The past few weeks, I had been realizing that the "new" music I had been getting wasn't really so new at all. The last four CD's I've downloaded have been by (in order) Green Day, Steve Earle, Rob Thomas, and Pearl Jam. Great music, no doubt; anyone who's read my tweets or Facebook statuses recently knows how much I've enjoyed listening to these albums, especially Green Day's 21st Century Breakdown, (an INSTANT classic, in my opinion) and Pearl Jam's Backspacer, by far their best studio effort since 1998's Yield. But the problem was that I realized I hadn't really heard or purchased any music by a newer band in the last three or four years.
The last round of "new" bands I really got into was a few years ago, when I went crazy on nu-metal and the last vestiges of grunge clone bands like Seether, Three Days Grace, Saliva, Breaking Benjamin and Disturbed. This bothered me, mainly because I always swore that I would never, ever, turn into one of those old farts that stopped exploring new music. The problem is, MTV doesn't play videos at all anymore, Nashville has very few choices in rock radio, and I had virtually stopped reading music publications. The only place I ever hear any newer music is on late-nite TV, and to be honest I hadn't heard much lately that was memorable enough to really etch itself into my psyche. Was I now doomed to repeat the sins of the generations that came before, who one day decided that all music that came out after a certain era was crap? I was determined NOT to make this so!
So via the web, mostly from suggestions and mentions by friends on Twitter, I went in search of new music. I pulled together samples of friends' mp3 collections, listened to samples on iTunes and Amazon, and searched playlist.com and blip.fm. I scoured every available source for some new music that would move me the way Led Zeppelin, Kiss, Motley Crue, Metallica and Pearl Jam (along with countless other bands) had done before. What I found was interesting, to say the least. Here are the bands I checked out, and my resulting opinions of each:
Kings of Leon: I had heard these guys a few times on the radio. They are a local Nashville band, so they do get love on radio here a little bit. Though not my favorite out of the bands I checked out, I do like them. "California Waiting" is a freaking AWESOME song. The rest of the stuff I heard was hit-and-miss, the lazy vocal style not really appealing to me on a consistent basis, but definitely worth getting on iTunes and downloading some selected songs. Overall: good, decent, listenable rock and roll.
Silversun Pickups: this band took some getting used to. The way a lot of their songs start out, it kind of sounds like they are going to start rocking the fuck out at any moment, but it rarely happens. Kind of a letdown, but as I listened to it more, I warmed up. Not bad. I'll keep listening and see what happens, I still haven't made up my mind completely.
Franz Ferdinand: I heard this band perform "No You Girls" on Letterman, and I liked it, so I decided to investigate further. Then I found out they had done the song "Take Me Out," which I had heard on pop radio, and I liked that one too, so I went even deeper. The verdict? Those are really the only two songs I could find that I liked. They remind me too much of an 80's New Wave band, and I never liked that kind of music much. I got those two songs, and for now, that's enough.
Animal Collective: I read about this band in Rolling Stone, as I recall in a glowing album review. Words can't express my disappointment with this group. Really, I've been listening to rock and pop music since I was four or five years old, and this is some of the most unappealing, boring crap I've ever heard. I'm not sure what this is supposed to be. Music to slit your wrists by?? Total and complete garbage. I'm sorry, if you like this band that's your right, but I don't get this at all!
Cage the Elephant: YAHTZEE! Finally, some good, driving, noisy rock and roll! That's what I'm talking about! I saw this band on Letterman too, and I had already downloaded their hit "There Ain't No Rest For The Wicked" a couple of months ago, and I remember the frantic, siezure-like stage antics of their lead singer, so I really wasn't sure what to expect from hearing more tracks. I'm pleased to announce that just about the entire CD is just as good! These guys are a nice blend of 60's blues-rock with just a bit of hip-hop and New Wave wierdness sprinkled in, and I fell totally in love with their sound. Bottom line? They ROCK, dude!! And that, to me, is what it's really all about!
So goes my new music experiment..so far. I plan on checking out some more new tunes in the very near future, I'll post my thoughts on those as time allows. I'm out for now.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Mortality Bites
Life has been so hectic the past several weeks, I hadn't noticed the calendar all that much. Oh, I look at the calendar 20-30 times a day; when you work in a manufacturing plant that produces dated goods, your professional life pretty much revolves around pack dates, ship dates and invoice dates. However, I normally just glance at it and find the date I am seeking to fill in a cell on a spreadsheet, insert to a document or write in an e-mail. I rarely stop and think about what the date is, what time of year it is, or how the dates in front of me will impact my life on a personal level.
But the other day, a co-worker reminded me - quite gleefully, I might add! - that I was going to be a "member of the club" soon. It took me a second, then I realized what she was talking about: I'd be turning 40 in a mere 7 days. And I had completely forgotten about that fact.
Not that it bothers me so much to turn 40. I still feel pretty good physically. I have an exceptional amount of energy for someone who rarely sleeps and exercises even more rarely (thanks caffeine!), and having a 4-year-old, and addictions rock music and video games keeps me young in spirit as well. I've heard people say that 30's the new 20, so maybe 40's the new 30 too.
I'm also happier now than I've ever been in my life. I have a great family, a good job, a beautiful home, a cheaper version of my dream car and money in the bank. More important than any of the material things, though, is my sense of comfort with myself. I don't have a lot of real friends outside of the confines of online social networking, and I'm fine with that. I'm too busy to spend any time with them anyway. I don't care what people think about me anymore, either; I wasted a lot of years stressing about pleasing others, but as long as my family and my boss are happy with me, then nothing else really matters.
But as I got to thinking more about this fast-approaching milestone, I realized that there was one thing that does, indeed, make me feel kind of old and depressed: all the good people I've known and loved in my life that haven't made it to this milestone with me.
Obviously, my parents are at the top of the list. Most of the 40-year-olds I know still have two living parents. But my folks were already in their 40's by the time I came along, and they were called home before I got to this point. I think about them every day, and I miss them badly every day. Not having them around, even to talk to via long distance on a Sunday night, has left a huge void in my life that I will never be able to fill.
Then, there are those really special friends I have lost, and like my parents, I think about them most every day. People like Gary Flintom, a friend and former bandmate whom I loved like a brother, who died after losing a brave battle with cancer several years ago; Caylon Roach, one of my best friends in high school, and one of the funniest people I've ever met in my life, who died suddenly of complications from sleep apnea; and Wesley Fish, one of the only people I ever hung out with for an extended period of time that I never once saw in a bad mood, which made it even harder to swallow the fact that he had taken his own life. Gary, Caylon and Wesley were people I was extremely close to at different points in my life, and I will always treasure the time I was able to spend with them.
And then there are those who simply passed through my life for short periods of time, but still managed to make an impact on me: Rocky Horton, Juan Munoz, Randy Smith, and Daryl Ritch, just to name a few. Though I would not call any of these guys anything more than acquaintances, I knew all of them, liked them, and they all died far too young.
So I realized that as I approach 40, the list of people I know who have died is rapidly growing, forcing me to confront my own mortality. As you get older, you begin to realize just how short our time on Earth really is. You've got to treasure every moment you have with your friends and family; we always say that, but sometimes life gets busy and we have to give ourselves a reality check to that fact. I want to watch my son grow up and have a family of his own, but there is no guarantee that I will be able to do that. So I'm making a conscious effort now to spend as much time with the people I love as I can. And I want to let every one of my friends know right now that I love each and every one of you and I'm a better person for having had you in my life. No matter that we may live thousands of miles apart, live completely different lifestyles or have vastly different worldviews; you guys ROCK!!
Happy Birthday to me!!
But the other day, a co-worker reminded me - quite gleefully, I might add! - that I was going to be a "member of the club" soon. It took me a second, then I realized what she was talking about: I'd be turning 40 in a mere 7 days. And I had completely forgotten about that fact.
Not that it bothers me so much to turn 40. I still feel pretty good physically. I have an exceptional amount of energy for someone who rarely sleeps and exercises even more rarely (thanks caffeine!), and having a 4-year-old, and addictions rock music and video games keeps me young in spirit as well. I've heard people say that 30's the new 20, so maybe 40's the new 30 too.
I'm also happier now than I've ever been in my life. I have a great family, a good job, a beautiful home, a cheaper version of my dream car and money in the bank. More important than any of the material things, though, is my sense of comfort with myself. I don't have a lot of real friends outside of the confines of online social networking, and I'm fine with that. I'm too busy to spend any time with them anyway. I don't care what people think about me anymore, either; I wasted a lot of years stressing about pleasing others, but as long as my family and my boss are happy with me, then nothing else really matters.
But as I got to thinking more about this fast-approaching milestone, I realized that there was one thing that does, indeed, make me feel kind of old and depressed: all the good people I've known and loved in my life that haven't made it to this milestone with me.
Obviously, my parents are at the top of the list. Most of the 40-year-olds I know still have two living parents. But my folks were already in their 40's by the time I came along, and they were called home before I got to this point. I think about them every day, and I miss them badly every day. Not having them around, even to talk to via long distance on a Sunday night, has left a huge void in my life that I will never be able to fill.
Then, there are those really special friends I have lost, and like my parents, I think about them most every day. People like Gary Flintom, a friend and former bandmate whom I loved like a brother, who died after losing a brave battle with cancer several years ago; Caylon Roach, one of my best friends in high school, and one of the funniest people I've ever met in my life, who died suddenly of complications from sleep apnea; and Wesley Fish, one of the only people I ever hung out with for an extended period of time that I never once saw in a bad mood, which made it even harder to swallow the fact that he had taken his own life. Gary, Caylon and Wesley were people I was extremely close to at different points in my life, and I will always treasure the time I was able to spend with them.
And then there are those who simply passed through my life for short periods of time, but still managed to make an impact on me: Rocky Horton, Juan Munoz, Randy Smith, and Daryl Ritch, just to name a few. Though I would not call any of these guys anything more than acquaintances, I knew all of them, liked them, and they all died far too young.
So I realized that as I approach 40, the list of people I know who have died is rapidly growing, forcing me to confront my own mortality. As you get older, you begin to realize just how short our time on Earth really is. You've got to treasure every moment you have with your friends and family; we always say that, but sometimes life gets busy and we have to give ourselves a reality check to that fact. I want to watch my son grow up and have a family of his own, but there is no guarantee that I will be able to do that. So I'm making a conscious effort now to spend as much time with the people I love as I can. And I want to let every one of my friends know right now that I love each and every one of you and I'm a better person for having had you in my life. No matter that we may live thousands of miles apart, live completely different lifestyles or have vastly different worldviews; you guys ROCK!!
Happy Birthday to me!!
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Murfreesboro Tornado
(I pulled this over from another blog of mine. This was originally posted on 4/12/09)
At around 12:30 PM on Good Friday, April 10, 2009, the city of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, a college town of just over 100,000 southeast of Nashville, was hit with a devastating EF-3 tornado. Most severely affected were the middle-class neighborhoods of Blackman and Ravenwood, on the northwest side of the city. To put this in perspective of the proximity to my home, I live in the southern tip of Smyrna, just north of Murfreesboro; in fact, I often joke that I "live in Smyrna, but I can walk out the back door and take a p*** in Murfreesboro!" In other words, the path of this terrible storm was literally just a few short miles from my home.
More than 40 people were injured, and two were killed: Kori Bryant, a young mother in her 20's, and her nine-week old daughter Olivia were found a short distance from their Ravenwood home, apparently having tried to get to their car to escape the storm (Olivia's body was found strapped into her car seat). The father is critically injured in a local hospital with a broken back and most likely will never walk again. Dozens of others sustained minor injuries, and the last I heard, there were still 4-5 people listed in critical condition.
Over 100 homes were either destroyed or heavily damaged. One 1,800-square-foot house was lifted into the air and dropped directly on top of a neighboring home. A brand-new office building was destroyed and semi trailers were flipped on their tops and sides in the NW Broad / Thompson Lane area. Hundred-year-old oak trees were reduced to mere kindling. Cars were tossed about like Matchbox toys, and power poles were snapped like toothpicks. It was a scene of utter chaos seldom seen in this area, and nothing like Middle Tennessee has experienced since the Gallatin (north of Nashville) tornado of 2006.
The entire area was shaken to its core, and that includes those of us lucky enough to be located out of the direct path of the storm. This hit a little too close to home for all of us in Rutherford County, no matter what part of it in which we live. Just about anyone who is lucky enough to call this place home will tell you, these are some of the absolute finest people you will ever meet, anywhere, and Murfreesboro is one of the best towns of its size in America. Having gotten to know these people, driven these streets and called this area home for the past four years, the events of Good Friday 2009 will forever haunt me.
But there has been a positive side to this tragedy as well. It has been totally amazing to me how this community has pulled together in the midst of this disaster. As one would expect, many, many victims were interviewed in the aftermath of the storm by local Nashville news stations, and I do not recall once - not ONCE - anyone bemoaning the loss of their material belongings. What I heard was gratitude, and a feeling that they were extremely fortunate to have not lost their families' and friends' lives to the storm. From the stories I have heard, volunteers were in the areas almost immediately after the storm was over, helping the victims to salvage what they could from their demolished homes. Despite warnings from the Murfreesboro police to be wary of profiteers and looters, and to the general public to refrain from sightseeing, it has turned out that most of the traffic streaming into the Boro has not been crooks or rubbernecks; they are just people, trying to find a way to help out wherever they can, be it with debris removal, bringing food and water, or just running errands for the victims. It has just been an amazing thing to witness, and it has gone a very long way to restoring this cynic's faith in his fellow man.
I am so proud to be a part of this great community. The people of Rutherford County took me in as one of their own four years ago, and they have always made us feel right at home here. I can't say at this point that I will never leave, but I have absolutely no desire at this time to ever live anywhere else. This is one of the best places to live in America, period. And these people here, well...they are just amazing. And before I start blubbering like a little girl, I will just leave it at that!
Murfreesboro is already well on its way to recovery, but help is still needed. Please go to www.midtnredcross.org and make a donation to help our community. With the realization that times are tough for many right now, any donation - no matter how small - will help make a difference.
At around 12:30 PM on Good Friday, April 10, 2009, the city of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, a college town of just over 100,000 southeast of Nashville, was hit with a devastating EF-3 tornado. Most severely affected were the middle-class neighborhoods of Blackman and Ravenwood, on the northwest side of the city. To put this in perspective of the proximity to my home, I live in the southern tip of Smyrna, just north of Murfreesboro; in fact, I often joke that I "live in Smyrna, but I can walk out the back door and take a p*** in Murfreesboro!" In other words, the path of this terrible storm was literally just a few short miles from my home.
More than 40 people were injured, and two were killed: Kori Bryant, a young mother in her 20's, and her nine-week old daughter Olivia were found a short distance from their Ravenwood home, apparently having tried to get to their car to escape the storm (Olivia's body was found strapped into her car seat). The father is critically injured in a local hospital with a broken back and most likely will never walk again. Dozens of others sustained minor injuries, and the last I heard, there were still 4-5 people listed in critical condition.
Over 100 homes were either destroyed or heavily damaged. One 1,800-square-foot house was lifted into the air and dropped directly on top of a neighboring home. A brand-new office building was destroyed and semi trailers were flipped on their tops and sides in the NW Broad / Thompson Lane area. Hundred-year-old oak trees were reduced to mere kindling. Cars were tossed about like Matchbox toys, and power poles were snapped like toothpicks. It was a scene of utter chaos seldom seen in this area, and nothing like Middle Tennessee has experienced since the Gallatin (north of Nashville) tornado of 2006.
The entire area was shaken to its core, and that includes those of us lucky enough to be located out of the direct path of the storm. This hit a little too close to home for all of us in Rutherford County, no matter what part of it in which we live. Just about anyone who is lucky enough to call this place home will tell you, these are some of the absolute finest people you will ever meet, anywhere, and Murfreesboro is one of the best towns of its size in America. Having gotten to know these people, driven these streets and called this area home for the past four years, the events of Good Friday 2009 will forever haunt me.
But there has been a positive side to this tragedy as well. It has been totally amazing to me how this community has pulled together in the midst of this disaster. As one would expect, many, many victims were interviewed in the aftermath of the storm by local Nashville news stations, and I do not recall once - not ONCE - anyone bemoaning the loss of their material belongings. What I heard was gratitude, and a feeling that they were extremely fortunate to have not lost their families' and friends' lives to the storm. From the stories I have heard, volunteers were in the areas almost immediately after the storm was over, helping the victims to salvage what they could from their demolished homes. Despite warnings from the Murfreesboro police to be wary of profiteers and looters, and to the general public to refrain from sightseeing, it has turned out that most of the traffic streaming into the Boro has not been crooks or rubbernecks; they are just people, trying to find a way to help out wherever they can, be it with debris removal, bringing food and water, or just running errands for the victims. It has just been an amazing thing to witness, and it has gone a very long way to restoring this cynic's faith in his fellow man.
I am so proud to be a part of this great community. The people of Rutherford County took me in as one of their own four years ago, and they have always made us feel right at home here. I can't say at this point that I will never leave, but I have absolutely no desire at this time to ever live anywhere else. This is one of the best places to live in America, period. And these people here, well...they are just amazing. And before I start blubbering like a little girl, I will just leave it at that!
Murfreesboro is already well on its way to recovery, but help is still needed. Please go to www.midtnredcross.org and make a donation to help our community. With the realization that times are tough for many right now, any donation - no matter how small - will help make a difference.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
The Cutler Conundrum
For anyone who even casually follows sports, you have by now no doubt heard about the drama going on between the Denver Broncos and their QB Jay Cutler. To summarize the situation for those of you who may not have heard, the Broncos' new head coach Josh McDaniels, a former assistant under Bill Belichick in New England, attempted to make a play for former Patriots' QB Matt Cassel using Cutler as trade bait. Cutler, who despite a losing record as a starter (mostly due to the Broncos' GHASTLY defense), is generally regarded as one of the elite young QB's in the NFL, took exception to this attempt to trade him away and has been publicly bashing his team's management since.
It all came to a head yesterday (ironically on April Fool's Day) when the Broncos formally announced that they were seeking to trade Cutler and that the price was two first-round draft picks. A steep price, to be sure, but in this age of overpriced rookie busts, it seems fairly reasonable for a franchise-type quarterback that has already proven his Pro Bowl ability. Teams rumored to be in the mix for Cutler are the Redksins (of course), Jets, Panthers, Bears, Lions and Buccaneers. Actually, you could probably throw just about every team in the NFL (except for maybe the Colts and Patriots) into the mix - Cutler is that good.
Now, Cutler has thrown another monkey wrench into the process. At last night's UFC event in Nashville, he told an ESPN reporter that he was surprised about yesterday's announcement from the Broncos and that he never really wanted to be traded. What?! He was quoted, on the record, as telling ESPN's Chris Mortensen on March 16th that he was going to instruct his agent to formally request a trade out of Denver. Now he suddenly "likes his teammates, wants to stay in Denver and is surprised by the announcement." I'm beginning to think that Jay Cutler may not be a spoiled crybaby like I originally thought....he might just be nuts!!
Now, having said that, I am going to take a position on this that might prove unpopular, but as a fan of the game and someone who understands just how vital a Pro Bowl quarterback is to a team's success, I'm still going to lay the blame for this mess at the feet of the Broncos' management. Though Cutler is suddenly becoming the league's biggest diva this side of T.O., the team's owner and coach are the ones who set the wheels in motion for this....DUMPSTER FIRE, and I think that trading Cutler away is something that will haunt this franchise for years, possibly DECADES to come.
The Broncos' first mistake is pretty obvious to me, and that was firing head coach Mike Shanahan at the end of last season. A Super Bowl winner and a coach who is generally regarded around the NFL as an offensive genius, Shanahan was extremely close to Cutler and knew how to push the right buttons to get the best out of his young quarterback. However, after last year's late-season collapse, caused mostly by their horrendous defense, some bad officiating and a lot of bad luck, owner Pat Bowlen needed a fall guy, and that was Shanahan. At that time, Cutler expressed shock and disappointment and gave us the first signs of the impending meltdown, but nobody paid much attention to it at the time.
The Broncos' second mistake was hiring 32-year-old Josh McDaniels, formerly the Patriots' offensive coordinator, to replace Shanahan. History has proven that, while Bill Belichick may be a great head coach, his assistants - Charlie Weis, Romeo Crennell, Eric Mangini - have not had much success, not to mention McDaniels' young age and lack of experience as an assistant. This was just a bad hire, and I'm still not sure exactly what Pat Bowlen was thinking. However, the fact that the Patriots were able to go 11-5 with a backup QB (Cassel) that had not started a game since high school caused McDaniels' stock to soar, and Bowlen bought into it. Huge mistake, in my opinion.
Third mistake: trying to trade for Matt Cassel. This is on McDaniels. You walk into your first-ever head coaching job with all of the pieces in place to have a brilliant offense - except for a true starter at running back - and immediately try and make a deal for Cassel? I don't get this at all. I understand McDaniels' familiarity and comfort level with Cassel, but I just don't understand the logic behind trading away a legitimate starter for someone who may turn out to be a one-year wonder when taken away from the talented Patriots. And the worst thing about it was that the Broncos didn't tell Cutler what they were up to, and reportedly lied to him when he initially confronted them about it. This is not how men treat each other. They should have told Cutler what they were doing from the get-go and they should never have lied about it. I don't blame Cutler at all for being angry about it.
The biggest mistake the Broncos made, however, was handling the fallout. A lot of people would probably disagree with me on this, but I really think they should have fallen all over themselves and gone out of their way to make him feel wanted; they didn't. I understand that Cutler is acting childish and coming off as a spoiled brat...I get that. But sometimes, you have to make exceptions for exceptional talent. Its a brutal fact of life that not everyone is gets treated the same. Whether it is in the business world, politics, entertainment or sports, the best and the brightest usually get special treatment, because most of the people in charge realize that if you want to keep the top-level talent, you have to be willing to make reasonable concessions to them on occasion in order to stroke their massive egos. The Broncos refused to accept this reality, and now it is going to bite them. All they had to do was reach out and put an assuring arm around Cutler, apologize to him and let him know that he was their guy, and they failed to do that. Instead, McDaniels took the gruff, Belichick-esque tough-guy stance and say that he had no intention of trading Cutler, and that expected him to be their QB this year. By the time he got around to offering any type of regret or reassurance - which came off as grudgingly - the relationship was too far gone.
Now we are left with this mess. If I'm a Broncos fan, I'm wondering what the hell just happened. Five months ago, we're three games ahead of the Chargers in the AFC West, we have Mike Shanahan on the sideline and Jay Cutler under center; all we need are some missing pieces on the defense and the future looks bright. Then the collapse, the firing of Shanahan and the impending trade of Cutler, and this suddenly looks like a 3-13 team. This should never have happened. The people in Denver are some of the league's best fans and they deserve better. And when the Broncos struggle mightily just to compete in the woeful West for the next 10 years, the fans will have only Pat Bowlen and Josh McDaniels to blame.
It all came to a head yesterday (ironically on April Fool's Day) when the Broncos formally announced that they were seeking to trade Cutler and that the price was two first-round draft picks. A steep price, to be sure, but in this age of overpriced rookie busts, it seems fairly reasonable for a franchise-type quarterback that has already proven his Pro Bowl ability. Teams rumored to be in the mix for Cutler are the Redksins (of course), Jets, Panthers, Bears, Lions and Buccaneers. Actually, you could probably throw just about every team in the NFL (except for maybe the Colts and Patriots) into the mix - Cutler is that good.
Now, Cutler has thrown another monkey wrench into the process. At last night's UFC event in Nashville, he told an ESPN reporter that he was surprised about yesterday's announcement from the Broncos and that he never really wanted to be traded. What?! He was quoted, on the record, as telling ESPN's Chris Mortensen on March 16th that he was going to instruct his agent to formally request a trade out of Denver. Now he suddenly "likes his teammates, wants to stay in Denver and is surprised by the announcement." I'm beginning to think that Jay Cutler may not be a spoiled crybaby like I originally thought....he might just be nuts!!
Now, having said that, I am going to take a position on this that might prove unpopular, but as a fan of the game and someone who understands just how vital a Pro Bowl quarterback is to a team's success, I'm still going to lay the blame for this mess at the feet of the Broncos' management. Though Cutler is suddenly becoming the league's biggest diva this side of T.O., the team's owner and coach are the ones who set the wheels in motion for this....DUMPSTER FIRE, and I think that trading Cutler away is something that will haunt this franchise for years, possibly DECADES to come.
The Broncos' first mistake is pretty obvious to me, and that was firing head coach Mike Shanahan at the end of last season. A Super Bowl winner and a coach who is generally regarded around the NFL as an offensive genius, Shanahan was extremely close to Cutler and knew how to push the right buttons to get the best out of his young quarterback. However, after last year's late-season collapse, caused mostly by their horrendous defense, some bad officiating and a lot of bad luck, owner Pat Bowlen needed a fall guy, and that was Shanahan. At that time, Cutler expressed shock and disappointment and gave us the first signs of the impending meltdown, but nobody paid much attention to it at the time.
The Broncos' second mistake was hiring 32-year-old Josh McDaniels, formerly the Patriots' offensive coordinator, to replace Shanahan. History has proven that, while Bill Belichick may be a great head coach, his assistants - Charlie Weis, Romeo Crennell, Eric Mangini - have not had much success, not to mention McDaniels' young age and lack of experience as an assistant. This was just a bad hire, and I'm still not sure exactly what Pat Bowlen was thinking. However, the fact that the Patriots were able to go 11-5 with a backup QB (Cassel) that had not started a game since high school caused McDaniels' stock to soar, and Bowlen bought into it. Huge mistake, in my opinion.
Third mistake: trying to trade for Matt Cassel. This is on McDaniels. You walk into your first-ever head coaching job with all of the pieces in place to have a brilliant offense - except for a true starter at running back - and immediately try and make a deal for Cassel? I don't get this at all. I understand McDaniels' familiarity and comfort level with Cassel, but I just don't understand the logic behind trading away a legitimate starter for someone who may turn out to be a one-year wonder when taken away from the talented Patriots. And the worst thing about it was that the Broncos didn't tell Cutler what they were up to, and reportedly lied to him when he initially confronted them about it. This is not how men treat each other. They should have told Cutler what they were doing from the get-go and they should never have lied about it. I don't blame Cutler at all for being angry about it.
The biggest mistake the Broncos made, however, was handling the fallout. A lot of people would probably disagree with me on this, but I really think they should have fallen all over themselves and gone out of their way to make him feel wanted; they didn't. I understand that Cutler is acting childish and coming off as a spoiled brat...I get that. But sometimes, you have to make exceptions for exceptional talent. Its a brutal fact of life that not everyone is gets treated the same. Whether it is in the business world, politics, entertainment or sports, the best and the brightest usually get special treatment, because most of the people in charge realize that if you want to keep the top-level talent, you have to be willing to make reasonable concessions to them on occasion in order to stroke their massive egos. The Broncos refused to accept this reality, and now it is going to bite them. All they had to do was reach out and put an assuring arm around Cutler, apologize to him and let him know that he was their guy, and they failed to do that. Instead, McDaniels took the gruff, Belichick-esque tough-guy stance and say that he had no intention of trading Cutler, and that expected him to be their QB this year. By the time he got around to offering any type of regret or reassurance - which came off as grudgingly - the relationship was too far gone.
Now we are left with this mess. If I'm a Broncos fan, I'm wondering what the hell just happened. Five months ago, we're three games ahead of the Chargers in the AFC West, we have Mike Shanahan on the sideline and Jay Cutler under center; all we need are some missing pieces on the defense and the future looks bright. Then the collapse, the firing of Shanahan and the impending trade of Cutler, and this suddenly looks like a 3-13 team. This should never have happened. The people in Denver are some of the league's best fans and they deserve better. And when the Broncos struggle mightily just to compete in the woeful West for the next 10 years, the fans will have only Pat Bowlen and Josh McDaniels to blame.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Alex Rodriguez
Is anybody but me getting sick of the whole A-Rod/steroid "scandal?" At this point, the most you're going to get out of me over hearing that a modern-era baseball player has used performance-enhancing drugs is a big, fat YAWN! I am honestly more surprised to hear that a modern baseballer has NOT used steroids or HGH in his career!
And, oh, the SANCTIMONY I am hearing!! It was bad enough that MLB commish Bud Selig stated that A-Rod had "shamed" the game - this from a man who STOOD BY and reaped the financial whirlwind of the long ball battles that the steroid era brought us, all the while refusing to stand up to the players' union and institute SOME type of random drug testing until a very short time ago. But the talk radio pundits, bloggers and columnists are just making me physically ill with all the self-righteous nonsense they keep hurling at A-Rod. Case in point: one day, syndicated talk show host Jim Rome calls on Rodriguez to come clean, admit it and move on. After A-Rod did so, the very next day, Rome questioned his sincerity, and said he thought it sounded more like "A-Rod's not sorry; he's just sorry he got caught!" WHAT?! Jim Rome, while extremely entertaining and generally really good at what he does is a WEASEL and a HYPOCRITE (anyone remember the "Chris Everett" incident)? Since when did sports talk hosts and columnists become the moral friggin' yardstick of our society?? Give me a break!
Look, A-Rod cheated. I get it. He lied about it, right to Katie Couric's face. I get that, too. But it's pretty apparent that an entire era of baseball is deserving of having a giant asterisk placed beside it, and A-Rod is part of that era. So we move on. Put it behind us, stop the sanctimony and preaching, and get back to having FUN with our sports. I am sick of this steroid nonsense, and even sicker of a sports media with an ever-increasing God complex!
And, oh, the SANCTIMONY I am hearing!! It was bad enough that MLB commish Bud Selig stated that A-Rod had "shamed" the game - this from a man who STOOD BY and reaped the financial whirlwind of the long ball battles that the steroid era brought us, all the while refusing to stand up to the players' union and institute SOME type of random drug testing until a very short time ago. But the talk radio pundits, bloggers and columnists are just making me physically ill with all the self-righteous nonsense they keep hurling at A-Rod. Case in point: one day, syndicated talk show host Jim Rome calls on Rodriguez to come clean, admit it and move on. After A-Rod did so, the very next day, Rome questioned his sincerity, and said he thought it sounded more like "A-Rod's not sorry; he's just sorry he got caught!" WHAT?! Jim Rome, while extremely entertaining and generally really good at what he does is a WEASEL and a HYPOCRITE (anyone remember the "Chris Everett" incident)? Since when did sports talk hosts and columnists become the moral friggin' yardstick of our society?? Give me a break!
Look, A-Rod cheated. I get it. He lied about it, right to Katie Couric's face. I get that, too. But it's pretty apparent that an entire era of baseball is deserving of having a giant asterisk placed beside it, and A-Rod is part of that era. So we move on. Put it behind us, stop the sanctimony and preaching, and get back to having FUN with our sports. I am sick of this steroid nonsense, and even sicker of a sports media with an ever-increasing God complex!
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
"America's Team"
If you've listened to any sports-talk radio the past couple of days, it seems the hip thing to do now is declare the Pittsburgh Steelers the New America's Team. First of all, let's get some things straight: despite the fact that I am a Dallas Cowboys fan and believe - nay, am convinced - that the NFL as we know it today would not exist without the Cowboys, I have always hated that nickname, and wish that NFL Films and Tex Schramm had never made it up. To be honest, when it comes to NFL football, I actually think there are multiple "America's Teams": the Cowboys, Raiders, (ugh) Redskins, Packers, and yes, the Steelers. The Steelers just happen to be the hot commodity right now.
Now I'm not in any way diminishing what the Steelers have done; right now, today, as of this moment, they are the elite gold standard in pro sports. Uncle. I give. BUT - to call them - as some are suggesting - the greatest pro sports franchise of all time is completely asinine. First of all, it's a dumb subject that is base purely on the opinions of talking heads. Second, all of the gushing about them is making it sound like the rest of the league has been basically trying to catch up with them since the early 70's. Baloney! Do you realize that other than Super Bowl XIV in January of 1980 - which was actually the Super Bowl for the 1979 season - the Steelers did not make a single Super Bowl appearance in the 80's? They only made one in the 90's, Super Bowl XXX following the 1995 season when the AFC was clearly the weaker conference, and they couldn't even get over on the Cowboys in that game with Dallas playing probably their overall worst Super Bowl ever. I remember well that many wondered why Bill Cowher never seemed to be on the hot seat despite his lack of postseason success (not to mention the failed Kordell Stewart experiment). And I never hear any Steeler fans fondly reminisce on the good old days of Cliff Stoudt, Bubby Brister or Neil O'Donnell. The fact is, the Steelers have had their ups and downs just like everyone else, and I'm quite honestly getting nauseated at the way supposedly objective media members are suddenly drooling over them.
Now I'm not in any way diminishing what the Steelers have done; right now, today, as of this moment, they are the elite gold standard in pro sports. Uncle. I give. BUT - to call them - as some are suggesting - the greatest pro sports franchise of all time is completely asinine. First of all, it's a dumb subject that is base purely on the opinions of talking heads. Second, all of the gushing about them is making it sound like the rest of the league has been basically trying to catch up with them since the early 70's. Baloney! Do you realize that other than Super Bowl XIV in January of 1980 - which was actually the Super Bowl for the 1979 season - the Steelers did not make a single Super Bowl appearance in the 80's? They only made one in the 90's, Super Bowl XXX following the 1995 season when the AFC was clearly the weaker conference, and they couldn't even get over on the Cowboys in that game with Dallas playing probably their overall worst Super Bowl ever. I remember well that many wondered why Bill Cowher never seemed to be on the hot seat despite his lack of postseason success (not to mention the failed Kordell Stewart experiment). And I never hear any Steeler fans fondly reminisce on the good old days of Cliff Stoudt, Bubby Brister or Neil O'Donnell. The fact is, the Steelers have had their ups and downs just like everyone else, and I'm quite honestly getting nauseated at the way supposedly objective media members are suddenly drooling over them.
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