Hello,
Going from two teams that seem to have way too many issues, lets go to a team that seems like they have a good chance of actually winning something. That's Lane Kiffin's USC Trojans. When Matt Barkley announced he would be coming back for his senior season, it's pretty obvious that the Trojans would be considered a national favorite.
Indeed on my Sports Illustrated that arrived today, the West regional cover is Mr. Barkley. SI has predicted that the Trojans are this season's second best college football team. If that happens that means they would obviously be playing for the National Championship. It would be nice to have a National Championship game that I have an interest in.
I feel pretty good about USC doing very well this season. They play in an alleged BCS Conference, but this looks to be a down year for the Pac-12. Andrew Luck is gone, Oregon has some holes and no other team leaps out as a surefire powerhouse. And this is the same conference that last season went 2-5 in bowl games. (Of course that looks fantastic compared to Pac-12 men's basketball.)
I just wish the Trojans could have convinced offensive line stud Matt Kalil to come back for his senior season. But other than that things should be great for the Trojans this year. The Trojans have a favorable schedule this year. They do play Stanford and Utah on the road, but they get every other tough game at the Colisieum.
I live in Utah and locally a lot of Ute fans are hyping up the October 4th game might be the game where the Trojans might get knocked off their throne. For awhile I started to buy into that hype, but the more I think about it the more I think the Trojans will win that game by at least 14 points. The Trojans have a lot of frustration from the suspensions that they are still serving. They are also allowed to play in a bowl game this year. So if their talent and drive remain high I don't see them losing any more than two games this year. And I don't think the Utes will be one of those two losses.
themusicaddict
Friday, August 17, 2012
America's Favorite Soap Opera: The Boston Red Sox
Hello,
The Red Sox started today with a 58-61 record. They are 4th place in the AL East, 12.5 games behind the hated Yankees. They are 6.5 games out in the AL Wildcard. According to ESPN they have a 6.7% chance of making the playoffs. That figure sound optimistic to me. They have only won 4 of their last 10 games and probably have to go about 32-12 to possibly make the playoffs. The Red Sox have been an underachieving organization as a whole, but the one deserving most of the blame has been Bobby Valentine.
And to rub salt into the Red Sox wounds, Boston is going to New York for a three game series. You don't think the Yankees, their fans and the New York media aren't going to take every chance to step on the Red Sox? If not you are crazy. Also two of three games will be on national TV, including ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball. This could be the nadir of the Red Sox already tumultuous season. Of course the last time Boston played three games in New York they were able to win 2 of them. So who knows?
As the Cowboys are about to start on another mediocre season, the Red Sox are finishing up their latest mediocre season. The Red Sox are a better run team than the Cowboys, but even they've had some major stumbles. This season's stumbles started with the unceremonious ripping of and exiting of dual World Series winning manager Terry Francona. The same man who led the Red Sox to two World Series victories, after not winning a World Series since 1918. Let that sink in: the Red Sox could have brought a two time World Series winner back, but didn't. Francona seems to be happy in the ESPN announcers booth.
The next mistake the Red Sox made? They signed Bobby Valentine to a two year contract. It has been anything but Valentine's Day around the Red Sox this year. From his highly defensive personality to his ripping Kevin Youkilis, he has been a complete disaster.
Now I'm loving how bad Red Sox management is stumbling. They are issuing non-denial denials about Valentine's job status. Larry Luchino said that Valentine will survive this season. What I love most about that is what he didn't say. Lucchino didn't say that Valentine wouldn't be back for a second year. In other words Valentine is gone at the end of this season. Typically this is what happens: The Red Sox will announce that they are evaluating all their options at the end of the regular season. Then when the playoffs are in full swing, the Red Sox will try to announce as quietly as possible that Valentine won't be returning for a second season.
Also: "Lucchino declined to go into detail about the meeting between players and ownership that took place in New York in late July, saying only that Yahoo! Sports’ report that players were calling for Valentine to be ousted “exaggerated and inaccurate.” He also said he shared owner John Henry’s disappointment that sources leaked information about the meeting to Yahoo! Sports."
I love this quote, yet another non-denial denial. Lucchino is deflecting about what really happened at this meeting. He doesn't deny that the players were calling for Valentine to be fired. But if that wasn't the reason, hen what did the players want the meeting for? Obviously the Red Sox players weren't there to try and get a raise for Valentine. Then again Lucchino deflects when he says that Henry was disappointed about people leaking the details to Yahoo! Sports. In other words they admit there was a meeting, but they talk about anything else but what the meeting was actually about.
Obviously Boston's only problem isn't Valentine, although he does deserve a lot of the blame. The Red Sox just don't seem to have a lot of chemistry of the team. The culture of their baseball team seems to be mildly poisonous. Indeed ESPN's Buster Olney is now saying that free agents may not consider playing for the Red Sox next season. It seems the whole organization needs a major culture change. Start with Valentine, but some of the players need to move on. With the Red Sox it seems the sum of their players is more than the whole of the team. In other words the Red Sox need to build a true team and not just the best collection of players they can afford.
They need to learn how to evaluate starting pitchers better. They have had major problems with that. Such names as Lackey, Matsuzaka and even Beckett have made me wonder more than once what the hell they are doing in Boston?
themusicaddict
The Red Sox started today with a 58-61 record. They are 4th place in the AL East, 12.5 games behind the hated Yankees. They are 6.5 games out in the AL Wildcard. According to ESPN they have a 6.7% chance of making the playoffs. That figure sound optimistic to me. They have only won 4 of their last 10 games and probably have to go about 32-12 to possibly make the playoffs. The Red Sox have been an underachieving organization as a whole, but the one deserving most of the blame has been Bobby Valentine.
And to rub salt into the Red Sox wounds, Boston is going to New York for a three game series. You don't think the Yankees, their fans and the New York media aren't going to take every chance to step on the Red Sox? If not you are crazy. Also two of three games will be on national TV, including ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball. This could be the nadir of the Red Sox already tumultuous season. Of course the last time Boston played three games in New York they were able to win 2 of them. So who knows?
As the Cowboys are about to start on another mediocre season, the Red Sox are finishing up their latest mediocre season. The Red Sox are a better run team than the Cowboys, but even they've had some major stumbles. This season's stumbles started with the unceremonious ripping of and exiting of dual World Series winning manager Terry Francona. The same man who led the Red Sox to two World Series victories, after not winning a World Series since 1918. Let that sink in: the Red Sox could have brought a two time World Series winner back, but didn't. Francona seems to be happy in the ESPN announcers booth.
The next mistake the Red Sox made? They signed Bobby Valentine to a two year contract. It has been anything but Valentine's Day around the Red Sox this year. From his highly defensive personality to his ripping Kevin Youkilis, he has been a complete disaster.
Now I'm loving how bad Red Sox management is stumbling. They are issuing non-denial denials about Valentine's job status. Larry Luchino said that Valentine will survive this season. What I love most about that is what he didn't say. Lucchino didn't say that Valentine wouldn't be back for a second year. In other words Valentine is gone at the end of this season. Typically this is what happens: The Red Sox will announce that they are evaluating all their options at the end of the regular season. Then when the playoffs are in full swing, the Red Sox will try to announce as quietly as possible that Valentine won't be returning for a second season.
Also: "Lucchino declined to go into detail about the meeting between players and ownership that took place in New York in late July, saying only that Yahoo! Sports’ report that players were calling for Valentine to be ousted “exaggerated and inaccurate.” He also said he shared owner John Henry’s disappointment that sources leaked information about the meeting to Yahoo! Sports."
I love this quote, yet another non-denial denial. Lucchino is deflecting about what really happened at this meeting. He doesn't deny that the players were calling for Valentine to be fired. But if that wasn't the reason, hen what did the players want the meeting for? Obviously the Red Sox players weren't there to try and get a raise for Valentine. Then again Lucchino deflects when he says that Henry was disappointed about people leaking the details to Yahoo! Sports. In other words they admit there was a meeting, but they talk about anything else but what the meeting was actually about.
Obviously Boston's only problem isn't Valentine, although he does deserve a lot of the blame. The Red Sox just don't seem to have a lot of chemistry of the team. The culture of their baseball team seems to be mildly poisonous. Indeed ESPN's Buster Olney is now saying that free agents may not consider playing for the Red Sox next season. It seems the whole organization needs a major culture change. Start with Valentine, but some of the players need to move on. With the Red Sox it seems the sum of their players is more than the whole of the team. In other words the Red Sox need to build a true team and not just the best collection of players they can afford.
They need to learn how to evaluate starting pitchers better. They have had major problems with that. Such names as Lackey, Matsuzaka and even Beckett have made me wonder more than once what the hell they are doing in Boston?
themusicaddict
The Cowboys Are Insane: Another Mediocre Season For Dallas in 2012
Hello,
First I'd like to talk about the disaster that is the Dallas Cowboys. Albert Einsten said this about insanity and by extension the Dallas Cowboys: "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." (thanks to brainy quote.com)
As you can see from the above definition the Cowboys are insane. Sure they added some nice pieces in Brandon Carr and Morris Claiborne, but overall isn't the same team as last season? They still bring back the horribly ineffective Tony Romo. The man who has one playoff win, which is the exact same amount as Tim Tebow. I know his stats are impressive, but his ability in the clutch is minimal at best. His lack of decision making skills has proved to be the Cowboys downfall many times. This play sums up the style of Romo's decision making ability:
"T.Romo pass short right to J.Witten to DAL 18 for -2 yards (R.McClain)." (Thanks to espn.com.)
The Cowboys get the ball back with 3:02 to play in the first quarter of their preseason game with the Raiders. The Cowboys went on to "win" this game 3-0, but at this point in the game the score was 0-0. Again it's a preseason game and everyone knows that Romo and Witten are going to make the final roster. This possession is just meant to knock off the rust for the Cowboys starters. The play starts with Romo initially escaping the rush, which is one of the good things of Tony Romo. However when the pressure resumes Romo is forced to make a decision. He has two choices throw the ball out of bounds or try to make a play that no one will remember after the game.
Unfortunately for Cowboy fans he chooses to try and make the play. He throws the ball to a temporarily wide open Witten, but there are three or four Raiders players closing quickly. The pass is complete but Witten is hit very hard. The result of the play is the loss of two yards and the loss of Witten for who knows how long? And ironically since Witten was injured on the play, that play will be well remembered.
What should have Romo done, he should have thrown the ball away. The next play would have started at the line of scrimmage and Witten would still be available to play. Oh and good news for Cowboys fans, Romo is going to play more against San Diego.
I like to google things sometimes and see what kind of consensus their is in the world I thought it was funny that "Tony Romo sucks" has a Facebook page. But the unintentionally funniest google search result was "Tony Romo Super Bowl appearances". Oh man.
Other things that are the same as last season. Colossal screwup Jerry Jones is still the "General Manager" of the Dallas Cowboys. I wish he knew as much about football as he does about making money. Then the Cowboys would be a much more successful team on the field. Currently they are the team that's only made the playoffs one of the last 4 seasons. I also highly doubt they'll make the playoffs this season.
Jason Garrett is still the head coach, sure he's an upgrade over Wade Phillips, but not enough of an upgrade. He does look like a head coach. But once the Cowboys eventually fire him, will another team give him the head coach position? They have Rob Ryan's highly ineffective defense back for a second season. Last and probably least is certified head case Dez Bryant. One of the things that I'm tired of the Cowboys is their choice to take chances on head cases that have some talent. Other than Michael Irvan and Charles Haley, when has that worked. Tank Johnson: No!, WR Roy Williams: No! And the corner back that seemed to be suspended for most of his Cowboys career, before the Cowboys finally cut him: No! Terrell Owens is kind of a toss up.
The Cowboys will be better this year, but so will the three other teams in the NFC East. The Cowboys should have done what the Redskins did, trade up to try and draft a real quarterback. Not only did the Cowboys not do something like that, they are talking about extending Romo's contract. What the hell? Obviously the Giants are the defending Super Bowl champions, which still surprises me to this day. But you can't discount them. Then the Eagles have a lot of talent and they should be significantly better than last season. But of course no matter how well they start out, they'll choke somewhere along on the way. You can always count on the Eagles to choke and I'm not sure how Andy Reid keeps his job.
I predict a 7-9 or 8-8 record for the Cowboys this season. Again they won't make the playoffs for the 4th time in 5 seasons. The Cowboys won't make any significant changes next off season and will act surprised when 2013 is another terrible season. I would love to be proven wrong, but I just don't think it will be. That's because the Cowboys are insane.
themusicaddict
First I'd like to talk about the disaster that is the Dallas Cowboys. Albert Einsten said this about insanity and by extension the Dallas Cowboys: "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." (thanks to brainy quote.com)
As you can see from the above definition the Cowboys are insane. Sure they added some nice pieces in Brandon Carr and Morris Claiborne, but overall isn't the same team as last season? They still bring back the horribly ineffective Tony Romo. The man who has one playoff win, which is the exact same amount as Tim Tebow. I know his stats are impressive, but his ability in the clutch is minimal at best. His lack of decision making skills has proved to be the Cowboys downfall many times. This play sums up the style of Romo's decision making ability:
"T.Romo pass short right to J.Witten to DAL 18 for -2 yards (R.McClain)." (Thanks to espn.com.)
The Cowboys get the ball back with 3:02 to play in the first quarter of their preseason game with the Raiders. The Cowboys went on to "win" this game 3-0, but at this point in the game the score was 0-0. Again it's a preseason game and everyone knows that Romo and Witten are going to make the final roster. This possession is just meant to knock off the rust for the Cowboys starters. The play starts with Romo initially escaping the rush, which is one of the good things of Tony Romo. However when the pressure resumes Romo is forced to make a decision. He has two choices throw the ball out of bounds or try to make a play that no one will remember after the game.
Unfortunately for Cowboy fans he chooses to try and make the play. He throws the ball to a temporarily wide open Witten, but there are three or four Raiders players closing quickly. The pass is complete but Witten is hit very hard. The result of the play is the loss of two yards and the loss of Witten for who knows how long? And ironically since Witten was injured on the play, that play will be well remembered.
What should have Romo done, he should have thrown the ball away. The next play would have started at the line of scrimmage and Witten would still be available to play. Oh and good news for Cowboys fans, Romo is going to play more against San Diego.
I like to google things sometimes and see what kind of consensus their is in the world I thought it was funny that "Tony Romo sucks" has a Facebook page. But the unintentionally funniest google search result was "Tony Romo Super Bowl appearances". Oh man.
Other things that are the same as last season. Colossal screwup Jerry Jones is still the "General Manager" of the Dallas Cowboys. I wish he knew as much about football as he does about making money. Then the Cowboys would be a much more successful team on the field. Currently they are the team that's only made the playoffs one of the last 4 seasons. I also highly doubt they'll make the playoffs this season.
Jason Garrett is still the head coach, sure he's an upgrade over Wade Phillips, but not enough of an upgrade. He does look like a head coach. But once the Cowboys eventually fire him, will another team give him the head coach position? They have Rob Ryan's highly ineffective defense back for a second season. Last and probably least is certified head case Dez Bryant. One of the things that I'm tired of the Cowboys is their choice to take chances on head cases that have some talent. Other than Michael Irvan and Charles Haley, when has that worked. Tank Johnson: No!, WR Roy Williams: No! And the corner back that seemed to be suspended for most of his Cowboys career, before the Cowboys finally cut him: No! Terrell Owens is kind of a toss up.
The Cowboys will be better this year, but so will the three other teams in the NFC East. The Cowboys should have done what the Redskins did, trade up to try and draft a real quarterback. Not only did the Cowboys not do something like that, they are talking about extending Romo's contract. What the hell? Obviously the Giants are the defending Super Bowl champions, which still surprises me to this day. But you can't discount them. Then the Eagles have a lot of talent and they should be significantly better than last season. But of course no matter how well they start out, they'll choke somewhere along on the way. You can always count on the Eagles to choke and I'm not sure how Andy Reid keeps his job.
I predict a 7-9 or 8-8 record for the Cowboys this season. Again they won't make the playoffs for the 4th time in 5 seasons. The Cowboys won't make any significant changes next off season and will act surprised when 2013 is another terrible season. I would love to be proven wrong, but I just don't think it will be. That's because the Cowboys are insane.
themusicaddict
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Great and More Recent Songs :), Sports preview
Hello,
I'm 45 years old and so my music taste tends to date from when I was a teenager. I grew up in the very fertile 80's music era. The 80s is when new wave had it's peak, disco was still around for a bit, there was a lot of great pop and rock. It was also the beginning of the hair metal era and Guns N' Roses busted out in 1989. And I'm not a big fan of rap music. (Rick Ross on the latest cover of Rolling Stone? Please!) But that's when the Beastie Boys, Run-D.M.C. and LL Cool J had many of their best songs. All around a great decade for music.
Honestly when I do listen to the radio, it's mostly sports radio or stations that play a lot of 80s. So I don't usually discover a lot of new music. But sometimes through my kids or other avenues I hear new music I like. And I'm not really a music snob. I can enjoy "Call Me Maybe" just as much as "Welcome To The Jungle". Music has to be awful, very profane or very stupid for me not to like it. And I guess that explains my aversion to so called rap music.
Anyway here are some songs that are much more recent than what I usually put on my blog. I don't claim to be breaking any new ground with any of these songs. I'm not predicting what will be big hits or won't. These are just songs that have struck my fancy. Again I like most genres of music, so these songs will be all over the place. Enjoy.
I hope I have no problems with blogger today.
This is Tim McGraw's "Truck Yeah":
The name of this band is In This Moment, who I hadn't heard of until yesterday. I listened to their music for a few hours yesterday (Thanks Spotify) and I find I quite like this band. I couldn't just pick one of their songs, I ended up choosing this song randomly. And not all their music is this intense I assure you. This is "The Promise":
Taylor Swift's new song "We Are Never Ever Ever Getting Back Together". Uber producer Max Martin worked with her on this song. If this reminds you of Avril Lavigne, Martin also worked with her. Swift is still singing love and break up songs, this song is okay.
I really, really like this song. The Rocket Summer's "200,000":
This is my favorite song from the latest Van Halen CD. This is "You and Your Blues". (I also like "Stay Frosty").
A band named Red Five and the song is "Your Creation" (This only has 32 youtube views):
Lianne La Havas' "Is Your Love Big Enough":
This is a pretty great song too David Guetta featuring Sia's "Titanium":
Thanks to a free Sub Pop sampler via amazon.com I discovered this song. This is a bit out of my comfort zone, but I really like it. Retribution Gospel Choir's "The Stone":
From the same Sub Pop sampler. Memoryhouse's "The Kids Were Wrong":
Silly for me to think the Neon Trees would be a one hit wonder. I really like this song too, "Everybody Talks":
Cher Lloyd's "Want You Back":
This is one of my favoriteRihanna, uh Brown, songs. I absolutely love this song, "We Run The Night":
Matchbox Twenty's "She's So Mean":
The lovely Katy Perry's "Wide Awake":
I will close with 3 more great songs from Walk The Moon's self-titled CD. (These three songs along with the amazing "I Can Lift A Car" make for a pretty great CD.) This is "Shiver Shiver":
"Next In Line":
"Jenny":
If I have time tomorrow I plan on writing a long sports blog as I have some opinions. Here's a quick preview. The Red Sox are done, put a fork in Bobby Valentine. The Dodgers should win the NL West now, with Melky Cabrera (Idiot) being suspended probably until next season. The Pirates are faltering, they'll be lucky if they finish 4-7 on their 11 game home stand. Atlanta Braves are very quietly putting together an amazing regular season. Now can they avoid melting down at the end of this season and actually do something in the playoffs for once? At least Red Sox fans don't have to worry about them melting down at the end of the season.
Felix Hernandez is a stud. Not a stud is the second wild card playoff, in fact it's a farce. A one game playoff between the two wild card teams in each league? May the farce be with Major League Baseball.
Football: Jordan Wynn of the Utes won't finish the season. I love BYU, but I hope they get an upgrade in quarterback next season. Matt Barkley and USC should play in this season's National Championship Game. The Utah-USC game should be a battle.
Tony Romo still sucks, his stupid pass to Jason Witten directly led to Witten's injury. There was no upside for Romo to throw that pass. Even in a best case scenario, it's still is only the preseason. I'm dreading another terrible Cowboys season. The Cowboys need to do what the Redskins did and trade some picks to move up in the draft and get a real quarterback. Remember Tim Tebow has as many playoff wins as Romo.
Great win for the American Men's National Team in Mexico yesterday. They won for the first time in 75 years in Mexico. That's an extremely hostile place to play.
themusicaddict
I'm 45 years old and so my music taste tends to date from when I was a teenager. I grew up in the very fertile 80's music era. The 80s is when new wave had it's peak, disco was still around for a bit, there was a lot of great pop and rock. It was also the beginning of the hair metal era and Guns N' Roses busted out in 1989. And I'm not a big fan of rap music. (Rick Ross on the latest cover of Rolling Stone? Please!) But that's when the Beastie Boys, Run-D.M.C. and LL Cool J had many of their best songs. All around a great decade for music.
Honestly when I do listen to the radio, it's mostly sports radio or stations that play a lot of 80s. So I don't usually discover a lot of new music. But sometimes through my kids or other avenues I hear new music I like. And I'm not really a music snob. I can enjoy "Call Me Maybe" just as much as "Welcome To The Jungle". Music has to be awful, very profane or very stupid for me not to like it. And I guess that explains my aversion to so called rap music.
Anyway here are some songs that are much more recent than what I usually put on my blog. I don't claim to be breaking any new ground with any of these songs. I'm not predicting what will be big hits or won't. These are just songs that have struck my fancy. Again I like most genres of music, so these songs will be all over the place. Enjoy.
I hope I have no problems with blogger today.
This is Tim McGraw's "Truck Yeah":
The name of this band is In This Moment, who I hadn't heard of until yesterday. I listened to their music for a few hours yesterday (Thanks Spotify) and I find I quite like this band. I couldn't just pick one of their songs, I ended up choosing this song randomly. And not all their music is this intense I assure you. This is "The Promise":
Taylor Swift's new song "We Are Never Ever Ever Getting Back Together". Uber producer Max Martin worked with her on this song. If this reminds you of Avril Lavigne, Martin also worked with her. Swift is still singing love and break up songs, this song is okay.
I really, really like this song. The Rocket Summer's "200,000":
This is my favorite song from the latest Van Halen CD. This is "You and Your Blues". (I also like "Stay Frosty").
A band named Red Five and the song is "Your Creation" (This only has 32 youtube views):
Lianne La Havas' "Is Your Love Big Enough":
This is a pretty great song too David Guetta featuring Sia's "Titanium":
Thanks to a free Sub Pop sampler via amazon.com I discovered this song. This is a bit out of my comfort zone, but I really like it. Retribution Gospel Choir's "The Stone":
From the same Sub Pop sampler. Memoryhouse's "The Kids Were Wrong":
Silly for me to think the Neon Trees would be a one hit wonder. I really like this song too, "Everybody Talks":
Cher Lloyd's "Want You Back":
This is one of my favorite
Matchbox Twenty's "She's So Mean":
The lovely Katy Perry's "Wide Awake":
I will close with 3 more great songs from Walk The Moon's self-titled CD. (These three songs along with the amazing "I Can Lift A Car" make for a pretty great CD.) This is "Shiver Shiver":
"Next In Line":
"Jenny":
If I have time tomorrow I plan on writing a long sports blog as I have some opinions. Here's a quick preview. The Red Sox are done, put a fork in Bobby Valentine. The Dodgers should win the NL West now, with Melky Cabrera (Idiot) being suspended probably until next season. The Pirates are faltering, they'll be lucky if they finish 4-7 on their 11 game home stand. Atlanta Braves are very quietly putting together an amazing regular season. Now can they avoid melting down at the end of this season and actually do something in the playoffs for once? At least Red Sox fans don't have to worry about them melting down at the end of the season.
Felix Hernandez is a stud. Not a stud is the second wild card playoff, in fact it's a farce. A one game playoff between the two wild card teams in each league? May the farce be with Major League Baseball.
Football: Jordan Wynn of the Utes won't finish the season. I love BYU, but I hope they get an upgrade in quarterback next season. Matt Barkley and USC should play in this season's National Championship Game. The Utah-USC game should be a battle.
Tony Romo still sucks, his stupid pass to Jason Witten directly led to Witten's injury. There was no upside for Romo to throw that pass. Even in a best case scenario, it's still is only the preseason. I'm dreading another terrible Cowboys season. The Cowboys need to do what the Redskins did and trade some picks to move up in the draft and get a real quarterback. Remember Tim Tebow has as many playoff wins as Romo.
Great win for the American Men's National Team in Mexico yesterday. They won for the first time in 75 years in Mexico. That's an extremely hostile place to play.
themusicaddict
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
(Refreshed and Improved December 19, 2020) Horshack Dies: Ron Palillo Dead at the Age of 63, Melancholy Songs
Hello,
blogger is having problems today, sorry for how funky things are today
Some sad news today. One of my favorite shows growing up was the hilarious "Welcome Back Kotter". The show is most well known because of Gabe Kaplan and a young John Travolta. This is one of John Travolta's first steps on his path to fame. (He also made "Saturday Night Fever" in this same time frame.) Travolta played Vinnie Barbarino. Anyway Ron Palillo played one of the most famous characters on the show, Horshack. He's one of the funniest characters in 70's television. Sadly Palillo died last night in Palm Springs at age 63. R.I.P. Ron.
themusicaddict
blogger is having problems today, sorry for how funky things are today
Some sad news today. One of my favorite shows growing up was the hilarious "Welcome Back Kotter". The show is most well known because of Gabe Kaplan and a young John Travolta. This is one of John Travolta's first steps on his path to fame. (He also made "Saturday Night Fever" in this same time frame.) Travolta played Vinnie Barbarino. Anyway Ron Palillo played one of the most famous characters on the show, Horshack. He's one of the funniest characters in 70's television. Sadly Palillo died last night in Palm Springs at age 63. R.I.P. Ron.
This show was both hilarious and the cast had great chemistry. Barbarino teaches Horshak how to get the ladies:
One of the best theme songs in television history, "Welcome Back Kotter":
Sadly Robert Hegyes, who played Juan Epstein, also previously died. According to Wikipedia, Hegyes died on January 26th, 2012. R.I.P. Robert.
A shout out to Kaplan, Travolta and the actor that played Washington. Keeping with the somber theme, here are some great and melancholy songs. Enjoy:
Two of the best songs from MTV's "Unplugged" show and two of the best melancholy songs ever. There seems to be some kind of issue, I can't add either of these songs to my blog at this time.
Rod Stewart's "Reason To Believe":
Both of these songs really benefit from the "Unplugged" format. Eric Clapton's "Layla":
A song that's a bit offbeat, but still a great song. This is Jem's "They":
Lady Antebellum's amazing "Need You Now":
Another amazing, but bittersweet, song. The Band Perry's "If I Die Young":
The Republic Tigers "Buildings and Mountains":
Two from Maroon 5, first "The Sweetest Goodbye":
Maroon 5 featuring some lame, completely unnecessary rapper "Payphone":
A side note. Youtube views of The Republic Tigers song and "Payphone" is the exact reason why companies put so much money into marketing. In my opinion "Buildings and Mountains" is a better song than "Payphone". But nobody would believe me if you compare the youtube video's number of views. "Buildings and Mountains" has 153,732 views while "Payphone" has over 49 million views.
The Band Perry's "If I Die Young": (Yes I realize I have this song twice. It's such a great song that I'm going to keep both.)
Bonnie Raitt's "I Can't Make You Love Me":
Skeeter Davis' "End of The World":
The Zac Brown Band's "Colder Weather":
Keane's "Only Somewhere We Know":
Sheryl Crow's "The First Cut Is The Deepest":
Tomorrow some songs that are a bit more current and upbeat. Thanks for indulging me.
themusicaddict
Sunday, August 12, 2012
USA! USA! USA! Mens and Womens Basketball Are Golden
Hello,
Just some thoughts and observations on the USA's victory over Spain in today's Olympic Gold Medal game. Spain is a tough, tough team. With the Gasol brothers, Serge Ibaka, the smooth shooting skill of Rudy Fernandez and the ball handling skills and passing ability of Juan Carlos Navarro. I still remember Fernandez killing the USA in the 2008 Olympics, he has to be one of the purest shooters I've ever seen. I also loved how Spain never gave up and fought fiercely the whole game. International refs have a reputation for being terrible, but I thought they called this game fairly. They still missed several calls, the calls just balanced each other.
I hope this doesn't sound jingoistic, but hearing the repeated chants of USA! USA! USA! always gives me goosebumps. I'm just so grateful that I live in such an amazing country.
And all you LeBron James haters, it's time for you to shut the hell up. Enough with ragging on the man. Who cares now what happened when he left Cleveland and the ridiculous welcoming ceremony that Miami had for James and Chris Bosh. James finally won his first NBA title and now added yet another international title this year. He was clearly the key player on both the Heat and the USA. His hammer dunk and humongous 3 pointer near the end of the game were the final push for the USA to win.
Even though they were both playing for the USA, I still had a hard time cheering for Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony.
Also congrats to the USA Women's Basketball Team. Apparantaly they don't like drama and excitement as much as their male counterparts. The American women put their foot on the throats of the French and destroyed them in the Gold Medal game yesterday. The USA women "only" won by 36 points, but it could have been much worse. The American women have now won 5 straight gold medals and 41 straight games in the Olympics.
Congrats to both and thanks for representing America with so much class and skill.
themusicaddict
Just some thoughts and observations on the USA's victory over Spain in today's Olympic Gold Medal game. Spain is a tough, tough team. With the Gasol brothers, Serge Ibaka, the smooth shooting skill of Rudy Fernandez and the ball handling skills and passing ability of Juan Carlos Navarro. I still remember Fernandez killing the USA in the 2008 Olympics, he has to be one of the purest shooters I've ever seen. I also loved how Spain never gave up and fought fiercely the whole game. International refs have a reputation for being terrible, but I thought they called this game fairly. They still missed several calls, the calls just balanced each other.
I hope this doesn't sound jingoistic, but hearing the repeated chants of USA! USA! USA! always gives me goosebumps. I'm just so grateful that I live in such an amazing country.
And all you LeBron James haters, it's time for you to shut the hell up. Enough with ragging on the man. Who cares now what happened when he left Cleveland and the ridiculous welcoming ceremony that Miami had for James and Chris Bosh. James finally won his first NBA title and now added yet another international title this year. He was clearly the key player on both the Heat and the USA. His hammer dunk and humongous 3 pointer near the end of the game were the final push for the USA to win.
Even though they were both playing for the USA, I still had a hard time cheering for Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony.
Also congrats to the USA Women's Basketball Team. Apparantaly they don't like drama and excitement as much as their male counterparts. The American women put their foot on the throats of the French and destroyed them in the Gold Medal game yesterday. The USA women "only" won by 36 points, but it could have been much worse. The American women have now won 5 straight gold medals and 41 straight games in the Olympics.
Congrats to both and thanks for representing America with so much class and skill.
themusicaddict
Saturday, August 11, 2012
(Finished August 17th, 2020) Songs That Mean Something To Me Right Now
Hello,
Updated August 17th, 2020. Yes, legalsounds.com was too good to be true. However all- at least I think so- of the songs I downloaded are still on my iTunes. Again if it seems too good to be true it quite likely is.
Recently I told you about a website, legalsounds.com, where one can get music at a really cheap price. Many times only 7c a song and less than $1.00 for full MP3 albums. They also give away many great songs for free. (My son is wondering when they are going to allow people to add more money to their account to buy new music. Is this too good to be true MP3 store too good to be true?) Since I don't listen to the radio a lot, I miss out on a lot of the hits of the day. However thanks to legalsounds.com I did discover this amazing song. The next three songs are fun songs, they've just brought fun into my life.
themusicaddict
Updated August 17th, 2020. Yes, legalsounds.com was too good to be true. However all- at least I think so- of the songs I downloaded are still on my iTunes. Again if it seems too good to be true it quite likely is.
Recently I told you about a website, legalsounds.com, where one can get music at a really cheap price. Many times only 7c a song and less than $1.00 for full MP3 albums. They also give away many great songs for free. (My son is wondering when they are going to allow people to add more money to their account to buy new music. Is this too good to be true MP3 store too good to be true?) Since I don't listen to the radio a lot, I miss out on a lot of the hits of the day. However thanks to legalsounds.com I did discover this amazing song. The next three songs are fun songs, they've just brought fun into my life.
I have to admit over 8 years later I have completely forgot about this song.
1) Havana Brown (featuring Pitbull) "We Run The Night":
1) Havana Brown (featuring Pitbull) "We Run The Night":
Like the above song, just a great dance song. 2) Usher's "DJ Got Us Feeling In Love Again":
Another song I found and got free because of legalsounds.com.
3) Cher Lloyd (featuring Astro) "Want U Back":
3) Cher Lloyd (featuring Astro) "Want U Back":
I was driving to work the other day and "When Doves Cry" came on Rewind 100.7. That song brought me back to when I was 16 years old and driving home from work. At the time I was driving a very ugly green truck. I was glad to have a vehicle, but the stereo didn't work very well. Funny, I look back now as those were good times, that's because they were good times. In 2012 this video in this form wasn't available on YouTube. That was before Prince's death. Once Prince died his videos became available on YouTube and us music bloggers are so grateful. Prince is a genius and this songs is one of his biggest moments of genius 4) "When Doves Cry":
My dating life has been heading in the right direction and it seems there's possibilities with some ladies. These four songs have meant something to me of late as a kiss may be in my near future. I had some of these songs recently on my blog, however they are very much in line with my theme today.
5) Gloriana "(Kissed You) Good Night":
6) Lady Antebellum's "Just A Kiss":
7) Thompson's Square "Are You Going To Kiss Me Or Not":
"Just say "yes". Finally in the love category, this is 8) Taylor Swift's "Love Story":
Songs that are great, rocking my world or energizing my workouts.
I love 9) Walk The Moon's "I Can Lift A Car":
I love 9) Walk The Moon's "I Can Lift A Car":
One of the best openings of any song ever, Van Halen's 10) "Why Can't This Be Love":
11) Rooney's "Sorry Sorry":
12) The Fratelli's "Creepin' Up The Backstairs":
Another great song from the 80's. This is 13) Eddie Money's "Take Me Home Tonight". I love Roni Spector's vocals and the sax on this version:
14) Rod Stewart's "Maggie May":
15) The Proclaimers "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)":
Finally songs that cause an emotion or make me think: 16) Crosby, Stills and Nash's "Southern Cross":
John Mayer (who I absolutely loathe, but this is a great song) 17) "Your Body Is A Wonderland":
18) U2's "One": (I refrained from putting several U2 songs in this category.)
19) James Blunt's amazing "Goodbye My Lover":
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