Big Bucks for Spilled Coke

So did you know a little Coca-Cola can get you fined $50,000?  Jason Kidd of the Net's found that out after using a friend's Coca-Cola as a diversionary tactic on November 26th of this year.

Coke Zero 2013 Basketball Can

Out of time outs and with 8.3 seconds left, the lad had the admirable strategy of bumping into a teammate enjoying some Coca-Cola.  The result was a slick and sugary basketball court that required clean-up, which involved, guess what..an informal time out!  Unfortunately, neither strategy worked.  The Net's still lost and replays showed the spill was intentional and hence the fine.  Still, you gotta admire Kidd for trying!

Godless Pledge Can Part 2

I had a second thought about the Godless pledge of allegiance Pepsi can controversy.  How could people believe it was true? For example, why would Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Dr. Pepper and other Lords of Sugar be kow-towing to political correctness by omitting the word God anyway?  Pepsi clears things up here, but do you really need a soda company to be doing your critical thinking?

Pepsi Max $5.00 Off Buffalo Bills Tickets 2012

Look, folks who are offended about God being in the pledge are not the people buying soda.  They are those hybrid car folks who dislike soda, guns, trans fats, greasy barbecues, successful businessmen, northwest logging companies, and anything else connected to the unwashed masses. And the people who do like soda, you know, that sugar stuff "da poor" drink, are rather fond of God in the pledge or are at least ambivalent about it.  In other words, the meme doesn't make sense from a marketing point.

Look at it this way.  It would be like Pepsi putting "Football Sucks" on a Pepsi can. Not gonna happen.  See, you gotta think critically about these things.  Even when it is just about crappy hypothetical soda cans.

Godless Pledge Can

Here's an interesting meme floating around the internet.  Pepsi supposedly is releasing patriotic cans that have images of New York City on them with the Pledge of Alligeance but omits the words "Under God".  Well guess what?  It's not true.

Wild Cherry Pepsi 2013

But it wouldn't bother me if it was true.  Mainly because Pepsi hasn't release a patriotic can in a while.  (Unless you count Beyonce as patriotic as part of the Super Bowl, which I don't.) Secondly, if they did release one, and it did omit the words, and a real bruhaha erupted, they would reprint the can, making the first one a valuable collectors item.  See, I don't care about religion or the country; I just want to collect cool cans in my basement.

Fanta Halloween

I know, I know, it's Christmas time and I should be posting about Christmas cans, but like a true cop-out, I don't even have that many in my collection yet.  See, I only buy soda when we run out as a family.  We still have Mt. Dew in the fridge from the Xbox One (I had to by one o 'dem big 24 pack cubes to get it) so I haven't had a chance to buy holiday ones yet.  But...I do have this Halloween can!

Fanta Halloween 2013

Coca-Cola is admittedly shady during the Halloween season.  Fanta is the only brand I see of theirs that sports Halloween.  Hopefully this tradition can end and we can see a little more scare in 2014.

Mt. Dew The Dark Knight Rises

After that last post about Mt. Dew and Xbox I had to dig a little deeper in my collection for this blast from the past...a 2012 Mt. Dew The Dark Knight Rises soda can.  Mt. Dew is always neat and tidy with their promotions.  It is always a little black advertisement on the top of the can.  I like that.  Simple and predictable.  If only more things in life were like that too.

Mt. Dew The Dark Knight Rises 2012

Coca-Cola Summer Countdown Can 1

So yes, it is December, but even amid the snow and blow I am already fantasizing about summer. I thought of all the ways I could get a jump on the summer season, you know, like maybe working on those abdominal muscles to look good in a swimsuit, but that takes to much work.  So I'll toss up a soda can instead.  (Utterly diametric, I know.)

Coca-Cola Summer Can 2013 1 of 6 

BAM!  So Coca-cola released 6 summer coke cans last summer in 2013.  Above is can 1 of 6 cheerfully spouting the 2013 tagline "Open for Summer."  Yours truly hunted hard and collected all six.  I will be tossing up a summer can a month from December through May.  Once they are all up Memorial Day will be here and we will be open for summer once again.  Bring it on.

Mt. Dew Xbox One

Mountain Dew has always been associated with video games so the Xbox One/Mt. Dew partnership shouldn't come as a surprise.  I've never been a big video gamer myself though.  That's why I posed this one by some real games.  Does that sound patronizing or condescending?  Yeah, it does.  But the picture is pretty clever, you must admit.

Mt. Dew Xbox One Promotion 2013

Cranberry Sprite

Well they finally did it!  Coca-Cola finally got on the bandwagon and released a cranberry soda for the holidays.  Cranberry Sprite will be here for the 2013 holiday season and I already have the can. I am on the look out for the Sprite Zero version, which so far I have been unable to locate at my local Wal-Mart; I might need to check some more upscale vendors.

Cranberry Sprite 2013

I know Sierra Mist and Canada Dry will be releasing Cranberry versions this holiday season as well. I will be hunting for those too.  This Sprite however I feel is unique because this is its inaugural year. Hopefully we will be seeing it for many more holidays to come.

Dr. Pepper Scholarships

Dr. Pepper unrolled their scholarship cans again this year.  I have several of them, but I decided to show off my man Garrett Booker first.  The lad won $100,000 scholarship from Dr. Pepper.  I would be raising my fist in triumph too if that was me on a Dr. Pepper can.

Dr. Pepper Scholarship 2013...Garrett Booker, $100,000

I like that I have the $100,000 winner.  None of the others I found on Dr. Pepper cans this year won so much from the soft drink industry.  That makes me feel like sorta of winner too.  Like the can is just slightly more collectible than the others.

Dieter's Ginger-Ale

This past summer I was driving down to a meeting away from home.  On a lark I stopped at Save-A-Lot and picked up a cheap twelve pack of soda just for the can.

Save-A-Lot Brand Ginger-Ale 2013

Yup.  I got ginger-ale, that good old type of soda that even when you are an adult still makes you remember staying home from school sick to watch cartoons on the couch.  Dieter's tasted fine, although a bit watered down and tad spicy, like your brother dumped some oregano in your glass and it melted the ice cubes or something when you weren't looking.  Oh well, at least the can is dapper. I like that red dot...it's like an eco-version of the Japanese flag.

Apples and Coke

So this is some big news in the soda world...Apple just passed Coca-Cola as the world's most recognized brand.  I don't know exactly how they compute that stuff, but I am more interested in what that says about the world, and I guess it means that people are more interested in technology than good old fashioned sugar drinks.

But I think it will fade.  While technology may be ubiquitous, the companies that bring it tend to cycle around.  I predict Coca-Cola will rise again, even if it is far enough in the future where I will never bother to check to see if I'm right.

Coca-Cola Slander

Soda gets a bad rap, but no soda gets a worse rap than Coca-Cola.  If you don't believe me, check out the http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/cokelore.asp page that has article after article debunking cruel, slanderous Coca-Cola myths.  Fight your ignorance.  Stand up for Coca-Cola today!

Pepsi Flavored Cheetos

For those of you who don't think soda merits enough attention to bleed into the mundane areas of your life, consider what is happening in Japan.  Last month Cheetos and Pepsi teamed up to make, you guessed it, Pepsi flavored Cheetos! Apparently, the Cheetos are covered in a Pepsi powder, that, reminding us of Crystal Clear Pepsi days, is not brown. No word yet if these are coming to the U.S. yet.

Pepsi Flavored Cheetos!

Pepsi Jazz

Do you know one of the reasons why I enjoy collecting soda cans?  It's because they are so quick and limited.  The often exist for only a brief moment in time before they are discontinued or designed differently. Also, since I rarely had soda as a child, I find as an adult I really appreciate it when I have it to drink. Consider the cans below, which sadly, I don't have in my collection.

These are discontinued Pepsi sodas.  They definitely seem exotic now.  I remember buying them and drinking them with my friend in his apartment playing Texas Hold 'em.  Not a grand memory, but a nice one. And I associate the memory with these cans.

These nifty cans only lasted from 2006 - 2009.  Then they went kaput. So sad.  They came in Black Cherry French Vanilla, Caramel Cream, and Strawberries and Cream. One reviewer thought the Caramel one was best. I was prone to agree.

RC Cola

I got a new soda can over the weekend.  It's been one I've been meaning to collect.  I finally got it because my friend who was visiting loves this cola more than Pepsi and Coke, so he bought a 12 pack for our fridge. It's Royal Crown Cola, made by the same people who bring us Dr. Pepper.

RC Cola 2013

Caffeine Free Coke Zero

I found a new can shortly after it was released.  Apparently, Coke Zero is doing great.  So great that they decided to release a Caffeine Free Version.  It came out this very month and I picked up a 12 pack at my local store.  I think the black and gold can is rather stylish.

2013 Caffeine Free Coke Zero

The target audience is apparently also people like me: young adult males (just look at the official site.) Diet Coke is too womanly, so the Coke Zero line is targeted towards men.  Interestingly, it was already available in France and Japan, but not here.  To correct this oversight of leaving North America out, a petition was made to bring it here.  It only had 5 signatures, but I guess that was enough!

It's Still Going On...

It's been some time since I've last posted.  But less you think I have given up on my soda can collecting habit and written it off as some childish fad, here is an updated picture of the "basement" where the cans in my collection are located.

Not bad, huh?  Back in February I only had a photo of 15 cans. I will try to be more diligent in posting...perhaps not once a day but a goal of once a week.  As a side note, I set a goal of having at least 100 cans by summer.  Well, it certainly is summer now and I have exceeded my goal and have a total of 123 different soda cans in my collection.  As always, what the mind can conceive and believe, it CAN achieve.(See what I did there?  I am awesome.)

More Cans!

More cans collected in the past weeks.

Adirondack Black Cherry Soda

My wife sent me out to get ice cream one evening once the weather warmed up.  Turns out they only took cash but no problem!  I bought some soda and got cash back.  Adirondack Black Cherry Soda.

Adirondack Black Cherry Soda 2013

Pennsylvania Dutch Birch Beer

To round out my cans from our trip to the in-laws I found this can at a nice country store where we went for ice cream.  It's Pennsylvania Dutch Birch Beer.  Birch Beer tastes a lot like root beer but has a slightly distinctive bitter flavor to it too.  I'm not sure if Pennsylvania Dutch makes any other sodas, but I have at least one of them now.

Pennsylvania Dutch Birch Beer 2013

Valentine's Day Diet Pepsi Can

Last posted I discussed how I was thrilled to find the regular Caffeine Free Diet Pepsi can since I only had the Valentine's Day one.  Well, imagine my surprise when I found this little gem in my in-laws recyclable bin.  I figured there was a Valentine's Day Diet Pepsi can but had reckoned I started my can collection too late to claim it.  No more!  To add to the thrill it was the only Valentine's Day can in the whole bag so I really felt like I found something well hidden.  Up on the shelf it goes!

Valentine's Day 2013 Diet Pepsi Can

Caffeine Free Diet Pepsi

I'm finally getting around to posting pictures of the latest cans I've found for my collection.  I also took the time a Saturday or two ago to construct a better shelf for my soda cans in the basement.  All that will be posted in the coming days.  First up, I was happy to find this can at my in-laws where we went for a cook out now that the weather is not all Jack Frosty.  I had the Valentine's Day heart shaped one but not the regular one.  Now I have both.  It's funny; now that I have this can I can't wait for the logo to change again just so it stands out on my shelves more.

Caffeine Free Diet Pepsi 2013

The Racist Mountain Dew Commercial

Big time citrus soda Mountain Dew just pulled an internet ad that was deemed too racist.  It consisted of a woman victim needing to identify her attacker in a line up of guess what?...all black men.  Of course, there is one non-black suspect, which happens to be a goat, which taunts the women throughout the commercial.  The ad was attacked for continuing the stereotype that black males are violent thugs.

The 2013 Mountain Dew Commercial that is no more....

I suppose the free market drives people to complain about these kind of things.  However, for a soft drink that brands itself as the one and only drink with adolescent/young adult yarbels, the company seems to have shrunken away from the school yard bullies awfully quickly. Personally, I find myself offended that I can't find a clip of that ad anywhere on there internet without a shut down message claiming Pepsi Co. removed the video due to copyright violations.  This offend me because I think I should get to watch the ad myself and then decide if it is offensive enough to me to not forward.  Regardless, I think they should release a Mountain Dew can with a goat on it just to celebrate the fail.

Soda Sales Down for 8th Consecutive Year

One interesting concept about collecting soda cans is that they are in decline.  Yes, they everywhere, but soda also seems to be a disappearing beverage.  Sure, it will always be around, but it doesn't have many friends.  Politicians seem to think its trendy to fight against it.  And healthy people know to avoid it.

According to the New York Times, soda consumption in the United States fell 1.2 percent in 2012. This is the 8th consecutive year of decline in soda sales.  The top selling sodas of the United States were Coca-Cola (17 percent), Diet Coke (9.4 percent), and in third place Pepsi (8.9 percent).  Just interesting little statistics.

Wal-Mart Limeade and Lemonade

At work today my friend brought in two cans she saved over a vacation for me.  They are Wal-Mart's Cherry Limeade and Raspberry Lemonade.  I've had the Cherry Limeade before and found it delicious.  They are also both a diet drink and rather inexpensive being a generic brand.  Thank you!

Wal-Mart Cherry Limeade and Raspberry Lemonade 2013

Bubba Cola

I already posted about Save-A-Lot's Mountain Holler soda that is one of the many Mountain Dew clones.  I didn't particularly like it.  In fact, I still have cans of it in my fridge.  Nonetheless, I still would like to add Save-A-Lot cans to my collection.  So imagine my surprise when out running a week ago and came across this can below!  Now, Bubba Cola may taste great, but now I don't need to find out to get the can.

Save-A-Lot Bubba Cola 2013

Aldis Root Beer

I am a couple of days behind in posting.  Fortunately, I have some more cans to add to the collection.  We had some friends over for pizza and root beer and the root beer I decided to break out was the Aldi's brand called SUDS.  It appears below.  I have always believed root beer was once of the best sodas to drink with pizza.  Coca-Cola would also work well.  (You can also see in this pic that I am trying to use a black jacket as a consistent background for the photo ops!)

Aldi's Root Beer 2013

Soda Scare Graphic

I ran across this scare image on the internet the other day.  Yes, soda is not the best thing for you, but neither is pizza.  (And ironically, the two go so well together.)  I thought I'd toss it up here because even though I think it's disgustingly heavy-handed, it is important to enjoy soda in moderation.  Now those soda cans on the other hand, as long as you have the space for them and a tolerant wife, you can go hog wild with those.

Soda Scare Tactical Graphic  2013

Soda Syrups

On our Washington D.C. trip we ate at Cafe Rio, a Mexican chain restaurant we would like to visit again.  The food was delicious.  However, they also have a soda bar where not only are plenty of soda's offered, but there are six different syrups you can add to your soda such as cherry, vanilla, grape, lemon, or lime.  This made me wonder exactly how many different soda flavored syrups there are.  Well, I found one company that sells over a hundred of them.  I would love to get some of these in my house to add to my favorite sodas.

Soda Syrups...the way to make a good thing better!

Caffeine Free Pepsi

For Easter, one of our kid's asked for "gold" in their Easter basket.  Another one, and this melts my heart, asked for a new soda so he could add the can to dad's collection.  Well, this Caffeine Free Pepsi worked out perfectly.  It was gold and it certainly did add a new can to my collection.  They each found one in their Easter baskets and loved it!

Caffeine Free Pepsi 2013 

Tops Root Beer

Coming home from our Washington D.C. trip, we thought it would be a nice gesture to buy dinner for my wife's little brother.  He was a real trooper playing with the kids over a few days.  We got take out and we stopped at Tops.  I picked up a deck of playing cards I needed and told him to pick out any brand of Tops soda to go with our dinner.  He selected root beer, the classic stand-by.  I took a can home to add to my collection.  That gives me three soda cans from Tops.  I think there are still over ten Tops soda flavors to go.

Tops Root Beer 2013

Refreshe Diet Lemon Lime

My wife and I traveled to Washington D.C. for a little childless get away.  After a day of seeing the free museums and a dinner out, I stopped at a Safeway to pick up some soda for the hotel fridge.  Safeway's generic soda is called Refreshe.  I ended up purchasing the Diet Lemon Lime.  It tasted fine.  I don't know when I will be able to pick up more of the Refreshe soda cans, but at least I have a start.

Refreshe Diet Lemon-Lime 2013

Moutain Holler: Red Howl

Mountain Dew has an army of clones.  Save-A-Lot's is happened to be named Mountain Holler.  A few weeks ago, I picked up a twelve pack of Mountain Holler Red Howl, the clone of Mountain Dew Code Red.  My wife and I each tried one on our way to a regional church meeting 45 minutes away.  We weren't terribly impressed, but I think it was probably because it wasn't what we were expecting.  It didn't taste very much like Mountain Dew.  It was actually rather sour-cherry tasting.  It wasn't bad, but it seems to be an acquired taste. It also packs an insane 200 calories a can, 30 more than Mountain Dew.  I have heard rumors that Mountain Holler has a cult like following.  If you like your citrus drinks sour, I could see how this could be.  But for us, the rest of the 12 pack will probably be chilling in our fridge for a bit until unsuspecting guests come over.

Mountain Holler 2013

Opening Soda All On His Own

This is just a quick posted to celebrate the good news my son shared with my wife.  He took a can of LeBron James Sprite from the fridge, tried to open it on his own, failed, then tried again, got a little closer, tried a third time, and finally opened it.  He was so proud of himself.  Now, we find several opened soda cans in the fridge.  He gets a kick out of opening them, even more then actually drinking them it seems.  What a champ.

LeBron pauses to congratulate my son opening his
first soda can.  In a later interview, he said he was
"honored" to be the image on the can used.

Syracuse Crush

Go 'Cuse!  Here is the 2013 Crush can honoring so-called "real" Syracuse basketball fans who supposedly drink orange.  It's a nice advertising gimmick really because I can't think of any other sports team that is associated so clearly with a single color.  I emptied this can while watched the 'Cuse vs Indiana game on March 28th.  Syracuse won, 61 - 50.  I'm not sure yet how far they will end up going...I am scheduling these posts to be posted later since my wife and I are going out of town...but for the soda can's sake, I hope they go all the way.

Syracuse Crush 2013 

Micheal Carter-Williams celebrating the news Dr. Pepple/Snapple
Group put his team on a soda can.

Pepsi Next

My wife was getting ready to leave for a baby shower the other morning and she asked if we have any Diet Pepsi in the basement.  I thought we did.  I bounded downstairs and looked at the soda collection.  We didn't.  She asked what we did have.  "Wild Cherry Pepsi," I said.  "And Pepsi Next."  "Oh," said my wife.  I'll try that.  So I brought some cans up, gave one to her, and put the rest in the fridge.  She drank it and now I can add it to my collection.  Pepsi Next is advertised as having 60 percent less sugar.  That gives it a tidy 60 calories per can, a happy middle ground.

Pepsi Next 2013

Best Selling Sodas 2010

I've been trying to discover the current best selling sodas.  The best I have been able to come up with is a list generated in 2010 providing the top ten best selling sodas.  I was actually surprised at how far ahead in the market Coca-Cola was over Pepsi.  I men, I always thought it was 50 - 50 thing.  Apparently not.  The top ten best selling sodas of 2010 appear below.

1.  Coca-Cola

2.  Diet Coke

3.  Pepsi

4.  Mountain Dew

5.  Dr. Pepper

6.  Sprite

7.  Diet Pepsi

8.  Diet Mountain Dew

9.  Diet Dr. Pepper

10.  Fanta

Yeah, I was surprised by number 10.  Fanta?  Really?  Who drinks Fanta?  Must be a third world thing.  Is that a mean thing to say?  I bet it is.  But I don't feel bad.  I mean, the The Fantanas  are just bizarre.

Surprisingly coming in at #10...

Pepsi's Roots

It's a little known fact that Pepsi was originally called Brad's Drink after Caleb Bradham.  Bradham was a pharmacist in New Bern, North Carolina.  If you are interested, you can actually visit the actual store where Bradham created and sold his product in 1898.  It's a museum.  Go figure.  The location also has a historical marker. I think at some point Pepsi should come out with a can honoring Caleb Bradham and use the original name of Brad's Drink.  Perhaps someday.

A historical soda marker in New Bern, North Carolina

Sun Drop Girl

While posting about the Diet Sun Drop soda can in my collection, I came across the website for the soda.  I saw it and I was confused.  First, why do all caffeinated citrus drinks have to be marketed as aggressive or crazy?  The website for Sun Drop has a zany, awfully dressed girl wiggling in a painful looking manner to advertise Sun Drop soda.  At first I didn't get it, but now I do.

The Sun Drop girl 2013 

Soda is really one of those nothing products. It's zero nutrition, zero purpose, and zero importance.  It is the epicenter of everything expendable.  But this blank nothingness is soda's advertising charm.  Since it is a product of nothing, it can be defined as anything.  Hence you have Beyonce with Pepsi lips (and a bizarre statement by her stating how Pepsi helps her reach fulfillment as a creative artist), cuddly Coca-Cola polar bears, and the Sun-Drop girl.  Now, you can be suckered into Beyonce and polar bears, but it's obvious the Sun Drop girl is a farce.  And that's genius of it.  It's calling  it like it is.  For this truthfulness, I like Sun Drop now.  Beyonce, you are the Sun Drop girl.  As are the Coca-Cola polar bears.  The Sun Drop girl is just the only one wise enough to see it.  See her here.

Valentine's Day Caffeine Free Diet Pepsi

Here is the Valentine's Day 2013 Caffeine Free Diet Pepsi can.  The Pepsi logo is shaped as a heart. I'm actually quite fond of the design.  Diet Pepsi was introduced nationally in 1964, making it the first nation wide diet cola drink.  However, the very first Diet Cola drink was Diet Rite manufactured by Dr. Pepper in 1958. Anyway, that's a wide divergence from just describing the simple white caffeine free diet Pepsi can with a playful heart which now a happy member of my growing collection.

Caffeine Free Diet Pepsi Valentine's Day 2013
(The font is faint but it says Diet Pepsi in gold 
below the heart on the left)

Cream Soda

One more can for the collection today.  It is a Price Chopper (generic brand) Vanilla Cream Soda.  This particular cream soda is a light brown color.  A boring distinction, I know.  However, I say it because I didn't know that cream soda, at least according to Wikipedia, is manufactured in other colors such as clear, red, pink, orange, and blue.  I've never seen cream soda these colors before but apparently they are out there.  As a side note, at least one of my sons didn't care for the flavor of cream soda.  I find that surprising because cream soda was one of my favorites as a kid.  Too each his own.

Price Chopper Vanilla Cream Soda 2013

13 Songs with Coca-Cola

While Coca-Cola is thrilled to get us all yearning to buy the world a Coke, they are also pleased when song writers drop a little Coca-Cola reference into their lyrics.  Below are thirteen songs Coca-Cola actually advertises on their website as having a name check for Coca-Cola.

"Good Directions," Billy Currington

"When I Paint My Masterpiece," The Band

"Ellsworth," Rascal Flatts

"Drive-In," The Beach Boys

"I'm Just a Girl," Deana Carter

"Having a Party," Sam Cooke

"Hip to My Heart," The Band Perry

"When Worlds Collide," Neil Young

"Small Town Girl," Kelly Pickler

"Lola," The Kinks

"I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool," Barbra Mendrell

"Americano," The Brian Setzer Orchestra

"Spin Me a Christmas," Aqua

The one that comes to mind that's missing is "Come Together" by the Beatles where John Lennon sings "He's got monkey finger, he shoots Coca-Cola."  I'm wondering if this is an oversight or an intentional omission because of the very real possibility Lennon was making a thinly veiled reference to shooting cocaine.

At any rate, yes, soda cans are mundane.  But soda has a history and it pops up in various nooks and crannies of culture and I find that refreshing.  You know, like a Coke.

TaB Clear

Did you know TaB, the precursor to Diet Coke, was also caught up in the "clear" frenzy of the early 1990s?  Below is a TaB Clear commercial that weaves TaB Clear into a story line involving U.F.O.s, Bigfoot, and Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany.  The commercial humorously links the four items together.  Not really a bad piece of advertising, really.  TaB Clear only lasted from 1992 - 1994, which as always, is a wise reminder to collect the cans while you can.  (Which is a really great unintentional pun by the way.)

TaB Clear 1992

"Mean" Joe Greene

I posted an earlier classic Coca-Cola commercial...the so-called "Hilltop" advertisement where youth from around the world sing the catchy song "I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke."  I thought I would share another big gun Coca Cola commercial.  This one aired during the 1979 football season and made an appearance in the 1980 Super Bowl.  Here, defensive tackle of the Pittsburgh Steelers "Mean" Joe Greene" hobbles to the locker room while being approached by a young fan.  Joe is at first dismissive of the boy until the boy offers him his Coke.  Joe accepts, chugs the bottle with an incredible tolerance for the product's carbonation, and with new found peace, kindly tosses the boy his battered jersey.  A heart warmer every time.

TaB

Did you ever wonder what was before Diet Coke?  No one really wonders about things.  Diet Coke just always seems to have been there.  Well, as all good folks know, Diet Coke was released in 1982.  Before that year, however, Coca-Cola was already selling a Diet soda horrendously called TaB since 1963.  The legend goes a computer generated thousands of possible CVC names and Coca-Cola picked TaB, perhaps because it could help folks keep "tabs" on their weight.  Diet Coke quickly nudged TaB aside, but it is supposedly still sold in some markets.  If I can find one, I'd love a can of it.

Diet Coke's Father...TaB

Diet Sun Drop

A new can for the collection.  It's a Diet Sun Drop picked up from the local Wal-Mart.  In layman's terms, Sun Drop is Dr. Pepper/Snapple Group's version of Mt. Dew, the current market leader.  It seems like a newer brand, but its actually been around since 1949.  It also comes in a Cherry version which I would long to have  if I could only locate a place that carried it.

Diet Sun Drop 2013

Beyonce and Pepsi

I just stumbled upon an article where Mark Bittman, a food critic for the New York times, lambasted soda companies and their sponsor celebrities.  Bittman eyes Pepsi in particular with their lavish endorsement deals they provide the likes of Britney Spears, Beyonce, and Cindy Crawford.  Since soda is unhealthy, the argument goes, celebrities should be ashamed of themselves for marketing the product, just how we would look down on celebrities winking on a billboard near a school endorsing a cigarette.  Bittman was not alone in his criticism.

f 

Kiss of Pepsi, Super Bowl 2013

I don't find the idea so offensive.  Personally, seeing Beyonce's face painted with the Pepsi symbol during the Super Bowl promotions turned me off to their product.  Ditto for Britney Spears hacking the soda as well.  I don't care for them as singers or celebrities so why would I want to drink what they drink?

Now, Coca-Cola...they have a marketing campaign I am a sucker for.  Holidays, polar bears, good summer times, buying the whole world Coke, that kind of stuff I love.  Beyonce and the glib celebrities like her actually make me hate the world.  As pathetic as it sounds, Coca-Cola actually makes me love the world a little more.

However, regardless of how I feel about Beyonce, I wish I had her Pespi can just because.  It was before my can collecting days but it's an advertising siren of the times.

Beyonce 2013 Super Bowl Pepsi Can