It is about the game and only the game.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

It is about the game and only the game.


I have lived in or around LA most of my life and consider my self a sports fan, not really a LA sports fan, but a sports fan. College football seems to be a passion right now and it used to be the NFL but ESPN, FOX, CBS and NBC have hyped the games so much that it is hard to see the game thru the lengthy commercials and the promos for their own shows, WHILE THE GAME IS BEING PLAYED. All of the pre-game shows are brutal to watch, to follow and seemed to be geared to the fair weathered fan. Very little game information is shown or presented just lots of hype about a players struggle when they were growing up, or the sibling that is sick, ill or dead, or the “foundation” they set up to help the disadvantaged. We get the pre-requisite comedic interview with a player, coach or team executive that is continually teased but fails to deliver any valuable information. We also get comments from the studio hosts about what it was like when they played and one of the ex-players always, ALWAYS, supports one of their buddies in trouble or in the doghouse for a bad performance, “He’s just misunderstood”.

ESPN is the worst with the NFL on Monday Night Football. Now that they have the game the hype, commercials, promos, crossovers, and Chris Berman and Stewart Scott are too much to handle. They, (ESPN) believe it is all about ESPN and we all watch just to see ESPN and to listen to Berman ramble on and on and make sound effects while showing highlights. The nicknames have always been lame and Stewart Scott, Do you really have a degree in journalism or has someone convinced you that what your doing is actually reporting? Why do you feel the need to introduce to the world new words for the English language?

I used to tape the show on ESPN that Ron Jaworski had on Monday afternoons before the game was on ABC and it was the best show about football ever. He would explain defenses and show on film the difference between “cover 2”, “nickel” and “dime” packages. Tendencies, trends and actual game film were presented, no player profiles. The show generated from the NFL Film studios in NJ and presented FOOTBALL and nothing else. I believe it was called Monday Night Match-up; it seems to have disappeared from ESPN’s MNF schedule only to be replaced by Chris Berman’s idiotic variety show.

ESPN has somehow convinced it self that the majority of its viewers had no life before MNF on ESPN and if we don’t watch all of their shows we are just missing out on the greatest event on TV. It still is called Monday Night FOOTBALL, not The Monday Night Television Special. I believe that they will eventually fail or at least change the substance of their programming because they broke the rule that dooms sports broadcasting; it is about the game and only the game. I now move on to what happened last night in LA.

I used to go to 5-10 Dodger games a year but it got to be expensive and a really long night. 1–2 hours down to the stadium, game time plus a 1-hour drive home. Last night while I was cleaning up around the house and I had the Dodger vs. Padres game on Fox Prime, (pick a name guys and stick with it will you) in the
den and I convinced myself to go to bed when the game ended. I was wrapping up my house cleaning when it was bottom of the ninth, the Dodgers down to the Padres 9-5. Game over I thought, but then I saw the greatest end to a baseball game ever, EVER.

Four home runs in a row from the Dodgers to come from behind to tie the game and then Nomar hits the walk off in the 11th to beat the Padres and the Dodgers regain the lead in the west. First Jeff Kent, then JD Drew and that’s when it got a little interesting. Future Hall of Fame reliever for the Padres Trevor Hoffman comes in and on his first pitch Russell Martin goes deep, WHOOO HOOO. Dodgers are down by one and then Marlon Anderson drives in the game tying shot. I scream aloud and realize it late but four home runs in a row wow, I’ve never seen that before and to tie up the game in the bottom of the ninth time to stop cleaning and pay attention.

The Padres score 1 in the top of the tenth and with Kenny Lofton at first base with a walk; Nomar hits the game winner and gives a little arm pump, and the Dodgers are back in first place.

Welcome back Peter Gammons it’s good to know you are OK.

It was time to go bed with a little smile on my face.

Remember it isn’t the destination it’s the journey.

September 19th, 2006

It is 78 degrees today and a beautiful day except for all of the smoke and ash from the “Day” fire. It looks like it will be a tough night for sleep; all of the windows will be closed which means the house will heat up. Going riding Wednesday up in Santa Ynez at a new Motocross Track for my brothers birthday, place looks great and it should be fun. Check it out at www.zacastationmx.com


I am amazed at the response to my RANT about my missing music CD’s. Most were sympathetic, some pointed out that it was my own damn fault for not “backing up” etc. Two comments were made by ladies that felt I got what I deserved? Hmmm friends of the ex-girlfriend maybe? I was very pleasantly surprised to be picked as the “RANT” of the day from blogoftheday.org.

But the winner was from the ex-girlfriend; yep she read the blog, “Just to hear the latest and greatest” She made a few choice comments but that still doesn’t solve the case of the “missing” CD’S” Sounds like one of those “Two Minute Mystery” books I read in elementary school.

My CD’S are still:
· Stolen
· Missing
· Lost
· Thrown Away
· Borrowed
· Destroyed
· Donated, (Yep my favorite response.)
· Sold

Pick one, pick anyone they are still GONE!!!

I started the process of replacing my “LOST” (Does that make YOU feel better?) music this weekend. I purchased3 CD’s for $57.00. I am guessing that I will be spending a lot of time at the music stores in the county hunting for freaking sales, deals and bargains. I am not a ebay guy and it is not worth the hassle of buying a used CD for $3.00 only to find out that the disc is a copy or missing. Brick and Mortar still have a place in business/retail. I am sure that replacing the “missing” will take 6-months to year with my time and my budget.

Remember it isn’t the destination it’s the journey.

why is this important?

BECAUSE IT ISN"T!

WTF where did they go?

Yes this is a rant, a rage, a mother f@*&^%$ pissed off complaint.

OK, I am the guy that buys a music CD for just one song. I know downloading is simple and easy, but I can’t do it. If I wrote a song, played on a track, wrote a book, story, etc and someone distributed it to the world and I didn’t get my compensation I would be enraged. Why is it not ok to steal someone’s car, their jewelry or their money but its ok to take their blood, sweat and effort and their work? Well it isn’t cool to steal anything, period.

I like apples itunes because I have to pay and it is my song, (for better or worse). Their software leaves a little to be desired and that’s where this all begins. I have downloaded only a handful of songs because if you lose your library, those purchased songs are pretty much gone forever.

I lost my itunes library; normally no big deal but I am the guy with 1200 CD’s, (well I used to be), I thought backing it up would save me, nope. I will have to fix this for the future but I did manage to save a text of all of songs and I have. My library is 99% music from the original CD’s I bought. I still have the first CD I bought in the 80’s, (Hall & Oates for some strange reason)

I purchase a new hard drive and an external drive for backing up. Everything is ready and I begin to pull the CD’s off the shelves and stack them up so I can reload the tracks I want save. To my horror nearly 100 CD’s are gone, missing, disappeared. My .txt file was dated in early 2001, so I have a clue about what happened to most of them.

I don’t loan CD’s, I don’t lose them, and I protect them, I catalog and keep them on shelves sorted by artist. Yeah I know a little weird but if I spend my hard earned cash on something I try to make it last. So as I go thru my list from 5 years ago I start to realize that some discs are not in the jewel case and some are missing completely.

I lived with my ex-girlfriend and her kids for a few years and my music was their music. Everything was available to everyone, just a library for everyone to use. Her kids didn’t listen to my music but it was all out there for ANYONE to look at, use, or take. The CD’S were kept on shelves in the den where her friends and family slept when they stayed overnight. I can’t prove a thing but the music was there when I moved in and it isn’t now. Her friends, family and who knows who was in the den to sleep over or visit, so its possible that 10-15 people could be to blame. Yes BLAME!!

I know she took the Beatles White Album, Eric Clapton’s 24 Nights and few others that she admitted to and it didn’t sit well with me and when I asked for them back, I received nothing. She now lives across the country so I can’t drive over and pick them up and I don’t owe her money, I didn’t cheat, she didn’t cheat, and we just broke up and moved on. I didn’t take any of her possessions and up until this weekend I thought it was a couple of CD’s, Jesus Mother F*&^ Christ was I wrong.

100 goddamn CD’s gone, like I said I have no proof but the signs point to an inside job. Yeah I am pissed but I can’t do a damn thing about it but vent, rant and rage. I know it was a few years ago but the CD’S have been sealed in locked trunks in a locked storage container and I have the only key and combination, NO ONE ELSE and no tampering excuses, all of the seals were still in place.



Some CD’s are just gone, some are missing the liner notes, some are missing just the CD’s:

Big Head Todd & the Monsters, (Strategem) gone
Eric Clapton, (24 Nights) gone
Eric Clapton, (Unplugged) gone
Beatles, (Anthology) gone
Beatles, (White Album) gone
Jimmy Buffet, (Greatest Hits) gone
Jackson Browne, (Greatest Hits) gone
Swingin’ Singles, (Cocktail Mix) gone
Schoolhouse rock, (Grammer Rock) gone
Led Zeppelin, (Houses of the Holy) gone


OK too many to list so I will just list a few artists:

Styx, Rolling Stones, Stray Cats, Dire Straits, ELO, U2, Oingo Boingo, Joe Walsh, No Doubt, Pearl Jam, (Pearl Jam, really hurts) Tom Petty, Johnny Mathis, Carol King, Green Day, The Clash, Brian Setzer, The Talking Heads, Bach, Mozart, Count Basie, Benny Goodwin, Harry Connick Jr., REM, Pink Floyd; just to name a few of the “MISSING”


THEYARE GONE, FUCKING GONE !!

I now have a printed list of the “MISSING MUSIC” pasted in my Moleskin so I can replace the “STOLEN” music with new purchases.

I really need to get over this and just replace what was taken from me and move on but somehow I know it was more than, “Oops, I’m sorry. I didn’t know it was in my CD case.”

I know that it is just music after all and it is replaceable, yet today I am so bent out of shape about all of this. No proof, just suspects and an expensive lesson in relationships.