Hello,
Last night with great anticipation I watched the series premiere of "Person of Interest". It's from Executive Producers J.J. Abrams and Jonathan Nolan (Christopher's also very creative brother.) Recently I've got into "Lost", so far watching the first 16 of 25 episodes. I've absolutely loved the first few episodes of "Lost". I know we should never base a new series on what someone has done previously. Although the reason I wanted to watch "Person of Interest" is because of J.J. Abrams involvement with "Lost".
Anyway I watched the "Person of Interest" series premiere with a great deal of anticipation. As I was watching it though I realized that I was bored. "Lost" does have a few flaws, but one thing it wasn't was boring. I almost didn't finish watching "Interest's" first episode. I did finish watching it though and probably will watch it one or two more weeks at least. I know that Michael Emerson played a critical role in "Lost", he won an Emmy for his role as Benjamin Linus. However is his character suppose to be so wimpy in this series? After all the great actors in the first few episodes of "Lost" I expect a lot more from people that appeared in "Lost".
But thinking about it this morning, I realized this is essentially a detective show. It has a bit of a sic fi sheen to it, but it's Law and Order with a sci fi twist. After the first week I'd have to give this show a thumbs down. Also I know we live in a world where we have Big Brother watching every move we make. (Don't fool yourself by thinking that making a few changes on Facebook that some of what you do there will be hid from enquiring minds.) While I'm well aware of that I just don't want to see it play such a big role in my TV viewing experience. It just doesn't make for good TV.
With so many detective shows, it's easy to lose any one of them in TV universe. I wouldn't be surprised of "Person of Interest" gets lost and then cancelled in the next few weeks. I like a good detective show as much as the next person. But how many times can you kill a person before everything starts feeling the same? While watching "Person Of Interest" last night, it felt I had seen that episode many times before. That's because I had, it had just been on a different show. If you really must make a detective show now, the best ones have a sense-of-humor. That's why I love "Castle" and "Rizzoli and Isles" so much. Also that sense-of-humor when "Law and Order" had Jerry Orbach were some of the best episodes of all it's series.
Speaking of a person of interest if BYU loses tonight, the pressure on Bronco Mendenhall is going to increase. In what looked like could be a promising season, the wheels of this vehicle are beginning to spin off. This is what I wrote in my pre season BYU preview: "Sticking with the 50-50 theme I'm predicting BYU will be 2-2 after their first four games of the season". Now with BYU at 1-2, and very lucky in getting that first win, I'd be very happy if BYU is 2-2 after tonight's game.
What has gone wrong for BYU so far? Quite a few things. The worst thing about last week's loss was Utah dominated them so thoroughly, that BYU completely quit. Utah's a better team, fine. But giving up, that's extremely unacceptable. Is BYU completely quitting Bronco Mendenhall's fault? No! It's his job to coach them and give the players the tools to succeed. But at some point that responsibility falls completely on the players. I expect so much more effort from a BYU team.
Since he's the head coach he's going to get most of the blame anyway. BYU is never going to be known for their defense but it has looked good enough. Another problem is the preseason hype was more than what BYU and Jake Heaps could deliver on. Heaps is looking like Tony Romo, before Romo's courageous performance this last weekend, a lot of good stats but choking in the most crucial times. Heaps has an above average quarterback rating, but in the most crucial times he hasn't looked sharp. And Jake if you are going to say something please think it through first. Some of your inane comments following the Cougars demolition at the hands of Utah were off putting to say the least. He's someone that really could have used the humility he would have learned on a mission.
Another major problem for BYU is their offensive line, which I thought was going to be the strength of the group. They have looked very average. They cannot get a running game going. Yes I realize the yards BYU loses on a quarterback stat count against the rushing yards. BYU has rushed for 91, 43 and 11 yards in the last three weeks. Those rushing yard totals are almost so paltry that I almost didn't need a calculator to figure out they are only averaging 48 yards rushing per game. Not only that but did you notice the rushing totals are going down each week? Each week they played a team from one of the 6 BCS conferences. They played teams from the hallowed SEC, the faltering Big 12 and the over rated Pac 12.
BYU plays the University of Central Florida Knights tonight, the game is in Provo. The Knights are 2-1 but they've played some pretty mediocre competition. From their stats it seems like they have a pretty stout rush defense. They gave up 49 rush yards to 0-3 Charleston Southern. They gave up 84 rush yards to 0-2 Boston College. They were 2-0 at that point before suffering their first loss last week to the 3-0 Florida International Football team. They have up 111 rush yards to Florida International. They are giving up more yards per game each week. Of course they also increased in schedule strength.
So a big stat tonight might be rushing yards that BYU gains, the more they gain the more they are likely to win. That's true of every team, but I think even more true of the game tonight. Also it seems the tendency for BYU is when their run game gets stuck to fall in love with and over rely on their passing game. I hate when BYU has a three and out possession and all 3 plays were pass plays. Also please everybody can we please give Brandon Doman a break. He has been an offensive coordinator for a total of three games. Let's at least give him a whole season before we start criticizing him.
Also where is Josh Quezada? I realize he's only a true sophomore, but I was really expecting him to have a break out season. Quezada has only rushed for 28 yards on 14 carries this year. An average of two yards per carry isn't going to be the offensive cure all. BYU's offensive line needs to open up bigger holes and BYU's backs need to get through those holes quicker.
BYU has a lot of young players and I think BYU is going in the right direction, but this is the time those young players need to start breaking out. And for Jake Heaps it's getting to be put up or shut up time, although him shutting up either way wouldn't be a bad idea. And also when a ball is fumbled by you, would it hurt you to go after it?
Funny thing of the day. The greedy NBA and their players have long been in negotiations on trying to reach a new collective bargaining agreement. The movement in negotiations has been slow, if at all, and many people think that there might not be a season. I think that would be great. The NBA had a great season last year, with one of the best playoffs in memory. But with both sides using corporate America thinking, they have decided due to greed to not play. That kills the momentum last season built up. So it's too no one's surprise that the NBA came out with the following announcement today.
"The NBA postponed training camps indefinitely and canceled 43 preseason games Friday because it has not reached a new labor deal with players. All games from Oct. 9-15 are off, the league said. Camps were expected to open Oct. 3.
NBA.com's schedule page, which has a banner across the top listing the number of games on each day, was changed Friday morning to read "0 Games" for each date until Oct. 16, when there are four games.
"We have regretfully reached the point on the calendar where we are not able to open training camps on time and need to cancel the first week of preseason games," deputy commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. "We will make further decisions as warranted."
I like the NBA, but I think some humility of a lost season would be good for both players and owners.
My one music related note of the day. Dear Spotify I'm ready to go steady. I've been listening to needtobreathe and Blondie all day. However can you stop playing that commercial for the new Demi Lovato song? If not we are going to have to break up.
themusicaddict
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