Friday Roundup

First off my condolences go out to the Randy Walker and Lamar Odom's families as they both suffered losses yesterday. Coach Walker died of a heart attack at 52 while Lamar Odom's infant son died of suffocation while he was sleeping, he was 6 1/2 months old. It was sad to hear both of these stories late yesterday/early today and our thoughts and prayers go out to the Walker and Odom families.

Props go out to EDSBS for their latest 27 Things You Did Not Know about Marshawn Lynch. Also thanks to them I found out about one of the funniest stories of the year, Eddie Griffin of the Minnesota Timberwolves crashed while drunk driving and watching porn and ________. You should be able to fill in the blank.

Time to head out and get crunk this weekend, hope everyone has a fun and safe 4th of July, don't drink and drive the 5-0 will be out in force this weekend.

NBA Draft Recap

Here’s the NBA Draft recap that I had worked on last night following it’s conclusion. It was definitely a confusing draft as numerous trades took place including 5 of the top 8 picks changing teams. In all there were 15 trades that went down including 2 minor deals for the Lakers.

First I'll go with my winners of the draft. Portland made a lot of moves but I like most of them so I will put them in this column. Stephen A. Smith was going off on Portland but getting Aldridge and Roy is a solid foundation and picking up Alexander Johnson is a decent move as well. I didn't like the Celtics trade getting Telfair, Ratliff and a 2nd rounder for #7, Raef Lafrentz and Dan Dickau but I did like their other two moves in trading for Rajon Rondo and Leon "The Show" Powe. I think Powe is a steal and will be a solid pro. His injury questions dropped him but I believe the Celtics got a good one.

Jerry West worked his magic again and ended up turning Shane Battier into Rudy Gay and Stromile Swift, a great move IMO. In addition, they picked up Kyle Lowry and Alexander Johnson who should be solid contributors. Utah getting Ronnie Brewer at #14 was surprising as I had him going higher and I like their pick of Dee Brown in the 2^nd round reuniting the Illinois backcourt of ’05. The Nets were the ones that got to scoop up the falling Marcus Williams at #22, another good pickup. That allowed Jordan Farmar to drop to the Lakers at #26 and it was very good for the Lakers. Coming into the draft I didn't expect Farmar to be there for the Lakers and although I liked Quincy Douby (drafted #19) and Maurice Ager (#28), I was very pleased for the Lakers to scoop up Farmar. He's definitely an improvement over Smush Parker.

Definite losers go to the New York Knicks, Atlanta Hawks and Houston Rockets. Just when you thought Isiah Thomas couldn’t do any worse he does and drafts Renaldo Balkman from South Carolina in the first round. Here’s a guy that did not even avg 10 points a game and would not have been taken until the 2^nd round at the earliest and the Knicks go and waste the #20 overall pick on him. I feel bad for the Knicks fans because they have one of, if not the worst management in the league.

The Hawks are in the running for worst management with the Knicks as they made a guarantee to Shelden Williams at #5. Yes I hate Duke as I am a North Carolina fan but come on #5??? I thought he would be a reach at #10 for Seattle who was rumored to like him a lot so you can imagine what I thought when I heard about his guarantee at #5.

Houston made a great pick in drafting Rudy Gay at #8, then shipped him to Memphis along with Stromile Swift for Shane Battier. Granted Gay has had some issues with motivation, as has Swift, but that is just too much talent to give up for one player in Shane Battier. I think the Rockets will really regret this decision, especially if Tracy McGrady’s back flares up again next season.

The Lakers ended up getting a very good first round pick in Jordan Farmar and then in the second round drafted Cheik Samb a center from Senegal who they moved to Detroit for Maurice Evans. Not a bad move, and then they traded to Dallas a future 2^nd round pick to get Danilo Pinnock, a SG from George Washington. I had never seen him play before so I’m going to assume he’ll just be camp fodder and released.

It’s getting close to College Football season so my attention will start turning back towards that way, except for the occasional World Cup update and NBA Free Agency. If time permits I’ll answer the EDSBS Roundtable questions from this week, otherwise I’ll take those on early next week. If I don’t get another chance to post, everyone have a great 4^th of July weekend, whether you get 5 days like some of my friends or you’re like me and have to work Monday and then get Tuesday off.

Ciskie's Blogger Roundtable

World Cup fever delayed me in getting to the Roundtable questions asked from The Ciske Blog, and in the time I waited EDSBS has put one up as well, which I'll get to later. I also had a NBA Draft Recap post up but my internet at home went down so that'll probably be posted late tonight or tomorrow.

Which preseason college football magazine is your favorite?

I've actually never purchased a preseason college football magazine so I can't really answer it. I've always gotten my information from the internet and have never felt the need to go out and purchase any additional material. But all the talk about Phil Steele's magazine has me interested and I might go get it if I see it sometime soon.

What team is being supremely overrated in the preseason rankings?

I've got two teams for this, Ohio State and Clemson. Sure everyone expects me to say OSU as a Michigan fan but they lose so much on defense it's hard to see them competing for that National Title. They have the players on offense but as they say defense wins championships and I don't see that D there. Clemson is based on Ivan Maisel's early top 25 where he has the Tigers at 11. Sure they have James Davis and picked up C.J. Spiller but I don't see how losing Charlie Whitehurst moves them up. Clemson as they always seem to do will lose games they shouldn't and win a game they shouldn't and end up hovering around the 6-7 win mark. Also Oklahoma is getting a lot of hype, I do have them in my early top 5 but they do have question marks on the OL and we will have to wait and see if Rhett Bomar is ready for the big time.

Turn the tables. Who is underrated?

I've got Auburn as underrated coming into this year, I had them as my early preseason #1 and I'll stick with them. Sure the schedule is tough since they play in the SEC but they do get LSU, Florida and Georgia all at home this year. Add that with the return of Brandon Cox and Kenny Irons and I like them to win the National Championship this season.

Louisville was a team that a lot of people pegged as a darkhorse last year and they disappointed. However I think because of that season last year they are being underrated this year. Michael Bush and Brian Brohm are back to lead that offense and the schedule also looks favorable as Miami and West Virginia are home games.

Which conference will be the best in 2006?

I like the SEC followed by the Big 10 to be the best in 06. The top of the league will be strong as always with Auburn, LSU, Florida and Georgia competing for the conference title. South Carolina under Spurrier will be a tough team to face. Tennessee should be improved from their 5-6 record a season ago as should Arkansas. Alabama will probably have some drop off but will still be a bowl team.

Everyone has Ohio State up in their top 5 at least, and Iowa will be a very good team and Michigan should rebound after last season. Penn State will be solid, just depends on how Anthony Morelli handles the starting job and Michigan State returns Drew Stanton which will make them a threat. Can't forget Wisconsin coming off a 10 win season but under a new coaching staff and Minnesota would be ranked higher if Gary Russell didn't flunk out of school.

Which "non-BCS" conference will be the best in 2006?

I'll watch non-BCS games late on Saturday when there's nothing else going on but I don't follow them closely enough to make these picks, unless a player on one of these teams is on my college fantasy league. So I'll go with the safe pick and choose the Mountain West with TCU and Utah leading the charge. Utah could score a big upset for the conference early when they come to the Rose Bowl and take on UCLA while TCU can pick up a couple of wins over Big XII teams as they open at Baylor and two weeks later welcome Texas Tech to town.

Which non-BCS conference team will have the best season?

I like UTEP as the best non-BCS conference team this year. Mike Price has done a great job rebuilding in El Paso and with Carson Palmer's brother Jordan at the helm along with a big time WR in Johnnie Lee Higgins I expect the Miners to get a 10 win season this year. Week 2 they host Texas Tech but aside from that the schedule doesn't look too difficult and they should win Conference USA this year.

Let's get your first read on this one...who will win the H*i*m*n? Oh, by the way, players whose last names begin with the letter "Q" are ineligible.

There are a couple of names that are being mentioned aside from Mr. Q and I think one of them is a favorite, that being Adrian Peterson of Oklahoma. We all saw what he could do his freshman year and big things were expected of him last year as well. But injuries derailed him as well as his OL so we will see if he can get back to form.

If Auburn does as I predict and get to the National Championship then there would be some love shown for Brandon Cox and Kenny Irons so it wouldn't surprise me if Irons had a big year and made a run for the trophy.

Michael Bush has been talked about by some but I don't see it unless Louisville makes a run at an undefeated season and even if then Brian Brohm would get a lot of credit for it taking away votes. Marshawn Lynch could get some consideration if Cal is able to beat USC and have another big season but his problem will be the lack of exposure being on the West Coast as well as having to split carries with Justin Forsett.

Final Thoughts on Korea's World Cup 2006

The much anticipated 2006 World Cup ended for Korea with their 2-0 loss to Switzerland last Friday. A lot of Koreans are complaining about officiating and protesting and all that but it's no use and makes us look bad. Sure the team didn't get the breaks this year but they did get a lot of them in 02 so there's no reason to whine about it. Also France should have won the second game as well as the fact that due to France's 2-0 win over Togo only a victory would have secured a berth in the Round of 16.

There are positives to be looked at from this World Cup. By finishing 1-1-1 in group play, Korea secured its first ever World Cup win in Europe after falling behind 1-0 to Togo. They showed the ability to play from behind with winning that game as well as coming back to tie France with the late equaliser. But, we can't forget the negatives as well as Korea is just not on that level yet to compete with the big time soccer nations. 2002 was an aberration which will probably never happen again because home field advantage is so huge in soccer, I hope I'm wrong about this but I don't think so.

I'm no soccer expert by any means but watching the other teams play compared to Korea there is just a huge gap in skill level it seems. There is also a difference in the style of play as it seems Korea never attacks up the middle as other teams do which allow for better scoring opportunities. They are always coming up the side and throwing crosses in the front of the net but that style doesn't suit their personnel. There has to be a big striker there ready to head in those crosses but there is none on the Korean team. Hopefully there will be some adjustments made in regards to that next time. The assistant coach from 02 and 06, Pim Verbeek has taken over as the new head coach, let's see if he even makes it to the 2010 World Cup since it's only a 2 year contract.

I'm definitely looking forward to the rest of this World Cup especially Friday morning's Germany-Argentina match. I really think Argentina is the better team but with homefield advantage Germany will be tough but still I think I'll stick with my prediction of a Argentina-Brazil final with Brazil as the winner.

Not much goin on

Work's been slow lately so I've been opening up blogger to write some updates but everytime I get to it another World Cup game is showing on ESPN360 so I end up watching that. I love ESPN for this as I can now watch all these games at work.

The NBA draft is tomorrow I've read a lot of different ways the Lakers could go. They could move up or stay where they're at. According to different reports the Lakers are high on Brandon Roy, I am very high on him as well but I think it's a smokescreen much like Gerald Green was used last year. The other potential move up target is Jamison Brewer. If the Lakers are to stay put there are a number of options there for them. If we go with a guard I'd like to get Quincy Douby or Maurice Ager. Jordan Farmar would be good too but I don't expect him to be there when the Lakers pick at 26. If we were to go big I would definitely take gamble on Leon "The Show" Powe. The question with him is his injury history as one more could end his career.

I had heard rumors about a big time trade for the Dodgers involving Cesar Izturis and prospects for Dontrelle Willis but I highly doubt that would happen, it would be dope as hell to see the D-Train in Dodger Blue though. The Dodgers did make a trade today though involving Jae Seo and Dioner Navarro along with a player to be named for Mark Hendrickson and Toby Hall. I think this is a very good move for the Dodgers as it adds a lefty to the rotation as well as giving us a good catcher in Hall. The moves probably aren't done yet so we'll see where it goes from here.

Add #7 and #8 to the list

With the Michigan Football Summer Camp underway it was only a matter of time before some commitments came out of the camp. Right on cue commitments were received from ATH James Rogers and CB/S Troy Woolfolk yesterday. Rogers had offers from Central Michigan and Colorado coming into the camp and took the Smokehouse Award as the fastest WR at camp. He does have good height at 6'2" but is listed at 165 so he will need to bulk up some but like they say you can't teach speed.

Woolfolk is a legacy recruit, the son of former Michigan RB Butch Woolfolk. Coming into camp he had offers from Houston and Nebraska. Although these guys are big name, top 100/250 kids they did have offers from some big name schools so it is not a complete shock that some have made it out to be. Both these guys have a lot of speed and performed well enough at camp to earn an offer from the coaches so I'm definitely glad to have them aboard. Welcome to Michigan to James and Troy. MGoBlog has a lot more on the two.

Back to some NBA talk, the Knicks have fired Larry Brown and named Isiah Thomas the new head coach. Just when you thought the Knicks couldn't do worse they have. Thomas is a horrible GM and a horrible coach, the Knicks continue to take steps backward instead of forward and it will not get any better with Isiah as the head coach. He has yet to make a single good move and the Knicks are past the cap so they can't do anything about it. Giving away Trevor Ariza, trading for Eddy Curry and losing the #2 overall pick in the process, you name it Isiah sucks as a GM and I don't think he's much better as a coach. Whenever I worry about the Lakers problems and how Kupchak doesn't make a move at least I can tell myself, at least I'm not a Knicks fan.

Welcome to the Big Ten Network

The Big Ten announced today that they have reached an agreement on a 10-year contract with ESPN and ABC. In addition they announced the formation of a new cable channel which will be dedicated to the Big Ten, that will be done as a partnership with Fox Cable. There had been talk about this new Big Ten Network forming with Fox and that brought concern among many Michigan fans as it could have signaled the end of the relationship between the Big Ten and ESPN/ABC. Thankfully that will not be the case as the Big Ten will still be on ESPN Gameplan which is what most fans were worried about. Being on the West Coast, there are a few games that I can only get via Gameplan and it would have been devastating not to be able to get them had the Big Ten completely switched to Fox. Thankfully that's not something we will have to worry about. Michigan Sports Center has more on the announcement.

Unfortunately the Heat won the NBA Title last night. Unfortunate because there are a number of people on that team that do not deserve championships and I am disappointed to see it happen. Players like Antoine Walker and Jason Williams should be nowhere near that trophy. I didn't watch the post game comments but apparently Shaq said some stupid things and I'm glad I didn't hear them because I would probably hate him more than I already do since he barely contributed to this championship, without the Flash he gets nowhere near this trophy. The only person I'm truly glad to see win is D Wade since he is one of my favorite players. But even so he got so many calls it's ridiculous. No one else in the L gets as many calls as D Wade. Ok, now I'm done with that now that basketball is over there isn't much left to keep me from going into full College Football mode, just the World Cup and maybe the Dodgers.

As always, Ron Bellamy's Underachieving All Stars has another great post which you should read if you haven't already.

Not a W but we'll take it

All week long after Korea's opening game win over Togo the talk immediately shifted to France. Highly anticipated from moment the grouping was announced, and aided by the noon pacific time kickoff it was the topic of discussion at work the rest of the week. As kickoff came closer, people started showing up to my house and they showed the crowd all hyped up and ready for the game I was ready to go. Much like the feeling I get on Saturdays in the fall when I see the Go Blue banner and see the Big House crowd pumping their fists to The Victors I felt the chills through my body.

Then the game started and it wasn't good. France came out as the aggressor and they forced all the action. Korea withstood the initial storm but then it came again and this time it couldn't be stopped as Henry scored France's first goal in the World Cup since 1998. The French continued to dominate the first half and it looked bleak. Especially when it looked like France had scored another goal but the refs did not see the ball completely cross the line. From the replays we can tell that it was in but in live action it is tough to see the play clearly.

Luckily the game changed in the second half. The French who had been pushing forward and pressuring did not continue to do so and it was Korea's turn to be the aggressor. However, there were not many great chances as Korea was still missing a lot of passes but then it happened. In the 81st minute Park Ji Sung put in the equaliser and we went crazy. Immediately everyone in the room got up and celebrated like mad. Our TV room became a mosh pit of red.

After we had calmed down and got back to watching the thought that crossed my mind was how did the other room celebrate? My parents were watching with their friends in another room and I thought how funny it would be if it was the exact same scene and from the post game accounts apparently it was. My dad is a pretty big sports fan as well but he usually doesn't get worked up like I do for games. That is unless Korea is playing. I went with my parents to the WBC Korea vs Japan game and I have never seen my dad go as wild as he did that game. I could see where I got it from because he went nuts so I can picture what went on in that room when that shot crossed the goal line. As you can see from the picture it barely got over Barthez and went in, much closer than any of us thought at the time.

Korea mounted more of a rush following but also allowed France some more chances as well. Henry almost put in the game winner if not for a great save by Lee Woon Jae to preserve the tie. There was one last chance on a free kick just outside the French Box but it was wide and the game ended in a draw. A draw that I was more than willing to take. Korea got lucky on a few occasions and easily could have lost that game 3-1. With the tie Korea is now in 2nd in Group G as the Swiss now sit atop due to goal differential. Which leads us to a make or break Friday at noon as Korea takes on Switzerland while France takes on Togo. There are numerous scenarios as anything could happen with a Korea-Switzerland draw. Dependent upon how many goals are scored by France against Togo and the score of a Korea-Swiss draw there are so many things that can happen. But at the same time there is also the very simple scenario, win and you're in. Winner of the game would finish first in group G and most likely take on the Ukraine in the Round of 16. But it doesn't really matter, just getting into the Round of 16 will be the first step and then we'll go from there.

Good Way to Start

Korea opened up their World Cup campaign with a come from behind 2-1 win over Togo. It wasn't the walk in the park that many had thought when the pairings were announced. Most people only knew Togo as the sandwich place, not as an actual country. In the first half Korea played awful and after Togo scored in the 31st minute I didn't think they could come back to win if they were going to play that way. Fortunately that was not the case as Korea took it to Togo in the 2nd half. Aided by the red card that Togo's captain received the momentum completely changed as Lee Chun Soo hit the free kick that was awarded from the foul. Then Ahn Jung Hwan, the hero of the Round of 16 game against Italy in 2002, who entered the game in the 2nd half as a sub, drove home the game winner in the 72nd minute.

Although they did win there is some concern going forward if Korea can advance. Now they have the two toughest teams in the group left in France and Switzerland. The first half was poor and at times in the 2nd half there were mistakes that should not have been made. As Korea tried to run out the clock they gave up the ball a couple times which gave Togo a chance at the equalizer. I'm going to chalk part of it up to first match jitters and I think they will put out a much better effort on Sunday against France. A win would secure their place into the Round of 16 so hopefully they can get it done and not wait until the Switzerland game on the 23rd.

In Michigan news, Zack Gibson will be transferring to Michigan from Rutgers as he will be paying his own way for this year as he sits out due to transfer rules and then will have a scholarship for the remaining 3 years he will have of eligibility. Gibson is a former teammate of incoming freshman K'Len Morris and adds another big body to the team which will be good, you can never have enough big men. Welcome to Michigan Zack, glad to have you aboard.

GOOOAAAALLLLL!!!

I had planned to have a big update yesterday with NBA Finals discussion as well as the upcoming World Cup which just kicked off but blogger wouldn't cooperate with me so this short post is all I'll have as I'm taking a half day to head to Vegas today. MGoBlog has a great post on soccer a very good read. Maize N Brew has his take on night games (or lack thereof) at Michigan.

After waiting 4 years its time for the World Cup again. Going into that World Cup the question was if Korea would become the first host team to not make it into the Round of 16 as they had yet to win a single game in World Cup competition. Those questions were answered and then some as Korea made a miracle run throughout the cup and made it into the Final 4, something no one could have imagined. "Be the Reds" fever swept throughout Los Angeles as everyone was getting up at the 4:30-5 am time to watch the games. ("Be the Reds" was the slogan that all the T-Shirts had as someone in Korea made it up). It's pretty funny looking at the advertisements and T-Shirts for this World Cup as I've seen "Reds Go Together" and also "Again 2002."

As much as I'd like to think that the greater international exposure, as quite a few players now play in Europe, it would be an even bigger shock if Korea was able to repeat the feat this time around. Last time the team was unknown but after the run in the last World Cup this team will not sneak up on anyone. I woke up early on Sunday to watch the last tuneup match against Ghana and I don't see how this team will be able to compete with the French and the Swiss, hopefully I'm wrong but I expect a 1-2 campaign this time around and an early trip home.

It will also be interesting to watch the US this time around as they are in the Group of Death with the Czech Republic, Italy and Ghana. Everyone knows about Italy and their tradition of great soccer but I had no idea that the Czech Republic was so good. Add in Ghana, who I saw against Korea, and I was impressed by them, it will be tough for the U.S. to make it through to the Round of 16. But I think the U.S. gets it done going through to the next round.

The NBA Finals had a good start as the Mavericks won Game 1 after trailing Miami early. As much as I love Dwyane Wade I cannot root for Miami since Shaq had to run his mouth talking trash on Los Angeles. If not for that I would definitely be with the Heat but instead I hope the Mavericks pull it off. Besides it's hard to root against Mark Cuban, he's living every guy's dream. Make it rich and buy a sports franchise and turn it into a winner, well that's one part of my dream anyways. Maybe Vegas this weekend can help turn my dream into reality.

And the Winner Is...

Congratulations Toronto you have the #1 pick that nobody wanted

This was supposed to go up a week ago but I haven't had time to finish it up. Am I the only one that remembers the ping pong balls actually being televised on TV? I could have sworn growing up that is how I saw the draft lottery but the NBA says they never broadcast that portion of the lottery, maybe I was just dreaming of things when I was younger. It was a weird draft lottery as the perennial hosts of the lottery the Los Angeles Clippers were not in attendance. The Toronto Raptors get the #1 pick in one of the weakest drafts in recent memory. There are so many potential names as to who may be drafted #1 so we shall see how this shakes out in the next month until the draft.

Once again some Euro that most have never heard of is at the top of the list and Toronto has already gone to do some research on him. Ever since Dirk came in and blew up a lot of teams are taking gambles on these European players, most of which have not panned out. Only Pau Gasol has contributed, all the others haven't produced much, although I may be missing one or two.

If I had the #1 pick in this draft there would be a number of players I would be looking at but Bargnani would not be one of them. At the top of my list would be two players from the Pacific Northwest, Gonzaga's Adam Morrison and Washington's Brandon Roy. In addition to them I would take looks at LaMarcus Aldridge from Texas and Tyrus Thomas from LSU.

Dependent upon the team's needs I would make the choice from this list of 4. For the teams in the lottery though I would probably move Thomas out of consideration first. His claim to fame is the couple of games he played great in during the NCAA Tournament. I don't think he has shown on a consistent basis like the others that he is deserving of the #1 pick. He also is still very small to play the 4, much like most kids coming out into the draft now, and it isn't known how adding bulk to him will affect his game which is his agility and leaping ability.

There are rumors that the Lakers may want to move up, rumors that occur every season, but if they actually come true this year I would love to see Brandon Roy in a Lakers uniform. Many people don't realize that Brandon Roy was one of the first players to take advantage of the league allowing HS players to declare for the draft and then withdraw. Roy declared out of HS, which was a surprise to me considering he was on the Rivals 100 list at around #50. When he didn't get the feedback he liked he went to college and developed into the player that he is today.

Realistically with the Lakers at 26 there's a number of players that I would like to see, just depends on who falls. This list includes Rajon Rondo, nbadraft.net has him projected to the Lakers at this spot, but I highly doubt he'll still be on the board at that point. In addition to Rondo, Maurice Ager, Quincy Douby and possibly Leon Powe are players I would want to see suit up at Staples Center next year. Sure Ager is a Sparty but he is a player and would be a great addition to the Lakers as would Douby, who I've seen light it up for Rutgers the past few years. Powe is a big body that could be a very good NBA player but there are injury concerns as he has missed a lot of time due to his knees and who knows if the next one could end his career?
Miami ended up advancing last night to the NBA Finals so Shaq and D Wade has taken South Beach to the promised land, can they now bring it home? I love D Wade, he is one of my favorite players, but I cannot root for Miami as long as Shaq is there because it would make the Lakers trade of him worse than it already was and after all that trash he talked on LA I do not want him to win another championship.

The Mavericks have a chance to end the series tonight in Phoenix and I hope they do. Phoenix is the new version of the Sacramento Queens. I haven't seen a team complain and whine about calls since Vlade and co were up in Cow Town. Doesn't help that their owner acts like a douchebag as well. I really want the Mavs to win the championship since I don't want Miami or Phoenix to win. I hope Dallas can get it done tonight, I am a Nowitzness.

Viacom killed the Video Star

What the hell am I doing up at 7:30 on a non-College Football Saturday Morning? That's what happens when you get exhausted by a short week of work and end up crashing early on Friday night, yeah I know it's pathetic for someone my age. I haven't written about much other than the Lakers lately so I thought I'd switch it up and get onto another subject that I've been meaning to discuss and that is the destruction of music television by Viacom. Viacom is the parent company that owns MTV, Spike TV, Nickelodeon and BET, among others. Viacom brought in the age of the music video and now they have killed the music video.

Everyone knows that MTV went down the tubes years ago when they stopped showing music videos and decided to focus on their reality shows, dating shows, anything else but music. This was fine with me since I don't fall into the demographic of MTV which is 15 year old girls. Growing up in Orange County my local cable provider did not provide BET which is the channel that I really wanted to watch since I'm into Hip-Hop/R&B.

Then when I got to college in Ann Arbor luckily it was on the cable system there so I became an avid BET watcher. BET didn't have all the garbage that was on MTV and they pretty much showed strictly music videos. By this point in time MTV had gone to videos they cut off 2 minutes into each song, for what reason I don't know do the kids have that short of an attention span? BET became my destination for all my music video needs since they showed full videos and I only had to deal with Hits and Big Tigger to watch videos. Once we got DirecTV at my house I could watch BET as well so I had all I needed for my music video needs.

Then Viacom bought BET and gradually started turning BET into MTV. It started with a few shows so it wasn't a big deal at the time. MTV had Cribs, BET started "How I'm Livin." MTV had TRL, BET now had 106 and Park. That was fine, as they still showed enough videos for my fill but now even that's gone. BET made College Hill, which is just like the Real World except these are college students at a HBCU. So BET just turned into an "urban" version of MTV, which sucks.

I really don't have much time to watch TV anymore due to work so I'm not sure what happened to Rap City and all those afternoon shows, especially since I'm on satellite on the west coast which means I get those shows on East Coast time. But the last straw for me is not being able to watch BET when I wake up and when I go to sleep. Not too long ago I could wake up and turn on BET to watch some morning wake up show where they just showed music videos. Sure I normally wake up and sleep to SportsCenter/ESPNEWS like most other guys but I need some variety. Then when I would go to sleep I would turn it to Midnight Love or Uncut with the TV and sleep mode and just crash but now that's gone as well. Now when I wake up in the morning and turn to BET I get reruns of the Jamie Foxx Show, when I go to sleep and turn it to BET I get reruns of the Jamie Foxx Show. Thanks a lot Viacom, bastards. I know cable providers have an MTV Jams network that strictly shows videos only with nothing else but that channel's not available on satellite, damn I wish I had that now. Yet another pointless post from me, if you've read this far what the hell were you thinking? I don't even know how I wrote this much on this topic, man I need a life/girlfriend/football season to come back.