AboveAverage484

It's probably my least favorite out of all of his work with the E-Streeters, but his worst work would almost always be another band's best. It's still a good album and the songs are good, it's just that they're aren't as many GREAT songs as their are on his other works with the band.

I was thinking in my head that Silva outstruck Chonan in their fight and was winning until the heel hook, but I watched it for the first time since I saw it live and Chonan was not only winning but beating Silva in stand-up. He actually fought smart, picking his shots, avoiding the Thai clinch, and finding openings to take Silva down. I think Rich CAN do all of these things, but I still see Silva winning the fight just based on how bad he beat Rich last time out, though it will probably go the distance as opposed to a stoppage this time out. Too bad it's probably the best fight Chonan will ever have since he's been pretty unimpressive ever since.

So Dallas has won me over. It'd be nice to see what the Bears could do with Griese at the helm. He's not the best quarterback out there, but he's certainly not the worst. Denver looks like they're on the way to a 8-8, 9-7 season. A lot of people were picking them to possibly win the division but I was a little skeptical, and it looks like my fears were well founded.

I think this all just some huge conspiracy so that when Fedor finally comes to the cage, everyone will be favoring the "UFC" fighter and then Fedor just wins as usual.

Looks like I'm gonna have to prove it on the field. Kind of odd that I'm lower than CC seeing as how I just beat him, but your system is pretty good so I'm not complaining. In fact, I'm probably lucky to be where I am, considering I've won two for sure and maybe three of my games by tie break.

That was no Superman punch. Just a hard left hook. Oh, you mean like when Franklin kayoed him? Exactly. Though one would have expected him to learn from that, instead he came out with the exact same stand-up. If Franklin could mess him up that bad, imagine what Silva could do to him. What's sad is that since he won, he probably won't think he has to change anything, so next fight he'll come in with the same mentality.

Probably one of the better UFN cards. Some good "fighting," but nothing real technical. Just a show that'll keep you interested for the entirety. Quarry's standup is scary, scary because he's gonna get knocked out something fierce if he doesn't change his style. Leben's looked as good as I've ever seen him, despite the sloppy ending round, and Florian took advantage of the openings given to get his victory. I'm still in shock over JZ knocking out Shaolin so quickly. Speaking of HERO's, Kharitonov/Overeem 2 was pretty good while it lasted, so check it out if you haven't seen it. Kharitonov does a sweet kimura to leg trip takedown which reminded me of how cool Volk Han used to be. Shit, he probably taught it to him.

You know, I didn't really think about that. I still think they drop one, maybe two to teams other than LSU but it's not entirely out of the realm of possibility that they'll be playing that game for the right to play in the SEC title game.

Ehhh, the list is kayfabed all to hell but that doesn't mean it couldn't provide me with a month's worth of toilet reading for the last twelve or thirteen years.

So looking at the schedule, Alabama has a reasonable chance to go 11-1. I mean, they outrank all of their opponents sans LSU, and play most of their big games at home, with the exception of FSU and Auburn, who aren't nearly as good as in past years, at least so far. It's probably a long shot, but I could see them sneaking up on people as the weeks progress, which would make the LSU game in Tuscaloosa that much bigger.

Is this the same cat you rescued from a traffic intersection or something of that nature? Or am I thinking of something else entirely?

On time! THURSDAY Texas A&M at Miami FRIDAY Oklahoma at Tulsa SATURDAY Illinois at Indiana Air Force at BYU South Carolina at LSU Penn State at Michigan Maryland at Wake Forest Colorado State at Houston Kentucky at Arkansas Connecticut at Pittsburgh Iowa State at Toledo Georgia at Alabama Oregon State at Arizona State Washington at UCLA Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the South Carolina/LSU game? 45 Tiebreak #2: How many rushing yards will Arkansas' Darren McFadden have against Kentucky? 173

A new season already? I'm down; the Warriors Return.

Wait a minute, Transformers/Avengers? This sounds like a train wreck, but according to your commentary it's apparently not. Explain.

I love that 'Bama beat Arkansas, but I definitely do not like blowing two 21 point leads during the game. I guess I would be a little bit more worried if this was against Vandy, but since it's against a fairly good Arkansas team with a Heisman candidate, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.

Man, I might be higher in the rankings if I would have remembered to pick the Thursday game not once but TWICE!

I don't like the album very much. It doesn't even have that E Street sound. Two of the songs are made to sound like Pet Sounds. I understand that at this point in his career, Bruce probably wants to try new things, but it just doesn't work. "Your Own Worst Enemy" could have been a hit, or at least the best track on this album, had it been played better. I mean, come on: relying that much on sleigh bells, cello, tubular bells, timpani, and staccato four-quarter-note piano lines? That's almost crossing the line into Brian Wilson parody (your own worst enemy is a mouth full of sores?), and if you, the listener, are in love with that sound so much, you've met your needs by buying Smile. Me, I want Mighty Max, the Big Man, and the Miami Horns. "Artistic development" doesn't count when it's just ripping off someone who's been ripped off enough already in the last 40+ years. "Terry's Song" was pretty good. I didn't like "Gypsy Biker," probably because I don't like his higher-pitched '80s voice. His vocals on "Hungry Heart" were actually sped up in the studio to make it sound more high pitched. I don't think I've heard his voice that high before or since. As for the album, I think it's solid enough. Probably not a stretch to say that it's the weakest of all his albums with the band, but his weakest would be most bands' strongest, as the old cliche goes. My favorite tracks are "You'll Be Comin' Down Now," "Livin' in the Future," "I'll Work for Your Love," and "Terry's Song."

DAMMIT!!! I missed the deadline AGAIN! Oh well... SATURDAY Virginia at North Carolina Tennessee at Florida Notre Dame at Michigan Ohio State at Washington Southern Miss at East Carolina Arkansas at Alabama Mississippi at Vanderbilt Louisville at Kentucky Boston College at Georgia Tech Wyoming at Boise State USC at Nebraska Hawaii at UNLV Florida State at Colorado Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the USC/Nebraska game? 50 Tiebreak #2: How many passing yards will Tennessee's Erik Ainge have against Florida? 274

This was probably based on the fact that Dan is usually very hard to contain on the ground, but Quinton did a good job of keeping him from escaping from his mounts, while Dan had a tougher time holding Quinton down.

Kongo still has a lot to prove to me, especially after that abomination he had in his last fight. His striking has always looked good, but it would be interesting to see him matched up against a Nogueira or a Barnett, somebody competent enough on the feet and able to test him on the ground. As for Cro Cop, who knows. Usually he comes back from bad losses stronger than ever (Nog, Randleman, Fedor) but he just looked totally unmotivated in this fight. I don't know if it was Kongo's size or not, but Mirko was just sleepwalking through this fight. The Rampage/Henderson fight went pretty much as I expected, with Quinton using his strength/ground control and standup to grind his way to the decision. Quinton did a good job of adapting his game plan as the fight progressed, slowly turning it his way. I wish we would have seen more striking, what we did see was exciting.

Hamill cut him twice standing and had numerous takedowns. Bisping was active, but it seemed like only a small percentage of his shots were landing and he was terrified of throwing any leg techniques because of Hamill's wrestling skills. Fuck this farce.

Bullshit. Now I hate Bisping even more. This was worse than Nog/Ricco, I feel bad for Hamill.

That show's easy enough to obtain through file-sharing sites as he released it on CD at the end of last year I believe. Here's the entire show of his 12/15/78 Winterland concert, probably the best show he's done and ever will do. http://www.megaupload.com/?d=R98G47S0 Here it is broken into parts: Parts 1 and 2: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=LZWRZEJ8 Part 3: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=GRF5Z91Y

Just wait 5 seconds and a continuous loop will play a 30 second sample for each song. Apparently the album has been leaked but I haven't really looked, since I figure I'll buy it on the release date anyway. The sample link was acting funny for me last time I visited it, so it may not be working well but here it is: http://ginagiambone.com/page116.html I particularly like what I've heard of "You'll Be Comin' Down Now."

Yeah, as a huge fan of all of his work, I found it a little underwhelming. I've heard samples from the other songs on the album and a few of them sound pretty good. It's the lead off single so I'm not too disappointed, as it seems like you have to play dumb to the masses and send out your radio friendly single. Considering that he was more of an album artist, I'll reserve judgment until I hear the whole thing. And since a couple of you are on a Springsteen kick, would you be interested in some old concerts of his? I've got more than twenty bootlegs of his from his peak period, including probably his greatest show ever from Winterland in '78. Just let me know and I can up some when I have time.