Classic Rock

Every year at Thanksgiving, New York's classic rock station (104.3) asks its listeners to vote on their favorite songs of all time.  The results are tabulated, and the top 1,043 songs are played in order throughout the 4-day weekend.  I decided that I wanted to be part of the process this year.  However, by the time I decided on my top 10, the voting had closed.  (Even though it was still a week before the holiday!)  Since I went through the effort, I wanted to share it somewhere, so here we go:

1. More Than A Feeling - Boston
2. Satisfaction - Rolling Stones
3. You Shook Me All Night Long - AC/DC
4. Heat of the Moment - Asia
5. Barracuda - Heart
6. Legs - ZZ Top
7. Separate Ways - Journey
8. Rock and Roll All Night - Kiss
9. Carry On Wayward Son - Kansas
10. Dude Looks Like a Lady - Aerosmith

I tried to look up the actual results, but there seem to be some problems with the station's website.  As far as I can tell, Stairway To Heaven was number one in the voting. 

Other songs that almost made my top ten (in no particular order):

Pride - U2
Tom Sawyer - Rush
Somebody To Love - Jefferson Airplane
Africa - Toto
Born in the USA - Bruce Springsteen

Of course, these are only songs that fit the general definition of "classic rock".  So no room for all of my favorite Carpenters songs.  :-)

2013 Baseball Predictions

Tomorrow, the 2013 Major League Baseball season begins.  Of course, those of us who followed the World Baseball Classic have already seen some excellent, high-pressure games this month.  It will be hard to top the excitement of the 2012 season.  Highlights included Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers winning the Triple Crown, breakout seasons by Mike Trout and Bryce Harper, and the surprising success of the Orioles and Athletics (even the Pirates were in the race most of the year!)

One of the biggest changes for this year is that the Houston Astros have moved to the American League, giving each league 15 teams, and therefore interleague play throughout the season.  2012 was a great year for baseball.  Will 2013 be even better?  Time will tell.  Now it's time for my projections for this season.

American League
East: Rays, Blue Jays, Yankees, Orioles, Red Sox
Central: Tigers, Royals, White Sox, Twins, Indians
West: Angels, Rangers, Athletics, Mariners, Astros

National League
East: Nationals, Braves, Phillies, Mets, Marlins
Central: Reds, Pirates, Cardinals, Brewers, Cubs
West: Dodgers, Giants, Diamondbacks, Rockies, Padres

Postseason
Wild Card Games:
AL: Blue Jays beat Rangers
NL: Giants beat Pirates
Division Series:
AL: Rays beat Angels, 3-1
Tigers beat Blue Jays, 3-2
NL: Nationals over Giants, 3-0
Reds beat Dodgers, 3-2
League Championship Series:
AL: Rays beat Tigers, 4-2
NL: Nationals beat Reds, 4-3
World Series:
Nationals beat Rays, 4-2

Awards
MVP
AL: Mike Trout, Angels
NL: Joey Votto, Reds
Cy Young
AL: Justin Verlander, Tigers
NL: Stephen Strasburg, Nationals

Enjoy the season.  Play ball!

NFL Playoffs

Tomorrow marks the beginning of the playoffs.  Before I get into my picks, I wanted to look back on predictions that I made before the season started.  For the Super Bowl, I had the Steelers beating the 49ers.  Unfortunately, Pittsburgh did not make the playoffs.  Overall, I only got seven out of the 12 playoff teams correct.  My worst prediction was having the Kansas City Chiefs win their division, when in reality they finished with the worst record in the league.

But enough about my bad predictions in the past.  It's time to make a new batch of bad predictions, as follows:

First Round:
Bengals 27, Texans 21
Packers 31, Vikings 10
Ravens 20, Colts 19
Seahawks 27, Redskins 20

Second Round:
Broncos 24, Bengals 13
Ravens 21, Patriots 17
Seahawks 20, Falcons 17
49ers 30, Packers 20

Conference Championships:
Broncos 17, Ravens 14
Seahawks 28, 49ers 27

Super Bowl:
Seahawks 24, Broncos 21

Enjoy the games!