Bruiser Chong

After a few listens, I'm ready to go on the record as saying Nas' "The Nigger Tape" > C3. Nice production, but this is one of the more cohesive albums I've heard in years and it's not even an album proper. With that said, I'm toying with the idea of buying C3 at Best Buy for a dime before the end of the weekend since I've come around on a lot of it. Though I'm still not ready to dub it a classic or anything like that.

I wouldn't discount the Brewers, either. Gallardo's injury seemingly erased them from contention in the minds of many, but they've been playing better and with the spotlight off of them, I can see them making a run.

The camera angles were a nice touch, but I don't think I could've stayed with the game if they'd continued. The only reason I knew Frenchy homered was because Len said so. I saw the ball go off the bat and then I didn't see it again.

I sometimes wonder why he's a sports columnist, when the majority of his columns and spiels on ATH are anti-athletes. He's spot-on occasionally, but the rest of the time, he just reminds of me a guy who's trying to parody how negative and generally buffoonish most sportswriters are. Plus he looks like an ugly James Cagney.

I recall them showing it on an episode of PTW. At any rate, it was odd, since that type of sequence always led to a hot tag.

What a bizarre game in Chicago. The black and white first two innings with limited camera angles and no replays, Lou letting Carlos hit with the tying run on second in the seventh and two outs, Jim Edmonds hitting the tying homer in the ninth and then the Cubs winning with a bases-loaded Reed Johnson HBP.

Soriano has a fracture in his hand. Maybe this will mean Micah Hoffpauir getting called up to play left. More realistically, though, this probably means DeRosa in left and Fontenote at second. Or even worse, Johnson in left and Edmonds in center.

This is what happens when there's all this talk about how great the Cubs are.

Tha Carter III is a greatly produced album. Wayne brings the cute wordplay, but the album's production is really where its staying power is. I give credit to Wayne for not getting too sappy with most of the slow jam tracks on the album. "Comfortable" is excellent and a reminder that Babyface is in fact, still alive. "Lollipop" is still one of the worst songs of the year, but unfortunately, probably a big selling point with many of the people who are snapping the CD off the racks this week.

To Scott Hairston. Ouch.

I don't think I'd seen this since it first aired. - The canned heat is ridiculous. I was thinking how crazy the fans were going for the opener and then my friend made a comment about how the crowd was barely moving despite the frantic noises. - I loved the Million Dollar Man and thought IRS was a good, if not steady gimmick. But I hated Money Inc. then and I still do. They were like the Honky Tonk Man of the tag team division. - Papa Shango moves in slow motion. - The Brain's political jabs really date the show. Wrestling-wise, DBS/Michaels is the only match worth a damn, but it's a great little match. The rest is just there, which conveys my feelings on the company at this time. The first half of 1992 WWF is some of my favorite wrestling ever, but the quality steadily declines late in the summer and doesn't stop for the next three years.

I will, however, vouch for the author's knock on Comerica's Little Ceasars pizza. That'll come as no surprise to anyone who's ever eaten the pizza, but it's expensive, too. The Hot and Readies are just $5, but they're like $12 at the park.

I think I had nachos at the Cell two summers ago. Standard ballpark fare. Now I want nachos.

The fact that players can appeal suspensions is sure looming large in LA right now. Of course, if Zambrano's defense doesn't force him to get 15 outs in one inning, then it's not an issue.

I'm just saying that those folks who conveniently realized how much they loved the Tigers in mid 2006 are now looking silly. Not to be outdone, Jake Westbrook will also miss the rest of the season. I hope this isn't all leading to Chicago White Sox: 2008 AL Central champions.

Times like this make me glad I didn't hop on the bandwagon in 2006.

It's fine, no ground lost. Cubs are getting shut down and if you happen to glance at Derrek Lee's line this year and consider his scorching April, he seems to have forgotten how to hit or walk.

The Cubs' pen was determined to give that one away. Al, find out how many times Juan Pierre's drawn a walk after starting with an 0-2 count.

I don't believe that's the first time Ripper's called out "Get 'Em Girls."

The fanbase-coach/manager relationship is so fascinating. Jack McKeon turned the Marlins into world champions! The Marlins missed the playoffs because McKeon's too out of touch. The White Sox won the World Series. Ozzie's a great manager! The White Sox didn't make the playoffs this year. Ozzie's awful! Jim Leyland's hard-nose attitude helped guide the Tigers to the World Series, he's awesome! The Tigers are lousy with the same core of players. It's Leyland's fault! Point is: managers and coaches get too much credit for success and too much grieve for failure.

Lou said the starters will have to go deeper regardless of performance the next time through the rotation since none of them have made it into the sixth since Z's 130-pitch outing early last week. Re: the Tigers. Living near Detroit, I'm around a lot of fans and more specifically, a lot of people who became fans during the 2006 campaign. It's amazing how many of these alleged fans are so anti Miguel Cabrera.

Also, I don't get the Cam'ron hate around here. Maybe I do, but I'm sorta with P.G.O.A.T. here. I can't compare Purple Haze and C3 yet since I haven't listened much to the latter. But Cam's cut from the same cloth as Wayne. Clever wordplay and a lot of lyrical content that holds virtually no substance. I can see why people don't like him and think he got real lazy after the label move in the early 2000s, but he's a case of a guy whose charisma and swagger allow him to spit some real corny/nonsensical stuff and get away with it.

If it's any consolation, Ripper, I think almost everything from Common post-Be has been trite bullshit that has tried too hard to be conscious rap. I'm a little irritated that he's automatically the first conscious rapper almost anyone reels off when trying to name such emcees, since I think he's really fallen off. The first single off his next album is horrible, too, so I don't have high hopes for him to turn it around. As for Mos, shit. People still consider him a rapper? Guy dropped a classic album almost a DECADE ago. The New Danger was hokey experimental shit that was neither innovative nor up to par with almost anything done in the rap-rock genre. His last album was almost as bad and felt like it was coming from a guy whose interests were elsewhere. I can acknowledge Black on Both Sides for the classic it is, but it's clear the dude's not interested in rapping and fancies himself more of a crooner or actor.

I wasn't criticizing mixtape stuff, because that's what I wind up listening to more often. I'm a fan of the more raw beats free of the cute hooks and T-Pain cameos. But I think to be considered one of the best or the best, an emcee needs to take that step and craft a real album. Not just a CD with 20-odd tracks, completely lacking of any cohesion. I love wordplay in hip-hop and I don't deny that Wayne's one of the best in that department when he wants to be. But I'm not sure how interested he is in being consistent. A lot of the content he's given us in the last year or so has smack of a dude who's creatively strapped and just coasting on past merits. I'm not on this voice distorter crap, either. Lollipop and its various remixes grate the nerves That Love in This Club remix is one of the worst guest spots I've heard in 2008. If you can honestly decipher what Wayne's saying near the end of his verse, then you're either a liar or fucks with Wayne's dealer.

I would say the fact that Wayne even gets top MC consideration says a lot about the current state of the genre. I give credit to Weezy for evolving from the "WHAT WHAT WHAT DROP IT LIKE IT'S HOT" caliber verses, but I'm still amazed he's got so many people on his jock when he's promoting himself as the best rapper in the game. Wayne's a great mixtape rapper in that he can pack a lot of cute lines and quotables into a track. But he lacks the ability to consistently make a quality SONG. C3 has a few tracks that conflict with this trend (Dr. Wayne, for instance), but through the first listen of the album, I hear a lot of mixtape caliber material. Tha Carter III is probably going to wind up being his best album, but it's not the classic all of his dickriders have been claiming it'd be. Trying to get through the album in one sitting, I'm left with the impression that Wayne is hoping he can push the boundaries of how much content you can fit on a CD, hoping it'll create the illusion of some grand opus. This is a bit of a digression, but I like albums that leave you wanting more, not saying, "Holy shit, there's still five more songs after this one." Over 20 songs for a hip-hop album free of skits and interludes is just overkill.