Monday, Monday.....

Cleaning out the Mental In-Box.....

• My Facebook friends already heard this, but last night I watched the Grammy Awards for the first time in many years. The allure of performances by Barbra Striesand, Mick Jagger, and Bob Dylan is what made me tune in.
• The performers and records that won most of the awards are mostly people with whom I am not familiar. That said, I am planning on downloading the much decorated Lady Antebellum later today.
• I'll give you that Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber are talented people, but will they have the staying power of Jagger and Dylan? I think not.
• Did you see Mick Jagger last night? Amazing, simply amazing, and the guy is 67 years old!!
• And Barbra Striesand can still belt out a tune like no one else. After watching all of the overblown production numbers last night, Babs proves that nothing tops a great singer with a great orchestra behind her.
• If you follow pro football, you should make it a point to read Peter King's Monday Morning Quarterback on si.com every week. That said, he will beat you over the head with his reporting on the NFL labor negotiations and make it sound like an NFL labor stoppage will be the worst crises in the history of mankind. Hey, Pete, it's only football games we're talking about here, not transplant surgery.
• In today's MMQB, King talks about how shabbily the paying customers were treated at JerryWorld at the Super Bowl last week, over and above those ones whose seats weren't ready.
• This reinforces a point that I have long held: that the people that pro football teams care LEAST about, are the ones who buy tickets to sit in their stadiums. Switching game times at the last minute, overpriced food and beverages, the allowance of tailgating, which leads to drunks populating the stands, while they continue to buy even more beer, night playoff games in cold weather cities. I could go on and on, and these are among the reasons that I gave up my Steelers season tickets a few years back. The debacle that King describes in Dallas is nothing less than an absolute disgrace.
• There is a story in the current issue of ESPN The Magazine that is alarming for Pirates fans. It is called Terminal Velocity and it is about the phenomon of young fireballing pitchers who come out of high school and then go into the pro ranks and actually LOSE velocity from their fast ball. It focuses on Tim Alderson, the highly touted prospect the Bucs received from the Giants in the Freddy Sanchez trade.
• The story mentions how the Pirates pitching coaches have filled his mind with so much stuff about mechanics and foot placement and leg kick, that he has basically forgotten how to pitch. His own high school coach has said that Alderson was a better pitcher when he was a high school freshman than he is now.
• The story mentions how the training methods used by the Pirates - and to be fair, the Pirates are not the only team that does this - also have served to hinder the abilities of these young pitchers. In theory, these methods (too detailed to spell out here; read the article) are used to protect these valuable young arms from injury. Yet, paradoxically, five of seven pitchers drafted by the Pirates in the first round from 1999-2007 have suffered major arm injuries and needed surgery, but we all know THAT story.
• This should send chills through the minds of Jameson Taillon and Stetson Allie.
• Enough of the gloom and doom, though...Spring Training opens today and hope springs eternal. Right?
• So, how did everyone survive the first weekend since last July without football? Me, I read a book and had a nice afternoon nap, and then watched the AT&T National from Pebble Beach.
• How about Bill Murray winning the Pro-Am at Pebble yesterday? How great was that? A true "Cinderella story"....which is nice.
• Did anyone watch the 60 Minutes story on the Chilean miners last night. Not surprisingly, these men are having some serious adjustment problems following their dramatic rescue last year.
• I see that the Adam Sandler movie, "Just Go with It" was number one at the box office this weekend. I'm sure that this is a generational thing, but I just don't get Adam Sandler. Also, I saw a trailer for this flick a few months back and figured that the Brooklyn-Decker-in-a-bikini scene would be the highlight of the movie. Based on the reviews, it looks like I was right.
• The reviews also pretty much pan Jennifer Anniston, which seems to be a typical reaction to her movies. Perhaps she should stick to TV sitcoms.
• A Loyal Reader has suggested that I should change the name of The Grandsdtander to "The Obituary Blog." It does seem that there have been a preponderance of "Absent Friends" pieces in recent days, and I didn't even mention the death of former Steelers guard John Nisby!! I guess that's just the way it goes sometimes.

Here's to a good week for everyone out there!!