Paul Goydos and Sergio Garcia are about to tee off in the first playoff hole at The Players Championship. Of course, it happens to be one of the most intimidating holes in all of golf -- the island green on the 17th at TPC Sawgrass. The two players are polar opposites in a lot of respects, most notably their clothing.

Sergio Garcia could be the only person at the course dressed all in black. Head-to-toe in black and white, with Adidas' iconic three stripes zig-zagging horizontally in some places and vertically in others.

According to the Times, Paul Goydos "is almost certainly the only pro in the field who bought his own cap". In fact, Goydos doesn't have any corporate sponsors, and that may be part of the reason he seems to be the crowd favorite. The cap he wore represents Long Beach State University where he graduated with a degree in Finance. But we noticed his affinity for Fairway & Greene shirts. The photo above appears to be the Classic Stripe in Coral, while on Sunday, he was wearing a green short-sleeve moc turtleneck. The significance of that to us and to Fairway & Greene loyalists, is that Fairway & Greene does not pay players to wear their clothes. Any professional wearing their shirts is doing it because they know it is the finest in golf.

The coverage of Goydos' unlikely rise to the top of the leaderboard involved words like "journeyman", "a ham-and-egg guy", "common man", and "comedian". He made a lot of fans this week with his easygoing nature and self-deprecating humor. 

• Exhibit #1: Asked if he was surprised to be leading, he replied: “I don't know. I've only been out here for 16 years.”
• Exhibit #2: Given the 90 degree heat, a reporter pointed out to him that the top button of his shirt was fastened on Saturday, to which replied: "Because I don't have any shoulders, this is how the shirt stays on."
  

Well, Goydos' tee shot on 17th is in the drink, and Garcia's is a few feet from the hole, so it looks like Garcia will come out the winner today. But we hope Fairway & Greene is sending him a couple shirts on the house for all the free press... 

Perhaps as a "start-up" ourselves, it is with added sadness that we read about good ideas that come to an end. On Sunday, Eos Airlines filed for bankruptcy after 3 years of service and $200M+ in equity capital raised. Its final flights operated today, Sunday.

Most of the country has probably never heard of Eos, mainly because it had a very focused, niche business model. The airline's concept was to turn a Boeing 757 -- which most commercial airlines fill with over 200 passengers -- into a jet for just 48 business travelers who would fly from New York to London in style. One class. One round-trip route. It seemed like a good idea.[Read More]

Give Sony credit for internalizing the lessons of the wars of yesteryear. Believe it or not, it was 30 years ago that Sony’s Betamax format was defeated by VHS even though many technophiles still believe it was the superior choice. Many argued that it was the release of adult movies on the VHS format that seeded the market with players, and eventually dealt the death blow to Betamax (that is a hotly contested point, however [pun intended]).

Fast-forward to 2008 and Sony – and their high-definition video format Blu-ray – has won the war with HD-DVD (Toshiba, the creator of HD-DVD officially discontinued the business on February 19th). This year got off to a bad start for HD-DVD after Warner Bros. committed exclusively to Blu-ray in January, and February just got worse as Netflix, Best Buy, and Walmart announced they would no longer be supporting the format. Sony also moved quickly to line up exclusive studio support and advertised heavily.  But perhaps the biggest key to Blu-ray’s victory was Sony’s inclusion of it in the PlayStation 3 video game console.

No matter which format you supported, the resolution of this “war” can only be viewed as a good thing for consumers.  Customers no longer have to buy a video player knowing that certain movie studios would not be releasing their films on it.  Ending this customer confusion about which format to back allows all of us to get back to what is important - watching our favorite movies in a better way than ever before.

The benefits of high-definition video are numerous: a crisper picture, more immersive sound, and the integration of bonus features which can be updated over an internet connection.  

While Blu-ray supporters and high-def movie fans can celebrate the end to the format war, it may still be some time before HD movies hit the mainstream.  Blu-ray now faces its toughest battle yet - overtaking the juggernaut of DVD.

This blog entry was brought to you by loyal customer & Book-of-the-Month member, Kevin Carpenter.  

Admittedly, one of the issues with a Book-of-the-Month Club is you have to read a whole book each month! I thoroughly enjoyed February's selection -- Deluxe: How Luxury Lost its Luster by Dana Thomas -- and yet I just finished it this weekend. The basic premise of the book is that large luxury houses like LVMH or Gucci Group, in their quests for corporate profits, have sacrificed much for the bottom line. In some cases, it might be lesser materials, outsourcing production to lower-wage countries, skimping on packaging, or otherwise deviating from the original quality that made many brands the household names they are today. The book is filled with interesting anecdotes and statistics, that at alternating points make you long for "luxury" and disdain it.

Indeed, it is a shame that marketing has devolved to the point where so many companies bastardize certain words that they eventually become meaningless. "Concierge" is a great example. The "concierge" in your office building paid just slightly more than the rent-a-cop is not a concierge. If you're lucky, they can point you to the restrooms, but they certainly aren't getting you a table at a trendy restaurant or court-side tickets to the game. "VIP" is another overused-&-abused phrase. As Seth Meyers & Amy Poehler pointed out on SNL in the wake of the Elliot Spitzer scandal, "Anything that has the words VIP in the title is not for VIP's" [clip here]. And so it is with "luxury" too.

The iPhone photo taken for this blog was at the Las Vegas airport in mid-February as I was knee-deep in the book. The store advertised "Luxury for $10", and included jewelry, scarves, and leather goods. Without sounding snooty, it seems impossible that any of those items could be both luxurious and under $10. That got me thinking, "What on Earth could be a luxury product for just $10?" If a true luxury item is sold at some multiple over the regular version of the same item, there are very few products that could make the cut. And I'm willing to offer a $50 On The Fly gift certificate to the commenter on this blog that comes up with the best product idea. My entry? A toothpick made of cocobolo.

Way, way back in 2005, when gas was only $2.50/gallon in California, I wrote of our adjacent neighbor -- Club Sportiva. Club Sportiva was the first "luxury carshare" concept, started back in 2003; today, clubs like it are popping up all over the country. In late 2005, On The Fly moved in next door to Club Sportiva, and the two companies are separated by a gate that is left open all day so Club Sportiva members can peruse our merchandise, and our customers can ogle their cars. 

But thanks to the growing legion of readers of our blog, Club Sportiva has offered to let me take some of their cars for a spin in exchange for mentioning Club Sportiva six times in a single blog. Club Sportiva. Done. The first car up was a 2006 Aston Martin DB9 in navy blue with whiskey interior.  

Let's get one thing clear: I am not a professional driver. I barely know how to pop the hood on our company SUV. If you want a detailed descriptions of horsepower or torque or reliability, you best find another blog. I will approach these cars from the perspective of someone who will appreciate how the car drives, how it looks, and who looks at you in it. Sound narcissistic? I've been called worse.

The Aston Martin DB9 is a huge car. But to me, that is quintessentially Aston Martin. The new, smaller Vantage could easily be mistaken for a Toyota sports car to the untrained eye, whereas the DB9 makes a clear statement. For this reason, I actually regret not wearing something a little more bold; I opted for a safe Fairway & Greene golf shirt & vest, Bills Khakis Chamois Cloth pants, a Mulholland Brothers Hippo Duffel in Bridle Tan and a pair of one-of-a-kind Michael Toschi wingtip prototypes to match the interior of the car. The sound of it helps as well. The engine is louder at 20 mph than at 80 mph, and it's loud in the best way possible (the beautiful roar made me snicker at the Lexus-like commercials showing a driver in the car unable to hear anything outside).

The ride was surprisingly smooth, although I enjoyed more like someone scared to death of crashing his friend's car than an owner. It accelerates well, although the paddle shifting is not as responsive as other systems I've driven in the past. Fear of fishtailing kept me from testing its cornering capabilities, but a reasonable 180-degree long, curvy onramp near Candlestick Park had me driving faster than all the traffic on the freeway way before having to merge.

Of the entire inventory of cars available to Club Sportiva members -- and you'll see the rest in the coming weeks -- the DB9 has always been one of my favorites. Driving it only reinforced my opinion.

 

New unemployment numbers were released last week. The Dow shed 200+ points. A barrel of oil hit $100 for the first time ever. The Federal Reserve is considering an interest rate cut.  I could care less. None of those numbers concern me anymore. From now on, I am only concerned with the CLEWI -- the Cost of Living Extremely Well Index -- created by Forbes magazine back in the 1970's. Like the CPI, it tracks the prices of a basket of goods; unlike the CPI, it ignores bread & milk in favor of caviar & a case of Dom Perignon.

I expect new interest in the CLEWI with the release of a new book called All the Money in the World: How the Forbes 400 Make -- and Spend -- Their Fortunes. Published to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the Forbes 400 -- a list of the 400 richest Americans -- the book covers everything from how various fortunes were made and sometimes lost, philanthropy, trophy wives, and which universities have churned out the most members of the 400 (spoiler alert: it's MIT). The ease with which the book can be read, and its subjects, made it an easy choice for this month's Not Oprah's Book-of-the-Month selection.

Some favorite fun-facts of mine from the book: 

• By calculating each individual's wealth at their peak and comparing it to the U.S. GDP at the time, and then converting it to 2006 dollars, Bill Gates, with a fortune of $53B, would only be the 13th richest American ever. John D. Rockfeller would be #1 with a fortune, in today's dollars, of $305 BILLION.
• In 2006, the average net worth of Forbes 400 members without a college degree exceeded the average net worth of those with a degree ...by $2.8 Billion!
• While the CPI has doubled since the Forbes 400 was started in 1982, the CLEWI has quadrupled. But the richest have no reason to worry -- the wealth of the Forbes 400 has grown by a factor of 10! In other words, as a percentage of their wealth, the richest among us are spending less than ever to enjoy John Lobb shoes, Davidoff cigars, a Rolls-Royce Phantom, and of course, a subscription to Forbes (4 of the 41 items comprising the CLEWI).
  

Just think, some of the Forbes 400 might be living even better by shopping our Winter Sale -- it shocks the conscience just to think about it.