Devier Posey: The Mixtape

With the 5th pick of the 3rd Round the Houston Texans picked Devier Posey, a WR from Ohio State. A few highlights -

Keyshawn Martin is a Texan

With the 21st pick of the 4th round, the Houston Texans pick Keyshawn Martin. Keyshwan is a player that I followed in college.  Drafting him surely ends Jacoby Jones' career with the Texans. 

IT'S HERE! IT'S HERE! THE 2012 NFL SCHEDULE!!!

Because every asshole with a keyboard is gonna have something written by 8pm tonight, I figured I'd throw out a quick rundown of the new Texans schedule before it gets lost in a sea of tweets. Here's our schedule for 2012.

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2012 Sports Roadtrips

The fabled Sports Trip.  It is one of those things that people always plan on doing, but rarely follow through with.  Remember that bucket list of Wrigley Field and Fenway that you have been talking about for years and still haven’t done?  Well, you should atleast make a few of those dreams a reality.  In 2011 I made a handful of trips.  Went to Georgia Tech/Kansas football game where I saw GT break almost every single-game rushing record by the 3^rd quarter.  I went to the Cowboys/Lions game in Dallas with the Lions making a record-breaking 2^nd half comeback.  I made the short trip to Minute Maid park to see the Red Sox take on the Astros in a series that will be the norm in a year or so.  I got a chance to see the fabled ‘College Gameday’ at the University of Houston where Lee Corso dropped a F-bomb on live TV.  A few weeks later I saw that same University of Houston lose in a conference championship game that would have meant the first BCS Bowl game in the history of the school.  Lastly, I saw Texas A&M play their last football game as a member of the Big 12 against Northwestern in the bowl formerly known as the Texas Bowl.  Many great memories and some history seen last year.

With 2011 as the springboard, and a wife that doesn’t mind, I have a few events circled in 2012. In no particular order -

• Kickoff Classic at Cowboys Stadium featuring the Michigan and Alabama – We enjoyed the drive up to and our experience at Cowboys Stadium last year so we are going to do it again.  My wife is from Michigan, so it should be a good time regardless of the outcome.
• Rangers vs Tigers – I have seen the Tigers play once.  That was in Detroit against the Orioles.  I have seen the Rangers play in Arlington once, that was against the Astros on a 100+ degree day.  So another trip to Dallas to see both teams seems to be in order.  I am not sure the last time the Astros were even competitive against the Rangers so not in a hurry to see that match up.
• Lions vs Texans on Thanksgiving Day – Even before I met my wife, I always had a desire to see a Lions Thanksgiving Day game in person.  With the rumored match-up with the Texans this season, this seems like the right time to do it.  I will be repping Houston, BTW.
• U.S. Open Tennis – This one is a dream for my wife.  I am trying to find a way to make it a reality.  The first couple of round tickets are surprisingly affordable, so this maybe be closer than what I thought it would be.
• Michigan game at the Big House – My brother-in-law came up with this one.  I have never seen a game at the Big House in Ann Arbor so this is high on my list. 

That is my list so far.  I am sure opportunities and surprises will be coming in the new year.  One thing to do when considering a trip is expenses and how you can minimize them.  Try to find events where you have family or friends. The tickets are going to be expensive enough, might as well try to save where you can.  Try to look for tickets early on when they go on sale.  For instance, I am buying the tickets for Rangers/Tigers the day single-game tickets go on sale.  Going through stubhub or a similar site closer to the event date can be much more expensive.  On the other side of the same coin, sometimes those sites can be helpful.  I used the NFL TicketExchange for the Lions/Cowboys tickets last year and got in cheaper than face value.  Explore all your options. 

Lastly, and my wife hates this, spend the extra money to get good tickets!  Why travel to a new stadium and then sit in the clouds?  This is supposed to be special, make it a good time. 

So does any one out there have and 2012 Sports Trips planned? If so, leave your plans in the comments.

Is iheartradio Evil?

On September 23 and 24 Clearchannel put on the iheartradio music festival.  A promotion for their new music web/mobile device app that is to compete with Pandora that was disguised as a 2-day concert with all genres of music. It was broadcast live on over 800 radio stations, on iheartradio.com and Xbox Live.  It was a technical escapade that rarely happens these days.  A great show that no doubt exposed people to music and artists they never heard of. Hopefully it becomes a annual event. Seeing Claire Underwood, Jay-Z, Jane’s Addiction, Nikki Minaj, Sting, all on the same show was pretty special. While the number one message was the iheartradio app, the theme of the night was discovering new music.

The iheartradio festival did give us this badass theme song

The fact that it is Clearchannel talking about discovering new music and embracing new technology is totally weird.  Clearchannel's past is one of being accused to helping the downfall of popular music. Accused of creating the “play the same 10 songs over and over again” model.  So now they want to be the ones to bring you a service to help you discover new music?  What gives?

So I tried out the iheartradio app on my iPhone.  It works much like Pandora.  You enter a song or artist and a “station” is created based on that selection.  Similiar songs and artists are played.  The collection of songs are surprisingly un-popular, they actually are living up to the “finding new music” mantra so far.  The songs also are all related to the original selection.  So you won’t hear Kool Moe Dee if you created a Patsy Cline station.  I was impressed with the slick look, the performance, and music selection as well.  Dare I say Clearchannel has changed their tune?

As Lee Corso would say, “Not so fast my friend!”.  There is another part of the iheartradio app. It is the portion that is the trojan horse that they really are concerned with.  This part of the app simulcasts every Clearchannel terrestrial station. So if you are interested in hearing a rap station in Detroit and you are in Houston, the app has you covered.  Much of the terrestrial radio listening is taking place online and on apps.  Clearchannel is adapting to this with the app.  While the Pandora-like stuff is the big push, but the Clearchannel simulcasts are the thing here.  To bring those listeners who are gravitating to Pandora and Spotify back to Clearchannel stations would be a huge move.  That is what this is all about.  The concerts, the “discovering new music” mantra, the slick app and web site are all about reversing the trend.  Bring people back to the Clearchannel nest.

Is it a good thing?  Is it evil?  I know alot of people don’t want to support evil corporate radio, but I don’t see it like that.  I see it as benefitting me, regardless of who the company is.  I can get hear many of my favorite stations from across the country on my phone or computer using iheartradio.  I can actually discover new music on that app and then jump over to Spotify if I want to hear more of a particular artist.  Great concept, great execution, no matter how “evil” Clearchannel is.