Daddy's Home!

I'm somehow immune from jetlag. I don't know how I'm able to avoid this, but my only real superpower is being able to avoid fatigue after a long (8 hour) trip. Well I'm back in the states for the first time in a month. I think we can all agree that Amsterdam, above all places was the most fun. But in true BB fashion, I will now present a list of underrated/overrated (as well as "accurately rated") in Europe.

1) Most underrated city on my trip: Glasgow, Scotland. This place gets a bad rap. In fact, people looked at me funny when I told them I was going there. To them, it'd be like vacationing in Dover, Delaware. But Glasgow has come a long, long way since....well, since it sucked, I guess. Basically, this city has benefited greatly from the fact that all the smart artsy kids from London move here after finishing school. The biggest beneficiary of this has absolutely been the music scene. Of course we all know Franz Ferdinand and KT Tunstall, but I saw a couple bands during my 5 days here, the most impressive of which was the Attic Lights. Think Wilco, with the lyrical soul and UK spirit of Snow Patrol. Great live band, too. Also great about Glasgow, the girls dress like sluts, and are uber-friendly.

2) Most overrated: Dublin, Ireland. I know! Blasphemous? Maybe...but Dublin has a few things working against it these days. Its hella-freaking-expensive there. Just as bad as London. Its not the cleanest place in the world. And perhaps most disappointing, the nightlife is somewhat lacking. Sure, Saturday nights are rowdy...but I looked onto the streets of Temple Bar and thought I could've just as easily been in Lincoln Park (what with the clientele, and various irish pubs). Another big strike against Dublin was the fact that there is currently a major housing shortage right now, with students and young professionals forced to live in hostels. As in...my hostel...which resembled a multicultural freshman dormitory. Everyone was nice, but they were all broke, and didn't want to go out partying much. The daytime tourist stuff was cool though...remind me to scan my Jameson certificate!

3) Most accurately rated: Amsterdam. Everything you hear about this place is 100% true. There is no vice, no sin, no bastion of excess that isn't within walking distance of your hotel in Amsterdam. I did things in this town that I may never speak of again.

4) Missing the cut: Edinburgh (was having too much fun in Glasgow, skipped it). Brussels (ditto, only in Amsterdam), and Paris (been there done that, not all that great, really). And I guess Sri Lanka is worth mentioning, but I mostly just lay around the pool reading during my two weeks there, while my dad's servants brought me Carlsberg after Carlsberg. I felt like one of those sheik muslim princes.

The moral of the story?

Unemployment rules.

wow

1. greetings from amsterdam! yes i could not be higher right now

2. i just sent nicho an email that said "die"

4. JOB

4. i love shari n.

Must've been a slow week...

1) Wonder if this move is indicative of one franchise's uncertainty? Or another franchise's impending greatness? Probably neither...actually. I just thought it was interesting...

2) Birthday party next Saturday, 8-11pm at McFaddens on State/Division. $20 for the all you can drink package, but that is completely optional. So that means JOB can pull his disappearing act, and not feel short changed

3) In a related story, AWM went to high school with the guy working at Subway tonight, and he got extra pepperoni on his BMT

4) 25th anniversary...

Yo Yo Yo!! Bitches!!!1

Got some big news coming up soon but I can't tell you what. No, I didn't get any chick pregnant. That can't happen when you bone dudes.

The Cubs Aren't F*cked. And Ian Zeiring...as himself.

1) Deep breath, Cubs fans. You aren't out of anything...yet. If they could afford to lose one of the troika of DLee, A-Ram and Soriano, I'd say Soriano would be the guy they could afford to lose for the month. He's miscast as a leadoff hitter...the vast majority of his homeruns are of the solo variety, and he doesn't really get on base at that impressive a clip (he's no Kelly Johnson, at least). So whoever replaces him (Pie? Pagan?) will have to simply be adequate...and their pitching will take care of the rest.

2) Brady Quinn signs! Every year, everyone gets all bent out of shape over training camp holdouts. It couldn't have mattered less in Quinn's case, who wasn't going to start anyway. I'm actually part of a number of Browns fans who are mildly intrigued by Derek Anderson potentially winning the starting job. Anyone who saw his dismantling of the KC Chiefs last year knows this guy has a big arm and is fearless in the pocket. Good news is, he won't have to be nearly as fearless as he would have in previous years, with Kevin Schaffer, LaCharles Bentley, and 3rd overall pick Joe Thomas shoring up what could be a halfway decent offensive line. Oh, and lest we forget Eric Steinbach...a free agent steal from the Bengals.

3) I forgot to comment on this when it happened last week, but I hope its not lost on anyone that Tim Couch signed with the Jags last week. History has been completely unfair to Timmy Couch, unfortunately. Here's a guy who had unrealistic expectations heaped on him from the moment he was drafted. But lest we forget, he led a freakin' expansion team to the playoffs in his third full season as a starter. Then he got screwed over by one of the most incompetent coaching staffs in recent memory, tore up his shoulder, and sat for three years. This guy deserves his shot...even if its to have a Tommy Maddox-like career. He deserves better than what he got in Cleveland.

4) How could I forget my Lollapalooza review?? I only went on Sunday, but I got to see four bands I've never seen before, and have always wanted to see. First, the highlight of the day was Iggy Pop inviting everyone onto stage with him, then expecting everyone to leave in a timely manner so he could finish his set. I WILL say that it was rather disappointing that the Stooges didn't play a single song off Raw Power, one of the greatest and most influential rock/punk albums of all time. Then it dawned upon me that Iggy really doesn't have the vocal range for "Search and Destroy" anymore (which is unfortunate, since its probably my favorite song of all time). I was dying to see that song performed live, but as it stands, I'll live with the memory of the greatest commercial of all time, and, in my opinion, the best implementation of a song in a commercial (The Who's "Baba O'Rielly" in the Nissan XTerra commercial is a close second...and dammit I couldn't find it online). Anyways, Pearl Jam rocked the house, of course. But what was odd was the final song (Rockin' in the Free World) where all of Eddie Vedder's "friends" came on stage with him. We're talking about a couple dudes in wheelchairs, a fat red haired dude, Dennis Rodman, and Lance Armstrong. This of course led to speculation by myself and Skurny, can you think of an odder conglomeration of people in one place? I said maybe the 2007 Cavaliers, or perhaps even the cast and crew of the movie Domino.

He suggested the Goals Group.

Hmmmm...touche.

Goals Out The Ass

1. Tigers win 15-1 against the hapless Nationals and just like that we're tied with the worst city in the world for 1st in the Central. The offense is incredible and The Gambler comes back on Friday, cheating, scuffing and all.

2. Looks like Rudy's staff is having fun in South Carolina...blow anyone?

3. Bon Jovi has a new album? I didn't know AARP had a record label...

4. I didn't know that Randy Walker and Tery Hoeppner coached together at Miami for nine years...what are the chances? Either way, I'll say it again: RIP.

5. Going to Meeeeeechigan on Thursday for my friend Wheaton Joel's wedding (best friend growing up)...2 time D-III All American basketball player at Wheaton College in the 'burbs, and now he's getting married. I, on the other hand, am getting d-r-u-n-k and am a reigning 4 time All American at that.

6. The Black Keys were absolutely incredible on Saturday night in Austin, pure balls to the wall Rock and Roll in the best live music city in the world, can't ask for much more than that....Check them out or something is wrong with you. AWM: Despite their name, they are white and (gasp) from Akron, OH...even though I hate Ohio, I cannot resist the Keys.

Goals are forever

1. What a weekend! My friend, the artist formerly known as Law School Tim, came down to Dallas for the weekend: Some highlights:
Friday night: Rangers vs Brewers, snuck down within 20 rows of the field...
Saturday night: FC Dallas vs LA Galaxy, LST found a cell phone in his pocket that wasn't his (both Razr's), we still can't find the owner...neither of us know how it turned up, only that whoever owns this phone knows someone named "John (so hot)"
Sunday: My liver went on strike and refuses to go back to work until I start providing safe working conditions.

2. Sopranos finale tonight, I can't believe this is it...there's so much to tie in for the last episode...I cannot wait.

3. I had an interesting conversation with LST regarding the best pitcher of our generation...Clemons? Smoltz? Maddux? Pedro? I feel that Smoltz (overall) is the best of our generation, even though he only won 1 World Series. Clemons, although he's won 7 Cy Young's, 3 World Series and may have the best stats, but as a leader, player and all-around good guy, Smoltz is my guy. Your thoughts?

4. The kid, Andrew Miller improved to 2-0, his first two starts in his young career. This guy is the real deal, another great young arm for the Tiges. The Tigers have scored at least 10 runs in 6 of their last 12 games, unstoppable bats...now if only we can beat Cleveland...

Uh oh...brace yourselves...

1) Yes I think we can all agree that Colin Cowherd sucks. Now apparently, The Sports Guy agrees.

2) I'm going to beat you all to the punch. Yes I'm aware that Saturday night's game 3 of the Stanley Cup finals was not just the lowest rated hockey game on network TV of all time, but tied for the lowest network ratings for its timeslot ever. Thats right! EVER! People have been sending me this link all day, then sat back and waited for me to start squirming, then hopelessly defend my favorite dying sport. Except it didn't happen. All three times this "newsworthy tidbit" was pointed out to me, I simply shrugged and dismissed it completely (otherwise known as "the high road"). Sadly, you are all much too savvy for such a cavalier response from me (even AWM). You've seen me get pissed over much dumber things, so you know that this ratings thing must be eating away at me, right? So fine, allow me to validate my insecurities by explaining these low ratings (or rather, explaining their insignificance):

First of all, there are four people in the world that actually care about these ratings; that is, the four people that stand to actually profit from high ratings- the head of NBC, the owners of both teams involved, and of course NHL commish Gary Bettman. Anyone else who actually cares is simply using TV ratings on a summer Saturday night as a means of validating their opinion on something that, quite frankly, shouldn't matter all that much in the grand scheme of things.

Second, I've said it before and I'll say it again (even though it may come as a shock to some of you): hockey is not popular in the United States! *GASP* Ok, have you all caught your breath yet? Good! Compared to NBA/NFL/MLB, hockey is relatively unpopular. The average American probably cannot name one NHL player. These are all indisputable facts. Regardless, the NHL makes money. How do I know? They simply wouldn't exist if that were not true (they would never have returned from the lockout, at least). How does the NHL make its money? By capitalizing on HUGE market potential in hockey hotbeds- like Detroit, San Jose, Dallas, Denver, Minneapolis and Pittsburgh (amongst others). Also forgotten in the equation is the fact that Canada is actually a country, with people. People who have income, sometimes of the dispensable variety! Hence, the NHL profits. And it does so by not just simply getting by at the gate, but by actually excelling at the gate. The vast majority of the NHL's profits are made by ticket prices, not TV deals. Don't believe me? Check out this attendance chart from the '06-'07 season (2/3 of NHL teams sold 90% of their total tickets this year, including 10 that sold EVERY FREAKIN' SEAT AND THEN SOME!). Now compare that to the NBA, which also had 20 of its 30 teams sell 90% or higher, but only 5 sold every seat.

Now lets put this into perspective. Clearly the NBA is more popular (I'm not an idiot), but the NHL sure does compare favorably in terms of attendance (and I'd like to add that the NBA isn't exactly tearing it up in the ratings either). So I guess my point in this longwinded, borish diatribe, is this: the league aint goin' nowhere. There could've been 4 people watching the game on Saturday (me, my roommate, my boss and my mom), and it wouldn't change that fact.

But if you want to point out the ratings, maybe even make a joke comparing it to Paris Hilton's blood alcohol level, be my guest. Its an easy target, and it will win you millions of friends in the blogosphere.

3. Poop

4. 'Mocraft

Nerds

1) Had the second annual Memorial Day cookout yesterday. I invited about 50 people and maybe 20 showed up. I think I'm far less popular than what was once originally thought. (or maybe everyone was out of town this weekend)

2) Glad to see Bron finally awoke from his slumber yesterday. The Cavs played great D last night. Pavlovic was effective enough that I believe we've seen the last of Eric Snow in this series (THANK GOD!)

3) Stanley Cup Finals start tonight. For those of you delighting in the lack of media exposure (which, by the way, if you are one of those people who actually gets off on the fact that "no one likes hockey" then you are huge fucking loser. Or your name is Skip Bayless), I should remind you that its Ottawa against Anaheim.

4) It took 3 years. But finally...freakin' FINALLY someone posted the video on Youtube that I've been waiting for. Save yourself some trouble and fast forward to 3:40. Anyone want to argue that he was out??

Biggest Win in Franchise History

I don't think thats a stretch to say at all...do you? HUGE.

Reason to Celebrate

1) In case you were wondering, the reason I'm drunk is because I landed a HUGE client today. Six figure position paying us 20%. In case you are scoring at home, thats 20 grand for the company (for an IT position that isn't THAT hard to find). And the 20% is actually below market...I'm doing them a favor...

2) Croz and the Pens keep rolling. They took over 1st place tonight with a victory over the Bruins (despite being outshot a potentially problematic 33-26). ESPN has a great macromedia piece comparing Croz and Gretz...brilliant. One thing they neglected to mention- when Gretzky was breaking in, half the guys in the league were still playing without helmets. Say what you want about guys being "tougher" then...but sans helmet, I have a hard time believing the play was more physical then than it is now. He may not have the numbers to back me up before its all said and done, but Sidney Crosby will go down as the greatest hockey player ever.

3) The Atlanta Braves, despite their loss this afternoon, look unbelievable. If they score ANY runs at all, this is a 95 win team. That bullpen is disgusting, and the bench is shaping up to be stellar. The last time they had a bullpen and bench this good?? '95...and despite the fact that no one was paying attention, that was a helluva year to be Braves fan

4) Grindhouse. Anyone? Anyone??