Sunday Reflections

Hey folks, its time for that Sunday Reflections that’s sweeping the nation.

First, here’s some Talking Heads to listen to while reading my post.



I was blasting them all weekend, I’ll get to that later. Actually, lets get to that now because it starts my Thanksgiving weekend.

-Usually, when I take road trips, I put on my Mars Volta and At the Drive In music and that’s it. However, even though they’re my favorite band, me like the rest of us need to diversify our game. So, I got CDs from the Talking Heads, Thievery Corporation, Massive Attack and some other music.

It was good to listen to some different music.

-House is a tremendous show. The great part of Thanksgiving weekend and the Christmas holiday is that you get some amazing TV marathons on. I saw parts of the Rocky marathon on TNT, CSI and CSI: NY on Spike, Dirty Jobs on the Discovery Channel, True Life on MTV and one or two others that I’m forgetting. I remember this is how I got hooked on Man vs. Wild last season and made me passionate about that show.

The one that got me hooked the most this year was House on USA.

People have been talking about how great a show House is for years but I never got into it for some reason. I think its because if I don’t watch a show from the beginning, I can’t get hooked on it and even stayed up till 2 a.m. on Thursday night to watch some episodes. This is why I’ve been hesitant to watch Lost and 24. I’ve tried to watch those shows in the past year but I don’t know the backstories well enough to appreciate the new episodes.

So anyway, I watched about five House episodes and love it. They even showed the episode of why House’s leg is messed up. Great episode BTW. Now, I have to get the DVD’s of the early seasons and watch the new ones. However, if I’m home now, I’m going to make a point to watch that show. Plus, when this is the theme song, that’s worth a view:



-Love and Basketball should be required viewing for anyone. How I keep forgetting to include Sanaa Latham from my Top-five list is insulting to her.


-Played Wii for the first time with my niece and nephews. That game system was awesome. We played tennis, boxing, baseball, bowling and golf. Those games were fun. I almost threw my shoulder out boxing and playing tennis but it was worth it.

-While kicking it with the fam, the kids were playing some rap music from artists such as Gucci Mane, Lil Wayne and some other artists. Jesus Christmas, the profanity was rididulous. Here’s the sad part, the kids know that I’m not the biggest rap fan, so they tried to find some music that I would like.

They played some Taylor Swift.

Look, I’m not the biggest Taylor Swift fan but I do think some of her music is OK. I’m not blasting it in my car but if its on the radio, I’m not offended.

But after thinking about it, I found it cool that my family likes Lil Wayne and Taylor Swift.

Taylor has done an excellent job of crossing over from country music, which is usually a limited demographic, and crossed over to the young people. Props to Taylor for that!

-Why is gas so cheap right now? This will only encourage people to use gas guzzler cars and not practice conserving energy. I thought after Hurricane Ike and the struggles people had with paying for high priced gas, things would get better.

However, now that gas prices are low again, we will go back to our normal ways. Lame.

-Had some excellent pie this weekend which brings me to something that I was thinking about last week but forgot to mention here..

I was speaking with somebody last week about weddings and I was told that the groom gets his own cake. I was down with this because I like my own stuff and I can make it whatever I want.

I’ve always said that I don’t really care about my future wedding accept for the food and this qualifies.

However, I was told that I would have to share this cake with others and that I’m not down with. Its my cake. I’ll share it with maybe the wifey but besides that, not cool.

After learning about this, I wondered if I could make modifications to the cake so I asked the closest groom I could find, the Peoples’ Champion and this is how the conversation went down:

Me: “Peoples’ Champion, can I have my own cake at my wedding?”
Peoples’ Champion: “Yes, but you have to share it.”
Me: “That’s not cool. Can I have a wedding pie?”
Peoples’ Champion: “Sure, I guess.”
Me: “Cool, can I have a wedding pie shaped as a football or another ball?”
Peoples’ Champion: “Probably not.”

I’m glad that got solved. Wedding pie in the shape of a baseball it is. I will make it happen.

-Good to see Tennessee hire Lane Kiffin. As a Vanderbilt fan, he doesn’t scare me in the least bit. If the Vols hired Butch Davis or Brian Kelly from Cincinnati, I would have been concerned. Kiffin will either be really good or below average, I have no clue and if you speak to a UT fan who has an idea, he or she is not telling the truth to you.

-I purchased a French/English dictionary and a language CD. I’ll probably start my lessons in earnest in two weeks. I was not feeding you bull crap when I told you that I was going to learn French. It’s happening.

I already know the second thing that I want to learn in my continual cultural growth. The clue is that it will involve my fingers. That is all.

-I was in Kroger last week and I could have sworn that I was being checked out by an attractive female. I had no clue how to approach her. Your advice is encouraged.

-How is Oklahoma ahead of Texas in the BCS? Furthermore, how can anyone who votes in a poll have voted for the Sooners ahead of the Longhorns? That crap is ridiculous!

There are probably one or two more things that I need to touch on but haven’t gotten to. Here’s the plan for this week. BTW, the Crushes will be decided a day before instead of for the entire week, this allows me for more flexibility which is an essential part of any good woman. In her personality you perverted readers out there!

Monday: Commentary of annoying fans of TV shows that I don’t like. I’m looking right at you fans of Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Friday Night Lights and The Wire. The crush will be someone who plays a clothing designer on the TV show that she currently stars in.

Tuesday: NFL Review

Wednesday: Do I have baby fever?

Thursday: Wildcard

Friday: MMA Review

Saturday: Wildcard again

Sunday: Reflections

Until then, have a good week.

MMA Review

What’s going on everyone. Sorry for not having the MMA Review up yesterday, this weekend has been a tough time for me to post because I’m spending time with the family like someone normally should.

It’s weird, the more time I’m on the road for work, the more time I have to blog. You will see in the spring of 2009 when I’m on the road for baseball season. I’ll blog like a champ. However, the more time I actually spend with friends and family, the blogging becomes less.

It was actually a relatively slow week in the MMA world for me to discuss. The only thing that I maybe can address was the Jon Fitch situation with the UFC. Long story short, they had a dispute over a signed contract in relation to licensing for a video game, the UFC kicked Fitch and the rest of the fighters of his gym, American Kickboxing Academy. However, all was settled, so there isn’t really much to talk about.

OK, I can think of one MMA related thing that I had today. I was shopping for clothes today, which I really don’t like doing. I’ll get into that more in my Reflections tomorrow.

Anyway, next to my favorite place to shop was a MMA clothing store. I’ve never seen this before and walked in and was intrigued. They had the usual stuff from TapOut, Warrior, One More Round, Sprawl, Team Punishment, etc. However, they didn’t have any Affliction or Extreme Couture items. I wonder if they don’t have it because of the beef that the UFC has with Affliction, I would hope not.

I will say this, they need some better clothes for the big boys out there. All of the shirts were in smedium (yes, that’s a word) and the shorts were small as well. Not nice.

That’s it. The Crush for today is Gina Carano, aka Crush. See, Crush is my Crush! Get it?

OK, here’s MMA Live from ESPN this week:

Crush(es) of the Day

My goodness, two thanksgiving posts, shouldn’t I be relaxing. Heck no, the blog doesn’t take a break for any holiday!

Actually, this is going to be a quick post. Time for my Crushes of the Day.

The first one should have been done last night, but things happen.



That is Rhona Mitra. I first learned of her on Boston Legal and her British accent is tremendous.

The second lady of focus is the Throwback Crush.



Yeah, that’s right Lisa Turtle aka Lark Voorhies! In my clue for this Crush in my Sunday Reflections, hundreds of you, OK, the People’s Champion, correctly predicted that the reference was from Saved By The Bell, but he and probably the rest of you thought that it would be Kelly Kapowski, aka Tiffani Amber Thiessen



But that isn’t the point of the Throwback Crush.

The point of it is to look at someone that at the time, I was a fan of. While everyone was feeling Tiffani, and trust me, I like her too. She was a hottie as well and her roles on Beverly Hills 90210 as Valerie and on Fastlane were tremendous.

However, I always was a fan of Lark for some reason. She was cute as well. Plus, she was born in Nashville, gotta love that.

Until then, good fight, good night.

Thanksgiving Reflections

Hey everyone, happy Thanksgiving to those of you out there reading this tonight.

This is the token “What I’m thankful for” post. I was going to list a lot of things like my family, life, liberty, hope, faith and many other things.

In the end, I’m thankful about being able to live my life. That’s first and foremost. We all should be thankful for that. This life isn’t guaranteed for us.

I have a family that loves me and more support than I deserve.

Most importantly, I’m thankful for my experiences. This year has been the most honest year that I’ve ever experienced. There have been some good times, some bad times and everything in between.

However, I’m happy that I’ve dealt with them and actually documented them on this blog. This has been my form of therapy and I also want to thank all of you for reading this stuff. You may not realize it, but every single post I have written has made me a better person. This has become my hobby and helped me through some tough times.

So thank you readers for everything.

I leave you with this story below. I get teary eyed every time I see it and gives me prospective. I seriously recommend that you watch it.

Pre-Thanksgiving Reflections

Hey everyone, its Thanksgiving Eve! Enjoy the passion and pageantry of it all! I’m driving down to Georgia tomorrow morning and looking forward to catching up with the fam. I rarely get to see my family living in another state so its always nice to catch up with them.

Of course, I have to answer two exciting questions every time I go to a major gathering, whether it’s a wedding, funeral, reunion, holiday, etc.

1) Am I dating someone? This is always a fun topic for the family to openly discuss. First, some prospective without being too informative (gotta protect some information).

Within my immediate family, parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. I’ve held out the longest in age before starting a family. I’m 27 and everyone in my family by this stage has either been married, had children or both. Plus, the fact that my closest cousin got married this summer and we’re the same age doesn’t help.

So when the fam starts talking to me about things, inevidably, my status as a single guy will come up. I’ll tell them that I’m single and one or two may wonder if there’s something wrong with me.

I even make it a game to predict who will be the first one to ask me about my relationship status. It’s a fun game that the whole family can try.

The funny thing about it is that once in a while, I’ll tell one of them that I’m single and they chastise me like I’ve chosen this path. They seem to think since I’m a young professional in graduate school with a job, nice, decent looking and dare I say a baller and a shot caller, that this should translate to lots of ladies knocking on my door just yearning to date your boy. I can tell you that this is not the case at all, but the perception is that I turn down women because of my high standards or something like that.

I’ve written about my standards in the past here: http://pourtoutpancakes.blogspot.com/2008/10/would-you-break-up-with.html

Those aren’t many, so I’m not being picky. I’m just not dating anyone right now and I’m cool with that and the family is fine with that too, they just want me to be happy, which is exactly what you want from the fam.

2) What I’m going to do once I graduate from school? This one has started within the past year. I don’t know what I’m doing next week, let alone in May 2009. I know what city I will be living in and my school and job until then. After May, who knows.

However, having this unpredictability doesn’t sit well with some members of the family. I think that their belief is that you go from point A to B to C. However, I was at A, took a unique turn at B and am trying to get to C in a different way. Everyone is down with where I’m trying to go, its just the path.

I don’t have clear answers for any of these things but I do love seeing everyone, especially the young ones.

I used to be the baby of the family but now we have kids who are in high school and lower and they actually look to me as a role model, which is weird.

I keep it honest with them, sometimes too honest, but I actually take that role seriously.

That’s all from me. I’ll have the lame “What I’m Thankful For” post tomorrow with all of our traditions. It contains pie, egg nog, watching the Lions lose again and talking about how selfish Terrell Owens is with the uncles. Fun times!

Crush of the Day and Random Observations

Hey peoples, its getting towards the end of the day and I’m ready to get some rest so lets hit the Crush and Random Observations now.

First, lets get some music going. Love Maxwell and dig this song. Fellas, if you want to impress your lady when its time to “get to know each other better,” or as the kids say, get your freak on or as we said in my household, have sex with a consenting partner with protection, play some Maxwell.



Ok, the Crush was given away yesterday but it’s Lauren Graham from the Gilmore Girls and Bad Santa.

Actually, I gotta give props to Kate Bush with the original version of This Women’s Worth. Here’s the link because I wanted to embed the video but couldn’t: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hm901CXujEg&feature=related

Ok, finally to the Observations:

-I saw that Ashley (I don’t care if that’s the right way to spell her name or not) Simpson had her baby and named it Bronx. I think that’s actually not a terrible name even though she grew up in Texas. I would name a daughter Brooklyn in a second. I’ve always secretly wish I grew up in the Chelsea area of the NYC so that I could use that one as well. Names are what you make of them I guess.

I will say this, don’t name your kid something that’s too out there but don’t go with basic stuff also. There are too many Michaels, Scotts, Ashleys and Lisas out there. Those are nice names but lets diversify it out there.

I do know this, I will not name a kid after me. That’s too much pressure on both the son and me, no one wants that. I would name a kid Marcela though, that would be awesome I guess.

-I was speaking with someone today that was imploring me to watch Friday Night Lights. I tried the show and didn’t like it. I’m going to have to write about this in more detail next week. I can’t stand people who keep telling me to watch these shows like FNL, The Wire, Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia, etc. Trust me, I’m a fan of Scrubs and The Office, two shows who have fans who can annoying with telling others to watch the show.

Honestly, its damn near midnight here and I want to get some sleep. Until then, good fight, good night. I leave you with some Bas.

NFL Review Week 12 and yes, an update on the March to Canton for Jay Cutler

Time for the NFL Review, let’s get started.

OK, were’ going to do this in the old school style, where I pull up Pandora or some of my music and incorporate it into the post.

I just got Stop Making Sense, the brilliant live album from The Talking Heads. Here’s a cut from that concert:



St. Louis: Did they decide to show up for their game against Chicago? Also, good move by Rams guard Richie Incognito criticizing the Rams fans. I understand where he was coming from because you would rather play in a stadium with some noise, even if its boos, then silence, but you just can’t say that when your team is playing so badly. What does he expect the fans to do? They are watching a bad product and as a fan who has seen some bad sports in person at times, you get tired of booing and you get tired of giving cheers of encouragement. Sometimes silence is the best reaction you can come up with as a fan.

Detroit: Only the Lions can have a 17-0 lead at the end of the first quarter and then get outscored 38-3 for the rest of the game. And we have to watch these SOBs on TV on Thursday against the Titans on national TV? Trust me, as much as I love the family and I’ll get more into this tomorrow on my post, but nothing makes the Pourtout clan unhappier then a blowout in the NFL Thanksgiving game.

However, I’m going out on a limb. I think the Lions beat the Titans on Thursday. No team will ever go winless in a season, its impossible.

Cincinnati: You think the Bengals regret not trading Chad Johnson when they had the chance?

Kansas City: Giving 54 points at home to Buffalo? I have no comments or excuses for that one. “It’s embarrassing,” said Derrick Johnson of the Chiefs after the game. You think so? I would go with pathetic and season quitting-like personally.

Oakland: Oddest score of the week. I don’t know whether this is a praise of the Raiders or just a complete bad job by Denver. I like how the AP story recap for this game started with “Ashley Lelie and the Oakland Raiders both got even with the Denver Broncos.” Well done, Ashley, well done because we were all wanting to know how you would get back at the team that cut you and rightly predicted that your career was on the decline. Thanks for wasting the time of Falcons fans when I was living in Atlanta.

Houston: Winning at Cleveland these days should mean more but it doesn’t.

Cleveland: I’m not going to hit Quinn too hard because he has the broken finger and all, but that was a bad, bad performance against the Texans. First the Indians have a rough season, trading Sabathia, then the Cavs have to constantly deal with the “Lebron going to play for the Knicks stuff,” and now the Browns’ season is imploding. I would feel bad for those city’s fans until I think about…

Seattle: The Seahawks lost to Washington, but lets look at the entire landscape of this city’s sports. The NFL team stinks, the MLB team is bad, the NBA team doesn’t play there anymore (BTW, Oklahoma City fans, keep booing the team formerly known as the Sonics. They stunk in Seattle, what did you think, that a change in zip code was going to change that. I’m going to curse so turn the kids away. Fucking fickle fans. Ok, earmuffs off.) and the college football teams in the state are bad. That Apple Cup contest was ugly, it had drama, but it was ugly. Not good times for that state.

San Francisco: They were just recipients of the Owens/Romo show.

Green Bay: They were only down seven points at halftime and then lose by 22 while giving up 51 points on Monday night. Nice.

San Diego: These guys keep losing close games, its getting annoying and I’m not even a fan. Rivers had a decent game for my fantasy team. However, lets talk about Tomlinson. I really hope he’s injured and can recover in the offseason because right now, he is not looking the same.

Here’s some Massive Attack for you peeps, yeah, yeah, represent! I must be the whitest Black guy in America right now.



Arizona: Good effort against the Giants, but these guys have no chance on the road in the playoffs.

Miami: You want to single cover Randy Moss some more? One more chance. That defense really disappointed me.

New Orleans: Destroyed the Packers at home but since Joe Tiller retired from Purdue this week, it brings me back to Drew Brees, his first major star for the Boilermakers. I remember when Brees led them to the Rose Bowl and people said that his throwing motion and height would not make him a good pro. But give props to San Diego for taking him. Then, I thought Drew’s career would be over after some below-average years with the Chargers, then he gets his act right, they draft Philip Rivers and Drew blows his throwing shoulder out. Then he goes to New Orleans who was dealing with Hurricane Katrina and he has risen to a top-five QB in the league. Excellent career, great story.

Minnesota: Thy won their game against Jacksonville, but whatever. What has me peeved is that they or the coaches were holding out Adrian Peterson for whatever reason. I heard it may be for disciplinary reasons. Don’t punish the team and especially fantasy football players who own him like me with trying to take a tough stand. Play the man!

Jets: I have to take a step back and give Favre and this team props. They’ve won at New England and Tennessee and look good. I’ve been Favre’s biggest critic but he has led that team to a nice position and deserves credit for that.

Indianapolis: This may be Manning and the entire team’s guttiest season performance in a long time.

Atlanta: Michael Turner has been a major surprise for me. Four touchdowns in your team’s most important game of the year is a major statement.

Tampa: I can’t trust a team to make major moves in the postseason or even make it if they are going to fall behind 17-0 to lowly Detroit.

Baltimore: Behind the backdrop of the whole McNabb benching was a nice win by the Ravens. Ed Reed, you are a pro.

New England: Cassel has answered my doubts and they are going to be a tough team to beat in the playoffs. I would just be very, very careful if I was going to sign him to a major deal as a free agent. That system is great for a QB and that’s a veteran group. If the Lions, Eagles or Chiefs sign him, it’s a different ballgame. However, I will give Cassel credit for throwing under pressure because he had some good throws like that against Miami. Also, Randy Moss should have the ball thrown his direction at least 15 times a game, no questions asked.

Jacksonville: Laid down against Minnesota

Chicago: Speaking of Purdue quarterbacks, Orton changes the dynamic of that team. Matt Forte Rookie of the Year?

Philly: Wow, McNabb being benched was surprising in its timing. They’ve lost him for the rest of his career there. He will not be an Eagle next season, that’s a given. I kinda understand why they made him the starter for the Thursday game because Kolb isn’t much better and its on national TV, but after that, its time for the Eagles to move on and let McNabb play somewhere else and fire Andy Reid.

Buffalo: Edwards broke out with a nice game against

Here’s some Thievery Corporation. I know, I’m wearing these guys out on the blog but I’m feeling them right now.



Denver: The March Towards Canton for Cutler took a major step back. Losing to Oakland at home is inexcusable. Sad part is that they’re still two games up in that division and I did say that the first step for the March was for Cutler was to lead the Broncos to a division title and make the Pro Bowl.

The title may happen but as far as the Pro Bowl, I would take Favre, Manning (I know the numbers don’t hold up but he’s been a major leader for the Colts), Rivers and then Cassel before Cutler.

Carolina: Now I know why I called them a quiet 8-2 team before their loss to Atlanta. They have to play better away from home.

Pittsburgh: Good win over the Natti. Unfortunately, they have been supplanted by the Jets as the second-best team in the AFC.

Dallas: All may look well in Cowboy land after the beating of San Fran and Owens got the ball thrown to them but have to battle quick turnaround to host Seattle on Thursday. What am I saying, they’ll be fine for now.

Washington: Luckily beat Seattle to keep pace in NFC.

Tennessee: We all knew that the Titans would lose a game or two before the season ended. However, I didn’t like the defensive effort against the Jets. That worries me.

Giants: They are clearly now the best team in the NFL and as a fan, it scares me. I don’t like my teams playing too well because I expect the worst to happen. Jacobs being hurt is never good because they need him to repeat as champions.

That’s what I’ve got. Your thoughts are always welcomed.

Updated Top-Five Women! Feel the Excitement!

Hey everyone, its time for me to update my top-five list!

For those of you new to the concept, these are the five women in the world that I would like to hang out/date/go to a movie/share a hug/attend an epic box social with.

Ashley Judd has been on my top-five list since the late 1990’s but it was time for new blood. So, Ashley is the head coach/general manager of the team.

Here are some criteria.

1) All women are eligible. I don’t care how you look, your age, your race, whatever. Anyone is welcome. I don’t care if you’re married, have kids, single, a lesbian, it’s all good. This is all taking place in make believe land.

2) To be in the top-five, you must serve time on the bench. There are no direct promotions into the starting lineup on my watch.

3) The bench can only have 30 women on it. I have to have a limit.

3) Even this is mostly based on looks, you have to seem to have some personality about you. Multi-talented women are always welcome.

OK, some ladies were on the bench the last time I made this list, but they have been demoted. They won’t get kicked out of bed, if you know what I mean, but they just isn’t room for them. Here are the following women off the bench:

Vanessa Williams
Stacy Dales
Eva Mendez
Amy Lee
Nikki “Hoopz” Alexander

Ok, folks. Here’s the list:

1) Maria Menounos. She used to be my rookie of the year but now she has elevated to the point of being a guarantee starter. Physically, she’s brings all of the elements. Nice, curvy and healthy body, dark hair, nice skin tone and a thousand other attributes that I don’t want to get into. She’s Greek, represents the northeast and has the ability to be on all types of TV shows from Today to Entertainment Tonight. She’s a decent actress and a good interviewer.

Maria is also a producer and director, so she’s multi-talented. She’s into charity work and actually has a cool story of her getting into shape because she was unhealthy in her younger days. Also, she’s an athlete and competed in an AVP (professional beach volleyball) tournament.

2) Sarah Chalke. I usually don’t go for blondes, which will become apparent when you read the rest of this post, but I had to have Dr. Elliot Reed from Scrubs. I’m excited that the show is back on ABC, but that’s for another time.

While it’s important to have diversity in your career like Maria did to make the top-five, I also respect growth. Sarah wasn’t a hottie when Scrubs started. However, as the show developed, she went from dorky stick figure to cutie in good time. She’s Canadian and just became a US citizen, which is awesome because our kids would have dual citizenship and I’ve always wanted to visit Toronto. We could watch hockey and curling while listening to a Rush album! She’s fluent in German so moving to Berlin isn’t out of the question. She’s into charity work as well.

3) Gabrielle Union. She’s definitely the star and would serve as team captain. She is stunning, has a sick body and the best skin I’ve seen on a woman in a long time. I’ve been a fan of hers since Bring it On. She’s from Omaha, Nebraska, so you know we could go to a college football game together, it’s in her blood. Doing research on her, I found out that she dated Jason Kidd back in the day, whatever. Anyway, she has a degree in sociology from UCLA, so she has brains. She was in Love and Basketball, respect. Her acting resume is solid and everytime I see news on her lately, she’s at some party so you know she can get down.


4) Mila Kunis. She’s definitely the defensive stopper on our team and our glue player who makes everything else go. Born in the Ukraine, she was not only funny on That 70’s Show, she is the voice of Meg Griffin on the funniest show on TV, Family Guy. She was just in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, a funny movie. She’s Jewish, which is cool. She speaks several languages as well.

Here’s where it gets interesting kids: One spot left and its between Katherine McPhee and Ciara. Who do I choose?


5) Katherine McPhee. Damn that was a tough decision. First, Katherine, welcome back to the list! This is a celebration, bitches. Second, I talked about her as one of my Crushes of the Day about a week ago, so we know about her already.

Wait a minute, why must I choose only five women like in basketball. What if this was volleyball and I could have a sixth player, a libero? That’s right, we’re taking this to the next level. Introducing the top-six!!!!! Actually, it’s a top-five with a flex player.


5a) Ciara. I just couldn’t kick her off the list. That would have been cruel.

Her musical career speaks for itself. She’s from Atlanta, my former residence, so she gets points for that. She’s an excellent dancer and is in Nelly’s new song, Stepped on my J’z (that’s actually how the song is spelled) and looks tremendous in the video. Her acting is OK. I even sat through that volleyball movie she was in on MTV called All You’ve Got (I had to look it up). To be real, she’s in the starting lineup mostly for looks.
As owner of the team, you have to make some tough choices. Here were the ones who didn't make the starting lineup but are on the bench for the future (with the new ones in red text):

Christina Milian: She should have been on this list from the beginning. Solid performer, maybe dating Nick Cannon turned me off to her, but she’s someone to look out for in the future on my list.


Gina Carano aka Crush: She’s hot and she can kick my ass in the ring. That is all.


Rebecca Herbst: I’ve been in love with her character Elizabeth on General Hospital for as long as I can remember.


Lauren Graham: Look, this is looking like I like brunette white women only, that isn’t the case. Lauren is an underrated funny actress. Yes, I wanted an episode or two of Gilmore Girls back in the day and I’m not ashamed to admit it. I always thought that Alexis Bledel was cute but I was attracted to the mom more. Then I saw her in Bad Santa and I was feeling that change of pace. Finally, I caught her on the Bonnie Hunt show in October and was feeling that as well.


Rhoda Mitra: Just look at that picture. Done and done.


Kerry Washington: We have several connections. We’re only four years apart, she’s 31. She was born in the Bronx, NYC I was born in Brooklyn. She attended an all-girls private school in Manhattan, Spence. I attended an all-boys private school in Manhattan, Browning. I remember seeing her in Save The Last Dance and then in Ray. However, her role as a lesbian in She Hate Me, tremendous stuff. I also like that she’s active politically. Watch out for her. It doesn’t hurt that she has beautiful eyes and those lips, let’s just move on.


Sophia Bush: She’s probably the one most primed besides Christina Milian to make the jump to the starting lineup. I watched a little of One Tree Hill when it first came on but nothing stood out. Then I saw John Tucker Must Die and it was on. Now, this past summer, I got into some One Tree Hill repeats and got hooked. Now, I never miss an episode and its mostly because of Sophia.

Natalia Livinston- Hottest woman to ever be on General Hospital. You have to trust me on this one…actually it’s a tie between her and Alicia Leigh Willis but we’re stick with Natalia.


-Candice Parker. Still shocked that she’s on this list.


-Sarah Evans. Solid choice and she’s engaged to a former national champion-winning quarterback. Roll Tide! I can’t believe that I said that.


-Selita Ebanks. Docked some points for being engaged to Nick Cannon at a point but now she’s dating my boy, Osi Umenyiora of the SUPER BOWL CHAMPIONS, THE NEW YORK FOOTBALL GIANTS! Major, major points for that. Oh yeah, she’s a Victoria’s Secret model. That counted for something too.


-Rosario Dawson. I feel bad that she was not on the original bench. I just forgot about her. Tall, tan skin, funny, she is definitely a candidate for the starting lineup next time around. She kicked butt in Sin City, has a multi-cultural background, born in the NYC, very active in community service and just see the movie Alexander for the rest of the reasons she’s a winner.


-Persia White. Very underrated woman on an underrated show. Girlfriends is a good show and Persia plays my favorite character. The tattoos are hot, beautiful skin tone, excellent hair, I’m a fan. She is also strong into human and animal rights, so her head is in the right place. She’s also a musician. Good qualities all around.


-Diane Lane. Still on the Bench.


-Julia Louise Dreyfus. Another older woman that I wouldn’t mind spending time with. I had a huge, huge crush on her when she was on Seinfeld. I don’t know what it was. I think it was seeing a funny woman on television. Humor is such an underrated quality in a woman and it’s a turn-on for me. She’s doing a great job on her current show on CBS, which is a funny watch BTW. Plus, she’s loaded financially both from her career and her family, so she’s got money. Can’t argue with that.


- Yvonne Strahovski. She may be unfamiliar with many of you, but she crossed my radar recently from being on one of my favorite shows, Chuck. She’s Austrailian and has the sexiest accent. The trip is that on Chuck, she plays an American and hides the accent. I remember the first time I heard her speak on a talk show and I flipped out. She plays a secret agent and yeah, she’s hot. Also, she’s fluent in Polish. Please watch the show or look at some episodes online and you will understand why she’s on the bench.


-Kate Beckinsale. She does what she does.


-Charlize Theron. She’s African, so I wouldn’t be marrying outside of my race. Nice.


-Kristin Kreuk. Underrated. Another Canadian, so respect there. Potential sleeper to move up on the team, but I need so see some more from her.

To save time, here’s the rest of the bench:

Rachida JonesJessica White Alicia KeysBonnie Bernstein Tatiana AliLucy Liu
Kelly Hu Jaclyn Smith Jada Pinkett-Smith

Here are a final few women who aren’t on the bench, but I’ve signed to a minor league contract and can be called up at anytime in case of injury.

Roselyn Sanchez
Natasha Bedingfield
Susie Castillo
Sarah Palin
Blake Lively
Heidi Klum
Alicia Leigh Willis

Stephanie Rice

Sonya Richards

LoLo Jones

Leah Remini

Alicia Leigh Willis

Anna Ivanovic

Cat Osterman

That’s it. I would love to hear your opinions on my list and suggest some women for the team. I’m going to keep updating it every month.

Sunday Reflections

What is going on people! Good, very relaxing weekend. Caught up on all of my TV accept for General Hospital, so you know the drill. If you see me and know anything about the show from the last two weeks, don’t say anything to me about it.

Anyway, its time for those Sunday Reflections and I’ve got plenty of them for this edition.

-I was in the laundry today and saw one of the most mismatched couples I’ve seen in a long time. This guy clearly outkicked his coverage by a major distance. The guy looked like Dwight from The Office and he was with this cute, petite blond. He brought his laptop AND hard drive and was cutting some music or something because while he was working on the laptop, she was listening to the music on headphones. Furthermore, she had on one of his grey sweatshirts and the thing was double her size, so that confirmed their couple status. They were all cuddled up the whole time.

Actually, I shouldn’t say that he overachieved because they did look cute together. She was just hot and he was so dorky looking, but sometimes that’s what works for couples. Plus, she was rocking the sweatshirt, that’s such an underrated hot look for women.

Speaking of that…

-I’ve always been a fan of the high black boots, short dress look on women and have had desires for women in jeans and tank tops, however, this trend of women wearing very, very short skirts that may as well be shirts and colored tights, tremendous.

While every man can look good in a black, button-down collar shirt, every woman can look attractive in tights. It gives the women the freedom to wear a skirt as short as she wants while not exposing herself, everyone wins. I hope this trend continues for another 10-20 years.

-I finally saw Blades of Glory this weekend and I must say that it had moments or two of laughter, but I was mildly disappointed.

-Congrats to the Belmont women’s volleyball team winning the A-Sun Tournament and heading to the NCAAs. Anytime you can make the NCAAs and beat Lipscomb in the process, fun times for all involved.

-Since I lost so much track of time this weekend, I wasn’t able to pick up my language book to learn either French, Italian or Spanish. I got suggestions for all three and someone even left a comment in the post to learn Spanish in Italian, so I wasn’t sure of that one. However, I have made a decision.

J'ai choisi d'apprendre le français. C'est la langue de ma famille et je veux connecter avec mes racines. De plus, les femmes françaises et je peux visiter enfin ma patrie. Rue. Etienne avec la fierté.

-Look forward to some movie reviews from the People’s Champion starting after Thanksgiving weekend.

-I got an answer on why I can’t give water to newborn babies. Apparantly, the breast milk that the baby is consuming is around 80% water, so they get taken care of from that. Plus, if you give the baby too much water, it will dilute the nutrients of the milk and cause the kid to get sick and that’s not fun for anyone. Glad I found that out.

-Last night was good. I saw the Bruins get an excellent win in women’s basketball over Tennessee Tech and was able to connect with a friend during the game, which was straight.

However, after the game, I got home and I saw a message that she was feeling lame for being home on a Saturday night. That wasn’t good. So I told her that she shouldn’t feel lame and should enjoy the rest. Going out and living the party life is fine and all, but I know how hard she works and she needed a chill night, just like I did. You have to be in the right mental state in this life. Plus…

-If I wasn’t home last night, I wouldn’t have been home to see one of the most underrated shows on TV, Austin City Limits. If I’m home on a Saturday night, I make sure to watch this show. Gnarls Barkley are hit or miss for me, but they were on last night. Here’s some of their music:



Also on the show was Thievery Corporation, a group that I’ve gotten into recently. They’ve been around for a while and through Pandora and listening to Massive Attack, I’ve gotten some of its music and like it. Here’s a song from them with live concert footage. If I could see these guys live, it would be on:



-This week was good for me too, because I took into practice many of the things I spoke about last week. I’ve taken time for myself, made some lists and its worked. Its not perfect and they’re will be some bumps in the road, but so far so good.

The main thing that I’ve done however is stop complaining and have no excuses. Since then, I’ve grinded out some good mental focus. Also, eating better has helped too.

-Sorry for not doing an NCAA basketball preview this week. There are just too many conferences, too many teams and I’m directly involved with the sport with my job.

-I’ve received positive response from my Crush of the Day and Random Observations sections of my blog, so they will stay on.

-Notice I’ve gone this far without mentioning Saturday’s game between Vanderbilt and Tennessee. Not happy with the result but life goes on.

-That’s it for this week. I had one or two more thoughts I wrote down but I left my notes at a friend’s house, so what can you do. Here’s what to expect this week.

Monday: An updated top-five. No Crush because they all will be crushes

Tuesday: NFL Review and the Crush was on a show whose title contained “Girls” that was on in the past 10 years.

Wednesday: Thanksgiving Reflections and this Crush is British and starred on my favorite-ever legal show several years ago. The show is still on the air and repeats on Fox on Sunday nights. In fact, I’m watching it and her right now.

Thursday: While eating turkey and come epic pie, I will introduce a new section mentioned by the People’s Champion. It will be called the Throwback Crush. It explains itself. This first installment will be a fun one and I have one clue for you because when the teacher pops a test, I know I’m in a mess but if I have it in tomorrow it will be all right…

Friday: MMA Review and the Crush will be sports-related

Saturday: Wildcard

Sunday: Reflections

Until then, good fight, good night. Here’s some more Thievery Corporation to take you home.

MMA Review

Hey everyone, this post is my MMA Review. Sorry that it’s a day late, but I got home last night, watched Blades of Glory for the first time (my review of that will be in my Sunday Reflections), caught up on some Chuck episodes (good times) and just got tired.

I gave some initial analysis of UFC 91, which was the biggest MMA event in the past year or two and my opinions haven’t really changed from that night. If you want to read that post, its here: http://pourtoutpancakes.blogspot.com/2008/11/mma-review-ufc-91-edition.html

I think that Couture isn’t done fighting and I do think it’s a possibility that he drops down to light heavyweight, that wouldn’t be the worst thing. He weighted in at 220 and could easily drop another 15 pounds. However, I think that he may be entering no-mans land.

The heavyweights are getting bigger, so he’s going to have to continue to have a disadvantage in weight that he can’t make up. The good news is that the pool isn’t extremely deep. I would like to see him face the loser of Nog/Mir after their fight in December. Both of those matchups would be good for Couture, especially if he faces Nog, a fight that many hardcore fans have been wanting to see for years.

If he drops down to light heavyweight, the pool is deeper, but he would be a big light heavyweight, which is a good thing for him. However, when you have monsters like Forrest Griffin dropping down from as heavy as 235 to fight at 205, that size difference isn’t as big as it once was.

The reality is that the man is 45 years old and he can’t fight forever. Physically, your body just can’t hold up to the physical punishment that MMA does to you. I think that he has two more fights in him, max and then he will move on to his many other interests, which are both excellent and profitable like his Extreme Couture gyms and his acting career.

For Lesner, he’s a mixed bag for me. For the sport of MMA, this may actually be a good thing. He’s a big name and will bring more exposure to the sport. As much as everyone likes to talk about how big MMA has gotten as a sport, there is more room to grow. It will never become mainstream like baseball, basketball or American football, but it can become more on the radar of sports fans like ice hockey or even boxing.

However, Lesner only has four professional fights in his career and for him to be the champion is odd. I see some major holes in his fight game that need to be improved if he wants to keep that belt for more than a fight or two. His biggest benefit is physical. No one is that big and that fast. I don’t think he moves like a 155-pounder like the king of hyperbole Dana White says. However, his speed in the heavyweight division is decent. His biggest hole is obviously on the ground and submissions. However, even in that, he showed some marked improvements from the Herring fight and Couture.

I think that Nog would beat him if they end up fighting in early 2009 because Nog has more experience and is more skilled in the standup. However, if Lesner wins against Nog, then he might have a long title reign in him.

That’s all for the MMA review. I should have commeted on Faber losing his WEC lightweight to Brown, but I don’t really have much on that.

Until then, here’s this week’s edition of MMA Live and Inside MMA for your viewing enjoyment.

Crush of the Day and Random Observations- November 20

Today’s Crush of the day is Gabrielle Union. You know, when I usually do these, I always preach that the Crush has to bring more to the table than looks, well I’m going to break that rule a little today. Gabby is just hot.

Actually, I can do better. She was born in Omaha, Nebraska so she has to be down with some football. She graduated from UCLA with a Sociology degree so you know that she has some brains. Very important that the Crush has some intelligence.



Of course, most of us remember first seeing her in the movie Bring it On which taught us that Black and White cheerleaders can’t get along until they have to merge to win a competition. If race relations worked like that in real life, we would all get along.


I didn’t realize that she’s 36 years old, which is older then I thought she was but that fits my age range so party time.

OK, on to Random Observations:

-I was walking home after class tonight and saw my neighbor with her boyfriend walking past me. It was cold outside and they had coffee cups in their hands. I asked them if they were heading to the Bongo to get some coffee, which would have made sense. No, they told me that they had hot chocolate and were taking a night walk together. They looked so happy together and it was actually kinda sweet. That’s some romantic stuff that I need to get down on.

-My friend Michelle is heading to the NYC for Thanksgiving and I’m envious.

I’m coming to terms with not spending time in my hometown anymore, however, the three times that I miss the City. The first time is during the spring. The second time is in the fall and the third is during Christmas time.

I seriously recommend spending a Christmas in the NYC. I’ll elaborate more on this in the future, but I’m tired and need to get some sleep.

Have a good night.

Cleaning out the Links VII

Damn, its been a while since I’ve cleaned out the links. For the new readers, this is a post where I bring different items from the Internet to you to view and enjoy. Let’s begin.

-Everytime I used to hear that crappy Soulja Boy song, Crank That, and see kids doing that damn dance, I wanted to come up to them and tell them what Superman and Supersoak means. Go to urbandictionary.com for the definition. For now, here are the 8 Raunchiest Rap Songs Kids Love to Sing (possibly NSFW): http://www.beatsandbombs.com/2008/10/01/8-raunchiest-rap-songs-kids-love-to-sing/

-Goodfellas has always been one of my favorite movies just like pretty much every guy I know. The reason for this besides the great cast and Mafia storyline is that there are life lessons that can be taken from it. Here’s a list of these lessons: http://www.screenjunkies.com/general/9-life-lessons-every-guy-can-learn-goodfellas

“Never rat on your friends” and “Don’t make moves on another guy’s girl” are necessary to live by.

-I love television and I love hot women. Here are Spike’s top-15 hottest women on TV. Enjoy: http://www.spike.com/blog/top-15-hottest-women/68898

Chrsitina Hendricks is solid, Hayden Panettiere is overrated, Blake Lively can get it and Olivia Wilde is tremendous.

-This guy had too much time on his hands…



-Entertainment Weekly posted a list of the 25 Best Movie Soundtracks: http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20213971,00.html

Half of these movies I’ve never seen, but Singles was a good one and you can’t funk with the #1 choice. In fact, here’s the title track from it. Top-10 emotional guitar solo ever, I damn near cry everytime I see it. This should make Nicole happy because I know this is her favorite artist ever.



-The title of this one is Top 7 Ass-Getting Hollywood Assclowns: http://coedmagazine.com/entertainment/9153/

Wilmer frickin Valderrama, how does this happen. Better yet, I can kinda see Wilmer but Adam Duritz? Ladies, you have to help me out on this one.

-Great description of the different types of fans in sports here: http://thoughtsfromthejockstrap.blogspot.com/2008/09/i-have-always-felt-that-there-should-be.html

-I work in sports, I want to be powerful one day, here’s my measuring stick: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_41/b4103052320774.htm

-We just passed the one-year anniversary of Sean Taylor’s death. He was a safety for the Washington Redskins who was killed in his own home. There have been different reactions to this from players, coaches, security people, etc. ESPN the Magazine did an interesting story getting the prospective of players. Its worth looking at all of the prospective given: http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?section=magazine&id=3710707

-Great, great, great story on Jacob Duran, or Stitch as all of us call him. He’s the main cutman for the UFC. Incredible prospective on an unpublicized aspect of sports: http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?section=magazine&id=3688085

-My favorite basketball Web site, Dimemag.com, has been doing these excellent posts on the top rookie, defensive, regular season and postseason performances by an NBA player. Here are links to some of them: http://dimemag.com/2008/11/the-most-valuable-mvp/, http://dimemag.com/2008/11/best-rookie-of-the-year-lebron-james-michael-jordan-allen-iverson-shaquille-oneal-david-robinson/ and http://dimemag.com/2008/11/the-most-dominant-defensive-player-of-the-year/

-And finally, in honor of Barack Obama’s historic victory as President of these United States, here are the 10 Funniest Black President moments: http://www.comedy.com/blog/2008/11/07/10-funniest-black-president-videos/

My favorite one is below. Oil, who mentioned something about oil, bitch we cookin?

Crush of the Day and Random Observations- November 19

Hey peoples, sorry for getting this in so late but I was out with some friends celebrating a birthday and mayhem and drama took place. Actually it was a quiet night overall where I had a beer and watched soccer highlights for two hours, excellent times. And that’s not sarcasm, it was really fun.

First, some music. I’m been bumping this song all day!



Love this collabo. Anyway, as a result of that, I’m not up for doing an NCAA basketball preview to the extent that you should get. I’ll have some time this weekend to do it. I’ll probably have North Carolina winning the whole thing anyway.

But for now, we can get to our Crush of the Day, Mila Kunis!



Besides the fact that she’s hot, she was a major reason to watch That 70’s Show which is shockingly now re-watchable in syndication. I make sure to catch at least one episode a night if I’m home.



Furthermore, she is the voice of Meg Griffin on probably my favorite show on today and top-10 all-time for me.

See, for you to make the Crush list for me, you have to have some diversity to your game besides being attractive. I can just pick some supermodels and say that they’re hot, but that’s not productive. She has to bring more to the table like Mila does with the voiceover work and her acting. Crap, I almost forgot that she was in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, one of my favorite movies of the past few years and she looked amazing in that.


Yeah, nice indeed. Lets see, she’s 25, perfect age for me, born in the Ukraine and is fluent in Russian. I can do without her dating Macauley Culkin since 2002. If he was smart, he would put a ring on her before I moved in. Also, she’s down with online gaming. She might be the perfect girl for me. If she likes sports, then it’s a wrap. I’m quitting the job and school and moving to the coast to meet her.




OK, now for my Random Observations:

1) I need to diversify my game. This section will serve as an announcement of something that I want to do to improve my overall being. I want to learn a new language. English is fine and all, but I always feel bad when I confront my friends who are bilingual and want to be like them.

I can only learn one at a time, but I’ve narrowed my first one down to three choices. They are Spanish, Italian and French. I know that all three are European and I should throw an Asian language in there but here’s why I want to do one of these three.


For Spanish, it’s the one that would be the most useful. It’s the most common foreign language that I confront and I think if you are going to be a good American, you should at least comprehend this language when so many of your fellow citizens are speaking it. It would also be good for potential international business I want to get involved in. In fact, if I got a job somewhere like US Soccer, I would have to learn the language anyway. Plus, Spanish women. The positive for this one is that I have retained some Spanish after taking it for so many years in school. Thinks like numbers and minor terms are already known.

For Italian, I’ve just always been intrigued by the language and how it sounds. I like the flow of it. I took Latin for years and have retained a little of it so Italian would be tough but not impossible to get for me. Plus, Italian women.

For French, this one would be the most personal. If you haven’t figured it out by now, I have a very French sounding name because I have French roots. My entire father side of the family is from Martinique. However, divorce, living with my mother, yada yada yada, I don’t know French at all. Even when I speak with my father, who is fluent, its like a missing part of my life. I’m proud of my heritage but I’m not showing it. I feel embarrassed when someone learns that my real first name is Etienne or even when they call me Marcel and suddenly speak in French and I can’t respond. I want to change that. I’m not a big fan of the language and my base in it is very low, but it would be nice. Plus, wait for it, French women.

I would love to hear which language I should learn because I plan to pick up a book and/or audio CD on Sunday at the bookstore to learn one of them.

Leave your vote in the comments section and I’ll tell you which one I choose in my next Sunday Reflections which will be this upcoming Sunday.

Until then, as always, good fight, good night and here’s some Minus the Bear below to take you home.