Dr N's Sports, Music and Life Observations

No Respect for Artest's cowardly KO of Harden

2012-04-22T21:57:00.002-05:00

I want to give no respect to Metta World Peace, aka Ron Artest, for knocking out James Harden with one of the most disgraceful cheap shots I have ever seen and continuing to be an embarrassment to not only himself, the Lakers and the city of Queensbridge, but the entire sport of basketball as well.

First off, I wanna go ahead and get it out there I will never call Ron Artest "Metta World Peace" or "MWP" as the Lakers broadcast team does. It's not that it's because he's not a peaceful guy or anything like that; but dude, you got beat to the punch by Chad Johnson changing his last name to "Ochocinco" and let's be honest, it's just never that cool to be the copy cat.

Back to the completely bush league elbow. What makes it even worse, was Ron's pathetic excuse that he elbowed Harden in the midst of celebrating a dunk which is completely insulting. Perhaps Ron would be stupid enough to believe that if someone told it to him, but no one else is buying it considering he wound up, took a full follow through, and was ready to fight afterwards. I know Ron is probably going to get suspended, and unless it's 25 games or more, it's too light. I mean really, how big of a coward do you have to be to throw a full force bow to the head of a guy who's not even looking. Making it even worse is that Ron is 6'8" and 275 lbs, Harden is 6'4" and 210 lbs.

I know no one has ever accused Ron of being a stand up guy, but damn dude, if you're such a badass at least look the man in the face before you try to knock him out. I'm no more than 180 lbs; but I guarantee I could do a lot of damage to iron Mike himself if I got to wind up and give him my best shot when he wasn't looking. Ron taking that shot at Harden would be like me knocking out a 6th greater in terms of size difference; and even worse a 6th grader with his back turned to me with no idea the blow was coming...

For all of Ron's talk about playing ball on the streets of Queensbridge growing up, watching this makes you wonder if he ever actually played ball there or if he took the LIRR 1 stop up and played at the Great Neck YMCA. Now I must admit I've never played in Queensbridge, but I'm guessing the street courts outside Overbrook High school in Philly (home of the great Wilt Chamberlin for all those guessing) ain't much different and throwing a bow at a dude's head with his back turned probably wouldn't end with you being asked to leave... But at the Y or in a NBA game I guess it does.

But I have an idea of how we could fairly settle this. Instead of suspending Ron, what about going to the old Persian eye for an eye system. Now Ron outweighs James Harden by about 65 pounds. There's a certain LSU product who used to play for the Lakers that probably outweighs Ron by about 65 pounds and probably still holds enough of a grudge against Kobe for costing him 2 rings by not passing him the ball that he would be willing to back up Mr Harden, especially if it keeps Mr Artest out of the playoffs. So-BOOM, there's our answer right there.

Till Next Week,

The Death of Roosterfly

2012-04-10T21:20:00.001-05:00

So, as obvious as I'm sure it is to all, Roosterfly.com is dead. Always tough to pull the plug on what we still think is a great idea; but unfortunately incompetence is nearly impossible to overcome. So we've shifted gears, found a competent web-design firm and are working on something great (and totally different) which is guaranteed to change your life!! (Only if you use it of course...)

On another note, the blog is back!! and to start I want to give big ups to my Cs for taking their talents southward and coming up with a huge road W in Miami! Is it just me or is it still a toss-up between Chris Bosh and Big Baby when it comes to who's more scared of KG?? He did make the latter cry in a sold out arena mid-game a couple of years ago...

In case you forgot.... BOOM there's your proof!

Till next week,

Cheering for a Conference

2010-10-17T21:02:00.004-05:00

Due to popular demand, this is a re-post originally made 3 January 2008.... enjoy!

Happy New Year Everyone,

From my seat in a Georgia section at the Sugar Bowl yesterday, I was very suprised by the fan reaction when Georgia did something well during the game. Although not a Georgia fan, I can certainly expect a jovial uproar in the aftermath of a sack or a touchdown; but, in lieu of cheering for their team the Georgia fans decided to vorciferate "S-E-C". While initially I thought it was only the Napoleonic complex ridden Georgia fans (who, on a side note, I would like to point out hold onto the past more than any other fan base in the country- Everyone is sick of hearing about Hershall Walker!!) barking "S-E-C" instead of "Bulldogs", I then noticed many fans wearing LSU and even Florida gear join in with the Georgia fans in cheering for the conference.

Maybe I am just a little slow or am I missing something because I don't understand spending an entire year hating a team and then cheering for everyone in the conference, including hated rivals, if they do well in a bowl game. For example, just seeing the colours purple and gold gives me intense nausea because I hate LSU- so, why would I cheer for them at all? Is it supposed to make me feel better if the Tigers beat a MAC or Big East team like UCONN in a bowl; no- it pisses me off because I never want anyone wearing purple and gold to have the smallest shread of happiness. Also, what is the purpose in general? Do these people think Hawaii heard "S-E-C" and felt like they didn't belong; or that Michael Jordan and James Worthy would have won another title if the Dean Dome erupted with "A-C-C" every time His Royal Airness posterized someone (which will never happen by the way!)? Or- the unthinkable- Duke fans cheering for Carolina after the Blue Devils make their yearly 2nd round exit in March???

My next thought was: is this a new sickening trend or something I have missed over the past several years. Maybe it is a new trend; and thus, next year we will all be serenaded with an "A.L. east!" chant in Fenway Park when the scoreboard shows the Orioles are beating the A's. Or perphaps, I will see someone streaking through the pitch at Le Parc des Princes á Paris holding a "Ligue 1" sign during a Champions League match between PSG and AC Milan next year (of course that is making the long shot assumption PSG ever gets back into the Champions League but right now Ligue 2 seems more likely...) . I guess only time will tell...

Till next time,
MN

O brother how I love thee.... (How does the Soap-Opera that is the English National Team rank among teammate feuds)???

2010-02-25T20:18:00.079-06:00

Hello all,

To start this week I wanna give big ups to myself for taking advantage of the 9-5 odds that my online sportsbook was offering that Tiger's wife Elin would not be with him during his horribly scripted and insincere press conference last Friday. It's amazing to me the prop bets that sportsbooks come up with, especially in football off-season; for example during Tiger's press conference, the odds of him announcing a divorce was 100-1, 1000-1 that he had multiple other kids, 5000-1 that he was going to become an adult film star and 10000-1 that he was going to quit golf. But, I gotta say I like being able to have a reason to watch certain things- because that was about the only good thing I saw on Friday... Speaking of the press conference, I thought it was the most pathetic attempt at buying public sympathy I've seen since A-Rod tried (and failed) to fake-cry when apologizing for lying about being on steroids last year. I honestly can't believe with the army of PR people Tiger employs, he couldn't come up with anything that at least appeared more genuine than the generic "I'm sorry for my transgressions" and telling the public we don't understand the pressures and opportunities that come with being a world-class athlete. I was honestly expecting at least a sit down, unscripted and heart-felt apology; but that's not what we got and I don't blame his wife (or soon to be ex) for not showing up to see that ridiculous waste of time. But before we leave the topic of Tiger, one of my buddies forwarded me his daily workout routine the other day; and I now understand why the guy looks more like Ronnie Lott in his prime than the other professional golfers. Check this out.

6:30 a.m. - One hour of cardio. Choice between endurance runs, sprints or biking. Typical run is a choice between a 3 mile speed run (under 20 minutes) or a 7 mile endurance run.

7:30 a.m. - One hour of lower weight training. 60-70 percent of normal lifting weight, high reps and multiple sets.

8:30 a.m. - High protein/low-fat breakfast. Typically includes egg-white omelet with vegetables.

9:00 a.m. - Two hours on the golf course. Hit on the range and work on swing.

11:00 a.m. - Practice putting for 30 minutes to an hour.

Noon - Play nine holes.

1:30 p.m. - High protein/low-fat lunch. Typically includes grilled chicken or fish, salad and vegetables.

2:00 p.m. - Three-to-four hours on the golf course. Work on swing, short game and occasionally play another nine holes.

6:30 p.m. - 30 minutes of upper weight training. High reps.

7:00 p.m. - Dinner and rest.

I can't imagine there is anyone else who works half as hard on this on tour; which is why he is so dominant. Almost makes you wonder how he has time for these "indescretions..."

So, I've been trying to keep up with the amazing drama that is the England National football team; and, I gotta tell you- I think this is as good as it gets. So, in case you haven't been following the action: Chelsea centre back and Team Captain John Terry (who is also infamous for missing a penalty kick in the shootout to lose the UEFA championship 2 years ago...) was recently exposed by the tabloids (after a losing a court battle for a gag order) for having an affair with former Chelsea (and current English national) teammate Wayne Bridge's partner which apparently started when the Bridge still played for Chelsea. Terry, who is a married father of twins and ironically was just named "England's husband and father of the year in 2009" by the London Sports Tribune, was set to wear the captain's armband at the world cup later this year in South Africa. After hearing the news and Bridge's threats to quit if Terry remained captain, English manager Fabio Capello stripped Terry of captain's band. Then, last week during the Manchester City (who Bridge currently plays for) vs. Chelsea match- Bridge twice refused to shake Terry's hand and was seen mouthing obsenities towards him; and took a cheapshot at Terry in the second half. Yesterday, Bridge resigned from the English team stating he "couldn't bring himself to suit up with that piece of sh*t" and didn't want to divide the locker room. To me, this is priceless; but is it the best feud between teammates of all time?? Before you vote, here are a couple others to keep in mind....

Shaq vs. Kobe

These two never got along with the issue coming down to one simple issue: Whose team is it/Who would get the ball more? For the first two years tensions were kept in check but in the 1999 season Kobe and Shaq get into a brief fight at pratice at training camp before the 1999 season, Shaq then complaining about Kobe's shot selection in the 1999 season (of course saying "#8" because he refused to call the Mamba by name), then the two ripping each other constantly in the media, and a report about the New York Times emerging that Shaq had given other Lakers hand signals on when not to give Kobe the ball. Then, Kobe famously took the high road by refusing to shoot the next game against the Kings even when wide open- and then asked Shaq through the LA Times if he was happy with his shot selection that game. Then, even after he was traded and the feud was supposedly over, Shaq picked the mic back up and got his police badge repo'd for this freestyle verse at a NYC club (well worth watching- and probably Shaq's strongest work as a MC)...

Barry Bonds vs. Jeff Kent

In June 2002, as the Giants headed toward the World Series, Bonds and Kent, who had a long-running "behind-the-scenes" feud (that everyone knew about), finally went public, as their brawl in the Giants dugout was caught on video (doesn't it just look like the definition of team unity...). "Just add that to the half a dozen times we've done it before. It's no big deal," Kent said. No big deal except for of course the greatest offensive second baseman of all time demanding to be released or traded immediately afterwards. Neither one happened and Kent was forced to play the rest of the season with Barry (though reportedly did not say a word to him and used Benito Santiago as a messenger between the two, even in the world series that year). Kent then signed with the Astros as a free agent after the 2002 season ended and left as one of the apparently many teammates who are Barry Bonds fans...

Don Sutton vs. Steve Garvey
Sutton and Garvey shared the Dodger clubhouse between 1969 and 1980, and even had lockers next to each other, but they weren't exaclty as close as Lloyd and Harry. Their feud came to its peak during the 1978 season. Sutton, in a Washington Post article, was quoted as saying, "All you hear about on our team is Steve Garvey the All-American boy. But Reggie Smith was the real MVP. We all know it ... Smith has carried us the last two years. Garvey's just a washed up facade that for some reason everyone outside this locker room likes."
This (quite understandably) irked Garvey, who confronted Sutton, demanding to know if the quotes were accurate. Sutton said they were. Then, according to wire reports, "Suddenly Sutton leaped at Garvey and flung him against a row of lockers along the opposite wall. The two players went down heavily and were clawing at one another, trying ineffectively to land punches."
When the two were finally separated, Garvey, cut and scratched on the face, was dazed. Sutton had a bruised cheek. Garvey apparently wasn't well-liked by many Dodgers, and it seems as Sutton had some clubhouse foes, too. According to my man Tommy John (who should be in the hall of fame next to Dr. James R Andrews), during the brawl someone yelled, "Stop the fight, they'll kill each other!" Catcher Joe Ferguson's response: "Good."

Kevin Garnett vs. Glen "Big Baby" Davis
Didn't evolve to a long term feud but who can forget watching "Big Baby" pout and cry like a normal sized baby after getting yelled at by KG??? Youtube video here.

My vote: While I have a little bit of a lean towards pulling a Mike Wilbon and pushing; I'm gonna take my man KG and "Big Baby's" spat. I know the other feuds were probably more serious, lasted longer and had much greater ramifications (the C's won the title that year); but, KG made a 6'8" 325lbs dude weep in the middle of the garden on national TV. Beat that...

So, Clapton has been rocking it and getting great reviews on his current tour and has several stops left...

As always, please be sure to check the "near you" tab on our homepage, www.roosterfly.com, for a tickets to concerts, shows and sporting events in your area...

Till Next week,

5 Reasons Terrific Tom (Brady) is better than Peyton Manning...

2010-02-10T19:50:00.006-06:00

Hello all,

To start this week, I wanna give big ups to arguably the best American footballer in the world, Landon Donovan, for an unbelievable-Beckham like corner setting up Louis Saha for an easy header and leading Everton to their first win over Chelsea in 17 years. The former high school gymnast has been pretty good so far in England, with 2 assists and a goal in his first 5 games for Everton, and looks as if he may finally breakthrough on a non-MLS stage. To me, Donovan's 3 previous disasterous stints in the German Bundesliga (with the first being so bad he was loaned back to the MLS) were confounding because the guy has always been very good on the international stage- he won the best young player in the 2002 World Cup, scored several goals in the 2000 Olympics, and has 42 goals in just 120 caps with the US team. Who knows, maybe he's more comfortable in England than in Deutchland, maybe he's just gotten better, maybe he's come to the realization that the MLS is a joke and he has to get out, or maybe his time with rival teamate David Beckham has done him some good; but, whatever the reason is, it's good to see the guy look like he's gonna step up in one of the world's best leagues.

So, the Super Bowl was a few days ago, and congrats to Drew Brees, the New Orleans Saints, and all of the "Who Dat?" nation for the first Super Bowl win in the history of the franchise. Great game to watch, much like the past 2 Superbowls. Not many people expected the Saints to win: 13/15 analyst picked the Colts, Vegas had the Colts by 5.5 and seemingly every Tweet I read pregame gave the Saints no chance. I thought the Colts were gonna run away with it when the claimed a 1st quarter 10-0 lead, and again when Sean Payton made a Les-Miles by not kicking the FG just before the half; but the Saints played great, dominated the 2nd half, and were up by 7 late when the Colts last-ditch drive was thwarted by a legacy-changing 74-yard pick-6 thrown by Peyton Manning with 3:14 left, clinching the game for the Saints. To me, that play ended the debate about who the best QB of the generation has been between Peyton and Tom and here's 5 reasons why...

#5) Unlike Peyton, Tom actually has gone 16-0.

As my man, the Great Herm Edwards said, "The greatest thing about sports is you play to win the game!" You play to win the game- not to rest players, not to get in reps, but to win! Which is exactly what Tom Brady did all 16 times the Patriots took the field in 2007. Now, I know alot of people have said it's Jim Caldwell's fault for resting his starters the last week and a half of the the season; but the bottom line is- "might have" is much different than "did". If Peyton had played the last 2 weeks of this season, they might have gone undefeated, they might not have- they had to play the Jets in week 17 who were far from a walkover. Tom DID go undefeated, and I know the Patriots lost the superbowl but don't underestimate the accomplishment of an undefeated season; no one had gone undefeated since 1973 and Michael Irvin (not someone I'm exaclty proud of referencing but...) said he would trade all 3 of his rings for one undefeated season. Well, Tom has his, and 3 rings to go with it...

#4) Don't Forget- Tom broke all of Peyton's records the year before he hurt his knee.
Tom was clearly not himself (like many people aren't their first year back from major knee surgery) this year. But, the last time we saw Tom healthy was 2007, when he had the best year in the history of NFL QBs and broke the TD record Peyton previously set. Let's compare Tom's 2007 with the best year of Peyton's career (2004). Notice that Tom threw for more yards, more touchdowns, a higher completion percentage, and fewer interceptions.

YEAR    Player         G     CMP     ATT     PCT     YDS     AVG     TD    INT
2007    Brady             16     398       578     68.9     4806       8.3         50     8
2004    Manning        16     336       497     67.6     4557       9.2         49       10

#3) Tom has consistantly done more with less...
While Peyton has made a living throwing to perenial pro-bowlers such as Marvin Harrisson, Reggie Wayne and Dallas Clark; until getting Randy Moss and Wes Welker in 2007, Tom won 3 Super Bowls and went to 5 Pro Bowls throwing to Patrick Pass, Troy Brown, Reche Caldwell and David Graham...

#2) The Colts are turning into the Atlanta Braves... and the obvious: Tom-3, Peyton-1

The regular season is great, but, the bottom line is greatness has been and always will be defined by championships and performance in the clutch. It's not that we don't care about the regular season, but the playoffs is different, the intensity is higher, the stakes are greater, and it's where legends are either broken or made. If the regular season and playoffs were weighed equally in the court of public opinion, A-Rod would be far and more reveared than teammate Derek Jeter- but I dare you to find any New Yorker who would agree with that. And, let's look at the Atlanta Braves. The Braves won 13 divisional titles in a row but only 1 world series (in 1995), so despite making the playoffs 7/9 years in the 90s (yes there 9, not 10 because of the strike), the team of the 90s was the Toronto Blue Jays who made the playoffs only twice!! but won the world series both times. The Colts are seemingly becoming THAT team- always guaranteed for 10-12 wins in the regular season and a #1 or #2 seed, but also guaranteed never to win it all again... As far as individuals go- the bottom line is that no matter what people have done in the regular season, our biggest sports heros have won MULTIPLE titles. Do you think of Reggie Jackson as a legend and call him "Mr. October" for his 563 regular season homeruns, or for his 5 World Series Rings and 3 World Series MVP awards? Do you remmember Bill Russell as the first player to average 20 rebounds for a entire season, or for winning 11 NBA titles? Does anyone think Dan Mariono is better than John Elway or Joe Montana despite having way better stats? Would Scottie Pippen have been named one of the NBA's 50 greatest players without having too many rings to wear on one hand?? If he wasn't ahead 4-1 ring wise would anyone think Derek Jeter is better than Chipper Jones?? Would Mike be the greatest ever without 6 rings and too many big shots to count?? No. And what is Mike most remmembered for?? Making shots that I'm sure is still giving Byron Russel, Craig Ehlo, Larry Bird, Dan Marley and Clyde Drexler nightmares and for keeping Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, John Stockton and Sean Kemp ring-less...

#1) Tom steps up in big games, Peyton CHOKED when he had his chance...

With a chance to tie the game late in the fourth quarter (3:14 to go) in the Superbowl on Sunday, Peyton Manning made one of the worst throws I've ever seen which was returned 74 yards for the game-icing touchdown by Tracy Porter. But, Peyton has NEVER been more than an average player in the playoffs- his career playoff record is a very mediocre 9-8 and his QB rating is 87 (compared to a career 95 in the regular season). Brady on the other hand has a staggering 14-4 career playoff record (including 3-1 against Peyton) with a QB rating of 99.8 (up from his career 94 in the regular season). Tom has won 2 Superbowl MVPs, and directed 2 4th quarter super bowl winning drives (the 85 yarder in 03 against the Rams, and the 54 yarder the following year against the Panthers), not to mention the numerous heroics in other playoff games (the drive in the snow to bury the Raiders) to get there. Now, I know some people may be thinking- didn't Tom lose his last trip to the Superbowl? Yes, but there was a big difference. Brady directed a 89 yard drive and hit Randy Moss to put the Patriots ahead 14-10 with 2:31 left in the game- and lost on an Asante Samuels interception drop combined with either the best or luckiest catch of all time (depending on who you go for) by David Tyree. What did Peyton do when he had one chance to bring his team back on Super Sunday? Pick 6 and game over....

As always, be sure to check the "near you" tab on our homepage, www.roosterfly.com, for a list of sporting events and shows near you...

Till next week,
MN

Are the Saints America's Team???

2010-01-26T10:45:00.021-06:00

Hello all,

First, I wanna give big ups to my man Andy Roddick for as gutsy as a performance as I've ever seen in his match against Marin Cilic last night. I know he lost in 5, (6-7 (4), 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 3-6), but I actually stayed up and watched it in its entirety last night; and can't believe how much toughness A-Rod showed battling through a painful shoulder injury that left most his right side numb. The man has guts, that's for sure- the trainer worked on him twice, once in the locker room where Roddick asked if he could suffer a career threatening injury if he kept playing- when the trainer said "probably not", Roddick's response was "game on" and ran back to the court (in contrast to Nadal- who I love but was getting smoked and withdrew). Now, I know the great Herm Edwards would not condone me giving props to someone in a losing effort- but A-Rod couldn't even feel 3 of the fingers on his hand! 3- and he almost won!! and Roddick clearly wasn't himself all night, his normally massive first serve was coming in in the 110s (about 20-25mph slower than normal), and his second serve was registering in the double digits; but boy did he fight and almost pull it out. The third and fourth sets were a showcase of his new conditioning regiment- he got to balls and glided accross the court like Federer, showed great touch at the net and was a point away from winning the 4th set 6-0. His shoulder clearly gave out in the 5th as his serve slowed down a bit more, and his ground strokes lost pace; but he never complained and kept fighting until the last point. I think he may actually benefit from this in the long run; because his shoulder kept him from hitting with lots of spin, he flattened out his groundstrokes considerably during the 3rd and 4th sets- and looked as good from the baseline as he's looked since his US Open win in '03. Too bad, it came on the night his best weapon (serve) was taken from him due to an injury. But, if he gets healthy, and can combine the form he showed from the baseline with his normally dominate serve, look for Andy to shed the "one and done major winner" lable later this summer....

I watched the amazingly sloppy but entertaining Saints-Vikings battle from a bar in Telluride, Colorado on Sunday; and was amazed at how many "Who Dat?" chants I heard from the locals at the packed Brown Dog Pizza and Pub. As far as the game is concerned, it's hard to believe the Vikings were even in the game considering the turnover difference (5-1). A couple quick thoughts from a Patriots fan with no dog in this fight- I agree with the New York Times and want to give no respect to the referee Pete Morelli and his entire crew for making a mockery of the NFL rulebook and doing the worst job of any NFL crew since Ed Hochuli famously blew the Broncos-Chargers game in '08 (but at least Ed aplogized). As I've said before, I'm sick of watching refs takeover games; and it certainly looked like Pete Morelli was trying to win the MVP trophy. In overtime alone, they blew all 3 instant replay calls- (which can be seen here), including 2 bad spots, refusing to overule a completed pass which was clearly on the ground (after watching it, how is this even possible to miss???) and called a Arkansas-Florida like phantom pass interference to put the Saints in FG range; but, to me, the worst call of the day was the non-roughing the passer after Bobby McCray and Remi Ayodele teamed to make one of the biggest high-low cheap shots you'll ever see on Favre- which should have negated an intereception. 3 plays prior, Morelli correctly called a roughing the passer when Anthony Hargrove picked Favre up and drove him into the ground and apparently the boos really got to him because he swallowed his whistle on a clear cheap shot which left Favre hobbling (by the way, even if you don't like Favre- is there anyone who tougher than that guy??). Now, I know nobody likes to get boo'd, and Morelli may have feared for his post-game safety since after all the game was in New Orleans; but, his job is exclusively to watch the quarterback, and while everyone may not agree with the "Brady rule", it's there to keep a vulnerable player from getting hurt on a cheapshot (remmember a "chop block" is a personal foul too...), and a NFL ref is paid over $250,000 a year to have enough courage to make an obvious call that happened right in front of his face. I'm not saying the Saints wouldn't have won without these calls; what I am saying is that horrific officiating once again played a big role and takes the focus away from the action on the field; and puts a black eye on one of the most entertaining playoff games in recent memory. Secondly, I know the game was in the state of Louisiana, but I wasn't aware Brad Childress let Les Miles be the guest head coach of the Vikings for the final couple of minutes of the game. I know Favre will be dogged for a long time for throwing the interception, but it would have never happened had Childress not sent 12 men to the hudle (out of a timeout!!!) taking the Viks out of FG range (Longwell told the coaches before the game his max was 53 yeards, the penalty made it 56). Good job Brad... So, I can assume by the "Who Dats?" being vorciferated by Colorado natives that the Saints have taken over the Cowboys spot as "America's Team", which considering what that city has gone through is great to see. Remmeber, it was less than 5 years ago, that the Superdome was being used as a relief shelter for storm victims and New Orleans was under water. Since then, the Saints have served as a source of pride and helped unite the city; which makes them so easy to root for (great piece by Wright Thompson here). New Orleans is a great city, one of my absolute most favourite places, and it's great to see how strong it's come back in such a short time after such a terrible natural disaster. Also, big ups to Sean Payton for an amaing coaching job during his four year tenure in the Big Easy. Although, I have to admit, even though I'm not a fan of the "Who Dat?" chant, at least it's not as bad as hearing "S-E-C!". This year's superbowl should be an offensive explosion, matching up 2 of the best QBs in the game- check here if you're thinking about making the trek to Miami.

I wanna give big ups to one of my all-time favourite bands (and the band of the decade in my opinion) Radiohead for performing an amazing show at the Henry Ford Theatre in LA Sunday night to raise money for Haiti. All revenue from the concert goes directly to the Haiti relief fund and they were able to raise about $600,000 in a 2-hour show at a very small venue on short notice. Tickets sold for around $4,000 per pair, and the band rewarded the crowd with an amazing set-list and even took song requests. Great performance for a great cause and check out this monumental set-list:
“Faust Arp”
“Fake Plastic Trees”
“Weird Fishes/Arpeggi”
“The National Anthem”
“Nude”
“Karma Police”
“Kid A”
“Morning Bell”
“How To Disappear Completely”
“A Wolf at the Door”
“The Bends”
“Reckoner”
“Lucky”
“Bodysnatchers”
“Dollars & Cents”
“Airbag”
“Exit Music”
“Everything In Its Right Place”
“You And Whose Army?”
“Pyramid Song”
“All I Need”
“Lotus Flower”
“Paranoid Android”
“Street Spirit (Fade Out)”
Wow! I definately think they should raise some more money by selling live copies of this show- I would definately buy one...

Jay-Z's tour has been getting amazing reviews and he's still going. Upcoming dates and tickets can be found here...

As always, please post any good upcoming shows or events coming up and be sure to check the "near you" tab on our homepage, www.roosterfly.com, for a list of events in your area...

Till next week,
MN

Bama knocks out McCoy early and hangs on late to win 13th title!!

2010-01-08T17:17:00.004-06:00

Hello All,

Before getting into the game, I want to give big ups to Colt McCoy for having one of the classiest post-game interviews I have ever heard. Especially when you factor in the dissapointment he must have been going through. It takes a lot congratulate the other team and not complain or show any bitterness after having to sit out the game he had been preparing for his whole life; and I really gained a lot of respect for him last night. I, along with hopefully every other college football fan watching the game, was sad to see Colt go down. Like the Patriots without Brady, or the Bengals without Palmer; watching a team play without its best player in their biggest game, especially when you're talking about college football's all-time winningest QB, is not the way it's supposed to be.

I thought last night was a great game (with the exception of the McCoy injury) and featured a little bit of everything: great coaching moves, horrible coaching moves, great defense, great (or horrible dpending on your allegiance) special teams play and some explosive offensive plays. I don't think anyone could have precicted the way last night's game turned out; except for who won (as nearly 76% of ESPN.com voters picked Alabama to win). After Marcell Daries knocked Colt McCoy out of the game on Texas' 5th offensive play, they obviously lost a lot of fire power on offense. However, I do wanna say I thought Garret Gilbert stepped in and did a much better job then his 15-40, 4INT stats reflect. The Texas receivers did NOT help Gilbert out at all. Malcolm Williams had 2 huge drops- the 2nd quarter one in the endzone which was particularly crucial because Gilbert's next pass was intercepted by Javier Arenas and led to a Bama TD. Even the reliable Jordan Shipley had several drops, including one right through his hands on a wide open skinny post in the 3rd quarter. Gilbert definately had a miserable 1st half (1-10 and 2INTs); but I thought he looked pretty good in the 2nd half and made some great throws to get his team back in the game. It's not like he is a walk-on, he was the Gatorade High School Player of the Year last season; and by his second half, I think Texas is in pretty damn good shape at QB for the next couple of years.

Mack Brown will, (very deservingly so), be criticized for a long time for calling a shovel pass from his own 37 with 13 seconds to go in the 1st half which was bobbled, interecepted and returned for a TD by Marcell Dareus. Before piling on ole Mack, was anyone else amazingly impressed with Dareus' return which included a Reggie Bush like spin move from a 296 pound dude?? But the real question, is was Les Miles on the other end of Mack Brown's headset and calling the plays???? With 13 seconds left, the most you can realistically hope for is 2 plays and with a true freshman QB who is 1-9 for -4 yards and the ball on your own 37, what are you really going to accomplish there?? Nothing good, that's for sure and that play gave Bama a 24-6 halftime lead and many people thought the game was over at that point. It's not playstation Mack, it's real football- and you may have just one-upped my man Les. But, this seems to be an ongoing trend by Mack; if you remmember, Mack's awful Miles-against-Ole-Miss-like clock management against Nebraska in the big-12 title game almost cost his team a shot to even be in the game. Maybe the two have become friends; if so and this continues, ole Will Muschamp is gonna get the big raise a whole lot sooner than expected....

God, did anyone else think Alabama's second half performance looked more like Jean van de Veld's 18th hole at Carnoustie in 1999- (with the exception, of course, that Bama made a double bogie instead of the triple bogie van de Veld did and WON the game) then the team that dominated Florida in the SEC championship last month?? I thought 'Bama's play calling was very Shula-like in the second half- and it's clear they were OK to punt every possession. Gregg McElroy was terrible last night, constantly looking confused, unable to get rid of the ball (5 sacks) and unable to find Julio "the Beast" Jones or Collin Peek all night. However, as Jay Barked proved by going a miserable 4-13 for 18 yards and 2INTs in 1992, if you can rush the ball, you can win. And did Bama do that last night. Against a defense that came in as the #1 ranked rushing defense in the country, Bama was the first team in BCS bowl history to have two 100 yard rushers (Richardson 19 carries for 109 and Ingram who had 22 carries for 116; both had 2 TDs). Texas' D definately didn't look like the best rush defense in the country, but I guess it's easier to get that statistic when you play a horrible schedule (including dropping Arkansas and adding Wyoming). And, the time-honoured Alabama blueprint is: run the ball and play defense- which they did and brought home their 13th title.

Game Changing Plays: Other than the most obvious (Dareus' pick-6 before halftime), several stand out to me. With Texas up 3-0 in the first quarter and having 1st and goal at the 1, they were flagged for illegal procedure for having 5 guys in the backfield. This (combined with a Bama late hit) brought the ball out to the 4 and Alabama's D made a great stand and kept it a 1-score game, only to take a 7-6 lead at the beginning of the second quarter. Eryk Anders got a clean run at Gilbert with 3 minutes to go and a 3-point lead, forcing a sack, fumble and setting up the game icing TD.

Quote of the night: "I could have moonwalked backwards and scored through that hole"- JS after Mark Ingram scored his first TD running through a hole reminiscent of the parting of the red sea; were the Horns defenders that scared of getting hit by Cody??

Biggest Suprise of the Night: How bad the Bama special teams were (or how good the Horns special teams were, depending on your point of view). Bama had 3 huge Gaffes; the fake punt call (which Texas actually lost 15 yards of field position by interecepting instead of dropping), Smelly getting drilled by a kickoff (does anyone know if that was intentional by the kicker??) and the pooch kick that Julio let bounce in front of him. To overcome the McCoy injury, Texas needed some crazy things to happen- and they got their chances.

Player of the Game: I'm gotta go with 3: Trent Richardson, Mark Ingram and Marcell Dareus. It's good to see someone other than Matt Leinart escape the Heisman jinx in a BCS game. Richardson and Ingram were great all night; and it's pretty scary for a defense when the Heisman's backup may be better then he is... You definately can't take any plays off.

Biggest Dissapointment of the Night: Hearing the fans chanting "S-E-C, S-E-C!" after the Tide won. As I've stated before, I hate the SEC chant. But it is a new year and maybe this is the year I'll start seeing Duke fans cheering for Carolina or after they make their annual 2nd round exit or MJ holding an ACC sign from his courtside seat at the Dean Dome...

My favourite moment of the night: How pissed Nick Saban looked after being hit in the face with the cooler and showered in Gatorade. I loved Brent's description as "too physical". The two dudes that got him were Eryk Anders and Chris Rogers. Fortunately for Anders- he had just forced the game clinching fumble several minutes before; but, what are the cances of Rogers seeing any pt next year??

One final note: I just wanna give big ups to what an amazing job Nick Saban has done at Alabama. The year before he arrived they were 6-7 and had not one a game in which they were trailing in the 4th quarter in 6 years. In his second year, he took a 12-0 team into the SEC championship and now this in only his 3rd year. He is clearly the best coach in the country; he recruits well, his gameplanning is generally flawless (except the special teams tonight), his players are disciplined and improve during their time with him. I can see why LSU fans are still so bitter they lost him...

Till next week,
MN

Can Texas Upset Alabama in Tomorrow's BCS Title Game???

2010-01-06T18:16:00.008-06:00

Well college football fans the big game is finally here, the grandaddy of them all (God, does anyone else wish Keith Jackson would come out of retirememnt once a year for this game???)! SEC champ Alabama will take on Big-12 Champ Texas tomorrow night in the Rose Bowl to decide this year's title. Both these teams were close to making this stage last year; as you remmember, Alabama went into the SEC championship game ranked #1, but lost a 4th quarter lead to a Gator team they rebounded to pound this year in the SEC title game (badly enough to make Florida's leader weep). Alabama has been a very consistant team all year, and with the exceptions of the near debacle against Tennessee and a poor first half in Auburn, has looked like the hands down #1 team in the land.

As for the University of Texas, they started the season ranked high, played what has to be one of the weakest schedules in the country, and needed either luck or help (depending on which angle you take) to beat a 3 loss Nebraska team in the Big-12 final. Before the rest of the BCS games, some would say TCU or Cincinnati should have snuck into the #2 spot because of how weak Texas' schedule was, which is a valid point. Their only legitimate games were against a Bradford-less Oklahoma team, a Bryant-less (and mediocre even with him) Oklahoma State team, and of course the Nebraska game when they won 13-12. But, after watching the other bowl games, who else could have been put #2?? TCU proved to be a dud, and Boise's equally bad schedule (except Oregon) which included near losses to Tulsa and La-Tech knocked them out of the mix. While the Longhorns haven't faced anyone like the Crimson Tide, DO NOT underrate them. They have NFL talent all over the field, and might have mauled anyone in the country (but hey, with Mack making the schedule, we'll never know...- I mean he decided to cancel their border rivalry game against Arkansas and replace them with Wyoming for God's sake...).

This game will feature two of the best offensive players: Heisman trophy winner Mark Ingram from Alabama and QB Colt McCoy who was 3rd in the voting; as well as two of the best defensive players in the country: Lambert and Dick Butkus award winner Rolando McClain of Alabama and all-american Earl Thomas of Texas. The player with the most to prove is definately Colt McCoy- can he do anything on a big stage after his 3INT egg he laid on the national stage against Nebraska?? And can Texas protect him?? This is certainly a question mark after Nebraska DL Ndamukong Suh erupted for 3.5 sacks in the Big-12 title game. Suh is an unbelievable player and probably a top 3 draft pick- but remmember he only had 6.5 sacks in the other 12 games! Alabama DL "Mount" Cody is also considered a future NFL player, so it will be interesting to see if the Texas OL can do a better job of giving Colt some time... The player who may make the biggest difference: Alabama freshman RB Trent Richardson- who looks as if he may be BETTER than the Heisman trophy winner Ingram (yes, I said it!), and the Tide certainly don't lose anything when he gives Ingram a rest. Other questions- Will Texas double the explosive Bama WR Julio Jones. If Dez Bryant had not been ineligable for their game against Oklahoma State earlier, we may have gotten to preview their gameplan (but hey, I guess he didn't know it was illegal to sign with an agent....). Doubling Jones will certainly take Texas SS Earl Thomas, who is one of the best and biggest hitting safeties in the country, out of run support- where he excels and could open more holes for Ingram and Richardson... Also, how will McElroy play for the Tide, will he be the same dominate QB he was vs Florida??

As far as the coaching, it's hard not to give the edge to Nick Saban on this one. As a Carolina guy, I still hate Mack Brown. But objectively, since arriving in Tuscaloosa 3 years ago, Saban has worked wonders.

Another interesting tidbit. The SEC and Big 12-both have 16 National Championships. Whoever wins this game will ultimately be known as the best conference in the history of college football- at least until next year.....

Key players

TEXAS
QB- Colt McCoy (3,512 Yards, 27 Touchdowns, 147.46 QB Rating)
WR- Jordan Shipley (106 Receptions,1,363 Yards,11Touchdowns)
SS- Earl Thomas (128 Tackles, 5 Forced Fumbles,10 Interceptions)

ALABAMA
RB- Mark Ingram (249 Attempts, 1,542 Yards,15 Touchdowns)
LB- Rolando McClain (101 Tackles, 10.5 TFL, 4 sacks)
WR- Julio Jones (42 Receptions, 573 Yards, 4 Touchdowns)
DT- Terrence Cody (20 Tackles, 5 TFL, 1 Pass Breakup)

My predicition:
Texas 10, Alabama 23. Bama's explosive rushing attach and great defense force Texas into a predictable, one-demensional come from behind offense early, which if you ask Tim Tebow is no way to beat the Tide....

And the Song of the Decade Is.....

2009-12-15T17:23:00.013-06:00

Hello all,

So, I got my Rolling Stone's Decades Issue last week which named their list of best songs, albums, artists and films of the decades. Now, to me, Rolling Stone completely lost their credibility when they put Jonas Brothers on the cover in March, but my subscription doesn't end until January so I gave it a flip through... Here's some of my thoughts on their and my picks...

Song of the Decade: Rolling Stone’s Choice- Crazy by Gnarls Barkley.
First reaction: You’ve got to be f-ing kidding me. So bad Rolling Stone has lost its credibility, and whoever approved this going into print should be publically scorned and job-hunting. I mean, seriously- is there anyone who likes this song?? I can't remmember anyone liking it back then, more or less down the road- and the song of a decade is supposed to be a classic....
While, unfortunately, we were forced to listen to this in bars and clubs wayy to much in 2006, I have a hard time putting Cee-Lo as the face of the decade. This song had no lyrics, an annoying hook and only 3 years later, this song is quickly greeted by changing the station when comes on. This song was popular and all, but unfortunately so was DJ Sammy’s trashpiece Heaven; which clearly shows popularity does NOT make something a classic.
Other questionable mentions on their list: 99 Problems by Jay-Z as #2 (Jay-Z is cool and all but seriously? This is an instant next button push on the CD player), Paper Planes by M.I.A. at #5 (God- our kids are gonna feel sorry for us when they see this list some day…), and Justin Timberlake Cry Me A River at #20 (No comment needed…)
My top 5 songs of the decade:
#5- MGMT- Time to Pretend (2006). Reminded me of a combination of Jim Morrison’s passion and the Flaming Lips’ artistry the first time I heard it. Epic music video.
#4- Daft Punk- One More Time (2001). Completely transformed music by making house/techno music into a mainstream genre (but unfortunately paving the way for DJ Sammy's Heaven to be played non-stop...) . Not my favourite Daft Punk song (Digital Love) or probably not even top-10 but everyone in the world knows this song.

#3- The Killers- All These Things I’ve Done (2004). "I've got soul but I'm not a soldier"... Stayed on the charts for the better half of a year, has a great music video and even a rapper has been quoted as saying it’s his favourite song of all-time.
#2- 50 cent- In Da Club (2003). If you missed this one, odds are you spent the entire decade on the International Space Station- but even in that case- you still would have still heard it. Can anyone forget the hype behind 50 after this was leaked…
#1- Outkast- Hey Ya! (2005) kids will still be singing “Shake it like a Polaroid Picture” years after Polaroid factories shut it down permanently and I just heard Mike Wilbon ask Tony "What's cooler than being cool?? Ice Cold!" today… ‘nough said. And don't forget about the epic music video....

Album of the Decade: Rolling Stone’s Choice- Kid A by Radiohead.
First Reaction: Agree Completely.

Radiohead’s fourth album, while differing greatly from their previous release OK Computer, proved to be the their breakthrough album in the United States. They were bolder: throwing conventional song structure out the window and focusing more on sound and texture. The sound diversity in this album is superb: ranging from rhythmic keyboards on “Everything in its right place” to acoustic guitars layered with an atonal string section in “How to Disappear Completely”. The greatest part of Radiohead- they weren’t one and done either- releasing the smashing In Rainbows in 2007 (#30 on Rolling Stone’s list) and Amnesiac only a year after Kid A (#25 of the list).
Questionble mentions: Bruce Springsteen’s Magic (#24)- everything he does (if, in fact, anything he does) isn’t good- and just because this CD is laced with popular political opinions, doesn’t mask the redundant chords, lack of texture and questionable vocals.
Outkast’s Speakerboxxx (#34)- not even their best album.
The rest of my top 5:
#5- Kanye West- The College Dropout- Best Rap CD of the decade. His debut album which combined amazing production, deep lyrics and huge guest appearances to put out the hits “Jesus Walks”, “Slow Jamz”, “School Spirit”, “Never Let me down”, and “Family Business”. Kanye changed his title from a producer trying to rap to a lyricist who also can produce and joined the RZA as the best in the game.

#4- The Flaming Lips- Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots- Combines lethal machines, conceptual anthems, Pink Floyd-esque preogressive rock and Neil Young-like passion in talking about everything from killer robots, death and a gutsy heroine. The Lips have been big in the underground/Indy scene since the ‘80s and it’s good to see them finally get their due.
#3- The Killers- Hot Fuss (2004). The boys from Vegas ruffled alot of feathers before their first release by saying they wanna "knock zeppelin and nirvana off their pedestals" but this album is a classic- spurning 5 singles, 3 chart topers and a 2 VMA awards.
#2- Coldplay- A Rush of Blood to the Head (2002). Their sophmore album actually did what no one thought possible and one-upped parachutes. What a work of genious and diversity, moving from the cathartic rock of "Politik" to the hushed tones of "Green Eyes". Classic

Rapper of the Decade: Rolling Stone’s Choice- Kanye West
First Reaction: Agree 110%
I know Kanye would’ve gotten a lot more votes from the public had this poll be conducted before the VMAs. But, this guy brings it. He released 3 chart toping albums this decade- College Dropout, Late Registration and Graduation while producing all of Jay-Zs albums and making numerous guest

appearances. He has joined the RZA and Dr. Dre as rappers who can produce; and his lyrics are meaningful stories, not just rhymes that merely make sense. I know a lot of people wanna see Jay-Z here after his amazingly popular The Blueprint 3 release and I know Jay-Z has great production (Kanye by the way) and hooks; but take a listen to the lyrics of Jay-Zs Empire State of Mind and compare them to Kanye's Everything I Am.... And if he has Sir Paul's approval, he has mine....

Artist of the Decade: Bruce Springsteen "Working Class Superhero"
First Reaction: This has gotta be a f-ing joke.
OK, I know the guy made an American epic when "Born in The U.S.A.", his anti-Vietnam song, was shockingly misunderstood by Richard Nixon and used as his campaign song, but this guy has to be the most overated artist ever. Bruce, to me, has become the guy that everyone thinks they are supposed to like, but no one really does.
My pick: Radiohead, 3 chart-toping albums (Kid A, Amnesiac and In Rainbows).

Lastly this week, I want take care of something I forgot to do last week and give NO respect to whoever made the BCS bowl matchups (I guess Fox or the selection committee, or Tostitos, who knows...) for the TCU-Boise matchup they hit us with in the Fiesta Bowl. I thought after watching Utah dismantle Alabama last year and Boise's win over the Boomer Sooners a few years ago, theses schools would get more respet. TCU looks to be legit this year- but unfortunately by quaranteening them to play Boise (who no one knows much about either), we'll never know. The BCS should have pitted them vs. Florida in the Sugar for several reasons: (1) it would have been way more interesting than playing a Cincy team without a coach, (2) TCU beat 7 bowl eligable teams this year, (3) We would KNOW whether TCU and the Mountain West is legit. If TCU won, this would make the second year in a row that a Mountain West team beat a SEC team and would give the conference legitimate beef that they are still not a "BCS conference". But, the BCS screwed us again and made the result of the Fiesta bowl, irrelevant. Who cares if TCU pounds Boise??? Also a loss, missing out on creating another classic poster like the one on the left.

As always, be sure to check the "near you" tab on our homepage, www.roosterfly.com, for a list of concerts, games and shows near you....and be sure to check out the BCS National Championship tickets...

Till next week,
MN

There's No Crying In Football!!!!

2009-12-07T15:24:00.013-06:00

Hello all,

What do Tim Tebow and Adam Morrison have in common?? Apparently, neither one has watched the all-time cinematic classic, A League of Their Own. Or, if they have, neither one took the words of manager Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks) to heart when he proclaimed (which is rated as the 54th best movie quote of all time by the way- clearly underated!)

Are you crying?? There's no crying in baseball!!!

Maybe Dugan was referring only to women's baseball... But while I think this quote is applicable to not only an all-female baseball team, but perphaps male sports as well; I guess neither Tim Tebow or Adam Morrison agrees with me because as the sports hernia so elegantly stated it- Tim Tebow played a touching tribute to Adam Morrison this weekend when he started crying on the sidelines in the loss to Alabama. Now- while these two do have much in common (mainly the fact they are college superstars with seemingly no place at the next level), there are some differences (besides the fact they play a different sport). But which one is the bigger gaffe???

For all those who don't remmember Morrison's breakdown, Youtube highlights here, but in brief, he broke down with 2.8 seconds left in the sweet sixteen against UCLA with his team down 1 after several Gonzaga turnovers gave UCLA their first lead of the game. To me, Morrison's weep job was waayyy worse for several reasons. First, his team was actually in the game when it happened- Gonzaga was down just 1 with 2.8 seconds left (but UCLA had the ball) when the 6-8 swingman started to breakdown. Second, Morrison actually laid down in the middle of the court (on which there was another game to follow), until several UCLA players felt so bad they stopped celebrating with their guys and went to help him up. Lastly, Gonzaga had a legit look at a game tying and overtime forcing 3-ball at the end of the game- so what would Adam have done if it had gone down??? But, The Sports Hernia, does make a good point- Adam waited till 2.8 seconds to begin crying while Tebow was seen weeping at 1:03 left to go- beating Morrison to the punch by an astounding 61 seconds! In either case, no disrespect at all to either one of these guys, I just wish they would've done us a favor by holding it in until they got to the locker room. But, I do wanna say that Tim Tebow will probably and very deservingly go down as one of the top 5 college football players of all time. The guy is a machine, a warrior, a winner, and I am glad I got to see him play for 4 years! One question I do have about Tebow is I wonder what his teamates think of him?? (Yes, I know they all have to say they love him on interviews and I'm not saying they feel otherwise but am just curious). Watching him yell at defensive players in the defensive huddle in the 4th quarter Saturday made me wonder and got me thinking about how many times I've seen Mariano Rivera yell at Derek Jeter (two players that play totally different positions much like offense vs defense in football) over the years....

As for the games on Saturday, there really isn't much to say about the SEC game other than how shocked I and I'm sure a lot of other people were about how dominate Alabama was. I thought the game would be like last year's in that it would be decided in the 4th quarter, but the Gators never made a push in the 2nd hald and were outscored 13-0 after halftime. Mark Ingram was great- tying the SEC championship game record with 3 TDs, and should gain strong Heisman consideration if not the frontrunner. Greg McElroy was outstanding (12-18, 239 1TD 0INT) for Alabama, and his ability to beat man to man coverage took away Florida's gameplan of putting 8 men in the box all game. Did it look to anyone else like the game winning drive he led against Auburn a couple of weeks ago gave this guy a whole lot more swagger?? I couldn't believe the confidence and zip he had on his throws; completely different than earlier this season.

I want to give NO respect to the 6 voters (4 in the ESPN/Coaches, and 2 in the AP) who gave Texas first place votes after watching their pitiful performance (which they should have lost) against Nebraska on Saturday (I can only justify one vote- if Nick Saban voted Texas #1 to avoid giving his vote to his own team). Now, I am in no way saying that Alabama should be a unanimous #1, because that's not it at all and I would understand TCU getting votes after the amazing dominate season they've had, Cincy after a great win over a very good Pitt team or even Boise (hey they beat Oregon and never stopped rolling), but Texas?? Texas, to me, is everything that is wrong with pre-season polls and the BCS. The Longhorns have proved this year that if you get a high pre-season ranking, the best way to get to a big bowl is by playing NOBODY and hoping a few other bid teams lose. This year, they have played 3 "ranked teams"- Oklahoma without Sam Bradford, Oklahoma State without Des Bryant and Nebraska; and looked good in only one of them (the OSU game, they were close to losing against Oklahoma). They cancelled their annual game vs Arkansas and their other "big" non-conference game was a showdown at Wyoming... Mac Brown took a page out of Les Miles' playbook on Saturday when Texas almost blew a chance to kick a fieldgoal late in the game on what would have gone down as the poorest clock management in the history of college football. Bo Pelini made headlines when overheard in the tunnel after the game saying,

BCS! That's why they make that call! Cheaters! They should be f*cking ashamed to accept that trophy.

I do have to say, JS and I came to the conclusion after the game it would have been very interesting to see what would've happened if it were Nebraska who needed the extra time and not Texas....

Much respect fot the testicular fortitude Lane Kiffin must have to continue to take jabs at Urban Meyer by saying Alabama was gonna win Saturday's game because "even though Florida has better players, Alabama is so much better coached, more disciplined and does the little things right" on gameday Saturday morning. I do like Lane for not taking the middle of the road, politically correct, 5th ammendment-like responses that most coaches do and for throwing some fire into the Florida-Tennessee rivalry. I also wanna take a moment and reflect on how ballsy he really is, knowing that Florida will be loaded once again next year, Urban Meyer is a proven great coach with two rings, and Tennessee HAS TO PLAY them every year. I do love Lane and he is doing a great job rebuilding the program in Knoxville, but his players may pay the price for this one next year and I don't think anyone can fault Urban if he decides to run it up a little bit....

I wanna give big-ups to Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints for a great come-back win on Sunday, following their beatdown of my Patriots last Monday. I watched and bet (which I obviously lost and will pay up when EJM jr confirms SM md paid up on their last one! haha) on the Saints-Pats game last Monday night with a huge Saints fan from the bayou; and was very impressed with how easily they took care of New England (and actually the fan as well for not relentlessly ragging me....). This Sunday was remarkable, what a great stand on the goaline to hold the Redskins to a missed FG late which gave them the chance to tie it up, and what a great throw over the top by Brees to tie it up. This year's Saints team looks like they have it all; their offense has always been great but the defense is making huge plays- Jonathan Vilma, Roman Harper and off-season signee Darren Sharper have been terrific. They've been fun to watch all year and I hope the Saints-Vikings matchup materializes in the playoffs because I would love to see Favre (even though he looked awful last night) and Brees square off and provide a great QB duel by players not named Brady and Manning.... Also, big props to Robert Meachem for his strip and TD at the end of the first half in what was one of the best football plays I've ever seen.....

Kentucky looked good this weekend, holding off a UNC team that looks like they have enough talent to make a deep tourney run once again despite losing 4 out of their top 5 scorers from last year (only Deion Thompson is back; Ellington, Lawson, Hansborough, Green are all in the NBA). I would love to see these two teams play again in March when the UNC newbies and the Kentucky freshman have a little more experience under their belts....

Whoever takes the ND job will have a much tougher first year after Jimmy Clausen and Golden Tate declared for the NFL draft today....

BBC named Nickelback as the worst band of all time. Also making the list, Savage Garden and Maroon 5....

As always please be sure to check the "near you" tab on our homepage, www.roosterfly.com, for a list of games, shows and theatre events in your area and please post any upcomming event you know of as a comment...

Till next week,

MN

YOU PLAY TO WIN THE GAME!!!! and does tiger owe us an explanation???

2009-12-01T10:58:00.014-06:00

Good morning all,

To start this week I wanna give big ups to my man Pete Carroll and the USC Trojans for dismanteling in-city foe UCLA 28-7 in the Coliseum on Saturday night, proving that the football monopoly in Los Angeles is officially NOT OVER, and for adding some spice to a rivalry that has been so one sided for the last decade or so (USC has won 10 of the last 11). I stayed up (kickoff wasnt until 10PM!) to catch this one and let me tell you I'm glad I did because the last minute of clock time was about as interesting as I've seen in a long time. So, with under a minute left, USC is up 21-7 and trying to take a knee and run out the clock- only to see UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel call a timeout (what the hell was he doing?? But more than just this game, what the hell was he thinking taking out the ridiculous newspaper ad in the LA Times seen on the right- did he not think this was going to come back to bite him). So, my man Pete Carroll answered by sending his team back out in a power-I formation and running a play action skinny post for a wide open 48-yard Barkley to Williams TD pass (highlights can be seen here). The Trojans then began celebrating on the sidelines and the majority of the UCLA team left their side of the field and walked towards USC- inciting a near riot which took almost 10 minutes to restore order and finish the game. When asked about calling a bomb with under a minute left, Pete jocked the words of my man Herm Edwards and said (the on field interview by the local FoxWest station),

You play to win the game. Hey, they're calling timeouts so we're running pass plays, just some good solid football

Well said Pete. First, I want to pay tribute to the great Herm Edwards and one of the greatest post-game news conferences of all time which you can see here- (can anyone think of one better than this one??? JS tweeted me a couple of good thoughts- the Jim Mora rant definately being one, Oklahoma State's Mike Gundy's tirade being another, and who can forget about Dennis Green's meltdown???... By the way, Herm's rant is a response to a reporter asking him why he faked a FG- and was turned into a great Coors Light Commercial) any reference to it always gets me excited. Second, what the hell is Rick Neuheisel doing??? USC was trying to run out the clock and end a game which was clearly over- why drag it out??? All blame goes to him- if you are still making moves, so should the other team. Dumb move by Rick and he got the what he deserved- and his team burned for a late TD. In any case, this should make this rivalry a little more saucey in years to come (that is if UCLA can ever get players with anywhere near the talent USC has year after year to make it close).... And one more quick point- will someone please hire Herm?? As much as I love seeing him in the studio as an ESPN analyst- he is a great coach, even better on the podium, a classy guy and the NFL misses him....

So, Tiger has made the news lately after wrecking his car in a non-alcohol related accident going less than 30MPH in his own driveway at 230 in the morning. Police reported that all 4 windows as well as the rear window were smashed out by a golfclub (which Tiger said his wife did in order to help save him), and he went to the hospital where he was treated for facial cuts... To be honest, I really don't care what happened, but I do disagree with the sentiment that Tiger doesn't have to explain it. As a celeb, I understand privacy is difficult, but I don't really feel all that sorry for him because the public has paid him over $1 BILLION dollars (through corporate deals, supporting his golf tournaments and buying products he endorses) and to me, you can't have it both ways. If you don't want the celeb status and money associated with it- don't take it. But if you are the most marketed person on the planet, the highest paid athlete and continue to take huge endorsement deals- you owe explenations to those who pay your salary. And great point made by my man BB today- Tiger went to Stanford (dubbed The Harvard of the West by Zack Morris) which is a great school and you know he's a smart dude. He should take a lesson from athletes and famous people who have been in bad positions before- which has shown that the American public will forgive, and doesn't mind that our superheroes have flaws- but will not put up with being lied to and trying to be outsmarted- (just ask the 42nd President of the United States who was forgiven once he came clean, but almost impeached and scorned in public when he tried to cover the truth up). Other less than perfect celebs who have been pardoned in the court of public opinion- Kobe (the scandal in Colorado), Carmelo (the stop snitchin' tape), Axel Rose (jumped off stage and assulted a fan), Ray Lewis (what happened in that alley??), and many more....

So, in a move that is complete expected, Notre Dame has fired head coach Charlie Weis after 5 completely lackluster seasons in South Bend. A couple of weeks ago, I made my case for why Weis should be gone and who I think will replace him. One thing I will say about Charlie is he is thought of as an offensive genius- whether that is true or not no one knows... But, I do expect to see him land on his feet as an NFL coordinator in the very near future (maybe with his boy Brady Quinn in Cleveland??)

The SEC Championship is this weekend!! Check back later this week for my thoughts on what should be a great great football game between two very very well coached (since Les Miles isn't involved) teams with NFL talent all over the field. If you are planning on heading to ATL and need tickets- check here...

Till Thursday,

MN

See Ya Charlie!! but who's next?? and is it too much to ask T.O. to attempt a block??

2009-11-17T13:34:00.006-06:00

Hello all,

To start this week I want to give big ups to my man Cortland Finnegan for locking T.O. down in the Titans 41-17 beatdown of the Bills this weekend. I actually took the 2.5 hour trek up I-65 (yes, 2.5 hrs- nice work JS) to Nashville and got to watch Cortland battle T.O. for most the day in person. We got to see a little bit of everything: lock down man to man D, T.O. finding a couple of holes in the zone to get some catches (3 for 81 yards on the day), trash talk after almost every play, and T.O. absolutely refusing to run block or run full speed if he wasn't the primary route on a play. Having never seen T.O. play in person before, I was amazed by this part of his game. We watched the DB come from his side to stop the run countless times throughout the day; I mean not only did he not consider making contact on a block but didn't even move enough to get between the man checking him and the ball to at least alter the defenders path. It's a tribute to how great Cortland was to rattle T.O. to the point where T.O. was scared to block him on runs.... I've always thought T.O. was a super competitive guy who didn't know how to control his emotions on the sideline; but, after watching the game Sunday, I think he is just a numbers guy who would rather have a big game and lose than have low numbers and win- because winners throw blocks (which is why Hines Ward has 2 rings and T.O. has none!). Overall, good win for the Titans and great game by Cortland....

So, what do Charlie Weis, Bob Davie and Ty Willingham have in common?? The same winning percentage (.583) as the head coach of Notre Dame... Davie and Willingham were fired; but, so far Weis has kept his job when his record compared to the other two is actually way worse. If you look at Weis' tenure in South Bend, his first two years (9-3 and 10-3) were clearly his best; and as everyone knows, his success during these two seasons clearly rests on the talent handed to him by Willingham's stellar recruiting- in the 10-3 2006 (His best season by far!!!!) Sugar Bowl season, he had 8 pre-season all-americans (Brady Quinn , Jeff Samardzija, Darius Walker , Tom Zbikowski, Ryan Harris, Victor Abiamiri and John Sullivan)- NONE of which were his recruits. Even this time underachieved, ranked #3 in the pre-season polls, the only ranked team they beat was #19 Penn State and they were absolutely blown out it all 3 of their other games against ranked teams (47-21 at home to #15 Michigan, 44-21 at USC- to a team who just lost Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart, and 41-14 in the Sugar Bowl against LSU- which brings up the question why the hell did they get a Sugar Bowl Bid???). So, if you look at his record without the 1st 2 years because none of the players were his, he stands at 16-19 (seriously... and he is still there???)!! His teams have suffered some humiliating losses over this stretch as well- in 2007, a Weis coached ND squad lost to Navy for the first time in 43 years (yes, 43 years, and the game was in South Bend!), and again in 2009- now I'm not knocking Navy because I respect the hell out of every one of those guys, but ND has a such a crazy recruiting advantage over them (average difference up front is 46 lbs) that this game shouldn't be close and losing should be out of the question. In 2008, Weis lost at home on senior day to an 8-loss Syracuse team with a lame duck head coach. His record against winning teams (not even ranked but just winning) is a brutal 8-19, Willingham's was 12-15, Davie's was 18-22. Against teams with a losing record: Weis is 19-2 and just to compare it to a good coach- Lou Holtz's was 47-1, Ty Willingham was 9-1- which brings up another point- Weis has the same winning percentage as Ty Willingham despite playing a much easier schedule (twice as many games against losing teams!!!)... Also, even though Weis was brought in under the "offensive genius lable" because of his time as the Patriots coordinator, he has been shut out 3 times so far at Notre Dame (with 2 Heisman candidate QBs I might add), which is the same total of shutouts they had from 1965-2001!!! Right now they are sitting at 6-4 with two losable games left (they have a chance against UCONN but are going to get steamrolled by Stanford) and despite being picked by many people to go to a BCS bowl and by at least one moron (who works for ESPN) to win the national championship, they'll probably finish at 7-6 with a minor bowl appearance and will lose their QB to the NFL draft after the season. So, why is Weis still at ND?? Because they might not be able to afford to fire him. As you may remmeber, 7-games into his ND career and after a 34-31 LOSS (yes, you read this right, a loss) to USC (remmember the game when Reggie Bush pushed Leinart over the goal-line on the last second sneak play- and he still has never beaten USC by the way), he was given a 10-year 30+ million dollar contract extension of which he still has 6 years at over 3 mil per year left... Notre Dame is still paying Ty Willingham about $700k a year, so if you combine that with the 1.5-2 mil per year Chuck would probably get and the 2-3 mil per year it would take to get a top flight coach- that is getting pretty expensive (yes, even for Notre Dame). But, they certainly can't afford to keep him either...

So who is going to replace him?? I've heard of several names. One being former super bowl winning coach Jon Gruden, who like Weis has no college experience but unlike Weis was a very successful HEAD coach in the NFL and is known as a great motivator. However, Gruden agreed to a contract extension as an analyst with ESPN yesterday, the timing of which seems to cast doubt on his level of interest. But, I'd love to see "Chucky" (I mean look at that picture) at ND and watch him go crazy on NBC. Next is Urban Meyer- I'm not even going to address this one- there is no chance he is going to leave the perfect set-up he has at UF. Chris Peterson has a great record (32-3) at Boise State, is known as a great recruiter and his players love him- but he not known on the national stage and if Notre Dame is willing to eat over 20 mil to fire Weis, I couldn't see them not going after a bigger name... Could that be Brian Kelly who has led Cincinnati to the national spotlight and has a 147-54 career record??

Charlie Weis' futility as a head coach, combined with the flops of Eric Mangini and Romeo Crennel brings up another point- how good is Bill Belichick?? and how much of a role do his assistants actually have? I know many people (including myself) are questioning his move to go for it on Sunday night, but the Pats have constantly contended every year (even last year without Tom Brady) for the past decade which is amazing in a sport with a salary cap...

Sir Elton John and Billy Joel have postponed their tour once again due to a medical illness...

Jay-Z has cancelled the remaining dates of his 2009 tour due to "scheduling conflicts". He was supposed to appear in Lubbock and Albuquerque before the finale in Austin, TX. He plans on expanding his 2010 tour... Wow....

Kanye returned to the stage last night in London which marked his first high-profile appearance since the VMA disaster....

The SEC championship with a BCS title game berth on the line will match up Alabama with Florida on December 5th, plenty of good seats availible...

As always, please post any shows, events or news you know of. And be sure to check out the "near you" tab on our homepage, www.roosterfly.com for a list of concerts, sporting events and shows in your area!

Till next time,

Safin wants agassi to give titles back... and aerosmith without Steven Tyler????

2009-11-11T09:03:00.001-06:00

Hello all,

To start this week, I learned that Steven Tyler has left Aerosmith and even more amazingly the band actually thinks they can go on without him after reading this in Rolling Stone. Apparently their break up is messy- their has been tension it the band since their summer tour disaster when Tyler fell and broke his shoulder on stage. During their last several stops (which Tyler only played in because of contractual obligations) he traveled separately, refused to rehearse and left November 1st after their concert in Abu Dhabi without talking to anyone in the band planning on launching a new solo "Brand Tyler". Now, the band has split before- in 1979 and 1981 guitatists Joe Perry and Brad Whitford left the band and were replaced (but the band was completely unproductive during this time), but returned in 1983. To me, this is very different. Aerosmith without Steven Tyler would be like the Rolling Stones without Mick Jagger (which no one would want to see!)- his voice is the heart and soul of the band (combined with other things of course) and very distinct. Joe Perry has compared this to Led Zeppelin continuing after the tragic loss of John Bohnam. However, Bonham was the drummer, not the lead singer. Their have been some bands that have successfully endured a lead singer change (Pink Floyd twice, Alice in Chains, Deep Purple, Styx, Van Halen, Genesis, AC/DC) but there also have been lots that haven't- The Doors actually released 2 albums and toured following Jim Morrison's death (but neither album has even been re-released on CD and getting air play is completely out of the question if that tells you anything about their success....). Given their success (best-selling American hard rock band of all time with more than 150 million albums worldwide, hold the record for the most gold and multi-platinum albums by an American group, 21 Top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, nine #1 Mainstream Rock hits, four Grammy Awards, and ten MTV Video Music Awards) I have a hard time believing they will stay spilt- but if they do- please follow the path of the Foo Fighters (formed by former Nirvana members after Cobain's death) instead of Journey... Besides is anyone else sick of bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Marshall Tucker Band that tour around with no original members??

So, I was kinda suprised by the strong reaction of Marat Safin who angrily asserted that Andre Agassi should forfeit his career titles and prize money after confessing he used crystal meth during his early playing days. Agassi tested positive for crystal meth is 1997 and avoided a 3 month suspension by duping the ATP into believing his story that he accidently drank one of his assistant's spiked colas. While I find the ATP's acceptance of his BS story and willingness to sweep it under the rug disgusting, I have to say I think Safin is a moron who is bitter Agassi's career was far better than his (Agassi won 8 grand slams including the career grand slam and over $31 mil in prize money which is 3rd all time; Safin won 2 grand slams) even though Safan was a very good player and ranked #1 in the world at one point. My reasoning is this, while taking crystal meth is a big deal the fact of the matter is it is not a performance enhancing drug (and it does a hell of a lot of harm) like Barry Bonds took. Agassi was known as an arrogant, wild, brat during his early playing days but matured into a different person as he aged. There are plenty of professional athletes that have been linked to recreational drug use, none more decorated that Kareem Abdul-Jabaar, who justified his pot use as a way to control his migraine headaches (and I have never heard someone say that Kareem needs to return his 6 NBA championship and 3 NCAA championship rings!).What about the Pittsburg drug trials and the cocaine use that plagues baseball in the 1980s (Tim Rains admittied to keeping a GRAM of cocaine in his back pocket during games!!!)? Dave Parker was one of the players suspended for the season, only to have it dropped when he agreed to do community service, and believe it or not he got to keep his 2 world series rings and 1978 NL MVP award. So, by following this precedent- Agassi has done more than enough to clear his name by now and show he has changed since his earlier days. Roy Johnson thinks Agassi is the most charitable athlete of this generation, Agassi has founded a K-12 school for disadvantaged youth which has a 100% college acceptance rate, raised over $60 million for disadvantaged youth through his foundation, founded the Cottage for Medically Fragile Children, dounded Athletes for Hope and has been awarded the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Award- I would say that qualifies as community service. Let's blame the ATP too for this- if they bought Agassi's excuse so easily, how many other players could have been taking other drugs and getting away with it?? And what's equally disturbing is that the ATP recently dropped a cocaine related suspension of Richard Gasquet, who won his argument that his positive test was due to kissing a woman in a nightclub in Miami. Apparently, in this case, history repeats itself when it comes to the ATPs ability to enforce its drug related policies. And I got to give props to Gasquet for his creativity in coming up with his excuse...

Jay-Z will be in Nashville, TN on Friday (Nov 13) performing at Vandy....

Blues legend B.B. King has announced the whole schedule for his 2009/2010 tour. B.B. is 84 years old this year and still going strong, amazing...

In NFL action, the Pats and the Colts renew their rivalry on Sunday with the Colts undefeated record on the line. These teams have had so many memorable regular season and playoff games over the past few years (including my favorite: the 21-6 New England playoff win when the fans started a "Cut than meat" chant that lasted the entire 4th quarter in response to Peyton's mastercard commercial) and it is always a treat to watch the 2 best QBs in the game square off...

Alabama and Florida both try to stay focused on their current opponents with the SEC championship looming... Should be a great game with a national championship berth on the line, be sure to check out us for tickets if you are going...

As always be sure to post any good upcoming shows and events you know of, and be sure to check out the "Near You" Tab on our homepage, http://www.roosterfly.com/, for tickets to upcoming events in your area.

Till next time,

Les Miles outcoached again, LSU gets dominated in the 4th quarter by SEC west champ Alabama...

2009-11-08T16:55:00.041-06:00

Hello all,

First two important stats: 452-243 and 142-9.

Those are the total yardages for the game and the 4th quarter in the Alabama-LSU game yesterday. Yes- LSU mustered just 9 total yards in the 4th quarter while Alabama had 142 and oustscored them 14-0 to set up a rematch of last year's SEC title game against the Gators. My final thoughts after watching the game yesterday were: 1) Alabama is a much much better, deeper, more prepared and more in shape team; and 2) Les Miles is a beyone horrible in-game coach and I can see why LSU fans are still so distraught about Saban's arrival to the capstone- because Saban dominated his former team. Les did not have a good game yesterday and had several bad decisions that really hurt the Tigers. For one, I strongly strongly disagreed with Miles’ decision to go for 2 after Stevan Ridley scored on an 8-yard touchdown run and the 15-10 lead. Listening to the audio of Miles, he initially said “1” then changed to “2, 2” after players and coaches in front of him turned to him saying “2”. If they kick the extra point, LSU has 16 points, Alabama then wouldn't have gone for 2 on their TD, it would have been 23-16 and LSU down just one score at the end. Miles has alway been a gambler (as all Auburn fans know) but this one cost him. There is no way, in any calculation or on any chart, that they should have gone for 2 here. But Les let the moment get the best of him (isn't it the coaches job to be the voice of reason when everyone is going crazy?? umm... yess but then again this is Les Miles we're talking about....) and made a horrific decision which really hurt his team. LSU also may have had a better chance to come back if they had any timeouts left late in the game but Les burned them all less than 5 minutes into the fourth quarter. Don't get me wrong, every now and then people get confused but having to burn 3 timeouts early in the 2nd half of the biggest game of the season shows general lack of preparation. I've always thought Les Miles is probably the poorest in game coach in the SEC, but has won on having superior talent, which Nick Saban laid the foundation for, in the past. Here's a great list of the 7 worst decisions Les has mad thus far in his stint in Baton Rouge.

How bad was LSU in the fourth quarter yesterday?? I'm pretty sure getting outscored 14-0 and outgained 142-9 pretty much sums it up. Here are LSUs 3 drives in the 4th quarter:

3 plays	9 yards	Punt
3 plays	-8 yards	Punt
5 plays	8 yards	Interception

9 yards- the whole season on the line and all they could come up with was 9 yards... But, to me, the 4th quarter is when coaching is the most evident and clearly Alabama had LSU's defense off balance by establishing the pass first and then pounding the run. LSU's offense on the other hand was 1 dimensional and never a threat which brings up another point: Why was Jarrett Lee in the game?? Didn't CBS sum his reign at the helms best when they played the "pick 6" video when he entered the game?? Jordan Jefferson looked pretty healthy to me on the sidelines so just another interesting move by Coach Miles...

How good was Mark Ingram yesterday in the 2nd half?? He gained 106 of his 144 yards after the half to continue to mount a strong campaign for Heisman Trophy consideration. I was a little confused by his lack of touches in the first half; but he certainly made up for it by being the best player on the field in the 2nd half. I thought Alabama's offensive line pushed LSU around the whole 2nd half and especially in the 4th quarter. At this point in the season, no player in the country has been better or more valuable to their team than Ingram; and, to me, it would be a tragedy if he continues his stellar play and is not given serious Heisman consideration....

As far as the 4th quarter replay call yesterday, I disagree with Anthony Statler, all the e-mails I have gotten and all of the LSU fans that this was another part of the SEC's conspiracy to get Alabama to Atlanta undefeated. As you guys know, I am always looking for a chance to jump on this bandwagon and critisize the refs (see past examples); however, I thought in this case the call was the correct one. HWM and I were watching the game on a 56 inch LCD with TEVO and after looking at the replay about 50 times during a commercial break- we still couldn't tell if he was in bounds or not. The fact of the matter is that it has to be concrete visual evidence to overturn a call- which there wasn't- and if the call on the field had been an interception it would have stayed that way. If the LSU fans are looking for someone to blame- blame CBS for not providing a goal-line based camera that would have looked straight down the sideline and provided an angle we could actually tell if he was in bounds or not. That, to me, is the real issue with this play. Every play is supposed to reviewable but there are plently of times where either technical difficulties or poor camera angles prevent overturns which is BS because each game should have the exact same set of rules. And this is not the first time this has happened nor the biggest stage as all USC fans know (the infamous 3 botched replay calls due to technical issues which cost them the national title vs. texas).. However, I also want to point out the previous play would have never happened had the refs not made one of the worst calls I have ever seen by calling "running into the kicker" instead of "roughing the kicker" on a blantant lack of discipline by LSU.... But really, instead of blaming the refs, blame the defense for allowing Julio Jones to practice for track season by giving him a free 73 yard lane down the field.... Also, Mark Ingram was pretty darn close to the McElroy's pass attempt that was ruled intentional grounding and resulted in a safety.

Speaking of Julio, It was great to see him make such a big play after being missed by McElroy in the 1st half for what would have been a wide open tochdown and make a crucial drop on the 8 yard line to set up the safety on the next play. I guess Saban almost drilling him with his headset woke him up....

One last thought, does LSU need a new conditioning coach? Never have I seen a college football game have to be stopped more because of cramps. The only thing I can think to compare it to is the flopping that occurs every time the Italian National team takes the pitch. I understand that football is a very viscious game and I am in no way disrespecting the need to tend to the people with real injuries; but after watching that game yesterday I think that players should be forced to stay on the sideline for a fixed period of time after they have a cramp (like 5 minutes of clock time or a set number of plays). I strongly disagree with pccoder that the LSU players were faking these cramps (which, by the way, I will once again blame Les Miles' poor coaching for burning all 3 timeouts so early which is fueling these kinds of rumors); but the bottom line is it's not fair to the fans or the teams to have the momentum of the game constantly broken by the same player to have to be stretched out (in the middle of the playing field) with the same cramp every other play...

But one thing for sure- the SEC championship is going to be a heavyweight fight between two great football teams and I can't wait!!! Check out our site if you are thinking about going!

Till Wednesday,
MN

Can Pedro do it again????

2009-11-04T17:42:00.000-06:00

Good afternoon everyone,

Is anyone else as excited as I am about tonite?? So, I hate the Yankees, love Pedro Martinez, respsect the hell out of Andy Pettitte and can't wait to watch these to pitching legends go at it in the Bronx to see if there will be a game 7 tomorrow night. It's hard to know what to expect from Pedro- he looked great against the Dodgers and pretty good for the first 6 innings the other night. He has been solid overall this season posting a record of 5-1 with a 3.63 ERA since the Phillies signed him in mid-July. Pettitte, is one of the greatest and most experienced post-season starters ever. Tonight will be his 40th career post-season start and 13th in the world series; and has won 17 of them- the most in baseball history. However, he is pitching on 3 days rest while Pedro is fully rested. Pettitte hasn't pitched on 3 days rest since 2003 and has a mixed record for his career on 3 days rest. In his postseason career, Pettitte has made five starts on three days' rest: three exceptional (World Series Game 2 in 2003 and Game 5 of both the ALCS and World Series in 1996), one mediocre (1997 ALDS Game 5) and one terrible (2000 ALDS Game 5). He's also made 14 career regular season starts on short rest, going 4-6 with a 4.15 ERA. But he's 37; one can also look at CC Sabathia and AJ Burnett who pitched the last 2 games on 3 days rest- both with a noticable velocity drop. Pedro has also has a mixed result against the Yankees in the playoffs over the years- his ERA of 4.69 (well more than a run and a half higher than his overall regular season mark of 2.93) in seven appearances against them- but would you wanna bet against the best pitcher of this generation in the biggest game of his career???

I can't wait to see if he has enough magic left to force a game 7 tonight!!!
MN

Quit Crying Lebron!

2009-10-27T10:48:00.005-05:00

Good morning everyone,

To start off this week, I wanna say how pumped up I was when I read one of my favourite bands of this decade, MGMT (AKA "The Management"), is set to release a new studio full length album in early 2010. I remmember the first time I heard them very well; I was studying for the mcat during my senior year of college (wow-2005 doesn't seem so long ago...) at the Dripolator Coffee Shop which was playing the song "Kids". I had never heard the song before and asked the guy working there who it was- he responded by telling me "some new group from New York called The Management" (their original name before changing record companies). I went and got their first full length CD which was "Climbing to New Lows" (worth getting by the way) and absolutely dug it. Later that year, they released the "Time to Pretend" EP which, to me, is a classic. I'll never forget hearing "Time to Pretend" for the first time and thinking to myself how much it reminded me of listening to The Doors; the honesty and passion reminded of Jim Morrison but mixed with an electronica feel that came together so well. I was a little dissapointed with "Oracular Spectacular" when it was released, not from a musical aspect, but from the lack of new tracks (I think only 3 out of the 10 tracks hadn't been released previously on Demos and LPs), but to newcomers to MGMT "Oracular Spectacular" has to rank among the top 5 CDs of this decade. Since its release MGMT has toured extensively, won a legal battle vs. the French Government, released several singles and LPs (Metononia is great!) and is set to release "Congratulations" next year. I know I can't wait!

Welcome back NBA! So, in watching last night's 95-89 Celtic's win over the Cavaliers, as a Celtics fan (I'm originally from Boston) I was ecstatic about how good KG looked, how great 'Sheed fit in, how great our D looked and can't help but think that we are once again the best team in the league. But it was kindly pointed out to me that last year I said we were the best team ever after our 27-2 start to the season, and well all know how well that worked out (terrible!); so I'm gonna hold back a little this year. But, to me the biggest dissapointment to me in last night's game was Lebron James; who has without a doubt replaced The Great Tim Duncan (AKA the Big Fundamental) as the biggest cryer in the NBA. Now, I'm a little biased because I love The Great Tim Duncan; I think he's one of the greatest players in NBA history and it's unfortunate that his lack of flair has kept the big fundamental from getting the respect he deserves. For those who don't know, The Great Tim Duncan is a 2 time MVP, 12 time All-Star (in 12 NBA seasons), has made 12 All-NBA Defensive teams, has made the All-NBA team all 12 years in the league, has won 4 championships, has been finals MVP 3 teams and holds the career numbers of 23PPG, 12 RPG, 3.5APG and 2.5BPG. He's clearly the best power forward ever. Unfortunately one stat that doesn't show up is that in his mind he has never committed a foul in his NBA career, which has left many with the lasting image seen above as the way they think of Great Tim and his constantly being ranked in the list of top whiners in the league. But, in my mind, Lebron has passed Tim over the past season and certainly did nothing to help his image in last night's opener. I know times have changed in the NBA and there will never be another team like the Detroit bad boys and never another play like McHale close-lining Kurt Rambis (this play was called a personal foul- no technical, no flagrant, a personal foul); but can men still play make men and please not turn around to the zebras everytime they miss a shot with the look of a pathetic 5 year old who just had his ice cream money. Yes Lebron, I'm talking to you! You are already the best player in the league, there is no need to turn around and whine every time you get called for a foul or miss a shot. But, hey, I guess it works since you did go to the line 13 times last night... brutal...

So, always good when my predictions come true and if you read last week's blog, the absolutely horrendous work of the SEC officials in Starkville should come as no suprise. This is the call in question. The play was an interception return that put Florida up 29-13 and pretty much sealed the game- but replay clearly shows the ball being stripped before the player scored which would have instead made it 23-13 and state's ball. I'm not saying the bulldogs would have won, cause let's be honest they suck; but, once again Florida was in a little bit of trouble and the refs bail them out. I agree with Coach Mullins. How is it possible to blow a replay call? I mean I get missing stuff on the field sometimes but there was a clear, definitive, goaline shot of the play; and the replay official's only freaking job is to sit in the booth and watch replays!! Well, the SEC may act tough and suspend the officials- but let's be honest; they're not losing sleep over keeping Bama and UF at #1 and #2....

The World Series Starts tonite!! And of course I am going for the Philies- because I hate the Yankees. Despite going to college in Phily, I never really could ever get into the Philies but I am loving their new "Defend Broad Street!" slogan.... plenty of good world series tickets are still available as well for all yankee and phils fans!

Several cuts from Lil' Wayne's new mix tape have been leaked but the mix tape still is set for Halloween release. Guess this will be the last we hear from him for a while as he is set for jail time relating to a weapons charge in NYC. However, MTV compares this to T.I. and Tupac and thinks his career will push forward....

Michael Jackson's This Is It is on pace to break movie records... Amaing considering everyone had forgotten about that guy at this time last year....

Always nice to see a our website getting some props. Click here and vote for us! And as always, be sure to check the "near you" button our homepage, www.roosterfly.com for a list and tickets to music, sporting events and concerts around you!

Till next time,
MN

Arkansas 20, Florida 16, Refs 7....

2009-10-21T16:48:00.011-05:00

Good morning all,

First up this week I want to give big ups to my man, Pedro Martinez, for his masterful performance in LA last week. As an avid Red Sox fan, I had the pleasure of watching most of Pedro's starts during his tenure in Beantown and he never ceases to dazzle. During his time in Boston, it was amazing to watch a 5'10", 160 pound dude blow hitters away with 98 mile an hour gas and then make them look stupid by yanking the chain with one of the best changeups the game has ever seen. His 1999 and 2000 seasons were probably the best in the modern era: 23-4 and 18-6, ERA 2.07 and 1.74, innings worked 213.1 and 217, hits allowed 160 and 128 (are you serious 128 hits in 217 innings???) and strikeouts 313 (yes that is no typo- 313 ks in 213 innings, Tim Lincecum struk out 265 in 227 innings last year and is heralded the best strikeout pitcher in the game today with 50ks less and 14 innings more and he pitches in the weak NL west with no DH and the pitcher hitting!) and 284. All this done while pitching in the AL East. Unfortunately injuries and age have taken its toll and Pedro is no longer the same guy who could've probably told hitters what was coming and still have gotten them out. But, to see him throw 88-90 with great movement, command the entire strikezone with all 3 pitches and still make the game's best hitters look foolish while waving at his changeup is awesome. It reminds me (though not on the same scale of course) of watching a 40 year old MJ score 20+ per game with the Wizards- no longer the athlete he once was but still finding a way. However, in Pedro's case, it unfortunate to once again see the all-to-familiar-to-Boston-fans way he pulled himself out of the game. After 7 innings of 2 hit ball and only 80 pitches, he pointed to the sky while walking off the mound; which as Grady Little and all Red Sox fans know, means that he is done and don't send him back out to the mound (and I apologize to all Sox fans for the flashbacks of the 2003 ALCS everyone is probably having right now)... So I guess my MJ comparison above seems a bit more foolish now...

OK, back to the blog title. So in this case, I am actually going to have to agree with Terrell Owens twitter posts (you have to scroll back several pages since T.O. apparently is trying to set the world record for most tweets per day) from the Arkansas-Florida game and bring up a bigger question- is college football rigged? I've always thought there have been some suspicious happenings over the years and given the ridiculous sum of money involved in getting a BCS bid ($19.3 million to the conference for each BCS bowl bid it receives), I started wondering about this a few years ago (we'll get back to that). So, after getting a text saying that Florida was in trouble against Arkansas this weekend, I flipped over from watching my Trojans trying to choke away a huge lead against the Irish to an upset in the making in the swamp. Right when I switched over, Ryan Mallet hit Greg Childs for a 75 yard TD to put Arkansas up 20-13 with about 9 minutes to go in the 4th quarter. At this point, Florida was in real trouble; they had 4 turnovers, about 250 yards of offense, 6 sacks allowed and looked absolutely awful. Then, led by questionable officiating and a missed FG by Arkansas, they came back to win. The questionable officiating involved 3 absolutely enormous calls, (well 2 calls and 1 non-call) all going against Arkansas on the final 2 drives. As T.O. tweeted,

Refs r str8 CHEATING n this florida/arkansas game!! A phantom P.I. call on #26, personal foul on #96 & no OPI call on UF's #11

The calls T.O. is talking (or tweeting as soome would say) about were beyond awful; in fact so bad the only recent thing I can think to compare them to (other than other college football calls I'm about to get to) was the phantom foul ball in the Yankee-Twins series the outfield umpire missed even though he was standing about 10 feet from it (worth reading just for Joe Nathan's quote). Instead of describing them; here are youtube links to the plays in question #1, #2, #3. Now- 1 of these calls by isolation would be bad; but all 3 of these in the last 7 minutes of the fourth quarter with the #1 team on the ropes at home, especially considering this is the same crew that famously screwed Georgia keeping LSU undefeated a few weeks ago. So what would the motivation be if this wasn't a coincidence? Think about the implications LSU losing to a bad Georgia team or Florida losing to Arkansas might have...the Orlando Sentinal agrees with me- it's $$$!! As of now, the SEC stands to get 3 BCS (LSU with 2 losses- one to #1 Florida, and #2 Bama, the loser of Bama/Florida) bids and a team in the BCS national championship game (winner of Bama/UF). So 3 teams at $19.3 million per team, not a bad end of season bonus... Now, what if Florida lost to Arkansas or LSU lost to Georgia (both would've been very very bad looking losses to unranked opponents); That would put a 1 loss UF team against Bama (yes, I said it- if you are following the theme of my blog- the Vikings could put on LSU uniforms in Bryant Denny in a few weeks and still not have a shot), leaving either 2 one loss SEC teams and a 2 loss team (LSU) or an undefeated team and 2 2-loss teams; and if LSU had lost at Georgia a 3-loss team. Also a problem, considering the weak non-conference schedule LSU and Florida play, they would have no good wins. So, there is no way 2 2-loss SEC teams with no quality wins or a 2-loss and a 3-loss SEC teams would get top-8 BCS bids with another school going to the national title. So an LSU lost at Georgia or a Florida loss at home vs Arkansas might have cost the conference $19 million. Pretty big deal really. And, justifies Michael Wilbon's opinion that "The calls will always protect the big market and big money teams." This is not a new trend- conferences protecting their teams most likely to go to huge bowl games. Anyone remember the Texas-Kansas game in 04- when Coach Mangino was hit with a massive fine for what he had to say after the game?? Texas went on to beat USC and win the national title that year. I could deatil many others- including the "Swindle in the Swamp" (when the Gators were on the other side of getting screwed), the 1999 UCF-Georgia debacle, the USF-UCF game from a few years ago; but I don't want to get the Auburn fans too worked up (especially before they have to play LSU again) but Sally Jenkins is right- what ref would want to be the one that costs their conference millions of dollars and themselves a bonus... Just some food for thought.

So, as you can see on the right, the Empire State Building went Tie-Dye on Monday in honour of the Grateful Dead. Bob Weir and Phil Lesh were in town for a charity fundraiser kick-off for the opening of the Exhibit The Greatful Dead: Now Playing at the New York Historical Society. The exhibit is an impressive compilation of multiple forms of media celebrating the bands numerous tours from 1965-1995 and even has a section honouring their fans, who we all know as the deadheads. Though I definitely can't compare with Bill Walton in terms of Dead fanhood, I have always loved the dead, mainly their early stuff. I like some a few of their 90s live sets with Hornsby (their 91 show in the Boston Garden was pretty awesome) but, to me, nothing can compare to their '78 3-day stop in Egypt. If you like the dead and haven't heard this show- think Nubian drummers, Phil playing old Egyptian folksongs and Egyptian percusionist joining in to play Fire on the Mountain to close it out. The Dead inspired millions for decades and, like them or not, it's always good to see some of the orginal members receive such a great honour.

Sir Elton and Billy are back!!!!! Their newest tour starts in Seattle on November 4th. Having been fortunate to have been to one of their concerts before, this duo is well worth the ticket.

Willie Nelson hits the road today to start a multi-city nationwide tour with multiple destinations in the southeast as well as the west coast...

The countdown is on till the Phish Festival which runs Oct 30-Nov 1 in Indio, California. This is Phish's first festival in 5 years and should be awesome...

Lady Gaga, who was supposed to tour with Kanye before it was cancelled, will instead kick-off her own solo tour Nov 27 in Montreal. The 22-date tour will land at several famed venues, including Radio City Music hall Jan 20-21, the Fox Theatre in Atlanta Dec 29 and the Chicago Theatre Jan 8-9.

As always, be sure to check the "near you" tab on our homepage, www.roosterfly.com for tickets to games, concerts and shows around you. And, as always, please post all of your opinions, and any good shows you know of!!!

Till next week,
MN

October 14- Welcome back John Mayer and What is Kanye Doing??

2009-10-14T12:03:00.002-05:00

OK- so I have to admit I am a Kanye fan. Like everyone else, I was a weirded out by his antics at the VMAs, but let's be honest- did you think anyone would care or even remmember a few weeks later? So, I was a little suprised when I read this, -and learned his upcoming 34 stop tour (which ironically was callled the fame kills tour) with Lady Gaga was kayboshed before lift-off. I guess I underestimated how much he upset people at the VMAs because one thing is for sure, he can bring it musically and is known to be amazing live and his last tour, (the Glow in the Dark tour) was sold out nationwide within hours of its announcement. A couple things that suprise me about the magnitude of the post-VMA public uproar is Kanye is not a thug and has always been a different type of dude- he never listens to rap outside of work, says the Killers are his favourite group, uses his home page/blog to promote indie groups and has a history of other public blow ups (remmember the euroMTV awards when he did virtually the same thing?)- and, to me, other celebreties have done things uncomparably worse without any reaction. Just to name a few less than perfect celebs- Ray Lewis (so what did happen in that alley?), Kobe, Michael Jackson, Carmelo (the "stop snitchin'" tape), Axel Rose assaulting fans- but apparently in the eyes of America, Kanye punking out Taylor Swift is worse (seriously?? why???)... But one thing is for sure, I guess he's either gotta grow up or risk never getting his fans back... Too bad though about the tour- I, for one, still think
College Droupout is one of the top 5 rap CDs ever and was looking forward to his newest live sets...

So by this I can see I'm not the only one excited about the new John Mayer release and subsequent tour. I've always been a fan of John, especially his live stuff (which he has always said defines his career).

What is up with the baseball playoffs having a week off? The Angels-Yankees start on Friday and I hope the Yankee Universe's prediction is wrong and they go down. Does anyone else have a problem with one team having the highest paid starting pitcher, relief pitcher, catcher, first baseman, shortstop, third baseman, outfielder and DH in the game???

Bob Dylan keeps adding concerts to his 2009 tour with Nov 13-15 in Boston and Nov 17-19 in NYC as new dates...

The Kings of Leon will be in Birmingham tomorrow (Oct 15)! and Nasheville the next day (Oct 16th)....

U2s tour has been amazing so far and they still have several dates left...

As always be sure to check out the "near you" tab at our homepage http://www.roosterfly.com/ for tickets to events around you!

Till Next Week,
MN