Vital Idol

My apologies to Billy on stealing his title. As is my tradition, I’ve been watching lots and lots of American Idol. I got hooked in season 2 and my love affair just grew, culminating in back to back seasons featuring Carrie Underwood and Kellie Pickler. After featuring those two southern belle sweethearts they have a lot of goodwill built up, although they really put that to the test after last season’s crapfest which featured only one mildly attractive and the best singer had me wondering if she had some mental deficiency given that she was the only person on earth who didn’t know she was by the best contestant. Only the magic that was young Sanjaya Malakar saved last season and has me coming back to watch every episode.

This season so far hasn’t really blown me away. They did a nice job of hyping the kid who lived in his car, but then they cut him and watched the waterworks fly. I felt bad for the kid, and really all the young contestants when they get voted off. Just tonight that poor young girl got voted off, and she was a mess, didn’t want to sing but they forced her, then tried to play it off as an uplifting moment. She didn’t deserve to get voted off, in fact the people at home always disappoint me with their voting. They’ve already voted off one of the hotter girls, Amy Davis, who cares if her singing was kinda crappy we need to keeps girls like her around, at least until after we’ve eliminated the annoying contestants. Right now I think the hottest girl they have left is that Danny Noriega chick.

Oh what’s that? No, you’re pulling my leg.

It has been brought to my attention that Danny Noriega is actually a guy, but still very pretty nonetheless. So, my deepest apologies go to young Danny.

Anyway, my early predictions are for Brook White, Carly Smithson, Asia’h Epperson, David Archuleta, Michael Johns and David Cook to be the final 6. I’m already tired of that Michael Johns character, but the judges seem to like him, and the fans, to me he just seems a bit smug and rather ordinary. The kid David Archuleta seems a bit overhyped as well, he reminds me of a singing version of Sam Levine from Freaks and Geeks fame. I just don’t trust people who smile that much. As for next weeks eliminations before we get to the final 12. I’m going to predict Cady Malloy is gone, even though she’s kinda hot, voters have shown a lack of respect for such things, anyway she seemed resigned to leaving tonight. Then Ramiele Sulabay will get voted off, she’s a good singer but in the past the Asian contestants have always been voted off too early, so I’m thinking she’ll continue that. For the men, Luke Menard is definitely going, he’s like a less talented James Vanderbeek out there, the bloom is definitely off his rose. And finally, David Hernandez will be voted, not because of his singing, but because I find him to be completely unlikeable.

That’s all I got for now, I’ll be back soon with some commentary about SNL’s triumphant return.

-Bender Out

Oscar Night

Well this year’s gala affair snuck up on me. And apparently it snuck up on a lot of other people, it was the least watched Oscars in years. I think it was a lot earlier this year, I always remember it being in March, so that could’ve had something to do with the fact that a lot of people didn’t to watch. Also it was a down year for movies. The two big movies that were vying for Best Picture, No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood, were indy movies, and while they were great, they definitely weren’t household names like The Departed was last year. Also the two Actor awards were foregone conclusion; I don’t know anyone who didn’t predict wins for Javier Bardem and Daniel Day-Lewis. Quick note, all of the acting awards went to foreign actors, which I think is a commentary on something, either positive or negative, not sure. Day-Lewis by the way is a real actor, so many of our supposed great actors essentially play the same role in every movie they just change the character's name (I'm talking about you Denzel) But it's refreshing when you look at the career of someone like Day-Lewis and find it hard to believe that the guy from Last of the Mohicans was the same guy who played Bill the Butcher. The feel good stories of the night, for me, were the two people winning for that song from Once and the former stripper Diablo Cody winning for best original screenplay for Juno. Has anyone figured out if this was her birth name, or is it her old stage name? I know this is a clichéd joke, but if you name your child Diablo aren’t you basically paving the way for her to become a stripper? Anyway, I’m happy for her as an individual and I guess it was nice for a comedy like Juno to get some nominations and even an award, but why do critics go nuts over quirky comedies like Juno when movies like Knocked Up or Superbad were so much more successful at their goal of making the audience laugh? The closest thing those movies will ever get to receiving an Oscar was the honor of Jonah hill and Seth Rogen presenting an award and doing a little shtick about which one of them was more like Halle Berry. By the way, it would’ve been totally genius for whoever won that award, (and the actually category slips my mind) to lay a big kiss on Jonah Hill a la Adrien Brody on the real Halle Berry a couple years back after she presented him for the best actor award. Anyway, that would’ve been the greatest Oscar moment ever.

Some disappointments from the show, those three songs from Enchanted sucked. Are you telling me that none of Eddie Vedder’s songs from Into the Wild were better than that crap? Also, speaking of Into the Wild, I personally wanted Hal Holbrook to win best supporting actor. Granted Javier Bardem did a great job playing a badass, but I can say unequivocally that Holbrook’s performance affected me much more. And here is my biggest gripe of the night, every year I enjoy the montage tribute to all of those in the film industry who passed away in the last year, it really is a highlight for me. I personally was hoping that they’d have Tab Thacker as part of the tribute; he played Finch in Wildcats and House in the Police Academy movies. And I do understand that you can’t include everyone, the list would be endless and someone is going to be forgotten or ignored, but not only was my guy left of, they also ignored Brad Renfro, who was a pretty famous kid, and died way before his time. They should definitely make this segment longer, more people deserve one final tribute, and perhaps they could’ve taken out one of their crappy self congratulatory montages of “Great Oscars Moments.” I don’t know, in some ways the whole thing leaves a bad taste in my mouth, it’s like a final kick to these people almost to say, “no, you weren’t good enough for a final tribute.”

All in all the Oscars were enjoyable, I really like Jon Stewart and I thought he was funny, but somehow it didn't feel like the event that it is meant to be. I don;t even mind that a bunch of danged foreigners won all the acting awards.

So That's all I got about the Oscars, I'll be back soon with some sports stuff, NBA trades, and of course I'll be giving my opinions on America's great democratic process, also known as American Idol

Giants Brought the Pain

I don’t know where to begin. I almost didn’t post on this, because of the pain, but my fans have been clamoring so here goes. It’s hard to believe The Patriots blew it, I know this is a rather New England-centric view, but that’s what I am. So how did it happen? Well it was obvious to anyone watching the game that the Giants D-line totally dominated the Pats O-line. Someone on that D-line should’ve been MVP, they beat an offensive line that was probably considered the best in football. But the big key to the game was the Pats didn’t make the proper adjustments to neutralize the Giants pass rush. The Patriots were out-coached. I can’t remember the last time I said that. It may have been all the way back in the Pete Carroll era. The reason I didn’t think this loss could happen was because I thought we had the greatest coach ever in football, I’m not even making a joke there. That is how highly I thought of Belichick, but he’s not perfect, and as a result, neither are the 2007 Patriots. The only time the Patriots had success was throwing the ball short, on three step drops, but they couldn’t commit to doing that until their final scoring drive in the fourth quarter. There were a couple decisions I disagreed with; i.e. not kicking a field on 4^th and 13 from the 31 yard-line, also not challenging the fumble recovery by Pierre Woods on the Giants 30, which Troy Aikman said they might want to challenge, but those were really minor things compared to the fact that they never made the in-game adjustments they are known for. So after all that, when the game came down to the end, and a more talented Pats team was clawing for a win to save their perfect season, The Giants players stepped up and made special plays, and the Pats didn’t capitalize on their opportunities. On the final drive Eli Manning figured out how break away from two Patriots players who had a grip on his jersey, then threw a pass that should’ve been broken up on the other end, but David Tyree made one of the greatest catches in NFL history, trapping the ball between his one hand and his helmet. It’s being talked about as the greatest play in Super Bowl history, if either player doesn’t make a very special play there, I’d probably be writing about how great the Pats were this year, but I’m not because The Giants stepped up and earned it. But that wasn’t the only play of the drive that differentiated the Giants from the Patriots. On three separate occasions Patriot defensive backs could’ve or should’ve intercepted Manning passes, but couldn’t get it done. Asante Samuel had an easy pick, thrown right to him, but he closed his hands too early and dropped the ball that would’ve ended the game. If you’re not familiar with Samuel, you’ll know him better this off-season when he becomes the highest paid cornerback in the NFL, he’s probably the Patriots best defensive playmaker, he could’ve won the game on a gimme interception and helped the Pats escape with a win despite being out-played and out-hustled but he wasn;t able to make the big play. I’m not trying to say Asante lost the game for the Pats, I’m just saying that David Tyree won the game for the Giants, and no one made a similar play for New England.

Did the Patriots choke? I think that’s unfair to the Giants to say that they won because the Patriots choked. That’s really not what I’m saying at all, as I said the Giants stepped up, but the Patriots also choked. If the Patriots had played the way they did all year, as the best coached team, with star players who made big plays, they would’ve completed their goal and been 19-0. The coaches choked, the players choked and that opened the door for the Giants to become the champions. All their hard work ended in disappointment, there will be no perfect season this year, and I doubt there will ever be one. Once again we realize exactly how special that 1972 Dolphins team was, and exactly ho impossible it’ll be to see it repeated.

So now I’ve had to spend the last couple days listening to all the Patriot haters get their licks in. So many are coming out of the woodwork to take their bows, trying hard not to be too cocky when they say “I told you so” for predicting this upset. Gregg Easterbrook who has been writing on espn.com all year as if Bill Belichick had personally come to his house and killed his dog, wrote about how the season was totally redeemed on Sunday. I guess the league still would’ve been in peril if the Pats won, and the league would’ve been going down the crapper despite 97 million fans watching the game. Michael Wilbon, who I am a fan of, was on PTI Monday afternoon talking about the Patriots loss with such satisfaction and voiced genuine anger about The Patriots attitude coming into this game. He bragged about how he had predicted this win, and said the classless Patriots had gotten their come-uppance (I’m paraphrasing here.) I’d be more willing to give these people credit for their predictions if a single one of them had said how the game would go, but no one predicted such a low scoring game. Even Plaxico Buress’ prediction which so many scoffed at was too high of a score. You really shouldn’t brag about predicting a 31-28 win for the Giants, because you had no clue how the game would go, just like the rest of us. There’s a difference between knowing why a team would win and predicting the victory as a result, but to me Wilbon’s prediction was more of a declaration that he really really wanted the Giants to win.

One thing I will agree with Wilbon about was Coach Belichick’s behavior at the end of the game. I don’t understand why Belichick left early, with a second to go in the game. There was some initial confusion, the clock actually ticked to zero and everyone rushed the field, Belichick and Coach Coughlin had a very nice handshake at midfield, but as they headed off people informed both coaches that there was one second still left and while everyone else was cleared off the field and sent back to the sidelines, Belichick just left and went to the locker room. I don’t think it was a crime against humanity the way Wilbon does, but it just makes no sense for an adult to not act like an adult and walk back to the sidelines and sit through one final play of a painful loss. It would’ve been very easy for him to run back to the sideline, watch the kneel-down, and then go sulk in the locker room, but it’s too much to ask Belichick I guess. This incident is getting blown out of proportion by many people who already hate him, and they all wait for these incidents as an excuse to pounce on him. Maybe it’s because he’s so dismissive during press conferences, maybe it’s because he doesn’t buddy up to the other coaches in the league, whatever the reason certain media members are just waiting for each misstep. So why do I say I agree with Wilbon at all? Because this is starting to become too much of a pattern with Coach Belichick, he refuses to play by any rules, the rules of common decency for example. Why not just do the human thing every now and then? It’s interesting to me that Bobby Knight retired the day after this incident, because Coach Belichick is on the same path, it’s going to keep escalating, and it’s going to end badly. This “spygate” is coming to a head now, and if there’s no evidence then he’ll be fine, but if there is a tape all the critics will pounce again, his legacy will be tarnished, and for people like me it’ll become even harder to defend him.

A quick note on spygate: Belichick’s biggest ally in all of this is Roger Goodell because there’s no telling how far this controversy could go if there’s any truth to this latest round of accusations.

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;

Thank you Rudyard, I couldn’t have said it better myself.

So now the Patriots try to start from scratch, and I’ll be there with them. They have the 7^th pick in the draft this April, and I’d predict that they use this off-season to rebuild their defense into the dominant squad we saw back in 2003 and 2004. They’ll need at least one new starting cornerback, and they need some inside linebackers. Junior Seau will most likely be gone, and I have a feeling he’ll be joined by Rosevelt Colvin, probably Asante Samuel as well. Bruschi? I think he’ll be back. Their defensive line is all set, and they’ll stick with the safeties as currently constituted with Sanders and Meriweather as the future of the position and Harrison hanging around to do his thing. I’ve already heard a rumor that Greg Ellis will be coming to town to help the linebackers, although their real need is inside. On Offense Most things will stay the same, they’ll re-sign Moss, but say goodbye to Stallworth and Gaffney (a personal favorite) and make due with Welker, Chad Jackson and Kelley Washington. The saddest goodbye will involve Troy Brown, a seventh round selection in 1993 out of Marshall, same year they drafted Vincent Brisby. Brown was actually cut by the Pats three different times, but he retires as their all-time leader in catches and also holds a record with Vinny Testaverde as being part of the oldest TD combo in NFL history.

It all begins again, Vegas has them as the favorites for Super Bowl XLIII

Andre the Terribnle

Andre Tippett, NFL Hall of Famer. It just sounds so right. He was my favorite Patriot growing up, really there weren;t many other choices. I do have a soft spot in my heart for Irving Fryar, Stanley Morgan and later Bruce Armstrong, but most of the other players came and went, Tip was the only guy who was consistently good during my formative years. He was dominant, probably the second best linebacker of his era, but he just played on crappy teams so he often seemed overlooked. I’m real happy about the Tippett situation, kinda the exact opposite of the Jim Rice situation, it shouldn’t really matter to me whether or not people agree with me about how good my favorite players were, but I like the validation. I’m just giddy, using this as an excuse to reminisce about those 80s pats teams, for some reason I enjoy thinking about the players, even if they were awful for a few stretches. In a 10 year period they had the worst record in football three times, but also made it to a Super Bowl. In some ways I’ll always look back more fondly on Raymond Claiborne, Ronnie Lippett, Don Blackmon, Johnny Rembert, and Steve Nelson than I will on the current Patriots dynasty.

Something else I really enjoyed more in my youth, or at least in my 20s was reality TV. But this year I haven’t really enjoyed the American Idol judges making fun of the “bewildered.” I’ve been trying to get into the new season of The Real World/Road Rules Challenge, but all I can do is judge the participants for being fame-hungry and pathetic. I’ll give it time, maybe some of the chicks will start to look hotter and Danny will have some ‘roid rage. Also a new Survivor starts next week, featuring some returning favorite participants and I can’t even get into it. Maybe it’s because of the writer’s strike and over-saturation of reality TV, but I’m just not feeling it right now. I’ve probably just had enough of these particular shows, and I’m not really in the MTV demographic anymore.

Some shows I am enjoying include, Dr. Drew’s Celebrity Rehab show and that new lie detector show on Fox. Both are pretty good quality, last week Dr. Drew unleashed his huge guns on the world. For an old dude he’s really jacked. The lie detector show is interesting, but it takes about five minutes per question, still worth a watch. The one other show I want to recommend is The L Word. If you get Showtime, you should check it out. I don’t really know any of the characters names yet, but when I see it’s on, I can’t turn away. It’s the only scripted TV I’m watching these days aside from some wrestling here or there, and of course Lost.

That’s all for today, I’ll be back with Post Super Bowl thoughts after the game.

-Bender Out

Hard Times in Minnesota

So this is all you can get in return for Johan Santana? A few prospects that may or may not help you come 2010? Minnesota sports have now hit an all-time low for any town. Is it possible that Kevin McHale isn’t the worst GM in Minnesota? Admittedly, I’m not an expert baseball scout, I don’t even read Baseball Prospectus or any of those publications which tell who the supposed stars of the future are, but I find it hard to believe that any of these lower level prospects from the Mets will be better than Jacoby Ellsbury or Phillip Hughes. The Twins just traded the best left-handed pitcher of this era, probably the best pitcher in baseball today, and they got back no one who is ready to step in and play right now. Obviously money was the real impetus for the deal, the Twins just can’t afford to pay Johan what he wanted, in fact there are probably less than a handful of teams who could afford to risk a 6-year $150 million contract, which could blow up in their faces given any injury or even standard decline due to aging. All that said, you have to take the best deal on the table. It seemed like both the Yankees and Red Sox breathed a sigh of relief over this trade, they just had to make sure their rival didn’t land the ace. The Twins had them both in a good spot and started a bidding war, but they overplayed their hand, and now they have some players who could help them by 2010, but also could be getting four guys who never make it.

The other trade news going around was in the NBA. The Grizz traded their overrated power forward, Pau Gasol to LA, and the Lakers think they may have just added the final piece to compete for a title this spring. The Lakers didn’t give up too much to get Gasol: two first-rounder draft picks, rookie point guard Javaris Crittenden and Pau’s younger brother Marc Gasol. On Espn.com Chris Wallace defended the deal claiming that they were getting four first round draft picks for Pau, a former all-star. The only thing that makes me dislike this deal for Memphis is that Chris Wallace made the deal. Wallace has no business being a GM, but this one might not look so bad in the long run. Memphis is in rebuilding mode and Gasol has been a malcontent for a few years, they had to trade him at some point. But this trade might expose Gasol as a flawed player, being put on center stage out in LA with more pressure and scrutiny he’ll be exposed for his softness and his inability to elevate his game in the clutch. He isn’t even a good fit in LA, he’s a good low-post scorer, but they already have the emerging Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom is better suited as a power forward than a small forward.

OK, enough sports, Lost is back, and it’s still awesome. The new flash-forward motif is great, there’s a whole new set of mysteries to unravel. Whose funeral was Jack the only person to show up to? Why did they leave people behind on the island? How can Charlie talk to Hurley, or is Hurley just crazy? Who are the rest of the “Oceanic Six”? The only real problems with the return of Lost are, waiting a whole week between episodes, and the impending stoppage of new episodes because of the writer’s strike. Apparently there are eight episodes already shot, but after that we’re SOL. I guess I have to just enjoy it while it lasts, but this strike is starting to piss me off.

That’s all I’ve got today. Go Pats!

-Bender Out

Super Bowling

Finally I’m going to put out some thoughts on this Super Bowl which I wish were tomorrow. Obviously I’m predicting a huge Patriots victory, although in this case it’s probably only 75% homer-ism as opposed to my standard 100%. Tom Brady’s ankle will be fine, Bill Belichick will have his standard genius gameplan ready and the Giants will be off their roll because of the two week layoff.

Critics have started to question the Pats these past few weeks because they haven’t been winning by the same margin that they did early in the season and the opposition has been apparently moving the ball up and down the field at will. But they’re forgetting how the Pats won back to back Super Bowls in ’03 and ’04. They have the old bend but don’t break defense going for the last six quarters, and they were in full control of both playoff games. Just like they did in their back to back 17-2 seasons, they knew they’d win the games the whole time.

I actually feel really good for the Giants; they deserved a good run after giving it their all in week 17 against the Pats. In fact, I was openly rooting for the Giants the last three weeks. I love the fact that Tiki Barber is being proven wrong, I always thought he was an overrated player, especially because he was such a problem in the locker room. With Tiki out of the equation and Jeremy Shockey being injured, they had gotten rid of two thirds of the triumvirate of terror (the third being Michael Strahan) who caused all of there problems in the past and somehow led to them being the most overrated team in football every year. Now the team is more cohesive, Tom Coughlin is being allowed to lead them without his supposed “stars” undermining him at every turn.

In preparation for the upcoming Super Bowl, the NFL network has been airing old Super Bowls, and I couldn’t help but re-watch Super Bowl XX when it was on. I always loved that old Pats team; that team had two of the all-time great Patriots, John Hannah and Andre Tippett. Watching the game now I still got a little worked up. I firmly believe that Karma was working against the Bears after that game and it was behind the quick fall from total dominance to never winning another title. There was a sequence in the third quarter, while the Bears led 44-3 that the Bears blitzed five consecutive plays, sending at least seven on each play, and as if that weren’t enough the players were jumping off-sides, then delivering late hits to Pats QB, Steve Grogan. I’m all for playing hard while you’re on the field, but this was just pure “Douche-Baggery.” Combine that with the fact that they made sure to get William Perry a rushing TD without securing one for Walter Payton first sealed they fate as a one year wonder, albeit arguably the best team in history before this year’s Pats came along.

Well I’ve typed way too much for now, just wanted to give a link to another good clip off Funnyordie.com again, it's basically what restaurants would be like if me and my friends ran a restaraunt, you can see it here. Also the have a parody of the Tom Cruise Scientology video, and here's the real thing, (the real thing disappears a lot off youtibe.) Not sure which is funnier, a couple notes from the real KSW stands for Keep Scientology Working, LRH stands for L Ron Hubbard, and SP stands for Suppressive Personality and all of it translates to crazy. OK I’ll hopefully be back soon to comment on the Johan Santana trade and for now I’ll be counting down to the return of Lost on Thursday.

Heath Ledger, Dead at 28

Shocking, completely shocking. When someone told me about Heath Ledger being found dead, I thought for sure it was just one of those crazy rumors that spread around and everyone is so intrigued by the information that they can’t wait for the facts to come out, so they spread it further. But now that I know it’s true I am completely floored. Sadly there are certain celebrities who I could hear died and while I would be sad, I would hardly be surprised. In fact, just last week Brad Renfro passed away and I didn’t really do so much as a double take. But unlike Renfro, Ledger never really had rumors of personal troubles, or demons that he was dealing with.

“Envy is ignorance,” I remember seeing that quote back when I was 11 years old, and although this situation doesn’t exactly apply to what Emerson was saying, it certainly holds true. Ledger seemingly had everything, and now it’s all gone. It seems like so many people who have these lives we all envy are very troubled, and very often it ends badly. Whether it be Brad Renfro, who was plucked out of his hometown as a child and handed stardom, or Ledger who was fast becoming one of the most well respected young actors in Hollywood. We don’t really know who they are or what their lives are like, we see money and fame and think it’d be wonderful to be in their place.

It’s not known yet if his overdose was intentional or an accident, but either way it is completely tragic for a talented young man who had the world at his feet.

Is that Glen Rice or R. Kelly?

Glen Rice beat up some dude that was trapped in his wife's closet. No confirmation as of yet whether or not anyone "pulled out a gun" or if there was a midget involved either. I saw the story online here and couldn't help but post on it. It's almost as if the stars were aligned perfectly for me to post on this. First off, I once spent a day at work watching all the first twelve chapters of R. Kelly's "masterpiece" Trapped in The Closet and frankly it is the greatest piece of comedy I've ever seen. Second this could be part of series I write on the famous athletes named Rice, after talking about Jim Rice last post I could just go off on a tangent. Not only could I talk about Glen's indiscretion, from there I could comment on Jerry whining about Randy Moss' lack of grace after breaking the single season TD reception record. Then the next step would be Tyrese Rice and the BC Eagles suffering their most embarrassing loss of the Al Skinner era. They lost to Robert Morris this week, at least when they lost to Northeastern a few years back they had future NBA player JJ Barea. Finally I've hear rumblings that Sam Rice's bones are being exhumed as part of the follow up to the Mitchell investigation. OK I made the last one up.

Another reason I had to comment on this story was because as you can see in the above picture
Glen's wife is pretty damn hot. I know, it's a huge shock given that he was a millionaire athlete, those guys never get hot wives, either way she needed her picture up on my page.

A couple last things for today, I watched the Harold and Kumar trailer and I couldn't be looking forward to it more. If NPH is back, you will count me in!

I wanted to give a shout out to Newton's greatest rap duo E-Gadz and Big Trubz. The pride of Newton had their final show this week; hopefully just for a while, not forever.

That's all for today. Go Pats!

-Bender Out

Travesty

Jim Ed, denied again. Jim Rice the finest power hitter over a twelve year period from 1975 thru 1986, has been denied his rightful place in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Every year at this time it hurts a little more when I hear the bad news that my first pro sports hero hasn't been voted in. I have to see players who weren;t nearly as valuable as Rice such as Goose Gossage, Bruce Sutter and Ozzie Smith get voted in, while Jim has to sit on the outside and do his best to hide his well deserved acrimony. If the GMs from St. Louis or New York had called up and offered any of the aforementioned players for Rice during their careers they would've been laughed off the phone, in fact the Red Sox may have stopped taking their calls. But they were the finest in History at their little niches. They were the finest relievers or the best fielding shortstop, but Jim while not the greatest power hitter of all-time was still much more valuable than many players who are already in the Hall. Gossage, Sutter and Smith combined never won an MVP, they only have two combined top five finishes, for the most part they played at the time as Rice and Jim Ed had 6 top five finishes in the MVP voting including winning the award in 1978. If Rice was considered more valuable during his career and no GM would've dared trade him for these "Hall of Famers" wouldn't this mean that Rice was better? I think too many writers get caught up in numbers, they spent too much time in their basements theorizing about baseball and not enough time playing it. But, the Rob Neyers of the world aside, I also think that some writers sub-consciously still hold a grudge against Rice because he was a real SOB in post-game interviews. The Boston writers who saw his greatness every day realize that his attitude with the press had no effect on the field; but the writers in other markets were left with just enough of a bad taste that they choose to keep out Rice with his borderline numbers. Whatever the reason is I really hope he gets in next year, no one has ever received such a high percentage of votes (72%) and not made it in eventually. 2009 is Rice's final chance and it will break my heart if he isn't in there.

So on a much more positive note for me, I was reading about the most anticipated movies of 2008, and I couldn't help but get a little giddy. There are lots of cool sequels, (Indiana Jones, Batman) remakes, (Star Trek, Get Smart) Jud Apatow Comedies, and the first movie of the new year that I'm really dying to see Semi-Pro which combines two of my favorite things: Will Ferrell and Basketball. You oughtta check out the trailer here.

While I'm throwing in links the best online game I've been wasting my time on right now is a good one for anybody who feels like they missed on the Dungeons and Dragons era it's called Monster's Den, and it's good for at least a couple hours of wasted time.

That's all I've got for today, for all the young posers out there, keep it rizneal, 'til next time.

-Bender Out

Bring Back My Writers!

It's already starting to be a real struggle keeping myself entertained. You'd think I'd be blogging everyday given my claims of being bored by my lack television, but just because I'm bored doesn't change the fact that I'm lazy, so get off my back! If this writer's strike keeps up I might just start getting into this Presidential Election, turns out there are some sort of primaries going on up just north of here today. The young people have something to believe in the first time this millennium, if not longer. No longer do they have to choose between a dolt and a stiff, this time around they can support Barack Obama and not view him as the lesser of two evils. I can't remember the last time I saw a politician who made me excited, I don;t really have any frame of reference for this, but this must've been a bit like how the young people were feeling back in 1960, record numbers of young voters came out to vote in Iowa and hopefully it's just a sign of things to come.

Of course, the most exciting news in terms of the democratic process, American Idol starts up next week. Maybe AI combined with Lost will be enough to sustain me for a few months, let's all hope so, otherwise it's all politics all the time for this guy. I actually watched Fox for a short time tonight and caught the latest flop of a BCS Championship Game. I think there's only been one good game out of the last five Championship Games. This game was interesting until about midway through the second quarter when it became obvious that Ohio State was over-matched once again. I briefly tried to keep myself entertained by concentrating on the play of OSU Linebacker James Laurinaitis. Not only having I been following him since he signed with OSU ,(due to the fact that his dad was Road Warrior Animal of WWF fame.) But now it seems like he might be the Patriots first round pick next April. Honestly I wasn't that impressed; lucky for young James I am a terrible judge of talent, but the only impressive play I saw him make was an open field tackle in the fourth quarter while being clipped form behind. Ohio State had a few moments in this one, so it wasn't nearly as ugly as last year's debacle at the hands of Florida, but it never felt like Ohio State had a chance, congratulations to LSU for winning this game and being lucky enough to not have to play USC or any of the other contenders for the national title because this BCS farce continues. The biggest highlight of the whole broadcast for me was when they played Con Te Partiro in the post game montage.

The best part of the game being a blowout was that I got to flip over to HBO and watch the final episode of Extras for the third time. The show was great in its brief 12 episode run, but the final episode took things to a new level. It was far more dramatic and serious, but it still had some great cringe-inducing moments along with the usual lot of witty quips, all with a underlying commentary about fame, happiness and contentment. I could watch this finale another ten times and still be enthralled every moment. Just brilliant! I've been trying to kick my DVD purchasing addiction, but I may need to pick this one up when it comes out, preferably as part of the complete series so I can get the classic jokes about "gobbling cocks" and hear David Bowie inspired song about the main character's life.

The only other thing I had to comment on was the return of America's finest athletes. That's right, I've watched all three hours of the new American Gladiators. I've been mildly entertained so far, but I don;t see this lasting too long, at least not in prime time. A few things stick out for me about the new version. First off, the new female gladiators are a lot hotter than the previous version. I have as many fond memories of Zap as anyone, especially after her appearance in Skin Deep, but she doesn't hold a candle to these new girls. The second ting that stuck out from the new show is the freakish looks of Gladiator Titan. He looks like one of the cast members from 300, only he looks in real life like they did after the visual effects had been edited in. Surprisingly in the ten plus years that the show was off the air, they couldn't come up with any new events to compete in, also I think the first budget cut should come by ditching Hulk Hogan and Laila Ali, they're terrible. Aside from the Hulkster's attempt to break a record for saying "brother" the most times in a 30 second span, there's no reason to have either of them there.

Well that's all I've got for now, don;t forget to watch the Pats in prime time this Saturday. For now...

-Bender Out

Money, Money, Money.......Money

It of course is that time of year again where everyone wants to complain about the College Football Championship system. should LSU be in the Championship game? Is THE Ohio State University really worthy after playing such a creampuff schedule? Wouldn't either USC or Oklahoma kick both teams collective asses with their starting Quarterbacks healthy? These are all valid questions. But the question everyone seems to ask and no one seems to answer honestly is; why can't we settle this with a tournament? You'll the ADs and Head Coaches give the same horse shit answers, they'll claim that the season would be too long and that we're dealing with student athletes who actually need to go to class. Well let's be honest, they don't really NEED to go to class, in fact I doubt very highly that more than 5% of the "student-athletes" make it to all their spring classes when the season is over. If a tournament can't happen, then how do Division I-AA, Division II, and Division III all figure out how to make it work? The reason that the bowl system is still in tact and that we can't figure out who the real national champion is every year is the same reason that the United States is so reliant on oil. Money! More specifically it's because the people in power don't want to redistribute the wealth. It's not that there wouldn't be more money involved with a tournament which determined the national title. The television revenue would be through the roof, they could have a huge bidding war with multi-billion dollar contracts. The problem is that the money would have to be given to the schools in the MAC and the WAC, not just the six power conferences. Sure, Boise St. and Hawaii have gotten their hands on a small share of the big prize in the last couple years, but that is still a rarity. The truth is that if the eliminated the traditional bowl system, even the teams in power would probably make more money with a tournament, they could figure out ways to include the bowls by letting them host certain tournament games. Of course the people from the Big Ten or The Pac Ten would never vote against their old cronies at the Rose Bowl. So what's best for the game, and what's best for the NCAA as a whole has to take a back seat to what's best for the people who already have the money and the power. Maybe that's why College Football is the most popular game in the red states.

Okay, enough for my heavy handed diatribe. It was heart-breaking for me to see Boston College lose in the ACC Championship against Virginia Tech. Boston College outplayed VaTech in the the first half, but somehow managed to go into half-time tied at 16. This was a very bad sign and the bad vibes came to fruition when Virginia Tech scored two late touchdowns to run away with it in the end. Maybe it was just good kharma for VT who suffered that tragedy last April, or maybe it was bad kharma for Boston College who for all intents and purposes chased away a succesful coach who ran far and away the most academically sound program in the country. Who knows what forces made things go the way they did, but it was a crushing defeat for any BC fan because the Eagles probably won't be getting back there anytime soon. They have only one more game in the Matt Ryan era, who in terms of college performance is probably the second best player to call Chestnut Hill home. It's not very often that the Eagles have the best anything in college football, let alone the best Quarterback. I've enjoyed the way BC played this year, and Jeff Jagodzinski seems like a good guy, more suited for the college game than the pros, but the jury is still out on how well Coach Jags will do at building a program by recruiting top talents and coaching them up. He had a great year with Tom O'Brien's old troops, I just hope he can keep it going and build on this year's success.

One other thing in the news, Johan. I have to admit that trading for Santana is the smart move. I'd rather not trade Ellsbury, Lester, and Buchholz, but even if it took all three to make the deal, it would probably be the right move. Deep down I'm hoping for one of two scenarios. First scenario involves santana being traded to some team that the sox barely ever play, i.e. Los Angeles or Seattle. The Dodgers would be my first choice, that way the only time Santana could hurt the sox would be the very unlikely world series showdown. Supposedly both of these teams are in the hunt, and even if Seattle got him, I don't think they'd have enough to be a force in the AL. The next acceptable scenario would involve the Yankees having to give up all of their young players for Santana. If they had to give up Hughes, Chamberlain, Kennedy and Melky, I'd have faith in the Sox to be able to beat them in the playoffs even if not in the regular season. (Maybe throw in Cano as well.) Granted this would give the Yanks the ace they've lacked for years and it becomes scarier with today's news that andy Pettite will be back; but the Sox could still beat them. A-Rod is still the guy who chokes every year, Jeter is still the most overrated "star" in baseball and it's not like Sanatana was unhittable last year. The most fun part of this scenario would be watching the Yankees deplete their farm system all over again and keep grabbing up all the veterans with high price tags whose careers are headed for a nosedive soon. I enjoy watching the Yankees with the four highest paid players in baseball come up short, so next year could be fun if they trade for Johan, maybe just for my kicks he could blow out his arm or something. I guess my greater point is that I'll enjoy the Red Sox more next season if they're being helped by a bunch of younger homegrown talent than if they bring in the latest great mercenary.

That's all I've got for today other than to say that no matter what anybody says, Jennifer Love Hewitt is fine as hell. I also wanted to throw out the link to Funny or die. It's a constant source of enjoyment fo me. Also, for anyone who is really bored out there yuo can play these great games, Raft wars, or Age of War. They are both a phenomenal waste of time.

Til next time...

-Bender Out

I know it's early, but...

So I finally made the leap this year and bought the NBA Season Pass. I've wanted to buy it for a few years now but always backed off because I wasn't sure that I'd really actually watch the games. Anyway, given the way The Celtics are playing early, I feel like I'm going to have the most exciting NBA season in years. So here's my early opinions on the season.

The new look Celtics are way better than I had imagined they'd be. You'd be hard pressed to find any Celtic fan who will admit to being against trading for KG, although a poll last summer was about 50/50. A few years back I heard Charles Barkley doing an interview on the radio and the interviewer asked Sir Charles who the most underrated players were in the NBA. I think the interviewer wanted Charles to name some Celtics players but Charles said the most underrated players in the NBA are the very best players. Most fans don't understand the difference between the very elite and some guy who just puts up good numbers. Well Charles was absolutely right, I had no idea how good KG was. I thought he'd be a great inside presence, he'd get his 20 and 10, but I had no idea how dominant he could be as a defender and rebounder; he brings his teammates to a whole other level. Garnett is a great passer, the best on this year's Celtics, and on defense he's a game changer. Having a player on Garnett's level has made Paul Pierce better; you throw in a marksman like Ray Allen who is now seeing more open shots than he's seen in the last five years combined, and you have the look of a title contender. Granted, this team hasn't faced any adversity, and things could totally change, but I do think it's time for a nickname for the new three. The PGA tour is kinda clever but not quite catchy enough and most people would be thinking of the real PGA Tour when it gets mentioned. Other early suggestion have been The GAP, The GAP band, W-KRP in Boston, so I think it's important that our greatest minds come up with a real nickname for them going forward.

One last Celtics note before I give my early impressions on the young NBA season. This week there was a serious war of words between Cedric Maxwell and Larry Bird. Max is the radio announcer for the C's and Larry Bird, for those of you who don't know, is the greatest player to ever lace up a pair of Converse. Well Max went on the radio last week and declared KG to be the second best Celtic of all-time, behind Bill Russell. This is just the latest salty remark by Max who is still upset over the way he left Boston in 1985. Red Auerback and Larry Bird always thought Max quit during the 84-85 season, then Red traded Max for Bill Walton who had one last great season in him. Well Max has been hurting ever since, He likes to come on the radio in Boston and declare that Hakeem Olajuwon was the best player he ever played with, he also said that Dirk Nowitzki is better than Bird ever was. Well Larry isn't gonna take crap from anyone; during the Celtics-Pacers game Tuesday night the sideline reporter asked Larry's thoughts on Max's latest shot and Bird wasn't taking the high road, he just said "Well Max quit on us and he'll probably quit on them too." Classic Bird! Someone should get a hold of Max's PR rep and tell him to put a lid on it before the whole city turns against him; people in boston like Max, but they love Larry.

Ok, so onto my quick thoughts for the NBA that I can only have because of the Season Pass.

-Jared Dudley and Sean Williams started out the season riding the pine but quickly their coaches smartened up and have been increasing their minutes. Williams especially has proven that he belongs in the NBA. Watching last night's Celtics-Nets game, it was obvious that Williams should be getting the bulk of the minutes for the Nets at the five spot.

-My favorite team to watch is the Memphis Grizzlies. Rudy Gay is really emerging as an All-Star caliber player and has finally begun to assert himself. It's highly doubtful that they'll come close to the playoffs, but they're fun to watch nonetheless. I really enjoy watching Mike Miller play, he's an unapologetic gunner, he's a really good shooter and for some reason he's decided that he wants to grow his hair out and be confused for a WNBA player instead of going with his old trailer park look.

-If I ever feel a sentimental longing for the sad old pathetic Celtics of the last couple years, I can just turn on a T-Wolves game. They have many of the same players the Celtics used to have, including an old and out of shape Antoine Walker, and they're coming up with the same results. Watching Al Jefferson from an unbiased point of view is interesting as well, I can't believe how lost he seems on defense sometimes. He still has great touch and nice moves inside, but he's a long way from being a difference maker in the league.

-I've been able to catch a couple Blazers games thus far, and I'm thinking they'll surprise a bunch of teams this year. Similar to many young teams, they're a lot better at home than they are on the road, but they have such a great young nucleus right now. LaMarcus Alldredge is already better than I ever envisioned him being. He's more athletic than I realized and has seemingly bought into the idea of strength and conditioning, he looks to be a bit leaner; also he has developed great touch on his midrange jumper, a key for any succesful NBA power forward. The comparisons to Rasheed still seem a bit premature, but I'm starting to see all the potential everyone else saw three years ago at Texas.

- As for the rookies around the league, I was a big supporter of Yi coming in. I have no complaints with the way things worked out for the Celtics, but if they had kept the 5th pick, I wanted them to take Yi and he seems to be the most pleasant surprise as far as early returns go. Jeff Green has been pretty good so far for the Sonics, but I think his polished game is being wasted in the mess that is Seattle this year. At some point Green will be a contributor for a good team in the NBA, but I doubt he'll ever be an All-Star. It's just a shame that Greem isn't playing for a playoff caliber team right now, because he's definitely ready to play in meaningful games. His teammate Kevin Durant has put up big numbers but looks very selfish and one dimensional. It remains to be seen if his huge self-confidence will develop into that of an assertive superstar or if it will lead him to be an over confident locker room cancer. Durant does show some great offensive moves and other flashes at times, but he just isn't ready to be a star in the NBA, and it seems like expectations were way too high.

That's all I've got for now, just remember that the Celtics, Red Sox and Patriots are undefeated since October 16th.

-Bender Out

You're an Asterisk!

Well, my fan has been bothering me, wondering what happened to the mighty Bender, so after much trepidation I have come back to make the blogging world right again. In my absence Boston has become the sports capital of the world. The Red Sox won their second title in four years. The Patriots juggernaut rolls along destroying everything in its path. The Celtics have opened up the season 2-0 behing the strength of the Triumverate. BC football was undefeated and featuring a Heisman candidate, but as of last saturday that pretty much came to an end. Also, let us not overlook that the mighty BU Terriers have been picked to win the America East Conference and could get the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. And now, at the behest of my one fan, finally The Bender has come back to the blogosphere!

It hasn't all been rosy on the Boston sports scene. I wasn't around to defend The Pats during the down times back in September when the sports world turned on them out of jealousy and ignorance. I refer of course to spy-gate or camera-gate or whatever we've decided should be the name for this scandalous event. My only real defense of the Patriots for this one is that a) Having tapes of the other teams defensive signals doesn't allow you to know the play call before the play happens, and b) this was a far more common practice than anyone realizes, teams still make these tapes, they just have to make them from the press box as opposed to from the sidelines. So now Don Shula has taken a break from his nutri-system campaign to weigh in on the possibility of a 19-0 run by the Patriots. Coach Shula thinks that if the Patriots do have a perfect season there should be an asterisk next to their record. To me it just sounds like Donny boy needs his depends diaper changed. I think he's a little cranky and the perfect season is his last grip at relevance. Maybe there should an asterisk next to the Dolphins perfect season because Mercury Morris was so heavily medicated during those games. I don't really care what Shula thinks about the Patriots legacy. I know that this is really just a desperate attempt for Old Don to keep his own legacy great, the truth is that comments like this one by Shula will just make it more likely that the Pats will reach their 19-0 destiny. It's them against the world, and The Patriots wouldn;t have it any other way.

The other controversy surrounding The Pats has been the opinion of many observers that The Pats like to run up the score. Gregg Easterbrook from ESPN.com has been especially critical, (on a side note I believe he's going to appear on Oprah any day now.) Easterbrook has come and basicaly called The Pats the axis of evil, he stopped just short of comparing Belichick to Joseph Stalin. Anyway, all these critics should remember, this isn;t Pop Warner. These are professional athletes, it isn;t Bill Belichicks job to stop the Pats offense, it's the job of the millionaires who line up against them. I'm sorry that The Cowboys couldn't stop the great Kyle Eckel and that the Redskins couldn;t figure out how to stop Matt Cassel. It's neither here no there. It just fuels the fire inside the hearts of the greatest team ever assembled.

That's all I've really got to comment on, but I've decided to give a couple links to my favorite viral videos that I've seen lately. First we've got LArry King asking Jerry Seinfeld if NBC had cancelled his show. Jerry doesn;t exactly handle it gracefully, some may call it mean spirited, but I just call it funny as hell. You can see it here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZfUgVSfKdQ

Also we have my second favorite clip that I just discovered, although it may have been around forever. I give you the techno viking.

That's all for now.

-Bender Out

You Can't Handle The Truth

Finally The Bender has come back to the blogosphere!

I've missed a lot over the last month, and I'll take the time at some point to catch up on all of it, but right now I'm gonna focus on Major League Baseball and Barry Bonds.

I'm gonna come at this from all angles, first things first, how do I feel about Barry Bonds having the record? It really doesn't bother me. In some ways it just how ridiculous it is to compare different eras to one another. Baseball is the sport where the analysts have the audacity to pretend that nothing has changed. They still held tight to Babe Ruth's career marks and ignored the fact that African Americans weren't allowed to play in the major leagues before 1947. Maybe Josh Gibson is the real all-time home run king, but we'll never know. The point is that it's really just a number, Hank Aaron still had the same career he ever had. In some ways maybe we'll all benefit from this event because we won't have to hear about every record that ever existed and we don;t have to pretend that hitting a 310 foot homer off Cy Young was the same as hitting a 400 foot homer off of Casey Fossum. I hope Barry Bonds ends up with over 800 home runs and the Peter Gammons' of the world have to cry themselves to sleep every night knowing that the game of baseball if only for one moment was actually flawed.

The most disturbing part of Bonds' record run is the fact that it's quickly become one of the most racially divisive issues since the OJ trial. The truth is that I don't necessarily get it, to me it seems obvious that Bonds used steroids, and even if every other player of this era used steroids, that doesn;t change the fact that Bonds has admitted to using (if only by accident.) I was talking to an African American gentleman in a bar the night that Barry tied the all-time mark of 755, and while he did give some incites into succesful marriages, (apparently it involves whipped cream and strawberries.) We also had to engage in a very awkward conversation about how Barry was a victim, and you don;t see anyone going after Roger Clemens, and I nodded in agreement, not only on the issues of Barry being a victim and Roger Clemens not being under scrutiny, but also on the positive effects of whipped cream and strawberries on a marriage. I wasn;t going to get into a debate about Barry in a bar because for some reason it way too serious of an issue to this gentleman. I don;t understand the vitriol on either side, why would people get so worked up over Barry Bonds in any way. The truth I'll never understand this issue and I'm giving up on understanding it even quicker than I made the similar decision back in 1994 with Orenthal James.

The second most disturbing issue for me has been Bud Selig's "hard stance." A lot of people in the media have been applauding or supporting Bud's choice not attend all of Barry's games as he went for the record, after all he had made a "Herculean effort" to see it but attending more than five games was way out of the question. Selig's stance here has been ridiculously hypocritical. It's not quite up there with the closeted homosexual preachers who condemn homosexuality, but it's right up there. (On a side note, 300 came out on DVD this week and it's definitely worth checking out.) Anyway, Selig sat by and watched as steroids took hold of his beloved game and now he refuses to reap what he sewed. You can't stand by and let steroids and homeruns hotshot your league back to popularity and then become indignant when ones of the many steroid users you helped promote takes over your record book. Guess what Bud, you have no right to take a stand now, this is the modern day Faust, bud made his deal with the devil but now he wants his soul back, it's too late.

This brings me to my theory as to why so many people hold such anger for Barry. He is the ultimate symbol of how Steroids took over Major League Baseball for over a ten year period, and maybe even longer than we ever imagined. Jose Canseco won the MVP in 1988 because of steroids, Ken Caminiti won his steroid fueled MVP in 1996. These are just the players who have admitted it. And the baseball lovers are scrambling to cut this epidemic off at the pass so they can claim it was an anomoly. Peter Gammons has been the worst offender. I've heard him on the radio chastising a fan who had the gaul to claim that Jason Giambi was using steroids again during his resurgence last season. Well, Peter, I know that Giambi's character is beyond reproach, but maybe just maybe he was cheating again. And these same defenders all applauded Rafael Palmeiro for proving he wasn;t on steroids by taking the offensive in front of congress, but then Palmeiro got caught a few months later. Of course Palmeiro was just another anomoly. In fact I'm sure Peter Gammons is still convinced that only the players who've been caught by the new steroid testing are the players who used during their careers. They ignore the fact that Barry Bonds was never caught.

Like I said before, I don't care if Bonds used steroids, but cut the crap, I'd say that more than half of the league used steroids at one point. So don't tell me that the problem has been solved, and don't pretend that it wasn't an epidemic. Steroids still rule baseball, and if we can accept that we can sit back and enjoy the games, we can each pretend that our favorite team is the only one without cheaters. But if we're going to accuse Bonds we just have be prepared to accept it when we hear the whole truth about what has gone on for the last 20 years.

Vacation, All I Ever Wanted

So I figured that I would post on a few quick things today before I fully commence with my vacation week. I'm doing my best not to waste my time playing video games, but today the fight against this horrible addiction got a little harder, at right is a screen shot from GTA4. And soon I'll have to break down and buy either and X-Box 360 or PS4 because I have to play this game, apparently the game revolves around a Russian gangster named Niko and it's set in a fake version of NYC. So three months from now when I disappear, you all will know where. The screen shot doesn't really capture everything. Here's a link to the trailer. So that's looking pretty bad-ass.

I wanted to follow-up on my review last week of On The Lot, I forgot to mention my favorite guilty pleasure on the show, and that's the casting of their short films. The actors, who I'd like re-named the "On The Lot Players," have lots of familiar faces. So far I've recognized Lin Shaye best known for her roles in Farrelly Brothers movies. Also former sitcom staples, Reginald VelJohnson, Tatyana Ali, and my favorite, the kid who played Chip on Kate and Allie, (I'm not sure if he has a name, but he will always be Chip to me.) The other fun oart about watching this show is seeing the smug "artistic geniuses" get ripped by the judges. Not all of the contestants qualify as people you want to see get ripped, but it's very satisfying when one of the jerks gets ripped.

In other big TV news, the return of USA's two comedic mystery shows, Monk and Psych. I love both of these shows. I've had trouble getting into most of the cable original series other than the ones on the premiun stations. I've tried and failed to get into shows like The shield, Nip/Tuck and The Closer, but Psych and Monk are just my speed. I love the casts and the blend of comedy and mystery which are both among my favorite genres. So I'm pumped for those two shows, they're both on Friday, and my DVR is set to record them.

On Tuesday, the Smashing Pumpkins new album came out, their first in a while, so I decided to check it out. The music is actually pretty good, but my problem comes from the fact that only Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlain are back, but James Iha is gone as is D'arcy, so I'm wondering what really makes this any more The Smashing Pumpkins than Zwan was or even Billy Corgan's solo album was. I'm not really complaining, it's pretty rare tht I actually enjoy new music these days, so I'm more than willing to welcome bak one of the old stand-bys.

I wanted to touch on a couple sports stories. First, leave it to that huge egomaniac Tony LaRussa to do actual damage to his own team during the All-Star Game. He pissed off Albert Pujols by not playing him in this year's exhibition. I can't imagine what was going through his head when he made his own star die the pine without even telling him. This could be the most important event at an All-Star game since Pete Rose ruined Ray Fosse's career by running him over and breaking jaw, Fosse was never the same. Anyway, if Pujols sulks this could be the mean that one of them will be on their way out of St' Louis and maybe LaRussa will be headed toward an earlier retirement than he had planned.

The other sports story I've been following is in the NBA. The Summer league has started and essentially the Seattle Supersonics have the future of their franchise on display. Kevin Durant and Jeff Green haven't exactly set the world on fire in the summer league, although that's not a huge deal because most rookies struggle during summer league against any NBA veterans. But the biggest news since the draft has been the departure of Rashard Lewis, which means that the Sonics are starting from scratch. This may not be the worst move for a team who thinks they're getting a real superstar in Durant and maybe a future all-star in Green but I view the dismantling of a team like this as fools gold for GMs. The T-wolves are very close to making a similar move if they trade Kevin Garnett. It's very tempting to make a move to go back to the bottom so they can rebuild, but these teams forget how rare it is to get an all-star let alone franchise player, and before you know it you could be desperate to get back to mediocrity a la Danny Ainge and the Ray Allen trade.

That's all I've got for today, I'll be back.

-Bender Out

Mission Accomplished, again!

Yesterday was a great day to be an American. Joey Chestnut finally vanquished that foreign aggressor Takeru Kobayashi. For years Kobayashi was laughing at America, eating all our American "Hot....Dogs." But one man stepped up, and said "enough is enough is enough, this is the US of A and across this line you do not..." By the way dude, the picture on the right is of Chestnut, but not from yesterday, I chose this one because he was surrounded by a couple ladies. Anyway, no longer wil Takeru Kobayashi shame us on our proudest of days, Joey Chestnut put an end to this reign of terror, and it just makes me a little more prouder to be an American.

Just after Joey proved that no one eats better than Americans, I was off to the movie theater to see Sicko. For those of you who haven't heard, this is Michael Moore's new film and instead of going after George Bush this time, he's going after the health care system. Sure George Bush is a small target in this one, along with Richard Nixon, but so is Hillary Clinton. Why Hillary you ask? Well in the years after her proposal for universal healthcare was shot down by the Republicans in congress, Hill has sold out her ideas and now receives millions from the health care industry in campaign contributions. But I digress, the real key to this movie is showing the succesful universal healthcare systems in many other countries, and while the United States is at the forefront of many things, in health care we rank 36th. Mostly because we're more than happy to leave the poor and needy off to the side while the rich are blessed with great help through more expensive policies paid by their employers. This is really the American way. Anyway, this is obviously a piece of propaganda and not a true documentary, but it has me convinced more than ever before that we need to change the system. I always enjoy Moore's films, and I realize that you have to take them with a grain of salt, but I think that deep down he always has a good argument to make and he's very passionate about driving for change which is refreshing. One idea that he pushes in the movie that I can't quite agree with is that eh attacks the pharmaceutical companies as well. Unlike healthcare, the US pharmaceutical companies are at the forefront in terms of developing new drugs worldwide, so we can't just tell the companies to stop charging a lot for these drugs because they're spending fortunes on developing the new drugs and advancing medicine. So that's my small rebuttal. I'd be happy to start a dialogue with Mr. Moore if he's reading.

While I'm on the subject of films, I wanted to give a short review of the new reality show, On The Lot. I had high hopes for this show where amateur filmmakers compete for a million dollar development deal from Dreamworks. It was created by Steven Spielberg and Mark Burnett, so basically one of the all-time greatest filmmakers teamed up with the ruler of reality TV (not to damn him with faint praise.) And they even brought in Garry Marshall and Carrie Fischer to be part of the show, both of whom I enjoy, but the show just isn;t doing it for me. Maybe I just don't enjoy short films enough, but to me the shorts have been mediocre, none of these people has really been able to shine with their three minute films, maybe they're too rushed to get their creative juices flowing, I don;t know. I'm not gonna stop watching it, but that's mostly because with the type of crap that is shown during the summer there's plenty of room on my DVR. If only they could recreate the magic of past summer TV shows, like Me and Mrs. C.

The only other shows I've been watching this summer have been Etourage, The Loop and Man Vs. Wild. Entourage has been getting beat up a little by some critics, but I think it's as fun as ever. Ari is great and so is Johnny Drama and I always get a kick out of the inner workings of Vince's career and the celebrity lifestyle. I don't know how realistic this show is, and it's more than likely that I'll never know, but if all movies are made the way Medellin is, I can see why a lot of crap makes it to theaters. As for The Loop, I don't know why I watch this show other than the fact that I'm a huge Eric Christian Olsen fan. I also like the main character played by Bret Harrison, he was on the short lived Grounded For Life an under appreciated comedy a few years back. The Loop usually makes me laugh a couple times per episode and I feel like I might as well watch it now because it won;t be around for too long. As for Man vs. Wild, this show is just great, they drop a survival experted named Bear into the middle of the wilderness and he tries to survive and get back to civilization. I haven't seen too many episodes but I love it, nothing beats when Bear has to buil;d himself a fire and shelter out in the middle of the wild. I think everyone should check this out, it's on discovery channel fridays at nine, so set your DVRs.

That's all I've got for this special holiday edition of The Bender, I'll try to post again soon about all the goings on in the NBA and how great the Red Sox season is going, but I make no promises.

-Bender Out

It's Getting Drafty

Time for my latest explanation as to why I've taken such a long time between posts, and this one is elaborate. After hearing that the NHL finals set a record for lowest ratings ever in prime-time for NBC. I thought back to all the awful things that were ever on in prime time for NBC and it hit me. Me and Mrs C! A young Black Female moves in with an old white woman, the black girl has a checkered past but wants to straighten out her life by living with this old white women who has taken her in as a boarder. It must have been pitched as the Golden Girls meets Diff'rent Strokes. The pilot featured this odd couple bonding over the song Just a Gigolo which was both a classic, and a new hit by David Lee Roth. Anyway, the show was total crap, but I fell into a deep depression when I realized that a million times as many people wanted to watch that crap compared to the number of people who wanted read my blog. The only thing that pulled me out of my depression was this NBA draft.

For a long time The NBA draft has been my favorite sporting event, aside from the Super Bowl. In High School I used to write up my little mock drafts, trying to come up with ways that the Celtics could get the great Terry Dehere out of Seton Hall and then in subsequent years I predicted many scenarios to help out my beloved Celtics. One year I doctored my mock draft to get Ray Allen with the sixth pick overall, and now ten short years later after Ray Ray is all washed up, the Celts have gone out and acquired Ray Allen. This to me is the straw that broke the Camel's back. Danny Ainge has got to go. Ray just doesn;t quite fit with the Celtics, they needed defensive help, and he doesn;t play defense. But the biggest problem with this deal is the Celtics are giving up their future just so they can make it to the second round of the playoffs next Spring. This is the type of deal that has kept the Celtics from competing for a title for at least the last seventeen years. I can see their future clearly, The Celtics will win a playoff series next spring and then take their second round opponent to the brink before bowing out, in the 2009 playoffs the Celtics will be narrowly beaten in the first round. After that season Allen will leave as a free Agent, the Celtics will miss the playoffs, they'll slink back into utter mediocrity. And then the organization will ask us to be patient while the prime of Al Jefferson's career slips away similar to the way that Paul Pierce's did before him. The Celtics have become the laughing stock of draft day for the second straight year.

The deal was extra painful because the C's had to give up Delonte West, the only player on their entire roster who has any heart. But enough with the negative, lets move onto the positive. The Celtics were able to draft Gabe Pruitt and Glen Davis early in the second round. Pruitt was being talked about as a mid-first round pick just a couple weeks ago so I have to feel good about them grabbing him at this point. As for Davis, I'd have much rather the Celtics selected Josh McRoberts, I've been very critical of Davis in the past, mostly because I understand fat people being one myself, and I have a hunch that Davis will never get his weight under control. But now that he's a Celtic I'm going to put a positive spin on this one, he has an amazing upside for a second round pick, plus Jay Bilas delivered the line of the night about Big Baby, comparing his weight loss ability to that of Oprah.

The next big positive of the draft for me was that both Boston College players were drafted in the first round. Sean Williams could be the biggest steal of this draft if everything works out, and he'll fit in very well with the Nets, he may even be a double digit scorer as long as Jason Kidd is there. As for Jared Dudley, I think he'll work out all right with the Bobcats, but I'm still not sure about the Bobcats plan of drafting the most polished products they can find with every pick. I think this method will lead to them battling for the eighth spot in the playoffs every year. This is the first time in NBA draft history that BC has had two players drafted in the first round. BC may not be a dynasty but they're a proud franchise, and this is a special moment for them.

As for the big winners around the league, first and foremost is the Portland Trailblazers. The Oden thing was obvious, but the trade of Zach Randolph to the Knicks is a great move as well. Randolph was a ticking time bomb, and you don;t want him so much as talking to Greg Oden. Also I liked their pick of Josh McRoberts in the second round. I think he could be a good back-up for them, which is more than you can expect with a second round pick. With Oden, Channing Frye, LaMarcus Aldridge and McRoberts they could have their front court rotation set for years. They just need to find a point guard and they'll be ready to compete for a title in 2010. They also just bought a pick from Phoenix, where they received Rudy Fernandez, not a bad thing when your owner just buys a pick from another team, kinda makes me wish the Celtics had bought the pick for Rajon Rondo last year.


The other big trade during the draft was Charlotte acquiring Jason Richardson in exchange for Brandan Wright. I really don;t like this trade for either team. The Bobcats are now counting on J-Rich to be their go to guy, but he's really not good enough to lead them anywhere, and now Golden State is counting on Stephen Jackson to be their two guard next year. Brandan Wright has a tremendous upside and he could be the top power forward to lead them into the future, but thats a couple years off and Baron Davis' career could be over by then. I just don;t think That Charlotte will ever get anywhere without taking some chances on guys like Brandan Wright. I was pleasantly surprised when they took him, even a little bit shocked, but it was too good to be true.

Another team who will end up disappointed is the Sonics. They made a nice move dealing Allen for the fifth pick even if they did have to take on Wally's contract, but then they drafted a guy who plays the same position as their future franchise player. I would've liked Jeff Green for a team picking around ten or twelve, but I don;t think he has the upside of a top five pick, especially not in this loaded draft. The other thing that will be disappointing for the Seattle fans is the over-hyping of Durant. He'll probably be an all-star a couple years from now, but never will he live up to the billing he's gotten coming into this draft.

The three top ten picks out of Florida will all be letdowns in the NBA. Horford will lack the athleticism to compete in the NBA, Brewer will be too inconsistent and Noah's lack of skills will catch up to him. The team was so much more talented than other college teams that their flaws could be covered by the teams dominance as a whole.

In a few years when analysts look back at this draft the strength will definitely be in the depth, but not in the stars it produces. Oden will become the superstar franchise center and Durant will be an all-star but none of the other high picks will pan out as superstars. With maybe the exceptions of Yi or Brandan Wright who could become anything from total busts all the way up perennial all-stars and maybe even MVP candidates.

Anyway, I've put out all my predictions and analysis so that I can be ridiculed for years to come. Until then...

-Bender Out

The Revolution Will Be Televised

Has the Lebron James era officially begun? For the last five years I've had an ongoing debate as to whether or not the hype has been too high for King James. I waffle back and forth because I'm a huge Lebron fan, but no one his age could possibly perform up to the incredible expectations and hype he's had since first gracing the cover of Sports Illustrated as a High School junior. But after his domination of the Pistons over the last two weeks I think Lebron is finally performing as the next true elite superstar of the NBA. Culminating with the incredible performance in Game Five, Lebron was completely dominant and electric, especially in the way he silenced every one of his critics who were trying to crucify him after his pass off in game one and his missed game winner while being mugged by Rip Hamilton in Game Two. The critics were as loud as they'd ever been and Lebron completely dominated Game Three which was only a prelude to his greatness in Game Five. His 29 out of Cleveland's last 30 points to end the game has to rank as one of the all-time greatest performances in NBA history. So finally he has delivered on all the promise that he showed on his way to the top. I don;t think he's quite ready to knock Tim Duncan off his throne and declare himself the best in the world, but it does just seem to be a matter of time until he takes his place where only Duncan, Shaq, Jordan, Hakeem, Magic and Larry have stood in the last 25 years, and no one else.

As far as the elimination of the Pistons goes, I'm always torn when it comes to them. I love the fact that they one a championship without one single elite superstar, and I love that they never had to win the lottery to get to the top, and they gradually built themselves up over the years without having to bottom out, but I hate them as a team. Aside from Antonio McDyess, I find them all to be more and more unlikeable every time I watch them. Rip Hamilton is a good player who thinks he is great, same goes for Chauncey Billups. Neither should really be a lock to be an all-star every season but because they're part of a really strong team they get greatly overrated. Rasheed Wallace had the skills to be a superstar but his head got in the way. In his opinion he's never actually committed a foul, and he's never missed a shot without being fouled. When 'Sheed was a freshman at UNC, coming in from Philly as the top High Schooler in the country, the sky was the limit, and there have been times when he's shown flashes of being a top ten NBA player, but he just never made it happen, mostly because he has the temprament of a petulant child. Tayshaun Prince is a very good role player, but for some reason he was being hyped as an all-star. All-Star? I don't think so. I heard Reggie Miller openly complain about Paul Pierce being named an all-star in '06 over Prince, the whole idea was ludicrous. If Prince were a Celtic there would never have been any tanking controversy this year. The Celtics could have finished in last without ever having to lose any game intentionally. You take all these overrated players and combine them with an annoying PA guy shouting "De-Troooit, Bas-Ket-Baaaaallllll" and you have a thouroughly unlikeable squad, and it also pissed me off that they got away with one of the worst draft day blunders in recent history, but the straw that broke the Camel's back for me was the night that one of they were helped out immensely by the Ron artest incident. Ben Wallace attacks Ron Artest to start the whole thing, then a drunken idiot throws a drink at Artest and the next thing ya know, The Pistons could punch their ticket to the Finals. As far as I'm concerned this group can't fall aprt fast enough, they more than have it coming.

In the rest of the sports spectrum I wanted to give a quick take on a couple of mini-controversies swirling these days. Gary Sheffield's reasoning for why there aren't more African-American players in Major League Baseball was ridiculous. To me the people who he was insulting most with his comments were African Americans. To say that they don;t make it to the majors because they can't be controlled the way latin ballplayers can strikes me as stupid. The sad truth is that in most other fields you're going to be controlled if you want to be succesful. We all have bosses to answer to on our way up to the top, and 99% have to fall in line, it's a sad truth of being an adult in this country. I can't just go around bad-mouthing my employer and doing whatever I want. If anything professional baseball players have a lot more leeway when it comes to being controlled and these comments by Sheffield are exhibit A. If he was a normal american and came out and said that his employers were members of a racist organization he'd probably be looking for a new job, but instead he's making about 15 mil this year. If I can make fifteen mil but it means I need to be controlled, just tell me where to sign up, I'm ready to take orders.

The second little controversy has mroe or less come and gone, but I wanted to comment about the aftermath of A-Rod and his stripper friend. He was wronged to be singled out, similar to the way that Barry bonds has been wronged by being singled out as the only juicer. Yes A-Rod ommitted the crime, but he's not the only one and it definitely shouldn;t be on the cover of any newspaper. I did enjoy the aftermath where we got a profile of his blonde stripper friend, she's apparently kinda jacked, leading one jealous stripper to claim that A-Rod likes the muscular shemale type (which has been blown out of proportion.) A lot of very phyically fit people go for the muscular type women, it doesn;t lend any creedance to the theories of him and Jeter although all us Boston fans would like think it does. Anyway, this whole thing does come down to jealousy. Jealousy that this guy does what he wants, jealousy that he can bang strippers, jealousy that this stripper is getting to play with Alex's money. The A-rod hating should stop, especially when a lot of the people are hating for the wrong reasons.

Just wanted to take a moment to remind everyone that the Red Sox are awesome. That's all I've got for now, Til next time...

-Bender Out

Dammit All

I can't believe it happened to us again! It's like ten years ago all over again. They trick us into sitting through an atrocious season with the promise of riches at the end of the rainbow, but in the end there is no pot of gold. All my dreams of Greg Oden gone in a flash. Well not really a flash, they managed to prolong my pain for a whole half hour, milking a quick two minutes of lottery results into an entire program which ended in pain. I've been pining for Oden for more than a year now, but in the last month had worked to the point where I was willing to settle for Kevin Durant. Now all we are getting is the scraps. Not only do we not get one of the big two but we don;t even get our first choice of the leftovers. I can't even really accept it yet, it's not quite the level of pain that I felt when the Pats lost to the Colts but I do have the same feeling that I can;t believe the dream is over. It seemed like our destiny, but in the end it was not to be. So what now?

I think you could make a strong case for the Celtics being the worst franchise in the NBA in the last fourteen years, (more specifically, the time since Reggie Lewis' death.) The fact that there is even such a thing a Celtics fan base is simply a testament to how great there were before the '90s. There have been four times where it was actually possible to be a Celtics fan after the Lewis tragedy. The best time being their run in 2003 when they made it to the Eastern conference finals and they were only minutes away from going up 3-1 over the Nets before the refs took over the game with some dubious offensive foul calls. The second best time for Celtics fans was Antoine Walker's brief comeback in 2005 when he helped Paul Peirce to the Atlantic division crown. Aside from those two "high points" the best times for Celtics fans have been the runs they made at the number one pick in '97 and now in '07. It's a sad state of affairs when the Duncan and Oden sweepstakes pass for two of the more exciting times in recent history. So as a loyal Celtics fan, I beg them, do it right this time. No more trading for veterans who can lead them to the upper end of mediocrity. Be patient with your young players, let them develop before you trade them for quarters on the dollar. Don;t trade this draft pick for a mid-level veteran, look at the big picture and make becoming a contender your actual goal. If there's anything worse than watching your team become a laughing stock, it's being a laughing stock when the league has players like Chauncey Billups, Joe Johnson and Brandon Roy who should be Celtics but the management lost in short-sighted deals.

After wiping away my many tears, I've decided that the Celtics need to to draft Yi Jianlian. I saw some video of him working out and he looks like a tremendously athletic 7-footer. When I was watching the video my exact thoughts were, "It's two bad we don;t have a second lottery pick this year so we could take Yi along with Oden." Well now he is my prime target. Of course, given the way things have gone the last few years, he'll be drafted in the third or fourth slots. I was also thinking how great it would be to have a pick in the twenties, they could take a flyer on my favorite project, Sean Williams, but sadly the Celtics traded their second pick in the disastrous draft night last June. Anyway, for now I'm gonna stand by my C's, but if they trade this pick for a crappy veteran, I'm really close to giving up on them as it is. The organization has been very shaky for a long time. I don;t trust Danny Ainge to do anything besides drafting. I don;t trust Doc Rivers to do anything aside from losing to get more ping pong balls, and I don;t trust the owners to understand anything about the game of basketball. One last thing I had to mention, everyone has been saying the Celtics tanked this year, and they tanked back in 97. No team tanked more obviously that year than the San Antonio Spurs. David Robinson sat out the last quarter of that season despite being healthy, yet somehow, no one ever calls them out, they tanked their way to a dynasty, but somehow the Celtics are the bad guys.

On the subject of Tim Duncan, is it possible that he is actually underrated? Very few people refer to him as the best player in the NBA. You hear a lot of Kobe or Dirk and you used to hear about KG, but Duncan is my choice, and I don;t even think it's that close. He carries his team to the upper echelon every year. In my mind Parker and Ginobili would just be average players on a different team, but because they play with Duncan and in that Spurs system, they're mistakenly thought of as all-stars. He just wills this Spurs team to greatness, and I can;t imagine them not winning the title this year.

One final sports note to cheer me up, and any other Boston fan. The Sox won tonight to go back up by 10.5 over the Yanks, which is of course very sweet, but the sweetest thing is tomorrow night Schilling will probably plunk the lip-gloss wearing A-Roid for his shoulder block into Dustin Pedroia tonight in the 8th inning. As if I needed any added reason to watch a Sox-Yanks game, tomorrows could be a little more fun than usual. Don;t forget to duck Alex.

That's all I've got for now, I'll be back soon with some entertainment thoughts, 'til then...

-Bender Out