Shallow and Fairly Obvious: May 2010

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

College

While some of the esteemed bloggers are away, this gem hit the AP wire. Sounds like police-student relations are at an all time high, so any reunion in the next month or so should have no problems at all.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Mike Richards

Last night, the Flyers continued their shocking playoff run by winning the Eastern Conference Finals. With a chance to win at home and avoid a potential messy game 6 back in Montreal, Mike Richards singlehandedly won the game with a shorthanded goal and two assists.

Like the Flyers the last few years, Richards is a bit of enigma. On one hand, he plays incredibly hard, checks players much bigger than his size, and is a great penalty killer who has led the league in short handed goals.

On the other hand, he's clearly a scumbag, apparently goes out so much that the Flyers felt compelled to trade some of his teammates/drinking buddies, had a pointless fight of the media this year, and led a divided locker room that helped get a coach fired and led to a generally underachieving regular season.

There's also his bizarrely long 12 year, $69 million contract that he signed in 2007, at the height of the fiscal restraint after the lockout. Perhaps the Flyers wanted to him to be Bobby Clarke a bit too much. Perhaps he was made captain a bit too early when the team tried to turn the corner after the 2007 disaster. Whatever. Just win four more games, Mike, and you can narrate the highlight film wearing a beer dispensing helmet with hookers on each arm.

Monday, May 24, 2010

OK Go

This video is especially impressive considering my 8th grade Rube Goldberg device was about .000000001% as complicated as this. Well played OK Go, well played.

What's The Deal With?

So this video of Chris Klein auditioning for Mama Mia has been making the rounds, and after watching it once it seemed pretty obvious it was a fake, and a pretty good one. But then I read that no one from Klein's camp would discuss the footage, and that Universal had removed the clip from youtube, and then today I saw the actual scene from the movie , and now I don't know what to believe. I could absolutely see the Chris Klein from that audition tape dancing around wearing flippers and doing hand stands, and it's not like the guy they actually cast can sing either. So I pose it to you: what's the deal with Chris Klein's audition tape?

Being a Superstar Ain't Always Easy

The Texas Rangers filed for bankruptcy today. Their largest unsecured creditor? Alex Rodriguez, owed $24.9 million in deferred compensation.

Friday, May 21, 2010

Flyers Forum

And now for what all of the followers of SAFO really care about. The Flyers lost game 3 to the Canadians last night. Not exactly a surprise considering a team down 2-0 in the series generally puts forth a desperate effort, but disappointing nevertheless. And as I sit here nursing the first of several glasses of 2005 Bordeaux, I must admit that beneath my calm exterior I am legitimately worried about the rest of the series for the following two reasons:

1) Chris Pronger looks a) old, b) fatigued, c) injured, or d) all of the above. Take your pick. The man has been a beast for the broad street bullies, but he is now having serious trouble keeping up with the Canadian forwards. All the Flyers looked slow in game 3, but Pronger could hardly move out there. It led to penalties, scoring opportunities, and that horrendous turnover in his own zone. He's been logging 30 minutes a game for the past month and it looks to be wearing on him. Considering the team basically only plays 4 defensemen, color me concerned.

2) Michael Leyton is big and does a good job seeing the puck but he can't control a rebound to save (haha) his life. And that's a problem. I don't care how many stops you pile up, if you can't feed the puck to your defensemen and/or cover it up you create extra chances for the opposition, and some of them will end up in your net. Montreal seems to have figured this out. They are shooting from everywhere and swarming the net for rebounds. Rut Row.

America

While the Maestro is off having his Devil Wears Prada moment, the rest of us will be enjoying the finest culture this country has to offer.

City of Love

I am off to Paris tomorrow afternoon for a quick gettaway from the smut of New York City. For those of you who are uninformed, Paris is the capital and largest city of France. It is situated in the northern part of the country on the Seine river. The Paris metropolitan area has a population of 11.8 million, making it the world's 25th largest city. Paris is one of the thriving European economy's leading business and cultural centers.

French Open Final: Nadal over Federer in 4 sets. Roger is a headcase against Rafa who is healthy and motivated to get his title back. Nadal will work Fed's backhand and roll to victory after dropping the first set.

Euro/Dollar: 1.2557 as of 5/21/2010; I predict it will appreciate to 1.28 by my return (5/27/2010). The US printing press will roar non-stop.

Jerry Manuel's Job: The Yanks and Phils will poop all over the Mets and turn up the heat on Manuel. Clubhouse chemistry is on a steep decline after DWright's benching and Maine's benching after 5 pitches last night.

Manuel will keep his job for now. I don't think the Wilpons will give Minaya the authority to fire Jerry since that pair is destined to leave together. I think they'll stick out the entire season and depart after a 4th place finish in the division. Bobby V anyone?

Phils @ Mets on May 25th: I wonder how many people will show up to Citi Field to watch R.A. Dickey versus Jamie Moyer. 25,000 at best? Yikes.