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."
Showing posts with label virginia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label virginia. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
O Captain, My Captain
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.
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.
Monday, September 28, 2009
It's Been A Long Time Comin'
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).
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).
Monday, September 21, 2009
Making It Interesting
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.
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.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Just Call Me Brett Favre
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).
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).
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Weekly TV Thoughts: 03/22 - 03/28
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!
-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!
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Weekly TV Thoughts: 03/15 - 03/21
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.
-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.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Weekly TV Thoughts: 01/11 - 01/17
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!
-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!
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Are You Kidding Me?
Virginia 24, Georgia Tech 17
Four straight wins, first place in the ACC Coastal Division. Unbelievable.
Four straight wins, first place in the ACC Coastal Division. Unbelievable.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
How To Save Your Job In Two Weeks
Or, The Story of Al Groh & the 2008 Virginia Cavaliers.
Unbelievable. Two weeks ago, Al Groh was a goner. He was done, no doubt about it. It was unlikely that he'd be fired mid-season (I don't think that's how UVA rolls), but the team was terrible with no signs of getting any better, so it seemed inevitable that he'd be out at the end of the year. But now, after drubbing Mason-Dixon rival Maryland 31-0 and beating early-season darling East Carolina 35-20, I can guarantee you that Al Groh will the head coach of the Virginia Cavaliers in 2009 (if he manages to upset a Brandon Tate-less UNC team next week, he might get an extension).
Now, I think he still has to go, but I'm positive that he won't. We saw it for years with Pete Gillen and men's basketball team. It was the same thing every year: ace through a cupcake-laden non-conference schedule, start conference play undefeated, lose first 5 ACC games, put Gillen goes on hot seat, upset a highly-ranked Duke or Carolina team at home in February, play better in 2nd half of ACC schedule, remove Gillen off hot seat, finish around .500 for year and in conference, lose in NIT First Round, start again next year. Same song, different verse with Groh.
The team's playing better under redshirt sophomore quarterback Marc Verica (not that it could've played much worse), and with so many young players around him, you've to (delusional) people are saying, "Well, we'll take our lumps this year, but NEXT year, this team could be great!" Regardless of how UVA finishes out the year (more on that in a bit), these two wins have given Al Groh a reprieve and a chance next year to continue the UVA tradition of finishing slightly above mediocre, going to a third-tier bowl game, and acting like we're a big-time football program. Go Hoos!
Some more thoughts on college football:
-Virginia will finish the year 6-6. I know, that sounds like a lot, especially since two weeks ago I pronounced them dead and predicted a 1-11 season. Listen, I don't like Al Groh, but I do like to see my alma mater win some games. And with the way they've been playing lately (either because or in spite of Groh), I think Georgia Tech, Miami, and Clemson are winnable games. Though in reality, Virginia will probably lose one of those games (like at Georgia Tech, since we can't win games in Atlanta) and beat someone they shouldn't (like Carolina this weekend- again, the Heels have lost their best playmaker for the rest of the season and its UVA's third straight home game; guess Groh can expect that extension coming his way).
-This week's rankings should be the first rankings of the year. I know, I've bitched about this before, but its worth repeating. Halfway through the year, you have a measure of how good a team actually is, as opposed to in the preseason or Week 1. Alabama (#2) and Penn State (#3) stated the year in the 20's and Oklahoma State (#7) wasn't even ranked. Three of the preseason Top 10, West Virginia (#8), Clemson (#9), and Auburn (#10), aren't even ranked anymore. These teams are labeled as "busts" because they didn't "live up" to they're preseason ranking, and I think that's unfair. Its obvious these teams aren't any good, but they're being compared to a version of themselves that never existed (ie- the preseason ranking of them that was based on nothing but conjecture).
The rankings mean nothing and are only used to hype television matchups and upsets, as if college football needs it. Given the recent histories of Oregon State and USC, Oregon State's 27-21 victory over USC is a huge upset, regardless of the fact that USC was ranked #1 at the time. Florida State vs. Miami was always a "big game" because both the teams were usually always ranked. But that wasn't the case this year, and a lot of people dismissed the game because of that. Oops. 41-39 Florida State in a rain-drenched classic.
-College football has surpassed pro football on my list of favorite sports. I've come to realize that I watch the NFL solely for fantasy purposes. Sure, I'll watch the Bengals lose, but I just can't get into the random NFL game anymore; I just want to know how my fantasy team is doing. But college football? I can watch any game, any time. Random C-USA Thursday night game? I'm in. Friday night Big East game? There. Monday Night Football, Giants vs. Browns? Eh, I'm watching Chuck, How I Met Your Mother, and Heroes. Saturdays are spent on the couch watching football all day. Sundays are spent doing chores, running errands, and checking up on how bad the Bengals are losing.
Unbelievable. Two weeks ago, Al Groh was a goner. He was done, no doubt about it. It was unlikely that he'd be fired mid-season (I don't think that's how UVA rolls), but the team was terrible with no signs of getting any better, so it seemed inevitable that he'd be out at the end of the year. But now, after drubbing Mason-Dixon rival Maryland 31-0 and beating early-season darling East Carolina 35-20, I can guarantee you that Al Groh will the head coach of the Virginia Cavaliers in 2009 (if he manages to upset a Brandon Tate-less UNC team next week, he might get an extension).
Now, I think he still has to go, but I'm positive that he won't. We saw it for years with Pete Gillen and men's basketball team. It was the same thing every year: ace through a cupcake-laden non-conference schedule, start conference play undefeated, lose first 5 ACC games, put Gillen goes on hot seat, upset a highly-ranked Duke or Carolina team at home in February, play better in 2nd half of ACC schedule, remove Gillen off hot seat, finish around .500 for year and in conference, lose in NIT First Round, start again next year. Same song, different verse with Groh.
The team's playing better under redshirt sophomore quarterback Marc Verica (not that it could've played much worse), and with so many young players around him, you've to (delusional) people are saying, "Well, we'll take our lumps this year, but NEXT year, this team could be great!" Regardless of how UVA finishes out the year (more on that in a bit), these two wins have given Al Groh a reprieve and a chance next year to continue the UVA tradition of finishing slightly above mediocre, going to a third-tier bowl game, and acting like we're a big-time football program. Go Hoos!
Some more thoughts on college football:
-Virginia will finish the year 6-6. I know, that sounds like a lot, especially since two weeks ago I pronounced them dead and predicted a 1-11 season. Listen, I don't like Al Groh, but I do like to see my alma mater win some games. And with the way they've been playing lately (either because or in spite of Groh), I think Georgia Tech, Miami, and Clemson are winnable games. Though in reality, Virginia will probably lose one of those games (like at Georgia Tech, since we can't win games in Atlanta) and beat someone they shouldn't (like Carolina this weekend- again, the Heels have lost their best playmaker for the rest of the season and its UVA's third straight home game; guess Groh can expect that extension coming his way).
-This week's rankings should be the first rankings of the year. I know, I've bitched about this before, but its worth repeating. Halfway through the year, you have a measure of how good a team actually is, as opposed to in the preseason or Week 1. Alabama (#2) and Penn State (#3) stated the year in the 20's and Oklahoma State (#7) wasn't even ranked. Three of the preseason Top 10, West Virginia (#8), Clemson (#9), and Auburn (#10), aren't even ranked anymore. These teams are labeled as "busts" because they didn't "live up" to they're preseason ranking, and I think that's unfair. Its obvious these teams aren't any good, but they're being compared to a version of themselves that never existed (ie- the preseason ranking of them that was based on nothing but conjecture).
The rankings mean nothing and are only used to hype television matchups and upsets, as if college football needs it. Given the recent histories of Oregon State and USC, Oregon State's 27-21 victory over USC is a huge upset, regardless of the fact that USC was ranked #1 at the time. Florida State vs. Miami was always a "big game" because both the teams were usually always ranked. But that wasn't the case this year, and a lot of people dismissed the game because of that. Oops. 41-39 Florida State in a rain-drenched classic.
-College football has surpassed pro football on my list of favorite sports. I've come to realize that I watch the NFL solely for fantasy purposes. Sure, I'll watch the Bengals lose, but I just can't get into the random NFL game anymore; I just want to know how my fantasy team is doing. But college football? I can watch any game, any time. Random C-USA Thursday night game? I'm in. Friday night Big East game? There. Monday Night Football, Giants vs. Browns? Eh, I'm watching Chuck, How I Met Your Mother, and Heroes. Saturdays are spent on the couch watching football all day. Sundays are spent doing chores, running errands, and checking up on how bad the Bengals are losing.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Karma.
Virginia Athletic Department bans signs from Scott Stadium, team fails to beat any Division 1-A teams, culminating in a blowout loss to Duke.
Students revolt, threaten to wear blue in protest of the ridiculous "Sea of Orange" campaign.
The AD, scared it'll appear that they aren't in control of the situation, repeal the sign ban for next home game, and Virginia destroys Maryland (great post on Al Groh's Coachbook page from Ralph Friedgen- "Earn this.").
Coincidence?
Absolutely not. These things matter. The football gods frowned upon the sign ban and punished our team for it. The sign ban is lifted, and the team is allowed a win. And why was the sign ban lifted? It was just another victim of the curse of this blog. I mention the ban last week; two days later, the ban is reversed. Curse well executed.
[Note: Another casualty of the curse- my St. X Bombers. I sang their praises back in August, and they are now currently 3-4 and in danger of missing the playoffs. Sorry Coach Specht.]
Students revolt, threaten to wear blue in protest of the ridiculous "Sea of Orange" campaign.
The AD, scared it'll appear that they aren't in control of the situation, repeal the sign ban for next home game, and Virginia destroys Maryland (great post on Al Groh's Coachbook page from Ralph Friedgen- "Earn this.").
Coincidence?
Absolutely not. These things matter. The football gods frowned upon the sign ban and punished our team for it. The sign ban is lifted, and the team is allowed a win. And why was the sign ban lifted? It was just another victim of the curse of this blog. I mention the ban last week; two days later, the ban is reversed. Curse well executed.
[Note: Another casualty of the curse- my St. X Bombers. I sang their praises back in August, and they are now currently 3-4 and in danger of missing the playoffs. Sorry Coach Specht.]
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Al Has Removed The "Stadium Signs" Application
DontFireAlGroh.com has always been a moderately funny site, mocking the the fact that Al Groh is (inexplicably) still the head coach for the University of Virginia. But its current incarnation as Al Groh's Coachbook page is hysterical; I hope they keep with the current layout throughout the year (or as long as Groh continues to have a job). I can't imagine it'll be too much longer, since I'm not entirely certain how you lose to Duke by four touchdowns and manage to keep your job (by hey, at least there won't be any signs in the crowd this week when UVA returns home reminding him that he lost by four touchdowns to Duke).
Looking at Virginia schedule, I don't see another win on the board. Maryland, East Carolina, North Carolina, at Georgia Tech, Miami, at Wake Forest, Clemson, and at Virginia Tech. There are no wins there, which will run Virginia's record to 1-11, with that one win coming against Richmond, a Division 1-AA team (or whatever the hell its called now, Football Championship Subdivision). Good thing they didn't have spiders on the field, or else UVA might be 0-4 and well on its way to a solid 0-12 season. Yeah, Wahoowa!
Looking at Virginia schedule, I don't see another win on the board. Maryland, East Carolina, North Carolina, at Georgia Tech, Miami, at Wake Forest, Clemson, and at Virginia Tech. There are no wins there, which will run Virginia's record to 1-11, with that one win coming against Richmond, a Division 1-AA team (or whatever the hell its called now, Football Championship Subdivision). Good thing they didn't have spiders on the field, or else UVA might be 0-4 and well on its way to a solid 0-12 season. Yeah, Wahoowa!
Monday, September 22, 2008
Of Wahoos And Hokies
Stranger: How you doing?
Dana: I don't believe this.
Stranger: It's me again.
Dana: This is pretty weird.
Stranger: Yeah.
Dana: I mean, I don't know if I'm comfortable with this.
Stranger: With what?
Dana: Every time I've been in here in the last three days you've been in here, so I'm saying I'm not comfortable with it.
Stranger: You've been in here every time I've been in here in the past three days... yet I remained unconcerned.
(The triumphant return of the Sports Night quote! Probably won't last for long, though.)
I don't know what it is , but I run into Hokies everywhere. I'm amazed at the number of times where I've randomly run into a Virginia Tech alum or fan somewhere outside of the state of Virginia. It always just seem to be that a couple times a year, the person next to me in line or sitting a few seats away will be a Hokie. And one way or another, words are always exchanged (through casual conversation), so its acknowledged what our alma maters are. A few notable examples:
-Camden Yards, Fall 2001: Honester Ciphers and I go to Baltimore for Cal Ripken, Jr.'s final games. Game 1 of a doubleheader, we're sitting in the left field upper deck and the people sitting nearest to us have a son attending Tech. While in line to reenter the stadium for Game 2 of the doubleheader, the guy right behind us in line is a Tech grad (I think he was wearing his class ring to prove it, too).
-Princeton Bowl, Fall 2007: The Cincinnati Home Builders Association is sponsoring a bowling event for companies associated with residential construction. I'm there with people from my company and from the people in the next lane over, I hear one girl as another, "So what exactly is a Hokie?" Turn out, one of the people there with that company was a Tech grad (oh, and as any good Wahoo would do, I answered the above question with, "A Hokie's a castrated turkey;" she wasn't amused).
-Oktoberfest, Saturday: I get in line to purchase some Red Leg Ale from the Barrelhouse and the lady right in front of me has on a shirt that has"What is a Hokie?" on the front and lyrics to some song (perhaps Tech's fight song) on the back. Again, I answer aloud, "A Hokie's a castrated turkey." And again, not amused.
I'm always shocked when I randomly encountered a Virginia Tech grad (or another Virginia grad, for that matter), especially out here in Cincinnati. I think to myself, "Man, how random is it that the person right next to me graduated from the one school I despise above all others? How crazy is that?" And then I think, "Well, how random do they think it is that they happen to be standing next to a UVA grad? Are they as intrigued by this random occurrence as I am?"
I find these meetings odd. Not odd in the way that there wouldn't graduates of these schools spread out across the country and across the world, just odd in that I happen to run into them. Its just a little weird, I don't really like it, and the exchange is always kind of awkward. But that could be because I keep referring to their mascot as a castrated turkey. I sense they don't like that too much. Truth hurts.
Dana: I don't believe this.
Stranger: It's me again.
Dana: This is pretty weird.
Stranger: Yeah.
Dana: I mean, I don't know if I'm comfortable with this.
Stranger: With what?
Dana: Every time I've been in here in the last three days you've been in here, so I'm saying I'm not comfortable with it.
Stranger: You've been in here every time I've been in here in the past three days... yet I remained unconcerned.
(The triumphant return of the Sports Night quote! Probably won't last for long, though.)
I don't know what it is , but I run into Hokies everywhere. I'm amazed at the number of times where I've randomly run into a Virginia Tech alum or fan somewhere outside of the state of Virginia. It always just seem to be that a couple times a year, the person next to me in line or sitting a few seats away will be a Hokie. And one way or another, words are always exchanged (through casual conversation), so its acknowledged what our alma maters are. A few notable examples:
-Camden Yards, Fall 2001: Honester Ciphers and I go to Baltimore for Cal Ripken, Jr.'s final games. Game 1 of a doubleheader, we're sitting in the left field upper deck and the people sitting nearest to us have a son attending Tech. While in line to reenter the stadium for Game 2 of the doubleheader, the guy right behind us in line is a Tech grad (I think he was wearing his class ring to prove it, too).
-Princeton Bowl, Fall 2007: The Cincinnati Home Builders Association is sponsoring a bowling event for companies associated with residential construction. I'm there with people from my company and from the people in the next lane over, I hear one girl as another, "So what exactly is a Hokie?" Turn out, one of the people there with that company was a Tech grad (oh, and as any good Wahoo would do, I answered the above question with, "A Hokie's a castrated turkey;" she wasn't amused).
-Oktoberfest, Saturday: I get in line to purchase some Red Leg Ale from the Barrelhouse and the lady right in front of me has on a shirt that has"What is a Hokie?" on the front and lyrics to some song (perhaps Tech's fight song) on the back. Again, I answer aloud, "A Hokie's a castrated turkey." And again, not amused.
I'm always shocked when I randomly encountered a Virginia Tech grad (or another Virginia grad, for that matter), especially out here in Cincinnati. I think to myself, "Man, how random is it that the person right next to me graduated from the one school I despise above all others? How crazy is that?" And then I think, "Well, how random do they think it is that they happen to be standing next to a UVA grad? Are they as intrigued by this random occurrence as I am?"
I find these meetings odd. Not odd in the way that there wouldn't graduates of these schools spread out across the country and across the world, just odd in that I happen to run into them. Its just a little weird, I don't really like it, and the exchange is always kind of awkward. But that could be because I keep referring to their mascot as a castrated turkey. I sense they don't like that too much. Truth hurts.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
My Only Hope For Football Success This Year (And All Years, Really).
While I look forward to the coming football season with great anticipation, I'm not expecting much from my teams this year. The Bengals? 7-9, 8-8 if they get lucky (which is doubtful). Virginia? 6-6, maybe, and no bowl game (not even the Poulan Weedeater.com Salsa Dip Bowl presented by AT&T). So that pretty much leaves me with my high school alma mater, St. X. Good thing they kick ass.
St. X (as in Cincinnati St. Xavier, not Louisville) is the defending D-1 state champs, they start the year #1 in Cincinnati, and are ranked nationally in a number of polls (whatever that means). Now, I've already written about the mess that is college football rankings (especially preseason rankings). But national high school football rankings? Ludicrous. There is no way anyone can legitimately rank high school teams from across the entire country. Now, its probably fairly easy to identify the best teams from each state (or even region- I can almost believe regional rankings, but a lot of those teams do play each other), but how can you possibly compare a team from New Jersey with a team from California? Texas with Montana? You just can't, and yet that doesn't stop people from trying.
I found 5 different national high school football rankings (CNN/SI has rankings as well, but I guess not in the preseason): USA Today Super 25, PrepNation.com, ESPNRISE.com, Rivals.com, and the Massey Ratings (which appears to be a computer ranking, like the BCS or the RPI, that I was unaware before today). A quick scan of these rankings show wildly different teams present throughout, top to bottom. Yeah, a few teams seem to be present in all the rankings (with Trinity, Euless, TX being a consistent choice at either #1 or #2 across the board), but some have teams in the top 10 of their rankings that don't crack the top 25 in another. St. X ranges from #1 in the Massey Rankings to #18 in both USA Today and PrepNation (note: St. X did finish last season at #1 in the PrepNation poll to win a "mythical" national championship)- how does that work? It just doesn't make any sense.
Look, I love high school football. Its huge here in Cincinnati, as big as it is anywhere in the country. Yeah, everyone talks about high school football in Texas and Friday Night Lights (I should put a picture of Minka Kelly here for Puddin', but I won't), blah, blah, blah- I don't care. The best football in the country is played in Ohio, and the best football in Ohio is played in Cincinnati. But high school football on a national scale has to stop. It not good for the game. Sure it was cool to watch X beat DeMatha (D.C.) last year on ESPN, but that doesn't it should have happened. Yeah its good competition for X to play teams from Indiana (Indianapolis Cathedral), Kentucky (Louisville Trinity), Alabama (Prattville), and New Jersey (Don Bosco Prep) this year, but what you lose is the localness and familiarity that is so much a part of the atmosphere of the high school game. Even playing teams from up north, like Cleveland St. Ignatius and Lakewood St. Edward's, is a stretch (seeing as how both Louisville and Indianapolis are closer to Cincinnati that Cleveland is) We can't be having high school athletes travel the country to play games like college athletes do,- its just not right. And this nationalization of the game doesn't help with rankings either because with so few games between teams from different parts of the country, you're left to rank teams using the transitive property (A beat B, B beat C, thus A can beat C), and that never works.
As I said before, the high school game is fueled by familiarity and proximity of the schools to one another. Road games are "road" only in name because the fan turnout is the same for every school home and away. How many fans from Prattville or Don Bosco Prep do you think will travel to Cincinnati for their games? The game may be better, but the atmosphere and aura around the game suffers. And its too bad.
Okay, rant over. Football is almost here. About damn time.
Go Bombers! Who Dey! Wahoowa! Don't suck!
St. X (as in Cincinnati St. Xavier, not Louisville) is the defending D-1 state champs, they start the year #1 in Cincinnati, and are ranked nationally in a number of polls (whatever that means). Now, I've already written about the mess that is college football rankings (especially preseason rankings). But national high school football rankings? Ludicrous. There is no way anyone can legitimately rank high school teams from across the entire country. Now, its probably fairly easy to identify the best teams from each state (or even region- I can almost believe regional rankings, but a lot of those teams do play each other), but how can you possibly compare a team from New Jersey with a team from California? Texas with Montana? You just can't, and yet that doesn't stop people from trying.
I found 5 different national high school football rankings (CNN/SI has rankings as well, but I guess not in the preseason): USA Today Super 25, PrepNation.com, ESPNRISE.com, Rivals.com, and the Massey Ratings (which appears to be a computer ranking, like the BCS or the RPI, that I was unaware before today). A quick scan of these rankings show wildly different teams present throughout, top to bottom. Yeah, a few teams seem to be present in all the rankings (with Trinity, Euless, TX being a consistent choice at either #1 or #2 across the board), but some have teams in the top 10 of their rankings that don't crack the top 25 in another. St. X ranges from #1 in the Massey Rankings to #18 in both USA Today and PrepNation (note: St. X did finish last season at #1 in the PrepNation poll to win a "mythical" national championship)- how does that work? It just doesn't make any sense.
Look, I love high school football. Its huge here in Cincinnati, as big as it is anywhere in the country. Yeah, everyone talks about high school football in Texas and Friday Night Lights (I should put a picture of Minka Kelly here for Puddin', but I won't), blah, blah, blah- I don't care. The best football in the country is played in Ohio, and the best football in Ohio is played in Cincinnati. But high school football on a national scale has to stop. It not good for the game. Sure it was cool to watch X beat DeMatha (D.C.) last year on ESPN, but that doesn't it should have happened. Yeah its good competition for X to play teams from Indiana (Indianapolis Cathedral), Kentucky (Louisville Trinity), Alabama (Prattville), and New Jersey (Don Bosco Prep) this year, but what you lose is the localness and familiarity that is so much a part of the atmosphere of the high school game. Even playing teams from up north, like Cleveland St. Ignatius and Lakewood St. Edward's, is a stretch (seeing as how both Louisville and Indianapolis are closer to Cincinnati that Cleveland is) We can't be having high school athletes travel the country to play games like college athletes do,- its just not right. And this nationalization of the game doesn't help with rankings either because with so few games between teams from different parts of the country, you're left to rank teams using the transitive property (A beat B, B beat C, thus A can beat C), and that never works.
As I said before, the high school game is fueled by familiarity and proximity of the schools to one another. Road games are "road" only in name because the fan turnout is the same for every school home and away. How many fans from Prattville or Don Bosco Prep do you think will travel to Cincinnati for their games? The game may be better, but the atmosphere and aura around the game suffers. And its too bad.
Okay, rant over. Football is almost here. About damn time.
Go Bombers! Who Dey! Wahoowa! Don't suck!
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
College Football Is Close...
We are now inside of a month to the start of college football. Thank God- August 30 can't get here soon enough. I can't wait for my Wahoos to tee it up for the first game of the year against Southern California.
Wait.... what?
Southern California?
Really?
The Southern California?
Like, Pete-Carroll-Snoop-Dogg-National-Championship-contender Southern California?
Shit.
Great, 0-1 start, here we come. Who the hell scheduled that? And what the hell were they thinking? Damn it, Littlepage! If you want to fire Al Groh, just fire him; you don't have to set up him for certain failure simply for justification. Ass clown.
Anyway, enough about my sad-sack alma mater. College football's almost here, and the preseason coach's poll is out, with the Top 5 going Georgia, USC, Ohio State, Oklahoma, and Florida. My 'Hoos are a generous #38 (by votes), one spot behind the Bearcats, of all teams. I was surprised to see that Duke didn't they're usual 1 vote; I guess Steve Spurrier didn't up the Dukies at #25 in the first poll like he has in years past. Too bad for them.
Of course, I look at that poll, and I have no idea what it means. Is Georgia really the best time in the country? Is Virginia really the 38th best? Who the hell knows? I really think college football needs to get rid of the preseason poll. In fact, they should do away with all polls until the 5th or 6th week of the season. They're meaningless and have way too much effect on the end of the season and the BCS (which sucks anyway, but we're stuck with it). Its ridiculous to rank teams based on nothing before the season and then simply adjust those rankings based on wins and loses instead of actually trying to rank teams based on performance.
I understand people like having rankings, especially TV people, because they want to be able to market "a top 5 matchup" to attract viewers. But seriously, USC vs. Ohio State in Week 2 is going to be a huge game, regardless of whether they have little numbers next to their names. If you want to have you're polls, wait at least until some games have been played before you release them. At least then teams would have a chance to legitimately play their way into the rankings.
A speaking of releasing polls, why is there more than one BCS poll? Why are the BCS rankings release at any time before they point at which they are actually needed? The BCS rankings have exactly one purpose- to determine the National Championship game (so-called #1 vs. #2). That doesn't matter until the season's over, so again I ask, what's the point of BCS rankings in October? Who cares who's #1 and #2 in the BCS on November 5th? All that matters is who's #1 and #2 in the BCS at the end of the year.
I would think that it would be in the BCS's best interest not to release rankings until the very end of the year. That way, you don't see how one school might leapfrog another in the final week (or how a team doesn't fall out of the top 2 after a late season loss) and all you get is one set definitive ranking. There would be less for the BCS people to defend because they could point to a single set of rankings and be done with it. Given how screwed up the system is, I would think they would welcome that. They wouldn't have to explain anything (or, at least, they would have less to explain).
But I don't grant the BCS people with an overabundance of intelligence, so I'm sure they'll continue to screw up college football every chance they get. A playoff works on every other level of college football, but Division I-A (or the Football Bowl Subdivision, whatever the fuck that means) refuses to give into reason and remains with its head fully shoved up its ass. Its a shame that such a great sports ends with a game determined by nothing more than monkeys throwing poop against a wall*. Still, I can't wait for the season to start. There's nothing like college football. Wahoowa.
[*Note: This would be way better than the BCS.]
Wait.... what?
Southern California?
Really?
The Southern California?
Like, Pete-Carroll-Snoop-Dogg-National-Championship-contender Southern California?
Shit.
Great, 0-1 start, here we come. Who the hell scheduled that? And what the hell were they thinking? Damn it, Littlepage! If you want to fire Al Groh, just fire him; you don't have to set up him for certain failure simply for justification. Ass clown.
Anyway, enough about my sad-sack alma mater. College football's almost here, and the preseason coach's poll is out, with the Top 5 going Georgia, USC, Ohio State, Oklahoma, and Florida. My 'Hoos are a generous #38 (by votes), one spot behind the Bearcats, of all teams. I was surprised to see that Duke didn't they're usual 1 vote; I guess Steve Spurrier didn't up the Dukies at #25 in the first poll like he has in years past. Too bad for them.
Of course, I look at that poll, and I have no idea what it means. Is Georgia really the best time in the country? Is Virginia really the 38th best? Who the hell knows? I really think college football needs to get rid of the preseason poll. In fact, they should do away with all polls until the 5th or 6th week of the season. They're meaningless and have way too much effect on the end of the season and the BCS (which sucks anyway, but we're stuck with it). Its ridiculous to rank teams based on nothing before the season and then simply adjust those rankings based on wins and loses instead of actually trying to rank teams based on performance.
I understand people like having rankings, especially TV people, because they want to be able to market "a top 5 matchup" to attract viewers. But seriously, USC vs. Ohio State in Week 2 is going to be a huge game, regardless of whether they have little numbers next to their names. If you want to have you're polls, wait at least until some games have been played before you release them. At least then teams would have a chance to legitimately play their way into the rankings.
A speaking of releasing polls, why is there more than one BCS poll? Why are the BCS rankings release at any time before they point at which they are actually needed? The BCS rankings have exactly one purpose- to determine the National Championship game (so-called #1 vs. #2). That doesn't matter until the season's over, so again I ask, what's the point of BCS rankings in October? Who cares who's #1 and #2 in the BCS on November 5th? All that matters is who's #1 and #2 in the BCS at the end of the year.
I would think that it would be in the BCS's best interest not to release rankings until the very end of the year. That way, you don't see how one school might leapfrog another in the final week (or how a team doesn't fall out of the top 2 after a late season loss) and all you get is one set definitive ranking. There would be less for the BCS people to defend because they could point to a single set of rankings and be done with it. Given how screwed up the system is, I would think they would welcome that. They wouldn't have to explain anything (or, at least, they would have less to explain).
But I don't grant the BCS people with an overabundance of intelligence, so I'm sure they'll continue to screw up college football every chance they get. A playoff works on every other level of college football, but Division I-A (or the Football Bowl Subdivision, whatever the fuck that means) refuses to give into reason and remains with its head fully shoved up its ass. Its a shame that such a great sports ends with a game determined by nothing more than monkeys throwing poop against a wall*. Still, I can't wait for the season to start. There's nothing like college football. Wahoowa.
[*Note: This would be way better than the BCS.]
Monday, June 30, 2008
Musings From A Long Weekend That Was All Too Short
-920 miles in 52 hours didn't used to be a big deal. Now, that kind of trip drains me. When I got back from Virginia on Sunday, I was exhausted; I spent the rest of the day on the couch, watching television (okay, that's I normally spend a Sunday, but this time I was genuinely tired, and not just being lazy). It made for a long weekend, but it was worth every second.
-The Days Inn in Harrisonburg has the worst "free wi-fi" in the history of hotels. I probably could've gotten a better signal if I sat in the middle of an apartment complex parking lot than the one I was getting (or not getting) in my room. At least I could get a connection long enough to check my fantasy team. That's important, especially with my team battling to stay out of last place.
-I didn't think I'd ever see a car again with a suction-cup Garfield in the window. Can't say that anymore.
-The story of mashed potato wrestling never gets old. I don't care how many years go by (and its already been 6), that one's an all-timer. Maybe I should relay that story here, Tucker Max-style, at some point. Might have to change a few names, though.
-Having a car stereo that allows me to plug my iPod directly into it is the best thing I've had done to my car recently. So much better than f-ing around with an FM transmitter.
-Okay, getting a non-broken driver's seat is the best thing I've done to my car recently. But the new stereo is awesome.
-Jimmy John's is awesome. Even better when it right by your hotel.
-There is no good reason why it should cost $2.50 to drive through West Virginia. I don't even want to think about how much money I've had to pay just to drive through that state. Totally not worth it.
-Not having functioning turn signals makes you seem like an asshole driver. And while that's not far from the truth, I at least like to have the option of signaling when I cut someone off- its rude not to. Its not the bulbs and its not the fuses, so I guess its the wiring. I don't like the direction this diagnosis is headed.
-Gatherings of old friends never last long enough. Despite being there to say goodbye to a friend, it was great to see everyone. I need to get back to Virginia more often. I don't miss living in Virginia, but I do miss the people there. They're my other, other family, and I can't forget that. I need to make it a point to get back at least once a year. And it needs to be a time when a lot of old people are around (both the old old people and the new old people). That time sounds an awful lot like Foxfields. Better start making plans for 2009.
-The Days Inn in Harrisonburg has the worst "free wi-fi" in the history of hotels. I probably could've gotten a better signal if I sat in the middle of an apartment complex parking lot than the one I was getting (or not getting) in my room. At least I could get a connection long enough to check my fantasy team. That's important, especially with my team battling to stay out of last place.
-I didn't think I'd ever see a car again with a suction-cup Garfield in the window. Can't say that anymore.
-The story of mashed potato wrestling never gets old. I don't care how many years go by (and its already been 6), that one's an all-timer. Maybe I should relay that story here, Tucker Max-style, at some point. Might have to change a few names, though.
-Having a car stereo that allows me to plug my iPod directly into it is the best thing I've had done to my car recently. So much better than f-ing around with an FM transmitter.
-Okay, getting a non-broken driver's seat is the best thing I've done to my car recently. But the new stereo is awesome.
-Jimmy John's is awesome. Even better when it right by your hotel.
-There is no good reason why it should cost $2.50 to drive through West Virginia. I don't even want to think about how much money I've had to pay just to drive through that state. Totally not worth it.
-Not having functioning turn signals makes you seem like an asshole driver. And while that's not far from the truth, I at least like to have the option of signaling when I cut someone off- its rude not to. Its not the bulbs and its not the fuses, so I guess its the wiring. I don't like the direction this diagnosis is headed.
-Gatherings of old friends never last long enough. Despite being there to say goodbye to a friend, it was great to see everyone. I need to get back to Virginia more often. I don't miss living in Virginia, but I do miss the people there. They're my other, other family, and I can't forget that. I need to make it a point to get back at least once a year. And it needs to be a time when a lot of old people are around (both the old old people and the new old people). That time sounds an awful lot like Foxfields. Better start making plans for 2009.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
"We," Because I Play...
Sports allegiance is a big deal with me. Sticking with your team, bandwagon jumping, "wannabe" fans- all things I have strong opinions on (to hear them, just tell me you're a fan of a team from a city or region you've never lived in or of a school you've never attended). And I'm positive that this fervor comes from growing up in a city with professional sports teams. Yeah, crappy professional sports teams, but pro teams none the less. So why do I bring this up?
In some recent podcasts, Bill Simmons has mentioned a couple of things that have made me think about my own sports allegiances, both professional and college. First, the pros. Simmons says in his podcast with Mike O'Malley that he fears his kids will grow up fans of L.A. teams if they continue to live in Southern California instead of fans of his beloved Boston teams. And this got me to thinking about my own dad (what with this being so close to Father's Day and all). My dad's not from Cincinnati, and while he enjoys sports, he never forced any team allegiance on me as a kid (well, maybe college, but that's for later in the post). I was free to choose whatever teams I wanted to cheer for, so naturally, I gravitated to the Cincinnati teams. Looking back, I'm thankful my dad gave me the freedom to choose because I came to a shocking revelation just a few years ago:
My dad's a Steelers fan.
One could argue that this should have been obvious (he immigrated and grew up in central Pennsylvania, went to Penn State, lived outside Pittsburgh in the late 70's, had Steelers pennants on the wall in our basement, etc.), but because he never forced them on me, it wasn't. He left it open for me to choose the teams from where I was from, which was pretty cool.
[Sidebar: I wasn't born in Cincinnati, but we moved here when I was 3, and it's the only home I have any memories of. I was born in Connecticut (Bridgeport to be exact), which got me thinking- what if my family hadn't moved? Where would my sport allegiance lie? I would have definitely been a Whaler fan, them being the only pro team in the state at the time, which means I would now be a bitter, resentful hockey fan instead of a mildly disinterested one. Now all that's left in Connecticut is a WNBA team- the horror! What about the other sports? It would have to be either New York or Boston, right? Boston has a hold over the New England, but New York is closer. This is horrible! Either way, I'd be that "wannabe" fan that I despise so much. Thank God we moved! It allowed me to be a real fan. And I'll take being a real fan of a crappy team over being a fake fan of a good team any day of the week.]
Anyway, so what happens when I have kids? If I'm no longer in Cincinnati, do I give them the same freedom my dad gave me? I don't know if I could handle that. It'd be tough, but if we were living in another professional sports town, I guess I could understand it. But if I'm still in Cincinnati, and my kid chooses another team- that, I don't think I could live with. Just have to cross the bridge when I get there.
So what does it all mean? I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm glad I'm not a Steelers fan. Thanks, Dad!
Now, the second point Simmons brought up was with his college friend, Jack-O. They were talking about how, knowing what they know about college and one's allegiance to their alma mater, specifically to their athletics, they might have chosen their colleges differently. Sounds silly at first, choosing a college based in part on their athletics, but I have to admit, it played a role in my college selection.
I'm not saying that I chose a school entirely because they were good in sports (afterall, I went to Virginia), but sports was important to me. I saw how my dad was about his alma mater, and while I didn't end up following him there (and nor did my brother, Brother of GiantAsianMan, which I think, deep down, still cheeses my dad a bit), I wanted to be able to feel the same way about the school I graduated from. That meant that the school had to play Division I sports in a major athletic conference. I knew that this was a school that I was going to cheer for the rest of my life, so I wanted to be sure that there was a team I could cheer for the rest of my life. I also had to want to cheer for said school, otherwise, why bother? Case in point: Notre Dame.
Notre Dame is a great academic school. I visited South Bend when I was touring colleges and was very impressed with the campus. There's a good chance I would have gone to school there if it weren't for one thing: I hate Notre Dame. Hated Notre Dame for as long as I can remember. Spend two minutes around me in the fall and this becomes readily apparent. I can't stand Notre Dame, or its "fans"(sometimes called "Catholics," but I digress), and there was no way in Hell I was going to go there. I could never cheer for Notre Dame, so I could never attend Notre Dame.
Silly? Perhaps. Childish? Maybe. Important? Absolutely. Go Hoos! Wahoowa!
In some recent podcasts, Bill Simmons has mentioned a couple of things that have made me think about my own sports allegiances, both professional and college. First, the pros. Simmons says in his podcast with Mike O'Malley that he fears his kids will grow up fans of L.A. teams if they continue to live in Southern California instead of fans of his beloved Boston teams. And this got me to thinking about my own dad (what with this being so close to Father's Day and all). My dad's not from Cincinnati, and while he enjoys sports, he never forced any team allegiance on me as a kid (well, maybe college, but that's for later in the post). I was free to choose whatever teams I wanted to cheer for, so naturally, I gravitated to the Cincinnati teams. Looking back, I'm thankful my dad gave me the freedom to choose because I came to a shocking revelation just a few years ago:
My dad's a Steelers fan.
One could argue that this should have been obvious (he immigrated and grew up in central Pennsylvania, went to Penn State, lived outside Pittsburgh in the late 70's, had Steelers pennants on the wall in our basement, etc.), but because he never forced them on me, it wasn't. He left it open for me to choose the teams from where I was from, which was pretty cool.
[Sidebar: I wasn't born in Cincinnati, but we moved here when I was 3, and it's the only home I have any memories of. I was born in Connecticut (Bridgeport to be exact), which got me thinking- what if my family hadn't moved? Where would my sport allegiance lie? I would have definitely been a Whaler fan, them being the only pro team in the state at the time, which means I would now be a bitter, resentful hockey fan instead of a mildly disinterested one. Now all that's left in Connecticut is a WNBA team- the horror! What about the other sports? It would have to be either New York or Boston, right? Boston has a hold over the New England, but New York is closer. This is horrible! Either way, I'd be that "wannabe" fan that I despise so much. Thank God we moved! It allowed me to be a real fan. And I'll take being a real fan of a crappy team over being a fake fan of a good team any day of the week.]
Anyway, so what happens when I have kids? If I'm no longer in Cincinnati, do I give them the same freedom my dad gave me? I don't know if I could handle that. It'd be tough, but if we were living in another professional sports town, I guess I could understand it. But if I'm still in Cincinnati, and my kid chooses another team- that, I don't think I could live with. Just have to cross the bridge when I get there.
So what does it all mean? I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm glad I'm not a Steelers fan. Thanks, Dad!
Now, the second point Simmons brought up was with his college friend, Jack-O. They were talking about how, knowing what they know about college and one's allegiance to their alma mater, specifically to their athletics, they might have chosen their colleges differently. Sounds silly at first, choosing a college based in part on their athletics, but I have to admit, it played a role in my college selection.
I'm not saying that I chose a school entirely because they were good in sports (afterall, I went to Virginia), but sports was important to me. I saw how my dad was about his alma mater, and while I didn't end up following him there (and nor did my brother, Brother of GiantAsianMan, which I think, deep down, still cheeses my dad a bit), I wanted to be able to feel the same way about the school I graduated from. That meant that the school had to play Division I sports in a major athletic conference. I knew that this was a school that I was going to cheer for the rest of my life, so I wanted to be sure that there was a team I could cheer for the rest of my life. I also had to want to cheer for said school, otherwise, why bother? Case in point: Notre Dame.
Notre Dame is a great academic school. I visited South Bend when I was touring colleges and was very impressed with the campus. There's a good chance I would have gone to school there if it weren't for one thing: I hate Notre Dame. Hated Notre Dame for as long as I can remember. Spend two minutes around me in the fall and this becomes readily apparent. I can't stand Notre Dame, or its "fans"(sometimes called "Catholics," but I digress), and there was no way in Hell I was going to go there. I could never cheer for Notre Dame, so I could never attend Notre Dame.
Silly? Perhaps. Childish? Maybe. Important? Absolutely. Go Hoos! Wahoowa!
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