- See, YouTube isn't just for watching old clips of William Shatner singing Rocket Man and of scenes from Da Ali G Show. The FBI is now investigating a clip posted on YouTube of a reputed L.A. gang member being repeatedly punched in the face by L.A. cops. Obviously, I am in utter disbelief that L.A. cops would ever, ever abuse or assault a civilian in any way. It’s just unfathomable, we’ve never had any evidence that LAPD officers are violent or might cross the line when it comes to physicality with suspects. William Cardenas, the man being punched in the face in the video, sounds like he has a nice lawsuit coming up for police brutality. Chalk another one up for the virtues of YouTube, the newest crime-fighting tool for our nation’s law enforcement - against our nation’s law enforcement.
- The new Marine Corps Museum was dedicated Friday in a ceremony attended by the President. Honoring Marines is a great idea, but here’s an even better one: how about giving more protection and better equipment to the Marines currently serving in dangerous arenas around the world? Honoring Marines who have served before, good; giving better equipment and protective gear to Marines currently in combat, better idea. Leave it to the Bush administration to preside over the opening of a $60 million museum while military personnel stationed around the world are complaining that they don’t have the necessary weapons, equipment and supplies they need. Good job, W, start a war that never should’ve happened and then don’t provide those fighting it with what they need.
- College football needs a playoff, that much is obvious. Two undefeated teams, Ohio State and Michigan, reside at the top of the current rankings. They play next Saturday, leaving only one of them still unbeaten. Boise State and Rutgers are also unbeaten, but the convoluted BCS system gives those two no real shot at playing in the national title game. In between, there are a ton of one-loss teams and we’re left to try to sift through them, compare schedule strengths, strength of their respective conferences, level of impressiveness in wins, etc., and come up with one clear-cut team to play the OSU-Michigan winner for the title. College presidents need to set aside their arcane notions about a playoff and realize that it will actually help them in the one place they care about most; money. A playoff would be a huge financial boon for the colleges. The objection that another month of games would just be too much of a strain on the student athletes is ludicrous. Division 1-AA, Divisions II and III all have playoffs, and D-III schools can't even give athletic scholarships. They are more rigorous academically than most any D-I schools, yet their student athletes compete in a playoff system and are just fine. Wake up, NCAA, and give us what we all want: a 16-team playoff.
- New James Bond movie coming out this week, and I’m not sure what to make of it. Initially, I was hesitant to embrace new Bond Daniel Craig. You get used to a particular actor in the Bond role (Pierce Brosnan for my generation) and that’s that. But my reticence to be excited about the new movie, Casino Royale, has little to do with Craig. From the commercials I’ve seen and other movies I’ve seen Craig in, he should suffice in the Bond role. I just think the whole Bond genre has run its course, that’s all. There are all kinds of spy movies out there now; Mission: Impossible, XXX with Vin Diesel, and so on. Bond has been around for decades, and even for a line of films that is traditionally pretty predictable in terms of plot, characters, general vibe of the movies, I feel like we’ve reached a point where no new Bond territory can be explored sufficiently as to provide a great movie. Casino Royale will make money, sure, but I don’t think it’s going to be a huge success, either with critics or in terms of box office revenue.
- With every successive single that I hear from Fergie’s album (unwillingly, I might add. People at sporting events and radio that is played at public places like stores, malls, etc. seem fixated on her music), I am more and more in disbelief that anyone buys this crap. Her current single, Fergilicious, is basically an ode, by herself to herself, of how hot she is. Fine, she’s hot, but I don’t ever, ever need to hear someone sing about themselves being hot and do so to the extent that they try to make up new words just to describe it. It’s as if she isn't even trying to make good music, but rather throw together some catchy beats, make videos of her dancing around in tight clothes and capitalize on being hot. It’s one thing to be a talented artist and not make great music (Barry Manilow, Celine Dion, etc. - they at least have musical talent, even though I can't stand to listen to either), but artists like Fergie don’t even try to make good music. They recycle clichés and crap that will make them money and do little else. If my options are grinding away at my wrists with a rusty butter knife or listening to Fergie’s CD, pass the butter knife.
- So maybe I was wrong about ABC’s now-cancelled series Six Degrees. For the most part, I liked the show. I enjoyed the premise, the characters were pretty interesting. Still, looking back at the direction the show took in recent weeks and the general quality level of the show, I can see why ratings dropped and the network pulled the plug. I think the show’s writers and execs failed to capitalize on the potential that the show had. The characters weren't developed all that much, because for the most part, their daily lives were very routine. No one wants to see the run-of-the mill, hum drum everyday life of six different people, even if they do live in NY. You have to mix in some out of the ordinary, major life event type drama to hook people. Also, some of the characters were clearly more interesting and worthy of air time than others, yet the writers were intent on continuing to weave all of the characters into each episode in some fashion. Reports are that the show may return in January, although it’s exceptionally unlikely. Chalk this one up in the column of good idea, poor execution.
- Last week’s Raiders-Seahawks game was the lowest-rated MNF game ever, according to published reports. Stunning…….not only was it the worst MNF game ever, but the worst-rated ever. That’s a rare combo to achieve, and for the life of me, I can't figure out why this game was ever scheduled for Monday night. Shouldn’t that be a showcase game for two teams expected to be among the NFL’s best in a given season? The Seahawks, I understand; they nearly won the Super Bowl last year, and no one could have known they would suffer devastating injuries to both their Pro Bowl quarterback and MVP running back. But the Raiders? They not longer have a commitment to excellence; they have a commitment to excrement based on the crap they try to pass off as a football team each Sunday during the season. They were awful last year; they added no free agents of note and one of the worst head coaches ever in terms of actual in-game coaching, yet you want to put them on the NFL’s biggest weekly stage? Huh? Next time you get a bright idea like that, NFL and ESPN, give me a call and I’ll explain why maybe it’s not the best game plan if you want to actually attract viewers to your MNF telecasts.
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