Sports/Music Crossover: Soundgarden

Well, considering it is Monday, I was going to preview the week's NBA Action. However, I totally spaced out and didn't realize that there was an NBA triple-header today. My Bad.

However, I am going to run a column whose concept has been floating around in my head for the last couple weeks. Ever since the announcement that one of the more prominent 90s Seattle Grunge Bands Soundgarden is planning to get back together after a 12 year hiatus. Time to vaguely connect some of their songs to what's going on in the Sports World.

"Power Trip"--Me being 1-0 in Vegas

Last weekend was my first time in going to Las Vegas. Normally, I don't gamble or bet on sports but under the thinking of When In Vegas combined with the Bucks playing Golden State on Friday, I decided to place a wager on the game.

It didn't look good at first considering the Bucks were giving 3 1/2 points and they were down by as many as 13 at one point. Fortunately for myself and the Bucks this ended up being a smart investment as the defense-optional Warriors folded and the Bucks won by 9, doing more than enough to cover in the process.

"Ugly Truth"--Brett Favre/Vikings

In light of the Vikings rout over Romo and the Cowboys, the Ugly Truth is that the Vikings are one win away from winning the Super Bowl and two wins away from what would be by far the worst sports fan moment in my life. To see Favre and his disloyalty be rewarded with a Super Bowl victory......Drew Brees seriously needs to step up not only for the Saints but for the state of Wisconsin as well.

"Outshined"--UC Davis Basketball

A couple weeks ago, I was randomly surfing the internet and saw that ESPNU was airing a UC Davis basketball game against UCSB the next night. Not only was it a chance to see a basketball game between colleges located in two cities that I had visited the week before, it was a chance to see the college I went to on national TV (it might have been the late game on ESPNU with like 2 other people watching...but I gotta take what I can get)

Thinks didn't look too bad in the first half as the Aggies and Gauchos were tied at halftime despite sloppy play on both ends. Then the second half happened. Then that tie game turned into a 20-point deficit. Fail.

"Rusty Cage"--Chargers

The Chargers had lots of time off between the end of the regular season and their fail against the Jets. They must have been extremely rusty since they somehow found a way to lose to what has got to be one of the worst, most mediocre teams to ever make a conference championship game.

"Half"--Tim Tebow

When will Tim Tebow's Super Bowl Ad run? First Half, Second Half or Halftime? Either way, finding out that Tim Tebow will be in a Super Bowl ad is not something I consider good news. The last time I was watching a live event involving Tim Tebow, things did not end very well for me. I thought we had seen the last of him (for now) but he gets one more high profile spot before he becomes the next Ryan Leaf. I just hope this isn't used as an excuse for announcers to replace a given team's name with Tebow on their scoreboard. I hope they don't randomly show him randomly screaming from the stands and then cutting away to someone's defense coming on to the field. I hope i'm not dumb enough to drink every time the word Tebow is mentioned......again.

"Black Hole Sun"--2010 Royals

Wow, Dayton Moore really wants to be known as the most inept General Manager in baseball. He has taken great strides to get this title with some of the players he is bringing on to his team in 2010. With stars such as Scott Podsednik and Brian Anderson I don't see how the Royals are going to take the baseball world by storm. They even signed 3-time all star Jason Kendall to a two-year contract. I don't know how this could possibly go wrong. Oh wait, yes I can.

"Never Named"--Packers-Cardinals Playoff Game

With Arizona finally having that habit of giving up 45 a game catch up to them, we should reflect on the bizarre, wild playoff game the week before and come up with a nick-name for it. Should it be the "Defense Optional" game, the "51-45" game, the "facemask-no call" game or is there a better name for it?

"Zero Chance"--Jets

Or what it looked like they had. A month back, it looked doubtful they would even make the playoffs. Somehow, they are now a win away from the Super Bowl. They catch a few breaks here, a Colts team resting for the playoffs, a Bengals team that tanked because they didn't want to face the Texans, a Bengals team that no showed in the playoffs, a Chargers team undone by some bad kicking (and the accompanying tactless Wikipedia edits) and now they face the Colts team that rested everyone early that allowed this snowball chain of events to start. But c'mon they have Mark Sanchez at QB, they still got zero chance.

The NBA National TV Preview: 12-14 Edition

Alright so its been a few days since I had the motivation to post something. Probably attributable to rain-induced laziness plus my 2-day addiction to the short lived tv show Journeyman that I watched on Hulu over the weekend.

Anyways, it's another week in which to excel and with that, my take on this week's nationally televised NBA Games.

6- Wizards vs. Warriors Friday ESPN

The idea of putting the Wizards on National TV several times this year does not look to be panning out very well. Sure Gilbert Arenas is an interesting player (when hes not injured) but this team is just not that good. Sure, they are a game and a half out of the last spot (in the East).

On the other end is a Warriors team that is interesting in all the wrong ways. Dysfunctional coach ? Check Team Going Absolutely Nowhere? Check Team that considers defense optional? Check..with the Kings improving this year the Warriors have proudly representing as the biggest train wreck of a team in Nor Cal.

5- Magic vs. Heat Thursday TNT

A less than exciting battle of Florida. The Magic are battling for Eastern Conference Supremacy. The only difference between the Heat and the Wizards is Dwayne Wade is at least able to push the Heat into playoff contention. Sad But True: The Heat are .500 (11-11) but in the East thats good for battling the Bucks for the 5-spot in the East.

4- Mavericks vs. Thunder Wednesday ESPN

The Mavericks are off to a strong start and look headed to playoffs, nothing to see here for the next 58 games. For the Thunder, they get another chance to capitalize on their resurgent season. Any time Kevin Durant is involved, it's worth at least checking out the game. Fun Fact: If the Thunder played in the East they would be a 5 seed right now. However, they play in the West and are thus 1/2 game out of the last spot.

3- Suns vs. Blazers Thursday TNT

Toss-up between the game above but this wins the tie-breaker with Steve Nash on my fantasy team. In the real world, the Suns seem to be coming down to earth after a scorching hot start it will be interesting to see if they stay amongst the elite or if they are in danger of missing the playoffs for a second straight year.

The Blazers, coming off a couple tough losses to the Cavs and Bucks and are nobly trying to compete with about half of their roster injured. How well the Blazers hold up being this short-handed will go a long way to see if the Blazers are going to be a legit playoff team.

2- Wizards vs. Kings Wednesday ESPN

When I started doing this NBA preview, I mentioned that I was ranking them based on how interesting I found the game which is NOT always correlated to how good the teams are. This week is definitely an example of this. As I mentioned earlier, I could care less about the Wizards, the only thing separating them from the bottom of the east are the 76ers and Nets.

The only reason I care about the game is I find the Kings to be one of more interesting teams this year. Sure they may be 10-12, but compared to what they were last year, it is a night and day improvement. Living in the Sacramento area (Davis) last year, I got plenty of opportunities to see the Kings on TV (and a couple chances to see them in person.....the last game of the Reggie Theus area and a loss to the Bucks, ironically a team that they ended up going on similar paths.)

But thats besides the point, this will be the first Kings National TV appearance of the Tyreke Evans era. The Kings seemed to have shed aside the Theus/Natt era is just a bad dream and look ready to contend for a playoff spot. If that wasn't enough, Arco Arena is doing a $1-beer night to get more fans into the stands (a high priority since as recent as last year you could walk up and buy tickets half an hour before the game....also this opens up the possibility of fans having a few too many of those dollar beers and seeing how that works out)

1-Bucks vs. Cavaliers Friday ESPN

Less to say about this one, but since the Bucks are involved the interest level over-rides the Kings. This team is pretty much Sacramento East. A moribund team seemingly going nowhere makes good use of their first-round pick (Jennings), an injury to their leading scorer from last year (Martin/Redd) and just enough from the rest of their teams to stick around .500.

The Bucks playing the Cavaliers means a dose of LeBron (always fun to watch) plus a lumbering Shaq who has definitely lost a step (or twelve). The way you hear the media talk, this has got to be one of the worst teams ever......to start 17-7.....their "struggles", definitely overblown. Shaq was never known for his quick starts and they shouldn't be worried unless they're still in chaos in March/April.

Sports/Music Crossover: Aerosmith

Well, it was a bizarre day in the Music world as it was reported that Steven Tyler is leaving Aerosmith. I decided the timing was ripe for a sports/music cross-over posting to use some Aerosmith songs to talk about random sports-related stuff that is on my mind.

"Dream On" -Allen Iverson

The A.I. era in Memphis seems to have ended before it started. Despite obvious evidence (last year in Detroit) A.I. seems to think hes still an elite player and is above being a 6th man. When your not even starting for Memphis...the evidence is definitely working against stardom.

"Same Old Song and Dance" - Michael Redd

Redd has been the #1-guy on the Bucks for the last few years. He also has been highly injury prone and played a full season 3 times. New year...same ol result...Redd has already had his first injury and its not even mid-November.

"Make It"- Tyreke Evans

If his recent performance holds up, it looks like Evans will make it in the NBA barring injury and legal trouble. Evans has helped Sacramento not totally embarrass themselves thus far and helped the Kings improve slightly since losing Kevin Martin to injury.

"F.I.N.E"-Chris Kaman

Before the season started, Blake Griffin injured himself and hes expected to be out for another month. Kaman has been the winner (and my Fantasy team) in this situation as hes off to the best start of his career and busting out a 23-10 so far....

"What It Takes"-Cavs

What Cleveland needs to do to keep LeBron James on the Cavs. They do have a couple advantages. LeBron is a local kid and may not want to leave his roots. Also, the Knicks/Nets are both terrible teams. The Cavs may not have the best supporting cast but its an improvement from a couple years ago and the Knicks as a team are so ravaged beyond belief that not even LeBron can help them.

"Crazy"- Warriors

If championships were won on internal chaos, bad D and inflated egos...the Golden State Warriors would be defending champs. Last year Golden State was anything but golden regressing deeply from the team that upset Dallas a couple years ago. Looks like some things never change.

"Draw The Line"-Sammy Sosa

If your drawing the line between normal and bizarre, the recent Sammy Sosa pictures definitely cross that line. It already was a bad year for Sosa as a positive steroid test was revealed this summer. Its definitely taken a bizarre turn the last few days with pictures coming out with his skin appearing to be bleached....definitely falls under the category of if they wrote about it but didn't show any pictures, I probably wouldn't believe it....definitely one of those you couldn't make it up type of things....also the first and last time I mention it

"My Fist Your Face" John Riggins/Dan Snyder/Redskins

As bad as the Packers have been....I can at least think to myself things such as "At least i'm not A Redskins fan". In addition to routinely losing to the worst teams in the league (The Packers are at least 2-1 in this department).

Their coach, Jim Zorn defines ineptness. Their owner, Dan Snyder spends money in all the wrong places. One of their ex-players John Riggins has openly ripped Dan Snyder. I say they settle their differences and have a Family Guy-style fight (either in the veins of cleveland vs. quagmire or in the peter griffin vs. the giant chicken vein)...my vote is for option B

"Train Kept A-Rollin"-Saints/Colts

While both games were a bit close for comfort, the Saints and Colts kept a-rollin towards possible 16-0 seasons and their inevitable match-up in the Super Bowl.

"Rag Doll"-Packers O-Line

Cause, the Packers O-Line has been chewed up like a rag doll. Seriously, at this point there are probably high school teams in Wisconsin that could protect Aaron Rodgers better than the Packers. It reminds me of that NFL Draft commercial from a few years back where they photo-shopped the Texans "O-Line" out and showed footage of David Carr being sacked.

It was funnier a few years ago but considering ESPN will probably replace that footage with Aaron Rodgers getting sacked within a few months.....the comical value goes down. Through 8 games, Rodgers has been sacked 37 times...the single season record is 76.......this record could change hands by the end of the season.