Saturday, July 4, 2015

Awesome Old Movie Clips of the Week: "Jaws" 4th of July Edition

Jaws was released on June 1, of 1975.  The fictional island of Amity is Martha's Vineyard 40 years ago.  One part of the film that always amused me was how eager people were to go in the ocean on Amity leading up to the 4th of July.  The water is cold in early summer.  I was there yesterday and could barely get my feet in.

Yeah some people swim, but not en masse like they do in the movie.  Jaws would've been a lot more realistic if they'd set it in late August instead.









Friday, July 3, 2015

Want to feel old? Back to the Future came out 30 years ago today...

July 3, 1985, Back to the Future first hit theaters.  Here are the original trailers:



The funny thing is, this one doesn't include clips and barely has anything to do with the movie:



That might be a good blog idea--how different old movie previews seem now from the actual films themselves...


RELATED: It's 2015, where's my hoverboard?


Thursday, July 2, 2015

Alex Morgan flops like LeBron James

I realize I'm a little late on this, but it's still relevant since the U.S. women are about to take on Japan in the World Cup Final on Sunday.  The Americans are playing for the championship in large part because Alex Morgan took a dive:



Who's committing a foul here?
Admittedly, I am anything but an expert in the way soccer should be officiated.  But if I were refereeing this in the NBA, it looks likes either a no-call, or an offensive foul as a charge or a flop, take your pick.  As you can see in the full highlight video (at the one-minute mark), it appears as though Morgan was about to run the other women over, so instead she jumped on top of her, then fell to the ground and acted like she'd been shot.

The U.S. was awarded a penalty kick, which made the score 1-0.  The final margin was 2-0, but Germany was forced to play a different game once it fell behind.

Having said that, I'm still pumped to root for the U.S. in the Final.  I just wanted to point out that women's soccer features the same garbage acting that is becoming prominent in many major sports.


RELATED: 
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Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Maybe the band is getting back together in L.A. instead of Boston?

Last week I wrote about how all five starters from the 2008 champion Celtics are free agents this summer.  I suggested that if things don't work out for Danny Ainge in his pursuit of a big-name star, his backup plan could just be to get the band back together for a farewell tour.  Unfortunately Paul Pierce ended that dream on Day 1, signing with the Clippers this afternoon.

But maybe the dream isn't actually dead, just shipped over to the west coast?  After all, Doc Rivers and Big Baby Davis (although he's a free agent also) are already there.


As I said in the previous post, I'm not really serious and there's no way this could happen (although I kind of am and it would be amazing).


Tuesday, June 30, 2015

The Red Sox are about 2 games away from making this thing interesting

The last-place Red Sox need to make up six games in the A.L. East standings just to climb out of the cellar.  On the bright side, a seven-game swing could have them atop the division.


At 6-4 in their last 10, the Sox have the second-best record in the division (behind the 7-3 Orioles) in that span.  Boston has made up three games in the standings in the last 10 days.  In that same time, Baltimore eliminated a four-game deficit and went from fourth to first.  Here's what the A.L. East looked like on June 20:


If the Red Sox can trim the lead down to five or so, things might really start heating up.  In other team news, last night Pablo Sandoval took one of the more ridiculous swings you'll ever see:





Monday, June 29, 2015

What's the point of this pigs in a blanket pizza?

Here's my question: Why doesn't Pizza Hut just sell the pigs in a blanket (aka "hot dog bites") separately?

That's basically all that's going on here, except now the pizza is harder to pick up because there's no crust left after you eat the mini hot dogs.  And even if you save that part for last, it looks pretty wobbly and annoying to hold compared to a much sturdier regular crust.



While I'm on the subject, I think the Little Caesars' bacon wrapped crust is a great idea.  People often leave their pizza crust behind, or eat it disappointingly after the rest is gone.  But in this case, it has the awesome taste of bacon to keep you interested.


RELATED: Hardees-Carl's Jr. forgot the bacon on their hot dog burger


Sunday, June 28, 2015

LeBron James opting out probably doesn't mean he's leaving, but it does let him hold the Cavs hostage

Today, LeBron James officially notified the Cavaliers that he will opt out of his contract and become a free agent (which is something I expected might happen before he even signed with the Cavs in the first place).  The widespread opinion is that LeBron has no intentions to actually leave Cleveland:


However, there is this:


On Friday, Chris B. Haynes of Cleveland.com was the first to reveal LeBron's plan.  Haynes wrote:

"James will take a wait-and-see approach while the Cavaliers tend to their housekeeping matters, league sources told Northeast Ohio Media Group. ...

The belief is James wants to observe how management goes about retaining and accumulating assets keep the organization in win-now mode and improve the roster.

The chance of James bolting the city of Cleveland for a second time is slim, but his approach will allow him to assess the Cavaliers' moves before re-signing. It also applies pressure on the organization to do whatever is necessary to strengthen the team."

This afternoon, ESPN's Brian Windhorst basically reiterated Hayne's words:


Baskeball Insiders' Steve Kyler also added:


People will say this is just so LeBron can get paid more money (which is true given the league's absurd TV deal that kicks in in 2016 and the rising salary cap that will follow), but why should he care that much about making the absolute most he can in NBA salary?  According to Forbes, the $20.8 million the Cavs paid him this year wasn't even a third of his total income.  Why would a few extra million per season in NBA wages actually matter to him?  Shouldn't winning titles be much more important?

Regardless of the money, there's another reason for LeBron's decision to opt out, even if he does plan on staying in Cleveland.  For the time being, and as a long as he sticks to one-year deals, James basically becomes the teams' general manager (which is funny because he's already shown he's the de facto head coach as well).

The possibility of LeBron leaving is always going to be hanging over the Cavs' heads, forcing them to do exactly what he wants them to.  James can effectively hold the franchise hostage, directing it to make whatever trades or free-agent signings he chooses.

Also from Haynes, David Griffin, the man with title of GM in Cleveland, recently said the following about LeBron in regards to the Cavs' roster:

"We've heard from him every day pretty much. ... It's been great. He's been very much engaged with us on a lot of different levels. It's been positive."
Griffin and Cavaliers fans will say this a good thing, that it just means James is interested in ensuring the club does its best to compete for a title next season.  But let me ask you this, how can it make sense for a star player to also make coaching and management decisions?  If that was the case, teams around the league would've figured out a long time ago they could save money by no longer employing those unneeded positions.

Sorry Cleveland, but GM LeBron isn't doing player LeBron any favors in his quest to bring you a championship.


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