Monday, March 31, 2008
Thursday, March 27, 2008
keeps coming from the inside
Start clearing out your calendars folks, because the first batch of dates for the Nine Inch Nails 2008 tour have been announced! There are only two so far that are anywhere close to the tristate area:
August 22 Cleveland OH Quicken Loans Arena
August 31 Lexington KY Rupp Arena
Let me know who wants to go, because I plan to be at both shows. No announcement on when tickets go on sale yet.
August 22 Cleveland OH Quicken Loans Arena
August 31 Lexington KY Rupp Arena
Let me know who wants to go, because I plan to be at both shows. No announcement on when tickets go on sale yet.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
just a victim of your fear
"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." - Thomas Jefferson
I finally saw the first couple episodes of HBO's John Adams miniseries. It's pretty great so far; this may be Paul Giamatti's finest role yet. The supporting cast is fantastic as well, especially Laura Linney as Abigail Adams, David Morse as George Washington, and Tom Wilkinson as Benjamin Franklin. The show is a good reminder that our founding fathers did not start out seeking a war for independence, but to legally and peacefully secure their rights. Only when all avenues for a peaceful revolution were closed did they resort to violent insurrection. It is also a great reminder than American success was not a foregone conclusion; in fact the odds were strongly against it. I haven't read historian David McCullough's biography on John Adams that the miniseries is based on, but his book 1776 is a great study on the first year of the war.
While watching this show, I cannot help but wonder what our founding fathers would think of our country now. Unlike modern day leaders, these men were truly risking their lives by going to war; failure would have meant certain death for treason. It was a risk they were willing to take for the sake of liberty. The possibility of losing their property, their families, and their lives was less important to them than living without their naturally, unalienable rights. Meanwhile, today we are content to sit idly by as our government gradually strips away our rights and civil liberties under the guise of protecting us from terrorism. I cannot help but believe that the men who founding our nation are rolling in their graves as the government they created passes legislation that allows it to spy on its own innocent citizens. What is worse is that we are so seized by fear that we have decided that safety is more important to us than freedom. It's sad that we have strayed so far from the beliefs of our forefathers.
(Justin Hall had a good post about his thoughts on John Adams which you can read here)
I finally saw the first couple episodes of HBO's John Adams miniseries. It's pretty great so far; this may be Paul Giamatti's finest role yet. The supporting cast is fantastic as well, especially Laura Linney as Abigail Adams, David Morse as George Washington, and Tom Wilkinson as Benjamin Franklin. The show is a good reminder that our founding fathers did not start out seeking a war for independence, but to legally and peacefully secure their rights. Only when all avenues for a peaceful revolution were closed did they resort to violent insurrection. It is also a great reminder than American success was not a foregone conclusion; in fact the odds were strongly against it. I haven't read historian David McCullough's biography on John Adams that the miniseries is based on, but his book 1776 is a great study on the first year of the war.
While watching this show, I cannot help but wonder what our founding fathers would think of our country now. Unlike modern day leaders, these men were truly risking their lives by going to war; failure would have meant certain death for treason. It was a risk they were willing to take for the sake of liberty. The possibility of losing their property, their families, and their lives was less important to them than living without their naturally, unalienable rights. Meanwhile, today we are content to sit idly by as our government gradually strips away our rights and civil liberties under the guise of protecting us from terrorism. I cannot help but believe that the men who founding our nation are rolling in their graves as the government they created passes legislation that allows it to spy on its own innocent citizens. What is worse is that we are so seized by fear that we have decided that safety is more important to us than freedom. It's sad that we have strayed so far from the beliefs of our forefathers.
(Justin Hall had a good post about his thoughts on John Adams which you can read here)
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
blind with my eyes wide open
I've been long overdue for an update, but things have been busy lately. I've been working a decent amount have been trying to get something worthwhile accomplished on my days off. The birthday went well, but I'm currently fighting off my second cold in the past two weeks.
Doug and I saw The Gutter Twins at the Southgate House in Newport last week. Great show. I finally got to see Mark Lanegan perform live, and the man did not disappoint. His vocals have always had an intimidating feel to them, an image that carries over to his live performances, as he stood on stage brooding all night with a death grip on the microphone stage. The man only said two sentences in between songs all night; one to introduce his counterpart Greg Dulli, and the other a threatening response to a heckler in the audience. Dulli, on the other hand, was the outgoing one of the pair. It was a hometown reunion for him--he is originally from Hamilton--and he seemed to enjoy being back in the tri-state. Dulli was hamming it up with the audience all night and continually talking to his mother and sister in the audience. The band played most of their debut album Saturnalia, along with some of Lanegan's solo tracks and a few from Dulli's Twilight Singers band. I thought they put on a great show, and this was hopefully the first of many good 2008 concerts (still hoping for more from Radiohead, NIN, and Tom Waits).
I'll leave you with a shot from the other day:
Doug and I saw The Gutter Twins at the Southgate House in Newport last week. Great show. I finally got to see Mark Lanegan perform live, and the man did not disappoint. His vocals have always had an intimidating feel to them, an image that carries over to his live performances, as he stood on stage brooding all night with a death grip on the microphone stage. The man only said two sentences in between songs all night; one to introduce his counterpart Greg Dulli, and the other a threatening response to a heckler in the audience. Dulli, on the other hand, was the outgoing one of the pair. It was a hometown reunion for him--he is originally from Hamilton--and he seemed to enjoy being back in the tri-state. Dulli was hamming it up with the audience all night and continually talking to his mother and sister in the audience. The band played most of their debut album Saturnalia, along with some of Lanegan's solo tracks and a few from Dulli's Twilight Singers band. I thought they put on a great show, and this was hopefully the first of many good 2008 concerts (still hoping for more from Radiohead, NIN, and Tom Waits).
I'll leave you with a shot from the other day:
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
come on up to the house
A Tom Waits tour in 2008? Count me in. Tom Waits is probably in my top three bands/performers that I'd like to see live, and the fact that he rarely tours makes me even more determined to see him on this summer's tour. No dates have been announced yet, but I'd like to see him to badly that I will seriously pay for someone else's ticket in order to have company to a Tom Waits show. No dates have been announced yet; you can bet I'll be bringing this up again when they are.
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Here's another edited photo from the ones I took yesterday:
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Here's another edited photo from the ones I took yesterday:
Monday, March 03, 2008
just a shout away
Since Rob enjoyed my other self-portrait shots so much, I decided to post some I took at the park today.
ghosts
After a couple weeks of cryptic messages via the Nine Inch Nails website, the announcement was made last night that the newest NIN record--a thirty-six track instrumental double album entitled Ghosts I-IV--was available now online, by way of a high-quality digital download, along with a number of different purchasing options for a physical product (ranging from $5 to $300). The music is copyrighted under a non-commercial Creative Commons license, meaning individuals are free to use the music for anything they want as long as there is no profit involved. So far the record sounds amazing; a combination of previous NIN efforts like The Fragile, Still, and Year Zero. Yet again Trent Reznor has proven himself to be the most innovative figure in the music industry.
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I've been trying to keep my expectations low for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, but the new trailer actually looks promising. Normally that would be good news, but it's probably just getting my hopes up so they can be let down when Shia LaBeouf ruins the movie. Either way, I know The Dark Knight and WALL-E will make up for it.
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I've been trying to keep my expectations low for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, but the new trailer actually looks promising. Normally that would be good news, but it's probably just getting my hopes up so they can be let down when Shia LaBeouf ruins the movie. Either way, I know The Dark Knight and WALL-E will make up for it.
Saturday, March 01, 2008
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Friday, February 22, 2008
got me reaching for the moon
I've never been one for New Year's resolutions, but I decided this year that I needed to do more reading. The stacks of books I own and haven't gotten around to reading have continued to grow steadily, and I keep adding more books I don't own to my reading list. I also have made a habit out of reading as many as five or six different books at a time without finishing all of them. So I set the goal for myself this year that I would read thirty books in 2008. Now is the ideal time for me to catch up on my reading since I'm working part time and not doing a heck of a lot else.
So far I've been very impressed with my progress; I've read six books in under two months. Those books include Catcher in the Rye, Timeline, Choke, The Cardinal of the Kremlin, The Alchemist and Touching From a Distance. The next one to be finished will be Brennan Manning's Ragamuffin Gospel. Having read nearly seven books in the first two months, I've considered upping my goal to forty-five books rather than the original thirty. My only complaint is that I seem to oscillate between voraciously reading an entire book within a few days time and then not reading anything for nearly a week. I'd like to see myself getting more into a habit of reading a couple chapters of one or two books every single day.
So far I've been very impressed with my progress; I've read six books in under two months. Those books include Catcher in the Rye, Timeline, Choke, The Cardinal of the Kremlin, The Alchemist and Touching From a Distance. The next one to be finished will be Brennan Manning's Ragamuffin Gospel. Having read nearly seven books in the first two months, I've considered upping my goal to forty-five books rather than the original thirty. My only complaint is that I seem to oscillate between voraciously reading an entire book within a few days time and then not reading anything for nearly a week. I'd like to see myself getting more into a habit of reading a couple chapters of one or two books every single day.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Monday, February 11, 2008
the song in your ear or the book in your hand
I'm much more comfortable with Barack Obama's take on the relationship between religion and politics than I am with someone like Mike Huckabee's. It's refreshing to see someone who professes to be a Christian focusing on social justice issues, rather than just beating on issues like gay marriage and intelligent design in schools over and over and over. I am disappointed by his pro-choice views, but when was the last time a pro-life candidate really made a strong effort to do something about abortion anyway?
I really don't understand how the Democrats are so stupid that they'd even consider nominating Hillary Clinton over Obama. I've always been honest about Ron Paul's incredibly slim chance of getting elected (despite his enormous popularity on the internet), and there is no way I could vote for someone like John McCain--who openly supports continuing the war in Iraq for another one hundred years--so I can only hope that the Democrats realize what a horrible idea it would be to nominate Clinton. After Ron Paul, in my mind Barack Obama seems to be the only other electable candidate.
(For some reason the video seems to overlap the sidebar when I view the page in Firefox, but it is normal size in Internet Explorer)
Saturday, February 02, 2008
just one more mile
Blickensderfer selected Conneaut’s top citizen"CONNEAUT — Robert Blickensderfer — World War II pilot, local historian and award-winning photographer — has been selected Conneaut’s 2007 Citizen of the Year.
Blickensderfer, “Blick” to his many friends, was one of five nominees for the annual award, said Julie Germovsek, the chamber’s executive director. Nominees submitted by residents are voted upon by past award recipients and former chamber presidents.
Blickensderfer, a resident at the Villa at the Lake in Conneaut, has accumulated decades of public service, according to his nomination. A member of the Conneaut High School Class of 1939, he served with the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II, piloting troop transport planes that participated in the Normandy invasion. He also flew planes during assaults of Sicily, Italy, Holland and the final paratrooper drop across the Rhine River.
He continued to serve as a U.S. Air Force reservist and, in 1967, was appointed liaison officer for the Air Force Academy, helping local students apply to the prestigious military academy.
Blickensderfer studied at the Ray School of Photography in Chicago and spent two years in photo work in Erie. In 1949, Blickensderfer took over the Howard Webb photo/ camera shop on downtown Main Street, a business he would operate for 30 years.
He was active with the First United Methodist Church for nearly 50 years, and also helped create the Conneaut Area Historical Society in 1996.
Blickensderfer’s extensive background in Conneaut history was invaluable, Edwin Wharton, society president, said Wednesday.
“He was very helpful with his knowledge of the area,” Wharton said. “He was our treasurer for many years. He was very well-known and an asset to the organization.”
Blickensderfer specialized in Native American artifacts and participated in local archaeological digs, Wharton said."
Hopefully the Ashtabula Star Beacon won't sue me for reprinting part of their article on Grandpa.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
the universe is shaped exactly like the earth
Ron Paul responds nicely to this horribly biased question from a "fair and balanced" Fox News debate. Since Paul just took second place in Nevada, I'm not sure how you can consider him "unelectable" already, and the real outrage is that the media has no business whatsoever trying to tell viewers who is electable and who is not. I'm fairly certain a network that is truly "fair and balanced" would simply report and let viewers make up their own minds. Apparently Fox ended up cutting this clip from their replay of the debate. I'm not sure if that's because they realized how awful their question was, or (more likely) because they didn't like the way Paul turned it around nicely. Meanwhile, a local Fox affiliate actually conducts a great interview with Paul:
Thursday, January 17, 2008
The 2007 Davie Awards
This marks the fourth year of the Davie Awards, the annual post where I subject you all to shameless plugs of the things I liked the most from the past year. Every year it's the same story: when it finally gets around to December, I hurry to watch all the movies, play all the games, and listen to all the music that looked good but I hadn't had a chance to sample all year. Then I procrastinate compiling the lists, and worst of all, providing some sort of commentary about my choices. That's why this year, most of the commentary devolved into an almost stream-of-consciousness series of blurbs, without any good, thorough explanation. Oh well. For better or worse, the point is that I've now officially wrapped up another year. Hope you enjoy it.
Music:
Movie:
The Cohen Brothers did a fantastic job with No Country For Old Men, which was easily my favorite movie all year... Hot Fuzz was another hilarious hit from the people behind Shaun of the Dead...being a Joy Division fan, I loved Control, a biopic about frontman Ian Curtis...Gone Baby Gone would have been the best crime drama all year if not for No Country...The Simpsons Movie could have been better, but I was still very entertained...The Host is probably the most unknown movie on the list, but it was a great comedy/horror movie out of South Korea.
Games:
I think we all knew that The Orange Box would be the Game of the Year winner hands down, and since The Orange Box actually includes three awesome new games, I decided to make it easy on myself by just picking the entire collection...Episode 2 was a fantastic new addition to the Half-Life 2 story, Team Fortress 2 is the funniest and best multiplayer game to come out in a long time, but the puzzle-based Portal probably takes the cake (corny pun intended for those who get the joke [Justin-and probably no one else])...the only game that I came close to liking as much as The Orange Box games would be Peggle, an addicting arcade game from Pop Cap Games that is definitely worth checking out.
TV:
Music:
Album of the Year: Year Zero by Nine Inch Nails
Runners-Up: In Rainbows by Radiohead; Era Vulgaris by Queens of the Stone Age; Alive 2007 by Daft Punk; Neon Bible by Arcade Fire
Runners-Up: In Rainbows by Radiohead; Era Vulgaris by Queens of the Stone Age; Alive 2007 by Daft Punk; Neon Bible by Arcade Fire
Top Ten Albums
- Year Zero - Nine Inch Nails
- In Rainbows - Radiohead
- Era Vulgaris - Queens of the Stone Age
- Alive 2007 - Daft Punk
- Neon Bible - Arcade Fire
- The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust - Saul Williams
- Its Not How Far You Fall, Its the Way You Land - Soulsavers
- Zeitgeist - The Smashing Pumpkins
- War Stories - Unkle
- Icky Thump - The White Stripes
Music DVD of the Year: (tie) Beside You In Time by Nine Inch Nails;
Unplugged in New York by Nirvana
Unplugged in New York by Nirvana
Best Concert: The Smashing Pumpkins - Asheville, NC
Runners-Up: Queens of the Stone Age - Columbus, OH; Chris Cornell - Cincinnati, OH
Runners-Up: Queens of the Stone Age - Columbus, OH; Chris Cornell - Cincinnati, OH
Year Zero was the clear winner halfway through the year, but I was happy with the number of quality albums put out in 2007...whether or not their "pay what you want" approach to selling their new album online was really a cheap marketing gimmick, Radiohead's In Rainbows was solid...considering that the 2007 Daft Punk tour was being lauded for its incredible visuals, the fact that they only decided to release a CD of the tour shows how strongly the music stands on its own, and has convinced me that the French duo is one of the best live acts around right now...this year was full of surprises from artists I'd never really listened to before, including Arcade Fire, Unkle, LCD Soundsystem, and the White Stripes...the new Saul Williams album (a collaboration between Williams and Trent Reznor) had a superior online release strategy than Radiohead's, but with the album wasn't quite as good...Mark Lanegan is one of my favorite singers, and his partnership with the Soulsavers on their album was fantastic...Zeitgeist isn't even close to the best album put out by the Smashing Pumpkins but I was still happily surprised...Beside You In Time is one of the best concert DVDs I've seen, and the added bonus of the unedited release of Nirvana's Unplugged in New York made it a great year for concert DVDs...the massive three-hour Smashing Pumpkins concert in Asheville was easily my favorite show of the year, although all three concerts I went to were a blast.
Movie:
Movie of the Year: No Country For Old Men
Runners-Up: Hot Fuzz; Control; Gone Baby Gone; The Bourne Ultimatum
Runners-Up: Hot Fuzz; Control; Gone Baby Gone; The Bourne Ultimatum
The Cohen Brothers did a fantastic job with No Country For Old Men, which was easily my favorite movie all year... Hot Fuzz was another hilarious hit from the people behind Shaun of the Dead...being a Joy Division fan, I loved Control, a biopic about frontman Ian Curtis...Gone Baby Gone would have been the best crime drama all year if not for No Country...The Simpsons Movie could have been better, but I was still very entertained...The Host is probably the most unknown movie on the list, but it was a great comedy/horror movie out of South Korea.
Games:
Game of the Year: The Orange Box: Half Life 2 Episode 2, Team Fortress 2, and Portal
Runners-up: Peggle; S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl; Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword
Runners-up: Peggle; S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl; Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword
I think we all knew that The Orange Box would be the Game of the Year winner hands down, and since The Orange Box actually includes three awesome new games, I decided to make it easy on myself by just picking the entire collection...Episode 2 was a fantastic new addition to the Half-Life 2 story, Team Fortress 2 is the funniest and best multiplayer game to come out in a long time, but the puzzle-based Portal probably takes the cake (corny pun intended for those who get the joke [Justin-and probably no one else])...the only game that I came close to liking as much as The Orange Box games would be Peggle, an addicting arcade game from Pop Cap Games that is definitely worth checking out.
TV:
Best TV Show: Top Gear
Runners-up: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia; Flight of the Conchords; The Office; Family Guy
Runners-up: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia; Flight of the Conchords; The Office; Family Guy
Honorable Mention: The Robot Chicken Star Wars episode.
Best TV Special/Mini-Series: (tie) Ken Burns Presents The War;
the BBC's Planet Earth
Top Gear is a hilarious British car show, which is immensely entertaining, even to someone like me who really doesn't care too much about cars...the very politically incorrect It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia and the awkward Flight of the Conchords were the two best comedies of the year...I don't really like Robot Chicken, but the Star Wars episode was classic...both Ken Burns' The War and the BBC's Planet Earth were fantastic documentaries...I'd recommend both to everyone.
the BBC's Planet Earth
Top Gear is a hilarious British car show, which is immensely entertaining, even to someone like me who really doesn't care too much about cars...the very politically incorrect It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia and the awkward Flight of the Conchords were the two best comedies of the year...I don't really like Robot Chicken, but the Star Wars episode was classic...both Ken Burns' The War and the BBC's Planet Earth were fantastic documentaries...I'd recommend both to everyone.
Sports:
Sports? 2007 was a terrible year for sports! The year started off on a horrible note with Ohio State being destroyed by Florida in the NCAA Football National Championship. The year continued down hill from there, with the disappointments including an awful year from the UC Bearcats basketball team, the Bengals' first losing season under Marvin Lewis, Rich Franklin failing in his bid to reclaim his middleweight title in the UFC, and the UC's basketball team getting off to another bad start for the 2007 season (although they have been surging in the first half of January). Then there were the other disappointments, such as the New England Patriots' undefeated run in the 2007 football season. I suppose if I stop being so melodramatic for a few seconds, I can admit that there were some bright spots in sports from 2007. I finally got to see a team I liked win the Super Bowl for the first time in years when the Colts beat the Bears. It was a fantastic year for UC football, with the Bearcats putting together an impressive season. Ohio State football put together a pretty good year too on their way to another appearance in the national championship (my disappointment over them losing again in the championship game will have to wait till next year).
Person of the Year:
Sports? 2007 was a terrible year for sports! The year started off on a horrible note with Ohio State being destroyed by Florida in the NCAA Football National Championship. The year continued down hill from there, with the disappointments including an awful year from the UC Bearcats basketball team, the Bengals' first losing season under Marvin Lewis, Rich Franklin failing in his bid to reclaim his middleweight title in the UFC, and the UC's basketball team getting off to another bad start for the 2007 season (although they have been surging in the first half of January). Then there were the other disappointments, such as the New England Patriots' undefeated run in the 2007 football season. I suppose if I stop being so melodramatic for a few seconds, I can admit that there were some bright spots in sports from 2007. I finally got to see a team I liked win the Super Bowl for the first time in years when the Colts beat the Bears. It was a fantastic year for UC football, with the Bearcats putting together an impressive season. Ohio State football put together a pretty good year too on their way to another appearance in the national championship (my disappointment over them losing again in the championship game will have to wait till next year).Person of the Year:
I thought about including a Person of the Year category, but when I realized the only two people I'd consider giving it to would be Ron Paul or Trent Reznor, I decided that maybe it wasn't such a good idea. My support for Ron Paul is no secret and I'm sure most of you have heard me ramble more than you'd like to over how he's one of the few politicians who is trying to defend our civil rights, protect the Constitution, and limit the power of the federal government. Then there's Trent Reznor, who has to be the most exciting person in music right now. He has been an outspoken critic of the record industry (dropping his Interscope label this year after fulfilling his contractual obligations to them), orchestrated most the writing, production, and online release of the new Saul Williams album, and as if that wasn't enough, released a fantastic new Nine Inch Nails record, a remix album for that record, and a great live DVD. Always looking out for his fans, Reznor released the mixing tracks for every song on Year Zero (allowing fans to create their own remixes), launched a remix website for fans to post their remixes, and openly encouraging fans to "steal" his music rather than pay the ridiculous prices set by the record labels. These two men are the best people out there right now in their respective fields, but since everyone is probably sick of hearing about them from me, I decided not to say anything about them.
Well that's it for this year. Tune in around this time next year for the same old story.
Well that's it for this year. Tune in around this time next year for the same old story.
an occupation to stand alone
Mark Lanegan--the grunge legend of The Screaming Trees and his own solo career--is commencing a tour in support of his newest act, the Gutter Twins in March. Lanegan is probably one of my all time favorite singers (we'll call him a poor man's Tom Waits, but that doesn't quite do him justice), and it was just announced that the closest he'll be to Cincinnati is in Chicago on March 7th and Cleveland on the 12th. Who wants to go to one of those shows with me? I'd really love to see Mark in concert at some point. We'll call it a birthday present to me if you come along with me (and no, I'm not asking anyone to pay for me and I'll drive). Considering the obscurity of the band, I'm not expecting tickets to cost too much.
**Never mind, if I could read I'd see that the closest he'll be will be the Southgate House in Newport on March 11th. I'm totally going, even if it is by myself. Now you don't even have to commit to a road trip to go along with me.
***Yep, tickets are $15. I'm there.
**Never mind, if I could read I'd see that the closest he'll be will be the Southgate House in Newport on March 11th. I'm totally going, even if it is by myself. Now you don't even have to commit to a road trip to go along with me.
***Yep, tickets are $15. I'm there.
Monday, January 07, 2008
black mirror knows no reflection
Jess and I went skiing at Perfect North last Friday, making it the first time in at least six years that I've skied. I got the hang of everything just fine. It was only Jess' second time skiing, and I thought she caught on really well by the end of the day. We picked the perfect day to go, too; we'd thought about going that Wednesday but the temperature was in single digits all day which would have been horrible, and clearly this sixty-degree weather we have now wouldn't have been good. Hopefully I won't wait another six years before I go again.
Thursday, January 03, 2008
Monday, December 31, 2007
it's good for you
Marvin Lewis has been talking about "blowing things up" this offseason in regards to the Bengals' personnel, so it sounds like the players had better get ready for a shakedown before next season. I think there will be a handful of defensive free agents--guys like Justin Smith, who recorded a measly two sacks this season, as well as Landon Johnson, Dexter Jackson, and Bryan Robinson--who won't be returning. I wouldn't be shocked to see Madieu Williams leave as well; another decent-but-not-outstanding season was hampered by injuries and rookie safety Chinedum Ndukwe has been outstanding as his replacement. They might not all be gone, but i don't see most of them coming back. Hopefully they will resign some of the free agents who had a big impact this year, like linebacker Dhani Jones. From the sound of it, Lewis is even going to look into revamping the playbook and evaluating the entire staff, although I don't think we'll see any major changes in the coaching positions.
Both Lewis and Carson Palmer have made comments that they think the team needs an attitude change, which leads to wonder what will happen to some players who are not free agents. Will Henry be cut loose if they decide that keeping him isn't worth the risk after he never got completely up to speed in 2007 after being suspended the first half of the season?
What about Chad Johnson? I don't think Marvin Lewis likes having him around with his occasional emotional baggage, and I think Chad is more disgruntled with Cincinnati after being burned by the media this year. I think if it was left up to Lewis, he'd look to trade Chad, but since Mike Brown has said that Chad won't be leaving then nothing will happen unless Brown changes his mind. I think getting rid of Chad would be a mistake; as good as T.J. Houshmanzadeh has been, I still don't think he could be as effective as a first wide receiver.
There could be some changes on the offensive line, although considering how long it took the line to get a rhythm going this year after some injuries and losing Eric Steinbach to free agency, they might not want to tamper to with it. If they do, I think Levi Jones might be one to go. He had his own attitude problems early in the season and I wouldn't be surprised if that, along with his injury problems and expensive contract, led him to being dismissed. It's not likely, but it could happen depending on how much Marvin wants to clean house. Willie Anderson also may not be back after being injured much of this past year, although if he leaves it will be on his own terms through retirement.
Then comes the problem with the running backs. There are five potential running backs--Rudi Johnson, Kenny Watson, DeDe Dorsey, Kenny Irons, and Chris Perry--and it is likely the Bengals will only keep three (I'm not counting fullback Jeremi Johnson). Rudi Johnson was hampered by injuries for most of 2007 and played poorly most of the time. Do you dump him after one bad year and hope that Kenny Watson handle being the lead back all season? If both Chris Perry and Kenny Irons are healthy, I would think they'd have to go with Irons over Perry. You'd have to hope that Irons' injury was simply a fluke, so you have to keep him over the injury-prone bust that Perry has become. DeDe Dorsey showed too much potential to simply cut him, but it's doubtful you could get anything in a trade for him. The only back that has any trade value would be Rudi, but even that might be hindered by his injuries this year. It will be interesting to see what they do.
Looking ahead to the 2008 season, the good news is that the Bengals have the ninth pick overall in the draft, so they should be set to get a good defensive lineman or linebacker. The bad news is that the Bengals likely face a tougher schedule than they did in 2007. They play eight games against playoff teams (counting Pittsburgh twice) and the two toughest divisions in football: the AFC South, where the worst team (Houston) was 8-8 and three teams made the playoffs, and the NFC East, where once again no team had a losing record and three teams made the playoffs (Philadelphia came in last with an 8-8 record). The Bengals only play three teams with losing records in 2007, including the 5-11 Baltimore Ravens twice, as well as the New York Jets and the Kansas City Chiefs, both of whom went 4-12 in 2007. The combined record from 2007 for the Bengals 2008 opponents is 115-93.
Unfortunately, next season could be another long one. If Marvin Lewis and Mike Brown decide to really shake things up, next year could be more of a rebuilding year than a competitive one, especially with such a daunting schedule.
Both Lewis and Carson Palmer have made comments that they think the team needs an attitude change, which leads to wonder what will happen to some players who are not free agents. Will Henry be cut loose if they decide that keeping him isn't worth the risk after he never got completely up to speed in 2007 after being suspended the first half of the season?
What about Chad Johnson? I don't think Marvin Lewis likes having him around with his occasional emotional baggage, and I think Chad is more disgruntled with Cincinnati after being burned by the media this year. I think if it was left up to Lewis, he'd look to trade Chad, but since Mike Brown has said that Chad won't be leaving then nothing will happen unless Brown changes his mind. I think getting rid of Chad would be a mistake; as good as T.J. Houshmanzadeh has been, I still don't think he could be as effective as a first wide receiver.
There could be some changes on the offensive line, although considering how long it took the line to get a rhythm going this year after some injuries and losing Eric Steinbach to free agency, they might not want to tamper to with it. If they do, I think Levi Jones might be one to go. He had his own attitude problems early in the season and I wouldn't be surprised if that, along with his injury problems and expensive contract, led him to being dismissed. It's not likely, but it could happen depending on how much Marvin wants to clean house. Willie Anderson also may not be back after being injured much of this past year, although if he leaves it will be on his own terms through retirement.
Then comes the problem with the running backs. There are five potential running backs--Rudi Johnson, Kenny Watson, DeDe Dorsey, Kenny Irons, and Chris Perry--and it is likely the Bengals will only keep three (I'm not counting fullback Jeremi Johnson). Rudi Johnson was hampered by injuries for most of 2007 and played poorly most of the time. Do you dump him after one bad year and hope that Kenny Watson handle being the lead back all season? If both Chris Perry and Kenny Irons are healthy, I would think they'd have to go with Irons over Perry. You'd have to hope that Irons' injury was simply a fluke, so you have to keep him over the injury-prone bust that Perry has become. DeDe Dorsey showed too much potential to simply cut him, but it's doubtful you could get anything in a trade for him. The only back that has any trade value would be Rudi, but even that might be hindered by his injuries this year. It will be interesting to see what they do.
Looking ahead to the 2008 season, the good news is that the Bengals have the ninth pick overall in the draft, so they should be set to get a good defensive lineman or linebacker. The bad news is that the Bengals likely face a tougher schedule than they did in 2007. They play eight games against playoff teams (counting Pittsburgh twice) and the two toughest divisions in football: the AFC South, where the worst team (Houston) was 8-8 and three teams made the playoffs, and the NFC East, where once again no team had a losing record and three teams made the playoffs (Philadelphia came in last with an 8-8 record). The Bengals only play three teams with losing records in 2007, including the 5-11 Baltimore Ravens twice, as well as the New York Jets and the Kansas City Chiefs, both of whom went 4-12 in 2007. The combined record from 2007 for the Bengals 2008 opponents is 115-93.
Unfortunately, next season could be another long one. If Marvin Lewis and Mike Brown decide to really shake things up, next year could be more of a rebuilding year than a competitive one, especially with such a daunting schedule.
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