Madness Abound

I have decided to stage my own March Madness bracket, but only 32 matchups as opposed to 65. These are completely random but I'll update it until we have a champion. It's hard to explain but you'll get the drill pretty easily....


When We were Kids Region
1. Nintendo Entertainment System
8. Slap Bracelets
2. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
7. Starting Lineup
3. Double Dare
6. Fred Savage in "The Wizard"
4. Reebok Pump
5. Adidas Samba Classic


Celebrities Gone Bad Region
1. OJ Simpson
8. Charlie Sheen
2. Michael Vick
7. Chris Brown
3. Lindsay Lohan
6. Mark McGwire
4. Tiger Woods
5. Gilbert Arenas


Awful Music Region
1. Nickelback
8. Daughtry
2. Limp Bizkit
7. Celine Dion
3. Toby Keith
6. Any Artist from MTV Making the Band
4. 98 Degrees
5. Fallout Boy


Movies of the 90's Region
1. Pulp Fiction
8. Home Alone
2. Shawshank Redemption
7. Waynes World
3. Forrest Gump
6. T2: Judgement Day
4. Titanic
5. Jerry Maguire

Long Time, No Read

I know, I know, I've been brutal about updating this deal for the last few weeks (two to be exact) Well, I'm back, and much has gone on in the world during this massive period of time. I won't try to address it all, but I'll do my best.

• So it looks like Tiger is getting closer and closer to his return...Can you say Augusta National?? This is the best news golf has had since Happy Gilmore beat Shooter McGavin to claim the 1996 US Open. I doubt that most people will be able to get past the sexual escapades of one Eldrick Woods, and that is fine. I still have some interest (the Howard Stern Tiger Woods Mistress Beauty Pagent is scheduled for next Tuesday), but in reality, I just want to see him go out and do what he does best...kick ass. I want to see him make everyone pay who might have had some critisism for him throughout this difficult time. I want to see him embarass his competition at each stop. Without him, you can count on zero hands how many golf tournaments I will watch this year, and that is likely the case for most of America.
  
  
• Has anyone else noticed that Dancing With the Stars is clearly trying to woo men to their program? How else can you explain Ocho Cinco and Erin Andrews on the same season? Though I have yet to watch this dynamic program, I feel I could create the perfect cast. I'd go with Vijay Singh, Rosie O'Donnell, Sean Penn, Michael J. Fox, Amy Winehouse, Barbara Walters, and probably round it out with Peyton Manning. Thoughts?


• The Oscars are coming up and my predictions are in. Hurt Locker will win Best Picture, Jeff Bridges - best actor, Sandra Bullock for actress, etc. etc....If I had a vote, Inglorious Bastards would dominate the awards. It will surely win supporting actor and possibly director and screen play. It was original, poignant and highly entertaining. Great all around. Go rent it if you haven't caught it yet.


• I'm amused by Tony Kornheiser's suspension from PTI on ESPN. He commented on another ESPN reporter's wardrobe and is now off the show for 2 weeks. ESPN has really become the nazi's of their own people. I feel like at night when all the shows end, each anchor, commentator, personality sleeps in a cell up in Connecticut and is released only to film their portion for television.
  
• The new etrade baby sucks.
  


• I'm beginning to have major doubts about the Rams and their draft. I have currently reduced my life by two or three years debating this, and it is likely that by April 22, I will be scheduled to live only 13 more years. As of now, I'm still with Suh, but surely Mel Kiper and Todd McShay will have talked me into Bradford by the time Kansas and Syracuse are playing for the National Championship. We'll see.


• Not a fan of Idol this year. Brutal on most counts. Ellen makes me want to gouge my eyeballs out, and Kara is getting on my nerves more and more as the show progresses. I can see maybe three or four of these people winning, and the winner will likely be relegated to the career success of Taylor Hicks, Ruben Studdard, or the great Fantasia Barrino.
  
  
• I'm back to listening to MGMT again lately on my ipod. If you haven't gotten into this yet, please download it. Great record.
  
  

Thats it for now, I'll get back Sunday night with a new countdown and maybe some other stuff. Please check back often....

Oh when the Saints....

Congrats to the Saints and the city of New Orleans. This win was good for football. America obviously agrees. Super Bowl XLIV is now the most watched television program of all time, beating the finale of the hit show M.A.S.H. in 1980. This is quite an accomplishment. I could write much more about this, but it's time to move on until the draft in April, so here we go...

• The controversy over the recent Sports Illustrated Olympic cover featuring American downhill ski star Lindsey Vonn is nothing short of stunning to me. She is in a ski pose wearing a ski outfit. Anyone who thinks that this is in any way sexual either needs to visit the same sex clinic as Tiger Woods, or really has nothing better to talk about. It couldn't be any less sexual in my opinion.

• The new uproar over John Mayer is not shocking because he tends to over-speak his mind, but using the n-word????? Really John? His sexual deviance has been exposed over his last few interviews. He seems to have gone off the deep end. I don't know whether it's drug-induced, or he is simply insane, but before long, he and Kanye West may be playing in their own sandbox at the wrong end of the playground. If you didn't read what he had to say in this revealing interview with Playboy, here is the link (not work appropriate, by the way). http://http//www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/10/john-mayer-jessica-simpso_n_456566.html

• So, obviously being a giant Howard Stern fan, many people want to know what I think about the potential of him taking Simon's seat on American Idol next season. I have to say, I think it would be great. However, I don't think that the executives at Fox know what they might be getting into. On paper, bringing in Howard might look great. He's brash, strong-willed, and very opinionated. He also brings an enormous ego and a tendency to cross the line under any circumstance. Who knows? This could be what Idol needs to bring it into the next era, and it could just be rumors that will die quicker than the careers of Taylor Hicks and Bo Bice.

• I was happy to see that the charges of domestic assault against Rams running back Steven Jackson have been dropped. After reading through the reports, it's pretty clear that the female associated with the claims has many holes in her story. Is it not a coincidence that she came forward with these claims during Super Bowl Week? This girl has Kobe Chaser written all over her. I'm not trying to trivialize a serious issue by any means...I think that Chris Brown should be castrated; but when evidence is lacking, the accuser is less than credible, and the accused is a multi million dollar athlete, I think it best to adhere to innocent until proven guilty.

• The possibility of expanding the NCAA tournament is sickening to me. 92 teams??? That would turn the first round games into the basketball equivalent of the Little Caesars Bowl in football or the WNBA finals. 65 teams is perfect. I get the revenue angle, but overkill may set in with an entire month of the tourney. Let's keep it at 65.

• Mardi Gras is only 3 days away now. In New Orleans, this will be the culmination of two weeks of madness. I'm actually contemplating putting my liver on Craigslist New Orleans.
  
  

That's it for now. I'll be back this weekend with some Winter Olympics thoughts. I am so excited for this momentous event in world history. What a thrill!! Comments, critisism always welcome. Thanks for stopping by.

Greetings from Miami!

I think it goes without saying that Super Bowl Week is one of my favorite weeks of the year. I absorb all of the excess and even embrace it. Media Day is great. I love hearing the interviews with former NFL stars (and even scrubs), and most importantly, the over analysis of the big game itself. This wouldn't be a blog though if I didn't have some observations of my own.

• Chad Ochocinco, as always, is stealing the show. He couldn't have picked a better time to launch his new network OCNN. If you haven't yet, make sure you download his app for iPhone and Blackberry.

• The attention paid to Kim Kardashian is amusing and a little bit sad at the same time. She travels through South Beach with as much clout as Muhamad Ali and as much security as Pope Benedict III. Not that she's rough to look at, but it's getting to be just a bit much.


• Jay Glazer from Fox Sports is a MEATHEAD!!


• The sports radio jocks who have decended upon South Florida make the crowd who gathers for the AVN Awards in Vegas look like the crowd at a convention for Southern Baptists. These middle-age, overweight assclowns are running around from club to club like their last name is Lohan. Their sole purpose is to bring back any piece of trash that stands before them and brag about it when they return to Pittsburgh, Seattle, Kansas City, etc...
  
• Peyton Manning is the BEST quarterback ever to play. Period.


• How will the commercials be this year? Not a whole lot of buzz, but one story snuck through the cracks. I heard that CBS has vetoed Mancrunch.com (a homosexual dating site) because the network is staying away from hot button issues. Why is it then that Tim Tebow's anti-abortion ad is allowed to air? I don't care either way, it just seems like a bit of a double standard.
  
• Finally, this game has alot to live up to. The last two Super Bowls have been nothing short of phenomenal. Somehow, I am guessing that the game will be a blowout early.


• My predicion: Colts 43, Saints 27.

Despite the current Super Bowl bubble I reside in, I do realize that there is life outside of Miami so here are a few more bits from this last week that intrigue me.

• I still don't know what to make of this iPad deal. Apple has hit gold with everything it's produced in the last decade, but this seems like it might be a stretch. If it works, it will change the way we communicate; if it bombs, Apple might be headed back toward the state of hibernation it resided in for the better part of fifteen years.
  
• I don't know what to think about what has become of Facebook. All of the new weekly themes and constant updates on people's farms and sorority houses are great! I really wish I could run my own farm. It's what I have been dreaming about since I was seven.


• When are all channels going to be in HD? I might go back to watching shows like Real World again if it didn't look like it was shot during the Regan administration.


• So I've been told by the police that St. Louis now has a heroin epidemic. Fantastic!


• Mardi Gras is only a week away. Let the weather gods be in a good mood now. I'm predicting 62 degrees and sunny. Always fun regardless.
  

That's it for now. Go Colts (-5 1/2)!!

Super Sunday...and Monday???

Would America really go to hell if we had one extra national holiday on our calendar each year? Each January prior to Super Bowl Sunday, I ask this very question. Now I know that some of you may be thinking, "Brett, you are the biggest sports fan I know. Of course you would feel this way. Stop being narrow minded." Well, I can see that, but lets be honest...the Super Bowl does not cater strictly to sports fans, it has truly become a national event.

I would venture to guess that Monday, February 8th, will be the least productive work day in 2010. Would the markets collapse, the farms go dry, and tidal waves form from one extra holiday on our calendar? No, no, and no. Now, it would be frivilous of me to comment without having some type of plan. Here it is. Simple and direct.

So, it is increasingly obvious that sometime in the near future, the NFL will expand their schedule from 16 to 18 games.

In this simple scheduling change lies a solution. Start the season one week early (pre-Labor Day) and finish one week later (roughly the second weekend in February).

This would land the Monday following the Super Bowl on what is now Presidents' Day. Why not simply combine the two holidays and a day off work to not only include banks, government jobs, and schools, but also the business world as well?

I contend that this would not hurt our economy, but actually boost it. Think about the extra money that could potentially be pumped into Super Bowl Sunday if the majority of America was aware they would be free of labor duties the following day.

Secondly, Americans (as I stated before) are in general, not productive the day after the Super Bowl for any number of reasons including lack of sleep, being overserved; or living in Cleveland, St. Louis or Oakland, and knowing that next season will be worse than the previous. Going back to work on Tuesday would rejuvinate each of these segments of the population.

This may not be a reaslistic proposition, but in my opinion, it is something practical that could raise America's morale, and boost its economy all at the same time. Anyways, who doesn't take a moment each year to celebrate the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and George Washington? Presidents' Day reborn!

Drama in TV Land

So the last week or so has been absolutly nuts in the world of television. There have been many developments, and I'll keep my takes limited, but overall, it's real simple. NBC=Fail, Leno=Lucky, Conan=Ouch. Simon=Genius.

No matter what happens, the biggest loser in the whole played out soap opera is clearly NBC. Just think...this is the network that featured Cheers, The Cosby Show, Seinfeld, Friends, ER, and Law and Order...what happened? First of all, NBC lacks patience. No one is talking about how it took Jay "The Savior" Leno almost 3 years to pass David Letterman when they both started in 1992. Conan only gets 7 months? Something doesn't gel. Secondly, many predicted the demise of Leno's early show before it even hit the air in September. This is not a surprise by any means. Hopefully when the dust settles over the next few months, Conan will be at FOX and Leno will still be getting pummeled by Letterman.

There's also the departure of Simon Cowell from American Idol. For Simon, this makes perfect sense. Leave while you are on top! Why wait for Idol to become less relevant and have a tough time launching your next endeavor? X-Factor will work, FOX will throw tons of support behind it, and Idol will move on at a minor league level. I don't blame him in the slightest for this transition.

This McGwire situation is getting to be obnoxious. I've been saying the same thing f0r 10 years now. McGwire is a coward! This brilliant PR work of Ari Fleisher doesn't make him look any better. If you are going to come out and admit that you were cheating for the better part of a decade, at the very least, don't compound this fact by lying more. Don't say you took steroids to stay healthy and then appologize to Roger Maris' family for breaking his record while cheating! This will be the last you hear from me on anything involving this worthless scum. He isn't worth my type.

Speaking of the Cardinals, does St. Louis really have the best baseball fans, or do we just have nothing else to talk about? If you've been in St. Louis this past week, you may have thought that the Cardinals were playing in the World Series. But no...it was actually just the Winter Warm-Up. I've been in the past, and it's nothing to call home about. Sports talk radio is still talking it up though. Enough already!

Can't wait for both the championship games in the NFL. Lots of great story lines. I think a Super Bowl match-up between any of the four teams will draw big ratings. Either way, it's a win-win for CBS because of the star power on both sides.

Is anyone else intrigued by all of the coaching changes in pro and college football? All of it should be turned into a reality show hosted by Lee Corso. I'd watch religiously.

Finally, as I mentioned a few weeks ago regarding The Hangover, please stop quoting Jersey Shore on Facebook, Twitter, etc...even if you really are going to the gym, tanning salon and doing laundry - nobody cares!

That's it for now....I'll probably be back later this week with a countdown. For now though, make sure to vote in this week's poll. I guess my take on technology was off since a whopping twelve people voted in total, agreeing that text messaging is the most important inovation of the last decade - not itunes or the ipod.

Top 5 innovations of the last decade

This is a list that doesn't neccesarily include inventions (although some of them are) but more just innovations that have changed our life since the tramatic time period of Y2K. Some are for fun, some convinience, but I think it should be stated that technology clearly advanced more in this important 10 year time span than it had in the last 50.

1. i-pod/i-tunes--Although remedial MP3 devices existed in niche form prior to the ipod's 2001 release, Apple's original ipod, although now drastically flawed, changed the way the music industry will opperate forever. It's clean interface, sleek design, and large (for the time anyways) storage capability made cd's more irrevlevant as each year passed. Although upgrades have now put the line into its own stratosphere, the original still weilds its influence everytime someone downloads a song today.
   
2. Text messaging--Appropriately, at the close of the 2000's, text messaging use, suprassed traditional phone calls in December of 2009. Texting spawned a new language, legislation to prevent it while driving, and an entire culture of neo-communication. Dilemas revolving around long converstations for simple matters are now irreleavant, and while some argue that texting has ruined converstion, there is no doubt that its impact is spread far and wide.


3. HD Television--It's hard to remember that only 10 years ago, everyone's televisions were huge, bulky, low resolution sets that challenged interior designers and rabid sports fans alike with its dull picture, and obtruce design. HD television became popular early in the 2000' s, although until recently it was still a fringe commodity. Broadcasts are now clearer, sound better, and are far more enjoyable. With the recent anouncement of 3D television debuting this year, its hard to imagine what we may be viewing in 2020.


4. iphone/Blackberry--It is too hard choose one over the other, but both of them have been enormously infuential over the past decade. Email, video, internet, all at the tip of your fingertips. Wow, what would we do if we couldn't read restraunt reviews, get detailed directions or most importantly check your favorite teams scores in real time? It seems so trivial now to think about, and we often take these devices for granted, but again, what is still possible seems mind boggling.


5. GPS--This technology was first developed in the early 90's to ease our troops battle through rough terrain in the first Gulf War. It came to be used by the masses about 10 years ago and has become an institution ever since. The original Garmin was large, and difficult for the amatuer to figure out, but what followed was the convinience of knowing you will never be lost again. Including it in phones and other mobile devices only strenghtened GPS's grip on our culture.

**Honorable Mention

• 2nd Generation Toyota Prius (2004)
• Tivo (2000)
• Red Box (2002)
• Facebook/Twitter (2003, 2006)
• Nintendo Wii (2006)

Here and There

• So, everyone seems to have an opinion on the Matt Holliday signing. St. Louis truely is and always will be a baseball obsessed city. I did a little bit of sampling of different national and local talk shows today, and the Holliday coverage was 180 degrees. NFL only on ESPN radio - Holliday only on Team 1380. Interesting. First off, I am resigned to the fact they overpaid for him, especially in years (7) and more importantly with the FULL no trade clause. I am also happy they did so. If we had let him go, a dark cloud would hang over the Cards going into Spring Training...Oh wait, that cloud has a name, and it's Mark McGwire...




• Congrats to Andre "The Hawk" Dawson on his induction into the baseball Hall of Fame. It is strange seeing these players in their prime throughout my childhood being enshrined in Cooperstown. One of the many reasons that makes me feel as if I am aging quickly.



• NEWS BULLETIN!! NEWS BULLETIN!! IT'S SNOWING IN ST. LOUIS!! RAID YOUR LOCAL GROCER AND BOARD UP YOUR WINDOWS IMMEDIATELY!!

• Can the Rams please just draft Ndamukong Suh? I already have the Jersey on the way. If they don't, I'm out $88.00.





• Watch the trailer for Iron Man 2...Downey Jr. is tough, and the rest of the cast should be good as well.http://http//www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2308178969



• So I saw that the new Athletic Director at the Univesity of Michigan is none other than David Brandon....The former CEO of Dominos Pizza. This makes perfect sense if you ask me. It's actually the first person there involved in athletics who they didn't steal from West Virginia.
  


• Speaking of Dominos, I hear they have an entirely new recipe. New Crust, new sauce, new cheese, probably same old garbage...I doubt it could get much worse. I am intrigued either way. I'll report back with the new taste within the month.
  
  

Couldn't end this thing though without at least commenting on Gilbert Arenas. This guy has become a grade A knucklehead. Who jokes about gun violence in Washington DC? Who pulls guns over a small bet ($60,000)? Another great story. Deadspin.com has by far the most witty coverage of this shining moment for the NBA.

That's all I got. Keep the hits coming and don't forget to vote in the poll...There's only 4 days left. I've got a good one ready for next week too.

St. Louis...We Have a Problem

Let me be the first to say that St. Louis does not compare in size or cosmopolitan nature to New York, LA, Chicago or many other cities in the U.S. That is fine, and I think everyone accepts this for fact. I do however, have a huge problem with the fact that hailing a taxi in our fine city is about as easy as finding a good looking girl at any bar on The Landing. Over the last month or so, I have witnessed at least 4 good examples of myself, or friends of mind calling for a cab, and waiting anywhere from 1- 2.5 hours!!! This would never happen in many major U.S. cities. I am very anti drunk driving, but I believe that the fact cabs are so damned hard to procure definitely plays a part in peoples willingness to push the boundaries of the breathalizer scale. I can see being in a far outlying area such as Wentzville, Festus, or Waterloo IL, and not being able to get a cab. It's probably not easy in the far reaching suburbs of the forementioned major cities either. Not being able to get a cab from Kirkwood, Dogtown, and Brentwood is simply not acceptable. Until this city has either a great mass transit system, or a far more reliable means for paid fare rides, we will continue to hear of drunk driving incidents every weekend.



In other news, I received a follow up from Urban Spoon reacting to the letter I sent them on the Araka worm incident 2 weeks ago. Here is what it said...

"Thanks for writing. Incidents like this are impossible for a restaurant to defend (or disprove) and can profoundly affect their reputation, so we don't include them. We certainly allow (and encourage) negative reviews where they're deserved, but this particular subject is really more appropriate for the health department."

I am OK with this response, but still feel strongly about the fact that someone from Araka brought this up to Urban Spoon as libelous. I don't see how this is possible seeing as how it is fact, but whatever the case may be, I feel I've cost the restraunt enough potential business simply by spreading the word far and wide.

Thanks for reading, comments, critique always welcome.

First Random Observations of the new Decade

Happy New Year everyone. I don't really do New Years resolutions, but I did promise myself I would update this more often per some requests. Look for updates every 2-3 days as opposed to ever 2-3 weeks. Here is just some of what is going on right now.

• Don't get me wrong, loved The Hangover, but for the love of god, if 1 more person makes their Facebook status a quote from the movie, I am going to drink antifreeze
• Has anyone ever seen any females working at Taco Bell that are as attractive as the 2 girls in the current T-Bell commercial with the $89 5 Layer Burito??
• I have gotten off the fence and I am fully supporting Mizzou joining the Big 10. Yes, we would lose 1 rivalry with Nebraska, but after doing some reading, the financial windfall is very attractive. My one major concern would be the impact of recruiting in the lucrative football state of Texas.
• I don't know why I continue to watch Bowl Games. For one, I am a steadfast opponent of the current system, and secondly, I would never watch Northern Illinois play South Florida during the regular season, why the hell would I watch them play for the International Bowl title in Toronto, Canada?
• I have been addicted to the ESPN 30 for 30 series. If you haven't seen any of them, please check it out. It also made me realize how important it is for the Cardinals to re-sign Albert. Edmonton losing Gretzty was a good reminder of what 1 players impact on a city is.
• Some of you have heard about my recent incident at the Clayton restraunt "Arkaka." In case you didn't, some short details; Very expensive restraunt, Courtney finds live worm in her fish, very smug appology, bill is still $90. Everyone in the restraunt ignores us afterward. So I put a very honest review on Urban Spoon. The review is removed in less than 24 hours. That website is obviously paid off by certain restraunts. Don't believe anything you read on there, and for the love of god, please never waste your money at Araka!
• Seen a few movies lately, and surprisingly liked them all in different ways. Up in the Air, Avatar, and Sherlock Holmes are all definitely worth watching. Very entertaining and thought provoking on all accounts.
• Is it me or is there a huge lull in new music right now. I am getting very bored of my current I-phone playlist. New music please!
• I don't know where I stand on the Mike Leach, Texas Tech incident. It does sound like the kid was a slacker, but at the same time, this isn't the days of Bear Bryant, and Woody Hayes. It's 2010 and you cannot physically or mentally abuse players. It's very easy in today's "right now" reporting trend to get caught.
• Finally, some predictions for 2010: Manning will win his 4th MVP and, 2nd Superbowl. 'Bama wins the National Title, the next-gen iPhone makes time travel possible (and Verizon claims it can make you get superhuman powers)