Weekend Sports Wrap, Mozart & Men

It was a great Sports Weekend for many reasons.  Our local teams, the TCU Horned Frogs and the Dallas Cowboys both posting double digit wins in their match ups.  Number 6 TCU got the ball rolling Saturday night when Junior QB sensation Trevone Boykin accounted for 4 Touchdowns in their 41-20 rout of Kansas State at Amon Carter Stadium in Fort Worth.  The new College Football rankings come out on Tuesday and with losses by Auburn and LSU over the weekend, TCU should move up in the rankings.  TCU has 3 games left against teams with losing records so they could end up 11-1 on the season and bid for a spot in the new College Football Playoff system with a possible chance at a National Championship.  

The Dallas Cowboys made their trip across the pond to play at Wembley Stadium in  London against the Jacksonville Jaguars.  Dallas QB Tony Romo played an almost perfect game in his return to the line up after missing two weeks due to injury.  Romo completed 20 of 27 passes for 246 yards against the Jaguars (1-9) and finished with a season-high passer rating of 138.8.  DeMarco Murray posted his 9th 100 yard rushing performance in 10 games.  The final score of 31-17 includes the Jaguars final 10 points in the fourth quarter when it was too late to overcome their mistakes to win the game.  Pending the results of tonight's Monday Night Football game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Carolina Panthers, Dallas may move ahead of Philly to claim the top spot in the NFC East once again.

In perhaps the most significant event over the weekend, at least to me, Outsports celebrated the 15th Anniversary of their first post of November 10, 1999.  Outsports was the brainchild of two Gay NFL fans Jim Buzinski and Cyd Zeigler and has grown to be the very real voice of LGBT athletes, their sports and their stories.  Jim's Anniversary article How things have changed and Cyd's 15 Important Stories from our first 15 years give their readers a concise analysis of significant part Outsports has played in improving the atmosphere and outlook for LGBT athletes everywhere.  Joe in Philly, who played a big part in Ousports early years, also posted his reflection on Outsports first 15 years.  As a sports fan and a Gay man, Outsports has been one of the most important sites for my sports news.  I have featured many of their stories in these pages and will continue to do so as they are the premier voice of the LGBT athlete in the world today.  I offer my congratulations to Cyd and Jim on a job well done with wishes for a great many more years of success.  Maybe someday, in  part due to their role in the equation, there will be only athletes and their performances with no delineation as to orientation.  Only time will tell.  

Your Monday with Mozart focuses on the Quartet of which Mozart composed many for a number of different grouping of instruments.  Here at Nichevo, you will hear his Piano Quartet In E-flat Major,  KV 493 with a performance by the Mozartean Players.  While over on Nichevo on Tumblr, you may also hear the Smithson Quartet (part of the Smithsonian Chamber Music Society) performing the String Quartet Number 20 in D Major, K 499 'Hoffmeister'.  The Smithson Quartet performs on period instruments and this recording from 1977 is part of a series of Classical recordings made by the Smithsonian Institution on vinyl in the late 1970's.

Then below the video is this week's edition of Monday's Undies with lots of muscly men sporting their skivvies in poses from playful to smokingly sensual.  For additional underwear inspiration, check out the Abs-olutely Perfect Hottie of the Day! over on my tumblr.  Thanks for kicking off your week with me here at Nichevo, see you again soon,  Until next time as always, Enjoy!

Saturday at the Symphony Evening Concert

Thank God Fraturday is finally  over, I did not think I would make it the whole way without going off on some 'less than intelligent' consumer who happened to draw my ire.  However, the afternoon mellowed out during the football game between hometown TCU and OU out of Norman.  It was all good when the Horned Frogs out lasted the Sooners 37-33 in a wild and crazy shootout.  That made all the locals happy and the Okies sent skulking back north of the border duly admonished.  After that it was just a matter of having enough energy to last until 8 PM so I could dash outta there, get home and collapse in my chair in front of the computer.  Oh and by the way, welcome to your Saturday at the Symphony Evening Concert now that I have all that off my chest.  I am ready to toss the pizza in the oven and call it a night, but first tonight's concert:

Tonight's featured composer was a complex man whose music was sometimes 'misunderstood' during his lifetime, but celebrated after his passing in 1896.  From his Wikipedia page: 

Anton Bruckner (German: [ˈantɔn ˈbʀʊknɐ] ( listen); 4 September 1824 – 11 October 1896) was an Austrian composer known for his symphonies, masses, and motets. The first are considered emblematic of the final stage of Austro-German Romanticism because of their rich harmonic language, strongly polyphonic character, and considerable length.^[1] Bruckner's compositions helped to define contemporary musical radicalism, owing to their dissonances, unprepared modulations, and roving harmonies.

Unlike other musical radicals, such as Richard Wagner or Hugo Wolf who fitted the enfant terrible mould, Bruckner showed extreme humility before other musicians, Wagner in particular. This apparent dichotomy between Bruckner the man and Bruckner the composer hampers efforts to describe his life in a way that gives a straightforward context for his music.

His works, the symphonies in particular, had detractors, most notably the influential Austrian critic Eduard Hanslick, and other supporters of Johannes Brahms (and detractors of Wagner), who pointed to their large size, use of repetition,^[2] and Bruckner's propensity to revise many of his works, often with the assistance of colleagues, and his apparent indecision about which versions he preferred. On the other hand, Bruckner was greatly admired by subsequent composers, including his friend Gustav Mahler, who described him as "half simpleton, half God".^[3]

"Bruckner expanded the concept of the symphonic form in ways that have never been witnessed before or since. … When listening to a Bruckner symphony, one encounters some of the most complex symphonic writing ever created. As scholars study Bruckner's scores they continue to revel in the complexity of Bruckner's creative logic."[26]  Tonight's featured work is the culmination of Bruckner's life's work, his Symphony Number 9 in D Minor, WAB109.  Tonight's performance is a recording from the Goldener Hall at the Musikverein in Vienna featuring a 1990 concert by the Vienna Philharmonic under the baton of the legendary Leonard Bernstein.  You may also hear the 2007 performance by the Vienna Philharmonic, this time under the baton of Daniel Barenboim at Royal Albert Hall in London of Bruckner's Symphony Number in E Flat Major, WAB104 'The Romantic' over on my tumblr.  

To accompany this musical majesty, this collection of lithesome lads and smokin' hotties on display below the video should knock your socks off.  These portraits muscular menfolk,  all of whom are Naked or Nearly So, each will evoke its own response from the viewer, from youthful playfulness to striking sensuality, this collection has it all.  If that is not enough for your visual fulfillment, the check out Karel Rok who is your Hottie of the Day! over on my tumblr.  Thanks for sharing your Saturday with me and the symphony.  See  you again on Monday for another week of Music, Men & More!  Until next time as always, Enjoy!