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Saturday, April 26, 2003
Early NFL Draft notes
This is the first time in four years I'm not in the office working the draft, primarily because the analyst I worked with on draft day has since moved on to NFL.com. But so far, the Jets seemed to do the safe pick in getting Dewayne Robertson from Kentucky at No. 4. The team could always use another defensive lineman. And as for a receiver to replace the other Dillard's guy, well, they did get Curtis Conway almost right away, so there doesn't seem to be a pressing need for another receiver immediately. Besides, I want to see what Santana Moss can do.
The whole Vikings thing seems to be a huge mess, again. It's a lot like one of the guys in our office fantasy league draft who could never come up with a pick right away. He'd be on the phone, shuffling through papers, etc. Oh yeah, he won just one game in two years, and he won't be back this season (that layoff actually made that decision that much easier). However, the fun of all of those picks that came as a result made the draft that much more fun -- and kept things moving. It seemed like the ESPN guys were disappointed in all the fast picks. Hey, it makes things move nicely. There will be time to catch up eventually. Besides, the 15 minutes per pick seems like a bit much, unless you are the Minnesota Vikings.
I also like this year's Madden 2004 ads with Ray Lewis having his way with the rookie class. It's still hard to believe Lewis has that much drawing power to do those ads given everything. But I guess his acquittal holds more than the one with O.J.
posted at 2:02 PM
Thursday, April 24, 2003
I'll take swords for $400. ... Uh, it's actually not "Swords."
I am now 1-for-3 in taking the Jeopardy test after whiffing badly today. In fact, I think I've done progressively worse each time I take it. Years of surprisingly necessary sports knowledge (for work, mind you) plus lots of pop culture stuff from all the TRASH/trash competitions seems to have pushed the academic knowledge out of my brain. I was toast within the first few questions after not knowing the first one and not pulling a Canada one until well after the test was over. However, I did ace all the pop culture questions, everything else was a crap shoot. For what it's worth, only five or six out of the 60 in my room passed the test.
I don't really have many more stories about the tryout. It was at a hotel down the street from work; however, thanks to the layoffs and other scheduling quirks, we were at a bare bones level of staffing this afternoon, and I had to handle just about every section anyone really wants to read. I was dealing with a bunch of NFL Draft stuff at just the time I needed to leave. However, I can't blame my performance on having to worry about things at work. I just didn't know my stuff.
posted at 11:10 PM
Tuesday, April 22, 2003
We're going retro '90s?
Scarily, this old Onion article may actually be right about the retro craze. I had to think about it again after hearing this 10-year-old (!?!) song on the radio twice today -- on the way to work and immediately as I started up the car on the way out of the office. Granted, they were on different stations, including the retooled Atlanta classic rock station that allows it to be classified as "classic rock," but still it was strange since it's starting to fall into the retro/classic revival bin.
Then again, for as silly and poppy the song is, it still brings up a nice memory a girl named Kaymie (who adored the song) at some high school journalism conference in Washington my senior year of high school. Hey, if the weirdo art teacher on Six Feet Under can get emotional over "Sunglasses at Night", I can have this one.
posted at 11:57 PM
It may be TV Turnoff week, but you won't see me anywhere near that for a variety reasons (with work actually being a primary reason). But it does provide a nice segue into some interesting observations:
-- Crossfire has moved to the afternoon, and in the process, it has turned into Pardon the Interruption, complete with a clock. It even had a SportsCenter ad (the bizarre one with Paul Konerko and Tim Hudson and a bunch of people walking around in a circle).
-- As I await the next absurd turns on 24, it was interesting to read this Washington Post homage to Kim Bauer -- one of the most ridiculous characters in TV history. However, it seems like the ambivalence of many (mostly male) fans toward her can be summed up best this way:
"Without meaning to, she has come to represent the vapidity and naive innocence of a Britney Nation caught up in something deadly serious, with only her wits and the occasional visibility of her nipples to save her."
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