This makes me happy.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

 

Hat tip: Warming Glow

Big's end of the Year Awards - TV

It's the end of the year, and despite our lack of focus on this site, we are still here, and we do still care.

We care so much in fact, that i have once again put together a list of things that you should be excited about, the End of the Year Awards from yours truly, Big.

Today we start with TV

We did this last year as well.

Cable TV. How great are thee. With your channels more than three, and such great picture quality. Its easy to see, that without you I would be, a more contributing person to society.

A poem by Mamma-auk-a-boo-boo-day

It was a so-so year for TV in my book. Had some new stuff that was decent, alot of crap again, but that's to be expected. On to the awards

Best Animated TV Show : The Cleveland Show (Last year, Family Guy)



I understand a lot of people don't like Seth McFarland (Cleveland Show, Family Guy, American Dad), whether it be because his predictable formula for shows (Stupid fat dad, Hot Wife, Kid who is smarter than his age, talking animal), but his humor (which seams to be a mix of pop-culcher references, slap stick, and shock jock) is right up my ally.

Just a quick aside, This season of South Parks was their best in years. Whale Whores, and Go Home Fags, were quick possibly the best stuff they have done in a decade.

Runners up : South Park, Family Guy, Simpsons.

Best Comedy: Tie, Better off Ted and The League. (Last Year: How I Met Your Mother)

Better off Ted


A show that I got into in the early part of this year, about a guy working for a product development big business. There are always 3 or 4 audible laugh moments each week. Glad they brought it back.

The League


Let see, I'm a sports dork with a soft side for Fantasy Football and "Guy" humor. Yea, I liked the league a lot.

Runner Up: Scrubs, Always Sunny, Psych.

Best Drama: Son's of Anarchy(last year SOA)



Might have moved into the top 5 shows of all time in my list with this last season. (Top five right now in no order Simpsons, The Wire, Sports Night, FNL, SOA/Sheild).

Come on, it had Henry freakin' Rollins as a white surprimisest. Greatness.

Runners Up: True Blood, Lie to Me, Friday Night Lights.

Best Reality Show (None)

I will say, the 30 for 30 Docu's on ESPN have been fantastic. As was the WWII in HD the history channel did.

Best New Show I'm sure will get canceled soon. Modern Family (Last year: True Blood)

Modern Family


Its good. The gay guys are funny, Al Bundy is great, and the "hip" dad always steals a segment or two every episode.

runners up: Warehouse 51,

Re-examining the social networking morass

In the immortal words of Val Kilmer’s Doc Holliday, “My hypocrisy knows no bounds.”

If you remember, I was one of the people who denounced and railed against social networking sites like the MySpace, the Facebook and the Twitter.  Now I find myself joining the Facebook and using this little blogsite to join the Twitter.   Again, I’m the first person to admit that I’m a hypocrite in just about every sense of the word…especially on these here interwebs.  I’ve found that having a Facebook account helps me stay in touch with family and close friends and share pictures and maybe share broadcast messages via a status update.  I’ve found that having a Twitter account helps me either a) promote posts on this site b) promote posts on MavsMoneyBall and c) go on Twitter-thons while watching a game, in essence, live blogging for you, the sexy reader.

In my eyes, that’s what these sites were made for, but in the hands on the wrong person, these sites can inherently make me want to shove chopsticks in my ear until I feel something go *pop*. 

For the record,

• I don’t care that you need help in Mafia Wars
• I don’t care how your farm is doing in Farmville
• I don’t care what you baked in your cafe
• I don’t care what your photo of the day is
• I don’t care about your daily routine and if you really need to go to the gym
• I don’t care if you think it’s cold outside
• I don’t care where you are or what you’re doing every minute of the day

Allow me to respond to the biggest arguments against me on this topic

1) If you don’t like it, then just ignore it or don’t read it.

So, let me get this straight.  We’re friends on Facebook because we’re friends and want to know what’s going on and keep in touch, but I’m supposed to ignore your posts?   As for the don’t read it part, well, that’s a bit hard to do when IT’S 75% OF THE GOD DAMNED SCREEN.  If you’re offended by this, go ahead and remove me as a friend, I won’t have my feelings hurt.  It’s Facebook.  Who gives a shit?

2) I’ve got everything linked together on my phone! What can I do?

STOP LINKING SHIT TOGETHER ON YOUR PHONE! These are two different websites with two different purposes.  Twitter can be updated frequently and to your heart’s content because that’s the intent.  Facebook, however, doesn’t need to be updated every two seconds because again all it does is CLUTTER UP 75% OF MY SCREEN.  If you want me to ignore it, please see number 1.  Is it that fucking hard for you to enter something twice if you absolutely, positively have to put it in both locations?   "Whew, I might get carpel tunnel if I enter “I’m eating dinner now” in two places.  Better merge it into one application!”

3) If it bothers you so much, don’t be on the sites.

Read the entire post, dip shit.

Now, I know for sure that I’ve pissed off at least one of you sexy readers because you’re addicted to the social networking thing and you have to update things every minute of every day.  Just know that you shouldn’t take it personally that I find social networking behavior annoying.  Seriously.  It’s the fucking internet. Who cares what I think? 

I actually went to the stadium this time

Yes, I know we don't post here much anymore. Give me a fucking break, I don't see you assholes writing anything or paying me to write. You can have a Coke, put a smile on your face and shut the fuck up.

This man still gives me nightmares, and I was in the stands.

So, the last time I "reviewed" the stadium, it was based on a few text messages and reactions after the opening game against the Giants. I lambasted the idea of the vast stadium and the catering to luxury boxes and the fucked up logistics of parking and prices, etc. I mentioned that somehow college campuses that routinely pack 95K+ every week for games (Texas, Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio State, etc.) managed to do easily, but the Cowboys couldn't because the pro game experience is too different.

I was blasted in the comments section by some anonymous person who said that I was complaining too much because I only wanted a suite with free parking and beer. First off, I've got an extra "kiss my ass" card for anyone doesn't agree with me. I'm always right, don't you know that? Second of all, I actually ventured out to the stadium for a game, the Big XII championship, so allow me to re-review the stadium based on my own experience.

In a word...meh.

I'm sorry, I just wasn't taken aback by the aura of the stadium and game presentation. I'm going to chalk this up to the fact that it was a college game in a pro stadium, and the way to present a game is different, but here's my pro/con run down.

Pros:

• Parking was not as bad or teeth pulling as I expected.
  
• Neither was traffic.
• Line of Sight. We were sitting in the third section, in the corner of the end zone and I was able to see the entire field and not think I was looking at ants.
  
• Bathrooms. I didn't think they were that bad. Maybe that's just a comparison factor to everywhere else.
• The Screen. Sweet Jesus. You hear how big and bad that thing is, but you don't realize it until you see it in person. Almost to a fault, it deceives you as to how big the stadium is because the screen is so mammoth. You have to train yourself to watch the game and not the television, but it's okay if you do.

Cons

• Sound. This didn't work on two levels. This isn't really relevant in a pro game (so not really Jerry's concern), but in the college game, the band is a pretty crucial element to the fans. If you can't hear the band, then it takes away from the college football experience. Similar to the band, it's really difficult for a crowd to really get a good chant going. Check that, it's really hard for certain chants to get going. If the crowd is all doing the same thing, then it works. For example, Nebraska has a "Go! Big! Red!" chant. That works because all the fans are screaming the same thing in unison. However, Texas uses the "Texas! Fight!" chant where half the fans scream "Texas!" and the other screams "Fight!". This works in most stadiums because you can hear what's being said. For the life of me (and the sections around me), every time Texas tried to start that chant, it died immediately because no one could hear "Texas" and no one could hear "Fight".
  
• Presentation. Again, this might pertain mainly to the college game, but if you notice, there isn't a lot of "stuff" happening during the college game. The presentation is usually left in the hands of the fans. Chants and band noise and all that. Every time either side tried to get a chant going, the stadium people decided that was the time to either blare music from the sound system or show a commercial on the big screen. This move effectively killed any fan chanting, so it really hurt both teams' momentum.
  
• Public Address. This was not the usual Cowboy Stadium announcer, Jody Dean, but this falls onto The Ticket's George Dunham. It usually helps to let the people in the stadium know what is going on. We had no idea down and distance. We had no idea when/if there were penalties. We had no idea when things were being reviewed. It was like watching a game with the sound turned off and KISS FM turned way up.
  
• General information. I've heard this before and confirmed it, but there's no information displayed on any of the 2,000 screens in the stadium. I'd like to know some stats and information beyond a small ticker at the bottom of the giganto screen.
  

All in all, the stadium is nice and all, and a majority of the issues I had can be chalked up simply to the fact that this was a college game in a professional stadium, but I just wasn't as impressed or awestruck as I really expected to be when I came to the stadium.

What the hell is wrong with people?

Really? REALLLYY???

H/T: FilmDrunk

Happy Halloween!

If this doesn't put you in the spirit, I don't know what will.



HT : Warming Glow

and if your into the best part of this fantastic holliday, chicks dressing like hookers, Holy Taco has a gallery you check out here . With stuff like this.

What the hell is happening in Redskins land?

As a Cowboy fan, I’d be lying if I told you I wasn’t at all giddy at the fact that the Redskins haven’t been a contender for 10 years.  However, there’s only a certain amount of pleasure you can take in a fandom’s plight when they’re on the ground bleeding and keep getting kicked in the head.

Is it safe to say that Dan Snyder is the worst owner in the NFL?  He’s got contention from Al Davis (and to a lesser degree, Jerrah), but no one could be more blinded by his own perceived light than this guy.

Take a look a this from Steinberg's blog…

“…there's a new policy that says no signs of any sort are permitted inside the stadium. Even signs sending best wishes to husbands in Afghanistan.

When and why was this change made? I asked Monday morning, and as of Monday evening, a Redskins spokesman said he still wasn't sure.

…

Now, no signs or banners are permitted whatsoever. A spokesman told me that this policy is meant to protect spectators from getting injured by signs, and also to make sure everyone can see the action. Because obstructed views at that stadium could not possibly be tolerated.”

What. In. The. Fuck.

How far up one’s ass does one’s head need to be to not realize how bad things really are around them?

Bad signings.  Zero patience.  No listening to the advisors around him.

Either Snyder has adopted the Beltway attitude of “things are great on the hill, who cares about off of it” or he’s really just envisioning himself as some kind of dictator who must crush any kind of rebellion against him.  Either way, it’s come to a point where I actually feel sorry for Redskins fans.

 

(Note:  I do not feel sorry for Redskins fans.)

Mavericks Season Preview

Check out the team breakdown at Mavs Money Ball.  Here’s the overview…

So, what are we looking at in the NBA this year?

-Shaq's in Cleveland, making his fourth alliance with "the next big thing" (Hardaway, Bryant, wade, James).
-Boston picked up Sheed
-Orlando brought home Vinsanity
-LAL brought in a pit bull with Artest
-San Antonio got really scary with McDyess and Jefferson
-Oh, and that Blazers team that everyone said a better point guard because Steve Blake wasn't it?  Yeah, they're a year older and got Andre Miller.

Needless to say, the NBA's rich just got richer.  There are a host of other story lines: refs, impending CBA lockout, Von Wafer's hair, Blake Griffin's ACL which I am now referring to as "the Clipper's ticking time bomb", but that's not why you're reading this...you wanna know about your Dallas Mavericks.

Click here to read Brown's preview over at MavsMoneyBall.com

Predictions:

EAST
1) Cleveland (LeBron, Shaq...yeah)
2) Orlando (Lost the Turkish MJ, got Vince Carter...wash)
3) Boston (They're old, but they're the good old)
4) Toronto (Bosh and Hedo, I smell buddy flick!)
5) Atlanta (Joe Johnson and Jamal Crawford is gonna be lethal)
6) Chicago (Baby Bulls and Vinny of the Black!)
7) Detroit (New look Pistons with Gordon and Villanueva)
8) Philadelphia (Elton Brand is healthy. Eddie Jordon brings the Princeton offense.)

West
1) Los Angeles (if I need to specify, you're retarded)
2) Portland (I'm telling you, these kids are going to be good)
3) San Antonio (Healthy Manu and Jefferson on the wings? McDyess at the five and Duncan at the four? Yikes.)
4) Utah (Same old)
5) Denver (Melo's hungier than ever)
6) Dallas (I just broke them down)
7) New Orleans (The Paul and Chandler pick and roll was special to watch…how well can it run with Okafor?)
8) Golden State (I really really like Stephen Curry in Nellie-ball)

Finals: San Antonio & Cleveland

Champion: San Antonio

You guys are WHERE??

We’re blogging with big boy pants now.  Just like we’ve moved our wrestling thoughts over to The New PWB, we’ve been asked to contribute to Mavs Money Ball this season on SBNation.  I’m not sure how we were selected, and it’d be a lie to say that we aren’t excited about it.

Quick note to our ass hole commenters, MMB is a big-boy blog and we’d rather you kept it sportsy over there.  I may or may not be posting more TB&TB flavored versions of posts over here, so you can comment your ass off to those. 

Also, we’ve re-instated the twitter page (@bigandthebrown), and I’ve been keeping up on that front.

It’s an internet revolution, mother fuckers, TB&TB style.

College Footbal Weekly Round up - Week 8

Mark Ingram Heisman?

We are starting to reach the point in the season where things really start happening. Most of the pretender team have been washed out, and this is the time where the cream of the crop start to rise to the top. Being a man of size, I'm pretty big fan of cream, and I'm looking around this college football landscape, and I see very little cream. Very. Little. Cream.

Sure there are a few big school still undefeated at the top of the standings, and more than likely two of the big three will ride the course and stay undefeated and play for a national championship, but in my honest opinion, it wouldn't surprise me if all three of them have one loss going into bowl season.

The fun part about this year is the running joke series that is the BCS, and what they will do if two smaller schools are the only two that run into January undefeated. What will the BCS do if, for example, Bamma and Texas drop a game, Bamma then beats Florida in the SEC championship game, and the only undefeated teams are TCU, Boise, and Cincy. One of those guys has to get a shot at the BCS title game, right? How awesome would a Cincy TCU bcs game be? On the rankings

Main Eventers

No. 1 Florida (Win 29-19, Mississippi State) - 13-10 at half time. Against Mississippi State. Sure your defense is good, but you have to do better than 2-12 on third downs if you want to repeat. If State can shut down your passing game, can't wait to see what the Sabin can do.

No. 3 Texas (Win 41-7, Missouri) - I don't understand the voters in either poll. Texas wins a close game, at a neutral site, against what we all thought was a top 5 team in nation at the start of the year, and they drop back to three. Yet when they destroy a former top 25 team on the road and the number 2 team has to block a gimme field goal to win, and they still stay three. I'm pretty sure CBS said "hey, lets just leave Bamma and Florida 1-2, so when they play each other in the SEC title game, we can call it a 1 vs 2 game! Think of the ratings!"

I thought after the Oklahoma game i had seen the best defensive game that Texas would play all year, then they follow it up with this one. Allowing only 174 yards to a good Missouri team is quite impressive. I still have my doubts about the offense (137 yards rushing is good, but 7 guys rushing to do that isn't), but this Texas defense seems good enough to hoist a trophy this year.

No. 2 Alabama (win 12-10, Tennessee) - 2 things I learned walking away from this game. 1. Bama's got some great luck, and one hell of a defensive front. 2. Some point in the next 4 years, Tennessee is going to be the Tits of the SEC. With only 4 games left for the Tide, the LSU game in two weeks should be interesting, but with two weeks to prepare for it shouldn't be too tough, that leaves only Auburn at the end of the year as a game that could be in doubt, but probably won't be. Bama is ripe and ready to go against Florida in the SEC title game.

No. 5 Cincinnati (win 41-10, Louisville) - For the first time Cincy is entering my Main Event status, mainly because I don't know if 2 of the three team above them can go the distance, and even without star Tony Pike, the BearCats put up almost 500 yards and 41 points on Louisville.

Mid Carders

No. 6 Iowa (win 15-13, Michigan State) - Usually an undefeated big 10 team at this point of the year is in my top tier, but not this team. To beat a very average Mich State team, it took a TD pass at the buzzer. If they can beat Ohio State in three weeks, then i will consider them legit.

No. 8 TCU (win 38-7, No. 16 Brigham Young) - Watched this one VS and I must say the presentation was pretty good, but the play by play guy was about as terrible as it gets. Look VS, i know you want to have an "edgy" feel for your station, make it seam like a guys network, but I don't need somebody who is trying to be Gus Johnson. Gus Johnson is greatness, but what makes him great is the idea his super excited calls are genuine and don't feel forced what so ever.

Now, on the TCU, who scored on three of their first 5 drives, and taking a 21-0 lead, in Utah, against a team that beat Oklahoma on a neutral site. This game was over in the third quarter when QB Dalton hit WR Hicks for a 75 yard score.

No. 4 Boise State (win 54-9, Hawaii) - What can you say, Boise dominated every aspect of this game, as they should have. Its just getting hard to remember that win over Oregon at home so long ago. And with nobody on the schedule that is worth a 50 cent steak, i fear I will forget that game before its all said and done completely.

No. 7 USC (win 42-36, Oregon State) - If the BCS apocalypse happens, and we are left with a couple non BCS schools undefeated, and a bunch of one loss powers schools, you can't count out the men of Troy. The one loss on the road, coupled with another pac 10 championship, which would include a win over fellow one loss Oregon, might be enough to have the over hyped Trojans in the title game again. Of course there are a lot of things that must happen for that to take place, and that includes a win this week at Eugene, against a very good Oregon team.

We are going to forsake the Developmental teams this week, due to lack of quality teams at the bottom of the top 25. It just seams that every time you think you know something about a team, they shit the bed and arn't worth talking about. I'm looking at you Texas AM (get rolled by K-State then roll Tech) and Nebraska (Iowa State? Really?)

So instead I'm going to give you your college football schedule for watching on TV coming up on Halloween.

11:00 AM No. 8 Cincinnati at Syracuse - See if Greg Paulus can stop the Bearcat Cinderella season (hint: he can't).

2:30 PM Georgia vs. No. 1 Florida - The Dogs don't have much to play for this year, so this could be a trap game (hint: it won't be)

7:00 PM No. 3 Texas at No. 14 Oklahoma State - Biggest road game for Texas all year.

7:00 PM No. 5 USC at No. 10 Oregon - I would say flip between the two, but they are both on ABC, so enjoy the Texas game. I'm calling for an Oregon upset if you care.

Happy Halloween people.