Archive for January, 2010

I don’t particularly fool with Slim and Baby’s musical progeny (with the exception of Weezy just a little bit, and the unfortunately catchy “I’m Still Fly”), but I cannot be mad at this:

Cash Money Records co-founders, Birdman and Ronald “Slim” Williams are trying their hands in another business venture outside the music world. They’re now expanding their portfolios into the oil business.

The New Orleans-bred brothers have launched an independent oil and gas company called Bronald Oil & Gas.

Via the company’s mission station on their website, BronaldOil.com, they say their initial focus is the “exploration, production and development of oil and gas reserves from conventional and unconventional formations.”

For a number of reasons, I hope the succeed.

– and his name is Brett Favre.

Look at the video proof:

I’m really late with this one, but here we go.

You Are The Way You Are (instrumental) – Marvin Gaye
Master Teacher – Erykah Badu (the 2nd half is like a warm spring after a hard winter.)
Buttercup – Jackson 5
Under The Cherry Moon Scene? – Prince? (I really don’t know how to label this one, except that it comes from a scene in Under The Cherry Moon, which was Prince’s movie. What I DO know is that it seems to be one of Marley Marl’s favorite break beats, and it’s also one of mine. And I was listening to that joint awwwlllll the time.
Capricorn – Cannonball Adderley (the cool vibes version)
My Help – Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir
Cold Feet – Albert King
Thank You Master For My Soul – Donny Hathaway
Reach For It – George Duke
When My Words R Few – Tonex
Blairtree Road – Tonex
Home At Last – Steely Dan
Every Time I Feel The Spirit – Cosmopolitan Church of Prayer Choir
D.O.A. (Death of Autotune) – Jay-Z
Good Morning – John Legend

The GOAT is LXVII

Kal El didn’t want none.

As far as spectator sports go, I’m a football dude. I pay attention to basketball from time to time, and baseball during the playoffs (if the Phillies are in it), but if it’s fall or winter, and I’m only gonna watch one thing on television that week, then odds are, it’s gonna be football — most likely, the NFL. Having seen a lot, suffice it to say I was stunned when I saw this from the Wall Street Journal:

According to a Wall Street Journal study of four recent broadcasts, and similar estimates by researchers, the average amount of time the ball is in play on the field during an NFL game is about 11 minutes.

In other words, if you tally up everything that happens between the time the ball is snapped and the play is whistled dead by the officials, there’s barely enough time to prepare a hard-boiled egg. In fact, the average telecast devotes 56% more time to showing replays.

So what do the networks do with the other 174 minutes in a typical broadcast? Not surprisingly, commercials take up about an hour. As many as 75 minutes, or about 60% of the total air time, excluding commercials, is spent on shots of players huddling, standing at the line of scrimmage or just generally milling about between snaps. In the four broadcasts The Journal studied, injured players got six more seconds of camera time than celebrating players. While the network announcers showed up on screen for just 30 seconds, shots of the head coaches and referees took up about 7% of the average show.

That’s amazing. I know a lotta people who say football is an overrated sport will have a field day with these numbers. But what I would say to them (not what I will say, because I really don’t know anybody who completely dislikes football) is this: the time that pieces are actually moving during a chess match is miniscule compared to the time it takes to complete a game. While football is a lot more physical, it is very much a strategic game along the lines of chess. No skilled chess player just moves pieces willy-nilly all over the board so they can have more time with pieces moved, they take their time and select the right move based on the situation. Same thing here. A football coach changes plays and player packages based on the moves he wants to give himself the option to make.

(As a side note, I often wonder how baseball managers get to be known as tacticians for moving players around the infield or putting a right handed pitcher against a left-handed batter, but football coaches are not thought of as tacticians in the same way, when they actually call specific plays designed to exploit the opponent’s weakness.)

Every year, it’s the same thing, only this year the good part wasn’t quite as good and the yucky part is many, many times worse.

About midway through last season, after McNabb got benched against the Ravens, I thought it was a wrap for him in Philly. He and the Eagles proved me wrong with a magical run to the NFC Championship, where they were ultimately outdone by an even more magical team with a more magical quarterback. This year seems to have been the opposite. Early on, they were kinda suspect, but midway through the season and going into the 4th quarter of the season, people were arguing that they might have been the best team in the NFC. Then the wheels fell off. Big time.

Andy Reid just got a contract extension, so we know he’s not going anywhere. Which means that Donovan is likely out the door. I don’t worry about professional athletes, much less feel sorry for them. Not while they’re still playing, at least. But I do wish McNabb had managed to get four more points on the board back in January of 05. I’ve always said that he would be an Elway type, winning his championship in the latter part of his career. Had Andy Reid ever developed a run-first mentality, I think the Eagles would have a ring or two by now. Given that he didn’t, Donovan will be forced to try his hand elsewhere. Wherever he goes, I hope they have a stable running game and a good line.

Meanwhile, let’s go…oh. They’re at home, too.

It’s been a long time…I shouldn’a left you… (c) Rakim

Mediamonkey is serenading this morning, and it brings up The Way We Were by Gladys Knight. In the intro to that song, she points out that “We look back and we think, the winters were warmer, the grass was greener…” because those were the good ole days. But, she notes that there are some people for whom today, as bad as we seem to think it is, will be the good ole days. Moreover, there are people who look on our “good ole days” with disdain. People do this all the time, and on a variety of the topics, but two of the areas where I notice it most are with sports and music.

Thomas Sowell brought this to mind a couple days ago, as he waxed nostalgic over heavyweight fighters from yesteryear. Implicit in his piece was a critique of The Greatest, although Sowell never mentioned him – or any of his contemporaries – by name. That’s why to me, it’s mostly a ‘good ole days’ piece, and not a boxing piece. But instead of talking about it on that level, I think I’m gonna focus on the boxing piece. Some of these are points I’ve made before, but they may bear repeating.

I know there are a lot of people who think that Joe Louis was the greatest heavyweight champion of all time; i knew some of them personally. I disagree strongly. I still ride hard for Ali. While there were some people for whom Ali’s antics were off-putting, what they failed to realize then (and apparently still do) is that after play time was over, dude’s knuckle game was supreme. Put it like this: the two fighters he beat to gain the title (we ain’t gon’ talk about regaining the title just yet) were widely held to be indomitable. We can go to the tape on what Big George was doin to people in 1974, but Sonny Liston was pretty much the equivalent in 1964. In fact, when Liston had the belt, there was talk that he might be at the top of the pantheon. But Ali beat them both. That would be enough to do it, but then you also hafta add in the fact that he beat each of them using completely different styles. The Ali that George fought wasn’t the same fighter as the one who decked Liston. That cannot be discounted.

Speaking of “discounted,” the only knock I have on Louis — and this is not a knock on him, really — is the level of competition. Ali once joked that Louis had a “bum of the month” club. Honestly, I don’t know if it’s possible to hold the belt for a good period of time without going through some fighters who aren’t quite at the top of the heap, but I don’t think there’s any question that Ali reigned over a much better crop of fighters than did any of the other champions. You could take any of the top 10 from 72-82, for instance, and they would pretty much break up any other era. Even the bottom half of that top 10 would be championship caliber in most eras.

All that to say, here’s a top 10:

1. Muhammad Ali
2. Joe Louis
3. Larry Holmes (Yeah, I said it.)
4. Jack Johnson
5. Rocky Marciano
6. Jack Johnson
7. Evander Holyfield
8. Jack Dempsey
9. George Foreman
10. Joe Frazier

No Tyson. Mike’s my man and all, but there are some fighters you cannot lose to and retain any kind of ‘all-time’ status. Buster Douglas is on that list.