Dou-blog: NCAA Basketball & The Grammys

I’ll start off with a couple of comments on the Grammys & then I’ll get down to the true meat of this blog.

So, I’m watching the Grammys, right? Yeah.. So, the award for Best Rock Album comes up & I hadn’t seen the nominees until the show. So, I’m listening.. We got.. Kid Rock – Rock N Roll Jesus.. Ok, that fits. Metallica – Death Magnetic.. They’re metal & it says on the Grammy website that this award includes hard rock & metal, so, fine. Then we have The Raconteurs – Cosolers Of The Lonely. Cool.. Next, we have Kings Of Leon – Only By The Night.. Weird, but acceptable. Now, we have the group & album that WON.. Coldplay – Viva La Vida….. NO, NO, NO, NO, NOOOOO!!!! I’m sorry, but, they’re not rock & even if they are, there should be a whole different category with them in it. Why don’t they? They do the same thing for Best Rock Song, but then.. They have another award for Best Metal Performance & even Best Hard Rock Performance, WHAT?!?!? Why no “Best Metal Album”? Why no “Best Alternative Rock Album” or whatever they call Coldplay? It’s just not right. There’s FAR more of a difference between the albums ”Death Magnetic” by Metallica & “Viva La Vida” by Coldplay than there is between the songs “Inside The Fire” by Disturbed & “My Apocalypse” by Metallica, they separated those two away from each other placing Disturbed’s song under “Hard Rock” & Metallica’s under “Metal”..  I’m just amazed that they’ll separate some things out like that, but won’t for others. Why should TRUE rock bands have to pay for Coldplay being virtually unidentifiable as to what they play.. What are they? Are they simply a rock band? We know what Metallica is, we know what Kid ROCK is, what is Coldplay? They might as well be put under anything if you aren’t going to separate them from Metallica, Kid Rock & even The Raconteurs & Kings Of Leon! Rant finished.

Now, time to talk College Basketball. What a crazy year this has already turned out to be! I’m not sure anybody wants to be #1. What I am sure of is who could end up being #1 after the March Madness tournament is over & all is said & done. Below are the teams that I believe have a shot at winning it all:

North Carolina - Obviously.. They have the best starting five in the country. I don’t think they will win it all, though.. I do believe they will make it to the Final Four.

UConn – This is a really good team. I really like Hasheem Thabeet, he will take them deep into the tournament.. This is also a Final Four team.

Duke – Don’t let their recent performances fool you, this team is still VERY good.. I doubt that they are Final Four quality, but, they will make the Elite Eight.

Louisville – They will go as far as their defense can carry them. I believe that is to the Elite Eight.

Missouri – They will be the dark horse of the NCAA tournament. Make no mistake, they will surely pull off some big wins in the tournament. I believe they are headed to the Elite Eight.

Clemson – I’ve been all about this team for a while now. It’s not just one thing with this team, it’s everything! I like them to make the Final Four.

UCLA – They’ve made a believer out of me. It’s weird to see them change so much & be more of an offensive team now when just last year they were all about defense. I like them now to make the Elite Eight.

Pittsburgh – I saved the best for last. Yes, this is the team I’m picking to win it ALL!!!! They’re so consistent. While everyone else trips up somewhere, these guys will be there & stand over them in victory on their way to cutting down the nets after they win the tournament.

So, there you have it.. I know it’s early & anything COULD happen, but.. I’m pretty confident about this, which is perfectly fitting for this year, as I didn’t pick any major underdogs to make the Elite Eight. The only thing that could be more shocking is for no shocking team to make the Elite Eight this year, that’s what I’m predicting!

The Oscars: Awarding Greatness or Keeping An Image?

I think it’s alittle of both, to be honest. I do believe that the films they choose are great movies & deserving of awards MOST of the time. However, every year there are movies that also deserve recognition that just simply don’t receive it because they aren’t the “Oscar” type. Two prime examples of this, this year are “Rambo” & “Vantage Point”,  both of which are in my Top 10 movies of 2008, I’ve seen them both.

I haven’t seen all of the movies nominated for Oscars &  that are on my Top 10 movies of 2008, some of it is based off of what I’ve heard from reliable sources & my own opinion where valid. I’ve read alot about all of the movies & heard so much that I wanted to do this blog before the Oscars, doing it afterward wouldn’t be as fun & kind of pointless.

For now, I want to talk a bit about some predictions for the Oscars. I believe “Slumdog Millionaire” will win best picture.  Kate Winslett will win best actress in a leading role. I’m going to go WAAAAAAAYY out on a limb & say that Heath Ledger will win best actor in a supporting role (how brave of me, right?). Heath definitely deserves it, though, I saw “The Dark Knight” & his performance was the best acting I’ve seen in a long time. Sean Penn will win best actor in a leading role. I’m not so sure about this one, I have not seen Milk, but I have seen trailers & such for the purpose of this blog, I watched trailers for all movies that I haven’t seen & made sure to get all the information needed to form somewhat of a decent opinion. I think maybe Mickey Rourke should win the Oscar here, he seemed to really put alot into his part in “The Wrestler”, I can’t wait to see the movie, being a huge wrestling fan myself.

But, ok.. Without any further adieu, I give you my opinion, based on everything I’ve heard & some of my own thought, the Top 10 movies of 2008;

1. Slumdog Millionaire (by far, from what I’ve heard & what I know myself)
2. Milk
3. The Wrestler
4. The Class
5. WALL-E (I’m not crazy about animation, but, I truly believe that this one would be watchable, even by me)
6. The Dark Knight (even though it wasn’t really my cup of tea, I realize how fans of the Batman movies to begin with would think it’s great. What can I say? I want my Top 10 to represent me & all of you, as well)
7. Iron Man (I saw this one too & I actually liked it better than “The Dark Knight”, it’s what everybody else said that made me put “The Dark Knight” just ahead of it, personally, I liked “Iron Man” better.. As I said, though, this isn’t just my list, it’s a consensus of everything I’ve seen & heard)
8. Vantage Point (Saw this one & it was really good. The way that it kept going over the same window of time from different perspectives was insane & awesome all at the same time.. This one kept me there with my eyes glued to the TV, if a movie can do that & keep me hanging around, it must be pretty great)
9. Rambo (This was action at it’s very finest.. Sylvester Stallone was amazing, it was RAMBO!!! Talk about keeping you watching, there is not a person on the face of the planet who could fall asleep on this movie, or at least I should hope not! If there is & you’re reading this, I’m no doctor, but.. You have a problem, seek this movie out & cure yourself!)
10. Miracle At St. Anna (This is definitely the oddball of my Top 10.. It was surprising to me how most people didn’t care for this movie. Then, I read reviews & studied up on it & I realized why.. Everywhere I looked I saw where the critics kept saying that it was full of subplots & had tons of characters & was just nuts as far as keeping up & staying with it. It definitely sounds like a winner to me, though.. I know that people have found that it’s not true to history & such, but.. Why would anyone watch a movie if they want a history lesson? Go grab a history book or find a history buff, but, don’t watch some movie that doesn’t even claim that it’s 100% true to history. Bottom line is, it’s a movie, not a history buff telling you “this is what’s true & what happened”.. I find that people either loved it or hated it. That’s a sign of only one thing.. It left you with a strong feeling whether you liked it or not. It makes my Top 10 for this reason)

So, there you have it! I think it’s pretty much what you’d expect at the top & then gets crazy towards the bottom. As you can see, I tried extremely hard to look past my own opinion prior to seeing or even after seeing the movies & I go into every movie with an open mind to it, it either holds me or not. For the ones that I  haven’t seen… Some of them, I will probably end up watching.. Others, I know would just bore me, but realize that they are probably extremely great films for people with that kind of taste, mine is probably all in my mouth, that’s why I like to throw in tons of other people’s to make me seem like I’m awesome, which, I am.. I mean.. Ok, this isn’t about me.

Anyway, up next in my blogging… I have no clue, really. Probably something to do with College Basketball, I’m thinking.. I will definitely get back to sports where I actually know more about what I’m saying. Yes.

Super Bowl Prediction: Upset in the Cards?

I don’t think so. It could definitely happen if the Steelers aren’t ready to get in Warner’s face & not allow him to use Fitzgerald at will. The Steelers defense doesn’t rely on blitzing this year, they don’t need to. They can get pressure with just sending their 3 down linemen & one linebacker, some would say: “That’s a blitz!!!”, but it’s not. It’s called a “red dog”..

I think the Steelers’ D will be ready for the Cards’ powerful O. Will the Steelers run away with it? No.. The Steelers offense isn’t good enough for them to blow the Cardinals out. But, they will put up enough to win, in my opinion.

FINAL SCORE

Pittsburgh: 20
Arizona: 14

Don’t let that score fool you though, this is going to be a great game, not at-all boring.. I see the Cardinals jumping out to an early lead 7-0 in the first quarter. Then in the 2nd quarter the Steelers D will dominate them & kick a field goal. 7-3 at the half. To start off the 3rd quarter the Steelers will get a huge run back on the kickoff for a TD.. 7-10 Steelers. Arizona will go on a long drive, resulting in a pickoff or fumble, Steelers recovering. Steelers will get a field goal out of it. 7-13 Steelers. 4th quarter, Roethlisberger will start to faulter.. He will throw a pick, Cardinals will storm down to the field only to get stopped & miss a field goal. 3 & out for the Steelers after that. Cardinals will once again drive down into Steelers’ territory only to finally be shut down & have to punt.. Steelers will use a trick play for a TD & then it’ll be revenge time for the Cardinals, using a trick play to their advantage, eventually getting a TD themselves. Then, the Steelers will drain the clock & get the win.

20-14 Steelers.

PS: Coming in my next blog, I do a special on… The Oscars. YES.. The Oscars.