I'm with the Band: Texas

Band: The University of Texas Longhorn Band
University: The University of Texas at Austin
Founded: 1900
Current Director: Dr. Robert Cornochan



The Longhorn Band has played in seven different presidential inaugural parades. UT is the home of Big Bertha, reputedly the world's largest bass drum: 8 feet in diameter.


Photo via Bleacher Report


All This and Football, Too

My Picks for the Week: 10/20 (2nd place out of 3 players)
My Picks for the Season: 62/100 (3rd out of 3)

This was the first week in which I did better with my picks than I would have just going with all favorites. I picked three underdogs: Rutgers, Washington State and Florida. Only Florida lost. I guess it shouldn't be surprising that the house usually manages to stack the deck in its own favor. Otherwise, the house would never make any money. After all, the Vegas odds makers do this for a living. They wouldn't keep their jobs if they weren't right far more often than not.

My Baseball Fantasy: 2011 Season Wrap Up

Private League: won final, 5-4-1 (finished 1st out of 10 teams)
Public League: 2nd out of 12 teams, 1 point back

It was a pretty exciting finish in both leagues, coming down to the final day of the season in each. Alas, I fell just a tiny bit short in the public league. Nonetheless, I am further convinced my strategy is a sound one.

I am sold on head-to-head leagues. Individual games become a lot more meaningful. As such, I think I'll do a head-to-head public league next year rather than rotisserie. I heard no gripes from my private league-mates so I assume they preferred it, too.


Season MVP

Player: Matt Kemp
Position: Center Fielder
Team: Los Angeles Dodgers
2011 Totals: 39 home runs, 126 RBI, 115 runs, 40 stolen bases, .324 batting average


Photo via Locker Smash

Last year, Kemp was my first round pick and he had a very disappointing campaign. As such, he was still available this year when my third round pick came around in the private league. He was the top player in fantasy baseball in 2011. Conventional wisdom says he'll lose the National League MVP vote to either Ryan Braun or Prince Fielder but if the Brewers duo split the vote, Kemp could grab the award.

Let's Talk Baseball: Bold Proposal Final 2011 Standings

Season 2 of my grand experiment is over, or at least the regular season portion thereof. For those new to the program, here is my original post for the idea and here is how things shook out at the end of last season, setting up the two divisions I used for the 2011 season.

The final standings are as follows:

First Division

1. Phillies (unchanged from September)
2. Yankees (unchanged)
3. Rangers (+2)
4. Tigers (+2)
5. Rays (+2)
6. Red Sox (-3)
6. Cardinals (+3)
8. Braves (-4)
9. Angels (-1)
9. Giants (+1)
11. White Sox (unchanged)
11. Reds (+1)
13. Rockies (unchanged)
14. Marlins (unchanged)
15. Padres (unchanged)
16. Twins (unchanged)

Second Division

1. Brewers (unchanged)
2. Diamondbacks (unchanged)
3. Dodgers (+2)
4. Blue Jays (unchanged)
5. Nationals (+2)
6. Indians (-3)
7. Mets (-1)
8. A's (+1)
9. Pirates (-1)
10. Cubs (unchanged)
11. Royals (+1)
12. Orioles (+1)
13. Mariners (-2)
14. Astros (unchanged)

Biggest rises: Cardinals
Biggest falls: Braves

The teams in italics are the six different teams to win the past six World Series titles. I am hoping that trend will continue and yet a different team will win this year.

So, in my better world, the top eight first division teams would make the playoffs. Please note, Sox and Braves fans, your teams would still be in it despite all of their efforts to start vacation early. The bottom three in the first division would be relegated to the second for 2011. Alas, the Padres only lasted one season in the top flight.

The Brewers and Diamondbacks would both be promoted automatically. The next four teams in the second division would enter playoffs to determine the third promotion. I'll give the Dodgers the benefit of the doubt. How about that? With all of their troubles this year, their strong finish would have brought a meaningful result.

As I have said all along, my hope is to be proven wrong. I want to believe that more than a handful of teams have a chance to win the World Series each year. Thus I am hopeful that either the Brewers or the D-backs will win it all. Since they play each other, we know at least one will reach the next round.

Checking in with the Orioles: The Art of Loving a Bad Team

Image via SeatGeek

Last night after broomball, as we were hanging out in the parking lot, one of my sour graping, Red Sox fan friends complained about the over-exuberance of the Orioles' celebration of knocking their beloved team out of the post season. Sox fans have been spoiled over the past decade. They've forgotten what it's like to go for years without being at the center of the broader baseball conversation. The Orioles had a putrid season. Yet for two glorious weeks, they got to play the central role in the dismantling of a powerhouse. Even as they face an off-season with many questions to answer in their seemingly endless quest for respectability, the wounds of 2011 are soothed by the joys of a strong finish and the thrill of being part of the story. Along the way, they even managed to improve upon last year's record: 69 wins as opposed to 66 in 2010.

Andy MacPhail, the Orioles' president of baseball operations, is likely finished. There are those who believe manager Buck Showalter will be promoted to take his place. Regardless, big changes are in store in Baltimore and I think it's long past time for a new direction.

I, for one, am tired of the talk claiming that the O's will never be able to dig themselves out of their hole as long as they're in the brutal AL East. Fact is, they stink when they play anybody. They were, in fact, the only AL East team which had a losing record against teams outside of the division. So in truth, they are a bad team and they are in baseball's toughest division. They are not a bad team because they are in baseball's toughest division. The AL East used to be a two-team race until the Rays battled their way out of the cellar to make it three. Meanwhile, the Blue Jays are by far the best fourth-place team in the game, finishing 2011 with a .500 record. There's no reason - none at all - why the Orioles couldn't at least be good enough to keep things interesting for everybody else.

Trying to follow the Yankee or Red Sox model of team building would be a huge mistake. If the press are to be believed, the O's will target Prince Fielder in the off-season. While Fielder would most certainly improve the team significantly and bring excitement to a desperate fan base, I think such a move would not be the best use of resources. It's not as if the Birds are one, two or even three players away from contention. A systemic overhaul is in order.

Basically, the Orioles need to become the Rays. They need to draft well and develop players who will be coveted by other teams. The Rays lost big name free agents and made the playoffs anyway. The Red Sox gained big name free agents and they didn't. In losing players, the Rays received an unprecedented number of compensation picks in the draft which will fuel their franchise for years to come. This is how you beat the big boys in the current baseball economy. Baltimore needs to hire someone who will lead the way.

The ball's in your court, Mr. Angelos. What is this team going to be, one which might make incremental improvements from year to year or one that builds for sustained success? I know which one I'd prefer.

The New 52: Green Lantern: New Guardians

Title: Green Lantern: New Guardians
Issue: #1
Release: September 2011
Writer: Tony Bedard
Artists: Tyler Kirkham and Batt


Image via DC Universe: The Source

It is a dark time for the floating Oompa-Loompas...

New Guardians is a brand new series, expanding on the Emotional Spectrum concept first introduced by Geoff Johns a few years back. In reading these New 52 books, I've come to realize that the appeal of particular characters is less important to me than hitting a story at the right time. As such, I really shouldn't be surprised that Green Lantern is the storyline which has resonated most with me. Quite a lot of creative energy has been poured into the GL world over the past few years, led by Johns who is now the creative director for all of DC Comics. In the past, when I've gotten into a particular comic book character or story, Wolverine or Spider-man for instnace, I've been eager to go all the way back to the beginning and learn about their development. I don't feel that way with Green Lantern. I feel, instead, that the best time to latch onto the GL story is right now.

In the Emotional Spectrum, there are Lantern Corps in colors beyond green, each representing a particular emotion. Red = rage. Orange = avarice. Yellow = fear. Green = willpower. Blue = hope. Indigo = compassion. Violet = love. The New Guardians is a teaming of emissaries from each of these bands, Green represented in this case by Kyle Rayner. While I still contend that a single complex character would be preferable, this expanded pallet does provide ever increasing possibilities.

And so, Green Lantern: New Guardians #1 does pass my curiosity test. The GL world is 3-for-3 so far.

Let's Talk Baseball: My Playoff Wishes

On the eve of the playoffs, I offer not my predictions of what will happen but instead my wishes for what might. And so...

ALDS

Tigers over Yankees
Rangers over Rays

NLDS

Phillies over Cardinals
Brewers over Diamondbacks

ALCS

Rangers over Tigers

NLCS

Brewers over Phillies

Series for All the World

Brewers over Rangers


Image via PRO Rumors

My rooting interests almost never pan out so we can all expect the exact opposite: Yankees over Cardinals to win their five gazillionth World Series.

The New 52: Teen Titans

Title: Teen Titans
Issue: #1
Release: September 2011
Writer: Scott Lobdell
Artists: Brett Booth and Norm Rapmund


Image via Bleeding Cool

Up to this point with the New 52, I have compared all of the team titles with the Justice League. The JL is, after all, the lead team from which most of the others stem. So if the supplemental teams such as Justice League International or Stormwatch don't add significant flavor to the party, I don't see much point in following them any further beyond an occasional tangent. Before this week, the only team book I read that could match JL was the Green Lantern Corps.

Teen Titans, on the other hand, is a definite winner - a team that can stand perfectly well on its own with only occasional support from the elders. In fact, I will go so far as to say that I preferred this book to JL#1. Many of the characters are, indeed, knockoffs of JL heroes. But if anything, they've been given a little more personality than has been bestowed upon the originals. Kid Flash is obnoxious. Wonder Girl is determined to be independent and hates her name. Red Robin is cocky but harbors lingering resentments. They're just like real teenagers!

Our Girl is an occasional fan of the TV show. I really like the theme song, as performed by Japanese pop megastars Puffy AmiYumi. First, the full Japanese video:



Now the full English version, less interesting visually but more familiar to the American audience:



So, Teen Titans #1 passes my curiosity test. As with the JL, I'm interested to see how all the characters are introduced, most of whom I don't know very well anyway. I get to start fresh.