Cru Jones Society

The 136^th running of the Kentucky Derby happened this weekend and around here that is a holy day. After a day of drinking, snacking and imaginary betting we are happy to bring to you our annual Kentucky Derby Awards. This year the ridiculousness was flowing like our bourbon and we captured most of it to share with you. And now our round up of the filler surrounding the most exciting two minutes in sports. It won’t make up for the money you lost on Lookin At Lucky, it should at least make your morning less work filled. Continue Reading »

One of the best parts about the Derby aside from the fancy hats, the all day drinking, the mocking of celebrities and the general feeling of awesomeness that comes from watching the sport of kings, is the horse names. We like this aspect so much we devoted a Confessional Question to it (be sure to answer that). But today I decided to scroll the list of winners over the past 27 years and I picked out the four names I liked the best, and the four I liked the least. Continue Reading »

With the Kentucky Derby coming up Saturday, CJS wants to give you the first look at this year’s field. However, since we know nothing about the technical side of horse racing, haven’t followed it all year, and can’t be bothered to conduct actual research, you get the vital stats of each horse followed by a bunch of juvenile jokes about their names and odds we pulled completely out of our ass. All of the information below (except for our bullshit odds) can be found here.

So, enjoy! And please don’t base any potential wagers on any of our given odds. They are totally fabricated and written off the top of my head. One final warning, I’ve included pictures of all these horses, but have no idea if they’re accurate (except for the ones with the names on their blankets of course - smartass). You probably wouldn’t know the difference anyway, but in the interest of full disclosure, I thought I’d mention it. Let’s get started! Continue Reading »

Since it’s Kentucky Derby Week (a.k.a. The Cru Jones Society High Holiday) our aim is to prepare you for the most exciting two minutes in sports. And since we’ll be watching this weekend (although not live – fucking real jobs fucking shit up this year), we thought it only apropos that we prepare you to have your own kickass Kentucky Derby party at your own house/condo/apartment/refrigerator box. Although if you’re partying in a refrigerator box, you likely won’t need an excuse to drink bourbon. Perhaps that’s in bad taste.

Below you’ll find the essential elements to having a Derby Party your friends won’t soon forget. So let’s get to it. Invite all the pimps and ladybitches you know. It’s Derby time, baby! Continue Reading »

We wrap up our 2010 MLB Preview today with a trip to our beloved National League West where CJS’s hometown team is finally picked to win the division. There are other teams there too, but whatever. Go Rockies! Continue Reading »

With opening day on Sunday, and due to our love of baseball, we thought we would get on the band wagon and give you our 2010 MLB preview reports. Over the next three days we will cover all 30 teams. We’ll start with the east and like Lewis and Clark, work our way west. The mornings will have our AL previews and at 12:30 (MST) you can catch the NL previews. Now let’s toss out the first pitch and get things under way. Continue Reading »

The National League Central is the assorted potpourri division of baseball. You’ve got a first class organization leading the way almost every year, an iconic franchise that can’t win the big one, a team that hasn’t been in the National League but for a decade or so, the former juggernaut, the team not even locals care about, and a franchise that hasn’t seen success since the first George Bush was in office. That’s a lot of real estate to cover, so let’s not waste any more time. Continue Reading »

With opening day on Sunday, and due to our love of baseball, we thought we would get on the band wagon and give you our 2010 MLB preview reports. Over the next three days we will cover all 30 teams. We’ll start with the east and like Lewis and Clark, work our way west. The mornings will have our AL previews and at 12:30 (MST) you can catch the NL previews. Now let’s toss out the first pitch and get things under way. Continue Reading »

In general, the National League East is filled with teams I don’t care about. I know that I generally loathe East Coast sports writers, but what else would you expect from some prick living in the forgotten time zone? The NL East is filled with contenders (except for one obvious exception), and since we’ve got last year’s World Champions here, this is as good a place to start for the NL as anywhere. God knows that’s what all sportswriters do, so let’s make like the herd, and get to it. Welcome to your 2010 NL preview. Continue Reading »

With opening day on Sunday, and due to our love of baseball, we thought we would get on the band wagon and give you our 2010 MLB preview reports. Over the next three days we will cover all 30 teams. We’ll start with the east and like Lewis and Clark, work our way west. The mornings will have our AL previews and at 12:30 (MST) you can catch the NL previews. Now let’s toss out the first pitch and get things under way. Continue Reading »

This Sunday begins the best stretch of the year. Sunday is Major League Baseball’s Opening Day, which is as close as it gets to a sports religious experience. Just because we love stating the obvious around here, and because we just plain old feel like reminding you that we dedicated every Wednesday for four months to reviewing 18 different baseball movies, the Cru Jones Society loves baseball.

We particularly love the beginning of baseball season because while the weather is still working its way back to decent after shedding the winter blahs, you’re filled with nothing but hope and expectation. Your team is still very much alive, and even if you’re a miserable Pittsburgh Pirates fan, every new season comes with at least a glimmer of hope. So, it is with that hopeful mindset that we asked this question: What are your predictions for the 2010 MLB season? We answer, you answer, and at the end of the week, it’s time to play ball! So let’s step up to the plate and swing away. Continue Reading »

Part of the annual CJS Rendezvous is taking in a couple of meaningless baseball games in the beautiful March Arizona weather. Since we’re hooked up in Tucson, we’ve always been just a short hop away from Hi Corbett, and an across town jaunt to Tucson Electric Park. There’s nothing like pre-empting the end of the winter dregs with the refreshing tonic of warm weather, and the greatest game on the planet. You feel like you’re cheating nature. And you’re not alone. Per capita, spring training baseball draws more alarmingly old people than your average city council re-zoning meeting or Saturday morning trip to the bank.

And thanks to the incompetence of the City of Tucson, CJS has spent its last year enjoying Rockies pre-season baseball in our very own backyard. Here are some thoughts to send it off properly. Continue Reading »

It wouldn’t be the Olympics on NBC without a giant cock slap of promotion across your face every damn night, now would it? Two years ago I wrote about the poor sap that has to schedule this rotating carousel of vomitous promotional excess with the following passage:

“People who work at television stations are generally insane as it is, they’re moreso during events with live coverage and repetitive commercials. This is especially true when a network is forcing a couple of  semi-wretched looking shows down everyone’s throat and has to air the promos for them to fill in during extra commercial breaks on top of the already excessive scheduled airings.”

Glad to see nothing has changed at NBC in the last two years. But what of the shows they’re force feeding us this year? Let’s take a look… Continue Reading »

On Monday night, the CJS tweeted the following: “Curling, man. Why can’t I look away? Every freaking day I’m watching this ridiculous shit.” That was me.

Despite Erin Burnett and Mario Bartiromo’s ridiculous hotness on their Today Show updates that I inexplicably watch each morning, I have no reason to even acknowledge CNBC’s presence as a network. Jim Cramer is a hollering fool, market wrap-ups have as much utility as your local fortune teller’s latest palm reading, and the stock ticker at the bottom is like an even less interesting version of the college basketball scores that endlessly populate ESPN’s bottom line during February.

Yet, for the last two weeks CNBC has been the network I’ve kept on most. Why? One reason: Grown men and women chasing after 40 lb. stones with brooms for sport.

I don’t know what it is about curling. It’s not terribly exciting. There’s no threat of violence. The sport has been called “chess on ice” which doesn’t normally lend itself to compelling television. And, depending on which nation is represented (and which gender), you’re rolling the dice with either hot chicks or frumpy-looking housewives pushing circular stones at a target several dozen yards away. In short, this seems like a sport that should immediately following the Professional Bowling Tour on ESPN2 each Sunday.

Yet, I can’t get enough of it. Continue Reading »

The Olympics are truly an amazing event. For two weeks they become the central focus for most people. The water cooler talks revolve around Shaun White’s big air, USA wining a sweet hockey game, or the fall of some ice skating couple. Never wanting to be left out, I too become consumed by the Olympics and my thoughts are overwhelmed in the spirit. But sometimes those thoughts don’t generate much and we wind up with some random musings, Olympic edition. Continue Reading »

The past few days of the Olympics have left me disinterested. I’m not sure if it’s because I blew my load on the U.S.A. versus Canada hockey game or if it has been the airing of events like ice dancing and ski jumping. Either way the past couple of days have bored me and I started thinking about some other events I would like to see in the Winter Olympics. I doubt these would make it, but it would be fun. Continue Reading »

We mentioned when we started our Olympic coverage that if you had something interesting about the Olympic you would to share to drop us a line. We are now happy to present to you an article from one of our readers who took us up on our offer. Please enjoy our special guest columnist, CJS regular Corriander.

Tight pants?  There are no tight pants in snowboarding!

Uniform styles have always been a hot topic in all sports and the Olympics are no exception.  There was a ton of attention directed at Michael Phelps’ new Speedo at the Beijing games.  Now we have our own controversies for the Vancouver games and some of them are just ridiculous.  Think that they have something to do with new technology (like the Speedo) or with competitive advantage?  If so, you are wrong. Continue Reading »

We remain balls deep in Olympics coverage here at CJS, and the time has rolled around again for your involvement. Last week we asked you about your favorite Olympic events, so this week we changed it up and asked: What Olympic event always seems like a good idea, but ends up disappointing you?

Think of this question as the once every four years cousin to making microwave popcorn, watching “The Soup,” or checking out Japanese porn – y’know, just to change it up for once – you think you’re going to have a great time, but just walk away unhappy, dissatisfied, and/or disgusted. Our answers are below, yours below that, and the slackasses who join us in the comments section all the way at the bottom.

So let’s make like we’re all virgins again and get disappointed. Only this time, we won’t have any sticky mess to clean up and we’ll be surrounded by awkward European people. What are we waiting for? Continue Reading »

Shaun White is the greatest living athlete of our generation.

After watching him obliterate the competition last night in Vancouver, the argument is closed. No one is doing the things Shaun White is doing on the halfpipe, and few are even anywhere close. And while it’s fun to marvel at Shaun White’s technical ability and limitless ability to push the boundaries of the sport he now reigns supreme over, that’s not even the best part of watching him. So, what is the best part?

In a word: Joy. Continue Reading »

If you need one reason why the Winter Olympics are superior to the Summer Games, you need only remind yourself of that miserable, angry hedgehog who calls the diving competition. I still have no idea what her name is, and frankly I don’t care because that would likely only angry up my blood even further. You know who I’m talking about. She’s the one that no matter how perfect a dive looks, she’ll find something miniscule to needle about it and project much lower scores than the diver will actually receive.

So when I make the following comparison, please don’t take it as a knock against the generally pleasant ski jumping announcer. He’s basically fine. But watching ski jumping is exactly the same as watching diving in the summer. Continue Reading »