Max Contract For Dwight Howard? Are You Kidding Me?

Hello,

I so enjoyed watching the Thunder eviscerate the Lakers last night. Yes, I realize that the Lakers make a late run and that Kobe Bryant was tremendous. But don't forget the Thunder scored the last 12 points of the game. It's almost like they were playing with the Lakers. It  makes me laugh how much the TNT announcers hype up the Lakers, it's like their paychecks are tied to the Lakers making the playoffs. Did they forget this Lakers team is 9th place in the Western Conference and 2.5 games out of the playoffs? They'll be lucky to make the playoffs at all. Even if they do they'll be quickly dismissed.

Leave it to the always refreshing and candid Charles Barkley to keep it real. He says what few national pundits dare to say, this season's Lakers team is a mess. He's not trying to blow smoke up anyone's butt nor is he delusional about the quality of the Lakers. But he's the lone man in the wilderness when it comes to the Lakers. Can we please stop talking about the Lakers when they fail to make the playoffs? Please? 

Kobe Bryant is an all-time talent, however Bryant is essentially a one man team. I'll always give much respect to Bryant. He's pretty much everything that Dwight Howard isn't. If the Lakers didn't have Bryant they'd be the overpaid, underachieving West Coast Bobcats. Does anyone else on that roster scare you, no me either. The only people Ron Arrest scares anymore is Lakers fan when he rises up to shoot. 

With much hype, see above cover, Howard came over in a trade from the Orlando Magic. With the Lakers acquiring him and Nash, some people were starting to predict this Lakers team would win the NBA title. However like most things where hype is involved, those crazy expectations were way off. Remember people only use hype when they are trying to hide how bad something is. Hype is the modern day replacement for smoke and mirrors.

Howard continues to be a disappointment as the Lakers continue to talk signing him to a max contract. Really? I'm sorry I wouldn't want Howard anywhere near my team. Let's review his performance from last night, he played 37 minutes. I really want to make a sarcastic comment about his "playing", but I'm trying to be nice. Howard made 1 of 7 shots, grabbed 16 rebounds and exploded for 6 points. (Hey but Howard did make 4 of his 8 free throw attempts!) It reminds me of the old joke people make about mediocre players. "You can't stop him, you can only hope to contain him." bada bing Besides his usual anemic offensive performance, Howard also played his usual anemic and lackluster defense. He was caught out of position several times leading to many easy Thunder baskets. I'm not even going to mention all the drama he brings and how injury prone he is. LA do you really still want to sign this imposter to a max contract?

And Howard is already talking about being part of the 2016 USA Men's Olympic Team. Really? If he gets an invite it would only be due to courtesy invite.

I agree that Howard is an amazing rebounder and is dominant in that category. However at best he's only mediocre in the rest of his game. People keep on thinking he's going to return to his dominant form of a couple of years ago, but he isn't. Again he's a great rebounder. But great rebounding alone should never earn someone a max contract. #stopthehype

themusicaddict

Chicago Cubs 2013: Will The Cubbies Ever Win?

Hello,

This is the third of five previews of my favorite MLB teams for the 2013 season. I've previously previewed the Braves and the Red Sox. Upcoming will be the Dodgers and the Pirates.

The great Frank Sinatra:



Whenever one thinks about the Cubs, one has to acknowledge their long history of futility. Because of their horrendous history I often wonder if this team will ever win another World Series? Heck will they ever be relevant? It seems that everything they've tried has failed. Even win they spent a lot of money, they still couldn't even get to the World Series. That spending spree has left them with the burdensome contract of Alfonso Soriano.

Other questions: What will be the improvements in the second year of Theo Epstein, Jed Hoyer and Dale Sveum? Where will the offense come from?

There's already a couple of injury concerns for the Cubs this season. It looks like Matt Garza is going to miss about the first month of the season, hopefully he'll be back in late April. Also the erratic Starlin Castro will miss about the next 4 days to rest a minor injury. Is this a sign for how this season is going to be for the Cubs?

Although Garza's injury is a bit of good news for Jeff Smardzija, Smardzija will be the Cubs opening day pitcher.

Sticking with the pitching theme, let's hope the Cubs can dump, um trade alleged closer Carlos Marmol to someone else, anyone else. I realize he rebounded the second half of last season to become a decent closer. However he's just failed too many times as a closer. There was a period of time where it seemed like he blew nearly every save he was called to make. Both the Cubs and Marmol need a fresh start and neither will get that if they stick together.

Hopefully the Cubs can trade Marmol for another starter or some offense. Hopefully the Cubs already have Marmol's replacement set. They signed Japan's Kyuji Fujikawa to a two year contract this past offseason. He earned 220 saves in Japan, hopefully he'll be a s big step up from Marmol. Although players from Japan have been more miss than hit. I still remember how hot Kosuke Fukudome started out. I even bought a Fukudome jersey. Sadly he turned into a bad signing. Let's hope Fujikawa is more Yu Darvish than Daisuke Matsuzaka!

Although I realize Soriano probably isn't going anywhere, who'd want his relatively little production for such a big cost? I'd still love to see him find a new home. I was excited when Soriano originally signed his contract all those years ago. However he has turned out to be a free agency disappointment. His $19 million contract looks so out of place within the rest of the Cubs salary structure. Marmol is making $10 million this season. I also hope the 7 year, $60 million contract Castro signed in the offseason pays off.

ESPN MLB expert Keith Law says that the Cubs future looks better than expected as the moves of Epstein and Hoyer are slowly working. Law also says Jorge Soler could be one of this season's break out stars. Although I wasn't able to find much information about the 6-4, 215, 21 year old Cuban export. Hopefully he and Soriono can help power what was an anemic offense last season. It would also be nice if Castro can start living up to his highly paid potential.

The Cubs start off the regular season by playing 6 games on the road. Three weeks from this Monday they'll be in Pittsburgh to play the also hopefully improving Pirates. Then their next series is against another one of my favorite teams, the Braves. They play 3 games against the Braves. Following that they return home for a 10 game home stand. They first play 3 games against Milwaukee and then 4 games against the did they really win the World Series again San Francisco Giants? Chicago closes out their 10 game home stand by having their first inter league match up of the season, they'll play the Rangers.

I predict another mediocre season for the Cubs, but I'm hoping they they'll continue to make progress. I hope that Garza and Castro will come back fully healthy and that Fujikawa will become one of the games best closers. I also hope Castro can start to live up to his potential and that Soler will actually have a break out season. But most of all I just want to see the Cubs actually start moving forward even if it's two steps forward, one step back.

themusicaddict

themusicaddict reviews March 5th's 2013 New Music

Hello,

Today's drive music Five Iron Frenzy's live CD, "Proof That The Youth Are Revolting"

As with each Tuesday, there's a bunch of new music released. Sadly this week's new releases aren't that impressive although some big names are among the acts. As always thanks to Spotify for the ability to listen to these new CDs and feel like a real music critic for a few moments.

Here are this week's big releases and a quick thought, going from worst to best.

1) Son Volt's "Honky Tonk". This CD is perfectly named, it features a lot of bad classic sounding country music. I could only listen to two or three songs before I couldn't tolerate it anymore. Grade: F-

2) How To Destroy Angels' "Welcome Oblivion". I'm sure the only reason this CD was made is because Nine Inch Nails maestro Trent Reznor is attached. The only reason Reznor is attached is because it's his wife that's the band's female singer. This CD is a collection of muted classic Nine Inch Nail like music, it wears out it's welcome quickly. Grade: F

3) They Might Be Giants "Nanobots". This is another CD that wears out it's welcome quickly, although the song "Nanobots" itself is decent. The wait for another They Might Be Giants CD as good as "Flood" continues on. Grade: D-

4) Boz Scaggs "Memphis":  One of the music industries most unappreciated vocalists sings some great songs that have just a slight touch of blues. I'm not sure if these are all covers, but the songs do have a lived in feeling.  I really like Scaggs gravelly take on "Rainy Night In Georgia". Grade: C+     

"Rainy Night In Georgia" is one of the songs in the following video:

                                          

5) Luke Bryan's "Spring Break.. Here To Party" This CD does have a couple of decent songs on here, especially "Suntan City". Also the song "Buzzkill" hits just a tad bit close to home. With pretty much the same theme throughout the CD, "Spring Break" panders too much to the college and Spring Break crowd. Grade" C

"Suntan City":



None of those first 5 CDs are a must add to your collection.

6) Jimi Hendrix's "People, Hell and Angels". Again at least a couple of these songs aren't new by any stretch of the imagination and I'm guessing all of them have been released in some form. That being said there are some great songs on here and this certainly won't hurt your music collection. Grade B-.

"Bleeding Heart":



Bonus: I thought this was kind of cool. This is Depeche Mode live singing "Behind The Wheel" and their very Depeche Mode take on "Route 66":



themusicaddict

Things I Won't Be Writing About Today March 4th, 2013 (Updated March 5th, 2013)

Hello,

I'm currently listening to Jimi Hendrix's "People, Hell and Angels" on Spotify. It's a collection of all new studio recordings, although I'm not sure how "new" some of the songs are. It's probably not for everyone, but check it out if you like real rock music.

Things I won't be writing about today.

TV:

- I won't be writing about one of the dumbest ideas to ever appear on TV. "The Red Widow" made it's premiere last night, um no I didn't watch it. Just by it's title alone and the previews I've seen of it I knew it would be a stink bomb. And to no one's surprise the show was a ratings dud in it's premiere. From James Hibberd article at ew.com:

The crime family drama soap, which scored less than a 50 out of 100 among TV reviewers on Metacritic, launched to 6.8 million viewers and a 1.4 rating among adults 18-49. That’s 36 percent lower than the debut of ABC’s short-lived GCB in this slot last year. This ties Zero Hour(which was cancelled last week) as ABC’s lowest-rated scripted premiere ever, though the network points out that among total viewers Red Widow improved its time slot.

I do love the corporate America spin going on at the end of this paragraph that "Red Widow" improved it's time slot. That means the show that was previously in that time slot was even less liked than "Red Widow". I predict this show will be cancelled soon, but maybe not as fast as "Zero Hour". It appears "Zero Hour" was self-fulfilling prophecy.

The only show title I can think of with a worse concept and title than "The Red Widow" is "The Mob Doctor". No, I didn't waste any of my time watching that show either. Some ideas are just so stupid, that it's evident there's nothing of value there.  It came as no surprise that piece of crap quickly was cancelled. Actually I'm surpised that it wasn't cancelled quicker than it was.

- Then who are the people behind the new celebrity diving show, "Splash". Exactly what demographic are they going for with that? Will that show last one or two episodes?

- "The Following" has been a decent mid season replacement. However for the most part a mid-season replacement seems to mean the networks have given up. However Fox clearly didn't give up with "The Following". It features two premiere stars in Kevin Bacon and James Purefoy. Purefoy plays serial killer Dr. Joe Carroll with way too much skill and charisma. He's completely believable as a charismatic serial killer. Bacon plays Ryan Hardy well also, although I do get tired of him getting out smarted so often.

It's so unbelievable how Carroll continues to outsmart the FBI, time and time again. Really with all the resources the FBI has, they can't figure out how to at least slow down Carroll's cult? When Hardy was firing shots at the helicopter I was sort of hoping it would blow up. I realize that's not very believable either, but it can't be any less believable than anything else that goes on on this show. I understand "The Following" has 8 more episodes so they have to stretch out the action as much as possible. I also realize the final showdown between Hardy and Carroll can't occur until the season finale.

The show has already been approved for a second season, what's going to happen in it's second season? "The Following" is coming close to taking after "The Killing", where they had to fill too many hours of show with boring storytelling. "The Killing's" first season had 13 episodes when there should have only been 8-10. That seems to be what's happening with "The Following" as well. I know that Fox will never pass up the opportunity to reducing it to 12 episodes. Corporate America always goes for profits over artistic expression.

Also the worst thing about watching any show on Fox is the relentless amount of commercials. Any Fox show you need to watch on a DVR. Each hour of "The Following" probably contains less than 40 minutes of actual show.

- After taking a break, I've resumed watching "Nashville", so I'm a few weeks behind. This show is definitely themusicaddict approved.  If you love music you really need to watch this show, if for no other reason than the excellent music itself. The show alone is also very good. There's only one thing holding back "Nashville" and that's the absolutely boring storyline about Teddy running for mayor. Yawn! Since I'm a bit behind I don't know if Teddy is voted mayor, although I'm sure he'll be.  But either way I have a feeling the political storyline will be a continuing theme through at least this season.

- "The Walking Dead" is one of only a few shows I actually watch when it originally shows. Although of course I watch it on my DVR to skip through the commercials. "The Walking Dead" continues to be a good show, except for the whole Governor storyline. My has that become boring, I'm so over the Governor. Why couldn't have Andrea killed him when she had the chance? At ew.com their show recapper brought up the fact that all of Season 4 of "The Walking Dead" could be the Governor vs Rick and friends. I couldn't think of a more boring story idea, especially over a full season. That  story line already has gone on too long!

I did like last night's episode, "Clear". I specifically liked that there were only 5 characters in the whole episode and that it was completely Governor free. I enjoyed the fact that Rick, Carl and Michonne had a bigger part to play than they usually do. Although I don't ever remember thinking, geez I wonder what happened to Morgan. It's good, I guess, to see what happened to him. Although with the battle looming with the Governor, I'm not sure why Rick et. al didn't pick up the hitchhiker. It seems like they need as many people as possible, especially after sending Tyrese and his group away. Tyrese was one of my favorite characters in the graphic novels.

Also why is AMC hyping up showing episodes of "The Walking Dead" in black and white? I getthat AMC wants people to watch reruns, however this seems like a lazy way to have people do so. I'm not sure what can be gained from watching "The Walking Dead" in black and white.

- I watched the premiere of "Golden Boy", it seems like it will be an okay show. Although after one episode it doesn't seem like it breaks a lot of new ground. There's only so many cases that can be solved.

- I was a little disappointed that "The Americans" didn't dig a little more into the story line involving the power struggle behind the scenes following the attempt on President Reagan's life. I thought that would be very interesting if the show had gone into that a bit more. I realize that's not what "The Americans" is about, but that seem to be a very rich bit of story telling gold.

- "The Good Wife" remains good as always. It retains it's great sense-of-humor. I especially love the quirky judges the show features. This past Sunday's episode, "Going For The Gold" featured the great Alan Cumming as Eli Gold. Gold has always been one of this shows best characters. I'm glad Gold is back as Peter Florrick's campaign advisor, I was tired of the boy wonder.  I also love the flirting/ legal machinations going on between Elsbeth Tascioni and Josh, especially his "pillowy lips" compliment. And any show that has the lovely Amanda Peet as a guest star is alright in my book. Her character, Captain Laura Hellenger, will clearly be hooking up with Will Gardner very soon.

The whole political storyline makes much more sense in "The Good Wife" than it does in "Nashville".

Movies:

-I saw "Hansel and Gretel Witch Hunters" a couple of weeks ago, it was aight.

- I don't know if "Olympus Has Fallen" will be a good movie or not. However I can see what the pitch probabaly was for this movie,  "It's 'Die Hard' in the White House". I think people need to stop making "Die Hard" movies including Bruce Willis. He's great in the original "Die Hard", but the series has gone downhill since then. The reviews were so bad for the most recent "Die Hard" I didn't even see it. Let's not forgot that one of the things that made the original "Die Hard" so good was Alan Rickman's slithering villain. Truly one of the greatest villain's in modern movie history.

Sports:

- I've been very lukewarm about the Jazz the last season. It has been hard to get behind them as instead of building for the future, they're trying to win now. And that could be a fine strategy if this season's Jazz team had a legitimate chance of causing havoc in the playoffs. Three of the Jazz's starters didn't even score in this game! But let's be honest, they don't. Please Coach Corbin let Derrick Favors and Enes Kanter play a lot of minutes now so they can be much better when hopefully the games mean much more.

Last night's game against the Bucks made me realize again why I'm so lukewarm about this Jazz team. The Jazz had a good chance of stealing a win on the road. Paul Milsap hit one of two free throws to give the Jazz a 3 point lead, there was about 16 seconds on the clock. One of the things that have always driven me crazy about the Jazz is getting killed by the three pointer, especially since the Jazz aren't so good at shooting it themselves.

In my opinion, you've got to foul anyone that potentially can be a three point shooter. Just as long as you don't foul him in the process of a three point shot. But that's better than giving them the kind of shot Brandon Jennings got off last night. Of course he made the shot and the game was tied. The Jazz still had 8 seconds left and predictably weren't able to score again. Then in overtime the Jazz gave up two big three point shots to J.J. Redick. Milwaukee went on to win 109-108.

- On Sunday night The Miami Heat surged to their 14th straight victory, they knocked off the pretender Knicks in New York. Again no one should build a team around either Dwight Howard or Carmelo Anthony.  This season I wonder why even have the playoffs at all with Miami playing so well. Let's just go to a best-of-15 NBA Finals between the Heat and Thunder.

Monday night the Heat won their 15th straight game, they defeated the Timberwolves in what appears to be a very contentious game. The Heat are getting ready to defend their title.

- I had to laugh about the Knicks game last night, especially the not so graceful fall by Carmelo Anthony. He looked like a middle age man/ weekend warrior play at the rec center. On that stumble he didn't look like a professional athlete at all.

When Anthony tripped himself, the Knicks were down by 22 points. But what's even funnier is that the Knicks outscored the Cavaliers 72-45 AFTER Anthony exited the game. How is it that the Knicks played so much better once their "superstar" left the game? Later Anthony said that the injury was "not too serious at all". Well of course it isn't, it's only Carmelo Anthony, one of the most overrated players in the NBA.

Tonight I plan on watching an episode of "Nashville" along with at least a bit of the Thunder crushing the Lakers. Serge Ibaka you better watch out, Kobe Bryant won't put up with your shenanigans.

- But the best basketball tournament is coming here very quickly, March Madness. That's always been the much more exciting basketball tournament for me. (Also this year is an added bonus for me as I may be able to actually volunteer for the part that's in Salt Lake City.) There are so many more teams and so many more variables. Also the whole one and done is so much more exciting. Finally the fact that the whole thing is done in three weeks is excellent, the NBA playoffs grinds on for far too long. It's very rare that a surprise team plays in the NBA Finals. I can't even think of the last team that fit that criteria. However many years there are at least multiple teams that at least reach the Sweet 16, Butler made the NCAA Finals two years in a row.

- For March Madness it looks like there will be no teams from Utah to make the tournament this year. For BYU to make it they'd probably have to win the WCC tournament, which is highly unlikely. They would have to beat the current #1 team in the NCAA in Gonzaga, which they've lost to twice already this season. But any tournament is much more interesting if there's a team I can get behind. This season I'll be cheering for the Tar Heels and against the Duke White Devils as always. I will also be cheering for Gonzaga. John Stockton was the first Gonzaga player that made a name for the Bulldogs. Now his son plays for Gonzaga.

I'll be cheering for North Carolina this Saturday as they welcome Duke to the Dean Dome. I'm hoping that the White Devils don't get as many calls as they did at home against Miami.

- I'm excited for the World Baseball Classic, it's currently going on. Of course I'll be cheering for the American team, although I expect Japan to win the whole thing. I do wonder how good Cuba could be if the players that have defected from that country were able to play.

themusicaddict

Boston Red Sox 2013: Let The Dark Clouds Dissapate

Hello,

FYI: < > indicates that I'm being sarcastic

Before I get to my Red Sox preview I just want to quickly comment on the #3 Duke- #5 Miami game at Cameron Indoor Stadium yesterday. I watched the second half and I was again reminded why I hate the Duke White Devils so much. For some reason every time I watch one of their games I hear lurp, lurp, lurp. I hate all the ungainly white guys Duke seems to get year after year after year. For instance, all of the lurpy Plumlee brothers. I also hate how they always get the benefit of the doubt in foul calls, about 2/3rds of the foul calls went against for Duke in the second half.

Ryan Kelly did have a great game for the Dukies, but like most Duke players he's going to have a very brief NBA career. Then what the hell was Coach K talking about when he said:

"I mean, me saying 'spectacular' or whatever doesn't do his performance justice," Krzyzewski said. "One for the ages. Probably as good a performance as any player has had -- a Duke player has had -- in Cameron."

I look forward to an early Duke flameout in the NCAA tournament and I'm glad Kelly is back. Now when Duke loses, and they will, they have no excuses. Without Kelly there was no way Duke would have won that game. Plumlee's poor long distance court pass and clanking free throws exposed how lame he is.

This is the second in what hopefully will be a 5 part series previewing each one of the five main MLB teams that I follow. Really I'm not trying to go with a weather theme for these MLB preview blogs. In spite of predicting sunny days ahead for the Braves and that the dark clouds will dissipate for the Red Sox. And as always to give due where it belongs, I get a lot of this information from ESPN Boston. That's especially when it comes to any of the previews. The review portion is mostly from my personal frustration with the Red Sox having their worse season in 36 years.

Before I get to the Red Sox preview, I'm going to review last season a bit. Thankfully the 1 year fiasco of Bobby Valentine managing experiment was mercifully ended. If the Red Sox only got rid of him alone, things already would be so much better for the Red Sox. However things got even better when they were able to dump all that salary in their big trade with the Dodgers mid-season. The further and further away we get from the trade, it becomes clearer how the Red Sox were the big winner in that trade. (Although I do wonder as also a Dodgers fan if Carl Crawford will ever play a game with the Dodgers? Or will he be another big acquisition like Andrew Bynum, but never plays a game for that team?)

And in further good news the Red Sox no longer have to pay $10 million to Daisuke Matsuzaka for being an injury prone ineffective pitcher. < And John Lackey will be coming back fully healthy and ready to dominate. >

Now moving forward this time the Red Sox were much smarter in getting a new manager. (Jerry Jones you could learn a lot about hiring a head coach from the Red Sox. They hired Terry Francona who led the Red Sox to two World Series titles, after a long stretch without a title. Sound familiar? Then when they hired a manager that simply didn't work, they dumped him. Next they went with a known quantity that had actually been a manager elsewhere. Read no Wade Phillips or Jason Garrett fiascos.) Instead of taking a chance on a prickly, temperamental manager they went with the known quantity, John Farrell. Farrell was a long time Red Sox pitching coach from 2007-2010, including being with the team when they won their second World Series title in 4 years.

Another known quantity is David Ortiz, he's already battling a bit of an injury bug. He may not start the season on time. But the injury bug is to be expected with Ortiz. We know he'll miss several games each season. However that will be okay as long as he remains a productive bat in the lineup. Although it's probably too much to ask for him to become the amazingly clutch hitter he was for the 2004 Red Sox. I also expect hard nosed play to continue to come from Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury.

One of the unknown quanities is their starting pitching staff. What will they get from Clay Buchholz, Jon Lester, Lackey, Ryan Dempster and any other pitcher who starts for the Red Sox this season?

Also how will all the new players adjust to the Red Sox culture and the demanding fans of Boston? I don't know how good signing Shane Victorino to a 3 year-$39 million contract was. That seems like a steep price to pay for a player who had so many career lows last year. Especially in light of his 0-11 preseason start, although anything that ever happens in the preseason is very suspect. Victorino will be playing for the USA in this year's World Baseball Classic.

Other new player questions. How will former Cubby/ Ranger Ryan Dempster pitch this season? At this point he's projected to be their third starter. Also the Red Sox went out and got proven closer Joel Hanrahan. Hanrahan was a very effective closer for the Pirates, he also was an All-Star. Hopefully he'll work out better than the last big closing stud reliever they signed.

The Red Sox signed Mike Napoli from the Rangers with a 3 year, $39 million dollar deal. However once it was discovered that he has a hip condition that was quickly replaced by a one year- $5 million dollar incentive laden contract. Also the Red Sox are giving Stephen Drew a one year audition to see what he can do.

Meanwhile one of the main players the Red Sox received in their big trade with the Dodgers was pitcher Rubby DeLa Rosa. Although he has looked good this spring, it looks like he'll start the season in the minor leagues.

The Red Sox play in the extremely tough AL East, I doubt that they'll make the playoffs this year. But hopefully they can start building to making the playoffs in the next year or two. I hope that Farrell is the manager for them that he appears he can be, and that he can eventually lead them to the 2007 glory that he was part of.

We'll find out a lot about the Red Sox quickly as they open the season playing 13 straight games against AL East opponents. There isn't a day off when you play an AL East team, it's definitely the strongest of the the 6 MLB divisions.

The Red Sox start off with a three game series in the Bronx against the Yankees. Then right after that they play a three game series against the Blue Jays. On April 8th they return home and play seven games against the Orioles and Rays. The Red Sox don't play a game out of their division until April 16th at Cleveland.

themusicaddict

themusicaddict's Random Great Spring Like Songs

Hello,

Here in lovely Salt Lake City, after a very snowy winter, it finally feels like Spring is in the air. So here are some songs that have that early Spring feeling.

I know I had this video in my last blog, but I'm putting it in this blog too. After all this blog is random great Spring songs :)



Sophie B. Hawkins "Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover":



Okay Nu Shooz's "I Can't Wait" feels more like a Summer song, but since it's 40 degrees in the Salt Lake Valley it's close enough:



From 2007, Led Zeppelin's "Nobody's Fault But Mine":



Hell or Highwater's "Come Alive":



As Prince continues to not allow his music on youtube, I have to go with usually less than satisfying replacements. This is Dead or Alive's version of "Pop Life":



Yes, it seems to be the same Dead or Alive that sang a few of the many classic 80's songs, this is "Baby Come Back To Me" (extended version):



Dead or Alive's lead singer, Pete Burns, has had plastic surgeon. And I don't want to say the work was terrible, but I couldn't figure out why a picture of Donatella Versace was next to Dead or Alive videos. That is until I realized it wasn't Versace, but her now doppelganger Pete Burns. Bizarre.

Another Dead or Alive classic "In Too Deep":



The Dazz Band's "Let It Whip":



I was listening to some classic David Bowie on Spotify today, in honor of that this is Bowie's "Suffragette City":



The Mighty Mighty Bosstones "Someday I Suppose" (Live):



This really feels like a Spring song, The Pharmacy's "Baby Be":



themusicaddict

2013 Atlanta Braves Preview: Sunny Days Ahead

Hello,

I'm so glad MLB's Spring Training is going on now. This is refreshing after what honestly has been a depressing NBA season. (Dwight Howard is talking about playing in the 2016 Olympics. Please, he won't even be considered for those Olympics as his athleticism continues to deteriorate. And as many predicted it looks like Andrew Bynum won't be playing any games at all this season for the 76ers. It's so appropriate those two deadbeats were traded for each other. I predict there's a very good chance both Howard and Bynum will be malcontents on different teams next season. I'm also glad to see that Andre Igoduala is flourishing in Denver. He's the forgotten part, and ironically the best player from that trade.) Miami is going to win the NBA title this season anyway.

This should be the first of what I hope will be previews for each one of the 5 MLB teams I follow. I expect the Braves to be better than last season after all the changes that have been made. I don't think many people will think of this song when they think of this season's Braves:

Brook Benton's "A Rainy Night In Georgia":



Some quick questions and answers. First, what will the Braves do to fill the sizable hole that Chipper Jones has left behind? Also Bourn is gone, no not Jason Bourne, but their leadoff hitter Michael Bourn. Bourn will be a Cleveland Indian this season, he'll be playing for their new manager Terry Francona. He signed a 4 year- $48 million contract just a couple of weeks ago. Obviously the Braves felt confident enough in their other players to let Bourn go.

Also how will the Upton brothers work together and with the rest of their teammates this season? I have a feeling there's going to be no middle ground with the Uptons. They'll either be a killer duo as they pace the Braves to the playoffs. Either that or they'll be a killer duo to the Braves and severely hinder their playoff chances. As a Braves fan I'm going to be optimistic.

I suggest one thing that Braves fans don't have to worry about is the relief pitching. After two years of dominance 24 year old Craig Kimbrel returns for another season. He practiced with his Braves teammates and then left for WBC prep on February 28th. After playing with the USA team in the WBC, he'll rejoin the Braves. (I'm always glad when players want to represent their country, too many don't want to.) Solid middle reliever Jonny Venters will also be returning for the Braves. Then in the offseason 6'5' Jordan Walden was dealt to the Braves from the Angels. With Kimbrel and Venters around, Walden could get spot duty and rebuild his confidence.

Two seasons ago the Braves chased the Phillies all season, but never could catch them. They were in prime position to make the playoffs when they completely choked and just barely missed out on the playoffs. Last season they chased the Nationals all season, never able to catch them. Although they did qualify for the playoffs. Sadly they lost in the one game wild card playoff, continuing their history of choking in the playoffs. The fact they've qualified for so many playoffs, but yet have only won one World Series is hard to believe. (I'd wonder if Jerry Jones was making their personnel moves, but then I realized the Cowboys don't even make the playoffs.)

The Braves start their season exactly one month from today and that isn't an April Fool's Day joke. They play their first 6 games at home, starting with one of their NL East nemeses the Phillies. Atlanta then play 3 games against the woeful Cubs. Their first road game is April 8th against the completely retooled Miami Marlins.

Again I'm going to be optimistic, I'm expecting the Braves to make the playoffs this year. I also expect them to battle for the NL East all season, hopefully they can win the division title. I'm also hopeful they can break through and have tremendous success in the playoffs. I'd say that this season they should at least get to the NLCS.

themusicaddict