Rants and Ranks

courtesy: nba.com It's usually the time when I'm complaining about the all-star selections, and believe it's coming, but today's topic is about another type of selection.  Arguably the more prestigious selection of the Olympic team.  It's down to the 30 finalists, and Team USA has an embarrassment of riches.  Even still, I thought I could whip up my list of 12 with no problem.  Wrong.  I figured out my starting 5 relatively easy, but 5 of the 7 subs was mind-wracking.   When the list of finalists came out, people were complaining about the lack of "player X" or "player Y."  What the common fan fails to realizes is that this isn't the all-star game.  It's not picked by fan-favorites.  In fact, the best player in the world could choose not even to play.  Case in point: fresh off shutting down LeBron for his Finals MVP, Kawhi Leonard opted to not play in the FIBA championships in '14 even though he would have been a shoe-i...

These are my personal matches of the year in WWE.  I didn't include NXT in case you were wondering.  It was a pretty down year again, but these bouts (in chronological order) are worth a re-watch or two.   Seth Rollins vs. John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar, Royal Rumble Had this match not been on the 2015 Rumble, I'm pretty sure this would be the worst WWE PPV I'd ever seen.  Aside from the worst Rumble match ever, the undercard was a total snooze-fest as everything under delivered. courtesy: ign.com The most important aspect of this match was that it showed Rollins could hang with the big boys.  He had his "coming out party" if you will.  The slow-motion replay of his "Shane dive" onto the announce table is nearly breathtaking.  He is such an incredible athlete.  He also busted out the Phoenix Splash which I don't believe his done since entering WWE.  Very entertaining match. Daniel Bryan vs. Roman Reigns, Fastlane There was a ...

This young NBA season has been fascinating for one reason, and it's a big one.  The talent pool at the top of the heap isn't consisted of your normal suspects.  Some are on the rise from last year, others were thought to be done, while some just came out of the blue. courtesy of  sportsrants.com Steph Curry had a great year last year.  He got his MVP, he got his ring.  Some have question those things, myself included.  I didn't question the Warriors winning the championship, they were the best team from start to finish.  Others did.  I did think the MVP voting was up in the air most of the season.  Harden and Westbrook made really strong cases, but ultimately now I feel the right choice was made with the benefit of hindsight.  With all that in mind, Curry is even better this year!  People are starting to call him the best player of his generation.  I don't know if technically LeBron is his generation or not in NBA year...

When I do a blistering review, such as my overrated matches blog, I try to balance it out with some positive vibes.  Here's my WWE matches that don't get enough, or in some cases no, love. Shawn Michaels vs. Vader Summerslam 1996 HBK's title reign in '96 was fantastic.  Maybe not from a business standpoint, but if you look at all the big matches, it's easily one of the best ever.  And since there were so many classics, it's pretty easy for some to get looked over.  In my mind, it's the Summerslam match with Vader. When you look at the Iron Man Match, the No Holds Barred vs. Diesel, and the wild brawl with Mankind at Mind Games, it's easy to see why this match gets little props.  Also hurting I feel is the backstage politics involved. Allegedly Vader was slated to win the title, but Shawn threw a fit until Vince changed his mind. Compounding the nonsense, Vader messed up some spots in the match, and Shawn was visibly angry with him, or what some cal...

I had been thinking that the NBA 2K series needed to add some "new" historical teams.  The collection that they already had was great, but they needed to get some more teams from 2000 onward.  I was pleasantly surprised to find out they in fact added 12 teams to the upcoming game.  Let's take a look at who we have added. 2008 Celtics This Celtics team more than deserved to be on the game.  Let's face it, if KG, Pierce, or Ray are you're favorite players it's tough to play with the 2016 "old man" version of themselves and still have fun.  Especially Garnett who has slipped the most (rightfully so, it will be his 21st season), but at one point was the best player in the game.  (More on that in a minute.) The team itself was dominate beyond belief.  I felt this team could go toe-to-toe with some of the great teams of years past just due to their swarming defense.  (Now you can do that on the game.)  PP averaged 19 PPG, KG 18 PPG, and Ray 1...

In the back of my mind, I always wanted to sort out a list like this.  Now here we are.  My criteria was that the song had to be written and performed by that particular Beatle.  No shared vocals, which eliminates a large chunk of the early years when Paul and John sung together.  (Also eliminating a personal favorite of mine with "She Loves You.")  Obviously this also includes basically every Ringo song seeing as how he usually had them written for/or collaborated with another band member.  (It would have been tough to pick a top 10 for Ringo even if that wasn't the rule.)  Covers are also out, so no "Twist and Shout."  Also eliminated is perennial favorite "A Day in the Life" which was an ultimate collaboration between John and Paul.  So don't think I just forgot it.  Which also reminds me, this is a list of my favorites not what are considered "the greatest" by the critics.  (I'm pretty confident I like the song "No Reply...

That inevitable day is now here for the Parenza house.  "Baby" Mya is now a kindergartner.  She said she was excited for it, so that is definitely better than her kicking and screaming her way there.  For me it's sad because every milestone makes you realize that you truly do have a deadline with them; that they won't be your baby forever. That school is full of fifth grade students that have parents that look back fondly on their now 10 year old going to kindergarten for the first time wondering, "Where did the time go?" It goes fast, we all know that.  Since baby Josie was born, things have seemed to have kicked into another gear.  When you have the little babies, you're always doing something.  If they're quiet, then something is wrong.  Their causing some mischief somewhere, somehow. I'm not worried about Mya at all from an academic perspective.  She seems intelligent (don't all parents say that?) and picks up on things quick eve...

For the first time since 2009, Breaking Benjamin released an album. There were a couple of reasons for the delay, but the main one being that lead singer Ben Burnley fired all 3 remaining members.  Obviously with that much turnover, there was going to be some regrouping involved.   Since learning this news, myself, and I'm sure all other BB fans were wondering, "How will this affect their sound".  Fear not because you're opinion on the sound of Breaking Benjamin will directly dictate how you feel about “Dark Before Dawn.”  Translation: they sound exactly the same.   This lead to a divide among fans.  (A "great divide" if you will.)  For people that wanted more of the same, you got exactly what you wanted.  For those wanting new and different, you're pretty much S.O.L. - with the exception of one track.   My personal thought is this: Breaking Benjamin's songs more often than not, have always sounded similar to each other.  Tha...

The 2015 season is now in the books.  Somewhat surprising how it all went down, if you look at the start of the season in comparison to the end.  First, let's look at my 20 questions at the beginning of the season. Unfortunately Nash's last season equaled 0 games played. 1. Kobe/Rose: are they injury-prone for the rest of their careers? I can confidently say for Kobe, the answer is "yes." It's a sad way to end his career, with yet another season-ending injury.  But Kobe has driven his body harder than most over the course of his career.  His goal for next season shouldn't be about scoring, or even winning (to a degree), he should try to limit his playing time and try to play as many games as possible. Derrick Rose is still a bit murky.  He did play the most games he's played (51) since his 2011 MVP year.  That's good, but still he was obviously hurt for a nice chunk of the year.  He did average 20, 5, and 7 in the playoffs (playing every...