My morning routine, brought to you by me.

Cross-promotion has become part of our modern lives.

At first I used to hate it. I did not want to see the “American Idol” judges slugging from those huge, red Coca-Cola glasses. Bet it was a different beverage in each cup.

Then it just made me squirm a bit. Maybe NASCAR driver Tony Stewart really did need to munch on that Burger King sandwich during the post-race interview. He looked good leaning against the chain’s logo on his car. And wasn’t he naturally hungry after a grueling 500 miles?

Now, count me in.

(Pardon me while I take a long pull on my cup of Dunkin’ Donuts ground coffee, bought in a big bag at BJ’s Wholesale Club. It’s at a perfect temperature, thanks to the splash from my half-gallon container of Price Chopper Half & Half. This blogger doesn’t type a word in the morning until that first cup poured from our Mr. Coffee drip brewer into my everday beige ceramic cup purchased at Kohl’s.)

Nowadays, I just look and hopefully laugh. ESPN is particularly good at this. This morning I appreciated the cable sports giant’s spot that promoted both the SportsCenter news show and the upcoming movie “RIPD.” The looks from actor Jeff Bridges and NBA player John Wall were perfect.

Sometimes, though, the connection fails miserably. I will not rush out to Subway because of that clip in the commercial from “The Lone Ranger.” I saw the movie yesterday, and I’m certain they weren’t wolfing any sort of sub sandwiches while riding horses or trains. And, spoiler alert here, all of those aforementioned trains ran above the ground.

By the way, you can find my review of the film starring Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer at www.syracusenewtimes.com. I blog about film twice a week at the site for Syracuse’s longtime alternative weekly newspaper.