KING SIZED BLOGS: Best & Worst of 2007 - MEDIA

Well here's the last of my Year in Review posts.  Since I don't have enough on any of these topics to really put a post on each, I'll clump them up together.  I'm not sure if Greg is going to respond or if he has moved on.  Here's his link in case he still is posting about this.  One thing you will notice, I don't have a lot of "Worsts" on here, because I don't waste my money often on stuff I don't like.  

BEST AND WORST OF BOOKS

BEST - THE COLDEST WINTER by David Halberstam

When Halberstam died in 2007, I wrote about my feelings about it in this stunning and award-winning post.  He was one of the most influential writers in my life.  So, when I found out that he had finished one last book before he died, and that it was on the Korean War, I knew I had to get it.  My father fought in Korea, and I have always been interested in the topic - trying to find out some more about his experience.  That was the one thing my dad didn't ever really want to talk much about.  Well, I finally got the book and it just reinforced how much this world is going to miss a writer that talented.  For most people, reading a history book about a war (let alone a 736 page book) would be a nightmare.  Quite the opposite in the hands of a master.

BEST - THE REAGAN DIARIES by Ronald Reagan

In modern politics, more often than not, we have no idea what our leaders are thinking.  And expecting them to explain things is just wasting time.  That is what makes this book so unbelievable.  Ronald Reagan kept a journal while in office - talking about his thoughts on events, family, government, and more.  It is surreal, to read what was actually going on in the mind of the "Leader of the Free World" during one of the most turbulent times in American history.  Whatever you thought of Reagan, this is a must-read.  He writes about his assassination attempt, his battles with son Ron, the Soviets (whom he feared would bring Armageddon), his love for Nancy, and his faith.  When we were lucky enough to visit the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library back in June, they actually had the real journals displayed - one for each year in office.  He is the only President, and with all the concerns over "getting in trouble," he'll probably be the last.  Too bad.  I would LOVE to figure out what was behind some of W's ideas.

BEST AND WORST OF MUSIC

BEST - MAGIC by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

I have always appreciated The Boss from the outside.  I never really was a huge fan, but I liked a lot of his stuff.   At some point, I had a few cassettes.  Now, all I really have is his Best of album, which is great.  This year, Springsteen surprised everyone by putting this album out.  No one really knew he had an album planned, let alone one with the whole E Street Band.  iTunes offered the first single ("Radio Nowhere") for free.  So I used my album download on Real.com and got it.  It was really good - harkened back to the legendary songs of the 1980s with a modern update.  And, as always with Bruce, the songs are actually ABOUT something.  I was pleasantly surprised.

BEST - BLINK by Plumb

Another sneaky artist was Plumb.  She put out her latest in October without much fanfare or promotion.  Too bad.  Honestly, it is the most amazing album about being a parent ever.  Over the years, Plumb has matured as a person and an artist.  Her songs have become so much more personal.  This album was incredible.  As I listened, I heard thoughts that I feel about my kids, but much prettier.  Several times I was close to tears.  Then I realized I was a guy and I should be listening to manly music.  So I went and listened to Springsteen again.

BEST - "No One" by Alicia Keys

This song from Keys' latest album is absolutely amazing.  She is another artist who has grown a lot, and you can see the maturity in her music.  This song is the story of a person who is completely in love with their spouse, no matter what anyone says or whatever happens.  Every time I hear it, I think of Heather.  It is a gorgeous song - the music, the lyrics, the voice.  Beautiful.

BEST AND WORST OF TECHNOLOGY

WORST - Apple Leopard

For all the Windows bashing Apple likes to do, let me say that Apple was drifting close to their territory with this upgrade.  Amid all the chest thumping about innovations like Time Machine, Spaces, and Quick Look (which are great), they neglected to the erasing of print drivers, the wrecking of your wireless abilities, and the screwing up of font libraries.  And they certainly didn't talk about the legions of irritated Apple customers.  Or how you would have to buy a new router.  Or how you were wishing you (gulp) had a PC.  Then you would remember Vista, and all was right with the world.

BEST and WORST - Palm Centro

As a long time Palm Treo user, I have been hoping for a significant upgrade.  I keep seeing things like iPhone and Blackjack and hoping that Palm would try to compete.  Instead, they offered the Centro.  It is a great phone, and I love it - and so does my wife.  However, it is really just a Treo in a smaller and cuter package.  I love the upgraded features over my old phone (TV, Broadband internet, button assignments).  And I am glad I can stay with Sprint, instead of having to jump to AT&T.  However, I can't set up Sprint Music Manager on my Mac.  So I still feel ripped off.

BEST and WORST - iPhone

Not as ripped off as those people who stood in line to buy the new Apple iPhone when it came out, only to see the price drop a few months later.  While the incredible innovation should be on the Best list, the ridiculous price point, the exclusive AT&T contract, and the small storage space makes it a stinker.  If you add in the disappointing AppleTV introduction, Apple didn't do that well in 2007.

KING SIZED BLOGS: Best & Worst of 2007 - TELEVISION

Well here it is - that time of year again.  Just when you are about to go absolutely crazy trying to get the final details ready for Christmas, here comes KING SIZED BLOGS to push you over.  For those of you who don't remember, this is a joint production between my blog and Greg Ramer's.  Basically, I write some annoying stuff, and then Greg responds.  We cover several topics.  We'll start with Television.  Then we'll also address Sports, Movies, and possibly Music.  If anything else strikes our fancy, it may jump up too.  So let's stick this pig.

BEST OF 2007 - TELEVISION

To begin with, I want to cover just the calendar year of 2007.  That would be the 2nd Half of 2006/2007 season, the Summer, and the first half of the 2007/2008 season.  Just wanted to say that in case that is helpful to anyone.

• LOST - Personally, I felt the entire third season was great - even the six episodes from 2006.  But if you remove the six B-grade episodes from the total score, the series was back to "Best Show on Television" status.  Absolutely gut-wrenching and tense, with the richest mythos on television.  The season finale was unbelievable.  It was better than about 95% of all movies.  And the last few episodes managed to make Heroes' finale look like amateur hour.
• 30 ROCK - Sure the show started a little rough in 2006, but by 2007 the show was the funniest 30 minutes on television.  (Yes, that includes its NBC comedy buddy that is listed next.)  The beginning of this season was even zanier and funnier.  Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, Tracy Morgan, and the rest are absolutely gut-busting.  The episodes are brilliantly written - even addressing things like the Iraqi war, racism, corporate greed without being heavy-handed.  And the guest stars are unbelievable.  Any show that can say Jerry Seinfeld was only the fifth best guest star knows how to stunt cast.
• THE OFFICE - There are two major challenges of all long-term shows.  First, how do you advance story lines without losing what made the series popular?  And second, how do you become popular and stay "cool"?  These were the battles for The Office.  We'll see how things go overall, but to date they have handled some potential landmine story lines with humor and brilliant writing (Jim & Pam romance, Michael & Jan romance, Ryan's promotion).  There have been some bumps (like the one hour episodes this fall), but overall I laugh -- a lot.
• BIG BANG THEORY - By far our favorite new show from 2007.  It helps that we are geeks and the show is about geeks.  The laugh track is pretty annoying, especially when getting used to watching no canned laughter on NBC's Thursday shows.  But it is a very very funny show.
• MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL - I put this on last year too, but 2007 was a brilliant year for MNF.  There have been four legitimate classic-level games this year - ones that make you kick yourself for falling asleep too early in the morning.  And adding Ron Jaworski instead of Joe Theismann was a great move.
• FOOD NETWORK -   When exactly did a channel about food become one of the best stations on television?  Their roster of newer shows are amazing: Dinner Impossible, Bobby Flay's Throwdown, Feasting on Asphalt, Ace of Cakes, Diners Drive-ins and Dives, Iron Chef America.  And their "Next Iron Chef" short season was six weeks of tension, brilliance, and fun.  Best reality show I've seen in years.  And it had an unexpected outcome.  The guy who was very shaky week one wins the whole thing - we wanted the guy who came in second to win.  But then one his debut episode on Iron Chef, everyone realized why he won.  We actually watch it more than any other channel.  Great stuff.
• HONORABLE MENTION - Shrek the Halls, Scrubs, Upside Down Show

WORST OF 2007 - TELEVISION

• WRITER'S STRIKE - I don't know where I stand on this.  It is very easy to feel like you have to side with the poor writers instead of the greedy billionaire owners.  But the strike has undeniably ruined what could have been a great season.  It makes me wonder if things will ever be the same on television.  And what happens when this goes on for months and months?  I can't wait to see the horrible reality shows we are forced to deal with to fill hours.  On the plus side, we watch a lot less television.  And a lot more Food Network.
• ESPN - I officially am tired of ESPN.  With the exception of Mike and Mike in the Morning and live sporting events, I can't think of a single show on ESPN that I would even watch.  They began the entire process of sportswriters just being argumentative to get face time.  And they have blown more stories than any other news outlet.  Would CNN or ABC get away with an anchorman insisting that he was sure a corporate CEO was abandoning his company for a rival - the same day as the Annual Meeting - only to be proven wrong?  Yet ESPN did that with LSU's football coach.  Some of the personalities I used to like (Chris Berman, Stuart Scott, Kenny Mayne) have become so arrogant and self-involved that I hate listening to them.
• YO GABBA GABBA - Seriously, watch this once.  It will scare you forever.
• HONORABLE MENTION - Cable News Shows, Sopranos Finale, Most of 2007 Season

Now over to Greg for him to tell us how he doesn't watch television.  Come on Greg, get lazier and watch more of the tube.

Sports Writing Central

In my opinion, the best sportswriters have the following characteristics in common:

A true passion and love for sports.
An incredible sense of humor.
An understanding that sports is not the only thing in the world.
An interest in other things to talk about.
A high intelligence quotient.
A refusal to talk down to the readers.
An ability to keep readers involved even when they don't care about the topic.
Quotability

This list is why I think that Ray Romano's character on Everybody Loves Raymond would be a horrible sportswriter. He is missing numbers 3, 4, 5, and probably 6. Skip Bayless from ESPN also is horrible because he is missing all of them. He only wants to stir up trouble. That attitude of trouble-making and arguing is sadly becoming the norm. Writers do not actually WRITE so much any more as try to make points to stir up arguments. That and get on tv.

You get to be a part of the television sports commentary scene by causing a ruckus. Usually these guys actually stink as writers. I would wager that most of the newspaper guys who have jumped to television (and vice versa) would fall in the category of "Sports Muckraker" instead of Sportswriter. ESPN is the one responsible for this. They had hours and hours to fill on their many stations, so they started bringing famous writers onto the screen. So now we have Woody Paige, Jay Mariotti, AJ Andale, Dan LeBatard, Stephen A Smith, Bayless and their ilk screaming at each other and basically trying to cause trouble instead of actually write well. It is funny, though. The best sports commentators are often the best best writers too. If you have those qualities above in your writing, you will have it in your talking too. This is my current list of best sportswriters (not necessarily in order).

Bill Simmons -- ESPN Page 2, Sports Guy World -- Not on TV now (used to write for Jimmy Kimmel)
Simmons is probably my favorite sportswriter. (You could argue his wife is the second best - her articles are hilarious.) I would rate him as a 10_10_8_9_10_9_10_10 in the eight categories. His strongest are 2 and 7. How good is he at keeping your attention when you don't care? His favorite sport is basketball (which I hate). His favorite teams are the Patriots (in my bottom NFL 10), Celtics (I only hate the Lakers more), and Red Sox (my least favorite team in any sport). He wrote several complete articles on choosing a favorite soccer team (I read all of them). The days he doesn't write actually make me upset.

Tony Kornheiser -- Washington Post -- Pardon the Interruption, Monday Night Football
I love Kornheiser. I wish he wrote more and longer. But his schedule has not allowed him to continue writing. The amazing thing about him is that he also had my favorite radio sports show and has one of my favorite tv shows (PTI). But the crazy thing is that he didn't start in sports - he used to write culture articles. And his current radio show is not always sports-themed. He's dry and droll and funny as all get out. His scores are 8_10_10_10_10_9_9_10.

Peter King -- CNNSI, Sport Illustrated -- HBO NFL show, NBC Sunday night show
King is a very rare bird. He keeps you interested in all sorts of mundane stuff - his daughters' sports efforts, he quest for good coffee. But he also has forgot more about football than most people know. One of the best pieces he ever did was a report on a sports-loving Iraqi war participant. 10_8_10_10_10_9_10_8.

The list was topped by another man until this past weekend when David Halberstam died in an auto accident in California. In MY opinion, he was the standard for sportswriting. Of course, I came up with that decision while reading a book that had nothing to do with sports. In one of my college history classes (US History 1945-Current) we had to read a book called The Fifties. This was one of seven books (yup 7) for that class alone. Now, if you have ever had a class where there are seven books to be read (and that multiplied by four classes), you know the goal is to skim and read the least possible. Well, when I hit that book about one of the most boring parts of U.S. History, I was going to be in full skim mode.

Until I started reading it. Then, I was enraptured by the style and the approach. It was amazing. I read every page and was sad when the huge work was done. The thing that was crazy was that my roommate was in a class on the History of Baseball, and he was reading a book by David Halberstam. What? The same guy who wrote this amazing book on The Fifties wrote a book on baseball? Well if you go to Amazon.com and look up Halberstam, you will see that he also has books on Michael Jordan, basketball, the Korean War (which my dad fought in), Vietnam, and American Politics. I plan on reading all of them. He was a 10 in each category.

Once I discovered ESPN Page 2, I was thrilled because Halberstam was listed as one of their writers. Unfortunately, it was not for too long because September 11 kind of drove the sports part out of him. He still wrote on sports and was on his way to do a book on quarterback Y.A. Tittle when he died. But the daily obsession with sports became something uncomfortable to Halberstam. This article was his take on the first anniversary of the attacks. It pretty much sums up Halberstam. It is weird, when I list my favorite books on places like mySpace or whatever, The Fifties usually is there. How in the world did a textbook end up on a site like that? That was the kind of impact that sportswriter had on me. Apparently, that was a common opinion. Check out this article by a very good sportswriter Jim Caple. And then, no surprise here, there is the article by the most likely successor to Halberstam - Bill Simmons. I had to laugh when I saw that when I got ready to post this.