President Barack Obama is finally doing what we elected him to do: he’s berating the NHL owners and players for being jerks about money so we can have pro hockey again. Well, that’s what I elected him to do.

The POTUS issued a thorough, partisan-free statement in an interview with WCCO-TV in Minneapolis, and if Gary Bettman missed it and reads With Leather (which I’m sure is the case), I hope he reads it carefully:

“My message to owners and to players is, ‘You guys make a lot of money and you make a lot of money on the backs of fans, so do right by your fans. You can figure out how to spread out a bunch of revenue that you’re bringing in, but do right by the people who support you,”‘ Obama said. “And I shouldn’t have to be involved in a dispute between really wealthy players and even wealthier owners. They should be able to settle this themselves. And remember who it is that’s putting all that money in their pockets.”

This isn’t the first time Obama’s spoken out about the lockout … back in October he stared into the dark abyss that is Jay Leno, broke out a flippant “y’all” and told the warring factions to get their shit together. This is also what he does during Middle East peace talks.

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As a disclaimer, I hate politics and would like to just be able to bury my money in strategic places around my property and surround those spots with landmines Ron Swanson style, but we can’t really help but ignore politics when our leaders like to use sports as a distraction and our current President is such a huge sports nut. The latest example of Barack Obama’s sports knowledge was on display last night, as he appeared on The Tonight Show with Chin Unfunnyton, who asked the Commander-in-Chief various questions that were submitted by regular people like you or me.

One Average Jaromir submitted a question to Barry O regarding the current NHL lockout, and it was about as meaningless as you’d expect.

Mike from Los Angeles: “Can you pull some strings to end the NHL Lockout?”

Finally, someone is asking a question about solving unemployment. Of course, a better question may have been, “How can the owners and players union reach an agreement?” or “How would you help them find a middle ground?” or “What about the Ice Girls, won’t somebody think of the Ice Girls?” But nevertheless, Obama had an answer ready to go.

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"No creativity for you!"

Another day, another Super Bowl commercial released on the Internet. One of these days, I may reach out to an ad exec to ask why these companies spend $3.5 million and more to air their ads during the biggest sporting event of the year, only to show them on the Internet for weeks in advance. Until then, Acura is the latest company to “leak” its huge Super Bowl ad, and it’s clear that the car company is swinging for the fences in the wake of Honda’s Ferris Bueller revival. Acura enlisted comedian Jerry Seinfeld as a man hellbent on being the first person to receive whatever the company’s brand new model is, and the results are… a commercial.

I’m not much for the idea of criticizing commercials, as most of them suck. I’d say that 98% of regular, day-to-day commercials are absolutely horrible, and while Super Bowl ads used to be a time-honored tradition of creativity, they’re probably running a 60/40 good-to-suck ratio these days. Obviously, we’ve declared the Volkswagen “Dark Side” ads to be Hall-of-Famers with the “leaking” of this year’s ad teaser featuring dogs singing the Empire theme from Star Wars. But while I can appreciate a good Soup Nazi cameo, Acura isn’t giving me anything that I can’t already see every night on TBS and my local UPN channel. And Jay Leno? Ugh. Even if I could afford an Acura, this commercial would turn me off.

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