Sunday Reflections on a Monday

Time for those Sunday Reflections (on a Monday)

Music to listen to: Go Your Own Way by Fleetwood Mac

I’ll get to them later but this may have to be one of the best breakup songs you can come up with.

-It looks like my run as a fantasy football champion will be over by the end of the night. I blame Matt Forte and the entire Chicago Bears team for being punk asses and not bringing it this season. I blame Tom Brady for being inconsistent.

However, I blame myself for taking Matt Forte over Chris Johnson in the draft. I blame myself for having Ryan Grant as my main running back. I blame myself for thinking that Tom Brady was going to be in full form this year.

Every fantasy football season, my goal is to make the playoffs. I did that this year and even won my quarterfinal round before falling in the semifinals. Once you make the playoffs, it’s a crapshoot, especially with the real NFL teams sitting players to avoid injury.

Winning your fantasy football league is just as much about luck as it is about preparation. This year I just wasn’t as lucky as last season, when I had Phillip Rivers, Calvin Johnson, Adrian Peterson and Jason Witten on the same squad. That doesn’t happen often.

-I got tired of my CD collection in my audio system in my car recently and decided to do a complete overhaul.

I know some of you are in 2009 and have satellite radio, an iPod hookup or something else in your ride, but when you’re pimpin in your 1998 Ford Taurus, you have to be content with CD’s.

Shoot, I have a cassette tape player also if you want to go back to the 1980’s.

Anyway, my old set had a lot of Tool, Massive Attack (the 100th Window album, their most depressing one) and heavier music on there and I realized that I would listen to this driving into work and get too amped and focused on my job, in a bad way. I’d come to work angry and have an internal edge that would be great to have in a mixed martial arts fight but not at your place of employment.

So, I replaced that with some Fleetwood Mac, Minus the Bear and things of that vein. Its been an epic turnaround. I hear that stuff and I still come in focused but the chilled vibe of the tunes has made me a more calm employee, which I think has shown at my job.

-I don’t think I’ve ever heard a bad Minus the Bear song but only know the titles to about three of their songs. Their music is great but the song titles need to seriously change because they have nothing to do with the lyrics of the song and that’s too much thinking for me to do at certain moments.

-I’m sure Al_Roker is going to have something to say about my last statement above in the comments section.

-Fleetwood Mac, specifically Lindsay Buckingham, is incredibly underrated.

Actually, a decent amount of people know about the Mac, especially Stevie Nicks, but Buckingham is a beast on guitar and an excellent singer.

While I enjoy some Rihannon, Gypsy, Gold Dust Woman, Don’t Stop, etc. my favorite Mac songs are the ones where Buck’s influence is stronger. Go Your Own Way, The Chain, I’m So Afraid, Tusk, Big Love are all classics as well.

He’s a great songwriter, has a unique sound since he never uses a guitar pick and his solos are badass. Plus, he rocked an inspirational look in the 1970's which I have above.

So why isn’t he regarded in the same light as guys like Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Chuck Berry, Jimi Hendrix or even dudes like Stevie Ray Vaughn, Duane Allman, etc.

I think its for three reasons. First, look at his picture above. Screw that, I would give up a lot to be able to rock the full beard and curly afro right now. OK, two reasons. First, the name isn’t badass. When I think of Lindseys, I usually think of a female and you probably do too. Second, whenever you have a female lead in your band, whether it’s a singer or musician, you’re going to get overshadowed. I called it the “No Doubt/Garbage affect.”

Quickly, name one of the members in No Doubt besides Gwen Stefani? What about someone in Garbage besides Manson?

Its just the natural affect of life, especially if she’s attractive. On the Mac, you had Christie McVie AND Stevie Nicks, that’s too much to overcome.

-Looks like John Fruciante is leaving the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. This is an unfortunate event. In one of my posts about a week or two ago, my music to listen to choice was from the Chilli Peppers, specifically solos by John.

I’m a bass player and love Flea, but John’s the main reason that I even listen to their songs.

However, its rock and roll and a reunion is always an album away, especially considering that this was an amicable parting according to all parties.

-I’ll end on this. It was sad to see Chris Hendy and Brittany Murphy die this past week. Both of them were in my age range when they passed and they made me think about my own mortality.

You know what that means…another post about death is coming soon, probably tomorrow. Good fight and good night everybody!!