Oscars bring out the sheep

If you wanted to buy a record or watch a movie before the days of the Internet, the only things to go off of were a few reviews and some friendly recommendations. Today, it’s almost impossible to avoid somebody giving his or her two cents.

Whether or not you watched the actual telecast Sunday night, there’s a good chance you heard that the Academy Awards were terrible. Maybe they were, maybe they weren’t, ultimately that’s up to the viewer to decide. At least it should be.

Everyday, more and more users of Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites fall victim to groupthink and, as a result, subjective-ness is becoming an endangered species. From the moment you logged onto Twitter last night, your timeline informed you of how awful the award show was, and promptly told you to hate it, too.

Nobody’s telling us to listen to that opinion, of course. We’re all human beings perfectly capable of formulating our own. Still, it’s never easy for our minds to unlearn what they already know. And what our minds already knew is that we were supposed to hate the Oscars.

It’s completely within the realm of possibility that somebody watched the ceremony and enjoyed it. If that opinion were shared on Twitter, however, there would have been plenty of people ready to meet it with amused superiority and a plethora of snide remarks.

“I don’t think it’s too early to call this the worst Oscars ever,” tweeted writer Joe Posnanski only minutes into the show.

”The worst Oscarcast I’ve seen, and I go back awhile. Some great winners, a nice distribution of awards, but the show? Dead. In. The. Water,” Roger Ebert told his 300,000+ followers.

Of course, it is possible that the Oscars were simply that bad. That general opinion only gets voiced louder though when everyone jumps on the bandwagon with you.

With so many people easily being able to interact with one another, Twitter can sometimes be a great tool used to debate polarizing issues. Instead, it often turns into a place where ideas seem to coagulate until there is just one Twitter Opinion.

All-DUI Team, MLB Edition

SP – Scott Olsen
SP – Gustavo Chacin
SP – Francisco Liriano
RP – Joba Chamberlain
RP – Ronald Belisario
RP – Troy Pattion

C – Dane Sardinha
1B – Miguel Cabrera
2B – Adam Kennedy
3B – David Freese
SS – Rafael Furcal
OF – Ryan Freel
OF – Delino DeShields, Jr.

Manager – Tony LaRussa
General Manager – Jim Bowden

Hall of Famers: Dwight Gooden, Jim Leyritz, Darren Daulton, Karim Garcia, Shane Spencer, Esteban Loaiza, Raul Mondesi, Guillermo Mota, Lenny Dykstra

Still an opening for another outfielder.

 

Why the Knicks Can’t Wait on Carmelo Anthony

It’s easy to become complacent. This is especially true when you haven’t experienced anything remotely positive in a decade, much like the New York Knicks.

So, of course after their prolonged stretch of ineptitude, it’s understandable why Knicks fans and management would be hesitant to break up a team that has a winning record into the All-Star break. And, to bring in Carmelo Anthony, breaking up this team is exactly what they would have to do. The Denver Nuggets demands for their star player are rightfully high.

In order for the Knicks to acquire Anthony via trade, they would have to part with a package of Wilson Chandler, Danillo Gallinari, Landry Fields or potentially all three. So here’s the question the Knicks front office has no doubt been wrestling with: is Carmelo Anthony worth it?

In a word: yes.

For as good as the Knicks have played this season, they are nowhere near competing for a title. While a playoff appearance seems like a good bet, they’ll have to get by the likes of Chicago, Orlando, Boston and Miami to come out of the East. Not just this year, but every year. Other than Boston, all of those teams windows extend far beyond 2011. They are all anchored by young superstars who don’t appear to be going anywhere.

The Knicks have all the pieces in place to be a perennial playoff team for a long time. However, the chances of this team as it is presently put together accomplishing anything but a few playoff appearances are minimal. A few years ago, the Atlanta Hawks were in a similar position the Knicks are in now. After years as of being a laughingstock and a doormat, the Hawks were able to turn themselves into a solid playoff team. Solid was all they became though. After three years of early playoff exits, the Hawks opted to keep the team together and re-signed Joe Johnson to a max contract over the summer. They locked themselves into mediocrity.

The Knicks shouldn’t follow their lead. Just because you used to be homeless doesn’t mean working at McDonald’s is a good job.

I know what you’re thinking Knicks fans: “Why can’t we just wait until this off-season and sign him? He clearly wants to play here.” Ah, if it were only that simple. With Eddy Curry’s contract coming off the books, the Knicks will be approximately $18 million under the cap. Unfortunately that figure doesn’t account for Wilson Chandler being an unrestricted free agent. For the Knicks to put a hold on Chandler’s rights would cost them more than $6 million, leaving $12 million left for Anthony. That’s a pay cut I’d imagine he’s not willing to take. Especially when a 3-year, $65 million contract from the Nuggets is on the table, which he can bring with him if he accepts a trade. Whether it’s through trade or free agency, it’s unlikely the Knicks will be able to have both Anthony and Chandler.

The Knicks need pull out all the stops in their pursuit of Anthony. Superstars win titles. And if you’re not playing for a title then what are you playing for?

Exclusive: Kevin Love Talks All-Star Game, T’Wolves Record, Ricky Rubio and More

(Editor’s note: Interview took place before All-Star rosters were announced)

Brian Marschhauser – About your All-Star candidacy, I found it fascinating how so many people were preemptively rushing to your defense of being a snub before the rosters were even announced. What did you think of that?

Kevin Love - I try and stay as optimistic as possible. I know wins come at a premium in this league and it’s tough to have a record like we do and be on the All-Star team, but hopefully the coaches look past that and see that All-Stars can come from teams with Sub-.500 records. As far as people calling me a snub already? I’m just hoping for the best. I know a lot of people around Minnesota and the rest of the league are hoping for the best for me too. But I’m not going to be bitter about it if I don’t make the team, I’m just going to work harder and continue to get better.

BM – This is a pretty vague question, but how are you feeling about where your team is right now? In the win-loss column it doesn’t look like much has changed, but you guys have definitely been more competitive.

KL – We’ve been very competitive. In a way we’re very upset about our record but we’re not sulking in our sorrows about the record. We have been in a lot of games but our record is a pretty dismal 2-12 in games decided by 5 points or less. We’ve been in games, we just haven’t been able to close out games and that’s been our Achilles heel this whole year. Being the youngest team in the league we need to keep pressing forward, keep getting better and putting ourselves in that situation so eventually we can win those games.

BM – Is it hard to make that adjustment from being a winner your whole life – state championships in high school and Final Four in college – to being on a team that hasn’t won much early on?

KL – It’s a rough transition. There are a lot guys that are eager to win and kind of foaming at the mouth. So we all feel like we’re right there, we just have to get over that hump; keep pushing through and eventually we’re going to get there. But it has been tough the first couple two and a half years of losing, but eventually that’s going to turn around.

BM – This isn’t taking away from players like Blake Griffin, because he’s been amazing in his own right, but do you feel like that fact that we live in a highlight-driven age hurts you a bit? You’re more of a workhorse player.

KL – Yeah it’s not the most fun thing to watch in the world when other guys are throwing down crazy dunks and blocking shots above the square and running out the crossovers, behind the back passes. But for me, I treat this as a job and try and get the job done day in and day out. Eventually I’ll have a highlight here and there I’m not going to be SportsCenter Top 10 every night.

BM – What do you think of the NHL’s idea of picking teams? Gimmicky or legitimately cool?  Because personally I don’t know who wouldn’t want to see Kobe and LeBron as captains picking teams like a pick up game.

KL – I think that is a pretty good idea because a lot of coaches like to look at teams with winning records and that stuff. So I think a lot of love would be given to the guys that were doing it night and night out on teams that were below .500. That’s my thing; I hope that the coaches look at certain guys from sub-.500 teams. I’m doing all I can to be a workman-like guy and a matriculate wins for this team, sometimes it doesn’t happen for us. I’m still going out every night and trying to prove that I am an All-Star.

BM – I think right now you have 33-straight double doubles? Which is incredible. Do you keep track of that during the game are do you usually just find out after whether you got it or not.

KL – No, if I’m close to it by the end of the game I think one of the coaches would tell me but no I just try and go out there and do all I can, pick my spots, score the ball well every single night. I think points are a lot easier to keep track of, but rebounds, I just try and grab everyone that I can. But I know when I have 15-20 just because I know I’ll have a ton. Other than that I don’t really know.

BM – Does the rebound title mean a lot to you? Right now you have a pretty big stranglehold on you. I think you’re up two over Dwight Howard.

KL – It definitely means a lot to me. It’s something that I’d like to achieve in my career and hopefully – if I stay healthy – numerous times.

BM – I’ve always wondered this about rebounding. There’s a lot of seven-footers around the league who can’t rebound. Do you think it’s more skill or more hustle? Why is it that some guys who are 6’6’’ can rebound better than guys who are 7’1’’?

KL – A lot of it is skill, a lot of it’s using your body, your leverage and just using your heart and passion to go after every single ball. You have to assume that everything’s a miss. On any given night a team’s only going to shoot at best probably 50%. So half of their shots are going to be misses, including yours from the offensive end as well. For a guy to get the rebound he doesn’t have to be the tallest or longest guy in the world, he just has to have to ability to go after the ball.

BM – You’ve made improvements every year you’ve been in the league, what do you credit that on? I know you’re still young, you also played on the National team. Did that help?

KL – A lot of it was confidence; a lot of it was putting myself in the right spot to get better. Working around the right people. I spent most of my summer working with Russell Westbrook and Derek Rose and a guy by the name of Rob McClanaghan. We were all in the gym 5-6 days a week together. So a lot of it was hard work, a lot of it was confidence from the National team.

BM – Since I have you, I’d be remiss if I didn’t ask you about Ricky Rubio. Somebody from his camp talked about how he’d never play in Minnesota but who knows? Are you just tired of hearing about it?

KL – Eventually he’s going to make his way over here. We’ll either trade the guy or he’ll end up playing for us. But I’m almost 100 percent sure – 99 percent sure – that he’s going to be in a Wolves uniform and eventually he is going to play for us. As far as people asking, yeah it’s get a little tiring. We’d just like to let it be and hopefully he’ll be over here one day in a Wolves jersey.

Kid Cudi gives like an interview like backstage with like MTV

That’s 28 likes I counted in the span of 90 seconds, pretty impressive.

See the rest of the interview at MTV

Flo Rida and Ne-Yo team up on “Anchorman”-inspired track

I’m wondering if Ne-Yo made the song “Be on You” on a bet, like maybe somebody told him “there’s no way you can make a song using a quote from Anchorman as the chorus, and make it sound like a legitimate song” Well, he did it. Download.

Ne-Yo:
“Excuse me little mama if I may,
Take this thought and send it your way,
And if you don’t like that,
Then send it right back,
But I just gotta say,
I wanna be on you.”

Ron Burgundy:
“I wanna say something. I’m gonna put it out there; if you like it, you can take it, if you don’t, send it right back. I want to be on you.”