Why oh why Joe Maddon did you not pitch to Jason Bay?

I think this month God is trying to tell me to stop watching sports. I don't know how else I could explain the absolute disapointing postseason the Angels rolled out, the 49ers dropping three straigtht after starting 2-1 and looking like they might be ready to make the jump, the UCLA Bruins disaster of a season, Randy Moss destroying my fantasy team and the 0-4 Anaheim Ducks.

I bring this up because last night the Red Sox (from the city that shall not be named) fought back from a 7-0 defecit to defeat the Tampa Bay Rays and send the series back to Tampa. Catherine and Sheri were at my house yesterday and in the sixth inning Sheri said "it's over." Tampa was up 7-0 at the time, and with only 12 outs to play with, she figured that there was no way the Sawx were catching Tampa. I told her, though, "don't say that just yet. This isn't over." And the rest is history. It's not so much that I want Tampa Bay to win (although they are a great story this season) as much as it is I want to see The Red Sox lose. Ugh, I don't even want to get into this.

I'm still feeling sick.. and I have to get ready for a date tonight... Oh my.

Nevermind, I will blog...

After attempting to sleep I realized that it wasn't quite time for me to do so, so here I am for an unprecidented seventh blog this week. I know I said I'd try to write in this more often, but this is ridiculous. Nobody, not even myself, wants to read seven posts about my boring life in the span of a week. Well, maybe Jesus, George Bush, Michael Chertoff, Sarah Palin, and whoever monitors my cell phone and internet at the NSA and CIA offices.

I'm serious about that whole cell phone thing. No joke, ask Sean. We said something about George W. Bush, and within in the week we both had "visits" by government agencies at our respected work sites. Sure, at mine they said they were with the ADA, but they knew my first and last name, and knew to talk to me. Still shady if you ask me. And let me tell you something, if the bogus, sorry ass excuse for National Security known as the Patriot Act exists so government officials can listen to two 18 year old (as we were at the time) kids shoot the breeze, then we need to revoke that funding. Although, if you ask me we should revoke the funding regardless.

My Mom and I took a walk today, and I think she's backing off on her love for Sarah Palin a bit. Maybe I'm getting to her. She also said we might spend Thanksgiving in Vegas.

Speaking of trip's, Frank, Andrew and myself are heading to San Francisco in December to see the 49ers take on the Jets. Well, it's being discussed, but I'm stoked. I'm a huge 49ers fan, and to see them play at home would be amazing. On top of that, to see them take on the Brett Favre led Jets; it just doesn't get better than that.

I'm going to attempt sleep again.

Goodnight

WEEK 3 Picks

i'm tired... so here are the Week 3 picks....sorry, no reasoning...



Kansas City at Atlanta - ATLANTA
Oakland at Buffalo - BUFFALO
Tampa Bay at Chicago - CHICAGO
Houston at Tennessee - HOUSTON
Carolina at Minnesota - MINNESOTA
Miami at New England - NEW ENGLAND
Cincinnati at NY Giants - CINCINNATI
Arizona at Washington - WASHINGTON
Detroit at San Francisco - SAN FRANCISCO
St. Louis at Seattle - SEATTLE
New Orleans at Denver - NEW ORLEANS
Pittsburgh at Philadelphia - PHILADELPHIA
Jacksonville at Indianapolis - INDIANAPOLIS
Cleveland at Baltimore - CLEVELAND
Dallas at Green Bay - DALLAS
NY Jets at San Diego - SAN DIEGO

New Wave

Today was Sean's birthday. Chris and I drove down to Chili's in Corona to celebrate with Sheri and Sean, who showed up an hour or so later. It's nice hanging out with Chris again, we seem to share a lot in common; even if he smokes crazy amounts of weed and listens to 60's rock. It was also nice seeing Sean again as well. Its been about a month since I really even talked to him, and while I completely disagree with his actions and attitude that day, I missed him. I think we keep each other in line, and without each other we both seem to drift off and end up in trouble. I also saw that waitress from Chili's for the first time since our little date experience. I didn't say anything. I wasn't even sure what I should even say. I just drank my vodka and orange juice and watched Sportscenter.
I saw the Dodgers won today... which means we're closer to the possibility of a freeway series. How amazing would that be?
Time to review my week one picks: (My pick in italics)

Tennesse over Cincinnati : I expected more from Carson Palmer, and less from a Vince Young-less Titans team. Sorry Cincy, I give up. You guys ARE a terrible football team.

Green Bay over Detroit: Come on... this was a gimmie.

Oakland over Kansas City: I make no excuses. A mediocre at best Chiefs team should take care of business at home against a terrible Raiders team. It just didn't work out that way.

NY Giants over St. Louis: St. Louis IS that bad. Plain and simple.

Indianapolis over Minnesota: I went with the home team in this match up of good but not great teams. Minnesota threw everything they had at Indy, but in the end Peyton Manning stepped up and did what he does best. I still stand by my pick.

Washington over New Orleans - This shouldn't have happened. How am I supposed to take the Saints serious when they lose to a team like the Deadskins... Ugh.

Carolina over Chicago: Like I said, Chicago has no quarterback.

Buffalo over Jacksonville: Marshaun Lynch scored a touchdown, and the Bills won. Too bad my fantasy team did not =(.

San Francisco over Seattle - Secretly, I thought San Fran would win the game, but I couldn't jinx them. Read my post below this for my thoughts on this game.

Tampa Bay over Atlanta: This was my fault for buying into the Matt Ryan hype and overselling Jeff Garcia. Clearly I didn't think this one through.

New England over NY Jets - Note to Mangenious: you're still not the class of the AFC East. Remember this.

Arizona over Miami: Surprise, surprise.

Denver over San Diego: Look, I shouldn't have won this game at all... but I'll take it. That call against SD at the end was one of the worst calls I have ever seen.

Baltimore at Houston: PPD due to Hurricane Ike

Pittsburgh over Cleveland: The Browns put up a hell of a fight, but The Steelers are just that good.

Dallas over Philadelphia: What a game. I was biting my nails... I needed this game for some sweet redemption.


W-L: 8-7 week; 8-7 overall

later on in the week I'll give my week three predictions...

A Few (Days) Overdue

I know, I know... I'm laggin on the posts. Well here's to making up for all the lost time. Before I begin, within the next couple of days there will be a MEGA version of "Matt's Favorite Albums," instead of five, I'll reveal ten or fifteen to make up for lost time (OMG.) Anyways... some Random Thoughts...

...Lets start with my favorite subject, those Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. I attended Wednesday's Angels/Mets series finale. The Angels took a 4-3 lead into the ninth, only to see all-star closer Francisco Rodriguez cough up the lead, and Justin Speier lose it in the tenth. Rodriguez has only blown two saves this entire season, and I've had the pleasure of being at Angel Stadium when both have happened. Unfortunately Torii Hunter didn't bail him out this time, like he did in May with a walk off grand slam. But I can't complain too much about the Angels, as they're coming off a sweep of the first place Phillies. They were dominant, holding the high scoring (Utley, Howard, Rollins, Burrell) Phillies offense to just five runs. I don't think enough can be said about the job Ervin Santana and Joe Saunders have done this year. And it looks like Vlad Guerrero has finally woke up.

...Another story involving Big Vladdy, my Dad attended some kind of charity auction for his boss, and came home with two pieces of memorabillia. One, for me, was a signed ball from the afformentioned Vlad, and the other a pretty big sized photograph of Mickey Mantle and Joe DiMaggio, autographed. My Dad is a big Yankee fan, but you dont have to be a Yankee fan to admire something like that.

... So like I said, the Celtics would win in six. I pretty much called this series, saying Boston would win both at home, the Lakers would take three and five, sending back to Boston, and the Celtics would take game six. I didn't think, however, that Boston would dominate the way they did. Look I hate the Lakers, but that was even embarassing for me to watch knowing the Lakers are my "hometown" team. And poor Lamar Odom; I'd be shocked to see him wearing yellow and purple come next October. While we're talking about basketball, I'd like to quote Jim Alexander from The Press Enterprise regarding The Los Angeles Clipper's offseason. "Resign Elton Brand, or you might as well move back to Buffalo." (Forgive me, I might have paraphrased that a bit.)

...So to add to my July excitement, which includes new albums from The Alakline Trio and The Street Dogs, plus seeing Kyle, "Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten" will finally be seeing the light of day. What is "The Future is Unwritten?" It's a documentary about the life, and the influence of Joe Strummer the lead singer of The Clash. I've been waiting for this to come out for some time now, and finally on July 8th, it will! Oh, and the first week of August will see "The 59 Sound" by The Gaslight Anthem. Pretty good summer if you ask me.

...For the first time in three years I skipped the Warped Tour. Did I make the right decision? Well I'm certainly not crying over missing The Devil Wears Prada or Boys Like Girls or whoever is on the tour this year. My friend Nicole went, here is a text she sent me: "It was weak. Saw every type of music but punk. Pretty fuckin sad." My thoughts exactly.

...My current addiction: Mario Kart Wii.

... Oh, my sister introduced my friend Ashley to my Mother as "Hannah Montana." She doesn't believe she looks like Hannah, I'll let you decide.

What do you think???? If you look to the right, you will my first ever poll question. The question is "Does Ashley look like Hannah Montana?" Answer away!

...Anyways.. thats about it for now.

Smell you later,

Matt

It's all in the script right?

I had planned on posting albums number 46-41 tonight, but the Lakers/Celtics game has pre-empted that. I've said it over and over again that I don't really care who wins the series, and that I'm not rooting for anybody, and that all I wanted was a good series. Today might have been the single greatest NBA Finals moment I have ever seen, surpassing the Michael Jordan over Byron Russell in the 98 (give or take a year) Finals. It was absolutely amazing.

I really thought the Lakers had it wrapped up, but to be honest there was part of me that thought "this thing ain't over." Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, and Eddie House made sure thought that too. Ray Allen has been the most consistant of the big three thus far, which is ironic cause he's been the biggest liability for the Celtics in the postseason (well, behind Sam Cassel of course.) Pierce played a good game one (a so-so first half, and a great second half,) an amazing game two, and a horrible game three. After starting the game very slow, Pierce caught fire in the third and as he goes, the Celtics go. Eddie House, though, is what kept Boston alive and kicking. He hit so many big shots its hard to pinpoint the biggest. Credit goes to Doc Rivers too, who finally realized that the Celtics were better if they went smaller. Eww... I can't believe I just gave Doc Rivers credit...I must not have a soul.

On the flip side, The Lakers played the worst second half I have ever seen a basketball team play, and I'm a Clippers fan for crying out loud. Lamar Odom (who finally showed up in the first half) and Pau Gasol just disappeared, and the slew of European snipers couldn't hit anything. But by far the worst performance was Kobe Bryant. 6-19 shooting? What the hell was that. You're the best friggin' player in the NBA, start playing like it. Outside of Game 3 you haven't looked like the MVP. Not at all. Michael Jordan (as Bill Simmons stated) wouldn't have lost a game at home in which his team was up 24. No way in hell. Magic Johnson wouldn't have either. Hell, Steve Nash, and Chris Paul wouldn't allow that to happen. And another thing. Stop acting like a goddamn fool when a foul is called on you. You pulled your "Who me?" act again today, and you know what, its getting old. Step your game up, or spend another Summer bitching and moaning about how Mitch won't get you the players you need, and how you would have traded Andrew Bynam in a heartbeat.

One more thought: When my Mom tells me "god Larry Bird has gotten fat" after seeing that split screen NBA Finals commercial featuring him and Magic, maybe it's time to hit the gym. You listening Larry Legend?"

Thank you

I wonder if your songs will still be shit when I'm 64

So the Lakers head home down 0-2. I really thought they'd take Game 2, and by a big margin. But thats why they play the game I suppose, and that also explains why I work at Rite Aid making chump change and not making millions in Vegas. A couple things jumped out at me, and no, the foul issue is not one of those things. It's in Boston, you expect the Celtics to get those calls, as the Lakers will get coming home.

1. How weak the Lakers looked. They clearly needed to play physical and they didn't do it at all. Former Lakers coach Pat Riley once said "No Rebounds, No Rings." As cliche as it sounds (along with defense wins championships) its true. The Celtics OWN the boards at this point. Which reminds me...

1a. Lamar Odom needs to step up! Odom needs to rememer he's a big powerful dude, and he needs to play like it. Box out Garnett; put Pierce on his ass; do something. Kobe can't do it by himself, (more on that in a minute) he needs both Gasol and Odom to be viable 2nd and 3rd option guys. Gasol is keeping up his end of the job, but Odom has been a complete non factor. If he doesn't show up in game three, the Lakers will find themselves in a world of trouble.

2. Kobe Bryant needs to take the game over. I know he was trying to prove a point, but he doesn't need to take stupid fouls, and more stupid technicals. Kobe did exactly what he needed to do in the fouth quarter. Take over the game, hit his shots, and drive the lane creating open shots for sharpshooters like Sasha Vuijcic. And look what happened. The Lakers nearly erase a 24 point defecit. He's the best player in the NBA, bar none; its time for him to start playing like it.

3. The inability of Doc Rivers to do anything right. Doc is up 2-0, but he's lucky he is. There should be no reason this Celtic team finds itself watching a 24 point lead dwindle to two in five minutes. Absolutely no reason. The players got lazy, and thought they had the game wrapped up. Unfortunately, they forgot that this is the Lakers, the top seeded team in the Western Conference who had already come back from a 20 point defecit against the defending champion Spurs. The Kobe Bryant Lakers. There is no reason they should have been that unfocused. That's a reflection of the coach. You would never see a Phil Jackson-ran-team play with such reckless abandon and such indifference in a regular season game, let alone a playoff game, no matter what the score is. Remember, there is a reason that this team was a 24 win team last season.

4. How players like Leon Powe and Lamar Odom can have more of an impact on the NBA Finals then Kobe Bryant and Ray Allen.
I'm still sticking with my Boston in 6 prediction, but I do think that the Lakers take Game 3 and Game 5, with the Celtics taking Game 4, sending it back to Boston.

And why do I care so much about the NBA Finals that feature two teams from two cities I absolutely despise? Cause, really, what else is there to cover? I mean, I love the Angels, but it's June, so I can't get that excited yet. Plus there isn't enough room on the Great Wall of China for me to discuss their offense at this point, let alone a silly blogsite. And with Cal State Fullerton going down on Saturday (a game which I attended) and the Ducks deciding one Stanley Cup trip is enough, I'm kind of out of options.

Random Thoughts:

I got around to watching "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.'' It was a lot better then I had expected, but it wasn't that great. Kudo's to Jack White (of the White Stripes) for his role as Elvis Presley. It was quite unexpected. There were some great references, like the entire Bob Dylan scene, and trippin with the Beatles, plus Pam Beasley is in the movie! It's worth checking out, but don't expect "Anchorman"or even "Talladega Nights."

I'm not stoked at all for the Warped Tour. Every year it seems the tour gets worse and worse. Honestly, the only bands I'd watch are Against Me!, The Street Dogs, and Angels & Airwaves. Is that worth the price of admission? That is the question...

I am, however, looking forward to the Alkaline Trio in July! And Jesse Lacey as well.

Anyways, I'm tired... so thats all today...