Escape from Revis Island

As promised, it's time to talk about the upcoming NFL season. I have done my customary picking for fantasy football and believe I have put together a decent team. Of course, I don't do traditional fantasy football (maybe I might decide to jump in before the season starts), but instead I do salary-cap football. If you're not familiar with that, you get $100 million and you spend it on putting together the best team possible. I get a quarterback, 2 running backs, 2 wide receivers, a tight end, a kicker, and a defense. Each week, the value of my players rises or falls depending on how they did in their games. If the value falls, I can reset the player's salary to the lower amount, freeing up a couple mill to buy a better player. It's kinda like the stock market, only I do a lot better with salary cap football than I have done with the actual stock market. I usually start slow, buy the right players, and finish strong.

Anyway, we're at the point now where I can pretty much make predictions on the season. Yeah, there's one week of preseason to go, but teams usually play only the scrubs in the last preseason games (and if that's not an argument for shortening the preseason, I don't know what is), so we're not gonna get any new info on players before the season starts unless there's a freak injury in practice. Or a holdout finally signs and reports to the team... like Darrelle Revis.

And on that note, I may as well start with the New York Jets because not only are they the team I follow, but they also are the ones grabbing most of the non-Brett Favre headlines this preseason. They're all over your TV screen on HBO's "Hard Knocks", with Head Coach Rex Ryan speaking his (bleep)ing mind about every (bleep)ing thing with no (bleep)ing apologies. Ryan has swagger, gives his team swagger, and has them believing they will truly win the Super Bowl this year, Revis or no Revis. This is like the Mets in 1986, with Rex Ryan in the role of Davey Johnson, telling his team, "We're not just gonna win, we're gonna dominate." However, their best defensive player, Revis, is holding out for best-in-the-league money, and there is no sign from anyone that he's going to sign anytime soon. Owner Woody Johnson caused a stir when he said he doesn't think Revis will play this season, Ryan is preparing for life without him (as well as star linebacker Calvin Pace), but since they're not talking about it, the stars of Cortland wound up being guys like "Terminator" John Conner, a backup fullback, and Antonio Cromartie, the other starting cornerback, who has apparently fathered more children than Evander Holyfield.

But America is lapping it up, and HBO must be loving it, because they have a team with storylines people want to watch. The first year of "Hard Knocks" featured the Dallas Cowboys, so nobody outside of Dallas cared, and the only storyline was whether or not T.O. would go off on Romo. Last year, it was the Cincinnati Bengals, so the only storyline was whether or not any more members of the team would land in jail before the season started. This year, the Jets and their coach made themselves the story and made themselves likable and worth watching... unless of course you're a Patriots or Dolphins fan.

So... will the Jets actually win the AFC East? It's hard to pick against New England because they win the division every year, but I'm gonna let my homer-ness win out here. The Jets win the East, the Patriots and Tom Brady with his Justin Bieber haircut get a wild-card. Miami still needs time to gel offensively, and the Buffalo Bills are going nowhere fast... except maybe to Toronto. Or C.J. Spiller could prove to be the second coming, but even so he's not enough to overcome subpar talent everywhere else.

The AFC North will be decided by how good the Pittsburgh Steelers do without Ben Roethlisberger, who is suspended for 4-6 games due to his offseason co-ed shenanigans. If they go 4-2 or better without him, they're a lock. If they go 3-3, they're in good shape. If they go into the toilet, they might not even make the playoffs. I'll go even money on this and say they go 3-3... which will tie them for the division title at the end with Cincinnati. Carson Palmer is believed to be due for a comeback season, and if T.O. doesn't throw a hissy-fit every time Chad Ochocinco catches a touchdown pass, the Bengals will be alright. Baltimore has a stout defense as always, and Joe Flacco is really coming into his own, but the lack of a running game concerns me. I think they fall short of the playoffs this time. Cleveland has a new coach, new QBs, and no hope.

The AFC South is the Colts' division to lose. They will take the division unless Peyton Manning starts to age rapidly. Tennessee is good for a run with Vince Young at QB, but can he win enough games all season and not just at the end of the regular season when the Titans are out of contention? Chris Johnson will have to prove he is not a one-year wonder. Houston fell just shy of their first playoff berth last year, and they are a young team that will only get better, so they'll be in the wild-card mix with the Titans. Jacksonville is in a tough situation. Their fans don't come to the games anymore, they have heart but don't seem to have enough to threaten in a tough division like the South... and it doesn't look like that will change anytime soon.

Over in the AFC West, Denver has a 3-headed QB nightmare scenario in the making. Kyle Orton is a decent enough signal-caller, but the paying crowds will want to see Tim Tebow, and Brady Quinn is no slouch either, just not good enough to hang on in Cleveland. I can't see this ending well for anyone involved. San Diego is your favorite in the West; that offense is just too good with Philip Rivers, Darren Sproles, Vincent Jackson (when he returns from suspension), and Antonio Gates. They're always a threat to make the Super Bowl, but the team's collective playoff misery combined with that of coach Norv Turner makes you hesitant to count on them come January. Kansas City has had a year to get things together with Matt Cassel at QB, so they should be improved, but well off the pace in the division. Oakland could either improve a lot with Jason Campbell in charge, or he could just be another failed import for an organization that can't get out of its own way. I say the latter.

As for the NFC, I start in Philadelphia because I live here, and the biggest story in town is will Kevin Kolb reward the fans who spat on Donovan McNabb for 11 years by proving that he's a better QB than McNabb ever was? Uh, no. Not even close, in fact, at least based on his preseason performance that saw him lead the Eagles offense to a grand total of ZERO touchdowns. Their only two first-half TDs in the preseason to date came with Michael Vick getting the snaps. So you already have a good portion of Eagles Nation calling for Vick to be the starter, but mostly PhillyFan is torn between dismissing it as just the preseason or already labeling Kolb a dismal failure. He won't be a failure but he won't be the Messiah either. 8-8 at best for the Eagles, no playoffs, and Andy Reid probably loses his job after 12 years, as fans throw him under the bus right behind McNabb.

It'll be either Dallas or the Giants atop the NFC East this year, and a bounce-back season is expected for Big Blue. They have too much talent to repeat last year's subpar showing (and if they do repeat it, Tom Coughlin will likely join Reid on the coaching unemployment line). I see them winning the East, because Dallas, despite their solid defense, just seems like all hype and no substance. Have been for years. Tony Romo finally had a decent December and won a playoff game, and you want to believe that with rookie wideout Dez Bryant in tow, they'll put it all together, but I need to see it to believe it. When I think of Romo, I think of failure. So Dallas will fall short... and instead of Coughlin getting whacked, Wade Phillips may get the boot. So I'm basically saying that 2 NFC East coaches will lose their jobs after this season. Since it's Mike Shanahan's first season coaching the Redskins, he's in no danger of losing his job (although with Daniel Snyder, you never know). The transplanted McNabb is already banged up, which makes you wonder how far he can still take a team, but when you think about it, he's got a veteran back (Clinton Portis), a good tight end (Chris Cooley), and some talent but not much at receiver. That's what he had with the Eagles more often than not.

The NFC North is a toss-up between Brett Favre present (Minnesota) and Brett Favre past (Green Bay). Aaron Rodgers is going to be the first pick in a lot of fantasy drafts, and the Packer offense is insanely good. The Vikings' offense is good too... when Favre's not flipping out because he's not throwing enough... while Adrian Peterson becomes the most underused star running back in football. But #4 keeps coming back because we deserve him, so he says, but he's just not going to get that brass ring he's looking for in another Super Bowl title. I picked the Pack over the Vikes last year and I was wrong, but I'm not afraid to try it again. Chicago is a middle-of-the-pack team until Jay Cutler truly becomes the star QB he's supposed to be. Detroit actually has reason to be optimistic this year with an improving Matthew Stafford backed by great rookies on offense (Jahvid Best) and defense (Ndamukong Suh). Of course, optimism in Detroit is the feeling you can win 5 games.

New Orleans is the toast of the NFL world after winning the Super Bowl last year, but they've kinda been buried in Jets hype, Favre drama, and all the other subplots of the preseason. Is it possible that a defending champion could come from out of nowhere to win it again? Well, the Saints will win the NFC South, that's for sure. They're better than Atlanta, despite the fact that the Falcons do have a solid team. Carolina won't be a factor until Jimmy Clausen comes into his own at quarterback and they adequately replace Julius Peppers on defense. Tampa Bay has much rebuilding to do.

Finally, the San Francisco 49ers are the trendy pick to win the NFC West. They have a fired-up coach in Mike Singletary who may well be the NFC's answer to Rex Ryan. Since they play out west, we don't know much about the team besides Frank Gore and Vernon Davis. Losing Michael Crabtree to injury will hurt (although they played without him for most of last year because of his holdout), but they have a better chance to win the division than before, because Arizona said goodbye to the retiring Kurt Warner and may not have found an adequate replacement. Their defense is still shaky and their hold on the Worst Division in Football was never as iron-clad last year as you'd expect from a team returning everyone from a Super Bowl run the year before. Seattle is pretty much starting over with new coach Pete Carroll, so they'll need at least a year to get things together. St. Louis is in the same boat with new QB Sam Bradford.

So here (with predicted records) are my 2010 picks... playoff teams get an A-Rod style *:

AFC East: NY Jets 12-4*, New England 10-6*, Miami 7-9, Buffalo 3-13
AFC North: Pittsburgh 10-6*, Cincinnati 10-6, Baltimore 9-7, Cleveland 3-13
AFC South: Indianapolis 12-4*, Houston 10-6*, Tennessee 9-7, Jacksonville 4-12
AFC West: San Diego 13-3*, Denver 8-8, Kansas City 5-11, Oakland 2-14

NFC East: NY Giants 11-5*, Dallas 10-6, Washington 8-8, Philadelphia 7-9
NFC North: Green Bay 12-4*, Minnesota 11-5*, Chicago 7-9, Detroit 5-11
NFC South: New Orleans 13-3*, Atlanta 11-5*, Carolina 5-11, Tampa Bay 4-12
NFC West: San Francisco 10-6*, Arizona 8-8, Seattle 4-12, St. Louis 2-14

Super Bowl: Depends... if Revis ends his holdout and plays this year, it's NY Jets vs. New Orleans. If he doesn't, it's San Diego vs. New Orleans... first one to 50 wins.

I'm Retiring From Football Picks... No, Wait, I'm Not

Another football season approaches, and now that we’ve gotten the obligatory Brett Favre nonsense out of the way, we can all take an objective look at what will happen in football this year. Until someone important gets injured, of course. After taking part in numerous fantasy football leagues these last few years, I can tell you that dabbling in the fantasy realm is a lot like making predictions for the whole season. If something goes wrong like an injury, team scandal, arrest, holdout, anything like that, you’re screwed. Of course, in fantasy, you can grab someone off the waiver wire and maybe save your season.

We’ll start with the college scene because that starts first, a week from Saturday in fact. There are two schools of thought when it comes to this year’s Syracuse Orange. You’re either being optimistic because last season you saw a real change in the culture of the team in Doug Marrone’s first year as coach, or you’re being negative… because you’re always negative. As such, you still think Marrone was a bad hire, all the players he ran off the team was not a sign of a new regime but a sign of a control freak who doesn’t understand today’s college football player, and the players who are left are two-star recruits who chose SU over Hofstra and will never win more than 4 games in a season.

Despite the “sky is falling” rhetoric from various Internet trolls, there is indeed reason to feel that something good is building up on the Hill this year. To those who think Ryan Nassib is inexperienced because Greg Paulus started every game last year, I point out that Nassib was in for plenty of action, did alright in his limited time, and even that gives him more experience than most incoming starters at most major programs. No, he didn’t get to fill in for an injured star during the national championship game like Garrett Gilbert at Texas, but Nassib did play more overall. Delone Carter is back (much to the chagrin of those who were hoping for a felony black mark on Marrone’s record), so the running game is there. Those who think this will be a one-dimensional offense do not recognize Alec Lemon’s contributions last year or the other available talent at receiver and tight end. The recurring problem seems to be that people equate lack of experience with lack of ability. Somebody tell that to Pitt’s star running back; he had no experience going into last year and did just fine, thank you.

The defense is solid; it finished in the top 30 nationally in several categories and returns Doug Hogue, Derrell Smith, and Chandler Jones. The secondary (as usual) will be watched for signs of improvement. The special teams was atrocious last year and cost the Orange a win at Louisville, but didn’t cost Bob Casullo his job. That better be a primary focus this season or heads will roll; just ask the offensive coaches who got whacked last year.

The schedule is pretty easy in the early going… Syracuse should beat Akron, Maine, and Colgate. The Orange plays at Washington in week two and they will go in as an underdog because of the Huskies’ Heisman candidate QB, Jake Locker. Locker decimated Greg Robinson’s awful defense in his first career start in ’07 at the Dome, but this is a different SU now. Marrone will finally have his first road win after the Akron game, but this will be a chance at a major road scalp. I don’t see it happening, but it will be close. So that’s a 3-1 start going into Big East play. Syracuse gets Louisville in the Dome this year, so I pencil that in as a win. This team is good enough to beat a South Florida or Rutgers again, but those are road games so consider that. UConn is at home and I have to think Syracuse will do a better job defensively than they did last year in Storrs. Therefore, I call an Orange win over the Huskies, and one of three against USF, Rutgers, and Boston College (BC = Northwestern last year, a bowl-worthy team that we can beat). They won’t beat Pitt, West Virginia, or Cincinnati. That gets SU to 6-6 this year, short of a bowl bid but still improved, and the losses will be competitive. If they can steal one more win from the USF-Rutgers-BC portion of the schedule, they go to a bowl and shut the pessimists up at least for a little while. But it’s more likely they’ll view 6-6 as a failure because we didn’t make a bowl game. Whatever.

Here in Philadelphia, there’s a lot of excitement about Temple football… wait a minute, just had to stop to make sure I wasn’t being completely delusional. Okay, yes, this is really happening. The Owls went 9-4 last year, made their first bowl game in 30 years, got 2 votes in both the coaches and writers’ preseason polls, and are a trendy pick to win the MAC this year. And they have a “Heisman candidate” in RB Bernard Pierce. I put that in quotes because despite the best efforts to market Pierce (and believe me, they are, with billboards all over the city), he is NOT on anybody’s Heisman radar right now. He’s only a sophomore, the last time we saw him he was leaving the bowl game with an injured knee, and because this is Temple we’re talking about, they’d have to go undefeated for Pierce to even have a chance to sniff the Heisman. That being said, they get an immediate chance to avenge a painful loss from last year when they play defending FCS (as in Division 1-AA) national champ Villanova a week from Friday. Might be worth your time to check out… it’s certainly a more appealing opening week matchup than, say, Syracuse vs. Akron.

As usual, I close with my undergraduate and high school alma maters. Susquehanna made the Division III playoffs last year for the first time in nearly 20 years, but this year they join a new conference, so you have to figure there will be a period of adjustment. With the talent they have returning, they’ll win some games, but a 3rd-place Centennial Conference finish is likely. As for West Genny, my only wish for Joe Corley and the Wildcats is PLEASE do better than 1-8 this year! Going from ’07 state champs to ’08 sectional finalist to the absolute dregs of Section III was not a pleasant thing to watch. Can we at least get back to the postseason in 2010?

The pros start later, so I’ll pick them next time, and I’ll have a fantasy team by then so I can properly agonize with the rest of you…

When is a Tax Not a Tax?

If you listen to the radio (and I certainly hope you do, we could use the support), I'm sure at one point or another you've heard an ad protesting the so-called "performance tax" that some people want slapped on the radio industry. I'll admit I was concerned about the issue and was at first relieved to know that a majority of House members had signed a pledge not to let such a measure pass.

However, I was uninformed on the issue, and talking to someone on the other side of the issue was quite enlightening. Here's what we're dealing with: When radio stations play a song (or a certain amount of a song), they have to pay the songwriters. It requires paying a blanket license fee to the likes of ASCAP and BMI, the major songwriters' groups, and it also requires filling out a lot of forms. I had to do it as a program director and I HATED it. There was literally a week every six months or so when I had to go through and write out every single song we played and who wrote it. I worked at a music station... we played A LOT of songs in a week. That was one of the biggest problems I had with being management: I'm in radio to create and to entertain, not to fill out paperwork! And don't get me started on what I had to go through every time I tried to hire someone...

Anyway, all these license fees paid by all these radio stations for broadcasting songs goes eventually to the songwriters. That's fine for all the singer-songwriters out there (or the people who own the songs that other people write... *ahem* Courtney Love...), but a lot of artists sing other peoples' songs. So they don't get squat. The excuse made by many of us is, "Well, they make a lot of money by touring, so they're fine." True in most respects, but it also means you have to keep going out and touring to keep the money coming in, especially if you're not making much off album sales. So there has been a push in recent years for broadcasters to have to pony up for performance rights.

This has been tough for the industry to swallow, because they just had to pony up for an extra license to stream music online... this development held back the growth of broadcast stations streaming online because it was an expense they couldn't make up for with online sales. It also killed off most of the "amateur" Internet radio types who were doing it for fun and couldn't afford such a license to continue with what was essentially a hobby. And it's not like the radio industry is making money hand over fist anymore, particularly not during a recession. But this has also led to some misconceptions about having to pay for performance rights.

When this was in the hands of Congress, it was called a "performance tax". Well, this is understandable, as Congress does have the power to tax people and corporations. However, when the money goes straight from the radio station to the performer (or through an intermediary like MusicFirst) and never goes through the federal government, it's not a tax. As an attempt to keep this out of the hands of Congress, the National Association of Broadcasters recently tried to strike a deal with MusicFirst so this could all get resolved without legislation. By cutting the Copyright Royalty Board out of the process, the rate is set by the NAB and MusicFirst without federal interference. Radio industry wonks went apeshit. They accused the NAB of selling them up the river and yelled long and loud that this was indeed a "tax" and a "bailout" for record companies. Well, how is it a bailout for record companies when it's going to the artists? If the record companies try to take any of that money for themselves then that is just wrong. Of course, the record companies haven't exactly endeared themselves to the public with their years of holding back the ability of people to procure music online, most notably by suing 12-year old kids and their grandparents for thousands of dollars.

And the lies keep coming too, like how small stations won't be able to afford this, and how once this is enacted, Congress can raise the rate any time they want. Well as I just said above, Congress and the CRB would be kept out of the rate-setting process with this compromise, so that WON'T happen because it CAN'T happen. So we're getting "the sky is falling" from these people, basically saying that radio will go belly-up as an industry if it has to give up $100M for performance rights. The same person whose insane rant I linked to above has since turned the immaturity level up to 11 by proclaiming that radio should fight back by refusing to play music, or refusing to play major label artists, without some form of legal compensation (since payola is, of course, illegal). Yeah, that's really gonna work... no, young people won't turn off radio for their iPods because radio refuses to play the new Justin Bieber song over some money dispute they don't understand or care to understand. Seriously, this is just juvenile.

This is what it comes down to for all of you whining about the greedy record companies and how much money radio makes for them... the artists who don't write their own songs don't get SHIT. And worse yet, other countries refuse to pay our artists royalties under their nations' laws because we're not paying their artists for airplay. So for every British pop artist who doesn't get paid by our radio stations, the British stations won't pay our pop stars. It's essentially a trade war. Oh by the way, if you're wondering what other nations don't pay their artists for radio performance, it's pretty much us... and Iran. And we know how much they LOVE music over in Iran.

And it gets worse... as part of this compromise, broadcasters want FM tuner chips to be included in cell phones so people can use their phones to listen to radio without having to navigate confusing apps. Don't get me wrong, I've found a couple of pretty sweet apps on the Blackberry (iHeartRadio and Nobex Radio Companion) that get me most streaming stations with good quality, but there are a lot of people who can barely make phone calls, let alone navigate the complexities of your average SmartPhone. So I'm all for it. However, the Consumer Electronics Association is not. They issued a screed that pretty much told the radio industry, "You're dead. Get over it. We already have you covered with digital streaming apps. If people can't get you that way, you're screwed." I see how tough it is to be in an "old media" industry all the time, as my research isn't as sexy as the latest treatise on Twitter, but when the new media industry tells you to drop dead because the train has passed you by, that's kinda hard to take.

In the end, some sort of compromise should be made, because the performers themselves need all the help they can get, cuz they're in a recession too, ya know. Whatever can be done to keep both Congress and the recording industry itself out of the process would be fantastic. But this just goes to show you that once again, any kind of compromise will not be acceptable to some people, and that even though all-out battling could result in a lot of pain for a lot of people, some people are willing to do it just for the possibility that they may win. That it may be quite a pyrrhic victory is irrelevant.

In Defense of New Jersey

Last spring, I attended an academic egghead convention where the big attraction was panels about "Twilight". That's something you need to know about media studies people; we glom onto whatever is hot and trendy and analyze it to death. This is why at this particular convention, there was "Twilight" panel after "Twilight" panel, each denoted with a handy Roman numeral so you could tell them apart. I lost count at XII. Suffice to say, if you wanted to get into this conference, all you needed to do was submit a paper about vampires and teen angst.

I'm pretty sure if I want to get into next year's edition of this academic egghead convention, all I'll need to do is submit a paper about New Jersey. Yup, the Garden State has got to be the hottest thing going in pop culture. I fully expect to see New Jersey I, New Jersey II, and so on through New Jersey XLIV at this conference, because unlike "Twilight", you have multiple things you can scrutinize. You have "Jersey Shore", "The Real Housewives of New Jersey", "Jersey Couture", "Jerseylicious", "Cake Boss"... the list goes on and on. If you want to go old-school, work in something about "The Sopranos".

So why the fascination with New Jersey? From my experiences with the state and its people, I can only presume it's because New Jerseyans aren't afraid to speak their minds. They tell you what they think with the appropriate (or sometimes inappropriate) volume, tone, and language. They have a chip on their shoulder because they're wedged in between New York City and Philadelphia, and for that reason most people think their state may as well be a giant suburb that you whiz through on the Turnpike as you head down the eastern seaboard. I used to think that, too. I used to joke that if you took the outline of the state of New Jersey and cut it right down the middle (right along I-195), anything to the north of that line is suburban New York and anything south is suburban Philly. Of course, this was when my knowledge of New Jersey consisted of having seen every Kevin Smith movie.

Of course, when the media takes New Jersey and presents this aspect of its people to the world at large, they turn the outspokenness factor to 11. Not to mention the other stereotypes. Yes, Italians make up the largest ethnic slice of New Jersey's demographic pie, but they still make up about one-sixth of the populace, so you're not literally surrounded by them. There's almost as many Irish people in New Jersey... no wonder I like the state so much. Anyway, the stereotype (whether it's from "The Sopranos" or Frank Sinatra or just a collection of uninformed anecdotes) is loud Italians, hence the importation of loud Italians from other parts of the Northeast to the MTV show "Jersey Shore". Never mind, they're not actually FROM Jersey... this is what you'll find if you go to the Shore, so says the Network Formerly Known as Music Television. You'll find a bunch of "Guidos" and "Guidettes" (their term, not mine) boozing it up, getting in fights, and trying to hump anything that moves.

Despite the howls of indignation from rightfully-offended REAL Italians from New Jersey, the show goes on and is a huge success, so much so that the cast was able to hold out not once but twice for more money. And since there's a legion of fans who actually think that "GTL" (gym, tanning, laundry) is code for how to live your life, let's give them style shows on how to fit into this stereotypical lifestyle. Hence, "Jerseylicious." However, it's really up for debate who the worst TV citizens of New Jersey are, Snooki, "The Situation", and co. on "Jersey Shore" or "The Real Housewives of New Jersey." The few moments I have seen of this show pretty much involve loud, curse-laden screaming fits, catfights, and over-the-top lifestyle in every conceivable way. Then again, as "Real Housewives" shows go, maybe that's just what sets them apart... at least they're not crashing White House parties.

Then there's "Cake Boss", which isn't really all that offensive or stereotypical, it's a TLC reality show about a New Jersey bakery owner. Although I bet the guy would give Gordon Ramsey a run for his money, and maybe it's just my sick mind but I would love to see them throw down. Okay I'm buying into the stereotypes, I'm sorry... really this guy has just benefited from good timing. TLC gave him a show at the perfect time, because New Jersey is hot, and now people flock to his restaurant.

Which gets me back to what I really want to say about New Jersey. Despite what you may think, the state is not teeming with Snookis. I've been to this state several times, pretty much every part of the state, so I've had the chance to look around and see everything it has to offer. It's got a lot of good and bad to it. I've taken the scenic (read: non-AC Expressway) route through South Jersey and driven past acres upon acres of blueberry fields. New Jersey does just as good a job with farming as any other state, and makes for just as nice a vista as other states. Go to the Jersey Shore and you'll find all the things that Bruce Springsteen sang about, but mostly nice boardwalks, family-friendly places like Wildwood, and beautiful beaches like Brigantine... honestly it's the best beach I've ever been to. Unfortunately, you'll also find private beaches you can't enter and towns where the citizens turn up their noses at the tourists. But that happens in California, too.

Driving through the Poconos on I-80 does for me the same thing that a nice woodsy mountain drive anywhere does... it clears my head, de-stresses me, makes me relaxed, which is good for preparing mentally to deal with psychotic Philly or NYC drivers. Last weekend, I again took the scenic (read: non-Turnpike) route from Philly to North Jersey, this time through Princeton, which is really a nice town. Yeah, it's a college town and has a lot of that pretentiousness to it... for one thing, as cheap as gas is in New Jersey (another nice selling point), it's most expensive around Princeton. Apparently the gas station owners must think, "Well, you're all rich here, you can afford it!" But having said that, it was nice to see Princeton and its surroundings.

You can find a lot of that small-town coziness in New Jersey if you look for it. Fortunately for me, my dad has this way of knowing where all the nice family-owned small-town restaurants are, and that's where you see the real New Jersey. Nice people, friendly people... yeah, they're gonna tell you what they think and not sugar-coat it, but I appreciate that in people, so I'm okay with that. And it shows they care about you. They care about a lot of things, their homes, their communities, and they now have a governor who is fighting the good fight for them, so that's a positive too. So you might want to look a little deeper into New Jersey. It's a pretty nice place to be when you get past all the media hype.

And in case you were wondering, yes I have a paper on New Jersey to submit to next year's academic egghead convention... just hope I get into an early panel like New Jersey III or IV before people lose count...

Ten Years Gone

Ten years ago, 21-Year-Old-Me thought it might be cool to try my hand at expressing my thoughts to the world via the Internet. Because nobody had ever heard of the term "blog" in 2000, I called it an "Internet column", because I thought that maybe this might get me attention and help my job prospects somehow, being fresh out of college.

And today just happens to be the 10-year anniversary of the day I posted that first entry. I cannot say I have been doing this blog for 10 years because that would be a lie. I stopped for nearly 4 years because I got sick of it. I felt like I had to post every Friday and when I ran out of ideas, I just abruptly quit. Also I feel like there is no need for me to repeat myself on here... if you want to know my thoughts about something I've already blogged about, you can find the entry. If I'm writing about something I've already said something about, sometimes I'll link to my prior opinions to save time. So yeah, I don't like to repeat myself.

I've thought about whether or not this blog is fit for mass consumption, and there were times back in the days when I was employed in radio that I didn't want people knowing that I wrote this blog, because I thought it could get me fired. Now I care less about that, although being in academia now there's always the risk of being labeled "another academic elitist with an agenda". But then again, my agenda is dissimilar to 95% of my fellow academics, so then the fear becomes repercussions that come from me not subscribing to the groupthink. I also don't publicize this blog a lot because certain parts of my agenda seem to be dissimilar to a large majority of my friends as well, and in this age of hyperpartisanship where, sadly, you can lose friends because you expressed an opinion about something, I'd like to avoid conflict. I say what I say here and whomever finds it can read it and comment. Few do, but whatever. The link to this blog is on my Facebook and Twitter pages, so if someone gets curious, they end up here.

So now I've been back up and running for nearly 4 years, and it's tough sometimes to write entries. I've considered quitting again several times, not because I'm a quitter, but because the demands of life are sometimes too much, and it starts feeling like the blog has again become something I HAVE to do. So I stop sometimes for weeks or a couple months at a time, but I always come back, and since I brought this blog back in 2006, I've averaged about 45 entries a year. That's pretty damn good when you consider that at best you get 24 episodes a year out of your favorite network TV show, and just 13 if it's a quality cable show like "Mad Men". I put out the product, dammit. So even though I was hoping I could line it up perfectly and be at my 300th entry exactly a decade after column #1, alas this is only #291. Deal with it.

Still, I'm pretty impressed with myself that I found the wherewithal (not to mention the brain cells) to post 291 entries over the years. Sometimes it's pretty easy... I watch the Sunday talk shows or read the letters page and my blood starts boiling, and I crank out the entry pretty quickly. Other times, I have the idea but not much else so it languishes here in the form of 2-3 paragraphs of notes until I find the time and the interest to finish it. Now there are some pretty regular entries that come up throughout the year every year and are therefore easier to do, because I do them ever year... such as the State of the Tube Address, my baseball picks, and my year-end list. I think that even if I gave up this blog for real, I'd still come back 4-5 times a year just to do those and get them out there, because I like to predict and I love baseball and television... and stupid people. I love the stupid things that stupid people do. Just not when they're around me... especially driving.

Incidentally, bad drivers have been my topic 3 times... that's one thing I like about Blogger is the stats they run on the number of times you tag an entry with a specific topic. So what have I blogged about the most? Here's my Top 5: politics (43 entries), baseball (25), television (19), music (17), and football (14). This should not surprise anyone. Incidentally, this is the 9th time I've done an entry that had to do with "blogging" itself, so it's fair to say I like to self-analyze. This also should not surprise anyone.

It's fitting that I hit a round-numbered anniversary right now, as it prepares me for the next round-numbered anniversary that I have to deal with... my 10-year college reunion. That is hard to believe, but it's coming in October. Did I think I would have accomplished more with my life by now? Definitely, but I think what few of us could have seen coming in 2000 was that life and career plans change so much these days. Few of us end up where we always wanted to be, and I've accepted that and I've come to enjoy the ride as it takes me wherever it will go. Kinda like this blog. So here's to a decade of blogging, and may the second decade be just as enjoyable. And I do have entries in the tank, so they will keep coming... when I get around to them...