THIS WEEK IN MY HISTORY: NASHVEGAS AND SWITCHFOOT

For the first time in as far back as I can remember, I got outnostalgiaed....
I was going to return to the blog with a look back at the great Nashville roadtrip from the weekend of Nov. 3, senior year at UGA (Might as well look back since the present day is far from anything to write about), but in a roundabout way, I was beaten to the punch by Borenstein's recap of how the "other half" of the office lived that weekend, roadtripping to the UGA-Kentucky game.
Rats on the originality.
Nonetheless, I still feel it appropriate to tell our end of the story. That weekend still goes down as one of my favorites from the UGA years, and it also began a good string in November with the following weekends turning into the Auburn venture and Racist Potluck 1 (which I'm sure I'll be back to recap here in the next week or so). We had become somewhat close at the R and B, but actually getting to spend a good deal of time together away from the office made me realize how important that aspect of my life truly was.
Here goes nothing:

I guess this all began when Katy on a whim decided to try out for College Jeopardy, perhaps inspired to follow in the footsteps of a certain coworker who made the game-show rounds earlier that year. Normally, an invitation to join the roadtrip up to the audition in Nashville would be something I laugh off and dispose, but for some reason I this sounded fun and why not.
As is often the case with a good group of friends, the roadtrip ends up being more fun than the destination. The highlights:
- Stuck in traffic in Atlanta (big surprise), I broke out the Trivial Pursuit questions to help in the, um, studying. Surprisingly, this got old quick, and we had more fun reading the 90s trivia questions than actually doing anything productive.
- On any road trip, you have to make a Cracker Barrel stop at least once. I believe we hit one in Cartersville. The first thing I noticed was how insanely early it was for them to have Christmas decorations out. I mean, Halloween just passed, and the tchotchke turnover was immense. This dinner would incorporate several of the weekend's themes. I can't remember if Philip originally had the Magic 8-ball or purchased it there, but he broke it out at dinner and we asked it to predict everything from the UGA score against Kentucky to potential future hook-ups at the paper. And the bajillion Cracker Barrel signs on the highway prompted us to take count. As Katy confirmed yesterday, there were 21 between Atlanta and Nashville, or at least 21 that decided to advertise well.
-A simple stop for gas brought a personal highlight, as I discovered a single case of Sun Drop waiting for me in a Dalton Racetrac. This was before they started selling it at Kroger, and I think I may have shrieked with joy like a 5-year old finding a puppy under the tree at Christmas.
-Another staple has to be the transition to it being OK to belt out lame pop songs. And boy did we ever, digging deep into the sugary contents of a few IPods. I think I took some flak for being familiar with a Spice Girls song. Yikes. And I also remember a good rendition of Ocean Avenue.
-Outside Nashville, there was this one particular hotel where the "e" and "l" were not light up before the name (which has slipped my mind). This reading, combined with the bright redness of the lettering, made it look really interesting. We all said something akin to, "Ooh, let's go to the Hot Christina. That sounds kinky"
-Downtown Nashville is actually a really cool setting...I'm not particularly a fan of country-western bars, but it was some scene. Granted, we were tired and had to get up early for Jeopardy the next morning so we couldn't be out and about, but definitely somewhere to keep in the back of my mind.

We instead retreated to the hotel to, as Katy described it over cell phone to Megan, "drink and eat Goo Goo Clusters". Along the way, we learned of the Kentucky group's decision to break into Dollywood...hmm, advantage push?
Now the rest of us were on the outside for this, but the Jeopardy tryout seemed to go well at the time. We swear we were the most normal people there if nothing else, as the College Jeopardy finalists were exactly as you'd expect they'd look. DeLuca also said she knocked it out by not sugarcoating, saying she'd use her money to buy Yankees tickets and seek a career in newspapers.
It was then on to Opryland Mills before heading home. Opryland Mills is essentially a shopping mall that would be like if Discover Mills decided to renovate and become 1o times cooler and more relevant, with mega-stores and restaurants out the ass. We wanted to find somewhere to watch the Dogs and Kentucky, but it was not televised period I guess.
After a good bunch of indecision, we stumbled into the Rainforest Cafe for lunch, which turned out to be a good call. Notably: Andrea's humongous blue drink and taking pictured with the giant gorilla, who we later found out was named Bamba.
We closed the weekend by going to see Borat. Yeah, hard to believe that was 2 years ago. Of course, no surprise as we all laughed out asses off, and of course, the lines from Borat would be our calling card from that weekend for the rest of the semester. I still can't shake laughing at the movie and crying when checking the score on my phone to see we wound up losing to Kentucky (this was back in our not-so-good rebuilding period).
Oh yeah, and I guess the way home was good too even though we were spent. Someone came up with playing "Name that Movie" somewhere around Chattanooga, which kept us all from falling asleep. We also all determined we needed Steak and Shake and did so off 316.
So that's my weekend recap. Not as good as Matt's but we still swear we had to have had more fun along the way. If nothing else, this was a good way to develop inside jokes we still run with today. I'd be all for a return trip somewhere down the road. High Five!

- I'd also be remiss if I didn't mention that November 4-ish of junior year was a good one as well. First off, this was the conclusion of my marathon weekend of pick-up football. After a good game at the IM fields Friday with Goforth, Bowles and the hundreds of Caleb siblings, we for some reason decided to do it again Saturday. Granted, both games were fun and I'm a huge fan (and currently miss a ton) of pickup sports, but by the end of this one, we were (to quote a buddy) "d-u-n...done". Pransky, Tyler and I just sat at the Wendy's afterwards with big drinks, simply saying things like "pain".
Though a little beat up, we made it that night to Switchfoot at the 40-Watt. I was by no means a big fan of theirs going in, but the little bit I had heard I liked and figured it would be a good show. Boy was I blown away. I'm not sure what it was, but the sound in that place was so awesome for that show. On top of that, the band and crowd energy was amazing. I still swear this is probably my favorite show among the ones I took in in Athens during college.
This was also the show with the Augustana incident. We had seen Augustana open for Our Lady Peace a month earlier, so we were familiar with them when they were a surprise add to the bill. Afterwards, as is par for the course for Tyler and I, we waited afterwards to meet the bands and wound up talking to the parents of Augustana's bassist. It ended with them asking us for a recommendation on somewhere to get late food with their son. We gave them Little Italy, which was where we were headed. Surely enough, we go to get pizza later and there's Josiah and the 'rents, who thanked us for the suggestion.
I'm sure they weren't so thankful the next day when they realize that Little Italy does a number on your insides. We still joke this is why Josiah left the band, something about internal bleeding.

So that's my look back at a string of good weekends to start November. I could really use that now, seeing as how my weekend started this year with me losing my marbles for a few hours on Saturday and UGA giving back any progress they had made in the Florida rivalry.
More nostalgia to come I guess...surely nothing from the current would be worth it.

JC

LONG OVERDUE GARBAGE CAN

Felt it was time to do this again...it's been a while, between the Grizzlies getting things started and a few other things. Some random thoughts tonight:

-Guess I'll pick up again where I left off. Here's this week's SI Pop Culture Grid with my responses:

My advice to Wall Street is... - Get your shit together
Favorite thing to drink at night - Haha, nice. Probably a bottle of water
--- just cracks me up - The randomness that spews from the desk next to mine
Favorite piece of clothing - My friends would probably say my Colts sweatshirt and blue sweatpants, but the thing(s) I probably wear most are still my #22 Evan's Angels jerseys
Three people I'd love to have over for dinner - Ooh, tough one. Probably Jesus, Bill Simmons and David Wright (I hope the man upstairs follows sports, or else this could get awkward)

- Went to go see "W" with the boys tonight. Wasn't really sure what to think of it going in. I'll be the first to admit that I don't do politics in depth. I know what's generally going on on the surface, but I wouldn't be good in a deep discussion on happenings in the capital. On the whole, I saw the movie and still really don't know what to make of it. I think it's odd, despite the fact that Bush has been controversial to say the least, to see a movie on a president who is sitting in office currently. In all honesty, I thought they did a good job. I expected it to be one big Democratic propaganda piece, but I found Oliver Stone and Co. presented things fairly. Of course, there's no way to dance around the images of the Iraq War, but they didn't nearly crucify W as much as I was expecting. It was also interesting to see the human side...George's struggles with booze and his daddy issues early. Though it's not my area, I'm glad I saw it. If nothing else, watch Richard Dreyfuss play Dick Cheney...he's spot on

- Further reasons why my mother is awesome: I get home tonight, and she calls me to tell me that she was listening to a cover band at a restaurant by our house in the Phretta, they played "Clumsy" and she thought of me. I dunno, for some reason that made me just want to drive around and listen to Our Lady Peace, leading to a trip to Wal-Mart I probably could have made tomorrow but I was caught in the moment. I've always found driving to be very therapeutic when your mind is racing, so maybe that was needed.

- I think I agreed to do a 5K in November today. Granted, that's only 3 miles or so from what I've been told, and I have started running since I've been up here like twice a week or so. Maybe it's a bad omen that after hitting the treadmill today, I have a searing pain on the inside of my left ankle. Time to start drinking raw eggs and hauling shit through the snow like Rocky?

- I'd be remiss if I didn't talk about the baseball craziness of last night. I've made it no secret that I've been an under-the-radar Rays fan for a few years now. It started out as a "someone's gotta pull for them" sidebar (I think I compared them to that possum that gets hit by a car...you know it has no chance, but you kinda hope it makes it), but during their run this year I wore my old-school green-era shirts with more pride. I think I might have cursed them last night though when I sent out my "How crazy is it that the Rays are going to the World Series" text messages around 7-0 early in the 7th. And somewhere during my marathon check-in with House the rally took over. Leave it to Legend of Flushing Dan Wheeler to cough that one up. I still think the Rays will win this thing in one of these next two in Tampa, but we've seen in the past that if you don't step on Boston's neck, anything is possible. But come on, you need to just get 9 outs before they get 7 runs...how hard is that? (Wait, as a Mets fan, I shouldn't be asking that question)

- Most awkward moment of the week had to come during the radio broadcast feed during our home preseason game Wednesday night. At the end of the second quarter, our radio analyst turns to the play-by-play guy and says, "You smell really good right now". My staff will tell you I about lost it. Definitely up there with the "What's Britney doing with her life?" routine.

I think I'll pause there. Gotta get up to watch the Dawgs tomorrow...that's 11:30 local. Maybe I won't be cheering as loudly as in prior games.
That's all for now. Be nice

JC

DIAMOND NOTES...AND LYRICS

So I was, um, busy at work today and stumbled upon a cool feature on the ESPN Magazine section of the network's Web site. Evidently, some people with a lot of free time on their hands tried to track as many MLB players' entrance songs as possible and listed them, also providing links to hear segments of the tunes (which I'll admit I haven't tried yet, but probably will at some point).
For some reason, things like this really intrigue me...probably because it's a combination of sports and music, my two biggest vices. I guess it's also a cool way to view players differently, see who's into what, who likes to rotate songs, see some that make you go, "Yeah, that's a good one", etc.
The most noted trends I could find from the 20 or so teams I scanned through:
- It's a decent mix of rap and rock, of course. Godsmack, Rick Ross, Lil Wayne and "Black Betty" tend to be favorites
- I was amazed by how many guys used some form of Justin Timberlake. I just never would have guessed such a "tough guy" sport would pump out the JT to get going, but whatever works for you
- Ditto for Nickelback popping up frequently...although I guess in a lot of ways MLB is a sport of sellouts
- The Cubs don't use anything other than organ music, while the A's don't use specific songs for players. Maybe that helps explain the World Series futility for one and poor attendance for the other.

Feel free to check it out for yourself if you have some down time: http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=3608544

Oh, and of course, my choices....I always love answering this question:
- If I was a batter, I would probably choose a rotation of "Plowed" by Sponge, "Shoot Frank" by Cage and either "Way Away" by Yellowcard or "Deliverance" by Bubba Sparxxx (or at least those were the ones I no joke used to hum in my head when stepping up during softball)
- If I was a pitcher (and those of you who really know me already know I want to come back in my next life as a Chad Bradford/Brad Ziegler style submarine reliever), it's definitely "Where the Streets Have No Name" by U2...no doubts about it

JC

POP CULTURE GRID

I think I'm gonna make it a weekly feature to play along with my friends at Sports Illustrated. For those of you not so familiar, every week my favorite segment of the mag is the "Pop Culture Grid", where they ask four athletes random questions about their favorite things, thoughts on life, etc (Some of you may remember "A Little More Personal" from First and Goals a long time ago...I was inspired by the grid and tried to cross it over. It's now sitting somewhere in the buried files like that Web site that shows all the Ben and Jerry's flavors that have been retired...which reminds me of how much I miss the Pecan Pie and Makin Whoopie Pie flavors).
Anywho, here's this week's grid with my answers:

-I always () before I go to bed: Shower
-Name of my first pet: Phoebe
-Season premiere I waited for all summer: Does the NFL count? If not, probably Entourage
-All the women I'm attracted to have...: Quick wit
-Person I'm dying to get in the ring with: Scott Schoeneweis

I'll probably be back either later tonight or tomorrow to wrap up my weekend in sports hell

JC

THIS WEEK IN MY HISTORY: ALL SYSTEMS GO

(I had to amend this one to "this week" since I meant to do it Tuesday but never got a chance...whoops)

Tuesday, September 24, 2003 is etched in my mind permanently for the most random reasons. Granted, I remember most of what happened freshman year by the minute, but that's just who I am. For the most part, I remember that piece of my college tenure for being "Red Tuesday", which is a story and blog post for another day.
Most of you should know that I am a sucker for the "alternative, pop-rock" genre most people these days like to mock. Whatever. I grew up on Z100 (before the format change) and 99x, so it's in the blood (in a Better than Ezra sense...nevermind). Everyone's got their different musical preferences, and I can't stand those who think there's is so much better and demean others, but again, that's another rant for another day.
One of the first things I penciled into my calendar when I moved into Russell was this Tuesday being the release of Vertical Horizon's "Go" CD (and Nickelback's "The Long Road"...not too proud of that one I'll admit). Ironically, it was during my first freshman year that I discovered and became hooked on Vertical Horizon. "Everything You Want" is still one of my favorite songs ever (a lot because that video is so awesome), and the CD of the same name is also very good. So naturally, I was excited to hear how they followed up since I was technically a fan in development.
In hindsight, that album was one of the most important of freshman year and my college experience in general.
Musically, "Go" is a mixed bag. There's some slower, more "soul-baring" ballads but some good "radio rock" songs as well. That's what I like...a little bit of variety. What makes a great album for me though is hearing several songs and just being drawn in by the words, which makes you want to go back and listen more and more.
I remember driving back home and hearing "Forever" for the first time. In its deepest sense, "Forever" is inspired by the death of someone close to the band, and the slow tune complements it well. I couldn't help but think, "This is gonna be an important song for me", and in a way I guess I was right. For where I was at the time, that song struck a lot of the conflicts I was having with myself and a lot of other people and helped me deal.
There were others of course. "Echo" is my favorite of the rock songs probably because it sounded the most like something from "Everything You Want". If I could ever listen to "Sunshine" without it skipping, that would be up there too. And I've fallen in love with "Goodbye Again" over the years.
More importantly, Vertical Horizon became a link for some of my closest friends and best experiences of that year. Along with listening to their music non-stop, I saw them twice in concert over the freshman run. The first one at the Variety Playhouse around Halloween was kinda ho-hum, with a dead crowd and the band still working out the kinks on the new stuff. In March, the band came to Athens and played what is still one of my favorite shows ever. The energy from Vertical Horizon and the crowd was a complete 180, and my voice was shot.
The best part though was hanging out afterwards and meeting the band, taking pictures, etc. Sean Hurley (one of their guitarists) is a great guy, and I remember him talking to us about what to call Athens since Atlanta was "A-Town".
To this day, Tyler and I still play/sing Vertical Horizon songs largely inspired by the fact that we talked about their music so much freshman year. I'd say there's a rare time when we hang out and don't talk about how awesome that show was and how we need them to come back soon.
It's really hard to believe it's been five years since "Go" hit the market (and that's not counting the 2005 re-release...though I like "Better When You're Not There", it's not the same). But I truly believe that that particular album began a snowball that changed my freshman year and college experience for the better. Those songs are some of my favorites from my four years at UGA, and Vertical Horizon became a focal point for some great times with friends old and new.
Hopefully, five years from sometime in the near future I can note the impact of "Burning the Days"

GARBAGE CAN

CURRENT SONG OF CHOICE: "In the Blood" - Better than Ezra

I figure I'll probably be doing a "collection-of-random-thoughts" post every now and then. I needed a name, and then remembered that on R and B budget, I would call every compilation of Sports Comm-backed news and notes the "garbage can". What the hell, I'll make that stick here.
I also liked the idea of starting each post (or close to every one) with the "song of choice". Essentially, I'll just put up whatever song is stuck in my head, reflects the mood I'm in, recently heard and struck some nerve, etc. For instance, I heard the aforementioned BTE song running yesterday and it's fresh on the brain.
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I realized in the span of 20 minutes yesterday why I need fantasy football/picking winners/some side form of NFL enjoyment in my life.
The last two games of the day were the San Francisco-Seattle NFC West crapfest and the Broncos-Chargers instant classic. To stay alive in my weekly F and F pick'em pool, I needed both Denver and San Francisco to win, both mild upsets I guess.
First, the 49ers and Seahawks pulled to a slugfest while Darren Sproles' TD put the Chargers ahead. From there, the madness began. I really wish I had one of those real-time "minute-by-minute" counters they do on Primetime every now and then, but I'll improvise.
San Francisco and Denver both begin drives within a few minutes of each other. The 49ers complete a pass to set up a field goal at the end of regulation, which Joe Nedney shanks and sends me into a temporary coronary.
At the same time, Brandon Marshall pulls in his 399th catch of the day for the Broncos. I guess I should have also said that in two fantasy games, a touchdown or two from Eddie Royal would have been nice for cushion points.
As Denver's driving, Nedney gets a second shot and nails it: part 1 complete.
Of course, most of you probably saw the ending of that Denver game from where Cutler puts the ball on the ground. At this point, I'm pissed, thinking that being the lone person to take the 49ers wouldn't matter since this clown just dropped it in the red zone. From somewhere, Batis...I mean, Ed Hochuli comes up with some contorted logic to allow the Broncs to keep the ball.
And who scores the eventual winning TD and two-point conversion than Royal.
Could this have worked out any better? Maybe not. In the end, I pulled off one of the greatest Yahoo Pick'em rallies in history. And I realized how much I love the side games that go with the NFL.
Onto other bits of, uh, garbage?

- Why is everyone so surprised that Georgia had to struggle to survive Columbia? Do the talking heads not realize that every year's game between these two is a low-scoring, brutal, "let's get out of here with the win regardless" game? So somehow, for another week, winning isn't good enough, let alone winning on the road. Now Oklahoma is good, but how is dominating a shitty Washington team in their house more worthy than winning an SEC road game against a defense these same pollsters claim to love so much? If we beat a formerly-ranked Arizona State next weekend in their place, do we drop even further?
- While we're at it, so glad to see USC drop Ohio State like a bad habit...or Adam Banks (thanks Jack Reilly for the reference). I figured it would be close early and then the Trojans would pull away, but the Buckeyes got exposed early, hopefully ending their free path to the title game. Oh, and USC's kinda good in case you didn't see.
- Meanwhile, the Mets...you know what, it's not worth the oxygen anymore
- I may be an early nominee for Wingman of the Year...that'll be a post for another day. But if anyone needs a hook-up, apparently I can in fact be the Vince Vaughn to your Owen Wilson
- Line of the week, from who else but Kevin: (on that polygamist cult in Texas) "I mean, the state really cock-blocked that guy"
- Big Brother finale tomorrow...kinda sad to see it end. I think it's surpassed Survivor as my favorite trash reality show. As I've been since about week 3, I'm pulling for Dan to bring it home for the white, skinny, geeky side of humanity. I hope the jurors see he's played the best game and look past the fact he may have pissed some people off.
- On a related note, I don't know whose idea "I Love Money" was, but I swear that show displays everything that's right in America. Last night, the four-skank alliance broke apart and ended with the four girls dumping a variety of Gatorade products on each other and screaming, cursing, ho-calling, etc. I fully believe that all conflicts should be solved in this fashion from now on...political debates, international incidents, lawsuits, we can fix anything with a little Lemon Ice over the head.

I promise a post of more substance later this week...maybe.
That's all for now. Be nice

JC

ANOTHER SECOND TIME AROUND

A few weeks ago, I commented on a buddy of mine's blog, and he asked me why I didn't have one of my own.
I thought "that's a really good question", then I had an Apocalypse Now flashback.
For those of you who remember, I tried this a few times before. All the memories from high school inspired by the Friedmanites. I remembered the "blog wars" that followed that nearly tore apart friendships that lasted three long years. I remembered everybody's mundane "guess the lyrics" posts (which I was guilty of). I remembered the blog thing fading once everyone went to school, even though I was the master of "This Day in A-Kids History.
I tried to keep it going in college, maybe just because I needed an outlet, but I think it faded away with the Facebook/MySpace invasion. I think fittingly my last post had to do with having to pass on a reunion trip to Lake Burton in the summer of '06. And this doesn't count the abortion that was my blog for PR class that I really did only because I had to.
And here we are.
Maybe it was the move, or the general transition point in life I'm in right now, but my mind's been racing a lot lately. I've had a lot of moments where I've really wanted to get a lot of stuff out but couldn't. I reached the point this weekend where I couldn't sleep one night because I had so much on my mind, a lot of little things really out of my control that may or may not even happen in the end. That's when I decided this couldn't hurt.
Periodically, I'll come on here to muse about whatever. I'll probably share stories or thoughts on the people who make my life worth living. Knowing my penchant for pop culture and sports, I'm sure I'll rant about that every once in a while. I know there's a lot of you that bitch about having to read song lyrics in blogs...I like them and will probably use them (or some allusion to a song) frequently, so deal with it. I also think I'll try to keep a form of "This Day in History" alive...maybe just longer reflections on the great days of the past (I'm a nostalgic freak; deal with that too).
I've already got a ton on my mind I wanna write about, so I'm sure there'll be posting a plenty in the near future.
Can I bring the humor of McCluca? Probably not, but I'll damn sure try.
What else is there to say...that's all for now, be nice.

JC