Random news and notes

Hello,

A short blog today, due to time limitations. First of all I would like to wish everyone a Happy Halloween. I would also like to wish my youngest boy a happy birthday. Our Halloween boy was born six years ago today. It's hard to believe our little boy was born in a bathtub six years ago today. Did we plan on having a baby at home? No! He was just ready to be born. Yes it's true, my wife gave birth without pain drugs. It was the most courageous things I have ever seen with my eyes.

Daughtry is going to perform at the halftime show on Thanksgiving in the NFL game between Dallas-Oakland. Daughtry might be the highlight of the day, as the game features two mediocre teams. Of course, the Dallas game will be better than the Detroit game, as the Lions will get beat at home. That game is usually only watched by die hard NFL and Lions fans.

Kelly Clarkson announced her next CD will be out in Fall, 2010. I expect another great CD from her. The four best contestants from "American Idol" have been David Cook, Carrie Underwood, Chris Daughtry and Kelly Clarkson. (Two of the most hyped and least interesting contestants have been David Archuleta and Adam Lambert.) Carrie Underwood and Allison Iraheta's new CDs are the ones I'm waiting for the most now.





Carrie Underwood is trying to capture that 70's vibe. Her new CD "Play On" is out Tuesday. Allison Iraheta's first CD is out December 1st. As you can see above her debut CD is titled "Just Like You".

Have a great day, themusicaddict

Hello,

To paraphrase Edwin Starr:

"Dog catchers (not animal control, that's a misnomer) what are they good for?
Absolutely nothing
Say again
Dog catchers, what are they good for?
Absolutely nothing."

Dog catchers are even more in love with their non-existant power than campus cops. Both are pale imitations of the real thing. Do we really need dog catchers? I hope they don't get paid very much, whatever they are paid they are overpaid.

I'm very anxious to read Dan Brown's "The Lost Symbol", but I took it back to the library as I knew I would not be getting to it soon. I've been going through a Sixties kick lately. That was all kicked off by "Mad Men" from a few weeks ago. In two scenes you heard Martin Luther King speaking. One he was giving his "I Have A Dream" speech that was on August 28th, 1963. We then heard comments from him about the four little girls killed at church in Birmingham September 15th of the same year. Then two months and a week later JFK was assassinated.

So I have been reading books about the error. I'm in the middle of "Four Spirits" by Sena Jeter Naslund. She wrote a fictional account centered around the death of these four little girls. Naslund was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama. I also have read a bit in "A Thousand Days" by Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. This is a book about the Kennedy Presidency, one of the most historic Presidences ever. Many judge him as one of our greatest Presidencies. I'm going to withhold judgement about him until I do some more study. (I do see a lot of similarites between him and Barack Obama.) I also have read several pages in "The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage" by Todd Gitlin. That's a perfect title for that decade. I also have been researching this decade on the internet about the 60's.

themusicaddict

Great 60's music

Hello,

Welcome to the 350th themusicaddict blog. I'm glad that you could make it.

Shakira is the new Rolling Stone cover girl. Do whatever you can to avoid seeing the cover of Adam Lambert's CD, "For Your Entertainment". It's a very ugly picture. Please go away Adam.

I've read the first 35% of Sena Jeter Naslund's "Four Spirits". It's a very good book and I'm ready enjoying it. Both where I am in the book and where "Mad Men" season 3 currently is shares the same time frame. Both are set in the fall/winter of 1963. For instance JFK was just killed in "Four Spirits". I have a feeling the "Mad Men" Season 3 finale will revolve around the assassination of JFK.

Naslund is writing about these characters and is starting to make connections between all these people. The connections intensify as I go further in the book, I wonder if she's setting all these characters to meet in the end of the book.

Tonight is Game 1 of the World Series. At this point I don't really care who wins. I think that the Yankees are going to win in 5 or 6 games. However Phillies player Jimmy Rollins predicts Philadelphia will win in 5 games.

The NBA kicked off it's season last night, the defending world champs the Lakers, dispatched crosstown rival. They are allegedly a rival, they've rarely challenged the Lakers. The Lakers have won the last 9 games played between the two teams. Boston went into Cleveland and beat LeBron James and his new sidekick Shaquille O'Neal. O'Neal is on the downside of what should have been a much better career. The fact that he didn't work on his free throws enough should be an embarrassment. How many more games could have his teams won if he was a 80% free throw shooter rather than a 50% free throw shooter. There never would've been the strategy created called Hack-A-Shaq.

Speaking of NBA players on the downhill of their careers, the player formerly known as the Answer. If he's the Answer, I guess the question is who would be desperate to have him on their team? He's now playing for the Memphis Grizzlies, which tells you something about that team. He may not even play in tonight's first game. Maybe they should just change their name to Grizzly, because that's how they are going to play with him as their point guard.

Meanwhile the local team in SLC is obviously the Utah Jazz. The Jazz are going to be paying the luxury tax for the first time in their history. It's not even worth it even. The Jazz have 12 million invested in a disgruntled Carlos Boozer, who will probably be "injured" half the year. The Jazz are also overpaying Andrei Kirilenko and paying Matt Harpring about 6 million dollars and he might not even play. I expect the Jazz to have the same kind of season as they had last year. They will win 45-50 games and lose in the first round of the playoffs.

Thanks to the magic of DVR, my wife and I were able to watch the most recent episode of the always good "Cold Case". It centered around the beginning of the the Philadelphia sound. Is it my imagination or is she getting better looking as she gets older.


(thanks to kathrynmorrisonline.blogspot.com

They played some of those songs during the show last night. Those are some truly great songs. Thanks to my friends at Pandora, I'm now listening to a selection of 60's and 70's songs. There are so many great songs from that era, here's a list of some of the best. This is in no particular order.

"Ain't Never Loved A Man", "Chain of Fools", "Respect"- Aretha Franklin

Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay"- Otis Redding,

"Three Times A Lady", "Easy", "Brick House"- The Commodores,

"Theme From Shaft"- Isaac Hayes, (Speaking of funk and Prince yesterday. This song is funk squared.)

"This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak For You)"- The Isley Brothers

"She's Gone"- Hall and Oates

"Oh Girl"- The Chi-Lites

"Never Can Say Goodbye" and "I Want You Back"- The Jackson Five,

"I Can't Get Enough of Your Love Babe"- Barry White (It starts slow and builds tempo throughout the song. This is a good song to woo a lady.),

"Give Up The Funk (Tear The Roof Off This Sucker)- Parliament

"Crusin'" and "Second That Emotion"- Smokey Robinson & The Miracles,

"For Once In My Life" and "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours"- Stevie Wonder (a certified 100% musical genius)

"Mercy, Mercy Me", "What's Going On", "Sexual Healing" and "I Heard It Through The Grapevine"- Marvin Gaye

"My Guy"- Mary Wells

"Use Ta Be My Girl" and "Love Train"- The O'Jays

"You Can't Hurry Love"- The Supremes

"Reach Out I'll Be There"- The Four Tops

"Get Ready"- The Temptations

"Working My Way Back To You/ Forgive Me Girl" and "I'll Be Around" - The Spinners

"Lady Marmalade"- Labelle

"When A Man Loves A Woman"- Percy Sledge

"Thank You (Falettime Be Myself)"- Sly Stone and and the Family Stone

"Do You Love Me"- The Contours

"I Feel Good" and "Cold Sweat" (Part 2)- James Brown

themusicaddict

The greatness of Prince, the amazing "Mad Men"

Hello,

The greatness of Prince, a man who is a musical genius. What is the most amazing beginning 30 seconds of a song? Is it Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean", Rush's "Tom Sawyer" or Prince's "When Doves Cry". Even some of his lesser known songs bring da funk. For instance, the lesser known "Gett Off", with it's slinky baseline. Other great funky songs include "The Future" and "Batdance". Trust me they are worth tracking down.

The greatness of Prince is featured on "The Very Best of Prince". 17 of his best songs. These include, "1999", "Little Red Corvette", "Let's Go Crazy", "Purple Rain", "I Would Die For You" and many other classics. This CD does not have all his classic songs, there is just not enough room on one CD! (Noticeably missing is the "1999" song "Delirious" and "Darling Nikki" from "Purple Rain". This greatest hits also doesn't include any of the amazing songs from the "Batman" soundtrack. A couple of those songs are mentioned above.) Other highlights: What about his mid-80's classic, "Kiss". Has there ever been a more funky song? If you disagree, listen to it again.

How about the greatness of the "Purple Rain" soundtrack. It takes a musical genius to release a CD about 25 years ago and it still is genius. Not only is it timely, but it still also sounds years ahead of now. It's Prince appreciation day at my house today.

Now on to the best show of this season, "Mad Men". I know it's pathetic, but I couldn't wait until Tuesday to watch it. I watched it last night after I got home from work. This show just continues to hit new heights, the scene we have been waiting for finally happened. Betty Draper finally confronted Don about who he is and isn't. Is he Dick Whitman, is he Don Draper, is he some combination of the two? What happened to the first Mrs. Don Draper? Why does he have a deed to a house in a California? Did he go visit the original Mrs. Don Draper when he was in California (in season two)? Don is mostly honest with Betty, other than he has his mistress in his car. We see Miss Ferrell take her walk of shame into the night. (She's just one of the amazingly gorgeous women on this show.)

I was reveling in the slow burn of Season 3, episode 11. What did you think about this episode's amazing closing scene? Don, Betty and their three kids go trick-or-treating. The neighbor mentions the kids are a hobo and a gypsy. He then looks Don/Dick in the eye and asks him, "And who are you supposed to be?". (Was I the only one who briefly thought that the neighbor was Duck Phillips?) That question staggers the usually unflappable Don Draper and seems to have an effect on Betty as well. Meanwhile the kids remain oblivious to all the drama swirling around their families' peaceful facade.

Sunday night's episode was set around and on Halloween, 1963. There are only two more episodes left, all setting up to the explosive finale of this season. I'm sure this will be based around JFK's assassination, which happens three weeks after this episode. I'm just glad we know there is going to be a fourth season. (We then are going to have to go 8 months wondering what happens. If all shows had this much quality, I would settle for the 13 episodes rather than the usual 22 episodes of most seasons.)

That's one of the many story lines occuring on this stellar show. Joan's husband Greg is joining the military. Can we dispatch of this lame character asap? Can he have a training injury while in boot camp? He's the lamest character in this show, although Pete Campbell is a close second. Joan and him getting together is completely unbelievable. Joan is much smarter than that. Speaking of Pete, where has he been the last couple episodes? That character is such a weinie, but I know he's needed for dramatic effect. I'm still waiting for Sal to come back into the Sterling-Cooper orbit. He's the suavest and most likable character in spite of his foibles.

At this time I'm not going to try and answer any of the questions, I just like to put thoughts out into the blogosphere. This show haunts me.

themusicaddict

Them Crooked Vultures

Hello,

Let's get the sports out of the way, it wasn't a very good for themusicaddict's teams. My favorite college football team is BYU, they were dominated and humiliated at home against a very powerful TCU team 38-7. Florida is #1 in the BCS rankings. #5 is USC, #6 is TCU and #7 is Boise St. It's going to be an interesting final few weeks of college football. I'm hoping both Boise State and TCU run the table. Let's get two non-BCS teams in the BCS. My alma mater also won, Utah held off a very tough Air Force team in overtime 23-16.

After being injured against BYU and then suffering a second injury, Sam Bradford is going to have season ending surgery. It will take him about 6 months to recover from that. He also declared he'll enter next April's NFL draft. I've followed his and Oklahoma's progress since they lost to BYU. Oklahoma had a big win in Kansas over the previously #25 Kansas Jayhawks. Good luck to the Sooners throughout the rest of the seaon and good luck Sam on your future career. I'm sure I speak for many BYU fans when I wish you all the best.

The World Series starts Wednesday in New York, the Yankees are playing the Phillies. It's a battle of the biggest spenders in MLB vs. the defending world champs. It's not a match up I can get a lot of excitement for. I predict New York will win in 6 games.

My professional football teams are a mixed bag. Dallas beat a good Atlanta team yesterday 37-21 to move to 4-2 on the season. I still don't have high hopes for the Cowboys, they just are not consistent. Tony Romo isn't a consistently good quarterback either, he did have a very good game yesterday though. Miles Austin continues to be a revelation. He set the record for most yards in his first two starts since the NFL merger. He has 422 yards in those two starts. Roy Williams, who the 'Boys gave up way too much to get, continues to be a bust. He caught 1 pass for 16 yards yesterday. He was Dallas' fifth leading receiver yesterday.

Meanwhile Tampa Bay continues to set records for futility. They are one of the last 3 teams who do not have a win this season. They are in the illustrious company of the 0-6 Tennessee and 0-7 St. Louis. The schedule does not get any easier for the Bucs. For their next three games they play 4-2 Green Bay, 2-4 Miami and 6-0 New Orleans. The Saints are a very explosive team and that game could get ugly really quick. Tampa Bay may not win a game this whole season. I honestly don't see a game on their schedule for the rest of the season they have a good chance of winning. This could be the second year in a row a team doesn't win at least one game the whole season. That and they are still paying Jon Gruden a lot of money and he does not even coach for them anymore.

Them Crooked Vultures has announced the release date for their first CD. Their self-titled debut CD will be released November 17th. Them Crooked Vultures feature the bassist from the greatest band of all-time Led Zeppelin. That's John Paul Jones. They also feature the drummer from the most over rated band of all time Nirvana, Dave Grohl. Grohl is also the lead man for the uninspiring Foo Fighters. The other person is Josh Homme who also has been in a few bands. The CD features 14 songs and the first single "New Fang" is suppose to go to radio today. (Thanks to Rolling Stone.)

Isn't Toto's "Africa" a great song? I heard it on the radio the other day and loved it as much as the first time I heard it.

I finished reading Uwem Akpan's "Say You're One of Them", the latest Oprah book club selection. This book is a collection of five stories set on the African continent. There's a lot of death, a husband kills his wife, passengers on a bus kill a Muslim just because he's a Muslim etc. There is also mob violence, cities and homes set on fire and other atrocities. The value of a human life does not seem to be worth much in Africa. Having written all that, this is stilla pretty good book. "Say You're One of Them" is an eye opening collection of stories.

I'm now reading Sena Jeter Naslund's "Four Spirits". I have "The Lost Symbol" checked out from the library but I'm more excited about reading "Four Spirits" now.

themusicaddict

BYU-TCU

Hello,

It cannot be overstated that #16 BYU welcoming #8 TCU is a big game. The winner of this game has a chance of getting to the BCS, the loser will get leftovers. In the game last year in Texas, TCU completely dominated the Cougs. TCU had complete control of the game and was unstoppable. I hope BYU watched that tape several times and it fires them up even more. Good news, bad news scenario. Good news, the game is on national TV. Bad news: The game is on Vs.

Congratulations TCU you are clearly the cream of the crop in the MWC. I wish you good luck on the rest of your journey this season. TCU should get a BCS bowl.

BYU I still love you but it looks like another year in the Las Vegas Bowl.

themusicaddict

Great books and upcoming games.

Hello,

The LA Angels defeated New York last night 7-6 forcing a Game 6 back in New York on Saturday. That game will be played at 7:57 EST. It's good to see at least one LA team has a pulse.

Saturday is going to be another great day to watch football. The highlight for me is the #16 BYU vs. #8 TCU game in Provo, Utah. The fine folks from ESPN's College Gameday will be there. Go Cougs! That game kicks off at 7:30pm. themusicaddict will be cheering on the Cougs. This is a humongous game for both teams. Other good games include # 7 USC welcoming Oregon State. #18 Utah welcomes 4-3 Air Force and their very tough option attack. Utah should win that game but Air Force is going to give all it has. Oklahoma is going to go into Kansas and try to win in an attempt to salvage their season. Sam Bradford announced the other day he's opting for season ending surgery. This is the reason why people who can play in the NFL usually leave college before their eligibility runs out.

I'm almost done with "Say You're One of Them", it's a very good book. I'll finish it tonight. I'm now reading the fourth story "Luxurious Hearses", a very brutal story. You'll understand what I mean when you read the story, especially when one understands what the titles refers to. The stupid things people do in the name of their religion. Uwem Akpan writes very eloquently. I'm very impressed by this two sentence segment in "Luxurious Hearses". It paints a mental image that's very stunning. This is from page 239, "Madness whipped up by the red dust of Khamfi. Many neighborhoods burned, littering the heavens with funnels of smoke." That's just amazing imagery.

When I finish that book tonight I'm going to pick the next book I'm going to read. I have three choices I'm pondering. 1) Sena Jeter Naslund's "Four Spirits" 2) "Carry Me Home: The Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Movement" by Diane McWhorter or I can completely give into the pop culture and read 3) "The Lost Symbol" by Dan Brown. Who knows maybe another book will catch my eye. I just wish I had more time to read.

I should be back tomorrow. I have the day off from work but I have many things to do. I'm going to the gym in the morning, celebrating my youngest son's birthday and then about 5:30 my time there are three games I'll be flipping between. Go Cougs! Go Trojans! Go Angels! I'm not really a big Angels fan but Salt Lake's AAA team is a minor league affiliate of the Angels.

Have a good day, themusicaddict

Hello,

Here is one of the greatest speechs of all-time, this is an edited but still very powerful version of "I Have A Dream". Enjoy!



What many call some of the most well-written words from the Civil Rights Movement:

http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.htm

This proves that Whitney really sings for herself. She messes up on the lyrics, has a wardrobe malfunction, she sounds like she ran out of breath and the back-up singers do most of the work. That is true, but when she's singing she's killing it. I love Whitney Houston!



I love Rihanna too!



I love Allison Iraheta too, her first album cover.



I still believe in you Dodgers, here's some inspiration:

This still gives me the chills, Kirk Gibson's amazing home run. Gibson with both legs injured, he could barely run. Yet he still hits this amazing home run. I almost worked this night but told the person "no". I didn't know when the Dodgers would be back in the World Series again. (Still waiting LA!) The call is by the legendary Vin Scully, still the voice of the Dodgers. Comparisons to "The Natural" are appropriate, but this actually happened.



themusicaddict

Apple rules, Dodgers (:

Hello,

Apple continues it's amazing run: Thanks to Yahoo! Finance techticker for the following: "After market close Monday, Apple reported a fiscal fourth-quarter profit of $1.67 billion, or $1.82 a share, on revenue of $9.87 billion. That topped the estimates of analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters, who’d expected the company to earn $1.42 a share on revenue of $9.2 billion.

The company sold 3.05 million Macs during the quarter, a 17 percent increase over last year. It sold 10.2 million iPods, eight percent decline from a year-ago quarter.

And iPhones? It sold 7.4 million of those — seven percent more than it did during the same period last year. So much for those supply-chain issues that some analysts warned might undermine iPhone sales.

“We are thrilled to have sold more Macs and iPhones than in any previous quarter,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We’ve got a very strong lineup for the holiday season and some really great new products in the pipeline for 2010.” [Editor's Note: "...really great new products"--is that a euphemism for tablet?] (Thanks to techticker.com)

(Not to bite the hand that bites me too hard, but Verizon Wireless we must do much better than that lame Droid commercial. Mocking the iPhone has been done and has not been effective. Also Verizon Wireless we aren't going to demean successfully the iPhone or outcool Apple. (Remember people are loyal to Apple not AT&T. The only way to get those Apple fans VZW is to bring the iPhone to our network. There may be better phones out there but remember perception is reality. Right now the perception is the iPhone is the coolest phone on the planet.) Microsoft for many years has tried to be as cool, even mocking Apple's cool factor in a recent commerical, as Apple and has failed miserably. No other company will be able to outcool the iPhone, please give up on that. That's especially true as the Droid looks like yet another iPhone knockoff. VZW needs to find out a way to get the iPhone on it's network, or get at least the iTablet that Jobs may be referring to in the above article.) Here's the "Terminator" styled Droid commercial which is drawing yawns worldwide.



(The comments accompanying this video are pretty interesting as well.)

In Game 4 of the NLCS At least the Dodgers had a little fight but still lost last night. They now trail Philly 3-1 in the best-of-7 series. Game 5 is tomorrow and I think this series may be over. LA needs to upgrade it's starting pitching in the off season. When Randy Wolf is one of your best starting pitchers, you have some starting pitching issues.

In the ALCS the Angels kept their slim World Series hopes alive by a double to the outfield by backup catcher Jeff Mathis. That drove in the winning run for the Angels. Both games had walkoff doubles today. New York now leads the ALCS 2-1 with Game 4 tonight. I'm cheering for both LA teams, I really have no interest in seeing a New York-Philadelphia World Series.

The Adam Lambert onslaught is about to increase. I'm sick of reading all these glowing articles about the greatness of Adam Lambert. He hasn't done anything yet but come in second place in "American Idol". He's all over the web. He recently taped a segment with Oprah and worked with Lady Gaga. He's more hyped than the under talented David Archuleta. Lambert is mentioned at least 6 times on the front page of ew.com. There's no way he can live up to the hype. It's also time for him to stop wearing makeup. If his voice is so amazing, he does not need the crutch of makeup.

Now on to one of my all-time favorite shows, the exquisite "Mad Men". Last night's episode was great again. Betty has finally discovered Don's treasure trove of secrets. The previews hint at some explosive things coming. I was hoping for the continuing thread of Martin Luther King Jr.'s life through the show. That was so intriguing how the MLK thread was worked into last week's episode. Ms. Farrell and Don continue their affair. Again I'm so tired of that storyline. The Martin Luther King storyline is so much more interesting. Also Joan needs to come back. This show needs more Joan and less Jane. I didn't miss Pete a bit, did you? This season by far is the strongest ever.

The bomb was also dropped about Sterling-Cooper probably being sold. The 40th anniversary party of Sterling-Cooper was central to tonight's show. Don was being feted for his role of creative director at the firm. He was in the spotlight but he was also in the spotlight of Betty's snarling stare. She's going to have a big confrontation with Don. What did she think when she saw Don's divorce decree, a house deed in California and the Dick Whitman and Don Draper dog tags? What is she going to say to Don? What will be the result of that acidic conversation? The next 3 episodes cannot come fast enough. (Even if Don and Betty break up, I don't see her getting together with Henry Francis. His character is just a tease. Either that or he will be involved in a different storyline.)

This show must have been set around Halloween 1963 as Bobby was asking about his Halloween costume. With three episodes left in this season, I think we are setting up for a climactic season finale involving the assassination of JFK. Other than a couple of minor allusions there hasn't been much else to indicate this will play a role in things. I don't think the sale of Sterling-Cooper is going to be that big of deal. No, it won't be sold to the firm Duck works for. There are some interesting comments posted on ew.com's "Mad Men" TV watch, including one by yours truly.

I continue reading Uwem Akpan's "Say You're One of Them", a pretty good book. I have read the first three stories and the start of the fourth story. I'm not sure what's going on in this book, but all 4 stories deal with leaving. What is Akpan trying to say with these stories? What is he trying to say about Africa?

There are so many good books out there now, it's hard to stick to just one. Just this morning I heard about Dave Eggers "The Wild Things", it's an adaption of Maurice Sendak's "Where The Wild Things Are". Eggers and director Spike Jonze co-wrote the screenplay, Eggers then used that to spin out a novelization of the movie. It sounds very cool. Eggers is one of the best authors currently writing. If you have not read "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius", you must read it. In this era of memoirs, it's one of the best memoirs I've ever read. He also has written two other well regarded books, "Zeitoun" and "What Is The What".

Enjoy your day and read a good book, themusicaddict

ESPN College GameDay Headed to Provo For TCU Game (Updated July 10th, 2013)

Hello,

Upcoming blogs will involve information about the above building, the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama.

ESPN College GameDay Headed to Provo

PROVO, Utah (Oct. 18, 2009) — ESPN announced today its popular College Football GameDay show will be broadcast live from BYU this coming Saturday, Oct. 24, 2009. Provo will play host to both the radio and television ESPN College GameDay broadcasts.

“It’s a tremendous opportunity for BYU to host ESPN College GameDay on our campus,” said BYU Director of Athletics Tom Holmoe. “The TCU game is sold out and the ESPN shows should add to the great college atmosphere we expect this Saturday.”

ESPN College GameDay Built by The Home Depot will begin broadcasting live on Saturday at 8 a.m. MT. College GameDay host Chris Fowler will be joined by ESPN analysts Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit and Desmond Howard for the live television broadcast.

College GameDay on ESPN Radio will begin broadcasting from BYU at noon MT as Ryen Russillo, Trevor Matich and Brad Edwards cover the college football scene. The radio show will include interviews, analysis, previews and predictions. Matich, the starting center for the BYU National Championship football team, will have his underdog pick of the week. Russillo will document his trip to Provo as part of his weekly online feature “Russillo on the Road.”

Additional information, including broadcast locations, will be provided later this week.

BYU hosts TCU in a Mountain West Conference battle Saturday at LaVell Edwards Stadium. The Cougars are No. 16 in the first BCS standings released Sunday, while the Horned Frogs are ranked No. 8. The game will be broadcast live nationally on VERSUS, with kickoff scheduled for 5:30

The above is from a BYU press release. This is a great opportunity BYU, now don't embarrass yourself. (For instance, like the LA Dodgers did last night when they rolled over and died. Joe Torre, Dodgers manager, wisely said "it only counts as one loss".)

Game 4 of the NLCS is tonight with Philadelphia leading 2-1. Game 3 of the ALCS is tonight with New York leading 2-0 and going for the sweep.

I'll be back with a longer blog tomorrow, themusicaddict

Close Call for the Dodgers 2,, Penolope Cruz

Hello,

The Dodgers were scaring me yesterday, especially after they were already down 1-0 in the NLCS. However LA rallied to score 2 runs in the bottom of the 8th to pull out a victory. With the series tied at 1, the NLCS now goes back to Philadelphia. It doesn't get any easier for the Dodgers, now they go against last year's AL Cy Young award winner Cliff Lee. This man is an amazing pitcher.

Meanwhile CC Sabathia pitched 8 strong innings and the Yankees took a 1-0 lead. Game 2 is today.

There are some great college football games today. #20 Oklahoma goes into #3 Texas to play the Longhorns. This game tips off early this morning. It should be a good game but Texas is probably too good a team for Oklahoma to beat. (Oklahoma got off to a 3-0 lead very early in the game.) This will be a battle of fantastic starting quarterbacks. Sam Bradford, playing in only his third game of the season, vs. Colt McCoy in the Red River Rivalry. As the game progresses towards halftime, Oklahoma is leading 6-3. Sam Bradford has been injured again and again is not playing. He reinjured the right shoulder that has been healing since the BYU game. Bradford is being tough, football is not a sport for wimps. That's why I never tried out. There are some other ranked teams in trouble, this may be a day of upsets.

#6 USC is going into South Bend to crush Notre Dame, who is desperately trying to get back to its former glory. Today is not the day Notre Dame. USC will go into South Bend and crush the Fightin' Irish. Notre Dame actually thinks they have a chance in this game, please!

#18 BYU goes into San Diego to play the Aztecs. This is the kind of game that scares me. BYU should dominate, but that doesn't mean they will. Meanwhile #24 Utah goes into UNLV to play the terrible Rebels. That's the same team that BYU crushed last week. Expect to see Utah running the ball a lot, a strategy that was very effective for BYU. Lastly #12 TCU, who dropped two notches in the rankings after winning, play the streaky CSU rams.

themusicaddict

NFL: Just Say "No!", "Battlestar" babes

Hello,

Rush Limbaugh was part of an ownership group that was going to pitch in and buy the St. Louis Rams. The NFL owners bucked back and said "no". Thank goodness Rush Limbaugh already gets too much publicity for spewing hate. (I once was going to an event with a friend of a friend and was forced to listen to this bombastic windbag for two or three hours straight. This was unfortunately before the days of iPods and it was a very painful trip.) I'm glad that karma and the NFL owner's self interest are still in play. Limbaugh has now been dropped from that ownership group.

Thanks to espn.com for the following: Words in italics are mine.

"During a 15-minute counterattack at the start of his show, Limbaugh said he believes he's been made an example by a players' union seeking leverage in talks over a new collective bargaining agreement. And he believed what happened to him was an illustration of "Obama's America on full display." (What an idiot Rush, America has been a lot better place with President Obama than with President Bush. How about this Rush, maybe they realize what a scumbag you are and they responded accordingly.)

Racially insensitive remarks from the past brought down Limbaugh, who in 2003 was forced to resign from ESPN's "Sunday NFL Countdown" broadcast after saying of the Eagles' Donovan McNabb: "I think what we've had here is a little social concern in the NFL. The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well."

According to transcripts posted on his Web site, in 2007 Limbaugh said: "The NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons. There, I said it." (No wonder the league is saying no, but why is such a purveyor of hate still on the air. That's worst than what Don Imus said.)

Limbaugh blamed DeMaurice Smith, executive director of the NFLPA, whom he called an "Obama-ite," and the Revs. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, whom he referred to as "race hustlers," for Checketts' decision a day earlier to drop him. He said his sacking was an example of the political clout wielded by the Obama administration." (Rush is suffering a little bit of martyr's syndrome, it's someone else's fault. Waah!)

What an idiot! Time recently labeled him one of the Top 100 most influential People In the World. I think Time should differentiate between influential for the good and the bad.

The NLCS starts tonight with the Dodgers vs. the Phillies in a rematch of last year's NLCS. It will be Clayton Kershaw, in the biggest game of his career, vs last year's World Series MVP Cole Hamels. Boise State defeated Tulsa last night, just not as much as everyone thought they would.

Congratulations go out to the USA for tying Costa Rica 2-2 and finishing first in their World Cup Region, CONCACAF. The USA already had clinched a spot in the World Cup by winning last Saturday. Other than pride, the USA didn't have much to play for. When they were down 2-0 I thought game over. But no they kept on fighting, scoring their two goals in the second half. They scored their last goal in stoppage time on a magnificent header by Johnathan Bornstein. The USA was playing for teammate Charlie Davies, who was seriously injured in an automobile accident. It's so serious he will probably not be able to play in this World Cup. The USA was also suffering in losing another player: "the United States playing a man short after losing defender Oguchi Onyewu to a torn tendon in his left knee." (The quote comes from espn.com.) (Maybe Rush if you had more heart you wouldn't be so hated. If you were a class act the NFL would not object to you being a part owner.)

I don't usually pay attention to Maxim being an old, married man, I saw this and thought you might be interested.



A big hello to condron.us and alphainventions.com.

Have a great day! themusicaddict

Cover babes, Rihanna, Boise State

Hello,

The above is the lovely Kate Beckinsdale. I was going to include the cover of the recent GQ picture of January Jones, but that's just a bit too hot for this blog. Speaking of magazine covers Madonna is on the cover of the latest Rolling Stone: Madonna Looks Back. Rolling Stone is one of my favorite magazines and Madonna is one of all-time favorite singers. Also in the new issue of Rolling Stone, there's a feature on the new super group Them Crooked Vultures. I've still yet to hear music from them and they don't have a release date for any music either.

Michael Jackson is the top most searched for musician according to Yahoo! Buzz Index. The hype is kicking up for him because his movie "This Is It" is soon to be released in theatres. It's release date is October 28th.

In even more exciting music news, Rihanna has tweeted her new CD release date. The gorgeous songbird's newest CD will be out November 23rd. No word on a title as of yet. I'm hoping for another CD as good as "Good Girl Gone Bad". That's one of the best CD's of this decade. In Rihanna's tweet she wrote, "The Wait is Ova" which ew.com hilariously pointed out is not the name of the CD.


(Thanks to girlsonwallpaper.com)

Sports: Boise State travels to play 4-1 Tulsa tonight, whose only loss is to the pissed off Sooners. The Broncos are currently the number 5 team in the nation and coming off a bye. This should be a high scoring and fun game to watch. If the over/under is 70, I would take the over. Tulsa has home field advantage, but I think Boise St.'s defense will be the difference maker. Kickoff is at 6:00pm. I'm not trying to get on a soapbox here. However after seeing that Bobby Bowden is strongly leaning to coaching next year I have one thing to say. Bobby, it's time for you to quit. Other than your Seminoles crushing BYU, your team has been under performing and looking horrible against some pretty terrible teams. Before you tarnish your amazing legacy more, please quit.

Yesterday in my blog I included a trailer for "Toy Story 3", a movie coming in June, 2010. Here's another thing to look for in June, 2010. The World Cup will be in South Africa during that month. I'm looking forward to this classic soccer tournament. Here's the official website: http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/index.html Check it out.

Last night mrsmusicaddict and I watched the new procedural show "the forgotten". Other than dragging up Christian Slater from the 80's and a gaggle of babes, this is a pretty typical procedural show. These people are like cops, but they aren't cops. That lowers the drama quotient quite a bit. They do have cops help them. It's not as bad as I'm describing but I don't think it will be around too long.

However "Mad Men" continues it's good run with another excellent episode. Jon Hamm as the unrepentant lady chaser goes outside of the marriage again. I know that's partially who he is, but it's a storyline that is getting a little tired. I'm glad that Betty Draper (January Jones) resisted the charms of the earnest Henry Francis. (All I got to say is if I was Don Draper, I'd never want to leave home.)

Salvatore Romano (Bryan Batt), always so impeccably dress, was fired after resisting the advances of a Lucky Strikes executive. (As Don says, "That's a $25 million account." I hope that's not the last we see of Salvatore Romano. He's my favorite "Mad Men" character. He's well spoken, creative and very charismatic. When is Joan Holloway (Christina Hendrix) going to be back with Sterling-Cooper? She's truly the heart and soul of the firm and the show. Sterling-Cooper and "Mad Men" need you! (Congrats to Hendrix on her recent marriage, is that why you have been off the show for a couple of weeks?)

EW.com columnist has a very interesting theory that this show may be heading to the suicide of Don Draper. I hope not and don't think so but that is an intriguing possible storyline. Almost assuredly this season's cliffhanger is going to involve the assassination of JFK. There have been two mentions of Dallas so far, and JFK has been featured prominently in "Mad Men" story lines. Am I only one that was haunted by Martin Luther King's voice in the background in a couple of pivotal scenes? It's little touches like that which shows the quality of the writing of this show.

Happy birthday to the Wizard of Westwood, John Wooden. The former UCLA basketball coach is one of the classiest people in the history of sports. For an appreciation read this article: http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/reillygofish

themusicaddict

The Dodgers, Wolfmother, Great Books

Hello,

The LA Dodgers are going to have a rematch in the NLCS with the Phillies starting Thursday last night. Last year Philadelphia completely dominated the Dodgers in the NLCS. That domination continued in the World Series as they won it all last year. Manny this is where we need you to play like you care and kick some butt. The games from here on out are why LA paid (overpaid) you $20 million. In the ALCS it will be New York vs. the LA Angels. Both series should be very good. The ALCS will start Friday night in New York.

Other news: Oasis has officially announced they are breaking up. That comes as a big news story to me as I didn't know they were still together. Oasis has to go down as one of the Top Ten all-time worse bands. Other than "Wonderwall" they haven't produced any memorable music. At least not memorable in a good way.

Wolfmother will be bringing it's kick butt music back on October 27th. Their first CD came out over 3 years ago and the band has had a lot of turmoil since then. Some members have left and some members have joined. I look forward to their new CD, "Cosmic Egg". Creed's next CD also comes out that day, "Full Circle".

I continue reading some good books. I finished reading Jon Krakauer's "Where The Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman". A very said story about someone that had so much potential. Tillman died of friendly fire. If Krakauer's stats are accurate, friendly fire has had a disastrous effect on the US military. Krakauer also is not hopeful about the United States chances for success in Afghanistan. It looks like Afghanistan will even be more of a quagmire than Vietnam ever was.

I also started reading the latest Oprah Book Club Selection, "Say You're One of Them" by Uwem Akpan. This is a collection of five stories about life in Africa. The first story "An Ex-mas Feast" is about a 12 year old prostitute and her family's struggles with being extremely poor in Kenya. That and the things they have to do to survive. The second story is "Fattening for Gabon". That is the story I'm reading now and by far the longest of the five stories. This story deals with two kids who go to live with their uncle who is attempting to sell them into slavery. Everyone is bitterly poor and life is a continuous struggle day to day. Nothing is taken for granted and one has to fight for everything just for survive. It's Maslow's Law in full effect. These stories remind me a lot of the movie "Slumdog Millionaire". Although life is a struggle, both stories are filled with hope.

Watch out here comes "Toy Story 3": Enjoy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZv1vki4ou4&feature=channel

see you tomorrow, themusicaddict

themusicaddicts great sports weekend

Hello,

This is just a quick blog, what a great sports weekend! LA beat St. Louis 5-1 on Saturday as the Dodgers swept that series and will now face the winner of Philadelphia vs. Colorado in the NLCS. In the ALDS, both series were sweeps. New York beat Minnesota which was not a surprise. What was a surprise Boston was swept, including losing their final game at home. They even had their stud relief pitcher on the mound, Johnathan Papelbon. Papelbon had never before last night given up a post season run. He gave up 3 runs last night.

New York will play the LA Angels in the ALCS with the Yankees having home field advantage. The Dodgers will play the winner of Colorado vs. Philadelphia. Philly leads that series 2-1 after winning last night in a very frigid game. The game on Saturday was snowed out and they playied a night game the next day?

It was such a good sports week for me that even Dallas won, although they beat a very pathetic Cheifs team. When your a Cowboys fan, you take any win you can get. Meanwhile my other team Tampa Bay isn't so fortunate as they fall to 0-5 on the season. They'll be lucky to win two or three games this season.

#18 BYU not only won again but they crushed what seems to be a very pathetic UNLV team. BYU beat UNLV 59-21 to move to 5-1 on the season. Utah also won. They were down 17-3 and bounced back to beat a tough CSU Rams team 24-17. It's also good to see the Utes back in the Top 25, they are ranked at #24.

Lastly but definitely not least, the US Soccer team have clinched going to their 6th straight World Cup. It's being held next year in South Africa. I'm hoping they make some noise this time. It's about time for the USA to become a power in the World Cup. They still might not win yet but I want them to at least get further than ever before.

I'll be back tomorrow with a longer blog, themusicaddict

BYU, Red Sox, Dodgers

Hello,

Today is a great sports day. First of all BYU goes to Las Vegas to play UNLV. This is a game BYU should win. However that scares me a lot because BYU has a tendency to look past the games it "should win". UNLV has got a couple of good quarterbacks and a couple of good wide receivers. I think BYU will still win but it's going to be a battle. Utah also goes on the road to play 3-2 Colorado State.

Also #1 Florida is going into Baton Rouge and play #4 LSU. Florida quarterback Tim Tebow may or may not play. I'm sure that he will probably play. Speaking of injured quarterbacks probably playing, OU quarterback Sam Bradford will make his first appearance since September 5th. Remember that was the day he was injured by a blitzing BYU player. I wish both Tim and Sam all the best. College football is probably my favorite sport, it's even better when all teams are playing at full strength.

The two National League Division Series continue today. Games 3 and 4 will be at Coors Field in Denver. Snow is predicted in Colorado, it will be interesting to see how that game is played. Although that series is tied and Colorado is home for the next two games, I think Philadelphia still wins that series. The Dodgers also play again today, they are battling the dangerous St. Louis Cardinals and Albert Pujols. If the Dodgers win they'll be heading to the National League Championship Series. The two ALDS series continued last night. It looks like the Angels have got rid of the Red Sox monkey that was on their back. LA beat Boston 4-1 to take a 2-0 lead. That one run is all the runs that Boston has scored in the first two games. David Ortiz has yet to have a hit. Games 3 and 4 are back in Boston, the Red Sox play very well at Fenway Park. I expect Boston to win both of those games, setting up a tense and exciting Game 5. If needed, that game will be played Wednesday night back in LA. In the other ALDS, New York won again and now leads that series 2-0. It sounds like Minnesota got a bad call by the umps going against them. That sucks, but when you leave 17 players on base you shouldn't expect to win anyway.

Have a great day, themusicaddict

Close Call for the Dodgers!

Hello,

L.A. was able to hold on and win, beating St. Louis 3-2 in Game 2 of their NLDS. Andre Ethier hit a strong line drive at Matt Holliday. Holliday had a tough chance and an unfortunate drop. He should have caught that ball, but it would have been a great catch. Maybe the Dodgers are a team of destiny. LA leads the series 2-0 when they should be tied. Manny continues his uninspiring play, so far he's hitting .125 for the series. Someone please wake up Manny. LA has won 2 games so far, only 9 more victories needed and they are the World Series champs. (A musicaddict can dream, can't he?)

Colorado tied Philly at 1 game a piece in their series as they head back to the Rockies home field. The other LA, the Angels, smacked the Red Sox in the mouth and won that first game 5-0. Game 2 is tonight with playoff stud Josh Beckett pitching for the Red Sox. Beckett is one of the greatest postseason pitchers ever. The Angels have to do what the Dodgers did last night, win and take a 2-0 lead. Both St. Louis and Boston are extremely tough places to play for road teams. Boston lost the first game intentionally to make the playoffs more exciting.Also tonight New York will probably win again to completely take the wind out of the Twins sails.

Yes this is still a music blog. Thanks to ew.com for the following: "Don’t call it a sequel, even though it sounds an awful lot like one: Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber has announced a followup to Phantom of the Opera, his 1986 musical that now stands as the longest-running in Broadway history. He is calling the new show Love Never Dies, refers to it as ”a stand-alone piece,” although it will pick up ten years after the original, with the Phantom having moved to Coney Island. The show will debut in London in March, and reach New York by November 2010. Webber says he wrote the followup because he found the original ending — in which the Phantom’s love, Christine, goes off with “this boring guy” — unsatisfactory". It kind of sounds lame. How old is the Phantom getting anyway by this point. I will definitely check it out when I can. Webber is one of the greatest living song writers. Among many other plays: "Evita", "Phantom of the Opera" and "Jesus Christ Superstar".

The more I think about this, the more bizarre I think it is. I keep on looking at the calender thinking today is April Fool's Day. I know that Webber is a bit eccentric, but the Phantom moves to Coney Island? Really? My suggested title for this farcical sounding play, "Old Man of the Island".

Thanks to youtube.com here's video of the Temple of the Dog reunion.

Congratulations to President Obama for winning the Nobel Peace Prize.

Have a great day, themusicaddict

Dodgers! Red Sox! yankees Hot Women!

Hello,

The Dodgers were able to hold off the powerful St. Louis Cardinals 5-3 to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-5 series. Both teams were anemic in driving in runs, they combined to leave 30 men on base. If that sounds like a big number, it is. In fact it is the record for a 9 inning postseason game. The final score of this game should have been 11-9. Game 2 is today with St. Louis sending 19 game winner Adam Wainright against playoff rookie Clayton Kershaw.

Good news Colorado, you made the playoffs. Bad news Colorado, you are down 1-0 and are going against Cole Hamels. Don't be fooled by his 10-11 record and his 4.32 ERA, the man can pitch. He was not only the NLCS MVP but he was also the World Series MVP last season.

While New York-Minnesota takes a break, the fourth ALDS starts today. Boston goes into Anaheim to play the LA Angels. I recently reported an incorrect stat saying that Boston had beat the Angels in 10 consecutive playoff games. That's incorrect. Actually Boston won 9 of their two teams last 10 postseason games and 12 of 13 postseason games overall. The main fact is that Boston has dominated LA in their recent playoff battles. Jon Lester and John Lackey are the starting pitchers today. Go Red Sox! Would it be too much to ask for a Red Sox-Dodgers World Series?

According to Yahoo! Buzz the gorgeous Penelope Cruz is the most searched for person in the world. According to some sources she's engaged to Javier Bardem. That's really interesting considering the roles they played in Vicki Cristina Barcelona. Okay this is mostly an excuse to include a picture of the very hot (moi caliente) Spanish actress.



(Thanks to photobucket.com.)

Here's another hot picture just for the heck of it:



Thanks to www.stack.nl/~boris/Teri/AOS/

Have a great day, themusicaddict

Minnesota-Detroit What A Great Game!

Hello,

Playoff baseball is here! Last night's game between Detroit and Minnesota was one for the ages. Many of the players said it was the best game they were associated with. The game had timely hitting, great defense, throwing people out at home plate, gutty pitching and a crazy home crowd. There were also some controversial calls by the umpires. After 162 games Minnesota and Detroit were tied and were forced to play a 163rd game. After 9 innings of the 163rd game the two teams were still tied and forced to play three more gut clenching innings. (In the ESPN 30 for 30 series preview, one of the people said that sports has an "inherent drama" about it. Last night's game showed that.) What a great game!

After last night's tasty morsel, the playoffs start tonight. The early game is the Colorado Rockies vs. the defending World Series champs Philadelphia Phillies. In the afternoon game, there will be no rest for the comeback kids. Minnesota goes to play the Yankees and their stud pitcher CC Sabathia. The Yankees are very hungry after not winning a World Series for several years- since 2000. They didn't even make the playoffs last year, which is not acceptable in New York. The Yankees spent 423.5 million to reverse that. (The Yankees didn't get the memo that we are in the midst of a recession.) New York finished the season with a 103-59 record. By the way New York won all 7 games that they played against Minnesota. I don't think the Twins have a chance but I'll be cheering for them.

To no one's surprise New York beat Minnesota today to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-5 series. Minnesota showed a little bit of fight by scoring the first two runs but that wasn't enough to hold off the Yankees and their high powered lineup.

Then the nightcap is LA-St. Louis. I think my beloved Dodgers have a legitimate shot to win the World Series if Manny Ramirez plays like he's interested. I get the feeling he's ready for the season to be over. espn.com is calling Dodgers out- fielder Matt Kemp one to watch in these playoffs. Let's hope that's for the right reasons. I'm scared to death of Albert Pujols, the Cardinals punishing hitter. He's probably one of the most consistent players in MLB. He has power and speed, plus he's an extremely classy person.

St Louis had the two men on and Albert Pujols coming up, very wisely the Dodgers intentionally walked him. That led to a no outs, bases loaded situation for the Cardinals. Very luckily LA escaped as St. Louis only scored one run. In the bottom of the first Matt Kemp crushed a Chris Carpenter pitch for a two run homer. The Dodgers led 2-1 at the end of the first inning. Both teams added a run and LA leads 3-2 in the top of the 5th. LA had a bases loaded situation in the bottom of the 4th inning but Casey Blake flew out. So far both teams have left 9 men on base. Obviously this has not been a good game for the pitchers.

Philadelphia crushed Colorado 5-1 in the first game of their NLDS, they were powered by starting pitcher Cliff Lee. One of Philadelphia's biggest problems is their lack of a quality closer. Lee took care of that problem today by pitching a complete game shutout for the Phillies. It's not right that Philadelphia has both Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels. (I guess the karma gods gave them Brad Lidge as their closer to even things out.) Cliff Lee won the Cy Young award last season and Cole Hamels pitched very well for the Phillies on their way to last season's World Series victory. Cliff Lee is also today's most searched for subject according to Yahoo! Game 2 is back in Philadelphia tomorrow night.

Last night I also watched another excellent episode of "Mad Men". January Jones (Betty Draper) was looking even more stunning than usual. She has got to be one of the most gorgeous women in the world. Esquire Magazine just named Kate Beckinsdale the sexiest woman alive. She is drop dead gorgeous as well, but just a tad behind January Jones.



I have a few questions about "Mad Men". Why is Pete Campbell such a dork? How does he get any women to sleep with him, let alone multiple women. Where is this whole thing going with Connie Hilton? There are only 5 more episodes to explain the mysteries. How did Don Draper make it 8 episodes without any sex? That must be a record for the notorious ladies man. Also I thought Carla had quit and just like that she's back? What's up with Sally and being so physically aggressive? How is that going to play out in the storyline?

Check this out, this is pretty cool. It's hard to beat a great singer, a great song in a live setting. Thanks to youtube.com.

Enjoy the playoffs, themusicaddict

Hello,

With news coming out about new music by Adam Lambert (yawn!), Kris Allen (double yawn!) and threatened music by Danny Gokey there is a ray of sunshine. Allison Iraheta has the first 2:20 available of her new song to listen to. Check it out here: http://www.popeater.com/2009/10/05/exclusive-allison-irahetas-friday-ill-be-over-u-premiere/ "Friday I'll Be Over You" is a pretty cool song. It's mostly a rock song, but it does have a bit of that modern pop sheen on it. Allison I wish for you a long and a fantastic career. Alexis Grace and Megan Joy (or whatever you are going by this week) I'd like to hear some new music from you as well.

Fireflight's second CD "Unbreakable" is now playing on my Rhapsody account. This is a pretty good CD, definitely worth your hard earned money. The first song is the best song. That song "Unbreakable"" rawks! The other songs continue the kick butt theme. They remind me a lot of Paramore but aren't as good as Paramore. Not to take anything away from Fireflight, they are a good band as well. Their first CD, "The Healing of Harms" reminds me of Lacuna Coil. They also have an acoustic CD available, it's titled "Unbroken and Unplugged".

MLB playoffs start today with Detroit going into Minnesota to play the Twins for the right to play New York in the ALDS. Today's game is officially not a playoff game. However who wins advances and whoever loses goes home. (I realized again that's why March Madness is great, you lose once and your out. In MLB's extended series you can have up to 3 bad games and still win the series.) I'm cheering for three teams: LA, Boston and whoever plays New York. I wouldn't be surprised if LA gets swept right out of the playoffs. I anticipate Boston getting past the Angels. Boston has won 10 straight playoff games against the Angels. Colorado battling Philadelphia should be a good series. Although it's the last thing I want to see I think the Yankees might win the whole thing this season. In fact I'm going to curse the Yankees by predicting they win the World Series.

Speaking of sports: tonight ESPN starts 30 for 30, they gave free reign to 30 directors to make films about 30 classic sports events. Here's a preview:

The first 30 for 30 episode is about the Edmonton Oilers trading away perhaps the greatest player in hockey, Wayne Gretzky, to the Los Angeles Kings. That show premieres tonight. I'm not a big hockey fan but the preview makes the show look interesting.

I continue reading through the excellent "Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman". I just read the part where Pat Tillman was killed by friendly fire. This is a person who turned down a $3.6 million contract with the Arizona Cardinals to fight for his country following 9/11. Pat Tillman was killed fighting for the country he loved while not necessarily agreeing with the President at the time. He was killed in a friendly fire incident, one of many in the Irag/Afghnistan wars. (The Defense Secretary at the time, Donald Rumsfield, insisted on the military accomplishing "metrics". This corporate America approach caused bad decisions to be made. That put these American soldiers in even more dangerous situations so that the troops on the ground could reach arbitrary goals. When we have the lives of people on the line, shouldn't we be more concerned about their safety than hitting metrics?)

Quoting from Jon Krakauer's excellent book about the death of Tillman, "Concurrent with the muzzle flash, three .223 caliber bullets pierced the right side of his forehead just below the rim of his helmet, killing him instantly". Thus the death of an American hero! Thanks Pat Tillman for all your sacrifices for this country, it's people like you that make my life so great. Thanks also to his parents for raising such an outstanding man and for his wife Marie for letting him follow his conscience. I'm just overwhelmed by the death and sacrifice of Tillman and his family.

Here's a great article from espn.com about this incident: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://espn.go.com/i/eticket/20060719/photo/eticket_22_712.jpg&imgrefurl=http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story%3Fpage%3Dtillmanpart1&usg=__JPAN_8CdKV-q8cFjjA45PPKY54I=&h=482&w=712&sz=53&hl=en&start=13&um=1&tbnid=lcGKppawNb69aM:&tbnh=95&tbnw=140&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmarie%2Btillman%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX%26um%3D1

As always thank a veteran, themusicaddict

L.A. Dodgers Win NL West, The Horrors of war

Hello,

The Dodgers finally got the proverbial monkey off their back last night. They beat Colorado 5-0. LA starts their playoff run against St. Louis and their stud hitter Albert Pujols on Wednesday. To say I'm scared to death of Albert Pujols would be the understatement of the year. The other thing that scares me is that Manny Ramirez seems to be disinterested and his batting average continues to plummet. I hope he can turn it on in the playoffs or all that money L.A. paid him would be a waste.

I continue to read Jon Krakauer's "Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman". What a fantastic book but a sad story about the Bush administration and how they manipulated the truth of among many other things Jessica Lynch.

I take the following paragraph directly from Krakauer's book. The following two paragraphs perfectly capture the brutality of war and why we should only put our young people into the line of fire for only the most important reasons:

"... but this explosion was notably larger. It killed Jordan instantly. Slumped near Jordan with the front portion of his head blown off, gurgling and twitching in the throes of death, was Lance Corporal Brain Buesing. Second Lieutenat Fred Pokorney lay dead in the middle of the road several feet away. Three other Marines were gravely injured by the blast.

A moment later, a second tremendous explosion occurred, killing Corporal Kemaphoom Chanawongse, a Thai immigrant as he was bringing ammunition to resupply Jordan's mortar squad and wounding another Marine."

I hope President Obama considers these things very carefully before he puts any more of our gallant men and women in harm's way. A thank you to all of you have put your life on the line for our great country.

themusicaddict

Updated playlist, Fireflight, College football

Hello,

First of all I changed my blog playlist today. I took off some older Pearl Jam songs and added a couple of new Pearl Jam songs from "Backspacer". I also added some songs by Fireflight, a really good band I discovered on Pandora. I added some good songs by Cascada, the dance music queen. Her "Dangerous" and "Evacuate The Dancefloor" are instant dance classics. "Evacuate The Dancefloor" is the best dance song I've heard in several years. (She reminds me a lot of Samantha Fox. It's time to start the Samantha Fox comeback.) If you want to add music to your blog or your social media site, go to playlist.com for more info. All you have to do is to set up an account and add up to 200 songs for free.

I added Van Halen's "And The Cradle Will Rock". I know I'm the master of the obvious here, but isn't "And The Cradle Will Rock" a great song? My drive music yesterday was Van Halen's "Best of Both Worlds" greatest hits CD. Enjoy "Sadie" by Gratitude, it's a great song. I also kept Rihanna and Led Zeppelin on my playlist as they are two of my favorite musicians/bands.

Adam Lambert and Susan Boyle both have their debut CD's arriving on November 24th. (I know Adam Lambert already released a CD, but that was a bastardized CD, I don't think anyone considers it his first CD.) Which one are you most excited for? Or are you like me and really don't care about either? Susan Boyle was a great story at first but I'm sort of over her. Lambert I was never a big fan. I can't put my finger on it, but there's something really off putting about him. (My wife suggest its the make-up he wears.) I hope this season is much better than last season. When your top three are the boring Kris Allen, the over hyped Adam Lambert and the dork Danny Gokey how good of a season how good can that be? Allison Iraheta I look forward to your debut. This is my real question about Lambert vs. Boyle, who will wear more makeup.

There are some great college football games today, check them out for me because I have to go to work. Some of the intriguing games are: #4 LSU goes into #18 Georgia, I'd like to see Georgia trip them up. #8 Oklahoma goes to play #17 Miami in a crucial game for both. After being injured against BYU, OU quarterback Sam Bradford is still not ready to come back. Instead freshman quarterback Landry Jones will lead the Sooners against a pretty good Hurricanes team. Lastly #7 USC goes to Cal to battle the #24 Golden Bears. Go Trojans. TCU and BSU should have easy wins today. TCU will probably be a Top 10 Ten team when they go into Provo on October 24th to play the Cougars. My alma mater Utah has a bye today.

BYU had a less than impressive victory over Utah State last night. I wasn't able to watch the game, but I'm fearful for BYU's future. I think their season is going to mirror last season. They get out to a good start and then get smacked in the mouth by TCU and the Utes. Although this year's Utes aren't as good as last year's Utah team that finished #2 in the nation. (I love typing that.)

I'm currently listening to Fireflight's "Unbreakable" CD and will issue a short review soon.

Enjoy your weekend, themusicaddict

"Bad News Bears" 1976

Hello,

Last night our family had an all too rare family night. We had treats and watched the classic "Bad News Bears" from 1976. This is such a great movie and it holds up pretty well. It's funny seeing Jackie Earle Haley, after making a couple "Bad News Bears" sequels he basically faded away from the movie scene for about 25 years. He made a return in 2006 in "All The President's Men", Sean Penn referred him to be in this movie. He was nominated for an Oscar in his next movie "Little Children". He played a recently paroled sex offender. He's also in the "Watchmen" movie. (Thanks to the Jackie Earle Haley wikipedia.com site.)

Anyway what a great movie. The characters are great and the acting is pretty good, highlighted by Walter Matthau and Tatum O'Neal. I look forward to watching the two sequels with my family. "The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training" is a very funny movie. I've never seen the last of the trilogy "The Bad News Bears Go To Japan".

When my oldest boy saw the movie was made in 1976, he said it's probably in "black and white". Denny's sponsored one of the other teams. My daughter asked, "they had Denny's back then"? I had to explain to them about the Bears sponsors, Chico's Bail Bonds. That's one of the best scenes of the movie, all the other teams have Pizza Hut and Denny's as sponsors. When the camera pulls back and we find out who the Bad News Bears sponsor is.

Pandora turned me on to a good band in the Paramore/ Flyleaf vein. They have a female lead singer with a rock band behind her. Their name is Fireflight. I'd never heard of them before last night, but they kick butt. Thanks for that Pandora and I'm glad they worked out the royalty issue. Pandora played a lot of good music based on my Paramore choice, but Kings of Leon make no sense to me. They don't fit in well with the other bands Pandora played. Either in sound or quality. Pandora is a pretty cool site, but I wish songs wouldn't repeat so quickly.

Here are a couple of great articles for you to read: ">http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20273178,00.html"> and ">http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/magazine/17-05/ff_guidestones"> Enjoy!

Have a good day, themusicaddict

Hey Dodgers would it hurt you to play with some fire? You still have the NL West title and homefield advantage throughout the playoffs to play for.