All Star Game = World Series What? -- Last week, Major League Baseball had their annual All-Star Game. Now, in the MLB, the team that wins the All-Star Game gets home-field advantage for their league's team that makes it to the World Series. This has been in effect for a couple of seasons now, with the American League being undefeated since this rule was in force, and last week's All-Star Game was no different. It was a very competitive game, going into 15 innings, but in the end, the American League still won and kept home-field advantage to themselves for the World Series. Nevertheless, this rule is a stupid way to determine who gets home-field advantage in the World Series, because it relies on the outcome of a supposedly "exhibition" All-Star Game. But try telling that to FOX, who uses this rule to promote the All-Star Game as one of the biggest games of the year, especially with the slogan: "This Time, It Counts." And, like The Simpsons, we can't believe how low FOX will sink to produce ratings.
E3 Results -- Also last week was the major video games extravaganza meeting known as E3. Here, each brand of video games tried to sell their product with news about upcoming features, games, etc. Here is my power rankings of the consoles right now. The Gold easily goes to Microsoft and its XBox 360. With the shocking news that the next Final Fantasy game was not going to be PlayStation-Exclusive anymore, a complete XBox 360 Dashboard Update, and the XBox's new Avatar for gamers feature, Microsoft picked up the win at E3. The Silver goes to Sony and its PlayStation 3 (PS3). Massive Action Game looks amazing (you can have up to 150 players in battle!) and the 40 gig model PS3 got upgraded to 80 gig, but other than that, they left no word on the release of PlayStation Home (which is supposed to be one of the major features of PlayStation online), and didn't premiere anything monumental for the PS3. Last, but definietly least, the crappy bronze goes to Nintendo and the Wii. Nintendo pretty much had no exciting news and the games they tried to show off were very disappointing. They even revealed that they are actually trying to promote a Nintendo-stand-alone version of "Rock Band," which looked ridicious. How exactly has Nintendo sold more Wiis than PS3s or XBox 360s, again?
The Dark Knight -- See it. Now. No joke. This movie is truly "The Godfather, Part II" of superhero movies. It is one of the few movies that not only lived up to the hype (which there was a lot of, considering Heath Ledger's death, the aggressive viral marketing campaign, and not to mention a fricking 18-wheeler being flipped up into the air and onto its back, which was NOT fake or computer generated but was a real stunt) but surpassed it. I would agree that Ledger should get a posthumous Oscar nod, but what really surprised me was Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent (Two-Face) and Gary Oldman as Comissioner Gordon. They both acted just as well as Ledger and Christian Bale, and together the whole movie just seems like one fast-paced adventure ride like no other. Trust me -- it will be the fastest two and a half hours of your life.
I Like...Uh...Nas? -- Folks, I know I'm pretty gangsta (WTF?), but I never really got into hardcore rap. It's just me, I only really liked Eminem, Dr. Dre, and Snoop Dogg. But, in the headlines, rapper Nas is number one on the charts with his untitled album _____. The reason I am bringing this up is that in this untitled album _____, Nas goes after Fox News Channel and Bill O'Reilly, who have been very critical of Nas and gangsta rap. I'm just glad that someone other than me realizes the stupidity of Fox News Channel. Nas goes so far as to call Fox News racist, though I can see why. So, Nas, I probably won't buy your album, but I support your fight. Go Nas!Watch Out For Europe -- We started with sports, so let's end with sports, this time basketball. In a Yahoo News story, NBA Players feel more open to possibility of leaving the league to head to Europe. Basketball is starting to get big over in Europe, and various European teams have been contacting the NBA's free agents. Why would an NBA Player head over to Europe? Two reasons. First, basketball in Europe tends to rely more on the three S's: Size, Strength, and Smarts. There really isn't a need for explosive players, so there's a more of a chance for aging NBA Players to play in Europe (recent rumors indicate 35-year-old Jason Kidd is interested). Secondly, and probably the most important reason, taxes paid on a European player's contract are significant less than those on an American contract. Dwayne Wade joked: "If they [Europe] offer me $40 million a year and no taxes, I might have to go over there." He might have been kidding around for now, but maybe in a couple of seasons, who knows? Some of today's NBA headliners could be tomorrow's European superstars.
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