Fly Free Sanjaya!

I feel for poor Sanjaya.
Yeah yeah yeah! I went there. With all the big news breaking out....Imus's racist remarks while discussing the women's basketball team in Rutger's, the recent massacre at Virginia Tech (Eugene did his undergrad degree there and recognized one person being interviewed in one of the numerous coverage stories), and of course the continuing loss of life from the war in Iraq, I hone in on Sanjaya's recent boot on American Idol.

I didn't watch Idol Wednesday night instead having a standing appointment bowling. It was finals week and our team was playing for 1st place (again...well the new team I was on). We won. Woo hoo!

But back to Sanjaya. I will admit that he wasn't the best singer by a long shot. I think he knew it too. I imagine even though the contestants are all shielded from the public eye for the most part during the competition, Sanjaya had to catch wind of all the criticism he's been receiving. I know how hard it is for me to handle adversity so I couldn't imagine how a 17 year old was handling it.

Obviously American Idol is all about the almighty dollar. They clearly know that Sanjaya had no business even being in the top twelve. Yet the judges ultimately picked him. Correct me if I'm wrong on that because I usually don't follow Idol (and if I do, I follow it idly...heh) until it's down to the final 12. And then they bitch and moan (well mostly Simon...*LOL*) when he survived week after week and picked off the more talented singers. It's like if you don't think he's talented, why pick him in the first place?

American Idol does this on purpose for ratings. Even if Sanjaya's in on the joke, I imagine it must've been taxing on him. So I'm glad that he got voted off finally, not because of his lack of talent, but just for the sense of relief I'm sure he'll have. Funny thing, though. Sanjaya will do fine after this show. I'm sure he'll have a record deal when all's said and done.

Love him or hate him, he's definitely left an impression.