I've never understood the appeal of some bands, and the one I've understood the least is Europe. They burst onto the music scene officially in late 1985 when I'd heard a couple of songs being played on the radio, and I have to say it was bland and totally awful. But then again, a lot of the hair metal being played at that time was truly horrible. I bet if Bon Jovi had to think about it all over again, he might not have the teased hair and some of the crappy songs, but I digress.
Europe was a true hair band, with big poofy hair styles and attempted big crunchy guitars. But they added the most unmetal of instruments, the keyboard, which only added to their unique musical stylings. No other respecting hair metal band would be caught dead with a piano or keyboard at that time, but somehow Europe threw them in and gave them room to breathe. And then their album in 1986, The Final Countdown, caught fire and was gaining some airplay and strength in sales.
They followed the lead of another great band, Big Country, in releasing a song that was the same as the album title, but they avoided the trifecta of song, album and band name that fueled Big Country. Their song, the Final Countdown, starts with a cheesy synthesizer riff that either wakes you from slumber or makes you run in horror. The song then breaks into a big drum/guitar explosion with some lyrics and then the chorus of "It's the Final Countdown" with the same synthisizer riff and the chorus sung over and over. It's pure cheese, but like with many other cheesy pop songs, it's addicting.
girl has it as a ring tone on her phone, and I hear it in the radio now and then and I find myself bopping along to it in shame. The song is truly one of the worst things about 80's music - bland, loud, inoffensive, big hair, cheesy lyrics - but it has one of the best things about pop music is that it's catchy. I can't explain why some bands get popular and some don't, so I can't explain how Europe managed to gain success, but it must have been the synthezier. I'm amazed that you still hear people doing other versions of it, and yes, I even hear it at sporting events.
I'd love to hear comments about cheesy songs you love to listen to but secretly hate, and enjoy the links to a couple of versions of the Final Countdown. Wait, it's trapped in my head now. Crap...ok, talk to you all soon.
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1778190/context/school_videos:udel - Air Version
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1793051 - Cello Version (yea, it's pretty cool)
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Chemistry
Ok, I promised that I would deal with Europe, but I had been thinking about the Trail Blazers all day after the experience last night. While the game antics had some issue, overall, I haven't been as excited about basketball in years.
I first moved to Portland in 1989, and the team had just secured Buck Williams as their starting forward, and the remaining pieces from good Trail Blazer teams in the 80's were here (Kersey, Drexler, Porter, Duckworth) plus a newly drafted Cliff Robinson. While the team was expected to do well, I got indoctrinated into Blazer Mania immediately as the team went all the way to the NBA Finals. While the team had talent on the floor, there was a passion and flair with which they played that impressed me.
Chemistry is a hard term to define, but to me, it means not only having talent and drive but you also care about your fellow teammates and are willing to do things to make them better. Chemistry also means taking this attitude to everyone you meet and everything you do. The Trail Blazers of the early 90's exemplified that with a long playoff run in 91 and another Finals run in 92. The team still had some successes in subsequent seasons, but the trouble started with firing Rick Adelman as coach. Most of the players were traded away from this era, and the team under new management started to rebuild. The final nail was Drexler being traded away to Houston and finally getting his championship ring with the Rockets.
The Trail Blazers were assembling a very talented team, but it became apparent that things were different in dealing with the fans and media. The team became distant and harder to understand, and the management moved to Seattle and remotely managed the team under the utmost secrecy. But the funny thing was the team was still winning, so many of the danger signs weren't apparent because winning will make people overlook stuff.
When the team made other playoff runs in 2000 and 2001, it brought back the Blazer Mania passion of the city until a fourth quarter against our hated rivals the Lakers. Instead of bringing the team back as a whole, there was more roster tinkering which led to harsh words and bad attitude. Over the next few years, the team imploded with malcontents, problems with the law, drug arrests, and the things labeling the team the Jail Blazers.
New management wanted to turn the corner, but it wasn't until the new coach Nate McMillian and new GM Kevin Pritchard were on board that you saw huge changes. They wanted to build a team that was bigger than themselves, and hearken back to the old Trail Blazer days of the 70s and 80s, and they set up a plan to build a team of solid talented guys who wanted to be part of something bigger and give back to the team and the town. And their plan couldn't have worked any better.
The parallels to old glory teams is apparent, as the core guys Aldridge, Roy, Blake, Webster, Frye, Pryzbilla, Sergio, Jarrett, Jones, and Outlaw have come together amazingly. The youngest team in the NBA has a 13 game winning streak to their credit, and currently own a 12 game home winning streak, doing it completely under the radar from most fans. But in hearing more about the team, you hear about their talent but also the community events, interaction with fans, and the genuine care they have for each other. This team loves playing basketball with each other, and the results show on the court. Like any fan, it's frustrating when they don't play to their potential, but right now, I wouldn't trade this team for anything.
The Portland Timbers, my other team I love, went through a similar renaissance this year after a dismal 2006 season with a coach who lacked direction and a team that struggled to find its chemistry. A new coach came in, players started believing in themselves and each other, and the results led to an undefeated home record. While chemistry in school wasn't one of my better subject, I love watching great chemistry unfold on the court and the field. Here's to 2008, where the playoffs aren't just a goal for the Timbers and Trail Blazers, but a reality..
Postscript -
I first moved to Portland in 1989, and the team had just secured Buck Williams as their starting forward, and the remaining pieces from good Trail Blazer teams in the 80's were here (Kersey, Drexler, Porter, Duckworth) plus a newly drafted Cliff Robinson. While the team was expected to do well, I got indoctrinated into Blazer Mania immediately as the team went all the way to the NBA Finals. While the team had talent on the floor, there was a passion and flair with which they played that impressed me.
Chemistry is a hard term to define, but to me, it means not only having talent and drive but you also care about your fellow teammates and are willing to do things to make them better. Chemistry also means taking this attitude to everyone you meet and everything you do. The Trail Blazers of the early 90's exemplified that with a long playoff run in 91 and another Finals run in 92. The team still had some successes in subsequent seasons, but the trouble started with firing Rick Adelman as coach. Most of the players were traded away from this era, and the team under new management started to rebuild. The final nail was Drexler being traded away to Houston and finally getting his championship ring with the Rockets.
The Trail Blazers were assembling a very talented team, but it became apparent that things were different in dealing with the fans and media. The team became distant and harder to understand, and the management moved to Seattle and remotely managed the team under the utmost secrecy. But the funny thing was the team was still winning, so many of the danger signs weren't apparent because winning will make people overlook stuff.
When the team made other playoff runs in 2000 and 2001, it brought back the Blazer Mania passion of the city until a fourth quarter against our hated rivals the Lakers. Instead of bringing the team back as a whole, there was more roster tinkering which led to harsh words and bad attitude. Over the next few years, the team imploded with malcontents, problems with the law, drug arrests, and the things labeling the team the Jail Blazers.
New management wanted to turn the corner, but it wasn't until the new coach Nate McMillian and new GM Kevin Pritchard were on board that you saw huge changes. They wanted to build a team that was bigger than themselves, and hearken back to the old Trail Blazer days of the 70s and 80s, and they set up a plan to build a team of solid talented guys who wanted to be part of something bigger and give back to the team and the town. And their plan couldn't have worked any better.
The parallels to old glory teams is apparent, as the core guys Aldridge, Roy, Blake, Webster, Frye, Pryzbilla, Sergio, Jarrett, Jones, and Outlaw have come together amazingly. The youngest team in the NBA has a 13 game winning streak to their credit, and currently own a 12 game home winning streak, doing it completely under the radar from most fans. But in hearing more about the team, you hear about their talent but also the community events, interaction with fans, and the genuine care they have for each other. This team loves playing basketball with each other, and the results show on the court. Like any fan, it's frustrating when they don't play to their potential, but right now, I wouldn't trade this team for anything.
The Portland Timbers, my other team I love, went through a similar renaissance this year after a dismal 2006 season with a coach who lacked direction and a team that struggled to find its chemistry. A new coach came in, players started believing in themselves and each other, and the results led to an undefeated home record. While chemistry in school wasn't one of my better subject, I love watching great chemistry unfold on the court and the field. Here's to 2008, where the playoffs aren't just a goal for the Timbers and Trail Blazers, but a reality..
Postscript -
- I read my post about Blaze yesterday and the kid's interaction and realized that I significantly downplayed the kid's action. The tail tugging in the fourth quarter was an attempt to spin him around by his tail not once, not twice, but three times. I'm all for mascots getting ribbed a bit and poked/prodded, but I draw the line at attempting to harm them. I must be getting soft in my older age.
- As of today, the Trail Blazers are in first place in the Northwest division. They haven't been in first place in any division for 7 years, so this is huge. Yes, they are going on a 7 game almost 2 week road trip starting on Sunday in Toronto, but right now I don't care. My team is in first place.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Random Observation From A Trail Blazer Game
I had planned on my next blog being about the phenomenon that is The Final Countdown by Europe. I fail to understand how such a cheesetacular supposed metal song has such a long shelf life after all these year. Europe was a terrible hair metal band and the rest of the album is horrible, but when you hear the opening instrumental bars, I rarely see it fail to cause people to hum or sing along. But I digress, because while I'd like to give this full attention, I was pleasantly amused, irritated and entertained by tonight's Trail Blazer game versus the Golden State Warriors.
The Trail Blazers won the game 109 to 91, but that was one of many details of tonight's game, as girl and I decided to spontaneously attend the final home game for a while.
The Trail Blazers won the game 109 to 91, but that was one of many details of tonight's game, as girl and I decided to spontaneously attend the final home game for a while.
- We made it into the arena at 6:05 after picking up our tickets at Will Call. It never ceases to amaze me that the line for the toilets near Will Call is longer than the actual ticket pick up line, but people get confused just the same as to what line goes where. I suppose the picture of a toilet next to the restroom door isn't clear enough.
- We immediately headed to Subway for the best $9 sandwich in the place, not to be confused with the $9 sandwich from the 76 Deli which you can only qualify as a sandwich because it has bread and a piece of lettuce. The gal in front of us had a full glass of wine while waiting to order, and by the time she made it to the front, the wine was just about gone. Unfortunately, that was only about 5 minutes that had passed. I mean, I like my booze, but not that much.
- I normally don't sit in the lower bowl for Trail Blazer games, so it's nice to change it up a bit. The view of the court is better, you get the noise makers which can be fun or annoying, and there's plenty of concessionaires about. What isn't very good is that the bathrooms are smaller, and for whatever reason, in terrible shape most of the time. I suppose it's hard keeping up with the cleanliness when 20,000 people show up for a game, but tonight I was horrified at the mess in there. girl said the ladies' restroom was in about the same shape.
- Just before the tip off, a lady was going to her seat in section 117 with a large drink and nachos. She was welcomed to the section by an usher, who was then asked to escort her nachos to her seat with her. She had an open hand, but apparently, the cheese needed supervision. She and the nachos made it down to the seat, but then she proceeded to ask the usher to put them on the seat next to her. He politely pointed out that a person might actually be sitting here at some point, but complied with the request. She left the nachos alone for at least 5 minutes, and girl and I soon became fascinated with which person would displace the nachos. At tip off, the food still had one of the best seats in the house, although she ate a few chips. About 15 minutes into the game, it appeared a nacho disaster occurred because she scurried to clean up something with a drink tray, and I'm thinking what poor sap is going to have to sit next to this mess. Thankfully, the seat went unclaimed.
- I like kids a lot, but there was a young lad that I was extremely disappointed in tonight, as he decided that Blaze, the team mascot, needed to be tortured for the night. During the first quarter as Blaze walked by his seat, the kid reached out and grabbed at his ear a few times. Blaze quickly exited without incident, but the real travesty was in the fourth quarter while Blaze was leading the crowd in cheers, the kid left his seat and proceeded to grab Blaze's tail and try to pull on it hard. Not once, not twice but three times. The kid's parents, in a show of complete awareness of their kid's action, encouraged the kid to torment the mascot. While I wasn't close enough to stop the action, I'm disappointed that any parent would find messing with a mascot that was only trying to do his job funny, and encourage their child to do more damage. The final straw was watching the same kid collect 20 or so noise makers for the road. I hope the parents get kept up all night.
- I did have respect for Don Nelson as a coach, as his teams usually play hard and don't play dirty. But that was until Monta Ellis "accidentally" hit Steve Blake from behind, causing him to leave the game with a calf injury. They may claim incidental contact, but Blake was turned toward our basket toward the top of the key and Ellis could have safely went around Blake to get into the play or grab the rebound, but instead he went through Blake and close to his knee from behind. Way to show some class while your team is getting drilled by 20.
- Although we won, played well for some stretches and won by 18, we never completely knocked Golden State out to the point where they conceded, even though they got no closer than 8 points to us all game. I know this team is a playoff contender and will make some noise in the postseason, but sometimes the youngness of the team worries me. When we have a chance to bury a team, we don't always take it to the next level. I'm sure that Nate will talk with the team about that later tonight.
- Chalupah coupons are great, but I personally hate when it gets to 98 or so points and the chalupah chants start. I did love being able to chant "you only stand for t-shirts" during the free t-shirt launch, which they advertised free stuff at least 3 or 4 times before things went flying into the crowd. Apparently repetition is important in advertising.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
So Far, So Good
It's been one week officially without my beard, and my face isn't driving me crazy that much. I had gotten used to so much hair on my face, I had hardly noticed that I have dimples when I smile big and I have a cleft chin. Funny what you find out when you actually have face to look at. I've been reading my friend Obi's blog about weight loss, and he's impressing me quite a bit with his efforts. I know that during the past few weeks, I haven't been to the gym as much as I'd like, but we've been busy around here just the same.
It's funny because moving into a house with other people is bound to bring challenges and issues, especially when one of the people living in the house is your future wife. We both had to get used to each other's crazy idiosyncrasies, just like any couple moving in together, but we added some degree of difficulty with her mom and brother still being in the house, too. I have to say it's been truly amazing, and I get along with everyone really well. And most of the time, the house doesn't look like a dust tornado ran through it. But making sure stuff gets done sometimes is hard, because there is the assumption that someone else will do it. Not a good habit to get into, because we are all busy here with jobs, outside activities, and other stuff. Oh, and add in seven cats to the mix, and you get a full household.
Living with seven cats you'd think would be a challenge, but it's not as long as you remember a few rules, (1) know when dinner time is (2) pay attention to them as much as possible (3) clean up the litter box. Cats have different personalities, much like humans. Lucy screams at you around dinner time, but loves to be petted and eats potato chips. Daisy loves any sort of sports balls, and will chase the laser pointer as much as possible and will eat about anything. Pilot loves the bathroom, and will try to tackle your leg while you walk by. Bruts loves to sleep, but he's a bit scared of new people. Moya just loves to be on your lap, as long as Spot isn't there first. And then there's Plabo, the leader of the group who basically runs the place and we all just try not to get into the way. I used to live with pets growing up, but it's been a while since I've had to deal with being woken up early for food, having cat toys fly at you, having your shoes smell like pee, or having feline help in tying your shoes. But I love cats because deep down, they give unconditional love as long as you respect them and take care of them. Whenever I've had a crappy day at work or just feeling a bit blue, I know one of them will find me and purr while I pet them and show me that it's all OK.
With a wedding coming up in a few months, I need all the quietness that I can, and so far, so good there. It's great to be part of something that is bigger than you, even if some of the family members can't talk and shed on the furniture.
Postscript - The Trail Blazers won again last night over Utah, winning their 16th game of 17 and are now 21 and 13. It's amazing to watch this collective group come together and play well, when there isn't really a superstar amongst them. There's great players (Roy, Aldridge, Outlaw), and a collection of talented guys that fill in the gaps and provide support for everyone. When Roy was out of most of Saturday's game, Webster scored 24 points in the third quarter, and the Blazers held off Utah in the end. The attention is starting to come, with recent articles in SI and ESPN about the Trail Blazers, Paul Allen, and just how this team is winning. It's not that big of a secret, but it's hard to put the plan into place - get good solid citizen guys who are talented, and get them a leader that preaches success starts with supporting the team. It's great to see Rip City back in town, and I can't wait to see what the future holds for this bunch.
It's funny because moving into a house with other people is bound to bring challenges and issues, especially when one of the people living in the house is your future wife. We both had to get used to each other's crazy idiosyncrasies, just like any couple moving in together, but we added some degree of difficulty with her mom and brother still being in the house, too. I have to say it's been truly amazing, and I get along with everyone really well. And most of the time, the house doesn't look like a dust tornado ran through it. But making sure stuff gets done sometimes is hard, because there is the assumption that someone else will do it. Not a good habit to get into, because we are all busy here with jobs, outside activities, and other stuff. Oh, and add in seven cats to the mix, and you get a full household.
Living with seven cats you'd think would be a challenge, but it's not as long as you remember a few rules, (1) know when dinner time is (2) pay attention to them as much as possible (3) clean up the litter box. Cats have different personalities, much like humans. Lucy screams at you around dinner time, but loves to be petted and eats potato chips. Daisy loves any sort of sports balls, and will chase the laser pointer as much as possible and will eat about anything. Pilot loves the bathroom, and will try to tackle your leg while you walk by. Bruts loves to sleep, but he's a bit scared of new people. Moya just loves to be on your lap, as long as Spot isn't there first. And then there's Plabo, the leader of the group who basically runs the place and we all just try not to get into the way. I used to live with pets growing up, but it's been a while since I've had to deal with being woken up early for food, having cat toys fly at you, having your shoes smell like pee, or having feline help in tying your shoes. But I love cats because deep down, they give unconditional love as long as you respect them and take care of them. Whenever I've had a crappy day at work or just feeling a bit blue, I know one of them will find me and purr while I pet them and show me that it's all OK.
With a wedding coming up in a few months, I need all the quietness that I can, and so far, so good there. It's great to be part of something that is bigger than you, even if some of the family members can't talk and shed on the furniture.
Postscript - The Trail Blazers won again last night over Utah, winning their 16th game of 17 and are now 21 and 13. It's amazing to watch this collective group come together and play well, when there isn't really a superstar amongst them. There's great players (Roy, Aldridge, Outlaw), and a collection of talented guys that fill in the gaps and provide support for everyone. When Roy was out of most of Saturday's game, Webster scored 24 points in the third quarter, and the Blazers held off Utah in the end. The attention is starting to come, with recent articles in SI and ESPN about the Trail Blazers, Paul Allen, and just how this team is winning. It's not that big of a secret, but it's hard to put the plan into place - get good solid citizen guys who are talented, and get them a leader that preaches success starts with supporting the team. It's great to see Rip City back in town, and I can't wait to see what the future holds for this bunch.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
It's Been A Rather Fun Start to the New Year..
Well, 2008 has gotten off to a crazy start so far. We had a small gathering of folks here for New Year's Eve, mostly Row N folks and a few other TA folks as well as some of my friends from the bank showed up. The party was an open house format, with the first few hours being family friendly and alcohol free, but then after 8 pm, we opened up the bar and let loose. I don't have any problem with family friendly events, and for the most part, the kids yesterday were very well behaved. Some of the families were a bit scared off by the 8 pm bar opening, but our invite was pretty clear that the first hours were going to be quiet but then notched up a bit. The last guest left at 2 AM which left a few hours for girl and I to clean up. We passed out about 4:30 AM or so, and slept most of the day.
But something of a big event occured earlier on Sunday, as I shaved off my goatee and am now clean shaven. This hasn't happened for at least 10 years, as I've had some form of beard on my face. It started with the movie Clerks, and the character Dante who had a goatee and I thought it looked cool. So I grew one, and have kept it until Sunday.
At first, it was itchy but I thought the facial hair was cool and I wasn't dating anyone at the time. However, my mom hated it. My mom never hated much of anything, except the beard, so I had to listen to her object through many a visit why I grew such an ugly beard. She eventually grew to like it because my friends and sister actually thought it was pretty cool. But admittedly, I was told by many of my dating prospects that the beard was a nice touch because my smile wasn't very good and it covered that up. Not exactly the nicest thing to share with someone, but since self confidence wasn't something I had much of at times in my life, I went along with it.
Then many years later, I met girl and she grew to love me but admitted on many occassions she didn't like facial hair but knew it was me so she didn't mind. But my beard was getting more filled with white and grey hairs, and at points, it felt like 200 grain sandpaper and there were points I was scratching her face pretty bad. She had never seen me without my beard, and it had been a while since I was clean shaven, so on Sunday I took the plunge.
This wasn't something I just did because she asked, but it was more of me realizing the beard was nice, but it was also a bit of a crutch to hide what I thought was a bad feature. I had even admitted to many friends for years that the goatee was a way to hide my face, and hadn't put that all together until Sunday. I have to admit that while my face is still a bit dry and not used to being without hair, it's been a nice change of pace. I can always grow it back at some point, but now that it's not there, I find myself smiling a bit more. Plus, I think I look a bit younger without all the grey hairs on my face, too. While my age isn't something I concern myself with that much, I do want to look good for girl because I want her to feel special when she's with me. Yea, even after all these years, I'm still smitten with her. Not a bad realization to start 2008..
But something of a big event occured earlier on Sunday, as I shaved off my goatee and am now clean shaven. This hasn't happened for at least 10 years, as I've had some form of beard on my face. It started with the movie Clerks, and the character Dante who had a goatee and I thought it looked cool. So I grew one, and have kept it until Sunday.
At first, it was itchy but I thought the facial hair was cool and I wasn't dating anyone at the time. However, my mom hated it. My mom never hated much of anything, except the beard, so I had to listen to her object through many a visit why I grew such an ugly beard. She eventually grew to like it because my friends and sister actually thought it was pretty cool. But admittedly, I was told by many of my dating prospects that the beard was a nice touch because my smile wasn't very good and it covered that up. Not exactly the nicest thing to share with someone, but since self confidence wasn't something I had much of at times in my life, I went along with it.
Then many years later, I met girl and she grew to love me but admitted on many occassions she didn't like facial hair but knew it was me so she didn't mind. But my beard was getting more filled with white and grey hairs, and at points, it felt like 200 grain sandpaper and there were points I was scratching her face pretty bad. She had never seen me without my beard, and it had been a while since I was clean shaven, so on Sunday I took the plunge.
This wasn't something I just did because she asked, but it was more of me realizing the beard was nice, but it was also a bit of a crutch to hide what I thought was a bad feature. I had even admitted to many friends for years that the goatee was a way to hide my face, and hadn't put that all together until Sunday. I have to admit that while my face is still a bit dry and not used to being without hair, it's been a nice change of pace. I can always grow it back at some point, but now that it's not there, I find myself smiling a bit more. Plus, I think I look a bit younger without all the grey hairs on my face, too. While my age isn't something I concern myself with that much, I do want to look good for girl because I want her to feel special when she's with me. Yea, even after all these years, I'm still smitten with her. Not a bad realization to start 2008..
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