Friday, December 30, 2005

Browns might fire Savage

What the hell? Why, after one year, would they fire the GM? Aparently 'salary cap' reasons.

Well done Browns. Well done.

Thursday, December 29, 2005

Dumb Question from Work

"Do you know when the second season of Desperate Housewives comes out on DVD?"
"Well, season 2 is still going on right now, so I would expect sometime after it ends, at the earliest, summer."

Stole This From Altercation

Greatest Blog Posting of All Time

LeBron's Birthday

For some reason, this is a story every year. Now LeBron turns 21, so now he drink. I'm sure he's never had any alcohol before....

Ohio Nazi

Ohio has a Nazi. Who knew?

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Haliburton

Um, I know they're bad and all that, but slavery? Sex slaves?

Saturday, December 24, 2005

Browns - Steelers

Few thoughts from the "game" today:

1) Thank you CBS for showing the Steelers fans the entire game. I understand once the game is out of hand, but from kick off, all I saw was Steelers fans. Thanks

2) Continuing on that note, is there a good looking female Steelers fan? I have yet to see one

3) For all you dumb Browns fans who though the Browns could go 9-7 this year: you're retarded. This team should look to be 7-9 NEXT year. Playoffs are still a long way off.

4) Frye showed signs of good things, but also showed that he's a rookie. It didn't help that his first couple passes were dropped, so he started pressing early.

5) How many times did the Browns run the ball in the second half? 3? 4? This led to the Steelers blizting like mother-fuckers. Hey, rookie qb + no line + all pass plays = good times.

6) Hey Romeo, they're blizting from the outside, look into it.

7) What happened to the defense that gave Carson Palmer trouble? The Steelers had whatever they wanted, ground and air, all day long

8) Aaron Shea and Steve Heiden are different people. Just a heads up for next week CBS.

9) How bout that running game? At least the browns got their first 1,000 yard rusher in 20 years.

10) It never fails to amaze me that players STILL try to tackle Bettis by the shoulders (the Steelers first TD). How bout trying for the legs? Can we try that?

11) This team has a severe lack of talent, all over the field. That could be because of those sweet Butch Davis draft classes. And lets not forget Chris Palmer and Dwight Clarke.

12) The O-Line still stinks, though its not terrible, I guess thats an upgrade. The D-Line is still terrible, and that I place on the previous GMs, Courtney Brown AND Gerrard Warren. Awesome.

13) I miss Braylon Edwards

14) I don't miss Quincy Morgan

15) Man, that game really put me in the mood for Christmas, have a merry one.

Two Things About the Spying

1) The UMass Mao Little Red Book story was a hoax.

and just in case you think the spying crap is okay....

2) The spying was more extensive than Bush has admitted.

Cd I'm Diggin

One CD I'm currently enamored with is a reissue of Elton John's 70's masterpiece Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy.

I hadn't really heard of the album before, but I saw the deluxe edition at a used CD store near campus and picked it up.

Safe to say, it was a good choice.

The album is completely 70s, and I mean that in the best of ways. Yes, its over the top, over produced and a giant spectacle. But thats the point. The songs are huge, there are great soaring arrangments, lots of random instruments and just tons of noise. But it works.

This isn't some slick Backstreet Boys ProTools production, this is an album full of real instruments playing great arrangments. Flutes, oboes, tons of drums, great guitars; just excellent.

But the what about the songs? Top notch. These are songs by John when he was on the top of his game. Someone Saved My Life Tonight is the big hit off the album, but its not the only stellar track. (Gotta Get A) Meal Ticket is a great rockin tune; I fuckin love the guitars during the chorus and Better Off Dead has a great piano part and even better lyrics.

The Deluxe edition has got some bonus tracks at the end of the album too, like John's version of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds and Philadelphia Freedom. They kinda take the flow out of the album, but it works because A) there is a lot of space between the end of the origional album and the bonus tracks B) the extra songs kick ass.

I have to admit the bonus disc hasn't recieved as much play as the main one, but it is still pretty good. It is a live concert of the entire albums, complete with over the top 70s style guitar solos. Rock!

All and all, this is one of the over looked gems from the 70s, I would definitely check it out. I want to give key tracks, and I hate sayin 'every song is good' cause I hate when people do that. Honestly? Listen to the album in track order, but if you must pick and choose, I would take: Bitter Fingers, (Gotta Get A) Meal Ticket and Writing. Oh, of course, Someone Saved My Life Tonight.

Question/Moment of the Day

- Can you tell me that little girl child prodigy who sang 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' at the end of ER and those commercials?
- I think you mean IZ
- Okay, was I close, girl prodigy?
- Not really, its a 500 pound Hawaiian Dude

Thursday, December 22, 2005

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Bush Spying on Americans

Just in case you've heard some crap that Clinton did the same shit too.... lies.

Futurama Returning?

Wah?

Maybe it can replace the War at Home and we can have a two hour block of animation goodness.

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

From SNL

The Chronic of Narnia rap.

I really enjoyed this from last weeks SNL. The same guys produced another one, Lettuce, which wasn't as well recieved (but I enjoyed it).

Monday, December 19, 2005

Sunday, December 18, 2005

Iraq Pullout and Such

Bush says a pullout of Iraq would help our enemies. I'm not really sure what that means, but at this point I'm all for whatever gets less Americans killed.

And the way I see it, we have three options.

1) Send in enough troops to overpower insurgents and have the amount that the experts and generals said we needed, not what we got.

2) Leave today, tomorrow, yesterday. Get the fuck out now and don't turn back.

3) Stay the course. Keep not having enough troops or enough armor. Maybe eventually we secure the country, I dunno, but there's no real end in sight.

What do I think will happen? #3 of course. I think #2 would be good also, if only because no one has got the politcal balls to do #1.

Option 1 requires raising taxes (or at least not cutting them) to pay for the military equipment and more soliders, possibly a draft. This is the most likely way to get 'victory.' However, theres no way this country will let its politicians send MORE troops over there.

And since we won't do option 1, I say we do option 2, I guess you could call it "Cut and Run." Cause with option 3 nothing is really getting done and our troops are overwhelmed and we are still getting losses. And we're basically in a civil war right now. Or we get the fuck out with no more American losses. Cause I prefer no losses to some.

(and by the way, this isn't saying the soliders aren't doing a great job, its that their hands are tied. They need more men and more supplies. If I was told to write a ten page paper in 1 hour, I wouldn't/couldn't finish it. It wouldn't be because I was a poor writer, it was because I didn't have tools I needed to write a 10 page paper.)

Wire tapping and such

Obviously, you can get better/more in depth coverage of this story else where, but if you want to yell at the New York Times about this story, it isn't because they printed it. It's because they printed it a year after they had it.

Bush says that they're risking national security. Well, the jackass in me says they already fucked up national security by sitting on this story for more than a year and not letting Bush deal with this during the election.

The Cavs beat a Good Team

Sure it was on the second night of a back to back on the road, and the fourth game in 5 nights, and they just changed coaches.... but still.

Friday, December 16, 2005

Impeaching

I also agree.

But here is the thing. I'm torn on this, would it be great/kinda satisfying (well, not really great, its never great when the leader of your country gets impeached) to see the whole Bush clan punished? Yes. The entire republican party is tied into Bush (or Delay). Ya, they should all get punished. But the last thing I want is Bush to get impeached and some other republican comes in there and "cleans house" restores some rule of law, and then gets reelected in 2008. So the main players are punished, but the whole politcal machine that put them there is still in power. I want Democrats in power, but unfortunatly, they don't seem to know how to get there.

John Spencer Died

Don't recognize the name? He played Leo on West Wing.

Thursday, December 15, 2005

PTI

I love PTI, I think it's one of the best shows on TV (as does Larry King). But I got a little pissed at the shot taken at Cavaliers coach Mike Brown.

The Cavs are struggling, thats for sure, and they were blaming Brown, "who's heard of this guy? what has this guy done?"

The Cavs don't play defense. End of story. They don't. There's no hustle, there's no fight. Is part of that Brown's fault? Yes. But Damon Jones is doing his best Jeff McInnis impression right now, opposing teams go right at LeBron and the Cavs don't have an enforcer type guy on the inside. So is it partly Brown's fault? Ya, it is. But lets be honest here, the Cavs are young and the Cavs need to learn to play some defense. Induvidual and team.

Coach Brown knows this. GM Danny Ferry knows this.

Like I've said many times before, judge the Cavs by how they finish the season, not how they start.

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Pathetic

The Cavs lost to the Hawks. Ugh.

I wonder if Coach Brown is lobbying for Ron Artest now?

Lots of Artest-Cavs Stories

ABJ, PD, PD.

Look, here's the thing, the Cavs HAVE to enquire about Artest. Just have to. I believe the only untouchables are Z and LeBron (though not in that order). Besides that I think anyone if fair game, but it would take a lot to trade Hughes.

But is Artest better than Hughes? I think so, but he IS a bit more crazy. If the Cavs really want Artest its probably going to take some kind of Hughes, Gooden and Jackson combo. Do I do it in a second, no. But do I see if I could talk with Artest before I make this trade for him? See how serious he is about coming to Cleveland? Yes.

And don't get me wrong, I love Hughes, but I do think Artest (non-baggage) is better than him. The issue is, is Artest worth it. I think yes. Even if its just for a little while, just to show some defensive intensity. To show the guys what real hustling is all about. Plus, Mike Brown has coached him before.

It would be interesting to see where he ends up (I wouldn't bet on Cleveland).

FYI

Frye is starting again on Sunday, but Romeo won't commit beyond that.

Really, Frye is going to start, you don't say? And what is Crennel trying to pull, he won't commit a starter beyond this week. Like anyone expects Dilfer to come back for the last two weeks. Right.

Monday, December 12, 2005

Interview with Judd Apatow

The Writer/Director of the 40 Year Old Virgin.

Hey, that Charlie Frye kid is pretty good

Bud Shaw thinks so, as does Terry Pluto. Even Peter King mentions him.

I don't think it can be understated how playing at Akron prepared him for this. Akron had crappy teams and crappy weather, meaing he didn't have any Ted Ginn's to throw to. Or All-American centers or tackles. He's played AT big stadiums, for the away team.

The 'Frye to Edwards' combo has looked good because both guys know they need each other, but don't look past the fact that both guys played college ball in shitty-weather schools. I'm not sure if a Vince Young (or Tim Couch) type guy, who played in nice warm weather really understands the crappy-ness of Cleveland weather.

Ron Artest asks for a Trade

and he has a list of teams.

And Cleveland is on the list.


Would I take Artest? Yes. In a second. First of all, he would change the entire defensive culure of the team the minute he steps off the plane. Plus, having him and LeBron go head to head in practice everyday could be a good thing.

Gooden would be traded, and probably Luke Jackson. Now, LeBron and Z would probably be untouchables. Hughes would be close behind them. Would the Pacers trade him to a divison rival? Probably not.

Also, Stan Van Gundy stepped down, I can't wait to see Pat Riley on the sidelines again.

Sunday, December 11, 2005

Ummm.....

this can't be a good sign

More Beatles

Here, here! (hear, hear?)

This just in

Cavs can't play defense.

That is all

almst- I got a hand written letter from Joe Tait, Cavs announcer. Terry Pluto had an 'write an email to Joe Tait' thing a little while back in his news letter and I decided to. I forget what I wrote, but I know I mentioned sitting next to the radio listening to him announce Cavs games. When I was growing up we didn't have cable, where ALL of the Cavs homes and most of the away games were broadcast. Part of me still loves getting into the car and hearing Joe's voice call the game.

Friday, December 09, 2005

12/8/80

outside dakota died the symphony

3 years before I was born, I was never even alive when he was, but I still feel a loss. I still wonder what Lennon could've done in the 80s, what music he could've made. Would he have toured? I know that most 60's artists didn't really do much after the 70s, the rest of the Beatles have had some nice songs here and there, but nothing like the 60's and 70's. Would he have reunited the band? Would that have been worth it or awful? Would he and McCartney write songs again?

"Gandhi and Martin Luther King were great examples of non-violent people who had died violently; what does that mean, that when you're such a pacifist you get shot?"

Thursday, December 08, 2005

Wickman is re-signed

I like it, I like it a lot more than overpaying for an aging Trevor Hoffman. This really sets the bullpen up nice.

Also, Tribe eyeing Nomar?

Not sure where Mr. Hamm would play on the team, the Tribe has got some nice guys at 2nd, 3rd and Short.

Finally

someone who hates Bill Plaschke as much as I do

Chris Kaman or Paul







Wednesday, December 07, 2005

I have no idea what this is

but it is awesome

Cavs beat Kings

I only saw the last 9 minutes of the game last night (finals and such) so I didn't catch much. But what I did see impressed me.

At the end of the game, it wasn't just LeBron making big shots. Hughes made a runner with little time left on the shot clock, Gooden made a turn around in the same situation, and Snow hit a pull up jumper from the wing (again with little time left on the shot clock). These were the daggers. The nails.

And the Cavs played defense, Z played D, Gooden took a charge, the entire team got big rebounds. As I've been saying all year, this team will be getting better as the year goes on. The defense isn't there (LeBron included) and the half court offense still needs some work. But this team will be better in April that December.

The Cavs hadn't won in Sacramento for since 98, but lets not get too far ahead of ourselves. These aren't the old Kings, the Weber, Vlade, Bibby Kings. Is it a nice win? Yes. Did the Cavs not suck too bad on their West Coast trip? Ya, but 2-1 would've been better than 1-2.

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

The Colts

This whole 'Will Dungy rest his starters' thing is already getting old. Look, he says now he hasn't decided, because, they haven't gotten to the point that they need to. If the Colts keep winning, I believe Dungy will continue to play his starters.

Right now I think he has to say he doesn't know. Cause if he had an answer, it'd be saying he's thinking about the perfect season. Which he doesn't want to do. The Colts are trying to win the next week and so on. The longer Dungy can put off answering perfect season questions, the better for the Colts.

But will he rest them? I HIGHLY doubt it.

Hudson

'well to do?' wah?

Last Thursday, Dietrich was looking in the well-to-do suburb of Hudson for things like tall grass, sewer pipes and a wood pile that the father described, when her 101-pound mixed breed dog, Ricco, stopped in the woods and "just laid down and started looking at me."

Monday, December 05, 2005

MMQB

As always, its good, I just liked/enjoyed/threw up at this little bit:

Aggravating/Enjoyable Travel Note of the Week

I did not travel on Sunday. I had my first home game of the year, driving nine miles east to the Meadowlands. But I did live vicariously through Jason Cohen, my HBO compatriot and Inside the NFL production manager, who is a hopelessly addicted Browns fans. He travels to Blondies, a bar in Manhattan which is home to Browns games every Sunday, and there, with a Cleveland-loving crew, looked on in horror as first-round pick Braylon Edwards went down with what looked to be a serious knee injury. The Browns, as you know, have been snakebitten with injuries to stud receivers (see Kellen Winslow Jr.).

"Braylon goes down,'' Cohen reported, "and the following exchange goes down with two guys next to me.''

First fan: "Welcome to Cleveland, Braylon.''

Second fan: "Just hope he can run by next September.''

First fan: "Now Kellen has a bunkmate.''

I know this: Thousands of similar sentiments were spat out at bars across this great land of ours when Edwards went down. Guarantee.

Sunday, December 04, 2005

A Dumb BCS Article

This is from the AP, and its terrible. It acts like the BCS 'worked' this year, and everything is okay in college football. Well, yes and no. The BCS 'worked' because USC and Texas didn't lose, and every other team did. Thats not the BCS, that's fate.

As for the other coments, about how the BCS has good matchups and blah blah blah. Look, I'll be watching exactly two bowl games this year. Ohio State vs Notre Damn, because of Ohio State. And I'll watch USC vs Texas cause it means something. Besides that, why should I care? Penn St and Florida St are playing for 3rd, I do not care. It doesn't mean anything. Sure they are both good teams, and they both have old coaches... but I don't care about either team, the outcome means nothing, why should I give a rats ass.

This is why I can never fully get behind college football: a lot of games don't mean anything. The Bowls don't matter, they just don't.

The title game matters; that's it. In every other major sport, the post season matters. College basketball, NFL, MLB, NBA and even the NHL; win or go home. Keep on winning and you win the title.

College football postseason: win or lose, you go home. And unless you're ranked 1 or 2, it doesn't matter.

I know the games 'do' actually matter. The school that wins gets more money, the winner gets a better chance a recurits and all that. There are benefits. But these same things would happen in a playoff system. You think Duke doesn't benefit on the recruiting trail by playing deep into March?


The article ends like this:

Last season, California was 10-1 but got bumped out of the Rose Bowl by Texas, a slight that caused an outcry from the Pac-10 and elsewhere.

The Ducks won't get as much sympathy this season.

And for once the BCS gets to gloat.

No.

No.

No.

No.

The BCS should not be gloating, they should be breathing a sigh of relief that neither Texas or USC lost. The BCS didn't do shit, they just got lucky nothing fucked up happened this year.

And why no sympathy for the Ducks, lets see: They lost one game (Notre Dame and OSU each have two losses), they play in a major conference, a conference that the 2 year reigning national champs reside.

As for the teams they've played... Oregon is 10-1 and their two non-conference opponents: Houston and Montana. Not exactly powerhouses. Penn State 10-1, non-con oppoenets: South Florida and Cincy. Wow, again, not powerhouses. Notre Dame had a tough schedule, but they lost to the same team Oregon did (#1 USC ) and they lost to a shitty Michigan State team. OSU has two losses, although to two very good teams (Texas and Penn State), but they are ahead of Oregon. So I don't get it. I just don't. Why shouldn't Oregon be pissed that TWO 2 loss teams are ahead of them? Huh?

See, Oregon did all it could, only lost one game (to the BEST TEAM IN THE COUNTRY) and they don't get the money games. This is why theres a problem in college football. First of all, eveyone besides two teams are playing for a ranking other than 1 in the postseason. Whoo hoo, Ohio State beat ND so now we're ranked 3rd. We're number 3, we're number 3! And the teams can't decide it on the field, if this were basketball and Oregon got a shitty seed, they would just buckle down and take it out on their opponents, eventually winning a game vs a top team. But in football... they can't. They get what the voters give them. Or a computer.

Cleveland News

Indians signed Paul Byrd for 2 years and roughly 15 million. It's not a bad signing, it could end up being really good. This pretty much slams the door on at least one of the Elarton/Milwood combo. There's still an outside chance at Milwood I think. Scott Boras, his agent, is asking for 5 years, no pitcher is getting a contract that long, so Milwood might be sitting until Boras lowers his demands.

Charlie Frye started his first NFL game today, and started well.... up 14-3 at the half... The Browns lost 20-14, ouch. Frye had two TD throws to Edwards, who was later injured, he was also sacked 5 times in the second half. I didn't see the game due to work, but from what I've been reading, it looks like Frye did alright.

Saturday, December 03, 2005

Pete Doherty

otherwise known as Kate Moss's boyfriend, was arrrested. Why do I care? Doherty was a member of one of my favortie bands, The Libertines. They've gotten a ton of press, and the British tabloids love them, but they really are good.

If you don't know any of their songs, at least check out these: I Get Along, The Boy Looked At Johnny. Boys in the Band, The Man Who Would be King, Can't Stand Me Now (their hit) and What Katie Did.

Jon Stewart: All American

In soccer?

I still haven't watched the latest Daily Show, with the White Stripes, but I hear good things (their new album, Get Behind Me Satan is awesome)

Thursday, December 01, 2005

Keith Olbermann

It's kinda sad that the two most prominent liberal voices on TV are a comic and a former sportscaster.

I love it when Keith rips on O'Reilly

Is Sunday the day?

For Charlie Frye?

Cavs Beat Clippers

Here's something I noticed: when the Cavs make sure Z gets the ball, they do well. Ya its oversimplified, but its basically the truth. When the coach keeps calling Z's number, everything else flows.

This has always been my philosophy with basketball (and not just because I play center too), start inside and work it back outside.

Keep sending the ball to Z or to Shaq, until the other team can prove it can stop them, or they double team. Once you get the big guy established, guards have to double down on them, and the big guy can pass it out. This leads to wide open jumpers (like Marshall's 3 in overtime) and better passing lanes. I never understand why the Rockets or the old Lakers would go away from Yao or Shaq for long stretches of the game. It's mind boggling.

When the Cavs offense breaks down its usually because Z is in foul trouble and LeBron and Hughes are carrying the load too much. If the Cavs are going to win games in the half court set Z has to play part.

Does Z need to pass it back out more often? Yes. But he's trying, hes rebounding, scoring, playing pretty good defense (he defended Brand's last shot yesterday pretty well). He played great yesterday.

Anyway, good game, ended November strong and now they got a West Coast swing coming up.