RavishingRickRudo

Can someone explain Votefortheworst and why they have any impact on the results? I am looking at their site and they have a lil over 400 people on their board and a lil over 300 on Myspace. Let's be generous and say they have 500 people participating and that's not a lot of people, I can't see them making a dent. And if Scott Savols success on the show is the only proof, I don't necessarily buy it. Top 3: Hicks - I think Taylors style can make pretty much anything sound good which I think will do him well when the genres change - the benefit of being unique. Thus far Taylor has played to his strengths in regards to song selection and he, more than anyone else in this competition, knows what he can do and make sound good, and what he can't do. He is probably the most experienced in playing in front of a live audience, which is be a huge plus for him when the venue changes and the audience gets bigger. A big part of the success of idols, I have found, is that they are able to make use of, and generate, this huge atmosphere around them. Taylor plays from his heart, he can hit the big power notes better than the vast majority of the group which is key to any idols success when they have to fill a huge room with their voice. It also doesn't hurt that the judges love him and will try to push him to the final 6 before they really start to get critical. Chris - Chris benefits from a watered-down rock style, which is always popular, and which will certainly sound better in the larger venue. McPhee - McPhee has the potential to steal this competition from Taylor if she makes the right choices - she's likable, hot, and has a nice ass that looks good in jeans which benefitted Clarkson and Underwood. She'll get the girl vote because shes silly, and she'll get the guy vote cause shes hot. She can sing older and younger stuff well, so she can get all age groups. The issue, as I said, is picking the right song, because voice-for-voice, shes one of the better ones in the competition. Also, being able to belt out songs is a big factor - Chris and Taylor can belt them. Carrie and Fantastia could belt them. That's what McPhee needs to do - generate a buzz, hit the big notes, get the standing ovation from the crowd. 4-6 Elliot - Good to great voice, the judges love him, but he doesn't have the personality to bring him to the final 3. Pickler - the judges are pushing for her, so I can't see her getting eliminated early, and she knows -perhaps more than anyone else- how to play it up and get across her personality and endear herself to the public. She also has a very rare quality in being hot, but not knowing that she's hot (or, at least, not coming off like she knows shes hot). This is a very powerful quality. She appeals to many audiences, she knows how to pick her songs, and she *can* sing. It will take her far. Mandisa - like Elliot, a great voice and talent can take you far, but other factors will push her out. 7-9 Ace Paris Lisa These three above will make it on the basis of the judges pushing them (Paris and Lisa) and appearance. They are all not strong enough voices to make it above the top 6. 10-12 Melissa Bucky Kevin These three are just niche votes. Melissa is getting through on hard work and a nice body alone, but the judges won't push her above Lisa and Paris so even if Melissa performs well, Simon will be there to spin it and make the lasting impression be "that was awful". Bucky and Kevin shouldn't even be there - my man Patrick got shafted.

I can't wait for the next time the WWE fucks with JR and people act all indignant like JR doesn't deserve it. JR is now asking, nay, BEGGING, to be fucked with now. I never felt sorry for the guy before, because he's been with the company long enough to know they aren't going to do right by him, but now I *want* him to get embarassed on live tv.

Benoit can't do comedy, he can do intensity. Angle can do comedy, he can't do intensity. I think the problem comes with the type of promos Benoit can do and the type of promos the WWE gives him and the type of promo the fans are accustomed to. The WWE is of the mindset that everything said in a promo has to get a reaction, because that's how wrestling matches are. But that's not necessarily true - wrestling is designed to get a reaction from a crowd, wrestling is where the money is, but promos are what sets up the wrestling and that can be done just by getting across a point - one that the fans think about rather than react to. This is one of the biggest mistakes the WWE makes when writing their television where they structure their promos to illicit immediate reaction rather than actually hyping fans up for the matches the wrestler is promoting on the mic.

Plus the dude was like "use them all" and it wasn't a big note, it didn't close the show, it was more of a write-off. Clearly this is a tool to help stir up shit between CTU and HLS - to give them something to fight over - but it's not going to be the end. I can see the gas being released just so everyone can hit rock bottom and the rest of the season being everyone being rebuilt. When was the last time 24 even mentioned the Chinese? It seemed like they had the agent confessing the Bauer info and that was it.

Why do I get the feeling that the big nerve gas thing is just a distraction for something else? (Ok, I know why, but does anyone agree?)

Blah blah blah.

And um, Dan Lovranski sucks.

This is my first season watching 24, I am going through Season 1 on A&E every Mondays as well (Jack is escaping with his wife and kid, they are being chased by the baddies through the woods), and JESUS FUCK, I have never seen such a body count. This is just fucking wrong and defying every convention of television set before it. This, clearly, is a direct result of David Fury being a part of the creative process. Think about it, they kept Tony alive *just* so they could let him live, let you breathe a sigh of relief, and then kill him off a lil later on when you don't suspect it. That is pure evil. I hope they don't pay this off like they have done for pretty much every baddie thus far - ie: build up a baddie just so they can have an anti-climactic death to help build up someone else and then just forget they ever existed. There has to be a satisfying period where Jack skullfucks Henderson and this English dude to death - like a full episode long pistol whipping. They can't sacrifice all this and not deliver to the fullest. And I mourn Lynn. It was just the wrong day for him to come in. And he beats Edgar in the Bad Day Dept. Starts off good with him heading CTU and helping Jack out. Goes bad when his druggie sister and her druggie boyfriend jump him and take his keycard and wallet. Then he has those under him go around his back subverting him at very turn. Then theres the mutiny and he's relieved of duty. Then he dies curled up like a bitch saving the very people who screwed him over. Jacks having his period and everyone is like "POOR JACK", fuck Jack. Where is the love for Lynn? Kim walked away like she was going to a fucking mall after the gas was gone. Just throwin her purse over her shoulder and flingin her hair back. Never have I hated someone I really wanted to bonk so much.

Did I mention that I can't stand Dan Lovranski on any level?

I watched a lil bit. I found difficult to get past the commentary, and the shitty 6 man. Mauro was ok on PBP, actually better than the vast majority of commentators, but Lovranski bit it. One, his voice isn't suited for commentary, and two, he didn't know his role and kept stepping on Mauros toes doing PBP. This basically is my problem with Tenay and West, where they are essentially the same person saying the same thing from the same POV, which leads to the question - why are there two of them when they do the job of one man?

I don't think so. This is something the IFL, which is a new fight league (with teams and all), is looking to incorporate. The fighters get paid on a regular basis to help cover training costs and what not. Most fighters don't make enough to fight full-time on their contracts alone, so they look for sponsorship to help cover it. This is why you had so many fighters thanking a long list of sponsors after a fight (which the UFC has put a stop to, yet hasn't compensated their fighters for the loss in sponsorship money - if there ever was a loss). To give you a look at how little sponsorship can cost, Death Valley Driver.com's MMA folder pooled together $500 to get the website stitched on to a fighter's shorts. This wasn't a high profile fighter, but it was one who many consider to be a top ranked fighter in his weight class. In contrast, Chuck Liddell makes shit-loads off his sponsorship deal with Xyience (who has probably been, next to the Fertittas/Zuffa and SEG, the biggest contributor to US MMA in the sports history), which I believe is the first million dollar sponsorship deal in MMA. It was estimated that Chuck made $2 mil all together in 2005, though I don't know how accurate that is.

GSP making more than Franklin doesn't really surprise me, Loiseau making that much LESS than GSP is what does.

In one way, Dana has a point when he says he pays the fighters what they are worth in terms of drawing money. Mark Hominick's worth in regards to how many people paid to see him (few) is probably around $2,000, but there is something inherently wrong in the guy who wins getting $4,000 when the guy who loses gets $8,000. There should be a bonus system in place based on performance and there should be a renegotiation clause in a fighters contract - if Zuffa has the right to cut someone if they lose, then the fighters should get some option when they win. Of course, what they should be doing is exactly what they are doing right now. Fighters are used to getting small paydays, so what Zuffa is offering them is actually higher on the payscale. As long as the fighters don't know any better, and as long as their managers are more focused on not pissing off Dana, there won't be any change soon. The best thing to happen for fighters in competition, which the UFC has been trying to prevent, but it's inevitable. Once investors see how much Zuffa is making off their shows, there will be more events and whatnot which means more demand for the fighters, which means the fighters can actually have leverage. The market will eventually correct the disparity, as it tends to do.

The LAW said that the NOAH show builds towards the Kobashi/Akiyama Tokyo Dome show, and I think something about KENTA being the featured main player on the shows. Tonights eps. has KENTA vs. Akiyama on it.

Well, the TUF guys are the most well known to the SPIKE audience, so in that way, they are the top teir fighters. In the actual skill way, they aren't.

They just showed a "UFC" fight on Sportscentre up here on TSN. I was freaking out and was going to give it its own thread because coverage on sports shows means legitimacy~! but it wasn't actually a UFC fight (there were ropes and whatnot) and the only reason it was aired was because the fighter was a member of a CFL team.

Let's let this be the only Nicolas Picolas reference in TSM history. AI is proof that 1)Americans don't like Womens Basketball, and 2)Americans don't like articulate black men.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmBe43Hm6wU&search=ufc GSP on Canadian Television. Of course, being Canadian, I understand all of it. What you need to know is this: St. Pierre is on the French Canadian equivalent of The View.

That kind of head dropping is usually done by wrestlers who don't know how to build moves, so they become wasteful because after they are done and after that pop, they go on wrestling the match like it never happened and so the heat goes with it. They do have their place if one uses them well. If the crowd is dead and you want to light a fire under them, it's a spark. I don't mind fans applauding the physical work done in matches. If I see a move, even if it's as simple as a nice punch, that I liked being done I will give a lil applause. This is not really a gut reaction, though. It's not a "jump out of your seat" kinda stuff. There's no emotion behind it. There is a reason why I was applauding a nice punch and that's a bad sign on the part of the guys in the match - it means they were doing a bad enough job in working me, that I was so disconnected from their work, that I was noticing shit like nice punches rather than the anger behind the punches and cheering for the guy who landed it. Of course, this is the ideal and cannot be expected from everyone in every match, I do however think that not enough wrestlers are trying to live up to this ideal and would rather get those "respectful" applauses because, quite frankly, they are easier to get. The vast majority of Duelling Chants I hate with a passion. Because it's the fans taking over the match. The ones that I have heard are done when there isn't really anything being done in the ring to warrant one. They are done at random and when a particular person or group feels like doing it. And you can tell when one will get started because that person or group will say "LET'S GO DRAGON..." and are expecting someone to say "LET'S GO MDOGG!" in return. What is this, a fucking class debate where you take turns presenting your case? The wrestlers need to take control of the crowd and if they have a scenario where the fans are chanting whatever the fans want, then they aren't doing their jobs. The wrestlers should be able to get the fans to chant what the wrestlers want. That's the art of working.

Um. Franklin was originally a lightheavyweight... in the UFC. There, we both win.

Hughes would have to be more aggressive against GSP if he wants to get anything done standing, I think the Penn fight showed a big weakness in Rushes game in that regard. I've never seen Hughes aggressive standing, however. If he lets GSP pick his shots, it will be a long night for Mr. Hughes.

I will preface this by saying that not all wrestling sequences are bad and that they can have a place in a wrestling match. However, the majority of sequences that I have seen have served no other purpose other than showing how many reversals a wrestler can do and don't really build towards anything else other than that solitary, somewhat cheap, pop. I think the very fact that you used the words "sequence" should help shed light on why one can be considered bad. In my view, wrestling should be more organic than that. Sequences are obvious and self-containing for the most part, their very nature takes one "out" of the match. The applause is for the wrestlers effort, and its for both of them. It's a "wow, you guys are working really hard, here's some cheers as a reward" kinda heat, and is that really the kind of heat wrestlers should be working for? Like I said, it does have a place and heat is better than no heat, but there is no real "working" of the crowd being done here, it is anti-work, really. The fans are seeing the mechanics of wrestling, they are seeing Lance Evers and Chris Irvine doing a series of moves rather than Lance Storm and Chris Jericho in a heated battle. There is a disconnect after these sequences, and I am not sure that's where wrestlers really should be.

Fucking seriously, how has no one called you on this bullshit? "You're willing to fall for the belief that that spank-off was dramatic" Willing to fall for the belief? First, what does that even mean? That you are willing to suspend your disbelief? The whole point of wrestling is making the audience believe. Lambasting someone for a willingness to believe is absolutely fucking ridiculous. I'm not an Angle mark, I think his character for the most part sucks and I think he uses his amateur wrestling pretty poorly, he does have his qualities though and those qualities have me enjoying a fair amount of his matches, despite certain things detracting from them. I am in no way an Angle-mark, so how can I enjoy Angles matches? I used to write off Angles matches in similar ways that you do, but that's counter-productive. Angles matches work. They do. Accept that. They may not work for you, but they work for the vast majority of those watching. Why do they work? "They did the rights spots but there was no story" The right spots, which pop the crowd. Which is what wrestling is about. There is nothing in the book of professional wrestling that says there has to be a story. When the first person who said "hey, lets fake this stuff" had professional wrestling in mind, it wasn't to tell a story. Wrestling has always been about making money off those in the audience. There are no Oscars or critical acclaim like there is for film and theatre, there are no pulitzers as there are for literature, and critical success is not tied into the financial wellbeing of a company or wrestlers or anything like that. The goal of the wrestlers in a match isn't to tell a story. A story is something that can exist, it's nice to have it, but it is not necessary for a match to work and effect the crowd. Generally speaking, a very basic story will make the fans happy, and you can find a basic story in every match, even Michaels/Angle. Fans will try to pseudo-intellectualize a very simple thing like professional wrestling and try to elevate it as an artistic piece, but that's really just perverting it. There's nothing wrong with it, but don't fool yourself into thinking this is what wrestling IS, and certainly, don't chastise others for looking at it in a way it's supposed to be looked at. "Angle doesn't have those great matches that keeps you on the edge of your seat" So all those matches where I see the audience going nuts for near falls and the like don't actually exist. What Angle matches have you been watching? I haven't seen anything from Joe that is as brilliant as Benoit/Angle is, though the TNA 3 way would have come pretty close had they not ended it later than they should have. That match is a masterpiece and should be studied by every single fucking wrestler who wants to know how to work an audience. Is Joe worse than Angle? At some things, yes. At other things, no. Joe is a very good wrestler, and while I have certain issues with him (his non-stiff matches are suckish, where Angle does shitty Amateur wrestling moves, Joe does shitty MMA moves), I won't deny that several of his matches made me go crazygonuts, just as some of Angles matches have done. I won't disagree with anyone who says Joe is better than Angle or that Angle is better than Joe, because a strong case could be made for both, I will disagree with those who say there is a great divide between the two when it comes to being workers, cause I don't think there is.

It was Gideons shitty painting. Believe that.

Do what Shawn Michaels did to Marty Jannetty and put the idea of quitting in your buddy-coworkers head and get him to quit and get his hours.