I Want This Car

My pal Trifecta is keeping his fingers crossed for the Saleen S7, but I’m willing to settle for this little gem making its USA debut sometime in the Spring of 2008. The BMW 1 Series will come in two models—the 128i and the 135i. The 128i features a 220-hp engine and will start at roughly $26k. And the 135i boasts a 300-hp engine (0-62 mph in 5.3 seconds) and starts at $31k.

Basically, the 1 series is BMW’s USA-friendly version of the European compact car. It’s about time Americans got on board with the less is more philosophy. I can understand wanting a Suburban or a Club Wagon for big families or if you’re hauling stuff, but the average U.S. consumer needs to reevaluate his/her roadway needs. Every time I see a single-manned H2 or Ford Expedition or some other gas guzzling behemoth, I cringe at the inefficiency. Little known fact: Millionaire and litigator extraordinaire, Leo Beus, owns several sport and luxury cars but his transportation of choice for his daily commute from Ahwatukee to Scottsdale is the Toyota Prius, because it allows him access to the HOV lane and it gets between 40 and 60 MPG.
Mercedes made its US compact foray in 2001 with the Sportcoupe, a smaller, three-door version of the popular C-class, but they experienced lackluster sales due to high prices and (at that time) less sensitivity to fuel prices and environmental conditions and they stopped selling the model in the U.S. in 2005. But since then the Mini Cooper—which is made by BMW and was launched in the U.S. in 2002—has proved consumers will buy well-designed premium small cars. In 2006, the company sold 39,171 of its Mini Cooper models, currently the smallest car on the U.S. market. The 1 Series will fill the void between the zany Mini Cooper and the pricey 3 Series, both in size and in target markets.

I’m still not sure what the fuel efficiency statistics are for the BMW 1 Series but from what I’ve seen so far, I want this car.

Notes:

Motor Trend Review - BMW 1 Series

Wall Street Journal Article - "Small is Big in Luxury Cars"
I also think the new Honda Accord is pretty cool. And it’s surprisingly powerful to boot.

RE: RIP MLB

So JTL couldn’t see the beauty in the Red Sox’s road to the championship. I guess he wasn’t impressed by the (h)uuuge Manny Ramirez walk-off homer in game 2 of the ALDS off one of the toughest closers in K-Rod, or by Boston overcoming a 3-1 deficit thanks to one of the more brilliant pitching performances (Josh Beckett 8IP, 1ER, 11K) I’ve ever witnessed, or by doing what no National League team could do: slay the purple Barneys and put an end to the Rockies’ incredible (but annoying) streak of 21 wins in their last 22 games. Admittedly, it was an amazing feat and I’m glad that the people of Colorado were able to witness it (though I would bet about 80% of the fans didn’t even realize they had a streak going until they won about 10 straight) but by no means was the baseball world ready to accept the COLORADO ROCKIES as its crowned victor. That would have been the real tragedy. There are few things worse than a team building up momentum, dominating their opponents, and then inexplicably crumbling on the championship stage (see 2006 Detroit Tigers, 05/06 Dallas Mavericks). The Red Sox were the right team to win the 2007 World Series. They were the best from the beginning to the end and they had the character, the talent, and the drive to be the champs.

OK, so you’re going to say, “yeah, they deserved to be the champs, but only because they paid the hefty price tag”. Well that may be true but can you blame a team for making every attempt to reward its devoted fans with the one thing they covet: a championship. The MLB, just like the NBA and the NFL, is a business, and to the extent that spending gobs of money makes sense from a business model perspective and you can absorb the payroll and handle the 40-cents-on-the-dollar luxury tax, then why not play to compete? I applaud the Red Sox and the Yankees and the other high rollers for finding creative ways to work around the barriers (TV contracts, merchandise revenue, paying $51 million non-refundable just so your opponents can’t negotiate with an international pitching phenom, etc.). The one thing the MLB has taught is that teams that want to win will find ways to win.

And if you’re upset about the Yanks & Sox snatching all the attention, you should be happy to hear about all the drama being shifted over to L.A. I’ll admit, the 07 series was a downer if you didn’t happen to be a Sox fan or a Rockies hater, but that’s no reason to blow up about the state of the game. The Red Sox were bound to get all the attention they did by sweeping the World Series, and when the sport’s biggest superstar decides to stick it to one of the most storied franchises at the same time, then as a sports fan you’re just going to have to endure some Sox/Yanks coverage.

Let’s take a look at the most recent winners of the World Series and where they ranked on the highest team payroll list:

2001 (Diamondbacks #8)
2002 (Angels #15)
2003 (Marlins #25 at $48MM)
2004 (Red Sox #2)
2005 (White Sox #13 vs Astros #12)
2006 (Cardinals #11 vs Tigers #14)
2007 (Red Sox #2 vs Rockies #25; runners-up: Diamondbacks #26; and Indians #23)

Comments:

Out of 30 total MLB franchises, the 25th highest-paid team, the 2003 Florida Marlins, beat the Yankees in 6; In 2007, 3 of the final 4 teams were in the BOTTOM quartile salary wise; Only one team has won twice since 2000
In the NFL, the Patriots won 3 years straight until the Colts won last year. This year? Looks like it will be the Colts or Pats.
In the NBA, the Spurs have won 3 times in the past 5 years

Here are some things that suck about the NFL that don’t suck about MLB:

• Too often, the final outcome comes down to a pesky, little, single-coil-helmet, mismatching-shoes, cupless, padless, field goal kicker who probably used to get picked last on the playground. The NFL needs to enforce a rule that field goals are illegal once you reach the 2-min mark in the 4th quarter.
• The Challenge thing has gotten out of hand. So the game already lasts like 4 hours with only 20 or so minutes of real, onfield action. Now some dude throws a little red flag out of his pocket and the refs go into some space travel simulator machine and spend like 5 minutes watching replays even though everyone in America already knows the real outcome. I hope baseball doesn’t allow for replay reviews. Being subject to the refs/umpires and their human imperfection is part of sports.
• The whole calling a timeout right before a field goal attempt is annoying
• Helmet-banging, muscle-flexing, touchdown-dancing abound…much too much.

Here are some things that suck about the NBA that don’t suck about MLB:

• Contact sport. I think they should reduce the foul limit to 3 per player. Too many players just break up the flow of what would otherwise be a beautiful game when they hack someone going up for a bucket just because they have 6 fouls to give. Nobody ever thinks they committed a foul and they always think they got fouled when they’re running back up the court jawing off to the ref. That’s why I’ve enjoyed watching Kevin Durant so far. He just plays his game and leaves the officiating to the refs. I wonder how long it will last. I also hate the charge/block call. I don’t know what the solution is for that one.
• The tattoos are getting out of control. I think the Denver Nuggets have like 200 tattoos between them. The only cool tattoos are Tom Gugliota’s barbed wire tattoo and Stephen Jackson’s new tattoo of the Warriors logo across his torso.

I’m not down on the NFL or the NBA. I just think that baseball is still beautiful and the Red Sox winning is no reason to think less of the game. 4 straight lopsided world series just has people in a tizzy.
Red Sox payroll
NBA 06/07 Team Salaries
NFL 2006 Team Salaries
MLB 2007 Team Salaries

Back On Top

Congratulations to the 2007 Boston Red Sox, winners of the 103rd World Series. Now with their 7th title they are only 19 away from the Yankees’ 26 titles. Suddenly, with the way these two teams are heading, that doesn’t seem like such an insurmountable disparity. Since losing to the Diamondbacks in a game 7 come-from-behind victory, the Yankees have reached the postseason 6 times and have lost all 6 times, advancing to the World Series only once. Last night, as the Sox were about 6 outs away from winning their 2nd world series in 4 years, Ken Rosenthal reported that Alex Rodriguez, who is widely considered “the best baseball player”, would opt out of his contract and would be leaving the Yankees based on uncertainty about the organization’s future—namely the expiring contracts of Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte, and the departure of Joe Torre.

As I digested what this news implied about the Yankees-Red Sox dynamic, the Sox’s 4-1 lead narrowed to 4-3 in the 8th inning off a Garret Atkins 2-run homer served up by Hideki Okajima (who just happened to be overworked but otherwise had a phenomenal postseason). Fortunately, the new and improved curse-free Sox don’t let anything break their spirits in this post-2004 ALCS era, and they called on Jonathon Papelbon who came in and shut down the Rockies plain and simple, retiring 5 straight batters, including a strikeout on Seth Smith to seal the victory.

In the post-game analysis Peter Gammons was asked about the irony of an A-Rod announcement on the same day as the clinching game of the World Series and called Rodriguez out as a “buyer beware” commodity who’s more into the A-Rod show than the game itself. He went on to basically call him a loser who isn’t able to win the big game. With a potential vacancy at third base for the Red Sox in Mike Lowell (who, thankfully, Theo Epstein says he’s sure they’ll resign), is this the kind of guy I want on the team? I’ll pass. Better to let him exit the AL East and do his regular season damage elsewhere just in time to forget his bat when the postseason rolls around.

Anyways, I’m getting off topic here. The important thing to note is that the Red Sox dominated the 2007 regular season just as they dominated the 2007 post season, and the emergence of their young players (Pedroia, Ellsbury, Papelbon, Lester, Buchholz) along with their incorporation of the Asian world (via Matsuzaka and Okajima and their interpreter who gets to sit in the dugout) and the consistency of their veteran players all indicate that they’re just going to get better and better. Meanwhile, the Yankees just had an ugly fallout with one of the most successful managers of all time, had their collective face spat upon by the game’s best player, and are left just hoping that some of their unsigned players still value the Yankee mystique enough to re-sign. The Yanks still have plenty of up-and-comers stashed away and I’m sure the Steinbrenner Sons won’t just squander the franchise but it will be interesting to see not only if the Evil Empire has the patience to sacrifice some championships to develop their youngsters, but also if they can regain their former swagger.

Here’s to 19 more titles in my lifetime.

Music Review (10/10/07)

Radiohead: In Rainbows

Yes, the new Radiohead album is out, and it’s solely available through their website. If you haven’t heard, the band have established their own distribution model, allowing consumers to pick their price. In case you’re curious, I elected to pay £4 (with a £0.45 service charge). I wouldn’t worry too much about reports that the files are below cd-grade quality; at 160 kbps you’re still getting pristine sounding files that are superior to the 128 kbps mp3’s most of us are accustomed to.

There comes a point when you have to concede that Radiohead is the best act around. I realize that band comparison requires some measure of subjectivity but with the works of art they put out one album after another, nobody else can even touch them. ‘In Rainbows’ is no exception to their long streak of non-disappointing LP’s. In fact, I’m surprised at how good it is, even given their track record. After first listen (and without accounting for the bias of not compensating for the discounting factors of time and repeat listens) I’m ready to declare that ‘In Rainbows’ is the best album EVER. Yes that's right. Ever. OK, maybe that's a little extreme but I don't remember ever connecting with an album this fast. Give me another week to qualify my declaration.

The record has an eclectic blend of jazzy guitar riffs and dance-pop drum beats—I’m guessing Thom Yorke is really into his one-handed, open-palmed, wrist-twisting dancing these days, and a lot of the tracks appeal to that dancy, head-shaky feel. The sonic experience is incomparable. I read an article about how the band were working to incorporate this technology where the tracks are recorded through a true-to-life dummy head (making the proper calculations for the distance between human ears and such) so as to create the illusion that the listener is actually in the recording studio with the artists. Radiohead have mastered sound layering and this album in particular does a phenomenal job of layering strings and basslines and drums and computer beats and Thom’s melodic voice into one ethereal sound experience. And the best part is: they have 8 more songs to be released (hopefully through the same distribution system) sometime around Dec. 3. Long Live Radiohead!

Key Tracks:

15 Step – They always know how to start their albums off with a kick-A track #1. This song features an excellent guitar riff and an infectious beat throughout. I could listen to this one on repeat for a long time.

Weird Fishes/Arpeggi – This track is a more gentle version than I was expecting based on the angular, guitar-heavy version I heard live. But I love it all the same. I’m baffled as to how Jonny/Thom can sustain that intricate picking pattern through the whole track.

Faust Arp – I dig how they blend the acoustic guitar in with the strings ensemble. This is one of their more feely, melodic songs, and I think it might even be about love. Imagine that.

Reckoner - This has to be my favorite song from the album. I lose it when the piano kicks in. As Chris J. noted, "Betta Reckonize!!".

Rating: 9.8

Twain-Thousand-and-Seven MLB Playoffs

Let us collectively cleanse ourselves of the 2005 (White Sox vs. Astros) and 2006 (Tigers vs. Cardinals) World Series and start anew with this promising cast of 2007 players. Let’s take a look at the matchups and make some prognostications, shall we:

American League:

LA Angels @ Boston Red Sox: These two teams faced each other in ‘04 and the Angels were swept thanks to a game 3 walk-off homer by David Ortiz to combat Vlad Guerrero’s grand slam. Both these teams feature a strong 3-man pitching rotation and deep bullpens, but where the Angels attack with small-ball and opportunistic baserunning, the Red Sox counter with sluggers and new-and-improved defense. This series will make me nostalgic for the days when Orlando Cabrera played shortstop for the Sox.
Prediction: Red Sox in 4

NY Yankees @ Cleveland Indians: The Indians have the best 1-2 punch pitching tandem (of late) in C.C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona, but the Yankees have the most intimidating lineup in baseball. Look for Bobby Abreu to take some 40-pitch AB’s, Derek Jeter to hit some flare singles the other way with runners in scoring position, and Giambino to inject some HGH in his buttocks and cue-shot some go-ahead dingers over the short porch in right. Just thinking about the dreaded Yankees gets my blood pressure rising. Let’s hope they get eliminated early enough that I don’t need to watch them play in the later rounds at all. Everyone will be watching A-Rod, who is roughly 5 for 46 since the Dave Roberts stolen base in game 4 of the 2004 ALCS, but has also had one of the most amazing seasons statistically in baseball history.
Prediction: Yankees in 5

National League:

Colorado Rockies @ Philadelphia Phillies: A miraculous comeback for the Rocks winning 14 of their last 15 to leapfrog the Padres into a Wild Card berth. I’m excited for them, but not that excited. They still wear purple. Both teams are riding hot streaks coming into the playoffs and both rely on their heavy hitters to win ballgames. But I’ve got to give the advantage to the Phils since they have a big lefty by the name of Ryan Howard, and arguably the NL MVP in Jimmy Rollins (139 runs scored and 88 extra base hits from a NL shortstop).
Prediction: Phillies in 5

Chicago Cubs @ Arizona Diamondbacks: What a great matchup. I can’t get over how cool it is that the Baby Backs made the playoffs—and won the NL pennant no less. The D-backs have at least 4 extremely bright, young talents in Chris Young (nearly a 30HR 30SB man), Stephen Drew, Mark “Reynoldinho” Reynolds, and Justin Upton (still making the transition to the bigs but a 5-tool, raw athlete with huge upside). The pressure will be on the AZ pitching staff fronted by Brandon Webb to contain the big bats of Alfonso Soriano (who had a monster September), Aramis Ramirez, and Derrek Lee. I’m not too worried about the Cubs pitching staff but the youthful bats of the Dbacks could go cold at any minute; let’s hope they don’t.
Prediction: Dbacks in 5

The most exciting part of all of this is the prospect of a heartbreakless Dbacks - Red Sox World Series. But the awkwardness between my brothers, my dad, and me might be too much to bear. Watching the Red Sox – White Sox series in 2005 with Chris J. taught me never to watch with friends when your teams are opposing each other with the season on the line. The worst case scenario this year would be a Rockies – Yankees World Series with the Yankees sweeping. I’ll be at the Dbacks games tonight (10 ET) and tomorrow (10 ET) so look for me on TBS.

In the words of the immortal Dane Cook, “There’s only one OctOber.”