Wednesday, March 31, 2010

The Mountain Goats Stay True to Their Style Even with Increased Publicity

This is a music review I had to write for my journalism class on one of my favorite bands. Enjoy!

tmg 300x168 The Mountain Goats perfom on Jimmy Fallon Tonight

Since the early 90s, The Mountain Goats, an indie rock band centered around the poetry of frontman John Darnielle, have set a standard for themselves focusing on the power of their lyrics. To promote the release of their 17th studio album, The Life of the World to Come, last October, The Mountain Goats did something they had never done before: they performed on TV. First being interviewed on Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report and a few months later on NBC’s Late Night With Jimmy Fallon. In spite of their recent publicity, The Mountain Goats have remained true to their music.

For those who are not familiar with The Mountain Goats, they have been around since 1991 when John Darnielle began recording his poems set to guitar on a dual cassette recorder. In 2002, the album Tallahassee, The Mountain Goats began making higher quality recordings, and maintained some stability with a regular lineup. Before then, Darnielle would write the songs and various musicians he knew would work with him as needed but beginning with Tallahassee, The Mountain Goats became a more permanent band. As years progressed, the musicians around him would change but Darnielle’s songwriting remained constant. The Mountain Goats’ current lineup consists of Darnielle on vocals and guitar, Peter Hughes on bass, and Jon Wurster on drums.

Darnielle’s vocal style combines the lyrical brilliance of Bob Dylan with the passion of Bruce Springsteen and the subtly melodic angst of Jackson Browne for a unique blend that has been a staple of The Mountain Goats’ sound for nearly two decades. The lyrics in their songs span many different situations of the human experience ranging from teenage idealism and aspirations to dealing with fighting parents as a child to trying to save a marriage that is on the brink of divorce. If you listen through their entire discography, there is something anyone can relate to.

When they made, their first-ever TV appearance in October, it began with Stephen Colbert interviewing Darnielle and then they performed their new song “Psalms 40:2” after the commercial break. Colbert began his interview by revealing that he is, in fact, a fan of their work. Colbert read aloud one of his favorite sets of lyrics: “And a rabbit gives up somewhere, and a dozen hawks descend/ Every moment leads toward its own sad end/ Ships loosed from their moorings capsize and then theyre gone/ Sailors with no captains watch awhile and then move on” from the song “Sax Rohmer, Pt. 1”. Colbert is keeping with his act, questioned why an “artsy liberal” like Darnielle would write an album inspired by the Bible and why he did not instead choose a cooler animal to represent their band, like mountain lions.

The Mountain Goats most recent album, The Life of the World to Come, holds steady with the band’s tradition, but also has a different take on it. The title of the album is a reference to the Nicene Creed, and each of the songs is named for a different Bible verse. The songs do not directly quote their specific verses, but the lyrics explore spirituality through real-life situations. It puts a different spin on The Mountain Goats sound, but is not too religious for people of other faiths to be offended either.

If you are looking for music that has strong rhythm, and powerful lyrics that make you think, then The Mountain goats are a band worth checking out. Even though they have only started getting major publicity recently, their entire body of work is worth listening to.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Time to Talk about Baseball!

Disclaimer: This blog post is about baseball. If you do not like baseball, or sports in general, it is okay to skip this post, but I do encourage that you keep reading The Wise Fool as this is not all I write about. See you next time...I hope.

In a few weeks, the season for Major League Baseball will be underway. I have been looking forward to this ever since the Red Sox were eliminated from the American League Divisional Series back in October. Things quickly got worse for Boston sports fans when the New York Yankees beat the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series. The Yankees spent a ridiculous amount of money to get the best hitter and the two best pitchers available in the previous off-season and it clearly paid off right away. That type of championship is aggravating to me, and not just because it was the Yankees that did it. Baseball is the only sport without a salary cap, so teams with bigger revenue pools can afford to sign more high quality free agents year after year. It is more exciting to see teams in cities like Boston and Philadelphia that have good size payrolls but also do a good job of developing players from within their systems rather than relying on free agency.

This Decade, the Red Sox and Phillies have been to two World Series each with a combination of home-grown players like Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, Jonathan Papelbon, Trot Nixon, Jason Varitek, Derek Lowe, Jon Lester, Jimmy Rollins, Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Cole Hamels, Shane Victorino, and Brett Meyers as well as key free agent and trade acquisitions like David Ortiz, Curt Schilling, Johnny Damon, Mike Lowell, Josh Beckett, Jayson Werth, Cliff Lee, Brad Lidge, Jamie Moyer, and Pedro Martinez (for both teams). The Yankees have not developed star players from their farm system since Jeter, Posada, Pettitte, and Rivera in the mid-90s.

What is perhaps even more impressive are the small market teams that stay competitive. The Oakland Athletics have not been good in a few years but they had an impressive run a few years ago that was built on well developed pitching from within their farm system like Barry Zito, Mark Mulder, and Tim Hudson and stars like Jason Giambi, Miguel Tejada, and Eric Chavez. The most consistent small market team the past couple decades has been the Minnesota Twins. That team's front office has it down to a science. Only the Minnesota Twins could lose star players like Torii Hunter and Johan Santana in the same season and get better. Teams like this are much easier to root for after the Sox have been eliminated.

Here are my predictions for the 2010 season. I am almost always wrong when it comes to MVP winners and stuff but last year I said during spring training that the Twins would win the American League Central Division and nobody believed me, so this year I am putting my predictions in writing and will do a follow-up in November.

National League West:
12345
This is the year that the Giants finally get over the post-Barry Bonds doldrums and win the division. They have one of the best pitching rotations in all of Major League Baseball. Tim Lincecum is coming off back to back Cy Young Award seasons and he is only 25. If Aubrey Huff, Freddy Sanchez, and Mark DeRosa improve the lineup as they are expected to, then they could easily get past the Dodgers. Los Angelas is in a similar situation to the Tigers in the American League, where they had a pretty good roster already and did not do a whole lot in the off-season, but the other teams in the division did make improvements. The team that will give them the most trouble in the division is Colorado. If Brandon Webb pitches like he did in 2007 and 2008, all bets are off and Arizona could be in the mix of this competitive division. If the Padres do not improve from last year, a lot of people expect to see Adrian Gonzalez to be wearing a Red Sox uniform by the July 15 trade deadline.

National League Central:
12345
6
Right now, I think that the Cardinals are the second best team in the National League. Mark McGwire should do a good job as a hitting coach if his presence does not cause too much of a media distraction to the team. Albert Pujols is still going to be a major contender for the NL MVP. I would not be surprised if the Cubs, Brewers, or Reds made a run at the division, too. I am not expecting the Pirates and Astros will not be very good this year. This is a division with a lot of talented players that make fantasy league managers happy like Pujols, Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder, Alfonso Soriano, Lance Berkman, Derrek Lee, and Matt Holliday, but there are not many balanced teams. St. Louis is the most balanced team and even they struggled offensively last year.

National League East:
12345
The Philadelphia Phillies are still the team to beat in the National League. Right now, I think they are the only National League team good enough to compete with the elite teams in the American League. With the addition of ace pitcher Roy Halladay and third baseman Placido Polanco, the Phillies are even better on paper than they were last year. The Braves made a late run at the wild card last year but fell short. I expect them to be playing hard in Bobby Cox's final managerial year. The Mets have a lot of talented players that they spent a lot of money on, but unlike the Yankees, the pieces have not all fit together for a full season. The Marlins have a lot of young talent, but I cannot see them finishing higher than third in this division. The Nationals still have a long way to go before being considered a threat.

National League Wild Card:
This is a tough one because the National League is very evenly matched. With the exception of the Phillies, most other teams are pretty competitive with one another. This does not mean that they are very good. A lot of the wild card caliber teams in the National League would have trouble beating the last place teams in the American League. Right now, I like the Rockies because of how they played the second half of last season, but they were also the team that streaked their way into the World Series in 2007 and finished 4th the next year. If the Cubs can return to their 2007-2008 form, they might even win the division. The Braves, Reds, and Brewers have been on the cusp for a few years. It should be interesting but I still don't think any of these teams can beat the Phillies.

National League Individual Awards:
Batting Title: Hanley Ramirez, Marlins
Cy Young Award: Roy Halladay, Phillies
MVP: Chase Utley, Phillies
Manager of the Year: Bruce Bochy, Giants
Comeback Player of the Year: Barry Zito, Giants

American League West:
1234
The Angels are still good, but this year, the Mariners are going to be better. The Angels lost John Lackey to the Red Sox, Vladimir Guerrero to the Rangers, and Chone Figgins to the Mariners. Losing key free agents, especially to division rivals and the team they always play against in October, will force Los Angelas to take a step backwards this year. The Mariners made some great moves to make a pretty good team into a championship contender. In addition to Figgins, they added Milton Bradley to their lineup. If Bradley plays like he did in Texas, and not like he did in Chicago, this is a great signing. He is an extremely talented player who will be an asset to the team if he keeps his emotions in check and does not lash out at the fans the way he did with the Cubs. Figgins and Bradley are joining a lineup that already has future Hall-of-Famers Ken Griffey Jr., and Ichiro Suzuki. Another great move by Seattle was getting Cliff Lee in the three team trade that sent Roy Halladay to Philadelphia. Lee and Felix Hernandez, who got a contract extension through 2014, will make one of the best pitching combinations in all of Major League Baseball. Those two pitchers put Seattle in the same category as the Red Sox, Yankees, Phillies and Giants as far as pitching is concerned. The Texas Rangers could be a wild card contender if stars Josh Hamilton, Ian Kinsler, Michael Young, and Vladimir Guerrero stay healthy. I don't think they have the pitching to get that far in October, though. Oakland has some young talent but they are still a year or two away from being good again.

American League Central:
12345
The Twins stunned everybody (except me) when they won the division last year in a one game playoff against the Tigers. Joe Mauer had a phenomenal season last year when he won the Batting Title, Gold Glove and the MVP and now it looks as though he will be in Minnesota for his entire career with the contract extension they gave him. When Minnesota made the playoffs last year, they did it without Justin Morneau and heading into this season, they looked ever better than before... and then Joe Nathan got hurt. Nathan's injury would be devastating for most other teams, but Minnesota always seems to be ready for stuff like this. Their minor league pitchers are trained well for major league situations. Ron Gardenhire is once again going to be a serious candidate for Manager of the Year. The Twins stiffest competition in the division will be the Chicago White Sox. Ozzie Guillen is one of the best managers around and he will be determined to make his team play at a higher level down the stretch than they did last year. Detroit did not do much to improve this off-season while Minnesota and Chicago did. The Royals have one of the elite pitchers in Major League Baseball in defending Cy Young winner Zach Greinke, but their lack of offence will hurt them. Cleveland has really fallen off the map since 2007. Two years ago, they were a game away from winning the pennant before the Red Sox made one of their great comebacks. Since then C.C. Sabathia, Cliff Lee and Victor Martinez have departed and Indians fans can only hope that Shaq can hit with power and LeBron can throw a slider. The Browns will be better than the Indians this year.

American League East:
12345
As much as I would like to think that the Red Sox will be the 1st place team in the AL East, I need to see them play against the Yankees first. The Yankees are the defending champions, and even though they bought it instead of earn it like true champions should, they need to be treated like champions until somebody can knock them off. The Red Sox, Yankees, and Rays might be the three best teams in all of MLB, but they can't all make the playoffs. The Sox improved their starting rotation so they can compete directly with New York. John Lackey is an ace pitcher on most other teams, but with Boston he is third in the rotation behind Josh Beckett and Jon Lester. If Daisuke Matsuzaka ever learns to pitch in a Red Sox uniform the way he pitches in a Japanese national uniform, they would have a fourth ace. If Clay Bucholz can consistently be the pitcher people think he is, then they would have yet another ace. Also filling his niche on the team is Tim Wakefield, the old steady knuckleballer who is getting closer and closer to the Red Sox all career wins record that is currently held by Roger Clemens. Defensively, the Red Sox have improved with Mike Cameron in center field and Jacoby Ellsbury moving to left. Adrian Beltre and Marco Scutaro will tighten up the left side of the infield. I am not thrilled about the signing of Scutaro, but hopefully it is just a quick fix for when the Sox steal Derek Jeter from the Yankees when he becomes a free agent after the season (Wouldn't it be awesome to see Yankees fans squirm when their golden boy is wearing a Sox uniform. I will definitely buy a Jeter Red Sox jersey just for that. It's about time that one of theirs comes to Boston the way Babe Ruth, Wade Boggs, Roger Clemens, and Johnny Damon went to New York, but that's another post for another time.). The Orioles, I believe, will finish above last for the first time in a few year. The Jays are not going anywhere fast. Halliday was all they had and he is in Philadelphia now.

Fun Fact: With Joe Girardi, Terry Francona, Joe Maddon, and Cito Gaston, the American League East has four managers who have managed at least one World Series. This is more than any other division. Maybe the Orioles should bring back Earl Weaver so all five teams would have a World Series manager.

American League Wild Card:
The Wild Card race in the American League will be very competitive like the National League, but unlike the National League, these Wild Card contenders have a shot at winning it all. The Red Sox and Rays could just as easily be division champions and there is also a chance that the Yankees are the Wild Card team. The American League is top to bottom a superior league and the middle-of-the-pack teams have a good chance at taking down a team like New York.

American League Individual Awards:
Batting Title: Joe Mauer, Twins
Cy Young Award: Jon Lester, Red Sox
MVP: Derek Jeter, Yankees
Manager of the Year: Don Wakamatsu, Mariners
Comeback Player of the Year: Jake Peavy, White Sox

Red Sox players celebrated on the field after their four-game sweep of the Rockies.
Post Season Predictions:
NLCS: Philadelphia Phillies vs. San Fransisco Giants
NLCS MVP: Chase Utley
ALCS: Boston Red Sox vs. New York Yankees
ALCS MVP: Kevin Youkilis if Red Sox win; Nick Swisher if Yankees win.
World Series: Philadelphia Phillies vs. Boston Red Sox or New York Yankees
World Series MVP: Roy Halladay if Phillies win; Mark Teixeira if Yankees win; J.D. Drew if Red Sox win.

I really think it is too close to call in the American league without looking like a biased Sox fan (I'm not cocky, I just know we're the best), but I really thin that the next World Series chanpion will be one of the last three champions. The Red Sox, Yankees and Phillies are the three most complete teams in all of baseball. It will be an interesting season to follow. Only time will tell how this actually turns out. I really hope the Yankees are not as good as they were a year ago, but that is out of my control. I would have gone on a tangent about how I do not like the Yankees, but this post would have been really long. If they are in 1st place in the beginning of May, I will probably make a whole post just about how much I hate the Yankees. Feel free to comment with your thoughts about my picks and what you think will happen.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Fiddler on the Utopian Roof

I was recently assigned to read Thomas More's book Utopia for my British Literature class and it has really gotten me to thinking about what the ideal society should be in comparison to the one presented in More's book. I find that there are many holes in Utopia's rationale in determining the ideal conditions for a society to function. The country of Utopia is supposed to be the gold standard that is non-violent and rejecting of material wealth, yet they still have slaves and they still fight wars but hire others to fight in their place and hope that the mercenaries die because they are less than human because they are not Utopians. Personally, I would rather live in the village on Anatevka than in Utopia.

Anatevka, for those who do not know or do not remember, is the small Russian village where Tevye the milkman and his family live in the musical Fiddler on the Roof. Rich in tradition, even though nobody knows the origins of them, Anatevka is a niche location for Orthodox Jews who do not wish to be bothered by the Czar prior to the Russian Revolution. Although not everyone is wealthy, which Tevye, the hard working resilient protagonist sings about at length, people are at home in this community. Everybody has a role to play in the community whether they are Tevye the dairyman, Motel the tailor, Lazar Wolf the butcher, Yente the matchmaker, or the rabbi. Although the Christian governing class forces more issues on them as the story goes on and the Jewish residents are eventually forced out by the end, Tevye maintains a cordial relationship with the local constable who never wishes to hurt the villagers but is merely following orders from the top. Some may call Anatevka old fashioned, but their strong traditions are what keep them stable as a group.

Although both Utopia and Anatevka are less than ideal places to live, I would much rather live in the place that is not trying to be better than everyone and everything else. Utopia is too elitist and to desensitized to the realities of the world for anyone to live a satisfactory or healthy lifestyle. I for one would be perfectly content with delivering milk to my fellow townspeople and flailing my arms around while singing about whatever is on my mind (usually traditions or hypothetical wealth) as I travel about town. Basically, any routine activity becomes a lot more fun if you make it into a musical. Nobody ever made a Utopian musical. (I also think it would be fun to be a dancing chimney sweep because of Mary Poppins, but that is another story for another day.

Thomas More seemed like he was trying to please too many people and not really insult anyone when he imagined his ideal society. He writes the story told as a friend of his explains Utopia to More so he is not even responsible for the idea. If he wants to be taken seriously, More should grow a spine and take pride in his radical ideas instead of compromising for the sake of political correctness. Instead, he is shakier than a fiddler on a roof (it's late at night but I think that analogy makes sense) and is more wishy-washy than Charlie Brown (I know that one works).
Anatevka may be just as fictitious as Utopia or Middle Earth or the frozen planet Hoth, but it seems like a much nicer place than anything Thomas More has tediously written and more realistic than any place in the Star Wars universe that I wish I could live. If you have never seen it, I definitely recommend Fiddler on the Roof as it is one of my all time favorite musicals. I would not recommend reading Utopia unless you were required to for school or you want to get mad at Renaissance dudes for being stupid.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Four Square: Grade School Rules, Timeless Values

Returning to Westford for spring break this week truly brought me back to my roots. In addition to sleeping in my own bed for a week and getting a chance to see the Westford Academy competition play (which I thoroughly enjoyed), I returned to the game that I had passionately played since I was very young: four square.

Four square, or square ball as it is often called, is more than just a game you play in gym class in second grade. Square ball has the ability to combine the fierce competitive mature of other sports but at the same time also stimulates positive social interaction that people pitted against each other do not usually get. On the square ball court, friends are made, lives are made more enjoyable and good times are reminisced.

This spring break, I went back to my old high school to play square ball after school hours with my friends. My friend Kevin put it the best when he said, "We are college students who came back to our old high school to play a grade school game" because we are just that awesome.

Four square is very much like life. There are no true winners. There are no true losers. Everybody gets knocked out of the game (I just lost the game!) for a little while, but if you are patient, you will get another chance. It takes hard work to get to A-Square. Not everyone gets there on the first try. The illusions of the American Dream that are brought up throughout literature can be seen in a game of square ball. Hard work does not always pay off. Willy Loman from Death of a Salesman spent decades of his adult life stuck in a metaphorical C-Square with nowhere to go but out.

In fact, square ball can encompass both comedy and tragedy from a literary standpoint. Comedy is more than laughs. Comedy is about resiliency. Nothing embodies comedy than the person who continues to get out as quickly as they enter D-Square but continues to play because where they are is not that bad and it can't really get any worse. Tragedy is about downfalls. There is always going to be downfalls in square ball. As I said before, it takes hard work to get to A-Square. Those who get there should be applauded for their achievement. Alas, their efforts are not rewarded with the praise that they deserve. As soon as you get to the coveted A-Square, people just want to tear you down. The kings of the court soon realize how lonely it is at the top. No matter how good you are, no matter how hard you bounce the ball, no matter how hard you dive, someone will eventually dethrone you. Sometimes it is just bad luck but sometimes it is the server's hubris--or extreme pride--that makes them feel invincible in the heat of the game.

Square ball may not be in the Olympics, or be the topic of a blockbuster movie, or Pulitzer Prize book...yet. I think it would be a great idea for a movie. It is a game that everyone learns and has universal lessons and values attached to it. The idea of my friends trying to revive the four square culture at WA is a theme reminiscent of when Obi-Wan and Yoda tried to teach the ways of the Jedi to Luke after the ways of the force had been all but forgotten. Maybe I will live to see the day Return of the Square appears on the silver screen. There is always hope...

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Bruins vs. Penguins: This game had better live up to its billing...

Disclaimer: This post is about sports: hockey in particular. If you are not interested in sports, especially the current events in the National Hockey League, you do not have to read it, but do continue to check out my blog as this is not the only thing I write about.


I for one am totally stoked for the Boston Bruins game tomorrow night against the Pittsburgh Penguins. I am pretty sure I have never been this excited for a single regular season NHL game (with the possible exception of the Winter Classic at Fenway Park back in January). I just hope that the Bruins decide to show up and enforce their way with the defending champs.

When It comes to sports I am a Boston fan through thick and through thin, in sickness (like the injury plagued seasons the Bruins and Celtics have both had) and in health. When I see games without Boston teams in them, I generally root for the underdog unless it involves a team I specifically do not like. I do not like New York teams; especially the Yankees, Jets and Rangers. After that, I am not too big on Philadelphia teams either (except for the Phillies because they have played against the Red Sox's division rivals in the last two World Series), and there are the other rivals like the Los Angelas Lakers in basketball, the Indianapolis Colts in football, and the Montreal Canadiens in hockey. Recently, however, I had to add another team to the naughty list: the Pittsburgh Penguins.

I have never been crazy about the Penguins to begin with. I think that Sidney Crosby is the most overrated star in any sport. He is good, but he also has good teammates and he is not as physical as a star hockey player should be. I also think that it is not very impressive when a team with that many high lottery picks wins a championship (I was not impressed when the Tampa Bay Rays got to the World Series, either. Seriously, if you get the first pick in the draft every year for a decade, you should be in the World Series every year). When I read more into Bruins history I learned about the dirty play of Ulf Samuelsson against Boston great Cam Neely, I bagan to dislike them even more. Last week when Pittsburgh's Matt Cooke delivered a blindside elbow hit to Marc Savard's head, that was the last straw. To me, the Penguins are no better than the cheating, steroid taking, championship purchasing New York Yankees that I have been told to boo since childhood.

This could also be a defining moment in the Bruins season. Finighing first place in the Eastern Conference a year ago, the Bruins have not been the same team since losing to the Carolina Hurricanes in the Conference Semi-Finals. Last Year, they could outscore, out-defend, and outfight anyone in the league; the "Big Bad Bruins" of old were back. This season, they have been cursed with injuries, inconsistency and their lead scorer refusing to sign and getting traded to a team within the division. Last year, they were competing for the best record in the league, and right now they are clinging to the #8 seed in the East. If the Bruins can show people, what they are really made of in this game, against one of the best teams in the league, they will earn back some of the respect they lost from other teams and from the fans.

Matt Cooke was not suspended for the cheap shot that he took on Savard. Savard is one of the Bruins' best players and their post-season hopes hang in the balance because of an unfair play by Pittsburgh. I would like to see enforcers like Shawn Thornton and Milan Lucic really step up in this game. The Bruins have a history of being a team where teammates protect each other and opponents should think twice about messing with. If they can rise to this occasion, then they should be able to take that momentum and ride it the rest of the season and into the playoffs.

Monday, March 15, 2010

It's that time of year again...

About this time every year, I wish I had paid more attention to college basketball when I was instead focusing on things like the Super Bowl, the Olympics, the NBA, the NHL, spring training, and school. If I had made more of an effort to follow college hoops, I would probably be a little more educated when filling out my bracket. Instead, I just go by what teams are #1 seeds, pick three of them to advance to the final four, and pick a team that I remember doing pretty well last year and pick them as my fourth final four team. Is is a flawed system? Absolutely. Could I do any better? Maybe if i didn't have other sports commitments to follow (the great thing about Boston sports is that we have four professional teams that are perennial playoff contenders right now) and a life on top of that. If I had a TV, I might have seen more than two NCAA games all season and that might have helped.

2009 NCAA Mens Basketball Final Four Prediction:

Last year, I had watched a decent amount of college basketball and I thought I was educated enough to make good picks. I had North Carolina, Memphis, Louisville, and Pittsburgh in my bracket going to the Final Four.

2009 NCAA Mens Basketball Final Four Actual Outcome:

Lucky for me, the team I picked to go all the way (North Carolina) was the only one of my Final Four teams that made it. UConn, Villanova, and Michigan State made me very upset.

This Year, I have even less of a clue, but I am using my same flawed system to see where it gets me. This is a very different tournament than last year as ordinary powerhouses North Carolina, Arizona, Indiana, UConn, LSU, UCLA, and Indiana are not there. Kentucky, another historical powerhouse basketball school that did not make the tournament last year, is a #1 seed this time around.

Here are my Final Four Predictions for 2010:

Syracuse, Kansas, and Kentucky are my #1s and Villanova, I predict will be the fourth team instead of Duke. I also predict that Syracuse and Kentucky will advance to the National Championship Game with Syracuse winning it all.

I honestly have no clue what will really happen. Only time will. Feel free to comment and bash my picks and discuss your own predictions.