The Musings of a Giant Idiot

Another classic clip from the greatest superhero movie of all time. This is the end of Superman II after he has beaten the bad guys. Clark Kent goes back to a diner and settles the score against a bully who made Clark, in the words of Dodgeball’s White Goodman, “bleed his own blood.” The diner scene starts at the 3:10 mark. You also get the added bonus of the Superman theme which is one of the classic movie scores of all time.

The 2008 NFL draft is barely over and on ESPN.com, draft guru Todd McShay has his first mock for the 2009 draft. I looked at projections like this just to see how wrong the experts are sometimes. After last year’s draft Brian Brohm from Louisville was the projected #1 pick for 2008, but the experts who loved him last year did not love him this year. I do not know why, he was still the same QB. He put up great numbers and had to deal with a coaching change and a defense that gave up a ton of points. A mock draft a year in advance shows that with 24 hour news you always have to produce something new to stay relevant. I do believe that there is to much information out there that has no relevance to a player’s ability to play in the NFL. Maybe draft gurus and NFL executives need to take the advice of this guy and get away from the unimportant information.

Superhero movies are some of the most popular movies in the industry and with Ironman set to debut this weekend I am doing my favorite clips from superhero movies. Superhero movies have enjoyed a renaissance in the last few years with the three Spiderman movies, the X-Men movies, and the reboot of the Batman and Superman franchises. This summer a number of these movies are due out, Ironman, the Batman sequel, a rebooted Hulk and a different type of superhero, Hancock. The first popular superhero movies were Superman:The Movie and Superman II. Even though the technology today is far superior than the ’70s I still think these are the best of the genre. Today’s scene is Superman’s challenge to Zod which happens to be 7 of my favorite words in movie history.

Future stars and busts were drafted this weekend by NFL teams. All of the hype and anticipation came to end when Commissioner Roger Goodell started announcing the names. Because of the 10 minutes between picks instead of 15 this was the quickest draft in the ESPN era. Today, fans are now looking at how the new players will fit in with their teams and if they made the right choices this weekend. I am still confused by what the Titans did in the draft. They needed a WR but they waited until the 4th round to take one. There are reports that new Titans offensive coordinator Mike Heimerdinger likes the WRs that the Titans have now and that is why they did not think it was necessary to draft WR. I know that Coach Jeff Fisher and GM Mike Reinfeldt are putting a positive spin on the draft and that is what they are supposed to do, but what has amazed me is how the media in Nashville also believe that the Titans had a decent draft and addressed a number of needs.

I felt that they reached for Chris Johnson a RB out of East Carolina who has tremendous speed but is a smallish back. If they utilize him correctly then he could be dangerous but right now he might be a 3rd down back and a kick returner. He is also a player who would have been there in the 2nd round and they could have drafted a much needed WR in the 1st round. The rest of the Titans draft was similar, kids from smaller schools that were picked higher than predicted. I also felt that Titans panicked in the 1st and 2nd round when the Steelers took players they were most likely to take one pick ahead of them. Many fans are upset with the draft and the media is trying to keep with the Titans talking points, it is going to make for an interesting spring and summer.

Some experts are giving the Titans very poor draft grades. This is Jeff Fisher’s second draft without former GM Floyd Reese and the results right now have not been very good. In last year’s draft the only impact player the Titans got out of their 9 draft picks was S Michael Griffin. If they only get one impact player out of 7 drafted this year then the Titans could have some serious personnel issues in the next few years.

Many people say that it takes 3-4 years to evaluate a draft class but based on the early returns of the ‘07 draft and the seemingly weak draft this year it is going to be difficult for the Titans to be competitive in the AFC South, one of the toughest divisions in the NFL.

The Titans picked Chris Johnson a RB from East Carolina with their 1st round pick. He posted the best 40 time at the combine a 4.24 and he actually produced in college unlike Chris Henry the RB from Arizona the Titans reached for in the 2nd round last year. Even if the Titans get a WR, WHICH THEY NEED, in the 2nd round this pick is a reach in the 1st round. I have feeling he would have been there in the 2nd round. Jeff Fisher is content to run the ball 40 times a game to try and win, that would be fine but the AFC South is one of the toughest divisions in the NFL and Houston, Indy and J’ville all have offenses that can put points on the board. Even though the Titans brought in Mike Heimerdinger to be offensive coordinator I am still not convinced that they want to score more points. Something needs to change at the top for the Titans or they are going to waste Vince Young’s talents.

The Crosspoint softball team did it again, sweeping the double header and evening our season record to 3-3. Continuing the great hitting we had Thursday night, we scored 20 runs for the third straight game. Everyone had a great night hitting the ball and our triple play specialist, Chad Pickering hit 3 monster blasts in the 2 games. The defense has come around and a shout out goes to, 3rd baseman BJ Parker and SS Brian Dishon, for keeping the left side of the infield on lock down. Our next games are Friday night and we hope to continue the stellar play in the field and at the plate.

With the announcement of the Madden cover today, I started thinking about my favorite video games. I get the newest edition of Madden every year and enjoy playing it. But to me nothing beats the memory of my younger brother and I using our considerable thumb speed to defeat the enemy in the game that is famous for the code at the top, most guys over 25 will know what game it is from.

Tomorrow at 2 o’clock (3 for those that “flyover” us) the NFL draft will get under way. To make the draft more TV friendly the NFL decided to cut the time teams have to make picks in the 1st round from 15 minutes to 10 minutes.Since the 1st pick has been known since Tuesday, the speculation is what the Rams will do with the 2nd pick and how the draft will play out from there. Mel Kiper has been all over ESPN the last month and tomorrow he will be in the spotlight along with the players getting drafted.

I will be monitoring the draft but will really pay attention when the Tennessee Titans are on the clock with the 24th pick. Tennessee needs to draft a wide receiver that will help Vince Young but for some reason I think they go with a defensive player and load up on receivers in later rounds. This is the same tactic they used in 2005 when they chose Pacman Jones with their 1st round pick and then picked up 3 WRs in the next three rounds. None of the receivers have really panned out although they have had their moments.

One thing about the draft I am not looking forward to is listening to Chris Berman. I do not understand why he is still on the air. When I was a kid his nicknames were funny and his “backbackback” calls were amusing, but he has not changed his act in 20 years. He reminds me of an uncle who was hilarious when you were a kid but his jokes are stale now that you are grown up.
ESPN did a smart thing by bringing Bobby Knight in for analysis during the NCAA tournament I wish they would do the right thing and limit Berman’s airtime.

One last thing on the NCAA tournament, I have always thought the tournament is the most exciting sporting event because of the one and done scenario. So since 1974, why has the Final Four been announced by a curmudgeon like Billy Packer?

Last week we started our softball season and our year hiatus showed. Thursday night we played two of our make up games and it was looking like a repeat of the first night. Then our bats came alive and we came back from a big deficit to tie the game in the top of the last inning. Our opponents won the game in the bottom of the inning but we had fought back and it gave us confidence for our second game plus this guy hit his first homer ever. The second game was a back and forth affair until our bats went cold. We were down 6 going into the bottom of the last inning. With our lineup scoring 7 runs to win is not difficult but we had hit our allotted 4 home runs and any homer after that was an out. So we would have to manufacture the runs. Everyone was hitting frozen ropes and we started chipping away at their lead. We got the winning run on third with no outs and our 10th batter up. He hit a deep shot to right that hit in the net for a double and the winning run scored! Our first win of the season! It was a great night for the team, no one hit into a triple play and we won in dramatic fashion.

The Titans finally got rid of Pacman Jones trading him to Dallas for a 4th round pick and an additional pick if Jones can behave himself. Going from Nashville to a Dallas it will be interesting to see if he can keep his nose clean. I never understood why the Titans drafted Jones with the 6th pick in 2005 and not Antrel Rolle. Pacman is a talented player but there were to many red flags that made him a very risky pick. It reminded me of Lawrence Phillips being drafted in 1996. Phillips was the Nebraska running back who missed most of the 1995 college season for beating up his ex-girlfriend. But his mix of power and speed was to much to pass up and the Rams took him with the 6th pick. Phillips is a cautionary tale on selecting talent over behavior problems.

Although the warning signs were there with Pacman the Titans decided to draft him anyway. For their troubles the Titans got 30 games out of Pacman in 3 seasons. His first year was mediocre, he was late signing which caused him to miss some training camp but he had his moments especially on special teams. His second year was much better, he became a better cover corner and had 4 interceptions, he also returned four punts for touchdowns.

He still had incidents both on and off the field but because he was playing well it was ignored. Any goodwill he accumulated in the 2006 season was gone once he was involved in the shooting at a Las Vegas strip club during the NBA All Star game. He was suspended for the 2007 season and the Titans finally knew they had to get rid of him.

Even with Pacman gone he could still cost the Titans a draft pick. One of the conditions of the trade is Pacman’s reinstatement, if he is reinstated the Titans will get the Cowboys 6th round pick in 2009. If he is not reinstated then the Cowboys get the Titans 4th round pick in 2009. I am glad he is gone, I enjoyed some of his moments on the field and liked using him in Madden but I am glad the Titans can now focus on the team and not one player.