Is The Sugarhill Gang a Jam Band?

So the whole "write everyday" thing kind of fell to the wayside after only two days. Nevertheless, I will try and make up for it somehow.
I got into the office on this Saturday morning at 6:30--nothing like an early morning drive on a Saturday to remind you that you're one of the only people awake in the city. I loved the ride, it provided me an opportunity to zone out for ten minutes and listen to some music. One of my favorite bands is the Pixies and my iPod began to play "No. 13 Baby" on the way in. My undying love for this song cannot be put into words--in fact, for me the entire album "Doolittle" is in the upper pantheon of albums in my opinion (short list off the top of my head: "London Calling", "Doggystyle", "Doolittle", "Paul's Boutique", "Dookie", "Songs for the Deaf", "Stay Positive"). After the final refrain of "No. 13 Baby" there is an extended instrumental jam that, in all honesty, could go on for two hours and I wouldn't get sick of. Of course, this would then qualify the Pixies as a jam band which would mean that by definition and principal, I would hate them. So, perhaps keeping this song a tight 3:52 is probably the proper way to go.
Continuing down the topic of music, I have been working on the computer in my office for the past few hours and have been listening to some old hip hop. One of my all time favorite pre 1990 hip hop songs is the Slick Rick and Doug E Fresh song "The Show". Aside from borrowing the hook from Inspector Gadget, the song is near perfection--it's also used in the opening credits of CB4, but I digress. Years back, I owned a double disc record titled "In the Beginning There Was Rap" that featured one disc of some hip hop classics and a second disc of the same songs covered by artists who were popular in 1998 (if memory serves me, when the discs were released). "The Show" was performed on the covers album by The Roots and it was a solid effort, although not nearly as good as the original version. Another song found on the covers album was Def Squad covering "Rappers Delight" by the Sugar Hill Gang. This was the song that originally attracted me to buying the CDs, as I was a big Redman fan at the time (I even wrote a review for his "Doc's the Name: 2000" album for my high school newspaper because I was cool). After listening to the Def Squad's version I decided to listen to the original version, which is almost 15 minutes long. It was while listening to this version that my mind drifted back to my ride into work and listening to the Pixies...a lengthened version of "No. 13 Baby", as I joked, would make the Pixies a jam band--but what about a 15 minute hip hop song? Certainly, there were jam bands dating back to the 1960s and 50s, but could I make an argument that The Sugarhill Gang is the original hip hop jam band? Of course not, that would be stupid...but I needed to fill up space.

Recreational Reading

It's been a few years since I had a magazine subscription. Over the course of my life, I've subscribed to the following magazines: Sports Illustrated for Kids, Sports Illustrated, Blender, Maxim, ESPN, Rolling Stone, Spin, and Slam. My favorite magazine of all time was (and still is) Slam Magazine. For some reason though, I have not bought an issue of it for about five years and haven't had a subscription for about ten years.
I got my first issue of Slam when I was 16 and about to take a trip to Italy with my family. It was June of 1998 and my Bulls had just won their sixth championship and, with a lockout looming, I was looking to soak up as much NBA stuff as I could. By the time our three week trip had finished, I had read the magazine cover to cover about seven or eight times. It remains, to this day, my favorite issue of any magazine ever...I still own it, along with about 30 or 40 issues of Slam. I have a thing about throwing magazines out--I have two big bins of them in my den closet. One of the better features in Slam is the "Punks" section where they write about high school players. I've really enjoyed looking back on what people wrote about future NBA players at the time (Joel Pryzbilla, Ben Gordon, Amare Stoudermire) and players who will forever be etched in my brain because of the promise they showed (Kenny Satterfield or Alton Ford).
Anyhow, was thinking about Slam today, thought I'd share.
**The picture is of the issue I was referring to**

And

So here's the deal. Life is complicated. Every day there are obstacles and finding time to write has been difficult. At the very least, I'm going to publish one post on this blog every day from now until I (hopefully) graduate college in December.
Maybe it will help me in finding a job post-college, maybe the help won't be needed. This collegiate journey began (for the third time) in September of 2009--here we are in March of 2012. Shit. Time flies. Time to become an adult--thank god I'll be 30 when I finally graduate.
//dusts off top hat
//wipes monocle
//trips and falls
So, hopefully you'll come along for the ride!


**note, if you google image search "top hat monocle" you will find nudity. Yeah, I know--I was surprised as you to find this out.

Back in the Swing of Things

Hello again everyone! Let me layout a scenario, let me know if this has ever happened to you:

You are late with something...then super late...then ridiculously late to the point that you figure to hell with it? That's how this blog has been for the better part of the last two years. It got weird--I shouldn't have quit writing on it. It was too much fun to write, and about half as fun to read. So I'm going to really put forth the effort to keep it going this time around.

Thanks to the tens of you who asked what happened to this blog. Talk to you soon!

Holy Living Hell...That Was a Long Weekend!

Ok, ok. So it wasn't the lengthly break I was hoping to take. I do apologize for the months off, but when something like this website isn't your full time job...life will get in the way.
Can all be forgiven? I'd like to think so.
With all that said, this site will not get back to the 10 posts a day it used to have (at it's peak), it will however be a more toned down structure (between 5-10 posts per week). Stay tuned.

Ladies and Gentlemen your 2008 AFC East Champion Buffalo Bills!

Well, maybe that's getting ahead of ourselves here. Then again, ask the Seattle Seahawks--Buffalo looked tough. Couple that with Tom Brady's knee crumpling up like a piece of discarded toilet paper and the Toronto/Buffalo Bills look like a possible threat in the division. Or is this just one big conspiricy to make Brett Favre's season a roaring success? Hmmm.
Anyhow, I never got around to posting the predicted standings before yesterday's games (don't worry, I didn't change them--I still picked the Pats to win their division and the AFC--all bets off now). So I'll post those at the end of the entry.
Let's talk about the Pat's situation for a second. I understand that several people that read this blog are near and around my age (26)...or graduated from high school about the same year I did (2000). Well, Matt Cassell fits that criteria and guess what? I have started as many football games (college and pro)that Matt has started since graduation. Is that why the Patriots have Chris Simms and Tim Rattay coming in for workouts? Special nuggett: when the Patriots drafted Tom Brady it was between Brady and Tim Rattay. I don't know what you'd do with that information but there it is.
NFL Preview 2008
NFC North
Green Bay (10-6)

Chicago (9-7)
Minnesota (8-8)

Detroit (5-11)

NFC West

Seattle (10-6)

Arizona (8-8)

St. Louis (6-10)

San Francisco (4-12)

NFC East

Dallas (12-5)

Philadelphia (10-6)

New York (9-7)

Washington (8-8)
NFC South
New Orleans (10-6)
Carolina (10-6)
Atlanta (7-9)
Tampa Bay (6-10)
AFC North
Pittsburgh (12-4)
Cleveland (9-7)
Baltimore (7-9)
Cincinnati (3-13)
AFC West
San Diego (10-6)
Denver (8-8)
Oakland (7-9)
Kansas City (6-10)
AFC East
New England (14-2)
Buffalo (10-6)
Miami (7-9)
New York (5-11)
AFC South
Indianapolis (13-3)
Jacksonville (10-6)
Tennessee (6-10)
Houston (5-11)
MVP- Marion Barber III
OROY- Rashard Mendenhall
DROY- Derrick Harvey
COY- Mike Tomlin
Super Bowl- New England over Dallas (revised to be Pittsburgh over Dallas)

Hip Hop Hooray

Two posts in one day!? You've gotta be kidding me. Heard this song today, brought me back and figured I'd make it Music Video of the Day.
Little back story on this song. You couldn't throw a stone in 1993 without hitting a radio playing this song. Seriously, think of a hip hop hook that was more memorable than "Heeyy...hoooo...heeyy...hooo". That's right, you can't. Problem is, it got over used and it took me 15 years to like it again (you read that right--it's been 15 years).
True story about Naughty by Nature: it was because of their self titled record that my parents became aware of the parental advisory lable that was on "inappropriate" albums. You see, I was over at a relative's house in 1992 or so when the nameless relative warned my parents about this "noise pollution". Isn't that fucking great?! For the next seven year or so, I wasn't allowed to purchase music that had cussing (which led to me ripping the sticker off several Beastie Boy CDs over the next few years). Good thing I didn't have a copy of "The Chronic" when I was 11--I might have joined a street gang--oh yeah, that's right, I lived in suburbia (we don't have gangs--and this was long before it became en vogue to shoot your classmates). Really? Can't buy a CD with swear words? Thanks Mom and Dad. Instead I grow up to write angry blog entries. Nice trade off. Anyhow, I'm getting punchy, here's Naughty By Nature's "Hip Hop Hooray"...

Terrance Newman and a Rollercoaster

This video comes to us via Deadspin and The Dallas Morning News. Terrence Newman, cornerback for the Dallas Cowboys apparently has never been on a rollercoaster. Naturally, the powers that be decided to take a man that could probably kill you or I with his bare hands and videotape him riding his first coaster.
Among the highlights: Newman praying to baby Jesus. High comedy. Click on the link for the video:
http://www.dallasnews.com/video/index.html?nvid=261072

Just Plain Wrong

When I woke up today, I planned on not posting anything on this site until the first podcast was in the books. But the cutting edge radio studio we bought up here at The Reach Blog isn't quite ready. Panic.
While scrambling to find something to post, I came across this nugget of inappropriateness (sp?). Listen very closely for a line delivered by 16 year old Shawn Johnson during this commercial. There's no way someone on set didn't think "wait a minute--that's just not right". What's also amazing about the commercial, if you close your eyes and listen to the audio only, you won't be able to tell if Shawn Johnson, or the Hamm brothers.

Something Something Gold Medal

For those of you who stayed up to watch the US defeat Spain in the gold medal game in the wee hours of Sunday morning, how did that work out for you? Personally, I just woke up and cannot get back to bed because my fantasy football draft is in a few hours and, well, the excitement is getting to me.

Let's talk about this "Redeem Team" for a few moments. If you watched the game (or expanded highlights like me), one thing probably caught your attention over everything else, and that were the players standing up on the bench for most of the second half jumping around with every basket like they were Chaminade getting ready to topple Ralph Sampson and Virginia (I don't believe that reference is too dated). Talk about a team proud to be in Beijing representing the US. Hell, I'm proud to have them represent us.
There have been articles written discussing how this team would do versus the orginal Dream Team, as there are everytime America selects twelve NBA players to take on the world. How would this team fare? It's an in depth analysis that we'll be tackling this week. Stay tuned.

Random Posts and Podcast News

Ok, a few things since it's been a few days since we last checked in. First off, I have received emails (mainly negative...wait, all negative) about the Bernie Mac post from a few months back. I'm not going to go back and erase it. It was written two months before he died. I don't feel it needs to be changed since it was obviously not written in a very serious tone.

Secondly, in case you missed it last night, Josh Hamilton was walked intentionally with the bases loaded. Only the second time in 68 years that has been accomplished.

As for the "The Reach Blog Podcast"--be ready, it's coming. A few more pieces of equipment are still needed and we'll be good to go (figure late this week or early next week...stay tuned).

As for the Olympics--I hope you're enjoying the coverage. I'll do a longer post in conclusion of the games. An overview, wrapup if you will.

Finally, the Reach Blog offices appear possibly moving from the Twin Cities to New England. Yet another thing that New England is claiming from Minnesota (KG, Big Papi, Randy Moss...now this very blog?). Details to come. Thanks for the patience.

P.S. Name the mustache above. Is it A. Freddie Mercury or B. Mark Spitz?

20 years ago...

It's weird to think that it's been 20 years since the Cubs played the first night game at Wrigley Field. Well here we are in 2008 and as the calender would have us believe...sure enough, it's been 20 years.

The Cubs only play about 25 home night games or so each year, which understandably, send the ticket prices skyrocketing. Naturally to get the full Wrigley experience an afternoon game might be the way to go--but a cool summer breeze under the stars isn't bad.

So what are the Cubs doing to celebrate this historic anniversary? Why an afternoon game against the Cardinals of course.

The sick fact of the day: a bleacher seat on 8/8/88 was only $6. I paid $50 for my ticket earlier this year off eBay. How the times change.

The wonderful folks at Democraticcentral.com have a great historic review of the first night game at Wrigley. Check it out here.

Mass Suicides in Wisconsin

Ok, now that the trade has been made, I'll talk about the big yellow gorilla in the room. If you read this site with any regularity you've probably noticed that Brett Favre hasn't been mentioned too much recently. This would be normal, if the rest of the media under the sky hadn't been on the "Favre Beat" for the last month and a half.
I made a decision when this whole thing began not to talk about it. Why? Because it was this summer's "There isn't much else going on--so let's talk the shit out of this" story. Last year it was Barry Bonds chasing Hank Aaron. Guess what? Both stories peaked on August 7.
If you ask me, this is just one great big conspiricy to detract attention fron Sidney Crosby's 21st birthday binge tonight (yeah--he's only 21!).
In all seriousness, this story has gotten real old real quick. In the end, what is this trade do to each team? It makes the Packers take a step back and more than likely only adds one or two victories to the Jets this year bringing their projected total to...six wins! Hell yeah!
Does anyone really believe this move makes New York a playoff contender? Or do you see this as one great big marketing plan to sell PSLs to Jets fans? Honestly, I'll tend to believe the latter before I believe the former.
So to recap: Favre is on the cover of Madden 09...the Madden curse sends Favre to New Jersey. Touche John...touche.

Football Begins

That was pretty cool last night wasn't it? The NFL is back as of last night when Indy and Washington squared off for four smashmouth quarters (and with the exception of Mike Hart and Colt Brennan, you didn't know who anyone was from the middle of the second quarter on). And by four smashmouth quarters I really mean--it was a glorified practice with pads played in a stadium that is home to a high school team during the fall.

Anyhow, for those in an NFL Preseason office pool: The Redskins won the game 30-16. That's it! The Colts' reign as a powerhouse is over. One note that I found rather funny was the Colts pulling Jim Sorgi after one drive--were they afraid he was going to get hurt? Gotta feel bad for Sorgi, he probably had 200 family members in the stands figuring it would be the most playing time he's seen in the pros and they go and sit him down after one possession?! What the hell.

Speaking of QB controversies...the race for the Colt's number 3 QB is between Quin Gray and Jared Lorenzen. It promises to be a tightly contested battl---zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Trade Deadline In A Few Hours

Look at that headline. Can you think of a more exciting sentence in sports? Sure, sure, the games themselves are exciting. As a Cubs fan, I nearly wet myself over the last few days as the Cubs have won 3 or 3 from Milwaukee at Miller Park. The only thing more exciting than winning is someone getting your hopes up with trade scenarios...even though we know damn well that Superstar X isn't going to be traded to your team at the deadline for two or three midlevel minor league prospects.
Does anyone really believe for a second that Manny Ramirez is going anywhere today? The only way Manny heads to South Florida this year is if the Sox meet the Marlins in the World Series. There, I said it! So go to ESPN.com today and read about how close Boston is to trading their best offensive player since Ted Williams--they're in a tight race with the Yankees and Rays--sure, it'll happen.
But we do have a little activity this morning. The outfielder formerly known as Ken Griffey Jr. is heading to the White Sox (pending approval). I'm not sure what this does to the White Sox, or even where they'll play Griffey. This trade opens up the door to the possibility that Griffey goes from "greatest baseball player in a generation" to platooning with Brian Anderson in just under nine years. If nothing else, this trade will allow the White Sox to move Nick Swisher to 1B full time.

Another great thing about the trade deadline is being able to see a headline that on any other day would seem compleatly ridiculous such as "Will Ohman in High Demand".

There you have it. Teams trying to get in their final positions before the stretch run over the next two months.

*Speaking of Griffey...the card pictured is his rookie card from the 1989 Upper Deck collection. If you collected baseball cards between 1985-1995 you recognize this card as the holy grail of cards. So, do you have any guesses how much it's worth today? $25. You can find it on Ebay for anywhere between $11 and $25. Maybe it was a good thing your mom threw all your baseball cards out.

Logjamming With The AARP

I have to give credit to a friend's roommate for something he said a while back about coffee. To this day, it's one of the truest things anyone has ever told me. He said, "coffee is a great reason to get up. If life sucks and I'm lying in a comfortable warm bed, I can always take solice in the thought that there's a cup of coffee waiting for me. Because, life is hard...but there's always coffee". Honestly, truer words never spoken.

Now, I'm not one of those obsessive coffee drinkers where I cannot start my day until I have coffee. Not one bit. Just a fan of coffee. Black. Strong. Insert joke here.

The Reach Blog began as something to do while I drank coffee in the mornings. It turned into something that I loved doing and began to take on a personality of it's own--mainly sports. But today is one of the most important days in the history of the site.

Why is that you ask?

Because I am finally going to post the story I was born to post. A story about Japan's 73 year old porn star Shigeo Tokuda.

Nothing that I could possibly type could be funnier than the actual story itself. So why try? Don't worry about watching this at work--it's a CNN clip. They aren't allowed to show nudity, but they'll unleash Glenn Beck on their guests (see video below). Go figure.

Go Long...Get Open...I'll Throw It To You

Tough day here in The Reach Blog offices. I think the correct term is "food poisoning" but I prefer the technical term, "fucking misery". Ever throw up 15 times in the span of 15 hours? Fun stuff. 15 is just a rough estimate--I lost count at 3am. It takes me back to my days as a socially outcast cheerleader--the pressure to be thin.
Anyhow, speaking of getting sick. Imagine being a defensive coordinator and having to face this offense. It's called The A-11--go long...all of you and I'll throw it. A better description can be found here. The offense involves two quarterbacks, one center and eight receivers. Somhow, perhaps thanks to an airtight group of lawyers--the offense is legal. How about seeing some video you ask? Well now. Try this on...

Josh Childress Heads To Greece

What is the best word to describe this summer's free agency period in the NBA? I tend to lean towards "perplexing". It all started with Baron Davis blindsiding the Warriors and signing with the Clippers--which led to his Los Angeles teammate for all of 30 seconds, Elton Brand to opt out of his contract and head east to Philadelphia.

Then the Clippers were left with all this extra money and the rumors had linked Charlotte's Emeka Okafor or Atlanta's Josh Smith to possibly being brought in to replace Brand. Then things got weird.

Three days ago, a story broke and suggested that Atlanta's Josh Childress was considering an offer to play in Greece for the club Olympiakos. Initially, the reports seemed to be dismissed by most because why would anyone leave the NBA for Europe when they're logging big minutes on a playoff team? Turns out, Childress was serious about jumping the pond and proceeded to sign the richest contract in Euroleage history. Thanks Europe! It turns out that Josh Childress was the "player to be named later" in the whole David Beckham trade. They must like the afro. Strange business in the NBA.

Steve Nash and Baron Davis: Fill In The Headline

Imagine if you and your friends were the ones riding the tandem bike dressed like a couple of goons. What are the chances someone would wedge a large stick into your spokes? 75%? 90%? Let's face it, you're just not that cool. Atleast not cool enough to pull it off. Two time NBA MVP Steve Nash? Well, he's cool enough. And the Los Angeles Clipper who did those commercials with Adam Sandler? Apparently he's cool enough (although, between being a Clipper and doing those commercials, you'd think he'd have some humility). Here's the scene from Santa Monica this past weekend. From Barstool Sports:

"You want to know why the Clippers and Suns will never beat the Celtics? Because Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett are in the gym doing box squats, shuttle runs, and plyometrics until they puke - then they do some more. Baron Davis and Steve Nash, on the other hand, are busy renting a tandem bicycle and cruising around Santa Monica pier together while dressed up like extras from the Cosby Show and Weekend at Bernies. I don't even know where to begin with this picture I just took. Someone help me make sense of this ridiculousness...the only explanation I'm willing to accept is that they were participating in some sort of performance art project. Even still, this is worse than the prospect of seeing Paul Pierce rollerskating down Storrow Drive rocking neon Vaurnet wraparounds, a Lycra singlet, and a fannypack."

Update: Ladies and gentlemen...we have video. It's creepy.

Someone Joey Harrington is Related to Wins Again

Padraig Harrington won his second conseceutive Britis--er, Open Championship yesterday defeating the feel good story that was Greg Norman (on an ugly bleek looking course). Actually, Norman beat himself again in the final round of a major. The Norman story was a great story while it lasted. As we've heard a million times this weekend, he got married to Chris Everett three weeks ago and came to The Open immediatly following his honeymoon. What does this teach you kids? That's right. Poon will make you a better golfer...even at age 53. I just threw up in my mouth.

On a historic note, it was the first major championship that didn't involve Jack Nicklaus or Tiger Woods since 1961. I can't wait until next month's PGA Championship when it will be the first major championship that didn't involve Jack Nicklaus or Tiger Woods since yesterday. Ah, starting off the week with a lame joke. Thank you, thank you. I'll be here all week.