Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Wrestle Mania XXV

Now I have been a wrestling fan since I can remember, even dating back before I rooted for the Mets, Jets or even the immortal Michael Jordan, but I can not remember being so damn bored from a four hour pay per view event. First of all as a wrestling fan I do not want to see Kid Rock perform for 20 minutes of filler. This is not the Super Bowl of Wrestling, It’s Wrestle Mania. I felt as if I was watching an over hyped Monday Night Raw. All the events were so predictable.
Of course John Cena was going to beat those two morons and continue there really stupid story line with Vicky. (On a side note: if Eddie wasn’t so damn good and deserve the respect to have his family supported by the McMahan she should be thrown off of any show that WWE produces.) Now of course you had to give the belt back to Cena because he just filmed a movie for WWE movie studios but I could of being slightly more dramatic. And we all knew that Randy Orton’s destruction of the McMahan family had to stop somewhere. I have never seen anyone take out so many McMahan’s not even what some may say the greatest of all time The Rattle Snake “Stone Cold” Steve Austin had. (Hogan helped create this sport into what it is now so he will always be the Greatest of all Time, but Stone Cold comes close.)
Now the match I looked forward to for weeks and usually is the best match of the night. The Money in the Bank Match is for all the new or comeback athletes to show of there death defying feats and the will of competition. My first question is Mark Henry????? Now come on do you really think he would be able to climb the latter Hornswaggle brought in never mind the twenty foot ladders in the ring? Christian was in that match and had a great chance at taking that match down and they would be able to continue the rivalry with him an Edge. Cm Punk winning it for the second time in two years just does not do it for me. Now I understand his angle is very good to promote to children who do watch the WWE but he’s not all that entertaining. He’s a middle of the row wrestler with a good story-line but he needs a rival to compete with to step his game up.
Now my disappointing moment of the evening was when the Hardy Boys went at it and it was boring and uneventful. The one crazy move Jeff tried cost him the match and wasn’t even original, he has used that move in the past.
Now on a more pleasant note, Taker and the Heartbreak Kid had a match for the ages. While watching HBK kick up from a tombstone pile driver and the Dead Man kick up from multiple sweet chin music it broke many, many wrestling rules. These two Hall of Fame bound Superstars deserved to be the shining star of an event which might be one of there lasts. More than once during the match I thought the referee was asking them to stop the match because both of them landed on their heads and I thought were not going to be able to continue the match. But that is why these two Superstars are the cream of the crop and I was entertained with every moment of this match, even though a few times I thought it should have ended.
Overall I felt there was too much fluff and not enough action. I have been watching TNA wrestling recently and they are taking it up and pushing the envelope and if WWE doesn’t start stepping up to the plate they are going to lose more wrestlers as well as more fans will start tuning into their programming.

Up Coming Premium Television Shows Premiering This Summer

Over the last couple of years since the large fan bases for the Soprano’s, Sex and the City and Queer as Folk have caught on HBO and Showtime have been doing their best to produce quality shows. I am not familiar with all of their shows but may of them I am a vastly enthralled with.
The first of these shows is Californication staring David Duchonvny (from the X-Files). No he does not play a creepy guy looking for aliens again. He plays a writer who wrote one of the best books ever written and then was produced into a crappy lovey dovey movie in which he despises but is becoming extremely rich off of it. It is also dealing with the on and off again relationship with his baby’s momma, (the girl is 14 now though). It’s a very dark comedy that deals with everyday situations in very outlandish ways. If you have not seen this you should catch up on season 1 so when season 2 begins in July you are ready to jump right into the show. Duchonvny really appeals to the average guy who just does not know what the hell they want to do with their life and is always screwing things up even when he shouldn’t be. Each episode he finds himself in a crazier and crazier situation. A must see.
Now to introduce you to another new HBO show, True Blood. First and foremost let me state I am not a vampire movie/show fan, even if Buffy was extremely hot. But this show deals with many different aspects of human life and how different we all are. It is filled with a few good looking woman, occasional nudity/sex, and drug use??? (You will understand when you watch), and a semi believable story line. I feel the way they are going with the story line is more about dealing with racial hostility with out using a black/white issue or another minority group.
Now my favorite of them all is Eastbound & Down. It was just picked up for another season which makes me very happy. Eastbound & Down can be seen on re runs of HBO or is currently able to be seen on HBO VOD. If you like Will Ferrell then you will not be able to control yourself while watching this movie. The main character Kenny Powers is a washed up MLB pitcher who thinks he’s in his prime and his life after baseball. Will Ferrell makes appearances in the show and has an extremely funny character which pushes Kenny to his limits. Also for all you guys out there who love boobs, maybe the best pair I have ever seen are on display on one of the last 2 or 3 episodes. This show is worth the look even if it is just for the boobs.
Other shows in which I will give a thumbs up to is Weeds which I believe is finishing up. I have watched it for the last 2 seasons, both pretty good and now looking to check out the first couple.
Another new show which is in the middle of its first season is The United States of Tara. It is a show based upon a woman with DID, Disassociate Identity Disorder, which is usually confused with multiple personality disorder. Whatever it is this show is pretty funny. Tara’s family has to learn to deal with her personalities coming out at random times which mostly negatively affect their lives. Showtime’s Diary of a Call Girl is pretty interesting and I watch it here and there.
Now this is the place where I put a shameless promotion. I have invested in a movie producing company which has released many different movies, mostly B movies. But they have come out with great new movies called “Babysitter Wanted.” It is now available on many Video on Demands and is being sold in most DVD stores. Pick it up, check it out and let me know what you think. Should I invest more in this company???

New York Yankees After Week #1

First off this is a message to all Yankee Fans: get off the ledge and don’t jump just yet. You have a solid rotation even though the best pitcher the other night verse the Ray’s was Swisher but when the weather warms up and A-Rod makes his triumphant return all the Yankee fans will understand why your team is worth 200 million. An all star at almost every position, role players in good spots and excellent starting pitching.
The only worry I can foresee in the future for the Yankee’s is that middle relief. Getting to Rivera is going to the hard part, but with all that starting pitching the Yankee’s bullpen should be nice and rested.
Now to talk about A-Rod, for all you Yankee fans who like him please skip this paragraph. Alex Rodriguez IS THE BEST playing in baseball at this moment whether he used steroids or not. Almost everyone has used them why complain. He was better than everyone else when everyone was using them and now he’s still better than everyone else playing the sport. Now for his off the field stuff, he is the highest paid player in baseball and loves the attention, what else would you expect from a guy who grew up in Washington Heights in New York City during one of the worse drug epidemics in the history of the world. Hopefully this year he will focus more on playing, by keeping his love life (esp. the wife, Madonna, or any other strippers/call girls whom catch his eye)
Many Yankee fans can not wait for the new “museum” of baseball to open up for the real official time. I being a resident of the Bronx my curiosity is flying around. I was sad to see the old stadium go but for us New York baseball fan we needed some nice digs to play in. I am glad from what I can see they have kept many of the aesthetics the same and keeping the lore of Yankee Stadium alive.
My first time going to a professional baseball game was at the old Yankee Stadium went I was about 8 years old. Still to this day I can remember the sights, the colors, the smells (especially on the 4 train on the way to the Stadium), and the feel. When my father walked me threw the Stadium and gave me some of the history of the place I was in awe. Now hopefully I can do the same for my child and allow them to experience the thrill I received. There was just a feel of myth, legacy and history when you walk into such a historic place like the old Stadium. All this from a Met fan but being a Bronx resident there is no denying what the Yankees have meant to Bronx.
My advice to the Yankee fans is to relax, they haven’t even opened the stadium yet and there are a few bright spots on the team especially the performance of AJ Burnett. And don’t forget many teams are going to be having fire sales starting in about a month and a half and the Steinbrenner’s have large wallets. So hang in there and just think of the great memories your going to create in the first season in the New Stadium during the post-season.

New York Mets Threw Week #1

The Mets have had an up and down week so far but all in all my opinion is that they are just getting into “early season” form. The Mets have typically gotten off to quick starts in the pervious years just to let us down by blowing some of the largest leads ever in the history of baseball.
Defense has been our problem so far this year. This is a not a big concern of mine right now. Murphy is still a “work in progress.” He’s going to drop a few he should catch and catch a few we didn’t think he would get to. But one aspect of the Mets defense I have been very satisfied with is at first base. On more than one occasion Delgado has dug one out of the dirt for Reyes and Wright. Now this might be a new season with very familiar faces from last year but many of attitudes have changed and the weaknesses have been strengthened.
Gary Sheffield has joined the team and in my opinion there are only two ways in which his playing time with the Mets is going to work. First he is comfortable playing platoon in right with Church, and maybe playing his way into being the main guy by producing offensively and not creating more problems in the outfield, which seems to me is going to be a very tricky outfield. But I think Omar knew what he was doing when he signed him for a prorated 400k salary because what is he going to do if he gets released, now 2 teams don’t want him. There will be no place for him on a national league roster. I hope he now recognizes he is getting up there in age but is feared at the plate if he plays with in his own game. He could be a great help to teaching Murphy, and even Evans, some new tricks at the plate if he wants to join this TEAM.
Team was the focus of the Mets preseason, situational hitting, base running and now the focus needs to shift to team defense since we already have 5 and last year the Mets has the second fewest errors made all year. Sheff is here for one reason and that is to produce with the bat, if he fails to do that and creates and type of negative chemistry in the locker room I do not see him last very long. The Mets farm system is too deep to waste there time on an over the hill, inflated ego manic to give up a World Series caliber team.