...who could/can win the NBA Finals...

First, I have to start by saying listening to Reggie Miller talk during broadcasts, and seeing his 30 For 30 on ESPN really leaves me absolutely no question as to why he didn't ever win a title. I don't care how hard he worked or how good he was at shooting - I understand all that it is a given. His sense of entitlement, his warped sense of right and wrong and what is fair and reasonable for an NBA player to expect, is so telling.

He just gave a mini-rant about how bad a call was on Carmelo Anthony - who has earned himself 7 offensive fouls in less than 4 full games. Anthony, on the previous possession grabbed the defensive rebound and threw an elbow he wasn't called for. As he comes down the court, he tries to grab a little extra space by throwing an elbow into the chest of a name/faceless Jazz player, which they basically all are.

Miller then goes on to say the call was unjustified - because of course Miller sympathizes with a "me-first" scoring machine who lives their life and runs their career as if they have the "what it takes" checklist in front of them, and are picking off only the low-hanging fruit. It takes a lot to win, it takes a team and chemistry, and I am realizing the list of teams that can win it this year is so small.

So I'm going to break down each team in the playoffs and judge them purely by if I think they can win it, and why or why not. At the end is my summary if you want to look at that. Essentially, these are my answers if someone from Portland, for example, came up to me and said, "Nick, do you think we can win it all?"

EAST:

Can Cleveland win it all? Nope, they cannot. I was, for 3 years, on the "Lebron is good enough to do it all by himself" bandwagon, but that bandwagon hit a stump, and the Donner party is eating itself here. Lebron is awesome, I can't say it any other way. But this team misses Free throws, they have a coach who simply is in way over his head, and most importantly, the guys around Lebron are not good enough.

You could argue (and I tried doing this the last few years) that Mo Williams would be a difference maker, and he can be, but only like 1 out of every 4 games. Jamison is good, but he is starting to find himself in the Jermaine O'Neal territory where everyone thinks he is good, but he has no resume to prove it. Cleveland can't win it for the same exact reason George Bailey couldn't save the whole town of Bedford Falls by himself - but there is no Kid Brother Harry to save him this time.

Can Orlando win it all? Yep, they can. Best Defensive player in the league, who drives Magic fans nuts with his fouls, but is still super-dominant. I happen to like Van Gundy, and I also really like Rashard Lewis. Jameer Nelson is playing like this is the Atlantic 10, and there is enough of a supporting cast around Dwight to make it happen.

Can Atlanta win it all? Not a chance. Maybe the only coach more inept than Mike Brown, the Hawks are a mini-Nuggets - their brains will prevent them from ever getting out of round 2 as this team is constituted presently.

Can Boston win it all? Yes. They did it before, same veteran leadership, same amazing Point Guard. The only caveat here is that Tony Allen can't be a major part of the rotation. Am I crazy, or did they not win games 2-3 without major Allen contribution? Big 3, stay out of foul trouble.

Can Miami win it all? No. If Wade is a 8.5 out of 10, nobody else on that team is a 5. That team is such a collection of misguided misfits, they really have no clue what matters. And if you feel up to it, check out everything I've ever said about Jermaine O'Neal and then agree with me that he was always the most overrated player in the league.

Can Milwaukee win it all? No. The Bogut injury was like adding a cinderblock to the Titanic - sure it'd help with the sinking but the difference is negligible. I'm interested to see this team age, and they need a Stackhouse replacement eventually, but it could all prove interesting.

Can Charlotte win it all? No, not even worth asking. But I do think Raymond Felton will get a ring someday. Maybe the only current Bobcat who I think that of.

Can Chicago win it all? No. They are almost in a rebuilding year and they are this good. Derick Rose and whoever they sign will be lethal.

WEST:
Can Los Angeles win it all? Yes, they can. You know why they can? Because they have not only Kobe, but they have Gasol (who, in my mind, is a borderline Hall of Famer). Odom and Fisher, at this point, are weighing them down. If Phil Jackson lives in the same neighborhood as Odom, I wouldn't be surprised if Odom has his mailbox knocked off the post by a baseball bat soon. He hates him.

Kobe is next-level dominant and Gasol is still getting better. I can tell you this, though, if the Point Guard Triples (Farmar, Brown, Fisher) are relied on, things will get ugly. Also, if Odom is more than 10% of the responsibility pie - the pie isn't going to go down so good. It'll be like the Pie in Stephen King's Thinner.

Can Dallas win it all? Tough/loaded question. I think they can. As a matter of fact, the 3-1 deficit doesn't change my mind that they can win it.

Carlisle has gone funky in his rotation, something has to give here, but the talent is there. They are very low on my possibility chart, but they have a chance.

Can Denver win it all? No. Not even close. I feel like on my list, even if they win tonight to make it 2-2, they are in the same group with Milwaukee, Chicago and Charlotte. This team is remarkably stupid. Their priorities are so out of whack. At times, Anthony makes me feel like Dumars is back wherever he is thinking, "Well, I shouldn't have taken Darko, but maybe Carmelo isn't my guy...

Also, I think that they were distracted by George Karl, who hopefully recovers famously, but did drag them down a bit by being an unwanted center of attention.

Can Phoenix win it all? Not really - they are the single biggest enigma in this whole tournament. Nash is capable, still, of being a Championship point guard. I Just don't like relying on Dudley and Channing Frye. They can't win it all, but they can be a major

Can Utah win it all? I think they may be able to. Logic says no chance at all - with Okur and Kirilenko being hurt, and they are facing the Nuggets in round 1. But, now it is 3-1, and they look better, and better, and better. Derron Williams is forcing Chauncey into a Time Machine, in both directions. He is making Chauncey look very old, and he is making Chauncey look back and say, "when did Derron steal my game from me?"

Williams is hittine 3's, running the floor, playing defense, etc. Jerry Sloan is a mastermind. I never liked him, I never liked anything about the Jazz, but he just gets his team to play incredible basketball, and the crowd there is outrageously effective. Will the Jazz win it all, I can say with nearly 100% certainty, "NO", but could they? I think they can.

Can San Antonio win it all? Yes. They absolutely can. I am so certain that they can. I am so positive that the unit as constructed may actually be in the best possible position to win it all in the West. Yes, I think they are favorites at this point, 4 games into the playoff.

San Antonio has Tim Duncan. Tim Duncan is arguably the most successful player in the NBA today. However, the key learning about the Spurs is when Tim Duncan has an off game, they still win. They showed me so much fight the other night when they got into a knockdown, drag-out War with the Mavericks, and ended up on the bright side of a bloody battle.

They keep their heads on a swivel, and they have a coach who is just absolutely perfect for that team. Parker, Manu & Duncan are phenomenal, but the presence of Hill, Blair & McDyess cannot be discounted. Ask me today who is going to win it all, and The Spurs are my answer.

Can Portland win it all. No. I don't even like talking about them. I don't hate them, but even with Camby I think they are boring to watch, and they just aren't good enough. Can't that answer be the answer sometimes? "You just aren't good enough..."

Can Oklahoma City win it all? Please don't ask me this question. I am currently in a state of being very irrational.

One thing I know is that you can't fake chemistry. I think I have learned in my life that you don't 100% have to have chemistry to win, but if you try to fake it, it won't work. The only teams with pure chemistry this season, in my estimation, are the Cavaliers (and that is dwindling), the Spurs, the Thunder and possibly the Magic.

But the Thunder's chemistry is in a lab coat, with beakers and bunson burners all over the place. At this point they are mad scientists. Chemistry doesn't just keep people happy, chemistry makes normal players turn into complete badasses. Their bench is so deep, and so badass, and I don't even think they are that physically gifted, or at least NBA-gifted. Jeff Green has turned into a supermachine, a defensive player with the confidence of a Hall of Famer. He is so quietly destroying the Lakers with all the intangibles that I am starting to think he is in his early 30's, and somehow had a Face/Off transplant with Pippen from the mid 90's.

I question every thing about their success, but it is in your face and visible and tangible. Do I care why it is happening so fast, not really - it's too enjoyable.

Can they win it all? They are the 1 team that I would say "No, not really, they can't," but at the same time I'm thinking, "they just might, though."

Quick side note, the thought of a 7 game Spurs v. Thunder series is so compelling to me. Never before in the history of the NBA would there be a series that would be more like watching a puppy (durant) and an old dog (Duncan) battle each other. The old dog would enjoy it for a while, then start to get real grumpy about it, and either give in entirely, or give that one strong bark and bite like old dogs do. Someone would get the message, I just don't know who it is yet.

___________________________________________

Summary of my "who could/can win the NBA Finals...

These teams absolutely can:

Orlando, Boston, Los Angeles, San Antonio, Oklahoma City*

These teams are so close, but can't:

Dallas, Utah

These teams cannot win it:

Cleveland, Atlanta, Miami, Milwaukee, Charlotte, Chicago, Phoenix, Portland

This team deserves a category of its own b/c they are so unlikeable and I want to pretend the GM is reading this and feels bad about being in his own category:
Denver

*admitted irrationality - but look at what they are doing. Do you see what they are doing?

...High School Class of 1995...

No matter where you live or who you are, i'd love to hear from you, class of '95.

Post your comments to my blog or my facebook, but I'd love to hear what your top 3 or 5 songs that remind you of your Sr. Year in high school....Fall 94 and Spring 95.

I'll post mine later.

...zero sum...

Today was a really unique day at work - one of those, "I'm so lucky to be doing what I'm doing," kind of days. First of all, my industry is just fun, to be blunt. It's an industry that interests me. I don't think I could ever be a teacher, b/c that doesn't feel as much fun to me. Just like some of my teacher friends, and wife, couldn't ever operate in the world I operate in - not b/c they aren't smart enough or skilled enough - but because it doesn't send their fun-meter rolling.

But I consider myself lucky - I had a series of events from 2001 to the present that sorta leaves me shaking my head as to how I got where I am - not in terms of the Professional ladder, but literally how did I go from almost starting Grad school for an MBA in Higher Education with a concentration in Academic Advising to where I am now, Channel Marketing Associate for New Balance Athletic Shoe?

The details are boring to everyone except me, and that isn't really my point of today. Long story short, we had an all employee meeting today at Agganis Arena at Boston University to review a boatload of items and ideas, and it was energetic and exciting. But the fun part was that we broke into 65 teams of 10-12 or so, and we built bicycles.

We had to answer trivia questions quickly in order to gain chips which, in turn, would get us parts to build kids bikes. At the end, and I'm simplifying, we went back to the main stage area and the kids came on stage who were receiving the bikes - it was so cool to see them come in, know they don't have a new bike, and leave with a new bike we built, and my company paid for. I think that's exciting. All in all we made bikes for 130 kids, and they got a t shirt and shoes. This wasn't for the press, it wasn't for anything except corporate camaraderie and doing good for someone, because we can.

It made me feel good. Then, of course, I negated my good work for the day on my ride home. I was driving and saw a young adult walking down the street about 1/2 mile from my house. I saw him, while I was driving, take a swig out of a water bottle, finish it, and with a big smile on his face, toss it over a fence into a cemetery. Without thinking, I quickly tooted the horn and gave him an arms up, "what the heck are you doing!?".

This isn't meant to be funny, more me pointing a finger at myself and saying, "cool the heck out", but it was clear the kid had some kind of developmental issue, and I had the worst 10 second experience of realizing that, seeing him staring at me in my rear view as I drove away, and looking somewhat pained at his decision to toss the bottle, looking over the fence at it on the grass, looking at me, pacing back and forth.

Thankfully this only lasted for 10 seconds, and hopefully that thought entered and left his brain. My fear though, is the possibility of zero sum that I upset his day for the same period of time that I made a kid feel good about a new bike.

Why can't I just cool out about things.

...The Masters, Day 1...

There are 5 different stories from the Masters, day 1. Full disclosure, I didn’t watch until about 5:45 until completion, however, I did keep up with scores and saw highlights.

I am going to do these stories in order of how much they get me going.

5. Course conditions: As a golfer, the thought of putting on spikes and carrying a bag 18 holes at Augusta is literally the type of dream you wish for every night before you to go to sleep. As a matter of fact, I am going to wish for that exact dream every night, b/c in dreams it feels real, and that reality will never happen in my life, it just won’t. Augusta is Fenway, Wrigley, Arrowhead, Lambeau, Boston Garden, Madison Square Garden and the Coliseum combined into 1. It is a living history museum of Golf, and it is so perfect I can barely stand to look at it. I feel like I’ll turn to stone.

But the real story of the conditions is how easy the course looked to the players. There were a ton of Eagles, Tiger had 2 for the first time ever in 1 round of the Masters. Some insane putts were made, the drives looked like they were getting closer to the pin than usual, which leads me to believe the tees were up and I think that they even said that this morning on Mike & Mike, which I heard briefly before they launched into 47 straight minutes of commercials.

I love how a tournament gets progressively harder, every day, harder and harder.

4. KJ Choi: I don’t have much to say about him, he isn’t really even that good in Major Tournaments, but yesterday he looked awesome. This is the kind of guy who can avoid essentially 100% of the media attention, and move along briskly. Again, he is #2 on the board after Round 1, but he looked good and looked confident. I can see him lurking, but what do I know?

3. Freddy: He is only 50 years old. I have to keep reminding myself of that. He looks like he is in great shape, he walks like he has a real swagger, he wears no socks, he is the definition of cool. He practiced with Tiger, and I don’t know if you heard his statements, but he talks about Tiger reverentially, but he was quick to point out that he hits like Tiger – which isn’t 100% true but I think Couples is believing it.

He is dominating the Champions Tour – there is something to be said about dominating a lower field in order to keep yourself fresh. Fred Couples is the 2007 New England Patriots – he is ripping apart the Champions Tour purely to prepare himself for this big game, in Augusta.

I am pulling for him real hard. I hate thinking this way after Round 1, but a final grouping of Couples, Woods and Watson is the kind of sporting event that will shut down my brain. I don’t think I can compute that.

2. Tiger: What a spectacle. What a horrible conundrum it is to have loved this man before he became a walking porn shoot. I don’t know what to do with him. I cannot imagine being in the crowd and cheering LOUDER for him – as if he accomplished something else, or went through something he didn’t bring on himself.

I swear to God, if I was in PR for a person, or someone’s agent, and if they told me success and notoriety was their #1 priority, I would go out and there and have them do something horrible. Coming back up the mountain after falling off of it is a great career move.

1. Watson: It is way too premature to make any assumptions, and I know that things are only going to get harder for this guy, but the guts he showed in Turnberry at the ’09 British Open don’t seem to be fading. Everything about this guy is magical – his smile, the teary-eyed appreciation he has for the game. In a time when coverage is dominated by Tiger, it is literally beautiful to see how Watson handles himself and handles the game.

His “aw shucks” approach is such a façade – or at the very least it is his only defense mechanism to what must be an overwhelming sense of “what the hell am I doing out here?!” that he is battling through. Everything, every single thing, was against him in Turnberry and he was betrayed by a fantastic approach shot on the 18^th hole – a shot too good that flew the green and ultimately put him in a position to, dare I say, choke…which he sorta did.

You have to love how he is sponsored by Adams Golf – the Golf Warehouse brand of the Century…you have to love that he is acting like he doesn’t have a competitive streak or competitive nature. I can’t stop daydreaming about what the time since Turnberry has been like.

It reminds me of The Natural – like he expected his career to be over a few years ago and was sorta going through the motions, but late-career success got him refocused and he started to eat a bit better, swing a bit harder, work a little more on success. Everyone around him was probably thinking, “you’re 60, this stuff isn’t real, your success at Turnberry was a fluke.” And maybe they are right, but the fact that, yet again, he put together a fantastic round, for anyone, at any age, at one of the World’s most difficult courses – that means something to me as a sports fan, and a fan of the Good Guy.

...Tiger and Moral Responsibility...

I am not alone in saying that I like things that are compelling. I like stories that get people interested and get people going on different levels. Take a few examples from last night’s news. The story of the man who tried to light a cigarette on a plane is pretty easy – everyone feels the same way about it (for the most part.)

“He is an idiot, he is a moron, smokers are gross, can’t believe the overreaction, can’t blame them for the overreaction, next story please.” That one is simple. Then you get a story like the Gov. of VA saying we should honor Confederacy, which also is, for the most part, a simple story with simple reactions, even if you fall on different sides, “we should honor them, but honoring them doesn’t recognize slavery, it is insensitive, no it isn’t, it’s a part of our history, etc.”

They can spend hours talking and debating stories like these, and we all do and will, but I find myself looking at the story, quickly forming an opinion, and moving on mentally.

Now the Tiger Woods Nike commercial, which you can find so easily anywhere on the internet at this point, is really fascinating to me.

I know Tiger is a worldwide figure and everyone knew him before the scandal, but being unemployed last year and looking forward to Tiger Thursday’s more than any other day of the week last year really got me fascinated with him as an athlete, and I feel like to a certain extent I locked into him and his mentality.

Throughout that process, I saw Tiger not as a human – Tiger is a marketing vehicle primarily, that is his identity, beyond being a golfer and a champion, I see Tiger as a commodity, and he unfortunately is valued by all in that same way. Second to his financial worth is his astounding accomplishment on the golf course. It is funny that yesterday he fittingly won his 2009 Player of the Year award, which he obviously deserved.

Coming off of injury, his athleticism was challenged to a point that non-golfers and naysayers won’t, and don’t want to, understand. Golf may not be an aerobic sport, but to generate the power and precision he does, his muscles and muscle memory have to be as sharp as any athletes, doing any activity. To lose that edge through and injury, refind it, fine tune it, and win championship tourneys, isn’t easy.

So now we are in a place where we are pretty much “okay” with the scandals – there is nothing about him that we are surprised by – no text messages that we read or voicemails we hear that surprise us anymore. And that is because we honestly see him as a marketing tool and as an extension of a brand. He isn’t a human figure who is incredibly damaged, he is purely a commodity whose value is back on the rise, and Nike is taking full advantage of it.

Do I fault Nike? Not in the least. What is their alternative? They have shareholders, they are beholden to making money, and everyone who is involved in this game knows it. The personal responsibility in reaction to Nike and their use of Tiger is something that consumers, for one reason or another, cannot understand.

You, person out there who may or may not wear Nike Golf products, hit Nike balls, use Tiger clubs, you are the only person who can make any difference in this Tiger Woods world of golf. I would watch the Masters this weekend with or without Tiger, that is something I cannot control. Ratings will be high, but I am not going to punish myself because I think Tiger is a completely remarkable jackass.

But you, who buys a Nike golf ball or purchases a new Nike hybrid to hit off the fairway, you’re the only one who can react to their use of Tiger in commercials, and this new commercial is a wonderful example of how nobody alive, including Tiger himself, really is willing to take Tiger to task for what he did.

What am I condoning in terms of Tiger-shunning? Well, first, I think that the only real way to punish him is not by booing him from afar, or bashing him in a blog. The real way to punish him is to stop buying Gatorade, stop buying Tiger related Nike products, find out what will hurt him the most in the wallet and go after it.

Then again, are you responsible for caring? Not really. You don’t have to care, but I swear to God if I hear you talk about the new Tiger commercial and say anything negative about it – then I see you drinking Gatorade with Tiger on the label, I’ll sock your nose.

Sports are a very enjoyable disease – they are the part of the Behind the Music shows where it looked like fun to be part of the band that was hopelessly devoted to Cocaine, Groupies and 100mph Lifestyle. That is what we love about sports, wild, reckless love and unconditional fervor about our favorite teams and players.

But we have a responsibility, and it isn’t a serious one, but as sports fans we have to hold athletes accountable, if we really want them to be accountable.

My opinion of this new commercial is really that it is an extension of Tiger’s egotistical world in which he will learn nothing, change nothing, be the same person, only this time he’ll do it more quietly. He is a maniac. He is a sex-driven psychopath who can do something in sports I admire to a point where it is irrational. I want to be able to hit a golf ball like him more than anything I can think of. But I think he is a horror to mankind in terms of personality. He is everything bad about athletes, ego, and the cult of celebrity.

His dead father, who would have been horrified and embarrassed by the 2009/2010 Tiger, is forced onto his TV advertisements to sell nothing in particular but Tiger the brand – think about doing that to someone you really love? Imagine taking the worst thing you have ever done in your life, making that thing public, and taking an out of context voice over of your deceased Grandmother who was a saint, and making it sound like she not only forgives you for what you did, but wants you to get rich from it.

That is what Tiger is doing here.

So now it gets back to personal responsibility – a “what can I do about it” kind of reaction.

Well, I don’t really know aside from boycotting his products and specifically Nike Golf. If you aren’t a golfer, just be conscious of what he is promoting and staying away from it. Honestly, that is all you can do, it’s your choice. Would you normally watch the Masters? If the answer is no, then don’t watch this weekend. Would you buy Sports Illustrated in an airport if Tiger wasn’t going to be on the cover after winning this upcoming Sunday? Then don’t buy it now.

The perception of Tiger in the public is the real measurement of how accountable we want to hold him for his actions. Think about where you want to fall on this matrix, the choice is yours, but make sure the way you talk about Tiger over the next week, 3 months, 6 months, and forever until we see genuine change (far from this ad) is consistent with where you plot yourself on this graph. That's where you have to pick up the slack in Moral Responsibility b/c God knows Tiger isn't going to pull his weight.

...top 3 movies of every decade since the 30's...

This list isn't what I think a film major or film history expert would say - it is more what I would take with me if I could only take 3 movies with me. However, I must be clear that the '00's were painful. I couldn't decide on anything. I just choked, really.

one thing I can say is that I think Apocalypto and United 93 were 2 of the best movies of the decade but I don't want to take those with me b/c Gibson is a doofus and United 93 was really tough.

Also, the 80's will probably drive some people nuts.

30’s
1. Duck Soup
2. King Kong
3. Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs

40’s
1. It’s a Wonderful Life
2. Casablanca
3. Yankee Doodle Dandy

50’s
1. Bridge on the River Kwai
2. Rear Window
3. Shane/All About Eve (tied!)

60’s
1. The Graduate
2. To Kill A Mockingbird
3. Psycho

70’s
1. Chinatown
2. Star Wars
3. Annie Hall

80’s
1. Tootsie
2. Batman
3. Joe v. the Volcano

90’s
1. Shawshank Redemption
2. The Sixth Sense
3. Lion King

00’s
1. Almost Famous
2. Mystic River
3. The Royal Tenenbaums

...The Hyatt...

Today there is a story on Boston.com about laid off Hyatt workers who are struggling to find new work in the face of these tough economic times. This is a story that you can find in any paper, in any city, and it is a story we’ll continue to see for a long time. People are going to be out of work for good and bad reasons, but mostly bad, for a long long time.

The Hyatt blames these tough economic times for letting go of the hotel workers – there is also no question that the manner these employees were let go is unscrupulous, embarrassing, and altogether sad. There is something about this story, as it keeps bubbling up to the surface, that really irks me.

The Globe, as well as other media outlets, seem to be listless on stories like these. I don’t know if it is political pressure, I don’t know if it is editors that are afraid to say what they want to say, or if it is a situation where journalism has been driven to a point where they feel that their role is to simply take a story, skew it in a direction depending on which way their paper leans, and leave it up to the reader to decipher the real message.

The Globe clearly positions the Hotel workers as victims, which, I think is not an arguable point. The Hyatt, and those who wear the fancy clothes and sit in the cubicles like the one I sit in now, continue to make money. They look at tough economic times and say, “what can I cut in order to maintain my Country Club way of life?”, and immigrant slightly-above minimum wage jobs are their answer. Again, that’s stupid, morally wrong, and offensive.

But what the Globe refuses to do is really take it to the next step. They drive up controversy, rattle the cages of readers, get people excited, then leave us to our own devices. In this city, in this state, people are all too comfortable having a “feeling”. They want to say and feel the morally correct things, but are rarely asked to actually act on that feeling.

What is the action we should be taking? Well, if you really do care, you can actually go out and be vocally angry at the Hyatt. Picket, chant, write, call, whatever it may take. But in the end, you really need to do what you can to take business away from the Hyatt, that is the task. But we all know that’s not something most of us will take our time to do. We will read the Globe, complain about their situation, and if we want to stay downtown or are advising friends on a nice spot, we’d be likely to say, “The Hyatt has a good location.”

The Globe in this case is only partially reporting news. What they are really doing is a creating a mood or a feeling – but not asking us to do anything about that. Is it journalism’s role to make us activists? No, but if you get to the nuts and bolts, what is written here isn’t journalism, it’s purely heart-tugging melodrama, with no real ask of action and no responsibility to any solution.

You want to hurt the Hyatt in Boston? You want to actually follow through with your feelings that these women were wronged in the manner in which they were let go? Your tools are at hyatt.com. Boycott the hotel, their partners, write letters to them.

But, contrary to popular opinion and 2010 journalistic bylaws, reading an article and feeling upset about is not action.

...Most Anticipated Albums...

Top 10 albums in my lifetime that I anticipated the release of:
10 and 9 are tied…and not that monumental:

Nine Lives by Aerosmith. I was excited about this one, a lot, but I didn’t think it’d be awesome. It wasn’t awesome, but I did go out and buy it almost as soon as it came out to be honest. And the other is Bed by Juliana Hatfield. The first album I could get access to after Only Everything. However, by this time, I had no illusions that Bed would be better than Only Everything, it just wasn’t possible. So I was excited, but not as excited as my top 8:

8. New Adventures in Hi-Fi (Fall, 1996) – REM
Monster was the biggest turnaround album in my life – I didn’t like it at first in the fall of ’94 and it grew, by the summer of ’95, to be a powerful force in my summer. I still listen to it a lot, it has to be in my top 10 all time album rotations outside of Oasis & The Beatles. I am pretty pumped about the place it ended up having in my music memory. There wait felt like forever between Monster and Hi-Fi, and that was partially because I had a lot of stuff going on in my life from 94 to 95 – powerful moments and memories on both ends of the happy/sad spectrum.

But when Hi-Fi was released, the choice of the Patti Smith collaboration as the single made me very curious what the album was going to be all about. Heading out to the Holyoke Mall with Trav in his Pathfinder is my most memorable anecdote from grabbing this album, and listening it to a few times immediately got me way, way into it. The fact that it was recorded live, around the country in various stadiums and sound checks, is one of the more unique aspects and certainly helped it stand out in my own mind.

This album, with the exception of #1 on my list, is the only one I think could rival or beat its predecessor. Hi-Fi is aging very well, much better than almost all of REM’s albums, with the possible exception of Monster, but even Out of Time and Automatic have some odd appearances. Bottom line, I was pumped for Hi-Fi.

7. OK Computer (Summer, 1997) – Radiohead
I didn’t really listen to The Bends a ton – at least not before OK Computer came out. But in terms of advancement from Album 2 to Album 3, I don’t think anyone can argue that this was a monumental leap. Paranoid Android came out and it was a great song, and it def. got me excited to look into buying the album…I have a hard time remembering what else jarred me into complete “I NEED THIS” status, but maybe it was friends who heard it and told me it would change the way I think about music and musicians – and it did.

If this was a list of “Top 5 albums that I discussed more than any other albums in my life” it would be #1, with pretty much zero discussion, aside from #1 on this list as a possible close runner up.

6. Fairweather Johnson (Spring, 1996) – Hootie & The Blowfish
Wow. I remember painting my house with my dad in 1994, looking him in the eye and saying this, with 100% certitude: “Hootie’s Cracked Rear View is the best album of all time.” I thought I actually knew that. I thought I had that perspective. No question it was a big one more for me. Song after song was a hit.

Soundtrack of a summer or two – an album that is interwoven into memories of my friendships and good times in high school and even college.

I bought Fairweather Johnson, their follow up album to Cracked Rear View, through BMG Music Service, so it took a while for it to get to me. I listened so gosh darned much, and I wrote a lot of emails to Marc about what it may have meant to us in terms of its place in our musical historical context. I saw Hootie that spring in Columbia, SC, their hometown in a big free concert with my college friend Kirk. I was underwhelmed by the album over time, but that doesn’t diminish how much I couldn’t wait to hear it. Honeyscrew was one of those “always repeat when it’s finished” songs.

5. Beatles Anthology V. 2 (Fall, 1996)
As someone who got into the Beatles in December of 1992, the Winter of 1995 was the first time I was brought into the realm of “something new by the Beatles is coming out, and you can be a part of it” fever. By 1995 I had gone through buying as much Beatles vinyl I could, purchasing cassettes of Beatles albums, then moving on to gathering the entire catalogue on CD.

The miniseries that aired in November and December of 1995 was something I remember sitting in my dorm room at Coker College watching, on my little white TV (which was such a fixture in my entire life from the first days I have memory until about 1996). The miniseries was released in conjunction with CD’s that came out as well. I purchased the 2 disc Volume 1 I think through a CD Columbia House type CD club, and it was good, but nothing earth shattering.

However, the version of “Real Love” that I first heard in the Anthology Volume 2 miniseries was something that I couldn’t wait to get my hands on. This was pre napster, pre lala, pre itunes, pre anything. This was a time in our lives when we had to actually want to hear something, wait for it, hope to hear it on a radio, and buy the album. It was pretty legendary, and honestly could be a big reason why music doesn’t excite me anymore – there is no more anticipation.

When this album was finally released in the Spring of 1996, I wanted it immediately but couldn’t afford it and that pissed me off. Early in the 1996 school year, I remember vividly walking down to the UMass bus stop to take the PVTA to the Hampshire Mall to buy the album at Media Play. It was that important to me. The trip probably took 2.5-3 hours total, but I wouldn’t be denied. “Real Love” is one of those songs that always drives me back to this memory, but also really makes me feel like I have an honest to goodness connection to what it must have felt like to be waiting for Sgt. Pepper, post Revolver.

4. X&Y (Summer, 2005)
My brain goes directly to a memory of a new cell phone I had purchased which could utilize songs as ringtones – something new, remarkable, and exciting. A Rush of Blood to the Head was such an awesome album, and Coldplay had knocked its first 2 albums out of the park. In retrospect, I don’t think X&Y is as good as either of the first 2 albums, but Speed of Sound is as good as any song Coldplay has written.

I found Speed of Sound in the available catalogue of ringtones I could purchase, and I did. I remember loving when my phone rang, b/c it gave me a taste of what the whole song would sound like, and when the single was released, I was able to download it. I don’t remember where I purchased X&Y, it may have been digitally by that point, but I do remember very vividly wanting that album more than any album since the next two I’ll talk about.

As a side note, Coldplay is the band that comes to mind for me as the most painful and sad reminder that I don’t enjoy new music. They were the last “new” band that I connected with, felt moved by their music, and after listening to an album felt like they had more to offer. X&Y was the end of that road, and I hope not forever for me.

3. Be Here Now (Summer, 1997)
Without question, Oasis’ What’s The Story Morning Glory was THE album for me, in my life. THE album. I will always connect this album with a very specific January of ’96 night – home from Coker College, enjoying my time in the house on Green Street, in our room we called the Parlor, and playing this album over & over again. Every single song on Morning Glory connected to me – it was like the album was one of those monsters in Avatar that you jam your ponytail into. Once I was locked in, I was locked in.

I got a full 1.5 years out of this album before any hint of “maybe I’ve heard that song enough” started to pour in. D’You Know What I Mean was the first single, and it was a pretty big anthem for Oasis, and it led nicely into my anticipation of this album. I purchased this either 1 day or 2 days before a trip to Seattle with Trav, and this album was completely my soundtrack. I listened to it on my discman on the plane, and a few times in my parents house in Seattle.

The album itself was something I put on a very high pedestal, and a few of the songs like All Around the World, and Stand By Me are really terrific Oasis songs. They are songs my kids won’t understand or like, and I don’t really care. But the anticipation for this album was really overpowering. They clearly went downhill during and after this album, and the band wasn’t the same in my head or my heart – or on the charts – but they were & are the most important band to me in my lifetime.

2. HIStory (Summer, 1995) – Michael Jackson
I liked Black & White a lot. A LOT. I listened to that album A LOT. A LOT. I listened to it when it got too dark to play basketball with Neil Lansing, and we totally jammed out to it, as much as a few dorks could.

But as HIStory approached, I started to get monumentally fired up. I knew it would be an album that really mattered to me and it was. I wanted this album so badly that during my 40 minute lunch break I sprinted out of my job at MIJA working on an assembly line, drove the 10 minutes to the mall to pick up the CDs, then another 10 minutes back to work, during which I had no time or ability to actually listen to. I just wanted to hold the thing in my hands and know it was my own.

There were 3 or 4 songs on this that completely and totally were sealed into my “this is awesome” vault when I hear them on the radio or when they come up on my iPod’s shuffle setting. This album led to amazing things like Dance Parties and the enhancement of Michael as a larger than life figure, but for the purpose of this list, the single-day dedication I had to going out and getting this album as soon as possible really vaults it into my pantheon of most anticipated.

1. Mellon Collie & The Inifinite Sadness (Fall, 1995) – The Smashing Pumpkins
This appropriately titled album was a behemoth. A fixture for myself and Greg during our years at UMass together, and beyond. Every once in a while we still exchange notes about some of these songs, and how big they were. If you were friends with me during this time, it was a given that you had this album. This album is noteworthy in terms of anticipation in 3 parts:
a) Siamese Dream, the predecessor to Mellon Collie, set the bar so unreasonably high for SP, that I couldn’t even imagine an album living up to that potential.
b) I was living in Hartsville, SC the day this album came out, and I was missing all of my friends a lot. A huge amount. No band tied me together with my best friends like The Smashing Pumpkins did. I went with 2 of my friends, one of which was kicked out of school for too much drug use, the other is someone I still keep in touch with, but we drove to the Florence Mall and I bought this double disc set at BYE or one of those chains, maybe Strawberries. On the ride home, it was immediately a huge, huge pleasant surprise.
c) Going back to point (a), this album can easily be argued was better than the one before it. The anticipation I felt for it really was overwhelmed by the actual enjoyment I had listening to it. It is a remarkable album and a remarkable achievement, I think.

Something has to click for me in order for me to be excited about any album release, I don’t know what it will be, but I literally cannot imagine this happening again my life. I know it was a function of my age, and most of these albums fall within the same few year span, but this is just how it is.