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Jim Nantz of CBS Sports Receives the MACE Award

Tuesday, October 6th, 2009

Earlier tonight, I had the joy of attending Monmouth University’s Department of Communications annual MACE Award presentation. The MACE Award – which stands for Monmouth University Award for Communication Excellence – has been awarded each of the past four years and this year’s recipient was Jim Nantz from CBS Sports. Admittedly, I don’t know much about Mr. Nantz because I don’t really follow sportscasters and their careers. All I could really tell you about sportscasters is that John Madden was hilarious and I’m not a big fan of Joe Buck, especially when he is paired with Troy Aikman.

Prior to tonight’s event being publicized a few weeks ago, I had no concept of Mr. Nantz and his accomplishments nor had I ever attended a MACE Award presentation. Going into tonight, I really had no idea what to expect. By the end of the night, though, I was very pleased that I decided to attend.

Mr. Nantz has a wonderful speaking voice which is in the style of your classic broadcaster. His voice is not overmodulated to any great degree and he knows how to use the tones in his voice to accentuate a story. Sitting and listening to him talk in a conversation-style format for about an hour wasn’t aurally aggravating in the least. In fact, the tone and scope of his stories were both appropriate and relevant to today’s college students (many of the audience members were current undergraduates at the university). I thought that the organizers of this event chose the perfect format for Mr. Nantz to discuss his career with young minds, his professional colleagues, and other members of the university and local business community.

The entire event was very well produced and it came off very professionally. Two videos were shown on the beautiful scoreboard in the new MAC Center (the scoreboard was lowered so as to avoid strained necks). The first video highlighted the Department of Communication at Monmouth University and I have to admit that I learned a great deal about the program from that brief informational piece. While I thought that there were one or two stiff performances on the video, I was very impressed with the diversity of viewpoints presented – from current undergraduates to recent alumni to current professors and more. It was a very well produced piece.

The second video was shown towards the end of the night and it was a highlight reel of Mr. Nantz’s career. I enjoyed watching that video because there were some great sports moments included (which I can now associate with Mr. Nantz). I think the video may have been produced by CBS Sports, but it was a great, comprehensive review of Mr. Nantz’s accomplishments in sports broadcasting.

At the very end of the night Mr. Nantz announced that he was making a donation to the Department of Communication to name a classroom in honor of one of his great friends. That friend is Eli Spielman – the gentleman who co-authored Mr. Nantz’s book, Always by My Side: The Healing Gift of a Father’s Love. I’m not sure if this was a planned move by the Department of Communication to generate more donations for the program, but it was definitely a classy move for Mr. Nantz. The announcement didn’t seem rehearsed at all so it could have very well been an act of benevolence on behalf of Mr. Nantz. In any event, it was a great way to end a very classy evening.

Monmouth University has, again, impressed me and Mr. Nantz was a great honoree with a great spirit. All in all the 2009 MACE Award presentation was a good, well-run event.

Update: Click here to download a PDF copy of the Asbury Park Press article regarding Jim Nantz winning the MACE Award.

Posted in College & Fraternity Life, Entertainment, Local People & Politics, Sports | 2 Comments »

Leaving TD Bank for Central Jersey Bank

Monday, October 5th, 2009

Like I said at the end of last week, TD Bank has ruined everything that Commerce Bank built its great reputation on. From Commerce Bank’s legendary customer service to its “hassle-free” banking, TD Bank managed to destroy all of that in a matter of few days last week by bungling up what could have been a less onerous project.

If you don’t know already, TD Bank merged the TD Banknorth and Commerce Bank databases last week and it stunted the bank’s ability to post transactions to customers’ online accounts or for those transactions to be viewed at ATMs. Factor in that the folks at TD Bank decided to do this during a time of the month when almost every once of their customers gets paid or receives their government subsidy and, well, you can understand the uproar.

Some TD Bank supporters out there might suggest that technical glitches happen every once in a while and I can appreciate that statement. However, when a bank decides to make such a major switch during a time of the month when people are receiving paychecks and governments subsidies (plus when rent or the mortgage payment is due), that tells me that the bank doesn’t care enough to know about their customers’ daily lives. Something tells me that the move from Cherry Hill to Toronto really destroyed the true relationship that TD Bank had with its customers.

Anyway, I went over to Central Jersey Bank on Friday and opened up a totally free checking account. Central Jersey Bank (although it was just purchased by OceanFirst Bank) is based out of the Monmouth/Ocean county area. Because this bank is based out of the same area where I live, there is a greater likelihood that I’ll be more than just an account number and a deposit at Central Jersey Bank. In fact, after reviewing the offers from Central Jersey Bank, I’ve decided to explore other accounts that I can close at TD Bank (including those related to my fraternity and its alumni association) and move over to Central Jersey Bank.

I’m a big believer that when you go to a restaurant and you receive stellar service, that you leave a stellar tip. On the other hand, I also believe that when you are the customer and you receive horrendous service you vote with your dollars by pulling them from the company giving you the terrible service. TD Bank really screwed up. Between the bungled online transactions, their recent message to all business account owners that they were raising fees, and the continuing fee that I have to pay if my account ever dips below a certain amount (this is for a supposedly “free” checking account, by the way) – I’ve decided to vote with my dollars and leave TD Bank.

I suggest that any former Commerce Bank customers who are disgusted at the level of service offered by TD Bank do the same.

Posted in Money, Jobs, & Finances | 3 Comments »

TD Bank Has Ruined Commerce Bank’s Reputation

Friday, October 2nd, 2009

Talk about an epic failure. For those of you that don’t know, TD Bank merged the old Commerce Bank and TD Banknorth databases last weekend. In the process, they managed to unleash a variety of glitches in their online system and transaction posting system. What does that mean?

In short, it means that if you had a direct deposit going to your TD Bank checking account at any time from September 27th through, well, today (they’re still having some problems) then there is a strong chance that your account won’t reflect that deposit. You won’t see it when you log-in online nor will you see it when you go to the ATM.

Some of you might be thinking, “Why is this an epic failure if it is a technical glitch?” Ah ha! Good question! Most technical glitches are, in fact, glitches. What TD Bank did was a gigantic bomb. They turned off their customer service hotlines (including their automated 24 hour service). Instead, customers were treated to a recorded message saying that calls could not be completed at this time. Customer friendly? I think not.

When TD bought Commerce Bank, many New Jerseyans were aggravated because Commerce really was a customer friendly bank. Their tagline, “America’s Most Convenient Bank” was true for many of their customers who loved the fact that they could go into the bank on the weekends to complete some transactions. The West Long Branch bank, in particular, was great because they worked with groups out of Monmouth University to create “business” checking accounts that had no fees (something that TD Bank recently announced it was overturning).

Now many Commerce Bank customers (myself included) are wondering what we’re going to do about TD Bank. They crashed their online system and couldn’t fix the problem over the course of a week. Oh, and it wasn’t just ANY week that they decided to do this – they decided to do it during a week that included the end of one month and the beginning of another. When do most people get paid or receive their subsidies from the government? Right…the end and beginning of the month. When those dollars aren’t there, people begin to panic because of automatic debits that may be preset to hit their accounts or because of other bills that need to be paid. And TD Bank just told people that they were working on it. Completely unacceptable.

So, again, what are customers of TD Bank left to do? I’ve decided that I’m going to explore other checking account options at other banks. In particular, I’m going to look at Central Jersey Bank (which was recently acquired by OceanFirst Bank). The Central Jersey Bank/OceanFirst Bank operates in Monmouth, Ocean, and Middlesex counties in New Jersey and – most importantly – is headquartered in this part of the state, too. Unlike TD Bank, which is now headquartered out of Canada, it appears that Central Jersey Bank/OceanFirst Bank understands the people in this region.

Later today, I’m going to head over to the big Central Jersey Bank on Route 35 in Ocean Township and inquire about a checking account. TD Bank has ruined Commerce Bank’s stellar reputation and they aren’t worth the hassle any more.

Posted in Money, Jobs, & Finances | 6 Comments »