Tuesday, March 1, 2005
Idol Thoughts, and Notes
Good morning! Intra-mural volleyball tournaments started last night. Our team went in as the #2 seed in a double-elimination tournament. For various reasons, we had just 3 players last night. I am not a skinny man. That makes things really difficult, and very tiring, when you have to cover that much ground. But, our team won our game, so next week, we have to play again. Anyway, I only mention that as a mini-excuse for not writing much for today. But, it is Tuesday, and there was a new American Idol episode last night, so I am going to present my American Idol thoughts and then remind you that the women will be singing tonight. I am also going to point out a few links to Twins articles and more. So again, thanks for stopping by the site. I hope you enjoy what you read. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to e-mail me.
I also need to really thank Twins pitching prospect Pat Neshek again for participating in a Q&A for this website yesterday. He did a great job of responding, and I really do appreciate it. If you happened to miss it, check it out here.
Last night, the ten remaining men made their second performances in front of the massive American crowds. Again, I will post some of the thoughts I had and notes I took during each performance. I have to apologize for not knowing the names of some of the songs that were sung. I have to encourage everyone to check out The Baseball Savant site to see how closely our rankings compare. Here are my thoughts:
Mario Vazquez - I Love Music
The Savant's choice to win the whole thing, Vazquez went with an upbeat, but relatively unknown song. He has a great, incredible voice. He was almost drowned out by the music though. All in all thought, he is very good.
Anwar Robinson - What's Going On?
I thought that he started out a little bit flat, but the song is so incredible. He has great range with a strong voice. And, he even showed great stage presence. To me, he was the star of the night!
Joseph Murena - Let's Stay Together
Murena went with a classic Al Green song. I thought that he sounded off-pitch frequently throughout the song (judges disagreed). Great song though, screechy in a couple places. He ended very strong though.
David Brown - All is Fair in Love and War
Last week, I mentioned that I thought Brown was one of the better singers in the competition but had an off-week. Well, first I thought he made a poor song choice. There were a lot of tough, sharp notes that sounded really bad even when he did hit them correctly. The slow song just is not his strong suit and I think he could be in a lot of trouble.
The crazy thing about rockers is that they don't have to sing well to be considered good. Maroulis actually doesn't have a bad voice at all. He just isn't real consistent vocally throughout the song. That said, he picked a good song for him and did well.
He sang a Luther Vandross song, and for me, it was certainly not his best performance. Vocally, he was very good and hit all of the high notes. His performance was OK. But the song was just so blah, which I think puts him in the questionable-to-return category.
Travis Tucker - All Night Long
Actually it was fun to listen to him. His voice was good, at best. Certainly not as strong as some others. Excellent choreography, or at least he tried. I think he made marked improvement and should be safe.
Nikko Smith - Let's Get It On
When he started, I was excited to hear the classic Barry White tune, but I noted right away, he wasn't even close to White's voice. But as he continued singing, I kept thinking of the classic Paula Abdul line, "he made it his own." And part-way through the song, I found myself really liking what he was doing. He was great with the higher notes.
Anthony Federov - I Wanna Know What Love Is
Great song. Slow start, very quiet, but he was excellent on the chorus and stayed strong the rest of the way. Did I mention that is a great song?!
Bo Bice - Feel Like I'm Dying
Definitely has a stronger voice than Constantine. He's better on stage too, I think. The rockers are doing well, but I don't see them making it once they get to the final 12 and they have to fit into certain genres.
Summary
I noticed a few things as I watched. The main thing, to me, is that when picking a song, going with a 'known' song is a smart idea. They should remember that "America" is voting and we like hearing songs that we know sung well. If I have the choice between two singers that both seem to sing well vocally, I would vote for the one who sang the song I'm most familiar with. Sometimes, I think that some of the contestants over-think things.
Overall, the men performed well. Last night, there wasn't a definitive performance. I thought Anwar Robinson and Nikko Smith were great, but even they didn't sing songs that made me say Wow!
Rankings
So, here's how I saw the performances pan out, in my opinion:
1.) Anwar Robinson
2.) Nikko Smith
3.) Mario Vazquez
4.) Travis Tucker
5.) Anthony Federov
6.) Bo Bice
7.) Constantine Maroulis
8.) Scott Savol
9.) Joseph Murena
10.) David Brown
By those rankings, I would choose to seen Joseph Murena and David Brown as the two who leave the show on Wednesday. I would really like to see Brown get a shot for one more week and have him sing something with some energy, but I don't think he'll get that chance.
What do you think? Send me an e-mail.
RANDOM THOUGHTS
It's interesting to me how the local newspapers and the Twins site seem to write about many of the same things. Today, Lavelle E. Neal discusses the discussed/possible Twins starting lineup of Shannon Stewart, Joe Mauer, Torii Hunter, Justin Morneau, Lew Ford, Jacque Jones, Michael Cuddyer, Shortstop, Luis Rivas.
Gordon Wittenmeyer discusses the enigma that Twins fans like to call JC Romero.
Rotoworld announces their Top 150 prospects in baseball. Six Twins make the list with Jason Kubel rated the highest at #37. He is followed by JD Durbin (58), Jesse Crain (64), Jason Bartlett (95), Scott Baker (116) and Francisco Liriano (144). It is almost disappointing that more of the Twins weren't rated higher. But, if not for his injury, Kubel would be a Top 10. Also, it is important to note that Joe Mauer (1) and Justin Morneau (8) were in last year's Top 10 and have too much time in the big leagues to still be on the list.
Baseball America is going to be discussing their Top 100 prospects, generally the prospect list the is most respected, or at least well-known. They are counting down from 100, showing 25 new players each day. So far, they have given their prospects numbers 76-100 and 51-75, but the top 50 will be there in the next couple of days. So far, Jesse Crain is rated #63, and JD Durbin is #70. Among their Top 20 Rookies for 2005, Jason Bartlett ranks #9.
David Bloom of DRays Bay shared an interview he had with Lucy Morales of The Snorting Bull. It is a website of the Durham Bulls, the Devil Rays AAA Affiliate.
And finally, a Tennessee man who was arrested on his 23rd birthday for running through the streets in the nude, covered with nacho cheese, pleaded guilty to burglary and four other charges, including, surprisingly, indecent exposure and public intoxication.
And now, I must sleep! Have a great Tuesday, and again, if you have any questions or comments, please e-mail me.