tonypierce.com busblog
So Tony Pierce is a Raider's fan, and like all the other Raiders fans, he wanted the Pats to lose on Sunday. And they did. I can't say I'm suprised, but I can say I wish it had turned out differently. The Pats played horribly for the first half, and then started to look a little better towards the end, bringing themselves within a touchdown. If there were only a few more minutes in that game.
I can make excuses all day: third road game, more injuries this year, putting the gloves on too late. The bottom line is we lost. Even lower than that bottom line, though, is that we won the Super Bowl last year. Pierce seems to think that the Patriots got to the Super Bowl but didn't deserve it. I think that's completely wrong. If the Raiders were so good last year, the snow bowl wouldn't have been close enough for a call (and I don't think a call made by using the rule book is bad) to change the game either way. I also think that the Patriots defeated the Steelers pretty solidly, and then the Rams pretty solidly. They may have got a break against the Raiders, but they beat the Steelers and the "greatest show on turf" solidly and fairly, just like the Raiders beat them on Sunday night.
In any case, even though I think Pierce is a little off on his opinion about the snow bowl last year (and as an obssesed fan, I can understand his devotion to his team and his belief that they were robbed, I mean why haven't the Sox won a World Series? Someone's been rigging our seasons...) I think he's got good taste in music. I too am enjoying Jay-Z's new CD's.
I picked them up last Wednesday, having to go to three stores before I found one that wasn't sold out. I brought it home and listened to a few of the tracks. Lots of different sounds, lots of things to explore. That's one of the things I love most about a new CD. You never know what that next track will sound like. Is the radio edit the same as the CD edit? Is that guest artist on track nine going to sound better than they do on their own shitty CD? You never know, and every new song is new territory for you to explore.
When I get a new CD, I usually listen to it once as background music, then again with headphones so I can actually listen to it. The more I've listened to these two discs, in my car, in my cube, on my stereo in my room, the more I've come to enjoy them. I'm not sure if this album is better than the Blueprint 1, or the unplugged CD (so far I like that one the best), but I recommend it if you're a Jay-z fan. It won't disappoint.