Boxing at the Garden

For the first time in 23 heavyweight championship fights at Madison Square Garden, dating back to 1882, an American is not vying for the title. Wladimir Klitschko (Ukraine) will put his IBO and IBF titles on the line against the WBO tile of Sultan Ibragimov (Russia). I'm looking forward to it. I've been a big fan of both Klitschko brothers for years. Always a good fight when there's a Klitschko involved. I'm predicting Wladimir will KO Ibragimov in the 8th round.

In other boxing news, Jessie Brinkley (semi-finalist from the first season of The Contender) beat Otis Griffin (winner of the only season of The Next Great Champ). Too bad. I was rooting for Griffin. I never watched the show, and I had no clue who Griffin was, I just couldn't stand Brinkley. I think he is an arrogant jerk, and not nearly as good as he thinks he is. I was hoping he'd get his ass whooped. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be.

Finally, speaking of The Contender, fan fave (and one of mine) from Season One, Alfonso Gomez, is getting a shot at the welterweight title. On April 12, Gomez is fighting the current WBA champ Miguel Cotto. I think this will be Gomez's toughest fight to date. I would love to see him rise to the occasion and take the title. I think Gomez is a talented fighter and all-around good guy. He deserves the best. Go Alphonso!

Idol - The Ladies

Well, contrary to what the judges seemed to say at the end of the show, I don't think the ladies did as well as the guys did the night before. Also, I won't beat a dead horse, but Randy needs to let it go. Stop mentioning age, Randy!! Kristy started off well with Rescue Me. It wasn't a spectacular performance, and you could tell she was nervous, but she was good. And damn, she's cute! Anyway, Joanne followed with I Say a Little Prayer for You. I don't care for the song and it wasn't a very good performance. I worry about her. I really like Joanne, but she's got Mandisa syndrome. Because she's a bigger girl, and America basically has a prejudice about size/weight, she has to really bring it every week or risk getting booted. Not fair, but reality. She may get by on past performance, though. Alaina sang More Today Than Yesterday. Chikezie sang this the night before, and Alaina blew him out of the water. Her voice in the interview was a bit annoying, but her voice in the song was amazing. Great performance and no nerves showing. Amanda the Rocker Nurse sang Baby, Please Don't Go. I don't know this song, and it wasn't a powerhouse vocal, but it was fun enough that she'll make it through this week. I disagree with Paula, though, that Amanda has proven she's not a one-trick pony. She hasn't proven it yet. She will need to show some range if she wants to make it past next week. Amy stunk up the joint with Where the Boys Are. Bad song choice, bad performance. Not just struggling with nerves or the flu, but Bad. If she sang like that at the audition, she would not have made it to Hollywood. Brooke the Nanny sang a fun rendition of Happy Together. Not quite as good as David C.'s version from the night before, but good enough to make it to next week. Alexandrea (regardless of how you pronounce it) gave the best performance of the night to this point singing Spinning Wheel. This girl is a force to be reckoned with. I'm not sure what show Simon was watching last night. 99 times out of 100, I agree with Simon. Every now and then, though, he gets PMS or something and goes way off the reservation. Last night was one of those nights. Kady was a bit bland singing Groovy Kind of Love, which I've always thought was a bit of a bland song anyway. She's cute, though, and with the Britney impression, will probably make it another week. She'll have to step it up to make it past that. Asia'h (hate the weird spelling) had the best performance of the night with Piece of My Heart. If she continues at the level she has been, I think she'll make the top 3 along with Jason C. and Michael. Ramiele sang a restrained performance of You Don't Have to Say You Love Me. Given the expectation for her to belt it out, I think it served her well to keep it in on this song. It could have come across as shouting. That's a danger with a voice as big as hers. Syesha kicked butt singing Tobacco Road. I've heard this song on Idol before, but I can't say I'm familiar with it aside from that. However, Syesha made me not care. Girl can sing. Carly finished with The Shadow of Your Smile. I like Carly, and the performance was good, but not anywhere close to best of the top 24. Don't know what Randy was smoking. Best of the night were Alexandrea and Asia'h. Amy's definitely going home. Not sure about the second. Hate to say it, but I think Joanne will go, too. I hope not, but I can't think of who else I think would deserve it based on last night's performances.

Idol Finals Kick Off

With the top 12 guys. David H. started off the night singing In the Midnight Hour. I haven't been crazy about this guy. I think he's good, but not as good as he thinks he is. He puts too much flourish into his vocals when he should just be singing. Fortunately, he sings well enough; he'll make it through. Chikezie worried me right off when he dropped the last name. I liked him in the auditions, but the one-name thing seems a bit pretentious for a reality show contestant. Got a little more worried during the pre-performance clip when he almost blurted that he was glad the judges recognized his talent. Seemed a bit arrogant. He recovered and said "hard work" instead of "talent." He worried me more when he started singing More Today than Yesterday, not a good song choice or performance. The icing on the cake came when he started snipping at Simon and getting a bit of attitude. Really turned me off. David C. followed with Happy Together. I haven't been a big fan of this David from the beginning - not sure why, something just rubs me the wrong way - but he did a good job in this round. Good song choice, good performance. Jason Y. then performed Moon River. I absolutely agree with Simon (as I usually do) that he was forgettable and not at all contemporary. Robbie sang One (by Three Dog Night, I believe?). Rocked it out! Easily the best performance of the night at this point. David A. sang Smokey Robinson's Shop Around. I think he had trouble hitting the low notes in the beginning because his voice hasn't changed yet. Overall, though, another good performance. But again... Randy. Dawg. It's American Idol, not 17 Year-Old Idol. I don't want to hear it. Just comment on their performance, not their performance relative to their age. Thought he would hyperventilate whilest talking to Ryan, though. Danny I-look-like-Jessica-Alba's-twin-brother Noriega then performed Jailhouse Rock. I actually agree with what Paula was trying to say here. I think he chose a relatively easy song that just allowed him to run around on stage and ham it up. I don't think it was grotesque, but I don't think it was a great singing performance. I think he's this year's Sanjaya. Let's just hope he doesn't try the faux-hawk. Luke sang a relatively forgettable rendition of Everybody's Talkin'. But given his resemblance to a cross between Hugh Jackman and Orlando Bloom, I think he'll get by this week on looks. Again, I agree with Simon regarding Colton's performance of Suspicious Minds. Not as bad as the other Elvis song, but not very memorable or relevant. Garrett struggled through Breaking Up Is Hard to Do on Valium. Paula was right when she told him he shouldn't be afraid to work with Ricky Minor to change things up. Simon was right that Garrett looked a bit washed out and haunted. He looks like he hasn't been out of his mom's basement in about 12 years. Jason C. brought the house down with What a Day for a Daydream. Hands down the best performance of the night. Chrissy and I don't care for the dreds, but he looked incredibly comfortable on stage - at least while he was singing. He seems a bit like one of those shy people who blossoms when performing, then draws back into his shell during an interview. Johnny Depp seems like that. Michael finished the night with Light My Fire. If it weren't for coming right after Jason C., Michael would have had the best performance of the night. He looks so comfortable on stage and on the mic, it's almost not fair to the other contestants. Then again, so was Chris Daughtry. If Michael continues how he has been, he'll cruise his Aussie ass to the top 5. My prediction is that Garrett and Jason Y. will go home on Thursday. We'll see how the ladies do tonight.

Idol

Well, we're fairly happy with the American Idol Top 24. Chrissy's a little disappointed that her cowboy didn't make it, but like he said, at least he won't miss turkey season. My favorite so far (not to win, just the cutest) is Kristy, the farm girl/cage-fighter. Girl can sing, too. Don't know if she can sing well enough to compete against the level of competition that's in the finals this year, but we'll see. Early favorites (to win) are Asia'h and Syesha. I like Joanna, too, but she struggled a bit in Hollywood. I like Amanda, the rocker nurse, but she needs to show some range beyond 60's/70's rock. I think Carly and Brooke are cute and can sing, but they may not have the goods to make it to the end. Michael (Australian dude) is easily the one to beat from the guys. David A. and Danny (who looks like Jessica Alba's little brother and is gayer than Liberace) both suffer from what I call Jordin Sparks syndrome - they're great.... for their age. If I had to hear Randy gush about David being 16 one more time... I like Chikezie, both personality and name, but don't think he'll make it. I don't care for David C. Something just rubs me the wrong way with him. Not sure what. Maybe some hidden attitude? David H. need to tone it down a bit. There's making a song your own, then there's trying to show off. I'm glad living-in-his-car boy didn't make it. I think he had a bit of an attitude. I worry about his mental state, though. He seemed a bit desperate and pinning his future on winning the show, which I think he absolutely thought he would. Josiah. That was his name. Given, though, that the process took place months ago, if something had happened to him, I would think it would have happened by now.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

Well, the Redskins have a new Head Coach. Jim Zorn, the former Offensive Coordinator. Well, as of the 25th, he was the Coordinator. Before that, he was the QB Coach in Seattle. Interesting choice. I don't really know much about him, so I can't form much of an opinion of him yet. I'm curious to see what he does with personnel. It makes me nervous that he's already talking about hiring Stump Mitchell for Running Backs Coach when just last week, Earnest Byner signed a one-year extension to his contract. Unless Byner is bumped up to the Coordinator position. That would be interesting. On a side note, speaking of interesting, Bill Lazor, the former Redskins QB coach, signed with Seattle to replace Zorn as QB coach there. Funny.

Also, R.I.P. to Roy Scheider, who passed away this weekend. Cause of death was not reported, but it was confirmed that he had been battling myeloma for the past two years. To me, he will always be Police Chief Martin Brody from Jaws. When I think of him, I think of my sister Gail and our endless joking about the line, "You're gonna need a bigger boat," and the cigarette in his mouth bouncing up & down on the alliterative b's.

It appears as though the writer's strike is over. I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, naturally, I'm quite happy. While I don't know all the details about the deal, I think it comes down to (as I speculated before), if the network or studio is making money on it, the writer gets a piece of the action. Sounds pretty simple. Two problems with the strike ending now: 1) Since we are still partly through the season, I'm sure the writers will be rushed back to the shows to try to crank our some crap to tack on to the end of the season. I would rather they simply leave this season short, and put their energy into creating good episodes next season. 2) I was looking forward to making more progress on my Netflix queue. Since there was a dearth of new programming on the networks, I was actually starting to see some movement on the queue. Hopefully, I'll see some more before the new shows return.

Super Bowl

Well, today is the big day. What to do? I just don't care for the Pats (sorry, Jackie!). I think Belichick is an arrogant jerk. I think the team should have an asterisk next to their "perfect" record. I don't care what anyone says about the Jets coach snitching, or other teams cheating. The fact is they cheated and got caught. That taints it for me. I have nothing personally against Brady, I just hate how much the media dotes on him. I wish they would simply invite him into the booth, bend him over, drop his pants and kiss his ass. At least that would be more honest.

On the other hand, I just can't bring myself to root for the Giants. Anyone who knows me (or has read this blog) knows I'm a Skins fan, and as such, I can't root for a rival NFC East team to win the big game.

So what do I do? I'm going to hope for a good game. I think the Pats will blow out the Giants, so I hope the Giants will put up a good fight. And I hope we get some good commercials this year. The commercials are typically the best part of the day, and the past few years, people are actually talking about the game the next day! We need better commercials this year; and hopefully a good game.

P.S. Congrats to Darrell Green and especially Art Monk (!!) for making the Pro Football Hall of Fame! Yay!!

Changing Perspective

This past week, I have been thinking a lot about the implications of the title of this post. It began during our vacation at Disney World last week. Though we did have a great time, it will not go down in history as our best Disney trip ever. The entire time we were there, we had to deal with these Brazilian, high school tour groups running around like they owned the place (we think they were Brazilian, and they were about the right age and behavior for high school kids...). Then, (I don't know if anyone other than me notices the space on the right where I state what I am currently reading, but...), this train of thought picked up a few more cars as I was re-reading The Gunslinger, book 1 of Stephen King's Dark Tower series.* It picked up a caboose when I read my sister's column (shameless plug) about her thoughts on Eli Manning.

It got me thinking about how I was at the age these kids were, and though I don't always feel I am a vastly different person than I was then, there are times when I can't believe how different I have become. Given how much I have changed, and I'm sure others have undergone similar transformations, it's amazing that I continue to hold friendships with people that I was friends with then, and continue to have good relationships with family members that I felt I had good relationships with then.

As perhaps is typical of many young people, I used to see things very black & white. When I began driving (23 years ago!!), I felt that the speed limit was the law. If the sign said 35, and you were going 36, you were breaking the law, and may as well have been going 70 (you can't be a little bit pregnant). Well, anyone whose been in a car with me in the past ten years or so knows I see a little more gray area now. There are a lot of gray areas I see now. I remember seeing The Color of Money back in '86 when it first came out. Not a bad movie, if you enjoy watching 9-ball and don't expect much. (Definitely a make-up Oscar for Paul Newman. Much as I like him, it wasn't an Oscar-worthy performance). Anyway, I remember a couple of years ago talking with Rob about it. He had recently seen it again, and so had I. We both had the same experience of identifying more with Newman's character now, when we had identified more with the Cruise character when we were younger. Our perspective had shifted.

While I am enjoying the Dark Tower books every bit as much as I did when I began reading them ten years ago (thanks to Ian Raymond, who I worked with at Harbour Spirits - Thanks, Ian!), I was in a very different place in my life than I am now. I had just lost a job of ten years, a girlfriend of five years, and any hope of financial stability, all in the span of about five months. Since then, I became gainfully employed on two separate occasions, gotten back on my feet financially (though I hope to be doing better in the coming years), and I have experienced ten more years of life, including almost - and then in a very real way - losing my father, getting married, my grandmother passing away, dealing with various health issues, and gaining, then losing, another second father in my future wife's father (if you follow). Needless to say, my frame of mind from then to now is a bit different. Therefore, while my enjoyment of the books is just as great, if not greater, my experience while reading them is much different. That almost makes it like reading them again for the first time. When I was watching extras on one of the LOTR DVDs, I found out Christopher Lee (Saruman) has re-read the trilogy every year, possibly since they were published. He's that big a fan. As I read what I typed about the Dark Tower, I wonder if he has experienced the same thing. As much as I love some books, I thought it was a bit excessive to read the same three books every single year. It may be. But possibly not as excessive as I once thought. My perspective on that has changed.

So... where does this lead us? What conclusions have I drawn as I have pondered the topic over the past week and a half? None. Save, perhaps, one more changed perspective from my youth. There aren't always solutions. There doesn't have to be a conclusion drawn. Maybe the examination in itself (of one's own self) is the whole point. To look inward. Analyze. Fix? Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe just see things from a different perspective.

"Luke, you're going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view." -- Obi-Wan Kenobi, Return of the Jedi

Yes, I just quoted a Star Wars movie. Some things never change...


*"Wait," you say (if indeed you do pay attention to what I'm reading), "I never saw that. It looked like you started with book 2, The Drawing of the Three." Well, half right. While I did start with The Gunslinger, I whipped through it so quickly (and at Disney, no less), that I never had time to indicate on my blog that I was reading it.

Happy Birthday, Wifey!

Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday dear Chrissy!
Happy Birthday to yoooooooouuuu!

Today is my wonderful, beautiful wife's birthday. I think she's taking it pretty well. Then again, it's not like she's turning 40 this year... *sobs*

Aloha, Joe

Well, I just heard the sad news that Joe Gibbs is retiring as Head Coach and General Manager of the Washington Redskins. I can’t say I’m shocked. I was looking forward to seeing what progress he could continue to make next year. I think Greg Williams has to have the inside line to replace Gibbs. Aside from his experience, both in the NFL (head coach) and with the team (holds the defense together), he gets $1M bonus if he’s not chosen to replace Gibbs when he leaves. It's in his contract. I've heard Bill Cowher's name being bandied about, but I'll be surprised if Williams isn't the Man. Farewell, Joe. You will always be remembered as the greatest coach in the history of the Skins.

MERRY NEW YEAR!!