Fans of The Premier League in UK will know two things (amongst many other things). 

Firstly West Ham United are in deep, deep trouble and need any help they can get to win, or even draw a match otherwise they face a humiliating relegation to a lower league.

Secondly, midfielder Rory Delap of Stoke City has a strange ability to throw a football longer than anyone else. Averaging 38 meters (yes thats over 100 ft) they are akin to a corner or a free-kick and much feared by the opposition because they are such a good source of goals. 

On Saturday this weekend these two met; West Ham needing to protect the point they started the game with and Stoke's almighty ball thrower trying to take two more points off the suffering Hammers. But West Ham had a nifty trick up their Claret sleeves, with thanks to Burnley who had actually come up with this idea originally. Making the longest throw of a football requires Delap to make something of a run-up and so West Ham brazenly and cheekily installed a new ring of advertising boards around their pitch, only 3 feet away from the edge of the playing area, making any run up to throw the ball impossible. 

Bad sportsmanship? Who knows, frankly who cares. (Some may say, yet again) advertising could have come to the rescue, but didn't. That it didn't actually make a difference, or do the job that it was supposed to.... I'll leave that debate for another time. Delap still managed to make 30m+ throws and Stoke City won the game. Looks like West Ham are doomed. Strangely co-incidental then that debate also rages about the demise of advertising and its own potential relegation from the top table...?  

I love that even in our darker times we can pause to think about how to help others less fortunate than ourselves. By taking our clothes off.  

I was very pleased to hear about MediaCom's charity 2010 calendar, apparently the proceeds have already topped £40,000 so far. Its a nice piece of work, in the Calendar Girls' style, with strategic placement of 'everyday' items like a car tyre, laundry pile and a fire extinguisher preserving the male modesty. 

As you flick through, all the pictures seem tasteful and humourous, giving a hint that this was really a fun project to be involved in. The poses are generally pretty artistic, modesty is guarded and the effect on the viewer is that this would be a fun gift for a colleague or pubescent relative. Until you get to page seven...July features an old mate of mine, Stefan Bardega. Reminded me a little of this guy. I know Stef very well, we went to school together, lived together during our twenties and often holiday together. Over all these years spent in close proximity I have successfully avoided ever seeing him naked. Until last Thursday that is. His jolly July pose is particularly brave or foolhardy and (so he claims) involved a large amount of airbrushing to remove large amounts of potential dangling embarrassment. I cannot attest to this claim.  

Anyway, I applaud them all and concede that I'd shamefully choose to make discrete charity donations over baring all to the world so I have a lot of respect for them all. Especially in the digital age when a calendar no longer just sits on the kitchen wall but can be replicated and shared to infinity for eternity. 

Which is precisely why I'm posting this up here. Sorry Stef.... 

The one thing that puzzled though, you'd hope that a savvy media agency would then also be able to market the thing. Searches for it online don't yield any more info, like who its in aid of, or indeed anywhere to buy it. I'd expect them to be blogging and tweeting the hell out of it right? Perhaps its friends and relatives only. Stef - as a mate, I don't want a calendar but I'll buy you a pint or two for making us laugh all weekend. 

If i told you I was going to play tennis with a bus shelter, you'd probably pat me on the head and pack me off to the psychologist with a sympathetic look. But that is precisely what Amstel is allowing bus travellers in Valencia to do.

Through the magic of motion sensors, people waiting for the bus can play a spot of tennis using their hands as raquets, interacting with a digital screen.

A bit like Nintendo Wii but without the need for a remote, this video shows a man playing a real-time tennis game with the digital bus stop.

The bus shelters were designed as part of Amstel's official sponsorship of the Tennis Open in Valencia. The screens also showed live footage of the tournament.

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In a concept created by The Cool Hunter, Puma could soon be challenging fitness freaks to a spinning competition. Not pirouetting but cycling on a static bike. The "SpinStar" event would see people get rewarded for sticking on the bike for longer than 2 hours and would win the bike after 8 hours...

I'm a bit worried this could lead to the less fit amongst us running themselves into the ground for the prize...

The Puma pit crew builds a Ferrari out of clothes.

It's a nice little viral, but as Wes Siler so astutely observes:

"Looks like Puma finally found a use for all its naff Ferrari-branded clothing. This Ferrari F60 is built of shoes, hats and the red and gold polo shirts exclusively worn by European rednecks."

Via This is Swordfish

As brands begin to warm up for next summer’s World Cup adfest, one idea taking an early lead is Foozi Gaming’s branded foosball table... Try saying that after a few beers!

Foozi is distributing its tables throughout South Africa – in bars, universities, colleges, taverns and community centres; basically, wherever people congregate.

Brands pay to have their logos splashed all over the table. The theory being: people come and play a game for free – that’s right, FREE - have fun, and that goodwill associates itself with the brand.

It’s far from the most technologically advanced branding solution but is likely to prove popular, particularly among young black South Africans, for whom football falls little shy of a religion. 

By Hugh Jordan