Professional sports are a curious enterprise. People expending a lot of energy, emotion, and oftentimes money pulling for grown men, most of which are millionaires, to score points based for the most part on where they happened to grow up is kind of a silly idea when viewed from the outside in. But, I don't care- sports are interesting, entertaining, and fun to invest in emotionally. Yes, even professional sports. There's something to be said for seeing athletic competition at its highest level, and if it's fun to participate in as a spectator too then I'm all for it.
Growing up in central Indiana I've had some interesting experiences following the pro teams nearby, at least once I got past the 'front running little kid' phase of my sports fan experience. I don't really care much about major league baseball other than I generally wish the Cubs and the Reds well. The Colts are king around here right now, and I am enjoying it immensely. The NFL is a great league and having one of the elite teams is a great thing for a football fan especially now that they finally got over the hump, and I can't wait for our season ticket spots to open up next year.
One thing I do have to cop to, which is true really mostly everywhere, is that I share a spot in the fan base with an extreme amount of bandwagoners. Of course, this holds true for almost any good team, but it seems like our ratio is much worse than other places like Green Bay, Cleveland, etc. The last Colts game I went to the fans started doing the wave when the offense was on the field. I get absolutely infuriated by our fans way too often.
Which brings me to the Pacers. I remember feeling the electricity around the state when those mid 90s playoff series were heating up. Reggie. Spike Lee. John Starks. The Dunkin' Dutchman. Boom Baby. Indiana is 'the home of basketball' and no place rocked quite like Market Square Arena during the eastern conference finals. An elite team that always fell just short (sound familiar?) but that always had the support of a great fanbase. Getting edged out in game 7 of the 98 eastern finals in Jordan's last Bulls year was a heartbreaker. But the team made the right moves and persevered until finally it looked poised for a championship run in the 2004-5 season.
Pretty much everybody knows what happened next.
What people don't seem to remember is the stretch after the brawl how large crowds continued to show up while probably the least talented group of players in the league fought (not literally) through every game and still made the playoffs. But the damage was done. The brawl and the subsequent flip out of Artest put a stigma on the Pacers that sticks to this day and will continue for years. After the brawl was a few months old but still a major sports topic the word 'thug' started to pepper more and more conversations involving the Pacers. Reggie Miller retired. Jermaine O'Neal battled injuries. Jamaal Tinsley got a huge contract but struggled under Rick Carlisle. Stephen Jackson fired his gun in the air outside a strip club. Tinsley and Marquis Daniels got into an argument at a bar. The Colts continued to prosper, Conseco Fieldhouse attendance dropped.
Enter 2007- the Pacers are a PR disaster, but they have a new coach who may be just the guy for the roster they have, and the guy with the system to really unleash the talent on the squad, and nearly every game is on tv. Ron Artest is long gone. Stephen Jackson is gone. Jamaal Tinsley is still here, and the fans are not happy about it. But, quietly the Pacers are quietly adjusting to the new system and Tinsley is the centerpiece of the team, playing up to his contract finally. Jermaine O'Neal's purported unhappiness starts to disappear after he rests his knee for some games, and the momentum is building behind the positive play of the team, putting them maybe in position to win some fans back.
And then Tinsley, now a big leader on the team, decides to step out in the middle of a few days off to the wrong part of town. Goes with his brothers, a couple friends, and a pacers employee and Larry Bird's friend (you think he's not there to keep an eye on things?) to an R. Kelly Concert, watches the Mayweather - Hatton fight, and then makes the decision after midnight to head to a west 38th street club where the after party for the concert is being held. When word hits the Tinsley group that a fight broke out earlier, they leave immediately, but when they get back to their cars, some real thugs are waiting, and they want to party with the rich guys. When told they're just heading home, said thugs are reported to have said 'We're going to party with you whether you like it or not.' Words exchanged, high speed chase downtown, Larry Bird's friend shot in the elbow. Everyone lucky to be alive.
In the aftermath, the fan base reaction has been mostly on the level of another club rio incident, when really the only thing Tinsley is guilty of is being out too late and at the wrong club. He and his group made every effort to avoid trouble, and yet is fired on by an assault rifle, but he's 'in trouble again' and the fans around town who haven't seen the turnaround this season and have their mind made up on the guy want him gone. Oh, and trade Jermaine while you're at it! At the very least you probably won't see any Pacers go anywhere remotely sketchy again soon, at least I hope not. For somebody who's been won over by the team's great effort and play on the floor, this is the most frustrating thing that can happen because it'll keep people from tuning in to watch the turnaround. And Jamaal Tinsley did nothing illegal.
I guess all I can do is keep watching the games, and telling people how things are different this year. And watch as Jermaine O'Neal returns to form and looks like a happy player on the floor again now that he doesn't have to carry the whole team on his back. Even Mike Dunleavy is putting up career numbers and looking like a solid player and I hated the guy last season. I guess Donnie Walsh was right to make the trade he did, the ingredients just needed a different chef. And did I mention the games are much more fun to watch now? Give it a shot former Pacer fan, tune into FSN, and read Indy Cornrows. Tonight you would've seen Troy Murphy get half punched in the face and also ejected, and watched the Pacers come from 16 down to winning convincingly. It's hard not to be entertained by that.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Review: The Golden Compass
Last night I got the opportunity to take in a preview screening of The Golden Compass. Since I'm a nerdy enough guy I don't mind a good fantasy movie here and there. Initially I was lukewarm on the movie (may have had something to do with having to sit in the front row).
After a day to think about it I've come around quite a bit on this movie. My major gripe with it is the pacing was way too fast, and a lot of major plot points and settings were packed in together, but it's very difficult to introduce and frame an entire fantasy world in less than 2 hours. I think it would have been better off with an additional 30 minutes to let things breathe a bit.
Part of the problem is that Peter Jackson set the bar too high with the Lord of the Rings movies, but The Golden Compass seems to stand on its own pretty well. The special effects and art direction are unique enough from typical fantasy, leaving the theater we had a discussion about how the aesthetic is reminiscent of the game Final Fantasy III on Super Nintendo if you remember that sort of thing. The Industrial Revolution type fantastical technology meets magic and monsters sort of vibe is a nice change of pace.
Overall I did enjoy this movie and taking a step back from the ending and realizing that there definitely are going to be a couple more movies it works pretty well. They really were heavy handed about wrapping it up there, and there is a pretty neat battle towards the end, despite the couple of GIANT AWESOME BEAR OUT OF EFFING NOWHERE moments. Can't help but smile at those though.
Casting was great, the girl who plays Lyra was good for the role, Nicole Kidman is great as the creepy Mrs. Coulter, Ian McKellen was a good choice for the voice of Ioric the bear, and we'll see how Daniel Craig does more in the next couple of movies I'm guessing. Even though she's not as ridiculously attractive as she was opposite the aforementioned Craig in the last Bond movie, I liked Eva Green as the prominent witch character. Last but certainly not least, I think Sam Elliot plays pretty much the same role in every movie, but I love it every time he's on screen, and his 'daemon' was perfect.
Overall, I'll give the movie 3.75 out of 5 fountain cokes, to Fellowship of the Ring's 5 out of 5. Definitely worth seeing if you're able to enjoy fantasy kinds of movies. I still haven't seen Chronicles of Narnia, I probably should get on that.
SCANDAL RELATED Postscript: After seeing the movie and then reading about the 'Controversy' surrounding it, it all seemed pretty silly to me. I haven't read the series of books that this movie started the adaptations to. Evidently they're known for their themes against 'organized religion,' but in the movie they're really toned down. If anything it's more anti-authority than anti-religion, on a level similar to the Star Wars trilogy (IV-VI anyway). The "Magisterium" in the books is supposed to evoke a church similar to the old church of rome that has strayed from its roots and now seeks to control everyone rather than enlighten them. Kinda Paradise Lost-lite themes of free will in there, but really I don't see what the fuss is about other than they use the word heresy a few times.
Last I checked Christianity did go similarly astray from its roots there in the middle ages, even I received the smoothed over version of those events in Catholic school. There were reasons for the clash between the Franciscan and Benedictine schools of thought, and reasons that Martin Luther went redecorating, and reasons there was a counter-reformation that got things started back on the right track. Obviously things never got even close to as bad as they do with "The Magisterium." But if you're really getting that upset over the comparison then I'm not sure what to tell you, read a history book. But this sort of stuff is really harmless and in no way attacks anybody's faith. Most dystopias are pretty outrageous but still plausible intentionally so as to remind people not to let things even get half as out of hand.
After a day to think about it I've come around quite a bit on this movie. My major gripe with it is the pacing was way too fast, and a lot of major plot points and settings were packed in together, but it's very difficult to introduce and frame an entire fantasy world in less than 2 hours. I think it would have been better off with an additional 30 minutes to let things breathe a bit.
Part of the problem is that Peter Jackson set the bar too high with the Lord of the Rings movies, but The Golden Compass seems to stand on its own pretty well. The special effects and art direction are unique enough from typical fantasy, leaving the theater we had a discussion about how the aesthetic is reminiscent of the game Final Fantasy III on Super Nintendo if you remember that sort of thing. The Industrial Revolution type fantastical technology meets magic and monsters sort of vibe is a nice change of pace.
Overall I did enjoy this movie and taking a step back from the ending and realizing that there definitely are going to be a couple more movies it works pretty well. They really were heavy handed about wrapping it up there, and there is a pretty neat battle towards the end, despite the couple of GIANT AWESOME BEAR OUT OF EFFING NOWHERE moments. Can't help but smile at those though.
Casting was great, the girl who plays Lyra was good for the role, Nicole Kidman is great as the creepy Mrs. Coulter, Ian McKellen was a good choice for the voice of Ioric the bear, and we'll see how Daniel Craig does more in the next couple of movies I'm guessing. Even though she's not as ridiculously attractive as she was opposite the aforementioned Craig in the last Bond movie, I liked Eva Green as the prominent witch character. Last but certainly not least, I think Sam Elliot plays pretty much the same role in every movie, but I love it every time he's on screen, and his 'daemon' was perfect.
Overall, I'll give the movie 3.75 out of 5 fountain cokes, to Fellowship of the Ring's 5 out of 5. Definitely worth seeing if you're able to enjoy fantasy kinds of movies. I still haven't seen Chronicles of Narnia, I probably should get on that.
SCANDAL RELATED Postscript: After seeing the movie and then reading about the 'Controversy' surrounding it, it all seemed pretty silly to me. I haven't read the series of books that this movie started the adaptations to. Evidently they're known for their themes against 'organized religion,' but in the movie they're really toned down. If anything it's more anti-authority than anti-religion, on a level similar to the Star Wars trilogy (IV-VI anyway). The "Magisterium" in the books is supposed to evoke a church similar to the old church of rome that has strayed from its roots and now seeks to control everyone rather than enlighten them. Kinda Paradise Lost-lite themes of free will in there, but really I don't see what the fuss is about other than they use the word heresy a few times.
Last I checked Christianity did go similarly astray from its roots there in the middle ages, even I received the smoothed over version of those events in Catholic school. There were reasons for the clash between the Franciscan and Benedictine schools of thought, and reasons that Martin Luther went redecorating, and reasons there was a counter-reformation that got things started back on the right track. Obviously things never got even close to as bad as they do with "The Magisterium." But if you're really getting that upset over the comparison then I'm not sure what to tell you, read a history book. But this sort of stuff is really harmless and in no way attacks anybody's faith. Most dystopias are pretty outrageous but still plausible intentionally so as to remind people not to let things even get half as out of hand.
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