LeBron James - Traitor

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I've always kind of liked LeBron James. I had no reason not to, and he's kind of charismatic.

But that just changed in a heartbeat.

LeBron James gets paid an insane amount of money by the CLEVELAND Cavaliers to play basketball, and how does he repay the loyal Cleveland fans? By showing up at an Indians playoff game in a Yankees hat. It's bad enough to to be a Yankees fan. But this is sort of like George W. Bush showing up to work in a Taliban jersey.

The Curse of Lou Piniella?

OK, I already told you I don't believe in curses. But when Cubs manager Lou Piniela does things like this....

Webb was locked in a tight game with Carlos Zambrano until Chicago manager Lou Piniella made a questionable move. He pulled his ace after only six innings and 85 pitches because he plans to bring the right-hander back on three days' rest in Game 4.

He's asking for trouble. You gotta play for today, man. There might not be a Game 4.

Having said that, there will probably be a Game 4. I just don't see the Diamondbacks winning in 3 straight. In fact, I still predict the Cubs to win the series... I already conceded that the Diamondbacks would win when Webb pitches, which is all that's happened so far. But the Cubs will win in spite of Lou Piniella, not because of him. And it might take 5 games, instead of the 3 or 4 it might have taken if the Cubs had won last night.

Moving on in the article...

Did planning for Game 4 cost the Cubs in Game 1? Piniella was terse when a reporter asked if he could be accused of looking ahead.

"I'm not accused of anything, sir," Piniella said.

Ummm.... You're not accused of anything? Ummmm, you ARE accused. Presumably, the reporter was ACCUSING you by asking the question. If not, many Cubs fans were accusing you and I'm accusing you now.

You can deny the accusations, but that doesn't make the accusations cease to exist. Work on your grammar, man. Sheesh!

Falling Out of Love With Compact Discs

There's a good article in the Onion AV Club today about one writer's love affair and break-up with compact discs.

Alot of it hit home. Like the writer, I used to LOVE my CDs. I sometimes nostalgiac-ly miss actually going to stores and buying CDs, and particularly midnight sales. I remember a record store in Champaign where there was ALWAYS a line of obsessed fans at midnight, every Tuesday, where people would stand in line to buy the latest releases from their favorite bands. I would go to the store whenever, say, a new They Might Be Giants or Tori Amos CD came out.

The end of my love affair with CDs came, essentially, in about 2000. When I discovered MP3s and, in particular, Napster. Yes, I was a criminal, but, in my defense, if iTunes existed a few years earlier, I probably would have used it instead.

The next tipping point was when I moved from Wisconsin to DC in 2001. I could only take whatever fit in my car, so I decided to get rid of all my jewel cases and keep my CDs in folders. Once I realized I cared about the actual music more than the container, it was all downhill. At that point, the goal was to make my music as compact as possible.

Not much later, I got my first MP3 player. I've posted about my history with MP3 players before, so I won't go into detail. I will add though, that I've since gotten an car stereo with flash drive capability. My car was really my last refuge for CDs. I still listen to CDs once in a while, but more often, I convert the CDs to MP3 to listen to on the fly.

Do I miss CDs? Sure, in a nostalgiac way, sort of like the way I miss Max Headroom.

NL Playoff Predictions

So after I posted last night, The Padres scored 2 runs in the top of the 13th.... and then the Rockies scored 3 runs in the bottom to win the Wild Card. Quite a game! And now I can make my NL playoff predictions.

The Rockies won an amazing 14 of 15 games to finish the season and win the Wild Card. They're now rewarded by playing the Phillies, who have merely won 13 of their last 17.

I don't believe in "momentum" in the sports sense. The Cardinals and White Sox have had whatever the opposite of momentum going in to the playoffs for the last two years, and they both won the World Series.

I think the Phillies will beat the Rockies, because they have an insanely good lineup.

The Diamondbacks won the NL West despite being outscored on the season. They'll win when Brandon Webb pitches. Which will be two games at most. The Cubs should be able to win the series.

So that means, I can't believe I'm writing this, the Cubs and Phillies will face each other in the NLCS.

That should be a pretty good series. Two very good lineups. Cubs probably have a slight edge on pitching, but outside of Zambrano, not absolutely dominant, especially against that Phillies lineup. The Phillies go to the World Series and lose to the Red Sox.

Here's my prediction recap.

ALCS: Red Sox v. Indians
NLCS: Cubs v. Phillies
World Series: Red Sox v. Phillies
Champs: Red Sox

This is the game that never ends....

It's just before midnight Eastern, the Padres and Rockies are headed to the 13th inning, trying to get the last playoff spot. This is one of those "instant classic" baseball games, but I'm going to sleep. I hate being old and having to work tomorrow. I'll check back in with my NL playoff predictions tomorrow, assuming this game actually ever ends.

Five Most Overrated Directors of All Time

I hate doing lists like this. They make me feel kind of dirty. I should celebrate film, not tear it down.

But, for whatever reason, when I get an idea like this, I just have to go through with it.

This is actually a response to Filmspotting's lists on the same topic, which included directors I LOVE like Tim Burton, Robert Rodriguez and Peter Jackson.

Anyway, here are the five most overrated directors of all time. One note... like on Filmspotting's lists, anyone who has ever made a "masterpiece," like, say, George Lucas, is exempt.

5. Ron Howard. His best movie was A Beautiful Mind, I actually thought Da Vinci Code was OK, Cocoon and Splash were fine back in the day, Apollo 13 is tolerable. But the dude has NEVER made a GREAT movie. If I was grading his work, I wouldn't give him above a B yet.

4. Guillermo Del Toro. He's still relatively new and might have better work to come, but why do people think Pan's Labyrinth is so great? It did nothing for me, nor did Hellboy.

3. Brian De Palma. Scarface was sort of fun, but it was completely campy and by no means "Great." Carrie was a somewhat better flick, but why is this guy held in such high esteem? I know he's not at the Scorcese/Spielberg level, but he seems to be thought of by many in the next level. Why is that?

2. Wes Anderson. I don't understand why people love him so much. Rushmore is his best work to date, and it's merely mediocre. Bottle Rocket and Royal Tennebaums did absolutely nothing for me.

1. David Lynch. He's the Pink Floyd of film. Blue Velvet was pretty good (perhaps his Dark Side of the Moon, but not THAT good).... Straight Story is his only other movie worth watching, and that's because he made a straightforward movie INSTEAD of the rambling crap he usually makes.

I'm going to go take a shower now.

Baseball Predictions revisited

Here is a recap of my baseball predictions for the year.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

3/29/07

East: Red Sox, Central: Tigers, West: Angels, Wild Card: Yankees,
Champs: Red Sox, Cy Young: Matsuzaka, MVP: A-Rod

7/9/07

East: Red Sox, Central: Tigers, West: Angels, Wild Card: Indians,
Champs: Red Sox, Cy Young: Haren, MVP: A-Rod

Not bad, overall. I gave up on the Yankees, but picked three of the four postseason teams correctly (Although I picked the Indians in the Wild Card instead of as the Central champs.) I'm still going with the Red Sox to win the AL, and A-Rod is the likely MVP. Dan Haren won't win the Cy Young though... it's looking like C.C. Sabathia.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

3/29/07

East: Mets, Central: Cardinals, West: Diamondbacks, Wild Card: Brewers,
Champs: Cardinals, Cy Young: Carpenter, MVP: Pujols

7/9/07

East: Mets, Central: Brewers, West: Diamondbacks, Wild Card: Cardinals,
Champs: Cardinals, Cy Young: Peavy, MVP: Fielder

Well, this isn't quite as good. Obviously blind loyalty led me to go with the Cardinals and it didn't work this year. The Diamondbacks are the only playoff team I picked correctly (but hey, give me credit for that one, it wasn't such an obvious pick). The Phillies took the East, the Cubs took the Central, and the Wild Card will be determined tomorrow in a tiebreaker game between the Padres and the Rockies. The Peavy Cy Young pick still looks good. MVP looks like Jimmy Rollins, or maybe Matt Holliday if the Rockies win tomorrow.

Playoff Predictions? Here it is for the AL.... Red Sox and Indians win the division series, Red Sox go to the World Series and beat whatever NL team makes it.

I'll check back once all the Wild Card dust is settled to give you my NL playoff predictions.