The Return

Ladies and gentleman, sound a feasting horn... we have rod.

If you haven't been on my FB or if you're not familiar w/ the linkaging (it's a word...somewhere...), please visit www.bigoanddukes.com... drop trou, and enjoy what hath been bestowed on you.

For those not in the know, a year ago, the DC area suffered a significant loss when WJFK (106.7FM for the numerically inclined) flipped formats from THE GREATEST TALK RADIO STATION EVER to... sports. Only sports. All the time.

It was a slow motion car accident but the radio business sucked (and still does) so... business-wise, the move was understandable. However, in the process, some of the best talk radio in the business went by the wayside, most notably, the Mike O'Meara Show and the Big O and Dukes Show.

Total dagger.

Fortunately, the O'Meara Show resurfaced earlier in the year, in the form of a podcast (http://www.mikeomearashow.com/), which was nice. I think a lot of listeners expected Mike and gang to come back in some form but the same can't be said for O and Dukes. Dukes found new life on the rebranded 106.7 and Oscar ditched EL SOL and joined Mike on his podcast. It appeared that the story of Oscar and Chad had been written...

That is until last week. A short midnight FB post from Oscar and suddenly... the world seems right again. I encourage you to go to www.bigoanddukes.com to get a taste. If you can, go to itunes and search 'big o and dukes' to find old podcasts from the old radio station. I guarantee listening enjoyment. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to do the maneuver...

Top Chef: Live Blog - 7/14/10

-9:01: I just want to go on record as saying Lynn (who was eliminated last week w/ Arnold) was a nasty c-...cook. SUCK FAILURE, granny.

-9:03: And how Angelo ISN'T a line worker at the fudge packing plant...is beyond me.

-9:05: As soon as I clear my credit card, me and the woman is havin' dinner at the Inn at Little Washington. And then I will spend the next 6 months paying off the bill.

-9:07: Tim, sorry, you are the WORST representative for local cuisine. Ever. Prove me wrong.

-9:10: Side note: I got an infield hit and a walk yesterday in softball. How is it that my left arm is seized up like an epileptic kid watchin' anime?

-9:19: I'm half expecting Angelo to accidentally mutter the N word and get wok shoved up his ass. Or not. Would be cool though.

-9:29: Ok, I'm pretty sure Angelo has to go door to door to tell people about his 'indiscretions.' Total creep vibe.

-9:37: WE GET IT, KENNY'S BLACK. BETTER NICKNAMES, amanda.

-9:40: All we need is one more layer and the Pretzel M&Ms will = candy turducken.

-9:42: Tim (before every challenge in which he precipitously falls to the bottom): 'I'm really confident in what I did. I might take this thing down. Goddamn I'm good.'

-9:48: BLACK LIGHTNING STRIKES. (Ok, I had to give the nickname a try.)

-9:50: If Hollywood made a movie inspired by the Fail Blog, would Timothy play the lead? Or at the very least, narrate?

-9:59: No, Tim, you can't roll 7 or 11 on the come out every time. But you sure seemed to crap out. A lot.

-10:00: Okay, seriously, when did Top Chef become Survivor? JUST EFFING COOK.

-10:01: On another note, hello again, China Chow. I'm going to find me a copy of 'The Big Hit' on VHS.

Random Thoughts - Week of July...something or other.

• I'm pretty sure... like 99.9345% sure... 50 cent was supposed to sing the hook on this Clipse track...but then at the last minute they probably thought, 'Eff it, let's just get an impersonator and save that money for weed.'
• FINALLY. Our long national nightmare is over. I will say, LeBron exceeded my expectations... and somehow out-douched himself on his way out of Cleveland.
• FYI, bron^2, very few 'global icons' play the role of second banana. Hope the Miami sun burns off the stench of failure.
  
• And to the good folks of Cleveland... you don't deserve this. I seldom condone hooliganism but in this case, go nuts. I trust the those Heat-Cavs games will make for great training footage for Cleveland riot police.
• Srsly, do my neighbors think they're back walking the streets of Mumbai? THERE IS A SIDEWALK 7 FEET TO YOUR RIGHT. USE IT. (P.S. Using the phone and listening to your ipod as you all walk in the path of my 2 ton deathmachine = asking for it.)
• Anyone got Rosetta Stone: German? Herr John might could be needin' it. Soon.
  

Ladies and Gents, Brock Lesnar and the UFC 116 Players!

Um...whoa.

For all the speculation about UFC 116 not pulling in as many viewers as expected, this was one HELL of an event. An undercard w/ mostly unheralded fights (at least to the general public) delivered big, and the main event gave fight fans something to remember for a long time.

I'll get to Brock/Carwin in a minute. (FYI, I was tempted to refer to him as Shane, like he was suddenly a household name after that fight. Which he should be. But that's neither here nor there.) The opener was as expected, w/ George Sotiropolous pulling out the decision over Kurt Pellegrino but MAN, did Kurt come within an eyelash of stealing that fight.

Chris Lytle gave us something we don't see everyday, in submitting Matt Brown w/ a "reverse triangle/crucifix". (I'm going to need pie charts and an easel to figure that one out.) The Bonnar/Kyrstof rematch was epic, if only for "the pose" post-match from a victorious Stephan Bonnar. (BTW I think I found my new avatar for the next six months.) The war that preceded it wasn't bad either.

And of course...there's Leben/Sexiyama. Like a lot of fight fans, I was legit bummed that Wanderlei couldn't compete against the Japanese/Korean fighter. But when the UFC threw in Chris Leben as a replacement, I immediately thought, 'Has he even had a chance to take his gloves off from the last fight?! WTF.'

And then last night happened...

Un. Freaking. Believable.

Despite being noticeably gassed by the middle of Round 2, Sexiyama manage to level some damaging shots against the Crippler right up until the bitter end. But the Legend of Leben was too much for him to overcome, and we saw just what makes Chris...Chris. Two weeks removed from stopping Aaron Simpson at the TUF finale, the Crippler turned in another heroic performance in tapping Sexiyama w/ a triangle and instantly, became one of my favorite fighters. BRAH. VO.

And now...the piece de resistance... the main event. Brock. Shane. Fisticuffs.

If I had a nickel for every time I heard and/or screamed the phrase, "HOLY SH*T, BROCK'S DONE" in that first round, well...I would have a lot of freaking nickels. Watching it live (at a Hooters no less), the crowd, myself included, was IN-CREDULOUS that referee Josh Rosenthal seemingly turned a blind eye to the shellacking Big Bad Brock was enduring. And it's not as if I wasn't expecting the long leash. I even went through the trouble of explaining to my girlfriend that the referees usually back off in championship fights. But with that said, even she couldn't believe the fight was going on.

Now, having been 24 hours removed from the fight, my feelings on the non-stoppage have waned a bit. However, I am still comfortable saying there have been scores of big fights stopped under circumstances much less dire than the one Brock Lesnar faced last night... with that circumstance being a 270 lb. monster raining down cinder-block fists and pick-axe elbows in rapid succession. Take into account that we've never seen anyone (Frank Mir included) put Brock in that much trouble in the Octagon. That alone should have signaled he was on the eve of destruction.

Ultimately, while it was far from pretty, Brock weathered the storm, shook off some of the ring rust and displayed his mettle by enduring the most legitimate threat to his title reign yet. Seriously, who had 'arm triangle' or anything other a fist to the face in their pool as the finish to this melee?

In then end, I think we all feel richer for having seen this performance from the Next Big Thing. However, the same can't be said for Shane Carwin. And that's probably why this whole deal doesn't sit well with me, the fact that Shane got hosed on this fight. Given that he was getting paid peanuts to take on Brock (see 'TEN TO ONE RATIO'), it was ostensibly a no-win situation, in that, not only did he have to win to make any significant coin, he had to do it impressively to boot. And to his credit, he did just that; Shane did exactly what he had done in his 12 previous fights, which was annihilate his opponent for three minutes plus. Only this time, that opponent was the undisputed heavyweight champ/UFC cash cow. You do the math.

I will trust Josh Rosenthal heard and saw more than we did from Brock last night in the midst of that first round 'exchange'. Just try telling that to Shane Carwin right now.

In spite of that slight unpleasantness, this was a strong show for Dana and co. Given the string of duds that have plagued several recent UFC events (Rashad, 'Page, I'm lookin' at you), this was a nice turnaround. Hopefully, there were a great many fight fans who were able to pay witness. Now, if only we could be certain this goodwill lingers for Spider Silva at UFC 117...

On second thought, that might be pushing it.