Red Shirt Senior

Movie Review: Transformers 2

2009-07-20T09:55:00.000-07:00

Optimus Prime, Leader of the Autobots

This movie was absolutely unreal. I will be the first to admit, I am a biased fan of Transformers. I loved them when I was a child and that rolled over on to my adulthood. I find the concept of it fascinating.

When I found out that Michael Bay was making the first Transformers a couple of years back I had mixed feelings about it, but I was more excited than not. I knew it would probably not have the best storyline on the planet, but it would be action packed... and that is what happened. Shia LeBouf is terrible, but if you want to rationalize it most people would have been just as annoying and dumb as him in the role, its just the way the part was written. Megan Fox being beautiful outshines his bad acting. I honestly feel that Transformers 1 was one of the best movies as far as action and CGI in a long time, it pushed movies to the next level.

Megan Fox in Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen

Which leads me to my review of Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen. I walked into this movie wearing my Autobots t-shirt and was a giddy child all over again, I couldn't wait to see what the story held for Optimus Prime, Bubblebee, Sam and Michaela and all of the Autobots. Again, I expected it to be more action based than storyline based, but that is where I was wrong. It had plenty of explosions and amazing action, but there was storyline that made the movie as good as it was. There was a thick plot, which revealed many unknowns about the existance of the Transformers as well as developing new plots to what is happening in the now. There were many surprises, and many different emotions ran through me as the movie unfolded. Times where my jaw hit the floor, times where I was laughing my rear end off, and times where I was so shocked that I felt like I was going to cry.

This movie has gotten many many mixed reviews, however I felt that this movie was flat out incredible. The ONLY negative to this movie, was that it was long... just under three hours long... and it felt long. There are movies that are long but feel like they went by in an hour because you are so captivated by what is going on. However, even though this movie felt long, I wouldn't have cut any scenes out of the movie to make it better and shorter, it was simply great.

Go see this movie. 5 out of 5. I cannot wait to rush out to get it when it is released on Blu-Ray!

The next movie that I will most likely be reviewing will be Tim Burtons movie 9. Go check out the trailers on YouTube, it looks awesome.

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On a side note, I wrote 5 quick tips to help improve your UFC Undisputed 2009 game and submitted it to the Madden Bible (www.maddenbible.com) after writer ZFarls (ZFarls on twitter) made a podcast and a mini-article providing 10 tips to help your game. ZFarls then featured my tips on the front of their site... check it out! Madden Bible is a great site for Madden NFL Football tips, plays, and schemes to make you better at the game. Go there, and sign up for there forums. If you are looking to get better at Madden, you need to go to Madden Bible. There are also various other tips for other games, such as UFC Undisputed 2009, NHL 09, NCAA Football 2010, and more!

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Steve McNair, 1973-2009

2009-07-06T16:46:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since I've updated this blog. Sorry to those of you who actually read this blog. To be honest it was pure laziness on my behalf. I was gearing up, preparing a blog update for the latest summer movie that I have seen, Transformers 2. But after hearing the terrible news from this past weekend, the movie review can wait. The death of one of the biggest class acts in sports is more important. Rest in peace Steve McNair.

I found out about it during the evening of the 4th. My jaw nearly hit the floor. "Air" McNair had been one of my favorite players of all time. I remember being a youngster and being with my mom while we purchased his #9 jersey, back when he was on the Houston Oilers. I still own the jersey and have it in my closet. I still wear it every once and a while around the house. Now it has such a different meaning behind it.

There are more and more details coming out each day about the circumstances of the death and his relationship with the woman he was with. I pray that there was nothing too shady that went on, and that his potential romantic relationship is something that his wife knew about (maybe there is a chance that he and his wife had had a rough patch and were on a break for a bit or something?), but one way or another I have to admit, it does not look good, which hurts to hear.

The Red Shirt Senior (Right) wearing his Steve McNair jersey at the 2006 Madden Challenge held at Gillete Stadium in Foxboro, MA alongside Boston radio personality Adolfo Gonzalez of 104.1 WBCN

Every athlete is hurt at some point in their athletic career. But there is a difference between playing hurt, and playing injured. McNair was able to play injured on a regular basis towards the end of his career. Every Sunday he would strap on the pads and go to work. I always looked up to that.

Thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends. Rest in Peace.

Shaq to Cleveland

2009-06-25T07:12:00.001-07:00

Damn. This shakes up things in the East a little bit, huh!

Cleveland gets: C Shaquille O'Neal
Phoenix gets: SG Sasha Pavlovic, C Ben Wallace, 46th Overall Pick in tonights draft, $500,000

This is all assuming the deal gets approved by the way. (I'll be shocked if it doesn't)

Initial thoughts are just that this is a shocking deal. LeBron finally gets the big man that he has needed. But unfortunately for him, Shaq is about 8 years past his prime. He is still a force to be reckoned with in the paint due to the pure size of the man, but he definitely did not fit in the Suns fast break offensive scheme which makes them happy to part with him, that on top of dumping his salary and opening up space for free agents and rookies. Phoenix getting Ben Wallace would have been big news 6 years ago, but ever since that championship Detroit team Wallace has been nothing more than a fart in the wind. He plays so piss poor offensively and his devense is getting worse and worse each year that he is just a liability to have on the court for your team. After reading up about Sasha Pavlovic, it appears that the Suns will likely cut him immediately and make more cap space. His 4.6 PPG and 1.1 APG arn't exactly striking numbers. You can never go wrong with draft picks. They could potentially take the 46th, and their first rounder (14th) and trade up, or even take the 46th, and their 2nd rounder (48th) and trade up with that.

If there is one thing you will learn about me, is that I love draft picks, there is so much you can do with them.

But what does this ultimately do to the layout of the East? Well assuming Boston does not deal any of the big three or Rondo, and assuming the Magic only lose Turk, these three teams will be the teams to beat, still. Boston has two solid seasons left in them with their current players, unfortunately, which puts a LOT of pressure on them this season. I think you will see different coaching philosophies this year by Doc Rivers and he will rest a lot of the big three throughout the season to ensure their health come the playoffs. Home court advantage is a huge deal, however if the Celtics can be a four seed next year, but be healthy and have no injuries to major players, I would like our chances.

The Magic will likely fade out over time, unless Dwight Howard picks up his offense. I had never really had a good opportunity to watch Howard play except during All-Star games, Dunk Contests and the Beijing Olympics (which the show was stolen by the best player on the planet, Kobe Bryant), but I remember walking into the Magic vs. Celtics series being scared of Howard, thinking he was going to drop 25 points per game. Then after watching him only dunk and layup, I actually was extremely disapointed in the kid. You hear so much about him and see all these highlights on Sportscenter, but the guy can't hit a shot 7 feet away from the rim. It's sad. Defensively he is a stud, but hes embarrassing on offense. Either way, without Turk drainining shots next to Lewis next year, the Magic will falter, even though they'll still be a top team.

Which brings us to the Cavs. LeBron and company will be an absoulte force to be reckoned with, as always, however adding Shaq to the mix doesn't automatically propel them to the Finals just yet. Shaq has always needed that big point scorer asside him for him to be dominant (Kobe and Wade). LeBron fits perfectly into that role, but it was the 2005-2006 season in which Shaq last had a dominant Wade. Next year will be 5 seasons after that, and at age 37, Shaq is by no means in the best shape of his life. His knees have to give out on him eventually, for a man that size to not have knee problems would be incredible. Fortunately for the Cav's, they essentially lost nothing in this trade. Adding Shaq is a risk because of his age, but for what they gave up it would be foolish for any team to not do what they did. If Shaq can somehow find the fountain of youth, and share enough time on and off of the court with Z so that they're both healthy for the playoffs, then watch out for the Cavs. But if Shaq just becomes another liability that LeBron needs to pick up the slack of, then watch for him to be traded at the deadline.

Either way, this shakeup in the East definitely makes things interesting.

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The Worst US Open in the history of the PGA

2009-06-22T15:58:00.001-07:00

So many stories were gracing the headlines last week about this past weekends U.S. Open at Bethpage Black in New York: Tigers return to the U.S. Open, Rocco Mediate doing the improbable again, Phil's return to golf after his wifes diagnosis of breast cancer, etc etc. But the only thing that seemed to happen was rain, and rain, and rain. It was by far the most disapointing U.S. Open that I can remember. This weekend I would turn on the TV and get myself ready for some good action and all I would see was the analysists sitting in front of the camera showing groundscrew members sweeping off the water from the greens.

Last year was incredible. A tie after 72 holes between the number one ranked golfer in the world and a relative unknown. An 18 hole stroke play playoff, only for that to go into extra holes... oh, and for the winner to be doing all of this with a tear in his ACL. The 2008 U.S. Open would go down in history as one of the best ever played, which left high expectations with the fans for the 2009 Open, however Mother Nature had other plans.

I was frustrated watching it, because I would never know when it would be on, and even if I started watching there was a risk of it stopping at any time due to the weather. And if I was that frustrated watching it, imagine being one of the players trying to play in it? Most sports involve a lot of flow and rythem, both of which golfers need to have. Players couldn't find their groove, and once players did the horns would blow and the players needed to get off of the course.

Unfortunately, there is nothing anybody could do about it. Mother nature should have been declared the winner of this tournament. But congradulations to Lucas Glover for capturing the trophy. Also, David Duval finishing tied for second place? Who saw that one coming.

I hope that the USGA takes a look at what happened here and comes up with a contingency plan for future Major tournaments. I am by no means saying that it will be easy, however, I feel like there could have been a better way to get the tournament completed. What that would be, I don't have the faintest idea, but I don't feel like there was a Major golf tournament this past weekend, even though there was.

Oh well.

Maybe I'll see a Federer vs. Nadal championship at Wimbledon sometime soon...

Oh wait...

Summer Movie Review: The Hangover

2009-06-16T16:16:00.000-07:00

When I saw the previews and initial advertisements for The Hangover, I'm not gonna lie, I thought it looked average at best. But in the weeks leading up to this movie, I had not seen or heard one bad review about The Hangover. That was when I started to do a little bit of research for it, and was please when I found out that it was from the director of Old School, and that Ed Helms was in it. For those of you who have been living under a rock, this movie topped the box office for the last two weeks. It cost $35,000,000 to make, and has grossed $110, 299, 949 in 11 days. Pretty freakin' impressive if you ask me. Based on some of these things, and about 30 of my friends saying it was the funniest movie they've seen in a long while, I just had to go. And I did.

A quick plot synopsis(bear with me, I don't remember the names). A guy is getting married somewhere in southern California and on the weekend before his wedding he goes to Las Vegas for his bachelor party with two of his best friends, one being a middle/high school teacher, the other being a dentist, and his future brother in law who doesn't really have any friends due to his odd personality and appearance. The four of them plan on going out and partying harder than rockstars, and as they have a celebratory drink prior to going out, you next find them woken up the next morning trying without any clue as to what happenen that night, and the groom to be is missing. Throughout the rest of the movie, it is the three guys gathering clues and trying to track down their friend and figure out what the heck happened the night before.

Now the best part about a plot line like that, is because *anything* could have gone on without it being unreasonable, based on how they feel when they woke up the next morning. They did themselves a lot of drinking which could have potentially lead to anything, and that is where the genius of this movie lies. As a viewer, you lose focus on "wow that is so completely unrealistic" which can single handedly ruin a movie. Believe me, I am not going to post any jokes or times where you could should pay extra attention to, because I hate spoilers as much as the next guy, and if you have friends, then I'm sure you have probably already heard 75% of the quotes from it.

I really enjoyed this movie. I honestly do not think it was nearly as funny as everyone made it out to be, however I feel like if I saw this movie before all of my friends and a lot of places saying it is the funniest movie on the planet and they would see it again in a heartbeat. I was very pleased and satisfied when I left the theater, which was a great feeling because it got rid of the sour taste in my mouth that was left over from Terminator: Salvation.

One of my favorite TV shows is The Office, and Helms character of Andy Bernard is my favorite character in the show. One things I loved about The Hangover was that it showed Ed Helms playing a different character, and he absolutely nailed it. To my knowledge this is the first major character he has played since getting his role as Andy, and it is refreshing to see him not fall into a typecast(see Cera, Michael). Sure, a lot of people could have played that role and done very well at it, but it was refreshing to see Helms do so well.

My rating: 3.9 out of 5. Why might you ask? Well as far as recent comedies go, I put this one just a smidge below Superbad, which I would have given a 4 out a 5 if I had a blog back then. While I would still recommend this movie to absolutely everyone in the age demographic it is targeting, I need to give it a 3.9. I can't even think of a comedy that I would consider giving over a 4, however there probably is. What I'm getting at, is that while I love comedies, it is going to take a lot for it to be even close to a 5 due to the nature of being able to score laughs.

One way or another, go see this movie, and if you look young, bring your ID's because I've heard of a lot of people saying that they were carded going into this movie.

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Lets Make Some Rule Changes

2009-06-09T15:27:00.000-07:00

It is no secret: I love sports. However, there are some things in sports that frustrate me and I think that there are some rule changes and general changes that could amp up things and make certain aspects of certain sports better. Do I think all of my ideas are picture perfect? No. I realize that, though practical, some of these ideas would never be implemented or worked into the sports, however the discussion is happening and I want to throw in my two cents.

Baseball: My only issue with baseball is at times the pace of the game can really be slowed down. Sure, a lot of the times it typically has to do with strategy, such as having a mound visit or two to give the bullpen more time. But it can be frustrating. Solutions:

- At the home plate umpires digression, institute a pitch clock. The pitcher has 20 seconds to get the ball off of the rubber from the second he gets the ball back from the catcher if the home plate umpire feels like he is stalling the game. This means trying to hold a runner on the bag or making a pitch.

- At all times, the batter is not allowed to step out of the box and take a practice swing unless he swings at the previous pitch, or unless there is a ball that could have hit him and he needs a few seconds to get his head back. No more stepping out every pitch and adjusting your batting gloves three times on each hands, Nomar. Keep the game moving.

- Figure out the Designated Hitter rule. Either implement it to both leagues, or get rid of it all together, there is no reason the American League should have it while the National League doesn't. I don't care which way, make a decision.

- Have at least one day game per day. There are 30 teams in Major League Baseball, this does not seem unreasonable to do and more people than you would think own the MLB Package and would actually be interested in this. Teams could charge less money for a day game based on the fact that less people would be likely to attend, causing people to call in sick to work and bring their kids to a game, this could be especially nice during the summer months where the kids are out of school.

- As far as Little League Baseball, ban the curveball. LL did a great thing by implementing the pitch count rule a couple of years back, but it is not enough. 12 year olds should not be throwing curveballs, end of story.

- If one team chooses, they should be allowed to forgo their attempts at bat and just stay in the field, re-setting opposing base runners every three outs after the seventh inning. Think of it like this, if the home team is up seven runs in the bottom of the 8th inning, taking their at bats in the 8th could be potentially meaningless, and a waste of time. If the home team elects to, they should be allowed to just stay in the field, and forfeit their at bats, and finish the game. If the away team ends up scoring enough runs to capture a lead, that's the home teams problem, but it could make things interesting.

Professional Football: I don't think there is much wrong with the NFL, and the popularity of the sport speaks for itself, however there are a couple things that could be changed to make things better:

- Get rid of the annual game in London. This year, I was livid when I found out that my Patriots are playing the annual game over in London. It just is not fair to do that to teams. And to take a home game away from the Buccaneers isn't fair either. While I'm sure there is a system in play where the Buccaneers will make up for the gate that they will be losing, a game at Wembley Stadium is not a home game, and home field advantage in a sport where verbal communication is key and crowd noise is a big advantage. And not to mention the fact that being jet lagged and adjusting to the different time zones will be difficult, only to then return to the east coast and waste half of the bye week in simply re-adjusting your mental clock. If the NFL wants to make itself more international, try keeping the game in North America. Mexico City? Sure. Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver? Fine. Just keep regular season games out of Europe.

- Play the Pro Bowl during the Sunday of the week off break in between the AFC and NFC Championship games. Players that played in the playoffs have the option of not playing in the Pro Bowl, however are encouraged to make an appearance and be honored as a member of the two teams. The players that are going to play in the Super Bowl are the only players that are officially ineligible to play who have been voted to the team. This would stir even more interest for the Super Bowl and make the Pro Bowl that much more watched. Playing the Pro Bowl a week after the Super Bowl takes all of the hype out of the NFL's version of the All-Star game.

- Get rid of the post kickoff commercial break. Yeah, the NFL makes a lot of money off of these commercials, but it slows down the pace of the game. It cam be pretty brutal to sit through the 'touchdown, commercial, kickoff, commercial, start of possession' sequence multiple times each game. For the fans sake, get rid of these commercial breaks.

- Fix the scheduling. While I think that the NFL has a pretty solid scheduling system, at the same time there is definitely something messed up. 2007 season, Patriots played in Indianapolis. 2008, Patriots played in Indianapolis. This season, what do you know, the Patriots are scheduled to play in Indianapolis. Now I understand the Patriots vs. Colt rivalry, and how the NFL wants it to happen due to pure ratings, however something here isn't right. I'm not complaining that we are playing the Colts every year, (the Patriots actually hosted the Colts three straight seasons from 2004 to 2007), and have played them at least since the 2003 season every year, but bounce it back and fourth each year, there is no reason that two teams that are not in the same division should play each other back to back seasons at the same site. Play one at one teams stadium, then alternate the next year, it's only fair. I am only using the Patriots vs. Colts as an example because I am directly familiar with it, however it would not surprise me if the same is going on to other teams out there.

- Change the overtime rules. There are two ideas, both of which would be better than the current system. One idea would be to make overtime not sudden death, and make it a full length 15 minute period, whoever is winning at the end will be declared the winner, and if the teams have the same score, the game will be ruled a tie. In a playoff game that goes to overtime, if the two teams have the same score at the end of the 15 minutes, then play another one. The other idea here would be changing the system to the system that college football uses, only with different rules. Rather than starting at the 25, start the ball at the 35, as most NFL kickers should easily be able to kick a 37 yard field goal. Keep the rule where after the third overtime the teams are forced to attempt a two point conversion after a touchdown, and starting in the fourth overtime move the ball back 5 yards, and then five more yards for each overtime until the ball is placed on the 50 and keep it there. Moving the ball back makes it harder for kickers and offenses in general. We can't have anymore situations where a team wins the game because they won the coin toss, got a good return, and moved the ball 35 yards to kick a field goal.

College Football: I'm going to not really say anything in this particular post, and save college football for its own because there is so much wrong with it. It will probably be soon after this post and will mainly feature how the BCS needs to go along with Pre-Season rankings.

Hockey: I, for one, actually agree with the rule changes in the NHL from a few seasons ago. The fact that they made rules that appeal to the non-fan was a good move, even though the NHL is the least viewed of the four major sports in North America. And personally, I would not be able to stand another season of watching teams play "Trap Hockey." There is room for improvement, however:

- Less is more; Contract teams. This is a lot easier said than done (based on what to do with the players, their salaries, the owners of the teams, and a plethora of other issues), but get rid of at least four teams. Try to figure out which teams the League can do without, probably based on fan-base, revenues, actual abilities, and contract them.

Basketball:

- Get new referees. The NBA is the worst officiated of the four major sports in this country. Let them all go.

- I personally like the fairly new rule that keeps players jumping from high school into the pro's, but I know that there is a very mixed reaction over this issue. I like it because all it takes is a freak accident for a player to injure themselves for their career and then they do not have a degree or education to fall back on. However, what if there was a rule installed where high school players could enter the draft if they earn a certain score on the SAT test, or some other standardized test? Due to the change in the SAT scoring over the past 3 or 4 years, I don't really know what is a good score if someone tells me what they earned. But if a score is set that the kids can get grade of or higher, then it proves that they are indeed smart enough to get into college based purely on their brains, and then allow them to enter into the draft.

- In college basketball, change the shot clock from 35 seconds to 28 seconds. There is no need for the shot clock to be 35 seconds long.

Soccer:

- Install a back court violation, just like in basketball. Put in a rule where you have 20 seconds to clear the ball to mid-field, and once the ball gets past mid-field you cannot return the ball to the defensive part of the field, otherwise its a loss of possession. A big part of the game of soccer is stalling the game because you have a lead, and also waiting to pick your spot because the game is very long, however I feel like if there was a "Failure to Advance" violation(like in Basketball and Lacrosse), then late in games, "full court press" defenses could be used and cause turnovers in the defensive end to make more scoring occur. The installation of the back field violation could also cut back on stalling.

That's it for now. I realize that some of these are unrealistic, however these are just some suggestions.

Do YOU think that you have a better idea for a sport, or that my idea is completely unreasonable? Let me know! Send me an instant message on AIM at 'i3rian 87' or Follow me on Twitter! and send me a tweet! I will be sure to give you credit for your idea/comment!

Kevin Ferguson in TUF10

2009-06-03T15:53:00.000-07:00

Staying on the topic of the UFC from the last post, it appears that Kevin Ferguson is going to appear as one of the fighters in UFC's reality show, The Ultimate Fighter. I have talked about this show before, but it was about two months ago so lets brielfy recap what exactly the show is before we dive any deeper into it. Each season has sixteen fighters, typically in the Middleweight and Light Heavyweight divisions and if you win your fights you advance farther and farther into the tournament. The fighters all live in the same house and they are split off into two teams that have coaches that are UFC fighters who pick the teams the same way teams are chosen in the schoolyard. The man reason I became interested in the show in the first place is because in my sophomore year of college, my roommate really liked it and it was basically the only show he ever wanted to watch, so we would watch it and I really got into it. The winners of the show are given guarenteed contracts where they make a good amount of money which tends to vary from season to season. But if there is one thing that this show has produced, is good fighters. The show has produced great fighters such as Forrest Griffen, Kenny Florian, Rashad Evans, Michael Bisping, and many others. But it appears that the only person on the upcoming season that anybody will even be caring about is Kevin Ferguson.

But who the hell is Kevin Ferguson? I'd bet you've heard of him one way or another under the name "Kimbo Slice." It was announced recently that Kimbo will be one of the fighters in the 10th season of TUF. This has spawned many mixed reactions by sports junkets of all types. Not much more than a year ago, Kimbos face was all over the sports world where he was the poster child for the EliteXC brand of Mixed Martial Arts which was broadcast on CBS. Now, not to play the spoiler, if you don't know what happened to his career, here it is:

Let me quickly set up the clip: Kimbo Slice is set to fight Ken Shamrock in the Main Event of the evening, however due to a cut that Shamrock received during pre-fight warm ups, he was taken off of the card and Kimbo agreed to fight Petruzelli one hour prior to the start of the fight.

And as you can see, Kimbo lost in 14 seconds after making an ass of himself after not returning the pre-fight fist pound offered by Petruzelli. Like the rest of the world, I was shocked as can be initially. Petruzelli was backing up and had put his foot out to try and keep the monster that is Kimbo off of him and in the act of doing so, threw out a quick jab and caught Kimbo on the chin which stunned him, and the rest is history.

Kimbo was a huge controversial topic in MMA prior to this fight because at that point he was 3-0, but had for the most part fought against bums who he should have beaten. He was not challenged in any sense of the word. Even going into the Shamrock fight, there was controversy because like Kimbos other fighters, Shamrock was way over the hill and washed up.

People loved Kimbo, and people loved to hate Kimbo, but however you Slice it(ha, get it?), his name brought the money. I don't blame EliteXC for doing what they did, because they knew as soon as he lost, especially against someone who is washed up or someone he should easily beat, people would not care about him anymore. But one thing is for sure: he brought in some serious revenue. People wanted to see him fight, and slapping his name on the card for a fight brought in the viewers(It also didn't hurt that EliteXC had a women's division which featured one Gina Carano... sex appeal FTW!). But after Kimbo lost to Petruzelli, the EliteXC went bankrupt and Kimbo has not fought professionally since.

TUF 10 is most likely Kimbo Slices last chance at becoming a big name professional MMA fighter, and it is surprising that the UFC, THE premier brand of MMA fighting in the world, would give him this shot. However, UFC President Dana White knows the business end of things and realizes the opportunity that comes along with having him on TUF and fighting under the UFC name. Not like TUF and the UFC needed the ratings, but they are about to get that much higher if Kimbo can win some fights. One thing for sure, I will be rooting for Kimbo. Who cares if he got his success by beating up less than average Joe's in peoples backyards for cash, he did nothing illegal by Florida state law. Kimbo is hardly the first to make a name for himself off of the internet, if anything I'd say I was jealous of him due to the fact that I haven't made my money off of the internet yet. Either way, when the bell rings on Kimbos fight in TUF, I for one, will be watching. Although, I hope he touches gloves with his opponent before the fight.

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- In other news, let me admit that I am officially addicted to Twitter. At first I had absolutely no clue what it was, but after using it for around a month and actually seeing what you can get off of it, I love it. Clearly it would be better if I had a phone that could access the internet and be able to read off of and post tweets, however as of right now I'm more than content. The reason it is so appealing is because you feel like you are interacting with Celebrities. Just four hours ago from writing this, Shaq tweeted this to the world: "thats right i am saying it today and today only, i want kobe bryant to get number 4, spread da word" If you ask me, that is pretty big of him to say that. Then two hours ago he tweeted saying that there was more to the modern Laker dynasty than Kobe and Shaq, tweeting "Why yall messin around I kno if it wasn't for big shot bob, I know we wouldn't got two of those rings, thanks horry" I think it is safe to say that the Shaq and Kobe feud is over, at least in Shaq's mind. Shaq is just one of the few celebrities that I follow, and like mentioned before, it feels like you're talking to the celebrities through this site.

- Good luck Randy Johnson, on going for win number 300 tonight against the Natinals, however it is unlikely if the game will start tonight due to severe rain.

- Good luck Ichiro, on trying to extend the hitting streak to 27 games. (My most recent Streak for the Cash pick was that he would extend it tonight.)

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X-Box's answer to the Wii (and more!)

2009-06-01T18:16:00.000-07:00

It looks like XBox is getting in competition with the Wii for active video games, with this video(click on the "Featured Video" towards the bottom right). And if it works the way it is portrayed in this video, then it will be taking a hot steamy dump on the Wii. That skateboarding game could be amazing.

Speaking of Video Games, I've been playing UFC Undisputed 2009 for my PS3 pretty frequently over the past two weeks, and I'm finally ready to tell the world my two cents: Like most fighting games, its always better when you're playing another human, but in this game it is a million times better. The career mode is pretty cool, it takes about halfway through the career mode until you really can figure out how you're supposed to be playing the game, and then from there on out the game is awesome. Whats cool is that the UFC forces you to retired 'when your contract is up' but what really that means is that you have about 30 fights in your carrer, which is kind of cool because you cant just string out your career because most guys don't really fight past the 30 fight mark. It is fun to take the game online and fight other people, because this game allows people to have so many different styles of fighting, however there are some downsides to the online aspect of the game. Unlike EA Sports games, the online menus are terrible. You pretty much have to play a quick match and play a random opponent. If you're struggling at the game and looking to get better you can't seek out people with bad records and fight them and if you're really good and looking for good competition you can't seek out highly ranked players. The quick match tends to do a decent job in hooking you up with similar competition, but about every fourth fight is against someone who is either terrible or incredible. If the menus were better, then the whole online experience would be a hell of a lot better. Overall, I am enjoying this game, and am having a whole lot of fun knocking the snot out of people and then taking them to the ground to tap them out. Get this game if you're into fighting games.

And while I'm here... people are pissed at LeBron for not shaking the hands of the Orlando Magic after they lost. My initial thought? Whatever, he's pissed. They were the one seed, lost only a few games at home in the regular season, and lost in the playoffs to an overrated Magic team. I'd be mad if I was LeBron too... guy dropped over 30 points consistantly in the playoffs only to have his team fall apart around him, or as I like to say it, depend too much on him. Up until this afternoon I didn't really care too much, until SportsCenter did a mini segment on it and Barry Melrose made the following point: He shook hands with teams after his team won, he talked to the media after his team one, but he can't do these things after they lose? Be consistant. Sure the NBA isn't like the NHL where the end of playoff series handshake is a tradition, and it isn't like MLB where the winning team celebrates on the field while the losing team stays in their dugout and walks down to the locker room. One way or another, stay consistant with what you do, and LeBron did not do that. A player of his calaber and level is going to be judged upon these things, and he needs know that and get his act together. I'm not saying he should be shaking hands, or shouldn't be, but he needs to make up his mind and stick to it. One way or another, I'm happy the Cav's are not in the finals... I was rooting for the Nuggets and the Magic pretty much based on the fact that those Most Valuable Puppet commercials were made before the Finals even started, and because the NBA would be so upset based on the fact that the Finals ratings would drop as low as the NHL Finals. As far as who I'm rooting for in the NBA Finals... I wouldn't say I'm rooting for the Magic to win, I'm just rooting for the Lakers to not win... so I guess go Magic?

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Movie Review: Terminator Salvation

2009-05-31T16:28:00.000-07:00

Been a while since I've posted, and I apologize people! I've been a bit busier than I normally am and unfortunately this blog had to go onto the back burner. Sorry out there. However one of the things I did this past week was see Terminator: Salvation, and let me tell you: Save your money.

I am a big fan of The Terminator and its sequel, Terminator 2. Terminator 3 was a bit of a stretch, it was cool for there for be another Terminator movie made, however losing James Cameron as the director was a bit of a let down and clearly the series took a punch to the stomach over it. By no means was Terminator 3 bad, if anything it was cool to actually see SkyNet take over and to actually see the machines rise up into power and Judgement Day arriving. The only thing that the series lacked was a movie where the war is happening, and that's what Salvation was... or so I thought it was going to be.

I walked into this movie expecting it to be two hours of things blowing up, multiple awesome battle scenes, plot expansion, and just overall badass-ness. When the credits rolled, I felt unsatisfied. Even though I had heard some reviews on the radio and television, and read some reviews in the papers and online, all of which said that the movie was garbage, I still had hope that maybe this movie would actually be good.

But I was wrong. Honestly, nothing essential happened in this movie. Nothing at all. All two hours of this movie could have been explained in the next movie in a 5 minute conversation between the characters. There was a cool scene here and there, but there was not one scene in the movie in which chills were sent up my spine or that I just sat back and said "wow that was fucking awesome." (See: Matrix Reloaded; Scene that takes place on the highway). And to make matters even worse, is that Christian Bale is one of the worst actors of the current wave of actors. He sucks, especally in this movie. Personally, I think he is the worst actor that has ever played Batman. There is so much talent out there in Hollywood, and this clown somehow gets selected to be Bruce Wayne and John Connor. Something is wrong with Hollywood. ANYONE could play Bruce Wayne and not mess it up, other than Christian Bale. Thank god that Heath Leger was in The Dark Knight otherwise it would be one of the worst movies of all time.

But back to Salvation. The main reason I was overly upset about this movie was that I was expecting an awesome battle between humans and machines, which just never happened. I wanted just ONE scene in the movie to be worthy of pushing this movie to the next level. And it just didn't happen, unfortunately. If you want to watch a movie where Christian Bale walks around pretending hes a badass and doing that growl/whisper/yell voice which happens to be the only voice he is capable of acting in, then go see this movie. But otherwise, save your money. The economy is too bad to throw away ten dollars for this movie, throw it in your gas tank.

I give it a two out of five.

It may have been a three out of five if there were able to incorporate this into it though:

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Quick thoughts

2009-05-22T17:49:00.000-07:00

The season finale of 24 on FOX this past week was very satisfying, especially after how bad the finale of the previous season of it was. But as usual this season had it all, explosions, car chases, multiple plot twists, and even the return of a former main character that was supposedly dead. It was interesting, however fairly predictable to see Renee become the by the book girl in the beginning of the season only to have Jacks style of just straight up getting things done become her mind set. Predictable, but still pretty cool. The whole open ended ending where you don't know if Jack will die from the disease or not depending on how it goes when the stem cells are extracted from Kim and inserted into Jack, would have been suspenseful if we didn't already know that 24 was signed on for an eighth season. Oops. The only thing that I didn't like about the ending of this season was how Renee handcuffed up Janeane Garofalo(how did she get casted onto 24... does anybody out there like her in this show?) and went in Jack Bauer style to get the necessessary information from the coach in Remember the Titans whos name is not Denzel Washington. One way or another, I'm looking forward to the next season of the show because Jack Bauer is awesome. Jack Bauer would beat The Undertaker at Wrestlemania.

Thank God that David Ortiz finally hit a home run this season. Sure he hasn't done that much since that home run on Wednesday, but having the monkey off of his back must be such a great feeling for Papi. And speaking of home runs for the Sox, whats up Varitek? Guy goes from having a terrible season behind the plate to already hitting eight tall jacks this season. Steroids anyone? I sure hope not, but I would not be surprised somewhere down the road. Whatever, they all do it now a days, which is disappointing. But great job Sox, taking care of and sweeping the Blue Jays this week!

Big week for the UFC. They release their most awaited video game ever in UFC Undisputed 2009 and have a pay-per-view event this weekend. I picked up the game this week, opting to buy the PS3 version over the XBox 360 version, in a decision that is trying to make me use the PS3 more because I've had it for close to a year and it is the second game I own for the system. I will write a review in about a week because I need to get more use out of the game to write a good review, but so far it is really fun to play.

Evans knocking out the Huntington Beach Bad Boy

As for the PPV, the two main fights this weekend are Matt Serra vs. Matt Hughes and Rashad Evans vs. Lyoto Machida. I am going to be pulling for Huges and Evans. The Hughes vs. Serra fight should be awesome because these two guys just absolutely hate one another. Unfortunately, Hughes career has seen better days, but in his prime he is a top 10 Light Heavyweight UFC fighter of all time. People like Serra because he was big in the season that he won of The Ultimate Fighter. I still like to think in my mind that he did not win that season and that Shonie Carter won because he was the reason that that season was awesome. The Evans vs. Machida fight should be interesting. Anytime you have a challenger that has an undefeated record it can be pretty exciting. I have never seen Machida fight though, and from what has been written about him says that he is a boring fighter due to his style of Karate. But I am looking forward to this fight because I don't think I've ever seen a guy fighting straight up Karate style in the octagon. And you know that if Evans gets a window he will land a strike for the ages.

Anywho, I hope everyone has a safe and fun Memorial Day Weekend. I know I will. As mentioned, I will be watching the PPV for UFC 98 and will be attending the NCAA College Lacrosse National Championship game on Monday. But amidst all this great sporting events, it is important to remember what this day is all about: Thank you to every single solider who has ever served for the Stars and Stripes. We salute you.

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Oh well

2009-05-18T15:52:00.000-07:00

For the first time in the history of the Boston Celtics, they lost a playoff series while leading 3-2. It was bound to happen eventually, right? One way or another it is definitely frustrating. As if last years playoffs wern't stressful enough having the first two rounds go to game 7, while the Cav's took the C's to game 6, and the Lakers took the C's to game 6... Only for the C's to go to two game 7's in this years playoffs. So stressful as a fan, however this post-season was pretty stressful too.

As the last couple days of the season winded down, the C's kept saying that Kevin Garnett would be back for the last couple games of the season, then we were told he would be there for the last game of the season, then we were told he would be there for the playoffs, then we were told that maybe in the late rounds of the playoffs, then it was confirmed that we wouldn't see him until next year. It's no secret that not having KG in the line up takes a very important cog out of the machine that is the Celtics.

Possession after possession, watching this years playoffs compared to last seasons were so tense. Wondering if Perkins, Powe, Scal and Big Baby could fill the big shoes that KG left out there (note how I left Mikki Moore out of this), and then only to have Powe tear his ACL immediately in the playoffs. Great. But Perk played great, and Big Baby shined when he needed to shine, same with Scal. Seeing Big Baby play well was promising for next season, however not having KG out there really hurt us, especially on defense. But on the same wavelength of not having KG, not being able to re-sign James Posey really showed its true colors last night. Sure Rondo played out of his mind this post season, but Posey was a big peice of the championship equation. Not to sound overly pesimistic, but going into this postseason, it was pretty easy to realize that this wasn't the year for the Celtics. At least we don't have to watch them get killed by the Cav's.

Oh well.

Rough Game 7's for both the C's and the B's.

Now it is time to fully focus on the Red Sox, I 'spose.

I just hope that when it was all said and done, that the Celtics wern't out partying the night before game 7 with McLovin. Since when did he become the #1 Celtics Fan?

(Peirce, Perk and Pruitt with McLovin)

And while we're on the subject of Celtic Fans... why was Boston's own WWE Superstar John Cena sitting at game 6 of the Magic vs. Celtics series wearing this:

I'm disappointed in you, Mr. Cena

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Streak for the Cash: A Day for the Ages

2009-05-17T08:58:00.000-07:00

ESPN.com has a game on it called "Streak for the Cash." I've been playing it for about three months or so now, and its great. I don't like to gamble at all, I can find better ways to spend my money. But streak for the cash is pretty much like gambling without the money, and as lame as that actually sounds, I like it a lot and it can be pretty exciting. What it is, is a set of about 12-15 games per day where you choose between two options, and try to successfully pick a series of correct picks. It sounds relatively easy, however it can be pretty tricky. There are all sorts of games to choose from and it is not just pick the winner, there are times where there are options of what I like to call "gimmick picks" such as:

MLB, Red Sox at Mariners, Which side will record a higher total? Jon Lester Strikeouts, or Seattle Mariners hits off of Lester

-or-

NCAA Women's Softball, San Diego State at Arizona State, how many Total Runs will be scored? 9 Runs or fewer, or 10 Runs or more.

These are the games that really make streak for the cash interesting, because you're not picking the outcome of the game, you're picking on basically a game within the game. Now, what is really cool about streak for the cash, is that you can pick multiple games in one day, however you have to do it chronologically and you cannot pick the next game until the game you've picked is over, so thats where a lot of strategy comes in to play. It is possible, but very rare, to get four correct picks in on one day, and thats what happened to me yesterday.

I was riding a one game winning streak going into yesterday after successfully picking the aforementioned Softball game correctly (having picked "9 or fewer" and 5 runs plating during the game) so things were already good. All the games for Friday were done and it allows you to pick the next days games when that occurs, so looking at the first game on the list was:

8:53 AM - PGA Texas Open 3rd Rnd (San Antonio): Which player will card a LOWER FRONT 9 SCORE? (9 holes): Jonathan Kaye or Charlie Wi.

Now, I tend to stay away from things like golf, soccer, cricket (yes, there are times where there are cricket games on this) and sports that I don't know anything about or whatever when I have a decent streak going, but when I have only a streak of one I go for it because its not that big of a deal when its over, and seeing that the next pick was a UEFA soccer game starting at 10:00 am, which is something I know absolutely nothing about, I went for Jonathan Kaye, and he shot a 31 while Wi shot a 32. Streak is at 2.

(Molly Qerim tells you what she will be picking today)

The next game on the dockett that I went for was:

1:05 PM - Who will WIN this matchup? Astros (Oswalt) at Cubs (Wells).

Cubs have been playing well, Oswalt has not been playing well. I go with the Cubbies. They win 5-4. Streak is at 3, 2 correct picks on the day.

Then went back to the list and went after the matchup of the day:

6:15 PM - 134th Preakness Stakes: Where will Rachel Alexandra finish? First or second, or Third or worse.

Now I don't know anything about horse racing, which would mean that this would be something where I would stay away from however every analist in the world took Rachel Alexandra to win the race, so I went for it and picked 'First or second.' Also what made this pick appealing, was that the race takes approx 2 minutes to run, so picking this game meant that I could easily choose a game 10 minutes after the race when the site updated. Rachel Alexandra holds off Mine That Bird and wins the Preakness. Streak is at 4, 3 correct picks on the day.

Knowing I would be going out last night, and due to the times that the games that were left on the day to start, I knew I would only have one game left to pick on the evening, and being on such a hotstreak on the day I had to pick another game. My options were three straight up MLB games, a MLS game, and a gimmock MLB game. I wanted to stay away from the gimmock game (which was which team will win by more runs: Cincy who was playing at San Diego, or the Red Sox who were playing at Seattle) and i definitely wanted to stay way from the MLS game, and what ended up catching my eye was:

7:05 PM - Who will WIN this matchup? (Game TWO of doubleheader): Phillies (Carpenter) @ Nationals (Cabrera).

The Natinals are terrible this year. I didn't even check to see who won game 1 of the doubleheader (turns out it was the Phillies winning 8-5) and went with this no brainer and choose the Phillies. They win 7-5, Streak at 5, 4 correct picks on the day.

It was a day like that which made me wonder if I should actually start to gamble because I had such a good go at it, but then just like that, it was all gone. Before I went to bed last night I checked out the docket for today's games and picked the 8:30 AM game of:

PGA Texas Open (San Antonio): Who will have the LOWER TOTAL SCORE THROUGH THREE COMPLETED ROUNDS? Paul Goydos, or Justin Leonard.

I went with Leonard, and Goydos beat him by one stroke. I probably should have stayed away from it, due to the fact that a streak of 5 is my personal best, but the itch for getting a big streak was there and I went for it. It put me back on Earth and made me remeber why I don't actually gamble. Streak for the Cash keeps track of your overall record, and I'm 28-27-0 as of this pick. Yup, I wouldn't be raking in the cash. Only cash I'll be raking in is if I go on a mircale streak with this, and that likely won't happen.

Oh well, its fun either way. Lets just hope that Torquay United beats Cambridge United and I'll be right back in it...

(also, what's nice is if you want you can watch as Molly Qirem makes her daily video of what she is picking, and I will boldly say that she is one of the most underrated sportscasters out there, sure she isnt Erin Andrews hot, but Qerim is as velouptious as they come.)

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How To Ruin What Could Have Been A Great TV Show

2009-05-14T16:00:00.000-07:00

As mentioned in the Star Trek post, I was a big fan of X-Men when I was younger. People with powers was cool to me. Cyclops shooting that red ray out of his eye, Gambit being able to throw inflamed playing cards, Storm controlling the weather and on and on and on. I turned to the show Heroes this past winter because of the show being available to be watched instantaneously with Netflix(which I stream to my Xbox 360 and is awesome by the way) and figured I'd enjoy it due to how it has a lot of similarities with X-Men.

My initial thoughts on Heroes were that it was a great TV show. Looking back, this was partially because of the fact that it was a new show and the first several episodes were about watching not only the life of these characters and learning about them, but watching them learn about their abilities and how to use them. It was really cool to see all the characters come together and follow the plot that Issac Mendez had painted, as he could see the future through the pictures he painted, and watching Sylar gain powers from other people with abilities. However, I did say at the end of season one that I was a little disappointed with the ending because I was waiting for there to be an epic fight where all the guys would be using their powers and things would be exploding and all sorts of entertaining stuff... but it didn't happen.

From there it all went downhill, however it went down gradually. But it wasn't until this season where I started asking myself "Why am I still watching this show?" Nathan Petrelli was a terrible bad guy. We watched the real bad guy drive around with some kid across the country in a station wagon for far too many episodes only to have a meaningless encounter with his father, watch Hiro and Ando bicker back and fourth like they're married, watch Daphne die withouth much of a fight by Matt Parkman and in the meantime watch Parkman get back with his ugly ex-wife, see that Denko guy go from the good guy to the bad guy like 10 times in as many episodes, and now that I actually started to catch back onto the Nathan Petrelli character they killed him off only to now have Sylar be shapeshifted into the form of Nathan and he mentally thinks that he is him? Come on, now even for a show that features people with superpowers, even that is a stretch. One way or another this show had a lot of potential, but the writers let it get away from them and everything just got way too out of control, it even got to a point where the writers neglected to remember about powers that Sylar had obtained (remember the super-sonic hearing that he had? Also how he had the human lie detector ability? What ever happened to those?).

Also, why did they get rid of Kristen Bell? She is a smokin hottie and the show was only better with her on it. Her character was actually kid of cool, too. And personally I think Hayden Panettiere is a lot hotter than people give her credit for, but apparently people in Hollywood actually dislike her, or so i've read(if anything click that past link for a hilarious picture of her looking like she might eat a baby). One way or another the last thing a show that is going downhill needs is to get rid of the eye candy. They even got rid of the THIRD(which was another rediculious part of the show) character that Ali Later played, and she added to that eye candy.

But when everything was said it done, it is all for not. There is no chance I will continue to watch Heroes when the new season comes out next year. I've been meaning to get into Rescue Me and dropping this show opens up a great opportunity to start it. One of the main taglines of heroes was "Save the Cheerleader, Save the World." Well, my advice to you is "Save your time, go watch something else."

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BIG NIGHT FOR BOSTON, LETS GET IT DONE GUYS!!!

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Summer Movies

2009-05-13T16:35:00.001-07:00

I rarely get excited for movies. However, I love movies. I'd say at MOST per year I am really excited about 5 movies, especially when the cost of a movie ticket is close to $10 dollars. This summer alone so far, I'm excited for at least 4. Star Trek, X-Men: Wolverine, Transformers 2, and Terminator Salvation. After hearing the reviews for X-Men, I'll wait for the DVD from Netflix. Normally I would not be interested in that movie, but I loved X-Men as a child. I've heard that its just god awful though, so I'll just wait. I've been waiting for Transformers 2 for a while. Transformers 1 was to me a great movie. Sure Shia LaBeouf ruins every movie hes ever in because he is just a terrible actor, but honestly the character he plays, Sam Witwicky, would be butchered by any person who tried to play that role. Also, I realize that it wasn't the best movie ever, however it was just a bad ass Michael Bay movie where things blow up. Like X-Men, I loved Transformers as a child. Bumblebee was my favorite, and I'm not embarrased to admit it. And plus... Megan Fox anyone?!?! Sure I don't expect Transformers 2 to have a great plot and such, but I look for it to be entertaining... and plus, Megan Fox. Terminator Salvation should be great too. Personally, I am not a big fan of Christain Bale in the first place, and I think he is a bad Batman. However, Terminator 1 is such a great movie, and the sequels got worse and worse, however they were not terrible. But this is what we wanted to see: The war... and now its here. Tack on the fact that special effects now a days are absolutely insane and that should be factored into why this will likely be the best movie of the summer. I cannot wait for it. On a different wave length, I took an interest into the movie Star Trek. I have zero interest in the television show, and pretty much zero interest about anything that has to do with all things Star Trek in the first place, however the movie looked bad ass, and quite frankly, it was.

I saw Star Trek last weekend with my beautiful girlfriend. Sure that may seem odd, however she actually is a Star Trek fan, based off of the fact that her dad was a big fan of the series and it was just something that dended to be watched in her house. She isn't die hard, however she enjoys it. So anyways, I went into the movie without knowing anything about Star Trek except the gang sign that all the Trekkies throw up at one another. The movie did a good job catering to the fan and to the non-fan of the series. I thought the movie was very well done and very well put together, and most importantly it was not hard to follow. Sure as the movie progressed I had a few minor questions but after all was said and done everything was answered. I knew that the Star Trek world is pretty elaborate and honestly expected the movie to be a bit more elaborate that it was, and so I tried to focus pretty hard on details like the names, the planets, the species, and some other stuff, however honestly you don't have to which is really nice. After exiting the theater, I was talking with my girlfriend about how she liked it and she felt the same way. She loved the movie, and she said that the movie was full of a bunch of nostalgic quotes and symbolism that would go over the head of a non-fan like myself, but make a fan smile from ear to ear. This movie was very good, and I give it a 4 out of 5.

Stay tuned throughout the summer for my reviews on Transformers 2, Terminator Salvation, and probably more like Angels and Demons(the girlfriend really wants to see that one).

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On a side note, WAY TO GO BOSTON. Another day where the Celtics, Bruins and Red Sox all play, another day where they all win. The biggest win of them by far being the B's as they were able to escape elimination against Carolina last night, followed by the big come from behind win by the C's to take control of the series and lead 3-2. Also any win on the West Coast for the Sox is a big win, they tend to play pretty poorly in the pacific time zone. Lets keep up the good work, gentlemen.

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and last but not least...WTF?

Ok Wow

2009-05-11T14:49:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I know I just made a post like an hour or two ago, but I'm pretty heated right now. I just saw footage of the play that got a FINE, and not a suspension on a punch to Aaron Ward by Scott Walker.

You make the call, which one deserves a one game suspension?

or

It's pretty clear to me that the punch that Ward took off of the face is the one that is worse. Yet, somehow the NHL downgrades the worse of the two hits into a fine, which is terrible.

You blew this one, NHL... badly. Its looking like there is a chance that Ward may miss a game because he is injured due to a fractured face, yet the guy who threw the punch is not going to miss the game. That makes sense.

Mothers Day for the Ages

2009-05-11T12:14:00.000-07:00

Big Baby. What more can I say really? The Celtics this post-season needed people to step up in the place of Kevin Garnett, and they have. Rondo is playing out of his mind, Big Baby is hitting big shots and making key plays, even Scal is getting in on the action and making big plays. Great TEAM victory for the Celtics last night. It looks like all you have to do to take the Magic out of their rythem is to make Dwight Howard actually take jumpshots, of which he is incapable of doing. It is kind of amazing how good someone can be in that level of basketball, and still not be able to hit jumpshots. Layups and dunking is all hes capable of doing offensively. And with Big Baby being able to hit thrilling shots like he did to win game four last night, Howard has to play outside of the paint, making the lane open for the Celtics taking.

Also, Big Baby, props for pushing over little kids... amazing haha.

On to the Bruins. Thank god they decided to show a little passion and actually play a solid 60 minutes of puck last night. Not really too much to mention here other than the fact that its looking like even though the Hurricanes have a 3-2 lead going back to Carolina that they are losing their heads. Like Jussi Jokinen slashing the achilles of Chara last night while the puck was already out of the zone and the refs clearly were not paying attention and the schenanigans that went on to Aaron Ward at the very end of the game. Honestly, I didn't even see what happened to Ward because that game was in the books and I changed over to the C's game. Great W for the Bruins, and hopefully we see the NHL take action on some of this crap that the 'canes are doing.

And last but not least, the Sox. Big W. Sure it was pretty much kind of another game, but the Ray's have had our number as of late and quite frankly it was a big win. Any division win is big when you play in the toughest division in baseball like the Sox do. But moving beyond, my question to the people is why are so many people concerned that Papi hasn't hit any home runs this season? Yeah, I'd obviously like it if he had too, however hes hitting. I'll take hits in any form, and just getting on base for now is working. He scored the game winning run last night by hitting a double in the bottom of the 8th and having Jason Bay hit a double of his own in the next at bat and knocking Papi across. The home runs will come, lets just be happy that hes getting on base. And speaking of Jason Bay, why haven't we re-signed him? Left and right, he is making big plays for the Sox this year and people arn't really talking too much about him. I don't get it, this is the guy who replaced Manny in left and he is doing just as good, if not better, and people don't seem to grateful. John Henry, stop writing e-mails to girls 30 years younger about how you love them and please show Mr. Bay some green.

Also, when was the last time Papelbon has had a dominating performance? I may be alone on this one, but he is starting to scare me on the mound. He is still one of the best, however Cinco Ocho has not dominated like he once has, maybe he just needs to come into mid-season form, but personally I'm not 100% confident in him anymore.

Also a big shout out to my mens league softball team, Sweeney and O'Connell for getting our first ever team victory this past Friday night. Unfortunately I could not be there as I was on my way to Long Island to see my girlfriend and had to miss the game(see how much I care about you baby?). We are now 1-2 and on our way to a winning streak... I can feel it...

and finally check out this song by my buddy. He has been a friend of mine since kindergarden and he is doing his best to get his name out there... and how better to do it than throw his single on my blog to all seven of you out there that read it! Check it out and let me know what you think.

Thats it for now, check the blog out again later in the week for EAFL updates, my Star Trek review and hype for the upcoming summer movies (mainly Terminator and Transformers), ESPN's Streak for the Cash, and more sports talk!

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Whole Buncha Stuff

2009-05-05T16:31:00.000-07:00

Tough loss for the Celtics last night. Obviously the second I make a live post during a game saying how they're surging and coming back they go stone cold and do nothing. Sure they made a great comeback at the end of the night. Personally, I hate moral victories, but it definitely was encouraging to see them storm back strong at the end of the night. Rajon Rondo disappointed after he played so great against the Bulls. He had a couple of key turnovers that ultimately helped propel the Magic to the win. Brian Scalabrine played really well again, he has impressed me in his return hitting several key shots and even doing a pretty damn good job on defense. Covering Lewis, Turkoglu, and Howard proved to be tough and the Celtics did not do that bad of a job with it. However, a big reason we were in that game towards the end was the lack of basketball IQ by the Magic. They are a team that lives by the three, and thats fine, however when you have a 20 point lead late in the second quarter you have to have to somewhat slow the pace of the game down. They launched three after three with 18 seconds left on the shot clock. Even if you hit them, it gives the other team ample time to be able to get shots of their own and creep back, had the Magic managed the time in that game better the Celtics don't end the game down 5, but rather down 15.

Should be interesting to see how game two goes tomorrow night, to see if the Magic learned from their mistakes and will see if they actually manage the time a bit better. I am all about still pushing hard and going strong at the end of games, however this is the playoffs and taking away homecourt advantage is huge, you have to slow things down at times.

-------

What the hell is going on in Dallas? Who thought that it would be a good idea to have a rookie mini-camp inside of a tent during a storm that had 64 mph winds?! Honestly did they think it would be safe? Why not just make up that day later in the summer... it's May! They have plenty of opportunity to make up that one practice. And why the hell is someone running around in there with a video camera rather than actually helping people get out? I was so bothered when I saw this story. A man is now paralyzed from the waist down for the rest of his life because of this. Unacceptable.

last but not least... umm.... what?

Marbury?!?!

2009-05-04T17:34:00.000-07:00

[the game is on while i'm typing this]

I do not like gambling much at all. But if someone was to bet me that Stephon Marbury would spark the Celtics in the first game in the second round of the playoffs I'd have bet against you hard.

GO CELTICS!!!

A Series to Remember

2009-05-03T11:15:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a series. Seven collective overtimes, one double overtime game and one triple overtime game. Who knew Rajon Rondo could actually step up and lead the team as well as he has been? I remember watching Rondo as a rookie and wondering if this kid would actually be good. His rookie season he literally ran around the court trying to do everything. It was literally like watching a puppy chasing a ball around the court. He always went balls to the wall, which is actually pretty rare now a days, but it is just nice to see that he has finally learned how to settle down and control the flow of the game. Rondo is a big reason the Celtics are still alive.

And so is Brian Scalabrine. This guy should not even be on the court due to his double concussion earlier in the season. People don't realize how bad a double concussion is, I honestly think he should retire at the end of the year for health reasons. Sure he was never collecting gigantic checks, however the guy should be set for life with money and he has his championship ring with last years team. But Scal came up huge this series. It was devostating enough to not have KG, but when Leon Powe went down with a torn ACL the big men on the Celtics were reduced to Perk, Big Baby, Mikki Moore and Scal. Nobody in Boston wants to see Moore out there, but Perk and Baby need rest and if they get into foul trouble Moore needs to come in. Scal has done great and last night he hit a couple of huge threes which really electrified the crowd and brought the Celtics back into the game. And talking about threes...

Eddie House. He is one of the most underrated players in the league. Whenever the Celtics need a big three pointer, Eddie nails it. I'd love to see what he does at practices. I am convinced that he just launches threes. Last night I was talking with a friend and we determined that he must jog constantly around the three point line with music playing and as soon as it stops he just launches up a three, musical chairs style. He went 4-4 from three last night and was huge. Also, what was with that technical foul on House? For taunting the bench? I'm sorry, but that is a load of garbage. The three was taken in front of the Bulls bench and I guarentee you that every player that was on the bench was yelling things at him while he shot it, so HE gets T'ed up for yelling back after successfully making the shot? Thats just stupid.

So now its Celtics vs. Magic, and there is a little bit of concern floating around Boston. Who is going to cover Dwight Howard? Honestly, I don't know, it might have to be Peirce. One way or another, it will be very interesting.

----

In other news, the Washington Nationals had two players wearing uniforms with the team name spelled wrong in the same game. Really? How does this happen?!

Really?!?! That is just wrong. But none the less, the Bruins are looking to go up 2-0 tonight and take a commanding lead in the Series vs. Carolina. Hopefully they can win again in convincing fashion and take the series by the throat.

And last but not least, four games into EAFL E2 season I am 2-2 with the Arizona Cardinals. As previously mentioned, if I can control the turnovers as far as throwing interceptions I felt I could go far, and so far in the season, in four games here are Kurt Warners stats: 51/74, 830 yards, 8 TD's, 2 INTs. Pretty damn good. However, he appears to have a case of the fumbles because in the two losses this season so far, he has fumbled in each while getting sacked and both fumbles have been recovered and returned for touchdowns. I lost the first game of the season by a score of 21-16 and the second game this season by a score of 37-31 in overtime. Take those fumbles out of the game and well, I could be 4-0. The really frustrating part is in the overtime game the kickoff after the touchdown that was scored off of the Warner fumble, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie fumbled which again was returned for a touchdown. At one point in the 2nd quarter the score was 28-7 and I was able to come back and force overtime. Lost the cointoss, and the rest is history. However, other than the fumbles, I'm doing a good job of protecting the football and that should lead to more victories.

Slide!!!

2009-04-30T15:31:00.000-07:00

Haha

Please Keep Frozen

2009-04-29T18:14:00.000-07:00

Over the past couple of years, Mixed Martial Arts has exploded across the globe. A big big big reason for this is because of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, which is better known as UFC. I for one, hopped on that train my sophomore year of college when my roommate at the time got me into the UFC reality TV Show: The Ultimate Fighter. TUF is basically your average reality show except with cage fighters as the entertainment. I remember back in the days when I was a young'in and the UFC was basically bar room brawling where there were basically no rules what so ever. The modern UFC, for those who still look at MMA as "human cockfighting" such as the runner up for President of this fine nation, is very well officiated and is extremely techincal. I used to be a boxing fan when I was younger, however now like the rest of the world I've moved on. Boxing can still be called "the sweet science." I think MMA could be deemed "the sweet rocket science." I, for one, am extremely excited about the upcoming UFC Video Game, too.

Now as much love as I have for MMA, I must take the time and oppertunity to say that as much as we all love him as a fighter, Chuck Liddell: you need to retire.

Now I know UFC President (and UMass alumni) Dana White said after his recent loss to Mauricio Rua at UFC 97 that Chuck was retired, however personally I have yet to come across anything that says that HE says he has retired. It is a little disheartening. His career record is 21-7 and he has lost four of his last five, meaning. before that downfall he was 20-3. I personally was never the biggest fan of the Iceman, but I definitely respected him as a fighter. His fights were always extremely entertaining and one way or another when you watched a Chuck Liddell fight, you knew that somebody would be getting knocked out. Unfortunately, in his last two fights, he was on the wrong end of that stick. I think everyone would honestly love to see one more Liddell fight, however as a fan of the sport, I just don't want to see anyone get injured.

It is time to step down Chuck. Thanks for the great fights.

The Patriots Draft and More...

2009-04-28T17:10:00.000-07:00

Here are some thoughts about the Patriots draft a couple days after the fact:

I'm excited for Patrick Chung. He will be the type of player that will bare down and bring his lunch pail every day. It may take him a year or two, but I see him being the next Rodney Harrison.

I'm very happy about Darius Butler as well. The kid is just a pure athlete. He played both ways in college. Sure probably about 10 plays per game at most on offense, however he is just a pure athlete which I love. He has crazy hops too.

Brandon Tate from UNC is a great pick. Sure he was injured his senior season and only played 6 games. And yeah he has been found to be a bit of a headcase. But Bill Belicheck has consistantly brought in headcases to New England and straightend them out(see: Harrison, Rodney; Dillon, Corey; Moss, Randy). I think this kid could eventually take over the 3rd WR spot for the Patriots. We need someone other than Sam Aiken out there.

Bye bye Ellis Hobbs. I'll take two future picks for him any day. If you talk to anyone that knows me they will probably tell you that too. Yeah, hes actually not half bad and he is a great kick returner, but he bugs me. He gets burned a lot, and the rare time he doesn't and he tips a ball away he celebrates like he just discovered gold. A lot of that is the NFL's fault, as they don't allow excessive celebration for offensive players, but not defensive. I don't get it. And knowing the genius that is Belicheck, he will find a way to trade those two picks for something great, like two second rounders for a first rounder next year?

Overall I think the Patriots came out of the draft very strong.

Congrats to Randy Moss for his first win with Randy Moss Motorsports

And guys, high school is over. Sure, I'd love to strap the hat on for one more game of glory but really? You're 30 some odd years old, stop trying to pretend you're still the stud you thought you once were.

Some Quick Hits

2009-04-27T17:28:00.000-07:00

So according to a simulation done by TSN sports, the Boston Bruins are the winners of this years Stanley Cup. Kinda cool, at least to have EA Sports on our side, I guess. I don't really follow or track these kinds of things too closely, but they are kind of fun to look at considering I am a big time video game player.

While we're on the subject of Video Games, the EAFL is starting another season in Madden 2009 and I am currently in the E2 division of the EAFL which is a minor league. The EAFL is pretty much the Premier league for online Madden Gaming. It is a great league where it is freestyle game play (go for two if you want every time, drop 11 defenders into coverage every play if you want, etc.) which is great. There are some rules such as not being allowed to milk the clock and some other rules like that which keep it fun and are actually good rules, however for the most part its pretty much "lets just pick up the sticks and play." Last season I sneaked into the playoffs with the Browns with a 7-9 record and the previous season I had done the same with the Jaguars. This season I am going to battle with the Arizona Cardinals and am looking forward to being able to toss the ball to Larry, Anquain, and Steve. I will be posting some results from my season along with my statistics (as in the league you are required to keep statistics, only I love stats and keep more stats than the normal person.) Last season with Brady Quinn I threw for around 2,700 yards, however my TD:INT was something close to 17:25. My goal for this season is to throw with a 3:1 TD:INT ratio, if I can do that I can see myself making some noise, otherwise it could be another 7-9 season where I pray I make the post season.

Oh, I forgot to mention: The Red Sox are on a 10 game winning streak of which they just swept the New York Yankees. Thank God, because they were awful at the beginning of the season. I know there are about 130 some odd games left this season, however it is nice to be doing well. Thankfully David Ortiz is coming back around and finally Jacoby Ellsbury is getting on base and oh yeah, he straight up stole home.

And for your veiwing pleasure(yes, this is a real story):

How Sweep it is!

2009-04-23T08:10:00.000-07:00

Last night the Bruins took out the garbage and swept the Montreal Canadiens by embarrassing them with a final score of 4-1. The Bruins have moved on to the second round of the NHL playoffs for the first time since 1999. This is causing Bruins fans all around to finally breathe a breath of fresh air. Even though they did take out the lowly 8 seed in the playoffs, anything can happen in a series against Montreal.

One main reason I more happy than normal is because the Montreal fans have absolutely zero class. Boo our anthem and you know what you get? Swept the rival Boston Bruins man handle you.

Last one out, hit the lights.

Milan Lucic Suspended for Game 3

2009-04-20T06:09:00.000-07:00

So if you've been watching the NHL postseason like I have, then you should have heard that Boston Bruins young gun Milan Lucic(right) has been suspended for game 3. The NHL deemed his actions against Maxim LaPierre of the Canadiens late in the third period. As a Bruins fan I am pretty upset and aggravated about it based on the fact that you don't want to see a player who plays the way Lucic does not in the game espically when the game is being played in rival Montreal. Check out below to see the play that gave Lucic the suspension:

My initial thoughts: What a bunch of BULL. It does not look like Lucic is going for his head with his stick but rather proteching himself from getting swarmed by the whole line of the Hab's. But then after thinking about it for a little bit longer, the referees made the right call in doing what they did simply because they have to police the game. I am a high school Lacrosse refree and trust me there are plenty of times where a game is getting out of hand and you see the kids wave their sticks around like they're a gladiator with wreckless abandon and even though what they're doing is within the rules, if you toss a flag at them and put them in the penalty box it sends a message to everyone that you can't be cowboys out there.

With that being said, I think what the people in the NHL offices are doing is sending a message to the players of the Bruins and the Habs, and for that matter the rest of the league. The players are out there to play hockey, not fight and crosscheck and play beyond the rules of the game. While I hate how a Bruin player has to be the one to fall on a grenade and take the suspension. Lucic isn't the best Bruin, however the intensity he brings to the ice is so big for the team. I just hope that him not being on the ice tonight is the reason that this series takes a turn for the worse.

One of my Favorite Parts of the NHL Playoffs

2009-04-15T15:43:00.000-07:00

Well it is that time of the year again. The NHL Playoffs are starting up tomorrow. Anyone that you ask will tell you that I am not the biggest NHL fan on the planet, however I love my Boston Bruins and one of my most favorite traditions in all of sports: The Playoff Beard.

I think one of the reasons I am not so big into Hockey as i am into other sports is that I have never ever played an organized form of the sport. Growing up I played Little League Baseball, Pop Warner Football, Town Recreation Basketball, and I grew up skiing and later moved onto Snowboarding and even eventually dropped baseball (because I couldn't hit a curveball for the life of me) and picked up Lacrosse.

As mentioned before, I am not the biggest hockey fan on the planet, but I love rooting for and watching the Bruins. I can't really explain it, but I would never be able to watch two random teams play one another in a regular season NHL game, however I could watch random teams play one another during the playoffs. Playoff hockey is awesome, and the Playoff Beard is one of the pieces of that puzzle.

Nothing says 'Man' like a great beard, and by the time the Conference Championships roll(or should I say: glide) around there are approximately forty players on the ice and on the bench that have amazing beards. It is fantastic, and I love it.

In 24 hours the puck will drop on Game 1 of the Bruins vs. the Canadians, in which will be a emotional series due to the rival nature of the two teams. I for sure will be watching, sporting my B's t-shirt and having a couple brewskis, but one thing is for sure: I will be shaving very diligently tomorrow morning in preparation for my glorious own playoff beard. Hopefully it will last long into the playoffs...

Go Bruins!!!!

No High Fives?

2009-03-31T16:29:00.000-07:00

Lame.

Connecticut, I'm disapointed. Middle School students in Milford, CT can potentially face *expulsion* by making any physical contact with any other student in any manor, even something as simple as a high five. It all stems from a student was sent to the hospital after being struck in the groin.

The principal of the school sent out a letter to the parents of the students that stated:

"Observed behaviors of concern recently exhibited include kicking others in the groin area, grabbing and touching of others in personal areas, hugging and horseplay. Physical contact is prohibited to keep all students safe in the learning environment..."

Now, this particular situation is appealing to me because I work as a resource room teacher at a middle school. I walk all over the school all day long and go in and out of 6th, 7th, and 8th grade classrooms all day as long as walk alongside students in during passing time. I one of my first priorities in my job is the safety of the students. There have been times where I've walked through the hallways and seen some suspect things where I have had to go in and tell the kids to go on their way to class, but nothing extremely out of line and worth handing out punishments.

I'm all for safety for the kids.

But to ban all contact is just ridiculous. There are probably five kids of mine that always hold their hand out for a high five every time I walk past them. There are plenty of kids that high five one another on a daily basis. Middle school girls hug each other every chance they get, middle school girls hug like most people breathe, it is just always going on.

Also you have to realize that these kids are going through puberty. There can be times where there are kids of opposite sex that are fairly close to one another and will kind of flirt with one another and a small degree of touching one another happens. In which case, you simply have to pick your battles. Then you have to think about gym class, and how if the kids are playing basketball that they will be making physical contact with one another, its just the nature of the game. This principal needs to get with the program and walk down the hallway of the school to see what goes on themselves. Get the teachers to open their eyes more and fairly punish things that diserve being punished. But to make it so that the kids can't high five one another after they talk about how they did something cool the night before...

Lame.

Old People and Technology (Plus Weekend Quick Hits)

2009-03-30T16:19:00.000-07:00

So my uncle and cousin were up this past weekend from Connecticut to attend my late grandfathers induction into the Hingham High School Hall of Fame. They both ended up spending the evening at my place, which was nice because I had not seen either of them in a while. However, due to sleeping arangements, I was moved from my bed to the couch downstairs so my uncle could sleep in the bed. Kind of stunk, but oh well thats life, it could have been worse. I was woken up on Sunday morning to the voices of my parents and my uncle talking about the Men's NCAA Tournament and who was playing that day and at what time?(Louisville vs. Michigan State and Oklahoma vs. UNC) Neither the three of them, all sports fans mind you, could come up with either matchup. There was a computer connected to the internet literally 10 feet away from them and neither of them took the ten steps to go to
the internet and type in www.espn.com or something of the like.

It almost gets to a point where it is frustrating when people have such simple questions yet neglect to use their resources. Sure the internet isn't something that they grew up with like modern young adults, however at some point they are going to have to suck it up and
start using these resources. A little bit after the discussion about what teams were playing yesterday(at this point I was awake and off of the couch), my uncle asked what channel was the weather channel so he could see the forcast for his drive back to Connecticut. I reluctantly told him it was 47 while in my mind I was thinking just to go to Weather.com and type in the appropriate zip code.

Another thing that is frustrating about old people and the internet is that my other uncle (who gave a great acceptance speech for my grandfather, his father, by the way) is in his late 60's and only knows how to really use e-mail. He aquired my email address a while back and each day I used to have my inbox flooded with e-mail forwards. Now my uncle is kind of a sick man and will forward on anything, including some horrifying pictures of naked males with rather small parts and extremely overweight females doing basic things like riding a bicycle amoung a plethera of dirty jokes and the like. Due to my frequent checking of my email at work(I work at a middle
school), it got to a point where I did not want to get in trouble for something that was in my inbox, and I had to block his email. I feel bad doing it, but it got really annoying and the last thing I need is to lose my job over something like this.

So if you happen to be an old person who is reading this: learn to use the internet.

But you're definitely not an old person, as this is the internet... sigh.

Weekend Quick Hits:

-Villanova over Pittsburgh... too bad I could only watch the stattracker on my cousins blackberry while at the HOF induction(which tells me I need a blackberry/iphone ASAP).

-First a 911 call over McDonalds McNuggets, now a form of payment... for prostitution?!?

-Is the ShamWow! guy gonna have to smack a bitch?

- Jack Edwards is the best NHL announcer in the league, and i'm happy hes the Bruins announcer... and he just went crazy on this cheap shot by Lucic

64 Things I Love About March Madness

2009-03-18T16:13:00.000-07:00

Who ever does not like March Madness needs their sports fan hood questioned. Here are 64 reasons why I love March Madness:

1 - buzzerbeaters

2 - the 5 vs. 12 matchup

3 - taking your bracket out of your pocket every five minutes

4 - when your final four team wins a nail-biter in the first round

5 - teams that live by the three

6 - how Gibbons(former college roommate) loves Oral Roberts

7 - dominant 2-3 zones

8 - teams that die by the three

9 - how Digger's highlighter matches his tie

10 - noon tip offs

11 - Jim Beoheims wife, what a babe

12 - the most random CBS announcers

13 - the even more random CBS sideline reporters

14 - how work places become non-productive

15 - Dicky V

16 - praying for upsets

17 - the scrolling scoreboards on the top of the screen

18 - skipping classes/work to watch

19 - chest bumps

20 - bench players interlocking their arms

21 - cutting down the nets

22 - Stephon Curry

23 - the word 'bracketology'

24 - stattracker

25 - hearing all of the fight songs

26 - seeing the rare redshirt senior play his last game

27 - cheerleaders/children crying

28 - championship week

29 - the fact that the world knows of Tony Skinn and Jai' Lewis

30 - when rivals face off

31 - bragging after picking that upset

32 - bubble watch

33 - t-shirts under the jerseys

34 - the highlights of the past seasons

35 - bragging rights

36 - how every possession is valuable

37 - overtime

38 - hearing clips from the Jim Valvano speech

39 - Steve Hill

40 - Bruce Pearl

41 - the selection show

42 - having multiple brackets

43 - wondering if Carmello Anthony's Syracuse Orangemen would have repeated

44 - TJ Sorrentine

45 - the looks on the faces of a team that lost by a buzzerbeater

46 - still wondering why Grant Hill was not guarded, and how every similar inbound situation
from then on has been covered

47 - fans storming the court and, as Farley puts it, going shithouse

48 - Tyus Edney

49 - lefty free throws from Bo Kimble for his late teammate Hank Gathers

50 - Bo Kimbles free throw percentage during his tribute: 100% (3 for 3)

51 - full court press, 40 minutes of hell

52 - Syracuse 127, Connecticut 117, 6 Overtimes

53 - the players simply being able to tell their grandchildren that they once danced

54 - knowing that Adam Morrison and JJ Reddick played Halo online together, we got it the first time

55 - pressure one-and-one situations (a rule the NBA should adopt)

56 - college band versions of songs, espically the Emperial March from Star Wars

57 - the facepainted fans

58 - 2007 Georgia Bulldogs doubleheader victory to take the SEC

59 - Erin Andrews

60 - streaming games online

61 - wondering who this years Cinderella is, and wondering when midnight is going to strike

62 - Bryce Drew

63 - how winning the play-in game and getting crushed by the top overall seed is better than winning the NIT

64 - one shining moment

Six Overtimes?!?!

2009-03-15T15:27:00.000-07:00

Personally, Thursday is one of my favorite days of the week. First off, its Thirsty Thursday and everyone likes alcohol, right? But every Thursday my friends and I go out to a local bar and play Bar Trivia (which by the way, I would definitely recommend everyone that enjoys Jeopardy, Cash Cab). I look forward to trivia each and every week and I always have a really good time, its an opportunity to hang out with my friends, work as a team, enjoy some trivia, and also have some sweet sweet alcohol. My friends and I have been going to the same place every Thursday since the middle of this summer and we thoroughly enjoy it.

Now I am definitely a college basketball fan, however it is not exactly my expertise. To be honest I don't even really watch college basketball until conference play begins because to me it is where the season starts to get interesting. Championship week to me rivals the tournament in itself, I love them both, but with my two TV set up I can watch one game on ESPN and another on ESPN2, ABC, Fox Sports, or any other network that my be showing the game.

So this past Thursday my friends and I play trivia, I get home at approximately 11:30 and then turn on the TV to ESPN only to see replays of Eric Devendorf hitting what looks to be a miracle game winning shot at the buzzer. I love overtime in any sport... it is why coaches make their players run sprints at the end of the game. As a player you hate it at the time, however when the time comes when you need to dig deep at the end of the game or in overtime it pays off.

I just need to say that that was one of the best games i've ever watched, and I only got to see 30 mintues of the game in a game that was 70 minutes long. Such a courageous effort by both teams. Towards the end you had star players on the bench due to fouling out and even had a walk-on for Syracuse on the court. Johnny Flinn and his Orange were incredible, but...

I haven't heard many people talk about how good the officiating was. Granted, I didn't watch a minute of regulation so there may have been bad calls during regulation, but starting with the decision to take Devendorfs three pointer at the buzzer off of the board to make the game go into overtime as it should have, to at the end of the 4th(maybe the 3rd, or even the 5th) overtime where at first glance it looked like a Syracuse player was fouled on a layup in the final seconds that was not called, only to see it from another angle and it clearly was not a foul. Everyone is talking about how many players played more than 55 of the 70 minutes, but the officials were up and down that court for 70 of the 70 minutes making many sharp and correct calls, my hat goes off to them.

Great game all around, this game definitely got me in the mindset I need to be when it comes time later to night to start to break down the brackets.

Why is Jay Cutler crying?

2009-03-11T15:14:00.000-07:00

Hey Cutler: Shut up. Since you have been a member of the Denver Broncos your team has gone 9-7, 7-9, and 8-8. If my calculations are correct, and they are, that means your team has gone 24-24... thats not very good. It isn't terrible by any means, but won't cut it. Furthermore, as a starter, Cutler went 2-3 in the 2006 NFL season, meaning that as a starter he is 17-20. Again, not good. You do post some good statistics, and as a fan of the game I do realize how this past season the Broncos rushing game was suspect, but not the other two seasons. Mike Shanahan is famous for his zone blocking scheme in which he consistantly gets 1,000 yard seasons out of multiple backs. But Shanahan got axed, enter former New England Patriots offensive co-ordinator Josh McDaniels as the head coach. He has a relationship with current Quarterback of the Kansas City Chiefs, Matt Cassell, and expressed interest in him.

And then the tears came rushing down. I don't get it. Cassell started 15 games, and took over for the Patriots when Tom Brady went down, and took the Patriots to a 11-5 record. Thats two more wins than Cutler has ever lead his team to as a starter, and i'm not including the three quarters of the season opener that he won. So new head coach Josh McDaniels decides he wants a quarterback who is familiar with his system, makes sense to me. Sure the Bronocos lack a Randy Moss caliber reciever, but the WR's on their roster are currently Brandon Marshall(stud; closest to R. Moss on their roster), Brandon Stoakley (a poor mans Wes Welker... remember all those great seasons with Indy?), Jabar Gaffney(played under McDaniels in NE, played WITH Cassell last season), and the up and coming Eddie Royal who is a known speedster. Not to mention that the Broncos got Correll Buckhalter this offseason who is great out of the backfield and will swallow up some Kevin Faulk like short yardage passes along with... and here is another stunner... former Patriot LaMont Jordan(yet another player who knows the system)!

Basically McDaniels was trying to get an offense that best resembled his offense with New England, and having #16 in the backfield tossing the rock around is a good way to emulate that. So Jay, why are you so upset? McDaniels made a statement saying that anybody and everybody would be expendable at the right price. Thats just a part of the business. You're making $6.5 million dollars, let me repeat that, million dollars. In a time where most people are lucky to just have a job and healthcare in this country, you're making a good chunk of change. God forbid you get traded, guess what, you still have a job, and $6.5 million in whatever city you play at, thats the beauty of the contract. The mere fact that McDaniels said what he said has set you off to the point where it appears that you don't even want to play for the Broncos any more. It would be one thing for Peyton Manning to be talking like this, but Manning has proved himself.

Sure I am biased towards New England as they are my local team and the team I grew up with, but to me it makes complete sense: McDaniels wants to be successful as a head coach, not go .500.

Shut up Cutler and prove yourself. You are expendable.

The 2009 World Baseball Classic

2009-03-10T16:18:00.000-07:00

(Note: Italy vs. Venezuela and Dominican Republic were in process while this was being written, so bear with some of the tense changes)

I feel like I am alone when I say that I actually look forward to the World Baseball Classic. Seeing international competition between countries playing sports is one of my most favorite things to watch. Weather it is the Summer or Winter Olympics or something like watching the international side of the Little League World Series, there is something to me about representing your country. Unfortunately, like most of America, my least favorite sport is soccer. I feel like soccer could make some rule changes that could appeal to the non-fan (like the recent rule changes in the NHL). Although, I did watch this past years European Soccer Championship, Euro '08, and fall in love with the underdog/miracle run that Turkey made. One of my favorite sayings is that sports are poetry in motion. Watching a quarterback drop back and read the coverage and make the right read and throw a magnificent pass, or watching Dave Roberts take his lead off of first base when everybody in the house knows that he is going to steal in what turned out to be the series changing moment in the 2005 ALCS, or where an Autistic member of a high school basketball who was only a team manager before the head coach let him not only dress, but play during senior night where after missing his first career high school shot with three minutes and forty six seconds left in the game, ended up finishing the game shooting 7 for 13, 6 of 10 from behind the arch, accumulating 20 points and posting the high school for the game... his only game. To me, nothing is better than the magic of sports and competition when it is not played for financial purposes, but for national pride.

With Major League Baseball being in its offseason, all we have been hearing are the normal news updates: Steroids. The names of the past being Mark McGwire, Raphael Palmero, Sammy Sosa, Jose Canseco, and of coarse Barry Bonds. This post season is all about one Alex Rodriguez and how he is admitting to taking steriods and just recently went under the knife to repair his hip. I think I speak for most sports fans when I say that nothing gets more annoying than tuning into their favorite sports source and it is about steroids. Although, in the past week, those talks have kind of dwindled a bit and a lot of it has to do with the World Baseball Classic. Sure, Grapefruit, Cactus, and whatever the rest of the names of the spring training baseball leagues are have started and we're starting to see highlights and start to watch our favorite players take a couple of meaninful hacks at the plate before getting taken out in the third inning to let players who won't make the team show what they have. Personally, spring training baseball isn't my cup of tea, exibition games are boring. However, the oppertunity to make a big play in an international game for your country is incredible. Sure, you can argue that the first rounds of the WBC are boring and it weeds out the garbage, some would argue that 16 teams are too many because teams like China, South Africa, and Australia stand no chance against the teams of America, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and Japan. But games are not played on paper which provides for oppertunity. A team can beat another team on any given day, thats the great part about sports.

I don't think anyone saw the following to take place: Netherlands over the Dominican Republic and Australia over Mexico (by mercy rule, none the less). Yeah Japan, America, Venezuela, Puerto Rico and Korea have already advanced, but the fact that Australia and the Netherlands have oppertunities to move on is awesome. It is comparable to watching that 5 vs. 12 game each March. I for one would love to see the Netherlands make it to the next round and make a George Mason-eqsue run for the glory.

Sure the overglaring thing with the WBC is the pitch count rule, but after all you have to realize that a lot of these players are under salary and the last thing that MLB clubs want is for their star player to throw 25 innings and be worn out by mid-August when Division and Wild Card races really start to heat up, only to risk injury. As much as I look at this in comparison to the LLWS pitch count rules, it is after all a good idea even though I'd love to see a magical 9 inning performance.

Personally, I can overlook the pitch count because of the double-elimination format of the Classic. If it were a 'Series,' that would be different because pitchers single handedly have the ability to take over games, where as batters typically get 4 or 5 at-bats per game. This causes teams to be forced to have depth and rise to the occasion. This is also similar to the most recent LLWS tournaments where it used to be that teams could get away with having two stud pitchers who consistantly threw one hitters. It would be interesting if in some way this could be countered offensively however, such as having batters be limited to something like 10 conscutive at-bats before having to take a game off (i.e., going 2-4 in Game 1, 1-4 in Game 2, and having to be taken out of the game after his second at bat in Game 3). That is something that just popped into my brain, but I'm sure there could be better ideas out there that could balance what should be reason for there to be more offense during the Classic.

To me what really separates the WBC from other sports is the fans, espically the ones that represent the Latin American and Asian teams teams. They proudly wave their flags around and paint their faces and simply are in the stands having *fun*. This is not a knock against any other fans, it just so happens that the L.A. and Asian fans tend to be more over the top, but thats what gets noticed. Also, naturally I wouldnt imagine Italian fans to travel to Toronto to watch Baseball, and other such teams go to various cities where the games are being played. If it was the World Cup, that would be a different story. But these games tend to have a World Cup feel to them, at least based on the fans reaction. Thats what sports are supposed to come down to: Fun.

Steroids, steroids, steroids, blah, blah, blah. We get it, Alex Rodriguez took steroids, I would guess that most of the public doesn't care too much about which specific steroid it was and which little store in the Carribean he was able to send someone to buy them over the counter for. I get it, Rodriguez took steroids. The bigger story coming out of New York should be that the Yankees went out and spent $423 million dollars on four players and then have the balls to ask the city of New York for $400 million dollars so that their stadium is finished in time for opening day. I'm not too upset that the Yankees went out and spent the money on free agents, thats the business behind the game and because there is no salary cap, the sky is the limit(the salary cap is a separate issue for another day). I'm not upset that they spent the money and going to wine about 'the evil empire buying a championship.' Thats not my style, even as a Red Sox fan.

I'd rather be seeing storys about the Neatherlands, a team with few major league stars playing top baseball against a glorified MLB All-Star team and beating them 3-2, and then taking them into extra innings in an elimination game a few days later. This is why sports are great. If the Dominican Republic go on to win the game, will I be upset? No, not really, I think that they can compete with the best and it could make some awesome potential match ups in the later rounds... But to see a team that nobody though had a chance stand up to the Golaith and prevail is special. Thats why sports are special. I am going to be watching the gamecast on www.worldbaseballclassic.com like I have been while I have been writing this article.

One things for sure: WBC, I'm interested.

Welcome to Red Shirt Senior

2009-03-10T14:23:00.000-07:00

hi boys and girls

well, this here is my first post of my first ever blog, welcome. This blog is going to be an experiment for me... this is just kind of a way for me to sit down and do some writing where i may or may not hit upon something big. i am a fan of many blogs and wonder to myself just how much effort goes into blogs and would like to see first hand.

this page will be primarily about sports, which is my first passion, and mostly focused on boston based teams and the sort being as i am from boston. however this is not going to be just about boston sports or sports in general, but i will brush upon many big current events such as the hilarious recent inncodent where 911 was called about mcdonalds chicken nuggets which i'm sure you've heard about. i'll most likely also post randomly about things that i enjoy, such as video games, john madden football, music, things that happen to me in my every day life, maybe a couple of things about celebrities here and there, and quite frankly whatever else i feel like writing about. you'll probably see various top 10 style lists thrown in here from time to time.

my first major post will likely be later tonight, but it could possibly be earlier if something comes to me that i want to write about. but i am planning on having my first major post be about something that a lot of sports writers appear to be neglecting while i personally think it is a great thing for sports: the world baseball classic.

-B