Favre Remains Retired...For Now (Again)

Brett Favre came out yesterday to tell the world that he is going to remain retired and not play for the Vikings this season....and anyone that believes that is a moron.

We all know that Brett Favre is a attention seeking media whore as well as a lazy, selfish player. Favre does not want to live in a 'dorm' for 3 weeks, Favre does not want to participate in any demanding training drills, Favre just wants to show up and throw the ball deep.

So here's what I think he is up too... Favre in a couple of weeks... likely around the 2nd preseason game... will come out and say... "Hey, you know what? I have continued to work out this entire offseason and the past couple of weeks I can tell that I am great physical shape and am getting the itch to play...if the Vikings are still interested I too would still be interested in playing for them..." and then by the final preseason game Favre will be dressed and playing for the Vikes...you heard it here first....

Merriman: Beasting

Saw this picture and read this article about Merriman reporting to Charger camp...it certainly looks like he is amped and ready to play...just what I wanted to hear. I can hardly wait to see him destroy some Raiders on opening day!

Charger Camp Opens, English Unsigned

The GM of the Chargers, AJ Smith, is the master of the 'holdout' battles with players... rarely, if ever, have the Chargers signed a first round pick before training camp starts and this year is no different. As of last night, the Chargers first round pick from this past draft, Larry English, remains unsigned and will not be at camp when it opens today.

Late last week the Chargers cut Matt Wilhelm, so they must not be too worried about their linebacking corps ... not that Wilhelm was much help.

I might have to start tuning into the NFL Network somewhat frequently to see some vid of the bolts practicing....I am slowly developing the symptoms for football fever and it is only a matter of time before I get a full blown case of it.

Are You Ready For Some Football?

One of the greatest days of the year is quickly approaching...the start of a new NFL season. Next week most all NFL teams will open their training camps and begin preparing for the 2009-10 NFL season.

The Chargers are no exception... their camp opens for rookies on the 27th with the vets reporting on the 31st.

The Chargers announced that they will wear their '63 powder-blue throwbacks in the opening game against the Raiders and on week 6 vs Denver. They will wear their '63 road whites in week 7 against the Chiefs. Also the Chargers announced:

In addition to their three games in Throwback uniforms, the Chargers will wear their alternate powder blue jerseys twice, the ones introduced in 2007. They’ll be in the new-look powder blues when the Raiders visit San Diego in Week 8, and they’ll celebrate the team’s 50th Anniversary in the current powder blue jerseys when the Chiefs come to town in Week 12.

Early in the season, the team often chooses to wear white at home to force the opponent to sweat it out in a dark color in the early fall heat. The Chargers did just that in their last two home openers against Chicago and Carolina respectively, and they’ll do so twice this season. San Diego will wear their white jerseys for their first two home games while Baltimore (Week 2) will be in black uniforms and Miami (Week 3) aqua tops.

The Chargers will be in their current navy jerseys for both of their home preseason games, and they’ll wear their current dark look against the Eagles, Bengals and Redskins. Dallas has a longstanding tradition of wearing white at home, so the Chargers will be in their navy jerseys when they visit the new Cowboys Stadium in December.

The NFL season is a long one... and for those Charger fans that want to recall last season the beginning was anything but enjoyable but ended much better... I'm hoping the Bolts can come out and fire on all cylinders.

It will certainly be interesting to see how much of an impact Merriman makes in his return. If LT can return to form and be the dominating presence on the field he once was. Rivers has often been overlooked by the major media but was amongst the best passers in the league last year...hopefully he can continue to quietly be successful. I am also very interested in watching both the offensive and defensive lines...at one time both lines were the driving force of this team and the last couple of seasons I think they have been a glaring weakness on this team.

As usual, I put little stock in scrimmages and preseason football, but noting that they have begun just ramps up the anticipation for the season to begin...

Let's go Chargers!

Watson Gives Cink Open Win

I have always been a Tom Watson fan... he and Jack Nicklaus were the two golfers my father and I would follow each week on the PGA in the 80's. So everyone was surprised and enjoying the magnificent week Tom Watson had this year at the British Open... but it was almost too painful to watch at the end...

Watson had such a great opportunity to seal the deal... a 1 shot lead and 1 hole to play... but when he hit his second shot over the green and then missed a makeable par putt - that wasn't even close and if his second shot didn't reveal that Watson was beginning to crumble from the pressure that putt certainly did - I think almost everyone knew that Watson's window of opportunity to win the Open was now completely closed. The entire playoff Watson couldn't find the fairway or the greens and was scrambling the entire time... a double-bogey on on the easiest hole on the course, a par 5 none-the-less, a person could see the pain on Watson's face ... you could tell that he was trying with all his might to keep his composure as he struggled with each poor shot. What was really hard was the fact that the playoff was a four hole playoff and so Watson's agony of losing the Open wouldn't be a quick and painless 1 hole ordeal...no, he had to continue on and get soundly beaten by Stewart Cink ... almost erasing Watson's entire week of magic ...

He had been putting unbeliavable and was playing the course as perfect as a player could had hoped too... even on Sunday, when he began play and started to struggle, I thought that he might not have enough "magic" to come back and challenge for the lead, but he did...making some great shots and there he was... with the lead and 1 hole to play...

This was the 2nd time in recent years that Watson has been a 'threat' at the Open in his latter years, so anything is possible, but it sure would have been awesome to see him finish the deal this year...

Better luck next year Tom!

Green Day - 7-10-09

Green Day played the Fargodome this past Friday and they did not disappoint. Playing for well over 2 hours and a fairly affordable ticket it was surprising to me to see that the crowd was far less than capacity like other stops on the Green Day tour which are all sold out.

But the band came out and rocked the place...playing all their hits from the past 15 years...they had a ton of pyro, lights, video and more that all added to the show and overall was a really good time.

If I was going to complain about anything, it is the same complaint I have for many of the shows I go too... I go to the show to see the band perform and sing their songs... I do not enjoy it when the band insists the crowd sings the song or, in the case of Green Day for their song Longview (one of my favs), if they grab people from the crowd to sing with the band... so instead of hearing a version of the song I want to hear perform by the band I get to hear a bunch of off-key, 1/2 drunk fans go up and hack their way through the song...not really what I want to see...but it was only one song in this instance, unfortunately one of my favorite songs.

A couple of final thoughts about this show... I thought it was kind of funny that Billy Joe, at one point, commented on how he was sick and tired of cell phones, cameras and technology...that this is our show, our memory and to put that shit away... by the way, Green Day's tour is sponsored by Verizon and person could barely walk 10 feet without seeing that was so...so kind of a mixed message from Green Day...

I am/was a Green Day fan from the album Dookie and do enjoy some of their newer music ... but I have never liked their 'ballads', which Green Day has plenty of and they are all huge. Again, Billy Joe at the beginning of the show demanded everyone get off their asses and get up because "This is a punk rock show" ... oh really? Then why is Good Riddance, Boulevard of Broken Dreams and Time of My Life being played? They certainly aren't punk rock songs by any means...

Regradless, Green Day was a good show. I was also surprised to read the Forum newspaper the day after, their critics routinely rip any and all concerts that come to Fargo...and oftentimes after reading their review, I question as to whether or not they even attended the show they are reviewing, but for Green Day, got an overall positive review... so it must have been a good show! Here's some pics I took...enjoy..

Stars Dropping

Not sure what's in the water but stars have been dying off lately...

Ed McMahon kicked off things by passing away a bit ago but set things into high gear... I can totally recall watching Carson and McMahon on the Tonight Show and in fact, was likely the last time I watched the Tonight Show with any regularity. Carson and McMahon were a great team and what was great was they were during a time when they could joke about drinking, failed marriages and sexism and everyone thought it was funny...now-a-days that humor wouldn't be tolerated...

Farrah Fawcett passed away, which any man that lived during the 70's and 80's should recall....she was smoking hot back then. I really don't have much more to comment about Farrah other than to reiterate that she was really smoking hot.

Fawcett's death, as well as the others that recently passed away, is eclipsed by Micheal Jackson. Micheal Jackson was the 'Elvis' of my generation and likely the last true "King" of rock, pop, music or whatever you want to call it. With the music industry so segmented and "niche oriented" I don't think there will be an artist or an act that will dominate the music scene like Jackson did. I was around 11, 12 when "Thriller" came out... I wasn't an immediate fan but living in the barren wasteland that I do, I was pummelled with his music until I submitted and listened to the album endlessly for many months. Of course, I think a great part to Jackson's success was that it was fueled by MTV. MTV, especially in the early '80's, was a key component to any act/band being successful because MTV played music videos (weird concept, huh?). MTV and Jackson almost mirrored each others in terms of popularity as each soared into the stratosphere... then later, Jackson became really weird and musically uninteresting as MTV stopped playing music videos and is no longer even watchable. I kind of wish I was with the Enquirer right now because if it hasn't been thought of yet, I got the greatest headline: "Jackson fakes his own death, living with Elvis on remote island."

After Jackson came the current infomercial king, Billy Mays. He got hit on the head with some luggage during a hard landing aboard and airplane and then dies in his sleep the next morning. I think early reports said the events are connected and that Mays did have a heart condition...did seem a little too coincidental for me, so I wouldn't be surprised if some sort of legal action is taken at some point. I had seen and heard Billy Mays on a variety of shows (radio and t.v.) and he always seemed like a 'good sport' and a good humored guy. Some of his videos on YouTube have him doing a variety of humorous things, often using his infomercial background as the launching point for the fun. Sorry to see him pass on as well.

And then the sports world was not spared from the carnage... Steve McNair, former QB for the Titans (Oilers) and the Ravens was shot and killed. The early reports and speculation all are pointing that his girlfriend bought a gun, shot McNair four times and then killed herself. Wow... hopefully something is found to find out why this 20 year-old girl decided to do that. McNair was seen in the Nashville community as a very charitable and giving guy...not a blemish to his name... now he is found with a mistress shot to death...tragic end. I always thought McNair was a 'blue-collar' type quarterback...he led his team to the Super Bowl and was oh-so-close to potentially winning it. Sad to seem him go so soon...

I think it's been a good 2 days since McNair's death...so we'll have to stay tuned to see if the death-bug has passed yet or if there are more victims for its appetite.

Les Claypool - 7-1-09 - Fargo, ND

Kicking off my 4th of July holiday was the Les Claypool show at the Venue in Fargo, ND. I have seen and did enjoy Primus, but to say that I was a Les Claypool 'fan' going into this show wouldn't be accurate. I had a friend from out of town that was coming to the show and me and another buddy decided to join him for no other reason than to have a good time...and it was.

We got there in time to see the last few songs of O'Death... a very entertaining opener... heavy hillybilly music would almost be the accurate description of these guys... a bango (sometime ukulele) player, acoustic guitar, fiddle, bass and drums made up O'Death and they really tore it up.

Les's supporting band was no less odd... a cello player, a drummer and a 2nd percussionists...but it all sounded really good. Les and the band came out where Clockwork Orange thug-like masks...and rocked the place. He played a couple of Primus tunes and Les kept the place a rockin' all night long. The ticket was fairly affordable ($25) and that made the show all the better. My friends and I had a great time and I wouldn't hesitate to see Les again...

AFK For The Holiday

Sure, I haven't been really posting a ton over the past couple of months and not that it would really surprise anyone...but I am going to be taking some extended r and r over the Fourth of July holiday.

I do believe I will be going to a show that I will post about sometimes afterwords...and who knows, maybe I'll be able to get on and get a entry in here or there while I'm 'relaxing' ... but if not...

Hopefully everyone has a safe and enjoyable Fourth of July holiday!

My plans so far, other than going to a show, which is tonight, is doing a whole lot of nothing. I was so excited about these plans I took a couple extra days off to make sure I could get all that activity packed into a nice long weekend... Hopefully lots of suds, sun and food!

Happy Fourth everyone!