I WISH I COULD DANCE

There's a great documentary that's been playing on VH1 Classic lately that I'll be blogging on shortly. One of my favorite parts of it shows the rise of breakdancing in New York City a full six or seven years before it became a national phenomenon.



I'm further inspired to write about it because, after adding 9000 songs to my music collection, I was finally able to track down the definitive breakdance song. That would be the one-hit wonder "Breakin'...There's No Stopping Us" by Ollie & Jerry, which was a top ten hit back in the summer of 1984.

This form of dance actually sprang up from the gang culture on the east coast, and was seen as a way for rivals to "battle" without resorting to violence. It was made up of a variety of different techniques, including toprocking, moonwalking (made most famous by Michael Jackson with his performance on Motown 25), freezing, the worm, and a plethora of power moves.

Breakdancing, folks, kicks ass.

Of course, it also provided Hollywood with some of the worst acting of all time (even though I love this song by Chaka Khan).

And this--from the seminal breakdancing movie "Breakin'"--is just uncomfortable, although it's mildly entertaining to see a very young Ice-T MC'ing.

BECAUSE I DID SUCH A GOOD JOB LAST TIME...

Just to declare my bias before I get started here; I spent eight years in the greater Indianapolis area and have been a pretty die-hard fan of the Colts for the past dozen years. Disclaimer over. And know that this is a basketball guy talking football and I'm still smarting from that UK/UofL prediction right below.

I'm rapidly getting weary of all the hype of the Patriots. Yes, they are 5-0. Yes, they look significantly better on offense than they did a year ago. Yes, they are clearly the biggest threat to Indianapolis in their defense of the Super Bowl crown they claimed back in January.


New England is not the greatest team of all time. They haven't had a game closer than seventeen points so far this season, but who in the world have they played? Their five opponents (New Jersey, San Diego, Buffalo, Cincinnati, and Cleveland) had a combined record of 4-6 going into their games with New England. The combined current record of those teams is a putrid 7-16. Even if you take the games against New England out of the equation, that quintet is a pedestrian 7-11.

Indianapolis took on teams (New Orleans, Tennessee, Houston, Denver, and Tampa Bay) with an aggregate mark of 8-2 going into those games. That's a ridiculous winning percentage. Overall, those teams now stand a game below .500 (11-12), but minus the losses to the Colts, that stands at 11-7. 11-7 even with dogs like New Orleans on the schedule. And today, the Colts demolished a division leading Buccaneers team minus with six Indy starters--including Bob Sanders, Joseph Addai, Marvin Harrison, and Rob Morris--out with injuries.

New England is damn tough. But they're feasting on cupcakes so far, and the last time I checked Indianapolis was the reigning champs and riding a three game winning streak against the Pats. So let's put the hyperbole aside...until New England can come into the RCA Dome on November 4 and actually prove it on the field, Indy is still the team to beat.