AI7 recap, Finalists x 2 (05/20)

So it’s the Finale that we’ve all been waiting for and anticipating (was that redundant?).

First off, a little housekeeping. A big thanks to Jim Rutter for assuming the seat behind the keyboard for last week. I told you he was awesome. He said levity, not brevity was his strong suit and I think all of you are thankful for that. Mike Rico joked that the coach called him into his office and told him that he’s demoted to 3^rd string, but I like to think of it like the Atlanta Braves pitching staff of the ‘90s when they had three Aces (Maddux, Glavine and Smoltz) or the Oakland A’s of millennium (Zito, Hudson and Mulder). I think these things will keep going next season, and if they do, I’m sure that I’ll be calling on Mike and Jim to pitch in again … if they’ll oblige.

I’ve got a few funny stories to relate before we get into it. One has to do with my son Jared. When we went out to Hawaii last week for my wife Kristin’s grandmother’s funeral, we left early on Saturday morning (got up before 6) to catch a 9AM flight. We didn’t eat dinner with the family until 7PM Hawaii-time, which is 10PM PST. I was falling asleep after dinner before we went back to our hotel room. Once we got back, the kids were beat. They had fallen asleep in the car on the way back and we had to carry them both up to the room. We asked Jared if he went to the potty before he went to sleep. He said yes and immediately passed out on the bed. Well, I woke up to a wet right side of my t-shirt, as Jared evidently did not go potty before he went to sleep. We put towels down on the bed and I changed him even though he was still only half awake. I was tired too, so I just rinsed my shirt and his bottoms and jumped back in bed. When Kacey got up at 4:30AM Hawaii time she noticed I didn’t have a shirt on (I didn’t want to dirty another one) and started screaming, “Daddy’s Naked Boy!”

And another thing we picked up in Hawaii are the shows “Ninja Warrior” and “Unbeatable Banzuke” on the G4 network (354 on your DirecTV dial). These shows are funny. They are Japanese (no surprise there!) and “Ninja Warrior” has an unbelievably hard obstacle course that the contestants have to maneuver through. They start with 100 contestants. Some are legitimate and others are there for laughs (comedians, elderly, etc). They take some hardy tumbles when they don’t make it. There are 4 stages and they get progressively harder. It’s fun stuff. “Unbeatable Banzuke” is less athletic, but similarly difficult and funny. One course had contestants on pogo sticks going through a course. Another had them on unicycles. The only downside is that our son Jared started watching it too and he’s tried to set up makeshift “obstacle courses” in our family room, much to his mother’s dismay.

Did anyone see the finale of Desperate Housewives? Pretty good stuff. I won’t put any spoilers in here, but if you want to e-mail me about it to discuss, I’m all ears!

And lastly How I Met Your Mother is still a favorite of mine. Our daughter Kacey has a pair of red rubber boots and when she wore them the other day, my wife Kristin and I both said, “totally pulling them off.” You really need to watch the show to know that, but it’s funny nonetheless. And the daughter in HIMYM also plays Dana Delany’s daughter in Desperate Housewives.

So, onto the finale where they decided to play up the boxing theme. Even went as far as having Michael Buffer introduce the two contestants. And they also got Jim Lampley to breakdown the “rounds.” Lamps is an interesting guy because he’s known mostly now for his boxing expertise, but he’s done many other sports before that, in addition to hosting the Olympics at every turn since 1984.

Going into tonight I really thought (and still do) that tonight didn’t really matter. I think that the voting public has already made up their mind on whom they like and who they will vote for. I don’t think anyone is on the fence. I thought if someone bombed or if one did substantially better than the other, it really wouldn’t matter. The one thing that I do know is that David is going to win…

Like in the past, each contestant sings 3 songs. The first is Clive Davis’ choice. The second is an original song from a list of 10 from a songwriting contest. The last is the contestant’s choice.

01 – Cook, I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (U2)

So what version of this song is he going to steal and not give the artist credit for? Just kidding. Cook has been guilty of that a bit this year (doing a version that you think he made up, but it was really taken from another artist, but not credited). But that’s the problem with this show. The judges always want the contestants to “make it their own,” but what’s wrong with singing a song well the way it was meant to be sung? It’s still a singing competition, right? So the contestants furiously try to find alternate versions of songs to make it sound different and sometimes it copycats another artist. I think what the producers should do is alert the judges if a contestant does that so that one of them (hopefully not Paula, as she’ll probably mess it up) will acknowledge it in the comments. Or have the contestant say that this was so-and-so’s version of the original in their intro or as they are getting judged. Cookie sounded great on this song tonight though. Randy said it was a great way to start. Paula said “watermelon watermelon.” (isn’t that what you’re supposed to sing when you’re in a chorus and you forget the words?) And Simon called it phenomenal.

02 – Archuleta, Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me (Elton John)

If you replace the “The Sun” with “Your Son,” there’s a Michael Jackson joke in there somewhere. I just can’t put my finger on it… J This was a beautiful song, sung masterfully by little David. Randy said he picked the right time to peak. Paula said her heart was still pounding and he sent chills up and down her arms. Simon said it was arguably the best he’s done so far and proclaimed Round 1 went to Archuleta. David was practically hyperventilating during the judges’ comments. I was thinking that he really needs to pace himself because he was totally overcome with emotion and he still needs to sing 2 more songs. But you can imagine all the pressure that his dad’s been putting on him the whole competition, but this week in particular. Archuleta was spot on in this song.

03 – Cook, Dream Big

Did anyone else notice that he might have forgotten the 2^nd line in this song? But who would know? He kinda slurred the words, almost like he forgot them. I asked my wife Kristin who this song sounded like and she hit the nail right on the head. Rick Springfield. It was a totally ‘80s-ish song. Maybe it sounded like the Gin Blossoms? I think Dr. Noah Drake was right on though. I actually liked the song, although it is my 20^th high school reunion this year and I’ve been listening to the ‘80s channel on Sirius Radio nonstop in anticipation of it. As a matter of fact, I went back to putting gel in my hair too. Although not Dep, like in the ‘80s. LA Looks isn’t much better though, which is what I’m using. Was that TMI? Randy thought the song was just okay, but he was “singing his face off.” I wish Carly had done that. Literally. Paula said “blah, blah.” I don’t really write down what she says anymore. Simon called it (to take a boxing term) lightweight, thought the end was okay, but he didn’t feel like it was a winning moment. The thing my wife Kristin likes about Cookie though is that he is very articulate and can accept and address criticism very well. He speaks his mind and is the anti-Jason Castro. I’m a fan of both Davids, although I like Archuleta a little better.

04 – Archuleta, In This Moment

This song had an Edwin McCain feel to me. What was up with David’s “anchor jacket” though? I thought he did as much as he could do with this song. It’s tough to sing a song that no one knows. And it was sappy too. Although I think Kelly Clarkson’s “A Moment Like This” was pretty cool in Season 1. Randy was not crazy about the song, but he was so in the zone and he mentioned singing the phonebook again. Paula said something about it not mattering what song he was singing. Simon said he chose the better song and gave Round 2 to Archuleta.

05 – Cook, The World I Know (Collective Soul)

This was a VERY interesting song choice for Cookie. He took the road less traveled and chose a song that he hadn’t sung already. I knew that Archuleta would choose “Imagine” (why wouldn’t he?), but thought that Cookie would choose “Hello” or “Always Be My Baby.” Kudos for him for taking a chance. He slowed this song down and gave it a great vocal. But it was kinda boring and subdued. He was crying at the end of the song, which made me think that this song was special to him. And maybe it had to do with his brother. And if it did have to do with him, I really give it up to him for not mentioning it on the air. Cook has never played the sympathy card like so many other contestants have. He never played the patriotic card like Kristy Lee Cook did this year and Diana DiGarmo did in the past. I totally respect him for that. Randy said that he showed us a lot of different sides of David Cook throughout this competition. Paula truly applauded him. Simon called him one of the nicest, most sincere contestants they’ve ever had. He said it was a beautiful song, but then said it was a completely, utterly wrong song choice. He asked why he didn’t do “Billie Jean” again (I have to admit that I still haven’t watched that performance yet). David’s answer was this competition to him was a progression and why do something he’s already done. Then you could tell he had an “oh no” moment because he didn’t want to make it sound like he was slamming David Archuleta for singing “Imagine,” which he had already sung. I think he recovered nicely though.

06 – Archuleta, Imagine (John Lennon)

In little David’s defense, he really had to end the show with “Imagine.” That was his signature performance and he replicated it once again. It was a perfect way for him to end the finale. Maybe he played it safe, but he played to win. Randy said that he was so good tonight and this was what the show was all about. He was the best singer in Season 7. It left Paula speechless. I wish she was speechless more often. Simon said this was about finding a star. We witnessed one of the great finales and we witnessed a knockout.

So, there is no doubt in my mind that Archuleta outperformed Cook tonight. But will it matter? I think that little David will win, but I thought that before the performances tonight. IF you were on the fence and IF you took each week as its own entity, you will vote for David Archuleta tonight. But this show has never been about that. It’s always been cumulative. When I looked today on Sportsbook.com, they had David Cook as a 5-9 favorite and David Archuleta as a 13-10 underdog. That means you would have to bet $9 to win $5 for Cook and if you bet $10 on Archuleta, you’d win $13. I should’ve bet the house on Archuleta!

This is not a perfect competition, but I think the way it’s set up, Archuleta will win. But I wouldn’t be surprised if David Cook outsold Archuleta when it’s all said and done. Cook has that Daughtry feel to him. He’s got a more contemporary voice that will probably be appealing to a broader range of listeners. Archuleta does ballads. He kills ballads. I haven’t watched last week’s show, but Robin Powers is still embarrassed for him for doing that Chris Brown song.

America got it right with these two in the finals. I think Archuleta wins though.

And Dancing With The Stars has concluded, but I haven’t had time to watch the results yet. I’m guessing that Kristi Yamaguchi won because she obliterated Jason Taylor and Cristian de la Fuente in the scores last night.

They did a group dance that had all 3 finalists dancing together in the same dance. It was a cha cha and Kristi killed it. Poor Jason did not do as well. If they had chosen a different dance, he would have fared better. Len Goodman finally voiced what I’ve been thinking all along with Cristian. He said that even though he has a torn bicep, he had to factor in that he didn’t do the lifts like the other competitors did. Over the last few weeks the judges were scoring Cristian higher because he was dancing with one arm, which I think was bogus. But then again, I can’t stand the guy so I’m biased.

The freestyle round was awesome. Kristi knocked it out of the park, although she looked very self-conscious of her top! She rivaled Apolo Ohno’s freestyle. They had Apolo back for a dance with Julianne a few weeks back and he was horrible! You could tell that dancing was a learned skill for him because it was not like riding a bike. He was off and had heavy feet. It was painful to watch actually.

So that’s it. I’m glad we made it through another season. Thanks to Mike Rico and Jim Rutter for being “Ace 1A and 1B” in the starting rotation this season. We’ll renegotiate in the offseason to make sure they’re both still on our team next season.

As always, these are posted in a blog at:

http://airecaps.blogspot.com/