I'm going to make the Barcode my coffee stop everyday that I get up before 3pm, which should be about 2 days a week. that is, if I'm in a making-it-happen kind of mood, which isn't everyday. if I'm being honest with myself, I'm only really snapping the ivory on the sweet-spot about 14% of the time.
on the subject of who deserved the Tecmo Super Bowl III: Final Edition MVP, Troy Vincent or Matt Hasselbeck, reaction has been mixed. I'm pretty confident that I'm right, though. Matt Hasselbeck deserved it. not only did he confidently and competently helm a ship that sailed smoothly to a perfect 16-0 record, not only did he shatter the previous (and widely considered unbeatable) record of 60 touchdown passes by over 25, but he did so under duress. teammate --starting halfback and original focal point of the offense-- Chris Warren sat out seven games with an injury, the details of which were left undisclosed at the time and are still shrouded in mystery. not just that, but his top deep threat, perennial over-achiever Brian Blades, was relegated to the sidelines for weeks as well with another injury that we have only the vaguest information concerning. what's impressive is that, no matter who was plugged into the roster, assorted mediocre running backs or subpar tight ends, the Seahawks' offensive production never suffered; never was a final score closer than the week 3 "nail biter" at Denver, in which he captianed his comrades to a 21-3 victory (by far, Seattle's lowest point total of the season). now, while I toot the horn of M. Hasselbeck, I don't mean to belittle, or take lightly, Troy Vincent's accomplishments or his impact on the Miami Dolphins. while 10 interceptions (one off the single season record) is certainly impressive, and while it never hurts to have a defensive back that you know can take the opposition's best wide reciever out of the game, the honest to god's truth is that this team wasn't going any further than Dan Marino was going to take them. for the anals: that turned out to be the AFC Championship game, one lost by near 50 points to the eventual champion Seahawks. when arguing T. Vincent's creditionals, I'm not even sure, to be quite honest, that Vincent's Defensive Player of the Year award isn't a bit of a questionable call in-and-of-itself. did he really affect his opponent's offensive gameplan more than Seattle's Winston Moss? paired with Cortez Kennedy, Moss was one-half (he, the more dominant and less oft-injured one) of a quarterback wrecking crew. in what is most aptly described as "double-fisteded", they managed a gamebreaking pass rush which, with a frightening degree of regularity, was able to shut down drives with consecutive and sometimes back-to-back-to-back sacks (finishing the 17 week-long grind with over 100 totaled between them), thus allowing the rest of their defensive squad to focus on the rush, which as a collective unit, they led the league in denying. there are reasons offered for why Vincent walked away with the trophy and not Hasselbeck, some have cried of an East Coast bias, our own Christopher Alexander has argued that this is representative of the liberal media's (the press are called to vote on the Most Valuable Player at the culmination of each regular season) desire to prop up and embellish the abilities of a black cornerback over those of a white quarterback. whatever the reason for this gross injustice --and just to be clear, I personally believe that East Coast bias or simple voter incompetence are highly more likely to be the cause than the theory Mr. Alexander is peddling-- I'm sure ultimate team player, Matt Hasselbeck, is much happier to have the Super Bowl trophy rather than one reflecting nothing more than individual statistical success.
TCM is doing a fifteen day tribute to Claudette Colbert this month. how cool is that? and how much do I want this channel?
there's no evidence to bear out my theory, but I believe the Sacramento Kings got a much better deal for Chris Webber than do most of the professional and paid analysts who are talking about the recent trade. this team wasn't going anywhere with Webber. they were, when the personnel move was made, in the midst of a losing skid that, had it continued, could have cost them the five seed in the west if Houston and Memphis continue surging. I wonder if, in time, with a reworked line-up, we will see them play as well as they did before Webber's return in the middle of last season. and really, with Vlade, Christie, and now Webber gone, (i.e. the fogies and soon-to-be fogies), can't we extend Sacto's current window? with a nucleus of Peja, Bibby, Cuttino, and Brad Miller, doesn't this team have a few more years to make a run at the championship? well, whichever, at least now they can run again.
of all of the movies I've seen for the first time this year, these are my ten favorites (in alphabetical order):
2046 (Wong Kar-Wai)
Angel (Ernst Lubitsch)
The Big Clock (John Farrow)
Early Summer (Yasujiro Ozu)
La Guerre Est Finie (Alain Resnais)
Love Me Tonight (Rouben Mamoulian)
Metropolitan (Whit Stillman)
The Set-Up (Robert Wise)
Touchez Pas Au Grisbi (Jacques Becker)
Youth Of The Beast (Seijun Suzuki)
all in all, a satisfying year spent alone in my room watching things in the dark. if I can just stop referring to Metropolitan as "Metropolin," I'll be all set.