Some observations and linkage:
-- A letter to the AJC actually brought this up, but the Thrashers have embarked on their latest losing streak after announcing they wouldn't sell opposing teams' jerseys in the arena store and offered an exchange of some other team's sweater for one of those blue jerseys (I think). Karma might be at play. Earl Hickey would be so proud.
-- I suppose when you're now on the outside looking in, you can be a little harsher on the state of journalism these days. That's what Aaron Brown and Ted Koppel are doing here. Interesting stuff, although Koppel seems to think there's actually hope for the business, whereas Brown seems to blame the viewing public. Me, I sometimes wonder why anyone gets into the business when you hear everything is so horrible.
-- And for a little bit of fun, here's a site that's tracking Jack Bauer and poking tons of holes in the continuity of 24 in the process. And of course, it's using Google Maps (Double True).
-- Speaking of Lazy Sunday, somehow real New York bakeries have propelled themselves into the national conscience lately. First, it's the Magnolia Bakery (with all the bomb frostings). Then the Buttercup Bake Shop shows up as a major plot point in How I Met Your Mother -- although the episode in question takes a lot after another movie that also prominently features a scene where baked goods are consumed.
-- One of these days, I might compile a side page or blog with music charts, but for now, here's a link to Blender's list of the 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born (i.e. 1980-2005). My ABD teammates and I were playing K-Tel Hell with it on the way back from Michigan after the tournament. Interesting stuff, although obviously tons of questionable choices, but that's what these things are supposed to do. Right now, I've got 143 of the songs on an iPod playlist, with a few more that I never ripped from my CD.

That long-awaited article on the quiz-bowl phenomenon seems to have finally made its appearance (at least in some form) -- albeit on a site that's about to go dark today, although everything should still live on until they let the registration on the domain name lapse.

I guess the LaPlaca Open will get slightly tougher next season now that UPN and the WB will merge into one network, meaning you'll have a pretty decent lineup by combining the best of the two netlets -- in fact, my DVR does have a handful of shows from those two in regular rotation. But it is a boon this year for the flotsam and jetsam that's on the network right now (although Smackdown is sticking around, likely, killing my hopes of winning the contest this year).

(However, I'm still trying to figure out why, in Atlanta, the local UPN affiliate decided to show this movie at 3 a.m. the other night. Is that going to be the future of the channel should it not get chosen to take on the new network?)

What day is it anyway?
So in a weekend full of great playoff games, I saw only significant parts of just one contest (Broncos-Pats) primarily because I was traveling for my apparently every-other-year appearance at the Ann B. Davis tournament.

This time, I teamed up with Team O'Reilly and continued my winning streak from Trashmasters (and Big Lots/FOGHAT, for that matter), taking this title as well. It's a crazy run that I can't totally figure out (winning two of the big three trash tournaments, with two completely different sets of teammates, going undefeated both times) -- especially since I somehow also took home a neg crown in addition to leading my team (a very balanced one, in my opinion) in scoring. Mike and Craig ran an excellent tournament, although I had wished to see a few more heavy hitters from the region take part as well.

It was fun to see some of the usual suspects again, and messing around with the iPod both ways made the car ride a lot more fun.

One other note -- Atlanta has a new classic rock station, which is somewhat similar to this station. So similar that at the same time this afternoon, both stations were playing this song. It was a tad freaky when I switched stations realizing I had the same exact song on.

Do you have a problem with that?
So fresh off Atlanta's silly rebranding campaign (Every day is like Opening Day? Does that mean we'll have our hearts broken six months later?), now comes New Jersey's new slogan. It seems fine, although a bunch of the rejected suggestions were pretty good too, even if they might come up short for even those snarky t-shirts. Of course, I'm still waiting for this ditty to be the official state song -- inspiring something actually funny from Robert Wuhl (i.e. not Arli$$).

I missed this a little earlier, but here's an interesting list of the most played song on a variety of different radio stations in Atlanta in 2005. Not a lot of surprises, save for the Blue Merle song and, oh yeah, "Sara Smile."

Happy new year
For the first time possibly in a long time (and possibly ever), I actually spent New Year's Eve working. It was interesting trying to sample the variety of New Year's Eve celebrations on the tube:
-- Happy Boo Year (ESPN): Looks like a decent year-in-review show mixed in with Stuart Scott (hence my name for the show) and Little Steven (what, no Clarence Clemons?) introducing some musical acts.
-- Regis Philbin (Fox): Seemed like a train wreck. If Fox wanted to draw a younger crowed, why did you have Regis sing?
-- Anderson Cooper (CNN): Decent stuff, plus some decent musical cut-ins (James Brown, Kool and the Gang, Barenaked Ladies).
-- Carson Daly (NBC): Not too shabby, plus Melissa Stark was the on-the-ground reporter in Times Square. Plus, they got in and out quickly -- do the ball drop, then off to an SNL rerun.

Then there was the return of Dick Clark to ABC, and boy it seemed like watching Ali light the torch at the Atlanta Olympics (10 years ago! Yikes!). It was great to see him there, but boy, it was slightly uncomfortable to watch. He seemed to be in good spirits, but the stroke has taken its toll on him. At least we know he's mortal now, I suppose.

ABC also did a good job in keeping the show focused on the live stuff and then going to that hokey musical revue taped a couple of weeks earlier (still best lampooned in a Friends episode) after midnight. I guess having Mariah Carey perform live was a huge coup -- and it was fun seeing Ryan Seacrest trying to get her to kiss him when the clock struck midnight. And later on in the studio, I would've sworn she was getting ready to work at Scores after the show was done.

As for the canned musical stuff, I wasn't paying close attention except for when they brought The Bangles out of nowhere to perform. Susanna Hoffs still looked really good (and she'll be 47 in a few weeks); the rest of the group, not so much. And at least they avoided "Walk Like An Egyptian."

It did get interesting leaving work at 2 a.m. as it appeared the Widespread Panic show was letting out as we finished up -- we could smell the pot smoke wafting up to the walkway from the office to the parking lot.

I was also intrigued that my local alt-rock station opted for a top 99 party jams of all time (perfect for that New Year's Eve party) instead of a top hits countdown. So while the Beastie Boys were there no matter what, there were other songs you would never, ever hear on the station. Then again, with their recent "Shuffle" weekends (the music director's iPod goes on shuffle for the weekend), anything goes -- I've heard "Billie Jean" and "Piano Man" along with some deep Death Cab for Cutie tracks, for instance.