Hello,
It has been a busy couple of days for me as I'm getting ready for inventory where I work. But I love college football so how could I not post today? If you didn't know, today is the kickoff of the college football season. This hits for really close to home for me. That's because my favorite school, BYU, and my alma mater, the University of Utah, both kickoff today. Alright for you USU Aggies fans, they also start their season. They'll play SUU, the first of 3 Utah schools they play this year.
Utah plays one of those direction schools, Northern Colorado. If you are a so-called directional school, that usually means you are pretty terrible in athletics. For every North Carolina there's 30 North Texas States. And when it comes to athletics Washington State is somewhere in the middle of those two teams.
Offensive mastermind Mike Leach makes his debut for Washington State. His Cougars will travel to play the Cougars of BYU at LaVell Edwards Stadium. With temperatures probably in the 70's or 80's at game time it should be perfect football weather. The game will be nationwide on ESPN, what will those tuning in see? WSU probably has the higher profile- that profile is nearly all to do with Leach. WSU doesn't have much of a athletics legacy and they've been terrible the last several years. I've tried to think of the last professional athlete that played at Washington State and no one comes to mind. For SEC fans: in football WSU is the Vanderbilt of the Pac 12.
With it being a first game it will be interesting how WSU operates Leach's spread offense. Equally interesting will be how the BYU defense does against this offense that was so potent at Texas Tech. BYU is not known for their super athletic corners or safeties so WSU could score a lot of points.
BYU, led by senior qb Riley Nelson at the controls, could also score a lot of points. Thankfully in the off season, BYU was able to end the ineffective Jake Heaps era. He transferred to Kansas and will sure to disappoint the Wildcat faithful. That leaves Nelson as the starting quarterback, with not much depth behind him. (If you can name BYU's back up qb, you are a true Cougar fan. It's James Lark, a senior with scant experience.) Nelson isn't your typical BYU quarterback, he doesn't have the big arm. He'll beat you with the intangibles and the passion he inspires in the other Cougar players. He's almost as likely to run the ball as he is to pass it. With no one great backing him up, look for the Cougar coaches to keep Nelson protected as much as possible. But if the WSU defense keys on that Nelson and BYU will probably be in for a long night.
If the WSU offense plays great I see them beating BYU and it could even be ugly. If BYU can slow them down, then the game is probably up for grabs.
Honestly if I had to predict I would expect this BYU team to win 7 or 8 games. Meanwhile the other Cougars will be lucky to be .500 at the end of their season.
Meanwhile Washington State's conference mate Utah opens against Northern Colorado. Bonus points if you can name Northern Colorado's mascot. I'm not going to tell you either. Starting for quarterback at Utah is the oft injured, duck throwing Jordan Wynn. It's only a matter of time until his season is ended by injury. His last two season's were ended by injury. If you're a Ute fan I don't think losing Wynn is such a bad thing. The Utes then could turn the qb duties over to future stud Travis Wilson. (Why would the Utes play Jon Hays, what is the upside of that?) Also the Utes welcome back stud running back John White, the Wolf man.
After the Utes start off with a couple of cupcakes, their schedule gets dramatically better quickly. They play a rivalry game against BYU. (Due to the Utes lame excuses, it will be the last BYU-Utah game in Salt Lake until 2016.) Then Utah plays at Arizona State and next will have about 10 days to prepare for perhaps the biggest college football game in Salt Lake ever. Okay maybe I let hype take over a bit there. The #1 Trojans and their Heisman contending quarterback Matt Barkley come to town. Originally I had talked myself into the fact that Utah had a chance in this game. But since then I've come to my senses, USC should win by at least three touchdowns. That Utes-Trojans game will be broadcast on a real network, ESPN. It won't be on the lame Pac 12 network, which from it being announced sounded like something that seems to be a disaster in the making.
Utah 38, Northern Colorado 3. Wynn should survive this game against the undermanned Bears. Next week he may want to watch out. The Utes play the chip on their shoulders Aggies in Logan. The Aggies will be wanting to show that they can compete with the Utes, even though the Utes are in a much superior conference. Utah- Utah State should actually be a pretty good game
themusicaddict
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Baseball Races Heating Up: Will the Cardinals Stop Blocking My Teams From Reaching The Playoffs?
Hello,
I love this time of year when the baseball races are heating up. I love all the intrigue and how it feels like every game is even that more important. The pennant races are an exciting several week experience. I love getting home from work and flipping to ESPN or the MLB network and see what games they have on.
This year the tension and excitement should be even more with both leagues adding a second wild card. Although I think the way they are doing the second wild card is very lame. The best MLB could come up with is to have the two wild card teams play a one game series to decide who advances? Really? That feels very anticlimactic after a 162 game grind of a regular season.
That being said, the Wild Card does increase excitement in such cities as Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Tampa Bay, LA, Detroit, Oakland and Baltimore. Of course it also increases the pressure for those teams to actually make the playoffs.
We already know that the NL team that gets to the World Series will be the host team. Thanks to the NL winning the All-Star game.
Obviously Boston and the Cubs are out of the playoff race. It does make me laugh that Boston seems to be playing better now that the pressure is off. But are they really going to keep David Ortiz? And please don't tell me that Bobby Valentine might actually come back. Ortiz's body continues to break down and Valentine hasn't seem to be a fit in Boston at all. Hey and Daisuke played and actually earned a win! Things are looking up in Boston!
And for Chicago, well there's always next year. But with the way things are going the Dodgers and Pirates could also be on the outside looking in. Out of all my teams that would only leave only Atlanta with a good chance at making the playoffs, although they've struggled of late.
I was less than inspired with the Dodgers 10-0 shellacking at the hands of the Rockies, the team with the worst record in the NL West. Colorado the team that now is 23 games below .500. Colorado, other than pride, that has nothing to play for. The Dodgers were the team that played like they were just playing out the string. In the 9 player blockbuster trade between the Red Sox and the Dodgers, I expected Josh Beckett to be the weakest link in the deal for LA. Last night, in his first Dodger start, he didn't do anything to make me change my mind. He pitched a game very similar to his starts for the Red Sox. The first player he pitched to as a Dodger, Tyler Colvin, promptly hit the ball 457 feet to the second deck of Coors Field. Um Josh that's not a good omen for your Dodgers career.
Beckett pitched 5.2 innings, gave up 7 hits, 3 runs, 3 BB. He also did have 6 strikeouts in the loss. I don't know the exact stat, but he's won something like 1 of his last 14 starts. And obviously the Dodgers offense was very unproductive. Even in the thin Colorado air, the Dodgers weren't able to score one run. They also didn't do a very good job of stopping the Rockies from scoring runs. Perhaps that's one of the reasons the Dodgers have only won 4 of 10 games.
The Dodgers trail the Giants by 2.5 games in the average NL West. They also trail St. Louis by 2.5 games in the NL Wild Card. I'm not quite yet to put a fork in them, but I think they are getting close to that point.
Meanwhile the Pirates aren't tearing up Major League Baseball either. They've only won 3 of their last 10 games and two in a row. Yesterday they started a crucial 3 game series against St. Louis at PNC Park. Unfortunately they lost this game 4-3. Even if the Pirates win the next two games, that still won't save their season. That would just give them a little more hope. AJ Burnett had a rare misstep for the Pirates, he drops to 15-5 on the season.
At 68-60 the Pirates perilously close to .500. I thought until the last couple of days that they would at least finish above .500 this season. If they don't pull out of this downward spiral, they just may not. That being said at least and finally the Pirates are going in the right direction now. It looks like this season won't be their first playoff appearance in the last 20 years. Pittsburgh is trailing St. Louis by 3 games in both the Wild Card and the NL Central. Obviously if they win their next two games that would put them within 1 game of those pesky Cardinals.
I'm hoping that Chipper Jones playing in his final season will be an inspiration to the Braves. The Braves went to San Diego and lost to the second worse team in the NL West, the San Diego Padres. And like the Dodgers, they were also shut out. The terrible Padres shut out Atlanta 3-0. The Braves have only won 3 of their last 10 games, are you noticing a trend here, and seem to be faltering like they did at the end of last season. I'm not trying to jinx them, although I'm sure they are thinking too much about last season's collapse.
Still Atlanta is 73-56 and leads the NL Wild Card. Atlanta needs to get a Wild Card berth, they'll never catch the surprising Nationals. According to espn.com, Atlanta has a 89.6% chance of making the playoffs. If the playoffs started today, Atlanta would host St. Louis in the wild card. But those pesky Cardinals are only 1.5 games back from hosting that Wild Card game. Of course there are still about 35 games left in the season, so a lot can and will still happen.
Go Dodgers, Pirates and Braves for this season. Meanwhile Boston and Chicago continue to build for next season and the seasons after that.
themusicaddict
I love this time of year when the baseball races are heating up. I love all the intrigue and how it feels like every game is even that more important. The pennant races are an exciting several week experience. I love getting home from work and flipping to ESPN or the MLB network and see what games they have on.
This year the tension and excitement should be even more with both leagues adding a second wild card. Although I think the way they are doing the second wild card is very lame. The best MLB could come up with is to have the two wild card teams play a one game series to decide who advances? Really? That feels very anticlimactic after a 162 game grind of a regular season.
That being said, the Wild Card does increase excitement in such cities as Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Tampa Bay, LA, Detroit, Oakland and Baltimore. Of course it also increases the pressure for those teams to actually make the playoffs.
We already know that the NL team that gets to the World Series will be the host team. Thanks to the NL winning the All-Star game.
Obviously Boston and the Cubs are out of the playoff race. It does make me laugh that Boston seems to be playing better now that the pressure is off. But are they really going to keep David Ortiz? And please don't tell me that Bobby Valentine might actually come back. Ortiz's body continues to break down and Valentine hasn't seem to be a fit in Boston at all. Hey and Daisuke played and actually earned a win! Things are looking up in Boston!
And for Chicago, well there's always next year. But with the way things are going the Dodgers and Pirates could also be on the outside looking in. Out of all my teams that would only leave only Atlanta with a good chance at making the playoffs, although they've struggled of late.
I was less than inspired with the Dodgers 10-0 shellacking at the hands of the Rockies, the team with the worst record in the NL West. Colorado the team that now is 23 games below .500. Colorado, other than pride, that has nothing to play for. The Dodgers were the team that played like they were just playing out the string. In the 9 player blockbuster trade between the Red Sox and the Dodgers, I expected Josh Beckett to be the weakest link in the deal for LA. Last night, in his first Dodger start, he didn't do anything to make me change my mind. He pitched a game very similar to his starts for the Red Sox. The first player he pitched to as a Dodger, Tyler Colvin, promptly hit the ball 457 feet to the second deck of Coors Field. Um Josh that's not a good omen for your Dodgers career.
Beckett pitched 5.2 innings, gave up 7 hits, 3 runs, 3 BB. He also did have 6 strikeouts in the loss. I don't know the exact stat, but he's won something like 1 of his last 14 starts. And obviously the Dodgers offense was very unproductive. Even in the thin Colorado air, the Dodgers weren't able to score one run. They also didn't do a very good job of stopping the Rockies from scoring runs. Perhaps that's one of the reasons the Dodgers have only won 4 of 10 games.
The Dodgers trail the Giants by 2.5 games in the average NL West. They also trail St. Louis by 2.5 games in the NL Wild Card. I'm not quite yet to put a fork in them, but I think they are getting close to that point.
Meanwhile the Pirates aren't tearing up Major League Baseball either. They've only won 3 of their last 10 games and two in a row. Yesterday they started a crucial 3 game series against St. Louis at PNC Park. Unfortunately they lost this game 4-3. Even if the Pirates win the next two games, that still won't save their season. That would just give them a little more hope. AJ Burnett had a rare misstep for the Pirates, he drops to 15-5 on the season.
At 68-60 the Pirates perilously close to .500. I thought until the last couple of days that they would at least finish above .500 this season. If they don't pull out of this downward spiral, they just may not. That being said at least and finally the Pirates are going in the right direction now. It looks like this season won't be their first playoff appearance in the last 20 years. Pittsburgh is trailing St. Louis by 3 games in both the Wild Card and the NL Central. Obviously if they win their next two games that would put them within 1 game of those pesky Cardinals.
I'm hoping that Chipper Jones playing in his final season will be an inspiration to the Braves. The Braves went to San Diego and lost to the second worse team in the NL West, the San Diego Padres. And like the Dodgers, they were also shut out. The terrible Padres shut out Atlanta 3-0. The Braves have only won 3 of their last 10 games, are you noticing a trend here, and seem to be faltering like they did at the end of last season. I'm not trying to jinx them, although I'm sure they are thinking too much about last season's collapse.
Still Atlanta is 73-56 and leads the NL Wild Card. Atlanta needs to get a Wild Card berth, they'll never catch the surprising Nationals. According to espn.com, Atlanta has a 89.6% chance of making the playoffs. If the playoffs started today, Atlanta would host St. Louis in the wild card. But those pesky Cardinals are only 1.5 games back from hosting that Wild Card game. Of course there are still about 35 games left in the season, so a lot can and will still happen.
Go Dodgers, Pirates and Braves for this season. Meanwhile Boston and Chicago continue to build for next season and the seasons after that.
themusicaddict
Monday, August 27, 2012
Billy Joel's "Glass Houses"(Plus One): A Modern Classic (Preview)
Hello,
The plus one in the title refers to a song that he released much later but would fit perfectly on "Glass Houses". It's the last two videos on this blog entry.
I've seen Billy Joel in concert 4 times, once with Elton John, and he was excellent all four times. A great live performer.
Hipsters and critics may scoff, but I contend that 1980's "Glass Houses" is a classic. It's not in the same rarified air as Pink Floyd's "The Wall", Led Zeppelin's "4" or U2's "The Joshua Tree". However it's still a solid enough record that I consider it a classic. He purposely made this to be a rock record. The album cover is Joel in front of a glass house with a rock in his hand:
The plus one in the title refers to a song that he released much later but would fit perfectly on "Glass Houses". It's the last two videos on this blog entry.
I've seen Billy Joel in concert 4 times, once with Elton John, and he was excellent all four times. A great live performer.
Hipsters and critics may scoff, but I contend that 1980's "Glass Houses" is a classic. It's not in the same rarified air as Pink Floyd's "The Wall", Led Zeppelin's "4" or U2's "The Joshua Tree". However it's still a solid enough record that I consider it a classic. He purposely made this to be a rock record. The album cover is Joel in front of a glass house with a rock in his hand:
"Glass Houses" CD track listing. Or when it was originally released it was on record, cassette tape and maybe even 8 track. I love Billy Joel, thanks Billy for all the great songs and for this great record.
"You May Be Right":
One of the first videos I ever saw, yes Billy Joel was ahead of his time. This is "Sometimes A Fantasy":
I didn't even know this song had an official video, "It's Still Rock and Roll To Me":
"It's Still Rock and Roll To Me" (Live):
I love the sax solo in both versions of "It's Still Rock and Roll To Me".
"Sleeping With The Television On":
"Don't Ask Me Why" (Live):
"I Don't Want To Be Alone Tonight" (only 43 youtube page views?, this is a great song!)
"Close To The Borderline":
"C'estait Toi (You Were The One)":
"Through The Long Night":
"All For Leyna":
I don't like the sound of the above song, so here's the album version:
And it seems that "Pressure" would fit perfectly on "Glass Houses". This is the live version:
I didn't know this song had a video either, this is "Pressure" again:
themusicaddict
Sunday, August 26, 2012
"Gone Girl" (Small Spoilers), Eric Church & Country Classics
Hello,
I've read to page 308 in Gillian Flynn's "Gone Girl". I'm quite enjoying this book. I don't know if Flynn meant it this way, but to me it's a brilliant look into what a bad marriage looks and feels like. I could have finished the book last night, but I didn't want to. I love letting what I'm reading have time to sink in. It gives me time to come up with additional insights, which usually only makes the book more enjoyable for me. I won't give a final judgment of the book until I finish reading it, but 75% of the way through the book I have to give it a solid A.
Nick Dunne, married Amy, who he thought was this amazing woman. Amy was the inspiration behind her parents book series "Amazing Amy". What Nick didn't know is that Amy had a very dark side and she was unafraid to embrace that dark side. Not that Nick was completely innocent, he certainly had a lot of character flaws. He believed himself to be a good guy, essentially he was. However he made many stupid decisions due to being selfish. As the book continues on, I'm able to put away the thoughts of Nick from Amy's false journal. As Nick speaks more in his voice, he's becoming more likable.
Amy Elliot Dunne, the only child of two psychologists and authors. For some reason she didn't feel comfortable being her own self, so she played a variety of roles. One only saw the true side of Amy when she felt someone had wronged her. Then she would go to crazy lengths to exact revenge against these people who she felt had slighted her. She's very manipulative and vindictive. I half to laugh when Karma came and smacked her around. Something she was very deserving of.
One of my favorite country music singers now is Eric Church. He has released 3 CDs, by far his best CD is the first one, "Sinners Like Me". If you only buy one of his CDs, that's the one to buy. Although his latest CD that has the sublime "Springsteen". One thing I like about Church's music
On this Sabbath Day, here are some of my favorite Church songs:
"Two Pink Lines":
"How 'Bout You":
"What I Almost Was":
"Before She Does" I love this song because of the non-traditional musical touches that you don't find in most country music.
My current theme song "Sinners Like Me":
Now the amazing "Springsteen":
A few of the above songs will become classics, now here are some songs that are now classics. All songs with classic status as certified by themusicaddict :)
Brooks and Dunn's "Neon Moon". I love the part in the song when the singer sings "blue".
Diamond Rio's "Norma Jean Riley":
Clint Black's "Killin' Time":
Sawyer Brown's "The Walk":
Faith Hill's "This Kiss":
Travis Tritt's "Best of Intentions": (Sometimes the best thing a woman can say to her man is "I Believe In You"- no matter how many times he has messed up.)
Kenny Chesney's "The Good Stuff":
A slight twist on Taylor Swift's "Better Than Revenge":
Garth Brooks "The Thunder Rolls":
A certified classic in anyone's mind and one of the Top 100 songs ever. Kenny Rogers "She Believes In Me":
themusicaddict
I've read to page 308 in Gillian Flynn's "Gone Girl". I'm quite enjoying this book. I don't know if Flynn meant it this way, but to me it's a brilliant look into what a bad marriage looks and feels like. I could have finished the book last night, but I didn't want to. I love letting what I'm reading have time to sink in. It gives me time to come up with additional insights, which usually only makes the book more enjoyable for me. I won't give a final judgment of the book until I finish reading it, but 75% of the way through the book I have to give it a solid A.
Nick Dunne, married Amy, who he thought was this amazing woman. Amy was the inspiration behind her parents book series "Amazing Amy". What Nick didn't know is that Amy had a very dark side and she was unafraid to embrace that dark side. Not that Nick was completely innocent, he certainly had a lot of character flaws. He believed himself to be a good guy, essentially he was. However he made many stupid decisions due to being selfish. As the book continues on, I'm able to put away the thoughts of Nick from Amy's false journal. As Nick speaks more in his voice, he's becoming more likable.
Amy Elliot Dunne, the only child of two psychologists and authors. For some reason she didn't feel comfortable being her own self, so she played a variety of roles. One only saw the true side of Amy when she felt someone had wronged her. Then she would go to crazy lengths to exact revenge against these people who she felt had slighted her. She's very manipulative and vindictive. I half to laugh when Karma came and smacked her around. Something she was very deserving of.
One of my favorite country music singers now is Eric Church. He has released 3 CDs, by far his best CD is the first one, "Sinners Like Me". If you only buy one of his CDs, that's the one to buy. Although his latest CD that has the sublime "Springsteen". One thing I like about Church's music
On this Sabbath Day, here are some of my favorite Church songs:
"Two Pink Lines":
"How 'Bout You":
"What I Almost Was":
"Before She Does" I love this song because of the non-traditional musical touches that you don't find in most country music.
My current theme song "Sinners Like Me":
Now the amazing "Springsteen":
A few of the above songs will become classics, now here are some songs that are now classics. All songs with classic status as certified by themusicaddict :)
Brooks and Dunn's "Neon Moon". I love the part in the song when the singer sings "blue".
Diamond Rio's "Norma Jean Riley":
Clint Black's "Killin' Time":
Sawyer Brown's "The Walk":
Faith Hill's "This Kiss":
Travis Tritt's "Best of Intentions": (Sometimes the best thing a woman can say to her man is "I Believe In You"- no matter how many times he has messed up.)
Kenny Chesney's "The Good Stuff":
A slight twist on Taylor Swift's "Better Than Revenge":
Garth Brooks "The Thunder Rolls":
A certified classic in anyone's mind and one of the Top 100 songs ever. Kenny Rogers "She Believes In Me":
themusicaddict
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Country Music Songs Blog #2
Hello,
Just some more country songs that I've been really liking lately. I've never been a country music hater, but it's also never been my favorite kind of music either. I was wondering this morning if I'm getting into country music because most pop and rock songs are so terrible lately? I'm not sure. Another good thing about country music is you don't have to worry about a rapper showing up. Well that is until I heard that Jason Aldean song with Ludicrous. Sigh.
Just some general things I've noticed about country music the last few days. Is Keith Urban not the biggest wuss in country music? Have you noticed how many of his songs are wussy songs. Blake Shelton is either hit or miss. He has a great song like "Ol' Red", but he also sings crappy songs like "Austin". "Austin" has to be one of the worst and dumbest songs of all-time! In any genre!
Jake Owen's "Anywhere With You":
Jake Owen's "The One That Got Away":
Jake Owen's "Apple Pie Moonshine":
Kenny Chesney and Grace Potter's "You and Tequila":
Dierks Bentley "5-1-5-0":
The excellent Lady Antebellum, they are currently one of my favorite music acts. This is "Back When You Were Mine" (live):
Lady Antebellum's "Just A Kiss", this does share some DNA with "I Need You Know":
Luke Bryan's "Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye":
Gloriana's "Wild At Heart":
Big & Rich's "Save A Horse, Ride A Cowboy":
Big & Rich's "Why Does Everyone Want To Kick My Ass?" (live):
Just a great song. Miranda Lambert's "The House That Built Me":
Got to have some Sugarland. "Tonight":
Probably my favorite Sugarland song, "Baby Girl":
"Something More":
Last, but not least is Jana Kramer's "I Hope It Rains":
themusicaddict
Just some more country songs that I've been really liking lately. I've never been a country music hater, but it's also never been my favorite kind of music either. I was wondering this morning if I'm getting into country music because most pop and rock songs are so terrible lately? I'm not sure. Another good thing about country music is you don't have to worry about a rapper showing up. Well that is until I heard that Jason Aldean song with Ludicrous. Sigh.
Just some general things I've noticed about country music the last few days. Is Keith Urban not the biggest wuss in country music? Have you noticed how many of his songs are wussy songs. Blake Shelton is either hit or miss. He has a great song like "Ol' Red", but he also sings crappy songs like "Austin". "Austin" has to be one of the worst and dumbest songs of all-time! In any genre!
Jake Owen's "Anywhere With You":
Jake Owen's "The One That Got Away":
Jake Owen's "Apple Pie Moonshine":
Kenny Chesney and Grace Potter's "You and Tequila":
Dierks Bentley "5-1-5-0":
The excellent Lady Antebellum, they are currently one of my favorite music acts. This is "Back When You Were Mine" (live):
Lady Antebellum's "Just A Kiss", this does share some DNA with "I Need You Know":
Luke Bryan's "Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye":
Gloriana's "Wild At Heart":
Big & Rich's "Save A Horse, Ride A Cowboy":
Big & Rich's "Why Does Everyone Want To Kick My Ass?" (live):
Just a great song. Miranda Lambert's "The House That Built Me":
Got to have some Sugarland. "Tonight":
Probably my favorite Sugarland song, "Baby Girl":
"Something More":
Last, but not least is Jana Kramer's "I Hope It Rains":
themusicaddict
Thank You Miguel Indurain and Sporting KC, Dodgers-Red Sox Trade
Hello,
The more details that come out about the USADA's witch hunt of Lance Armstrong, the more I think how such big assholes the USADA are. I'm not a big fan of swearing, but that words seems appropriate in this case.
It seems the consensus is behind Armstrong in this battle of perception. Here are a couple of examples of that. Even fellow cyclist Miguel Indurain has come out in support of Armstrong, although Indurain seems to loathe the USADA equally. From espn.com here are a couple of comments that Indurain wrote in Saturday's Marca newspaper. Written comments have more weight as he thought about it and also had a chance to change what he wrote. I'm sure it also went through an intense evaluation by Marca's editors. He wrote: "until an organization recognized by all decides to the contrary, the Tour victories are his." He also wrote: " U.S. Anti-Doping Agency's case against Armstrong "strange," claiming its pursuit of the American was "without scruples."
I would agree with the "without scruples". Also the word vendetta also jumps to mind.
Thank you si.com for the following:
"The home of Sporting Kansas City will continue to be called Livestrong Sporting Park after Lance Armstrong's decision to end his fight against doping charges.
The naming rights partnership between our stadium and Livestrong provides an opportunity to spread health and wellness messages that emphasizes the spirit of cancer survivorship,'' the statement said. "Livestrong's focus is the fight against cancer and the support of 28 million people around the world affected by this disease, and we believe strongly in this mission.''
Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/soccer/08/24/sporting-kansas-city-livestrong.ap/index.html#ixzz24a3LKwJ9
The words of Indurain, the surge of donations to Livestrong and Sporting Kansas City continuing with the name of their stadium as Livestrong Sporting Park. Also Armstrong's sponsors have all stayed behind him for now, and sponsors usually only care about the bottom line. It seems either the sponsors really believe in Armstrong, Nike is saying all the right things, or they will withdraw as sponsors later and very quietly.
MLB: I've been following the Pittsburgh Pirates since last season. Last season they started off strongly and then faded terribly. This season looks like they're following the same pattern. They have played pretty well the first two-thirds of the season. But as of late it seems like they ran into a wall. They've lost four in a row and have only won 3 of their last 10 games. I'm not completely giving up on them yet. If they are a playoff caliber team this needs to be the time where they show that.
Thankfully they aren't as hopeless as the Cubs or Red Sox. Speaking of which Boston looks to become a bit less hopeless today. It sounds like the blockbuster Dodgers-Red Sox trade will be finalized today. I believe it's a trade that can help both teams. The Dodgers would lose James Loney, not much of a loss, and 4 prospects. The way the trade stands now a couple of Dodgers hotshot prospects will be going to Boston. One of those prospects is pitcher Rubby De La Rosa. Allen Webster would be the other pitcher that Boston will get in the deal. It's true that you can never have enough pitching. Especially this Red Sox pitching staff. With this trade they'll be able to dump Josh Beckett and his horrendous contract. Beckett has just been awful lately, he's only won 1 of his last 13 starts. Hopefully by playing for a team in a playoff race will help revitalize Beckett. At the end of the season, Boston will be able to dump Daisuke Matsuzaka and his horrendous contract. Even if De La Rosa isn't ready for the big leagues next season, Boston's pitching should be considerably better after this trade. (As I'm writing this, this trade is just projected. Thanks as always to ESPN for all the great information.)
The Red Sox will lose really one big time player, but he's a hell of a player. That's Adrian Gonzalez, who leads the Red Sox in nearly every offensive category this season. Boston also gains by dumping the overpriced Carl Crawford and Beckett and the outrageous amounts of money they're owed. Also Crawford just had "successful" Tommy John surgery this past Thursday. I wonder did Boston also try to dump fellow Tommy John surgery players Jon Lackey and Daisuke Matsuzaka on the Dodgers as well?
I think the Red Sox smelled a bit of blood in the water and went after it. They are probably in shock that the Dodgers actually went for this deal. Other than Gonzalez, it seems the Dodgers are actually getting very few, if any, assets back. If I were the Dodgers I would want Gonzalez on his way to LA once this trade is finalized. He's a definite upgrade over Loney in the Dodgers line up.
Again Don Mattingly, coaches and players it's now time for you guys to deliver. Dodgers management has added Hanley Ramirez, Shane Victorino, Joe Blanton and it looks like Adrian Gonzalez since the start of the season. Matt Kemp, Clayton Kershaw and Andre Ethier have all recently signed big contracts. They have few injury issues. However the Dodgers haven't played equal to what it seems they should have even with all the new additions. It's time for Dodgers players to walk the walk. Hopefully LA hasn't followed the Red Sox recent example of signing underperforming big name players.
Unless the Dodgers and Pirates start playing to their potential, it looks like my only MLB team that will make this season's playoffs is the Braves. And even they've had a few struggles lately as well. Even if they make the playoffs, will they do anything there. The Braves usually collapse in the playoffs.
themusicaddict
The more details that come out about the USADA's witch hunt of Lance Armstrong, the more I think how such big assholes the USADA are. I'm not a big fan of swearing, but that words seems appropriate in this case.
It seems the consensus is behind Armstrong in this battle of perception. Here are a couple of examples of that. Even fellow cyclist Miguel Indurain has come out in support of Armstrong, although Indurain seems to loathe the USADA equally. From espn.com here are a couple of comments that Indurain wrote in Saturday's Marca newspaper. Written comments have more weight as he thought about it and also had a chance to change what he wrote. I'm sure it also went through an intense evaluation by Marca's editors. He wrote: "until an organization recognized by all decides to the contrary, the Tour victories are his." He also wrote: " U.S. Anti-Doping Agency's case against Armstrong "strange," claiming its pursuit of the American was "without scruples."
I would agree with the "without scruples". Also the word vendetta also jumps to mind.
Thank you si.com for the following:
"The home of Sporting Kansas City will continue to be called Livestrong Sporting Park after Lance Armstrong's decision to end his fight against doping charges.
The naming rights partnership between our stadium and Livestrong provides an opportunity to spread health and wellness messages that emphasizes the spirit of cancer survivorship,'' the statement said. "Livestrong's focus is the fight against cancer and the support of 28 million people around the world affected by this disease, and we believe strongly in this mission.''
Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/soccer/08/24/sporting-kansas-city-livestrong.ap/index.html#ixzz24a3LKwJ9
The words of Indurain, the surge of donations to Livestrong and Sporting Kansas City continuing with the name of their stadium as Livestrong Sporting Park. Also Armstrong's sponsors have all stayed behind him for now, and sponsors usually only care about the bottom line. It seems either the sponsors really believe in Armstrong, Nike is saying all the right things, or they will withdraw as sponsors later and very quietly.
MLB: I've been following the Pittsburgh Pirates since last season. Last season they started off strongly and then faded terribly. This season looks like they're following the same pattern. They have played pretty well the first two-thirds of the season. But as of late it seems like they ran into a wall. They've lost four in a row and have only won 3 of their last 10 games. I'm not completely giving up on them yet. If they are a playoff caliber team this needs to be the time where they show that.
Thankfully they aren't as hopeless as the Cubs or Red Sox. Speaking of which Boston looks to become a bit less hopeless today. It sounds like the blockbuster Dodgers-Red Sox trade will be finalized today. I believe it's a trade that can help both teams. The Dodgers would lose James Loney, not much of a loss, and 4 prospects. The way the trade stands now a couple of Dodgers hotshot prospects will be going to Boston. One of those prospects is pitcher Rubby De La Rosa. Allen Webster would be the other pitcher that Boston will get in the deal. It's true that you can never have enough pitching. Especially this Red Sox pitching staff. With this trade they'll be able to dump Josh Beckett and his horrendous contract. Beckett has just been awful lately, he's only won 1 of his last 13 starts. Hopefully by playing for a team in a playoff race will help revitalize Beckett. At the end of the season, Boston will be able to dump Daisuke Matsuzaka and his horrendous contract. Even if De La Rosa isn't ready for the big leagues next season, Boston's pitching should be considerably better after this trade. (As I'm writing this, this trade is just projected. Thanks as always to ESPN for all the great information.)
The Red Sox will lose really one big time player, but he's a hell of a player. That's Adrian Gonzalez, who leads the Red Sox in nearly every offensive category this season. Boston also gains by dumping the overpriced Carl Crawford and Beckett and the outrageous amounts of money they're owed. Also Crawford just had "successful" Tommy John surgery this past Thursday. I wonder did Boston also try to dump fellow Tommy John surgery players Jon Lackey and Daisuke Matsuzaka on the Dodgers as well?
I think the Red Sox smelled a bit of blood in the water and went after it. They are probably in shock that the Dodgers actually went for this deal. Other than Gonzalez, it seems the Dodgers are actually getting very few, if any, assets back. If I were the Dodgers I would want Gonzalez on his way to LA once this trade is finalized. He's a definite upgrade over Loney in the Dodgers line up.
Again Don Mattingly, coaches and players it's now time for you guys to deliver. Dodgers management has added Hanley Ramirez, Shane Victorino, Joe Blanton and it looks like Adrian Gonzalez since the start of the season. Matt Kemp, Clayton Kershaw and Andre Ethier have all recently signed big contracts. They have few injury issues. However the Dodgers haven't played equal to what it seems they should have even with all the new additions. It's time for Dodgers players to walk the walk. Hopefully LA hasn't followed the Red Sox recent example of signing underperforming big name players.
Unless the Dodgers and Pirates start playing to their potential, it looks like my only MLB team that will make this season's playoffs is the Braves. And even they've had a few struggles lately as well. Even if they make the playoffs, will they do anything there. The Braves usually collapse in the playoffs.
themusicaddict
Friday, August 24, 2012
USADA: Please Stop Persecuting Lance Armstrong. It's Time To Fire Bobby Valentine
Hello,
Yesterday ESPN led it's article about Lance Armstrong with how he was going to have his 7 Tour De France's stripped and be given a lifetime ban. The way ESPN worded that article I thought that someone had some inconclusive proof that he doped. (The USADA seems to think that they do, but they don't seem to be impartial at all.) Either that or Armstong finally came out and admitted that he had doped all that time. But digging into the article it seems that the USADA is convinced Armstrong is guilty because he announced that he'll no longer fight these charges. Since when is reading the writing on the wall and giving up on situation that seems unfair to Armstrong an admission of guilt? Since when is hating bureaucracy and wanting to protect one's family an admission of anything?
Honestly I'm not sure why he has been fighting these charges for this long. At this point I really don't care if he doped or not. Even if he did, I know that he wasn't the only one. So this whole situation is under much question already. Armstrong, a man that overcame testicular cancer, still won those races. All the things he has done since claiming those 7 titles has been amazing. Armstrong's charity has raised over $470 million dollars in the last 15 years and had a surge in donations today yesterday's news.
I just have a few questions. Why is the USADA so intent on carrying on this case? In the last several years, there has only been one Tour De France winner that wasn't under some suspicion. Isn't there some kind of statute of limitations on these charges? What is USADA hoping to accomplish with dragging this "investigation" on? (I agree with Armstrong when he calls this an "unconstitutional witch hunt".) I also don't understand why does the USADA think they can strip Armstrong of his 7 hard earned Tour De France's? They don't run the Tour De France, do they?
Of course they don't run the Tour De France. The Tour De France is run by the UCI, cycling's international body. So why does the USADA think they have any authority over something they don't even run? If I were the UCI I would tell the USADA to piss off.
Lonny a commenter on my blog had this to say, "As ridiculous as it is, the way that the USADA extends authority is that they have an anti doping agreement with the ICU such that a ban from the USADA automatically extends to ICU run events."
And if you read the comments of the CEO of the USADA, Travis Tygart, you can see that he has it out for Armstrong. And I know that he has probably seen all the evidence. But he has clearly made up his mind. It seems this has become a personal vendetta for him. This is what Tygart said "It is a sad day for all of us who love sport and athletes," Tygart said. "It's a heartbreaking example of win at all costs overtaking the fair and safe option. There's no success in cheating to win."
Travis Tygart I suggest you read "The Crucible" to get an idea of what happens on witch hunts. This whole thing comes off as little man syndrome by Tygart.
Calling into USADA's contention that they are partial is what the judge said who threw out the suit Armstrong filed against the USADA. ""USADA's conduct raises serious questions about whether its real interest in charging Armstrong is to combat doping, or if it is acting according to less noble motives," such as politics or publicity, U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks wrote."
Update: it appears there may be a trade that's in the works where Adrian Gonzalez (who seems he'd fit perfectly in LA), Carl Crawford, Nick Punto and Josh Beckett may be on their way to the Dodgers. The Red Sox would get back James Loney and some prospects. I would love to see Gonzalez in LA, but I'm not sure about Crawford or Beckett. Obviously the Dodgers in their first year in the McCourt era are trying to make a big splash. If they add Gonzalez, they would have a pretty stellar lineup. It would be nice to have Beckett if the Dodgers make the playoffs. He's always been a big game pitcher, for both the Marlins and Red Sox. But it also sound like he's a bit of a cancer in the clubhouse.
I laughed when an espn.com article on this potential trade referred to this season's Red Sox pitching as "underperforming". Um, do ya think? I would have written either woefully underperforming or just that they suck. I love how nonchalant Bobby Valentine seems to be about this potential trade. Either he's being disingenuous or he hasn't figured out he's gone at the end of the season. How can the Red Sox bring him back?
I had the misfortune of watching a bit of last night's Red Sox-Angels game. The Angels eventually won 14-13 in an offensive explosion. Of course, the other way to look at that is two teams with pitching issues. The Red Sox is in desperate need to upgrade their pitching in the off season. And what does it say for the Red Sox when Alfredo Aceves and his 4.60 ERA is your closer? What does it say about Red Sox pitching when Clay Buchholz leads the pitching staff with a .447 ERA?
Last night seemed to be a microcosm of Boston's pitching struggles. Franklin Morales started out the game, but only pitched 2.2 weak innings. In that time he gave up 6 hits and 6 runs. That appears to be consistent with his 3.77 season ERA. The next pitcher for Boston was Clayton Mortensen. He pitched to four batters, gave up 3 hits and recorded no outs. He has a season ERA of 2.30, which his performance didn't show last night. Next up was Junichi Tawaza, he pitched a very impressive 1.1 innings. He gave up no hits, seemingly the only pitcher on Boston who was able to do that last night. He has a season ERA of 1.37. Mark Melancon also had a nice outing, pitching two innings and only gave up 1 hit. Too bad on the season he has a 6.48 ERA. Skipping to Aceves. In one inning of work, he gave up 6 hits, 5 runs. He was able to record three outs in the 9th, but he pitched to 2 hitters in the 10th inning without getting an out. I know that Valentine didn't have many pitchers left. But if Aceves is doing so poorly, why keep him in the game?
Firing the pitching coach was obviously a smoke screen, what the Red Sox need to go is do a massive upgrade of their pitching staff. Is it time for Josh Beckett to go, a 5-11 record and. 523 era would say yes. But yes, I know they have signed him to a long term contract. Beckett at one time was one of the best big game pitchers, but hasn't been nearly as good in the regular season. (I wrote this before the above potential trade news broke, it seems I'm not the only one who questions how much gas Beckett has left in the tank.)
Originally I thought that the Red Sox had given up, but now I'm starting to think maybe they are just that bad. Especially their pitching as noted above. If the Red Sox didn't score so many runs, how bad would the Red Sox pitchers stats be? The Red Sox need to improve their player development program. The overpaying too many mediocre players program hasn't worked out so well.
Anyway as I write this David Ortiz has been activated for their game against the Royals. Jon Lester is pitching for the Red Sox tonight. Lester is yet another pitcher that is playing below average baseball. He's 7-10 and has a .499 ERA.
themusicaddict
Yesterday ESPN led it's article about Lance Armstrong with how he was going to have his 7 Tour De France's stripped and be given a lifetime ban. The way ESPN worded that article I thought that someone had some inconclusive proof that he doped. (The USADA seems to think that they do, but they don't seem to be impartial at all.) Either that or Armstong finally came out and admitted that he had doped all that time. But digging into the article it seems that the USADA is convinced Armstrong is guilty because he announced that he'll no longer fight these charges. Since when is reading the writing on the wall and giving up on situation that seems unfair to Armstrong an admission of guilt? Since when is hating bureaucracy and wanting to protect one's family an admission of anything?
Honestly I'm not sure why he has been fighting these charges for this long. At this point I really don't care if he doped or not. Even if he did, I know that he wasn't the only one. So this whole situation is under much question already. Armstrong, a man that overcame testicular cancer, still won those races. All the things he has done since claiming those 7 titles has been amazing. Armstrong's charity has raised over $470 million dollars in the last 15 years and had a surge in donations today yesterday's news.
I just have a few questions. Why is the USADA so intent on carrying on this case? In the last several years, there has only been one Tour De France winner that wasn't under some suspicion. Isn't there some kind of statute of limitations on these charges? What is USADA hoping to accomplish with dragging this "investigation" on? (I agree with Armstrong when he calls this an "unconstitutional witch hunt".) I also don't understand why does the USADA think they can strip Armstrong of his 7 hard earned Tour De France's? They don't run the Tour De France, do they?
Of course they don't run the Tour De France. The Tour De France is run by the UCI, cycling's international body. So why does the USADA think they have any authority over something they don't even run? If I were the UCI I would tell the USADA to piss off.
Lonny a commenter on my blog had this to say, "As ridiculous as it is, the way that the USADA extends authority is that they have an anti doping agreement with the ICU such that a ban from the USADA automatically extends to ICU run events."
And if you read the comments of the CEO of the USADA, Travis Tygart, you can see that he has it out for Armstrong. And I know that he has probably seen all the evidence. But he has clearly made up his mind. It seems this has become a personal vendetta for him. This is what Tygart said "It is a sad day for all of us who love sport and athletes," Tygart said. "It's a heartbreaking example of win at all costs overtaking the fair and safe option. There's no success in cheating to win."
Travis Tygart I suggest you read "The Crucible" to get an idea of what happens on witch hunts. This whole thing comes off as little man syndrome by Tygart.
Calling into USADA's contention that they are partial is what the judge said who threw out the suit Armstrong filed against the USADA. ""USADA's conduct raises serious questions about whether its real interest in charging Armstrong is to combat doping, or if it is acting according to less noble motives," such as politics or publicity, U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks wrote."
Update: it appears there may be a trade that's in the works where Adrian Gonzalez (who seems he'd fit perfectly in LA), Carl Crawford, Nick Punto and Josh Beckett may be on their way to the Dodgers. The Red Sox would get back James Loney and some prospects. I would love to see Gonzalez in LA, but I'm not sure about Crawford or Beckett. Obviously the Dodgers in their first year in the McCourt era are trying to make a big splash. If they add Gonzalez, they would have a pretty stellar lineup. It would be nice to have Beckett if the Dodgers make the playoffs. He's always been a big game pitcher, for both the Marlins and Red Sox. But it also sound like he's a bit of a cancer in the clubhouse.
I laughed when an espn.com article on this potential trade referred to this season's Red Sox pitching as "underperforming". Um, do ya think? I would have written either woefully underperforming or just that they suck. I love how nonchalant Bobby Valentine seems to be about this potential trade. Either he's being disingenuous or he hasn't figured out he's gone at the end of the season. How can the Red Sox bring him back?
I had the misfortune of watching a bit of last night's Red Sox-Angels game. The Angels eventually won 14-13 in an offensive explosion. Of course, the other way to look at that is two teams with pitching issues. The Red Sox is in desperate need to upgrade their pitching in the off season. And what does it say for the Red Sox when Alfredo Aceves and his 4.60 ERA is your closer? What does it say about Red Sox pitching when Clay Buchholz leads the pitching staff with a .447 ERA?
Last night seemed to be a microcosm of Boston's pitching struggles. Franklin Morales started out the game, but only pitched 2.2 weak innings. In that time he gave up 6 hits and 6 runs. That appears to be consistent with his 3.77 season ERA. The next pitcher for Boston was Clayton Mortensen. He pitched to four batters, gave up 3 hits and recorded no outs. He has a season ERA of 2.30, which his performance didn't show last night. Next up was Junichi Tawaza, he pitched a very impressive 1.1 innings. He gave up no hits, seemingly the only pitcher on Boston who was able to do that last night. He has a season ERA of 1.37. Mark Melancon also had a nice outing, pitching two innings and only gave up 1 hit. Too bad on the season he has a 6.48 ERA. Skipping to Aceves. In one inning of work, he gave up 6 hits, 5 runs. He was able to record three outs in the 9th, but he pitched to 2 hitters in the 10th inning without getting an out. I know that Valentine didn't have many pitchers left. But if Aceves is doing so poorly, why keep him in the game?
Firing the pitching coach was obviously a smoke screen, what the Red Sox need to go is do a massive upgrade of their pitching staff. Is it time for Josh Beckett to go, a 5-11 record and. 523 era would say yes. But yes, I know they have signed him to a long term contract. Beckett at one time was one of the best big game pitchers, but hasn't been nearly as good in the regular season. (I wrote this before the above potential trade news broke, it seems I'm not the only one who questions how much gas Beckett has left in the tank.)
Originally I thought that the Red Sox had given up, but now I'm starting to think maybe they are just that bad. Especially their pitching as noted above. If the Red Sox didn't score so many runs, how bad would the Red Sox pitchers stats be? The Red Sox need to improve their player development program. The overpaying too many mediocre players program hasn't worked out so well.
Anyway as I write this David Ortiz has been activated for their game against the Royals. Jon Lester is pitching for the Red Sox tonight. Lester is yet another pitcher that is playing below average baseball. He's 7-10 and has a .499 ERA.
themusicaddict
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Going Through A Country Music Phase! Luke Bryan, Eric Church,
Hello,
Here are a couple great songs from Eric Church, although I find "Homeboy" to be incredibly sophomoric. But I love "Springsteen":
And as someone that goes to church nearly every Sunday, and considers it vital to my life, I still think this new song should be played for those churchgoers. This is "Sinners Like Me":
And I know I've featured the Zac Brown Band recently, but hey it's my blog. So I'm going to feature them again. I love this song "Colder Weather":
Zac Brown Band featuring Alan Jackson "As She's Walking Away":
I also love me some Lady Antebellum, this is "Dancin' Away With My Heart":
I'm not a big Toby Keith fan. But when he has a great song, it's a really great song. Here's what feels like is my theme song, "As Good As I Once Was":
Toby Keith's "God Love Her":
themusicaddict
I was going to write about the recent MLB chokes of Pittsburgh, LA and Boston. But it's been a relatively busy day at work, so I've had to forego that. However I'm going through a country music phase and I want to share some of the songs that have caught my attention. Enjoy!
I apologize if you also have to watch those Mitt Romney commercials before the videos start. Of course he approves the messages. He's being interviewed in a controlled environment and they can edit his words just like Romney wants it.
I apologize if you also have to watch those Mitt Romney commercials before the videos start. Of course he approves the messages. He's being interviewed in a controlled environment and they can edit his words just like Romney wants it.
Visit yesterday's blog for the excellent Jake Owen song "Alone With You".
I'll start off with a two-parter of Luke Bryan videos. I really like both of these songs, but especially "I Don't Want This Night To End":
Although the above video reminds me again about all the intoxicating and infuriating things that goes with women and dating.
This is part two "Drunk On You"- it's not exactly a twist ending, is it?
Here are a couple great songs from Eric Church, although I find "Homeboy" to be incredibly sophomoric. But I love "Springsteen":
And as someone that goes to church nearly every Sunday, and considers it vital to my life, I still think this new song should be played for those churchgoers. This is "Sinners Like Me":
And I know I've featured the Zac Brown Band recently, but hey it's my blog. So I'm going to feature them again. I love this song "Colder Weather":
Zac Brown Band featuring Alan Jackson "As She's Walking Away":
I also love me some Lady Antebellum, this is "Dancin' Away With My Heart":
I'm not a big Toby Keith fan. But when he has a great song, it's a really great song. Here's what feels like is my theme song, "As Good As I Once Was":
Toby Keith's "God Love Her":
themusicaddict
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
"Falling Skies" Season Two Finale, "The Rocker" and Great Songs
Hello,
I watched the Season Two finale of "Falling Skies" Sunday night. It was a decent ending to a decent season. Over it's first two seasons it has held up pretty well. I like that the Second Mass was able to made it to fabled Charleston. The people of Charleston were clever in how they disguised the city. I like well thought out little touches like that. The creators of the show act like they real care about the show and want to make a good product. Another nice touch is how the Second Mass got to Charleston and then realized it wasn't what they thought it was.
It seems they want to recharge their batteries and then move on. That promises continued consistent quality of that show in Season 3. When a show gets to a geographical place and stays there for an extended time, a show can come stale quickly. (See the survivors at Hershel's Farm in "The Walking Dead" during the first half of the second season. Although their escape from his farm was one of the most exciting moments of "The Walking Dead's" first two seasons.)
While the show does have good things, it also has it's share of things that can be improved. Things that can be improved with "Falling Skies", I'm getting tired of the Mason kids, especially Matt. Every time he comes on the screen I cringe. The way Matt Mason character is written, he's a very boring character I'm also not a big fan of the actor who plays him. I do like Hal Mason, he's always been one of my favorite characters. I'm not sure I like the dark turn his character seems to have taken at the end of season two. And Ben Mason is starting to grow on me. At first I didn't like his character either, again he has grown on me. I like that he's working with the rebel skitters. They've found a good balance with how much his character should be on the show. With him not necessarily attached to the Second Mass permanently, I see a lot of flexibility with his character. Although at the end of Season Two it did seem like he would stick around for awhile. Does that have anything to do with Hal and his dark turn? I thought Noah Wyle would suck as Tom Mason, but he's done a very good job. Although I'm tired of how sappy he is with his kids.
I also don't know about the introduction of the new alien. When this show started out with the Mechs and Skitters that was interesting. Then when we found out about about the Overlords (fish heads) that was cool. Again another nice touch that I like about this show. That puts us at three different kind of non-human beings. Then are the humans evolving into the aliens. If so are they considered an alien? Are they more human or non-human? But now with a fourth or fifth different alien, are the producers of the show starting to rely too much on that for potential story lines? I have a feeling this new alien will either lift or sink the show. This new alien species could be interesting, however I would ask they not add any new alien species.
I also loved the red eyed skitter battle with the fish head, that was another nice touch.
"Falling Skies" is a consistent show, each episode is about the same quality. It doesn't have the highs and lows that "The Walking Dead" does. Many times with "Falling Skies" I've noticed the first 50 minutes are excellent, but then in the last 10 minutes of the show has a lot to be desired.
The other day I watched the Rainn Wilson movie "The Rocker". It was free on Comcast On Demand. Thank you Comcast! Was it an amazing movie, no. And I never want to see that much of Rainn Wilson's body ever again. But it was a good enough movie and had enough good things to make the movie worth my time. Also they had a great name for a heavy metal band with Vesuvius. That's a perfect name for a heavy metal band. The name of A.D.D.'s CD "Abandonment Issues" was pretty funny too. Although that was a dark thread running through an alleged comedy.
The other thing I like about "The Rocker" was the film captured many actors before they came big stars. I love Bradley Cooper as one of the Vesuvius rockers. We also see Jason Sudeikis, before he got with January Jones. I'm much more impressed by that than "Horrible Bosses". There's also the gorgeous Emma Stone, who went on to "Easy A" and some really dumb superheroes movie. Also Josh Gad, who later became much more famous by starring in the Broadway play "The Book of Mormon". Also Jane Lynch and Aziz Ansari also made this movie before heading on to bigger things. Teddy Geiger hasn't quite broken out yet. It was good to see two old favorites in Howard Hesseman and the still gorgeous Christina Applegate.
I was also surprised how good the songs were in the movie. This is "Down":
"Coming Through In Stereo":
"Bitter":
Now some other great songs. I'm dedicating "Leaving On A Jet Plane" to my brother and nephew who headed back to Belgium, following a six week vacation in good old America. Yes, I know there are more famous versions of this song, but this is one of my favorite versions. Obviously all lyrics aren't applicable :) I think Chantal Kreviazuk is an incredible talent and has an amazing voice:
From Jake Owen's incredibly sexy "Barefoot Blue Jean Night": is one of it's sexier songs "Alone With You":
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Y3EpArAtGJQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I'm not what you would call a big Joe Cocker fan, but his version of this song is simply amazing. One of those rare situations where the sum is greater than the parts. It's not very often we find the right singer for the right song. Willie Nelson's "You Were Always On My Mind" and Keith Whitley's "When You Say Nothing At All" are other examples of that phenomenon. This song is so beautiful. I don't know if it was intentional or not, but Cocker's voice cracking at the end of the song is a nice touch. This is also a dedication to an amazingly beautiful woman - yes she knows who she is. This is Joe Cocker's "You Are So Beautiful":
And a great song I discovered because of Spotify. This is Lenka's beautiful "Trouble Is A Friend":
themusicaddict
I watched the Season Two finale of "Falling Skies" Sunday night. It was a decent ending to a decent season. Over it's first two seasons it has held up pretty well. I like that the Second Mass was able to made it to fabled Charleston. The people of Charleston were clever in how they disguised the city. I like well thought out little touches like that. The creators of the show act like they real care about the show and want to make a good product. Another nice touch is how the Second Mass got to Charleston and then realized it wasn't what they thought it was.
It seems they want to recharge their batteries and then move on. That promises continued consistent quality of that show in Season 3. When a show gets to a geographical place and stays there for an extended time, a show can come stale quickly. (See the survivors at Hershel's Farm in "The Walking Dead" during the first half of the second season. Although their escape from his farm was one of the most exciting moments of "The Walking Dead's" first two seasons.)
While the show does have good things, it also has it's share of things that can be improved. Things that can be improved with "Falling Skies", I'm getting tired of the Mason kids, especially Matt. Every time he comes on the screen I cringe. The way Matt Mason character is written, he's a very boring character I'm also not a big fan of the actor who plays him. I do like Hal Mason, he's always been one of my favorite characters. I'm not sure I like the dark turn his character seems to have taken at the end of season two. And Ben Mason is starting to grow on me. At first I didn't like his character either, again he has grown on me. I like that he's working with the rebel skitters. They've found a good balance with how much his character should be on the show. With him not necessarily attached to the Second Mass permanently, I see a lot of flexibility with his character. Although at the end of Season Two it did seem like he would stick around for awhile. Does that have anything to do with Hal and his dark turn? I thought Noah Wyle would suck as Tom Mason, but he's done a very good job. Although I'm tired of how sappy he is with his kids.
I also don't know about the introduction of the new alien. When this show started out with the Mechs and Skitters that was interesting. Then when we found out about about the Overlords (fish heads) that was cool. Again another nice touch that I like about this show. That puts us at three different kind of non-human beings. Then are the humans evolving into the aliens. If so are they considered an alien? Are they more human or non-human? But now with a fourth or fifth different alien, are the producers of the show starting to rely too much on that for potential story lines? I have a feeling this new alien will either lift or sink the show. This new alien species could be interesting, however I would ask they not add any new alien species.
I also loved the red eyed skitter battle with the fish head, that was another nice touch.
"Falling Skies" is a consistent show, each episode is about the same quality. It doesn't have the highs and lows that "The Walking Dead" does. Many times with "Falling Skies" I've noticed the first 50 minutes are excellent, but then in the last 10 minutes of the show has a lot to be desired.
The other day I watched the Rainn Wilson movie "The Rocker". It was free on Comcast On Demand. Thank you Comcast! Was it an amazing movie, no. And I never want to see that much of Rainn Wilson's body ever again. But it was a good enough movie and had enough good things to make the movie worth my time. Also they had a great name for a heavy metal band with Vesuvius. That's a perfect name for a heavy metal band. The name of A.D.D.'s CD "Abandonment Issues" was pretty funny too. Although that was a dark thread running through an alleged comedy.
The other thing I like about "The Rocker" was the film captured many actors before they came big stars. I love Bradley Cooper as one of the Vesuvius rockers. We also see Jason Sudeikis, before he got with January Jones. I'm much more impressed by that than "Horrible Bosses". There's also the gorgeous Emma Stone, who went on to "Easy A" and some really dumb superheroes movie. Also Josh Gad, who later became much more famous by starring in the Broadway play "The Book of Mormon". Also Jane Lynch and Aziz Ansari also made this movie before heading on to bigger things. Teddy Geiger hasn't quite broken out yet. It was good to see two old favorites in Howard Hesseman and the still gorgeous Christina Applegate.
I was also surprised how good the songs were in the movie. This is "Down":
"Coming Through In Stereo":
"Bitter":
Now some other great songs. I'm dedicating "Leaving On A Jet Plane" to my brother and nephew who headed back to Belgium, following a six week vacation in good old America. Yes, I know there are more famous versions of this song, but this is one of my favorite versions. Obviously all lyrics aren't applicable :) I think Chantal Kreviazuk is an incredible talent and has an amazing voice:
From Jake Owen's incredibly sexy "Barefoot Blue Jean Night": is one of it's sexier songs "Alone With You":
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Y3EpArAtGJQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I'm not what you would call a big Joe Cocker fan, but his version of this song is simply amazing. One of those rare situations where the sum is greater than the parts. It's not very often we find the right singer for the right song. Willie Nelson's "You Were Always On My Mind" and Keith Whitley's "When You Say Nothing At All" are other examples of that phenomenon. This song is so beautiful. I don't know if it was intentional or not, but Cocker's voice cracking at the end of the song is a nice touch. This is also a dedication to an amazingly beautiful woman - yes she knows who she is. This is Joe Cocker's "You Are So Beautiful":
And a great song I discovered because of Spotify. This is Lenka's beautiful "Trouble Is A Friend":
themusicaddict
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Luke Bryan and The Misery of Injury Prone Athletes
Hello,
On Sunday I listened to a lot of music by Luke Bryan, he's got some pretty cool songs. These are two of my favorite songs of his. The first is "Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye":
"All My Friends Say":
Is there anything more frustrating than a talented, but injury prone, athlete? Such players as Michael Vick- who was injured yet again last night on a solid hit to the ribs- will cause a loyal fan base to go on an emotional roller coaster. Usually once a player becomes injury prone, he usually stays that way throughout the rest of his career. Jerry Jones isn't the smartest owner, not even close, but at least he didn't give Vick $100 million for five years. The Cowboys have two injury prone wide receivers in Dez Bryant and Miles Austin. Right now the Cowboys are without their top 3 receivers with Jason Witten injured too. Bryant compounds his being so injury prone with also being an idiot. None of those three players may play the rest of the preseason. I'm glad I wasn't expecting much from the Cowboys this season anyway. (I'm not sure who I would rather have out of Tony Romo or Vick? Honestly neither. Does this make RG3 the second best quarterback in the NFC East?)
Carl Crawford started out the season on the injury list from off season surgery. Then last night it was announced that he'll be undergoing Tommy John surgery on Thursday. Crawford only played 31 games for the Red Sox this year. After the first two years of this contract he's been a horrific signing. Although with Crawford joining pitchers Daisuke Matsuzaka and Jon Lackey in getting Tommy John surgery, I hope the Red Sox are getting the frequent use discount. (I'll refrain from commenting on the Red Sox firing their pitching coach, other than it seems like re-arranging deck chairs on the Titanic.)
No player will probably have more injury problems than Grant Hill. Perhaps one of the few players to be relatively close to Hill is University of Utah quarterback Jordan Wynn. He's had his last two seasons ended because of injuries. All ready this season he has been sidelined a few days for a shoulder injury. But if he was just injury prone, that would be one thing. But he also isn't that good of a quarterback. I've yet to see him play in a game that I was impressed by him. He doesn't have a lot of arm strength and throws very few spirals. He actually throws a lot of ducks when passing. He's a mediocre quarterback at best and will never take the Utes very far.
It's time for the Utes to move into the future and start freshman Travis Wilson. Sure he's going to make some mistakes, but he has so much potential. If I was Kyle Whittingham, obviously I'm not, I would name Wilson as my starting quarterback now. I would also help Wynn find a good place to go for his two remaining seasons of eligibility. That would leave Jon Hays the backup for this season, but I'm sure the Utes have some more stud quarterbacks in the pipeline.
What do you do with these injury prone players? My thought is to let them go from the team. I don't care how great a player is. If I can only rely on him to play in half the games, what's the point? I'd rather have the slightly less talented player who can play nearly every game. A case in point. This season the Red Sox aregiving paying Crawford $20,357,143. With him starting the season and ending the season on the disabled list, we already know that he's only going to play in 31 games this season. That works out to him being paid $656,682 per game. All this for a player who only hit .282 in his 31 games.
Would the Red Sox be better off having a second player like Mike Aviles? Aviles is only hitting .255 so far this season. However he's projected to play 146 games this season and is "only" paid $1,200,000 for the whole season. He's making an average of $8,219 a game. (A stat that points out how ridiculously overpaid professional athletes are. If Crawford had played in all 162 regular season games this season, wishful thinking, he would have been paid $125,661 per game.)
Unfortunately in MLB contracts are mostly guaranteed, so the Red Sox are stuck with Lackey and Crawford for the next few seasons. Matzusaka, who again is on the disabled list, will finally be gone at the end of the season. Let's hope the Red Sox can his the $10 million he made this season and find an effective, mostly healthy player.
themusicaddict
On Sunday I listened to a lot of music by Luke Bryan, he's got some pretty cool songs. These are two of my favorite songs of his. The first is "Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye":
"All My Friends Say":
Is there anything more frustrating than a talented, but injury prone, athlete? Such players as Michael Vick- who was injured yet again last night on a solid hit to the ribs- will cause a loyal fan base to go on an emotional roller coaster. Usually once a player becomes injury prone, he usually stays that way throughout the rest of his career. Jerry Jones isn't the smartest owner, not even close, but at least he didn't give Vick $100 million for five years. The Cowboys have two injury prone wide receivers in Dez Bryant and Miles Austin. Right now the Cowboys are without their top 3 receivers with Jason Witten injured too. Bryant compounds his being so injury prone with also being an idiot. None of those three players may play the rest of the preseason. I'm glad I wasn't expecting much from the Cowboys this season anyway. (I'm not sure who I would rather have out of Tony Romo or Vick? Honestly neither. Does this make RG3 the second best quarterback in the NFC East?)
Carl Crawford started out the season on the injury list from off season surgery. Then last night it was announced that he'll be undergoing Tommy John surgery on Thursday. Crawford only played 31 games for the Red Sox this year. After the first two years of this contract he's been a horrific signing. Although with Crawford joining pitchers Daisuke Matsuzaka and Jon Lackey in getting Tommy John surgery, I hope the Red Sox are getting the frequent use discount. (I'll refrain from commenting on the Red Sox firing their pitching coach, other than it seems like re-arranging deck chairs on the Titanic.)
No player will probably have more injury problems than Grant Hill. Perhaps one of the few players to be relatively close to Hill is University of Utah quarterback Jordan Wynn. He's had his last two seasons ended because of injuries. All ready this season he has been sidelined a few days for a shoulder injury. But if he was just injury prone, that would be one thing. But he also isn't that good of a quarterback. I've yet to see him play in a game that I was impressed by him. He doesn't have a lot of arm strength and throws very few spirals. He actually throws a lot of ducks when passing. He's a mediocre quarterback at best and will never take the Utes very far.
It's time for the Utes to move into the future and start freshman Travis Wilson. Sure he's going to make some mistakes, but he has so much potential. If I was Kyle Whittingham, obviously I'm not, I would name Wilson as my starting quarterback now. I would also help Wynn find a good place to go for his two remaining seasons of eligibility. That would leave Jon Hays the backup for this season, but I'm sure the Utes have some more stud quarterbacks in the pipeline.
What do you do with these injury prone players? My thought is to let them go from the team. I don't care how great a player is. If I can only rely on him to play in half the games, what's the point? I'd rather have the slightly less talented player who can play nearly every game. A case in point. This season the Red Sox are
Would the Red Sox be better off having a second player like Mike Aviles? Aviles is only hitting .255 so far this season. However he's projected to play 146 games this season and is "only" paid $1,200,000 for the whole season. He's making an average of $8,219 a game. (A stat that points out how ridiculously overpaid professional athletes are. If Crawford had played in all 162 regular season games this season, wishful thinking, he would have been paid $125,661 per game.)
Unfortunately in MLB contracts are mostly guaranteed, so the Red Sox are stuck with Lackey and Crawford for the next few seasons. Matzusaka, who again is on the disabled list, will finally be gone at the end of the season. Let's hope the Red Sox can his the $10 million he made this season and find an effective, mostly healthy player.
themusicaddict
Playing With New Spotify Functionality
Hello,
I don't think I like this. I don't like how I can't line up songs side by side. It's easy to use, but not easy to make it look like I want. There's a way to make the Spotify song players smaller, but I can't figure out how to get the smaller size on my blog. It's good to know this is available, but I'll stay with youtube until this becomes easier to make it look nice on my blog.
Neon Trees – Everybody Talks
I don't think I like this. I don't like how I can't line up songs side by side. It's easy to use, but not easy to make it look like I want. There's a way to make the Spotify song players smaller, but I can't figure out how to get the smaller size on my blog. It's good to know this is available, but I'll stay with youtube until this becomes easier to make it look nice on my blog.
Neon Trees – Everybody Talks
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Arsenal: The Gunners Are In For A Long Season
Hello,
The Gunners had a perfectly uninspiring match against Sunderland yesterday. They kick off their EPL season with a lackluster 0-0 tie. Fittingly the home crowd booed, which might have been the most passion shown the whole day at Emirates Stadium. Watching the match yesterday and seeing the signs "In Arsene We Trust", I wondered how many Gunners fans shared that same view?
Oliver Giroud appeared to have Arsenal's best chance at scoring near the end of the match. He had a pretty clear shot from about 10 yards out, but wasn't even able to test the goalie with his kick. Arsenal seemed to miss the scoring touch of Dutchman Robin Van Persie, which isn't too much of a surprise. After all he did lead the EPL with 30 goals last season.
Speaking of Van Persie, how is he and Wayne Rooney going to combine for Manchester United? The top two scorers in EPL last season on the same team. It will be interesting to see how they play when they play Everton tomorrow. Defending EPL champion Manchester City plays today against Southampton.
If you are picking a team to win the EPL that doesn't have Manchester in their team name, I think you are crazy. And I think Arsenal would be lucky to match last season's third place finish.
themusicaddict
The Gunners had a perfectly uninspiring match against Sunderland yesterday. They kick off their EPL season with a lackluster 0-0 tie. Fittingly the home crowd booed, which might have been the most passion shown the whole day at Emirates Stadium. Watching the match yesterday and seeing the signs "In Arsene We Trust", I wondered how many Gunners fans shared that same view?
Oliver Giroud appeared to have Arsenal's best chance at scoring near the end of the match. He had a pretty clear shot from about 10 yards out, but wasn't even able to test the goalie with his kick. Arsenal seemed to miss the scoring touch of Dutchman Robin Van Persie, which isn't too much of a surprise. After all he did lead the EPL with 30 goals last season.
Speaking of Van Persie, how is he and Wayne Rooney going to combine for Manchester United? The top two scorers in EPL last season on the same team. It will be interesting to see how they play when they play Everton tomorrow. Defending EPL champion Manchester City plays today against Southampton.
If you are picking a team to win the EPL that doesn't have Manchester in their team name, I think you are crazy. And I think Arsenal would be lucky to match last season's third place finish.
themusicaddict
Friday, August 17, 2012
Will the USC Trojans Win The National Championship?
Hello,
Going from two teams that seem to have way too many issues, lets go to a team that seems like they have a good chance of actually winning something. That's Lane Kiffin's USC Trojans. When Matt Barkley announced he would be coming back for his senior season, it's pretty obvious that the Trojans would be considered a national favorite.
Indeed on my Sports Illustrated that arrived today, the West regional cover is Mr. Barkley. SI has predicted that the Trojans are this season's second best college football team. If that happens that means they would obviously be playing for the National Championship. It would be nice to have a National Championship game that I have an interest in.
I feel pretty good about USC doing very well this season. They play in an alleged BCS Conference, but this looks to be a down year for the Pac-12. Andrew Luck is gone, Oregon has some holes and no other team leaps out as a surefire powerhouse. And this is the same conference that last season went 2-5 in bowl games. (Of course that looks fantastic compared to Pac-12 men's basketball.)
I just wish the Trojans could have convinced offensive line stud Matt Kalil to come back for his senior season. But other than that things should be great for the Trojans this year. The Trojans have a favorable schedule this year. They do play Stanford and Utah on the road, but they get every other tough game at the Colisieum.
I live in Utah and locally a lot of Ute fans are hyping up the October 4th game might be the game where the Trojans might get knocked off their throne. For awhile I started to buy into that hype, but the more I think about it the more I think the Trojans will win that game by at least 14 points. The Trojans have a lot of frustration from the suspensions that they are still serving. They are also allowed to play in a bowl game this year. So if their talent and drive remain high I don't see them losing any more than two games this year. And I don't think the Utes will be one of those two losses.
themusicaddict
Going from two teams that seem to have way too many issues, lets go to a team that seems like they have a good chance of actually winning something. That's Lane Kiffin's USC Trojans. When Matt Barkley announced he would be coming back for his senior season, it's pretty obvious that the Trojans would be considered a national favorite.
Indeed on my Sports Illustrated that arrived today, the West regional cover is Mr. Barkley. SI has predicted that the Trojans are this season's second best college football team. If that happens that means they would obviously be playing for the National Championship. It would be nice to have a National Championship game that I have an interest in.
I feel pretty good about USC doing very well this season. They play in an alleged BCS Conference, but this looks to be a down year for the Pac-12. Andrew Luck is gone, Oregon has some holes and no other team leaps out as a surefire powerhouse. And this is the same conference that last season went 2-5 in bowl games. (Of course that looks fantastic compared to Pac-12 men's basketball.)
I just wish the Trojans could have convinced offensive line stud Matt Kalil to come back for his senior season. But other than that things should be great for the Trojans this year. The Trojans have a favorable schedule this year. They do play Stanford and Utah on the road, but they get every other tough game at the Colisieum.
I live in Utah and locally a lot of Ute fans are hyping up the October 4th game might be the game where the Trojans might get knocked off their throne. For awhile I started to buy into that hype, but the more I think about it the more I think the Trojans will win that game by at least 14 points. The Trojans have a lot of frustration from the suspensions that they are still serving. They are also allowed to play in a bowl game this year. So if their talent and drive remain high I don't see them losing any more than two games this year. And I don't think the Utes will be one of those two losses.
themusicaddict
America's Favorite Soap Opera: The Boston Red Sox
Hello,
The Red Sox started today with a 58-61 record. They are 4th place in the AL East, 12.5 games behind the hated Yankees. They are 6.5 games out in the AL Wildcard. According to ESPN they have a 6.7% chance of making the playoffs. That figure sound optimistic to me. They have only won 4 of their last 10 games and probably have to go about 32-12 to possibly make the playoffs. The Red Sox have been an underachieving organization as a whole, but the one deserving most of the blame has been Bobby Valentine.
And to rub salt into the Red Sox wounds, Boston is going to New York for a three game series. You don't think the Yankees, their fans and the New York media aren't going to take every chance to step on the Red Sox? If not you are crazy. Also two of three games will be on national TV, including ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball. This could be the nadir of the Red Sox already tumultuous season. Of course the last time Boston played three games in New York they were able to win 2 of them. So who knows?
As the Cowboys are about to start on another mediocre season, the Red Sox are finishing up their latest mediocre season. The Red Sox are a better run team than the Cowboys, but even they've had some major stumbles. This season's stumbles started with the unceremonious ripping of and exiting of dual World Series winning manager Terry Francona. The same man who led the Red Sox to two World Series victories, after not winning a World Series since 1918. Let that sink in: the Red Sox could have brought a two time World Series winner back, but didn't. Francona seems to be happy in the ESPN announcers booth.
The next mistake the Red Sox made? They signed Bobby Valentine to a two year contract. It has been anything but Valentine's Day around the Red Sox this year. From his highly defensive personality to his ripping Kevin Youkilis, he has been a complete disaster.
Now I'm loving how bad Red Sox management is stumbling. They are issuing non-denial denials about Valentine's job status. Larry Luchino said that Valentine will survive this season. What I love most about that is what he didn't say. Lucchino didn't say that Valentine wouldn't be back for a second year. In other words Valentine is gone at the end of this season. Typically this is what happens: The Red Sox will announce that they are evaluating all their options at the end of the regular season. Then when the playoffs are in full swing, the Red Sox will try to announce as quietly as possible that Valentine won't be returning for a second season.
Also: "Lucchino declined to go into detail about the meeting between players and ownership that took place in New York in late July, saying only that Yahoo! Sports’ report that players were calling for Valentine to be ousted “exaggerated and inaccurate.” He also said he shared owner John Henry’s disappointment that sources leaked information about the meeting to Yahoo! Sports."
I love this quote, yet another non-denial denial. Lucchino is deflecting about what really happened at this meeting. He doesn't deny that the players were calling for Valentine to be fired. But if that wasn't the reason, hen what did the players want the meeting for? Obviously the Red Sox players weren't there to try and get a raise for Valentine. Then again Lucchino deflects when he says that Henry was disappointed about people leaking the details to Yahoo! Sports. In other words they admit there was a meeting, but they talk about anything else but what the meeting was actually about.
Obviously Boston's only problem isn't Valentine, although he does deserve a lot of the blame. The Red Sox just don't seem to have a lot of chemistry of the team. The culture of their baseball team seems to be mildly poisonous. Indeed ESPN's Buster Olney is now saying that free agents may not consider playing for the Red Sox next season. It seems the whole organization needs a major culture change. Start with Valentine, but some of the players need to move on. With the Red Sox it seems the sum of their players is more than the whole of the team. In other words the Red Sox need to build a true team and not just the best collection of players they can afford.
They need to learn how to evaluate starting pitchers better. They have had major problems with that. Such names as Lackey, Matsuzaka and even Beckett have made me wonder more than once what the hell they are doing in Boston?
themusicaddict
The Red Sox started today with a 58-61 record. They are 4th place in the AL East, 12.5 games behind the hated Yankees. They are 6.5 games out in the AL Wildcard. According to ESPN they have a 6.7% chance of making the playoffs. That figure sound optimistic to me. They have only won 4 of their last 10 games and probably have to go about 32-12 to possibly make the playoffs. The Red Sox have been an underachieving organization as a whole, but the one deserving most of the blame has been Bobby Valentine.
And to rub salt into the Red Sox wounds, Boston is going to New York for a three game series. You don't think the Yankees, their fans and the New York media aren't going to take every chance to step on the Red Sox? If not you are crazy. Also two of three games will be on national TV, including ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball. This could be the nadir of the Red Sox already tumultuous season. Of course the last time Boston played three games in New York they were able to win 2 of them. So who knows?
As the Cowboys are about to start on another mediocre season, the Red Sox are finishing up their latest mediocre season. The Red Sox are a better run team than the Cowboys, but even they've had some major stumbles. This season's stumbles started with the unceremonious ripping of and exiting of dual World Series winning manager Terry Francona. The same man who led the Red Sox to two World Series victories, after not winning a World Series since 1918. Let that sink in: the Red Sox could have brought a two time World Series winner back, but didn't. Francona seems to be happy in the ESPN announcers booth.
The next mistake the Red Sox made? They signed Bobby Valentine to a two year contract. It has been anything but Valentine's Day around the Red Sox this year. From his highly defensive personality to his ripping Kevin Youkilis, he has been a complete disaster.
Now I'm loving how bad Red Sox management is stumbling. They are issuing non-denial denials about Valentine's job status. Larry Luchino said that Valentine will survive this season. What I love most about that is what he didn't say. Lucchino didn't say that Valentine wouldn't be back for a second year. In other words Valentine is gone at the end of this season. Typically this is what happens: The Red Sox will announce that they are evaluating all their options at the end of the regular season. Then when the playoffs are in full swing, the Red Sox will try to announce as quietly as possible that Valentine won't be returning for a second season.
Also: "Lucchino declined to go into detail about the meeting between players and ownership that took place in New York in late July, saying only that Yahoo! Sports’ report that players were calling for Valentine to be ousted “exaggerated and inaccurate.” He also said he shared owner John Henry’s disappointment that sources leaked information about the meeting to Yahoo! Sports."
I love this quote, yet another non-denial denial. Lucchino is deflecting about what really happened at this meeting. He doesn't deny that the players were calling for Valentine to be fired. But if that wasn't the reason, hen what did the players want the meeting for? Obviously the Red Sox players weren't there to try and get a raise for Valentine. Then again Lucchino deflects when he says that Henry was disappointed about people leaking the details to Yahoo! Sports. In other words they admit there was a meeting, but they talk about anything else but what the meeting was actually about.
Obviously Boston's only problem isn't Valentine, although he does deserve a lot of the blame. The Red Sox just don't seem to have a lot of chemistry of the team. The culture of their baseball team seems to be mildly poisonous. Indeed ESPN's Buster Olney is now saying that free agents may not consider playing for the Red Sox next season. It seems the whole organization needs a major culture change. Start with Valentine, but some of the players need to move on. With the Red Sox it seems the sum of their players is more than the whole of the team. In other words the Red Sox need to build a true team and not just the best collection of players they can afford.
They need to learn how to evaluate starting pitchers better. They have had major problems with that. Such names as Lackey, Matsuzaka and even Beckett have made me wonder more than once what the hell they are doing in Boston?
themusicaddict
The Cowboys Are Insane: Another Mediocre Season For Dallas in 2012
Hello,
First I'd like to talk about the disaster that is the Dallas Cowboys. Albert Einsten said this about insanity and by extension the Dallas Cowboys: "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." (thanks to brainy quote.com)
As you can see from the above definition the Cowboys are insane. Sure they added some nice pieces in Brandon Carr and Morris Claiborne, but overall isn't the same team as last season? They still bring back the horribly ineffective Tony Romo. The man who has one playoff win, which is the exact same amount as Tim Tebow. I know his stats are impressive, but his ability in the clutch is minimal at best. His lack of decision making skills has proved to be the Cowboys downfall many times. This play sums up the style of Romo's decision making ability:
"T.Romo pass short right to J.Witten to DAL 18 for -2 yards (R.McClain)." (Thanks to espn.com.)
The Cowboys get the ball back with 3:02 to play in the first quarter of their preseason game with the Raiders. The Cowboys went on to "win" this game 3-0, but at this point in the game the score was 0-0. Again it's a preseason game and everyone knows that Romo and Witten are going to make the final roster. This possession is just meant to knock off the rust for the Cowboys starters. The play starts with Romo initially escaping the rush, which is one of the good things of Tony Romo. However when the pressure resumes Romo is forced to make a decision. He has two choices throw the ball out of bounds or try to make a play that no one will remember after the game.
Unfortunately for Cowboy fans he chooses to try and make the play. He throws the ball to a temporarily wide open Witten, but there are three or four Raiders players closing quickly. The pass is complete but Witten is hit very hard. The result of the play is the loss of two yards and the loss of Witten for who knows how long? And ironically since Witten was injured on the play, that play will be well remembered.
What should have Romo done, he should have thrown the ball away. The next play would have started at the line of scrimmage and Witten would still be available to play. Oh and good news for Cowboys fans, Romo is going to play more against San Diego.
I like to google things sometimes and see what kind of consensus their is in the world I thought it was funny that "Tony Romo sucks" has a Facebook page. But the unintentionally funniest google search result was "Tony Romo Super Bowl appearances". Oh man.
Other things that are the same as last season. Colossal screwup Jerry Jones is still the "General Manager" of the Dallas Cowboys. I wish he knew as much about football as he does about making money. Then the Cowboys would be a much more successful team on the field. Currently they are the team that's only made the playoffs one of the last 4 seasons. I also highly doubt they'll make the playoffs this season.
Jason Garrett is still the head coach, sure he's an upgrade over Wade Phillips, but not enough of an upgrade. He does look like a head coach. But once the Cowboys eventually fire him, will another team give him the head coach position? They have Rob Ryan's highly ineffective defense back for a second season. Last and probably least is certified head case Dez Bryant. One of the things that I'm tired of the Cowboys is their choice to take chances on head cases that have some talent. Other than Michael Irvan and Charles Haley, when has that worked. Tank Johnson: No!, WR Roy Williams: No! And the corner back that seemed to be suspended for most of his Cowboys career, before the Cowboys finally cut him: No! Terrell Owens is kind of a toss up.
The Cowboys will be better this year, but so will the three other teams in the NFC East. The Cowboys should have done what the Redskins did, trade up to try and draft a real quarterback. Not only did the Cowboys not do something like that, they are talking about extending Romo's contract. What the hell? Obviously the Giants are the defending Super Bowl champions, which still surprises me to this day. But you can't discount them. Then the Eagles have a lot of talent and they should be significantly better than last season. But of course no matter how well they start out, they'll choke somewhere along on the way. You can always count on the Eagles to choke and I'm not sure how Andy Reid keeps his job.
I predict a 7-9 or 8-8 record for the Cowboys this season. Again they won't make the playoffs for the 4th time in 5 seasons. The Cowboys won't make any significant changes next off season and will act surprised when 2013 is another terrible season. I would love to be proven wrong, but I just don't think it will be. That's because the Cowboys are insane.
themusicaddict
First I'd like to talk about the disaster that is the Dallas Cowboys. Albert Einsten said this about insanity and by extension the Dallas Cowboys: "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." (thanks to brainy quote.com)
As you can see from the above definition the Cowboys are insane. Sure they added some nice pieces in Brandon Carr and Morris Claiborne, but overall isn't the same team as last season? They still bring back the horribly ineffective Tony Romo. The man who has one playoff win, which is the exact same amount as Tim Tebow. I know his stats are impressive, but his ability in the clutch is minimal at best. His lack of decision making skills has proved to be the Cowboys downfall many times. This play sums up the style of Romo's decision making ability:
"T.Romo pass short right to J.Witten to DAL 18 for -2 yards (R.McClain)." (Thanks to espn.com.)
The Cowboys get the ball back with 3:02 to play in the first quarter of their preseason game with the Raiders. The Cowboys went on to "win" this game 3-0, but at this point in the game the score was 0-0. Again it's a preseason game and everyone knows that Romo and Witten are going to make the final roster. This possession is just meant to knock off the rust for the Cowboys starters. The play starts with Romo initially escaping the rush, which is one of the good things of Tony Romo. However when the pressure resumes Romo is forced to make a decision. He has two choices throw the ball out of bounds or try to make a play that no one will remember after the game.
Unfortunately for Cowboy fans he chooses to try and make the play. He throws the ball to a temporarily wide open Witten, but there are three or four Raiders players closing quickly. The pass is complete but Witten is hit very hard. The result of the play is the loss of two yards and the loss of Witten for who knows how long? And ironically since Witten was injured on the play, that play will be well remembered.
What should have Romo done, he should have thrown the ball away. The next play would have started at the line of scrimmage and Witten would still be available to play. Oh and good news for Cowboys fans, Romo is going to play more against San Diego.
I like to google things sometimes and see what kind of consensus their is in the world I thought it was funny that "Tony Romo sucks" has a Facebook page. But the unintentionally funniest google search result was "Tony Romo Super Bowl appearances". Oh man.
Other things that are the same as last season. Colossal screwup Jerry Jones is still the "General Manager" of the Dallas Cowboys. I wish he knew as much about football as he does about making money. Then the Cowboys would be a much more successful team on the field. Currently they are the team that's only made the playoffs one of the last 4 seasons. I also highly doubt they'll make the playoffs this season.
Jason Garrett is still the head coach, sure he's an upgrade over Wade Phillips, but not enough of an upgrade. He does look like a head coach. But once the Cowboys eventually fire him, will another team give him the head coach position? They have Rob Ryan's highly ineffective defense back for a second season. Last and probably least is certified head case Dez Bryant. One of the things that I'm tired of the Cowboys is their choice to take chances on head cases that have some talent. Other than Michael Irvan and Charles Haley, when has that worked. Tank Johnson: No!, WR Roy Williams: No! And the corner back that seemed to be suspended for most of his Cowboys career, before the Cowboys finally cut him: No! Terrell Owens is kind of a toss up.
The Cowboys will be better this year, but so will the three other teams in the NFC East. The Cowboys should have done what the Redskins did, trade up to try and draft a real quarterback. Not only did the Cowboys not do something like that, they are talking about extending Romo's contract. What the hell? Obviously the Giants are the defending Super Bowl champions, which still surprises me to this day. But you can't discount them. Then the Eagles have a lot of talent and they should be significantly better than last season. But of course no matter how well they start out, they'll choke somewhere along on the way. You can always count on the Eagles to choke and I'm not sure how Andy Reid keeps his job.
I predict a 7-9 or 8-8 record for the Cowboys this season. Again they won't make the playoffs for the 4th time in 5 seasons. The Cowboys won't make any significant changes next off season and will act surprised when 2013 is another terrible season. I would love to be proven wrong, but I just don't think it will be. That's because the Cowboys are insane.
themusicaddict
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Great and More Recent Songs :), Sports preview
Hello,
I'm 45 years old and so my music taste tends to date from when I was a teenager. I grew up in the very fertile 80's music era. The 80s is when new wave had it's peak, disco was still around for a bit, there was a lot of great pop and rock. It was also the beginning of the hair metal era and Guns N' Roses busted out in 1989. And I'm not a big fan of rap music. (Rick Ross on the latest cover of Rolling Stone? Please!) But that's when the Beastie Boys, Run-D.M.C. and LL Cool J had many of their best songs. All around a great decade for music.
Honestly when I do listen to the radio, it's mostly sports radio or stations that play a lot of 80s. So I don't usually discover a lot of new music. But sometimes through my kids or other avenues I hear new music I like. And I'm not really a music snob. I can enjoy "Call Me Maybe" just as much as "Welcome To The Jungle". Music has to be awful, very profane or very stupid for me not to like it. And I guess that explains my aversion to so called rap music.
Anyway here are some songs that are much more recent than what I usually put on my blog. I don't claim to be breaking any new ground with any of these songs. I'm not predicting what will be big hits or won't. These are just songs that have struck my fancy. Again I like most genres of music, so these songs will be all over the place. Enjoy.
I hope I have no problems with blogger today.
This is Tim McGraw's "Truck Yeah":
The name of this band is In This Moment, who I hadn't heard of until yesterday. I listened to their music for a few hours yesterday (Thanks Spotify) and I find I quite like this band. I couldn't just pick one of their songs, I ended up choosing this song randomly. And not all their music is this intense I assure you. This is "The Promise":
Taylor Swift's new song "We Are Never Ever Ever Getting Back Together". Uber producer Max Martin worked with her on this song. If this reminds you of Avril Lavigne, Martin also worked with her. Swift is still singing love and break up songs, this song is okay.
I really, really like this song. The Rocket Summer's "200,000":
This is my favorite song from the latest Van Halen CD. This is "You and Your Blues". (I also like "Stay Frosty").
A band named Red Five and the song is "Your Creation" (This only has 32 youtube views):
Lianne La Havas' "Is Your Love Big Enough":
This is a pretty great song too David Guetta featuring Sia's "Titanium":
Thanks to a free Sub Pop sampler via amazon.com I discovered this song. This is a bit out of my comfort zone, but I really like it. Retribution Gospel Choir's "The Stone":
From the same Sub Pop sampler. Memoryhouse's "The Kids Were Wrong":
Silly for me to think the Neon Trees would be a one hit wonder. I really like this song too, "Everybody Talks":
Cher Lloyd's "Want You Back":
This is one of my favoriteRihanna, uh Brown, songs. I absolutely love this song, "We Run The Night":
Matchbox Twenty's "She's So Mean":
The lovely Katy Perry's "Wide Awake":
I will close with 3 more great songs from Walk The Moon's self-titled CD. (These three songs along with the amazing "I Can Lift A Car" make for a pretty great CD.) This is "Shiver Shiver":
"Next In Line":
"Jenny":
If I have time tomorrow I plan on writing a long sports blog as I have some opinions. Here's a quick preview. The Red Sox are done, put a fork in Bobby Valentine. The Dodgers should win the NL West now, with Melky Cabrera (Idiot) being suspended probably until next season. The Pirates are faltering, they'll be lucky if they finish 4-7 on their 11 game home stand. Atlanta Braves are very quietly putting together an amazing regular season. Now can they avoid melting down at the end of this season and actually do something in the playoffs for once? At least Red Sox fans don't have to worry about them melting down at the end of the season.
Felix Hernandez is a stud. Not a stud is the second wild card playoff, in fact it's a farce. A one game playoff between the two wild card teams in each league? May the farce be with Major League Baseball.
Football: Jordan Wynn of the Utes won't finish the season. I love BYU, but I hope they get an upgrade in quarterback next season. Matt Barkley and USC should play in this season's National Championship Game. The Utah-USC game should be a battle.
Tony Romo still sucks, his stupid pass to Jason Witten directly led to Witten's injury. There was no upside for Romo to throw that pass. Even in a best case scenario, it's still is only the preseason. I'm dreading another terrible Cowboys season. The Cowboys need to do what the Redskins did and trade some picks to move up in the draft and get a real quarterback. Remember Tim Tebow has as many playoff wins as Romo.
Great win for the American Men's National Team in Mexico yesterday. They won for the first time in 75 years in Mexico. That's an extremely hostile place to play.
themusicaddict
I'm 45 years old and so my music taste tends to date from when I was a teenager. I grew up in the very fertile 80's music era. The 80s is when new wave had it's peak, disco was still around for a bit, there was a lot of great pop and rock. It was also the beginning of the hair metal era and Guns N' Roses busted out in 1989. And I'm not a big fan of rap music. (Rick Ross on the latest cover of Rolling Stone? Please!) But that's when the Beastie Boys, Run-D.M.C. and LL Cool J had many of their best songs. All around a great decade for music.
Honestly when I do listen to the radio, it's mostly sports radio or stations that play a lot of 80s. So I don't usually discover a lot of new music. But sometimes through my kids or other avenues I hear new music I like. And I'm not really a music snob. I can enjoy "Call Me Maybe" just as much as "Welcome To The Jungle". Music has to be awful, very profane or very stupid for me not to like it. And I guess that explains my aversion to so called rap music.
Anyway here are some songs that are much more recent than what I usually put on my blog. I don't claim to be breaking any new ground with any of these songs. I'm not predicting what will be big hits or won't. These are just songs that have struck my fancy. Again I like most genres of music, so these songs will be all over the place. Enjoy.
I hope I have no problems with blogger today.
This is Tim McGraw's "Truck Yeah":
The name of this band is In This Moment, who I hadn't heard of until yesterday. I listened to their music for a few hours yesterday (Thanks Spotify) and I find I quite like this band. I couldn't just pick one of their songs, I ended up choosing this song randomly. And not all their music is this intense I assure you. This is "The Promise":
Taylor Swift's new song "We Are Never Ever Ever Getting Back Together". Uber producer Max Martin worked with her on this song. If this reminds you of Avril Lavigne, Martin also worked with her. Swift is still singing love and break up songs, this song is okay.
I really, really like this song. The Rocket Summer's "200,000":
This is my favorite song from the latest Van Halen CD. This is "You and Your Blues". (I also like "Stay Frosty").
A band named Red Five and the song is "Your Creation" (This only has 32 youtube views):
Lianne La Havas' "Is Your Love Big Enough":
This is a pretty great song too David Guetta featuring Sia's "Titanium":
Thanks to a free Sub Pop sampler via amazon.com I discovered this song. This is a bit out of my comfort zone, but I really like it. Retribution Gospel Choir's "The Stone":
From the same Sub Pop sampler. Memoryhouse's "The Kids Were Wrong":
Silly for me to think the Neon Trees would be a one hit wonder. I really like this song too, "Everybody Talks":
Cher Lloyd's "Want You Back":
This is one of my favorite
Matchbox Twenty's "She's So Mean":
The lovely Katy Perry's "Wide Awake":
I will close with 3 more great songs from Walk The Moon's self-titled CD. (These three songs along with the amazing "I Can Lift A Car" make for a pretty great CD.) This is "Shiver Shiver":
"Next In Line":
"Jenny":
If I have time tomorrow I plan on writing a long sports blog as I have some opinions. Here's a quick preview. The Red Sox are done, put a fork in Bobby Valentine. The Dodgers should win the NL West now, with Melky Cabrera (Idiot) being suspended probably until next season. The Pirates are faltering, they'll be lucky if they finish 4-7 on their 11 game home stand. Atlanta Braves are very quietly putting together an amazing regular season. Now can they avoid melting down at the end of this season and actually do something in the playoffs for once? At least Red Sox fans don't have to worry about them melting down at the end of the season.
Felix Hernandez is a stud. Not a stud is the second wild card playoff, in fact it's a farce. A one game playoff between the two wild card teams in each league? May the farce be with Major League Baseball.
Football: Jordan Wynn of the Utes won't finish the season. I love BYU, but I hope they get an upgrade in quarterback next season. Matt Barkley and USC should play in this season's National Championship Game. The Utah-USC game should be a battle.
Tony Romo still sucks, his stupid pass to Jason Witten directly led to Witten's injury. There was no upside for Romo to throw that pass. Even in a best case scenario, it's still is only the preseason. I'm dreading another terrible Cowboys season. The Cowboys need to do what the Redskins did and trade some picks to move up in the draft and get a real quarterback. Remember Tim Tebow has as many playoff wins as Romo.
Great win for the American Men's National Team in Mexico yesterday. They won for the first time in 75 years in Mexico. That's an extremely hostile place to play.
themusicaddict
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
(Refreshed and Improved December 19, 2020) Horshack Dies: Ron Palillo Dead at the Age of 63, Melancholy Songs
Hello,
blogger is having problems today, sorry for how funky things are today
Some sad news today. One of my favorite shows growing up was the hilarious "Welcome Back Kotter". The show is most well known because of Gabe Kaplan and a young John Travolta. This is one of John Travolta's first steps on his path to fame. (He also made "Saturday Night Fever" in this same time frame.) Travolta played Vinnie Barbarino. Anyway Ron Palillo played one of the most famous characters on the show, Horshack. He's one of the funniest characters in 70's television. Sadly Palillo died last night in Palm Springs at age 63. R.I.P. Ron.
themusicaddict
blogger is having problems today, sorry for how funky things are today
Some sad news today. One of my favorite shows growing up was the hilarious "Welcome Back Kotter". The show is most well known because of Gabe Kaplan and a young John Travolta. This is one of John Travolta's first steps on his path to fame. (He also made "Saturday Night Fever" in this same time frame.) Travolta played Vinnie Barbarino. Anyway Ron Palillo played one of the most famous characters on the show, Horshack. He's one of the funniest characters in 70's television. Sadly Palillo died last night in Palm Springs at age 63. R.I.P. Ron.
This show was both hilarious and the cast had great chemistry. Barbarino teaches Horshak how to get the ladies:
One of the best theme songs in television history, "Welcome Back Kotter":
Sadly Robert Hegyes, who played Juan Epstein, also previously died. According to Wikipedia, Hegyes died on January 26th, 2012. R.I.P. Robert.
A shout out to Kaplan, Travolta and the actor that played Washington. Keeping with the somber theme, here are some great and melancholy songs. Enjoy:
Two of the best songs from MTV's "Unplugged" show and two of the best melancholy songs ever. There seems to be some kind of issue, I can't add either of these songs to my blog at this time.
Rod Stewart's "Reason To Believe":
Both of these songs really benefit from the "Unplugged" format. Eric Clapton's "Layla":
A song that's a bit offbeat, but still a great song. This is Jem's "They":
Lady Antebellum's amazing "Need You Now":
Another amazing, but bittersweet, song. The Band Perry's "If I Die Young":
The Republic Tigers "Buildings and Mountains":
Two from Maroon 5, first "The Sweetest Goodbye":
Maroon 5 featuring some lame, completely unnecessary rapper "Payphone":
A side note. Youtube views of The Republic Tigers song and "Payphone" is the exact reason why companies put so much money into marketing. In my opinion "Buildings and Mountains" is a better song than "Payphone". But nobody would believe me if you compare the youtube video's number of views. "Buildings and Mountains" has 153,732 views while "Payphone" has over 49 million views.
The Band Perry's "If I Die Young": (Yes I realize I have this song twice. It's such a great song that I'm going to keep both.)
Bonnie Raitt's "I Can't Make You Love Me":
Skeeter Davis' "End of The World":
The Zac Brown Band's "Colder Weather":
Keane's "Only Somewhere We Know":
Sheryl Crow's "The First Cut Is The Deepest":
Tomorrow some songs that are a bit more current and upbeat. Thanks for indulging me.
themusicaddict
Sunday, August 12, 2012
USA! USA! USA! Mens and Womens Basketball Are Golden
Hello,
Just some thoughts and observations on the USA's victory over Spain in today's Olympic Gold Medal game. Spain is a tough, tough team. With the Gasol brothers, Serge Ibaka, the smooth shooting skill of Rudy Fernandez and the ball handling skills and passing ability of Juan Carlos Navarro. I still remember Fernandez killing the USA in the 2008 Olympics, he has to be one of the purest shooters I've ever seen. I also loved how Spain never gave up and fought fiercely the whole game. International refs have a reputation for being terrible, but I thought they called this game fairly. They still missed several calls, the calls just balanced each other.
I hope this doesn't sound jingoistic, but hearing the repeated chants of USA! USA! USA! always gives me goosebumps. I'm just so grateful that I live in such an amazing country.
And all you LeBron James haters, it's time for you to shut the hell up. Enough with ragging on the man. Who cares now what happened when he left Cleveland and the ridiculous welcoming ceremony that Miami had for James and Chris Bosh. James finally won his first NBA title and now added yet another international title this year. He was clearly the key player on both the Heat and the USA. His hammer dunk and humongous 3 pointer near the end of the game were the final push for the USA to win.
Even though they were both playing for the USA, I still had a hard time cheering for Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony.
Also congrats to the USA Women's Basketball Team. Apparantaly they don't like drama and excitement as much as their male counterparts. The American women put their foot on the throats of the French and destroyed them in the Gold Medal game yesterday. The USA women "only" won by 36 points, but it could have been much worse. The American women have now won 5 straight gold medals and 41 straight games in the Olympics.
Congrats to both and thanks for representing America with so much class and skill.
themusicaddict
Just some thoughts and observations on the USA's victory over Spain in today's Olympic Gold Medal game. Spain is a tough, tough team. With the Gasol brothers, Serge Ibaka, the smooth shooting skill of Rudy Fernandez and the ball handling skills and passing ability of Juan Carlos Navarro. I still remember Fernandez killing the USA in the 2008 Olympics, he has to be one of the purest shooters I've ever seen. I also loved how Spain never gave up and fought fiercely the whole game. International refs have a reputation for being terrible, but I thought they called this game fairly. They still missed several calls, the calls just balanced each other.
I hope this doesn't sound jingoistic, but hearing the repeated chants of USA! USA! USA! always gives me goosebumps. I'm just so grateful that I live in such an amazing country.
And all you LeBron James haters, it's time for you to shut the hell up. Enough with ragging on the man. Who cares now what happened when he left Cleveland and the ridiculous welcoming ceremony that Miami had for James and Chris Bosh. James finally won his first NBA title and now added yet another international title this year. He was clearly the key player on both the Heat and the USA. His hammer dunk and humongous 3 pointer near the end of the game were the final push for the USA to win.
Even though they were both playing for the USA, I still had a hard time cheering for Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony.
Also congrats to the USA Women's Basketball Team. Apparantaly they don't like drama and excitement as much as their male counterparts. The American women put their foot on the throats of the French and destroyed them in the Gold Medal game yesterday. The USA women "only" won by 36 points, but it could have been much worse. The American women have now won 5 straight gold medals and 41 straight games in the Olympics.
Congrats to both and thanks for representing America with so much class and skill.
themusicaddict
Saturday, August 11, 2012
(Finished August 17th, 2020) Songs That Mean Something To Me Right Now
Hello,
Updated August 17th, 2020. Yes, legalsounds.com was too good to be true. However all- at least I think so- of the songs I downloaded are still on my iTunes. Again if it seems too good to be true it quite likely is.
Recently I told you about a website, legalsounds.com, where one can get music at a really cheap price. Many times only 7c a song and less than $1.00 for full MP3 albums. They also give away many great songs for free. (My son is wondering when they are going to allow people to add more money to their account to buy new music. Is this too good to be true MP3 store too good to be true?) Since I don't listen to the radio a lot, I miss out on a lot of the hits of the day. However thanks to legalsounds.com I did discover this amazing song. The next three songs are fun songs, they've just brought fun into my life.
themusicaddict
Updated August 17th, 2020. Yes, legalsounds.com was too good to be true. However all- at least I think so- of the songs I downloaded are still on my iTunes. Again if it seems too good to be true it quite likely is.
Recently I told you about a website, legalsounds.com, where one can get music at a really cheap price. Many times only 7c a song and less than $1.00 for full MP3 albums. They also give away many great songs for free. (My son is wondering when they are going to allow people to add more money to their account to buy new music. Is this too good to be true MP3 store too good to be true?) Since I don't listen to the radio a lot, I miss out on a lot of the hits of the day. However thanks to legalsounds.com I did discover this amazing song. The next three songs are fun songs, they've just brought fun into my life.
I have to admit over 8 years later I have completely forgot about this song.
1) Havana Brown (featuring Pitbull) "We Run The Night":
1) Havana Brown (featuring Pitbull) "We Run The Night":
Like the above song, just a great dance song. 2) Usher's "DJ Got Us Feeling In Love Again":
Another song I found and got free because of legalsounds.com.
3) Cher Lloyd (featuring Astro) "Want U Back":
3) Cher Lloyd (featuring Astro) "Want U Back":
I was driving to work the other day and "When Doves Cry" came on Rewind 100.7. That song brought me back to when I was 16 years old and driving home from work. At the time I was driving a very ugly green truck. I was glad to have a vehicle, but the stereo didn't work very well. Funny, I look back now as those were good times, that's because they were good times. In 2012 this video in this form wasn't available on YouTube. That was before Prince's death. Once Prince died his videos became available on YouTube and us music bloggers are so grateful. Prince is a genius and this songs is one of his biggest moments of genius 4) "When Doves Cry":
My dating life has been heading in the right direction and it seems there's possibilities with some ladies. These four songs have meant something to me of late as a kiss may be in my near future. I had some of these songs recently on my blog, however they are very much in line with my theme today.
5) Gloriana "(Kissed You) Good Night":
6) Lady Antebellum's "Just A Kiss":
7) Thompson's Square "Are You Going To Kiss Me Or Not":
"Just say "yes". Finally in the love category, this is 8) Taylor Swift's "Love Story":
Songs that are great, rocking my world or energizing my workouts.
I love 9) Walk The Moon's "I Can Lift A Car":
I love 9) Walk The Moon's "I Can Lift A Car":
One of the best openings of any song ever, Van Halen's 10) "Why Can't This Be Love":
11) Rooney's "Sorry Sorry":
12) The Fratelli's "Creepin' Up The Backstairs":
Another great song from the 80's. This is 13) Eddie Money's "Take Me Home Tonight". I love Roni Spector's vocals and the sax on this version:
14) Rod Stewart's "Maggie May":
15) The Proclaimers "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)":
Finally songs that cause an emotion or make me think: 16) Crosby, Stills and Nash's "Southern Cross":
John Mayer (who I absolutely loathe, but this is a great song) 17) "Your Body Is A Wonderland":
18) U2's "One": (I refrained from putting several U2 songs in this category.)
19) James Blunt's amazing "Goodbye My Lover":
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