I think less is more when describing my Man Crush of the Month. So I'll keep it short & sweet. Whether you want to agree with it or not, Tom Brady is a great underdog story. A lot of people forget... He was a backup his first two years at Michigan. He wasn't drafted until the sixth round of the 2000 NFL Draft (199th pick). Tom started the 2000 season as the fourth string quarterback. Yet, the next year, in only his second season in the NFL, he won his first Super Bowl and was named the MVP. Did you know? Tom was also drafted as a catcher in the 18th round of the 1995 MLB Draft by the Montreal Expos.
Besides being able to feed and cloth the hungry and poor with just the glance of his eye, it is rumored that he has also found a cure for cancer. Anyway, I will let his stats do the talking for this month's man crush.
NFL RECORD & STATS Highest total passing touchdowns in a regular season: 50 (2007) Highest total passing touchdowns in a season: 56 (2007) Highest total passing touchdowns in a single quarter: 5 (2009) Highest completion percentage in a single game: 92.9% (2007) Largest touchdown to interception difference: +42 (2007) NFL record for most consecutive wins in post season: 10 (2001, 2003, 2004) Tied for most completions in a Super Bowl: 32 (XXXVIII) Most career Super Bowl completions: 100 (XXXVI, XXXVIII, XXXIX, XLII) Most games with three or more touchdown passes: 12 (2007) Most touchdown passes in a month: 20 (October 2007) Only quarterback to start and win 3 Super Bowls before his 28th birthday. Most career overtime wins without a defeat: 7-0 Most consecutive playoff wins by a quarterback: 10 (2001, 2003, 2004) Most consecutive completions to start a career without an interception: 162 Only quarterback to have 3+ passing touchdowns in 10 straight games. Three Super Bowl victories and one lucky pass/catch away from having his 4th.
In all fairness to prove he isn't without blemish I saved this video for last. The first few stiff, akward opening seconds of this video is priceless. How does this video not have one million hits?!
-BUILD A COLLECTION OF TEN PLUS TIES Do you use the same favorite one or two ties for all occasions that require you to wear a tie? Cease and desist immediately! If you work at a job that requires you to wear a shirt and tie, you should have enough ties that you don’t have any repeat appearances for at least two weeks. The same tie shouldn't show up around your neck more than twice a month. If you only wear a tie once a week for church and other special occasions like wedding receptions or meetings you should never be wearing the same tie more than once a month. Building a collection of at least ten ties and stepping away from the one-for-all favorite tie is easy and gives off the impression that you care.. even if you don’t.
-DIFFERENT KNOTS FOR DIFFERENT TIES In your ten plus tie collection you will have ties of all different fabrics, widths, and lengths. Some knots will look better than others depending on the tie. The basic rule of thumb is: “slim ties should have slim knots and wide ties should have wide/thick knots.” The same simple rule applies to the collar of the shirt, If you have a shirt with a large collar wear a larger tie. If it has a smaller collar wear a slimmer tie with it. It's really easy. If I can memorize 3 or 4 types of knots, than you can. If you are like me and your dad only taught you one way to tie a knot, use this chart:
-THE TIE DIMPLE Without exception, your tie should always have a dimple in it. It shouldn't be a deep crater that ends up looking like Chevy Chase’s chin. Keep it simple and only slightly noticeable.
-THE SOLID BLACK TIE You need to own at least one solid black tie, preferably two. The best case scenario is to have a wide solid black tie & a slim solid black tie. Despite what you may think, solid black ties are the opposite of boring. They are sophisticated, classy and modern. The solid black tie was fashionable before you were ever born and it will remain fashionable long after you are gone. They are usually very inexpensive and very easy to find.
-THE SLIM TIE You should own a few. Unless you are wearing a black suit, white shirt and black tie a la Reservoir Dogs, slim ties should be used on days you are not wearing a suit coat. They still look fine with a suit, but slim ties work better and look sharper when worn as a shirt & tie combo only. My recommendation here is to avoid stripes and stick to either solid or plaid slim ties.
-GOING AGAINST THE GRAIN Use common sense and don’t over think it. Here are some pretty simple and straightforward guidelines: If you are wearing a solid dress shirt, ANY pattern of tie will work perfect. If you are wearing a dress shirt with vertical strips or checkers, avoid wearing a horizontal or diagonal striped tie and visa versa.
-SHIRT COLOR ,TIE COLOR Simple. Match like colors with other like colors. If you can’t play Columns on your Sega Game Gear, Dr. Mario on your NES, or even Bejeweled on your PC because you are colorblind like my brothers Chris & Nathan, you will need to have your wife help you with this. She will be happy to help and will appreciate your efforts.
-THE SPORTS TIE/ CARTOON TIE I love sports and my favorite teams just as much as the next man.. probably even more so. With that being said, if you are over 16 years of age I forbid you to ever again wear a necktie with your favorite sports team on it. Outside of being an effective not so subtle F! YOU at church the day after a rivalry game, they do you absolutely no favors. It looks tacky, sloppy, and doesn’t mesh well with anything. The same goes for cartoon character ties. They too are usually cheaply made and even more cheap looking. If a family member or friend gave you the tie you don’t have to throw it away or burn it, but you don’t have to wear it either.
-THE SE7EN DOLLAR TIE You can get thousands of good looking, high quality, name brand ties for $7 or less at places like Ross Dress For Less, TJ Maxx, Amazon, and Ebay. For your slim ties, I suggest Calvin Klein’s Slim line.
-LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION When you have finished tying your knot of choice with accompanying dimple, slide the tie into place. The bottom tip of your tie should be just barely touching the top of your belt. If it is longer or shorter than that, START OVER! Don’t try to make lazy adjustments; It will only take you 30 seconds longer. Trust me. The final masterpiece will be worth the extra attempts. The more times you do it the easier it gets.
Currently On my DVR I have The Ricky Gervais Show, ESPN's 30 for 30 series, Austin City Limits, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Soup, Intervention, 30 Rock and The Haney Project. What's on your DVR? Am I missing something I should be recording? Leave a comment. Ps. I promise an elbow drop off the top ropes for any comedians that leave me a comment telling me to add So You Think You Can Dance to my DVR!
For years I have loathed all things country music. I once almost broken-bottle stabbed a man over it. Because of Hank Williams Sr., Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and even Bob Dylan, I knew that the core of country was actually a pretty good, authentic form of music. Unfortunately it got derailed and sent the wrong way on a suicide collision course straight to the belly of hell by the likes of Shania Twain, Wynonna Judd, Brooks & Dunn, Shania Twain, Diamond Rio, Faith Hill, George Costanza... I mean Kenny Chesney, Shania Twain, and of course Tim McGraw. Did I mention Shania Twain? Since the 90’s, country music has been plenty of adjectives including appalling, comical, repugnant, and even terrible. Notice good wasn’t one of the adjectives used. Country music has a funny way of recognizing the very worst in the genre. 99% of what is released is undeniably bad, but if you put out a song that is so offensive, so tasteless, so vile, and so unforgivably bad, the song is actually awarded with a line dance in its honor. So if you were too busy listening to quality, worthwhile music during the 90’s it's never too late to learn how to do the "Boot Scootin' Boogie". Or how about the "Achy Breaky Heart"? What's that you say? You never learned the "Chattahoochee" or “The Watermelon Crawl”?! Now is your chance! Country music is so mixed up that one of its top acts, Tim McGraw, writes virtually none of his own songs! After extensive research I'm aware of only one song that he is credited for writing. It can be found listed on the highly successful "Flicka" soundtrack. He only has 3 or 4 more songs that he is even listed as a co-writer. So what's my point? He is no better than any other industry hired face & voice like Britney Spears or the thousands of other tools that don't write their own songs. They should labeled "puppet" instead of "artist". His wife Faith Hill is just as bad in this department. In fact, pop and country music are the worst when it comes to this infraction. I would say the majority of artists in country music and a huge portion of those in pop music don’t write their own songs. Seriously how hard is it to write a country song?! Pick any random piece of anecdotal advice you've ever received and butcher it so its almost unrecognizable. For example: I went skydiving I went rocky mountain climbing I went two point seven seconds on a bull named Fu Man Chu And I loved deeper And I spoke sweeter And I gave forgiveness I'd been denyin' And he said some day I hope you get the chance To live like you were dyin'. Now add a pointless limerick preferably about your ex or pickup truck. Though any southern, white trashy reference will do, add a steel guitar, and/or fiddle, and prepare to sell it to a country act that can sing with an annoying twangy accident. Congratulations! Whether you like it or not you have just written yourself a country song.
Honestly, you should be listening to Alternative Country (Alt-country) artists that write their own songs like Ryan Adams, (not to be confused with Bryan Adams), and Wilco. I would also recommend My Morning Jacket, Whiskeytown, Uncle Tupelo, Son Volt, and Beck's album Sea Change. Ryan Adams and Wilco are everything good about country without any of the disgusting byproducts. I will happily honor any and all requests to put on CD any Ryan Adams and Wilco albums for all that desire. Leave a comment or send me an Email. knucklepop@gmail.com
*Today Willie Nelson has cut off his trade mark pigtail braids
to feature a way more masculine "Bob cut".
*Is it possible to make a cover song better than the original? I don't know the answer to that question, but what I do know is a heavy set, ginger bearded, white guy covering Outkast's "Hey Ya" should not be this good.
*Speaking of Ryan Adams and cover songs that may be better than the original, this is worth your time.
*Are you a Beck fan? Are you an INXS fan? Beck's Record Club may be up your alley.
*Not usually a fan of the Dave Mathews Band I was watching Austin City Limits the other night and came across this halfway decent song called "Why I Am".
As of last week you can stop by your Redbox of choice and rent "The Messenger". I did just that. Let me start out by applauding the way this film was shot by first time director Oren Moverman who also co-wrote the film. He uses long, continuous, uncomfortable takes and lets the actors act, something that is rarely seen even in independent films. Ben Foster plays a soldier recently returned from the Middle East and assigned to the Army’s Casualty Notification Service, aka the delightful, nerve racking job of having to be on call 24/7 with the assignment of knocking on the doors of deceased soldiers to notify relatives with the pleasant news that their family member has been killed. For all of us that think we have the worst job in the world, see this movie. Their job makes a job in the custodial arts or customer service seem relaxing and relatively stress free. Caught between being left by his ex girlfriend who won't seem to stay gone and disobeying protocol by getting involved with with the widow or NOK (next of kin) shortly after informing her of her husband's death. Doesn't sound like a lighthearted, uplifting, feel good movie? Its not, and thankfully it doesn't try to be. For as impressive as he was in "3:10 To Yuma" Foster misses the mark here. In a role calling for a hardened soldier with a sensitive side wanting to reach out he instead manages to just come of way more creepy than caring and more intimidating than sympathetic. This role would have been more fitting for an actor like Ryan Gosling, Mark Ruffalo, or Casey Affleck. On the other hand, Woody Harrelson has come on strong the last few years and he is as good as he has ever been in this movie. He completely steals the show in his Oscar nominated role as Captain Tony Stone. He is bizarrely likable playing a very complex and unlikable character... Maybe he and Foster should have switched roles. With that being said, some of the finest acted scenes of the year are shared between the two actors in key moments that anchor the film. This film has so much going for it with a great supporting cast including Samantha Morton and even smaller roles by Steve Buscemi and Jena Malone. What this film lacks in likable characters it almost makes up for in the believability of the acting; at times you feel as if you are watching a documentary. Unfortunately it only ends up as a film that "could have been." This should have been an Oscar contender, but too much rides on Foster who only half delivers. I would normally say this is still a movie you should definitely see, but a few scenes of tasteless nudity that seem to be in the film just for the sake of nudity alone, add nothing to the film. The few moments of incredible acting are worth your dollar, just have the remote handy. B
"The Messenger" is rated R for language, nudity, sexual contact, implied violence and brief drug references.
What to watch instead: The Karate Kid (1984) A+ Giving this movie an A+ feels like an insult. I know like me you already own this time honored classic on VHS & DVD but, it was also released today at Redbox. I think they should be charging close to $10 a day to rent a film of this caliber. Do they not realize that The Karate Kid makes up 1/3 of the Holy Trinity of 80's films?!
As promised, Drew and I spent the better part of a perfectly good weekend texting back and forth, all while I managed to do the dishes and wash bottles multiple times, attend my brothers graduation, play with my daughter, watch a movie with my wife, prepare and teach a lesson in church, hang out with family, eat, run, shower, etc. Text messaging may be the best invention since Gutenberg's printing press. Anyway, here it is...
POp! (11:09am): Welcome! Thanks for taking the time to be my 1st "Celebrity" text interview. Take as much time as you need to answer; you're a busy man so no rush. That's the beauty of text messaging.
Drew (11:14am): Great to be here.
POp! (11:15am): You are six months older than I am. Why did you have chest hair and 6 pack abs by the time you were 12, yet I didn't hit puberty until 10 years later?
Drew (11:17am): To answer your fist question I would have to say it was your steady diet of penny candies from Scott's Market that delayed your growth spurt. My chest hairs are, of course, due to the Italian genes in me and the six pack just showed up one day when I woke up... scared the hell outta me at first.
POp! (11:22am): If Scott wouldn't have had one foot in the grave and the other foot on a banana peel already way back then I'd be suing his polyester pants off right now.
POp! (11:22am): By the time we were 7 or 8 years old we were already die hard wrasslin fans. If you were born in, say, 1992 and were an 8 year old today, do you think you would be a wrestling fan?
Drew (12:07pm): The only way I could be born in 1992 and be eight now was if i had the ship from Flight of the Navigator, but if I was a kid now.. I want to say yes. Probably not as die hard though. I think we were growing up at the same time as wrestling. When we were little the big names were all guys that were larger than life. It was like a comic book playing out in front of us. We had super heroes like Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior fighting for good. That's when wrestling came more into the spotlight, during our generation. So as we got older wrestling had to, as well, to keep the fan base it had gotten in the 80's. Enter the "attitude era." The time of super heroes was over, now we were punk kids looking to rebel and throw the middle finger at any and every authority that was around us. This gave rise to the great stars of the 90's: Stone Cold, DX, and the Rock to name a few. Good & bad was no longer black & white. I think wrestling these days appeals to an older audience and leaves little room for children like it did in the 80's. We probably would still be die hard fans, just not until our teens.
POp!(12:14): Ah, I should try to bankrupt a casino because I am a "ra-tard." Thanks for reading between the lines and making sense of my math. Obviously I meant 2002.
POp! (12:16pm): That kind of leads me into my next question. I know Hulk Vs. Warrior is way up there on my list. What's on your list of favorite wrestling moment or moments of all time?
Drew (12:27pm): Warrior vs. Hogan is up there. First time you put the two biggest "faces" in the ring together, split the fans in two... genius! Hogan slamming Andre the Giant was epic, Hogan becoming a "heel" and the whole nWo story line... Well the first few months of it. Macho Man and Elizabeth getting back together was awesome. When Yokozuna killed Jake the Snake's snake. Shawn Michaels vs. Razor Ramon first ladder match. Just to name a few.
POp! (12:34pm): Was it Yokozuna's fat ace or Earthquake that killed Damien? I think it was Earthquake, no?
Drew (12:36pm): You are right it was Earthquake. I even pictured it.. no idea why I said Yokozuna.
POp!(12:38pm): So to piggyback on your comment about the "attitude era," who would you give the most credit for starting that era of wrestling? Possibly Stone Cold Steve Austin and everyone else including The Rock just hopped on the bandwagon?
Drew (12:41pm): I would give the credit to Stone Cold, DX (Degeneration X), and The Rock. Stone Cold was meant to be the ultimate heel and people just latched onto him. The Rock tried the baby face routine and it didn't get him far so he became a heel by joining up with Vince McMahon and becoming the Corporate Champ. I would honestly give DX most of the credit because they were already bringing their crude and smart ass routine in when the others were starting to get big.
POp! (12:44pm): I never thought of it as the fans deserving the credit and not a certain wrestler. So the fans just latched on to the idea and it was a generational thing, not so much a well marketed idea by a wrestler or the wrestling brass?
Drew (12:45pm): Oh no, it was well marketed alright. They just realized that teenagers and college students had money to spend and they grew with their fans.
POp! (12:46pm): Okay, your most overrated and most underrated wrestlers?
Drew (12:52pm): Overrated I would have to say Sgt. Slaughter. I will never forget his foot stomp off the second rope into a front turn.. I still laugh about it. Underrated would go to Mr. Perfect Curt Henning. Bret Hart was probably the only wrestler in history that could match Curt henning in the ring for technical ability. He made such a great heel. You just loved to hate the guy. He should have had a lot more spotlight in my opinion.
POp! (1:04pm): I totally forgot about the Sgt. Slaughter boot stomp turn. Freaking classic. I have to agree with Mr. Perfect Curt Henning as top on the underrated list. I was too young to understand how hilarious he and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan were together. Add his technical ability, along with the fact that I am almost positive he was the first to wear the overall/shorts style tights that Rob Van Dam and other guys are wearing now.
POp! (1:05pm): Where does Ravishing Rick Rude fit on your underrated list?
Drew (1:07pm): That was actually the other person I thought of. Toss up between the two.
POp! (1:15pm): Speaking of Bobby "The Brain"... Taking everything into consideration, who is on your list of best managers of all time? Don't look past Mr. Fuji and his cane.
Drew (1:21pm): Bobby "The Brain," Paul Bearer, and the "Mouth of the South" Jimmy Hart. Jimmy Hart would be number one though, with Heenan a close second.
POp! (1:28pm): Since we've been talking about Mr. Perfect and Rick Rude, have you seen any of the dead wrestler memorial video's on Youtube? Also what are your thoughts and reaction to all the young dead wrestlers?
Drew (1:31pm): Yeah, its sad. They live a really hard lifestyle: on the road over 300 days a year, not to mention the pounding you get in the ring daily. Throw steroids into the mix and your heart just isn't going to last you through the years. Wrestling may be choreographed but it sure as hell isn't fake.
POp! (1:34pm): How much of the blame and criticism should go to Vince Mcmahon for all the deaths?
Drew (2:40pm): I would say partial blame for sure. Even if he didn't hand them the pills, he created and enviorment that made these guys strive for perfection while hammering their bodies and not having a strict policy against substance abuse.
POp! (2:47pm): Would you say that fans were as much to blame?
Drew (2:58pm): I don't thinks so. The fans were a different breed back then. We cheered for characters, not (just) the biggest or strongest.
POp! (3:04pm): Do you still follow wrestling? If so how closely?
Drew (3:06pm): Not really, more of a passing interest now and then. I watch the Hall of Fame induction each year, but that's about it.
POp! (3:08pm): Top 3 wrestlers then, and top 3 now?
Drew (3:22pm): Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan and Bret Hart, in that order. Now is Undertaker, Triple H, and Shawn Michaels.. Take your pick on the order of the second and third place. Taker is first though, no doubt.
POp! (3:41pm): You were in the wrestling circuit. Is it the life on the road that made you quit the business?
(Legend Superfly Jimmy Snuka & Drew after he won the US Title)
Drew (3:47pm): No. For me it was the politics of a new promoter that came around. He wanted all the wrestlers to sign a contract that basically gave him rights to any money you ever made in the wrestling business.
POp! (3:50pm): Last year we met at the Broadway theatre in downtown SLC to watch the film, The Wrestler. As a former wrestler what did you think?
Drew (4:01pm): Very, very well done and accurate. I met a lot of my childhood heroes while wrestling and while it was really cool to meet them it was an eye opener to see guys that have sold out Madison Square Garden now being paid to wrestle in warehouses and high school gyms.
POp! (4:09pm): Speaking of wrestling movies, is there a better opening scene to any movie than the opening scene in No Holds Barred (55 seconds into the video). The doors open and all you see is a grunting Hulk Hogan's hair, sweat, and spit flying for a a few solid seconds. Classic.
Drew (4:16pm): Awesome opening scene, no denying it.
POp! (4:24pm): Have you ever watched So You Think You Can Dance? What do you think of my wife's controversial analogy?
Drew (4:59pm): No I haven't... Nor will I. Her analogy was OK... but she forgot to lump in The bachelor, The Hills, and Dancing With the Stars. 3 to 1 odds in their favor if you ask me.
POp! (6:16pm): Well said. How crazy is it that the Iron Shiek's out-of-the-ring legacy has surpassed his in-the-ring legacy? My favorite Shiek story has to be the Marty Jannetty video that has since been removed off of Youtube.
Drew (6:37pm): Its Awesome! I love hearing Sheik Stories.
POp! (6:41pm): Okay its come the much anticipated time to select the ugliest outfits in the history of pro wrestling. So do we want to do this Vegas poker rules like usual or a reverse draft style saving the best picks for last?
Drew (7:15pm): I kind of like the idea of a draft.
ROUND 1
POp! (8:56pm): For the first round I select Koko B. Ware. For being one of the few black men in wrestling at the time, the "Bird Man" sure brought alot of the wrong kind of attention to himself.
Drew (9:02pm): Yes he did. My first round pick will also be a black man... I choose Mabel and his lovely garbage bag outfit. Add to that the bleached white hair, white eye contact and you've got a whole recipe for wrongness.
ROUND 2
POp! (9:15pm): I Just started laughing here in the cereal isle. For the second round I select Bob "Spark Plug" Holly and his childrens racing pajamas meets Freddy Mercury unitard with built in knee pads. Gentlemen start your gag reflex.
Drew (9:30pm): I had to pull over from laughing too hard. Excellent pick. In keeping with the car theme, my next choice will be the Repo Man and his roadkill inspired treads.. I mean threads.
ROUND 3
POp! (9:44pm): For the third round I am going to the tag team division and selecting The New Hart Foundation/ High Energy. If a 50's malt shop diner and an 80's music video got together and had a baby it would come out of the womb wearing these.
The next day...
Drew (12:16pm): Both of the tag teams that I'm thinking are ones that have members that already made our list. I would have to say Men on a Mission because my other pick is too similar to yours.
ROUND 4
POp! (12:29pm): Okay, for the 4th round I'm going with the "American Dream" Dusty Rhoades and his equally offensive arm candy Sapphire.
Drew (12:34): No explanation needed for this next pick: Crush.
ROUND 5
POp! (12:58): Does his hair count as part of his attire?! For my fifth round selection I choose Randy "Macho Man" Savage. It's like he couldn't decide on one ugly outfit scheme so instead decided to combine all 12 into one outfit. "OH YEAH these are ugly!"
Drew (9:13pm): The Giant Gonzalez. Thats right. Drawn on muscles with accompanied fur.
ROUND 6 THE FINAL ROUND
POp! (9:15pm): Final pick: "Double J" Jeff Jarrett. I have a few questions. Was there not more room to fit anymore sets of his initials on his body?! I'm still unsure of what his initials are. How did the 12 thread suspenders that connect at the neck not catch on to other wrestlers and the general public?! If you were to ask me what I think Satan & Adolf Hitler wear on casual fridays I think it has to be these.
Drew (9:20pm): After much deliberation and a day of fasting and prayer, I have found my final pick. As my last selection I choose Mantaur.
POp! (9:31pm): I am adding Harlem Heat and Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake to the draft as my honorable mention.
This 90's match includes two of the top ugliest outfits of all time, many in attendance are now blind. This picture may be the Mona Lisa of ugly wrestling outfits.
Next day...
Drew (2:31pm): I wanted to make my final last minute pick who simaultaneously had a horrendous outfit and probably the worst gimmick in wrestling history: Bastion Booger.
POp! (2:45pm): With that final pick, it's over and done with. I may never be able to eat again. I speak for all when I say thank you for joining me for the first of many "Celebrity" Text Interviews to come. Any final comments?
Drew (3:01pm): Thank you for the great conversation. I would just like to say that I hope the WWE goes into another Attitude Era soon so that another generation of kids can have the great memories that we grew up with. Good luck with watching your wife's favorite show ;)
This interview reminds me how little I actually get to talk to my closest friends like Drew & the Fancy Lads, DJ, Mike or the Davenport Sisters. One of the hard things about growing up is how difficult it is to stay close; its one of the few things parents don't warn you about. Friends you saw almost everyday from the time you were five you start to see less frequently and slowly loose contact as school, work, dating, marriage, and family & kids all come into the picture and take priority. Things like text messaging, Facebook and blogs have all made it easier to stay connected with the limited time you have as an adult, but you start to finally realize it will never be quite the same as it once was. I love my friends and in a lot of ways they have become my family. I think close lifetime friends are the family you actually get to choose.
