Rants and Ranks

Turtle mania is sweeping the nation just like it's 1991 all over again.  I was looking forward to the new movie, and I'm not ashamed to admit it.  I also enjoyed it thoroughly, so I'm not too surprised that it is as big of hit as it has become.  That being said, I'm extremely nostalgic.  Much to the chagrin of my wife, I will seek out old shows or movies that I watched as a kid and see if they hold up.  My biggest hope is to see if they give me the same feeling they did as a kid.  (We all want to be a kid again right?)  Usually the answer is "no," but every so often I'm reminded of why I did like it initially.  And in an even more rare scenario, they are just as good as I remembered.  I hope I'm not a total lame-ass for doing this, but over the years I've checked out things from my youth, if nothing else for just a laugh.  The following is some of the things I've checked out and whether or not it stands the test o...

His goofiness could always make me laugh. Robin Williams was one of my favorite actors.  As a kid I enjoyed his goofy shenanigans on the big screen, but as I grew older I really appreciated his more dramatic roles.  It's pretty incredible really, not too many comedians could make that transition.  These movies I consider his best individual performances, not necessarily my favorite movies of his.  1. Dead Poets Society 2. Good Will Hunting 3. Patch Adams 4. Jack 5. Mrs. Doubtfire 6. Hook 7. Aladdin 8. Happy Feet 9. Night at the Museum (Teddy Roosevelt rules!) 10. Insomnia I would like to point out that I've never seen Jumanji or Good Morning, Vietnam which are two fan favorites.  So that is why they aren't included. 

Last week I was going to write about who I thought would make the final 12 man lineup.  I was going to base those predictions off the scrimmage last Friday.  In probably the biggest sports story in the last few weeks, Paul George snapped his leg and changed my mind about writing such a piece. That was a major bummer.  I'm a big George fan, and I feel really bad for the Pacers.  I would think that Larry Bird has probably broken a few pieces of a furniture in the past week, and I can't blame him.  The way this Pacers team is constructed now, they may not even make the playoffs. So that was obviously a major blow to the team.  PG was all but penciled in to start.  Now Kevin Durant withdraws!?!?  Holy moly, that is news.  So you lose the best player on the team, (who happens to be the reigning MVP) now what? Team USA was already lacking power forwards, with Kevin Love, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Blake Griffin not playing for one reason or anoth...

It's not breaking news by any means, but the shooting guard position in the NBA is all but dead.  Quick, name a superstar SG besides James Harden?  You really can't.  One would argue the same for the center, but although they may not all be superstars, I can list a few quality centers off the top of my head; (Howard, Asik, Hibbert, Pekovic, Noah, Jefferson etc.)  I can't do that for SG's.  I really have to think about it.  I honestly don't even think I could argue who is the second best SG after Harden.  Now for those still arguing Kobe is number one, I'm excluding him from this blog for one big reason.  We have no idea what Kobe is going to be like when he returns.  Could he return to scoring 27 PPG?  With Kobe anything is possible, but I would wager that is highly unlikely due to his age and mileage on his body.  He's not a spring chicken anymore.  I'm as big of Kobe fan as anyone, but people saying he's still the be...

Hey there NBA fans.  As sports enthusiasts, we all love a good debate.  Well this bad boy is my argument brought to the table (in eBook form no less).  This book focuses on the great players of this century.  Who really were great?  Who were overblown?  Who didn't get the respect they deserved?  Without going into too much detail on how they were graded, (plenty of time to discuss that in the book) we see who achieved what, and just how prestigious we, as fans, feel that that achievement really is. Go ahead and clink the above link and give it a read.  You may find it insightful, humorous, thought-provoking, or just a plain excellent read overall.  You can find other titles by yours truly by clicking here.          Here's a sample, talking about Kobe Bryant in the 2008 season: Kobe flew off the handle in the summer prior to the ’08 season.   He was demanding to be trad...