Friday, February 22, 2013

Francesa and Russo As Siskel and Ebert

This Sunday is the Academy Awards; something I always get myself excited for, then usually get angry at some of the award winners in a given year. It's probably because I spent much of college studying all things film. So what's the best way to put the Oscars on my site which does strictly sports? I wasn't sure  until I found on YouTube that Mike Francesa and Chris "Mad Dog" Russo discussed the 2008 Oscars (for the 2007 movies) back when they were still together on WFAN.



It's starts off brilliantly as Mike begins talking up the Red Carpet as a time to "watch the pretty girls and their outfits and eh eh and you watch them come parading in." Dog segues immediately to enjoying how they show those who past away and Mike then basically maps out the show after multiple times saying he likes Jon Stewart (more on this later). Dog mispronounces Javier Bardem's name before Mike decides to read off all the odds for each of Picture/Director and the acting awards (I didn't realize Tilda Swinton was the longest shot when she won for Michael Clayton). Fun fact: Daniel Day-Lewis goes from a 1-10 shot to win in There Will Be Blood to a 1-50 shot to win for Lincoln. Wow.




After the awards, Mike and the Mad Dog had a recap which they just complain about depressing movies. Dog says that Juno was the feel good movie based on more people seeing it, even though it told the story of "female pregnancy", as Mike would say. Dog has no desire to see movies about the Iraq war, while Mike wants stories that are uplifting and positive. Then discusses the virtues of "Invincible". Mike talks about how movies with lines are great and we will not see theaters anymore because you don't see lines anymore; something he gets wrong since this year, The Dark Knight Rises and Django Unchained were two movies I saw lines to go see (and I'm sure there are more which I didn't see). I love how Dog was able to stop himself when he uses the phrase "these women" and is basically thinking "how dare Jennifer Garner not know who Gary Busey is". As for Jon Stewart, who Mike likes so much, he "had a bad night" according to the Sports Pope. I'm sure WFAN's listeners enjoyed 8 minutes of Oscars talk (then again, a listen did pose the question to them, though Nick from Monroe did have two things he wanted to say which Mike and Dog ignored).



Last year, Francesa himself gave his thoughts on those awards. It comes down to him proclaiming that Meryl Streep winning is never an upset (true) and admitting that he treated The Artist and silent movies like he does hockey. Then mentions Christopher Plummer and goes on a weird Sound of Music tangent which is obviously speaking to your core audience of sports talk listeners. I can't wait for Mike's thoughts on Zero Dark Thirty and Argo this Monday.

Here are my Oscar picks, for those who care:

Best Picture: Argo
Best Director: Steven Spielberg
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis
Best Actress: Jennifer Lawrence (holds off Emmanuelle Riva)
Best Supporting Actor: Tommy Lee Jones (holds off Christoph Waltz)
Best Supporting Actress: Anne Hathaway (and the wrap it up music will play when she wins)
Best Original Screenplay: Quentin Tarantino for Django Unchained
Best Adapted Screenplay: Tony Kushner for Lincoln

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Super Bowl Preview

There's not much else to be said for today's Super Bowl between the Ravens and the 49ers. We will see the Harbaugh brothers match wits against one another. We will see the last game of Ray Lewis' career (no more deer antler spraying for him). Ed Reed will play in his first Super Bowl. Randy Moss try to win his first Super Bowl, despite not being the same player he was when he played in his first one 5 years ago to the day. Colin Kaepernick looks to go from unknown backup to Super Bowl champion in a quicker span than Tom Brady did (though not a quickly as Jeff Hostetler did, at least during a singular season). Joe Flacco will try to solidify a giant payday after this game (though Neil O'Donnell's awful Super Bowl didn't stop the Jets from giving him huge money, which makes their interest in JaMarcus Russell no surprise)

It's been a great run for the Ravens, reminds me of the Giants Super Bowl runs. The difference between the two Super Bowl runs is the Giants defense was a little more dynamic than the Ravens are at this point and the 49ers have a more difficult to defend offense than the Patriots in my eyes because they are dangerous both on the ground and through the air. Too much read option for the 49ers will do it. San Francisco wins 31-20 and turns the Bay Area into the next Titletown America.