Philly Sports Sunday

I received in the mail yesterday my long awaited birthday present to myself this year, a Dwight Schrute bobblehead. I understand that bobbleheads are probably the least cool thing to own, but I enjoy them for some reason, the two that I have. I've also got a Phillies World Series bobblehead that I have sitting on my Mini Mac at work. My new Dwight Schute figure will be a nice addition to my meager collection and an added aid to help me get through the daily 8-5. Speaking of which, is it Thursday yet? Man I love The Office.

I took the time out to watch the first half of the Badgers game yesterday and see them play up to Michigan's level, only to listen to them get demolished in the second half. Oh well, at least they played good for the first half.

Lastly, my buddy from Philly sent me this great "Real Men of Genius" bit about Philly Sports fans, and it's absolutely classic if you know anything about Philadelphia sports fans. The same buddy of mine that sent me the mp3 is also a season ticket holder for the Eagles, so you can imagine what kind of day he had last Sunday when the Eagles blew a huge lead to the Giants. Regardless, this bit captures the sentiment he and all Philly hopeful share towards their teams:

Real Men of Genius - Philadelphia Sports Fans

Phillies take lead in Wild Card race


PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Even when Ryan Howard doesn't get the big hit, the Philadelphia Phillies are getting contributions from backups and role players.

Carlos Ruiz and Jeff Conine each drove in three runs, Jon Lieber pitched seven solid innings and Philadelphia beat the Florida Marlins 8-6 Saturday to continue its playoff push.

The Phillies (81-73) have won nine of 11 and took over the NL wild-card lead with Los Angeles' 9-3 loss to Arizona.

Jimmy Rollins hit his 23rd homer, Shane Victorino and Chase Utley each went 4-for-5 and Howard drew two more intentional walks for 33 on the season...

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Eagles-49ers Preview


Despite facing the team with the NFL's worst record over the past two-plus seasons, the Philadelphia Eagles are highly unlikely to ease up at any point on Sunday even if they have a commanding lead.

One week after dominating a reigning division champion for three quarters only to collapse, the Eagles look to start picking up the pieces when they visit the San Francisco 49ers.

Philadelphia (1-1) thoroughly outplayed the New York Giants to take a 17-point lead into the fourth quarter last Sunday, but lost 30-24 in overtime.

''After the first half, I never thought in a million years those guys would come back and beat us,'' Eagles middle linebacker Jeremiah Trotter said. ''We have to take advantage of opportunities when we get a team down. We have to put our foot on their throat.''

Instead of putting the game away and making a statement against an NFC East rival, Philadelphia folded.

In the fourth quarter, the offense failed to convert a 4th-and-1 on the New York 38 with under 9 minutes left, Brian Westbrook fumbled with 4 minutes to go and defensive end Trent Cole 's personal-foul penalty on the next-to-last play of regulation set up Jay Feely 's tying 35-yard field goal.

''It's just one loss. I think everyone has seen the capability of the things we can do out there on the field,'' said Donovan McNabb , who passed for 350 yards and two touchdowns. ''I think it's going to be something that we can put behind us and move on and good things will happen for us.''

The Eagles now face a San Francisco team which is a league-worst 7-27 since the start of the 2004 season, though the 49ers (1-1) have opened with a close loss at Arizona and a 20-13 win over St. Louis last week.

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Music

Featured Album: Misfits - Walk Among Us


Walk Among Us was the ninth release from the Lodi, New Jersey punk band The Misfits. The band's first full-length album to be released (see Static Age), it was originally co-released by Ruby and Slash Records as JRR804 in March of 1982.

It was the product of a January 1982 recording session at Quad Teck in Los Angeles, California in which Glenn Danzig, for the most part, remixed previously recorded songs, overdubbing additional guitar tracks. Danzig also recorded new vocals for "Vampira" and mixed for the first time the live recording of "Mommy, Can I Go Out and Kill Tonight?" that was recorded at the same time as the Evilive release.

The majority of the songs were originally recorded in a variety of sessions throughout early 1981 at the Mix-O-Lydian Studio in Boonton, New Jersey. The dates of these sessions are unknown, but they were all mixed at one time. "Vampira", "Devil's Whorehouse", and "Astro Zombies" were recorded and mixed separately at Mix-O-Lydian in August of 1981. "Hatebreeders" was recorded in June of 1981 at Newsoundland in Fair Lawn, New Jersey. "Mommy, Can I Go Out and Kill Tonight?", the only live track on the album, was recorded on December 17, 1981 at the Ritz in New York, New York.

The cover for Walk Among Us features the famous "Rat-Bat-Spider" that menaces the intrepid astronauts in 1959's Angry Red Planet. The flying saucers were obtained from 1956's Earth Versus The Flying Saucers. The title itself is, perhaps, a reference to the 1956 film The Creature Walks Among Us, the third Creature from the Black Lagoon feature. The first LP pressing has a pink cover with a pink logo, while the second pressing's cover is purple with a pink logo.

Reissues since 1988 in all formats have featured the purple cover with a green logo. Strangely, the CD insert contains a picture of the 1979 lineup of the band with Bobby Steele and Joey Image, who didn't play on the album, instead of actual performers Doyle and Googy.

1. "20 Eyes"
2. "I Turned into a Martian"
3. "All Hell Breaks Loose"
4. "Vampira"
5. "Nike-a-Go-Go"
6. "Hatebreeders"
7. "Mommy, Can I Go out and Kill Tonight?" (live)
8. "Night of the Living Dead"
9. "Skulls"
10. "Violent World"
11. "Devil's Whorehouse"
12. "Astro Zombies"
13. "Braineaters"

Stadium Arcadium

I heard a lot of complaints about the Red Hot Chili Peppers Stadium Arcadium when it came out, and to this day I still haven't figured out why. I've been a Peppers fan for years, seen two of their shows, and personally, I think there's some really great stuff on this album. Below are a few of my personal recommendations from Stadium Arcadium:

Dani California
Slow Cheetah
Hey
Tell Me Baby
Make You Feel Better

Here's hoping the Pack can pull it together against Detroit this afternoon. Enjoy your football.