what really grinds my gears

2006-11-15T19:36:00.000-05:00

Arguably the most acclaimed movie of the year has come under fire from many of its participants after they realized they had been duped.

In "Borat," comedian Sacha Baron Cohen portrays his Kazakhstani alter-ego, a character he created for his UK Channel 4-turned-HBO series "Da Ali G Show." In his "adventures" across America, Borat interviews and pokes fun at people all across the country. Two of the people who participated in the movie were a pair of frat brothers who "made drunken, insulting comments about women and minorities" in front of the cameras. These young men are now suing the studio behind the production of "Borat," 20th Century Fox. I completely agree with the studio spokesmen when he says the the lawsuit "has no merit." If these guys could be so easily convinced to go out drinking, sign waivers to be put on camera, and say inappropriate things that are now being heard by audiences all over the country, I have a feeling this isn't the first time they've made comments that most would consider socially unacceptable. All of a sudden people see them being assholes on a big screen and now they come out and say they were basically "tricked" into getting drunk and acting like idiots. I find it hard to believe that these guys don't routinely go out drinking and certainly on occasion make tasteless comments regarding women or minorities. These two guys aren't being seen out of character, it's only because someone chose to put it in a movie for other people to see that they realize what kind of people they are and want retribution for the "defamation" that took place. It wasn't defamation, however, just a case of two people being called out in public for being complete jerks.

2006-11-14T00:07:00.000-05:00

You know what really grinds my gears? The fact that the college basketball season starts earlier and earlier every year.

I love college basketball as much as the next person, but it seems as if the season now starts before even a clear championship picture is painted in college football. Of course money now controls the game, so in order for all the top teams to participate in various season-opening tournaments, games must be played starting right at the beginning of November. A more logical starting time would be waiting until after Thanksgiving, instead of Halloween, but then many different groups would lose the millions of dollars that come out of playing these early season games. Maryland (my primary rooting interest) started their season on the 7th, playing in the 2K College Hoops Classic. The "Classic," which has been around since only 1996, is set up to have four power schools host four-team mini-tournaments with the winning schools advancing to play in a championship round in New York two weeks later. The organizers pack these mini-tournaments with enough cupcake teams that the winners of the mini-tournaments (Maryland, Michigan St, Texas, and St Johns) won their respective mini-championship games by an average of 23 points. The other teams who agree to participate in this event are accepting the fact that they are supposed to lose because sponsors and TV executives don't want to see smaller schools playing in a meaningless event that needs high profile teams to draw any kind of attention. At least some people will watch Maryland versus St Johns, even though it's being played in mid-November. Why would these less talented teams play in this event, when it was designed for them to lose? Money, of course. The fact that schools are getting money for playing such lopsided games shows what has become of college sports. It's the same principle that has mid-major college football teams repeatedly travelling to Division I powerhouses like USC or Texas and getting beaten by 4+ touchdowns.

Maryland and the other teams scheduled to play later this week would probably get more out of being at practice than they do preparing for and playing in games that are practically decided before they're even played. These pre-season tournaments should be cut from the college basketball schedule and the season should start with meaningful games after the Thanksgiving holiday. Of course this will never happen as it's now the financial leaders that control the game. As the old sports proverb states: It's not whether you win or lose, it's the revenue you generate off the game.

2006-11-13T00:10:00.004-05:00

It's been a really long time since my last post, but I thought I should get back into the blog; I haven't been doing enough writing lately through school, so this should be a good outlet.

The biggest item of national news recently has been the results of the midterm elections taking place throughout the country. I'm certainly excited that the Democrats have taken control of both houses of Congress, it's way too early know is any significant changes will take place. This new Congress needs time to enact new ideas and new legislation to bring some strong liberal principles back into the American political spectrum.

Closer to home, for me, there were two very important races in Maryland, both of which went to the Democratic candidate. When Paul Sarbanes announced his retirement after 5 terms in office, many people were looking to get their foot in the door as Sarbanes and Barbara Mikulski had been Maryland's Senators since 1986 when I was born. Michael Steele, the incumbent Lieutenant Governor, stepped in as the clear leader for the Republican candidate. In a hot contest for the Democratic candidacy, two men came out as the leaders for the position, Kwasi Mfume and Ben Cardin. Mfume has led an extraordinary life in the national spotlight, with high profile positions such as the leader of the NAACP. Cardin, meanwhile, has been a local elected official for nearly 20 years and led a strong campaign all over the state to take the Democratic candidacy and the Senate seat.

The governors race has been brewing in Maryland since virtually the day Bob Ehrlich took office in 2002. His win in '02 sent a shock through the system of many Democrats in Maryland, as a Republican had become governor in what is generally considered a strong blue state; granted he was running against a complete moron who only rose to the position she was in because of her last name. I'm slightly, or very, biased toward Martin O'Malley because of multiple relationships with him and his family. In addition to working on his second campaign for mayor over one summer and spending significant time in his company and his closest political associates, my next door neighbor is his sister-in-law. After 2 terms as the mayor of Baltimore, it was clear that expanding to the state level was the next step in his growing political career. There have been numerous controversies revolving around this race, most notably with the Ehrlich administration being forced quiet in it's relationship with The Baltimore Sun. When November 7th finally rolled around, it was a day that had been long anticipated and ended as a very successful showing for Maryland Democrats and a very sweet victory to see Martin O'Malley ready to become the next governor of the state of Maryland.

Here's a good article from the aforementioned Sun about the O'Malley victory and notes his close support system running his campaign, including Brian Hammock, my boss on the O'Malley mayoral campaign who was and is a great leader with a strong future behind the scenes in politics.

2006-03-15T17:39:00.000-05:00

You know what really grinds my gears: The fact that a student editor would get fired for approving the publication of caricatures of Mohammed in the school paper.

Granted these cartoons were offensive to many, but these cartoons have been in the international news since September and publishing them months later could hardly be considered an attack on Islamic students. These cartoons were used merely as reference to a larger story and those who are too close-minded to see that should not be in control of any type of media organization. Gorton words it well, saying "'We had a news story on our hands, with violence erupting about imagery, but you can't show it because of a taboo, because of a taboo that's not a Western taboo but a Muslim taboo?' he said. 'That's a blow to journalism.'" For many of us in college, we don't have the privilege of reading the New York Times or other large-scale print newspapers everyday; the college newspaper is an important resource in our ability to follow the large international stories that are developing every day. A paper that is willing to step up and make the bold move of showing possibly offensive material in support of a story is one that should be lauded, not criticized.

2006-03-14T20:57:00.000-05:00

You know what really grinds my gears: that, even moreso than in Major League Baseball, English Premier League teams and teams throughout Europe are individual commodities with their own sponsors and very unequal revenue with owners who can spend as much money on players as they choose.

Even though the only way a salary cap would work is if it was put in place all over Europe, which could never happen, it's disappointing to see certain teams loading up on star players and fielding virtual all-star teams. Even though my Arsenal Gunners are near the top of the Premiership in terms of roster salary, they don't come close to the biggest spenders in Europe, teams such as Real Madrid or Chelsea. When Roman Abramovich took over the club a few years ago he implemented a "do what it takes no matter how much money is spent" attitude toward running his team. Now it looks as though they will sign world superstar Michael Ballack later this spring for upwards of $40 million US. I'll admit it's great to watch the flow of play for a team on which Roberto Carlos can carry the ball upfield, pass to Zinedine Zidane, who passes to David Beckham, who passes to Robinho, who crosses to Ronaldo who scores a brilliant goal that only the Brazilian striker could; but I find it much more impressive to see teams use their youth programs to develop talent when players are teenagers and then spring them onto the international scene like Arsenal have with Philippe Senderos, Mathieu Flamini, and Francesc Fabregas (who's younger than I am). It's not going to change anytime soon but it would be nice to see a slight change among the top 5 Premeirship teams each season; well, except for Arsenal.

2006-03-13T11:58:00.000-05:00

Home Again: Jamal Lewis Agrees To New Ravens Deal

Although many people would have been happy to see him leave the team, I'm happy the Ravens are bringing Jamal Lewis back for the '06 season. I strongly believe this offseason without legal trouble will do wonders for him; he'll work hard to train and get back into shape as the primary running back. Last offseason he had surgery and went to jail for four months. With time to train properly I think Jamal could be back to having a 1600 yard season. Granted improving the O-line will have something to do with that, but Jamal should be ready to go by his 27th birthday in August. There are many nay-sayers out there but I'm exciting Jamal will be running for the purple and black in '06.

2006-02-16T16:03:00.000-05:00

So far, I have had zero interest in watching any of the Olympics. I'm not sure why exactly, usually the Olympics excite me and there are certain events in the Winter Games I usually can't get enough of. This year, though, I haven't even considered turning on the TV to watch any of the coverage. Part of this I feel has to do with the fact that I'm at my computer on the internet for hours everyday and avoiding the results of the days events is near impossible. I enjoy Olympic competition a lot but not enough that I'm going to give up my valuable sleep time to get up and watch every morning, like I did with the World Cup '02 and will do again this summer. The US has also not performed up to par thus far, with numerous athletes not meeting expectations. 5 of the 9 US medals have come in snowboarding, a sport that was started in the US only 20 years ago and is still dominated domestically.

One guy who certainly didn't perform the way he would have like was Jeremy Bloom. Luckily he's got somewhere pretty good to go now that his Olympics are over; he'll be at the NFL scouting combine next week in Indianapolis. We won't get a great feeling from only the combine, but it'll be interesting to see if his football skills have stayed sharp since he left Colorado. Obviously he's in great shape and his combine numbers should be good, but it won't be until he lines up as a wideout will we see if he's got what it takes to make it in the NFL.

2006-02-15T17:27:00.000-05:00

You want to know something that really grinds my gears...people who wear sunglasses indoors. It's a completely ridiculous look and has become one of my biggest pet peeves. It's quite prevalent at BU where many of the trust-fund babies who walk around think they're mini-celebrities. People just don't seem to realize how stupid it looks when people go inside but insist on keeping their sunglasses on. Girls in my classes keep sunglasses on during lecture; maybe it's for the brightness of a powerpoint slide up on the screen. Whatever the reason is, I can only hope the sun is setting on this trend.

2006-02-14T15:52:00.000-05:00

Last night, with a 3-2 win over BC, my Terriers won a 27th Beanpot Championship. The Beanpot is supposed to determine the best team in Boston every year, pitting BU against BC, Harvard, and Northeastern. What makes 27 Beanpots so impressive is that it's out of only 54 total Beanpot tournaments; that's half of all Beanpots. That stat is absolutely ridiculous considering BC won 8 of the first 12; BU has won it 23 times in the last 37 years, including 10 of the last 12. The crowd seemed to be pro-BC aside from our student section, which was as strong as ever, dominating the noise in the Garden. After a slow start, trailing 1-0 after the first period, the Terriers came back strong in the second and took a 2-1 lead on a couple of nice goals, one of which starting with an amazing move by Peter MacArthur, who ended up winning the MVP of the tournament. It was a great game atmosphere, but considering we don't have premier basketball or football to root for, students show up strong for hockey, especially at the Beanpot.

2006-01-27T10:50:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite blogs that my aunt got me hooked on, Waiterrant, was nominated for Best American Weblog of 2006. Everyone should go the Bloggies page and vote for ones you like or find something new and interesting to read.

2006-01-24T18:59:00.000-05:00

This is some pretty huge news. Walt Disney, the original king of animation, has bought the 21st century leader in animation, Pixar. With seven huge movies in 10 years, Disney (and I) better hope Pixar keeps it up to pick up the Disney stock.

2006-01-23T17:20:00.001-05:00

How can a basketball player at a major university possibly not get a 2.0 GPA for a semester. Considering all of the monitoring of grades the athletic department must do, it seems like something could have been done to get the senior leader of a top 20 team to stay on the court. Either way Chris McCray is an idiot; a 2.0 sucks especially for someone who was probably given any kind of tutoring he could possibly want. Maryland will have a tough time replacing him considering how versatile a player he was. The new starting five will probably be:
PG: DJ Strawberry
SG: Mike Jones (who really needs to step up his game)
SF: Nik Caner-Medley
PF: James Gist
C: Ekene Ibekwe

2006-01-22T18:16:00.000-05:00

I really hate the Steelers. Whichever team wins the NFC Championship better win the Super Bowl. If the Steelers charter plane got shot down on their trip back East, I would not be upset. There are so many members of the team I hate I can't decide who I hate the most, but I'll try:

1. Joey Porter
2. Hines Ward
3. Jerome Bettis
4. Bill Cowher
5. Ben Roethlisberger

That's a solid top 5 of hate. All I can say is "Go NFC!"

2006-01-20T19:28:00.000-05:00

Last night I was at the Garden for the Billy Joel concert. For a guy who's body has gone through as much as his must have over the years, he still puts on an amazing show. He played a long set list filled with most of his hits:

Prelude/Angry Young Man
Pressure
Everybody Loves You Now
New York State of Mind
The Ballad of Billy The Kid
Stiletto
Zanzibar
Allentown
The Great Wall of China
Sometimes A Fantasy
Sleeping With The Television On
Goodnight Saigon
Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)
The Night Is Still Young
She's Always A Woman
Keeping The Faith
In The Midnight Hour
The River of Dreams
I Go To Extremes
We Didn't Start The Fire
Big Shot
It's Still Rock and Roll To Me
You May Be Right
Only The Good Die Young
Scenes From An Italian Restaurant
Piano Man

2006-01-18T18:46:00.000-05:00

I really don't understand the big deal about who Alex Rodiguez plays for, if at all, in the World Baseball Classic. This whole thing is a made up tournament that was brought about for no significant reason. It seems clear that the Latin American countries have blown past the US as area that's home to the best players. Why does this stupid thing need to be played out; we even aren't going to see "real" games as all of the pitchers will be on a strict pitch count, it's going to look more like the All Star Game than a tournament of true baseball games.

2006-01-17T17:02:00.000-05:00

After having almost a month off I'm back to blogging in full force.

As far as the state of NFL playoffs go, I'm happy about the way they have gone but am not completely satisfied. Having the Pats lose to the Broncos was a great moment, the second half of that game was amazing for all of the Pats haters such as myself.

I still can't believe what happened at the end of the Colts/Steelers. There was so much crapiness packed into five minutes I didn't know what to think. Both teams and the refs had suicidal moments and I can't believe the goddamn Squeelers came out on top. The Broncos better take care of business this week in Denver.

As far as the NFC goes, I've been rooting for Seattle since the beginning. The Panthers are dangerous but it's going to be tough for them to go to Seattle and win without Deshaun Foster.

One of my friends and I had a long debate over my break about trading our love of Baltimore sports for the teams of another city. The two at the top of my list are Seattle and then Denver. I've always been a Mariners fan and the Seahawks seem like an organization I could root for. Also, the SuperSonics have my favorite basketball player: Ray Allen.

2005-12-31T15:04:00.000-05:00

If the O's go through with any of the proposed Miguel Tejada trade options, they are more foolish than I even thought possible. Manny is a great player who I would love to have on my team, because all he does is produce, but I wouldn't be willing to trade the leader of my team to get him. He's not quite on this level, but it's as if the Ravens were looking to trade Ray Lewis. Granted there might be better players but you can't replace certain aspects of the game he brings to the table everyday.

2005-12-27T13:54:00.000-05:00

I don't know who's been playing QB for the Ravens the past two weeks but it sure hasn't looked like the Kyle Boller we've seen for almost three years. I'm not sure what's gotten into him but if he can play close to this level on a more consistent basis, our offense seems to be coming together nicely. Mason, Clayton, and Heap are three outstanding targets for Boller and he's doing a great job of spreading the ball around to the open man; he's using Heap a lot on 8-10 yard passes to open up 15+ yard passes to the outside for Mason and Clayton. Hopefully the Ravens can get their first road win of the year in Cleveland next week to finish out the season strong and bring hope to the fans for next season.

2005-12-21T14:34:00.000-05:00

Kobe just seems to be doing it himself these days for the Lakers. Last night against the Mavs he was the only Laker to score in double digits, he finished with 62, or take double digit shot attempts, 31 from the floor. Phil Jackson's triangle offense seems to have been thrown out the door in favor of the "let's hope Kobe wins the game for us" offense...whatever works.

2005-12-20T11:49:00.000-05:00

Well I'd been taking some time off from posting because of exams but since those are over and the Ravens won by 45! points last night I have the urge to write a little something. Granted they were playing the Packers, who are one of the league's worst teams, but the team really showed a strong effort last night and let the fans know they weren't going to throw the season away after 14 weeks. The key to last night's win, the play of the O-line. For the first time all year there was outstanding protection and blocking for a whole game. The RBs had lanes to run through and Kyle Boller was able to feel comfortable in the pocket and deliver some beautiful passes to the receivers. He used Todd Heap in a great way, which is something that should become the cornerstone of the passing game, similar to what Drew Brees and Antonio Gates have established in San Diego. Heap cannot be covered by any more than a handful of guys in the NFL; he's too fast for the LBs and too strong and powerful for the safeties. Mark Clayton seems to be progressing very well and it's nice to see us use him in some inventive ways (lining him up behind center) to take advantage of his speed and quickness. Derrick Mason is just a great route runner and found gaps in the Packer zone beautifully last night. Clearly some of Mason's knowledge of the game is rubbing off on Clayton. Jamal finally seemed to be able to get a little steam going as he hit the hole. He made some solid cuts and broke a couple nice longer runs. As for the D that was just a typical Ravens game; they gave up nothing down the field and provided a relentless attack on the backfield. The sack numbers weren't necessarily there but Favre constantly had guys in his face, forcing two interceptions. In my opinion now we've seen how explosive this offense can be and it just needs to be groomed to perform on that level on a consistent basis; no huge changes should take place before next season and with some offseason work together maybe, just maybe the Ravens will move up into the top half of the offenses in the league.

2005-12-15T17:40:00.000-05:00

This is just fantastic...great job fighting terror.

2005-12-14T18:37:00.000-05:00

The US national soccer team has a tough road ahead of them in the World Cup next summer after being drawn into a group with Italy, Czech Republic, and Ghana. With three of the teams in the top 12 in the world, including the US, this will be a great opportunity for the US team to show it has staying power in the international game. Making out of their group would be a great accomplishment for this group and solidify us as an up and coming soccer power. This article by Ives Galarcep explains how the draw could end up being beneficiary to the US.

2005-12-13T13:58:00.000-05:00

Last night a group of 15 of us went to Fire and Ice downtown for a classic dinner. If you've never been to a Mongolian barbecue before, you're missing out because Fire and Ice is the best. All you can eat in general is amazing, but the variety of food they have at Fire and Ice and the experience itself makes for an awesome dining environment. For the record my recommended sauce would be a mix of the schezuan and peppercorn brandy.

2005-12-11T23:00:00.000-05:00

Today was pretty typical 2005 Ravens, although they didn't completely suck Kyle Boller certainly didn't do anything great to help the cause. The one high note was that although he got off to a slow start, it's nice to see Mark Clayton stepping into the role Ozzie Newsome thought he would play when he was drafted this year.

Maryland finally broke through in the College Cup and beat New Mexico to win the National Championship. Jason Garey, after four awesome years in College Park, finally got to the top.

Another great win for Maryland today; this one in basketball. A nice way to welcome BC to the ACC and take them down at the Comcast Center. The free throw shooting still needs to improve as well as a strong presence inside to bring down rebounds.

2005-12-10T12:49:00.000-05:00

Sorry it's been a few days, but I've been sick with a stomach virus. The biggest news in my world over the past few days has been the declaration by Miguel Tejada that he wants out of Baltimore. From Orioles Hangout:

When the Orioles heard that Miguel Tejada told a reporter that he wanted out of Baltimore they assumed that he was taken out of context or speaking out of frustration. But then a day went by without Tejada backing out and without him returning calls from executive vice president of baseball operations Mike Flanagan or manager Sam Perlozzo. Then, according to published, Flanagan and vice president of baseball operations Jim Duquette spoke to Tejada's agents Fernando Cuza and Diego Bentz yesterday and neither backed down from the trade demand. Third baseman Melvin Mora said he spoke to Tejada and that he wanted to be traded unless the front office improves. He told Mora said that the signing of Ramon Hernandez (one of Tejada's best friends and God parent to one of his children) wasn't enough and pointed to the moves made by the Blue Jays. Owner Peter Angelos countered in the Washington Post, pointing out how BJ Ryan got $47 million over five years as a closer when he has just closed one year and $55 million over five years to AJ Burnett who has never won over 12 games in a season. Meanwhile, team's are lining up to speak to the Orioles about Tejada and they are considering trades. The one receiving the most media interest is Tejada to Boston for Manny Ramirez. Angelos said he wouldn't be fond of taking on the $60 million left over three-years on Ramirez's contract, but didn't say he'd reject the trade. Baltimore doesn't necessarily want to trade him within the division, and will find it hard enough for someone to take the $60 million owed to him over the next four years. Of course, they also don't necessarily want to trade him and would like to convince him to stay.

I certainly can't blame him, but it shows volumes about the O's when our unquestioned leader asked to be traded. I was under the impression that Miggy was one of the few elements holding this team together; now the whole organization is up in the air. I don't think we should trade him, I know that's what he wants but he's too valuable to get rid of, even for Manny. Angelos really has some problems right now and I have no idea how he's planning on rectifying the situation.