Album Review: In Utero

I recently bought Nirvana's third and final album, In Utero. Upon listening to it, I decided to write a review.

Album: In Utero
Artist: Nirvana
Released: September 21, 1993
Recorded: February 12, 1993-February 26, 1993
Genre: Grunge
Length: 41:11
Label: DGC Records (Division of Geffen Records)
Producer: Steve Albini & Scott Litt

Reviews
All Music Guide: 5/5 stars
Robert Christgau: A
Entertainment Weekly: B+
NME: 8/10
Q: 4/5 stars
Rolling Stone: 4.5/5 stars

Other Accolades
Billboard Top 100: 1
Spin Best Albums of 1993: 3
Rolling Stone Album of the Year (Critics Pick): 1
Entertainment Weekly Top Albums of the Year: 5
Mojo Top 100 Albums of 1993: 13
Kerrang! 100 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (Editors): 1
Kerrang! 100 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (Readers): 2
Q Best 50 Albums of Q's Lifetime: 20
Spin 50 Most Essential Punk Records: 13
Spin 90 Greatest Albums of the '90s: 18
Magnet Top 60 Albums, 1933-1993: 2
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums of All-Time: 439
Pitchfork Media Top 100 Albums of the 1990s: 13
Spin 100 Greatest Albums, 1985-2005: 51
Q Best 100 Albums Ever: 22

Backstory: I was possessed to buy In Utero after reading an article by Jim DeRogatis in his book Milk It! About Nirvana and the recording process of In Utero. DeRogatis expressed how he thought that Nirvana's third and final studio album might be there best, even better than mega-hit Nevermind. Nirvana, after all, had it all going for them. They were going into recording with one of the biggest names in the alternative scene, Steve Albini, of Big Black and Shellac fame. Albini had worked on such hits as the Pixies' Surfer Rosa, which happened to be Kurt Cobain's favorite album. However, Albini is notorious for mixing the vocal tracks lower in the songs, making them harder to hear over the guitars. The members of Nirvana were happy with how In Utero sounded in the studio, but once they took it home the realized that the vocals were harder to hear than they wanted them to be. Albini, also being notoriously strict, would not allow Nirvana back into his studio to remix their work, so they were forced to remix it with a Geffen Records technician, fueling speculation that Geffen considered the album to be "unreleaseable" and that they were making Nirvana make it more radio-friendly. Geffen denied all of this. So what does this album sound like? Let's take a look (the reviews consist of my initial reaction in first hearing the song mixed with later listening. Also, this album has a lot of famous lines, so bear with me.):

1. "Serve the Servants"
The album opens with the resounding line "Teenage angst has paid off well." Despite a great opening line, the album does not open with the same raw power approach of Nevermind with "Smells Like Teen Spirit." If any of you are familiar with recent music and artists, this song sounds like a song from The Vines. Cobain's voice nearly mirrors frontman Craig Nicholls'. This song has a more calm air than I was expecting when I put this in and cranked up the volume. Even the disjointed guitar solo sounds laidback along with Cobain's vocals. The vocals remain "normal" until the last note of the song when Cobain lets out a small scream. The chorus of this song, "Serve the servants, oh no," intrigues me, as it seems that Cobain is implying (with the "oh no") that serving the servants would be taboo in today's society. My little opinion there. This is not quite the opener I was expecting, but after listening to it a few times, it is a great song.
Rating: 3.5/5

2. "Scentless Apprentice"
"Scentless Apprentice" opens with pounding drums from Dave Grohl and disjointed guitar until it settles into a constant riff. For each line Cobain backs off into feedback, restoring the riff between lines. The chorus is essentially a scream. This song could be classified as a headbanger, as I find myself subconsciously moving along with the beat. The bass, everpresent in Nirvana songs, is right along with the drums. Looking at the lyrics, it is unclear exactly who Kurt is referring to, and none of the lines really stick out except for the last one, "Throw me in the fire and I won't throw a fit." This song is a trademark of Albini recording, as Albini frequently used vocal effects. On the chorus, Cobain's scream appears as if it is covered by a film. The song is reminiscent of the Big Black (Albini's band) song "Kerosine." In listening to both, I have found that the words are essentially interchangeable.
Rating: 4/5

3. "Heart-Shaped Box"
One of the most famous songs off of In Utero, it opens with arpeggiated guitar chords, while drums and bass go along with it. This continues until the chorus when Cobain is unleashed and shouts "Hey / Wait / I've got a new complaint / Forever in debt to your priceless advice." The second verse follows the suit of the first verse and then after the second verse is a guitar solo, in which the bass line appears to be mixed very high in the song, almost above the guitar. After the third verse, the song ends with an extended chorus. This is one of Nirvana's greatest hits, and I agree. There isn't as much to write about it, but listening to it is enough explanation.
Rating: 5/5

4. "Rape Me"
Following one of Nirvana's most famous songs is its most controversial (I'm looking at you, Wal-Mart). "Rape Me" opens with the quiet lines, "Rape me / Rape me my friend / Rape me / Rape me again" before exploding into the chorus of "I'm not the only one." After the second verse and second chorus is the bridge with some of the most famous lines of the song, "My favorite inside source / I'll kiss your open sores." Despite all the controversy, this song follows the typical Nirvana formula of quiet verse, loud chorus, quiet verse. This is often considered an overrated Nirvana song, but I see no reason for that classification.
Rating: 4/5

5. "Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge On Seattle"
Frances Farmer, for those of you who don't know, was an actress during the 1930's who fell into the pitfalls of drugs derailing her career. Cobain and his wife Courtney Love were infatuated with Farmer, who became the namesake for their daughter, Frances Bean, according to Jim DeRogatis' book Milk It!. According to Wikipedia, Frances Bean was named after Frances McKee of The Vaselines. This song has probably the least famous of Cobain's famous lines. The said line is the chorus of "I miss the comfort in being sad." The song opens with palm muted chords that explode before settling back into palm mutation. The pattern continues in the verse until the famous chorus and some typical Cobain groaning until the great breakdown of the song. The song ends after a final chorus after the breakdown.
Rating: 4.5/5

6. "Dumb"
The guitar is extremely active at the beginning of "Dumb." The best line of the song is "I'm not like them / But I can pretend." The eeriest part of the song is the wailing cello on the second verse. The cello is present throughout the entire song, but it is at its apex during the second verse.
Rating: 4/5

7. "Very Ape"
The disjointed chords have another guitar track dubbed over them which Cobain sings along with. I have trouble finding the bass in this song. The lyrics have very little meaning to me and there isn't anything particular grabbing about the song. That was my initial review. After listening to it a few times, I have found the song to be pretty good actually. I initially liked the next song, "Milk It" better, but after listening to both multiple times, my love for "Milk It" has waned. "Very Ape" is actually a very good song.
Rating: 3.5/5

8. "Milk It"
The song opens with drums and incessant noodling on the guitar before jumping into the riff which pauses every so often before going into the verse where Cobain starts moaning the lyrics. The song, about a parasite, has a chorus of only four words: "Doll steak / Test meat." The song is somewhat similar to "Very Ape" except it has more of an edge. Cobain's voice earns most of the credit for providing the edge. As I said before, I initially liked "Milk It" better than "Very Ape," but that has since changed.
Rating: 3/5

9. "Pennyroyal Tea"
The song starts with acoustic guitar and Cobain clearing his voice and acoustic guitar. The lyrics on the famous chorus of "I'm anemic royalty" sound as if they are being drowned out by the guitar, as Albini dubbed it low. It is a good song even though there is very little to write about it. I'm getting tired…
Rating: 3.5/5

10. "Radio Friendly Unit Shifter"
This song is a direct jab at Geffen Records, who wanted Nirvana's music to be more radio friendly. The song starts with high feedback and Cobain talking while a dominant bass riff takes over. The guitar spastically plays before going into a riff. The final line offers one plea: "Speak, speak the truth." The song then goes into a guitar and drums breakdown where the song essentially starts over again with another breakdown of pure noise and feedback.
Rating: 3/5

11. "Tourette's"
The only coherent words in the song are the spoken "Moderate rock" at the beginning of the song and "Hey." No lyrics are listed in the album insert. This song does have an insane riff which is the most attractive part of it. It's only 1:35 long, but it packs quite the punch.
Rating: 4/5

12. "All Apologies"
I'm just going to say it now: this version SUCKS. Horribly. The MTV Unplugged in New York version absolutely owns this. The guitar sounds out of the tune, the vocals are WAY too low, and the bass is mixed too high. Horrible engineering on a great song. I can see why the Unplugged version is more famous. Still, "All Apologies" is a great closer for the album, especially for the mantra "All in all is all we are" to end it. My favorite part of the song is one of the first lines: "What else can I say / Everyone is gay." It's a good closer and a good song, but this version just plain SUCKS. Sorry Kurt and Steve.
Rating: 2/5

Final rating: 4/5

Final Analysis: Nirvana should definitely have worked with someone else besides Steve Albini on this. This could have been a masterpiece, but instead the listener spends the whole time straining for the vocals which are buried under guitar and bass. I still think Albini is somewhat of a genius (seriously, listen to some of his Big Black stuff), but he and Nirvana were not meant to be together. The album is still good, but Bitch Vig did a much better job on Nevermind, which would get the nod in a head to head matchup.

Team Payroll vs. Team Performance in Baseball

The following is a research paper I wrote for my English class this year on team payroll's relationship to team performance in baseball. I received a 94 on the paper. Please give it a read and tell me what you think. Later, I'll type up a more in-depth blog about my preface. Thanks, and enjoy.

Preface

While I was researching my paper, I realized that I wanted to find a way to represent the success of a team related to their payroll in numerical form. So I started the quest to perfect a formula to figure out a team's "payroll performance score" or "PPS." My original formula for PPS was very basic: take the rank of the team's payroll and subtract it from the rank of their record. So let's use the 2003 World Series-winning Florida Marlins as an example. In 2003, the Marlins went 91-71, the seventh-best record in the Majors that year. The Marlins' payroll was $49,050,000, the twenty-fifth highest in the game. In my initial formula, seven would be subtracted from twenty-five, giving them a PPS of eighteen. I realized, however, that I would run into issues with my formula after I figured out each team's PPS for 2003. The Oakland Athletics had the highest score of nineteen, with the fourth-best record and twenty-third highest payroll. But the A's did nothing in the playoffs, getting ousted by Boston in the first round, while the Marlins won it all. How could I get the PPS formula to reflect accurately?

I came to my next idea: add points to the difference between record rank and payroll rank. The difference between payroll rank and record rank, my initial PPS formula, became the "raw payroll performance score" (RPPS). I then took the teams' RPPS and added points to it based on the following criteria: winning their respective division or wild-card, success in the playoffs, and wins. I added five points to a team's score for winning their division and three points for winning their wild-card. Five points were added for making it past the first round of the playoffs, seven points for two rounds, and nine points for winning the World Series. Finally, five points were added if a team won more than 110 games, four points if the team won 100-109 games, three points if the team won 90-99 games, two points if a team won 80-89 games, and one point if a team won 76-79 games. I subtracted a point if a team won 70-75 games, two points if a team won 60-69 games, three points if a team won 50-59 games, and four points if a team only won 40-49 games. This final total became known to me as "adjusted payroll performance score" or APPS.

So let's take another look at the 2003 Florida Marlins. After subtracting record rank from payroll rank, I had a score of eighteen for the Marlins. The Marlins won the National League wild-card that year, allowing three more points to be added, giving them a score of twenty-one. The Marlins won the World Series, so I added nine more points, giving them a score of thirty. Finally, Florida was 91-71, so three points were added, giving them a final APPS of thirty-three, tops in the Majors, ahead of Oakland who had a score of twenty-seven and Minnesota who had a score of eighteen.

My final dilemma with my formula was how it was to be viewed. If the scores were listed in order and the viewer viewed them from top to bottom, I realized that larger market teams would be shut out entirely of being viewed as "successful." The 2003 New York Yankees had an RPPS of zero. They had the best record and highest payroll, a season that could be viewed as successful. However, a score of zero would not be viewed as successful by a casual viewer. This led me to view the scores on a spectrum. I have not been able to perfect a graphic for this yet, but I have an idea in my mind. First, with RPPS, teams in the middle of the spectrum (scores of five to negative five) would be viewed as having successful seasons, as they would have finished in the general area they were supposed to. Teams in the positives to the right in the six to ten range would be viewed as having good seasons be considered slightly overachieving. Teams with an RPPS of above ten would be considered to have had a sensational season. Teams with an RPPS between negative six and negative ten would be considered underachievers, while teams with an RPPS of under negative ten had a horrendous season. The 2003 New York Mets had the worst season of the last five years, having the second-highest payroll, but finishing with the twenty-seventh best record to finish with an RPPS of negative twenty-five.

The ranking of the teams based on APPS can still be put on the spectrum, but because of the addition of points for success, the center of the spectrum must be at five. So an APPS of between zero and ten is considered successful, ten to fifteen is considered a good season, and above fifteen is a sensational season. Zero to negative five is considered underachieving, while anything under that is just horrible. So using this data, I was able to find the most successful teams over the past five years.

According to RPPS, the most successful team over the past five years has been the Cleveland Indians, with an average RPPS of 12.0, while the least successful team has been the New York Mets with an RPPS of -10.6. The most successful team according to APPS has been the Oakland Athletics with an average APPS of 16.0. The least successful team has been the Baltimore Orioles with a score -9.4.

I did not feel this data was concrete enough to be used in the following paper, as it is still being perfected, but I did use some form of RPPS to represent success. Hopefully this provided a new way to look at team payroll and team performance.

Team Payroll vs. Team Performance

In baseball, there is a direct link between team payroll and team performance. It is conventional baseball wisdom that a large market team, one that plays in a large city with high revenues, such as the New York Yankees, should perform better than a small market team, one that plays in a smaller city with low revenues such as the Kansas City Royals. Steve Marantz wrote in the article "If You Don't Pay, You Lose" in The Sporting News, "In baseball, as in no other professional sport, championships are purchased, lock, stock, and barrel." However, there are prominent exceptions to this alarming trend.

Baseball is a game rooted in money which is evident after a quick glance at the game itself. Out of the four major sports organizations, the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, the National Hockey League, and Major League Baseball, Major League Baseball is the only one that does not have a salary cap. Because of this, richer teams in larger markets can outbid poorer teams for top talent in free agency ("Sports"). Many feel that the poorer teams are automatically placed at a disadvantage when the season starts. "When spring training starts, half the teams have no chance. The players know it, the managers know it, and most importantly, the fans know it," Peter Magowan, owner of the San Francisco Giants said ("Baseball's"). When asked how he feels about the relationship between team payroll and team performance, The Baltimore Sun columnist Peter Schmuck stated:

I believe there is a direct relationship between high payroll and success in Major League Baseball, and the best evidence is the New York Yankees. They have spent the most money on salaries over the past decade or so and have appeared in the playoffs every year since 1995. That's not a coincidence. (Schmuck Interview)

Schmuck echoes the sentiment Magowan presents that at the beginning of the season, it is clear-cut who the favorites are just based on payroll.

Some baseball analysts and owners have argued that some of the smaller teams, such as the Oakland Athletics and Minnesota Twins, should be disbanded. However, the success of the Athletics and Twins in recent years has made it hard for this proposed action to be justified. One way that the gap between the large and small market teams has been closed slightly is through revenue sharing. The point of revenue sharing is to have the richer teams share a portion of their profits with the poorer teams. Many rich teams, such as the New York Yankees, feel that this Robin Hood-like policy is unfair to them because they are basically penalized for making money. Outspoken Yankees owner George Steinbrenner likened revenue sharing to communism by saying, "You can't say, 'Well let's share everything equal,' or else we would be over in Russia. And it didn't work over there" ("Baseball's"). As Steinbrenner's comments show, more significant revenue sharing will not come easily.

The past history offers a distinct look into the impact of the payroll differential in Major League Baseball. In 1996, the eight teams in the playoffs were all in the top half of the payroll rankings and the team with the higher payroll won each series, ending with the New York Yankees defeating the Atlanta Braves in the World Series (Schmuck, "Money"). Contrast 2002 to 1996. The four teams in 2002 that advanced to their respective League Championship Series ranked no higher than ninth in payroll. The playoffs ended with the Anaheim Angels, with a lower payroll, defeating the San Francisco Giants in a seven-game series. This victory for small revenue teams went so far as to somewhat dispel the notion that "only the teams with the highest payrolls such as the New York Yankees had a shot at winning the World Series" ("Angels"). From the year 2002 to 2007, a team with a payroll regarded as "high" won the World Series only twice.

Even though all the evidence makes it seem virtually impossible to compete year-in and year-out with a low payroll, there is a glaring exception to the rule: the Oakland Athletics. The success of this particular baseball franchise was so shocking; it led the commissioner of Major League Baseball, Bud Selig, to call it "an aberration" (Lewis 123). In his book Moneyball, author Michael Lewis followed Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane throughout an entire season to get an inside look into the art of running a small market franchise. The Athletics practice "moneyball," a system implemented by Beane which breaks from the baseball tradition of spend, spend, spend. Dealing with a low budget and payroll, this is essentially the only way Beane can keep the Athletics competitive. Agent Scott Boras, who has some of the highest paid clients in baseball, when talking about Oakland's success, remarked, "What happened to these franchises is a product of management's decisions. Teams like Oakland have used intellect to overcome imbalance" ("Baseball's"). The "imbalance" Boras speaks of is simply money, not a skill advantage, as Oakland's success has shown.

The Oakland Athletics are a perfect example of a small market team competing on the big stage. In looking for players, Beane follows the philosophy of baseball sabermetrician Bill James. James is the author of the Baseball Abstract, which was published throughout the late 1970's and into the 1980's, and created a whole new way of looking at the game of baseball. James is the inventor of statistics such as range factor, runs created, and on-base plus slugging (OPS). James was an advocate of on-base percentage (OBP), which Beane took to heart (Lewis 69). On pages 128 and 129, Lewis writes:

A player's ability to get on base – especially when he got on base in unspectacular ways – tended to be dramatically underpriced in relation to other abilities. Never mind fielding skills and foot speed. The ability to get on base – to avoid making outs – was under priced compared to the ability to hit with power. The one attribute most critical to the success of a baseball team was an attribute they could afford to buy. At that moment, what had been a far more than ordinary interest in a player's ability to get on base became, for the Oakland A's front office, an obsession.

Not being able to afford to pursue high-profile free agents on the free agent market, Beane had to resort to looking to unusual sources for value. After the 2001 season, first basemen Jason Giambi left the Athletics for the New York Yankees and a seven-year, $120 million contract. In displaying the payroll gap between the large and small markets, Lewis wrote, "And that some fraction of the $120 million the Yankees had paid Jason Giambi after the 2001 playoffs to lure him away from the Oakland A's was to prevent him from ever again playing for the Oakland A's" (Lewis 123). The Athletics faced the dilemma of how to replace Giambi at first base. Beane called on Scott Hatteberg, whom he converted from catcher to first base, as he saw immense value in Hatteberg's ability to get on base. The cheap investment in Hatteberg paid off, as Hatteberg finished thirteenth in Major League Baseball in on-base percentage, third in pitches seen per plate appearance, and fourth in strikeout-to-walk ratio, a feat nearly unequaled by any other player (Lewis 170). Along with "treating rich teams as petty cash dispensers" by extracting cash from teams by selling them players, the Athletics also would use players in the last year of their contracts as "rentals," acquiring them for next to nothing near the trade deadline and only keeping them for the stretch drive (Lewis 197).

As the payrolls rise, the realization is made that teams are not paying for more people; the teams are still paying for the same twenty-five players, giving talent a higher price. In 1998, pitcher Kevin Brown signed a then-astronomical seven-year, $105-million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, making him the highest paid player in baseball history. However, this did not equate to instant success for the Dodgers. In the five seasons from 1999 to 2003 Brown played in Los Angeles, the Dodgers went 426-384 (a .526 winning percentage) and did not make the playoffs in any of those years ("Professional"). Brown's addition boosted their payroll and added hope for success, but the money spent on Brown did not translate into success for the Dodgers.

In the same offseason, former Dodgers catcher Mike Piazza signed a contract worth $91-million over seven years with the New York Mets ("Do"). Piazza played out all seven years of his contract with the Mets from 1999 to 2005. In Piazza's seven years in New York, the Mets had two playoff appearances and made the 2000 World Series, losing to the New York Yankees. The Mets finished the seven years with a record of 568-565, a .501 winning percentage (Forman). Evaluation of Piazza's tour of duty with the Mets is difficult, as the Mets had success early in Piazza's Mets career, but in the last few years of Piazza's contract, the Mets were horrible, including a 66-95 season in 2003.

Alex Rodriguez is one of the most popular examples of equating team performance to team payroll. In December 2000, Rodriguez signed a 10-year, $252 million contract with the Texas Rangers. This record-breaking contract did not turn into winning ways for the Rangers, as Texas went 216-270 in Rodriguez's three years (2001-2003) in Texas. Before the 2004 season, Rodriguez was traded to the New York Yankees for second basemen Alfonso Soriano. In Rodriguez's four years in New York, the Yankees are 387-261 and have made the playoffs each year, but have yet to win a World Series (Forman). In 2003, before the Yankees added Rodriguez to their payroll, their payroll was $152,749,814 while they won 101 games. In 2004, with the addition of Rodriguez, the Yankees' payroll ballooned to $182,835,513, and they still won 101 games (Holtz). Despite the team's lack of success, Rodriguez has won two American League Most Valuable Player Awards while with the Yankees. He recently was re-signed by the Yankees to a record 10-year, $275 million contract, reportedly worth up to $300 million with incentives, after he opted out of his former contract ("Alex Rodriguez").

The past five years show many different trends in terms of team performance and team payroll. In 2003, the Florida Marlins won the World Series with the twenty-fifth (out of thirty) highest payroll, defeating the New York Yankees, who had the highest payroll and best record that year. Also in 2003, the Oakland Athletics outperformed their payroll the most out of any team in Major League Baseball, finishing 96-66, the fourth best record in the game, with the twenty-third highest payroll. The New York Mets turned in one of the worst performances in Major League Baseball history from a payroll standpoint, finishing 66-95, good for the twenty-seventh best record. This is not much of a shock until one realizes the astronomical amount of money the Mets were paying: $117,176,620, the second highest payroll in the game. To put this into starker terms, the Mets essentially paid $1,775,403.33 per win in 2003 (Holtz).

The 2004 baseball season followed closer to the plan conventional wisdom set for it, as the Boston Red Sox won the World Series with the second-highest payroll in baseball, defeating the St. Louis Cardinals, who had the twelfth-highest payroll, in a four-game sweep. The Chicago White Sox won the 2005 World Series with the thirteenth-highest payroll, defeating the Houston Astros, who had the twelfth-highest payroll. Also in 2005, the Cleveland Indians put in the best payroll-related performance, finishing with the sixth-best record in baseball, while putting together the twenty-sixth highest payroll (Fry).

In payroll-related performances, 2006 was a year to remember. First off, the Florida Marlins started the season with a payroll of $14,998,500, the lowest in baseball by over $20 million, and thirteen times less than the New York Yankees, who had the highest payroll. They outperformed all expectations, finishing 78-84, or basically paying $192,288.46 per win. The Oakland Athletics again put in a great performance, finishing with the fifth-best record while having the twenty-first highest payroll (Forman). Another small market team, the Minnesota Twins, finished with the third-best record in baseball while having the nineteenth-highest payroll. The World Series-winning St. Louis Cardinals had the eleventh-best payroll, but the thirteenth-best record, actually underperforming based on their payroll. They beat the Detroit Tigers, who had the fourth-best record of the year and the fourteenth-highest payroll (Fry).

With the second-highest payroll in 2007, the Boston Red Sox won the World Series for the second time in four years. They swept the surprising Colorado Rockies who finished the year with the sixth-best record on the twenty-fifth highest payroll. Also surprising the experts in 2007 were the Cleveland Indians, Arizona Diamondbacks, and San Diego Padres, who had the best, fifth-best, and eighth-best records in baseball while having the twenty-third, twenty-sixth, and twenty-fourth highest payrolls. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays were the perfect example of team performance relative to team payroll, having the lowest payroll and worst record in the majors (Fry).

The answer is obvious that team payroll influences team performance, but there is still hope for small market franchises as the Oakland Athletics have proven. The advent of the "moneyball" strategy has given the most hope to the small market teams, and with the recent success of small-market, low-payroll teams in general is a great sign for baseball. With teams outside of the top ten in payroll winning the World Series in three of the past five years, it appears that the landscape of Major League Baseball is changing. However, conventional wisdom still continues to rule a game unwilling to change its unwritten rules.

Works Cited

"Alex Rodriguez signs new Yankee deal." UPI NewsTrack. (Dec 13, 2007): NA. Student Resource Center - Gold. Thomson Gale. John Carrol School. 15 Dec. 2007.

"Angels, Giants Win Baseball Pennants; First All-Wild Card World Series Set; Other Developments." Facts On File World News Digest 24 Oct. 2002. Facts On File World News Digest @ FACTS.com. Facts On File News Services. 11 Nov. 2007 <http://www.2facts.com>.

"Baseball's Future." Issues & Controversies On File 23 June 2006. Issues & Controversies @
FACTS.com. Facts On File News Services. 11 Nov. 2007 <http://www.2facts.com>.

"DO HIGH PAYROLLS GUARANTEE PENNANTS?" USA Today Mar. 1999: 7. Student
Research Center Gold. InfoTrac. John Carroll School. 10 Nov. 2007. Keyword: Baseball Payrolls.

Forman, Sean L. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. 13 November 2007.

Fry, Ben. Salary Vs. Performance. 2007. Ben Fry. 9 Nov. 2007 <www.benfry.com>.

Holtz, Sean. Baseball Almanac. 2 Nov. 2007 <www.baseball-almanac.com>.

Lewis, Michael. Moneyball. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2003.

Marantz, Steve. "If You Don't Pay, You Lose." The Sporting News 10 Nov. 1997: 8. Student
Research Center Gold. InfoTrac. John Carroll School. 7 Nov. 2007.

Schmuck, Peter. E-Mail interview. 19 Nov. 2007.

Schmuck, Peter. "Money Doesn't Always Buy Happiness." The Sporting News 19 May 1997: 37. Student Resource Center Gold. InfoTrac. John Carroll School. 6 Nov. 2007.

"Sports Salary Caps." Issues & Controversies On File 26 Nov. 2004. Issues & Controversies @
FACTS.com. Facts On File News Services. 11 Nov. 2007 <http://www.2facts.com>.

Thanks for reading.

Action-Reaction: January 6, 2008

Well it's the first Action-Reaction segment of 2008, so I hope you all enjoy. Sorry I skipped out last week. Just wasn't that much news going on. However, this week is different:

Action: Brian Billick was fired as coach of the Baltimore Ravens.
Reaction: All I have to say (and I've said it many times) is "It took them long enough." I have never seen anyone ride the Super Bowl gravy train for so long. How can an "offensive genius" get by for so long on his defense? All I heard during Billick's term was about how much of an offensive genius he was. Where was the offense? Nowhere. I have to think that Billick benefits more from the people around him than the people benefit from Billick. The Ravens haven't won in the playoffs since 2001, yet people talk about how much of a winner he is. Sure, they were 13-3 last year, but they didn't win in the playoffs. Isn't that where it counts? Sorry for the rant-yness. Even when I was a Ravens fan, I never liked Billick. Just comes off arrogant to me. Not my type of person.

Action: Cam Cameron was fired as coach of the Miami Dolphins.
Reaction: One way to look at this is the fact that he went 1-15 this year. The other way to look at this is to look at the fact that the team was horrible. The offense was bad, the defense was bad, and the special teams were bad. I don't think anyone could have done much with the personnel he had down there. Not to mention the fact we all knew he was doomed as soon as Bill Parcells took over. It'll be interesting to see how Parcells does after taking over.

Action: The Seattle Seahawks defeated the Washington Redskins 35-14 in the Wild-Card round of the NFL Playoffs yesterday.
Reaction: Well first of all, my heart goes out to the Redskins and all they've gone through this year. Everyone said they were the team you didn't want to face in the playoffs, and for a while it looked as if that was true after they took a 14-13 lead in the fourth cover and recovered the botched kickoff. However, the missed field goal by Shaun Suisham really turned the momentum in Seattle's favor as they returned Todd Collins' first two interceptions of the season back for touchdowns, blowing the game wide open. The Seahawks travel to Green Bay for the divisional playoffs next weekend.

Action: The Jacksonville Jaguars defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 31-29 last night.
Reaction: The Steelers blew it. Weren't they 9-2 at one point? I know the loss of Parker hurt down the stretch, but the defense looked bad, getting beat twice, at home, in bad weather, in conditions they are supposed to thrive in by a team from Florida. That's just pathetic. Props to the Jags.

Action: The Tennessee Titans travel to San Diego to play the Chargers in the Wild-Card round. This is a rematch of a Week 14 showdown where San Diego came back from a 17-3 deficit to win the game in overtime. Vince Young is a game-time decision.
Reaction: If Young's legs are rendered useless it will be interesting to see how the Titans fair on his arm or the arm of Kerry Collins. Probably not that good as they are missing their top two wide receivers and their top tight end. The defense has been playing well as of late, but the key to the defense, Albert Haynesworth has been nagged by injuries recently. All in all, things are not looking up for the Titans. Maybe they should have thrown the Indy game after Young went down to let Cleveland in. Then on the other hand, we've got all the drama queens in San Diego, and I won't even get into them.

Action: The New York Giants travel to Tampa Bay to take on the Buccaneers.
Reaction: With the Redskins out, the Giants are now the team you do not want to face in the playoffs. I can't think of that much to write about this game, other than it will be a good one.

Action: Bill Belichick wins Coach of the Year.
Reaction: I agree, this is a great choice, while Packers coach Mike McCarthy is a close second. No one expected McCarthy and the Packers to do what they did, but no one thought a team could go undefeated either. Belichick wins, SpyGate aside, because, he won. Period.

Action: Tom Brady wins NFL MVP Award.
Reaction: Brady ran away with the award, earning 49 of the 50 votes. He deserves it. Fifty (50) touchdown passes really does that for you. And he performed rather consistently throughout the whole season while leading his team through the controversy of SpyGate. Second-place, in my world, would be a tie between Brett Favre and Tony Romo (even though I can't stand him). We have seen three great performances from great quarterbacks this year.

Action: JP Losman has demanded a trade out of Buffalo.
Reaction: Well if I were him I'd stick around. They didn't stick with him. What makes you think they'll stick with Trent Edwards?

Action: Hawaii coach June Jones as flown to Texas to meet with SMU.
Reaction: Hahahahahaha. If Jones takes that job, no matter how much money he gets, he's no longer an offensive genius. He's an idiot. June, do yourself a favor: stay at Hawaii where you can win consistently. Don't throw it away at a has-been powerhouse. Thanks.

I appreciate your readership deeply.

Best fifteen minutes out there?

So it's Christmas Eve and I can't sleep. It must be something. Probably because I haven't been to bed before midnight since Christmas, er Winter (PC), Break began. So it's 11:53 PM and I'm looking through the albums on my computer and I notice something: Group Sex by Circle Jerks is only fifteen minutes long. I've listened to the album before and I knew it had fourteen tracks on it, but I did not have a clue that it was only fifteen minutes long. This has to be genius or something, doesn't it? Let's take a look…

Group Sex was the debut album of Circle Jerks, released in 1980. Circle Jerks were an American hardcore band from southern California.

Now into the album. Group Sex is 933 seconds long. That amounts to fifteen minutes and thirty-three seconds. That is just over one-quarter of an hour.

The longest song on the album is 1:34. The average length of each song on the album is 1:06. The shortest track is twenty-four seconds long.

(Clock reads 12:00 AM. Merry Christmas! Church in twelve hours.)

Now, those of you not familiar with American hardcore must be thinking, "These guys are total slackers, this isn't music." But to me, and hopefully many others out there, this stuff is pure genius. The music is characterized by continuously pounding bass lines and very fast ride cymbal. The lyrics often resemble shouting while the guitar part is just a few power chords put together in a riff and repeated with the occasional solo.

The points of the songs are clear, such as "I Just Want Some Skank" and "Don't Care." Others like "World Up My Ass" are just creative.

In my opinion, the American hardcore and punk scenes from the early 1980's are vastly underrated. When punk is brought up, people usually immediately think of Johnny Rotten and the British punk from the 1970's or Blink-182 and today's "punk." (Sorry to break this to you. It's not punk. None of it is. Punk is dead. If punk was still alive, these guys would be in the back of their vans making album inserts and packaging their albums. But they aren't. They have people to do that for them. People will always have people to do that for them. No more punks, in the music sense of the word. End rant. Sorry about that.) Revolutionary bands such as Black Flag, Bad Brains, and Minor Threat aren't thought of. In reality, these are the unruly youths who cleared the way for Green Day, Blink-182, Fall Out Boy, and all the other crap out there. Little rant there, but ok.

And now, a review.

Track Listing
1. "Deny Everything" (0:24)
2. "I Just Want Some Skank" (1:09)
3. "Beverly Hills" (1:03)
4. "Operation" (1:29)
5. "Back Against the Wall" (1:34)
6. "Wasted" (0:42)
7. "Behind the Door" (1:25)
8. "World Up My Ass" (1:16)
9. "Paid Vacation" (1:28)
10. "Don't Care" (0:34)
11. "Live Fast Die Young" (1:33)
12. "What's Your Problem" (0:56)
13. "Group Sex" (1:03)
14. "Red Tape" (0:56)

Group Sex fits the American hardcore band stereotype perfectly. Short, fast, to the point cuts that come and go quickly. The album starts out with "Deny Everything," which focuses on being framed and the right of being innocent until proven guilty. The song's twenty-four seconds long. Not that much they can cram in there. "I Just Want Some Skank" is about the speaker of the song who, coincidentally, wants some skank. Can't go wrong there.

"Beverly Hills" focuses on the upper class residents that punks hated so much. The song refers to the residents of Beverly Hills as being "lame" while taking shots at the upper class. The song "Operation" is a little weird. I don't really want to get into it, it's just weird. Really weird, actually. "Back Against the Wall" describes the situation every punk felt they were in. They each felt they were being persecuted for their ideas and lack of conformity. Their backs were against the wall, in essence, and they felt the need to fight back.

"Wasted" is a short little ditty about, you guessed it, being wasted. "Behind the Door" is a bit harder to decipher, but hey, no one really wants to know what goes on behind closed doors. "World Up My Ass" is another song similar to "Back Against the Wall" about punks being told how to act and how they are sick of it. The theme of the album seems to be quite repetitive, but "World Up My Ass" has a cool guitar solo not found anywhere else on the album.

I've never really paid that much attention to "Paid Vacation." I can't find the point to the song. Cool riff and beat to it though. "Don't Care" is pretty simple to figure out however. Can you guess what it's about? "Live Fast Die Young" is not the advice you want to give to young people it seems, but it is the exact mindset of punks in the 1980's. The opening line reads "I don't want to live till I'm 34 / I don't want to die in a nuclear war." The lyrics sing of hopelessness in the era and the seeming doom of the Reagan era.

"What's Your Problem" sings mockingly, "Tell me what's your problem / What you gonna do." Mocks everyone. Ah, the title track, "Group Sex." What's this song about? I think you can guess. The appealing part of this song is the female voices of the chorus shouting "Group sex!" with a spoken word song overtop of it. Probably the best song of the album. "Red Tape" is about red tape and being kept out of certain areas by red tape. The goal of the song seems to be to break down the red tape separating the different social classes.

Well it's late and someone wants to get up and open some presents, so I hope you enjoyed this quick review of a quick album.

Merry Christmas and give it a listen.

Action-Reaction: December 23, 2007

Happy holidays all! Hope you enjoy this week's edition of Action-Reaction. For a little twist, I'll post what song I'm listening to while I write each little thing. Yes, innovative, I know.

Action: Reds trade Hamilton to Rangers for two prospects
Reaction: Josh Hamilton was one of the best stories of 2007 so this move has raised some eyebrows. In 2007, Hamilton batted .292 with 19 home runs and 47 RBIs. The Reds received two top pitching prospects from the Rangers. Moving Hamilton leaves Cincinnati with a hole in centerfield that will either be filled by Ryan Freel or a minor leaguer. Cincinnati filled in the back half of their pitching rotation in acquiring Edinson Volquez and Danny Herrera. I think this move definitely helps Cincinnati as pitching is what the Rangers need more than hitting. I would still expect a big year from Hamilton in the hitter-friendly Ameriquest Field.
Song: Smashing Pumpkins – "Bullet With Butterfly Wings"

Action: Barry Bonds voted Story of the Year by the Associated Press
Reaction: Barry is still getting all the attention he wants. He beat out Michael Vick, Tim Donaghy, the Florida Gators, and SpyGate and received 100 out of 146 first place votes. Ah, yes, feed the monster what it wants: attention.
Song: Thurston Moore – "Hang Out"

Action: TO catches 15^th touchdown pass
Reaction: Does Andy Reid still have to break out the spandex?
Song: We Are Scientists – "Callbacks"

Action: Schottenheimer in no hurry to make NFL return
Reaction: I don't blame him. After what he went through in San Diego, I'd give him all the time in the world.
Song: Silversun Pickups – "Lazy Eye"

Action: Ledger reveals Marion Jones' doping regiment
Reaction: I found this very interesting, as the saga continues. This totally verifies any doubt that Jones was using during her great Olympic performance. As a runner myself, I felt very letdown by her admission as watching her performance at Sydney 2000 was very inspirational.
Song: Sugarcult – "Riot"

Action: FSU will be short 36 players for Music City Bowl
Reaction: That really has to hurt. If you're betting on Florida St. in this one, I might be inclined to switch wagers over to Kentucky. I say 300+ yards and 3 TDs for Andre Woodson.
Song: Pixies – "Debaser"

Action: Marbury files grievance
Reaction: More in the Knicks saga…
Song: Shellac – "Prayer to God"

Action: Peppers inactive vs. Cowboys
Reaction: This is the first game Peppers has missed since 2002. I really have to hand it to this guy. He is a warrior. His production has fallen off recently, but he is still one the best athletes in the game. He is probably the fastest defensive end I have seen. This was a big impact for the Panthers defense.
Song: "A New England" – Billy Brag

Action: Jets place Coles on IR
Reaction: This seems to cap off the Jets season appropriately. There so many great expectations surrounding this team and they flopped. I was expecting a lot out of Coles for my fantasy team, but the lack of consistency at the quarterback position coupled with nagging injuries held Coles to 55 catches for 646 yards and six touchdowns.
Song: Sonic Youth – "(I Got A) Catholic Block)

Action: Tommy Byrne dies at 87
Reaction: Just take a moment out of your holiday shopping and say a quick prayer for the Byrne family.

Thanks for reading!

Happy Festivus to all, and to all a good night!

An Open Letter to the Moderators

Dear Moderators,

I am really pleased with all the positive changes you have made over the past few months, really I am. However, I feel there are two changes I would like to see and that I feel are needed.

First, I propose extending the throwdown deadline to 48 or 72 hours. I classify myself as being notorious for not finishing arguments in allotted time (sorry Cassidy). Having the deadline there gives you the urge to finish it, but 24 hours is unreasonable in my mind. I've already had to forfeit a turn because I missed the deadline of 9:02 PM. I got home from school, changed to go to band practice, got home from band practice for a minute and then went right back out to a wrestling match at my school. I got home at 9:15 PM. I'm not going to let FanNation get in the way of my social life which is what is being done by this 24 hour deadline. I'd like 48 or 72 hours, but not 24. It's too hard when you have a social life.

Second, I would like to see in-group throwdowns added. The perfect guinea pig would be SIFS. The group is large enough (throwdowns barely even get 32 votes anymore either) to have a sufficient voting base and the members are knowledgeable enough to vote on the cases presented, not on the topic. This would be great for tournaments and for the overall morale of participants in throwdowns who feel that people with no knowledge of the subject are affecting the outcome.

Ah, and I have thought of a third: a shared page thing for throwdowns like there is for blogs. Just a few clicks and its sent to a group instead of tedious copying and pasting. This wouldn't really help the spam problem, but it would help prevent our favorite users such as djroxalot from continually FanMailing us individually to look at his arguments (I never do, btw. Nothing against you though).

So yeah, there's a few possible changes you should look at FanNation. Glad I could be of some help. Don't worry, I won't appoint myself to be an official of anything.

Yours truly,

DJ
DJTG_2010
Dr. Cool

Action-Reaction Lite: December 16, 2007

So I don't have that much time this week for Action-Reaction due to a research paper on the relationship between team payroll and team performance due tomorrow and I still have a substantial amount of work left on it. So I'm bringing everyone Action-Reaction Lite.

Action: The winless Dolphins go for their first win today against the Ravens in Miami.
Reaction: This game seems dead even. Both teams have been playing horribly this year, which gives both a chance to win. I would definitely love to see los Dolfines pull out the victory, but it will be really hard for them. I predict that Willis McGahee will have a big day and that Kyle Boller snaps a seven-game road losing streak in Miami.

Action: The New England Patriots host (I think) the New York Jets today in a rematch of the infamous Week 1 game that led to SpyGate.
Reaction: And to think, I picked the Jets to win that Week 1 game 16-13. This game is going to give new meaning to the phrase "playing until the whistle blows." This is going to be ugly. Jets fans, prepare to see some carnage. I'm going to say the Patriots will break 60 or at least 50 today.

Action: Andy Pettitte admits using hGH to help recover from an injury in 2002. Pettitte says the hGH did not help him.
Reaction: This is where it is going to get tough. We are going to have a bunch of players using this explanation. How is baseball going to determine who is lying and who is not? Even more questions…

Action: Padres trade prospects for Jim Edmonds.
Reaction: Hopefully Edmonds has a clean bill of health and can really produce for the Padres. That's speaking as a Padres fan…

Action: 49ers third-stringer Shaun Hill led the Niners to a 20-13 victory over the Bengals.
Reaction: Glad to see a Maryland alum doing well. Has San Francisco found their quarterback?

So yeah, this is pretty lackluster. Deal with it.