2 posts tagged “american idol”

Jordin Sparks

** It's becoming clear to me that no matter how much I enjoy going to Shea Stadium to watch the Mets, I am apparently bad luck for them as they've lost the majority of times I've been in the stands. Sunday's Subway Series finale was particularly painful to watch, not just for the loss, but because I was literally surrounded by Yankees fans. Most of them weren't terribly obnoxious -- if anything, Mets fans were worse, especially with the unnecessarily crude "Yankees suck!" chant. It's long past time to get over the inferiority complex and act like we believe we belong on the same field, you know? -- but I now understand what the handful of loyal Marlins fans must feel like whenever the Mets go down to Miami and are greeted with healthy cheers of "Let's Go Mets!"

** Speaking of the Marlins, the Pee Wee version had their first mid-week practice yesterday, and more than half of the team showed up, which was nice to see. The 20-30 minutes of hurried practice we manage to squeeze in before the game every Saturday isn't nearly enough for the individual attention many of them need at this point to progress to the next level. I gave them all progress report cards at last week's game, rating them in the fundamentals along with some specific feedback on areas they need to focus on, and we worked with those who showed up at practice on some of those things. A few of the kids have awkward swings that needed tweaking, and it was great to have 5 minutes to work with each of them individually. Isaac has a weird hitch that comes from his skinny little arms, but we adjusted his stance, pulling his back foot further away from the plate, and it made a big difference. The most confounding was one of the two girls who has trouble putting all of the little steps involved in taking a clean swing together seamlessly, causing her to appear like she's swinging in stop-motion animation, and she has a similar problem with throwing. It's going to take a lot more practice to get her straightened out, but she's a great fielder and has a great attitude about the game so I'm sure she'll be ready for the next level with enough practice.

There's no game this weekend, so we'll have one more practice session next Wednesday, and then our final two games of the season over the next two Saturdays and we'll be done.  I had no idea that I'd enjoy coaching them as much as I have, nor so willingly throw myself into the extras like the newsletter and report cards, or the baseball cards after every game, but I've been feeding off of their enthusiasm and the positive feedback I've heard from the parents and it's been a blast.  I wish the season were longer so we could keep playing through the summer. :-(

** In about 15 minutes, at 10:30am, India will be visited by someone from the ASD Nest program for observation in consideration of her being admitted for the fall. She cleared the first step, a review of her CSE records, which was probably the trickiest step since they removed the Autism classification, but the evaluations make it clear that she needs a more structured setting than General Ed or even the standard CTT setting can offer. I'm cautiously optimistic about the whole thing because she seems to perfectly fit the profile they're looking for, plus she's a girl, which is a relative rarity for ASD and I got the impression that that could work to her advantage.  Cross your fingers!

** The Walk NOW for Autism is next Sunday, and I'm at 91% of my upwards-adjusted fundraising goal of $1300. Another $120 and I'm all set.  If you haven't yet, and you're able, help me out.  If you have, thank you again!

** Did I nail American Idol or what? Jordin might end up surpassing Kelly as my favorite winner, and Blake just might end up being the most popular runnner-up yet. That duet with Doug E. Fresh was bananas!

Jordin Sparks

Haley Scarnato was just voted off of American Idol, a couple of weeks sooner than I expected as she's actually been finding her groove while a couple of presumed front-runners have been slipping.

I was emailing a friend of mine about the show last week, and my take on the remaining singers entertainers contestants became fodder for this post as I explained that I'm rooting for Jordin Sparks and, to a lesser degree, Blake Lewis.  That'd be a great finale, I think.

Both have great personalities, talented voices and good-but-flawed looks. Jordin's on the chunky side, and Blake has no lips, so they don't have to worry about the jealousy factor hindering their votes.

Phil Stacey was deservedly in the bottom two with Haley this week, and should be the next one to go, though America's due for throwing the requisite curveball that highlights each season sometime soon, so you never know.  When the tour starts up this summer, Phil needs to always wear a hat. ALWAYS!  And do something about his eyebrows because they're scary. They're not going to distract people much longer from realizing that he has no range, and no one's going to put that mug on an album cover.  He's got a likable personality, though, and the whole missing his daughter's birth to audition thing has worked out for him, so he'll get some TV work when all is said and done.

Chris Richardson is hurt by the constant Justin Timberlake comparisons, because he's really JT-lite, circa early N'Sync.  He's bringing wussy back.  (Yeah!)  Can you see him pulling off Omeletteville or Homelessville? Or, god forbid, Dick in a Box?  There's no edge to him at all and he needs to challenge the comparison whenever someone makes it and position himself as his own man.  Being in the bottom three tonight should serve as a wake-up call, too, because I think he thought he was running even with Blake for the cute white boy vote and he's definitely not.

Speaking of the racial angle, Melinda will outlast LaKisha because she has more range and LaKisha's fat full-figured and America doesn't really go for fat full-figured black women until they're older and wiser.  The women, not America; though I guess you could say America, too, based on Queen Latifah's success the past few years. (She's the exception, though, not the rule, and Lakisha is definitely no Queen!)  Lakisha's got a bland personality, too, whereas Melinda's going to snap out of her overly humble mood soon.  Probably right after the first time she ends up in the bottom three and survives, comes back the following week and belts out one of those season-defining songs that will make it even more galling when she gets voted out of the Top 3 or 4.

My guess is the first curveball, though, will be Lakisha getting the boot in the next two weeks.

And speaking of curveballs, what about Sanjaya?  He was actually pretty good last night singing Besame Mucho, and he's kept his composure in the face of some outright mocking by the show itself.  While the Indian Call Center theory has been shot down, I refuse to give that idiot Howard Stern any credit for keeping him on the show as I don't think his average listener actually cares enough to make the effort, or pay for the calls.  I think he's got a genuine following that saw a likeable kid with a little talent in the audition and Hollywood rounds, saw a lot of heart in his ballsy performances of the past few weeks, and feel a little sorry for him that show itself has seemingly turned against him.  I'd be curious to know what his vote totals have been, and whether or not they've been growing each week.

If nothing else, he's definitely made a season that got off to a shaky start -- Stephanie Edwards and AJ Tabaldo were robbed -- much more interesting.  Next week is Country Week, and if Sanjaya sings Big & Rich's Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy, I'll vote for him!