These four things I know are true…
- LeBron James is a whiny, childish, immature egotistic jerk.
- TNA Wrestling is professional wrestling’s last hope in America.
- 3D cinema really is the gimmick I thought it was all along.
- And, I’m Aaron Goins. All my thoughts on these topics and so much more (including my thoughts on politics in America)… in The Highlight Reel!
NEWS and NOTES
**TNA Wrestling is currently at a crossroads from which choosing the wrong path may be a death blow. After building tons of momentum throughout the summer, TNA lost momentum at Bound For Glory with the heel turn of Jeff Hardy and the revelation of Hardy, Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff, Jeff Jarrett, and Abyss as Immortal. While the move eliminated Dixie Carter as an on-screen character (good move) and came with a logical storyline existence, the removal of the top face in the entire industry has turned fans off. After this month’s Turning Point PPV, news that TNA is in the worst financial trouble of it’s existence have the little company that could facing the biggest hill it has ever tried to climb.
I believe that TNA Wrestling is currently offering the best wrestling show in the world today. The matches are incredible. Superstars like AJ Styles, Kurt Angle, Jeff Hardy, Ken Anderson, Rob Van Dam, D’Angelo Dinero, Matt Morgan. the Motor City Machine Guns, Beer Money, Douglas Williams, Jay Lethal, Samoa Joe, and Generation Me are just a handful of the great in-ring talent who bring it every single time they perform in the ring while Knockouts like Mickie James, Tara, Angelina Love, Madison Rayne, Sarita, and Taylor Wilde are not only among the sexiest women in the world but also among the best wrestlers (male or female) in the entire industry.
The sad reality is that, while World Wrestling Entertainment can continue to bleed money with poorer PPV buyrates and lower attendance figures than the company has seen in 15 years, TNA can not face losing momentum any more. They can not regress again to levels they have been at before. Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff have added a lot of good things to TNA in 2010. But, taking up television time with themselves as on-screen characters is not one of those great things. If TNA Wrestling fails and dies, professional wrestling in America dies with it. Vince McMahon and WWE have lost the plot so badly that I don’t believe they will ever come close to offering the wrestling that fans really want ever again. Anyone who wants wrestling to survive in America needs to watch TNA and support this company because it is the last chance for the art of professional wrestling to survive.
**The NFL season is at the midway point and I can safely say I can’t remember a season like this one. Between the parity at the top and the many surprising disappointments, the 2010 NFL season is going to go down as one of the most unique years in league history. Of course, many of the league’s best are teams that expected to be found at the top of the standings: the Pittsburgh Steelers (6-2), New England Patriots (6-2), Baltimore Ravens (6-2), Indianapolis Colts (5-3), New York Giants (6-2), New York Jets (6-2), Green Bay Packers (6-3), New Orleans Saints (6-3), and Atlanta Falcons (6-2). But, who would have expected teams like Oakland (5-4), Tampa Bay (5-3), Kansas City (5-3), Philadelphia (5-3), Seattle (4-4), Chicago (5-3), Tennessee (5-3), and even St. Louis (4-4) to look as good as they have this season?
As good as most teams are though, one of the sexiest picks for a division and two of the popular picks for the Super Bowl have made been the three biggest disappointments in the league as the San Francisco 49ers, Minnesota Vikings, and Dallas Cowboys have underachieved like nobody’s business in 2010. Mike Singletary has finally lived up to the vilification a friend of mine gave him 15 minutes into his tenure as the 49ers ( has been a bust. Meanwhile the drama between coach Brad Childress and everyone on the Minnesota Vikings (3-5) have me questioning which player actually assaults Childress before he is finally canned. But, nobody has been a bigger disappointment than the currently 1-7 Dallas Cowboys. Tony Romo is injured but Wade “the Jellyfish” Phillips had already dug the Cowboys into too deep of a hole for the over-hyped underachievers to dig their way out of. The firing of Phillips was a long time coming but it is too little, too late for this popular Super Bowl pick to even dream of a .500 record.
While the Carolina Panthers (1-7) are also hideous and the Buffalo Bills (0-8) are halfway to imperfection, I’m wondering which of the league’s heavy hitters will be the next to fall. The Indianapolis Colts don’t look as good as they have been in the last decade while the Saints appear to be suffering from a Super Bowl hangover. The next eight weeks are going to be great as the crowded AFC will have marquee match-ups every week with playoff implications while the NFC will have to have somebody step up and look as good as their AFC brethren.
**Conan O’Brien has returned and all is right with the late night world. Conan premiered on TBS Monday night with numbers higher than Letterman and certainly higher than Leno (a.k.a. the Devil of late night). While I’m sure numbers will go below the network shows soon, the fact is that fans want funny on their late night programming and Conan O’Brien is back to deliver just that. I’m loco for Coco.
**NASCAR’s Chase for the Championship is two races away from NASCAR finally getting what they’ve wanted for three years: a Toyota champion. Denny Hamlin has been hot when it counted most and, thanks to the Chase format, will be the 2010 Cup Series Champion. Jimmie Johnson is currently in second and Kevin Harvick, the true 2010 Champion, is sitting third in the Chase standings. Both still are mathematically in the running but I believe wholeheartedly that Hamlin will be protected when in danger by the powers that be in order to give NASCAR the Toyota champion they have wanted.
One thing is certain though. While the Chase is ridiculously boring and fans are tuning out in flocks, last weekend’s usually boring Texas race offered some fireworks and correct calls from NASCAR officials rarely seen in this day and age. I cheered Jeff Gordon’s actions for the first time in a long time after Jeff Burton blatantly crashed him. Gordon stood up, like a man, and went to Burton’s head on the backstretch in a moment that will be replayed for years to come. But, my biggest cheers went to the NASCAR officials who parked Kyle Busch for two laps for his disrespectful actions towards an official during a one lap speeding penalty. Busch flipped off the official holding Busch in his pit stall for a lap after he had already been caught for speeding on pit road. Officials parked Busch for two additional laps in a great move that will hopefully speed up Busch’s maturity. If Kyle took the penalty like a man, he would have been a lucky dog recipient within 15 laps and would have been back in the hunt. Instead, his immaturity deservedly ended his day and I can’t applaud NASCAR enough for making the right call regarding one of those “chosen ones.”
**Everybody under the sun really thought that Miley Cyrus was going to be the next Britney Spears/Lindsay Lohan (a.k.a. celebrity train wreck). Considering Hannah Montana is ending and she’s chosen to go overly sexed-up pop over country with her music, Miley really started to look destined for epic failure. Then, Demi Lovato of Sonny With A Chance went to rehab first.
Lovato, one of the young girls Disney has been placing their stock in since Cyrus is leaving, has entered rehab with rumors of everything from drug problems and pregnancy to fighting among back-up dancers and rumors of Lovato’s sexuality in question serving as the reason for her trip there. I was shocked when I heard this story as I honestly didn’t think Lovato was a big enough star yet to take the rehab route yet. In all seriousness though, whatever people have said about Cyrus, one thing is clear: she’s nowhere near as messed up as Demi.
**I have finally experienced the 3D movie experience and feel vindicated in believing it to be nothing more than a moneymaking gimmick after I watched Saw 3D. The glasses were surprisingly nice but awkward to wear over-the-top of my other glasses. While I could notice little differences in the picture, that was ignored 10 minutes into the film as I found myself lost in the story and ignoring the sight gags that make up the 3D experience.
The sad thing is that the story I was lost in was the story being told in the worst film of the Saw franchise. Saw 3D concluded the storyline with the deaths of Jill Tuck (John Kramer’s ex-wife), presumed death of Mark Hoffman (Kramer’s apprentice), and return of Dr. Lawrence Gordon from the first film as a Jigsaw apprentice. The main test involved a young man who lied about a Jigsaw experience in order to become a multimillionaire finally facing a test from Jigsaw. While the tests were gory and violent as ever, the movie just seemed to lack motivation and the heart of the previous films. The acting was weak (outside of Cary Elwes and Costas Mandylor) and the filmmakers seemed to be going through the motions rather than attempted to make a genuinely good movie. It was a sad ending to a tremendous horror franchise.
**Congratulations to the San Francisco Giants on winning the 2010 World Series. The Giants defeated the Texas Rangers, four games to one, to bring home the World Series title for the first time since 1954 (when they were still in New York). It was great to see players like San Fran’s “Freak” Tim Lincecum and Brian Wilson and Texas’s Josh Hamilton and Cliff Lee on the biggest stage of them all instead of the usual New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies.
**The era of Brock Lesnar Dominance in the UFC has been temporarily ended by the meaty rights and lefts of Cain Velasquez. On October 23rd, Velasquez owned Lesnar and left him a bloody and broken shell of a man with a four-minute thrashing that ended in a new UFC Heavyweight Champion. While the beating gave UFC a new face for fans to flock to in Velasquez, the post-fight confrontation between The Undertaker (yes, Old Man Callaway) and Lesnar was what people were talking about.
The two had a stare-down with Undertaker asking Lesnar, “You wanna go?” as Lesnar sulked back to the locker room. SportsNation, SportsCenter, Pardon the Interruption, and the sporting world jumped at the opportunity to talk about it while Vince McMahon and WWE ignored it like a wrestling death because it showed The Undertaker as something more than “the Deadman.” Plus, it wasn’t a political ad or kid-friendly either so McMahon and Co. eagerly avoided a chance to get good publicity. Still, for me, the moment gave me a rare moment where I remembered the Bad Ass that The Undertaker used to be instead of the shell of himself now that is shoved down wrestling fans’ throats when they watch WWE.
**One of the key moves that led Vince McMahon to destroy World Wrestling Entertainment from the inside has culminated in true McMahon fashion: a loss. Linda McMahon’s bid for a Senate seat in the state of Connecticut failed miserably as professional liar/Democrat Richard Blumenthal defeated McMahon on November 2nd. McMahon blew over $50 million dollars and lost all the credibility she had with wrestling fans as the “sensible” member of the McMahon family with the way she ignored and distanced herself from the business that made those millions she blew.
I’m glad that she lost as WWE can stop with the political ads RAW and SmackDown have turned into over the last three months. The “Stand Up for WWE” campaign has already ended even though it “had nothing to do with politics at all” according to Vince McMahon. Now, WWE can concentrate on more important things like selling toys, pushing terrible movies and D-list celebrities, and entertaining 5-year-olds with their booking. What? You thought I was going to say get back to great wrestling? No, WWE gave up on that a long time ago.
**Once again, the United States Government has stuck its nose where it does not belong and people like myself have to suffer. This time it has happened with the murder of Limewire.
Limewire was a wonderful peer-to-peer sharing site where users could download music. Yes, it was a source for illegal music downloads. But, in the grand scheme of things, it allowed music to get out there for everyone from the wealthy to the poor to enjoy while the musicians “being stole from” are still making enough extravagant purchases to clearly not miss any money from these downloads. Yet, the government stepped in and shut down Limewire. While the story will read that it was in order to stop people stealing from musicians, the reality is that the government wants the taxes they would get off of each purchase and are shutting down Limewire for their own gains.
RIP Limewire. I will miss you.
CHEERS and JEERS
Superstar of the Week: Brad Paisley, Miranda Lambert, Blake Shelton, Lady Antebellum, and Taylor Swift
I am a huge music fan and love many genres of music with country music being my favorite. In the last week, country music has been on full display with many of its great stars being honored at the Country Music Association awards and at the top of the Billboard charts.
On Wednesday, November 10th in Nashville, the 44th annual CMA Awards took place. Brad Paisley was named Entertainer of the Year while Lady Antebellum left the show with Vocal Group of the Year honors and Single of the Year for “Need You Now.” But, the biggest winners at the show came from Nashville’s couple of the moment: Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton. Blake won Male Vocalist of the Year while Miranda left with Female Vocalist of the Year, Album of the Year for Revolution, and Song and Music Video of the Year for “The House That Built Me.”
While she didn’t win an award, Taylor Swift is still among Nashville’s best as evident by first week sales for Speak Now, her third studio album. Currently at the top of the Billboard Country charts and the Billboard Top 200, Swift’s Speak Now has already sold almost two million copies (including 1,047,000 in its opening week) in the three weeks since its release.
Between the music being honored and flying off the shelves at a time when everybody is downloading tunes, it is a great time to be a country music fan. Brad Paisley, Lady Antebellum, Miranda Lambert, Blake Shelton, and Taylor Swift are currently the top shining stars among a galaxy of hit-makers in the best genre of music in the world.
Jerk of the Week: LeBron James
Seriously, will somebody actually close to him tell Queen James to shut the hell up?!?
I already hated LeBron James and the Miami Heat because of the way they went about forming this super team. Since becoming the biggest villain in the NBA, James has not been able to shut up about it. He made a mini-movie with Nike asking “What should I do?” that has been spoofed wonderfully by the city of Cleveland, South Park, and the amazing Michelle Beadle of SportsNation. He won’t stop running his mouth via Twitter as he cries about everything from people hating him to fellow teams playing him hard.
I literally have found myself hating LeBron James more than almost everyone else on this planet over the last four months. This petulant, whiny man-child has never won a thing and acts like he’s God on the basketball court. He’s not even the best player on his own team (Dwayne Wade, anyone?). The only thing that LeBron James is good at is being the biggest jerk in the world of sports.
POWER RANKINGS - In honor of Veteran’s Day, Top 5 War Movies
5. The Deer Hunter / Full Metal Jacket (TIE)
4. Glory
3. Schindler’s List
2. Platoon
1. Saving Private Ryan
BIG A RECOMMENDS…
Diet Sierra Mist Cranberry Splash - available in stores now.
Seriously, for a diet drink, this stuff is crazy delicious. I highly recommend it.
WHAT I LEARNED THIS WEEK…
Not much that I didn’t already know. Just being honest. The one thing that I have very passionately expressed in recent weeks though has been my distain for politics. We recently suffered through the 2010 Election Day nonsense with thousands of elections all over the country pitting professional liars against one another at all divisions and the media absolutely losing its mind in covering the nonsense. Anyone who believes that change for the better comes in any of these wealthy governmental buffoons is a buffoon themselves. And, in that statement comes what I have learned is the absolute worse part of politics: the person who follows politics and actually believe in politics, the importance of voting, and all that drivel.
Politics is essentially a popularity contest between professional liars. It is a way for one wealthy person to boost his ego by winning the devotion of masses of sheep called voters. Everyone who says these people will “change our society” and make things “better for everyone” are completely delusional. When, in the last decade, has anyone in politics made anything better? They have made a lot of things worse but nothing better. Unemployment is still way too high with no sign of improvement, taxes are too high with more tax hikes pending, and the government is now allowing itself to really become Big Brother by impacting everything from the ability to share files online to whether or not a child can have a toy with a Happy Meal.
After falling under the Obama spell in 2008, I refuse to play the politics game again. I did not vote in 2010. I doubt I’ll vote in 2011. I may never vote again for anything outside of American Idol. The truth of the matter is that when you’re choosing for the lesser of two evils, you are still choosing evil. For those who still vote and essentially waste their vote with a write-in choice, they aren’t taking the right to vote seriously. And, in stating the “right to vote,” with that right comes to right to just say NO. No, I am not playing this charade. No, I am not boosting the ego of an already wealthy politician who won’t make things better. NO, I will not vote! But, I do have the right to complain about their mistakes and their butchering of American freedoms and rights because I am an American and because I am a smart American who realizes that politics is filled with professional liars offering us no hope at all.
Maybe America will have another Ronald Reagan or Bill Clinton come through the White House to spark the change needed in all branches of government to better America. Barack Obama was supposed to be that spark. But, two years in, he’s looking more like George W. Bush than a real revolutionary bringing about change. Until we get a leader looking for more than an ego stroke, I’m done with politics.
- Aaron Goins
