Should Nickelback Be a Headliner?

Hello,

I drove to work this morning listening to Nickelback's "Silver Side Up" and I was thinking about how I'll be seeing them in concert on October 20th. Of any headlining band I've ever seen, I think this is one of those I'm the least excited about. That prompted me to write about this topic: Should Nickelback be a headliner?

First of all name all of Nickelback "hits". Go ahead, I'm waiting.

Still waiting.

Still waiting.

I'll help you, before this morning I thought Nickelback's two most popular songs were "How You Remind Me" and "Never Again". Then beyond that and maybe "Rockstar", I wouldn't really say they had any "hits". I don't think they are deserving to be a headliner, not even close. If you stick around long enough, do you become a headliner?

I looked at both napster.com and the iTunes music store for the Top 50 songs by Nickelback. On napster.com's Top 50 "How You Remind Me" is only their 18th most popular song and "Never Again" is #23. On iTunes music store "How You Remind Me" is #16 and "Never Again" is #26. As they would say on "Battlestar Galactica", what the frak?

My favorite song off "Dark Horse" is "Just To Get High" (19), (18) and they apparently aren't playing that song either.

The following set list is from the September 29th show in Newark, New Jersey. The numbers in parenthesis: length of song, the napster.com ranking and then the iTunes music store ranking. (Thanks to setlist.fm.) Then a comment about the songs quality.

1. Burn It to the Ground (3:31) (5), (8) This is a good song. A perfect song to start off a rock concert. This has quickly become one of my favorite Nickelback songs. At Nickelback.com its voted the fans favorite song off of "Dark Horse".
2. Flat On The Floor (2:02) (41), (33) A very generic and thankfully short Nickelback song.
3. Photograph (4:19) (9), (6) A good, but generic, rock ballad. The first song fires up the crowd and then two momentum killing songs?
4. Savin' Me (3:39) (13), (10) Another generic Nickelback sort of rock song. Another momentum killing song.
5. Shakin' Hands (3:40) (14), (15) This is one of their better songs on "Dark Horse", but the lyrics again are sophomoric.
6. Something in Your Mouth (3:39)(8), (11) Just another stupid sex song. A band learns to write this song in Rock Cliche 101. I know there's nothing new under the sun, but this takes being tasteless to a whole new level.
7. This Afternoon (4:35) (1), (4) Another one of the better songs on the CD, but again another typical sound alike Nickelback song. Although this song does mention Bob Marley. Bonus points for that. One can spot a Nickelback or ZZ Topp song a mile away.
8. Friends In Low Places (Garth Brooks cover) This should be interesting to hear live. I think "The Thunder Rolls" would be a cooler song to play live though.
9. If Today Was Your Last Day (4:08) (3), (2) Oh my, tyring to be inspiring Nickelback songs? Really?
10. Don't Stop Believing (Journey cover) I love Journey and this is a pretty cool song, but why would Nickelback play this song in concert?
11. Rockstar (4:12) (2), (1) A humorous song, but where's the rock songs?
12. Animals (3:07) (15), (12) Yet another generic sex rock song. Their song topics are as limited as Aerosmiths.
13. How You Remind Me (3:42) (18), (16) At the concert, when Nickelback gets to this song, I'll be thinking it's about time. I'll also be hoping they play "Never Again" in Salt Lake.
14. Too Bad (3:52) (27), (28) I like this song, but is this the song you'd really pick to go into the encore?
Encore:
15. Gotta Be Somebody (4:13)(6), (3) What's up with Nickelback? Either the song is about sex or a song trying to inspire. In this case, another generic Nickelback song.
16. Wanted Dead or Alive (Bon Jovi cover) This could be cool as long as they don't completely Nickelbackize it.
17. Someday (3:28) (16), (17) Okay this is a really cool song, too bad they don't have more songs like this.
18. Figured You Out (3:49) (17), (21) Another weak song and this is the show closer? When they get to Salt Lake and if they don't play "Never Again" I'd be very disappointed. Why would they close with this weak song?

All these songs only add up to about 66 minutes, throw in some talking and their set runs about 75 minutes. That's just about right for me.

I look at this set list and I'm not real excited about seeing them sing 18 similar sounding songs in a row. Another sign they shouldn't be a headliner is the number of covers they have in their set list. That's an admittance of weak original songs.

Now let's talk about Chad Kroeger, he doesn't have the rock star look, he looks more like a parody of a rock star. He's the rock version of MacGruber to James Bond. The rock equivalent would be Chad Kroeger to Robert Plant. Can you name any other member of the band? With most bands there's someone that has an excellent musician vibe. Think Led Zeppelin, The Who, AC/DC, Van Halen etc. The Nickelback musicians are just nameless, faceless rock stars.

This is a rock band?



For me Buckcherry will be the highlight, they have some incredible songs. Now I'm going to review the band of the three that I want to see the most. Thanks again to setlist.fm, here's their setlist:

1) Talk to Me: (3:28) (109) An okay song.
2) Rescue Me (3:13) (18) This is the best of the first three songs played on this night.
3) All Night Long: (3:53) (3) Almost Nicklebackish in its lameness and predictability.
4) Everything: (4:23) (7) An amazing song. This song starts out a bit weird, but when it gets to the chorus the greatness of this song comes out. If Nickelback played this song, it would easily be one of their best songs.
5) Next 2 You: (3:29) (15) An amazing song. This song from start to finish is amazing. This may be the best song played on October 20th.
6) Lit Up: (3:36) (4) A great song, although I hate the song's topic.
7) These Things (3:50) (16) Buckcherry is a strange band. First of all thanks Buckcherry, thank you for not every song being about sex. Buckcherry can really kick your butt with one song and then come back with a nice ballad.
8) It's a Party (3:43) (10) This song would fit right in with Nickelback's generic rock.
9) Dead (5:22) (27) Another generic rock song.
10) Sorry (3:46) (2) This generations "Every Rose Has It's Thorn"
11) Crazy Woman (3:22) (1) I also love this song but the lyrics are sophomoric. What a crazy idea, saving two of your best songs for the end of your set.

If it was up to me the headliner would be Buckcherry, then Three Days Grace and Nickelback would open the show. I'd let Nickelback play 6 or 7 songs, but no more. I would also pick those songs for them.

themusicaddict

Updated review on "Lost Symbol", "No Ordinary Family", Songs Rocking my iPod

Hello,

Here's an update in my reading of "The Lost Symbol". This is up to page 330: I had a lot of free time at work and I was able to read another big chunk of this book. It has improved from how the book started out, but isn't it "The Davinci Code" all over again? So many of the story elements are the same. Also Brown is the master teaser. Every time a puzzle is solved it only opens more puzzles. That was old after about the third time in "The Davinci Code", so it's old all the way through this book. Like in "TDC", I'm guessing Robert Langdon is going to hook up with the women he's escaping with.

He also like to have a lot of misdirections in his book. He wants to lead you to think he's going one way, but then the story goes another way. This sort of plot device is fine. However in his books, he has overused this tactic so much. The last two he has tried in "The Lost Symbol" I saw coming a mile away. It's not like I'm a genius either, even those of us with average intelligence can see these misdirections coming a mile away.

I'm also tired of the bad guys (for lack of a better term) wanting to transform into something higher, especially since I know it'll never happen with Brown as the author. That's just another one of his teasers. Why is it that Langdon and the bad guy are usually two of the very few smart characters?

His stories are predictable, frustrating but undeniably hard to put down. But as I mentioned previously it's not very satisfying. The meal is very good until the reading is done and then I realize I just had a bunch of empty calories.

Out of all the TV series premieres I've seen this year, my two favorite shows are "Rubicon" and "No Ordinary Family". I love at the end of episode 1, Jim Powell's friend, George, created a "lair" for him. That was a nice touch. Although Stephanie (there's that name again) Powell doesn't want him to be a crime fighter anymore. I love how the story is about about people with extraodainary abilities, but there's also a lot of humanity in the show.

About my only complaint about "No Ordinary Family", is the whole story about the daughter, Daphne, and how she's waiting to have sex with her boyfriend. Okay first of all, she looks like she's 13. So there's the ick factor of that and the questionable morality of teen sex.

For those keeping track at home: Jim (Dad) can jump up to a quarter of a mile and bullets don't phase him, unless he's shot really close. Mom (Stephanie) is extremely fast. Daughter Daphne is a mind reader and son JJ is a genius. Out of the extraordinary skills on the show, I think the one I'd like the most is to be able to read minds.



Last night I had the misfortune of watching the very bad and corny "Youngblood". It stars Patrick Swayze and Rob Lowe. The requisite babe is Cynthia Gibb. Yes, that's what I thought too. I had never heard of her. You can skip that movie.

Songs rockin' my iPod. These were the songs kicking my butt today while I was walking on a treadmill.

1) "Bang, Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)"- Cher
2) "Rhythm Nation"- Janet Jackson
3) "All That I Got (The Make Up Song)"- Fergie I absolutely love this song.
4) "Long, Long Way From Home"- Foreigner
5) "Caught Up In The Rapture"- Anita Baker
6) "Machinehead"- Bush
7) "I'd Be Surprisingly Good For You" Madonna and Jonathan Pryce, this song is from the "Evita" soundtrack.
8) "The Time, The Light, The Heart"- Revere
9) "Rock, Rock (Till You Drop"- the awesome Def Leppard
10) "Through With You"- Maroon 5
11) "Sober"- Tool
12) "Start Me Up"- The Rolling Stones
13) "Dance In The Dark"- Lady Gaga
14) "Read Between The Lines"- KSM This could be Daphne's song.
15) "All I Wanna Do Is Make Love To You"- Heart
16) "Gallows Pole"- Led Zeppelin
17) "Can't Tell Me Nothin'"- Tim McGraw This could be my theme song.
18) "I Think I'll Just Stay Here and Drink"- Merle Haggard I certainly understand the sentiment of the song, but definitely not my theme song.
19) "Red Football"- Sinead O'Connor
20) "Sadness"- Enigma

themusicaddict

"The Lost Symbol", "The Event", "Hawaii Five-0", "No Ordinary Family"

Hello,

May 20th, 2011: I have had a few hundred people read this particular blog entry and I'm not sure why. I usually only have about 60 or 70 people visit my blog daily, so I'm wondering why this one blog entry has drawn so much attention. If someone, or several someones, would leave a comment telling my why you came to read this particular blog entry. Thanks

The following is the original blog.

The following is about Dan Brown's "The Lost Symbol". It's his follow up book to "The Davinci Code", which is a book I absolutely loved. Reading "Lost Symbol" is like eating a bunch of your favorite snack. It's fun and very enjoyable, but once you stop eating you realize you just had a bunch of empty calories. "The Lost Symbol" is the literary equivalent of that. When I'm reading this book, it's hard to put down. Although this book does pass the "one more chapter" test. For me, the usual sign of a good book is when I want to read just "one more chapter". However again it's not very filling when I've set the book down.

I may or may not finish this book. It's indeed a fast read, I started reading it Saturday and I'm already to page 116.

It's time for Dan Brown to ditch the Robert Langdon character. His character isn't the most believable and the stories that he's involved with aren't very believable either. He needs to take what has made him successful and turn it on it's head. Simply he needs to start over.

I caught the last 25 minutes of "No Ordinary Family" tonight. It looks like a pretty good show. Yes I do realize how ridiculous the story line is. I just have one question, where has Julie Benz been all my TV watching life?



Last night was the second episodes of "The Event" and "Hawaii Five-0". "The Event" was a little bit better. It reminds me a lot of "Flash Forward". However I liked "FF" much better. There's just something missing from "The Event" and I quite can't put my finger on it. I will give it another couple of episodes.

Disappointingly "Hawaii Five-0" wasn't as good as the first show. Last night's episode was a bit boring, it seems like this might be the type of show that could wear out it's welcome quickly. Grace Park is extremely easy on the eyes, but the stories have got to get better. If most episodes are like episode 2, I'll probably stop watching this show soon. I had such high hopes for it too after a pretty good first episode.

themusicaddict

To someone special in my life.

Hello,

To someone special in my life:



themusicaddict

"Mad Men"

Hello,

"Mad Men" was a strange episode last night. Just when I think Don will fully admit to who he really is, he wimps out. Don it's time to try to step up and not have to worry about weasely Pete. You give him power by not manning up. Man up then crush the little weasel.

Don Draper is going to take his daughter Sally to see The Beatles at Shea Stadium. She screamed like the girls did at Shea when the Beatles took the stage. Don't expect too much Sally, there's a lot of crappy music you have to sit through to get to the Beatles. Then they only played for 28 minutes.

According to this wikipedia.com link, http://www.maccafan.net/Gallery/SheaStadium/Shea.htm, here's the 12 songs they played.

Twist And Shout
She's A Woman
I Feel Fine
Dizzy Miss Lizzy
Ticket To Ride
Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby
Can't Buy Me Love
Baby's In Black
I Wanna Be Your Man
A Hard Day's Night
Help!
I'm Down That set list, yawn. Closing with one of their more obscure, "I'm Down", why?

I love this poster for the second Shea Stadium concert. Look at the ticket prices!



themusicaddict

Joe Hill's "20th Century Ghost", Go Cougars!!!

Hello,

Here's what I've written in my goodreads.com account about Joe Hill's "20th Century Ghost" so far. I've read the first two of the fifteen short stories so far.

Honestly I'm not that big of a fan of short stories. This normally isn't the kind of a book I would read. However I made an exception for this short story collection after I read his two other books, "Horns" and "Heart Shaped Box". Joe Hill is an amazing writer. There's equal part horror, spookiness and feeling for his characters. These are real people in these otherworldy challenges. There's also a sweet love story in both of his novels.

In this short story collection, I've read the first two short stories so far. The first is "Best New Horror" about a really freaky horror writer. This is one of those that has a story within the story and both are extremely creepy.

The second short story is "20th Century Ghost", a novel about a ghost that haunts an old movie house. Again strange and spooky, with a dash of uncomfortable "romance" thrown in.

Also I had the misfortune of reading the first 20 pages of "The Vampire Diaries", Book 1. It makes another high school based vampire series, "Twilight" look hyper literate. That's not a slam against the "Twilight" series, because I liked those books very much. However "The Vampire Diaries" is for vapid teenagers and no one else. Most teenagers that I know I know are down to earth, so the vapid teenager demographic is very small.

themusicaddict is taking his two boys to see the Nevada-BYU game, it could get ugly quickly for the Cougars. Wish us luck on at least seeing a good game.

themusicaddict

Random musings, Upcoming College Football Weekend

Hello,

Last night Zack Galifinakis was on the Jimmy Kimmel show and he was absolutely hilarious. Thanks to the fine folks at ew.com for bringing this to my attention. Here's the link:

http://popwatch.ew.com/2010/09/24/zach-galifianakis-snooki/#more-99100

Apparently Teri Hatcher has been cast to play Lois Lane's Mom in this upcoming season of "Smallville". That is an amazing piece of casting, someone that thinks like me made that casting decision. Lois Lane in "Smallville" of course is played by the lovely Erica Durrance. "Smallville" premieres tonight and I'm looking forward to watching it. Here's some pictures to put this amazing news in proper pictorial content.



For those of you who don't get a chance to see how football is played outside of the East Coast, you've got two great chances this weekend. First of the all the powerhouse TCU team goes on the road to play against June Jones SMU team. TCU is 3-0 and on a roll, crushing the last two teams they've played. SMU is a respectable 2-1 but they haven't played a team quite like TCU yet. This will be easily SMU's hardest game of the season, a real team in the midst of a bunch of marshmallows. Tonight's game, yes the game is tonight, is at 8:00pm EST on ESPN. If for no other reason, watch just to see the destructive process of TCU's dominant defense. You can always watch "Smallville" another time. :)

Then tomorrow night Boise State will be playing #24 Oregon State in Boise. That game is at 8:00pm EST tomorrow night on NBC. I'm predicting BSU will win by at least two touchdowns.

Other local teams, I think there might be a great game in Provo tomorrow. 3-0, and future MWC team, Nevada comes into Provo to play the rebuilding BYU Cougars. Right now BYU is only playing for pride, this obviously is going to be a tough season for them. In upcoming weeks they play TCU and Utah on the road later in the season.

This is the game that I'm taking my two oldest boys too and I'm hoping it's a good game for their sake. The two headed quarterback situation, at least, has been resolved. Although it was not resolved in a way that any BYU fan or coach wanted it to be resolved. Riley Nelson has severely injured his shoulder and is out for the season. So all that pressure goes on to Jake Heaps, BYU's true freshman quarterback. With Heaps not very mobile, Nevada is going to load up in the box to come and get him. Although BYU allegedly has an experienced offensive line, they gave up 8 sacks last week. That's terrible.

One game you can definitely skip tomorrow is the Utah-San Jose St. game. Utah has another great team this year and San Jose State is just awful. To be fair San Jose St. has played both #1 Alabama and #11 Wisconsin in their stadiums. Still if Utah doesn't win at home by at least 28 points, I think that would be considered a disappointing Utah victory.

themusicaddict

MLB playoffs: Who should I root for?, "AI" judges and Please let this be the last season of "AI".

Hello,

Yesterday was the big announcement of who's going to be the judges for season 10 of "American Idol". My reaction to the non-announcement press conference: yawn. Who the new judges were going to be, was that a surprise to anyone? Hearing the three names, did that surprise anyone? Did anyone care on the 3rd or 4th season anniversary of "AI" jumping the shark? Did it give you a sense of excitement in that the show may be good again? How long do you think Steven Tyler will last? I don't think he's going to make it the whole season. I think the job is probably tougher than it looks. Although I did realize that Randy Jackson is the only person I know of worse at his job than Wade Phillips.

Also with Methuselah, uh I mean Steven Tyler, as one of the judges I have a crazy idea. Why don't we have the judges in the same age range as the contestants? Or does that make too much sense.

After the non-surprise of the judging panel I read the comments on ew.com. My favorite comment was the person that said (paraphrasing) "Are they going to have a press conference to announce that the contestants will be singing?" Very funny.

I like that there'll be no genre themes. (Although my Mom did say that the judges will still tell the Idols they chose the wrong song.) The producers will be choosing a decade, I just realized won't they run out of decades pretty quickly. Here's a crazy idea just let them choose whatever song they want. Also the contestants may be able to sing original tunes this year. I think that's a great idea. It's like letting them play an instrument, it just brings out another side of them. For me, (not to be confused with Randy's infernal for me, for you.) that's all the more interesting than a back story which Fox plays for all it's worth.

A permanent mentor, I don't know what I think about that idea. Jimmy Iovine, is he going to be as bad as crusty, seemingly on life support Clive Davis and still living on past glories? Not sure what to think about that. The producers are thinking about doing something about whether the Idols can play instruments or not. Also another question, Timbaland coming in to help the Idols. Timbaland didn't really help out Chris Cornell did he?

According to the excellent "Idol" blog, mjsbigblog.com: "Nigel wants to bring the focus back to the talent, rather than making decisions based on the ratings." If you're anything like me, you thought yeah right. Again Fox is one of the most obvious examples of corporate America stupidity. The only way they keep score is by how much money they make. Don't kid yourself. Inherent in Nigel's statement, is that the ratings has played into some decisions more than talent. Oh is that how Danny Gokey and David Archuleta did so well? I don't think the talent they are referring too is pandering.

I have 4 MLB teams that I'm a pretty big fan of. The first team I fell in love with was the LA Dodgers. Back in the Tommy Lasorda and Steve Garvey days. Like then I thought this was going to a good season for them. However Joe Torre has seem disinterested. When Manny was being Manny, unfortunately it was the bad Manny. Also the alleged owners (they are the Wade Phillips of MLB owners) the McCourts are battling out in an LA court room about their divorce, with the Dodgers being the kid that's in dispute. They are a disgrace to the Dodgers and let's hope the judge makes them sell the team. According to SI, they paid someone $150,000 a year to do their hair for them everyday.

Also the Dodgers offense has been anemic, never have I seen a team with so many 0 and 1 run games, in fact they only scored 1 run in their game last night. Too put that in perspective, at the start of the game you have 0 runs. I hope LA takes all that money they paid to Manny Ramirez last year, $20 million, and split it between two sluggers and punch up that inept offense. The players have stopped pretending like they care about winning, they are 3-7 in their last 10 games. The season cannot end soon enough for them or for the Cubs.

The next team I fell in love with was the Chicago Cubs, who I started following on WGN in the mid 80's. I fell in love with those scrappy and hardly ever good Cubs. This current season was another waste of a lot of money. Like Torre, Lou Pinella appeared to be disinterested this season. I was glad he stepped down early. The Cubs have shown that they are willing to spend the money to sign big name players, now they need to use that same money to sign high quality players.

The next team I fell in love was the Red Sox, for a long time they were perennial losers like the Cubs. Then they were bought by a real owner. He edged out the McCourts, Boston you dodged a bullet there. Boston has had a good run of late, winning the World Series in 2004 and 2007. The team theme this year has been injuries. They've lost over 800 games to player injuries. That includes such stars as Josh Beckett, Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia, Josh Beckett, Jason Varitek, Mike Lowell etc. etc.

Then the last team I fell in love with is the Atlanta Braves. My brother and sister-in-law lived in Hotlanta for a few years and I was able to go visit them three times. My brother was kind enough to take me to see the Braves play all three years. (Thanks J & L, that was awesome and some good memories.) I violently hated the Braves before that, but I started following them. Now I'm a big fan of the Braves.

However the Braves have completely fallen apart over the last couple of weeks. They are now 6 games behind Philadelphia in the NL East. They only lead San Diego by a half-game in the NL Wild Card chase. At this point they'll be lucky to make the playoffs, I wish that Chipper Jones wasn't out for the season. Fortunately they are battling San Diego probably for that Wild Card spot and San Diego is choking even more than the Braves.

If the Braves make the playoffs, they are obviously the team I'll be cheering for. Although they are notoriously terrible in the playoffs. Under Bobby Cox, they've only won one World Series- that was before I was a Braves fan.

If Atlanta doesn't make the playoffs, I think I'll be cheering for the Minnesota Twins. They have a good team, great players (Joe Mauer and Jim Thome for only $1.5 million dollars) and they don't seem to have any character issues on that team. They'll also earn some good Karma as the Vikings continue to fall apart and Brett Favre needs to retire. (Right now I think that's my favorite story in the NFL: the collapse of the Vikings.)

If Minnesota doesn't win the World Series, I'll be forced to cheer for anyone but New York or Philadelphia. I'm sick of those two teams.

themusicaddict

The Non- "Event", "Hawaii Five-0", "AI" judges announced tomorrow

Hello,

I've read several articles about how good the reboot of "Hawaii Five-0" is. I decided to check it out, I went to cbs.com and watched it. It's pretty good, I didn't expect a whole lot from it to be honest. Unlike the dreary "The Event" it has a sense-of-humor. For instance, Danno had just shot a suspect, who was laying on the ground with his hands were in restraints. He kept on trying to escape. Danno says to him, "Where you going?" (That scene is much funnier when you see the actual clip at cbs.com.) The show, although it deals with illegal smuggling, doesn't take itself too seriously. (See my initial reaction to this show below.) I don't know how long I'll watch "The Event", but I'll be checking out "Hawaii Five-0" for the foreseeable future.

Remember when songs had great theme songs? "Hawaii Five-0" has one of the all-time great theme songs:



Are you excited for "American Idol" to name Jennifer Lopez, Steven Tyler and Randy Jackson officially as judges for the 10th season? The big announcement will be made tomorrow at noon PT. Ryan Seacrest will be making the announcement from the Forum, the place where the Lakers play basketball. Also all the judges will be there, what else do they have to do? As with anything "AI" there will be a ton of hype, again the hype is there to cover up the shallowness of the product. With the lack of intelligence of this coaching panel, "AI" will probably be a show to skip. (Thanks as always to ew.com's own Idoloonie Michael Slezak for the details above and thanks to me for the sarcasm.) If you are absolutely bored, you can go to "American Idol's" official website and watch the introductory press conference live.

Here's another TV show for you to skip based on the pilot: "The Event". It's premiere was last night and it was boring. Unlike the characters, say in "Mad Men", I just didn't care about these characters. I also hated how the story kept on jumping around in time, that's a lazy way to tell a story. "Flash Forward", a show I loved, use to do the same thing and it drove me crazy. "The Event" has many mysteries to resolve, but after one episode I just don't care. If it continues to be this bad, the only mystery will be for how long it stays on the air?

I'm going to give "The Event" another chance, but I'm not holding out much hope for it. If the pilot is bad, what hope is there for any other episode going forward?

I also hated the constant advertisements for the show that followed. That was a show I hadn't heard of and I can't even remember the name of. It was overly hyped, which usually means that it sucks. I had no desire to see the show about the female marshall. I really didn't want to watch "Hawaii 5-0" either, although there's the intriguing possibility of the gorgeous Grace Park in a bikini (score!) or other clothes that highlights her amazing beauty. However I've read that's a very good show.

The perfectly named Grace:



The show that's getting all the praise is HBO's "Boardwalk Empire". Since it's on HBO I can't watch it. HBO has already awarded it with a second season, not bad for a show that has only shown one episode so far. Although critics who've seen six or seven episodes are saying what a great show it is. (I'm not sure "The Event" is going to last 6 or 7 episodes.) HBO it would be awesome if you'd allow this to be shown on Comcast On Demand!

OK, that's enough complaining from me, now it's time to give some praise to some great things out there.

Thanks to ew.com, here's the poster for the new AMC drama, "The Walking Dead".



Yesterday I finished reading Chuck Hogan's excellent "Prince of Thieves". What a great book! I've read two of Hogan's books that he's either written or co-written and I've loved both of them. The other one is "The Strain", the second of that trilogy I'll be able to read soon!

"Thieves" is a great book. The ending was a complete surprise. It didn't quite work out like I thought I would. I wanted a clean resolution where both the head bank robber, Doug, and the cop, Frawley, could win. There's a lot of hints of a love story, that part of story doesn't really work out like I expected either.

This is definitely a book where the end isn't easy to predict, which is one of the signs of a great book. Now I'd like to see the movie based on "Prince of Thieves", the Ben Affleck directed "The Town".

I started reading Susan Casey's "The Devil's Teeth". This book is about the great white shark in the Farallon Islands. So far it's a love story about the great white shark. A book I typically wouldn't read on my own. This is the first book in my new book group I'm just joining. So far it's a great read, an intriguing story and very compelling.

themusicaddict

The idiocy going on in Dallas, Notre Dame is 1-2 :)

Hello,

Out of the NFL teams starting 0-2 since 1990, only 13% have reached the playoffs. I think Dallas can still reach the playoffs but they have to play considerably better. They will have to play above their coaching. The players held a players only meeting yesterday. Is that going to help their rushing game, help Roy "Time for Dallas to cut their losses" Williams or help Tony Romo make a clutch play. I doubt it and player's only meeting are usually not very effective.

Speaking of Tony Romo. I think we should add "having a Tony Romo" to the vernacular. My definition is his stats look good, but ultimately he's ineffective and his teams loses. See Dallas Cowboys Game 1 and Game 2. Let's examine Game 2 a little closer. At first glance he had a pretty good game, at least compared to Brett Favre's game against Miami. Romo completed 34 of 51 passes for 374 yards. Pretty good right. However he threw 1 touchdown against two interceptions. He continues to have too many turnovers. Romo threw his touchdown in the second quarter. The greats do their damage in every quarter. This is how the 6 Dallas drives ended in the second half: Field Goal. Punt, Punt, Missed FG, Fumble (thanks Roy) and a Field Goal. Of course Romo isn't the only one that deserves blame, the offense has been a shambles most of this season. Here's hoping your team won't be "having a Tony Romo".

Why I hate Wade Phillips, according to ESPN.com and other outlets the Cowboys practices are sloppy. 18 penalties in two games is the sign of a poorly coached team. Again according to espn.com: "At one point, Phillips told a reporter he didn't like his line of questioning." Waah, I've heard Wade Phillips is thin skinned, I guess that's true. Wade, you are the Head Coach of the Dallas Cowboys, you didn't think there would be some uncomfortable questions if you and your team didn't perform? Later Phillips said: "I'm going to try to do something," Phillips said. "I'm trying to do whatever we think as a staff that we need to do better to get this turned around. That is what coaching is."

Wade is going to "try". Hmm I wonder what my kids would say when I told them I'm going to try and spend time with them. I wonder what my boss would say, when I tell her I'll try to be at work when I should be. I wonder what my future wife will say when I tell her I'll "try" to take the garbage out. To quote Yoda: "Do or do not... there is no try". To quote Yoda again, this is what your average Dallas Cowboy fan says: "Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.”

I think Wade has the perfect name, it's a metaphor for the kind of coach he is. The NFL is a big, nasty ocean and all Phillips does is wade in. We need an agressive swimmer, someone that will dive in and swim with the sharks. We need Jimmy Johnson or someone like him that will kick some ass. Wade says, "I'm going to try to do something." That's great and all, but does he know what to do? As Bill Parcells says, "Your record says what kind of team you are". Wade you are not cut out to be a head coach. Please step down before you humiliate yourself or the Cowboys more.

Calvin Watkins is a Cowboys writer at ESPNDallas.com and all true fans of the Cowboys should follow him. He has the pulse of the Cowboys.

My favorite play of the College Football weekend:



I'm just so sick of Notre Dame and I hate them. I love to see them lose. They get preferential treatment, just because they are Notre Dame. But they've been living on their reputation for years now. Their program is more of a coach killer than a BCS contender. Notre Dame is 1-2 and on their way to another terrible season. Later this year they have Utah coming to town, that's another loss for Irish. Hey maybe you can get Wade Phillips to coach your team next year. He'll "try to do something" which won't work. However he'll "try".

themusicaddict

Football Weekend, Fire Wade Phillips 2, Songs Rocking My iPod

Hello,

Congratulations to Eddie Vedder on getting married, good luck to the happy couple.

Jerry Jones is complaining about how poorly the Dallas Cowboys are playing. Jerry who's the one who gave Wade Phillips a raise and signed him to a two-year extension? The blame falls on those who make the decisions and we know that's you Jerry. Phillips career as a head coach has been that of a classic underachiever. What did you think was going to change this season? The man simply is not head coach material. Cut your losses Jerry and fire him immediately. Pay Jimmy Johnson to get off that stupid "Survivor" and beg him to come back. Pay him $10 million a year for this season only. That's all that Jimmy probably would work. Then start taking a thorough look for a real head coach. Keep Wade Phillips as the defensive coordinator, because he does that well.

BYU continues to look bad, their offense is anemic. Neither quarterback looks like they are ready to be the starter. Their defense sounds like it's porous, thankfully I didn't watch last week's game. Now BYU plays Nevada on Saturday at LaVell Edwards Stadium. Nevada is 3-0 and just scored 52 points on the Pac-10 California team. (Seriously how bad is the Pac-10 this year?)

Utah continues it's great start and it destroyed woeful New Mexico, how much longer can Mike Locksley keep his job. He, like Wade Phillips, is obviously in way over his head. New Mexico you will want to learn from Dallas. Fire your head coach now, cut your losses.

BSU and TCU continue to roll, as the current, future MWC teams continue to dominate. Including Boise State the MWC/ future MWC teams are all doing good. Four teams have a legitimate shot to break into the BCS. Boise State can, ranked #3 and destroying everybody they play. TCU, ranked #4 also can. Utah, ranked #13 looks great too. Kyle Whittingham has that program going in the right direction. It will be quite a battle when Utah plays TCU later this year. Air Force is also playing very solidly. They almost beat Oklahoma in Oklahoma. Also Fresno State and Nevada are off to great starts as well, both future members of the MWC.

Although I like the MWC as a conference, I'm glad both BYU and Utah are getting away from the Mtn. The Mtn. is their own network, too bad it sucks. Who in the East would want to see a New Mexico- Wyoming game. No one and outside of people in New Mexico and Wyoming, I don't think anyone else would want to see it either. That's what the Mtn. offers and $1.3 million per team. I know $1.3 million sounds like a lot, but in college athletics that's a pittance. The MWC needs to blow up the disaster that's the Mtn. and sign a contract with ESPN. I don't know if there will be any more money, but national exposure will be more. In the end that will bring the MWC more money.

USC won again and for the third straight week dropped two notches in the AP poll. I've never seen a team win week after week, they are 3-0, and to continue to drop. They play the Pac-10 doormat Washington State this weekend, so USC should win that game easily. They will go to 4-0 and hopefully begin to rise in the polls. The Pac-10 continues to be a wreck, Washington what was that performance against Nebraska. California how is getting destroyed by a WAC team not named Boise State feel like? This year it looks like the Pac-10 is Cinderella and the 7 dwarfs. Oregon, Stanford and USC are Cinderella and the other 7 teams are the 7 dwarfs.

Songs rocking my iPod:

1) "The View From The Afternoon"- The Arctic Monkeys
2) "Black or White"- Michael Jackson. One of my favorite Micheal Jackson songs.
3) "Strobe Light"- The B-52's One of the great, upbeat dance songs about sex there is.
4) "Ancestors"- Throw Me the Statue A great, great song, check it out.



5) "You Give Me Something"- James Morrison
6) "Read Between The Lines"- KSM



7) "Breakeven (Falling To Pieces)"- The Script
8) "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown"- Jim Croce
9) "Turn You Inside Out"- R.E.M.
10) "Monkey"- George Michael
11) "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'"- Nancy Sinatra
12) "Umbrella"- Rihanna
13) "The Movie"- Jim Morrison
14) "Go"- Pearl Jam
15) "Could've Been"- Tiffany
16) "What About Love"- Janeel Wheeler
17) "S.O.S."- Rihanna
18) "Heart of Glass"- Blondie This was my favorite song as a kid.
19) "Sex and Candy"- Marcy Playground
20) "Head Games"- Foreigner

themusicaddict

It's Official: "Freedom" is Oprah's Next Book, "Flood"

Hello,

Happy Constitution Day!

After some consternation of mine, Oprah has officially announced that Jonathan Franzen's "Freedom" is her next book club selection. I will give you a review, when I get a chance to read it. I'm number 20 of 20 at the local library.

This year is the 20th anniversary of one of the greatest quirky CD's ever. On January 5th, 1990 They Might Be Giants released "Flood". A CD that has several great, yet unappreciated, songs on it. The most famous song on this CD is "Birdhouse In Your Soul". That's only one of the classic songs on this CD though. Other classic "Flood" songs include "Particle Man", "Istanbul" (Not Constantinople), "Your Racist Friend", "Twisting", "Women and Men" and "Whistling In The Dark". Check it out. You should be able to buy it used at a quality independent record store.

themusicaddict

Oprah Book Club, Hannah Storm

Hello,

First of all I'd like to say "Welcome Back" to Hannah Storm. I've missed her on the early morning ESPN Sports Center the last couple of months. She was always a friendly, attractive face when I got up early in the morning to exercise. Hannah, where have you been. I'm very glad to have you back. Tell Sage she's going to have to wait a few more years before she can have your job.

Tomorrow Oprah is going to announce her next, and possibly last, book club selection. There has been all sorts of conjecture over the next selection being Nelson Mandela's memoir "Conversations With Myself". However I'm begging Oprah enough with those kinds of selections please. Nothing against Nelson Mandela, he's an amazing man and has accomplished much in his life. I'm also sure his memoir is well thought out and well written, whether by him or a ghost writer. Also this book isn't out until October 11th. It just seems a little too one-dimensional all these books regarding Africa. I did enjoy her last African themed book though, it was the brutal and hard to read "Say You're One of Them" by Uwem Akpan.

We know the book is going to be at the $28.00 price point and is from Farrar, Straus and Giroux. The only other book that would make sense is Jonathan Franzen's new book "Freedom". This book is out now and #1 on New York Times booklist. I hope this is really the book she picks.

ew.com is reporting that Oprah's newest book is going to be Jonathan Franzen's Freedom. Apparently three different book sellers have confirmed this. Let's hope they are right.

Last night I watched the interesting "Con Air". (It was a free movie on Comcast On Demand, give me a break.) As you the movie stars John Malkovich and Nicolas Cage. Nicolas Cage is using the worst Southern accent ever. It's terrible. It makes his character sound dumb, surely the director wasn't going for that. Was he? Also i know his character missed his daughter, but I wouldn't put my arm down a drain to rescue a stuffed bunny. Other than that it was an okay movie.

According to ew.com Ryan Seacrest is going to be announcing from the Forum on September 22nd who the judging panel will be for this season of "AI". Here's some non-breaking news: the judging panel will be Steven Tyler, Jennifer Lopez and Randy Jackson. Steven Tyler judging a bunch of 15 year olds? This season could be a car crash season. It will be horrifying but hard to avert your gaze from it.

The consensus of commenters on ew.com is that the show is dying. No the "American Idol" many people know and love died a couple of years ago. Now Fox is dragging it's mutilated carcass across the dreary landscape of entertainment. Please let this be the last season. The show has already jumped the shark, the only thing left for it to jump is Jackson's cluelessness.

themusicaddict

AMC rules!

Hello,

Last night I had a one man AMC marathon. First of all I watched the new episode of "Mad Men". Don Draper is slowly rounding into the man he needs to be. A pathetic, drunken Don Draper is just not a compelling character. I hope he continues his comeback for the rest of the season. I like that his character has cut down his drinking, actually said no to a beautiful woman about sex and spent time with his young son Gene. Although to make it fair if we see Don Draper in a swimsuit, there should be an equal opportunity for us to see Betty Francis in a swimsuit. Seriously is January Jones not one of the most gorgeous woman of all-time? To balance the karma, here's a picture of January Jones in a swimsuit:





I'm all about making sure karma is in alignment in the world and now it is.

Thanks to Comcast On Demand I watched the three most recent episodes of "Rubicon". It took me a little while to get into the characters. It took awhile to get used to the main character Will, he has a certain amount of aloofness to him. Also what I'm wondering what games is his boss, Kale Ingram, playing? The only side he's on obviously is his own. He's lost the naivete and idealism that Will still has in spades.

I also love Will's three analyst cohorts. We have the quirky Tanya, the flighty and brilliant Miles and the ramrod straight Grant. But my favorite character is Maggie, I hope she's not off the show after being fired in Sunday night's episode. The actress who plays her, Jessica Collins, has a very intriguing look. She's also very attractive.

Other than sports, I rarely watch 4 hours of TV in one day. There are just too many good books to read, loving "Prince of Thieves" by Chuck Hogan right now. This novel is now in theatres, but the movie is titled "The Town". "The Town" refers to Charleston. The movie stars coincidentally Jon Hamm and is directed by Ben Affleck.



Where was I? Oh yeah and AMC has a new television series starting on Halloween. It's the very cool looking and spooky "The Walking Dead". I've previously put the trailer for that series on my blog. It's a Zombie series. AMC seems to put story about everything. Not a lot happens in "Mad Men", but the writing is so crisp. I constantly am thinking about Don Draper and Betty Francis. They're marriage breaking up and them out in the dating world again reminds me a lot about about my ex's and my situation. Crazy.

If AMC keeps this up, they might have a Pixar like run of high quality entertainment.

Miscellaneous: Are they really going to pay $12 million to JLo to be one of the judges for Season 10 of "American Idol"? I've got to get into entertainment where there's a lot of pay for not much. I'm still hoping Joe Perry goes crazy and beats some sense into Steven Tyler and he decides against being an "AI" judge.

Also in spite of themusicaddict's urging, Wade Phillips still is the Dallas Cowboys coach. I guess my two or three readers just can't put that much pressure on Jones. Seriously though when Tony Romo flipped the ball out to Tashard Choice with mere seconds left in the first half, what the hell does that tell you? Don't get me wrong Phillips is a genius when it comes to running a defense. I suggest demote him to defensive coordinator and get a real head coach. Don't cut his pay. Seriously if the offense doesn't start scoring some points Jason Garrett needs to be fired as well. I'm so irritated that Dallas has this small window in which they can possibly win the Super Bowl and they are screwing around with so many weak links.

themusicaddict

themusicaddict blog #600, Jerry Jones please fire Wade Phillips!!!

Hello,

I love, love the Dallas Cowboys but in their first game of the season they look pathetic. (I gave up on the Cowboys with about 3 minutes left in the game.) How the hell (almost HOH) is Wade Phillips a head coach? Whenever I see him on the sidelines in a game he rarely looks like he knows what to do. His expression "What should I do now, someone please help me." He should be the defensive coordinator and then Dallas should get a real head coach.

Tony Romo really as a starting quarterback. He looks like a hamster in the pocket. I hate how he points all over the field and then lifts his leg to start the play. It's not like the Cowboys are playing a good team either, they are playing the Washington Redskins. Bill Simmons is absolutely right about Tony Romo, you'd rather have him as your fantasy quarterback than as your real quarterback.

Jerry Jones please fire Wade Phillips, why did you sign him to a two year extension last season? With Phillips as head coach, Jason Garrett as offensive coordinator and Tony Romo as alleged starting qb- the word that comes to mind is "anemic". Jerry Jones the Cowboys have a window here when it's possible for them to win the Super Bowl, especially with the Super Bowl in Dallas this year. However that window is quickly closing as Romo burns and Phillips flames out.

Jerry, please, please do something!

themusicaddict

HOH not lol!, College football!!!!!!!

Hello,

Welcome to Blog # 599!

themusicaddict is so tired of the ubiquitous lol, apparently when one can't think of anything else, type or text lol. Using lol more than once or twice a week is a sign of laziness and a lack of imagination. To counter that themusicaddict is proposing a new text acronym: HOH. HOH means hell oh hell. Not only does it rhyme with lol but it's much cooler. Whenever you see lol, just type back HOH. That is until we get sick of HOH.

I made the mistake of watching the BYU-AFA game yesterday. First of all it's extremely hard to cheer against Air Force, especially on 9/11. These are some of the finest young people in the USA. These are the people who will fight for and protect our country. Yesterday I wasn't really cheering against them, I was cheering for BYU. Unfortunately it was not to be BYU's day. When I saw the schedule and saw this game I was nervous. AFA is a tough team to play anytime, but on 9/11 they are even tougher. That option is so tough to defend, especially when the Cougars apparently forgot how to tackle yesterday. Congratulations to AFA.

It looks like BYU's two-headed quarterback monster has died. When an offensive possession started for the Cougars I hoped Riley Nelson was the qb that would be playing. It seems Coach Mendenhall felt the same way as Nelson played most of the game. Next up BYU goes to Florida to play FSU in what I think will be a real ugly game for the Cougars. FSU was beaten and battered by Oklahoma yesterday and I think the Seminoles will take their frustrations out on BYU. I just hope BYU can stay close and at least look better than they did yesterday. Then I'm very excited on September 25th, my two oldest boys and I are going to watch BYU-Nevada.

Congrats to the Utes, they looked awesome yesterday as they destroyed UNLV 38-10. Utah is in the easy part of their schedule right now. They played the terrible Rebels yesterday. Next they go to New Mexico to play the absolutely terrible New Mexico Lobos. The Lobos are 0-2 and have been outscored 124-17 in those two games. Then they welcome the very terrible San Jose St. team on September 25th.

San Jose St. being terrible isn't all their fault, so far they've played on the road against #1 Alabama. Yesterday they played on the road against #11 Wisconsin. Then in two weeks they play at #20 Utah, who'll probably be higher in the rankings then. Then on Saturday, October 16th San Jose State welcomes #3 BSU. If everything breaks right the Broncos could possibly be the #1 team in the nation at that time.

At 12:30 MST (2:30EST) the United States will be playing home country Turkey in the World Basketball Championships finals. This should be a battle and a close game. I'm predicting the United States, led by Kevin Durrant, will prevail in a hard fought game. Go USA!

themusicaddict

"The Day After Tomorrow", Football Predictions

Hello,

Welcome to blog #598.

I have all 4 of my kids this weekend and we're having fun. As is the tradition when some of my kids stay over we watch a movie. That's exactly what we did last night. We watched "The Day After Tomorrow". It stars Dennis Quaid, a very young Jake Gyllenhall and the luminous Emmy Rossum. Honestly I didn't expect much from this movie and it ended up being okay. I just have one question. One of the story lines is about this very long trek that Dennis Quaid makes across the country to rescue his son. Cue the violins and all that good feeling. My question: "Why was that story line such a big part of the movie? He crosses the country, finds his son and then they get rescued by a helicopter? Dumb. Was the Vice President character suppose to be mocking Dick Cheney, who was the Vice President when the movie was made? I don't think it's a coindence the film maker had both of them be gruff, ignorant, not paying attention to facts.

Football predictions: In a hard fought game BYU will hold off Air Force. I predict that Utah, no matter the quarterback, will clobber UNLV. I also think Dallas will beat Washington tomorrow night on Sunday Night Football. It will be hard to pick what to watch tomorrow night. Along with the Dallas game, the Sunday Night baseball game features the Braves and also AMC has both "Mad Men" and "Rubicon" with new episodes.

Time to take the kids to Carl Jrs.

themusicaddict

iTunes store has 69 songs at 69c each, Groove Theorem review

Hello,

The iTunes music store is temporarily selling 69 songs for 69c each. Some of these are actually pretty good songs. They include Gloria Estefan's "Conga", one of the most danceable songs ever. There also is Charlie Daniel's "The Devil Went Down To Georgia" and Primitive Radio Gods "Standing Outside the Phone Booth With Money In My Hand". I know a lot of you will not know that song by the title, I've included the video to refresh your memory.



I also went and saw a free concert for local band Groove Theorem. I went with my son and his friend. This is Groove Theorem's first live performance, it's kind of cool to be there at the start. They played a mix of blues/ rock songs including Jimi Hendrix's "Red House", The Beatles "Come Together", The Rolling Stones "Miss You" and the Black Crowes "Hard To Handle". They closed their show with Eric Clapton's "Further On Up The Road". Their take is absolutely blistering. They both have an excellent lead guitarist and drummer (Josh Terry shout out), all the musicians are good in fact.

For a first concert played together, it was pretty good. They were fairly tight as a band and you could tell a lot of practice had prepared them for this performance. They had a fairly good set list as well. Although Led Zeppelin would be a good addition to their set list as they transition from covers to originals. Also if you are blues based band, you never go wrong with Muddy Waters or BB King.

They had to be pretty good, because even my 14 year old son liked them and he doesn't like anybody.

Paul Timothy opened, he was entertaining as well. He's a high school teacher, he mixed both a covers and originals. The originals included a song called "Pimp Master", pretty humorous. He then closed with a girl named Stacey as they dueted on Tracy Chapman's "Give Me One Reason". They closed with a song that escapes me now. I think they said it was by Grace Potter.

themusicaddict

Boise State should be # 1, An Amazing Song

Hello,

Boise State had another big victory over a quality opponent, #10 Virginia Tech. A team that looks like they are also going to be a very good team. The game was essentially a home game for Virginia Tech. Congrats to BSU and Va. Tech for manning up and playing a real opponent in their first game of the season. Meanwhile #1 Alabama, #2 Ohio State and #4 Florida played respectively YoMamma State, Choklohoma St. and Creampuff Tech. Seriously Alabama played one of the worst teams in the WAC, at home. They beat San Jose St 48-3. Ohio State played the Marshall not exactly Thundering Herd and beat them 45-7. OSU had a 21-7 lead at the end of the first quarter. Florida looked horrible in playing Miami of Ohio, only winning 34-12. They looked especially weak on the center-quarterback exchange.

Granted Alabama, OSU and Florida's schedules will get tougher later. But after one game BSU played the toughest opponent out of the Top 4 schools, in essentially a road game and beat them. Boise State should be #1.

Michael Jackson was no doubt the man, this is just one of his many amazing songs:



themusicaddict

Go Boise St.

Happy Labor Day,

I'm finishing off a 4 day weekend, I love 4 day weekends. I was able to read, have a party, watch a lot of football and go to church. The only bad thing about the weekend is that I was unable to see my kids due to a schedule mix up. I will spare you a rant of how unfair the whole divorce system is for the man.

Anyway I watched the first half of the USA-Angola game from the World Basketball Championships from Turkey. What's that you didn't know the WBC was going on. That doesn't surprise me by how little of press it has received with the baseball pennant races heating up and the start of college football. The United States won by a lot as you would expect, 121-66. In fairness to Angola their leading scorer was injured and couldn't play. The USA next plays Thursday. They play the winner of Russia-New Zealand which plays this afternoon.

I saw a miracle this morning an ESPN, an ESPN analyst actually picked a team from the West to win a game. Jesse Palmer picked # 3 Boise St. to beat # 10 Virgina Tech tonight. (For the record ESPN analysts are 0-3 when picking against MWC/WAC teams this weekend.) This could be a very good game but I do see Boise St. winning. I will be watching it and cheering on the Broncos.

I've been reading an interesting book, Tana French's "The Likeness". It's been a good book, but not a great book. Although I'm in the meat of the story, I haven't been able to completely get into the novel. I have almost read the first 200 pages and may or may not finish reading it. I have a whole bunch of books that I can pick up from the library tomorrow. So we'll see.

themusicaddict

Groove Theorem, Why, again, I love college football.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/video/video.php?v=426706744421&ref=mf

Hello,

The above band is the band I'm going to go see this Wednesday at the Layton Amphitheater. I don't know a lot about them, but the above clip is pretty impressive. Back in our former lives I worked with the drummer.

In case the above link doesn't work:

Thanks to espn.go.com:

CHESTUNUT HILL, Mass. -- Sitting in the Alumni Stadium press box on Saturday afternoon, Sister Barbara Anne Hallman sported a gold Notre Dame wristwatch and a Mark Herzlich button over her heart.

[+] EnlargeMark Herzlich
Michael Tureski/Icon SMIMark Herzlich finished with five tackles in his first game back, but it's not the statistics that were important. Just getting back on the field was impressive enough.

"This is who I'm rooting for," the 75-year-old Franciscan nun from South Bend, Ind. said with a hand covering the button featuring the Boston College linebacker, who returned to the field for the first time Saturday since being diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer called Ewing's sarcoma.

"I don't remember the last time I missed a [Notre Dame] game," she continued. "It's worth it."

A cancer survivor herself, Hallman wrote to Herzlich two days after he was diagnosed in May 2009. They have remained friends and BC athletic director Gene DeFilippo made good on his promise to fly Hallman to the Eagles' home opener, a 38-20 victory against Weber State in front of 35,168 fans.

"That was my goal," Herzlich said of making Hallman miss her first Notre Dame game in roughly 60 years. "She can catch it right now. I think they're beating Purdue 10-3. It was awesome that she got to come out.

"[DeFillippo] always follows through and he got her out here."

Herzlich, who had a metal rod inserted in his leg last fall after being declared cancer-free, incessantly talked about his goal of finally running through Alumni Stadium's tunnel again -- the timing of which became uncertain when Herzlich suffered hurt his foot before training camp. Last week, Herzlich practice in pads for the first time since the 2008 Music City Bowl.

When No. 94 finally did sprint out of the tunnel on 9/4 -- as in Sept. 4 -- Hallman was at the lip of the tunnel watching.

"He's such a good man," a blurry-eyed Hallman said. "A lot of good has come from Mark having this problem. Mark had to pay the price and the rest of us have been the recipients of his hard work."

Herzlich started Saturday but didn't make a tackle until after BC senior wide receiver Ifeanyi Momah caught a 17-yard touchdown pass from sophomore quarterback Dave Shinskie to put BC up 14-3 with 5:08 left in the opening quarter.

First, Herzlich helped bring down senior wide receiver Mike Phillips on an 8-yard pass for his 250th career tackle. Two players later, he helped tackle senior fullback Zac Eldridge, prompting ESPN commentator Curt Warner to declare: "He hasn't lost anything."

[+] EnlargeSister Barbara Anne Hallman
Photo Courtesy of Sister Barbara Anne HallmanSister Barbara Anne Hallman (left), a rabid Notre Dame fan, wrote to Mark Herzlich two days after he was diagnosed with cancer and the two have been friends ever since.

"I felt good, I overran some plays but that's to be expected," said Herzlich, who played a part-time role and finished with 5 tackles. "It's a step in the right direction but I'm going to have to take bigger steps as we go."

Getting back was the first and biggest step, he said, and now the staircase seems smaller.

And when he was finally back -- through that tunnel -- Hallman settled into her digs for the afternoon in the press box. Weber State was winning 3-0. Shaun McClain's 32-yard field goal came shortly after Shinskie tossed an interception from BC's 19 on the second play of the game.

"It will get better," Hallman said.

Twelve plays later Hallman observed the old rule about cheering in the press box when Shinskie completed a 6-yard TD pass to sophomore tight end Chris Pantale to put the Eagles up four with 3:16 left in the opening quarter.

She had a harder time restraining herself at the end of the quarter when Shinskie hooked up with redshirt freshman wide receiver Johnathan Coleman for a 44-yard pass. The play that set up Montel Harris' 4-yard TD and BC's 21-3 edge.

"It's awful hard to keep quiet," she said.

Hallman will have a tough time deciding who to cheer for on Oct. 2 when the Irish travel here for the Holy War -- a dilemma every reporter lining up to interview her asked about.

Her answer never wavered: "My loyalty to Notre Dame has never been so tested."

themusicaddict

Desmond Howard shut up!, BYU and TCU look good

Hello,

Desmond Howard showed his lack of football knowledge and prejudice against allegedly mid-major football teams. He predicted that Washington would beat BYU, he was wrong. He also predicted Oregon St. would beat TCU, he was wrong again. Let me guess Desmond, you are now going to predict that Virginia Tech is going to beat Boise St. I think that will actually be a pretty good game and I look forward to watching the Broncos win. Desmond please fade back into obscurity now.

In all fairness, after watching last night's BYU-Washington game, I thought either team could have won that game. I was actually disappointed by Jake Locker's performance. He didn't look as good as I thought he would. He looked like a good solid quarterback last night, not a Heisman contending quarterback. Meanwhile the two headed BYU quarterback monster looked solid. Both looked good and I see why Coach Mendenhall is having a tough time picking between the two players. Nelson looks to be a good runner and certainly has more mobility and Heaps has a rocket arm.

BYU has a brutal schedule this season and it was important for the Cougars to win this game in order to hopefully finish above .500. Both BYU's offense and defense looked good. Although how good is hard to truly determine after one game. Maybe Washington just isn't that good. We'll know a lot more about Washington when they return home to play 1-0 Syracuse. I'm cheering for Washington to do well. They have a strong legacy and a great young coach in Steve Sarkisian. I'm a big Sarkisian fan, not just because he used to be a BYU quality quarterback and a former assistant coach with USC, but that certainly helps. Actually I wish things would have worked out that he'd been been USC's head coach and not the smug Lane Kiffin.

I continue to wonder about the Pac 10's viability as a football conference. They finished 6-4 in the first weekend. But the six wins came against cream puffs. In all the games where the two teams were more evenly matched the 4 Pac-10 teams lost. Good thing the Pac-10 has the Utes coming next season, they can show the alleged big boys how to play some real football. As for right now the Pac 10 remains USC and the the little sisters of the poor. We'll get a better idea of how good the Pac 10 conference will be in football in Week 3. They play a bunch of weak teams again next week, then week 3 will be a true measuring stick.

It seems to me we should start judging teams by how good the team is and not what conference they play in.

thefootballaddict

This is who I want to be my commander.

Hello,



Above is a picture from justjared of Rihanna in Oahu filming the movie "Battleship", yes based on the board game.

Kara DiaGuardia has announced she "quit" "American Idol". Thank goodness she was dumb and a terrible judge. It seems the Season 10 judging panel is going to be Steven Tyler (boo!), JLo (she could be good maybe) and Randy Jackson. Speaking of dumb Randy Jackson is the worst judge in the history of that show. Has he ever once had an intelligent comment? There's only two reasons he still has a job. He has a signed contract for this year and Fox is too cheap to pay him for not working. But I think the most obvious reason he still has a job is he has some pictures of the producers in inappropriate poses. That's the only way one of the lamest ever celebrities can hold on to their job.

Someone by the username Amber posted at ew.com, "They could record him on the first week of performances, save them and then put them on shuffle and play them after every contestant for the rest of the season, and no one would notice." Not only is she funny, she's absolutely correct.

Again I heard another idiot national sports person dis on MWC teams. This is Desmond "The Idiot" Howard from ESPN. First ESPN correspondent predicted Pittsburgh would beat Utah, um they didn't. Now Howard has predicted that Washington is going to upset BYU. First of all would that really be an upset. BYU is going to be starting a quarterback, Riley Nelson, who hasn't played college football in two years. Whereas Washington is starting stud and Heisman hopeful Jake Locker. He's a very dangerous and elusive quarterback and can completely dominate a game. Not only that but after a few years in the bottom of the Pac-10 the Huskies are hungry. I would say this is a pretty evenly matched game- two okay teams battling. Whoever wins that game is going to be a toss up.

I thought Howard is suppose to be an expert? But that wasn't enough for Howard, he then predicted that #24 Oregon St. is going to go into Texas and beat #6 TCU and win. By the way TCU at #6, that's #6 in the nation, not the Mountain West Conference. Does he watch college football, has he not seen how many teams TCU has emasculated? Does he not know how dominant the Horned Frogs defense is? Am I just being paranoid or does these people have some issue against MWC football? BYU- Washington will be a battle, but now I'm going to enjoy TCU beating Oregon St. by at least 3 touchdowns. Desmond maybe you would watch some football tonight. I'd especially suggest you watch the TCU game, obviously you havent' watched them ever play.

Also you got to give props to BYU, TCU, Oregon St. and Washington for playing actual teams this weekend. They aren't like some colleges and playing Samford, Florida A&M, Youngstown and Miami of Ohio. What's the matter was Yo Mamma St busy this weekend.

themusicaddict

"Closer", Natalie Portman, Football, Football and Football

Hello,

I watched "Closer" last night and it's a very interesting movie. Natalie Portman absolutely looks stunning in this movie, especially in the opening scene where she's walking on the street in a crowd. I looked for a good picture from that scene but I couldn't find one. I never really thought of Natalie Portman as a Uber-babe but in this movie, WOW!

College football starts tonight. I'll be cheering on my alma mater Utah, as they battle #15 Pittsburgh. As usual Utah isn't getting much national love, but I'm excited to see Jordan Wynn. Then right after that game it will be USC killing Hawaii. Football, Diet Coke and Doritos. Life doesn't get much better than that.

BYU starts play on Saturday, they'll be taking on the Washington Huskies and Heisman hopeful Jake Locker. I'm still not sold on BYU going independent in football starting next season. But things have started out pretty good so far. First of all BYU signed a 8 year contract with ESPN for them to have the rights to BYU's home games until 2018. Also BYU is going to play a 6 game series with Notre Dame which will take place by 2020. That's something that never would have happened if they were still in the MWC. Also BYU will be on ESPN, which is a 100 times better than the MTN. That network sucks bad.

How strange will it be for starting next year no Utah teams be in the MWC, unless the state of Utah's little sister of the poor Utah State may join. The MWC will go from being the most important conference in Utah to an after thought. The MWC is still going to be a good football conference. Next year they will still have the powerful TCU and BSU (Broncos beat Va. Tech on Monday please!) Fresno State and I keep on waiting for CSU to bounce back.

thefootballaddict