The New York Football Giants

My beloved Giants take on the hated Cowboys this weekend in what, oddly enough, will be the first meeting of these two storied franchises in the post-season.  The Giants' performance against the Pats in week 17, though a visceral letdown in person, has actually blossomed into a cause for timid optimism.  After last week's game I was actually pretty high.  Now, with three forgettable workdays under my belt, and the objectivity that often accompanies the mundane, I don't really know what to think.  (Don't bother trying to tell me I'm not a real fan because I'm not teeming with the cockeyed optimism of an 11 year-old boy, though I often act like one.  And I didn't bet $50 without the spread on the Giants-Pats game....  My brother did.  Sadly, he's not 11 either though.)   

The Giants have won eight games away from the Meadowlands this year.  That's pretty impressive.  Gilbride, the Giants offensive coordinator, who I had been second guessing the entire second half of the season - including the Pats game - looked brilliant last week.  I've gone from lamenting Gilbride's play calling to hailing him a genius after one game!  Admittedly, I could be misappropriating in giving credit to Gilbride where I should shoveling blame on Tampa Bay's defensive game plan which, for some inexplicable reason, did not include blitzing Eli Manning and forcing him into bad decisions.  

Mr. Kevin Gilbride, if you're listening:   In the event that Jerry Jones takes the defensive coordinator's headphones, hands him a Coke Zero Super Caffeine Terd, and starts calling blitzes, throw screens to Bradshaw - not to be mistaken for Jacobs - because Bradshaw has the ability to get up field in a hurry, and, presumably, his hands can't be worse than Jacobs.  (If you recall, Eli had to depend on an evolutionary instinct present in all men, to protect the twig 'n' berries, in order to be sure Jacobs would secure what would became a touchdown pass.)    

The Giants have already lost twice to Dallas this season.  It is extremely difficult to beat a team three times over the course of the same season in the NFL.  I dare you to find examples of this having happened before.  I bet it has.  Infrequently though.     

Ultimately, I'm left with more questions than answers or advice:  Can we disregard the Giants second half of the season decline because of two impressive performances?  Will Dallas take a page from Tampa in only rushing four and rarely, if ever, blitzing?  Or will they take a page from the Patriots' effective second half two weeks ago by throwing the kitchen sink at the Giants' patchwork offensive line and quarterback who doesn't exactly thrive in the face of a collapsing pocket?  Is Tony Romo be distracted by his siren girlfriend to such a degree that he'll be pushing fabric during timeouts?  Is his dreamy little fucking thumb okay?  Will the Giants be able to pressure Romo as effectively as they pressured Garcia?  In addressing this potential, will the Cowboys have to sacrifice Jason Witten's role in the passing game?  (Jason Witten killed the Giants in their first meeting but had two catches for 14 yards in their second meeting.  Perhaps this was a necessity because Strahan, not a factor in their first meeting, and the rest of the defensive line were gelling by then.)   

I hope I don't sound irrational here, but I hope Romo gets badly injured when Justin Tuck comes in low and Strahan high.  For good measure, I hope he fumbles the ball as he shrieks in pain, and Osi Umenyiora recovers and takes a jaunt over to the endzone for six.  I hope TO can find it within himself to play....and Aaron Ross treats him like shit on his way to setting a playoff record for dropped passes (this is actually very much possible because TO has terrible hands). But above all else, I hope the Giants can find a way to win.

  

Odds and Ends

Rant courtesy of an unwitting contributor, via email:

This is really pissing me off...

Hillary cried and that's why she won.  Seriously, all the articles mention it as a deciding factor for a lot of voters.  She got a bunch of people to vote for her the same way a high school girl gets out of a speeding ticket.  And she also just started talking about the same stuff she always has, but inserted the word change all over the place. Then she surrounded herself with [artificial] young people.  And not just young people, but kids, who can't vote.  What the hell is the point of that?

What's the deal? I thought New Hampshire was cool?

I couldn't agree more... Besides that last part.  I knew New Hampshire wasn't cool.  What we have here is a frustrating process complimented by frustrating people.  My only hope is that people, and by people I mean young people who usually don't show up to the polls in big numbers, are able to cast aside all the frustration and remember how important the upcoming election will be.  But I won't hold my breath.  

Now Boarding

If boarding the subway is an apt analogy for my introduction to post-rock, I'm likely standing up. As with many things in which I claim to have serious interest, I can't claim to be a trailblazer. My introduction to post-rock was hap and circumstance.

Oddly, seated on board a train in the Irish countryside somewhere between Dublin and Cork, I found Tortoise while sifting through my father's iPod. This was not the first time that I recognized from amongst my dad's heterogeneous music collection a band that had been previously recommended to me. It was then that I first heard It's All Around You. I have since come to acquire, in addition to It's All Around You, TNT, A Lazarus Taxon, and A Brave New World.

Having been asked recently to burn some music for a buddy, and subsequently having done some considerable brain-storming, it has come to my attention that a lot of people have no idea what kind of music "post-rock" may allude to. Whether or not it is an appropriate name for the vast expanse of music it supposedly denotes, I feel compelled to discuss.

The common threads of post-rock, as I see them, are the absence of lyrics, or at least a lesser role, an added emphasis on texture, and the presence of some element traditionally associated with rock and roll. To a certain degree, dubbing the aforementioned vagaries "post-rock" is the easy way out. On the other hand, it does successfully provide a sense of expectation by utilizing a universally recognizable genre to describe the way this music transcends it.

Musically, this can vary. Almost jazz, with a band like Tortoise on an album like TNT, to almost metal, for a band like Pelican on an album like City of Echoes. Somewhere in between you'll find bands like Do Make Say Think, Godspeed! You Black Emperor, and Explosions in the Sky, though, to clump these bands together is a crass oversimplification. In some instances, post-rock is jazz light (I mean not to be pejorative) in terms of how demanding the music is to play and listen to. This is, of course, an unfair generalization, however, because it presupposes an absence of demanding passages, for which contradictions are plentiful. Moreover, it eschews varied approaches and intentions, as if music were merely fodder for overzealous bloggers.

If you enjoy the elements of music that are found between the lines; those that do not enact repetition, utilize traditional song structures, and have the patience and inclination, "post-rock" might be something you want to look into.

Tortoise- "Salt the Skies"

Tortoise- "Seneca"

Sigur Ros- "Svefn g englar"

Sigur Ros - "Glosoli"

Explosions in the Sky- "First Breath After Coma"

Don't Order The Fribble!

Under the spell of a hangover, the likes of which I hadn't experienced in quite some time, Moose and I went to Friendly's for breakfast on New Year's Day, accompanied by some friends who were partly responsible for our state of being at the time.  

I gleefully noticed Friendly's offers complimentary happy endings to patrons over the age of 60, a feature detailed on the backside of the menu.  When our waitress arrived at the table, delivering half-clean silverware and asking us if we were ready to order, I inquired without hesitation, "So....I can't get the happy ending? Because I'm not over 60."  From the reactions my inquiry was getting from those seated beside and across from me, and likely from the tone of my voice, my joke didn't sail over her head.  She knew exactly what I was asking....  And she was down to party.  

"For you?"  She looked me up and down, "For you I'll throw in the happy ending."  

And so went the first of the year.           

Popularity Contest

I recently had a discussion about the "Big 3" of American sports - football, baseball and basketball - and television revenue, as it shed light on their relative popularity.  Well, this morning, I serendipitously discovered the following chart:

       TOTAL REVENUES            Average TV Rights Fees

NFL         $5.86B                                         $3.1B

MLB        $5.2B                                            $670M

NBA         $3.13B                                          $765M

NHL        $2.2B                                            $70M

NASCAR $1.27B                                          $560M

*figures courtesy of Sports research Guide Book, Plunkett Research, Forbes.

No real surprises here.  No one watches hockey on TV, and while in terms sheer numbers Nascar is supposedly the most popular sport in America, most Nascar fans likely don't own TV's. Moreover, it's not a sport.

Football is king of spectator sports.  The game translates very well to television, as most Americans with a penis will likely attest.  Plus, with the benefit of a shorter season, and the corresponding added importance of each game, as compared to the MLB and NBA, it's television deals translate to big bucks. (Please note that the league's television deals are increasingly lucrative as respective lengths of their seasons shorten).  

Baseball and basketball's figures are somewhat misleading as they take into account only the deals with Fox, ESPN, TBS, and ABC, ESPN, and TNT, respectively.  Though I am not sure what sort of kickback the MLB and NBA get from television stations like YES and MSG in New York, NESN and FSN in Boston, WGN in Chicago, and TNT for Atlanta, the thriving underlying television deals of individual franchises surely benefit both sports' governing bodies, while also lending credence to their popularity.  What's good for the goose is good for the gander. 

Hockey's figure is even misleading in assessing popularity because it fails to note increasing attendance and a burgeoning internet presence, though I only know two people that follow the game closely.     

In conclusion:  G - I - A - N - T - S !!!!!!