No Imus, no fuss

Hopefully, most of the Imus hand wringing is over (although he could be indirectly be held responsible for the car accident that led to serious injuries to the New Jersey governor since he was on his way to moderate the discussion between the Rutgers team and Imus) because the whole storm over his comments has been ridiculous on so many levels.

Flax seems to have expressed a lot of the same feelings I have toward the whole thing, and it could be because we both grew up as regular listeners of the program growing up. I think that context is important in how people look at this controversy because most of the people calling for his head (and I’d imagine the Rutgers women’s team) had never listened and would never listen to the show. Of course, the history of offensive remarks is there and I suppose at some point he was going to pay for his words, especially since he was always playing with fire. But as many of us wonder, why here and why now?

Was it because he picked on a women’s college basketball team in particular? I’m sure most people didn’t realize Rutgers had played for a national title the day before, which is the only reason they were brought up on the show in the first place. Of course, it was really unfortunate that Imus’ regular sports guy Chris Carlin wasn’t there that infamous day. Carlin is the play-by-play voice of Rutgers football, and you know darn well the talk wasn’t going to go that far had he been there. Instead, it was Sid Rosenberg, who was “banned for life” from Imus’ show for a litany of problems with drugs and offensive remarks (worse than the ones that got Imus kicked out), who was in there and helped let things go overboard.

I actually think I can buy the fact that the Rutgers’ women’s team felt their season was “ruined” by the remarks because, as mentioned before, the comments probably marked the only time 99.99% of the country would be exposed to women’s college basketball. That’s not the way you want to be introduced to the general public. And while they’ve been commended on how they’ve handled the situation, I was intrigued that the two players they asked to speak at length at Tuesday’s press conference, they picked one white and one black player. There’s eight black players and just two white players on the roster.

The involvement of Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson made sure this controversy was going to be blown out of proportion. Rutgers didn’t ask these people to represent them, but at the same time, the team wasn’t going to get their chance to talk with Imus if they didn’t generate the whole storm in the first place. But it’s unfortunate that such a level-headed response was only going to get attention because everyone was screaming "I'm offended" first.

But while a couple of us wondered which part of the slur was more hurtful “nappy-haired” or “ho,” I wonder if the word dyke had been thrown into the slur, would there be the same outcry. Players in women’s team sports often get slapped with that very unfair stereotype (although Rutgers’ first opponent in the Final Four, LSU, lost its woman coach due to an alleged inappropriate relationship with a former player), and it would be just as easy for Imus to say something like that. But then again, I’m guessing Sharpton will ruffle more feathers in this instance than GLAAD.

(BTW, one poster on TV Barn, I think, said this issue got a lot of extra attention because Rutgers is a New York-area team. I'd like to believe that except for the fact that New York-area reporters referred to Rutgers as being in South Jersey. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Where Gov. Corzine was injured -- that's South Jersey. Rutgers is very much in Central Jersey -- it's about 15-20 minutes from my house. For goodness sake, ESPN made Rutgers Stadium feel like it was just down the street from the Empire State Building; but to Manhattan-centric folks, the Rutgers area might as well be on Mars.)

Imus did dig a major hole for himself, first with his dismissal of the initial statements to The New York Times, and then going on Sharpton’s show and also talking about his charity work in trying to defend himself. Remember, you can do all the charity work in the world, but people don’t remember good things about you, only bad things. With that said, the Imus furor, not to mention his firing in the midst of his radiothon actually helped his charitable causes since people like me actually decided to tune in and make a donation rather than give it a slight acknowledgement and move on.

In some ways, the charity stuff and his attention to politics and current events (I can still remember him moderating a particularly nasty New York senate debate in 1992) actually burned him. You can’t have it both ways. You’re either a boorish, offensive personality, or you’re a current events talk show. The former kept him in drive time because the latter -- if he doesn’t get such high-profile guests -- would’ve shunted him to Sunday mornings at 5 a.m. But the former got him a prime spot that made sure the Tim Russerts and John McCains would show up to talk politics. Maybe if Imus had gone the Dennis Miller route and dropped all humor to go political (but still promoting his country and classic rock music friends), he wouldn’t have painted himself into a corner. Or maybe not.

Finally, it’s been a great year for Rutgers athletics, and yet their two biggest moments of glory have been hounded by controversy. In football, getting selected to the Texas Bowl led to the governor appealing the NFL Network to solve their battles with cable companies for carriage. Only a last-second deal prevented the entire state from turning against a cable channel and a cable company. Now, a trip to the national title game is “sullied” because of offensive comments made by someone they wouldn’t listen to about a team he would never watch.

Anyway, TV Barn has some interesting thoughts on the situation, and Time’s cover story hits on a bunch of things, including wondering why Imus gets fired but everyone loves Borat despite saying similar things.

I guess it's my job

I think I finally did my last draft of the baseball season with the auction for the long-running NL-only league that actually had its roots with a couple of guys from Pittsburgh I met at a summer program in Massachusetts when I was in high school -- in 1991. I found my way into it since those guys were friends with one of my eventual college roommates. And now the league now has an interesting mix of people who have known each other since high school, two of my college roommates and some work colleagues of someone else in the league. So while the fantasy baseball part was obviously fun, catching up with old friends was as much of the reason for keeping the league going -- heck, a good portion of the league membership is linked on the sidebar. And considering this was the first time I'd been at the draft live in about 4-5 years, it was good to match names with faces again. (Unfortunately, Easter-related stuff prevented me from joining the post-draft Atlantic City action.)

As much as I write stuff about how to win at this stuff, I'll admit that it's sometimes to tough to replicate the "draft experience" via columns, advice, etc. And the online experience, while good and usually more efficient, can lack the spice of staring down a guy fumbling through pages of notes figuring out whether to go the extra buck on Shawn Green.

As for the actual draft, I guess I stuck to some of my traditions: spending practically nothing on pitching yet somehow falling into a so-so Mets starter in the $10 range who eventually gets dealt away next year (Kris Benson in 2005, Steve Trachsel last year, Oliver Perez this year); picking up a bunch of expensive bats; and getting Chipper Jones -- again. For someone who just left Atlanta, I picked up a bunch of Braves, called up a bunch more in auction, and was in the running for a few more. Can't seem to shake the city (and it'll be even tougher now with the Thrashers in the playoffs -- facing the Rangers, no less).

One other fun bit about the auction, I decided to have fun with the proceedings and bringing this out when I called up said singer. However, I did not give away the CD to the highest bidder.

Trivial matters

I opted to skip out on the sports trivia contest I'd cleaned up on the past couple of weeks, and thus I missed this cool visual round. Based on the answers, I probably would've gotten 8 of 10. And that probably would've been fine to help me win another one of these things flying solo. Instead, I've been learning a bunch of different tax codes for the multiple state returns I have to file this year.

Touring the obits

It's somewhat notable that B.C. cartoonist Johnny Hart passed away the day before Easter, given that his strip had been drawing plenty of controversy for religious messages in recent years -- as it apparently moved away from the "fat broad" jokes and the strangeness of his characters appearing ads for shocks and struts.

Even more intriguing is the Bob Clark obit, considering that while he should be most associated with the now-classic A Christmas Story, his other credits seem oddly out of whack -- Porky's, the Baby Geniuses movies, the original Black Christmas and Rhinestone. In some ways, he should thank TBS and TNT for making sure his primary legacy will be the story of Ralphie and Red Ryder.

It is ironic, don't you think

After all this time, Alanis really does know irony:



Meanwhile, here's a live version of one of the best covers ever:

Chomped!

I suppose I could only go so far to sell myself out to the Buckeyes, although it would've been nice to collect on the different pools. However, it actually seems like Ohio State was proving the Ewing Theory as the game was going on -- Greg Oden finally has the breakout game and his team loses. Not being in foul trouble actually cut into his endurance. Oden seems to prove a strange paradox that you need him to win but his teammates decided not to show up when Oden was actually on his game.

And as for our Gator overlords, it is interesting they started the same five for both title games. Very impressive. Having a team full of children of former athletes actually has a secondary effect -- there isn't the same urgency for the top guys to jump to the NBA. Sure, they'd like to have the chance to play in the pros, but they don't have the same financial incentive to get the big contract if your dad has already cashed in reasonably well during his playing days. And if you've all come in at the same time and win a national title pretty early on, you might as well drink it all in and try again for some history if there's no pressing need to provide for your family.

Finally, I think I've figured out the Billy Packer dilemma. As a game analyst, he's actually very solid from a basketball perspective. Unfortunately, he comes off like such a grumpy know-it-all, he rubs people the wrong way, especially if he's criticizing your team. Honestly, if Dr. Z were given a TV commentator role and not coached one way or another, he'd come off the same way. However, most of us want a little fun with our analysis since sports is supposed to be an escape and not a job, which is why a Bill Raftery is more beloved because he can mix entertainment and pure basketball talk.

Jersey represent

So it's on to the national championship game for the Rutgers women, continuing the nice run set by the football team. However, while the Scarlet Knights shot lights out from behind the arc and played some stifling defense to smother LSU, I can't help but think that there was some awful basketball played by both sides, especially in the paint. There were lots of botched layups and putbacks, and just some weird missed plays you probably shouldn't be seeing in a national semifinal game. As much as I'll follow the women's tournament, you often can't fault those who wonder why there's so much coverage of it as well.

And now with that game over, it's time to watch the first game of the 2007 baseball season.

Cool as ice

One way to spend the interim between the men's Final Four games and the 1-2 punch of the women's Final Four/Opening Day is to see a figure skating movie? Why not -- it's another Will Ferrell comedy that was funny at moments and silly and over the top in other parts (pretty much par for the course). It wasn't as good as Talladega Nights, but some of the actors were game for their parts, such as Craig T. Nelson, and Jenna Fischer pretty much played Pam, although there's nothing wrong with that.

Speaking of Pam, it looks like Wired went first in sexing her up. And similarly, Geek magazine tries to glam up Chloe. I haven't seen so much love for the geeky girl since those Willow shots in FHM. (And age has been very good to her.)

Final countdown

I guess I'll be rooting hard for Ohio State as my hope for a Buckeyes-Gators national championship game, part deux, has come through -- but this time OSU winning it all. Hard to believe I've actually had that much at stake with my numerous pools ever.

Also, I think I discovered some lazy ad wizards over at Pontiac. While the Kansas-"Bobby Knight" bit wasn't too bad, I just figured out that the bit with the hypnotized referees calling for Louisville technical fouls makes more sense with the Kentucky fan as opposed to a UCLA fan.

Go, Cats?

It seems weird that Northwestern's basketball futility is fodder for a Final Four column, especially from someone like Joe Posnanski, but that's what we get today. And as he mentioned, there are so many NU alums scurrying around the business -- including two guys from my office who were in school around the time I was -- that it seems almost like there should be some outrage over it from the "typing classes."

But even if us sportswriter types won't get too crazy about it, at least there are some passionate fans out there hoping for change, by any means necessary.

Hooping and hollering

It's always fun listening to Bill Raftery doing college basketball, but the odd thing about him is that his quirkiness is practically an act. If you ever listen to his radio interviews, he's amazingly subdued, only turning on the catchphrases if he really needs to. It's an interesting phenomenon.

Meanwhile, does it seem like we were paying more attention to Gus Johnson after he got dropped out of the top four CBS crews? You have to wonder how he felt having to call an awful Knicks game while the Sweet 16 games were going on. At least Ian Eagle ended up with that ridiculous Division II finish. But look no further, there's a Gus Johnson remix.

Also, am I the only person out there that doesn't hold "One Shining Moment" in the same esteem as other sports fans? When the title game is over and the hardware, etc. is handed out, I'm already clicking to SportsCenter or some other show or possibly going to sleep. Unless I was really waiting for the local CBS affiliate news, I'm not sticking around to watch the song and the highlights. But maybe that's just me.

Finally, if people are continuing to gripe about voter turnout and comparing it to American Idol, could Sanjaya be similar to W? Think about it: Promising candidate at the start, progresses to the big stage only to look overmatched and always hounded by questions about how he got enough votes to stick around.

On the other hand, it's been nice looking at (if not necessarily listening to) Haley, but only after that they turned her into Mrs. Jay Mohr.

Chalk talk

Somehow I've picked the Final Four correctly for the first time ever probably despite some awful early picks. But sorta going by chalk works as was hoping to see some cool matchups in later rounds (national title rematch, UNC-G'town revival, Dr. Hibbert vs. Oden, UF-OSU national title game rematch).

Meanwhile, the women's bracket is all shaken up with a 3 and a 4 in the Final Four, although it's cool to see the Rutgers women continue the momentum from the football team. However, that second half against Arizona State wasn't pretty nor the teams themselves in HD. But Carrie Underwood in HD -- now that works for me.

Switching back to pseudo-sports, the list of inductors for the WWE Hall of Fame this Sunday is amusing and seemingly ripe for question fodder. William Shatner? Sure, why not. But Wade Boggs? Yeesh. Not getting enough cash from that hair transplant company?

Red means stop ... really

So I went to this place for my birthday, which was pretty good, considering I hadn't done the Brazilian steakhouse thing in a while. And given the amount of meat coming through, it's good to do only occasionally.

While it's nice to see places like this pop up in the suburbs, I can't help but wonder how over-hip they wanted to make this place. It's one thing to do the rodizio thing and leave it at that, but there's also a sushi bar plus an ornate drink menu and club-like feel to that place. It's a weird mishmash of all the "cool" restaurant/nightlife ideas at once. Strange.

And while the food was good, I know that when you flip the card from green to red, the servers are supposed to stop coming by. But I guess recognizing colors wasn't their greatest skill. It's not a good sign when someone is trying to foist more meat on you with the napkin thrown on the table like a white flag.

Meanwhile, over in the city, Peyton Manning turned in a pretty solid performance for SNL, all things considered. And yes, the United Way piece was the best part of it. Surprisingly, old #18 cussed a bit more than I might've expected, and do NFL QBs on the show have to go without pants for at least one skit?

What's my age again?

Yes, I've been very lax here. But here are some random thoughts while waiting for my fellow birthday buddy to host SNL:

-- Depending on which bracket you're looking at (most likely the ones I entered for money), I'm doing much better with Final Four teams than in the past, but you can thank all those high seeds very much going according to form. Instead, all the goofy bracket-busting upsets are happening on the women's side, including Marist, whose mascot is close to, but not this guy.

-- And in that same vein, a number of the supposed home-court or pseudo-home court advantages in the tournament haven't necessarily come through: Louisville falling to A&M in Lexington, A&M losing to Memphis in San Antonio, Wisconsin losing in Chicago; on the women's side, Rutgers spoiling homecourt edges for Michigan State and now Duke. And if you mention UCLA never having to leave California en route to the Final Four, northern California might as well be a different state from SoCal.

Watching all that tournament action does have me thinking about some of those ads, plus other TV spots around the dial:
-- It took a bit of searching of similar queries to mine, but according to this link, Rachel Specter is that amazingly attractive brunette in those RGX Body Spray ads. Overly obsessive fan sites and MySpace pages to come shortly, I'm sure.
-- So for a few weeks each March, I have to see the smarmiest Asian guy ever and his dopey white buddy to sell cell phones? Oy.
More to come as I can remember them.

-- If there's one thing American Idol has shown us, children of athletes actually have one more route to their own celebrity (thanks Jordin Sparks and Neko Smith) other than being a notable athlete or suffering from some rare debilitating disease.

-- I've been searching for both decent places to do pub trivia in NYC (not necessarily BuzzTime/NTN) as well as some teammates to join me as well, but for now I've stumbled across this all-sports pub trivia contest. The questions are pretty decent, although I've trounced the competition playing solo the past two times it's been run. Anyone New York-area based readers looking for someone to join them for pub trivia, get a hold of me.

Let it snow

I didn't notice it as much the few times there was a hint of winter weather in the Atlanta area, but now that I'm back in the New York area, I now see that the local network affiliates are running school closings in the crawl. It's a big change from when I grew up where the only places you could depend on for school closings in my area were this local AM station and its sister FM station. The Web helps out the process as well, as does the Cablevision News 12 stations, but I guess you can also thank the increased use of the crawl, so even the network affiliates can run school closings without taking time from the rest of the news.

Oscar blog 2007

I haven't done this in a while, but since I'm not working on Oscar night for the first time in a while, why not do the self-indulgent award telecast blog. I've only seen two of the five nominated films (The Departed and Little Miss Sunshine) and not that movies in general this year (is it a bad sign when the movie I was most excited for was Clerks II?), so I can't necessarily tell what's good and what's bad. But here we go with the rundown. Sorry for the length.

8:30: Cute testimonials by all the nominees in the intro. And I mean all the nominees. But mixing all the folks in the smaller categories with the bigger names almost screamed for some identifiers. At the same time, I think I was waiting for the guys from the Mac commercial to show up.

8:35: Now that's a nice payoff. Please stand if you've been nominated. Jack Nicholson, please sit down.

8:36: Ellen ready to deal some blackjack, I take it.

8:37: Most international Oscars ever. Neat. So what about that globalization? At least you can't outsource seat fillers, right?

8:39: Nice projection of your own nerves on the nominees, Ellen.

8:42: American Idol joke segues into Al Gore election joke. Of course it goes over well with this crowd.

8:43: Steve Carell: "Why the hell was I part of that joke?"

8:43: "If there were no Blacks, Jews or gays, there would be no Oscars." And James Dobson weeps.

8:44: Interesting to see who gets it by dancing with the choir that randomly appears.

8:45: Nicole Kidman seems to want to stay away from James Bond. And I always thought one of the supporting acting categories was first, so we don't switch the channel away after the monologue. Oh well, eye candy will keep people watching art direction.

8:46: Pan's Labyrinth opens up the ceremony with a win. Never saw it. Probably won't.

8:48: So Maggie Gyllenhaal drew the "hot young actress" card to host the technical awards. Not necessarily my choice, as much as I find her attractive. But I guess they needed to find a way to get her into the mix if she wasn't going to be nominated.

8:50: I guess Don LaFontaine sounds different saying his name instead of prefacing something with "In a world ..."

8:53: Ricky Bobby mentioned at the Oscars? Ah, I see. Comedians aren't allowed to do well at the Oscars. And Will Ferrell (nice 'fro, dude) and Jack Black are sort of proving why. And then there's John C. Reilly proving you can be funny and do serious stuff. However, when he did Talladega Nights, most people were surprised he'd "stoop that low" to do it. On the other hand, there was a bit of a subversive element in saying that the only way a comic actor will get nominated is to do some overly earnest film.

8:57: And so all of that silly leadup to give out makeup awards?

8:58: Pan's Labyrinth wins again. OK, the other options were a Mel Gibson movie and an Adam Sandler movie. What do you think will win? But the one guy is pissed to be cut off.

8:59: And now for the kids portion of the show. Cute. Of course, they're giving out the animation awards.

9:01: And oops. Will Smith's kid is already reading ahead on the teleprompter. I dare say he won't be the first to screw that up. Still not as good as the guy at the Grammys who was reading the prompts as well as the text giving out an award. Or, for that matter, Felicity Huffman screwing up Shareeka Epps name twice when giving her the award at the Independent Spirit Awards, calling her Shakeera. And thus prompting Sarah Silverman to say that next year the awards would be hosted by Fecility Huffman.

9:03: Ah, they're giving out both shorts categories. Because they're kids, and they're short. How clever.

9:04: Little Miss Sunshine has to bail out the Little Fresh Prince. But dude, West Bank Story. That's just too cool of a title, and apparently a concept for a short.

9:11: Sound effects choir? Is there going to be an award people actually care about before 10 p.m.? By the way, can't we just get Mr. Foley to show up? Or Fred Newman (who somehow has a new version of Mouthsounds in bookstores)? Meanwhile, Michael Winslow is weeping at home.

9:17: Jessica Biel and the other guy in the Idi Amin movie present an award. OK, then.

9:21: Hey, finally a "major award" (leg lamp not included). It is kinda weird seeing Kelly Leak after all those years, never mind up for an Oscar. And I guess it's about time for Marky Mark to get a nod, too.

9:23: Wow. Alan Arkin scores the upset over Eddie Murphy and Marky Mark. I didn't see that coming, even though I liked him and the movie. Did Norbit screw him over? I doubt it. But at least Will Ferrell's rant about not winning

9:26: Oy. More interpretive dance.

9:30: Time for I Love the '70s with Randy Newman and James Taylor. And I guess it's a best song block with Melissa Ethridge next. So I guess Dreamgirls has the big number later.

9:36: So Al Gore and Leonard DiCaprio are saying how green the Oscars are. But what about the actual moviemaking process? By the way, I think losing an election could be the best thing to reach some sort of pop culture hipness. First it was Bob Dole. And now it's Gore.

9:42: I'm still not sure how I feel about Cameron Diaz as a brunette, but she is a decent fit to give out the animated feature award. I guess the Oscars still love penguins, and the disappointed animated characters are a nice touch.

9:45: Yes, Ben Affleck has an Oscar. For screenwriting. We sometimes forget about that, as much as I loved Good Will Hunting.

9:48: The writing montage is amusing, but an even more interesting fact that I learned this week is that one of my fantasy sports colleagues earned a Razzie nomination for writing Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles.

9:49: Nice 1-2 punch of star power with Mirren and Hanks. But this early? And giving out adapted screenplay?

9:50: You're mispronouncing Borat, Helen.

9:52: The Departed gets its first win. Not a big surprise there. But that screenwriter seemed to embodying the spirit of Mitch Hedberg.

9:54: How much longer until that Disney contract runs out, Chris Connelly? And was he really meant to run into the people involved in that last award?

9:56: Commerical break: Why am I not surprised that's what Wes Anderson looks like that? Neat commercial, but it's not the Bruce Campbell Old Spice one, either.

9:59: Wardrobe change for Ellen, complete with a Bjorn. Nice segue into the costume category, given out by the women from the Devil Wears Prada. Did they have to stay in character? I guess so. And live action mannequins. That works for me. Seems better than just seeing sketches. But altogether, it looks like The Price Is Right or Family Feud.

10:03: Marie Antoinette wins. Not a big surprise. To win costume design, you've got to pick something very showy and very old. Which I guess knocked out Showgirls, The Queen and The Devil Wears Prada.

10:05: We have a Tom Cruise sighting, but to give a humanitarian award to NU's own Sherry Lansing. What's amusing is that the first time I knew about her and the fact that she was an alum was in one of those Northwestern TV ads they showed during football and basketball games years ago. Yeah, I actually paid attention to at least one of those collegiate propaganda spots.

10:10: More awkward spots between Ellen and the nominees. And forget about Mrs. Eastwood, let's give the camera to Spielberg, he knows how to use one of those.

10:12: Gwyneth's dress almost as pale as she is. And another win for Pan's Labyrinth? Is it this year's Memoirs of a Geisha? Lots of the pretty awards, but nothing for the ones people actually pay attention to.

10:16: Interpretive dance again? At least it doesn't waste that much time.

10:20: Nicole Kidman draws James Bond, while BFF Naomi Watts draws Robert Downey Jr. Gee, I wonder who wins there.

10:21: Wait a minute, this is a category where I've seen the majority of the nominees. OK, so it's two of three, and it's for visual effects, so it's the summer blockbusters, but whatever. Well, the Pirates of the Caribbean sequel does get an Oscar, no matter how bad it might've been.

10:24: Foreigners giving out the best foreign language film. What a concept. But first, a montage, minus subtitles, of course.

10:29: Oh wait. So Deneuve and Watanabe only introduced a montage? I guess they needed more star power with Clive Owen and Cate Blanchette, who are better suited to pronounce the nominees.

10:31: That's an upset with the German film winning over Pan's Labyrinth, which had won a bunch of the pretty awards already. Wait, the producer is thanking Arnold Schwarzenegger in his speech. Yikes.

10:33: OK, they had interpretive dance to Snakes on a Plane. God help us all.

10:33: Cue George Clooney. Cue Al Gore? Whatever.

10:35: No upset here. Jennifer Hudson does win Best Supporting Actress. By the way, don't blame Simon Cowell for her not winning AI. Blame the people voting.

10:42: Uber-hipness reigns for Documentary Short Subject presenters.

10:44: Jerry Seinfeld at the Oscars? To award Best Documentary Feature? OK, so he was part of a documentary feature that I did see, and wasn't all that bad.

10:45: Gee, I'm waiting for that jazzy music to play behind his monologue. Seriously, is he the guy who should be presenting this award?

10:48: Should anyone be surprised that Al Gore's film won? So the Clintons have a Grammy, but Gore's got an Oscar. I guess he's got two words for Bill and Hillary?

10:50: Clint's bobbling his way through Ennio Morricone's honorary Oscar: "I should've worn my glasses." But I guess he's more than just The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

10:55: Celine Dion shows up to sing the equivalent of a song from the new album. Morricone looks absolutely thrilled to be there, but he did get a standing ovation, which is nice. ... Hey, Quincy Jones is in his box.

11:00: So Clint goes from stumbling on his lines to Italian translator. He really is multi-talented.

11:04: Commericial break: Well, that GM robot ad did get retooled after the Super Bowl. It's a better message than the suicide one, I guess. And I do like having "All By Myself" as the song playing behind it, even if I'll have to hear it a few more times on this season of Idol.

11:06: I guess it makes sense to do best score after honoring Morricone, but after a commercial. Babel gets a win, although honestly I have no idea how to pick the winners for Best Score anymore.

11:09: Everyone still has fun with Jack Nicholson even if he's not nominated. And that bald look ain't all that bad.

11:10: The leader of the AMPAS talks about the Academy really fast. Where's John Moschitta when

11:11: Spider-Man and Mary Jane present together. I thought they used to be attractive. By the way, the reading of the actual screenplay is a tad weird but I guess useful.

11:14: Little Miss Sunshine wins Best Original Screenplay. Is this the consolation prize for the hip, pseudo-indy film of the year that doesn't win the big prize (see The Usual Suspects, Pulp Fiction, Good Will Hunting, Sideways, Lost In Translation) or is the sign of things to come?

11:20: Somewhat fitting for J-Lo to introduce the Dreamgirls songs. Oddly, though, she seemed a bit matronly in her getup, at least compared to others like her.

11:28: John Travolta and Queen Latifah. OK then. But I guess it works for both of them to give out Best Original Song.

11:29: I guess the Dreamgirls songs canceled each other out, which is a shame but not surprising. This category has produced some odd choices in recent years, and in this case, the Academy opted to honor Al Gore again via Melissa Ethridge. At least Randy Newman already has an Oscar, so he can't feel too bad about losing again. Note for those filling out Oscar pools next year -- choose the most anachronistic Oscar-winning song. (see Three 6 Mafia, Eminem)

11:35: We're already over the time limit and now the Fresh Prince is introducing another film montage. By the way, where's the obit reel where we can gauge the popularity of the dead people? My guess of the telecast running 23 minutes over is going to be off by a good amount.

11:40: Here comes editing, so we're just about home free of the "other" awards. But it's looking better for The Departed with another award. Plus, a random cutaway to bald Jack, who I guess will be presenting an award shortly.

11:44: Ah, here's the obit reel, introduced by Jody Foster.

11:48: Pretty even keel on the applause, especially with a lot of notable names passing. Nice to see them finish with Robert Altman.

11:51: Another monochromatic costume change for Ellen. First reddish, then white, then blue. I guess she eventually need to look more like Dori.

11:54: Count another chalk pick with Helen Mirren winning for The Queen. Solid field this year, although it seemed like this year's nominee list was built off a template.

12:00: It's midnight Eastern, so Ellen's gotta vacuum. Cute effect.

12:01: Now that she's separated, Reese Witherspoon lets her hair grow out. Works for me.

12:04: No sentimental/sympathy vote for Peter O'Toole here. Forest Whitaker gets a deserving award. Two of the past three Best Actor winners are now African-American, after not having one for years.

12:06: Ya think Marty's going to win the Oscar if they're bringing out Coppola, Spielberg and Lucas to present Best Director?

12:08: Yup. About time. Although I really did like The Departed.

12:12: Nice pairing of Keaton and Nicholson to give out Best Picture, although Jack's voice is already gone. Probably for the best.

12:14: Jack can stick around after all to relish in The Departed winning the top prize. That was my choice, granted I only saw two of the nominees.

12:17: And that's a wrap. Ellen was a quirky but decent host, pretty much like she's done elsewhere. I'd probably try someone else next year since I don't think she's a long-term answer. By the way, we never did see the accountants like we usually do.

Assorted musings

-- It's funny what does and doesn't get edited out of The Sopranos on A&E. And some of the complete redubbing of scenes is downright hilarious -- close to being like the old kung fu films.

-- I actually got to see Bill Simmons' appearance on Mike and the Mad Dog and I was actually looking forward to his writeup of it. The one thing interesting about Simmons is that he was just wandering around trying to get radio gigs during Super Bowl week, whereas almost all the football people (save Gil Brandt, apparently) had everything set up by publicists to shill some product, service or event. Usually while watching/listening to Mike and the Mad Dog, those guys get decent guests because they can, so it was weird having to hear some famous player pitching a Web site or odd product at the end of the interview.

-- So apparently I was one of about five people who actually watched the NHL All-Star Game as opposed to Andy Griffith, Ace of Cakes or Mythbusters. (I still flipped back and forth to Idol.) And the only reason I got to see it is because the INHD channel picked it up since I don't get Versus. Great job, guys. Not a bad game, and the ongoing discussion between the booth and Marty Turco (who was playing goal) in the third period was a stroke of genius.

-- Speaking of things happening on channels I don't get on my cable, it took me an extra day or two to realize they'd just crowned a new Miss America. There was little buzz about it to begin with, and now she's doing the talk show rounds. Who knew?

-- If you want to see the generation gap when it comes to the sports world, just check out the Barbaro saga. Horse racing doesn't have the same relevance to today's sports fan, so the reverence by some for a horse, even a Kentucky Derby winner, seemed a bit much. We felt that way at the office, and obviously so did many others since I think we might've pushed the limits of our snarkiness with this whole drawn-out affair.

-- Finally, here's my contribution to the overly exhaustive Super Bowl coverage at work. And it has nothing to do with fantasy football. How about that?

Adventures in cardboard

I dug up a poster checklist of the 1990 Bowman set the other day, and while I saw a ton of spring training head shots, the notable part of the set were special portraits of the stars of the day (a sort of takeoff of the Donruss Diamond Kings). And I stress, of the day. Take a look at the 11 special card subjects (highlighted nicely on the Topps Magazine checklist) and what happened to their careers:
-- Bo Jackson: The hip injury would come a couple of years later, or else he might've been a legendary superstar. Of course, you could've believed that about everyone else with the portrait card, but well, you'll see.
-- Mark Davis: He was coming off his 44-save, Cy Young Award campaign with the Padres the season before when he got the portrait treatment. He also got a then-shocking, four-year, $14 million deal with the Royals and then his career went south. He did get one Hall of Fame vote in 2003.
-- Doc Gooden: He was limited to just 19 games in 1989, after winning at least 15 in his first five seasons. But in 1990, he did go 19-7 in what would be his final great season (although he did throw a no-hitter for the Yankees in 1996). After such an amazing start to his career, he would end up getting just 17 Hall of Fame votes in 2006 and dropped from the ballot.
-- Bret Saberhagen: The reigning AL Cy Young Award winner got his own portrait after going 23-6 for his second award in his career. He got hurt in 1990 (and finished just 5-9), continuing his run of greatness in odd-numbered years and struggles in even-numbered ones. Then he battled injuries throughout the '90s but had a few good seasons here and there with the Mets and Red Sox. He got seven Hall of Fame votes this year -- a surprisingly high number in current hindsight but a shocker when this card came out.
-- Don Mattingly: You could almost say being on this portrait card in 1990 was the downfall of his career. Still at his peak in 1989 (.303-23-113), he played just 102 games in 1990. And he never had more than 86 RBIs after that. He may be like Steve Garvey and Tommy John in that he'll stay on the ballot for the 15 years but never getting in.
-- Jerome Walton: A pretty lackluster selection as 1989 NL Rookie of the Year, Walton barely hung around as a spare outfielder throughout the '90s.
-- Nolan Ryan: Finally, our first Hall of Famer in the bunch. He sealed his Cooperstown credentials in his final years with the Rangers. In 1989, he earned his 5,000th strikeout. In 1990, he won 300th game and earned his sixth no-hitter. The seventh no-hitter came a year later.
-- Will Clark: He was the NL MVP runner-up in 1989 and won NLCS MVP honors as well. He had a bunch of solid seasons after that, but in the end he finished with 23 Hall of Fame votes in 2006, just barely missing the cut to return for another year.
-- Gregg Olson: The AL Rookie of the Year in 1989 after saving 27 games, he had three straight 30-save seasons for the Orioles after that. He finished his career with 217 saves but was not part of this year's All-Star ballot despite playing parts of 14 seasons.
-- Kevin Mitchell: He ran away with the 1989 NL MVP award after hitting 47 homers and 125 RBIs. He did have 35 homers and 93 RBIs in 1990, but never played more than 113 games in a season after that because of an array of injuries, weight problems, etc. He did get two Hall of Fame votes in 2004.
-- Robin Yount: Our second Hall of Famer in the mix and second member of the Class of 1999, along with Ryan. He was coming off his second AL MVP award when he got the portrait treatment. He eventually got to 3,000 hits, making his election a no-brainer.

So in the end, we got two future Hall of Famers in the set, one perennial HOF also-ran, five one-and-done HOF candidates, both 1989 Rookies of the Year who eventually fizzled out and the curious case of Bo Jackson. Not necessarily the greatest of percentages for the arty inserts.

The championship feeling

It should be a fun Super Bowl, if today's championship games are any indication. As much as I wanted to see the Saints in there, at least we have a different socially conscious storyline that will overdone by Thursday -- the first big game with an African-American head coach, and there's one on each sideline. (That New Orleans one would've been pulverized by Tuesday afternoon.)

Which gets me to a couple of interesting observations I picked up on a couple of the sports talk shows over the weekend. One host wondered if the Falcons violated the Rooney Rule before hiring Bobby Petrino, or at least thought their "minority" candidate interview of the Bears' Ron Rivera seemed fishy. I guess being of Hispanic descent doesn't count as minority in his mind. "Minority" doesn't automatically mean African-American -- no matter how some groups want to paint that term. I mean Norm Chow would definitely fit the "minority" candidate bill, and he did get a few interviews this offseason. (BTW, looks like the Steelers will be fulfilling their end of that rule if the hire of Mike Tomlin actually comes through.)

And on a similar note, another host put the Giants' hiring of Jerry Reese as GM in an interesting light. If you knew nothing about his race, he's a decent hire -- a guy who worked his way through the team's system and became a logical successor. But it's a groundbreaking hire because he's African-American.

Back to some fun stuff. I guess we'll get a whole new slew of Super Bowl ads, which is good in a way since I've already tired of the ones constantly playing this postseason (and that includes missing good chunks of the divisional playoff games last week).

For instance:
-- What's with the guys eating Wendy's and mini-Wendy's in the library, $2.99 deal or not?
-- Nice to see McDonald's rescuing Growing Pains' Jeremy Miller away from another VH-1 or TV Land talking head show. DiCaprio gets in Oscar-nominated films. Miller advertises the Dollar Menu. OK fine.
-- The disclaimer on the Ford Edge ad: "Yes this is a fantasy. Vehicles can't drive on buildings." Rrreallly??
-- How many ads are we going to see of the new sitcom with Puddy, David Spade and Kate Hudson's brother during the Super Bowl?
-- And how many ads will feature Peyton Manning? D-Caf? Senor Manning for the cell phone?

No one's worthy

I used to enjoy picking apart the Baseball Hall of Fame ballots -- how will guys on the cusp like Goose Gossage, Jim Rice and Bert Blyleven fare; and how many votes marginal players on the ballot such as Bobby Witt, Scott Brosius and Tony Fernandez will get.

But the fallout from this year's election had me grateful that I'm on vacation this week and thus more interested in watching the numerous commentaries from my Freaks and Geeks DVD box set than listening to the usual sports radio blather.

The Mark McGwire situation is obviously a touchy one, and while I think he deserves election, I can understand the moral outrage that's behind many people's votes. At least he got enough to remain on the ballot for another year -- as opposed to Surreal Lifer Jose Canseco (remember when there was a fear that he might be elected despite being a vagabond DH the last few years of his career?).

But the bit that gets me is arguing that the stats don't support McGwire's candidacy. If you want to be suspicious of the "before" and "after" stats, go ahead. But at the time of his retirement, weren't we ready to believe he might be a unanimous choice (which will never happen -- see Cooch's column for more on that), given his home run numbers? So he's a one-dimensional home run hitter, are we also going to eliminate Bruce Sutter, Rollie Fingers and eventually Mariano Rivera for being one-dimensional as well?

At the same time all the hand wringing over McGwire's much debated credentials, it was even odder to hear on Mike and the Mad Dog, "If it weren't for the Streak, Cal Ripken isn't in the Hall of Fame." It is a debatable point, but it's a big part of his resume. In fact that statement starts to sound like Lewis Black's "If it weren't for my horse, I wouldn't have spent that year in college."

Which got me thinking that baseball, more than I think any other sport, tries to make excuses for why someone isn't good. I'm as guilty of it as anyone else, but whether it's fantasy prospects or Hall of Fame choices, we have to come up with as long a list of cons as we do pros. At some point, analysis has given way to being a devil's advocate.

And yet that might be the way we have to approach things to motivate today's athletes, if those postgame comments from Florida after the Corn Chip Championship Contest. "We get no respect." "No one gave us a chance." Blah blah blah. Maybe we should just predict everybody to lose every game. It jives well with the "X sportswriter has a bias against your favorite team" as well the perfectly generic "your team sucks."

Happy trails

After nearly five years at this spot, and more than 10 years at this mindspring address, I'm moving this blog over to BlogSpot to take advantage of the new Blogger features. So update your bookmarks shortly to howawkward.blogspot.com.

Ho, ho, ho, hiatus

Yeah, so it's been a while since I've posted something. A combination of work, travel and lots of apathy in play here. Anyways, lots of this and that going on since the last post.

First off, I returned to Atlanta at the end of last month/beginning of this month for Trashmasters once again in Chattanooga. Nice to be a tourist in my former home city for a few days, not to mention seeing some old friends again (although not as many as I would've liked), and somehow waiting until the trip to see my first hockey game of the season.

As for the tournament, finally got to team up with Craig for the first time ever and we ended up losing in the finals to the team that will eventually be my TRASHionals teammates, so that's interesting. Plus, I got to defend my K-Tel Hell title, so the belt now sits in my cubicle itching for some more adornments.

I probably should've picked up adornments in the Tower Records bankruptcy sales. For the first time, things at Tower were actually at reasonable prices, but that's because everything was 60-70% off during my first trips and then 90% yesterday, the day before the stores closed for good.

I did get a ton of stuff I wouldn't have even sniffed at picking up for full price, but for $1, $2 or $4, I'm on top of it. Obviously by the time I got there, lots of the decent stuff was gone, so you had to stretch your mind thinking you landed a find (cool, there's that Bronson Arroyo cover album or what's the deal with all the Foghat). Thankfully I wasn't actively seeking out ironic prizes for trash tournaments, so I didn't load up my bags with even more crap than I already bought because I was interested in it. So while I spent decently on "real" gifts for family and friends, I was able to load up without feeling too guilty about shopping for myself. I think I could've bought three CDs at Tower for the price of the 25-30 things I did get.

As for other things going on, we were amused in the office when Mike and the Mad Dog got really worked up over the SI Sportsman of the Year choice of Dwyane Wade (including a heated argument with my overall boss). We were indifferent, although I think I had a decent choice.

Meanwhile, a few floors down, there's been some interesting feedback over Time's Person of the Year. One person wondered if you could put down on your resume that you were Time's Person of the Year. I wonder how wise it is picking "you" since "you" in general come off as a moron. For every one great blog, YouTube video or substantive online discussion is about 500 others much more idiotic (like this blog, to be honest).

But on the other hand, if you want to know how strange the MySpace generation can be, check out this story from one of my Medill classmates now at the New York Post. My own intriguing MySpace story has me finding one of my fellow Jeopardy! contestants and getting in touch with her for an interesting project.

And in the same online realm, the Vote For Rory Fitzpatrick project is working like gangbusters. However, having just filled out my NHL All-Star ballot, it seems a lot easier to pull off the "write-in" vote here than in other sports -- especially online. First off, there's only 12 actual choices for defenseman in the West and secondly, there's actually "write-in" candidates listed in the dropdown, so it's very easy to choose him as opposed to actually having to type in a name. Still, it's a spirited campaign and one that's actually working as opposed to some of my obscure baseball All-Star Game campaigns.

Spy Vs. Spy

Here's the one thing that has intrigued me about the state of elections these days -- how did the current red and blue state designations come to be? When I was at the Reagan Library last year, a map of his 1980 victory had the states he carried in blue while Carter's was in red.

Secondly, to use some, I guess, outdated stereotypes, wasn't the left formerly accused of being red (the old Communist line), while many conservatives were painted as elitist blue bloods?

By the way, it was interesting being back up here in the New York area for election day -- we got three states worth of attack ads, including one for my new old district.

In other news, when I saw Borat, I couldn't help but think a lot about this guy. And apparently, so did he, as he's now asking for an apology.

Nostalgia redux

The latest dosage of VH-1 list crack just came through this past week with the 100 Greatest Songs of the '80s. I had somewhere around 70 or so of the songs already on my iPod and trying to add more for completeness sake, even though there were a few interesting omissions -- Simple Minds, Tears for Fears and Survivor come to mind. But it's always a good font for trash questions and hey, Deborah Gibson and Susanna Hoffs still look good years later.

And speaking of the '80s, I guess the NPH really deserves an Emmy for playing Barney on HIMYM because he dispelled rumors he's straight.

Name that tune

I finally got confirmation about the song that plays in the GEICO ad with the caveman in the airport. It's called "Remind Me" by Royksöpp. Oddly enough, I got the information straight from the Gecko's blog on GEICO's site.

What is missing the point?

While my double review of Brainiac and Trebekistan was a little bit rambling and such, it still isn't this New York Times twin review, which seems to want a lot more from the books than what could ever be offered from former contestants, even those who have been on plenty of times, like Ken and Bob.

27 and counting

27 and counting
Just as I thought I was outgrowing Weird Al Yankovic, all of a sudden, he has his first top 10 album and top 10 single.

The first single is a YouTube sensation, which is a big reason for the chart sucess. YouTube somehow reached the people wanting to buy the album and single, even moreso than a "Top 40" station, wherever those actually exist these days.

Slate has an interesting piece going into how Al's career has lasted all this time, although I'm still trying to figure exactly what he did this time around to get major chart action when he hasn't really changed the formula (nor does he have to).

This day in infamy

Note to self: Do not order a sandwich called the meltdown while watching your alma mater set a dubious NCAA football record. And oh yeah, I was on hand for this account of said meltdown.

More updates on the past few weeks in due time.

Publishing industry for $2000

Publishing industry for $2000
So I've now finished off both Brainiac and Prisoner of Trebekistan, fulfilling the need for books about Jeopardy! for about 10 years -- although there will be plenty of first-person accounts in various media outlets until the show finally runs it course.

These books are definitely must-reads for Jeopardy! fans, or more to the point obsessed game show geeks like myself. The actual target fan (i.e. those who actually have a use for HeadOn or the life insurance policies plugged on the show) definitely will not get a lot of the snappy writing in both books.

Of course, both books answer some of the basic questions people have about the show that I, too, have had to answer recently (What's Alex like? How does the taping session work? Do they give you a list of things to study beforehand? No, really, do they give you a list of things to study?), so a lot of that is very familiar -- especially since I've prattled on about it myself. Having plenty of friends precede me on the show also made a lot of the book very familiar.

After going over some of the basic mechanics of the show, the books take somewhat different paths to further complement the Jeopardy! experience.

In Brainiac, Ken Jennings used the Jeopardy! experience to highlight America's trivia subculture with some fun stories about trivia writers, the crazy radio trivia marathon in Wisconsin, Thomas Edison's test and even how the word trivia is misused. And of course is a trip to the quizbowl world that is definitely familiar, given I was at the NAQT high school tournament in Chicago that Ken discusses. He paints an interesting picture of how people are drawn to knowing stuff -- and Jeopardy! is probably the best jumping off point anyways given its status in the current cultural landscape. (What is funny is that Ken regularly talks about "general knowledge" -- a term seemingly derided in some corners of the quizbowl world.)

Given the number of games he won, it's both surprising and a bit refreshing that Ken doesn't recreate every single episode in his run -- although something about the Ultimate Tournament of Champions might have been nice. However, there were plenty of anecdotes during his run to spice things up (the constant trips from Salt Lake City to L.A., running into people he knows at the taping). He can't really downplay 75 episodes, but at least he made it not just a simple narrative of his time on the show.

What made Brainiac a very good read was Ken's writing style. I suppose I got used to it recently reading his blog before getting the book, but it seemed very comfortable and in many ways sounded like the way I sometimes write, or at the very least, some of my friends whose blogs are linked over at the left. Sure, I know Ken somewhat, but it really felt familiar reading it.

As for Prisoner of Trebekistan, it's a bit more self-indulgent and a lot more interesting for the truly rabid Jeopardy! fans wanting to recreate games. However, Bob Harris is also a funny writer and he makes what really is just his life story somewhat relevant to people (at least Jeopardy! fans). Finding a way to connect his life experiences to what categories appeared on the show was clever -- although I suppose if you're on the show as many times as he had, it probably shouldn't have been a surprise. On the other hand, Bob did show that his studies for the show did open up his mind to new experiences (which he got to act on after winning enough to allow him to travel to such places)

Bob also had a great insight on how some Jeopardy! contestants can remain close even after trying to outwit each other on national TV. The tournaments may be better at fostering that friendship, and sometimes I wish I could've stayed closer in touch with some of the contestants from my taping (I've found one on MySpace and that's about it).

As a more "general interest" book, Ken's is obviously the way to go. Crafting Brainiac the way he did opened himself up to a lot more interesting writing and avoided excess first-person stuff that Bob slipped into (although he could spread out the ultimate inside experience over a lot more time). Of course with the right writer and editor, anybody's life story can be interesting as long as you've got a good hook.

What is interesting is that just about a year after my taping in L.A., Jeopardy! has been all over the place in life -- with the books and a trip to see a Celebrity Jeopardy! taping on Thursday. It really does make me wish I could do the whole experience again.

The written word

I'll have reviews of the Jeopardy! books in due time, although I will say it is weird to read the two books with the new Chuck Klosterman collection in between.

Anyways, I figured I'd point out that somehow I'm mentioned in the same sentence as one of the more well-known writers at SI. There's a lot more I probably could say about it, but I'll keep that to myself for now.

TV time

TV time
Caught a couple of series premieres tonight in between the offensively-challenged Monday night game. Nope, neither are on my LaPlaca squad.

The Class: I'm a big fan of the concept, although it seems like it could've been a better movie than sitcom. (I'm a sucker for the nostalgia they're highlighting). However, the weird twist at the start of the show sort of tries to force the action into a passable sitcom about more people in their late-20s (in other words, people just slightly younger than me). Seems like a harmless enough show and it's the right type of lead-in for How I Met Your Mother (in fact, the characters on both shows are approximately the same age).

Studio 60: I enjoyed Sports Night, but didn't watch much West Wing, although this series seems to be a good amalgam of the two shows (including a cameo from Felicity Huffman) plus a heavy dose of Hollywood insiderish stuff. It's a solid pilot and I've got high hopes for the season -- just have to make sure to either DVR it when the Monday night game is actually good.

Oh yeah, still going through Braniac, but it is interesting to see a bunch of people I know (including some whose blogs are linked on the side) mentioned prominently in the book, not to mention an entire subculture with which I'm very closely involved. Unlike Wordplay, where it just seemed like I knew the people (although eventually meeting a few), I actually know a lot of what Ken is talking about, and even written about myself.

I am nerd, hear me roar

I am nerd, hear me roar
If I needed any verification of my utter nerdiness or geekiness, I went to the first signing stop in the Ken Jennings book tour (although he's been just all over TV plugging the book -- including a fun appearance on The Colbert Report on Wednesday).

An aside, what a strange 1-2 punch on Colbert: Ken on Wednesday, Bill Simmons on Thursday.

In many ways it was your basic book signing -- a couple of excerpts from the book were read aloud, some of the same stories he's told numerous times about his experiences on the show, a few of the usual questions about game shows and other assorted stuff from the crowd. (However, it's rather ironic that the signing took place at 7 p.m. -- when Jeopardy! airs in New York.)

But the crowd is where I knew that I was definitely in my element, which was comforting and scary at the same time. I ended up sitting in a row two of the players featured in Wordplay . So you've got the crossword puzzle people on one hand. During the Q&A, I heard from a former DC-area quizbowl player and game show fanatic.

And to round out the intersection of all these knowledge-based cabals, I ended up hanging out with a handful of people from the Jeopardy! message boards, even though I only knew the real names of a couple of the people. So yes, it was very odd to match faces to screennames -- if that doesn't just scream of geekiness, I don't what does. And hey, I'm in the middle of the whole thing, so what does that make me?

In the end, it was a fun little outing. That Barnes and Noble in Union Square is pretty cool (not used to a four-level B&N). I got the book and will probably be part of my commute reading very soon, and KJ even recognized me (he seemed to see a bunch of familiar faces in the crowd). I'll eventually have a review of the book up here. Not only do I have that book to read -- I need to grab the "other" Jeopardy! book not to mention the latest Klosterman book.

Yes I'm still here

Sure it's been a while since I've posted anything here -- the day job (and especially the day blog) is taking precendence.

However, I was able to make my annual trip to Vegas, and that's always fun -- even if my sort of fun often involves wandering up and down the Strip in 100-degree heat. This time around, I was at the Stardust for very much its last hurrah. While I thought Excalibur was a bit too Disney-fied for my tastes, Stardust really did show its age in both the facilities and the clientele. (The 1958-2006 notation on the chips was both celebratory and sad at the same time.) But hey, at least it did have wi-fi access, even if I couldn't pick it up in my room and only got a signal in the lobby.

I still haven't been to downtown, but I finally got to see the Palms and Rio up close. The Palms is an interesting vibe since the gaming area didn't seem all that huge but all the other stuff (clubs, movie theaters, etc.) made up for it.

Oh yeah, I also saw the new Hooters Casino. I was slightly disappointed to see "regular" people serving as dealers when I got in. Then I got to the area where their famous girls served as dealers. So of course I played some blackjack in that area. Otherwise, it's a pretty blah casino.

Another interesting thing is that for as popular as poker is these days, I think not every casino really needs to have a poker room. Some of the more popular places were full (I was trying to find the "stars" at Bellagio, for instance), but others were practically begging for action. Before some of us ended up starting a game at Stardust, one of the dealers and a few hangers-on eyed us like prey, hoping we'd play.

Similar thing happened at Tropicana as I walked by after they announced an opening at a table there. As I got there, I was practically whisked into a seat before I could even think about it. And even quicker did my money disappear. While seeing a long waiting list is disheartening, is it any better to be begged and hustled to play?

Oh yeah, I keep on getting haunted by Barry Manilow, as he had his own show, a gift shop and a giant picture of him along with the Star Trek sign at the Las Vegas Hilton. At least Stephen Colbert knows how I feel about Mr. I Write the Songs.

Disembodied head

Disembodied head
Eventually I'll have to scan in my floating head that appeared in the new fantasy insert of the magazine this past week. Hey, I actually beat a couple of my NU colleagues in the office in getting my face in the mag. That, and some nice promos for the other blog.

Unfortunately, my fellow alum Luke Donald couldn't overcome the Tiger juggernaut, but I'm trying to figure out what's weirder -- one Slam wonder Shaun "not HBK" Micheel finishing second or that John Kruk had to do some PGA highlights during the Yankees-Red Sox rain delay.

I didn't watch the final round, in between scouting out places to live, I also caught World Trade Center, a solidly produced film. Not as powerful as United 93, but a strong film nonetheless.

So now I've seen NFL preseason games at three different stadiums, adding Giants Stadium to the mix for this ho-hum nationally televised contest. It was probably only about half full, and about 10% was left by the fourth quarter. But after all these years, I've finally seen my first NFL game at the Meadowlands. On the other hand, you can tell it was the preseason when the pee-wee game at halftime was more entertaining.

All in

I didn't post much off the recently completed World Series of Poker main event, although it's good to see ESPN turning it around into shows starting next week. It was interesting following along on-line, mainly because other outlets started making money off it.

Anyways, the one thing I found sorta intriguing about the final table is that there was plenty of support for the one true "pro," although the eventual winner did have a decent backstory to him. It's a major opposite from a major golf tournament like the U.S. or British Open, where an amateur doing well against the pros gets extra support (Matt Kuchar while he was at Georgia Tech, for example), while here, the pro is the sentimental favorite against a bunch of amateurs.

I suppose that says something about poker today that if a big-named pro survives to the final table at the main event, it's almost an upset, whereas an amateur winning it all is now commonplace.

As for something completely different, the silly gimmick of putting stars of an upcoming TV shows in the crowd of major sporting events has shaken down to regular-season Yankees game hyping the new MyNetwork TV. Instead of Sammo Hung at the Final Four or the cast of That '70s Show at the World Series, we get guys (not even the hot women) from this new show and this other new show "found" in the crowd. Kinda silly really, and I definitely feel for Michael Kay having to do those promos this evening.

Silly cinema

Silly cinema
Sorry for the lack of posts. A rapidly declining laptop at home, combined with regular updates at the work blog has kept me from randomly spouting off on stuff here.

Two movie-related things that needed to be posted here:
1. I went to the Netflix Roadshow screening of Clerks in Red Bank, down the street from the original Quick Stop where the movie was filmed. Kevin Smith has his own brief report of the night on his site -- I got there just before the movie actually screened so I missed the Q&A and only got a quick glimpse of Silent Bob, his wife as well as Lisa Loeb (who did some hosting, I think).
They did bring back some of the cast as well. Dante made a brief appearance that I missed, but Veronica did stick around after the film. Even funnier were the appearances by the roofer in the Death Star/contractor discussion and the little girl who bought a pack of cigarettes. Thankfully I didn't geek out completely and get autographs (they were just signing Netflix cards anyways
The Roadshow idea is pretty cool, especially since three of my favorite films are part of this year's tour. While all the Clerks stuff was gone before I could get to it, I did snag this poster, this poster and an Unpainted Arizona t-shirt.

2. I did rush out to see Talladega Nights and thought it was pretty funny, although not on the level of Anchorman -- at least not yet (when a ton of lines spring to the surface after multiple viewings). I will say that the oddest cameos in the film can be summed up in the line: "Is that Elvis Costello and Mos Def?"
Oh yeah, and was I the only one to think this actress was in the film when it reality it was this Oscar nominee? The previous has connections to two of the main stars, but hey, when you can increase the Oscar nominees in the cast to three, why not?

Settling in

Settling in
I'm slowly but surely getting used to life back in the Northeast. I'm learning different ways to get into the city and to the office via a variety of commuter trains and subways, not to mention working "regular" hours.

On the other hand, I'm diving right into my work (although still having to solve a variety of paperwork/computer issues that come with starting a new job), which includes a new work blog. Seemingly everyone has at work now, so might as well jump in, even though this one has been around for a ridiculous long time.

Safe at home

Safe at home
Well, I'm now in New Jersey for good, and starting up in New York on Monday. It's been an interesting week or so as I made the move out of Atlanta. While I did have a fun "goodbye tour," including a big party at this place a little more than a week ago (which saw a number of my different social universes converging in one place -- much like the Jeopardy! party), I also had to spend a bunch of time finally getting rid of my couch and recliner thanks to a couple of interesting Craiglist buyers.

I took off for good Thursday morning, using a little different route than I'm used to -- taking I-85 from Atlanta to Charlotte, then I-77 from Charlotte to southwest Virginia, then I-81 for a lot of Virginia plus cameo appearances from West Virginia and Maryland. I eventually stopped in Hagerstown, just short of the Pennsylvania border (after about 12 hours on the road), in time to catch the World Series of Pop Culture (I wept as the contestants whiffed badly on the SNL category). Then it was off for a relatively short (3 1/2 hours) jaunt through Pennsylvania and into New Jersey to finish things off.

Almost fittingly, I got back in time for the first weekend of Clerks 2, which I got around to seeing today. If you liked the original movie, you'll like this one. If you didn't, you probably won't. I was a huge fan of the original, and the sequel was just fine -- nothing amazing, just some silly entertainment. I have my doubts for its box office take, if only because a lot of the local multiplexes in the area have it on only one screen for opening weekend.

The final countdown

The final countdown
Just about a week or so before I leave the ATL for good. Been doing tons of packing, cleaning up, selling off most of my furniture on Craiglist (if anyone in the Atlanta area wants a couch, I've got a nice one available) and having friends and family taking me out to lunch to send me off. Still some more prep work to be done, including how I'm going to fit what's left in my car and another going-away party on Friday (my boss had one for me with fellow co-workers last week). Oh yeah, finished off my last night shift tonight, seemingly doing what I will be doing once I get up to New York.

But as for other stuff going around:
-- Wordplay: Finally returned to the movies after a long hiatus, and it ended up being the crossword puzzle movie. Fun stuff, although I swear I've come across many of the featured competitors in real life, even though I know I haven't.
-- An interesting July 4th for me as I saw Superman Returns with Alyson (seemingly only seeing each other on national holidays) before an aborted attempt to see the Lenox Mall fireworks. The movie was decent, seemed like Superman 2 1/2. Brandon Routh was fine as the man of steel, and he seemed to channel Christopher Reeve, while Kevin Spacey started morphing into Dr. Evil toward the end. On the other hand, Kumar got no lines, Superkid had an interesting Lipnick/Jake Lloyd vibe going for him, and Kate Bosworth seemed to be assuming Cameron Diaz's Being John Malkovich look.
-- As for the fireworks, some nasty thunderstorms rolled through just before the show was to begin. It sounded like things were going to get cancelled (at least according to a cop at the place we had established camp at), so we went our separate ways. Then as I got home, I could hear the fireworks from my apartment, so my last chance to see them live fizzled out.
-- I suppose I should comment about the World Series of Pop Culture. I like the show -- the questions are fair, if at times a bit easy, although it strays into some real trivia, which is fine, though. The concept is very simple, which is good. I'm not a big fan of the hosts -- the Studio 7 experiment probably clouds my opinion of Pat Kiernan, while Miss Tungsten seems to be showing her age a bit, even if she had a decent Hef spread last year.
I had too many strikes against me for being on the show (not to mention it taped the same weekend as TRASHionals), but I know I could more than take them on (as could plenty of my quizbowl colleagues). However, watching Wednesday night's episode on DVR, I realized I went to college with Mac from the Bobby, Ricky, etc. team (the middle guy in the team picture; he's a frat brother of one of my friends from school), meaning I'm not the only Filipino-American alum from Northwestern with game show and pop culture experience anymore.

Shuffle up and watch

Shuffle up and watch
While World Cup Soccer has curtailed some of my late-night poker reruns, the actual World Series of Poker has already started. And even more interesting, ESPN will be starting coverage of the main event in late August, just a few days after it has been completed. And for those (possibly like me) wanting to follow in real time, the final table will be available on pay-per-view.

While it's great to see ESPN make such big changes to their coverage, I do wonder what the ratings will be and whether we've already hit the high point of poker's popularity. With the ridiculous flood of shows out there (for instance, I am curious as to how Chris Rose and Barry Tompkins feel about calling so much poker for FSN), can and will the WSOP stand out even if it is the one event that casual fans know about?

And I'm moving where?

So I guess that line about "closing the state of Florida" from National Lampoon's Vacation isn't completely wrong. You just have to go up to the Garden State where a sales tax dispute had the governor "closing" the state of New Jersey.

Goodbye, coach

Goodbye, coach
Sometimes it's both good and bad that I currently live close to work. That really came into play when I caught the news of Randy Walker's sudden death on ESPN News when I got home last night. I eventually rushed back to the office to get that story up and then deal with a second fire of the latest Tour de France doping scandal.

But back to Walker. He provided lots of ups and downs for NU fans during his seven years at the helm, but at least he got the team to at least a certain level of consistent respectability, further building on Gary Barnett's legacy (remember that I was an undergrad during the Rose Bowl days) and then adding his own twists, especially the now much copied spread offense. While I'm a pretty avid fan no matter what, Walker kept things interesting, that's for sure. It's a huge loss for the university.

For more on Walker, you can also check out my colleague Stewart Mandel's take, which also talks about a whole spat of tragedies hitting the university in recent history.

On the road again

On the road again
Posting has been plenty infrequent lately as I prepare for the move to Gotham. I've been up here at home in Jersey for most of the past week -- my brother's birthday party served as a good reason to drive up a ton of my stuff and get ready for jumping into the fray in just under a month.

And in a few hours I'll be starting another 16-hour road trip back to the ATL. The drive up was actually very good until I got slammed with traffic on I-95 around Alexandria and parts of the Beltway (including getting stuck in some bizarro traffic line near Andrews AFB after getting smacked around on gas) before cruising into Baltimore to see Dave, Jessie, Justin and Kristin (major props and thanks for letting me crash there).

The car got awesome mileage despite zipping through much of the mid-Atlantic with a ton of my crap piled in the back.

Even better, I amused myself by playing all the songs I had on the WOXY Top 500 Modern Rock countdown -- I had 224 of the 500 songs, and I didn't finish it off until I was driving around New Jersey and traveling to the city. (I started the shuffle with Radiohead's "Creep." Anyone want to take a guess at what was last?)

The drive back will involve the Blender 500 greatest songs since 1980. I've got 201 of those already loaded on (with a few more hiding away on CDs back in Atlanta).

FWIW, I was reasonably productive in New York as well, seeing the U.S.-Ghana game at the ESPNZone in Times Square, followed by Pedro pitching against the Reds for a matinee at Shea. Then doing some stuff at the new office. In a way, it was practicing the commute to and from my folks' place, so I had that going for me as well.

Caption time

Caption time!
"Ah, crikey! It's another one of those candygrams again."

Now it's your turn.

The list

For your reading enjoyment, here's the 2006 WOXY.com Modern Rock 500 list. I've been trying to figure out how many of these songs I already have -- it looks like 200 with a few more not ripped from my CDs. Not a bad ratio, especially with a handful of artists/songs I'm used to seeing on these lists not mentioned.

Now to do a similar project with 99X's Top 1000 countdown from last year. At least this will give me some good long-term playlists for my upcoming long drives.

Slacking off

Slacking off
Time to get cracking on the updates. There are some good excuses, but laziness is the easy one ...
-- Played tour guide for my brother his fiancee over Memorial Day weekend. Good times all around, even if we couldn't make it to the aquarium (I hope to do that before leaving town). I'll need to really brush up on my places to go in New Jersey and New York when I inevitably have my first guests visiting me up north.
-- Also spent part of Memorial Day watching minor league hockey. For the second straight year, I've seen a finals match featuring a Thrashers affiliate. Each time was a loss, but each time was very entertaining. And hey, I finally got to see a game with my favorite hockey fan.
And while it's unfortunate the Gladiators were downed in the finals, at least they didn't have to make a return trip to Anchorage to finish the series. Talk about some rough road tripping. That also means I've seen teams from Idaho and Alaska play in the Atlanta suburbs. No wonder the EC in ECHL doesn't stand for East Coast anymore.
-- Speaking of fringeish sporting events, all of a sudden I've become a softball fan thanks to the alma mater reaching the NCAA finals. Of course, even though the women have now won a second straight lacrosse title, a doubles tennis title and possibly a softball title, all anyone will remember is the soccer hazing stuff.
-- Also got caught up in the prime-time National Spelling Bee where "Jersey represent!" While it's nice to see the "up close and personal" profiles, you can see it wreaking some havoc with the timing and pace of the competition. And of course, there's that odd feeling of "I've actually heard of that word" -- but that was only in the daytime ESPN rounds and supposedly were the "easy" words.
What I wonder, though, is when ESPN Classic replays these bees in a few years (either on its own or on Cheap Seats), will some of the competitors get the same attention as this girl.
-- Speaking of spelling, I've had to moderate a bunch of comments for a blog at work. And while I'm blown away by the words these kids have to spell, I'm similarly baffled at how badly people spell in these comments. Forget "ursprache," try spelling "backfield" correctly.
-- In some ways, I'd prefer if people just spelled in internet/text message shorthand. At least there's some rhyme or reason to it. But before you learn how to post on any message board, be sure to check this helpful instructional video.
-- While digging up a new icon for some IM applications, I stumbled across something I'm stunned I didn't know before since it's just a couple of counties away. Check out the Cherokee County school board. Yup, that's the Dog-Faced Gremlin and famed Michigan alum.

Casey Kasem on steroids

One thing that used to be a staple of major summer holidays was the Top 500 countdowns. I haven't seen much of it lately down here in Atlanta, save for the 99X countdown I linked to a while back. Well, it looks like there will be at least one Top 500 countdown that might be worth catching, and you can all find it online at WOXY.com (the "future of rock and roll" from Rain Man) over Memorial Day weekend -- it's another Top 500 Modern Rock tracks. You can look at last year's list to get an idea where they're headed.

Not sure how much I'll be able to catch, but at least it's good to see at least another "radio" outlet (since WOXY is now exclusively online) bringing back the holiday weekend countdown.

More random musings

More random musings
--I'm trying to get my stuff together for the move, and so far it's involved clearing out about 5-6 years worth of EWs and SIs. Next up is figuring out which books that I bought at Goodwill sales over the years will end up going back to Goodwill.
--Eventually I'll read The DaVinci Code, but instead I finished up reading this book, which was written by a former colleague from the college paper. It's a compelling and entertaining read, and it should be interesting if and when it gets made into a movie.
--Speaking of movies, I did see M:I3 the other day, and when you watch that and 24 in the same day, all the plot twists, chicanery and silly corruption will make your head spin. Still, it's good for what it's supposed to be.
--It's fun to see some old contestants return for the Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions, but I can't help but feel a tad jealous that I couldn't get a second chance to be on the show. I will say that this is one of the first times where I've been familiar with almost every one of the TOC competitors by watching them on TV. But for now, I guess I can help others pass their auditions that are coming up.
--And how did I miss Leon getting traded for, what else, a bunch of cases of beer.

Start spreading the news. I'm leaving today

In a move that's a bit overdue, I'm being transferred up to the New York office, starting in mid-July. The details of what I'll be doing up there is still to be determined, but it's probably not much different than what I'm doing now.

I've enjoyed my nine years (yikes, has it been that long?) in Atlanta, but I guess you can go home again.

Austin City Limits

Talking points from a long weekend in Austin for TRASHionals 9:

-- Flew Southwest for the first time, having to go from Birmingham. The 2 1/2-hour ride from Atlanta to Birmingham was fine (first time in Alabama, shockingly), but the adventure parking was amusing because the airport still had signs for "Long-Term Parking," but the lane for it had a few extra speed bumps and a cone moved out of the way. After navigating that, I realized the machine wasn't working and I had to back out and into the "Daily Parking" lane (which is exactly the same price, etc., except that you don't realize that until you see a tiny sign mentioning price right at the gate to the parking deck). That confused both me and another guy with Georgia plates trying to come in. At many airports, there are three levels of parking, so blocking out that third (and usually cheapest) option just confuses the hell out of everyone.

-- I guess Southwest is like a bus or train since you invariably have to connect at least once no matter where you go. Going to, it was Birmingham to Nashville to Austin. With the layover and then delay in Nashville, I probably could've driven to Nashville and taken the flight to Austin. On the other hand, my friend Keith flew out of Nashville but through Houston to get to Austin, so who knows.

-- Austin is a very nice town, although the highways right around our hotel were a bit of a labyrinth and the map provided by the rental car company didn't help. I'd like to go back when I have more time to experience the city without other obligations. I did get to see the newly opened Blanton Museum of Art, though, on Sunday.

-- Congratulations to Phil, Tim, Rick and Josh for taking two straight games from Craig, Mike, Anne and Julie to win their first TRASHionals title. Some very exciting, well-played games in the finals. I was a bit relieved to see that the teams I had designated as top seeds (at least unofficially) did reach the final playoff group. Although it could say how predictable some of this could be. On the other hand, I was impressed with the Matt Levine-Simon Fraser combination finishing as high as they did.

-- The O'Reillys did well even though I read for three of their four losses and that one of their top players was missing to "spend more time with his family." (Congratulations, Brian and Christine, on the birth of their first child Lillian.)

-- Actually, as I'm putting this together am I realizing some of the better things that happened over the weekend. Unfortunately, most of my initial musings from the tournament were negative, and even worse, that seems to be the only way I can come out of running these events anymore.

Rob and Alma have already expressed their problems with some of the questions, for which I am immensely embarrassed, even though I didn't write any of the questions at issue.

And then there was an issue with another team (who I'm used to dealing with down here) who decided to rip me in front of any other team that was in the same food court as us for Saturday lunch because I didn't sufficiently address their protest when they came up to me with it as we were heading over for lunch. A combination of factors regarding that situation (that I won't go into here) got me very frustrated.

Then there's the array of bad or wrong questions that come up that we should've caught ahead of time. Unfortunately, it seems like those are the only things we hear about instead of questions people actually liked. Yes, we need to figure out where to improve, but after a while, I sometimes wonder if we do anything right. Maybe I take it harder since I do a lot of the little stuff that people probably don't realize I do for TRASHionals.

(I will say, however, that Kilby did tell me afterward that it was his favorite TRASHionals to attend -- unfortunately, I never got to read for him, and that it seems reactions like that are few and far between; although I'm not exactly soliciting them.)

-- But given some of the issues over the weekend, plus some other factors I am loath to discuss here related to all of it, this is my last TRASHionals (at least for now) in an official capacity I suppose I'll still be around to read and eventually play one of these days, but I think it's time to walk away. I do apologize to some of our regular players and customers, but sometimes you do have a take step backward before moving forward.

Drop it like it's pod

So in the midst of a lot of big things going on with me, I've spent a good part of the past two days trying to get that sad face of my iPod. After trying all the different "official" fixes, I finally got it to work by using an old staple -- dropping it on the floor. Since the iPod had gotten jostled a bit in my bag over the weekend, I eventually realized rejostling it might work -- and sure enough, after a handful of drops to shake the hard drive back into place, I've got operating once again and syncing up with my computer. Like one thread on the iPod boards discussion, it's almost like slamming a TV to make it work -- who knew something like that would work on something like this.

It's been a while

Yup, things have been quiet over here, mainly because of the prep work for TRASHionals. As a couple of noticed, certain blogs go quiet for fear of giving away answers since many of us post about cool things we see. Many times they go here, other times, it's question fodder. So be it.

But a couple of things (that likely won't be going into questions any time soon) ...
-- I've come across my fair share of infomercials over the years, but I'm still floored that there's one of Piccadilly. I thought I was imagining things when I saw at 2:30 a.m., but then the former PAX network affiliate (which shows infomercials until about 6 p.m.) aired it. It pretty much comes across as some mutant cross of corporate training video and Food Network special.
-- Went to the Thrashers home finale on Saturday (which would really be the case after getting eliminated Monday). Fun game to keep the team in the playoff hunt, at least for the time being. But what struck me most at the game was the text message board displayed on the scoreboard before the game and during intermission. If you sent a text message to whatever number shown, you could get your messages on the scoreboard.
Which then led to a couple of "Go Thrashers!" or "I love [fill in name of player here]." But most of the time it was Napoleon Dynamite or Anchorman quotes, or "I love [fill in name of significant other]." There were even a couple of, guessing here, mock marriage proposals (possibly mocking some of the marriage proposals at sporting events I've seen over the years -- although I did see a rather elaborate one at Wrigley Field years ago involving the center field bleachers).
-- If you've heard the song "Steady, As She Goes" by The Raconteurs, the Jack White side project, the opening bars of the song sound very similar to Joe Jackson's "Is She Going Out With Him?"
-- I finally found Andrews Upstairs, a small Buckhead music club, while driving around yesterday. What was amusing was that among the artists I've never heard of, as well as the Retro Night, was this band playing later this weekend.

Rites of Spring

Happy Opening Day, everyone. I'm getting that free preview of the Extra Innings package and pondering yet again if I should subscribe to it for the season. So far, it's been fun to watch everything, although I still haven't got all my teams in order to figure out which games are really worth my time.

And of course with Opening Day comes the end of the NCAA tournament, which I always thought was a weird 1-2 punch because baseball gets pushed to the back in many places by the end of what should be a celebratory day. But then again, that's what the new Sunday night opener does, sorta (although mostly it throws people off since you're not sure if it's an exhibition or for real; same goes with the new Thursday NFL opener).

If baseball is one way you know spring is here, the other would be the layer of pollen sitting on my car right now. Hopefully it didn't aggravate too many allergies of the fine folks who came into town this weekend for JD's wedding.

The ceremony was at a beautiful new church that opted to maintain a more traditional look in the sanctuary, while also doubling as a sort of Marriott almost everywhere else. The ceremony itself was very nice, and it was very cool to see a bunch of quizbowl folks in town as well.

However, the one highlight that many of us will remember is having the Easter Bunny join us for some of the groosmen photos. For whatever reason, the Easter egg hunt was last Saturday (two weeks before Easter), and thus the bunny and a lot of kids were milling about as we were doing photos. Eventually I'll get a hold of one of those photos.