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Spotlight On Shelton Benjamin

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Watch this video .  In hindsight this one move seemingly destroyed Benjamin's confidence and his career never recovered.  He's had his moments don't get me wrong, but I better start from the beginning before I dive too deep. Shelton Benjamin was supposed to be the next big superstar following his 2004 draft to Monday Night Raw, splitting him from his tag partner Charlie Haas.  And for about a year he was.  He was a solid mid-card guy having great matches and holding on to the IC title for a lengthy reign, and stole the show in the first ever Money in the Bank Ladder match .  This was the apex of Benjamin's success, and I even thought that he would be main eventing the next year's WrestleMania.  Well the previously mentioned botched dive was just 2 months after MITB and sent Benjamin into a tailspin. I'm not exaggerating about this.  You can search other Benjamin boneheaded maneuvers following that one; ones that were seemingly nonex...

Spotlight On The White Album

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At the end of the day, The White Album is worth owning, click the picture to buy it.  For me the "White Album" is so polarizing.  It literally has some of the Beatles worst work ever, but also some of their best.  For any crazed Beatle fan, they know the reasons why.  But for those that don't I'll explain it briefly.  I've read enough Beatle books, magazines, polls, lists, countdowns etc. to have came to the conclusion that Sgt. Pepper is considered their finest work (duh).  Then followed closely behind is Revolver.  It gets a little bit more heated after that, usually with Abbey Road or The White Album coming in third.  Abbey Road is my personal favorite, so obviously the higher it's ranked the better as far as I'm concerned.  That notwithstanding, I couldn't rank The White Album ahead of it, let alone Magical Mystery Tour (their most underrated album for sure) just because of all the trash that is on it.  Let me start at the b...

How To Win The NBA Championship In 5 "Easy" Steps

From what I can tell, every championship team has had these roles defined.  One guy could probably play more than one role at a time, but a true team has different man assuming each role, thus making it truly a championship "team" rather than, "we have the best guy on the court".  (Which obviously doesn't hurt either.) 1. Leader I was going to call this category "Superstar" but the '04 Chauncey Billups- led Pistons kept creeping into my mind.  In case you don't get it, Chauncey was a great player, but no where near a "superstar."  And the only thing Rasheed Wallace is a superstar at is getting technical fouls.  He may be the "Michael Jordan" of that actually.  But I digress. Obvious this is the most important thing to have.  Someone has to lead the team.  Someone has to rally the troops when they are down.  Someone has to take the big shot at the end of regulation.  This someone also has to lead by example, but also k...

Not Quite There Yet (The Timberwolves Odyssey)

A year ago I stated that "things were looking up in Minneapolis."  (If you don't believe me read it here )  Well unfortunately for them, it may have to wait at least one more year.  Why do you ask?  I can sum it up in one word: INJURIES Here's what the I/R looked like for this tumultuous season: Brandon Roy missed 77 games Chase Budinger missed 66 games Alexey Shved missed 10 games Nikola Pekovic missed 23 games Ricky Rubio missed 32 games Kevin Love missed 64 games Andrei Kirilenko missed 18 games JJ Barea missed 8 games That's basically their entire rotation hurt at one point or another.  The only guy who didn't miss a game this season was Luke Ridnour.  Ridnour was the model of consistency for them this year.  He started at both guard positions throughout the year, depending on Rubio's injury, and put up 12 points, 4 assists, and 3 rebounds a game.  I would call him their MVP if it weren't for Rubio going on a tear the latt...

Top 50 Simpsons Episodes

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I realize that the Simpsons aren't "cool" anymore, and haven't been for a long time.  And to be fair, the last decade of the show has been atrocious.  But that's not the point here.  Let's focus on the good stuff.  These are my favorites in chronological order because there is no way I could rank them any other way.  I'm sure there is one or two "fan favorites" that I left out ( Homer at the Bat comes to mind),  I'm sure I enjoy them like everyone else, just not as much.  So don't say, "What about such and such episode?"  I would also like to point out that most people nowadays say Family Guy is the "best cartoon ever!"  Well please watch this video , and then think about what you are saying next time.  Season 2 Bart the Daredevil Lisa's Substitute Season 4 Homer the Heretic Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie Mr. Plow Lisa's First Word Homer's Triple Bypass Marge vs. the Monorail Last Exit To ...

The Raw After Mania

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For the second straight year, Monday Night Raw post-WrestleMania is a show for the ages.  Raw after Mania always has some big, or sometimes monumental moments, but the last two years have been special for one reason:   The crowd was crazy.  Next week everything will go back to "normal" I'm sure.  Cena will be back to the mixed reaction.  (50/50ish instead of probably 85/15 against him)  Ryback will be a heel.  Ziggler will be the heel champion.  Fandango will probably go back to generating no reaction.  Big Show will never ever be "thanked" again.  Maybe not though.  Maybe Ryback will still be cheered?  I guess if he is beating on Cena, at least half the people will be happy.  (If you haven't seen it, watch the Sheamus vs. Orton match, it's hilarious) Aside from the crowd, the show was really good too.  Undertaker vs. the Shield is very interesting to me.  Daniel Bryan also getting the rub from Taker can't ...

Things Are Looking Up In Ring Of Honor

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Many months ago I pondered the potential doom of ROH .  I never really dreamed that it would fix itself so quickly, or possibly at all.  Ironically, it only took one move to make it all happen.    The savior of ROH?  Jim Cornette was fired, and the booking was left entirely in the hands of Delirious.  Now I would like to state that I am a fan of Cornette as a personality.  I find him to be quite hilarious, and his rants on YouTube are a personal favorite of mine.  However, if you look at ROH from Best in the World '11 to his firing, the show is so anti-ROH it's crazy.  Boring roster, the same matches week after week, stupid hirings (The Headbangers?  Really?!?), and basically just left ROH as a shell of a shell of its former innovative self.  Glory By Honor last year was Delirious' first big show Post-Cornette.  It delivered in spades.  It had a cliff-hanger finish with Kevin Steen receiving El Generico's mask to...

Faces In The Wrong Places

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Today's topic is about 3 wrestlers who jumped ship to TNA, but never quite felt (according to me anyway) like "TNA guys". 1. Mick Foley Yes Foley vs. Abyss was a dream match, but Foley never quite fit with TNA crowd.  Mick is a WWE guy, plain and simple.  Some may think of him as a ECW legend, but there is no doubting that he is mainly known as the "big ugly guy with the sock".  And we love that big ugly guy.  TNA seemed like a big step down for Mick, and I feel he only went there because he was pissed at Vince.  Mick doesn't need to wrestle anymore and he can get wrestlers/angles over with his uncanny promo abilities.  TNA in turn, made him the champion for crying out loud.  No offense Mick, but you don't need to be champion at this stage of your "part-time career", and this move screams everything that is wrong with TNA. 2. Jeff Hardy  Jeff + WWE = BIG MONEY Jeff + TNA = BIG fish in a small pond Let's pretend hypotheti...

Top 20 Grunge Songs

Here's the top 20 Grunge songs using the criteria of chart positioning and overall importance to the genre.  In a nutshell, the songs that define the era.  I'm pretty sure the top 5 or so, (in some order) are no-brainers.  1. Smells Like Teen Spirit- Nirvana 2. Man in the Box-Alice in Chains 3. Black Hole Sun-Soundgarden 4. Glycerine-Bush 5. Hunger Strike- Temple of the Dog 6. Jeremy- Pearl Jam 7. Plush- Stone Temple Pilots 8. Even Flow- Peral Jam 9. Come As You Are- Nirvana 10. Black- Pearl Jam 11. Would- Alice in Chains 12. Heart Shaped Box- Nirvana 13. Lithium- Nirvana 14. Alive- Pearl Jam 15. Comedown-Bush 16. Shine- Collective Soul 17. Interstate Love Song- Stone Temple Pilots 18. Spoonman- Soundgarden 19. No Excuses- Alice in Chains 20. Creep- Radiohead Honorable Mentions: Outshined-Soundgarden In Bloom-Nirvana Machinehead-Bush River of Deceit-Mad Season Rooster-Alice in Chains Fell on Black Days- Soundgarden Little Things- Bush E...

Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Playoffs (Lakers Edition)

With Lakers fans panicking all over the globe due to Kobe's injury, there are a few things to keep in mind: 1. Kobe more than likely won't miss any (or just minimal) games.  His track record speaks for itself.  I'm not condoning him playing injured all the time, just going off of his past actions. 2.  It will be interesting to see if Steve Nash can run the offense to a high degree of success.  Nash may not draw the defensive attention that he used to, but without Kobe looking over his shoulder, he can run free for however long need be.  Odds are Meeks will start with Kobe out, and maybe with big minutes he can find his rhythm and get his shot falling and become a significant option.  Maybe the whole team can just "relax" so to speak and not have to worry about Kobe hounding them for making a mistake, and overall, just play team basketball.  (Granted they don't have a very good cushion to be relaxing on.  Every win at this p...