The Top Albums from A to Z

My wife is a coolfind buzzkill. For a couple weeks before the release of Vampire Weekend's debut album, it was highly anticipated by the half of the Lauve household that tries to be on the front edge of the indie scene. When the album came out, it was great---it will take an absolute masterpiece to unseat it as the best album of 2008---and it was like my little discovery. Until Brandi one day said, "You know that Vampire Weekend album is really hot right now." I looked it up, and sure enough, it was #2 on both Amazon and iTunes. So maybe it wasn't the undiscovered gem I thought it was. But it is, in my opinion, the greatest "V" album of all time, not there is much competition for that title (unless you're a Velvet Underground fan). Which got me to thinking about the greatest albums beginning with the other 25 letters. So here are my top albums from A to Z:

Abbey Road (The Beatles)
Rolling Stone naming this album the 14th greatest of all time is like Sports Illustrated naming Michael Jordan the 14th greatest athlete. Or like TV Guide naming Johnny Carson the 14th greatest talk show host of all time. Or like Cigar Aficionado naming Cuba the 14th greatest cigar-producing nation of all time.
Bookends (Simon & Garfunkel)
"A light and tumble journey from the East Side to the park"..."counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike"..."hear the Salvation Army band"...It always amazes me how Mr. Simon puts together these seemingly effortless and uniquely American images that just sort of spill together. There are two Simon lyrics from his solo career, "she makes the sign of a teaspoon, he makes the sign of a wave" and "I'm gonna stand guard like a postcard of a Golden Retriever," that sounded oddly appropriate even though I have no idea what they mean. I think those kind of lyrics have their root in "At the Zoo," which really doesn't get enough credit as a truly inventive song.
Catalogue of Generous Men (Modern Skirts)
Greatest debut album ever? The songwriting and harmonies are something to behold on this record, and they're even better in person.
Dark Side of the Moon (Pink Floyd)
I've tried all 26 of these albums as the soundtrack to The Wizard of Oz, and this is the only one that makes a lick of sense.
Eldorado (Electric Light Orchestra)
This one was a little impenetrable for me at first, but now I absolutely love it. I even listen to it at the gym. I bet I'm the only one.
Flood (They Might Be Giants)
A perfect combination of the out-of-left-field, Dial-A-Song quality of their early albums and the musical maturity and increasingly varied arrangements of their later stuff.
Green (R.E.M.)
This album got me thinking about direction in a way I hadn't before. Wonder why.
Her Majesty the Decemberists (The Decemberists)
This might not even be the best Decemberists album, but I'm giving it the nod over Help!, A Hard Day's Night, and the Bees' High Society as the best "H" album. Of course, any Decemberists album is like a combination of David Copperfield and Hot Words for the SAT.
Illinois (Sufjan Stevens)
This one really blew me away. I picked it up after Paste magazine called it the best album of 2005 (as many others did), and after listening to it I think it might be the best album of the last 20 years. Sufjan put an unbelievable amount of time into researching Illinois history and crafting some amazing arrangements, and it shows.
John Henry (They Might Be Giants)
The Johns finally show what they can do with a full band.
Keep Your Wig On (Fastball)
Not a hit to be found, but this is far and away their best album from beginning to end.
Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (Derek and the Dominos)
Personally, I think "Layla" is the 4th or 5th best song on the record.
Magical Mystery Tour (The Beatles)
First Beatles album I ever owned, though it isn't really an album in the strictest sense. Still a great collection of incredible songs from the lads at their peak.
Not the Tremblin’ Kind (Laura Cantrell)
I fell in love with Laura Cantrell way before I even knew what alt country was.
Odessey and Oracle (The Zombies)
It's easy to look at the track listing and stop at "Time of the Season," as I did for a long time, but this is one of the great psychedelic albums of the 60s. The first time I heard "This Will Be Our Year," which was only a couple months ago, I thought, "How on earth have I never heard this before?"
Paul Simon (Paul Simon)
Stands beside McCartney and All Things Must Pass (both released two years earlier) as evidence that sometimes maybe it's just time for people to go their separate ways.
A Quick One (The Who)
Edges out Quadrophenia. Not a lot of "Q" albums to choose from, but for some reason the best ones are from The Who.
Rubber Soul (The Beatles)
Yes, I realize that Revolver also begins with an R. But this one has always been a half notch ahead for me.
Songs We Sing (Matt Costa)
This album is the result of the most serendipitous skateboarding accident in human history.
Tommy (The Who)
Easily a top five album in rock history, maybe the best ever. Whoever says that the Rolling Stones were the greatest contemporaries of the Beatles wasn't paying attention.
Undiscovered (James Morrison)
The 1995 me is angry with the 2008 me right now for not picking Under the Table and Dreaming, but this is such a great album. Just one song, "You Give Me Something," got any American radio play, but it's remarkable all the way through.
Vampire Weekend (Vampire Weekend)
What a unique sound---I hope their ability to make interesting music is a sign of things to come.
The Who Sell Out (The Who)
The fact that The Who released, within the space of two years (and consecutively), the greatest concept album (I'm not counting Sgt. Pepper's as a concept album) and the greatest rock opera ever never fails to blow my mind. This record is woefully underrated.
X&Y (Coldplay)
Needed something for "X." This is actually a surprisingly strong choice.
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (Wilco) I'm not sure if this is my favorite Wilco album, but it definitely is one of the most consistently good all the way through.
Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, The Rise and Fall of (David Bowie)
A little bit of a cheat, but the selection for "Z" is really thin. This one doesn't have very many of my favorite Bowie songs, but I suppose it will have to do. Not a big Zooropa or My Morning Jacket fan.

The Tournament Auction

Remember right before the release of Sgt. Peppers when all of the critics were saying, "Oh, the Beatles haven't got anything left," and then the album came out and they were all blown away? Well that's what this is like.

Rumors of the demise of SportsHistory.us have been greatly exaggerated. Over the past several months (wedding planning tended to get in the way of my writing for my website) I have been working on what could very well be most important thing I've ever introduced on the site. More important than the story of how I got on TV at the Rangers game? Well, that's for you to decide.

The tournament auction is going to revolutionize the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament gambling landscape. I didn't invent it, but I plan on bringing it to the masses. I've also, over the course of three years, developed an auction format that is fun and engaging for all types of people, and it is, in my opinion, far superior to the vast number of office pools and the emerging Calcutta auctions, which leave much to be desired.

SportsHistory.us was originally intended to be about big ideas, and this certainly qualifies. Follow the link below to read all about the tournament auction, and with only 33 days until Selection Sunday, it's never too early to contact me and tell me you want to be included in the 2008 tournament auction.

http://www.sportshistory.us/tournament_auction.html

Favorite Songs: 1957-2007

For those fans of the old SportsHistory blog who have been disappointed with the dearth of rankings on the new blog, this one's for you. It was actually a fun little trip through rock and roll history. It also serves as a demonstration of my inability to follow my own directions, as I had intended to highlight just one song per year but failed miserably in some cases. It ended up being ridiculous to pick just one favorite for certain years, so in the case of a tie, I listed two or more songs.

1957: Everyday (Buddy Holly)
1958: Oh Boy! (Buddy Holly)
1959: Smoke Gets in Your Eyes (The Platters)
1960: Walk Don't Run (The Ventures)
1961: Mack the Knife (Bobby Darin)
1962: Telstar (The Tornadoes)
1963: She Loves You (The Beatles)
1964: It Ain't Me Babe (Bob Dylan)
        A Summer Song (Chad & Jeremy)
1965: Eve of Destruction (Barry McGuire)
        Like a Rolling Stone (Bob Dylan)
        We Can Work It Out (The Beatles)
1966: Paperback Writer (The Beatles)
        Eight Miles High (The Byrds)
1967: New York Mining Disaster 1941 (Bee Gees)
        On a Carousel (The Hollies)
1968: Hey Bulldog (The Beatles)
1969: Here Comes the Sun (The Beatles)
        Sally Simpson (The Who)
1970: Apple Scruffs (George Harrison)
1971: I've Seen All Good People/Your Move (Yes)
1972: Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard (Paul Simon)
1973: Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth) (George Harrison)
1974: Nothing from Nothing (Billy Preston)
1975: Why Can't We Be Friends? (War)
1976: Livin' Thing (Electric Light Orchestra)
1977: Mr. Blue Sky (Electric Light Orchestra)
1978: Right Down the Line (Gerry Rafferty)
1979: On the Run (Electric Light Orchestra)
1980: Video Killed the Radio Star (The Buggles)
1981: Tempted (Squeeze)
1982: Steppin' Out (Joe Jackson)
1983: Everyday I Write the Book (Elvis Costello & The Attractions)
1984: So. Central Rain (R.E.M.)
1985: Take on Me (a-ha)
1986: She's an Angel (They Might Be Giants)
1987: It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) (R.E.M.)
1988: Heading for the Light (Traveling Wilburys)
1989: Veronica (Elvis Costello)
1990: Birdhouse in Your Soul (They Might Be Giants)
1991: The Other Side of Summer (Elvis Costello)
1992: Allison Road (Gin Blossoms)
        Dinner Bell (They Might Be Giants)
1993: Afternoons and Coffeespoons (Crash Test Dummies)
1994: Down with Disease (Phish)
        Destination Moon (They Might Be Giants)
1995: Underground (Ben Folds Five)
        Blue (The Jayhawks)
1996: Unsupervised, I Hit My Head (Mono Puff)
        So Fast, So Numb (R.E.M.)
1997: Seems So (Apples in Stereo)
1998: Out of My Head (Fastball)
1999: Maine (John Linnell)
2000: Churches off the Intestate (Laura Cantrell)
2001: August (Rilo Kiley)
2002: July, July! (The Decemberists)
        The Future That Was (Josh Joplin Group)
2003: Go On (The Elected)
        Saint Simon (The Shins)
2004: Living Life (Ben Kweller)
        Broke in Two (They Might Be Giants)
2005: First Day of My Life (Bright Eyes)
        Sixteen Military Wives (The Decemberists)
        My Lost Soprano (Modern Skirts)
        Story (The Rocket Summer)
        Come On! Feel the Illinoise! (Sufjan Stevens)
2006: One Crowded Hour (Augie March)
        Imaginary Girl (The Bees)
        Fireflies in a Steel Mill (The Elected)
        Astair (Matt Costa)
2007: A Million Fireflies (The Midway State)
        Australia (The Shins)

Reindeer Rally ‘07

http://pictures.thelauves.com/reindeerrally0712.html

Webster's defines "commencement" as "a beginning". If that's the case, then December 15, 2007 was a day of significant commencements, both the kind accomplished by walking across a stage and the kind brought about by running through a mall.

We left the driveway at 7:00 a.m. on Saturday in order to make Cristina's 9:00 a.m. graduation. Cristina is the last of the three Lauve kids to graduate from Texas A&M, and to say we have the drill down at this point is an understatement. Texas A&M is a great school, but unfortunately its graduation ceremony leaves a little to be desired. That's a problem with big school graduations: they feature huge numbers of people walking across the stage, and in the case of A&M, the graduation is split into three different ceremonies, which means we usually don't get the benefit of high-profile speakers. But it was a good ceremony, and Cristina did a great job getting her last name pronounced correctly.

My aunt Diana told us that after Cristina's graduation we would go back toward Houston and participate in the first ever Reindeer Rally, which none of us could quite make heads or tails of. Expecting some sort of athletic competition, I was surprised when we pulled up to Katy Mills Mall, which, for me, is not a place I prefer to go any way other than kicking and screaming.

As it turns out, the Reindeer Rally (at least the 2007 incarnation of it) is a scavenger hunt. A very involved scavenger hunt that requires collecting items, gathering information, and taking pictures throughout the giant donut-shaped outlet mall. We were split into teams (my cousin Eric was with me, Alicia was with Brandi, Cristina was with my cousin Cecilia, my dad was with Diana, and my mom was with my uncle Kyle) and given a packet of tasks that included the following:

• Get a picture taken while talking with a kiosk vendor


• Transcribe John 1:14


• Get a picture taken in a jersey from an athletic store


• Grab a free food sample


• Place pennies in the wishing well


• Operate a remote-controlled vehicle


• Play Dance Dance Revolution


• Purchase a t-shirt for a child


• Purchase a teddy bear


• Purchase a children's educational book


• Get a picture taken while getting a massage


• Purchase 1/2 pound of candy


• Find the 10th track on Bing Crosby's Christmas album


• Make a souvenir penny


• Buy some bubble gum and blow a bubble


• Play the shooting gallery

What follows are the stories of two of the five Reindeer Rally teams. They wouldn't let Brandi and me be on the same team, but that didn't keep us from posting excellent results in the soon-to-be-perennial event.

Brandi and Alicia's Team
Even before I knew what Reindeer Rally was, I knew I was going to like it. I enjoy surprises, and figured that no matter what it was, it would give me some bonding time with my new family. When Diana called out the pairings, I had a feeling that Alicia and I would do well together. In fact, I thought we had a pretty good chance of winnning. With Daniel acting as though he was non-plussed with the atmosphere, and Eric and Cecilia both going through separate phases of being too cool for reindeer games, Alicia and I were the only pairing where both teammates were eager for the challenge.

Quickly we were off, taking our positions-Alicia deciding which store we were going to go to next and me reading off the instructions for each. Alicia did a superb job at creating the charted course of the mall so that we made sure and did each task in order as the stores were found. One of our biggest mistakes was really due to my poor reading of context clues. I read, "Go to the Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World, look for the shooting gallery and take one picture of your teammate shooting a round, and another of their score" and thought it was referring to golf so we spent some good quality time looking for a driving range in Outdoor World. Sorry Alicia! It also took us several minutes to figure out to take a picture of our score so probably not our shining moment in the contest. This was also around the time where I wondered allowed if Daniel was able to put his issues with shopping behind him and enjoy the fun of Reindeer Rally.

Probably one of our best feats was bribing a smart pre-teen and her little sister to let us break in line and play Dance Dance Revolution for long enough for us to take a picture. The oldest sibling informed us that in order for us to do so, we would need to pay not only her for the game but for her sister to play too! That's where we first spotted Cristina & Cecilia. Alicia and I started to run through the mall towards the end as we could feel Cristina and Cecilia close on our heels. Imagine my surprise and our slight disappointment when we were told by our benevolent judges (Grandmommie & Aunt Dortha) that Daniel and Eric were the first to finish!

Even with that sad mement of realizing we came in 2nd, the Reindeer Ralley was truly a success. Not only did we learn about each other and enjoy the hunt, we also got to contribute a donation to Salvation Army in the end. Each of collected a shirt, teddy bear and book for a different child in need. We also celebrated the winners in all of us since everyone, even the parents, did complete the scavenger hunt. We ate dinner at the Rainforest Cafe and had the Sparkling Volcanoan Dessert! We had a really good day celebrating Cristina and her graduation and then each other in the spirit of giving! I'm very excited to see what next year's Reindeer Rally brings.

Daniel and Eric's Team
My less-than-rosy disposition on a mall-based scavenger hunt changed as soon as I heard the teams announced. When I thought we were going to be doing a lot of running around, I thought of this as a competition between Eric's team and my team. Now that the two top competitors (in the DL preseason power rankings) were on the same team, it was obvious what had to happen: we had to run away with this thing.

My initial thought on the contest was that it was going to be very close. I figured that the difference between first and second place would be less than a minute, which meant cutting out seconds wherever possible. The instructions gave us just one rule, that each team had to stay together, so everything else was open to interpretation. This led to our three-word mantra: "keep the change". We were supplied with envelopes filled with money for most of our stops, and we probably shaved off a couple minutes by being slightly careless with my aunt and uncle's money. The rest of it came from good old two-guys-trying-to-get-out-of-the-mall impatience. We abhorred waiting in line, and for the last half hour or so, we ran everywhere we went.

The highlight of our scavenger hunt had to be the massage. The instructions said that we had to get our picture taken while getting a massage, and the massage envelope included four quarters. Remarkably, ours was the only team that couldn't figure out that we were expected to pop four quarters into an electric massage chairs. So when we came across a massage station with real live masseuses ($15 minimum), I decided to try and negotiate a $1 massage. What we ended up agreeing to was $2 for a 15-second massage, which gave us a picture that I think was the best one from Reindeer Rally.

After frantically scrambling through the final few tasks and getting our pictures developed, we raced to the finish line and were surprised to find that we were first. When you think about it, it's kind of remarkable that the only all-male team ended up being the best at navigating the mall. For the sake of competition, I hope that next year's Reindeer Rally involves baking or painting fingernails or something like that; otherwise, it's bound to be much more lopsided than this year's.

You might be a Cardinals fan if…

...at 1:01 Central Time today, you pulled up a PDF of the Mitchell Report, typed "pujols" into the search box, and hit enter.

That's what I did, and after taking a look at some of the blogs this afternoon, that's what a lot of people did. We all registered relief when no results came back, but  it's unwise to view a player's absence from the report as evidence that he doesn't use steroids. I believe Pujols is clean---he's shown none of the steroid-type spikes associated with steroid use, he has no reason (dipping production or being on the major league margin) to use, and he strikes me as an honest, straightforward man who sincerely cares about the integrity of the game. But on this report were 86 names that somebody was certain would never, ever use steroids. And anybody who thinks that the list, which used only two sources for most of the names it generated, is comprehensive is deluded. The list could be off by an order of magnitude---the players listed are remarkably diverse in terms of team, position, and age, but the one thing they seem to have in common is their carelessness. Presumably, there is another group of players (and trainers, and doctors, and executives) that was careful enough to steer clear of the investigation.

I was not alone among St. Louis fans in being relieved that the Cardinals were not terribly hard hit by the report. What a horrible way to react---finding only a few minor players from your favorite team implicated in this awfully damning report and treating that as a silver lining---but that's unfortunately the world we live in. Steroids have arguably ruined the last decade of the game, at least in terms of statistics and comparing with other eras. I wouldn't want to be a Hall of Fame voter right now---I'd be compelled not to vote for players linked with steroids, but even that is troubling because a) many of the links are based on hearsay and b) withholding votes from steroid users is essentially tacit approval of the people you vote for as being clean players, when you actually have no idea.

As I looked through the results of the investigation, one name jumped off the page. Fernando Vina. Fernando Vina? The guy who sits in between Mark McGwire and Tony Pena as the Cardinal acquisitions in which I am most disappointed? The guy whose only recourse for getting on base was attempting to get hit by a pitch? Was he taking steroid injections into his right elbow? Did he discuss with his trainer a mix of drugs that would allow him to dangle his limbs into the strike zone? Did he develop such a super-strong elbow that he was able to deflect fastballs with it four times a game? When the steroids came in, did the side of the package say, "Side effects may include an insanely overmanicured goatee"? That Fernando Vina?

This is really depressing, and the saddest part is that it probably doesn't get any better until Major League Baseball develops and agrees on a test for human growth hormone. As has been said elsewhere, the focus is on names like Roger Clemens when it should have been squarely on two names, Bud Selig and Donald Fehr. And shame on all of us fans, too, by the way. None of the stakeholders in this thing asked enough questions or demanded enough action, and now we're paying the price for it.

In other news, the Astros traded five players for Miguel Tejada (possibly the most productive active player implicated in the report) a couple days ago. Before the 2007 season, a couple Houston friends asked what I thought the Astros should do about Roger Clemens. I said that they should pay him $3 million to go play somewhere else. The reason behind that is that signing Roger Clemens, with his ability to lift the team out of the doldrums and into the playoff hunt, awakened something (let's call it hope) that was not necessarily productive in the long term. I didn't think the Astros would ever be great again with Roger Clemens; just good enough to almost make the playoffs. And with the way they tend to give up prospects, I think their focus should be squarely on the future. They don't need Roger Clemens around to change their viewpoint on "win now" vs. "win later". Well, the Astros have proven that they don't need Roger Clemens around to help them make ill-advised short term decisions; they can do that just fine on their own. In Tejada, they get a very good player for at least (and maybe only) one year. They gave up five players, including some promising youngsters, with 27 years remaining on their combined contracts. Yikes.

Where Have You Gone, Number Fifty-One?

"You'll look around for Willie McGee one day, and he won't be around."
---Willie McGee

The prognostication that Willie McGee made late in his career about a quiet disappearance from baseball ended up not quite coming true.  But eight years later, the same unfortunately cannot be said about his charitable foundation.

The 1999 season was Willie's last with the St. Louis Cardinals, and he was sent out with a standing ovation every time he came to the plate.  Five years later, he founded a charitable organization that helped gave scholarships and other financial support to students in the Oakland, California area.

My first exposure to the Willie McGee Foundation was in 2004, when Jarvis Brown, McGee's best friend and the president of the organization, gave me a call.  Their website was just about to launch, and Jarvis, who had seen some pictures on the WillieMcGee site I developed, called to see if I had any more.  The most surreal part of the call came when Jarvis told me about the group's kickoff event, which was to include VIPs from the San Francisco area and from the baseball world.  "City councilman so-and-so is coming, and mayor whatshisname, and, oh yeah, Ozzie's coming."  Just like that, as casually as you might mention that Uncle Steve is joining us for cards this weekend, he mentioned the anticipated arrival of the most exciting baseball player I've ever seen.

I considered donating to the Willie McGee Foundation a few times in the years after that phone conversation.  I checked in on the website fairly regularly, proud to see that Willie was still giving back to some promising students and athletes in his home area.  But a few weeks ago, when I pulled up the site, it wasn't there anymore.  I can't even find a mention of what happened to the foundation or why it disappeared.

This is just a reminder that there's never a bad time to give money to a charity that you care about.  There are always plenty of worthy and needy organizations, especially at this time of year, but that shouldn't be an impediment to giving to the ones you feel are most deserving.

Thanksgiving Pictures

http://pictures.thelauves.com/thanksgiving0711.html

Brandi and I spent our first major holiday together (Halloween being a mid-major) in Houston, College Station, and Jasper. Our trip began at the Neely's (my aunt and uncle's) house, where we had a great time. We went on a run with Sarge, the Great Dane puppy with the taped-up ears, and I did well in basketball but not so great in soccer (lost 5-4 to the team of Cecilia and Brandi). On Wednesday night, we played Scrabble, watched Frequency, and ate pizza with Alicia and Cristina. Did you know that the day before Thanksgiving is one of the biggest pizza delivery days of the year (rivaling Super Bowl Sunday)? Makes sense.

Thanksgiving Day was Alicia's first to host, which means that I got to prep my first turkey. The meal was very good, even the very nontraditional dessert of cheesecake that made an appearance for my mom's birthday. On the Thanksgiving All-Star team for 2007 were the squash casserole, dressing, and the pumpkin cobbler. The Thanksgiving MVP was the gravy, a gametime decision, that ended up being pretty much the best gravy I've ever put on turkey and dressing. The turkey was remarkably moist, too.

The big day for me was Friday, where Brandi and I attended our first Texas/Texas A&M game together. Our only other college football game to attend (and Brandi's first college---or pro---football game) was last year's Texas/Baylor game, which, apart from being a Baylor game, took place somewhere other than Kyle Field. We arrived just in time to tailgate with my uncle's family, and I threw the football with Eric before we headed into the stadium, arriving just in time to sing the Spirit of Aggieland. The game was incredible, with plenty of big plays, most coming from the home team. At halftime, we were treated to the Show Band of the Southwest, which performed a tribute to super heroes (including, oddly, Robin Hood), and Brandi got to see the Fightin' Texas Aggie Band for the first time. When we arrived in Jasper, Brandi's mom had made sugar cookies, and I got to watch them all decorate them.

On Saturday we went with Brandi's parents to pick up their Christmas tree. It was rainy and cold, the closest you can get to wintry weather in late November in Southeast Texas. We spent the rest of the day decorating the tree with lights and ornaments, ate Connie's great chicken and dumplings and a wonderful peach cobbler, and watched parts of a couple of movies. On Sunday we attended mass, ate lunch out, and took inventory of Cabbage Patch Dolls and Star Wars figures. Then we got on the road. Our first holiday together was a wonderful one, and it was a great dress rehearsal for the big one, which is right around the corner.