This is not really a full post, since I have an exam in about an hour. Good news is that I am done after that. More good news is that Barack Obama is going to speak at Assembly Hall tonight and I will be in attendance. Thought I would share that with everyone, I am quite stoked.
The Cubs bullpen looked awful last night, really depressing game to watch. Hopefully Demp can get us back on track tonight; I would hate to lose 4 of the first 5 games of the year to the Brewers.
The Suns are done, as are the Mavs and Nuggets. The Rockets are the only team fighting back in the West so far, and they still have to go back to Utah in Game 6. So, as of now the 2nd round match-ups are L.A. vs. the soon to be known winner of Utah/Houston, and the real treat of San Antonio and New Orleans going at it. I can not wait for that series.
The real surprising and exciting thing to come out of the East has been the fantastic play of the Hawks. I am very excited for this series, even though I am about 95% sure there is no way the Celtics lose. It is still really cool to see a young team step up and not be scared of the big, bad Celts any longer.
So, that's it for today. My hardest final is coming up, and I still have to cram a bit more. Enjoy this one, it's from a band called Cream, I'm sure most of you know who they are. The song, "Badge." Real cool twist on the great jam from the supergroup. My favorite Cream song being done in a more upbeat way, can't beat a good Clapton riff. And it's live, ooh baby. Adios.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Mixed Bag
Well so much for me being worried about the Mets series. The Cubs rolled, dominating the NL favorites and outscoring them by a total of 15-2 in the series. Not too shabby, and that marks 5 wins in a row, 8 of 9 and 13 of their last 16 games won. I can't remember this hot of a start since I've been alive, and technically I'm correct. This is the Cubs best start since 1975. Also, in a strange coincidence, since I cut my hair the Cubs record is 13-3. Hmm.
Last night's NBA games were semi-disappointing, although Chris Paul again made up for it with gusto. His 32 points, 17 assists, 5 rebounds and 3 steals on 10-16 shooting once again proved that he is the best point guard in the world. Jason Kidd, it's looking more and more like it's time to hang them up and stop embarrassing yourself. The kid is running circles around you. The Mavs look really troubled as this series heads back to Big D. By the way, can everyone who reads this tell I have some strange man love for Chris Paul? Just thought it was worth mentioning.
As for the Spurs-Suns action, it definitely let me down. There was so much hype around this series, how it could turn out to be one of the best 1st round series of all time. I guess there's still time, and Game 1 was unforgettable, but last night was really owned by the Spurs. Gregg Popovich went into halftime with his team down 7 and must have given all the players a little smack because they came out on fire, and in an unstoppable shutdown mode, outscoring the Suns 27-11 in the 3rd quarter. In addition, Mike D'Antoni decided that Boris Diaw was going to be his big time clutch player last night, and he repeatedly failed down the stretch. I know he has a smaller player on him, but come on, I can't remember the last time he played well. Also, Amare Stoudamire's great first half must have allowed him a free pass on repeatedly taking 18 foot jumpers instead of taking the ball to the basket. I have no idea what happened to the Suns in the 2nd half, but it definitely was not pretty.
I only have until next Tuesday and I'm done with school. However, this does not stop me from procrastinating to new levels. I have a huge project due tomorrow that has, to this point, been left untouched. The project is to package a part of myself in a creative way and then deliver it to my professor. Sounds interesting, except I have absolutely zero ideas. Crunch time is coming. As for next week, I only have three finals; and when one of them consists of Rock & Roll in the '60s, I am pretty set. Should not be too rough.
I spent my Monday night (pre-Cubs game) at the driving range learning a few things. It is always a good idea to hit the range after several brews. After you work out your hook/slice drunk, you have no idea what you did to fix it and are in the exact same place as you were before the range. I would tell you more but I'm afraid Google will hunt me down and ban me from writing on this fantastic blog.
Finally, I am planning out my Vegas trip which will be this upcoming December. Should give me a good amount of time to build a bankroll that I can piss away in a total of 22 minutes. With the planning, I have been wondering where at I want to stay. If any of you have any good ideas, please leave them in the comments. I really can not wait, it will be my first venture out to the Mecca of Sin and I have definitely waited long enough to unleash my gambling addiction on the city.
So being in a great mood this morning, I'll give you a couple good jams to start everyone off. This first one comes from one of the great American bands of all time, The Band. Robbie Robertson and the gang put this one out on the fantastic album Music for Big Pink. The song, "The Weight." This is really an awesome clip of one of their live shows in 1970, at the height of their success. Good times all around. Song two comes from a nice band from South Wales that has been around for a couple years now. I've always loved this song, enough that I went out and bought the album a few years back. The band is Funeral For A Friend, and this song is called "History." Really good piece of songwriting, and the translation to the performance is excellent. Also, the clip is 7 minutes long, but the song is only about 4 minutes, so you do not have to wait around for the extra few minutes. I sincerely hope you enjoy these lean cuts, and have a great day.
Last night's NBA games were semi-disappointing, although Chris Paul again made up for it with gusto. His 32 points, 17 assists, 5 rebounds and 3 steals on 10-16 shooting once again proved that he is the best point guard in the world. Jason Kidd, it's looking more and more like it's time to hang them up and stop embarrassing yourself. The kid is running circles around you. The Mavs look really troubled as this series heads back to Big D. By the way, can everyone who reads this tell I have some strange man love for Chris Paul? Just thought it was worth mentioning.
As for the Spurs-Suns action, it definitely let me down. There was so much hype around this series, how it could turn out to be one of the best 1st round series of all time. I guess there's still time, and Game 1 was unforgettable, but last night was really owned by the Spurs. Gregg Popovich went into halftime with his team down 7 and must have given all the players a little smack because they came out on fire, and in an unstoppable shutdown mode, outscoring the Suns 27-11 in the 3rd quarter. In addition, Mike D'Antoni decided that Boris Diaw was going to be his big time clutch player last night, and he repeatedly failed down the stretch. I know he has a smaller player on him, but come on, I can't remember the last time he played well. Also, Amare Stoudamire's great first half must have allowed him a free pass on repeatedly taking 18 foot jumpers instead of taking the ball to the basket. I have no idea what happened to the Suns in the 2nd half, but it definitely was not pretty.
I only have until next Tuesday and I'm done with school. However, this does not stop me from procrastinating to new levels. I have a huge project due tomorrow that has, to this point, been left untouched. The project is to package a part of myself in a creative way and then deliver it to my professor. Sounds interesting, except I have absolutely zero ideas. Crunch time is coming. As for next week, I only have three finals; and when one of them consists of Rock & Roll in the '60s, I am pretty set. Should not be too rough.
I spent my Monday night (pre-Cubs game) at the driving range learning a few things. It is always a good idea to hit the range after several brews. After you work out your hook/slice drunk, you have no idea what you did to fix it and are in the exact same place as you were before the range. I would tell you more but I'm afraid Google will hunt me down and ban me from writing on this fantastic blog.
Finally, I am planning out my Vegas trip which will be this upcoming December. Should give me a good amount of time to build a bankroll that I can piss away in a total of 22 minutes. With the planning, I have been wondering where at I want to stay. If any of you have any good ideas, please leave them in the comments. I really can not wait, it will be my first venture out to the Mecca of Sin and I have definitely waited long enough to unleash my gambling addiction on the city.
So being in a great mood this morning, I'll give you a couple good jams to start everyone off. This first one comes from one of the great American bands of all time, The Band. Robbie Robertson and the gang put this one out on the fantastic album Music for Big Pink. The song, "The Weight." This is really an awesome clip of one of their live shows in 1970, at the height of their success. Good times all around. Song two comes from a nice band from South Wales that has been around for a couple years now. I've always loved this song, enough that I went out and bought the album a few years back. The band is Funeral For A Friend, and this song is called "History." Really good piece of songwriting, and the translation to the performance is excellent. Also, the clip is 7 minutes long, but the song is only about 4 minutes, so you do not have to wait around for the extra few minutes. I sincerely hope you enjoy these lean cuts, and have a great day.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Dominant Cub Thoughts
Look, I know it's early. I know they've played no one to this point but Milwaukee and Philadelphia, and in those games they are 2-4. But the Cubs are playing dominant baseball against teams they need to beat. Period. There's no way getting around it. They have already swept the Pirates twice and taken 2 of 3 from both the Reds and Astros. Those are Central Division teams they are beating up on, which can only help our cause. They have won 6 of 7 games, and honestly look like the '27 Yankees when facing the Pirates. Time will only tell how many other teams look like those Bombers when they face the lowly Buccos.
I want to jump to conclusions. Why can't that ever work? Why can't we just go through this season playing like we are now and cruise to a Central Division title. I suppose it's because Cub fans can never have anything easy. We have to earn it. So here's to us destroying bad teams all year long. If we can just follow that game plan, then losing to teams with winning records will definitely not hurt us as bad. And it is statements like that that keep Tim McCarver in business. State the obvious, you can't go wrong.
On the flip side of the coin, we start a series with the Mets tomorrow, a short one albeit. The important thing in this series is to make our presence felt. Last year, Ryan Dempster made a living blowing 9th inning leads to this team. Hopefully this year's closer can hold those leads and let the W flag fly above Wrigley. To play devil's advocate on my last tangent, winning games against teams with winning records is the hallmark of good baseball teams. If the Cubs continue along their early season path against top teams, us Cub fans are in for a long disappointing ride.
If you want to know what's going to happen, though, I can't tell you. No one can, and that's the best part of sports. And in particular baseball; where else can you watch your team play everyday to determine your fate in October. I would give nothing up to live through a winning baseball season, everything bad seems to fall by the wayside. So here's to continued dominance. Go Cubs!
Song of the day, "The District Sleeps Alone Tonight," by The Postal Service. Strange electronic sound with cool lyrics and a nice tune. By the way on the NBA front, Kobe got mad and dominated the 4th quarter , Pau was awesome all game and the Lakers rolled. But the big surprise was Detroit not showing up at home and dropping Game 1 to the 76ers. That series just jumped on my radar. 'Til next time, we've got Cubs-Mets on ESPN Monday night and both Spurs-Suns and Hornets-Mavs on Tuesday night on TNT. I love spring.
I want to jump to conclusions. Why can't that ever work? Why can't we just go through this season playing like we are now and cruise to a Central Division title. I suppose it's because Cub fans can never have anything easy. We have to earn it. So here's to us destroying bad teams all year long. If we can just follow that game plan, then losing to teams with winning records will definitely not hurt us as bad. And it is statements like that that keep Tim McCarver in business. State the obvious, you can't go wrong.
On the flip side of the coin, we start a series with the Mets tomorrow, a short one albeit. The important thing in this series is to make our presence felt. Last year, Ryan Dempster made a living blowing 9th inning leads to this team. Hopefully this year's closer can hold those leads and let the W flag fly above Wrigley. To play devil's advocate on my last tangent, winning games against teams with winning records is the hallmark of good baseball teams. If the Cubs continue along their early season path against top teams, us Cub fans are in for a long disappointing ride.
If you want to know what's going to happen, though, I can't tell you. No one can, and that's the best part of sports. And in particular baseball; where else can you watch your team play everyday to determine your fate in October. I would give nothing up to live through a winning baseball season, everything bad seems to fall by the wayside. So here's to continued dominance. Go Cubs!
Song of the day, "The District Sleeps Alone Tonight," by The Postal Service. Strange electronic sound with cool lyrics and a nice tune. By the way on the NBA front, Kobe got mad and dominated the 4th quarter , Pau was awesome all game and the Lakers rolled. But the big surprise was Detroit not showing up at home and dropping Game 1 to the 76ers. That series just jumped on my radar. 'Til next time, we've got Cubs-Mets on ESPN Monday night and both Spurs-Suns and Hornets-Mavs on Tuesday night on TNT. I love spring.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Association Round 1 Action
The NBA Playoffs are back, and they are certainly alive and well. Saturday's quadruple header provided us with some amazing moments and definitely some new insights. However, due to inclement conditions my personal knowledge of the later games may be diminished. Regardless, we begin.
First, Lebron and his gang of flukies against the Wiz and Agent Zero's comeback. Lebron threw his body around, got in a few battles, and came out alive up 1-0. We'll see if he continues to get 4 steps on half of his drives to the basket throughout the series. The big thing here, however, was Gilbert Arenas stepping up and making his return. I was one who definitely thought he was not yet ready to come back, but his 1st half performance said otherwise, 14 points on 4-4 from 3 point land, not too shabby. Looking forward to seeing if Lebron can continue to carry his "role players."
Our second game deserves a column of its' own. Absolutely fantastic theater for a 1st round playoff game. I was absolutely enthralled. Spurs and Suns, rematch of last year's great playoff series. This one without Tim Donaghy involved. It was already being hyped as the best 1st round matchup and I will say after game 1 that it already lived up to the hype. For those of you who may have been outdoors all day, it was a double overtime battle that the Spurs tied twice with threes to send into extra periods (one by Finley, one by Tim Duncan). That's correct, Tim Duncan, his first three pointer of the year. Then in the second overtime, Steve Nash hit a fall away three from the corner to tie. If it weren't for Manu Ginobili's driving layup for the win, it's like this game would have lasted another 3 hours. The coolest part about games like this is the people you watch the game with. In my case I watched with a big Suns fan, 3 people who were railing me all game for cheering for the Spurs, and another who just wanted a great game. Well, we all got what we wanted, except for the Suns fan, but even he had to enjoy the thrilling nature of clutch shots being hit to tie games.
The third game was home to my favorite team in these playoffs, the Hornets. I have to admit, I jumped on this bandwagon this year. But unlike others, it was at the beginning of the season when I was riding them to a streak of 8 straight winning parlays. When money is coming in, it's hard not to cheer for the team that has been your horse. On top of this, my strange man love for Chris Paul has come out and gave me a sleeper team to watch in the West. As you all know, the Hornets had a gigantic season, roping in a 2 seed in the wild West. So, with all this love, I'd obviously take the Hornets over the Mavs in Round 1, right? Wrong, but I have the right to change my mind. As good as Paul is, I expected the experience of Dirk's Mavs to overcome the best point guard in the world. What I didn't expect was Avery Johnson not throwing everything he had against Paul. Paul repeatedly ran down the court yelling, "He can't guard me!" in regards to future Hall of Famer Jason Kidd. He was completely correct, and Avery didn't do anything to stop it. Paul finished with 35, 10 assists and 3 steals, and confirmed to me that he is one of the most unbelievable players in the Association.
Game 4, what can I say? I was rediculously drunk at this point, struggling to stay awake and watch. But I made it and here are some notes. T-Mac, you choked. Loved the early play in this game from you, but the lack of impact late led to the game getting away from the Rockets. Deron Williams, I've always disliked you, leading back to this game in 2005. It so happened to be just a year and a half after another tragedy in my life, so I can't get over it. Anyway Deron Williams played great, with 20 and 10 assists. But, the real step up player was Andrei Kirilenko. Old AK-47 put up 21 on 8-12 shooting, and played excellent defense to shut the Rockets down late. By the way, how many shots does Bobby Jackson have to put up for Rick Adelman to realize that this is not a 2001 Lakers-Kings showdown. I mean 3-15 from the field, honestly? I have no more.
So, after 11 hours of basketball, 1 thriller, 10 too many beers and tons of food later what have we learned? Two things, I would kill to see Spurs-Suns Round 2, and all day drinking often results in more fun than being sober all day. Just a thought, give it a shot again sometime soon.
So I've got to give you a song of the day, and it will be..."Your Time Has Come" by Audioslave. I'll be honest, I just turned my iTunes on and this song was the last one playing, God only knows how it got on here. However, it's a fire-you-up tune and sometimes we all need to get a bit juiced. One final note, the Cubbies are 11-6 and riding over crappy teams. So 'til next time, catch Playoff fever or a smooth D Lee jack.
First, Lebron and his gang of flukies against the Wiz and Agent Zero's comeback. Lebron threw his body around, got in a few battles, and came out alive up 1-0. We'll see if he continues to get 4 steps on half of his drives to the basket throughout the series. The big thing here, however, was Gilbert Arenas stepping up and making his return. I was one who definitely thought he was not yet ready to come back, but his 1st half performance said otherwise, 14 points on 4-4 from 3 point land, not too shabby. Looking forward to seeing if Lebron can continue to carry his "role players."
Our second game deserves a column of its' own. Absolutely fantastic theater for a 1st round playoff game. I was absolutely enthralled. Spurs and Suns, rematch of last year's great playoff series. This one without Tim Donaghy involved. It was already being hyped as the best 1st round matchup and I will say after game 1 that it already lived up to the hype. For those of you who may have been outdoors all day, it was a double overtime battle that the Spurs tied twice with threes to send into extra periods (one by Finley, one by Tim Duncan). That's correct, Tim Duncan, his first three pointer of the year. Then in the second overtime, Steve Nash hit a fall away three from the corner to tie. If it weren't for Manu Ginobili's driving layup for the win, it's like this game would have lasted another 3 hours. The coolest part about games like this is the people you watch the game with. In my case I watched with a big Suns fan, 3 people who were railing me all game for cheering for the Spurs, and another who just wanted a great game. Well, we all got what we wanted, except for the Suns fan, but even he had to enjoy the thrilling nature of clutch shots being hit to tie games.
The third game was home to my favorite team in these playoffs, the Hornets. I have to admit, I jumped on this bandwagon this year. But unlike others, it was at the beginning of the season when I was riding them to a streak of 8 straight winning parlays. When money is coming in, it's hard not to cheer for the team that has been your horse. On top of this, my strange man love for Chris Paul has come out and gave me a sleeper team to watch in the West. As you all know, the Hornets had a gigantic season, roping in a 2 seed in the wild West. So, with all this love, I'd obviously take the Hornets over the Mavs in Round 1, right? Wrong, but I have the right to change my mind. As good as Paul is, I expected the experience of Dirk's Mavs to overcome the best point guard in the world. What I didn't expect was Avery Johnson not throwing everything he had against Paul. Paul repeatedly ran down the court yelling, "He can't guard me!" in regards to future Hall of Famer Jason Kidd. He was completely correct, and Avery didn't do anything to stop it. Paul finished with 35, 10 assists and 3 steals, and confirmed to me that he is one of the most unbelievable players in the Association.
Game 4, what can I say? I was rediculously drunk at this point, struggling to stay awake and watch. But I made it and here are some notes. T-Mac, you choked. Loved the early play in this game from you, but the lack of impact late led to the game getting away from the Rockets. Deron Williams, I've always disliked you, leading back to this game in 2005. It so happened to be just a year and a half after another tragedy in my life, so I can't get over it. Anyway Deron Williams played great, with 20 and 10 assists. But, the real step up player was Andrei Kirilenko. Old AK-47 put up 21 on 8-12 shooting, and played excellent defense to shut the Rockets down late. By the way, how many shots does Bobby Jackson have to put up for Rick Adelman to realize that this is not a 2001 Lakers-Kings showdown. I mean 3-15 from the field, honestly? I have no more.
So, after 11 hours of basketball, 1 thriller, 10 too many beers and tons of food later what have we learned? Two things, I would kill to see Spurs-Suns Round 2, and all day drinking often results in more fun than being sober all day. Just a thought, give it a shot again sometime soon.
So I've got to give you a song of the day, and it will be..."Your Time Has Come" by Audioslave. I'll be honest, I just turned my iTunes on and this song was the last one playing, God only knows how it got on here. However, it's a fire-you-up tune and sometimes we all need to get a bit juiced. One final note, the Cubbies are 11-6 and riding over crappy teams. So 'til next time, catch Playoff fever or a smooth D Lee jack.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Back From the Dead Vol. 1
The title says it all, I've been gone forever. I'll probably go on a hiatus at some other point during my time on this site. So, like I said, the title says it all.
Lots of things have happened since then. The Cubs are 7-5. I went to Opening Day. I saw Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds in a free concert at Assembly Hall. Little 5 came and went. I acquired strep throat. I shot a 57 through 9 holes in my first golf round of the year, and the next day I shot 42. That was just messed up. But probably the most important thing I found was randomly discovered. The band Back Door Slam and their 20 year old guitarist Davy Knowles.
My roommate runs into my room and tells me to turn on Jimmy Kimmel immediately, he was randomly watching. We proceed to see a little white kid from Isle of Man, England singing in a deep black man's blues voice and shredding a guitar in every perfect way possible. This led to a night of Youtube searches on him and the band. I was immediately hooked. So, I email my dad right away since he is a blues nut and tell him to check it out. He is immediately hooked. He emails his friends that are blues fans and they are immediately hooked. So, I'm thinking, if all these people love them, what about people who aren't blues fans. And I go off and tell some of them, and they love it. And now I'm thinking to myself, Back Door Slam is going to be huge. If it's not them, then it's going to be Davy Knowles, because the kid is absolutely amazing. Just tremendous. Their website's opening page has various quotes from critics who have seen them. Some of the quotes are, "I heard the spirit of Jimi Hendrix...it was a group called Back Door Slam." Or, "A guitar god in training." Other people have recognized, now it's time for the rest of the world to do so.
So, in tradition with tonight's post. Here's the kid shredding a couple great covers, and the last one is his own.
"Red House"
"Almost Cut My Hair"
"Come Home"
Hopefully you all like these, real good musical talent here.
Lots of things have happened since then. The Cubs are 7-5. I went to Opening Day. I saw Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds in a free concert at Assembly Hall. Little 5 came and went. I acquired strep throat. I shot a 57 through 9 holes in my first golf round of the year, and the next day I shot 42. That was just messed up. But probably the most important thing I found was randomly discovered. The band Back Door Slam and their 20 year old guitarist Davy Knowles.
My roommate runs into my room and tells me to turn on Jimmy Kimmel immediately, he was randomly watching. We proceed to see a little white kid from Isle of Man, England singing in a deep black man's blues voice and shredding a guitar in every perfect way possible. This led to a night of Youtube searches on him and the band. I was immediately hooked. So, I email my dad right away since he is a blues nut and tell him to check it out. He is immediately hooked. He emails his friends that are blues fans and they are immediately hooked. So, I'm thinking, if all these people love them, what about people who aren't blues fans. And I go off and tell some of them, and they love it. And now I'm thinking to myself, Back Door Slam is going to be huge. If it's not them, then it's going to be Davy Knowles, because the kid is absolutely amazing. Just tremendous. Their website's opening page has various quotes from critics who have seen them. Some of the quotes are, "I heard the spirit of Jimi Hendrix...it was a group called Back Door Slam." Or, "A guitar god in training." Other people have recognized, now it's time for the rest of the world to do so.
So, in tradition with tonight's post. Here's the kid shredding a couple great covers, and the last one is his own.
"Red House"
"Almost Cut My Hair"
"Come Home"
Hopefully you all like these, real good musical talent here.
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