Dave’s Sports Zone: Not the Break They Needed

In the recent past the New York Yankees defeated the Texas Ranges 18 – 7. Ok ok, good job, you can win games. Some Yankee players stated this could be the break they needed to improve there 45 and 40 record. Ok, so now you play Boston, your rival, your enemy…lets put that confidence to the test.

As I sat in the BSG (Buffalo Sports Garden) with my family and some people I don’t know, I watched this supposed “breakthrough game” for the Yankees. Well, well, well…It seems as though this breakthrough game was…“not so much”. The Yankees failed to cross the plate once, disappointing.

Now, as I sat there watching this game and eating my cheese fries, which were delicious by the way, I pondered something, and that something was “Wait, who cares, the Tampa Bay Rays are in first place now”. And good for them, it’s a good feeling knowing that for at least a short amount of time, the American league has a new leader. The American league, which has been dominated by the Red Sox or Yankees, has changed. And to top it off, they are leading the league. I think that as bloggers, we should embrace this moment in time, and accept its greatness as a little shake-up in baseball.

Dave’s Sports Zone: Giving Back?

Thanks to Donnie I have been non stop listening to ESPN radio and have been all “sported” up.  I strongly feel as though I need to relay this information to you readers, even though some you may know it already.  I will start with Basketball…not my favorite sport…but this is really kind of a “wow” story.

So today in the nation’s capital, the Wizards offered Gilbert Arenas a 127 million dollar contract…take it right?…no.  Mr. Arenas kindly stated, and I quote, “I can feed my family with my current 111 million, I don’t need an extra 16 million.  WHAT?!!  What kind of a sports player is that?  A pretty nice one at that.

It seems Gilbert feels that the Wizards can build a team around him and win a championship in the next six years.  “This is in line with what I’ve been saying the whole time. You see players take max deals and they financially bind their teams. I don’t wanna be one of those players and three years down the road your team is strapped and can’t do anything about it.”  Nice huh, well yeah, but now Gilbert pretty much controls the Wizards.  Arenas said that he would not re-sign unless the team re-signed Antawn Jamison. The Wizards lived up to that part of the bargain Monday by giving Jamison a four-year, $50 million deal.

I admire this player simply because he wants to help his team to a championship.  Case and point…not all sports players are butt-faces when it comes to contracts.

Video Game Preview: inFamous

inFamous is an open ended/action game that will be arriving on Playstation 3 by the end of 2008 (hopefully), or the beginning of 2009 (most likely).  Sucker Punch Games and Sony Entertainment have been developing this new game in the shadows of the recent big game releases.  They have now released information and specs on what seems to be an entirely new style of game coming to the PS3.

After there success with Sly III, Sucker Punch teamed up with Sony to begin work on inFamous.  It looks as though it will have a Batman kind of feel, with an open ended world.  The game will feature a big decision making theme.  Such as deciding the fate of people, or choosing good or evil (everyone’s favorite classic RPG elements).  There will be a main story sequence and supposedly side missions, but everything will proceed at the players pace.  I guess you could say it has an Oblivion/GTA feel when it comes to the quest/mission set up.

It looks like you will play as a super-hero/villain (probably based on the decisions you make).  Sucker Punch has promised battle scenes with high tech/awesome weapons.  And the nice thing about the game is that it will run extremely smooth, since it is only using 30% of the PS3’s SPU capability.  Sucker Punch also promised great (1080i) graphics with the use of Blu-ray technology.

Sucker Punch and Sony Entertainment are hoping to deliver an entirely new, open ended sandbox game to the PS3.  Hopefully…for PS3 owners of course…this will be the next breakthrough in gaming technology.

My thoughts on NHL’s Free Agent Frenzy…

This past July first was a much different experience compared to last year.  I would safely say that the majority of people in Buffalo, NY were asking themselves how they could manage to root for a team that willingly/unwillingly let the teams two largest stars to walk for nothing.  Chris Drury more or less said ‘thanks, but no thanks’ to the offer and played for his childhood team the New York Rangers.  Daniel Briere wasn’t even offered anything, and went to the highest bidder (Philadelphia).  This year we had no major Unrestricted Free Agents, aside from Michael Ryan, Nolan Pratt and Dimtri Kalinin.  I can honestly say I did not loose any sleep over loosing any of those players.

I’m not going to lie, I’m not horrible upset at the lack of Free Agent signing this year.  I’ve read the reports and the vast majority of Free Agent signings turn out to be busts.  Well, I’ve decided to take a look at the worst signings of the last couple years:

Greatest Songs Eva #3: Chris Rock - No Sex (in the Champagne Room)

Few artists can transcend different genre’s of entertainment and excel at all of them.  Sure actors like Russel Crowe, Keanu Reeves, Bruce Willis and Juliette Lewis have bands.  But they all suck in terms of actual quality musician-ship.  In fact, before ‘really’ listening to this song (I played it on repeat for about an hour and a half), I was under the impression that Jared Leto and his band 30 Seconds to Mars were the closest thing to a decent ‘celebrity band’.  Chris Rock proves in this hit single from July of 1999, that not only is he a great comedian (ranked 5th greatest all time by Comedy Central), a wonderful actor (Dogma anyone?), an even greater producer (Pootie Tang) but he is also a hit making, music sensation.  Which has lead me to realize that No Sex (in the Champagne Room) is one of the greatest songs ever made.

Donnie B’s Roadtrip #6: Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival

It seems that the people who have put together the Coachella festival have the idea that what makes a truly great music experience is not just an awesome lineup.  I mean Lollapoolza, Leading and Reeds festivals, Bamboozle, and Bonnaroo have all tried that method and have had varied success.

They figured what really sets themselves apart from “the festival group” was to have some monumental band(s) reunite that would draw world headlines (and large ticket sales).  Every year since 2001 they have just done that.  For that reason, and the amazing quality of art, other popular acts of music, cutting edge comedians and everything else, is the reason that the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is a place I would love to visit on a road trip.

Best Bizzle Bros Week Ever: 6/22 to 6/28

In our second edition there is less emphasis on the website’s look and feel.  Were constantly re-thinking of how we can better this site and add more to it (or take away somethings).  There’s been some new entries, some record breaking days, a record breaking week, and some other sweet things.  So enjoy.

New Postings / Bizzle Bro related Info:

• Our website had it’s highest viewed day ever on Wednesday June 25th with 429 page views.  For the week of 6/22 to 6/28 we had a record 1800+ hits.  And we hit that awesome 10,000 mark.  Thanks to all of our loyal readers.
• I reviewed Girl Talk’s newest album “Feed the Animals”, its a pretty rad (yes worthy of bringing that jem out from the 90’s).  I think that anyone that likes club music/pop culture must listen to it.  Continuing the Music reviews of the week, Tom reviewed From First to Last’s latest CD that is featuring a lineup sans-Sunny Moore.  He apparently likes it alot.
• I posted several food adventures, one being a trip to elmwood that resulted in some good (although maybe alittle over-rated) desserts from Delish!.  If you like sugar its a must, if you don’t maybe you should go to the Lexington Co-op across the street and get some fruit.  The other trip was a revisit to Bar Bill Tavern in East Aurora, and showcasing a love of my new favorite beer Pabst Blue Ribbon.
• Tom the Tastemaker followed through on its promise of every Saturday being updated with new material as Tom picked his 5th band for the series: Envy on the Coast.
• Last, but definately not least, Alli almost doubled her posting’s for the website with her two marvelous entries.  One on the hilarity of Michael Ian Black (something I personally didn’t even know that much about) and another on the uber-adorableness of the movie Wall E, which I will admit.  Was effing adorable.

Non Bizzle Related News

• George Carlin passed away at the age of 71, very sad day in the world of comedy.
• Our favorite video game reviewer Yahtzee Crowshaw reviewed Metal Gear Solid 4
• vh1’s I love the Millennium was probably a bit ‘unneeded’ and while Alli loved it, I feel that they could have at least waited that 1.5 years to do a fully appropriate one.
• The Dragon Ball LIVE ACTION MOVIE poster was just leaked online, and it is sweeeeeet.
• Tim McGraw showed his true manly ways and picked up a fat dude and threw him out of a concert.

Tom the Tastemaker: Envy On the Coast

Its saturday..that means its time for another Tom the Tastemaker.  This week im looking to a band by the name of Envy on the Coast.  With their latest release of Lucy Gray, EOTC have shown themselves to stick out in today’s scene.  Filled with songs like Sugar SKulls, and The GIft of Paralysis, the cd is pure awesome.  No filler.

WALL-E. the most adorable awesome movie ever. times a million.

it has been widely accepted by everyone in the world (for reals, everyone) that the two cutest animated movies ever made were monsters,inc and happy feet. few things are certain in this world, but we all felt at ease knowing that some things would always be the same…the grass would always be green(ish), the buffalo sabres would never win a cup, huey lewis and the news would always be awesome, and monsters inc and happy feet would always be the cutest movies ever made. ever.

well, things have changed. while huey lewis and his awesome band are still, well, awesome… and the grass is still mostly green…and, unless we trade our entire team for malkin, we aren’t winning a cup anytime soon… there has been a shake up in the land of cutest most adorablest movies ever.

enter, WALL-E.

@ Bar Bill Tavern

I wrote about this place a couple months ago.  Went back, had some butter bbq wings (delicious) and some of those mozzaluna’s that were tastey.  The fries were ok, i dont like seasoned fries but eh, what ya gonna do?  Anyways, I’ve realized this is one of my favorite drinks to order now.  It seems like there is some weird ‘indie’ kid ressurgance, or its just the best tasting cheap beer out there, or i feel like i have ‘beer-cred’ for drinking something that mostly died out in the late 70’s.  Anyways I enjoy it, and its not a forced love either.