Weekend Wrapup In The Form Of Bullet Points

Since I had a busy schedule for the entire weekend, my posting on Friday had to be pushed back until today — in addition, since my schedule is still pretty hectic for the next couple of days, today’s  wrap-up is going to be briefer than normal, with a lot of short points rather than lengthier diatribes.  However, if time ends up allowing it after all, I’ll try to have something lengthier up later on — in the television world, I believe they would call that “bonus coverage”.  Or something like that.

But I wouldn’t necessarily count on it — I’m headed into the time of year when I’m preparing heavily for two main things: the plethora of fantasy baseball drafts I participate in, and arrival of several guests from out of town for the main one of those drafts.

Which means I have a brief vacation coming ahead — but not starting until next week — but it doesn’t mean we won’t have some great content upcoming as well.  I’ll have my second annual diary of the NCAA Tournament coming up on Thursday, and my notes on the upcoming fantasy baseball season will be arriving sometime around three weeks from now, just in time for the start of the season.

But in the interim, here comes my bullet point presentation on the weekend (and week) that was.  So without further ado, let’s get on with it, shall we?

— Lo and behold, the Chicago Bears apparently have an officially licensed NFL draft hat?  Don’t you actually need draft picks for that to come in handy?  Maybe I can get Jay Cutler to autograph one for me — I’m sure that will make up for the lack of any activity during the first day of the draft for my beloved Bears.

In other NFL news, there has been a flurry of other activity around the league.  In one of those moves, LaDainian Tomlinson has signed a two-year contract with the Jets, apparently to fill the role the departed Thomas Jones had with the team.  Unfortunately for New York, LT has lost a lot of tread off of the tires, and the likelihood of his making a positive impact with the team at 31 years of age and with nearly 3000 career carries isn’t good.  It’s much more likely that he’ll be taking away carries that should be going to the explosive Shonn Greene, which won’t help the Jets at all.

Meanwhile, Brady Quinn has been dealt to Denver in exchange for — well, not much of anything really.  Quinn never really got a chance to do anything in Cleveland, but he should at least be given an opportunity to compete for the starting job in Denver.  Of course, I’m not really sure it says much about your upside when Mike Holmgrem thinks that a washed-up, turnover machine like Jake Delhomme is a better option than you are.

— Instead of watching the draft, what I plan on doing is trying to catch up (before I fall behind) with the new WWII television series on HBO, The Pacific, which premiered last night.  The miniseries — which will run for ten hour-long episodes — is from some of the people who brought the critically acclaimed Band of Brothers to the small screen.  While Band focused on the European theater, The Pacific follows the action in the Pacific theater and the war waged against Japan.

If it’s anything as good as Band of Brothers, The Pacific will be well worth watching this spring and summer on HBO.

— Another good piece of television I’ve been watching for the last several weeks has been The World At War, airing on Friday nights (and repeated at other various times) on the Military Channel.

The World at War is a documentary originally run on ITV (a public service network in Great Britain) in 1973.  The series is noteworthy for a number of interviews with historic figures from the war (including Karl Donitz and Albert Speer), as well as raw footage from the time, much of which had never before been seen before the series was broadcast.

I remember commercials for the documentary series — then available on VCR tapes — being broadcast during local programming when I was younger, and never having seen it, I was thrilled at getting a chance to watch it now.  Even thirty-seven years after it originally aired, The World At War remains an excellent look back at the most momentous event of the 20th century.  While the documentary definitely has a more dated “look” to it, the content is relevant as ever.  For anyone who wants the whole series, it’s also available on Amazon for a great price as well.