pipGofern

Well, I suck at Mock Drafting but I did say in the draft thread I think Denver will take a QB. Didn't expect them to trade up for one, though.

I don't know much about this Artie Burns guy the Steelers just took but we definitely won "Draft Pick with Hottest GF" this year. Holy smokes.

Dammit, Joseph was the guy the Steelers had targeted to replace Troy. Speaking of Tunsil, I couldn't get over that chain he was wearing. Between that and Elliot's giant silver ring, these "student athletes" sure can afford some pretty sweet bling.

I understand Davos siding with Team Snow because he's always been a man of honor and I can see where he'd take a stand against the dishonorable people who killed him. The part I didn't like was his suggestion of using Melisandre. He basically spent four seasons trying to talk Stannis into dumping her/trying to win the war on his own then last night he's all for the nuclear option. I mean the child burning alone makes it hard for me to see him accepting her help. Or, wait, does he not know about that?

Matt Cullen is my new man crush.

Damn that wrist shot by Kesel was a thing of beauty. He had a frustrating season but he came to play so far in the playoffs.

I wasn't a big music fan growing up - comics and wrestling were my jams - but the first CD I ever bought was Prince's Batman soundtrack. I'd still argue it's gotta be among the best soundtracks ever - certainly best by a one artist. As I grew older I began to appreciate Prince more and more until I began to grasp what a unique unfettered genius he was. With all due respect to MJ, I think its hard to argue he was the most musically gifted performer to come out of the 80s. He'll be sorely missed.

I think Lynch goes in the first to somebody. Worst (best?) case, Denver takes him if he's still there at 32. Man, when was the last time the defending champs took a QB in the first round?

I hate to say this one isn't much of a shock but I doubt it really is to anybody who has followed her post WWE "career." Still a sad story as has been mentioned she was undeniably one of the top attractions of the Attitude Era. Hell, you could argue HHH might've floundered for 2-3 extra years if not for the heat she brought him. Yes, I bought her Playboy and yes I enjoyed the majority of her Attitude Era angles. Her appearance in the Rumble where Austin pitched her out was one of my favorite "gimmick" participants ever. Its a real shame she never lived long enough to be inducted into the HoF. Outside Moolah, I can't think of a single female who deserved it more than her. I hope Austin keeps that cause alive.

Don't know if anybody else still watches Castle but its been announced Kate Beckett won't be back if the show is renewed for next season. Fillion is supposedly negotiating for another season which I can't really blame him for wanting to milk this as long as he can. As my avatar shows, I'm a total Fillion fanboy but to me the show is already like 2 seasons past its expiration date.

The rookie cap is the best thing ever (for us) because picks are so damn tradeable. I was watching the 1995 draft on one of those tube sites and totally forgot how much hand-wringing there was over the first 10 picks because you had to pay them more than the league MVP. Anyway, I think this move was great for the Browns. Running with Bob this year while still getting a second tier QB in the 2nd (Lynch or Hackenberg) to sit and learn under no pressure seems like an ideal scenario. Of course, if Goff and Wentz turn out to be the another 1-2 punch on the level of Eli & Ben it's going to look like a colossal blunder even if they use all those picks wisely.

I don't know Wentz or Goff enough to fairly evaluate but for that price the one they take better be the next Peyton Manning.

The mass influx of NXT guys has made Raw automatically a billion times better than pre-Mania. I also like how they've finally realized what they have in Bray and are using him to hedge their bets with Roman. If only they hadn't wasted 2 1/2 years with him considering he has all the talent in the world and, unlike a lot of these guys, actually can talk and has a character that's over.

I guess I should've expected the hate but I thought this was a decent Mania. Not an all timer but I'd put it solidly upper middle. The work was quite good in a lot of matches although I expected the finishes (i.e. who went over) to sour people. Even though I'm a Sami/KO fanboy, really happy Ryder got his moment. He worked hard, got himself over and was rewarded with an epic burial for his efforts. It's probably a few years and Eve Torres too late to change his overall career but at least he'll have his Moment. Brock-Ambrose was very disappointing. I don't think Ambrose should've gone over at all - Brock hasn't jobbed clean since beating Taker and losing a junk match to Ambrose would be silly - but this being a glorified squash seemed like a waste of all involved. The Woman's Title Match - and thank goodness they ditched the "Divas" shit and butterfly belt - was awesome. It got a tad too frenetic at times which led to some sloppiness but overall they all did a helluva job. Sasha has all the star power in the world but having her chase Charlotte awhile doesn't bother me. Hell in Cell promised a trademark Shane Insanity Spot and it delivered. The rest was not that good but honestly age has caught up with Taker so there's not much you can do with him anymore. Not surprised Corbin won the Andre. He's big so he'll get the monster push. Hope everybody is ready for Corbin-Reigns at Mania 34 because as long as Vince is booking, it's coming. Main was pretty boring. The muting of the crowd made it seem dead. Although it was a dull match with both guys repeating a lot of spots. Did think this was the best Steph has ever looked - maybe "Kink Armory Soccer Mom Dominatrix" is just my thing - and she took that spear like a boss. Roman winning out of nowhere was kinda odd but the whole match was weirdly slow and awkward. I don't like it but best thing they can do now is keep the belt on Roman until Orlando.

Re: the redoing of the Batman origin. I groaned when the movie opened up with that sequence because at this point Batman's origin story has probably reached Washington chopping down the cherry tree level of general public awareness. However, I totally understand why they did it again: to get over the point that Bruce's mother was named Martha. Since the climax of the film sorta hinges on it, it's storytelling 101 to really drive the point home right at the beginning (which is why we got Thomas mouthing her name with his dying breath). I have to admit, I've been reading comics for about 30 years and the fact both of DC's iconic heroes have a mom named Martha never occurred to me.

Went to the last midnight showing of the weekend and after sleeping on it all I can say is I haven't been this crushingly disappointed in a movie in a long long time. Funny thing is, I dunno why I got my hopes up because I was one of those people who absolutely abhorred MOS. Maybe the fanboy in me just thought they'd correct the billion things they got wrong in MOS. Instead, they double downed on them. I really liked Batfleck. He did all he could to elevate this drek. I also was a big fan of Eisenberg and his take on Lex as an evil (well, more evil) version of Zuckerberg. Other than Rosenbaum, this was my favorite live action version of Lex ever. The fight scene in the warehouse to save Martha was the best single Batman fight scene I've seen - even ignoring the utter absurdity of getting shot point blank in the head and not flinching but being easily stabbed with a knife. Gal Godot was hot as hell and showed enough charm as WW that I'm intrigued by that movie now, even though her role was a glorified cameo. Everything else in BvS was just terrible tho. There's a joke in "Adaptation" about voice overs being a sign of lazy writing - dream sequences must be the new voice overs. I've never seen so many in one movie - Batleck has one, then another one, then Superman joins the parade, then there's another - you could've lopped 20 minutes off easy by jettisoning those goofy sequences. Then those endless scenes of political maneuverings where the movie died whenever Holly Hunter came on screen. I can go on about the magic Lexcorp bullet, the warlords in the desert, Lex's hilariously inept security but basically everything up to Lois on the roof with Lex/the Batsignal could've been condensed into like a half hour where instead they dragged it out in nonsensical fashion for over 90 minutes. The worst part for me though was what they did with Superman. This movie made me actually hate Superman. I used to tie a towel around my neck and pretend I could fly yet Snyder has managed to convince me my childhood hero is a mopey arrogant Emo asshole. There isn't a single time in the film where I find Superman likeable let alone a hero I'd wanna root for. I only skimmed the past few pages of this thread but somebody commented that Supes was written as Dr. Manhattan - as I was watching the movie with robotic God-like Supes and hilariously bloodthirsty ultra-violent Batman, I was convinced Snyder was using a discarded Watchman draft because the characters were more like Manhattan/Nite Owl than the ones I knew. Snyder basically made the superhero version of a Bay Transformers movie.

2/4 of my Final Four out in the first round. This is a new level of futility even for me. Should've seen this coming. Stonecold Steven Austin plays exactly like WVU just with better fundamentals.

USC was just bound and determined to hand that game to the Friars. Oh well, at least we got a good half dozen shots of Amanda Marcum before they got bounced.

Fucking Purdue. You have all night to go down court and set up a game winning shot and instead you charge to the basket like a madman and end up careening out of control like Wile E Coyote. One of my brackets busted in the second game of the tourney - that's a new record for me.

I second the Fiasco recommendation. Really fascinating behind the scenes stuff. Shatner's two Star Trek Memories books are really great. You have to put up with the occasional bits of Shatner hubris but they're extremely detailed and researched about everything that went into making the original series (from before he was involved up through cancellation) and then the same with each of the movies. Alan Sepinwall's The Revolution Was Televised is my favorite book about tv. He starts with Sopranos and takes every seminal show since (24, Buffy, Lost, The Wire, all the way up through Mad Men and Breaking Bad) and each chapter he takes one show and goes through everything from how it originally was pitched and cast all the way up through dissecting the various seasons. Bill Carter's The War for Late Night is a bit dated by now but if you're fascinated by network politics or were into the whole Letterman/Leno feud, it's tremendous. I really liked Tom Shales' Live From New York, An Oral History of SNL but I didn't read that other book somebody mentioned so I can't say which is better. I will say for being 600+ pages, I had no problem just blowing through it because it was like one crazy story after the other.

Sanu, Dalton, and whoever else on the Bengals gets paid should give a cut to AJ Green. Amazing how one great player convinces so many GMs that the mediocre guys he elevates are worth big contracts.

Mort's reporting this morning that Peyton will announce his retirement Monday.

Huh. Revenant wins the big two awards. Mad Max wins every underlying category. Best Picture is none of the above. Guess the fact no director has directed back to back Best Pictures couldn't be overcome.

Fuck yeah Ennio Morricone! I like Stallone but this was the legend I was very very badly hoping would win.

Not to me. Everybody was anointing Sly but I always felt Rylance was the guy to beat. He was memorable in that way Best Supporting Actors usually are.