A7X's Coming Out Party

Orion Fest Review

As an Avenged Sevenfold fan since the first time I saw the video for "Bat Country" at the cafeteria in Montclair State University, Sunday was a magical day. Not only will this be the last time the band will be performing until they release their next album, which probably won't be until late 2013-early 2014, but at Orion Festival 2012, they stole the show. Avenged Sevenfold may have just rained on Metallica's party by  putting on a crazier concert than the original Kings of Metal. One thing is for certain, Avenged Sevenfold is the biggest current hard rock band, and they are showing no signs of slowing down or stopping. Orion Fest could be a passing of the torch from Metallica to Avenged Sevenfold.


I'm sure it was a bittersweet moment for the band, ending a long three years following the death of Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan. They didn't even know if they wanted to continue making music after Nightmare, but the outpouring of love and support from their fans convinced them to carry on in Jimmy's legacy. Thank You Avenged.

From the time that Lars Fucking Ulrich (using that in a respectful way, not like a Bucky Fucking Dent way) introduced them, to the last note of "Unholy Confessions" A7X; Matt Shadows, Zacky Vengeance, Synister Gates, Johnny Christ, and Arin Ilejay; had the Atlantic City crowd in a frenzy while eating out of their hands.

After Lars' glowing introduction, the band came out to arguably it's biggest hit "Nightmare" and sent the crowd jumping for excitement and yelling "ITS YOUR FUCKING NIGHTMARE" along with M Shadows to the dismay of parents there with their teenage sons and daughters. "Critical Acclaim" (still using the Rev's vocals during this song is spine chilling) was next, then Shadows welcomed new fans to this "crazy fucked up family" before "Welcome to the Family". A7X didn't talk between songs as much as they're used to because of a shorter set time, so they kept rocking on with "Almost Easy", "Buried Alive", "Afterlife", and "Beast and the Harlot". 


The crowd was going nuts during the whole set, moshing and crowd surfing. At one point, someone dressed up as Scooby Doo was crowd surfing, which was met with a mildly amused/confused look from Synister Gates. I also saw a girl in zombie face paint crowd surfing as well.

Before "A Little Piece of Heaven" Shadows joked that "it's a love story between two men, no it's a beautiful story of a guy that kills his wife does unspeakable things to her dead body, then she comes back to life and haunts him". This was one of the songs I was hoping to hear since they didn't play it at the other two shows I went to. Unfortunately, "Unholy Confessions" was next, which meant that their time was up, but not before a wild circle pit during the intro to "Crossroads".



At the end of their set, I was a little beat up (an empty Coors Light cooler smacked me in the face during the middle of the concert) but was having the time of my life. Then I was off for the second day of Metallica.

Before I get into the second day though, let me jump back to the first day Metallica played. "Ecstasy of Gold" came on first, which is one of the most badass ways to start a show. Then 'Tallica played the first song they ever wrote "Hit the Lights", and followed it up with one of their most popular hits "Master of Puppets". "The Four Horsemen", "Sad But True", and "Hell and Back", off of their new EP Beyond Magnetic, were played next before they went into playing the entire Ride the Lightning album. 


In an interesting twist they played the album backwards. Some more memorable songs were "Creeping Death", "Fade to Black", and "For Whom the Bell Tolls". Another interesting note was that it was the first time "Escape" was ever played live. 

After a brief intermission, they came back for an encore with "One", "Battery", and "Seek and Destroy".  This was a great concert as well, and Metallica seemed genuinely happy to see how successful the first ever Orion Festival was.

Then came the second day of Metallica.... and it felt like deja vu. After "Ecstasy of Gold" they played "Hit the Lights" and "Master of Puppets" before playing "For Whom the Bell Tolls" for the second time before finally playing "Fuel" and "The Shortest Straw", a song we didn't hear on Saturday.


Just like with Ride the Lightning, a cool video introduced the Black Album, before they started to play it in reverse order, finishing with "The Unforgiven", "Sad But True", and "Enter Sandman". "Blackened", "One", and "Seek and Destroy" finished the night and the festival off. Adding everything up, out of the 20 songs played on Sunday, eight of them were played on Saturday also. 


I hate complaining because Metallica really does put on a great live show, and some fans might have only gone to one show, but that really took me out of the concert. Especially when you're a band as big as Metallica that has more than enough hit songs that fans want to hear.


Overall, Orion Fest was a great experience, but it would've been better if I only went to one day. I wanted to see Ride the Lightning and A7X and they were on different nights.

A7X vs Metallica

On the way back from AC, my cousin Mike and I found a couple of interesting parallels between the two bands we came to see.

To start, both bands trace their roots back to California, with Metallica coming from San Francisco and A7X from Orange County. They both started off playing heavier songs (Kill 'Em All and Sounding the Seventh Trumpet) before slowing down just a little bit. Both bands became extremely popular despite not playing what is usually considered "radio-friendly" music. 

Both bands unfortunately met tragedy but persevered through with Metallica losing original bassist Cliff Burton in 1986, and A7X's drummer The Rev passing away in 2009.

They are very polarizing, finding as many "metalheads" that call them sellouts for becoming popular and making money as you would die-hard fans that know the lyrics of every song. 

Another interesting fact is that their fifth studio albums "Metallica" and "Nightmare" both reached number one in their opening weeks.

As an Avenged Sevenfold fan I can only hope that they continue to make good music for as many years as Metallica has.

Silva v Sonnen

I'm going to get a longer preview up next week, but I'm really excited for this fight. It's been 2 years since their last fight, and the feud is getting hotter. During yesterday's conference call it seems like Chael Sonnen's constant barrage of comments have pushed Anderson Silva over the edge. Some quotes include:

"Chael is a criminal. He's been convicted of crimes. He doesn't deserve to be in the Octagon. When the time is right, I'm going to knock all of his teeth out. I am going to make him eat these words he has said about me and about the UFC. This is the end of the jokes, no more talking."

“What I'm going to do inside the Octagon is something that's going to change the image of the sport. I'm going to beat his ass like he's never been beaten before. I'm going to make sure that every one of his teeth are broken, his arms are broken, his legs will be broken. He's not going to be able to walk out of the octagon by himself.”

"I don't live in the past. The things in the past are in museums. Playtime is over. I'm going to beat Chael like I've never been beaten before. The joke is over. There's no more talking. I know he's on the line listening, and the game is over. I'm going to beat his ass out of the UFC. He's never going to want to fight again after I'm done with him.

“I'm going to beat him maybe the way his parents should have beat him to teach him some manners… I'm going to beat him up like he's never been beat before. He can say whatever he wants, but I'm not playing any more.”

I don't know if that was what Sonnen was trying to do, or if he's shaking in his boots. All I know is that July 7th is going to be crazy.

Euro 2012

Italy is in the middle of an interesting run in the 2012 Euro Cup. After blowing leads against Spain and Croatia during the first two group stage matches, they needed a win and some help against Ireland to advance. The chips fell correctly and Italy advanced into the elite 8 and a match with England.

Italy outplayed the English side for 120 minutes, but in spite of all their good attempts at goal, the game was still tied at 0-0 and went to penalty kicks. As a fan of a soccer team, this is the most agonizing moments. Luckily, Gli Azzuri held on after Alessandro Diamanti's shot went in, and put the Three Lions away. Coach Cesare Prandelli made some interesting decisions, including leaving Serie A leading goal scorer Antonio DiNatale on the bench, despite the 0-0 tie. 

All that matters for Italia now is a date with the favorite Germany on Thurday. Germany has looked unstoppable so far, dominating every team they've faced. An interesting matchup is brewing at midfield between Andrea Pirlo and Bastian Schweinsteiger, and if "The Milan Miracle Man" could outplay Shweiny than Italy has a good chance to advance. Also, Germany hasn't faced a goalie as talented as GiGi Buffon yet in this tournament.

Germany is looking for revenge against Italy, in World Cup 2006 semifinal, goals by Alessandro Del Piero and Fabio Grosso late in extra time put the home team away (they never beat Italy in a competitive game). If the Cattenaccio could hold strong there is no reason to think that between the striking of Mario Balotelli, Antonio Cassano or Antonio DiNatale, and the precision passing of Andrea Pirlo, that Italy can't solve Germany and advance to the finals.  Whoever wins this battle should have no trouble beating either Spain or Portugal to become Campioni Di Europa.

50 Years in Pinstripes

I was listening to Mike Francesa the other day, and thinking about the 50th anniversary all-time Mets team, he asked who would make the Yankees team over that period. Everyone always thinks of Mantle, Yogi, Ruth, Joe D, Gherig, Whitey as all-time greats, but you can't include them on this list. I thought it would be fun to look it over myself to see who I would include.

Catcher

There are only two men in this discussion, Thurman Munson and Jorge Posada. In 11 seasons with the Yankees, Munson batted .292 with 113 HR and 701 RBI. Unfortunately, Munson was taken away from us too young, passing away after an airplane accident. In 17 seasons, Posada hit .273 with 275 HR and 1065 RBI. As the least popular of the Core Four, Posada would probably lose a fan vote, but his numbers are neck and neck with Thurman. That being said, I'd give the honor to Thurman.

First Base

This is a little sac-religious, but this is a three horse race with Don, Tino, and Teixeira. Donnie Baseball played all 14 seasons with the Yankees hitting .307, 222 HR, 1099 RBI. Tino hit .276, 192 HR, 739 RBI in 7 seasons. Finally, in 3+ seasons, Teixeira, .264, 123 HR, 381 RBI, has been impressive, but appears to be declining steadily. Just so I don't overload my inbox with hate mail, I'll go with Mattingly over Tino.

Second Base


One man is the clear favorite, Robinson Cano. Cano is arguably the best current second basemen in the majors, and has hit over 25 HR and 85 RBI in each of the past 3 seasons. Cano is also the only Yankee in history to have over 30 doubles in his first 7 seasons in pinstripes (he has 21 so far this season). Alfonso Soriano could have a case if he didn't get traded for A-Rod after starting for  3 seasons (As much as I hate A-Rod, the Yankees are much better off with Cano and A-Rod than Soriano and Aaron  Boone).

Shortstop

There's only one answer here, Derek Sanderson Jeter. Jeets may be the best shortsop in all of baseball over the past 50 years. He's first in Yankee history with 3178 hits, and is only 30 doubles away from Lou Gherig's Yankee record.

Third Base


A-Rod would have to get the nod. He had a fantastic 2009 postseason, and won the MVP twice as a Yankee. Graig Nettles isn't even in the same race as Rodriguez. A-Rod's 295 HR in pinstripes is the 6th most in Yankee history.

Left Field 


It comes down to two people, Hideki Matsui and Dave Winfield. Winfield often gets overlooked, playing in the dark ages 81-90, but his numbers (.290, 205 HR, 818 RBI in 9 seasons) are comparable to Godzilla's (.292, 140 HR, 597 RBI in 7 seasons). You also have to take into account that Matsui played some of his best years in Japan. I'd give the nod to Winfield here.

Center Field

Bernie Williams patrolled center for 4 Yankees World Series Championships, while putting up very good numbers, .297, 287 HR, 1257 RBI. Williams' 287 HR is good for 7th All-Time on the Yankees, and his 1257 RBI is 6th All-Time. Not only is he the best center-fielder, he should be a Hall of Famer. Curtis Granderson is off to a good start, but he needs to keep up this pace for a few more seasons before he's even in the discussion.

Right Field

Two of true Yankee fans most favorite players have both started in right, Paul O'Neil (.303, 185 HR, 858 RBI) and Nick Swisher (.267, 91 HR, 298 RBI) . O'Neil is the clear choice here however.

Starting Pitchers

1) Andy Pettitte (206-114, 3.96 ERA)


2) Ron Guidry (170-91, 3.29 ERA)


3) Mel Stottlemyre (164-139, 2.97 ERA)


4) CC Sabathia (68-26, 3.23 ERA)


5) Mike Mussina (123-72, 3.88 ERA)

I left Cone and Wells off the list because they didn't pitch enough games, and Roger Clemens*, I think we all know why.

Closer

Game Over For PacMan?

Boxing

I may not be as knowledgeable about boxing as I am the UFC, but I think I have a pretty good idea on who won a fight.  On Saturday Manny Pacquiao beat Timothy Bradley for most of the 12-round title fight, and fans thought he would cruise to his 55th career victory, and keep his 15 fight win streak intact. Instead, he lost to a shocking split decision (113-115, 115-113, 115-113), earning a victory in only one of the judge's scorecards. Both judges that gave Bradley the win had him winning 5 of the last 6 rounds.

Many experts have floated around reasons why the decision went the way it did, and these are the four most popular reasons:

1) Bob Arum, Pacquiao and Bradley's promoter, had fixed the fight. This makes sense on two levels. First, this was Pacquiao's last fight under contract with Arum, but if he lost Arum had a guaranteed rematch clause in the contract. Thus, if Pacquiao lost then Arum could get one last payday from his star fighter. Also, rumors are that Arum wants a large cut from a proposed fight with Floyd Mayweather, which is one of the issues holding up the fight. If Pacquiao really wants to fight Floyd, it may mean breaking up with Arum. Secondly, Pacquiao could have been involved in it too, since the rematch would make him a ton of money from people waiting to see more controversy. Since it's Pacquiao's fourth career loss, it wouldn't mean as much to him as it would for example the undefeated Mayweather. Am I the only person that found it fishy that Bradley already had a date in mind for a rematch during his post-fight interview.

2) Some big time bettors made sure that Bradley won. On Friday, there was a ton of money coming in on Bradley, enough to change the line over 30 points. For you non-degenerate gamblers, this means that a $100 bet on Bradley would have paid out $380 on Thursday, but only $350 on Friday night (it may not seem like a lot until you realize that some people bet thousands or even millions on the fight). The lines vary based on how much money is coming in for a particular fighter, and a 30 point swing means that a large sum of money was bet on Bradley. If that large amount of money was placed on a fight, the judges might have seen a cut of that to make sure Bradley won.

3) Bradley actually did win the fight. This would have to be answered by someone with more experience than me. However I do notice when watching a UFC fight Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg are scoring a fight different than I am, and can sometimes persuade a viewer that a fighter is winning when he really isn't. The judges don't listen to a broadcast, and should be completely unbiased. Perhaps if I were to rewatch the fight with the sound muted I might have thought Bradley won. 

4) It's just incompetent judging. You've seen refs make bad calls in football, umps call a guy safe when he was out in baseball, and judges scoring a UFC fight wrong, so it could have just been an honest guy that made a mistake, but I highly doubt it.

All that really matters is that it is another black eye for the sport of boxing. More and more fans are turning off the sport and tuning into UFC. When Pacquiao and Mayweather hang up their gloves boxing's days as a major draw are over.

UFC

To be fair, UFC is having their own major problem these past two weeks, and that is fighter injuries killing their announced cards. In the past two weeks, these are the major changes to fights scheduled for the next two months  

• Thiago Silva out of his UFC 149 fight with Shogun Rua 
• Thiago Alves out of UFC 149 fight against Yoshihiro Akiyama
• Michael Bisping out of UFC 149 fight against Tim Boetsch
• Jon Fitch out of UFC on Fuel against Aaron Simpson
• Brian Stann out of UFC on Fox 4 against Hector Lombard
• Vitor Belfort out of UFC 147 against Wanderlei Silva (TUF Brazil Coaches Fight)
• Jose Aldo out of UFC 149 against Eric Koch (Main Event title defense)
• Domick Cruz out of UFC 148 against Urijah Faber (Co-Main Title Defense/TUF Coaches Fight)

All of these inuries has also caused fights and fighter to move from one PPV to another. The main changes are:

• Urijah Faber/Renan Barao Interim Title Defense moves from UFC 148 to UFC 149
• Rich Franklin to fight Wanderlei Silva at UFC 147 instead of Cung Le at UFC 148
• Cung Le to fight Patrick Cote at UFC 148 instead of Rich Franklin
• Brandon Vera to fight Shogun and main event UFC on Fox 4 instead of fighting on UFC on Fuel against James Te-Huna
• Shogun moves from UFC 148 to UFC on Fox 4
• Hector Lombard moves from main event of UFC on Fox 4 against Stann to fighting Tim Boetsch on UFC 149

Think you've got that all down? 

Dana White always says when he wakes up in the morning he doesn't know what kind of bad shit is going to happen, and the past month has been one catastrophe after another for the UFC Boss. If Chael Sonnen or Anderson Silva get injured, pray for his health.

UFC fans are getting past the breaking point of dealing with fighter injuries. On popular MMA message board The UG, fans that bought tickets to these events are thinking about boycotting buying tickets to UFC events until its closer to the day of the fight. This is understandable, because I wouldn't want to buy $500 tickets to see three good fights, and then see two of the fights moved or canceled. 

The biggest problem with this is that there is no solution to the problem. MMA is a physical sport, and you need to spar to prepare for a fight. It's just when the injuries effect the main or co-main of an event that it really hurts the UFC. Add all that on top of Brock Lesnar's retirement (for now) and GSP's year long recovery from a torn ACL (the sports two biggest draws) and Alistair Overeem's failed drug test, and you can see why Dana and Lorenzo might be in an extra bad mood as of late.

Oldest Rivalry in NY is Back!!!

This weekend's upcoming Subway Series has some extra juice because both New York teams are in the top of their respective divisions. As both teams pass the 50-game mark of the season, I figure it's be fun to go position-by-position comparing the Yanks and Mets.

First Base


The case could be made that Mark Teixeira and Ike Davis are the two most disappointing players for their respective teams. Teixiera's batting average has climbed above .250 for only the second time this season, and his 7 double plays are tied for second on the team. The bright side for Mark is that his 9 HR are tied for second on the team, and his 32 RBI puts him third overall. Over in Queens, Ike Davis' season-long slump has him batting .164 with 5 HR and 21 RBI. Things have gotten so bad for the 25-year old that a trip to the minors might be in his future. You have to wonder if Davis was really ready to come back from his rumored Desert Fever that he had during spring training

Edge: Yankees

Second Base


Robinson Cano has bounced back from his slow April, hitting 7 HR with 19 RBI in May, while raising his season average over 15 points. Cano's 8 HR is third among major-league second basemen. Daniel Murphy is a solid player who hits for average, but not power. He is batting .293, and is second on the team with 15 doubles.

Edge: Yankees

Shortstop

Derek Jeter has cooled of a little from his hot start, but his 75 hits is still leads all AL hitters. He is a quintessential lead-off man for the Bombers, putting a runner on base for the big bats in the 2-5 hole. The Mets have had a hole in the shortstop position after losing Jose Reyes this offseason to the Marlins.  Ruben Tejada, Omar Quintanilla, Justin Turner and Jordany Valdespin have all started games this season at short.

Edge: Yankees

Third Base

David Wright is having a career year, his .362 average is second in the NL, and is rewarding the Mets for their belief in him after a couple of down years. His power numbers, 7 HR, are right on par with the rest of his career. His home numbers have improved dramatically, with 4 HR in 94 at-bats this season after hitting only 5 HR in 180 home at-bats last season. Alex Rodriguez has seen a dip in his power numbers, but his .279 average is his highest since 2009. The biggest knock on A-Rod is his production with men in scoring position, and it hasn't gotten better this year. He is batting .170 (9-53) while striking out 11 times.

Edge: Mets

Left Field


Left field has been a mixed bag for both teams this season due to injuries to Jason Bay and Bret Gardner (both guys may be back for this weekend's series). 24-year old Kirk Nieuwenhuis has had a solid start to his major league career, batting .294 with 12 extra-base hits. The Yankees have platooned Andruw Jones and Raul Ibanez in LF and DH this season. Ibanez's 9 HR is more than any Yankee fan could have expected from him

Edge: Mets

Center Field


Yankees centerfielder Curtis Granderson, has a case to be a top-5 outfielder in the majors. The Grandy Man has hit 82 HR in two and a half seasons in pinstripes (he hit 102 HR in six seasons in Detroit). Andres Torres is starting to come into form after getting injured on Opening Day.

Edge: Yankees

Right Field


Lucas Duda (.259, 9 HR, 32 RBI)  and Nick Swisher (.249, 8 HR, 34 RBI) are almost identical players. Swisher gets more recognition playing for the Yankees, but the 26-year old Duda is a little bit better.

Edge: Mets

Catcher


Both teams are missing the days of Mike Piazza and Jorge Posada. Russell Martin got off to a really slow start and is batting just .211 this season, however he has been playing a bit better as of late. Josh Thole has shown some promise, batting .299, but he missed almost the whole month of May with a concussion.

Edge: Mets

Starting Pitchers

The Yankees starting pitching staff (CC Sabathia, Andy Pettitte, Hiroki Kuroda, Phil Hughes  and Ivan Nova) have started to turn the corner recently, but they rank 25th in the majors with a 4.46 ERA, and have allowed a major-league high 57 homers. In spite of that, they lead the majors with 26 wins. Nova (5.09 ERA) and CC (3.68 ERA) lead the team with 7 wins each.

The Mets starters (R.A. Dickey, Johan Santana, Jon Niese, Dillon Gee) rank 8th in the majors with a 3.71 ERA. The knuckleballer, Dickey is in the process of recording his major-leage high 9th win as I write this, which will eclipse his win total from last season. Johan has been on point this season after missing all of 2011 following a shoulder surgery in Sepember 2010. His 2.39 ERA is 6th best in the majors, but the team often doesn't score for him.

Scheduled Starters: 
Friday: Santana (3-2, 2.38 ERA) vs Kuroda (4-6, 3.82 ERA)  Edge: Mets
Saturday: Gee (4-3. 4.48 ERA) vs Hughes (5-5. 4.96 ERA)    Edge: Yankees
Sunday: Niese (4-2, 4.11 ERA) vs Pettitte (3-2, 2.78 ERA)     Edge: Yankees

Bullpen


What was once the strong suit of the Yankees has suddenly turned into a glaring weakness. Going into the season the Yanks figured they would have Rafael Soriano, Dave Robertson, and Mariano Rivera as their fearsome three-some coming out of the pen. Season-ending injuries to Mo as well as Joba Chamberlain, and a DL stint for D-Rob has put Soriano back into the closing role he knew so well in Tampa. Cory Wade, Clay Rapada, and Boone Logan round out the pen, letting Joe Girardi mix and match based on his giant notebook of stats.

The Mets lead the majors with 12 blown saves, and rank 23rd in the majors with a 4.24 bullpen ERA. Frank Francisco gives Mets fans more gray hairs than Armando Benitez, with a 5.40 ERA. Even more nightmarish is Manny Acosta's 11.86 ERA! Bobby Parnell, Jon Rauch, and Tim Byrdak have all been suitable getting the ball from the starter's hand to Francisco's.

Edge: Yankees

Overall


The Mets are this year's Cinderella story. They have been a scrappy team that won't quit, and even as a Yankee fan it's hard to root against them. The Yankees have underperformed for much of the season, but are only a half game out of first in the AL East. This series will bring some of the juice back to New York baseball, and help rekindle this rivalry.