The Top Sports Month Of The Year

As grey clouds pass outside my window it's kind of hard to envision April being the most exciting sports month of the year, but when you think about it, no other month brings more key sports events to the table than April.  Not only do we have the Final Four and National Championship games in College Basketball, there's also baseball Opening Day, NBA Playoffs and The Masters to come in the next few weeks.  Other months do offer some marquee events but it's hard to put any of them on top of April.  If I had to rank the others (and I do love me some ranking) I would put them in the following order from best to worst:

• October - Baseball Playoffs, World Series, NBA/NCAA Hoops seasons start
• September - NFL Season Starts, Baseball Playoff races
• June - Baseball, NBA Finals, US Open (golf)
• March - NCAA Basketball tourney, NBA, Spring Training
• February - Super Bowl, Daytona 500, NBA

Without a doubt, July and August are the weakest sports months.  Sure you do have the British Open and PGA Championship but only baseball is left to fill the void.  And if you're a Nats fan like myself, your team is probably out of contention at this point.  Monday may actually be the single biggest sports day of the year with two major events occurring simultaneously (NCAA Hoops Championship and MLB Opening Day).

Jim Gaffigan, Squeez Bacon

Continuing my trend of bacon-related posts, I ran across a new product that once again would be right up Jim Gaffigan's alley. (By the way, if you haven't seen King Baby on Comedy Central, you're really missing out.  SEE BELOW) I present to you Squeeze Bacon, a bacon product that oozes out of a handy squeezable bottle. This is the brain child of Sweedish entrepreneur Vilhelm Lillefläsk.

According to Lillefläsk, Squeez Bacon is

fully cooked 100% bacon. Due to the patented electro-mechanical process by which Squeez Bacon® is rendered, it requires no preservatives or other additives. Each serving is as healthy as real bacon, and equivalent to 4 premium slices of bacon! You can put it on sandwiches, pizza, pastas, bacon, soups, pies, eat it hot or cold (warm Squeez Bacon® on toasted rye is to die for), substitute it for bacon in your recipes, or even eat it right out of the tube like we do!

For some reason I don't really see how this could taste good either (same way I felt about Bacon Vodka). I imagine it may look/taste something like this:

I'm not saying I wouldn't try it (I'll try anything food related) but I just don't see too much of a need for spreadable bacon in my day-to-day culinary adventures.  Speaking of bacon, here are some outtakes from Gaffigan's stand-up on Comedy Central.  If you haven't seen this guy perform do yourself a favor and DVR the next showing of King Baby.  If you don't laugh hysterically I give you permission to punch me in the face next time you see me.

Jokes.com
Jim Gaffigan - Exclusive - Watching TV
comedycentral.com
Joke of the Day Stand-Up Comedy Free Online Games

PS:  Yesterday's post was indeed an April Fool's for those who didn't catch on.

J.J. Abrams Announces Plans For Lost Spinoff Series

I'm a huge fan of J.J. Abrams and really feel that he's been putting out hit after hit over the last few years.  In a move that is a little surprising though, Abrams and his production company Bad Robot have announced that casting and pre-production is under way for "Found", a follow-up series to Lost that will premier in the Fall of 2010 on ABC.  It's unclear whether any of the same cast members currently staring in Lost will be signed on to appear in the new show.   Abrams has stated that the events of Found will be tied in some way to the plot of the last few episodes of Lost which ends its run in May 2010.

Personally I think this may be a bad decision to try to milk the cult audience that is engrained in Lost and I'm not sure what other story arcs related to the Oceanic passengers could be explored in a new series.  ABC plans to air Found in the same familiar Wednesday night time-slot that Lost currently occupies.  I do trust J.J. though so I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt on this one.

Tonight's Applefied Idol

The rumor spreading around the interwebs is that the "secret" theme for tonight's Idol is iTunes top downloads.  Unfortunately, this theme is rather vague to predict who will excel and who will not in tonight's singing competition.  Therefore I will not give my usual predictions of the top 3 and bottom 3 and instead rank the remaining Top Nine in order of who I believe currently has the best chance to win this thing.

1.  Adam Lambert - This is now his competition to lose.  Last week's mellow rendition of Tracks of my Tears showed he can tone it down when he needs to.

2.  Matt Giraud - I really think Matt has jumped over a few former front runners.  The judges seem to think he gives off a Justin Timberlake vibe (I'm still so-so on his ability).  A far cry from when he went all faux Chris Martin on us.

3.  Danny Gokey - I think he needs to pull a ballad off tonight.  Too many high-energy numbers have pigeon-holed him into a certain type of song.

4.  Lil Rounds - Oh how the mighty have fallen.  My pick to win it all has struggled a bit in the last few weeks and needs to rebound tonight with a R&B jam.

5.  Anoop Desai - Noop Dogg is climbing the rankings week after week.  If Lil doesn't shape up, he could outlast her.  I predict Anoop will rock the house tonight with a current song that gets the crowd going.

6.  Kris Allen - He reminds me too much of Jason Castro, although he can sing better than Castro.  I don't see him cracking the top 5.

7.  Allison Iraheta - She is still the underdog that could shock the world and finish top-three but I have a feeling she struggles tonight for some reason.

8.  Megan Joy - She sucks at singing.  She sucks at dancing.  And really she ISN'T ALL THAT HOT Paula.  Her gross tattoo makes me vomit.  Please please send her home this week.

9.  Scott MacIntyre - OK, you're the best blind singer in Idol history, but you've worn out your welcome.  I may actually have to fast forward through his performance tonight if he brings out another plain vanilla piano song.

Next week we'll hopefully have a more tangent theme and I can predict who will sail and who will fail.  Rose out.

Bacon Flavored Vodka?!?

Yeah you heard right.  Apparently, Black Rock Spirits LLC believe there is a market for Vodka that tastes like bacon?  Now my taste for new products is about as wacky and "out-there" as anyone's but I don't see how Bakon Vodka could possibly taste good.  That being said, I think I need to try it.  So if anyone wants to buy a bottle, let me know and I'll come over for a shot.  If it's good, maybe I'll start drinking as a side with my eggs in the morning.

This will undoubtedly be Jim Gaffigan's go-to choice for alcoholic enjoyment.

Tiger Woods = Best. Athlete. Ever.

It seems that every year we are reminded once again why Eldrick Tiger Woods is the greatest athlete to ever set foot on the Earth.  Last year it was the incredible US Open victory at Torry Pines on a shredded knee.  And this year it's the fact that he roared back from being 5-down at the start of the final round of the Bay Hill Invitational to win on a typical Tiger-esque 18th hold birdie putt (shown above).  In only his third event since returning from major knee surgery, Tiger is officially back and I wouldn't bet against him at Augusta next week.

I know Tiger has his haters (my brother, Mersfelder and others), but I've been behind El Tigre since day one and enjoy being able to follow him in the prime of his career.  I vividly remember sitting in a Syracuse bar in '96 (I know Jeff remembers too) watching him push his way to the top of the leaderboard during his Friday round at the Masters.  Since he's only 7 months younger than I am, I'll probably be able to follow his entire career.  Josh and Alex won't be able to really appreciate him until they get a little older (although Josh HAS seen him in person a few years ago).  I'm definitely going to take Josh (and maybe Alex) to Tiger's DC tournament again this year.  Those of us who enjoy following greatness need to hope that his rebuilt knee holds up for the long run.