Wednesday, September 24, 2003
Taking out the SP
My friend Sean warns that ESPN is becoming more like MTV every day, and for all the wrong reasons. Oddly enough, some of the stuff that ESPN can and might do to re-invent the network is or has been on ESPN Classic. Those old episodes of Home Run Derby used to be staples of Classic in the pre-ESPN days and even appeared from time to time after that. And if they want a good competition, they should either bring back 2-Minute Drill, which was reasonably compelling before they buried it in various time slots. Better yet, how about the Super Bowl of Sports Trivia, played at the now deceased Boardwalk and Baseball amusement park outside Orlando, hosted by the svelte and not-so-bald Chris Berman?
My friend Sean warns that ESPN is becoming more like MTV every day, and for all the wrong reasons. Oddly enough, some of the stuff that ESPN can and might do to re-invent the network is or has been on ESPN Classic. Those old episodes of Home Run Derby used to be staples of Classic in the pre-ESPN days and even appeared from time to time after that. And if they want a good competition, they should either bring back 2-Minute Drill, which was reasonably compelling before they buried it in various time slots. Better yet, how about the Super Bowl of Sports Trivia, played at the now deceased Boardwalk and Baseball amusement park outside Orlando, hosted by the svelte and not-so-bald Chris Berman?
Playing catch-up
Guess it's time to do an update, don't you think?
I went over home the weekend, and having the hurricane only alter my flight plans slightly Thursday night, for my 10th high school reunion. Unlike my fifth college one last year, this one was pretty much a bust. In a class of about 180 or so, only six or seven showed up, and only one was someone I actually knew well -- and I was grateful for that. The sad thing was the numbers were about the same for all the other 3s and 8s classes invited for the party. I want to be surprised by the turnout, but I'm not. Oh well, it was nice to see all the impressive changes to the school building, including a kick-ass gym and a bunch of new classrooms; and I did talk to my old quizbowl coach, who was somewhat surprised to see I'm still involved in the game.
Otherwise the trip was pretty quiet, which is the way I wanted it, although with my work schedule, I had to get up at 5 a.m. for my flight back to Atlanta and then work until about 1/3 of the way through the Emmys (instead of my 11 p.m. Sundays I had been pulling).
The award for greatest rotting of your brain goes to ...
Speaking of the Emmys, I guess "it's an honor just to be nominated" is the best way to describe most of the shows I actually like. I think I'd be surprised if something I do like actually wins an award. There seems too many bones thrown out there for the "critical/too-smart-for-their-own-good" audience to get them to care about the Emmys and then pull the rug from under them. That definitely would've been the case had Buffy ever gotten real consideration. Still, the show was entertaining enough but nothing memorable.
My imaginary job
I usually don't talk about fantasy football here since there's enough of it here, but it's interesting to note that in three leagues where I started out 0-2, I pulled out amazingly fraudulent victories, and in my experts league, I remained undefeated thanks in part to Marques Tuiasasopo playing mop-up duty on Monday night. So as much as we all try so hard to put together the best team each week, sometimes it just comes down to blind luck.
Guess it's time to do an update, don't you think?
I went over home the weekend, and having the hurricane only alter my flight plans slightly Thursday night, for my 10th high school reunion. Unlike my fifth college one last year, this one was pretty much a bust. In a class of about 180 or so, only six or seven showed up, and only one was someone I actually knew well -- and I was grateful for that. The sad thing was the numbers were about the same for all the other 3s and 8s classes invited for the party. I want to be surprised by the turnout, but I'm not. Oh well, it was nice to see all the impressive changes to the school building, including a kick-ass gym and a bunch of new classrooms; and I did talk to my old quizbowl coach, who was somewhat surprised to see I'm still involved in the game.
Otherwise the trip was pretty quiet, which is the way I wanted it, although with my work schedule, I had to get up at 5 a.m. for my flight back to Atlanta and then work until about 1/3 of the way through the Emmys (instead of my 11 p.m. Sundays I had been pulling).
The award for greatest rotting of your brain goes to ...
Speaking of the Emmys, I guess "it's an honor just to be nominated" is the best way to describe most of the shows I actually like. I think I'd be surprised if something I do like actually wins an award. There seems too many bones thrown out there for the "critical/too-smart-for-their-own-good" audience to get them to care about the Emmys and then pull the rug from under them. That definitely would've been the case had Buffy ever gotten real consideration. Still, the show was entertaining enough but nothing memorable.
My imaginary job
I usually don't talk about fantasy football here since there's enough of it here, but it's interesting to note that in three leagues where I started out 0-2, I pulled out amazingly fraudulent victories, and in my experts league, I remained undefeated thanks in part to Marques Tuiasasopo playing mop-up duty on Monday night. So as much as we all try so hard to put together the best team each week, sometimes it just comes down to blind luck.
Sunday, September 14, 2003
'Tis a silly place
Every classic TV show is destined to be turned into a movie, and every movie is destined to become a Broadway show, although I think this does lend itself for some stage work. The question is will Robert Goulet show up in some fashion?
Every classic TV show is destined to be turned into a movie, and every movie is destined to become a Broadway show, although I think this does lend itself for some stage work. The question is will Robert Goulet show up in some fashion?
Saturday, September 13, 2003
When comedy becomes reality
Somebody is taking up Homer's offer of making Skittlebrau.
But at least that's someone keeping up with a joke. It's even stranger when the son of the guy who played Huggy Bear turns out to be a notable person (and I've gone nuts about this since his days at Michigan).
Somebody is taking up Homer's offer of making Skittlebrau.
But at least that's someone keeping up with a joke. It's even stranger when the son of the guy who played Huggy Bear turns out to be a notable person (and I've gone nuts about this since his days at Michigan).
Friday, September 12, 2003
OK, so I just picked up the first two seasons of 24 on DVD. I wonder if I can pull watching all 48 episodes in one sitting?
Zoom zoom
Blogging for the first time with the new cable modem connection, although for the time being, I'm probably going to keep the Mindspring accounts active, however.
The relevance of death
Mark has already pointed out the interesting juxtaposition of the deaths of Johnny Cash and John Ritter. However, the news coverage on CNN this morning was a bit intriguing.
While The Man in Black is the top story right now on CNN.com, he was somewhat shunted coverage on American Morning in favor of Ritter. It was especially more evident on the ticker, where there was plenty of stuff about Ritter, even though Cash got top billing, so to speak.
Surprisingly, I can see how and why the coverage slanted the way it did. The amount of stuff on Cash written, produced, etc. over the years seems to be much easier to digest in the online medium where you can get both immediacy and depth/background. Cash's failing health also seemed to make it easier to have something ready just in case; however, it is interesting to note that he was just released from the hospital on Tuesday for an ailment that caused him to miss the MTV Video Music Awards.
In Ritter's case, the suddenness of his passing, not to mention that it happened overnight and didn't make most morning papers on the East Coast, seemed to play into the hands of the morning news show, or at least the way CNN runs theirs. They trotted out a lot of entertaiment reporters who could either think fondly of him or wonder what the future holds for his TV show that he was in the middle of shooting at the time of his death. Since he was still in mid-career and was at least a moderate star, his death got a lot of coverage and almost on par with Cash. Otherwise, it may not have been a
Cash was a music legend and icon, and was even relevant to today's youth thanks to his recent video. In some ways, I think CNN may have been a bit light on covering his death, especially you'd think they'd have as much stuff in the can as the online folks did. But, the morning show is a lot about the hosts, so the more people they can find to talk about this stuff live, the better for the show. It's probably not as easy trying to find other country legends for a TV interview that quickly. So out goes the prerecorded stuff, and in comes a roundtable discussion of entertainment news editors/reporters who happened to be on their way to work.
One bit I did catch at the end, though, that was a unique, if strange, angle to both deaths was bringing out Dr. Sanjay Gupta to explain the ailments that led to both men's deaths. It made for a solid explainer for some medical issues few would've been able to understand (especially in Ritter's case).
Blogging for the first time with the new cable modem connection, although for the time being, I'm probably going to keep the Mindspring accounts active, however.
The relevance of death
Mark has already pointed out the interesting juxtaposition of the deaths of Johnny Cash and John Ritter. However, the news coverage on CNN this morning was a bit intriguing.
While The Man in Black is the top story right now on CNN.com, he was somewhat shunted coverage on American Morning in favor of Ritter. It was especially more evident on the ticker, where there was plenty of stuff about Ritter, even though Cash got top billing, so to speak.
Surprisingly, I can see how and why the coverage slanted the way it did. The amount of stuff on Cash written, produced, etc. over the years seems to be much easier to digest in the online medium where you can get both immediacy and depth/background. Cash's failing health also seemed to make it easier to have something ready just in case; however, it is interesting to note that he was just released from the hospital on Tuesday for an ailment that caused him to miss the MTV Video Music Awards.
In Ritter's case, the suddenness of his passing, not to mention that it happened overnight and didn't make most morning papers on the East Coast, seemed to play into the hands of the morning news show, or at least the way CNN runs theirs. They trotted out a lot of entertaiment reporters who could either think fondly of him or wonder what the future holds for his TV show that he was in the middle of shooting at the time of his death. Since he was still in mid-career and was at least a moderate star, his death got a lot of coverage and almost on par with Cash. Otherwise, it may not have been a
Cash was a music legend and icon, and was even relevant to today's youth thanks to his recent video. In some ways, I think CNN may have been a bit light on covering his death, especially you'd think they'd have as much stuff in the can as the online folks did. But, the morning show is a lot about the hosts, so the more people they can find to talk about this stuff live, the better for the show. It's probably not as easy trying to find other country legends for a TV interview that quickly. So out goes the prerecorded stuff, and in comes a roundtable discussion of entertainment news editors/reporters who happened to be on their way to work.
One bit I did catch at the end, though, that was a unique, if strange, angle to both deaths was bringing out Dr. Sanjay Gupta to explain the ailments that led to both men's deaths. It made for a solid explainer for some medical issues few would've been able to understand (especially in Ritter's case).
Thursday, September 11, 2003
Setting the record straight
Sometimes you'll see corrections to stories made via the letters to the editor, but I dare you to find something as good as this retort (top entry), which then had me thinking of these guys.
Sometimes you'll see corrections to stories made via the letters to the editor, but I dare you to find something as good as this retort (top entry), which then had me thinking of these guys.
Exhibit A against marriage
Merge The Osbournes and The Anna Nicole Show and you've got MTV's Newlyweds, the latest on my list of must-see (well, sorta) shows. It's a train wreck on many levels, and you've got to wonder at what point the cameras will be headed for some divorce lawyer's office.
There are few things I've picked up so far:
--I didn't realize Nick Lachey still had a music career. It seems like only the N'Sync guys could find work after the boy-band thing blew over. Then again, I think he's doing a good job of cashing in on the fact that he is married to Jessica Simpson.
--As much as I thought Nick was a prick on I Love the '70s, I think I know now why he is that way. He's got some weird Faustian deal going with this marriage -- get a hot wife who can improve your star power but deal with all the trappings of a married life.
--How many stereotypes of dumb, rich blondes can she fulfill in one shot? From the infamous "Chicken by the Sea" comment to the $750 for two sets of lingerie (including exasperated phone call to hubby at lunch with his dancers), you'd think she came out of central casting, or at least the grotto.
--Her extreme jealousy over Nick's dancers is hilarious. Her cattiness over women who are nowhere in her league provides for plenty of entertainment value.
--I wonder what she'd look like if applied the Shallow Hal treatment?
--Don't bring a spoiled clueless girl to the golf course. Then again, the "my boobs get in the way" remark as she tried to hit the ball was a gem.
Merge The Osbournes and The Anna Nicole Show and you've got MTV's Newlyweds, the latest on my list of must-see (well, sorta) shows. It's a train wreck on many levels, and you've got to wonder at what point the cameras will be headed for some divorce lawyer's office.
There are few things I've picked up so far:
--I didn't realize Nick Lachey still had a music career. It seems like only the N'Sync guys could find work after the boy-band thing blew over. Then again, I think he's doing a good job of cashing in on the fact that he is married to Jessica Simpson.
--As much as I thought Nick was a prick on I Love the '70s, I think I know now why he is that way. He's got some weird Faustian deal going with this marriage -- get a hot wife who can improve your star power but deal with all the trappings of a married life.
--How many stereotypes of dumb, rich blondes can she fulfill in one shot? From the infamous "Chicken by the Sea" comment to the $750 for two sets of lingerie (including exasperated phone call to hubby at lunch with his dancers), you'd think she came out of central casting, or at least the grotto.
--Her extreme jealousy over Nick's dancers is hilarious. Her cattiness over women who are nowhere in her league provides for plenty of entertainment value.
--I wonder what she'd look like if applied the Shallow Hal treatment?
--Don't bring a spoiled clueless girl to the golf course. Then again, the "my boobs get in the way" remark as she tried to hit the ball was a gem.
Return to sender, address unknown
I guess this guy has never heard of AirTran or Southwest. Then again, I'm surprised there aren't more morons shipping themselves across the country instead of the usual ways of transportation. Of course, to pull that off, you'd need at least one accomplice to help pull it off, and I guess the guy had at least one Kramer-esque friend who thought it was a good idea. I think it's time for the guy to find some new friends, huh?
Some of the other weirdness of story includes the mother refusing to show her face on TV because she was humiliated by the whole experience. The fact that our friendly flier was busted for completely unrelated crimes, and that officials aren't sure with what to charge him. But at least DA Bill Hill has some perspective on the whole thing: "He violated the law of stupidity if nothing else."
I guess this guy has never heard of AirTran or Southwest. Then again, I'm surprised there aren't more morons shipping themselves across the country instead of the usual ways of transportation. Of course, to pull that off, you'd need at least one accomplice to help pull it off, and I guess the guy had at least one Kramer-esque friend who thought it was a good idea. I think it's time for the guy to find some new friends, huh?
Some of the other weirdness of story includes the mother refusing to show her face on TV because she was humiliated by the whole experience. The fact that our friendly flier was busted for completely unrelated crimes, and that officials aren't sure with what to charge him. But at least DA Bill Hill has some perspective on the whole thing: "He violated the law of stupidity if nothing else."
I'm sorry, the Ultimate team has the football field between 4:30 and 6:00
There's a lot of symbolism in Vanderbilt's "elimination" of its athletic department, although the sports will go on. It may help reform in some places, although probably at smaller schools or institutions of Vandy's caliber (hmm, wonder if the alma mater will go that way?).
Still, the thought of major intercollegiate athletics falling under the same auspices of intramurals and club sports is somewhat amusing. We were envisioning sign-up sheets for the field, people having to bring the flags and cones. Players not showing up because of a study group. Unexplained absences by teams for major matches -- turns out the captain was sick. An all-star team of intramural players getting spots on the traveling squad, etc.
Granted, most of this won't even matter much given Vanderbilt's status, but some of it actually has the same eerie feelings as CBI-only teams showing up to invitational tournaments these days.
There's a lot of symbolism in Vanderbilt's "elimination" of its athletic department, although the sports will go on. It may help reform in some places, although probably at smaller schools or institutions of Vandy's caliber (hmm, wonder if the alma mater will go that way?).
Still, the thought of major intercollegiate athletics falling under the same auspices of intramurals and club sports is somewhat amusing. We were envisioning sign-up sheets for the field, people having to bring the flags and cones. Players not showing up because of a study group. Unexplained absences by teams for major matches -- turns out the captain was sick. An all-star team of intramural players getting spots on the traveling squad, etc.
Granted, most of this won't even matter much given Vanderbilt's status, but some of it actually has the same eerie feelings as CBI-only teams showing up to invitational tournaments these days.
Monday, September 08, 2003
The job never ends
First off, might as well as alert folks to my latest column. It seems a lot different working on it at the office as opposed to just sitting at my laptop at home cranking it out.
Anyway, there wasn't much else to my weekend, mostly sports, plus a brief interlude Saturday night.
First off, I can see why many are opposed to a college football playoff -- the regular season takes on that atmosphere, too. That would explain the electricity of the amazing Miami-Florida comeback. Plus, there were a bunch of other upsets and close calls that had me flipping all over the dial during the afternoon. I was hardly even thinking of my pool picks -- I was just enjoying the ride.
However, I wasn't as happy with Northwestern's 22-21 loss to Air Force after the Cats were leading 21-7 heading into the fourth quarter. Three picks in the fourth quarter sealed the Wildcats' fate despite not having to play against Chance Harridge for most of the second half after he was ejected. The defense looked solid again, but have to avoid giving up the big play, which has happened a couple of times already. They did a decent job on the option, at least compared to last year's debacle. The Cats needed to get Jason Wright the ball a little bit more, especially when running out the clock. One last note, I may not have liked NU's road uniforms, but they were passable -- I just didn't like white-on-white. The home get-up doesn't do much for me, either, especially since they ditched the black. The bluish-purple doesn't look as good as the dark purple I've been used to, especially when it's monochromatic, for all intents and purposes.
Also Saturday, I thought CBS was going to have a conniption when Agassi lost to Juan Carlos Ferrero (not to be confused with Juan Carlos Fernandez of cinnamon rolls fame) and Andy Roddick was down two sets and match point to David Nalbandian, best known for making people have to care about him for the first time when he reached the finals of Wimbledon a few years ago. But in an amazing comeback I missed, Roddick somehow won the match, and made people care about the U.S. Open final instead of watching some of the mediocre late NFL games. I didn't even watch the women's final, only catching a glimpse of the trophy ceremony while I was out. Besides, I watched the real final with the three-hour classic semifinal match between Henin-Hardenne and Capriati (now playing the role of Aaron Krickstein).
The men's final was actually a bit of an afterthought for me, since I was working on said column, but there seemed like no way Roddick was going to blow this opportunity when everything else pretty much went his way. The final game was one of the bigger exclamation points on a title in a long way. A couple of things about the victory: We can stop whining about when the next big American will come through, that's happened. And can we please stop calling him A-Rod? It's not that clever with Alex Rodriguez, and it's sillier here.
Onto the NFL, it was a very strange Sunday to say the least, but enjoyable in fits and starts. Some quick observations from Week 1:
-- The Dolphins probably killed a ton of survivor pools by losing to the Texans. I know I got smoked.
-- The Rams looked very bad, and they need to give Marshall Faulk the ball.
-- It'll be a weird year for the Broncos since they won in spite of Jake Plummer.
-- Priest Holmes is just fine, thank you very much.
-- Yes, it's neat Craig Hentrich kicked three field goals relieving Joe Nedney, but remember that Hentrich was a kicker at Notre Dame. The ESPN guys were also impressed with Drew Bennett as a holder. Bennett was a backup QB at UCLA, and I'm sure holding had to be on his list of priorities.
-- Should the Lions-Cardinals stats even count for NFL or fantasy purposes? Anquan Boldin for 217 yards? As much as I praised him in April, does he get 217 yards the rest of the year?
-- Northwestern alums are getting their props: D'Wayne Bates caught a TD pass, Kevin Bentley picked off a Peyton Manning pass, Napoleon Harris had a bunch of tackles for the Raiders and Jeff Roehl ended up in the Giants lineup after Luke Pettigout's injury. BTW, what is it with the Giants and Notre Dame offensive lineman. Mike Rosenthal and Pettigout were alums and Roehl was with the Irish before transferring to Northwestern around the time Zak Kustok did a few years ago.
First off, might as well as alert folks to my latest column. It seems a lot different working on it at the office as opposed to just sitting at my laptop at home cranking it out.
Anyway, there wasn't much else to my weekend, mostly sports, plus a brief interlude Saturday night.
First off, I can see why many are opposed to a college football playoff -- the regular season takes on that atmosphere, too. That would explain the electricity of the amazing Miami-Florida comeback. Plus, there were a bunch of other upsets and close calls that had me flipping all over the dial during the afternoon. I was hardly even thinking of my pool picks -- I was just enjoying the ride.
However, I wasn't as happy with Northwestern's 22-21 loss to Air Force after the Cats were leading 21-7 heading into the fourth quarter. Three picks in the fourth quarter sealed the Wildcats' fate despite not having to play against Chance Harridge for most of the second half after he was ejected. The defense looked solid again, but have to avoid giving up the big play, which has happened a couple of times already. They did a decent job on the option, at least compared to last year's debacle. The Cats needed to get Jason Wright the ball a little bit more, especially when running out the clock. One last note, I may not have liked NU's road uniforms, but they were passable -- I just didn't like white-on-white. The home get-up doesn't do much for me, either, especially since they ditched the black. The bluish-purple doesn't look as good as the dark purple I've been used to, especially when it's monochromatic, for all intents and purposes.
Also Saturday, I thought CBS was going to have a conniption when Agassi lost to Juan Carlos Ferrero (not to be confused with Juan Carlos Fernandez of cinnamon rolls fame) and Andy Roddick was down two sets and match point to David Nalbandian, best known for making people have to care about him for the first time when he reached the finals of Wimbledon a few years ago. But in an amazing comeback I missed, Roddick somehow won the match, and made people care about the U.S. Open final instead of watching some of the mediocre late NFL games. I didn't even watch the women's final, only catching a glimpse of the trophy ceremony while I was out. Besides, I watched the real final with the three-hour classic semifinal match between Henin-Hardenne and Capriati (now playing the role of Aaron Krickstein).
The men's final was actually a bit of an afterthought for me, since I was working on said column, but there seemed like no way Roddick was going to blow this opportunity when everything else pretty much went his way. The final game was one of the bigger exclamation points on a title in a long way. A couple of things about the victory: We can stop whining about when the next big American will come through, that's happened. And can we please stop calling him A-Rod? It's not that clever with Alex Rodriguez, and it's sillier here.
Onto the NFL, it was a very strange Sunday to say the least, but enjoyable in fits and starts. Some quick observations from Week 1:
-- The Dolphins probably killed a ton of survivor pools by losing to the Texans. I know I got smoked.
-- The Rams looked very bad, and they need to give Marshall Faulk the ball.
-- It'll be a weird year for the Broncos since they won in spite of Jake Plummer.
-- Priest Holmes is just fine, thank you very much.
-- Yes, it's neat Craig Hentrich kicked three field goals relieving Joe Nedney, but remember that Hentrich was a kicker at Notre Dame. The ESPN guys were also impressed with Drew Bennett as a holder. Bennett was a backup QB at UCLA, and I'm sure holding had to be on his list of priorities.
-- Should the Lions-Cardinals stats even count for NFL or fantasy purposes? Anquan Boldin for 217 yards? As much as I praised him in April, does he get 217 yards the rest of the year?
-- Northwestern alums are getting their props: D'Wayne Bates caught a TD pass, Kevin Bentley picked off a Peyton Manning pass, Napoleon Harris had a bunch of tackles for the Raiders and Jeff Roehl ended up in the Giants lineup after Luke Pettigout's injury. BTW, what is it with the Giants and Notre Dame offensive lineman. Mike Rosenthal and Pettigout were alums and Roehl was with the Irish before transferring to Northwestern around the time Zak Kustok did a few years ago.
Friday, September 05, 2003
Suck, suck, suck
I was surprisingly low-key about the Jets losing the season opener. It was a close game despite the fact the offense could barely move the ball and always seemed to aim exactly two yards short of the first down on every third-down conversion. The defense did pretty well despite getting shredded by Patrick Ramsey early on, but it's not a good thing making Ladell Betts look like a Pro Bowler -- he'll be picked off the waiver wire next week (or now in those Yahoo! leagues). I guess I'm not expecting a lot from the Jets this year. Plus, I was frazzled after a long day at work, so all I wanted to do is watch a game and only think marginally about fantasy football.
I'm not a big fan of the whole Thursday night spectacle, though. For one, us fantasy leaguers get thrown off with just one game when we want to see a ton all at once. Plus, there are enough leagues that still lock rosters at game time of the first game of the week -- in this case, Thursday night. Thus, there are plenty of unanswered questions that have to be resolved earlier than expected. At least there aren't too many iffy injury situations to worry about at that point, but still, it's annoying. Maybe I'm a traditionalist, but what's the point of having this huge party to celebrate a game taking place a half hour away? I guess Britney, Aerosmith, the first lineman of soul, etc. weren't going to be allowed at halftime. Opening Day in baseball (whatever is left of it) and the first day of the NCAA Tournament draw plenty of excitement because of what's happening on the field, not some silly and irrelevant concert. There's no need for manufactured excitement. The NFL can do that on its own.
At least that concert gave me time to get home and watch the very nice Michael Chang tribute at the U.S. Open. I kinda feel bad for Chang, though. While Pete Sampras got his sendoff in front of a packed house in between a couple of cakewalks by top American stars. Thanks to all of the rain, Chang's ceremony was shoehorned between a couple of matches that got shifted around and delayed and in front of only some diehards who could withstand the rain and hang around for some good (but less than marquee) matchups. It almost felt like an afterthought. Still, I applaud the USTA for pulling out the stops for this. You know Agassi will get a similar ceremony when he hangs it up, which means that Jim Courier pretty much got screwed out of that class of American stars when it came time for him to hang it up. But at least he's approaching McEnroe in entertainment value in the booth.
I was surprisingly low-key about the Jets losing the season opener. It was a close game despite the fact the offense could barely move the ball and always seemed to aim exactly two yards short of the first down on every third-down conversion. The defense did pretty well despite getting shredded by Patrick Ramsey early on, but it's not a good thing making Ladell Betts look like a Pro Bowler -- he'll be picked off the waiver wire next week (or now in those Yahoo! leagues). I guess I'm not expecting a lot from the Jets this year. Plus, I was frazzled after a long day at work, so all I wanted to do is watch a game and only think marginally about fantasy football.
I'm not a big fan of the whole Thursday night spectacle, though. For one, us fantasy leaguers get thrown off with just one game when we want to see a ton all at once. Plus, there are enough leagues that still lock rosters at game time of the first game of the week -- in this case, Thursday night. Thus, there are plenty of unanswered questions that have to be resolved earlier than expected. At least there aren't too many iffy injury situations to worry about at that point, but still, it's annoying. Maybe I'm a traditionalist, but what's the point of having this huge party to celebrate a game taking place a half hour away? I guess Britney, Aerosmith, the first lineman of soul, etc. weren't going to be allowed at halftime. Opening Day in baseball (whatever is left of it) and the first day of the NCAA Tournament draw plenty of excitement because of what's happening on the field, not some silly and irrelevant concert. There's no need for manufactured excitement. The NFL can do that on its own.
At least that concert gave me time to get home and watch the very nice Michael Chang tribute at the U.S. Open. I kinda feel bad for Chang, though. While Pete Sampras got his sendoff in front of a packed house in between a couple of cakewalks by top American stars. Thanks to all of the rain, Chang's ceremony was shoehorned between a couple of matches that got shifted around and delayed and in front of only some diehards who could withstand the rain and hang around for some good (but less than marquee) matchups. It almost felt like an afterthought. Still, I applaud the USTA for pulling out the stops for this. You know Agassi will get a similar ceremony when he hangs it up, which means that Jim Courier pretty much got screwed out of that class of American stars when it came time for him to hang it up. But at least he's approaching McEnroe in entertainment value in the booth.
How to feel old, fast
Beloit College (where I actually played my first intercollegiate quizbowl event) is back again with its Mindset List for the Class of 2007. Talk about a way to date yourself with the wrong references. Some of the stuff there I didn't know (snail darter) or didn't think was all that relevant (Samantha Smith). But some of it does make me feel old, and I was 10 when this current freshman class was born. I don't feel like it's been that long since I've been in college, but then I realize that both Letterman and Conan premiered around the time I started school and both just celebrated their 10th anniversaries.
On a quizbowl level, this does seem amazingly relevant. Plenty of us, who could be considered geezers on the circuit, like to poke fun at Charlie for some of his '70s and early '80s-based references whether in conversation, or through questions. This list could probably help guide folks in writing questions and wondering about accessibility. Granted, a good number of players would probably be bright enough to pick up on some of the stuff on the list, but sometimes you just can't beat living through something to realize its relevance or importance and just pick up by osmosis. That might explain why there's a gradual scaling back of '80s-based questions.
Beloit College (where I actually played my first intercollegiate quizbowl event) is back again with its Mindset List for the Class of 2007. Talk about a way to date yourself with the wrong references. Some of the stuff there I didn't know (snail darter) or didn't think was all that relevant (Samantha Smith). But some of it does make me feel old, and I was 10 when this current freshman class was born. I don't feel like it's been that long since I've been in college, but then I realize that both Letterman and Conan premiered around the time I started school and both just celebrated their 10th anniversaries.
On a quizbowl level, this does seem amazingly relevant. Plenty of us, who could be considered geezers on the circuit, like to poke fun at Charlie for some of his '70s and early '80s-based references whether in conversation, or through questions. This list could probably help guide folks in writing questions and wondering about accessibility. Granted, a good number of players would probably be bright enough to pick up on some of the stuff on the list, but sometimes you just can't beat living through something to realize its relevance or importance and just pick up by osmosis. That might explain why there's a gradual scaling back of '80s-based questions.
Thursday, September 04, 2003
Next up, Britney waxes philosophical on the Dean campaign ...
I guess I should be disappointed that Britney Spears won't kiss any more women after the whole Madonna thing. However, I'm more amused since the interview from where that breaking news nugget emerged was conducted by Tucker Carlson. Exactly how and why did the bow-tied one get that interview? Even funnier was Britney's hair (was that some wig?) and the gum she kept on snapping during the interview. I'm sure she sounded thrilled to be talking about the kiss, not to mention the war on Iraq, with Tucker. (So like, who is this geek I'm talking to?) And I hope Tucker didn't act like Jeff Bezos did around Anna Kournikova.
I guess I should be disappointed that Britney Spears won't kiss any more women after the whole Madonna thing. However, I'm more amused since the interview from where that breaking news nugget emerged was conducted by Tucker Carlson. Exactly how and why did the bow-tied one get that interview? Even funnier was Britney's hair (was that some wig?) and the gum she kept on snapping during the interview. I'm sure she sounded thrilled to be talking about the kiss, not to mention the war on Iraq, with Tucker. (So like, who is this geek I'm talking to?) And I hope Tucker didn't act like Jeff Bezos did around Anna Kournikova.
Is it live or is it Jimmy Connors again?
I think Mother Nature really wanted to see Aaron Krickstein lose again given all the rain at the U.S. Open the past few days. Thankfully, there were plenty of baseball games (plus some crappy college football) on Labor Day, so I wasn't stuck having to pay attention a match that took place 12 years ago. Hell, I remember watching that match on TV and thanking Connors for tanking the fourth set while I took a nap and then waking up to watch much of the fun stuff.
A couple of "separated at births" from this year's Open so far: Taylor Dent and Ivan Rodriguez. And the scarier one: Patrick McEnroe and W.
I think Mother Nature really wanted to see Aaron Krickstein lose again given all the rain at the U.S. Open the past few days. Thankfully, there were plenty of baseball games (plus some crappy college football) on Labor Day, so I wasn't stuck having to pay attention a match that took place 12 years ago. Hell, I remember watching that match on TV and thanking Connors for tanking the fourth set while I took a nap and then waking up to watch much of the fun stuff.
A couple of "separated at births" from this year's Open so far: Taylor Dent and Ivan Rodriguez. And the scarier one: Patrick McEnroe and W.
Same as it ever was
I guess I've officially become a talking head. Like Cooch, I will be on TV soon, although I have zero clue when or where it will air. It was some trend piece on fantasy sports put together by some independent production company and fed to a bunch of local stations and something organized via AOL. If you actually dare to watch local news, you might actually stumble across it -- and I'd laugh at you for watching local news, but I digress.
Granted, I don't do much TV, but the whole process seemed strange, but then again I was dealing with a producer in D.C., a publicist in New York, and lots of stuff on the fly down in Atlanta, where I end up having to do a bit more logistical work than I should've been doing for someone who was the subject of the interview. I sure wasn't used to the lighting for the interview -- I felt like I was having my yearbook portrait taken or something, and if it's anything like my last couple of yearbook photos, it probably wasn't pretty. In fact, I took a look at myself on the monitor as they were testing out the camera, and I'd be damned if I didn't start looking like Craig on screen.
With that out of the way, it's now getting to be football time, and with that a bit more work and more of a sick feeling that I could/should be doing more at work because whatever I've got going, it's not right/enough/etc. Yup, I'm ready for the foosball. Woo woo.
I guess I've officially become a talking head. Like Cooch, I will be on TV soon, although I have zero clue when or where it will air. It was some trend piece on fantasy sports put together by some independent production company and fed to a bunch of local stations and something organized via AOL. If you actually dare to watch local news, you might actually stumble across it -- and I'd laugh at you for watching local news, but I digress.
Granted, I don't do much TV, but the whole process seemed strange, but then again I was dealing with a producer in D.C., a publicist in New York, and lots of stuff on the fly down in Atlanta, where I end up having to do a bit more logistical work than I should've been doing for someone who was the subject of the interview. I sure wasn't used to the lighting for the interview -- I felt like I was having my yearbook portrait taken or something, and if it's anything like my last couple of yearbook photos, it probably wasn't pretty. In fact, I took a look at myself on the monitor as they were testing out the camera, and I'd be damned if I didn't start looking like Craig on screen.
With that out of the way, it's now getting to be football time, and with that a bit more work and more of a sick feeling that I could/should be doing more at work because whatever I've got going, it's not right/enough/etc. Yup, I'm ready for the foosball. Woo woo.
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