Thanksgiving Lights

Like a whole mess of other people, I too get tired with how early the Christmas decorations come out. Thanksgiving really gets the short shrift. As I was going through downtown Frisco last night with a friend of mine and saw all of the building lit up, I just commented "I sure do like all of the Thanksgiving Lights they put up this year."

If I can pretend certain stories in the comics I read didn't happen. I can sure as hell make myself believe that the city loves Thanksgiving so much that they put lights up.

Gobble, gobble

Are you co-kidding me?

Well the Dallas Stars continue their descent into hockey irrelevance. No, not by the firing of GM Doug Armstrong, but by naming co-interim GMs of Brett Hull and Les Jackson. As far as I know, there have never been co-general managers of a sports franchise. Was a change needed at the Stars? Sure.

Dallas hasn’t drafted a 20-goal scorer since Brenden Morrow in 1997. The Armstrong managed Stars have only won one playoff series during his tenure. Pretty pathetic. But is now the time to get rid of the general manger? Will a new one put butts in the seats?

The main point though, is the whole co-GM thing. Some spokesman for the Stars was trying to spin it that no team has just one GM they have guys going to the colleges, others to European leagues, etc. So having co-GMs would be fine. No shit. I didn’t think Armstrong was flying to Sweden to find the next big thing. Every team does have people doing all of those other things, but you still need that one singular voice. One person to make the ultimate decision.

Les Jackson has plenty of experience, and maybe the best person for the job. Brett Hull was the Stars “Ambassador of Fun” last season. With no management experience. He very well maybe great at the job, but I would like to him spend at least a season or two learning the job.

As a bonus, if these two can’t come to a mutual decision, owner Tom Hicks will make the final judgment. Splendid.

I see fun in your future.

At the beginning of each and every sport season everyone makes their predictions. Everyone makes them, but no one follows up on them. And no one calls people out the predictions. SI.com NBA writers made their predictions, and I am going to cherry pick some of them to mock them later when they fail, and hey, if they are right. I will be the first to congratulate them. I do want to see some picks that out these guys out on a limb. Here is the link

1. Who will win the NBA finals?

Most of these are pretty boring. Mavs, Spurs, or Celtics everywhere. The only interesting one is Steve Aschburner picking the Suns and Cavaliers in the finals. And there are some people saying the Cavs may not even be in the playoffs this year.

2. Who will be the regular-season MVP?

A bunch of Lebron picks. (yawn) Chris Mannix picks Duncan, and 2 guys take Kevin Garnett. No one really taking a chance

3. What team will be the biggest surprise?

The Bulls? Some have them in the finals. I do like Paul Forrester's taking the Hawks, of course they have been bad for so long I think .500 would be a surprise. Iam Thomsen picked the Knicks, ok, whatever.

4. What team will be the biggest disappointment this?

Skip this. These are all kind of boring

5. What player will break out and become a star?

Mannix picked Bostjan Nachbar, and I will be honest, I have never heard of him. So if he breaks out and becomes a "star" way to go dude. Plus, picking him because he led his team in scoring during the preseason is a bold move. I like Mannix's moxie.

6. Which coach opens on the hottest seat?

Another boring one. Most guys picked the coach of the Hawks. Fine.

7. Who will be the best rookie

Almost a landslide for Kevin Durant. What a shocker. Only Marty Burns has the temerity to pick Luis Scola of the Houston Rockets. I love this pick. Honestly, I would have picked Durant too. I watched most of his games in college and he was awesome.

8. What will be the season's biggest controversy?

For some reason the one that interested me the most was if the NBA can be viable in New Orleans. The All-Star game will be there this year, and Mannix points out that the Hornets left Oklahoma City and all of that money, to go back to New Orleans. A city who didn't support them in the first place. Not really a prediciton, but interesting.

The last two questions are if Kobe will be traded, and if not who will be the biggest name traded. The all pick Jermaine O'Neal.

Hopefully I will remember to come back and check these predictions out.

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I like Mike!

Well, congratulations to Mike Modano for being the new all-time American born point scorer. He earned that mark November 9th. He is also the all-time goal scorer, a mark he earned last season.

Since the Stars have been in Dallas, Modano has been the face of the franchise. It is a lot easier to get the women to go the games when he is playing. For quite a few years he was the number 1 eligible bachelor in the area. But beyond being another pretty face, he has been great on and off the ice.

He has had his ups. Including when the Stars won the Stanley Cup in 1999











And his downs: Being stripped of his captaincy last season. Being demoted to the fourth line this season because of his lack of scoring (and what better way to spark his offense than to put him on the fourth line? That is a post for later). He has taken these hits without much complaint at all.

so, uh, way to go, man....
I ran out of steam.

Pardon me?

Personally, I like Michael Wilbon more than Tony Kornheiser on Pardon the Interruption. There is just one thing that Wilbon has been saying for the past few weeks that has been irritating me. That is "the Cowboys are running their mouths, and haven't won anything." He hasn't said it a bunch of times, but probably 4-5 times the past month or so.

I agree with haven't won anything part. The Cowboys haven't won a playoff game in over a decade. It's the running the the mouth part that bothers me. The sports radio station I listen to is the flagship of the Cowboys. I read and hear damn near everything said about the Cowboys. Even the boring ass Wade Phillips press conferences everyday. I don't hear anyone really running their mouth about how great they are, or going to beat everyone.

The only person who did was Patrick Crayton after the Patriot game saying how if the Patriots made it to the Super Bowl the Cowboys would beat them then. What a shock a wide receiver running his mouth. If Terry Glenn was healthy he would be the fourth option in the passing game. Who gives a crap what he has to say? I don't and I root for the Cowboys.

Outside of that knucklehead I haven't heard anything outrageous being said by anyone on the team, and that includes the blowhard Terrell Owens. I don't know what Michael Wilbon is talking about.

He Hates Batman!!!

Now some might see this sketch and think, "Man, he hates Batman."
Others, "Wow what a Predator fan."
Still others, "What a weirdo."
Well, I neither hate Batman, nor have any great love for Predator. The third you will have to decide on your own.

This tale begins back in the Spring of 2003 when I was at a comic convention talking to local artist Chris Medellin. He had a request to do a sketch of the Predator killing Batman, but he had no reference for ol' Pred. I was helping a friend of mine at a booth, and my friend allowed me to sell some 25 cent comics there. I had about 2 longboxes, and I knew that I had some Predator minis by Dark Horse in there at one point, but I had sold a bunch that day. No one else had any so, I went and looked, lo and behold I still had some and provided the comics. Cool. Chris completed the sketch, and gave me the funny books back.

Flash forward to Wizard World 2006. I am walking through Artist Alley, and see Chris there. He has a new comic out, and I pick it up. He has a few sketches lying on his table, and I flip through them. Out pops the above sketch.
"Oh, man! You still have this? I remember this one." I tell him
"Yeah the sonuvabitch never came back, and I can't get rid of it!" Chris exclaims
"Man that sucks."
"Look, Travis, five bucks and it is yours."
"Sold"
"Seriously, thank you for getting off of my hands."

It only took 3 1/2 years too.

Radio Line of the Week

Nothing has really tickled my fancy in a while, but this week something did

"I wish announcers would quit telling us kick returners and punt returners are 'dangerous' or they can 'fly', because, unless they start putting offensive lineman back there I am going to assume they are fast."

To quote the great Homer Simpson, "It's funny because it's true."

Well...

In retrospect, I think I may have made a mistake by wearing shorts to work today. It barely got out of the 50s, which wouldn't have been bad, if I didn't spend a bunch of time out in our little shoe warehouse.

Somehow I made it though...

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Drinking for sport?

A new report about a beer being better for you after exercising than water.


Beer after sport 'is good for the body' - Telegraph

I find it is even better if I have the beer, and skip the exercise all together.

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Blaze of Glory

One of my favorite westerns is the movie, Once Upon A Time In The West. This was Sergio Leone’s epic masterpiece. Whereas The Good, The Bad and the Ugly is several stories held together by a longer arc, Once is a long narrative. I put them as 1A and 1B as far as how I rate them greatness.

One of the greatest build-ups of tension and suspense is the opening scene with three outlaws waiting for a train. The scene seems drawn out, but is perfectly paced. When the train arrives you hear a lone harmonica playing. As the train pulls away, Charles Bronson is standing there playing the harmonica. There is a brief, but humorous, exchange between Bronson and the creepy Jack Elam. Then Bronson guns the outlaws down.

An interesting story I read is that Leone wanted Lee Van Cleef, Eli Wallach, and Clint Eastwood as the outlaws in the opening sequence. This would have been his final story about “The Man with No Name”. Man, that would have been so cool. What better way to end that story, than to show him in the beginning and having him gunned down before the opening credits roll? Also it is a perfect noir element to introduce to a western. It would have been great. My understanding is that Van Cleef, and Wallach were on board to do it, but Eastwood was still early in his movie career and didn’t want to be tied too closely with one director or genre and declined to do it.

Oh what could have been.