Of course, this whole post will be on UFC 94, the biggest mixed martial arts event in the history of the sport in the world!!!
In all seriousness, besides the incredible B.J. Penn vs. Georges St. Pierre main event, the entire card has some excellent depth.
-I’m interested to see how Stephan Bonnar recovers from his injuries and implements himself into the light heavyweight division. Before he had his knee injury, he was developing solidly in his career. However, he’s been off for more than a year and after what we saw in the Shogun Rua/Mark Coleman fight earlier this month, ring rust is something that can’t be ignored. Its one thing to train and another thing to fight.
-Jon Fitch fighting in the preliminary bouts, that’s cold.
-The potential fight of the night can be Nate Diaz vs. Clay Guida, seriously. Guida brings the energy and Diaz is a talented fighter. I’m looking forward to this one and the winner will make a case in the lightweight division.
-It’s always fun to see Karo “The Heat” Parisyan fight.
-I hate to say it but Lyoto Machida is boring. However, that doesn’t mean that he isn’t effective, a top-five light heavy and deserves a title fight. He should be fighting Evans for the title. However, he better not look past Thiago Silva because Silva is the type of fighter that can push the pressure and catch you. I still think that Lyoto wins but it isn’t a lock.
-Ok, on to the big event. First, I must preface this by saying that my two favorite MMA fighters are Matt Serra, Frank Mir and B.J. Penn. So whenever you read a prediction that I may have for a fight involving those three guys, beware.
I loved the UFC Primetime show where you saw how GSP and B.J. prepared for the event. I do think that the editing was pushed more positively towards GSP, but that’s understandable. GSP is a good looking guy who trains hard, is good with the media, doesn’t get in trouble and as clean cut as you will find in an MMA fighter.
B.J. is just really honest and has a Hawaiian mentality about things which isn’t a bad thing but can be perceived as lazy. B.J. isn’t going to wear himself out in cold weather and overstress himself like GSP. I think that B.J. taking some days off from training is a perfect example of this.
I can definitely see GSP coming into this fight tight and nervous, which is something you don’t want to have in a title match. B.J. is going to come in more loose, which can be a problem as well.
There are so many angles that this fight can be taken. I think that they’re first fight doesn’t carry much into this one because both men are much better fighters this time around.
The fight being five rounds is a factor. We know that GSP will be in shape and can go but even I can’t ignore B.J.’s cardio issues.
Here’s what I don’t see happening:
-B.J. winning by knockout -GSP winning by knockout -GSP winning by submission -B.J. winning by decision
I think that if B.J. comes in shape and healthy, he wins the fight via TKO.
My heart is saying to take B.J. via TKO in the fourth round.
My head is saying GSP by decision.
I think that the question has to be what does the UFC hopes happen. I think that they actually want GSP to win. The reason I say that is as cool as it would be for one man to own two belts at the same time, its bad for business.
If B.J. wins, then he’s going to have to defend two titles at the same time which means less PPV main events. Plus, while B.J. is defending his lightweight title, the welterweight title will be in limbo.
I’m not saying that the UFC is going to try to influence the result or anything like that, because even if they wanted to, they can’t legally do it. Just something to consider.
But I’m going to ignore all of that tomorrow night and enjoy the fight between two of the best fighters in the world.
Hey everyone, I haven’t done a Random Observations post in a while, so here we go:
Some Zoe Keating to help you relax on this day:
-First, I saw the Wrestler on Tuesday night and it was tremendous. I have to be careful with reviewing this movie because I know that a lot of you are going to eventually see it.
Mickey Rourke is outstanding in the movie and deserves every nomination. He’s the only guy I can ever see playing the Ram and when you say that about an actor, that’s bigtime. I envision him as a real wrestler.
I think that there are two crowds who are going to watch this movie and get it in different ways. There’s the first group, the hardcore wrestling fans, who will not be shocked by the images and motives of the movie. I’m a huge wrestling fan who has seen the big shows and the small ones.
I understand why this former legendary wrestler who fought in main events at Madison Square Garden, think of it as the Fenway Park or Lambeau Field of wrestling, would reduce his failing body to doing shows in bingo halls and high school gyms for little to no money.
I understand why he would participate in hardcore matches where he is getting hit with sharp objects and getting major injuries to only do it again the next day.
The movie does a good job of demystifying the professional wrestling business. You see all of the wrestlers in one room before the event takes place going over the results and how the match will go, scripting it. You see the promoters not paying all of the money that they promised the wrestlers. You see how the older wrestlers have to make do with their lives when the lights go out and no one wants to pay to see you fight. I knew about all of this and was impressed with the portrayal.
The second group are the people who are going to see the movie because they heard about this wrestling movie that got nominated for some awards and have no idea how the industry operates. I think the movie will be shocking to them and maybe even turn them off to it.
There are some other storylines as well. There is Marisa Tomei playing a stripper and doing a good job of it.
In fact, we’ll just make her the Crush of the Day. I’ve always been a fan of hers and we even get to see the goods in this movie.
That’s one weird part of the movie. You’re sitting there, eating your popcorn and then, oh, Marisa Tomei is topless, who knew? Oh, that’s Marisa Tomei in a g-string, interesting? OK, that’s Marisa Tomei doing a dance routine and giving a lap dance. She does look good in the movie, but its more of a wow, she looks like a worn down stripper and not like, wow, I’d like to spend an intimate moment with her.
We also have Evan Rachel Wood in the movie playing the Ram’s daughter. She does OK, even though there’s a creepy vibe about the two of them together, like they were dating, even though they were supposed to be a father and daughter. Of course, when I read reports that the two of them are dating in real-life, I get it.
BTW, she has dated Rourke and Marilyn Manson, both older men with odd personalities. Say it with me, kids. Daddy issues!!!! I can spot them from a mile away. As I always say, every women has daddy issues and every man has mommy issues, me included.
OK, back to the movie. I seriously recommend seeing it because it’s a real portrayal of a rough yet exhilarating way to live. Just don’t expect it to be a toe-tapping fun time.
-I’m really enjoying this movie revival I’m going through. I’ve seen Benjamin Button and The Wresler in the past two weeks. I’ve found a nice theatre here in Nashville, get cheaper tickets because I’m a grad student and even have some evening free to do it.
Its such a good time to get a release from the elements of work and school and watch a movie for a few hours.
Next will probably be Slumdog Millionaire or Gran Torino.
-I’ve been pretty mellow the past month or so and enjoying it. I’m really just relaxing and not letting things stress me out. As my friend Mete said to me a week or two ago, if its out of your control, let it go and let God handle it. I don’t know what this is but I’ve experienced a calm in my life that is tremendous feeling and I can’t tell you where it came from.
I read some old posts from late last year and those were some depressing times I was experiencing. I like reading them because while I look forward in my life, I don’t forget to look back. I’m still the same guy with insecurity issues but I’m managing them.
I have a friend who is going through a stressful time in her life and I saw her yesterday. I told her that she needs to just go to the mountains or find a quiet place and reflect. Maybe have a drink, smoke something, read something, whatever works for you. This life is too short to let outside influences affect your overall happy mental state.
Every night, after I usually write my blog posts, I put on some relaxing music, get in bed, lie down, meditate and reflect. I go to bed peacefully and wake up feeling refreshed. No matter what went on during the day, I know that I’m fortunate to have lived that day and for that, I’m content.
I’ll hit on this more on Saturday.
-I was speaking with the Icon aka The Peoples’ Champion a few days ago and we were talking about the excellent old VH1 show, Pop Up Video. Why is this show not back on the air?
-Oh, I was going to save this for Saturday, but since some of you don’t read the blog on weekends, the Steelers are going to win the Super Bowl and Georges St. Pierre will beat B.J. Penn on Saturday even though Penn is my favorite fighter in mixed martial arts. Damn, that sucks to take GSP. That may have to change by the time I do my MMA Review tomorrow.
Super Bowl analysis will be on Saturday.
That’s all for tonight, its time to get some sleep.
First, saw The Wrestler tonight. Tremendous movie, better than Benjamin Button. Still have to see Gran Torino and Slumdog Millionaire before the Oscars. Still think that The Dark Knight should have been nominated.
OK, that’s for tomorrow night in my movie review. However, the main character, Randy “The Ram” used this Quiet Riot song as his walkout song, which rocks. I can’t hear this song now without thinking of The Ram. Here it is in all of its cheesy 80’s glory:
Its time for the next to final edition of the NFL Review!
I’ll get to the Super Bowl in a moment, but I want to continue my series on how you should feel if you’re a fan of a team that lost in the playoffs. Two of them lost in the conference championship games last week.
Baltimore: Cautiously concerned. I would say completely concerned because you’re probably going to lose half of your defense to free agency within the next year or two. Furthermore, your offense isn’t inspiring enough to me. Baltimore goes three and out is a phrase that happens too often during a game.
However, you were working with a rookie quarterback and head coach, two positions that are bad to be inexperienced in yet you made the title game of the tough AFC. I liked Flacco from day one. People were asking if he was ready to play. Its not like Joe Montana was ahead of him, it was frickin Troy Smith (who I still think has a chance in this league) and the perpetually disappointing Kyle Boller. Please. The Ravens made the right move and now have a legit QB to work around. In the end, the Ravens will probably not reach this point again for a few years but you never know.
Philadelphia: Laterally perplexed. I don’t know if that’s a term but it fits. Your team lost another NFC Championship game, so its like you’re not going anywhere forward. You have the most inconsistent good quarterback I’ve ever seen in McNabb. He looks like crap for a quarter, looks decent for two and then the last one you never know what you’re getting. You have a stubborn head coach who I would still consider firing. You have a front office that refuses to spend on offense accept for signing Westbrook to a long-term deal.
Furthermore, you live in Philadelphia, which should have you perplexed. Actually, Philly is one of my favorite cities, I just can’t stand the fans.
I think that the Eagles are in for some potentially hard times in the next year or two, like 6-10 type finishes to a season.
OK, that takes care of old news. Now on to the Super Bowl.
I stated in an earlier post that I’ve been correct in predicting the straight up winner of 17 of the last 18 Super Bowls and that’s no joke. It’s really not that hard to pick the winner which you will see in my review of each of those picks over the years from straight memory and not looking up old information, no bull crap my sports memory and knowledge is that good.
Super Bowl 25: BTW, we’re not going to use Roman Numerals. Sometimes I wish the NFL would just do like the UFC and just number out the games.
OK, so this was my first prediction when my favorite team, the Giants, faced the Buffalo Bills. The thing I remember from this contest was the week before. The Giants went to San Francisco and beat the two-time defending Super Bowl champs, the 49ers, 15-13 to get to the big game. Granted they needed five field goals from Matt Bahr, but I knew that this would become the gameplan to beat the Bills, who destroyed the Raiders in the AFC Championship, but LA was without Bo Jackson who injured his hip in the previous week playoff game against the Bengals. I knew that the Giants would play ball control and keep it tight. Furthermore, the two teams played each other earlier in the season and granted, the Bills won, but they were at home and this also allowed the Giants to prepare better for the contest. I knew that O.J. Anderson, the Giants RB and eventual MVP of the game would bring a big effort and he did. Jeff Hostletter did a good job as well, including hitting Mark Bavaro and Steven Baker, the touchdown maker, for a big touchdown in the contest.
As for the game, it was very good and Thurman Thomas should have won MVP of the game, even though the team lost. The Giants defense came up big, especially the secondary defending Andre Reed. Scott Norwood missed the big kick but it was a 47-yarder on grass with old conditions that were tougher on a kicker then than now.
The Giants winning the game was the moment that made me love sports but it also taught me to treat my picks like my house was on the line, all business. Second toughest Super Bowl pick I’ve ever made.
Super Bowl 26: Ok, that last one was long so I’ll keep this one short. I liked the Redskins all season and actually beat game opponents, the Falcons and Lions, in the playoffs. Buffalo was decent too and actually got past a good KC team with Joe Montana in the AFC championship game. The Bills looked even scarier this season than the last one but I just had a hunch for Washington in the game.
Super Bowl 27: The first contest between Buffalo and Dallas. The Cowboys were loaded, beat the 49ers in the NFC title game in an instant classic and wouldn’t be beat. Buffalo wasn’t ready.
Super Bowl 28: Buffalo vs. Dallas II and the Bills actually held a lead in this one in the second half. Too much Emmitt Smith, Troy Aikman, defense and everything else.
Super Bowl 29: Easiest pick I’ve ever had. You mean to tell me that San Diego, a team that barely beat Pittsburgh in the AFC title game, granted it was on the road, was going to beat Steve Young, Ricky Watters, Jerry frickin Rice, Deion Sanders, Merlon Hanks and that crew? Please. Thank goodness I was too young to gamble because I would have put my life savings and the rest of the money in my family on the 49ers. That would have set a bad precident. Furthermore, when your starting quarterback is Stan Humpheries, game over!
Super Bowl 30: I actually thought Pittsburgh had a legit shot of winning this game, even though they needed a failed hail mary pass from an underdog Indy team in the AFC title game to get there. But in the end, I just took the more talented team in the Cowboys. Neil O’Donnel helped me out greatly by making Larry Brown look like Nighttrain Lane, Lester Hayes, Deion Sanders and Ed Reed all wrapped up into one with gift-wrapped interceptions. Third hardest Super Bowl pick for me.
Super Bowl 31: Green Bay finally made it to the Super Bowl and beat New England. Funny story, both teams beat expansion franchises to get there in home playoff championship games. I saw Green Bay handle Carolina pretty solidly and New England struggle against Jacksonville. I went with the most talented team again and picked Green Bay.
Super Bowl 32: This is the second-most proud pick I’ve ever made and the hardest one that I ever made. I was truly split between Green Bay and Denver. The Packers were defending champs, looked great the whole season, no major holes. The Broncos had baggage with Elway losing three previous Super Bowls and looked average most of the season. However, when I saw Denver go into Pittsburgh and win that AFC title, I was intrigued. I liked what Terrell Davis was bringing on offense, finally balancing out things for Elway. The defense was legit as well. You also had the NFC winning like 14 or 15 straight Super Bowls as well.
I went with the Broncos to pull off the upset and it really could have gone either way. I was fortunate with this one and felt good with the pick. Underrated game by the way.
Super Bowl 33: Denver was going to destroy Atlanta, who got so frickin lucky to get past Minnesota in the NFC title game. I was so confident with this pick. The Broncos were going for the repeat, Atlanta was just happy to be there, Ray Buchannan had to piss off Shannon Sharpe with his whole dog collar thing, Eugene Robinson decides to get a hooker the night before the game, causing distractions. This was so easy to see.
Super Bowl 34: This is the only pick that I’ve gotten wrong in all of these years. I was a freshman at Vandy at the time and got caught up in the Titans fever. I was rooting with my heart and didn’t like the Rams. Here were the reasons why:
-They were too flashy -Played in a dome -Played on turf -Kurt Warner was too nice and got too much credit. -The media’s portrayal of Warner as the next Great White Hope. -Lack of attention to Torry Holt, Issac Bruce and especially Marshall Faulk, the true MVP of the team, because they were Black (I was young) -Dick Vermil cried too much (and still does) -Their defense was suspect -Didn’t like the owner, -Most importantly, what the hell was St. Louis doing with the Rams when they should be in LA?
I picked the Titans for all superficial reasons and not reasons on the field. BTW, if I hear one more Titans fan or even media member say that they were one yard away from winning the Super Bowl, I’m going to punch someone in the privates:
IF THE TITANS SCORED THAT TOUCHDOWN IN THE FINAL PLAY OF THE GAME, THEY WOULD HAVE STILL BEEN DOWN BY ONE POINT. THEY WOULD HAVE HAD TO KICK A FIELD GOAL TO TIE THE GAME AND TAKE IT TO OVERTIME. EVEN IF THEY WENT FOR TWO AND CONVERTED TO WIN THE GAME, THAT TOUCHDOWN WOULDN’T HAVE TECHNICALLY WON THE GAME FOR THEM.
THE FINAL PLAY WOULD NOT HAVE WON THE GAME FOR THE TITANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I FEEL SO MUCH BETTER NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I say that as a Titans fan and without hate but the facts are the facts. This game taught me to be cold with my picks and be emotionless.
Super Bowl 35: And I got my first test to be emotionless when the Giants returned to the Super Bowl to face the Ravens. I picked Baltimore and had no shame in doing it. Kerry Collins against that defense. Business is business.
Super Bowl 36: My proudest prediction ever. I honestly think that me and Tom Jackson were the only people that picked the Patriots to beat the Rams in the Super Bowl. My main reason was Bill Belicheck. As a Giants fan, I saw what his defense did against the Bills in the Super Bowl and I knew that he would have a similar effect in this game. I wasn’t worried too much about Tom Brady being in his first Super Bowl.
Besides Bill, I had a hunch about the Patriots. I also had a feeling that Mike Martz would find a way to blow that game for the Rams. Faulk should have been more involved in the game. If Faulk touches the ball five more times, I truly believe that the Rams win that game.
Super Bowl 37: Tampa Bay beats Oakland. I remember Tampa going into Philly and beating the Eagles in the NFC title game to go to the Super Bowl and rode that momentum. I was kinda going for Oakland in the game because I couldn’t stand Jon Gruden, Warren Sapp and especially Keyshawn Johnson. Hard guys to like. I did like Derrick Brooks and John Lynch.
Super Bowl 38: Patriots back in the Super Bowl to face Carolina. I went with experience but the Panthers gave this one a good effort.
Super Bowl 39: New England facing an Eagles team that finally made it to the big game. Brady vs. McNabb, Belicheck vs. Andy Reid, I arrest my case.
Super Bowl 40: I knew that Seattle would lose this contest when I saw Shaun “however the hell you spell his first name” Alexander get hit in the divisional playoff game against the Redskins and leave the game. Only while he’s out of the game, the Seahawks score a touchdown and he’s celebrating, jumping up and down, smiling like he won the lottery. Bad, bad, bad omen. Pittsburgh was coming off of road wins against Indy and Denver. I liked the makeup of the team, went with that and kept the streak alive.
Super Bowl 41: Rex Grossman starting a Super Bowl game. Next.
Super Bowl 42: Some of you may be saying that I picked the Giants because they’re my team. But if you see Super Bowl 35, emotions don’t get in the way. When the Giants lost the Pats in the final game of the regular season, you saw the blueprint of how to beat New England. You need an excellent pass rush with only four guys on your defensive line because if you blitz New England, they pick you apart. You need to play some keep away with a good running game which the Giants had. Finally, you had to not be phased facing the seemingly invincible Patriots which was destroyed in the regular season game.
Wes Welker nearly gave me a heart attack in that game but the Giants won and that was exciting.
Whoo, that takes care of all of the previous games. So what about the Cardinals and Steelers?
You will have to wait until Friday for my pick but here are the main factors to look at when picking your game:
1) How they looked in the last two games, especially the conference title games? 2) Experience at quarterback 3) Who wins the battle of lines 4) If stuck with whether to pick the team with the better passing or rushing attack, stick with rushing
That’s all. Good fighting and good nighting for all of you.
Its time for those Reflections. Lots went on this week:
Some old Mars Volta music for the start:
-Had so much fun with my MMA Review from Friday. The music selections were well thought out and my analysis was good, accept for the whole picking Andrei Arlovski to beat Fedor prediction. Oh well…
-Yes, the NFL Review will be back on Tuesday for the next to last edition. The last edition will be the Tuesday after the Super Bowl and then I start the NBA Review for the Less Intelligent or Dummies if you want to go that route.
-Appling for jobs is a bitch but so was Lassie and that dog was cool to deal with. Remember, no excuses and no complaints.
-Of course the big news was the inauguration of President Obama. Fun times for all! It was surprising to see the overall positive vibes from people. I actually saw it in two locations. The first one was at my computer through CNN.com, which was cool because I could stay in my office and watch it. The second spot was in a common area in one of the main student common areas here on campus. Dynamite grapes from catering, btw. Anyway, I was watching it with some friends on campus and we were just amazed at seeing our President speaking.
I spoke with my mother and she was so emotional about it. I’m cynical about this stuff so it was just another day for me. However, when I found out that my family members in South Carolina, some of who are in their 70’s and 80’s rented a bus and went to Washington D.C. just to be there. That’s powerful stuff. Those are people who have been through Jim Crow laws, Segregation, freedom rides, boycotts, lynchings, all of that stuff. I’m getting emotional thinking about it right now for them to see that moment, the Inauguration.
Of course you have jackasses like Rush Limbaugh. He’s not a jackass for not completely supporting President Obama. I have my doubts about Obama as well and I may have voted for the guy in the election. However, he is a jackass for hoping that President Obama fails.
We need Obama to be very successful for so many reasons in this country. As Ric Flair would say, “you may not like it but you will LEARN TO LOVE IT! WHOO!!!!!”
Actually, eliminate the WHOO!!!!! part and you get what I’m saying. You may not like Obama but you have to hope that he does well. Speaking of wrestling…
-I’m so hyped to see The Wrestler on Tuesday. I’m all about it. If you want to come along, just call me or leave a message in my comments section.
-Tried Friday Night Lights again this Friday and it wasn’t bad. I’m intrigued by the show but it definitely hasn’t made my appointment TV list. What’s my TV appointment list? Glad you asked.
One Tree Hill (don’t laugh) Gossip Girl (ok, you can laugh) Chuck The Office The Game Scrubs Family Guy WWE Smackdown
That’s the list of shows currently on.
-Watching Memphis face Tennessee in men’s basketball was odd for me because I was trying to figure out which is the lesser of two evils. As a Vandy fan, my distain for that community college in east Tennessee so we don’t have to go over that. However, you may be surprised that I’m not a big fan of Memphis either.
I’ve never trusted John Calipari since his days at UMass. I also don’t trust the whole FedEX connection with that basketball program either. When multiple times relatives of recruits get job offers from them, allegedly, something may be up, but I’m not one to judge. There’s even an underlying tension between Nashville and Memphis.
In the end, I went with Memphis because I can never, ever go for those orange hillbillies.
Memphis ended up winning, which was good however, it got me wondering why Vanderbilt and Memphis don’t face each other more in sports. I was talking with another sports journalism contemporary (yes, I labeled myself that) and we discussed it. They never play each other in football, but UT and Memphis barely play either, so I can kind of get that, but why not basketball.
It would be great for both programs and both cities, seriously.
-Worked the Vandy/Florida men’s basketball game today and that wasn’t good. The Dores are a young team this year and an NIT bid would be nice. I’m not even mad at them right now.
-While working at my official job with some basketball games yesterday, I came across the spawn of the Peoples’ Champion and the Icon to the Masses. That was tremendous. Uncle Marcel was happy to see the progress of his adopted nephew, held him and was vibing with the moment.
Don’t worry, no baby talk was instituted. Holding him made me think for a moment about how cool it’s going to be to raise a little one of my own one day. I can teach him or her how to walk, not trust anybody, bet against the spread, bargain shop, play video games, do the robot and many other things.
However, the spawn stared at me when I held him and started crying, probably because he wanted some milk but mainly because I was a stranger and he didn’t trust me, which made me proud.
-The no Tapout rule has been going ok. The Heidi incident was a learning one and I actually asked someone else out recently (I would give details but anyone reading this probably knows who she is so I can’t go there) and was told that I was a nice guy but she didn’t want to go out with me. For the sake of discussion, we’ll call her Mindy.
A year ago, this would have devastated me. Now, its part of the process. I will not acknowledge Mindy in public for appearances but she was actually honest about it, which was fine. We’re still friends and everything.
Dating is a process that all of us have to experience and there are some unavoidable parts to it, like rejection, especially if you’re a guy.
I bring some decent things to the table but I have many flaws. What this means is that I’m going to get rejected 90-95% of the time when I approach a woman. Those are my odds.
What many people, including myself, used to get hung up on is letting that 95% ruin you. Its even worse for men.
For all of the women reading this, at least the officially single ones, there are at least five men that you interact with on a daily or semi-daily basis that would date you or have “relations” with you in a second if you let them. That guy friend that you hang out with, yes, he wants to date you. He has probably weighted the pros and cons of dating you many times.
For the men, you are just one of those five guys when you are asking a woman out. She has options so the chances of rejection are so much higher.
It took me 27 years to realize this and since then, I’ve been in a better place with my dating life.
I’ve also come to the reality that I may end up alone, relationship-wise, my entire life and that’s not a bad thing. I’m OK with it. Once that pressure is off, no worries.
Just like death. Why fear for something that is going to happen to you eventually. We are all going to die. This isn’t like saying one day I may visit Omaha or I’m going to sky dive or try that new restaurant. You are going to die, everyone does. Once you realize that, it doesn’t sound so awful and the pressure is off.
Not saying that dating is like death, but they are both a process in life that all of us deal with. Heidi and Mindy aren’t going to be my last experiences but I’m better for them.
First, as promised, here are the five songs that I would walk out to if I ever entered a fight, with some antidotes in between. The song that a fighter comes out to tells you something about the attitude that they may bring to the table.
Some like to go with the hard rock like Carlos Condit with some Rage, which is solid but done by a lot of guys:
Some like to come out to a chill beat like B.J. Penn. I prefer this type of method. You’re going to hear the rap music, the heavy metal, but I like thinking outside of the box.
Honorable mention: Fedor Emilianenko. Fedor’s traditional walkout song, Era's "Enae Volare Mezzo, fits him perfectly. If I wasn’t accused of copying off of someone, this song would really be my choice.
#5: Fahrenheit and Chanbara by At The Drive-In
These two songs are only about three minutes each, so I would have to loop them. Some of you long time At The Drive-In fans may expect One Armed Scissor, but that’s too easy.
Saw some of UFC 93 and need to first comment on the Shogun Rua vs. Mark Coleman fight. Neither of these guys looked good at all.
I can understand Coleman. He’s just not a good fighter anymore. I respect the heck out of him and his career. He’s an all-time great, UFC Hall of Famer, the whole deal. However, its time for him to move on. I know that he had to cut weight to reach 205 when he’s a natural heavyweight and that probably drained him but still. He was a game fighter and the stoppage was legit. I’m not one to tell a guy that he needs to stop fighting, maybe he needs the money, can’t do anything else or just likes to live his life that way and more power to him. However, if I see a Mark Coleman fight is coming up, I’m going to treat it the same way that I do an Evander Holifield fight, just ignore it and hope the guys makes it through without too many injuries.
#4: Prayer for England by Massive Attack
This down beat track would be perfect to keep me calm when I enter the ring. You can get over hyped, mad and forget to keep your emotions in check. I would hear this, take some deep breaths and become focused on my task.
Plus, if I was fighting in Europe where Massive Attack is huge, this would be a chance to get a nice pop from the audience. Also, this would throw my opponent off who would probably have some hard rock song getting pissed and I come in calm and collected.
On to Shogun, he reminds me of LaDanian Tomlinson of the San Diego Chargers. When both of them were in their primes, they were the best in their positions, running back and light heavyweight. However, whether its motivation, injuries, age, these guys are a shell of themselves and you have to consider parting from them. For Tomlinson, it’s the Chargers who may have to release him and move on to another running back. For MMA fans, Rua may not be the same fighter ever again. He’s not even fighting like a top-10 light heavy right now and that’s a shame. And now he’s headlinging UFC 97 against Chuck Liddell, which I don’t get at all. I know that Iceman still has box office appeal, but Rua isn’t the same guy. It’s a shame really. He should have taken out Coleman in the first round but got winded and looked slow. Not a good sign.
#3: I’m Broken by Pantera
Walk would be another bad ass choice by Pantera but Rob Van Damm of ECW and WWE fame. Floods is a good choice for this one or Cowboys from Hell or you get the idea.
This is my favorite Pantera song for this situation because its straight to the point, the crowd would get hyped and the riff is sick. RIP Dimebag.
Let’s talk about the Dan Henderson vs. Rich Franklin fight from UFC 93. It was a good win for Hendo. He gets to become a coach on the Ultimate Fighter, fight Michael Bisping as a middleweight and maybe eventually face Anderson Silva again in a rematch that I would like to see. He outwrestled and truly outpointed Franklin in the win.
I don’t think that Franklin looked that bad in the fight and should stay at light heavy. There are some interesting matchups in that weight that I would like to see him in. He wasn’t even that enthused to return to middleweight, do another season of the Ultimate Fighter and possibly get a third beatdown from Silva. Franklin’s loss was possibly good for his career and good for the fans.
#2: Warning Shots or Sound The Alarm by Thievery Corporation
Thie first one is Warning Shots and the second one is Sound the Alarm by Thievery Corporation. I couldn’t choose one. I guess I would go with Sound the Alarm if forced into one. I like these downbeats because they once again would relax me. So much of fighting is mental and you have to have the right midset and this would make me have that.
Lets talk about UFC Primetime documenting the preparations of B.J. Penn and Georges St. Pierre. I’m anticipating this fight just as much as everyone else and this program has peaked the interest even more.
I do think that the editing is making it into a good vs. evil battle, even though showing B.J. with his daughter humanized him. They make it look like GSP is focused on fighting and is truly training while B.J. is just going through the motions, hanging out in Hawaii and not preparing properly. I don’t think that’s true at all. Both guys will be in there ready to go.
I can see that GSP may come into this fight tight. I’ll have a prediction for this one next week.
#1: Fade to Black by Metallica
Perfect song to enter to. The first part is melodic and will make you chill out. The rest of the song picks up and gets you pumped to start fighting. I can work with the either the studio version on Ride the Lighting or the live version from Seattle above. Either one would be fine.
OK, lets get to the big Fedor vs. Andrei Arlovski fight tomorrow night. Even though I gave him props for his entrance song, I’m not as big of a Fedor fan as many other people make him out to be. I like his calm demeanor, his lifestyle, the training, the whole package, accept for the choice of opponents he’s fighting.
I know that Fedor is his own business, but I’m tired of him entering damn Sambo tournaments, fighting crappy fighters like Hong Man Choi in freakshow contests. And don’t give me Tim Sylvia, he has a weak chin and is a weak fighter.
Finally, he’s facing a credible top-five heavyweight in Andrei Arlovski. If he gets by Andrei, then I will give him his props and proclaim him the top heavyweight in the world.
However, I’m calling an upset and say that Arlovski will get the win via knockout or ground and pound. I think that the Pitbull can nullify some of Fedor’s takedowns and out strike him.
Furthermore, I think a win by Andrei would be good for the sport. We need some diversity in MMA and this would help.
When I graduate from school in May, it will be a happy moment for me personally but professionally, I don’t know that it will be as happy a moment.
For at that moment, I will move on and find a new place to work. Unfortunately, while beginning the searching process, I’ve come across the grim realities of the sports management market today.
I knew things were bad when the Arena Football League postponed this entire season. Actually, I’ll take you back to about a year and a half ago when the Nashville Kats of the AFL closed shop. That was a bad sign.
I know some of you may look at leagues like the AFL or United Soccer League and even the WNBA as leagues that you don’t really follow and don’t care about. As long as your favorite NFL, NBA, MLB or NHL team doesn’t go broke or leave for another city, you’re cool with that and I understand that prospective. When I was younger, I was fortunate to grow up in the NYC and there were no chances that my favorite teams were going to leave for another location.
However, after seeing what the Nashville Predators have dealt with in the past few years with leaving and not leaving town, I have a new prospective of things and actually feel some sympathy for fans of the Quebec Nordiques, Winnipeg Jets, LA Rams, LA Raiders, Baltimore Colts, Minnesota North Stars, Hartford Whalers, Houston Oilers, Montreal Expos, Vancouver Grizzlies, Seattle Sonics, Cleveland Browns and many others.
For when those teams leave or end completely, those are countless jobs that are lost. Sure, the owners and the players may move to the new city and keep it moving, but what about the marketing team? The vendors? Maintenance people? Sales team?
I’ve begun to contact college athletic departments and other sports entities inquiring about possible job openings when I graduate and I’ve heard the same thing from all of them in one form or another. Either they don’t have anything open now, see nothing open in the future, or even worse, are in a hiring freeze.
One of those schools happened to be Stanford, which recently made the news about their impending budget cuts in their athletic department. The story is here for your viewing: http://www.mercurynews.com/sabercats/ci_11506962
Since its now public news, I’m not exposing anyone but I’ve contacted other schools which are doing the same thing.
What does this mean for me? Well, it means that I will have to diversify my options, which I always do and make some adjustments. I’ll be fine. Trust me, this is light work compared to stuff I’ve dealt with in my life and many of you have confronted as well.
What does this mean for the sports management industry? That’s a complicated question that will have to be explored further but it probably isn’t a good thing. If you’re willing to be an intern with minimal benefits and even no pay, the market won’t change for you. Free work will always be appreciated. However, for me who is trying to establish a career in sports and has had one too many internships and volunteer experiences, compromises will have to be made.
I always said that I didn’t want to go to certain parts of the country to work, but now, I have to really go where the work is.
When people ask me what I’m doing after graduation, I really have no idea. I wish I could tell them that I will get a marketing job with an NBA team or a development position with a Big 12 athletic department, but myself and my fellow classmates can’t make these proclamations anymore.
In a way, this may be a microcosm of the realities that the young people will have to make in our society in general. I’m 27 and have lived a charmed life. My generation, which I’m saying is 35 and under have never had to deal with a Great Depression, a Vietnam, a World War I or II, a set of Jim Crow Laws and subsequent Civil Rights Movement, a Holocaust, a Dust Bowl, you get the idea.
President Obama has been a representation of the attempted change that this country is trying to make and that’s a good thing. However, all of us are going to have to change our lifestyles for true results to come about.
I mentioned on this blog a few months ago that the people who were dealing with the unsteady auto market in places like Detroit should deal with their problems and find another job. However, its not that simple for them.
Its not that simple for me either but some of those people have it worse. I work in a fickle sports industry. What I mean by that is that sports aren’t a necessity. Cars are a necessity and if people are losing their jobs in that market and farmers who produce the food that all of us need to survive are struggling as well, I have no need to complain.
This was a rambling post but I was just thinking aloud or in typing. Thanks for reading.
Not much to hit you up with today. First, happy MLK day out there. Actually, most of you will read this on Tuesday, so happy belated MLK day.
Music for tonight, umm, I’m not feeling so good physically and mentally and when that happens, I turn to the Volta…the Mars Volta that is. Enjoy below:
-Why do I not feel good. Well, I have a cold but that can be dealt with. I had my first pseudo-break up in a long time today. How can I explain it without giving too much away?
Well, the girl, ok, she needs a name because I’m not going to keep calling her “the girl.” She’s was raised in Germany so we’ll go with Heidi. Well, Heidi was the one that I had the coffee with and went to the movies with, well, we decided to stay friends and not pursue anything more romantically. Cue the sad violins and the aww noises.
Actually, I keep it real here with y’all and I wish I can tell you that I was the man and told her to kick rocks or peace out or whatever the kids use to describe this, but Heidi actually decided that we shouldn’t see each other anymore, which is bad because I liked her. Actually I still like her in a friendly way but if she doesn’t want to date me, that’s completely fine with me and you have to move on. And its not like we’re not going to cross paths anymore, we’ll still be in contact.
I said from the beginning that she was a friend that I was spending extra time that may develop into something more, but that’s not going to happen.
This is actually new territory for me. I’ve been rejected plenty of times when asking someone out, so that part of it isn’t new to me. I’ve dealt with that. We really didn’t get too serious so the emotional attachment isn’t completely there as well. So this was sort of a breakup of a relationship before it truly became a relationship, if that makes sense.
So you know what that means, its time to continue my baller and shot caller ways with the ladies! Actually, that is definitely what I’m not going to do.
The cool thing about spending time with Heidi is that I learned how to interact with women better overall. By no means am I an expert on it, but my communication skills, especially my listening improved over this process. I also learned that taking things slow is not a bad thing.
But the most important thing I learned is that I can be myself and it still be attractive to a cool girl. Heidi and I didn’t work out but it will work out with someone else in the future.
-I’m happy that Barack Obama is getting sworn in for President tomorrow, I support the dude and may have even voted for him (I’m still not telling you who I voted for in the Presidential election, even though if you STILL haven’t figured it out by now, problems for you), but I would want no part of Washington, D.C. tomorrow.
Between the masses of people, security, traffic, I will enjoy the festivities from my home or office tomorrow.
BTW, you already know my feelings towards Mrs. Obama, but is it wrong for me to be feeling Mrs. Biden in the same way and you know what way I’m talking about? Discuss.
-I see that Little Debbie products are being recalled. Furthermore, peanut butter may be recalled as well! Is any food sacred anymore?
-I’ll hit on this in my NFL Review tomorrow night, hopefully, but Steelers vs. Cardinals for the Super Bowl, I’m in. If it was Philadelphia vs. Baltimore, I would’ve probably not watched.
There are only so many Baltimore offensive three and outs and McNabb missed thrown balls I can take in one contest.
BTW, I’ve picked the correct team to win the Super Bowl in 17 of the last 18 years and am on an 8-year winning streak. I’m completely serious about that. Ironically, the only team that messed me up was the Titans against the Rams in Super Bowl XXXIV. I’m picked for the Giants like in 1991 and 2008 and against them in 2001 and am 3-0 in those contests, so loyalty doesn’t matter when it comes to business.
Super Bowl picking really isn’t as hard as you think it is. Yes, I picked the Patriots over the Rams, no one believes me. I think me and commentator Tom Jackson of ESPN picked the Patriots because I remember the rest of the announcers laughing at Jackson for his prediction, but both of us knew what was about to go down.
Easiest picks had to be San Fran over San Diego, Denver over Atlanta and Pittsburgh over Seattle in that order.
Hardest picks were Denver over Green Bay, Giants over Buffalo and surprisingly, Dallas over Pittsburgh, in that order as well. Thank goodness Neil O’Donnel decided to play catch with Larry Brown or that pick would have been in danger.
How much money have I received for these efforts, not a single dime. More on this in the Review.
-I think that’s all. I gave you info on my social life, my love of peanut butter, politics and even some sports. Good Observations overall.
Oh wait, I owe y’all some Crushes and since the Australian Open started a day or two ago, I’ll go with Ana Ivanovic.
Hey everyone, its time for those Reflections on this laid back Sunday night:
First, some Massive Attack from an excellent album, 100th Window. Prayer for England, so moving…
-Sorry I didn’t get to my analysis of the top-50 broadcasters ever. Just couldn’t get around to it this weekend. I’ll get to it at some point this week.
-I did spend some of my time catching up on General Hospital and its been making a nice recovery lately. The Maxie/Spinelli storyline has been decent, especially after Maxie had sex with the poor guy a second time to just get attention from him. Jason needs to fall back trying to protect Spinelli from the FBI. Jason and Sam are going to get back together, which makes sense. Lucky and Sam are going to break up, I can see this a mile away and now Lucky will get back with Elizabeth, which is cool because she’s hot.
We also have Carly and Jax trying to save their marriage, which I was against at first but now I’m actually in favor of. Carly can get it, btw, I like the bad girl character but she may be too much of a DG for me.
For those of you out of the loop or didn’t watch the greatest show ever on MTV, Rob and Big, DG means Dirty Girl. Stay away from those fellas.
Sonny and Claudia are going down a nice destructive path together. The storyline that is annoying me is Robin and Patrick. She has postpartum depression, which is no joke. Patrick, take her to someone that can help her immediately because she’s becoming annoying.
Sometimes General Hospital gets me to the point that I’m yelling at the TV with these suggestions, its fun times.
-I’ll hit on this in my NFL Review some more, but I was really surprised by the Gruden firing.
-Pete Carroll needs to take a chill pill over Sanchez going to the NFL. Sanchez is going to make his own choice, he’s a fourth-year junior, earns his degree in May, his pro stock is probably at its highest now, especially with McCoy, Bradford and Tebow returing to college next season, so he has to go for the money. To get what I’m saying, here’s the press conference where Carroll expressed his opinions below:
-I was home on Friday night and I decided, it’s a new year and I have talked crap about these fans and that’s not cool, so I watched my first complete episode of Friday Night Lights. I think this is the third or fourth season, something like that.
It wasn’t bad. Actually it was decent. Was it life changing, ABSOLUTELY NOT! Is it the best show on TV, NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
First, the best shows on TV in some order (and I don’t watch all of these, but acknowledge their goodness) are :
House The Office NCIS The Unit 24 Family GuyThe Simpsons (still to this day) The Boondocks (if this was ever on a major network, it would surpass Family Guy as the most popular primetime cartoon) Mad Men Weeds Dexter Entourage Grey’s Anatomy (just kidding, that show sucks) Scrubs Law and Order Law and Order: SVU Chuck Heroes Gossip Girl One Tree Hill Battlestar Gallactica Lost Smallville (very underrated) Numb3rs (move it away from Friday nights, CBS!) Curb Your Enthusiasm Flight of the Conchords 30 Rock All three CSI’s, especially the NYC How I Met Your Mother Two and a Half Men Bones The Closer
You get my point and I’m probably forgetting about 10 more if I really think about it.
I’m tired of fans of this show, both famous and non-famous telling me that I should be watching this show. The ratings don’t lie. I’m not saying that ratings are the only indicator of if a show is good or not. Heck, a lot of those shows I mentioned above struggle with ratings big time yet are still excellent.
So Bill Simmons, stop dedicating whole fricking Podcasts and articles on this show! We get it, it’s a nice show, watch it, enjoy it and leave me the f*ck alone!
As for the show, it was good. If I’m home on a Friday night, I’ll flip it on and watch it but it won’t change my life.
BTW, some people, including the Peoples’ Champion and Derek Jeter would sing the praises of Minka Kelly and want me to make her a Crush of the Day, but it isn’t happening. She’s cute and I wouldn’t kick her out of my house, that’s the PG version of the saying if you catch my drift, but I don’t see what the big deal is.
What I was happy to see Connie Britton on the show as the head coach’s wife. Now that’s someone who is crush worthy. She looked tremendous on the show and was pleasantly surprised. I’m still a huge fan of Spin City and she was on that show, so props to her.
-Finally saw Cloverfield this weekend. What a crappy movie. Its been out long enough so I can say that when everyone dies, they all deserve it, especially dumb dude who came back into town to rescue his best friend. She was going to die so why risk it? That was a waste of my two hours.
-Didn’t see UFC 93 and from the reviews that I’ve read, I’m glad that I didn’t.
-That’s all for now, have a nice week everyone and remember to take a moment to relax because this life isn’t worth stressing over.
And furthermore, have a good fight and a good night.
Its time for that MMA Review. UFC 93 is coming up and I must admit that it’s a tough card to read. The reason that I say this is that UFC 92 was excellent with two title changes and UFC 94 pits GSP and B.J. Penn, the fight of the year and maybe of the decade and Thiago Silva vs. Lyota Machida, an excellent light heavyweight match as well. Furthermore, the Affliction event next weekend feature Arlovski vs. Fedor, a tremendous fight in its own right.
In the end, I may not order UFC 93 because I’m trying to save some funds but I will probably end up checking it out.
The two main fights on the card are interesting though. The fight between Mark Coleman and Shogun Rua. Both guys have to prove a lot to me in this one.
Coleman is a legend, tremendous wrestler, fights hard and all of that stuff. However, the man is 44 years old and hasn’t fought in two years. Mentally, the desire and skill may be there but the physical part concerns me. Also, Coleman can’t just continue to get takedown after takedown and expect a decision.
Rua has a lot more to lose in this fight than Coleman. Only two or three years ago, Shogun was the top light heavy in the world. However, injuries and lack of adjustment to the cage really messed him up. Finally, losing to Forrest Griffin was the culmination of all of these bad things. Now he’s coming off major knee surgery to fight a guy that has beaten him before, granted it was due to a stoppage for an injury.
I would like to see Coleman make a run and spring the surprise upset but you have to go with Rua via decision. Shogun is better in every aspect of MMA than Coleman accept wrestling. Coleman is too one-dimentional however, including striking.
The main event is Rich Franklin vs. Dan Henderson. This fight, similar to Nogiera vs. Couture, Wanderlei Silva vs. Chuck Liddell and currently Aoki or Gomi vs. Penn or Urijah Faber, should have happened years ago. Silva and Liddell fought and now we see this fight between two of the better middleweights in this decade not named Anderson Silva battle as light heavys.
Both of these guys would probably prefer to fight at middleweight but Silva is looming there and both guys have lost to the guy. The winner of this one will be in the next edition of the Ultimate Fighter and fight Michael Bisbing as a middleweight in a USA vs. Great Britain edition of the show. Actually looking forward to that.
OK, on to the fight. Both guys are skilled, former champions, been in the main event before, so nothing should faze them. Franklin is good at all elements of the game. I like seeing him as a light heavyweight, it gives us new fights to see him in as fans. He’s going to have to move around because Henderson likes the takedowns and has heavy hands. Rich needs to turn this into a boxing/kickboxing match.
For Hendo, he’s going to have to connect with those heavy hands and test Franklin’s chin, which we’ve seen from the Silva fights can be weak. Hendo didn’t look strong in his last fight against Palhares and needs to impress in this one to stay relevant in the UFC.
I’m going to take Henderson via decision in a less than exciting fight.
Here’s MMA Live below. Next week, I’m going to post my top-five walkout songs if I was ever fighting. Expect a lot of hard rock and instrumentals.
I’m writing to you from chilly Nashville tonight where the temperatures will reach the single digits and with wind chill, we may even witness temperatures in the negative numbers.
Being born and raised in the northeast, I should be used to this weather and enjoying it. However, since moving down to the southeast and living here for the past nine years or so, I must admit that I don’t miss the cold weather at all. My favorite seasons of the year are fall and spring, in that order, so that should tell you what my preferences are.
This reminds me of the first time that I got cable back in the early 1990’s. When you first get cable as a kid, you watch every channel as much as you can because you feel that if you don’t, you will miss something special. I remember spending hours watching MTV, VH1, Discovery Channel, USA and of course ESPN and the other sports networks.
The one channel that intrigued me more than any besides the sports ones was the Weather Channel. I was just fascinated with knowing what the temperature was in other parts of the country. It used to annoy me that when I was shoveling snow people in California were at the beach.
I will never forget one moment however. I was getting ready for school one day when the meteorologist was discussing the weather in the Midwest and went to Minneapolis. He or she said with a straight face that the high today would be three degrees and was actually happy to report that this was an increase over the previous days.
At that moment, I knew that I would probably not live in that part of the country. Even now, when Fargo, North Dakota was at around -28 degrees, without wind chill, that’s not even livable.
I know that this cold front will pass in a few days and things will return to normal, thankfully.
I just feel terrible for the homeless, people without heat and stray cats. I haven’t seen Spankey in several days and I’m concerned for my stray cat. Hopefully he found a place to sleep that is warm and I can start feeding him again.
-I’m happy that Scrubs has come back after all. I was very hesitant with the direction of the show in the past year but things are looking good now that they’re on ABC. I’ll hit you with a more detailed Scrubs analysis over the weekend.
-Also this weekend, I came across a list of the top-50 sports broadcasters of all time and I have some major opinions about it. Lets just say that two certain ESPN personalities on the list are disturbing, ok screw it. How the heck is Chris Berman ahead of Brent Musberger, Pat Summerall, Dick Stockton, Tony Kubek and Bud Collins. Berman couldn’t hold Musberger’s jockstrap if it came to calling a game.
Also, Bill Walton #39, are you f*cking kidding me!?!
That’s just a preview folks, I got major beefs with this list.
-Crush of the Day is Leah Remini of King of Queens fame. She represents the NYC hard, in fact she is from Bensonhurst, a section of Brooklyn. I’m from Williamsburgh, another section of Brooklyn as well. I’m ran with so many people like her, she reminds me of home.
I’ll always remember her as Stacey Carosi on Saved By The Bell, who’s with me? You remember her, when the entire Bayside gang decided to get a job at the Malibu country club for the summer. Slater and Kelly were lifeguards, Zach was a host, Jessie was a hostess, Lisa’s parents were members of the club so she just hung out. Sceech, don’t remember what he did.
The fact that I remembered all of that without looking it up is either a sad commentary or positive statement about me.
Anyway, back to Leah. She seems like the type of woman who would be down with you for whatever and not too prissy, if you know what I mean. She also had an underrated reality show on VH1 twice. The first one was about her getting married and the second one was about her having her child. It was called Inside Out and after watching that, I became an even bigger fan of hers.
That’s all for this evening. Tomorrow is MMA review with a preview of the latest UFC pay-per-view coming up this Saturday.
As always, have a good fight, an even better night and stay warm out there.
Its time for the return of Random Observations and Crush of the Day.
First, the music selection for tonight is some Fleetwood Mac. Stevie Nicks can still get it to this day, if you catch my drift. Rihannon will make you cry if you really listen to it if you are in the right mode, seriously. Actually, Silver Springs is the make you cry song of the Fleetwood catalog, but Rihannon is a little more upbeat and below:
I went to the movies last night on another date to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Once again, I’m not going to jinx this and give details of the events. If I learned anything from the “Joan” and “Amber” posts of the past year, its not to put too much out there for ya’ll to read. Why the movie choice?
Hey, she wanted to see the movie and I was darned if I was going to see Marley and Me. The dog causes trouble. Do I have to pay money to see this? At least I wasn’t dragged to Bridal Wars, that would have been rough so I appreciated the movie selection. Actually, I was looking very forward to the movie and wasn’t really disappointed but not overwhelmed, it will make sense by the time you finish reading this.
We’re going to do this bullet-point style:
-This was the first movie that I’ve seen in a theatre in more than a year. I’m not a big movie guy. I love TV but don’t have a desire to see movies in a theatre.
-When I arrived, there were two annoying high school couples there making out near the entrance. I’ve always disliked these types of kids, even when I was a teenager. I don’t mind forms of PDA like holding hands but you will never catch me having open makeout sessions in public like that. Furthermore, some of the guys’ hands were reaching below the waist, if you catch my drift. Not appropriate at all.
-Movie tickets are really expensive. I paid for both tickets and it ran me close to $20. I have the money because you have to remember that I am a true baller and dare I say a shot-caller, but still those prices are steep. I wasn’t mad at paying it but it was the principalities of the situation.
If either one of you can tell me what movie I’m referring to when I say “principalities,” just leave it in the comment section and I’ll give you a cookie or some pie or some gift in the future. And you know this, man!
-The previews were interesting and definitely in the vein of “chick flicks.” One of the previews was the new Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson movie which I will definitely not be seeing. Who am I kidding, I’ll probably end up seeing that one. There was a decent one of the new Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey, Jr. movie which actually looks good, I’ll see that one. The one that I’m on the fence of is “The Ugly Truth” which has the annoying blonde from Grey’s Anatomy and the star of 300, my main man Gerard Butler. It screams romantic comedy which I usually don’t go for, but its King Leonidas! I have to check it out just for that, maybe.
-OK, on to the actual movie. I’m going to try to not give too much of it away. First, take a nice nap before you go to it because it’s a long one. I thought I would be in and out of there in about two hours but three hours later, I’m hungry and wondering how this movie will end.
-Brad Pitt does a solid job. I think that he gets overrated and underrated at the same time. He’s a pretty good actor but not in the Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Deniro, Ed Norton and Denzel Washington in the right role level. He’s a notch below but there’s no shame in that. He has to play a wide range in the movie which you can figure out and does a good job out of it.
And furthermore, I’m a guy that can admit if another dude is attractive and not have some homophobic reaction to it. I can understand why the ladies love Pitt. There are some scenes where you’re looking at the screen and you’re saying to yourself as a guy, “you know, I’m not gay but I can understand the appeal.”
-The plot is confusing and there are some minor holes in it especially in the beginning and end. The one twist in the middle is really screwed up for one of the secondary characters. Its predictable in some parts where you know that something good or bad is going to happen to a character minutes before it happens. Like Benjamin has an affair with a married woman. I saw that happening 30 minutes before it went down. Overall, it’s a depressing movie on the surface.
-I was pleasantly surprised by Cate Blanchett in the movie. She plays the love interest of Benjamin Button. That’s not giving too much of the plot away. She actually pulls off a decent southern accent for being from Australia. Cate does a nice job and looks surprisingly hot in the process. I didn’t see that coming. Plus, she plays a dancer who has a, let’s just say entertaining routine in the middle of the movie. -I was also impressed with Taraji Henson, who will serve as the Crush of the Day. I’ve known of her since Baby Boy, a movie so bad it’s pleasant to watch. It’s one of my favorite good bad movies. Her breakout role was in Hustle and Flow to the mainstream. She also had a nice stint on Boston Legal.
Furthermore, while doing my research, she has a son named Marcel! She may have to crack the top-five just for that reason alone.
She plays Benjamin’s “mother” in the movie and has such unconditional love for him, its heartwarming. There were one or two scenes in the movie where it got a little misty near my eyes and a tear was almost shed but I held it in which is shocking because I will cry at anything.
-I want to get into the movie more but some of you may see it and there are so many layers to it that when I see it again, I will probably notice two or three other things not mentioned here.
I recommend seeing it, its worth a watch. Just be warned that true love will win out in the end and if you have cynicism like I do, this may not be to your liking.
Until then, have a good fight and an even better night!
What is going on people? Its time for that NFL Review, Playoffs Week 2.
You need some music and I was searching for some Mars Volta and CKY, but came across some Rage Against the Machine. I loved these guys in high school and college. I liked the earlier material like Freedom and the song below. Enjoy:
Before I review the games, some general NFL thoughts:
-Tony Dungy retiring from coaching is getting a little too much “the game will not be the same without him” talk, dare I say Tebow-esqe. Look, the guy was a very good coach, I think he underachieved with the Colts, overachieved with the Bucs and is right in between. Is he a Hall of Fame coach? No. Very good coach in this era? Absolutely.
I get that he’s Black, won a Super Bowl, a very religious man and if I met the man I would probably like him. But don’t give me this talk about this being a sad day. Dude did his job, wants to move on to another phase in his life, that’s it.
I think this is a prime example of “White Guilt,” which is something that I seriously need to touch on in another post, being portrayed in sports media. It seems like the sports journalist speak in hyperbole about Dungy because he is Black and probably want to make it look like they REALLY loved the guy and not be labeled as racist.
All of the accomplishments that Dungy had in his coaching career are nice but if he was White, he wouldn’t be receiving as much media coverage, especially on the positive end. My theory isn’t perfect but there is some truth to it.
-The overtime rules are just fine the way that they are. As I always say, life isn’t fair so sports shouldn’t be an exception. You lose the coin toss, play defense, which is half of the game, get the ball back and score. Peter King and all of these sympathetic whiners for players in the game need to fall back. If the Giants lost a playoff game in overtime without getting possession of the ball, I wouldn’t be mad at all.
OK, I want to do something a little different this week. I’m going to list each playoff team and state in a few sentences how you should feel as a fan at this moment. Just remember, its only a game and you have to move on.
Atlanta Falcons: Pleasantly optimistic. This time last year, you were still recovering from Bobby Petrino pulling an ultimate dick move and leaving for Arkansas, your franchise quarterback decided that operating an illegal dog fighting ring was a pleasant way to spend some off-time, your already sensitive racially charged fan base was ready to reject anything you did. Now, you have Matt Ryan, an excellent coach in Mike Smith, an all-pro runner in Michael Turner, a decent defense and you’re going to win the division next year easily because Tampa is not good, New Orleans can’t find defense and Carolina, oh, I will get to those Panthers.
Miami Dolphins: Optimistically resolute. You won one game last year and now you’re division champions, only in the NFL. You still have to make a long-term decision on Pennington but you have Chad Henne being groomed right now, which is a good thing. Parcells is staying, which is an excellent thing. The Wildcat formation has been fun to watch and you ran into the wrong team at the wrong time in the playoffs.
Indianapolis Colts: Mildly disgruntled. I hit on this earlier with my Dungy thoughts but I think that this team has underachieved in the past 10 years. There were several times where they should have been a Super Bowl team and didn’t deliver. You can blame Manning, blame Dungy, the defense, injuries, age and several other things. So as a Colts fan, you should be disgruntled a little about this, but you have to temper it because you have also witnessed an average of 10 wins a season for a long time. No one does this, not even the Patriots.
Minnesota Vikings: Pissed at management. You have the best running back in football. You have a top-five defense when healthy. You play in a dome. How this team doesn’t have at least 11 wins is inconceivable. Oh, I know how. Tavaris Jackson is not a good quarterback. You can spin it to say that he’s young, he’s inexperienced, he hasn’t been coached right. In the end, he’s not good. When you have one of the worst game managers I’ve ever seen as your head coach as well, that can’t help things. Brad Childress should have been fired yesterday. Seeing them try to execute a two-minute drill is so terrible, its enjoyable. Watch the final regular season game against the Giants for my point. They ran the clock down to SET UP a 50+ field goal to win the game, the division and ultimately their place in the playoffs. Never seen that before in my football viewing life.
Carolina Panthers: Mystified. How are you supposed to react when your quarterback plays that type of game? I don’t like blaming one person for a team’s misfortunes because it takes a whole team to win or lose a game, but Jake Delhomme cost them the game against the Cardinals. If they don’t change the quarterback, they won’t make the playoffs next season. If they get a veteran or even a decent young guy like a Joe Flacco, then they can win the NFC next season. Its really that simple.
San Diego Chargers: Cautiously Worried. You’re not going to ever win the Super Bowl, that’s a given. Those days are over. You have to seriously consider signing Darren Sproles long-term and parting ways with Tomlinson. I’m not saying that you do it, but you have to think about it. I actually think that lower expectations for this team may be a good thing for next year. They no longer have the fictional title of “most talented team in football.” That mantle goes to the Cowboys and we’ve seen how that turns out. Similar to Carolina in a way, they’re going to win the division again next season because the Broncos are transitioning, the Chiefs are rebuilding with Pioli and the Raiders are well, the Raiders.
I save the last two for teams that I follow on a daily and semi-daily basis:
New York Giants: Disappointed. Lets do this bullet-point style:
-I underestimated how valuable Burress would have been in this contest. I like many other fans applauded the Giants for suspending Plaxico for the rest of the season for his antics off the field, but he was sorely missed on the field. That’s why GM Jerry Reese was open to the possibility of Burress returning to the season next season, which I agree with. If you cut him, he will count against your cap. You may as well use him. It doesn’t help when one of the leaders on the team that can keep Plaxico in check, linebacker Antonio Pierce, was out with him on the night of the infamous leg shooting. No one else on the team steps up to Plaxico and knocks him down. Major problem.
-Manning didn’t have a good game, it happens.
-I was more mad at the play calling during the game. Jacobs got his rushing yards but they’re were far to many perimeter plays. They also were predictable when they were going to run the ball.
-In the end, the Eagles played the better game and deserved the win. I can’t get really mad about that. Plus, the Giants won the Super Bowl last year and to steal from the Sports Guy, I’m in Year One of my Five-Year Grace Period. All is still good in Giants land for me.
Tennessee Titans: Incredibly pissed. If you’re a Titans fan, you should be very, very mad at your team right now. You’re the better team than Baltimore and your mistakes cost you the game. Too many turnovers in the red zone. Missing field goals was bad. Baltimore only had two or three big passes the entire game and you still lost.
I also don’t want to hear about how the missed delay of game penalty cost you the game. It didn’t. All of the reasons mentioned above lost you the game. Chris Johnson getting hurt was bad as well.
Early Predictions for the Conference title games:
Philadelphia at Arizona: I have no idea about who wins this contest but I will be cheering hard for the Cardinals because first, it’s a good story and when your team is out of the running, you just want a nice story. Second, the day I openly cheer for the Eagles to win a game, especially a playoff one will be the last day I roam this earth. F*ck the Eagles! Who wins it, go with the Cardinals at home, why not?
Baltimore at Pittsburgh: Good game, no really major pull towards either team. I’ve never minded the Steelers over the years, the Ravens I’ve had beef with from time to time. Plus, the Ravens are boring accept for Ed Reed and Ray Lewis, at times.
Give me Pittsburgh by a decent margin. Baltimore isn’t as good as advertised.
That’s all from me, gotta get some sleep after sitting through the Benjamin Button movie. I’ll hit on that tomorrow.
Today was a long day and I'm just tired. I'll have a new post tomorrow for my NFL Review, but I wanted to give you something to read today. This is probably my favorite post ever on this blog becasue it combines humor, irreverence, slight seriousness, tangible information and great pictures. Enjoy below...first, you know I have to give you some music. Here's Neil Young:
Today at work, I found out that one of my co-workers wasn’t going to return to us and that saddened me. She’s a good person and I hope that she’s doing well in her life.
Today at work, I found out that one of my co-workers wasn’t going to return to us and that saddened me. She’s a good person and I hope that she’s doing well in her life.
One of my favorite things to do with her was to give her hugs and hold on to them a little too long. It made her uncomfortable because she has a boyfriend and she doesn’t like affection. I would do this to mess with her and it made me laugh.
I was talking with Mr. McMahon and the People’s Champion and now father of a future icon, Sawyer and we thought back on these hugs and laughed.
However, this has got me thinking about the levels of affection that we have with each other and when they are appropriate.
First some background. I used to be a chronic hugger when I was younger, especially in college. I would come up to girls and give them hugs. It got to the point that I was known as a hugger in the dorm. At that point, I decided to fall back and not be that affectionate because no one wants to be known as that.
Over time, I’ve learned to balance the art of hugging almost to a science.
Here are the types of hugs/greetings that you can give to someone and when it’s appropriate.
As usual, your opinions/contributions are appreciated in the comments section below:
-Here are some greetings/gestures you probably either want to avoid or never, ever do:
1) Air kiss. What is this, Europe? 2) Cheek kissing. See number 1. Actually, I take that back. If you’re in an international setting, this is sorta passable. 3) Bowing & Curtsey. Unless you’re at a formal ball, avoid this one. 4) Middle finger. Self-explanatory 5) Mooning. No one wants to see your butt. 6) Air quotes. This is just insulting. You’re not Chris Farley so don’t do it (I’m guilty of doing this one). 7) Crossed fingers. You make your own luck in life. Stop wishing like a pussy and make it happen 8) Loser. The movie Clueless came out over 10 years ago (man that makes me old). Stop using this gesture. 9) Vulcan Salute. Live long and prosper? I’ll live long enough to properly kick your ass into next week if you give this one to me, Trekker. 10) Hitler salute. Not a good look. 11) Any sports related ones. Hook em Horns, Gator Chomp, Guns Up, Sic ‘em Bears, Tomahawk Chop, etc. Even my Commodores have a lame one, try this one at home. Raise your right hand, palms facing out. Now pull in your pinkie and ring finger. What does that spell? VU. Awful. Actually, the Guns Up one is kinda cool. 12) Applause. Done way too often that it has lost meaning. We applaud anything these days, especially children. Timmy sucked singing that song, little Lisa can’t dance! Stop giving the courtesy golf clap for mediocrity.
-I’ll have some underrated greetings at the end of this post. Let’s get to the basics and work our way up.
-Handshake: This is the most general, basic, risk-free greeting you can give somebody. This is usually given as a general sign of respect and is accepted by everybody.
The two issues that usually come up with this are:
1) How long to hold the shake. You generally want to hold on to a handshake too short than too long. Anybody can deal with someone giving a quick shake but most people have issues with long shakes because they fear getting germs or don’t like being touched. Play it safe with this one.
2) How hard to shake. People always tell you to have a firm handshake and I used to do that for years, until I shook my sister-in-law’s hand one day. She works in human resources and told me that she will look negatively at someone, especially a man, who shakes her hand too hard. If you’re a guy shaking a woman’s hand, you don’t have to squeeze as hard because you can hurt her hands and you don’t want that. If you’re shaking another dude’s hand, it really doesn’t matter how hard the shake is. Just make sure that you have a decent grip.
-Dap greeting: These include the fist bump, the fist pound, knuckles, giving props and may other variations. Wikipedia gives a more thorough definition here (the whole “started by African-Americans” explanation is interesting): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fist_bump
We’ve all given this form of greeting to friends, even though I don’t see women give these to each other as often as men. This is less formal than a handshake and can be used with friends, family or associates.
I tend to find that I do this automatically with fellow Black people very often, even if I’ve never met them before and less often with people of other races. I don’t know why this is.
Obviously, you want to be careful when you bust these out. I don’t do these greetings in my work office, but that’s about it. I give pounds all day.
-Dap greeting and half hug with right arms connected: This is also a basic one. Puff Daddy is showing great execution of this gesture above. I give this one out to a lot of my guy friends and very, very rarely to my female friends. In general, you have to be careful with how much you touch women.
I’ve tried to give this move to women friends and they don’t receive it well.
Obviously, this is another greeting that you don’t want to do in your workplace often. It’s not very professional. However, if you’re kicking it with some friends, do it hard.
-Church hug: There are actually two definitions of this one.
1) The hug you see above. These are usually given in times of extreme grief or vulnerability. Funerals, therapy sessions where breakthroughs take place and moments of crying are just a few examples of when these are done. These are the hugs where you hold on extra tight and often wrap both arms around the back as a sign of support. Tears are shed and you bond closer with that other person. Sometimes these can last a minute, sometimes they can last five. I’ve been in both.
If the other person starts to pull away from you, let go softly and don’t force it, no matter how hot he or her is.
2) The half-assed hug. You know what I’m talking about. You run into that someone that you don’t completely dislike but you would rather see someone else at that time. This usually applies to the ladies. Women see that guy from across the room and he comes up and wants to use the situation as a chance to get closer to someone that they want to touch. A prime place for this to take place is in church because women aren’t going to reject a man’s attempt to hug them out of common courtesy. The ladies have two ways to combat this.
a) They do the full hug but push their lower back and butt far away from the man and have a soft hold.
b) They do the shoulder to shoulder move where the right or left shoulders are perpendicular to each other. Only one set of arms are connected in this form.
Fellas, if you get this form of hug, it’s good because she at least isn’t insulted by you. However, if you want to “get to know her better,” just keep it moving because she wants no part of that.
-General hug: We all know this one, no definition needed.
90% of the time, these are fine especially if you give these to family, friends, partners, etc.
The touchy situations are when you try to give these to people of your same sex. The ladies seem to give out their hugs more openly and have less unofficial rules.
Guys, we have intimacy issues. We tend to not want to touch another man unless it’s an extreme situation. I think that this is based on a latent fear of homosexuality, but that’s another post for another day.
Just remember to don’t hug strangers because all it takes is for one person to take it the wrong way and to attack you.
I show Chris Bosh of the Toronto Raptors (War Georgia Tech!) giving a hug to Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic and Rafa Nadal greeting Roger Federer after their tennis match. I show this one to explain how sports transcends hug rules.
I’ve known men who hate gay men and talk negatively about touching another man give full out hugs to another man in celebratory moments of excitement when their team wins a game or makes a good play. Kinda hypocritical, right?
Also, if you’ve competed with another athlete and they played with respect, you can give them a full hug similar to Bosh or a church hug like Nadal and Federer. Tennis players tend to go with the half hug because of the net, even though you can go with the hop over the net to give a full hug or give the full hug over the net. The analysis of this can go on for days.
-Finally, here are some underrated greetings/gestures:
1) Mouth hug. Nothing more needs to be said. 2) Thumbs up. If it was good enough for the Fonz, it’s good enough for me. 3) Namaste. Ultimate sign of respect in the yoga community and I wish I received this peace offering more often. 4) Hand kissing or kissing the ring. The ladies tend to like this move because it’s old school. Kissing the ring is also old school in the religious community and we all saw The Godfather. Everyone knows to kiss the ring of the Don. 5) Kowtow. Another form of respect that isn’t used as much in the American culture. 6) General hand symbols like hello in Hawaiian, surf’s up. OK in my book. 7) Bellamy salute. Hitler gave this one a bad name, but it used to be used during the USA pledge of allegiance. I like this gesture but understand why it isn’t used because of the Hitler. Damn him! 8) Roman salute. Similar to Bellamy 9) Devil horns. Only in the right times. Not every moment is a “rock star” moment. 10) Anasyrma. Just look it up. 11) Gang signals. Rep your hood! 12) Head bobble. Don’t do it in an Eastern Slavic culture. If in India, all is good. 13) Jazz hands. People mock this one, but I did doing the jazz hands once in a while, for a change of pace. Stop laughing at me! 14) Eskimo kiss. This is when you rub the tip of your nose against someone elses. So simple, yet so cute. 15) Puppy face. Gotten me out of a situation or two in my day. 16) And finally, raised fist. It means power and solidarity with your fellow brother or sister. Can’t go wrong there.
There are many, many more greetings and gestures to discuss, but you get the idea. Just use the right greeting for the right situation and you should be all good.
For now, I leave you with the famous track “Confusion” from the movie Blade soundtrack. Respect to New Order! Also, the inspiration for this post, Ari on Entourage.
