Friday, June 20, 2008

Not much to say today

Just a couple quick videos for any of you needing a little inspiration:

Rudy - Tryouts:



I love this movie. Seeing it when I was a little kid made me want to play football for Notre Dame. That dream has not quite gone the way I'd hoped. But still, when I'm feeling down or lazy, this is a clip I like to watch to light a fire under my ass.

If you haven't seen Rudy. Go rent it. Hell, go buy it. Just go see it now.

Glengarry Glen Ross speech:



Put that coffee down. Coffee's for closers only.

FUCK YOU! That's my name.

Always
Be
Closing

Attention - do I have your attention?
Interest - are you interested? I know you are, 'cause it's fuck or walk. You close or you hit the bricks.
Decision - have you made your decision FOR CHRIST?
Action

You know what it takes to sell real estate? It takes brass balls to sell real estate.

I'd wish you good luck, but you wouldn't know what to do with it if you got it.

Damn. That just makes me want to kick some fucking ass.

I might write a short story or two. Maybe today. Maybe tomorrow. Sometime soon, and I'll post it here first.

This

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Interleague play

Fail.

I'm not a big fan of interleague play, aside from already established rivalries like A's-Giants, Yankees-Mets, Angels-Dodgers, etc. Diamondbacks-Royals? Not so much. Orioles-Pirates? Pretty sure that one wasn't a sellout. I'd say stick to the rivalry games and let the other teams play their own league for that time. Then again, bitter rivals like the Padres and Mariners can't be separated that easily. It just seems like such a pointless innovation.

Which leads me to the vital difference between the leagues — the designated hitter. Adopted in 1973, this allows a position player to bat for a pitcher, but only in the American League. I realized the idiocy of this after two instances: a colleague/teacher joked with me about the AL not requiring 2nd base to be touched on double plays (on the premise that if they allow the DH, they'll allow anything), and "Now batting, the designated hitter, Jason Tyner."

DH apologists point to Chien-Ming Wang injuring himself on the basepaths, I give you Jason Tyner, all one home run of him, occupying the DH spot for the Minnesota Twins at one point. It's like they just needed a warm body to put there.

It's just stupid. There's not a designated fielder who doesn't hit. Trust me, the Giants would've done this with Omar Vizquel a while ago. Basketball doesn't have a designated shooter who comes off the court when his team's on defense. Why should baseball, a sport rooted in its pastoral history, not only create an unnecessary position, but only put it in one league? Abolishment would never happen, since David Ortiz hits home runs (which means more ticket sales) and pretty much any pitcher other than Matt Cain or Micah Owings does not.

Plus, the National League style of play requires more strategy. Say the score is tied 0-0 in the 6th inning, with two runners on and one out. You've got your ace on the mound and he's doing pretty well, but the 9th spot is coming up. Do you pinch-hit and try to put a run on the board and go to the bullpen in the next half-inning, or let your pitcher lay down a bunt and keep him in the game?

But, I suppose, you'd rather just see some dingers, instead of real baseball action.


Monday, June 16, 2008

Tiger Woods is good at golf

We hold these truths to be self-evident:

That all men are created equal.

That they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights.

That Tiger Woods is just that much better than any athlete in the world.

I'll admit, I don't watch golf much, but today's US Open playoff had me entranced.

Call it David and Goliath if you want. People had heard of David before and Goliath battled on two good knees. This was like Mike Tyson in his prime taking on Joe from your local gym. Jay-Z versus a one-hit underground wonder. Not to take anything away from Rocco Mediate, who has to have some sort of talent to be on the Tour as long as he has, but Tiger with two bad knees would normally putt circles around him.

In the end, that's what it came down to. Well, that and an ill-timed bunker shot in sudden death. Blur your eyes for a moment, and Mediate and Woods looked alike early on. Mediate was wearing black pants and a red polo, a Woods staple when he goes in for the kill. In the end, Mediate was nothing more than a sheep in wolf's clothing. Tiger was hungry, eating up clutch putts like endorsement deals. Mediate, with putter in hand, looked like a guy trying to tap one in under the windmill.

If he could've sunk even one of those necessary putts on Sunday, there's no playoff. With Tiger, there's seldom an "if." It's "when."

Sure, Mediate had his moments. The near-hole-in-one on 3 and the long putt he sank on the 15th hole to give him the lead. But no athlete in the world can turn it on like Tiger when it counts. Not Kobe Bryant, Tom Brady, Alex Rodriguez or Roger Federer — the alphas in their respective sports.

What made this playoff so special was that the shock wasn't that Mediate had pushed Tiger to it, it was that anyone did. Imagine going to a game and being shocked when A-Rod didn't hit a home run, or seeing Kobe not drop 50. Tiger, on one good knee, came back and whipped the USGA's best with two.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

RIP Tupac

So I was driving to the store earlier today, indulging in one of my guilty pleasures - listening to rap music. Well, if you can call what's been made since the late 90's "rap."

"Get Buck in Here," which features like five "artists," has been a pretty popular hit since its debut in 2007.

This lyric made me stop and think, what the fuck?

And Im'a get buck in here!,
Damn lil' momma you know you fit my standards,
You the type to make me grip that handle,
Lick shots in the air, bustin' that random,
While you make it clap clap clap clap clap...

That ass has to be pretty good if it makes Akon want to "grip that handle," and fire random shots in the air. Since when is that a reasonable option when seeing a pretty girl? Oh, wait, never mind. I think I'll try this next time I head to the club and I see some honey with the Apple Bottom jeans and the boots with the fur.

And then I hear songs from Nas and Tupac. It's not fair comparing them to the verbal landfill of Lil' Jon, Lil' Wayne, Lil' Scrappy and anyone who refers to themselves by a size. Putting any of the current chart-toppers against "If I Ruled the World," "Thugs Mansion" or Changes would just be skewing the point.

So that's why I rejoiced when I saw this piece of "social satire," as the video's description says. Really, how many of today's rappers really sound like they've read a book? Most of them can't take care of their kids, stop buying spinning rims, and generally making the terrorists hate us. Being stupid is the new black, it seems like. Take Kanye West, who makes such a big deal about having the balls to drop out of college. What kind of message is that sending to high school kids? Why couldn't Kanye just sack up and finish?

I just wish he'd pick one route and stick to it. Is he going to rap about "money, hoes, and rent," or actually sound somewhat enlightened?

From Never Let Me Down, on his debut College Dropout album:

I get down for my grandfather who took my momma
Made her sit that seat where white folks ain't wanna us to eat
At the tender age of 6 she was arrested for the sit in
With that in my blood I was born to be different
Now niggas can't make it to ballots to choose leadership
But we can make it to Jacob and to the dealership

The world really could use a new Tupac album. Do you agree?