I'm trying really hard...

I decided this summer to give Soccer (or fútbol) another shot in lieu of the massive amount of World Cup coverage in the press and as a direct and proximate result of the massive amount of suckage from my baseball teams. Also, The Chi. Blackawks' Stanley Cup win was pretty damn cool and soccer is really just hockey without the ice and the sticks, right? Am I right? You know what I'm sayin' eh?

I even threw World Cup Fest 2010 at the abode, Saturday. The assembled had Mexican food (why, when Mexico played Friday, I dunno, but it seemed right), Mexican Beer, and we gathered for three soccer--I believe they are called matches--in a row.

And while there was the occasional moment of great excitement--particularly Mr. English Fumble hands, above, there were still long, long periods of people running back and forth in tiny shorts not doing a whole hell of a lot.

I'm trying to bring a little "international flavor" to my sports viewing but I just don't know. I'm putting my best foot forward (see what I did there) but not sure I'm gonna make it.

Also, I realize there is some South African cultural thing going on, BUT IT SOUNDS LIKE THE STADIUMS ARE UNDER ATTACK BY GIANT BEES. PLEASE, PLEASE, MAKE IT STOP....


Anyhoooo, I'm as patriotic as the next mope--so as I'm trying to learn more about Soccer I can only say: go USA! Bring that Cup home!! I realize it's never been here, so it's not really home, but you get the point...

Holy Crap This call is unbelievable

Get to the end of the vid and watch HOW BADLY HE MISSED THE CALL.

I'm not one to usually think the league should step in--I mean missed calls are part of the game--but this is soooo egregious, and Perfect Games are so rare (despite Roy's last week), I say step in Bud, so something worthwhile with your life.

Thus far in my years....

I have seen six Chicago Bulls Titles.... Six.
The Chicago White Sox won a World Series...
(The Boston Red Sox won two)...
The Chicago Bears have been to two Super Bowls, and won one with one of the best teams of all time.

And now...

Looks pretty good for the Chicago Blackhawks to finally win a Stanley Cup. I am the definition of a bandwagon hockey guy (well, I went to a couple games because it was fun live, but still, I cop to this)...nevertheless, the Blackhawks...Stanley Cup

Even the Chicago Sting won a soccer title when I was a kid. That's right, the Chicago freaking Sting... and let's not forget the Arena League Champion Rush...or the Chicago Wolves...

Anyone see where I'm going with this....






DAMN YOU JIM HENDRY GET ON THE BALL OR GET OUT OF TOWN!!!!

Welcome to Town!!!

Good Readin...

NYT's Frank Rich on Arizona's "reform" Great Cinco De Mayo Readin'

"DON’T blame it all on Arizona. The Grand Canyon State simply happened to be in the right place at the right time to tilt over to the dark side. Its hysteria is but another symptom of a political virus that can’t be quarantined and whose cure is as yet unknown." Read the rest Here.

Scarlett is a perfect Black Widow

New Iron Man 2 Posters are out and if you weren't looking forward to it before...









Yes, I'm aware you can see these at a million places, but I wanted an excuse to look some more...

A big $&#(*$&#(*$&# deal

And there it is...your Health Care Reform Act of 2010.

Republicans are certainly doing a fantastic job of screaming that the sky is falling...while simultaneously flying above dropping bags of shit from a (probably private, chartered) plane. Taxes on people making $250,000 a year!!!! Insurance Companies can't cancel plans on actual sick people!!! Increased competition in the insurance industry!! Oh, the humanity!!!!

I've been on record that I'm not a big fan of the Senate Bill. Some of the House changes, including the removal of the "Nebraska waiver," are improvements. Primarily, my beef is that the bill doesn't go far enough. We couldn't have a truly public health care option, we were told, because Republicans and Conservative Democrats would block it. Well, surprise, surprise, Republicans and Conservative Democrats didn't vote for the watered down version, either.

The bottom line here is something needed to be done. Small businesses were dropping health care insurance as a benefit all over the nation as prices skyrocketed. The ranks of the uninsured are increasing, not decreasing, daily.

How about those Republicans though! How proud they should be. Sen. McCan't of Arizona and his crews latest vow to say no to everything from the administration from now on notwithstanding, I didn't see a single option presented by the other half of the aisle that would have done anything other than continue the Bush tax cuts that got us partially into this mess. People have a short memory, but the entire economic system of the nation collapsed under the previous, and REPUBLICAN, administration. Why? LACK of government oversight. And now, of course, the McCan'ts are spouting their same old less government nonsense about this bill. Why? Because it's an easy message. It's cheap. The slack jawed yokels who throw racial epithets at Congressmen and call them "baby killers" for trying to provide health care coverage to the uninsured can understand hate speech far easier than a package of insurance reforms.

As I said, I'm not sure this bill has what it takes to truly take care of the issue. But certainly, it has provisions that are a step in the right direction. Also certainly, the cost of doing nothing was greater than the cost of trying something. The Pres. stood on his principles in this regardless of dropping public opinion and for that he should be commended. It is, after all, much easier to espouse hate than it is hope.

March Madness Moments!

Well, my team didn't make it in this year--primarily because they sucked. Still, as the Doc works on his brackets, he's thinking about some of my his fav. March Madness moments....

Favorite Game Ever...



_____________________

Followed closely by




_________________________

Not a big Kansas fan, but great game...




_______________________




Hated the guy, but great ending anyway...



____________________________

The first time I remember winning money with an upset call!!




__________________


How about a game with Jordan, Patrick Ewing, and James Worthy in it?



_________________

And finally, just a buncha cool buzzer beaters

Just felt like listening to this today

Do I love me some hockey--maybe...

I will fully cop to being a puckhead come lately.

I never got into hockey. It's still a hard sport to watch on TV (although I find it much better in HD, love that technology). I always appreciated the skills of these guys to even be able to stand up on ice in all that gear let alone crush the boards (that's a thing, right?). Still, I'm not great on the rules (icing anyone? What the hell is icing?) and I had a lot of time invested in, you know, baseball, football, basketball, full contact nude female karate. The big games.

This year, with the Blackhawks about the only team in my area worth a damn I've hit a game live and watched a few. It still didn't really catch my attention much as I tried. I listen to a fair amount of sports radio and before the Olympics all I heard about was what a waste it was to take two weeks off and pull the players out of the NHL season and someone could get hurt and blah, blah, blah... I kinda agreed.

Then I watched yesterday's USA v. Canada overtime skate to the death. I don't know how much impact that's going to have on hockey as a sport in the U.S. in general, but as far as I'm concerned, I'm a little hooked. I want to find out more about these guys (millionaires all) who fought so damn hard for a little circle of Gold. That goal in the final minute to tie the match up may have been one of the most exciting things I've ever seen in sports... So, NHL peeps, maybe this Olympics wasn't such a bad idea. There may be one more fan, at least, as a result, and I have to think there's probably a few more of us bandwagon jumpers out there.

Congrats to Team Canada, and to Team USA. Fantastic job.

Peace.

Dammit I am behind...

*Things crazy hectic at work...
*A team I coach had many practices for Regionals and was one freaking point out of 280 from going to Nationals...
*Watching some crazy Olympic hoodoo, still trying to learn the rules of Curling...
*Politics, ugh, Pres. Obama...still need to get on your game, man, come on!
*Shutter Island, if you read the book, you should like the movie. Great opening weekend, so I guess moving it out of the Fall was smart, but I wish the actors had some Academy chances...
*Discovered a new author that I think is fantastic --more later--but he won't replace Robert B. Parker in my heart.
*Beatles: Rock Band, 'nuff said.

Well that's an attempt to explain where I have been ... I hope to keep up better in the coming months.

Peace.

The Way You Wear Your Hat

So the Hall of Fame announced that Andre Dawson will be going in with an Expos hat on his plaque instead of a Cubs cap. To this, Cubs fans, I say to you--so freakin' what. I'll let you in on a little secret--immediately under the pseudo bust with the famous cap will be an engraved listing of all the teams Andre played on, and the Cubs will be there. Nowadays, players move around so much does it really matter what cap is shown on the Hall of Fame plaque? So few players make the Hall, let's just be happy one of our favs is finally being recognized. Does it make sense for the cap to have the logo of a team that no longer exists? Marketingwise, no. Still, the Hawk played almost twice as many seasons in Montreal than he did in Chi-town. The weekend after he was inducted I had the pleasure of having a baseball signed by Andre at a prescheduled event. The fact that his Hall of Fame cap is from Montreal doesn't make that any less awesome to me.

Peace

The Dr. Is Having Steak Night This Saturday!

10 Years: 10 Episodes Dash to the Finish 2006-2009

Okay, kids, time for a mad dash to the finish as this 10 eps 10 years thing has been as delayed as a new Bendis issue of Powers (that’s for you, SPM).

2006
How I Met Your Mother: The Slap Bet November 20, 2006

More great eps from The Wire, The Shield and BSG this year, but for pure entertainment purposes, How I Met Your Mother hits the list for ’06 with the series’ classic ep: The slap bet. The episode is a perfect example of the Hitchcockian theory that it’s the suspense of potential violence that will actually kill ya….as NPH’s Barney waits for the slaps to the face that he knows are coming…sometime…anytime…. (Available clip is a music video, but you get the point)




2007

Lost Through The Looking Glass May 23, 2007

Spoiler Alert: This is the one that took the show and turned it freakin’ upside down. One sentence: “We have to go back, Kate!” and suddenly the viewer realizes that instead of one of the Losties patented flashbacks, we’ve suddenly jumped forward—some crazy stuff has no doubt occurred and some of these guys actually did get off the island, the why and how and what the heck waiting for the next year’s reveal.




2008

Tie:

The Shield Family Meeting November 25, 2008
The Wire -30- March 9, 2008

I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t pick between the final episodes of two of the best in tv, I’d argue, ever. I can’t even describe ‘em properly. Just watch the shows. WATCH THEM on a dvd player near you.








2009

The Office, Niagara, October 8, 2009

Well this one shouldn’t be a surprise, as in an earlier post I went with The Office’s “Niagara” as the show that, maybe wasn’t the best of the year, but made me laugh as hard as anything I can remember. Now just the word “Twins” makes me giggle a bit.




So there ya have it, it took awhile, but there’s my list of 10 great television episodes from 2000 to 2009. Go watch ‘em, you’ll be glad you did.

Dear Mr. President

The Doc's a big supporter, and understandably you have a lot on your plate, but, still...

YOUR PARTY LOST TED KENNEDY's SEAT!!! TED FREAKING KENNEDY's SEAT!!!!

This is deserving of a very, very long rant. Nevertheless, I have to do some actual work, so more ranting will come later. But GET YOUR HEAD IN THE GAME, please!

No one understands how your Health Care Bill is actually going to help provide Health Care. The voters are scared. They have no jobs. They have no health care. We still have troops in Iraq and we still have Prisoners in Guantanamo. Promises of change were made (you think?) AND WE AIN'T SEEING IT.

You were masterful in the campaign at getting out your message. YOU HAVE DROPPED THE BALL. GET YOUR HEAD IN THE GAME, sir, BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE.

Thank you.

Ask yourself this, classy Cardinals fans...

While booing Jack Clark yesterday, he of the 350 some honest home runs and honest opinions about the game of baseball and the use of performance enhancers, and cheering your chemically induced overgrown self deluded cheater* (look, the guy even lied in a milk ad, I mean come on) did you ever stop to think whether this is the best guy for YOUR team? That is what it is supposed to be about, right? Winning? That's what I hear from Cards fans, we love winning. So, you hire a guy with a lifetime .263 batting average, who has admitted that his best years involved 10 years of product use, who has never been a hitting coach before to take care of the batters on a team that by all rights should be in competition again this year for the playoffs if not the World Series. Is this the best hitting coach available for your team out of everyone out there who has been a hitting coach? Or is this Tony LaRussa's personal Big Mac redemption plan at the expense of the best interests of the team? Certainly, the presence of this man isn't going to be a year long distraction--the media will no doubt honor his desire to make one half assed apology and let it go, right? This won't come up in every city around the league over and over again all year long, it just can't...right? Idiots.










*as a Cub fan, I fully admit to having and having cheered in the past for one of these, too.

10 Years: 10 Episodes: Battlestar Galactica: January 14, 2005

So it's taken me most of January to just get up to 2005 on my 10 episodes list--cut me some slack, I'm going through a whole decade here, 'natch

So here's one that may be in the running for fav. of the dec, not just this particular year. The reboot of BSG ended in 2009, but this episode, the very first one after the opening mini-series, still stands as one of the most entertaining hour this fantastic series offered during its run. The plot: nearly all of the human race having been wiped out just a short time past, the human survivors ("in a ragtag fugitive fleet," of course) are followed by their attackers and for some damn reason the bastard Cylon "toasters" show up every 33 minutes on the dot to do some mo' killing. The mounting tension as an exhausted group of pilots attempt to continually defend a fleet on the verge of collapse before it can even get started on its journey is combined with a ballsy ending makes for a hell of a start to the series and puts the fearless viewer on notice that a hell of a ride is underway.

10 Years: 10 Episodes The Sopranos: May 23, 2004

This year was a tough call for my 10/10 decision. Lost premiered with a fantastic pilot in September and a great episode with Locke's backstory called "Walkabout." The Wire had a great season (every season was great, of course) that I don't want to spoil cuz at least one reader hasn't seen yet!. Then, I thought, the finale of Angel was great, representative Joss stuff.

Still, in looking back at eps from 2004 that I saw at the time they aired the one that made me go "daaaaaaaaamn" viscerally was the Sopranos "Long Term Parking." This clip above gives you a little flavor of the excruciating extended tension that the episode gave us. You know what's coming, you don't want to watch, yet...you do anyway. That's good TV.

No Snappy Title Here: Just Help

American Red Cross: Send a $10 Donation by Texting ‘Haiti’ to 90999

Clinton Foundation: provide immediate relief and long-term support to earthquake survivors. Text "HAITI" to 20222 and $10 will be donated to relief efforts, charged to your cell phone bill.

Most hospitals are destroyed or not functional Visit Doctors Without Borders if that's your thing: www.doctorswithoutborders.org

There are obviously many, many other agency looking for help. I'd go with an established one to be on the safe side but choose your preference. According to news reports, they aren't seeking traveling volunteers (too risky) or for you to send supplies (too chaotic) but any donation you can make will get to those trained in disaster relief, so do what you can. (And in the meantime if you want to boycott those like Rush and Pat that want to turn this into a racial/political issue, that would be cool, too).

Peace

10 Years: 10 Episodes Arrested Development Nov. 9 2003

Ahead of its time, predictive of the economic meltdown and corporate crazyness that marked the end of the 00's, and just damn, damn, damn funny, Arrested Development was hands down, funniest comedy of the decade (30 Rock you came so very close). If you haven't picked up the DVD's (regularly on sale at Target for $14 or so) then I scoff at you. That is right--I scoff. I can't think of a bad episode over its unfortunately shortened three year run (same old Fox story, multiple time slots, failure to market, etc., etc.) The show premiered in '03 and episode two: "Top Banana" is as good as any to recognize! Check out pre-Superbad Michael Cera stealing the show constantly. And, keep in mind, there's always money in a banana stand.