Cancel the NFL Playoffs
Now that the New England Patriots have gone 16-0, why do we even need to have a playoff this season in the NFL? The Pats have already proven beyond any doubt that they are the best team in the NFL this season, and they have even proven it to people such as myself who don’t even like them as a team. During the regular season the Pats have beaten the best team in the NFC (Cowboys) and all three of the other division winners in the AFC (Colts, Steelers, and Chargers). So what purpose does even playing the playoff games serve?
Clearly not to determine which team in the NFL is the best, because that has already been proven without a shadow of a doubt over the last 16 games. The purpose of the playoffs is two-fold: one is to make more money for the teams and the league, and two is to create an artificial sense of parity within the league. Having a playoff gives fans of 12 teams hope that maybe this year their team can win the Super Bowl even if their team isn’t the best in the league. But which is more difficult to do: win 16 games during the regular season or win 3 in the playoffs? Winning 16 games during the regular season proves way more to me that winning three games in January. Were the Pittsburgh Steelers the best team in the league two years ago when they won the Super Bowl? No, they simply got hot at the end of the season and by no means proved themselves to be the best team over the course of the entire season. So why even bother giving 11 other teams a chance to win the Super Bowl this year when only one team deserves it.
Bach Cantata BWV 49: Ich geh’ und suche mit Verlangen
The second cantata contained on the CD entitled Cantatas with Violoncello Piccolo Vol. 1 by Christophe Coin is number 49: “Ich geh’ und suche mit Verlangen.”
The cantata opens with a great baroque sinfonia featuring a solo organ, which Bach also used as the third movement of his Harpsichord Concerto BWV 1053. Movement 2 is bass aria, then movement 4 is a nice little soprano aria. The closing aria/chorale (movement 6) works well.
Harnoncourt and Coin are the two versions of this cantata that I own. Harnoncourt has a “brighter” sounding organ and a boy soprano – neither of which are as good as Coin.
Rating: 6.5 out of 10.
Bach Cantata BWV 180: Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele
Next in my series of Bach cantatas is the first of three cantatas contained on a CD by Christophe Coin entitled Cantatas with Violoncello Piccolo Vol. 1. The recording features a great cast of soloists with Barbara Schlick, Christoph Prégardien, Gotthold Schwarz, and my favorite singer of any genre: countertenor Andreas Scholl, who actually does not have a very big part in this recording, with only one aria and one recitative through the course of three cantatas.
The CD begins with cantata number 180, “Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele.” The opening chorus features a memorable instrumental line, carried by the flutes and oboes. Movement 2 is the wonderful tenor aria “Ermuntre dich” which contains a good flute line. Movement 3 contains a chorale with the violoncello piccolo providing the accompaniment. Movement 5 is a good soprano aria, “Lebens Sonne.”
I have heard both the Coin version mentioned above and Leonhardt’s version. While there is nothing particularly wrong with the Leonhardt recording, it is simply that Coin’s soloists and instrumental playing outshine the Leonhardt recording.
The only complaint I have with this cantata is that the alto only plays a small role which includes no arias, merely the recitative of Movement 4, which means the chance for Scholl’s voice to shine will have to wait for a subsequent cantata on the Coin CD.
Rating: 8 out of 10.
Comic book review: Civil War: Wolverine
Collecting issues #42-48 of Wolverine, this trade paperback features a very enjoyable tie-in to Marvel’s larger Civil War storyline. Wolverine attempts to hunt down Nitro, a villain who was responsible for hundreds of deaths at the beginning of Civil War. There are a number of plot twists and turns and revelations about some of the side events of Civil War that expand upon the main storyline. Some of the events bring into question the motivation of characters involved with the passing of the Superhero Registration Act.
Wolverine was one of my favorite Marvel characters back when I was reading Marvel comics 15 years ago. And while I enjoyed this book and thought the story was well written, I felt that the strength of the story was more about Civil War than about the character of Wolverine.
This is the only Civil War book I feel the need to comment on the art work. The art of Humberto Ramos may have worked for DC Comics’s Impulse series, but the cartoonish style of drawing characters with large feet does not work well for the gritty and more serious tone of Wolverine. But the art doesn’t distract from the decent storytelling.
Rating: 7.5 out of 10.
The Mitchell Report
To the fans: just because the mainstream media chose to ignore the allegations against Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte does not mean it is surprising that they were named in the Mitchell Report. Clemens and Pettitte were named by Jason Grimsley in a federal investigation according to an article that appeared in the Los Angeles Times on September 30, 2006. I’d cite the article, but the LA Times has archived it to their paid/subscription section.
To the media: the more we learn about steroid allegations the more they seem to be true. At first everyone dismissed Jose Canseco but much of what he alleged has been proven true. Have any allegations made regarding specific players been proven false? None that I can recall. As time goes by, more and more allegations seem to be proven true. It doesn’t look good when members of the media try to downplay the allegations in the report by claiming there is a lack of hard evidence for some of the players named.
To Roger Clemens and other players named: if you’ve been named, don’t defend yourself by saying you have never tested positive for steroids. Much of the steroid use in baseball happened before testing was implemented. There still is no test for HGH. And BALCO’s claim to fame was that it cooked up undetectable steroids. Marion Jones never failed a test thanks to BALCO but has now been stripped of her medals.
To George Mitchell: don’t try to pass the blame around. There were attempts by the owners to implement steroid testing in the past. It was the players union that struck it down. The owners broke no laws, the players broke the law.
Music review: Lumpy Gravy by Frank Zappa
Call it avant-garde, musique concrète, or a collage, Lumpy Gravy is a patchwork of spoken dialog, odd sounds, and snippets of musical ideas, most of which appear in songs on other Zappa albums. If you think these elements do not sound like the makings of a great album, then you’d be right. Lumpy Gravy sounds more like an indulgent side-project than a bona fide album.
Lumpy Gravy is not one of the Zappa works I find myself coming back to listen to over and over again. While there are some amusing parts, the highlights of the album are the snippets of some of Zappa’s more notable musical themes. And those themes are best heard in their full songs on other albums and only have relevance in Lumpy Gravy after hearing those other albums. Specifically, I am referring to “Oh No” from Weasel’s Ripped My Flesh, “King Kong” from Uncle Meat, and “Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance” from We’re Only in It for the Money. If you already have all of Zappa’s albums released before 1971, then Lumpy Gravy is worth getting. But that means Lumpy Gravy is for Zappa fans only.
Rating: 5 out of 10.
Another sports guarantee
Apparently Bob Ryan agrees with me regarding an athlete making a guarantee of victory. On tonight’s episode of PTI, Bob Ryan stated, “we should be ashamed in the media to even give this remotely the airplay we did.”
By “this” he is referring to some Pittsburgh Steeler player who no one outside of die-hard Steeler fans has ever heard of who has made a guarantee of victory over the Patriots this week. It has been the lead story for two nights running on PTI.
And I still roll my eyes when hearing of this type of story and note it here simply to point out that at least someone in the media recognizes how meaningless a guarantee is and how the media ridiculously makes it into a big deal.
Johan Santana and the Yankees
I don’t often agree with Steven A. Smith on the subject of baseball, but on Sunday’s edition of the Sports Reporters his parting shot was a call for the Yankees to do whatever it takes to complete a trade for Johan Santana, saying “pack up Phil Hughes, Melky Cabrera, and a bag of chips.” And excluding Joba Chamberlain (who everyone knows is absolutely untouchable in any trade negotiations), I couldn’t agree more.
In a story by the Associated Press on Sunday, Hank Steinbrenner is quoted as saying the following about giving the Twins a deadline regarding a decision on the Yankees trade offer for Johan Santana: “this is not an act. It’s not a bluff.” The Yankees have done nothing but bluff in recent high profile negotiations. George Steinbrenner said during the middle of the division series this past October that if the Yankees didn’t win the series against Cleveland that Joe Torre would be fired. A week later after losing to the Indians the Yankees made Torre an offer to continue being the manager of the Yankees (which Torre turned down). All season long the Yankees front office has insisted that if Alex Rodriguez opted out of his current contract that the Yankees would not negotiate with A-Rod. A-Rod opted out, then a week later, both parties agreed to the basis of a new contract. That’s twice in recent memory that the Yankees have made public bluffs in contract negotiations. So how can anyone believe Hank Steinbrenner when he says the Yankees are not bluffing in negotiations for a trade for Santana?
College football thoughts
Two thoughts before today’s announcement of the BCS title game participants.
While I am not simply going to bash the BCS and whine for a playoff, one fact of the BCS strikes me as being totally unfair: this is now two years in a row that a team from the Western Athletic Conference has gone undefeated and not gone on to play in the BCS Championship game. Last year, you could make the case that even though Boise State went undefeated, there was another undefeated team (Ohio State) from a stronger conference and a number of one loss teams from other power conferences. But this year, you can’t make that same case against undefeated Hawaii. There is no other undefeated team in Division I-A and only one one loss team from a big conference (Ohio State). Which means that the BCS title game is sure to include a two loss team. While I am not necessarily saying that Hawaii would beat LSU, Oklahoma, or USC, what I am saying is that there is a huge flaw in the system if a team can go undefeated and get snubbed for a chance to play in the title game when a two loss team will instead get that chance. What this implies is that when the season started, there was zero chance of a team from the WAC playing in the championship game. If that is the case, then why is the WAC even in the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (Division I-A)? If no one thinks the teams from the WAC can compete with the big boys in the rest of Division I-A, then maybe the WAC shouldn’t even be in that division.
The second issue relates to the catch-22 that Les Miles, the head coach of LSU, is in regarding being courted by Michigan as the next head coach of the Wolverines. Miles says right now that he will be the coach of LSU next year. But let’s say for argument’s sake he really did want to take the job at Michigan. When the media asks him about the Michigan job, Miles has three options to respond, all of which make him look bad.
Option 1: come right out and say “Yes, I want to be the next head coach at Michigan.” With the SEC championship game yesterday and a month left before LSU’s final bowl game, this would make him look like a quitter at LSU. Even if he were to leave, he can’t just abandon everything he’s worked to accomplish this season at LSU by saying he is leaving for another school at the end of the season.
Option 2: deny the rumors. In other words, lie. This might be the best solution for the short-term, assuring LSU of his commitment to them because there are still games left to be played there and after the season ends conveniently change his mind. Long-term (or at least medium-term, say for the next year) the backlash against Miles from LSU and the media would be tremendous (just look at Miles’s predecessor, Nick Saban).
Option 3: plead the fifth. Miles could make noncommittal statements about his future at LSU and beat around the bush regarding the issue or refuse to comment on the situation. But this would lead to two things. First, the media would probably push even harder for an answer and second everyone would conclude he would be taking the Michigan job anyway.
