Hello,
In the final game of their four game series with the Angels, the Angels won 3-2. The offensively inept Dodgers even outdid their normal levels of futility. The team that only averages a little over 3.5 runs per game only scored two runs on Thursday. LA only had six hits in the finale of this series and remain in 29th place in MLB for runs scored. The Dodgers even produced a home run in this game, it was by Ramon Hernandez. As is typical for the Dodgers though it was only a solo homer.
I don't care who's managing this team, if the Dodgers can't score then they aren't going to win anyway. To fix the run scoring problem the Dodgers need better talent evaluators and better players. It's just that simple. LA shouldn't fire Don Mattingly for issues beyond his control.
That same standard applies to most of the Dodgers pitchers. Ted Lilly pitched a decent game, in 5 2/3rds innings he gave up 5 hits and 3 earned runs. Only giving up 3 runs in a reasonably long start by a starting pitcher is decent. Many times that should be good enough, too bad for Lilly he's pitching for the offensively anemic Dodgers.
Matt Kemp is on the 15 Day DL. With Kemp hitting .251 and only having two home runs, his bat isn't missed that much now. I hope that Kemp gets plenty of rest and I also hope the Dodgers don't rush him back. Let him get fully healthy before he plays again. For all intents and purposes this season is over. The only thing the Dodgers should do now is prepare for the future.
Another player that's injured, and who's missed even less than Kemp, is Josh Beckett. According to ESPN Beckett is traveling to meet a nerve specialist in Dallas. Beckett is experiencing numbness in his hands and says that he can't even feel the ball. I do wish him the best, but all this doesn't matter as his career is pretty much over. He's in the third year of 4 year-$68 million contract, but I'd be surprised if he's still a Dodger at the end of the contract. Beckett has been on the disabled list since May 14th and if he misses the rest of this season that would be fine with me. He's been completely ineffective this whole season anyway and again the Dodgers need to look past this season.
The Dodgers open a 3 game series with Colorado on Friday night. The pitching matchup is scheduled to be Clayton Kerhsaw vs. the Rockies Jon Garland. I always love when the Dodgers play the Rockies. Why is that you wonder? Because on our cable package one of the stations is Root Sports out of Colorado. For their next 3 games I'm able to watch the Dodgers. This is a rare, inexpensive way for me to see the Dodgers. (But of course another one of my teams, the Red Sox, is playing on MLB, it looks like I'll have choices.)
Again if you've never stumbled across this blog before and you are wondering how many teams do I have. I'm not going to recount the whole history here, but as of today I now have 6 teams. I've been a fan of the Dodgers the longest, but I also cheer for the Red Sox, Pirates, Braves and Cubs. Just today I added the Orioles to "my" teams. I've been paying attention to them about the last year or so, it's time for them to officially become one of my teams.
The Pirates are one of the hottest teams in all of MLB. Would you believe it if I told you that the Pirates have the second best record in baseball? Although I've been following the Pirates for the last couple of the years, I had to double check that statement. The Pirates having the second best record in MLB sounded just too unlikely. Don't worry I'll wait for you to go double check that yourself.
Would you believe it if I told you the Pirates have won 16 of their last 20 games? I know for all their sad history over the last 20 years that also seems hard to believe. However that's also true. I'm not sure how ESPN calculates a team's playoff chances. But I'm guessing one factor is based on past history. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that the Pirates only have the 7th best chance of making the playoffs.
The last couple of years they've started out well, only to fade late in the season. Well maybe fade isn't the best word, last season the Pirates collapsed in September as they went 7-21. I don't blame long time Pirates fans for being cynical, but it seems they should also feel some hope. Honestly the Pirates aren't going to win the World Series this year, but it will be a successful year if they build for a World Series. I hope this year the Pirates can at least make the playoffs.
Other things true about the Pirates is they're 34-20, an incredible 14 games above .500. That's a rare height for the Pirates. Even though Pittsburgh has the second best record in all of MLB, they still are only 2nd place in the NL Central. That's because they play in the same division as the team that has the best record in MLB, the steamrolling St. Louis Cardinals.
themusicaddict
Friday, May 31, 2013
Thursday, May 30, 2013
themusicaddict's Songs Rocking My World Right Now (Updated June 1st, 2013)
Hello,
These are songs rocking my world now. I've been listening a lot to Google All Access Music lately and I've really enjoyed a lot of Fitz and the Tantrums and Rival Sons music. I highly recommend their recent CD "More Than Just A Dream". For me the biggest Fitz and the Tantrums earworm has been the song titled "Spark":
I've never been a big fan of Fall Out Boy, but I've been listening to their latest CD "Save Rock and Roll" a lot lately. This is a pretty decent CD, I've gone back and listened to some of their earlier work. Other than a couple of songs, I'm still not a big fan of that music. I suggest that by far Fall Out Boys best work is this most recent CD. One of my favorite songs on that CD is "Phoenix":
I'm also really enjoying the old school vibe of Rival Sons, the singer reminds me a lot of a young Robert Plant. Coming from me that's about the best compliment that anyone can get. Here's a couple of songs from their latest CD "Head Down". This song is "Until The Sun Comes":
I love the dirty, bluesy sound of this song, "Keep On Swinging":
Yesterday I was excited to see that the much loved and much hyped new Vampire Weekend CD is available. That CD is "Modern Vampires of the City". I've listened to it a couple of times now, but I'm not real impressed. The only song I can recommend at this time is the very catchy "Diane Young":
John Fogerty has made a CD remaking many of his classic Creedence Clearwater Revival songs, the name of the CD is "Wrote A Song For Everyone". This is one of the best songs on that CD, "Someday Never Comes" with Dawes:
The Virginmary's "Just A Ride":
Icona Pop's "I Love It":
themusicaddict
These are songs rocking my world now. I've been listening a lot to Google All Access Music lately and I've really enjoyed a lot of Fitz and the Tantrums and Rival Sons music. I highly recommend their recent CD "More Than Just A Dream". For me the biggest Fitz and the Tantrums earworm has been the song titled "Spark":
I've never been a big fan of Fall Out Boy, but I've been listening to their latest CD "Save Rock and Roll" a lot lately. This is a pretty decent CD, I've gone back and listened to some of their earlier work. Other than a couple of songs, I'm still not a big fan of that music. I suggest that by far Fall Out Boys best work is this most recent CD. One of my favorite songs on that CD is "Phoenix":
I'm also really enjoying the old school vibe of Rival Sons, the singer reminds me a lot of a young Robert Plant. Coming from me that's about the best compliment that anyone can get. Here's a couple of songs from their latest CD "Head Down". This song is "Until The Sun Comes":
I love the dirty, bluesy sound of this song, "Keep On Swinging":
Yesterday I was excited to see that the much loved and much hyped new Vampire Weekend CD is available. That CD is "Modern Vampires of the City". I've listened to it a couple of times now, but I'm not real impressed. The only song I can recommend at this time is the very catchy "Diane Young":
John Fogerty has made a CD remaking many of his classic Creedence Clearwater Revival songs, the name of the CD is "Wrote A Song For Everyone". This is one of the best songs on that CD, "Someday Never Comes" with Dawes:
The Virginmary's "Just A Ride":
Icona Pop's "I Love It":
themusicaddict
Dodgers Daily, May 29th, 2013: Dodgers In Trouble When Kershaw Or Ryu Isn't Pitching
Hello,
In the third game of the 4 game series between the Dodgers and Angels, the Angels prevailed 4-3. With LA's inept offense, the Dodgers need amazing pitching nearly every game to compete for the playoffs. When either Clayton Kershaw or Hyun-Jin Ryu aren't pitching the Dodgers are really in trouble. I'm still not sold on Zac Greinke. He's struggled since coming back to the Dodgers from his stupid fight. (It doesn't look like Greinke will pitch against the Padres in their upcoming series, that's probably a good thing.)
Chris Capuano gave his all against the Angels. But he's either not ready to be a top flight major league pitcher or never will be. In 5.2 innings, he gave up 6 hits, 3 runs and 4 hits. All 3 runs were earned. He also valiantly pitched out of a bases loaded jam in the first inning. Capuano is now 1-4 and has a 5.45 ERA.
But with the Dodgers having the second to worse run scoring team in all of MLB, 3 runs many times will be the their max in a game. The Dodgers continue to score runs at an alarmingly low rate. They're only ahead of the terrible Miami Marlins, a team that I believe has lost 18 of their last 21 games. That shows you how bad the Marlins are. Basically the Dodgers are Kershaw and Ryu away from being the Marlins.
Since I don't have a lot of time to work on this blog today the following numbers aren't 100% correct. But the number are accurate enough for you to see the picture of how anemic LA's offense has been this season. The Dodgers have played 51 games this season, they've scored 3 runs or less in 33 of those games. Two-thirds of the time once an opponent scores 4 runs they'll win the game. The Dodgers have scored 4 runs or less 37 times. It's only been 14 times the Dodgers have scored more than 4 runs.
The Dodgers have scored 178 runs this season, 3.49 runs per game, which places them in 29th place. With how bad the Marlins are this year the Dodgers probably won't slip to last place. But the Chicago White Sox better watch out, they've only scored 2 more runs than the Dodgers this season. The White Sox scored a total of 3 runs against the Cubs on Thursday. If LA "explodes" for 5 runs today, they'll be tied with the White Sox for #28 in runs scored for MLB. Oh boy, let the good times roll. Owners and management of the Dodgers were probably expecting a bit more when they agreed to $216 million in contracts for this season.
One reason the Dodgers score so few runs is because they hit so few home runs, especially with people on base. The Dodgers are 28th in MLB in home runs, they have 36. Surprisingly the Dodgers had two home runs last night, that's a home run explosion for them. (Dioneer Navarro, Ryan Zimmerman and Chris Davis all had at least 2 home runs by themselves last night.) Par for the course with the Dodgers, both homers were solo shots. But I'm so glad to see both Adrian Gonzalez and Scott Van Slyke hitting home runs last night. Gonzalez is hitting .333 with 7 home runs, while Van Slyke is hitting .290 with 4 home runs. However Van Slyke has only been up with the Dodgers about a month now.
Thankfully Hanley Ramirez should be back in about 2 weeks.
Two of the big money Dodgers continue to struggle. Matt Kemp was 0-3 and is now hitting .251 this season. Kemp is scheduled to undergo a MRI on Thursday on his right hamstring. The Dodgers may put him on the 15 Day DL. Honestly I hope this doesn't sound too rude, but a potential replacement couldn't do much worse. The Dodgers have Yasiel Puig, who tore up spring training. Along with Puig in Chattanooga is Zac Pederson. This season is lost, what do the Dodgers have to lose to bring up both of these players now? I think it's time for the Dodgers to give a look at the two Lookouts. LA needs to build for the future as all these high priced veterans start their inevitable decline.
Kemp's doing even worse than Andre Ethier, who was 1-4 and is now hitting .253. I'd rather see either Puig or Pederson play in place of Ethier. At worse either young player could bring some excitement to the Dodgers lineup. Both players have 8 home runs playing for Chattanooga. (Thanks to Mark Saxon at ESPN LA.)
The Dodgers dropped to 22-29 and are firmly in last place in the NL West, they trail the first place Dbacks by 7.5 games. LA now has a 3.3% chance of making the playoffs.
Tonight's pitching matchup will be Ted Lilly (0-1, 5.63 ERA) vs. Jason Vargas (4-3, 3.43) in the fourth and final game in the Dodgers-Angels series. Even though today is getaway day, tonight's game doesn't start until 7:05 PCT. The Dodgers start a 3 game series in Colorado tomorrow. No rest for the weary, including tonight's game the Dodgers have games scheduled for the next 14 days.
One of the teams I follow is the Orioles and I want to give a shout out to Chris Davis. Yesterday in the Orioles 9-6 victory over the Nationals, Davis was 4-4 and hit two homers. Davis has 19 homers, which is first in MLB. Davis leads the Tigers amazing Miguel Cabrera by 4 homers. Davis also has 50 RBIs, which is second in MLB. He trails Cabrera by 9 RBIs. Davis is third in MLB batting average, he's hitting 3.59. He trails Jean Segura, who's hitting .360. He also trails Cabrera (there's that name again), who's hitting .368.
If I remember right a player winning back to back triple crowns has only happened twice, will this year be the third time? Quite simply Cabrera is a hitting machine and it will be fun to follow him throughout the rest of the season. Of course there's a chance that Chris Davis can win the triple crown as well.
themusicaddict
In the third game of the 4 game series between the Dodgers and Angels, the Angels prevailed 4-3. With LA's inept offense, the Dodgers need amazing pitching nearly every game to compete for the playoffs. When either Clayton Kershaw or Hyun-Jin Ryu aren't pitching the Dodgers are really in trouble. I'm still not sold on Zac Greinke. He's struggled since coming back to the Dodgers from his stupid fight. (It doesn't look like Greinke will pitch against the Padres in their upcoming series, that's probably a good thing.)
Chris Capuano gave his all against the Angels. But he's either not ready to be a top flight major league pitcher or never will be. In 5.2 innings, he gave up 6 hits, 3 runs and 4 hits. All 3 runs were earned. He also valiantly pitched out of a bases loaded jam in the first inning. Capuano is now 1-4 and has a 5.45 ERA.
But with the Dodgers having the second to worse run scoring team in all of MLB, 3 runs many times will be the their max in a game. The Dodgers continue to score runs at an alarmingly low rate. They're only ahead of the terrible Miami Marlins, a team that I believe has lost 18 of their last 21 games. That shows you how bad the Marlins are. Basically the Dodgers are Kershaw and Ryu away from being the Marlins.
Since I don't have a lot of time to work on this blog today the following numbers aren't 100% correct. But the number are accurate enough for you to see the picture of how anemic LA's offense has been this season. The Dodgers have played 51 games this season, they've scored 3 runs or less in 33 of those games. Two-thirds of the time once an opponent scores 4 runs they'll win the game. The Dodgers have scored 4 runs or less 37 times. It's only been 14 times the Dodgers have scored more than 4 runs.
The Dodgers have scored 178 runs this season, 3.49 runs per game, which places them in 29th place. With how bad the Marlins are this year the Dodgers probably won't slip to last place. But the Chicago White Sox better watch out, they've only scored 2 more runs than the Dodgers this season. The White Sox scored a total of 3 runs against the Cubs on Thursday. If LA "explodes" for 5 runs today, they'll be tied with the White Sox for #28 in runs scored for MLB. Oh boy, let the good times roll. Owners and management of the Dodgers were probably expecting a bit more when they agreed to $216 million in contracts for this season.
One reason the Dodgers score so few runs is because they hit so few home runs, especially with people on base. The Dodgers are 28th in MLB in home runs, they have 36. Surprisingly the Dodgers had two home runs last night, that's a home run explosion for them. (Dioneer Navarro, Ryan Zimmerman and Chris Davis all had at least 2 home runs by themselves last night.) Par for the course with the Dodgers, both homers were solo shots. But I'm so glad to see both Adrian Gonzalez and Scott Van Slyke hitting home runs last night. Gonzalez is hitting .333 with 7 home runs, while Van Slyke is hitting .290 with 4 home runs. However Van Slyke has only been up with the Dodgers about a month now.
Thankfully Hanley Ramirez should be back in about 2 weeks.
Two of the big money Dodgers continue to struggle. Matt Kemp was 0-3 and is now hitting .251 this season. Kemp is scheduled to undergo a MRI on Thursday on his right hamstring. The Dodgers may put him on the 15 Day DL. Honestly I hope this doesn't sound too rude, but a potential replacement couldn't do much worse. The Dodgers have Yasiel Puig, who tore up spring training. Along with Puig in Chattanooga is Zac Pederson. This season is lost, what do the Dodgers have to lose to bring up both of these players now? I think it's time for the Dodgers to give a look at the two Lookouts. LA needs to build for the future as all these high priced veterans start their inevitable decline.
Kemp's doing even worse than Andre Ethier, who was 1-4 and is now hitting .253. I'd rather see either Puig or Pederson play in place of Ethier. At worse either young player could bring some excitement to the Dodgers lineup. Both players have 8 home runs playing for Chattanooga. (Thanks to Mark Saxon at ESPN LA.)
The Dodgers dropped to 22-29 and are firmly in last place in the NL West, they trail the first place Dbacks by 7.5 games. LA now has a 3.3% chance of making the playoffs.
Tonight's pitching matchup will be Ted Lilly (0-1, 5.63 ERA) vs. Jason Vargas (4-3, 3.43) in the fourth and final game in the Dodgers-Angels series. Even though today is getaway day, tonight's game doesn't start until 7:05 PCT. The Dodgers start a 3 game series in Colorado tomorrow. No rest for the weary, including tonight's game the Dodgers have games scheduled for the next 14 days.
One of the teams I follow is the Orioles and I want to give a shout out to Chris Davis. Yesterday in the Orioles 9-6 victory over the Nationals, Davis was 4-4 and hit two homers. Davis has 19 homers, which is first in MLB. Davis leads the Tigers amazing Miguel Cabrera by 4 homers. Davis also has 50 RBIs, which is second in MLB. He trails Cabrera by 9 RBIs. Davis is third in MLB batting average, he's hitting 3.59. He trails Jean Segura, who's hitting .360. He also trails Cabrera (there's that name again), who's hitting .368.
If I remember right a player winning back to back triple crowns has only happened twice, will this year be the third time? Quite simply Cabrera is a hitting machine and it will be fun to follow him throughout the rest of the season. Of course there's a chance that Chris Davis can win the triple crown as well.
themusicaddict
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
themusicaddict's 2013 Handy Guide To The Idiocy of Jerry Jones (Updated July 19th, 2013)
Hello,
I know I'm not the only Cowboys fan that's tired of Jerry Jones reign of stupidity continuing. I know I am not the only one that's tired of him driving this team into the ground. Again I plead with my fellow Cowboys fans, please don't spend any money on any thing Cowboys related. The only way we fans can make our impact felt is by not financially supporting Jones and his minions. Please don't go to Cowboys games or buy Cowboys merchandise of any sort, do not put any more money in the pocket of Jones. Maybe if he loses enough money, he'll be forced to sale.
One of my favorite baseball teams went through something similar, the Dodgers were owned by a very greedy, short-sighted Frank McCourt. He ruined the franchise so much that he was forced to sell. I'm so thankful that someone with deep pockets bought the team and seems intent on building a winner the right way. The Dodgers current ownership group have made some less than intelligent decisions so far, but at least they have a plan in place. Jerry Jones has shown time and time again that deep pockets isn't a guarantee to running a winning team. Sound business decisions are the way to go, not ego, hubris and vanity of a crazy man.
Working together Cowboys fans we can force Jerry to sale the Cowboys. Please join me. I would like to see the Cowboys win at least one more Super Bowl in my life. The way the team is going now they are going in the wrong direction. I would like to see this season's team fall completely apart in order to force the Cowboys to make real changes, starting with them getting a GM who knows what he's doing.
I've been a Dallas Cowboys fan most of my life. However because of the stupidity of Jones, I'm slowly becoming a 49ers fan. It's one thing for a team to be bad, I'll cheer for that team forever. However for a team to be continually bad because of their egomaniac owner is one thing I can't tolerate forever. I've followed the Cowboys since the days of Tony Dorsett, Roger Staubach and the great Tom Landry. I remember Ed "Too Tall" Jones' boxing career. My oldest son's middle name is Emmitt, named after one of the greatest running backs of all-time. Jones many years of stupidity can even overwhelm 30 years of living through the good and bad times with the Cowboys.
Thanks to the great coaching of Jimmy Johnson, the Cowboys won 3 Super Bowls in the 90's. Then Jerry Jones in a fit of stupidity forced out Johnson after the Cowboys second Super Bowl of the 90s. Two years later Barry Switzer, using Johnson's players, won the fifth Super Bowl for the Cowboys. And since then no more Super Bowl appearances and even making the playoffs is a rare thing for the Cowboys.
Since those mid-90's glory days, things for Cowboys fans have been getting worse with Jerry Jones making most of the decisions. Most of his decisions are based not on wanting to win, but on making him looking like a football genius. Only he's unaware that ship sailed long ago, no one will ever confuse Jones for a football genius. He's a genius of hype, poor football decisions and making money. He's also a genius at trying to justify his terrible decisions, which he should be with all the practice he's had for that. But he's a complete failure as a football genius.
Here I'd like to keep track of some of the dumber things that Jerry Jones has said and done over the last several years. 99 more days until the regular season starts, so I know I'll be adding a lot more of Jones idiocy to this blog. Thanks to ESPN.com for all quotes unless otherwise noted.
The things listed here are have happened or were reported from May, 2013 to today:
July 20th, 2013 Jones talking about Garrett: "To answer your question specifically, one of the neatest things about not only this year but a positive about this year is that, if you're in close here, you see how Jason is responding to obviously unsatisfactory times. And I can tell you firsthand that's impressive, so I like that looking ahead at the future. It is very good."
Jones said the Cowboys are a better team. This is otherwise known as the same thing he says every year. The master of hype is pumping up his Cowboys, I'm embarrassed by how many years I fell for it. Although it took me too long to learn this lesson, I know fully have learned my lesson. I no longer a believer in Jones annual line of bullshit. How does anyone know if this team will be better without playing any games? Will this still be a better team if the Cowboys start 1-4, Jason Garrett makes several coaching mistakes, Callahan makes terrible play calls and Tony Romo throws several interceptions?
Jerry Jones' lack of intelligence and common sense continues to show. The only thing Jerry loves more than himself is being in front of the camera. But he being such a camera hog has it's disadvantages. From ESPN on May 31st, 2013:
"The Dallas Cowboys are aware their 2013 NFL draft board has been compromised. Blogging The Boys, a website that covers the team, compiled the Cowboys' draft board by piecing together pictures of owner Jerry Jones, who was standing in front of the board while conducting TV interviews in the team's war room, from several different angles. Multiple sources confirmed that Jones did television interviews inside the war room.
These items listed here are items that have happened through the early part of May, 2013.
1) In 2013 Jones decided to give a $100 million plus to a quarterback, Tony Romo, that has won a grand total of one playoff game. Romo is 1-6 in win or go home games. The Cowboys haven't even been to the playoffs for 4 of the last 5 seasons. In 2013 I don't know how the Cowboys will fail, but once again they won't make the playoffs.
2) Picking a center in the first round, even though centers aren't usually picked in the first round. That center Travis Frederick may end up being a great player, but the Cowboys could have probably drafted him in the second or third round.
3) Jones gave up too much for both Joey Galloway and Roy Williams. Both players ended up being very ineffective.
4) In 2013 Jones said that Jason Garrett wasn't fighting for his job, even though everyone knows that he is. He also referred to Jones as a "premier asset", which is hilarious. Jones only calls Garrett that to try and cover up his own coach hiring decisions. This will be Garrett's last season in Dallas, after which he'll never get another head coaching job. After firing Garrett, Jones will hire another coach equally as bad and not understand why the Cowboys still suck.
No one can mangle the English language like Jerry Jones, here he is speaking about Garrett:
"Well, no, no he's not ... to the last question: Is Jason coaching for his job? No," Jones told the NFL Network in an interview from the NFL's spring meetings in Boston that aired last week. "What we're doing is taking the assets that we have, and Jason being right at the top and certainly our premier asset, and we're using them to the best of our ability."
5) What the hell did he just say? What Jones said about the cyst on Romo's back: "Do you want to call it a toothache?"
6) More garbled English by Jones, talking about his adopted son Romo:
"He's played a lot of games now," Jones said. "He certainly had a lot of time on the job before he ever started and played. He has a unique grasp of our offensive concepts. The people who are around him the most -- his coaches -- tell me he's never had a bad idea. If you think about where he's at right now, he's 10 years older than most of the players we have on the field. We think his skill level right now is very much where we hoped it would be and will be for several years to come. But what we want to use more than we ever have is the kind of thing that (ex-Cowboys quarterback Roger) Staubach contributed -- input into designing a plan that helps us beat that opponent."
7) Jones about Romo again:
“I want to use everything that he’s got in his computer,” Jerry told reporters during rookie minicamp, referring to Romo. “The way to do that is have him involved in a lot of the design and the preparation as we not only prepare the team in general, but as we prepare for the opponents. He’s qualified to do that.”
8) What Jones said about safety Matt Johnson, who's never played a regular season play: “I don’t know when I’ve ever seen a player impress our staff without having played in a ballgame any more than Matt Johnson."
9) Jones talking about his hero Romo yet again. Some of the stupid things Jones says, no one would be able to make up. Comparing Romo to Peyton Manning in anything football related is simply asinine.
"Peyton Manning-type time on the job. Tony is more involved in the finished product,” Jones said. “He is more involved, unequivocally. I’m counting that in. That ought to produce some success. It will produce some success. I’m talking about the kind of plays we run, a lot of what we do offensively."
I'd think that someone that has hogged the limelight for so long would actually know how to speak to the press.
10) Jones speaking to season ticket holders, this comment was about the country club atmosphere that Jimmy Johnson says applies to the current Cowboys team:
"I don’t think that we do have a country club atmosphere around here. There’s too much competition. These players recognize how fortunate they are to be in the NFL, to have these opportunities. We’ve got as good or better leadership than my experience in 24 years with the Cowboys has seen."
On the same conference call talking about Tim Tebow, which won't surprise me someday if Dallas signs him. I'm hoping that Jones isn't that stupid, but no promises.
"We really feel good about Kyle Orton and that's where it all starts and stops right there. He will be used differently to some degree than we use (Tony) Romo, but he's capable of winning big games and we know how important that backup slot is, especially if it's temporary if you don't have Romo. We're pretty set at quarterback there. We wish Tim all the luck and the best in the world."
11) Jones original quote about Tony Romo being prepared:
“I can speak for Jason in this respect: Everything he is about wants more buy-in and more participation from the player,” Jones said. “So if Tony, for instance, would be here Monday through Saturday and be here from seven in the morning to six o’clock at night all over this place, then that’s better than the way it’s been. We’ll have more success, and Jason believes that. It’s certainly at quarterback but he believes it at the other positions, too.
“Tony is going to have more time, more presence. Not only is having in the offseason but when the season starts, beginning Mondays, assuming we played Sundays, he’s going to have more time on the job.
“A part of what we agreed with was extra time on the job, beyond the norm. That doesn’t mean that he didn’t have a lot of time on the job, but extra time on the job, Peyton Manning-type time on the job."
12) Jones trying to justify picking Frederick on draft night:
“I had hoped we could come out of this thing with a legitimate starter, a legitimate starter, and he will start, He will start. First-rounder and not starting? I know coach wants there to be competition and should be, and we all know that’s the way it is.”
13) Jones, trying again to justify his poor decisions, in drafting the two 2008 first round picks:
“You’re paying Jenkins whether Jenkins is here or not. You’re paying somebody else,” Jerry Jones said. “The facts are that in the system we are in today, when you draft a [Rashard] Mendenhall or you draft a Felix Jones, you are going to be paying a running back; you just don’t know whether you’re going to be paying the one you drafted or the one you’re going to go get.
“You said while you’ve got him during those four or five years are very important and we’d like to use him to be going to playoffs and competing for the Super Bowl. ... So 48 months from now you’re going to be sitting here deciding whether or not to pay him just like you would be a free agent out here. And so during those early years is when you want to get a lot of mileage relative to players.”
14) How to insult offensive lineman when you are trying to compliment them, this was a couple of days before the draft. By the way Jones was an offensive lineman in college. More strangled English by Jones:
"But there’s also cap reasons why these offensive linemen are going to be going early in this draft," Jones said during a news conference Monday. "Because they fit in a free agent (spot) that could play to that level. And figure what it might cost you to have one of those guys that are that, relative to what that first-or-second-round pick makes. So you forgo the idea of getting the big skill players early. You forgo that idea to actually go in there and get guys that are going to be doing the blocking for them, which traditionally have been lesser guys relative to where they’re taken in the draft."
themusicaddict
I know I'm not the only Cowboys fan that's tired of Jerry Jones reign of stupidity continuing. I know I am not the only one that's tired of him driving this team into the ground. Again I plead with my fellow Cowboys fans, please don't spend any money on any thing Cowboys related. The only way we fans can make our impact felt is by not financially supporting Jones and his minions. Please don't go to Cowboys games or buy Cowboys merchandise of any sort, do not put any more money in the pocket of Jones. Maybe if he loses enough money, he'll be forced to sale.
One of my favorite baseball teams went through something similar, the Dodgers were owned by a very greedy, short-sighted Frank McCourt. He ruined the franchise so much that he was forced to sell. I'm so thankful that someone with deep pockets bought the team and seems intent on building a winner the right way. The Dodgers current ownership group have made some less than intelligent decisions so far, but at least they have a plan in place. Jerry Jones has shown time and time again that deep pockets isn't a guarantee to running a winning team. Sound business decisions are the way to go, not ego, hubris and vanity of a crazy man.
Working together Cowboys fans we can force Jerry to sale the Cowboys. Please join me. I would like to see the Cowboys win at least one more Super Bowl in my life. The way the team is going now they are going in the wrong direction. I would like to see this season's team fall completely apart in order to force the Cowboys to make real changes, starting with them getting a GM who knows what he's doing.
I've been a Dallas Cowboys fan most of my life. However because of the stupidity of Jones, I'm slowly becoming a 49ers fan. It's one thing for a team to be bad, I'll cheer for that team forever. However for a team to be continually bad because of their egomaniac owner is one thing I can't tolerate forever. I've followed the Cowboys since the days of Tony Dorsett, Roger Staubach and the great Tom Landry. I remember Ed "Too Tall" Jones' boxing career. My oldest son's middle name is Emmitt, named after one of the greatest running backs of all-time. Jones many years of stupidity can even overwhelm 30 years of living through the good and bad times with the Cowboys.
Thanks to the great coaching of Jimmy Johnson, the Cowboys won 3 Super Bowls in the 90's. Then Jerry Jones in a fit of stupidity forced out Johnson after the Cowboys second Super Bowl of the 90s. Two years later Barry Switzer, using Johnson's players, won the fifth Super Bowl for the Cowboys. And since then no more Super Bowl appearances and even making the playoffs is a rare thing for the Cowboys.
Since those mid-90's glory days, things for Cowboys fans have been getting worse with Jerry Jones making most of the decisions. Most of his decisions are based not on wanting to win, but on making him looking like a football genius. Only he's unaware that ship sailed long ago, no one will ever confuse Jones for a football genius. He's a genius of hype, poor football decisions and making money. He's also a genius at trying to justify his terrible decisions, which he should be with all the practice he's had for that. But he's a complete failure as a football genius.
Here I'd like to keep track of some of the dumber things that Jerry Jones has said and done over the last several years. 99 more days until the regular season starts, so I know I'll be adding a lot more of Jones idiocy to this blog. Thanks to ESPN.com for all quotes unless otherwise noted.
The things listed here are have happened or were reported from May, 2013 to today:
July 20th, 2013 Jones talking about Garrett: "To answer your question specifically, one of the neatest things about not only this year but a positive about this year is that, if you're in close here, you see how Jason is responding to obviously unsatisfactory times. And I can tell you firsthand that's impressive, so I like that looking ahead at the future. It is very good."
As Garrett sat immediately to his right, Jones expressed "great confidence in the head coach and direction of the team" before being asked any questions.
"I can tell you that it's very comforting to have Jason as our head coach," Jones said. (As always thanks to ESPN.com.)
I wonder how long Jones will stick by the above statement. Also the man has been alive 70 years when is he going to learn how to speak clearly?
On July 19th, 2013 the Jerrster strikes again. According to ESPN Dallas: Jones made a joke today about this Cowboys team making a Super Bowl run. Yes that is a joke. Of course Jones as a GM is also a big time joke, except no one is laughing at that joke. Well at least no Cowboys fan. After he made that joke, he then made another joke. Although it seems he was serious when he said: "I think we’ve taken steps to improve our team," Jones said. "We are a better team, no question in my mind, than we were at this same time last year. We've got a lot of work to do."Jones said the Cowboys are a better team. This is otherwise known as the same thing he says every year. The master of hype is pumping up his Cowboys, I'm embarrassed by how many years I fell for it. Although it took me too long to learn this lesson, I know fully have learned my lesson. I no longer a believer in Jones annual line of bullshit. How does anyone know if this team will be better without playing any games? Will this still be a better team if the Cowboys start 1-4, Jason Garrett makes several coaching mistakes, Callahan makes terrible play calls and Tony Romo throws several interceptions?
Jerry Jones' lack of intelligence and common sense continues to show. The only thing Jerry loves more than himself is being in front of the camera. But he being such a camera hog has it's disadvantages. From ESPN on May 31st, 2013:
"The Dallas Cowboys are aware their 2013 NFL draft board has been compromised. Blogging The Boys, a website that covers the team, compiled the Cowboys' draft board by piecing together pictures of owner Jerry Jones, who was standing in front of the board while conducting TV interviews in the team's war room, from several different angles. Multiple sources confirmed that Jones did television interviews inside the war room.
During the draft, the Cowboys provide fans with glimpses of the war room on the team's website. The camera, however, is stationed in front of Jones, executive vice president Stephen Jones and coach Jason Garrett and you can't see the draft board." (Thanks to ESPN.com.)
Sometimes I wonder if Jones actually thinks about things before he does them. Especially since something similar happened to the Cowboys in 2010. The Cowboys continue to be the NFL's dumbest franchise.
These items listed here are items that have happened through the early part of May, 2013.
1) In 2013 Jones decided to give a $100 million plus to a quarterback, Tony Romo, that has won a grand total of one playoff game. Romo is 1-6 in win or go home games. The Cowboys haven't even been to the playoffs for 4 of the last 5 seasons. In 2013 I don't know how the Cowboys will fail, but once again they won't make the playoffs.
2) Picking a center in the first round, even though centers aren't usually picked in the first round. That center Travis Frederick may end up being a great player, but the Cowboys could have probably drafted him in the second or third round.
3) Jones gave up too much for both Joey Galloway and Roy Williams. Both players ended up being very ineffective.
4) In 2013 Jones said that Jason Garrett wasn't fighting for his job, even though everyone knows that he is. He also referred to Jones as a "premier asset", which is hilarious. Jones only calls Garrett that to try and cover up his own coach hiring decisions. This will be Garrett's last season in Dallas, after which he'll never get another head coaching job. After firing Garrett, Jones will hire another coach equally as bad and not understand why the Cowboys still suck.
No one can mangle the English language like Jerry Jones, here he is speaking about Garrett:
"Well, no, no he's not ... to the last question: Is Jason coaching for his job? No," Jones told the NFL Network in an interview from the NFL's spring meetings in Boston that aired last week. "What we're doing is taking the assets that we have, and Jason being right at the top and certainly our premier asset, and we're using them to the best of our ability."
5) What the hell did he just say? What Jones said about the cyst on Romo's back: "Do you want to call it a toothache?"
6) More garbled English by Jones, talking about his adopted son Romo:
"He's played a lot of games now," Jones said. "He certainly had a lot of time on the job before he ever started and played. He has a unique grasp of our offensive concepts. The people who are around him the most -- his coaches -- tell me he's never had a bad idea. If you think about where he's at right now, he's 10 years older than most of the players we have on the field. We think his skill level right now is very much where we hoped it would be and will be for several years to come. But what we want to use more than we ever have is the kind of thing that (ex-Cowboys quarterback Roger) Staubach contributed -- input into designing a plan that helps us beat that opponent."
7) Jones about Romo again:
“I want to use everything that he’s got in his computer,” Jerry told reporters during rookie minicamp, referring to Romo. “The way to do that is have him involved in a lot of the design and the preparation as we not only prepare the team in general, but as we prepare for the opponents. He’s qualified to do that.”
8) What Jones said about safety Matt Johnson, who's never played a regular season play: “I don’t know when I’ve ever seen a player impress our staff without having played in a ballgame any more than Matt Johnson."
9) Jones talking about his hero Romo yet again. Some of the stupid things Jones says, no one would be able to make up. Comparing Romo to Peyton Manning in anything football related is simply asinine.
"Peyton Manning-type time on the job. Tony is more involved in the finished product,” Jones said. “He is more involved, unequivocally. I’m counting that in. That ought to produce some success. It will produce some success. I’m talking about the kind of plays we run, a lot of what we do offensively."
I'd think that someone that has hogged the limelight for so long would actually know how to speak to the press.
10) Jones speaking to season ticket holders, this comment was about the country club atmosphere that Jimmy Johnson says applies to the current Cowboys team:
"I don’t think that we do have a country club atmosphere around here. There’s too much competition. These players recognize how fortunate they are to be in the NFL, to have these opportunities. We’ve got as good or better leadership than my experience in 24 years with the Cowboys has seen."
On the same conference call talking about Tim Tebow, which won't surprise me someday if Dallas signs him. I'm hoping that Jones isn't that stupid, but no promises.
"We really feel good about Kyle Orton and that's where it all starts and stops right there. He will be used differently to some degree than we use (Tony) Romo, but he's capable of winning big games and we know how important that backup slot is, especially if it's temporary if you don't have Romo. We're pretty set at quarterback there. We wish Tim all the luck and the best in the world."
11) Jones original quote about Tony Romo being prepared:
“I can speak for Jason in this respect: Everything he is about wants more buy-in and more participation from the player,” Jones said. “So if Tony, for instance, would be here Monday through Saturday and be here from seven in the morning to six o’clock at night all over this place, then that’s better than the way it’s been. We’ll have more success, and Jason believes that. It’s certainly at quarterback but he believes it at the other positions, too.
“Tony is going to have more time, more presence. Not only is having in the offseason but when the season starts, beginning Mondays, assuming we played Sundays, he’s going to have more time on the job.
“A part of what we agreed with was extra time on the job, beyond the norm. That doesn’t mean that he didn’t have a lot of time on the job, but extra time on the job, Peyton Manning-type time on the job."
12) Jones trying to justify picking Frederick on draft night:
“I had hoped we could come out of this thing with a legitimate starter, a legitimate starter, and he will start, He will start. First-rounder and not starting? I know coach wants there to be competition and should be, and we all know that’s the way it is.”
13) Jones, trying again to justify his poor decisions, in drafting the two 2008 first round picks:
“You’re paying Jenkins whether Jenkins is here or not. You’re paying somebody else,” Jerry Jones said. “The facts are that in the system we are in today, when you draft a [Rashard] Mendenhall or you draft a Felix Jones, you are going to be paying a running back; you just don’t know whether you’re going to be paying the one you drafted or the one you’re going to go get.
“You said while you’ve got him during those four or five years are very important and we’d like to use him to be going to playoffs and competing for the Super Bowl. ... So 48 months from now you’re going to be sitting here deciding whether or not to pay him just like you would be a free agent out here. And so during those early years is when you want to get a lot of mileage relative to players.”
14) How to insult offensive lineman when you are trying to compliment them, this was a couple of days before the draft. By the way Jones was an offensive lineman in college. More strangled English by Jones:
"But there’s also cap reasons why these offensive linemen are going to be going early in this draft," Jones said during a news conference Monday. "Because they fit in a free agent (spot) that could play to that level. And figure what it might cost you to have one of those guys that are that, relative to what that first-or-second-round pick makes. So you forgo the idea of getting the big skill players early. You forgo that idea to actually go in there and get guys that are going to be doing the blocking for them, which traditionally have been lesser guys relative to where they’re taken in the draft."
themusicaddict
Dodgers Daily, May 28th, 2013: Ryu Dominant Again, Dodgers Win 2 In A Row
Hello,
On Tuesday the Dodgers beat the Angels 3-0 behind the stellar pitching of Hyun-Jin Ryu. Ryu finished with a complete game, 2 hit shut out. Ryu also added 7 strikeouts and he's now 6-2 with an ERA of 2.89. Ryu certainly should be considered the Dodgers second best pitcher and he even seems to be closing on Clayton Kershaw a bit. If the Dodgers could only get something figured out with Zack Greinke, then the Dodgers would have 3 solid starters. That would help the Dodgers better able to win even with their inept offense.
Again the Dodgers won by only scoring 3 runs or less, which is their comfort level. The Dodgers only had 7 hits. Yesterday's offensive hero was Luis Cruz, he hit his first home run of the season. He's now hitting .155 on the season. Again a pitcher was one of the Dodgers brightest offensive players as Ryu had a nice double to the deep outfield. When he made contact with that pitch the sound exploded from my TV.
Matt Kemp continues to struggle, only going 1 for 2. But his out was a ball that was an out that went to the warning track, maybe he's getting back into the groove. Thankfully the Dodgers defense didn't commit any errors. Adrian Gonzalez cooled down a bit, he was hitless in 4 at bats. Hanley Ramirez should be back soon, hopefully he remains healthy this time. Although he has been benched it seems Andre Ethier is still playing hard. He hustled hard to ensure he got a double.
LA is still last place in the NL West and are 22-28 this season. They trail the first place Diamondbacks by 7 games. According to ESPN LA's chances of reaching of the playoffs are now 3.6%. Although I'm being completely unrealistic, it still feels like this Dodgers team has a chance to make the playoffs.
The Dodgers-Angels play the third game in their 4 game series tonight, however tonights and tomorrow nights games will be in Anaheim. Wednesday's pitching matchup definitely favors the Angels, it's the just coming off injury at the wrong time for the Dodgers Jared Weaver (0-1, 4.91 ERA). Pitching for the Dodgers will be the inexperienced Chris Capuano (1-3, 5.60 ERA)
themusicaddict
On Tuesday the Dodgers beat the Angels 3-0 behind the stellar pitching of Hyun-Jin Ryu. Ryu finished with a complete game, 2 hit shut out. Ryu also added 7 strikeouts and he's now 6-2 with an ERA of 2.89. Ryu certainly should be considered the Dodgers second best pitcher and he even seems to be closing on Clayton Kershaw a bit. If the Dodgers could only get something figured out with Zack Greinke, then the Dodgers would have 3 solid starters. That would help the Dodgers better able to win even with their inept offense.
Again the Dodgers won by only scoring 3 runs or less, which is their comfort level. The Dodgers only had 7 hits. Yesterday's offensive hero was Luis Cruz, he hit his first home run of the season. He's now hitting .155 on the season. Again a pitcher was one of the Dodgers brightest offensive players as Ryu had a nice double to the deep outfield. When he made contact with that pitch the sound exploded from my TV.
Matt Kemp continues to struggle, only going 1 for 2. But his out was a ball that was an out that went to the warning track, maybe he's getting back into the groove. Thankfully the Dodgers defense didn't commit any errors. Adrian Gonzalez cooled down a bit, he was hitless in 4 at bats. Hanley Ramirez should be back soon, hopefully he remains healthy this time. Although he has been benched it seems Andre Ethier is still playing hard. He hustled hard to ensure he got a double.
LA is still last place in the NL West and are 22-28 this season. They trail the first place Diamondbacks by 7 games. According to ESPN LA's chances of reaching of the playoffs are now 3.6%. Although I'm being completely unrealistic, it still feels like this Dodgers team has a chance to make the playoffs.
The Dodgers-Angels play the third game in their 4 game series tonight, however tonights and tomorrow nights games will be in Anaheim. Wednesday's pitching matchup definitely favors the Angels, it's the just coming off injury at the wrong time for the Dodgers Jared Weaver (0-1, 4.91 ERA). Pitching for the Dodgers will be the inexperienced Chris Capuano (1-3, 5.60 ERA)
themusicaddict
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Dodgers Daily, May 27th, 2013: Dodgers Win An Ugly Game
Hello,
The Dodgers were able to win a very ugly game on Memorial Day, beating the Angels 8-7. LA had 3 errors, including one by Matt Kemp. Kemp was removed from the Dodgers game on Saturday through a double switch by Don Mattingly. Mattingly knows that his job is in danger and he's wanting to win some games and he's trying anything. Kemp was given the day off on Sunday, but it doesn't to seemed to have helped. Kemp responded to his day off by having an all around ugly game Monday. He was 0-5 from the plate, including 4 strikeouts. His batting average continues to decrease, now he's down to a .253 batting average for the season. At this rate he might not make the All-Star game and I think that would be perfect for him.
Andre Ethier, who has been basically reduced to a platoon player, was mostly given Monday off. He had one pinch hit and earned a walk. Ethier has the same batting average as Kemp: .253. He's probably the most expensive platoon player in MLB. Zack "Rocky" Greinke had an ugly performance as well. He only lasted 4 innings, gave up 10 hits, 6 runs- although only 4 of those were earned. The Dodgers defense was terrible in the early innings, when they committed those 3 errors. Obviously that didn't help Greinke any.
In spite of all those things the Dodgers were still able to break the Angels 8 game winning streak. The Dodgers won this game, but the two teams are going in the opposite directions. The Dodgers are now 21-28 and have a 3.2% chance of making the playoffs. The Angels are 23-28 and have a 15.3% chance of making the playoffs.
The Dodgers were down by 5 runs at one point and still was able to scratch out a victory. Besides the comeback win, there was other good news for the Dodgers. Adrian Gonzalez is as hot as Kemp is cold. In his last 3 games, Gonzalez is 9 of 11 with 3 doubles and 7 RBIs. On Monday he was 4-4 and is now hitting .337 on the season.
Juan Uribe seems to be adjusting to his role with the Dodgers, whatever role that is. After entering the game as a pinch hitter he remained in the game. He was 3 for 3 and is now hitting .278 on the season.
Game 2 of the 4 game so-called freeway series is Tuesday night. The Angels will send former Phillie and former Dodger Joe Blanton (1-7, 6.19 ERA) to the mound. He'll face off vs. Hyun-Jin Ryu. With Greinke having two poor performances in the three games back from his boxing career, I suggest Ryu is now the Dodgers second best pitcher. Ryu is currently 5-2 with a 3.30 ERA. After his disastrous boxing career, it's good that Greinke had a baseball career to fall back on. Greinke please don't miss any other games because you got in a fight.
themusicaddict
Andre Ethier, who has been basically reduced to a platoon player, was mostly given Monday off. He had one pinch hit and earned a walk. Ethier has the same batting average as Kemp: .253. He's probably the most expensive platoon player in MLB. Zack "Rocky" Greinke had an ugly performance as well. He only lasted 4 innings, gave up 10 hits, 6 runs- although only 4 of those were earned. The Dodgers defense was terrible in the early innings, when they committed those 3 errors. Obviously that didn't help Greinke any.
In spite of all those things the Dodgers were still able to break the Angels 8 game winning streak. The Dodgers won this game, but the two teams are going in the opposite directions. The Dodgers are now 21-28 and have a 3.2% chance of making the playoffs. The Angels are 23-28 and have a 15.3% chance of making the playoffs.
The Dodgers were down by 5 runs at one point and still was able to scratch out a victory. Besides the comeback win, there was other good news for the Dodgers. Adrian Gonzalez is as hot as Kemp is cold. In his last 3 games, Gonzalez is 9 of 11 with 3 doubles and 7 RBIs. On Monday he was 4-4 and is now hitting .337 on the season.
Juan Uribe seems to be adjusting to his role with the Dodgers, whatever role that is. After entering the game as a pinch hitter he remained in the game. He was 3 for 3 and is now hitting .278 on the season.
Game 2 of the 4 game so-called freeway series is Tuesday night. The Angels will send former Phillie and former Dodger Joe Blanton (1-7, 6.19 ERA) to the mound. He'll face off vs. Hyun-Jin Ryu. With Greinke having two poor performances in the three games back from his boxing career, I suggest Ryu is now the Dodgers second best pitcher. Ryu is currently 5-2 with a 3.30 ERA. After his disastrous boxing career, it's good that Greinke had a baseball career to fall back on. Greinke please don't miss any other games because you got in a fight.
themusicaddict
Monday, May 27, 2013
themusicaddict Says That Roxette Didn't Have Just One Hit (And I Got Proof!)
Hello,
Listening to Rewind 100.7 the other day, I heard a DJ say that Roxette only had one hit. That's crazy, the dee jay calling himself TK should be better educated about pop music. Later he also called The Fixx, Fixx. No they are The Fixx, not just Fixx, just like The Who isn't just Who.
Anyway thanks to Allmusic.com, here's some of Roxette's hits:
In 1989 "The Look" went to #1 on Billboard's Top 100:
Also in 1989 "Listen To Your Heart" went to #1 on Billboard's Top 100:
1989 continued being a great year for Roxette as "Dressed For Success" reached #14:
Roxette's last hit of 1989 was "Dangerous", it soared all the way to #2.
1990 was also a good year for Roxette, that was the year that they had possibly their biggest hit "It Must Have Been Love". It ended it's run at #1:
"Spending My Time" went to #32 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1991:
In 1991 Roxette had another big hit with one of the most joyous songs ever, "Joyride". This song also went to #1 on Billboards Hot 100.
Roxette had a nice mix of up tempo songs and ballad. Here's another one of the ballads, "Fading Like A Flower (Every Time You Leave)". This song went all the way to #2 in 1991.
So TK it looks like they had a lot more than just one hit, in fact to be exact they had 8 hits between 1989-1991. That was certainly their peak and they never had any other big hits. However they did have at least 3 other great songs.
"How Do You Do":
"Church of Your Heart":
"Sleeping In My Car":
In 2000 Roxette released this amazing ballad, but for some reason "Wish I Could Fly" didn't even make the Billboard Hot 100:
themusicaddict
Listening to Rewind 100.7 the other day, I heard a DJ say that Roxette only had one hit. That's crazy, the dee jay calling himself TK should be better educated about pop music. Later he also called The Fixx, Fixx. No they are The Fixx, not just Fixx, just like The Who isn't just Who.
Anyway thanks to Allmusic.com, here's some of Roxette's hits:
In 1989 "The Look" went to #1 on Billboard's Top 100:
Also in 1989 "Listen To Your Heart" went to #1 on Billboard's Top 100:
1989 continued being a great year for Roxette as "Dressed For Success" reached #14:
Roxette's last hit of 1989 was "Dangerous", it soared all the way to #2.
1990 was also a good year for Roxette, that was the year that they had possibly their biggest hit "It Must Have Been Love". It ended it's run at #1:
"Spending My Time" went to #32 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1991:
In 1991 Roxette had another big hit with one of the most joyous songs ever, "Joyride". This song also went to #1 on Billboards Hot 100.
Roxette had a nice mix of up tempo songs and ballad. Here's another one of the ballads, "Fading Like A Flower (Every Time You Leave)". This song went all the way to #2 in 1991.
So TK it looks like they had a lot more than just one hit, in fact to be exact they had 8 hits between 1989-1991. That was certainly their peak and they never had any other big hits. However they did have at least 3 other great songs.
"How Do You Do":
"Church of Your Heart":
"Sleeping In My Car":
In 2000 Roxette released this amazing ballad, but for some reason "Wish I Could Fly" didn't even make the Billboard Hot 100:
themusicaddict
Sunday, May 26, 2013
May 26th, 2013: Dodgers Daily: Kershaw Can't Do It By Himself
Hello,
St. Louis beat the Dodgers in LA on Sunday and won 2 of 3 games in this series. The Cardinals won today's game 5-3. Sunday's loss was very representative of so many other Dodgers losses this season. The Dodgers who've performed the best this season were the ones who performed the best in this game. The players who've performed the worst were also the same in this game. Here's a brief recap of the good and bad.
I'll start off with the good. I include Clayton Kershaw in with the good, Kershaw battled for 7 innings. He gave up 7 hits, 4 runs and 3 walks and all the runs were earned. Kershaw has been so dominant this season that his ERA is still only 1.68. Holding your opponent to 4 runs or less will many times get a team a win. But this is the Dodgers, the second lowest scoring team in MLB. Usually once an opponent scores at least 5 runs, the offensively challenged Dodgers are essentially finished. For example 13 of the 15 teams that won today scored at least 5 runs. The other two winning teams scored 4 runs. Maybe the Dodgers didn't want to separate themselves more from the Marlins for the 29th place in runs?
Also Kershaw remains handy with a bat, he was 1 for 3 today. He later came around to score. Kershaw has as many hits in one game as Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier have had in their last 3 games- 1.
Adrian Gonzalez was great, not just good, again, he's hitting .321 this season. Gonzalez went to bat 5 times and got on base 4 times. He had his 6th home run of the season and he was responsible for all 3 Dodgers RBIs. In RBIs he improved from being tied for 17th to tied for 10th in the MLB. Is it too much to hope for that Gonzalez starts to get hot? He's tied with a player, Mike Trout, who'll be on the opposite side of the field the next 4 Dodgers games. In case you were wondering Miguel Cabrera leads all of MLB with 56 RBIs.
Every time I think that Carl Crawford is going to fall off, he comes through with another spectacular performance. Crawford had 5 at bats today and got on base 4 times. He had 3 hits and a walk. Crawford is hitting .308 on the season.
Now on to the bad.
I love Matt Kemp, but he's still battling as if he's having some lingering injury issues. Don Mattingly gave him the day off to rest, only giving Kemp a pinch hit in the whole game. And keeping in with his rough season, Kemp hit into an inning ending double play. Kemp hasn't had a home run at Dodgers Stadium in his last 101 at bats, which was last season. (Thanks to ESPN.com.)
Andre Ethier was 1 for 3 today, since he hit .333 today, he actually raised his putrid batting average from .252 to .253. I hope the Dodgers can find a good trade partner for him.
The Dodgers dropped to a 2.3% chance of making the playoffs.
themusicaddict
St. Louis beat the Dodgers in LA on Sunday and won 2 of 3 games in this series. The Cardinals won today's game 5-3. Sunday's loss was very representative of so many other Dodgers losses this season. The Dodgers who've performed the best this season were the ones who performed the best in this game. The players who've performed the worst were also the same in this game. Here's a brief recap of the good and bad.
I'll start off with the good. I include Clayton Kershaw in with the good, Kershaw battled for 7 innings. He gave up 7 hits, 4 runs and 3 walks and all the runs were earned. Kershaw has been so dominant this season that his ERA is still only 1.68. Holding your opponent to 4 runs or less will many times get a team a win. But this is the Dodgers, the second lowest scoring team in MLB. Usually once an opponent scores at least 5 runs, the offensively challenged Dodgers are essentially finished. For example 13 of the 15 teams that won today scored at least 5 runs. The other two winning teams scored 4 runs. Maybe the Dodgers didn't want to separate themselves more from the Marlins for the 29th place in runs?
Also Kershaw remains handy with a bat, he was 1 for 3 today. He later came around to score. Kershaw has as many hits in one game as Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier have had in their last 3 games- 1.
Adrian Gonzalez was great, not just good, again, he's hitting .321 this season. Gonzalez went to bat 5 times and got on base 4 times. He had his 6th home run of the season and he was responsible for all 3 Dodgers RBIs. In RBIs he improved from being tied for 17th to tied for 10th in the MLB. Is it too much to hope for that Gonzalez starts to get hot? He's tied with a player, Mike Trout, who'll be on the opposite side of the field the next 4 Dodgers games. In case you were wondering Miguel Cabrera leads all of MLB with 56 RBIs.
Every time I think that Carl Crawford is going to fall off, he comes through with another spectacular performance. Crawford had 5 at bats today and got on base 4 times. He had 3 hits and a walk. Crawford is hitting .308 on the season.
Now on to the bad.
I love Matt Kemp, but he's still battling as if he's having some lingering injury issues. Don Mattingly gave him the day off to rest, only giving Kemp a pinch hit in the whole game. And keeping in with his rough season, Kemp hit into an inning ending double play. Kemp hasn't had a home run at Dodgers Stadium in his last 101 at bats, which was last season. (Thanks to ESPN.com.)
Andre Ethier was 1 for 3 today, since he hit .333 today, he actually raised his putrid batting average from .252 to .253. I hope the Dodgers can find a good trade partner for him.
The Dodgers dropped to a 2.3% chance of making the playoffs.
themusicaddict
Dodgers Daily, May 25th, 2013: A Gon's Big Day, Braves Remain On Fire
Hello,
The LA Dodgers defeated the Cardinals 5-3 on Saturday, which broke the Cardinals 3 game winning streak. St. Louis is now 31-17, 1/2 game behind Texas for the best record in MLB. St. Louis is also this week's Sports Illustrated cover story, "The Cardinal Way". The only way the Dodgers will get a second cover story this season is much like how the Red Sox did last season.
Projected title for a Dodgers cover story: "Is This All You Can Get For $216 Million?".
While more Dodgers are performing poorly than are performing well, there are still some Dodgers doing well. One of those players is Adrian Gonzalez. He had a hell of a game yesterday, he was 3 for 3 and got on base all 5 times he was at bat. Gonzalez also had a single, double and his 5th home run of the season. He also had 3 more RBIs which gives him 33 RBIs on the season and is tied for 17th place in all of MLB with the Orioles' Adam Jones.
Surprisingly Nick Punto continues to play much better than I expected. To be honest I really didn't know that much about him before he came over to the Dodgers. He was part of their big trade with the Red Sox last season. Punto was 3 for 4 and got on base 4 of 5 times. He's hitting .340 for the season. Although he did have his 5th error of the season, which lead to a Cardinals unearned run. That's a minor concern as he's one of the too few Dodgers who are actually hitting.
Two of the Dodgerss who aren't hitting are Andre Ethier (.252 BA) and Matt Kemp (.261). Those two are 0-13 in LA's last two games. I don't think Kemp has fully recovered from his injury of last season. As for Ethier he's performing as you'd expect for someone who's on the downside of his career. Too bad the Dodgers decided to sign him to a 5 year-$80 million plus contract last season. Buster Olney, at ESPN.com, writes about some of the options the Dodgers have in potentially trading Ethier. LA has the resources to pay for that mistake fortunately. For that bad decision, among many others, I suggest that Ned Colleti should be on a much hotter seat than Don Mattingly.
LA is 28th in all of MLB in home runs. With 161 runs scored on the season, LA remains in 29th place in that category in MLB.
Dodgers pitching was decent yesterday, LA got about all they can realistically expect from Ted Lilly. He pitched 5.1 innings, only giving up 2 hits and 2 runs. Although one of those runs were unearned due to Punto's error. Kenley Jansen had his 10th hold although he gave up 2 hits but 0 runs. He also had 4 strikeouts. Brandon League earned his 10th save of the season, giving up 0 runs and 0 hits. He still has a perilously high ERA of 4.91 though. Paco Rodriguez, who's expected to be a big time future Dodgers pitcher, earned his first career win.
The Dodgers remain in last place in the NL West, they are last place in the division that has the worst first place team (s) in all of MLB. The Rockies, Giants and Diamondbacks are all 27-22, which is a .551 winning percentage. If a team was 27-22 in the NL Central, they would be in fourth place and 4.5 games out of first place. The Dodgers are 6 games behind the logjam at the top of the NL West. Even more embarrassingly they are 1.5 games behind the 4th place Padres. According to ESPN, the Dodgers have a 2.7% chance of making the playoffs.
There's one remaining game left in the Dodgers-Cardinals series. Today in the final game of the series thankfully the best pitcher in MLB is pitching for the Dodgers. The amazing Clayton Kershaw is 5-2 with a 1.35 ERA. He's also getting stronger as the season goes on. Pitching for the Cardinals is Shelby Miller, who's a very solid 5-3 with a 1.74 ERA.
Next the Dodgers play a 4 game series against the Angels. The Angels have had a very similar season to the Dodgers. They signed the overrated Josh Hamilton in the off season, have an extremely high payroll and have really been struggling this season. However while the Dodgers continue to struggle the Angels had their 7 game winning streak snapped yesterday. Also the Angels pretty much own the Dodgers in interleague play. The first two games will be in Dodgers Stadium and they'll play the two final games at the Angels home field. I'd be good if the Dodgers won 2 of the 4 games in that series.
The Angels are 22-27 and 3rd place in the AL West. They trail the team with the best record in MLB, the Texas Rangers, by 10 games. According to ESPN, they have a 15.6% chance of making the playoffs.
Meanwhile the Braves continue to be incredibly hot. On Saturday the Braves-Mets finished off a game that had been suspended Friday night. Atlanta won that game and then they won the Saturday game. Atlanta has now won 8 games in a row and 8 of 10 games. They lead the NL East by 5.5 games over the second place Nationals. ESPN says they have a 93.9% chance of making the playoffs.
Tonight's Sunday Night Baseball game is Atlanta-New York Mets, the final game in their 3 game series. I'm not sure why ESPN is hyping up Jason Heyward though. Heyward is hitting all of .170 on the season with only 2 home runs and 8 RBIs. Why aren't they hyping feel good story Evan Gattis or Justin Upton? Upton is only hitting .272, but he has 14 home runs and 29 RBIs. Upton is tied for second place in MLB in home runs.
themusicaddict
The LA Dodgers defeated the Cardinals 5-3 on Saturday, which broke the Cardinals 3 game winning streak. St. Louis is now 31-17, 1/2 game behind Texas for the best record in MLB. St. Louis is also this week's Sports Illustrated cover story, "The Cardinal Way". The only way the Dodgers will get a second cover story this season is much like how the Red Sox did last season.
Projected title for a Dodgers cover story: "Is This All You Can Get For $216 Million?".
While more Dodgers are performing poorly than are performing well, there are still some Dodgers doing well. One of those players is Adrian Gonzalez. He had a hell of a game yesterday, he was 3 for 3 and got on base all 5 times he was at bat. Gonzalez also had a single, double and his 5th home run of the season. He also had 3 more RBIs which gives him 33 RBIs on the season and is tied for 17th place in all of MLB with the Orioles' Adam Jones.
Surprisingly Nick Punto continues to play much better than I expected. To be honest I really didn't know that much about him before he came over to the Dodgers. He was part of their big trade with the Red Sox last season. Punto was 3 for 4 and got on base 4 of 5 times. He's hitting .340 for the season. Although he did have his 5th error of the season, which lead to a Cardinals unearned run. That's a minor concern as he's one of the too few Dodgers who are actually hitting.
Two of the Dodgerss who aren't hitting are Andre Ethier (.252 BA) and Matt Kemp (.261). Those two are 0-13 in LA's last two games. I don't think Kemp has fully recovered from his injury of last season. As for Ethier he's performing as you'd expect for someone who's on the downside of his career. Too bad the Dodgers decided to sign him to a 5 year-$80 million plus contract last season. Buster Olney, at ESPN.com, writes about some of the options the Dodgers have in potentially trading Ethier. LA has the resources to pay for that mistake fortunately. For that bad decision, among many others, I suggest that Ned Colleti should be on a much hotter seat than Don Mattingly.
LA is 28th in all of MLB in home runs. With 161 runs scored on the season, LA remains in 29th place in that category in MLB.
Dodgers pitching was decent yesterday, LA got about all they can realistically expect from Ted Lilly. He pitched 5.1 innings, only giving up 2 hits and 2 runs. Although one of those runs were unearned due to Punto's error. Kenley Jansen had his 10th hold although he gave up 2 hits but 0 runs. He also had 4 strikeouts. Brandon League earned his 10th save of the season, giving up 0 runs and 0 hits. He still has a perilously high ERA of 4.91 though. Paco Rodriguez, who's expected to be a big time future Dodgers pitcher, earned his first career win.
The Dodgers remain in last place in the NL West, they are last place in the division that has the worst first place team (s) in all of MLB. The Rockies, Giants and Diamondbacks are all 27-22, which is a .551 winning percentage. If a team was 27-22 in the NL Central, they would be in fourth place and 4.5 games out of first place. The Dodgers are 6 games behind the logjam at the top of the NL West. Even more embarrassingly they are 1.5 games behind the 4th place Padres. According to ESPN, the Dodgers have a 2.7% chance of making the playoffs.
There's one remaining game left in the Dodgers-Cardinals series. Today in the final game of the series thankfully the best pitcher in MLB is pitching for the Dodgers. The amazing Clayton Kershaw is 5-2 with a 1.35 ERA. He's also getting stronger as the season goes on. Pitching for the Cardinals is Shelby Miller, who's a very solid 5-3 with a 1.74 ERA.
Next the Dodgers play a 4 game series against the Angels. The Angels have had a very similar season to the Dodgers. They signed the overrated Josh Hamilton in the off season, have an extremely high payroll and have really been struggling this season. However while the Dodgers continue to struggle the Angels had their 7 game winning streak snapped yesterday. Also the Angels pretty much own the Dodgers in interleague play. The first two games will be in Dodgers Stadium and they'll play the two final games at the Angels home field. I'd be good if the Dodgers won 2 of the 4 games in that series.
The Angels are 22-27 and 3rd place in the AL West. They trail the team with the best record in MLB, the Texas Rangers, by 10 games. According to ESPN, they have a 15.6% chance of making the playoffs.
Meanwhile the Braves continue to be incredibly hot. On Saturday the Braves-Mets finished off a game that had been suspended Friday night. Atlanta won that game and then they won the Saturday game. Atlanta has now won 8 games in a row and 8 of 10 games. They lead the NL East by 5.5 games over the second place Nationals. ESPN says they have a 93.9% chance of making the playoffs.
Tonight's Sunday Night Baseball game is Atlanta-New York Mets, the final game in their 3 game series. I'm not sure why ESPN is hyping up Jason Heyward though. Heyward is hitting all of .170 on the season with only 2 home runs and 8 RBIs. Why aren't they hyping feel good story Evan Gattis or Justin Upton? Upton is only hitting .272, but he has 14 home runs and 29 RBIs. Upton is tied for second place in MLB in home runs.
themusicaddict
Saturday, May 25, 2013
themusicaddict's Classic Pop Magazine Inspired Playlist & Beyond
Hello,
I want to state at the top of this blog that I have nothing to do with Classic Pop magazine. However the following playlist was inspired by the second Classic Pop magazine, the Jan/Feb 2013 issue. I picked it up on a whim around Christmas time and I'm just now reading it. The magazine is full of great memories for me, reminding me of some of the greatest songs of the 80s. Classic Pop magazine has their own Spotify playlists that you can check out. (If you don't have Spotify yet, what are you waiting for?)
Anyway inspired by that issue, here's some of my favorite songs from one of the most fertile eras of pop music. By the way if you want a quick sample of the great music of the 80s and don't want to put a lot of work into it check out the "Pretty In Pink" soundtrack. It has 10 amazing songs from some of the 80s greatest bands including INXS, The Smiths, New Order, Psychedelic Furs and OMD. I'm still a big fan of the movie too. Enjoy!
This is one of the amazing songs from the "Pretty In Pink" soundtrack. I'll start off with Echo and the Bunnymen's classic "Bring On The Dancing Horses":
Echo and the Bunnymen's "The Killing Moon":
One thing this Classic Pop issue reminded me of was the Eurythmics "1984" Soundtrack. Although if it wasn't for this magazine, I'm sure the "1984" soundtrack would have never entered my consciousness again. Also I was once again reminded if you can't find any music on any of the other music websites, go to youtube.com. Thanks to Youtube, the complete "1984" soundtrack:
When you think of the Eurythmics you probably think of "Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of These), but I wanted to avoid the most obvious 80's songs for the most part. One of the funkiest, most rocking songs of all-time. "Would I Lie To You":
However for some bands, there's only one song that really stands out. Dexy's Midnight Runners is a much bigger band in England than in the USA. For me the only song I think of when I think of that band is the incredibly catchy "Come On Eileen":
Quite simply a perfect pop song: Bananarama's "Cruel Summer":
Thompson Twins "You Take Me Up":
Thompson Twins "King For A Day":
Another perfect slice of pop music, Dead or Alive's "You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)" which later was almost completely ruined by Flo Rida.
Something from Dead or Alive not quite so obvious, but almost as good. "Something In My House":
Back in the day they were called Yaz, now they are known as Yazoo. The amazing Alison Moyet on vocals: "Situation":
Yazoo's "Only You":
The Human League's "Don't You Want Me":
Gary Numan's "Cars":
Madness "Our House":
Madness "One Step Beyond":
Howard Jones, or HoJo to his friends, and his classic "No One Is To Blame":
One of the most beautiful love songs ever. INXS "Never Tear Us Apart":
"Need You Tonight":
As with any genre, each seems to have their own one hit wonders. Here's a few, starting with "Total Coelo":
Felony's "The Fanatic":
"(Jukebox) Don't Put Another Dime"- The Flirts:
Fiction Factory's "Feels Like Heaven":
Fun Boy Three's "Lunatics Have Taken Over The Asylum":
The Waitresses "I Know What Boys Like":
Heaven 17's "(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thing":
Icicle Works "Whisper To A Scream (Birds Fly)":
JoBoxers "Just Got Lucky";
Bow Wow Wow "I Want Candy":
OXO's "Whirly Girl":
Blondie definitely wasn't a one hit wonder. Going back a ways, but a great song from back in the day. In fact this was my favorite song while growing up. "Heart Of Glass":
themusicaddict
I want to state at the top of this blog that I have nothing to do with Classic Pop magazine. However the following playlist was inspired by the second Classic Pop magazine, the Jan/Feb 2013 issue. I picked it up on a whim around Christmas time and I'm just now reading it. The magazine is full of great memories for me, reminding me of some of the greatest songs of the 80s. Classic Pop magazine has their own Spotify playlists that you can check out. (If you don't have Spotify yet, what are you waiting for?)
Anyway inspired by that issue, here's some of my favorite songs from one of the most fertile eras of pop music. By the way if you want a quick sample of the great music of the 80s and don't want to put a lot of work into it check out the "Pretty In Pink" soundtrack. It has 10 amazing songs from some of the 80s greatest bands including INXS, The Smiths, New Order, Psychedelic Furs and OMD. I'm still a big fan of the movie too. Enjoy!
This is one of the amazing songs from the "Pretty In Pink" soundtrack. I'll start off with Echo and the Bunnymen's classic "Bring On The Dancing Horses":
Echo and the Bunnymen's "The Killing Moon":
One thing this Classic Pop issue reminded me of was the Eurythmics "1984" Soundtrack. Although if it wasn't for this magazine, I'm sure the "1984" soundtrack would have never entered my consciousness again. Also I was once again reminded if you can't find any music on any of the other music websites, go to youtube.com. Thanks to Youtube, the complete "1984" soundtrack:
When you think of the Eurythmics you probably think of "Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of These), but I wanted to avoid the most obvious 80's songs for the most part. One of the funkiest, most rocking songs of all-time. "Would I Lie To You":
However for some bands, there's only one song that really stands out. Dexy's Midnight Runners is a much bigger band in England than in the USA. For me the only song I think of when I think of that band is the incredibly catchy "Come On Eileen":
Quite simply a perfect pop song: Bananarama's "Cruel Summer":
Thompson Twins "You Take Me Up":
Thompson Twins "King For A Day":
Another perfect slice of pop music, Dead or Alive's "You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)" which later was almost completely ruined by Flo Rida.
Something from Dead or Alive not quite so obvious, but almost as good. "Something In My House":
Back in the day they were called Yaz, now they are known as Yazoo. The amazing Alison Moyet on vocals: "Situation":
Yazoo's "Only You":
The Human League's "Don't You Want Me":
Gary Numan's "Cars":
Madness "Our House":
Madness "One Step Beyond":
Howard Jones, or HoJo to his friends, and his classic "No One Is To Blame":
One of the most beautiful love songs ever. INXS "Never Tear Us Apart":
"Need You Tonight":
As with any genre, each seems to have their own one hit wonders. Here's a few, starting with "Total Coelo":
Felony's "The Fanatic":
"(Jukebox) Don't Put Another Dime"- The Flirts:
Fiction Factory's "Feels Like Heaven":
Fun Boy Three's "Lunatics Have Taken Over The Asylum":
The Waitresses "I Know What Boys Like":
Heaven 17's "(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thing":
Icicle Works "Whisper To A Scream (Birds Fly)":
JoBoxers "Just Got Lucky";
Bow Wow Wow "I Want Candy":
OXO's "Whirly Girl":
Blondie definitely wasn't a one hit wonder. Going back a ways, but a great song from back in the day. In fact this was my favorite song while growing up. "Heart Of Glass":
themusicaddict
Friday, May 24, 2013
Dodgers Daily. May 24th, 2013: Punchless Dodgers Get Whacked in Chavez Ravine
Hello,
On Friday night the Dodgers opened a 3 game series against one of the best teams in MLB, the 30-16 St. Louis Cardinals. Indeed the Cardinals are the best team in MLB, at least record wise. Entering tonight's game the Cardinals were first place in the NL Central. They led both the Pirates and Reds by 1.5 games, both of those teams are having fantastic seasons as well.
Following the Dodgers feasting of Brewers pitching to the score of 9 runs on Wednesday, LA's offense crashed back to reality Friday night. The Dodgers were so excited to get home, they celebrated with a grand total of 3 hits. Carl Crawford had a single, but later got caught stealing. Juan Uribe had both an extra base hit and a walk, however his teammates were unable to drive him in. In the 8th inning the virtually invisible Skip Schumaker got the third Dodgers hit of the game. Fittingly it was an infield single, Schumaker is now hitting .222 on the season.
Lance Lynn was brilliant in this game, but the Dodgers offense has made many pitchers look great. Lynn pitched 6 innings, only giving up two hits and no runs. He also struck out 9 Dodgers. My initial comment isn't a slight towards Lynn, but it definitely is a slight to the Dodgers offense. Lynn is now 7-1 with a 2.95 ERA. If Lynn keeps on pitching like this, surely he'll receive an invite to the All-Star game.
For the Dodgers Chris Capuano really struggled. I know he's doing his best, but he's really been put in a bad position. He have up 6 hits, 6 runs (5 of which were earned) and 3 runs in 5 innings. Capuano drops to 1-3, with a 5.60 ERA. He wasn't helped by the errors of Adrian Gonzalez and Nick Punto.
Tonight the Marlins offense exploded for 3 runs, which brings them 3 runs closer to the Dodgers for the most inept offense in MLB. The Marlins have scored 125 runs in 47 games, for an average of 2.66 runs a game. The Dodgers have scored 156 runs in 46 games, an average of 3.39 a game. Once the Dodgers score 60 more runs, they'll no longer be paying over $1,000,000 per run.
The Dodgers now fall to 19-27 on the season and will send the uninspiring Ted Lilly to the mound on Saturday.
Dodgers President Stan Kasten, the man who built many of those great 90's Braves teams, said that Don Mattingly's job is safe for now. I'm wondering if Kasten's job is safe? How about GM Ned Coletti, his signing Brandon League for about $22,000,000 seems almost indefensible now. Aren't those two of the key people who okayed the gigantic 2012 trade with Boston? Aren't they also responsible for many of the other signings of the Dodgers? Could Don Mattingly have done better? Probably. But if he gets fired now, it seems he's just the scapegoat. I don't see how that will solve the Dodgers main problem, which is a lack of runs. I don't know how much better Mattingly could do with a team that has such an inept offense, this isn't the '27 Yankees!
themusicaddict
On Friday night the Dodgers opened a 3 game series against one of the best teams in MLB, the 30-16 St. Louis Cardinals. Indeed the Cardinals are the best team in MLB, at least record wise. Entering tonight's game the Cardinals were first place in the NL Central. They led both the Pirates and Reds by 1.5 games, both of those teams are having fantastic seasons as well.
Following the Dodgers feasting of Brewers pitching to the score of 9 runs on Wednesday, LA's offense crashed back to reality Friday night. The Dodgers were so excited to get home, they celebrated with a grand total of 3 hits. Carl Crawford had a single, but later got caught stealing. Juan Uribe had both an extra base hit and a walk, however his teammates were unable to drive him in. In the 8th inning the virtually invisible Skip Schumaker got the third Dodgers hit of the game. Fittingly it was an infield single, Schumaker is now hitting .222 on the season.
Lance Lynn was brilliant in this game, but the Dodgers offense has made many pitchers look great. Lynn pitched 6 innings, only giving up two hits and no runs. He also struck out 9 Dodgers. My initial comment isn't a slight towards Lynn, but it definitely is a slight to the Dodgers offense. Lynn is now 7-1 with a 2.95 ERA. If Lynn keeps on pitching like this, surely he'll receive an invite to the All-Star game.
For the Dodgers Chris Capuano really struggled. I know he's doing his best, but he's really been put in a bad position. He have up 6 hits, 6 runs (5 of which were earned) and 3 runs in 5 innings. Capuano drops to 1-3, with a 5.60 ERA. He wasn't helped by the errors of Adrian Gonzalez and Nick Punto.
Tonight the Marlins offense exploded for 3 runs, which brings them 3 runs closer to the Dodgers for the most inept offense in MLB. The Marlins have scored 125 runs in 47 games, for an average of 2.66 runs a game. The Dodgers have scored 156 runs in 46 games, an average of 3.39 a game. Once the Dodgers score 60 more runs, they'll no longer be paying over $1,000,000 per run.
The Dodgers now fall to 19-27 on the season and will send the uninspiring Ted Lilly to the mound on Saturday.
Dodgers President Stan Kasten, the man who built many of those great 90's Braves teams, said that Don Mattingly's job is safe for now. I'm wondering if Kasten's job is safe? How about GM Ned Coletti, his signing Brandon League for about $22,000,000 seems almost indefensible now. Aren't those two of the key people who okayed the gigantic 2012 trade with Boston? Aren't they also responsible for many of the other signings of the Dodgers? Could Don Mattingly have done better? Probably. But if he gets fired now, it seems he's just the scapegoat. I don't see how that will solve the Dodgers main problem, which is a lack of runs. I don't know how much better Mattingly could do with a team that has such an inept offense, this isn't the '27 Yankees!
themusicaddict
Pittsburgh Pirates: Is This Finally The Year?
Hello,
With the Dodgers not playing a game yesterday, I won't be writing a Dodgers Daily today. I feel sort of like a free agent. Although I love the Dodgers, I also follow the Red Sox, Orioles, Braves, Cubs and the Pirates.
When I write "is this finally the year", I don't mean is this the year they finally win the World Series? Although that would be incredibly awesome, but it's not a realistic hope. One meaning is this the year the Pirates will finally finish above .500? A second meaning is this the year the Pirates will make the playoffs? It's been 20 years since the Pirates accomplished either feat. At this point the Pirates should just be glad to finish above .500.
I hope the Pirates break their trend of the last year couple of years. Two years ago they started off fairly well, only to fade terribly down the stretch. Last season they started out fairly well and were hitting new heights for the last 19 years. They were hitting new 19 year heights in stats such as number of games above .500. Their stretch of well played baseball lasted longer than the previous season. But once again they faded terribly down the stretch. Last August Pittsburgh played a brutally long extra inning game, I believe it was 19 innings. The Pirates never seemed to be the same after that, that game seemed to break their back and season. They won the game but lost the season. At one point I thought the Pirates would at least finish above .500 but then they faded away. It was yet another year of futility.
However the Pirates didn't panic and make a bunch of stupid moves. Of course part of that is they don't have the amount of money that other teams have. In order to get better Pittsburgh has to develop their own players and find bargains in free agency and trades. It's a process that usually doesn't go fast. Slowly but surely they seem to be building a winning culture. Part of that is signing their own young players when they are relative bargains. For instance, they've locked up Andrew McCutchen for a few years. He was 3 for 4 Thursday night, is hitting .291. He also has 6 home runs and 25 RBIs. I also expect Starling Marte to start getting some Rookie Of The Year publicity soon too. He was 2 for 3 last night and is hitting .310 on the season. He also has 5 home runs and 17 RBIs. I could see him and McCutchen forming a solid Pirates nucleus for the next several years.
Like the previous year the Pirates picked up a player from the Yankees scrap heap. After trading for A.J. Burnett a year ago, this past off season the Pirates signed Russell Martin to a three year contract. Burnett was surprisingly successful last season, although he has struggled a bit this season. Whereas Martin, who'll never regain his All-Star form, has been serviceable. It's hard to believe he's only 30, it seems like he has been around for a much longer time. Martin is only hitting .262, but he's added some pop to the Pirates lineup. He has 6 home runs and 12 RBIs.
Going into Friday's 3 game series in Milwaukee, the Pirates are 29-18. They've won 4 games in a row and 11 of 13. They're tied for second place in the NL Central with the Reds. St. Louis leads both teams by 1.5 games in that top heavy division. ESPN shows a 46.3% chance of the Pirates making the playoffs this year.
I expect the Pirates to win 2 of 3 games against the Brewers. Remember the low scoring Dodgers just went into Milwaukee and took 2 of 3 from the Brewers. After that the Pirates go to Detroit for a 4 game series with the Tigers and the man Miguel Cabrera. If a team actually pays a player $21,000,000 they should be getting the level of performance the Tigers are getting from Cabrera. (In comparison LA is paying 4 players over $20,000,000 this season and are getting nowhere near the production of Cabrera. Adrian Gonzalez, Matt Kemp, "Rocky" Greinke and Carl Crawford you all have some work to do. Imagine how good the Dodgers would be if those 4 players were playing closer to the level of Cabrera. Not to mention they are paying Josh Beckett $17,000,000 and getting virtually nothing out of him.)
Cabrera is absolutely amazing again this season as he's trying to win his second straight triple crown. Cabrera has 55 RBIs, which is 11 more than second place Chris Davis. Cabrera has 14 home runs, he's tied for second place with the Braves' Justin Upton. Both players trail Davis by 1 home run. Batting average: Cabrera is in some rarefied air, as he's hitting .391 this season. He leads second place Joey Votto, who's "only" hitting .358. Chris Davis is in 14th place as he's hitting .327.
Deservedly so Cabrera's name is in the Triple Crown talk, but why haven't I heard Chris Davis' name even once?
themusicaddict
With the Dodgers not playing a game yesterday, I won't be writing a Dodgers Daily today. I feel sort of like a free agent. Although I love the Dodgers, I also follow the Red Sox, Orioles, Braves, Cubs and the Pirates.
When I write "is this finally the year", I don't mean is this the year they finally win the World Series? Although that would be incredibly awesome, but it's not a realistic hope. One meaning is this the year the Pirates will finally finish above .500? A second meaning is this the year the Pirates will make the playoffs? It's been 20 years since the Pirates accomplished either feat. At this point the Pirates should just be glad to finish above .500.
I hope the Pirates break their trend of the last year couple of years. Two years ago they started off fairly well, only to fade terribly down the stretch. Last season they started out fairly well and were hitting new heights for the last 19 years. They were hitting new 19 year heights in stats such as number of games above .500. Their stretch of well played baseball lasted longer than the previous season. But once again they faded terribly down the stretch. Last August Pittsburgh played a brutally long extra inning game, I believe it was 19 innings. The Pirates never seemed to be the same after that, that game seemed to break their back and season. They won the game but lost the season. At one point I thought the Pirates would at least finish above .500 but then they faded away. It was yet another year of futility.
However the Pirates didn't panic and make a bunch of stupid moves. Of course part of that is they don't have the amount of money that other teams have. In order to get better Pittsburgh has to develop their own players and find bargains in free agency and trades. It's a process that usually doesn't go fast. Slowly but surely they seem to be building a winning culture. Part of that is signing their own young players when they are relative bargains. For instance, they've locked up Andrew McCutchen for a few years. He was 3 for 4 Thursday night, is hitting .291. He also has 6 home runs and 25 RBIs. I also expect Starling Marte to start getting some Rookie Of The Year publicity soon too. He was 2 for 3 last night and is hitting .310 on the season. He also has 5 home runs and 17 RBIs. I could see him and McCutchen forming a solid Pirates nucleus for the next several years.
Like the previous year the Pirates picked up a player from the Yankees scrap heap. After trading for A.J. Burnett a year ago, this past off season the Pirates signed Russell Martin to a three year contract. Burnett was surprisingly successful last season, although he has struggled a bit this season. Whereas Martin, who'll never regain his All-Star form, has been serviceable. It's hard to believe he's only 30, it seems like he has been around for a much longer time. Martin is only hitting .262, but he's added some pop to the Pirates lineup. He has 6 home runs and 12 RBIs.
Going into Friday's 3 game series in Milwaukee, the Pirates are 29-18. They've won 4 games in a row and 11 of 13. They're tied for second place in the NL Central with the Reds. St. Louis leads both teams by 1.5 games in that top heavy division. ESPN shows a 46.3% chance of the Pirates making the playoffs this year.
I expect the Pirates to win 2 of 3 games against the Brewers. Remember the low scoring Dodgers just went into Milwaukee and took 2 of 3 from the Brewers. After that the Pirates go to Detroit for a 4 game series with the Tigers and the man Miguel Cabrera. If a team actually pays a player $21,000,000 they should be getting the level of performance the Tigers are getting from Cabrera. (In comparison LA is paying 4 players over $20,000,000 this season and are getting nowhere near the production of Cabrera. Adrian Gonzalez, Matt Kemp, "Rocky" Greinke and Carl Crawford you all have some work to do. Imagine how good the Dodgers would be if those 4 players were playing closer to the level of Cabrera. Not to mention they are paying Josh Beckett $17,000,000 and getting virtually nothing out of him.)
Cabrera is absolutely amazing again this season as he's trying to win his second straight triple crown. Cabrera has 55 RBIs, which is 11 more than second place Chris Davis. Cabrera has 14 home runs, he's tied for second place with the Braves' Justin Upton. Both players trail Davis by 1 home run. Batting average: Cabrera is in some rarefied air, as he's hitting .391 this season. He leads second place Joey Votto, who's "only" hitting .358. Chris Davis is in 14th place as he's hitting .327.
Deservedly so Cabrera's name is in the Triple Crown talk, but why haven't I heard Chris Davis' name even once?
themusicaddict
Thursday, May 23, 2013
"Nashville" Season 1 Finale: Embarrassingly Bad.
Hello,
I'm not sure why I watched the Season 1 finale of "Nashville". It probably has something to do with the fact that I watched every other episode and wanted to see the finale. I was unaware how bad a season finale could be. It wasn't as bad as "The Killing" season 1 finale, but it sure seemed like it was trying to be that bad. It was equivalent though to the terrible "Walking Dead" season 3 finale.
The best thing about this episode is knowing Jolene Barnes (Sylvia Jeffries) is dead. Fans of this show should be grateful that this lame character was killed off in season 1. A similarly terrible character, Lori Grimes, didn't die until season 3 of "The Walking Dead". The only believable acting Jeffries did the entire season was when she laying in the casket. That was easily her best work of the season. Her character always felt completely irrelevant and I kept on thinking her season arc would be done soon. I couldn't believe they kept on having her on the show. I so hope she wasn't on the show just so she could have her dramatic season when she killed Dante and then herself.
Then why did Jolene send her daughter a letter? Just another stupid thing about this episode.
Prediction: Jolene gets out of the shower and it has all been a dream. Okay I know that's completely derivative of "Dallas", but I wouldn't put it past "Nashville" to do something that incredibly stupid.
Another good thing about the death of Jolene is the bad influence Jeffries has on Panettiere. Her acting gets noticeably worse when acting in the same scenes as Jeffries. Panettiere's voice also gets shrill and her acting noticeably deteriorates. I really want to like the character of Juliette Barnes, but the stupid things the producers have this character do is unbelievably stupid. Literally Juliette hasn't learned from any of her past mistakes?
Peggy Kanter (Kimberly Williams-Paisley) is pregnant. Really, how stupid is that? Or as someone else pointed out, is she just pretending to be pregnant to hold on to Teddy? They hid their relationship but they didn't protect against unintended consequences? Also why did they meet in a parking garage? Did that strike anyone else as odd and nonsensical? Everyone knows they have a relationship.
Prediction: Peggy really isn't pregnant, but she's desperate to keep Teddy.
Also please kill the whole Cumberland storyline, that's been a non-starter since it was introduced. It's part and parcel with the equally bad Lamar Wyatt story.
My two favorite characters in "Nashville" are Deacon (Charles Esten) and Rayna James (the amazing Connie Britton). However the producers didn't do them any favors in this finale. Deacon finds out he's Maddie's daddy unexpectedly, which apparently drives him off the wagon. At the end of the episode those two end up at the Bluebird. Deacon is drinking and Rayna confronts him. She won't let him drive off and she takes over the driving duties. Meanwhile they are arguing as they drive aimlessly. Of course she loses control of the vehicle and they are in a spectacular crash. Sarcasm alert: boy I wonder if they will live or die?
Prediction: They both survive and they're back to full health by season 2, episode 2. Quickly into season 2 everyone forgets this "dramatic" crash.
After Scarlett broke up with Gunnar last episode, she told him she didn't know what she wanted in this episode. But he still asks her to marry him? I don't know a lot about women. But I do know if a woman breaks up with you, then says she doesn't know what she wants it's usually not a good idea to ask her to marry you.
Prediction: Scarlett says no and continues to shift from making tough decisions one minute to just floating through life the next minute.
A show that started out with so much promise really burned out the final few episodes. The longer the season wore on, the worst the show got. How did this stupid show get a second season? This show always had soap opera elements, however I was able to tolerate that for the behind the scenes look of the country music industry. But this show just turned into a complete soap opera a few weeks ago. Out of a sense of loyalty I watched the season finale. However I won't be watching season 2. Where do I go to get that 45 minutes of my life back? I'm so thankful for the person who invented the DVR.
Prediction: much like "Smash", "Nashville" will make a lot of changes for season 2. But ultimately the changes won't help and the viewership will drop enough that there won't be a third season.
This show's saving grace remains the great songs they continue to unearth, including this Juliette Barnes instant classic, "Nothing In This World Will Ever Break My Heart Again":
Prediction: I predict the music will continue to be amazing. Although I won't be watching season 2, I'll pay attention to the new music that comes through this show.
themusicaddict
I'm not sure why I watched the Season 1 finale of "Nashville". It probably has something to do with the fact that I watched every other episode and wanted to see the finale. I was unaware how bad a season finale could be. It wasn't as bad as "The Killing" season 1 finale, but it sure seemed like it was trying to be that bad. It was equivalent though to the terrible "Walking Dead" season 3 finale.
The best thing about this episode is knowing Jolene Barnes (Sylvia Jeffries) is dead. Fans of this show should be grateful that this lame character was killed off in season 1. A similarly terrible character, Lori Grimes, didn't die until season 3 of "The Walking Dead". The only believable acting Jeffries did the entire season was when she laying in the casket. That was easily her best work of the season. Her character always felt completely irrelevant and I kept on thinking her season arc would be done soon. I couldn't believe they kept on having her on the show. I so hope she wasn't on the show just so she could have her dramatic season when she killed Dante and then herself.
Then why did Jolene send her daughter a letter? Just another stupid thing about this episode.
Prediction: Jolene gets out of the shower and it has all been a dream. Okay I know that's completely derivative of "Dallas", but I wouldn't put it past "Nashville" to do something that incredibly stupid.
Another good thing about the death of Jolene is the bad influence Jeffries has on Panettiere. Her acting gets noticeably worse when acting in the same scenes as Jeffries. Panettiere's voice also gets shrill and her acting noticeably deteriorates. I really want to like the character of Juliette Barnes, but the stupid things the producers have this character do is unbelievably stupid. Literally Juliette hasn't learned from any of her past mistakes?
Peggy Kanter (Kimberly Williams-Paisley) is pregnant. Really, how stupid is that? Or as someone else pointed out, is she just pretending to be pregnant to hold on to Teddy? They hid their relationship but they didn't protect against unintended consequences? Also why did they meet in a parking garage? Did that strike anyone else as odd and nonsensical? Everyone knows they have a relationship.
Prediction: Peggy really isn't pregnant, but she's desperate to keep Teddy.
Also please kill the whole Cumberland storyline, that's been a non-starter since it was introduced. It's part and parcel with the equally bad Lamar Wyatt story.
My two favorite characters in "Nashville" are Deacon (Charles Esten) and Rayna James (the amazing Connie Britton). However the producers didn't do them any favors in this finale. Deacon finds out he's Maddie's daddy unexpectedly, which apparently drives him off the wagon. At the end of the episode those two end up at the Bluebird. Deacon is drinking and Rayna confronts him. She won't let him drive off and she takes over the driving duties. Meanwhile they are arguing as they drive aimlessly. Of course she loses control of the vehicle and they are in a spectacular crash. Sarcasm alert: boy I wonder if they will live or die?
Prediction: They both survive and they're back to full health by season 2, episode 2. Quickly into season 2 everyone forgets this "dramatic" crash.
After Scarlett broke up with Gunnar last episode, she told him she didn't know what she wanted in this episode. But he still asks her to marry him? I don't know a lot about women. But I do know if a woman breaks up with you, then says she doesn't know what she wants it's usually not a good idea to ask her to marry you.
Prediction: Scarlett says no and continues to shift from making tough decisions one minute to just floating through life the next minute.
A show that started out with so much promise really burned out the final few episodes. The longer the season wore on, the worst the show got. How did this stupid show get a second season? This show always had soap opera elements, however I was able to tolerate that for the behind the scenes look of the country music industry. But this show just turned into a complete soap opera a few weeks ago. Out of a sense of loyalty I watched the season finale. However I won't be watching season 2. Where do I go to get that 45 minutes of my life back? I'm so thankful for the person who invented the DVR.
Prediction: much like "Smash", "Nashville" will make a lot of changes for season 2. But ultimately the changes won't help and the viewership will drop enough that there won't be a third season.
This show's saving grace remains the great songs they continue to unearth, including this Juliette Barnes instant classic, "Nothing In This World Will Ever Break My Heart Again":
Prediction: I predict the music will continue to be amazing. Although I won't be watching season 2, I'll pay attention to the new music that comes through this show.
themusicaddict
themusicaddict's 5 Bands That Should Be Leading The Rock Revolutionn
Hello,
As I'm working on this blog, the following 5 bands are in no particular order. I mentioned yesterday that there's still plenty of good music out there, you just have to find it. That isn't very easy. I'd like to thank Google Play All Access as I've been listening to music there as homework for this blog. Without any further adieu, here's those 5 bands that should be leading a rock revolution: The Black Keys, Band of Skulls, Black Stone Cherry, Rival Sons and The Heavy. Enjoy and feel free to send me a n e-mail if you disagree or if you know a band that I missed.
Here are a few songs by The Heavy:
"How You Like Me Now":
"How You Like Me Now" (Live):
"What Makes A Good Man":
"Can't Play Dead":
"Oh No Not You Again":
The Black Keys:
My current theme song in my not very urgent search for my next woman, "Next Girl":
If this song doesn't make you want to get up and dance then I wonder how long have you been dead? "Lonely Boy":
"When The Lights Go Out" (Live):
"Gold On The Ceiling":
"10 A.M. Automatic":
A great video, a great song, a great band. "Tighten Up":
Band of Skulls:
"I Know What I Am":
"Light Of The Morning":
"Sweet Sour":
"Hollywood Bowl":
"Patterns":
Rival Sons "Keep On Swinging":
"Until The Sun Comes":
"Three Fingers":
"Manifest Destiny, Part 1":
"Pressure and Time" (Live):
"All The Way":
"Burn Down LA":
Rival Sons Live On The Queen Mary:
Black Stone Cherry:
"Blame It On The Boom Boom":
"Let Me See You Shake":
"Stay":
"Change":
"When The Weight Come Down":
"Fallen Angel" for a new generation. "Such A Shame":
"Hell and High Water":
"Shooting Star":
"Killing Floor":
Other great current rock bands:
- Paramore
- EarlyRise
themusicaddict
As I'm working on this blog, the following 5 bands are in no particular order. I mentioned yesterday that there's still plenty of good music out there, you just have to find it. That isn't very easy. I'd like to thank Google Play All Access as I've been listening to music there as homework for this blog. Without any further adieu, here's those 5 bands that should be leading a rock revolution: The Black Keys, Band of Skulls, Black Stone Cherry, Rival Sons and The Heavy. Enjoy and feel free to send me a n e-mail if you disagree or if you know a band that I missed.
Here are a few songs by The Heavy:
"How You Like Me Now":
"How You Like Me Now" (Live):
"What Makes A Good Man":
"Can't Play Dead":
"Oh No Not You Again":
The Black Keys:
My current theme song in my not very urgent search for my next woman, "Next Girl":
If this song doesn't make you want to get up and dance then I wonder how long have you been dead? "Lonely Boy":
"When The Lights Go Out" (Live):
"Gold On The Ceiling":
"10 A.M. Automatic":
A great video, a great song, a great band. "Tighten Up":
Band of Skulls:
"I Know What I Am":
"Light Of The Morning":
"Sweet Sour":
"Hollywood Bowl":
"Patterns":
Rival Sons "Keep On Swinging":
"Until The Sun Comes":
"Three Fingers":
"Manifest Destiny, Part 1":
"Pressure and Time" (Live):
"All The Way":
"Burn Down LA":
Rival Sons Live On The Queen Mary:
Black Stone Cherry:
"Blame It On The Boom Boom":
"Let Me See You Shake":
"Stay":
"Change":
"When The Weight Come Down":
"Fallen Angel" for a new generation. "Such A Shame":
"Hell and High Water":
"Shooting Star":
"Killing Floor":
Other great current rock bands:
- Paramore
- EarlyRise
themusicaddict
Dodgers Daily May 22nd, 2013: Good and Bad
Hello,
I'm putting this blog in a little bit of a different format today. The Dodgers beat the Brewers 9-2 in the third and final game of their three game series. I'll be evaluating that game from both the good and bad things that happened yesterday and through the first 44 games of this season.
Good:
The Dodgers
- scored 9 runs and won the game. LA has now scored 156 runs on the season, which averages out to 3.54 runs a game. That's about right because usually when an opponent scores 4 runs against LA they'll win that game. The Dodgers remain in 29th place for runs in all of MLB. They are only 3 runs behind 28th place Washington though.
- had 12 hits in the game. That includes having 2 hits by Carl Crawford, who's back over .300. Matt Kemp also had two hits, LA desperately needs his bat. The other Dodgers with two hits were Scott Van Slyke, Ramon Hernandez and Nick Punto. Punto is hitting .330 this season, higher than the much more heralded Adrian Gonzalez.
- won 2 of 3 games, but that was against the Brewers.
- Hyun-Jin Ryu had another great game. He pitched 7 1/3 innings, only giving up 6 hits and 2 runs. Both runs were earned. Ryu is now 5-2 on the season and has a 3.30 ERA. Is he the Dodgers second best pitcher.
- were far enough ahead to not need Brandon League and his 5.19 ERA to try and save the game. He only needed 10 pitches to shut down the Brewers in the 9th inning.
- Don Mattingly actually managed this game. He put the underperforming Andre Ethier on the bench for the third time in six games. I never understood the idea that because someone is paid a lot of money they should play more. I could care less that the Dodgers are foolishly paying Ethier $13.5 million this season. Since he's ineffective he should be benched. Playing him would be nonsense! Shouldn't you play the players that gives your team the best chance to win, especially when rumors are swirling about you being fired soon?
- The disastrous McCourt ownership is over. (Feel free to use Disastrous McCourt Ownership as a band name. Sounds like either an emo or death metal band.)
- is willing to pay approximately $216 million for a season.
Bad:
The Dodgers:
- are only 19-26 and last place in the NL West. They trail the 4th place Padres by 2.5 games and trail the tied for first place Arizona and San Francisco by 7 games. The Dodgers only have a 3.6% chance of making the playoffs.
- it was great the Dodgers won and scored 9 runs, but it's still only one game.
- have Thursday off.
- open up a 7 game home stand on Friday. First they welcome the team with the best record in MLB, the 30-16 Cardinals. Next they play their cross town rivals, the Angels, a team that's been playing better of late. The Angels are also a team that have dominated the Dodgers in interleague play the last several years.
- have Chris Capuano (1-2, 4.84 ERA) pitching Friday, although his last start was pretty decent. I'm holding out hope that he can develop into the Dodgers 4th starter. Ted Lilly ($13 million, 8 total innings and 0-1 with a 5.63 ERA) is pitching Saturday.
- I'm glad to see the new ownership is willing to spend money to help the Dodgers be a winner. That's good. But what's bad is that the Dodgers seemed to have focused on getting a bunch of individual great players rather than players which will turn into a team. It seems they might need someone better at choosing players to form a team.
- if LA fires anyone, I suggest it be GM Ned Colleti and not the manager Mattingly.
themusicaddict
I'm putting this blog in a little bit of a different format today. The Dodgers beat the Brewers 9-2 in the third and final game of their three game series. I'll be evaluating that game from both the good and bad things that happened yesterday and through the first 44 games of this season.
Good:
The Dodgers
- scored 9 runs and won the game. LA has now scored 156 runs on the season, which averages out to 3.54 runs a game. That's about right because usually when an opponent scores 4 runs against LA they'll win that game. The Dodgers remain in 29th place for runs in all of MLB. They are only 3 runs behind 28th place Washington though.
- had 12 hits in the game. That includes having 2 hits by Carl Crawford, who's back over .300. Matt Kemp also had two hits, LA desperately needs his bat. The other Dodgers with two hits were Scott Van Slyke, Ramon Hernandez and Nick Punto. Punto is hitting .330 this season, higher than the much more heralded Adrian Gonzalez.
- won 2 of 3 games, but that was against the Brewers.
- Hyun-Jin Ryu had another great game. He pitched 7 1/3 innings, only giving up 6 hits and 2 runs. Both runs were earned. Ryu is now 5-2 on the season and has a 3.30 ERA. Is he the Dodgers second best pitcher.
- were far enough ahead to not need Brandon League and his 5.19 ERA to try and save the game. He only needed 10 pitches to shut down the Brewers in the 9th inning.
- Don Mattingly actually managed this game. He put the underperforming Andre Ethier on the bench for the third time in six games. I never understood the idea that because someone is paid a lot of money they should play more. I could care less that the Dodgers are foolishly paying Ethier $13.5 million this season. Since he's ineffective he should be benched. Playing him would be nonsense! Shouldn't you play the players that gives your team the best chance to win, especially when rumors are swirling about you being fired soon?
- The disastrous McCourt ownership is over. (Feel free to use Disastrous McCourt Ownership as a band name. Sounds like either an emo or death metal band.)
- is willing to pay approximately $216 million for a season.
Bad:
The Dodgers:
- are only 19-26 and last place in the NL West. They trail the 4th place Padres by 2.5 games and trail the tied for first place Arizona and San Francisco by 7 games. The Dodgers only have a 3.6% chance of making the playoffs.
- it was great the Dodgers won and scored 9 runs, but it's still only one game.
- have Thursday off.
- open up a 7 game home stand on Friday. First they welcome the team with the best record in MLB, the 30-16 Cardinals. Next they play their cross town rivals, the Angels, a team that's been playing better of late. The Angels are also a team that have dominated the Dodgers in interleague play the last several years.
- have Chris Capuano (1-2, 4.84 ERA) pitching Friday, although his last start was pretty decent. I'm holding out hope that he can develop into the Dodgers 4th starter. Ted Lilly ($13 million, 8 total innings and 0-1 with a 5.63 ERA) is pitching Saturday.
- I'm glad to see the new ownership is willing to spend money to help the Dodgers be a winner. That's good. But what's bad is that the Dodgers seemed to have focused on getting a bunch of individual great players rather than players which will turn into a team. It seems they might need someone better at choosing players to form a team.
- if LA fires anyone, I suggest it be GM Ned Colleti and not the manager Mattingly.
themusicaddict
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
themusicaddict's Thoughts Going Through My Head, Great Songs & Rival Sons Rock!
Hello,
I'm enjoying listening to Google All Access the last few days. However the thing that I notice is that when looking to listen to music I keep on going back a few years to find music I want to listen to. There's still good music being made now, it just runs underneath the radar a bit.
Under the radar songs I'm liking right now include Hospitality's "Friends of Friends":
Okay so this song isn't exactly flying underneath the radar as it's on "The Great Gatsby" soundtrack, but I love this version more than Beyonce's original. Emeli Sande's "Crazy In Love":
I also love Fergie's "Great Gatsby" song "A Little Party Never Killed Nobody (All We Got)":
Although they don't have a lot of music out now, I've been digging music by The Rubens. Here's my current favorite of their songs, "The Best We've Got":
Loon Lake's "Cherry Lips":
Adam Ant's 2013 CD is "Adam Ant is The Blue Black Hussar Marrying The Gunner's Daughter". I can review that CD in two words: It sucks!!! Stay away. This CD has a couple of decent musical moments and "Shrink" is good enough:
Like with The Rubens, another band I'm enjoying right now is Rival Sons. One of the things that jumped out at me is their musicianship, especially in this era of manufactured artists and Auto Tune. They have a very Arctic Monkeyish sound, which is meant to be a big compliment. Both bands really know how to rock. If you are looking for something new and rocks, check out the Rival Sons CD "Head Down". Here's a sample of their great CD "Three Fingers":
I'm checking out Rival Sons propusively great CD "Head Down" as well as their other music. I may be writing more about them tomorrow.
The Dallas Mavericks are considering entering the Dwight Howard sweepstakes? Seriously? Why? That's a sweepstakes I'd want my team to lose. I was so glad when the Jazz "lost" the Carlos Boozer sweepstakes a few years ago. I desperately wanted the Jazz and Boozer to part ways. I've never understood why people are so in love with the temperamental drama queen that is Howard. If I got to pick, I'd have Howard go to the Lakers. I'd enjoy watching a mediocre Lakers team.
Yes Jim Boeheim, Carmelo Anthony does need more help in New York. Anthony needs to learn how to be a team player. The great players help their teammates be better than anyone would ever thought they could be. However Anthony doesn't make anyone better with his one-dimensional game.
I just want to say the more I hear coming out of the Dallas Cowboys, the more disgusted I get. If Dallas were a TV show, they'd be titled "Dallas". Except that Jerry Jones will never be clever as J.R. Ewing. The Cowboys continue to become more and more irrelevant. If ESPN stopped hyping the Cowboys so much, would they cease to exist. The coverage the Cowboys get isn't worthy of their play over the last several years. I continue to become more and more of a 49ers fan. Not only because they are good, but because they are well run. They are everything that the Cowboys aren't. If the 49ers were a TV show, they would be called "Dynasty". That's something they are inching close to being.
Although news is coming out today that 49ers wide receiver Michael Crabtree recently had surgery on his achilles heel. That could keep him out for 6 months, which means he could be back for the stretch run. I know they have Mario Manningham, Vernon Davis and Anquan Boldin so they should be okay until Crabtree comes back. Does this mean that the 49ers may sign Randy Moss for one more year?
Again I'm hoping for a terrible Cowboys season so that Jerry Jones will finally be forced to make some changes that are actually helpful. Three things off the top of my head are : 1) Get a real GM! The only one that wants Jerry as GM is Jerry! Stephen Jones isn't the answer either. Seriously get a real GM! 2) Get a real head coach and stop interfering with all your stupid, rambling thoughts Jerry. Jones is 70 years old, is he ever going to learn how to speak intelligently? 3) Get a real quarterback, Romo isn't the answer. Oh good now he's going to have more control over offensive plays this season. Yes, let's give him more control since the Cowboys have flourished so much with him as quarterback. I can't wait until Romo writes his autobiography, he should call it "My One Playoff Win: How Hype and Jerry Jones' Stupidity Made Me A Very Rich Man".
The NBA Conference Finals: Western Conference: Yawn, Eastern Conference: Heat In 5.
Now that the NBA Draft Lottery is over, it's known that the Jazz will have the 14th and 21st pick in the NBA Draft. The Jazz desperately need a point guard to compliment the so-called core 4. The core 4 is Gordon Hayward, Derrick Favors, Enes Kanter and Alec Burks. I'd love for the Jazz to get Shane Larkin. Larkin is a great player and his father, Barry, was a professional athlete. Barry could guide his son through the perilous world of professional sports.
Two people I don't want the Jazz to get is 1) Shabazz Muhammed, from everything I've heard about him the consensus is that he's a head case. 2) Mason Plumlee Dearest Jazz please don't get this lame player. How many tall, white and stiff centers have become stars in the NBA? I can't think of any either. Not to mention he's a Dukie, it's well known how bad Dukies are in the NBA.
The Sergio Garcia-Tiger Woods verbal spat is 2013's biggest sports non-story. Why do we have to keep on hearing about it?
themusicaddict
I'm enjoying listening to Google All Access the last few days. However the thing that I notice is that when looking to listen to music I keep on going back a few years to find music I want to listen to. There's still good music being made now, it just runs underneath the radar a bit.
Under the radar songs I'm liking right now include Hospitality's "Friends of Friends":
Okay so this song isn't exactly flying underneath the radar as it's on "The Great Gatsby" soundtrack, but I love this version more than Beyonce's original. Emeli Sande's "Crazy In Love":
I also love Fergie's "Great Gatsby" song "A Little Party Never Killed Nobody (All We Got)":
Although they don't have a lot of music out now, I've been digging music by The Rubens. Here's my current favorite of their songs, "The Best We've Got":
Loon Lake's "Cherry Lips":
Adam Ant's 2013 CD is "Adam Ant is The Blue Black Hussar Marrying The Gunner's Daughter". I can review that CD in two words: It sucks!!! Stay away. This CD has a couple of decent musical moments and "Shrink" is good enough:
Like with The Rubens, another band I'm enjoying right now is Rival Sons. One of the things that jumped out at me is their musicianship, especially in this era of manufactured artists and Auto Tune. They have a very Arctic Monkeyish sound, which is meant to be a big compliment. Both bands really know how to rock. If you are looking for something new and rocks, check out the Rival Sons CD "Head Down". Here's a sample of their great CD "Three Fingers":
I'm checking out Rival Sons propusively great CD "Head Down" as well as their other music. I may be writing more about them tomorrow.
The Dallas Mavericks are considering entering the Dwight Howard sweepstakes? Seriously? Why? That's a sweepstakes I'd want my team to lose. I was so glad when the Jazz "lost" the Carlos Boozer sweepstakes a few years ago. I desperately wanted the Jazz and Boozer to part ways. I've never understood why people are so in love with the temperamental drama queen that is Howard. If I got to pick, I'd have Howard go to the Lakers. I'd enjoy watching a mediocre Lakers team.
Yes Jim Boeheim, Carmelo Anthony does need more help in New York. Anthony needs to learn how to be a team player. The great players help their teammates be better than anyone would ever thought they could be. However Anthony doesn't make anyone better with his one-dimensional game.
I just want to say the more I hear coming out of the Dallas Cowboys, the more disgusted I get. If Dallas were a TV show, they'd be titled "Dallas". Except that Jerry Jones will never be clever as J.R. Ewing. The Cowboys continue to become more and more irrelevant. If ESPN stopped hyping the Cowboys so much, would they cease to exist. The coverage the Cowboys get isn't worthy of their play over the last several years. I continue to become more and more of a 49ers fan. Not only because they are good, but because they are well run. They are everything that the Cowboys aren't. If the 49ers were a TV show, they would be called "Dynasty". That's something they are inching close to being.
Although news is coming out today that 49ers wide receiver Michael Crabtree recently had surgery on his achilles heel. That could keep him out for 6 months, which means he could be back for the stretch run. I know they have Mario Manningham, Vernon Davis and Anquan Boldin so they should be okay until Crabtree comes back. Does this mean that the 49ers may sign Randy Moss for one more year?
Again I'm hoping for a terrible Cowboys season so that Jerry Jones will finally be forced to make some changes that are actually helpful. Three things off the top of my head are : 1) Get a real GM! The only one that wants Jerry as GM is Jerry! Stephen Jones isn't the answer either. Seriously get a real GM! 2) Get a real head coach and stop interfering with all your stupid, rambling thoughts Jerry. Jones is 70 years old, is he ever going to learn how to speak intelligently? 3) Get a real quarterback, Romo isn't the answer. Oh good now he's going to have more control over offensive plays this season. Yes, let's give him more control since the Cowboys have flourished so much with him as quarterback. I can't wait until Romo writes his autobiography, he should call it "My One Playoff Win: How Hype and Jerry Jones' Stupidity Made Me A Very Rich Man".
The NBA Conference Finals: Western Conference: Yawn, Eastern Conference: Heat In 5.
Now that the NBA Draft Lottery is over, it's known that the Jazz will have the 14th and 21st pick in the NBA Draft. The Jazz desperately need a point guard to compliment the so-called core 4. The core 4 is Gordon Hayward, Derrick Favors, Enes Kanter and Alec Burks. I'd love for the Jazz to get Shane Larkin. Larkin is a great player and his father, Barry, was a professional athlete. Barry could guide his son through the perilous world of professional sports.
Two people I don't want the Jazz to get is 1) Shabazz Muhammed, from everything I've heard about him the consensus is that he's a head case. 2) Mason Plumlee Dearest Jazz please don't get this lame player. How many tall, white and stiff centers have become stars in the NBA? I can't think of any either. Not to mention he's a Dukie, it's well known how bad Dukies are in the NBA.
The Sergio Garcia-Tiger Woods verbal spat is 2013's biggest sports non-story. Why do we have to keep on hearing about it?
themusicaddict
Dodgers Daily, May 21st, 2013: Greinke, Dodgers Offense Brutal, Orioles, Pirates & Cubs Updates
Hello,
On Tuesday night the Dodgers lost again, losing to Milwaukee 5-2. The Dodgers' offense remains pathetic, they only scored 2 runs. The Dodgers had 10 hits, but only 2 runs! In staying consistent with the Dodgers inept offense Greinke had 2 of the 10 hits and he also had 1 of the RBIs.
As for pitching Greinke was brutal. In only 4 innings he gave up 9 hits, 5 runs (all earned) and 3 walks. He only had one strikeout and his ERA jumped to 3.48. Too bad he only lasted 4 innings as the Dodgers could ill afford to lose his bat.
And in the least exciting race in MLB, that's the battle to avoid last place for runs scored in MLB. In a rare show of brinkmanship, and responding to the Dodgers 2 runs, the Miami Marlins scored 3 runs. That means they closed in one run on the Dodgers for 29th place in runs scored. The Marlins have now scored a total of 125 runs this season which means they only trail the Dodgers by 22 runs. Don't worry I'll keep you updated on this "exciting" race all season. Thanks as always to the fantastic stats crew at ESPN.com. (Yes, I realize on Wednesday that the Dodgers jumped to a 7-0 lead on Milwaukee, that will certainly help their stats. But even if the Dodgers win, which is never a sure thing, it still only counts as one win. How will the Marlins respond tonight? Will the Dodgers improve to 28th for runs in the MLB? Look at all the excitement!)
According to ESPN.com, the chances for the Dodgers to make the playoffs is now 2.4%. That's the 4th lowest percentage in all of MLB. $216 million just doesn't go as far as it used to. In case you didn't know how bad of a season the Dodgers are having, the numbers quantify that for you.
The Dodgers being such an anemic offensive team isn't the fault of Don Mattingly. LA was only 3 for 14 on Tuesday with runners in scoring position. Is that Mattingly's fault? Other than a few exceptions the Dodgers only seem to have two types of hitters this season. Those exceptions now are Nick Punto, Mark Ellis, Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez. While I consider Crawford an exception to that rule now, his batting average continues to dwindle. However he's still hitting at a solid .297, he stays as an exception for now. If Hanley Ramirez was also healthy I'd probably include him in the exceptions. Scott Van Slyke doesn't have a big enough sample size, but the Dodgers desperately need him to hit at least 20 homers this season.
Other than those players the Dodgers have those two type of hitters. 1) They have hitters that aren't performing equivalent to their contracts. Those players include Andre Ethier, Matt Kemp (this season only) and Juan Uribe. 2) The Dodgers also have underperforming hitters like Skip Schumaker, Luis Cruz, Dee Gordon and Justin Sellers. They are players that will never be quality major league baseball hitters.
I would like to thank MLB Network for having the Orioles-Yankees game last night on their station. It was good to see Nate McLouth hit a walk off homer in the 10th inning to defeat the Evil Empire. The first two games in this series went into extra innings, will that trend continue tonight? After the first two games of this series were on national TV, the Wednesday night game is also going to be on national TV. At 7:00 EST Baltimore battles the Yankees on ESPN. Go Orioles!
Powered by Travis Snider's pinch hit homer the Pirates beat the Cubs 5-4. The Pirates continue to be one of this season's biggest success stories. Pittsburgh has won 8 of 10 and continue to be in the NL Central race. The Pirates have to compete with the very good Cardinals and Reds for the NL Central title. So although the Pirates are now playing great, both the Reds and the Cardinals are playing even better.
Pittsburgh is now 27-18 and tied for the third best record in the NL. The only problem with that for the Pirates is that the first and second best teams in the NL are the two teams ahead of them in the Central. The Pirates have to maintain near this pace for at least the next 60 games for anyone to take them seriously though. Pittsburgh still only has a 43.0% chance of making the playoffs now.
Is the NL Central as good as the AL East this season?
Meanwhile one team the three NL Central heavyweights don't have to worry about is the Cubs. It amazes me how bad the Cubs continue to be. They are 18-26 through Tuesdays night games. That's the same bad record that the Dodgers have. Chicago have lost 2 games in a row and only won half of their last 10 games. The Cubs are 10.5 games behind the first place Cardinals and have a 8.4% chance of making the playoffs.
themusicaddict
On Tuesday night the Dodgers lost again, losing to Milwaukee 5-2. The Dodgers' offense remains pathetic, they only scored 2 runs. The Dodgers had 10 hits, but only 2 runs! In staying consistent with the Dodgers inept offense Greinke had 2 of the 10 hits and he also had 1 of the RBIs.
As for pitching Greinke was brutal. In only 4 innings he gave up 9 hits, 5 runs (all earned) and 3 walks. He only had one strikeout and his ERA jumped to 3.48. Too bad he only lasted 4 innings as the Dodgers could ill afford to lose his bat.
And in the least exciting race in MLB, that's the battle to avoid last place for runs scored in MLB. In a rare show of brinkmanship, and responding to the Dodgers 2 runs, the Miami Marlins scored 3 runs. That means they closed in one run on the Dodgers for 29th place in runs scored. The Marlins have now scored a total of 125 runs this season which means they only trail the Dodgers by 22 runs. Don't worry I'll keep you updated on this "exciting" race all season. Thanks as always to the fantastic stats crew at ESPN.com. (Yes, I realize on Wednesday that the Dodgers jumped to a 7-0 lead on Milwaukee, that will certainly help their stats. But even if the Dodgers win, which is never a sure thing, it still only counts as one win. How will the Marlins respond tonight? Will the Dodgers improve to 28th for runs in the MLB? Look at all the excitement!)
According to ESPN.com, the chances for the Dodgers to make the playoffs is now 2.4%. That's the 4th lowest percentage in all of MLB. $216 million just doesn't go as far as it used to. In case you didn't know how bad of a season the Dodgers are having, the numbers quantify that for you.
The Dodgers being such an anemic offensive team isn't the fault of Don Mattingly. LA was only 3 for 14 on Tuesday with runners in scoring position. Is that Mattingly's fault? Other than a few exceptions the Dodgers only seem to have two types of hitters this season. Those exceptions now are Nick Punto, Mark Ellis, Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez. While I consider Crawford an exception to that rule now, his batting average continues to dwindle. However he's still hitting at a solid .297, he stays as an exception for now. If Hanley Ramirez was also healthy I'd probably include him in the exceptions. Scott Van Slyke doesn't have a big enough sample size, but the Dodgers desperately need him to hit at least 20 homers this season.
Other than those players the Dodgers have those two type of hitters. 1) They have hitters that aren't performing equivalent to their contracts. Those players include Andre Ethier, Matt Kemp (this season only) and Juan Uribe. 2) The Dodgers also have underperforming hitters like Skip Schumaker, Luis Cruz, Dee Gordon and Justin Sellers. They are players that will never be quality major league baseball hitters.
I would like to thank MLB Network for having the Orioles-Yankees game last night on their station. It was good to see Nate McLouth hit a walk off homer in the 10th inning to defeat the Evil Empire. The first two games in this series went into extra innings, will that trend continue tonight? After the first two games of this series were on national TV, the Wednesday night game is also going to be on national TV. At 7:00 EST Baltimore battles the Yankees on ESPN. Go Orioles!
Powered by Travis Snider's pinch hit homer the Pirates beat the Cubs 5-4. The Pirates continue to be one of this season's biggest success stories. Pittsburgh has won 8 of 10 and continue to be in the NL Central race. The Pirates have to compete with the very good Cardinals and Reds for the NL Central title. So although the Pirates are now playing great, both the Reds and the Cardinals are playing even better.
Pittsburgh is now 27-18 and tied for the third best record in the NL. The only problem with that for the Pirates is that the first and second best teams in the NL are the two teams ahead of them in the Central. The Pirates have to maintain near this pace for at least the next 60 games for anyone to take them seriously though. Pittsburgh still only has a 43.0% chance of making the playoffs now.
Is the NL Central as good as the AL East this season?
Meanwhile one team the three NL Central heavyweights don't have to worry about is the Cubs. It amazes me how bad the Cubs continue to be. They are 18-26 through Tuesdays night games. That's the same bad record that the Dodgers have. Chicago have lost 2 games in a row and only won half of their last 10 games. The Cubs are 10.5 games behind the first place Cardinals and have a 8.4% chance of making the playoffs.
themusicaddict
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
The Ultimate Divorce Album: Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours" (I Promise It Gets Better)
Hello,
Today marks another major anniversary in my life. Three years ago today my marriage officially ended. Losing my job was the final straw for my ex. That night she kicked me out and a little over two months later we were divorced. But this isn't a bitter hate my ex blog, so please don't worry. In fact, I believe the more you focus on your ex, the less you have healed. Of course if you share children, that means you'll probably always have some kind of connection. Whether you want that connection or not. Just have as much tolerance as possible. I promise you it gets better.
Looking back now it's clear that our marriage needed to end. My only regret about the divorce is that I wish it would have happened about 3 years earlier. But it didn't and I've learned to deal with that. This divorce was good for me, but it was also good for my ex. Also our kids have been troopers in dealing with divorce. I'm not saying it's been easy for them, but kids can be incredibly resilient. I promise you it gets better.
If you are going through a divorce, take it day by day, the first year following divorce is the hardest. I remember I realized I was healing when I thought about her only 95% of the time rather than 100% of the time. Once you get past that that rough first year, life will both be a lot easier and a lot better. I also recommend counseling to help you through this transition, whether you initiated the divorce or not. I found a great counselor who helped so much. Looking back I'm so glad I had an excellent counselor, I would be in a much worse place now if not for her. The help of a counselor's helps one break through the dark clouds. No matter how dark the clouds are I promise you that it gets better.
For the majority of this blog I'm featuring the 11 songs from Fleetwood Mac's legendary "Rumours". A CD that's very much about divorce and all sorts of relationship disharmony. Those are things that the members of Fleetwood Mac are well acquainted with. To this blog I'm adding another song that feels like it would fit perfectly on "Rumours". Before I forget, "Rumors" is available at iTunes for $7.99 at a limited time. (That's about half of the price if you were to buy the 11 songs individually.) Also you can listen to the expanded, 40 song edition of "Rumors" at Google All Access music. You get the original CD, live tracks and some early versions of those songs. Stevie Nicks had such an amazing voice.
To read about all the relationship issues the Mac were having preceding and during the recording of this CD, read this wikipedia.org page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumours
Here is "Rumours" in it's original track listing. I'm guessing that Fleetwood Mac worked through a lot of demons writing this very angry song "Second Hand News":
"Dreams":
"Never Going Back Again":
This song is great advice for those going through divorce or any difficult time at all. "Don't Stop":
"Go Your Own Way":
"Songbird":
Not only one of Fleetwood Mac's greatest songs ever, but one of the greatest songs ever! What an amazing song! "The Chain" (lyrics version):
It seems like Stevie and Lindsay still have some chemistry here. "The Chain" (Live):
"You Make Loving Fun":
"I Don't Wanna Know":
Probably the weakest link on "Rumours" and it doesn't feel like it fits in with the rest of the CD. However lyrically it fits right in with the other 10 songs. "Oh Daddy":
"Gold Dust Woman":
Here's the bonus song, a song that's right up there in all-time great hits along with "The Chain". This is "Landslide" (lyrics):
"Landside" (live)
Thanks Fleetwood Mac for such this classic CD. To all of those who are going through divorce, I promise it does get better. In fact, you get to a point that you wonder why it was ever hard in the first place.
themusicaddict
Today marks another major anniversary in my life. Three years ago today my marriage officially ended. Losing my job was the final straw for my ex. That night she kicked me out and a little over two months later we were divorced. But this isn't a bitter hate my ex blog, so please don't worry. In fact, I believe the more you focus on your ex, the less you have healed. Of course if you share children, that means you'll probably always have some kind of connection. Whether you want that connection or not. Just have as much tolerance as possible. I promise you it gets better.
Looking back now it's clear that our marriage needed to end. My only regret about the divorce is that I wish it would have happened about 3 years earlier. But it didn't and I've learned to deal with that. This divorce was good for me, but it was also good for my ex. Also our kids have been troopers in dealing with divorce. I'm not saying it's been easy for them, but kids can be incredibly resilient. I promise you it gets better.
If you are going through a divorce, take it day by day, the first year following divorce is the hardest. I remember I realized I was healing when I thought about her only 95% of the time rather than 100% of the time. Once you get past that that rough first year, life will both be a lot easier and a lot better. I also recommend counseling to help you through this transition, whether you initiated the divorce or not. I found a great counselor who helped so much. Looking back I'm so glad I had an excellent counselor, I would be in a much worse place now if not for her. The help of a counselor's helps one break through the dark clouds. No matter how dark the clouds are I promise you that it gets better.
For the majority of this blog I'm featuring the 11 songs from Fleetwood Mac's legendary "Rumours". A CD that's very much about divorce and all sorts of relationship disharmony. Those are things that the members of Fleetwood Mac are well acquainted with. To this blog I'm adding another song that feels like it would fit perfectly on "Rumours". Before I forget, "Rumors" is available at iTunes for $7.99 at a limited time. (That's about half of the price if you were to buy the 11 songs individually.) Also you can listen to the expanded, 40 song edition of "Rumors" at Google All Access music. You get the original CD, live tracks and some early versions of those songs. Stevie Nicks had such an amazing voice.
To read about all the relationship issues the Mac were having preceding and during the recording of this CD, read this wikipedia.org page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumours
Here is "Rumours" in it's original track listing. I'm guessing that Fleetwood Mac worked through a lot of demons writing this very angry song "Second Hand News":
"Dreams":
"Never Going Back Again":
This song is great advice for those going through divorce or any difficult time at all. "Don't Stop":
"Go Your Own Way":
"Songbird":
Not only one of Fleetwood Mac's greatest songs ever, but one of the greatest songs ever! What an amazing song! "The Chain" (lyrics version):
It seems like Stevie and Lindsay still have some chemistry here. "The Chain" (Live):
"You Make Loving Fun":
"I Don't Wanna Know":
Probably the weakest link on "Rumours" and it doesn't feel like it fits in with the rest of the CD. However lyrically it fits right in with the other 10 songs. "Oh Daddy":
"Gold Dust Woman":
Here's the bonus song, a song that's right up there in all-time great hits along with "The Chain". This is "Landslide" (lyrics):
"Landside" (live)
Thanks Fleetwood Mac for such this classic CD. To all of those who are going through divorce, I promise it does get better. In fact, you get to a point that you wonder why it was ever hard in the first place.
themusicaddict
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