Happy Birthday Freddie Mercury. Google has a nice tribute to him at their website.
The September, 2011 musicaddict Book Club Selection is Jonathan Mahler's "Ladies and Gentlemen, The Bronx is Burning: 1977, Baseball, Politics, And The Battle For The Soul Of A City". 1977 was a crazy year in New York City and Mahler has written a book exploring all the crazy things and how they intertwined.
What happened that year in New York? Besides the Yankees and the mayoral battle between Mario Cuomo and Ed Koch you mean? It was also the summer of "Son of Sam" and Rupert Murdoch buying the New York Post. Murdoch was unknown at the time and it was several years before his newspapers used phone hacking to gain information. If that wasn't enough, there was also the opening of Studio 54, the famous blackout, punk rock and the coming of modern Soho. As a music fan I love that both disco and punk rock could exist side by side at the same time.
College football Week 1: What We Learned. Again based on their history and reputation The Fightin' Irish are over rated again. After losing at home to USF 23-20, Notre Dame now goes on the road. They play at Michigan on Saturday. It's interesting these two teams are playing each other. Both teams had vastly expanded games and a lot of waiting in their Week 1 games due to terrible weather. Against Michigan, Coach Brian Kelly is panicking. He's making a quarterback change after one game as he'll be starting sophomore Tommy Rees. Look to revolving quarterbacks for Notre Dame all season, giving neither one the ability to gain some momentum.
The only thing would be worse is to have two quarterbacks alternate possessions. How well did that work last season BYU?
Boise State knocked off another supposedly superior opponent again. How many of these teams do they have to beat before they get the respect they deserve? They've done everything they can. It seems in terms of respect BSU and Notre Dame are polar opposites. Notre Dame always gets a tremendous amount of respect before each season whereas Boise State is always being criticized. And how many years is it now that BSU has finished with a better record. Granted traditionally Notre Dame has a tougher schedule, but you still have to win if you want that respect. BSU plays the toughest teams they can. Many teams fear to play them. They upgraded their conference as well. It's not their fault once they started play in the MWC the best teams were out or on their way out. You can't blame anyone for leaving the Mountain West Conference and their terrible TV contract. BYU makes 5 times as much in a TV contract now than when they did as a member of the MWC.
If all the teams had stayed, imagine how good the MWC would be now. There would be the defending Rose Bowl Champions TCU, Boise State who only lost one game last season, the up and coming BYU Cougars and the consistently excellent Utah Utes. Granted the rest of the MWC isn't terribly good, but with those 4 teams I would say the MWC would be better than the Big East. Air Force, Nevada and Fresno State will add to that leagues strength which will help BSU some.
After Auburn barely escaped USU at home, they can look toward a terrible season this year. Auburn will finish somewhere around .500. The Tigers could start off 4-0, but after that they run into the meat of their schedule. Saturday they play Mississippi State at home, if they play as bad as they did against USU they could be beat. Then they play Clemson and Florida Atlantic. Again it's possible they go 4-0. However after that it will be tough going. They play at South Carolina, at Arkansas, welcome Florida and then go to play at top 5 LSU. Quite possibly they'll be 4-4 at that point. Then Auburn plays 3 winnable games before returning home to face Top 5 Alabama. My prediction 7-5 for Auburn.
The Pac 12 continues to be laughable, I've already written about that. In week 2, the Pac 12 should go 5-3 in games where Pac 12 teams aren't playing each other of course. That 5-3 record assumes that ASU beats #21 Missouri in Arizona. Meanwhile Stanford is getting ready for the Pac 12 season by playing another cream puff, Duke. These two schools would probably produce a much more exciting competition of mental acuity.
UCLA will get at least 1 win this year as they play woeful SJSU Saturday. Seriously UCLA will be lucky to win 4 games this season. Oregon St. better watch out this weekend as they travel to play #11 Wisconsin. Wisconsin loves to run up the score on teams. With OSU losing to Sacramento State in Oregon last week, I could see Wisconsin beating them like they did UNLV 51-17.
Utah plays USC, whoever wins this game sets themselves up for a fairly good season. Both of these teams struggled in Week 1. I expect better effort from both teams in Game 2. If I had to pick I would pick Utah to win this game. In spite of playing at home, USC has Lane Kiffin as their coach. I just don't have a lot of confidence in him. Again the Pac 12 has 3 or 4 good teams but after that there's a bunch of mediocrity.
BYU goes on the road to play #24 Texas. When this game is over I'll be very happy that BYU is 1-1. Although Texas didn't overwhelm in Week 1, they did handle Rice 34-9. I think Texas beats BYU fairly easily. I just hope BYU learns how to complete drives better.
But overall I think the #1 lesson from Week 1 is that we can't tell a lot after just one game. I could see Auburn, Texas, USC, Utah and Oregon playing a lot better in Week 2. Sometimes teams just have bad games and many times that bad game is the first game of the season. That's why you've got to give respect for Top 5 Oregon and LSU playing each other week 1.
themusicaddict
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