8 auxiliary!" he shouted. "Switch on No. 8 auxiliary!" repeated Lieutenant Berg. "Full strength in No. 3 turret!" shouted the Commander. "Full strength in No. 3 turret!" The crew, bending to their various tasks in the huge, hurtling eight-engined Navy hydroplane, looked at each other and grinned. "The old man will get us through" they said to one another. "The Old Man ain't afraid of Hell!" . . .

"Not so fast! You're driving too fast!" said Mrs. Mitty. "What are you driving so fast for?"
"Hmm?" said Walter Mitty. He looked at his wife, in the seat beside him, with shocked astonishment. She seemed grossly unfamiliar, like a strange woman who had yelled at him in a crowd. "You were up to fifty-five," she said. "You know I don't like to go more than forty. You were up to fifty-five." Walter Mitty drove on toward Waterbury in silence, the roaring of the SN202 through the worst storm in twenty years of Navy flying fading in the remote, intimate airways of his mind."

"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," first published in 1941, is one of James Thurber's most well-known and beloved stories. Its famous protagonist holds a place in the cultural lexicon, meriting his own entry in English-language dictionaries. In 1947, Norman McLeod directed an MGM Technicolor musical with the same title based on Thurber's story. The film, which extends Mitty's imaginary adventures over a two-day period, stars Danny Kaye as the affable daydreamer.
http://www.all-story.com/issues.cgi?action=show_story&story_id=100

I love Walter Mitty.
;-)

[FlashHarry]

3. I think Harley tried to trademark "potato potato potato potato potato"

Or at least the actual sound of a Harley. Now, that's going a bit far.

[mark0rama]

10. Yes, they tried

Fortunately for the discipline of trademark law, they were even less successful than Faux is with "Fair and Balanced."

[efhmc]

5. If you could actually get them to say that first part, it would all be

worth it
"Thanks for joining us tonight. President Bush resigned today, expressing remorse and taking the blame for lying the country into Iraq. But first, breaking news --"

[eyesroll]

8. OK, good point..

:-)
but knowing the local fox affiliate, it would be phrased more like:
"Thank you for joining us tonight. A sad day for democracy today, as President Bush courageously allowed himself to become the scapegoat..."

[efhmc]

9. That sounds more like it, with black armbands for all the anchors and

dirges playing in the background. Much sadder than 9/11, you know.

[HereSince1628]

7. Catholics organize to welcome Harley-anniversary celebrants

http://www.archmil.org/resources/ShowResource.asp?ID=1205

There apparently is no separation between church and spoke...

Regardless of how one feels about motorcycles, 300,000 visitors to Milwaukee is a good thing for the local economy.

Maybe Howard Dean should ride a hog on his next visit to the yeast capital of the world.

[AnnabelLee]

11. I haven't watched the local news for at least a year

so I've fortunately missed all of the hooha. I can just imagine it though, Joyce Garbaciak (is she still on FOX6?) smiling that plastic smile, the tone of her voice just dripping with sincerity and implied disapproval if you don't agree that this is all just the mostest bestest superest thing ever.:eyes:

I agree it is good for the local economy, but I have an ex-BIL who worked at Harley as a draughtsman, & he was treated very badly.

Potatopotatopotato, indeed.

[eyesroll]

12. Actually, Ali Gilman has been doing a lot of the pandering...

Then again, she has no problems with the "get this" and "would you believe it" script that Fox 6 hands down to her -- for ACTUAL NEWS.

As in, "They were struck by, get this -- the Taliban!" and not just "J. Lo. said that, would you believe it?"