Although the barbecue is certainly very famous, Memphis is of course best known for its place in music history. This past weekend, I finally visited Graceland. The tickets were pricey, but the tour was very well done, and I think it was definitely worth seeing. Elvis's entire career was before my time, but I certainly know several of his songs, and his influence extends to all of pop music today. I think the song that stands out the most for me is Can't Help Falling in Love, which has been covered by everybody ...
Next week will be the 30th anniversary of Elvis's death, and thousands of fans will descend upon Memphis to pay their respects. Graceland is basically a living memorial to Elvis, and his gravesite is on grounds:
He is buried alongside his parents and his grandmother, along with a small grave for his twin brother who died at birth. It is constantly covered with flowers and gifts from adoring fans, and even for someone who doesn't have much of a connection with Elvis, it is moving to stand there among many of his fans. It is sad that he passed away so early, at only 42 years old ... but dying young also preserved everyone's memory of him as an international superstar, and the rest of Graceland and dedicated to that image.
Elvis chose to stay in Memphis even after he became a superstar, and he contributed to a music industry that continues to thrive to this day. Elvis also had a contemporary in Memphis named Johnny Cash, who would later move to Nashville. They brought a rock n' roll sound to America by mixing folk and blues in a city where those two cultures met. The patron of Memphis blues today is B.B. King, and while Elvis and Cash were revolutionizing pop and rock, B.B. King and guys like Isaac Hayes were in Memphis changing the face of blues and soul.
The modern-day Elvis may be Justin Timberlake, who is still growing into superstar status. He was just in town this week for a sold-out concert as part of his FutureSex/LoveShow tour. The modern-day King and Hayes may be the hip-hop artists, headlined by Oscar winners Three Six Mafia. My time in Memphis will be replayed in my head with SexyBack and Doe Boy Fresh playing in my head. There are other songs too, and here is my Memphis mix:
Johnny Cash - I Walk the Line B.B. King - The Thrill Is Gone (1969 Single Version) Elvis Presley - Can't Help Falling In Love Fabolous featuring Ne-Yo - Make Me Better Justin Timberlake - Summer Love Cadillac Don & J-Money - Peanut Butter & Jelly Yo Gotti - That's What's Up Three 6 Mafia featuring Chamillionaire - Doe Boy Fresh Three 6 Mafia - Side 2 Side Justin Timberlake - featuring Timbaland SexyBack
And for a bonus, here's some southern rap from outside Memphis:
Plies featuring T-Pain - Shawty Cherish - Do It To It (Main Radio Version) Chamillionaire & Krayzie - Bone Ridin' T.I. - Top Back T.I. - Big Things Poppin' (Do It) Birdman & Lil Wayne - Stuntin' Like My Daddy (Street Version) Lil Jon featuring E40 & Sean Paul of Youngbloodz - Snap Yo Fingers Shop Boyz - Party Like a Rock Star Timbaland featuring Keri Hilson & D.O.E. - The Way I Are Kanye West - Stronger
Okay, Kanye isn't Southern at all, but he was born in Atlanta and I really like the song.
...this will probably be my last blog entry from Memphis. It was a great year. I learned a lot, I had a lot of fun, and I think I did a lot of good introspection. I'll probably keep blogging, but it won't be four times a week anymore. It may be time to stop writing about life and start living it a little more ...
One week from today, I will be boarding a plane bound for Sydney, Australia. I have been trying to get myself into an Australia frame of mind by reading Riders in the Chariot, by Australian Pulitzer Prize Winner Patrick White. I also watched Mad Max, which was not a very good movie, and its sequel, Road Warrior, which was better. I think it's interesting that Mel Gibson is a pretty one-dimensional character in these early movies, without any trace of the goofiness that he seems to demonstrate in his more recent roles. I'm also going to have to watch Crocodile Dundee before I go. I'm not sure I'm actually learning anything about Australian culture this way, but it's entertaining nonetheless.
I haven't had as much time to plan as I wanted because I've had to deal with finishing up my job, as well as moving and buying a condo and all that, but I've got some guidebooks and a 14 hour flight to figure things out. I will visit Chinatown in Sydney the first day, and see the typical sights like the Opera House and the Harbor Bridge the next day ... we'll have to enjoy some Sydney nightlife and perhaps the observatory or the gardens...
We're going to drive up the east coast, and somewhere along the way, we'll have to visit some wildlifre preserve or something to see kangaroos bounding across the Outback. I also definitely need to see some Koala bears.
We will try to take a boat trip out to the Whitsunday Islands, and I would like to go snorkeling along the Great Barrier Reef. There's whales and dolphins to see, and certainly clownfish and sea turtles ... we should be spending plenty of time at the beach as we make our way towards the equator to Cairns. I'm not really sure of what we'll do, but I know it will be a lot of fun.
One thing I did learn from watching Mad Max is that Australians drive on the left side of the road. That should be interesting since we're renting a car and driving 2000 miles. Hopefully by this time next week I'll have a more detailed plan, but when I come back on Labor Day I should certainly have some stories to tell.
So Barry Bonds hit his 756th home run tonight. After a week of ESPN showing every single one of his games, Barry hit a 3-2 pitch on the outside half of the plate to right-center for his 756th career home run. The game was stopped, and Hank Aaron delivered a congratulatory message. Willie Mays handed Barry a microphone, and he thanked the fans and his family.
The applause at SBC was thunderous, and the look on Barry's face was unadulterated joy. I'm not particularly a Barry fan, but I'm not a hater either, so watching the game tonight, I had to feel good for Bonds.
I think any rational person has to believe that Bonds did take some form of steroids. There is too much circumstantial evidence, and the more we learn, the more it sounds like almost everyone in baseball was taking performance-enhancing drugs in the '90s. It probably hit closest to home for me when Rafael Palmiero was suspended ... Raffy was one of hte Orioles I rooted for as a kid, and he was a part of those Cal Ripken, Jr. teams that were so beloved.
With the Tour de France going down in flames due to drugs, this is really the question of 21st century sports ... how are we going to regulate the use of performance-enhancing drugs? We have generally allowed painkillers and cortisone shorts, and other ways to accelerate the healing process ... we have allowed protein shakes and vitamins, and other ways to build muscle ... but we have drawn the line at steroids and human growth hormone and in cycling, blood doping and a host of other ways cyclists have tried to improve their endurance. We are a heavily medicated society, and even amateur fitness enthusiasts generally have a medicine cabinet stocked with products from GNC. Where do we draw the line?
The only way to really do it is to simply create lists. It isn't an honor system but a principal of legality - athletes are encouraged to everything they can to perform at the highest level, except for the things that are specifically excluded. Working off of lists, however, there will always be drugs ahead of the testing. Whether it's BALCO or some other company, there will always be professional athletes with a lot of money to be made by enhancing their performance any way they can.
Fans want to think of it as an honor system - that there is a clear line where training ends and cheating begins, but I don't think the line is that clear. What principle should we use to draw the line? Should it be about leveling the playing field so that performance can't be bought with money? I think that's part of the motivation, but it certainly isn't all of it, because evne weight training requires a bit of money. Perhaps the principle should be health - we want to ban anything with serious negative side effects. We hear that steroids has such problems, and we have seen the effects on players like Jason Giambi and perhaps in the recent Chris Benoit tragedy, but other than a clever PSA about shrinking balls, I don't think I really know what the effects are on adults. I suppose I can trust the powers that be to make their lists based on whatever criteria they deem important, but to an outsider, it does seem somewhat arbitrary.
Barry's record will be debated forever because of the steroid issue, but it doesn't seem like he will ever be caught red-handed in the way the Black Sox or Pete Rose was ... it will remain in limbo, and for that reason it will remain interesting ... at least for the next 5 years before A-Rod gets there and maybe in another few years when Pujols gets close. Even without steroids, our medical technology should continue to get better and help to prolong careers, and records like these should fall.
I have been putting it off for a long time, but this weekend I finally visited the pandas at the Memphis Zoo.
Like me, they are Chinese visitors in a strange land of blues and barbecue ... just as I've been able to find decent Chinese food to feed me in Memphis, LeLe has plenty of bamboo:
Pandas are really fun to watch because they eat like people do: they pick up the bamboo with their hands, put it up to their mouths, break off a chunk, and chew it up ... it's like eating a Slim Jim or maybe a stalk of celery. Le Le is pretty aptly named, because I don't think I've seen a happier panda:
I've actually seen ten different pandas in the United States: Ling Ling and Hsing Hsing at the National Zoo, Bai Yun, Shi Shi, and Hua Mei in San Diego, Mei Xiang, Tian Tian, and Tai Shan at the National Zoo, and now Ya Ya and Le Le in Memphis. There's three pandas in Atlanta and three new ones in San Diego that I haven't seen, but the pandas may be reproducing faster than I can visit them. Ten is probably more pandas than most Americans have ever seen.
My camera unfortunately focused on the tree branch in this picture, but I caught Ya Ya looking straight at me. I was hoping that she might have had a baby while I was in Memphis, but she had a false pregnancy and they are still waiting ... she looks sad about it.
In any case, Memphis actually has a really nice zoo - it's not huge, but it's decently sized, and it's very well maintained. The pandas have their own little Chinese village to live in, complete with a goldfish pond and a giant bell. They seem real comfortable, and I'm sure they have enjoyed their time in Memphis as I have. It's just about time for me to leave, but Le Le and Ya Ya still have many years to go...
This weekend, Michael Irvin will be inducted into the Hall of Fame. In my mind this is one of the great travesties in sports this year. Art Monk has more yards, more catches, more touchdowns, and the same number of Super Bowl rings. Monk has been a Hall of Fame finalist every time he's been eligible, but he just hasn't been able to get over the hump. Since this is a voting process, I also think it's an interesting experiment in political science.
So why isn't Art Monk in the Hall of Fame? The easiest way to answer that question is to break it down year by year. There is no conspiracy to keep Monk out. There is a straighforward story that reveals some of the structural problems with any voting system:
2001: This was Monk's first year of eligibility for the Hall of Fame, and many voters felt he was a first-ballot Hall of Famer. He jumped ahead of many players that had been waiting longer than him like Harry Carson and John Stallworth. In the end, he lost out to Nick Buoniconti (LB), Jackie Slater (T), Mike Munchak(G), Ron Yary (T), Lynn Swann (WR), Jack Youngblood (DE), and Marv Levy (Coach). Buoniconti was the single veteran nominee, so he was virtually guaranteed a spot. Jackie Slater was the only first balloter. Mike Munchak got in on his second chance. Ron Yary waited six years. Jack Youngblood 11 years. Marv Levy 3 years. The player to notice is Lynn Swann, who waited 14 years to get in. I believe what happenned to Monk is that the voters felt like Swann had been waiting too long, and they didn't want to see Monk, a great 80's receiver, go in ahead of Swann, a great 70's receiver.
2002: In his second year of eligibility, Monk was again cut in the first second vote, missing out on the final seven of Bill Parcells, Bob Kuechenberg, Jim Kelly (QB), John Stallworth (WR), Dave Casper (TE), Dan Hampton (DE), and George Allen (Coach). Parcells and Kooch actually got rejected in the final vote. George Allen was the senior nominee. Jim Kelly was the first balloter. Hampton made it in his second year and Casper in his third. John Stallworth was the guy stuck behind Swann who had to get in on his 8th try.
2003: Monk actually lost ground in his third try, getting cut on the first vote. This really should have been Monk's year, but Cliff Christl led a strong campaign against Monk and for James Lofton, who had been waiting one year longer than Monk. Lofton actually dropped out of the finalists in Monk's first year of eligibility, but he tied Monk in '02 and in '03 he passed him. The inductees were James Lofton (WR) in his fourth year, Hank Stram (Coach) as a veteran candidate, Marcus Allen on his first ballot, and Elvin Bethea (DE), and Joe DeLamielleure (G) out of nowhere getting in when they had been forgotten for a decade.
2004: There were no other recievers to take Monk's spot this year, but the committee decided to cut down the number of available spots from six to four, and they gave two spots to the veteran's committee. One of those veteran nominees, "Bullet" Bob Hayes, monopolized the wide receiver debate this year. Monk didn't even make it past the first vote. Hayes was actually rejected in the final six, as was Rayfield Wright in his final year of eligibility. The inductees were surefire first balloters Barry Sanders (RB) and John Elway (QB), veteran Bob "Boomer" Brown (T), and Carl Eller (DE) in his final year of eligibility.
2005: Michael Irvin showed up to the party in 2005, and the debate became Monk vs. Irvin. With the Playmaker fresh in the voter's minds and getting the traditional first ballot boost, Irvin found himself in the final six. Backlash from Irvin's off-field antics kept him out, however, and the inductees were superstars Dan Marino (QB)and Steve Young (QB) along with two veteran nominees: Fritz Pollard (RB) and Benny Friedman (QB).
2006: The voters may have tired of the wide receiver debate, because neither Monk nor Irvin made the final six this year, although Irvin got slightly more votes. The committee inducted all of the final six: first balloters Troy Aikman (QB), Warren Moon (QB), and Reggie White (DE) along with Harry Carson (LB), who had been so close so many times, veteran John Madden (Coach), and Rayfield Wright (T), who was resurrected by the veteran committee after missing out a few years back.
2007: The door was side open for Monk this year, but Irvin had always been getting more votes, so it should perhaps have been no surprise that the flamboyant Cowboy beat the quiet Redskin. Bruce Matthews (T) was the only first ballot Hall of Famer, and Roger Wehrli (CB) got in in his last year of eligibility. Michael Irvin (WR) got in in his third year and Thurman Thomas (RB) in his second. Gene Hickerson (G) and Charlie Sanders (TE) were the senior nominees.
Now looking back on this history, I would say that it's hard to complain about 2001 and 2002, where the voters had to get Swann and Stallworth off the board. I think there's a legitimate reason to be upset about 2003 and 2004, when Cliff Christl and Dr. Z effectively sabotaged Monk by pushing their own candidates in Lofton and Hayes. They were enabled by Peter King pushing Harry Carson, and I'm sure many other voters went along. It wasn't exactly a campaign against Monk, but these voters all helped their own candidates by keeping Monk out, so there was a confluence of interests that ended badly for our protagonist.
The lingering effects of anti-Monk arguments carried over into 2005 and 2006 when Irvin came on the scene but the bitter feelings started to fade. Where the committee only inducted four players in 2004 and 2005, they inducted six in both 2006 and 2007. The news coming out of the committee recently has also been more positive. Peter King has softened now that his guy, Harry Carson, is in. Younger voters with less baggage are coming onto the committee. I think it's pretty reasonable to assume that Monk has the support of 80% of the voters now. He just needs to find a year where they want him in more than they want other players.
2008 may be difficult because he will be competing with Darrell Green and Cris Carter. If there's one clear pattern from the voting it's that it is rare for two players from the same team to go in together, and it's also rare for two players from the same position. For Monk's long-term prospects, if he doesn't get in, it would be best for both Green and Carter to get in - we don't want to create another Swann-Stallworth logjam, and we don't want to give the committee more reasons to become angry at each other.
When the voters are mad at each other and are playing agendas, fewer players get in overall. When the voters are in a good mood, the old guys tend to go in like 2001-03 or 2006-07. I would love to see Monk go in next year, but it's most important to just keep a lot of players going in each year ... I have no doubt that Monk will get in eventually, and his chances improve each year as the sympathy grows, so we just need to be patient. A voting process is inherently flawed, and it takes time to work out the kinks. The Art Monk Hall of Fame Campaign failed last year, but campaign season is just around the corner, and it will soon be time to kickoff the 2008 campaign. Vote Green/Monk!
The song of the week is Stronger by Kanye and Daft Punk.
The video of the week is Jason Campbell - pick him!
