Can I Get an AMEN???

Michael Cunningham is my new hero. I have never read a single thing he has written, but this one article makes me laugh.

A change of heart on the SEC? Not really

I think many of us share the opinion that the SEC is WILDLY overrated. It's only going to get worse with the new CBS contract kicking in. You can't argue with SEC fans or proponents, though. They do have an 11-4 record in the BCS all-time with 3 National Titles in the past 10 years. However, it's the constant claims that they play the best defense in the NCAA, play the best offense in the NCAA, have the best coaches in the NCAA, the best rivalries in the NCAA... Need I go on?

Yes, they have had the Champ 2 years running, but that in no way makes them the best conference in the NCAA. The SEC uses fuzzy logic to justify their inaccurate claims, and this article rips that logic apart!

"I'm jealous of myself!

When Teresa and I told mom and dad that we were having a baby, mom uttered probably my favorite line I heard from anyone. Excited that two of her children we having kids within 6 weeks of each other, and one of the babies would be so close she could actually be in the hospital during the birth, mom said something to the effect of:

"My friends will all be so jealous! I've already got three granddaughters, now I'm going to have two more grandchildren! Gosh, I'm even jealous of myself!"

Dad and Teresa were on the phone at this point, so I have witnesses.

Teresa said that I have free reign to tell whomever, so I decided a blog post was the best means. All of you can also feel free to tell whomever. Now mom and dad have another chance of getting that ever-illusive grandson! Fun thing is, we're not going to find out beforehand - so it will be a delivery-room surprise! My guess is it will be girl.

Willingham Fired - again!

So it happened. the University of Washington announced that Ty Willingham was fired as head coach effective at the end of the season. This has almost a poetic aura around it. Let's play TyLibs, my own take on the futility of Willingham.

2004
Willingham is driving Notre Dame into the abyss of college football relevance. A 6-5 season was punctuated by yet another blowout loss to USC. Recruiting efforts were at an all-time nadir, with little hope on the horizon. The week following that loss, ND announced his firing prior to completion of his 5 year contract. The AD, Kevin White, said at his press conference, "We simply have not made the progress on the field that we need to make. From Sunday through Friday our football program has exceeded all expectations, in every way, but on Saturday, we struggled. We've been up and down and sideways a little bit." Willingham is obviously upset about the decision, and refuses to resign. He then proceeds to move on and collect $1.3 million from Notre Dame to buyout his contract.

2008
Willingham is driving Washington into the abyss of college football relevance. An 0-7 season was punctuated by yet another blowout loss to Notre Dame. Recruiting efforts were at an all-time nadir, with little hope on the horizon. The week following that loss, UW announced his firing prior to completion of his 5 year contract. The AD, Scott Woodward, said at his press conference, "It became quite obvious with the performance on the football field it wasn't up to what we talked about at the beginning of the season and previous to the season. It became more obvious as time went on this season." Willingham is obviously upset about the decision, and refuses to resign. He then proceeds to move on and collect $1 million from Washington to buyout his contract.

It is so gratifying that we were the team to put the nail in the coffin on his tenure at Washington. Don't forget he was talking to UW about a contract before he was let go. Furthermore, ND was called everything from inpatient, disloyal, a dead program to racist following the firing. I'm sorry, but after the unfair attacks on ND when he was fired, and his quiet affirmation of claims ND was racist, I admit I hold a grudge. I am glad we were the team to send him out! I think Husky fans are happy about this outcome as well!

Last year, many were comparing Weis to Willingham, and outsiders laughed when we tried to shift some of the blame for 2007 to Willingham's poor recruiting. I think as people look closely at UW's program today, they are silently reconsidering all the unfair statements they made about ND firing Willingham back in 2004. Will Notre Dame get the apologies they deserve from Mark May, Ivan Maisel, John Saunders, Dennis Dodd, Jason Whitlock and a myriad of other media personalities? (That's right, I saved the links to hear what they had to say back in 2004. It is laughable!!!) I seriously doubt it, but 2008 finally provides closure for me to the Willingham era.

George Was Right

"I have already intimated to you the danger of parties in the state, with particular reference to the founding of them on geographical discriminations. Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party, generally.

The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries, which result, gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of Public Liberty.

The common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it. It serves always to distract the Public Councils, and enfeeble the Public Administration. It agitates the Community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms; kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection."

These are direct quotes from George Washington's farewell address on September 17, 1796. Some of you may have heard these before. I would say that Washington was prophetic. 212 years in advance, he correctly predicted the problems of today based solely upon his disdain for political parties.

Don't talk to me about the economy, health care, war in Iraq, how much Sarah Palin spent on her wardrobe or Barak Obama's celebrity status. I feel that the current political party system is the single greatest problem facing America in the 21st century. Washington D.C. is unable to solve any problems because of the constant bickering and fighting between the Dems and the GOP.

Do I think that a political leader will "turn this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of Public Liberty"? No, although some (crazy, bitter, angry) people would argue that George W. Bush has already done that. On the other hand, does the current system "serve always to distract the Public Councils, and enfeeble the Public Administration. It agitates the Community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms; kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection"? Well, let's look at that statement: yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes.

So the bottom line is that as a nation, we cannot be split down the middle as Red states and Blue states. How does that happen? The answer in my mind is simple: government has to be smaller and have less influence on our daily lives. Whenever you have so much power and money concentrated under the control of one entity, the political battles will ensue.

Please don't pull out that tired argument against the current political dirty word, "deregulation." If you thought the problems on Wall Street and in the mortgage industry were bad, wait till you see what happens now that the Government has stepped in with it's bailout. Hasn't really helped stabilize the market yet has it? Without the crazy mountains of regulation that we have just created (which by the way adds thousands upon thousands of new government jobs), the bad banks and mortgage companies would collapse, and the remaining companies would learn a lesson and do business better. That's called capitalism. Now, the companies have been saved and not much of a lesson has been learned. Government is bigger and nobody knows how we can afford it. This isn't capitalism anymore, it's not quite socialism, but it's closer to it. As a quick aside, who are we going to bail out next? CNN says today that the automobile makers in Detroit are in need of a bailout, and likely to get some kind of relief. Do you want the government in the business of building cars now too?

The Dems have seized upon the current "ill-founded jealousies and false alarms," based almost entirely upon the current economic fears as a means to create bigger, "better" government. I think it is a very dangerous time to try and increase the influence of government. Many people think that FDR's New Deal ended the Great Depression. That would be incorrect. WWII ended the Great Depression. Adding more to our current government will do nothing to help the economy, and go a long way toward hurting it.

So popular or unpopular, I will be voting for John McCain in 8 days. I do feel he has given his life to serve his country, with no designs upon personal power or glory. I think he offers the best chance to bring the Dems and GOP closer together, as is clearly evidence by the disdain for him by the conservative right within his own party (whom I despise). Most importantly, I think the GOP view that government needs to be smaller and more in the hands of states and communities is correct. Obama offers something for everyone if you believe everything he claims. However, it doesn't add up. I fear that an Obama victory will add layers upon layers of new roles and responsibilities to our government that doesn't work. That just leads us right back to where Goerge Washington warned us not to go.

Blu-ray First Impressions

So I got my fancy new Blu-ray player yesterday. Here is a bit of advice from this early adopter for any who make the plunge in the next couple of months (I hear Black Friday will have Blu-ray players for under $200, and Best Buy has some right now for $199).

Installation
Installation was not the snap I imagined it to be. First off, you need some extra stuff that I almost totally anticipated. Aside from the player, you will need an HDMI cable (make sure it's 1.3 compliant so you get maximum data rate), an SD card and an ethernet connection. I had an HDMI cable that I accidentally broke while putting the Blu-ray player back in my cabinet. Must have been a pretty cheap cable, so be careful when you connect them. That was a quick trip to Radio Shack! The SD card is to store data regarding your discs for optimum use. The ethernet connection could be tricky. I don't have my cable modem sitting next to my TV, so I bought a Linksys Dual-Band Wireless-N Gaming Adapter (WGA600N) to get the job done. It was a bit of a hassle initially connecting the adapter to my wireless network as the setup instructions didn't exactly work perfectly. I quickly figured it out though. Then, my desired placement in the cabinet didn't get a strong enough wireless signal (which was hard to determine until I used trial and error method of placement). So I had to hide it behind the TV. Then I was up and running.

Playback
This will take a bit of getting used to. Each Blu-ray disc is like a computer program. It takes a little time to load, kind of like with a Playstation or XBox. A little concerning given how fast DVDs load, but the little message warns you. It probably takes a 30 seconds or so. I didn't actually time it, but it seems like a long time. I haven't figured out the nuances of stopping play, and restarting as it kept going back to the main menu when I stopped play. Probably some dumb quirk that I couldn't figure out yet. Once the disc is loaded and running, the images are stunning. Think about the first time you saw HDTV compared to regular TV. That is the difference from standard DVD to Blu-ray. If you have previously used an upconverting DVD player with HDMI connection to an HDTV (like I used to have), you will notice significant improvement, but not the awe-insporing leap that you saw going to HDTV initially. I can't comment on the supposedly amazing sound. I have an old-school AV receiver that only supports Dolby Digital 5.1 and a surround bar speaker. The sound is great, but I am not getting the Dolby True Digital 7.1 sound that Blu-ray offers. I bought Sleeping Beauty, Casino Royale and Iron Man to start. Sleeping Beauty and Bond look AWESOME. Iron Man is up for tonight!

Blu-ray Live
The verdict is out here. This was my main reason for waiting for a Blu-ray. The new 2.0 standard allows an internet interface on the Blu-ray. The 2 discs I tried both required online account creation. The Disney disc had a ton of special features like chat, trivia, online games and such. The Sony disc (Casino Roayale) had movie trailers and downloads, but I didn't see a lot of content that was worth the hassle of creating an account. To be fair, it was late and I didn't look at the second disc, so there may be more. Anyway, as of now, it was a real hassle to sign-up and login tot Blu-Ray Live without much benefit. Everything I have read says this is a brand new technology, and it will change as new discs come out. Hopefully, it becomes more useful in the future. I'm talking downloadable extra features and interactive movie stuff. We'll see.

Conclusion
My current conclusions are that this is pretty amazing technology. I am not taking full advantage right now, and the next electronic purchase I make will be a fancy new AV receiver. That will wait until I get surround speakers again in my next house. Until now, the digital sound as well as 1080p images are totally worth it. The Blu-Ray Live is as advertised, a bit of a pain and inconsistant utilization on different discs. I need to take some time to check out all the special features (there are hundreds) on the different discs to see if any are worthwhile. I also need to get used to a new way of watching movies as Blu-ray has some basic differences in playback compared to standard DVD. As with any technology, it is pretty simple to make it work, but there is a whole other level of complexity that you can get into if you like.

They Must Be Really Effing Bad

There are reports coming in today that recent Notre Dame transfer, former William & Mary walk-on, and current Notre Dame walk-on David Ruffer has been given a place on the squad as second string place-kicker and will be traveling with the team this weekend to Seattle.

Although it's good to hear that Notre Dame is trying to sure up their kicking game, it begs the question - how bad must the other scholarship kickers be? From the sounds of it, the athletics department jumpted through quite a few hoops in order to ensure that Ruffin is eligible to kick immediately.

Decent high school kickers are even more likely to slip through recruiting cracks than other positions for the simple fact they often don't get a chance to show their goods in actual, meaningful games. Here's hoping that Ruffin is the real deal.

A Political Comment

Vote for me, and your wildest dreams will come true.

In less than two weeks, Americans will choose a new president. Some of you have shared your thoughts on the race in conversation with me, and there have been a few notable exchanges in this blogspace. For my part, I am seriously torn between the two major party candidates and, regrettably, for me it has become a choice of the lesser of two evils. Barack Obama, for all of his soaring and inspirational oratory, is a newbie to the national political scene who, I fear, would be eaten alive by the likes of Reid, Pelosi, and Dean. Some have likened Obama to JFK and I do see a number of similarities including the fact that JFK accomplished virtually nothing during his tragically brief time in office. It was not the New Frontier, but LBJ's Great Society that brought us the Civil Rights Act, Medicare/Medicaid, and even the mission to the moon. The meat of Obama's proposals seems appetizing but once through the Congressional grinder I think we may end up with goetta.

Then there's John McCain. I remember getting a phone call from Ted back in 1988 when George Bush the Elder announced Dan Quail as his running mate. Quail was a US Senator from Indiana (where we were living at the time) and Ted thought I would be excited about it. Quite the contrary. I regarded Quail as an attractive, personable, political newbie and intellectual lightweight. When McCain chose Sarah Palin, I hoped - really hoped - that she would be a star. Well, Palin did make it to SNL but it only confirmed her lack of gravitas. The choice of a running mate is the first truly important decision a candidate makes, and I'm afraid McCain came up short.

So, how will I vote? My loathing for the Reid/Pelosi/Dean cabal has me leaning McCain's way, if only to preserve the possibility of an occasional presidential veto of their lunacy.

Whichever candidate you support, may I suggest a simple exercise in political reality. Write down the four or five things you believe your preferred candidate will do as President. Choose from any of the grand plans and transformational programs featured on their websites and in their speeches. If your candidate is elected, tuck the paper away in your wallet or purse and leave it there. When the next presidential election gets underway, retrieve the paper and compare the list with actual events. It's likely you'll be surprised - and not in a good way.

This is Why I Hate Celebrities (and Mainstream Media)

US Weekly has published a story about how Jenny McCarthy (yes, this Jenny McCarthy) has miraculously cured her 6 year old son of autism through use of a no-wheat, dairy-free diet. Keep in mind that McCarthy believes her son developed autism after receiving an MMR (Measles/Mumps/Rubella for those of you without kids) vaccine and has since railed against vaccinating children against potentially deadly, debilitating diseases.

McCarthy is kinda hot and has a tendency to pose naked, so obviously she's a scientist and her quack-pot theories should be published by major media outlets and taken as gospel.

I actually had a friend call me recently to ask whether I thought he should have his child vaccinated for the flu this winter because of nonsense like this. He was actually starting to listen to all this BS about vaccines causing autism. Since I'm not a doctor, I told him to do whatever his pediatrician recommended.

If a celebrity said they thought wearing pants gave their kid measles, all of Hollywood would be running around commando-style within 24hrs and half of America would follow suit within a week. I would fear for society if I didn't know they'll all be dead, except those of us that got vaccines, when a measles epidemic rocks the world.

Bye Week Guide

Notre Dame is off this weekend, gearing up for Ty Bowl next Saturday. This will probably leave a large hole in your Saturday afternoon routine. Here are a few options for filling the void left by Notre Dame football...

• Go outside
• Do not yell at your TV for 4 hours
• Take a nap (also could've been done every Saturday last Fall - bye week or not)
• Go to the mall
• Play with your child(ren)
• Watch non-Notre Dame football games
  
• Watch old Notre Dame football games
  

Well Said

I had begun writing a post on the subject of the current financial "crisis", but before I had a chance to put a bow on it, TMQ (still your #1 source for political/economic information) came along and said everything I wanted to more eloquently. I guess that's why they pay him the big bucks.

You can (and should) read his thoughts here.

To paraphrase, since TMQ can be verbose, "crisis" is a relative term and we're all best served by looking at the larger economic picture. It's a very optimistic, and welcome, perspective of what we're currently seeing occur on Wall Street that I am very much in agreement with. Media outlets and politicians are calling it a "crisis" simply to promote their own agendas, and bad days on Wall Street don't necessarily translate to an economic crisis. My (and TMQ's) $0.02...

Is Tonight the Night???

Following up on Ian's Brady Quinn post... Could tonight be the night Quinn finally gets his shot with the Browns? The Giants are VERY good, and they may pound the Browns and Anderson to a pulp. The Browns are very close to pulling Anderson, and he may have a tough time tonight. I see a good chance of Quinn getting a shot on Monday Night Football.

Lord knows ND fans have to have something to cheer for!

Bump In Traffic

I thought I'd try to "legitimize" our blog today and get us some easy traffic like all the other sports blogs do. Here goes...

Brady Quinn is gay.

Brady Quinn likes dudes.

Oh, snap! Look at those zingers! Take THAT, Brady Quinn! Bigotry and homophobia are hilarious! We should expect to see the traffic rolling in any second now...

For reals, though - what's the fascination with Brady Quinn? He's a late first-round draft choice backing up an All-Pro in his prime in only his second year.

Yeah, he's taken some stupid photos with what look like high school buddies. We can't all be as bad-ass and ooze testosterone like you tough-guy sports bloggers out there. He's also been seen like this
Not. Too. Shabby. (The girl. Not the white linen blazer and blue slacks.)

Let's face it - Quinn gets grilled because he went to Notre Dame. He busts his ass, teammates have nothing but good things to say about him, and he'll probably unseat All-Pro Anderson before the season is done. Meanwhile, former Heisman Trophy winner "Statutory" Matt Leinert is hooking up with jailbait and got beat out by a 37-yr old wash-up. But he gets a free pass because he went to Southern Cal and knows celebrities.

My point - as usual, I have none...

Still?

According to sources, Brandon Walker has retained field goal kicking duties for Notre Dame after winning a practice competition with junior Ryan Burkhart. Two questions arise...

1. How bad must Burkhart be to continually get beat our by Walker? Reports are that, once again, it wasn't even close.
2. Will practice ever make perfect?

There comes a point in time where you need to throw practice out the window. By all indications, Walker is a great practice kicker. However, the fact remains he's 1-7 on field goal attempts this season and 7-19 in his career. I don't care if he's bombing 72-yarders from the left hash in practice, if he can't hit a 31-yard chip shot in a game what's the point? Maybe the opposite holds true for Burkhart. Maybe he sucks in practice, but would step up in a game situation.

Notre Dame has been lucky thus far in that their kicking woes have yet to cost them a game, but they will eventually. If Walker continues to choke in games I don't really care what's happening in practice, a switch needs to be made.

F$%^ You And Your Bad Grammar, Apple

Apple has released their latest iPod, and the marketing shit-storm that goes along with any Apple release is in full effect. Once again, Apple is trying to chip away at the collective intelligence of America by using blatantly poor grammar.
Notice the problem here? If you're one of the millions of people that made it through 3rd grade you would have quickly noticed that "funnest" isn't really a word. The correct comparative and superlative forms of the word "fun" are "more fun" and "most fun", respectively. Who the hell do you think you are, Steve Jobs? William freaking Shakespeare? You do not have the clout to just go making up words willy-nilly. Hey, look! I can do it too - Apple, your ad campaigns are dumbening society!

Sadly, this isn't Apple's first cutesy foray into infuriating ad campaigns. Remember this?
Yeah, that was Apple's first attempt at eroding correct English. The word "different" in the above phrase is performing as an adverb and should therefore end in "ly", e.g. Think differently.

What really drives me nuts is that most people probably don't even realize the errors and I'm probably going to start hearing the word "funnest" all over the place, losing a little bit of my sanity with each utterance. I'm dreading the release of the latest MacBooks and the accompanying ad campaign that proclaims, "The new MacBook. Designed by Apple in California. All parts purchased from and assembled in China. Gooder than all those other laptops." Damn you, Apple...

Weekend Recap

Mainly for Bridget and Brian, who couldn't join us in South Bend this past weekend...

• DC to Indy (plane), Indy to South Bend (car) - eh... probably the last time for that.
• Would it kill Indiana to build an honest-to-God interstate between Indy and South Bend? That drive should never take 4.5 hours.
• Little cousins playing together? Awesome. Little cousins playing together after 9pm? Not so awesome.
• South Bend liquor store workers are quite the friendly lot. The legendary stories of Grandma T negotiating the prices on handles of Captain Morgan are suddenly more believable.
• 16oz Miller Lite's and Mustard-Cheese dip are not a suitable replacement for breakfast and lunch.
• Notre Dame defensive line? Not so great. Notre Dame jumbo sausage dogs? Great.
• Bruno's is a shit-hole. Literally. Although, I would beat a man to death with a shoe right now for a couple slices of that supreme.
• Zoe (7p bedtime) up past 9p two nights in a row = totally awesome plane ride home!

All in all, an enjoyable weekend featuring an Irish win. I'm honestly shocked that everything worked out as well as it did considering the hectic scheduling. I was bracing for a fiasco. Regardless, it was good to see everyone during the brief interludes of activity.

One More...

Ted's been putting out a fair amount of political commentary on the old blog of late in favor of John McCain. In most cases I've played devil's advocate, while stressing I'm still undecided - which is still the case. So I thought I'd throw a quick bone in favor of McCain/Palin by sharing a few quick positive thoughts on Gov. Palin.

• The contempt (it's the perfect word for this situation) shown Palin by the media and liberals is completely unfair. Whatever people say, she wasn't handle the Governor's seat in Alaska - she earned it with confidence and intelligence. It's especially galling coming from so many celebrities - a segment of the American population that makes a living playing make-believe - many of whom never even attended high school.
• The whole angle that she doesn't have enough foreign policy experience is a joke. How much foreign policy experience did Bill Clinton gain as governor of Arkansas - a state that probably out-hicks even Alaska? How much did Ronald Reagan, victor in the Cold War, gain acting and sitting as governor of California? If you answered 'None', you're spot-on.
• Enough with the argument about whether or not you'd be comfortable with her as President. This is a contrived attempt to spin McCain's age. What if Obama were to die in office? ZOMG! Biden is 66! I don't know if I'm comfortable electing a secondary official who maybe, possibly, potentially could die while in office.
• One thing that I think is often too easily overlooked in Presidential races is leadership. Senators and Congressmen like to stress how they led committees as examples of leadership. That's crap. I don't think you can quantify what it takes to be the person where the buck stops -the one who everyone looks to when a final decision needs to be made. Sarah Palin has been in that position as governor of Alaska. She has been the final arbiter, the one who says, "This is what we're doing. End of discussion." She hasn't had the luxury that Biden and Obama and, even, McCain have had in the Senate, blowing their idealistic horns and grandstanding while knowing full well it doesn't mean a damn thing because the majority will win out. That's putting on a show knowing there's no risk involved. Being the person in charge involves risk and gravitas with everything you say and each decision you make. Everything you do is scrutinized. Call me naive, but I think that's a huge advantage for Palin over everyone else in this race, her running mate included.

So there you have it - a little fair-and-balanced by yours truly. I think that tonight's VP debate should be very telling, but not for the reason others might think. If McCain loses ground as a result of a poor Palin performance it won't be because Palin has been exposed as an amateur, it'll be because McCain will have been exposed for picking a gimmick running mate for the sole purpose of getting himself elected - a selfish act that would belie everything McCain has said or done in his career to get to this point.

P.S. Still undecided, but that may change after tonight...

Looking Good...

At risk of jinxing the whole f#$^ing weekend, he's the current weekend weather forecast for South Bend. Looks like it's shaping up rather nicely, if not a little chilly for the later parts of the game Saturday. Can't wait!

Why, Mr. DJ? Why?

I feel sheepish admitting these two facts, but here goes...

1. I still listen to plain, old frequency modulation (FM) radio.
2. I love Nirvana.

You'd think those two guilty pleasures would blend like PB&J since Kurt Cobain committed suicide and radio disc jockeys (DJs) are notorious suckers for playing music made by now-dead musicians. Here's the problem - while Nirvana only ever made 3 studio albums and those 3 albums are packed with great songs, the DJs only ever play the 3 worst Nirvana songs...

• Come As You Are
• Heart-Shaped Box
• Lithium

They aren't horrible songs relative to today's music scene (which pretty much sucks), but compared to Scentless Apprentice, All Apologies, Breed, Polly, School, About a Girl, et al., they're shit. I don't get it, there are almost 40 songs from studio albums, countless live/unplugged versions available, even the Incesticide EP - literally hours of music to choose from - and it's still the same 3 damn songs. It's depressing. As depressing as the fact that Cobain was probably murdered by his crazy wife, Courtney Love? Eh, maybe not, but still... throw me a freaking bone now and then.

I Did It!

I have taken the technology plunge. I put in a pre-order for a shiny new Blu-Ray player today on Amazon. Check out the just announced Panasonic DMP-BD35K.

Blog regulars may recall the myriad HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray posts that flew around this site for months and years prior to the death of HD-DVD this spring. So it is no surprise that the Heffernans are interested in Blu-Ray technology. Why did I wait so long? What caused me to pull the trigger now? Why did I pre-order from Amazon? The answers lie below...

First off, nobody in their right mind would have purchased either HD disc format until the format war was decided. I actually wasn't sure it ever would be! But the quick and stunning defeat of HD-DVD gave me confidence that Blu-Ray would actually make it. After Blu-Ray won, the players available were in a bit of chaos. They were very expensive, well over $500. They had differing Blu-Ray standards (1.0, 1.1, 1.1+) that didn't always promise future disc compatibity. They supposedly had a lot of glitches, and took forever to load discs and content. Up until today, the best Blu-Ray player available was actaully a PS3! As a result, I watched and waited for the next generation of Blu-Ray players to hit the shelves - likely in time for Christmas.

Today, CNET ran a full review of the new Panasonic Blu-Ray line. I am a big CNET fan, and they know their electronics. The new review convinced me now was the time to pull the trigger. The BD35K comes in at $299. It is fully 2.0 compliant. It has the best image quality available in a Blu-Ray player. It has one of the best chips for upconverting older DVDs to 1080p. It fully decodes all the fancy audio modes in new movies for those of us that don't have a $2000 receiver. CNET says the only better player is the BD55K that offers analong 7.1 output, something that nobody needs anyway. Now is the time to buy. Other companies will release their new players soon, but Panasonic has been the reference standard for Blu-Ray from the start. It's this one, or wait until next year for the next generation, which will assuredly have a few minor updates. However, the major issues are addressed in this player today, and it's time.

I also decided to go with Amazon because of their great track record for me. I bought my HDTV from them, and am very happy. They always have the best price, and they don't have tax or shipping. Nice when you have over 9% sales tax.

So if anyone has been considering Blu-Ray, trust me when I say this is the time to take the plunge. As further incentive, all the big movies of this year are starting to come out in Blu-Ray. I am going to the store to buy Iron Man and Sleeping Beauty in Blu-Ray next week. The Dark Knight is coming sooooon!