Thanks Chris

When I moved to Middle Tennessee in 1993, Nashville had the best rock station on the face of the planet - WKDF. It didn't matter when you listened or what song was on, it was good stuff. Their song rotation ranged from hard rock, to '70s classic rock, to southern rock, to '80s hair / glam metal, and even grunge. It was awesome. Then, one day around 1 p.m., I returned to the office from lunch and found that it was over - WKDF had switched to country. It went from awesome to totally sucking. I wanted to loose my lunch. I hate country music. It hurts my ears. It's like fingernails screeching across a chalkboard.

Chris Cornell of Soundgarden and Audioslave (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I'm sure that like everything else, it was about money, but ever since, Nashville has been without a good radio station. If you're a rocker, your choices are Jack FM or The Rock. I guess Jack is ok if you like having a song by Guns 'N Roses, Metallica, or .38 Special followed by Michael Jackson or Madonna. Yuck. I guess The Rock is ok if you want to hear The Beatles, The Clash, Rush, or Led Zeppelin every third song, but I don't. However, a critique of Nashville rock radio is not the purpose of this post.

It was on WKDF where I first heard Soundgarden and frontman Chris Cornell during the grunge explosion of the early to mid-'90s. Mixing that band and Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots, Pearl Jam, and Alice In Chains in with the other rock genres mentioned above was the norm. In fact, nearly 5 years ago, I posted a Music Monday double shot of my two favorite Soundgarden hits - "Black Hole Sun" and "Fell On Black Days" (here). Loved those songs in the '90s and still do today. Arguably, the 2 best ballads to come out of the grunge era.

Back in May, we lost Chris Cornell. He was a talented musician. In the time since, I've read several articles surrounding his death. Some were done in good taste and some in poor. There are many who knew him well and miss him dearly, and it is my belief that the rest of us should remember Chris for the music he left us with, instead of the way he left us.

Therefore, as a memorial to Chris, today's Music Monday is Soundgarden's "Spoonman", which is about a street performer who plays spoons - not a guitar or drums, but spoons. The song's music video can be watched by clicking here and is also embedded below.

Thanks for the music, Chris.

Related articles

• LISTEN: 10 Chris Cornell songs you need to hear (rappler.com)

The Sheepdog's Pick Is In

I doubt anyone is as ready as I am for football season to get started. I've already spent some time working on fantasy football draft boards and may have watched more of the 2017 NFL Draft than any others of my lifetime. Mainly, I was not only interested in which team would pick Florida State running back Dalvin Cook, but I just missed football. I think there are a number of teams that passed on Cook who will eventually realize they made a HUGE mistake.

National Football League Draft (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Back in March, I wrote an article expressing my opinion and displeasure with the direction I perceived the Pittsburgh Steelers to be headed in, and, that after 40 years of following them, I was ready to move on. In my opinion, today's Steelers have left their blue collar roots. In fact, regarding the Steelers, I suspect my feelings are similar to Ronald Reagan's when he said, "I didn't leave the Democratic Party, The Democratic Party left me." Well, I'm not leaving the Steelers, the Steelers have left me. Click here to read my article if you missed it.

In the 3 months since I wrote that article, I don't feel that things have gotten any better in Pittsburgh. For instance, one drama queen, Antonio Brown, has now been given a mega contract, which I expect will only encourage even more drama queenness from him, and the other drama queen, Le'Veon Bell, is sitting out OTA's, basically pouting, in order to wrangle a mega contract of his own out of the Steelers. My opinion is that just as it was a mistake to pay Brown, it would be an even bigger mistake to pay Bell with his injury history and being suspended for parts of 2 seasons for violations of the NFL's substance abuse policy. I think that paying both of them will finish sinking the organization. However, I suspect that eventually the Steelers will give in and do so. Personally, I would have traded both of them prior to the draft. Some sucker would have given a minimum of a 2nd round pick for each, and likely a 1st.

About a week after I wrote the Steelers' article, I posted another ranking and explaining which teams I was considering moving to. Click here to read that article. There were 6 on the list ranked as follows:

1. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
2. Oakland Raiders
3. Indianapolis Colts
4. Arizona Cardinals
5. Atlanta Falcons
6. Detroit Lions

Oakland Raiders logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Today, I'll share which team I picked, but honestly, the rankings didn't change much. Detroit stayed at 6, and Atlanta at 5. However, Oakland dropped from 2 down to 4. Why? Honestly, I grew weary of the drama regarding the move to Las Vegas. I also have concerns that even though a Raiders move to Vegas has a nice ring to it and is kinda cool, it's riddled with problems. For example, the city of Oakland now hates the team and wants it gone sooner rather than later, and according to a couple of articles I've read about the Las Vegas stadium financing deal, I can't help but wonder if a crash and burn might be coming. Another question is after a promising 2016, prior to Derek Carr's injury, will the distraction of the move prove too much for this young team to handle and 2017, and the years to come, be a disappointment in terms of not living up to expectations?

Overall, the Raiders dropped, because after getting sick of all the Steelers' drama, I've had enough of it. Been there. Done that. I just want people to shut up and play football.