eponymous

Barrack N' Roll

2008-10-24T18:43:00.002-05:00

Oh, if only this had really happened at the Republican National Convention.

Literal Videos

2008-10-23T21:29:00.002-05:00

These are pretty interesting literal videos. Some 80s classics with new lyrics telling you exactly what's happening in the video.

Tears For Fears - Head Over Heels

A-Ha - Take On Me

Someone Get Diogenes

2008-10-23T21:06:00.002-05:00

At a Congressional hearing today Alan Greenspan admitted he was wrong to rely on businesses to self-regulate. Wow. Someone in Washington (albeit out of power) admitted that they were wrong with no real attempt at spin. What are the odds.

Say It Ain't So, Joe!

2008-10-16T21:40:00.002-05:00

Turns out the story of Joe the Plumber isn't the ideal weapon with which to attack Barrack Obama. Oops. I feel bad for Joe. True, he should have gotten his facts straight before he approached Obama, but no one deserves to be spotlighted like this. Still, I think its going to do McCain more good than harm. More people tend to remember the story than the correction.

John McCain - Anything to Win?

2008-09-13T11:09:00.001-05:00

For those of us Democrats who admired John McCain in 2000 and again in the primary season, this kind of stuff is particularly disappointing.

September post

2008-09-01T23:35:00.003-05:00

This is probably going to be the only post for September since the blog resurgence has clearly passed. Enjoy.

Well Said

2008-08-01T07:20:00.004-05:00

Paul Krugman wrote this in his column in today's New York Times. I think its a very succinct way to sum up the need for the US to have a new energy policy:

It’s true that scientists don’t know exactly how much world temperatures will rise if we persist with business as usual. But that uncertainty is actually what makes action so urgent. While there’s a chance that we’ll act against global warming only to find that the danger was overstated, there’s also a chance that we’ll fail to act only to find that the results of inaction were catastrophic. Which risk would you rather run?

If you want to read the whole op-ed go here.

Robbie Keane

2008-07-28T13:44:00.004-05:00

I used to love Robbie Keane. Since I started following Tottenham a few years ago, he's been one of my favorite players. He plays with passion, is articulate, and is a goal-scoring machine. Now he has requested, and received, a transfer to Liverpool. Upon his transfer he said some pretty stupid stuff:

I would like to place on record my thanks to the board, players and fans of Tottenham for the past six years, which were the best and most enjoyable of my career to date. I will never forget them. I would specifically like to thank chairman Daniel Levy for understanding, that, as a fan, joining Liverpool is a lifelong dream of mine and one I couldn't let pass me by. I hope one day the Spurs fans, who have been brilliant to me, can understand this too. I have only good things to say about my time at Tottenham and expect them to go from strength to strength under Juande Ramos and Daniel Levy.

I understand what he's saying and he might even think he is being gracious, but he is MENTAL (to use the English term) if he thinks any Spurs fan will understand. He's going to one of the Big 4 at a time when Spurs are trying to make a move into the upper echelon of the Premier League. Look out for yourself, Robbie, that is certainly your right and should be your priority. But you have broken the heart of most Spurs fans - don't expect any of us to wish you success. As far as I'm concerned, you're not much better that Sol Campbell.

Fun Geography Game

2008-07-23T13:34:00.003-05:00

This is the kind of game that Social Studies teachers like. The game isn't sizing properly on everyone's computer, so try it at the original site here.

presented by TravelPod, the Web's First Travel Blog ( A TripAdvisor Media Network member )

Who Buys This Crap?

2008-07-15T12:13:00.006-05:00

Over the past few weeks I crisscrossed the country, flying to Denver, then to Seattle, then to LA, then back home. On the plane I flipped through the Sky Mall catalog a lot. Most of the products seem ok, but there is one business - Toscano - that sells some of the craziest things I've ever seen. Case in point: the Big Foot Garden Sculpture (pictured below).

For only $98.95 (+SH) you can have your very own Yeti sculpture to put... well, who knows where you'd put it. Believe it or not, this sculpture has a perfect 5 star rating from its 4 reviewers. For example, mikejp from Denver writes:

this item is a true work of art.
it is realistic and fine details just add to
this one of a kind piece.

Uh, if you say so, mikejp. In any case, I can't link to the item, but go to skymall and search for Big Foot Garden Sculpture if you want to read more about this true work of art. Better yet, search for "Toscano." They have a ton of unforgettable products.

Greek

2008-07-12T04:17:00.004-05:00

On Friday I flew to LA to spend some time with friends. One of my friends, Carter, works as a producer and writer for the show Greek on ABC Family. He gave me a tour of the set and I got a chance to watch them film a scene for an upcoming show. It was a thrill. First, here's a behind-the-scenes video that features Carter. After the video are some pictures we took on the set.

At Dobler's with Carter.

With Spencer Grammer, star of the show.

With Amber Stevens, another star of the show.

Great Team Names

2008-07-10T02:13:00.006-05:00

This article (post?) has some great names for co-rec teams. As a member of numerous co-rec sports teams in the past few years I appreciate the suggestions and wish I had had them before we ended up using some lame names. Here's hoping I can get our kickball team name changed to Multiple Scorgasm.

In case you are too lazy to click on the link, here are a few of my favorites/less offensive ones*:

I Scored With Your Mom (Baseball/Softball)
Freebasers (Baseball/Softball)
Back Dat Pass Up (Football/Soccer)
Multiple Scorgasm (Any Sport)
Masterbatters (Baseball/Softball)
Suck My Kick (Kickball/Soccer)
2 Balls 1 Cup (Golf)
Kick Tease (Kickball/Soccer)
Bowl Job (Bowling)
We Got the Runs (Baseball/Softball)
Booze on First (Baseball/Softball)
Premature Shooters (Basketball)
Where My Pitches At? (Baseball/Softball)
Touchdown My Pants (Football)

*make sure to check out some of the names suggested in the comments section. I like Nads and Off Constantly for the great cheers they lead to

Yo, Adrian!

2008-07-05T15:10:00.007-05:00

Its been almost two months since my last post. Wow. I'd like to say that I'll try to do better but who am I kidding.

For those of you that are still checking from time to time, however, here are some pictures from my trip to Colorado. I'm in Estes Park in the Rocky Mountains for Dan and Tori's wedding (which takes place tonight) and have seen some incredible scenery these past few days. These photos come from my phone - click on them if you want a bigger image.

the view from my window

on Trail Ridge Road - the Alpine elevation

at Lily Lake

the mountains over Lily Lake

Perfection

2008-05-11T19:46:00.005-05:00

Dale Davis is a much better bowler than I am

Pretty cool story here about Dale Davis, a blind bowler who threw a perfect 300.

Truth In Advertising

2008-04-30T23:35:00.009-05:00

At the end of tonight's concert at the JPJ, Bruce Springsteen told the crowd that we had just seen the rockingest band in the world. He wasn't lying. For over two hours Springsteen and the E Street Band put on one of the best rock shows I've ever seen.

I should probably have started by saying that although I like Bruce, I am not the biggest fan. Before I bought Magic (the latest album) I probably had only a dozen or so tunes on my iPod. At the concert I didn't know about 1/3 of the songs. It didn't matter. The band plays with so much energy and passion, that even when the song wasn't one I could sing along to I was still marveling at something.

Highlights included: "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" during the encore, "Born To Run" with the lights on, and "Prove It All Night." The highlights also included most of the material from the new album. When I went to see Journey a few years ago everyone headed for the bathroom when it was "time to play some stuff from the new album" and rightly so. Not at this show. "Devil's Arcade" is beautiful and sad, the dueling guitar solos on "Gypsy Biker" had to be seen to be believed, and "Radio Nowhere" will be a concert favorite for years to come.

tonight's set-list: I got a copy from the soundboard guy

So my advice is this: if you are a fan of rock n' roll you owe it to yourself to see Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band live at least once. Truly incredible.

Truly Trivial

2008-04-25T17:14:00.003-05:00

One of my students told me about the Unusual Articles file at Wikipedia. Its a whole list of entries that are a bit out of the ordinary. Want to know the longest officially recognized place name in the UK? Its Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. Curious about the only piece of art on the moon? Check this out. Do you wish movies were in Smell-O-Vision? Check this article out to find out more about it.

I can already tell that I am going to waste some serious time looking through these articles.

Is This Wrong?

2008-04-24T15:23:00.002-05:00

This website asks an interesting question: how many 5 year olds could you take in a fight? Should I be proud or sad that I can handle 17 kids?

Random Thoughts

2008-04-13T18:05:00.002-05:00

Didn't have internet access in Vegas so no Grand Canyon posts. This is a pretty busy week so don't look for too much more except to say that the GC was very impressive. I'll try to get some photos up soon. Over all the trip was great. Thanks to Chip and Judy for being great traveling companions.

Big game for the Yanks tonight. The team really needs to start hitting.

Looks like the Os free fall has begun. Cellar, here they come!

Spring Break Day 2 - Sedona

2008-04-09T08:09:00.003-05:00

Thanks to a suggestion from Tim, we decided to stop in Sedona, Arizona on our way to the Grand Canyon. Sedona is famous for spectacular rock formations and brilliant red rocks. Neither disappointed.

one of Sedona's many spectacular rock formations

After Sedona it was on to the Grand Canyon. We checked into our hotel, got cleaned up, and went to dinner at a place called Spaghetti Western. It was Italian food with a western theme and had posters from Spaghetti Westerns on every wall. My chicken marsala was ok, but neither Chip nor Judy much cared for their dinners.

Tomorrow: the Grand Canyon

Note: due to poor planning I forgot to bring my camera's adapter cable. Therefore all pictures will come courtesy of my iPhone. Good enough for the blog, but not my best shots. C'est la vie.

Spring Break Day 1 - En Route, Phoenix

2008-04-08T22:29:00.001-05:00

My first official day of Spring Break started at 4:30am. I had to wake up early to make a 6:45 flight out of RIC to Memphis on my way to Phoenix. In an effort to rep my team I proudly wore my KU sweatshirt on my trip, forgetting just who the Jayhawks were playing in the NCAA finals. At the Memphis airport I received a number of stares and nasty comments. I'm pretty sure that the woman who made my burger spit on it when she saw what I was wearing.

Arriving in Phoenix I met Chip and Judy at Skyharbor Airport. We checked into our suite (you know how the K-Man rolls) and then headed down to Tempe to get lunch. After a delightful meal at the Expedition Grille and I asked C&J if we could stop by a drug store some pepto. Chip hasn't lost his knack for finding odd variations of the store you're looking for (see here for our famous trip to Burberry). This time he took us to a Walgreen's Home Care where they sell medical products for the home. Thanks to Judy we found an actual Walgreen's.

After a few of us took afternoon naps we got cleaned up and cruised on over to Chase Field, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks. The DBacks were hosting the Dodgers in their home opener. Unfortunately, I spent most of the game preoccupied with the KU game which was being shown on a TV that was just a little too far away for me to see the score. After receiving text updates from Mitch for most of the game I decided to go watch the end for myself. Fortunately, the DBacks were showing the game on a number of TVs around the concourse so I was able to watch Kansas' miracle comeback and overtime victory. I was even able to watch the end of the baseball game!

We held our post-game meal at an In-N-Out Burger. I had a double-double. Mm, good.

Tomorrow: Sedona

Rock Chalk Jayhawk!

2008-04-08T01:11:00.003-05:00

Congratulations to Kansas! NCAA Champions! Read more about it here.

Greek

2008-03-24T09:58:00.002-05:00

Just a quick plug. The second season of Greek starts tonight at 8 on ABC Family. Its a fun show about the greek system at an unnamed college. Also, one of the writers is a friend of mine from college. If you are interested, but didn't watch last season ABC Family is running a mini-marathon from season 1 today before the season premiere.

hulu

2008-03-23T14:24:00.004-05:00

I just found out about a great new website called hulu. Hulu has a bunch of movies and television shows that are available for streaming at no cost. Its basically youtube but with high quality content. Right now most of the shows come from NBC and Fox, but you can find a lot of cool stuff there, both new and old. I'm especially pleased that I can watch the first two seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and season 1 of St. Elsewhere. Pretty cool stuff.

ACC Tournament - Day 4 Recap

2008-03-16T22:51:00.006-05:00

And so it goes. Carolina wins ACC title number 17. Clemson played a great game, but in the end the Heels were too much for them. The game was a dogfight until about 10 minutes to go and then Carolina made their run. It looked for a minute like Clemson might have enough to catch them, but Carolina is just a bit more talented than Clemson and knocked down a few more shots at key times. Also, UNC beat the Clemson press (which I still love) just enough to get the easy buckets they needed. The more things changes, the more they seemingly stay the same.

Still, it was a great weekend. Charlotte was a lot of fun (and much changed from my last visit). We saw some great games on days 3 and 4. And it was great to see some old college friends. Here are a few pictures from the weekend:

With the early 1990s UVa crowd at Arpa

In Front of the Arena

UVa Takes the Court

Last bball note. I got a chance to check out ESPN's coverage of the Big XII championship game and KU looked badass in beating an outstanding Texas team. Maybe this will be the year that Kansas fulfills its promise. Now THAT would be a nice change of pace.

ACC Tournament - Day 3 Recap

2008-03-16T09:05:00.002-05:00

Not a lot of time to write, so I'll make this quick: we finally had some great games yesterday. Va Tech gave UNC all they could handle. Still, playing in a stadium filled with rabid Carolina fans, you just knew that the Heels were going to win in the end. The Duke-Clemson game had the opposite feel. Duke wasn't hitting from 3 and Clemson was making their free throws - both signs that the Clemson could pull the upset. The bottom line is this: the two best teams from this weekend will be playing for the title. That's the way it should be.

Quick Prediction: UNC beats Clemson 80-75.

We had a great time after the games last night. Thanks to C&C for a great dinner and M&M for some great conversation.

ACC Tournament - Day 2 Recap

2008-03-15T10:58:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, saw some relatively unexciting games. In the morning FSU put up very little resistance to an impressive North Carolina team. Your humble reporter was reminded yet again that the Tournament was back in North Carolina when he arrived at the first session and over half the arena was wearing Carolina Blue. The next game was absolutely painful to watch for 32 minutes. In a battle of former Big East teams Va Tech and Miami played like their was a lid on the basket for 3/4 of the game. Tech managed to put together a run, though, and gets to play UNC in the first game today.

The second session started off a little bit better. It appeared that Duke was going to run away from Ga Tech, but the Wrambling Wreck fought back and got within 2 points with about 13 minutes left. Duke was too strong, though, and managed a comfortable victory. The final game of the night saw Clemson put on the most dominating performance of the Tournament so far. The Tigers absolutely obliterated Boston College. I couldn't tell you what happened at the end of the game because once Clemson pushed it to 25 in the second half, we decided to catch the light rail back to the Hyatt Place.

I'm looking forward to Saturday. Here are my predictions:
UNC over Va Tech, 85-62
Duke over Clemson, 75-74

ACC Tournament - Day 1 Recap

2008-03-14T00:10:00.005-05:00

Well, another year, another early exit for Virginia from the ACC Tournament as Georgia Tech bounced UVa out of Charlotte this evening by a score of 94-76. If memory serves, the Wahoos haven't played on a Saturday since 1995. For about 32 minutes it looked like UVa was at least going to make it to Friday and a date with Duke. But alas, it was not to be.

The bottom line is this: UVa is unable to play good on-ball defense. As a result, we must rely on help defense. This leads to at least one open man. Tonight, Tech found the open man a lot, and they didn't miss. For the game they shot almost 60%. Combine that with an inability to make layups (another regular failing) and a few timely misses from the free throw line and the Cavaliers lost going away.

the Sean Singletary Era is probably over

The first two games weren't terribly exciting but we saw some good basketball. FSU looked ok dealing with a Wake Forest Team that couldn't buy a bucket for long stretches. That means we get the Golden Girls for one more day. Miami had an easy time with an NC State team that might have folded during pre-game warmups. And BC? They watched Maryland lose a 22-3 lead. Maryland's collapse was astonishing to watch. My condolences to Mr. and Mrs. Ad Homonym.

ACC Tournament - Getting Ready for Day 1

2008-03-13T09:23:00.006-05:00

As we get ready for Day 1 of the Tournament I'm struck by the differences between my first trip in 1994 and the 2008 version. Sure, its in Charlotte and the cast of characters is similar - me, B, and Jones were all there back in the day - but it seems everything else has changed. In 1994 we spent the first night in Charlotte trying to get one member of our group into a bar (most of us had just turned 21 but she was still 20). Last night we weren't even carded at what passes for a bar at the Hyatt Place. Fourteen years ago we got up late and scrambled to get to the Charlotte Coliseum on time. This morning we were up at 8. Jones got some work done and B and I went for a run. We have plenty of time before we have to head over to the Bobcat Arena. (Is the biggest change in all of this is that I went for a run?)

the K-Man Pounding the Pavement

Hopefully, the similarities will begin kicking in once the games begin. In 1994 the Hoos made it to the finals. Can Sean take them as far as Harold Deane did in '94? We'll see...

Deane - led the Hoos to the title game in 1994

ACC Tournament - the Arrival

2008-03-12T22:22:00.003-05:00

B and I arrived safely in the Queen City a few minutes ago and are gearing up for the first day of the tourney. The Wahoos play at 7. Good for us. The second session can get a bit long if your team plays at noon on Thursday or Friday. Winnable game tomorrow against Ga Tech. Here's hoping the Hoos bring their A game.

More tomorrow, time permitting.

He's #1(1)!

2008-03-11T22:42:00.004-05:00

What's that? You want one of these?
No problem, mate, I'll pick one up for you!

Crazy news from the world of soccer. It seems that Didier Drogba, forward for Mitch's favorite team Chelski, buys up his own replica jerseys so that he can be one of the top sellers on the team. The Mail has the story here. Roman might have to pay this kid some more - seems that all the money will go back to the team anyway.

Hypocrisy, Thy Name is Spitzer

2008-03-10T17:08:00.005-05:00

the picture says it all

Wow. Eliot Spitzer, the crusading Governor of New York, the former AG for the Empire State, allegedly "met" with a prostitute in DC last month. According to this New York Times story, he busted two prostitution rings while serving as New York's attorney general and was quite sanctimonious about it. Now, the state Republican Party is calling for him to resign. Sad. Sad for Spitzer's family and for New York.

For Visual Learners

2008-03-05T13:26:00.003-05:00

Someone was asking me about things that Rick Astley would never do. Here's the answer for you visual learners:

Breaking News

2008-03-04T21:03:00.002-05:00

CNN is reporting that the K-Man is trying to fight off a possible cold and will be going to bed early tonight. Unfortunately, this means he will have to wait until tomorrow to find out who won today's key primaries.

Silverware for Spurs

2008-02-24T15:24:00.008-05:00

Ledley King and Robbie Keane celebrate

Congratulations to Tottenham Hotspur for winning the League Cup 2-1 this afternoon over Chelsea at Wembley. Even watching the Gamecast, the match was thrilling. Spurs came from behind to win the derby in dramatic fashion and brought home their first trophy in 9 years. Good stuff. the Daily Mail has some great pictures, a few of which are above and below. Makes me wish I was in London.

Wembley Stadium before the match

the Captain is back!

Juande Ramos - all he does is win silverware

Berba's equalizer

Good fans!

Little Stein Wants An Eggplant Calzone

2008-02-19T05:57:00.002-05:00

Like Father, Like Son

Check out this story where Hank Steinbrenner talks about how the 'roid problem is twice as bad in the NFL as it is in Major League Baseball. Interesting accusation. All he lacks is proof and the moral high ground since baseball ducked the question of performance-enhancing drugs for YEARS.

As I was reading the quotes I thought that it sounded just like Larry David's impression of George Steinbrenner on Seinfeld. Of course, David's take on Steinbrenner was dead on.

I can't believe I'm going to have to put up with another 30 years of meddling, outrageous statements, and generally unpredictable behavior. At least he's rich like his pop.

I Drink Your Milkshake. I Drink It Up!

2008-02-18T16:54:00.000-05:00

Anyone who knows me knows that I love recreational sports. For the past three years I have been accumulating titles like Daniel Day-Lewis has been racking up awards for There Will Be Blood. First it was softball, then kickball. Now, I have taken on my greatest athletic challenge yet.

Dodgeball.

That's right, the K-Man is chasing a dodgeball championship, La Fleur style. We play every Sunday in a middle school gym and I gotta tell you, it really takes me back to those halcyon days on the blacktop at Robious Elementary School. It took us a few games, but Team Swayzehorse has really started to hit our stride. We've incorporated all sorts of strategy (crossfire is killer and if you need to go for the catch, make yourself small) and even picked up a few tricks along the way (especially effective - using the big ball as a decoy).

you gotta have a plan

Stay tuned to this space for more information about El Swayzehorse. And don't forget:

Movie Review: Definitely, Maybe

2008-02-17T22:44:00.002-05:00

"Its been a long time since I rock and rolled."
- R. Plant

As you might have noticed, I've returned to regular blogging. The past few days have seen some new posts and a new template. With all of the new I thought I'd bring back an old feature, the movie review.

Three Gorgeous Women and Van Wilder

Earlier tonight, the Sunday Movie Club caught a screening of Definitely, Maybe. Here's what I thought:

Definitely, Maybe is a romantic comedy starring Ryan Reynolds, Isla Fisher, Elizabeth Banks, Rachel Weisz, and Abigail Breslin (the cute kid from Little Miss Sunshine). The movie is told mostly in flashbacks as Will (Reynolds) tells his daughter Maya (Breslin) the story of how he met her mother. This is a tough time for Will and Maya because Will is getting divorced from Maya's mom. Told mostly in flashbacks (even though all of the main characters look exactly the same whether its 1992 or 2008) the audience and Maya work to figure out which of three women in Maya's mom.

Two things struck me about D, M. First, it starts slowly. The flick clocks in at a surprisingly long 2 hours (most movies in this genre are lucky to get to 90 minutes) and the first hour lacked a lot of moments that make these sort of movies enjoyable. Don't worry, though, the second hour has a great payoff and more than makes up for the first half. Second, the film did a great job of keeping me guessing. Until Maya figured it out, I couldn't decide which of the leading ladies was Maya's mom. Would it be the beautiful blond college sweetheart, Emily (Banks)? The sophisticated brunette reporter, Summer (Weisz)? The artsy but aimless redhead, April (Fisher)? And the biggest surprise of all for me was how they pulled off the happy ending. I didn't see that until the very end of the movie.

Here's the summary: Definitely, Maybe is a cute rom-com with a nice twists and turns and generally charming performances. Its also a nice walk down music and politics memory lane for anyone that was in their twenties during the 1990s.

Grade: B

Happy President's Day

2008-02-17T22:14:00.004-05:00

As we celebrate this President's Day, check out this story on the 5 most badass presidents of all time. I myself was unaware that Cracked still existed. Even when I was 10 I thought it was a poor man's Mad Magazine. This feature is funny, though. The link is courtesy of Mitch, who seemingly does not even remember that he has a blog of his own.

The K-Man's Lament

2008-02-16T01:23:00.003-05:00

Whither the snow? The last really good and snowy winter in the Hook was 2002-2003. Heck, we haven't even had enough of the white and fluffy stuff to play snow golf since 2005. This blows. One of the best things about being a teacher is snow days.

Damn you, Global Warming! Damn you to Hell!

Spring Has Sprung

2008-02-14T22:47:00.003-05:00

Three Idiots At Legends Field Last Year for Spring Training

While many people are celebrating love/candy/flowers today, I'm celebrating the first day of spring. That's right: pitchers and catchers reported for Yankees spring training this morning! Hopefully, this means a small amount of the news about baseball will shift back to what's taking place on the field.

Running on Empty

2008-02-13T17:13:00.004-05:00

yeah I grunt when I get my swell on

So, I've started to run. For the past few years some friends have been encouraging me to train with them. They have their own group, the Sunday Morning Activity Club (SMAC). As the name implies they get together every Sunday morning, but the only activity is jogging.

I am as surprised as anyone that I have started doing this. Getting up early and running are two things of which I am not particularly fond. Most of the group is training for the Charlottesville 10 miler at the end of March. I might not make that, but I've been doing ok and am up to about 5 miles now. This Sunday's run is supposed to be 6.5 miles. We'll see how that goes.

If you are interested in following the adventures of the SMAC or looking at more ludicrous pictures like the one shown above check out this blog.

No Moral Victories?

2008-02-13T00:05:00.004-05:00

Sean and the team played Carolina close,
but couldn't come up with the win

The Wahoos played their best game in - well, its been so long, I can't remember the last time UVa played this hard. Unfortunately, we still lost to UNC 74-75. The highlights included a lot of energy from the Cavaliers and the return of Lars Mikalauskas. No doubt, the two were related. But ultimately Carolina was too good. When it counted, UVa didn't have any one who could stop Tyler Hansbrough.

I guess the question is this: is it some sort of moral victory? Dave Leitao says no, but I'm not so sure. After the Clemson debacle, UVa showed signs of life in Winston last Saturday. BC should be careful on Sunday because Virginia might start winning some games.

UVa is now 11-12 and 1-9 in the league. The last time Virginia was 1-9 in the ACC was 1976-1977. That year, UVa got to the finals of the ACC Tournament and almost upset UNC to win the title. B, Jones, and I could use that kind of magic this year in Charlotte.

A New Year's Present From Me to You

2008-01-06T13:34:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year! To help you start out the year with laughter allow me to recommend the webisodes Clark and Michael. Two things to know before you start watching:

1. It stars Michael Cerra of Superbad and Arrested Development.
2. Its funny.

Tis the Season

2007-12-12T23:32:00.000-05:00

I don't really remember Wham!'s "Last Christmas" from back in the day but in the past few years it seems like its always on the radio at this time of the year. Check out these guys and their video of the song:

SB/WM Looking for SM*

2007-11-29T18:23:00.000-05:00

Look out, ladies, the K-Man is coming.

* Single Brown/White Male Looking for Sugar Mama

Awesome!

2007-11-07T10:04:00.000-05:00

"The tail of a whale? How ridiculous!"

I just saw this great article about wacky laws in Britain. These include the following:

It is illegal to die in the Houses of Parliament.
It is an act of treason to place a postage stamp bearing the British monarch upside-down.
In Liverpool, it is illegal for a woman to be topless except as a clerk in a tropical fish store.
Mince pies cannot be eaten on Christmas Day.
In Scotland, if someone knocks on your door and requires the use of your toilet, you must let them enter.
A pregnant woman can legally relieve herself anywhere she wants, including in a policeman's helmet.
The head of any dead whale found on the British coast automatically becomes the property of the king, and the tail of the queen.
It is illegal to avoid telling the tax man anything you do not want him to know, but legal not to tell him information you do not mind him knowing.
It is illegal to enter the Houses of Parliament in a suit of armour.
In the city of York it is legal to murder a Scotsman within the ancient city walls, but only if he is carrying a bow and arrow.

Just another reason that I love England!

Fred Claus

2007-10-29T22:30:00.000-05:00

the prettiest postal worker ever

come on, that's classic VV

Vince Vaughn being Vince Vaughn + Rachel Weisz (easily in the K-Man's top 5) + Christmas movie + Elizabeth Banks (not in the top 5, but still) = must see movie. Check it out.

This Is Laterally Ridiculous

2007-10-28T17:06:00.000-05:00

Wow. Check out this play.

Baby's First Blog Post

2007-10-28T14:37:00.000-05:00

Congrats to Flash and the Media Whore on the birth of their first child. The Jamerikid was born early on Saturday morning. Daughter, mom, and dad are all doing well. Mitch took some pictures of the family plus me and the baby:

KC

2007-10-14T23:04:00.000-05:00

I spent last weekend in KC visiting some family friends and watching the Chiefs sleepwalk through a game against the Jaguars. All the same I had a great time reconnecting with people I've known since I was a baby and soaking in the atmosphere of my home town. Thanks to all of the Chandras for taking such good care of me. Here are some pictures from Arrowhead (hands down the best stadium in the NFL):

Peggy, Pradeep, Me and Vishal

thanks to Vishal we had sick seats

Flippin' Sweet!

2007-09-21T00:06:00.000-05:00

This guy is better at Guitar Hero than Isaac. And way cooler, too.

Soda Pop?

2007-09-20T22:34:00.000-05:00

Growing up in Richmond we always used the term "coke" as the generic word for soda. Kinda like you say "kleenex" when you are asking for tissues. Then I moved to Michigan and everyone said "pop" not "coke." Who knew? Well, someone has conducted a survey about this very subject. Check it out:

Want to see the map up close? You can either click on the map to enlarge the picture or click here to go to the site.

Football Rivalry Saturday - Recap

2007-09-16T10:30:00.001-05:00

With victories in 2 out of 3 contests, football rivalry Saturday can be considered a success. The Spurs/Gunners contest was disappointing, ending in a 3-1 Spurs loss. Arsenal clearly outplayed Tottenham, but with Paul Robinson making some brilliant saves early on I was hopeful that Spurs would get 3 points. Alas, not even 1 point was to be had.

On this side of the pond, the football was much better for the K-man. Virginia totally dominated UNC in the first half and held on to beat Carolina 22-20. Highlights of the game included Cedrick Peerman running like a man possessed, Chris Gould kicking 5 field goals, and Doc Walker's color commentary. Most bizarre moment? When replay overturned a call that Gould missed a field goal. You don't see that very often. Still, as Doc said, "it's never wrong to get it right."

The final game of the day was an old-fashion butt-kicking as U of M punished a hapless Notre Dame team 38-0. Truthfully, the game wasn't even that close. Michigan dominated every facet of the game. Maybe Demetrius Jones saw this coming and that's why he bolted.

So, a good rivalry weekend football-wise. As for the Sox/Yanks? That one will be decided tonight at 8.

Football Rivalry Saturday

2007-09-13T16:41:00.001-05:00

Big week for the K-Man, football-wise. Some serious rivalry games are taking place. Here's the breakdown and the rivalry scale (1 being the least important, 10 being the most important).

Tottenham vs. Arsenal
Time: 8:30am EST
Place: White Hart Lane, North London
TV: Fox Soccer Channel

Ah, yes, the North London Derby. Always the biggest games of Tottenham's season (they play home and away), this fixture is pivotal for Spurs. Win over your arch-rival at home and the stumbling start to the season is forgotten. Lose and their chance at playing Champions League football next season might be permanently dashed.
Rivalry Scale Rating: 10

Virginia vs. North Carolina
Time: noon EST
Place: Kenan Memorial Stadium, Chapel Hill, NC
TV: Lincoln Financial/JP Sports

The South's Oldest Rivarly. I'm not sure that means all that much, but we'll hear a lot about that this weekend when the Hoos and the Heels hook up. An interesting matchup. The explosive (offensively) Tar Heels will host a lackluster UVa football squad. The game doesn't mean quite as much as it once did. First, both teams are mired in mediocrity. Second, since VA Tech joined the ACC, they are now clearly our biggest rivalries. Even so, if you grew up in the 1980s and were a big UVa basketball fan like me, you hate anything that is covered in sky blue.
Rivalry Scale Rating: 7

Notre Dame vs. Michigan
Time: 3:30pm EST
Place: Michigan Stadium, Ann Arbor, MI
TV: ABC

When I went to Michigan I was stunned at how quiet the Big House could be. For most games those 111,000 folks are a real wine and cheese crowd. But there are three teams that come to Ann Arbor that make the place explode: Ohio State, Michigan State, and Notre Dame. Right now you have the two most storied programs in college football going nowhere fast. Their national aspirations are done. Fortunately, since its Michigan-Notre Dame, that doesn't mean anything.
Rivalry Scale Rating: 8

VMAs

2007-09-12T00:39:00.000-05:00

I was trying not to comment on Sunday's MTV Video Music Awards, but there's too much to discuss. For starters:

Britney Spears
The big talk of the VMA's was Britney Spears. Immediately, people were talking about two things: her lackluster performance and her supposedly overweight appearance. I'll grant you the first one, but the second is crazy. Check out this picture:

No way is she fat.

I did like part of Sarah Silverman's routine about Britney. After Brit finished her, uh, performance, Silverman had this to say:

"Was that incredible? Britney Spears. Wow. She is amazing. She is 25-years-old and she's already accomplished everything she's going to accomplish in her life. It's mind blowing."

Tommy Lee and Kid Rock
My favorite thing about this year's awards happened behind the scenes. Apparently, Kid Rock punched Tommy Lee right in the face. Fantastic. In the battle of Pamela's exes I'd put my money on Kid. Unless Brett Michaels is fighting. He can throw down.

Justin Timberlake
It seemend like every time JT won an award he bashed MTV for not playing enough music videos. I like that - going after the award-givers at their own party.

Rubbin' is Racin'

2007-09-11T00:17:00.000-05:00

Harry Hogge: Cole, you're wandering all over the track!
Cole Trickle: Yeah, well this son of a bitch just slammed into me.
Harry Hogge: No, no, he didn't slam you, he didn't bump you, he didn't nudge you... he *rubbed* you. And rubbin, son, is racin'.

On Saturday night I got my first taste of NASCAR at the Chevy Rock and Roll 400. I have to admit, before I went I wasn't too excited. Even so, as a Richmond native I felt like I needed to get to the RIR at least once in my life. It turned out to be a ton of fun. Watching a race in person is sometimes thrilling and almost always interesting. TV doesn't do it justice. The speed, the rubbin, and the wrecks makes it a great night of entertainment. And I was even more excited when I found out that one of the drivers, Denny Harlin, is from my hometown. I don't know how closely I'll follow NASCAR in the future, but I'll be rooting for #11 when I do!

B, George, and Tim

Me, Mark and CMeade

The K-Sis, GH, and the Wahoos...

2007-09-10T22:34:00.000-05:00

Good times this weekend. The K-Sis came to town for a visit. We had a delightful meal at the Bonefish Grill, then we met up with Bryon as he rolled into town. After that it was back to Aspenwood for a little Guitar Hero. The K-Sis rocked pretty hard - looks like it runs in the family. Bryon? Not so much.

On Saturday we all went to the UVa/Duke "game." A win is a win, but, man, the team looked bad. Before the beginning of last season I made a friendly wager with Paul that Al Groh would not coach the team in the 2008 season. In the past two games I've seen nothing to make me change my mind. Don't get me wrong, I want the team to succeed under Groh, but I just don't think it's going to happen.

B, Trina, and C Meade

After that, the K-Sis headed home and Bryon and I went to Richmond for the race. More on that next time...

Have You Seen Superbad Yet?

2007-08-30T20:23:00.001-05:00

Chicka-chicka yeah!

FoD

2007-08-22T00:15:00.000-05:00

I like the website Funny or Die because they have videos like this:

The Iceman

The Joys of Homeownership

2007-08-19T21:52:00.000-05:00

Owning a home is not always fun. Today was one of those days.

I put a load of laundry in and got ready to go outside to mow the lawn. My washing machine is on the second floor and is a front loader. Before I mowed I decided to stop for a few minutes to watch the beginning of the Liverpool/Chelsea match. Good thing I did. As I watched the players take the field I started hearing what sounded like water spilling. When I got upstairs I saw my machine leaking water. I turned it off and then opened the front door and water started spewing out. Slamming the door shut I ran through the house and grabbed every towel I could find. Then I grabbed a bucket. It took about 5 minutes and almost every towel I had to sop up the standing water on the carpet. Then I put the remaining towels around the washer, placed the bucket in front of the door and opened it up. Water came pouring out. When the bucket was full I slammed the door shut and emptied the bucket. I did this about 10 more times until I had emptied the machine.

The tray underneath the washer was filled with water so I gave JP a call. He graciously came over and helped me move the washer off the tray and sop up most of the mess. He even offered to take some of my towels over to his house and wash them. His help has been invaluable and I'm grateful. Special thanks, too, to my neighbors Rahul and Rochelle who have let me borrow their shopvac so I could dry the carpet.

Although I didn't expect to spend the better part of my Sunday vacuuming my carpet I feel very lucky. If I'd gone right out to mow my lawn the machine would have pumped out water for an hour.

The Scooter

2007-08-15T22:03:00.000-05:00

Yankee great, Phil Rizzuto

As some of you know Yankee legend, Phil Rizzuto, died yesterday at the age of 89. Rizzuto was a fan favorite for sixty years, first as a Yankee shortstop in the '40s and '50 and later as a broadcaster. That's how I knew the Scooter, from his broadcasts on WPIX that I used to watch as a kid when I went to visit my grandparents in Albany during the summer. The Scooter's play-by-play was so sweet and unique that some folks even published a book of "verse" culled from some of his broadcasts under the title O Holy Cow! Here's an example:

"The Bridge"

Two balls and a strike.
You know what they had on TV today, White?*
Bridge on the River Kwai.
Everybody should have gotten an Academy Award for that movie.
I don't know how many times I've seen it.
About forty times.
Alec Guinness!
William Holden!
Three and one the count.
I just heard somebody whistle.
You know that song?
That's what they whistle.
Nobody out.
And he pops it up.

(May 5, 1987; Yankees at ChiSox; Joe Niekro pitching to Carlton Fisk)

Its a sad day, indeed, for baseball fans.

*White is Bill White, one of Rizzuto's old teammates and broadcasting partners.

More Fun With YouTube - the Dan Band

2007-08-04T00:14:00.000-05:00

You're the lady! You're the lady, Marissa!

It's tough to pick a favorite moment from Old School, but one of the highlights for me is the wedding scene, especially the performance of the Dan Band. Well, it turns out that the Dan Band is a real group specializing in gal-themed cover songs. And if you go to YouTube you can find a lot of classic performances. Check these out when you aren't at work (the language is definitely R rated):

"Total Eclipse of the Heart" apb* Bonnie Tyler

"You Oughta Know" apb Alanis Morissette

"Flash Dance" and "Fame" apb Irene Cara and Michael Sembello, respectively

*as performed by

July 2007 Playlist

2007-07-31T16:42:00.000-05:00

Ah, the summer. As DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince suggested, its time to sit back and unwind. I've been doing that a lot lately. Like today. I planned to go into work and set up my classroom. Instead I read most of the morning, had a long lunch with the Colonel, and then plopped myself onto the couch to watch Doc Hollywood on one of the 37 HBOs I receive. By that point it was 4pm and it didn't seem to make much sense to go to school. Besides, these posts don't write themselves. But enough of my yakkin' - here's the July 2007 playlist:

"Dig" by Incubus. Classic Incubus tune. If you liked "Stellar," "Drive," or "Wish You Were Here" check out this track from their 2006 album Light Grenades. You can here it at their myspace page.
"Ah! Leah!" by Donnie Iris. A great rock song from the early 1980s that unfortunately has a terrible video from the same time period. But if you think the official video is bad, check out these two fan videos: #1 (bizzare), #2 (full of a ton of WTF?!? moments)
"Laid" by James. One of the great sing-along songs of all time. Don't believe me? Take a look at this.
"I Don't Want To Know (If You Don't Want Me)" by the Donnas.
"Take It Off" by the Donnas. I ended up buying a bunch of tunes by the Donnas thanks to my recent purchase of Guitar Hero. You can play "Take It Off" there. Great tune from a really great rock band. That led me to their website and "I Don't Want To Know..."which plays on the main page.

India

2007-07-31T15:46:00.000-05:00

Where was I? Oh, right. India!

In the old days flying to India meant you had to enter the country via either Bombay or New Delhi. Now, international flights hit most of the major cities, including Hyderabad. Unfortunately, British Airways didn't fly direct to the twin cities so I went through Mumbai. The first thing I noticed was how modern the airport was - its been remodeled and now includes a ton of modern amenities. Let me tell you, if you have to stay in an airport from 1am until 5:30am, its nice to have air conditioning and a bunch of food options. I caught a Jet Airways flight to Hyderabad early in the morning. Right away I noticed that a lot had changed in the city. They are building roads all over the place and new, more modern (Western?) shops and restaurants are going up every day. The longer I stayed, the more amazed I was by how much had changed - not just since my last trip in 2003, but since my 1990 trip, before India opened its economy the following year.

My first few days were mostly about seeing family and overcoming jet lag. We also toured around town a bit and visited Janardan and Kamalesh Reddy (my Dad's best friends) who are in India for a few months. It was a pretty laid back time - we watched a lot of Wimbledon, went to the movies (I saw the biggest movie in South India, a flick called Sivaji), and read a lot.

Uncle, Kalpana Auntie, and Sandeep

Uncle, me, Janardan Uncle, Kamalesh Auntie

The highlight of the trip was going with my two cousins, Sandeep and Sailesh, to visit historic locations in and around Aurangabad. We hopped an overnight train from Hyderabad on Thursday night (July 12) and arrived in Aurangabad around 7 in the morning. After freshening up at the hotel we got brunch and then took a car to the Ajanta Caves. The caves were carved with Hindu and Buddhist icons beginning 2200 years ago. That's right: over two THOUSAND years ago. The location was stunning and the carvings, especially taking into account the time period, are truly spectacular. I was amazed that I had never heard of them before. Unfortunately, my pictures can't do the caves justice (I have videos, but don't think I can post them via blogspot). If you're interested, click here for a video about them. That night we went back to the city. After a really nice dinner we turned in for the evening.

me, Sailesh, and Sandeep at Ajanta

The next morning we went to the other famous caves at a place called Ellora. These caves were created between the 5th and the 10th centuries, CE. In addition to Hindu and Buddhist caves, Ellora also has Jain caves. In many ways, the caves at both places are similar. What distinguishes Ellora is the Kailasanatha (Kailash) Temple. Simply put, this is one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. Over the course of two hundred years this temple was carved out of the mountain from the top down! If you've ever seen a Hindu temple, the carvings are incredibly orante. According to TempleNet, the structure occupies 60000 square feet and in places is 90 feet high. Like Ajanta, I don't have any pictures that can do it justice. Hopefully the websites that I've linked to will give you some idea about how impressive an accomplishment these caves are.

The rest of our trip was spent shopping, eating, and checking out other local sites like the famed Daualtabad Fort. After that it was another overnight train ride back to Hyderabad. My trip ended with a very nice surprise - the night before I left Arvind and his family arrived. Some background - Arvind is my father's brother's wife's brother. In the early 80s he as a grad student at Virginia Tech and used to stay with us from time to time. My sister and I LOVED him. He was the cool uncle who always brought these great games. More importantly, he is just a genuinely great guy. When he decided to take a job with a small firm out in California in 1982 or 1983 we were heart broken - we knew that we wouldn't see him that much any more. Things turned out ok for him, that little firm turned out to be Intel. In any case, it was great to see him and his family again.

me and Arvind's family

On Monday, July 16, I took off from home. Unlike my trip out, there were no problems on my way back. I even had time to stop for a ginormous Cadbury Dairy Milk bar at Heathrow. Solid. Although its nice to be back, I had a really great set of trips, especially to India. I'm looking forward to my next trip over.

As always, if you click on a picture it will give you the jumbo sized version.

Roll Call

2007-07-26T16:19:00.000-05:00

The India post is coming soon, I promise, but I saw some clips of the Bleacher Creatures' Roll Call on YouTube and I thought I'd share. Damon has the best response.

Doesn't look like I'm going to make it to the Stadium this summer, but I look forward to getting back there in '08.

Communication Breakdown

2007-07-24T16:35:00.000-05:00

Originally I was scheduled to leave the UK for India on July 4. That didn't quite happen. You might've heard about all of the trouble at Heathrow on July 3. Unfortunately, that delayed my trip out of London. When I got to the airport the British Airways Information Board told people on my flight to Mumbai to wait. This continued for the first hour and a half before our scheduled departure time. Every half hour I'd ask a BA official for an update and was told that the flight might be delayed or canceled and that I should remain in the area but that I couldn't check in. Half an hour before my flight was scheduled to take off they switched the message on the board to "last boarding call." I hustled over to the lady only to be told that she was very sorry but it was now too late to check in, get through security, and board the flight. LOTS of people were very unhappy about this. No other free flights out that I could find that day so BA booked me on the same flight out the next day. That night I stayed at the lovely Renaissance Hotel Heathrow.

The next day I got to the airport 3 hours early. Things were still pretty chaotic. At least this time, I had a place to check in. I stood in a line that barely moved for about two hours and noticed an... interesting trend. About an hour before a flight was scheduled to take off the BA folks were start yelling, "is anyone going to Dubai?" or "is anyone going to New Delhi?" At least a dozen people would raise their hands every time and get rushed to the front of the line. Sure enough, about an hour before my flight I got the call. Racing to the front of the line they got us all checked in in about 15 minutes. Then it was on to security for another 30 minutes. By the time I cleared security I had 15 minutes to make it to a gate that the airport map told me about 20-25 minutes away. As a result, I barely made it to my flight. Still, all was well and I was winging my way to the subcontinent.

Next up: India

London Recap

2007-07-22T16:47:00.000-05:00

Ah, London. My home away from home. What a great trip: Wimbledon, the Museum Tavern, Theakston's Old Peculiar. Here's what went down:

June 30
I arrived in London around 8 and was able to make it to our hotel, the Royal National at Russell Square, by 10. After grabbing some fish and chips at the hotel's buffet, B and I headed to Club 42's HQ: the Museum Tavern (for more on the Museum Tavern please see last year's London Day 5 post). We made nice with the wait staff (special shout out to our French Canadian friend, Dominique) and got back in the London groove. Afterwards we took a quick trip to the Bonny Bonnington for a few more libations then headed back to the hotel. Unfortunately, a sound evening's sleep was interrupted by not one, but two fire alarm pulls by some knuckleheads at 3:30 and 5:00am. But they couldn't slow us down as we got ready for...

July 1
We took a quick turn through the British Museum before we made our way to Soccer Scene so Bryon could inspect the latest ManU kits. I was looking at a Berba jersey but remembered the sage words of Ad Homonym who suggested that we wait until the transfer window closes before we get any of his gear. Then it was off to the National Gallery. After doing the culture thing for a while we began to wander around Trafalgar Square until we happened upon the Texas Embassy Cantina. This country music oasis in the heart of London is near the original embassy of the Republic of Texas. After a round there we walked over to Picadilly for a little bit before we got dinner and stopped off at the Tavern for a night cap. We needed to get to bed early to prepare for...

July 2
Wimbledon! The dream come true. Tennis' grandest stage. B and I got to public queue at 8am. After a few hours we were able to buy some Court One tickets at Grounds Pass prices. We decided against going directly to Court One so we could walk around and maybe catch a big match at one of the smaller, outer courts and it worked out well. We watched #6 seed Ana Ivanovic finish her fourth round match against an overmatched opponent whose name I can't recall. Then we hustled over to Court One to watch Rafael Nadal play Robin Soderling. Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate and there were long rain delays. After one such delay we watched the doubles team of Sania Mirza (India) and Shahar Pe'er (Israel) play a little. Side note: the most amazing thing about Wimbledon is that, on the outer courts, you can watch world class tennis from 10 feet away (see photos below). Amazing. We ended the day on Centre Court watching Serena Williams finish off Daniela Hantuchova. Even though 12 hours at Wimbledon only yielded 3 hours of tennis, it was well worth the wait - one of my most memorable sporting events of all time.

The Order of Play on Day 7

Ana Ivanovic

What Do You Do When It Rains?...

Eat Strawberries and Cream!

July 3
Another lazy day in London. We headed over to the Imperial War Museum to do a little site seeing and then had lunch at the Three Stags pub. After that we walked around the city for a while before heading to the theater to see Spamalot. Great show and a lot of fun. Afterwards it was back to the Museum Tavern for a few more drops of the Old Peculiar. We ended the evening at the Bonny Bonnington.

at the Museum Tavern

July 4
In the morning we jumped in a cab and headed for Heathrow. Bryon got out just fine. I didn't. More on that tomorrow...

Back In the Saddle

2007-07-21T23:25:00.000-05:00

Namaste, Friends! I got back from parts abroad last week and am getting ready to publish a series of posts about my travels. They should be up in the next day or two. In the meantime, check out this site: www.sairarao.com - I went to college with Saira and just learned that she has released a book, Chambermaid. Color me impressed.

Spice Up Your Life

2007-06-28T22:32:00.000-05:00

Eddie Murphy must not have wanted to get with Mel B's friends.

Good news! I've just learned courtesy of Ad Homonym that the Spice Girls (with Geri) are reuniting. If they come to the JPJ I'm there!

For more information on the reunion check out this site.

June 2007 Playlist

2007-06-28T22:06:00.000-05:00

A few days before the big trip so I don't think I'll be adding anything new to the June 2007 playlist:

"Far Cry" by Rush. This is the first song from Snakes & Arrows, the latest album from Canada's favorite sons. Its a great tune so I picked it up off of iTunes. Also, I had the pleasure of taking in a Rush concert at the Nissan Pavilion last weekend with my friend, Taylor. The fellas were in fine form and it was a great show. Special recognition because they knew where they were. Last year at the Journey/Def Leppard show, both acts began with an enthusiastic "Hello, Bristow!" Well, Bristow is indeed the mailing address of the Pavilion, but I'm not sure anyone at the show really thinks "Bristow" when they think of that area. Geddy, on the other hand welcomed "Virginia and the greater DC area." Nice job, GL.
"Alive With the Glory of Love" by Say Anything. A repeat from last month's playlist, but the song kicks so much ass that I was listening to it for the 2nd straight month.
"Magnolia Mountain" by Ryan Adams and the Cardinals. Specifically, this is a live version from last year's show at the CVille Pvil. I downloaded it at Internet Archive (thanks to the Colonel for letting the blogosphere know about said site). Great song, good concert.
"Knockin' On Heaven's Door" by Jerry Garcia, David Grisman, and Tony Rice off of the legendary The Pizza Tapes. I first heard bits and pieces of this album with MrJWalt when we were having dinner a while back at Revolutionary Soup. Being the generous man he is, he gave me a copy of the album a few weeks ago. This is a perfect rendition of a perfect song. I've always loved Dylan's original and been lukewarm on Clapton's cover, but Garcia, Grisman, and Rice do a lovely job with it.

Gunned Down

2007-06-25T21:46:00.000-05:00

more than just a striker

A happy day for the K-Man and his soccer teams. Regular readers to the page know that I am a fan of Tottenham Hotspur. For those of you who don't follow English soccer, that means I hate Arsenal. What you might not know, is that in La Liga (the top Spanish league), I support Barcelona. So it is with great pleasure that I have watched Barca sign away Arsenal's top player, Thierre Henry. Its a mixture of genuine pleasure and schadenfreude.

Beach Week '97!

2007-06-24T20:04:00.000-05:00

The K-Man is taking a brief break from reading for his Jamestown class to put up this too brief post about last week's Beach Week. Lots of memorable moments, but some of my favorites included:

beach volleyball - as the Flash asked, is there anything better?
Guitar Hero - although I didn't break on through to the hard level, I did improve my technique and help the Big Man set a number of high scores pre-memory card flame out
AJ's game playing abilities - nobody plays cards or Catchphrase like my boy
Ike cup-checking Brad - I wasn't there to see it, but the story alone tells me it was a highlight
karaoke - everyone did a great job
Austin's Fish Company- holy God that place is out of this world. Best seafood I have ever had.

Sorry the post was so brief, but I have a ton of reading to do for tomorrow because none of it got done at the beach. I'll leave you with some pics:

goodbye, old friend

ah-ah-ah-ah-ah, I think I did, I think I did...

the greatest karaoke version of Barabara Streisand and Barry Gibb ever

the Flash sings Alanis

JY singing Carolina Girls

Perfect Songs

2007-06-15T20:56:00.000-05:00

While I was having dinner with some friends tonight at Bizou I heard Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing" in the background and I remarked that it was a perfect song. By that I meant that it had great music, was beautifully sung and played, and had fantastic production values.

darling please don't procrastinate...

A few hours later I was reading an article about k.d. lang and her upcoming performance at the C'Ville PVil and it got me thinking that she has another song that I'd consider perfect: "Constant Craving." It, too, meets all three criteria.

I'm sure there are many other songs out there that meet my criteria. I'd be interested to hear some other suggestions...

Thursday: A Day of Sports and Leisure

2007-06-14T22:55:00.001-05:00

Today I had what I consider to be a pretty typical summer Thursday. Woke up at 11am. By 12:15 I was in Belmont picking up AJ. At 12:45 we were at Wayne Lanes working on our games, having lunch, and drinking a few beers. I don't know if it was the magic of Waynesboro, the perfect weight of the 11 lbs ball, or the inspiration of the cheesesteak. Whatever it was, I came out on fire. In my first game I rolled a 214. The next game saw a 143. Then came the lunch break. After lunch I started out slow with a 120. Game 4 saw me put it all together with a 222 (matching my all-time best). Unfortunately, I didn't finish up strong and I closed out the day with a 119. Still, I'll take my 163.6 average.

After bowling AJ and I crossed over the mountain and headed for Old Trail. To say the least, we liked what we saw. First, they offered us a cart to get to the driving range. [Random aside: as I watched Andy smoke a bag of balls with my clubs I realized that the problem might not be with my set of Acuity clubs, the problem might be with me.] Then, we decided to take the cart for a little spin around the front 9 - not exactly according to club rules, but so what. Its a beautiful course, but its long and I'd definitely want a cart. Finally, we got prices. $44 to play twilight (after 2pm!) including a cart. Nice.

After dropping AJ off I went to the gym and got my workout on. Then it was back home to change before dinner with Trina at Tastings. This was my birthday dinner. Yes, I know my birthday was 3 months ago but we've gotten a little behind. Thanks, TJ, for the fine food and company.

I gots to get me a Wii

I closed out the night by beating up a girl (J9 in Wii boxing) and losing $10 at the poker table. Summer is nice.

CHS' FAT

2007-06-13T23:22:00.000-05:00

Nice story in this week's C'Ville Weekly about dropouts at CHS and the Freshmen Academy. Check it out here.

School's Out: First Weekend of Unemployment

2007-06-12T15:19:00.000-05:00

School ended last Friday. On Saturday I hopped in my car and headed north to Annapolis to visit my friend Bryon. If you've never been there, Annapolis is an absolutely gorgeous city on the Severn River, just off the Chesapeake Bay. Its a small town with a beautiful harbor, two colleges (the Naval Academy and St. John's - the great books school), and a lot of charm.

Right after I got there, Bryon and I went to a restaurant called Pusser's, right on the harbor. We supped on seafood and then relaxed a bit until we went out for the evening to a happening little place called the Sly Fox, home to some tasty food and a pretty good singer/guitar player. Good times. The next morning I played my first ever full-on 18 holes of golf at a place called Compass Pointe. I didn't exactly dominate the course, but I shot a 129, which I'm told is respectable for a golfer of my ability. That night Bryon and I went to see Ocean's Thirteen. Bryon felt like he got what he was expecting and was o.k. with the movie. I, on the other hand, thought it was a little boring. Too bad.

I did not dress like this guy on Sunday

Monday saw me jumping through hoops at the Indian Embassy to get my visa transferred from my old passport to my new passport. With that mission accomplished I went out to Tyson's to join my friends John, Claire, and Evan Meade for a lovely dinner at the CPK. Thus endeth the first weekend of my summer break.

The End

Learn More About... Me!

2007-06-04T22:17:00.000-05:00

Well, not me. Not really. But if you want to see the K-Man's ancestral homeland, go to Google Maps and look up Pulla, India. Google Maps will drop you down in a field, but if you look a tad north and west you'll see the town - that's Pulla.

Here's the skinny: this is the town that is named after my father's family. Or maybe we are named after the town. No matter. Fun Fact: because Pulla is transliterated from Telugu, you can either spell it "Pulla" or "Poola."

Unfortunately, you can't see much of Pulla on Google Maps. As such, I've provided a few pictures of the town (c.1998) to give you a feel for the place:

the K-Man and K-Sis at the train station
note: the name is written in Telugu on top,
Hindi on the lower left, and English on the lower right

the house where dad was born

Special thanks to K-Sis for inspiring the post!

Movie Review: Knocked Up

2007-06-03T00:49:00.000-05:00

A few of us saw Knocked Up on Friday night and we all came away impressed. Its a very sweet and lewd (yes, that combo is possible) movie about a couple, Allison and Ben, who become pregnant accidentally after a one night stand. I liked a lot of things about this movie including -

all of the little moments that I couldn't see coming. The plot of the movie is largely predictable, but the individual scenes are full of small, pleasant surprises.
the jokes and one-liners. Bawdy and crude, but never beyond the pale. You might not want to be one of Ben's friends, but they'd be fun to hang out with for a little while.
the performances. Seth Rogen and Katherine Heigl are great in their roles, but its the supporting cast that I was particularly impressed with. Especially Kristen Wiig. She was tremendous.
the story. Its a very sweet, coherent narrative. The movie just flew by - that's a good sign.

I hope this movie is indicative of good things to come, especially for Seth Rogen (Ben) who's got another movie, Superbad, that looks hilarious.

Grade: A

May 2007 Playlist

2007-06-03T00:40:00.000-05:00

A few days late, but here are the songs I liked last month:

"Alive With The Glory of Love" by Say Anything. Another song I heard thanks to Scrubs. This one was featured at the very end of the season finale in a potentially devastating scene. According to the podcast that goes along with the episode the writers wanted to use it for the "No, Hell no, no" refrain. But that's not what the song is about. As the lyrics indicate, its a love song set during World War II and the Holocaust. I kid you not. Its a rocker, though. Check it out here.

"Slices of You" by Electric Six. Dick Valentine and Co. put out an album last year called Switzerland and I missed it. Thanks to Mr.JWalt I found out about it and picked it up. Here's a tasty offering from the lp.

Fantasy Sports Update

2007-05-14T20:15:00.000-05:00

The K-Man survived a spirited challenge from Ad Homonym to win the inaugural season (for us) of Fantasy Premier League football. Here is the final table for Charlottesville FC:

Charlottesville FC

#	Team	Manager	Gameweek	Total
1	FC KMan	the K-Man	58	1916
2	Real Collins	Ad Homonym	47	1905
3	OL	thomas leroy	35	1771
4	FC Bereano	Bryon Bereano	68	1768
5	Steuben FC	Jeff Dotts	51	1757
6	W. Neighbor United	Christopher Truffer	34	1705
7	Change Name	Daniel Jackson	37	1619
8	Soccer w/ your Heels	Andy Jones	28	1580
9	FC Rooster	M R	27	1554
10	mudzi42	Charles Hudgins	29	1265
11	ColonelsColonials	colonel saunders	25	1176
12	TwoNations	James Wilkinson	20	1167

Congratulations to everyone on a great season! Extra special kudos to the Colonel who insisted on keeping Claudio Reyna as his captain even after Reyna left the EPL and moved back to the states. If that's not dedication to American nationals, I don't know what is.

Pimpin' Ain't Easy...

2007-05-11T23:49:00.000-05:00

... but coming up with that obvious title is. Here's the article from the files of "What Was He Thinking?"

Repping the Yanks

2007-05-10T16:05:00.000-05:00

I received a truly great comment today on the Sports Roundup post. It brings up a good question that deserves a post of its own. Here is the comment:

Reggie Pietrzak said...
I think this is a really intriguing question - what current Yankee would our NY fans wear the shirt of? Are there some shirts that are ok for women, but not for men? I (a woman fan) have an A-Rod shirt (says Rodriguez) but would my husband (a male) be laughed at for an A-Rod shirt because Alex is such a pretty boy and easy on the eyes? I think a Matsui shirt would be ok for a man. Posada too. But not Jeter or Mussina. Wang is obviously a no-brainer - no one can really get away with wearing that shirt.
2:56 PM, May 10, 2007

Here's my reply:

Thanks for your comments, Reggie. And kudos to you for your great post. Note to readers: this is the kind of insightful commentary that the K-Man is looking for.

As to your point, here are the Yankees shirts and jerseys that can be worn and by whom*:

Retired Yankees
#23 Mattingly - he is THE Yankee of my generation. Can be worn by anyone.
#51 Williams - Bern, baby, Bern. He was the quiet center of the hurricane that was the 1996-2000 championship teams. Can be worn by anyone.
#21 O'Neill - he was the spark plug of the 1996-2000 teams. Can be worn by anyone who saw him play in person. I don't think a little kid should wear a Paul jersey, I don't know why, I just do.
Ruth (#3 - if you don't know this, you should stop watching baseball), Gehrig (#4), DiMaggio (#5), Mantle (#7), Berra (#8), Munson (#15)- all acceptable, but should preferably be worn by people who saw them play back in the day. Exception: Ruth is always o.k. to wear either at Fenway or any time you're watching the Sawx play - it drives their fans nuts.

Current Yankees
#2 Jeter - should only be worn by teenage girls. Yes, I know he's the captain. Yes, he's Mr. Clutch. Even so, this is clearly a shirt that is coveted by a very specific demographic: tween and teen girls. Seriously, I think if you polled everyone that wears that shirt you'd find it runs 80%-85% girls.
#42 Rivera - should be worn by every current Yankee fan. He's the best there is at his position. Ever. Here's a link so you can buy your own now.

enter night, exit light

#13 A-Rod - I can't do it. I can't buy this shirt. As Reggie pointed out, there is the pretty boy factor. But there is also the Yankee factor. Right now this guy doesn't feel like a Yankee. I don't know if he ever will, not even after the April that he just had. For now, no sale.
#55 Matsui - I bought a Matsui shirt two years ago because I vowed if he got the game winning hit I would make the purchase. He did, so I did. My word is my bond.
#20 Posada - not the obvious choice for a Yankees shirt, but a solid one. Owned by true fans.
#53 Abreu - this guys is the opposite of A-Rod. I feel like he became a Yankee the minute Cashman got him last year. I can't explain it. I just like the way he plays. I know he's off to a rough start, but I think he'll heal up and come through at the end of the year.
#18 Damon - yeah, go ahead and get this one for two reasons. First, he hustles his ass off all the time. Its easy to respect a player like that. Second, I know he helped the Sox win a title, but he's not really one of them through and through. Remember, he had stops in KC and Oakland first. As with Abreu, I know he's off to a rough start, but I expect he'll contribute a lot, and soon.
#22 Clemens - Another one I could never buy. He's just not really a Yankee. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad he's back with the team. Its just that, to me, he'll always be a Red Sock. See the original post for all of my reasons.
#46 Pettitte - he's the key starting pitcher of this generation of Yankees. After a few years in the baseball wilderness (if you've every been to Houston, you know what I mean) he's back where he belongs.
#40 Wang - I've got to go with the Flash on this one, its tough for anyone to sport a Wang shirt, even if he is the best starting pitcher we've got.
#24 Cano - I got burned by buying a hotshot second baseman's shirt a few years back. Though I still where my Soriano shirt proudly, I'm going to wait a few years before I get Robby's shirt. Plus, at least for a few more seasons, this is still the Bamtino's shirt.
#29 Igawa - uh, no.
#25 Giambi - can't do it, too much baggage.

Well, there you have it. What shirts Yankees fans should and should not buy. Of course, there is an "Ethnic Caveat" - if a player is from your particular ethnicity you all rules are waived and you are encouraged to buy the shirt or replica jersey. If Mohan Patel ever makes it to the Yankees, you can be sure I'll buy his stuff.

I'd love to hear what shirts (from any teams of any sport) my readers are willing to buy.

*For the purposes of this post, I am only considering shirts that I know are available.

Real Students, Real Conversations

2007-05-08T16:08:00.000-05:00

Here are two actual conversations that I had with students today:

Conversation #1
World History student: Hey, Miss K___?
Me: Actually, its Mr. K___.
WH student: Why? You're not married.
Me: ... yeah, but Miss is for an unmarried woman, Mr. is for all men.
WH student: Awwww, you're trying to play me.

Conversation #2
AP US student: Mr. K___?
Me: Yes?
AP US student: Why should I study for the AP test?
Me: Excuse me?
AP US student: It's just that I'm having a hard time getting motivated. Why should I study?
Me: Uh, well, because 1) you can get college credit or you might be able to place out of introductory level classes in college, 2) if you do well it will strengthen your college application, and 3) your parents dropped $82 so you could take it.
AP US student: Yeah, that's not really doing it for me. That's probably not what you wanted to hear three days before the exam, was it?

Sports Roundup

2007-05-07T21:38:00.000-05:00

The New York Yankees
The big news this weekend was the return of the Rocket to the Yanks. My excitement for the signing is genuine, if somewhat tempered by 1) the size of the contract, 2) Clemens' special treatment, and 3) my inability to truly love all-time-winningest pitcher in Red Sox history. Let's take it one at a time. First, the amount of money that the Yankees are paying for the Rocket is incredible. $4.5 million per month?!? Wow. I'd almost rather us keep giving young kids (like tonight's Matt DeSalvo) a try than pay that much for a 44 year old pitcher. Second, I agree with Boomer - I don't like that Clemens gets to be a Yankee under different conditions than the rest of the team. It's a team game - act like a member of the team. Finally, I just can't shake the fact that Roger is Red Sock. Heck, if anything he's a hired gun. The Sports Guy has a great line about Clemens going to Cooperstown with a dollar sign on his cap. Its fitting. Make no mistake: I will never own a Roger Clemens Yankees shirt to go along with my Bernie, Mo, or Matsui shirts (you can't get me to buy a Jeter shirt - I love the Captain, but I'm not a 13 year old girl). With all that being said, he was still one of the best pitchers in baseball the past few years. And for a team that is in need of starting pitching, he's a Godsend.

No, I'm not going to act like a little girl and where this shirt.

Tottenham Hotspur
Oh, Berba! You've done it again! Led by the Dyanamic Duo (below), Spurs beat relegation-bound Charlton and now stand 6th in the Premiership. I can taste European football next year. With two left to play, including Rovers on Thursday, Spurs are looking good.

Ladies and Gentlemen, your EPL April Players of the Month

The (Inter) Continental

2007-05-06T20:33:00.000-05:00

Bush Creek at the Plaza

I believe it was Sir Winston Churchill who once said, "the best friends are old friends." Or maybe it was Captain Kangaroo. No matter. The point is, its always nice to see those people that have known you all your life. I had the chance to spend time this weekend with some of my family's oldest friends, the Chandras, at a wedding in Kansas City.

On Friday mom and I flew out of the RIC and put into KC at 9:45 CDT. We picked up our rental car then headed into town. A lot of the wedding guests chose to stay at the Intercontinental on the Plaza. The Plaza is the oldest shopping district in the country and its got a lot of great restaurants and shops making it a great place to stay. After a late dinner we hit the sack to get ready for the festivities the next day.

The bride was one of the two Chandra daughters, Menaka. We go way back - as little kids we used to play together until my family left KC for the Old Dominion in 1977. Unfortunately, we don't see as much of each other as we'd like, but I've visited them in Kansas from time to time and my mom and Ingrid still get together once a year. At the wedding and especially at the reception I got to spend time with people who knew me when I was a tot. The ceremony was beautiful and the reception was a lot of fun. I even made plans to go back out in the fall to catch a Chiefs game. I didn't have my camera, but if I get some pictures I'll be sure to post them.

April 2007 Playlist

2007-04-30T21:59:00.000-05:00

I'm back with an all new set of tunes from the K-Man's April '07 Playlist. Check it:

"When You Were Young" by the Killers. Yeah, yeah, I know its on a playlist from last fall, but after I saw them crush with this one on the Brit Awards (youtube link below) I decided to kick of the playlist with it.
"Naive" by the Kooks. This song has been a big hit in England since last year, but its just now starting to break in the States. Like I told you in the last post GO CHECK OUT THIS ALBUM!
"Do You Love Me Still?" by the Kooks. A bonus track on the US release and a really cool song. Listening to this track along with Naive gives you a good sense of their melodic sensibilities.
"Near Wild Heaven" by R.E.M. This was a springtime song back in the day. Seemed appropriate for April.
"Your Love" by the Outfield. This may be THE springtime song from back in the day. "Josie's on a vaction far away, come around and talk it over."

Links-O-Rama

2007-04-17T22:04:00.000-05:00

I was reading some Sports Guy tonight and he had a ton of great youtube clips listed. Here are some of my favorites:

This is without a doubt the best video of all time. And for some crazy reason, this song has been making a comeback. Nothing like watching a whole roomful of teenagers dance to "Apache." This is the Tommy Seebach version:

The rest of the clips are great, too, but I didn't want to embed full videos. Instead I've only included the links:

"Look At That Horse!" He's quite a salesman.

Check out this super beat.

Bits of Tid

2007-04-15T23:32:00.000-05:00

Well, well, well. Look who's back: the K-Man.

Tidbit #1
Obviously, the blog has been suffering recently. The promised expanded London post never materialized, and probably never will. I'll try to do better upon my return trip to The Square Mile.

Tidbit #2
I enjoyed my extended trip to Williamsburg last week for the annual National Council for History Education conference. The conference itself was so-so, but it was nice to get away for a few days to one of my favorite towns. As many of you know, I love Williamsburg so much that I have given a lot of thought to either moving there some time soon or to retiring there and taking history classes at William and Mary. I wonder if I should lead with that the next time I go out on a date. Deal breakers? Well, I want kids, you have to be willing to split holidays between our families, and in 25 years you'll need to relocate to Williamsburg, VA.

Tidbit #3
I saw a group called the Kooks featured on the Brit Awards (brought to me locally by BBC America) and enjoyed their song "Naive" so much that I looked into it on ITunes. When it became clear that I liked most of their debut album, Inside In / Inside Out, I picked it up. Its an excellent collection of rock/pop with lots of catchy hooks. I highly recommend it. For more information about the lads from Brighton check out their official site or their Myspace page.

What are you waiting for? Go get this album.

Tidbit #4
Congratulations to the UVa men's tennis team for being the first ACC team ever to go undefeated in the regular season. Nice work, fellas. Check out the story here.

Too Much To Tell, Too Little Time

2007-04-08T12:16:00.000-05:00

I got back a few days ago from a fantastic trip to London with the school orchestra. The kids were great, they played beautifully, and we were able to see most of the major sites in London. Here are some photos:

some of our group in front of the George Washington statue
at the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square

a view of the Houses of Parliament from the London Eye

the White Tower at the Tower of London

outside of Wicked

Back in the US, I finally got a chance to see The Namesake. Really nice film, I highly recommend it to everyone.

Sorry to those who want to read more but time is of the essence this week. I'm going to see the Alvin Ailey Dance Company tomorrow night, followed by softball on Tuesday, then I take off for a conference in Williamsburg after school on Wednesday. When I get back next weekend my schedule should return to normal and I'll aim for more regular blogging.

Nam-A-Sake

2007-03-22T11:09:00.000-05:00

I'm very excited to see the movie The Namesake (based on Jhumpa Lahiri's novel of the same name) when it is released in Charlottesville. Its the story of an Indian couple who move to the US and raise their Indian-American children. The movie features a few Bollywood stars and Kal Penn in the lead role of the son. That's right, Kumar gets dramatic. But don't worry, below is a hilarious interview with Jorma Taccone and Andy Samberg (of Lonely Island, and more recently, SNL, fame).

Coming Soon To A Theater Near You

2007-03-20T15:10:00.000-05:00

Blades of Glory
opening March 30

One HellUVa Season

2007-03-18T15:10:00.000-05:00

Thanks for the memories, JR

So, that's it. UVa fell to the Tennessee Volunteers by three in the Round of 32. The Wahoos went cold from the floor during stretches of the 2nd half, which ultimately cost them a chance to play next weekend. Still, the season was a trememdous success. Regular season co-champs of the ACC is an accomplishment to be proud of. The JPJ is gorgeous. And the team really played some inspiring basketball at times.

I'll be sorry to see JR Reynolds and Jason Cain go. As everyone knows, Reynolds blossomed into quite a player over these past two years. Even though he wasn't chosen this season, in my opinion he was definitely a first-team all-ACC player. And what can I say about Jason Cain? From being a joke three years ago (I still remember a discussion Paul and I had during a VMI game that he probably couldn't even be all-Big South) to being a solid ACC player this year, I'm very pleased with how he's developed.

Next year will be interesting. We lose JR and Jason and don't seem to have any seriously high-impact recruits coming in. It will be fun (or agonizing) to see who will raise their level of play to help Sean out.

Hail Hail Rock N' Roll

2007-03-15T21:55:00.000-05:00

A few happenings in the world of Rock N' Roll this past week that caught my eye.

Rock N' Roll Man
I was very sorry to hear that Brad Delp, lead singer of the seminal 70s power rock band Boston, passed away last week. Delp apparently committed suicide.

Brad Delp in the 70s
(as if you couldn't tell)

I first discovered Boston in 1986 when the song "Amanda" became a huge hit. Soon I bought Third Stage, the album containing the song, and fell in love with almost every tune. This was around the time I was transitioning to my classic rock and alternative rock phase. It was no longer cool at my middle school to like Prince or Duran Duran or anything else played on Top 40 radio (Q94 if you are from Richmond). Being the conformist that I was, I made the switch.

I gravitated to Boston and Led Zeppelin on the classic rock front, and R.E.M. and U2 on the alternative side. As I found the first two Boston albums I couldn't believe how well Delp could sing. He could hit these impossibly high notes. I didn't know much about music, but I knew he was one of the great singers in rock history. I never got a chance to see them in concert and I will always regret missing out on a chance to hear him sing live.

For more on the death of Delp check out the official Boston web site which contains an unbelievable self-centered and self-congratulatory interview, ostensibly about Delp, from Boston mastermind Tom Scholz.

Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame
Monday night saw the induction of the 2007 class into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Included in this year's honorees are two of my all-time favorite bands, the aforementioned R.E.M., and Van Halen.

R.E.M. changed the face of college radio in the early 80s and had huge commercial success at the end of the decade and into the early 90s. In the spring of 1987 I learned about the Athens foursome and quickly bought Murmur, Reckoning, and Life's Rich Pageant. To this day the first two are still some of my favorite records (and yes, I actually have some R.E.M. records somewhere). Through college these guys stayed in the buy-the-album-the-day-it-came-out-before-listening-to-any-tunes category. For more on R.E.M. check out this fantastic site.

Van Halen also showed up. Well, sort of. Diamond Dave (who has not aged well - see below) refused to come because he couldn't play the songs he wanted, or some such nonsense. The Brothers Van Halen didn't attend either. Eddie is in some kind of rehab and who knows where Alex was. Gary Cherone - not there. What? Oh come on, you remember Cherone. He was their third lead singer! Really! You can look it up. The only two that did show up are not technically in the group any more - Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony. That's fine by me - I've always like both versions of the group - the Dave-fronted VH and Van Hagar. As for Michael Anthony, it sounds like Alex and Eddie kicked him out so Eddie's 15 year old son, Wolfgang, can play bass. Good luck with that.

Give me a bottle of anything.
And a glazed donut.
To go.

K-Man's note: in college I re-discovered my AM Gold 70s and 80's pop sensibilities. Now I love it all.

Ram On It

2007-03-15T21:45:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to my home town team, the VCU Rams, and their upset win over Duke. The Rams looked great out there last night with their 40 minutes of pressure and their clutch shooting. Conversely, Duke looked like a team holding on for dear life.

No doubt Coach K will be glad to file away the 2006-2007 season. One thought, however, to those Duke-haters who are gloating right now. Remember the last time Coach K had a bad team in the early 80s*? Rumor has it that he never forgot and continues to delight in punishing teams that humiliated his first three Duke teams back in the day.

In any case, congrats to VCU. Even though you messed my brackets up a bit (I had Duke getting to the Sweet 16), I'm still proud of you. Richmond in the house!

*not counting the Pete Gaudet year, of course.

Doug Gottlieb hates UVa

2007-03-14T11:04:00.000-05:00

Well, he doesn't hate the Hoos. But he doesn't think much of the Cavaliers or there chances in the NCAA Tournament. Don't believe me? Here are some key excerpts:

Virginia is a 4-seed. Texas also is a 4-seed. Huh? The Cavaliers played the 11th-toughest ACC schedule and still lost three of their last five games to Miami, Wake Forest and NC State; only the Wolf Pack is playing even in the NIT. Yes, J.R. Reynolds and Sean Singletary have had their moments, but the truth is that any time your best player (Reynolds) shoots 39 percent from the floor and your interior play is marginal at best, you leave yourself open for criticism.

Look closer at Virginia and you will see that this team is supremely lacking in its qualifications for such a high seed. Virginia has losses to Appalachian State (NIT), Utah (by 24) and Stanford at home (granted the Cavs lost only one home game, but that is an extremely young Cardinal team). True, the Cavs swept Maryland, but the win in College Park was the only road win of substance all year.

If the 4-seed is supposed to be better or more worthy than, say, a 7-seed such as UNLV, I must have missed something. The Rebels finished in the top 15 in RPI, beat Texas Tech in Lubbock on the night Bob Knight was supposed to break Dean Smith's record, beat Nevada in Reno, beat BYU twice and lost on the road only to upper-half teams in a multi-bid league. Let's just face it, Virginia is no match for Ohio State, its region's 1-seed.

Texas, on the other hand, makes sense; the Horns very well could be underseeded at 4. The Horns played a spectacular nonconference schedule, and they are young, so we can judge them more at the end of the year than at the beginning. The Horns won eight of their last 10, with the only two losses in barnburners to top-seed Kansas on the road and at a neutral site. They have the most dominant player in the college game and they have a legit shot to beat North Carolina -- if they can get past USC, a talented 5-seed.

The point is not to damn Virginia's accomplishments this season, but rather to display just how unequal certain seeds are. Texas could win the whole tourney; Virginia would surprise many if it got to the Sweet 16. Yet, they are the same seed?

Read the entire column here (but you have to be and ESPNInsider).

The problem is, he makes a lot of sense. Is there anyone who doesn't think that Texas is a better basketball team than UVa at this point in the season? Yet they are both #4 seeds.

Sadly, I think UVa will lose to Tennessee on Sunday. I hope I'm wrong. I hope the Wahoos go on one of those runs that I know they are capable of. But I've seen too much of them losing on the road and at neutral sites to bottom feeders in the past three weeks to know that the odds of that are long indeed.

Teriffic Tampa Tourney

2007-03-12T22:01:00.000-05:00

This post will be way to brief to do justice to my trip to Tampa, but 1) I don't have a lot of time and 2) I know that Bryon will be bug me unendingly until I get something up about the trip. So here in no particular order are my thoughts about my long-weekend wingding:

Tampa is the perfect place to hold the tournament. Its sunny and warm. There's lots to do in town (spring training, casinos, long walks on the beach). The scalping scene was definitely a buyer's market. In short, it was everything that Charlotte and Greensboro are not. A suprising amount of people complained that they were upset because the Tournament was not the center of the Tampa universe. To that I say, you have fun trying to find a good restaurant in Greensboro, I'll be enjoying 80 degree days at Channelside.
The Hoos failed to get to Saturday for the 12th straight year. Mediocrity, thy name is Virginia basketball.
Spring training at Legends field was fantastic. I got to see Donnie Baseball, Joe T., and Louisiana Lighting up close. The night also featured the return of Andy Pettite, Sam Alito throwing out the first pitch and B-Seth getting doused with a milkshake. That just happened.
Bryon does a mean impression of a wacky neighbor (think Kramer and his Kavorka).
Nothing phases Don Mattingly, not even when a kid throws a ball at him.

Note: blogger is giving me a hard time as I try to post pics. Look for an update later in the week.

Musings Upon An ACC Bracket

2007-03-04T21:46:00.000-05:00

With today's exciting finishes (VA Tech loses to a surprising Clemson team, BC continues to swoon on the road, Hansborough gets popped in the kisser), the regular season came to a close. The Hoos tied for first with UNC, but because we lost to UNC in the only head-to-head game they get the number 1 seed. Check out the bracket here. Our prize for being seeded second? A probable date with Duke in the quarterfinals.

NC State could always pull off the upset and, as I've written before, we could rip off 3 straight or bow out on Friday no matter who we're playing, so nothing is set in stone. Still, I've seen more favorable draws before. Hopefully my assessment of Duke last month will continue to prove true.

So Close

2007-03-03T16:04:00.000-05:00

JR shoots over Visser,
Visser has the last laugh

Co-Champs
The Hoos fell today to Wake Forest on the road. This means that we will share the ACC regular season but can't win it outright. It also means that we won't be the number one seed in the tournament (we lose too many of the tiebreakers). Unfortunately, I don't think we will be able to win three straight and take the title, so this was our best chance to "win" the conference.

Why We Are Longshots To Win
There are two teams that are better than UVa - UNC and VA Tech. If you know me, you know that it kills me to admit that these two, of all the teams in the league, are better. But its true. There is no team with more talent that UNC. I know that recently they haven't put together their most consistent efforts, but there is no shame to losing on the road to Maryland and GA Tech (the two hottest teams in the league, by the way). Top to bottom, they are the class of the ACC. Also, to win three games in three days you have to have some depth, and no one is deeper than UNC. As for VA Tech, they've got two great guards plus a great slasher (Washington) and a guy who can light it up from the outside. The only thing they lack is consistency. If you don't believe me, watch their two games with UVa back-to-back.

UVa has two great players. In my opinion Sean and JR are both 1st team All-ACC (along with Hansborough, Dudley, and Thornton). As good as they are, though, we lack consistent scoring outside of the Big Two. If someone else gets on a roll we could be hoisting the hardware on Sunday, otherwise it will be 31 years and counting since we've won the title.

The ACC is so balanced this year that I think 7 teams have a legitimate chance of winning (no real chance for Miami, NC State, Florida State, Wake Forest, and the Collapsing Clemson Tigers). Here are the current odds I'm giving (made before the outcome of the rest of the weekends games and final seedings are known):

UNC 2-1
VA Tech 5-1
UVa 5-1
Maryland 7-1
Duke 7-1
Boston Colege 7-1
GA Tech 10-1
Florida State 50-1
Clemson 75-1
NC State 90-1
Wake Forest 100-1
Miami 200-1

If I can find some convenient internet access in Tampa I might provide some updates.

February 2007 Playlist

2007-02-28T00:44:00.000-05:00

This month I rocked my IPod like a vandal, lit up the stage and waxed a chump like a candle. To wit:

"Mandy" by Barry Manilow. Until this month I had no Barry on the iPod. Consider that situation rectified.
"Casimir Pulaski Day" by Sufjan Stevens from his Illinois album (also known as Cum On Feel the Illinoise). A very sad, beautiful song. Seems to be what Sufjan does best.
"What Goes Around Comes Around" by Justin Timberlake. Saw him perform this on the Grammys and liked it. Dowloaded the song and quickly tired of it. Live and learn.
"Fields of Gold" by Sting and Edin Karamozov. Great version of a great song. Heavy on the lute.
"Thinking of You" and "Broken"by Norah Jones off her new album. I love Norah and don't care who knows it. Another great album filled with slow melodies and smooth vocals.
"Takin' It Back to Tennessee" by Vance Gilbert. Saw Vance open up for George Carlin at the Paramount last week. He may have overshadowed Carlin with his powerful singing and rocking (for folk) tunes. If this guy ever comes back to C'Ville I am all over it. Hopefully he'll play the Gravity Lounge. Check out Vance's tunes here.
"Long, Long, Long" and "Cry Baby Cry" by the Beatles. Both of these tunes come from Disc (Record) 2 of the White Album. These two songs are overshadowed by such classics as "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," "Birthday," "Helter Skelter," etc. Still, I think they hold up as well as any other song off this album.
"You Can't Change That" by Raydio. Before he urged you to call in the professionals for any paranormal infestation problems, Ray Parker, Jr. fronted a band called Raydio (get it?). They had a few hits including this soft-rock/AM Gold/slow jam/R&B gem. Great lyrics. A repetitive classic.
"Til I Hear It From You" by the Gin Blossoms. Lots of people say that all of the Gin Blossoms' songs sound the same. True, but its a really good song.

Daily Saunders

2007-02-27T23:12:00.000-05:00

The Saunders' have a blog. Its called "Saunders Quotidian." He tells me that that means Saunders Daily and that we can expect updates every day. Looks like they've fallen off the pace a little bit.

Check them out here.