Thursday, April 24, 2008

Patriots "Spygate"

I thought this whole Spygate thing with the Patriots was resolved. Now we're hearing that the NFL has made a deal with former Patriots "cameraman" Matt Walsh, and that depending on what he says, there may be further penalty. Well, let's just get to the bottom of this and then move on! Enough dragging of the feet, and let's just get all the answers. As much as I would love for the NFL to find out that the Patriots were doing all sorts of illegal stuff and severely punish them for it, I suspect the case is more along the lines of them doing some sort of borderline wrong stuff and it probably had little effect on anything. So let's just get it over with. Maybe if we can find out what they did before the Draft this weekend, they can be penalized appropriately.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Can You Smell What Barack Is Cooking?

I know candidates pander all the time to voters, but can you believe what happened the other night on WWE Raw? The three remaining Presidential candidates all were invited to give statements, and they all contained horrible horrible puns.

HORRIBLE. Can you smell what Barack is cooking? Hill-Rod? McCainiacs? Really??


Clinton:

Hi, I’m Hillary Clinton. But tonight, in honor of the WWE, you can call me Hill-Rod.

This election is starting to feel a lot like “King of the Ring.” The only difference? The last man standing may just be a woman.

The truth is, this election is so important. The next president will face a stack full of difficult challenges right from the opening bell… to fix the economy, bring our troops home from Iraq, and make college more affordable. You need a president who will go to the mat for you. And that’s exactly what I’ll do.

I’ve been knocked down, but I’ve always gotten back up. And I know how to take a hit for the American people. And if things get a little tough, I may even have to deliver the “people’s elbow.”

Because this country is worth fighting for.

Now, I promise to stick to the political arena. So don't worry Randy Orton you're safe… for now.

When it comes to standing up for the American people though, I am ready to rumble.

Obama:

Hey WWE fans - I hope you're all enjoying the program tonight. You know, this is a historic time for America. It's not just that the reign of Randy Orton may soon be coming to an end. It's that at this moment, in this election, we have a chance to finally end business-as-usual in Washington. For a long time now, we've had a politics where our leaders go after each other like they're competing to become King of the Ring instead of coming together to provide universal health care, fix our economy, and solve our other problems. That's what I'm running for President to change. So to the special interests who've been setting the agenda in Washington for too long - and to all the forces of division and distraction that have stopped us from making progress for the American people - I've got one question: Do you smell what Barack is cooking?

McCain:
"Looks like Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama want to celebrate their differences in the ring," McCain says. "Well, that's fine with me, but let me tell you: If you want to be the man, you have to beat the man. Come November, it'll be game over. And whatcha gonna do when John McCain and all his McCainiacs run wild on you?"

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Two quick movie reviews

Justice League: The New Frontier
"This isn't Ultimate Avengers"
It's worth checking out this direct-to-video animated feature based on the graphic novel, "DC The New Frontier." The voice acting is pretty decent, and the animation style departs from the house style that Warner Bros had been using for a while. This story tops the previously released "Death of Superman" feature and makes me think that they could do some fun adaptations of stories like Dark Knight Returns or Batman: Year One if they so desired. It's not as deep as the book, but the feature is quite good. One thing that confuses me - why are animated features constantly 70 minutes long? This movie is definitely targeted towards older audiences, so it's not lack of attention span. Is it budget? Does it really cost that much more to put in 10-20 more minutes of story and animation?


Ghost Rider
"As bad as expected"

Supernatural and horror movies generally aren't up my alley. Since Ghost Rider is based on a comic book, I figured I would give it a try. Mark Steven Johnson, of Daredevil fame, wrote and directed this one. I remember the Ghost Rider comic, and thinking he looked cool, but didn't have much interest beyond that. In the case of this movie, the effects look great, but that's about all there is to the movie. The concept is not well executed. There's strange logic: why does the devil have a Ghost Rider who has the power to make evil-doers suffer? Why can't Ghost Rider go out in the sunlight? You can see attempts to make this a sort of Jekyll and Hyde or vampire type movie, but it just doesn't work. Add to it a weak script full of cliche shots and humor, and bad performances from Eva Mendes and Nicholas Cage, and it's a mediocre film at best. As a side note, I have begun to find Nicholas Cage really annoying. Not sure why.

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Knicks Need to Fire Isiah

Donnie Walsh steps in as the new President of the Knicks, and he has to fire Isiah Thomas. Even if Isiah Thomas was an amazing coach, there is such a negative attitude surrounding his tenure that it is time to wipe the slate clean. It would be the right move from a public relations standpoint, even if it's not the right move from a basketball standpoint (although given the rumblings from players about Thomas, it's probably the correct decision in terms of basketball too). If they're worried about spending all the money on the remainder of Thomas' contract, they should just bring in a cheap, first-time coach who wants to break in and let him do what he can to try and get this young team to play their best each night. That would go over well with fans, even if they stunk. This situation will take years to get out from, but maybe there's someone in place now who actually has a reasonable strategy. Dolan's made two right moves in this Walsh hiring - he got rid of Thomas, and he did so before the draft.

Rules changes

Looks like it's time to start telling CB's to just push receivers out of bounds the moment they touch a ball.

The NFL has passed "A recommendation to eliminate force-out decisions on pass completions near the sidelines. Now, officials will only have to decide whether a receiver landed inbounds or not. The intended result is more consistency."