iPod Commute Update

Might have been the best morning commute ever, thanks to an iPod that was magical. It was as if my iPod knew exactly what I wanted to hear this morning. Knew exactly what I needed to hear. From the time I got out of my car at the Wantagh station parking lot, until I turned on the lights in my office, here's how it went down:

Hothouse Flowers, Movies: Mellow start to the commute. Cool song about how seeing a great movie is the "closest thing to rock and roll."

Elvis Costello, Lipstick Vogue: Heating things up.

The I-tals, One More Dance: Old-school, classic reggae.

Yes, Starship Trooper: Aside from Pink Floyd, maybe the best headphone band ever. Perfect for chilling out on the train.

The Clash, White Man in Hammersmith Palais: At their best.

Cake, Arco Arena: Cool minute-and-a-half instrumental interlude from a hip band.

Yes, Perpetual Change: Another orchestral classic from Yes more than just kills 14 minutes on the train.

Yellowman, If You Should Lose Me: The ugliest man alive, yet he still claim's to be Jamaica's greatest lover.

Credence Clearwater Revival, Proud Mary: A perfect rock and roll song.

The White Stripes, Take, Take, Take: From the brilliantly-named CD, Get Behind Me, Satan.

Kaiser Chiefs, Oh My God: Proof that I still have an ear for what the kids are listening to these days.

Talking Heads, Air: Most people don't realize that the Talking Heads were once a serious rock band cutting their teeth in clubs like CBGBs. Forget their "Burning Down the House" crap. Get "The Name of This Band is the Talking Heads" and crank it up.

Santana, Life Is for Living: It's Santana. 'Nuff said.

Taj Mahal, West Indian Revelation: Bluesman Taj does it Caribbean-style.

The Clash, Death or Glory: Time to work

Commuter iPod

Here is the first in what will be a series of postings about my iPod and what it means to me. I have a roughly 90-minute commute to and from work, and I could not do it without my iPod. My iPod is loading with about 1,500 songs, almost all of which are great. And many of them mean something to me. So from time to time, I will chronicle my daily comute based on the songs that randomly play along the way. Some have specific memories for me, others just remind me what great taste in music I have. Either way, it's worth sharing.

So here's the first entery, homeward bound on March 20, 2006:

Warren Zevon/Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner: It wasn't until I was a freshman in college when I really got into Zevon's "Excitable Boy." I was listening to this tape over and over on my Walkman one night while studying for an African History test. Believe it or not, I earned an African Studies Certificate at Northwestern. Unfortunately, Zevon singing about Roland serving as a mercenary in the Congo War was about as much African history as I retained.

Kansas/Carry On Wayward Son: I can't remember if it was 1978 or '79, but this was the first concert I ever saw -- Kansas at Madison Square Garden, and it was great. Except my dad took me and two of my buddies, and when we were hanging out outside the Garden before the show, I ran into a few of the cool kids from my junior high school. Of course, they were not escorted by their dad. Don't get me wrong, my dad is probably cooler than most of those guys anyway. But, well, you get the idea.

Led Zeppelin/I Can't Quit You Baby: Any time I hear Zeppelin doing blues, it sounds a little like the Yardbirds with Jimmy Page. And that reminds me that I need to add some Yardbirds to the iPod. (Quick aside: I'm walking down 35th street between Broadway and Seventh Avenue, and I just passed a homeless woman kneeling down to pee on the curb. Love this city.)

Steel Pulse/Macka Splaff: Saw Steel Pulse, an underrated reggae powerhouse, back when they used to have concerts on the pier -- somewhere in the low 40's on the West Side. Great venue for summer concerts. Wish they brought that back.

White Stripes/Little Acorns: Thanks to Chris Yeatts, I've got a lot of White Stripes on my iPod. Always makes me feel a little hip when I hear it.

King Crimson/The Great Deceiver: A bunch of seniors at Northwestern turned me onto King Crimson when I was a freshman, and by the time I was a senior, I was the only one of my friends weird enough to listen to this far-out (but really amazing) group. I recall my friend Jenny, from Wisconsin, would always laugh when I played this song. "Sing hymns, make love, get high, fall dead" ... Yeah, King Crimson was a little out there.

Los Lobos/This Time: How cool is Los Lobos?

Sonia Dada/You Ain't Thinkin' About Me: I have their live album -- so bluesy, so soulful, so good. Makes me wonder why more people haven't heard of them. Oh wait, I know why: Because modern radio sucks and you really have to work hard to find good new music.

Taj Mahal/St. Kitt's Woman: When I started dating my wife, I made her a Taj mixed tape. I'd like to think I'm the first person ever to try to impress a girl with a Taj Mahal mixed tape. But guess what? It worked!

The Jayhawks/Blue: I didn't really care much about "alt-country" until I heard The Jayhawks' "Smile" CD. Still don't. But these guys are really good.

Third World/Talk to Me: How much do I love Third World? On my first trip to Los Angeles, Third World was playing at a club somewhere about 45 minutes from LAX. I took a cab straight from the airport to the club, where I met my friends Paul and Kathy, put my bags in their car and went to the show. And it was awesome, of course.

Steely Dan/Sign in Stranger: Best Steely Dan CD, hands down, is "The Royal Scam."

The Pharcyde/Ya Mama: I like to think that my discerning taste in rap is limited to the really good shit -- Public Enemy, mainly. The Pharcyde is just silly stuff, but I can't bring myself to delete it off the iPod.

White Stripes/As Ugly As I Seem: This is from their latest CD, "Get Behind Me Satan," and this is actually the first time I'm hearing this song. It's an acoustic, melodic tune, different from most anything else the Stripes do. Which is one of the reasons they are so good. Their songs don't all sound the same.

The Clash/Somebody Got Murdered: Remember earlier in this list I mentioned the concerts at the pier in NYC? The Clash, summer of '82 at the Pier. No concert in the history of concerts will ever compare. It ended with a furious rendition of "White Riot" in the face of a driving rain storm. The rain had been pounding in off the Hudson River since the end of the first encore, but the Clash came out two more times. The rain got harder with every note, but the band just got more intense. The fans were not prepared for rain -- it was just one of those summer quickies -- but not a single person left the show. And when it ended, a throng of soaked fans slowly made their way back east toward the subways. And we all just looked at each other in awe of what had just taken place.

Final thoughts from Detroit

A few days late, but here is a bullet-point rundown of some of the Super Bowl week highlights (and a photo of the enormous Marriott Renaissance Center I took Saturday night)...

1) Hands down, highlight of the week was meeting my boyhood idol, Jim Zorn, at the Commissioner's Party Friday night. The annual lavish affair was held at the Henry Ford Museum. Great setting, and plenty of big-name stars, but nothing compared with the chance to meet Zorn. And yes, I did tell him that he was my absolute favorite football player when I was a kid. Zorn was very friendly, proudly attending the party with his brand-new son-in-law. I've been fortunate enough to meet a lot of famous athletes over the years, but I honestly don't think I've ever been as excited as I was to meet Zorn. Very, very cool. And I'm pretty sure that he did not take out a restraining order.

2) Before the Commissioner's party, we went to a pre-party reception at the Henry Ford Estate -- a much smaller affair mainly for some of the NFL Network affiliates. It was nice enough, until I innocently ventured into the Ford library and got cornered by an estate volunteer who proceeded to tell me the history of the room and every book in it. Did you know that Henry Ford's wife was an avid gardener? I do.

3) Full disclosure: I ran into my old friend Bob Glauber of Newsday several times throughout the week. We talked about a lot of things, but I was not the NFL source who told him about Joe Montana demanding $100,000 to appear at the pregame parade of former Super Bowl MVPs. You'll note that when Glauber broke that story two days after the game, he quoted a "high-ranking NFL source" -- not a "mid-level publishing peon."

4) Super Sunday is the one day I can really sleep a little late... so it came as no surprise that Gil Brandt woke me up with an 8 am call to our room. Anyway, it soon became apparent that not everybody sleeps late on Super Sunday morning. I met Gil down in the lobby at 8:45, and in a 20-minute period, I walked past Steve Young, Michael Irvin, Jerry Rice and Bill Belichick, among others.

5) Poor Randi. I was happy she made herself an appointment for a massage Friday afternoon, but it turned out to be a nightmare. There was no way this "masseuse" was licensed -- she was pinching and tickling more than anything else, and clearly didn't know what she was doing. But matters soon became worse. I called Randi and told her to meet me on the third floor of the hotel, because Phil Simms and Troy Aikman were there and I wanted to introduce her. "No!" she screamed. Turned out the masseuse slathered her in gallons of oil, and it was still all over her face and hair. Had to run upstairs and get cleaned up before meeting Simms and Aikman. Fortunately, those guys were still around when she made it back down and she got to meet them. But it didn't erase the trauma of being borderline violated during the massage.

6) Have to say I was very pleased with the final result of the Nick Bakay Blog. It was my idea to get Bakay, the talented actor/comic/writer/executive producer of "King of Queens" to write a blog for SuperBowl.com, and he did a terrific job. Super mix of humorous football commentary and off-the-field observations. His homage to Buffalo wings was awesome. Here's the link: http://www.superbowl.com/features/bakay

7) Leigh Steinberg party was interesting. First time I've ever gotten shaved at a party. As the number of Steinberg's big-name clients decreases every year, the number of sponsors for his annual party increases. One of them was Gillette, promoting its new five-blade, battery powered Fusion razor. So they had a couple of chairs set up and were giving shaves (and a cool bag of Gillette products for those who got shaved). It was fun, but I was a little scared -- not about being cut. That little clown Mo Rocca was hovering nearby with a camera crew, and I was sure I'd be stuck in this chair being asked dumb questions and looking like an idiot on The Tonight Show. Did my best not to make eye contact, and thankfully Mo kept walking.

8) A few hours before Super Bowl kickoff, I was in a packed Ford Field elevator heading up to the press box. There was a smallish woman dressed in Steelers garb complaining loudly that the elevator was too crowded as we left the ground floor. So when the elevator stopped at 2, she started yelling, "We're full! No room! Can't come in!" And she continued to say this as NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, his wife, and NY Governor Pataki proceeded to squeeze into the elevator. After that trio got off on the fourth level, someone asked the woman if she had any idea who they were. She did not.

9) Never a surprise to see a slew of actors from TV shows that air on the network that's broadcasting the Super Bowl. But I'm still surprised that the cast of FX's The Shield was at the Tailgate Party before the game. I'm not complaining, because The Shield is one of the best shows on TV. I saw the actor who plays Lemanski, and even though I don't even know his real name I thought that was cool. FYI, he wears the same beaded necklace in real life that Lemanski wears on the show.

10) After the Steinberg party, we just went back to the hotel, had a nice dinner and walked around downtown for a while. After much effort, I had gotten us on the list for the Sports Illustrated party, but it was like a 40-minute drive with no traffic, and the roads were a total mess so we opted out. I had also tried unsuccessfully to get tickets to the NFL's sponsorship party -- always a tough ticket. I always feel awkward asking various co-workers for tickets to these events. So I definitely appreciate the fact that Matt Hill in PR found two for me (needed three, so I was almost there). I also appreciate others who tried to steer me in the right direction, or at least responded to my request with a "Sorry, got nothing." Everyone was cool, except for the one putz -- who shall remain nameless -- who decided he didn't even have to get back to me with a no. You know who you are.

Quickie notes

Getting busy here on Wednesday afternoon, but just wanted to provide these short updates...

1) Apparently, the Renaissance Center folks have heard the cries of the media. On my way up to our SuperBowl.com offices this morning, I noticed the following sign at the foot of the escalator: "Ren Center Directional Tours." Nice gesture, but unless there is free food and beer at the end of the tour, I find it hard to believe anyone is going to take them up on the offer.

2) Today is the day when players and celebrities really start making the rounds at Radio Row. In five minutes this morning, I walked past Terry Bradshaw, Eric Dickerson, Boomer Esiason and a few others. But I'm extremely saddened to report that the biggest throng of fans I saw out there was a swarm of people just outside the media area following Rob Schneider.

Rob Schneider? Are you kidding me? Not only did he have an entourage, but people were chasing after him for autographs, and as he rode the escalator up one level, a bunch of morons seated below yelled up to him, "Hey, Animal!! You're the greatest!"

Good lord, what has become of us?

Lost in the Renaissance Center

Forgot to mention this great item from a Super Bowl XL notebook in Tuesday's Detroit News. It sums up perfectly the circular maze that is the Cetroit Marriott Renaissance Center. Reminds me all day long of the scene in Spinal Tap when the band islost trying to find the stage ata Cleveland show... "Helllooo Cleveland!!!" Enjoy...

Renaissance Center maze is confounding reporters
Visiting reporters are busy doing their jobs at the media headquarters at the Renaissance Center. That is, if they can find their way in the confusing arrangement of circular building pods.
Most reporters have looked lost at least once, twice, five, six times since Super Bowl week commenced in earnest Monday.

"I asked a lady at the information desk where the Ambassador Room (at the Marriott) was," said John Adams , columnist from the Knoxville (Tenn.) News-Sentinel. "She said, 'It's really easy.' I said, 'It couldn't be really easy. I have a clinically bad sense of direction, and I've been lost in this hotel for two days.' She said, 'Well, you have to understand the pod system,' and then, on a notepad, she drew a diagram with four pods and explained the Marriott is directly connected to the pods."

The confusion continued.

"I asked her, 'We're on Level 2, right?' And she wasn't sure," Adams said. "She knew the pod system, but she couldn't tell me what level we were on."

Gotta love it.

Detroit - Day 2

Before I relate my less-than-exciting experience of meeting boyhood idol Jim Zorn, I've just got this one comment: Gilbert Gottfried was making a spectacle of himself for some reason at Media Day this afternoon, and I had one thought. If I killed this guy -- went right up to him and shot him point blank in front of 3,000 assembled media -- I'd like to think I would be a national hero.

Seriously, he is loud, obnoxious and - worst of all -- NOT FUNNY. I was listening to someone talking near a podium at the end of the Steelers' media session, and Gottfried had commandeered an empty podium and for some unknown reason people were actually listening to him and asking him questions. Someone asked him who would win the game, to which he replied in his raspy, nails-on-a-chalkboard voice: "I don't know... either the Steelers or the Seahawks!

Please... somebody... kill this man.

On to better things... I guess I have mixed feelings about my brief encounter with Jim Zorn today. The bad news is that he was actually pretty busy with a steady stream of reporters looking to ask him questions -- which meant that I couldn't casually interrupt and say, "Hey Jim, you're the greatest!" ... The good news is that it was great to see that Zorn is getting his due here this week. Folks asked him about how great it feels to be here at the Super Bowl after being the face of the team back when it was born.

"We were forever the underdogs," Zorn recalled about the early days in Seattle -- which is only fitting to point out seeing as they are underdogs here in the Super Bowl.

I didn't get to introduce myself, but I did mention that I had interviewed him when he started his coaching career at Boise State in 1991, and that he said back then that he hoped to someday be back with the Seahawks as a coach. Amazingly, Zorn pointed out that he's actually been a coach now longer than he was a player.

Okay, enough of my idolatry. One other person I spoke to here at Media Day was John Walsh - not sure what his title is these days at ESPN, but he is basically the Godfather of all things editorial at ESPN, and he's been there from the start. I was anxious to talk to him about a common acquaintance, the late, great Frank Ross -- the original stats guru for ESPN and one of the most original characters you could ever meet.

Since we were talking at the ABC/ESPN press conference, Walsh told me one serious memory he had about Frank... Frank Ross had worked with the Oakland Raiders briefly in the 1970s, and when John Madden first got hired as a broadcaster with CBS Sports, John asked Frank what he thought. "Madden," Frank said at the time, "will be the best NFL color analyst in the world."

Impressive, yes, but just know that Frank was on some kind of hard drug 75 percent of his waking hours, so I'm not sure it was an idea formulated from any real insight.

Pet peeve of the day: So the National Anthem is being performed by Aretha Franklin, Aaron Neville and Doctor John.. Aretha and Aaron seem to be getting all the pub - which is really unfair since Doctor John -- Mack Rebinak, aka The Night Tripper -- is the real main attraction there.

Welcome to Detroit

I was all set to begin my Super Bowl XL blogs yesterday, then I realized I have to be careful what I say. As an NFL employee, I can't really talk about bad weather, drunken debauchery, incompetent co-workers and the like.

The good news is that after one day here in Detroit, I really don't have any of those things to report. The bad news is that it doesn't make for great reading without those things. What can I say?

Weather was not bad Monday, but I do see they're calling for cold and snow on Super Bowl Sunday. Woo-hoo.

I saw an NFL Films show last night on the Seattle Seahawks, and the first seven minutes -- which chronicled the early years of the expansion franchise -- made NO MENTION of quarterback Jim Zorn.

Are you kidding me? Well, fine. Screw 'em. This morning is Media Day at the Super Bowl, and I will gladly be introducing myself to Zorn, Seattle's quarterbacks coach. I will say, "Hello, Coach Zorn, any chance you remember when I interviewed you back in 1991 when you were an assistant coach at Boise State University? Do you remember when I mentioned that I was assuredly the only 15-year-old kid in Queens, NY, back in 1980 who owned a Jim Zorn Seahawks jersey?"

I will continue: "Coach Zorn, back in August, I wrote a column on nfl.com in which I called you the greatest lefty quarterback in NFL history... and I meant it. Even after Boomer Esiason sent me a semi-nasty email saying that I must have forgotten about him."

I'm not sure what I'll say after that, but I have a feeling that Zorn will be calling security shortly thereafter.

Look, I've been jaded over the years, covering Super Bowls and Hall of Fame ceremonies and getting to see and sometimes meet some very famous athletes. But Zorn was the guy I loved when I had no idea I'd ever meet any of these guys.

If you don't remember Zorn, here's all you need to know: He played with the scrambling zeal of Fran Tarkenton -- except he never played on a team with the kind of talent that Tark's Minnesota Vikings ever had. He played on an expansion team, and while he had Hall of Fame receiver Steve Largent as a target, there was little else. Zorn made things happen, and the Seahawks were fairly successful for an expansion team. While the Buccaneers, who came ito existence at the same time, lost every game thay played for just about two entire seasons, Zorn and the Seahawks were both competitive and exciting.

That's enough football talk for you. If there is not a restraining order on me after today, I will let you know how the meeting goes.

One last note: I do have Gil Brandt on my side on this one. Gil signed Zorn to the Cowboys out of college, and he was part of the package that Dallas sent to Seattle in exchange for 1976 first-round draft pick Tony Dorsett. "Anything you want from Zorn, you just let me know," Gil said last night at dinner.

Anything?

Tip of the week: Tom's Porter is not nearly as dark or rich as a porter ale should be. Should have stuck with the Guinness.

Go Seahawks!

I'll just start by saying that I am a New York Giants fan, first and foremost. I'm not going to look silly and tell people that I'm a die-hard Seahawks fan now that they've finally reached the Super Bowl, but I will say this: I became a Seattle fan in 1978 when I was a 13-year-old going nuts for fellow lefty Jim Zorn. And since Zorn is now the quarterbacks coach for the current Seahawks, I'm still rooting for them.

And just so you know I'm not making this up, let me share the following e-mail that I received just this morning from the younger brother of an old friend of mine -- a kid who was an 11-year-old camper of mine back in the summer of 1984 (and someone I haven't seen or heard from in over 10 years):

"Craig-- I dont remember much, but I do remember a certain camp counselor who's favorite NFL team is about to embark on a journey to the big dance...yes, my friend..i write to congratulate you on your Seahawks movement into the superbowl......im rooting for them... hope this email finds you well..."

Last week I heard from someone who remembered that I used to have a Jim Zorn jersey. Now I ask you: How many kids growing up in Queens, NY, in the early '80s do you think owned a Jim Zorn jersey, let alone any Seattle merchandise?

One more note: I've got a clip of mine from College & Pro Football Newsweekly back in 1991 in which I wrote about Zorn when he broke into coaching as an assisitant at Boise State. Wrote about how exciting he was, how he averaged 3,200 yards passing from 1978-81, scrambling all the while behind an expansion offensive line. Stud.

In conclusion, NFL security might want to keepa close watch on Zorn next week in Detroit. If you hear him say anything about a stalker, it might just be me.

Go Seahawks!

College football magic

Wow. That's all you can say about last night's colossal Rose Bowl win by Texas, as Vince Young almost single-handedly toppled the USC dynasty. With Heisman Trophy winners Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush leading the Trojan charge for a third straight national title, Young produced 467 yards of total offense and willed the Longhorns to victory. And more important than the breakdown and analysis of the game is this simple fact: It was one of the most entertaining games in college football history.

I'm not going to put them in order, but if Texas 41, USC 38 is in my top 5 college football games of all time, here are the other four (note: these are just games I have seen personally, which is why you don't see the 1979 Cotton Bowl or Flutie's Hail Mary, etc.):

Miami 31, Nebraska 30 (1984 Orange Bowl)
The game that started Miami's dominance of college football for the next decade, the Hurricanes were prohibitive underdogs against the Nebraska juggernaut. Tom Osborne has never gotten enough credit for going to two at the end of the game. Down 31-24, Nebraska scored in the final seconds. Settling for a tie would have given the undefeated Huskers the national championship, but Osborne went for the win anyway. And didn't make it.

BYU 52, San Diego State 52 (1991)
This game put ESPN's Thursday night football on the map, as these WAC powers put up 1,462 yards of total offense. BYU's Ty Detmer passed for 599 yards and six TDs. SDSU's Marshall Faulk ran for two TDs and caught two more. It was the most electrifying game in Faulk's legendary college career.

BYU 28, Miami 21 (1990)
The 1990 season-opener basically won Ty Detmer the Heisman. Facing the top-ranked Hurricanes, who boasted the best defense in the nation, Detmer seemingly had eyes behind his head. Warren Sapp and company were gasping for air in the Utah altitude, producing a fierce pass rush only to see Detmer release the ball just as they were closing in on him. Detmer picked apart the Canes all night in one of the most underrated individuakl performances ever.

Boston College 41, Notre Dame 39 (1993)
I had been dating Randi for a few months at the time of this game, when I made her watch it with me at her folks' house. Now, Randi is not a football fan, so this could have been a rocky moment in the relationship. But Glenn Foley had the game of his life as BC stunned the top-ranked Irish. Randi and I got engaged eight months later.

If you've got other great games you think should be on the list, feel free to chime in!