WRESTLEMANIA XXVIII PREVIEW and PREDICTIONS

The Granddaddy of them all has arrived as Wrestlemania commences at Sun Life Stadium in Miami, Florida this coming Sunday. I will be attending the festivities with fellow Horsemen Avenue bloggers Anthony Zorzi and Justin Dibiase this weekend. WWE has done a great job in creating three super match-ups and putting together a solid undercard. It’s time to look at what is scheduled and what I think will happen.

AMERICAN IDOL Top 9 POWER RANKINGS

     American Idol season 11 is well underway with the most well-balanced collection of talent the show has had in years. The judges have gotten back to critiquing the performances this year, which is a shock since Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez added nothing but star-power last year. The race is on to see who will make it to the finale at the Kodak Theater and fight for a recording contract. Here is where I believe the contestants stand at this point in the competition.

Monday Night Musings

            Ever notice the difference in the way some people pronounce the word “the”?  When they are around friends in a comfortable setting, they say “thuh”, but if they are at work or trying to sound professional, they say “thee”. 

            It’s just another example of people losing their identity to what amounts to a subconscious social magnet.  If someone’s around it long enough, at work or at school, it’s bound to seep into your speech like a baby first learning a language.  You start using the same words, phrases, sentences as the people around you.  I’ve been at my office for almost three years and I catch myself using phrases that I’ve heard from co-workers.  Part of me is sad that I can no longer talk like “myself”, but what do I really talk like?  What I sounded like before was only a reflection of my surroundings at the time.  When I was in college, I probably sounded like the students around me.  When I was in elementary school, I probably sounded like a whiny little boy.  Sometimes conformity happens to “thuh” best of us.

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            I saw an ad in the paper the other for “Skinnygirl Vodka”.  The ad had a thin woman holding a bottle of the booze, smug yet surprisingly hungry looking. 

            After all the hullabaloo the media made over the Jeremy Lin “chink in the armor” comment, I didn’t understand how “offensive” things are selectively chosen by the media.  “Skinnygirl Vodka” is a product that glorifies the Hollywood eating-disorder girl look and snubs its nose at everyone else.  It’s not even called “Averagegirl Vodka”.  Now I’m usually not an advocate for overweight women, but consider this, whom do you think is more affected here? Jeremy Lin after reading “Chink in the Armor” on ESPN.com or a depressed, overweight girl that opens up the Philadelphia Inquirer in search of the day’s news and is instead reminded of what she should look like and who she should be. 

            I don’t think that Chinese people should ever be called “chinks”, and I think the ESPN worker should have been reprimanded, but the media fake outrage over stuff like that is ridiculous.  Let ESPN handle its own worker.  We don't need Al Sharpton to exhort live on his dumb show.  I am starting to believe that every media outlet has an entry-level job for trolls that sift through endless material looking for the next chance to blow the whistle on someone.  Lin himself said he wasn’t upset about it.  Since when is the media the moral police?  If you want to protect the Chinese from being called names, then you should also stop selling ads to companies that suggest fat girls aren’t good enough (it’s offensive to them), stop making fun of short people (it’s offensive to me), stop reviewing restaurants that serve veal (it’s offensive to vegans).. Maybe we should all just shut up because we are eventually going to offend someone, aren’t we?  

Wrestlemania 28 - Entry 1

Do you remember that Christmas when you came tripping down the stairs to see those shiny presents?  There was the one present that was neatly wrapped, but by its shape and prominence in front of the twinkling tree, you knew exactly what it was. 

                Santa came to work today.  My present, carefully wrapped in a slim FedEx shipping sleeve, left very little to the imagination.  I knew exactly what it was.  I ripped through package and found, expectantly, three crisp tickets to Wrestlemania 28 in Miami, Florida.  In one month’s time, fellow Horsemen Avenue writer Anthony Zorzi and I will fly down to the land of LeBron and C.S.I. spin-offs,  We will be meeting up with my long-time college bud and Horsemen Avenue contributor John “The Entertainment Blender” Sturgeon for a weekend that will kick off spring, baseball season, and warm weather. 

                As the mega-event draws nearer, I plan on updating the blog with personal Wrestlemania 28 thoughts.  In addition to the wrestling festivities, Z and I will be attending one of the first ever games played in the spectacular new Marlins stadium. 

                As far as the actual wrestling is concerned, the main event could be one of the most epic battles of all time; that is to say if WWE books it correctly.  The Electrifying One vs. The Doctor of Thuganomics.  The Rock vs. John Cena.  In reality, they are average in terms of overall wrestling ability but are masters of “puttin’ on a show”. 

-More to come in the month leading up to the event at Sun Life Stadium.

JUSTIFIED continues to kick ass and take names for FX

Back in 2010, I was pumped for the debut of Justified, an FX series based on infamous crime novel writer Elmore Leonard’s short story, Fire in the Hole. The main character of the show is U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant), a rugged, tough loner with a cowboy hat who happens to know how to use a gun expertly to get out of precarious situations that he encounters protecting Harlan County in Kentucky. In the Pilot, his chief adversary and rival Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins) starts blowing up churches and other buildings with a rocket launcher. Raylan eventually finds Boyd and puts a bullet in his chest. With great action, novel-like dialogue, and excitement throughout the pilot, the foundation was laid for a great series.

Pitchers and Catchers

            By themselves, the three words are boring, but strung together they make the phrase baseball fans dream about all winter. 

            Every Spring Training is identical to the last.  First, the wobbly camera shot of workers loading of 5 million baseballs, 4 trillion bats, and 80 million cases of cotton-candy flavored bubble gum en route to I-95 and Florida.  The countdown box in the Inquirer.  Sports talk radio hosts turning to the optimistic Phils as the pessimistic Birds chatter hibernates for the rest of winter.   The romantic “spring baseball as a metaphor for new life” columns such as this are everywhere.

            Those lucky enough to travel to Florida salivate at the thought of 70 degree weather and Grouper sandwiches.  The rest just love seeing the boys stretching next to palm trees on the 6’o clock news. 

            I too associate Pitchers and Catchers with these things, but I think each person has a personal attachment to the day as well.  In the DiBiase household on East Oak Road in Vineland it marked the beginning of our season of Phillies complaints about Eddy Wade, Tito Francona, and the frugal ownership group.  With just a lukewarm cup of coffee, a folded over Atlantic City Press, and a plate of Grandmom’s biscotti, my Grandpop held his own Spring training right there in the kitchen.  I’d argue with him about a player, have a biscotti, argue about another player, and then have 2 more biscotti.  With her grandsons around, my Grandmom’s face lit up like a candle.  It’s one of the fondest memories of my childhood.

            He passed away on April 2^nd, 2010, just three days before the Phillies season opener in Washington.  I watched the entire 11-1 romp through misty eyes.  I didn’t have Grandpop to call after my man Ryan Howard blasted a John Lannon fastball deep into the seats at Nationals Park.  I called my Dad and mustered a joke my through the emotional moment.

            For years, I wondered what was it about baseball that made grown men weep.  (“Wanna have a catch, Dad?”)  I’ve settled on the notion that it never really was about the game or the team or the ’80 or ’08 championship.  Baseball could be replaced by soccer or the cooking channel.  When you’re six feet under, it’s not going matter how many rings your boys got, all that's going to matter is the effect you have on the world and those closest to you.

            It’s not about what’s in front of you on the television, it’s about who’s around you at the table every Sunday passing around the spaghetti and meatballs.   

            Since his passing, the start of the baseball season has meant a little more to me than just the smell of pine tar and figuring out the fifth man in the Phils rotation.  It reminds me of my Grandpop and all my family, living and deceased, and how wonderful it is to have a game that means so little bring so much joy to my life.  

Enjoy Pitchers and Catchers, everyone. And enjoy the 2012 Phillies!

           

               

2011 recap

Here’s a quick recap of my 2011.  I usually write something longer, but I am not in the mood.

                  Pardon me for being morbid but as I was skimming through my 2011, the two most weighty events involved deaths of two men I never met.  No, I am not referring to the vile Bin Laden, the “dear leader”, the macho man, or even the Big Man.  I am talking about the treasured comedian Patrice O’ Neal and the revolutionary Steve Jobs. 

                  Patrice O’Neal may not have had the impact the world that, say, Elizabeth Taylor did, but it’s my year-in-review so shut up and keep reading, please ;) 

                  The two men’s deaths put into perspective what types of lives we can lead.  Steve Jobs changed the world; while Patrice O’Neal changed the worlds of the people around him.  You can tell a lot about someone by reading the “RIP” tweets in the days following their deaths.  While Jobs’s tweets were mostly admiration and respect for the man; Patrice’s were highly emotional and contemplative.  People felt they had lost their best friend despite never meeting him.

                  Most of the population will never achieve what Steve Jobs did but we all have an opportunity to make an impact on each other’s lives. One Life, One Chance.

Good Movies I Saw (no particular order)

True grit

Hall Pass

Scream 4

Fast 5

Horrible Bosses

Crazy Stupid Love

Moneyball

The Muppets

Good Books I Read (ordered)

1. A False Spring by Pat Jordan

2. The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach

3. The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins

4. Joe Dimaggio by Richard Ben Cramer

5. Shit my Dad Says by Justin Halpern

6. The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson

7. The Unforgiving Minute by Craig Mullaney

8. The Last Boy by Jane Leavy

9. Veeck as in Wreck by Bill Veeck

10. Bloodclots in the Mainstream by Rob Santello

Music (no particular order)

 Dave Hause - Resolutions

Horrible Crowes - Elsie

Mighty Mighty Bosstones - The Magic of Youth

Blink 182 - Neighborhoods

Cobra Skulls - Agitations

The Black Keys - El Camino

Dropkick Murphys - Going Out in Style

Face to Face - Laugh Now Laugh Later

Frank Turner - England Keep my Bones

Have Nots - Proud

Rise Against - Endgame

Moments of the year

Clearwater 2011

Horsemen Hangout – Two words. Fudge Rounds

Hurricane Irene

Bamboozle

XTU

Ocean City Maryland

Strikerz Bowling – Those damn house balls just don’t spin.

Concerts

Dad’s Retirement Party

Phillies – It’s not about the end, it’s about the ride

Pineapple United – Soccer is back in my life!

Wing Bowl – My first

Earthquake – I felt it

MLB Playoffs – If you are a baseball fan, you had to like the ride that was the 2011 playoffs

Patrice O’Neal / Steve Jobs – RIP

Gaslight Anthem / Springsteen – Saw Bruce for the first time as a surprise guest in Asbury Park for Gaslight Anthem’s holiday show.