Jeff Bridges can shred...

So before last night I had not watched a movie in over 3 weeks. Most of the blame can be placed in the hands of Red Dead Redemption.

Gosh what a good game...

Anyway, I started to get a little antsy to watch a movie. If someone had dropped "Battlefield Earth" on my doorstep a couple days ago, I might have watched it. On top of that, I had no advice to give to customers on new movies at Blockbuster. Which, in turn, has lead me to make statements like "Oh yeah, I hear 'Old Dogs' is a laugh-a-minute riot of a movie" to uninformed customers.

Last night I chose to watch "Crazy Heart", and OMG what a good decision that was. It was just an amazing movie. Now, me saying this isn't anything new or earth-shattering. The movie was nominated for 3 Oscars, and won 2 of them. One for Jeff Bridges, and the other for Best Song.

For anyone that doesn't know...the story revolves around Jeff Bridges character "Bad" Blake. A washed-up country singer who used to be the hot ticket, and now plays at Bowling Alleys. He smokes so much that he lights his cigarette with the end of another cigarette he just smoked. Oh and he is an alcoholic, to boot. Quite a guy! He eventually meets this girl, and BOOM he wants to change his life. Not the most original plot. What makes it work is Jeff Bridges.

With a movie like this a lot hinges on how good the music actually is. Thankfully, the music is great. I'm not even a country fan, and I loved it. Bridges plays and sings all the songs himself, and he sounds great. A lot of people have said that "Crazy Heart" was this years '"The Wrestler." I understand the comparison, but to me it is so much better.

I have had more than one customer come into Blockbuster and tell me "'Crazy Heart' sucked, can we exchange it for another movie?" Don't get confused. These are the same kind of people that eagerly anticipate "The Marine 2" to come out. Which, by the way, doesn't even have John Cena in it. Which means that John Cena had to read the script, and say "Wow, even I can't sell-out to a movie this bad."

I give "Crazy Heart" 4 stars, or 2 thumbs up, or whatever you wanna call it. If you're a fan of Jeff Bridges, you need it see this movie. That is all.

Expand? Why not? Everyone is doing it!

OK so if you're a fan of college sports at all, you have no doubt heard of the expansion craze that is sweeping the conferences. Just in case you haven't, let's break this down...

First, The Big 10 was like "Ya know, it really blows that our conference becomes irrelevant after Thanksgiving. Let's be proactive about this!". Then all the college football forums went crazy with rumor after rumor of teams like Rutgers, Notre Dame, Missouri and Syracuse all joining together with the Big 10 to create just a bigger mediocre conference with a conference championship game that Ohio State would win 9 out of 10 times. Soon the New York market teams fizzled out and teams like Nebraska and Texas joined the party. Now, THAT would be a power conference!

(On a side note: I totally understand why the Big 10 would want to ask Texas and Notre Dame, even though there in no way in hell either school would join. It was like in High School when the "slow" kid (The Big 10) that everyone liked and faked laughed at started telling jokes to the super pretty, yet super cool girl (Texas and Notre Dame), that all guys had a crush on. She would fake laugh as well just to be nice, then he asks her to prom and it gets super awkward.)

OK so after Notre Dame and Texas politely declined, that left Nebraska and Missouri as the best options for the Big 10. Now, Missouri by itself doesn't have enough zing to get this baby rolling, we need Nebraska to come to.

Let's just say Mizzou fancies the Big 10 right now. The only argument against joining would be older boosters who want to keep the tradition. Ya know, the tradition of Oklahoma and Texas killing Mizzou every time we play. Just schedule Kansas as a non-conference game (a la Clemson/South Carolina) and everything is pie.

Now personally, I'm all for the move. I mean why not? It would mean more money for Mizzou, the Big 10 has their own network, and Mizzou could get into better bowls. Mizzou-Illinois is already a basketball rivalry that is getting better and better as a football rivalry. By that I mean, Mizzou keeps beating Illinois in football, so it's getting better to me.

This is just the Big 10 talk, mind you. So a lot is going on right now in the college football world. Whether Mizzou moves or not, it excites me that all this "expansion" talk is going on. I hope someone moves, and this isn't all a tease...

The NBA Finals baby!

So it seems fitting that my first blog be about my first sports love. That would be the NBA, more specifically the Chicago Bulls. Even more specific is Michael Jordan, but that is getting TOO specific for now.

Yes the NBA. Where amazing happens, or so Kanye says. Of all the sports that I have watched in my life, the NBA surely has to be numero uno. On a side note, I love how in my blog I can put whatever I want, and this isn't something that will be turned in. Like...my biggest man-crush besides Dr. Glover is Kobe Bryant.

OK where am I going with this? Waaaaaay off topic right now.

So...as most everyone (even non-sports fans) knows...the NBA Finals have started. Let me tell ya...it makes me giddy (Too many ellipsis so far? Too bad...deal with it). A finals match-up that we have this year is why I love sports to begin with. The two teams with the most history in the league matching up again. In 2008 it was all about the nostalgia feeling older dudes had to see the Lakers and Celtics play against each other for all the marbles. This time around...there is some genuine dislike between the two teams. I won't say hate...yet.

I was uber afraid before the series began that this would play out much like the '08 Finals did. With the Lakers having the best player, but the Celtics having the better, tougher team. Much to my surprise, in Game 1 the Lakers were tougher, Kobe still played great, and Kevin Garnett was actually softer than a European player. I know injuries played a huge part in that, but I'll take it.

I predict that Game 2 will be much closer. The Celtics will take Paul Pierce's lead from Game 1, and be much more aggressive. Bill Simmons keeps saying that Kobe needs to be knocked on his A-Team when he drives to the hole. However, if you know anything about Kobe's history...he always finishes when he gets close to the hole. OK just kidding...kinda.

My final prediction for Game 2? Lakers edge the Celtics 98-95. I probably just jinxed them.