Category: aside

In sports there seems to be a natural evolution towards more specialization and power (through fitness), both of which invariably favor the defense. You can try and help the offense by juicing the ball, making rules to protect the quarterback, and adding a three point line, but you’re fighting an uphill battle. The folks on the other side are going to figure out how to stop it. People specializing in defense just seem to be more tenacious, creative, and innovative. I guess it’s by necessity.

I agree, the Canon PowerShot N looks very interesting, especially with phone-sharing — The diagram of bullets in actual size was naughtily cool and informative — Thanks for reminding me how great book three of GoT is; this is the first time I’ve ever felt envious of HBO subscribers.

I just sat and listened to it, while driving. The windows were up and I was alone, so it was a low risk situation. The Jay-Z “interlude” was great. I kind of look forward to another round of JT. Oh no you didn’t!

Then ESPN came along and took all the scarcity out of sports; they destroyed the specialness of ABC’s Wide World of Sports, Mel Allen’s This Week in Baseball, and weekend college games. But weekends feel special again for me because I nuked cable, so my sports watching is mostly concentrated between noon and 6pm every Sunday. I look forward to Sunday afternoon, savor every sports moment (even for sports I never used to watch), and don’t take free TV for granted any longer. Get off my lawn!

I made the mistake of tuning in to the Daytona 500 at 11am today. Unbeknownst to me, the race wasn’t actually scheduled to start until after noon. I was in and out of the pre-race festivities, but got to see the complete joke that was the Hendrick Motorsports team interview and was able to catch the odious trip of Erin Andrews through the pits in search of Danica Patrick only to find 50 Cent. Man it was bad, so bad.

The race was great fun; in fact, I loved the race as much as I hated the pre-show. As far as sports go these days, I enjoy the in-game experience, a few cynical and humorous journalists, and long form documentaries/books. That’s it. Everything else sucks, especially the Gameday, pre-game, post-game, highlight show, player/coach interview crap. I also can’t get remotely interested in high school recruiting, draft day, or fantasy leagues.

I’m nominating Immigrant Song. Originally done by Led Zeppelin, covered by many, it clocks in at a measly 2:23 or so. Karen O and Trent Reznor covered it just over a year ago for The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and they rocked it in 2:48, because of a little preamble. Take a listen. You can find it with a simple Google search. It’s a great way to blow an occasional two minutes.