Bobby Valentine New Red Sox Manager?, Adele again

Hello,

It seems very likely that the Boston Red Sox will name Bobby Valentine to be their new manager today. Honestly I can't say I'm overly excited about this. I spent a few minutes trying to track down what his overall record as a manager was. I'm only considering the time he spent in MLB. The information I found is incomplete. There are a few years in the late 80's I can't find what his managing record with the Texas Rangers was. He was fired midway through the 1992 season so it can't be too good. The best I can tell with the limited information I have is his overall managing record is 431-378. Although I'm guessing the missing Texas years will bring his record closer to .500.

He's managed the Mets to the NLCS in 1998 before losing to the Braves 4-2 in the NLCS. In 1999 the Mets went to the World Series where they lost to the Yankees 4-1. He also finished second for the Manager Of the Year Award when he managed the Rangers in 1986.

So he's had some highlights, but I'm still not overwhelmed that he'll be managing the Red Sox. To me it seems the recycled old white guy syndrome. Instead of taking a chance on some young up and coming manager (Ryne Sandberg for instance) they go with a safe choice. It seems part of the corporate America cya thinking.

Obviously time will tell. He does have some experience and some success. Also when you have a team like the Red Sox do there should be a measure of success no matter who's managing them. I think this job is more about managing egos rather than x's and o's. It would also help if they can keep Jacoby Ellsbury long term and find some durable starting pitching.

Regular readers of this blog will know I'm a humongous fan of Spotify. I love nearly everything about it. I love how it's free, that I can listen to it any time I want for as long as I want. I love the more than 17 million songs available. I've saved a lot of money by listening to Spotify because I listen to CDs on Spotify before buying them. Also I've stumbled across bands I never would have any other way. Without Spotify I might not have ever heard of The Horrible Crowes. Of if I heard it might have only been in passing and I wouldn't have discovered the good songs they have.

My only complaint, and it's relatively minor, is that threes some music that they don't have. Although I'm not a big Bob Dylan fan, their fraction available of his music is a glaring omission. They also don't have the new Red Hot Chili Peppers "I'm With You" CD available. (By the way "I'm With You" as a CD title? Is that not the wimpiest CD title? A funk rock band should title their CD something like "Blood Sugar Sex Magic".) In fact, they don't have "Stadium Arcadium" available either. I also wanted to listen to the new Blink-182 CD "Neighborhoods" the other day, but it wasn't there. It has been added now though. That shows they are working hard to get all music on Spotify.

For some reason it seems Spotify has a problem getting live CDs. They don't have the live CDs from many prominent acts. For instance, they don't have Taylor Swift's "Speak Now World Tour Live" or "Adele Live At The Royal Albert Hall". They also don't have Roger Water's " Wall: Live in Berlin 1990".

But other than those minor quibbles I love Spotify. Thanks Spotify for all the great, free music.

Thankfully the "Adele Live At The Royal Albert Hall" was streaming at rolling stone.com. I listened to this CD about 3 times yesterday. She has such an amazing voice and this is another one of her inspired covers. This is the Steel Drivers (yeah I've never heard of them either) "If It Hadn't Been For Love":

The clip from Royal Albert Hall wasn't available, but the one from the iTunes festival is. I love this clip because we get to see a bit of her personality. She seems like she's very funny and unaffected. Of course Adele has that big voice. She may have to be added to my list of greatest voices ever.

From her Royal Albert Hall concert this is "Rolling In The Deep":

Head Coaching Football News, Who's Going To Win The NFC East? The Amazing Adele!

Hello,

Although I do have a lot of things to take up my time, I still find time to read. I'm currently reading Michael Crichton's "The Lost World". This is the sequel to the amazing "Jurassic Park". I'm pretty sure I've read this book before and I don't have particularly fond memories of it. However I'm enjoying it much more this time. This sequel doesn't seem to be as exploitive as many other sequels. The story in this book is logical and feels like a natural follow up.

I've been a big Crichton fan since reading "Jurassic Park". Although he's now dead I was excited to see he had a new book out now. The title is "Micro", it has been finished by another author.

Urban Meyer has been named the new coach for Ohio State. The former Utah and Florida coach is a proven winner as he's won two BCS titles. His last team with the Utes was also a great team. It seems that most coaches just can't stay away. Good luck Urban.

It's also been announced that UCLA is firing Rick Neuheisel although he'll be allowed to coach the Pac 12 Championship Game. Is that a reward or a punishment for Neuheisel? What insane person wants the head coaching job at UCLA? Rumors are that UCLA may go after Boise State's Chris Peterson. But why would he want that job? He would be playing in a much bigger conference and probably make more money. He would also probably be able to have better recruiting. Of course he would have to battle against USC for the best of those players. If you had a choice which school would you go to? The team that wins a lot more and sends more players to the NFL or the Bruins?

However Peterson's teams wouldn't win as much. UCLA hasn't been relevant for how many years now? Although the Pac 12 is an automatic qualifying league, I'm not convinced he would have a better chance at winning a BCS Title there. He'd probably also have to give up a lot of his autonomy and would have to be the coach for the perennial little brother of USC. With all the conference shifting I see Boise State winding up in an aq conference soon enough.

It cracks me up that in the inaugural Pac 12 Championship game, that the game will be played between a top ten team in Oregon and an unranked UCLA team. The Bruins is the same team that is 6-6 overall and lost their last game by 50 points.

On to the NFL, who's going to win the NFC East? Good thing for the NFC West and the AFC West or this might be the worst division in the NFL. Just look at the pathetic NFC Least. Dallas has the best record at 7-4. However that doesn't mean they are the best team. This is the same team who already has had two humongous chokes, against the Jets and Lions. They also didn't look very good against a 3 win Miami team at home. They have a quarterback who only has one playoff victory and doesn't inspire very much confidence. The Cowboys also have an unproven head coach and a suspect defense. Plus Dallas still has to play New York twice this season and those Giants seem to have the Cowboys number. I wouldn't be surprised if the Giants win both of those games.

The best team in the division might be the 6-5 New York Giants. However they have lost 3 in a row and play the undefeated Green Bay Packers this weekend. The Giants defense gave up 49 points last night, how many will they give up against Green Bay? They also play those two games against Dallas, another rivalry game against the Redskins and on Christmas Eve play the Jets. The Jets that will be battling to make the playoffs. The Giants also have the most annoying coach, Tom Coughlin, in the NFL. Like Dallas they have a suspect quarterback in Eli Manning. Yes, I know he has won a Super Bowl. However I chalk that up to a miracle and not his skill. Of course they beat Dallas in those playoffs. (See above.)

Then we have the so called dream team the Philadelphia Eagles. Talking about a team that's less than the sum of it's parts. I'm still laughing Philadelphia gave Michael Vick a 5 year, $100 million contract. This team might be the team that gets Andy Reid fired. There are also problems with DeSean Jackson. At 4-7 the dream team has had a nightmare season and are out of the playoffs.

Lastly and lastly is the Washington Redskins. Since Daniel Snyder has been their owner it seems this team can't crack the mediocrity ceiling. It's hard to believe this is the same team that once had Art Monk, Joe Theisman and John Riggins. Snyder is almost as obnoxious as Jerry Jones, but at least the Cowboys have won under Jones. Albeit a long time ago. Have the Redskins even won a playoff game in the Daniel Snyder era? I don't know but I know they aren't going to win a playoff game this year. At least they don't have very high expectations to meet every year.

It's a good thing that at least one team from the NFC East has to go to the playoffs. If it wasn't for that rule this division might not have a playoff representative.

"The Walking Dead" TV show has many problems, one of those being way too many characters. They passed up a good chance to get rid of a few in the great zombie massacre of 2011. This show needs to get rid of some characters and oh yeah get the hell off of Hershel's farm. I was surprised though by a recent ew.com poll. They asked "Who Would You Kill Off On "The Walking Dead"? They listed several choices. They need to get rid of some characters and not replace them. By percentage of votes this is the Top 6 in the ew.com vote.

1) Shane at 19.14%. I don't understand why he's the highest vote getter. Sure the actor that plays him overacts and the story line regarding Lori is annoying. However he's one of the only people who does anything on this show. Remember it was his temper tantrum that lead to the explosive final for the first half of this season. What would this show be without Shane? It would even be worse.

2) T-Dog at 17.34%. I don't understand why he isn't the highest vote getter. What has he done on this show that's noteworthy? The writers coming up with that scene where he was whining on the highway shows they are desperate to find something relevant for him to do. Unfortunately this show already has too much talking. Robert Kirkman and Glenn Mazarra do us a favor and get rid of this space filler.

3) Carol at 12.12%. Like me you probably wondered who is Carol? She's better known as the Mom of the long lost zombie Sophia. In not even knowing this character's name shows how little of an impact she has made on my consciousness. I only think of her when she appears on my TV screen. This show can do quite well without her.

4) Andrea at 11.21%. Now I don't understand why she has received such a high percentage of votes. It was a little boring when her sister was still alive. But ever since she had to kill her sister she's actually becoming much more important to the show. Remember she's one of the shooters in the great zombie massacre and it didn't feel like it was to give her character to do something. She's become a very effective zombie killer. Even more importantly she's become a character who actually does something, which this show so desperately needs. Killing zombies check. Initiating sex with Shane check. Telling Dale to shut the hell up check. Three solid reasons to keep this character for the foreseeable future.

5) Dale at 9.68%. The Meddling Millie of the show. He really is a lame character, a character without anything interesting about him. When your defining characteristic is that he drives an RV, what does that tell you? When he finally does take action he makes dumb choices. Trying to get rid of guns in the zombie apocalypse? That's just plain stupid. He also seems to stir up trouble. He admits he isn't made for the world he's in, it's time for him to go asap.

6) Random Hershel family member at 9.47%. This show is already too cluttered, why introduce these random space filling characters. Other than Maggie, the characters on Hershel's farm are as brainless as the zombies they tried to protect.

All the characters are better in Kirkman's et al. graphic novels.

Here's a couple of good songs. I love this song by Meiko:

Do you remember this song?

You have to be old like me to remember this song, this is back from the best decade for music. That would be the 80's. I wrote about Geddy Lee's voice as now sounding whiny yesterday. I do not mean that as he was whining. Geddy I understand that it sucks getting older. This is a song that showcased his vocals at their best.

This is the amazing Adele from her "Live At Royal Albert Hall" CD that was released today. For a limited time Rolling Stone is streaming this whole CD. I would definitely suggest you check it out. Adele has an amazing live voice. She has a lot of her own amazing songs plus some inspired covers.

This is one of her inspired covers:

themusicaddict

Great songs!

Hello,

I got so bored of writing my blog about "The Walking Dead" that I hurriedly finished it. And no I don't expect you to finish reading it either. However I do want to pass on some great songs.

Again I love this song and love how Taylor, her band and dancers performed it in concert. With how much of her music I've listened to over the past few weeks, I have started getting sick of some of her songs. However I haven't got sick of "Speak Now" yet.

Nancy Sinatra's great song:

I'm starting to get into The Horrible Crowes, here's one of my favorite of their songs:

This is another song by The Horrible Crowes, this is "Behold The Hurricane":

This is a bit of an obscure song but it came up while listening to iTunes on random. This is Ozmatli's "It's Only Paper".

Yes I know lot's of people mock Creed for many things. I originally was one of the mockers but over time I got to where I liked their music. I even went and saw them in concert. A band that seemed like it wasn't built to last. But in their time they did have several good songs. I love this song:

Do you remember Harvey Danger? If not here's their great song:

Rush's "Red Barchetta" live. Rush recently released "Live In Cleveland", it has all their classic songs on it. Unfortunately Geddy Lee's voice is sounding very whiny now days. Other than being a Rush completist, I wouldn't suggest anyone else by "Live In Cleveland".

One more classic Rush song, this is the amazing "Tom Sawyer". I like a band that can poke fun at itself.

themusicaddict

"The Walking Dead": "Pretty Much Dead Already" (Spoiler Alert) Partial Blog.

Hello,

Tonight's episode started out with Rick's gang all outside hanging out eating breakfast. When tonight's episode started I was cleaning up and only paid half attention, that's how boring it started out. Again Glenn is stuck in the cross hairs. On one hand he looks and sees Maggie, his lover, shaking her head "no". But he looks to his left and Dale is nodding his head yes. (Of course it's the Meddling Millie of the bunch who's urging Glenn to tell everyone.) Glenn tells everyone that the barn is full of walkers

Daryl talks with Sophia's Mom again he tells her they'll find Sophia. They have a moment and seem about ready to get together. I know the options are limited in the Zombie Apocalypse, but that pairing still seems a little strange to me.

Rick, thinking he's still the leader, goes and talks to Hershel about what's in the barn. This leads to Hershel telling Rick he wants Rick and his people off his farm by the end of the week. I think Shane has a point about Rick not being made for this world. Rick begs Hershel for his people to stay on the farm. He also tells Hershel that his wife is pregnant. If I was Hershel I'd be skeptical about that, the timing seems too convenient. Rick tells Hershel about how it is really out in the world and that his farm is protected. I'm sorry that's just so hard to believe that his farm has been safe from zombies.

Hershel only saw the zombies on the TV, he has no idea how dangerous they are. It still seems it's highly unlikely that he wouldn't want to kill them. Zombies only have one purpose, that is to eat and infect people. Why would you want to save someone like that? Hershel would say because they are his family. Except there's no proof that they are still family.

Hershel and Maggie later talk about how she wants them to stick around and quotes Jesus. It's not just for Glenn either. It seems like she's believing in the safety in numbers idea. Of Hershel's people she seems to be the one most in touch with reality. Maybe that's why she's reaching out to Glenn, maybe it's not sex she's looking for.

Glenn and Maggie have a fight. She smashes an egg over his head. He asks her why would she destroy a precious egg? She responds that she thinks it's a rotten egg. That obviously is a pointed comment at Glenn. It's that kind of small detail that has kept me watching this show so far. The egg being smashed over Glenn's head leads to the most disgusting moment of the whole show: Glenn putting on Dale's hat. Why would he want to wear that grimy, nasty thing.

Later Glenn explains to her why he told the others about the walkers in the barns. He'd rather have her mad at him and safe rather than dead and happy with him. He says "no more secrets". Those are some of the sweetest words of dialogue in this season. It's because of all the secrets that we've had so much dissatisfying story telling. Of course, it's these secrets that have been giving this season it's stories. If there hadn't been secrets what would have been the story lines. Without those secrets propping up the story, the writers and producers would have had to be creative in coming up with the story.

Later Shane confronts Lori about about how many times he's saved her life. He's obviously still wanting to be with Lori. Lori seems to be conflicted between Rick and Shane. I'm not even sure why we have the Shane and Lori scene. It seems completely pointless to the rest of the episode. That scene gives the two biggest over actors in the show a chance to even kill the show more. It seems the more the show strays from the graphic novel the worse it becomes. Remember in the graphic novel Shane dies fairly early on. I can see why the producers kept him on in the show though. Without him and Daryl who would be able to protect everyone.

For the second consecutive episode Shane and the annoying Dale have another confrontation. Again Dale remains one of this show's most worthless characters. Dale has a brilliant idea: he's going to take all the guns and dispose of them. Yeah that's a good idea in the zombie apocalypse. I have no idea what's the upside to his plan. If Dale wants to maintain his humanity, he should have swallowed a bullet a long time ago. Again just another stupid story line from the show.

Love him or hate him at least Shane is a man of action. Of course Dale can't prevent Shane from getting the guns back. Then Dale whines about how he may not be long for this world but at least he has his humanity or some such pretentious bullshit. "Yawn" The drivel these characters are forced to say. There's a difference between hating a character and not caring about a character. I don't care about Dale or his fate. What do the producers plan on doing with him and T-Dog. For the most part now they are just taking up space. I was hoping that the zombies would take out T-Dog or Dale at the end of this episode.

Then Hershel wants Rick to help him and they have those poles with a loop at the end and Hershel gets Rick to help him to take these two walkers back to the barn. I understand Rick wanting to stay at Hershel's farm and getting along so that he can. But he's seen what these walkers can do and he knows how dangerous they are. He just lays down and goes against all of his hard earned knowledge just to get along?

Meanwhile Shane is outside of Hershel's house trying to start a revolution to kill the zombies in the barn. The guns he took back from Dale, he starts handing out candy. He's obviously knows what he wants to do and nothing is going to get in his way. He's going to give a gun to Carl but Mom Grimes says that it's not Shane's call. More overacting from Sarah Wayne Callies. She's brutally bad.

Rick, Hershel and son? come back. Shane demonstrates how these walkers aren't people. He continues shooting one of the zombies in holder. The zombie keeps on coming until he finally shoots it in the head. That's one of the hard earned things that Rick and gang learned out in the real world.

Shane continues his temper tantrum and breaks the locks on the barn. Of course no one else in this lifeless bunch stops him. The only one who would stop him is Daryl and I think Daryl quite likes shooting zombies. He's the Woody Harrelson of this zombie show. This leads to the big conclusion. The zombies come shuffling out of the barn. Shane, Daryl, Andrea and the suddenly awake T-Dog line up in firing range style and kill all the zombies. Then at the end a teenage female zombie comes out of the barn. This of course is the long lost Sophia. The character this show has wasted 7 hours of my life trying to find. And she's been in the barn the whole time.

I'm incredulous beyond belief about this story line. Again in the superior graphic novels Sophia is still very much alive. How long was Sophia in the barn? Who was the one that put her in the barn? How did they do it and keep it a secret from Rick's crew. If Hershel wants to get rid of Rick and his people so bad why didn't he tell Rick? How did they keep the other zombies in the barn while putting Sophia in there?

Hershel could just watch helplessly as his precious zombies were mowed down. Again in the graphic novel this scene is so much more realistic. The zombies get out and they actually kill some of Hershel's family. That leads to Rick's group leaving the Hershel's damn boring farm.

From the previews it looks like when the show resumes again on February 12th they will still be on Hershel's farm. Why? I love how one of the previews shows something about Hershel going missing. The way the preview is cut it looks like that Rick is going after him. Again John Locke, Sayid, Sawyer, Jack, Kate, Ana Lucia please report to "The Walking Dead" stat.

It's 2.5 months until the second half of season two starts. Will I continue watching it then? I'm not sure. With how dumb the story lines have been and with how slow the pace has been I could have forgot about it by then. Of course in the mean time "Mad Men" is going to have it's start. And AMC likes to run to death it's previews for upcoming shows so I'll probably receive many reminders for it.

Other than "Mad Men" I've pretty much given up on AMC at this point. From how average "The Walking Dead" has been to how lame "The Killing" ended to how bad and boring the first episode of "Hell On Wheels" was. I had set "Hell on Wheels" to record, but last night I went through and deleted all of the episodes from my DVR. AMC should change their advertising slogan to the worst original stories.

"The Walking Dead"... epic fail.

themusicaddict

"The Walking Dead" Midseason Finale (What a Bunch of Crap That Is) Is Tonight

Hello,

http://watching-tv.ew.com/2011/11/27/walking-dead-season-2-episode-7-sophia/

The above is the link to Ken Tucker's preview about tonight's midseason finale of "The Walking Dead". Tucker writes it's pretty much awful until the final scene. I've included the link so you can form your own opinion. After tonight this zombie show is going on extended hiatus until February 12th. There's no truth to the rumor that the actors playing the main characters are actually zombies. If tonight's episode sucks will you be back in February? I know that season 3 has already been green lighted, can they un green light it?

I keep on watching this show because it has so much potential. However it has failed to deliver on that potential for so long, I'm starting to doubt it ever will. Tonight will be the 7th episode dealing with the Sophia gone missing story line. That may be the most boring story line on any of AMC's original programming. If that hasn't resolved by tonight, it will be a travesty. Honestly it should have lasted no more than 2 or 3 episodes. It's the kind of story line that makes me wonder if Veena Sud has become the show runner for this show. She's the awful show runner for "The Killing".

Tonight's episode title for "The Walking Dead" is sort of a self preview. It's titled "Pretty Much Dead Already". Why does that phrase seem like it will be part of another one of those boring, drama sucking speeches by Lori Grimes? She's not the best character in the graphic novels, but the actress playing her has reduced her to a little more than a stock character. It doesn't get worse than a terrible actor playing a terrible character. If "The Walking Dead" somehow survives the Lori Grimes character needs a much better actress. Can they find a new actress to play this role starting when this show starts again on February 12th? This show needs a Kate Austen or an Ana Lucia.

Meanwhile I continue working through "Lost". I watched Season 3, episode 3 last night. It's the one titled "Further Instructions". The flashbacks are for Locke where he realizes he's more of a farmer than a hunter. After being in a sweat lodge Boone comes and tells him he has to go clean up his own mess. To do that Locke has to save Mr. Kko, who has been dragged away by a polar bear. Locke and Charlie go to a cave and save Mr. Eko from the polar bear.

In thinking about the comparison and contrast between the characters of those two series is amazing. That's one of the many reasons why "Lost" is so much better than "The Walking Dead". Look at the great and interesting characters in "Lost". There's Locke, Sawyer, Jack, Mr. Eko, Kate, Ana Lucia etc. It really has no awful characters, although I don't miss Micheal or Walt. Now let's look at the interesting characters in "The Walking Dead". There's, um huh.... Both Rick and Shane could be interesting but they do too much talking and don't get enough action. Could you imagine "Lost" have a 7 episode arc about a missing character that leads to a bunch of dead ends?

Now let's look at the awful characters in "The Walking Dead". The lame T-Dog, the opinionated stupid Dale, the Kurtzian Hershel, the above mentioned Lori, Sophia, Sophia's Mom and up until now Carl Grimes. Although he did get a little spark of life in the last episode. I'm hoping at least two of those characters become zombie food when hopefully the zombies get out of the barn tonight.

Two more quick things. I went and saw a couple of movies over the weekend. One of the most polarizing movies in a long time seems to be "Hugo". I want and saw it with 3 friends Friday night and we all agreed that it was awful. It's dreadfully boring and it doesn't know what kind of movie it wants to be. It starts out as a kid film, but about halfway through it changes to a movie honoring the silent movie era. There's only the most tenuous link between the two vastly different halves of the movie.

The movie is directed by Martin Scorcese so he obviously usually knows what he's doing. I also can see what kind of movie he was trying to make here. In the core of the movie lies a great story, but the execution is terrible. (Wow that reminds me exactly of "The Walking Dead".)

I also went and watched "The Muppets" last night and that was a much better movie. I loved the show as a kid, especially the two old men in the balcony. They don't see enough time in this movie though. But overall this was a pretty good movie. I liked a lot of the music in the movie. So much so that I was listening to Muppets music on Spotify last night. The Muppets Christmas music is also pretty good.

Here are a couple of my favorite Muppet songs ever. I feel a bit silly but I absolutely love "The Rainbow Connection":

This is probably favorite song from the movie:

"Man or Muppet":

themusicaddict

Greed Wins Again, Utes Don't

Hello,

In the NBA it looks like there's been a "handshake agreement". Once again greed is the winner in major professional sports leagues. David Stern said "We want to play basketball". But obviously what he's really saying is "We want to make money". Anything to get those games played on Christmas Day. Training camps open on December 9th. (Just for a contrast. MLB just barely reached an agreement on a new 5 year CBA. Here are the stats: Days on Lockout/Strike: 0, Drama: 0, Greed: a much lesser amount than either the NFL or NBA.) Provided the Christmas Day schedule doesn't change there will be three games that day. First there will be New York-Boston. The NBA's most hyped team vs. a very old team. The only reason to watch this game would be to laugh at the lack of chemistry between Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire.

The second game will be Miami-Dallas in a NBA Finals rematch. The last game of the day will be Chicago vs. the Lakers. I'm predicting that Carlos Boozer will be injured for this game. Long rumored in these negotiations is an amnesty clause. That's where a team could dump a bad, expensive contract. I haven't been able to find out if the amnesty is part of this CBA. Although unlikely, I would love if the Bulls used the amnesty clause on Loozer. Both these games could be interesting, depending on well the teams can play cohesively.

Now for those Utah Utes. In spite of this being the last regular season game of the season.... In spite of this game being senior day for 18 departing seniors... In spite of the Utes having a chance to play in the Pac 12 Championship Game against Oregon.... In spite of Utah playing the worst team in the Pac 12.... (In the could've, would've, should've department: California beat Arizona St. last night. If the Utes had beat Colorado last night, they would have qualified for the Pac 12 Championship game after USC beats UCLA today.) In spite of all those things the Utes still lost.

That's an extremely disappointing result for my alma mater. Ute kicker Coleman Peterson probably feels the worst of any Ute. He was clutch in kicking three field goals in snowy, windy conditions last week against WSU. However on a cold, clear day in Salt Lake City he missed all three of his field goals.

The Utes will now finish their first Pac 12 season by playing a meaningless bowl game. But at least it won't be as meaningless as the Armed Forces Bowl.

themusicaddict

Dallas Cowboys: Is 7-4 mostly Smoke and Mirrors?, Great Songs

Hello,

The Dallas Cowboys beat a very average Miami Dolphins team yesterday. Sure Miami had won 3 games in a row, but that still made them a 3-7 team. Their head coach is on the hot seat and will probably be fired at the end of the season. And Dallas still barely won 20-19. I know Rob Ryan is supposed to be a defensive guru, but his defense still suffer severe lapses at times. Their corners are awful, when they can play. Terrance Newman played yesterday and was abused a few times. The other starting corner, Mike Jenkins, missed the game to injury, again. Then their backups aren't very good either. Obviously new corner backs should be their #1 offseason priority.

After giving up four straight scoring drives that put Miami in front, Dallas finally came up with the big stop when they needed it. Then their offense was able to drive the ball down the field for Dan Bailey's very clutch field goal.

I'll have to admit that Tony Romo looked very good yesterday, especially in the second half. Although he threw two terrible interceptions in the first quarter. Then later in the second half he threw up a pass that somehow found it's way into Jason Witten's waiting arms for a first down. Still I never want to see him throw a pass like that again.

I like the emergence of Laurent Robinson and DeMarco Murray, two players who weren't a big part of the Cowboys offensive plans at the start of the season. Of course both benefitted from injuries. When both tissue thin Dez Bryant and Miles Austin were injured, Robinson got his chance. He has been a fantastic wide receiver since then, he caught two touchdown passes yesterday. Then Felix Jones got injured and they cut Tashard Choice, who's been very ineffective with the Redskins, and now Murray is the starting running back. I love that Murray is such a bruising runner. Now it seems that Jones is basically used for returning kickoffs.

There are some good things happening in Dallas but still it feels like a lot of the success is playing bad teams and smoke and mirrors. The Romocoaster has been up the last few games, that means he's due for a crash. What does it say about Romo that the Cowboys put a claim in on Kyle Orton when the Broncos released him. (Note to Denver Broncos, you really are putting your team in the hands of Tim Tebow? Damn that's crazy. I know he's playing well now and the Broncos are winning, but believe me it's not going to last. My son's team is the Broncos and I've tried to warn him away from a lifetime of heart break, but he won't listen.)

Now the next time he throws up a pass like he did against Miami the next time it will probably go for a pick six. The team continues to struggle with injuries, fortunately they've found better replacements for now. But that defense seems to have a few holes, especially in the secondary. Every time a pass is thrown their way I hope the quarterback overthrows their intended target. Hell Terrance Newman couldn't even stop a reception yesterday when he was tackling the receiver.

Dallas closes with 5 games I could see them losing. Although they have played two crappy teams the last two weeks they've just barely won. Next week they go to play Arizona, another not very good team. But I could see Dallas losing this game. They still have two more games against the yo yo New York Giants. They also play Philadelphia one more time, the mediocre Eagles destroyed and embarrassed Dallas the last time they played. This game will be in Dallas this time. Dallas is 5-1 at home, but they haven't played great at home for the most part. Their other game will be against Tampa Bay, a team that has under performed this season.

If everything breaks their way, Dallas could finish as the NFC's #3 seed. Now do I think that will happen? Are you crazy? No it won't happen, in fact I'd be very surprised if they make the playoffs. I'm just waiting for the Romocoaster to crash and Coach Garrett make another boneheaded decision. For the Cowboys it just seems that the whole is not bigger than the collection of their parts. In spite of being 7-4 I just have no confidence that the Dallas Cowboys team is that good.

Two other quick NFL notes, can anyone beat Green Bay? They just continue rolling, are we going to see Green Bay as the two time defending Super Bowl champs? I hope not, they are a boring champion.

The other two teams I cheer for are the 49ers and the Buccaneers. I'm very disappointed in the Buccaners, they've vastly under performed this season. They battled against Green Bay last week, but just couldn't pull out the win. They aren't making the playoffs this year.

In an ugly defensive battle San Francisco lost to Baltimore last night 16-6. San Francisco is now 9-2 but still should qualify for the #2 seed in the NFC. San Francisco should finish 13-3. Their last five games they play Pittsburgh and 4 poor sisters of the NFC West. I think their big question is how far will Alex Smith take them? I have even less faith in Smith than I do Tony Romo. The 49ers have been brilliant so far in limiting his downside and maximizing his limited upside. But how far will that go? I see some defensive coordinator licking his chops at playing a team with Smith as their starting quarterback. All San Francisco has done is win this year, but I feel less than comfortable about their Super Bowl chances. I do think they have a better chance than the Cowboys in winning the Super Bowl though.

Here's a great song for your day after Thanksgiving funk:

Every time I hear this song I think it's Ryan Adams. I then have to look at iTunes to be reminded it's Loudon Wainwright. This is "Motel Blues", a very strange song:

Another strange little ditty, but I think this is a cool song.

Great Romeo songs:

I know I've had this song on my blog several times, but it's just an amazing song. Dire Straits "Romeo and Juliet":

The great Billy Idol has his own Romeo song, this song kicks butt:

Steve Forbert's "Romeo's Tune":

From the "Romeo and Juliet" movie:

themusicaddict

themusicaddict

Happy Thanksgiving

BYU Says "No" to The Big Least, Thank Goodness

Hello,

Forgive me if this blog is a little strange, writing my previous blog has me listening to disco on iTunes.

Before I get to BYU spurning the Big East Conference, I'd like to comment on Stanford football coach David Shaw's comments. This is what Shaw said yesterday:

"Bottom line is, the BCS is flawed," Shaw said. "They themselves know it, which is why they proposed a lot of changes going forward. All I've heard all year is the computers don't like Stanford. Well, the computers haven't programmed themselves.

He's right of course. But the truth is any system is flawed until there is a playoff system. But with all the greed behind college football, they'll probably find a way to screw that up also. I would love a college football playoff system. Imagine how fun that would be? It would be just as intense as the NCAA Basketball Tourney. It's past time to have a college football playoff.

It seems BYU has broken off talks with the Big East Conference to join. The Big East, from here on out known as The Big Least, has automatic qualifying status to the BCS. Other than that it has nothing going for it. The rats are leaving the Titanic. Remember this is the league that TCU agreed to join, but then never did as they found a better offer. Boise State has been flirting with the Big East as well, but I hope they turn them down also.

The Big Least has a great basketball tradition, but has been pretty crappy for football the last few years. Also a lot of those schools that made it such a great basketball conference are also leaving. This is a dying league.

Here's the 8 teams in the Big Least Conference (thanks to ESPN.com):

Louisville	4-2	145	125	6-5	227	206	W1
Rutgers	4-2	138	103	8-3	294	185	W3
Cincinnati	3-2	112	117	7-3	337	200	L2
West Virginia	3-2	166	155	7-3	368	268	W1
Pittsburgh	3-2	133	111	5-5	256	228	W1
Connecticut	2-3	100	143	4-6	224	235	L1
South Florida	1-4	115	134	5-5	300	208	L1
Syracuse	1-4	113	134	5-5	257	279	L3

Let's look at some of the negative things about the Big Least conference. They don't have one team in the Top 25. And how in the hell are they a AQ conference? That's just one of the many bad things about the BCS. Looking at the records above, the Big Least defines mediocre. When one of your best teams only has a 6-5 overall record, what does that tell you about that conference? TCU would have completely destroyed the teams in this highly

overrated conference.

It's also only a matter of time until the Big Least loses its AQ status.

Now Syracuse, Pittsburgh and West Virginia are leaving the Big East over the next year or two. The Big East and those three schools are battling in the courts over when those they can leave. They may have to stick around as long as 2014. All I want to say to Big Least Commisioner John Marinetto, from personal experience, if someone wants to go let them go.

Pittsburgh always has a mediocre football program, Utah dominated them in Pittsburgh earlier this season. They aren't going to get significantly better any time soon. Syracuse is slowly getting better, but it was just a couple of years ago they were struggling to even win one game. West Virginia is just as mediocre as those two teams. All 3 schools basketball programs don't have much to brag about. Pittsburgh is usually pretty good until they reach the NCAA Tourney, then they fold.

Why would BYU want to join this dying conference? Soon The Big Least will be down to 5 teams. BYU also would have to give up the rights to their home games. Those same rights they are getting $7 million a year for. They would have to give that up to join The Big Least and they'd probably be taking in less money. BYU just barely escaped from the paltry $1.3 million from the Mountain Worst Conference. Again why would BYU want to give that up? Honestly I didn't see any upside for BYU joining the Big East.

Thank you BYU from staying away from the Big East. Stay independent until the Big 12 or Pac 12 comes calling.

themusicaddict