It’s Saturday, and as you’re reading this, I’m in “lovely” Toledo, OH, either participating in one of two fantasy football drafts (both legacy leagues, one with defensive players), watching some minor league baseball or playing cards. A stop at Casino Windsor is not out of the question, either (I’m a craps/blackjack player… not helping the Asian stereotype there, am I?)
Also, I finished this up on Thursday, so if you’re looking to see what I wrote in response to Brendan’s responding to what I write, you’re SOL. Sorry.
Oh, and how do you like the site’s new look?
Hey, they show hockey on TV
Another reason why the NHL needs to get rid of Bettman
Monday was another example of the NHL’s ability to shoot itself in the foot, as Wayne Gretzky made his return to the ice – as coach of the Phoenix Coyotes – and then Todd Bertuzzi was reinstated 17 months (real time – 20 games hockey time) after making Marty McSorley look like a teddy bear with his blindside attack on Steve Moore. I should also mention that they slipped a small press release of this out on the NHL website while the Great One was having a press conference. Nice try, guys.
Bertuzzi will make $5.2 million (USD) this year, while Steve Moore will probably never play hockey again. Bertuzzi is also a candidate to play on Canada’s 2006 Olympic team, but hopefully the IIHF has better common sense and denies him eligibility to play.
Speaking of hockey…
The Maple Leafs continue to underwhelm me by signing Injured List Specialists Jason Allison and Eric Lindros. The good news is that they’re only signed for one year each. The bad? They might earn their money watching from the press box.
TV-related stuff
The Weekly Singing Competition Commentary
With their favourites Josh and Suzi on the ropes last week, the Canadian Idol judges really went for the hard sell this week, possibly overplaying their hand by basically saying that they want Casey and Darryl gone. And on Wednesday, they really didn’t seem to care that Aaron was Bottom 3. Still, they got their wish, and young Darryl is out of the competition.
So what do I extrapolate from this? The Canadian Idol judges (and perhaps the producers) want a Final Three of Hatboy Rex, The Enigma Josh, and Suzi. Aaron has somehow slipped a few notches in their eyes, and Melissa is making a run at the title by – shock of shocks – improving each time out. And Casey? They don’t care, as long as she doesn’t win.
Next Tuesday, it’s classic rock. Rex and Suzi will be expected to do really well, Aaron will probably sing Skynrd or BTO, Josh looks like he’d be more comfortable singing The Hip, Melissa has got the potential to knock one out of the park, and Casey… Casey probably thinks that Pat Benetar sang “I Love Rock and Roll”.
Over on Rock Star: INXS, the big question seems to be who will be in the Final Three along with Mig and J.D. For me, I think it’d have to be Ty, who I think would mesh well with the band. The women? No chance in hell. I know, I know, stating the obvious there. And Brandon? When INXS had him sing “Don’t Lose Your Head”, it was obvious that he was getting the boot. He had just sung something that was “his style” the day before – why give him another one? And then he forgot the lyrics – if you had doubts before, you didn’t after that.
Dismissed
I hope none of you were watching The Law Firm, as the show has been pulled from NBC and put on Bravo. Thursday’s episode drew just under a 3.0 rating, but the real bad beat came from the 1.4 rating in the Adult 18-49 demographic. That’s just sad, even for a summer reality series.
Second Hell
Meanwhile, Hell’s Kitchen will apparently be back for another season. I have to admit that the show got better towards the end, as the “chefs” that had absolutely no right to be there were eliminated early, and we were left with two finalists for which it made sense to give a restaurant to. So we’ll see if Fox tweaks the format a bit.
Pardon me, but does your monkey bite?
So CBS has a mid-season sitcom called Love Monkey, which stars Tom Cavanagh, Jason Priestly and Judy Greer. Sounds promising with that cast, but then you get to the premise. The show focuses on Cavanagh’s character, who’s single, and his friends, who are married or involved in serious relationships. In other words, it’s The Single Guy, part deux. Be afraid.
Back to School
The “unscripted” series Tommy Lee Goes To College debuts next week, and (for better or for worse) yours truly will be recapping the show for you. I’m very interested in how this show will turn out. Generally, when press releases say that a reality series is “unscripted” it means that there isn’t as much prearranged tasks/drama as, say, Survivor or The Bachelor. Then again, they called The Casino “unscripted”, but that of course had the heavy hand of Burnett guiding it. So we’ll see how this fares.
In case you missed it…
UFC Fight Night I was a mixed bag. Lots of decisive fights, with the most entertaining matches of the night being Leben-Cote and Bonnar-Hoger. Mike “Quick” Swick also impressed with another fast TKO – he’s probably the UFC’s new curtain jerker thanks to his two performances. Quarry-Sell was a clusterf*ck, as the referee stopped the fight way too quickly, and while Quarry was rather cautious in his post-match interview, you can tell he wasn’t really happy with the result. And the main event really failed to deliver, as Ivan Salaverry and Nate Marquardt had a slow, boring fight to end the night. After getting quick tapouts in his last two matches, the UFC was pretty high on Salaverry, but I don’t think they’re going to elevate him now.
Survivor? It hasn’t been cancelled yet?
CBS has their Survivor: Guatemala site up. Nothing fancy yet, just a picture and bios of the 16 (yes, we’re back down to 16) cast members. My early read (which is generally wrong) is that Gary Hogeboom looks to be a favourite to win it all – or to be one of the first three eliminated. Yes he’s a former NFL quarterback – but at a time when players didn’t really make all that much. We’ll see how he does.
And in case you really needed to know…
Hot Chicks:
Brianna Varela, Retail Sales/Make-Up Artist (i.e. she probably works at Macys)
Brooke Struck, Law Student
Danni Boatwright, Sports Radio Talk Show Host
Pretty Boys:
Blake Towsley, Real estate agent/Model
Brandon Bellinger, Farmer/Rancher
Jamie Newton, Water Ski Instructor
And that’s it for this week.
