On the other hand, one of the fun parts of ESPN's Bowl Week is seeing which broadcast team gets assigned which game. The high-profile teams (Ron Franklin-Mike Gottfried; Dave Barnett-Bill Curry-Mike Golic; Mike Tirico-Kirk Herbstreit-Lee Corso) all got decent bowls. The other bowls were scattered among their other teams that all seem to run together. But I guess ESPN considers the Continental Tire Bowl (actually a decent matchup between Virginia and West Virginia) the least of the bunch since it's sending Wayne Larrivee out there. Wayne always does the last-choice Big Ten game on ESPN Plus, which is seen only on GamePlan or on local affiliates if you're lucky (which I'm not down here in the South). He's a solid announcer, but it's funny to see him stuck with the fourth or fifth Big Ten game each week. At least that got Mike Gleason out of the GamePlan studio to actually work a game (he'll be joining Wayne in Charlotte).

Take the gamblers bowling
The college football bowl season is one of the strangest animals out there in all of sports. While there is plenty of clamoring for a national championship playoff, the bowl system will never go away. In fact, I sometimes wonder why the NCAA even legislates Division I-A college football. The organization awards that same plank-like plaque to the champion of every sport -- except major college football. It just doesn't seem right.

Anyway, the reason the bowls were originally created (and some of this holds true today) is to draw tourists into a city to spend money at hotels, restaurants, attractions, etc., and oh by the way, there's a football game in town. It works well when the bowl is in a warm-weather city, but then again, in December and January, places like Nashville, Atlanta, Mobile and Charlotte aren't always the most comfortable. And what in the world would compel people to go to Shreveport? (Their Chamber of Commerce "come visit our city" ad during today's Independence Bowl had me rolling.)
The way the money is thrown around during bowl season (fans spend, spend, spend; and teams/conferences take the payout), it ain't going away. Even if a company were to front millions and millions of dollars for a tournament, it would be concentrated on just a few cities and teams, and it wouldn't help that many people out. Cities want the cash, fans want games to go to, sponsors want their name out there, teams want a reward for a good season plus practice time to prepare for the next season. Forget the perfect world of a playoff -- here's your reality check.

One comment that really threw me during one of the lesser bowls was that all of these games were like the first couple of days of the NCAA basketball tournament. It seems that way by sheer numbers, but it's so wrong as well. We know most of these games mean little, especially if you're not a fan of the team. Whereas there is a do-or-die feeling in all of the tournament games, and there's a feeling that the team you're watching could win it all. Then again, I guess both the flood of crappy bowls and crush of 32 games in two days are compelling if you're betting on games or in some type of pool. (Isn't that what's making football the most watched sport in the first place? Betting and fantasy leagues?)
The one thing that is very similar though is that the overload makes the national championship game almost anticlimactic. The ESPN commentators are already beating the Fiesta Bowl matchup to death, and there's a week to go. In the NCAA tournament, it all leads up to the Final Four -- that national championship game itself often seems like an afterthought.

At the movies ...
I had a post about a couple of my trips to le cinema last week, but something ate it up. Oh well. Anyway, I lucked into a free ticket The Two Towers last Wednesday, and despite missing about 25 minutes of the movie trying to find the theater (my thought -- it's a 3-hour movie, what am I really going to miss?), I really enjoyed myself, even though I'm not a Tolkien fan. It definitely was a dark film, although the battle sequences at Helms Deep were magnificent. It's a good way to keep things moving, even though it's hard to do, given it's the middle of a trilogy. The ents were cool but they often seemed superfluous (hey, we haven't seen those other hobbits in a while, let's check up on them) until that closing scene, including the quick part where the one who was on fire dunked his head into the rushing waters -- a nice touch.

Also lucked into a screening of Chicago and had a great time. It was a lot of fun and definitely over the top, although not as much as Moulin Rouge. I enjoyed the way the story proceeded as is, then put the musical numbers in a faux-vaudeville show to accentuate the action. Catherine Zeta-Jones finally was able to use her past singing and dancing skills, although the way she tries to cover up her distinctive accent can be off-putting at times. Renee Zellweger (by the way, did they cast this by reading the SAG directory backwards???) did the cutie-pie thing well and was serviceable in her singing and dancing -- she didn't embarrass herself. Richard Gere was very over the top, which worked in his favor since it really took jabs at his own celebrity. The real surprise was Queen Latifah, who showed plenty of vocal range and decent acting ability.
Tangentially related to this, it was the first time in ages I actually saw a movie with Alyson despite the fact we both watch a lot of movies. I guess schedule and geography both have a lot to do with it (there are plenty of googolplexes in the Atlanta area), plus the fact that we both like a lot of control in what we do.

Belated Christmas blogging
Finally back on this thing after a long hiatus thanks to being alternately lazy and busy. Yup, all the requisite Christmas stuff was done -- cards, presents, even getting a tree (albeit an $8 thing from CVS with its own set of ornaments). However, this Christmas was a bit strange on a number of levels:
-- For one, most of the "real" celebration won't be done until Sunday when I head up to New Jersey to visit the family. (The gifts will be waiting for me, which is fine by me.)
-- Second, other than a great dinner at Casa Groce on Christmas Eve, it very much seemed like any other week at work -- except it was extraordinarily busy because just about everybody else in the office was off, leaving just a few of us to handle a lot of stuff that didn't seem to let up even though it was Christmas. And the work isn't going to let up until I'm on that plane to Newark on Sunday afternoon.
-- Finally, despite all the different Christmas media out there, I don't think I was immersed in it as much I used to be. The fact that one of the stations down here started playing Christmas music in mid-November turned me off to most of that, even when it seemed appropriate. Plus, I think I'm struggling to find choices for a second Christmas mix CD, so I guess I've given up trying to listen to the stuff more than I have to. Also, other than the great Charlie Brown Christmas, I missed most of the TV specials, although I'm mad I didn't stay the whole way through for a couple of the Rankin-Bass specials. But so it goes.

A couple of clarifications, explanations, etc. to why certain TV questions come up:
-- There is a definite geek factor involved when it comes to stuff like Buffy, the Trek universe, Simpsons, Dr. Who (back in the day) etc. Not only are players naturally drawn to shows like that, but since we're supposedly good at retaining knowledge and asking questions accordingly, it only makes sense that there would be a nearly savant-like quality to the questions.
-- Game shows are probably asked a bit much more in relation to all the other shows out there. It makes plenty of sense, however. We're playing a game show (albeit one that isn't televised) and given our interest in knowing things and showing off our knowledge, one of the best outlets for that is screaming at the TV while shows are going on. Thus, it's a natural match to see a bunch of game show questions written.
-- Crappy shows like My Mother the Car show up because of the "trashy" factor. It also helps that TV Guide had it on its 50 Worst TV shows list. Another thing that should be taken into consideration when stuff on short-lived TV shows, one-hit wonder musical artists, etc. shows up maybe a bit more often than others is that they often have short listings in different reference books, Web sites, etc. It's easy to glean enough information to write a tossup with a gettable answer. Yes, we can be lazy, and it's easier to condense a listing in some TV or music encyclopedia than it is trying to find different sources to layer a question.

Sorry I’m good
After lots of everything going on, I guess I should finally do some looking back at last week’s Trashmasters, although I’m still waiting for Charlie to post the final numbers. I’m not surprised by my team’s 9-5 record – we lost to the top-five teams there. Those are the breaks, and it was fun if a bit stressful playing some really close games.

Oh yeah, now that K-Tel Hell has moved more into stuff I’m more familiar with, I was finally able to win the belt. I guess it was the first time that the top seed out of the written round won the audio portion. So I’m happy, although I’m surprised I ended up nearly lapping the field. I suppose one thing this proves is that I listen to a lot of “mainstream” radio, which according to many people is downright evil.

Which segues nicely into some recent posts from Victoria and Craig about the nature of trash tournaments. I got hooked into playing these tournaments after pretty much blowing through a lot of the pop culture questions at CBI and later NAQT (the latter showing that those types of questions could be written as well as the academic questions I’d played on at ACF-ish tournaments). I suppose it helps that it touched on subcategories I knew well – sports, reasonably recent pop culture (TV, movies, music). Thus when I finally got to play trash tournaments, I did very well. And since these tournaments draw the “masters” crowd, it’s a good way for me to stay connected with the circuit and have some fun.

Now it looks like with some of these discussions I feel like I should leave because I’m too successful for my own good and for the good of the growth of this circuit. I’ve even considered just being an assistant TD or writer for Trashmasters, but then I realized I’d still be writing those questions that supposedly hinder growth, so that wouldn’t do much good for some, now would it?

It looks like music is the biggest target for this talk, and it’s hard to reconcile all the different wants and needs of players since it is so broad. “Popular” doesn’t even mean the same thing to all people. If we want to go by straight numbers, we could have situations like in quizbowl where if you went by the percentages of majors, we’d have tons of business questions, which obviously isn’t the case.

For good or for bad, there are certain archetypes of personalities playing the game, and thus the questions will sorta skew that way. Hence, the reason why Weird Al is asked a bunch as well as “geek rock” (which can include Elvis Costello, TMBG, Weezer). I don’t think classic rock is asked about as much as some people think, but then again when those types of questions are asked, it’s usually about the more well-known artists (Led Zeppelin, Beatles, Rolling Stones; plus, REM and U2 are now played on classic rock stations). Rap and hip hop are definitely asked about as much as they could be, given their popularity, even among quizbowlers. I don’t know country all that well, but it’s not all that hard to write questions on that. Sometimes you have to push yourself to write questions outside your interests.

At the same time, you need to find something to hang your question on – some type of “hook” clue, whether it be a notable song (sometimes an album), a notable musician on board or some “newsy” clue. The Velvet Underground is definitely askable, if not because of the actual music they performed, but the fact that Lou Reed was part of it. Phish becomes askable because of its band members (you try to name a Phish song). Why do we ask about a one-hit wonder about Right Said Fred, for instance? Because you can dig up trailing clues on whatever but finish up with “I’m Too Sexy.” However, it takes some work to put that giveaway clue on some influential artist that doesn’t have a notable song or album. Remember, it’s not just the “popular” or “mainstream” artists that pass this test. Even Wesley Willis, not the most mainstream artist out there, has a giveaway song or two (at least to the quizbowl community) that makes him at least reasonably gettable. I’m sorry if you hate hooks, but that’s what draws people to things, good or bad.

There is definitely a whole universe of answers/topics that have yet to be covered in trash tournaments, and we should try to open ourselves to write questions covering them (as opposed to some of our pet topics, which some of the more prolific writers definitely have). That type of stuff makes more people interested in what we do. Just remember that there’s a certain point at which questions stop becoming canon-expanding and become chump stumping. In fact, Charlie’s bragging rights, especially at larger tournaments, actually has the secondary purpose of pointing out which questions were probably too hard.

I'll be doing some alumni admissions interviews again this year for Northwestern, so I do read over some of the cases regarding affirmative action and admissions with close scrutiny. Michael Kinsley emerges from wherever he's been with a solid argument against the Bakke decision and the current case at Michigan's Law School.

I had my own screams of affirmative action years ago when I thought some of my high school classmates who I thought may have been slightly less deserving than me got into some big-time colleges ahead of myself and one of my friends who was valedictorian and well-credentialed. (That's an odd thing about being Asian. We do face many obstacles of being a "minority" but we're often not considered minorities when talking about poverty/affirmative action/etc.) However, we all should wonder to ourselves whether we would've made some of those schools even if there weren't affirmative action/quotas/etc., not comparing ourselves to the quota-admitted folks. Worry about ourselves, not about others.

Besides, if colleges are trying to create a diverse campus, accepting lots of the same people with the same numbers and activities, where's the diversity? Then again, the whole college admission process is a bit goofy anyway. Something to discuss at a later time after I do the interviews.

Hey, remember this guy?

Cue Alanis???
There has to be some irony in the fact that Ads.com has shut down due to lack of funding. It's also somewhat unfortunate that the one site where people want to see ads has gone down due to lack of interest while ads we don't want to see pop up everywhere.

And unfortunately, Volkswagen has yet to put their new Beetle convertible ad, which has become a favorite of mine, on their commercials page. It's fun seeing them know that their target youth audience isn't always doing something exciting. Yes, many of the scruffy 20-somethings do have boring day jobs and a set routine of waking up, commuting, doing office work, drinking coffee, going home. It's not a glamorous life, but it's definitely functional. The peppy music that goes along with it at least gives the illusion of the corporate drone work being satisfying, that is until he sees the new car driving along -- that escape the protagonist wants but doesn't necessarily need. As usual with many ads, I wasn't too sure what the hell was being sold until the end, but I did enjoy the fact that there was an accurate depiction of what many young people are actually doing (as opposed to the "extreme" world that's being sold out there).

Holiday at the movies
While the latest Harry Potter movie waits to be watched, I ended up catching a couple of movies the past couple of days while on vacation.

I really enjoyed 8 Mile, even if it's nowhere close to Curtis Hanson's best stuff. Eminem was solid, even if he's pretty much playing himself. At least it's a start and at least it's not this classic. The story was decent, if cliched, and I guess I enjoyed the music more than I thought. Although someone mentioned that it was odd hearing more mainstream tunes at times in the background ("Insane in the Brain," "This is How We Do It") as opposed to more hardcore/underground/etc. rap.
Oh yeah, it still baffles me that Brittany Murphy (who was raised in my hometown of all things) is the same actress in Clueless.

With my dad being a big James Bond fan, it was only fitting that I saw Die Another Day with him. If you like Bond films and all of its conventions (lots of stuff blowing up, cool gadgets, two-dimensional villains, good looking women, funny but cliched jokes), you won't be disappointed. If you're looking for breakthroughs in filmmaking, you're going to the wrong movie. Halle Berry looked amazing, and thankfully was actually integral to the plot. However, there wasn't as much hubbub about Rosamund Pike, who actually played a young, attractive British agent. Then again, she wasn't playing a typical Bond girl role (nor the greatest miscast in film history -- Denise Richards as Dr. Christmas Jones).

While Steve goes London blogging, I'm coming from a less exotic locale -- New Jersey. This after spending the past couple of days in Boston. But hey, I'm traveling somewhere like most other people this holiday, right?

Thanksgiving was very low-key and quiet, which is just fine by me. The family all converged on my brother's place in Boston for the typical turkey/football/decompressing that's normal at this time of year. The only wrinkle to this was early morning travel travails since I took a 6:45 a.m. flight out of Atlanta -- meaning waking up waaaay too early to catch a cab (too early to take my chances with MARTA) and being up reasonably late the night before. One thing that I think helped things move along well at the airport (other than checking in about 5 a.m.) is that Delta really ramped up the use of self-serve check-in kiosks at Hartsfield. One desk person can probably handle about four kiosks at once, and only if they need to help check in bags. It makes those lines move nice and fast.

Late night choices
Sometimes I amaze myself. There was this cool movie on Starz. My nightly slice of ridiculous cheese(cake). And yet I opt to watch this most ridiculous episode ever made (the fact that I knew that when I first saw it when I was 10 shows it's that bad). But, I can't turn away, especially when it includes almost every character on the show and somehow showcases Barbecue's most ridiculous Boston accent that would've been better served on this skit.

Chicken Little was right! News at 11!
Hearing all the anti-media rants from the outside and all the lamenting and hand-wringing on the inside can drive many people away from journalism (and at times, I've thought about leaving because of all the Chicken Little talk). So it's good to see someone trying to look at the criticism from a couple of perspectives. Matt Welch takes a number of authors to task about their sometimes ivory tower look at how bad the field has become. Sure there's change that needs to happen, but after a while, constantly negative talk and unproductive praise will do much long-term harm.

It's biased because it doesn't agree with me
Many times people will get upset at "the media" for not covering something near and dear to them properly. Sometimes, it's a matter of laziness, sometimes it's a lack of talent, many times it's a lack of understanding that few will get unless you're really immersed in its culture. As much as we try to be experts on everything, we can't.

With that said, being a lifelong wrestling fan, it was encouraging to see a decent article in SI a while back about the recent problems at WWE, but then it got way trumped by this article for ESPN magazine and a Web sidebar about the Hart family. I almost found it hard to believe that a major publication could treat such an issue like it would any other serious story (sports or not). Of course, the author has a lot of experience in the field, having written a book on Vince McMahon. But sometimes, it's all of matter of treating the subject like another person, another human and things will play themselves out.

On the other hand, the Wall Street Journal tried its hand at comparing video game systems maybe a year too late (or just on time for confused parents to shop), and well I guess it may work for the core readers, it seems way too simplistic and unhelpful for someone with an even a little knowledge of the systems at hand.

Well, there were plenty of complaints after the annual Victoria's Secret Lingerie Show. I tried watching bits and pieces of it but just couldn't get into it. I suppose they wanted to show it was a "real" TV show with the assorted musical acts and skits. It's a bit disconcerting when you're expecting Heidi Klum and you get Phil Collins, Chris Elliott and Jason Sehorn (yet no Angie Harmon). Besides that, I'm trying to figure out if most of the models are not allowed to smile, have a real glimmer in their eye or cheeks that aren't just bone. Watching a bunch of expressionless Eurobots actually detracts from whatever bizarro outfits they're showing. You really can't excited watching it and you almost want to feel sorry for them. The regular TV ads and the ubiquitous catalogs seem to have a better effect in creating a fantasy. Seeing the reality is actually disturbing.

While I don't think I caught a minute of it until tonight, I saw the end of The Bachelor pretty much to size up the looks of the lucky woman caught in the headlights of six weeks of dating in front of a national TV audience. She looked attractive enough, but I never saw anything else to know or care if the personality is there. Didn't really matter to me. What did matter is the somewhat comical talk about finding your soul mate after six weeks of taping this stuff. In this environment, it's practically impossible, but hey it makes for good entertainment, I suppose. (Hell, I watch Elimidate although that takes out a lot of the pretenses of shows like this, which may be why I like it.)

Back to the original point about The Bachelor is that the guy "dates" 25 women over the course of six weeks to find his future bride. I don't think I've gone out on 25 dates, never mind 25 different women, in my lifetime, so a lot of this just flies over my head.

But regarding dating, most of my single friends will complain about it at one point in time or another, and I suppose I do that a lot as well. However, I've kinda kept quiet lately because I think I'm having plenty of trouble distinguishing between friends hanging out and actual dating. I've never been really good at meeting someone and then just asking them out, it's not really how I operate. Instead, I've been good (or at least I think so) at cultivating friendships with women who I may or may not be interested in romantically. I suppose it proves Billy Crystal's statement in "When Harry Met Sally" that men and women can't be friends because the sex part gets in the way (well to an extent anyway).

I keep on wondering to myself where the friendship part ends and the "relationship" part begins with a couple of them. In one case, I think I've figured out that line, and I can proceed accordingly. However, in another case, I still keep on trying to figure out where each of us stands (and have been for quite a while), and I suppose I'm too much of a chicken to proceed further at this point (one major extenuating circumstance keeps on slapping me in the face and preventing me from doing so). I guess if I got a definitive answer, everything would be easy. But for now I'm not, and I have to wonder if either of us would call our time together a "date" or just a couple of friends hanging out.

Honestly, the answer should be much easier than this, and maybe I'm making too much of a production in my head about this, but oh well. Then again, I feel a lot more comfortable doing things together with someone if I know them reasonably well as opposed to the stiffness that comes about trying to meet new people in a traditional date setting. A sense of familiarity can do wonders for a social life even if that same sense of comfort actually hinders it.

As if I needed more reason to watch Ed, this happens as the Sports Night invasion continues to hit Must-See TV. Good to see her getting into a decent show again.

I've been wondering where our goofy Brit had been since we don't usually watch any of the International shows. He's back with a perfect assignment in previewing the next James Bond movie. Wonder if good old Richard could get a role on the next film. He'd fit in oh so nicely.

There was always a lot of negative talk surrounding Keith Olbermann's departure from ESPN more than five years ago, and most of it painted KO as a spoiled, egotistical guy who felt above most of his colleagues. Yet another "tortured genius" who did great work at the expense of his co-workers. That's why it's very intriguing to see him apologize for his actions, and you've got to wonder if he's actually grown up. It's an interesting read, especially since you don't expect people to write things like this until much later in life.

Reel alternatives
The next installment of Harry Potter came out this weekend, and instead I went to see Far From Heaven, primarily because I was more intrigued with it than all that Hufflepuff (although that's next on the list).

I really enjoyed the movie, and oddly enough it looks like a movie that might eventually show up on the curriculum of some modern U.S. history classes I took in college from the way it handles race relations and attitudes towards homosexuals in the 1950s. The film reminds me a lot of Pleasantville, in that in tries to bust the conventions of the "perfect" world of white, upper middle class, suburban life in the late '50s. While Pleasantville busted them in a more humorous way (since it was taking a sitcom angle), Far From Heaven tackled the issues in a meatier, more serious and often depressing way. The bright colors of the fashions of the day and the fall foliage in New England served as an amazing contrast to the darkness hidden within.

Julianne Moore was stellar in her role as a June Cleaver who becomes tormented for being a progressive (by '50s standards) thinker. And yet she's not even that progressive (especially with looking for medical help for her husband's homosexuality), it's just that she tries to treat all people as people. But, back then, and even to a lesser extent today, it was hard to treat people not like you with any respect (maybe because of fear, ignorance, etc.). Oddly enough, it's not just whites, either. The friends and acquaintances of Dennis Haysbert's character showed the same animosity towards Moore's character when they show up at a "colored" restaurant.

Fair? Balanced? Freudian slip? You decide!

And you are an aging coach who hasn't been on the sidelines in years ...
The Grizzlies should be a much better team than they are, but you've got to wonder if plucking Hubie Brown off the TNT broadcast table will work. Wonder how some of the players will feel hearing, "And you are Pau Gasol ..."

As usual, I'm negligent in my blogging. Just a lot of things going on. For instance, TRASH Regionals at Emory went over very very well. It was fun playing tournament director for the day, although I have to thank the Emory folks for getting everything set up well ahead of time, making my job easier once I got there. It was great to see the questions go over well, and I was even able to show Alyson a little bit of my little crazy world. Not to mention that she was a very solid reader in her first time out, even bettering some of the usual moderators I encounter.

Now that regionals are over with, it's now time to think about Trashmasters -- which could almost be called the Granddaddy of them All (or at least most of the competitors there, relatively speaking). Time to write more packets (and make the donuts, I guess).

Tick, tick, tick
I'm not going to go into snark mode like the good people at Television Without Pity, but I'll tackle this week's 24 in whatever way possible. It's odd to think that I can find it both gripping and unintentionally hilarious at the same time. They started moving the Jack angle reasonably well, and actually pacing in "real time" for the most part -- it took him most of the hour at one place to figure out what the next move will be -- and it's a doozy. The timing of the arc with the wedding also worked out well, only introducing it in the last 20 minutes and making the most of the time the show focused on it (outside of the sister bonding stuff). You have to wonder what life would be like if Palmer was really our president -- it would be hell on the press, based on how the one reporter was treated at the end of the show (oh, by the way, how the hell did a reporter find his way into the president's command headquarters in BFN that quickly?).

However, I'm wondering how necessary it is to have Kim and that weird arc with the abusive dad, other than making Jack sweat even more as he wards off terrorists and worries about his kid at the same time. The whole thing seems tacked on, although I won't complain about the unintentional Charlie's Angels/Baywatch moments with Kim running away from creepy yuppy wife beater. It also seems like an excuse to cast as many blondes and other beautiful people as possible.

It's taken a while but you can finally search through every Sports Illustrated cover ever produced. It still runs a bit slow, but it's really cool, and I'm sure there will be plenty of wallpapers coming out of this.

The politics of dancing ...
It's definitely been an interesting Election Day, especially sitting in a somewhat neutral frame of mind these days. I can stay stuff like that when I lean Republican, vote Democrat and lose twice -- although I had no real favorite in either the Georgia Senate or governor's race. Personally, the touch screen voting stuff was pretty cool, although I still had to go through about 5-6 steps before actually voting (mostly concerning checking IDs and putting my name on the rolls). Maybe I'll have more analysis later. However, one note, it's amusing to see James Traficant get a decent percentage of the vote, running from jail.

Since you've been out ...
I've been working on regionals questions all week, thus my absence from the blog world. (What a way to spend vacation time -- but I also did a bunch of errands and appointments as well.) However, here are some thoughts, observations, etc.

-- The death of Jam Master Jay is stunning, especially when you consider how long Run-DMC had been around, and the fact that they never had a type of image that might encourage violence, unlike Tupac or Biggie. I guess I can say I was able to see them in concert, even if it was a slightly long-winded performance (primarily from Rev. Run) during Music Midtown last year.

-- Allen Barra has a good explanation for the low World Series ratings. I really wanted to be interested in it, but I missed a bunch of games on the weekends because of other commitments (surprisingly, I had a life, if just briefly) and after working on a lot of this stuff during the day, I often don't have that passion late at night when the games actually took place. Plus, the Yankees were out, and that hurt things for me. Barra has it right that after being excited to see other teams from other areas, we now have treated baseball like college football where we only care about teams around us and if they're gone, we don't care. The best World Series now will have to involve teams from disparate parts of the map to grab attention from both coasts, the middle of the country, etc. Of course, if we put a sign "Watch the Yankees lose" I think we'll get the best ratings in a while, based on the way people talk.

-- The season premiere of 24 was a lot like the rest of last season -- often beyond belief, well-acted and very exhilarating. Sure, it's hokey at times, and like Dwight said, when you hear the line, "I'm gonna need a hacksaw," you know things have to be interesting. I liken this show to a really long movie, which is probably the best way to approach it (although if you miss one, there are still ways to catch up and not be left behind). I still need to get the boxed set of last year's run.

-- I did see a couple of movies during the week as well. I was impressed with Bowling for Columbine, as it was funny and hard-hitting at the same time. I've always enjoyed Michael Moore's movies, although I don't really agree with his politics although I tended to agree with him regarding guns and gun control (or at least the way he sort of approached the subjec). One thing that struck me here, though, is that he didn't do as much of the gotcha-humiliation act on lackies that he likes to pull off in his works. That always disturbed me that he would completely stomp on underlings, who are the types of people Moore supposedly champions, to make a point while trying to reach an executive he really wants to skewer. It was kept to a minimum this time around, and he let the other willing people paint the picture. By the way, the animated Brief History of the United States is an absolute hoot, and a good way to figure out some of his points.

-- Being a Seinfeld fan, I felt like I really needed to see Comedian, and I wasn't disappointed. It was very intriguing to see Jerry cultivate a completely new stand-up act, which really sounds a lot like his old stuff (delivery, topics, etc.). And Jerry talking with other comics about the craft makes for some great watching, especially those who watch(ed) a lot of stand-up over the years, whether at clubs or on TV. I didn't mind the movie also looking at a guy on the up-and-up in Orny Adams, since you did want to see the other side of the business. (For despite Jerry's redoing an act, he's still Jerry Seinfeld). Adams is a funny guy, but he's such a prick. You have to wonder if he knows that when he sees himself on screen. It looked like the movie was made on the cheap, but I think that was sort of the point. What was more annoying was some of the bad sound/music mixing. I want to hear Jerry's act, his conversations with other comics, etc. I like the music being played, but many times it overpowered the dialogue (which is hard to hear because of the few microphones involved, etc.). I sometimes felt like I could use closed captioning or subtitles to guide me along.

The host of Hollywood Squares 2020 -- Tiffany!
I procrastinated way too long so I missed out on a chance at an appointment to try out for Pyramid, which was being held at a nearby mall. So I tried doing things the hard way -- getting your name drawn and going on stage to play a small mock game with other people in the audience (set up just outside of Sears). Get six of six, you win an audition spot. Oddly enough, the last of the tapings is this Monday, so the top person from the audition would be flown out to L.A. today, so maybe it was good that I didn't get anywhere close to the stage.

The local TV and radio celebs playing the game were actually decent at it, which was fun to watch. However, the weird thing about this tryout, compared to other game show tryouts is that there were lots of people wanting to see Donny Osmond, and care little about the game. Thus, after he did his appearance, most of the crowd left (and much of this crowd appeared to have been there long before the 10 a.m. start time). And given he was a teen idol however long ago, it's scary to think some of these folks still holding on after all these years. Just strange.

Maybe next time I'll know to register really early for a tryout.

In one of the weirder instances of six degrees of separation, I now know two people who directly knew the last two senators to die in office. I actually was very hazy about Paul Wellstone's death on Friday (someone mentioned it in a talk with one professor) until Alexis told me, and the fact that he was a family friend. Also, an old online friend of mine used to go to the same church where Mel Carnahan served in Rolla, Mo.

Hey, I know you ...
Well, it was an interesting weekend in Chicago/Evanston for my reunion. It really dawned on me early that a lot of people I knew and/or wanted to see probably wouldn't have been there. I did see a handful of old friends -- some by design, some by luck (and not necessarily my graduating class). And I saw some old professors at a reception at the brand spanking new journalism school building, which looks really, really cool. What's amusing is that after five years, people don't look all that much different -- maybe a slight hairstyle change or a bit of a weight change one way or another, but for the most part, we looked the same as we did five years ago. It gets more amusing after 10-20 years, I'd imagine. Most of the good-looking people were still good-looking, the ordinary ones still ordinary, and so on.

While I did have fun with some of the reunion events (despite a really crappy Homecoming game -- the NU offense blows when Tony Stauss is at QB), it was weird seeing lots of the same faces from school that I didn't all that well, but were among the movers and shakers that all seemed to know each other. I'm only slightly connected to that whole network, and I guess it showed what circles I was running during my days at school. The people I knew well at the closing party were all journalism school grads -- I thought I knew more people than that. And heck, there were people that remembered me more than I did them, which is actually somewhat impressive given that I could've rattled off plenty of names of people I saw this weekend who likely had zero idea who I was.

I probably should've collected a few more pictures and e-mail addresses from folks, but oh well. It was still a decent-enough time, even if I wore out my legs and feet walking around all over the place.

Hail to purple, hail to white
It's always amazing how frenzied I'll get having to get lots of stuff done around the apartment before I've got a somewhat major trip. In this case, I'll be in Evanston/Chicago this weekend for my fifth college reunion. It's odd to think: a) I've been out of school for five years; and b) we're actually having a reunion this close after school. But it should be fun. I was part of the reunion committe (if by default) and there will be at least a couple of people I know that will be at the festivities. And I'll get to see a Northwestern football game for the first time since the Duke game early last year. Finally, it'll be great to see Alexis again, even if it has just been a couple of months.

Looks like Tim has come up with his Craig corollary and come up with the Jukebox From Hell. It's interesting what counts for "worst songs ever" -- some on the list are truly awful, some are awfully dated, some are guilty pleasures and some make it for the sin of being played on the radio a bit much. I like to consider this list more of a guilty pleasures thing, so this should be a lot of fun. (Hopefully it won't have the same excessive hubris that sometimes comes with Craig's tournament -- not his fault, just the passions incited in some people about music that sometimes goes overboard.) I'll have to do a count on how many of the 256 I have on MP3, CD, or god forbid, vinyl.

A study in contrasts
For one of the few times that I can remember, Philips Arena had concerts on back-to-back nights. But it was one of the funniest pair I've seen in a while. Monday night, there were tons of teenage girls and 'tweens with their parents all to see the American Idol tour. Then tonight, I saw a bunch of teenagers and some folks in their 20s wearing mostly black. They were there to see Korn. Imagine mixing up your days when trying to attend these concerts? I think it would've been cool to see Simon trying to rip into Korn.

Couple of quiz bowl notes
Got another trash tournament team title under my belt after continuing an undefeated streak at the Big Lots tournament -- UTC's mirror of the FOGHAT trash tournament. The questions were very good for the most part, and the themes present were sometimes clever, sometimes groan-inducing.

At the same time, a handful of teams were playing on the Junior Bird questions I pretty much edited myself with lots of writing help from plenty of people across the circuit. It was nice to see some kind words about the packets, although I'm confused when I see people complaining that questions were too easy. I actually thought some of the stuff was harder than should've been, but maybe it's good that I somewhat underestimated what people knew. Then again, shouldn't the stuff be accessible even for teams making their first appearance at a trash tournament (hence, not get scared off)? I know fthat from seeing younger teams at the UTC tournaments, they can get frustrated and overwhelmed with a lot of the stuff that has no relevance to them because they weren't born yet.

Finally, there's some interesting rumblings on the state of the game right now from a handful of bright and respected people on a variety of outlets. I'll flesh out my details more later. But quickly, I think that an overall lack of respect between different levels of the game (independent groups vs. "corporate" organizations; newer teams vs. experienced players; hard-core academic vs. somewhat academic vs. trash) and from a number of players of all ages and levels who just like to treat people like crap have hurt everyone from growing. It's hard to offer constructive criticism without thinking it's either a slam or a conspiracy. And it's hard to find constructive criticism because there's too much "This sucks, change it!"

I've said it before and I've said it again, I'm surprised more people weren't rooting for the terrorists on 9/11 the way people try to counteract the myopia/arrogance/etc. of the New York media. Maybe I take some sports and some criticism of the New York/East Coast a bit too seriously, but sometimes I wonder what might happen if the East Coast gets blown away in some unforeseen disaster.

Note to all my friends who like putting those graphics of "What [blank] are you?" quizzes on your blog, please have an idea of what you're getting into before posting it. Or at least don't comment on it if you have no idea what the final product is.

21st century digital boy
Well it looks like they've done some retooling over at VH-1 Classic -- seemingly a must watch for anyone who appreciates when MTV played music consistently. Headline Act looks be to a nice change of pace -- 30 minutes (ok, maybe 18 with all the house ads) of videos of one band plus little trivia bits in between (watching the U2 block right now). If you like the band featured, you're hooked for a bit, if not, you move on. I'm not a metal person, but there's now a metal block. And there's some request show, which doesn't look as promising, but who knows. The whole channel still blows other music video channels out of the water.

Slightly down the dial, the other MTV digital channel that's not MTV2 is now MTV Hits (was MTVX -- rock music; then MTV Jams -- R&B and hip hop). Hmm, so this is the channel that MTV used to be. Oh well, at least I can catch up on my pop music, if just for question-writing purposes.

Why am I not surprised about Geraldo Rivera doing something like this? All in a day's work, I guess.

Dude, you're psychic or something
Not long after this post, the venerable Wall Street Journal follows suit. Who knew I could help pitch story ideas?

And speaking of prescient thinking, the Tuesday Morning Quarterback column on ESPN.com (and formerly Slate) likes to rip on the New York Times for its inability to predict final scores of NFL games. So he should check out this Fearless Forecasters grid from last Friday's (or maybe it was Thursday's because of the early game) edition of The Daily Northwestern. Look at Badger and Donnelly's pick for the Michigan-Penn State game and Glenn Kasses' pick for the Oregon-UCLA game. Now match it up with the final scores of Michigan-Penn State and Oregon-UCLA.

I've got a fever, and the only prescription is this!

Call out, Tattoo!
It's always interesting to read what amounts to primer articles on fantasy sports, given that it's my job and that a lot of my friends have been playing it even longer than I have. Still, it's nice to see it get somewhat positive attention, or even less than positive as Frank Deford notes.

A couple of things regarding this, though. For all of you who think I've got the greatest job in the world, think again. It's a job. I deal with lots of issues that any job would entail -- office politics, bickering, dealing with odd people, up and down work conditions, etc. And oh yeah, I become a de facto customer service/tech support person, which is not fun if that's not officially your job. Sadly enough, that Gateway ad featuring the actress who plays Frau in the Austin Powers movies as a phone operator seems similar to me. I hate to give people the runaround, but it gets annoying when you're the alleged "expert" because you're sorta the person connected with the project but yet not directly connected to the information people need. I do respect the people who can work customer service desks/call lines/etc., especially given what complaints they'll have to hear. The saying goes, "The customer is always right" but that doesn't mean, "The customer can be an asshole because of that."

We now have two wild card teams in the World Series. So, will this guy's head explode now? Don't get me wrong, I'm a big Costas fan, but sometimes the "purist" aspect goes a bit too far. If some of them really do want baseball back to what it's like in the old days, would we still have Negro Leagues? How far back do you want to go? It's 2002, not 1952 or 1932, get used to it.

In any event, I think I'm rooting for the Giants mainly because of Barry Bonds and not despite it. Then again, it's probably that knee-jerk reaction of rooting for the grizzled veterans toward the end of their career, even after years of rooting against them. It happened with Martina Navratilova, and now it's happening with Bonds. At least now we won't have to hear all the bellyaching that Bonds never did anything in the playoffs. He's in the Series now, so everything is hunky dory now.

Finally, with the World Series starting up Saturday -- meaning endless hype for the next few days, but thankfully saving us from excess 24 promos -- we'll get to annoy many fans with Tim McCarver at the mic. I may be one of the few people (Aaron Barnhart included) that actually likes the old catcher. Sure, he can get preachy at times, but I wonder if people actually listen to what he says and connects it with what's going on in the field. Maybe people don't want to be educated when watching a baseball game, fine by me.

Congratulations to Jimmy Carter for his Nobel Peace Prize win. Of course, we all care enough because it's someone we've actually heard of. I won't get into the potential jabs at Bush that come with this award. However, I wonder if his Christ-like appearance on King of the Hill or his many mentions on The Simpsons helped with his accolades?

You want the truth? You can't handle the truth!

Much like Joyce, I was a bit surprised to find out it was Filipino-American History Month. Shows what I know, I guess. Shame on me. However, it was funny to find out about it through the "big ass" mistake by a student journalist at Washington State. Anyone over there take Spanish? Ay, caramba.

Dude, you've jumped the shark
I see they've somewhat phased out Steven in the Dell Computer ads and replaced him with some of his loopy friends who happen to be interning with the company. I'm still trying to figure out if the girl in the ads is cute or not -- although her facial expressions and general demeanor scream out, "Bitch!"

I really want to get into the baseball playoffs, but with the Yankees now out, I don't feel as motivated. I'm not surprised they lost, it was bound to happen. As for the rest of the Yankee-hating nation out there, I guess the playoffs don't seem as much fun without a villain to root against, eh? Barry Bonds may count, but until the Braves series, he was so pathetic in October, that it was hardly worth jeering him.

Speaking of the Braves series, I went to Games 2 and 5, thanks in part to free tickets from the company (given out to all employees) and the place still wasn't sold out. There was a nice energy early in Game 5, but that quieted early, and worse off, people were leaving after the eighth inning in a 3-1 game. (They may have been losing, but it's not like they were down 13-1 or something, jeez!) There are many excuses for why the stadium wasn't filled -- prices too high (Division Series tickets were about the same price as the regular season; LCS and World Series tickets that sell better are marked up in ridiculous fashion by Major League Baseball); people are working and can't make daytime games (then why did Minnesota sell out daytime games?); people tire of the constant success (then why is Yankee Stadium packed every year?). There is something to be said about people being spoiled here. Then again, maybe we need Larry Munson and Skip Caray calling games together, or pretending it's college football and paying off players to come to Atlanta (oh wait, that's already done).

While many of you folks reading this are all part of that great inner circle within quizbowl whose blogs are all linked together, others out there may not be familiar with Craig's song tournament, so I figured I'd give him a little extra publicity and a couple of extra votes. I doubt it will turn into Road to Springfield (of which I was an original voter), but what the heck, eh? Although it is interesting that while Craig is asking "Which one would you rather listen to on the radio if both came on the same time," it also turns into the predictable exercise of what really constitutes "good music."

While I'm at it, congratulations to Phil and Victoria on their wedding last week. As Craig mentioned earlier, it was a nice low-key ceremony (in a pretty modern if strange looking church) and reception. No need for the silly dances that permeate many receptions; and thankfully no Adam Sandler-type folks wandering around.

I own plenty of these CDs so it shouldn't be a major surprise that I enjoyed this homage to TV theme songs. Hmm, HBO still has the monopoly on some of the top TV themes just like it has on quality shows. Think The Sopranos and especially the haunting Six Feet Under themes.

Sorry it's been a while since I've gotten to this. Too much going on, and a bit too much Playstation in between. But for starters, here's something that thankfully I don't have to deal with much with most of my friends.

Batter up
It's about time I got back to this thing. I'd been sidetracked by working on Junior Bird questions, which I'm hoping some people will actually use after a couple of schools had to bail on us for a variety of reasons. Of course now that hurdle is out of the way, it's on to the big stuff for regionals. I guess it'll be more time at the computer being moderately productive. Time to get motivated.

While we're at it, it's time for me to get really excited again about baseball now the playoffs have come around. I'd been mildly interested at best down the stretch, and it didn't help that I've proven to be a real fraud in fantasy baseball finishing dead last in two money leagues and finishing one spot of the money for the third year in a row in another league. I think I just don't have the same attention span I used to have to keep up with this stuff all year long. And honestly, being inundated with baseball stuff all day at work actually makes me less interested in following everything to the exact detail every night when I get home. I may be online all the time, but I just can't dive into box scores with great regularity like I used to. Odd to say that toning down the geek factor is actually detrimental to me.

Back to the real games at hand, everyone can blame the Yankees for everything that's wrong with the game (and the world, see my 9/11 rants that connects all of this together). The one thing they probably had a slight hand in causing is that ridiculous 11 p.m. ET start for the Diamondbacks-Cardinals game. But it had to be because Fox wanted the Yankees in prime time and the other two games scheduled that day were on the West Coast, precluding a 1 p.m. ET start. While all of the games and series this time around all look interesting, it also magnifies an interesting problem of scheduling because all of the games feature a team from the Pacific or Mountain time zone against one from an Eastern or Central one. Thus there will be instances where West Coast viewers will be watching games starting at 10 a.m. and East Coast viewers having to watch the aforementioned 11 p.m. starts. That's just the way it goes, especially with TV, which drives the economics of the game, whether people like it or not.

Speaking of TV coverage, ABC Family is not some low-carriage digital cable channel. Almost as many people get that channel as they do ESPN. Let's stop treating it as such when it comes to them showing Division Series games. They're showing the games because of some arrangements that took place when Fox bought the entire postseason package, and even after ABC bought the Family Channel portion, the baseball went along with it. It does get confusing when they slap the ESPN logos on there, but that's because local affiliates in towns with teams in the playoffs are carrying the games as well (which is a nice touch, in my opinion). And it's funny to see lots of ads for 7th Heaven reruns and some really awful Charlotte Church knockoff. I'll have more baseball rants later -- I will be at the Giants-Braves game tomorrow (as will a good percentage of Turner employees).

I guess this could explain some of the Mets' woes this season. The picture really makes this story work.

Virtual reality
I've been a major slacker with this blog. And I suppose this and this are the reasons for it. I've been meaning to get one for a while, and it does kill two birds with one stone -- game console and DVD player that isn't my computer (it's already taking enough of a beating). Maybe I'll have updates on my electronic seasons when I feel like it. Oddly enough, I think I've been playing as well as Northwestern, which means not all that great -- there's a bit of a learning curve, I suppose.

Welcome to the nest
As for other things, I was at this barnburner and lucked out even more when our group won the drawing for an upgrade to a suite. It was very helpful for our alumni group, so we could meet a bunch more people. It was fun seeing our group split 50-50 rooting for the Bears and the Falcons. The crowd was a sellout, which is good, but for some reason I wasn't impressed with the crowd noise despite all the people. Then again, the Georgia Dome is not that great a facility, although the dome came in very handy because it was raining the whole day.

Note to self: Stock up on Windex
As I continue to catch up on movies, I finally got around to seeing My Big Fat Greek Wedding over the weekend. Somehow, it's emerged from indy hit to $100 million-plus in box office gross. It's a very funny and cute movie, and as the ads go, you could probably replace Greek with a multitude of different ethnic groups and get the same effect. Nothing special or earth-shattering, it was just a good time, especially when you could relate in one way or another. It helped in my case that I was watching with a friend of mine from a Greek family, so she really could relate. I wasn't keeping too close tabs on the film as it shot up the charts, but Lainie Kazan seemed to be the perfect person to play the mother. John Corbett for some reason looked like John Travolta with less slick hair, and I couldn't help but bust out laughing when Joey Fatone showed up on screen (and not because of his comic timing). At least he wasn't going nuts with the dances.

Notes from the ad critic...
--As odd as it was seeing Jamie Lee Curtis selling cell phones, it's even crazier to see Catherine Zeta-Jones taking over the ad campaign once the name changed over to T-Mobile. However, those ads actually make her feel a lot more accessible, especially those print ads where she comes off as cute as opposed to the elegant, aloof air she's had pretty much since burst onto the mainstream. Seeing how this ad campaign has turned out, maybe that's why the big stars don't usually show up in ordinary ads -- it strips away some of the air of star power they've got.
--Does Alyson Hannigan have a sister, or did she just lighten her hair for this newest UPS ad? Either way, it really does look like Willow doing business for skater dudes.

Game show reviews
Monday was premiere day in the game show world, starting with revamps of Hollywood Squares and Family Feud and the debuts of the syndicated Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and Pyramid. I don't have much of a reaction or review of the first two, but Steve Beverly's Game Show site has good reviews of those two.

As for WWTBAM and Pyramid, which are on during the 4 p.m. hour on the NBC affiliate here (and right after Dr. Phil), I was impressed with both. Outside of the elimination of fastest finger, which was becoming irrelevant with regards to contestant searches, everything seemed the same. Meredith Viera is fine replacing Regis. Nothing out of the ordinary yet not too bland, either. It'll be very easy to get back into the swing of things watching this show if you were a fan before.

Pyramid underwent a few changes since its glory run during the '70s and '80s, which I still adore watching. Donnie Osmond seemed fine as a host (I had the sound down at work so I wasn't paying that close attention) and the tweaks to the game format (get six right in 20 seconds now, compared to seven in 30) weren't anything drastic. The set does take getting used to, but it's 2002, so changes were expected -- although the laptop setup to give clues as opposed to the hidden TV monitor in the desk was very funky. One thing I've noticed in both the first episode and in past episodes in the Dick Clark era, categories where all the answers are famous people are a bad idea. One really notable celebrity in a list of everyday words/terms is fine (ex. "Things that make you cringe when you hear it" had an answer of Lewinsky), but a whole list becomes a tough trivia contest (ex. celebrities who wear glasses; Drew Carey and Larry King caused many problems as answers). For this show, it will take some getting used to, but it's still got much of the charm of the old days.

All of the reality shows are back soon. Honestly, the game play factor of Survivor gives me just enough incentive to look at the pretty people eventually wilt away in the wilderness. As for The Amazing Race, I don't watch it, but I was intrigued to find out one of the contestants this time around was in my graduating class at Northwestern. The name and face were familiar, but I didn't know her. ESPN may have something interesting with Beg, Borrow and Deal, although it seems like it will either be a blast or a tremendous bust (and speaking of which, was it their intention that being a cheerleader had to be a prequisite to get one of the female slots?).

Going on the TV tangent, I might as well plug my entry in the Alison LaPlaca Open -- a pretty good TV dead pool.

Not sure you ever saw this in Bexley, Ohio
Finally, I'll end my blogging catch-up with the stunning news of Bob Greene's resignation from the Chicago Tribune after he admitted having relations with a teenager more than 10 years ago. I've never been a fan of Greene's while I was in Chicago, instead sticking with Mike Royko and following along with Eric Zorn, and I'd often make fun of whatever piece that was on his head that he probably bought from the same place James Traficant shopped. However, he was an institution there, and the paper does lose one of its most distinctive voices in a controversial way.

I'm not sure Greene deserved to be fired (he officially resigned, but you get the picture), although his ethics in this instance were very much in question. However, this isn't an R. Kelly situation, the girl was of legal consent. And it does sound somewhat that this relationship took place after he finished reporting on her for a column way back in the day, although it is definitely frowned upon to be taking advantage of such a situation in a personal manner. Plus this happened while he was married (but for some reason in this case, it has little importance professionally although it's a huge thing morally). I still don't know the details about what the woman wants now out of this situation, if anything, so that remains to be seen. But in the case of a nationally known columnist who's written about family, children and other such issues along with his myriad topics over the years, it puts him under a much bigger microscope and stuff like this can take him down.

While catching this funny but average movie last night, it dawned on me that the Farrelly Brothers actually are vastly underrated when it comes to their movie soundtracks. I guess most people are distracted by the sick sight gags and such to notice the music. If you're looking for just slightly off the mainstream pop, the Farrellys are good for that. They're also solid with '70s stuff -- the Outside Providence soundtrack was just a collection of '70s pop/rock stuff.

In Me, Myself and Irene, there are a couple of decent tracks by Pete Yorn and Wilco, not to mention some Steely Dan covers, including "Do It Again" by Smash Mouth. (How many covers have they done for movies anyways? I smell a question brewing there.) Kingpin featured Freedy Johnston, whose "Bad Reputation" from about '95 or '96 I liked a lot. There's Something About Mary had Jonathan Richman in a funny recurring role, not to mention resurrecting "Build Me Up Buttercup" from the scrap heaps of the oldies stations. Shallow Hal wasn't as memorable music-wise, but it did feature Lucinda Williams and Cake, not to mention a fun tie-in with "Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)."

One heck of a first weekend for the NFL, even if it was spoiled a little bit by that ridiculous opening ceremony concert, etc. in New York. I wonder if I really think having DirecTV and Sunday Ticket is worht my time since I'm already flipping like mad between the two games going on, never mind the 8-10 early games at once. Besides, it's better to have all of the numbers in front of me, no matter how slow the Web sites were updating them early (still hard to simulate so many people logging in to check box scores for fantasy purposes).

I won't bore everyone with all of my fantasy teams, but I will say it seemed fortuitous that I have Charlie Garner and Marty Booker on a bunch of them.

And in between it all, it was fun watching Agassi and Sampras slug it out again in the U.S. Open finals. For some reason, that match was more compelling coming in, no matter how many times they faced each other, compared to the Williams sister final, which is actually becoming very repetitive with four of the last Slam finals being the two.

It's so wrong, it's right
Well it looks like Salon had the same idea I had, given I had and still have some strange reactions and feelings about 9/11. And a First Person account in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution does reflect more people's views about this than you might believe. Hopefully this will be one of very few posts on the subject as the anniversary approaches.

First, the "proper" reactions: I was stunned by the whole thing, and knew it would be absolutely crazy at the office, if not for us, but for the rest of the company. There was lots of confusion whether we should've been there at work or gone home. I was worried for friends and relatives in New York and Washington that day but got word reasonably quickly that everyone was OK, and that I was fine as well. I ate up the CNN coverage, and being very impressed with new superstar hires Aaron Brown and Paula Zahn stepping up big time in their first considerable time on air for the network. I was very curious to see what non-news cable networks were doing that day (switching to other news feeds, altering schedules, going off the air or status quo). I was doing a lot of thinking about how the media was covering the day -- although from the perspective of covering a true disaster, as opposed to all the causes, etc. that would come up later (and is/was good or bad, depending on your point of view. The book of newspaper front pages from 9/11 and 9/12 by the Poynter Institute is an amazing collection.

Now the "improper" reactions: I was thinking of all those people who hate New York who might've rejoiced in seeing the towers attacked and seeing something bad happen to the city. (That attitude probably comes from dealing with anti-New York fans, especially those against the Yankees.)
-- Thinking how many people not living in New York would've cared less about the attacks (and having that indignant "Nooo York City???" bit from the Pace Picante ads swirling in my head). The fact that three of the planes originated in places other than New York probably debunked some of that.
-- All of those people screaming about a New York bias in the media (tangentially related to the anti-New York sports stuff): The instant images generated by local news helicopters, plus the dispatching of tons of reporters trying to get the many facets of the events that day doesn't happen in most places. Obviously everyone felt the impact of the events in some way or another, but the depth and urgency was felt a lot more because, oh yeah, it happened in the main base of the media. (Compare that to Oklahoma City, for instance.) Somewhat related to the New York media bias -- How come New York is getting all of this attention? What about the folks at the Pentagon or those who died in central Pennsylvania? Damn New York bias again.

I guess a lot of my reaction comes down to this: Many people despise New York in some way because of the power it wields over the rest of the country in different ways. And yet everyone seemed to run to its aid and give its sympathy (and continue to do so today) after the attacks. Hmm, this could be a lot like unhappy employees rallying around a tyranical boss after he suffers a heart attack or some other major illness/injury and then still kissing up to him when he returns, even though he's pretty much the same SOB he's always been.

I'm always finding new and different things with my cable that actually please me (although if I had my way, I'd probably have done satellite by now). In this case, it's the expansion of the digital music channels at the end of the dial. They've actually spun off the '80s channel into a separate New Wave channel, which really rocks (although I guess it depends on how much you really want to hear The Smiths, Depeche Mode, etc.). They've also got the Party Favorites channel, which I suppose is just more mainstream dance-pop/hip-hop songs.

I'll admit I'm a product of commercial radio, although I'll also agree most of it today does stink, so it's fun to find other outlets that are still somewhat mainstream yet slightly off the beaten path. That my explain why one of my favorite radio programs is Organic X, which airs Sunday mornings on the local alt-rock station here. It's definitely softer than what normal alt-rock stations usually play, although they'll pluck out some of the "lighter" current hits, but has enough of an eclectic edge to it to make it something out of the ordinary, even for an "alternative" station.

I wonder if Charles Oakley would be proud of this setup job in California, especially when you consider the most important parts of this story are buried at the bottom -- almost like a surprise ending in a movie.

I won't pass too much judgment on Brits who can't spell because us Americans have problems doing so as well. When you read enough stuff, especially online, you come across some things that are down right annoying. So here are a few things that I come across a lot which are WRONG WRONG WRONG:

-- That championship game in the NFL is the Super Bowl. It says so on the ticket, program, etc. Not Superbowl. It ain't the game of steel, although there could be Steelers if you're lucky. The game got its name partly because of those other football bowl games like the Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl, etc.
-- Those things that Barry Bonds hits a lot of are home runs (two words). When contracted, they become homers (one word). Sure it's hard to figure out with the abbreviations and all.
-- When you don't win, you lose a game. You might play loose in losing the game. You can't loose anything, you can loosen something, though.
-- There is no such word as definately. You definitely need to check your spelling if you use definately in your writing. Think of it this way, have you heard of a defination of a word?

How a nondescript night becomes ridiculous
As a bunch of us returned to work from our annual office fantasy football draft, we get smacked in the face with a couple of big-time games that no one would've expected to draw much attention months ago. First off, the U.S. basketball team showed it is vulnerable after losing to Argentina. Baron Davis even admitted not taking them seriously. You have to wonder if USA Basketball will rethink its use of NBA stars, especially when many of the true superstars weren't there. Of course, the Americans could bounce back in the knockout round and absolutely clobber everyone now that they're mad (or should be).

As for that A's streak, it was impressive seeing them pile up the runs early, and just as astonishing seeing the Royals bounce back to come back from an 11-run lead. But to quote Alyson, an unabashed Royals fan, "They'll find a way to lose it." And they did it most dramatic fashion, although it was very spooky to see everyone pretty much expect Oakland pull it out in the bottom of the ninth after letting Kansas City tie it. You've got to wonder, though, if Billy Koch will blow up in the postseason with some of those blown saves and late-inning flare-ups that would eventually lead to the late dramatics. As much as it would be neat to see the A's set the major-league record (and there's a long way to go), you've got to think it ends during one of those games in Minnesota. Besides, despite this huge streak, Oakland still has a brutal schedule down the stretch.This only serves to keep them in the pennant race.

Baaaa...
When it comes to all of this blog and blog accessory stuff -- like the new guestmap on the left nav -- we're all just sheep. I saw the idea on Craig's site, then didn't follow up until Kristin did the copycat thing. And among all of the quizbowl folk, you could trace a family tree (or maybe it's a chronology) of blogs -- who started it when and who inspired others to start their own. It's fascinating and yet somewhat demented and sad.

A co-worker brought this up when talking about Distant Replays and the number of rap artists wearing vintage jerseys, hats featuring old logos, etc. How many of these guys actually know and/or appreciate what they're wearing or do they have them because they look cool? Hopefully there are some old-school basketball or baseball fans among them that can at least appreciate the kitschiness of some of these uniforms/logos or at least are familiar with the uniform of the player they're wearing. Honestly, do you think Bow Wow really knows about the SuperSonics and the hat he was wearing on Leno the other day?

I suppose all of this old-school stuff is much like all the rockers and rappers wearing hockey jerseys back in the day, which then spawned such abysmal products as hockey jerseys with the Yankees and Lakers logos. I guess in a few years, we'll see some artists wearing XFL stuff without any irony.

Best way to describe this debacle -- Yuck! I guess it will be a long season after all. Thankfully I was watching at work instead of at the usual location or else I would've been long gone by halftime. But I guess there's still time to see how things progress.

I know my politics sort of lean to the right, but I suppose I feel good about being that way after reading this nugget (which would still be floating around if these people had their way). Then again, I wouldn't be blogging or doing the job I'm doing or most of anything else if they had their way.

I'm not so hung up on old pop/rock songs being used for commercials, but it was odd hearing Genius of Love in a commercial for Kia cars. Couldn't they have at least sold out for a better car?

As I continue to read the train wrecks that are letters to the editor and message boards, remember this one thing -- coverage of something is biased if it's something with which you don't agree.

Don't mess with Hootie
Well, the Masters sent out a message to everyone: Screw you, we'll do things our way. They don't the money that badly, at least enough that they can dictate their own rules. I just wonder how it will be to watch commercial-free golf? You need to give David Feherty and the gang some rest every few minutes, right?

In lieu of my lack of photography skills (that is, hardly taking pictures even when I have a camera), I have to thank my friend Larry for providing pictures from Sam's stateside wedding ceremony from last week.

Whatever did happen to Michael Penn?
Having caught bits and pieces of the MTV Video Music Awards, I'm actually stunned that I've heard of about half of the artists nominated. Granted, I could care less about most of them, but I was happy to see Eminem take Video of the Year and Michelle Branch win Viewer's Choice (which was slightly surprising to me, but then again she probably fits the demographic of those voting for the award best, not to mention whatever N'Sync video that was in the mix sucking). Can't give too much of a review of the rest since I was floating among tons of things on the tube as well.
However, one very interesting related programming note: MTV2 was back to its old purpose -- showing videos of all stripes -- while the mother network is repeating the VMAs about 20 times this weekend. Flipping by the network during the days leading up to the VMAs, MTV2 was turning into an MTV clone instead of keeping its own identity. But then again, maybe I felt good seeing a Beth Orton video for something a bit different.

Net gains
It took me a day, but I'm now into U.S. Open mode, as I usually am at this time of year. It's definitely my favorite grand slam tennis event. However, I was bit excited yet disturbed to hear the old ECW theme music being used to promote an Andy Roddick match.

A disappointing part of Anna Kournikova's loss was that she was playing better leading up to the Open. No matter -- she's now part of many tennis fans' dream team with Martina Hingis (welcome back, although what in the world was Sergio Garcia wearing in the crowd).

A few other notes about the women's game. (The men's game is a bit dull for me to comment at this point):
--I'm surprised there hasn't been as much Anna-like attention lavished on Jelena Dokic (although it sounds like she's getting there, at least according to some of my colleagues). Her loss was rather disappointing to some admirers. However, I can't help but think she's just a curvier version of Mena Suvari (who I think is rather overrated).
--Let's not go overboard in trying to paint Ashley Harkleroad as another Anna. Sure, she's cute and she's got game. But let everything develop before trotting out the PR machine. She's only 17. At least this year she was appropriately dressed, as opposed to last year's outfits.

Additional travel notes
I suppose this entry works better after my most recent travelblogue, but bear with me. After spending time in Dallas and Chicago in "fancier" hotels while staying at a lot more basic place in Durham, I've realized that it seems like the "lesser" hotels often have better phone and TV service. The fancy places have their in-house TV systems with a chance to see your account on TV, check out of the room, plus pay-per-view movies/TV shows/video games/WebTV. However, the selection of actual channels is often lacking. Sure, you've got your basic major networks as well as ESPN (sometimes ESPN2 as well), CNN and Headline News, Weather Channel, and maybe a movie channel, but good luck trying to find Comedy Central, Food Network, Cartoon Network, etc. (Maybe because I'm spoiled huge by my digital cable) on there. However, it seems like a lot of the "lesser" hotels go with a local basic cable package plus an HBO or Showtime, but minus the rest of the premium stuff. Thus, instead of about 15-20 channels, you end up with 35-40 and more.

On a similar note, you hardly see ads for free local calls at the fancier hotels, where as the motels often have it (although some tack on a small daily service charge on the bill to cover such calls). It matters to me only because of things like this where I can log in thanks to the wealth of local numbers on Earthlink. It's interesting that I'll have a handful of 50-cent or one-dollar charges for each local call just to add to whatever charges are already there (thankfully I don't bother with the eight-dollar beer in the minifridges). And in the case of the Doubletree Rosemont, you get free local calls only for a handful of exchanges in the immediate vicinity of the hotel -- everything else is at least a dollar, even for calls just a couple of miles beyond the boundaries.

I suppose for staying in the lap of luxury, you'd be willing to pay for anything and everything (Thankfully the Doubletree didn't charge me for the cookie at check-in). And yet some of the most effective tools for travelers are easier to find at a basic motel/hotel. Weird, I suppose. Then again, I'm a bit more used to staying on the cheap, so maybe all of this stuff is just a bit strange for me.

Travels with JQ
I'm heading down the homestretch of my multiple travels. This is coming from pretty much halfway between the Duke and North Carolina campuses. Kinda neat how reasonably close both places are. Did get to see both campuses just driving around after my friend's Sam's wedding today. Got a little glimpse of the Dean Dome and saw a lot of the Duke campus -- including Cameron Indoor Stadium and Krzyzewskiville. Also amusing to find myself on the Duke campus just as freshmen were starting to move in -- at least it made the campus looked lived in.

The wedding (or more specifically, the ceremony celebrating the wedding since Sam and his wife Anya were married in Moscow last month) was a nice occasion at a pretty fancy garden/inn/restaurant complex south of Durham/Chapel Hill. If anything, it was nice to reunite with my old roommates from my senior year at college. This was the first time we had everyone together in a couple of years (for another wedding).

Before the wedding was a jaunt to Chicago for some fantasy football conferences. The trade event was pretty good -- it was good to network with a bunch of other people in the industry. Just too bad, the consumer part wasn't as well attended, and that I didn't get a chance to take part in one of the expert drafts because of a lack of time. I suppose the consumer conference is a decent idea, although it was a bit interesting to see about 50 or so fantasy fanatics sitting through a few hours worth of "expert" seminars talking all about fantasy football.

However, since I was in Chicago, I was able to get a few things done/people to see/etc. Got to spend some time with Alexis (in her really nice new apartment), hop back to the alma mater and load up on more gear, including some good stuff here (right across the street from the stadium facility formerly known as Dyche Stadium) , and see Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind with Alexis, Greg and Kirsti. I hadn't see it in more than five years and it's still as good and goofy as ever.

Obviously things change a lot over time. I've kept up with a lot of changes at Northwestern and Evanston via The Daily, but I hadn't realized how much things seemed to have change in Chicago itself. There seemed to be a lot of very new-looking apartments/lofts/condos, especially down Belmont somewhat west of the main drag off the El. There were also plenty of newer looking shopping plazas. I suppose there are enough more options out there should I ever happen to move back.

Still got a little bit more of the actual "travel" portion, but it looks like this trip seemed to work our reasonably well. As always, it's good that it seems like I know people almost no matter where I go on business.

I didn't vote in the elections today, but it was interesting to see some local races get a lot of publicity, especially the 4th Congressional District race between Cynthia McKinney and Denise Majette. I just got moved out of McKinney's district, which is too bad, if only because I would've been part of the big group voting against her. People were as much voting against McKinney as opposed to voting for Majette -- but whatever works, I guess.

Well I guess my game show debut will be on hold for the time being as I missed the cut today during the written test for Who Wants to Be a Millionaire -- the Meredith Viera edition. After going over most of the questions with my friend Rodney, I still can't figure out how I didn't make it through, but I suppose I missed enough (or they saw the fact that I found out about it via their Web site) was enough to stop me from advancing further. I guess next up is Pyramid tryouts in November.

It ain't cheating if you don't get caught ...
The Southeastern Conference has some of the best college football in the country. And for people in many parts of the south, it's there only connection to a big-time sports team. Thus, I shouldn't be too surprised that they'll cheat to win. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is doing a big report on SEC cheating this week, just in time for the start of the season. Granted news of cheating in the SEC is pretty much like saying the sun is rising in the east, but it's interesting to see the different reactions to the scandals on different levels. There's a reason why all of this keeps continuing.

I've thought that the news media has gone a tad overboard in the covering of kidnappings this summer, although I guess if I had kids, I'd probably be very concerned about this as well (never mind that kidnappings are down this year this year -- when it concerns your kid, it is big news). And I'm sure that in the great struggle against obesity and the big food manufacturers and such, you'll have more paranoid parents watching the news keeping the young ones inside even more than usual.

But with that said, what in the world is up with this bizarre take on abductions. At least with bungee jumping and skydiving, it's pretty much just you doing the wild and crazy stuff. I suppose I don't have as much of a bone to pick with "extreme" sports anymore -- at least there's some decent athleticism going on there.

I've been less than motivated to blog lately for a variety of reasons, but when some good nuggets come up, I can't resist the temptation. So here goes:

-- I suppose we should feel relieved that there's a two-week window before a possible strike. However, we all know how people work with a deadline -- nothing until just before d-day. I'm a huge baseball fan but if they're wondering about timing with regards to fans, well, college football will have already started and the NFL is right around the corner. We'd be more sympathetic in July and August when we need something to do during the summer.

I won't bother getting into the "national pastime" stuff -- I think I tend to think/skew older than I really am, so I buy into the tradition and nostalgia (and not just because it looks good). And if baseball is on strike during the 9/11 anniversary, so be it. The players aren't thinking about the here and now, they're thinking about later on, and screw records or some anniversary. It's just business.

-- I'm knee deep in fantasy football stuff. The results of the QB Football League draft have to be seen to be believed. Or maybe it's just weird because I've done so many damn drafts that all seem to be pretty similar in terms of strategy because we're all dealing with a similar template. Maybe it will go closer to normal at another draft tomorrow.

-- For a change of pace on that, though, check out the fun story arc in the comic strip "Zits" on fantasy football -- emphasis on fantasy. It's at least different from the variety of NCAA-style tournament brackets out there.

-- I've done the drive on I-57 from Chicago to Champaign once while in college, but never really paid a whole lot of attention to what's out there. I guess there isn't much, but here are the highlights for Bears fans needing to make the trip for home games this season, plus stuff on shortcuts, speed traps and radio stations.

The Southfork Report
Still trying to get my bearings back after a fun week in Dallas for the AAJA National Convention (although I think whatever is slowing me down happened while at dinner back in Atlanta last night, but I digress). It was my first time going to one of these things, despite being part of the organization in one way or another off and on for five years and pretty much a regular member for the last four. But time, money and other factors prevented from going until now. It helped that my department was going to pay my way as well as the fact that I knew at least a few people going as well from our local chapter.

Anyways, here are some of the highlights from the trip: (I would've posted a little more often, but it took me a while to figure out why I couldn't log in on the road despite the right local numbers.)

Wednesday: After starting to get used to the blistering heat in Dallas, I did get myself acclimated to The Fairmont, your standard issue fancy hotel/convention center. Very nice place, although it seemed like the rooms were a bit more spread out than I would've liked, but then again with the hotel and convention center in the same place, you at least get to avoid the heat for the most part.

One of the things I knew would end up being an interesting issue when I registered was that I put my full title -- Fantasy Sports Producer -- on my badge, as opposed to something more generic like producer. On the one hand, those in the know will find it an automatic conversation starter. On the other hand, I could explain myself -- although it's often a fruitless exercise if you're not a sports fan. And yet for most of the time, I could see some people wondering what the heck I'm doing at a journalists' conference to begin with, considering my position. If I'm still in the same position next year, I'll have to think long and hard about what to put down on my badge.

The first "official" function was a reception for Joie Chen -- somewhat of a belated goodbye from the Atlanta chapter, which she helped found. She's now at CBS in Washington after getting unceremoniously dropped by CNN. It was good to see her again, especially after her tumultuous year. We won't get into the rock that we gave as a little gift, other than the look on her face when she got it was priceless.

After that was the opening reception at the Dallas Museum of Art, a wholly unimpressive building, although we didn't see much of the museum. Got the requisite free food and drinks, and it was a good way to meet some new people, primarily through my colleagues down here. The cool thing, though, was running into a couple of old classmates from Northwestern -- one a reporter at The Oregonian, the other a reporter and the San Diego Union-Tribune. The funny thing was the reaction from both of them, "What are you doing here?" Despite the fact that I was a journalism student and worked at the school paper, and now work in a very high-profile media outlet, sometimes it just doesn't resonate that I belong here. In any event, I was, and it was great to see some old familiar faces.

A nice highlight of the evening was helping out at the student function over at the Sixth Floor Museum (i.e. the Texas School Book Depository). Met a bunch more folks doing that and there was a nice presentation going on. However, thanks to the access, I was able to go through the museum for free -- and it was an outstanding experience. They did an amazing job chronicling not only the Kennedy administration and that fateful day, but they also gave good time to discuss the conspiracy theories and the huge story that followed. What was very striking was how little that area right by the museum and the grassy knoll has changed since 1963. The Pulitzer photo gallery was also stunning. I would've paid to go see it, but I got in for free, so double bonus there.

Thursday: The one panel I knew I should've gone to was the sports writing one, and it was a nice mix of panelists, including ESPN's Michael Kim, Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury-News and Ohm Youngmisuk of the New York Daily News (who is about my age). It was more of a panel on sports reporting, but it was good to find a nice concentration of sports journalists here. There is a decent number, but still a very limiting amount, I guess. Michael was one of the few people to make the connection about what I do, so that was cool. My only disappointment with the panel was that it was at the same time as one about race and entertainment, featuring the Asian friend from "Gilmore Girls" as well as comedian Henry Cho. Although in terms of finding other "celebrities," Ann Curry had a nice speech about the business.

The other highlight of the day was getting an advanced screening of "Better Luck Tomorrow," a film that got rave reviews at Sundance. It was a great movie all the way around, and it was a great twist on Asian American stereotypes. My only concern is that MTV Films picked it up and will likely market it to younger audiences (since it does concern high school students), but with the R rating and the some of the subject matter, it can be a dicey proposition. I may do a longer review later as I wonder how I've dived into Asian American cinema.

Friday: Did some wandering around the job fair, although my path may be best described as one of those aimless "Family Circus" Sunday comics with the dotted lines. Many of the recruiters had some interesting trinkets. I was doing a little shopping around for positions, getting the resume out there, etc., but I was not in any dire straits jobwise, which was a good thing because of the places I stopped by (and I was a bit picky as it was), a number of them had little clue about their online departments/hiring/etc. In one case, I was trying to follow up on a position I put in for last week. Not a good sign for an online person, although I suppose if I wanted to re-make myself back into a print person, I might've had a bit better luck. However, I did make some strong contacts with one company thanks in part to someone I met at one of the panels.

I won a framed poster of the front pages of the Palm Beach Post during the election fiasco at the silent auction. While it would've been hell to bring it home on the plane, I have to thank Brian in advance for shipping it back to me from Dallas.

Saturday: A torrential rainstorm in the morning (while at breakfast at Bread Winners -- the place where John Rocker had his most recent incident) eventually canceled the swimming portion of a chapter challenge event, which pleased us Atlanta folks, since we tried to back out of the pool part and avoid looking like Joe Frazier in the Superstars competition years ago. We didn't tank anything, I showed off my trivia skills at one point, but we were glad not to make it to the finals, which would've involved a karaoke presentation that a couple of chapters practiced for a few weeks. Then again, the New York folks did some great improv with a local TV reporter playing the role of Danny Aiello in a repriese of "Papa Don't Preach."

The closing celebrations brought us to Fort Worth and Billy Bob's Texas, the world's largest honky-tonk. The barbecue was good and the line dancing lessons were cute (although I bailed after one). I could almost see the looks on the faces of everyone else in the joint watching a few hundred Asians learning to line dance. However, the place seemed pretty overrated -- the bull riding exhibition was a bit on the short side, and it seemed to cater more to tourists than anything else.

Eventually got back and had a bizarro series of events hitting some of the bars and clubs in the Deep Ellum area of Dallas. We got free cover at one place that everyone eventually bailed after just a few minutes. That led us to another place that took us 30 minutes or so to cut the line after some strange haggling with the bouncer. Just picture about 25-30 reasonably young Asians trying to get into a club right in front of the door. One of the guys in our party had a great way to describe the music -- "schizophrenic." Had some of the usual current dance favorites, some disco and old skool rap, the occasional house, then Gary Glitter and then the generic Linkin Park/Limp Bizkit-esque music to drive people off the floor (or in my case, the club after getting separated from some of my group). More amusing was walking back just figuring I'd wing it on my own -- I ran into a handful of New York-based people from the convention I knew, who just happened to be all in sports. Made for a cool walk back -- as I somehow stumbled across people I met on my own, as opposed through other people.

I met a lot of great people over the weekend. In some cases, it was reconnecting with local people in a more concentrated situation as opposed to just the hour or so every few months at chapter meetings or events. In other cases, it was just finding nice people from around the country who share common career goals, not to mention ethnic/cultural backgrounds. And not to take away from a lot of the people I know locally, it was good to meet women journalists not in broadcast. We're always striving for diversity even among ourselves, and yet it sometimes seems like it's primarily men in print with a handful in broadcast, and plenty of women in broadcast (at least in proportion to their print counterparts). Another thing I noticed was the obvious emphasis on reporting (given we're trying to broaden the horizons of the community and the media outlets that employ us), whereas I definitely think of myself more of a copy editor-type. Of course, awareness of all of these issues is important no matter what your position.

To think, I've got a long way to go before really finding my niche at a convention like this. It seems like a no-brainer that I'll go to next year's festivities in San Diego.