Again, it's like Twitter, only not. Here are 10 things to get you to the weekend:
-Brady looked much better than expected in last night's preseason game. It's always tougher mentally to come back from an injury than it is the physical side, cause after a year without getting whacked Brady probably feels the best he has in years. It's that little part of his brain that will freak out anytime a lineman falls by his legs that he's going to have to get over and so far, so good. He was sharper than I expected and other than the one pass that turned into an interception, he wasn't hesitating to step into throws. The biggest moment of the night for me, however, was when he dove for the first down on 4th and short. Shows confidence in the knee and that's a play the Patriots need to know they can pull off.
-I guarantee, of those Patriot fans who already had their fantasy football drafts, half tried to claim Chris Baker this morning.
-You know who no one will be lining up to draft? Laurence Maroney. As he ran into the pile again and again for no gain I was reminded of how nice it was to have a guy like Corey Dillon who ran into the pile, but still managed to push it so that it was 2nd and 8 instead of 2nd and 10. The Patriots' running game is a big question going forward.
-While you can assume that teams in Cleveland, Denver and Kansas City are lining up to claim anyone that the Patriots waive, it seems like the Patriots are going to see who Oakland gets rid of. Seriously - Moss, Walter, Burgess all brought over from the Raiders. Belichick must just think if he can wash the Raiders off of them then he can turn them back in to productive players again.
-Perfect example of another a guy another team would scoop up is Julian Edelman. He does a good job of acting just like Wes Welker, but when you have the actual Wes Welker on the roster, do you also need his doppelganger? Not really, so he may not make the 53 man roster. However, he would be a nice insurance policy. But if the Patriots cut him and try to sneak him on the practice squad you'd have to imagine Denver would love for him to sign with them and fill the Wes Welker role in their offense.
-I don't get the Vick-to-the-Eagles signing. I get why a team would sign Vick - this is a land of second chances, he's paid his debt to society - all of that. I just don't get why this team signed Vick. You've got one guy who's always been on shaky ground with the fans (McNabb), who the crowds will be calling to replace the first time the team loses, and another guy (Kolb) who's the heir apparent. You wouldn't bring in Vick and all the PETA headaches that come with him just to stick him on the bench as the third guy, so where does he fit?
-So, there are new batting helmets designed by Rawlings, which allegedly can withstand the impact of a baseball up to 100 mph. The current helmets only have tolerance up to 70 mph. Some major league players don't want to wear them, cause they look a little strange. Now, I'll ignore the stupidity of that for one second (actually, I won't - I'll just ask: how stupid will you look when you have to drink all your food through a straw?) and instead focus on this - what major league pitcher is only throwing 70 mph? Even Wakefield gets into the 80's with his fastball. How were these batting helmets allowed to stick around for this long?
-Most of the time, when a team is having trouble getting people to sign up for season ticket packages, they go out and trade for a big-name player. The Nets are going a different route - they'll just give you the jerseys of good players from other teams. Nothing says "We're rebuilding... slowly" quite like giving away reversible jerseys so fans can switch allegiances at halftime.
-While we're on the subject, the reversible jersey might be the worst invention in fandom of the last 15 years. I bought one when I was young and stupid. It was Curtis Martin on one side and Terry Glenn on the other. I missed twice.
-Normally, one crappy NBA player's expiring contract getting traded for another's wouldn't even catch my eye. Except for two things:
1.) It's Quentin Richardson, getting traded for the fourth time in less than three months.
2.) He's getting traded for Mark Blount's hideous contract. Fun fact: when Blount signed that deal with the Celtics, I wrote an article for InsideHoops.com defending the deal. It led to the first time I ever Googled myself and found an entire blog post, written by some random fan, dedicated to how much of an idiot I must be. Big moment in my writing career.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Water Wizz
So, my mom brought this article to my attention, which is about Adam Sandler and crew filming a movie down in Wareham this weekend. Turns out that they're going to be taking over Water Wizz, which is the local water slide place. At first I was confused as to why they would choose Wareham to film this scene, but the more I thought about it I realised that Massachusetts is not exactly known for it's water parks and pickings were probably slim. As a bonus next summer when this movie comes out I'll be able to say, "I've been there." (This by the way, is why you don't want to watch The Departed with me, cause I say it throughout the movie.)
This article also springs a memory to life: when we were kids and would go down to Wareham, all we wanted to do was go to Water Wizz. It was not cheap to go to (especially with 4 kids) and when you consider it was only like 3 water slides you were not really getting much bang for your buck. As a result, my parents were reluctant to take us. Plus, as they would point out, our house is a block from the ocean and that's free. Our counterpoint was that the ocean does not feature any water slides and therefore can not be as good. We were persistent as kids (especially Amy) and we would nag and nag all week, usually to no avail. But, a couple times my parents finally caved and agree to take us on Saturday. As it turned out, usually that Saturday was cold and rainy and no one wanted to go to the water park anymore. Stupid Mother Nature.
-So, apparently golf has cleared the first hurdle and is on the way to becoming an Olympic sport again. I think it's a good idea in principle, but it needs to be tweaked. They want to just do a straight 72 hole tournament for the gold. That's really boring. What they should do is make it a team event, like the Ryder Cup and mix in a best ball or scramble format. Also, no caddies. I think it would be really cool to see Tiger Woods have to carry his own bag for the first time in a couple decades.
This article also springs a memory to life: when we were kids and would go down to Wareham, all we wanted to do was go to Water Wizz. It was not cheap to go to (especially with 4 kids) and when you consider it was only like 3 water slides you were not really getting much bang for your buck. As a result, my parents were reluctant to take us. Plus, as they would point out, our house is a block from the ocean and that's free. Our counterpoint was that the ocean does not feature any water slides and therefore can not be as good. We were persistent as kids (especially Amy) and we would nag and nag all week, usually to no avail. But, a couple times my parents finally caved and agree to take us on Saturday. As it turned out, usually that Saturday was cold and rainy and no one wanted to go to the water park anymore. Stupid Mother Nature.
-So, apparently golf has cleared the first hurdle and is on the way to becoming an Olympic sport again. I think it's a good idea in principle, but it needs to be tweaked. They want to just do a straight 72 hole tournament for the gold. That's really boring. What they should do is make it a team event, like the Ryder Cup and mix in a best ball or scramble format. Also, no caddies. I think it would be really cool to see Tiger Woods have to carry his own bag for the first time in a couple decades.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Fore!
I love this Tiger Woods story that came out early in the week. For those of you who may not have heard about it, here's the quick recap: On Sunday Tiger and Padraig Harrington were in the last group playing with the lead. Harrington was -11, Woods was -10 and the next closest guy was at -8. Baring two major collapses, the winner was coming from the final group. On the 16th tee Woods and Harrington were told they were being put on the clock for slow play. Harrington, clearly a little bit rattled and thus off his normal rhythm triple bogey for an 8. Woods birdied the hole. Tournament over.
Afterwards, Woods said that the rules official "got in the way" of a good match and shouldn't have said anything. That night there was a story that Tiger was being fined for criticizing a Tour official. The next day Tiger said that no one told him that and he wasn't being fine. I can only imagine that it was because the conversation went something like this:
Now, on the one hand the rule is the rule so I can see why they put Harrington and Woods on the clock. There is no point to have rules if you're not going to enforce them. Frankly, I wish they would do this more on the local muny courses and maybe a round wouldn't take me four and half hours. But, these were the only two guys on the course so they weren't holding anyone else up and clearly, at this point, the winner was going to be one of these two guys. Every now and again you can let some stuff slide. Plus, it's not like they were going to be way over - 5 minutes tops. I can't imagine that the ratings for the evening news would suffer that much. It was the equivalent of pulling someone over for speeding when they're going 47 in a 45. Sometimes you can look the other way, is the point.
-Tiger's win was his second in a row and the 4th time this year that he's won the tournament before a Major. Seeing as how he hasn't won a Major this year, I'm not picking him for the PGA Championship. Hazeltine National is stupidly long this year (7,600+ yards) so you need to be a big hitter with accuracy. Sounds just like Tiger. But, I'm still not falling for it and instead I'm going with Hunter Mahan. Hunter, I apologize in advance.
-Not that I had any pressing urge to go there anyway, but now that Venezuela has seen an increase in the anti-golf push across the country, I'm really not adding it to my travel destination wish list.
Afterwards, Woods said that the rules official "got in the way" of a good match and shouldn't have said anything. That night there was a story that Tiger was being fined for criticizing a Tour official. The next day Tiger said that no one told him that and he wasn't being fine. I can only imagine that it was because the conversation went something like this:
PGA Official: Tiger, we can't have you criticizing our officials on TV. We're going to fine you for that.
Tiger: No, you're not.
PGA Official: Good call. But, don't do it again.
Tiger, staring a hole through him: ...
PGA Official: Then again, if you see something that could be corrected, feel free to speak up.
Now, on the one hand the rule is the rule so I can see why they put Harrington and Woods on the clock. There is no point to have rules if you're not going to enforce them. Frankly, I wish they would do this more on the local muny courses and maybe a round wouldn't take me four and half hours. But, these were the only two guys on the course so they weren't holding anyone else up and clearly, at this point, the winner was going to be one of these two guys. Every now and again you can let some stuff slide. Plus, it's not like they were going to be way over - 5 minutes tops. I can't imagine that the ratings for the evening news would suffer that much. It was the equivalent of pulling someone over for speeding when they're going 47 in a 45. Sometimes you can look the other way, is the point.
-Tiger's win was his second in a row and the 4th time this year that he's won the tournament before a Major. Seeing as how he hasn't won a Major this year, I'm not picking him for the PGA Championship. Hazeltine National is stupidly long this year (7,600+ yards) so you need to be a big hitter with accuracy. Sounds just like Tiger. But, I'm still not falling for it and instead I'm going with Hunter Mahan. Hunter, I apologize in advance.
-Not that I had any pressing urge to go there anyway, but now that Venezuela has seen an increase in the anti-golf push across the country, I'm really not adding it to my travel destination wish list.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
It's Not The Heat...
It's really been humid around here lately. It's that kind of humid that when the wind blows it's not refreshing - it just feels like someone blowing their hot breath in your face (how's that for a visual?). As a result, I've been hiding in the air conditioning and don't have much for you today, so you're just getting some Celtic Quick Hits.
-I've got to say that I love the Celtics resigning Glenn Davis for that contract. I wasn't totally for the move when it looked like he was going to be able to get big bucks, but with the free agent market drying up pretty quickly and teams not having the cap space they expected, Davis was left with few options that would pay him well and put him on a good team. So, with all things pretty much equal, he signed with the Celtics for 2 years and $6 million and for once an NBA player has signed a contract that is in line with what he should be paid. In two years when the market is better he can try for a better contract somewhere else or the Celtics could have more money to give him with Rasheed Wallace and Ray Allen off the books. But, really, what this does is solidify the fact that the team has two years to pull in another championship. After that it may be back to lottery land.
-I also like the Shelden Williams deal. I think he can be a solid player. He was just the product of being taken way too high in a bad draft and so he's had the bust label following him around ever since. The thing about Duke players is that they never seem to be guys you can build a franchise around, but they are always solid contributors on good teams. He'll make a good sub for Perk.
-I was thinking about going out to be the new Lucky at Celtics games. I figure I have the spirit and I would really like to go to all the home games for free. But, something tells me I'm too big to be taken seriously as a Leprechaun.
-I've got to say that I love the Celtics resigning Glenn Davis for that contract. I wasn't totally for the move when it looked like he was going to be able to get big bucks, but with the free agent market drying up pretty quickly and teams not having the cap space they expected, Davis was left with few options that would pay him well and put him on a good team. So, with all things pretty much equal, he signed with the Celtics for 2 years and $6 million and for once an NBA player has signed a contract that is in line with what he should be paid. In two years when the market is better he can try for a better contract somewhere else or the Celtics could have more money to give him with Rasheed Wallace and Ray Allen off the books. But, really, what this does is solidify the fact that the team has two years to pull in another championship. After that it may be back to lottery land.
-I also like the Shelden Williams deal. I think he can be a solid player. He was just the product of being taken way too high in a bad draft and so he's had the bust label following him around ever since. The thing about Duke players is that they never seem to be guys you can build a franchise around, but they are always solid contributors on good teams. He'll make a good sub for Perk.
-I was thinking about going out to be the new Lucky at Celtics games. I figure I have the spirit and I would really like to go to all the home games for free. But, something tells me I'm too big to be taken seriously as a Leprechaun.
Monday, August 10, 2009
The State of Music
After a prolonged period of procrastination, I've finally gotten back to updating my iTunes library. I'm making sure that the music that is on there is up to date with the correct album information and cover art. In addition, I've been going through my CD collection and adding music that had previously escaped being put in the library. I have a habit of going away from certain music for a long period of time. For example, I love Van Halen, but I have gone through a bit of a lull with them and haven't listened in a long while, so they weren't on my iTunes. But, that problem has since been corrected.
The second part of this music project was going through a large collection of mixed CDs that I had made when I had access to a radio station's music catalog. This is where I found a lot of songs of artists that I enjoyed, just not enough to buy the entire album. Anyways, as I was uploading one of these CDs, I found myself blanking on the artist time and time again. I could not, for the life of me, remember who some of these guys were. As I started looking them up, almost all of them were from CDs that had come out in 2005, so it's not like these were songs from that long ago. It got me thinking about how disposable music from this decade has been. For example, do you guys even remember the "Lean Back" craze? I had forgotten all about it until I found it on a random CD this weekend.
Another one of the songs on this CD was Simon & Garfunkel doing "Bridge Over Troubled Water" from their concert in Central Park*. Now, that's a song that stands the test of time. If I can't remember who sang songs that came out 4 short years ago, what are the odds that any of this stuff will be memorable over an even longer period? Moreover, do we even have transcendent artist anymore? Could anybody out there today pull off a concert in Central Park, or would the place be woefully empty? I can't think of a single act who could pull of a concert of that size. People say that the reason musical acts come and go is because people today are too plugged in, too hyper and are too quick to look for the next big thing. The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced artists would stick around longer if they put out some music that wasn't as pre-packaged and disposable.
*I know what you're thinking: "Tom, are you saying that you had Terror Squad and Simon & Garfunkel on the same CD?" You bet your ass I did. It also featured Guns 'n Roses and Kelly Clarkson. When I make you a mix CD you're about to go on a musical journey - strap in.
The second part of this music project was going through a large collection of mixed CDs that I had made when I had access to a radio station's music catalog. This is where I found a lot of songs of artists that I enjoyed, just not enough to buy the entire album. Anyways, as I was uploading one of these CDs, I found myself blanking on the artist time and time again. I could not, for the life of me, remember who some of these guys were. As I started looking them up, almost all of them were from CDs that had come out in 2005, so it's not like these were songs from that long ago. It got me thinking about how disposable music from this decade has been. For example, do you guys even remember the "Lean Back" craze? I had forgotten all about it until I found it on a random CD this weekend.
Another one of the songs on this CD was Simon & Garfunkel doing "Bridge Over Troubled Water" from their concert in Central Park*. Now, that's a song that stands the test of time. If I can't remember who sang songs that came out 4 short years ago, what are the odds that any of this stuff will be memorable over an even longer period? Moreover, do we even have transcendent artist anymore? Could anybody out there today pull off a concert in Central Park, or would the place be woefully empty? I can't think of a single act who could pull of a concert of that size. People say that the reason musical acts come and go is because people today are too plugged in, too hyper and are too quick to look for the next big thing. The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced artists would stick around longer if they put out some music that wasn't as pre-packaged and disposable.
*I know what you're thinking: "Tom, are you saying that you had Terror Squad and Simon & Garfunkel on the same CD?" You bet your ass I did. It also featured Guns 'n Roses and Kelly Clarkson. When I make you a mix CD you're about to go on a musical journey - strap in.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
That's A New One
One time when I was at the DMV, I saw a woman being given 5 chances to answer a question that only had four options. After trying the same answer twice she finally got the right answer through the process of elimination and was passed for her efforts. (She is currently sharing the road with you - don't you feel safer already?) They're not the most stringent people at the DMV, is my point.
Given that standard, I'm rarely surprised when I see people acting like idiots on the road. So yesterday I barely batted an eyelash as I drove down the road and was behind a guy who had his left turn signal on for almost two miles. While annoying, it wasn't that big of a deal. But, then he did something I did not expect: when he noticed that his blinker was on, he turned off his left one... and turned on his right blinker. He then drove for another couple of miles with his right blinker on. Apparently, he was just trying to even himself out.
-I think G.I. Joe opening with a $60 million weekend is just further proof that the life of a movie critic is one where no one really cares about your opinion. The few that saw an advance screening were killing it and those that didn't get to see it beforehand couldn't wait to put out unfavorable reviews on Friday. Meanwhile, I skipped out of the theatre on Friday and told everyone I know to go see it. Josh, who hadn't intended to go for a couple weeks, had his interest peaked by my raving about it, saw it opening night and loved it. It got to sting when word of mouth carries more weight.
Given that standard, I'm rarely surprised when I see people acting like idiots on the road. So yesterday I barely batted an eyelash as I drove down the road and was behind a guy who had his left turn signal on for almost two miles. While annoying, it wasn't that big of a deal. But, then he did something I did not expect: when he noticed that his blinker was on, he turned off his left one... and turned on his right blinker. He then drove for another couple of miles with his right blinker on. Apparently, he was just trying to even himself out.
-I think G.I. Joe opening with a $60 million weekend is just further proof that the life of a movie critic is one where no one really cares about your opinion. The few that saw an advance screening were killing it and those that didn't get to see it beforehand couldn't wait to put out unfavorable reviews on Friday. Meanwhile, I skipped out of the theatre on Friday and told everyone I know to go see it. Josh, who hadn't intended to go for a couple weeks, had his interest peaked by my raving about it, saw it opening night and loved it. It got to sting when word of mouth carries more weight.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
G.I. Joe
It's rare that I look forward to a new movie coming out. Often times I'll see a preview and think "I would like to see that," but it's more of an "eventually" versus an "as soon as possible" feeling. However, I grew up addicted to G.I. Joe. I had damn near every toy you could imagine. Until an age that I would rather not disclose I didn't keep many clothes in my closet, because they got in the way of the various bases I had set up around my room. So, when I saw the previews for a live-action movie, I was pretty excited. The movie looked good, but also I just wanted to make sure they didn't end up shitting all over my childhood. When they announced that the film makers were not going to pre-screen the movie for the press, I did not take that as a good sign.
Still, I was going opening day, come hell or high water. Now, I'm not such a dork that I went to a midnight show or anything (at just under 2 hours, I'm not sure that I would have stayed awake watching it until 2 am - it sucks getting older). I didn't even go to the first show of the day... I had the restraint to hold out until the 2nd showing. The cinema at Patriot Place is quickly moving up the list as my go-to theatre: 1:20 in the afternoon, the day the movie opened and there were only about 30 people in the theatre. Not sure if this speaks more to the movie or the theatre, but I'll take the space when I can get it and I had most of the row to myself. It's better than the alternative of being surrounded by people who insist on talking. I got there admittedly pretty early (and I got a free movie poster out of it - go me) and braced myself for what potentially could have been a bad experience. Happily, I was way off.
This movie was fucking fantastic. It had a ton of action, wasn't too reliant on the green-screen technology and the story moved at a pretty brisk pace. As with all of these kinds of movies (based on comic books and so the dork half of the theatre is way ahead of the other half), they had to take time to tell the back stories of some of the characters, but they worked it in pretty well, not holding the rest of the story up too much. To further keep the dorks happy they snuck in enough elements of the TV show and the comic books, with references to kung-fu grip and knowing being half the battle, to make my inner geek jump up and cheer. My only complaint is that, again, with most comic book movies, it almost felt like this movie was just a set-up for the sequel. It doesn't really end, just more like it takes a pause. You can tell the sequel is already green-lit by the fact that they had guys like Brendan Fraser in for 2 scenes - he wouldn't have agreed to such a small part unless he has a bigger role next movie.
Now, I won't be surprised when the critics kill this movie. But, I would just like to say in its defense that this isn't a movie made for critics. Of course these people won't like G.I. Joe - it's not trolling for an Oscar. But, unlike Benjamin Button, things actually happen. If you like tons of action, then my advice is that you ignore the critics and go check this movie out. Hell, I'll go with you, cause I would gladly see it again.
Still, I was going opening day, come hell or high water. Now, I'm not such a dork that I went to a midnight show or anything (at just under 2 hours, I'm not sure that I would have stayed awake watching it until 2 am - it sucks getting older). I didn't even go to the first show of the day... I had the restraint to hold out until the 2nd showing. The cinema at Patriot Place is quickly moving up the list as my go-to theatre: 1:20 in the afternoon, the day the movie opened and there were only about 30 people in the theatre. Not sure if this speaks more to the movie or the theatre, but I'll take the space when I can get it and I had most of the row to myself. It's better than the alternative of being surrounded by people who insist on talking. I got there admittedly pretty early (and I got a free movie poster out of it - go me) and braced myself for what potentially could have been a bad experience. Happily, I was way off.
This movie was fucking fantastic. It had a ton of action, wasn't too reliant on the green-screen technology and the story moved at a pretty brisk pace. As with all of these kinds of movies (based on comic books and so the dork half of the theatre is way ahead of the other half), they had to take time to tell the back stories of some of the characters, but they worked it in pretty well, not holding the rest of the story up too much. To further keep the dorks happy they snuck in enough elements of the TV show and the comic books, with references to kung-fu grip and knowing being half the battle, to make my inner geek jump up and cheer. My only complaint is that, again, with most comic book movies, it almost felt like this movie was just a set-up for the sequel. It doesn't really end, just more like it takes a pause. You can tell the sequel is already green-lit by the fact that they had guys like Brendan Fraser in for 2 scenes - he wouldn't have agreed to such a small part unless he has a bigger role next movie.
Now, I won't be surprised when the critics kill this movie. But, I would just like to say in its defense that this isn't a movie made for critics. Of course these people won't like G.I. Joe - it's not trolling for an Oscar. But, unlike Benjamin Button, things actually happen. If you like tons of action, then my advice is that you ignore the critics and go check this movie out. Hell, I'll go with you, cause I would gladly see it again.
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