Way Back When: RAD

My life in 8th grade pretty much consisted of the following: playing as much baseball as possible, collecting baseball cards, beating Bowser and his minions in Super Mario Bros., trying to figure out how to get Tracey Tingy to like me, memorizing the lines of Bon Jovi and Beastie Boy songs, and watching The Lost Boys, Aliens and the following flick at least 100 times (yep, that sadly sums it up).

Riding my BMX to the local video store to re-check Rad out once again became a weekly ritual that year. My other bike-riding buddies in the neighborhood and I actually built our own version of the movie’s nefarious Helltrack that “star” Cru Jones had to conquer, though ours was more like Hecktrack… It was pretty lame and no one ever dared to try the back flip stunt in the movie’s climax…

Anyway, Rad actually came up in conversation three separate times recently, each with different people—no, really, I’m totally being serious here—and it resurrected thoughts of that fine film. Certainly in the history (and future for that matter) of cinema has a school dance never before been portrayed with such glorious choreography. Being scored to “Send Me an Angel” (a different one from the Scorpions’ cheesy love ballad) makes it even totally Radder of an experience.

If you’re new to Rad, yes, that is Uncle Jesse’s (Full House, not Dukes of Hazard) girlfriend, and yes, that is former gold-medal gymnast Bart Connor (the Italian Stallion’s Adrian—Talia Shire—has a role in the movie too). Oh, if only it would come out on DVD… This will have to do for now… Enjoy…

Miami Dolphins

Turning the Page (Hopefully)

Parcells makes his mark. I wanted the franchise QB, and maybe Beck or the newly-drafted Henne will finally end the search for the messiah quarterback after the greatest passer in NFL history’s ascent to Canton, but I don’t know that Matt Ryan was that guy. What I do know is that Chris Long was a safe pick. Not a lot of splash, and absolutely no drama since he was signed days before Saturday’s draft began, but this definitely set the tone for a new era that will hopefully make us forget all about the Wannstache, Nick Satan and 1-15 regimes.


Howie Long’s kid probably would’ve been a good pick too, but I think Parcells & Co. adequately addressed the defensive end positions as Jason Taylor sadly dances his way from South Florida to a new Hollywood career (hopefully better than ex-NFLers Jim Brown’s and O.J.’s). Let’s just hope Chris can protect whoever’s taking snaps and open big holes for Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams.

Overall, I thought it was a pretty good draft and I didn’t scream in agony over passing on a Brady Quinn, so that’s an improvement over last year’s right there ("Ted Ginn Jr.?? WHO??? [EXPLETIVE] [EXPLETIVE] [EXPLETIVE] [EXPLETIVE] [EXPLETIVE] [EXPLETIVE] [EXPLETIVE] [EXPLETIVE] [EXPLETIVE] [EXPLETIVE] [EXPLETIVE]!!!" OK, it wasn't quite that bad...). They addressed a lot of their needs, which, being the Dolphins is pretty much everything… save for Jay Feely. Yep, the one solid area for Miami is their kicking game. Oh, and their mascot. T.D.'s a great mascot (isn't that sad?).