Top 10 Albums of 2012

 

Bob's Top 10 Albums of 2012

I can't believe I almost let this year draw to a close without popping out a "Best of" list. It was a rather limited year for concerts and movies for me, but thanks in part to a network of friends that purchases (never pirates) and shares music, I feel like I was relatively entrenched in music this year. This list represents my favorites.

10. Glen Hansard - Rhythm and Repose: This album has a special significance to me because I got it shortly after the death of our dear friend's son Hayden. This collection of songs about hope, despair and love became the soundtrack to a very difficult period of the year. Favorite Track - This Gift

9. Smashing Pumpkins - Oceania: I can't tell if I'm making this pick for nostalgia sake or if I legitimately consider this one of the years best albums. I'm sticking with it for the sole reason that it pumped me up for yard work this summer. Favorite Track - Violet Rays

8. The Shins - Port of Morrow: I thought I was off these guys. I saw a very mediocre show of theirs and then became a little disenchanted with James Mercer's snarky pretentious nature. But this CD proved that I just can't quit em. Favorite Track - 40 Mark Strasse

7. Ben Folds Five - The Sound of the Life of the Mind: Always a favorite of mine, BFF hadn't released a new album in 13 years and I had kind of written the group off as done. Not so fast. This album has a little bit of everything, from uptempo anthems to beautiful, heartfelt ballads.
Favorite Track - Hold That Thought

6. The Mountain Goats - Transcendental Youth: Of all the albums on this list, this one was the most recent addition so it hasn't had the favor, or disfavor, of being listened to quite as much. That being said, I love the energy of this CD and lyrically its fantastic. It probably took a spot away from The Japandroids, so you be the judge if I got it right. Favorite Track - Lakeside View Apartments Suite

5. Alabama Shakes - Boys & Girls: Maybe I am missing it, but I don't see this album ending up on many lists for best of the year, and I can't figure out why. Finally their live cult status has hit the masses and I think they capture it perfectly. Favorite Track - Rise to the Sun

4. Jack White - Blunderbuss: I have been wanting to jump on the Jack White bandwagon for some time, and despite having a few Raconteurs tracks, I never really went for it until this year. It paid off, as this album is one of the most unique and brilliant of the year.
Favorite Track (Maybe of the year) - Hypocritical Kiss

3. Of Monsters and Men - My Head is an Animal: Another album that I haven't seen on many lists is this one, an extension of the EP they had released a year earlier. This album is overflowing with sing along melodies and concert anthems. I cannot wait to see how they follow this up.
Favorite Track - From Finner

2. Grizzly Bear - Shields: This is an incredible album, rich with unique sounds and complex musicstry. At points this sounds like it could be a side project of the Beta Band, My Morning Jacket & The National. Probably not for everyone, but its definitely for me. Favorite Track - Yet Again

1. Passion Pit - Gossamer: Much like beer, if you come out in the summer and I enjoy you, there is a solid chance I'll be talking about you for a while. This album dropped right at the peak of my summer and became a staple for trips to Rhode Island, The Jersey Shore & Long Island. It is a feel good CD start to finish, but not to the extent that it can't be taken seriously. Its fun, and better than that, it's great. Favorite Track - Constant Conversations

Honorable Mentions: Milo Greene/Milo Greene, Japandroids/Celebration Rock, John Mayer/Born & Raised, Marillion/Sounds That Can't be Made

Loving the R.A. Dickey Trade!

It's weird to think that in back to back years the Mets are going to lose an NL Batting champion and the NL Cy Young award winners in back to back years coming off the years they won them.  As a lifelong Mets fan the Jose Reyes divorce was tough for me but as much as I loved R.A. Dickey's time as a Met, I am over-the-moon about this trade.

Even if Travis d'Arnaud and  Noah Syndergaard flame out and never see the majors, I will forever stand behind this trade 100%.  If you are bringing R.A. Dickey back to the Mets this year, you are essentially returning the same 74 win team from a year ago. The Mets need to retool.  If they are able to land a guy who might be able to catch for the Mets for the next decade and be one of the cornerstones of the franchise you pull the trigger without question.

I hate to boil down a human being's worth like this but R.A. Dickey was found money for the Mets.  He learned the knuckle ball on his own, the Mets didn't spend any resources developing him and they weren't paying him anything.  They took him off the scrap heap and gave him a chance.  To be able to turn him into (according to Baseball America) the Blue Jays' first and third best prospects is a coup (Baseball America also ranks Toronto #5 in their Organizational Talent Ratings).

I give Sandy Alderson a ton of credit for pulling the trigger on the trade.  R.A. Dickey was asking below market value for him and the easier thing to do would have been to hold on to him.  He was a P.R. and ticket selling asset to a team that needs both.

Thoughts on my First Trip to the Barclays Center

On Saturday I made my first trip to the new Barclays Center in Brooklyn for the Brooklyn Hoops Winter Festival triple header.

I heard some negative things about the exterior but I actually had no problem with it.  I thought the whole promenade area outside the main entrance was very well done.  The 360 degree screen is a very nice touch.  I can see why people might be put off by the "rust" color of the exterior but I don't mind it.  It's a nice change from the concrete looking boxes that everyone else seems to play in.  I'm willing to see how it ages before I bash it's outside aesthetic.

Even though I'm now in my mid-30's and have been to hundreds of sporting events, I still feel the anticipation of walking through the gate and seeing the playing surface in person .  My favorite thing about the Barclays really plays off that.  Normally when you enter a venue, you start on the concourse and have to find your gate number, walk through the narrow hall and into the arena.  Here, you get your ticket checked and straight ahead you are already looking at the scoreboard and you can walk right up and overlook the court.  It's something that I've never seen at a sports venue before and something I greatly appreciated.

I didn't like everything about it though.  Other than the overlook of the floor, the rest of the building doesn't really have a lot of personality.  It was just nice and new but nothing special.  A lot of good food options though.

Even though I am in my mid-30's and should have reached the point where I just buy tickets where I want to sit, I'm still a "buy the cheap seats and move down" guy.  Next time I go to the Barclays Center I will most definitely just buying my tickets in one of the lower two sections.  The level 200 is just too steep of an angle for me personally to enjoy a basketball game.  Probably my least favorite view of an indoor sporting event I've ever had.  Luckily for me, I was able to move down to mid-court about 10 rows off the floor for the middle game of the triple-header and were able to give the usher a few bucks to sit us in the lower section for the third game.  But I don't want to take the chance of not being able to move down next time I'm there.  For viewing a game, I'll take the Garden over the Barclays every time.

UFC on FOX 5: Diaz vs. Henderson Predictions

With all the injuries befalling the UFC these days I'm pumped that this card seems to be making in to December 8th intact.  The Henderson/Diaz main event should be a great showcase for the UFC on network TV


Mike Swick vs. Matt Brown (+130)

After a two and a half year absence Mike Swick finally came back to the UFC in spectacular fashion with the Knockout of the Night over DaMarques Johnson.  It was great to see because Swick had been battling so many injuries but I had him down in the first round against Johnson who is no longer even in the UFC.  I'm not putting too much stock in to that because after 30 months there is probably a lot of ring rust to shake off but I'm counting this as Swick's real return to the UFC.  Matt Brown has 8 wins in the UFC and out of those 8 opponents only one is still in the UFC (Stephen Thompson).  As unimpressed as I am with his resume, Matt Brown is a much more game fighter than Johnson was.  I'll be rooting for Mike Swick but I think he needs a few more live rounds to get his octagon legs back.  I'm picking Matt Brown to outwork him enough to get the decision.

BJ Penn vs. Rory MacDonald (-300)

As frustrating as BJ Penn was in the last few fights, it's going to be nice to see him back again.  Unfortunately, I think he made a terrible decision asking for this fight against MacDonald.  I don't care what roster of sparring partners he put together and I don't care if you can actually see abs on BJ Penn for the first time ever as a welterweight.  Whatever shape Penn gets himself in to, it's not going make him as quick or as big as MacDonald is.  And with over a years worth of ring rust on Penn I can see this not getting out of the first round.

Mauricio Rua (+160) vs. Alexander Gustafsson

I'm a Gustafsson fan.  When this fight was announced I was already to pick him to win this fight.  He is an up and comer and he has all the measurables you could want in a fighter.  Although he has main evented a card before, this is by far the biggest stage he's ever been on.  Shogun is only 31 but he has a lot of miles on his tires.  I see this fight going the distance and I know Shogun does tend to gas some but he's more equipped for three rounds of what I believe will be primarily a stand up fight.  I think it'll be close fight with Rua eeking out the decision.

Benson Henderson (-140) vs. Nate Diaz

Henderson was my favorite WEC fighter and is arguably my favorite UFC fighter so I'm probably picking this more with my heart than my head.  Nate Diaz is really coming in to his own.  What he did in his last two fights is really impressive.  I did not see him beating Donald Cerrone yet he landed close to 300 significant strikes and landed over 80% of his punches on the way to the win.  Then he goes out and submits a guy in Jim Miller who had never tapped before.  That being said, I do like Henderson in this fight.  In my eyes he can't be finished with strikes especially from Diaz.  He landed hundred of punches on Cerrone and it went to decision.  We've seem Henderson in some pretty deep water in submissions yet somehow always get out of them.  Diaz is, in my opinion, the best submission artist he'll fight to date but until I see someone put him to sleep or get him to tap I don't think I can bet on that to happen.  The Diaz brothers have cardio for days but Henderson's average fight time is now over 3 rounds (15:11).  I like Henderson to defend his belt as Nate Diaz goes into the championship rounds for the first time.

Lucky Week 13: Bobs Road Dog Locks

Don't ask me why I waited until week 13 to post my locks of the week, just read them, bet them, and thank me. I will keep this weekly post going as long as I maintain a winning percentage above .500. Once I dip below, including if it happens this week, I will throw in the towel. Without further adieu, here are my picks in the league where they play....for pay.


Jacksonville Jaguars +6 @ Buffalo: Does anyone really think Buffalo is that much better than Jacksonville? I hope not. Buffalo has dropped 4 of their last 5, while the Jaguars are 1-1 with Henne at the help and have put up a scorching 61 points in the last 2 weeks. I expect a high scoring game which generally doesn't favor the spread, I just happen to think the Jaguars will come away with the victory. I'll take the 2 free field goals.


Tampa Bay Buccaneers +7 @ Denver: Its easy to buy into Denver as this Peyton Manning led juggernaut, but I don't entirely buy it. Yes they have won 6 in a row, but only one of those teams had a winning record at the time, and that is super mediocre San Diego. Tampa Bay on the other hand is 4-2 in that stretch, with their 2 losses combining for a total of 8 points against New Orleans and Atlanta. Denver may win this, and I kind of expect them to, but I guess it will be close late.


Indianapolis Colts +4.5 @ Detroit: For the record, I'm not totally in love with this game. But here is the thing, the Lions are done. That last loss was bone crushing, and probably eliminated all hops of the playoffs considering they still have games against Green Bay, Atlanta and Chicago on the schedule. The Colts on the other hand, are 2 more wins away from a playoff spot. With Houston coming up twice in the last 4 weeks, this is almost a MUST game for Luck & co. I expect they win, but if they lose, I expect it close enough that those points cover.

Season: 0-0-0

It's Time for a New Big East

It's time Big East.  I know the big money is in college football but the Big East wasn't built on football.  It's a basketball conference and it's time to stop playing this conference realignment game and get back to basics.  Look at the basketball only schools that will be left after all the chips fall (because you know UConn and Cincinnati are leaving eventually):

Georgetown
Marquette
Seton Hall
St. John's
DePaul
Providence
Villanova

Historically three of those seven are perennial tournament teams (Marquette, Nova and Georgetown) and the Hall, St. John's and Providence have occasionally made cameos over the years in the big dance.  And as of now those three finally seem to have coaches that have them heading in the right direction.  And DePaul...well at least they bring the Chicago television market.

To make this work and because a stable conference again they'd unfortunately have to jettison Temple and Memphis with them having football but the rest of the incoming teams like Houston, SMU, Central Florida and Tulane they let go as well and get out of the football business altogether.  Let them go start another conference with Boise State, San Diego State and Navy.  I'll name it for you.  The Coast to Coast Conference (C2C for short).  Boom!  Basketball built the Big East and should keep the name.

Ideally you'd like to think that the Big East could just poach the Atlantic 10 but as of now, they actually have what the Big East should want, a basketball driven conference.  But if you were able to add Xavier, Dayton, St. Joseph's, Butler, St. Louis, VCU and maybe a Duquesne to the above 7 basketball only Big East schools, they are probably looking at a 5 or 6 big league.  But of course that would probably be easier said than done.  If you look into smaller conferences you can try to pick up some solid mid-major teams like a Drexel or Davidson too.

The Big East as we know it is dead.  They can't quick fix replace any of the teams that have left.  The conference also can't sit around and wait for the remaining schools with a football team to try to leave just  to replace them on the fly with lousy football programs and lousier basketball programs.  It needs to be rebuilt with quality basketball only schools and patience.

I'm There. It's Time to Blow Up The Jets

It's that time for another Jets rant.  I was going to do this earlier but I needed some time to collect my thoughts or else this would have been more of a ramble.

So I've finally come to the point where I'm ready to blow it up.  It's a hard conclusion for me to come to because I do believe Rex Ryan will be a pretty successful head coach in the NFL.  Unfortunately if he does, his stop with the Jets will be the place he made the mistakes he will learn from.  If I'm making a pie chart...screw it I'm making a pie chart:

As you can see, I place most of the blame on Mike Tennenbaum.  I understand Rex Ryan has input on players but when it comes to putting a bad roster together, the GM is the one who needs to take the fall.  Tennenbaum loves trading up in the draft to get guys he wants (Revis, Harris, Greene, Sanchez) and it's kind of worked out (and I'm counting Sanchez as kind of working out if you go back and look at that trade*).  That's on Tennenbaum.  Rex can coach defense.  The history is there as a coordinator and in his first couple of years as a head coach.  Ideally I would still like to give him a couple of more years but someone needs to be the scapegoat for this year.  Brian Schottenheimer was the guy for last year so they can't go back to the Offensive Coordinator well again and fire Tony Sparano.  So the guy has to be Tennenbaum.  Unfortunately for Rex they need to be a package deal.  It's unfair to bring in a new GM and not let him hire a new Head Coach.  And if they made the new GM keep Rex it would only be delaying the inevitable that situation never works out.  Just cut ties and blow the thing up.

Where I fault Rex Ryan the most is actually in the hiring of Tony Sparano.  That was a miserable hire and you could see it coming from a mile away.  Just because Rex wants to run a certain type of offense doesn't mean they had the pieces to run it.

Notice on the pie chart that Mark Sanchez isn't represented.  I actually feel really bad for this guy.  He has the talent to succeed in this league.  I'm sure of it.  But the Jets broke him and they did it at every turn.  The receiving core they marched out there in 2011 was so old and incapable of getting open.  They had Santonio Holmes as a #1 when in reality he is a glorified slot receiver, Plaxico Burress who was helpful in the red zone but completely unable to get any separation between the 20s and an on his last legs Derrick Mason.  Gone was Jericho Cotchery who was his most reliable receiver and gone was Braylon Edwards who was the only guy on the team who could actually stretch the field.  Somehow he managed to throw for 26 TDs and run for 6 more.  Then forget about the Tim Tebow disaster.  I tried to talk myself in to is possibly working but every Jets fan knew that it was going to be a disaster.  Not only didn't it work from an on field aspect, the media writing about Tebow week in and week out has made this season unbearable.  I would trade this season in for the 1-15 season in a heartbeat.  

If the Jets had lost a normal game to the Patriots on Thanksgiving then I actually think this regime would be safe for next year.  There are a few legitimate excuses for a down year.  Their best defensive player (if not the best defensive player in the league) and their "best" offensive player are out for the year.  But to lose the way they lost on a football holiday on national television means heads have to roll.

As a lifelong Jets fan I would like to close out with a prediction:

At the urging of Woody Johnson Tim Tebow gets his shot.  The Jets finishing up the last five games facing teams with a combined record of 18-37 they run the table with Tebow at the helm.  The 9-7 record doesn't get them in the playoffs but it saves every one's job.  The Jets brass are convinced that Tim Tebow is their guy for 2013 completely ignoring the fact that they were playing lousy teams.  Tim Tebow being a disgusting NFL quarterback leads the Jets to a 4-12 2013 season wasting yet another year.

*Jets move from 17 to 5, give up a 2nd rounder in the same draft and send Kenyon Coleman, Abram Elam and Brett Ratliff to Cleveland.  Look at what Washington gave up for RGIII this year (two future 1st round picks and a 2nd rounder in this past draft. And that was only to move up 4 spots).  The Jets gave up essentially nothing to get Sanchez.  The worst thing a Jets fan can do is wonder how the draft would have shaken out if that trade never happened.  The Browns traded the 17th pick that was the Jets pick to Tampa to select Josh Freeman.  Cleveland flubbed the 2nd round pick they got from the Jets (David Veikune) but the player who went with the pick right after was LeSean McCoy.  I'm not super high on Freeman but the offense does seem like it would be in better hands with Freeman and a do-it-all back like Shady McCoy doesn't it?