Worst Food-Biz Carpetbagger
Mr. Moto Pizza
There’s the proper way to invade someone else’s turf, and there’s the Mr. Moto way. Prior to opening its first Valley location in March, the California-based chain issued a tone-deaf press release owing its expansion to the “lack of crave-worthy pizza options in [Phoenix],” a “crime” that would finally be rectified by a real “tried-and-true gourmet pizza joint.” Wow, Mr. Moto, thanks. All we had before was Bianco, Pomo, Parlor, et al. Here’s some advice: Do your homework next time, and show a little humility instead of pretending you’re some kind of pizza messiah come to save all us poor Phoenicians from the inadequacies of our dining scene.
Worst Self-Serving Christ Analogy
Jim Lamon’s Easter Ad
If running a High Noon-inspired Super Bowl ad featuring your cowboy alter ego gunning down Democrats doesn’t put your primary rivals in the rearview mirror, what will? For Jim Lamon, the GOP U.S. Senate hopeful with an Alabama drawl, it was supposed to be an ad likening his campaign to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, advising viewers that Easter was “when darkness and despair were transformed into light and hope.” Apparently the “light” would be the election of the former solar power magnate to office. Predictably, Twitter dragged Lamon for comparing himself to the savior of the world, with one wag cracking, “He thinks he’s Jesus Christ. Not far off because ‘Jesus Christ’ is what I said when I saw this.”
Worst-Run Sports Program
ASU Football
The No. 1 question hanging on the lips of national sports writers this season is not where top recruit Arch Manning will throw passes in 2023, or if Alabama can repeat as national champion after losing its top three receivers and both starting tackles. No, the question is: Why does Herm Edwards still have a job? Five assistant coaches have now left the program in the midst of a NCAA investigation of alleged recruiting violations, plus scores of evaluation personnel. Choking on the smoke, quarterback Jayden Daniels fled through the transfer portal. And, yet, ASU has dug in behind the 68-year-old coach. Evidently, the buck stops in a lot of places. Just not with him.
