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Friday, October 17, 2003
Well, I guess the SI cover jinx works even for regional covers. And if the Cubs were going to be sunk by the 1-2 punch of a jinx and a curse, I guess so were the Red Sox.
It's been one hell of a fall for the SI cover jinx, though. Working backwards from the past few weeks:
-- The Cubs and Red Sox lose in the LCS.
-- Jake Plummer loses and then gets hurt.
-- Oregon goes into the tank (and Priest Holmes was even slowed down).
-- Mia Hamm loses twice via the U.S. soccer team and then Nomar (plus Michigan falls to Oregon).
-- The Bills would win the week after they appeared on the cover, but they're 1-3 after that.
-- Ohio State struggled against San Diego State, but did win. It would take a few weeks later for the Buckeyes to lose.
-- The NFL preview had two retroactive cover jinxes as Chad Pennington and Michael Vick both had length photo sessions for the cover before being replaced by Kurt Warner, who got hurt and then lost his job.
All of this bodes well for Missouri, who faces cover darlings Oklahoma this weekend.
However, I wonder if the jinx would extend to the Web site? To think how much I power I might actually wield.
posted at 1:18 AM
And for crazy baseball non-sequitirs ...
-- Does it add to the misery or is it just plain irony that John Henry Williams was diagnosed with leukemia?
-- Will the Steve Bartman movie be as rushed as either the D.C. Sniper, or even worse, the Pennsylvania miners, movie?
-- Speaking of Bartman, it wasn't the greatest of nights for the 6 p.m. SportsCenter after being duped by a Howard Stern fan. How long has Stern's influence on public prank calls been lasting, anyway? I remember one of my friends in high school spoofing a Donahue show, and that had to be at least 10-11 years ago.
-- What other former Oriole (other than Cal) is going to interview for the vacant managerial job? Eddie Murray, Rich Dauer and Rick Dempsey have interviewed so far. I guess Lenn Sakata, John Lowenstein and Tippy Martinez are next.
posted at 12:59 AM
From the time the Cubs lost in Game 7 until somewhere around the time Jason Giambi hit his second homer, my interest in the playoffs waned. Then the roof caved in, and now I'm rejuvenated again after the Yankees' amazing comeback.
I suppose the way this series had gone, the way the whole playoffs had gone, this was the way to end it -- an extra-inning thriller.
I'm sure Fox was happy for such a dramatic Game 7 of the ALCS, but also realized that the World Series could be a real snoozer on the surface, but I think the Marlins have a talented team and are motivated enough to push it to the brink. I'm still not sure I'd go completely out of my way to watch the games if I'm not around, but we'll see.
posted at 12:43 AM
Thursday, October 16, 2003
Well, I guess Judgment Day will be avoided for another year, although I think Fox Sports would rather bump up the premieres of 24 and Joe Millionaire than show the Marlins in the World Series, at least after what could've been. In fact, I'm sure many will treat Yankees-Red Sox Game 7 as the de facto World Series game. It will have a lot more drama, intrigue, interest than either Yankees-Marlins or Red Sox-Marlins will have. Even as a Yankees fan, Marlins-Yankees doesn't do a lot for me. It either becomes like the '98 whooping of the Padres or the '01 stunner against the D'backs -- a lose-lose situation, in my opinion.
Hell, this year's baseball playoffs is turning into the NBA playoffs where the championship series is so anti-climactic after great series leading up to it. I guess it would make even more sense if the Yankees are in it since they own the Nets (at least for now).
And do the Marlins have the worst sense of timing for their successes? In 1997, they played a great World Series but knocked off an Indians team that hadn't won in ages (like the Cubs, or the Red Sox if they make it this far) and were sort of a sentimental favorite. Sure, the Marlins were an expansion team, but they fattened up with so many All-Stars that it seemed like a mercenary squad. The dismantling afterward helped to advance that point of view. There wasn't much of an identity to the team.
Fast forward to 2003. This team now has a great identity. Lots of young, up-and-coming players. A wise old manager. A spunky way of playing ball. Beating the Giants added to their likability, but they had to beat this year's "America's team." And now they enter the World Series being viewed as one of two things: an upstart who will continue another team's misery or the team that many fans will root for by default because they're playing the Yankees. I think I have a number of friends who would root for a team of serial murderers against the Yankees.
As for the Cubs, not much to say except that they choked. They probably took it easy against Josh Beckett, figuring they had a Wrigley clincher in their back pocket. Steve Bartman's unfortunate play on the foul ball just added to rattle a tired Mark Prior. And Kerry Wood didn't have it. But if you believe in curses, then the Cubs got a double, if not a triple whammy (if you want to consider the Bartman) -- there's that Billy Goat thing, but there's also the SI cover jinx back in action. The question is: Does the cover jinx work on a regional cover? If so, the Red Sox are screwed.
One last Cubs note, was having Billy Corgan the right choice for Take Me Out to the Ballgame on a night like this? It's cool and all, but this is one that screamed out for a Bill Murray or Michael Jordan -- someone with Chicago ties but more widespread appeal.
posted at 12:57 AM
Sunday, October 12, 2003
Do the Stipe shimmy
Victoria will have a much better wrap-up, but here are some quick thoughts from tonight's R.E.M. tour closer:
-- The sound system at Philips Arena leaves a lot to be desired, but our crappy seats (upper deck at an extreme angle to the stage) may have had something to do with it. Maybe it was my hearing, but I had problems picking out a lot of lyrics and a bunch of what Stipe had to say. The scary part is that the songs have become more intelligible as the years go by, but a lot of it seemed garbled from my perspective.
-- It's a much different crowd compared to the last time I saw them in 1995. It's definitely an older crowd, with the youngest group being in their early-mid 20s. You don't have the young crowd just picking them up off the most recent album. The greatest hits doesn't come out for a couple of weeks, and if you first picked up the band off Reveal, I'd be shocked.
-- Along those same lines, with a slightly older crowd who's had more time to digest a lot of the catalog, there was a greater appreciation for the "older" hits (i.e. stuff before Out of Time or Automatic for the People). I remember seeing them in '95 and hearing the whole crowd go nuts for stuff like Losing My Religion or What's the Frequency, Kenneth? But the ovation dying for things like Fall on Me. Not so this time. The biggest cheers came for the stuff that's played the most (Losing My Religion, Fall on Me, Radio Free Europe, Man on the Moon) regardless of year.
-- The Athens/Atlanta fan base from years back definitely were appeased as a bunch of the 28 songs on the list were from Chronic Town or Murmur. At times, we felt like they were just playing the track list from Eponymous.
-- I enjoyed myself, but a lack of cramming before the show got me a bit thrown off as to what was being played, and the sound system didn't help. There were a couple of tracks from Reveal and Up in the mix, but New Adventures in Hi-Fi got the most play of the recent albums. Automatic for the People also got a lot of play, but we couldn't find a single song from Monster on the set, which is a bit surprising, although that was the focus of the last big tour.
-- Still, the show seemed to appeal to all different levels of fans (minus those really wanting to hear Stand or Shiny Happy People): the big hits were mostly there, lots of underrated tracks for those who like things outside of the singles, plenty of older songs for the more hardcore fan. I'm not as much into the band as I was the last time I saw them, but it was still an entertaining show.
-- One last note: We see Mick Jagger continue to preen in his shows even though he's in his 60s. What will Stipe look like doing his goofy flailing dancing around if the band is still touring in like 10-15 years?
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