Paging Alanis
If you're going to complain about a lack of floss in jail, you might as well deserve Isaac Yankem as your cellmate.
Couple of other notes:
-- With all the hand-wringing over Bode Miller's washout, remember that he struggled in World Cup competition this year (after winning the title last year). It appears he pulled a Summer of Bode after winning the title, and looks like he turned Turin into the Winter of Bode as well. Oops.
-- The NFL Scouting Combine has been some intriguing TV to watch, even if it is just guys doing drills. It's also stranger seeing it while working out at the gym, especially when the 40-yard dash is going on while I'm on the treadmill.
-- Speaking of the combine, my colleague Stewart Mandel has a good response to the Vince Young Wonderlic debacle.
This whole hubbub over Young, especially in relation to Jay Cutler's rise up the draft charts, shows again how all-over-the-place NFL scouting/evaluation can be. Tom Brady is often considered better than Peyton Manning, and Joe Montana over Dan Marino because they've won the big games. It's wins over numbers over physical tools, so goes conventional wisdom.
We know Matt Leinart has all three, and he's a very good, safe pick near the top of the draft. Young obviously has all the freakish athletic ability, but he too has both numbers and big wins (including a head-to-head victory over Leinart at the Rose Bowl). Cutler appears to have the physical tools as well as the stats, but he played at Vanderbilt, where wins were few and far between (although beating Tennessee last year was huge). And yet, Cutler is being listed above Young in a few mock drafts.
The Brady and Montana comparisons are somewhat applicable as both were lower-round picks despite winning some big games in college themselves. That is not to say winning is everything, or else that Ken Dorsey-Craig Krenzel rematch a couple of seasons ago in the NFL wouldn't have been considered a bit of a joke.
I guess winning in college can be a detriment until you actually win in the NFL, and then it's a wonder why these guys weren't drafted higher. Hmm...
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Monday, February 27, 2006
Now that the Olympics are finally done, I guess the focus turns to college hoops (although the World Baseball Classic will be intriguing, to say the least). So tell me why the ESPN juggernaut is showing Duke-UNC on three different channels with different cameras, including one just on the Cameron Crazies?
Speaking of Duke, Mark Bradley of the AJC put J.J. Redick at No. 15 of his top 20 players in ACC history. There's not much I can offer here, so I'll leave the floor open for some of the other college hoops junkies to sound off.
But before then, one last note about the Tar Heel state (or at least one of its former residents) ... Ben Folds' "Landed" has found its way onto ads for Hilton Journeys. It threw me off as I saw the ad tonight, and it's also the song constantly playing on the main screen.
I suppose of all his more well-known songs (with or without the Five), it probably lent itself best for use in commercials -- although the thought of a few of them to sell stuff (maybe "Army" to sell Chik-Fil-A) is intriguing.
Speaking of Duke, Mark Bradley of the AJC put J.J. Redick at No. 15 of his top 20 players in ACC history. There's not much I can offer here, so I'll leave the floor open for some of the other college hoops junkies to sound off.
But before then, one last note about the Tar Heel state (or at least one of its former residents) ... Ben Folds' "Landed" has found its way onto ads for Hilton Journeys. It threw me off as I saw the ad tonight, and it's also the song constantly playing on the main screen.
I suppose of all his more well-known songs (with or without the Five), it probably lent itself best for use in commercials -- although the thought of a few of them to sell stuff (maybe "Army" to sell Chik-Fil-A) is intriguing.
Sunday, February 26, 2006
More adventures in wasting time
In recent months, VH1 Classic seemed to be sliding a bit since it started airing "regular" commercials and occasionally showing movies that "rock," but it's lured me in today, or at least giving the DVR a workout, with four hours of one-hit wonder videos. (The playlists for hour 1, 2, 3, 4)
Obviously, their definitions of a one-hit wonder are sketchy (I know the channel has shown the other Blind Melon video that's not "No Rain"), but it's still silly fun.
And on a similar note, while getting this entry ready, Blogger decides to put this blog as its featured site. I don't care how much money he's lost over the years, you'd think he'd still have enough dough to get his own domain name. Don't you think he's 2 Legit for 2 Use Blogspot?
In recent months, VH1 Classic seemed to be sliding a bit since it started airing "regular" commercials and occasionally showing movies that "rock," but it's lured me in today, or at least giving the DVR a workout, with four hours of one-hit wonder videos. (The playlists for hour 1, 2, 3, 4)
Obviously, their definitions of a one-hit wonder are sketchy (I know the channel has shown the other Blind Melon video that's not "No Rain"), but it's still silly fun.
And on a similar note, while getting this entry ready, Blogger decides to put this blog as its featured site. I don't care how much money he's lost over the years, you'd think he'd still have enough dough to get his own domain name. Don't you think he's 2 Legit for 2 Use Blogspot?
Saturday, February 25, 2006
Is it over yet?
Few more Olympics thoughts as it's almost done -- none too soon with baseball and the tournament on the horizon ...
-- Nice finish to the curling competition -- especially the six (and should've been seven) in the sixth end by the Canadian men to clinch gold over Finland. The Finnish skip looks like an acquaintance of mine, or at least the guy from Rent who was also in A Beautiful Mind and Road Trip. (how's that for a resume?) And congrats to the U.S. men for winning bronze; Bemidji is getting a medal after all.
(Side note: Finland's president caught the gold-medal match a week after finally meeting Conan O'Brien, who used the Olympic break constructively.)
On the women's side, the Swedes (complete with cheesy metal video) took gold over the Swiss team (whose skip oddly resembles Shaun White) with Canada taking bronze.
It's interesting how much of a hit curling seems to be stateside (or at least every four years), and I wonder if it's the fact that a whole match gets shown (live in many cases) and thus you feel like something is unfolding in front of you -- as opposed to the chopped-up runs, races and heats on NBC's prime-time or mid-afternoon shows. Or it could just be that we could do that if given the chance (sort of how poker seems to be taking off since it seems any schlub could win the World Series of Poker main event).
-- However, while curling seems to be doing just fine on the fringes, Salon's King Kaufman has a point in that hockey seems to be shunted to the same edges of the primary NBC coverage -- although it's front and center for me because it's something live during the day. It's probably the biggest event at the Winter Olympics other than figure skating, but you don't see much of it on regular NBC coverage (even though it would be a good way to promote its own NHL coverage). But I suppose it's hard to chop up a hockey game and present it in the same prepackaged bite-sized nuggets like they've done with other marquee sports like skiing, figure skating or snowboarding.
-- Speaking of the Flying Tomato (and I'll agree with Flax that two straight SI covers with him seems a bit much; then again, Jerome Bettis had two covers in three weeks last month), it was amusing seeing Bob Costas pressing Sasha Cohen into responding to White's request for a date or whatever after his gold-medal win. Even more amusing was her "I'm so flattered, but ..." response. (That response sounds familiar. Oh wait, I think I've heard that from at least a couple of women over the years.)
Of course, if things with Sasha don't work out, White probably has a few other options.
-- Oh yeah, what was up with Thursday night's head-to-head-to-head-to-head TV lineup of ladies figure skating vs. American Idol vs. Dancing with the Stars vs. Survivor? God forbid if you're a male who dislikes reality TV.
Few more Olympics thoughts as it's almost done -- none too soon with baseball and the tournament on the horizon ...
-- Nice finish to the curling competition -- especially the six (and should've been seven) in the sixth end by the Canadian men to clinch gold over Finland. The Finnish skip looks like an acquaintance of mine, or at least the guy from Rent who was also in A Beautiful Mind and Road Trip. (how's that for a resume?) And congrats to the U.S. men for winning bronze; Bemidji is getting a medal after all.
(Side note: Finland's president caught the gold-medal match a week after finally meeting Conan O'Brien, who used the Olympic break constructively.)
On the women's side, the Swedes (complete with cheesy metal video) took gold over the Swiss team (whose skip oddly resembles Shaun White) with Canada taking bronze.
It's interesting how much of a hit curling seems to be stateside (or at least every four years), and I wonder if it's the fact that a whole match gets shown (live in many cases) and thus you feel like something is unfolding in front of you -- as opposed to the chopped-up runs, races and heats on NBC's prime-time or mid-afternoon shows. Or it could just be that we could do that if given the chance (sort of how poker seems to be taking off since it seems any schlub could win the World Series of Poker main event).
-- However, while curling seems to be doing just fine on the fringes, Salon's King Kaufman has a point in that hockey seems to be shunted to the same edges of the primary NBC coverage -- although it's front and center for me because it's something live during the day. It's probably the biggest event at the Winter Olympics other than figure skating, but you don't see much of it on regular NBC coverage (even though it would be a good way to promote its own NHL coverage). But I suppose it's hard to chop up a hockey game and present it in the same prepackaged bite-sized nuggets like they've done with other marquee sports like skiing, figure skating or snowboarding.
-- Speaking of the Flying Tomato (and I'll agree with Flax that two straight SI covers with him seems a bit much; then again, Jerome Bettis had two covers in three weeks last month), it was amusing seeing Bob Costas pressing Sasha Cohen into responding to White's request for a date or whatever after his gold-medal win. Even more amusing was her "I'm so flattered, but ..." response. (That response sounds familiar. Oh wait, I think I've heard that from at least a couple of women over the years.)
Of course, if things with Sasha don't work out, White probably has a few other options.
-- Oh yeah, what was up with Thursday night's head-to-head-to-head-to-head TV lineup of ladies figure skating vs. American Idol vs. Dancing with the Stars vs. Survivor? God forbid if you're a male who dislikes reality TV.
Friday, February 17, 2006
Hey ladies???
It was a pretty disappointing morning/afternoon with USA's Olympic coverage with both the U.S. women's curling and hockey teams falling in dramatic fashion, and taking the air out of both competitions (curling is pretty much out of the medal hunt, a bronze medal is the best hockey can do).
Nice comeback by Cassie, Jamie and the gang (although they had their chance for four in the 10th end to win), before yet another extra-end loss. It was interesting, though, that the AP story mentions how popular the team has gotten during the Games (OK, so it's not just me). But when you get some cute-looking competitors not overly made up (see figure skating) or bundled up (see snowboarding), it's easy to get some attention.
As for hockey, at least the talk of just two teams dominating that competition can stop for now. The U.S. blew a 2-0 lead to Sweden, then failed to convert on a bunch of other opportunities, before falling in a shootout (where just about anything can happen). However, Sweden's goalie was brilliant, and might give Canada fits (assuming it advances to the gold-medal game). Now I wonder if the men will even be in medal contention.
And before the U.S. women's teams crashed and burned, there was Lindsey Jacobellis pulling a Leon Lett in the snowboard cross (a cool addition to the Games -- nice to have an "extreme sports" race, instead of yet another variation on figure skating) with one of the hills playing the role of Don Beebe.
While there appear to be two medals coming out of it (Jacobellis did win silver; U.S. women likely to win bronze), just doesn't seem like a good day for the ladies.
It was a pretty disappointing morning/afternoon with USA's Olympic coverage with both the U.S. women's curling and hockey teams falling in dramatic fashion, and taking the air out of both competitions (curling is pretty much out of the medal hunt, a bronze medal is the best hockey can do).
Nice comeback by Cassie, Jamie and the gang (although they had their chance for four in the 10th end to win), before yet another extra-end loss. It was interesting, though, that the AP story mentions how popular the team has gotten during the Games (OK, so it's not just me). But when you get some cute-looking competitors not overly made up (see figure skating) or bundled up (see snowboarding), it's easy to get some attention.
As for hockey, at least the talk of just two teams dominating that competition can stop for now. The U.S. blew a 2-0 lead to Sweden, then failed to convert on a bunch of other opportunities, before falling in a shootout (where just about anything can happen). However, Sweden's goalie was brilliant, and might give Canada fits (assuming it advances to the gold-medal game). Now I wonder if the men will even be in medal contention.
And before the U.S. women's teams crashed and burned, there was Lindsey Jacobellis pulling a Leon Lett in the snowboard cross (a cool addition to the Games -- nice to have an "extreme sports" race, instead of yet another variation on figure skating) with one of the hills playing the role of Don Beebe.
While there appear to be two medals coming out of it (Jacobellis did win silver; U.S. women likely to win bronze), just doesn't seem like a good day for the ladies.
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
I say Turin, you say Torino
I can be an Olympics geek when need be, and so it is that I've done a decent job trying to follow the Winter Games (despite the lead-up columns to the Games that we had pretty much saying the Winter Olympics suck -- great, we're not even waiting to be snarky).
If anything, I get my quadrennial interest in curling revived. It helps that there's usually a match on one of the NBCU networks at 3 a.m. when I'm getting home from work and/or trying to get to bed. And for a bigger plus, the U.S. women's team, or at least the Johnson sisters, is a rather photogenic bunch; however, the early returns are rather disappointing, and we really can't give them medals for just being cute. That could explain some of the saturation coverage, albeit during off-hours. With that said, it's fun picking it up again, and like Cooch mentioned, we pretend to be at least reasonably informed viewers rather quickly. I think part of it has to do with the announcers, and part of it comes with having an open mind (and not quickly mocking it).
As for the rest of the Games, I'm getting ready for "real" hockey to begin, although the U.S. women did have a scare against Finland, trailing 3-2 going into the third before winning 7-3. At least now, most of the games blanketing the coverage on the non-network arms will seem meaningful, as opposed to any women's game featuring non-North American teams.
All the cool speed events like luge, speed skating, skiing, etc., lose a bit of its magic in NBC's tape-delay format, mainly because any competition where you're competing against the clock, you have to edit out some of the spontaneity that comes from hoping if an early competitor's time can hold up. Unfortunately, I have to manufacture my own "live" drama by refreshing the results page on the Web. (NBC sorta tried that years ago with the Triplecast, which was a flop for the most part, by my brother enjoyed watching tapes of some of those events since you got to see everybody.)
What is intriguing to me with the ratings for the Games (naturally, down from Salt Lake City) is figuring out what the public's TV-viewing patterns are these days, and how to appeal to each of these different demographics:
-- First off, you've got sports fans like me who want to watch things live, and so the packaged stuff and tape-delayed drama does nothing for me, especially if I already know what happened.
However, the numbers of fans who watch "mainstream" sports who are also interested in the Olympics seem to be waning. If some of the pre-Games stuff that was written is an indication of the sports-viewing audience today, it's not even worth "expanding our horizons" to watch luge, speedskating, etc. (Maybe it's more magnified during the winter since there is more of a disconnect between sports and reality. We've all run a race or taken a swim in the pool. Not as many of us have ridden a bobsled.)
-- The extended coverage of curling and hockey might be showing that there is a market for The Ocho or Obscure Sports Quarterly. And with those two sports, it's much harder to show the event without showing a full game. Highlights work, to an extent, but it's not like other speed events where you can show a gold-medal run rather quickly.
-- Figure skating, for the most part, draws in a crowd that's not sports fans. But since it has the potential to draw the most ratings (mostly because of the often mutual exclusivity between sports fans and Olympics fans), that's where the bulk of the value of the Games comes from. So it's interesting that while Michelle Kwan's withdrawal does put a damper on things, there hasn't been as much hype over Sasha Cohen (especially if that picture is any indication, and even Shaun White mentioned he really wanted to meet her after he won his gold). Are we to think that just the thrill of the competition is enough to draw people in those extra viewers, or have they just given up on getting the male demographic (who's probably watching 24 anyways)?
I can be an Olympics geek when need be, and so it is that I've done a decent job trying to follow the Winter Games (despite the lead-up columns to the Games that we had pretty much saying the Winter Olympics suck -- great, we're not even waiting to be snarky).
If anything, I get my quadrennial interest in curling revived. It helps that there's usually a match on one of the NBCU networks at 3 a.m. when I'm getting home from work and/or trying to get to bed. And for a bigger plus, the U.S. women's team, or at least the Johnson sisters, is a rather photogenic bunch; however, the early returns are rather disappointing, and we really can't give them medals for just being cute. That could explain some of the saturation coverage, albeit during off-hours. With that said, it's fun picking it up again, and like Cooch mentioned, we pretend to be at least reasonably informed viewers rather quickly. I think part of it has to do with the announcers, and part of it comes with having an open mind (and not quickly mocking it).
As for the rest of the Games, I'm getting ready for "real" hockey to begin, although the U.S. women did have a scare against Finland, trailing 3-2 going into the third before winning 7-3. At least now, most of the games blanketing the coverage on the non-network arms will seem meaningful, as opposed to any women's game featuring non-North American teams.
All the cool speed events like luge, speed skating, skiing, etc., lose a bit of its magic in NBC's tape-delay format, mainly because any competition where you're competing against the clock, you have to edit out some of the spontaneity that comes from hoping if an early competitor's time can hold up. Unfortunately, I have to manufacture my own "live" drama by refreshing the results page on the Web. (NBC sorta tried that years ago with the Triplecast, which was a flop for the most part, by my brother enjoyed watching tapes of some of those events since you got to see everybody.)
What is intriguing to me with the ratings for the Games (naturally, down from Salt Lake City) is figuring out what the public's TV-viewing patterns are these days, and how to appeal to each of these different demographics:
-- First off, you've got sports fans like me who want to watch things live, and so the packaged stuff and tape-delayed drama does nothing for me, especially if I already know what happened.
However, the numbers of fans who watch "mainstream" sports who are also interested in the Olympics seem to be waning. If some of the pre-Games stuff that was written is an indication of the sports-viewing audience today, it's not even worth "expanding our horizons" to watch luge, speedskating, etc. (Maybe it's more magnified during the winter since there is more of a disconnect between sports and reality. We've all run a race or taken a swim in the pool. Not as many of us have ridden a bobsled.)
-- The extended coverage of curling and hockey might be showing that there is a market for The Ocho or Obscure Sports Quarterly. And with those two sports, it's much harder to show the event without showing a full game. Highlights work, to an extent, but it's not like other speed events where you can show a gold-medal run rather quickly.
-- Figure skating, for the most part, draws in a crowd that's not sports fans. But since it has the potential to draw the most ratings (mostly because of the often mutual exclusivity between sports fans and Olympics fans), that's where the bulk of the value of the Games comes from. So it's interesting that while Michelle Kwan's withdrawal does put a damper on things, there hasn't been as much hype over Sasha Cohen (especially if that picture is any indication, and even Shaun White mentioned he really wanted to meet her after he won his gold). Are we to think that just the thrill of the competition is enough to draw people in those extra viewers, or have they just given up on getting the male demographic (who's probably watching 24 anyways)?
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
And just where are the Mulkey brothers these days?
I'm not as rabid a fan as years ago, but I figured it was worth checking out the WWE Raw show since it was downtown, and the whole scene (both in and out of the ring) is always an interesting sociological experiment.
I will say, though, that the experience really deserved having Crow and Tom Servo, or at least a Sklar brother next to me. Nonetheless, it was still an entertaining time, if only because I think at times, it turned into I Love the '80s and I Love the '90s (even though Chris Jericho wasn't around).
The '80s part came in the form of this Peter Gabriel song being the theme song for the upcoming Wrestlemania. Very strange, since it's usually some hard rock song by a band who was in nursery school when the above song hit the charts. The other part came when this guy suddenly appeared, and the middle schoolers nearby looked on in utter confusion, whereas I was getting a tad nostalgic.
The '90s part kicked in a bit when the crowd was surprisingly lively for this guy, who was on the "other" show that no one ever sees. There were a lot of the usual suspects as well who have been with the company for a while, plus an ECW chant when this guy wrestled (he also got the second-best pop of the night). Plus, he showed up at the end of the program to set up next week's big matchup (and wish everyone a nice day).
The matches weren't anything spectacular for the most part, but the Triple H-Ric Flair showdown was fun for nostalgic purposes -- thankfully it was a clean finish and no sledgehammers were involved. And the whole idea of a tournament was good, if only because there were at least the concepts of solid matchups.
Finally, I got to see for myself the oddly mixed reaction for the current WWE champ, the proof that most rap music is bought by kids in the suburbs. A good portion of the crowd went nuts for him, but there was a good amount of booing for him as well. He does have charisma, but he still pales in comparison to The Rock, for instance.
One last note, I guess today's kids don't need cigarette lighters to produce light when the arena is darkened. Instead, I saw a ton of backlighting from everyone's cell phones. A rather surreal look, to be sure.
I'm not as rabid a fan as years ago, but I figured it was worth checking out the WWE Raw show since it was downtown, and the whole scene (both in and out of the ring) is always an interesting sociological experiment.
I will say, though, that the experience really deserved having Crow and Tom Servo, or at least a Sklar brother next to me. Nonetheless, it was still an entertaining time, if only because I think at times, it turned into I Love the '80s and I Love the '90s (even though Chris Jericho wasn't around).
The '80s part came in the form of this Peter Gabriel song being the theme song for the upcoming Wrestlemania. Very strange, since it's usually some hard rock song by a band who was in nursery school when the above song hit the charts. The other part came when this guy suddenly appeared, and the middle schoolers nearby looked on in utter confusion, whereas I was getting a tad nostalgic.
The '90s part kicked in a bit when the crowd was surprisingly lively for this guy, who was on the "other" show that no one ever sees. There were a lot of the usual suspects as well who have been with the company for a while, plus an ECW chant when this guy wrestled (he also got the second-best pop of the night). Plus, he showed up at the end of the program to set up next week's big matchup (and wish everyone a nice day).
The matches weren't anything spectacular for the most part, but the Triple H-Ric Flair showdown was fun for nostalgic purposes -- thankfully it was a clean finish and no sledgehammers were involved. And the whole idea of a tournament was good, if only because there were at least the concepts of solid matchups.
Finally, I got to see for myself the oddly mixed reaction for the current WWE champ, the proof that most rap music is bought by kids in the suburbs. A good portion of the crowd went nuts for him, but there was a good amount of booing for him as well. He does have charisma, but he still pales in comparison to The Rock, for instance.
One last note, I guess today's kids don't need cigarette lighters to produce light when the arena is darkened. Instead, I saw a ton of backlighting from everyone's cell phones. A rather surreal look, to be sure.
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