Football's Back!!......who cares

To say that I’m a hardcore sports fan is a bit of an understatement. I live and breathe sports, 24/7 to the point where some might think it’s kind of weird. As a sports fan this time of year has always been exciting for me. By this time I could usually tell if the Phillies were going to make a push for the playoffs and another division title and the last months of the baseball season are always fun due to the pennant races, but the thing that got me so pumped up was the start of football season. The National Football League has always been my crown jewel, my number one. I could tell you everything about any team, who their kicker was right down to who their third string quarterback was. This year, to quote the famous BB King, “The Thrill is Gone.”

I really don’t care about football right now. I have no interest in it, and quite frankly I’m disgusted with it. People that have known me for years or even a few minutes can pick up two things about me, I love the Dallas Cowboys with all my heart and I absolutely HATE the Philadelphia Eagles. Some people might think, “Ant, you don’t care about the NFL cause the Cowboys suck.” Or “You’re just jealous that the Eagles got all those free-agents.” Actually, I really don’t give a shit at all. If this was a normal year, I would be downright sick at the moves the Eagles have made, but instead I just don’t care. I used to read the Dallas Morning News everyday online and waste hours in forums reading about the Cowboys and potential free agent signings and draft picks, and this year, nothing.

The biggest factor that has lead to my overall disinterest is the NFL lockout. It made me realize just how much the NFL does not care about me, the fan. The fact that the players and owners could not agree on a new collective bargaining agreement for months is ridiculous. We all heard the cliché millionaires vs. billionaires and that’s exactly what it was, I’ll never make anywhere near what these guys make, and granted I don’t have the physical abilities that they do but still it got to the point where it was down right nauseating. How many times on Sportscenter did we have to see file footage of a bunch of players and owners getting in a out of cars, or Roger Goodell talking to Jerry Jones or some shit like that. Get over yourself. I lost a lot of respect for the NFL over this lockout debacle, and I can honestly say I don't know when and if I'll ever feel the same way about the league again.

Who knows, I write this on the first night of preseason games, I may be sucked right back in come week one, or at least when the fantasy football drafts get going. I just don’t see it happening, my frustration grows everyday and the fact that I live in the Philadelphia area doesn’t help. I can’t begin to explain how it kills me that the Phillies are in the midst of a historic run that they haven’t seen in their entire franchises history, yet they are only given 5 minutes of time on a 30 minute show. All the sports talk radio shows are dominated by this “all hype team”, and the Phillies are more like an afterthought. But I digress. It’s going to be an interesting season for almost every team, player and fan this year so I guess I’ll sit back and try to enjoy the ride.

-Zorzi

Writers gotta write

So I have 40 minutes left on my lunch break, and I want to ramble.

• Have you ever had a love affair with a sports team?  For the life of me, I can't differentiate between "being in love" and what I feel for this Phillies team.  It feels eerily similar.  And it's not a sexual, homo thing.  It's like I just want to wrap my arms and legs around a 3-dimensional Phillies logo and squeeze it until it the words look jumbled. Mr. Z and I have texted each other multiple times in the past few weeks after the Fightins amazed us again and again. We always write, "I love this team". We all do. LET'S GO EAT!!
• For those in my generation who watched the WWE in the late '90s and, like me, lost interest in the past decade due to dull storylines and recycled gimmicks, there once again is a reason to spend your Monday nights watching RAW.  Some try to compare what CM Punk is doing to what Steve Austin did to usher in the "Attitude Era".  In a ESPN podcast I just listened to Punk dubbed this new time in WWE history as the "Reality Era".  He wants to show fans multiple sides of a wrestler's character instead of the traditional one-dimensional "Duke the Dumpster Drose" types.  The only way to draw back disillusioned fans is to remove the illusion altogether and show them what is "beyond the mat" and behind the individual characters.  CM Punk is doing just that, saving the WWE one match at a time.
• Snooki blew off my morning drive radio show this morning (The Opie and Anthony Show on XM Sirius).  Personally, I am indifferent to these no-talent HACKS, but these Jersey Shore DOLTS really grind my gears.  It blows my mind to think about the money these reproducible every-twentysomethings-at-the-jersey-shore are making, but when they start to turn into insolent pricks I start to get angry.  I know, it's not their fault that MTV picked up their show. And it's not their fault that my demographic chooses to watch boring nothings instead of doing anything else.  But who the hell are you, Snooki? What talent do you possess that makes you different from every other girl in the club? I tell my friends this all the time. I can walk into The Ocean Drive on any summer night and pull 4 Snookis, 5 Situations, and 12 Ronnies out of the crowd and interchange them onto that show with no discernible difference. But I challenge you to find 1 Louis C.K. or 1 Jimmy Rollins or 1 Taylor Swift AKA people with superior talent to normal human beings. They are the ones that deserve our attention in entertainment! The ones that can do things that we can't!!!!!
• I'm liking this rant thing, I think I might do it every week. Still have ten minutes left in my break.. peacee

- JD

The Feel Of The Game (To the Armchair Quarterback)

I haven’t written anything in a while.  I can’t stand looking at my shitty novel anymore.  So the best thing for me right now is blank word document.  Don’t mind if I do…..

The Feel of the Game (To The Armchair Quarterback)

            On the first day of my Sports Writing class that I took spring semester senior year at Villanova, the professor got the class out of our beginning-of-the-semester hangover stupor and charged us to gather in the hallway.  We stood there in lettered hoodies and sweatpants listening to him explain what Sports Writing entailed.

            “But you’ll never understand anything,” he said wagging his finger at us, “until you know the feel of the game.”  We looked around at each other in the crowded hallway.  We didn’t understand and were in dire need of sleep. 

            “Now shadow box,” he said.  We all looked down at our feet; half out of sheepishness and the other half not knowing what the hell he was talking about.

            “Well get going!” He raised his voice as he pushed his round glasses off the bridge of his nose.  “This is your first assignment!”

            With the promise of the order being recorded as a grade, our lethargic group of 12-or-so began awkwardly jabbing the air, then ducking our heads as if we were avoiding a kiss from Snooki.  I even tried my hand at a knockdown, delivering a few haymakers to the hallway’s stale air.

            After a minute, fatigued students looked over to our professor, begging for him to call time.  He only stared at his wristwatch, urging us to keep up the pace. 

            Mercifully, he ordered us to stop.  We stood there, panting, arms akimbo (favorite new phrase, look it up).  Someone asked him what the hell all that was for.

            He clasped his hands together, smiling at us. “Because you’ll never know how to write sports unless you know the feel of the game.

            I think about that first day of class almost daily; whether it be after reading a lazily-constructed facebook status or listening to a self-proclaimed expert ramble on 610 or 97.5.  If there is one thing I can’t stand on this round earth, it’s the armchair quarterback.  This applies to more than just sports, but I’ll use it here for dramatic effect. 

            HEADLINE : Phils Topple Bravos For Third Straight Win

     Iamahugedoucher: “hells yes, phils! Best team in the worldddddd!”

(two weeks later)

            

      HEADLINE : Hanley, Marlins Sweep Phils Out of Miami.

      Iamahugedoucher: “HEY RUBEN TRADE HOWARD. HE CAN’T HIT A FRIGGIN CURVEBALL!”

            Everyone is entitled to his or her opinion, but when that opinion is not based on fact or the feel of the game then that opinion, simply, should be flushed down a fully functioning toilet. 

            The fan that has never felt his knees lock under the tight spin of a curveball.  The fan that has never felt the skull-squeezing pain of a concussion.  The fan that has never ripped their hair out trying to balance a payroll while trading for a tenured MLB veteran.

            I can be a hypocrite sometimes. Hell, we are all hypocrites.  But it’s those hallucinogenic people that actually believe they could stand in the batter’s box and stare Justin Verlander in the face without experiencing some degree of wetness in their undergarments that completely disgust me.

            I didn’t yell at Brian Boucher in the playoffs because I had no idea what wearing giant pillow cushions on my shins even felt like.  I didn’t call for Andy Reid’s head after the Birds lost in the playoffs because I never turned a floundering team into a billion dollar franchise.

            I’m not asking for people not to watch.  Please, enjoy those Cooler Ranch Doritos in front of your home television set, but think before you speak.  If we all would take this advice, this round earth would be a much less aggravating place.  

-J.D. 

Boston Rob's Perfect Game

     While good scripted fare is finally on an upswing with the arrival of Game of Thrones, The Killing, and the second season of Treme, reality television continues to dominate with the tremendous seasons of American Idol, Survivor: Redemption Island, and even Real World: Las Vegas that have been unleashed upon us this Spring. With this edition of the column, I want to take a look at Boston Rob’s overwhelming domination on Survivor this season.

AMERICAN IDOL POWER RANKINGS TOP 11

    A lot of people were worried about American Idol after the departure of Simon Cowell last season and the abysmal debacle that was season 9, featuring the worst winner in the history of the show, Lee Dewyze. After a long period where FOX conducted secret negotiations, Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler were signed and joined with Randy Jackson to form the new trio. So far, as the finals have been going for a few weeks now, season 10 is a big winner with tremendous talent, a rejuvenated judging panel, and production enhancements to improve the overall experience.  I now present to you my ranking of the remaining 11 contestants and who I expect to take home the prize.

THE SHIELD Retrospective

     “The edge is where we live, all of us, all the time. People trying to convince themselves otherwise is just an exercise in self-deception.” This Vic Mackey quote aptly describes the type of world The Shield presented in its seven season journey. Starring Michael Chiklis as badass Detective Vic Mackey, the show covers the nefarious exploits of the four-man strike team in the Farmington police Department and the effects of their corruption on the department as a whole and the men themselves. The show plays out like an 88-part novel, as the story has a logical, consistent structure throughout and concludes with one of the great endings in television history.

THE BEST OF 2010 IN ENTERTAINMENT

With 2010 in the books, here is a look at the best in entertainment.

Best Movie- The Social Network

     It’s appropriate that the dominant social network was the impetus for the year’s best film, an explosive collaboration of inspired direction from David Fincher, an impeccable script from Aaron Sorkin, and the performance of a lifetime from Jesse Eisenberg as Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg. While some fictional elements were added, this movie depicts the creation of Facebook and rise of Mark Zuckerberg in riveting fashion. There is no doubt that in creating an empire, some people get hurt. Here, we see how the taste of success tested Mark’s friendship with his best friend Eduardo, allowed him to make powerful allies including Napster creator Sean Parker, and the trials and tribulations that grew Facebook into a multi-billion dollar enterprise. No film in years has had a bigger cultural impact and you know the movie is good when you don’t have to use Facebook to enjoy it.