A Rope of Sand

Nice Time For A Break

2009-10-28T09:31:00.002-04:00

Could the bye week have come at a better time for the Bengals? Sitting at 5-2, first place in the AFC North, coming off a 45-10 thrashing of the Bears, and having the Ravens and Steelers on the horizon; perfect time for a week off. Remember back in 2005 when everyone (well, everyone in Cincinnati) wondered what the team would look like if they only had a defense to match their offense? Well, we found out on Sunday. Anyone thought the Bengals would be 5-2 after Week 7? I certain didn't; I had them down for 6 wins total after the Week 1 loss to the Broncos. But after the bye, they've got Baltimore, at Pittsburgh, at Oakland, Cleveland. Going to Pittsburgh's going to be tough, but I don't think going 3-1 in the stretch is out of the question (although it might be now that I've mentioned it). After that, they finish up Detroit, at Minnesota, at San Diego, Kansas City, at New York Jets; 4-1, 3-2 at the worst. I'd live with 12-4 or 11-5 and an AFC North title, wouldn't you?

I'm torn about the current success UC football is having. On one hand, I love seeing college football excitement in Cincinnati. On the other hand, its making UC fans (of which I know plenty) as insufferable as OSU fans (of which I also know plenty). The reality is that UC won't get the national recognition it thinks it deserves (whether it actually does or not) because they're still relatively new to being a winning program, and history matters a great deal in college football (one of the sport's major drawbacks). UC die-hards all want to see the Bearcats in the BCS Championship game, but I just don't see it happening. An absolutely ridiculous set of circumstances would have to happen for that to occur. In no particular order, the following would have to happen:

-Between Florida and Alabama, one has to not make the SEC Championship game (Alabama being the most likely candidate, since Florida looks pretty safe in the East), and the other has to lose in the SEC Championship game. Of course, the catch here is that the team most likely to cause this scenario to play out is LSU, who's currently ranked #9 in the BCS. If the Tigers were to win out, which would require them going on the road at Alabama and at Mississippi, and avenge an their only loss to Florida in the SEC Championship game, there's no doubt in my mind that they'd make the BCS title game. And if either Florida or Alabama win the SEC, they'd pretty much be guaranteed a shot at the BCS title, even with a loss. What I'm getting at is that the SEC Championship winner (unless everyone loses from here on out and someone completely random wins the title) has a lock one of the top 2 BCS spots.

-After the SEC mess, Texas has to not win the Big 12. Given the BCS's history, it wouldn't surprise me if a 1-loss Texas team made the championship game if they still won the Big 12 title. So losing this week to Oklahoma State wouldn't eliminate them; losing to a junk team from the Big 12 North would.

-Iowa has to lose. Yeah, I know Big Ten + BCS bowl game = FAIL, but Iowa's ranked above UC right now, everyone loves them, and if they won out, they'd have wins at Penn State, at Wisconsin, and at Ohio State. That's pretty good.

-USC has to lose again. A one-loss USC would trump an undefeated UC, TCU, Boise State. and probably Iowa simply because they're USC (history, remember?). This week at Oregon is the best chance of this happening, but recent history suggests that it won't since they've already lost to a Pac-10 team this year.

-TCU and Boise State have to lose. Boise State's been there and done that before in BCS bowl games, and they don't have another hard game on their schedule. TCU still has to play Utah, but that game's at home, and they just crushed BYU in Provo, so I don't think it'll be a problem for them (sidenote: how much is TCU loving the fact that Virginia, while still terrible, has salvaged some semblance of a potentially respectable season? While its still not a great win, it looks a lot better now than it did in September.). I truly think that one of these teams would get a shot at the BCS title this year over UC because the BCS brass would want to see them get crushed by an SEC team so they could say, "See? Told ya so!"

If all those things happen, you could see UC play for the BCS title. But I'm not holding my breath.

Moving away from football, the World Series starts tonight, Phillies vs. Yankees. Hmm. Either the Yankees win their 27th championship or the Phillies go back-to-back. Neither outcome is desirable. Going back to football.

Virginia is currently a 7 point favorite over Duke this weekend. That line is complete joke. Duke's having their best season in, like, forever, and they can put up a ton of points. Duke's 4-3 and looking to make a bowl game, and they have 3 winnable games left (at Virginia, at North Carolina, and Wake Forest). Virginia is 3-4 and this is the only winnable game left. Duke's playing for something, Virginia isn't. Virginia loses to Duke in back-to-back season, and Al Groh will somehow manage to keep his job. Astounding.

Current random sports obsession- college volleyball. Can't get enough of it. I mentioned it last year during the Olympics, and I'm still watching it (the women's game is on now, the men play in the spring). If you're bailing on the World Series like me, I suggest you check out Ohio State at Penn State tonight on the Big Ten Network. Penn State's the #1 team in the country, the 2-time defending National Champion, and riding an 80+ game win streak. Needless to say, they're good.

Okay, I've wasted enough time. In the words of President Bartlett, "Break's over."

Say "What" Again!!!

2009-10-19T22:40:00.003-04:00

Got an invite to Google Wave from my friend in the Pacific Northwest, Honester Ciphers, but I wasn't exactly sure what Google Wave was for. This video was helpful.

Oh, I'm sorry, did I break your concentration?

The Sky Is Falling!

2009-10-19T12:52:00.002-04:00

That's it, its over, time to pack it in. Okay, maybe not. We don't handle success very well here.

The Bengals lost to the Texans on Sunday 28-17 in a game where the Bengals D completely disappeared in the second half. I chalk that up to the lack of pass rush on Matt Schaub, which was due to large part to injures to Antwon Odom and Domata Peko. Push rush was a major problem last year and seemed to be righted this season. Now, I don't know. Rookie Michael Johnson, who was a beast in college at Georgia Tech, is going to need to step up fast. And since neither tight end can seem to hold onto the ball, Chase Coffman might need to step up fast as well.

Speaking of Georgia Tech, thanks to their victory of Virginia Tech on Saturday, Virginia is currently in first place in the ACC Coastal Division, sitting at 2-0 in conference play, the only team in the Coastal without a conference loss. Sure, they still have to play Georgia Tech, Miami, and Virginia Tech, but for now (and at least another week, since Georgia Tech is going to Charlottesville this week and the worst that can happen is they lose and remained tied), the Virginia Cavaliers are a first place team. I told you the sky is falling.

Alabama is hands-down the best team in the country right now and Mark Ingram should be leader in the Heisman clubhouse. Not that any of it means anything in the middle of October.

A six-part docu-series on IFC debuted last night called Monty Python: Almost the Truth (The Lawyers Cut). I haven't seen it yet, but from the reviews, its looks really good. IFC's also showing a lot of old Monty Python stuff right now as well, which is always a good thing.

After it was referenced in last week's episode of Castle, I saw The Sting again for the first time in a while on one of HBO channels over the weekend. Is there a better con-man movie? I don't think so. I think people tend to gravitate toward Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid when then think of Robert Redford and Paul Newman. I like The Sting better.

Finally, my thoughts on the so-called Balloon Boy and his family. I have to admit, when this story first broke, I didn't care about it. I didn't care that some kid in Colorado might be flying away in some balloon. I didn't care when the balloon was found sans kid and it was thought that the kid might have fallen to his death. And I didn't care when it was discovered that the kid was just hiding in the attic the whole time. But now that its been revealed (allegedly) that this thing was a complete hoax, I'm all in on this story. Faking a missing child situation with an accidental launch of balloon contraption in an effort to leverage yourself your own reality show after you've already appeared on a reality show? There's nothing about that that isn't awesome (you know, in a completely deranged sort of way). The sheriff in this case needs to be right. These allegation have to be true; I think I'll be crushed if they aren't. Its the reality show angle that pushes this story over the edge. This was all (allegedly) a publicity stunt? Really? What part of making people think your kid may have floated away on a balloon would a reality television producer look at and say, "Yup, those people need to be on television more often."? People have done some crazy shit to get their own reality show, but fake sending your kid up in a balloon is a whole new level of crazy. The sky is falling indeed.

In Praise Of Soccer

2009-10-15T10:27:00.007-04:00

This is just awesome:

(It gets good around the 0:22 mark).

I have no idea what they're saying in the clip, but the passion and the joy is undeniable. You can tell how much a World Cup berth means to them; I'm sure they partied throughout the night in Honduras. Did anyone celebrate when the US clinched a World Cup berth? Yeah, didn't think so.

Enough With The Cardic Cats

2009-10-13T21:46:00.003-04:00

Another week, another Bengals game decided in the last 60 seconds. Is it getting old? YES. Please, for the love of God, can we get a game that isn't a nail biter? There's no way I can take this every week for the rest of the season. Okay, that's a lie. Obviously, if they go 15-1, I'll take it every day of the week and twice on Sunday. If they win division, I'll take it. Hell, if they just make the damn playoffs, I'll take it. Because then, it'll be all worth it. But right now, as its happening, it sucks. But they're winning, so it doesn't suck that bad. In fact, the more I think about it, we're really got nothing to complain about. Four straight wins, including going 3-0 the first time through the division, and sitting in first place? That's more than anyone here could have asked for after Week 5.

But seriously, I'm already over the "Cardiac Cats" moniker that's been bestowed on the Bengals. I was over it before it started. I love Gus Johnson (I've watched this video at least 35 times), but we really didn't need that nickname.

Perhaps I spoke to soon about the demise of the Moeller High School football program. They thumped Elder last Friday and are currently ranked as the top team in Cincinnati (though they're nowhere to be found on the current USA Today Super 25 rankings, which have St. X at #10, again showing the utter uselessness of trying to rank high school teams nationally). This now makes the season ending St. X-Moeller match up ginormous (and yeah, I'm stoked that "ginormous" is in the spell-checker). Clearly the rivalry isn't dead. My bad.

The more I watch Modern Family, the more I'm thinking that its the best new show of the season. You should be watching it.

I'm in 3 fantasy football leagues this season. Last week, I scored 153.98 points in one league, which is a shitload of points (especially given that its a 16-team league, which is a shitload of teams). In another league, I scored 36 points. Sometimes I hate fantasy football. This is one of those time.

Another awesome 30 for 30 documentary aired tonight, on Baltimore losing the Colts then gaining the Ravens (nee Browns) as told through the eyes of the Colts Marching Band, which continued to play and perform for the 12 years Baltimore didn't have a team. As I said, it was excellent, but I would have liked to have see more on the getting-a-team-by-stealing-someone-else's angle since that's exactly how they lost their first team. For all the hate I throw on Cleveland (all of which is totally deserved), I really did feel bad for the Browns fans when the team left for Baltimore. There should be football in Cleveland (even if they can "win" a game where their quarterback only completes 2 passes, 3 if you include the interception) and there should be football in Baltimore. But it shouldn't have gone down like it did. Given that the film was about Baltimore and its fans, that fact was mentioned but obviously glossed over and not covered in depth.

I've often thought about what it would be like to lose a sports franchise (a major one, that is; I'm not counting the Rockers, Mighty Ducks, Jungle Kats, Silverbacks, Stuff, etc. of the world in this conversation). Obviously, the Reds weren't ever going anyway. But the Bengals were are different story. I remember when it was thought at Mike Brown might move the team out of Cincinnati, back in 1993 or so. Wasn't he in talks with St. Louis, who ultimately got the Rams out of Los Angeles? I seem to recall that. Anyway, I can't even imagine what that would have been like. What would I have done as a fan? I don't know. I certainly wouldn't follow the team to the new city (I'd be betraying my hometown) and I could never just adopt a random new team to cheer for (because those fans are the ones that bother me the most). Are there any other options? I doubt I would stop watching the NFL altogether, but you never know. At the very least, it would probably make playing fantasy football easier.

O Captain, My Captain

2009-10-06T08:57:00.004-04:00

Caught the last half of Dead Poet's Society yesterday evening (on VH1 Classic, of all channels). A great movie, one of my favorites. Then later in the night, it was referenced in How I Met Your Mother. Clearly, its a sign. For what, I don't know, but a sign none the less.

Had a solid weekend for beating rival teams. St. X beat Elder on Friday, Virginia (shockingly) beat North Carolina on Saturday, and the Bengals beat the Browns on Sunday. Is it sad that I thought the biggest win of the three was St. X? Elder is clearly X's biggest football rival right now, but it wasn't always that way. In fact, when I was in school, Elder probably ranked 3rd in terms of GCL rivalries, behind Moeller and LaSalle. Moeller was the powerhouse back in the day, LaSalle was the "King of the Road" game, and Elder was just Elder. But now, Elder's the #1 rival, dwarfing both Moeller and LaSalle. Funny how it is.

Speaking of funny, how the hell did Virginia pull off a victory? Is Carolina just that bad? As much as I would have loved to see Groh go 0-12, its always nice to beat Carolina, especially when its a year where they were supposed to be good and the Hoos are so bad.

Note to the Bengals- have a game won or lost before the final minute of regulation/overtime. Please.

Apparently, the baseball regular season ended on Sunday. I can't remember ever being less enthused about a baseball postseason than this one. I read a stat yesterday that said since August 23 (ie- the last 6 weeks of the season), the Reds were 27-13, the best in baseball. They finished 78-84, 4th place in the NL Central, 13 games out. Does this mean we (Reds fans) should be excited for next year? Does one's finish to the previous season have any real bearing on one's performance next? Some say "yes." Look at the Bengals; they were miserable last season, but they managed to finish strong and win their last 3 games. Now, they're 3-1 and tied for first place in the AFC North. Sure, its a tenuous 3-1 (they could be 4-0 as easily as they could be 1-3), but 3-1 is 3-1 at the quarter pole. So maybe there's some reason to hope next spring.

All signs point to Ken Griffey, Jr. retiring from baseball. He got a huge standing ovation from the Seattle fans on Sunday was even carried off the field by his teammates at the end of the game. Its tough to come back from getting carried off the field. I've made my thoughts known on Ken Griffey, Jr. He was the best player I ever saw (and will ever see). If this was his last year, he'll be headlining the Hall of Fame class in 2014, the first year of his eligibility.

I'm incredibly stoked for ESPN's 30 for 30 series that starts tonight. Hands down, this looks like the coolest thing ESPN's ever done. 30 documentaries by 30 filmmakers covering topics from the past 30 years (since this is ESPN's 30th anniversary). Its a complete 360 from the"me, me, me" 25th anniversary celebration, which is a good thing. The subject list for 30 for 30 just looks incredible. Tonight's doc is about the trade of Wayne Gretzky from Edmonton to Los Angeles, done by Peter Berg (director/producer of Friday Night Lights, both the movie and the TV show). I plan to watch all 30 films, but I'm particularly interested in the ones on Allen Iverson, Reggie Miller and the Knicks, fantasy sports, Terry Fox, and June 17, 1994. Again, this just looks so cool.

In other TV recommendation news, you should be watching Modern Family, Glee, and FlashForward. All good, in completely different ways.

Final thought- I read from a friend that the ideal frequency for chest compressions during CPR is 100 bpm, which happens to be the same tempo for both Stayin' Alive and Another One Bites The Dust. Now THAT'S a sign.

Greatest Prediction Ever

2009-09-30T17:45:00.002-04:00

This just has to be heard to be believed.

Second at-bat, 3-1 count, fastball, home run, left-center, 2nd deck. That's just awesome.

This is now my favorite sports play prediction of all time, replacing Snoop Dogg. I wish I could find the video, but it went something like this: USC was down in the red zone and Snoop, a big USC fan, was being interviewed on camera behind the end zone the Trojans were driving toward. The interviewer asked Snoop, who coaches (or at least, coached at the time) his son's peewee football team, what play he would call next. Snoop responded with something to the effect of, "hand it off to my boy LenDale White for the touchdown and then flip the ball to Coach Snoop." On the next play, USC handed it off to LenDale White, who scored, then flipped the ball to Snoop, still standing next to the interviewer and cameraman. They immediately cut back to Snoop, who proceeded to strike the Heisman pose. It was pretty cool. But calling a guy's first career homerun down to the when (second at-bat), how (fastball on 3-1), and where (left-center, 2nd deck) is just crazy (okay, so it just missed the 2nd deck; its still incredible).

It's Been A Long Time Comin'

2009-09-28T09:39:00.002-04:00

Bengals 23, Steelers 20.

Not going to lie, that felt good. It wasn't easy (seriously, -10 yards in the 1st quarter?), but a win's a win, especially against a division opponent and especially against Pittsburgh. I jumped out of my seat when Brian Leonard dove for the first down on 4th and 10 (as I noted on Facebook, Leonard should eat for free this week in town for that play). I let out a scream when Carson Palmer found Andre Caldwell in the end zone with 14 seconds left. And I, along with everyone else in Cincinnati, cringed in fear for a moment thinking that 14 seconds was too much time to leave on the clock. But there was no "Immaculate Deflection Part II" this week (fuckin' Brandon Stokley). Who Dey indeed.

After Sunday's game, is there any question that the offense should go no-huddle/modified hurry-up all the time? It was the only time they were able to move the ball down field and score (or at least be in position to score). Isn't the no-huddle offense what we used to win the division in 2005? Curious....

Virginia was on a bye this week. And yet, I think they still found a way to lose. I kinda hope they did; I had Bye Week (-7.5) over the Hoos.

Speaking of college football, it was proven again this weekend that the polls are completely meaningless. Ole Miss, Penn State, Cal.... no one knows anything when it comes to ranking teams this early in the season, they even admit to it, and yet they still do it. As I've said before, I don't think there should be a single poll until about halfway through the season. Crazy idea- give teams time to actually *do* something before trying to rank them. Insanity, I know.

Finished Dan Brown's new book The Lost Symbol over the weekend. Its not the worst book I've ever read, but all that means is that I've read some really bad books. Its a shameless Da Vinci Code ripoff. That's right, Dan Brown ripped off himself. The story, the pacing, the characters, the character's motivations, the twists, its almost shot-for-shot from The Da Vinci Code. And like all other Dan Brown books, it completely falls apart at the end. He clearly to put a lot time in to researching the locations he uses in his books (be it The Vatican, Paris, or, in this case, Washington, D.C.) and tying it all into a conspiracy-theory filled story, but he seems to be completely lost when it comes to wrapping it up in the end. Probably only worth reading for curiosities sake (and because everyone else in the world will be reading it).

Jacked Up

2009-09-24T12:14:00.002-04:00

From SI.com's Hot Clicks:

I think he killed that kid.

The De-Evolution Of Dance

2009-09-23T09:05:00.003-04:00

Proof that the good old days weren't always that good. This is physically painful to watch:

For all the crap we give disco, how is this any better?

Making It Interesting

2009-09-21T09:18:00.003-04:00

Up by 10, less than 2 minutes to go, any fan base would think that they have the game wrapped up. Except Cincinnati's. When your team's the Bengals, the game's not over until the final whistle sounds (and even then, like on Sunday, you're still not sure). Props to Packers coach Mike McCarthy, though, for kicking the field goal on 2nd down and managing the clock instead of going for the end zone and wasting time. He needed two scores, so he took the sure points now, knowing that either way, he needed to recover the onside kick and score again. But teams never recover onside kicks, right? Yeah, right, unless they happen against the Bengals. Two 20+ yard pass plays later, and the Pack are sitting on the 10 yard line with a chance to tie the game. Thankfully, a false start ended the game (or the clock ran out, I'm still not entirely sure) and the Bengals are sitting at 1-1 with Pittsburgh coming to town next week. Will it be annother game that goes down to the final seconds? I'll take it, as long as it involves Pittsburgh losing.

And speaking of Bengals-Packers, here's a great column by Paul Daugherty from Sunday's Enquirer that recalls the 1992 meeting between these two teams. What happened in that game to make it significant? Not much. Packers starting QB Don Majkowski gets injured and is replaced by a guy named Brett Favre. Favre proceeds to fumble the ball 4 times and gets booed by the home crowd. But when down 23-17 on his own 8-yard line with just over a minute to play, he leads the Pack down the field for the game-winning touchdown. He's started every game he's played in since then (across 3 teams). The Bengals were 2-0 going into that game; afterward, they lost their next 4 and 9 of the next 11. Then they lost the next decade. Thanks, Brett. Asshole.

Virginia lost again; 0-12 is still within reach. I will say though, there were times against Southern Mississippi that the Hoos actually looked like a football team. They were even leading 34-17 midway through the 3rd quarter. But then, in a George Welsh Era-like collapse, they gave up 20 unanswered points to lose the game (I swear I could hear someone yell "Insurmountable lead!" right before it happened...). The Curse of the Pep Band lives on.

Watched some of the Emmy Awards last night (I could only take so much fawning over Jerry Jones's new stadium; so glad they lost, and not just because I had the Giants +2.5 in the pick'em pool). End result? Neil Patrick Harris is awesome. The opening number:

And the best bit of the night:

Oktoberfest was this weekend. I've said it before, but no one does a food festival like Cincinnati. Especially Oktoberfest (Munich excluded). Good food, good beer. Missed the Chicken Dance this year; it was apparently led by Homer Simpson and George Wendt. Kinda glad I missed it now.

Keep Matriculating The Ball Down The Field

2009-09-17T12:01:00.003-04:00

Saw the first episode of what looks to be a pretty cool 5-part series on Showtime last night called Full Color Football: The History of the American Football League. As you might expect, the show chronicles the history of the AFL. This first episode covered the creation of the league and its first few years, up until the league's founder, Lamar Hunt, made the decision to move his team (the Dallas Texans) to Kansas City (becoming the Chiefs) right after they had won the AFL Championship. As a football fan, I really enjoyed this. I think the only real problem with it is that it airs on Showtime and not HBO, meaning that its not narrated by Liev Schreiber. But I'll get over it. What got me really excited this show was what they teased for the upcoming episodes, specifically about Paul Brown. They showed a clip of Bill Belichick talking about all the innovations Paul Brown brought to professional football and how, like, 80% of what he did back them, teams are still doing now. If I was disappointed by anything Hard Knocks did this season, it was that I think they missed an opportunity to really delve into the history of the Bengals and Paul Brown (the closest they got was Tank Johnson learning that Bill Walsh isn't named Donny and that he once coached in Cincinnati). Hopefully, Full Color Football will get more into just how much Paul Brown did for the game of football (and zero of just how much Mike Brown has destroyed it).

Just Call Me Brett Favre

2009-09-14T12:10:00.005-04:00

I just couldn't stay away. There's too much stuff going on and I have too much time on my hands. So I'm back from retirement for a second time (which leaves me, what, 3 short of Mr. Favre?), and this time, I mean it. You know, that is, until I don't.

After 20 years of futility, the Bengals found a new way to lose:

Ladies and gentlemen, the longest game-winning play from scrimmage in the final minute of the fourth quarter in NFL history. I guess its fitting that the Bengals would be on the wrong side of a dubious record such as that. I mean, who knows who had the record was before Sunday, but everyone's going to remember that the Bengals have it now. Doesn't hurt that Gus Johnson was on the call. This might be a top 5 all-time "Gus Johnson loses his mind on the mic" moment, and if you're a fan of Gus Johnson (which I am), you know that's saying something.

I don't see anymore than 6 wins for the Bengals this year. Which, considering we're talking about the Bengals, isn't half bad. And its 6 more wins than I think my Virginia Cavaliers will win this year:

The ACC's bad, and Virginia's the worst team in the ACC. If this were the English Premier League, they'd be demoted to CAA (where they'd struggle against in-state rival Richmond, James Madison, and William and Mary, who's already beaten the Hoos this year). Its just pathetic. Shocking how having a marching band and making the students wear orange doesn't automatically translate into having a winning program. I know going 0-12 (or, by some miracle, 1-11) won't be cause for ditching the marching band (though we can always hope), but at the very least I hope all the students burn their "Sea of Orange" shirts and return to wearing ties and sun dresses on game day. I don't think Virginia's in the business of firing coaches mid-season, regardless of how bad it gets, so the impending winless season will be all Al Groh's to bear. Couldn't happen to a more deserving guy.

Been to a couple of local amateur MMA fights (ICF events) with PreView and Puddin' recently. Interesting, to say the least. The 7-sided octagon (which, I guess, is technically a heptagon, but that's not as fun to say as "7-sided octagon") threw me a bit at first, but the events are fun and the people watching is outstanding (both in a good way and a bad way). Quick shout out to the guys at Fight Ribbon; good people with a great product.

Apparently, Kanye West did something outrageous at the VMAs last night. My first thought? "They still hold the VMAs?" Who knew? I wasn't watching. I was busy watching Jay Cutler rack up points for the Green Bay defense by consistently hitting the open Packer defender. Good for my fantasy team. One of them, at least. What wasn't good for my fantasy teams? Orton's BS touchdown (see above), Drew Brees throwing against a high school defense, Joe Flacco sitting on my bench, and the lack of scoring by Matt Forte, Roddy White, and Donald Driver. Not a good start of the fantasy football season. But hey, I'm currently winning my baseball league!

Speaking of baseball, are the Reds still playing? Can't recall the last game where I watched more than two innings. 82-80, huh? Might be a little off on that prediction. Thank God they're in the same division as the Pirates or else there'd be a lot more last place finishes.

The new TV season is about to start up. This, plus football, is why fall is the best time of the year. Already hooked on Glee- cheesy and hokey on the outside, subversive and sardonic on the inside. Will be definitely be checking out Flash Forward (read the book, and I think the show has a chance to be better) and will probably check out V and Community. Can't wait to see how Fringe comes back from their season finale. Wondering if Heroes can come back and just be better than "suck." And there are probably a half dozen more shows (at least) that I'll be watching as well.

So much television, so little time. Its a wonder I that I ever get anything done (which is probably why I never do).

Halfway Home

2009-07-07T10:21:00.002-04:00

Which I guess means you're standing on second. While the All-Star Game is the celebrated halfway point of the baseball season, last night's Reds-Phillies game was the 81st game on the Reds schedule, making it the actual halfway point. And what a way to end the first half.

22-1.

Damn.

22-1. 10 runs in the first, Cueto records a total of 2 outs, and Paul Janish comes in to pitch the top of the eighth. Paul Janish, of the backup shortstop variety, came into pitch. That's how well things went last night. You can't even make the "its an Eagles-Bengals" score joke because you can't score "1" in football (although if anyone could figure out a way, I'd put my money on the Bengals).

I can't say it was all bad, though. Cole Hamels, Jimmy Rollins, and Shane Victorino are all on fantasy teams I manage, so it helped me have a good night. Now, reality always trumps fantasy for me, but if the Reds are going to lose, they might as well lose big to guys that are on my fantasy team. And from what I've read, I think athletes would rather lose 1-22 than 0-1. The latter is a tight game where one hit here or a different bounce there could decide the game. When you're down 0-10 at the end of the first, about 38.5 things have to all go your way just to make it close. Some nights its not your night, and last night was definitely one of those nights.

So where does that leave the Reds at the midpoint of the season? They're 40-41, in fourth place in the NL Central, and 3.5 games out of first. Yeah for mediocrity. Back in January, I predicted that the Reds would finish the year just over .500, and I think they're right on track for that. When Votto went on the DL, the offense suffered mightly, and its still struggling to get back on track. The starters have been hit or miss with the addition of some injuries. And the bullpen has been statisitically the best in the majors so far, but there's no way they continue to pitch at that level through September. So they're pretty much right where I thought they'd be. I expect the starting pitching to get better (Volquez will get healthy, and Homer Bailey pitched brilliantly his last time out before Albert Pujols made the case for getting walked with the bases loaded), and once Votto gets back into the groove, the offense should even out. They're a .500 team, and I don't expect them to make a major move before the trade deadline, so I don't expect them to get any better. I do still think they can finish the year with a winning record, which would be good for morale, but I don't see them contending for anything. But given how the team's been the past few years, I'll take the moral victory this year.

Heat, Circa 1933

2009-07-04T09:13:00.003-04:00

And the 2009 Magical Mystery Movie Tour continues, this week stopping at Batman vs. Captain Jack Sparrow, otherwise known as Public Enemies.

Now, I had high hopes for this film. Really high hopes. And I while thought it was good, I didn't think it was great. Johnny Depp was great as John Dillinger (nice to see him play a "normal" person; his first since, what, Finding Neverland?), but I think that could be due to the fact that Dillinger is the character that was given any depth. Everyone else just felt kinda flat and 1-dimensional. It may be unfair, but I can't help but compare this movie to Heat, Michael Mann's other bank-heist epic. There, he fully explored the characters on both sides of the story (Pacino's cop and De Niro's robber). I get that Public Enemies is a film about John Dillinger and not the people chasing him, but because of that, you don't feel anything for Christian Bale's Melvin Purvis, the FBI agent tasked with taking down Dillinger. I didn't feel like there was a character there, and thus their one scene together (aside from the ending, when Dillinger is gunned down; its a famous moment in history, so no spoiler alert for you!) is really dissapointing Of course it didn't have the gravity of the Pacino-De Niro diner scene, but it could have. Depp and Bale are two of the finest actors working today (in my opinion), and their one scene could've been great. But it wasn't because Bale's character didn't have any. All the early press focused on Johnny Depp and Christian Bale in the same movie, but then the movie got finished, and it was just Depp. I have to wonder now if that's why all the recent ads for Public Enemies have focused solely on Depp with nary a whisper of Bale (I mean, he's only the God-damn Batman!).

But it was just Melvin Purvis that seemed flat; it was everyone not named "John Dillinger." In addition to Purvis, I wish they could have spent a little more time developing the other guys in Dillinger's crew. A big point in the movie was highlighting how loyal Dillinger was to his people, but without really knowing any of them, it was hard to connect with.

As I said, I thought it was a good movie. I think I'd give it a B-. There's some good shootout scenes (again, nothing like the heist scene from Heat, but that's okay) and there are a ton of cameos. It seemed like everyone in this movie was someone you'd recognize (not major names, but someone where you'd look it up on IMDb afterwards and go, "Oh! That guy!"), even the incidental characters that have only minimal screen time.

So there it is, the seventh new movie (I think) I've seen this year. Here are my grades so far:

Watchmen A-
Star Trek A+
X-Men Origins: Wolverine C-
Angels and Demons B-
The Hangover B+
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen C
Public Enemies B-

Happy Fourth of July.

Odd Day

2009-06-25T20:06:00.002-04:00

I just got back from watching Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, with the full intention of writing a review here on the blog, only to come home and find out that Michael Jackson died. Nothing against Ed McMahon (who I only know from Star Search; too young for him on The Tonight Show) and Farrah Fawcett (who I only know as someone who was once super hot; too young for Charlie's Angels), but Michael Jackson was bigger than both of them combined. Times thirty. And then some. Its wild. I always thought that he would have one last great comeback moment before he died (think Elvis "Aloha From Hawaii"). Even now, just after his passing, there's talk about how he'll be remembered; will his recent legal troubles/bizzare behavior overshadow his monumental impact on music. I say no way. We got past fat, drug-addicted Elvis, we'll get past Michael's issues. Yeah, so he was borderline functional as a person; he was an absolute musical genius. As ESPN's Matthew Berry (@TheRealTMR) tweeted this evening- Say what you want, but when most people die, they don't have four minutes as good as this:

Couldn't agree more.

(And by the way, Transformers was exactly what you'd expect it to be- giant robots, big explosions, hot chicks, minimal story/plot. Go in with those expectations and you won't be disappointed. Go in expecting anything more and you're a moron.)

Great Years For Movies

2009-06-18T19:19:00.003-04:00

I've seen a lot of movies so far this year. Watchmen, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Star Trek, The Hangover, Angels & Demons, just to name a few. Not quite halfway through 2009 and I've probably seen more movies in the theater this year than I did in the past two years combined (and there are still several more to go; I'm looking at you, Transformers, G.I. Joe, Harry Potter, Public Enemies). And while not all of these movies (if any) are destined to be classics (though I've got high hopes for Public Enemies), it did get me to think about the great years in movie releases. I was aided in this inquiry by the current issue of Toyfare magazine (yes, a magazine/price guide for toys, action figures, busts, statues, maquettes, etc.- get over it).

The folks over at Toyfare have proclaimed 1984 to be "the best year in pop culture." Now, I tend to think that's more a function of our distance from 1984 (25 years, for those of you who struggle with math) than it does with that actually happened in 1984, but that's an argument for a different time. I mention the article here because it alerted me to the plethora of great movies that were released in 1984. Check out this list:

The Terminator, Gremlins, This Is Spinal Tap, Ghost Busters, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Amadeus, Beverly Hills Cop, The Karate Kid, The Natural, Sixteen Candles, Footloose, Purple Rain, The Neverending Story, Red Dawn, Police Academy, Bachelor Party, The Last Starfighter, Revenge of the Nerds

That's pretty damn good, and I'm sure I missed a few. Now, any cinephile will tell you that the greatest year for movies was 1939, and its really hard to argue that. I mean, when your lineup's got Gone With The Wind, The Wizard of Oz, Stagecoach, Gunga Din, Wurthering Heights, and Mr. Smith Goes To Washington; that's like the '27 Yankees. So everyone's battling for second place. Fine. What years stack up after '39? I think 1984 has a strong case. They may not all be "classics" but they are some good movies. Thinking about 1984 lead me to consider 1994, which has also been named a great year for movies. Consider:

Pulp Fiction, The Shawshank Redemption, The Lion King, Hoop Dreams, Heavenly Creatures, Clerks, Forrest Gump, Quiz Show, Nobody's Fool, The Professional, Natural Born Killers, Four Weddings and a Funeral, The Mask, The Crow, Interview With The Vampire, Ed Wood, Reality Bites, Speed (okay, maybe not so much)

Another solid year. Maybe years ending in -4 have something to do with it (1974-The Godfather Part II, Chinatown, The Conversation*, Young Frankenstein, Blazing Saddles, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Lenny; 1964: Dr. Strangelove, Mary Poppins, Goldfinger, My Fair Lady, A Fistful of Dollars). Maybe its just because years ending in -4 puts the difference between then and now on the -5's.

[Random note: John Cazale, aka Fredo Corleone, appeared in all of 5 movies before dying of cancer, The Godfather Part I, The Godfather Part II, The Conversation, Dog Day Afternoon, and The Deer Hunter, and appeared in archival footage in The Godfather Part III. All 6 movies were nominated for Best Picture. Not bad for 6 movies.]

So what about 2004? Which if these, if any, will be remembered as "classics" or "greats" 15 or 20 years from now: The Incredibles, Million Dollar Baby, Sideways, Spider-Man 2, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Ray, Shaun of the Dead, Finding Neverland, The Aviator, Garden State, Crash, Napolean Dynamite, Saw, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgandy?

For me, I might have to go with 1999 as my favorite year (again with the nice, neat time difference). Fight Club, The Matrix, Office Space, The Sixth Sense, American Beauty, American Pie, Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, 10 Things I Hate About You, Toy Story 2, Three Kings, Galaxy Quest, Being John Malkovich, The Blair Witch Project, Election, The Insider, South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut; now THAT was a good year. Although, I think the fact that Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace also came out in 1999 make the year ineligible for competition. No year that saw the release of a Star Wars prequel is qualified to call itself "the greatest year for movies." Damn you, George Lucas.

It's Called "The Internet"

2009-06-15T13:12:00.001-04:00

Oh, how far we've come.

What Did You Get On Your SAT's?

2009-06-09T09:15:00.006-04:00

Zack Morris got a 1502 (the one piece of Saved By The Bell trivia I know).

That is just weird. Awesome. But weird.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand We're Back

2009-06-08T09:40:00.004-04:00

Hopefully.

Maybe.

We'll see.

So, I've been a little lax recently on posting here. I'm going to try and be less lax about doing so in the near future. I'll start by making another movie recommendation- if you want to laugh for an hour and a half, go see The Hangover.

Nothing actually happens in the movie, and yes, the trailers pretty much give you the movie, but it was still funny as hell. Sure, it probably would have been funnier if you didn't already know that Mike Tyson had a cameo, but his scenes are still hysterical. I mean, Mike Tyson singing In The Air Tonight? Never not funny. Supposedly, there's a sequel already in the works. I'm not entirely sure how that's going to work (perhaps the storyline involving Ed Helm's Stu character), but I'm sure it will. Anyway, the movie's a riot. Mindless, juvenile, offensive, yes. But really funny. Go see it.

(Random factoid I discovered while reading up on The Hangover: Zack Galifianakis was offered a role in Into The Wild because Sean Penn saw an earlier movie he had done about 15 times. The movie? Out Cold. See Puddin', you're not only one with love for Out Cold; Sean Penn's seen it 15 times!)

Hank Haney = FAIL

2009-05-18T12:48:00.002-04:00

Hank Haney is one of, if not THE, top golf swing coaches in the world. How do I know this? He coached Tiger Woods, and that's enough of an endorsement for me. But it would appear that the guy who could breakdown and rebuild Tiger's swing can't fix Charles Barkley's swing. Exhibit A:

This is from a recent event, AFTER Barkley was showcased on the Golf Channel's The Hank Haney Project. Question- what in God's name would possess someone, anyone, to stand in front of Barkley while on the tee? At that point, you're just asking to get hit, which is exactly what happens in the video. Its good to know that no matter how bad I may be a golf, there's always someone worse, that someone is Charles Barkley.

You Don't Change Horses Mid-Race

2009-05-16T18:31:00.003-04:00

Well, unless you're Calvin Borel, I guess.

So jockey Calvin Borel bailed on riding Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird in the Preakness in favor of riding the filly Rachel Alexandra. It was the first time in history that a jockey had done this, and, given that its been over 80 years since a filly won the Preakness, it seemed like a crazy move. But with Rachel Alexandra's win at Pimlico today, it looks like he made the right choice. A few thoughts about this:

1)Rachel Alexandra has to be entered in the Belmont. If that happens, I have no doubt that she'd be the favorite. Let's say that happens and Calvin Borel rides her to another victory; how is Borel celebrated? He'd be a Triple Crown winning jockey without a Triple Crown winning horse; as far as I know, that's never happened before. Would it be like Tiger winning all four majors in a row, but not doing it in the same calander year? Would it recognized and remembered the same as other Triple Crown wins? My gut tells me no, since we tend to only remember the horse, and not the rider. Which is too bad, because if Borel can win the Triple Crown riding different horses, it would be pretty amazing. Maybe he should ride a different horse althogther for the Belmont, just to try and nail the point home.

2)Mine That Bird finished second at the Preakness today, which I guess suggests that he wasn't a fluke two weeks ago at the Derby. A much like he did in the Derby, he started last in the field before charging all the way up to the front, eventually only losing by something like 3/4 length. In fact, given a little more time, I think Mine That Bird would have run her down and won. The Belmont is a 1 1/2 mile track, considerably longer than the Preakness's 1 3/16 mile. If they go head-to-head again in the Belmont, I think I'd put my money on Mine That Bird. The extra length gives him the edge.

3)Finally, its usually a bad thing for horse racing when there isn't a horse running for the Triple Crown, but I actually think that this situation is good for the sport. You've still got Calvin Borel's Triple Crown quest, which is intriguing in its uniquness, plus the Mine That Bird-Rachel Alexandra rematch. Its all about giving the viewers something worth watching, and the Belmont will have plenty of that.

To Boldy Go...

2009-05-11T11:55:00.002-04:00

Go see Star Trek. Seriously, go see it. Its really good, really fun, and you don't need any prior Star Trek knowledge to enjoy it. Sure, some knowledge helps, but its definitely not required. J.J. Abrams and crew did, in my opinion, did a masterful job of a)introducing the characters, b)acknowledging the existing story canon, and c)establishing a new story arc that all viewers could follow and get behind. Earlier, I said that everyone should go see Watchmen, and while I still stand by that, I think that Star Trek is a far better "you'll enjoy this even if you nothing about the source material" movie.

Without spoiling it, I'll just say that the plot of the movie guards itself from criticism about changes to the Star Trek canon. Sure, it makes for a kinda weak plot, but plot clearly wasn't the point of the movie; the point was to set up the characters and the universe in which they operate so they can tell more substantial stories later in the sequels (and judging by the early box office numbers, I think a sequel's inevitable, if one hasn't already been announced; if it holds at #1 against Angels and Demons this week, I bet they announce TWO more movies). And the characters and character interactions were by far the best parts of the movie. I thought the cast did a great job of embodying the essence of the characters they were playing without resorting to imitations of the original actors. You could see how these characters could logically (sorry) progress into the characters of old. The scene of Kirk as a kid going on a joyride (the one you see in the trailer) was unnecessary, but there's also a scene of Spock as a kid that's just awesome. The action scenes were nice and flashy, but the character scenes were what I found the most interesting.

There were also plenty of Easter eggs planted throughout the movie to satisfy the hardcore Trekkies (or Trekkers, as I guess, from the video below, that's the correct term now). Nearly all the iconic lines from the old show were fit into the script, and every time one was uttered, it drew praise from the audience I was in. Kirk hooking up with the green-skinned alien-girl was a nod to a classic Star Trek episode. I've also read that was a tribble sitting on the desk when we first meet Scotty (I didn't catch this; guess I'll have to see it again). And, much like it was done in Casino Royale for James Bond, you don't hear the iconic Star Trek theme until the end of the movie, implying that its only at that point that they've become "the crew of the Starship Enterpise."

So go see it, you won't be disappointed. Also, watch this clip from last Saturday's Weekend Update on SNL; you won't be disappointed but it, either:

Live long and prosper.

There's Something Wrong With My New Robe

2009-05-05T15:46:00.004-04:00

Perhaps that's because its not a robe, but a Snuggie. Yes, a goddamn Snuggie. I swore I'd never buy one, so clearly that was the go-sign for my brother to get me one for my birthday. Thanks, bro (and actually, I'm kinda pissed I didn't think of it first and gotten one for him on his birthday).

As I've previously stated, I would never have purchased such an item on my own volition. There are products that are wacky but also kind of serve a purpose, and there are products that exist solely because they can; this abomination is the latter. However, since I ended up with one anyway, I feel obligated to give it a review.

What: A fucking Snuggie
Purchased: I didn't, it was a gift, so to speak
Does it work as advertised: Uh, yeah.

The question here isn't whether or not it works; of course it works, it's a blanket with sleeves in it and it works like a blanket with sleeves in it. The thing is, my other blankets- you know, the ones without sleeves- work just as well. But in the interest of equal time, I suffered through the Snuggie last night while I watched television (aside: the weekly reviews have stopped, since we're nearing the end of the television season, and I'll be doing a big recap post once all the shows have finished for the season and know whether they've been renewed for next season; I know you all really care about that). It was almost unbearable.

First off, you can't help be feel ridiculous while wearing it. Blankets aren't supposed to be something you wear. Eventhough I was alone and all the blinds were shut, I could feel the world laughing at me. This was not a pleasent feeling.

Second, this thing is waaaaay to fucking big for a regular sized (or smaller) person. I know this because it fits me (like a robe) almost perfectly. Short people (ie- everyone else, as far as I'm concerned) would have a hell of a time "using" this damned thing. The sleeves are insanely wide, in so much as they might as well be pant legs. Yeah, you can still use your hands and move your arms, but there's so much material there, it just gets in the way. So you roll up the material to free you hands, which leaves you with a unwieldy mass of material, and at that point, you might as well take your hands out of the sleeves altogether, which, of course, would defeat the whole purpose.

So anyway, as expected, I'm not impressed. Its a product that exists because someone thought of it, and not because its actually useful. That said, I am glad that I own a Snuggie now so that I can wear it a random and inappropriate times to garner a cheap laugh. But as for regular, daily use, I'll stick with blanket 1.0. No need for the so-called upgrade.

I Need To Find This Guy

2009-04-29T11:26:00.001-04:00

Seriously. If we have masked vigilantes running around Cincinnati, I need to get downtown more often.

My God, Please Let This Happen

2009-04-28T17:18:00.002-04:00

The Bengals might appear on HBO's Hard Knocks.

Now, I've never seen Hard Knocks, but I would totally watch it if the Bengals were featured (I think I've made it clear that I only watch reality shows when they involve Cincinnatians). This HAS to happen. Actually, no. This only has to happen if Mike Brown is prominently featured throughout the show (and since he's the only in charge, I'm guessing that would be inevitable). Brown is crazy reclusive to the point where he almost never gives television interviews, so I have a hard time seeing him getting on board with this. But seeing just how dysfunctional and ass-backward Mike Brown runs the team would be so worth it. Everyone who follows the NFL would want to see the Bengals on this show. EVERYONE. Please, make this happen.

Weekly TV Thoughts: 04/19 - 04/25

2009-04-26T12:35:00.002-04:00

Light week this week, with Lost taking a break and Kings being relegated to the summer to burn off its remaining episodes after being relegated to Saturday nights first. I think its clear that Kings won't be on NBC's schedule next season.

-Chuck, Monday: If you didn't know any better, you might have thought that this episode was setting up the end of the show. Chuck rescued his father, destroyed a critical Fulcrum base, and got the Intersect out of his head. Where does the show go from here? Thankfully, there's one more episode this season to set up Season 3 (which NEEDS to happen; be sure to head to Subway on Monday to show your support for Chuck), which has been billed as a "game changer." And while I think that phrase is waaaaaaaay overused in television, with the Chuck no longer being the Intersect, I think it actually applies in this case. I think Chuck trying to be a spy just to be a spy and not because he has the Intersect in his head is a great direction for the show and I can't wait to see how it turns out (because there WILL be a Season 3).

-Heroes, Monday: First off, totally random Clint Howard sighting! As to the episode, I didn't know what the think about Sylar's (literal) identity crisis; I guess it was his turn for the therapy session since he wasn't part of the group session that took place last week at Coyote Sands. Parkman, Hiro, and Ando also worked through their issued as well. Now everyone's cleared the air with themselves and everyone else so we can move onto the big seasion finale. I wonder how they're going to take out Danko. He tried (and failed) to kill Sylar at the end of the episode; do they just have Sylar do it and be done with it? Or will someone like Nathan or Bennett get a chance to do it? Going back to Parkman for a moment- why can't he stop Sylar? As he showed this week, he should NEVER be captured because he can make around him think he's not there. So why not use that ability to trap Sylar? It seems to be the best option to me; no one's immune to Parkman's power, not even Sylar, so trapping him in his own mind appears to be much easier than planting a sharp object into the base of his spine. But perhaps that just too easy.

-24, Monday: How many times have moles on this show gone with self-inflicted gun shot wound to try and cover up the fact that they're a spy? That's already twice in this season alone; at least Tony was a man about it and shot himself somewhere halfway believeable, as opposed to Sean, who wussed out and went with the arm. I glad they they don't appear to drag out the secret of Tony's betrayal any further than the next episode; I'm guessing Jack would've shot Tony right there at the end of the episode had he not collapsed the ground in convulsions. I'm also glad that Jonas appeared to fail in his suicide attempt; I want more Jon Voight. And next week, they teased the meeting of Jack and Jonas, which should be great. I guess it was inevitable that Jonas and Tony were working for the same people, though I doubt either one knew it about it. Jonas was supposed to devolop the bioweapon for his employer, and not for his own personal use, so Tony was tasked to stop Jonas's rogue mission and get the bioweapon to its intended location. Again, I hope the main, big bad guy behind everything that's happened this season isn't someone ridiculous, like a character we've already seen who's been a traiter this whole time (like Ethan or someone). Just make it somone we haven't seen before and keep the crazy out-of-left-field twist in your pocket for now.

-Dollhouse, Friday: This was a nice stand alone episode; not much here that advanced the overall story arc of the show, and that was okay. The A story was okay, about someone using the Dollhouse to bring themself back to life, temporaily, to solve their own murder (because clearly if they died, it was murder). That's an awful creepy way to use the Dollhouse, but it kind of makes sense. If you have enough money to enlist the services of the Dollhouse, you clearly don't have any moral reservations about the work they do, so why wouldn't you get request that you get yourself scanned every now and again so that you could live forever? Its like backup up your computer files, only with your personality and memories. Creepy, yes, that you'd be in a different body every so often, but you live forever (or, at least as long as the Dollhouse existed). Next week's episode looks like the one where everything for Agent Ballard comes to a head, as the promos showed him sneaking in to the Dollhouse. Plus, Alan Tudyk (aka- Firefly's Wash) guest stars, which can only be a good thing. This show's really gotten better week to week after a very slow start; I just hope the start wasn't too slow that it doesn't get a second season.

-NFL Draft, Saturday: Ugh. I wrote about the Bengal's first pick here. But I have to say, I think they're draft had gotten a lot better since that point (its still going on, so we'll see if they can finish strong). I'll more reaction to the Bengals's draft tomorrow or Tuesday.

This week should be good. Both Chuck and Heroes have their season finales, and Lost returns with "The Variable", the show's 100th episode.

What Sold Them?

2009-04-25T17:04:00.003-04:00

"The Cincinnati Bengals are on the clock."

Bengals fans dread hearing these words. Nothing good ever happens after these words are uttered. Most fans look forward to the draft; not the ones in Cincinnati. Why? Because it doesn't seem to matter who they pick, even when they get it right, they get it wrong. The latest example- 2009's first round pick Andre Smith out of Alabama.

The Bengals needed to draft an offensive tackle. They don't have much, but what they do have, they have in Carson Palmer. And he's nothing if he doesn't get any protection. Enter the left tackle. Anchor the line, give your franchise quarterback time to make plays, you've got a chance to win. And with the first pick of the 2009 draft, the Bengals did indeed select an offensive tackle. But why Andre Smith?

Could it have been because he was suspended from playing in 'Bama's bowl game? Or perhaps it was because showed up the NFL combine overweight and out of shape and eventually left before completing his drills? Or maybe it was because when he had a shot at redemption at his pro day, he bombed. Which one of these points do you think Mike Brown focused on when deciding to draft Andre Smith?

Listen, I don't put much stock in the NFL combine (you focus only on 40-yard dash time, you end up like Al Davis and draft Darrius Heyward-Bey at #7). But what bothers me is that fact that he wasn't prepared for it. Its not like the combine sneaks up on anyone; you know exactly when and where it happens, and you know that you have to be ready for it. And Andre Smith was not ready for it. And when he got a second chance on his pro day, he still wasn't ready for it. What about that mindset says "we've got to draft this guy" when you've to Eugene Monroe still out there? Call me a UVA homer, fine, but the one thing the Wahoos have done well under Al Groh is produce solid offensive linemen. D'Brickashaw Ferguson, Brandon Alpert, Eugene Monroe... all first round picks (all top 10 picks, I believe). What about Monroe did Mike Brown not like? Oh well, I guess at the very least I should be happy they didn't take Beanie Wells at #6.

The Bengals had a need at a position and they didn't take the best guy available at that position. Business as usual.

Glow-Hoinking Lives On!

2009-04-23T08:32:00.003-04:00

The ongoing saga of whether or not Western Bowl will be closing has finally come to an end- Western Bowl will remain open.

This is huge news. Western Bowl will be under new ownership AND still be called Western Bowl (after all, what's the point in saving the place if you up and change the name?). From the article, it looks like the site could have become a fitness center; how much would that have sucked? Also, the Hoinke Classic is set to make its triumphant return in 2010. Perhaps this is a sign of better days to come.

Weekly TV THoughts: 04/12 - 04/18

2009-04-19T13:45:00.003-04:00

Good TV week this week, which is to be expected as shows head toward their season finales.

-Chuck, Monday: I think I said is last week, but this show is just REALLY good right now. They found a plausible way to bring Jill back into the fold, which was cool, and with Chuck letting her go at the end, I wonder if this wasn't the last time we'll see her. I really love how they've sent Chuck and Sarah rogue for the time being, pitting them against Casey and the US Government. What happens when Casey eventually meets up with them on the trail of Chuck's dad, Stephen/Orion? As much as Casey is beholden to his orders, I think its clear that he'll end up helping Chuck and Sarah when it comes down to it. And while the mirror B-story at the Buy More wasn't anything great, it was saved by the Godfather II reference between Big Mike and Morgan. I can not wait to see where the story goes to finish out the season, and it better come back for Season 3.

-Heroes, Monday: Ask any fan of this show and they're bound to tell you that Company Man is one of, if not the, best Heroes episode ever. Clearly, this episode was meant to channel that awesomeness (even using the black-and-white) flashback scenes, and I think it succeeded, for the most part. This episode was essentially one big therapy session for the characters, with everyone present at Coyote Sands becoming alarmingly self aware. It was an fairly deft way to reset all the characters back to where they were in Season 1 (or, at least close to that) after a couple of seasons of messing them up. There wasn't much to the story this week, I thought, other than to bring the Patrellis and the Bennetts together. The story about Angela's sister was nice to know (especially since they dropped that line about why she steals socks, making a call back to the pilot), and it was kind of cool to see the origins of the Company (or the origin of the idea of the Company), but neither really advanced the current storyline. Its was all set up to get the characters pointed in the right direction, which is what this show needs. I think its clear that they'll be wrapping up the Danko storyline this season, and then spring board into next season by creating the new Company they talked about in the diner. Hopefully, they can bring everyone back into the story to finish out the season in a satisfying manner.

-24, Monday: Okay, I have to admit that I didn't see Tony's betrayal coming. Not because I didn't think it was possible (because anyone can be a mole on this show), but because I just didn't think the writers would go that route. I thought that it would seem forced to have him switch sides AGAIN, and you what, I think it felt forced. So after Tony "died," he was a bad guy. Then hooked up with Bill again, and he was good guy posing as a bad guy. Then he joined up with Jack and he was just a good guy again. But no, because he's actually been a bad guy this whole time. It calls into question everything we've seen him do this season, though I guess we now know where Tony was getting his insider information about Starkwood; he had a guy on the inside. And he HAS to be a bad guy because he up and killed Larry Moss, who was just starting to get interesting. At least, I think he's dead; he didn't get a silent clock, but he did get a long, drawn out suffocation scene at the hands of Tony. So let's say he's dead. I really hope that Tony isn't revealed to be the ultimate head bad guy when its all said and done (since clearly Jonas Hodges wasn't it). I can stand him being a bad guy this whole time, but not the mastermind. That would just be stupid. Oh, and finally, Kim's back and it wasn't completely contrived. It was very natural (with her already being in D.C., trying to reach Jack since he was supposed to be testifying before the Senate), and now they have a way to save Jack's life (becasue c'mon, you know that they experimental treatment's going to work). And we got a tender scene between Jack and Kim that we don't often get on this show, which was a nice change of pace. I wonder how Jack will react to Tony's latest betrayal. I'm guessing he's going to kill him.

-Lost, Wednesday: I'm a big fan of Miles, and I'm glad he got his own flashback episode this week. He, along with Hurley and Lapidus, get the best lines on the show, and the pairing of Miles and Hurley is just comedy gold. We got some good backstory on Miles, like confirming he is Dr. Chang's son and was born on the island, why he was on the freighter to begin with, and why he asked Ben for $3.2 million. None of that is all that shocking, but the bigger news about about Miles's confrontation with Bram and the people who ask "why lies in the shadow of the statue?". Clearly they're not Widmore's people (so there goes that theory); so who are they then? Are they Ben's people? Eloise Hawking's? The remants of the Dharma Initiative? Some other group we haven't learned about yet? Don't know, but I'm banking on them being a part of Dharma, or at least what's left of it. Maybe they formed from the people that were on the mainland, back in Ann Arbor. And speaking of Ann Arbor, welcome back to the show, Daniel Faraday. There was a moment there where I wasn't sure if Daniel was going to recognize Miles there on the pier, but sure enough, he did. So he got off the island, joined up with Dharma in Ann Arbor, and is now back on the island to join in what looks like the construction of the Swan station. What's he been up to in the past three years? We'll have to wait two weeks to find out, since there's a clip show coming up this week. Oh well, I can handle the week's off because I know there's an end on the horizon.

-Kings, Saturday: So Kings got dumped to Saturdays to finish out its run (since its never a good sign for a pickup when you're airing on Saturday nights). Oh well, at least they'll get to finish out their story, which I hope has some semblence of an end to it. I was getting a little sick of everyone in the royal family trying to get between David and Michelle, first it was the King, then the Queen, and this week it was her brother Jack, so I'm glad they finally came forth and had Michelle explain her situation; as expected, she is already promised to someone else. Wonder who. And Macaulay Culkin debuted this episode as the King's nephew, Andrew, who's been in exlie for some reason. Not much was revealed about Andrew other than that his time in exile has seemed to make him a little off (he stared at a fork as if he had no idea what it was for). Clearly he'll be used more in episodes to come, but I thought they'd do a little more in his first episode, especially since it seems like he came back from exile out of the blue. I was a little surprised they didn't even mention the mutiny storyline this week; it was almost like it didn't happen. But the one scene between Silas and Reverend Samuels was tense, so maybe its still there, just not on the surface.

No Dollhouse this past week, but its back this week, and there's no Lost this week. Maybe I can find some time to watch some more baseball (that is, as long as FSN Ohio doesn't decide to cut away from anymore games).

Orbiting The Sun

2009-04-17T13:26:00.003-04:00

So today, I complete another full rotation around the sun. And while I enjoy my birthday, I have a hard time getting exciting for it. Don't know why, but its just another day for me.

That said, I have a odd fascination with people with whom I share a birthday. Again, I don't know why, but it interests me. Here's an abbreviated list (courtesy of Wikipedia):

1897 - J.P. Morgan
1894 - Nikita Krushchev
1934 - Don Kirshner (produced the Monkees, among others)
1950 - L. Scott Caldwell (Rose from Lost)
1954 - Rowdy Roddy Piper
1957 - Nick Nornby (British author, Fever Pitch, High Fidelity)
1959 - Sean Bean
1961 - Boomer Esiason
1965 - William Mapother (Ethan from Lost)
1967 - Henry Ian Cusick (Desmond from Lost; clearly, today's a big day on the island)
1967 - Liz Phair
1970 - Redman
1972 - Jennifer Garner
1974 - Victoria Beckham

Who's my favorite? Its got to be a toss up between Boomer and Rowdy Roddy Piper. I mean, Boomer is Boomer (and the only Boomer, thank you very much; I'm looking at you Chris Berman and David Wells) and I'm a Bengals fan, but Roddy Piper was in They Live, which, while a terrible movie, inspired Shepard Fairey to create his OBEY line (and gave us a great fight scene was the hillariously remade by South Park). So its a tough call either way. Maybe I should avoid the choice althogether and just go with Jennifer Garner. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.

Terminator: The Albert Pujols Chronicles

2009-04-15T13:28:00.002-04:00

News is that FOX is going to cancel Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles. Not to worry. You can get your Terminator fix by watching the St. Louis Cardinals play.

Because Clearly It Wasn't Important

2009-04-14T12:47:00.003-04:00

A bit of advice for Fox Sports Net Ohio, in the style of Burn Notice's "Spy Tips":

"When you're airing a live baseball game, its probably not a good idea to cut to an episode of The Best Damn Sports Show when there's two outs left in the bottom of the ninth of a one-run game. People might get pissed."

Unfortunately, this advice comes one day late, as FSN Ohio did exactly that last night. Seriously. Bottom of the ninth, one out, Reds up on the Brewers 7-6, with Reds closer (and former Brewer) Francisco Cordero on the mound, and then as we crossed the bottom of the hour, BAM, right into the middle of Best Damn. And it wasn't even a cut to the beginning of the episode; it was the middle, where they were discussing the greatest relief pitchers of all time with special guest Rollie Fingers. Exciting, I know. Given the choice between watching that and watching my hometown team try and close a game out a one-run game on the road against a division opponent, I know I'd take Best Damn every time. Right.

So what happened in the game? Oh nothing. Cordero walked the next batter, then gave up a fly ball to Taveras in center, who tried to double off the runner at first, only to make a wild throw that was backed up by Cordero, who then tried to get the runner going to second, but hit him in the back. Two outs, tying run on second, base hit sends the game to extras. But Cordero gets a ground ball to first to end the game. So yeah, nothing exciting.

I had no idea what was going on last night. By the time I figured out that they weren't going to be going back to the game and scrambled to a radio, the game was over. Stupid FSN Ohio.

[Edit: FSN Ohio has issued an apology. Seems a similar incident happened back in December with UC basketball. Silver lining- the hometown team won in both cases. But it still sucked.]

Fun With Rockets

2009-04-13T17:54:00.003-04:00

From this past week's episode of Mythbusters, one of the coolest high speed camera shots I've ever seen (starting around the 3:00 mark):

Good times.

Weekly TV Thoughts: 04/05 - 04/11

2009-04-12T10:03:00.002-04:00

Best thing that happened for the Reds this week? Getting rained out Friday night so they could end the week 1-3 instead of 1-4. How's that "pitching and defense" approach working out for everyone? Yeah, not so much right now. The team's young, and that's great for projecting what they could do in the future, but it means nothing if it never materializes. Gonna watch them again this afternoon, though, because its what I do. Gonna catch some golf, too, because there's not a whole lot better than Sunday at a major, especially at the Masters. Tiger's not in the lead, so he's not going to win (that fact's so money in the bank that it even survived the curse of this blog), but he is paired with Phil, which should make for some good theater, even if they're not in contention.

-Kings, Sunday: So even the King's top general is positioning to overthrow him. We knew that the King's brother-in-law wanted Silas out, but now, the opposition is building fast. I am still curious about Reverend Samuel, though. How does he fit into all of this. He knows that Silas's time is coming to an end, but he not all that willing to join the coup. Will he start to push David to the foreground? Or will he just bide his time and wait? Clearly they're setting up Jack to oppose his father, but Silas just gave him a ministry position and it looks like Jack's swung back to the side of supporting Silas (or, at the very least, not opposing him). Again, the political drama of the show (dealing with the uprising in David's hometown) wasn't all that interesting to me, but the characters again draw me in. Kings is getting dumped to Saturday nights starting April 18, I believe, which means all signs point to it not coming back next year. They'll get to finish out the season, which is good, but I hope they can manage so sort of an ending instead of leaving on a cliffhanger that'll never get resolved.

-Chuck, Monday: This show REALLY needs to be renewed for next season. Of all the shows I watch that are on the bubble for pick up, Chuck is my #1 choice to save. I've said before how much I enjoy this show, and I still think it's consistently the most entertaining show on the TV. But after this week's episode, I think the show's hit a whole new level. As they barrel toward the season finale, they've set things in motion (with Chuck's dad being Orion and the creator of the Intersect, and having him being captured by Ted Roark and Fulcrum) that look to send the show into an awesome new direction. Season 3 of Chuck needs to happen!

-Heroes, Monday: As I said last week, it only matter of time before Bennett found out the truth about Sylar. I didn't quite expect it to happen this week, but now that I look at it, I'm glad that it wasn't drawn out. The best thing they could have done with Bennett was to burn him and get him out from under the guise of working with Danko. He's now on his own and by him showing up at Coyote Sands, we now know exactly where his allegiances lie. And speaking of Coyote Sands, it was only a matter of time before this comic-staple ret-con showed up in Heroes. "Remember that time when I told you about where all this started, when I told you about the beginning? Well, that wasn't really the beginning because this here is the beginning, That other beginning, not the beginning; this is the real one." Cliche, yes, but not totally unexpected. Giving the show a new origin story wouldn't even crack the top 10 of crazy things Heroes has done, so I can live with it.

-24, Monday: So the FBI raid on Starkwood didn't quite go as planned, but don't worry, Tony's still there and will have to neutralize the threat on his own. Funny how it always seems to come down to just one man on this show. Of course, that man is usually Jack, but he's currently infected with a deadly pathogen that quickly ending his life. And while there's no cure, there is, amazingly enough, an experimental procedure that uses stem cells from a biologically compatible donor (like, say, a direct family member) that could do the trick. And this is how they wrangle Kim back into the show. Although Jack's not to keen on calling her, prefering rather to die than talk to his daughter, so I'm thinking that it'll be Renee who contacts Kim, going behind Jack's back. Because Jack can't die; they've still got to shoot Season 8! We finally get a converstation between President Taylor and Jonas Hodges, and while Hodges doesn't reveal what his demands are, he does imply that the impetus for all this was the fact that he felt that the US Government betrayed Starkwood by asking them to "get the job done" without asking any questions only to put them on trial in front of Congress for doing just that. So he's a little disgruntled. It happens. I am curious to see how the face-to-face meeting in the White House goes next episode.

-Lost, Wednesday: Once again, Ben proves that we can't trust a single thing that comes out of his mouth. Take Locke being alive again. First, he tells Locke to his face that he thought the island might resurrect him, but he wasn't certain until he saw it actually happen. Then, he tells Caesar that he thinks Locke might have never been on the plane in the first place (this one's the obvious lie, but a lie none the less) and that maybe he's been on the island this whole time. And then, he tells Sun that "dead is dead" and that he has no idea what John Locke is now. So which is it? Did he know what the island would resurrect Locke or was that complete shock to him (you know, since Ben murdered him and all)? You never know with Ben, and we as the audience may never know. And then there's this whole business about whether or not Ben remembers being shot and then saved by the Others. We get a scene where Young Ben wakes up in the Other's camp and he seems to have no idea why he's there or how he was injured. But then Ben says later that the temple where he, Locke, and Sun are going to is where he was taken as a child and healed. How does he remember the fact that he was healed at the temple, but not the facts surrounding why he needed to be healed in the first place? Unlike the previous query, I think we will get an answer to this question. It should be really interesting to see how Ben handles having to follow Locke's lead now; from the look on his face after his encounter with the Smoke Monster, it looks like he might be a changed man. Who knows if his reason for coming back was the be judged (again, can't ever trust what Ben says), but that fact is he was judged, and the island let him live, contingient on him following Locke and not trying to kill him. Again. Now its time for Locke, Ben, and Sun to figure out a what to meet up with the rest of the O6 back in 1977. Locke's in the lead, wonder how he's going to handle it. I was really bummed out when Lapidus left to go back to the plane because I really wanted to see him invovled in the story. And then they dropped the "what lies in the shadow of the statue?" bombshell when he got back. So some of the passengers, including bounty hunter Ilana, have another agenda, and they knew they were going to land on the island. Questions abound- how did they know, who sent them, what's in the box? Can we assume that maybe it was these people who were shooting at Sawyer, Juliet and Co. in the boat while they flashed into the future for a bit? I think so. Finally, a quick note about Desmond and Penny- very glad that neither one of them is dead. Guess if Ben has one soft spot, its not killing mothers. He never got to know his, and he apparently can't inflict that sort of pain on someone.

-Dollhouse, Friday: Good episode, with a great storytelling device; I love the jumping back and forth through the story, so that you get the whole story from everyone's veiwpoint. I don't quite know what the think about Mr. Dominic being the mole; he said somethings in the episode, specifically to Ms. DeWitt, that would seem to contradict his actions as a mole. But if you assume that he was lying to DeWitt in a final effort to save his life, then things seem to fit together nicely. He was trying to bring down the Dollhouse and he was setting up Echo and Agent Ballard to do so. He knows that Echo will eventually take down the Dollhouse, so he did things specifically to trigger her towards that path. I like how Echo became somewhat self aware and understood, on the most basic level, what Topher does in the chair; he makes people different. And she understood enough to volunteer for an engagement. This sets up Echo to be used more by the Dollhouse, which in turn, we are to assume, will lead to her having an "Alpha" moment and become complete self aware and destroy the Dollhouse. And speaking of Ballard, how shitty is his life right now? He's suspended from the FBI, he's gone completely paranoid and become totally obsessed with the Dollhouse (more so than before), and he's just found out that his neighbor/girlfriend in actually an Active. But he still has to pretend that he doesn't know Mellie's a Doll. Without a mole inside the Dollhouse, where will Ballard's investigation go? Again, he was told to focus less on where the Dollhouse is and more on the Dollhouse's true purpose. "Follow the money," I guess. He figures out the why, and that will lead him to the where (and possibly a whole lot more).

Weekly TV Thoughts: 03/29 - 04/04

2009-04-05T11:27:00.003-04:00

I think I've made it clear that I believe in sports karma; there's this and this, and the fact that I believe that this blog is cursed. So it makes me very glad that Michigan State defeated UConn yesterday to knock Calhoun out of the tournament. Between the tirade about his salary to the (alleged) NCAA infractions, there's no way he deserved to win this year. And there is absolutely EVERY reason why Michigan State should. I don't think I could bear it if the first two major sports championships of the year went to the Steelers and North Carolina.

-Arnold Palmer Invitational, Sunday: My prediction of Tiger Woods winning 2 majors this year is looking a whole lot better now. Was there any doubt that he'd make that putt? Is there ever any doubt? Everyone knows its going in and yet, there I was, literally on the edge of my seat, waiting to see. The Masters is this week; anyone taking the field over Tiger? I'm not.

-Kings, Sunday: Another solid episode. Up until now, the Queen, Rose, had been the weakest character of them all. Everyone else, Silas, David, Jack, Michelle, Reverend Samuels, and even the Queen's brother had some intrigue attached to them, but Rose just seemed ditached and kind of aloof. Not anymore. Here, we found out that she was responsible for shaping the entire structure and image of the royal family; she "designed" the monarchy. As she said after the ballet performance, they, meaning the royal family, was the show, not the dancers. She is keenly aware of the people's opinion and perceptions of her family, and she showed that she's just as capable as Silas in manipulating the people around her to get her desired end. The characters in this show just keep getting more and more interesting. The political aspects of the show are starting to wane on me, but the characters are still going strong.

-Heroes, Monday: I thought this was a halfway decent episode. Claire and Nathan in Mexico? Couldn't care less about it. Peter and Angela in church? Meh. I don't really care too much for Peter at this point, and Angela is hit or miss. Clearly their stories this week were to simply to set the four of them up for coming together next episode. But Bennett, Danko, and Sylar? That was the redeeming part of the episode. I have to admit, I didn't see Danko's fake out with the shape shifter coming. Sylar can now change his physical apperance, as if he needed to be more powerful. And you know that Bennett isn't just going to let "Sylar's" capture sit like that; its just a matter of time. Until then, it should be cool to see Sylar wreak havoc as disguised as other people.

-24, Monday: First off, I was partially right about Olivia becoming the new CoS. Clearly, naming a new CoS a mere minutes after the old one resigned is impractical, so being provisional CoS is as close as its going to get. I'm calling that a win. Interesting fake out with Jack's condition- he's infected but its not contagious. I thought the scene between Jack and Larry, where Larry tells Jack that he can't go on the Starkwood raid because he's infection makes him a liability, was awesome. A tough realization for a man like Jack, but its no surprise that he was able to accept it; as he said, he always knew that there'd be a day where he wasn't the best man for the job. And geting infected with a bio-weapon is that day. Now, clearly, Jack's not going to die, so the question is how will he be saved. As currently, there is no cure for the infection; could this be how Kim is brought back into the story? I sensing yes. Now onto the raid on Starkwood. I really thought that Tony was being played by Seaton when he came to break Tony out of his cell. Then, when they contacted the FBI and they were able to see and hear Seaton, I began to think that maybe this might be for real. Then, given Jonas's reaction, I futher thought that Seaton was being truthful. So of course, Seaton played the FBI and had Larry not been there, Tony would've killed him. I'm guessing that Starkwood takes Tony, Larry, and the FBI team hostage and Jack will go in and break them out. 'Cause that's something Jack would do, infected with a bio-weapon or not.

-Lost, Wednesday: Another great character episode. That's two weeks in a row where we've gotten Season 1 type episodes, complete with flashbacks and the like. This week, we got some answers to what Kate was up to off island. We found out what Sawyer whispered to her before jumping out of the helicopter (to take care of his daughter). We found out what happened to Aaron (she gave him to Claire's mom). And we found out what her motivation was to return to the island (she wants to find Claire). Some great scenes for Kate this episode, especially her saying goodbye to Aaron. Back on the island, Yonng Ben is dying and needs a real surgeon to save him. Cue Jack opting not to help. I love the complete reversal of character for Jack now; this was the first example of him letting go and letting whatever is supposed to happen, happen. He's completely embraced that he has some sort of destiny, and is convinced that when its his time, the island will make it apparant to him what that is. Clearly, this is going to come back and bite him in the ass. But anyway, Kate and Juliet (and eventually Sawyer) come to the conclusion that Young Ben can only be saved if they take him to the Others and Richard Alpert. Richard explains to them that if they take him, Young Ben will never be the same. He won't remember this happening and will lose his innocence; he'd be "one of them" from now on. The question I have is why did Juliet even suggest taking Young Ben to the Others? They're currently living off in the woods somwhere; how did she know that Richard would be able to help Young Ben? Now we know (or, at least we think we know) how Young Ben became the Ben we're accustomed to; I would love to see Young Ben one more time, after he has been saved and changed, to see him act more like Old Ben around the survivors. I like the idea that the survivors, while in the past, were responsible for turning Ben into the very person that would terrorize them in the future. And speaking of moving through time, I could have watched an entire episode of Hurley and Miles discuss time travel. It was awesome that the writers had enough foresight to know the exact questions the fans would be asking at this point and having Hurley ask them to Miles. It gives me faith that we'll be getting the answers when and how they want to give them.

-Dollhouse, Friday: So letting some of the Actives escape and remember parts of their personality was all just a ploy by Ms. DeWitt to give them closure. The actives fell asleep when the reached their desired closure, but it was still a nice fake out. We learned that Sierra was brought to the Dollhouse against her will, and that Millie/November had a daughter that died. But the REAL twist was that Echo managed to call Agent Ballard and leave him a message before she fell asleep and sent back to being an Active. I really hope they start ramping up the Agent Ballard storyline, because I find that part of the show the most interesting.

Big week this week, with Opening Day tomorrow afternoon. Weather in Cincinnati forecasted for tomorrow afternoon? Low 40's with a 60% chance of rain and snow. Note that its been near 70 the past two days. Of coure, this wouldn't be the first for Cincinnati. I may or may not get around to writing my bold predictions for the Reds this season before Opening Day; maybe I'll wait a few days. I do stick by my original prediction, though, of the Reds finishing 82-80. Play ball.

A Ray Of Hope In These Tough Economic Times

2009-04-02T09:45:00.003-04:00

The Reds have brought back $5 seats to Great American Ballpark!

This is great. Sure, its limited to the sections in the corners of the upper deck and not the "top 6 rows" like back in the day, but its better than nothing. And its a baseball game, so unless there's a giant pillar right in front of you, there really isn't a bad seat. This makes games (more) affordable for people, and getting families to the ballgame without breaking the bank is always a good thing.

A mere 4 days until Opening Day, and no, I don't count the ESPN Sunday night game; the baseball season doesn't start until the Reds play their first game (its baseball history regardless of what the television schedule says). Upcoming, an in depth look (well, not so much) at the Reds 2009 season with predictions that are most assuredly to be completely wrong.

Baseball's back (almost). Anyone want to catch a game next weekend?

FAIL.

2009-03-29T19:17:00.002-04:00

As expected, my bracket was pretty bad.

Despite that, I still had 7 of 8 teams in the Elite Eight (only missed Memphis).

I now have 0 of 4 teams in the Final Four.

Even with my history of bad picks, I don't think I've ever gone 0 for the Final Four.

The jinx continues, taking down four teams in one fell swoop.

Weekly TV Thoughts: 03/22 - 03/28

2009-03-29T10:50:00.002-04:00

Well, my bracket's pretty much shot. Memphis and Pittsburgh are both out, which means half of my Final Four is already wrong. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised to see Louisville and Oklahoma both go down today to make me a perfect 0-4.

-Kings, Sunday: I’m starting to really like this show. I like all the depth and history they are giving the characters. Like what’s up with the King’s daughter, Michelle? What vow did she make years ago that would keep her from being with David? Has she been betrothed to someone else? Or is it something entirely different? And what about the King’s son, Jack? King Silas implied that Jack’s got some secrets that could be a hindrance to him someday being king;l what cold that be? And the Kng himself, with a mistress and bastard son; will that information ever come to light (I'm sure it will at some point)? I REALLY liked Brian Cox’s turn as the displaced king that Silas overthrew and who everyone thinks is dead. I hope they bring him back for more, and that he wasn’t just a way for Silas to replenish the treasury after his brother-in-law pulled all the gold. And speaking of the King’s brother-in-law, what’s the back story to his son being banished from court? Is that the reason why he hold a grudge against Silas? Or does the hatred run deeper? I really hope the show lasts long enough to explore all these stories because its setting up to be a real good character drama.

-Heroes, Monday: Look at that, a not-sucky episode of Heroes. Welcome back to the show, Bryan Fuller. So Micah's Rebel; not a major revelation, since everyone watching the show called it from the start, but its good to have him back in the fold. One major question- why is Danko keeping his prisoners sedated? He's no longer under Nathan's watch, so why doesn't he just kill them all? He clearly has no conscience about doing so, and has suggested more than once that would be his preference, so it doesn't make any sense from a character perspective why he's keeping them alive (obviously, from a storytelling perspective, you want your character's alive). And as to killing characters, I don't think we've seen the last of Ali Larter on the show. Either they bring back Tracey by having her reform herself T2 style or she comes back as Barbara, the as-yet-to-be-seen third sister. As much as I wanted to hate the Hiro-Ando-baby storyline, it actually redeemed itself in this episode. One, we learned the baby's power (he can turn things on and off with his touch, from electronics to latent superpowers), and it gave Hiro partial use of his power again. Much like they did with Peter, I think the scaled down version is much better because they were just too powerful. Teleportation and time-travel is really just too much; leaving Hiro with just freezing time (when he's holding Baby Parkman) is a good thing. Secondly, we saw Ando shoot the red Force lightning, which doesn't make a whole lot sense except for the fact than we saw him do it in the future. Clearly, it incapacitates people without powers, but what if he hit someone with powers with his Force lightning? Would it knock them out, too, or would it supercharge their powers to the point they lost control of them? And finally, Parkman and Daphne. So they bring Daphne back just to let her die. I admit, it was faked out Parkman's projection at first, but the flying as a bit of a give away. Although, they already inexplicably gave him the ability to draw the future, so what's another for him? Anyway, I wonder what this will do to Matt; I'd like to see this send him on a psychic rampage, but with him inevitably meeting up with Hiro and Ando (and his son), I don't think that's going to happen. Which is too bad, because Parkman could do some serious damage.

-24, Monday: This week, we got to see the growth of Jack Bauer. Old Jack would have left that dock guard to get shot and not thought anymore of it. But New Jack stepped in and saved him, and potential risked securing the bio-weapon. Of course, he gets it anyway, but Tony is taken hostage in the process. And of course, the bad guys take the bio-weapon back, but not before Jack enters the container to shut off the container which is spewing toxic gas into the air. Think Jack makes it? Well, Keifer Sutherland's signed on for Season 8 next year, so, spoiler alert. Back at the White House, Ethan as decided to resign, which brings a smile to Olivia's face. Naturally, she was the leak the whole time, and waited a full 8 seconds after Ethan left his office to call her TV producer friend and throw Ethan under the bus. My prediction for Olivia- she replaces Ethan as her mother's Chief of Staff, does something wildly illegal that she justifies as being for the good mother's presidency, gets fired by the President, and is replaced by Ethan. All in the final nine hours of the day. We also got some more Jonas Hodge backstory this episode, but we still don't know what his motivation is for these attacks. We know that Starkwood is under investigation and that he's at odds with the Starkwood board of directors as to how to handle the situation. Is he planning these attacks to that Starkwood can swoop in and save the day, thus proving their neccessity to America's security and ending the investigations? I think that's possible, but not likely. I think his motivation is far more sinister than that.

-Lost, Wednesday: Another solid episode. I liked the flashbacks filling in the gaps in Sayid's timeline off island. Nothing Earth-shatteringly new was revealed, but the story's more complete. And now its a certainity (in my mind, anyway) that we'll soon get Kate and Hurley flashback episodes, filling in the gaps in their story and completing the O6 story arc. I really thought that the Dharma folks would actually torture Sayid, but then I remembered that they're just a bunch of hippies, and a drug-induced interrogation is much more their style. I also love how they believe everything Sayid says, even the stuff that he couldn't possibly know, like the details of the Swan station, but as soon as he says he's from the future, they thinks he's nuts. You can believe that he has intimate knowledge of your operation on a island filled with mystical and unexplained properties, but you can't believe he came from the future; seriously, how far of a leap is that? Anyway, I liked the scene with Sayid, Young Ben, and Roger. You know who and what Ben grows up to be, and yet you feel sympathy for him as you see his father knock him around. And given what they showed about Sayid's father at the start of the episode, I really thought he might reach through the bars and step in on Young Ben's behalf. Which brings up to the last scene, where Young Ben distracts the camp with a burning Dharma bus so he can spring Sayid from his cell and run off with him to join the Hostiles. Too bad Sayid's plan is to kill Young Ben when gets the chance. Luckly for Sayid, Jin shows up to give him just that chance. Clearly, Young Ben isn't dead. I think Jin wakes up and rushes Young Ben back to camp to be saved. What I think will be interesting will be who step up to save him. I can see Jack saying no and being content to letting him die (afterall, he's already done it once). I think Juliet ends up saving him, which is the origin of Ben's obsession with her, which we saw in the future. I also like the idea that Ben was complicit in his own attempted murder; Ben knows that Sayid is supposed to shot him in 1977, so when he encounters Sayid in the future, he cultivates his killer instinct so when Sayid goes back in time, he shoots Ben for making him a killer, just like he was supposed to. As Faraday said, whatever happened, happened, and I think Ben is keenly aware of this, more so than anyone else on the island.

-Dollhouse, Friday: Okay, now this show is getting really good. I am officially excited to see where they take this series, especially after the promo for next week. But first, this episode. Great scenes with everyone effected by the drug, especially betten Topher and Ms. DeWitt. I really liked the dichotomy of how the drug made regular people giddy and silly, but it made the Actives remember parts from their pasts, which weren't all that pleseant, which is why they became Actives in the place. I also liked the mirror between Echo/Caroline's recruitment and this Sam guy's recruitment. I think it'd be cool we just see him in the background somewhere down the line, just walking around the Dollhouse, but I don't that'll happen. But next week, The Awakening! They're having the Actives remember who they are (or at least just Echo, Victor, and Sierra). It doesn't look like everyone in the Dollhouse will be "awoken", so I wonder if they're going to tie these three "waking up" to the drug they came in contact with in this episode. It sure seems that way, unless they have some other ingenius way explaining why only some of the Actives become self-aware and some don't. Can't wait to see where this show goes next.

-College Lacrosse, Virginia vs. Maryland, Saturday: One word- EPIC. Just a phenomenal game, possibly in the top 10 all-time games I've ever seen. A defensive battle in the first half, Maryland dominates the 3rd quarter, then Virginia rallies back in the 4th to send the game into overtime tied at 9. Then right off the bat, Maryland's potential game winning goal is erased by an "inadvertent whistle." The refs thought Maryland coach Dave Cottle had called timeout, but he denied ever doing so (my thought- someone on Maryland's sideline not Cottle did call timeout, and then didn't own up to it after the goal was taken off the board). Play resumed and Maryland promptly pinged the iron with a shot. At least a dozen shots either hit the post or went just wide, and the ones that didn't were stopped dead by the goalies. Even Virginia's backup goalie, who had to come into the game cold after our starter took a necessary foul to prevent Maryland from scoring the game winner (in lacrosse, goalies serve they penalties), made a great save to preserve the game for the 'Hoos and send it into another overtime. And in the longest game in NCAA lacrosse history, about a minute into the 7th overtime, UVA scored and sent those God-damn Terrapins back to College Park loser. The Terps rank #2 on my list of most hated schools (top 5- VT, Maryland, UNC, Duke, West Virginia, in that order), so its always great to beat them. And its even sweeter when its in a game as great as this one was. Fuck the Terrapins. Go Hoos!

Time To 'Fess Up

2009-03-28T11:43:00.002-04:00

Okay, guilty pleasure admission time: I'm watching MTV's Taking The Stage.

I will now try and rationalize why. If don't think I'll be successful in this task, go ahead and jump to the comments and tell me why I'm a loser.

If you don't know, Taking The Stage is a reality show that follows five students who attend Cincinnati's School for Creative and Performing Arts (SCPA). Its a Hills-style show that's produced by Nick Lachey (former SCPA student). Despite that, there are two main reasons why I find this show tolerable:

-It makes Cincinnati look really good. I mean, REALLY good. All the exterior shots of the city make our town look great. Its conceivable that someone who's never been to Cincinnati would watch the show and say, "Damn, that's a good looking city." Specifically, it makes Over-the-Rhine (where SCPA is located) look really good. And of course, they'd be wrong. Cincinnati's nice, but its not nearly as clean and pretty as its portrayed. If you've ever been through Over-the-Rhine and you watch the show, you'll see what I mean.

-The kids are really talented. The show is shot and produced like The Hills, but unlike The Hills, the stars of this show can actually contribute something worthwhile to society. Now, I don't care one bit about all the teen relationship drama; that crap drags the show down (though, I guess that's what drives the show for its target audience). Who cares if that one guy is dating the one girl but kissed the other girl? I want to see this kids perform! Singing, dancing, whatever, the show shines whenever the stars get a chance to use their talents. Whether they're rehearsing, doing an actual performance, or participating in a clearly-staged Fame-style impromptu lunchtime dance off, its fun to watch. The five stars are great (3 dancers, 1 dancer/singer/actress, 1 singer/songwriter) and natrually they keep the focus on them, but some of the peripheral kids are interesting as well (especially this piano playing/roller dancing/composer kid; I want to see more of him). Of course, this could give the impression that Cincinnati is just filled to the brim with talented kids, which may or may not be the case. But regardless, the five students they picked for the show are far better talent ambassadors for Cincinnati than Nick Lachey is (which is probably why Lachey is throwing out the first pitch on Opening Day and the singer/songwriter girl from the show is performing the National Anthem).

So there it is. I don't watch reality television, but I'm watching this show. I watched The Amazing Race when the Linz family was on because they were from Cincinnati and I went to high school with one of them. I watched Beauty and the Geek when another guy I went to high school with (and the younger brother of one my friends) was on. I even watched some of Clash of the Chiors because there was a choir from Cincinnati. And now I'm watching Taking The Stage because its set here in Cincinnati. I'm sensing a pattern here.

Weekly TV Thoughts: 03/15 - 03/21

2009-03-22T15:00:00.002-04:00

A very busy TV week. A couple of shows took a week off, but a couple more had their season premieres, plus there was a ton of basketball to watch (and a little lacrosse, too).

-Kings, Sunday: One of the shows that premiered last week. All the reviews I read pretty much said the same thing- you'll either love right away or hate right away. After watching the two-hour pilot, I guess you can put me in the "love right away" column. It wasn't perfect, but I appreciate the attempt at such a high-concept show. What's it like? Start with the story of King David (on which the show is loosely modeled), add in the political intrigue of The West Wing, the story complexity of Battlestar Galactica, and the character relationships of Gossip Girl, and mix it with alternate-reality mysticism of Lost or Alias, and you've kind of got what Kings is all about. If they can deftly manuve among all these facets and keep it all in balance, the show could be great. If they can't, it'll fail horribly.

-24, Monday: When in doubt, make your enemy a private security firm that's overstepped its boundaries. It worked on Jericho with Ravenwood. It worked in real life with Blackwater. And now on 24, its Starkwood. But what is Jonas Hodges's end game? He bringing in some sort of bio-weapon to target a bunch of cities in the mid-Atlantic region, but he doesn't want to use it unless he has to. So what could he want from the Presient? Guess we'll just find out later. Now to Jack- why does everyone find it so hard to trust this man? Sure, you may disagree with his methods at times, but when has he ever done anything where the absolute end game wasn't in the best interest of America? I liked the mini series recap that Jack gave when he was talking with Senator Mayer. I wonder if its apparent to anyone in the show that ever time Jack's been tasked to save the world, its taken him 24 hours to do so. Hmm. I was really hoping that the Jack-Senator Mayer partnership would last for a few episodes, so I wasn't expecting Mayer to get gunned down right then and there. I'm starting to like ths showdown between Ethan and Olivia. It puts President Taylor in the middle and should make for some good drama.

-Better Off Ted, Wednesday: The second premiere of the week. Who would've thought that taking The Office and setting it in Fringe's Massive Dynamic corporation would work so well? Its a completely off-the-wall show that is paired perfectly with Scrubs. Both shows include narration from the main character (in this case, Ted breaks the fourth wall and just talks to the audience directly), and both have a cast of supporting characters that may be more entertaining than the show leads. The two lab guys are hysterical, and Portia de Rossi's deadpan delivery is a perfect representation for the souless corporation they work for. And its always funny when the little kid is the smartest person in the room. Its a nutty show that hopefully isn't too nutty for TV.

Lost, Wednesday: Welcome back, Lost. Good to see that the Ajira plane did in fact land on the runway that Kate and Sawyer helped build over on the Hydra island. And its also good to see that Lapidus really is a kick ass pilot. I am dying to know why Sun wasn't teleported back to 1977 with the rest of hte O6 (and Ben, Locke, and Lapidus, for that matter). Based on what Christian told Sun at the end of the episode, it looks like she (and probably a few other people) will be going back in time, instead of the others travelling back to 2007. So back in 1977, I liked the reunion scene, where everyone got to drop some knowledge on each other. Jack tells Sawyer and Jin that Locke's dead, Sawyer tells Jack, Kate, and Hurley that they're in 1977; I think Sawyer wins in the shock value category. I really enjoyed watching Sawyer work the con, trying to keep everyone's cover intact. And its a good thing Sayid was smart enough to pick up on Sawyer's game on the fly. I think Jack is honestly trying to defer to Sawyer's leadership; I think he really wants to be able to let things go and not be a control freak. He's starting to accept the idea of fate and destiny, but its still hard for him. I think he want to see Sawyer about Sayid not because he wanted to take charge, but because he feels responsible for the O6 being back on the island, and just wanted to make sure Sayid was going to be okay. Of course, that lead to Sawyer's awesome smack down of Jack's leadership style and the great quip about Winston Churchill. A couple other things, I hope the fact that Amy's baby was revealed to be Ethan has greater significance than "Hey, her baby's Ethan!" I hope that means somehting more and important for Ethan's character. Also, I wonder when we'll get some answers about Faraday. According to Sawyer, he's not with them anymore, so where did he go? Is he still on the island somewhere, or did he leave altogether? We know he worked (at one point) on the construction of the Orchid station, but when was that? Guess we'll have to wait and see.

-Dollhouse, Friday: Everyone was saying that this episode, Episode 6, was turning point for the series, and I think it was. Now, they've really set up the overall story of Agent Ballard trying to bring down the Dollhouse by establishing that there is someone on the inside that also wants the Dollhouse gone. Yes, it was a little predictable that Millie turned out to be an Active, but it was still a nice twist. The Dollhouse knows that Agent Ballard is after them, but the don't know there's someone inside who'll be helping him. And there's still Alpha out there to worry about. I can't wait to see him brought into the fold.

-Battlestar Galactica, Friday: So here it is, the series finale. First off, I loved the finale. Some people out there hated it, but they're wrong. Sure, I thought there might be a little more bloodshed and death, but after seeing it, I'm glad there wasn't. The attack on the Cylon colony was awesome, from Anders taking control of the other hybrids, to the Raptors jumping away from the museum wing, to Galactica just ramming into the colony. It was action packed and very satisfying. Boomer got a little redemption by saving Hera, and still got her due when Athena shot her. I glad that they decided that the head characters (Six and Baltar) were actual ouside entities and not just some mental manifestation. I also loved how they paid off the Opera House vision, where it wasn't symbolic of anything, it was actually happening. If that was the plan all along, I salute the writers. If not, I still salute them for making it work. I glad that Tryol got some vengance for Callie's death; he deserved that closure. And in the end, the fleet ends up at the planet WE call Earth, and decide to settle on it. And after 150,000 years, here we are, all children of Hera (aka mitochondrial Eve), meaning we are all decentants of Cylon model 8, which really isn't a bad thing at all. I think this the proper way for the show to go it. The survivors desereved to find a home, deserved to find some peace. The show was about humaniy's fight to survive, and in the end, they got to. And as for Starbuck? Her just disappearing and Lee not being freaked out by it was the perfect way to go out. Her destiny was to lead the people to Earth. She died in the process, so she was allowed to come back and fulfill that destiny. And when she did, she was gone. All in all, the perfect ending for a near perfect show.

-College Lacrosse, Virginia vs. Johns Hopkins, Saturday: Finally, I get to watch Virginia lacrosse on TV (the first of 4 consectutive games on either ESPN2 or ESPNU). All this basketball just reminds me of how bad UVA is at hoops, so its nice to watch a sport where we're the best in the country. I'm glad they're finally on TV so I can distract myself from the pain of Virginia basketball.

-NCAA Tournament: As always, the first two rounds of the tournament provide plenty of upsets. The odd thing about this year is that most of them came on Friday night, after a day and a half of mostly chalk. Its pretty rare to see the 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13 seeded teams in one region all make it to the second round, but that's exactly what happened in the Midwest region. There's nothing like the first two rounds of the tourney; my bracket's shot to hell and I don't care. I love the upsets and am always rooting for the higher seeds.

The Bracket, Take Two

2009-03-18T15:10:00.002-04:00

Okay, I've had a few days to digest the bracket, and I've come to my final picks, which I've entered in a number of ESPN.com groups (Around The Horn, PTI, and Mike & Mike's Sheets of Integrity) and the one pool I've entered for money. I tend to fill out a number of brackets, but there's always one bracket I consider my "official" bracket, and that's this one. Based on history, this bracket is guaranteed to be no more than 60% correct, and won't be anywhere near the top of any leaderboard. How do I know this? Since I started following college basketball (which was around 1990 or 1991), I've picked exactly ONE decent bracket (1995, I finished second in my pool; if it had been UNC to lose to UCLA instead of Arkansas, I would've won). So I expect these picks to follow the trend I've already set and fail miserably.

Midwest: Round 1 winners- Louisville, Ohio State, Utah, Wake, Dayton, Kansas, USC, Michigan State. I really wanted to pick Cleveland State over Wake and North Dakota State over Kansas, but I couldn't; too much of a wuss. I don't think USC over BC is much of an upset given how hot USC's been lately, and I like Dayton over West Virginia because I don't like West Virginia (and let's face it, they don't like me either). In the Sweet 16 I've got Louisville, Utah, Kansas, and Michigan State. Louisville and Michigan State in the Elite 8, and Louisville in the Final Four.

West: Round 1 winners- UConn, BYU, Purdue, Mississippi State, Utah State, Missouri, Maryland, Memphis. Despite me thinking that Maryland doesn't even belong in the tournament, I think they'll beat Cal. I like Mississippi State to ride their hot streak past Washington (I'm not real big on Pac-10 teams) and all the way to the Sweet 16 (getting past Purdue in the process, which is tough because I really like this Purdue team). Marquette without Dominic James isn't Marquette, so I fully expect Utah State to pull the upset. Joining Mississippi State in the Sweet 16 is UConn, Missouri, and Memphis. I would love to see Mississippi State continue the run, but I think they fall to UConn, and Memphis beats Missouri. Then I've got Memphis advancing to the Final Four over UConn. They'll be able to play the disrespect card all the way through the tournament, and that'll give them the edge of UConn in the regional final.

East: Round 1 winners- Pittsburgh, Tennessee, Florida State, Xavier, VCU, Villanova, Texas, Duke. I really, REALLY wanted to take Portland State over Xavier because XU has struggled down the stretch, but I couldn't; I think they can win one game before getting crushed by Florida State (really like this Seminole team). VCU is a homer pick- I used to live in Richmond, VA- and again, I don't think very much of the Pac-10. They also have two stud players (in Maynor and Sanders) that can more and hold their own against Collison and Shipp. But as much as I love me some VCU, they don't get past Villanova. 'Nova is the under-the-radar Big East team that not enough people are paying attention to. Pitt, FSU, 'Nova, and Duke in the Sweet 16, with Pitt and 'Nova in the Elite 8. I know Pitt is prone to choking in these situations, but I think this is the year they finally make the Final Four.

South: Round 1 winners- UNC, Butler, Western Kentucky, Gonzaga, Arizona State, Syacuse, Clemson, Oklahoma. As I said in my initial thoughts on the bracket, Illinois is vulnerable without Chester Frazier running the point. If he can't go in Round 1 (or even if he's out there at less than 100%), I think the Hilltoppers bounce the Illini. I see the rest of this bracket holding to seed, with Carolina, Gonzaga, Syracuse, and Oklahoma in the Sweet 16, and Carolina and Oklahoma in the Elite 8. I went back and forth on this one, Carolina or Oklahoma, and in the end, decided to stay with the Sooners. And I recognize that could be purely out of my hatred for all things Carolina. And I'm okay with that.

Final Four: Louisville, Memphis, Pittsburgh, Oklahoma- pretty much what I picked on Sunday. I like Louisville over Memphis and Oklahoma over Pittsburgh (man, how great would it be to see Griffin-Hansbrough one weekend, then Griffin-Blair the next?) with Louisville as your 2009 National Champion.

But what do I know. As soon as the ball goes up tomorrow, I'll be rooting for all the upsets, hoping and praying that my, and everyone else's, bracket gets shot to hell by Friday night. Its why Thursday and Friday are the best two days in sports all year.

And a bonus- check out President Obama making his picks:

I think he picked Carolina simply because he played a pick up game with them during the campaign.

The Bracket, Take One

2009-03-15T19:06:00.003-04:00

Okay, the NCAA Tournament Bracket is out, time for some knee-jerk reactions (subject to change as the week goes on).

Overall: No complaints about the #1 seeds, and Louisville deserves the overall #1 seed after winning the Big East tournament (and with the other candidates losing). I don't get how Maryland made the field, especially at a #10 seed. I really don't get how Arizona made it at a #12. Where's the love for Creighton or St. Mary's? Thirty-four at-large bids, 30 to major (BCS) conference schools, 4 to mid-majors. I know the tournament committee doesn't take conference affiliation into account, but that ratio is unacceptable in my mind. But those teams were really the only ones I had a beef with. And speaking of conference affiliation, I believe I got another bold 2009 prediction wrong. I said that 10 Big East would make the tournament; they got 7. Well, I didn't count on Notre Dame and Georgetown tanking like they did, and UC had a shot until the folded late in the year. I also said that no Big East team would make the Final Four; that one's most certainly going to be proven wrong (more on this later).

Midwest: I like Louisville in this region. In fact, I think this region will mostly hold to the seeds, with only a few upsets. USC over Boston College could be it. I'd love to see Dayton over West Virginia and Cleveland State over Wake, but those are probably long shots. Normally I would take Siena over Ohio State, but the game's in Dayton, so I think its the Buckeyes. Michigan State v. Kansas in the Sweet 16 would be a great matchup. In the end, again, I'm going with Louisville.

West: Did Memphis deserve the #1 seed here over UConn? Does it really matter? Purdue's playing pretty well right now, now that they're healthy again. I think they could give UConn a good run in the Sweet 16, but they wouldn't have an answer for Thabeet down low. I like Mississippi State, hot off their SEC tournament win, to upset Washington in the first round. I think Marquette's vulnerable because of Dominic James's injur; Utah State could pull the upset there, too. It looks like a pretty clear path for a UConn-Memphis showdown, but I think Missouri could sneak up in there and surprise some people. Not sure who I like out of this region yet.

East: This is a tough region. Florida State's playing well right now, and could knock off Pittsburgh in the Sweet 16 and have a rematch with Duke in the Elite 8. That is, if Duke can get past VCU (who I think will make the Sweet 16). The Rams knocked off Duke 2 years again, then lost to Pittsburgh. If VCU can get to a matchup with Duke and get past them, Pittsburgh could again be on the other side (assuming they get past the Seminoles). Of course, that could all go to hell if Villanova gets hot and makes a run, which is more than possible. Right now, I'm taking Pittsburgh out of the East.

South: How great would a Hansbrough-Griffin matchup be in the Elite 8? I don't see either one getting upset, so I think it happens. And if it does, I like Oklahoma and Blake Griffin to advance to the Final Four. I don't see a lot of upsets in this region, outside of Western Kentucky over Illinois (sorry, bro). You need a 12-5 upset, and with Illinois's starting point guard out with a wrist injury, I think this is the most likely candidate.

Final Four: So I've got Louisville, Pittsburgh, Oklahoma, and a team to be named later in my Final Four right now. Does UConn make it and give the Big East 3 teams in? Very, very possible (hello, 1985 Final Four). And what about Syracuse in the West? They are more than capable of coming out of there as the #3 seed, which could give the Big East all four teams in the Final Four. Its never happened, four teams from the same conference, but up until last year, all four #1 seeds had never all made the Final Four, either. And if its ever going to happen, its got to be this year with the Big East, since I predicted that zero Big East teams would make the Final Four. If that happens, it would just be rubbing salt in the wound that is the curse of this blog. So I think there's a good chance it does.

As always, these predictions are subject to change throughout the week. I'll revisit the bracket either Tuesday or Wednesday with updated thoughts and predictions that are sure to be wrong.

Weekly TV Thoughts: 03/08 - 03/14

2009-03-15T11:10:00.002-04:00

No Lost this past week, which made for a lighter television week. Thankfully, Championship Week was in full swing. Usually I avoid the major conference championships and just focus on the one-bid leagues, but all the tournaments have been incredible this year. Six overtimes for Syracuse and UConn? Then Syracuse plays another overtime the next night against West Virginia? Amazing. And I love seeing all these top potential top seeds lose early going into the Big Dance (except for Lousiville, who's looking tough to beat). I'll have more thoughts on college basketball later tonight, once the brackets are announced (Selection Sunday, one of the best days of the year). Who knows, it might go down as a live blog.

And on top of all the college basketball that's been on, the World Baseball Classic's been playing as well. I know a lot of people are down on the WBC, but I think for the most part, its alright. The USA-Canada game was phenomenal, and the Dutch coming out of nowhere to upset the Dominican Republic twice? No one saw that coming. And as to how this effects players come the regular season, I'm thinking it'll effect pitchers more than position players. Which is why I'm glad the Dominican team has been eliminated, so Edinson Volquez and Johnny Cueto are done and back at Spring Training.

Okay, now the scripted shows of the week:

-Heroes, Monday: I don't know what the hell is going on with this show. The Sylar's dad storyline was just stupid. He spent part of the episode STUFFING A FUCKING RABBIT. And what did he learn? That he'll he never be fullfilled just collecting powers, so he should direct his murderous nature toward something more meaningful; didn't he already come to this once before? The only redeeming part of that scene was Sylar going back and taking the rabbit when he left his dad's and placed in in Denko's apartment. Sylar vs. Denko so should be good, so I'm at least glad for that. Adding to the ricidulousness is Hiro and Ando, who have been charged with protecting Matt Parkman's son, Matt Parkman. We haven't heard from Parkman's family since Season 1 (I think), and now they just suddenly reappear? Please. This story better last less time than the stupid India trip. So what was good about this episode? Denko finally learning the Nathan can fly. Denko's meeting with Angela. Any time Denko and HRG face off. Now that Sylar's been reintroduced and Nathan's been outed, I really think this storyline gets interesting. Hopefully the Rebel storyline continues to advance this story, and not the other ones. Speaking of Rebel, what was the point of sending Claire to help Doyle when it was Rebel that did all the work of getting him a new ID? Was it just to shoot the scene of her in the comic shop? And if Rebel can penetrate Denko's computer system and take over, why doesn't he just shut the whole thing down? Oh well. According to Greg Grunberg's Twitter feed, the entire cast is together in the same scene later in the season (Episode 20, perhaps, which Grunberg says is awesome). We'll have to see. Heroes if off next week, and when it comes back, it'll the first episode with Bryan Fuller back on staff, so hopefully the series starts getting better.

-24, Monday: I have to admit, I didn't expect Bill to be the one to die (I read a lot spoiler sites, so I knew a death was coming). And I didn't expect it to happen right at the top of the episode, though when I think about it, its passe to end an episode with a tragic death, so mixing it up and doing right away was a nice change of pace. Its kind of amazing how much a dick Larry Moss is. I mean, on one hand, he's fully capable of defying the Vice President and storming to take back the White House, and on the other, he's 100% resitant to everything Jack says. So maybe its just Jack that he hates. He didn't bat an eye at suspending Renee for going over his head and talking to Ethan, so I guess this frees up Renee to join Jack on the rogue agent trail. And speaking of Ethan, I'm glad we got some backstory between him and Olivia. He bit the bullet and asked Olivia to join the administration (at the behest of the President) after being fired from the campaign, and she just bites his head off. I'm starting to think she's not a traitor, but that she will still be a problem because she's going to go digging to find out who in her mother's administration was responsible for all this and that's not going to go well for her. And that brings me to Jon Voight's villian, Jonas Hodges. He seems completely crazy, and that's awesome, and we also got a little insight into this master plan. He's got a cache of weapons on the way toward the States and a list of cities as targets. We don't know what he wants, but he did indicate that he didn't want to go through with the attacks if he didn't have to. I wonder what his end game is.

-Castle,Monday: A new series that debuted on Monday staring Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic. Its a character-driven procedural cop drama/comedy with a Moonlighting twist. Basically, its Bones with a little more silliness (thanks to Nathan Fillion). I'm bit fan of Bones, and Nathan Fillion, so I'll be watching this show, even if its not very good. Fillion should be a big(ger) star, and the fact that he's not is a crime, so I hope this show does well.

-Battlestar Galactica, Friday: And the end is closing in fast. Part I of the series finale, and I thought the episode was great. I liked the flashbacks, showing life on the colonies well before the Cylon attack. You have to think that these flashbacks will become more important/will be explained in the second part of the episode airing this Friday. Funny parts- Baltar telling Caprica Six that he'd forgetten her name (nice little nod to the fan there, myself included, who constantly wonder why she doesn't have a name), and finding out that Anders was the Dan Marino of Pyramid players. Highly talented, no championships, constantly rebuilding team. Back on Galactica, I really liked the scene between Lee and Baltar, setting up Baltar to have one last chance at redemption down the line. And it was a foregone conclusion that Adama would be leading one last charge to save Hera and destroy the evil Cylon faction. I like how he literally drew a line that you had to cross AND made everyone declare their intentions in person, leaving no doubt in their minds about the slim possibility of survival. Did we see Athena in that scene? Helo was there, but last we saw Athena, she was a wreak, seemingly unable to leave her bunk. And although we didn't see Baltar cross the line in this episode, I'm positive he'll be with Adama before its all said and done. And it all sets up the final, suicide mission against the baseship this week. So who lives and who dies? I think Lee's going make it. Starbuck, too. Roslin will obviously die. Tigh, I'm a little uncertain. But whatever happens to him, live or die, the same will happen to Ellen. Hera lives, because you can't kill kids, even on Battlestar Galactica. And since Hera lives, I'm saying that Helo lives as well. I think Anders is stuck as the hybrid for Galactica, so I'm not sure if that qualifies and living or dying. Tory and Tyrol are interesting cases; do they survive simply because they're part of the Final Five, or do they die and experience resurrection? Don't know. I think Baltar lives, even after he finally commits a truely selfless act, and I think Boomer dies, but not before she helps Hera escape. There are a number for whom killing Boomer would be a fitting end (Adama, Tyrol, Helo, Athena), and I think it'll be one of them that ultimately does her in. Which leaves Adama. Clearly, this is Galactica's last mission, and Roslin isn't going to make it much longer. So he's on the verge of losing the two things he loves the most; does that set him up to die as well? I think it does. If anyone's in position to make a grand sacrificing jesture to save all of humanity, its Adama. If that happens with Adama, it would be a little cheesey, but I'd be okay with it. Can't wait to see how this all ends.

Thursday and Friday of this week are two of the greatest sports days of the year, which will put a little hitch in the TV viewing schedule. But that's why God created DVR. March Madness it here! Time to go print out some brackets and get ready.

In Preparation For March Madness

2009-03-11T12:29:00.004-04:00

There's a new commercial for Vitamin Water starring Christian Laettner and Rick Pitino. I think its hysterical, especially Pitino's bit at the end. He's still probably wondering why both they guys he put on Laettner were standing behind him.

And THAT got me remembering this outstanding ESPN college basketball commercial from back in the day:

R.I.P. Chris Farley.

Weekly TV Thoughts: 03/01 - 03/07

2009-03-08T14:04:00.004-04:00

I saw 2 movies in the theater this week; can't recall the last time I did that. First was Fanboys, which I recommend for big-time Star Wars fans (or big time Kristen Bell fans). The second was Watchmen, which I discussed (briefly) here.

-Heroes, Monday: The Rebel storyline only works if it actually unites all the characters together. If its just a mechanism to loosely tie all the stories to one common point (like it is now), the show's not going to get any better. But if they can tighten up the story and get everyone working together, the show's got some hope. I'm glad they finally had Parkman use his mind-control powers deliberately to achieve an end and not while he was under stress to save his life. He's ridiculously powerful; why don't they use him more? And how does strapping a bomb to Parkman help The Hunter reach his goal? People would have to know that a)people with abilities exist and that b)Parkman is one of them for it to be an effective stunt. Peter exposed the operation of rounding up US citizens to the public, but not the specifics as to why; people with powers are still unknown. The Claire-Alex storyline was only good because it gave Claire's mom, Sandra, something constructive to do. And Sylar's storyline? Just stupid. So his dad has TK and he sliced open his mom's head. Whatever. That toy car sparked his memory; did he call it Rosebud? That story needs to be finished.

-24, Monday: Who knew that it was that easy to take control of the White House? Just dive underwater, drill up beneath the subsurface, and with the help of a single man in the inside, you too can take the President of the United State hostage. It had a real James Bond-ish plan feel to it, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I'm glad to finally see Jon Voight on the show; I think he's going to be an awesome villian. I'm also getting the traitor vibe from the President's daughter, Olivia. I didn't think that before, but now, it seems like it makes sense. Its the kind of left-field twist 24 is always good for. I'm also really enjoying Agent Walker's transformation from a by-the-book FBI agent to a do-what-is-necessary Jack Bauer clone. The ongoing struggle betwen her and Agent Moss is good to. Moss and Bauer and polar opposites and Renee is moving in between then. This episode also had my favorite 24 scene device- when a character has vital information that needs to be heard, so they tell a random person to call someone in charge so they know what's going on, but before that person can make the call, they're shoot and killed and the information remains unrelayed. Happens all the time in 24.

-Lost, Wednesday: I've read some review from people that didn't like this episode; I loved it. I loved the "Three years eariler/Three years later" construciton, filling in the gaps on the island between when Locke reset the wheel and when the O6 got back to the island. So we learn how Sawyer and company become a part of the Dharma Initiative. Sawyer, Jin, and Miles all work security; makes sense. Juliet works in the motorpool; not so much. But where is Faraday? We saw him a the beginning of the season working on the Orchid station; is he still in contact with everyone else, or is he off doing his own thing? Charlotte's death seem to send him off the deep end (if that was even possible), so its possible he his disassociated himself from everyone. My favorite scene was the conversation between Sawyer and Richard Alpert; what must be going through Richard's head at this point? He doesn't age, which one would assume he's aware of, so he had to know that the island has some special time properties associated with it. But what about all the time-travel? He seemed not to understand it when Locke talked with him in the 50's, and he seemed non-reactive when talking to Sawyer, like he didn't want to let on that he knew more than he was letting on. I'm starting to think that the reason Richard doesn't age is because he died and the island brought him back to life. There a lot of talk about an Egyptian connection to the island (the hieroglyphics, the ankh necklace, the statue); I think it would be awesome if Richard was part of the first settlement on the island, thousands of years ago, and he's been the same age ever since (because he's dead and doesn't age). And finally, new girl Amy's baby boy; he's going to be important. Why? Because the actress playing Amy said in an interview that she knows who her baby is and isn't allowed to say. That just screams important. The the child was born in 1977, putting him in his late-20's at the time of the Oceanic plane crash, and about 30 when the Ajira plane landed. So who could it be? Still pondering that one.

-Battlestar Galactica, Friday: Starbuck confesses her death to Baltar and Baltar rewards her by outing her secret to everyone. Well done, Gaius. I like the open, shared knowledge about how Starbuck, Hera, and the Final Five all experienced "All Along The Watchtower." One of my favorite parts about using this song has been how they've worked in lyrics into the dialogue. And in this episode, the dying Eight that requested seeing Tigh quoted a line herself ("Too much confusion"). First time a non-Final Five quoted a line. Important? Dont' know, but was a nice touch. I think its interesting that Sam is now plugged into Galactica hybrid-style; I hope they keep playing this angle before they abandon Galactica (which appears inevitable). While Boomer appears to be evil, it doesn't like she's completely evil. She obivously bonded with Hera and it looks likes she's going to save Hera from Cavil's experiments and return her to the fleet, at the cost of her own life. And we still need some answers to Starbuck. The longer they delay those answers, the more it looks like her answers are the answers to everyone and everything.

And finally, this weekend was the real start of March Madness. Or, the Mayhem Before the Madness, as the ESPN promos would tell us. Championship Week is just as good as the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament (which, let's face it, is the best part of the tournament). Little mid-major schools playing for a chance to be Cinderella, where you're only way in is to win because there is no bubble. The elation when a team wins and earns a ticket to the Big Dance, the agony of coming so close and losing. That emotion is why college basketball is lightyears ahead of the NBA.

Watch Watchmen

2009-03-06T22:07:00.002-05:00

Watchmen was fucking awesome. Plain and simple, go see it (don't worry, no spoilers in this post). Do you have to be a fan of the comic (or know the comic) to enjoy it? I don't think so, but its hard for me to say since I am. Just know going in that there is a lot of graphic violence and sex and that the movie is very dark. Very dark. And very graphic, especially with the violence. The sex is actually pretty tame when compared to the violence. That is, unless you count all the time you see a blue-CGI'ed penis, which is quite a few (seriously). But I can't stress the violence enough; if you can't stand violence, Watchmen might not be for you. Based on the audible gasps and the fact that a few people walked out part of the way through the movie, I'm guessing some people in the theater didn't quite know what they were getting into. Oh well. I thought it was incredible, and my complaints (few as they are) have to do with visual style and casting and nothing to do with the story or how it was told.

Complaint #1- all the damn slow motion. We get it, Zack Snyder, it looks cool when you slow down time and then speed it up real quick to catch up; we all saw 300. Watchmen is a long movie (2:43, I believe), and I swear it could have been a half hour shorter if all the slo-mo had been dropped. Okay, so there's not that much slo-mo, but there's a lot. Its used in pretty much every action sequence. I get that its just a director's visual style, but its been done to death (see: Bay, Michael).

Complaint #2- Matthew Goode as Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias. A lot of reviews I read pegged Malin Akerman as the weak casting link, but I think it was Goode. And its not that he's a weak actor, I just think he was miscast. You don't believe for a second that he's the "smartest man in the world", and if you do believe that, you certainly don't believe that he physically capabable to do what he does in the movie. And then there's this odd accent that comes and goes with him. The first time we see Adrian Veidt, he's got this strange, indecernable accent, but later in the movie, he's got nothing at all. It was a little distracting. Aside for Ozymandias, I thought the rest of the movie was cast well, especially Jackie Earle Haley and Patrick Wilson.

There's a lot of talk about the movie altering the climactic ending from that in the comic; don't worry about it. I don't think the original ending would have worked on screen. They cut elements from the story that tie into the original ending (and they were right in doing that), so without those story points, the original ending wouldn't have made any sense. What they changed it to works better in the context of the story and achieves the exact same intended outcome. In fact, I dare say that the movie's ending achieves that outcome in a more complete and all-encompassing way than the comic.

So all-in-all, I loved Watchmen. Its totally worth seeing again in the theater, and I might do just that before the weekend's over.

This Is Just Weird

2009-03-05T17:49:00.003-05:00

I'm in full-on Watchmen mode right now. I would love to see this guy take on scenes from the graphic novel in the same Saturday-morning cartoon style.

Just An Excuse To Post This Video

2009-03-04T18:59:00.004-05:00

So last night against the Magic, Shaquille O'Neal did something that he's been complaining about on other players ever since he entered the league. He flopped.

That was a flop that would have made Vlade Divac proud. Shaq's seen enough guys flop on him in his career, so it no wonder that when he finally decided to do it, he did it like a champ. But as the title of this post suggests, I only bring up Shaq's flop so I show this video, the most egregious flop in the history of basketball (sorry for the laugh track):

How bad is that flop? European soccer players find it offensive, that's how bad. It's why so many people hate Duke (and why they specifically hate Greg Paulus).

Weekly TV Thoughts: 02/22 - 02/28

2009-03-01T15:20:00.002-05:00

TNT is showing The Lord of the Rings right now, which is surefire way for me to waste away an entire day. Its right up there with Band of Brothers on History.

-Heroes, Monday: While I don't plan to abandon this show anytime soon, my patience is wearing thin with Heroes. This episode wasn't that bad; there was a lot of good exposition and the black-and-white flashback scene were a nice call back to Company Man, easily one of the best episodes to date. But I don't think we learned anything Earth-shatteringly new. HRG is a double (or is it triple) agent, working his own agenda while working with The Hunter. Shocker. They need to reassemble all the characters and get them fighting toward a single goal. Of course, that goal now appears to be saving New York, err... Washington, D.C. from annihilation. Good thing no one's currently occupying Isaac's loft, otherwise where else would Parkman use his as-of-yet-unexplained new ability to paint the future? It does sadden me, however, that they can't seem to come up with a better storyline than "save a city from destruction." I'll keep watching, but I really don't know why.

-24, Monday: See, I told you the blonde FBI chick was a mole. I just didn't think she'd be a mole in tandem with Hillinger. Too bad she fell for Sean's shoot-the-girl-than-shoot-yourself-in-the-arm act. That one fools them every time. I really thought for a second there that Hillinger would get away, at least for an episode or two. But I didn't count one the extent of Chloe's digital kung fu. Hillinger is in custody, Dubaku is dead, all the names everyone working with Dubaku is exposed, and the coup in Sangala is being quelled. Looks like a short day for Jack Bauer and company, if it weren't for the imminant attack being planned on Washington right now. Looks like General Juma is going to go after the White House next, which should keep Jack busy for the next 14 hours or so. I also get the sense that they've introduced the President's daughter for the sole purpose of her getting kidnapped somewhere down the line. I can see it going down something like this: Juma threatens the White House, everyone is evacuated, the attack is averted, Juma then captures the First Daughter because she defies her mother's orders and goes off and does something on her own without any Secret Service protection. I'd like to think that they could use her for more than that, but I'm not banking on it.

-Lost, Wednesday: First, what's happening on the the island. We now have names for the two other people who were sitting in business class with the O6 and Ben- Caesar and Ilana. And while it looks like everyone else on the plane survived (clearly, Lapidus IS a really good pilot), these two are obviously going to be important. From the looks of it, they landed on the small satellite island, by the Hydra station. Did Lapidus manage to land the plane on the "runway" that Kate and Sawyer were forced to work on? Was the runway being built because the Others knew that the Ajira flight would eventually have to land there? The woman that left with Lapidus on the outrigger has to be Sun. I mean, who else would a)have something or someone to look for and b)even know that there IS something or someone else to look for? They head toward the main island, carrying some Ajira bottle waters, and land on the beach, looking for the old camp. But if that's the case, why wasn't Sun with Jack, Hurley, and Kate? Why was she left on the plane? And where's Sayid? According to Caesar, some people disappeared in the flash, while other didn't; who stayed and who was flashed away? This begs another question- the flash of light is associated with time travel; so have Jack, Hurley, and Kate been transported back in time while the rest of the plane, including Lapidus, Ben, and what looks like Sun, crashed on the island in "real time"? I have no idea. Oh, and the least surprising part of the episode- Locke's alive again. Or, at least he's not dead. He can interact with everyone and can eat food, so let's just assume that he's actually alive again. Okay, so now to off the island, when Locke turned the wheel and was sent to the Tunisian desert. We do we learn? We learn that Charles Widmore wants to help Locke because Locke is special and destined to lead the people on the island. This is odd, because Ben claims to want to do the exact same thing for the exact same reason, except that he and Widmore are also working against each other. It makes Locke seems like nothing more than a pawn in a much, much larger game. Nothing all that exciting in Locke's meeting with each of the O6 (though Hurley assuming that Locke was dead was funny). None of them want to go back, and they make that very clear to Locke (especially Jack and Kate; they REALLY cut down Locke). We do get some good info, like how Jack gets sent off the rails (Locke tells him that his father says, "hi"). We also see that Locke wanted to kill himself, but doesn't because Ben stops him. And then Ben kills Locke anyway, and makes it look like a suicide. I wonder whether killing Locke was his plan all along, or if he decided to do so only after hearing Locke's plan to go visit Ms. Hawking. Now that I've had some time to think about it, I think it's the latter. Why? Because Ms. Hawking thinks Locke committed suicide. Ben's working with Ms. Hawking, trying to bring the O6 back to the island, because that's what Locke was supposed to do. He got Locke to divulge his mission so HE could carry it out and get himself back to the island (since he wouldn't have been included if Locke was running the show). It was only after he assumed Locke's role that he learned that he needed to bring Locke's body back with them. He clearly didn't realize the implications of doing so (ie- that Locke would come back to life on the island), otherwise he might not have murdered him. That should make for an interesting meeting once Ben awakes on the island.

-Hackers, Thursday: I can't believe I watched this movie. Again. It was made in 1994, released in 1995. Is that really how people thought computers worked 15 years ago (man, I feel like I've made this observation before). I think War Games, made back in 1983, gave a more accurate depiciton of computers than Hackers did. That said, check out the cast list to this movie; there are a ton of actors that you'd recognize now from other, less crappy, work, outside of just Angelina Jolie.

-Battlestar Galactica, Friday: So, I thought we'd actually get some answers about Starbuck in this episode. Turns out, we didn't. At least, not on the surface. While nothing specific was revealed about Starbuck, the implications were very heavy. The popular interwebs theory is that Starbuck is a hybrid, and that her father is Daniel, the missing 7th Cylon model that Cavil destoryed. Ellen said that Daniel was an artist, and from what we saw in this episode, Starbuck's father was a piano player (it was pretty clear that all the piano scenes were just in Starbuck's head). Also, Hera, a known hybrid, drew the melody to All Along the Watchtower, which happens to be the song Starbuck played as a kid, taught to her by her dad, and the song that triggered the Final Five (err, Four) to realize who they really were. So I think Starbuck's a hybrid, the first hybrid, and that when we get the specific answers about her, we'll get specific answers about humanity as a whole (ie- the end of the series). Speaking of Hera, its good to see that Boomer is just straight up evil. Clearly, it was the plan all along for her to "escape" with Ellen, rejoin the fleet, exploit her relationship with Tyrol, disguise herself as Athena, kidnap Hera, steal a raptor, and return to Cavil's baseship. It seems that Roslin's health is tied to her proximity to Hera; I don't think she's long for this world anyway. It will also be interesting to see what happens to Tyrol, since he was responsible for Sharon getting out of the brig and thus complicit in the kidnapping of Hera. It will also be interesting to see what happens to Galactica itself. Clearly its falling apart and it won't last much longer, but what happens when they do have to abandon Galactica? Roslin's going to die, and Galactica is on its last legs; can Adama go on without his two loves? With only 4 hours of the show left, I have no idea how they'll cram everything they need to say into the final episodes. But I can't wait to see it.

Okay, back to The Lord of the Rings.

The End Is Nigh.

2009-02-26T12:45:00.002-05:00

You now have just over a week to go and read Watchmen before the movie is release on March 6th. I've been excited for this since the trailer first ran before The Dark Knight back in July. I've checked, and I couldn't be more stoked now. Here some clips from the movie that have been released so far (the last one combining 10 shorter clips together):

Yeah, couldn't be more stoked. I've checked the scenes against the novel (because, let's face it, I'm a geek), and I am impressed. But I'm not one of people that think any deviation from the source material is automatically a bad thing; I understand that things change when a property is adapted from one medium to another, so I can accept changes as long as they make sense. Example- clip 6 (of the 10 shown in movie four) shows Deisberg talking to Veidt about the Comedian's death. In the novel, its Rorschach that talks to Veidt. Why the change? Don't know, but as long as the same information is conveyed in the scene, it doesn't really matter. Also, I don't mind that they've decided to actually use the name "Watchmen" in the movie; nothing changes in the story by doing so, you eliminate any potential confusion among the non-graphic novel crowd about why the movie's called Watchmen and "Watchmen" is never mentioned, and it sounds better than "Crime Busters" anyway.

I've read that there are 3 cuts of the film- the theatrical cut (155 minutes), a director's cut (around three hours), and a special extended cut (pushing three and a half, which, I would guess, includes the Tales of the Black Freighter story cut into the film). I can't wait until the 6th. Let's hope that the greatest comic book ever made into a movie can also be the greatest comic book movie ever.

(Man, that last line was terrible. Sorry).

The Remakes Have To Stop

2009-02-25T09:56:00.002-05:00

You can file this under "worst idea ever":

Gore Verbinski to direct 'Clue'

They're going to remake Clue, to which I ask, "WHY?!?!?" What possible reason would you have to remake a movie as good as Clue? Its hysterical and seriously, one of my favorite movies of all time. Its never not funny, and insanely quotable. If you haven't seen Clue, I suggest you do so before its destroyed by the remake.

Weekly TV Thoughts: 02/15 - 02/21

2009-02-22T12:18:00.002-05:00

Another week with a lot of things to watch, especially at the end of the week, some of which won't be chronicled here (Conan O'Brien's final show on Friday, UFC 95 on Saturday). And I'll start this week off with the Academy Awards tonight (where Heath Ledger will win for Best Supporting Actor, despite my earlier prediction).

-Heroes, Monday: Man, this episode sucked. Seriously, everything they did wrong in the past few seasons they did wrong in this episode. Hiro and Ando go to India to stop a wedding. WHY? So they could get a fax from Rebel telling them that they have to back to L.A. to save Parkman. They went to India so they could get a fax. Terrible. Sylar and Luke on a buddy roadtrip? Whatever. Claire saving Alex and Aquaboy? Okay, actually not that bad. I like the set up of Claire going on the run and actually having a reason to go on the run. But the episode was quasi-saved by the final moments, where Peter, Mohinder, and Parkman drug HRG and take him away to interrogate him via mind reading in the next episode, which has to be better than this episode was.

-24, Monday: Okay, so I was wrong on the FBI mole. Turns out, it was Hillinger, a.k.a. Billy Walsh from Entourage. He was an early suspect for mole when he was caught logging onto the system to check his wife's flight status; nothing beats a cover story that also happens to be true to throw off the scent of treason. Still though, I insist that the blonde FBI chick will be important by the end of the day. Maybe she'll be the one to blow the whistle on Hillinger. The Chloe-Janis showdown was a little underwhelming; hopefully that gets better as Janis continues to distrust Chloe in the coming episodes. Perhaps in a situation where they're forced to work together.

-Lost, Wednesday: And just like that, the Oceanic 6 is back on the island. It was only a matter of time, and I really glad they didn't drag it out over the length of the season; that would've been stupid. Instead, everyone got on board Ajira Flight 316 from L.A. to Guam and passed over the most likely location of the island, as determined by the Lamppost Station (nice Narnia reference). Loved all the call backs in this episode, from Jack waking up in the jungle to the O6 having to to recreate as best they can the circumstances of the original crash. Hurley with the guitar? Charlie. Sayid in handcuffs escorted by a fed? Kate. Sun with her husband's wedding ring, worrying about her husband? Rose. Ben running onto the plane at the last moment? Hurley. All with Lapidus as the pilot, where he should have been the first time (line of the night went to Frank after he saw all of the O6 sitting in Business Class, "We're not going to Guam, are we?"). I think the seccond best line, and probably the most telling one, came from Kate, when she said to Jack, "We're here, but we're not together" (or something to that effect). That speaks to all the questions that still remain about the O6- why were they they all there on the flight? You knew Jack and Ben would be there, and Sun was pretty much a lock since she's desperate to find Jin. But Kate? What changed her mind? Where's Aaron and why doesn't she want to talk about it? My guess is that Aaron was taken from her and that forced Kate back to the island. Why/how was Hurley there? He seemed pretty content in not going back and not doing anything Ben wanted him to do (he seemed shocked to see Ben on the plane), so what changed his mind? It was clear that Sayid had no intention of going back, so him being under arrest seemed to make sense. But why? And why was he being transported back to Guam? Does it stem from when he was killing people for Ben? Did he even know that they others would be on the flight? And what about the two other people with them in Business Class- the fed with Sayid and the guy from Three Kings (seriously, do you know the actor from anywhere else)? I think they get sent to the island with the O6; is it a case of wrong place wrong time, or are they part of the plan as well? And what about Lapidus? Does he go back too? I hope so, because he's a cool character. As for Jack, Hurley, and Kate seeing Jin pull up in a Dharma bus wearing a Dharma jumpsuit, I think its clear when the O6 have landed. This should be awesome, with plenty of headache inducing time travel goodness.

-Dollhouse, Friday: A much better episode than last week's. In fact, I think it would have been best for the show if they had gone with a 2-hour premiere, showing these two episodes back-to-back on one night. The story would've had made more sense from the start and I think more viewers would be into the show. As it is now, I don't know if enough stuck around after the pilot to see this week's show. By giving a mini history of the Dollhouse and Alpha, and by tying Alpha to Agent Ballard, the series is building a nice serial base from which to work. And as Echo starts to remember things she shouldn't, the series should really start to pick up. I have to say, I'm still excited for this show.

-Battlestar Galactica, Friday: Cylon melodrama! Clearly, this episode was about forcing the idea onto everyone that their society cannot be humans and Cylons but instead simply society. Tigh had the best line when he said that human-human is too weak and Cylon-Cylon is too weak; that division is how all of this started in the first place. I guess the Cylon compound being used to fix Galactica is just a thinly-veiled methaphor for the integration of the whole fleet. I think killing Caprica Six's baby was also done just to further illustrate the point; the only future is the human-Cylon hybrid (a.k.a. Hera), nothing else will work. Adama has come around to the idea of integrating the Cylons, and it appears that Lee and Roslin are coming around as well. But I htink Baltar is right, the fleet as a whole isn't ready. Not yet. Which brings us back to Baltar and his now assult rifle-weilding harem- that can't end well. We'll see, but next week it looks like we'll get some Starbuck answers, which is good seeing as there are only 4 episodes left. Can't hold anything back now.

-Bracket Buster games, Saturday: Praise be to the guy that thought this would be a good idea. Take a bunch of good, mid-major conference teams, pair them up, and give them a chance to show what they can do on a big stage. Paying attention on this day can help you when trying to pick those first round upset come March Madness. This is one of my favorite days of the college basketball year.

-Taking Chance, HBO, Saturday: And now, something a little serious. I saw ads for this a while back, and I didn’t know when it would actually be airing. I'm glad I caught it. If you have a chance to watch it at some point, I suggest you do. When I first heard about the movie, I went and read the original story written by Lt. Col. Michael Strobl (which you can find here- I recommend reading it). I know a Marine that was killed in Afghanistan and its good to know the level of care that was given to him when he returned home. Semper fi.

Know Anyone Who'd Be Up For This?

2009-02-20T15:35:00.002-05:00

Funeral Home Now Offering Elder-Purple Casket

The idea of a themed-casket or urn is nothing new, and while I may find it a little off, I have no problem if something like this is included in someone's final wishes. How they wish to go is how they wish to go, be it in a Detroit Tigers urn or an Elder casket. Quite frankly, I'm a little surprised that something like this is just now been made available, especially considering the Elder fan base. I would have thought someone would have thought this up years ago. Which brings me to my favorite part of this article:

"[Funeral Director Terry Deters] noted Elder's deep roots in the community. "Generations of families have proudly gone to this school," Deters said. He's a 1975 graduate of St. Xavier High School. But, his dad and his brothers went to Elder. His son, Taylor, belongs to the class of 2009."

So in a family of Elder grads who run a funeral home just blocks from Elder High School itself, its the one St. X grad that steps up and says, hey, there might be a market for this sort of thing. There's a deeper meaning in that somewhere. I think its that Elder grads are kind of crazy. Yeah, that's it.

Seriously?

2009-02-19T19:39:00.003-05:00

The Cabin Cuddler

How hard is it to use a fucking blanket? I manage to successfully use one all the time sitting on the couch in my basement and I do so without incident; why the hell can't other people? Are blankets really that complicated, or am I just smarter than other people?

Early Baseball Thoughts

2009-02-19T14:33:00.002-05:00

Spring training games start next week, so its time to talk baseball. Not necessarily predictions, but just some things that are on my mind.

-Alex Rodriguez: Unlike Bonds, McGwire, and Clemons, I think A-Rod still has a shot at the Hall of Fame. Why? Two main reasons- one, because he actually admitted to using PHD's. Sure, his "apology" and his "press conference" were total shams, and there are a lot of holes in his story, but at the very least, he admitted to knowingly taking a banned substance (though that term has to be applied cautiously since before 2004, there weren't any banned substances in baseball, with the possible exeption of cocaine). It clear A-Rod isn't telling the whole truth, but since we'll never get the whole truth, his crisis-managment-spun story will have to do. The other reason I think he still has a chance to Cooperstown is because he's still got a lot of baseball left in him. All of the other Hall of Fame calliber players connected to PED's are retired, but A-Rod's in a unique (for now) position to play his way back into Hall consideration. And I say "for now" because we don't know the names of the other 103 players that tested positive back in 2003. Perhaps there are other Hall-worthy names on that list, perhaps not. Either way, now that A-Rod's name is out there, I think the other names should be released as well. As much as I don't like A-Rod, I do think it is unfair that he's the only one being targeted when there are 103 other players as guilty as he is. But back to the point- with 9 years left on his contract, A-Rod has a lot of time to distance himself from this. He'll never get rid of it, but the longer he plays, assuming he continues to play at his current level of production, the better chance he has of reducing the stain. I wonder what it'll be like when he passes Bonds on the home run list (because let's face it, A-Rod's hitting 800); maybe that'll be a barometer as to his Hall of Fame chances.

-Ken Griffey, Jr.: So Griffey's heading back to Seattle. Its a one-year deal, which means only one thing- 2009 will be Junior's last year in baseball. He'll platoon in left, hit some DH, and hopefully sell some more tickets at SafeCo, because this move does absolutely nothing in helping the M's win some more games this year. Listen, I'm a big Griffey fan- I think I've made that clear- but let's be serious; the M's are a wreak and they aren't going anyway anytime soon. He had a chance to sign with Atlanta, where he would have been closer to his home and a good chance to win (the two factors that lead him to Cincinnati back in 2000). Instead he chose exact opposite, and I think I'm okay with that. So he chose to take a victory lap instead of trying for a ring. Good for him Let him retire a Mariner and ensure that he'll be an M's cap on his plaque in Cooperstown (as if there was any doubt to that).

-The Reds: As I mentioned previously, I think the Reds can eke out an above .500 record (note: as predicted, a number of those predictions have already been proven to be wrong). Its a young team with a lot of potential and hopefully that can translate into wins. But there are still some concerns with this team. Is Chris Dickerson really the answer in left? Is Ramon Hernandez really the answer behind the plate? The team wanted to get a big right-handed bat and didn't; do they have enough offense to compete? Can Alex Gonzalez be trusted to stay healthy? Dusty's said that Phillips will start the year batting cleanup; I guess that would make the lineup Taveras, Dickerson (or whoever's in left), Bruce, Phillips, Votto, Encarnacion, Gonzalez, Hernandez. Is that a contending lineup? I don't know. Harang, Volquez, Arroyo, and Cueto seem to be set in the rotation, but who's in the fifth slot? Will it be Homer Bailey or Micah Owings? Those two seem to be the leading candidates. Bailey's got the hype and potential and Owings probably the best hitting pitcher in the game right now. If Homer can live up to the all the hype then I'd say he's a no-brainer for the fifth spot. But he's done nothing but struggle in his major league career, so there really isn't any reason to be optimistic about him. If Bailey does make the rotation, what do you do with Owings? Make him a reliever/pinch hitter? Maybe the Reds should flip him Rick Ankiel style and put him out in left. He'd probably have a higher average than whoever they platoon out there.

Despite the medicore outlook for the Reds, I'm never not excited for baseball season. And given that I don't follow the NBA and Virginia won't even be making the NIT field, its pretty much all I've got to look forward to right now (well, that and college lacrosse- go Hoos!).

Best Week Ever

2009-02-17T14:43:00.004-05:00

All-you-can-eat ribs at Montgomery Inn.

The Boathouse is 20 years old, so from February 22-26 Montgomery Inn is offering all-you-can-eat ribs for $19.89 at all 3 locations, Saratoga Chips included. This sounds phenomenal. Puddin', you in?

Weekly TV Thoughts: 02/08 - 02/14

2009-02-15T23:00:00.002-05:00

Late update this week; I spent the weekend at my grandma's house, and the best internet connection I could find was at Dunkin' Donuts. So this had to wait until I got back home.

-Heroes, Monday: Why does no one understand Claire? Is just just because she's a teenager? After everything that's happened so far in the story, why would anyone assume that all Claire would want is a "normal" life? Why do people (namely her dads, HRG and Nathan) continue to be shocked when she does something against their wishes? Don't you think they would've figured it out by now? They really need to explain what's going on with Parkman, because not only does this trance allow him to draw the future, but it leads him to the tools so he can draw the future. I don't mind having the future-seeing paintings on the show; I do mind having the power just randomly show up in Matt. Other things that bother me- why doesn't someone just out Nathan? How hard would it be for one of the captured people to shout out, "Hey, guess what, Nathan Patrelli can fly!" to the Hunter and his cronies? Put Nathan under suspicion and undermine his authority. What Peter should've done during his escape was pick up Nathan as he flew away and dropped him, forcing Nathan to reveal his ability. But that just would've been to easy. Also don't like how Sylar picked up his new sidekick. He was only in that house because it was down the street from where he just was, and lo and behold, the kid in the house has a power! But wait, why didn't Sylar sense Luke's ability when he first met him? Oh, right, because it didn't fit the story. Anyway, the things I did like- loved Peter's pep talk about having to be on the run now. Very inspiring, and should make for some good story in the upcoming episodes. Also like the introduction of the "Rebel" character on Claire's phone. I guess the hot interweb rumor right now is that "Rebel" is Micah, which would be AWESOME. That would be a great way to reintroduce that character. In fact, I think I'd be disappointed now if its NOT Micah.

-24, Monday: Mole update- I really think its the blonde FBI chick that has the hots for Rhys Coiro's character. Otherwise, why is she even on screen? At first, I thought Agent Moss was just a whiny bitch, but now I think he's there to be a foil for Agent Walker, specifically showing her transition from by-the-book (Agent Moss) to whatever's-necessary (Jack Bauer). I loved her, "Maybe I will get out. Tomorrow." I don't get the Dubaku girlfriend storyline; was it just so he would be out of the cellar when Jack and Renee stormed in? Because if so, that's weak sauce. I hope that plays out into something more substantial. And of course Mr. Taylor got shot during the rescue attempt. Nothing's ever easy for Jack.

-Lost, Wednesday: Welcome back to the show, Smoke Monster! Loved seeing the demise of Rousseau's crew after hearing about 4 season's ago. Everyone goes down into the temple (sans Rousseau) to go after the Smoke Monster, and they come back up with "the sickness" (which I always likened more to a mental sickness, as opposed to a physical one). So given what they showed, everyone was dead BEFORE Rousseau gave birth to Alex; how did that work exactly? Well, anyway, welcome back to the main group, Jin. The more I see Miles, the more I think he's awesome. "He's Korean. I'm from Encino." Love it. The island is making jumps sooner and sooner, and we welcome Sawyer to the nose bleed club. It also causes Charlotte to go terminal, which leaves her spewing random facts and thoughts from her life. She knows about getting to the wheel through the well (which of course, comes in handy when Locke and company jump right as they reach the Orchid). She also rambles about being born on the island, leaving with her mother, and then being told the island never existed. She also said that a strange man told her that she could never return to the island otherwise she would die, and that strange man was Faraday. Wat? LOTS of questions there. Interesting conversation Locke had with Christian Shepherd, who really does appear to be the island's information guide. It seems that everything Locke was supposed to do off island is now being done by Ben, presumably because Locke is currently dead. And what was with Christian telling Locke that he couldn't help him up? What it just a metaphor for Locke having to do this on his own, or could he actually not help him up? Afterall, Christian was able to hold baby Aaron when he lured away Claire last season. Hrm. Meanwhile, back in L.A., Ben's only managed to get Sun and Jack to come with him to see Eloise Hawking. What about the rest of the O6? Can they come along at a later date? Why was it so important to get all of them together again if its okay that only some of them go back? Don't kow. And welcome to the merging storylines, Desmond! I find it VERY interesting that Ben didn't know that Ms. Hawking was Faraday's mother (well, at least he's expression seemed to indicate that he didn't know). Surely that will have greater significance down the line.

-Dollhouse, Friday: Have to admit, I was a little underwhelmed with this premiere, but I'm writing the show off based on just one episode. But it very slow through the majority of the episode. Looking at the show's construct, I wonder how they'll be able to keep up the "new personalities each week" formula. Unless she's solving a crime or something each week, the personaility changes alone will not keep this show afloat. The saving grace was the last scene, where they introduced the rogue Active, Alpha. If he can merge stories with the FBI agent looking for the Dollhouse (aka, Helo from BSG), that could make for a nice serialized storyline. I've read that Echo will start to become more self aware herself, which would also make for good story. Hopefully these two things can add some life to the show before its too late (which, given its a Fox show on Friday night, is probably nearer than it should be).

-Battlestar Galactica, Friday: Wow. A whole episode of exposition, dropping A LOT of information. Let me see if I have this straight: thousands of years ago, humanity started on Kobol. Humans made Cylons. Humans left Kobol to settle the 12 Colonies; the Cylons left to settle Earth, the mythical 13th Colony. On the way, they built (what was now called) the “Temple of the Five”. The Cylons get to Earth, settle, and then build Centurions. Ellen, Saul, Anders, Tyrol, and Tory all work in a lab, developing resurrection technology. The Centurions rebel, war breaks out, they nuke Earth. The Five die and resurrect on a ship in orbit around Earth. They then leave to return to the 12 Colonies to warn them about creating Centurions. The trip takes thousands of years. In that time, the humans have already created Centurions, having forgotten about the Cylons that were created on Kobol a thousand years earlier. These Centurions rebel, and the First Cylon War starts. The Five finally reach the Colonies, broker peace with the Centurions, and end the war. The Five agree to give them resurrection technology. The Cylons go away, and no one hears from them in 40 years. In that time, the Five create the 8 models of humanoid Cylons; they start with number 1, Cavil/John. In time, Cavil/John begins to rebel against his creators and starts rejecting the idea that he should be more human. He locks away the Five and reprograms them to live among humans without any knowledge of their true nature so they could experience what they were trying to do to the other models. He makes it so if they were to die, they would resurrect on his Basestar and immediate remember who/what they are. He killed the 7 line out of jealously. He tweaked the programming of the other models to be more inline with his anti-humanity thinking. Then, the Second Cylon War begins, and that's brings us to the start of the show. The one huge hole I see in that history is Tigh- if the Five came and ended the first war, how did Adama know Tigh *during* the war? And how did Tigh age? That timeline doesn’t make any sense. But other than that, I like how they managed to weave through the “its all happened before, and will all happen again.” Can’t wait to see it all ends up.

Weekly TV Thoughts: 02/01 - 02/07

2009-02-07T13:46:00.003-05:00

After a great weekend of sports television (Penn-St. Pierre, Federer-Nadal, that Super Bowl thing), there was another solid week of scripted TV, which saw the return of a couple of shows that had still been on winter hiatus.

-Chuck, Monday: I love this show, and I'm glad its finally back on the air. Pound for pound, Chuck might be the most entertaining show on television (mixing great story, great characters, drama, suspense, action, and comedy). Its also an incredibly geeky show, which is another reason I love it. I mean, what other show could seamlessly blend a semi-meta Lost crossover (Dominic Monaghan guest starring as a rock star), a This Is Spinal Tap reference (“Hello Cleveland!”), a Shawshank Redemption allusion (the playing of Mozart when talking about freedom, Zihuatanejo), and an ex-NFL player cameo (Jerome Bettis… fucking Steelers) into a single episode? Great show, terribly underrated. Now, to the issue of the episode being in 3D; didn't hate it, but definitely didn't love it. Yeah, sure, it was kinda neat, but it was also very off-putting because it seemed that some scenes were shot in 3D (the action scenes, Big Mike eating the donut, Yvonne Strahovski crawling on the bed.... the link is for those of you who don't know who Yvonne Strahovski is), and some weren't. Watching a non-3D scene with the 3D glasses on just gives you a headache. So unless the whole thing is in 3D (and they do something about the glasses), I don't think its an idea that's going to take off.

-Heroes, Monday: Another show making its return this week, with Heroes starting a new volume and trying trying to reboot the show. They even went so far as to recreate the Peter/Mohinder cab ride from the pilot; I thought that was a nice, if not heavy-handed, touch. I like them setting up all the main characters to work together right from the start instead of stringing it out throughout the season. They've made that mistake in the past (multiple times), so its good to see them trying something different. Having a lot of characters in your story isn't a problem; having too many stories in your story is. As to this specific episode, I don't like how they've all of a sudden given Parkman the ability to draw the future; they better be a good explaination for that one, otherwise its silly. I do like that Sylar's storyline (the hunt to find his biological father) isn't separate from the main storyline (the government rounding up people with abilities); he's on the hunt, but he's also still being hunted. I also like that he's too powerful to be captured because that's the way it should be. Overall, I like the direction and I hope they can keep it up.

-24, Monday: Question- how many times can you storm the enemy compound and kill everyone there expect the one guy you need to? I think its happened to Jack Bauer at leat a dozen times. Also, how many hostage situations can you encounter in a day? In this hour, they just replaced one (the Sangalan Prime Minister) with another (the First Gentleman…. man, that sounds stupid). I'm glad the CIP device storyline is over as well, because you can only hold that threat of danger so many times before it just gets ridiculous. Still waiting for Jon Voight to enter the picture. And what's going on with Tony- he seemed awful hesitant to go to the govenment in anyway. Is he just afraid of having to anwser for his crimes, or is he still hiding something? My guess is that when the day's over, Tony either runs or *actually* dies in some act of redemption for him. Still not certain about who's the mole the President's circle; I'm sticking with the Chief of Staff until things become clearer.

-Lost, Wednesday: I think its interesting that they showed it was Kate's idea to make Aaron her son, and that was done *before* they all decided to lie about the island. It wasn't something they needed to say, but its good information that adds to the character. Staying off island, I guess it should've have been obvious that it was Ben behind the Kate-Aaron paternity test; what better way to get Kate on the run and potentially back to the island than to threaten her family? Nefarious, evil... just the thing Ben's capable of. Speaking of evil, Sun falls squarely into that category. Babysitting Aaron and also planning a hit (either Jack or Ben... or both; it was kind of unclear). The showdown they previewed for next week should be cool, especially with some many of the characters in one scene again. Which leave Hurley, who's currently in lockup. According to Ben's lawyer, Hurley's stay in jail shouldn't be that long, and I hope that's the case, because otherwise, the "Hurley in jail" storyline becomes a roadblock for the sake of being a roadblock. Okay, now to what's happening *on* the island. I love how they jumped back to a time when the survivors were already on the island. It made for nice character scenes with Locke and Sawyer and Sawyer and Juliet. The nosebleed thing intrigues me. At this point, we have no reason to doubt anything Faraday's says about the island. That may change later, but as of now, I'm believing whatever he says. Given that, plus the spread of the nosebleeds, it means that Miles has been on the island before, and spent a significant amount of time there, less than Charlotte, but more than Juliet. One popluar rumor is that Miles is the son of Pierre Chang (the guy in all the orientation videos) and was the child in the crib that we saw at the start of this season. Another perfect example of Chekhov's gun- why bother showing that Dr. Chang has a son if it weren't going to be important later? I thought the introduction of the second airline was nice- Ajira Airways. Another interweb theory suggests that Ajira is the airline that the Oceanic 6 takes to get back to the island, and that the people chasing/firing at Locke and company in the ocean was the Oceanic 6 themselves (or perhaps the people they came with). That one's pretty crazy, but I like it. It explains why the boat was beached right there, right at their camp (the O6 was looking for them) and it sets up the possibility of seeing that same scene again, but from the a point of view (like the did with the Jin/Sun flashbacks back in the first season; they seem to like to do that). And finally, speaking of Jin, he is indeed alive, which is good to see (well, I knew he wasn't off the show, but you never know with Lost; you can be dead and not actually be dead, so I'm glad that Jin is neither and is just alive). And as soon as the survivors recognized the wreakage as being French, you had to know that it would belong to Rousseau and her crew. But from the promos, it doesn't look like Jin will be spending much time with them and will quickly meet up with the rest of the survivors. I like how they are using the time jumping as a way to show the history of the island, instead of just having to tell it. I really hope they jump back to when the Black Rock crashed on the island; that would be cool. But one can only guess where they'll jump next.

-Battestar Galactica, Friday: Man, what an intense hour. I knew the mutiny/revolution wouldn't last that long, but I honestly didn't think it was be over in this episode. I thought this episode would end with a showdown between the two sides, to be decided next week, but I was wrong. Adama retook command without much incident because, as they showed throughout the episode, the revolution was losing traction. Gaeta clearly didn't have the chops for it, and Kelly went so far as to switch sides. Good to see Kelly come to his senses; the scene with him and Tyrol was nice in that it seemed horribly awkward and out of place give the circumstances. But given the positions these guys used to hold and how much time they would have spent working on the launch deck, it makes sense that they would be friends and that Kelly would be reluctant to pull the trigger. The only person that seemed all in with the revolution was (not surprising) Tom Zarek, but even I was shocked that he would have the entire quorum (save Lee) murdered right there on Colonial One. That was nuts. It so great to see Starback back to being Starbuck, and I am really intrigued by what's going to happen with Anders now that he's been shot. That scene showed that Kara still cares for him and that Romo Lampkin isn't a total selfish bastard. We also got to see Baltar in a rare moment of actual self awareness, which was surprising (though the fact that he was in bed with a 6 at the time wasn't). The one thing that bothered me a little was where the hell did Adama get so many followers so quickly? Were there just that many people against the mutiny? It just seemed like a little weird. Also, what exactly did Tyrol see in the engine room? Was that crack in the hull? Well, whatever it is, I'm sure its not a good thing. And finally, the promo for next week, where we get back to the final Cylon storyline. It showed Ellen in a resurrection tub- what the fuck? You can't tell me that the Final Five resurrect the same way as the other 7 do, that just wouldn't make any sense. Was that just another red herring (like seeing Adama get executed)? Man, I can't wait to find out.

And Now For Something Completely Different

2009-02-03T13:28:00.003-05:00

From Friday's Attack of the Show on G4:

I was one of the 60,000+ who signed the petition. I think it was well worth it.

Final Super Bowl Thoughts (For Real)

2009-02-03T11:44:00.003-05:00

Okay, after a day to digest Super Bowl XLIII, I have a few final thoughts on the game, aside from just "Fuck the Steelers."

First, check out how EA did with their Madden simulation of the game. Insanely close on the final score and the stats for Roethlisberger and Holmes.

Second, even with the loss, Kurt Warner may still have punched his ticket to Canton with his performance on Sunday. Even though his Super Bowl record is now 1-2, think about those Super Bowls:

-Super Bowl XXXIV- a record 414 passing yards, game MVP, and one of the most exciting finishes in Super Bowl history (the Titans Kevin Dyson comes 1-yard short of the potential game-tying touchdown as time expires); win.

-Super Bowl XXXVI- a third-best all-time 365 passing yards, a 14-point 4th quarter comeback, and one of the most exciting finishes in Super Bowl history (Adam Vinatieri's game-winning field goal as time expired); loss.

-Super Bowl XLIII- a second-best all-time 377 passing yards, leading a 14-point 4th quarter comeback (16, with the safety), and one of the most exciting finishes in Super Bowl history (Santonio Holmes tip-toe touchdown catch with 0:35 seconds left); loss.

Any list of the top 10 greatest Super Bowls ever includes those 3 games, and yes, I think that matters in Warner's HOF consideration. Warner also has 2 league MVP's (1999 and 2001; could be argued he deserved it this year as well) and the great human interest story (undrafted out of college, bagging groceries, NFL Europe, Arena League, Super Bowl champion). While his team didn't win every Super Bowl he was in, he played big in every one of them. Sure, he had some dark years as a backup, but I think that only adds to his career; former starter and league MVP, reduced to holding a clipboard, regains the starting job and leads his team (a historically bad on, at that) to their first ever Super Bowl.

There's talk that Kurt Warner's played his last game in the NFL. If that's the case, I think he makes it to Canton in 5 years.

Third, even though Ben Roethlisberger is now 2-0 in Super Bowls, I don't think he's looking at an easy ride into footbal immortaility. Yes, two Super Bowl championships is a ridiculous accomplishment, especially at his age, but I think that he never wins another championship (please God, let him not win another championship), he'll always be overshadowed. Think about his Super Bowls, and what do you remember?

-Super Bowl XL- You remember horrible officiating, a long touchdown pass to Hines Ward on a trick play.... thrown by Antwaan Randle El, and a historically bad performace by Roethlisberger. The Steelers won inspite of Ben's pathetic performace (and with the aid of the officials). Hines Ward is your MVP.

-Super Bowl XLIII- You'll remember the James Harrision touchdown, the Arizona comeback, and the Santonio Holmes touchdown, with Holmes as your MVP.

The default Super Bowl MVP is the winning team's quarterback. If there isn't a clear MVP, it goes to him, that's just the way it is. Roethlisberger's started and won two Super Bowls and was MVP in neither of them. The only other quarterback to do that (as far as I can tell) is Bob Griese, and he's got another career milestone on his record to cancel that one out (something about a perfect season). Yes, you could argue that Roethlisberger deserved the MVP award on Sunday, but that fact is he didn't get it, and no one remembers the also-rans in the Super Bowl MVP race.

If his career ended right now (please God, let his career end right now), I think Roethlisberger would be remembered as a guy who got lucky and played above himself because he was surrounded by much greater players. These Steelers teams will be remembered for winning with their defense, and while he did lead them down the field for the winning score, it won't be remember for Roethlisberger methodically moving his team down the field, picking apart the defense and managing the clock, like Montana, Elway, or even Brady. It took a defender falling down on a play and a spectacular catch on the touchdown to make it happen. Its not fair, but I think he'll be seen as a player that was carried by his team, and not the other way around. I don't see him that way (I remember telling Steelers fans back in 2004 that they got the steal of the draft by taking him 11th), but that's how I think history will judge him.

And finally, the similarities between Sunday's game and Super Bowl XXIII, ranked the #1 Super Bowl of all time back in 2006. I've seen a lot of people compare the endings of two games, and even heard Roethlisberger reference it during a post-game interview with ESPN (he said that in the huddle before the final drive, he did not point out John Candy in the stands, which is exactly what Joe Montana had down 20 years prior). Bengals fans remember this one all too well- Cincinnati up 16-13, 3:10 on the clock, and San Francisco pinned on their own 8 yard line. Then Joe Montana became Joe Montana and lead the Niners 92-yards down the field, hitting John Taylor in the endzone with 0:35 seconds left in the game (damn it). For comparision, the Steelers had 2:37 to go 77 yards, and the Holmes touchdown came with 0:34 seconds left. But like a mentioned above, I don't think Super Bowl XLIII will be remembered for that final drive like Super Bowl XXIII was; the final play will be remember, but not the whole drive. Just how it is.

Okay, that's it, I'm done with football for now. Time for March Madness and baseball. When do pitchers and catchers report?

Super Bowl XLIII LIve Blog Mega-Post

2009-02-01T22:35:00.003-05:00

Okay, so here's me trying my hand at live blogging an event. And what better event to do that than the Super Bowl. Naturally, most of this is just mindless crap. But then again, what isn't on this site?

Pre-Game

6:00 Just turned to the Super Bowl coverage because I there was no way I could’ve made it through 5 hours of the pregame show. Half hour I can stand. Let’s see how this turns out.

6:06 Do we really need to see the players walk out of the locker room? Enter the field, okay, but waiting in the tunnel?

6:08 Dr. Foreman is in the house. Anyone seen Thirteen?

6:09 Here come the Steelers. Fuck the Steelers.

6:10 Was that me, or did the Cardinals just get a louder reception? Or was that because there were just a lot of boos mixed in?

6:13 No noteworthy commercials yet. Maybe they start when the actual game starts.

6:15 Okay, nothing against Walter Payton, but why give this award out now? Timing seems odd. Prop bet alert: Shots of Brenda Warner- 1.

6:16 Uh, a musical performance just for the sake of having a musical performance? Was Faith Hill guaranteed a performance since she sings the Sunday Night Football intro song?

6:18 And the people on the Lost DVD said that a water landing was impossible with a plane. Pfft. There's your proof.

6:21 Not a bad National Anthem. Looks like it was pre-recorded, and there’s nothing wrong with that. One thing- if you’re going to sing it in 4/4, stay in 4/4, don’t jump back into 3/4. Consistency is key. Prop bet alert: six planes in the flyover.

6:22 HOLY MOTHERFUCKING SHIT, G.I. JOE!!!!!!!!!

6:24 Been hearing Joe Cocker's Feelin' Alright all over the place recently. Love the song, so I’m not complaining, but its sudden appearance and use everywhere is kinda odd.

6:27 General Petraeus doesn’t have anything else better to be doing tonight, huh? Yeah, didn’t think so.

6:28 Prop bet alert: Heads, Arizona wins the toss, defers until the second half.

First Quarter

6:32 Kickoff… finally. Now, who’s playing again?

6:33 Fuck Hines Ward. Maybe put a guy on him? Maybe? Fuck Hines Ward.

6:38 Arizona should challenge that one; Ben’s knee might have been down. Many prop bets hinge on this call (outcome of first score and first challenge).

6:42 Refs get the call right, and many prop bets are paid off. Dr. Foreman pussies out and tries the field goal. Wuss.

6:44 Liked the Bob Dylan/Will.I.Am mashup. Gina Carano was in it, so I know Puddin’ LOVED it. That will be his favorite commercial of the night, hands down.

6:48 Prop bet alert: first penalty, holding on the Cardinals.

6:52 Early commercial returns- lots of Bud Light, lots of movie trailers. Very stoked for Springsteen’s halftime show.

6:54 Tackling seems to be a problem for the Arizona defense. This could be a problem down the line for them.

6:59 it’s a shame that Heath Miller plays for Pittsburgh, because I’m forced to hate him when I’d otherwise be one of his biggest fans.

7:00 How would Mike Tomlin know that Roethlisberger isn’t the same guy he was three years ago? Mike Tomlin wasn’t in Pittsburgh three years ago.

Second Quarter

7:04 Relatively quick first quarter. Only two penalties, one score, and one challenge.

7:08 Bill Simmons’s head just exploded; Gary Russell just scored a touchdown.

7:11 Hard hitting analysis- Arizona’s going to need to possess the ball some if they want to be in this game.

7:12 How long do you think Budweiser will keep milking the Clydesdale thing? Apparently forever.

7:13 HOLY MOTHER FUCKING SHIT, STAR TREK!!!!!!!!

7:18 Hmm, I’m guessing Fitzgerald and Boldin each have 3 guys covering them. James, Hightower, Arrington, Pope, and Breaston all better be ready to set up. Boldin and Fitzgerald probably won’t get a lot of chances, so they’ll need to make them count when they do.

7:20 Kinda like that.

7:21 So, did anyone have Gary Russell and Ben Patrick scoring the first two touchdowns of the game, because you just made a lot of money.

7:25 Great, a montage of Kurt Warner falling down. I'm sure he loves that.

7:27 Rodgers-Cromartie will get an interception by the end of the game. Put it on the board.

7:31 Nice return. And great job on the cutback by 52 NOT blocking in the back.

7:35 More talking babies? Seriously? Boo for recycled ad campaigns.

7:36 Fuck Dick LeBeau. He was 12-33 as the head coach of the Bengals, which translate to “epic fail.”

7:41 HELL YEAH!!!! Prop bet alert: first turnover, Roethlisberger interception.

7:42 Teleflora.com…. um…. yeah.

7:46 Great play by Hightower. Richmond represent!

7:48 Welcome to the game, Larry Fitzgerald!

7:50 First and goal at the 2, 0:18 left in the half; that should be 3 shots at the end zone, 2 if you want to leave time for a field goal try. I’d look at the jump ball to one of the big two receivers.

7:51 No. Fucking. Way.

7:52 Please God, he was down. Please God, he was down. Please God, his elbow was down.

7:55 FUCK.

Halftime

7:56 My final call for Bruce’s set list is The Rising, Badlands, My Lucky Day, Born To Run.

8:00 Thoughts on 3D- I’ve always found 3D a bit hokey, but I might be okay with this new INTRU3D because its not just about things flying out of the screen toward you, like it used to be. The focus now seems to be more on creating a sense of depth INTO the screen, which is a little less silly than people reaching out and touching you. We’ll see how I feel about it on Monday after watching an entire episode of Chuck in 3D.

8:06 So John Elway can fly. Explains the “Helicopter Play.”

8:07 The Boss! Yeah, it should’ve been obvious that Tenth Avenue Freeze Out was going to be on the set list when it reported that Bruce stole Conan’s horn section from Late Night.

8:10 Puts Born To Run in the two hole. I really thought he’d close with this one. In fact, more people trying to guess the setlist also thought this one would come at the end. Shows you what we know. One for two on songs, missed the order here.

8:14 Damn. I thought Working On A Dream would be too mellow of a song for the halftime show. It is the title track of the new album and all, but I still thought he’d go with something more upbeat, like My Lucky Day. I didn’t count on him trotting out the gospel choir. That was the trump card.

8:16 Glory Days, with revised football-centric lyrics. I had Glory Days on the list earlier in the week, but I dropped it in favor of Badlands. Oh well.

8:20 Bruce haters be damned, I glad Springsteen played the Super Bowl. Could have done without the ref gag, though, but the back and forth with Van Zant (“Hey Stevie, what time is it?) is a typical concert thing, so they just worked it into their normal routine.

Third Quarter

8:28 Arizona has to score on this opening drive, otherwise I think they’re done.

8:34 Why haven't the Cards challenged down the field. The underneath stuff is fine, but you’ve got to try downfield.

8:36 Fuck. Let that not be a fumble.

8:39 Thank God. However, having to punt is still bad news for the Cardinals.

8:42 I was just thinking, “Man, the Cardinals could sure use Rod Tidwell.”

8:47 Wow, don’t know about that roughing the passer call. It wasn’t excessively late, he didn’t lead with the helmet; I don’t like it.

8:53 Are fucking kidding me? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!?!?! Running into the holder? Are you a fucking idiot? Touchdown here and the game is over.

8:56 Hmm…. hold them to another field goal try. Still bad, but not completely atastrophic.

8:57 HOLY MOTHERFUCKING SHIT, TRANSFORMERS!!!!!!

8:58 I wanna punch a koala. Where do I apply for that job?

9:02 Prop bet alert: Shots of Brenda Warner- 2. Has Madden made any references to food items yet? I haven’t really been paying attention.

9:04 Al Michaels just mentioned what I wrote 30 minutes ago. You have to at least try to go downfield and give you’re best players a chance to make a play.

Fourth Quarter

9:07 YES! The 1-second High Light commercial! Love it!

9:08 The penalties are killing the Cardinals. So is their unwillingness to try the deep ball. It’s the last game of the year; you can’t hold anything back now.

9:15 Man, is that the first sack of Roethlisberger of the game? About time, but its probably too little too late.

9:17 Seriously, Tory Polumalu as Mean Joe Green? That's sacrilege. He talks like Mike Tyson.

9:18 Okay, Ed McMahon + MC Hammer + Tax Problems = Awesome.

9:22 Well, well, well… quick score here, and maybe the game’s not over. Yet.

9:25 Would you look at that? Jump ball to Fitzgerald, touchdown. Man, that would’ve been a great play call at the end of the first half. Instead, it was a 100-yard TAINT for the Steelers. Prop bet alert: Shots of Brenda Warner- 3

9:29 Stay away from the silly penalties, get a stop, and maybe the bus isn’t heading back to Arizona just yet.

9:31 Sacks are good. To quote the Columbia Band: Scrotum! Scrotum! Quarterback sack!

9:32 Great 3 and out for Arizona. NOW, we have a game. C’mon Warner, you can punch your ticket to Canton right here, right now.

9:33 MacGrubber? Not funny. MacGrubber featuring Richard Dean Anderson? A little funny (funnier, at least). Not as good as his Mastercard commercial a few years back.

9:36 Still trying the running game. Interesting. I guess you want to keep the defense honest. I don't like it, though. Throw the damn ball.

9:38 Prop bet alert: Shots of Brenda Warner- 4

9:40 Excellent coverage-if you can, always try and catch the ball BEFORE it hits the ground; if it hits the ground, you have no idea where it will bounce. And James Harrison is a punk bitch. Fuck James Harrison.

9:43 DAMN, that was close. Might have been a safety.

9:44 NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

9:45 YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyone bet on a safety in the game? Because you just got paid.

9:46 Okay Warner, you’ve got ANOTHER chance to punch your ticket to Canton. Make it happen.

9:48 Larry Fitzgerald is a man. If the game ends like this, Fitzgerald is your MVP. Sorry, Kurt.

9:50 Now, Cardinals defense, what are you made of? Time to man up.

9:53 Ooh, almost made a mistake there with rushing a play before the 2 minute warning. A pick there would’ve been nice.

9:59 That was a touchdown right there, and Holmes would have been your MVP.

10:00 Shit. NOW, Holmes is your MVP. Fuck.

10:05 For a THIRD time tonight, Warner, you have a chance to get into Canton. Time to channel your inner Doug Flutie.

10:09 Fuck. I hate the Steelers. Santonio Holmes if your MVP and I don’t think its close. Fucking Buckeyes. Oh well, that was a damn good game. Better than last year’s Super Bowl? I don’t know. But it was damn good game.

10:10 Final prop bet alert: Color of Gatorade dumped on winning coach- lemon-lime/yellow. Well, okay, no, I guess there’s still the bet on who the game MVP thanks first. But I’m turning it off now.

Final thoughts on Super Bowl XLIII: fuck the Steelers. There, that’s it. Okay, not really. I really thought going down 20-7 was the end for the Cardinals. But they battled back and put themselves in a position to win the game, and they deserve a hell of a lot of credit for that. If anyone still questions whether Larry Fitzgerald is the best receiver in the game, they’re a moron. There, now that's it.

And fuck the Steelers.

Weekly TV Thoughts: 01/25 - 01/31

2009-02-01T02:20:00.002-05:00

This is going up ass early on Sunday because I just got back from watching the Penn-St. Pierre fight at Puddin's house and decided to try and stay up and watch the Australian Open Men's Final between Nadal and Federer live. Its never not a good match when those two meet, especially for a grand slam title, so I figure it'd be worth staying up for. Plus, it would allow me too sleep through the morning/afternoon and thereby miss the 9+ hours of Super Bowl pregame crap. Anyway, to the week that was in TV:

-24, Monday: American lives versus Sangalan lives; which would you choose? As I watched this episode, I couldn't help but be reminded of an epsisode of The West Wing. Working with a similar plot, minus the domestic terrorist threat, President Bartlet is contemplating US involvment in a civil war that is tearing apart the country of Equitorial Kundu (think Rwanda circa 1994). Its on the eve of his second inaurgural, and while working on the speech, Bartlet asks Will Bailey, "Why is a Kudanese life worth less to me than an American life?” The question was rhetorical, but Will responded anyway with, “I don’t know, but it is.” This leads Bartlet to introduce what becomes known as "The Bartlet Doctrine", which states that American forces will intervene wherever there are humanitarian interests at stake. I think it would have been awesome if President Taylor had dropped the “Bartlet Doctrine” in her reasoning for sending troops to Sangala; afterall, it wouldn’t have been the first time these two shows have referenced each other. Once, during a crisis, President Bartlet gave the order to “mobilize CTU”, and at the beginning of this season, a suspect’s lawyers were from the law firm of Gage Whitney Pace, which was is a fictional firm used on The West Wing (and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, for that matter; Aaron Sorkin likes to reuse things). Yeah, that's the kind of junk I just know.

-Fringe, Tuesday: For I second there, I thought I was watching The Ring. Watch creepy video, see hallucinations, die. Seriously folks, how many times do you need to hear it- DON'T CLICK ON POP-UPS!! Sheesh.

-Lost, Wednesday: Man, where to begin? So Charles Widmore was once on the island. That explains A LOT. His knowledge about the island and his desire to find it again... its all starting to make sense. I guess the next big question with Widmore is why he left the island in the first place. Was it his choice or was he forced to do so? We get some answers on Charles Widmore and all it does it create more questions. Well done, Lost. Next, I loved the connection they made with Locke and Richard Alpert, explaining why Alpert came to see Locke as a child. I guess it was the compass that Locke was expected to pick during Alpert's little test. Now, the H-bomb. I've read that its supposed to play a big role in the story this season, so I wonder what that is. One theory out there is that the bomb gets buried in the location that would eventually become the Dharma Swan Station. Did pushing the button every 108 minutes keep the bomb from exploding? No idea, but stranger coincidences have happened. Which brings me to the last major point of the episode- the introduction of a new character named Ellie. Lots of chatter on the interwebs about her. Check it- Faraday says that she reminds him of someone he knew. The obvious choice given in this episode as to whom he is refering to is Theresa, the girl Faraday incapaticated by messing with her brain. But that, like communism, was just a red herring. So who was Faraday refering to? The rumor de jour is that Faraday was talking about his mother, who has already been rumored to be Mrs. Hawking, the lady Desmond met in the jewelry story and Ben met in the church. Her full name is Eloise Hawking. Ellie, Eloise.... its just too much of a coincidence to be a coincidence, thus I'm thinking its probably true. It would also explain why Mrs. Hawking knows so much about the island; she, like Charles Widmore, was also once living on the island. Nothing is ever incidental on Lost; everything has a meaning, everything is tied to something. I've just come to assume that everything on Lost is a Chekhov Gun.

-Psych, Friday: Just one quick note- I love that they name-checked The Mentalist this week. It reminded me of when Scrubs name-dropped Grey's Anatomy in an episode ("Its like they took our lives and put them on TV!"). The Mentalist is basically Psych plus serious.

-Battlestar Galactica, Friday: Has any character fallen as far as Feliz Gaeta? No on on the show as taking a larger fall from grace than Gaeta; at one time, he was one of the most virtuous members of the crew, always, in the end, doing what was right. But then came Baltar's trial, where he purjured himself on the stand to try and enact some revenge on Baltar. It was a low, despicable move by Gaeta, but little did we know then that it wouldn't be the worst thing he was capable of; he can now add mutiny and treason to his list of wrongs. The guy lost a leg during the last mutiny attempt- we're supposed to feel sympathy torward him; and yet I doubt there's a single BSG fan who doesn't want to see Gaeta die a slow, horrible, painful death. At this point, that's all he deserves. Loved seeing Adama and Tigh go all Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid at the end of the episode. From next week's promo, its clear that Adama lives, but you hear Zarek say that Tigh was killed. Again, like communism, I think this another red herring; he's just trying to convice the Cylons and Roslin that Tigh's dead. I think my favorite part of this episode was Starbuck's reaction to the mutiny. She's all business- no talk, no discussion, you're either with Adama or a traitor, and if you're a traitor, you die. Plain, simple, to the point. I hope its Starbuck that eventally takes down Gaeta. That would be fitting.

Final note- while I've been writing this, I've been listening to the 90's Music Choice channel, which is easily the greatest music channel available. A small sample of the songs I've heard while writing this post: Losing My Religion, REM, Free Fallin', Tom Petty (which, oddly enough, came out in 1989), Baby Got Back, Sir Mix-A-Lot, Black Velvet, Alannah Myles, Linger, The Cranberries, One Week, Barenaked Ladies... I should watch/listen to this channel more often.

More Plot Holes Than Meets The Eye

2009-01-29T23:40:00.004-05:00

So thanks to HBO, I've seen Michael Bay's Transformers movie at least a dozen times. If there's nothing else on and Transformers is, I end up watching it. Don't know, its just one of those movies. I think Megan Fox has something to do with it. Anyway, I never really paid attention to the "plot" of the movie before because its Transformers and Michael Bay, so I figured it didn't matter. And it doesn't, but when I finally didn't pay attention, I found that the plot makes absolutely no sense. Sure, the movie's 18 months old, but I just now realized how ludicrous the story is.

According to the Autobots, Megatron's plan is to use the Allspark to transform Earth's technology into weapons to rebuild his army and destroy the world. But according to the guys at Sector 7, Megatron crash landed in the Artic Circle about 2,000 years ago while looking for the Allspark and has be in some form of frozen state since then. Also, all of Earth's technology was apparently reverse-engineered from Megatron himself. So if he's been frozen all these years, how could he possibly have a plan to usurp Earth's technologies when there wasn't even any technology for him to usurp before he got here? And how the hell does Megatron know anything about humans anyway? He's been out of commission since he crash landed, so what the fuck? There are plot holes and then there are plot holes; this is the latter. I mean, even Snakes On A Plane made an attempt to explain its ridiculous potential holes; Transformers didn't even try.

Clearly this is my fault for paying too much attention to the movie; I get that. But after enough viewings, some things are just inevitable. That said, I'm sure the sequel will be just as inane, and I'm sure I'll see it its opening weekend.

That's It, Done With The Snow

2009-01-27T12:48:00.004-05:00

I like snow, I really do. I like living in an area where it snows (at least a little bit) every year. Its an important part of the season. It should be cold in the winter with snow and ice; it should be nice and mild in the spring with plenty of rain; the summer should be hot, humid, hazy, and muggy; and the leaves should turn color when its cool and crisp in the fall. Yes, it can all be a pain in the ass, but the changing of the seasons is important.

That being said, I'm done with the fucking snow for this year. Snow is good on the other side of the holiday season, as you're building up toward Christmas and New Years (and possibly even Thanksgiving). On this side, at the end of January? Not so much. Sure, it's supposed to be cold, I can live with that. But 4 inches of snow with more on the way? Please, pitchers and catchers report in a few weeks; I don't need anymore snow.

Now, some random Super Bowl thoughts on this frakkin' snow day:

-Big Arizona Cardinals fan right now. I've never even really like Kurt Warner, but I'm all for him now. Yes, it would be depressing to see the Cardinals win a Super Bowl before the Bengals, but it would be more depressing to see the Steelers win their sixth, and when given the choice, I always root against Pittsburgh.

-I don't think there's anyone in sports I hate more than Hines Ward. I've given this a lot of thought, and I can't think of anyone else. And its not just because he plays for the Steelers; I'm pretty sure I'd hate him if played for the Tampa Bay Storm of the AFL. One tool I use as a barometer in deciding things like this is I try to judge how I'd feel if I found out Player X had suddenly died. Would I feel sad, happy, or neutral? With Ward, I'm pretty sure I'd feel ecstatic. Completely overjoyed. Potentially moved to tears. Does that make me a bad person? Oh well. Fuck him.

-I love Super Bowl Prop bets. If you can think of it, you can bet on it. And I'm not talking about the little things like "which team will score first" or "how long will the first field goal attempt be"; that stuff's junk. I'm talking about manly man bets like "over/under number of food items mentioned by John Madden during the broadcast" and "color of Gatorade dumped on winning coach". Picking those winners takes real skill.

-The Mike Tomlin-Omar Epps thing never gets old. Never. Ever.

-Have to admit, I'm stoked for Bruce Springsteen's halftime performance. I'm a huge Springsteen fan, and I think he's a great choice for this gig. And speaking of The Boss, he's got a new album out today. Working On A Dream, that's just phenomenal (random aside- how the hell did The Wrestler not get nominated for an Academy Award? Insanity.). No, I didn't brave out into the snow today just to buy it; it leaked online about two weeks ago. And that brings me to this question- Springsteen's halftime setlist. I think the recent standard has been 4 songs, so with that in mind, and taking into account the release of the new album, my picks for the setlist (in order) are: Born To Run, Working On A Dream (off the new disc), My Lucky Day (another new track), The Rising. Given the shortness of the playlist, I think its possible he could opt out of playing the relatively mellow Working On A Dream and replace it with something like Radio Nowhere or even something older, like Glory Days. Either way, I think he stays away Born In The USA.

Last football game of the season; that's sad. But the end of football should mean the end of snow, so no more. Baseball's just around the corner, and hope springs eternal. Go Reds. Fuck the Steelers.

Weekly TV Thoughts: 01/18 - 01/24

2009-01-24T14:26:00.002-05:00

I watched a lot of TV this week, which makes it absolutely no different than any other week.

-We Are One, Sunday: Interesting mix of speakers and performers. Weird set up, too, switching back and forth between celebrity speaker reciting lines from past presidents and musical performances. Some speakers made sense (Denzel Washington, Tom Hanks, Martin Luther King III); others not so much (Jack Black, Steve Carrell, Tiger Woods). Loved Jamie Foxx dropping some humor into the proceedings with his spot-on Obama impersonation. Enjoyed most of the music as well, though not the opening piece. I'm a big Bruce Springsteen fan, and I love The Rising, but that version was terrible. Acoustic version of The Rising, good. Gospel chior singing backup on The Rising, good. Acoustic version plus gospel chior, fail. At least Springsteen got a chance at redemption with the This Land Is Your Land perforamce with Pete Seeger. That was the highlight of the show.

-Steelers vs. Ravens, Sunday: I've read this elsewhere (Bill Simmons, Dan Patrick), and I'm glad I wasn't the only one that caught this: what the hell was the Heinz Field PA guy thinking when he let Creedence Clearwater Revival play over the stadium while Willis McGhee and Ryan Clark were laid out on the field? Monster helmet-to-helmet hit, medical staff on the field, players gathered around, stretcher rolled out.... sounds like a time for CCR! You stay classy, PA guy.

-24, Monday: Might be wrong about Agent Moss being the mole in the FBI. Now, I'm going with the blond chick that Hillinger (Rhys Coiro) apparently hooked up with. She's got the perfect setup to be a traitor- a seemingly incidental background character with ties to someone important that starts off with only a few throw away lines but is eventually exposed to be working for the bad guys. Its a twist I've seen waaaay too many times. Hopefully they're more creative than that. I don't care at all for the president's dead son storyline. I know it ties into the whole Sangala story, but they need to advance that story and get Jon Voight into the fold. I also don't know if I like evil Secret Services guys. I mean, they're the ones that have to jump infront of bullets; I don't know if I like villifying them. Another random thought- why was the silent clock used at the end of the episode? I thought that was only used when someone either dies or appears to have died (ie- it creates tension); what tension was there at the end of this episode? Jack didn't actually shoot Agent Walker, and Jack and Tony aren't going to bury her alive, so what gives?

-Inaguration Ceremonies, Tuesday: I'll just say, there was something fitting and seriously funny about Dick Cheney leaving office in a wheelchair. "MEIN FUHRER!! I CAN WALK!!" Dr. Strangelove indeed.

-Lost, Wednesday: Thank God this show is back. I wasn't sure what a "flash-present" was; know I know. So which moving through time, the people or the island? I think the people are the ones moving, Quantum Leap-style, but I'm not entirely certain it makes a difference. And what's up with Desmond? Why is he special, why can his past be changed? Was it because he was exposed to the island's energy when he turned the fail safe key? If so, what exactly does it mean? We've already seen Faraday interact with Desmond in the past to create a new "memory" for Desmond in the future. I wonder how often they can exploit that. So Desmond is now on a quest to find Faraday's mother at Oxford; could she potentially be Ms. Whitaker, a.k.a. the lady he meet in the jewelry store and the same lady Ben talked to in the church? I don't think so, but its a popular theory. And speaking of Faraday, what was he doing as a worker helping to build the Orchid station? I think its part of the time traveling being experienced by the survivors; at some point, they travel to the time of the Dharma Initiative, and Faraday, being knowledgable of the island's workings, infiltrates the work force to get a closer look. Why? No idea, but I'm sure it has something to do with stopping all the time travel. And a quick note about Hot Pockets. This was the second show this week where I saw a character pull a Hot Pocket of a microwave (the other being on TNT's Leverage). There, it was dropped because, hey, it was hot, and on Lost, Hurely turned and chucked it at Ben (to which he apparently said, "What a waste of a Hot Pocket", but the line got cut). My point is, in neither case was the Hot Pocket cooked in the crisping sleeve or on a plate; what's up with that? Does anyone else cook a Hot Pocket that way?

-Battlestar Galactica, Friday: So Gaeta and Zarek are going to start a revolution. Story-wise, its the next logical step. Without any outside conflict, you have to create it from within. Nothing does that like a little mutiny. I think it'll last until the Cavil-led Cylons return and force the fleet to reunite under Adama to survive. I like the ret-conning out of baby Nicky. When they made Tryol a Cylon, it instantly raised questions about his hybrid son. We already have an important hybrid child in Hera, so if she's special, why isn't Nicky? Well, that's because Tryol isn't actually the boy's father; that would be Hotdog. That does two things- not only does it eliminate any hybrid questions, it also frees Tryol up to be more involved in the story. Now he can do things without the spector of "gee, what about Nicky?" hanging over his head. Finally, I wonder how Baltar is going to figure into all of this. With discovery Earth and essentially debunking the prophecy, will more and more of the fleet turn away from the old religion and embrace Baltar's monotheistic message? If so, how would effect the fleet's mission of finding a new home? Don't know. I guess there are bigger issues to deal with right now, like mutiny.

Passing Of An Icon

2009-01-18T14:58:00.002-05:00

First, it looked like it was in danger of closing.

Then, it got a last second reprive.

Now, it appears that Western Bowl will indeed be closing.

Damnit. Western Bowl is an iconic landmark on the West Side. I'm not even a Westsider and I think this sucks.

Weekly TV Thoughts: 01/11 - 01/17

2009-01-17T13:09:00.006-05:00

I watch a lot of television. From scripted series and various live events, I willing to bet I watch more TV then you (the 5-6 readers of this blog) do. Some of these shows don't merit further discussion; others, I think, benefit from it. Those shows will be discussed here. And yes, spoilers will abound, so reader beware. This post will most likely go up Saturday or Sunday night, so you've got some time to hit the DVR and protect yourself from anything I might reveal here. So let's get started:

-Golden Globe Awards, Sunday: Yes, I watch award shows. I don't really know why, but I do. I don't even watch them all the way through; I just watch to see who wins, then I switch away during the acceptance speech, then switch back to see the winner of the next category (I'm pretty sure there was a college basketball game on ESPN I was going back to). But on occasion, if the right person wins, I will watch the acceptance speech. Such a person is Tina Fey, who told her Internet haters to suck it during her speech. Another was Mickey Rourke's speech after winner for The Wrestler. And speaking of The Wrestler, that's a movie I feel I need to go see. Along with Slumdog Millionaire. People I know who've seen these movies just rave about them, but since I don't get out to the theater too often, I'll probably have to wait until I can rent them. You can probably add Gran Torino to that list as well.

-24, Monday: I didn't watch the premiere of 24 on Sunday because I had gotten the 24 train in the middle of last season (which, due to the writer's strike, was in 2007). I followed 24 when it first aired, jumped off the wagon in the middle when it started to get ridiculous, gave it another go in Season 6, only to give up halfway through. So I didn't watch 24: Redemption when it aired last fall and I didn't have any interest in the new season, especially since they were bringing Tony Almeida back from the dead. But I read of a lot of favorable reviews of the first 2 hours of the season, so I decided to check them out (thank you, Hulu). And I have to say, I was mighty impressed. Resurrecting Tony wasn't as ridiculous as it could have been, and you could actually see some character development in Jack Bauer. I like the new characters they've introduced, in particular Janeane Garofalo and Rhys Coiro (aka Entourage's Billy Walsh), both playing against type. As for what's going on in the story, I think the biggest twists to be revealed (as is always the case on 24) will be who's a mole. So far, we know there's one in the FBI and another in the President's inner circle. Of who we've seen thus far, the leading candidate for to be a mole is the President's Chief of Staff (of course, that could be because its the same actor that played the Warden in The Shawshank Redemption). As for the FBI, my money's on the head agent, Agent Moss. Agent Walker (the cute red head) trusts him too much, which means he's ripe for betrayal. But we'll see. I also look forward to seeing more of Jon Voight's character (as one of the bad guys) and seeing how they re-introduce Kim Bauer (because she's back for some episodes, if you didn't know).

-College Basketball, UVA vs. UNC, Thursday: Virginia got blown out, which isn't all the surprising given how young and inexperienced the 'Hoos are. Our top players are either freshmen, redshirt freshmen, or sophomores, so I don't expect much out of this year, but definitely more out of the years to come (which is pretty much the same thing I've been saying even since I started at UVA). I think our main problem is that we have no low post presence. I mean, I like Mike Scott, but he make his living on offensive boards; he's not a threat posting up on the block, and neither is anyone else we've got playing the 4 or the 5. We're guard heavy, I get that, but when they go cold (aka every time I watch them), we've not no other reliable scoring options. I hope we've got a decent center lined up for next year.

-Battlestar Galactica, Friday: Holy shit, this was crazy. Who had Ellen Tigh as the final Cylon? Anyone? What about Starbuck finding her own corpse in the wreakage of her own Viper? No? And how about Earth being a (former) Cylon settlement? I think that trifecta paid out at 7,295 to 1. Needless to say, I don't think any BSG fans saw this coming. I mean, the answers just created more questions. So Ellen Tigh is the final Cylon; how? She's dead, so what does that mean? Clearly the Final Five Cylons have the ability to resurrect, but not in the same way as the other 7 models; how does their resurrection work? Why did these 5 "survive" the nuclear attack on Earth and no one else did? Why did they resurrect? Then again, maybe they aren't the only ones to have resurrected from Earth. If so, where are those models? And I have no idea what to think about Starbuck. She crashed her Viper on Earth, only to come back to the fleet in a brand new Viper that was able to detect a beacon no one else could, which directed them to Earth, where they found the beacon and discovered it was from Starbuck's original crashed Viper. Oh, and she found her own dead body in the cockpit of her blown up ship. Yeah, I got nothing for that. I love that Battlestar came back with so many answers; I just wish those answers didn't ask even more questions.

Next week- the return on Lost!

Great Sports Moments, Real and Fake

2009-01-16T19:12:00.004-05:00

From Bill Simmons's column in the most recent issue of ESPN The Magazine:

Q: If you could have the best seats in the house for any sporting event of the past century, which would you choose?
-Max A., Cleveland
SG: The only answer can be "USA 4, USSR 3." A tougher question: Which sports-movie event would you choose? I'd pick the game in which Michael J. Fox first turns into Teen Wolf. Name me a more stunning sports-movie moment. Fans in the stands are frozen for, like, 45 seconds. You're not topping the experience of being in a sparsely attended high school hoops game in which one of the players turns into a monster, then dunks on everybody. I'm sorry.

I have to say, I think these are two really good questions. Its tough (hell, nearly impossible) to pick any event other than the Miracle on Ice in 1980; I'd be my choice as well. But I think there are some other worthy games that at least merit consideration:

-Duke v. Kentucky, 1992 East Regional Final: I'm pretty sure this would be my #2 choice. It was a phenomenal game (I remember watching it live) on top of Laettner's game-winning shot. One of the greatest college basketball games in history would definitely be worth seeing live.

-Boston College v. Miami, 1984: From one of the greatest college basketball games ever to one of the greatest college football games ever. This might be have jumped the '92 East Regional Final if it weren't for the weather at this game. And like the '92 East Regional Final, this game was so much more than just one play. In the rain, Kosar and Flutie put on a show, and it was clear early on that the last team with the ball would win the game. Knowing the outcome, knowing how it all plays out, I think it'd be worth braving the weather to see this one.

-Men's 4x100 Freestyle Relay, 2008 Olympics: Too soon? I don't think so. This was the #1 moment from the 2008 Olympics and absolutely the one thing I would have wanted to see live. From Michael Phelps's quest for 8 golds to the smack talk from the choking dog French team, this race had it all.

That just about covers actual sporting events for me. So what about the second question, the fictional sports events? Again, its tough to argue against Teen Wolf; I mean, how many times would you be able to see a player literally turn into a monster on the court? It wasn't necessarily a great game, but it would surely be memorable. Others I'd throw in there:

-18th Hole, Tin Cup: There's something about watching a train wreak. Jean Van de Velde ain't got shit on Roy McAvoy. Van de Velde's collapse was just pathetic. McAvoy descended to that same level, but, because its the movies, he was able to rise back to the realm of the heroic. Would have been incredible to watch.

-Championship game, Hoosiers: I know, I know, the 1954 Milan team doesn't make the "real" sports list, but the dramatized Hoosiers version does. What can I say, I think the movie does it better. In the actual game, there's about 4 minutes of stall ball at the end that wouldn't have been fun to watch. But back to the movie- how are there not 3 guys covering Jimmy Chitwood on that last possession? He hadn't missed a shot all game (in fact, I think he only missed one shot in the entire movie- during the scene where Gene Hackman tries to convince him to join the team). You have to deny him the ball and force someone else to take that shot. Clearly, the two guys that stood behind Christian Laettner on the pass from Grant Hill never saw or didn't learn anything from Hoosiers.

-Slap Shot: When do you ever see a fight before the game starts? Never. And seeing the Hanson Brothers play has to be worth the price of admission anyway.

(Honorable mention goes to the final game in The Natural. I thought about being in the stand for this game, and I came to realize that as cool as it would be to see the sparks rain down on the field after Hobbs's game-winning home run, the moment is considerably lessened by the absence of the slow-motion effects and the background music. So without those post-production effects, the moment, while still great, wouldn't be as good live).

So those are my picks. Did I miss any worthwhile games, real or fictional?

Rethinking A Bad Movie

2009-01-09T21:22:00.004-05:00

So The Wizard was on one of the HBO channels tonight. If you don't know (or don't remember, or have tried to forget), The Wizard was a 90-minute Nintendo commercial that masqueraded as a feature-length movie. I remember seeing it when it was first released back in 1989. In fact, its quite possible I saw it in the theaters (I'll look to BrotherofGiantAsianMan to confirm or deny that statement). I seem to recall having enjoyed the movie the first time I saw it, but I hadn't seen it in a while, and my opinion of the movie had dropped considerable. I used to think it was just a bad movie. And not bad in a "so bad its good" way, just... bad. But upon further review, I think I'm coming around on The Wizard. The level of unintentional comedy in this movie is just off the charts. And I'm not just talking about this scene (a.k.a. one of the greatest scenes in movie history):

In addition to this scene, there are a myriad of things that I love about this movie:

-I had forgotten that Christian Slater played the older brother, meaning that in between his career defining roles in Heathers and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, he managed to squeeze in this gem.

-The horribly awkward sexual chemistry/puppy love story between 13 year olds Fred Savage and Jenny Lewis. Its just wrong. Seriously, they're 13.

-Speaking of Jenny Lewis, its possible you know her better as the lead singer of Rilo Kiley.

-Speaking of music, in an early scene, New Kids on the Block is playing in the background. I believe it was "You Got It (The Right Stuff)".

-Did you know that Tobey Maguire had a small, walk-on role in The Wizard? I didn't.

Yeah, that's Spiderman on the far left.

-The fact that the third finalist is a horribly stereotyped girl gamer with Coke-bottle glasses that could have easily been mistaken for a dude if it weren't for the pigtails. And even with the pigtails, its still a tough call.

-And finally, I love how everyone seems to know everything about Super Mario Bros. 3 when the finals was supposed to be the first time anyone had ever seen the game. The raccoon suit makes you fly? Sure, that one's obvious. Jimmy knows where the first Warp Whistle is hidden (which, aside from the unintentional comedy, is the only real thing gained from the movie)? Okay, maybe you can chalk that one up to him being a gaming prodigy, but how do the people in the crowd (ie- Fred Savage and Jenny Lewis) know that a)warping is that the whistle does and b)that there's even a hidden warp zone in Level One? I realize that Nintendo's trying to sell the game (like Mario 3 needed the help) by showing off parts of it, but couldn't they have had them react to the whistle ("Oh, the whistle takes you to the Warp World!") instead of having them already know what it does? Would've made more sense that way, but I'm guessing that "sense" wasn't a big priority on this flick.

So what does it all mean? It means that I've taken The Wizard off my "Worst Movies Ever" list (with the likes of Super Mario Bros., oddly enough, and The Core) and dropped it into the "Horribly Awesome" category (up there with Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure). Too bad there isn't a deluxe special edition DVD for The Wizard; I think I'd buy that in a heartbeat. I still may have to own it anyway.

As Seen On TV!

2009-01-07T19:35:00.002-05:00

If you can use a doorknob, you can read this post. Well, maybe not.

I admit, I have a weird fascination with "as seen on TV" products. I've never actually bought anything directly from TV (something Puddin' can't say- how'd The Perfect Pancake work out?), but I have purchased some products that I've found in other places (in a store or online). All the commercials make sensational claims, and I'm curious to know if they can do any or all of what they say they can do. Now, its easy to dismiss those claims outright (especially when they're being pitched by Billy Mays), but I figure that they all have to work on some level, and I just want to know that is.

So far, I've purchased 3 such "as seen on TV" products. One because I needed it, one because I thought it might work, and one out of sheer curiousity. How well do they work? Let's find out:

What: The Handy Switch
Purchased: Amazon.com
Does it work as advertised: Yes

I bought this one because I needed it. There aren't any convenient light switches in my basement, so a simple wireless switch seemed like a good idea. And it works perfectly. If I had had the need, I would have bought more, but I only needed the one. I'd recommend this for anyone looking to avoid any actual work in installing a light switch, like me.

What: ShamWow
Purchased: Target
Does it work as advertised: Yeah, for the most part

This one was just pure curiosity. How well does it actually work? How absorbent is it really? Well, I just had to find out. The best way for me to describe them is that they aren't really towels; at least, they don't really function like towels. They don't wipe well. In fact, they suck at wiping. Okay, that's not entirely true. When the ShamWow is dry, it'll soak up anything in any manner. But when its wet (or damp), it doesn't wipe up anything. It'll still soak up liquid when wet, but it won't dry anything when wet. Wring it out all you want, it'll leave a small film on whatever surface you're trying to dry. But that's not to say its not useful; as a sponge, its great. I also tried out some of the things they showed in the commerical, just to see if they're true. Drying wet clothes rolled up in a ShamWow? Doesn't work at all. Soaking up liquid from carpet? Seemed to work alright. Its not as effortless as they show, but it was effect enough. I don't know how well it would remove a stainable liquid like cola or wine, and unless Puddin' steps up and volunteers his carpet, I'm not going to find out. Also, when they're completely saturated, they do drip. Overall, they're just really good sponges.

What: Mighty Putty
Purchased: Bed, Bath & Beyond (I was buying my mom a Christmas present)
Does it work as advertised: I think so

First off, if you're keeping score, that's Billy Mays 2, that Vince guy 1. Now, I didn't try and pull a tractor trailer with a chainlink made of Mighty Putty, so I can't vouch for that. But I did use it to hold up some towel racks in my bathrooms, and that worked fine. Would it be able to hold something heavier than a bath towel? Sure. Would it be able to hold 350 pounds like they say in the commercial? I doubt it. I mean, I'm a big guy, and while I'm shy of 350 (thankfully), I don't think it could hold my weight. At least, I wouldn't trust it to. But for small things, its good. I also tired it on a leaking pipe, which seems to have worked. I think. The drip hasn't stopped, but it has slowed. It could be because the putty didn't seal the leak properly, but I think its more a factor of me not knowing exactly where the leak is. I'm going to add some more putty later to get complete coverage around the pipe and see if that does any better. And if not, I've got a ShamWow in place to catch all the drip.

There are probably some more TV products out there that I'll buy at a time later than now. ANd if so, I'll review those as well. But there are two products that I definitely won't be getting: the Snuggie and the Slanket. And I guess in reality, they're really one product. Either way, I hate it. If I ever saw someone "wearing" one of these, I would be forced to punch that person. "Can't use a blanket?" Are you serious? You've got to draw a line somewhere, and I draw it at a blanket with sleeves.

2009: Bold Predictions!

2009-01-05T16:02:00.002-05:00

First off, happy belated new years. We're a mere five days into 2009, and I'm still wondering where 2004 went. Anyway, 'tis the season for bold, outlandish predictions that have a 38% chance of being true 72% of the time. Though, since I'm so good a predicting things on the blog, its probably a safe bet to take my predictions and go the other way. Never the less, onward to GiantAsianMan's Stone-Cold Locks for 2009*:

(*you know, unless they don't come true)

Sports

-The Reds will finish just over .500, somewhere around 82-80.
-Chad Johnson has played his last game in a Bengals uniform.
-The Big East will get 10 teams into the NCAA Tournament (and none of them will make the Final Four).
-The Yankees will miss the playoffs again. So will the Mets.
-Tiger Woods comes back from knee surgery and wins (at least) 2 majors.
-Brett Favre will be back AGAIN next season, but not with the Jets.
-If Tim Tebow comes back for his senior season, he'll win a second Heisman.
-The NBA finals will look a lot like they did last year, with the Celtics beating the Lakers.

TV & Film

-The top 3 grossing films of the year, in no particular order, will be Watchmen, Star Trek, and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
-Heath Ledger does not win an Oscar for The Dark Knight (he does get nominated, though).
-The island went back in time (okay, that was an easy one).
-The final cylon? Tom Zarek.
-Or Dr. Cottle.
-Reaper won't get a third season when it deserves one.
-Private Practice will get a third season when it doesn't.
-Dollhouse will be a great show, but it won't get a chance to shine due to its Friday night time slot.
-Regardless of how good Nathan Fillion's new show Castle is, it won't last 4 episodes, just because.

Okay, I guess that's all I've got for now. Here's to 2009!

Fantasy Football Failure: Success!

2008-12-29T20:59:00.003-05:00

Okay, so I'm a little behind. The championship game was Week 16 and here we are, the Monday after Week 17. Whatever. Week 17 didn't count in my league, so I don't care if this recap is a bit late. Besides, I won the championship game, so this recap can go up whenever I damn well please!

So, yeah, I won my fantasy football championship over Team Dreher, and won comfortably, 95-63. But it didn't start out comfortable. First, David Garrard put up 21 points in the Thursday night game and Tashard Choice put up 17 in the Saturday night game, and both guys were taking up spots on the bench. Leaving 38 points on the bench usually isn't a sign of good things to come, but it turns out I didn't need it (though my bench put up 68 points, which also would have won the championship). Tyler Thigpen made me feel good about leaving Garrard's 21 points on the bench by putting up 25 himself (and that could've been more if he hadn't thrown 3 picks). I also got big games from Chris Johnson, Vincent Jackson, and Reggie Wayne; thankfully these guys were playing on teams that still had something to play for in Week 16. I was also helped on the other side by Anquan Boldin being inactive (no reason to push him when the Cardinals had nothing to play for) and the Bucs defense scoring a whopping -6 points (man, did they implode down the stretch). In all, its nice when your opponent takes on negative points.

Okay, to fill out this post, I've decided to take a look back at my inital post-draft analysis thoughts from August:

-Barber and Wayne in Rounds 1 and 2. Top of the draft, take the best available. I think these are pretty solid picks. Looking at the guys taken in Rounds 1 and 2, I don't think I could have done much better given where I was picking (at #10 and #19).

Still agree with this assessment. Barber was a stud until he got hurt late in the year. Wayne was solid overall, but he had a long stretch in the middle of the season where he was terrible (and yet, I still managed to win those weeks).

-Palmer and Garrard in Rounds 3 and 8. Homer pick? A little, but it makes it easier on Sundays since I'm going to rooting for him and the Bengals anyway. And I think I have a more than capable backup in David Garrard. I like Garrard. I got him last year at about the same time in the draft and he ended up being my starter most of the season. Hopefully Carson has a great year and I don't have to use Garrard. If not, I think I'm still okay at QB.

Ouch. But in my defense, you can never anticipate a guy suffering a serious injury at the beginning of the year (hello, Tom Brady). And even though he had a slow start to the season, I was right on Garrard- he had a solid year. But even with that, there was no way I could have predicted how my starting QB's would play out. Once it was clear Palmer wasn't an option, I managed with J.T. O'Sullivan for a few weeks, then Garrard once he started playing well, before finally settling on Tyler Thigpen to finish out the year and lead me through the playoffs. Regardless of who's coaching in Kansas City next year, I think Thigpen is the guy for them, and i think that's a good thing for the Chiefs.

-Graham in Round 4. Graham had a quietly solid year last year. Hopefully he can do the same this year.

And he did, for half a season until he got hurt.

-Coles and Bowe in Rounds 5 and 6. Two things I'm hoping for here. One, I hope that Coles gets over his man-crush of Chad Pennington and realizes that Brett Favre, while old, is still better than Pennington ever was. And two, I hope they find someone in Kansas City who can get the ball to Bowe. If those things happen, I think these guys could have pretty good years.

One for two here. Favre started out great, but was soon showing his age and all Pennington did was lead the formerly 1-15 Dolphins to the AFC East title and the playoffs. Oops. Coles was a total bust this year- 1 great game (when I had him on the bench), 3 good games (exluding Week 17, which doesn't count for anything), and the rest of the time he was terrible. As for Bowe, they did find someone to get him the ball (see: Thigpen, Tyler).

-McAllister in Round 7. I was targeting Felix Jones here to have the Barber/Jones backfield combo, and he was available at the start of the round, but was taken 6 picks before I could get him. So since I had my backfield duo broken up, I took McAllister to break up someone else's Saints backfield combo.

McAllister gave me nothing and Jones eventually got hurt, so this was a lost pick either way.

-Crumpler in Round 9. He's best years were when he had Michael Vick at QB. Here's hoping he can put up comparable numbers now that he's with a comparable QB in Vince Young.

Yeah, not so much. I had a rough time with TE this year, juggling guys like Crumpler, Bo Scaife, John Carlson, Kevin Boss, and Zach Miller. Odd that the guy who plays for the Raiders (Miller) would end up being the most consistent (no touchdowns, but 50-70 yards a week; if he could find the end zone just once in a while he'd be a real good option at TE).

-Johnson in Round 10. I think every fantasy football publication has Chris Johnson listed as a potential "sleeper pick" this year. I don't know about that, but Round 10 seemed like a good place to take a chance.

Best pick of my draft. Tenth round, #131 overall, and he's the #10 fantasy running back, even with LenDale White vulturing some of his touchdowns. I'll take it.

-Patriots defense in Round 12. Too soon for a defense? Probably. I was actually looking at taking a shot at DeSean Jackson here (matching him with Johnson as "potential rookie sleepers"), but I thought there might be a run on defenses (because my league can be weird like that) and that I could wait on Jackson until the next round. Wrong and wrong. I could have easily gotten the Pats D (or a comparable one) later on and DeSean Jackson was taken six picks later. Oh well.

Uh, too much time devoted to thinking about defenses. The Pats were decent for the beginning of the year, but I also used the Falcons and the Jets to fill my D/ST slot. DeSean Jackson would've been a good pick, but I have the feeling that he would've spent a lot of time on my bench.

-Jackson, Battle, Bush, and Sweed in Rounds 11, 13, 14, and 15. Just looking to fill out the roster with skill position guys. I think Limas Sweed will end up being a pretty good receiver in the NFL. I thought that Sweed would have been a good second round pick for the Bengals in this year's draft (hell, DeSean Jackson would've been good, too). Instead, they took Jerome Simpson from Coastal Carolina, had every wideout on the roster get hurt, and then resigned Chris Henry. Well done, Mike Brown, well done.

All meaningless picks except for Vincent Jackson in Round 11. I dumped the other guys pretty quickly, but for whatever reason, I held only Jackson. Great choice. He didn't start coming alive until about Week 6, and as I was looking for someone to fill my RB/WR flex slot, he became Philip Rivers's favorite deep threat and he started putting up solid fantasy numbers.

-Tynes in Round 16. Okay, big mistake here. I didn't know that Tynes was coming off of exploratory knee surgery (I don't do much scouting on kickers). So I'm going to drop him and pick up Matt Stover (ie- the Ravens main offensive weapon) on Friday when the waiver wire opens. Actually, I was looking at Rob Bironas here (was solid for me last year, including the 8 field goal game), but he was taken 2 picks before me. Oh well- its just a kicker.

Stover was an okay pick, but in the end, I ended up using a tandem of Jason Elam (finished the year tied for #3 fantasy kicker) and Matt Prater (#14 kicker). And Bironas would've been a good pick- he finished the year at #2 (behind Stephen Gostkowski).

So in the end, I apparently made just enough right moves to sneak into the playoffs and eventually make a run to the championship. And even though I won, I'm still certain the curse of this blog still exists. I mean, the opposite of what I write here usually comes true, so by expecting failure, I somehow managed a reverse jinx on my own fantasy team. Crazy, I know, but you can't argue the facts. Its been a great year, but now I'm sad that football is going to be ending soon. Guess its time to start getting stoked on college basketball!

Adventures In Air Travel

2008-12-29T09:50:00.003-05:00

Of all the places to experience a medical emergency, I'd have to think that being on an airplane would rank as one of the worst (second only, perhaps, to being on a boat out at sea). Small, confined space, 30,000 feet in the air.... just not a lot of options as to what can be done. I always wondered what would happen if something did occur on a flight. Don't have to anymore.

On my flight back to Cincinnati from San Francisco, an older gentleman (he looked early/mid-60's) sitting three rows in front of me all of a sudden passed out and slumped over in his chair. I have no idea what happened to him (and never did find out), but his wife informed us that it was a condition he had (I think she mentioned it was related to his esophagus) and that he needed to be laid out on his back and he'd come to. Now, when you're someone my size, you're expected to assist in certain tasks. Reaching objects from high places, carrying heavy objects, frightening small children, etc., it all just comes with the territory. So when his wife said he needed to be picked up from his seat and laid in the aisle, I stood up and volunteered my services.

I don't know if he was breathing when I got him out of his chair (everything was happening pretty quickly), but he was definitely unresponsive. Completely out. And within 30 seconds of getting him on his back and elevating his legs, he came to. He was hurting, but he was awake. Now, a few things struck me about this situation. The first was how calm his wife was throughout it all. At no point did she seem out of control, which was a good thing because if she wasn't calm, I doubt anyone else would have been. This wasn't the first time it had occurred, and she knew exactly what needed to happened (she told us that when it did happen the first time, they thought it was a stroke; probably wasn't so calm then).

The second thing that struck me about this situation was the number of medical professionals present on the flight. I'm sure there are statistics and expected averages on these sorts of things, but our flight had two doctors and (at least) two nurses on board. I don't know if that's a lot, but it seemed like a lot. And to be honest, I'm not entirely certain one of the people helping out was a nurse. She was a cute French girl who seemed to have medical knowledge, but because of the noise on the plane and her accent, it was difficult to tell. Maybe she was just helpful because she was cute- I really don't know. As for the doctors on board, they were Johnny-on-the-spot when all this went down. There wasn't all that much for them to do (they took his vitals and sent the info to the cockpit, which I guess is how they determine whether an emergency stop is warranted), and they seemed to be knowledgeable about the man's condition once informed about it. Once they checked him out and determined he was stable, we had to get him out of the aisle and into some seats. And by "we" and mean "me." He'd spend the rest of the flight laying across a row, which again required me to pick him up and move him. It was much easier the second time around because even though he was pretty weak, he was at least conscience.

Finally, the last thing that struck me about this situation was the lady sitting across the aisle from me. She was MILF-ish woman traveling with her two kids (both aged between 8 and 13, I'm guessing) who looked like she was trying to look younger than someone who had two kids aged between 8 and 13. In fact, she looked a lot like Mrs. Ari from Entourage. During the whole situation, it seemed like she was trying to control the scene; she was badgering the flight attendants about the first aid and other medical equipement they had on board (even though none of it was needed) and seemed overly involved in that man's treatment (which amounted to little more than getting water and resting on his back). And she wasn't even one of the medical professionals I mentioned earlier; she was just married to a doctor (who wasn't on this flight). How do I know this? Because she told everyone. And she did so in a tone that seemed to imply that since she was married to a doctor, she had sufficent medical knowledge to help this man. She also mentioned that this was the third straight flight she had been on in which there had been some sort of medical situation (the last flight, she said, a lady had a heart attack and her husband saved her by performing a heart transplant right there on the plane... or something like that; she was talking and no one was really listening to her, she might have exaggerated a bit). I hope never to catch a flight with her on board again, not because of her streak of inflight medical emergencies, but because she was annoying as hell.

I have to say, even though it was a relatively minor situation, there were some tense moments. I guess it just comes with something, anything, going wrong while in the air. And it wasn't without benefit, at least for me. The smoked turkey sandwich and packet of M&M's I bought during the flight ended up being free simply because I helped out. So overall, not a bad deal. My involvement in said situation also lead to a rather odd encounter later, while waiting for my connecting flight.

While I was waiting at the gate in Cincinnati for my connecting flight to Dayton (see previous post for more on that nonsense), which was delayed for an hour because, HELLO!, they didn't have a pilot, I was approached by a girl who had been on the same San Francisco-Cincinnati flight as me and was also waiting to go to Dayton.

Girl: Hey, you were on the flight from San Francisco, right? You helped the guy who passed out?
Me: Uh, yeah, that was me.
Girl: That was crazy. I've never been on a flight were anything like that had happened before. I was kind of hoping for an emergency landing or something.
Me: Man, that would've been nuts. And it would've been okay because since we're still waiting for our damn flight, we wouldn't have missed it.
[more random talk about what happened on the plane and how ludicrous it is to fly from Cincinnati to Dayton]
Girl: Wait, so where do you live?
Me: I live in West Chester, which is just about right in the middle between Cincinnati and Dayton.
Girl: Is that where the Touchdown Jesus is?
Me: [immediately thinks of Notre Dame] Uh, what? [thinks] OH!! You mean the Giant Jesus statue at the Solid Rock Church! Yeah, that's like 20 minutes from where I live.
Girl: Oh, cool. I live in Oakland and I'm here to see the Jesus statue.
Me: [pause] Wait, you flew here just to see the Giant Jesus?
Girl: Oh, no, I've got some friends who live in Dayton, but I'm mainly here to see the statue.
Me: Oh, well then. You, uh, have fun doing that then. The statue's pretty awesome. It'll probably change you're life, just not in that kind of way.

People fly to St. Louis just to see the Arch. Same with Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota. Old Faithful. The Grand Canyon. The Statue of Liberty. These are things in our country that are worth taking time out to go and see. I'm not certain I'm ready to include Big Butter Jesus on that list.

Cincinnati's Airport Is In Dayton

2008-12-20T07:41:00.002-05:00

In a few hours, I will be driving up to Dayton so I can catch a flight back down to Cincinnati before heading on to San Francisco. I know that sounds ludicrous, but with how expensive it is to fly directly out of Cincinnati (which has the highest average ticket prices of any airport in the country), it saves me about $300 in airfare. That makes it worth it, especially when you consider that I live about as far from the Dayton airport (just north of the city) as I do from the Cincinnati airport (which is in Northern Kentucky).

But my question is this- who flies from Dayton to Cincinnati for a reason other than to catch another flight going somewhere else? Is anyone really flying just to cover the 50-some miles that separate the two cities? I'm guessing no. So the only people making this flight are people like me- people who want the destinations (and direct flights) out of Cincinnati but who don't want to pay the price to fly out of Cincinnati. Everyone making the 40 minute flight (seriously, a 40 minute flight?) from DAY to CVG is doing so simply to save money because CVG is so damn expensive. And everyone knows this. The people in Dayton know this; I'm sure they welcome the increased business. The people in Cincinnati know this; but they just seem to be standing around with their heads up their assess, watching all the local travellers abandon them for other nearby airports and not doing anything about it.

I wonder how things would have been different if instead of building the Cincinnati airport in Covington, KY, they built it in Monroe or Middletown, OH, or somewhere else in between Cincinnati and Dayton. Instead of having the Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport, we'd have the Cincinnati-Dayton Airport. That could have paved the way to eventually linking the two cities metropolitan areas (kind of like Dallas-Fort Worth, only smaller), which is something that is bandied about everytime people look at how fast Dayton and the areas north of Cincinnati (like West Chester) are growing.

But that didn't happen, which means I'll be stuck making the tedious flight from Dayton to Cincinnati every time I'm looking to fly somewhere. Hopefully CVG does something to lower its airfare, but I'm not holding my breath. To Dayton!

Fantasy Football Failure: Week 16

2008-12-18T13:02:00.002-05:00

Well, well, well, look who made it to his fantasy championship game. Thanks to solid days from Tyler Thigpen, Kevin Faulk, all my wideouts, and an improbable late fumble return for a touchdown by the Jets defense (thank you, J.P. Losman!), I prevailed over the #1 seed Down The Drain 101-85 to advance to this week's championship game.

For the championship, I face off against the #2 seed Team Dreher, who I beat 99-82 way back in Week 2. That week, I survived a massive week from Anquan Boldin (32 fantasy points!) with big days from Marion Barber and Earnest Graham (and solid days from Chris Johnson and Reggie Wayne). I'll probably need another week like that (or like last week) to beat Dreher for a second time.

QB: Tyler Thigpen vs. Chad Pennington
RB: Chris Johnson vs. Marshawn Lynch
RB: Kevin Faulk vs. Thomas Jones
RB/WR: Vincent Jackson vs. Warrick Dunn
WR: Reggie Wayne vs. Anquan Boldin
WR: Dwyane Bowe vs. Devin Hester
TE: Zach Miller vs. Dallas Clark
D/ST: Jets vs. Buccaneers
K: Jason Elam vs. Nate Kaeding

QB: David Garrard's been great that past few weeks, but I've riden Tyler Thigpen this far, so I've got to stay with him. Miami's not that great against the pass, so I expect Thipgen to get his usual 15-18 fantasy points. And speaking of Miami, Chad Pennington could have a decent day as well, seeing that Kansas City is even worse than Miami against the pass. But I expect the 'Fins to run the ball against KC with Brown and Williams, and the Chiefs to counter through the air with Bowe and Gonzalez, so I like Thigpen in this matchup.

RB: First off, eventhough he's got a g]touch matchup against Pittsburgh, I can't not start Chris Johnson. He's been too good all year to sit him down now. He stays in, and while I don't expect a whole lot of yards, I think he will manage to find the endzone. Kevin Faulk also stays in because I'm still not sure about the Marion Barber/Tashard Choice situation. Faulk's been solid 3 of the past 4 weeks, combining rushing and passing yards to score in the double digits. Arizona doesn't play much defense, so Faulk's got some value as a receiver. As for the Cowboys, I just don't know right now. Barber was active last week, but didn't do anything, and Choice came in and had his second straight huge game. That's two great games against two great defenses (the Steelers and the Giants). Does he keep it going against another great D, Baltimore? Regardless, I won't have Barber in there, but does Choice merit a start over Faulk? I don't know, and the Cowboys play Saturday night, so I've got less time to think about it. As for Dreher's RB's, Marshawn Lynch and Thomas Jones should have their usual solid games. I'm less worried about Warrick Dunn, but Lynch and Jones are a strong backfield that will be tough to keep pace with. I'll need some big games from my guys.

WR/TE: So Reggie Wayne didn't find the endzone last week (and he came so close), but he did break a 100 yards receiving, so I won't bench him. Yet. I am tempted to take a flyer on Laveraneus Coles this week because Seattle is dead last against the pass, but I just can't do it. The Colts need a win tonight to secure a spot in the playoffs, and Marvin Harrison is out, so I expect a lot of balls to go Reggie Wayne's way. Of course, those balls could also go to Dallas Clark, which would be bad, but I'm hoping that doesn't happen. As I said earlier, I'm sticking with Thigpen, which means I'm sticking with Dwayne Bowe; just find the endzone once and I'll be happy. Vincent Jackson's been a nice surprise the past 2 weeks, and its clear that Philip Rivers is looking for him with the deep ball. Eighty yards and a TD isn't out of the question. On the other side, Devin Hester doesn't scare me, but Anquan Boldin does. Sure, he's been down the past 3 weeks (4, 6, and 1 fantasy points), but despite that, he's still the #4 overall fantasy wideout. I've already mentioned Clarks potential for another good game with Harrison out tonight. Hopefully, its not too good so Zach Miller's 6 catches for 70 yards will be able to keep pace (man, I'd love for Miller to find the endzone this week....).

DEF/K: The Jets D had no business scoring 16 fantasy points last week. Thankfully, the Bills are terrible and decided to move J.P. Losman out of the pocket to throw with less than 2 minutes on the clock instead of handing the ball off to Marshawn Lynch, who'd gone for over 120 yards at that point. A sack, a fumble recovery, and a touchdown; that's a 9 points defensive fantasy play. Hopefully this week Seneca Wallace remembers that he's Seneca Wallace and not Peyton Manning and throws a few picks (perhaps even one for a TD). Aside from the debacle against Carolina two weeks ago, the Bucs D is always solid. And I don't expect either kicker to score much more than 7-8 points.

So what are my chances to win the championship? I'd say that right now, I'm the underdog, with a 35%-40% chance of pulling the upset. I've got a solid team, but I think Dreher's team's a little bit better. I think it comes down to the running backs, I need big days from them. Chris Johnson against the Steelers and either Faulk or Choice at the other RB slot. If those guys score big (or at least if they just find the endzone), I think I can pull out the championship.

Demented Santa Claus

2008-12-16T13:18:00.002-05:00

To help get you into the Holiday Spirit:

The White Death has once again descended upon the Queen City. Panic is sure to ensue.

Fantasy Football Failure: Week 15

2008-12-11T10:52:00.003-05:00

And he lives to fight another day.

Despite the best efforts of Vincent Jackson (20 points sitting on my bench) and Laveranues Coles (second straight 0 point week), I managed to prevail over Eh!Steve 68-58, returning the favor from last year when he knocked me out of the playoffs (it also helped that Eh!Steve left Jonathan Stewart and his 23 fantasy points on the bench). So onward to the semi-finals, where I matchup against the #1 seed Down The Drain, a team I lost to 74-82 back in Week 4 (where I left 63 points among 3 players on my bench- good times!). Loizeaux's team's pretty solid, so this should be a tough week.

QB: Tyler Thigpen vs. Kerry Collins
RB: Chris Johnson vs. Adrian Peterson
RB: Kevin Faulk vs. Ronnie Brown
RB/WR: Vincent Jackson vs. Maurice Jones-Drew
WR: Reggie Wayne vs. Greg Jennings
WR: Dwayne Bowe vs. Steve Smith
TE: Zach Miller vs. Greg Olsen
D/ST: Jets vs. Colts
K: Jason Elam vs. Neil Rackers

QB: Desipte Tennessee's 12-1 record, Collins hasn't exactly been lighting up the fantasy scoreboard. Sure, he's had a few weeks with some good numbers, but he's an 8 to 10 fantasy points guy. Tennessee's a running team (hello Chris Johnson!), so I think Thigpen can outscore Collins here. San Diego has a miserable pass defense, so think Thigpen will have good day (he just needs to find Dwayne Bowe).

RB: I've got issues here. Adrian Peterson (arguably the best running back in the league), Ronnie Brown (not scoring 5 TD each week, but solid none the less), and MJD (the top receiving RB in the league) is a hell of a lineup. I'm going to need another huge week from Chris Johnson (and when I don't I need that?) to keep pace. And as for Kevin Faulk... well, what I need is for Marion Barber to play and play pissed because Jerry Jones had the stones to call out his toughness (that's Marion Barber, of the "Marion the Barbarian" nickname). If he can't go, I picked up Tashard Choice, who had a fine week (15 points) starting in place of Barber going against the tough Steelers defense. Barber's a game time decision. Problem is, game time is 8:15, so I'm going to limited in my moves. Luckly, the Pats play at 4:15, so I'll have a little more time to decide to replace Faulk or not.

WR/TE: Where have you gone, Reggie Wayne? One double-digit fantasy point week in the past eight? You have Detroit this week. Detroit, of the 0-13 record. At least 70 yards and a TD or I'm never owning Reggie Wayne again. I've already mentioned Kansas City's passing game against San Diego's bad pass defense; Dwayne Bowe, time to step up big. Thigpen really only looks for two guys- Bowe and Tony Gonzalez; hopefully he looks for Bowe in the red zone. Despite his widely inconsistent year, I've got Vincent Jackson in there over Coles because, frankly, Coles sucks. Since his 4 TD game back in Week 4 (when I had him on the bench), he's scored only twice more, so no more Coles for the rest of the year. Greg Jennings is a solid receiver, and it looks like Aaron Rodgers is looking to him more than Donald Driver. And Steve Smith is Steve Smith- he's going to get a ton of yards regardless if he finds the end zone or not. As for the TE's, while Zach Miller has only found the end zone once this year (hey, he plays for Oakland), he has been getting good yardage lately (50-60 yards), and I expect that to continue (though a TD would be nice as well). As for the other side, Olsen did manage to find the end zone last week, but that was coming off of back to back 0 point weeks, which is more of what I expect him to put up.

DEF/K: Just no negative points, that all I'm asking for now from my DEF. The Jets have seemingly decided that they don't want to be an elite team anymore, but they've got Buffalo at home this week, so its time to get healthy. It looks like J.P. Losman should get his second straight start for the Bills, which means plenty of opportunites for interceptions for the Jets secondary. And I'll need it since Loizeaux's got the Colts DEF against the hapless Lions. As for the kickers, while Jason Elam's been solid the past few weeks, Neil Rackers has been on fire. He's been in double digits 5 of the past 6 weeks, which is crazy for a kicker. Man, I'd hate to lose because my opponent's kicker went off on a career day. That would just suck.

So where do I think I stand? Honestly, I think it comes down to my RB's. I don't have a lot of faith in Kevin Faulk or Tashard Choice, so I really, really need Marion Barber to play and have monster game. Loizeaux's finished the year at #1 for a reason, so it'll be tough to beat him. Got a shot, but not feeling all the confident.

BCS Crap

2008-12-10T11:50:00.002-05:00

"Did the BCS get it right this year?"

This question's been asked all week. People want to know if the best two teams are playing for the national title (and you know you've got a good system when you have to hope it all works out in the end). I find this questions funny because the BCS doesn't guarantee that the two best teams will be playing for the national title; the BCS only guarantees that top 2 teams in the final BCS standing will play for the national title, and it is assumed that, since they finished #1 and #2 in the BCS, they are the best 2 teams in the country.

So are Florida and Oklahoma the two best teams in the country? Who knows. Now, will it be a great game? It should be. But so would a lot of matchups between the BCS top 8 teams. But since if the system we've got, we've got to live with it. Some bold (or not so bold) predictions for the 5 BCS bowls games:

-BCS National Title Game: Florida vs. Oklahoma
Again, regardless of whether these are the "best 2 teams in the country," this should be a hell of a game. Tim Tebow had quipped earlier in the year (re: his Heisman vote and the numbers Sam Bradford, Colt McCoy, and Graham Harrell were putting up) that he'd like to see what he could do against those Big 12 defenses. Well, he's going to get his chance. Florida's been on a tear since losing to Old Miss, and I don't think that stops against Oklahoma (who, granted, have been on a tear of their own). I think the difference is that Oklahoma had score the "style points" with voters, so they've been running up lately (60+ points in 4 straight games), and Sports Gods don't like that. Plus, Bob Stoops is winless in his last four BCS bowl games, including 2 title games. It'll be a highly entertaining game, fairly close with lots of scoring, but Stoops's losing streak continues and Florida wins the BCS title.

-Fiesta Bowl: Ohio State vs. Texas
Are you shitting me- Ohio State? Again? Have we learning nothing the past few years? Ohio State doesn't show up in big games (unless they get a bullshit pass interference call in the end zone at the end of the game). What about Boise State? All they've done in the past is win possibly the greatest bowl game ever, and they did it playing a Big 12 team in the Fiesta Bowl. They're undefeated and ranked higher than OSU in the precious BCS standings- so why are the Broncos worthy? And what about Texas Tech? They got screwed by the "limit 2 teams per conference" rule, but who wouldn't want to see a Texas-Texas Tech rematch? That was only the best game of the year. No, instead we're left with the Buckeyes. The team that was run out of the stadium by LSU last year and by Florida the year before that. History repeats itself again this year. Texas is pissed, and they'll take it out against OSU. Colt McCoy, coming off his Heisman win (more on this later) will have a huge day and Terrelle Pryor will struggle (couple fumbles, couple interceptions). Texas big in this one, at least 3 touchdowns, and Ohio State is embarrassed once again on the national stage.

-Sugar Bowl: Utah vs. Alabama
Look, I know everyone is going to point to Hawaii in last year's Sugar Bowl against Georgia; they pulled an Ohio State and got blown out. But Utah already has history in the BCS- they beat Pitt in the 2005 Fiesta Bowl (first non-BCS school to crash the part). That being said, do I think the Utes move to 2-0 in BCS bowl games? No, I think Alabama wins this one, but it won't be a blowout like some people are predicting. Now, I'd love to see Utah win and end the year undefeated and show that they can play (and beat) BCS conference teams, but I don't think its going to happen. Saban the Weasel will have the Tide ready to go and Sugar Bowl's proximity to Alabama will give them a home field advantage.

-Orange Bowl: Cincinnati vs. Virginia Tech
Ugh. This is why the automatic bids for conference champions needs to end. The Hokies are 9-4, and they're playing a BCS game over undefeated Boise State and one-loss Texas Tech. Just stupid. And nothing against UC, but they're not BCS bowl caliber yet. Don't get me wrong, I think Brian Kelly is going an incredible job and its a good thing for Cincinnati to have some college football success, but they're not ready. They still have a hard time filling 35,000 seat Nippert Stadium, and they expect to sell out their allotment of Orange Bowl tickets? I hope for their sake they do, lest they have to eat the cost like West Virginia had to last year, and because I know Tech will sell out their tickets (because, really, Tech fans have nothing better to do than travel to football games). I really hope Cincinnati wins this game. One, because I alway root against the Hokies, and two, it would so great for UC to win a BCS bowl game in the same year Ohio State loses one (3 touchdown, I'm telling you). So I'm picking the Bearcats based on nothing more than I can never, ever, pick Virginia Tech.

-Rose Bowl: Penn State vs. USC
After the title game, I think this'll be the second best BCS bowl game. My dad (Penn State alum), wanted this matchup once Penn State was knocked out of the national title picture. I told him he was crazy and that he should be careful what he wishes for because it might come true. And sure enough, it did. Penn State looked unstoppable earlier in the year, then they hit a wall late in the year (close win against Ohio State, loss to Iowa), only to appear to have righted the ship in the final two weeks. USC has the ridiculous defense (averaging less than 8 points a game), but much of that was against the comicly pathetic PAC-10. Penn State's offense will the best one USC's faced all year, and I think they'll be able to crack double digits on the scoreboard. The game is close, possibly right down to the wire, and I'm taking Penn State and JoePa for the win.

And finally, Mr. Irrelavent... er, the Heisman Trophy. Like I said early, I think Colt McCoy will win (note: I don't think he's the best player in the country, I just think he'll win the Heisman). Between him, Tebow, Bradford, and Harrell (the obvious finalist that will be in New York for the ceremony; I can't see anyone else being invited), I think he's show enough to win. While the Heisman has become a meaningless trophy of late, 2 Heismans is still rarified air, and I don't think they bestow that honor on Tebow (yet- if he comes back for his senior year and does it all again, maybe he wins it next year). And McCoy's already beaten out Bradford and Harrell as the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year (though, curiously enough, he was voted Second Team All Big 12 behind Bradford, and the same writers voted for both awards). In the end, it really doesn't matter because the Heisman has become a joke of a trophy. Winning it almost guarantees failure in the NFL.

Fantasy Football Failure: Week 14

2008-12-04T20:30:00.003-05:00

[Note: I forgot about the Thursday night game, so this post is going up a bit late.]

Nothing like backing into the playoffs. The week started off great with Chris Johnson putting up 24 fantasy points on Thanksgiving Day, but 0's from Laveranues Coles and Vincent Jackson and a whopping -2 from the Jets D lead me to a 57-78 loss to Smouther's Galveston Storm team (it also didn't help that the rest of my team sucked it up as well). But eventhough I've dropped the last two weeks, I still finished in a 4-way tie for second at 9-4, but I'm seeded 5th in the playoffs thanks to my rather low total points scored number.

Round 1 of the playoffs pits me against Team Rekant (Eh!Steve's team) in a rematch of Week 5 (in which I prevailed 71-54). And I've already got one player locked in (who's playing tonight).

QB: Tyler Thigpen vs. Drew Brees
RB: Chris Johnson vs. Clinton Portis
RB: Kevin Faulk vs. Fred Taylor
RB/WR: Laveranues Coles vs. Kevin Smith
WR: Reggie Wayne vs. Braylon Edwards
WR: Dwayne Bowe vs. Davone Bess
TE: Zach Miller vs. Bo Scaife
D/ST: Jets vs. Packers
K: Jason Elam vs. John Kasay

QB: This is pretty simply- Tyler Thigpen is a servicable (at best) NFL quarterback and Drew Brees is on pace to break Dan Marino's single season passing yards record. Thigpen had been on a roll, with 17+ fantasy points in each of the past 5 weeks, but he dropped an 8 point stinker last week. Interestingly enough, the Chiefs won last week when Thigpen played poorly and they had lost the previous 5 weeks when we played well. So here's hoping the Chiefs lose this week and Thigpen can at least hit double digits, because I'm sure Brees will put up good numbers.

RB: Marion Barber is currently listed as "questionable" which is why he's on the bench right now. He's playing the Steelers, which is a touch matchup to begin with, but the report right now is that he'll be a game time decision. If it looks like he's going to play, there's no way I can keep him on the bench, even against Pittsburgh. I'd probably put him in the flex spot and leave Kevin Faulk in there, simply because the Pats are playing the Seahawks. And Chris Johnson should have another great week playing Cleveland. Portis is a stud back, but he's also listed as "questionable." Hopefully, he can't go. Taylor's been surpassed by MJD, so I'm not real worried about him, and Kevin Smith's problem is that he plays for Detroit. I need points from my RB's.

WR/TE: As I write this, Vincent Jackson already has 18 points, and he's on my bench. Great start. And my TE, Zach Miller, has 2 points right now, and all I can hope for is that he finds the end zone tonight. All my receivers (starting and on the bench) totalled a massive 6 points last week- if that happens again, my season's over. My best hope is that Wayne goes off big against my hometown Bengals this week. I expect nothing out of Braylon Edwards because the Browns are on their 8th or 9th quarterback this week. Davone Bess scares me a bit, and hopefully Coles and Bowe will return to form and score some points (any points).

DEF/K: I have no idea what happened to the Jets last week. They've got San Francisco this week, so maybe they'll remember that they're supposed one of the top teams in the AFC and not suck. They should at least be able to match the Pack this week, who have Houston. Elam's had 3 straight weeks of 9 fantasy points, so I need that to continue (which is sad that I need a kicker to produce).

So I've already got 18 points in the bench, which isn't a good sign for the week. I'm not feeling all that confident about moving on in the playoffs, and if I don't, it'll be the second straight year in which Eh!Steve has ended my season. If my WR's show up even a little, I think I've got a chance to win. If not, season's over.

College Football Questions

2008-12-03T11:38:00.002-05:00

As we head toward the final weekend of college football before the bowl season, some questions are on my mind:

-How is Charlie Weis still the coach at Notre Dame? Oh, that's right, he's not black. Weis has a worse winning percentage than both of his predecessors, Ty Willingham and Bob Davie and just coached Notre Dame its worst two-year span in history. The previous worst two-year span? Willingham's last two years. It got Willingham fired, but not Weis. No, Weis gets to keep his job because he got a 10-year contract in his first year at ND, winning with players he didn't recruit. Anyone else wish they could be the worst performer in their employer's history and still keep their job?

-Is there anyone out there that still thinks the BCS isn't a complete waste of time? College football doesn't need a playoff because "every week's a playoff"? Right, tell that to Texas. Texas beat Oklahoma back in October. If every week were actually a playoff, Oklahoma would have been eliminated. But since that argument's a load of shit, Oklahoma is above Texas in the BCS rankings. And thanks to the Big 12's ridiculous tie-breaker rules (albeit the 5th tie-breaker, but ridiculous none the less), Oklahoma gets to play in the Big 12 championship game over Texas because of its higher BCS position. And when last I checked, Texas had still beaten Oklahoma head-to-head. And what's even more ridiculous is that if Missouri were to somehow beat Oklahoma in said Big 12 championship game, Texas would end up in the BCS title game. One week, the BCS didn't think the Longhorns were good enough to play in their own conference championship game and in the next, they could be good enough to play for the BCS title. What a joke.

-Is there a funnier picture out there of a head coach than Kansas's Mark Mangino and Obie from last year's Orange Bowl? I think not.

-Speaking of head coaches, anyone still think Joe Paterno's going to retire at the end of the year? He's back coaching one week after hip replacement surgery. If that doesn't say, "I'm coaching until the day I die," I don't know what does.

-Would you be willing to forfeit two timeouts (one per half) just to wear your home jerseys on the road in a rivalry game? Pete Carroll would. And if UCLA is cool with it (and it appears Rick Neuheisel is), it doesn't bother me. What does bother me is this: As for losing a timeout? "I don't care about it right now," Carroll said. "I think it's the fun thing to do, and I think the fans will appreciate it over time. Seriously Coach, at least act like the lost timeouts are a big deal. Everyone knows you're supremely cocky, but dismissing the timeouts and focusing on a "fun thing to do" is a real slap in the face to UCLA. That said, I'm taking the Trojans (-33) over the Bruins in the pick'em league this week, timeouts or not.

-If you were Brian Kelly, why wouldn't you stay at UC? The only reason to leave would be for a Brinks truck full of money, which, at his current pace, some school will be throwing at hiim every year. Now, there's nothing wrong with taking the money and running, as long as you're comfortable joining the Weasel Club, like Nick Saban and Bobby Petrino. But if he's not a complete selfish bastard, Brian Kelly's in the perfect situation: he's in a high school football hotbed that isn't heavily recruited by the other big schools in the region; Cincinnati isn't all "rah-rah-we-love-Ohio-State-simply-because-we-live-in-Ohio" so he's not tasked with changing allegiances, just forming them; and the Big East is winnable, and as long as the BCS continues its stupid automatic bids for the 6 "major" conferences, he's got a shot at the Orange Bowl every year. And if he were to sting together an undefeated season, he might have a shot at the BCS title (remember, West Virginia was in line to play for the BCS title last year until they choked against Pitt). It may sound crazy, but if Boise State or Utah had their seasons in one of the BCS conferences, they'd have a shot at the title game. UC could be a Boise State or a Utah, but in a BCS conference, and I mean that in good way.

-So how would I fix the BCS? The same way most people would- by having a playoff. Want to keep the BCS rankings? Fine, treat them like the RPI in college basketball. I say 8 team playoff, must be in BCS top 12 to be elligable, no limit on teams from one conference (if 3 of the best teams are from the Big 12 South, so be it, that's the way it is), and no automatic bids for any conference champions. Top 2 teams not selected for the playoff meet in "consolation bowl game" played at one of the current BCS bowl sites (see later). [Note: Yes, arguments will still ensure, and that's not a bad thing. Argument and debate is a fundamental part of sports, especially college football. However, I'd rather those arguments be about which team deserves the last spot in a playoff system for a chance at the national title than be about which team deserves a spot in the title game itself. The model is right there in college basketball; everyone argues about who's the "last 4 in, last 4 out", but no one argues about who ends up playing for the national title, be it a #1 seed or a #8 seed, because its decided on the court.] First round of the playoffs are home games for the higher seeds. Current BCS bowls (Orange, Sugar, Fiesta, Rose), are used for Championship game, semi-finals, and consolation game in rotating fashion (title game one year, consolation game the next, then semi-final, semi-final, back to title game, etc.). Also, keep all of the other bowl games. Opponents say that a playoff would render the bowl games meaningless; tell me, what do the bowl games mean now? Exactly. So keep the bowls and the extra weeks of practice for eligible teams, add a playoff to determine an actual NCAA National Champion, and everyone goes home happy.

Fantasy Football Failure: Week 13

2008-11-26T08:42:00.002-05:00

Stupid Randy Moss.

Randy Moss is an elite receiver, everyone knows this. I don't care who's throwing to him (unless its an Oakland QB), if he's a part of the offense, there's always a chance for him to have a big day. But 125 yards and 3 touchdowns? You never expect a day THAT big. You never expect it and you can't count on it, you just have to accept it and move on.

Moss's stupid 30 fantasy point week helped Belgiumland Waffles pull the upset and end my winning streak at 7. So I go from sole possession of 1st place to a 3-way tie for 1st at 9-3 (with me in 3rd based on points scored). And it doesn't get any easier this week going up against Smouther's Galveston Storm team, who's 8-4and second in the league in points scored.

QB: Tyler Thigpen vs. Jay Cutler
RB: Marion Barber vs. Joseph Addai
RB: Chris Johnson vs. Michael Turner
RB/WR: Laveraneus Coles vs. Andre Johnson
WR: Reggie Wayne vs. Lee Evans
WR: Dwayne Bowe vs. Kevin Walter
TE: Kevin Boss vs. Dustin Keller
D/ST: Jets vs. Raiders
K: Jason Elam vs. Matt Bryant

QB: Despite the Chiefs not getting any wins when he starts, Tyler Thigpen continues to put up good fantasy numbers. And if he'd stop throwing the late game interception (after the game's outcome has been decided), he'd have even better numbers. He's playing Oakland which should hopefully boost his numbers this week. Although, Oakland just shut down Devner and gave Jay Cutler his lowest point total of the year. Devner's offense is completely 1-dimensional, so while that means defenses can just pin their ears back and play the pass, it also means that Cutler's throwing the ball 40+ times a game and has lots of chances to score points.

RB: Chris Johnson's been terrible lately, but both him and Marion Barber have favorable matchups this week (Johnson vs. Detroit and Barber vs. Seattle). If you can't get healthy against the winless Lions on Thanksgiving day, coming off your first lose of the year, you've got issues. Barber's also going on Thanksgiving, so I'm expecting big games from these guys to set the tone for the rest of the weekend. Both Addai and Turner are more than solid backs, with Turner coming off a 4 touchdown game (take that, Randy Moss!). That's not happening again this week, though he and Addai will surely both find the endzone. I'm hoping the more favorable matchups will give my guys the edge here.

WR/TE: I just need Brett Favre to find Laveraneous Coles in the red zone, that's it. Its clear that he's not getting as many of balls his way as the Jets move down the field; those yards are going to Cotchery and Keller (more on him later) and Thomas Jones on the ground. And that's fine, as long as he gets the TD at the end. The Browns are terrible, so I expect Peyton Manning will have a big day, which usually means that Reggie Wayne will also have a big day. And as for Dwayne Bowe, I'm a little worried about him. While Oakland sucks, they've got this cat in their secondary, Nnamdi Asomugha, that's the very definition of "shut down corner." Teams don't even throw to his side of the field, and there's no doubt that he'll be on Bowe all game. This doesn't bode well for me, but I can't bench Bowe; he's too good of a player, and there's still a chance he gets an opening in the red zone and vultures a TD. Smother's relying on the Texans combo of Johnson and Walter, which isn't that bad of a play. Their problem is that they've got Sage Rosenfels throwing them the ball, which isn't doing them any favors. Same goes for Lee Evans; he's only doing as well as Trent Edwards is doing, which usually isn't very good. But Dustin Keller scares me a bit. I've gone back to Kevin Boss in the hopes of vulturing some TD's, but Favre is looking for Keller every time he drops back. While he hasn't been getting the TD's, he is getting the yards, which, for at TE in fantasy, can sometimes be just as good.

DEF/K: Not much to say here other than my D is playing his QB, and his D is playing my QB. Funny how that works out. And Elam should get more chances to score than Bryant this week. And if not, they're still just kickers.

So, this could be another loss. I've got the edge at RB, but he's got me at QB, WR (only slightly), and TE. This is the final week of the regular season and I'm going to make the playoffs (top 6 advance), but I don't want to limp into the post season. Going from 1st to 6th in two weeks wouldn't be good. But Smouther's got a strong team and getting a win will be tough. I think I take the close loss and drop and finish the regular season 9-4. Sucks, but as the Patsys (and my own fantasy team) taught us last year, the regular season means nothing. Its all the post season. Bring it on.

Pardoning Turkeys

2008-11-25T11:49:00.002-05:00

In honor of the upcoming holiday:

"Aren't I gonna get a reputation for being soft on turkeys?"

Fantasy Football Failure: Week 12

2008-11-21T15:22:00.002-05:00

How do I keep winning? I have 2 guys that put up zeros last week, and I still manage to eke out the win 89-83 over Tina's Eli's Coming team. Marion Barber returned to being Marion Barber, and Chris Johnson, while he didn't find the end zone, still put up some decent yardage. And Thigpen-Bowe hookup I needed? Happened twice. Love it, hope it keeps on happening.

So I'm now at 9-2, riding a 7 game win streak, and alone in first place (thank you Smouther, for beating Loizeaux). This week I'm up against the league's foreign correspondent, Rob, a.ka. Belgiumland Waffles.

QB: Tyler Thigpen vs. Jason Campbell
RB: Marion Barber vs. Larry Johnson
RB: Chris Johnson vs. Tim Hightower
RB/WR: Laveranues Coles vs. Donnie Avery
WR: Reggie Wayne vs. Randy Moss
WR: Dwyane Bowe vs. Brandon Marshall
TE: Zach Miller vs. Antonio Gates
D/ST: Jets vs. Patriots
K: Matt Prater vs. Rob Bironas

QB: Thigpen's scored 19+ fantasy points each of the past 4 weeks; if he continues that streak, I'll be happy. He seems to have something going on with Dwyane Bowe, so while the Chiefs aren't winning many games (though I like them this week against Buffalo), they're still putting up good fantasy numbers. Campbell's been okay this year, but he's playing Seattle, so there's the chance he puts up big numbers. But I have faith in Tyler Thigpen.

RB: San Francisco's terrible, so Marion Barber should be poised for another big game. Chris Johnson's up against the Jets D, which isn't the easist team to run on, but I'm hoping he get at least one touchdown, either running or receiving. Larry Johnson's done nothing this year, but he's also probably good for at least one TD against Buffalo (just as long as it comes a Thigpen pass). And I don't expect anything out of Tim Hightower. He was flash in the a pan and unless he scores a long run, he's not getting the goalline carries (those are going to J.J. Arrington, who's currently residing on my bench and could end up in the flex slot).

WR/TE: San Diego has no pass defense, so, like Marion Barber, I expect a big game from Reggie Wayne. It looks like he and Peyton Manning are back on track, so that means lots of yards and lots of scores. I've already mentioned Dwyane Bowe; I'm loving him and Thigpen, and that should continue at home against the Bills. And I've got Coles in the flex slot because, well... I don't know why. Since he's huge 3 TD game back in Week 4 (when I had him on the bench), he's only scored 1 more TD (back in Week 8). There's always that chance that Favre will find him in the end zone, but that just hasn't been happening; Favre's been throwing too many picks and the Jets offense is going through Thomas Jones and the running game. So I'm pretty certain I'll be benching Coles in favor of J.J. Arrington (as mentioned above), but that'll be a gameday decision. Randy Moss and Brandon Marshall will most certainly put up numbers comperable to Wayne and Bowe, so that's a wash. But I expect nothing from Donnie Avery simply because he plays for the Rams. He had a couple good games earlier in the year, but not much since, so no worries. I've come to accept that whoever I start at TE will garner me 0 points, so anything positive I take as a win. And besides, whoever I throw out there won't be able to match Antonio Gates anyway, so its pretty much just a coin flip.

DEF/K: I need the Jets to intercept Kerry Collins mulitple times and record a dozen sacks, but let Chris Johson get two scores; that would be ideal. And Rob doens't have a DEF in play right now, but he just dropped the Browns D for the Pats, so I imagine he'll make the change before kickoff Sunday. I've got Prater back at K because the Broncos are playing the Raiders, so there should be ample scoring opportunities, both PAT's and field goals. And Bironas should get a lot of work because the reality is, Jets-Titans will most likely be a defensive battle with few touchdowns and a lot more field goal tries.

In summary, I think I get the win over Beglium (yes, the entire country), run the win streak to 8 games, and remain in first place. I have to admit, this season is playing out very similar to last season, and that's not a good thing for me. Last year, I finished with the best record (12-2) and the most points scored, but I got bounced in the playoffs when none of my guys player a whole lot in the final weeks of the season. So I'm hoping for a slightly different result this year.

White Death

2008-11-18T07:44:00.002-05:00

Flurries dusted the Greater Cincinnati area this morning, so in honor of Jim Borgman:

I get the feeling that its going to be a long winter around here.

Letter To The Commissioner

2008-11-16T18:38:00.003-05:00

Dear Commissioner Roger Goodell-

You need to change the NFL's overtime rules now. In fact, you needed to change them when you first took over the Paul Tagliabue. But that ship's sailed. So you need to deal with it now.

Bengals 13 Eagles 13 is unacceptable. Ties should not be an option in the NFL. Don't tell me that its only the first one since 2002; its not about how often it happens, its about the fact that it should never happen. So much in the league relies a team's record, from playoff standings to draft order- why add unnecessary confusion into the mix with the possibility of ties? What's gained by not having a definite winner?

Basketball doesn't have ties. Baseball doesn't have ties (well, except for the All-Star game, until that worked out so well for you friend Bud he was forced to change it- you want that kind of backlash?). Hockey had ties until they finally realized that not having a winner was a bad thing and changed it. Are you saying that Gary Bettman, a.k.a. the worst commissioner in sports, has more sense than you do? There aren't ties in either high school football or college football. There aren't even ties in Canadian football. CANDADIAN FOOTBALL!! Even the Canucks know that football shouldn't end with both teams having the same score.

So what's the hold up, Roger? Why hasn't the NFL adopted a form of the high school/college overtime system? Will it hurt your revenue numbers (since everything in the league is run by the almighty dollar)? Does the idea of giving each team a fair shot at the endzone to determine a definative winner bother you in some way? Seriously, what's your damage?

Here's your solution: take the college overtime rules and make two changes- one, move the starting line back from the 25 to the 35 yard line, and two, make offenses go for the 2-point conversion starting with the second overtime instead of the third. Problem solved.

Commissioner, get your head out of your ass, convince the owners this is the right move, and make it happen.

Respectfully (for the most part),
GiantAsianMan

Now I'm THAT Guy

2008-11-16T12:38:00.004-05:00

I know who I am; I'm "the big Asian guy." I accepted this a long time ago because there was nothing I could do about it. When people meet me, that's typically what they remember, especially people like friends of a friend, people I may run into only once or twice a year. When I see them again, they remember me because I'm "the big Asian guy," and that's it. But last night, I was remembered for something else.

Last night at a friend's house, I ran into one of these friends of a friend who I've only met a couple of times. It had been a while, but I remembered meeting her. When my friend asked if we'd meet before, this friend of a friend answered:

"Yeah, I think we met at New Year's last year. We had a conversation about pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis."

That's right, pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. If I'm not going to be remembered as just "the big Asian guy," I want to be remembered as "the guy who talked to you about pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis." Done and done.

Fantasy Football Failure: Week 11

2008-11-13T12:46:00.005-05:00

Another sad week for my RB's- Chris Johnson and Kevin Faulk combined for a grand total of 1 point. Thankfully, the Jets D played St. Louis and scored 25 points to pick up the slack. Ralph had two guys put up 0 points and I still only won the week 83-70, which was considerably closer than I had imagined. Willis McGahee went from "questionable" to having a monster game, which was unexpected. But David Garrard had a decent game (18 points) and so did Reggie Wayne, again (17 points), which was good to see.

Down The Drain won big last week, so we're still tied for first at 8-2, but the "points scored" gap has increased to 839-783 (note: I'm 7th in "points scored" but I have the fewest "points against" at 600). Week 11 brings a serious challenge in Tina's 6-4 Eli's Coming team.

QB: Tyler Thigpen vs. Kurt Warner
RB: Marion Barber vs. Brandon Jacobs
RB: Chris Johnson vs. Matt Forte
RB/WR: Earnest Graham vs. Anthony Gonzales
WR: Reggie Wayne vs. Kevin Curtis
WR: Dwayne Bowe vs. Marvin Harrison
TE: Kevin Boss vs. Jason Witten
D/ST: Jets vs. Eagles
K: Jason Elam vs. John Carney

QB: I've made another change at QB; I'm going with Tyler Thigpen. Yes, Tyler Thigpen. Look, I love David Garrard, but I think Thigpen's the better play this week. Garrard is up against undefeated Tennessee and Thigpen, who's had 20+ fantasy points the past 3 weeks, is up against underachieving New Orleans. I think Thigpen gives me the best chance for point, which I'm going to need against MVP candidate Kurt Warner. Warner's having a John Travoltta in Pulp Fiction type comeback right now, and its mind boggling. He's at Seattle, which shouldn't be too hard for him to put up big numbers. I hope I can keep it close here.

RB: My RB's have been pretty disappointing lately. What I need is for Tony freakin'-Romo to come back and start throwing the ball downfield to establish that yes, the Cowboys having a passing game once more. If this happens, the field should open up for Marion Barber to be Marion Barber again. Also, I don't think the Titan's running game will be shut down again like it was last week, so Chris Johnson should be okay. Earnest Graham is currently "questionable" with a knee injury, so if it turns out he can't go, I'll have Vincent Jackson in at the flex position. Its pretty rare for me to be the underdog at RB, but I am to Tina. Barber and Johnson are currently the #8 and #9 fantasy RB's; Matt Forte and Brandon Jacobs are #3 and #7. Tina's guys have been more consistant than mine, so I don't expect either Forte or Jacobs to have an off week.

WR/TE: First off, welcome back Reggie Wayne. Three straight crappy weeks and I thought about benching Wayne; good think I didn't. I'm going with Dwayne Bowe over Laveranues Coles this week because a)I'm already riding the Tyler Thigpen bandwagon and b)tonight's Jets-Pats game is forcasted to be a rainly slop-fest. Besides, Coles has had only one good week in the past 5, so I'm feeling okay sitting him. And as long as Peyton Manning throws to Wayne and not to Anthony Gonzalez or Marvin Harrison, I should be okay here. Harrison is struggling big time right now, but he's still Marvin Harrison, so he could break out at any point, and Gonzalez is still the 4th option in that offense (behind Wayne, Dallas Clark, and Harrison), so I don't expect much from these guys. The Eagles have the Bengals this week, so I expect Kevin Curtis (along with the rest of the Eagles) to find the end zone at least once each. At TE, I picked up Kevin Boss because he's got a TD in 3 straight games, so hopefully Eli Manning wil continue to look his way in the red zone. Tina's got Jason Witten, who should be back to his usual self after a bye week and the return of Romo.

DEF/K: Like I mentioned above, the weather for tonight's Jets-Pats game is expected to be nasty. Nasty weather usually favors the defense (unless you're playing Gale Sayers), so I'm hoping for some decent points from the Jets D (though I surely don't expect another 25 point performance). Again, the Eagles are at Cincinnati, so they're sure to put up some fantasy points. And all I'll say about kickers is that Jason Elam (who scored a solid 10 points last week) is currently "questionable", so if he can't go, I'll drop Matt Prater (who's fallen off lately as the Broncos offense has faded).

On paper, I think I'm behind in this matchup and unlike the past three weeks, I wouldn't be surprised if my win streak (up to 6 right now) comes to an end. I think it'll come down to the RB's; if my guys (all of them, not just one) show and play to the level they're supposed to, I'll be in a good position to get the win (a few TD's from Thigpen to Bowe wouldn't hurt either). But we'll see, this week should be close.

Okay, This Has To Stop

2008-11-07T20:15:00.004-05:00

Seriously, its just getting ridiculous.

Barack Obama was the inspiration for the character of Matt Santos (played by Jimmy Smits) during the final seasons of The West Wing- we get it. And throughout the campaign, there were several other similarities to the show, from the difficult nomination process to the Republican opponent. Its a neat story and for uber-fans of The West Wing like me, its kind of cool to follow. But now its just going too far.

Turns out, Barack Obama's newly named Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, was the inspiration for The West Wing character of Josh Lyman (played by Bradely Whitford). Given that most, if not all, of the main characters from The West Wing were based on members of President Clinton's staff, this isn't all that surprising. For the non-West Wing fans, Josh Lyman was the Deputy Chief of Staff for President Bartlet (Martin Sheen) who eventually left the White House to convince then-unknown Congressman Matt Santos to run for President. Josh ended up running the Santos campagin, and after they won the election, Santos named Josh, yup, you guessed it, Chief of Staff.

No joke- Joe Biden, call your cardiologist, get checked out.

Again, this just has to stop.