Football is getting close people!

Every year Hank Williams Jr. asks the same question...

"Are you ready for some FOOTBAAAAAAAAAAAAALL?!?!"

It's kind of a silly question really. One that, I'm sure by now, he knows the answer to. HELL...YES. Pardon my french, but I think that's the only way to describe how millions of men and mainly southern women feel. Whether is college or pro, I'm just ready for my weekends to revolve around this beautiful, majestic game. It's the only event that I would PAY to see 300-pound sweaty men in skin-tight uniforms.

It's weird to me how obsessed American's are about football. It's weird how it is far and away the most popular sport. If you think about it, the NFL is only played on around 43 days out of the year...not including pre-season. That means the other ten and a half months are spent analyzing it. If one year is 100%, then 87.5% of the year we look forward to the other 12.5%. The numbers get even smaller if you just enjoy watching your specific team. If you just follow one team, and they don't make the playoffs...that's 16 days out of the year! There is still 349 other days to get through.

Why do we obsess so much over something that, over the course of the year, takes up soooo little time? I have no f***ing clue, and I don't really care. All I care about is listening to Gus Johnson pop a blood vessel as Kyle Orton throws the game winning touchdown.

All the overexposure to stupid topics like Michael Vick blowing another chance, or Ben Roethlisberger impressing Roger Goodell by signing some freakin autographs gets laid to rest when its time for kick-off. In the off-season I would rather see Helen Thomas in 3-D than see Brett Farve's face all over ESPN. Once football Sundays roll around? I wouldn't miss a Favre game if there was a Golden Girls marathon on Lifetime.

Let do this. Just shut the F up and play some ball. I'm ready. My friends are ready. Gosh darnit, America is ready.

For the last time Hank...YES.

Inception is forever in my brain...

To say that I was excited about Inception is kind of an understatement. Ever since I first saw the teaser trailer and saw Leo's QT-pie face, I knew they had me. To be honest, if I had never seen or heard anything about it (Which is kind of impossible, since they advertised the shiz out of this movie), all anyone would have to say is "hey wanna go see the new Christopher Nolan movie?" Yes please.

Now anyone that knows me knows that I have what psychiatrists might diagnose as a "completely unhealthy obsession" with RottenTomatoes. I have my reasons. Anyway, when I saw that RT (like the abbreviation? I made that up. I swear!!) had Inception at 85%, I was head-over-heels in love with a movie that I hadn't seen yet. From having Leo, to Ellen Page, to Joseph Gordon-Levitt, to that Asian dude from Batman Begins...it is a loaded cast. Throw in a healthy dose of Hans Zimmer's awesome, pulse pounding score, and you have yourself the perfect summer Blockbuster. Julia Childs couldn't have baked a better popcorn flick.

So, I think you get the picture. I was school-girl giddy for this movie.

Let me tell ya, it didn't disappoint. Inception is one of those movies where I felt like if I blinked for too long, I was going to miss a key plot development. It keeps you on your toes, fo sho. What's amazing is as the plot is getting more and more intricate, you never feel like the movie doesn't know where it's going. If Inception is a ship, then Christopher Nolan is the captain. He did a fantastic job steering the ship even as the waters became rougher and rougher.

Everything that you read from this review, has been said before by SOMEONE out there in cyberspace. I feel almost cliche in saying things like "the acting is top-notch" or "Nolan is probably a genius" or "yep, it's official, Ellen Page does kinda have a big forehead."

Either way, I was completely wrapped up in this movie from the second it started, to the final scene. I recommend this movie for anyone who gets tired of movies like Transformers 2. For anyone that gets tired of movies where they clearly cared more about slow-motion walk scenes then...ya know...a plot. There are a lot of people who believe the days of "big budget movies" and "Oscar nominations" in the same sentence are over. It seems like Christopher Nolan is taking that as a personal challenge. God bless him.

So everyone go see this movie. It's been two days since I've seen it, and I CANNOT get it out of my head! There are just so many ways to interpret and analyze this movie. I want to see it again. In fact, I NEED to. It is vital to my well-being. True story.

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.