Archive for January, 2008

Jan30th2008

Hockey in the south

Published
by
geoff
7 months ago
in Infinite Wisdom and Sports
. 0 Comments

hansens.jpgI’m generally pretty excitable about hockey. You could pretty much have the two worst teams in the league playing and I’d rather tune into that than any reality show, any day of the week. You get a couple of corn & beef fed Canadians, mixed in with some soviet block Europeans and a few Americans (whose dad didn’t force them into football) and you got yourself a good ole time on ice. Mix in the barbaric cross-checks and the occasional pugilistic fight (its actually called policing) and it’s a night of fun for the whole family.

The Atlanta Thrashers are slowly coming along. They benefit from a weak division that currently only has 1 team is at or above .500, and its not them. Regardless of that fact, they still could make the playoffs. Our neighborhood icebirds finally made the playoffs last year, but got swept out to no avail (quite rudely too) in the first round by the NY Rangers. The always-entertaining post-coital love fest in the hallways of Philips had my buddy Darrell with a couple Thrasher fans (who were more than a couple Budweisers deep sporting a NASCAR hats no less) discussing the finer points of Atlanta hockey. Same thing happened recently at a recent Penguins game. Its great to have enthusiasm for your team, but winning in the regular season means nothing if, and I’ll say it here and then drop this subject – you don’t win a playoff game. Cross that threshold, then come talk to me.

So what does all this mean? Well, we had a string of 3 games (including the All-star game) in one week, and I made a couple observations. Here are a couple things I’d like to mention to further add credibility to the Thrasher’s hockey atmosphere:

  1. Wearing a jersey of a team that is not playing on that particular night in that arena does not label you as a hockey fan; it labels you as a moron (as a couple Islander fans did the other night, well Islander fans are behind the moron 8-ball anyway). Leave it on the shelf at home. Got the itch to sport it, either dress as a hockey player for Halloween or buy tickets when your team comes to town.
  2. Yelling “shoot the puck” during the power play will not “Will” the puck into the goal. Are you bored? Restless? FYI - Its not quite like that Xbox game that you’ve mastered where you can shoot of your back foot while eating a hotdog and go “top shelf” past Martin Brodeur.
  3. Screaming out “Show us your _____” when the Ice Girls come out will not get you a date or endear you to any surrounding ladies. Just make sure to go all the way and hi-five your buddies after you get a glaring look from any that are within earshot.
  4. Booing players at the All-star game…Really? I’m just not sure what to say about this. I know this is a favorite pastime during player introductions of the regular season, but come on… This is an exhibition. I know, I know, enthusiasm. Cool, show it. Just don’t forget to wipe the mustard stain of your Islander “#1 Fan” jersey.

We’ve got about 4 weeks until the trading flurry (I mean deadline) begins. Atlanta will be indoctrinated into the art of dumping soon-to-be free agents All-Star players. Hossa = tradebait. I’m curious as to where he ends up and whether or not Waddell actually gets something in return – probably end up with a couple thirds liners, a draft pick and a ham sandwich. This is the beginning of the second season.

Jan20th2008

The BCS (Bowl Chaos Situation)

Published
by
geoff
7 months, 1 week ago
in Infinite Wisdom and Sports
. 0 Comments

I’m trying to understand what makes the braintrust of college football world go round. Well, at least the bowl season. Does anyone think this needs to be fixed or organized a little better? I just went through the 2008 BCS bowls (I LOVE college football), watching a bunch of massacres. Even the “national championship” was a blow out. I mean, congrats to LSU. You won. We can debate this all day, but when it comes down to it, Division 1 football (what are they calling it now- Championship sub-division?) has a paper champion. Every other sport in every NCAA division, has a tournament, even women’s water polo! Why is it that there is such resistance to a national tournament?  Finish it on the field.

We’ve had 32 bowl games this year. Thirty-two!! 64 teams playing that extra game. And some of these teams go 1 1/2 months between their final game and their bowl game and show up razor sharp (sarcasm alert). On top of that, AD’s and coaches are scheduling an extra game (12, instead of 11) on their fall tilt just to hope to be bowl eligible - 6 wins, at least 5 of them against the conference formally known at D-1. This year, you had 6 teams play in bowl games that were 6-6 (Cal, ‘Bama, Maryland, Colorado, Nevada & UCLA). Is that considered a successful season? Sure, you end up playing in the Petrosun Independence Bowl in Shreveport, LA (they should have just called it the Tidyflush Toilet Bowl), but when is enough, enough? Is it more money? Television dollars? Ticket sales?  Alumni support?

Getting back to my original thought… What’s wrong with a playoff? I heard the UGA President suggested an 8-game playoff. With the four major bowls serving as the 1st round. I think its a fantastic idea. Schools still get their money for appearing the bowl, and at most 2 teams will play one extra game and two teams will pay two extra games. I don’t understand why any college team, especially one that wants to call and claim themselves as national champion, wouldn’t want to do that. Competitors, right? Athletes, right? I say erase the doubt and settle it on the field. Don’t leave it up to writers and pre-season polls to determine who’s in and who’s out. The sad part about this suggestion, is that it barely caused a ripple. The “N-C-two-A” didn’t even give it enough credence to create a committee to discuss the possibility. Or at least reject it with come type of common sense. They just said no. The same way I did when I was 6 and I didn’t want to eat my green beans. I’d love to sit in on a meeting with the NCAA and just hear the reasons behind not having a playoff. We have to remember that these are the same people that thought to bring in the 64/65 game for the basketball tourney. I wonder how many man-hours went into that decision process. Is that one extra game, extra team really necessary? Did they think this was going to be innovative and shake up the world of basketball? Ok, ok, so you give one more team hope, a shot, you’re in the dance. Want to be labeled as the last team in? As if 64 teams aren’t enough. The 64/65 game kind of reminds me two male black widow spiders. They fight and fight to win. The winner then gets to mate with the female. There’s a little joy, hopefully some satisfaction, then he gets his head ripped off. End of story. Lamb to the slaughter.

So come on, NCAA, lets get this one right. Bring on the playoff. Satisfy the masses. Who loses in this scenario? No one. Who wins in the current scenario? The players, schools and alumni. Could you imagine if basketball had “bowl games”, and the top two teams were selected to play in the national championship? If you use the basketball model, how many times has the number 1 or number 2 won the whole thing? That’s right. Its not a given. Settle it on the field. Just like every other sport, game and event is done. Welcome to the 21st century.

Jan14th2008

The Editors

Published
by
geoff
7 months, 2 weeks ago
in Music
. 0 Comments

editors1.jpgI’m a sucker for live music. I’ll pretty much go see about any band play. I admit though, I got a little spoiled in NYC, able to go see a good band basically on any night. Such good clubs - CBGB’s, Knitting Factory, Mercury Lounge, Bowery Ballroom, Arlene’s Grocery, Sine, Slipper Room, Luna Lounge, etc… I could go on. The best part about it all, you normally can catch a good opening act, local or not, and add them to your list. Lets not forget, it’s not a bad way to spend an evening, drink a beer, here some music and at least get entertained.

We don’t have the music scene here in Atlanta, but there are some editors2.jpggood shows that come through the city. The Roxy, Tabernacle, The Earl, Star Bar and Masquerade are great places to catch a show.Friday, we got out to The Roxy (perks - not too big, easy access to the bar, and good sound system) and I gotta throw my hat in the ring for this one. Go see these guys live if you are at all interested in their music- The Editors. They still have a couple dates on their US tour so check them out. The full line up starts Louis XIV, Hot Hot Heat, and the Editors. Personally, I’d rather see Louis XIV than HHH, but we got there too late (who starts at 7:30 on friday?!). Heat is a little to poppy (like you would find them on an OC soundtrack) and in my opinion, sounded like shit live. Almost like their feedback was off, but I’m not going to make excuses for them. They had a barrage of ten 3-minute songs that thankfully was over fast.

Editors part of the show was very strong. They interacted with the crowd, sounded great, and came back out for a couple extra tracks. Tom Smith is a great frontman. But he’s (for lack of a better descriptor) a scrawny brit, talks like one too. Here’s the confusing part, he has this singing voice that is deep, distinctive and very smooth. You start looking around for a ventriloquist act or someone behind the curtain. Doesn’t match. Anyway, most of the stuff they played was from “An End Has a Start”, with a couple tracks from their first album, “Back Room” including Munich (You’ll speak when you are spoken too).

We had the usual good time, people watching, and our entertainment was definitely maxed out courtesy of one girl, yes, one. She came and joined the group in front of us, definitely looking for that release of a long week working as an administrative assistant, pounding her vodka and cranberry (that’s what it looked like, I’m sure it was something like Zima and grenadine). My girlfriend was almost knocked out by the olfactory overdose of Aussie hair products on our beauty of the night. She had a little trouble coordinating her body to the beat, kind of like the kid who ate too much glue, while her boyfriend held on to her hips in a pseudo prom-pose coupling move (you know what I am talking about!). The best part out the hip-holding, is that he wouldn’t let go even when she was hugging someone else. Hmmm… get out much?

So, get out there and support the music scene. At least it will keep you away from those wanna-be’s on Amercian Idol. For those of you outside of Atlanta, keep on the lookout for Snowden. They should have some new material coming out soon.

Jan7th2008

Welcome Back

Published
by
geoff
7 months, 3 weeks ago
in Randomness
. 0 Comments

newyear08.jpgHey everyone. Happy New Year.

Yes, its 2008 and ready for another 365 days of joy, chaos, and devolution (that’s reversed evolution for those of you who don’t subscribe to my dictionary). I was so busy doing Xmas shopping, traveling back and forth to New York for interviews, xmas in Michigan (yes, snow on the ground!), sneaking in a hockey game or two, spending a week in Steamboat, CO on my snowboard with my girlfriend and a couple friends (Mucho powder!) and of course, cranking over the birth year one more digit - older and wiser (more like slower, fatter and balder). So, I have ZERO complaints. Would you?

Anyway, so yes, a slight hiatus. Getting the motivation to sit down and hammer away on the keys has been lacking these day, especially since the College Bowls have been occupying most of my time. Pitt didn’t make it in, but at least they stopped WVa from playing in the national championship. I have about 30 “draft” posts, but nothing that I would call a complete thought - but is any of them really? But yes, my prophets. I’m looking toward a entertaining 2008, and who wouldn’t? I mean, we got the year kicked off in a proper way partying at the Spear’s household.

Happy New Year, and wishing you many good adventures in ‘08.
-geoff