It's time for the 32 NFL teams to decide which collegiate stars they want for their team. Accordingly, it's also time to post the draft order as though Victory Weighting were in effect. Except for Denver and San Diego, no one changed its position by more than two spots.
Details are on the 2012 draft page, marked on the page bar at the top. Enjoy.
Elmer Bernstein is another of my favorite film composers, and his theme from the 1962 movie version of To Kill a Mockingbird has recently gotten quite a bit of play on the Streaming Soundtracks site. While some of the folks who've requested it might have also been mulling the Trayvon Martin case, it's more than pretty enough to stand on its own.
Here's an odd thought I've always had about Bernstein: Even though his résumé covered a much wider range of movie genres, I tended to associate him with action films like The Ten Commandments (1956), The Magnificent Seven (1960) and The Great Escape (1960), or later comedies like Animal House (1978) and Ghostbusters (1984). It fell to TCM host Robert Osborne, only a few years ago, to notify me that Bernstein also penned To Kill a Mockingbird. It still surprises me, even though Bernstein himself considered this one of his most important works.
Walter Schumann is best remembered as the composer of the Dragnet theme, but it's another, completely different work of his that's always come to my mind. When I was very young, The Night of the Hunter (1955) was my favorite movie. It aired on local television when I was two or three, at the age when most of us start keeping memories. Its signature scene, as young John and Pearl Harper first escape the clutches of Reverend Powell*, is one of the first things I actually remembered.
Part of that has to do with the way the escape is shot. Even casual inspection exposes elements of the scenes as unrealistic. Spider webs don't hang this way, the sun doesn't rise or set like that. But the sequence remains convincing despite all the unreality, because Schumann's music meshes so well with the visuals. Now that I've had several chances to watch this as an adult, I still feel as though I'm witnessing the escape, not through John's eyes or Pearl's, but through those of a spectral third child.
What makes the movie truly great, though, is the "Lullaby." Weary, scared, and still desperate to avoid capture, John and Pearl hide in a barn for the night. All the while, a voice tries to sing them to sleep. Here's the end of the escape, my first cinematic memory.
* Here's one reason why neither Palpatine nor Darth Vader made it past Episode XI of the Star Wars cycle: they didn't bother to study Robert Mitchum's portrayal of Rev. Powell. I'm hard put to imagine a villain as monstrous, clever or effective as Powell, but I'd bet a few credits that Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi both got hold of a Night of the Hunter DVD.
...because my NCAA men's bracket set a new personal low. Thanks for nothing, Missouri.
Actually, I made three brackets, but this one's the best, because it's the only one with a significant upset picked correctly. I'd thank the well known bracketologist whose numbers inspired me to make to send Lehigh past Duke, but the rest of the bracket is such a mess, it would embarrass him. Here it is, after the second round.
Maru, King of the Kittehs, the adorable Scottish fold with the doting Japanese owner, got upstaged by a cat in England.
This guy wandered onto the pitch at Anfield, 11 minutes into a match between homestanding Liverpool FC and Tottenham Hotspur. "You'll Never Walk Alone" certainly applied to "Anfield Cat," who ended up providing the sole highlight of a goal-free draw.
This isn't the first small, furry creature to wander onto a soccer pitch during a match, but he may be the tamest. I'm not sure what scared Anfield Cat more, U.S. keeper Brad Friedel's attempt to shepherd him, or the 45,000 fans who decided to serenade him. He was only too happy to end up in the arms of the steward who escorted him to safety.
If his behavior doesn't convince you that he's no feral cat, perhaps his "official" Twitter feed will. Or maybe one of its emulators. My guess is that Anfield Cat is a community cat, someone who lives outdoors but gets fed, petted and possibly sheltered by people who live near Anfield. At least one of his daily handlers has stepped forward.
Oh, and here's a better call of the same event from Ian Darke. Who said Darke couldn't call games?
What happens tonight in Indianapolis won't change my opinion of New York Giants QB Eli Manning, whose career has been no less a scramble than the one he pulled on that famous pass to David Tyree four years ago. The Giants can win by 30 points, and he can throw for 500 yards and four touchdowns -- but even that won't make him an elite quarterback. On the other hand, a loss won't make me think less of him.
What will put Manning among the elite is a 12-4 regular-season mark next year, followed by a win in next year's playoffs. The Giants have done each during his tenure, but not in the same season. If Manning does both next year, I'll call him elite. If he keeps playing like he has recently, his chances are good.
But I can't call him elite just now.
As for tonight's game: the Giants have looked like one of those "teams of destiny," but in the last two weeks, they've been too busy talking about it. Shut up and play, already. Patriots, 24-16.
It's been interesting to see which NFL clubs have been issuing pink slips this week.
Some gridiron pundits have expressed surprise at the Indianapolis Colts' firing of the Polian lads, but evidently, they stopped paying attention when the Colts won the Super Bowl five years ago. Peyton Manning had covered up so many of the Colts' problems by himself, a disaster like their 8-Strength (2-14) season this year was inevitable. All it took was an injury through which even Manning couldn't possibly play.
Here's an interesting, little noted aspect of Monday's management purges in Tampa Bay (16 Strength, 4-12) and Saint Louis (9 Strength, 2-14) the Buccaneers, Rams are related by ownership to English soccer teams. By that, I don't mean little third-division outfits -- I mean Manchester United and Arsenal. The Cleveland Browns (17 Strength, 4-12) are similarly tied to a third Premier League side, Aston Villa. It's probably a nasty coincidence, but all three NFL teams just finished horrible seasons.
Maybe Martz wanted capable, productive wide receivers, while the Bears organization wanted Roy Williams. [Or Sam Hurd, who turned out to be as incompetent at dealing drugs as catching Jay Cutler passes.]
Trust me, Chicago and its environs are celebrating. I'm celebrating, too, as evidenced by the haiku now gracing this blog's title bar.
Victory Weighting update: With two big exceptions, this year's Victory Weighting tracked the official standings exceptionally well. 11 of the 12 playoff teams showed up in the correct order, as did the top six draft picks. Overall, Victory Weighting needed only five tiebreakers, including three for draft order. The exceptions are two teams I've already covered at length:
Denver would miss the playoffs. San Diego would host the Steelers in their place. It's too bad, really; I'd like to have seen a stake put through Tebowmania™ a year early.
Despite a better winning percentage than Seattle, Arizona would finish third in the NFC West behind the Seahawks, because the Cardinals have a lower Strength.
The AFC West scenario generated by Victory Weighting this season got even more dramatic, thanks to the, um, re-humanization of Tim Tebow last Saturday in Buffalo. The most obvious evidence is reflected in the standings:
Official
AFC West
W-L
Denver
8-7
Oakland
8-7
San Diego
7-8
Kansas City
6-9
Victory Weighted
AFC West
Strength
W-L
Oakland
31
8-7
San Diego
30
7-8
Denver
29
8-7
Kansas City
24
6-9
In the official playoff scenario:
Oakland can still qualify as an AFC wild card (but Denver cannot).
San Diego is eliminated, because the Chargers would lose any tiebreaker with Oakland or Denver.
Denver wins the division with a win or tie, or an Oakland loss or tie.
Under Victory Weighting, though, the situation is far different, in large part because everyone in the NFL is engaged in divisional play this week.
Oakland could not qualify as a wild card, because it cannot match sixth-seeded Cincinnati's 36 Strength.
The San Diego-Oakland game would essentially function as a play-in game, with the winner capturing the AFC West. A tie favors the Raiders unless Denver wins in regulation.
Denver would qualify only with a regulation win and a Charger-Raider tie. Any other combination would eliminate the Broncos.
With Oakland removed from it, the Victory Weighted AFC wild-card race would also simplify. Cincinnati qualifies outright with even an overtime loss to Baltimore.
If the Bengals do lose in regulation, then Tennessee and the New York Jets become eligible with regulation wins.
Neither the Titans or Jets wins in regulation:Cincinnati advances outright.
Only the Titans win in regulation: The Bengals defeated the Titans, 24-17, in Week 9. Cincinnati advances.
Only the Jets win in regulation: The Bengals and Jets did not meet, but the Jets would have 28 Strength over AFC games, while the Bengals would have only 24. New York Jets advance.
Both the Titans and Jets win in regulation: The Bengals are eliminated with the lowest Strength over AFC games (24). The Titans and Jets, who did not meet this season, would each have 28 Strength (7-5) over AFC games. Then, the Titans win the common-opponent tiebreaker over the Jets. Tennessee advances.
