June 17th, 1994

(I actually wrote this last year on this date, but didn't finish it... so I had to wait an entire year for this to be relevant again...)

I'm sitting and watching one of the most fascinating documentaries I've ever seen, and its something I didn't think about today until I saw it... "June 17th, 1994" is the name of show, part of ESPN's 30 for 30 series--that's 30 documentaries by 30 filmmakers celebrating the last 30 years of sports stories...

Anyway, this particular show is directed by Brett Miller, and it chronicles one of the most famous (infamous?) days in sports history, Friday, June 17, 1994... here's what happened on that one single day:

Arnold Palmer, one of the legends of golf, one of the pioneers of the game as we know it today (I don't follow golf, yet I know about Arnold Palmer) played his final round of major golf on June 17th, 1994.  Clips show him moving slowly, as he misses a three foot putt near the end of the round (he played on the senior tour until 2005, which he retired from pro golf altogether)

Ken Griffey Jr hit his 30th home run of the 1994 baseball season, a shot over the right field wall off of Kansas City's David Cone, tying the record for most home runs before the end of June set by Babe Ruth.  Griffey had potential to become one of the greatest of all time, before injuries slowed his career.  He retired last season as an almost surefire Hall-of-Famer.  The 1994 season ended in a baseball strike.

The New York Rangers had their Stanley Cup Parade on June 17th, 1994.  They had defeated the Vancouver Canucks (who, incidentally just lost to Boston in the only other finals they were in) in a seven game series to win their first Stanley Cup in their until-then 54 year history.  It remains their only one to date.

The World Cup's opening ceremonies were on June 17th, 1994, at Soldier Field in Chicago, IL.  It was the first, and to this day, only World Cup to be held in America.  Germany beat Bolivia 1-0 in the first game, but Brazil defeated Italy in the finals to become the first country to win four World Cups.

Tied 2-2, the Houston Rockets and New York Knicks had Game Five of their seven game final series on June 17th, 1994, and for anyone who is a fan of the NBA, it was a monumental series.  Patrick Ewing, in his first NBA finals, looking to get the Knicks their first trophy since 1973, while Hakeem Olajuwon was in his prime.  The Rockets won this series 4-3, and would go on to sweep Shaq's Orlando Magic the following season for back-to-back titles.

And... there's OJ Simpson.

On my previous 9/11 posts, I've mentioned that there are certain moments in time, in the world of entertainment, history and the like, that you'll always remember where you were.  I'm too young to remember JFK's assassination, or even Reagan's assassination attempt (the former being 12 years before my time, the latter happening when I was only 4 or 5), two "Where Were You When...?" moments in history, but I remember four major events...

• I was in Mrs. Wikel's class when the Challenger exploded in January 1986 (and I was driving back from my very first day at Starbucks when the Columbia exploded in 2003, though that's not talked about a lot)
• I was at the beach with Darlene Bledsoe, Eddie Hamner and Margaret Dorman when Princess Diana was killed.
• I was working at WBPT, 106.9 The Point, with Rob & Shannon, when we discovered the World Trade Center was on Fire
• And, finally, I was working as a waiter between the summers of my freshman and sophomore year in college at The Wright Place in Samson, AL, set to turn on Game 5 of the NBA finals to play in the background while the diners ate, when CNN Headline News (my news channel of choice being a young Democrat at that time), announced that NFL Hall of Famer, Heisman Trophy Winner and movie personality Orenthal James Simpson was in the back of a white Bronco, being driven by who is thought to be friend and teammate Al Cowlins, and is on the verge of suicide--a warrant had been issued for his arrest that morning for the murders of his wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman. 

In this TMZ influenced, interweb crazy, know-anything-about-anyone-the-instant-it-happens Twitter kind of society that we live in, people who are say, 25 and under, don't get it.  They only know of OJ Simpson by what the interweb and Wiki tells them happened, but back on June 17th, 1994, when there was no interweb accessable, when there was no Facebook and Twitter to immediately let you know things as they occurred, what happened that evening with OJ was... surreal.  Unthinkable.  And like an overturned 18 wheeler burning on the side of the road, you couldn't not watch it, even though you know you had so many other things to do.  Let me tell ya, this was crazy stuff. 

Now, OJ Simpson is a punchline.  Everything from "Yeah, he's searching every golf course in this country for Nicole's killers!" to "I hope he knows how to do that Hertz airport thing in prison" is what you hear when OJ's name is brought up, but back then?  He was beloved.  No kidding.  Its kinda like the difference in Michael Jackson then (biggest pop star in the entire world) and now (freak of nature, not to mention dead). 

For today's culture, it would be like hearing the news that Kobe Bryant had committed rape and... wait, what?  Okay, um... it would be like hearing the news that Tom Brady had committed two homicides... golden boy, talented, loved and adored, and completely shocked that he'd do that.  (Had I written this post two years ago, on June 17th, 2009, "Tiger Woods" would have been the easy choice in that analogy, but now, not so much).  OJ played at USC, then was drafted by the Buffalo Bills, and later played for the San Francisco 49ers.  In addition to becoming the first player to ever run for 2,000 yards in a single season (finished with 2,003 in 1973) he did it in a 14 game season, as opposed to the 16 game season we have now.  OJ is also the only player to rush for over 200 yards in six different games in his career.  Because his nickname was "The Juice", the Bills offensive line was known as "The Electric Company".  They weren't very good, but that's a cool, cool nickname.  And in 1985, he was inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame... the same year he married his second wife, Nicole Brown (they divorced in 1992)

He started his entertainment career even before he was done with the NFL, starring in such movies as "The Towering Inferno" and "Capricorn One", and in the miniseries "Roots", he hosted Saturday Night Live once, he was in a memorable and legendary spot for Hertz Rent-a-Car, and of course, he was the one and only Nordberg in all three The Naked Gun films.   Bottom line is, this guy was awesome.  OJ was the man.

And then, June 17th, 1994 happened. 

A few days before Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman were found guilty outside of Brown's condo, apparently stabbed to death.  Police suspected OJ Simpson, and gave him until 11am, Friday, June 17th, to turn himself in.  By 2pm, the police had issued at APB for OJ, and at 5pm, Robert Kardashian...

(remember the days when Kardashian was somewhat of a respectable name?  At least it meant "lawyer".  And yes, he is the biological father of Khloe, Kim and Kourtney, with ex-wife Kris Jenner.  Where was I?)

Oh yeah.. Kardashian read a rambling letter issue by OJ, which sounded like a suicide note to many people.  At 645pm, police spotted OJ's white Ford Bronco traveling down I-405, but when they tried to pull it over, the driver--Al Cowlings--yelled that OJ had a gun to his own head.   They backed off, but continue to follow at around 35 miles per hour.  And so began this slow chase across Southern California, one that was picked up by just about every network, and cut in on all programming.   So here I am, 18, going on 19, waiting tables at a small, podunk restaurant, and every eye in the cafe are glued to the television.

The white Bronco continues, and people began gathering along the side streets and bridges, waving, cheering and holding up signs.  There were phone calls made from the SUV claiming there were guns, claiming there were death threats, and OJ yelling that he didn't do it.  The Bronco stopped in front of his Brentwood, CA, home where we watched it sit there for 45 minutes, we watched OJ go inside for an hour (and apparently spoke to his mother and actually drank a glass of orange juice), then come out and surrender to police.  Inside the Bronco, the police recovered $8,000 cash, some clothes, a passport, some pictures.... and a loaded .357 magnum and a fake moustache and gotee.   Thus ended a news story and low-speed chase that was watched by NINETY FIVE MILLION PEOPLE.  That's almost the amount of people who came to the first DeuceFest!

If you don't remember the results, the trial captivated the country a few years later, mostly because it was a ridiculous circus type event that Judge Lance Ito lost control over within the first few days.  And then on October 3rd, around 10am, the verdict came... I remember this day vividly too, because I was hanging out in the BCM when Joey Hinson, who lived in the apartment downstairs with Tad Roose, came out and yelled to no one in particular, "Hey!  The OJ verdict is about to be announced!" 

Several of us ran downstairs to hear the verdict, and all of us groaned.  Not guilty.  He got away with it.  I won't go into it here, but there is a mountain of evidence that was never even presented in the trial for one reason or another (like the contents of the Bronco), plus a whole lot of goofs by both sides.  Some years later, he was sued by the Goldman family, and a verdict of guilty was returned, with a penalty of $33,500,000 against OJ, but California law prevents pensions, like the his from the NFL, to be used in judgements, so all the Goldmans got was about $500K from the sale of OJ's estate and belongings.

When doing the cover art, The Goldman Family
had the "IF" reduced, so "I DID IT" would be
the only words you'd see clearly

After a 2000 Rolling Stone article was released revealing how much money OJ was making from signing autographs, he moved from California to Florida--where the law prevents an estate from being taken to collect a debt... OJ gets away again.

He skirted another judgement in January 2007 when a restraining order was dismissed, one that would have prevented him from spending any advance money from a cancelled book deal... one that had its rights auctioned off later that year, and was then awarded to the Goldman Family... the book was called "If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer". 

After all the skirting and escaping he had done legally, you'd think OJ would buy a house on the beach somewhere and settle down, maybe just be quiet.  But OJ strikes again--in September of 2007, a group of men led by OJ stormed into a Vegas hotel room and robbed the occupants at gunpoint.  He was arrested, and after all the other defendants turned on OJ and confessed against him for reduced sentences, OJ was convicted in September of 2008.

And in a huge "MY BAD, DAWG... HERE'S THE MAKE UP" from the United States Justice System, OJ Simpson was sentenced to 33 years in prison, with the possibility of parole in 9 years (2015).  He's in the Locklove Correctional Center in Nevada... inmate #1027820.

And thus ends the long, strange saga of OJ Simpson.  I'm afraid that nowadays, there are people out there who probably think he was railroaded, and completely innocent, not because of their beliefs in the evidence and trial, but because... well, so much time has gone by, its becoming a faded memory.

But not for me.  I'll remember June 17th, 1994. 

The Summer of Blogging, Day Seventeen

The 100 Coolest Things of 2010... #60 to 51

Hey... its The SOB!  (no, not me... I mean... Day One of The Summer of Blogging...)

Yes, yes, its the summer and I'm still talking about 2010.   But I'm hoping to get through this list in the next week or two!  So, let's recap...

Basketball movies, SMU scandals and Hurricane Rhett's movie crushes are part of the 100th through 91st coolest things of 2010...  in the 90th through 81st coolest things of the year, we talked about old people with guns, steak roll-ups, and an Oscar winning Sandy B... and then, from 80th through 71st, it was The A-Team, Tron's new Legacy and finding Somebody to Love... then we discussed Hawaii's new show, narcissim on Facebook and candles in the 70th through 61st coolest things of the year...

60... Disney Meets Autism
This is by no means the lesser of our Disney vacations in 2010, its just the first one I wanted to talk about... The Lovely Steph Leann and I decided to treat her cousin Karen and their family, consisting of hubby Eric and children Hannah and Wyatt... the thing to know about Hannah and Wyatt is that they are severly autistic.  I dont know alot about autism, so I won't try to put them on a level of severity, but just know its a pretty big deal (as autism is).

Myself and Hannah, having a blast on Test Track

Cousin Karen actually called ahead to Disney about her children, specifically to the restaurants we were going to dine in and talked to the chefs about her children's eating limitations and allergies.  I was highly impressed on how responsive they were!  In all of the restaurants we ate at, the chef would come out and discuss with Cousin Karen some food options, and at Donald's Tusker House Breakfast in Animal Kingdom, the chef even brought out gluten free Mickey waffles specifically made for the kids.

We had a "disability pass" allowing us to use handicap entrances and skip many lines--I am sure that Cousin Karen would take perfectly healthy children waiting in long lines over autistic kids getting straight onto rides--but it is what it is, and we made the best of it.  Only one meltdown, that being when Jasmine messed around with Hannah's Hannah Montana hat, and Hannah wasn't having it.  At.  All. 

It was a fun trip, though, a good time spent with Cousin Karen, Hubby Eric and the kids, and of course, anytime you can spend money and time in Walt Disney World, its a good, good thing. 

59... SI Wants the Playoffs
I love my Sports Illustrated, and it shares the honor of being bathroom reading material with the latest Entertainment Weekly--that's not a bad thing, or a mock compliment, thats a compliment--and sometimes, an article jumps out that is worthy of reading and re-reading... like one in November of 2011, entitled "What a Concept!  Playoffs!  How (and why) the BCS is Blocking What College Football Needs". 

Its an in-depth opinion on the myth that the BCS works just fine and its a money-haven for college football programs, and how the bowl games are so lucrative for teams that participate... it tells us that

"Halftime entertainment at the Jan. 1, 2009, Outback Bowl was provided by the [ Iowa ] Hawkeye Marching Band. And how did the Tampa Bay Bowl Association, which runs the game, thank the band for that gratis performance? By charging the university $65 a head for each of the 346 band members. According to university records submitted to the NCAA, the school was forced to purchase face-value tickets totaling $22,490 for the band, even though the game wasn't sold out."

In fact, the bowl system, and sub-sequent payout is so convuluted that sometimes a football program actually saves money when they don't go bowling...

"Most conferences pool all their bowl payouts, using the bigger-money BCS games to cover the losses incurred in the smaller games. Thus does the Rose Bowl help subsidize the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl-a bowl bailout system that indeed spreads the wealth. Bowl directors privately admit that fewer than half the bowls could survive without the financial support from the schools.



Meanwhile, the sad sack programs that fail to qualify for a bowl often end up in the best financial position. As former Michigan AD Bill Martin said after the 2009 season, ‘The fact we didn't go to a bowl game the last two years means we actually made money.' "

...wait, success is rewarded by costing you more money, and the underachievers are given more?  Glad our country doesn't work like that...  anyway, I'd love to tell you that you can read this article online, but I had to sign up for the digital version of my print subscription, but if you can find it, its a great article.

58... Sly Blows Stuff Up
Ah, "The Expendables"... a movie I was so looking forward to that I even wrote a preview post for it last summer... and I wasn't disappointed.

Who doesn't love this movie?  Seriously... who doesn't want to see Sly Stallone with Dolph Lundgren and Jet Li and Randy Couture and Jason Statham and Mickey Rourke go all bad-A and 80s VHS star Eric Roberts be the bad guy and Stone Cold Steve Austin get all wicked bad and see things blow up and explode and see Bruce Willis and Ahnold and Sly share the same room and every action movie cliche played up, especially the one where every one on the team is a "specialist", a la "the weapons specialist" and the "explosives specialist" and the "martial arts specialist" and what is the movie even about?

Some crap about a corrupt government and the overthrow of a brutal dictator and so on and so on and who gives a rip.  Did you read that cast that I listed above?  Seriously.  It's awesome.  If you like real substance and deep plotlines, then don't watch this movie.

If you like the nostalgia of 80s and 90s action stars and cheese ball action movies with ridiculous things that blow up and over-the-top shootings and F-bombs being dropped like they were hot tamales, then this is the movie for you. 

57... We Get to See Dixon
Who doesn't love seeing old friends after a decade, or 14 years, goes by?   The Lovely Steph Leann spends a couple of days in Pensacola per month, and every now and again, I am able to go with her.  Usually, its a "drive down Thursday morning, she goes to work, does her thing, have a nice dinner, spend the night, take our time coming back Friday" kind of thing, and September 2010's trip was just like that.

This time, though, I was able to contact my old pal Dixon who lived in the area, and not only were we excited to see each other, she was pumped to see The Lovely Steph Leann--a reader of this blog, she knows my wife only as The Lovely Steph Leann, so for her, it was exciting to put a voice and a personality with the name and face that she sees online.

In writing about it, I said:  Dixon and I have known each other since 1993, and were friends all through college, and during dinner, I'm sure we bored the stew out of The Lovely Steph Leann with our "Oh, I remember when you..." and "Do you know that..." and "When you did that, I..." tales. She was quick to include The Lovely Steph Leann though, frequently turning to her and saying, "Oh my gosh, did d$ ever tell you about the time he and..." to which my wife would say, "No, tell me!" and there goes the story.

The post is called "Mobile Meanderings and Dixon Dinners", and you can read the whole thing by clicking here, and you can even see the link for the first day of Pensacola.

56... The Saints Win the Super Bowl
Growing up, the New Orleans Saints were always a joke.  It took them several decades to even make the playoffs, much less win a playoff game, and though they had some random flashes of brilliance here and there, mostly... well, they just sucked.

But in the last five or six years, they have begun to become a real franchise.  With the 2006 addition of Drew Brees (who left San Diego after being replaced by Philip Rivers, who does not have a ring), plus key players and a solid coaching staff not including anyone named Ditka, it came together... they did have two straight disappointing seasons in 2007 and 2008, going 7-9 and 8-8 respectively, but made the NFC title game a season later.  And in the 2009 season, they began to roll... and roll they did, into the playoffs, into January 2010.

And after a thrilling overtime win over the Vikings (Favre threw a pick to end the game... surprising), they ended up embarrassing the heavily favored Indy Colts, winning 31-17.  Of course, this was the first Super Bowl in over 20 years that I did not see at least a little bit of--myself and The Lovely Steph Leann were in the backseat of a car, riding with Snow White and her friend, Sidekick Sarah, but we'll get to that later in the 2010 list. 

So, the Saints won the Super Bowl.  It was like the Falcons making the Super Bowl in the late 90s... just strange.

55... Marky Mark Throws Punches
Here's one I didn't think I'd like as much as I did.   Mark Wahlberg stars as Micky Ward, a local boxer from Lowell, Massachussetts, who is managed by his mom, Alice (Melissa Leo) and is sort of trained by his troubled, alcoholic, addict brother Dicky (Christian Bale).

Marky Mark talks to my Hollywood Girlfriend

Micky is considered a "stepping stone" boxer, one who is used to help elevate other boxers, and its proven when he's destroyed by a mismatch that he never should have faced.  He meets Charlene (Amy Adams, whom I'm in love with) and his life begins to turn around.   Things get worse before they get better, though, as Micky sees his beloved brother Dicky screw up over and over, until he finally has to wash his hands of Dicky, while his overbearing mom blames Charlene for their family troubles, as do his seven sisters--in one hilarious scene, Charlene takes them all on in a fight on the porch.

The movie is extremely well-acted, and when it was over, I was pretty sure that Christian Bale would not only be nominated for an Oscar for his Dicky Ward portrayal, I was fairly sure he'd win it--he was and he did.  Mark Wahlburg is probably the least talented of the group of actors he's surrounded by, and he still gives a great performance as Micky, and of course, my eyes were locked on Amy Adams (whom I'm in love with) every time she was on the screen.  She ended up with an Oscar nom of his own (she lost to Melissa Leo, and although I wanted Amy Adams--whom I'm in love with--to win, I was satisfied with it) and did her part perfectly.

I loved this film, and as the years go by, I hope it gains stature and more acclaim.   Does have lots of Boston accent language, with lots of F-words being tossed around, boxing violence along with some real world violence, and a make out scene that features Amy Adams (whom I'm in love with) in some tight shorts and her underthings. 

54... The Good Guys Take on the Bad Guys
When its all said and done, Survivor will go down as one of my top ten, maybe even top five favorite series ever, be it scripted or reality.  And its seasons like the on that aired in the spring of 2010, "Heroes vs. Villians", the 20th season of the show, that makes me love this show so much.

They had brought back previous contestants before, like "All Stars" in Season 8 and some seasons where one or two contestants had a second chance, but this time, they did a great job selecting "Heroes", those players who seemed to really play an outstanding game with integrity--Stephenie, JT, Cirie--and "Villians", those who lied and clawed their way through the game--Jerri, Coach, Randy--and most notably, featured the first match-up between Boston Rob and Russell Heinz, who should have won the year before in Samoa.  Rob was ousted halfway through the game, while Russell made it to the top three.

Now, as much as I loved this season, the reason it doesn't rank higher is that the eventually winner, Sandra, was a prime example of  "riding coattails" and "ticked off the least amount of people".  Some will argue that Russell was robbed the previous year (he was) and also should have won "Heroes vs. Villians" (he shouldn't have )... Parvati should have taken this season, but played the season so well she was disliked by everyone, mostly because everyone was voted off directly and indirectly at Parvati's command.  That's how you play Survivor.

53... Mickey Warms My Hands
We went to The Most Magical Place on Earth in December (you'll hear about that later) and was able to meet up with one of my very favorite people in the whole world, Melanie (you'll hear about her later).  She and her family (again, later), and myself and The Lovely Steph Leann enjoy good food, good rides and good shows, but braved the winter in Florida. 

The "winter" in Florida is more of a "kinda cool", especially when compared to the rest of the country, but nonetheless, it was cold.  And I finally had to break down and buy some gloves.  Gloves are a tricky thing, really, because though they work well when driving, using my hands for writing or texting or any other thing that includes opposible thumbs sometimes comes across difficult.  Which is why when I saw the Disney gloves I am referring to on the shelf, I wanted them. 

And they are the best gloves I've ever owned.  Love them.

52... A Cap Gets Popped

Thank you, Melanie.  You rule.

I'm a ballcap guy.  I don't wear caps much when my hair is short, or when I am wearing my glasses (I think I look uberdorky with glasses and a cap), but sometimes, I love just tossing one of my many beloved caps on my wet, fresh outta the shower head and going.

I have three caps that I wear on a rotating basis... one is a grey Florida Gators hat I bought some years ago, right after they won the championship.  Go Gators.  Another is a khaki hat with a Mickey silhouette in the corner.  Goes well with most things I wear.  And finally, there is the one that Melanie brought back to me after she went to Disney for a few days.

And its my favorite hat. 

51... Bad Movies Get Props
In one of the trips to Pensacola I went on, we stopped at a random Barnes & Noble for The Lovely Steph Leann to get her some reading materials... she usually heads for The Romance Section, and I make my way through the bargain aisle, glancing to and fro, left and right in case something catches my eye, then end up in the Film/TV/Entertainment section.  I will pick up a random book or two and read a page or two, sometimes about Molly Ringwald and the Breakfast Club, sometimes about 1001 Movies I Gotta See Before I Die, sometimes about American Idol, sometimes about Dreamworks SKG...

And every now and again, I'll pick up a book and flip through it and read a page.  And then another.  And then another.  And  then another, until I'm sitting on the floor reading the book from the beginning until time to go.  And this time, I did just that, picking up "Showgirls, Teen Wolves and Astro Zombies" by Michael Adams.  Subtitled "A film critic's year long quest to find the worst movie ever made", it is exactly what it says it is.

A few years ago, the author Adams spent an evening watching the horrific Hilary Duff movie "Material Girls", and after avoiding gouging his eyes out, surfed on IMDB for some information.  He was surprised to find it, at least at the time, to be #1 on IMDB's Bottom 100 Movies, the 100 movies that fans gave the lowest ranking possible on the movie website.  He figured as bad as it was, it couldn't have been the worst movie of all time... could it?  Only one way to find out.

He then devoted the next year of his life, starting the following January, to watch horrible movies all year long to determine the worst movie ever made.  He ends up spending thousands of dollars on Amazon to get such movies to watch, and chapter by chapter, catagorized by month, he watches and details the worst of the worst.  At the end of every monthly chapter, he lists the worst seen that month, then the actual worst of the month... starting in January, and going through December, those are as follows:  "Search for the Beast" (January)... "The Guy from Harlem" (February)... "Superbabies" (March)... "Manos: Hands of Fate" and "Police Academy: Mission to Moscow" (tie for April)... "Grad Night" and "Da Hip Hop Witch" (May)... "Narcosys" (June)... "Hollywood High Part II" (July)... "Green River Killer" (August, and notable because Adams declares this film's director, Ulli Lommel, the worst director ever)... "Black Devil Doll From Hell" (September, a film so obscure that there isn't even any cover art in IMDB)... "The Corpse Grinders II" and "Mark of the Astro-Zombies" (October)... "Big Sister 2000" and "Toad Warrior" (November)... and in December, "Dark Harvest 2: The Maize". 

And yes, one of those movies was considered by Adams as "The Worst Movie Ever".  The beauty of this book is that he knows these movies are bad, he never tries to defend their worth, but yet, still revels in the awfulness of them.  He cracks wise and jokes all the way through it, many times with a "I cannot fathom how terrible this is" tone, and he goes after more recent and familiar fare too, like "It's Pat" and of course, "Showgirls".   

 I'm not a guy who watched a ton of cult classics and obscure films and such, so I hadn't seen most of those movies... though I did come across "Manos: Hands of Fate" online, and yes, its bad.   This book is an easy, entertaining read, giving you the reviews of these films so you don't have to watch them.  I loved this book.

Coming up... training a dragon... engagements abound... and what Christians like... and later, a gritty book becomes a gritty novel

God Hates Sports in Cleveland

What's funny is that I had no intention on doing an entire post on the sports misery that is Cleveland, Ohio, a town I've never been to, nor really paid much mind to.  But as I watched The LeBron Circus begin on ESPN, a network I both love for its sports and columnists and loathe for its shameless self-promotion and "look at me!" spirit, I started looking online for Cleveland info... and wow, it sucks to be a Browns, Indians and, after tonight, a Cavs fan.

Sitting here watching "The Decision", a special on ESPN about where LeBron James is going to play next year.  Part of me is thinking "holy crap, are you serious? an entire show about him deciding where to get overpaid a ridiculous amount of money?" and part of me is thinking "holy crap, are you serious?  an entire show about him deciding where to get overpaid a ridiculous amount of money?"

Quickly, LeBron is one of two best players in the NBA (the other being Kobe).  He's been the face of Cleveland sports for 7 years, a town that hasn't won any sort of sports championship since the 60s, a town that has been so beaten down time after time in one scenario after the other.

Look no further than this clip:



When your town's sports failures have their own nicknames, nay, a list of nicknames, its bad news. 

First, the Cleveland Cavaliers...

"The Shot" -- In May 1989, fifth game of the opening round of the NBA playoffs, Michael Jordan pumps a long basket over the Cavalier's Craig Ehlo.  The shot goes in, the buzzer sounds, the Cavs go home, and thus a "Clutch" legend is born.

"The Sweep" -- The 2007 NBA Finals featured Cleveland in the finals for the first time in their history, and LeBron James first championship appearance.  And they got slaughtered by the Spurs 4-0.

"The Choke" -- The 2009 NBA Playoffs.  The Cavs won 66 games, and were upended in the Eastern Conference Finals by my Orlando Magic, 4 games to 2.  The Cavs were a far superior team, but didn't have the team chemistry the Magic had, and it showed when they got beat down.

"The Forfeit" -- The 2010 NBA Playoffs, second round, the 61-game winning Cavs went up against the Celtics, a team that essentially backed their way into the postseason, then proceeded to beat the Cavs 4-2.  Game Six of the series was LeBron's "mailing it in" game, and to me, kinda told the world that he had no intentions of coming back to Cleveland.  He was indifferent, he wasn't that good in the game, and it proved that if LeBron doesn't have a good game, the Cavs suffer... meaning, the Cavs didn't surround Bron with good role players.  And this is another reason LeBron left, because you one guy cannot win a title.  (This has also been called "The LeBromination", though I think I like "The Forfeit" better just for the sheer "We gave up, we don't give a rip about our fans or winning jack" that it presents)

Then, the Cleveland Browns...
"Red Right 88" -- More obscure than many, the Browns trailed the Radiers by 2 in the 1981 AFC Playoffs, but were driving and were setting up for a game winning field goal.  The play was called "red right 88", meaning the quarterback was told to throw the ball away if he saw anything less than "wide open".   QB Brian Sipe forced a pass to Ozzie Newsome, but was intercepted by the Raiders, who went on to beat San Diego in the AFC Championship, and then the Eagles in Super Bowl XV.

"The Drive" -- I loved this one.  In the 1987 AFC Championship, my beloved Broncos, led by John Elway, drove 98 yards to score and tie the game 20-20.  Denver won in overtime by a field goal. 

"The Fumble" -- I loved this one too.  In the 1988 AFC Championship, my beloved Broncos couldn't stop the Cleveland Browns, and the Browns Earnest Byner seemed on his way to a touchdown to tie the game, when he was stripped of the ball by the Broncos Jeremiah Castille at the 3 yard line.  Broncos recovered, gave up an intentional safety, then went on to win 38-33.  Two years in a row, the Browns were smacked down minutes away from the Super Bowl.  Its worthy of note that the Elway led Broncos got drubbed in both Super Bowls, first to the NYGiants then to the Redskins.

The Broncos wouldn't win a Super Bowl until they took two in a row in 1997 (defeating the Packers) and 1998 (defeating the Falcons).  The Browns have never been, and haven't won a football related championship since 1964, when the Browns won the AFL Title.

"The Move" -- Perhaps the biggest knife in the heart of Browns fans.  In 1995, team owner Art Modell up and moved the team to Baltimore, itself a city in which their beloved team was snatched away because of a greedy owner (when the Colts moved to Indy in 1983).   Cleveland was awarded an NFL franchise in 1999, and since then, has had two winning seasons and one playoff appearance.. 

And finally, the Cleveland Indians...

"The Catch" -- Oh, the misery of the city dates way back.  The Indians last won a World Series in 1948, so in 1954, "The Catch" wasn't percieved as a beginning to disappointment.  Game 1 of the 54 Series, the NY Giants and Indians were tied 2-2 in the eighth.  The Indians Vic Wertz hits a monster shot to the wall, but with Willie Mays quite simply being Willie Mays, he ran the ball down, made an on-the-run over the shoulder catch, then fired the ball back to the infield to get another guy out.  The Giants won the game, and swept the Series.

"1995" -- The Indians by all accounts were favored to defeat the Atlanta Braves, who were in the Series for the third time in five years.  The World Series was cancelled the year before due to the strike, so this Fall Classic was huge for baseball, for the Braves and especially for the Indians, who made their first Series in 41 years.  It was a hard fought series, as five of the six games were one run contests, and Game 6, when the Braves clinched the championship, was a 1-0 combined one-hitter.

"The Single" -- Once again the Indians, in the World Series for the 2nd time in 3 seasons, were favored, this time over the fairly new franchise Florida Marlins.  Favored or not, they went to a Game 7, when in the 11th inning, Edgar Renteria hit a single off of Indians closer Jose Mesa.  The single skipped off of the glove of Charlie Nagy, up the middle and allowed the Marlins to score--and win the series.

"The Collapse" -- That's just a brutal nickname to begin with.  And its worse when you realize that in the 2007 American League Championship, the Indians were up 3 games to 1 over the Red Sox, when they were outscored 30-5 over the last three games.  The Red Sox went on to win the 2007 World Series. 

Even in the movie "Major League", when the Indians make the post season by beating Clu Hayward and the hated Yankees, we find out in "Major League 2" that the Indians didn't make the series.  They can't even win in fiction.

And tonight, Cleveland basketball prepares to die.  Its over.  LeBron James has announced he is joining DeWayne Wade and Chris Bosh on the Miami Heat, putting together a "Big Three" that will be considered an utter failure if they don't win 60+ games and a championship.  This year.  Not next year, not in two years, but starting in October. 

And if they don't win, the legacy of LeBron James will be questioned, and though no one can question how good he is, people will question his team player abilities.  He's past the point when Michael Jordan won his first title, and the same for Kobe, and with 7 to 8 quality seasons left, barring injury, matching MJ's 6 titles, or even Kobe's 5, is almost unthinkable.  Shaq's or Tim Duncan's 4 titles might be a stretch, depending on how the Wade/Bosh/James trifecta perform together. 

To sum up LeBron, and the ridiculousness it is to put on a American Idol type show for him to simply say "Miami", I turn to one of my favorite authors and columnists, The Sports Guy... he writes:

I can't wait to watch for the same reasons I couldn't turn away from O.J.'s Bronco chase or the Artest melee: it's Car Wreck Television. If LeBron picks anyone other than the Cavaliers, it will be the cruelest television moment since David Chase ended "The Sopranos" by making everyone think they lost power. Cleveland fans will never forgive LeBron, nor should they. He knows better than anyone what kind of sports anguish they have suffered over the years. Losing LeBron on a contrived one-hour show would be worse than Byner's fumble, Jose Mesa, the Game 5 meltdown against Boston, The Drive, The Shot and everything else. At least those stomach-punch moments weren't preordained, unless you believe God hates Cleveland (entirely possible, by the way, just ask d$ on one of my favorite sites, "Clouds in My Coffee"... okay, I added everything beyond "by the way"). This stomach-punch moment? Calculated. By a local kid they loved, defended and revered.


It would be unforgivable. Repeat: unforgivable. I don't have a dog in this race -- as a Celtics fan, I wanted to see him go anywhere but Chicago -- but LeBron doing this show after what happened in the 2010 playoffs actually turned me against him. No small feat. I was one of his biggest defenders. Not anymore.

I mean … what the hell kind of sporting event is this? It's like college signing day crossed with JFK's assassination. LeBron's team wanted to keep people talking and promote his website, and really, that's what happened. The man nearly exploded Twitter and melted ESPN. He transcended free agency, the World Cup, everything. He will draw a massive television audience tonight; he's the only professional athlete who could have pulled that off.


What a week for LeBron's brand. I just hope he remembers to wipe the blood off the knife after he pulls it from Cleveland's back.  (From "Countdown to the LeBronocalypse")

As it stands, the Indians are 33-52 at the All Star Break, and 14 games from Central Division leader Detroit.  The Browns had a decent draft, but are coming off a season in which they were dark horses to win the division, ending up with 5 wins total. We've already discussed the Cavaliers.  I'm sure its a nice town and all, and I'm guessing that Philly fans have their own list of curses, but at least they have the Phillies. 

Info courtesy of Wikipedia and an awesome, yet mildly depressing site called "God Hates Cleveland Sports"

The 100 Coolest Things of 2009... 80 to 71

We continue our countdown of the Coolest Things of 2009... and looking at the next ten, this might be the "Guilty Pleasurest" block of ten in the five year history of The Coolest List.  Not all of them, but some.  Several.  And if you are on Facebook, flip on over to The Clouds and see the blog in its better glory. 

80... Kate Winslet Gets an Oscar
Beyond The Goddess, beyond Amy Adams, whom I'm in love with, a founding member of my own Colin Firth Club that The Lovely Steph Leann keeps tucked away is none other than British actress Kate Winslet.  She'd been nominated six times for an Academy Award, but on Sunday, February 22nd, she finally got hers... in my running diary, I posted this:

1032p... KATE!!! KATE!!! KATE!!! KATE!!! KATE!!! KATE!!! KATE!!! KATE!!! KATE!!! KATE HAS AN OSCAR!!! KATE HAS AN OSCAR!!! KATE HAS AN OSCAR!!!!!! KATE WINSLET WINS AN OSCAR!!!! KATE!!! KATE!!! KATE!!!

1035p... We knew Kate Winslet would win this, but that doesn't make it any less freakin' awesome. KATE KATE KATE!!!

Needless to say, I was excited.  Still am.

79... Pickler's New Album
For anyone who has read this blog longer than a few days, you'll realize a few things.  First, Mama Gilmore is much more attractive than Daughter Gilmore.  Secondly, Hootie & the Blowfish rocks.  Third, I love stupid movies.  Fourth, I eat lots of food.  Fifth, I believe the Dixie Chicks only deserved a small part of what they got.  Sixth, He Who Must Not Be Re-Elected is a one-term president.  Seventh, if back massages were on Facebook, I'd hit the "dislike" button.  Eighth, I will only watch "A Christmas Story" on Christmas Eve, and refuse to buy it.  Ninth, Erin the Marine Wife is to be commended.  Finally, I think Pickles is awesome. 
 
Her first CD, "Small Town Girl", was pretty good for a post-Idol debut, better than even Kat McPhee's decently good CD.  So, when Pickles second album came rollin' out, I went to Best Buy and I bought it.  Yeah, I might be the only person you know that owns a Pickles CD, but hey, I dig it.  Favorite track?  The great, soarin' vocals of "Didn't You Know How Much I Loved You".   I would post a pic of Pickles here, but 1) I'm running out of good pictures to post for Idol blog references, and 2) not enough room for the above picture of Kate and the below picture of...
 
78.. Jon Thompson

One of the four guys I took with me to Walt Disney World (that trip to be ranked later), this dude cracked me up the entire time.  Example... with five guys in a single room with two beds, I had to sleep next to someone.  One of the guys slept on the floor.  And Jon had to sleep with one of them.  The one that Jon had to sleep with decided he would just sleep naked.  Naturally, Jon had a real problem with this... so much so that he leapt out of bed, and started yelling things like, " Why would you do this?  Why!  Why can't you keep your shorts on?  What the crap, dude?"
 
And, being guys, we all turned it around on him--telling him things like, "Settle down, go to bed" and "Seriously, its not a big deal."  Personally, I totally agreed with Jon--who wants to sleep next to a naked guy?  The Lovely Steph Leann doesn't even want that, and I'm her hubby! 
 
He ended up sleeping next to his "bed-mate" who agreed to wear shorts.  Later, I discovered that said bed-mate actually de-shorted during the night and re-shorted before Jon woke up.  I think I laughed for quite a while as all this was going on.
 
He kept the riot going on the way back, marveling at the luck and blessed life of one Tyler Campbell, the bro-in-law, who won a randomly won a car and gave swimming lessons for like, $70 an hour.  Jon?  He worked at a screen printing shop that, after three years, "I'm somehow making less money than when I started!  While I'm on the other side of the tracks, Tyler is over there living in the bourgeois!'.  Course, bourgeois actually means "social middle class".  Who knew.  Jon rocks.
 
77... Hank Azaria in "Night at the Museum:  Battle of the Smithsonian"

Out of all the movies I saw in 2009, I would rank this one somewhere in the middle.  It was good, but it wasn't great.  It had its moments, but like my original review, "...with this movie, you know what you are going to get... lots of historical figures making pop culture references, lots of funny action and Ben Stiller doing what he does best."
 
This movie itself doesn't make our list, but one of the two standout performances does--first, Amy Adams, whom I'm in love with.  Secondly, and more importantly (for this movie, anyway), its Hank Azaria's absolutely hysterical performances.  He "not only plays Kahmunrah to the hilt, leaving you convinced that he had a blast playing this part, but he also does the voice of the Brooklyn-accented Thinker sculpture and of Abe Lincoln, fresh out of the Lincoln Memorial."   His Kahmunrah voice is especially great, slightly feminine and non-threatening, and he makes for the best part of the movie that doesn't include a redhead. 
 
76... The Muppets Do Queen
Kermit, Miss Piggy, Beaker, Dr. Bunson Honeydew and the gang are making a comeback...
 
\
 
...and its awesome
 
75... "Hey" by Mitchell Musso
Uh... a fun song.. makes me kinda bouncy and... uh... its... um...
 
74... "High School Musical"
Um... I saw the movie off and on... we, uh, at The Happiest Place in the Mall we played... and... I really like the them song and... well... uh...
 
73... "The Hoedown Throwdown" by Miley Cyrus
Uh... its... the movie was terrible but this... I like this song and uh...
 
Boom clap, boom de clap de clap, boom boom clap, boom de clap de clap, come on y'all, boom clap boom...
 
Everybody!  Boom de clap de clap...
 
Boom boom clap?  
 
Anyone?
 
(silence)
 
(crickets)
 
Let's move on, shall we?
 
72... ESPN's "30 for 30"
The concept is brilliant, really.  To celebrate ESPN's 30th Anniversary, they brought in 30 different directors and/or directing teams from all walks of life, all lifestyles, all film styles, to direct 30 different sports documentaries on subjects near and dear to their own hearts.
 
The results thus far have been golden.  First up was "King's Ransom", a mildly entertaining film about Gretsky's trade from the Oilers to the Kings, which I never knew was such a monumental, watershed moment for both Gretsky and the NHL... Peter Berg directed.
 
What followed was "Muhammed and Larry", chronicling the fourth bout between Ali and Homes, directed by Albert Maysles... "The Legend of Jimmy the Greek", about the slow rise and quick fall of a commentator legend, directed by Fritz Mitchell... "The Band That Wouldn't Die", an awesome look at the Baltimore Colts marching band that kept playing for over a dozen years after the Colts fled for Indy, directed by famed director Barry Levinson ("Diner", "Good Morning Vietnam", "Rain Man"). 
 
The only one I really didn't like as much was "The U", directed by Billy Corben, scanning the Miami Hurricanes teams of the 80s... it showed the teams, the successes, but didn't really spend too much time into the real issues of the team's problems.  Personally, I wished it would have talked about the crash of the program, not just the rise, but alas, I didn't direct it.
 

 
The two I loved, though?  "Without Bias", directed by Kirk Fraser, about the incredible impact that the death of Len Bias had on the Boston Celtics.  Two days after the NBA Draft, Bias dropped dead of a cocaine overdose, he not only altered our perception of casual drug use and became the tipping point of America's drug crisis in the mid-80s, but he practically ruined an already floundering franchise right as it was about to find a guy who they could build around. 
 
Secondly, "Small Potatoes: Who Really Killed the USFL?", directed by Mike Tollin which showed the success of the USFL, attempting spring football, leaving the NFL in the fall--and they were doing pretty good with it... but it took a dive, due to over-expansion, bad management, and one Donald Trump who bought into the league, and wanted to immediately move it to the fall, taking on the NFL head-to-head.  After a monoply & anti-trust lawsuit against the NFL, the verdict came back in favor of the USFL... in the form of a check for $3.76.  The USFL went belly up.  The documentary is made even better by the interview with Donald Trump, who ends up walking out on Mike Tollin.
 

 
Ahead are films on the legend of Steve Bartman... speedskater Johan Olav Koss... NASCAR driver Tim Richmond and the little disease that killed his career... and even one featuring Michael Jordan's suspension from the NBA for gambl... um, I mean, his retirement for two years to try out baseball.  Oh, and Ice Cube puts his touch on a film about the Raiders.  Good times.
 
71... Read the Rules, Shankapotomus
The Lovely Steph Leann prefers the one where the buddy "flexes the golden pipes", but personally, this is my favorite commercial of the year... 
 

 
Coming up... An Idol goes Kanye... The Best Greek Film of the Year... and later, noddin' my head like yeah, movin' my hips like yeah...

The Blind Side

Clear to the left, clear to the right, without a sound it came around, hit me on the blind side.  Look to the front, look to the back, down for the count, I'll tell you how, hit me on the blind side.  And though I could see the truth staring right at me.  Well, I did not ready myself for the blind side.  -- "Blind Side" by Susan Ashton

Sandra Bullock is having quite a year.  First, "The Proposal" does monster business, everyone I know that has seen it just loves it, and I gave it quite a glowing review on this here website (you can also see my own list of favorite Sandy B movies).

Secondly, the movie "All About Steve" was released, a movie actually set for release in April, but was pushed back to September, so it would be after people had fallen for Bradley Cooper in "The Hangover" and fallen again for Sandy Bullock in "The Proposal".  Well, "All About Steve" got terrible reviews, it was painted as an incredibly awful movie... but several people I know that went to see it said they thought it wasn't that bad.  The Lovely Steph Leann and I never got around to seeing it but... (just took a second and added it to our Netflix Queue, discovering it will be released on 12/22). 

And now, "The Blind Side" has come to theaters.  We've been seeing the trailer for this flick for a few months, and The Lovely Steph Leann would always lean over and whisper, "I want to see that movie."  So, when it was released, we had to go see it. 



I knew the basic story--Sandra Bullock plays Leigh Ann Touhy, a well-to-do wife in Memphis, TN, with a husband, Sean (a surprisingly good Mr. Faith Hill), and two children Sean Jr (SJ) and Collins, living a simple, successful life.  They come upon Michael Oher (played by Quinton Aaron with the perfect amount of charm and subduedness), a large black boy, who has no home, no place to go, no way to better himself.  They take him in for the night, and "for the night" turns into "for a few nights" and "for a few nights" becomes "for a while". 

The movie then follows along with how not only Michael's life is changed, but how the Touhys--specifically Leigh Ann's--life is also changed.   What's so dazzling about this story is that its all true.  The real life Touhys have seen it, and commented that its pretty accurate, at least for a Hollywood film.

Its full of laughs and heartwarming moments, but its never preachy or manipulative.  The movie's intent it never to make you feel like you have to cry, and it doesn't seem like its showing you the "Hallmark" moments just for the awwwww factor... its part of the story.  In movies with this "helping each other out" theme, there's always an uncomfortable moment when the kids hate the new person, only to have this togetherness scene that brings them together--"The Blind Side" never has that.  SJ and Collins are nothing but loving and supportive of Michael, and it even enhances Michael's rebuilding of his life.

There is conflict, of course, first when Michael faces his past, and then we he faces the question of "Why did the Touhy's do this for me?", but being the movie that it is, the conflicts don't end badly. 

Probably the most impressive part of this entire movie is the evolution of Sandra Bullock... this is unlike a role that she's ever done, and she takes it full-on and does a tremendous job channeling the real Leigh Anne's will, spitfire and spunk.  Her accent is slight, but not bothersome, and in my favorite scene, she faces off against the other well-to-do women over lunch.  Its remarkable because you know that she was one of those women before Michael Oher showed up in her life.  One of the ladies, in a pleasant tone, asks if Leigh Anne was worried that a large black boy was sleeping in the same house, downstairs from Collins, the Touhy's pretty daughter.  Leigh Anne simply says, "Shame on you."

In a side note, I read a column in Entertainment Weekly where Sandra Bullock said she met Leigh Ann Touhy in real life, in research for the role--and was completely intimidated.  Apparently, in real life, as in the movie, Leigh Ann Touhy does in fact carry a gun in her purse and her vehicle, and is one of those "when I'm for you, I'm for you a thousand percent, but if you hurt me or someone I care about, you'd better watch it, cause I'm taking you out." 

When a movie's credits are rolling, sometimes The Lovely Steph Leann says, "I really liked it!" and I'll say, "Yeah, it was pretty good."  Sometimes I'll say, "I thought that was great", and she'll shrug and say, "Yeah, I liked it okay."  When the credits rolled for "The Blind Side", we both said, "That was fantastic."  And it was.  Everyone that I know that has seen this film has loved it.  The critics haven't been as kind, calling it a little sappy, a little schlocky, one even lamenting the fact that there was no conflict between Michael and the Touhy children, a fact that I really liked because that's done in every other film like this.  I'm guessing there was some conflict in real life, but Michael's relationship with SJ and Collins was not the center of the movie, it was all about Leigh Anne and Michael.

Tim McGraw is actually really good as Sean Touhy, the loving and supportive husband who gives way to his wife when needed, without ever giving the appearance that he's a doormat. 

Of course, Michael Oher, in real life, is playing in the NFL, selected in the as the 23rd pick overall this past April by the Baltimore Ravens after a very successful career at Ole Miss.  And that brings up a hilarious part of the film, when he's being recruited by colleges.. several college football coaches played themselves but at former schools: Phillip Fulmer (was Tennessee head coach, now out of football), Lou Holtz (was South Carolina head coach, now does TV and routinely embarrasses himself by picking Notre Dame to win), Houston Nutt (was Arkansas head coach, now Ole Miss head coach), Ed Orgeron (was Ole Miss head coach, now assistant at Tennessee and might possibly be crazy), Nick Saban (was LSU head coach, now Alabama head coach, practicing the phrase "We Got 13"), Tommy Tuberville (was Auburn head coach, now out of football... remember him?). 

The story itself was the center of a bestselling book in 2006, entitled "The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game" by Michael Lewis, and as of this blog post, it was sold out on Amazon.com.

The movie is excellent... its feel good, its warm, its funny, its everything a family movie should be, one that pokes at you to say "awwww" without demanding you tear up or feel sympathy and guilt.  After the movie was over, I leaned over to The Lovely Steph Leann, and in my most politically incorrect tone said, "We should go to Ensley and adopt a black child."  She frowned at me, then rolled her eyes and got up to leave.  She's good at that.

Bracketology & Sports Affections

I told The Lovely Steph Leann tonight that I hadn't filled out my bracket, and was in danger of missing it for the first time in at least 20 years.... I've been filling them out ever since I was at home in Samson, Alabama, usually when I walked four houses down to the Samson Public Library and secretly pulled out the thick paper bracket in the middle of the latest Sports Illustrated issue.

Typically, I'm terrible. I never watch college basketball, though somehow, by March Madness time, I'm an expert. Truth of the matter is, when The Lovely Steph Leann and I both fill out a bracket, she beats me. Its happened something like five out of the last six years. I'll probably beat her this time around, though that's more than likely due to the fact I don't know that she'll fill one out by the time the tourney starts in, oh, 13 hours. Especially since she'll be on the road to Pensacola tomorrow morning.

THE MIDWEST
Louisville over Morehead State, Siena over Ohio State, Utah over Arizona, Wake Forest over Cleveland State, West Virginia beats Dayton, Kansas over North Dakota State, Boston College over USC and Michigan State over Robert Morris...

Louisville beats Siena, Wake Forest over Utah, Kansas over West Virginia and Boston College upsets #2 Michigan State

Louisville and Kansas move to the Elite Eight

Personally, I'm a college football fan. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a good baseball game, cheering for the Baltimore Orioles since 1990. Why? Well, I spent the summer of 1990 in Hampton, VA, visiting my sister and her family, and someone gave me an extremely cool Orioles baseball cap. Thus, an alliegence was born.


This was the logo atop the hat I owned. I wished I still had that hat, but I wore that thing slap out.

Never been a Braves fan... I think its mostly because prior to, what, 91 or 92, NO ONE I knew talked about the Braves, no one I knew wore a Dale Murphy jersey, no one I knew cared anything about them... until they started winning, and then every Braves fan I met said the same thing... "I loved them even when they was crappy an' all! I love the Braves! Go Chipper!"

THE WEST
UConn destroys UT-Chattanooga, BYU over Texas A&M, Purdue over Northern Iowa, and in love offering tossed to The Freckled (re)Becca, I am choosing Mississippi State over #4 Washington. No ye Huskies. Marquette over Utah State, Mizzou over Cornell, Maryland slightly upsets California, and Memphis over CS Northridge.

UConn then edges BYU, and for my boy-oyz Marky Mark and JustFish, Mississippi State upsets Purdue! Dawgs win! Dawgs win! Marquette upsets Mizzou and Memphis knocks out Maryland.

UConn then beats Mississippi State (enjoy what you can get) and Memphis takes out Marquette to advance to the Elite Eight.

I also enjoy basketball, with the two teams I root for being San Antonio Spurs and the Orlando Magic. I was a Spurs fan when I lived in Austin, Texas, from around '80 to 84, but when Orlando got a team in 1989, I was hooked. I actually kept the scores of every single Magic game for the first three years of their existance, writing them down first in a little Orlando Magic pocket guide I had acquired, then just in a notebook... my plan was to have every game written down, and had I continued this particular quest, I'd have quite a journal 21 years later.

Alas, I didn't keep it up. It was easier at first, dork and non-invitee-to-parties that I was in high school, though in 1991, 92 and 93, I just got too busy, first with tennis, then with a few parties I actually was invited to (thanks Beverly Day!) and so on. But I was pumped when Shaq was drafted in 92, then Penny Hardaway was acquired in 93... twas to be good times. Then Penny became the Penny we know now, Shaq went to the Showtime Lakers and all was lost.


I remember the Magic's first game... November of '89, at the O-Rena, I watched on tv as the NJ Nets beat the Magic (I had to look score up, it was 111-106), and a few days later the Magic won their first game, beating the Knicks (118-110, again I had to look it up). I had a limited edition Magic hat, number 502 of 1500. I wore it all the time, after the Orioles hat had worn out. I left it in the backseat of Cyndi Bledsoe's car when she went home for the summer. She told me her car was broken into, and it was stolen. I was heartbroken.

As for the Spurs? My favorite player became David Robinson, and I rooted for him constantly. It became even easier to root for him when Tim Duncan was drafted in 1997, because Robinson and Duncan, The Twin Towers, led the Spurs to the title in 1999... and yes, it was strike-shortened, so it was great to see their championship vindicated in 2003. Then they won two more in the last five years.

What happens when the Spurs play the Magic? I dunno. I seldom watch most of the regular season... like baseball, I start paying attention when the playoffs approach. Like now. I'm watching the Pistons and Rockets.

Next season, though? I think I'm going to totally toss myself into the Spurs and the Magic, especially the latter. Well, after football season is over, anywhere.

THE EAST
Pittsburgh over East Tennessee State, Oklahoma State over Tennessee, #12 Wisconsin over #5 Florida State (it had to happen), Xavier over Portland State, Virginia Commonwealth over UCLA, Villanova over American University, Minnesota over Texas (who I picked to win last year and they were booted in the 2nd round), and The Dookies over the Mighty Bearcats of Binghamton.

Pittsburgh over Oklahoma State (they used to be called Pitt, by the way, which I liked better), Xavier over Wisconsin, V'nova over V'Com, The Dookies over Minnesota (coached by Tubby Smith, who was driven out of town pretty much by the Kentucky Wildcats, who, coincidentally missed the Big Dance for the first time in 18 years...)

Pitt beats Xavier and Villanova beats The Duke Blue Devils to move into the Elite Eight

Which brings us to hockey. Now, this is a sport I only watch during the Stanley Cup Finals, and thats if its a series clinching game in the finals, and thats if its a team I root for, namely, the Colorado Avalanche. I was going to switch to the Atlanta Thrashers or the Nashville Predators, both of which I'd love to see in person, but I've been a 'Lanche fan for quite a while. Actually, I was a Calgary Flames fan early on, but when the Nordiques moved from Quebec to Denver in 1995, I switched a few years later... (I don't claim their 1995 title, but I am part of the 2001 Stanley Cup championship) For whatever reason, two cities I've loved all my life would be Baltimore and Denver. Only been to Baltimore, and that was briefly to the harbor for lunch during a trip to NYC on a 1998 mission trip. Never been to Denver. Want to spend time in both.

Bottom line is, I could really care less about hockey. I don't know how the Avalanche are even doing, but if they make the playoffs, I'll probably pay attention. Somewhat.

THE SOUTH
The Tarheels of North Carolina over Radford, Butler beats LSU, #12 Western Kentucky over #5 Illinois, Gonzaga over Akron, Arizona State over Temple, Syracuse over Stephen F. Austin, Clemson beats Meeeeeechigan and in a rare moment of "I might believe the hype", I'm taking Oklahoma going deep, starting with a win over Morgan State.

UNC beats Butler, Gonzaga beats the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers, Syracuse over Arizona Stae, and Oklahoma defeats Clemson

UNC beats Gonzaga... though you have to think that one day, maybe one shining day, the Zags of Gonzaga will actually make a Final Four. Not this year. Anyway, Oklahoma over Syracuse for the Elite Eight.

While I follow baseball and basketball primarily in the playoffs or at the most, the weeks leading up to the playoffs, and I scarcely follow hockey at all, I watch every single game of football I can possibly feast my eyes on. Perhaps its the simple 12-14 game schedule for college, or the 16 game schedule for the NFL, as opposed to the 162 and 82 games for baseball and basketball, respectively. Perhaps I just know more people who get into it more, thereby allowing more conversations to happen, more fun watching games and more debates to occur. Perhaps its the evolution of The DFC, which stands for The Deuce Football Championships, a game devised in 2000 featuring only Yours Truly and 8 friends who just picked the winners of 8 games per week, that has grown into a game entering its 10th season this coming fall, with over 35 people playing--congrats again to The Mighty Mark Gainey for winning his first DFC title.

I dunno. But I loves me some football. Whereas I wouldn't watch a basketball game unless it has meaning (like the Pistons/Rockets, though I'm barely paying attention) and I can't remember the last baseball or hockey game I turned on that didn't feature the words "playoff series", I would watch just about any two teams play football. And I have.

Turn on the Vs channel around 9pm on Saturday night, and heck, who wouldn't want to watch the Idaho Vandals and the Montana Grizzlies slug it out? Flip over to Fox Sports East, and why yes, I'll take in Miami of Ohio in a great battle with Central/Northern/Western/Eastern/Midwestern/South Central Michigan. Love it.

Though there are teams in all sports I like and root for, besides the ones I just mentioned, (the Celtics, the Mavericks, the A's, the Sawks), and there are teams I don't like and root against (the Lakers, the Yankees, the Braves), in the NFL, most teams fall into a "Like" and "Don't Like" catagory--and unlike the other sports, I typically have a reason....

I like the 49ers, being a Montana/Rice/Lott/Young fan back in the day. I don't like the Redskins, because my mom hated them. I like the Dolphins, mostly because I watched them growing up. I don't like the Browns, because they were bitter rivals of the Broncos in the late 80s. I like the Packers, yes, because of Favre, but I don't like the Raiders because they are inept. I like the Pats, the Jags, the Bengals and the Titans. I don't like the Cowboys or the Jets. Everyone else? The Chiefs, the Vikes, the Rams, the Seahawks, the Falcons and so on? I root for them or against them based on my own personal interests at the time. Falcons playing the Cowboys? Go Falcons! The Falcons play the Broncos? Go Broncos!

Like I said, I liked Denver, and Denver sports teams. So add that with one of my favorite players of all time, John Elway, and you've got a life long Denver Broncos fan. I even sent my football card to him to be signed, and it came back signed. Don't know whether he signed it or not, but it was signed by someone. And, in 1997, the Broncos became the first sports team to win a championship during the era I was rooting for them (I've enjoyed similar successes with the Spurs, the 'Lanche and this past season's Gators. I'm still waiting for an Orioles championship, though with the Angelos running the show, it will be a long, long wait).


It seems when a team changes their logo, they win. See "Buccaneers, Tampa Bay" and "Patriots, New England"... and yes, "Broncos, Denver". However, I do miss the Orange Crush logo.

College football opens up a whole new conversation, because instead of 32 teams, there is what, 118? 112? Something like that. Now, I don't have an opinion one way or another on many of them, cause really, what do I have against the Southern Illinois Salukis?

Its no secret I'm a Gators fan. Say what you will, and some of you will, but Go Gators. And, yes, GO TROY! I'll always be a Troy (state) Trojan. And I think its not sacrilege to enjoy other teams besides your own... as long as you are keeping your main team(s) your main team(s). I do root for the Longhorns of Texas... did you know that I almost went to the U of Texas? Seriously. I had every intentions of doing so. Another story, another day.


People asked me who I rooted for when Troy played Florida. Simple. Troy. I rooted for Troy, because thats my alma mater. I'm a Troy Trojans guy. Also, I knew there was no way they were beating the Gators, so that made it a little easier, knowing I was rooting for one team assured of a loss. No pressure. No chance of a mixed emotion feeling.

I root for the North Carolina Tarheels, mostly because they have been bad for so long, there almost isn't any harm in rooting for them. I do root for the Auburn Tigers, and was a Tubby fan, though I can understand the whole "time to move on" mentality. I also cheer for Oregon, cause the unis are worth it. I dig Nebraska and Michigan too, but mostly because of the history of the programs. Have to say, though, I did cheer when Appy State beat Michigan, cause it was awesome. And who doesn't love Boise State? And I cheer for the rise of the U of South Florida Bulls.

Teams I hate? The Ohio State Buckeyes for starters. Texas A&M. The LSU Tigers. The Tennessee Volunteers. The USC Trojans. The Missouri Tigers. I also cannot stand the Duke Blue Devils, but mostly that's a rare basketball opinion, because their football team has been pretty terrible. Can't stand Florida State or Miami.

DAVE'S ELITE EIGHT
Louisville over Kansas, 77-73... Memphis over UConn, 65-63... Pittsburgh over Villanova 70-58... Oklahoma over North Carolina, 91-88, 2 OTs

Which brings us to the University of Alabama. I cheered for Auburn growing up, but I've always respected Alabama. They have something that Auburn doesn't have--one heck of a history. Now, while I would question all 12 of their titles, as I've read various reports about the validity of the Fantastic Dozen, I figure if half of them are bogus, that's still SIX national titles. Most colleges in this country would love to have half of that!

I'm not here to debate Alabama vs. Auburn, and maybe as a Florida fan, it excuses me from the debate. In fact, I found myself kinda rooting for Alabama in the Iron Bowl this year, mostly because I wanted an undefeated Alabama in the SEC Championship game. The Lovely Steph Leann is an Alabama grad, like many of you, and she does it like she wants it... she ONLY watches football when Alabama is playing. Otherwise, she could give a rip.

Bottom line is, I love sports. I just signed up for the Sports Package on DirecTV, which gets me channels like NBA TV, The Horseracing Channel, ESPNU, CBS College Sports, the YES Network, the New England Sports Network, and Fox Sports from every possible direction and area of this country and beyond. I believe somewhere between 690 and 705, I found Fox Sports KT's House. Its all over the place.

Anyway, all I can say is... Go Magic! Go Spurs! Go O's! Go Broncs! Go Gators... and GOOOOOOOOOO TROY!!!!

Oh yeah...

DAVE'S FINAL FOUR
Louisville beats Memphis 81-75... Pittsburgh downs an exhausted Oklahoma 80-66

Did you know that President B. Hussein Obama did his own bracket? All over the news, of course, but he's taking Louisville, Memphis, Pitt and North Carolina, with the Tarheels his pick to win the whole thing. So... his Final Four is one different from mine... though he thinks that Ty Lawson's injury will hurt them, as do I.

And for the record, this whole thing about the President going on the Tonight Show... leaving the White House to go spend time with Jay Leno and all... I think its brilliant. I think its fantastic. I love the whole idea. Now, on the show he's going to try to sell his economic plan, which I am so completely opposed to, but when I'm president in 2016, I will do my best to get on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. And I will totally fill out a bracket on live television.

DAVE'S FINAL... Louisville Cardinals defeats Pittsburgh in an exciting 71-63, which will be a lot more exciting than the final score indicates.

If you want to win your office bracket... study mine. Then do the exact opposite.

The Super Bowl XLIII Running Diary

926p... AAAAANNNNDDD that's all we're going to say about Super Bowl XLIII... thanks for joining us for the 4th Annual Super Bowl Blog. Our next running diary will definately be at Oscar Night, February 22nd. Night!

925p... Santonio Holmes won the Super Bowl MVP. He gets his hardware, The Lovely Steph Leann laments that Larry Fitzgerald should have gotten it.

922p... NFL Commish Dan Goodell is handing Steelers owner Dan Rooney the trophy. Dan Rooney is about 128 years old. We make the obligatory "oops, I crapped my pants" joke.

920p... Here's the trophy presentation, given by a very rough looking Joe Willie Namath. I hear "He's probably drunk", "Is he even sober?" and "I wanna kiss you..."

916p... Awaiting the MVP award announcement, plus the handing off of the Lombardi Super Bowl trophy.

909p... And it was a fumble. Pittsburgh Steelers 27. Arizona Cardinals 23. Pittsburgh Steelers, Super Bowl XLIII Champions. Pittsburgh Steelers, winner of 6 Super Bowls now.

908p... Warner takes several seconds, goes to throw, loses the ball, its a fumble. Pittsburgh gets the ball back. And... it might just be over.

906p... Final timeout. Arizona is at the 50 yard line, :15 seconds left in the game.

905p... 22 seconds, Fitzgerald the Inhuman just caught a missle from Kurt Warner. Arizona timeout.

904p... 29 seconds remain. Oy.

9p... Homeslice catches the ball for the Steelers, both feet in, right at the corner of the end zone. The question is, did he catch it? And yes, he did. Pittsburgh 26, Arizona 23, extra point pending. So, now, Kurt Warner has about 35 seconds to go the length of the field.

855p... This game has become so fun that even The Lovely Steph Leann is cheering loudly, for Arizona. She never does this unless its Alabama football. Maybe its the red jerseys that are inspiring her.

853p... Another exchange:
Jill J: Three point spread!
Yours Truly: You have no idea what you're talking about
Jill J: I just repeated whatever I heard

850p... Matt Leinart gives Larry Fitz some love. I can only imagine this exchange:
Matt Leinart: Hey, we're gonna win this!
Fitzgerald: You've done nothing. Shut up.

847p... Here's our scene. Tom J, Jenn Adams, or should I say The Quiet Hotness Jenn Adams, John, Mikey, Holloway and Mr. Ken are absorbed in this game. Andy and Kristi are also watching. Lil Sister Ashley and Stephanie are talking in another room, Amy McL is doing something in the kitchen and Jill J and Jenn Powell are chatting about cross stitching.

And Kurt Warner just tossed a line drive to Fitzgerald (there is no reason this guy should ever, ever be open), who broke wide open and scored... Arizona Cardinals 23, Pittsburgh Steelers 20.

844p... HUGE PENALTY. Ben Rottenburger tossed it out, completed the pass, looked great... and a holdingin-the-end-zone penalty on the Steelers gives Arizona a safety... and the ball back.

839p... And in three plays, we just watched Kurt Warner collapse. Whether it was his fault or his O-line, it was pretty bad. Do they punt and pin them deep? They do. They punt, the ball is down at the 2 yard line, another flag is thrown, and another flag is thrown... and its another personal foul, this time on Pittsburgh, which puts the ball on like, the 4 inch line.

And suddenly, this game gets reeeeeealy interesting.

835p... Arizona is back on offense, gets the ball, throws for a gain and... flag. Seriously? Wait? Wait? Its on Pittsburgh! Seriously?

833p... "McGruber" commercial. Fresh from Saturday Night Live, its a Pepsi commercial, and actually has Richard Dean Anderson in it. Classic.

825p... Larry Fitzgerald gets a touchdown catch in the Super Bowl! We're waiting for the flag... and nothing! Pittsburgh 20, Arizona 14.

821p... Another flag on the play--but this time on Pittsburgh. We've spent the last few minutes coming up with the ridculous penalties that we feel that the refs have been calling--"Harsh language at the line on the offense!" and "Touching the quarterback" and "Intention to tackle!"

812p... Random question... "Wasn't it Lavar Burton who was the main guy in 'Roots'?" The answer? Yes. He was Kunte Kinte.

808p... Okay, so if Arizona loses this game, I'm thinking part of it will be because of the really stupid penalties they've accrued in the last few minutes. Running over the holder, personal fouls like crazy... its terrible...

802p... I'm wondering what would happen if I met Tim Tebow and then met Kurt Warner... who would change my life more, according to the announcers? If I met them both at the same time, I might just ascend into Heaven automatically. Just sayin'.

801p... Lil Sister Ashley just arrived. Yay!

8p... We just saw the new Transformers trailer. The entire room went nuts.



757p... My brilliant observation... Arizona can still win this, but they have to score more points.

754p... Penalty on Arizona on the field goal attempt... "running over the holder". And in the replay, the poor Steeler holding the football got steamrolled. And Pittsburgh is close to scoring again.

744p... They show Cuba Gooding Jr in the press box. Is it sad that for the Arizona Cardinals, the greatest football moment really was when Rod Tidwell scored the go-ahead touchdown against the Cowboys in 1996... in the movie "Jerry Maguire".

741p... Here's the preview for "Race to Witch Mountain", from Disney, but more importantly, starring THE ROCK. Caaaaaaaaan you smeeeellllllll what the Rock is cooking?

Any excuse to show a The Rock WWE clip:



737p... Denny's is giving away a Free Grand Slam breakfast on Tuesday. I miss Denny's. I used to go there all the time back in the early decade, because there use to be one across town. I miss Denny's and Steak-n-Shake, two greasy dives that I miss intensely.

Arizona turned the ball over, but it seems like a incomplete pass and not a fumble. The call is overturned, Arizona gets the ball back. Pittsburgh still leads 17-7.

733p... The Lovely Steph Leann, while discussing the "GI Joe" movie with Andy, middle school pastor at Valleydale Church (an sbc fellowship) says she's excited because it has Dennis Quaid in it. Then she turns around and solidly informs me, "Dennis Quaid? Totally Colin Firth Club."

727p... Its the beginning of the 2nd half and the room has cleared. Some have gone home, some are Rock Banding it upstairs... but being a trooper down here is Jenn Adams, John, Mikey, The Lovely Steph Leann, Daniel & Jenn Powell, Kristi Murry, Mr. Nipp and Yours Truly.

Of course, The Lovely Steph Leann, holding the spawn of Amy McL and Tommy Mac and feeding her Fritos, is discussing scrapbooking with Jenn Powell, who is cross stitching a pattern for their new nursery for the upcoming baby.

720p... While Bruce sings, Daniel took a room shot:


There's Mr. Nipp's legs in the front, with Jenn Powell talking to The Lovely Steph Leann on the couch, Yours Truly, Mikey on the next couch, his pop-in-law John, Jenn Adams (always forget how good lookin' she is), Shawn, Jill, and Tom J on the floor. Photo by Daniel Powell.

713p... He's singing "Born to Run", which is pretty cool. Early Bruce is great, late Bruce is too political.

And if he has a wardrobe malfunction, I might throw up in my mouth.

711p... Just had plate of queso dip and it was roody poo awesome, let me tell ya. We're now watching Bruce Springsteen perform here on the halftime show. He did a knee slide across the stage and almost took out a cameraman.

Glad that wasn't in 3D

7p... Going to eat some more. back in a few

656p... The magic of 3D brings everyone together. Halftime Pittsburgh 17, Arizona 7

652p... Turnover, Pittsburgh gets the ball, runs it back and Arizona misses about 382 tackles as the guy runs the entire length of the field, and then falls hard on his head right on the goal line.

650p... We're all downstairs now, even breaking from Rock Band, to see the new trailer for "Monsters vs Aliens", as its going to be in 3D. We've all got the glasses, we're all ready to see the aliens and monsters leap off the screen. Then a lame commercial staring the Sobe Lizards from last year, then a preview of "Chuck", in 3D--a 3D triple play.

And... its a guarantee that we'll have a bajillion people coming into The Happiest Place in the Mall asking for "Monsters vs Aliens" merchandise. Cause if they still ask for "Kung Fu Panda" stuff, I know they'll ask for this.

646p... Ah, a good night. People, friends gathered around, the game is actually really good thus far, the party is alive as everybody over here, everybody over there. The crowd is live enough as I pursue this groove, party people in the house move (next in line) groove (watch me all night... the music hits my mind...)

642p... And who shows up but Andy & Kristi Murry. Andy is the middle school pastor at Valleydale Church (an sbc fellowship)

640p... Bruce "The Boss" Springsteen is performing at halftime. Personally, I think Bruce is past his best days, and is kinda overrated... but like U2, he's so universally loved, he could sing the IRS list of people who is over 180 days past the tax payment deadline, and win accolades and awards. Well, that is unless he became a Republican. Then he'd be washed up.

636p... So far, best commercial of the night... E*Trade kid is back, this time with a friend who busts out a version of "Broken Wings" by Mr. Mister. Hiiiiiiiilarious.

631p... This exchange
Mikey: I don't think Matt Leinart should get a ring if Arizona wins
Me: I wondered about that. Maybe he'll do the honorable thing and give it back
Mikey: He'll probably give it to Paris Hilton
The Lovely Steph Leann: Who's that?
Mikey: Exactly.

630p... The appeal of Rock Band upstairs has caused the group to splinter. Mikey's woman Ashleia has already gone upstairs with a few people, and we figure Drewski is heading that way. Huge punt return by Shawn Breaston for Arizona.

628p... The Enchanting Nikki Brown will be proud. Somehow, Mikey and I end up singing a rousing version of "To all the girls Drew (morris) has loved before...."

621p... God loves Kurt Warner. He stumbles, fumbles, bumbles, and still gets the ball tossed up and its caught by Ben Patrick, the appropriate reciever for Arizona. Pittsburgh leads 10 to 7.

618p... Tom J recommends The Fire and Ice restaurant, as he and Jill went there for their 5th anniversary a few days ago. Also celebrating their 5th, Hannah Pruitt Cool Award Winners James & Jessica Hawbaker. Congrats!

611p... One of the first times in recent memory, EVERYONE is actually watching the game, or at least in the same room as the television. Usually, only a few of us stay the whole time in front of the tv, some come in and out, and others are around the house playing Wii, cards, games, etc.

609p... Pittsburgh into the end zone! Touchdown Steelers! Okay, so I might think of revising my pick of an Arizona win, though Denver went up 10-0 in Super Bowl 1988, and Washington won, like, 50 to 10. Here's a commercial with guys being hit in the head with various objects, and another starring wild animals, encouraging us to adopt pets.

608p... Two commercials (Doritos and GoDaddy.com) and two chicks in various states of undress. One of them was Danica Patrick. Um. Bad! Bad! Yeah, its bad!

603p... Also saw a preview for the show "Medium". Heard there will be a spin-off, shortened version called "Small". And a movie version, called "Large". Ha!

602p... Just saw a great car commercial with Potato Heads, then we see an until now unemployed Vin Diesel in the preview for "Fast and Furious".

555p... The arrival of Tom & Jill Johnson stirs the crowd, but not nearly as much as Tommy Mac and Amy McL, who trump the Johnsons by bringing in their daughter, Sophie.

552p... Score is still 3-0 Pittsburgh. We now have our 3D glasses, and we just saw the hysterical trailer for "Year One", starring Jack Black & Michael Cera.



550p... This exchange:
Jenn Powell: Mrs. Lynn, what are you doing?
Mrs. Lynn (tearing apart 3D glasses): I'm separating 3D glasses for the upcoming 3D commercials
Someone in the room: How do we know when to put them on?
The Rev'rn Ty Coffey: When the tv gets blurry.

548p... Here's the trailer for GI Joe:



544p... Who all just showed up? Daniel & Jennifer Powell are here, Sybil & Dan just came in, The Holloways have been here all day apparently.

543p... In the commercial front, "Angels & Demons" trailer just came on, with Tom Hanks weird hair making a triumphant return. Jason Statham appears in an Audi commercial... I think its always a good decision to have Jason Statham in a cool commercial.

541p... Okay, just loaded up on chicken wings, a taco, a big fat roll with slightly melted butter, sausage balls and several pigs-n-a-blanket. In the game, Pittsburgh apparently scored but Big Ben (Pittsburgh's QB) fell short of the line, via a coach's challenge. The Steelers got a field goal.

528p... Eating. Back in a few.

522p... Its the trailer for "GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra," and stars Dennis Quaid. It comes out in August and the entire room went silent for it.

521p... Mikey is rooting Kurt Warner all the way, because "Ben is a professed athiest. Can't be having that."

519p... Jennifer Hudson is now singing "The Star Spangled Banner".

516p... Our picks tonight? Mikey goes all Arizona... Rev'rn Ty says, "Who's playing? Seriously..." Shawn's pick? Faith Hill, currently singing "America the Beautiful". Jennifer Adams picks? "Who's playing? Steelers? I'll go Steelers."

514p... We are here! We are blogging live from the Nipp Household, that being Ken & Lynn Nipp, parents of the infamous Mikey, good buddy from Deuce Days. Here right now is The Lovely Steph Leann, Mikey and Shawn Sharp. In the kitchen, brewing up some good eats for us all is Ken & Lynn. In comes is The Rev'rn Ty Coffey and entering the home is Jennifer Adams (I never get to see her, so I always forget how hot she is...)

318pm.... Well, it hasn't begun just yet. I am on my way to WalkAbout (middle school drama team) practice. Then back to The Cabana to pick up The Lovely Steph Leann, then off to the Super Bowl...

My early prediction? Arizona 31, Pittsburgh 26. I called it right here.