Peter King style!
1. I think the pitch for the most recent Old Navy ad campaign was this: It's Christmas at Zoolander's apartment. Too bad a gas fight didn't break out.
2. Radiohead's In Rainbows is their most enjoyable album since OK Computer.
3. I still think there's a sociology thesis to be written on the role of race and the demographics of the audience in the selection of America's Next Top Model. But let that not cloud my congratulations to Poor-Man's Rihanna!
4. This weekend Shannon Sharpe told me the weather in Cleveland was "treach-you-us".
5. Speaking of terrible speaking, on the E! True Hollywood Story for "Hip Hop Wives", an editor for Jet magazine used the word "jury" multiple times when I believe she meant "jewelry". It's good to know that editing a major magazine with a wide circulation doesn't require pronunciation skills.
6. It took me two weekends, several hours, and three trips to Target to complete the job of hanging Christmas lights. It was here that I sensed the following conflicting/in perfect harmony emotions:
(a) dammit, why do these lights break so damn easily with just a single staple through the main line!
(b) great! these lights are on sale for just $2 a box!
I'm an idiot.
7. Cheers to Sam Adams for brewing a mass-produced cranberry lambic. OK, not exactly a true lambic, but it's kind of/sort of close. And at least the attempt gets some points in my book. Thumbs up for their cream stout, too.
8. If there's one thing in this world that is true, it's that it wouldn't be a Lemon party without old Dick.
9. Brett Favre is SI's Sportsman of the Year. Here are better options:
(a) Glenn McGrath. If the choice is an aging statesman, why not choose this guy (who plays in the sport with the largest worldwide audience this year)? In his final international cricket appearance, the 2007 Cricket World Cup, he was named Player of the Tournament, led the tournament in wickets (setting a record for most wickets taken in a single World Cup), topped the record for all-time wickets taken, and just so happened to lead his Australian team to their (another record) third-straight World Cup victory. He was named World Player of the Year at age 37 (quite old for the sport). If Favre is having a great autumn, McGrath was inconceivably great.
(b) Roger Federer. OK, let me just say this: It is absolutely ridiculous what Federer has done in the sport of tennis over the last few years, and this year very well might've been his best. Look at this year what he did in the major tournaments. Australian Open - defended his title, and DIDN'T LOSE A SINGLE SET IN THE ENTIRE TOURNAMENT (let me put that in perspective - the last man to do that in a Grand Slam event was Bjorn Borg in 1980). French Open - on his worst surface, he still made the final, losing in 4 sets to the best clay court player of this generation, Rafael Nadal. Wimbledon - won his 5th straight title (equaling Borg's record for the Open Era) in one of the best single game sporting events of the year, the 5-set beat-the-hell-out-of-each-other classic with Nadal. US Open - won his 4th straight title (a record for the Open Era), dropping only 2 sets the entire way (and beating world ranked 5, 4, and 3 consecutively, all in straight sets). In 2007 Federer set the all-time record (male or female) for consecutive weeks ranked #1 (he's topped the rankings since February 2004!). He's played in 10 consecutive Grand Slam finals, winning 8 of them. He won a second straight (and 4 of the last 5) Masters Series (year-end championship),. He also broke his own record for earnings in a season, becoming the world's first $10,000,000 earner. I think it's utterly ridiculous that Federer has never been named Sportsman of the Year. Nobody (yes, even Tiger Woods) is as good at his sport as Federer. I'm serious.
(c) Younis Mahmoud. Read the link.
10. I watched Hot Rod a second time, just to make sure I wasn't crazy about liking it. I think I may have even liked it more the second time (the dance punching in the woods is even funnier than I first thought, and the march/riot killed me). I pose this question to you: why isn't the band Europe held in as high regard as some of the other bands of the era? Do they not totally rule every bit as much?
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Random Thoughts Not About Football Necessarily
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
Things I always wanted to write down for posterity
I have been far too busy/lazy over the last few months and I know I've missed a few brief posts about sports related things... I'll put it behind the fold because it's all dated now.
1. Hawks' draft. I liked it a lot. If they couldn't trade the pick for a superstar (and now I kind of wonder whether Amare was ever an option), and I don't think they'll be able to make any trades until the ownership situation is resolved, then they had to get the best two players they could. Assuming (and Billy Knight and others told us this) that the Hawks had to get a frontcourt player and a point guard with their two picks, I think they did as well as they could have. Horford and Law are a good pair, and I think Horford has a shot to be very good. Some might've argued that Conley has more upside than Horford. Perhaps. But had the Hawks picked Conley instead of Horford (and assume Memphis took Horford and the rest of the draft went to form), the best available PF/C would've been Sean Williams (talented, but major question marks and a huge reach at 11) or Jason Smith (not as talented as Williams, and an even bigger reach), and the only other frontcourt player drafted in the first round was Tiago Splitter. Basically, had the Hawks grabbed the PG first and hoped that a PF fell to them, they would've been bit in the ass (forced to reach or draft for an unneeded position). So the draft was good for the Hawks. I'm not sure they'll be great next year, but they will be better, and if they can find some money to extend Smith, the next yea they could be very good. ADDED: I forgot to mention it... yes, my analysis of the Hawks' draft is subject to attack from this angle - what if Law had gotten drafted earlier. My view is that there were a couple of other PGs available who wouldn't have been a terrible dropoff from Law (namely Belinelli and Crittendon). Also, I thought it not so likely that Law would've been drafted earlier. Perhaps if the Hawks had taken Conley, they could've gotten lucky by having someone else take Law earlier and had Spencer Hawes or Joakim Noah dropped, but I think that would've taken a lot of prayer (from memory, I don't recall Law being ahead of either of those guys on any mock draft).
2. I am oddly disturbed by the visage of Jerome Jurenovich on the Braves' post-game show. I remember his bodiless voice reading the sports highlights :19 after the hour on Headline News, way back in the day before ESPNews and the internet and constant tickers. When I needed sports news in my early teens, he provided it. And now that I see him, it's kind of like the Wizard of Oz.
3. Like I wrote in the Teixeira post, I read Baseball Between the Numbers, by the editors of Baseball Prospectus, and I recommend it highly. It's heavy math, but very much worth it. I should've been writing posts nightly on what interested me as I read it. Now I'm having trouble pointing to the right spots. The chapter on usage of relievers was fascinating to me - recalled Michael Lewis' article (can't find the direct link) on punting in ESPN the magazine from last December. Basically, it seems like every manager uses relievers inefficiently - and one just wonders when someone will actually challenge conventional wisdom and try something different. Chapter 6-2 is probably my favorite chapter of all, because I've always had an odd interest in stadia. If you don't mind challenging your brain in a sports book, read this.
4. I'm no die hard follower, but I will say that the doping scandals didn't prevent me from paying that much attention to the Tour de France this year. I watched parts of probably 5 stages (all in the mountains and on the Champs Elysees) and the whole of the final time trial - which was awesome. My personal feeling on doping is that its deplorable, but as long as usage/testing/prevention across the board (as in, if they're going to stop it, they stop everyone and if they can't they're not only stopping some) and that the competition is relatively close, I don't know if I can tell the difference. I'm a dilettante at it, so what do I care. I watch for some of the action and the interest in the way the racers exert themselves, but I probably watch more for the views and the crowds. And speaking of the crowds, on the last day in the Pyrenees, did anyone else see the dude in the last few km dressed in a massive penis costume? Hilarious drunkenness on those slopes. I need to go there some summer.
5. I love the current Braves' lineup. Love it. And for once, the Braves will be the annoying team to face late in the season in important games. You know... that team that fouls off a ton of pitches and works counts deep. Guys like Kelly Johnson, Matt Diaz, Willie Harris. And Chipper is having one hell of a year.
6. Not old, but I think Eric Byrnes' contract extension was insane. $10M a year for a 31 year old guy who is pretty much an average major leaguer over his career, and has a career year this late. Bad idea. And worse... if Eric Byrnes is worth $10M, every other decent outfielder free agent is going to get paid. Bad news for the Braves.
7. I watched a good part of the MLS match between Toronto and the Galaxy the other day. Toronto's fans are so damn cool it makes me terribly jealous. They're not very good right now, but if I had to guess what team will end up the best franchise in the league in a decade, it's them. And in my own personal battle of trying to choose an MLS team to follow/halfway support, Toronto took the lead from Houston.
8. I don't have much to say about it, but the Wimbledon mens' singles final was incredible. A special match. Federer is such a beast. And as much as I hate Nadal's fashion sense, he's a really good player.
