Oh Captain My Captain

by Steve Coulter

Passion. Pinstripes. Excellence.

It’s the motto of the most recognizable, most influential and most powerful franchise on the planet — the New York Yankees.

Despite insidious injuries plaguing the 2013 roster, the Bronx Bombers have stayed competitive enough to make a playoff push in the second half of the season. And now with the return of captain Derek Jeter, the team everybody loves to hate is going by a slightly different axiom.

Revival. Redemption. Glory.

The line should be littered with question marks — Will the Yanks be able to revive completely? Will they be able to redeem this injury-cursed season?  Will the team be able to capture its 28^th World Series championship and return to glory?

However, the period of uncertainty has come to an end with Jeter — the Great White Hope — back in the lineup.

Having the Captain back in Gotham eases the mind and makes the persistent doubts avoidable for the first times in months.

 

An infield single. A run. A RBI.

In yesterday’s 8-4 win over the Royals, Jeter provided a desperate fan base — yes, Yankees fans feel desperate, it’s been four years since a championship — with a signature comeback performance that baseball everywhere expected, yet were still in awe of.

This speaks volumes to Jeter’s career, legacy and imprint on the sports world as a whole, but most importantly it dictates to a down-and-out clubhouse and fan base that things are about to change.

Sulking about injuries is not the Yankee way and it must cease now.

With everything returning to status quo, Derek Jeter arrival in the Big Apple  seems to make perhaps the biggest splash of this entire baseball season.

If his presence can bring not only stability, but pride back to the Yankees, than excellence and glory are certainly attainable goals for this season.

For the time being, Yankee fans will have to settle for passion and pinstripes — revival and redemption. And I’m sure that’s more than alright with the Captain back in town.

FX Looks to Crossover With The Bridge

by Steve Coulter

Over the years, FX has been working slowly and methodically at closing the gap between itself and the other second-tier, non-HBO networks, most notably Showtime and AMC.

And with its latest series, The Bridge, FX may finally have a heavyweight contender to go toe-to-toe in the ring with their rival network’s critically acclaimed behemoths — AMC’s Mad Men and Breaking Bad and Showtime’s Homeland and Dexter.

The Other Ten Best Films of the Last Five Years

by Ryan Cazalet

Coulter released his list of the 10 best films of the past five years and it was impressive. Reflecting back on my list it appears Coulter has a more refined palate than I. He prefers the aged single barrel scotches while I go for more of the big batch tequila; intense dedication to the craft as opposed to a punch in the face.

My movie appreciation is very eclectic but I generally prefer movies with exceptional writing and incredible visuals. I have a general guidelines template that I'm working out and its tentatively called The Three S's; Sights, Sounds and Story. Is the movie visually captivating? Is the writing, music and sound (the all fall under Sounds) working together? And most importantly is the story driving the movie? If your film meets those three criteria chances are I enjoy it.

Ten Best Films of the Last Five Years (2008-2012)

Coulter kicks off our two part piece in which Double Down Trent picks the ten best films from the past five years. For those of you who struggle with math we're talking about 2008-2012. Tomorrow Cazalet will give you his list and you can determine whether or not we are morons or connoisseurs.

The 10 Best Films ATWBB 

by Steve Coulter

Five months into the 2013 film year and there hasn't been a single film that I've seen that I would rank in the top 25 movies I've seen over the last five years.

It's Not a Movie Its a Movement

Point Breaking Down The Fast and Furious Franchise

by Chris Sexton 

The last time I cameo-ed on DDT I was writing about one of my true loves, the New York Jets ; a franchise that I have an undying love and devotion towards but that franchise chooses to let me down every time. They are the worst. The IRS and terrorists are nicer to my psyche than the New York Jets.

Fast and Furious is the opposite.

Star Trek Into Darkness

Should you go see Star Trek Into Darkness? The staff of Double Down Trent says yes. Yes you should.

Cazalet's Review

Beam Me Up Abrams

When deciding which of the summer blockbusters we would see, my girlfriend and I came to a crossroads with Star Trek. She had no interest at all, I couldn't wait for it. She said "But I've never seen any of the movies or tv shows." I told her neither had I, I only saw J.J. Abrams reboot from 2009. So I made her watch that one and not surprisingly she was into it.

The Great Gatsby Reviews

We are a little behind on our review of Baz Luhrman's The Great Gatsby but nonetheless wanted to provide our review. Unlike other movie reviews we thought it would be interested for Steve and I to both write a review, independent of each others opinion, to an overall review. Two sets of eyes are always better than one.

Ryan Cazalet's Review: 

Borne Ceaselessly Into The Past

"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." The famous last words of F. Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece. It's a perfect metaphor for the current state of Hollywood in that we are seeing familiar characters and franchises returning to theaters. The past comes, once more, roaringly to life in the latest adaptation of The Great Gatsby, a film that left me feeling refreshed and greatly entertained.

How do you adapt a timeless piece of literature? Especially considering there have been 4 feature films already made (most notably 1974's Gatsby starring Robert Redford). The answer, according to Baz Luhrmann, was to add some flair to it. The director of Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge has a signature style of film-making that some people love and some people hate. I have to imagine this is the reason for the mixed reviews of 2013's The Great Gatsby.

Love is Blindness : A Case for the San Antonio Spurs

by Steve Coulter 

With Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals series between the Golden State Warriors and the San Antonio Spurs only hours away, the media conglomerates — I’m looking at you ESPN and TNT — have begin to blindly and redundantly hype this as a battle of “young and old.”

I know there isn’t exactly a counter argument to suggest the media companies are wrong with this citation as the Warriors are led by the exciting and titillating Stephen Curry, who has risen into the top 10 overall player rankings this postseason, and one of the league’s bravest new coaches — Mark Jackson. Meanwhile, the timeless and selfless Tim Duncan anchors the Spurs as one of the best four coaches to ever stand on a NBA sideline — Greg Popovich — guides them like a guru on yet another postseason quest.

Summer Movie Preview

by Ryan Cazalet

As of midnight May 3rd the summer movie season is officially under way. Although nowadays the official start can be debated. It used to be Memorial Day weekend was the first big summer blockbuster. However studios have started to roll out big budget movies in April so I guess the anarchists are winning.

Iron Man 3 hits theaters this weekend and its expected to be big. A popular theme this summer is sequels or recurring characters. It seems like Hollywood is running out of original ideas. Another big trend is IMAX and IMAX 3D. I love IMAX and I enjoy IMAX 3D. IMAX is absolutely worth the four extra dollars for some films. I will advise you on which films are worth going to IMAX and which to just see. I am listing the movies by the date of their release, not in the order that I want to see them. THIS IS A LONG READ, BUT IF YOU ENJOY MOVIES IT'S TOTALLY WORTH IT. It's also Friday and you probably want to kill time at work, and what better way than to read about summer movies.

So without further adieu I give you Double Down Trent's inaugural summer movie preview (click on the movie title for trailer of the film).

The Jason Collins Dilemma

By Steve Coulter

Now that the dust has somewhat settled from Jason Collins' landmark announcement on Monday I think it's an appropriate time to discuss what the future looks like for the four major sports in America and, potentially more importantly, what the future looks like for the man at the epicenter of both the gay and athletic community of our country.

Durant, Westbrook and the Nature of Sports : The Best Ultimately Rise

by Ryan Cazalet

I would like to ask that you allow me a quick tangent before I get to my argument, just so you know where I'm coming from. It may end up not being quick at all but in order to state a case one must first establish the fundamental principles.

I feel uncomfortable so easily dismissing the amazing skill of professional athletes. It's easy to sit back and do what Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith do; to simply pick a side yes or no, winner or loser, can they play or can't they? What critics and fans usually don't understand is that you don't always need to ask the question "did a team win the game or did their opponent lose it?"

Saved by Geno : The New York Jets, NFL Franchise or TV Series?

by Chris Sexton

The Jets. J-e-t-s Jets. We spell our team name not because of the ease of it all, but to force the fact that we are jet fans and we may not change that. Like a kid trying to remember what year Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue, the quick and constant repetition of the "J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS!!!" chant brainwashes us in our undying fandom. When Double Down Trent, sent out the blog signal ( Like the bat signal, but instead of a bat, its a silhouette of a guy in flannel PJ's drinking mountain dew over a laptop) to me for my opinion on the Gang Green's draft, i couldn't resist the chance to let my feelings on the matter be heard. 

2013 NFL Draft Running Diary : Round 1

by Steve Coulter

The calm before the storm.

Exactly two hours away from the first round of the 2013 NFL Draft and I couldn’t be more excited. I don’t want to get too ahead of myself because my hands will be at the keyboard for the next five to six hours writing this running diary of tonight’s events. However, I will say this before I get started: this is my first attempt of doing a running diary during a live sporting “event.” I have done live blogs of games, but never something as intense, as hyped and as built up as the NFL Draft.

For those of you who know me, it’s common knowledge that I am a draft nut and have been ever since I can remember. I am not going to give you a Henry Hill-type monologue, but I will say that I have been to two drafts live – 2002 and 2004 – and hopefully will be attending next year’s 2014, if all goes to plan. So don’t count on this being an annual thing, but I thought it would be worth an attempt. Some may like it, some may hate it. Such is life.

Anyways, without further ado: the 2013 NFL Draft Running Diary.

Mock Draft - Coulter Style

By Steve Coulter 

Let's skip the prelude, I'm sure you don't need much of an introduction with the NFL Draft less than a week away and mocks coming from everyone from Mel Kiper to this guy who forgot to actually, ya know, make his mock selections. Anyways, brief rant has ended. On to my only mock draft of 2013...

Killer Instincts

by Ryan Cazalet

It's been almost a month since we here at Double Down announced the creation of this new website. Well it turns out that it takes about a month to start a website like this. Actually more than that, but we're on a tight deadline from some people that you don't want to owe anything to. So here goes nothing.

There are two major themes you will be dealing with on this website and they are, in no particular order, sports and entertainment. And by sports we mean football, baseball, basketball, hockey and occasionally some secondary sports like soccer. And be entertainment we mean movies, television shows, celebrities and general things that entertain the average red blooded American. And since last night I just so happen to have been having this discussion, I decided to make it the inaugural piece.