Appaloosa

Grit and a tough as nails approach to life were the things which were most impressive about John Wayne.  Appaloosa is a Western that recaptures some of that true grit.  The story revolves around two independent lawmen, who work for hire and their adventures in a small New Mexico town in the 1880’s.  Ed Harris and Viggo Mortenson are great as the lead actors.  Renee Zellwegger is adequate as the leading lady, but the interaction between her and Harris seems forced.  Ed Harris’ character never develops up to potential and settles for a rather static role.  It is not so much that Mr. Harris does a poor job, it is more that he does a variation on the same persona we’ve seen in almost every other Ed Harris movie. Viggo Mortenson meanwhile delivers a strong performance as Harris deputy.   The movie is paced well and and the directing job done by Harris is good.

Rated: R (Violence & Language) – The violence in the film is intense and personal.

Worldview & Values:  The redeeming qualities of the film however, are that loyalty and friendship are valued.  The movie also raises the question, where is the line between justice and vengeance?

Grade: B

52

Alright, this year I decided to try a New Years resolution that was all fun and games.  The goal was simple.  Read one new book and watch one movie, preferably a movie that is new to me, each week.  So now that the year is almost a third gone and I’m still on track to keep this resolution it’s time to start up this blog one more time.

Really?

Can someone please tell me what is going on in Cleveland these days?  The Cavs won’t give Lebron anyone to play with and now the Indians drop over $20 million to get Kerry Woods for 2 years?!?  What?!?  I still don’t believe this is actually true.

BCS Matchups Announced

Not much unexpected here. We’ll go through it in order.  Look back soon for the annual bowl projections.

Rose Bowl – USC vs. Penn State

Big Ten fans should be excited to get another shot at the Pac-10.  USC’s offense looks less than spectacular, particularly the offensive line.  If you watched that UCLA game you know what I’m talking about.  Penn State’s defense is fierce and should be licking their chops at getting to Sanchez.  However, that defense for USC is a force to be reckoned with. I’ll be extremely interested to see how Penn State’s offense will respond to really getting hit in the mouth.  I anticipate a game similar to the Ohio State. Penn State game earlier this year.  Two top notch defenses going at it.  Gotta love the coaching sub-plot in this game too.  Doesn’t get more old school than Joe Pa and Pete Carrol is as California cool as they come.

Orange Bowl: Cincinatti vs. Virginia Tech

Quit rubbing your eyes.  You read it right the first time. That’s right Cincinnati is going to a BCS game.  And what’s more Brian Kelly is a good enough coach that I think he could coach them to a win too.  This is a big game for a program that is on the rise.  Kelly is a great coach who has been successful wherever he has been.  Beamer on the other hand is the third winningest active coach in college football.  Virginia Tech has survived a number of close games this year and has proved they can win nail biters.

Sugar Bowl: Utah vs. Alabama

Tough draw for Utah.  Alabama is a great team.  I love their defense.  Probably the toughtest thing I’ve seen this year.  They should have no problem slowing down Utah’s offensive attack.  I also love the way Alabam can wear down a team with their physical running game.  Utah has proved they have some toughness too.  In their best win of the year, a 13-10 nailbiter over TCU.  You have to think that ‘Bama’s defense is every bit as stiff as that TCU bunch, and that ‘Bama offense should post a few more than 10 points.

Fiesta Bowl: Texas vs. Ohio State

These two schools have met a couple times over the last few years.  A possible preview of next years national championship game.  Perhaps the biggest question will be whether Texas can get excited about playing in a game that is somewhere other than Miami.  On the other side of the field is an Ohio State team that will be looking to prove they can win a big game.  Texas is balanced on both sides of the ball.  If Texas has a hangover you have to like Ohio State’s chances of pulling the upset (something the BCS pollsters will absolutley be pulling for).

BCS National Championship Game: Florida vs. Oklahoma

I’m not writing about this joke of a game.  Oklahoma doesn’t deserve to be here.

The Final Word

Alright, I’ve kept quiet on the whole BCS controversy thing so far because I wanted to see how things shook out.  And now that Florida and Oklahoma are slated to play for the national championship someone needs to explain something to Texas.  How on earth you do you beat both of the Big 12 division champs, lose in the final second of the game to an 11-1 team and get left out?  SEC fans will claim the same thing happened to Auburn.  However, there is one major difference.  Auburn didn’t beat or even play either of the teams ranked ahead of them that year.  Here are just a few of the things that should change.

1) The Big 12 needs to change their tiebreaker to that of the SEC.  If three teams are tied and and all other tiebreakers are equal, BCS rankings should decide the top two and then it should go head-to-head from there.  This allows greater wait to be placed on games played either earlier in the season or head-to-head..or both in this case.

2) The BCS needs to boycott computers which give more weight to to November victories.  I understand reworking rankings later in the season based on a teams total body of work over the course of the year.  That only makes sense.  Alabama’s win over Clemson (and over Georgia for that matter) does not look as impressive now as either win did when it occured.  However, Billingsley’s computer rankings purportely simply rate a late season victory higher than an early season victory.  Under this rationale Oklahoma’s victory over Missouri will not simply be comparable, it will actually be worth more than Texas similar victory early in the year.  I wonder if there isn’t an argument to be said that beating a team for the first time is actually the hardest thing to do.  It takes away some of the teams mistique and also reveals to teams that play it later in the season how to beat it.  For instance, beating Oklahoma’s defense should be easier now than it was earlier in the season since Texas and Oklahoma have dropped more than 40 on them.

3)  Pollsters should be forced to make every ballot public.  Hidden agendas by coaches or by those who simply want to validate their pre-season rankings is ridiclous.

4) How impressive a team looks late in the yea (or any other time of year) is not the final criteria for deciding ranking.  Wins and losses are.

Either way, here’s to hoping that Florida absolutely destroys Oklahoma!  Oh, and Tim and Urban if you need any advice you know who to call.