Somebody’s got a case of the Mondays
January 7th, 2008, 8:31 am · Post a Comment · posted by patrickdonohue
The New American Gladiators was good wasn’t terrible
Had a chance to watch American Gladiators 2.0 as I’ve taken to calling it and thankfully, the re-make is very similar to the Mike Adamle/Larry Czonka-hosted version of the early 90s that I loved so much as a kid. They’ve returned all the old games with a set of new HGH-inflated Gladiators. Back are old favs like the cleverly-named Wall, Joust, Gauntlet and my personal favorite, Powerball, not to mention the return of The Eliminator with its ziplines and reverse motion treadmills.
The one thing I don’t understand about Gladiators 2.0: what’s with all the water? When a contestant is tugged from the rings in Hang Tough, more often than not in an extremely homoerotic fashion, he falls.. into water. If he isn’t able to scurry up up the wall in…. Wall, he falls… into water. If he gets his pummeled about his head in joust, he falls off his platform… into water. Even the eliminator features a water-based element or two. What’s with all the water? Why not have the contestants falls headlong into a vat of Extra Virgin Olive Oil or what happened to the big cushy mats of my childhood or a ball pit?
While the show may be enough to make me tune in on Monday nights, sans Heroes, it will not be enough to pull me from tonight’s BCS title game.
_________________
Tonight’s the night
The college football seasons ends tonight in New Orleans with a game I am genuinely, truly excited to watch. I have no idea how Ohio State will come out and play, after having almost two months off but the same can certainly be said for LSU, who’s most recent game was more than a month ago. Make no mistake, the beginning of the game is huge for both sides. Ohio State wants to come out and control the tempo of the game, slow it down and grind it out until the end. If they’re able to do that from the outset, it boasts very well for the Buckeyes. But, if LSU is able to get some big plays early on and get a big lead, Ohio State will have to abandon the run, the strongest part of their offense, and rely on Todd Boeckman and against a veteran secondary like LSU’s that could be all she wrote. In a close game though, I’ll take Ohio State as I find Les Miles’ late game judgment to be suspect at best.
_______________
The Rocket takes former trainer to court
The news this morning is that Roger Clemens has filed a defamation suit against former trainer Brian McNamee, who indicated the pitcher had taken HGH in the Mitchell Report. I do not think that because Clemens filed this suit that it automatically means that he is innocent.
______________
Bring in the noise
Is anyone else tired of the San Diego Chargers? Between LaDanian Tomlinson, who is becoming increasingly self-aggrandizing, Shawne Merriman, that HGH-addled freak and Philip Rivers, who is far too mouthy for how medicore his numbers are, I’ve grown tired of the theatrics. I understand that football is an emotional game but I don’t need to see Shawne Merriman dance around like a moron after every tackle or Luis Castillo do the samba after getting his only sack of the day. You know, for a team that complained after New England mimicked Merriman’s lights out dance, this Chargers team does an awful lot of celebrating.
More playing, less talking.
_______________
DVD Wars
I was at the gym when I heard on CNBC that Warner Bros. had inked an exclusive deal with Sony’s Blu Ray to distribute their titles. News that was particularly hurtful considering my recent holiday purchase of an HD DVD player. I’m not quite old enough to remember the VHS/Beta wars of the 80s but I can certainly empathize with those consumers. It really is tricky, not knowing which technology to invest in. For me, the Warner Bros. news hurt because it meant one thing and one thing only: No Dark Knight HD-DVD for Pat. Now, I know I’m jumping the gun a little bit on this one given that Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins sequel won’t hit theatres until July but still, a little sad..
