Rodriguez's first season with Blue was abysmal to say the least. However, in the beginning of 2009, the program seemed to be headed in the right direction. They won a monstrous game against Notre Dame that season and started off 4-0.
The future seemed bright. Then, Michigan went on to finish 1-7 with big losses against Michigan State and of course, Ohio State. They ended up losing all of their Big Ten games. 2010 was deja vu, Michigan started 5-0, beating Notre Dame once again in dramatic fashion. Then, Rodriguez and Michigan had a catastrophic meltdown against Michigan State again, proceeded to get slaughtered by OSU and then compounded it with a horrific performance against Miss State in the Gator Bowl.
In the end, there were no Gatorade showers, no celebrations of victory over the hated Buckeyes, it was just this
Rodriguez's tenure at Ann Arbor reminded me of several other things, all of which had GREAT starts, but then they just either went meh or they just plain flat out stunk.
WARNING: The following rants will CONTAIN SPOILERS. Read at your own RISK
FIVE
RED DEAD REDEMPTION
-I love westerns. Clint Eastwood and John Wayne are two of my all-time favorite actors. The Dollars Trilogy, True Grit, Magnificent Seven, you name it. Those movies are just the epitome of "American badassery"
One day around February of last year, on my way from lunch at Antonio's, one of the best pizza places in Champaign, I saw a poster for Red Dead Redemption, a new Rockstar video game taking place in the Wild West. I preordered the game and it arrived three months later, just a few days shy of my 22nd birthday.
I PLAYED THE GAME NON-STOP.
Red Dead Redemption was a beautiful production. The scenery was outstanding especially if played on a widescreen HD tv. It felt like you were riding your own mustang in the deserts of Texas, Mexico etc. The voice acting was superb, as of course were the characters, none of whom were particularly tacky or cliched. The name John Marston soon became synonymous with "badass motherf**ker" in my mind.
The plot of the game was perfect in the beginning. They did a great job mixing elements of all kinds of westerns, ranging from your classic John Wayne epics to the ultra violent and raw "spaghetti westerns." The interactions Marston had with memorable men like snake oil salesman Nigel West Dickens, hypocritical Mexican rebel Reyes, and the drunkard known only as Irish made for awesome dialog.
The most memorable scene in the game by far was the poker game involving a pretty quick tempered German. WARNING lots of profanity and some anti-German stereotypes lol
Where the game came apart was at the end. Suddenly when the freaking FBI and this other bull***t got involved, everything went from "Epic" to "WTF is this?" Perhaps the greatest kick in the nuts was the fact that *SPOILER* John Marston, a character you had grown to love for his bravery, sharp tongue, and hard-boiled personality, was gunned down like a total jabroni by the FBI assclowns whose presence in the game made about as much sense as someone bringing a tennis racket to play street basketball.
Then the game dragged on as you were forced to play as his loser son who then went on some extremely cliched storyline to get revenge on the FBI punkass who killed his father, and that's how the game ended.
To say I was disappointed would be a gross understatement. The final act of the game pissed me off so much that to this day, I just can't play it anymore. Real shame for something that I couldn't turn off back in May.
FOUR
WARNING: The following rants will CONTAIN SPOILERS. Read at your own RISK
FIVE
RED DEAD REDEMPTION
-I love westerns. Clint Eastwood and John Wayne are two of my all-time favorite actors. The Dollars Trilogy, True Grit, Magnificent Seven, you name it. Those movies are just the epitome of "American badassery"
One day around February of last year, on my way from lunch at Antonio's, one of the best pizza places in Champaign, I saw a poster for Red Dead Redemption, a new Rockstar video game taking place in the Wild West. I preordered the game and it arrived three months later, just a few days shy of my 22nd birthday.
I PLAYED THE GAME NON-STOP.
Red Dead Redemption was a beautiful production. The scenery was outstanding especially if played on a widescreen HD tv. It felt like you were riding your own mustang in the deserts of Texas, Mexico etc. The voice acting was superb, as of course were the characters, none of whom were particularly tacky or cliched. The name John Marston soon became synonymous with "badass motherf**ker" in my mind.
The plot of the game was perfect in the beginning. They did a great job mixing elements of all kinds of westerns, ranging from your classic John Wayne epics to the ultra violent and raw "spaghetti westerns." The interactions Marston had with memorable men like snake oil salesman Nigel West Dickens, hypocritical Mexican rebel Reyes, and the drunkard known only as Irish made for awesome dialog.
The most memorable scene in the game by far was the poker game involving a pretty quick tempered German. WARNING lots of profanity and some anti-German stereotypes lol
Where the game came apart was at the end. Suddenly when the freaking FBI and this other bull***t got involved, everything went from "Epic" to "WTF is this?" Perhaps the greatest kick in the nuts was the fact that *SPOILER* John Marston, a character you had grown to love for his bravery, sharp tongue, and hard-boiled personality, was gunned down like a total jabroni by the FBI assclowns whose presence in the game made about as much sense as someone bringing a tennis racket to play street basketball.
Then the game dragged on as you were forced to play as his loser son who then went on some extremely cliched storyline to get revenge on the FBI punkass who killed his father, and that's how the game ended.
To say I was disappointed would be a gross understatement. The final act of the game pissed me off so much that to this day, I just can't play it anymore. Real shame for something that I couldn't turn off back in May.
FOUR
BLEACH
-When it comes to anime, I avoid it like it's the plague. In fact, I would rather get the plague than watch ten seconds of Gundam Wing.
Gundam Wing = Brain cells being blown out of your skull
I am not afraid to admit though that there are two animes in my mind that were actually quite decent. One was Cowboy Bebop and the other was Bleach. Now I was a little skeptical about Bleach at first, but since my roommate in college was VERY INSISTENT that I watch it, I decided to just give it a try. I got hooked. I fell in love with the crazy personalities of all the characters, especially the hotblooded but honorable Ichigo, the tortured soul of Rukia, the taciturn giant Chad (or Chado, since the Japanese can't really say Chad), and of course the delightfully perverted lion toy Kon.
The apogee of this show came during the "Save Rukia" arc, when the main characters fearlessly banded together to save their friend, the guilt-ridden Rukia from execution. Other cool characters like the goofy ingenuous Hanatarou and the loyal Ganju just added more awesomeness to this show. The plot arc was intense. I remember watching close to 12 episodes a day because I could not wait for the resolution. In the end, the arc's conclusion left me hungry for more. *SPOILER* Aizen's betrayal of the Soul Society left me speechless.
Then, the show just became DUMB AS F**K. The Bount arc was just stupid and had no real purpose. Watching the Bount arc was about as fun as having a bunch of rats run a marathon all over your body. My friend urged me to continue and told me the next arc was better. Nope. The next arc was even worse. There was WAY too much attention placed on the MOST BORING BIMBO in the entire show, Orihime. In addition, I pretty much hate all the Soul Society freaks, with the exception of a few. So you can imagine how pissed off I was that they shifted all the attention away from the main folks to these stupid ass Soul Society cretins, all of whom had personalities of mannequins.
Now another friend of mine is urging me to watch Bleach again. Honestly though, it just doesn't appeal to me. It would be like eating delicious cole slaw... that was left out in the summer heat. The show was really action-packed, profound, and fascinating in the early going. Now it just seems like another stupid, cliche anime.
THREE
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
-There was once a time when vampires were actually kickass. They didn't do any of this "sparkle" crap that's for sure.
In the late 1990s, my sister got me hooked on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Though it was a show obviously geared more towards teenage girls, its rich plot, filled with all sorts of interesting elements from classic horror to film noir, really made this one of the most unique programs on TV.
Like Bleach, the characters on this show were all perfect. Everybody from the lovable, clumsy, but persistent Xander to the stoic sage Giles to the brooding anti-hero Angel and of course Buffy herself complemented each other so well. While there were moments of high anxiety and frightening scenes of dark disturbing content, there was this clever humor about the show that always made sure there was never a dull moment.
While Season 1 was more geared towards campy but entertaining parodies of high school life mixed with cheesy horror movies, the final few episodes really touched on dark themes such as death, fear, and the idea of fulfilling one's duty in the face of incredible danger. Season 2 really pushed the envelopes with tremendous writing and an emotionally gripping plot arc involving Buffy and Angel. In fact, Season 2 was so amazing in quality, that the show never reached those levels again.
During Season 4, I stopped watching the show altogether. The interesting and sympathetic Angel was moved off of the show to make room for Riley, a character who had some sort of a GI Joe complex. Senior citizens playing shuffleboard had more enthusiasm and passion than him. The premise of ADAM, the idiotic "Big Bad" of that atrocious season really killed it. I mean this thing was apparently part man, part demon, and part robot all rolled into one. Unfortunately, a bar of soap had more charisma and personality than this piece of monkey crap.
I don't know what else became of the show. Season 4 was just so bad I thought that my eyes would bleed out. After such a great start with Seasons 1 and 2, this was a show that just went nowhere. It's amazing how just two characters could wreck Buffy's momentum.
TWO
HEROES
-In the summer of 2007, right after my first year of college, there was a TV show that really caught my attention.
NBC's Heroes was one of the most intelligently written shows in the 2006-2007 TV year. The ensemble cast was outstanding and the various plots really grabbed my attention. The concept was fresh and the show really benefited from outstanding characters.
The way the show split up its arcs, first with the whole "Save the Cheerleader" bit, then moving on to the discovery of Mr. Bennett's hidden life, and then the final confrontation with Sylar was done excellently. Instead of rushing everything, Season 1 paced itself and by doing this, it allowed the show's audience to really delve deep into the psyche of each character and understand each person's motivation for using the powers that they had. While all this was done, the show remarkably rarely fell into melodrama or hokey sci-fi elements. This helped Heroes seem more plausible than it could possibly be. Probably the best thing about Heroes was that their superpowers came secondary. The main themes of the show dealt with very real concepts like love, family ties, jealousy, lust for power, fear, and finding the truth.
Then the show just spontaneously combusted into one of the worst clusterf**ks in American tv.
Season 3 was just a total and absolute disgrace. None of the episodes made any sense, the dialog read like it was written by a four year old. Every episode was such a chore to go through, it was like having your head stamped in by a rabid wildebeest. The plot was just ridiculous, something about two competing "superhuman" camps
By the fourth season, it seemed as though the writers all got creative lobotomies. The central focus of season 4 was that the US govt now got involved and that they were chasing after the heroes who were simply misunderstood and fighting for survival.
Gee, I wonder where I've heard that before?
ONE
REX GROSSMAN
-Feb 4th, 2007 was one of the darkest days in Chicago history. It was as bad as the fire, the flood, the 1995 heatwave, and the introduction of the White Sox.
It was supposed to be a happy day. It was supposed to be the moment when the Bears would finally win their first super bowl since 1985, exorcising all the demons since then and firmly entrenching the 2006 Chicago Bears as another mainstay topic of conversation amongst nostalgic Chicago sports fans in years to come.
Unfortunately, thanks to Rex Grossman's INABILITY TO HOLD ON TO THE GODDAMN BALL, it didn't work out that way and the Bears lost 29-17 to a freaking team from Indiana led by a guy whose forehead is so large, you could land a space shuttle on it.
Rex Grossman is by far one of the most hated men in the city of Chicago. He was a major contributor (perhaps the only contributor) to the dismal performance of the offense in that game and his key fumbles and interceptions always turned momentum for the Colts right when it seemed like the Bears were about to take control of the game.
However, a big reason why the Bears got into the Super Bowl in the first place was because in the first three or four games of the season, Grossman looked like MVP material. Of course it's hard to type that with a straight face. In that fateful 2006 season, Rex Grossman torched Green Bay 26-0 and then proceeded to beat the Bears' other divisional rivals: Detroit and Minnesota, with exceptional performances. His performances were shocking and impressive and it appeared that the Bears finally had that quarterback that eluded them for the past 100 years or so.
But it was all a chimera. Grossman continually got worse as the season went on. His performances, so dramatically horrendous, was epitomized by his dreadful passer rating of 0.0. Yeah that's right, his passer rating was 0.0 and ironically this was against the same Packer team that the Bears' beat 26-0 thanks to Grossman's arm.
And then in Super Bowl XLI, Rex Grossman proceeded to just hand the ball off to the Colts, killing any chance the Bears had of winning that game. 2007 was probably even worse for Grossman and withing a year or two, the beleaguered qb finally left the team.
Cheers,
DC
