Saturday, December 31, 2005

Beautiful Girls / Hotties


I also highly enjoy ranking girls, what guy doesn't? And also like most dudes, I'm convinced I have a keen eye for feminine beauty, but as with most things, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Again, not unlike the "best bands" argument, there's certain categories of hotness in a girl. There's "porn-star hot" (Playmates and Pamela Anderson, whom I don't really find that attractive even though it's easy to see why guys love her, and a source of debate between some of my friends,
Melinda from the Real World Austin I would consider in this group), "model hot" (Estella Warren, Charlize Theron, Rebecca Romijn in her early days, Heidi Klum, you get the picture), and "girl next door hot" (Jessica Alba, Katie Holmes before Tom Cruise ruined her, Lauren and Kristin from Laguna Beach, and Cameran from the Real World, whom I consider the hottest female Real World cast member in Real World History).

I lean heavily towards girl next door hot and model hot, along with probably most guys.

My Top 11 Hotties List will be posted soon.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE: May you all kiss a hottie near and dear to you tonight at midnight.

ALSO: Be on the lookout for Tennis Hotties, as Whitney from Meandering Endlessly and FJDelgado from Letter Never Sent rank the current Top 11 Tennis Hotties List within the next 3 days.

Thursday, December 29, 2005

update: R.I.P. Elrod Hendricks, The Oriole Way will never die


Elrod Hendricks passed away last week. His death is really sad for all Orioles fans, and all of Baltimore.

His funeral was held today at The Cathedral of Mary Our Queen, a Roman Catholic Church off of Charles Street in Baltimore, MD. I attended Midnight Mass there on Christmas.

All of the Oriole greats were in attendance, but only Melvin Mora of the current team made an important Oriole and beautiful person - Elrod - a priority in his life.


I'll never forget chatting with Elrod in the right field bleachers next to the bullpen the only time I had a chance to speak with him. It was probably in 1999. I asked him what he thought the differences were between today's pitchers, and the hurlers of his day. As always, he gave a candid, but classy response.


What an end to the worst season and year in all of Orioles history.

the AP story on an Oriole great


More blogs about Elrod Hendricks.

More blogs about The Oriole Way.

More blogs about The Baltimore Orioles.




Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Sufjan Stevens is a badass


Sufjan Stevens is a music genius, and everyone should listen to him RIGHT NOW.

Dodge over at My Old Kentucky Blog has posted a good primer of MP3's that I would highly recommend to everyone who listens to good music.

More blogs about Sufjan Stevens.


http://myoldkyhome.blogspot.com/2005/12/sufjan-stevens-live-at-bluebird.html


Saturday, December 24, 2005

King Kong

Go and see this movie, right now if you can. Incredible movie experience, along the lines of watching Star Wars for the first time.

Thanks to Bri-Pie aka Brian, for asking for my thoughts about the movie over e-mail earlier this morning. As I responded, I realized I minus well give my first initial impressions of the film.

Of course, "my initial impressions" means I'm going to write hundreds of words, because I suck like that.

Anyway, here are edited excerpts from said e-mail:
------------------------
Brian - i'd like to hear your opinion on Kong once you see it.

King Kong was a huge mindfuck, in the best possible way. I was expecting to be disappointed by the beast, but Kong was perfect, both in terms of computer graphic design, and the emoting as a result of the state of the art movement effects (the same technology used to bring Gollum to life in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, which of course Jackson also produced and directed). The shockingly gorgeous Naomi Watts was UNREAL. I want to marry her, right now. I'm a big time sucker for mesmerizing blue eyes and blonde hair.

To be completely candorous, I have never seen half of the digital effects come to life like they do in King Kong. Peter Jackson is a directing genius. Some of the scenes were a little over the top and unrealistic (in the sense that 20 human beings could never survive a dinosaur stampede of 40-50 dinos and only have 4 dudes die), but it's supposed to be a fairy tale, so I didn't mind that.

My other big reservation, which is essentially nitpicking at this point, was Adrien Brody's character, Jack Driscoll. Jack was a hero, but Jackson made him far too passive. Not take anything away from Brody's performance, as he quietly delivers powerful expressions without having to say much. I understand that Jackson wanted to make Kong the ultimate hero in the end, which Kong was, but I missed the human element of romance, because Jack (the writer/screenwriter/playwright Brody's character plays) clearly falls in love with aspiring actress Ann Darrow (Watts), and is afraid to tell her, yet still saves her from Kong, who she could never really truly fall in love with from the start.

As a loser who happens to write well, I empathized with Jack's character, because I'm always falling for girls like Ann Darrow.

I especially sympathized with both male characters (Kong and especially Jack), because they were both falling in love with the same girl for completely different reasons. Kong was lonely and one of a kind, and felt unappreciated and worthless before finding someone he loved and with whom he could share his experiences. When the dinosaurs threaten Ann's safety, watching Kong kick the living crap out of everyone and everything in sight was one of the most memorable sequences in American movie history.

Jack Driscoll, meanwhile, found a beautiful, talented girl who literally acted out his love and talent - writing and creating - in the form of her acting performances. Jack was writing and constructing characters and stories that reflected real life, and when he found the ideal woman, not only for his characters, but for himself, he started suffering from man's greatest achilles heel: our love for the ladies.

In the end, Jack wound up being a side story, even though he risked his life over and over again to save Ann from Kong, who, despite loving Ann as well, murdered half an entire ship crew and destroyed the biggest city in the Western world out of his misplaced anger and aggression. I sympathize with Kong's feelings, as well, when it comes to unrequited or difficult-to-pull-off love for a girl.


Jack Black delivered an awesome performance as well, perhaps the best in the entire film, besides, of course, Watts. Black played a self-interested filmmaker to perfection, doubling as a narrator for us in the audience. As his friends sadly declare during the unveiling of Kong in New York City: "He has an unfailing talent to destroy all the things he loves."

Think of watching all the Star Wars movies for the first time. The first time you saw Jurassic Park. Taking in the Lord of the Rings trilogy in the theaters. This film encompassed the same kind of powerful cinematic experience. And you actually felt emotion from a computer-generated creature that never spoke a single word.

Surreal.

Friday, December 23, 2005

Songs That Filled Me With Abject Rage

Some songs are so stupid, so cheesy, or just so fucking bad that the time it takes between hearing the first note and my hand hitting a button to turn it off defies medical explanation as a reflex. This isn’t VH1, this isn’t a countdown, it’s a random list of songs I hate, and therefore also songs that YOU hate, because you don’t have any power of choice when you’re reading my flawless logic; but since what I say is fact, it’s not technically logic because logic is needed to prove things that aren’t obviously true.

There is something about each of these songs that just drove me to immediate insanity when I heard them on the radio. And that means that these songs were actually popular, and people liked them. In fact, people I knew liked these songs, and they will be the first against the wall when the revolution comes.

In no particular order, and with no mellow, irreverent mid-30’s narrator, and no annoying washed-up Jenny McCarthy to make ugly faces instead of baring her breasts, let’s do this:

Alien Ant Farm, Smooth Criminal
Ok, big start. I saw the video for this before I heard the song, which in the 90’s was usually a really bad sign. Also, this “band”‘s first hit was a cover song, of Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson also sucks, I don’t care what you say, Michael Jackson sucks, he just plain sucks. He’s not a good musician, and I’m not going to admit he’s “at least good at producing, man.” No, he’s terrible. He’s also not a great dancer; he’s a great body manipulator, but that’s it.

Back to “AAF” (which is what this glop of white boys wrote on their drumheads and t-shirts in the video).
Scene: AAF sitting around the guitarist’s mom’s house one day. “Hey, since we can’t write our own songs, let’s just take someone else’s and make it different in someway!” “Great idea, but whose song!?” “Who’s the most popular pop star of all-time?” “Peter, Paul, & Mary?” “No, besides them.” “Michael Jackson?” “YES!!!” “Now which song?” “Who cares, it’ll be novel! Remember when Marilyn Manson covered Sweet Dreams? It’ll be like 10,000 times more popular because MJ is more popular!” Band together: “COOL!” So began the story of AAF. A few months later their video (which included a number of fisheye band-bending-over-to-camera-on-ground shots) appears on MTV 40 times a day, at which point they begin talking about their next song on TRL, then their jet crashes into a mountain for all intents and purposes and nobody hears of them again.

If you check their website (yep, they’re still around, unfortunately), you’ll see they’re booked solid for one whole show in Ferrum, VA. Ferrum (after mapping it) is a quick 6 hour drive southwest from DC, 3.5 hours west from Richmond, and 2 hours north of Greenboro, NC. In fact, it may as well be on Jupiter, because nobody has ever heard of it. Fuck Alien Ant Farm, fuck AAF, they got what they deserved.

Creed, With Arms Wide Open
Ok, here’s a tricky one. Creed’s first popular album entitled “I’m Not Yet Jesus-Enough” was pretty rocking. It offered a good selection of hard rock songs, moaning vocals, and a fresh sound (which, in retrospect, was a grim portent to the following years in popular music). Lead man Scott Scabies admitted they were a Christian rock band, which everyone seemed alright with as long as it was veiled in badass lyrics like “Demons cluttering around / My face showing no emotion / Shackled by my sentence / Expecting no return / Here there is no penance / My skin begins to burn.” But then they made a second album. At first, the single, “With Arms Wide Open” was tolerable, as it stayed put on the radio.

Then came the video. Holy shit was that a self-indulgent piece of A/V Christ-promoting bullshit. I know EXACTLY what lead man Scabies thought, too. [to himself] “Hey…now that we’re popular…I can use the band’s influence to gather all the lost sheep to the herd, His herd. I owe it to myself, and to them, my fans, who aren’t Christian or otherwise non-practicing.” So Scott grew his hair down to his shoulder blades and created a video which included about 400 different versions of Christ-imagery, including Scott handing a piece of chocolate birthday cake to Jesus in a Nazareth Chucky Cheezes scene. Also, the video exposed just how hokey and trite the music was. That’s it for this one, it doesn’t deserve any further explanation.

Sugar Ray,
Fly
Ughhhh….we’re in the dredges now. Sugar Ray’s first album was actually pretty good, but the only people who listened to it were those who received it for Christmas from hip uncles who thought their nieces and nephews liked ‘that new radio song’ “Fly.” So began the invasion of “Fly” (not The Flys, “Got You Where I Want You,” which was kinda cool). I believe this was one of McG’s first music videos. McG is a small asian man who likes bright colors, goofy objects, and shit-eating grins in videos. I think he’s related to Joel Schumacher. The video featured a sexed-up Mark McGrath sidestepping around a rotating apartment with bright pink, bright green, and bright orange furnishings, wallpaper, etc. I think even the sky was fuscia. Mark sang about wanting to ‘fly,’ an unobvious simile to fucking in this case, while a homeless black man rapped unintelligibly in the background about something.


What’s even worse is that this reggae-influenced song was almost left off the album entirely since it didn’t fit in any way with the rest of it, which are all punk rock songs. But, their producer, who was also sucking Michael Eisner’s penis for permission to put Sugar Ray’s new ditty on Disney’s shadowy sister’s, MTV, TRL. Yes that’s right teenagers! Disney owns MTV! Maybe it’s not so controversial and in fact may be the most heavily censored channel aside from the Disney Channel! Fuck you. Point is, this song sucks, and so do you if you ever said “I just want to fly” and chuckled when Mark McGrath made a snide remark during MTV Spring Break model competitions.

Barenaked Ladies, One Week
That’s right, this group of Canadian socialists sucks. Many people love them, and people I've known very well for a long time still love them. It’s like taking the Chinatown bus to New York, or catching your little brother touching the cat inappropriately - it’s awkward to acknowledge and difficult to understand and accept, but probably necessary. ‘One Week’ sets the stage for crappy overplayed radio fungasms in the same vein as Harvey Danger’s “Flag Pole” and Bloodhound Gang’s “Fire Water Burn [aka. the roof is on fire].” When I used to say, “this band blows,” inexorably some quiet thick-rimmed glasses-wearing jackass would start up with, “but the other songs on the album are REALLY good and some are SO deep.” Really? Let’s find out.

Actual lyrics from:
‘One Week’: You’ll think you’re looking at aquaman / I summon fish to the dish, although I like the chalet swiss / I like the sushi ’cause it’s never touched a frying pan / Hot like wasabe when I bust rhymes.

‘Long Way Back Home’: I have to go / I already know / Why not spend a week on a star / No time, he can’t get there by car

‘Leave’: I’ve informed you to leave / ’cause I can’t afford to lose more sleep / I get ill when I get tired / So I’ll try to rest if you’ll stand guard / Do do do do do do do do whoa / Do do do do do do do [very clever rhyming pattern, is that iambic pentameter?]

‘Told You So’: A viral infection that can incubate for years / Caused by affection fallen deep into arrears / No medication to procure / Makes me pure, there’s no cure, I am sure

Okay, that’s enough for me. These lyrics are obviously something I wrote in 8th grade with a 12th grade thesaurus. With the exception of Our Lady Peace, Wolf Parade, and a select few, Canadian bands don’t grasp the realities of life below the 112th parallel. They write songs about Santa and bells.

Goldfinger, Here in Your Bedroom
Sometimes there’s a song you initially like, but have a distinct distasteful feeling in the back of your throat that you just can’t figure out. And, as you listen more and more to the song, it becomes more obvious: it’s just a stupid song. This is a good case-in-point. And with lyrics like, “you may change but I still stay the same,” or some variation…look, if you’re going to say anything about change being hard and actually using the word “change,” you may as well turn in your mic.

Smashmouth, All-Star
(silence). Ok, well… (silence). So… (silence). I…(silence). There’s not much to say about this one. Many theses have been written on how Smash Mouth contributed to the collapse of modern society. McG is largely responsible (the little asian guy from Sugar Ray). My roommate sophomore year (Nate) and I once counted how many kneel-down two-fingered across-the-screen swipes the lead singer takes at the camera during this song’s video, I remember it was something in the realm of 25.


Rumor has it the band stole those stupid looking ATVs from the set, too, thinking that their sudden celebrity status afforded them the right to theft. Joke’s on them, because nobody cares about Smashmouth anymore at all, and in fact President Bush’s first State of the Union address called for the ‘full, swift, and decisive removal of all copies of Smashmouth’s sophomore outing, “Astro Lounge,” from the public’s possession, and for those albums to be loaded onto the space shuttle and shot into the Sun.” Unfortunately, this is one of the few things Bush did right, even though it inevitably failed when the shuttle exploded and littered southeast Asia with copies of this shitfest. Intelligence sources believe Kim Jong Il of N. Korea has been using the full track list of Astro Lounge to come up with a song so bad it will make the West surrender before a shot is fired.

I should also note that while searching for the album’s title, Amazon.com added this important tidbit; it should not be overlooked:
“Customers who bought this album also bought:
14:59 ~ Sugar Ray
Sugar Ray ~ Sugar Ray
Floored ~ Sugar Ray"

…Holy cow, I’m good at this.

Nickelback, How You Remind Me, from their freshman album ‘Silver Side Up’
Oh man how I wish I had a Delorean. I included the album title to make a point. The band’s name is “Nickelback.” Their album is “Silver Side Up.” Now let’s make some assumptions. Nickelback is aware of their name’s derivation being “nickel” and “back,” thus the back of a nickel. They know that nickels are silver, at least in color, not in composition [nickels are made of…nickel, atomic element no. 28]. Nickels are silver-colored on both sides. Ok. Now let’s check out the title again, “Silver Side Up.” Oh ok, this could be some intended play on words. But none really make sense. My guess is that Nickelback was trying to be tricky and playful by suggesting that no matter what, their band would always be popular, or at least will have a great prominence, logically based on their choice of band name.

Anyway, “How You Remind Me” was terrible, and not at all different from Seven Mary Three’s "Cumbersome,” whose lead guitarist and vocalist had been playing guitar for only 2 years when the album dropped. Also, the lead singer of Nickelback is named Chad, which is a dick name. Some underperforming Chad’s from over the years: Chad Henne, UMich quarterback; Chad (neighbor), unassuming jackass; Chad (northeast African country), a desert-covered battle-ridden wasteland. That’s perfect logic ladies and gentlemen.

Blind Melon, No Rain
If you couldn’t tell from the video, this band had no idea what the hell it was about. Everyone praised this group of drugged-up hippies for their mold-breaking bumblebee girl music video and acoustic love rock album, even though nobody knew what the hell they meant with either. Lesson 1: hippies do not have sufficient attention-span to create music or video understandable whilst sober. Lesson 2: hippie bands who spring up in the middle of a decade of decadent heroin use will suffer the same fate as their hard rock counterparts. Lesson 3: Blind Melon sucked.

I’m sorry that the lead singer died, that does blow, since no band no matter how bad deserves that kind of thing [except true bastards like Rick James and Frank Sinatra], and I also kind of liked their rocking follow-up on the next album “Galaxy.” Unfortunately, singer Rachel or whatever (he had a girl’s name) didn’t listen to or watch the video for “Galaxy,” which fiercely warned of the danger of needle-drug use, and he died less than a year later from a heroin overdose. Nevertheless, "No Rain” washed up as quickly as it came and nobody thought of it until this article was featured on CNN two weeks from now.

The Cardigans,
Love Fool
I had to suffer through an hour-long set of this flaky fairy-rock band before seeing Better Than Ezra about 4 years ago. What a lackluster bunch of crap that was. The lead singer seemed like she was about to fall asleep at any moment, and the guitarist performed most of his set by satellite sitting on a couch in his home in Malmo, Sweden. The drummer simply didn’t show up because he took too many quaaludes. Love Fool ended up in exactly seven Meg Ryan movies in 1999, and then they disappeared due to an act of God. They had a lot of trouble claiming damages on their insurance policy because of it.

Meredith Brooks, Bitch
She’s a bitch, and she wants everyone to know about it. A weary end to the short-lived and clunking girl rock fad.

OMC, How Bizarre
In Junior year of high school, a group of us guys went down the beach with some girls we know, some of whom were our girlfriends. The dudes in the hotel room below us were a year older and far stupider, but far brighter when it came to keeping our girls entertained. They played OMC’s ‘How Bizarre’ incessantly for 4 days straight and managed to lure most of our girls (except the fat and ugly ones) downstairs to their place to listen to this awful song on repeat. No other song on that CD was ever played. I can’t imagine why.


The fact that 16 year-old high school girls wooed over this song is evidence enough that it is awful, but I’ll supply some further evidence if you’d like. This is OMC’s only album. It would be an obvious move to create another album after capitalizing on such as simple song as “How Bizarre,” so why did OMC not do so? Perhaps because the band featured a New Zealand-born middle-class Los Angeles resident pretending to be a Mexican gangster from El Barrio? Couldn’t be.

The Verve Pipe, Freshman
The main reason to include this song/band is because it confused a generation of music listeners between “the good Verve” and “the bad Verve.” The Verve Pipe is “the bad Verve,” The Verve is “the good Verve.”

The Verve Pipe is a band from west-central Michigan who now resides where they came from. The Verve is an English band rooted in classic-rock who wrote the song “Bittersweet Symphony” and who broke up not long after they became big because the Rolling Stones were greedy assholes. The Verve Pipe wrote a song about being Freshman and being in love, etc., so highschoolers everyone were required under curricula to adhere to its popularity. Even though the song is actually about a teenage girl who has an abortion without the consent of the father and then kills herself with sleeping pills out of guilt, youngsters everywhere took it upon themselves to dilute and translate it into their inane and carefree lives. "The Freshman" then became prom songs, senior graduation themes, and Freddie Prince Jr. emotional epiphany moments. Probably played on the radio more times than it’s rained in London, I got pretty sick of this misinterpreted and poorly written sob song.

It should be noted that The Verve Pipe’s 1993 effort was entitled “Pop Smear,” and that their current website is selling a seemingly bootleg compilation CD of similarly shitty and forgettable songs which I actually forgot to include. Thanks to the 40-year old members of The Verve Pipe for the unintentional assistance!

1. John Mayer - "My Stupid Mouth"
2. Tabitha's Secret (Matchbox 20) - "3 AM"
3. Better Than Ezra - "Good"* (exception)
4. Five For Fighting - "Easy Tonight"
5. Shannon Worrell - "Eleanor"
6. Vertical Horizon - "Man Who Would Be Santa"7
7. Train - "Meet Virginia"
8. The Gufs - "Give Back Yourself"
9. The Verve Pipe - "Spoonful of Sugar"
10. Shawn Mullins - "Lullaby"
11. Guster - "Window"
12. Hootie & The Blowfish - "Old Man & Me"
13. Cary Pierce - "Vineyard"
14. Edwin McCain - "Solitude

New Radicals,
You Get What You Give
The big finish! These guys were somewhere between inverse Oreo’s and dorks. I mean, they tried really really hard to seem badass in their video and touch up their image, but you could see right through this talentless ragtag gaggle of Midwestern dopes. I just know that the guitarist wore anime t-shirts and a trenchcoat when they weren’t on camera. The lead singer (even on camera) wore white sneakers, black bellbottoms, and a deep v-necked, black, long-sleeve shirt, reminiscent of Zorro. To top it off, literally, he wore a floppy tan beach hat. Like, what the mother of fuck? And to boot, the song’s video featured them frolicking around a closed mall pretending to rough up the place.
I think they might have knocked a few leaves off of the fake plastic trees, at most. Their hearts just weren’t in it. I imagine that the song itself was some reflective message on the reciprocity of one’s deeds in life, and intended to inspire a youthful generation to follow in their fashionable example. Of course, the members were about 18 years old when they wrote this song, so perhaps they found out later that getting what you give also applies to writing albums and were thus doomed to one-hit wonderhood. But then again, their downfall may also be due to this perturbative event in June of 1999: (clipped from an unofficial Angelfire New Radicals fan site, the last trace of their existence apparently) “It has just been announced that Gregg Alexander (lead singer) has reportedly locked himself in a basement and canceled all tour dates.”

Thursday, December 22, 2005

buy these albums now

the Killers
Hot Fuss (limited edition)





Nada Surf

The Weight is a Gift





Green Day
Bullet in a Bible (DVD and CD)


Sunday, December 18, 2005

Brooks


After watching Jason Lee (of Kevin Smith movies and My Name is Earl fame) on Conan O'Brien a few months ago, and thinking about how ridiculous naming your son "Pilot Inspektor", which is precisely what Lee did, I thought about appropriate names for my theoretical sons and daughters.

Obviously, emphasis should be placed on theoretical, but if I can't find a girl dumb enough to marry me in this country, then I will simply start a search in Latin America or enlist the services of one of those mail order bride companies that will acquire me a wife from the Ukraine or Russia. So if it's up to me, then yes, the Delgado family name will persist on the East Coast even if the rest of my brothers fail in the task.

I've favored naming my progeny after influential figures in history, preferably kings and queens of the great maritime nation-states during the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries.


That's why I've always loved the name Isabella.

Besides being a pretty name for a girl, Queen Isabella I of Spain was a money monarch. Also known as Isabella the Catholic, she and King Ferdinand II were responsible for the Inquisition and for commissioning Christopher Columbus' voyage to the New World in 1492.

Side note: I've always disliked how history has anglicanized Ferdinand's name, which is actually Fernando in Spanish. Something tells me that I have the French to blame for this.

Either way, aside from the negative repercussions of the otherwise earth-shattering developments (the extermination of Muslims and Jews from Spain, leading to the destruction of the Spanish middle class and crippling Spain's economy, and the ravaging of Native American Indians at the hands of subsequent exploration and colonial settlement), Isabella was known as a patron of scholars and artists, and she made sure that her sons and daughters were well-educated. She was also an advocate for the rights of Indian slaves from the New World, as she freed many who were returned to Spain, demanding fair and just treatment of them.

So, it's pretty much set in stone that my first daughter will be named Isabella.


What about my sons?

God knows that I have been wishing for a large, male-dominated family ever since I was a toddler. I have the answer: my first born son will probably be named Fernando after my father, but my second son will definitely be named Brooks.

I frequently joke that I would love to have 10 children; the frightening reality is that, if I get married and live to the average age of 70-something, I will most likely come close to that number. Coming from a family of 9, and as the eldest child, I'm more than used to complete chaos and noise being a part of my everyday life. And the truth is, I like it now. Not only because I'm conditioned to have it contstantly a part of the periphery, but also because all the clamor and shrieks, the breaking glass and ceramics, the bickering and quibbling, represents my growing siblings - both in sheer number and size.


And I definitely love my comically large family, quirks and all - from my oldest brother and sister who have entered adult-hood a short time after myself, to my teenage brother living his moody but fun high school days, to my adorable 5-year-old "baby" sister who, despite her sweetness, can feature a bossy and catty attitude that every female in history has unleashed onto unsuspecting fathers, brothers, boyfriends and husbands since cavemen roamed the earth. And, I love the gender breakdown between the Delgado clan: 5 brothers and two sisters. I've always thought that a surplus of testosterone is preferable to a surplus of estrogen in a family, and nothing will change my mind on that.


All the brothers can protect their little sisters, administering savage beatings to any out-of-line miscreants who treat the ladies with a lack of respect. Don't get me wrong, I respect families that have 5 daughters and no sons, but I truly feel bad for those poor dads.

No man who really commits himself to a family should go through life without having a son he can play catch with as a child or go to a ballgame and have a beer with as men. At least without trying hard to have that first son. And for those fathers who try and nature just doesn't let it happen, well, that's a shame.

So, in the spirit of optimism, I will be naming my second son Brooks. After Brooks Robinson. Now, I normally would never name a son after an athlete, but this would be a big exception. In this case, it would be the best sport, baseball, and it would be the best third-baseman to ever play the game - Robinson.


Adding to the fact he was a key member of two World Championship Baltimore Orioles teams, and that he was an exemplery role model, well, for me the choice is easy. Not to mention that "Brooks" is just a fucking cool name. It's almost like kids named Brooks realize they have a cool name and act appropriately, or that people they meet know Brooks is a cool name and give them the benefit of the doubt.

Brooks Delgado. Awesome name.

The easy part is already taken care of, now I just need to find that gullible girl.

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

songs and singles I've been digging, PART 2

I'm not gonna lie, let's start rocking out here. These songs kick major ass, and you need to listen to them now. Most of these songs are less than a year or two old, but we have one oldie but goodie from Australia for all to enjoy, mate!

new songs and singles I've been digging, PART 1 (from September 2005)



Foo Fighters - DOA



Muse - Hysteria



the Killers - Under the Gun




Weezer - Perfect Situation


Franz Ferdinand - I'm Your Villian



Green Day - She's a Rebel



Arcade Fire - Rebellion (Lies)



Ryan Adams - Trains


Seafood - Heat Walks Against Me (thanks to D from Grey Will Fade for this one)




AC/DC - Hard as a Rock

It is painfully obvious that AC/DC just decided to predominantly write songs about their schlongs, since, in the spirit of Spinal Tap, they claim to have armadillos in their trousers.

"Hard as a Rock" is the song that fellow, younger Aussie band Jet blatantly rips off with their tune, "Cold Hard Bitch." I'm of the thinking that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery (all rock and roll essentially is), so that's ok by me.


much more to come, including MP3s

Monday, December 12, 2005

Daniela Delgado shares her "so hot right now" list


Daniela and Nick Delgado have birthdays coming up soon, in the month of February. Rockers David Delgado (soon 13 years) and Andres Delgado (soon 23 years) have birthdays not too far after, in April.

In honor of sassy Daniela (a devastating future 6 years on this crazy planet) and smartass Nick (a sarcastic upcoming 10 years), thought I would share Danny's D's current list of songs that she claims are very hot right now. She currently expresses herself by asking to "play that song again", 12 times in a row.

the So Hot Right Now List, courtesy of Danny D ("these go to 11 . . .")

Green Day - "Wake Me Up When September Ends"
the Beatles - "Hey Jude"
Jack Johnson - "Bubble Toes"

Big Star - "Thirteen"
Weezer - "Perfect Situation"
Nada Surf - "Always Love"
Kenny Rogers - "The Gambler"
Johnny Cash - "Hey Porter"
Johnny Cash (w/ June Carter Cash) - "Jackson"
the Killers - "Mr. Brightside"
the Killers - "All These Things I've Done"

Unfortunately for me, Daniela isn't into R.E.M. and the Who as much as I'd like, but something tells me she will be, once she's older.

Sunday, December 11, 2005

Mass Destruction: #1 Duke 97 - #2 Texas 66

box score


I attended the #1 Duke Blue Devils vs. #2 Texas Longhorns basketball game yesterday at the Meadowlands in New Jersey. Secret Peter and I had good seats and were treated to a fireworks display. Thanks to AcousticCharlie for hooking me up with tickets. It was nice to see some of my old Duke buddies again.

Heading into the game, I was honestly expecting Duke to lose in a classic, wire-to-wire game, and I was dead wrong.

The team proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are the most talented team in the country by crushing a well-rounded Texas squad. J.J. Redick was on fire, torching the Longhorns to the tune of a career-high 41 points. Shelden Williams poured in his usual 20+ points and 10+ rebounds, to go along with 5 blocked shots.

Texas coach Rick Barnes embarrased himself and his program by making his team play tough and dirty for all 40 minutes, even after the outcome was beyond a shadow of a doubt. It's ridiculous to watch a talented team get blown away early, only to watch the lead balloon because they keep asking for more, playing hard until the end and ending up looking like fools. I respect the effort, but not the kamikaze attitude.

There was one stretch were Redick scored 14 points by himself, matching the Texas team point total in the same period.

So far Duke looks pretty solid, but the rest of the brutal ACC schedule should humble this team in a hurry.

a decent story from the NY Post about how Duke Basketball and Notre Dame Football are similar (I've been saying this for years)

Soccer roundup

hottie Heidi Klum and the very industrious, ambitious, and German Franz Beckenbauer. this photo simply looks ridiculous.

Group of Death

The U.S. drew a tough field at the World Cup draw. Italy, the Czech Republic, and Ghana comprise a brutal group. The odds are against the U.S. National team.

son of a bitch, advancing will be hard! (ESPN)

NCAA Champs

also, congrats to the University of Maryland Soccer team, which won the NCAA national championsip in soccer. Well played, sirs.

Saturday, December 10, 2005

Hurricane Katrina Revisited


Thanks to my good friend HollywoodJosh for sending me the following e-mail below (which was sent out around Halloween of this year in regards to the Hurricane Katrina tragedy).

HollywoodJosh and his friends/acquaintances directly involved with this e-mail graduated from Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH.
Dartmouth is an Ivy League university, and one of the finest academic institutions around.

the e-mail itself has been edited down for purposes of brevity, and names changed to protect anonymity. this e-mail, as well as this site, is best viewed with "medium" text option for internet explorer preferences.

Dear Friends,

Some of you I partied with as recently as last weekend; others, I haven't seen for months. In any case, I've been able to express what's going on here on the gulf coast to very few people, so I figured it was worth sending an email to all of you.


It's a long, rambling email, so for those of you who don't have time to waste, I've divided it into three sections- pleasant anecdotes, serious appeal for help, and Spinal Tap quotes.

Part 1 - Pleasant Anecdotes

When I took off for Biloxi, Mississippi nearly 30 days ago, I had never heard of the city. I didn't know a thing about what I would be doing when I got down there, and I didn't know anyone within several hundred miles of where I would be. It was going to be like my spontaneous decision to go to South Dakota, except there was no paying job involved, and I wouldn't even be afforded the luxury of a trailer (a recurring issue in these parts, as we will see). Yet looking back, I can honestly say this has been the most intense month of my life. I have seen things I never thought I would see in America. I have gone through major bouts of emotional stress, which compounded by my bizarre living arrangements, has made this whole experience seem like some crazy dream.

Day 1 ended with me covered in mud and poison, having smashed down the walls of a house with a sledgehammer, riding on the back of a pick-up truck with fifteen Air Force men and women, sweaty, tired, and feeling the cool breeze slowly wipe out the smell of garbage as we drove away from downtown East Biloxi. Our organization, Hands On USA, had teamed up with the military that day, and we were in charge. It is hard to see peoples' faces through the masks and goggles, so when the young Indian in charge of the entire work group, Ali, left the site on an urgent phone call, I was put in charge of the project due to the accidental case of mistaken identity. It was quite laughable when a major in the US Air Force consulted with me on how to go about knocking down a portion of the ceiling, but I had learned quickly the rule of thumb in Biloxi, "Just tear it down. All of it."

When people have asked me in passing how the 'rebuilding' effort is going, it is hard to explain that we are actually still too busy demolishing homes to rebuild them. To take you back, when Hurricane Katrina hit, it wrecked New Orleans. This we know. It was the most compelling thing I've ever seen on TV, in many ways more so than 9/11. We all saw it. It was the reason I came down here after a mediocre performance on the LSATs. But Mississippi? I knew there had been some damage, but the big media and punditry coverage of the Katrina's aftermath had basically amounted to: Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin = bad, Louisiana = terrible shape, Gov. Haley Barbour = amazing, presidential material, Mississippi= doing swell.

Truth was, the entire coastline from the Alabama/Mississippi border to New Orleans had been leveled by the storm. In Biloxi, the storm surge had created giants waves that ripped inland. Everything within several hundred feet of the shore was completely wiped out. Search for pictures of this scene online, and you'll see bases and foundations of homes with the actual house nowhere in sight. The flood pummeled the town for nearly a mile inland until receding, leaving a waterline of 10-12 feet in most of East Biloxi.

Think about how high that is.


The results of the flooding led to massive infestations of black mold, a toxic substance that renders houses unlivable. It also sadly means that all materials infested must be thrown away immediately. So when you hear about 'people losing everything', they are actually being literal. On top of all this, wind damage (like the kind that Florida hurricanes often produce) had left many infrastructures like supermarkets, hospitals, schools and police stations badly damaged. Biloxi is a city of about 60,000 people, and fortunately, there were parts of towns that were only hit by the wind damage. But anyone who has lived beachside knows, smaller coastline communities don't protrude very far inland. Thus the smaller towns on the Mississippi coast are in some cases completely ruined. There aren't even relief groups there, because no one has any idea where to begin.

There's no way of knowing how many people died here. There might be accounts in the media, but that's just silly. Who could possibly have any idea? It's not like they just took a census report last week. Without any real evacuation plan, I'm sure many people were washed out to sea without a prayer. Let's just say some of the locals won't eat seafood because they think the sea creatures have been on a human carcass diet. That was certainly the case in New Orleans, where they found a 23 foot alligator. But I digress. The point is that things here are bad. I suppose I could have just told you to think of New Orleans and then imagine 10-15 smaller versions of it, and saved everyone some time.

Politicians are, not surprisingly, utterly clueless as to what's going on. Even the Mississippi legislature had to take a field trip to Biloxi after initial legislation completely underestimated the damage. To my largely partisan email list of friends, check out the following:

A week after the hurricane, said President came to the area and toured the most ravaged parts of the country. This was shortly after the "Brownie's doing a heck of a job" comment, though before Barbara Bush's "These were poor people anyway" call. On live television, President Bush put his arms around a young man standing near his old property. "What do you need us to do for you?" the president asked. "Well," one Victor responded, "I could really use one of the FEMA trailers they've started giving out. My home is gone, and I'm living in a tent." "We'll get you your trailer," responded the pumped up commander-in-chief. We met Victor Robi last week. He still doesn't have his trailer, nearly two months later. He has no home. He has no job, because his workplace was destroyed too. He has taken to serious alcoholism, a common problem in these parts and on this email list. ABC is going to come down here and maybe tell his story. The FEMA trailer situation would be an exhaustive email in and of itself, and hopefully the Chicago Tribune writer I've gotten to come down will do a more artful telling of the story than I.

The entourage assembled here are absolutely amazing, and seem to have come out of the great American woodworks to converge on this little church warehouse. VERY little of everyone's past is discussed, which is an interesting change for me . . .
But yes, there is reason to believe that the people who wound up down here to help are partly running away from something. It could be literal, like the law. AlabamaMike does have that "I may have killed a man" look about him. But its also young people disappointed with the real world. There's almost no mention of what people did as jobs, probably because they were low paying, uninteresting, unfulfilling wastes of time. But maybe that's being a bit pessimistic. In the end life is so good here that it is a legitimate cause to end leases and quit jobs, as some have done.

It feels like living in the twisted step-child of Catch-22. Every day, crazy things are happening. The streets have a sense of lawlessness, which is particularly odd for a military town. The few times we've gone barhopping at night the nights have been predictably chaotic, given the usual relationship between tequila shots and Vietnam war veterans.

What makes this bunch so spectacular is that no matter what character flaws each individual has, we all pull together enough during the day to get great work done. Everyone loves this place, with the same passion I've seen for a fraternity, for example. It is fascinating too, as there are very few all-volunteer organizations in the entire coastal areas as large as ours, and none in this part of Mississippi that are secular. Like my relationship with the police and military, my views on the church have been somewhat affected by the many religious relief groups I see down here. They are doing the kind of work that led me to espouse faith-based initiatives, possibly the only part of the Bush agenda I have ever truly agreed with. Some people are bothered by the proselytizing component, but I couldn't care less. So what if they hand out a bible? Most people around here are passionately Christian anyway, and if a non-believer drives home with religious pamphlets, four gallons of water, enough food to feed his family for a week, and supplies to clean his house, I'd venture that he netted positive for the trip.

Part 2 - Serious Appeal For Help


To bring this home, here's what I need from you. I need you to spread the word. It doesn't have to be anything extravagant; if you run into someone at the water cooler and say, "Man, how bout that fucked up situation in Mississippi," that would already be an improvement over current awareness. Of course, it would be better if you could do more. A lot of us (on both sides) thought 2004 was the important election in a generation, but if people got as inspired to work on Hurricane Katrina relief as they did about the election, all on the same side this time, imagine how much could get done. That means emailing people. Bringing it up in conversation all the time. Maybe a letter to the editor. Taking a vacation or a break to come down here and help. Keeping the vast majority of this audience in mind, I will not ask directly for money. I will, however, note that if you are connected to someone with money, this is a more worthwhile place to send it then the Red Cross, which has apparently gone bankrupt for the first time in its history. I calculated that we spend about $500 to send 60 or so volunteers into the field every day. That's $500 to feed us, pay the electric/heating bills, buy tools for work, and use what's left over to purchase medical supplies for our street teams. If anyone is feeling particularly charitable, big contributions go to acquiring specific things, like trailers to haul trees. Wait, yes, this is worth telling. So the reason we have a crew that cuts trees is that the storm blew a lot of trees and debris into people's yards. It so happens that FEMA has a policy of only delivering trailers to people with clear yards to park them in. Fair enough. What FEMA doesn't have is a policy for how to clear giant trees and mountains of debris from peoples' yards. If it weren't for Hands On USA, hundreds of people (we wish this number were higher) would not have trailers. This, I believe, is a case where the government has failed its citizens. We cannot depend on makeshift all-volunteer groups to help victims of crises with their basic needs.

Please keep in mind that this is not an appeal for money. I'd much rather have as many of you as possible come down. Unless you lived through the Great Depression (one person on this list was born during it), this is the most devastating thing you will have ever seen on US soil. I have learned, though trite a term this is, more from this experience than any other. A month here, even with a 4 day break in the middle, has felt ten times as long. A week here and you'll go home a different person. Will this be the case during Thanksgiving? Yes. Will coming still serve some use during Christmas? Yes. Coastal Mississippi is still doing very, very poorly. I worked a distribution line last week, and got to talk to about 300 families through out the day. Many still don't have power or running water. One young woman we work with remarked that supply lines should close to prevent welfare dependency, forgetting for a brief moment that these people lost everything. And (if this makes it any different), they were not all poor. Many middle class families lost their homes. I'd say this is a fairly middle class list, skewing upper-middle. What would be your reaction if you lost every possession you had, even with a moderate bank account? How long would it take you to get your shit together?

To me this is the most important thing any of us can be doing right now. As I wrote in my Dartmouth article, I don't say that from a vantage point of condescension. I'm well aware that not having a lease or classes and having already decided to end my last job made this experience possible. But when I say this is the most important moment of our generation, I don't mean you all need to stop everything you're doing, which is in many cases also very important work. But let's think back to World War II, or at least the portrait of it handed down to us. Not everyone went to fight, but everyone chipped in. If you have influences in politics or media, now would be a good time to use them. If you have no vacation time, but have a friend or relative who does, pass the word on to them. Winter is coming, and the residents of Biloxi are living in tents. Send a blanket down here so one less person has to freeze this winter. It's going to start raining a lot fairly soon. Buy a pack of ponchos and mail it down. If you're a blogger, start talking about the relief effort on your blog. Now is the time to step up. During World War II our very nation's future was in peril. I don't want to pretend the stakes are that high. But if you have any sense of patriotism, you should be mad as hell that fellow Americans are forced to live like this. If you care about human decency around the world, what hope can you have for the 3rd world if we can't even care for the people in our own backyard?

I suppose that's all for now. I have to get up early tomorrow to watch candy fall from the sky. There a school in one of the neighboring towns, Waveland, where the kids are going to school in tents. A couple schools in Illinois adopted them, and built little packets of candy with parachutes that they are dropping on the fields by the school. It'll be on Good Morning America, 7:15am Central time. Not sure if that means 7:15 or 8:15 Eastern time.

It would mean a great deal if people could write back with questions, comments, insights, grievances, etc.


One a final note, this email was written despite the absence of the "m" key, which is broken, and only responds to repeated stabbing attempts. If you find an "m" key, I could use one in Biloxi.

Best,
J-Dawg from Dartmouth


Part 3 - This is Spinal Tap Quotes

And now, as promised, quotes from the movie Spinal Tap:

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[Reading a review of Spinal Tap's latest album]
Marty DiBergi: "This tasteless cover is a good indication of the lack of musical invention within. The musical growth of this band cannot even be charted. They are treading water in a sea of retarded sexuality and bad poetry."
Nigel Tufnel: That's just nitpicking, isn't it?
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Marty DiBergi: David St. Hubbins... I must admit I've never heard anybody with that name.
David St. Hubbins: It's an unusual name, well, he was an unusual saint, he's not a very well known saint.
Marty DiBergi: Oh, there actually is, uh... there was a Saint Hubbins?
David St. Hubbins: That's right, yes.
Marty DiBergi: What was he the saint of?
David St. Hubbins: He was the patron saint of quality footwear.
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[Reading a review of a Spinal Tap album]
Marty DiBergi: "This pretentious ponderous collection of religious rock psalms is enough to prompt the question, 'What day did the Lord create Spinal Tap, and couldn't he have rested on that day too?'"
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Lt. Hookstratten: May I start by saying how thrilled we are to have you here. We are such fans of your music and all of your records. I'm not speaking of yours personally, but the whole genre of the rock and roll.
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David St. Hubbins: We say, "Love your brother." We don't say it really, but...
Nigel Tufnel: We don't literally say it.
David St. Hubbins: No, we don't say it.
Nigel Tufnel: We don't really, actually mean it.
David St. Hubbins: No, we don't believe it either, but...
Nigel Tufnel: But we're not racists.
David St. Hubbins: But that message should be clear.
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David St. Hubbins: Dozens of people spontaneously combust each year. It's just not really widely reported.
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**********
Nigel Tufnel: The numbers all go to eleven. Look, right across the board, eleven, eleven, eleven and...
Marty DiBergi: Oh, I see. And most amps go up to ten?
Nigel Tufnel: Exactly.
Marty DiBergi: Does that mean it's louder? Is it any louder?
Nigel Tufnel: Well, it's one louder, isn't it? It's not ten. You see, most blokes, you know, will be playing at ten. You're on ten here, all the way up, all the way up, all the way up, you're on ten on your guitar. Where can you go from there? Where?
Marty DiBergi: I don't know.
Nigel Tufnel: Nowhere. Exactly. What we do is, if we need that extra push over the cliff, you know what we do?
Marty DiBergi: Put it up to eleven.
Nigel Tufnel: Eleven. Exactly. One louder.
Marty DiBergi: Why don't you just make ten louder and make ten be the top number and make that a little louder?
Nigel Tufnel: [pause] These go to eleven.
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[Nigel Tufnel is showing Marty DiBergi one of his favorite guitars]
Nigel Tufnel: The sustain, listen to it.
Marty DiBergi: I don't hear anything.
Nigel Tufnel: Well you would though, if it were playing.
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Derek Smalls: We're very lucky in the band in that we have two visionaries, David and Nigel, they're like poets, like Shelley and Byron. They're two distinct types of visionaries, it's like fire and ice, basically. I feel my role in the band is to be somewhere in the middle of that, kind of like lukewarm water.
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Marty DiBergi: Do you feel that playing rock 'n' roll music keeps you a child? That is, keeps you in a state of arrested development?
Derek Smalls: No. No. No. I feel it's like, it's more like going, going to a, a national park or something. And there's, you know, they preserve the moose. And that's, that's my childhood up there on stage. That moose, you know.
Marty DiBergi: So when you're playing you feel like a preserved moose on stage?
Derek Smalls: Yeah.
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Derek Smalls: Remember at Luton Palace we were talking about writing a rock musical based on the life of Jack the Ripper.
David St. Hubbins: Yeah!
[singing]
David St. Hubbins: You're a naughty one...
Derek Smalls, David St. Hubbins: Saucy Jack...
David St. Hubbins: You're a haughty one, saucy Jack.
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[last lines]
Nigel Tufnel: [on what he would do if he couldn't be a rock star] Well, I suppose I could, uh, work in a shop of some kind, or... or do, uh, freelance, uh, selling of some sort of, uh, product. You know...
Marty DiBergi: A salesman?
Nigel Tufnel: A salesman, like maybe in a, uh, haberdasher, or maybe like a, uh, um... a chapeau shop or something. You know, like, "Would you... what size do you wear, sir?" And then you answer me.
Marty DiBergi: Uh... seven and a quarter.
Nigel Tufnel: "I think we have that." See, something like that I could do.
Marty DiBergi: Yeah... you think you'd be happy doing something like-...
Nigel Tufnel: "No; we're all out. Do you wear black?" See, that sort of thing I think I could probably... muster up.
Marty DiBergi: Do you think you'd be happy doing that?
Nigel Tufnel: Well, I don't know - wh-wh-... what're the hours?
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Monday, December 05, 2005

INSTANT CLASSIC: Duke 77 - Virginia Tech 75

photo courtesy The Chronicle Online

the Video of "The Shot" (both long and short versions, best you'll find on the net)

It's a shame that Fox Sports broadcast the Virginia Tech/Duke basketball game last night, because if ESPN had carried it, we could already be watching the re-runs.

Chicago, IL native Sean Dockery made the most amazing half court shot in the history of Cameron Indoor Stadium. Now, CIS doesn't have as rich of a history of buzzer-beaters as you might think.

In the 1995 season, Jeff Capel hit a sick near-half court shot to send a game into overtime against the much better, heavily-favored North Carolina Tar Heels squad to send the game into overtime.

But, North Carolina ultimately won the game.

I believe it was the awesome UNC team with Rasheed Wallace, Jerry Stackhouse, and Dante Calabria (yeah, that asshole... I hated him even though I've always loved UNC basketball ever since I was a little kid). Either way, Capel's was probably the greatest all time clutch shot at Cameron, but Duke lost the game.

This game was different.

Duke played an awful, awful game. After finally pulling away late in the second half to build a double digit lead, Duke went into it's usual, dumb "Stall Offense." Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski loves to use this strategy, and it always backfires against athletic teams with great veteran players. Coach K never learns (although, 3 National Championships speak for themselves), because he doesn't seem to realize that by becoming passive and scared to kill your opponents when you have them down, you give them a window of opportunity with which to take advantage. Gary Williams and his Maryland Terps are masters of doing just that, and they first experienced success against Duke once Juan Dixon, a fellow Calvert Hall College High School alum, arrived at College Park to change UMD's destiny.

Virginia Tech played a fantastic, gutsy game. It's a shame that this loss will be ingrained in their memories for the rest of their lives. But, they can take comfort in the fact that they defeated Duke on Tech's home court last season, and could easily do it again in the future. Seth Greenberg is a truly great coach, and will be a force to be reckoned with in the ACC.

Duke allowed the now routine "Duke Choke" to happen, and we found ourselves down 1 point with 1.6 seconds to play.

Out of nowhere, freshman forward Josh McRoberts made a perfect inbounds pass, a bullet right to senior point guard Dockery, who promptly turned around got off a strong shot with great form (considering the distance). I was watching the game with my father and little siblings, and we went nuts once we saw the miracle pass through the cylinder.


You could feel thousands of kids start to cry in Blacksburg, VA, and you could see the looks of shock and disbelief in the watery eyes of the Tech players on television.

Make no mistake about it. Virginia Tech deserved to win the game. Duke got extremely lucky. What made this game even more surreal is the clock malfunction which occured immediately following Virginia Tech's made tip-in field gold. The clock was stopped at the :0.1 minute mark. As is customary in any close ACC game, the officials reviewed the play in order to determine how much time should have been added. The refs decided to add .06 seconds to the clock, which wound up making all the difference in the world for Dockery's shot.

Even more ridiculous is the fact Cameron time officials mistakenly put :16 full seconds on the clock, instead of the referee-mandated 0:1.6 seconds. Because of the inaccuracy, the game had to be halted for what had to have been 3 or 4 full minutes, maybe longer. Anyone who has played a sport at any level will tell you that this dramatically impacts all the players on the court, both physically and psychologically. So many variables went into the final product - Dockery's prayer shot - that's it's quite interesting to think about.


Regardless, there's something mystic about the Duke basketball program, whether you like Duke or hate Duke. Last night, a senior with guts and hustle proved that anyone can be the big man on campus, and I hope he has a stellar rest of the season on the way to a possible national championship.

Here's to Sean Dockery!

the ESPN recap of the game

quotes from the postgame conference