Mark Madden is a fat, blowhard...

For those of you who don't know him, Mark Madded is a sports talk show host in Pittsburgh. I bacame familiar with Madden during my time living in Da 'Burgh. According to a recent column by Bob Smizik of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, Madden had no love for Pittsburgh legend and recently retired Steelers broadcaster Myron Cope.

Madden is another example of a sports commentator in the vein of Stephen A. Smith or Bob Ryan. It's not good enough just to write about sports stories, they need to interject themsleves into sports stories.

Well in the words of Myron Cope "Hmm Ha and Double Yoi!"

Hometown news...

Came across this photo from my hometown newspaper (Patton, PA) of a couple who were recently married at the Six-Pack.

This is funny on so many levels I have no idea where to begin...

• The ring-bearer is also the owner of the Six-Pack. You can tell she's pumped about the free publicity!!
• Glad to see everyone dressed up for the occasion. ("Honey, where's my 'fancy' long-sleeve black t-shirt?")
• The mayor of Patton is performing the ceremony. He's hard to notice. He's the guy in blue on the right.
• I like that in lieu of a bouquet she decorated her cast in a festive green!
• Best part about having your wedding at the Patton Six-Pack? All the Genny Cream Ale you can drink!!

Classic.

More "Over - Under" rated

I enjoyed this so much with the music artists I thought I would do it for other categories...

Gen - Y Actors
Underrated - Topher Grace. Star of the "That 70's Show" and recently the movie "In Good Company" (which I highly recommend). Topher Grace comes acrossed as a very believable character in just about everything he's done and he rarely gets the same credit as other over-hyped actors.
Overrated - Haley Joel Osment. Destined to travel the route of other "child" actors such as Henry Thomas and Peter Billingsley, Osment has already worn out his welcome on the big screen. After the "Sixth Sense" he appeared in the infinitely ridiculous "A.I." and "Pay It Forward". He simply doesn't have a lot of range as an actor.

Former Presidents
Underrated - Theodore Roosevelt . Yeah, I know he's on Mt. Rushmore, but ask most people which presidents appear on the monument and 9 out of 10 will name hime last or replace him with FDR. Teddy was one of those great presidents who transcended party lines (he was a Republican) and simply did what HE thought was best for the country. One of his more overlooked accomplishments during his time in office was creating the USDA. So thanks to Teddy, we can all eat our hamburgers without worry of rickets!
Overrated - John F. Kennedy . I don't want it to sound like I think he was a BAD president but I think he gets a little more credit than he deserves. People often overlook JFK's bumbling at the 'Bay of Pigs' and the fact he narrowly beat out Richard Nixon in the 1960 election (probably because he looked better on camera). While Kennedy was a strong voice for civil rights, it was his successor Lyndon Johnson who eventually had the Civil Rights Act passed.

Famous Baseball Blunders
Underrated - Barry Bonds in the 1992 NLCS. "Sid Slid!" a phrase that still haunts my memories. To clarify... the 1992 Pittsburgh Pirates were everyone's pick for the World Series. Strong hitting, strong pitching, and stars throughout the order. But then in game 7 of the NLCS, former Pirate Sid "freakin'" Bream and his slow ass are sent home for the winning run on a base hit to none-other than Barry "I didn't use steriods soon enough" Bonds. Bonds couldn't muster a throw to beat out the hobbling Bream at the plate and the Braves move onto the World Series. Thanks for the memories, Barry!!
Overrated - Bill Buckner, 1986 World Series . Boston fans like to think of themselves as this mystically snake-bitten team so they invent ridiculous curses and innocent villians like Bill Buckner. Let's look at the facts, Boston relievers couldn't hold onto two-run, two-out lead in the 10th and the error occured in GAME 6 not GAME 7 as most simpletons believe. It's shameful that Buckner had to move his family out of Boston to avoid all the harassment they received.

Crazyiest Website Ever...

I found this site on another Blog and felt I too needed to share it. It's just too freaky.

Click, drag and enjoy!!

http://www.izpitera.ru/lj/tetka.swf

Stewart Mandel is an arse...

For those of you lucky enough not to subject yourself to the ramblings of idiot sports writers, Stuart Mandel is writer for SI.com whose opinions and predictions are about as original as white bread. Anyway, in his last assanine column Mandel ranks his 5 best and 5 worst college football coaches. Among the 5 worst... Joe Paterno. (moment to let that sink in.)

As anyone who knows me will attest, I am certainly what you would characterize a Joe Paterno loyalist. But loyalties aside and looking at the whole thing objectively, unless you are a Pitt or Ohio State lacky, there is no way on God's green earth you could ever categorize Joe Paterno as among the worst coaches in college football. I'm not going to regergitate the records, we all know them by now. All I will say is that if, as popular opinion would dictate, Joe Paterno will go down as one of the greatest, if not THE greatest, coach in college football history, how can you place him among the worst coaches at any point in his career? Especially with 117 D-1 programs and abismal performers all across the board. Granted PSU has hit some hard times of late but how these jack-offs can continue to get paid to spout these ridiculous diatribes is beyond me. According to Mandel...

"26-33 the past five seasons at a Big Ten school with the tradition and
resources to compete for conference and national titles, there's not an informed
observer out there who wouldn't conclude that Coach A is a bad coach"

Well guess where the "tradition and resources" came from butt-face? No offense to Rip Engle but it sure as heck wasn't there when Joe took over. I look forward to the big, fat crap burger that Mandel will have to eat after this season.

Come Alive in '05!!

Most UNDERRATED and Most OVERRATED Artists Ever...

As proven by the critical acclaim of my last entry (hold for applause).... I will continue with the tim honored tradition/ fact that every one loves a good "best/worst" list!! So here is my take on what is an oft debated subject "Best Music Artist". I'll take it a step further, I'll tell you who are the most UNDERRATED musical performers ever and match them up with a corresponding OVERRATED musical artist.

Hold onto your butts...

90's Alternative Rockers
Underrated - Tonic. Calling Tonic alternative is sort of stretch but they came along during the era of Alt-rockers and ended being played on the same radio stations, countdowns, etc. The fact of the matter is that noone made more solid and listenable tunes in that genre than Tonic.
Overrated - Nirvana. Don't get me wrong their music was good and quite catchy but the whole Kurt Cobaine "I'm so miserable" routine wore thin pretty quick. People often wonder how successful the band could have been had he not taken his own life. Let me fill you in, they would have followed the same path as STP and Pearl Jam... performing at the Cambria County Fair.


Rock Pioneers
Underrated - Buddy Holly. Before losing his life prematurely in a plane crash ("Bye, bye, Miss American pie") Buddy Holly was well on his way to rebuilding the American music scene. His rendition of "Bo Diddley" is as authentic as the original.
Overrated - The Beatles. I'm so tired of hearing about how GREAT the Beatles were. Enough already! They started off making mediocre pop music and progressed into ridiculous psycodelic mumbo-jumbo. "I am the walrus, coo-coo, cachoo"... wow, that's groundbreaking stuff.


Pop Princesses


Underrated - Kelly Clarkson. Yeah, she won American Idol but unlike most young pop-stars (see below) she makes really good music. I recommend her new album to anyone who likes well written, quality pop music.
Overrated- Britney Spears. One look at her goofy antics on that ridiculous reality show and you can see that the train for Crazy-ville is leaving the station. Britney, do us all a favor move back to the trailer-park with Mr. Federline and have a bunch of no-talent kids.

Country Music Crooners
Underrated - Jerry Reed. Listening to JerryReed conjours up real images of what it must be like to be a honky-tonk singer. Playing in smoky bars, hitchhiking from town to town. Too many modern day country singers just don't seem like the genuine article (see below.)
Overrated - Toby Keith. Again, not a bad singer per se but WAY overrated for what his music actually is.... a watered down version of George Strait or Alan Jackson.

Hip-Hop Icons
Underrated - Mos Def. Quite simply the most talented rapper out right now... and the most underappreciated. Probably because he doesn't rap about some fake gangsta lifestyle like most of today's stars. Just true, smart lyrics.
Overrated - (Tie) 50 Cent& Tupac. 50 Cent was hailed as the "next big innovator" in rap and then proceeded to produce the same 4-5 songs over and over again (tell me there is a difference between "Magic Stick" and "Candy Shop" come on, really.) If not for an overblown feud with Notorious B.I.G., Tupac would be just another so-so rapper. I'm still not convinced his death wasn't a set up to sell more records.

Well there you have it folks. "Let the debating begin..."