Moonage Webdream

Looking at things that probably don’t need to be looked at

Archive for December, 2007

Last night the Patriots ended a perfect season in a very exciting game.  Good deal.  They are a great team that did it by knowing how to win even when they played poorly.  Even at a party, I had to watch as much of the game as I could.  Congrats definitely have to go out to the Patriots.

However, I was bugged this morning reading an article by Don Banks at Sports Illustrated.  He’s already doing what I expect a LOT of pundits to do, compare them to the 1972 Miami Dolphins even though the season’s not over.  He thinks what the Patriots have done is more special than the Dolphins because of the parity rules that exist today that didn’t then.

That’s garbage.

To put it in my perspective, there are several things substantially different than the parity rule that have to be taken into consideration.  Now, the big difference that he cites, the parity thing, only applies when drafting.  It doesn’t apply to free-agency and all that.  What set the Patriots over the top this year was Randy Moss joining the Patriots just to win something big.  That’s not the parity Don Banks speaks of.  What that means is next year the Patriots won’t be able to draft very high.  So, what happens is teams stock up on talent just to win something big, and then implode over the next few years.  Where are the 49′ers now?  Where are the Rams now? For that matter, where are the Bears?  That didn’t happen in 1972.  Players stuck with teams for the most part.  Teams groomed them until they peaked.  What was the blockbuster trade that set the ‘72 Dolphins over the top?  There wasn’t one.

Secondly, the 72 Dolphins and the 07 Patriots both played in otherwise extremely weak divisions.  I think Don Banks could have spent a little more time focusing on that fact than tearing down the 72 Dolphins to prop up the Pats. 

And, there were fewer teams which meant the top tier talent wasn’t nearly as diluted as it is today.  When a team is solid top to bottom, as both of the undefeateds are, then what they do is exploit the other team’s weaknesses.  With 20% more teams today, it can be argued there are more than likely 20% more vulnerabilities.

I don’t buy this parity rule meaning squat.  Look at the Bengals and 49′ers.  What good has parity done them?  The Bengals have had top draft picks for a decade and it hasn’t done them squat.  The Patriots have had no top draft picks.  They just recruit experienced players not happy where they’re at.  Parity squarity.

If the Patriots finish it out, they’ll be considered a great team.  They’ll be put on the same pedestal as the Dolphins.  That in absolutely no way at all diminished what the Dolphins accomplished.

And if they don’t win out, they’ll be forgotten in ten years and this entire issue rendered moot.

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Dec-29-07

Rocker

posted by Moonage

Gearing up for new year’s, here’s probably my favorite ACDC video:

If this don’t get ya in the mood to party, nothing will!

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Meagan Harper

What’s so remarkable about this babe you ask?  Well, this one’s not going in Pavlov’s, it’s going in mythbusters for one reason and one reason only.  She was arrested outside a pizza joint for blowing, drum roll please, .55.  You heard that right, point five five.  Now, according to the Blood Alcohol Content Calculator, if she weighed 100 pounds, which is the lowest it will go, she would have had to have drunk 8 margaritas in one hour to acheive a BAC of .36.  Using that math, which is the best I could find, she must have drunk about 12.  Their summary of her status pretty well sums it up:

Illegal everywhere; may need medical attention

I think they need to toss in psychiatric attention as well.  Meagan is suicidal.  If nothing else, use the psychiatric angle to get her off the streets.  She passed out IN HER CAR.


Quickie uodate:  The Smoking Gun finds out the neatest stuff on people.  For instance, Meagan apparently was semi-sorta-famous around 1993 or so.  Here she is appearing in Briooks and Dunns’ Rock My World  (Little Country Girl):

Now, I could have simply just mentioned it, but I couldn’t believe what she looked like then. And for that matter, what she looks like now immediately post a .55 bender. Therefore, Meagan has worked her way back into the Pavlov category FOR SURE!

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Dec-24-07

Merry Christmas!

posted by Moonage

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From our family to yours.  Merry Chistmas everyone!

( That is Moonlet’s own personal tree he decorated this year.  )

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Dec-18-07

U23D

posted by Moonage

This looks gimmicky but in a very fun way.  Has a band ever made more movies than U2?  Anyways, they’ve made yet another one.  This one was filmed in digital 3D.  What little I have had the opportunity of seeing digital 3D has been very cool.  They even made a widget to promote it:

Just curious tho.  How long as National Geographic been in music promotion?

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Dec-17-07

John Travolta gets kicked out of Dallas?

posted by Moonage

I just read that John Travolta won’t be in the blockbuster movie remake of “Dallas”.  Now, there are several rumors as to why this happened.  But, I just gotta wonder what these people were thinking in the first place.  I mean, we’re talking DALLAS here.  That’s in the South.  That’s in the DEEP SOUTH.  Now, I kinda live in the South.  Definitely not the DEEP SOUTH.  I have a country twang.  In Dallas they have a crawl.  They don’t really talk like Dubya.  It’s usually slower, deeper, and has a certain sound to it that just doesn’t sound anything like someone living in Englewood, New Jersey.  You will never hear anything from a white boy sounding anything like “Yo, Kotter!’ in Dallas.  It may happen, but they disappear shortly after it does.  So, I just can’t see how they could hope to pull off having someone from New Jersey faking a Texas accent and style.  So, they gave up when people from some place near Texas said it wasn’t working.  Smart move.  Who do they mention next?  Ben Stiller.  Wanna guess where Ben’s from?  Try New Yahk, New Yahk.  I can see him pulling this off even less likely than John couldn’t.

Clue here folks at whatever studio, get someone from the South that sounds like Fred Thompson.  OK?  It makes the rest of the movie tolerable.  Folks in the South HATE people from New England faking it.  Trust me.  We really do.

The rest of the cast that’s left wasn’t too awful bad.  Shirley MacLaine’s from Richmond, Virginia.  I’m sure that didn’t last too long.  But, once it’s in ya, it stays.  Luke Wilson just looks and acts Southern all the time.  So he was cool.  Jennifer Lopez probably didn’t fly too well being from the Bronx and all.  But, she’s out too apparently.

So, they pretty much gave up on the serious effort of making a movie about Texas with no Southerners and have decided it needs to be a side-splitting comedy.  Sounds like a joke to me already.

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Dec-16-07

Today’s creation

posted by Moonage

I just how these people abuse the word “creation”.  Here’s today’s sampling:
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Not sure exactly what it’s supposed to be.  Kinda looks like a striptease to me. 

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The Little Drummer Boy is a Christmas carol about a poor boy who can’t afford a gift for the infant Jesus.  So, he does the only thing he knows to do, he plays his drum.  Now, anyone that’s dealt with infants knows that repetitive noises and such will usually get an infant’s ear.  However, being a newborn, it’s kinda stretching it to imagine the newborn king smiling in approval to the Little Drummer Boy.

Now, The Little Drummer Boy is not an old song either.  Basically penned around 1941 or so, it’s origins are debatable.  However, there is an old Czech carol that is very similar, but has a different plotline.  The Trapp Family ( remember The Sound of Music? ) recorded a version of the Czech version, called Carol of the Drum, that seemed to be the modern version of Little Drummer Boy.  The only difference being the ox and ass kept time, I kinda like that better than the ox and lamb.

Now, the tale of the poor little boy who had nothing material to give to the infant who had no clue who he was has morphed into full 21st century US materialism.  This is one of my favoritest carols so I’m posting my two favorite videos.  First, naturally, is the Bing Crosby/ David Bowie duet of 1977.  Although panned and pretty much ignored in 1977, it’s held on to become a Christmas staple:

And, with the advent of massive amounts of bandwidth and disc space being readily available, we have the newest addition. A viral video featuring my favorite version of Little Drummer Boy as done by Bob Seger:

Amazing what a good song will lead to, huh? No matter the surrounding, no matter the environment, no matter who’s singing it, a beautiful song always sticks out.

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Dec-11-07

Amazingly absurd speculation of the day

posted by Moonage

Cam Cameron is supposedly on the short list of possible coaches to fill the vacant Michigan football coach.  Currently Cameron is coaching the “professional” NFL Miami Dolphins.  To put how absurd all this is, Cameron took a Miami Dolphins team that went 6-10 last year, and to date this year, has not won one single game.  None.  Nada.  Not even close of late.  As the season has progressed, they’ve gotten much, much, worse.  His previous head coaching position was with Indiana University.  I remember those lofty days.  Kentucky actually beat them with regularity to put it in perspective.  He went 18-37 while there.  That puts his career coaching win percentage at about 26%.  That’s beyond bad.  That’s beyond sucking.  That’s unbelievable.

Now, where it gets absurd?  Cameron says he’s not interested.  He’s happy where he is.

Clue here Cam, you’re not going to be there very long.  Second clue, head coaching is not your best gig.

Whew.

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Dec-10-07

Ronald’s lovin it!

posted by Moonage