tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41816067418002896692024-03-05T08:42:13.942-06:00Sports: A Game Of InchesWe are four humble men who love sports, but hate sports commentary. Peter Gammons is our hero and John Madden is our enemy. If you were to ask us our purpose, our answer would be simple: "We are forever locked in Mortal Kombat for the souls of sports fans everywhere. Statistics are our science and 'the immeasurable character of men' is the obsolete religion of blind faith. Our job is to prove that God doesn't exist and that athletes are merely cold, metal machines with no hearts or souls."David "MVP" Ecksteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01192028426754127341noreply@blogger.comBlogger2275125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4181606741800289669.post-27874549701479328882021-12-09T09:46:00.002-06:002021-12-09T09:47:01.767-06:00The Plot Holes of Moneyball<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0P0NI-EMGYgZ7DufE_7b-f9tHQ3LZiIzewSzL-KvGPwoe1WQGdRY1fEipUq0EOJJLFwcYegRkT14pxiYT1UzD2sAnMOW888H-ENP0_GX15c23ByRMUzUpDLdQtDTXnHNyBJMTPSN2QKSa/s268/Moneyball.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="268" data-original-width="182" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0P0NI-EMGYgZ7DufE_7b-f9tHQ3LZiIzewSzL-KvGPwoe1WQGdRY1fEipUq0EOJJLFwcYegRkT14pxiYT1UzD2sAnMOW888H-ENP0_GX15c23ByRMUzUpDLdQtDTXnHNyBJMTPSN2QKSa/s0/Moneyball.jpg" width="182" /></a></div>No one has ever been more upset to lose reliver Jason Isringhausen than the characters in Bennett Miller's 2011 classic <i>Moneyball</i>. It's not that the Oakland A's lost borderline Hall of Famers Jason Giambi and Johnny Damon to free agency after the 2001 season, but also Jason Isringhausen?! My stars, how will Billy Beane ever recover!?<p></p><p>Listen, I get it. In the film, the 2002 Oakland A's appear to be one of the worst teams in the league held together by rubber bands and Scotch tape. The film needs to creatively, yet realistically show the internal struggle that was at the heart of Michael Lewis's New York Times Best Seller of the same name: a team fighting back against the traditionalism of Baseball using advanced statistics. As such, a closer like Jason Isringhausen needs to be lumped in with Giambi and Damon and his loss needs to be also treated with the utmost reverence. </p><p>In reality, the 2002 A's, even without Jason Giambi and Johnny Damon, and yes, even without Jason Isringhausen, were a damn good team. Oakland still had stud third baseman Eric Chavez, future World Series MVP Jermaine Dye, 2002 MVP Miguel Tejada and one of the best rotations since the mid-90's Atlanta Braves including a young Aaron Harang and Cory Liddle and the fearsome trio of Mark Mulder, Tim Hudson, and 2002 AL Cy Young winner Barry Zito. </p><p>The lack of players not discussed in the film and the rotation that's rarely discussed in the book as well seems to be the main sticking point with a lot of fans. Sure Scott Hatteberg and David Justice were fine players, but you're not going to mention that both the AL MVP and the AL Cy Young came from this team as well? How dare you sir!</p><p>Again, I get it. It's hard to adapt a book that's all over the place that <u>Moneyball</u> actually is while also still including its themes all while making it palatable for a mainstream audience. As such, the film overwhelming is a creative success, even though it comes at the expense of the majority of excellent players.</p><p>But that's not what this blog post is about. I'm not here to discuss the differences between the film and what actually occurred in real life. I'm here to discuss the plot holes that exist solely within the text of the film. If you want more information about many major differences between the film and historical record, I'll put a list together at the end. But for now, here's the glaring errors I notice when watching the film for the 50th time. These are the plot holes of <i>Moneyball.</i></p><p><span></span></p><a name='more'></a><h2 style="text-align: left;">Carlos Peña</h2><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p>Trying to replace the production that Jason Giambi gave your team after he leaves for the New York Yankees is actually cause for concern. Billy Beane (played by Brad Pitt) and his scouts, and later with his assistant GM Peter Brandt (played by Jonah Hill), have several discussions about who is going to play First Base for the 2002 A's. Ultimately, that player is former catcher Scott Hatteberg (played by Chris Pratt). So then, where does Carlos Peña come in?</p><p>Within the internal logic of the movie, Billy Beane is forced to trade away Carlos Peña because his manager Art Howe (played by Philip Seymour Hoffman) keeps playing him at First Base over Hatteberg. But why is this even an issue? If Billy Beane wanted Hatteberg to play First, why is Peña even on the roster in this universe?</p><p>Further, why wasn't Carlos Peña a player discussed in these internal meetings during the offseason? If Peña was in the A's farm system at the time, maybe his name should have come up during these discussions. The "Hey, we're losing Jason Giambi so let's bring up our prospect Carlos Peña" talk seems like it should have been had in this film. </p><p>I assume what actually happens within the universe the film takes place in is what actually happened in real life in that Billy Beane trades for Peña from the Texas Rangers. That's even more baffling to me. As an audience member, we see Billy Beane struggling to determine who should replace Jason Giambi and he actively makes a trade for his replacement, but also is fighting with his manager that he's playing the player Billy Beane just traded for? That's very confusing.</p><p>Also, the A's play in the American League and have a DH. If David Justice is playing in Left like he does in the film and Art Howe doesn't want Hatteberg's defense on the field, just DH Hatty and then Peña can play First. </p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Are the Boston Red Sox Smart?</h2><div>When Billy Beane first meets Peter Brandt, Brandt tells Billy why getting Johnny Damon off of his baseball team is a good idea. He says:</div><div><blockquote>You're trying to replace Johnny Damon. The Boston Red Sox see Johnny Damon and they see a star who is worth $7.5 million a year. When I see Johnny Damon, what I see is... an imperfect understanding of where Runs come from. The guy's got a great glove, he's a decent lead off hitter, he can steal bases, but is he worth the $7.5 million a year the Boston Red Sox are playing him? No. No!... If you want full disclosure, I think it's a good thing you got Damon off of your payroll. I think it opens up all kinds of interesting possibilities. </blockquote></div><div>This conversation happens towards the very beginning of the film. Not only is it meant to explain to the audience part of the basic tenants of the philosophy of Moneyball, but it's meant to show the Us vs. Them mentality that the Oakland A's have towards the other teams in baseball.</div><div><br /></div><div>But wait, if the Boston Red Sox are so dumb by signing Johnny Damon because they have an imperfect understanding of where Runs come from, why is every other decision the Red Sox make so good and smart? Not only is this the same organization who tries to lure away Billy Beane to run their team while also signing Bill James, but they also signed Kevin Youkilis, who Brandt calls "The Greek God of Walks." It's a throw away line in the film, but Brandt tells Beane he tried to get his former employer, the Cleveland Indians, to trade for Youkilis. That means the Boston Red Sox have also been valuing Walks for some time now as well. I'm just saying, for a franchise that the audience is told made a dumb decision signing Damon, they make an awfully lot of smart decision throughout the rest of the movie. </div><div><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">David Justice Doesn't Understand His Contract?</h2><div>Billy Beane has a conversation with his newly acquired left fielder/ designated hitter David Justice (played by Stephen Bishop):</div><div></div><blockquote><div>Billy Beane: We got a problem, David?</div><div>David Justice: Nah, s'ok. I know your routine. It's patter; it's for effect, but it's for them, alright? That shit ain't for me. </div><div>BB: Oh, you're special?!</div><div>DJ: You're paying me 7 million bucks a year, man, so, yeah, maybe I am. A little bit. </div><div>BB: No man, I ain't paying you 7. The Yankees are paying you half your salary. That's what the New York Yankees think of you. They're paying you $3.5 million to play against them.</div></blockquote><div></div><div>It's a super minor point, and one I only noticed upon the 50 millionth re-watch, but does veteran David Justice really not know that his former employer is paying half of his salary? That seems odd to me. Maybe he really didn't know that, but I found it weird. </div><div><br /></div><span></span><div> ______________</div><h2 style="text-align: left;">The Chicago White Sox Are Dumb</h2><div>As a fan of the Chicago White Sox, I wasn't terribly pleased with how the ignorance of the franchise and their GM at the time, Ken Williams, come off in the book. This is just an aside, but here are some excerpts: </div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>"With Carlos Peña gone, Billy [Beane] re-baited his hook with Cory Lidle...Kenny Williams, GM of the Chicago White Sox, expressed an interest in Lidle. Billy suggested a package that would yield, in return, the White Sox's slugging outfielder Magglio Ordoñez. The White Sox declined, but that conversation led to another, in which Billy discovered that the White Sox were willing to part with their leadoff hitter, Ray Durham. To get Durham <i>and</i> the cash to pay the rest of Durham's 2002 salary, all Billy had to give up was one flame-throwing Triple-A pitcher...<br /><br />Ray Durham, acquired on July 15, had been a Fucking A trade (It quickly inspired an article on baseballprospectus.com, the leading sabermetric Web site, with the title: "Kenny Williams, A's Fan.") In getting Durham, Billy got a lot more than just half of a season from a very fine player. Durham would be declared a Type A free agent at the end of the season. Lose a Type A free agent and you received a first-round draft pick plus a compensation pick at the end of the first round."</li></ul></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span><span><span><span><span>"When Kenny Williams told Billy [Beane] an hour before that the White Sox were taking [University of Kentucky starting pitcher Joe] Blanton, Billy couldn't but agree that it showed disturbingly good judgment. Blanton was the second best pitcher in the draft, in Billy's view... A White Sox voice crackles on the speakerphone: "The White Sox selects redraft number 0103, Ring, Roger,. Left-handed pitcher."... "You fucking got to be kidding!" hollers Billy, overjoyed... "Ring over Blanton? A reliver over a starter?"</span></span></span></span></span></li></ul><div>Luckily, Kenny Williams and the Chicago White Sox had the last laugh since they won the World Series a few years later in 2005, otherwise it would have been even more embarrassing. </div></div><div><span><br /></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"> ______________</div></blockquote><h2 style="text-align: left;">Differences Between IRL and the Movie</h2><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Billy Beane was using advanced statistics long before the 2002 season. He embraced them when he was working under former A's GM Sandy Alderson.</li><li>Jonah Hill's Peter Brandt is based on Beane's Assistant GM Paul DePodesta. A few years later, DePodesta was given the Dodgers GM job and failed. He's currently working in the NFL for the Cleveland Browns. </li><li>The person who probably gets the biggest shaft in the movie is Art Howe. In the film, he's portrayed as this symbolism of Old Baseball standing in the way of Billy getting to do what he wants, and spends much of the film upset he isn't being given a new contract. In reality, Howe was signed through the 2003 season (at the time) and <a href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/867712-oakland-as-in-defense-of-former-manager-art-howe" target="_blank">was a "team player" in embracing sabermetrics</a>. </li><li>As mentioned earlier in this post, the Island of Misfit Toys that's portrayed in the movie still managed to produce both the AL Cy Young winner and the AL MVP. In 2002, Barry Zito had a 23-5 record with a 2.75 ERA, 3.87 FIP, and 4.5 fWAR. Ironically, thanks in large part to the Moneyball philosophy, if Zito had put up those numbers or something similar, he probably wouldn't have won the award because we've moved past the emphasis of Wins on Cy Young voting. Though like the movie, the book also doesn't put a great emphasis on pitchers, mainly because the advanced statistics touted at the time were more geared towards batters than pitchers.</li><li>The 2002 A's had two legit MVP candidates on their team, neither of which are really mentioned in the movie. The actual winner was SS Miguel Tejada. He slashed .308/.354/.508 with 34 home runs, good for a wRC+ of 129. What really helped his case was his 108 runs and 131 RBIs. Tejada's fWAR that year was also 4.5, brought down by his poor defense. If I was blogging back then, I would have argued that the MVP should have gone to Tejada's teammate Eric Chavez. In 2002, Chavez slashed .275/.348/.513 with 34 HRs, good for a 125 wRC+. Tejada has the slight offense edge there, and Chavy only scored 87 runs and batted in 109, but what really separated him was his defense. Eric Chavez was an excellent defender which propelled his fWAR to 5.7. Further, there's an entire few pages in the book dedicated to Billy Beane fawning over Chavy to Michael Lewis about the third baseman is only 24 years old yet already on pace to be one of the greats. </li><li>Billy Beane comes off as the Smartest Man in the Room in the book, and more often than not, rightfully so. But there are parts that don't age the greatest for him. The main one that stinks out in my mind are the A's hatred of Prince Fielder during the 2002 MLB draft. At one point, the book states, "Here's an astonishing fact: Prince Fielder is too fat even for the Oakland A's." Fielder ended up being drafted before Oakland could have take him anyways, and Fielder did have weight problems throughout his career, but the ridicule was unnecessary considering how great Prince Fielder's career turned out to be. The mockery of Fielder looks even worse for the A's considering their love of their overweight Minor League catcher Jeremy Brown that occurs throughout the book (he's briefly mentioned at the end of the film, using actually footage of Brown). Jeremy Brown got 10 ABs in the Majors. Prince Fielder is a borderline Hall of Famer. I mean, he's on the Hall of Fame ballot right now. Billy Beane is famously quoted in the book as "we're not selling jeans here" as a way for scouts to overcome their biases of what a baseball player should look like. The Oakland A's should have practiced what they preached in relation to Prince Fielder. </li><li>Here is how the Oakland A's really felt about the departure of Jason Isringhausen: "Jason Isringhausen's departure wasn't a loss to the Oakland A's but a happy consequence of a money machine known as 'Selling the Closer.' In return for losing Isringhausen to the St. Louis Cardinals, the A's had received two new assets: the Cardinals' first-round draft pick, along with a first-round compensation pick." </li></ul>Adam Kaplanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04536112782512101012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4181606741800289669.post-63867689006103431652016-10-31T18:02:00.001-05:002016-10-31T18:20:25.935-05:00It's Official: White Sox Have the Worst Sign in All of SportsIs your MLB franchise underwater with a poorly mortgaged future? Refinance now with Guaranteed Rate!!<br />
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Seriously Guaranteed Rate - you couldn't make the logo look like a home plate? Instead, like the Sox, you chose to stick with an underwater/upside-down house rather than to do things differently. Read this quote from Guaranteed Rate's CEO about their decision to not change the logo, and tell me you can't see this coming straight from the mouth of Kenny Williams about the White Sox:<br />
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"We've had it for 16 years, and we're not going to change it," he said. The Sox "asked us if we'd change it, and we considered it and looked at different logos," but "felt it was important to keep it the way it was, as much as some fans disliked the down arrow."</blockquote>
I guess this is ideal synergy branding after all.saBEERmetricshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05290712313432818055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4181606741800289669.post-9124004651009084452012-11-15T10:18:00.004-06:002012-11-15T10:18:53.996-06:00Get to Know the Bulls Future: Nikola MiroticThe Chicago Bulls have a player named Nikola Mirotic stashed away
overseas and their waiting until the right time to bring him to the NBA. Their
giving him more time to develop his game while an spot opens up on the current Chicago
Bulls roster. Not too many people know much about Nikola Mirotic, including myself
so I thought now would be a good time to learn more about him. The guy who
should be the number two man for Derrick Rose in a few years.<br />
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Nikola Mirotic was drafted by the Houston
Rockets with the 23rd overall pick in the <span style="color: black; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">2011 NBA Draft</span>.
His rights were then traded to the <span style="color: black; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Minnesota Timberwolves</span> and then his rights were
traded to the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls still own his rights, even though he is
still playing overseas for Madrid. In 2011 he signed a five year extension with
Real Madrid, so the only way he will get out of that deal and come play for the
Chicago Bulls in the NBA will be if the Bulls buy out his current contract and
then agree on an NBA contract, so he won’t come cheap.</div>
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The question everybody wants to know is what position
does he play. Mirotic is a 6 ft 10
Power Forward and is currently only 21 years old. Thus, his game is still developing. He is a big shooter who can shoot from all
over the court. <a href="http://www.nbadraft.net/players/nikola-mirotic">Please read his Bio and scouting report.</a></div>
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For a young shooter he has potential, but looks to have room to grow. You can see <a href="http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Nikola-Mirotic-5134/stats/">His Stats</a> and make your own conclusions. He is doing well now and in a year or two should be ready to come over to the NBA. A lot could depend on Carlos Boozer who is currently the starting power forward for the Bulls. When his current contract expires or if the Bulls decide to amnesty him if they think Boozer is not living up to his contract, then they could bring Nikola Mirotic over. Or if they think Mirotic is ready sooner they can make the transition for the future.</div>
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Hopefully this preview allowed you to get to know Nikola Mirotic a little more. If there should be more of him in the future.</div>
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Cubsfan4evrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01412704270211172874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4181606741800289669.post-83412068573319558992012-11-14T17:33:00.001-06:002012-11-14T17:33:16.222-06:00The Bulls without Derrick Rose<br />
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The Chicago Bulls season just started and they are 4-3 on the
young season. The team with the best record in the east for the
last two seasons are coming into the 2012-2013 season as
an entirely different season and the underdogs. Yes, the
underdogs even though they had the best record in the eastern division for the
last two years and won the Central division both seasons. This is because this
year they don't have their star player and leading scorer. The NBA is a star
driven league and without a star of his caliber many experts and myself
(not a expert) don't consider the Bulls a top team in the Eastern division and
the NBA.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The key is the
eastern Eastern division is not a strong division. Without Rose
the Bulls could probably make the playoffs, but the bottom of the playoffs. I
think the 6 or 7th seed. Last year they were eliminated in the first round of
the playoffs when Rose got injured. Without Rose they would not have
a chance to advance far into the playoffs. If the Bulls can
hang in there until they get Rose back they could be a strong enough playoff
team. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Please vote in the
poll on side with how many wins you think the Bulls will win this season.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Cubsfan4evrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01412704270211172874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4181606741800289669.post-31664164974911090402012-11-13T21:59:00.007-06:002012-11-13T21:59:48.777-06:00GOI Fantasy Basketball League 2012 is back<br />
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Over the last three years
GOI has had our Fantasy Basketball league. We had our draft a few weeks ago and
were back for our</span> fourth year with a few changes. We kept it an
Auction League like last season, but changed it from a Rotisserie to a Head-to-Head. Channing
the scoring format came with controversy in the league. We had some of the
league members that wanted to make it Head-to-Head and others that
wanted to keep it Rotisserie. There is a
big difference between the two. Finally after polling all of the members, many
who have played in the league last year or longer we decided to change the
scoring for the majority of the league. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">With two weeks in the books
I have to say I am not a big fan of Head-to-Head</span> scoring for Fantasy
basketball. I feel for some fantasy sports Head-to-Head is the only way
to go such as Fantasy Football, but for other sports like Fantasy Baseball and
Basketball (especially basketball) Rotisserie makes more sense. Like this
season I like the team I drafted and talent on my roster, but not off to a good
start because I have too many point guards on my roster with 6 and not enough
big men. This was because all of the big men were going for too expensive after
the cornerstone big men I bought to build my roster around. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Here is how my team turned out:</div>
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Here is the team TBO drafted:</div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Like every year TBO and
myself have our rivalry for first. He is off to the early lead because I am in
the basement while trying to figure out this new scoring format for basketball
and making some trades for a better balanced team. </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">There will be periodic updates
about the league.</span></div>
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Let us know what you think.</div>
Cubsfan4evrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01412704270211172874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4181606741800289669.post-13530140906509880972012-11-13T21:38:00.001-06:002012-11-13T21:38:43.797-06:00Our Pick'em League Keeps on LivingA few years ago we started picking the winner of each football game on this very site Game Of Inches. We started doing this before there were other websites that allowed us to do more of an automated system than manually tracking each game by hand like we did on the blog. So we moved to do this format and with that, stopped posting updates on the blog. So we will be posting an update mid season (now) and then at the end of the season so you can see how the three of us did in Adam Kaplan, TBO, and myself (Cubsfan4evr).<br />
<br />
This year we added a new wrinkle compared to how we have played for the last several seasons. Were playing against the spread for the first time. This was Adam's idea and TBO has embraced it. To put it simply, I am still adjusting and like the old style. I like picking games straight up and none of this fancy stuff.<br />
<br />
With Ten weeks in the books this is how the standing look:<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8tnCwirQGPJnxTCP0YBMdWjRkWo_RBmIQt8u9eSrRpSSRsPX_4SK1DbTxuaTCA491AyGAlcK9-5x3F-mc_eo4gaO0yh3rtZJXhLi8ca2LFF_r9szwyabRzUddDEID6NJzlWAkxPxg1w7Z/s1600/Pickem+League+Overall+week+10.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="116" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8tnCwirQGPJnxTCP0YBMdWjRkWo_RBmIQt8u9eSrRpSSRsPX_4SK1DbTxuaTCA491AyGAlcK9-5x3F-mc_eo4gaO0yh3rtZJXhLi8ca2LFF_r9szwyabRzUddDEID6NJzlWAkxPxg1w7Z/s400/Pickem+League+Overall+week+10.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">TBO and myself are tied for first with Adam slightly behind us. Superdup is also known as TBO.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I should point out in that in week six I had a really bad week and couldn't seem to pick a game correct against the spread.<br />
<br />
Also, TBO forgot to fill out most of his picks last week for week Ten. He only filled out two picks (Thursday night and Sunday) and got both correct.<br />
<br />
Here is how we did with the number of selections we got correct broken down by week:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiwG_F37bd1luH0nW5mWG0ZP-cE9P9t6GE4xmOsfmhoK_fD2OQqflDPRi-_wjEW_dzxJCjnPidUCaXpA1HYTiPIEBNIyol3Ls_w9y2bZP2FW4Zb9APPbYSAkBzbhfX4nfZnjvNyGglQDeu/s1600/Pickem+League+Weekly+Performance.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="107" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiwG_F37bd1luH0nW5mWG0ZP-cE9P9t6GE4xmOsfmhoK_fD2OQqflDPRi-_wjEW_dzxJCjnPidUCaXpA1HYTiPIEBNIyol3Ls_w9y2bZP2FW4Zb9APPbYSAkBzbhfX4nfZnjvNyGglQDeu/s640/Pickem+League+Weekly+Performance.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Even with Cubsfan4evr bad week in week six and TBO bad week in week 10 because he forgot to fill out most of his picks were hanging in there. We will have a final update after the season with how we did.Cubsfan4evrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01412704270211172874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4181606741800289669.post-29860055589932451312012-11-08T17:36:00.003-06:002012-11-08T17:36:39.860-06:00Baseball Board Bets (2012) Updated<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
We have finally updated the <a href="http://gameofinches.blogspot.com/p/baseball-board-bets-2012.html">Baseball board bets from 2012</a> to
see how our predictions were. Yes, we were a little tardy in getting the
results up, but better late than never. We have slacked here at Game of Inches
in not doing any Basketball or football (very surprisingly) but hopefully we
will get our game back together for baseball season again. The contributors are
always talking sports, especially baseball and football and as a result should
have our very popular board bets back. </div>
Cubsfan4evrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01412704270211172874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4181606741800289669.post-1537460991742025522012-03-14T15:34:00.001-05:002012-06-10T19:53:23.353-05:00Sexy Rexy Is Leaving GOIFarewell loyal readers of Game Of Inches.<br />
<br />
Unlike the joke podcast The "Bright" One and I did when Rex Grossman left Chicago to play in Houston when we said Sexy Rexy is leaving, I am actually leaving GOI.<br />
<br />
I loved my time working on GOI and I am glad that I got to work on something I love with three great friends of mind, but I feel that this is my time to leave.<br />
<br />
I have started a new website entitled <a href="http://thecover3.com/">The Cover 3</a> that you can visit at www.thecover3.com in which I will discuss all things sports and pop culture. Please check it out.<br />
<br />
Thank you everyone for making my time here at Game Of Inches great and I hope you will continue to read me at my new site.<br />
<br />
Sincerely,<br />
Adam Kaplan<br />
aka Sexy RexyAdam Kaplanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04536112782512101012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4181606741800289669.post-62771493981001729992012-02-27T21:43:00.002-06:002012-02-27T21:49:31.294-06:003 Cell Phones<b>16) "3 cell phones and i still dont ever call her" - 2 Chainz "Murder" @ 0:25</b><br />10 2 Chainz - Murder (Feat. Kreayshawn)<br /><embed allowfullscreen="false" allowscriptaccess="always" flashvars="file=http://dc224.4shared.com/img/1030163103/4697f45e/dlink__2Fdownload_2F97FXX4f9_3Ftsid_3D00000000-000000-00000000/preview.mp3&volume=50&" height="20" id="ply" name="ply" quality="high" src="http://www.4shared.com/flash/player.swf?ver=9051" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="200" wmode="opaque"></embed><br />Powered by <a href="http://mp3skull.com/">mp3skull.com</a><script src="http://mp3skull.com/embedcl.php" type="text/javascript"><br /></script><br /><br /><b>17) "I'm ballin bitch, you stallin bitch, 3 cell phones and i still wont call a bitch" - Wale "Globetrotter" @ 2:11</b><br />12 - Tity Boi - Globetrotter (Feat. Wale)-RGF<br /><embed allowfullscreen="false" allowscriptaccess="always" flashvars="file=http://dc152.4shared.com/img/1021317495/62aac9af/dlink__2Fdownload_2FMO9Jf8AY_3Ftsid_3D00000000-000000-00000000/preview.mp3&volume=50&" height="20" id="ply" name="ply" quality="high" src="http://www.4shared.com/flash/player.swf?ver=9051" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="200" wmode="opaque"></embed><br />Powered by <a href="http://mp3skull.com/">mp3skull.com</a><script src="http://mp3skull.com/embedcl.php" type="text/javascript"><br /></script><br /><br /><b>18) "We dont care if niggas locked out, we gonna ball all year, nigga know that" - Wale "Globetrotter" @ 3:19</b><br />12 - Tity Boi - Globetrotter (Feat. Wale)-RGF<br /><embed allowfullscreen="false" allowscriptaccess="always" flashvars="file=http://dc152.4shared.com/img/1021317495/62aac9af/dlink__2Fdownload_2FMO9Jf8AY_3Ftsid_3D00000000-000000-00000000/preview.mp3&volume=50&" height="20" id="ply" name="ply" quality="high" src="http://www.4shared.com/flash/player.swf?ver=9051" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="200" wmode="opaque"></embed><br />Powered by <a href="http://mp3skull.com/">mp3skull.com</a><script src="http://mp3skull.com/embedcl.php" type="text/javascript"><br /></script><br /><br /><b>19) "But thats how good yo ass is...prolly make a gay nigga reconsida" - J Cole "Cant Get Enough" @ 0:20</b><br />j cole ft trey songz - cant get enough cdq<br /><embed allowfullscreen="false" allowscriptaccess="always" flashvars="file=http://dc435.4shared.com/img/1146574901/e3c2bfb5/dlink__2Fdownload_2FQFbddu7V_3Ftsid_3D00000000-000000-00000000/preview.mp3&volume=50&" height="20" id="ply" name="ply" quality="high" src="http://www.4shared.com/flash/player.swf?ver=9051" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="200" wmode="opaque"></embed><br />Powered by <a href="http://mp3skull.com/">mp3skull.com</a><script src="http://mp3skull.com/embedcl.php" type="text/javascript"><br /></script><br /><br /><b>20) "I'm about to go HAM" - Kanye West "HAM" @ 1:20</b><br /><div><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><br /><tr valign="MIDDLE"><td style="background-image: url(http://beemp3.com/player/corner-topleft2.gif); background-repeat: repeat; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; vertical-align: bottom;"></td><td style="background-image: url(http://beemp3.com/player/bkgnd-top2.gif); background-repeat: repeat; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; vertical-align: middle;"> Kanye-West-Jay-Z-HAM.mp3</td><td style="background-image: url(http://beemp3.com/player/corner-topright2.gif); background-repeat: repeat; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; vertical-align: bottom;"></td></tr><br /><tr valign="MIDDLE"><td style="background-image: url(http://beemp3.com/player/left-ltrow2.gif); width: 16px;" width="16"></td><td style="background-image: url(http://beemp3.com/player/light2.gif); background-repeat: repeat; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; vertical-align: bottom;"><embed align="middle" allowscriptaccess="sameDomain" bgcolor="#ffffff" class="beeplayer" flashvars="playerID=1&bg=0xCDDFF3&leftbg=0x357DCE&lefticon=0xF2F2F2&rightbg=0x64F051&rightbghover=0x1BAD07&righticon=0xF2F2F2&righticonhover=0xFFFFFF&text=0x357DCE&slider=0x357DCE&track=0xFFFFFF&border=0xFFFFFF&loader=0xAF2910&soundFile=http%3A//www.futurehistoryllc.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Kanye-West-Jay-Z-HAM.mp3" height="24" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" quality="high" src="http://beemp3.com/player/player.swf" style="height: 24px; width: 290px;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="290" wmode="transparent"></embed> <img src="http://beemp3.com/player/logo_small.gif" style="border: 0; padding: 0; vertical-align: bottom;" /> </td><td style="background-image: url(http://beemp3.com/player/right-ltrow2.gif); width: 16px;" width="16"></td></tr><br /><tr><td width="16"><img src="http://beemp3.com/player/corner-bottomleft2.gif" style="border: 0; padding: 0;" /></td><td style="background-image: url(http://beemp3.com/player/bkgnd-bottom2.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; border: 0; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center; vertical-align: top;">Found at <a href="http://beemp3.com/download.php?file=14471417&song=">bee mp3 search engine</a></td><td width="16"><img src="http://beemp3.com/player/corner-bottomright2.gif" style="border: 0; padding: 0;" /></td></tr><br /></tbody></table><br /></div>The 'Bright' Onehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02183024684918261285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4181606741800289669.post-87479811249692664462012-02-27T14:34:00.000-06:002012-02-27T14:34:48.612-06:00Redux: The Best Films Of 2011Early last month I posted <a href="http://gameofinches.blogspot.com/2012/01/sexy-rexys-top-10-movies-of-2011.html">my list of the ten best films of 2011</a>. However, I saw more films after this list was posted, including Drive who most people consider the best film of the year and The Artist which just won Best Picture at the 2012 Oscar's (and consider the other 8 films it was up against, it absolutely deserved to win; it did not Hurt Locker any of the other nominations). <br />
<br />
So here's my redo list of the ten best films of the terrible year that was 2011. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.joreviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Moneyball-movie-poster-2011-picture-MOV_02b2297d_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://www.joreviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Moneyball-movie-poster-2011-picture-MOV_02b2297d_b.jpg" width="100" /></a></div><b>10) Moneyball</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwgmCl4zl91uxXh4wTX6ZBzB_iKW8q8-eOopBuJKUTngp9zCGqt0xVGFTLy5JN33ewaeWhKWRxZQSVigda3_ql_Zpw0oNhBr3cXPfXnpB1L-2rkx_Sv2ODH-l5t3qdkBcQ7ZOi_OKr-Fg/s1600/The+Descendants+Poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwgmCl4zl91uxXh4wTX6ZBzB_iKW8q8-eOopBuJKUTngp9zCGqt0xVGFTLy5JN33ewaeWhKWRxZQSVigda3_ql_Zpw0oNhBr3cXPfXnpB1L-2rkx_Sv2ODH-l5t3qdkBcQ7ZOi_OKr-Fg/s1600/The+Descendants+Poster.jpg" width="100" /></a></div><b>9) The Descendants</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/df/Larry_Crowne_Poster.jpg/220px-Larry_Crowne_Poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/df/Larry_Crowne_Poster.jpg/220px-Larry_Crowne_Poster.jpg" width="100" /></a></div><b>8) Larry Crowne</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTg5OTMxNzk4Nl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwOTk1MjAwNQ@@._V1._SY317_CR0,0,214,317_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTg5OTMxNzk4Nl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwOTk1MjAwNQ@@._V1._SY317_CR0,0,214,317_.jpg" width="100" /></a></div><b>7) X-Men: First Class<b><br />
<br />
</b></b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><b><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/51/50_50_Poster.jpg/220px-50_50_Poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/51/50_50_Poster.jpg/220px-50_50_Poster.jpg" width="100" /></a></b></b></div><b><b>6) <b>50/50</b><br />
<br />
</b></b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><b><a href="https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRYCfPY-h-8PDqSSs9eWAL22X3IQa5OmK1l_HvJDVrxJnMRjGgzQA" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRYCfPY-h-8PDqSSs9eWAL22X3IQa5OmK1l_HvJDVrxJnMRjGgzQA" width="100" /></a></b></b></div><b><b><b>5) Paranormal Activity 3</b><br />
<br />
</b></b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><b><a href="http://www.filmofilia.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/The_Artist_poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://www.filmofilia.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/The_Artist_poster.jpg" width="100" /></a></b></b></div><b><b>4) The Artist<br />
<br />
</b></b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><b><a href="https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTZiPWblRdlr7J4-ikf8jgBJA-X3OPKfS90RjxfGZlSz39woXCoHw" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTZiPWblRdlr7J4-ikf8jgBJA-X3OPKfS90RjxfGZlSz39woXCoHw" width="100" /></a></b></b></div><b><b><b>3) Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes</b><br />
<br />
</b></b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><b><a href="https://encrypted-tbn3.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQBok5x6LT-jhxt29PsKtHyKWXbDcyF39irZzGiaeefR4gK31R7Ig" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://encrypted-tbn3.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQBok5x6LT-jhxt29PsKtHyKWXbDcyF39irZzGiaeefR4gK31R7Ig" width="100" /></a></b></b></div><b><b><b>2) Drive</b><br />
<br />
</b></b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><b><a href="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTH-QZgDEzEbHB6rOSTfA3n67mNFGJ5kgMNYDR53MRWm41MKJK1vDuqoSjp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTH-QZgDEzEbHB6rOSTfA3n67mNFGJ5kgMNYDR53MRWm41MKJK1vDuqoSjp" width="100" /></a></b></b></div><b>1) Young Adult</b><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
In terms of both enjoyability and quality of the movie making process <i>Drive</i> is probably the better movie but I just enjoyed <i>Young Adult </i>so damn much. I saw <i>Drive</i> once it came to DVD and once it got a lot of hype online whereas I saw <i>Young Adult</i> in theaters on its opening weekend. If I saw <i>Drive</i> in theaters it would probably be my #1 selection but <i>Young Adult</i> is my personal favorite. <br />
<br />
After Jason Reitman's last project, <i>Up In The Air</i> lost steam as the perennial favorite in 2009 eventually losing all Oscars to <i>The Hurt Locker</i>, the crew of <i>Young Adult</i> tried to calculate release dates of the film as well as choosing not to enter it into film festivals such as Cannes because they determined that it is films that come out of nowhere and peak at the right time that win Best Picture. The last three Best Picture Oscar winners- The Artist, The King's Speech, and The Hurt Locker- are prime examples of this. But in doing so <i>YA</i> shot itself in the foot and ended up getting no Oscar nominations. I believe that if the film had gone about doing what it normally does then at minimum it would have been like <i>Up In The Air</i> where at least if it is not going to get any Oscar wins it will at least get Oscar nominations.<br />
<br />
I think history will not be kind to <i>Young Adult</i> and that in ten years we will collectively determine that the best film of 2011 was <i>Drive</i> and I won't throw up a huge fight with them, but I will stand by my original selection of <i>Young Adult</i>Adam Kaplanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04536112782512101012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4181606741800289669.post-72766508417526674212012-02-27T13:58:00.001-06:002012-02-27T13:59:47.927-06:00How Well Did I Predict The Oscars?<b>BEST PICTURE</b><br />
What I Said: The Artist<br />
What Won: The Artist<br />
<i>CORRECT</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
<b>BEST DIRECTOR</b><br />
What I Said: Michel Hazavanicius (The Artist)<br />
Who Won: Michel Hazavanicius (The Artist)<br />
<i>CORRECT</i><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<b>BEST ACTOR</b><br />
What I Said: Jean Dujardin (The Artist)<br />
Who Won: Jean Dujandin (The Artist)<br />
<i>CORRECT</i><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<b>BEST ACTRESS</b><br />
What I Said: Viola Davis (The Help)<br />
Who Won: Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady)<br />
<i>INCORRECT</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
<b>BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR</b><br />
What I Said: Christopher Plummer (Beginners)<br />
Who Won: Christopher Plummer (Beginners)<br />
<i>CORRECT</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
<b>BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS</b><br />
What I Said: Octavia Spencer (The Help)<br />
Who Won: Octavia Spencer (The Help)<br />
<i>CORRECT</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
<b>BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY</b><br />
What I Said: Woody Allen (Midnight In Paris)<br />
Who Won: Woody Allen (Midnight In Paris)<br />
<i>CORRECT</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
<b>BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY</b><br />
What I Said: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, and Jim Rash (The Descendants)<br />
Who Won: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, and Jim Rash (The Descendants)<br />
<i>CORRECT</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
<b>BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY</b><br />
What I Said: Emmanuel Lubezki (The Tree Of Life)<br />
Who Won: Robert Richardson (Hugo)<br />
<i>INCORRECT</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
<b>BEST VISUAL EDITING</b><br />
What I Said: The Artist<br />
What Won: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo<br />
<i>INCORRECT</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
<b>BEST ANIMATED FILM</b><br />
What I Said: Rango<br />
What Won: Rango<br />
<i>CORRECT</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
<b>BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM</b><br />
What I Said: Iran, A Separation<br />
What Won: Iran, A Separation<br />
<i>CORRECT</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
<b>BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE</b><br />
What I Said: Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory<br />
What Won: Undefeated<br />
<i>INCORRECT</i><br />
<br />
<b>BEST ORIGINAL SONG</b><br />
What I Said: Bret McKenzie "Man Or Muppet" (The Muppets)<br />
Who Won: Bret McKenzie "Man Or Muppet" (The Muppets)<br />
<i>CORRECT</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
<b>BEST ORIGINAL SCORE</b><br />
What I Said: Ludovic Bource (The Artist)<br />
What Won: Ludovic Bource (The Artist)<br />
<i>CORRECT</i><br />
<b><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />BEST SOUND MIXING</b><br />
What I Said: Transformers: Dark Of The Moon<br />
What Won: Hugo<br />
<i>INCORRECT</i><br />
<br />
<b>BEST SOUND EDITING</b><br />
What I Said: Transformers: Dark Of The Moon<br />
What Won: Hugo<br />
<i>INCORRECT</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
<b>BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT</b><br />
What I Said: Saving Face<br />
What Won: Saving Face<br />
<i>CORRECT</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
<b>BEST ANIMATED SHORT</b><br />
What I Said: The Fantastic Books Of Morris Lessmore<br />
What Won: The Fantastic Books Of Morris Lessmore<br />
<i>CORRECT</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
<b>BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT</b><br />
What I Said: Raju<br />
What Won: The Shore<br />
<i>INCORRECT</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
<b>BEST MAKE UP</b><br />
What I Said: The Iron Lady<br />
What Won: The Iron Lady<br />
<i>CORRECT</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
<b>BEST VISUAL EFFECTS</b><br />
What I Said: Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows, Part II<br />
What Won: Hugo<br />
<i>INCORRECT</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
<b>BEST COSTUME DESIGN</b><br />
What I Said: Hugo<br />
What Won: The Artist<br />
<i>INCORRECT</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
<b>BEST ART DIRECTION</b><br />
What I Said: Hugo<br />
What Won: Hugo<br />
<i>CORRECT</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
Main Categories: 7/8<br />
Visual Categories: 2/6<br />
Sound Categories: 2/4<br />
The "Short" Categories: 2/3<br />
The Other Full Length Features: 2/3<br />
<br />
<b>OVERALL</b>: 62.5% (15/24)Adam Kaplanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04536112782512101012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4181606741800289669.post-46667378895192290722012-02-23T13:54:00.001-06:002012-02-23T13:58:43.450-06:00Redux: Who Will Win The 2012 Oscars?<a href="http://gameofinches.blogspot.com/2012/01/who-will-win-2012-oscars.html">Here is what i thought would win a month ago</a>. But opinions and facts have changes. Not only have all the Guilds tallied a final vote, but momentum has changed in a month, and my opinion of who I think deserves to win has changed- mainly because I've seen more movies. The only movie of 2011 that I still need to see is Shame and that will probably only affect who I think will win Best Actor but here is my final* list.<br />
<br />
As always I will break up these "winners" into three categories. First, who I think will actually win The Oscar for a particular category. Second, who I think SHOULD win based based off of the ACTUAL Oscar nominations. Third, who I think SHOULD win based upon every movie that was released in 2011.<br />
<br />
<b>BEST PICTURE</b><br />
<br />
What Will Win: The Artist<br />
What Should Win (Actual Nomination): The Artist<br />
What Should Win (Every Movie): Young Adult<br />
NOTE: Drive is probably the better overall film and is #2 on my year end list, but I just love Young Adult<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>BEST DIRECTOR</b><br />
<br />
Who Will Win: Michael Hazanavicius (The Artist)<br />
Who Should Win (Actual Nomination): Martin Scorsese (Hugo)<br />
Who Should Win (Every Movie): Nicholas Winding Refn (Drive)<br />
<br />
<b>BEST ACTOR</b><br />
<br />
Who Will Win: Jean Dujarian (The Artist)<br />
Who Should Win (Actual Nomination): Brad Pitt (Moneyball)<br />
Who Should Win (Every Movie): Ryan Gosling (Drive/The Ides Of March/Crazy, Stupid, Love)<br />
<br />
<b>BEST ACTRESS</b><br />
<br />
Who Will Win: Viola Davis (The Help)<br />
Who Should Win (Actual Nomination): N/A<br />
Who Should Win (Every Movie): Charlize Theron (Young Adult)<br />
<br />
<b>BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR</b><br />
<br />
Who Will Win: Christopher Plummer (Beginners)<br />
Who Should Win (Actual Nomination): Nick Nolte (Warrior)<br />
Who Should Win (Every Movie): Andy Serkis (Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes)<br />
SIDENOTE: Shout out to Patton Oswalt (Young Adult) who would be #2 on my list<br />
<br />
<b>BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS</b><br />
<br />
Who Will Win: Octavia Spencer (The Help)<br />
Who Should Win (Actual Nomination): Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids)<br />
Who Should Win (Every Movie): Shailene Woodley (The Descendants)<br />
<br />
<b>BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY</b><br />
<br />
Who Will Win: Woody Allen (Midnight In Paris)<br />
Who Should Win (Actual Nomination): Annie Mumulo and Kristen Wiig (Bridesmaids)<br />
Who Should Win: Diablo Cody (Young Adult)<br />
<br />
<b>BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY</b><br />
<br />
Who Will Win: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash (The Descendants)<br />
Who Should Win (Actual Nomination): Steve Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin, Stan Chervin (Moneyball)<br />
Who Should Win (Every Movie): Steve Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin, Stan Chervin (Moneyball)<br />
<br />
<b>BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY</b><br />
<br />
Who Will Win: Emmanuel Lubezki (The Tree Of Life)<br />
Who Should Win (Actual Nominations): N/A<br />
Who Should Win (Every Movie): Newton Thomas Sigel (Drive)<br />
<br />
<b>ANIMATED FEATURE FILM:</b> Rango<br />
<b>ANIMATED SHORT:</b> The Fantastic Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore<br />
<b>FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:</b> Iran, A Separation<br />
<b>SONG:</b> Man Or Muppet<br />
<b>SCORE:</b> The Artist<br />
<b>ART DIRECTION:</b> Hugo<br />
<b>COSTUME DESIGN:</b> Hugo<br />
<b>MAKE UP:</b> The Iron Lady<br />
<b>DOCUMENTARY:</b> Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory<br />
<b>BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT:</b> Saving Face<br />
<b>LIVE ACTION SHORT:</b> Raju<br />
<b>BEST VISUAL EFFECTS:</b> Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II<br />
<b>BEST EDITING:</b> The Artist<br />
<b>SOUND MIXING:</b> Transformers: Dark Of The Moon<br />
<b>SOUND EDITING:</b> Transformers: Dark Of The MoonAdam Kaplanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04536112782512101012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4181606741800289669.post-89495056888058191352012-02-22T20:01:00.001-06:002012-02-22T20:03:55.440-06:00Ice Cream Paint Job<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq5eJRMER_-Jkkj4sUu3ws3bckE2YdzoHaCSff65A6QTFtt-_Tk5ZMtUckyDdXl4LWGANmO6P7Q50hWvOOSj0xwe-HWGpigmnNHGpcuYTmnhqn_SnQaUCvN2O5NbNs0SVmHHReg50SsUUM/s1600/cross.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq5eJRMER_-Jkkj4sUu3ws3bckE2YdzoHaCSff65A6QTFtt-_Tk5ZMtUckyDdXl4LWGANmO6P7Q50hWvOOSj0xwe-HWGpigmnNHGpcuYTmnhqn_SnQaUCvN2O5NbNs0SVmHHReg50SsUUM/s400/cross.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5712145605155010418" border="0" /></a>The 'Bright' Onehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02183024684918261285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4181606741800289669.post-31980012064152600982012-02-21T17:13:00.002-06:002012-02-23T14:14:14.808-06:00The Oscar Races<b>BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY</b><br />
<br />
Emmanuel Lubezki (The Tree Of Life) vs. N/A<br />
<br />
I think Best Cinematography is the most underrated award the Academy offers up. The average movie goer doesn't realize how important cinematography is to a movie and for those of you who don't know, a cinematographers job is to determine the look of the film. He literally sits behind the camera and is the main person filming the movie. Now the director has some say in what the cinematographer shoots and, generally speaking, the two work together. However, how a movie looks to you is because of the cinematographer.<br />
<br />
The Tree Of Life is a critics darling and while I will never see it because it looks boring as shit, everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, says that at minimum it's beautifully shot and just looks amazing.<br />
<br />
Not only does (I'm sure) the film look good, as I said, very few people actually know what their looking for or know what they're doing when they talk about cinematography, it makes it tough for the average Academy member to vote on this category. That's why really the only people who vote on cinematography are cinematographers and those within the guild (The American Society of Cinematographers) are really the only ones who vote for this award. And the ASC this year voted Lubezki as the best cinematographer of the year and I expect they'll do the same when it comes to the Oscars.<br />
<br />
<b>WINNER:</b> Emmanuel Lubezki<br />
<br />
<b>BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY</b><br />
<br />
Woody Allen (Midnight In Paris) vs. N/A<br />
<br />
Leading up to the Oscar nominations, Allen was not only nominated for writing Midnight In Paris but he had won all the writing awards. Allen won the Golden Globe for writing Midnight (the Globes don't make a distinction between original and adapted screenplay) and won the Critics Choice for Best Original Screenplay. But then the Oscar nominations came out and that is when we saw how much the Academy REALLY loved Allen. Midnight In Paris was also nominated for Best Picture and Allen received another nomination for Best Director. Since the Oscar nominations came out the Writers Guild of America awarded Allen with Best Original Screenplay.<br />
<br />
Midnight In Paris won't win any other major Oscar but I guarantee Woody Allen will get an Oscar this year for his screenplay<br />
<br />
<b>WINNER:</b> Woody Allen (Midnight In Paris)<br />
<br />
<b>BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY</b><br />
<br />
Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, and Jim Rash (The Descendants) vs. Steve Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin, and Stan Chevrin (Moneyball)<br />
<br />
I think The Descendants is the full on favorite but I wouldn't be surprised if Moneyball wins as I would be if Woody Allen or Emmanuel Lubezki loses. <br />
<br />
Payne, Faxon, and Rash have won the WGA for Best Adapted Screenplay but Zaillian, Sorkin, and Chevrin won that same award at the Critics Choice Awards and neither won the Golden Globes for Best Screenplay (that went to Woody Allen, see: above).<br />
<br />
However, The Descendants have all the momentum as the WGA win is more important for their Oscar chances than a Critics Choice win is. Not only are members of the WGA members of the Academy who also vote on Oscars (something movie critics do not) but the WGA win came out later than the Critics Choice win.<br />
<br />
The Academy honored Moneyball with 6 nominations and The Descendants with 5 so it clearly likes both films just as equally and I think Aaron Sorkin and Steve Zaillian are both extremely well received in the writing world (each has an Oscar for screenplay writing) but I think this is Alexander Payne and The Descendants year.<br />
<br />
<b>WINNER:</b> Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash (The Descendants)<br />
<br />
<b>BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS</b><br />
<br />
Octavia Spencer (The Help) vs. Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids)<br />
<br />
OK, realistically this is absolutely Spencer's award. She won the Critics Choice, The Golden Globe, and the SAG award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Minny Jackson in The Help. I just want to give McCarthy love not only because she was excellent in Bridesmaids but Hollywood now loves McCarthy. McCarthy won the Emmy for her role in the television show Mike and Molly mainly because she in now a bona fide movie star. I wouldn't be shocked if she is able to ride this wave of fame to an Oscar win but I think here the nomination is the win.<br />
<br />
<b>WINNER:</b> Octavia Spencer (The Help)<br />
<br />
<b>BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR</b><br />
<br />
Christopher Plummer (Beginners) vs. N/A<br />
<br />
Albert Brooks was the best person to dethrone a Plummer win for his role in Drive, but since he (shamefully) did not even get nominated, this award absolutely belongs to Plummer. Plummer won the Critics Choice, SAG, and Golden Globes and 15 other awards (like the San Diego Critics Choice Awards) for Best Actor In A Supporting Role. The only other actor to win more for Best Supporting Actor wins was Albert Brooks (he won 17). Not only was Brooks amazing in Drive (SIDENOTE: Everyone associated with Drive got fucked by the Academy- it didn't get nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Actor, or Best Original Screenplay) but the Oscars have in recent years traditionally given awards to the great bad guys of film like Javier Bardem in No Country For Old Men, Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight, and Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Basterds. However, the closest thing to a bad guy out of the five nominations in 2012 in Nick Nolte in Warrior- and he's just a shitty dad. Christopher Plummer does deserve an Oscar for his life time of work but in the context of this one year, I would have liked to seen Albert Brooks at least have a chance to win this award. Or Patton Oswalt for his amazing work in Young Adult. Or really Andy Serkis for being Caesar in Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes. <br />
<br />
<b>WINNER:</b> Christopher Plummer (Beginners) <br />
<br />
<b>BEST ACTRESS</b><br />
<br />
Viola Davis (The Help) vs. Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady)<br />
<br />
Again, another award that is realistically not up for debate and is not a contest. Meryl Streep always has a shot at winning an Oscar because she is Meryl effing Streep but this is Viola Davis' award. Streep won the Golden Globe but Davis won the Critics Choice award and the more important SAG award. <br />
<br />
What also helps Davis is that people and Oscar voters have not only seen The Help, but loved The Help. I'm not quite sure how many of them have actually seen The Iron Lady and liked it and I'm under the suspicion that the Academy only gave Streep her nomination just because she is Meryl effing Streep.<br />
<br />
<b>WINNER:</b> Viola Davis (The Help)<br />
<br />
<b>BEST ACTOR</b><br />
<br />
George Clooney (The Descendants) vs. Jean Dujardin (The Artist)<br />
<br />
This is the hardest main award to predict. Two weeks ago I would have said Clooney had this in the bag but now, it's a legit coin flip who I think will win. If I were a betting man this is absolutely a stay away.<br />
<br />
Before the Oscar nominations even came out I thought this was Clooney's award to lose. Hollywood LOVES and I mean has a full on hard on for Clooney and he won the Critics Choice for Best Actor as well as won a Golden Globe for his role in The Descendants. Clooney always makes great speeches and he has never won an Oscar for Best Actor In A Leading Role (His acting Oscar win was for Syriana and that was a supporting role).<br />
<br />
But what I missed and stupidly overlooked was that Jean Dujardian also won a Golden Globe for his role in The Artist. Clooney won for his role in a Drama whereas Dujardin won his for in role in a Comedy or Musical (which is silly because The Artist is really neither). <br />
<br />
Then came the SAG awards came out and even though The Artist didn't win Outstanding Performance By A Cast (we'll get to that later) Dujardin did win and beat out Clooney for Best Actor.<br />
<br />
And if there's anything Hollywood loves more than George Clooney, it's itself. And that's a huge appeal Dujardin and The Artist has (that and it is actually a good movie). So what does Hollywood do? Vote for George Clooney or itself?<br />
<br />
<b>WINNER:</b> Jean Dujardin (The Artist)<br />
<br />
<b>BEST DIRECTOR</b><br />
<br />
Michael Hazanavicius (The Artist) vs. Martin Scorsese (Hugo)<br />
<br />
Hazanavicius has the DGA win and the Critics Choice win working for him but the fact that Marty won the Golden Globe and has an impossible name to say or spell working against him. <br />
<br />
The Artist could easily sweep the Oscars this year and it will be lead by winning Best Director but Martin Scorsese is like Meryl Streep, he can never be counted out. The thing working for Scorsese is that he keeps getting screwed year in and year out at the Academys. He lost directing Oscars for directing some of cinemas greats like Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, and Goodfellas. Now the Oscars made it up to him by (finally) honoring him with the award in 2006 for The Departed but the Academy still owes a lot more to Scorsese. Another thing working for Marty is that he probably did the best job in terms of directing this year. I was bored to death by Hugo but that was more of a script problem than a directing problem. <br />
<br />
What Hazanavicius has going for him is that out of all the films that got Oscar nominations (which basically just includes Young Adult and Drive) he directed the best one. <br />
<br />
<b>WINNER:</b> Michael Hazanavicius (The Artist)<br />
<br />
<b>BEST PICTURE</b><br />
<br />
The Artist vs. The Help vs. The Descendants<br />
<br />
The last time a film won Best Picture but did not win Best Director was in 2005 when Crash won Best Picture yet Ang Lee won Best Director for Brokeback Mountain and has only happened one other time since 2001. <br />
<br />
A lot of the reason I think Hazanavicius will win Best Director is because I believe The Artist will win Best Picture. Not only did The Artist win the PGA, the Critics Choice Award, and its Golden Glove nomination but it's actually a good film. The only reason I went in to see The Artist was because it was the Oscar front runner and I went in thinking it was going to be elitist garbage. I came out really enjoying the film. In this terrible, awful, no good year for movies, The Artists shines above the rest. Sure its partially by default but a win's a win. <br />
<br />
What The Help has going for it is 1) No backlash like what The Artist has 2) Both average movie goers and Hollywood loved The Help and 3) It won and beat out The Artist for Best Acting Ensamble at the Screen Actors Guild eerily reminding us of 2005 when Brokeback Mountain was the clear favorite and then Crash won at the SAG awards and then (rightfully) stunned the world by winning the Oscar for Best Picture. Like 2011, 2005 was also a pretty bad year for films making it easier for an upset. <br />
<br />
What The Help has working against it though is that it wasn't even nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay or Best Director. Paul Haggis received a nomination for both writing and directing Crash in 2005. It's hard to say you are the best movie of the year when you are both not well directed or well written. What The Help also has working against it is that a SAG win doesn't really mean all that much. In 2006, Little Miss Sunshine won the SAG award for Best Acting Ensemble when Babel was the favorite at the time yet lost the Oscar to The Departed and in 2009 when Up In The Air was the favorite and Inglourious Basterds won Best Cast at the SAG awards yet The Hurt Locker won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Both Inglourious Basterds and Up In The Air had lost steam by the time The Academy's rolled around. The Artist has not. <br />
<br />
The Descendants still technically has a chance and has a better chance than Hugo and Moneyball and Tree Of Life and the rest of the field because it won at The Golden Globes but I still will be super surprised to see it win Best Picture. I can foresee a The Artist backlash and if it does then The Descendants will remain supreme but I wouldn't bet on it. <br />
<br />
<b>WINNER:</b> The ArtistAdam Kaplanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04536112782512101012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4181606741800289669.post-52168181568006087802012-02-21T12:07:00.000-06:002012-02-21T12:07:10.364-06:00The Best Year For Movies In The Past 25 YearsRecently Game Of Inches just wrapped up their series on the best movies of the past 25 years. I thought it would be fun to piggy back off of this idea and briefly discuss the best year for movies within these 25 years.<br />
<br />
There are always going to be crap movies released every single year. I do not think it would be fair to compare years with their worst movies. Rather, I think it is best to compare years based upon their best movies of the year and what critics and The Academy thinks are the best moves of the year. The worst movies of the year stay constant, the best movies do not. <br />
<br />
Here is my list for the top ten best years for movies in the last 25 years:<br />
<br />
<b>1) 1994</b><br />
<br />
BEST MOVIES OF THE YEAR: The Shawshank Redemption, Pulp Fiction, Forrest Gump, The Lion King, Leon: The Professional, Quiz Show, True Lies, Dumb and Dumber, Speed<br />
MOVIES ON GOI'S LIST: 3<br />
<br />
<b>2) 1999</b><br />
<br />
BEST MOVIES OF THE YEAR: The Matrix, The Sixth Sense, American Beauty, Fight Club, Magnolia, The Green Mile, Being John Malkovich, South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut, For Love Of The Game<br />
MOVIES ON GOI'S LIST: 2<br />
<br />
<b>3) 2010</b><br />
<br />
BEST MOVIES OF THE YEAR: Inception, The Social Network, The King's Speech, Kick Ass, The Fighter, Black Swan, Toy Story 3<br />
MOVIES ON GOI'S LIST: 1<br />
<br />
<b>4) 2005</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
BEST MOVIES OF THE YEAR: Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, Spiderman II, Sideways, Million Dollar Baby, Hotel Rwanda, Ray, Closer, The Incredibles, Collateral, Super Size Me<br />
MOVIES ON GOI'S LIST: 0<br />
<br />
<b>5) 2008</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
BEST MOVIES OF THE YEAR: The Dark Knight, Wall-E, In Bruges, The Wrestler, Slumdog Millionaire, Frost/Nixon, Tropic Thunder, Iron Man, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Stepbrothers<br />
MOVIES ON GOI'S LIST: 2<br />
<br />
<b>6) 1997</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
BEST MOVIES OF THE YEAR: Good Will Hunting, L.A. Confidential, Wag The Dog, Boogie Nights, Men In Black, Air Force One, Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery, Donnie Brasco<br />
MOVIES ON GOI'S LIST: 1<br />
NOTE: Fuck Titanic! <br />
<br />
<b>7) 2002</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
BEST MOVIES OF THE YEAR: Minority Report, Road To Perdition, Catch Me If You Can, Gangs Of New York, The Pianist, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, The Ring, 8 Mile, Spiderman<br />
MOVIES ON GOI'S LIST: 0<br />
<br />
<b>8) 1995</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
BEST MOVIES OF THE YEAR: Se7en, Toy Story, GoldenEye, The Usual Suspects, Tommy Boy, Billy Madison, Braveheart, 12 Monkeys, Casino, Leaving Las Vegas, Babe, Clueless<br />
MOVIES ON GOI'S LIST: 1<br />
<br />
<b>9) 2000</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
BEST MOVIES OF THE YEAR: Requiem For A Dream, Mullholland Drive, Gladiator, Traffic, Erin Brokovich, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Cast Away, Almost Famous<br />
MOVIES ON GOI'S LIST: 1<br />
<br />
<b>10) 1988</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
BEST MOVIES OF THE YEAR: Die Hard, Big, Rain Man, Mississippi Burning, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Coming To America<br />
MOVIES ON GOI'S LIST: 1<br />
<br />
Coming up with this top ten list was really hard and I had trouble coming up with the correct order. I think I finally got this list to where I like it (for now). I would probably kill myself if I had to go further with this list. That means I'm not going to write (at least not right now) the worst years for movies. But if I did, I am confident 2011 would be somewhere in the top 5. As of right now, in no particular order, here is my top four worst years for movies of the past 25 years: 1987, 1989, 2007, and 2011.Adam Kaplanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04536112782512101012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4181606741800289669.post-20786690759321054032012-02-16T10:20:00.001-06:002012-02-16T10:22:27.030-06:00Final Lists For The 25 Greatest Movies Of The Past 25 Years<u><b>Game Of Inches' Final List</b></u><br />
<br />
25) Lock, Stock, And Two Smocking Barrels (1998)<br />
24) The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2009)<br />
23) Back To The Future Part II (1989)<br />
22) For Love Of The Game (1999)<br />
21) In Bruges (2008)<br />
20) Mullholland Drive (2000)<br />
19) Saving Private Ryan (1998)<br />
18) Jurassic Park (1993)<br />
17) Casino Royale (2006)<br />
16) My Cousin Vinny (1992)<br />
15) Superbad (2007)<br />
14) The Rock (1996)<br />
13) Inception (2010)<br />
12) Terminator II: Judgment Day (1991)<br />
11) Toy Story (1995)<br />
10) Good Will Hunting (1997)<br />
9) Forrest Gump (1994)<br />
8) Die Hard (1988)<br />
7) Goodfellas (1990)<br />
6) The Shawshank Redemption (1994)<br />
5) The Dark Knight (2008)<br />
4) The Departed (2006)<br />
3) Inglourious Basterds (2009)<br />
2) The Matrix (1999)<br />
1) Pulp Fiction (1994)<br />
<br />
<u><b>Adam Kaplan's Final List</b></u><br />
<br />
25) Saw (2004)<br />
24) Mean Girls (2004)<br />
23) My Cousin Vinny (1992)<br />
22) The Social Network (2010)<br />
21) The Sixth Sense (1999)<br />
20) Inglourious Basterds (2009)<br />
19) Inception (2010)<br />
18) Sin City (2005)<br />
17) Wall-E (2008)<br />
16) Taken (2008)<br />
15) Se7en (1995)<br />
14) The 40 Year Old Virgin (2005)<br />
13) Terminator II: Judgment Day (1991)<br />
12) Forrest Gump (1994)<br />
11) Stepbrothers (2009)<br />
10) Saving Private Ryan (1998)<br />
9) Good Will Hunting (1997)<br />
8) Toy Story (1995)<br />
7) Requiem For A Dream (2000)<br />
6) Pulp Fiction (1994)<br />
5) Superbad (2007)<br />
4) Die Hard (1988)<br />
3) The Matrix (1999)<br />
2) The Dark Knight (2008)<br />
1) The Shawshank Redemption (1994)<br />
<br />
<u><b>David "MVP" Eckstein's Final List</b></u><br />
<br />
25) Schindler's List (1993)<br />
24) Wall-E (2008)<br />
23) Trainspotting (1996)<br />
22) Spiderman II (2004)<br />
21) Children Of Men (2006)<br />
20) Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (2004)<br />
19) Pan's Labyrinth (2006)<br />
18) The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring (2001)<br />
17) Match Point (2005)<br />
16) Mystic River (2003)<br />
15) The Pianist (2002)<br />
14) Terminator II: Judgment Day (1991)<br />
13) Spirited Away (2001)<br />
12) The Matrix (1999)<br />
11) Jurassic Park (1993)<br />
10) Toy Story (1995)<br />
9) Inglourious Basterds (2009)<br />
8) Pulp Fiction (1994)<br />
7) Goodfellas (1990)<br />
6) Inception (2010)<br />
5) The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)<br />
4) The Departed (2006)<br />
3) The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2009)<br />
2) The Dark Knight (2008)<br />
1) Mullholland Drive (2000)<br />
<br />
<u><b>Cubsfan4evr's Final List</b></u><br />
<br />
25) The Fugitive (1993)<br />
24) The Italian Job (2003)<br />
23) The Blind Side (2009)<br />
22) Remember The Titans (2000)<br />
21) Terminator II: Judgment Day (1991)<br />
20) The Matrix (1999)<br />
19) As Good As It Gets (1997)<br />
18) The Hunt For Red October (1990)<br />
17) Deep Impact (1998)<br />
16) The American President (1995)<br />
15) Pulp Fiction (1994)<br />
14) Good Will Hunting (1997)<br />
13) Catch Me If You Can (2002)<br />
12) Slumdog Millionaire (2008)<br />
11) Apollo 13 (1995)<br />
10) Con Air (1997)<br />
9) The Rock (1996)<br />
8) Law Abiding Citizen (2009)<br />
7) The King's Speech (2010)<br />
6) Mr. Holland's Opus (1995)<br />
5) The Prophet (1999)<br />
4) Forrest Gump (1994)<br />
3) The Shawshank Redemption (1994)<br />
2) Inglourious Basterds (2009)<br />
1) For Love Of The Game (1999)<br />
<br />
<u><b>The Bright One's Final List</b></u><br />
<br />
25) Major League (1989)<br />
24) Vegas Vacation (1997)<br />
23) Ocean's Eleven (2001)<br />
22) Little Miss Sunshine (2006)<br />
21) Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (2004)<br />
20) There Will Be Blood (2007)<br />
19) Sin City (2005)<br />
18) Edward Scissorhands (1990)<br />
17) Dumb And Dumber (1995)<br />
16) Slumdog Millionaire (2008)<br />
15) The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)<br />
14) Superbad (2007)<br />
13) The Departed (2006)<br />
12) Field Of Dreams (1989)<br />
11) Home Alone (1990)<br />
10) Casino Royale (2006)<br />
9) Die Hard (1988)<br />
8) Titanic (1997)<br />
7) Forrest Gump (1994)<br />
6) Terminator II: Judgment Day (1991)<br />
5) The Matrix (1999)<br />
4) Speed (1994)<br />
3) The Rock (1996)<br />
2) Good Will Hunting (1997)<br />
1) Back To The Future II (1989)<br />
<br />
<u><b>Daniel Bennett's Final List</b></u><br />
<br />
25) The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2009)<br />
24) Forrest Gump (1994)<br />
23) Scream (1996)<br />
22) Mean Girls (2004)<br />
21) The Social Network (2010)<br />
20) The Lion King (1994)<br />
19) Se7en (1995)<br />
18) The Sixth Sense (1999)<br />
17) Aladdin (1992)<br />
16) Batman (1989)<br />
15) My Cousin Vinny (1992)<br />
14) Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy (2004)<br />
13) Taken (2008)<br />
12) Remember The Titans (2000)<br />
11) Men In Black (1997)<br />
10) Inglourious Basterds (2009)<br />
9) The Departed (2006)<br />
8) Toy Story (1995)<br />
7) Inception (2010)<br />
6) Die Hard (1988)<br />
5) Pulp Fiction (1994)<br />
4) The Silence Of The Lambs (1991)<br />
3) The Shawshank Redemption (1994)<br />
2) The Dark Knight (2008)<br />
1) Goodfellas (1990)<br />
<br />
<u><b>Bryan Hernandez's Final List</b></u><br />
<br />
25-11 (in no particular order)<br />
- Full Metal Jacket (1987)<br />
- Snatch (2000)<br />
- Gangs Of New York (2002)<br />
- UHF (1989)<br />
- Ocean's Eleven (2001)<br />
- The Addams Family (1991)<br />
- Big Fish (2003)<br />
- I Love You Philip Morris (2009)<br />
- Get Shorty (1995)<br />
- Inglourious Basterds (2009)<br />
- Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)<br />
- Green Street Hooligans (2005)<br />
- Saving Private Ryan (1998)<br />
- Moulin Rogue (2001)<br />
- Lethal Weapon (1987)<br />
<br />
10) Jurassic Park (1993)<br />
9) Casino Royale (2006)<br />
8) Pulp Fiction (1994)<br />
7) Goodfellas (1990)<br />
6) My Cousin Vinny (1992)<br />
5) The Matrix (1999)<br />
4) The Departed (2006)<br />
3) Gladiator (2000)<br />
2) Lock, Stock, And Two Smoking Barrels (1998)<br />
1) In Bruges (2008)<br />
<br />
<u><b>Adam Kaplan's Best Movies From Each Of The 25 Years</b></u><br />
<br />
1987: Full Metal Jacket (Stanley Kubrick)<br />
1988: Die Hard (John McTiernan)<br />
1989: Batman (Tim Burton)<br />
1990: Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese)<br />
1991: The Silence Of The Lambs (Jonathan Demme)<br />
1992: My Cousin Vinny (Jonathan Lynn)<br />
1993: Schindler's List (Steven Spielberg) <br />
1994: The Shawshank Redemption (Frank Darabont)<br />
1995: Toy Story (John Lasseter)<br />
1996: Fargo (Joel Coen)<br />
1997: Good Will Hunting (Gus Van Sant)<br />
1998: Saving Private Ryan (Steven Spielberg)<br />
1999: The Matrix (Andy and Lana Wachowski)<br />
2000: Requiem For A Dream (Darren Aronofsky)<br />
2001: Memento (Christopher Nolan)<br />
2002: Minority Report (Steven Spielberg)<br />
2003: Mystic River (Clint Eastwood)<br />
2004: Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry)<br />
2005: Sin City (Robert Rodriguez)<br />
2006: Little Miss Sunshine (Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris)<br />
2007: There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson)<br />
2008: The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan)<br />
2009: Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino)<br />
2010: Inception (Christopher Nolan)<br />
2011: Young Adult (Jason Reitman)Adam Kaplanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04536112782512101012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4181606741800289669.post-51916803327893517932012-02-14T12:10:00.002-06:002012-02-14T15:18:03.666-06:00Wrap Up For GOI's 25 Movies 25 Years SpecialThank you to all the Game Of Inches authors and special guests for participating in my brain child of trying to come up with the 25 greatest films of of the past 25 years. I know we all could come up with more movies and there were many movies past 1987 that we would have wanted to talk about but we could not. What we do have though is a comprehensive list of what we here at Game Of Inches feel is the 25 best movies between 1987 - 2011.<br />
<br />
For a complete list and a review for all of the movies you can either hit the link of the left side of the page to see all 25 films or you can search "25 Greatest Movies Of The Past 25 Years" or you can hit the Label with the same title.<br />
<br />
Now that the 25 List has been completed here are some things I have noticed:<br />
<br />
- This list does not include either Titanic or any of the Lord Of The Rings flicks. Only one author put Titanic on his list and only one other author put any of the LOTR flicks on his list (The Fellowship Of The Ring). I'm very pleased neither of these films made it on GOI's list. These are movies that seem to make it on everybody else's list and I'm glad to report they did not make it on our list.<br />
<br />
- No David Fincher film made this list. That's good because Fight Club is overrated and I'm glad to not see that film on the list (Re-watch the film a second time after knowing the twist and tell me it makes sense). However, I am saddened because Se7en and The Social Network were amazing yet did not make the list.<br />
<br />
- There is no film that all six of the voters put on their list. Three movies (#1- Pulp Fiction, #2- The Matrix, and #3- Inglourious Basterds) were voted on by five of the six authors.<br />
<br />
- No movie starring Tom Cruise made this list. Part of the reason is because most of his great movies like Risky Business and Top Gun were made before 1987 and the other part of the reason is that his best movies since 1987 were good just not good enough. That is not to say he's made bad movies in the past 25 years it is just that when you limit yourself to only 25 flicks, Cruise films like Minority Report, A Few Good Men, Mission: Impossible, Magnolia, and Collateral are really good but just fell short.<br />
<br />
- The actor that had the most film on this list was Tom Hanks with 3 (Forrest Gump, Toy Story, and Saving Private).<br />
<br />
- Robert Zemeckis (Back To The Future Part II, Forrest Gump), Steven Spielberg (Saving Private Ryan, Jurassic Park), Martin Scorsese (Goodfellas, The Departed), Christopher Nolan (Inception, The Dark Knight) and Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds, Pulp Fiction) all tied for first with 2 movies each on this listAdam Kaplanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04536112782512101012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4181606741800289669.post-24762107030020152282012-02-13T11:53:00.002-06:002012-02-13T11:58:49.153-06:00#Linning<a href="http://www.jlinning.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/IMG_19941-1024x768.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 1024px; height: 768px;" src="http://www.jlinning.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/IMG_19941-1024x768.jpg" border="0" alt="" /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></a><br /><div><a href="http://www.jlinning.com/how2lin/">How to Lin</a></div><div><a href="http://www.jlinning.com/">Post your Lin</a></div><div><a href="https://twitter.com/#!/linning_17">Tweet your Lin</a></div>The 'Bright' Onehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02183024684918261285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4181606741800289669.post-12725416265679537602012-02-12T17:35:00.040-06:002012-02-14T15:26:07.754-06:00Luol Deng Makes His First All Star Game<span style="font-size: 100%;">Luol Deng was drafted by the Chicagio Bulls with the 7th overall pick in the 2004 draft. If you have been following my post's for a while you know for the longest time I was down on Luol Deng because he never lived up to his potential. He was always good, but never great and lived up to all the </span>athleticism<span style="font-size: 100%;"> that Bulls fans thought he could. This was early on in his career when he was trying to develop into the type of player he wanted to be. Now, he has found the right style to his game being a slasher, jump shooter, and even adding the three pointer to his game. The movement he means to an offense you can only understand by watching Bulls games. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;">His defense can also not be underrated. He can guard so many 2's or 3's and keep with the top shooter's in the game. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;">Now under his second year under Tom Thibodeau he has really come into his own. With all the nagging injuries that he </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">experienced</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;"> early on in his </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">career</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;"> behind him, the mentorship of a good coach has had a endless </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">impact</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;"> on Deng (and Rose for that matter). </span><br />
<div><br />
</div><div>Deng is putting up pretty similar numbers compared to the last few years, but he finally got recognized by the other coach's in the league for his effort and all the little things he does that impact a game. Deng is the glue of the Bulls and deserves to be an All Star!</div>Cubsfan4evrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01412704270211172874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4181606741800289669.post-77282221354488787942012-02-12T15:10:00.023-06:002012-02-14T15:19:52.733-06:00Converse "React Juice" ShoesOn the <a href="http://espn.go.com/espnradio/play?id=7527875">ESPN NBA Today Podcast</a> Mike Yam and Tim Legler talk about Converse "React Juice" Shoes (about 14 minutes in) which was a popular shoe during the late 1990’s. What made the shoe popular was the green juice in the shoe, which was under the heel of the shoe. The shoe was endorsed by Larry Johnson. You can see the popular commercial here:<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/thbUkBW_ftM" width="420"></iframe><br />
<div><br />
No one knew if the juice was toxic or not as Tim Legler discussed on the podcast. He started wearing the shoe during the 1995 season when he received a shipment of them. In a preseason game there was an incident where Danny Ferry’s “React Juice” Shoes started leaking and they had to stop the game and clean it up. They thought it was an isolated incident and only one defected pair. Then during a practice in the 1995 season when Tim Legler was wearing the "React Juice" Shoes, it started leaking and almost injured teammate Chris Webber. Webber did a split because the juice was all over the court. They stopped the practice when Legler realized his shoes were leaking. Eventually the shoes had to be recalled.<br />
<br />
You can check out Pictures of <a href="http://www.theconverseblog.net/2007/11/converse-blogs-friday-flashback.html">Converse "React Juice" Shoes</a>.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtozH5UC3M86A9CWKXDwOHzVosuO1v8qSziidb6szdnUCYUQB4fmps12Q0bWyff-TvtUIO_nwMlwcclhNJC8EzvyjPcmGE4C7OEhcYahxfD4y0aTfFzdxfxtUJRwYCwOO2D0Pn2KVJ_PWh/s1600/Converse+Backjam+Mid+1994+%2528Grandmama%25292.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5708382568046377570" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtozH5UC3M86A9CWKXDwOHzVosuO1v8qSziidb6szdnUCYUQB4fmps12Q0bWyff-TvtUIO_nwMlwcclhNJC8EzvyjPcmGE4C7OEhcYahxfD4y0aTfFzdxfxtUJRwYCwOO2D0Pn2KVJ_PWh/s320/Converse+Backjam+Mid+1994+%2528Grandmama%25292.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; height: 218px; width: 320px;" /></a></div>Cubsfan4evrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01412704270211172874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4181606741800289669.post-80936553789091633122012-02-12T14:03:00.000-06:002012-02-12T14:03:23.268-06:00#1- Pulp Fiction (1994)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://encrypted-tbn1.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTw12o0bx-XuMBEc_sL5Mi23gMrW3rPdvyvwsRE5hRiiKG22Iltc6D8kaA" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="170" src="https://encrypted-tbn1.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTw12o0bx-XuMBEc_sL5Mi23gMrW3rPdvyvwsRE5hRiiKG22Iltc6D8kaA" width="115" /></a></div><a href="http://gameofinches.blogspot.com/2011/12/notes-on-commenting-and-scoring-25.html">Click here for Commenting Rules and how GOI's final list came together</a> <br />
<br />
<u>Who's List Was This On</u><br />
- Dan Bennett: #5<br />
- Adam Kaplan: #6<br />
- Bryan Hernandez: #8<br />
- David "MVP" Eckstein: #8<br />
- Cubsfan4ever1: #15<br />
<br />
<i>Directed By;</i> Quentin Tarantino<br />
<i>Written By:</i> Quentin Tarantino<br />
<i>Starring:</i> Samuel L. Jackson, John Travolta, Bruce Willis, Uma Thurman, Ving Rhames, Christopher Walken, Eric Roth, Amanda Plummer, and Harvey Keitel<br />
<br />
<u>The Plot</u><br />
<br />
The lives of two mob hit met (Travolta and Jackson), a boxer (Willis), a gangster's wife (Thurman), and a pair of dinner bandits (Roth and Plummer) intertwine in four tales of violence and redemption.<br />
<br />
<u>Why This Movie Is Great</u><br />
<blockquote>Pulp n.<br />
1. A soft, moist, shapeless mass of matter<br />
2. A magazine or book containing lurid subject matter and being characteristically printed on rough, unfinished paper<br />
American Heritage Dictionary<br />
New College Edition</blockquote>This is the title card that first appears when the film starts and if you have to explain what <i>Pulp Fiction</i> is really all about, this is what you should tell them. <br />
<br />
Quentin Tarantino has a special place in not only the hearts of the GOI authors as his films holds both the #1 spot as well as the #3 spot as the best movies within the past 25 years but also a special place in the hearts of this generation and Americana. <br />
<br />
As I mentioned in my <a href="http://gameofinches.blogspot.com/2012/01/3-inglourious-basterds-2009.html">Inglourious Basterds post</a>, it is extremely difficult to explain why Tarantino films are so great. However, I think the real reason is because Tarantino's vision is just so unique and wonderful. Tarantino creates great three dimensional characters with such amazing dialogue and has amazing action to go along with it. Tarantino is such a brilliant storyteller that you are enthralled with his films from beginning to end.<br />
<br />
What makes <i>Pulp Fiction</i> so amazing though is Tarantino's vision of messing with time and space. He revolutionized script writing. Not only is Tarantino able to tell you all these complex stories with a huge cast but he's able to take you in a wild ride without you knowing where exactly you are. It is not until you see the film for a few times that you can accurately take each scene and place it where it correctly goes chronologically. <br />
<br />
<u>Other Notes</u><br />
- <i>Pulp Fiction</i> is all about perception. Nobody sees the same exact event the same exact way. That's why the conversation between Pumpkin (Roth) and Hunny Bunny (Plummer) are purposefully not the same words in the beginning of the film as they are at the end of the film even though it's portraying the exact same event.<br />
<br />
- Many have speculated what is in the suitcase Vincent (Travolta) and Jules (Jackson) go to collect. The most common theory is that it's Marcellus Wallace's (Rhames) soul. The theory goes that when the Devil takes your soul he takes it through the back of your head which helps explain why there is a band aid on the back of Marcellus' head and why the code to open up the suitcase is "666". Here's the thing: It does not matter what is in the suitcase. It's a MacGuffin - like the money taken in the beginning of <i>Psycho</i>. It doesn't mean anything except gives the gangsters a reason to be in the apartment to begin with. If Tarantino wanted you to know what's in the suitcase, he would have showed the viewers.<br />
<br />
- Speaking of this scene, Jules is having a conversation with Brett. This is the main guy he's talking to in this scene (Do they speak English in What?). During this scene he asks Brett what Vincent asks him earlier about why the Quarter Pounder is called a Royale With Cheese in France. Brett responds "Because of the metric system?" which causes Jules to say "Check out the big brain on Brad!". Many people claim that Jules calling Brett "Brad" is another example of changed perceptions but I always took it as Jules just not giving a fuck. He's going into some dude's apartment to kill them and take a suitcase and he doesn't actually care what people's names are or if he even heard Brett say his name at all.Adam Kaplanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04536112782512101012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4181606741800289669.post-2302293704917919332012-02-12T13:55:00.053-06:002012-02-14T15:34:34.383-06:00The Two Sides Of Dennis Haysbert<div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 100%;">I will always know Dennis Haysbert as Pedro Cerrano in</span><span style="font-size: 100%;"> </span><span style="font-size: 100%;">the 1989 movie Major League. This is how I remember him from the movie</span>:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglf8Tk4ZcNO2cxrsJ8PzArtEi9cUUq660D4fgIYbm9IcYeLkF2P7Gf6imhBmUjsGlxV8kIim69f_ba7I34n7EPmvNK_IFZTJg3Jw74XE2NfJxITsFgeSu7Z4SGZjl85HLqowWtDWxtTFgs/s1600/pedrocerranomajorleague_display_image.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5708345369228144770" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglf8Tk4ZcNO2cxrsJ8PzArtEi9cUUq660D4fgIYbm9IcYeLkF2P7Gf6imhBmUjsGlxV8kIim69f_ba7I34n7EPmvNK_IFZTJg3Jw74XE2NfJxITsFgeSu7Z4SGZjl85HLqowWtDWxtTFgs/s320/pedrocerranomajorleague_display_image.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 320px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left; width: 253px;" /></a><br />
<div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG3phChV6EV-AgpcAR-lq-GlfUdTPwD4hXioVymAA32bEMkyx-ToybuHdbAG2YbiRov5LPbqYPnb_FyMzIqn9xZj6IHu9buYKY3r2Ys7AgkkTOvUxUrLICCa8kipa-QKbWT6aiNkQbSXYr/s1600/1960cerrano1.jpg" style="text-align: left;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5708346494530634386" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG3phChV6EV-AgpcAR-lq-GlfUdTPwD4hXioVymAA32bEMkyx-ToybuHdbAG2YbiRov5LPbqYPnb_FyMzIqn9xZj6IHu9buYKY3r2Ys7AgkkTOvUxUrLICCa8kipa-QKbWT6aiNkQbSXYr/s320/1960cerrano1.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 242px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a></div><div></div></div></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAFDBZdIPGoGHLBYn7SeHz1RWSx2QAraWxXaK6cAplSC3IzeMDjb8XmQJ7MkIkFrCBrL0x_7hyN5Xc05GUfkMZPhu0VVwDnEJSM4mm7qJfmiCOa7dpo2iuWGN1rqI-gH-HaqzyoC3DnLf1/s1600/PedroCerrano%255B1%255D.JPG"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAFDBZdIPGoGHLBYn7SeHz1RWSx2QAraWxXaK6cAplSC3IzeMDjb8XmQJ7MkIkFrCBrL0x_7hyN5Xc05GUfkMZPhu0VVwDnEJSM4mm7qJfmiCOa7dpo2iuWGN1rqI-gH-HaqzyoC3DnLf1/s1600/PedroCerrano%255B1%255D.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5708347826137009026" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAFDBZdIPGoGHLBYn7SeHz1RWSx2QAraWxXaK6cAplSC3IzeMDjb8XmQJ7MkIkFrCBrL0x_7hyN5Xc05GUfkMZPhu0VVwDnEJSM4mm7qJfmiCOa7dpo2iuWGN1rqI-gH-HaqzyoC3DnLf1/s320/PedroCerrano%255B1%255D.JPG" style="cursor: pointer; height: 263px; width: 155px;" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: left;"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Recently I found out that</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> Dennis Haysbert is also in the All State commercials. I was very surprised to find out that that the man I remember as Pedro Cerrano<a href="http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0011520/"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none;"></span></a> from Major League is the same man. I never recognized him at all.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Dennis Haysbert in All State Commercials: </span></div></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyDMF89PZ64PW-3W4hmytAq2taGb0lsK0r9KE7x6w7TePbG0U8Js5QYxhGWnoKosaieqpm-ZkDXnE8Hr8TN5zFGlLWlls-85OV4PgZlkozSHdBd0ftZNi5-m2xkLvkjc9Oqp00Qo7dv6NF/s1600/DH.jpg" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5708353492020133778" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyDMF89PZ64PW-3W4hmytAq2taGb0lsK0r9KE7x6w7TePbG0U8Js5QYxhGWnoKosaieqpm-ZkDXnE8Hr8TN5zFGlLWlls-85OV4PgZlkozSHdBd0ftZNi5-m2xkLvkjc9Oqp00Qo7dv6NF/s320/DH.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; height: 240px; width: 320px;" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMCUjvd0Ip4q1b6dDO4VLxglBeR471LRyVb6RXmFtbWD5JppRYizcyjqJ7YAtmTfgmzxDnw7-ndbxEXFRufWNvUVVe83jWIfvp8dDxvgt9-I3eHHL9hShCImxA82hEaYzHRG29Dc_7RrqC/s1600/dennis-haysbert.jpg" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5708353834142673186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMCUjvd0Ip4q1b6dDO4VLxglBeR471LRyVb6RXmFtbWD5JppRYizcyjqJ7YAtmTfgmzxDnw7-ndbxEXFRufWNvUVVe83jWIfvp8dDxvgt9-I3eHHL9hShCImxA82hEaYzHRG29Dc_7RrqC/s320/dennis-haysbert.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; height: 300px; width: 300px;" /></a> </div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: normal; text-align: left;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Ww8R1-FoOI8" width="420"></iframe></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Did you know </span><span style="font-size: 100%;">Dennis Haysbert was in both</span><span style="font-size: 100%;">?</span></div><div style="font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-align: left;"><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div></div>Cubsfan4evrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01412704270211172874noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4181606741800289669.post-24642768032086352602012-02-10T22:30:00.014-06:002012-02-12T13:52:43.018-06:00Preparing for Fantasy Basketball 2011-2012Were over a month into the basketball season and I never posted anything about players I like for fantasy basketball this season. It’s too late to draft a team, but you can still try to trade for some of these players. I was hoping to post this before the draft, but December was a busy time at work, busy creating the GOI fantasy league, and many other reasons, including not wanting to give all of my fantasy basketball secrets to the other GOI authors and readers playing in our fantasy league. Now that I have some time I decided to post it anyways so you can see the players I was targeting at the beginning of the season.<br /><br />I don't go in depth on every player and why I like them, but it's a number of things taken into account. <b>Here are the main things I look at:</b><br /><b>1) Where they are being drafted or bought in an auction league. </b>Value is one the main things I look at and where you can get the best value, early and late in a draft.<br /><b>2) Well rounded players that can help you in as many areas as possible. </b><span style="font-weight: normal; ">As we get down the list and more to late fliers they more get more one dimensional, but for the value and potential they are worth it.<br /><br />These were players I was targeting in the pre-season and as you can see I was right on some, missed on others so far who may turn it around, and some are injured for the season. </span><b>Players you should or try to trade for:</b><br /><b>1. Kevin Durant (OKC)- </b>A MVP candidate and worth taking number one overall or buying in an auction league if you had the chance. This is an player you build a team around.<br /><b>2. Russell Westbrook (OKC) –</b><b style="font-weight: normal; "> </b>When it comes to PG he doesn’t have the health risk that Chris Paul seems to have or the bad FG % that Rajon Rondo has even though Rondo does so much else well. Westbrook is an elite PG you can build your team around.<br /><b>3. Deron Williams (NJ)- </b>Along with Westbrook, Williams can be a elite PG to build your team around. He has potential to take it to that next level and be a top 10 player, but always seems to disappoint in that regards. This year he has been asked to do too much and his FG% has been suffering, but helping your team in all of the other areas he always does if you have him.<br /><b>4. Al Horford (ATL)- </b>Out for the season which hurts me because I drafted him on all my teams. I was building my teams around Horford and expecting a big season.<br /><b>5. LaMarcus Aldridge (POR)-</b><b style="font-weight: normal; "> </b>Having a great season, and I would have rated him higher if it wasn’t for TBO pointing out his recently diagnosed heart condition to me which hasn’t effect him.<br /><b>6. Blake Griffin (LAC)- </b>I loved the value here because I was surprised he was being drafted as late as he was for how he finished last year.<br /><b>7. Eric Gordon (LAC)-</b><b style="font-weight: normal; "> </b>Shooting guard is very weak so I was very big season out of Eric Gordon. He is a very efficient scorer and going to be the best player on the team, but injuries have derailed his season.<br /><b>8. David Lee (GS)-</b> I was expecting a rebound season.<br /><b>9. Rajon Rondo –</b><b style="font-weight: normal; "> </b> A down year for the man who is always a leader in assist and steals.<br /><b>10. Serge Ibaka (OKC)- </b>He could be the best shot blocker in the league and I thought he would take it to that next level on offense, but with inconsistent minutes that hasn’t happened.<br /><b>11. Brook Lopez (NJ)-</b> He was my second round pick last year who majorly disappointed me. I loved the value for where he was falling this year, but with him missing so much time to injuries it is not good in this shortened season. If you can pick him up on waivers then you should do that ASAP.<br /><b>12. Kevin Martin (HOU)- </b>As I mentioned SG is very shallow and he is the second best option after Gordon, but turned out to be the safest.<br /><b>13. Zach Randolph (MEM)-</b> He has been my sleeper for the last few years because I was able to get him in the 4th or 5th round, but now he finally was getting recognition for being as good as he is. Another guy on my list hit by injuries.<br /><b>14. Andre Iguodala (PHI)-</b> He does a little of everything. After the marquee small forwards he is the best option.<br /><b>15. Jrue Holiday (PHI)-</b> I was big on him and Lowry, but was bigger on him when I was forced to choose. Rarely was I able to draft both of them and a marquee point guard. Only in my dreams!<br /><b>16. Kyle Lowry (HOU)-</b><b style="font-weight: normal; "> </b>He has been in the league for a few years, but looked like he was ready to break out this season given a chance and he did.<br /><b>17. Greg Monroe (DET)-</b> A young center who hasn’t disappointed. He is averaging a double double, and passes the ball well for a big man. He also helps is steals.<br /><b>18. Marcin Gortat (PHO)-</b><b style="font-weight: normal; "> </b>Also having a good season and block shots.<br /><b>19. Channing Frye (PHO)- </b>A disappointing season and is you can try to unload him if doesn’t look like he will rebound in the second half.<br /><b>20. Mike Conley, Jr. (MEM)- </b>He is having a strong season and helps in all the typical point guard categories.<br /><b>21. Danilo Gallinari (DEN)-</b> He just had an injury which will cost him a month, but he was having a monster season and a top 5 player before the injury. He started coming into his own this season as a elite efficient scorer.<br /><b>22. Marc Gasol (MEM)- </b>Right now he is the second best fantasy center. Besides for averaging a double double he passes well and blocks shots.<br /><b>23. Tyreke Evans (SAC)- </b>For where he was being drafted he is having a nice season, but he didn’t improve like I thought he could. It looks like what we see is what we get with Tyreke Evans.<br /><b>24. Andrew Bogut (MIL)-</b> Injuries seem to plague him every year which is why he was ranked as low as he was, and this year is no different. Before his injury this year, he was on pace for a big season carrying your team.<br /><b>25. JaVale McGee (WAS)- </b>A great value for where he was drafted. He will anchor your team is blocks and help in rebounds.<br /><b>26. Andray Blatche (WAS)-</b>Talk about bust. This is the last year I will ever be high on him. I am officially off the Andray Blatche bandwagon.<br /><b>27. Ty Lawson (DEN)-</b> A very good season in his second year.<br /><b>28. Wesley Matthews (POR)-</b> He reminded me as a cheap man’s version of Danilo Gallinari. Having a very good season.<br /><b>29. Hedo Turkoglu (ORL)- </b>After the few other small forwards I have on this list there aren’t many I like and he was being drafted very late so I liked the low risk.<br /><b>30. Luis Scola (HOU)- </b>Scola is always solid, but not this year.<br /><b>31. Roy Hibbert (IND)-</b> There was several centers I liked this year and Hibbert was one of them. He didn’t disappoint making the All star team.<br /><b>32. Darren Collison (IND)-</b> I drafted him last year over Westbrook and it didn’t work out. Towards the end of last season he seemed to learn his role on the team under his new coach so I liked him again this year.<br /><b>33. Michael Beasley (MIN)</b><br /><b>34. Jose Calderon (TOR)-</b> I like Calderon every year if nothing else for the assist’s.<br /><b>35. Anderson Varejao (CLE)-</b> Every team need’s a go to need a go to man and I thought it could be Varejao having some help in rookie Kyle Irving. Varejao has been good, especially for the late pickup.<br /><b>36. Paul George (IND)-</b><b style="font-weight: normal; "> </b>I liked the potential of George as a scorer and slasher. He reminded me a lot of Luol Deng.<br /><b>37. DeAndre Jordan (LAC)-</b> He’s a one dimensional guy for block’s, but can be a difference maker.<br /><b>38. Jeff Teague (ATL)- </b>Hinrich’s injury opened the door and he took advantage. He shoot’s first which has been the knock on him, but he still averages almost 5 assist per game.<br /><b>39. Samuel Dalembert -</b> I thought he would just anchor your team in blocks, but surprisingly his resurgence occurred this season and he has helped your team in other areas.<br /><b>40. Nick Young (WAS)<br />41. Evan Turner (PHI)</b><div style="font-weight: normal; "><b><br /></b></div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">There will be more to come on Fantasy basketball this season.</div>Cubsfan4evrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01412704270211172874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4181606741800289669.post-81631092334032035512012-02-10T22:28:00.009-06:002012-02-12T01:51:53.415-06:00Why doesn't Dwight Howard want to come to Bulls?Dwight Howard originally said he didn't want to come to play for the Chicago Bulls. No one understood why he wouldn't want to play alongside MVP Derek Rose and the other great role players we have in Chicago. With a great point guard and Howard the Bulls would have a great chance to win some Ring's for years to come. With a young dominant point guard in Rose (23 years old) and Dwight Howard (26 years old) the most dominant defensive center and a great inside scorer, the Bulls would have a great combination. With the right role players, like the Bulls have now, it’s hard to imagine what the Bulls could do.<br /><br />The one obstacle was Dwight Howard said he only wanted to be traded to five teams and the Bulls were not one of those five teams. It came out from this <a href="http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=aw-wojnarowski_michael_jordan_nba_2011-12_season_122411">Yahoo Article</a> that it was because Howard and Rose are both Addias big endorsers. It wouldn't be good for Addias to have two of their young superstars on the same team. It would be harder to reach more markets if there in the same market!<br /><br />Later he backed on his statement in the public and said he would go to the Bulls, but we don't know if he actually changed the list he gave the Magic on the Teams he would play for. Adding a player of Howard's Caliber would bring the Bulls to the next level if they don't have to give up Loul Deng who is the glue of the team. The Bull's have a lot to offer the Magic so let's make this deal happen.Cubsfan4evrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01412704270211172874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4181606741800289669.post-1039784679266206392012-02-10T21:56:00.007-06:002012-02-10T22:24:27.933-06:00Name this baseball Star?<div><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "></span></p></div><span><span><span><span>Can you name this baseball player when he was a kid? He looked like a pudgy kid, but he grew up to be a pretty good baseball player.</span></span> </span></span><div><br /></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0l1B_mXtIy3J6g7e92qNuZMx9D6VnKprOZvkUy2-7qxrJYFfcejNx8YQv-TnrI51eer8-piszElYoC_RXRlhmxFZZopqHHUoB_WokMnkM8lLrRn2gNnWBYWEjI3iEDNuaCPp3qcibXHp9/s1600/little-prince.jpg" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 208px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0l1B_mXtIy3J6g7e92qNuZMx9D6VnKprOZvkUy2-7qxrJYFfcejNx8YQv-TnrI51eer8-piszElYoC_RXRlhmxFZZopqHHUoB_WokMnkM8lLrRn2gNnWBYWEjI3iEDNuaCPp3qcibXHp9/s320/little-prince.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5707722220493392546" /></a><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; ">As you see by his clothing and background he was always around the game.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p></p>Cubsfan4evrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01412704270211172874noreply@blogger.com2