Before I start, i ust wanted to say that This was one of the greatest things I have ever seen on TV. The build up was fantastic and the outcome hilarious. Needless to say, TV needs more stuff like this.
On with the show...
So this is how democracy dies.
Everyone looks one way and the next day everything they felt was sacred has been manipulated and changed without any regard whatsoever. The past three weeks I have raved about the importance of college sports in my life. Particularly, this has crystallized around the resurgence of the UConn men’s basketball team. However, in the past two weeks, two games the team has played with Big East opponents were unavailable to me on TV. Now Saturday’s thriller against USF was on ESPN. Smart for them, it was a good game. However, here I am spinning my radio dial to 1080 am to hear the rapid fire delivery of Joe D and Wayne for UConn vs. Depaul. As a person who didn’t miss a UConn men’s basketball game from 1991-2006 this has been a disturbing chain of events.
The culprit my friends…. is ESPN.
Yes, my beloved world wide leader (Whose headquarters is 20 minutes from my apartment) has decided to screw a lot of people and move what would typically be apart of ESPN’s regional programming to its burgeoning college sports network. Last week the men narrowly beat Notre Dame at Gampel in a great game. However, I had to listen to it on the radio. In a weird turn of events, despite being able to have greater access to sports in every way, I find myself being forced to resort to the most primitive measures to follow my favorite college sports program. Similar things happen with football this past fall.
I can follow the Manchester United Red Devils on MUTV every week and they play in England. That’s the UK people. However, I can’t watch a game taking place twenty minutes from my apartment (I live 20 minutes from everything awesome in CT, its fantastic). It is life under the totalitarian rule of EPSN. Local loyalties and conveniences are sacrificed for the bottom line of the “state”. Right now on ESPN southern powerhouse UNC Greenville is playing Davidson. Now, I am sure this is an epic meeting of mid-majors. But come on. How difficult would it be to get the local affiliate to simulcast the game? Your telling me they would loose revenue gained from re-runs of The King of Queens?
People rose up against the NFL network over the Pats vs. Giants in week 17. Congress got involved. That turned out great for everyone. Now this obviously isn’t going to be on the same level, but it is the same practice. I already pay Comcast 100 bucks a month. Arlen Spector and the boys down in the PA just don’t care.
Who is fighting for the common man’s ability to watch their favorite sports?
Are you Che or Winston Smith? It’s a tough one…
On to Slow Strikes
-Terry Francona needs an extension. He deserves it.
-Coco Crisp better be ready to sit the pine this season.
-The Schilling situation could only happen to the Red Sox. You don’t see Greg Maddox injury himself in November and not tell the team for 3 weeks.
-Shawn Marion is happy to have no chance of making the playoffs. I will never understand professional athletes…
Showing posts with label ESPN. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ESPN. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Monday, January 21, 2008
The Charisma Bowl
For last two months the New England Patriots have dealt with the change of seasons in God’s country. They have gutted out hard fought victories. Yesterday’s win in the AFC Championship was no different. A bitter wind hampered the greatest passing attack in the history of the NFL. Tom Brady threw three picks and had a QB rating in the 60’s. They used their veteran experience to adjust to any difficulty their opponents threw at them.
Now, none of it matters.
The New York Giants are an enigma. They started 0-2. By October they looked like a hilarious precursor to the 2007/2008 New York Knicks. Then, they found an offense to go along with the leagues best defensive line. They found comfort away from the demonizing New York media. They have now won 10 straight road games, 3 straight on the road. They have established a wining attitude.
Now, none of it matters.
We are 12 days away from Super Bowl Forty Two. Do not expect any bizarre comments or locker room fodder coming from any of the players. Both the Pats and the Giants have head coaches who are down right mean about controlling their players. I will refer to this game as the “Charisma Bowl”, mainly because even with his oppressive personality, I think Belichek is far more personable then Tom Coughlin. These are going to be some fun press conferences….
In Week 17 these teams meant in the most watched regular season football game in over a decade. Playing in the “NY”, the Giants came out smoking, actually gaining a 12 point lead at one point. The Patriots, playing for perfection in the regular season, made some huge adjustments and overpowered the Giants in the Fourth quarter. The Giants scored a late TD and the game ended as a 38-35 victory for the P-men.
The only thing that really matters is that these two teams are playing the game at the highest level at the best time of the year. They will be playing in Glendale, Arizona. There will be no talk of wind, cold, or snow. I am looking forward to the possibility of seeing the New England Patriots from September and October 2007. That team played the most dominating football I have ever seen at the pro level. This game could be as lopsided a Super Bowl as has ever been played. But don’t get your hopes up, it won’t be. The Patriots under Belichek do not play blowout playoff games, let alone Super Bowls.
Both teams will be ready. Now we just have to deal with the media onslaught. Overnight the Giants became media darlings. Eli Manning is now the “hottest quarterback in the league” according to the World Wide Leader. You will also hear the “I’m picking the Giants, so that makes me a rebel football analysis guy who is playing coy and trying not to look ridiculous for picking against a team that is 18-0.” radio and TV personality. It will sound like this,
“Now I know this is gonna ruffle some feathers here,… and I am going out on my own here…but I am Picking the Giants. They had the hardest road to get to the Super Bowl, and Eli Manning is playing like a number one pick, the offensive line is matching the intensity of the incredible D-line. This team dominated the Packers and the Cowboys!!! I gonna say it, and I hope nobody in New England shoots me over this….The Giants will beat the Patriots.”
And they will be wrong. Lame historical coincidences won’t work. Even the Ewing Theory. The Giants will play up the “us against the world” moniker. Its doesn’t matter.
In 12 days the New York Giants have to beat the New England Patriots.
It won’t happen.
My prediction….Patriots 38, Giants 35
Now let’s play the game already….
Now, none of it matters.
The New York Giants are an enigma. They started 0-2. By October they looked like a hilarious precursor to the 2007/2008 New York Knicks. Then, they found an offense to go along with the leagues best defensive line. They found comfort away from the demonizing New York media. They have now won 10 straight road games, 3 straight on the road. They have established a wining attitude.
Now, none of it matters.
We are 12 days away from Super Bowl Forty Two. Do not expect any bizarre comments or locker room fodder coming from any of the players. Both the Pats and the Giants have head coaches who are down right mean about controlling their players. I will refer to this game as the “Charisma Bowl”, mainly because even with his oppressive personality, I think Belichek is far more personable then Tom Coughlin. These are going to be some fun press conferences….
In Week 17 these teams meant in the most watched regular season football game in over a decade. Playing in the “NY”, the Giants came out smoking, actually gaining a 12 point lead at one point. The Patriots, playing for perfection in the regular season, made some huge adjustments and overpowered the Giants in the Fourth quarter. The Giants scored a late TD and the game ended as a 38-35 victory for the P-men.
The only thing that really matters is that these two teams are playing the game at the highest level at the best time of the year. They will be playing in Glendale, Arizona. There will be no talk of wind, cold, or snow. I am looking forward to the possibility of seeing the New England Patriots from September and October 2007. That team played the most dominating football I have ever seen at the pro level. This game could be as lopsided a Super Bowl as has ever been played. But don’t get your hopes up, it won’t be. The Patriots under Belichek do not play blowout playoff games, let alone Super Bowls.
Both teams will be ready. Now we just have to deal with the media onslaught. Overnight the Giants became media darlings. Eli Manning is now the “hottest quarterback in the league” according to the World Wide Leader. You will also hear the “I’m picking the Giants, so that makes me a rebel football analysis guy who is playing coy and trying not to look ridiculous for picking against a team that is 18-0.” radio and TV personality. It will sound like this,
“Now I know this is gonna ruffle some feathers here,… and I am going out on my own here…but I am Picking the Giants. They had the hardest road to get to the Super Bowl, and Eli Manning is playing like a number one pick, the offensive line is matching the intensity of the incredible D-line. This team dominated the Packers and the Cowboys!!! I gonna say it, and I hope nobody in New England shoots me over this….The Giants will beat the Patriots.”
And they will be wrong. Lame historical coincidences won’t work. Even the Ewing Theory. The Giants will play up the “us against the world” moniker. Its doesn’t matter.
In 12 days the New York Giants have to beat the New England Patriots.
It won’t happen.
My prediction….Patriots 38, Giants 35
Now let’s play the game already….
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
The Ultimate Top Five Begins
This weeks Podcast by Bill Simmons is freaking awesome. His conversation will the great Marv Albert, and subsequent discussion with his homie about the awful start to the season by the Yanks, certainly made up for that lame discussion last week with Alton from the Real World. YesSSS!!!!
Now on to the reason for this post. I was asked last week by a student who the five greatest rock and roll bands of all time were. I was torn. Normally I explode into my list. Based on my IPOD data, I consider the best rock and roll bands ever to be RATM, Pink Floyd, Radiohead, U2, and Tool by simple rate of airplay. Clearly there is a generational and genre bias at play here.
Now I consider my opinions to be profound, but I no longer consider myself a ego maniac. The situation in class became a moral quandry. Do I promote the groups I promote, or as a teacher, provide an objective view with the addendum that it really all depends on each person to create their own list.
I was objective, kinda.
The list I told the kids was the following,
1.The Beatles
2.The Rolling Stones
3.Led Zeppelin
4.Pink Floyd
5.U2
I told them any objective person would need to have the top two, but after that it would ultimately boil down to personal taste. I chose to look at what is the overall perception amongst music folks who write for Rolling Stone, Blender, Spin, and ughhh..MTV.com.Over the coming weeks I will expand on my decision and explore these five bands, trying to decipher the five greatest songs from each band.
However, first a few thoughts on the list.
A. Yes, the list has a European Bias. For whatever the reason, the British Isles have taken a musical form born in America (Rock and Roll) and created the most imaginative possibilities for its progression as an art form.
B. Yes, there is a Gender Bias. Beyond a few bands here or there, men have dominated rock and roll. As a male, and despite being raised my a single mother, I have been far more prone to being influenced by men then women when it has come to music. I currently have 680 songs on my IPod. Only 1 song is a song that is sung by a women. It is just impossible for me to put Heart or The Go-Go's over any of these bands.
C. No, the two greatest American band of all time, Rage Against The Machine and The Doors did not make the list. I had to be objective, and that meant putting my own tastes to the side as much as possible.
D. Yes, the inclusion of U2 is controversial. There were many worthy bands. The students were down right pissed off about it, like I had slaughtered their pets before their eyes. (The only area of life my students have shown any consistent sophistication is in their concepts on the world of music. It is a great uniter of populations.) However, if you can name a band that has dominated the music world more then U2 over the past 27 years, please tell me. It was also essential to include a band whose career has spanned the 80's and 90's. While watered down by more lame music acts and the horrors of the commercialization that made Britney Spears a Superstar, these decades were still filled with profound music by rock and roll bands that transcended the music world and came to symbolize the lives and issues that affected people during that generation. No band of the past 27 years has done this better then U2.
Until next time, this is that freaky beatnik the Culture King saying, catch you on the flipside you cool cats.....
Now on to the reason for this post. I was asked last week by a student who the five greatest rock and roll bands of all time were. I was torn. Normally I explode into my list. Based on my IPOD data, I consider the best rock and roll bands ever to be RATM, Pink Floyd, Radiohead, U2, and Tool by simple rate of airplay. Clearly there is a generational and genre bias at play here.
Now I consider my opinions to be profound, but I no longer consider myself a ego maniac. The situation in class became a moral quandry. Do I promote the groups I promote, or as a teacher, provide an objective view with the addendum that it really all depends on each person to create their own list.
I was objective, kinda.
The list I told the kids was the following,
1.The Beatles
2.The Rolling Stones
3.Led Zeppelin
4.Pink Floyd
5.U2
I told them any objective person would need to have the top two, but after that it would ultimately boil down to personal taste. I chose to look at what is the overall perception amongst music folks who write for Rolling Stone, Blender, Spin, and ughhh..MTV.com.Over the coming weeks I will expand on my decision and explore these five bands, trying to decipher the five greatest songs from each band.
However, first a few thoughts on the list.
A. Yes, the list has a European Bias. For whatever the reason, the British Isles have taken a musical form born in America (Rock and Roll) and created the most imaginative possibilities for its progression as an art form.
B. Yes, there is a Gender Bias. Beyond a few bands here or there, men have dominated rock and roll. As a male, and despite being raised my a single mother, I have been far more prone to being influenced by men then women when it has come to music. I currently have 680 songs on my IPod. Only 1 song is a song that is sung by a women. It is just impossible for me to put Heart or The Go-Go's over any of these bands.
C. No, the two greatest American band of all time, Rage Against The Machine and The Doors did not make the list. I had to be objective, and that meant putting my own tastes to the side as much as possible.
D. Yes, the inclusion of U2 is controversial. There were many worthy bands. The students were down right pissed off about it, like I had slaughtered their pets before their eyes. (The only area of life my students have shown any consistent sophistication is in their concepts on the world of music. It is a great uniter of populations.) However, if you can name a band that has dominated the music world more then U2 over the past 27 years, please tell me. It was also essential to include a band whose career has spanned the 80's and 90's. While watered down by more lame music acts and the horrors of the commercialization that made Britney Spears a Superstar, these decades were still filled with profound music by rock and roll bands that transcended the music world and came to symbolize the lives and issues that affected people during that generation. No band of the past 27 years has done this better then U2.
Until next time, this is that freaky beatnik the Culture King saying, catch you on the flipside you cool cats.....
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Hitting the Fan
It always hits the fan on Wednesdays. Day one of Senior Final Exams is in the books.
Kobe Bryant went on Stephen A. Smith’s radio show and said he wanted the Lakers to trade him.
Just for Fun, listen to the podcast and then check out the ESPN Trade Machine.
And Yes, The Truth and Sebastian Telfair for The Black Mamba works salary cap wise. The Kobe/Yi combination could be huge.
The Tennis Channel. The most ill-conceived single sport channel idea ever.
Best headline I have seen in a long time…”Stray Rod”. Good to see A-Rod is taking his social ques from Stephen Jackson.
The Red Sox are a juggernaut right now.
With that said, someone call WEEI, I have a Potential Trade- Coco Crisp, Willi Mo Pena, Mike Bodin, and Manny Delcarman or David Pauley for Ichiro. They then would need to call up David Murphy or Jacoby Ellsbury to be the 4th outfielder. Anyone who read Ichiro’s comments in USA Today knows he could be had for a combination of MLB talent and prospects. Other the Roy Oswalt, it may be the only chance the Sox can get even better before the deadline.
It would make for such a plethora of riches, I break out into laughter like Red on the Bus to Mexico just thinking about it.
Big up’s to The History Channel. The program on Star Wars on Monday night was awesome. This morning’s History of Iraq from the beginning of time until today was the perfect Pre-Exam show to get me focused to proctor the test.
Lets Hope Cindy Sheehan missed it, because if she thought the War in Iraq was a lost cause before…damn….the show makes it clear nobody with exception of the Ottomans has been able to rule that region of the Middle East with any confidence since the Assyrians.
Lindsey Lohan returned to rehab. Another football league, the UFL, is being created to challenge the NFL. Just another case of losers not learning from history. Nothing in life sucks more then wasted talent.
Remember, when your up against it, Coffee is for Closers….So go out there and sell!
Kobe Bryant went on Stephen A. Smith’s radio show and said he wanted the Lakers to trade him.
Just for Fun, listen to the podcast and then check out the ESPN Trade Machine.
And Yes, The Truth and Sebastian Telfair for The Black Mamba works salary cap wise. The Kobe/Yi combination could be huge.
The Tennis Channel. The most ill-conceived single sport channel idea ever.
Best headline I have seen in a long time…”Stray Rod”. Good to see A-Rod is taking his social ques from Stephen Jackson.
The Red Sox are a juggernaut right now.
With that said, someone call WEEI, I have a Potential Trade- Coco Crisp, Willi Mo Pena, Mike Bodin, and Manny Delcarman or David Pauley for Ichiro. They then would need to call up David Murphy or Jacoby Ellsbury to be the 4th outfielder. Anyone who read Ichiro’s comments in USA Today knows he could be had for a combination of MLB talent and prospects. Other the Roy Oswalt, it may be the only chance the Sox can get even better before the deadline.
It would make for such a plethora of riches, I break out into laughter like Red on the Bus to Mexico just thinking about it.
Big up’s to The History Channel. The program on Star Wars on Monday night was awesome. This morning’s History of Iraq from the beginning of time until today was the perfect Pre-Exam show to get me focused to proctor the test.
Lets Hope Cindy Sheehan missed it, because if she thought the War in Iraq was a lost cause before…damn….the show makes it clear nobody with exception of the Ottomans has been able to rule that region of the Middle East with any confidence since the Assyrians.
Lindsey Lohan returned to rehab. Another football league, the UFL, is being created to challenge the NFL. Just another case of losers not learning from history. Nothing in life sucks more then wasted talent.
Remember, when your up against it, Coffee is for Closers….So go out there and sell!
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