Monday, May 5, 2008

Big News

So, I bet you're wondering what the big news is, eh? Well, I made my first big purchase in a long time and I bought a LCD HD TV, he he, which is nice. And, it's 52", which will be the biggest tv I've watched tv on in a long time. It won't be delivered until next Thursday, but I'm excited. I got the Philips Ambilight 2 flatscreen lcd hd tv. What I like about the ambilight is that it corrects the flaws of the LCD tv(for those of you who don't know what it is, the problem with lcds is that the edges seem to get duller and what the ambilight technology does is it puts lights around the edges to correct this, so that the picture is awesome). I've been waiting for this tv to be available and I found out that it was today. Actually, I wanted to get the 47" tv but that one is not available so I was "forced" to purchase the 52" one. I guess I'll have to live with that one. He he.

On to other stuff. I re-watched the next movie on the list, which is the Green Street Hooligans. It's a small indy movie that was mostly filmed in England. Elijah Wood is the main character in the movie. The plot of the movie is Elijah Wood is about to graduate Harvard with a degree in journalism but his roommate was ratted on for having cocaine in their dorm room so the roommate stashed it in his area. So, Elijah took the downfall because his roommate is a senator's son and Wood thought there was no way to fight it. So, he gets kicked out of Harvard 2 months before he was about to graduate. With no where to go, he decides to fly to England to live with his older sister, her husband and his nephew. Once there, he meets his other brother in law and that's where the fun begins. You see, the b.i.l. is the leader one a football hooligan gang called the Green Street Elite who follow West Ham United. These gangs are actually called "firms"(there is a real firm for West Ham, but the real name is not used). What I really like about this is the fact that they show what it's like to be part of a firm because I don't think we really understand how seriously the English, or for that matter, the rest of the world, take football(or soccer for us americans). Now, Rob is a Red Sox fan, Perrotti & Mike are Yankee fans and Malone and I are Mets fans. If we all met at some random bar one night and were there with a bunch of friends who all cheered for the same team we could co-exist just fine. We might poke fun of each other, but at the end of the night, things would be just fine. We'd go our own way and that would be it. And actually, we'd probably would have just gone together and then make fun of whoever's team lost or is having a bad season. Nothing would come of it and we'd still be friends at the end of the day. You see, that doesn't happen everywhere else with football. If someone liked Manchester United and someone like Arsenal and someone liked West Ham and they all went to a bar together and each of these people were part of a firm there would be a huge brawl going down that night. And that's what I like about this movie. It shows what it would be like to be an outsider all of a sudden thrown into this world where football is a way of life, where you could get beat up and end up in the hospital just because you liked one team or another. In fact, this stuff isn't even made up. Football hooligans have been well known to act this way and for people to die at football matches. I can still remember when I was in middle school and there was something like 80+ people killed at a football match in England and it just blew my mind. But, even with all of the violence that comes along with football throughout the world, what I really like about the matches are the fans. Not because of the fighting, but because of the passion and what goes on during the matches. I just love how each side will sing their own songs during the game and that it goes on throughout the whole match, even if your team is down 3-0. It just seems like it would be a lot of fun to go to one of these games, even if I had to wear hockey gear to survive, ha ha. It just seems that it would be cool to go to a match and to sing along with the other fans that are cheering for your team. I think that there is more of a brotherhood with these fans more than there is in America for our teams. And this is what interests me the most about this movie, just seeing how these guys interact together. If you haven't seen this movie yet, I would definitely recommend it to you jus to get a glimpse of what rooting for a team is like across the pond.

Lastly, in response to Mike, I still think that Cashman is under more pressure and that the pressure is going to mount as the season goes along because a. you didn't trade for Santana when you should have, b. Phil Hughes has sucked this season and is now on the dl, c. Ian Kennedy, Kennedy has been just as bad and these two guys were suppose to anchor this rotation and d. Hank still has his father's blood flowing through him. He acted like his father in telling Cashman to get Joba the Hutt into the starting rotation. Of course, he was also smart enough to back off the next day after BC stood up for himself. I like that in the gm and if Cashman gets fired and Omar gets fired I would look forward to having Cashman as the Mets gm. I would agree with Mike in that I would like to see some fire from Willie. I really don't mind Wagner talking because at least someone does and it's not bad to have someone say something once in a while. Most of the guys on the team are quiet and I don't really see David Wright say anything, just like you wouldn't see Jeter saying anything bad about anyone. We'll see what happens.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm going to have to check out that movie...

Here's a link to an article by Bob Klapisch that addresses the very situation we've been arguing about:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=klapisch_bob&id=3381866&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab4pos2

I also read something yesterday that mentioned the very good possibility that Cashman would become the GM of the Phillies next years if his contract is not renewed. It's a job he expressed interest in last time it was available, and Pat Gillick is retiring at the end of the year. I think this would be bad for the Mets. Say what you will about Cashman, but he's good at what he does. In the long run, we may see that not trading Hughes and Kennedy was a good idea. We also would have lost Melky Cabrera in that deal, and he's been one of the hottest bats. Well, my fingers are crossed that Wang wins 20games, Pettite and Mussina pull out 15-17 wins each, Darrell Rasner continues to be as good as he's been in AAA, and at least one of these young pitchers contributes. Anything but Kei Igawa. Farnsworth has looked great lately, so it would be great if he could claim the 7th inning as his own. All wishful thinking at this point.

Anyway, my last note is this. The Blue Jays scare me.

Unknown said...

First off, I don't think we should get rid of Willie just yet. If we miss the playoffs this year, then absolutely. He has his own coaching style and not everyone has to be like Joe Torre to be successful. Besides Torre hasn't exactly been as successful as everyone wants to be in the past 7 years.

I did borrow that movie from you and watch it, and I admit it was pretty fascinating to watch. You don't realize how crazy some fans are until you watch a movie like that. I did however, read something just this morning about how some crazy 50 year old lady (who was a yankees fan) was drunk at some bar in Mass. and she got into some verbal fight with a red sox fan. They ended up going outside to argue more, and I guess she got in her car and drove it straight into a crowd of about 20 or so red sox fans, killing one guy. That's just crazy. I know the alcohol had a lot to do with it, but to kill someone over a freaking sports team is ridiculous. I see people fighting at yankees games all the time, especailly when they play the sox. I love the Mets, but if some douchebag started talking crap about them, I'd probably just ignore him. Anyways, my point is that our country may not be too far away from having our own "firms'. We'll see I guess.

Roger Kuhrt said...

Malone, I'm pretty sure that you did borrow the movie. I'm not sure how close we are to having "firms" though. The lady that ran that guy over she was drunk and said that she was just trying to scare them. She didn't really want to kill the guy. I think we're still pretty far away from having "firms". I can still remember when I was young and reading about how like 80+ people were killed at a soccer game because of the hooligans.

Mike, if I were you I'd also be scared of the Rays. I think they'll be pretty good this year and only get better. I think Toronto has the best starting pitching in the AL East, but I think the Rays have the best bullpen. It'll be an interesting race this season.