Amare Returns!

So Amare Stoudemire returned today after missing about 6 months of the NBA season. Seeing him play gave me one of the most giddy feelings I have ever gotten watching sports. I mean, Amare is back! That’s HUGE! Forget the fact you could have slapped a Chris Webber jersey on his back and no one would have known the difference, it still looked damn good to see. Although he was not explosive (a lot of finesse lay up finishes instead of the power dunks we know and love) he had the jump shot working beautifully (you could tell he had been working on that all this time, it was automatic). One thing Amare can still do, even without his explosiveness right now, is get to the free throw line. The suns put up 125 points tonight and it didn’t even seem like they played that great offensively. Lets just say seeing Amare back was awesome, I am stoked for the playoffs and pumped to see how Amare returns and progresses. {edited 4/1/06: Forget everything I said. :( }

Okay OC talk. First off for those who read this blog and don’t really know me all that well, you may think the OC is my favorite show. Well its not, I can’t say I really like this show but I don’t miss episodes. It’s hard to explain, everyone watches it and it’s a good conversation piece. At the same time I don’t really like any of the characters except for Sandy, who is awesome. Seth’s comedic impact to the show, in my opinion (of course), is so overrated. He is not funny at all; in fact I really don’t like this character at all. That being said the show needs him, all that being said its still damn fun to watch and talk about. So here I go with a few quick points on the latest OC episodes:

• Promo for the next weeks episodes states ‘The most explosive episode yet.” Can we put a cap on the amount of times the OC can use this tag line? Because I think I have watched about 10-12 most explosive episodes yet.
• Volcheck (sp?) is a creep! I mean honestly girls, could I be a complete bitch to you and your friends, kidnap you, fight your boyfriend and then when you break up with him I stalk you and creep you out so much that you just end up having sex with me? Does this really work? (Answer is no in the real world, yes in the OC world. Just another reason why we should all live in the OC world). Exact quote from J to the ustin about Marissa and Volcheck’s relationship: “That is going to be a great relationship.” (note heavy sarcasm).
• I think Sadie is damn hot.
• Sandy Cohen is hands down the coolest TV dad ever.
• WTF happened with that Jes girl? I mean she went of being a slut on acid to living in a mansion and being obsessed with Ryan? Umm Random.
• How about the last episode. Just a bunch of sex. I mean I was watching it on TIVO at like 2am and I was pretty sure I had accidentally switched over to a free trial of Skinamax.
• I don’t see why Sandy was so upset at Matt for letting Marissa spend that night. To make my point let me substitute a few words from the famous Ghostbusters quote: “If an underage girl asks if she can sleep over at your house, you say YES!”
• I am genuinely nervous about what Sandy is going to do with Matt. He needs that hospital to be built, but he also knows Matt is getting the raw deal. I would hate to be in his situation, I cringed when Matt called him late in the episode. Luckily Sandy didn’t answer, that’s a problem future Sandy can deal with.

Finally I want to pimp myself. I had LSU beating Duke in the sweet 16. Redick going 3-18 in the game? Ouch. The collective universe hating JJ might have finally caught up with him (I am the only one in the world I think who does not hate him, and he will be drafted by the Utah Jazz, more on that late in the blog.) I cant believe how UCLA came back to beat Gonzaga. That was insane, I mean JP Batista was so careless with the ball and when Ravio go the ball after UCLA scored to take the lead he was so unnecessarily out of control with the ball it was ridiculous (redickulous?). I really don’t like Ravio, I mean I think I hate him. It was rough seeing Morrison cry hard on the court (although he really doesn’t look like a guy who would cry). I felt for him though, I hope he succeeds in the next level. I think Matt Baker was devastated by the loss too. I am only basis this on the fact that he his a huge Gonzaga fan, and about .000001 seconds after the game ended he kept asking me and J to the if we wanted to watch the OC. However we were so shocked by what just happened we couldn’t answer (well I couldn’t answer at least, I was in some kind of coma shock just watching Morrison cry) anyway after we didn’t answer Baker threw the remote at us and went upstairs. Bottom line: That whole last 2 minutes of the Gonzaga game was just surreal. Oh yeah and the Texas-WVU game was crazy too.

One last comment on Utah, I watched a Jazz game while in Utah on Wednesday and I must say I think they are trying to phase out black players from their team. Seriously, look at their starting lineup. AK-47, Matt Harping and Mehment Okur are white, and Carlos Boozer and Deron Williams are very light skinned “brothers” (probably to help ease the transition to all white guys). The Jazz lack outside shooting the most and I bet Redick is around when they are up in the NBA draft. Crazy Mormon city.

Spring Break NCAA Style

I’m back from spring break, aren’t you happy? Anyway as you all probably know I went to Salt Lake City and got to see the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament. Here are my observations:

• I have BC in the championship game, so I was a little worried when Pacific took them to double OT. BC waited about 45 minutes to long to start going into the full court press. When they finally started pressing in the 2^nd OT, Pacific had no answer and completely got shut down and BC went on their run. Although I personally cheered for BC center John Oates for some reason, I do not know why he starts. #51 Shaun Williams comes off the bench and is much better, he is taller, athletic, he can throw down and he is a great shot blocker. He completely owned Montana in round two of the tournament with his shot blocking alone. I was not overly impressed with Jared Dudley, but he is pretty solid. Craig Smith, however, was amazing. I know he was playing non power conference teams, but he completely owned the inside in both games I saw. Needless to say, BC looks pretty good. They will beat Villanova!
• Montana was a fun team to root for. Although I originally wanted Nevada to win because I had picked them in my bracket I very quickly found myself rooting for Montana. They are fun to watch, well coached and have some good players. Their best player is #34 Andrew Straight. He is about 6-7, only a sophomore and is always around the basket playing the power forward position. The kid I liked the most on their team was Jordan Hasquet. He is a 6-9 freshmen center from the heart of Montana. He has a developing inside game, but he can shoot and hit the three. He also played good defense on Nick Fazekias (I know I spelled that wrong) although I was shocked to find out in the box score that Fazekias had 22 and 14. He did not play well at all in that game, I have no clue how he got that line. Anyway I was very impressed with Hasquet, he had to guard Fazekias all game and did a good job on him I thought. Plus he killed Nevada by hitting three pointers and stretching the D while playing the center position. He is the next Adam Morrison (maybe less scoring and more inside/defense) but he is gonna be damn good. Watch out for Montana, the majority of their best players are back next year.
• Gonzaga is good. They are talented, deep and they play good defense this time around. Morrison is great, and he saved that team from losing at the hands of Xavier (just another example of a highly seeded team sleep walking for the first half of their first game, but when they wake up and come back to win it seems to help propel these high seeds in the next round). Morrison hit big shot after big shot down the stretch was pretty much was their whole offense while Ravio was killing them on offense (Gonzaga seemed to make their run after he fouled out, he played much better in the 2^nd game). Batista was in foul trouble too and Goznaga was getting beat down. But Morrison brought them back. In the 2^nd game Morrison played like crap, but it was impressive to see Gonzaga play much better with him having a bad game. Batista played great and completely took Marco Killingsworth(less) out of the game. Marco did not even play late in the 2^nd half when Indiana kind of made a run (when they hit every three they put up. Seriously, look it up).
• Marco Killingsworth should have stayed at Auburn and be a very very very very very very very poor man’s Charles Barkely.
• It was funny sitting behind two Xavier fans on Thursday and they were just ripping on Adam Morrison. Saying how he takes 600 shots a game in order to get his 28 points and saying how he is overrated and never passes and how he will suck in the NBA. I just wanted to turn around and say, “HELLO! This is the same guy who is single handedly 0wning your team right now.” I don’t mind people being fans of their team, but take the blinders off please.
• It is amazing how EVERYONE roots for the underdog. In the BC-Pacific game the place was 90% for Pacific. People who have no idea what the school is or where it’s at just want and underdog to win so hardcore. It was even worse when BC played Montana; the crowd was a rowdy, pro-Montana crowd. So let’s just say BC fans did not travel at all. It was a shame they had to end up in the Salt Lake area to start out (not for me, I liked watching them play) but those in essence played two road games, not neutral site games. Only when Gonzaga was playing was the underdog not rooted for. The majority of people who bought tickets to the sessions defiantly were there for Gonzaga.
• It’s amazing how everyone thinks everyone travels on every play. If the refs called as many travels as the fans sitting next to me wanted to be called, we all would have witness the most mind numbingly annoying basketball games in American history.
• The NCAA tournament is amazing. It’s an absolute blast, the best sporting event out there. There will always be close games and its amazing how a 12 will always beat a 5. Its always fun to root for the underdog and see the big time players step it up when their teams need them the most (a la Craig Smith and Adam Morrison). Without further delay I give you my all Salt Lake City tourney team: F Craig Smith (BC), F Adam Morrison (Gonzanga), C Jordan Hasquet (Montana), G Eric Calloway (Indiana), G Tyrice Rice (BC, because he completely destroyed Montana with his three point shooting in the 2^nd half). Sixth Man: Andrew Straight (Montana).

A few non salt lake city tournament points:

• I hate Northwestern State
• Billy Packer made a complete fool out of himself this past week. He hates on mid-major schools, especially the ones from the Missouri Valley conference. Then admits he has not seen a Missouri Valley conference game. Are you kidding me you are a college basketball analyst. I don’t even watch much college basketball and I still know more about the Missouri Valley then him! That’s insane. He got ripped apart by some guy on the selection committee (it was well deserved). So he goes on PTI to defend himself by restating his point that bigger conference teams should be in over Missouri valley teams. When Wilbon asks how these teams from mid major conferences are supposed to get recognition Packer says, in a completely unnecessary condescending tone, “Have you ever heard of the NCAA tournament?” If I was Wilbon I would have gone off on him. At the end of the interview Packer says he would love nothing more then to have an all Missouri Valley conference final four, and he loves it when underdogs win. So to summarize Billy Packer would love to see the mid-major tournament teams win in the NCAA tourney, he just doesn’t want them to be there in the first place (this led to about 1,000 jokes between me and the crew up in Utah the past week. Something along the lines of, “man I really love watching Montana play I just don’t think they should be in the tournament.”) Thanks Billy Packer for making a fool of yourself, I never really liked him all that much to being with. Now I will never listen to anything he has to say.
• Speaking of mid majors, they had a great tournament. Some big upsets some unlikely sweet 16 teams (Bradley, Wichita State and George Mason) and a number of close calls (the most shocking moment of the tournament so far was seeing Albany had a 10 point lead with 10 minutes to go.) Good job by mid majors this past weekend, I say let more in. People love rooting for them.

Overall it was a good weekend. Park City, Utah (where the cabin we stayed at was) was very pretty and it snowed a lot. I have seen snow like 3 times in my life so it was pretty cool. The cabin was real nice, it included a gas fireplace that was always on and some HD TVs with surround sound, you really cant beat that. I had to rent a car and drive back from Salt Lake City to Phoenix though due to complications from flying with a buddy pass (flying standby is seriously the worst idea one could ever envision. The only worse idea ever was when Eve ate that forbidden apple). The drive was long (10 hours) and it stormed the whole way (seriously the storm system stretched from SLC to Phoenix, I have never seen anything like that). Staying in the cabin along with me were the Baker Bros and their father, Jordan and his dad, boomsquad Eric and Will, Mark and Ben. So it was quite the fun time. But now I am back in the real world, and I have a lot of work to do until the semester ends. So it should be fun.

Welcome Edge

The Cardinals signed the Edgerrin James today. I still do not believe it. These are not the Cardinals I know and love! The Cardinals I know and love would have talked to Edge for the weekend and then Edge would have left town, gone straight back to Indy and gotten an extra $2 million a year from the Colts, so basically using the Cardinals as a bargaining chip. The Cardinals I know would sign a few fringe guys like Kendrick Clancy and Milfrod Brown (who they did sign) and then maybe add one somewhat name like Will Allen (who they might sign), call it a free agency and still be 10 million under the cap. The fact that they went out and got a stud, big name, future hall of famer IN HIS PRIME is insane. Not normal Cardinals here, but I love the signing. James is going to be HUGE for them (they still need to improve the line, Brown will help a little but they should use the #10 pick on an lineman). Edge, Boldin and Fitz? Its over, see ya. The 2006 squad will easily be the most talented Arizona Cardinal team to ever take the field (but they last years was probably the 2nd most talented and they only won 5 games). It looks like things are turning around for this once hapless franchise, I know expect, instead of hope, them to make the playoffs next year for the first time in my life.
This leads me to wonder why the Colts let him go. I guess they wanted to give that money to Reggie Wayne, but is Reggie Wayne really more important to that team then Edge? Do they think a James Mungro is going to step in and do what Edge does? Whatever RB goes there is going to have it easy because of the attention put on the passing game, but they will miss edge.

The World Baseball Classic is in full swing and I must say, its pretty awesome. I did not know what to think of originally but it is alot of fun to watch, it is popular (trust me, you would not believe how many people come into my store looking for WBC stuff) and it is interesting. Its critics say it interferes with Spring Training and no one cares. Not true, I would think playing in "exhibition" games of this magnitude against some of the talent these teams have would be better for a player then playing some of the scrubs they play in Spring Training. Plus it is nice to see all these stars playing together in games that actually mean something (the WBC means ALOT more then homefield advantage in the World Series, which was a good idea but I think it needs to stop being decided by the all star game). My favorite random moment of the WBC so far: Getting home from the bars at like 2am on Friday morning March 3rd and seeing Byung Hyun Kim pitch for Korea on ESPN vs some team named Chinese Tapiea. That was fun.

The first Saturday of spring break started out pretty bad when I had to get called into work, but it ended awesomely. After I got off of work I went to the bars with Baker, Bjorn and their friend Mike Benne (Did I spell that right). Anyway Mike is one crazy funny dude, so he made the night entertaining. We pulled into Maloney's parking lot at about 10 and there is a part of Maloney's parking lot that kind of dips and tonight it was just filled with water (In case you live out of state, Arizona's record drought ended on Saturday with about 20 straight hours of constant rain). We were going to drive through it untill we saw an SUV go through it and its tires disappear in the water. If an SUV barely got through it, a Ford Tourus (which we were driving) was not going to get through it. Of course this led to about 100 Oregon Trail jokes (i.e should we ford the river, should we take the ferry, should we hire an Indian guide to help us across, what if Aaron drowns or dies of a disease, what if we lose an Oxen or break an axle. Okay actually those were all the jokes we made.) After spending about 10 minutes at Maloney's we went to the Vine and enjoyed free food and drink (thanks to gift money Bjorn had via poker). We even had the waitress pick our drinks at one point. She came back with some crazy shot that included alot of Tabasco sauce. I backed out of that, thats to much shot for me. Bjorn took his shot and proceeded to puke all over the table. I must say, it was high comedy. Moral of the story is, dont let a waitress pick your shots.

Okay kids its off the spring break for me. Enjoy selection sunday!

My Oscars

Lets see, it’s a Sunday night and I have a management test to study for, I have to start writing my 25 page research paper, I have a four page research proposal due on Thursday and a two page research paper on a certain type of dance due sometime soon. Instead of working on any of this today I went to IHOP, watched the Mavs-Suns game in beautiful HD (suns look great), and watched the Academy Awards. So, yeah I will look back on this blog in about two months and be able to pinpoint the exact time in which my grades went to hell.

Anyway like I mentioned earlier I watched the Academy Awards tonight (well not all of it, just the parts that mattered). Anyway I decided to have my own Oscars. Since I, like most Americans, like movies other then the dramas. The Oscars only reward dramas usually, however there are also some very good comedic and action performances that go unnoticed. So for that I give you my Oscars:

Best Supporting Actor:

Nominees: Mickey Rourke (Sin City), Liam Neeson (Batman Begins), Paul Rudd (40 year old Virgin) and Seth Rogan (40 year old Virgin).

Winner: Mickey Rourke-

His character was so unbelievably cool in this movie and I never get sick of watching it. I thought he did a great job acting and making Merv one of the coolest characters I have ever seen on the big screen.

Best Supporting Actress:

Nominees: Catherine Turner (40 year old Virgin), Isla Fisher (The Wedding Crashers), Rosario Dawson (Sin City), Dakota Fanning (War of the Worlds).

Winner: Catherine Turner-

I have a feeling the 40 year old Virgin is going to win a lot tonight. Catherine did a great job however as the girl Steve Carell finally loses his virginity too. She is very believable and I thought she did a pretty good job.

Best Actress:

Nominees: Rachel McAdams (The Wedding Crashers), Reese Witherspoon (Walk the Line), Jessica Simpson (Dukes of Hazzard).

Winner: Reese Witherspoon

Okay so Jessica Simpson didn’t deserve to be on the list, its just I was all out of other nominees and she is hot. Anyway of course Reese was going to win this, I mean she won the real life awards. I wanted to give it to McAdams because her performance in Wedding Crashers put her on the map. But it is hands down Reese’s award. She did a damn good job in Walk the Line.

Best Actor:

Nominees: Christian Bale (Batman Begins), Nathan Fillion (Serenity), Vince Vaughn (The Wedding Crashers), Steve Carell (The 40 year old Virgin), Jamie Foxx (Jarhead).

Winner: TIE! Steve Carell and Christian Bale-

Am I allowed to split the vote between to actors? The answer is yes because these are my awards. Anyway I could not decide, Carell was so darn good in 40 year old Virgin that it’s impossible not to give him the award. I mean he actually had his chest waxed in that movie! The pain was real! Christian Bale single handedly brought the Batman franchise back from oblivion with his strong performance as both Bruce Wayne and Batman. Both men deserve this award.

Best Picture:

Nominees: Sin City, The 40 year old Virgin, The Wedding Crashers, Serenity, Star Wards Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Batman Begins.

Winner: The 40 year old Virgin-

Hands down the funniest movie of the year (I will argue this over the Wedding Crashers). Good story, good acting, very funny and very strong characters. Some of the best parts of the movie weren’t even what the main story was about, like the scenes in which they are all working. In the end the movie turns into more of a chick flick but its very entertaining throughout and I think stands up stronger then the Wedding Crashers which kind of fades at the end. It was really hard not to give this honor to Sin City, which is one of the coolest movies ever made. Serenity was the darkhorse, the movie was not about to win any real life awards but it was very well acted and very entertaining to watch.

Well I hope you guys enjoyed my first ever Oscars. I hope you tune in next year to read what I have to say. Over the coming weeks I will not have a chance to write that much because I am very busy. Spring Break is next week though and I will have a lot of blog material so that is coming up. Other then that it might get pretty slow until school ends but be on the lookout for my TV year in review coming up in May. Until then I hope you keep tuning it, because I will try to provide you all with some good stuff during my busy times.

Boom Squad!

Boom Squad 2006 Intramural Rec League Champions!!!!

I forget the final score but we won by 18 points over a team that had not been beaten all year. So needless to say we are the champions! It feels so good, after the game our team go t-shirts and a group picture which I will post when it goes up on ASU’s website. We also are throwing ourselves a nice pizza party in honor of this years team! I want to say the Boom Squad season has been one hell of a ride. I think the team we played was called Team Loco. They got out to an early lead, led at halftime before we just put the Boom Squad beat down on them. Bottom line is if your team is not taller then us you probably will not win. We are a great fast breaking team that plays good defense and can shoot (heck even I made a few threes this year). I team was unstoppable when we had Big Steve, a 6-7 dynamo to control the paint. Sadly he tore his rotator cuff in the first playoff game and we had to go the rest of the playoffs without him. We missed him badly although you wouldn’t know if because the next two games we played we won by 13 and 18. We only suffered one loss this season, by 1 point in a game we played very sloppy and were missing two of our best players. Every other game we played in we won by double digits. It was one heck of a year, my vote to MOP (Most Outstanding Player) goes to Tibbits who played like a man possessed in the playoffs. BOOM SQUAD BABY!

I am officially going to dub the weekend of February 25-26^th 2006 as “Bruce Willis Weekend.” I do this because it was his, he owned it. He was all over the place. Over the course of the weekend I watched parts of Armageddon, Die Hard, The 5^th Element, Sin City, The Last Boy Scout and Pulp Fiction (not to mention the previews for his new movie 16 blocks which randomly appeared throughout the weekend). Anywhere you looked one of his movies was on TV or a movie channel. It was insane but also awesome, because Bruce Willis freaking rules. The weekend became so Bruce Willis heavy that on Sunday night Justin and I were watching Pulp Fiction and Baker happens to come home during a scene in which he is in it and just says, “That’s exactly who I expected to see on the TV.” He then proceeded to sit down and watch the rest of the Bruce Willis scenes with us. I am sad its over, I wish every weekend could be a Bruce Willis weekend. (Although I later found out that Last Man Standing is on tonight, just in case I need a Bruce Willis fix).

Without further delay I give you random Bruce Willis facts (as found on imdb.com):

• He is the hero of singer Nick Lachey (Justin wants me to add that Bruce Willis is also his hero. Yes, that is how powerful a Bruce Willis weekend is.)
• After dating Brooke Burns for ten months and finally being engaged to her they decided to split because of the difficulties with maintaining a long-distance relationship
• His recording of "Respect Yourself" reached #5 in January of 1987.
• Was high school student council president.

Let the record state that I moved into my current residence in May of 2005, let the record state that in May of 2005 I saw we lived pretty much 5 minutes away from a Super China Star Buffet which I believe (I could easily be wrong) that on movie day I proclaimed to the guys that we, “Had to go there.” Fast forward to February of 2006 and I finally ended up going there. It was me and Justin’s bright idea driving home from the bar on Thursday night so the rest of the weekend we had dreams of fried rice and all you can eat Chinese food dancing in our heads. Adam decided to come with us so we all went over with empty stomachs ready to be satisfied. Lets just say we were the exact OPPOSITE of satisfied. The place was expensive (9 bucks!) and it was horrible food. The fried rice was like half cooked, the egg rolls were terrible, the orange chicken tasted like alcohol, the soft serve ice cream did not have a distinctive taste and everything else was just poor. However we were not to be deterred, it maybe have been bad food but we were still going to get our 9 dollars worth! Well that was until a kid sitting at the table next us started puking (after careful examination it was determined that he threw up before he ate any of the food, which was a good thing for us I guess). Well after the puking incident we pretty much lost our appetite and therefore could not get our 9 dollars worth. Also the fortune cookies sucked! They didn’t tell us our fortune they just cracked bad jokes! Oh well you can not win them all I guess. Moral of the story is do not go to super china star buffet any more.

Hell Week, Bjornstock and basketball talk

I must apologize for not updating the blog in what seems like forever. I have been very busy. In the past week I have had to read about 1,000 books for my history 498 class (that class is kicking my ass), take a test in management (lets just say I’ve done better on tests), work a 12 hour shift (on Friday, and it sucked) and look for internships. So it was one hell of a week. However it was all over by Saturday night just in time for Bjornstock 2006!! Another big party from the Cottonwood Kings. The flyers we passed out set the tone for the party, on them included such great things as the picture I took of Bjorn at the USC-ASU tailgate in which he is holding up a sign that says he can out drink Wade Boggs (a shocking amount of people don’t seem to know how Wade Boggs is. He was a great baseball player, but that’s not important. Urban Legend has it that he once drank 64 beers on a cross country flight. So if Bjorn could out drink Wade Boggs that would be pretty damn impressive). While passing out the flyers (me and Bjorn spent the better part of three hours trying to pass them out at work on Friday night) we made promises of 8 kegs. That got people pumped (actually Keg count for the night: 2). The party itself was a lot of fun and it lasted until about 3am (which was a nice change since their last few parties have gotten broken up around midnight). However nothing that happened was really blog worthy. It was a great time, I had fun, I might have had a little to much to drink, and all the awesome kids were there. Other then that I do not have much else to say about it. Good times all around though. If I remember correctly I took some good pictures, but I don’t really remember with who or how many.

All-Star weekend was this weekend so I am only going to say a few things about it: 1 Andre I got robbed, 2. the West’s 4^th quarter offense was for Kobe and T-Mac to jack no wonder they lost. 3. I somehow have not gotten sick of seeing Eva Longoria everywhere and I don’t think I ever will. 4. Carrie Underwood is sooooooo hot.

So since its all-star weekend its time for me to break down the first half of the NBA season. Here it goes:

Detroit is obviously the team to beat. I’m never going to count out Miami because they have Wade and Shaq will step up his game come playoff time. Its easy to see getting Antoine Walker and Jason Williams was a mistake. Whenever I watch a heat game GP is always playing the point when the game is on the line. The Nets might be fun to watch but they have no shot at beating Miami or Detroit. Not with that imposing frontline of Uncle Cliffy and Kristic. For the West, we actually have three teams: Mavs, Spurs and Suns. It seems like the Spurs are having a down year, until you realize that they are like 41-11. Everyone is waiting for the Mavs to prove it in the playoffs and for good reason. I must say though they have what it takes to get it done. Remember folks, they are in the Western Conference. From 2000-2004 the West playoffs were not easy. The West Semi Finals were basically like the Conference finals with the West Conference finals being the NBA finals. So looking back on it that way, the Mavs reached the NBA finals in 2003 but lost to the Spurs (who doesn’t lose to the Spurs?). If the Suns are real good right now, if Amare can return to health they will be scary. Good thing for the Suns is that they are the #2 seed. Which means while the Mavs and Spurs battle it out in the Semifinals the Suns will be cruising past a Denver/NOAK/Memphis. Ahh good times.

Midseason awards:

MVP: Steve Nash

ROY: Chris Paul (duh)

Coach: Flip

Executive: Bryan C or maybe Elgin Baylor

I am still not going to make any predictions until the playoffs start. I do want to address the trade rumors that Isaiah wants to trade for Steve Francis and pair him with Starbury to make a modern day Isaiah-Dumars backcourt. I really want this to happen. How awesome would this be? It would go so horribly wrong it would be great. You know Franchise is gonna be pissed he cant be #3. They are both gonna battle for the ball. Its going to be great.

May darkhorse team to win the NCAA tourney: Memphis. I don’t know if you can call a top 10 team a darkhorse, but I like Memphis. Darius Washington baby (as long as the game doesn’t come down to free throws).

Okay kids I am out, Ill try to make the blogs better I promise.

P.S. If JamesOn Curry’s name was Leonard Curry or Joey Curry would he be as talked about?

Complete Randomness

For long time readers of the blog you will notice that I have used this title before, for new readers welcome to a recurring title I will use with some of my blog entries when they have no theme, they are just random. To all my readers, I am sure none of you care. So on with the show!

Did you hear about the HUGE trade that went down today? ABC traded Al Michaels to NBC for the rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, four rounds of golf and Olympic highlights. (I am not even joking, here is the link)
How awesome is this, I didn't realize broadcasters got traded. Anyway I have to wonder about ABC here, I mean trading one of the best play by play man ever for the rights to some cartoon bunny no one has heard of and some sports highlights? Is this the ultimate salary dump? If Al Michaels stays on for the NBA on ABC then I guess ABC got the better of this deal. What if trading broadcasters became a common occurrence? Then someone needs to trade for Bob Costas because he is being wasted at NBC. Maybe FOX could offer NBC the rights to Arrested Development and three sitcoms to be named later for Costas, then Costas can call football and baseball games! How awesome would this be? Although NBC does have big plans for Costas in their Sunday night football instudio show, they are in such a dire need for sitcoms maybe the promise of four sitcoms will get them to part with Bobby.

You probably have realized I have not blogged about the Super Bowl. This is because it was the most boring somewhat close superbowl of all time. The Steelers didn't win it, the Seahawks lost it I think (refs helped). Both teams didn't play well, Big Ben had a bad game, Troy "I cover 30% of the Earth" Palamalu (I spelt that wrong) made about 2 plays the whole game. Shaun Alexander had the quietest 95 yards rushing in football history. Add to that the commercials were terrible it was a forgettable superbowl. I still had fun however, because no matter how bad the game is you are still with your friends, drinking beer and eating tons of junk food. It doesn't get much better then that.

So how about the OC lately? Johnny is finally dead, which is good because I was getting sick of him. Katlin is gone (which is sad, TV needs more hot 14 year olds that are sex symbols. These are just jokes folks) Sadie, Johnny's cousin, seems to be a new character that is going to take Johnny's place as the person to come between Ryan and Marissa ( I like Sadie better because she is hot and not an butmunch, yes I just used the word butmunch. Welcome back to 1995). So it seems the OC is ready to go into the third part of the season. My experience in watching the OC so far (only part of last year and all of this year) is they really have three seasons in one season. They rap up about three major stories each year, the biggest ones being late in the year. So the next third of the season looks somewhat promising. The bad news is there are no more new episodes until March 9! I cant wait that long! Plus every NBC show is off the air for about a month (Scrubs, the Office and My name is Earl). At the risk of sounding like a typical American, I think I hate the Olympics (okay not true they are pretty cool, but I miss my TV!)

Okay kids I am done blogging for the night. I really have to start getting to work on my research paper, which I put off on Friday during the little freetime I had to watch a crappy 1985 movie called the Explorers (staring a 12 year old Ethan Hawk). It was so bad I could not believe I wasted my time watching this movie. In a nutshell it was about three high school students who happen to have the combined IQ of Einstein times 100 million. They build a spaceship and meet aliens who watch a lot of TV. The twist is that the aliens they meet are just kid aliens and their dad gets pissed when they see him with humans. Seriously, I am going to fail my research paper over THAT!!??

Argh, I can not go on anymore . . .

Welcome to the Next-Gen

I want to preface this latest blog entry by saying the highlight of my weekend (other then the fact that I do not have to work this weekend, which is awesome my first weekend off in a while) was going to the "soft" opening of a new bar in Scottsdale called the Yard House. Its pretty much in Scottsdale Fashion Square and they have 177 different types of draft beer, anything you could ask for. Sure it may be a little pricey, but that's a hell of a selection (Yes you could say I am promoting the bar, hopefully I get some free beer out of this. But I wont). Anyway I ended up not going, why? Because on Friday night my Xbox 360 came in the mail and basically that is what I have been doing all weekend.
First off xbox 360 is pretty freaking awesome. The graphical power is phenominal and the environments it creates for its games are a sight to behold. It also boasts a ton of online features and content download (i.e demos) so you can have hours of fun (wait am I promoting Microsoft too? I swear I am not just a shameless promoter. Umm, forgot about that random add that appears above this blog). I currently have two games for it, Madden 2006 and NBA live 2006. I must say the games are cool, the graphics are great, but its very easy to tell that these games were rushed. They lack alot of gameplay modes that their xbox counterparts had (NBA live 06, for example, doesn't have all-star weekend or a franchise mode and a really shitty free thow shooting system). The default camera angles on both games are tailored to showing off the graphical power and not so much to what the best viewpoint would be for gaming. Overall though its a good first go around, with Madden taking the cake. NBA live 2006 for the 360 is an inferior game compared to its old school xbox counterpart. Madden 06 for the 360, however, is an amazing game with some really cool new features added. I am sure the 2007 versions of both these games will be awesome.
Okay for those keeping score, I passed on going to the bars this weekend and have a social life in order to play video games. Sounds nerdy, hey it was special circumstances. I did get a chance to see Glory Road, however. Here is my review:

Glory Road follows the same old story line of every movie of its kind: mistfit group of guys come together to form a team, they get to know each other while having a few laughs, their coach is to hard on them and they struggle a little at first. They then come together, which is followed by a montage of them winning games then have the scene were something goes horribly wrong and they start to lose a few games. Then they have the big team blow out and everything is better and they go on to pull an amazing upset of some sort.
Well I must say Glory Road follows this storyline EXACTLY (so does the Miracle) but that's okay because its based on a true story and its just good. I don't care that I knew what was going to happen or it followed the same old storyline, its still a good storyline and it is still entertaining to watch. Plus in what other movie to you get to see such NBA greats as Jo Jo White and Pat Riley take on the protagonists? The answer is you don't. After seeing this movie though it makes you think a few things: David Latten (center for Texas Western) was the second coming of Wilt, Jo Jo White and Pat Riley might be the greatest basketball players in history, Billy Jo (the Texas Western guard) might be the greatest defensive stopper in basketball history. Overall I say it was a good movie and its worth the price of admission.

So before the movie started I saw a preview for the new movie, Akeelah and the Bee. I must say this movie looks like it could be one of the funniest movies ever, and not because its a comedy. The movie is about Laurence Fishburne (you know, Morphus) coaching a young black girl to the top of the spelling world, the Spelling Bee Championship. I cant even describe why this move sounds so hilarious, so I advise you if you have some free time to watch the trailer.
(upon further review that trailer on IMDB is not the one I saw in the theater and therefore is not even nearly as funny as the long one I saw. I advise you to track this done and watch because oh man its high comedy.) Well I guess ill try to explain it to you anyway. The trailer starts off with Fishburne at some random junior high watching a po dunk spelling bee, which makes me think he scouts random high schools for National Spelling Bee Talent which makes the movie awesome enough. ONce Akeelah wins the school spelling bee, FIshburne challenges her to spell a very hard word which she aces while trying so hard that she has a constipated look on her face. Then she runs out of the room because she is ashamed of her "gift". Fishburne tracks her down and becomes her spelling coach. She then goes through a rigours training regimine in which Fishburne tells her she will learn 100 new words a day and gives her a dicitionary in order to help her practice. But the practice gets to much for her and she starts to break down. Then she goes to the National Spelling Bee but realizes it is hard for her, a black girl, to compete in a white man's world (apparently the National Spelling Bee is the white man's world.) But she pushes through and she inspires younger black girls so much that in the trailer one proclaims "Im going to enter the bee next year!" And this is all in just the trailer! How funny could this movie be?

Okay kids I think that is all I have for you tonight. If any of you loyal readers have Xbox live (360 style) then hit me up we should game on the internet sometime.

Later

My Two Cents On Penny

Remember Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway? When I say that name now what I, you and everyone else thinks of is a crappy basketball player who somehow makes 15 million dollars a year. People even decide to insult him by calling him the "nickel" instead of "penny". I never quite understood how this was an insult, its like if my nickname was "g-spot" and people started calling me "million dollar man." that's an upgrade in cash, therefore its an upgrade in a nickname. Honestly, would you rather have a penny or a nickel? Anyway it is time to jump back into the way back machine, back into the golden age of 1990s basketball. Before all our basketball heroes got 30 year, 700 million dollar contracts then simultaneously hurt their knees or developed drinking problems.

Penny Hardaway was an amazing player back in the day. His height and passing ability drew him comparisons to Magic Johnson, his scoring ability drew him comparisons to Michael Jordan. Basically I think Penny Hardaway was a prequel to LeBron James. Satistical evidence is all I have to support my claims, as I have fuzzy memories of Penny lighting it up back in the day. He was all NBA first team in 1994 and 1995 and 3rd team in 1996. He beat out such greats as Gary Payton, Reggie Miller, Mitch Richmond (wait he was never great), Clyde the Glide and John Stockton to get those first team honors. Those are 90s legends. In 1995 Penny was at the height of his career, on the cusp of a championship (who knows what would have happened if Nick Anderson had not pulled a Nick Anderson). He was also teamed with who was soon to be the most dominate player in the NBA. The follwing year they lost to, who else, Michael and the Bulls. Then Shaq left and took Dennis Scott with him (actually he didn't, Dennis just couldn't contribute without hitting the open jump shots that he got when Shaq was double teamed. 45% with Shaq, 39% without him). Nick Anderson was done after he missed those FTs in 1995 (FG% fell to 39%) and Penny was left with a team featuring such legendary centers as Rony Seikaly, Felton Spencer and Danny Schayes. Penny still tried his best, averaging 31 ppg in the playoffs that year, a loss in 5 games to the #1 seed Miami Heat. Then Penny got hurt. Then Penny got traded to Phoenix to be apart of "Backcourt 2000" with Jason Kidd. Backcourt 2000 became "Back In Court 2000" after the legal troubles both had in 2001. However in 2000 Penny looked like old Penny again. He played great in the playoffs (20, 5 and 5). However he got hurt again in 2001, tried to rush back and got hurt again and his career ended. Lucky for him he was in year 2 of a 500 year, 900 gazillion dollar deal (that only one man in the world would trade for, and he did Mr. Isiah Thomas). So next time you see Penny struggle in the Garden as the Knicks probably get blown out, as his minutes get cut for Nasty Nate Robinson and some other guard you don't know. Do not hate, do not compliment/insult him and call him the "nickel" just step back into the way back machine and remember mid 90s Penny. How sweet it was.

How about an all mid 90s stud, post 2000 overpaid, chronicaly injuried, acholholic, has 20 kids with 15 different women team:
F Vin Baker
F Shawn Kemp
C Diekmbe Mutumbo
G Allan Houston
G Penny

Stay In School

Be Cool, Stay in School- Id date that slogan at about early 90s, maybe late 80s. I have already gone over in great detail why the early 90s ruled (actually I don't think I have except the time I blogged about 90s basketball. Anyway the Basketball of the early 90s alone is enough to make it the greatest era ever.) Why I bring up this slogan I really have no idea. I was trying to tie it into the fact that I just survived my first week of school, so just pretend it worked. Okay? Good.
So Class is back on and I must say I miss the Christmas break. I thought things were going my why when I found out I only need to buy 3 books for the semester. I'm actually going to save some money! I thought. Well as it turns out one of those book, my Management book, cost 110 freaking dollars! (Why is it always the business books that cost the most?) So there goes my dreams to save money (Honestly what would I save up my money for? I would buy an XBox 360 but they are out of stock everywhere. I guess I could blow my money on old school SNES Sports Games like NBA live 96, Tecmo Super Bowl and Tecmo Super Basketball. Oh wait I already did that). Anyway I decided to switch things up this year and take a dance class, ballroom/latin/swing dancing. It is pretty interesting. Although it can be a little awkward at times. Like when I am dancing with a girl I do not want to look directly into her eyes because that is just weird. However I don't like looking directly at my feet (even though I have to sometimes) because I want to make it look like I know what I am doing. So I end up looking directly at their breasts. Hey I'm not one to just stare at a girls chest all day (Scottie will be disappointed in me) but its the only place I really can be comfortable looking (I'm telling you, looking straight into a girl's face you barely know that you really have no interest in is really, really, weird.) So I wonder what my dance partners think. Its either A) This kid has no rhythm at all, B) Who is this weird guy staring at my chest or C) This guy is a freaking stud. (I'll take option C). Anyway some day I will be at a wedding near YOU. And I will dance my ass off. Until that day I will just go back to doing nothing exciting.

Let me break down this weeks episode of the OC:
Marissa's sister Katlyn (is that how you spell it? I am asking you.) And apparently she is a bad, bad girl. Anyway the idea of adding a hot 14 year girl just shows why the OC has the greatest writers to ever grace this Earth. I mean if I was president I think I would get them to write my speeches. How awesome would that be?
Dear American People,
I know you have been concerned about our country over the last few years but I assure you we are moving in the right direction. First we are going to break up all of America's "it" couples just to break the status quo. Then we will flood the market with hot, underage girls in order to spice things up even more. We also have a plan to unveil some hot lesbian romance in the future. If all that fails we have a contingency plan, we will kill of a big name unsuspected, just to get you all talking.
Thank you and Good night.

I mean wouldn't this make for a good speech? Anyway final thoughts on the OC for this week:
-I really hate Johnny, but if he hooks up with Katlyn I think he will be my favorite character ever.
-Are we really going back to the love triangle between Johnny, Marissa and Ryan? Actually no, because we are adding Katlyn to the mix.
-Rumor has it next episode Seth tries pot. I think the OC came come up with a better storyline then this, but then again they have had about 2,000 different ones this season.

that's all I have for tonight kids, Tune in this weekend when I break down the NFL playoffs somemore and maybe devote a good part of my blog to the Mamba.

Bye Bye

NFL Playoffs

I spent my last week of freedom before school starts doing, you guessed it, watching the NFL playoffs. So here are my thoughts for the games:

Seahawks-Redskins-
Shawn Alexander fumbles twice and leaves the game with a concussion within the first 10 minutes of the game, and the Seahawks fumble the ball away a few more times during the game and still manage to have a fairly easy victory. How? Mark Brunnel. Yeah I think I am going to rip on him somemore, only because it is now funny to watch him play and I hope he sticks around. I felt bad for Clinton Portis, he was banged up all playoffs and had not shot of success. The basic blueprint to stop the Redskins is double Santana Moss, keep an athletic linebacker on Chris Cooley and stack your remaining 8 guys on the line of scrimmage. You're going to stop the run and Brunnel may get lucky at beat you once (which he did on that 50 yard pass to Chris Cooley). It was ironic how the only Redskin touchdown came from Brunnel throwing into triple coverage, only to have the ball bounce off the hands of a Seahawk DB and into the hands of Santana Moss. The rest of the game was ugly for him, he doesn't even have the arm strength to throw balls away! How many of his throw away passes were almost picked because he couldn't get them to sail out of bounds? Plus watching the play break down and seeing Brunnel have to run might be one of the 10 greatest thrills in sports history. Bottom Line: Seahawks defense had a good game, but lets see how they do against an actual offense.

Broncos-Pats- Jake Plummer is one win away from a Super Bowl. Reread the last sentence and let it sink in. I never thought I would hear that. I must say thought, take away the phantom PI penalty and the turnovers and I think Denver has about 3 points on 100 total yards, their offense did not look that great. Twice all they had to do was go one yard for a score, and two other times they got gift field position in the red zone. So I am not sure how they will do against the Steelers. I want Jake to win it all thought, and they have the defense to do it. As for the Pats, they lost but its not all that bad. It was not there year, no team has ever one three straight super bowls. I think they are still a force though, although I think they need to draft a running back because Corey Dillion is creeping up on his age 10 years on one year, year.

Colts-Steelers- What a great, exciting game. I am extremely happy to see the Manning family crash and burn. I must say, for some reason, Peyton Manning just can not win big games. Everyone will hype him up during the regular season but I do not think he has what it takes. The Steelers did a great job of blitzing him, if that was a tecmo super bowl game Pittsburgh's entire D would have been on excellent. Troy Palmalou (did I spell that right?) had an amazing game. He was everywhere, did everything I would not be surprised if he somehow cured cancer during the course of that game. Also on that overturned INT call? That might have been the worst playoff call I have ever seen, I mean that was terrible and the ref's explanation of why he overturned it made no sense at all. How do you not get that play right? The Steelers rebounded nicely, but that Jerome Bettis fumble was shocking. I mean I was shocked! Who saw that coming? The Bus doesn't fumble like that. Nick Harper recovered and almost took it to the house before he was tripped up by Big Ben (you remember Nick Harper got his knee cut by his wife the day before the game, Justin says that stopped him form returning it all the way.) Anyway when the colts kicker came up to try to tie the game I annouced to the store (I was at work, at this juncture in the game I was not even trying to help customers) that he was going to miss because he was not clutch and of course he did. I was proud of myself for predicting that, but looking back it was not that big of a prediction. Everyone knew the colts kicker would miss, he is less clutch then Peyton Manning (if that his possible). Good to see Peyton throw his offensive line under the bus after the game. Leave it to Peyton Manning, a great leader as long as he is winning but when the going gets rough, Peyton starts to point the finger. That might be a reason he never wins the big win (sounds a lot like Dan Marino eh?).

Panthers-Bears-
So predictable the outcome was. Hyped defensive battle, yet don't those always turn into 23-21 type games. It was good to see the Bears strategy for stopping Steve Smith was to leave him WIDE OPEN (okay so on both those plays the DB fell down but that kills the joke). There is no doubt in my mind the Panthers will beat the Seahawks. After all I did pick them to win it all before every other media member jumped on their bandwagon. Its the Panthers year.

Well that is all I got. I am really looking forward to not watching the colts next Sunday.
Later Kids

Weekend Randomness

My Sports thoughts from this past weekend:

- Its sucks what happened to Carson Palmer
- Tom Brady still rules
- The Suns are for real
- How is Mark Brunell doing it? He had the classic age 10 years in one year (happens to everyone, examples being Gary Payton in 2003-2004, Adrian Murrell in 1999 and Matt Williams in 2000.) yet he somehow regain the starting job his next year. This is significant because he still plays like he did last year, yet somehow he won a playoff game and is two games away from the Super Bowl. Explain this to me? Also can anyone name another WR on the Skins that's not Santana Moss? I can only name 4 players on their offense: Burnell, Chris Cooley, Moss and Portis. (Okay I can name more but those are the only players that matter. The bottom line is I have no idea how this team has won 11 of 17 games they have played this year.) This team bears an amazing resemblance the Tecmo Super Bowl (SNES version) Kansas City Chiefs. No offense at all (the Chiefs have an aging Joe Montana and an over the hill Christian Okaye). The Chiefs offense is so bad I managed to lose a game 5-0 to the computer in the season me and the roommates are playing. 5-0! I didn't know it was possible to have only 5 combined points scored in a Temco Super Bowl game. However, like the Redskins, the Cheifs defense is so incredible (Derrick Thomas, Niel Smith, Percy Snow and Dale Carter) that I stand at 12-2 through 14 games despite having the last ranked offense in the league. So basically I cant see the Redskins winning against the Seahawks, then again I have no clue how my TSB team keeps winning so you never know.

Alright now onto the Suns. They have been playing really well lately, in their last 10 games they are 8-2 and their two losses have been 3OT games. The basically have had to rough spots all year this year, the start of the year when they did not know how to play together right away and a few weeks ago when everyone was hurt and they only had 6 healthy players and Jim Jackson (he no longer counts as a player. But that's fine, he did enough in game 5 of the Western Semis vs Dallas last year to imortalize him in Suns history.) I don't know if any of you returning blog readers remember from my old summer blog, but I likened last year's team to Luke Skywalker from the Empire Strikes Back (Back to back blogs with Luke Skywalker references? I didn't expect that). For those who don't remember I will recap it real quickly:
The suns were out to "save" the NBA with their fast break, wide open, offense first style of play. They were trying to save the NBA from the Empire, which is represented as the defense intensive style of play that has killed the NBA's popularity from the mid 90s until now. The "Empire" had its share of bad guys, Pat Riley, Jeff Van Gundy, the current emperor, The Pistons and the current Darth Vader, the Spurs. The Rebel Alliance, represented by teams that play fun, high scoring ball, was weak and only represented by a few teams: The Kings and the Mavs. This is why the Suns were like Luke Skywalker. They were a young, brash team that came out of nowhere to be the NBA's new hope. However, like in the Empire Strikes Back, they rushed into a battle with Darth Vader (the Spurs) before they were ready. Luke got his hand cut off, the Suns lost 4 games to 1 and we had to suffer through 71-67 NBA final type games between the Spurs and Pistons.
Fast forward to now, the Suns are starting to resemble Luke Skywalker from the Return of the Jedi. They are older, wiser, darker and edger. They are no were near as innocent. Thanks to Raja Bell, Kurt Thomas, Boris Diaw and James Jones they play much better defense which has allowed them to be almost as good without Amare. You could see it when they played the Spurs on Saturday night. They were in control the whole game, they denied the Spurs easy drives into the line (which the Spurs seemed to get at will during the playoffs last year) and they pushed around Manu (how great was it to see him get his elbowed and shoved around by Kurt Thomas and Raja Bell in the 4th quarter?) In two games this year the Suns have split with the Spurs, although in game 1 this year the Suns were outplaying the Spurs until Barbosa went down (who was having a great game) and they kind of lost there way. Hey its only the regular season, but it seems like the Suns could have a chance this year if Amare comes back healthy. He the good guys have to win right?

originally this blog was meant to not be about sports so much, but I kind of got carried away. Anyway I have a movie review for you on the chronicles of Narnia:

This movie was well done and it followed the book well, from what I remembered. It was entertaining, somewhat funny and well acted. It was interesting seeing the book EVERYONE read as a kid adapted to the big screen. Plus the story is a timeless American classic. I do not have much else to say about it other than its worth seeing in the theater, especially if you read the book as a young kid.

Also, I think I was the last person in the world to see SNL's "Lazy Sunday" the rap video about going to see Narnia. With such classic lines as:
"Chronic- What?- icals of Narina"
"Mr. Pibb plus Red Vines equals crazy delicious."
"She acted like she ain't never seen a 10 before"
"McAdams like Gosling"
"Double True!"
"They call me Burr the way I be dropping Hamiltons."
I dont remember the last time an SNL skit created this much buzz. I had quit watching SNL because it had gotten so bad, but after seeing that I decided to start TIVOing it again. I wonder, will that skit be remembered as the skit that started to bring SNL back? You never know . . .


Okay y'all I'm off to enjoy my last week before ASU starts up again.

Rose Bowl LiveBlog

Hello all and welcome to my first ever LiveBlog. I wrote down everything blogworthy and all my thoughts as they happened. So here they are: unedited!!:

Pregame:
- I'm so sick of the hype yet I am watching the hour long pregame.
- Lee Corso says an NFL general manager should draft Vince Young #1 overall because of his "escapeability". Is that even a word? Justin emphatically says no, citing that Peyton Manning doesn't need any escapeability.
- Lee Corso on USC recruiting in Califorina, "The most best high schoolers, Califorina has 17 of the 24 starters for California." To quote Kanye West from Jesus Walks, "HUH?"
- Matt Baker has somehow managed to go from breaking down college football to snoring in a matter of two minutes.
- I'm already sick of the pregame hype of the hype so I have switched over to HBO to watch Spider-Man 2 for a while.
- I flip back just in time to hear another Corso gem, this time he states the Texas offensive line has 5 National League prospects. I info the channel to make sure I wasn't watching Baseball Tonight by accident.
- Lance Armstrong gives some epic pregame commentary: This is a big game, Texas has to play well. Thanks, Lance.
- Yet another Corso gem when he states, "Texas will shock the entire Universe, not just planet Earth." don't know what to say about that one.
- Pregame Predictions: Justin USC 49-17, Matt: USC 49-28, Me: USC 45-35
- The skit with Will Ferrel and Mathew McConaughey taking shit managed to completely destroy my excitement for the game. Justin claims the skit is, "Fucking terrible."
- Me and Justin go through or usual pregame USC ritual when we guess how many underage girl Matt Lienart do before the game. Justin says 3, I say 4 but we both agree it was too big of a game for him to do any more than that.
- When did Texas change their mascot from the longhorn to the McConaughey.
- The sideline reporter just said this is the best playing surface in Rose Bowl history. Baker says this is "HUGE". I say it is what I will always remember most about this game.
- Sandra Day O'Conner's husband is named John O'Conner. Were is Arnold when you need him?

1st Quarter
- Over/Under 15 promos for the new ABC show Injustice? Baker- Under, Justin- Over, Me- Push
- Baker asks what play is USC going to run their first play? Justin says "touchdown".
- 3 and out, good start for Texas . . . Nevermind. Huge fumble by Texas on the punt.
- Lendale White has 24 Tds this year? If this was fantasy football Reggie Bush owners would be pissed.
- ABC's key for Texas: Be In-"Vince"-Able. I get jokes.
- Can you say USC-Oklahoma part II?
- Nevermind that above comment. Texas secondary is pretty good.
- Terrible decision for USC to go for it on 4th down. They should have kicked the field goal and gone up 10-0. That gives Texas a ton of MO back.
- Texas is fumbling way to much.
- First Injustice commercial count it at 7:08 pm. 14 more to go.

2nd Quarter
- Best and only sign of the night so far reads: (619) HEI-SMAN
- Did Reggie Bush just attempt a lateral? Does he think he is Aaron Brooks?
- So maybe Texas should stop fumbling.
- Justin and I debate whether Reggie Bush would make a better QB than Vince Young. Just says Reggie would be better than Vince, I say Young is better and point to decision making. Justin agrees with (since Bush just made that crazy lateral a few minutes earlier.)
- I love the Ed and his Nokia commercial.
- Has Heather Graham's career fallen so far that she is doing a show on ABC?
- Injustice promo #2 at 7:30pm. Just 13 more to go. Its not looking so good.
- Texas' secondary is pretty freaking good.
- Vince Young's lateral on the Texas TD was every bit as risky as Bush's botched one earlier. And for the record that was not a TD, Young's knee was down. 9-7 Texas.
- TD Texas again. Its been all Texas since the Reggie Bush fumble. Texas is up 16-7.
- Justin states USC should just pound it and we all agree. Texas cant stop the run but USC keeps throwing the ball.
- Keith Jackson is stealing his material from Matt Baker.
- I haven't seen USC get outplayed in the first have like this since, well EVERY other game they played this year.
- 16-10 Texas @ half.

3rd Quarter
- Rumor has it the 3rd Injustice commercial appeared during halftime. I however, was alseep. 12 more to go.
- Lendale White just stiffed armed the shit out of Huff.
- Baker makes the most random comment of the night, comparing Matt Lienart's dad to Kevin Kruger.
- Baker puts NCAA 2006 in the XBOX and watches the computer play USC vs Texas. I guess the real thing isn't enough for him.
- This just in: Vince Young is damn good.
- I'm impressed with the Texas cheerleaders.
- Texas finally sniffs out that little hitch play to Jarrett that USC has ran about 500 times already.
- Lendale White and Lienart are getting in a groove. What happened to Reggie Bush?
- Keith Jackson is senile, I love him but he is senile.
- It took until the end of the 3rd quarter for us to have the Mike Vick vs Vince Young conversation.

4th Quarter
- Texas misses FG, Justin declares the game over in USC's favor.
- Both Texas and USC's TEs are having good games.
- Hello Lendale White, please meet the top 10 of the NFL draft.
- There's Reggie Bush! That's why he is amazing, a 30 yard TD run topped off with a superman-esque soar into the endzone. 31-23 USC.
- Dan Fouts somehow, someway made a Harry Potter reference.
- Big mental error by Killbrew there, roughing Lienart on 3rd down.
- What a throw by Lienart and catch by Jarrett! Jumps high into the air, grabs the ball, fights his way into the endzone and takes two Texas players down for the count all in one motion. 38-26 USC, it might be over for the Longhorns.
- TD Vince Young, just an incredible player. 38-33.
- 4th and 2, 2:13 left USC up 38-33. Does USC go for it? Yup.
NO! Wow, Texas ball. THIS IS GONNA BE GOOD.
- USC's blitz is getting to Young, but Young will prolly make them pay.
- USC cant stop Vince Young. 1st and 10 Texas on USC's 25 with 45 seconds left.
- Did I just see Vince Young smile?
- Here it is, 4th and 5 on the 8 yard line with the national title on the line.
- TD run Vince Young, he is amazing. Just amazing.
- 2pt conversation run by Young, can he be stopped? 41-38 Texas 19 seconds left.
- Texas wins it all!

Okay enough real time, my thoughts on the game:

What an incredible game that lived up to the hype. After the game Baker, Justin and I just sat in silence trying to fathom what we just saw Vince Young do. I was rooting for USC to start the game but with Texas driving trying to win I found myself rooting for Texas just because of Vince Young. I have never, ever turned on a game like that before. Never has one player caused me to switch who I was rooting for mid game. Basically it was the most incredible, clutch, championship performance I have ever seen. I have never seen one man take down a dynasty like that. The only comparison is Luke Skywalker single handedly taking down the Empire in the original Star Wars triology.
I have stated before Reggie Bush is the best player I have ever seen but I change that to Vince Young. I cant believe what one game did for him, I mean that game changed EVERYTHING. We were all sitting there in disbelief after the game trying to digest what happened. I think Justin (who by the way didn't like Vince Young at all going into the game) when I asked him who was on the late night shows tonight and he said: "Probably Vince Young, he does everything."

I must say the game lived up to the hype and I have nothing more to say but wow.

P.S. Did anyone see Aaron Taylor have a mental breakdown after the game while holding the Wheaties box with the Longhorns on the cover?

2006!!!

Okay its getting real now, 2006 we are over halfway through the decade and I cant believe it. When 2000 struck I was just a little sophomore at St. Mary's high school, I have come along way to being the underachieving college slacker that I am today (two senior years? Woo Hoo!) Let me tell you what I did on this fine New Year's holiday (being held on the 2nd because the first was on a Sunday), I sat and watched college football from 10am to 11pm. I did have one break, I went to Wendy's. Yes I can not think of a better way to spend the day! Gotta hit a few points on the blog, my weekend, my new years and alot of football talk. I also gotta say hi to Aunt Cathy, getting ready for more sports talk!
On Friday night me and Ed went out for a little "group hang" with Carmen (you remember from the Christmas party), her friend Valerie (did I spell this right? Yes I am asking you) and two other people who's names I sadly do not remember. The night was relevant because we went to the Esplanade, my old high school stomping grounds. It was crazy to be back there since I spent many a weekend night there (back around 2000 actually, see it all comes together). Even went and saw a movie at the Esplanade which was a trip because I used to work there way back then. So it was crazy to see the place, it still looks the absolute same. Well anyways we ate before hand at Houstons and I must say that place is freaking expensive! I mean 10 bucks for a cheeseburger? Wow! But hey it was damn good so I am not complaining (or should I say I will stop complaining). Also guess who sat behind us? Brian Grant himself, I think I am name dropping but I am not sure (Judges? Judges say I have to know the person in order to name drop so it has been ruled that I did not name drop). Anyway afterwards we headed up to the Esplanade in order to see what movies were playing and I must say it took us FOREVER to figure out what movie to see. The Family Stone jumped out to an early lead and I got scared because I really do not want to see that movie (chick flick!) but luckily it feel back into the pack. Ed argued his heart out for Syriana, I tried to get people pumped about the idea of seeing Walk the Line (Reese with black hair and an accent? Oh man), The Family Stone then jumped back into the lead causing me to get worried again before somehow, somehow Fun With Dick and Jane managed to steal the race and win. What an upset! So from this irrelevant subject matter I jump straight into my movie review:

Fun With Dick and Jane is an interesting movie that pretty much takes a two hour long shot at the Enrons of the world. It has its funny parts, and it does have Jim Carey however its not a as crazy of a comedy like Jim Carey movies of the past were. It is interesting to watch however and the trailer is misleading because the movie is not about them robbing people that is maybe a 1/4 of the movie at most. The movie is actually about Jim Carey who works at a sleazy corporation who's stock tanks and the company goes bankrupt and the employees lose out on all their pentions. With no money Carey is forced to a life of crime. The movie is more about corporate America then it is about crime, however.
Its Worth Your Money if you want to have a good time and have already seen King Kong, Narina and the other holiday hit movies.

Then there was New Years Eve. Three years ago for New Years eve 2002-03 Bjorn, Justin and I went to the Mill block party (we got free tix). We went to early and we were not impressed and we weren't 21. Well this year we decided to go again (with a big crew). We were 21 and owed it to ourselves to go. Well I must say it still sucked and steer clear of Mill on New Years. Its 15 bucks to get in and the beer costs an insane amount of money plus the bars have cover charges. I must say house party is the way to go on New Years. I should have stayed home and watched Entourage all night like Baker did.

Okay time to break down Sports! There was some horrible officiating in some of the bowl games this year. I mean did the refs have money on the Michigan-Neberska and Iowa-Florida games? Michigan and Iowa got raped in the officiating department. The Fiesta Bowl went as everyone thought it should have gone. I mean Ohio State owns the Fiesta Bowl and Notre Dame just has bad luck playing bowl games in Arizona (a loss in the Insight Bowl two years ago and lost 41-9 to Oregon State in 2000 or something). Ted Ginn Jr sure showed up for that game, which led to a bunch of halarious A Ginn (you know like again, only a ginn!) comments by me. And how about Brady Quinn's sister/AJ Hawk's girlfriend? There was so much material on this, I do not remember her name so I will just refer to her as QuinnHawk. She made the most amazing turnaround in the River House hold since the 2004 Red Sox. When she was first on screen Justin recoiled in horror and both Baker and I were not impressed with her looks. After about 4,000 cut aways to her at the end of the game Justin said she was not as bad as he thought, and Matt and I were in full on obsessed mode (she was not that bad looking, actually she is good looking) to the point that we were contemplating going to mill later that night to find her and making a website about her (just kidding folks, we make disturbing jokes. But if we did make a website it would be www.QuinnHawk.com). I must say though, AJ Hawk must have been able to talk alot of shit. I mean do you think while Brady Quinn was calling out the signals, AJ was like "Hey Brady, I boned your sister last night." I mean wouldn't that throw you off? What if AJ Hawk sacked Quinn, tore his ACL and ended his career then got QuinnHawk pregnant and divorced her. Wouldn't that be the ultimate F U to the Quinn family? Remember these are just jokes kids, as they say "I got Jokes".

Okay that's all I got for now, later this week look for my Rose Bowl review and my preview of the upcoming Wild Card weekend in the NFL.
P.S. I sold out and let blogspot put adds on my webpage if it gets enough hits, so tell all your friends to read the blog because I could use the hits and in turn use the money!

Insight Bowl

So the Insight Bowl is definitely NOT where I wanted ASU to be bowling in much bigger games. However it was a disappointing season which I have already blogged about and I was happy for them just to be in a bowl, especially a bowl right at home. The only problem was we waited to long to get tickets and they sold out so we had no way in, or did we? Some Rutgers football players gave us (Gabe, Baker and I) so we got to go! So we roll into the game and we are able to get tickets next to each other. Rutgers was handing out free Rutgers shirts at the game and they were nice so I wanted one. The girl there tried to deny us the shirts (we were wearing ASU stuff). In which I told her we were with the players and we told her who we were with. She said there was no way we were with them but gave us the shirts anyways after I told her we got not beef with Rutgers. As she gave a shirt to Gabe, who was wearing an ASU sweatshirt, some Rutgers fans yelled, "don't tell me you are giving that to him!" It was awesome.
So off we were to our seats which ended up being FRONT ROW seats right behind the D-backs Dugout. These are prime seats. We were right in the heart of the Rutgers section but we found a few ASU fans to cheer with down there. Well down there we witnessed some awesome stuff: Like a Super hot Rutgers cheer leader (their cheerleaders are hotter than ours I think, which should not be possible) that was near us, Gabe caught a football that was kicked into the stands after an extra point, and we basically had the wrath of hundreds of Rutgers fans coming at us. At one point the Rutgers fans started to chant at us, "Go Home ASU." So I turned around and replied, "But I am home." That got a good laugh out of them. One of the ASU fans that was in our section, after his 20th beer or something, got into a fight with a Rutgers fan so that is always entertaining. Baker high fived some hot chick as she entered into a tunnel that our seats were right by. Getting on TV, I think for channel 3 or something I dont really know.
As for the actual game, well it was ugly at first. ASU didnt seem to even try on defense, they were not even tackling at all. Rutgers rolled all over them to the tune of a 24-10 lead before ASU scored right before halftime and somehow were only down by 7 at the half (even though they had played so terrible). The 2nd half belong to the Sun Devils even though it got a little close at the end. I must say Rudy Burgess is a clutch player. He scored the game winning TD in the Sun Bowl last year, he took over in the 4th vs Arizona a month ago and he took over the 4th quarter again tonight running the ball when we needed it the most. I must say that guy is clutch and he has two more years left! Rudy Carpenter was amazing, 471 yds 4tds and 0ints! Holy Shit! That's a game. I love Sam Keller but I would not be sad if Carpenter won the starting job (althought I want Sam start next year). It was tough to see Dale's career end with an injury, I will miss him sorely. I would like to thank him, Derek Hagan, Matt Miller, Jamal Williams and all the seniors for 4 great years. Oh yeah and that Matt Miller 45 yard TD catch on 2nd and 25 was so awesome because it happened right in front of us. I also want to give props to Dirk Koetter for letting Chad Chrisitinson (There is no way I spelled that right) take the final snap of the game. Chad had done so much little stuff for Dirk over the last 4 years it was nice to see Dirk reward him

Overall it was a great night and I will always remember it.

Goodbye to Sun Devil Stadium (at least professionals)

On this Christmas Eve 12/24/2005 The 4-10 Cardinals played the 6-8 Eagles in a game no one cared about. Except it had one very big meaning: It was to be the last professional football game ever played at Sun Devil Stadium, the last Cardinal game (they move into a new stadium next year for any of you that have just returned from Mars). I'm not going to sugar coat it, there have not been many good times in the 16 years the Cards have been here. A sign at the game yesterday said: Thanks for the Memories: Both of Them. Anyway I have alot of memories from the Cards days at SDS, most of the bad, a few of the good, all of them awesome. I would like to share them with you:

1995- It was the last home game of the season for the Cardinals and it was Monday Night Football vs the Cowboys. I went to the game with my dad and uncle and the Cardinals got KILLED. I think it was like 28-3 or something. Then head coach Buddy Ryan (the white Denny Green?) had to be escorted off the field by security after the game as fans threw stuff at him and booed him. Shortly after that game Ryan was fired (its not often you have a complete nut job running your team, Buddy Ryan created the famed 46 defense for the 85 Bears, ran the defense on some good Houston teams in the early 90s and went to the playoffs with Randall Cunningham and the Eagles in the early 90s as well, yet after that game with the Cardinals capping a 4-12 season he has never even sniffed an NFL job ever again.)

1997- This was an interesting year, the year before the Cardinals had their only good year. They lost an amazing amount of games by 7 points are less and they finally beat the Cowboys for the first time since the Truman administration (just kidding, sort of. Speaking of that game, the Cards won it 25-22 on an overtime FG that Kevin Butler almost missed and the fans stormed the field and tore down the goalpost. Thats right, Cardinal fans tore down the goalpost after a REGULAR SEASON game and the team went 4-12.) Anyway I went to a game that year with my dad vs the New York Giants and the Cardinals just got smoked. Kent Graham got hurt during the game and everyone wanted to see rookie Jake Plummer enter the game. One guy behind us even yelled "bring in the rapist!" (if you remember correctly shortly before he was drafted some crazy girl accused Jake Plummer of raping her. Nothing ever came of it.) Anyway the Cardinals brought some hack in named Stoney Case and continued to get killed (just for the record Plummer came into the game vs Philly next year and dominated and his legend was born sort of.) Anyway that is not the real story of the game. Since the game was such a blow out some guy behind us decided to rip on Giant's punter Brad Maynard the whole game. He kept yelling stuff at him, stuff like he was a homo because he held balls (during FGs, ya know). Anyway Maynard was rattled by this because who heckles a punter? Anyway Maynard was practicing punting by kicking a ball into a net right infront of us and the guy was just screaming at him. On his next practice kick Maynard whiffs the punt and kicks the top of the net and it comes crashing down on him. Priceless comedy, the whole section cracked up. Now that is a memory.

1998- Cardinals one good year. Everyone knows about the FG by Chris Jackie and everything so I am not going to touch on it.

1999- This was a wired year. The Cardinals were hyped up big time and expected to be one of the NFL's best teams. Management gave Plummer a HUGE contract that proceeded to release anyone around him that he relied on last year (i.e Larry Centers) so basically Plummer had to do it all by himself and we all know he cant do it all by himself. He hurt his thumb in the preseason and it effected him all year. He put up maybe the worst QB year in the history of the NFL (9tds and 24ints), 1998 1,000 yard rusher Adrian Murrell aged about 10 years by the end of 1998 to the start of the 1999 season. They were riddled with injuries and started 2-6 yet somehow managed to get back to 6-6 and had a HUGE game vs Washington for first place and they laid an egg and the Cardinals were never even close to be competitive ever again (Save the 4-2 start in 2002, but I do no think anyone thought they were a real threat). Anyway my SDS memory this year was going to the home opener vs San Fransico on Monday night football. It was Steve Young's last game and Jeff Garcia's first. I still remember the play that ended Young's career. The game was so lopsided that the only thing Cardinal fans had to cheer about was when the jumbotron showed a graphic of the Diamondbacks being 1999 NL West Champions. Another memory I have from that year was an epic Cardinal comeback vs the Eagles late in the season that evened their record at 6-6, man was I pumped up after that game.

2000- Just a terrible year. The last SDS sellout for a Cardinal game occurred this year vs the Packers. 2000 was either the year the Cardinals were supposed to get back to playoff form or prove that 1998 was a fluke. Well they lost like 30-3 or something and we all knew it was not happening with this crew. Plummer had a rough year and rookie Thomas Jones could not do anything. Dave McGinnis took over this year when the Cardinals were just terrible and managed to coax some inspiring performances out of the Cardinals, a win over Washington which included a 103 yard fumble return for TD by Aneas Williams. After the game prop 302 passed and the Cardinals were going to get their new stadium (it only took 6 years). In McGinnis first game they were beating the Saints in almost every facet of the game (this was the one good Saints team that went 10-6, you know the only reason Jim Haslett and Aaron Brooks have lasted so long) before they blew it on turnovers, and when they were about 3-11 and probably the worst team in football management said McGinnis would be head coach next year and the Cards went out and played the soon to be champs, the Baltimore Ravens, so well that it was an inspiring 13-7 loss (when you do not have that many wins, losses can be inspiring).

2001- This was weird year, but aren't they all? The Cards sucked it up and started 2-6 and then made started to play really good football in the second half, at one point even getting into the playoff talk. Plummer had his best satistical year as a Cardinal and David Boston had his one good year. I remember going to a game verse Washington when the Cards were 5-6 and a win would be HUGE for playoff reasons, however they suffered a heartbreaking 20-10 loss and I was crushed, again. Just for the record they finished the year 7-9 and had a 5-3 second half (hey these things mean something when you are a cardinal fan. 7-9 is considered one hell of a year).

2002- Ah what a tease this year was. They started out 4-2, but mainly because they played an easy schedule. Went into a HUGE game with the 49ers with first place on the line and got, you guessed it, killed. They lost 38-28 but the game was not even that close. However their 4-2 start coupled with their 5-3 finish in 2001 made the cardinals 9-5 in a 14 game strech (and this means nothing I know). The Cards finish the season 1-9 and its another down year.

2003- What a year. They sign Emmit and he has a terrible year. They got rid of Jake and brought in a Jeff (Blake) who throws the best deep ball in the league (its so pretty that no one can catch it. How many times did this guy overthrow a wide open WR? too many). It was also Anquan Boldin's first year. My memories from this year include going to a 38-0 blowout by the Seahawks. I was at the game with Justin and Baker and we were so freaking hot we left at halftime. That's just about all that happened that year. Oh wait Josh McCown did throw a TD pass to Nate Poole with no time left in the season to knock the Vikings out of the playoffs which led to two great things: The Viking's announcer halrious call, and the drafting of Larry Fitzgerald.

2004- Denny's first year and the most fun year I had watching the Cards in a while. This team had no talent yet they stayed in every game but one or two. At one point they even looked like they could make the playoffs. They had a great draft that included three of my favorite players of all time: Fitz, Dansby and Dockett. They finally made a good free agent signing (Bert Berry). If Denny had not decided to play musical QBs in the middle of a winning streak who knows what would have happened. SDS highlight includes going to the Cardinal-Patriot game. The halftime tribute to Pat Tillman was awesome. Then there was the drunk Cardinal fan who heckled me (I was wearing my Cardinal stuff.) He kept telling me to stand up and cheer and I kept declining. He kept bugging me to the point were I yelled, "Heckle a freaking Patriot Fan." (I was sitting next to like 8 patriot fans.) About a quarter later security removed the guy, he was hammered as shit. Also a highlight from the game is when some drunk guy pointed at Justin's shirt that read Arizona Sports Camp in red letters, the drunk patriot fan thought it was a cardinal shirt and pointed at the shirt and then pointed to the ground (as if the Cardinals were going down). However it was not a Cardinal shirt which prompted Justin to say, "I guess Arizona Sports Camp is going down."

2005- What a disappointment. The most hyped season since 1999 and it played out just like that season. The only real highlight of the season was a preseason game we, justin and baker went to in which Ed brought us free hot dogs and gave us a ride back to our car! It was fun watching Kurt Warner throw to Fitz and Boldin, who had great years. This team also featured the worst offensive line in football history. Oh well there is always next year.

So there you have it. You might be sad right now and you might be thinking "poor Aaron" but do not feel sorry for me. I have enjoyed watching Cardinals football. I have removed myself from thinking the team will win and from taking losses to seriously. I just watch it for fun now, if the Cards win I am happy if they lose I am not happy but I let it go easily. Its just fun to be apart of something and hoping one year when they do win again I will be able to say, "I stuck with this team every year." (Because when the Cards do have a winning season, you will see an amazing amount of bandwagon fans, I am telling you it will blow your socks off. Because as Bjorn says, "we are all Cardinals fans deep down")

Here is to the new stadium and hopefully to better years, but if not that is cool. Even though its another losing season this year it feels different then most. The Cardinals actually have some good, fun players to watch like Warner, Fitz, Boldin, Dansby, Dockett, Berry, Wilson and Rolle. I'm not saying they are gonna be good, but at least they have some good players.

On an unrelated note, Merry Christmas everyone!

Remember when I said Thanksgiving was an underrated holiday? Well its true but X-mas still trumps it. Not only do you get to sit around and eat all day, there is more sweets, there is also football and the added bonus of basketball, plus you get gifts! No wonder its the most wonderful time of the year. So Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

Looking out for #1

So when I started this blog four score and seven years ago I started it to A) have a creative outlet because you the reader were being deprived of my creative skills (go ahead an laugh now, I'll be laughing later) and B) to talk about the O.C. since its the one show everyone I know watches. Except for Adam, he claims the show is for 12 year old girls. Well if watching the show makes me a 12 year old girl, then I guess its a sacrifice that has to be made! Anyway I think I posted thoughts on every episode until the season finale. I have not done that at all this year (Id like to say it is because I have more of life, but that would just be kidding myself). So anyway without further adieu, here are my thoughts on the season so far:

- Hasn't it felt like its been like 4 different seasons this year already? From the Dean/Taylor storyline, to the Jerri Ryan storyline, to the Johnny storyline its been hectic,
- Can we please be done with Johnny? Does he add anything anymore? He seems like an anchor to me and a Ryan clone. But you know they are going to find a way in which Ryan and Johnny have an epic fight over the heart of Marissa.
- I think we all know Summer and Seth are not going to end up going to Brown or any school on the East Coast. That would dampen a little something I like to call season 4.
- I think Taylor is hot, when she doesn't talk. Her character being the antagonist is kind of over since she made nice with everyone, yet I saw her in the previews for the January episodes. Can she really add anything now that her nitch is gone?
- When Ryan decides to get a sex change in order to help Seth run for Governor of the Moon. (Just seeing if you were still paying attention).
- Remember that episode were that crazy surfer guy wanted to fight Ryan all episode. Then he ended up kidnapping Marissa, but got scared off by Ryan breaking a bottle? That's the O.C. for you. Bonus points for the unnecessary scene at the end of the episode were Ryan just punches a punching bag for five minutes (can you say unnecessary?)
- The Dean, he was so over the top he was actually a good character. His character would not have worked on any other show but the O.C. I am glad to see him gone though, I think people would have tired of him quickly.
- Who doesn't Julie hook up with? Speaking of her I liked the scene in last episode when she is sitting in her trailer watching nascar and living the hick life. That was some good O.C. comedy. Plus everytime Kerstin knocks on her door she thinks it is Gus and yells at him for some crazy reason. Thats just good writing.

Well I think I just about covered everything, so I would like to rank the characters in terms of awesomeness this year:

1. Sandy (coolest TV dad ever?)
2. Summer
3. Ryan
4. Marissa
5. Seth
6. Kerstin
7. Julie
8. Taylor
9. Johnny
10. Chili (remember him? The public school Seth)

okay so maybe I really am a 12 year old girl

Welcome!

My first official blog as a member of blogspot, I feel so, so actually I do not feel any different at all. I am not sure why I decided to change venue, I just thought blogspot had more to offer in the way of awesomeoness. Anyway for those who read my old blog thank you for crossing over. For those new readers (thats going out in a limb) you can catch my old stuff here.
I still plan to bring you the same stuff I brought you before. However this time around I can post pictures and do a bunch of other stuff that will in no way enhance your blogging experience. So more blogs to come later,

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