A few weeks ago Ashley came home from work and we were having our usual afternoon “catch up” talk and she said “New Kids On The Block are getting back together!” I looked at her funny and said “Ashley, no they are not.” She again insisted they were. Well, she was right…

I really hope they update their sound to more of an AC (Adult Contemporary) sound since they are now adults. By the way, my wife went and saw them in their hayday as a teenie-bop and oh yes, she wants to go again…Dear God, please don’t let the New Kids On The Block come within a 500 mile radius of Gadsden, Alabama. Amen.

Also, Danny Wood (the guy on the right) looks like a monkey.

Adam or Erik will have to help me out here but I believe there is a “man law” that gets me out of going to this concert if it happens.

**UPDATED: Adam commented…”Man Law: You do not have to attend any concert where there will be 5 dancing men on stage.”

That settles it.

I realize that I have already posted today but I just watched something that made the baseball player in me come alive. Today was the Boston Red Sox home opener and they also presented the team with their World Championship rings from the previous year. It was just a great day for the “nation” all in all. But, perhaps the most awesome, grateful thing I saw was the ovation the fans gave the individual who threw out the first pitch…former Red Sox first basemen, Bill Buckner.

Now for those of you who don’t follow baseball, Bill Buckner was the guy who let the ball literally roll between his legs in game 6 of the 1986 World Series. Here is the play (posted by a Mets fan btw)…

Boston led the best-of-7 series 3 games to 2, and had a two-run lead with two outs in the bottom of the tenth inning. New York came back to tie the game with three straight singles off Calvin Schiraldi and a wild pitch by pitcher Bob Stanley. Mookie Wilson fouled off several pitches before hitting a ground ball to Buckner at first base. The ball rolled under Buckner’s glove, through his legs, and into right field, allowing Ray Knight to score the winning run, forcing a seventh game, which the Mets won.

Keep in mind that the Boston Red Sox have only recently won their first World Series in over 70 something years, I think, in 04 and then last season. Ever since that day in 1986, Bill Buckner has been remembered (mainly by the media) only for this one play in that one game of the World Series. The media has made him out to be the enemy of Boston…these are mainly writers who have never put on a jock strap in their lives much less play an inning of baseball or any other organized sport for that matter but are suddenly an expert and pass judgement on a human being for making a physical error in a tough sport….man, I could preach sermon a on this right now but I won’t.

Here is the tragedy…Bill Buckner was a great Major League Baseball player. He finished his career with a almost .300 average, over 2700 hits and over 1200 RBI, a batting title, etc…a great career in an extremely….let me stress that again…an EXTREMELY difficult game. The single hardest thing to do athletically is hit a baseball, period. There is nothing tougher than hitting a round ball with a round bat and hitting that ball “square.” Trust me on this one. I could write an entire other post about the difficulty, yet greatness, of baseball…and I just may later.

However, today the Boston Red Sox fans stood to their feet and gave Bill Buckner a 4 minute ovation. WOW! This is exactly what he deserves. It wasn’t his fault they lost the 86′ series and the FANS know that…the media has made it out to be the exact opposite. Buckner stood there obviously emotionally moved…it was just a great scene. Afterwards, he said he never had animosity towards the fans…only the media but that he forgave them for what they had put him and his family through. Unbelievable…what a man! You could just tell it was an awesome day for him to come back to Fenway. Someone has already posted a video of the first pitch today…

Finally, here’s one for a “what if”…Did you know that Game 7 of that same 86′ series ended with the Red Sox down by only 1, with a runner on 2nd and the batter struck out for the 3rd out to end the game. Guess who was on deck?…Bill Buckner.

I am predicting that many UGA fans will move towards the black for their gameday t-shirt of choice this upcoming season. At least that’s what the stores are counting on.

By the way, I got the mower out of the mud.

One of my favorites, Third Day, released their new single to radio today. Let’s just see how long it takes for this one to go to #1. These guys kill me…everything they do is awesome…you gotta love em’. Go listen to “Call My Name” at www.myspace.com/thirdday…you’ll love it!

So I ended the day today by finding out that our current single, “Glorious King,” had moved up to #12 this week on the Christian Radio Weekly Independent Chart. This is so exciting because it is only our second week at these reporting stations. Hopefully, it will keep moving up and we will have a top 5 song at GMA. Anyway, I was feeling pretty good…not quite ridin’ high but still feeling pretty good. I then proceded to head out into the yard and cut grass, weed eat, etc. I’m beep boopin’ around rockin’ out to R.E.M. Live on my iPod and turn the corner to head into the backyard and…

My yard drains worse than any other piece of property on our street…we sit at the low point. I thought it was going to be dry enough to cover the whole yard but no. Now, I could have gotten my truck out there and pulled it out but with the place it was sitting in the yard I would’ve then had a stuck vehicle as well.

I pretty much went from cool as the other side of the pillow to mad as a rattlesnake. Oh well, I’ll finish it tomorrow. Also, Robby won the movie quote…Braveheart. I still think the level of play needs to be raised…and it shall be next week.

Ashley is cooking supper…things are looking up again.

We watched one of my favorite historical movies yesterday, JFK. If you have never seen it I highly suggest you take the time and watch it. Its very interesting and brings up some good points and theories. My favorite scene is the final court room scene at the end of the movie. Here is that scene:

We had a great weekend of laziness and watching TV, mainly the Braves. I am going to need it…long week coming up for the FDL boys. Ashley and I went and ate at one of our favorites, Struts, on Saturday. I snapped a photo on the phone.

If you are thinking the Movie Quote tomorrow will come from JFK, you are wrong…but the degree of difficulty will be elevated.

The future of music blog that I regularly read had this to say about EMI’s recent big hire:

“EMI has hired Douglas Merrill from Google to head up its overall digital music group. The hiring of Merrill, Googles former CIO, who has no background in music sales, represents an acknowledgment of how important digital distribution and technology is to the future of the music industry, and to EMI in particular. Merrill says he’s all about applying what he learned from Google about the Internet, digital distribution, and innovation. Expect to see EMI experimenting with different business and distribution models.”

As many may or may not know, the music business is changing and I would encourage other artists to take note of what is happening and align yourself to be able survive…or exist.

I couldn’t decide on one topic to write about which certainly explains the title. I am currently sitting up late watching the Gospel Music Channel. Directv, which is awesome, just picked up GMC and I am loving it. They show some good stuff. Hey, the band is doing a cool promotion today (Friday)…oh my, Brian Free is on GMC…odd…but cool for SG! Anyway, back to the promotion…we are selling the new album for $4. It’s “four for $4 on 4/4!!” It is one day only, so if you haven’t gotten the album yet, click here to take advantage of this awesome deal! Thanks, we appreciate the support!

By the way, dont’ start selling out the Braves…they are going to be OK. All these losses have been one run games…something to think about. However, Mike Hampton is BACK on the Disabled List…send him back to where he came from. Enough is enough! It has been cool, however, to have baseball games back on the tube. This has been yet another busy week at work and with the band. We are gearing up for GMA week 2008 in a couple of weeks. This year should really be fun for us because we are going to be doing a lot of interviews and meeting a good bit of radio people in support of our current radio single. We are really excited to get the spin report at the end of this week and see where we are at. We are home all weekend this weekend so this should be a fun weekend for me and Ashley to do yard work, go out to eat, and hopefully go to the movies…I want to see 21.

If we see it, I’ll let you know what I thought. Also, I am adding a book to the current reading list although I am not going to start it until I finish “The Case.” Robby gave me this book:

He has been saying for a while it was a kinda hard book to read although it was good as well. So I am a little nervous, but still excited…will keep you updated.

Well, Adam got the Movie Quote Monday correct answer yet again….The Break-Up.

I think I may have to suspend him from play for a few weeks. No baseball for the Braves tonight. Maybe they can re-group from the two one run loses. Never fear this team is going to be good.

You may or may not know it but I love a good motivational speech. One of my favorites is Jimmy Valvano’s speech at the 1993 ESPY’s. This is just awesome. Sadly, Jimmy V died about 4 months after this was taped but he was a phenomenal motivator. Enjoy this and remember…”don’t give up, don’t ever give up.”