The Only Good Thing About Your City: Pittsburgh

I thought I wrote this before, evidently I'm wrong. It could be because I'm biased (haven't you noticed) towards my philly teams, but christ, I could seriously live without the mouth-breathers from "Pennsyl-tucky". I love Perogies though, so I'll play nice until the Penguins review anyway.

Pittsburgh is home to three pro sports teams (technically The Pirates do count).

National Football League (NFL)

Pittsburgh Steelers- Founded in 1933 The Steelers have 6 Super Bowl Championships. Chuck Noll was the coach from 1969 till 1992. That is mind boggling. Although, winning four Super Bowls sorta keeps your job secure. Sure, there was The Immaculate Reception, The Steel Curtain, Franco Harris, "Mean" Joe Green, and Terry Bradshaw's balding scalp. Jump past Bill Cower coaching the team for 13 years, The whole Jerome Bettis era, and jump to the here and now. The steelers have won two super bowls and have successfully beaten three assault charges brought on two of their star players, (Although, Santonio Holmes is now a Jet, he was still a Steeler at the time of the allegations) For all the things Ben Roethlisberger has done or has been accused of doing over the past few years (turning himself into a human torpedo into the windshield of a car, quite possibly groping two women) people just kinda laugh it off because it's Big Ben, the guy looks harmless, like you could give the guy a cookie and read him a bed time story, like you'd have to tell him to not eat paste, like he'd be a shoe in for a gold in any number of special olympics events, almost like the guy is a functioning retard.

Major League Baseball (MLB)

Pittsburgh Pirates- Having joined the majors in 1980 you shouldn't really be surprised to learn that The Pirates have in fact won a world series (I was!) five actually. 1909, 1925, 1960, 1971, 1979. Roberto Clemente was a Pirate from 1954 till 1972, having hit 3,000 hits in his career, he died in a plane crash, he was instantly added to the hall of fame. 1979 is memorable because of the use of "We Are Family" by Philadelphia (ed note: !) based disco group Sister Sledge. Any year since has been memorable, because teams circle games played vs The Pirates as games they really have no excuse for losing.

National Hockey League (NHL)

Pittsburgh Penguins- I seethe at the thought of this team, I get violently angry just thinking about them, Sidney Crosby and his stupid face, his overall "I'm entitled to be good at this game, fuck you, I'm gonna flop around and cry if I don't get my way because I'm the new face of the league" attitude. Anyways, Founded in 1967 as part of the league's initial expansion from the original six, to twelve teams, The Penguins really didn't get competitive (read: relevant) until the 1990's. In 1983 The Penguins drafted the most important play in their franchise's history, Mario Lemieux. Lemieux would play from 1983-94, 95-97, 2000-06. He's now the principal owner and chairman of the board (the team was bankrupt in '99 and he bought it out of it). Jaromir Jagr, another person to hate, was paired up with Lemieux, literally, he stayed at his house (something that would happen again with another young player who you need to despise) and the pair would go on to help the Pens win a cup in the 90-91 season, and again in '91-'92. GUH. I can mention Lemieux getting diagnosed with Hodgkin's Disease (The only genuine moment in my life where I felt bad for the penguins) But then they are the reason why in 1996 The Florida Panthers made it to the stanley cup and making a mockery out of hockey. Fast Forward nine years and you have them drafting Sidney Crosby. Touted as the new face of the NHL, Crosby is universally reviled in outside fanbases. Personally, I'd like to see the guy thrown into a wood chipper. Cindy and the Pens won another stanley cup in the '08-'09 season. He is currently playing golf right now and watching the Flyers and Blackhawks play for one this season.

Next: Baltimore. America's Stabbinst City!

What does it all mean?

I can remember watching the web series Red vs. Blue for the first time sometime in early 2005. The first episodes opens with two red team soldiers Simmons asking Grif "you ever wonder why we're here?" Grif goes on to misinterpret this as a question as to the meaning of life meanwhile all Simmons is wondering why command would place a squad in a box canyon with no strategic importance, other than the fact that the Blue team has a base in the same canyon, meanwhile Blue team only has a base in said canyon because Red team has a base in the canyon.

You are now privy to nearly every conversation every Soldier, Sailor, Airman, or Marine has ever had.

The military is a lot of things, it has taken me places I would have otherwise never been, met people who have changed my life both for better and worse, and has helped shown me who I am as a person, and for that I am eternally grateful. On that same hand it has taught me some harsh life lessons: Nothing is ever guaranteed; Nothing is ever handed out, but it is earned; There is nothing in life owed to you; Bad things can and will happen to good people.

Every Soldier, Sailor, Airman, and Marine deserves a handshake and a thank you, this is nothing new to anyone.

Anyone who is ever deployed to the Middle East will tell you that "you gain a new perspective on your own home after you spend a year here". This is true, when I came home on leave I was overwhelmed, Where I live (South Florida) is a concrete jungle, and coming from a barren desert to that takes a little adjusting, here at lovely Al Asad Airbase you can look up on any given night and see every star in the sky, breath fresh air, and find complete silence. Back home, I know exactly one place where at least 2/3rds of those things are true, that place is Lake Worth Beach. When I was home, I never once thought about the beach. I did however think about my bottle of Johnny Walker Blue, many bottles of New Castle, and a few pints of Young's Double Chocolate Stout. (not nearly as gay as it sounds). I spent a lot of money on a girl who wants nothing to do with me anymore. Sometimes I tell myself "If I could get a glass of scotch on a semi-regular basis here, I'd never leave".

I sometimes wonder about the daily life of the indigenous people here. There are honest and friendly people who live in this god-forsaken country. The population of the United States is 307,006,550 (as of 2009), the world's population is 6,697,254,041 (as of 2008). This means one in every 21 people will be born in the US. The daily grind of an American consists of waking up, drinking a cup of coffee, working for four hours, eat lunch, work another four hours come home, eat dinner, sleep, repeat. This sounds like a vacation (mostly because it is) compared to what most Iraqis would have to go through to earn an honest wage.

I always go back to a quote by a guy I admire who's name is Anthony Bourdain, many of you many know him as the host of "No Reservations" and as an Executive Chef at Brasserie Les Halles, when in reference to the world.

"It seems that the more places I see and experience, the bigger I realize the world to be. The more I become aware of, the more I realize how relatively little I know of it, how many places I have still to go, how much more there is to learn. Maybe that's enlightenment enough - to know that there is no final resting place of the mind, no moment of smug clarity. Perhaps wisdom, at least for me, means realizing how small I am, and unwise, and how far I have yet to go."

The guy was at Macchu Piccu when he said that. Holy Shit, having a moment for personal inflection while being in such a scenic area such as that is mind bending. I can think of only one reason why anyone would trigger self inflection, and that would be when self growth is triggered. One is voluntarily, the other is involuntary. The thing that bothers me is that there are people so content with living vapid, meaningless existences, who either don't bother to engage in the voluntarily or have the capacity to trigger the involuntarily.

The End of an Era

Number 5 is now a Washington Redskin. I never thought I'd see Donovan wear any other color than midnight green and black for the rest of his career, Burgundy and gold are his new threads though and the world moves on. I grew up in the McNabb-Reid era. I was too young to really remember the Buddy Ryan-Randall Cunningham days. I was a sophomore in high school in 2004 ( the most recent year the eagles made it to the super bowl) I remember I was on a bus heading home from Birmingham, Alabama coming home from my JROTC's Drill competition.

I grew up in a team that at one point had a three headed monster of a back field with Duce Staley, Corell Buckhalter, and Brian Westbrook our Wide outs were James Thrash and Todd Pinkston and in the slot we used Freddie "I love my hands" Mitchell. None of these guys are on the team anymore. The only constant for the past decade when it has come to the Eagles has been Donovan. This year's offense seems to be the best offense the iggles have had in years, no injury concerns to our running backs, a shored up Wide Reciever corps, an O-line that finally has seen some stability, and now, we discard the leader.

I remember back in 2000 my mom bought me a black McNabb jersey, I didn't want to take the thing off. My dad told me that he doesn't buy jerseys anymore because no one seems to stick around anymore. (This was because he owns a Flyers Eric Lindross jersey and gets boo'd whenever he wore it to a game.) Two years ago for his birthday I bought him a Brian Westbrook jersey. We Eagles fans never stop to think that these guys will ever leave. We want them to die wearing the wings on their helmets.

Kevin Kolb is the new Quarterback, Kolb threw for 300+ yards in both starts he made during the season when McNabb was injured and was named NFC player of the week in his 2nd start. Seeing #4 behind center on the first game of the season will take a little getting used to, then again so was seeing Brian Dawkins wear a Denver Broncos uni.

People grow attached to sports figures because they view them as representatives of themselves . McNabb had that smile in the huddle and the goofy celebrations that made you adore him, Despite constant critisism and people calling for his job, he kept his cool, never once going out and throwing anyone under the bus or complaining about everyone else besides himself. Donovan has acted as a professional throughout his tenure.

Even though Donovan never won the eagles a super bowl, he's still the most dynamic figure in the team's history, the legacy he leaves with this town is that of someone who could have jumped the ship when things started heading south, but stayed onboard and helped the team get back on track. When The Eagles play the Redskins during a monday night football game on October 26th, expect me to wear my #5 jersey even though his will be a different color, he's always gonna be an Eagle.

2009 College Football summed up in 10 words

Bradford's shoulder. Bobby's Career. Urban's heart. Ingram's power. Carrol's wallet.

Brad's Top 10 Games of the 2000's

10. Super Smash Brothers Brawl (2008)- Finally a game that can decide the age old debate, can Solid Snake kick Samus Aran's ass? oh, it also had Sonic and Mario and a bunch of other nintendo characters.

9. Counter Strike (2000)- Like to hack? Ever get pissed off so bad you want to throw your monitor out of a 5th story window? Ever wonder where the word "noob" was practically invented? Look no further. A multiplayer Half-Life mod, this game was the granddaddy to the modern FPS experience.

8. Rockband (2007)- Harmonix devoleped the perfect combination of casual and party game, with a pre-installed fan base the game allows for everyone to feel like a musician. Four players can play Bass, Guitar, Drums and Sing, the game became such a selling point Conan O'brien used the game as a segment during the 2007 writers strike.

7. Marvel vs. Capcom 2 (2000)- Before Marvel split away from Capcom the company responsible for the Street Fighter franchise developed several solid fighters featuring the marvel lineup, I was super happy when this came to Xbox Live Arcade in 2009. Featuring 56 fighters and the ability to make teams of three create some incredible depth and intricate strategy, well, for a fighting game anyway.

6. World of Warcraft (2004)- 11.5 millions subscribers. The recently announced cataclysm expansion is set to cause huge changes to the game with entire zones being changed for good.

5. Grand Theft Auto IV (2008)- Rockstar perfected the open world game with this one. Grand Theft Auto has always been a hot selling title, This one coupled with the DLC that has come out since the release has given fans of the series plenty to be happy about.

4. Uncharted 2 (2009)- The Game plays like a movie, but that's not a bad thing cause it's a fucking awesome movie. The game itself has some of the most beautiful visuals ever in a game and it's no wonder why this title has been named GOTY 2009 by several sources.

3. Halo 3 (2007)- Hard to believe a game that's almost three years old would still be one of the most played online games. Bungie has released a standalone "expansion" as well as four map packs since the game's release, while the single player may be lagging it's the multiplayer that has given gamers a reason to keep going back to Master Chief.

2. Left 4 Dead (2008)- Having never been a huge fan of the Resident Evil Series but a huge zombie fan was a bit of a problem most of my life. Which is why I am eternally grateful to Valve for making this game, This game requires some intense 4 player team work to survive wave after wave of zombies.

1. Fallout 3 (2008)- I can't count how many nuclear wasteland fantasies I've had where I'm humanity's last hope. This game just gave me the framework to act them out. The game has a framework for a story, but the game is pretty much left up to you. Bethesda released plenty of DLC for the game extending the already super long game tenfold adding atleast another 15 hours of gameplay.

A decade under the influence, what 2000-2009 meant to me.

This decade saw me grow up. All of my defining life experiences happened these ten years. I came into this decade as a precocious 11 year old who thought he was gonna be a professional football player/Astronaut when he grew up. in the Year 2000 I entered Woodlands Middle School and met the other half of this writing tandem. I sat through the events that unfolded on September 11, 2001 in my seventh grade english class with my best friend and then girlfriend. I had my first kiss. I had my first breakup. And met friends who I maintain to this day. This was all before High School. I'll never forget August 20th 2003, my first day at Lake Worth Community High School. I was an AFJROTC cadet along with one of my best friends who would go on to be my first college roommate. My freshman year of high school was spent playing football and chasing girls, something that would not deviate too much for the next four. My sophomore Year I had my first serious girlfriend. They say you always remember your first, well, somehow I'm still good friends with my first, despite myself. Around this time I realized I saw the world differently than most, I seldom took anything seriously and used my sense of humor as a coping mechanism to deal with the soul crushing effects of being a teenager. By self medicating with drugs and alcohol I learned who I was going to be when I grew up. I realized a few things about the world and decided maybe I was meant for something more than a self-serving life. I still carried on as a teenager but it wouldn't be until my senior year of high school when I would make a commitment. I remember my dad wanted to call up my recruiter and punch him in the face. I had a future, and to him it was not one of an enlisted man. I had another girlfriend at the time who was willing to do anything for me, not wanting to worry about anyone back home and wanting to life my life on my own I cast a perfectly nice person aside for my own gain. I now live with that every day of my life. I've been forgiven by her numerous times and told that it was no one's fault really, but I know better than that now, such is growing up. I would move out of my parent's house and up to tallahassee where I would attend Florida State University, I would spend my time there lazily spending my days on a couch where I would either drink myself into oblivion, play video games, or both. I found out I would be deploying to Iraq in the fall of 2008, I didn't have the balls to tell my family for nearly three months. This deployment has taught me a lot of who I am, who you can depend on in life, and what other people live like in other parts of the world. I've learned I'm very proud to be an American and consider myself fortunate enough to grow up where I did. I end this decade the same way I came into it. Single. full head of hair. and sober. here's to the aughts. the decade that I grew up in.

Brad's Top 10 Films of the 2000's

10. American Psycho (2000) - This movie made Christian Bale, as Patrick Bateman he was Dexter Morgan before Dexter Morgan. He realized what he was and the best part he was completely fine with it. Without this movie I don't think I would be able to tap that inner sociopath I posses. I may not murder people, well not literally anyway.

9. No Country For Old Men (2007) - Having never seen a movie with Javier Bardem before I saw this movie and the guy sold me completely on his character. Josh Brolin and Tommy Lee Jones are given's in almost any movie you put them in. The cat and mouse game between Bardem and Brolin is solid throughout and the cameo by Woody Harrelson doesn't completely kill the movie.

8. Wall-E (2008) - If this movie doesn't bring a tear to your eye you're inhuman. Also, the recycling and exercise subtexts are a nice touch.

7. Star Trek (2009) - JJ Abrams is a better director than Michael Bay and this proves it. You can make a movie biased on a franchise and you don't have to make it explosion porn, you can have a story, you can have layered characters, you can make a good movie off of a popular title with a large fan base and not disappoint people.

6. any Lord Of The Rings movie (2001-2003) - Peter Jackson used to be a fat hump who had an epic beard, now he just has the epic beard. Watched as a episodic movie it serves as an awesome cinematic experience, a little draining, but awesome nonetheless.

5. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) - Rushmore was one of my favorite movies in high school and this movie stands out more than The Life Aquatic did to me. Wes Anderson is a great director and his newest movie The Fantastic Mr. Fox is slowly growing on me.

4. Inside Man (2006) - Clive Owen is hands down my favorite actor, Denzel is a close 2nd, I had forgotten this movie was directed by Spike Lee until I imdb'd it.

3. The Dark Knight (2008) - Christopher Nolan knows how to paint Gotham City, after Joel Schumacher ruined the batman franchise with Ledger's death polarized a movie that already promised to be intense and it only made the Joker role all the more haunting. Michale Caine as Alfred described the character perfectly "some men just want to see the world burn."

2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) - Charlie Kaufman scripted a movie that I first saw days after breaking up with my first real girlfriend, I cried. Hard. I just remember feeling the way Jim Carrey's character Joel felt in the scene where he's driving his car and sobbing as he listens to a tape on his radio. Jim Carrey is known as a comedian, but this movie is hands down his best work as a lead actor.

1. City of God (2002) - Growing up I thought Brazil was a tropical paradise that had women with huge boobs, awesome beaches, and a giant jesus statue (and Bob Burnquist, I really liked skateboarding.) After watching this I my entire opinion of that country changed in a heart beat, it's like a third world version of The Wire.