I got ill, I got busted. I got dust and I got dusted.

Quick Hitters and Random Thoughts

--Andre Johnson just went from an all-time great player to all-time legend in this city. The Texans have long been accused of not having any fight or being soft, but Andre showed the Texans will only take so much before they smack the taste out your mouth. For me I don’t think Cortland Finnegan could even be described as “a player you hate, unless he’s on your team” type of guy. He’s just a dirty, punk ass player part of a team that has a reputation of being dirty and punk ass. Jeff Fisher to Houston? No thanks. I don’t want one or two or eleven Cortland Finnegans representing my city. The city of Houston is lucky to have one Andre Johnson.
And yeah, I’m pretty damn surprised he or they didn’t get a one-game suspension.

I don't think this picture will ever get old.

--Before Rusty Smith’s brilliant effort in that loss the last quarterback to make his first career start that resulted in a big zero in points for his team was some guy named Dave Ragone in 2003 against the Jaguars. Never heard of him.

--I spent entirely too much time playing with the pdf of this awesome word cloud from Hoopism.com of the Rockets according to all-time minutes played. You need to blow it up to 6400% to see the likes of Steven Graham or Tito Maddox. 3200% and you can find the man, the myth, the Torraye Braggs and the lovable, huggable Zan Tabak. Seriously my eyes are killing me.

--If you watched the last ten minutes of The Walking Dead without getting a Desmond vibe then you didn’t watch Lost.

If the guy in the CDC starts calling everyone “brutha” then I want to see Zombie Hurley. Would Zombie Smoke Monster be called a “walker”? “Floater”?
Dead is pulling in some sick numbers. 5.5 million people for this past week’s episode which was a jump of 15% over the week before. AMC pulls about an average of 4.4 million COMBINED for Mad Men and Breaking Bad. What I’m saying is people like, nay, love the undead.

--I finally caught up on the last three episodes of Dexter and I think it was two steps forward, one step back. The steps forward being the ring of baddies Dexter faces this season including a creepy, worthy adversary in Jordan Chase or should I say Eugene Greer! (cue dramatic music!)
Scott Grimes will always be Sgt. Malarkey to me and could never be part of some boys-to-men gang of rapists.

Alyssa, Grimey, Alfonso and I have no idea. God bless the 80s.

Also really liking the Quinn/Liddy thing now that the rogue cop has gone even rogue-er, rogue-ier. Peter Weller is crushing it as Liddy. I’m guessing eventually showdown between Liddy and Quinn or Liddy and Dexter. Either way I’m taking Quinn or a sacrificing Lumen to take out Liddy. Or maybe Zombie Doakes gets revenge on Quinn AND Liddy for taking his storyline.
The less Batista/La Guerta the better.
And what’s going on with the Fuentes brother who got away?
The step back was the inevitable Dexter/Lumen hook-up. I just don’t like the whole killer-in-training going on and Dexter’s narration seemed corny to me. On the other hand am I going to hate on two tortured souls finding comfort in each other? Umm, yeah probably.

--Okay V, it wasn’t enough that you were bringing back Jane Badler/Diana, but now you’ve sucked me in with the addition of Marc Singer/Mike Donovan.

Bring back Michael Ironside and I'll be pimping this every week.

--Boardwalk Empire is down to its season finale and I can’t wait after a penultimate episode that saw a lot of people and relationships at the crossroads. First the biggie. At the beginning of the season I wasn’t a fan of Agent Van Alden and would rather have spent screen time somewhere else. Then he became so creepy and crazy religious I was interested again and Michael Shannon was putting on a helluva performance. Then Dr. Dunkenstein went to work on Agent Sebso in scenes I wasn’t buying for a second. I know Van Alden is psychotic and surely Sebso knew so what did he think was going to happen?! I don’t think there’s any way Sebso the agent drives off with a clearly deranged Van Alden, no way Sebso the man of Jewish faith opens himself up to a baptism. And really the deacon doesn’t say a word much less physically help a man clearly being murdered in the name of God? Hated that whole scene and storyline this week and what about the bootlegging bone Nucky tossed Sebso, was that fake? Why didn’t they follow up on that since that’s kind of what Van Alden and Sebso’s job was in the first place?
NYMag.com has a strong interview with Michael Shannon. Check it out including this beauty…
NYMag: Sebso’s not a particularly upstanding gentleman, but he dies because he refuses to convert, which takes some spine.
Shannon: Sebso’s a little creep. He shot the witness. He’s not a good person. Sebso’s an asshole. I mean, I’m not saying he deserved to die, but he’s not an example of a great guy.

Not even do-it-all Lysol can bring Sebso back now.
Everything else set things in motion for a finale that I’m counting down the hours to, especially the Rothstein/Black Sox/Chicago/Capone arc.

--Damn, the Heat are taking the fun out of rooting against them with all this losing. I mean even Tracy McGrady is talking about them. Although calling this a “blast” like ESPN did is just a little overreaction on the part of the worldwide leader in sports. ESPN overreact? I know, weird right?

--The Pillars of the Earth is out on DVD/Netflix Watch Instantly and worth a look. It was just eight episodes, but they were eight episodes of strong historical fiction and some great acting. If you like Ian McShane, self-flagellation, disturbing insinuated incest and Haley’s Atwells then this show is for you.

Jack and Aliena forevs.

--How have the Beatles sold 2 million songs in just one week on iTunes. Who didn’t have their Beatles already?!

--Congratulations to the Cardinals and Colts for being the first teams all year to not rush for a first down for their entire respective game.

--The last QB to win 19 of his first 20 home starts like Matt Ryan has done? Danny White.

--Are we really still charging Willie Nelson for marijuana possession?! Do we not have something better to do or someone better to charge?

--There’s random and then there’s James Franco and Anne Hathaway hosting the Oscars. Random and hot. WWTDD with the definitive NSFW Hathaway post.

--A movie about the true story of the teacher who was fired after he allowed his students to sing the chorus in Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall”? Hell to the yes.

--If you’re in to sports gambling and I’m willing to bet you are then you need to check out this piece from Wired. Pretty fascinating stuff about the present and future of sports gambling in Vegas.

--Remember that time that one WR you drafted who didn’t do crap for three weeks, then had a bye, then didn’t do crap against Indy and then played the Texans and has scored a TD every week since then? I hate you Dwayne Bowe. What? Hate myself for dropping him too soon? Nah.

--RIP Leslie Nielsen.

Questions, comments or if you hate Mike Shanahan for hating Keiland Williams…