Hey guys, what's new?

That's cool.  Me?  Well, I've been doing a lot of hanging out lately.  Unfortunately, a lot of the things I talk/blog about are either not in season or not very relevant.  Sure, the basketball teams are their usual selves (no playoffs in sight.)  The Devils are good, the Rangers are ok, and I think I stepped in a steaming pile of Islanders in a subway station last week.

But I must say, college basketball has been pretty darn entertaining for the past week.  Watching the big boys (Big East, ACC conferences) is always good for a quality game.  But I must say I'm a sucker for the smaller conference tournaments.  Big Sky, Mountain West, Northeast, Fun Dip....you name it.  Without a doubt, my time at Boston University (America East conference) gives me a bias to the little guys.  Most folks fill out brackets and see the mid-majors as minuscule speed-bumps for the country's elite in the tournament.  And that's probably true.  But even though the quality of play is far inferior, we can't underestimate the "this game is our Super Bowl!" mindset that goes into the small conference tourneys.  The passion of the players and fans is inevitably higher in the smaller conferences than a team that knows it's already in, and is just trying to get a better seeding. 

I hope that kind of makes sense.  In short, I readily acknowledge that a game between two bigtime Big East schools (let's say Villanova and Syracuse) will be a much better brand of basketball than the Vermont-Boston University America East championship.  But given the choice, would you rather see two big boys playing for seeding details or two underdogs playing for their lives and leaving everything out of the floor?  Maybe (probably) I'm in the minority, but I'll be there in Burlington on Saturday.  And you can be there too (kinda)!  The game is at noon eastern time, on ESPN2.  If you want to catch a glimpse of your two favorite NY sport bloggers, tune in.  Me and Chris will be part of the very, very small group wearing red jerseys in the sea of Vermont green and yellow. 

So there's a little college basketball for you.  Keep a lookout in the upcoming week for our big, bold, berserk March Madness contest.  Kind of like our NFL playoff contest.  But BERSERK-ER!

With that said, I'll move on to a topic that I know everyone is familiar with.  While watching the Academy Awards on Sunday, I couldn't help but feel a little out of the loop (still haven't seen Avatar.)  But the award that kept going through my mind was Mo'Nique winning the Oscar for best supporting actress.  Now I didn't see the movie Precious either, so I can't comment on her performance...but Mo'Nique?  From Phat Girlz?  I thought to myself, "What a random career track in terms of movie genres.  What can compare to this?"  Then ABC had a commercial break, and I saw that Mo'Nique already had met her match.  Get ready for the showdown...

          "Don'cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me?"              "I gave her my heart and...She gave me a pen."


CELEBRITY SHOWDOWN: MO'NIQUE VS. JOHN CUSACK
 Who Had the More Random Roles in Two Consecutive Movies?

Mo'Nique: Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins followed by Precious

Cusack: 2012 followed by Hot Tub Time Machine

The Case for Mo'Nique:
Well, we gotta start with the hardware.  Ms. 'Nique already has a prolific movie award going for her.  While she has won the Oscar for Precious, we are unable to predict the future and whether or not Cusack wins for Hot Tub Time Machine.  It's an interesting debate whether or not some run-of-the-mill, unknown actress would be getting the same love as Mo'Nique has gotten.  Was her performance truly outstanding?  Or were the voters simply saying "Holy crap, that's Mo'Nique!  After Soul Plane, this is really unexpected and she should get credit."  'Nique already had a great niche going, as the sassy woman in any movie involving Martin Lawrence, Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg, or the Wayans brothers.  Based on her long-standing body of work, it's a real shock she was the one that got this role and apparently took it to the moon.  Leave it to Oprah for such a dramatic transition.

The Case for John Cusack:
The Oscar award was a great place to start for Mo'Nique.  I have no idea where the hell to start with Cusack.  As far as we can tell, he was a heart-throb actor that spent 85% of his time on-screen in the pouring rain for some reason.  Then from out of the blue, the world is shocked when the lead in 2012 went to somebody on earth not named Nicolas Cage.  Cusack takes that role and according to my research, it takes its place in the top-30 highest grossing movies of all time.  After all that success, Cusack believes the best career move is to take his place alongside Darryl in...Hot Tub Time Machine.  Where he goes from here?  Don't look at me for a guess.

The Verdict:
Clearly, there is no loser in this debate.  Quite frankly, I'd be shocked if you made it this far without leaving the blog forever.  Both stars had quite the random 2009.  But Cusack definitely deserves some bonus points here.  Why?  Because both of his roles are random.  We didn't expect him to be the protagonist in a high-budget, high-grossing disaster film (seriously, Mr. Cage, where were you on this one?)  and we also didn't suspect he'd be a dopey 40-something in a movie whose premise could have been thought of by a stoned 10th grader.  Mo'Nique went above and beyond in Precious, but she was right in her comfort zone for Welcome Home, Roscoe Jenkins (which is, in a bizarre way, the only movie I've seen out of the four in question here.)  So enjoy your Oscar, Mo'Nique.  I'm sure you worked hard for it and maybe one day I will see your performance in Precious.  But without a doubt, the inaugural Celebrity Showdown victory goes to John Cusack.  And that result doesn't seem random to me at all.

Thanks for reading.  I understand if you never come back.  Just in case though, keep a look out for the March Madness pool!