quarter23cd

Yeah, I've probably watched them too much this season to be really objective about it. I'm still rattled by things like the time they blew a 20 point second-half lead against Penn St where they (by my unofficial count) went approximately 3 hours and 42 minutes without a field goal. Oden in a monster--I'd love to see them try to get him the ball inside more often rather than just waiting for him to gobble up rebounds, but hey, if it ain't broke don't fix it I guess.

Maybe. Right now, for some reason, I'm seeing that (potential) matchup with Xavier as the hurdle for them. If they win it, I think they can run to the Elite 8, at least. You don't win 17 straight by accident, but its still a very young team who has a tendency to run hot and cold with their shooting. For all the hype he's gotten all year, this is where Oden needs to really make his statement. Should be fun to watch.

I have them losing in the 3rd to Louisville. The one that pains me right now is picking Xavier over OSU in the 2nd. I'm a Buckeye, but I've watched too many games this year where they've been unable to put games out of reach in the second half. Sooner or later that is going to bite them in the ass, and the in-state rivalry with Xavier is sending up red flags for me. I'd be happy to be wrong about that, though...

My preliminary Final Four: Florida, UCLA, Georgetown, and ummm Louisville? That's the result of my quick game by game gut-instinct...I'll go back and probably make some changes. My South bracket is all kinds of wacky, let me tell you, with a free-for-all after OSU, Memphis, and Texas A&M all lose before they even play each other. In retrospect, I'm sure at least one of those teams won't choke, but I'm not sure who yet.

You never know. People laughed at me last year when I picked George Mason to go to the Sweet 16 for no other reason than I grew up about 5 miles down the road and I wanted to pick a hometown underdog. Turns out I didn't ride them far enough.

I'm not sure that's how its gonna go down on my bracket, but I wouldn't mind seeing that.

I've heard about this show and would love to hear a recording, just out of morbid, train-wreck curiosity. Zakk Wylde?? Just please tell me that Warren didn't put on some spandex pants as a show of support.

Easy, amigo. Just making a joke.(tho not really joking, I guess) I'm an OSU alum, and its cool to see them get this ranking, but they're not even my favorite team in this tourney. My b-ball loyalties still go back to when I was a kid, so I'm loving G'town at a 2 seed and Maryland picking up a 4 (never would have predicted that at the start of the season). Nicely done, fellas. This tourney is going old-school for me. Too bad I can't still fit into the Patrick Ewing jersey I had as a kid.

I would trade this #1 seed for a do-over of Jan 8 in teh feetball.

I'm pretty sure those little "whooshing" sounds at the beginning of Impossible Germany are Pat's windmill.

TB Sheets is a damn fine song. In fact, I like that song better than much of Astral Weeks. There, I said it.

I think KC is a great spot for a team, just preferably not the Penguins. And I think that echoes a lot of what other people have said. I don't think anyone here is suggesting that hockey shouldn't be spread outside of its traditional geographical "base" and I don't think I've heard anyone talk of a "wasteland", but yeah, some cities have worked out better than others. Nashville is a good "WTF?" example that didn't really work out so well, but that doesn't mean that there aren't other cities that would work out great. For what its worth, I do hope that KC gets a team, mostly because there

...thus perpetuating this town's lack of a decent local music scene.

Yikes. Yeah, its interesting to get different perspectives from different areas of the country. I've moved back and forth a lot between the east coast and midwest. Grew up outside of DC where the Caps have always been treated with an attitude of "Oh, isn't that cute--they've got skates and everything!" There's a fanbase and enough history now that you'd think there's be a more of a passionate following, but hockey has always been well down the list on the city's sports priorities. I've been back and forth between Columbus and the NY/CT area since then and the differences have been in

If there is such a thing as "guilty pleasure music", should we just refer to the rest as "pleasure music"...or is that a whole other genre by itself?

Interesting. I was really curious about how hockey went over in Nashville. Seems like an odd match, but I figured maybe I was just stereotyping by assuming it was more of a NASCAR kind of town. After all, hockey sometimes thrives in unexpected places--like I've said before that I think Columbus was a great choice. But there is some truth to the accusations that the NHL expanded too fast and/or some questionable decisions have been made about moving franchises.

I think that's the standard line whenever they go to make a new record. Wasn't "Around the Sun" originally described as a fiery, political album that was like a throwback to the "Document" era? Didn't really work out that way. Oh well.

Get their S/T. "Weight of the World" is bitchin'. (actually, I'm not kidding)

Mmmmmmmaybe. As I see it, it is similar only in terms of the way it was recorded to have kind of a "live in the studio" feel to it. There's a kind of closeness and warmth to it that I think might be an O'Rourke tendency (and I like it). Aside from that, I don't see much of a carryover in terms of stuff like mood, structure, lyrics, etc.

This deserves its own thread.(but I don't want to be the one who starts it) I went through a Buffett phase in high school. Musically, there's really not much redeeming anything past the mid 70s or so, but I'll vouch for some of his early stuff. And, corny or not, he was probably a main entry point by which I later began to explore more "authentic" Carribean music, not to mention folk and singer-songwriter stuff. Scary as it may be, that may have been an important formative stage for me. (Did I just write that??)

This is somewhat less disheartening than the thought of the Pens leaving Pittsburgh, but moving teams around is always tough. Dear NHL: (for all you NHL decision-makers who happen to read this board) I just moved from Connecticut and can attest that I know of a whole bunch of diehards who would love to have The Whale back in Hartford. Just an FYI.

I think there's a lot of truth to this. Wilco has gone through a lot of changes, musically, although I think a lot of it has actually been mostly on the surface--the songs underneath haven't changed as much as it sometimes seems. I was one of the ones who jumped ship with Summerteeth. I was in a different place, musically, than the band was at that time and when I pressed play and heard the layered vocals and Jay's keyboard-army I quickly put it back in its case and lamented the fact that my previously-favorite band had gone a direction I didn't care to follow. At all. (sounds a little li

Meh. I'm not too worried about it. Although I suppose maybe the band cares more about such things than I do. I suppose it will be kind of interesting to see what happens with the fan base. You're right that certain segments of the fanbase have come and gone as styles have shifted. If anything, you might see more of that happening with the crowd that hopped on around YHF and AGIB, who gravitated towards their "experimentalism". Certainly this album will leave them perplexed if that is what they expect out of Wilco. I dunno. This album isn't as willfully difficult or obscure as previou

Does Pat know?

Wow. I see things so much more clearly now.