Lashley Beats Sapp

Just a quick one tonight...

So, former ECW Champion Bobby Lashley defeated former IWGP Champion Bob Sapp tonight in a battle of former pro wrestlers turned MMA stars [or in Sapp's case, a former MMA star turned pro wrestler turned foreign megastar turned occasional MMA star.]

Sapp, as usual, came in far too heavy in my estimation and probably nowhere near ready for a fight with someone who might actually put on a good fight. Lashley, a former collegiate wrestling standout, took Sapp down with ease and pounded him out for an easy win.

No big shock at all.

But the question remains - is that enough to gain Dana White's interest? I'm not sure how eager Dana will be to have another former WWE wrestler on his roster even though Brock has turned out pretty well so far. I'm guessing Lashley's not there yet - maybe a few more wins [against decent competition] will do it.

The other question? How many more losses can Sapp endure before he looks for a paycheck elsewhere? The WWE's interest in him has long been rumored and it's starting to sound to me like it might be a good place for him if he can handle not being an instant megastar. I'm guessing he might also have to put up with a duffel bag full of shit or two.

An interesting crossroads for one MMA competitor on the way up and one definitely on the way down.

A Fitting Tribute

Now THAT'S how you say goodbye to the King of Pop. That's the Top 10 albums on the iTunes Music Store right now.

Weird Day

You know, there are days in writing a blog that you update every day where you just can not figure out what the fuck to write. There are days where there just seems to be absolutely nothing going on to write about. Those are days where you get YouTube videos or random comments about a few bullshit stories.

But good lord has the past couple of days been nutty.

The Shaq deal? The Vince Carter deal? The NBA Draft? Manny in the Minors [great reality series idea!]? And that's just on the sports page.

If you're on the front page, you might read about Iran or North Korea - the latter of which apparently promised to rain nuclear hellfire upon the United States on a moment's notice if they get... what? Offended? Bored? And once again, we see what a friggin' waste of time pissing around in Iraq was while these crazy fucks still get to... oh, I don't know... RUN A FUCKING COUNTRY!

The Entertainment section is a bit of a bummer. Ed McMahon? Dead. Farrah Fawcett? Dead. But while I think it's sad that they're dead for their friends and families as well as all of their fans, those don't really hit me too hard.

But Michael Jackson? Fuuuuuck.

And yes, I spent the bulk of the day fielding really tasteless jokes via text, e-mail, and in person about his death. Yes, some of them were amusing but... man... that shit's harsh. The guy died and there's a slew of child molesting jokes making the rounds before the body's cold.

Whatever. I prefer to think of Michael Jackson as the amazing artist that provided so much brilliant music and inspired so many current and future artists to even get involved in the music business. Sure, he was "eccentric" if you want to be nice and flat out fucking nuts if you're "keepin' it real." But that doesn't take away from the fantastic music he made.

One of my co-workers compared it to the day that Lennon died. Not sure I can disagree a ton with that. It's a huge day in music history and to see it reduced to a bunch of "Ha ha, he fucked kids!" jokes is kind of a bummer.

Not that I'm condoning fucking kids! But... well, maybe Benoit set the bar pretty high for how much of a fuckstain on the sheets of life you have to be before I don't at least think it's a shame you died.

Plus, there's the whole innocent until proven guilty thing that Americans only like to use when it benefits them. The court of public opinion has never believed in such a premise and likely never will.

Eh. Whatever. I'm babbling.

But "Billie Jean" is and always will be one of my favorite songs ever and it makes me sad to think I've forever lost the chance that I might someday get to see it performed live.

Oh, like you wouldn't have gone to see him in concert! Keep telling yourself that.

R.I.P. for the one and only King of Pop.

Blue's Reviews: Party Down

With the X-Box 360 back in play and a free Live membership for a month in hand, I decided it was an opportune time to try and get the 360 on the wireless network again without paying for the ridiculously overpriced Microsoft Wireless Adapter.  With a loaner Airport Extreme and a little more effort than I would've liked, the network had a new addition to the family.  The first thing I wanted to try was not online gaming but rather the Watch Instantly feature on Netflix.


As the kids would say...


OMG!


It's simply awesome to be able to stream movies and TV shows across the 360 and watch them on the television.  One of the first things I had looked for was the Starz series Party Down.  Party Down was of special interest to me since it was co-created by Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas [no, not THAT Rob Thomas] and featured a lot of the VM stars.  It's kind of a "class reunion" of sorts.


But that's just the hook.  The best part of it is that this comedy series about a bunch of aspiring or failed actors working in a party catering company is actually god damn hilarious.  It has fun characters that you instantly can relate to and develop a feeling one way or another for.  It's got pretty decent storytelling with both the main characters as well as the guest stars involved.  


And in true comedic fashion... it's got the quotables, my favorite of which was a three way tie.


1)  "SNAP, MOTHERFUCKERS!" - So, so simple.  So, so glorious.
2)  "I think they prefer to be called Jigroes" - Hehehehehehehehe.
3)  "Jim Abbott" - 'nuff said.


Now, you're sitting there thinking I'm a tremendous jackass for putting in those quotables and not explaining the context of them, right?


WRONG!


That's my way of getting you to go out and watch Party Down.  If you're a fan of Veronica Mars especially or just a fan of comedy in the vein of The Office but a little bit darker and more cynical, you'll dig it muchly.

Some NBA Stuff

You'd think with the season just ending, we'd have no NBA stuff going on right now but...

Spurs Trade Bowen!
I don't even give a fuck about the rest of the trade but Bowen's gone!  No more fear that Kobe's going to be seriously injured in every Spurs/Lakers game.  No more of this...




Ray Allen On Trade Block
Looks like the Celtics are ready to break down their team already. Ray Allen's on the trading block along with Rajon Rondo as they apparently recently attempted to play Let's Make A Deal with the Pistons, trying to pick up Rip Hamilton among others. Interesting. I can't decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing.


Phil Wants To Only Coach At Home
...what?

Random Thoughts

Just a few notes on some of my shared Google News from the past few days...

"Moneyball" Apparently Dead

Bah! I knew it was too good to be true. For months, we've been hearing about the plans to turn the book about Billy Beane and his success in rebuilding the Oakland A's time and time again using statistical analysis over more traditional baseball scouting into a "major motion picture." Brad Pitt was attached to star with Steven Soderbergh [did I spell that right?] directing. But as of today, the movie was killed in what appears to be a studio decision regarding a creative conflict. According to the folks at /film, Sony wanted a "more traditional" sports movie out of it. Sometimes I wonder why I aspire to be involved in that business.

Bryan Fuller A Hero No More

Genius scribe Bryan Fuller of Pushing Daisies and Wonderfalls fame returned to Heroes to much ballyhoo late last season, apparently giving the show a much needed creative boost towards its former greatness. In fact, the end of the season got such good buzz, I was thinking of watching the eps I missed this summer. Today, Fuller revealed that he'd be leaving Heroes yet again... and millions of fanboys wept bitter tears.

Pitching, Pitching, Pitching

One look over the weekend at Joe Torre's absolutely brutal handling of the bullpen has Dodger fans getting nervous about stretch time. Apparently Ned Coletti feels the same way and is apparently on the hunt for another starter to boost the rotation. Pedro Martinez seems to not be on the radar at the moment and hasn't been since Spring Training according to Torre. The rumored name of the day? Former Angel Jarrod Washburn. Since I rarely watch AL games, anyone know how Washburn is doing? Personally, I think the bullpen could use an extra bullet stopper or two because with the amount of innings they're getting, an injury seems inevitable to me.

Neve Campbell Too Busy Being Nobody To Film Scream 4

One of the hottest stories as of late has been the potential relaunch of the Scream franchise with three new movies. Wes Craven's been courted to direct with former WCW World Champion David Arquette and Courtney "Hey, Weren't You In Friends?" Cox apparently ready to earn a paycheck as well. It's a new story so it seems a little odd to need the ol' gang again. When news hit that Campbell had turned down the role that made her [sorta] famous, writer Kevin Williamson seemed quite distraught about it, wondering if he could figure out a way to do the story without her. Anyone else thinking she was supposed to be the killer? Yeah, me too.

Jobs Returns As iPhone 3GS Sells Huge

I don't really have anything to add to this but...

Have I Mentioned I Hate Joe Morgan?

Arrogant piece of shit has the gall to say after the Dodgers beat the Angels tonight that "I think people are finally starting to take the Dodgers seriously."

Are you fucking joking?

The team's had the best record in baseball for the majority of the first half of the season.  We're almost to the All-Star Break and they're leading their division by eight games or so.  They thrived when everyone thought they'd fold when Manny went down to suspension.

And yes, "it's still early."  And yes, this could all turn in a hurry but...

Was no one taking the Dodgers seriously all those weeks they were on top of the Power Rankings for Yahoo, ESPN, SI, and all the rest of the top sports news sites?

Fucking Joe Morgan.  I wish the Dodgers would NEVER be shown on ESPN.