VerbalPuke

I've also heard Chauncey to Denver, but I don't know how feasible it is. It all depends on how the playoffs play out for the Pistons. If they end up being eliminated by the Cavs, I'd say he'll bolt and it might be time for the Pistons to make some major moves. If Chauncey departs, it'll probably mean the Pistons will need to start looking to re-build in some aspects. And I'm glad that Oden and Durant are almost definitely going out West.

Scoring 76 points in game one should give them a lot of confidence? Losing in a game where the Pistons played their worst game on basketball to date in the playoffs? They should be confident about that?

Overrated? By who? The Pistons bench is what it is, and people know that. You know what McDyess can do, and that is score, rebound, play defense, and provide veteran leadership. Dale Davis is our goon, our enforcer of sorts and does what he's supposed to do. Flip Murray provides a spark at times, and while not the greatest option, does provide scoring at times. Delfino could be a better scorer, but his intangibles are his hustle (getting loose balls and forcing steals), rebounds, and the energy he can provide for the team. Maxiell is the same way, a young energy guy who can also give you scoring off of the bench, and is a good rebounder/shot blocker. I'll gladly take that crew over Snow, Marshall, and Gibson. Varejo is a nice energy guy like Max, but I wouldn't say he gives the Cleveland bench an edge. Edit - And I forgot to mention Lyndsey Hunter, who is in the estimation of many, one of the better on the ball defenders in the league. Definitely not a scorer, but another guy who will create opportunities for his teammates by making plays with his quick hands.

Demolition Man kicked ass. John Rambo looks fucking rad. I endorse any movie with a decapitation, and this movie seems to capture the grit and brutality of the book "First Blood".

It is interesting that there are still some nice subplots left between these four teams. I don't know if I can think of any for San Antonio, but you have the obvious Boozer/Cleveland animosity, the Pistons/Spurs re-match, and Pistons/Jazz for the fact that we let Okur go there, and now there's a chance he gets back to the finals against the team he first made it there with. I think Cleveland is going to play Detroit tough, like they did last year. I think having Webber as opposed to Wallace helps us more this year however. Webber is broken down, but he can at least make his free throws, and is an excellent passer who can create opportunities for his teammates. I think the Pistons should focus on making Lebron beat them, while shutting down Lebron's teammates. Sort of like the method used against Shaq, he'll get his points, but if you can hold the rest of the team to minimal points scored then you can ensure a victory.

I'm rooting for a Pistons/whoever match up. Nobody in this neck of the woods are worried about the ratings, and I think some people might be a bit hasty calling the Pistons "boring". Remember that Larry Brown was the coach during the last run against the Spurs, and he had a very archaic (albeit effective) style of coaching which made for boring games. Flip Saunders is a more offensive oriented guy and definitely coaches a more up tempo style of game. That still doesn't mean the Pistons can't grind it out and win some games with less than 90 points. And I also enjoy the Pistons style of play, I love watching spectacular defense. It's when the the two teams play mediocre defense and clank shots left and right that make games boring.

I know that it's a moot point now, but that bolded statement puzzled me. The Nets wouldn't have had the man power to compete with anybody barring a first round Toronto. They have no size, and lack depth. It would have shown against the Pistons if they had managed to get through. Even if they were on, I couldn't have seen them taking more than one game, and a big maybe for two. And honestly, the Pistons are nobody's push over. People seem to forget that this team won the championship only three years ago against a Lakers team that was supposedly unbeatable. If any team in the East can win the championship convincingly, it's the Pistons. They have the size, depth, defense, and offensive weapons to get the job done against any team in the league. Unfortunately, if they do get to the finals, they'll be matched up with (in my opinion) the two teams that pose the biggest problems for them. For some reason Utah has been an achilles heel for the Pistons, and the Spurs are much like the Pistons (talented veteran team with championship experience).

I'm jealous. Really fucking jealous. Unbelievably jealous. This show will definitely fucking rock. I've got the Ram Ons this Saturday, which is a Ramones tribute band, it'll be a celebration of Joey Ramone's birthday. Five dollars to get in to a wonderful little shithole in Detroit. I've also got Negative Approach and the Meatmen coming up in a few weeks. That is a fucking coup, to see two legends of Detroit hardcore (and really, just hardcore in general) returning to their home town to show these young fucks how it's done.

I don't think you should really bring up the officiating, because game four can be cited as having being a different game if the officiating was different. Just look at the FT and total foul comparison. The Pistons advance, and now are in their fifth straight Eastern Conference finals. It's nice, but it's not enough, not for me, not for Detroit, and not for the Pistons players. We wont be satisfied until we're drinking the blood of a Western Conference opponent while celebrating a championship victory. So I say, bring on Cleveland or New Jersey, and let's get this show on the road.

I'd say Here Comes the Pain in a landslide. Very good roster, solid season mode that allowed you to completely edit your own Smackdown/Raw rosters, good selection of gimmick matches (not much different than 07), a worth while CAW mode, and a pretty easy to pick up on game. I enjoyed it immensely.

Now this looks absolutely awesome, this all news to me. Black Sabbath has to be on the soundtrack, if they are not, the movie will fail at the box office. But seriously, Black Sabbath has to be on the soundtrack.

The Streets of Rage series, great little 16 bit techno tracks while beating on baddies. I loved most of the music in Pit Fighter as well, again, 16 bit fun, but the songs fit the mood of the fights well. I remember enjoying some of the background music in the Bully while watching my brother play the game.

I'm curious then, since this is the metal thread, what do you guys consider thrash, and what thrash do you guys like? I've been on a thrash kick, listening to stuff that has a sort of punk influence, and stuff that is just thrash brutality. Some of it is relatively obscure, but I also dig stuff resembling Venom, Kreator, Slayer, and stuff in that vein. I'm sort of looking toward recommendations and just general discussion. Also, how do you guys feel about bands like Dying Fetus? I like Dying Fetus quite a bit, but don't particularly enjoy the death metal genre as a whole. One band that seems to fit in that mold that I do like is a group called Destroyer 666 from Australia.

I checked out Mayhem, and initially I didn't mind it, but the music became really monotonous to me. For something considered metal, it bored the hell out of me, the songs started off good but then drifted into repetition with shit vocals as you mentioned. I can't complain about production values because it would be hypocritical of me, but I can see where that would be a turn off.

Metallica is a big one for me. People said the early stuff was awesome thrash, but I just didn't like it at all. There's a lot of other shit, any sort of nu-metal falls into this category, a lot of black metal as well. Really, I only like thrash metal. I'm under the opinion that metal is great when done right, but for the most part I can't find a shitload of things that I really enjoy.

Barring The Road Warrior (the sequel to Mad Max), I'd go with Terminator 2 as one of my all-time favorite sequels. I usually believe that sequels are not as good as the first movie of the series, but I'd definitely say I liked Terminator 2 the best of the series as well. Strangely, The Terminator and Mad Max series of films are my absolute, hands down favorite action movies of all-time, as far as the "violent popcorn flick" genre goes.

I absolutely loved the first two Terminator movies. The third one was decent at best, but felt like a huge car chase with explosions. Plus, the guy who played John Connor was sort of a homo. I like the idea of the next installment of movies taking place in the future during the war. I think if done right, the movie could really kick some major fucking ass. I'd mark for Kyle Reese's return to the movie franchise, though Michael Biehn might be a bit too old now. Ah fuck it, cast him anyway, I can't picture anybody else as Reese.

Dogs were barking, guests were barking, and MY WEDDING WAS ABOUT TO START!!! Dogs were barking, monkeys clapping and I got on the table and I said................................. Yeah, Gogol Bordello is fucking awesome. Somebody recommended them to me a few months ago, and I have to say they are probably the best modern punk band I've heard. Very fun listen, very unique sound, and just all around great experience. I think Pogues fans would enjoy them despite Gogol Bordello not having an Irish influence on their music. Gypsy punk, who would have thought?

I'm still wondering why people doubt that the Pistons can keep up their level of play against the Bulls. I know that they wont continue to dominate the way they did, but I still see them taking this series. They just have too much talent, depth, and (most importantly) experience to go down to the Bulls. The Bulls are a dangerous team no doubt, but they are just not yet at the Pistons level. The Pistons are still a team that is playoff test, not far from a championship win, and still play incredible defense without Ben Wallace. In fact, this Pistons team is much better than the team you saw in last years playoffs. The team is so much deeper, and Chris Webber has proven to be a much better fit with Flip Saunders style of coaching (as opposed to Ben Wallace, who's FT woes and bickering with the coach hurt this team last year). Going back to the depth, the Pistons have been getting great production from their bench thus far. The bench has provided a big time spark with hustle plays, great defense, and even a nice amount of production on the offensive end. I believe that this current team is good enough to win it all this year.

I'm not so sure on this one, but I think that the Gun Club can probably stake a claim to this title for me. They quickly became one of my favorite bands, due to immensely underrated albums such as "Fire of Love" and "Miami". They'll never get the credit they deserve even though they kick more ass than almost everything (Chuck Norris included). Jeffrey Lee Pierce (vocals) was an incredibly gifted writer, and penned classics like "She's Like Heroin to Me", "Like Calling Up Thunder", and "For the Love of Ivy". Jeffrey Lee was the Jim Morrison of his era and genre, but probably even better in the vocal department. He had power western style vocals which fit beautifully with the Gun Club's twangy blues inspired rock. Make no mistake, the Gun Club were far from a blues band, but the formula was evident in their songs (such as in the cover of Robert Johnson's "Preaching the Blues"). Then again, Johnny Thunders existed, so you never can tell. (Y)

1. The Mentors - These guys were fantastic. The lyrics are a bit of a novelty, but are still cleverly written, and funny. They were all accomplished musicians, making the whole package great to listen to. Their music is sort of reminiscent of a heavier sounding Black Sabbath. 2. Toxic Holocaust - In the studio, this band is actually a one man operation. I don't know the guys name, but he does a great job, and is also an accomplished musician. Considering the skill of which he plays guitar, drums, and bass says something about his general musical prowess. On top of that, he is playing some of the best thrash that has ever existed. Hell it is the best thrash that has ever existed. 3. Motorhead- I don't think I need to explain much about Motorhead. They simply came out and kicked fucking ass, playing rock the way it should be. It's rough, it's nasty, it's loud, and it's fucking great every step of the way. On top of those three groups I've also been playing a lot of Bludwulf, Bolt Thrower, Sodom, Celtic Frost, Aggression, and Destroyer 666 as of late.

That's an astute observation, assuming I hate almost every song ever made because I loath one song that is eternally repetitive? Good call. And for the record, I don't hate long songs, just American Pie.

You lose. That song is a tour-de-force. I lose, only if I'm subjected to that monotonous pile of garbage again. Seriously, does it need to last an eternity when he says the same damn thing over and over again? We get it Don, this will be the day that you die. And Be, Chumbawamba is the one that used to be cool. Then they became a watered down pop group, which was unfortunate because they were as good as anarcho punk could get, even better than Crass for instance.

I really fucking hate "American Pie" by that faggot Don Maclean. Fuck that song, and fuck him for making it so long and painful. Oh man. That Riding Dirty Song can get taken out with the rest of the trash as well. And fuck the rapper who made that song, whatever his name is. Chumbawamba is on my shit list for the album Tubthumper, and only because they were a pretty good band prior to that. Scum. Phish, while talented musicians, are on this list because I hate their fans almost as much as I hate their music. The worst offender in Phish's catalog of music is that "The Wheels on Your Car Are the Things That Make Contact With the Cement". WOW! Clever lyrics. How about "My boot is the the thing that makes contact with your yellow hippie teeth"? And there's probably a million other songs out there, but I think I've made my point.

Yeah, a guy like Welker's value will go beyond his spot at the WR position. He can return kicks, and will be on special teams coverage units. Hell, the guy can also kick field goals if necessary.