Well, I think everyone got the best of both worlds for the Super Bowl as it wound up Green Bay and Pittsburgh. Both games today should really not have been as close as they turned out. Green Bay started failing to convert several third and shorts and allowed Chicago to hang around way too long. Even with a gift interception for a TD, the Packers allowed the Bears to get right back in it.

As for the Steelers, that game should have been over at the half. The Jets failure to score after a lengthy 4th quarter drive destroyed any chance they had, even after they got a quick safety as a followup. I actually gained much respect for the Jets for not folding at the half. The Steelers made way too many mistakes with the ball in the second half to keep the Jets in it.

The Super Bowl got a terrific matchup with about as many angles as the press needs for the buildup to the game.

Meal of Links

I took advantage of the late NFL starts today to see "The Fighter". It's the well-documented story of the boxer Micky Ward and his crack-addicted trainer, Dick Eklund, who is also his brother. Yeah, it's a boxing movie, so I had to see it.

The boxing sequences almost bordered on lame here. Really nothing memorable. You get an over-the-top performance from Melissa Leo as Ward's mother, who also served as his business manager for a time. Basically Ward was the family corporation and the movie details how his career got better when he got better management, meaning Leo had to take a backseat.

Christian Bale as Eklund is the gem here, as always. Like the young DeNiro, he immerses himself in any character he plays. Gets the crack addict persona down, with almost as much weight loss as he had for "The Machinist". You cannot believe this is the same guy that plays the Dark Knight. Mark Wahlberg as Ward is kinda so-so. I thought he didn't come close to demonstrating how tough of a fighter Ward was. And Amy Adams gets a sassy role for a change.

I expected better here. Ward himself says over the closing credits that he was glad the filming of the movie was finally over, as if he was tired of reliving his past. It's a decent enough tale, but somehow the movie went off the tracks just enough to not put it into the must-see category. Curiously, the movie ignores Ward's greatest triumphs a a boxer, the Ward-Gatti Trilogy. With the strange circumstances of his death, maybe that will be detailed in the Arturo Gatti Story.

Jack LaLanne finally unplugged his juicer. He was 96 and quite a fascinating individual.

Now we know the reason (well, 4.6 million of 'em) Baby Doc went back to Haiti. Straight cash, homey.

Exercise Yard

Yesterday, a pro bowler shot 100 in a televised match. It was the lowest score ever by a professional on TV. His opponent? He shot a 299.

Visitor

None, on a really cold Sunday.

Clearly, the talk of the movie world this week was not "The Sorcerer's Apprentice", but "Inception". This was a Best Friend suggestion and I'm tellin' you, it will be the most dissected movie probably since "Mulholland Drive" and Christopher Nolan's other thought-provoker, "Memento". And those two came out, I bet, 10 years ago already.

I always have a hankerin' for these types of "dream" movies. I just saw "Dreamscape" within the last couple of months, and I felt "Vanilla Sky" was vastly underrated. "Inception" borrows the part from "Dreamscape" in the fact that Leonardo DiCaprio is a master at entering other people's dreams.





















So, you get this "dream within a dream within a dream" movie that begs for you to pay attention. Trust me, it's fairly intricate as you go from one level of dreams to another and finally, there's limbo again. Not as much running, but probably as much confusion in this limbo, as there was in "The Lonely Bones".

This is the best movie I've seen this year and probably the best one aimed for adults since "The Ghost Writer". Hard to find fault with the movie. Concept is very intriguing. Casting is spot on (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, all grown up from "3rd Rock", is especially good as Leo's partner), especially when you realize this movie is part heist. It has that let's get the gang together for another caper, with references to situations they've seen before. Effects are top-notch. When Ellen Page is introduced, the Escher-like qualities from the trailer unfold. You get Matrix-like fighting in zero gravity. I am always a sucker for fighting in snow, and the scenes here are mindful of James Bond flicks and "Ice Station Zebra". I wonder about snow camo gear though, because these people always get shot. The only flaw, if there is one, is there is very little humor. I mean, maybe twice, there are things that cause a chuckle.

Many reviews say this movie begs for repeat viewings and there may be a significant percentage of those. The ending offers a spirited debate. And that's another asset of the movie. The fact that it is nebulous allows both sides of the discussion to have a legitimate say.

Meal of Links

How to survive office life. Keep your nose to the grindstone.

Another WWII war hero. Monopoly?

This is unbelievable. Roger Waters and David Gilmour are reuniting for one stop on "The Wall" tour, so Gilmour can sing "Comfortably Numb". OK, the date will remain a surprise. God, let it be here. Roxy Music gets back together, if you need it.

TBS has Steinbrenner Week on "Seinfeld". The brilliant "The Caddy" is on Wednesday at 4:30.

Exercise Yard

A guy, not my Dad, bowls for five straight days. Yes, for charity.

Visitor

None, on a Sunday that is still hot.