someone wants it

Noticed recently in the news, concern/ handwringing about the Obama daughters getting so much media attention. Sort of an extension of the papparazi talk re celebrities, I think.

No one seems to be willing to admit to eating this stuff up, but someone clearly does, or it wouldn't happen beacuse it wouldn't make

money. You know who you are.

Someone buys the magazine that has the pictures of Ben or Jen or whichever flavor of the month is on the cover. Someone does or they wouldn't crowd in around you at the checkout counter everywhere you go shopping.

People have some influence over this seemingly hopeless process.

Evidence in support of this this week when an alleged "businessman" out of Florida sought to make money selling a Caylee doll. Yes, the murdered girl. Supposedly, it sung 'You are my Sunshine' as she can be seen doing in an oft run video from shortly before her disappearence.

Only is wasn't Caylee (the little girl whose mother sits in jail accused of her murder) the guy said when grilled by victim's advocate/media (well there's no good way to say what I want to here) Nancy Grace it was a representation to remind people of missing children.

You see he wasn't trying to cash in on the soft-hearted and profit from a trajedy - he was trying to do a public service.

Uh huh. Anybody want to buy a really nice bridge in Brooklyn?

The outcry over what this 'person' ( his humanity is clearly in question here) planned to do was so swift and so brutal that the poorly planned scam to profit from the dead was dropped like a hot rock.

Rightly so,

but back to my other point.

If there were backlash/outcry or people just stayed away in droves from the Star and People and any of their ilk when they did something tasteless like talk about celebrity private lives or presidentail children it would stop beacuse it would no longer be profitable.

But it is, still.

Look at the waiting areas or the barbershops and beauty parlors, at least the ones Ive been in. Someone keeps buying it or keeps watching its television counterpart because there's the evidence scattered across the coffee tables of the nation.

10,000 email to a publisher might cause them to rethink what they're doing, but probably not if it's against sales of 1 million or more.

 

 

Posted by Matthew Rice at 07:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Going to Hoosick

 I'll be taking the trip to Hoosick Falls tonight for the showdown that could set up the rest of the season for the Granville Golden Horde. This Horde team is not the same as the one that fell earlier this season so this match up will be huge. Granville has to face Hoosick Falls (tonight) and Stillwater again. Wins in both contest should put Granville at the top of the league with at least a split with each league foe.

Of course, this is only in terms of what takes place for a league title, anything goes in the post season tourney. Exciting stuff. It might be freezing outside but Horde basketball games are one place to keep warm on these long winter nights.

If Granville plays like they have the last fews games I expect a big league win, but it's hard to takey anything away from a very good Panthers team who might not have gotten the respect they deserve when Tamarac was off on a tear earlier in the season.

Absolutely gets the blood flowing.

White out.

The team had tried to kick off a 'white out' tradition at home with fans hopefully showing up waearing lots of white. I'm sure they'd still like to see that Friday against Greenwich - so come one and do it already - you'd put on something green for St. Patrick's Day, Irish or not.

 

 

Posted by Matthew Rice at 08:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Basketball thoughts

 

While another hot ticket has the nation and probably the world preoccupied, I'm looking forward to Wednesday when the GRanville boys travel to Hoosick Falls. The Panther came to Granville early in the season before the Horde found thier groove and won by 11 or 13, a pretty fair margin. But I recall early foul trouble for a couple of the guys as well as less than stellar shooting.

Make no mistake, this is not the same Granville team. But, the Panthers are on a roll and looking like a team that could be dominant for years to come with some young talent on the roster (their leading scorers for the team are sophomores)

this will be one heck of a game if it lives up to its potential.

GRanville will have a ahrd time taking further advantage from the line with 17 of 20 and 23 of 24 in thier last two games and scorers stepping up big time. Lyons still draws lots of attention, but now Hoagland and Bucciero are making teams pay for that.

I'm so stoked for this one I'm going to forego the seaspm premere of LOST and watch that the following night. I'll be courtside for this Wasaren League showdown which will have nothing less than first place in the league on the line, with Stillwater and a good Warriors team looming in the background, but that showdown in still more than a week away

so as head coach Matt Usher says...one day at a time and one game at a time.

 

 

rah, rah, rah

Posted by Matthew Rice at 04:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Granville wrestling, words from the coach,  

Granville [NY] 48, Cambridge [NY] 28
96 lbs:         Barry Linendoll (Cambridge [NY]) > Nathaniel Palmer (Granville [NY]), FALL 5:37
103 lbs:        DOUBLE FFT
112 lbs:        Justin Duel (Granville [NY]) > Tressa Young (Cambridge [NY]), DEC 7-2
119 lbs:        Hayden Miller (Granville [NY]), FFT
125 lbs:        Adam Mimms (Cambridge [NY]), FFT
130 lbs:        Josh Peabody (Cambridge [NY]) > Dennis Austin (Granville [NY]), FALL 4:41
135 lbs:        Kyle Ehntholt (Granville [NY]), FFT
140 lbs:        Kurt Ehntholt (Granville [NY]) > James Furciniti (Cambridge [NY]), TF 20-4/4:23
145 lbs:        Jacob Pierce (Cambridge [NY]), FFT
152 lbs:        Keith Gould (Granville [NY]), FFT
160 lbs:        Matt Parker (Granville [NY]), FFT
171 lbs:        James Patrick (Cambridge [NY]) > David McCullen (Granville [NY]), FALL 1:18
189 lbs:        Eric Hastings (Granville [NY]), FFT
215 lbs:        Charles Krueger (Granville [NY]) > Stevens (Cambridge [NY]), MD 11-3
285 lbs:        Walter Foster (Granville [NY]), FFT 

Christian Brothers Academy-Albany [NY] 42, Granville [NY] 27
96 lbs:         Nathaniel Palmer (Granville), FFT
103 lbs:        DOUBLE FFT
112 lbs:        Matt Carpenter (Christian Brothers Academy), FFT
119 lbs:        DOUBLE FFT
125 lbs:        Brendan Miller (Granville), FFT
130 lbs:        Kyle Ehntholt (Granville) > Andrew Riordan (Christian Brothers Academy), FALL 1:30
135 lbs:        Karl Palmer (Granville) > John Lapisha (Christian Brothers Academy), FALL 0:44
140 lbs:        Kurt Ehntholt (Granville) > Aaron Steele (Christian Brothers Academy), DEC 1-0
145 lbs:        Greg Cleveland (Christian Brothers Academy), FFT
152 lbs:        Cohen Declair (Christian Brothers Academy), FFT
160 lbs:        Eric Figueroa (Christian Brothers Academy) > Matt Parker (Granville), FALL 4:16
171 lbs:        Keegan Farone (Christian Brothers Academy), FFT
189 lbs:        Cj Bast (Christian Brothers Academy) > Eric Hastings (Granville), DEC 5-2
215 lbs:        Eric Stanton (Christian Brothers Academy) > Charles Krueger (Granville), FALL 5:22
285 lbs:        Ras-I Grady (Christian Brothers Academy), FFT

1/15/09: The Golden Horde travelled to Cambridge High School to wrestle the Indians in a League dual meet. Granville improved to 2-1 in the league with a win of 48-28 over Cambridge. The team still has a shot for the overall league title. Schuylerville picked up another loss to Tamarac that Thursday so they have fallen to 2-2. Only unbeaten Hoosick Falls (3-0) is left. If Granville were to be beat Hoosick Falls this Saturday (4:00 p.m.), both teams will be 3-1 with Granville earning the tiebreaker of head to head competition.
Coach Palmer

Posted by Matthew Rice at 05:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Horde b-ball

 

Things are looking up for the golden horde at this point in the season. Granville will be going for four-in-a-row tongiht against a capable Schuylerville squad. 2-3 in the league, some of the talent from the football team, this will be a test for the G'ville guys, no doubt.

Following up knocking off a state-ranked and previously undefeated team can be a big up, the challenge for Matt Usher and the crew will be keeping thier heads. Granville hasn't seen a winning streak like this one in a while...

The pressure has to be similar to what the baseball team went through until they lost thier first or going into the second half of the season, success keeps raising the bar so it will be interesting how high this team's bar actually goes. The team should already be able to go to the section tourney and it would seem, given that Tamarac win, that Granville is poised for some post-season success.

Ought to be some real excitement in a packed house tonight - good fun for a time when the temps are so low.

Posted by Matthew Rice at 09:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

 

 

 

I just swell with pride sometimes as I watch my colleagues at the bigger national media outlets do their thing.

 

Never mind Fox News and ‘Fair and Balanced’ that is, hopefully, a known and well recognized bias over there at the home of ‘Bill O’Really’.

 

No, what I’m referring to is the stunning coverage of the Obama daughters as they headed off for their first day of school.

Not stunning as in “I am so proud to share the job description journalist with them,” but the “No, no, no please don’t let it be THIS,” kind of stunning.

 

Someone had to say: Yes, this is a good idea, let’s dedicate manpower and resources to it.

 

Shots of the bullet proof SUVs whisking them to school, ok I can live with that – once.

 

But only once, it’s not news, and after that one time to acknowledge it exists, it is gone, daddy, gone like totally man.

Instead, discussion of backpacks and what is or isn’t in them, and also what is attached to them, ensued.

 

I’m pretty sure that thump you out there must have heard were some of journalisms pioneers rolling over in their collective graves.

 

EGAD.

 

The bright-lights over at MSNBC needed two talking heads to dispense the ‘news’ of what the menu would be at the cafeteria for the day and that the menu the following day would be Mexican-themed.

 

A little telling was the comment from one of the two that if people didn’t think this was news they should look at what’s being served in their commissaries at work.

 

Telling, I though. Maybe just a little self conscious, knowing that that little bit of self respect and credibility you’re cutting off is like cutting off the tip of a finger – it isn’t coming back.

 

Equally as funny (sad funny) and ridiculous was Joe Scarborough or ‘Morning Joe’, who after a president-to-be-kids-go-to-school story announced that he wasn’t comfortable with it; on the show where his name is in the title.

 

Hmmmmmm, curious, he couldn’t prevent that in a show where he’s the title character.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Check out the Daily Show on Comedy Central, they had this one lined up and in their sights, awesome re-coverage. And re-broadcasts must be out there on the 'Net.

Posted by Matthew Rice at 09:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Post

I noticed a posting/poll on ESPN recently asking people to pick a kind of ‘ultimate’ sports moment from 2008.

With choices like Mike Phelps winning eight gold’s, Tiger winning on a broken leg and the Giants Superbowl win, a very tough choice to be sure, but I also heard it called the greatest sports year ever.

 

Hyperbole.

Look it up.

 

In this day of the 24-hour news cycle it’s easy to get carried away and short-sighted.

 

Ever?

No way.

 

Can anyone every really make that call? Isn’t that the beauty of the ‘list’?

Pretty subjective stuff.

 

I watched Linda Cohn (Cohen?) and some guy (unknown name) substitute for 'Mike and Mike in the Morning' on ESPN2 (the exact opposite of TV on the radio) and it was interesting to see the varied responses they gave while rating sporting events from the past year.

 

They were on opposite ends of the spectrum on many events like that dominant Olympic sprinter, name escapes me -Usane Bolt (phonetic spelling).

She gave it a 2 (on a 10 scale) and he a 10.

She said no one cares about track and field in the U. S. and he called any ‘10’ event something you would remember for the rest of your life.

Sprinting, me? Doubt it.

Proof of the subjective nature of rating anything like sporting events.

For anyone who cares, I find myself coming down on the 'greatest' tag being attached to the recent Giants Superbowl, not just because I don’t care for the Patriots, but because of what they overcame to do it and in such a dramatic fashion.

The most competitive Superbowl going back to maybe –what? – St. Louis/Tennessee?

 

I couldn’t sit, stand or do anything else until it was over. Very rare when televised sports can make your heart pound and that was one of those times.

 

Matt

 

 

 

Posted by Matthew Rice at 03:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)