AI: Bo Versus Carrie

Like a door-to-door solicitor, a craving for mocha came knocking this morning. It had the most inconvenient timing considering that I was just finishing a cup of coffee. Before boarding the train, I ordered an Islander Mocha from the depot cafe. I admit, the name hooked me. Images of palm trees and sandy beaches floated across my mind. I half hoped the drink would come in a cup carved from a coconut. Unfortunately, the only thing coconut about it was the syrup they added. The drink itself was good, but some aloha spirit in its presentation would have created the right mood to enjoy it thoroughly.

Sorry. I got distracted there. I wanted to write about last night's American Idol. It was the big showdown between Bo and Carrie. Frankly, I was disappointed in both of them. The battle of the best seemed like a bust. I don't know if it was nerves or the lackluster originals they were singing, but neither of them sounded at the top of their game.

Back near the beginning, around 1995, when there were many Idol hopefuls, I used baseball references to talk about the various contestants. I'd like to go back to that as the season ends.

To me, Bo is a control pitcher. He's Greg Maddux. He doesn't have a ton of power, but he has command of the ball (or his voice in this case) and can throw it wherever he wants with consistency. Occasionally, even control pitchers miss their mark and he had a few notes out of the strike zone last night.

On the first song, "The Long Long Road", he had a struggle reaching the lower notes, but soon regained control and finished it solidly. He was also sporting the first decent pair of shades I've seen all season. On his last song, the horrible "Inside Your Heaven", he sang the heck out of it, but there was one part where he seemed to suffer from a bad case of lyrical amnesia and gas. For once, he actually made me cringe, which isn't like Bo at all. Only "Vehicle", the song in the middle, saved him.

Carrie is a power pitcher. For her, it's about putting as much velocity on the ball (or volume into her singing) as possible. She's Randy Johnson. The problem with fastball pitchers is that if they start running into trouble, the only solution they see is to throw harder. Carrie was all over the place with her vocals last night. Consequently, she was practically yelling in parts.

During her rendition of "Inside Your Heaven", she was completely off-key and sounded like Kermit the Frog a few times. On "Independence Day", her best song, she sounded like she was always a half note above where she was supposed to be. You could hear the strain in her voice and see it in her face as she attempted to sing louder. It was a disaster. She seemed to recover somewhat on the last song, "Angels Brought Me Here", but it was only temporary. After a few lines, it seemed like somebody hijacked her voice and made her sing a completely different song while the band played on.

The judges heaped praise upon both finalists. Most of the positive remarks stemmed from memories of past performances. The most worrisome comment came when Simon told Carrie that he thought she had done enough to win the competition. I didn't get it. I began to wonder if he and I were listening to the same people singing.

I'm hopeful Bo will become the next Idol, but I have this feeling that Carrie will pull off an upset and take the title instead. It would be disappointing, but not devastating. If she won, Bo would become the next American Clay, a runner-up who ends up overshadowing the winner, which isn't a bad deal at all.