Team USA can finally scream “We Are the Champions” after high expectations to win the World Baseball Classic. It did not come easy though, as Team USA had to beat highly-skilled opponents in the Dominican Republic, Japan, and WBC runner-up Puerto Rico in consecutive games. Team USA was aided greatly by their starting pitching, going 3-1 with a 1.25 ERA in the tournament. Puerto Rico did not stand a chance against Marcus Stroman, who no-hit them through 6 innings. Some key hitters for Team USA were Brandon Crawford and Eric Hosmer, who both had an OPS over a thousand.

Overall the WBC set record highs with ratings and attendance. This year marks the first time in which total attendance for every game exceeded 1 million fans. This count was prior to the championship game, which was the second most attended game for a WBC final game with 51,565 fans.

Ratings were also at its peak in WBC history, as 2.3 million fans watched the championship game, roughly 1.4 million more viewers than the 2013 final. Speaking of 1.4 million, that is the amount of fans that tuned in to the semifinal game between USA and Japan. Yet, this was on the MLB Network, not a major network like ESPN. Imagine the amount of viewership if the games were broadcasted on ESPN or if it can ever get to a major point, FOX.

Personally, the WBC gets me foaming at the mouth. I crave the excitement, I crave the opportunity to see international players, and I crave the passion and intensity international fans bring to games. The Japanese fans brought a different ambiance that American baseball fans are accustomed. The Japanese used what seemed to be boom stick noisemakers everywhere they went and were doing an organized chant prior to every pitch. Many countries had fans with noisemakers like the ones they used in the World Cup.

Every country had multitudes of fans who brought their respective country’s flag and wore it like a cape.

In the WBC, we saw an impressive run by Israel, a team that was not only on the verge of not making the tournament, but also not expected to make it out of the first round. However, they were one game away from having the chance to play in the championship round. We saw figures like the American Eagle and the “Mensch on a Bench”.

We saw Italy make an astounding comeback against Mexico, scoring 5 runs in the 9^th to beat Mexico 10-9. We saw impressive pitching performances from players we may not recognize. We saw one of the game’s best relievers in Andrew Miller blow a lead to Nelson Cruz and the Dominican Republic. We saw Adam Jones make an impressive home run saving catch sparking the U.S. to advance to the championship round. All in all, we saw a lot of international baseball history.

Hopefully, the World Baseball Classic has helped increase the excitement and importance of international baseball, especially for major league players. With Team USA winning the championship, this could bring the top-tier players from the United States, such as Clayton Kershaw, Mike Trout, and Kris Bryant to play for Team USA in future WBCs. I hope to be able to see countries allow their major-league players to play for their countries, like Cuba, who does not allow defected players to play for their country. Countries like Japan, South Korea, and China only allow a select number of players due to the tournament’s expensive insurance policy. Increasing participation for the WBC would be instrumental, as it would be one step closer to have the best of the best square off against one another.

The post The World Baseball Classic Was Much More Than Excitement appeared first on KRUI Radio.

 This Is All Yours is the sophomore studio album from English alternative rock band alt-j. It is the follow up to their 2012 release Awesome Waves, which put the band on the map as one of the UK’s top indie artists.Many critics and journalists have labeled them as the “next Radiohead”, with their subtle blend electronic, post-rock, and alternative elements.

The album begins with “Intro“, a slowly-building song that reaches its epic peak with thunderous bass and harmonizing vocals that would sound at home in a monastery or cathedral.

Strangely, the album takes a soft turn after the introduction, with the songs “Arrival in Nara” and “Nara”. Both of the slow moving songs are some of the most guitar-centered tracks on the album, featuring spacy and reverb filled riffs. The low end sounds of the guitars and bass are perfectly contrasted by the light and airy vocal deliveries.

Things begin to pick up with “Every Other Freckle“, a song about sexual frustration bordering on obsession. The gritty and distorted bass riffs, along with the rough and jagged acoustic guitar parts, give the song an almost country-rock vibe, and make it one of the stand out tracks of the record.

This more intense energy is followed up by “Left Hand Free“, a blusy jam with lyrics mentioning guns and a stand-off. For me, these two tracks, which are the heaviest and most up-tempo songs, are the shining moments of the album.

“Garden of England”, an instrumental track of nature sounds and light-hearted flute playing, serves as a sort of interlude of the album. It is perfectly juxtaposed with “Choice Kingdom”, a slow moving and subdued song that explores the topic of imperialism in Britain.

From here, things begin to take a turn for the more bizarre, and in my opinion, the worse. “Hunger of the Pine” is almost completely devoid of the interesting guitar work seen earlier in the record, and features a hook from Miley Cyrus’ “4×4”.

The ballad “Warm Foothills” features singers trading words and phrases in the middle of lines, a gimmick that comes across as jarring instead of unique or particularly creative.

“The Gospel of St. John” (a song about the infamous and extremely graphic chest bursting scene in the Ridley Scott film Alien), briefly revs up the energy, but the album again slumps into slow-plodding and generally uninteresting ballads.

“Pusher” is stripped down acoustic ballad, which seems awkward and out of place compared to the electronic rock feel of the rest of the record. “Bloodflow pt. II” features violent and sexual imagery, but beyond the lyrics there was not much to keep me interested. “Leaving Nara” closes out the album, and returns to the vibe felt in some of the earlier songs.

Overall, the album felt disjointed and unsure of itself at times. The lyrics were insightful at their best, but occasionally came off as strange, pretentious, and at their worst, a little silly. The electronic rock and guitar-centered sound of the first half of the album gets completely lost later on, and is replaced by more synthesized and unnatural sounds. The later songs seem disconnected and unrelated to the feeling and atmosphere of the record. While alt-J really hit their stride in the middle of This Is All Yours, the record as a whole just can’t stand up to the same standard.

Standout Tracks: “Left Hand Free”, “Every Other Freckle”, and “The Gospel of St. John”

This Is All Yours is available for streaming at Spotify and is available for download on iTunes

The post Album Review: This is All Yours by Alt J appeared first on KRUI Radio.