Monday, January 14, 2008

Well, Folks, When You're Right 52% of the Time, You're Also Wrong 48% of the Time

Yeah we know, why didn't Rickey say that before? No reason in particular. But bear in mind that even the most wizened sports commentators are rarely more than a few games over .500 in their NFL picks. So all things considered, Rickey is fairly content with his 2-2 prediction record from this past weekend. Hey, let’s see you try making football predictions in a season in which Eli, not Peyton, is the Manning son to advance to the Championship round. We’re just happy to live in a world in which Jerry Jones is pissed off and Nick Lachey is gloating. In short, life is good for an on again, off again Giants fan with a severe loathing of the Dallas Cowboys and anyone or anything else originating from the state of Texas.

We sincerely hope you didn’t wager anything more meaningful than pocket lint on any of Rickey’s picks and we’ll be back at the end of the week with Rickey’s picks for the NFC and AFC championship games. While we’re rather tight lipped about our forecasts, without giving anything away, we can tell you that the results of those games will lead to the Superbowl being played in Arizona this year. Oh yeah, and the Tom Petty Superbowl Halftime Show will rock you silly (ya think he’ll play “American Girl”? He’s just got to, right?)

You music aficionados out there will be pleased to know that over the weekend Rickey updated “Rickey’s Rhythms,” the musical playlist embedded here in this site. Frankly, other than occasionally showering and doing the dishes, it was the most productive thing Rickey did all weekend, so consider yourselves fortunate to be the recipients of the fruits of our considerable labor. Apparently there was much grumbling about a preponderance of Deathcab for Cutie & Eels songs in the playlist. So we went ahead and tried to balance it out by adding a few hundred more songs: a little bit more classic rock, some gold old timey 1990’s alt-rock, and a dash of indie songs.

Of all the additions, Rickey’s personal favorite would have to be “Knights of Cydonia” by Muse. It’s a weird song, but strangely motivational and epic at the same time. The kind of song that makes Rickey want to charge headfirst through a goddamned brick wall. The kind of song that Teddy Roosevelt would put on his ipod playlist and charge off into the sunset to (assuming that Teddy wouldn’t be confused and enraged by 21st Century technological capabilities).

Finally, in Rickey's obligatory Monday morning "The Wire" wrap up, we felt that last night's episode was way the hell too contrived. Jimmy McNulty rearranging a crime scene to make it look like the work of a serial killer? A Jason Blaire inspired storyline about a reporter fudging a story? Avon Barksdale suddenly showing up out of nowhere? Reporters sitting around having a very meta conversation about how “Dickensian” the Baltimore education system is? Yeah, the writers have gotten a little full of themselves all of a sudden... The writers need to dial down the didacticism and get back to that brooding urban environment that made the show so great in the first place. Just our two cents.

Enjoy your Monday folks. And remember to click hither. Rickey’s not nearly as loved by anonymous internet strangers as he feels he should be.

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13 comments:

Unknown said...
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Unknown said...

(take two)

Au contraire, I quite enjoyed last night's episode. The only thing that I felt held the storyline back is the Bubbles subplot (how many times can an audience withstand the sight of a man staring timidly at babies and junkies?).

Oh, and yesterday's victory of the Giants of New York against the Cowboys of Dallas was a most thrilling experience, if only because it proved that Tony Romo is the ultimate fraggle.

Noah said...

Smitty and his whole family rejoiced in the tearful Terrel Owens post-game interview. Cry, Terrel. Cry.

Smitty also predicts that Green Bay actually has a chance of beating the Patriots.

robkroese said...

I love that Muse song. You can play it on Guitar Hero 3. That whole CD is excellent.

Rickey said...

Ed: it was a good episode and Rickey's on board for the season, but it just felt a little too self referential and full of itself at times.

Is it bad that Rickey enjoyed that new Terminator show?

Smitty: after their last appearance against the Pats, the Giants have an equally decent shot of beating them as well. Next sunday is going to be a terrific game.

Diesel: yep, it was GHIII that got Rickey hooked on that song too.

michael o. said...

Knights of Cydonia is pretty badass. Muse is pretty damn good overall and if you are not an owner of Absolution or Black Holes & Revelations, I suggest you change that post haste. The earlier stuff is good, but not as grandiose, which is part of the allure.

Knights of Cydonia of Cydonia on Guitar Hero III is pretty hard on medium. I'm 0 for 2 so far and I've spent most of the morning rehashing the events of last night to see what I could have done differently. They shut me down at 98% after the wheels fell off the bus. I had nightmares.

Also, for Guitar Hero III, you can buy a Rise Against song. If you are not familiar with them, you should do so immediately.

Rickey said...

Guitar Hero III is pretty hard across the board. Were the first two versions as insanely difficult? Seems like Neversoft ramped up the difficulty and took out all the fun from the franchise. The achievements are ridiculously hard to pull off too...

Rumor is, the next installment has U2.

michael o. said...

Screw U2.

Noah said...

Rumor is, the next installment has U2

Great. So the franchise goes from awesome to way-too-hard to whiney and overinflated. Great.

michael o. said...

My sentiments exactly. Bono is a bit too self absorbed even in a 'rockstar' context.

Rickey said...

Rickey said "rumor" and even if it's true, you're still only looking at a handful of U2 songs. And possibly a singing dancing cartoon version of Bono (which is tough to imagine since the guy practically is a caricature of himself already).

Anonymous said...

Yah, but you are supposed to leave out the 'wrong 48%' part and let people figure that out on their own.

@football: If anyone got more then a 2-2 record picking those games this weekend, they were lucky.

@Bono: The man died shortly after Joshua Tree and was replaced by a shittier more-limelight hogging clone.

@Terminator: This series makes T3 as good as T1. Did the cast go to the Christian Hayden school of acting?

@guitar hero: Everytime someone buys that game a child with steel-toed boots kicks Les Paul right in the nuts. All that game needs is the option to play 'Canon in D'.

@Terrell: Kanye West still is more metro. Try harder next time Owens. (That one really told me I'm getting older because I had to look up Kanye's name to make sure I spelled it right hehe)

Running out of steam, so I'm punching out Maverick...

Anonymous said...

Are you posting this week's picks tommorow or Saturday?

Let me know via email chrisc447 at yahoo dot com. :)