Back from the dead

More or less. I still don't really have anything to say until I go to Europe in May since I live a very uneventful life. So since it is nearing the end of spring more or less, I figure I'll chime in on all the different TV shows I watch and their seasons so far

Sunday:

• Mad Men (9pm, AMC in the Fall): By far the best season of the 3. The finale was one of the best episodes of TV I've ever seen and I cannot wait for its return this summer
• Breaking Bad (9pm, AMC in the Spring): Unfortunately, I'm still in the middle of season 2, so I can't yet comment on season 3.

Monday:

• Chuck (8pm, NBC): So far, season 3 has been great. I really hope there is a 4th season with how much fun this one has been. 5 episodes left and I really hope that the ratings get it back for next year
• How I Met Your Mother (8pm, CBS): Season 5 has been....ok. It hasn't been bad at all, but there haven't been too many truly memorable episodes. There have been a lot of good ones, and a good amount of not so exciting ones, so when put together the season hasn't struck me as too legen.......
• Big Bang Theory (9:30pm, CBS): Season 3 has been probably the best so far. The characters are much more tolerable and less creepy and annoying. It is still a corny show, but I don't mind watching it when it's on

Tuesday:

• Scrubs and Better Off Ted: They had good runs, I'm going to miss them. (I'm assuming Scrubs is finally done, I haven't heard anything to indicate otherwise)

Wednesday:

• The Middle (8:30, ABC): I like this show a lot. It is probably the one I'm least dedicated to, but still worth watching once a week.
• Modern Family (9pm, ABC): One of the 2 best new comedies on TV this year, and I am a big fan. The first season has been great, especially because it is one of those shows with little plot to really follow along with.
• Psych (10pm, USA): Another great season. Probably the one I've liked the least with the cases being just too out there, but the finale was so intense that I cannot wait for season 5 to start up this summer.
• South Park (10pm, Comedy Central): Amazing as always. The 200th and 201st episodes were just classic and no less witty than ever before.

Thursday:

• Community (8pm, NBC): The other great new comedy, which I am also hooked to. This one is much cornier than Modern Family, but still very witty with all of the references in it. The cast is wonderful, almost in an Arrested Development or Office way where you can't believe that this is how they are acting.
• Parks and Recreation (8:30, NBC): I only just now started to watch this show. The 4 or 5 episodes I have watched have been GREAT. I regret not giving it more of a shot last year and I'll be sure to catch up this summer.
• The Office (9pm, NBC): Season 6 has been the worst one since the 6 episode first season. Michael is just annoying and too much this year. Jim and Pam have been a nice story all year, and really the whole other cast has been as well. However, the Michael heavy episodes have made me just want to yell at him to "Shut the fuck up" because of how much he is messing everything up

More to come soon once all their finales happen.

...dary

Remember the "Al"amo

"Guys, this game is great. We should all blog about it"

Or "Don't catch the Al", or "Odd Card Al". Whatever you want to call it, it is the new, greatest game from the people who brought you "Can Defense".

The rules are simple: if you draw a card that is a "3", you must funnel and/or shotgun and/or take a shot. For a more detailed version of the rules, look at what Rob said about it. He beat me to it and clearly put in more effort. But Al said everyone should blog about it, so here we go.

Optional rule: if a 3 comes up, you grab your drink in your left hand, raise it, and turn to the person to your left. You point at them and say "Lo-babies!". Sounds gay right? Well guess who made this rule in "Asshole". Al! Cowboy never fails to disappoint.

MLB Predictions: National League

NL East
1. Phillies
2. Braves
3. Marlns
4. Mets
5. Nationals

• The Phillies remain not only the best team in the east, but the best team in the NL. Winning the division will be no problem with returning stars Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Jayson Werth, Shane Victorino, and Raul Ibanez. Big years are not necessary from Jimmy Rollins, Carlos Ruiz and Pacido Polanco, as the other hitters will do a fine job picking up any slack. Newly acquired Roy Halladay will have a monster year, so whatever the bullpen situation is with Brad Lidge and company won't matter too much.
• The Braves will be back in second, behind a good starting staff and good enough bullpen. Their lineup isn't the best, but will get the job done. Jason Hayward OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• The Marlins have 2 things going for them: Good young starters and Hanley Ramirez. Ricky Nolasco, Josh Johnson and Chris Volstad are good young arms, who will do a good enough job to get wins. Ramirez is very good, but the rest of their offense isn't much of a factor. Sure, Dan Uggla and Jorge Cantu have pop, but they're both horrible at defense and strike out a ton.
• The Mets are going to have another terrible season. I'm talking sub-.500. Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes, Daniel Murphy, and Kelvim Escabar are all ALREADY hurt. Jason Bay gives them new power, but he will do horrible in Citi Field and hit around .250 with 27 homers and 92 RBI. David Wright needs to become a #2 hitter as he doesn't have the power for Citi. Also that starting rotation is god awful. Pedro Martinez and John Smoltz are still free agents.....
• The Nationals are much better this year, but still not too great. They can honestly capitalize on the Mets struggles, and 4th is a possibility.

NL Central
1. Cardinals
2. Brewers
3. Cubs
4. Reds
5. Astros
6. Pirates

• The Cardinals look to repeat the division crown, led by sluggers Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday. With a 1-2 punch of Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright, who their other starters are doesn't really matter. Plus, closer Ryan Franklin is pretty good at the back end of the pen.
• The Brewers are largely improved, and should come in second this year. 3-4 hitters Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder will have monster seasons again, making up for the lack of other offense. The pitching staff isn't too bad, with a rotation of Randy Wolf, Doug Davis, (real) Dave Bush, Manny Parra, and their ace, Yovani Gallardo. With a closer like Trevor Hoffman, the Brew Crew is pretty set.
• The Cubs have the second or third best team in the NL on paper, but alas...they are the Cubs and will never win again. With a line up that includes sluggers Alfonso Soriano, Derek Lee, Aramis Ramirez and scrappy hitters Ryan Theriot, Mike Fontenot, Kosuke Fukudome, and Geovany Soto, they should be set to score runs. But last year, Ramirez was hurt, Lee did great, and Soriano sucked. Carlos Zambrano is yet to have that amazing year he was set to have, and their number 2 starter is Ryan Dempster. Also, closer Carlos Marmol has never done well, and no reason why that should change.
• The Reds, Astros, and Pirates are 100% irrelevant, so I'm not wasting my time

NL West
1. Dodgers
2. Rockies
3. Giants
4. Diamond Backs
5. Padres

• The Dodgers had a pretty bad off season, but their young starts Andre Etheir, James Loney, Matt Kemp, Jonathan Broxton, Chad Billingsley, and Clayton Kershaw are just going to be even better this year. You can add Russell Martin to that list if he didn't suck now. Manny Ramirez can still hit, so don't forget about him out there too.
• The Rockies surprised everyone last year, and have a great chance to come in first again this year. I'm not sold on pitchers Jorge De La Rosa and Ubaldo Jimenez, but both pitched very well last year and can repeat that success. The Rockies lineup is underrated aside from short stop Troy Tulowitzki, with good players in Brad Hawpe and Carlos Gonzalez. Like Manny, Todd Helton can still hit pretty well, so don't count him out to contribute to the success.
• The Giants have a great pitching staff with Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain and Jonathan Sanchez. Brian Wilson is solid out of the pen, which the team needs. This is because Barry Zito is one of the worst pitchers in the game and it makes me so happy to see him fail. Who would have thought Tim Hudson would ever be better than Mark Mulder and Zito combined. The Giants also have offense. Well, their offense is named Pablo Sandoval. The other 7 guys are either over the hill or just not good anyway.
• The Diamondbacks could be contenders, but not without a healthy ace in Brandon Webb. With Dan Haren and Edwin Jackson, the D-Backs have a great rotation to go along with a horrible offense. Justin Upton is pretty good, but no one else really is.
• The Padres are Adrian Gonzalez and Heath Bell. No one else is worth mentioning, not even to criticize.

Playoffs:

• Phillies over Rockies in 4
• Cardinals over Dodgers in 4
• Phillies over Dodgers in 5
• Phillies-Yankees repeat (no prediction there)

Awards:

• MVP: Albert Pujols (2nd and 3rd picks: Prince Fielder and Andre Ethier)
• Cy Young: Roy Halladay (2nd and 3rd picks: Dan Haren and Tim Lincecum)

MLB Predictions: American League

As I do at the end of every spring training, it is time to my my predictions of the standings and playoffs for baseball.

AL EAST
1. Yankees
2. Red Socks
3. Rays
4. Orioles
5. Blue Jays

Thoughts:

• The Yankees seem like the favorite again as their line-up gained a nice increase in speed and defense with Curtis Granderson, and the pitching staff looks stronger with Javy Vazquez's return to the Bronx. Power was lost with Matsui leaving, and veteran leadership of Johnny Damon will be missed, but the team seems just as good as the team that won it all last year.
• The Red Socks probably made the best signing, adding John Lackey to complete a 1-2-3 punch of himself, Josh Beckett, and Jon Lester. With their rotation very good, the problem becomes health and power. Dice-K, Wakefield, Beltre, and Ortiz are not as youthful as they used to be and need to stay off the DL for the team to win. Youkilis and Martinez look to be the power in the line up with the loss of Jason Bay, and their roster is a bit cramped with Jason Varitek and Mike Lowell limited to useless back-ups. Expect the Socks to the the Wild Card
• The Rays didn't have the most eventful off season, adding really only power hitting Hank Blalock and closer Raphael Soriano. Neither are too impressive, but can certainly help the team. The Ray's key is the development of players who were break-outs next year. The team needs bigger years from youngsters Ben Zobrist, Jason Bartlett, Evan Longoria, Jeff Neiman, and David Price. With good seasons from "veterans" Carlos Pena, Carl Crawford, Dioner Navarro, BJ Upton, and James Shields the Rays can certainly contend.
• The Orioles had a pretty solid off season, adding closer Mike Gonzalez, and newly-positioned Miguel Tejada and Garett Atkins. With top hitters Brian Roberts, Adam Jones, and Nick Markakis, plus youngsters Matt Wieters and Nolan Reimold, the O's have a pretty decent lineup. Their staff is very weak however, but looks to develop over the course of the year.
• The Blue Jays just got bad over the off season. They traded lone-star Roy Halladay and how only really have washed up Vernon Wells to market. Good years from Aaron Hill and Adam Lind don't look like sure things, and even then won't be enough. With no offense or pitching, look the Jays to do nothing this year

AL Central
1. White Sox
2. Twins
3. Tigers
4. Royals
5. Indians

• The White Sox got better this off season, adding Juan Pierre and losing the much older Jermain Dye. With a healthy Jake Peavy on that solid staff and a still good line up, expect the White Sox to be back where they were a couple years ago.
• The Twins would have been my favorite to win the division, but the loss of closer Joe Nathan is big enough to put them down to second at best. Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Jim Thome, Mike Cuddyer, and Jason Kubel are great power options, but the rest of the order has little to write home about. A solid pitching staff or the Twins, but not good enough to do much.
• The Tigers continue to get worse. Their pitching staff has holes and question marks on anyone not names Justin Verlander. Their pen improved with the addition of Jose Valverde, but their starting staff is just too inconsistent. Their lineup is much different this year without Curtis Granderson, and is simply too old. Magglio Ordonez and Johnny Damon are too old to be productive in Comerica Park, Carlos Guillen is so far over the hill, and Brandon Inge isn't good. Miguel Cabrera is excellent, but not enough to save the Tigers from another disappointing year.
• The Royals have Zack Greinke and Joakim Soria and that is it. They brought in Rick Ankiel to steroid up the line up, but with useless players like Jason Kendall in there too, the Royals look to once again be irrelivant.
• The Indians are god awful once again. Shin-Soo Choo led the team in every major offensive category last year, largely due to injuries to Travis Hafner and Grady Sizemore. Even if healthy, those two are far from enough to save the Tribe, who has no pitching at all. I mean, did anyone even know that Jake Westbrook was still alive?

AL West
1. Angels
2. Mariners
3. Rangers
4. A's

• The Angels may have lost John Lackey, Vlad Guerrero, and Chone Figgins, but they still have the most dependable team in the division. A solid staff of Jered Weaver, Scott Kazmir, Joe Saunders, Ervin Santana, and Joel Pineiro is probably the deepest starting staff in the AL. Brian Fuentes is overrated but good enough as the closer to keep their Angels staff their key to success. Big years from Torii Hunter and Kendry Morales, and also their middle infielders are needed to succeed.
• The Mariners added Cliff Lee and Chone Figgins who both complete 1-2 punches at the top of the rotation and lineup with Felix Hernandez and Ichiro Suzuki respectively. But, Lee is hurt, as is Erik Bedard, and the Mariners offense won't be enough to overtake the Angels yet.
• The Rangers had a big year last year, and added Rich Harden and Vlad Guerrero who are old but still good enough. They traded long time ace Kevin Millwood, and are simply too dependent on Nelson Cruz and Michael Young to have as good of years as they did last year. Also, stars Josh Hamilton and Ian Kinsler are injury prone, so they're simply not reliable enough to contend with the top of the division.
• The A's are horrible. I don't even need to elaborate further. God awful.

Post Season:

• Yankees over White Sox in 4
• Red Socks over Angerls in 5
• Yankees over Red Socks in 7

Awards:

• MVP: Evan Longoria (second and third choices: Justin Morneau and Mark Teixeira)
• Cy Young: Felix Hernandez (second and third choices: Jon Lester and Mariano Rivera)

100 Favorite Songs: 10-1

Here it is, the top 10.

10: "Johnny Quest (Thinks We're Sellouts)" by Less Than Jake
"Or is it that you think ska just sucks? Johnny Quest, he thinks we're what?!". For a band that I used to not hesitate to list as "my favorite band", it's interesting to see over time how they've faded on me. Don't get me wrong, I still LOVE Less Than Jake. But when this is the lone song on this list it says something. This song was a former #1 back in the first days of this list, and I never lost sight of why I love this song so much. Great, fast song, powerful horns, nice "fuck you" style lyrics. This song may move up and down the list, but will always be pretty high and I'll never forget why it used to be #1.

9: "The Big Sleep" by Streetlight Manifesto
"The last two soldiers on the battle field, survivors of the war. They aim at one another while their mothers beg the lord, 'if you're listening, I'm missing him, so somehow bring him home. How did it come to this?'". This song will always be compared to "A Better Place, A Better Time" by me. They're the two longer songs on the album, and I used to not like them too much. They're also the two highest from that album on this list, so my have they've grown. While it is about death, it comes off as a hopeful song and a very sweet one as well. I've said enough about the music played by Streetlight already that there is no need to go into more here, it once again carries over into this song.

8: "Hey Ska!" by The Suicide Machines
"Well I listen to your fucking shit, I can't make any sense of it". TSM hardly ever used horns in their songs, but boy do they use them right in this one. This is one of the best ska-punk songs ever in my mind, fast, hard, great beats, and a catchy horn section. While the back of the album says it is called "Hey", the album notes say "Hey Ska", and Google/YouTube searches for "Hey Suicide Machines" and "Hey Ska Suicide Machines" produce the same results. Plus, you know a song is amazing when Streetlight would cover it live.

7: "The Impression That I Get" by the Mighty Mighty Bosstones
"Have you ever had to jump so high you need the strength that none posses? Or has it ever come down to do or die, you've got to rise above the rest?" Oh cliche-core! I don't care, there is a reason why this was the Bosstones most popular song. Another song that everyone, even those who "hate ska", loves. Why? Well for a third wave ska song, it is very good. Catchy, simple, good beat. Granted it's far from your staple "Bosstones" song, but without it they wouldn't still be touring to this day.

6: "Beer" by Reel Big Fish
"And she said, 'well it's ok boy cause you know we'll be good friends' and I said, 'I think I'll have myself a beer'". More cliche! Ahhh! Once again, there is a reason why this is Reel Big Fish's most popular song. Another song that everyone knows and loves, it too is the reason Reel Big Fish is still making music to this day. While it wasn't a single, it is their biggest song, a pretty rare occurrence. Musically, I love the beat, that subtle use of horns, and of course the sad, depressed lyrics. And who doesn't love a great drinking song about beer?

5: "Seed" by Sublime
"I knew we could make it, but I only knew that the bitch would break it. I hope her parents love her so". A song about sex, "Seed" incorporates what I love most about Sublime's music. Sublime was so good because of their ability to play punk, reggae, and ska. This song has all 3 throughout, switching genres at different parts of the song. I don't think this song was ever #1, but it was the first Sublime song I really listened to and it is the reason I love them today. I first heard it in "Tony Hawk's Underground", and it has stuck with me ever since.

4: "Dear Sergio" by Streetlight Manifesto
"So wake up, wake up, wake up. Don't cry cause you'll fuck up your makeup. And if you do, you wont get laid. You won't make money and you won't get paid". The 12th and final appearance by Streetlight is a song that was officially recorded twice before this version ever surfaced. Originally by Catch 22 on their "Keasbey Nights", it was re-done by Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution with the third verse put in. Later, Tomas and Streetlight would perfect it to what it is now, an amazing song. Hard punk and ska. Hard horns that all have their own individual parts that stand out. Meaningful lyrics, and an amazing third verse that didn't exist with Catch 22. Seeing Streetlight play this live was a big highlight for me, and I'd love that to happen again sometime soon.

3: "Have the Time" by The Slackers
"There's never enough time to do what you must". Maybe I love this song so much because it was the first I heard by The Slackers. Maybe because it was their biggest hit, and had a music video. Maybe because it is arguably their best song, and never fails to make me happy when I hear it. Such a good island sound to it, helped by the video, puts in the mood for summer every time I hear it.

2: "And the Battle Begun" by the Rx Bandits
"One kiss for all the world, a taste for all that's precious". Over and over on this, I've said how much I love the Rx Bandits, especially the album "And the Battle Begins...". The lone "single" (well, it had a video) off the album, this song starts quiet and slow and progressively builds up as it goes on. Little use of horns, but it is the prefect amount for this song. A hint of their ska roots, and the right amount of hard punk of their later sound. Just under five minutes, this track is essentially all that is great about Rx. Only a band with this much talent can make a song this good, and it is even better live. They throw in a couple minutes of percussion jamming in the middle, drawing the song out even more and allowing the crowd to enjoy it for even more time. This song is so good, I moved it from 3 to 2 on the list as I wrote this, as I realized it I just love it that much.

1: "If We Want To" by Big D & the Kids Table
"So why not? Cause we can stay if we want to". I'll be honest, this is FAR from the best song on this list. I mean, I couldn't even pick a stand out lyric to quote up there. Dave's voice, which isn't amazing to begin with, doesn't exactly shine on this one. While this may not be the best song of all time, it is my favorite song of all time. And has been for probably 5 years now. "How It Goes" has been my favorite album since I got it for Christmas 04, but this song took a little while for me to warm up to. I remember exactly where I was when I first fell in love with it. April 05: Baltimore, Maryland. We were visiting my sister at school, I think we had Yankee-Orioles tickets so we were staying in the Inner Harbor. With time to kill during the day, I was walking around the harbor with my iPod. This song came on. It was a nice sunny day, and the music of this song just took over me. The horns on this song were (and still are) like nothing I had ever heard before. Each verse they increase in length and intensity. By time it's the climax of the song, the horns are just so powerful that I still get caught up in them every time. Listening to those horns, on that bright spring morning in Baltimore at age 16, I was hooked. I know that the other 9 songs in this entry alone are probably better, but the way this song hit me will always have such a special place to me that I'm pretty sure, after nearly 5 years, this song will forever be number one.