College Football Review

Alright, well we've come to the end of the regular season and the break before the bowl season starts. A good way to review the season is to look back at my predictions from before the season began and see how I did. I called my season preview The Meatrodomus Five Fortune-Telling Truths of the 2008 Season. We'll see how good of fortune I will have.

"1. OU will win its third Big 12 Championship in a row. Unprecedented in the conference, but I just don't see anyone taking down Oklahoma enough to derail them from getting the conference. I believe that the Red River Rivalry will again decide who goes out of the South Division, and I don't think Texas's defense has matured enough to stop the potent OU offense. There is a lot of hype around up-and-coming programs like Missouri or even Texas Tech, but it is a different story for Tech who has not beaten OU in Norman since 1996. Missouri does have a chance to remain undefeated leading up to the Big 12 Championship, but I don't believe their defense will be enough to stop arguable the most balanced offense in college football. I think Nebraska will make a run at the North title this year as bold as a prediction that may seem, but will not be able to overcome Missouri. Kansas will slide a little this year although still making the Kansas-Mizzou game something special again like last year."

CORRECT! OU did end up winning the conference and got to the conference game in a controversial THREE-WAY TIE (more on that later) in the South division and got into the game via the highest BCS ranking the week before the conference game. Mizzou did end up winning the North but was very disappointing to most expectations people had this year. They were actually tied with Nebraska for the division lead but held the tiebreaker since they won against Nebraska. The Kansas-Mizzou game was a very special game this year with Kansas winning on a last second TD pass from Reesing to Meyer in a snowy and fridged Kansas City field.

2. The Heisman Trophy will not go to a sophomore again this year. Sorry folks, unless Sam Bradford or DeMarco Murray break a number of OU or NCAA records this year, I don't see either one of them getting the Heisman. Now, that's not saying either one won't get invited. I do think that Bradford has the greater chance of getting the nod to go to NYC, but I don't see him winning it this year. The sophomore with the best chance to win the Heisman would have to be Knowshon Moreno of Georgia, but even then he would have to have a killer year. My frontrunner is Chris "Beanie" Wells of the Ohio State Buckeyes.

WRONG! Technically I would consider myself right since I said that Bradford would have to be breaking records to get a Heisman, but I couldn't have been more wrong with my statement in bold. Slingin' Sam became the second sophomore to win the Heisman, edging out Texas QB Colt McCoy and '07 winner Florida QB Tim Tebow. Beanie Wells was injured early and taken out of the hunt after a disappointing performance against Southern Cal. Ohio State itself was considered a disappointment.

3. The BCS National Championship Game will be Ohio State vs. Oklahoma. That's right, it'll be storybook. The two teams seeking BCS redemption with their recent disappointments will face off in the championship game. Now, it is a tall order and I do believe both of these teams will not be undefeated going into the game. The Buckeyes will have to defeat an always solid USC team (which I think this will not be the team they will lose to) and Oklahoma is part of the Big 12 South so it goes without saying that there will be a test. My top 5 teams going into the season right now in no particular order is Georgia, Oklahoma, Ohio State, USC, and Florida. Those teams would have the best chance to make it but I think it'll be Bucks and Sooners in the finale in a close one. The Meat Life Prediction: Oklahoma 27-20. It'll be redemption time for the Sooners and Stoops will finally get his second national title as a head coach.

WRONG! I'm glad I got the OU part right, but like the previous prediction I couldn't have been more wrong about the Buckeyes. Ohio State dropped the senior starting QB Boeckman in favor of frosh-mega-hype QB Terrelle Pryor after the USC loss. Out of my initial top five, only Oklahoma and Florida have lived up to the hype by clinching their spots in the BCS Championship game. Georgia was a mega disappointment and USC, although has a real legit defense, the loss to Oregon State and the fact that the Pac10 was down this year did not help their case at all. OU still has chance at redemption, and it seems like that's been the theme all year.

4. Conference Winners:

Big East: South Florida. Pieces are in place and West Virginia will fall just short.

WRONG! Cincinnati wins overcoming key injuries at QB position to get to an 11-2 record

Big Ten: Ohio State. Goes without saying, although I do think they will lose to Wisconsin on the road.

WRONG! Penn State ran the table beating Ohio State and was a win away from the title game.

Big 12: Oklahoma. See #1

CORRECT!

Atlantic Coast Conference: Clemson. Personnel looks solid although look for Wake Forest to make a run again.

WRONG! Wrong wrong wrong. Virginia Tech wins another ACC title and Clemson fires Bowden.

Southeastern Conference: Georgia. They will probably be a 2-loss champ like LSU last season.

WRONG! Georgia big disappointment, Tebow wills Florida to win the SEC after the Ole Miss loss.

Pacific 10: USC. As much as I hate them...Oregon would have made a run if QB Nate Costa didn't get injured.

CORRECT! It was close, Oregon State was a win away from a Pac10 title but Oregon spoiled it.

Mountain West: BYU. BCS Buster? Has the offense for it.

WRONG! Almost right, the best non-BCS conference this year has undefeated Utah as champ.

Western Athletic Conference: Fresno State. Other potential BCS Buster.

WRONG! Fresno finished fifth, Boise State remained undefeated and wins another WAC title.

Sun Belt: Florida Atlantic. Go FAU! Beat those Longhorns! HAHAH

WRONG! Troy wins

Conference USA: Tulsa. New era without QB Paul Smith, but still loaded.

WRONG! Tulsa made it to the C-USA championship but lost to early season darlings E. Carolina

Mid-America Conference: Central Michigan. QB Dan Lefevour the real deal.

WRONG! Turner Gill's Buffalo team wins over previously unbeaten Ball State in MAC title game.

5. No team will go undefeated this season. Now, this prediction may be less plausible. And being an Oklahoma fan, I think out of my top 5 OU has the best chance to go undefeated. But in the aftermath of last season it is hard to believe that the rollercoaster ride college football was would change. Then again, we could go in with 3 or 4 teams undefeated and everyone in the press calling for a playoff. Who knows. I just don't think anyone will come out unblemished.

CORRECT! Okay, when it comes to BCS conference teams I am correct. Utah and Boise State are still undefeated going into the bowl season with a difficult task at hand. Utah faces Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, while Boise faces a tough TCU team in the Poinsettia Bowl.

So I didn't do so well in my predictions. I guess that's how it goes. I will say this, in the Big 12 South it was an unbelieveable season.

And now comes my rant.

It seemed like every weekend during conference play there was a marquee matchup and the drama ended in a THREE-WAY TIE for the division lead at the end of the regular season. I capitalize this statement because most people in Texas and in the media seem to forget that there were three teams tied in the lead: OU, Texas, and Texas Tech. Each with 11-1 records, each 7-1 in the conference, each losing one game to each other. OU lost to Texas 45-35. Texas lost to Texas Tech 39-33. Texas Tech lost to OU 65-21.

Tech was automatically dismissed out of the conversation since it was dominated by OU, which is unfair to both Tech and OU. How should Tech be forgotten when they still beat a then-#1 ranked Texas team? And how should OU be penalized for blowing out the then-#2 team in the country. Imagine if OU had only won by about 7 or 10 points. Would that make Tech more relevant and less forgotten?

All I'm trying to say is there was a THREE-WAY TIE, not a two-way tie between Texas and OU like the media or Texas fans would make you think. I find it so annoying to see plans fly over OU games and Texas fans with "45-35" signs. If you didn't lose to Tech, you wouldn't have to whine and complain to try to get BCS points from voters.

If you take that same "head-to-head" argument with Texas and Tech, then Tech deserves to be in a BCS bowl more than Texas does since Tech beat Texas 39-33. I don't think Texas would like that, would they. But that argument never came about because Texas is Texas and Tech is Tech. Reputation goes a long way with these bowl selections. If there were a playoff, Tech wouldn't feel so jobbed right now.

Speaking of playoffs, it's about that time of year again for my brother-in-law and I to have our EA Sports NCAA Football playoff. That's right, we are making our own bracket and playing it out to see who would win. More details to come later. Enjoy the bowl games and BOOMER SOONER!

Jed and Germaine are ready for the bowl season. Are you?

A Quiet End of an Era

For some of you there was a time when MTV meant Music Television. For me I caught the tail end of Music Television and the beginning of what MTV is today...lame reality TV shows.

But in that tail end of Music Television after the first few seasons of the "original" reality show The Real World and right before the explosion of reality TV both on this network and on primetime network television, there was a sort of music renaissance. MTV had just debuted their Time Square studios and were juggling around newer shows in their line-up.

When they debuted the new studio they also premiered their new afternoon show MTV Live hosted by Ananda Lewis, Carson Daly, and a random ass British guy named Toby Amies. Occasionally they would have rock music guru Matt Pinfield on as well. And then their primetime consisted of 12 Angry Viewers where they would debut new videos and have fans talk about the vids, Say What? where popular videos were played with the song's lyrics scrolling on the bottom of the screen, and a little show called Total Request where fans would call in during the day and vote on the most popular videos.

That line-up worked for some time and built both popularity and viewership, particularly in MTV Live and later on at night Total Request. The popularity culminated into the combination of the two: Total Request Live. Debuting in September 1998, Total Request Live or TRL as dubbed by Carson Daly, the show's first and primary host until 2003, played the 10 most popular videos of the day as voted by fans. It also played as another way for musicians and movie stars to promote their latest projects.

With the combination of the rising popularity of pop and boy band groups, TRL took off. For the next 5 years, TRL reached it's peak in popularity, becoming both a cultural phenomenon and an icon in and of itself. In the early years, it was the ultimate avenue for new music, and not just the pop that is normally associated with the show. All genres of music were pretty much scattered in. I remember hearing Korn and Limp Bizkit being played alongside Eminem and Britney Spears. The first time I heard "Stellar" by Incubus or "Last Resort" by Papa Roach was on TRL.

I'm not quite sure what happened after Carson Daly left, for like Carson and some of the earlier viewers, I grew up and moved on. But I can guess that the popularity of the show outside of the stars that appear on the show and the host dwindled as more and more new avenues on the internet became available for new music and videos to come out and be shared. As MySpace and YouTube gained popularity to see not just new artists but established artists, MTV again started moving away from music.

Which brings us back to my title. A quiet end of an era.

Tonight was the finale episode of Total Request Live. I just found out about it by chance, my wife still watches a couple of shows on MTV (yep, all of them reality shows). I totally forgot that TRL was still even on. At first I was kind of upset. Even though I had stopped watching the show years ago, it still brought me back to those first few years when it was the flagship of MTV and they stopped Times Square traffic for episodes.

The more and more I thought about it though, the more I realized that it had been quite some time since TRL had even had any relavence. Although all of us old schoolers complain about MTV not playing videos anymore, it's no surprise they don't play any music anymore. The current generation of youth no longer needs a television station that plays music videos. They get them online now. And now instead of new artists debuting on TV they can generate a lot of buzz online as well. MTV moved back toward reality shows as a business move to preserve the company. If no one is watching the network for videos, they had to do something.

And so the finale...although there were a lot of iconic celebs that appeared and performed on the finale and there was a crowd in Times Square, it wasn't the same. They did bring Carson Daly back, but you would think a show like that and being on for that long (ten years is a long time on a network like MTV) there would be more fanfare. But I guess that is what happens when the world changes around you.

I think TRL was on a bit longer than it should have been, which is kind of sad. And so it ends. I guess it is fitting, especially since the first few artist featured in the first few years are now in their late 20s and early 30s. Some like Britney and Christina have since been married and have kids (and in Britney's case have come full circle being divorced, mentally breaking down, and then mounting a career comeback). And some have even disappeared into obscurity (if anyone watched the finale, did you notice that Fred Durst was noticibly absent from all this? I think he's a "film director" now).

So here is my quiet goodbye...thanks TRL. In the pre-Web 2.0 days, it was the ultimate way for music fans to vote on their favorite artists and discover new music coming out. For old schoolers like me, it was an icon that I'm thankful I got to witness and watch and appreciate. I'm sure a program like it will come out eventually. I mean, hell, they first compared TRL to American Bandstand and Carson Daly to Dick Clark (I think Carson still hosts New Years on NBC, so his career is sort of paralleling except for the fact that he dropped of the face of the planet doing his late night show).

So long TRL. Thanks for the memories.

The Meat Life's Ultimate Christmas Wishlist

Well, it seems like the Christmas shopping season starts earlier and earlier every year. I think last week I saw the first serious Christmas commercial come out. While I think it's ridiculous, I also kind of like it. Most of my list this year is movies and video games. Later on I will have a Meat Ballers List of Items That Are Awesome for those items I will probably be saving up for once I get a house. But for now here is the Meat Life's Ultimate Christmas Wishlist:

Lost Season 4 ($36.99 on Amazon)

Complexity, relationships, and deep human themes drive this show. One of my favorites since I bought the first season by chance and now with the conclusion of the show coming up in less than two years we are finally starting to see the full picture. In this season we find out how some get off the island and some end up stuck on the island. Although the first season is probably the best of the entire show, season 4 shows that this show is still solid.

Seinfeld Seasons 4-9 (Between $35.99-$38.99 on Amazon)

I had gotten the first three seasons for Christmas some years ago but have not gotten any of the other seasons since, out of just outright forgetfulness. Awesome show with iconic episodes and characters like the Contest and the Soup Nazi. Any one of these could continue building my collection and even if I got one it would be awesome.

The Dark Knight ($21.49 on Amazon for 2-Disc Edition)

The most anticipated DVD/BluRay release of the Christmas season, and with good reason. This film was phenominal, transending what it is to be a comic book movie. Standing on its own it makes for a tense and gripping crime drama, the heroes and villains just happened to be dressed up in disguises. Probably the best film I've seen this decade.

Knight Rider Seasons 2-3 (Season 2 - $22.99, Season 3 - $37.99 on Amazon)

I've already gotten the first and last season of this iconic 80s classic show. The coolest car and probably the most fun action series back in the day. Seasons 2 and 3 featured some of the showdowns with KITT and KARR. May seem cheesy nowadays (even the update series on NBC has taken a slightly different approach) but still awesome.

The Indiana Jones Complete Adventure Collection ($59.99 on Amazon)

Growing up watching the first three, I loved the action and the mystique. Spielberg and Lucas make a good creative team. I have yet to see the fourth and latest installment, and even if it doesn't live up to the original trilogy I still wouldn't mind owning it if I owned the other three.

EASports NHL09 (XBox 360 version, $56.99 on Amazon)

Winner of 10 awards for best sports video game, the NHL series has lept to greatness with the skill stick. The new version has improvements on the defensive side of the ice and a playable version of NHL94.

Wanted (Single Disc $16.99 on Amazon)

Action action action is what I was told to expect, another movie I haven't gotten a chance to see, but I'm sure I probably would have liked.

Tropic Thunder (Unrated Director's Cut $22.99 on Amazon)

The controversial action-comedy featuring a bald Tom Cruise, a black Robert Downey Jr and a two members of the "frat pack" in Ben Stiller and Jack Black, yet another I haven't seen but probably would enjoy.

Pineapple Express (2-Disc Unrated Edition $22.99 on Amazon)

A stoner-action-comedy starring an actor on fire right now in Seth Rogen. Rogen prospers in the popular raunch comedies that have come out as of late. And yes, another movie I have yet to see.

Ninja Gaiden II (XBox 360 edition, $36.99 on Amazon)

Playing the original and the demo of this version, this game is awesome. The gameplay and graphics are great, that and the price is down now that it has been out for a while.

Rock Band Drum Pad Silencers ($19.99 on Amazon)

Yeah, it's kind of annoying if you are playing the game and all you can hear is the drum sticks banging against that drum pad. My questions is why couldn't these things be built into the drum when they sell it to you?

Harold and Kumar: Escape From Gauntanamo Bay (2-Disc Unrated, $22.99 on Amazon)

And we end with a movie that I have already seen and just not bought yet. Another stoner-comedy continuing where the White Castle movie left off. Very awesome. Very hilarious. Almost as good as the first.

So there you have it, the Meat Life's Ultimate Christmas Wishlist!

Coming soon, the Meat Baller List of Items That Are Awesome

Blog

Yes, so my prediction was a bit off. At least OU is #4.

But this is but a mere update, a bulletin to let you know that I will have a huge entry entered in the next couple weeks to cover my recent honeymoon trip to Manhattan. Yes, the Meat Life in Manhattan! And I'll have a couple of other things I'll touch on like the Meat Life Ultimate Christmas Wishlist (it's almost that time of the year again) and a look back at what I would like to call the Meat Life Anthems.

But more on all that later...

OU - Texas

The biggest game of the season so far features a matchup in Dallas. #1 Oklahoma vs. #5 Texas at the Cotton Bowl in the legendary Red River Rivalry. The game and the scene should be awesome, with the traditions, the updated facilities upping the capacity from 76,000 to about 92,000+, and the Texas State Fair as the backdrop. This is not to mention ESPN College Game Day will be there pre-game.

And with any big Sooner game comes the big MEAT LIFE prediction. And I'll break it down by quarter:

End of the 1st quarter: OU up 21-7. The Sooners start fast as usual, taking their first three possessions. Murray finally breaks a big-one. The Longhorns capitalize on a long return to get deep into OU territory to set up a Colt McCoy running TD.

End of the half: OU 28-17. Longhorns finally get things going offensively but are stumped in the red zone later in the quarter. OU's offense sputters a bit but gets into the end zone on the last drive of the half.

End of the 3rd quarter: OU 31-17. The defenses lock down after the Sooners kick a field goal on their first drive.

Final: OU 34-27. Texas mounts their comeback on a couple early quarter drives. The Longhorns drive to the red zone and in epic fashion the Sooners D got an INT. OU offense seals the deal with a field goal drive late.

My prediction is dependent on OU kicker Stevens to be able to make in 2 field goals to make a difference, something he has only done once before this season. But if Stoopsie has confidence, there must be something there.

On that note BOOMER SOONER

Quick College Football Update

After some of the upsets this weekend in college football, here is my new top 5:

1) Oklahoma
2) Alabama
3) Missouri
4) LSU
5) Texas

Three Big 12 teams in the top 5. We'll probably see the same teams in the top 5 in the AP and Coaches' Polls, but we shall see what order the teams will land.

College Football/The Dark Knight/Warren Theaters

Imagine that, probably the busiest time of my life and I'm sitting in my living room blogging! Not bad as I wait for my laundry to be finished in the washer to put in the dry and as I jam out to some old-schoolin' Bon Jovi. I wanted to touch on a few things before my life pretty much changes forever (although I think it's more of a ceremonial change than anything, my life has already changed forever). As I look back on my past bachelorship I find that a few things change, and some things will never change. My status will never again (hopefully) be single, I will wear a badass wedding ring, and I will come home to a wife and child everyday...those are the changes. The things that will never change...well that is my passionate hobby of following sports and pop culture (pop culture being movies, television and music more than following up with tabloid stars). So Saturday will honor a great change in my life, this blog entry will honor the great non-change! Here is my college football preview, official movie review for The Dark Knight, and first impressions of the lastest theater to be built in the OKC Metro - Warren Theaters in Moore.

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College Football Preview

With the season kicking off this week I'd like to put up a few of my predictions, five of them actually. And I shall have a shnazzy name for it:

The Meatrodomus Five Fortune-Telling Truths of the 2008 Season

Will Sammy and Co. run the table?

1. OU will win its third Big 12 Championship in a row. Unprecedented in the conference, but I just don't see anyone taking down Oklahoma enough to derail them from getting the conference. I believe that the Red River Rivalry will again decide who goes out of the South Division, and I don't think Texas's defense has matured enough to stop the potent OU offense. There is a lot of hype around up-and-coming programs like Missouri or even Texas Tech, but it is a different story for Tech who has not beaten OU in Norman since 1996. Missouri does have a chance to remain undefeated leading up to the Big 12 Championship, but I don't believe their defense will be enough to stop arguable the most balanced offense in college football. I think Nebraska will make a run at the North title this year as bold as a prediction that may seem, but will not be able to overcome Missouri. Kansas will slide a little this year although still making the Kansas-Mizzou game something special again like last year.

2. The Heisman Trophy will not go to a sophomore again this year. Sorry folks, unless Sam Bradford or DeMarco Murray break a number of OU or NCAA records this year, I don't see either one of them getting the Heisman. Now, that's not saying either one won't get invited. I do think that Bradford has the greater chance of getting the nod to go to NYC, but I don't see him winning it this year. The sophomore with the best chance to win the Heisman would have to be Knowshon Moreno of Georgia, but even then he would have to have a killer year. My frontrunner is Chris "Beanie" Wells of the Ohio State Buckeyes.

3. The BCS National Championship Game will be Ohio State vs. Oklahoma. That's right, it'll be storybook. The two teams seeking BCS redemption with their recent disappointments will face off in the championship game. Now, it is a tall order and I do believe both of these teams will not be undefeated going into the game. The Buckeyes will have to defeat an always solid USC team (which I think this will not be the team they will lose to) and Oklahoma is part of the Big 12 South so it goes without saying that there will be a test. My top 5 teams going into the season right now in no particular order is Georgia, Oklahoma, Ohio State, USC, and Florida. Those teams would have the best chance to make it but I think it'll be Bucks and Sooners in the finale in a close one. The Meat Life Prediction: Oklahoma 27-20. It'll be redemption time for the Sooners and Stoops will finally get his second national title as a head coach.

4. Conference Winners:

Big East: South Florida. Pieces are in place and West Virginia will fall just short.

Big Ten: Ohio State. Goes without saying, although I do think they will lose to Wisconsin on the road.

Big 12: Oklahoma. See #1

Atlantic Coast Conference: Clemson. Personnel looks solid although look for Wake Forest to make a run again.

Southeastern Conference: Georgia. They will probably be a 2-loss champ like LSU last season.

Pacific 10: USC. As much as I hate them...Oregon would have made a run if QB Nate Costa didn't get injured.

Mountain West: BYU. BCS Buster? Has the offense for it.

Western Athletic Conference: Fresno State. Other potential BCS Buster.

Sun Belt: Florida Atlantic. Go FAU! Beat those Longhorns! HAHAH

Conference USA: Tulsa. New era without QB Paul Smith, but still loaded.

Mid-America Conference: Central Michigan. QB Dan Lefevour the real deal.

5. No team will go undefeated this season. Now, this prediction may be less plausible. And being an Oklahoma fan, I think out of my top 5 OU has the best chance to go undefeated. But in the aftermath of last season it is hard to believe that the rollercoaster ride college football was would change. Then again, we could go in with 3 or 4 teams undefeated and everyone in the press calling for a playoff. Who knows. I just don't think anyone will come out unblemished.

That's my season preview. Enjoy football this year!

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The Dark Knight

It has been over the month and everyone has ridden through all the hype and through all the talk of possible greatness. I will have to say that first of all, The Dark Knight is NOT a movie for everyone. Not everyone will like the plot twists and the overall somber and (for lack of a better word) dark mood. And although this movie is not for everyone, I would recommend anyone interested in a fairly intelligent crime drama to give this a look.

Notice that I called it a crime drama. This is really just a crime drama disguised as a comic book movie. Director and co-writer Christopher Nolan went with a more realistic feel with his series as evident with the first installment Batman Begins. The story picks up about 6 months to a year after that story as Batman with the help of Lt Gordon are close to ridding Gotham of organized crime until the Joker takes over and runs all over causing chaos. With a new hope for Gotham in DA Harvey Dent, Bruce Wayne contemplates giving up being Batman to be with longtime flame Rachel Dawes.

As far as the actors go, most of the carryover characters return with their original actors: Christian Bale as Wayne/Batman, Gary Oldman as Gordon, Michael Caine as Alfred, Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox; with Maggie Gyllenhaal picking up for Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes. New characters/actors introduced to Nolan's series include Aaron Eckhart as Dent, Eric Roberts as mob boss Sal Maroni, Nestor Carbonell as Mayor Anthony Garcia, Anthony Michael Hall as reporter Mike Engel, Chin Han as Hong Kong crime boss Lau, and of course the character and actor most talked about in this film, the late Heath Ledger as the Joker.

The action in the film is nearly non-stop, for the plot is driven by said action. The reason for all the action? The Joker. In a desperate move by the crime bosses, they hire Joker to combat and take down the Batman, all the while the Joker pushes Gordon/Dent/Batman and the entire city of Gotham to the moral limits. The Dark Knight is a picture of a world not too different from a world we live in and the story of forces pulling it both ways, to the depths of evil and terror, or to the light of hope and a better life.

It goes without saying that Ledger's performance of the Joker is magnificiently eerie and twisted. I was in the camp that was kind of shocked when they first picked him to play Joker but now I am fully converted. Excellent choice and I have a hard time envisioning anyone else to play the character, although I cannot picture a third installment without the Joker. That's how good the performance was, and that's how all the action and storyline is driven, through the Joker. At first viewing, it seems this is more of a Joker movie than a Batman movie. But I can definitely say that even though Joker steals the show, this is a Batman centered movie, playing off what had been built from Begins to really get you to relate to the Wayne character. Although this film can very well stand on its own, it is so much better standing if viewed in succession from the Begins film.

Definitely can't wait to get this on DVD or if I have it by then BluRay. This film sets itself apart from the comic book genre (although in recent years has seen some great movies come from it). With all the hype, I will say this...this film is probably the best I've seen this decade. 9.5/10

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Warren Theaters

The lounge bar at Warren

To close my longest entry ever, Warren Theaters. With a bar and lounge outside their balcony seating for the main feature, Warren has definitely come out as the best movie experience in the OKC Metro. Their main screen is smaller than the Cine Capri of Harkin Theaters, but the overall a better presentation. We saw The Dark Knight at Warren and it was definitely worth the hefty $12 matinee balcony ticket price ($18 for evening showings). With a crazy loud sound system and servers at a push of a button, this is definitely the premier movie experience. Not to mention heated seats. Moderately priced food and adult beverages. Thumbs up!

BCS Playoffs: What Would Have Happened Part II

So Kevin and I played out the mock playoff bracket we established. Here is what it looked like:


Click on pic to see matchups and results.

We based the seating on the final BCS Rankings before the 2007-2008 bowl season and put in the top 16 teams, with the #1 seats having to be BCS Conference champs with of course the higher ranked conference champ being seated higher. We had the first round played with the higher ranked team being the home team and then picked the biggest New Years Day/BCS Bowls to play out the elite eight, final four, and national championship: Gator, Cotton, Fiesta, Sugar, Orange, and Rose with the Sugar Bowl venue doubling as the national championship matchup.

Oddly enough, Ohio State became our eventual national champion.

Notable matchups:

Opening round -
Virginia Tech vs. Boston College. If this were to have happened it would have been the third time they would have played, and this would have occurred just a couple weeks after their meeting in the ACC Championship game. Our result BC winning in O/T 34-27.

Georgia vs. Florida. Another conference matchup and this would have been interesting especially after their last meeting when the Bulldogs all rushed to celebrate in the endzone on their first touchdown. A late comeback spoiled another Bulldog victory as Florida squeaks by 42-38.

Second round -
LSU vs. USC in the Gator Bowl. This potential matchup is reason enough to have a playoff! LSU started off quick but USC mounted a killer second half scoring the majority of its points in the third as USC dominated LSU winning 42-23.

OU vs. Florida in the Cotton Bowl. In what could have been a great battle of offenses turned into an old-fashioned beatdown. OU had a quick start scoring most of their points in the first half until Florida turned on the jets and turned 4 second half Sooner turnovers into a 55-19 victory.

Final four -
Ohio State vs. Missouri in the Rose Bowl. Strange that Missouri advanced farther than OU, but that's unrelated. Mizzou proved no match for Ohio State as the Buckeyes outscore the Tigers 48-29 in what was a back and forth game until the Buckeyes took over in the fourth.

USC vs. Florida in the Orange Bowl. I'm telling you, these matchups just beg for a playoff! This game was surprisingly a defensive slugfest until late in the fourth. Florida owned a 7-3 lead for most of the game until USC scored touchdowns on back-to-back possessions and sealed it off with a safety to end the game 19-7.

...which leads us to the championship...
Ohio State vs. USC. And I know what you might think, Ohio State? But yes the Buckeyes made it through and in a shootout out-shot the Trojans 41-31, with their defense coming through and holding strong as the Trojans charged in two late drives.

Now some critics will argue that a playoff will make bowl games insignificant and make the regular season less significant. I say that most bowl are kind of insignificant anyway unless you are going to the school who is in that bowl. That and I'm willing to sacrifice a less significant regular season if we get matchups like that in a playoff. But I can't imagine a regular season having less significance, I mean a lot of teams have non-conference games against cupcakes schools like Louisiana-Lafeyette so how can that get more insignificant?

Playoffs! It won't happen in major college football anytime soon, but it's nice to imagine.

The Dark Hype: IMDb #1 Movie?

The Dark Knight. Great but greatest ever?

The Dark Knight. I will have a post with a full review, but before then I just want to review what has been going on since last weekend. As you probably know unless you have been chillin in a cave with Osama for the past week and a half, the lastest installment of the Batman franchise and probably its greatest effort to date The Dark Knight came out with a historic box office opening last weekend, not only setting records but also seeing both critics and average movie-goers gushing over how good the movie is.

I have seen it myself, the first Saturday it was out. I would have to say with all the hype behind it, it certainly proved its worth. What is crazy to think about is not how the movie lived up to the hype, but how much hype it has received even after the release.

Many an internet user hits up the Internet Movie Database or IMDb.com for those savvy to it. And about just as many people regard its rating system as a great indicator for how good a movie actually is. They have a Top 250 best movies as well as a Bottom 100 worst list. The movie ratings are kind of a mystery in of itself, for they are from registered users who meet certain criteria that is actually unknown to most including myself. From my estimation, half are those film efficianados who do nothing but watch movies and the other half are fanboys of a particular genre/actor and drive up the ratings.

No matter how the breakdown may be, the IMDb rating system has been regarded by even professional bloggers and media as a reliable judge of what the best movies of all-time are. For those who keep up, the reigning #1 before the latest Batman came out had been The Godfather rated a robust 9.1/10 while perennial top 5 movies would take turns at different spots but for the most part had been as follows: The Godfather Part II (9.1); The Shawshank Redemption (9.0); The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (8.9); and Pulp Fiction (8.9). (I have my own opinions about those films, The Godfather series in my humble opinion highly overrated, and Pulp Fiction although a classic is no where near as good as Reservoir Dogs when it comes to Tarantino flicks). So for the most part this top 5 has been the same for the better part of a decade, or at least since I had been frequenting the site in 2001.

The Godfather...a rating you can't refuse?

Then just as the Joker put chaos in Gotham, the chaos began at the top of the IMDb list...but oddly enough it didn't start with The Dark Knight. Nope, it was last month's release of Wall-E that stirred things up. No other film this decade had even touched the top 10 (Return of the King, the third Lord of the Rings installment was the closest at #14) until Wall-E in its first weekend took the #1 spot with a 9.3 rating. Things did calm in the coming weeks and we now find Wall-E at #25 with a still very respectable 8.8 rating.

Wall-E now looks up at the top spot.

Then along came the Bat. Since its midnight release on July 18th, the Dark Knight has been at the #1 spot. That opening weekend it was at an astonishing 9.6 rating, about .5 points ahead of the longtime #1 Godfather. Now, given my opinions on the Godfather, I did like that another film was a the top. It just felt odd though. I know the Dark Knight is probably one of the best films I've seen this decade (even though I have a hard time actually recalling what has come out in the 2000's) but really the #1 of all time?

Since the opening, the Dark Knight has settled at 9.3 rating, still putting it at #1 while The Shawshank Redemption (probably my favorite of all time) is at #2 now with the mob classic at #3. It will probably be a couple months before we find out if the Dark Knight is just riding fanboy hype at IMDb or if it has that staying power to stay on top.

If it were my list, I would have Shawshank at #1 but I know I would have to deliberate and actually sit down and think about the rest of the list.

The Shawshank Redemption...Greatness.

My full Dark Knight review coming...

Rant: Economic Stimulus Package

To open, this is NOT complaining about getting a "tax rebate check." I rather enjoy money, especially if I didn't have to really do that much to get it. Not to get too political on this blog, but I think that the "Economic Stimulus Package" is probably the best thing George W. Bush has done while in office. Especially now since gas prices are climbing dramatically and it is the summer, the extra funds are more than welcome, especially since I'll be getting $900.

My rant is focused not on the check that will be mailed out to or direct deposited to millions of Americans. My qualms are with the way the government has chosen to notify everyone that we are getting the money. It's not enough that it's all over the news or that local Congress members and other government officials and even the President are seen over and over on CNN and Fox News and all that talking about it for months.

No. They have to send us mail.

And not just one piece of mail. Two. And that's not all.

There are billboards, newspaper ads, and even TV commercials to inform us.

And why am I mad about this? Not that I'm annoyed about seeing the ads everywhere or that I'm getting money. I'm ticked that the government feels the need to bombard us with ads and mail about how we are getting money, spending TAXPAYER money to do so. It's not that I'm mad that they are telling us we are getting money, it's thinking about how much it would cost to send out 100 million pieces of mail on taxpayer money.

I'm getting married soon and recently bought stamps. I only bought 200 regular stamps for the RSVP envelopes and 200 59 cent stamps for the large invitation envelopes. Those weren't all of the invitations we are sending out, it's only really for starters. So on a total of 400 stamps, I spent about $202. If that's just for 400 total stamps, think about how much it would cost to send not one, but two pieces of mail, NOT INCLUDING the check itself to hundreds of millions of Americans.

Don't get me wrong, I don't know the numbers. I don't know how many people are getting these rebate checks or how much it costs to send those kinds of pieces of mail, but I'm pretty sure its a damn-lot.

And that's not including all the other types of media the government is using to inform us. We all know that television advertising is hella expensive. The other day I saw an ad with a young woman talking about how she's getting a rebate check and how she's gonna spend it. But why? Why would you take out a TV ad if you have all the news networks giving you free advertising. Isn't Charles Gibson mentioning it on ABC World News or Larry King mentioning it when he's talking to economic experts about gas prices? Hell, even local news mentions those rebate checks at least twice a week.

So this is my message to the US Government: the next Economic Stimulus check that you send out (and I hope you do this again next year cuz that would be awesome) DO NOT mail out notification after notification or take out full page New York Times ads to get the word out. There is a reason why news outlets mention it three different times a broadcast. I know we waste something like $489 billion a year on the war in Iraq (not a real figure), why do we feel a need to waste more money on telling us that we are getting money. Just tell journalists about it and send us the damn check.

Okay, end of rant. Next entry will be about fun stuff.

BCS Playoffs? What Would Have Happened

If you are a college football fan like me, you are always asking and debating whether or not to have a playoff. From the first college game in 1869 between Rutgers and what is now Princeton to LSU’s drubbing of Ohio State this past January, it’s hard to believe that this is the only sport format in North America that doesn’t have a playoff system to define it’s champion.

Call it tradition, call it elitist football programs trying to keep their money in-house to preserve the status quo, call it what you may, the aging bowl system has been around since 1902 with the first Rose Bowl and even with the implementation of the Bowl Championship Series in 1998, little has changed in the way college football has determined its champion. I remember when the BCS was instituted they stated that they would determine a clear #1 and #2 to have play in a true national championship game. I found it kind of odd that only six conferences were included in the BCS conferences though (ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC, & Pac-10). They had put together two human polls and a computer ranking of the schools as well as taking into account strength of schedule and losses, intended to avoid a split national champion that occurred when Michigan was declared champion by the AP poll while Nebraska was declared champion by the Coaches poll in 1997. It was also intended to try take away the human bias of the polls to determine a champion without changing the bowl system currently in place.

The original configuration was pretty ingenious of the six “major” conferences…except for the fact that they kept “tweaking” the system, changing the way the rating system worked again after the AP declared a different national champion than the BCS in the controversial 2003 season where OU lost its only game so far that season in the Big 12 championship game but still remained at #2 to play one-loss #1 LSU while leaving one-loss #3 USC to play Michigan in the Rose Bowl. LSU won the BCS championship game while USC won against Michigan in the Rose Bowl which was good enough for the press to vote them national champions. Even with that sort of chaotic ending to a season, the 6 “major” conferences were still unwilling to take a look at instituting any sort of playoff, just changing the formula to have less emphasis on the computer rankings and strength of schedule and more on the human polls, the very thing that the original BCS was supposed to reduce. In the latest season with so many worthy two-loss teams that could have played one-loss Ohio State in the finale, like red-hot teams Georgia, USC, and Oklahoma or even the eventual champion LSU, there were many fans and press calling out for a change in the system. As a fan, I would have liked to see any one of those teams play for a chance at the title, especially my Sooners of course (I’d rather see them in the championship game than in another Fiesta Bowl if you ask me).

That change did not happen, as earlier this month the BCS conferences convened and decided not to take up a proposed “plus-one” format where two of the BCS bowls would act as a semi-final matchup where #1 vs. #4 and #2 vs. #3 would meet and then the winners of those two would meet in the BCS championship game. But what if they actually voted and approved of such a measure?

Surely, the “plus-one” format would only be a transition into a playoff system. What would be an ideal playoff system for the formally Division I-A college football? The Meat decided to take a look at that and see what a college football playoff would look like. With the help of my future brother-in-law Kevin, we took a look at what we think it would look like, trying to appease to both the hardcore college football fan as well as the heads of the BCS conferences.

We pretty much looked at what we could do to keep a lot of the same elements in the current bowl system alive as well as implementing the playoff. We figured 16 teams would be ideal for big-time college football. Anything bigger would be unimaginable and would take longer than the winter break these kids get from school. To keep the BCS system to appease the conference heads, we would use the existing BCS rankings to help determine which teams get in, that way no one can complain about a committee choosing who gets to play like in the March Madness of college basketball. Same rules apply to getting into the playoffs as getting into a BCS bowl: must win conference for automatic bid for the following conferences: ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC, Pac-10. Notre Dame must finish in the top 12 to be eligible for the playoffs. At-large bids are given out to remaining teams from the BCS conferences finishing in the top 16. Any team belonging to a conference outside the BCS must finish in the top 16 to get an at-large bid into the playoffs. With the preservation of these rules, it would be hard for the BCS conferences not to take this up.

For fun, just to see who would have ended up on top, Kevin and I set up a bracket with the teams in the top 16 of the final 2007 BCS rankings and will play out those games on EA Sports NCAA Football 08. The next entry will outline the top 16 and the matchups as well as the results of that first round.

The Curse of the University of Phoenix Stadium

Last Sunday an average of 97.5 million people watched as the heavily favored and previously unbeaten New England Patriots lose to the hot New York Giants in this years’ Super Bowl. A record viewership saw another favored team lose to an underdog at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. But little did that humungo group of people know that the Patriots loss is a curse (and Boston sports fans are kind of familiar with curses).

The Patriots become the third team in a row in four games to lose a game where the stadium is used in a neutral-site, championship/bowl type atmosphere. I initially noticed this since my University of Oklahoma Sooners lost not one but two Fiesta Bowls at the exact site back-to-back years now, both years being favored to win. Although it serves the Arizona Cardinals as a pretty nice home (the Cardinals were 6-2 this season at home, but not really sure how many of those games they were actually favored to win), it does bring up an interesting set of circumstances when the facility is used as a neutral site. Although it is really too early to call it a curse, the evidence is compelling.

We’ll start with the 2007 and 2008 Fiesta Bowls that Oklahoma played.

The first was the legendary game against Boise State. Depicted beforehand as a “David vs. Goliath” matchup, the 11-2 Sooners were a 7.5 point favorite to the 12-0 Broncos. A curious match featured two teams from distinctly different pedigree: OU is blue blood, elite program going through one of the most challenging year given the Bomar issue and losing their Heisman-worthy star AD mid-season; while Boise a Cinderella story, coming up from obscurity and playing in a conference of mediocrity to land in a BCS bowl. This game was seemingly an upset by midway through the third quarter when Boise led 28-10, but the Sooners miraculously not only tie the game but take the lead on an interception with about a minute and a half to go. But the fates were on the side of the Broncos that night, as not one, not two, but three trick plays (two of which were on fourth down) gave them the victory and downed the first favored team on this field.

The second Oklahoma Fiesta Bowl at University of Phoenix Stadium was more of a choke-fest than anything else. Favored 6.5 points to the 10-2 West Virginia Mountaineers, the 11-2 Oklahoma Sooners were looking to take advantage of the broken-shell of the Mountaineers. With their devastating loss to arch-rival Pittsburgh in the regular season finale as well as the defection of head coach Rich Rodriguez to Michigan, West Virginia seems as if they were going to be lost in the distractions of the layoff period before the bowl game. I guess the Sooners banked on that happening, at least that’s the way it looked when they finally played the game. OU was crushed handedly by then interim and now official head coach Bill Stewart and his Mountaineers squad 48-28. At times the Sooners looked almost like they were going at snail’s pace compared to the WV speed spread option attack.

And those were just the Fiesta Bowls. There were two championship games played so far in the stadium: the 2007 BCS National Championship and the Super Bowl XLII.
Going into the BCS game, the Ohio State University Buckeyes were 12-0. Fresh off an epic 42-39 victory over rival and then #2 Michigan Wolverines, as well as a Heisman Trophy win for QB Troy Smith and about two months between playing any sort of real football games, the Buckeyes were a 7 point favorite to the 12-1 Florida Gators. The game was more or less supposed to be a game to crown the Buckeyes, as no other team from a big time conference had gone undefeated. Other than the kickoff return for a touchdown by Ted Ginn Jr. to start the game, Ohio State was dominated in all phases of the game. The Gators trampled the Bucks 41-14, making not only Ohio State look slow, but creating an unreasonable assumption that the entire Big Ten conference was slow especially compared with the SEC that Florida resides.

Another team supposed to be crown not only a world champion but the best of all time, the Patriots, fell victim to being favored in this stadium of favored-team slaughterhouse. Some had a feeling the 12 points New England was kind of high, seeing as each of their three championships won this past decade had been within 3 points. Most thought it would be a close game, but none thought New York would pull through a victory.

That is, until Eli Manning miraculously fights out of a tackle, scrambles and finds David Tyree 30 yards downfield. The pass almost seemed perfect for interception, as it floated forever. Tyree leaps up to grab it out of the air as the Patriot defenders helplessly try to knock the ball out of the leaper’s hands. As Tyree falls to the ground, he grips the ball between his hands and his head. Some are now calling it one of the greatest plays in Super Bowl history, turning a special teams receiver into a legend, a underachieving quarterback to a big game star, and turning a team of destiny to a team of failure.

If this indeed is a curse, wrecking the New England Destiny Patriots is the peak of such a curse. Inevitably the curse shall be broken, as most curses are, but for now this one will haunt not only college teams in their bowl games, but the 2007 “Perfect” Patriots. And being an OU fan, since the Fiesta Bowl is designated for a Big 12 Champ not going to the national title game, I hope OU breaks the curse soon or makes it to the title game.

Oh, and the University of Phoenix Stadium is in the running to host the 2012 Super Bowl. We’ll see if the curse is broken by then.

Other Notable Curses:

Susan Lucci – Not sports related, but impressive 18 years going without a Daytime Emmy even after being nominated almost every year. Wasn’t until 1999 where she won her first Emmy. She has won one other one since then.

The Curse of the Billy Goat – During the 1945 World Series, the Chicago Cubs kicked out a Greek immigrant and his goat. The gentleman curses the team and leaves the country and the Cubs have not been able to even advance past the league championship. The last time they won a World Series was in 1908.

The Curse of 1940 – New York Rangers owner burns the mortgage of Madison Square Garden in the Stanley Cup, desecrating the sacred trophy. Rangers don’t win the Cup until 1994, 54 years after. With Mark Messier’s legendary picture of being given the Stanley Cup in manic laughter and signs from fans like “Now I Can Die In Peace,” the curse was thought to be broken. The Rangers since then have been a perennial disappointment, being one of the highest spending teams and probably the most underachieving team in the league.

The Madden Curse – Since EA Sports has started putting someone on the cover of the yearly Madden NFL Football game, each player featured on the cover has seen a significant decrease in production, a season ending injury, or both. Curse started when San Francisco 49ers runningback Garrison Hearst had a career season in 1998, rushing for over 1500 yards. On the 49ers playoff run, Hearst was injured in the game against the Atlanta Falcons, ultimately ending their chance to win the game and the 49ers playoff streak as the next year Steve Young retires due to concussions and the Niners fail to make the playoffs for the first time in 17 years.

The Heisman Curse – In the 2000s, only two Heisman winners have won their following bowl games: Carson Palmer and Matt Leinhart both from USC. And overall, most find it hard to follow up and find success in the next level in the NFL.

The Curse of the Bambino – At the end of 1919, the Boston Red Sox sell Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees, turning the Yankees from cellar-dweller to the most successful sports franchise of all time and the Red Sox from best in the majors to the team that always falls short of winning the World Series. The curse was blamed for every major mishap including the famous in-field error by first baseman Bill Buckner. The curse ended in 2004 when the Sox not only came back from 3-0 in the ALCS against the Yankees to win the AL but then swept the Cardinals in the World Series. They won their second in four years in 2007.