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Archive for the ‘Grantland’ Category

Nathaniel Rich–“Opportunity Knocks: Is the Arena Football League ready for prime time?” (Harper’s, January 2013)

Posted in Arena Football, Drowning Pool, Football, Grantland, Harper's, Nathaniel Rich on January 6, 2013| 2 Comments »

2013SOUNDTRACK: a parrot-“Let the Bodies Hit the Floor” (2010).

parrotI remember when this song came out and that it was a pretty big hit in metal circles.  I had pretty much forgotten about it (and Drowning Pool, whose name I had to look up) when this parrot version started circulating.

My friend had a parrot who could mimic her (and my) voice so uncannily that I actually thought she was in a room when she wasn’t.  The fact that this parrot can mimic the cookie monster style vocal of this song just makes it all the funnier.  I also enjoy when the parrot gets squeaky on a few of the notes.  Even though this video is two years old, it was one of my favorites of 2012.

There appears to be an “original” video of this, but it’s only 40 seconds long.  The one I have below is almost 80 seconds, so there’s twice as much fun.

[READ: January 3, 2012] “Opportunity Knocks”

The only reason I’m writing about this article is because I once went to an Arena Football game.  It was the year I graduated high school.  I now cant even find any history of the team existing–I’m sure they were based in New Jersey, but the only team I can find from that time in the area was a New York team which played in Madison Square Garden–and I can’t imagine we drove to MSG for a football game.

Anyhow, this article discusses the future of the AFL–Arena Football League.  The league was founded in 1986 and has expanded and contracted over the years with teams forming for a year and then moving elsewhere the next.  The league began was 4 teams and has had as many as 18.  It’s a crazy scenario with the league’s popularity rising and falling not in proportion to the number of teams, but to some seemingly arbitrary force.

The article’s main question concerns the AFL’s recent contract which will have the league airing games on CBS during prime time.  So, is this league–which shut down completely and filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2009 ready to be on network TV?  (After the bankruptcy, the worked out some kind of deal and reformed in 2010.)

Rich suggests that it may indeed be time.  As I mentioned the other day in the Grantland review, the NFL has been cracking down on violence (to whatever degree) over the last few years.  And so, as the NFL gets more delicate, it’s time for the AFL to step in.  The AFL has no such delicacies in place.  Indeed, it is almost designed for violence and injuries.  Why shouldn’t it succeed? (more…)

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Grantland Quarterly, Number 4 (2012)

Posted in Alex Pappademas, Amos Barshad, Anachronisms, Andy Greenwald, Aziz Ansari, Baseball, Basketball, Beastie Boys, Biking, Bill Barnwell, Bill Simmons, Books about music, Books about writers, Boxing, Brian Phillips, Bryan Curtis, Carles, Charles P. Pierce, Charlie Pierce, Chris Connelly, Chris Ryan, Chuck Klosterman, Contests, Creed, Cycling, Daniel Kellison, Dave McKenna, David Hill, David Jacoby, David Shoemaker, Drugs, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Essays, Football, Girls, Grantland, Harris Wittels, Hockey, Hua Hsu, James Brown, Jamie Allen, Jason Oberg, Jay Caspian Kang, Jay-Z, Jeff Chang, Jonathan Abrams, Katie Baker, Ken Dryden, Louisa Thomas, Mad Men, Mark Lisanti, Mark Titus, McSweeney's, Molly Lambert, Nickelback, Olympics, Peter Orner, Prince, Public Image Ltd, Racism, Rafe Bartholomew, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Religion, Rembert Browne, Sexism, Shane Ryan, Short Story, Sixto Rodriguez, Smarty Pants, Soccer, Table Tennis, Tara Ariano, Tennis, Tess Lynch, The Sopranos, Van Halen, Violence, Wesley Morris, Wright Thompson, WXPN 88.5 FM--Philadelphia, PA, Zombies on December 27, 2012| 1 Comment »

grantladn4SOUNDTRACK: PUBLIC IMAGE LTD-“Poptones” and “Careering” on American Bandstand (1980).

abThe Dick Clark article below alerted me to this bizarre gem–PiL “playing” on American Bandstand.   The article talks about John Lydon ignoring the lip synch, climbing into the audience and generally disregarding the show’s script. The video suggests something sightly less sinister (although maybe for 1980 it was outrageous–do you really cross Dick Clark?).

Dick Clark himself announces the band nicely, and then the crazy off-kilter bass and simple guitar of “Poptones” kick in.   Lydon runs into the bleachers with the kids (most of whom are dressed in New Wave finery not unlike Lydon).  They shriek with glee when he comes nearby (do any of them know who he is?  I have no idea).  When Lydon’s spoken rambling come in a little later you can’t help but wonder what the hell they are doing on AB.

Then, Lydon starts grabbing people from the audience and pushing them towards the stage–something I believe was unheard of on AB.  The fans dance around to the impossible-to-dance-to “Poptones.”  The song ends and Dick asks John if he wants the kids out there for song two.  Yes, song Two!  He does and John faux lip synchs through “Careering,” avoiding cameras at all costs and dancing with the kids–one of the most egalitarian performances I can think of from Lydon.

And listen for Dick asking Jah Wobble his name (reply THE Jah Wobble) and him saying, nice to meet you Wobble.  What a surreal moment–wonder what Dick thought of it.

Enjoy it here:

 

[READ: December 28, 2012] Grantland 4

Grantland continues to impress me with these books (and no, I have not yet visited the website).  My subscription ran out with this issue and I have resubscribed–although I take major issue with the $20 shipping and handling fee.  I even wrote to them to complain and they wrote back saying that the books are heavy.  Which is true, but not $5/bk heavy.  The good news is that they sent me a $10 off coupon so the shipping is only half as painful now.

This issue’s endpages were “hypothetical baseball wheel-guides created by JASON OBERG–they were pretty cool and a fun idea.  They look very retro, but use contemporary batters, pitchers and catchers.  I’d like to see them for real.

Each issue makes me like sports a little bit more, but not enough to actually watch  them.

(more…)

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Peter Orner–“Denny Coughlin” (Grantland Quarterly, Number 4, 2012)

Posted in Bad Religion, Boston, MA, Grantland, Hockey, McSweeney's, Peter Orner, Prison, Short Story, Sports, Violence on December 26, 2012| 2 Comments »

grantladn4SOUNDTRACK: BAD RELIGION-“Fuck You” (2012).

badrelIt’s hard to believe that Bad Religion has been around for thirty years and has never written a song called “Fuck You” before.  Typically they write songs with more profound lyrics.  So I guess this is kind of lazy.  But it’s still fun.

Bad Religion write (mostly) blistering punk songs in under three minutes   They have of course written longer songs, but mostly they do these quick tracks.  Despite the blister, Bad Religion also love harmonies and backing vocals–and for a punk band, they are quite melodious.

After all these years, the band still sounds good.  It’s true that it’s kind of hard to tell when certain songs were recorded as a lot of their music sounds similar.  However, on this track I think the middle slower part sounds like it might be a newer, fuller sound.  But still, when you get to the chorus, it’s hard not to recognize that old time Bad Religion.

[READ: December 26, 2012] “Denny Coughlin”

I have come not to expect too much from the fiction in Grantland.  It’s usually a fine story but not much more.  And that’s okay–I don’t think sports stories can be all that original–you either win or lose, right?

This story did things a little differently   It’s about prisoners playing hockey.  I didn’t even catch on that they were prisoners right away–I liked that the story doesn’t spoon feed the details, it just got right to the action.  Anyhow, in a prison in Walpole, MA, the prisoners from Southie would face the guys from Charlestown twice a week in the yard.

There were only two rules.  1) No injuries–if you get hurt, tend to yourself.  The guards are sick of people in the infirmary.  And 2) the ball is in play wherever it goes, even under the bench that the guards sit on.  The guards know to get up if the ball goes there. (more…)

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Grantland Quarterly, Number 3 (2012)

Posted in Alex Pappademas, Amos Barshad, Andy Greenwald, Baseball, Basketball, Bill Barnwell, Bill Simmons, Books about music, Books about writers, Boxing, Brian Phillips, Charles P. Pierce, Charlie Pierce, Chris Connelly, Chris Ryan, Chuck Klosterman, Contests, Cycling, David Jacoby, Dreams, Drugs, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Essays, Film & TV, Football, Grantland, Harris Wittels, Hockey, Jamie Allen, Jay Caspian Kang, Jonathan Abrams, Katie Baker, Ken Dryden, Louisa Thomas, Mark Titus, McSweeney's, Michael Weinreb, Molly Lambert, Olympics, Racism, Rafe Bartholomew, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Religion, Rembert Browne, Sexism, Shane Ryan, Short Story, Smarty Pants, Soccer, Tara Ariano, Tennis, Tess Lynch, The Office, Van Halen, Violence, Wesley Morris on August 31, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS-“Magic Johnson” (1989).

Just before the Red Hot Chili Peppers totally took off and became stadium stars, they released Mother’s Milk.  It was a commercialized realization of their three earlier more raw sounding funk rock records.  It was one of my favorite records of the late 80s.

Since Flea is interviewed in this issue of Grantland, and since he’s still a fan of the Lakers, it seemed like a good time to mention this song.

It opens with some martial drums (from then new drummer Chad Smith) and band chanting about M A G I C.  The lyrics are sung very quickly (I’m not even sure what they say half the time).  About 80 seconds in some wild guitar work burst forth, but it’s largely a chanted song of bass and drums.  There’ s a brief jam at the end where Flea shows off some great basswork and John Frusciante gets to do his thing again.

I don’t think I’ve ever heard it played anywhere (maybe at Lakers games?), so here’s a chance to hear it:

[READ: May 8, 2012] Grantland 3

One thing is for sure, Grantland loves it some basketball.  Basketball is the most widely covered sport in the published Grantlands so far. (The first issue even looked like one).  Since basketball is such a pop culture-referencing sport it actually works pretty well as a subject–with lots of different angles–especially given the state of the NBA lately.  Some other things on the Grantland staff’s minds include–the dangers of football and inadequacy of helmets to protect kids and Tim frickin Tebow (still!).  I don’t think an issue has past without talking about him yet.  I realize that’s a function of the time of these publications but… ew!

Nevertheless, the writing remains exciting and interesting, even for a non-sports guy like me.

(more…)

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Thomas Mullen–“The Art of a Basketball” (Grantland Quarterly, Number 3, 2012)

Posted in Art, Basketball, Cheech and Chong, Grantland, McSweeney's, Short Story, Sports, Thomas Mullen on August 30, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: CHEECH & CHONG-“Basketball Jones featuring Tyrone Shoelaces” (1974).

When I was a kid this was a favorite song on the Cheech & Chong’s Greatest Hit album (although not quite as good as “Earache My Eye”).  Anyone who grew up in the 70s and early 80s should know the teeny tiny voice singing “bassetball jones, I gotta bassetball jones…i got a bassetball jones oh baby ooooo.”

This song is pretty simple and straightforward–a young boy gets a basketball and he loves it and keeps it with him everywhere he goes.  And he becomes the best basketball player ever.  There’s more or less one or two verses and then an ever-increasing choir of voices sings the chorus.  The joke is about 30 seconds long but the song last for over three minutes, growing bigger and more epic.  Tyrone brags about his awesome skills (I can dunk with my nose) all the way through. There’s also a pretty great guitar solo from George Harrison!

I never knew that there was a cartoon for the song–it was made to promote the album Los Cochinos, and was shown before films in the theater! and was included in a Robert Altman film!!.  The cartoon was created by Paul Gruwell, and now you can watch it here:

[READ: August 20, 2012] “The Art of a Basketball”

The last story I read in Grantland was okay, but I didn’t have very high hopes for another one.  And when Mullen described a room as “like the lair of some mad villain from a Spiderman movie” I didn’t think I’d be enjoying this one much either.  But this story proved to be pretty interesting.

The premise is that the main character has his degree in art and he make a living touching up paintings that have eroded over the years.  As the story opens he is restoring the color to chipped sections of a $12 million Cezanne (is that even a job?).  Anyhow, he messes up the Cezanne (d’oh) and is fired.  He messed it up because he was unfocused–he just broke up with his girlfriend and that was all he could think about.  She is an artist (she says so at every opportunity) and he found her pretentious and really not very good.  And she found him very negative–they should have broken up ages ago, clearly.  Anyhow, he is fired and gets a job in Providence at CAMP.  He’s now working on Contemporary art which he doesn’t respect at all (some serious art bashing in this section!).

His first assignment is to fix up Jay Winthrop’s Water Ball from 1981 (not a real installation).  The piece of art is a basketball floating in water.  It had developed black gunk on the ball and his job was to clean it (I of course wondered how the water stayed in there for 30 years).  He created his own solvent which removed the black, bit also some of the coloring of the ball.  Now he was in deep shit. His only choice was to replace the ball without anyone knowing.  But it turns out the ball was not just a regular old 1981 championship ball (on ebay for $500) but a 1981 Championship ball with Dr. J’s signature on it (they weren’t in the playoffs that year)–a factory error valued at $5,000.  The narrator is already in huge debt, but he needs the job.  What is he going to do? (more…)

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Grantland Quarterly, Number 2 (2012)

Posted in Alex Pappademas, American Horror Story, Andy Greenwald, Baseball, Basketball, Bill Barnwell, Bill Simmons, Books about music, Books about writers, Boxing, Brian Phillips, Chad Harbach, Chris Brown, Chris Ryan, Chuck Klosterman, David Jacoby, Don DeLillo, Eric Raskin, Essays, Football, George Domardzki, Grantland, Helium, Hockey, Hua Hsu, Jamie Allen, Jay Caspian Kang, John Brandon, Jon Dolan, Jonah Keri, Jonathan Abrams, Katie Baker, Ken Dryden, LeBron James, Louisa Thomas, Malcolm Gladwell, Mark Titus, McSweeney's, Michael Schur, Michael Weinreb, Molly Lambert, Rafe Bartholomew, Roger Federer, Shane Ryan, Sleater-Kinney, Tennis, Tess Lynch, Tom Bissell, Video Games, Violence, Wild Flag on May 18, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: WILD FLAG-Wild Flag (2011).

For reasons unclear to me now, I wasn’t psyched when I heard about this band.  Despite the fact that it was 2/3 of Sleater-Kinney and the force behind Helium joining together, I didn’t jump for joy.  But now that I have listened to the album a million times, I can say that it is one of the best albums not only of that year, but of many years.  Man is it good.

Sleater-Kinney was a great band, they were melodic and tuneful but also abrasive and occasionally off-putting.  Who knew that the majority of the adhesiveness came from Corinne Tucker (well, she was the screamer, admittedly).  It’s pretty clear that Carrie Brownstein is bringing a ton of melody (and a wee bit of amativeness) to the mix.  Mary Timony always included trippy imagery and a weird kind of whispered/loud singing voice.  The tunes are so catchy so strong, so singalongable.

There’s little moments in each song that are amazing.  The backing vocals (and the pitch shift in the chorus) in “Romance”.  The way “Something Came Over Me” sounds so different from “Romance” (and is clearly a Timony-sung song).  I absolutely love the guitar “solo” that begins each verse and how it stands out but fits in so nicely as a baritone guitar sound (I assume from Carrie?)  “Boom” is just a full-on rocker with some great guitar pyrotechnics and Carrie’s more extreme vocals.  And man is it catchy.

“Glass Tambourine” is a cool trippy psychedelic workout  that’s still catchy and interesting.  “Endless Talk” has a strange British retro vibe.  (Carrie seems to be singing with a kind of punk British voice).  And there’s lot of keyboards.  It’s great that the album has so many different sounds, but still sounds cohesive.  “Short Version” has some great guitar soloing in the front and back.  “Electric Band” is like a perfect pop song–great backing vocals, great poppy solos and a cool video to boot.  “Future Crimes” is another amazing tune, with a keyboard solo!

“Racehorse” is probably my least favorite song on the disc.  It’s got some cool parts and some interesting swagger (and I like the live versions where they really jam) but the album version feels a little dragged out (although the chorus is really hot).  The disc ends with the wonderful “Black Tiles” which could easily be a Helium song, but which still sounds very Wild Flag.

And, I can’t say it enough, Janet Weiss is amazing on drums.  I feel badly because I tend to leave out the keyboardist–because I don’t know who she is or the band that she came from.  But her keyboards play an essential role in the music.  They fill out the spaces that the two guitars don;t always fill.  They even introduce the opening of the album.

If you go back through previous posts you’ll see I’ve mentioned them 3 times already because they have special bond with NPR and three of their concerts are available there.  I can’t wait for more from them.

[READ: May 8, 2012] Grantland 2

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed Grantland #1.  So I was pretty excited to get Grantland #2.  #2 has all of the elements that I loved about #1–non-sports articles about entertainment (video games, music, TV), and sports articles that are short and digestible for a non-sports fan.  This issue also features a number of really long articles about basketball.  I like basketball fine, but I can’t say I paid any attention to the lockout.  Thus, much of this was lost on me. It probably doesn’t help that I don’t know any sports people either.

I may have said this last time, but I will reiterate for Issue #3–for those of us who don’t follow sports, or those of us who may not remember back to September when most of these articles were written, or heck, for people who are going to read this in ten years’ time:  For certain articles, can you give us an epilogue about what happened after the article was written.  If you speculate about  the lockout. Have an epilogue to say about how the lockout turned out.  If you talk about a game 5 of a series and the series didn’t end, have an epilogue that tells us how the series ended.  It doesn’t have to even fit the style of the article, just a few words: so and so ended like this. It can show how prescient the writers were.  And it can help us complete the stories.

So, despite a few articles that I thought were too long, (although probably aren’t if you love basketball) I really enjoyed this issue of Grantland, too. (more…)

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Jamie Allen–“Reunion” (Grantland Quarterly, No 2, 2012)

Posted in Arcade Fire, Baseball, Grantland, Jamie Allen, Short Story on May 8, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: TIMES NEW ROMAN-“Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)” from Score! 20 Years of Merge Records: The Covers (2009).

This is the final song from Score!  It’s a cover by Times New Viking (nice name) of The Arcade Fire’s “Neighborhood #1” from Funeral.

I loved Funeral when it came out and I’m still quite fond of it.  The Times New Viking cover is pretty faithful to the original (the vocals are really close, in fact).  But the cover sounds like it was recorded on a transistor radio.  The original isn’t a bass-thumping heavy song, but the cover is so tinny and fragile, it seems to get lost in itself.  It also sounds something like a demo.  Neither of these are bad in and of itself, but the final version is so full, that this doesn’t really add anything new to the song.

But it did get me to listen to the original again, so that’s good.

[READ: May 6, 2012] “Reunion”

I have just finished Grantland #2 and I wanted to mention this story alone because for the most part the “magazine” (or whatever it is) doesn’t  have fiction in it.

I was a little concerned when it first started that it was going to be very baseball-heavy, because the main character and the friend he reconnects with were pitcher and catcher when they were younger.  But I was pleased that the story used their baseball past as a framework to establish their closeness and synchronicity, not as the end of the story itself.

It was also funny to read a story in which people get caught up via Facebook.  It may be the first fiction I’ve read where such an emphasis is placed on Facebook as a reuniting medium—with the protagonist being unsure about it at first and then deciding it was a pretty cool thing (very true for many of us).  Indeed, the quote “How many high school reunions had Facebook ruined…” is quite apt. (more…)

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Grantland Quarterly, Number 1 (2011)

Posted in Andy Greenwald, Anna Clark, Babe the Blue Ox, Bill Barnwell, Bill Simmons, Brian Phillips, Bryan Curtis, Carles, Charlie Pierce, Chris Jones, Chuck Klosterman, Colson Whitehead, Cricket, David Shoemaker, Death, Essays, Frank Deford, Friday Night Lights, Grantland, Harris Wittels, Hockey, Hoosiers, Hope Solo, Ichiro Suzuki, Jane Leavy, Jay Caspian Kang, Jess Walter, Jimmy Kimmel, Katie Baker, LeBron James, Lucky Peach, Malcolm Gladwell, McSweeney's, Megan Rapinoe, Michael Schur, Michael Weinreb, Mike Lupica, Molly Lambert, Moneyball, Nate Dimeo, Newspapers, Poker, Primus, Robert Mays, Roger Federer, Seinfeld, Short Story, Statis Pro Baseball, Suicide, The National, The New York Times, Track, Ty Cobb, Usain Bolt, Video Games, Wesley Allsbrook, Wesley Morris, William Faulkner, Wright Thompson on December 26, 2011| 1 Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: BABE THE BLUE OX-“Basketball” (1998).

This was the first song I’d ever heard from Babe the Blue Ox, and I was hooked (sadly, The Way We Were, where this song is from was their last album).  This is also my favorite songs about sports (and it will never be played in an arena).

It opens with this great funky keyboard over a cool walking bass line.  And after a verse about playing basketball, we get the gorgeous bridge: “pass it to me, I am free, look there’s no one guarding me) sung by one of the women in the band (who sounds vaguely like Edie Brickell).  When the chorus kicks in “And when she gives it to me, I am as high as can be” both singers harmonize wonderfully.

There’s even a cool instrumental break.

Everything about this song is catchy and wonderful.  And it should have been huge.

[READ: December 21, 2011] Grantland

McSweeney’s seems to keep trying to push me away.  Or maybe they are just trying to push me out of my comfort zone.  First they publish Lucky Peach, a magazine about cooking (with recipes that contain ingredients that I couldn’t find anywhere).  I don’t read cooking magazines, but I loved this one.  Now they publish Grantland, a book about sports.  I don’t follow sports.  At all.  I used to play sports and I used to watch sports, and then when I got out of college, I did neither.  I have a very good knowledge of most sports (so I can still follow any game that’s on), but as for actual people playing the games right now–I’m ignorant.  So, why on earth would I want to read this book about sports?

I was pretty sure I would finally not be getting this book until I read the author list: Chuck Klosterman, Colson Whitehead (!), Malcolm Gladwell (?)  I knew this was going to be no ordinary sports book.

So it turns out (and I didn’t know this until just now) that the book is a collection of works from the website Grantland, which is created and run by Bill Simmons.  I haven’t explored the site but it sure looks interesting enough–longish articles about sports and culture and all kinds of interesting things.  And evidently this issue is a sort of best of the website.  The whole Grantland experience, including this book, are connected to ESPN, indeed, ESPN gets a copyright for the book, McSweeney’s is just the publisher.

And this volume was wonderful.  I couldn’t put it down.  I even wound up putting aside a book I was in the middle of to read it.  None of the articles are terribly long and, despite the basketball textured cover (which is very cool–no one can walk by and not touch it) the variety of sports covered is wonderful: from boxing to cricket!  And there are short stories and essays about the entertainment industry as well (articles on Shia LeBeouf and Amy Winehouse (!)).

If I had one complaint about the book it’s that many of the articles don’t give a time from when they were written.  I assume they are all fairly recent but since I don’t follow sports I can’t say for sure.  The other problem is that several of the stories end with a game/match unresolved.  Clearly they have been resolved since then, but even one line saying what happened would be comforting for those of us not glued to ESPN. (more…)

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