An early look at the fall TV season

Enough time has passed with the new fall TV schedule in place that I can get a feel for what's going on. All are, of course, just my humble opinions.

Best new show: CHUCK, NBC, Monday 8/7: After a few episodes I am happy to report that this show is essentially perfect. It's ridiculously fun, incredibly well-cast, intelligently written, and it is a joy to look at every week in HD. It's a perfect blend of action and comedy, and every week I look forward to it more than the week before. I've never seen either of the leads in anything else but Zachary Levi and Yvonne Strahovski are two people to watch because they are both going to be really famous really soon. If you aren't watching this then I don't know what to do for you. It means that "Wienerlicious" is probably not a part of your lexicon yet and that's just your loss.

Best return of a show that could have been killed: FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS, NBC, Friday 9/8: I've already slurped NBC enough for bringing this show back, but they deserve it. However, I reserve the right to start ripping them if they feel the need to 90210ize FNL too much. In the season premiere alone we saw Tyra walking in slow motion sucking suggestively on a popsicle (come on) shortly before Landry murdered a guy in a fashion that would have made any of the Soprano crew proud. The show is still great, and aside from the glossy five minute introduction it has still maintained its distinctive documentary visual style, which I love. The writing and the acting are still top notch. My only possible qualms are with some of the story choices: Lyla as Jesus Freak? Jason Street thinks he'll be walking soon? Buddy Garrity the angry drunk? I have no idea where these arcs all might be headed, and that's part of the beauty of the show. Let's hope they get a complete second season so we can find out.

Show that is venturing into annoying "Lost" type territory far too quickly: HEROES, NBC, Monday 9/8. I'm not digging Samurai-era Hiro, despite the inspired casting of David Anders as Hiro's hero. I'm not loving Peter Petrelli needing a frigging box with his life in it to know what is going on. Alienated Claire with a high school friend/stalker...meh. I'll give this show time, but part of the appeal has always been that they give the viewers what they want to see in a timely fashion. They should stick to that M.O.

Worst big hit show: GREY'S ANATOMY, ABC, Thursday 9/8. Grey's is a conundrum for me. I've seen every single episode and yet I don't even really know if I am a fan of the show. I like some of the acting (hello, Katherine Heigl), the writing can occasionally be pretty clever, and my wife loves it so it's getting TiVoed in my house every week. However, the writing in the season premiere was an absolute disaster. It wasn't just bad, it was an affront to good story telling in any way, shape, or form. There were a lot of big story lines going on at the end of last season, so creator/writer/big shot Shonda Rhimes felt the need to have each and every main character verbalize in one form or another exactly what had been going on and/or what they had been up to since we last saw them. They might as well have had Basil Exposition from Austin Powers come on for a guest spot and do the job for them. It was utterly ridiculous.

Just as a comparison, FNL had at least as much information to communicate to their viewers, probably more, and they did it in the same one hour time period without having their characters practically break the fourth wall in the name of plot summary. Instead, throughout the hour we learned every thing new we needed to know without a single character lecturing about it. Hey, look, Landry's on the team now. And Coach Taylor is living out of town for his new college gig. And Julie is being a complete bitch. And Tyra and Landry are now an item. And Lyla's life has fallen apart to the point that she has blindly placed her faith in Jesus. They all just did these things. They didn't tell anyone that they did them. Maybe the Grey's team fears that their viewers aren't smart enough to keep up, but that's pretty insulting as well as downright painful to watch.

Worst new show/worst spinoff: PRIVATE PRACTICE, ABC, Wednesday 9/8. Speaking of teledisasters, I give you this putrid spin-off that apparently never should have spun. They took Addison Montgomery, who was an intelligent, strong willed, completely compelling and interesting character, moved her to southern California, and turned her into a "dance naked by an open window" bimbo. It's inexplicable. It's as if she's an entirely different character. After a few episodes, this show is "total eclipse" bad for me--I can't even watch it directly. I can barely be in the room with it while it's on, and I can only manage that if I divert most of my attention elsewhere. I know I'm not the target demo, etc. etc. But awful is awful, and Kate Walsh deserves better. I predict this show is canceled and she's back at Seattle Grace by 2008, doing everyone involved a huge favor.

Most enjoyable ridiculous show that almost nobody else is probably watching: CALIFORNICATION, Showtime, Monday 10:30/9:30. David Duchovny stars as a self-obsessed novelist (is there any other kind?) in L.A. in this insanely entertaining show with copious amounts of witty banter and gratuitous nudity. This one is probably a "love it or hate it," deal, and I think it's great. Duchovny is wildly charismatic playing the anti-hero trying to woo back the engaged-to-someone-else mother of his daughter, and the supporting cast is stellar from top to bottom, most notably with versatile "that guy" Evan Handler as Duchovny's lecherous, douchebag agent. The inaugural season run is almost over and I'll be sad to see it go.

Most enjoyable series ever with a serial killer as protagonist: DEXTER, Showtime, Sunday 10/9. I've been riveted by this show from the first episode and I was a little cautious about season two just because the first run was so brilliant. However, it's back and it's still phenomenal. The repercussions from the end of season one (which I won't spoil in case you haven't seen it, and if you haven't, rent it) are quite intriguing so far. This show is yet another example of the quality that cable can produce that the networks simply cannot match. This would never work on a network and I'm glad they don't even try. And everything from the Miami beaches to the sticky blood spatter just jumps off the screen in HD. It's a gorgeous show.

Shows I thought about watching but never did:

CANE. TiVoed it but couldn't commit. Feels like it will get canned.

REAPER. Still have the pilot on my office TiVo, but just because Kevin Smith directed it.

BIONIC WOMAN. It looks like it takes itself just a little too seriously. Plus all those on-screen NBC banner promos with the bionic woman turning and doing nothing as the wind swept back her hair made me want to bash my own skull in.

PUSHING DAISIES. It seems a little clever for its own good. Probably has a handful of diehard fans that will be distraught when it is canceled before New Year's.

K-VILLE. I watched the pilot and wanted to like it, if only because they actually shoot some scenes in New Orleans. But this one has no chance of sticking around so I won't get invested in it. Thanks for making me extra wary of every show you put on the air, Fox! I still wish I knew how "Drive" ended. Bastards.

BIG SHOTS. TiVoed the premiere and never watched it after I saw a promo in which one of the leads gloated "Men...we're the new women!" No straight man would ever, ever say this. I instantly deleted it.

DIRTY SEXY MONEY. TiVoed it and never watched it. I like some of the cast but...I don't know. I just got a bad feeling about it. Any show with "sexy" in the title is just trying a little too hard.

JOURNEYMAN. The pilot was decent but not enough to hook me.

MOONLIGHT. I considered it, but a show about vampires relegated to Friday night will probably be gone before Christmas, especially when I hear that CBS has an especially itchy trigger finger this year because they already have a complete season of "The Amazing Race" in the can and ready to go on at the first site of something faltering. And when I say itchy trigger finger, I mean that they might make a move after a couple of months, not a couple of weeks. Let's not go crazy. We're not talking about Fox, after all.

GOSSIP GIRL. Sometimes you just have to draw a line and say no.

If I ran the show

If I were the manager of the Boston Red Sox, here is how things would go tonight:

* Start Josh Beckett. I know that historically pitchers going on three days rest in the post season have not fared well. FOX even flashed the stats last night in anticipation of this very issue. However, there are two things that sway me. First, Josh Beckett is literally the exception to the rule. Case in point, his World Series clinching complete game shutout of the Yankees in the Bronx in 2003. Would I expect another complete game from him under the circumstances? No. Simply put, that would vault him from "proven post season stud" to "October God." However, he is stronger now than he has ever been before, and there's a very good chance that he could give us a shut down performance of six innings or more, which is something we desperately need since no Sox starter has come close to doing that since he did in game one.

The other issue is Tim Wakefield. I love Wake. We all do. If you are a Sox fan from New England, you must treat Tim Wakefield like a regional treasure. However, that doesn't change the facts:

A. He is 41 years old.
B. He missed the first round with a bad back and hasn't pitched a real game since September 29.
C. He was brutal down the stretch, winning just once in his last five starts and allowing at least four runs in every September start.

Like I said, I love Wake, and he has every chance to come up huge tonight. But if the strike zone is anything like last night's fiasco, we could be in for a long night, and with the way our bullpen has been taxed that's the last thing we need. This is a complete crap shoot.

* Shake up the order. Dustin Pedroia looks a little uneasy and very impatient at the top of the order. You can't fault him. The kid's a rookie and he has been a star since April, but that is not what we need at the top of the order right now. Meanwhile, the bottom of the order has essentially been a black hole, Varitek's dinger last night being the exception. If I got to fill out the lineup card, here is what it would look like tonight:

1. Jacoby Ellsbury, CF...give the kid a chance.
2. Kevin Youkilis, 1B
3. David Ortiz, DH
4. Manny Ramirez, LF
5. Mike Lowell, 3B
6. JD Drew, RF (ugh)
7. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
8. Jason Varitek, C (Tek because Beckett would be pitching for me)
9. Julio Lugo, SS

I'm really worried tonight. However, if we can win this one we're in great shape for the rest of the series.

A rain out would also be lovely.

Blog week, day one

I'm going to try to write a blog entry every day this week. I make no guarantees that they will be long, interesting, or good.

Here is what I ate on Saturday at the Arkansas State Fair:

One gyro
One corndog--regular size, not jumbo
Half a Diet Coke. Yeah, that's right. A Diet Coke with my corn dog.
A few bites of Beth's funnel cake.
A few sips of Beth's lemonade, which was really good and lemony.
A giant smoked turkey leg. A few bites at the fair, the rest at home. And then I took a nap.

Good stuff!

Haven't been feeling bloggy

I haven't been feeling too bloggy lately because I've been consumed with editing Whiffleball, planning for a Vegas trip, and watching the Sox and Pats dominate. I plan to write long blogs on each of those topics in the near future, but here are some quick hits until then:

ALCS: Sox will win, and win a lot more easily than most people think.

Pats-Cowboys: I don't know if this is a Super Bowl preview, but I do know that watching Tony Romo toss five picks against Buffalo makes me feel pretty good. Pats by double digits.

Vegas was great. Shocking. I'm still catching up on sleep and piecing together some questionable decision making--thankfully, not by me--but, wow...what a great town.

And last but certainly not least, here is a recent shot of AJ modeling something from his fall collection.

CNN demonstrates a stranglehold on the obvious

Every day I vist CNN.com to get a feel for the relevant news going on in the US and the world. I'm not a hardcore news guy by any means--I almost never watch the local or national network news, because a quick glance at the CNN headlines tells me everything I need to know.

Usually.

Yesterday they offered up two "news stories" with such screamingly obvious headlines that the stories seemed better suited to "The Onion." And they are:

Study: Rock Stars More Likely To Die Young

Men Want Hot Women, Study Confirms

Log on tomorrow for CNN's three part expose: The Earth Really Is Round, or perhaps their early morning story: The Sun Comes Up.

Ridiculous.

AJ - almost five months old

Time keeps flying and the boy continues to grow like a weed.

You've got to be kidding me

NBC is already on my shit list for canceling the brilliant "Studio 60." However, they did show some foresight by giving a tepid renewal order for the ratings-challenged yet wonderful "Friday Night Lights."

Then I hear this rumor.

Honestly, if you challenged me to come up with the ten worst, most inappropriate, downright horrible people to have guest star on this show, she would probably make the top five. What boggles the mind is how many execs have to sign off on this, thinking that it's a good idea.

Clearly I need to run my own network...

Fun headline of the day

Clemens booed off mound after giving up eight runs

Hahahahahahaha...

Paradetown?

“Things are changing, and I think that’s an incredibly exciting thing to watch, and witness, and be a part of. This is a town that has a chance to literally have two or three parades a year for the next decade.”
--Curt Schilling on the new face of the Boston pro sports scene

Wow.

The period in Boston sports from 2001-2005 almost seemed like an embarrassment of riches. The Red Sox actually won the World Series before I died and the Patriots won the Super Bowl. Three times. Typing that actually still makes me want to giggle a little bit. The sum total of those long-awaited and hard-earned championships brought me enough joy, satisfaction, and outright happiness that, as Bill Simmons noted, I would have no right to complain about anything for years.

Cut to: 2007. Suddenly not one, not two, but three of my hometown teams have legitimate and simultaneous championship aspirations. The last, and maybe only, time that we came close to achieving the unprecedented "trifecta" was in 1986, when the Celtics had the best team of all time and the Sox and Pats each lost the championship in different yet painful fashion. I even remember proudly wearing a "City Of Champions" t-shirt emblazoned with the logos of all three teams. But that title wasn't thoroughly accurate. Close, but not quite.

It's amazing to think that we could possibly be on the precipice of topping '86. The Patriots have to be the favorites, and naturally I see nothing less than another Lombardi trophy this year. Even during the recent championship seasons, I said that I thought that the Patriots hadn't been as good as they could be, and this season could prove that. They aren't just going to be good, they are going to be ridiculously good. Mark my words: this is the Pats team against which all others will be judged. The Randy Moss acquisition is such a coup that the transaction itself will be looked at with sheer disbelief by future generations. Moss will have a plaque in Canton and a couple of New England Super Bowl rings, and people will wonder how the hell we ever pulled that off. Tom Brady to Randy Moss. Sick!

Kevin Garnett is a Boston Celtic, finalizing a rash of moves that made Celts GM Danny Ainge look like a college freshman with his first credit card. The most amazing thing about the current state of the team is that he has completely shredded the entire team concept and the way that the whole roster had been put together in the span of one summer. We had a nucleus of promising young talent that looked to be 2-3 years away from possibly being a factor in the playoffs. Instead, we now have the best trio this side of Phoenix and we're the odds-on favorites in the Eastern Conference. And if you don't believe that, then just tell me the rest of Cleveland's starting five, aside from LeBron James, that led them to the Finals this year. Heck, name two other starters. Right. The Ray Allen and Garnett trades are a huge dice roll, to some degree. We parted with picks and talented young players that could have helped us with the previous plan. But now there's a new plan: win. Win now. For the first time in five years, the Boston Celtics are relevant again, and for the first time in around fifteen, we're actual contenders. And man, will they be fun to watch.

Meanwhile, the Boston Red Sox have the best record in baseball, due in large part to the game's best bullpen (pen ERA of 2.74). So what did they do? They added the game's only active reliever that won a Cy Young award, the nasty Eric Gagne, who will now be tasked with setting up for Jonathan Papelbon...along with Hideki Okajima, who has only put up an eye-popping ERA of 0.87 so far. Our bullpen, as I noted before, was great before. Now, if they all stay healthy, I'm not sure I even know which adjective to use. Filthy? Sick? Disgusting? Unfair? Pick one. It's a pen built for October, and with the way the schedule break the Red Sox could conceivably win the Division Series using only six pitchers: Beckett, Schill, Dice-K, and the lights out relievers.

Naturally I'm looking at all of these scenarios incredibly optimistically. There are still lots of things that could go wrong for each of my favorite teams.

But if a few things go right, we might have three more parades in less than a year.

Sox second half

First, here are a couple of recent shots of AJ. He'll be four months old this Thursday and he already looks like a future All-Pro offensive lineman in the making.

So the Red Sox have a huge lead with less than half the season to go and yet a majority of Red Sox Nation seems determined to panic. Sure, there are things to worry about the rest of the way. Here are what I think are the top five concerns, ranked in order from least to most important.

5. Lugo, Coco, and Drew: all three underachieved in the first half...and it didn't slow us down at all. Coco has already started to show improvement and Lugo has even lit it up since shortly before the break. Lugo and Drew each just signed long term deals and they aren't going anywhere so we just have to wait it out with them, and I'm not concerned. They'll both put up better numbers the rest of the way. Center field is the one spot where we could make a move but I don't think it will happen. Coco has been great defensively and if he keeps contributing on offense like he has recently (OPS over 1.100 the last 30 days) then it will be a huge boost to the lineup.

4. The bullpen: I love our bullpen. Papelbon is an absolute beast and the Hideki Okajima signing is like finding a c-note in your jeans on laundry day. He's been absolutely unreal and the rest of the league has shown no indication that they are going to learn to hit him any time soon. The key then, for me, is what ends up happening in the 7th inning, and I think the answer is a simple one: Manny Delcarmen. His fastball has had more zip this year (hitting 97 consistently) and he finally has better command of his curve. Watching him dispatch Sammy Sosa recently in a crucial bases loaded spot was awesome. He's the future but I also think he's the present. Throw in the fact that Mike Timlin has seemingly gotten his mojo back--he's unscored upon his last eight appearances--and the bullpen doesn't worry me one bit. We're fine for the rest of the season and we're loaded for October.

3. Schill: he'll be back. With a nine game lead there is no need to rush him, and thankfully he seems to know this. We don't need him now, we need him in September and October. He has admitted to showing up this spring in less-than-ideal condition and that sucks, and he may be paying the price for it now. But the guy is a flat-out warrior and there still aren't many starters I'd rather have going with a huge game on the line. Get well, Curt. See you soon.

2. The back end of the rotation: this is one spot where the Sox could make a huge upgrade at the trading deadline. We can't expect to maintain a wide lead trotting Julian Tavarez and Kason Gabbard out 40% of the time down the stretch. I'm not saying that we need to add a starter, because I'm not sure that we do, and I definitely wouldn't want to if the cost is Lester or Buchholz. But if someone like Roy Oswalt does become available then they really need to consider it. An October rotation of Beckett, Dice K, Schill, and Oswalt would be outright ridiculous.

1. The Manny and Papi Power Outage: Okay...I'm worried. Papi's knee clearly isn't close to 100% and unless they shelve him and do the surgery now, it's not going to be the rest of the way. Meanwhile, Manny is 35 and might finally be turning mortal. Clearly we need these guys to do what they do, or at least a reasonable facsimile of it, because their presence in the heart of the order is what makes the whole lineup work. We don't need Papi to hit 50 bombs again but we do need these two to get it in gear. When they hit, we win. It's the only current aspect of the club that concerns me at all, and aside from telling Papi to have knee surgery now and hoping that he can come back 100% in 4-6 weeks, there's not much we can do but wait and hope.

And Red Sox fans are good at that. We'll be fine.

Movie Camp - part two

So where were we? Pre-production on Whiffleball. In our case, this consisted of a couple of days to run around town, frantically locking down a couple of locations, buying some props and equipment, and doing what little we could to prepare for the shoot. As usual, we didn't have nearly enough time or enough money, but that didn't stop us. Before we knew it the cameras were rolling--we started a day early, in fact, in order to incorporate a ridiculous storm that blew through town.

Memories of the shoot are almost a blur at this point, but what stands out more than anything is the collaborative attitude demonstrated by everyone involved in the movie. A typical day would have us up early to shoot, while anyone not involved with the first scenes of the day would be helping prepare in any way they could. The garage became our prop shop and it wasn't uncommon to enter it at any time of the day or night and find a half a dozen people (all unpaid) at work on various stuff, ranging from hand painted scoreboard tiles to an insanely elaborate mascot costume. Meanwhile, everyone also helped lug equipment, cook meals, and do anything and everything that helped us reach the cinematic finish line.

We had some hiccups along the way, including an equipment breakdown that made our lives harder, some less than ideal weather on certain days, and enough neighborhood annoyances and distractions to drive us all to drink...honestly, how much landscaping do these people really need?!? We ran over schedule by a few days and only made that by drastically cutting some scenes...and yet, despite all of that, we feel great about what we shot. We're not sure exactly what it will end up being, but we know we've got "something." It was an incredible experience.

I'm editing a quick first trailer as we speak, so that will be the first glimpse of "Whiffleball" for just about everyone. After that, the rest of the summer will be spent on editing the movie itself. Our plan is to take it out to L.A. sometime in the fall and go from there.

Movie Camp - part one

It seems like ages ago that I set out from Little Rock at 5 AM, bound for Brooklyn in one shot en route to our final destination of Chatham, Massachusetts, in "the elbow" of scenic Cape Cod to shoot our no-budget wiffleball epic titled, appropriately enough "Whiffleball." The trip from Little Rock to Brooklyn was as uneventful as I could have hoped for. Key components at making the 20-odd hour drive manageable in one solo run included a huge thermos of Na'Nan's trademarked New Orleans style cold brewed Cafe du Monde iced coffee, a small cooler packed with a few healthy snacks to get me started, a cheesy five disc Star Wars book-on-CD that picks up with the adventures of Darth Vader at the conclusion of the events of Episode III--complete with a decent facsimile of Vader's booming voice and sound effects to boot--and, probably most importantly, a loan of my parents' fantastic plug-and-use GPS navigation system. I simply punched in Mike Poignand's address in New York and literally never looked back. Some late night roadwork in Pennsylvania slowed me down a bit so tantalizingly close to my arrival spot, but it was a minor hiccup in an otherwise very successful, long day.

Mike thoughtfully checked in for frequent updates as I made the stretch run to his fabulous new condo. I finally arrived sometime around 1 or 2 AM locally, thanks to what must have been a rather circuitous route that the GPS selected for me on the smaller side streets in Mike's neighborhood. He had a frosty, delicious Sam Adams White Ale waiting for me--a flavor I had never tried and could not have enjoyed more. We had a couple, chatted for a bit, watched the last night's "Entourage" episode on demand, and hit the hay relatively early in anticipation of our trip up to Chatham the next day.

Before we knew it, we'd be knee-deep in an all-too-brief, frantic period of pre-production...

AJ is almost eight weeks old

It's crazy how fast he is growing and how different he already looks.

Almost time to go

Okay, I haven't blogged in ages because A) I have a baby now, and apparently they actually require a pretty big time commitment, B), it's baseball season, which means I'm watching the Sox and playing lots of Diamond Mind, and C), it's crunch time for pre-production on Whiffleball. I leave on Monday to drive up to Chatham, via Brooklyn, where I'll be picking up co-star and co-producer extraordinaire Michael Poignand. Anyway, this will be a big, rambling blog hitting on lots of topics in no particular order.

TV: Did anyone happen to catch that show Drive on FOX? I loved it...so, naturally, FOX cancelled it after three episodes. Honestly, they couldn't possibly have done anything more to give this show no chance at success: for starters, they premiered it in April, when most things on the air are ramping up toward their season finales. That's terrible call number one. Then, they show the premiere on a Sunday night--horrible decision number two. Finally, they follow up the premiere two-parter with another episode the very next night. Now, I was anticipating this show literally more than anyone I know and this absurd scheduling even managed to screw me up, as I forgot to TiVo the Monday night ep right after the premiere. I even downloaded it from iTunes so I could watch it all. So there you go, FOX. Enjoy your cut of my 99 cents. This network is becoming an absolute joke.

So let's move on to happier TV stories. NBC has ordered half a dozen scripts for Friday Night Lights, and although that certainly isn't quite a rining endorsement for the show's future, at least it's something. HOWEVER (spoiler alert), I didn't like how they ended season one. Really, the only way to write it was to have Dillon lose the championship game. This would fit the tone of the show and it would give Coach Taylor real motivation to stay in town and finish what he started. I can see letting them win if the producers knew that the show had been or was going to be cancelled--fine, end it on a happy note. But where do they go from here now? Who knows. I just hope NBC gives us a chance to find out.

Meanwhile, I'm still waiting for the return of Studio 60. If NBC has a clue, they should renew the show for another season immediately, as how the show fares now really has no bearing on anything. It's been off the schedule for weeks and they are throwing it back on late, on a different night, so what do they expect? Maybe it will do great numbers on Thursday, but that shouldn't be the deciding factor on if it returns. Just renew it already. It's a brilliant show.

I'm loving this season of The Sopranos and I honestly have no idea how it is going to end...and I love that. There isn't much out of the realm of possibility at this point: Tony in jail, Tony turns state's evidence, Tony gets killed by someone from New York, Tony gets it from someone in his own crew (Christopher???)...who knows. I can't wait to see how it all ends.

So, the Red Sox are pretty good. I thought that everything was in place for them to get out to a hot start and for the Yankees to flounder and that's exactly what has happened. I don't think that our out-of-this-world pitching can be expected to keep up this pace--a team ERA of 3.28 in the AL East is just ungodly--but clearly the staff is in good shape from top to bottom. Beckett has turned the corner and Okajima is the second great bullpen arm that we've been missing since...well, since Mike Timlin was younger and better. When the weather warms up our hitting will get even better, so all in all I'm really, really happy with how things look right now. Meanwhile, Roger Clemens has all but cemened the fact that his plaque in Cooperstown should have a dollar sign on the cap. And to think that I talked myself into getting excited for the happy ending if he signed with us. My bad. He remains nothing more than a greedy villain in pinstripes. When October rolls around enjoy coming up short once again, Rocket.

Opening Day

AJ's first opening day was a pretty disappointing one for the Red Sox. Schill just never looked comfortable. He has been experimenting with a new change up and he admits that he still struggles with it from time to time--and today was clearly one of those times. The goal of adding this to his repertoire is for him to pitch to contact more, as his fastball and split are his strikeout pitches, and that idea makes sense for a guy of his age. But if things go like they did today, he is going to have to change course. And thanks to his blog, 38 Pitches, I now know more about his process and his results than ever before, and it is great. Check it out if you haven't done so yet. He even his a post-game post up already.

Here's something I have always hated about opening day: the day off immediately after the opener. The Red Sox almost always have this, and it drives me nuts, because if they won, you want to keep the momentum going, and if they lost, then you just cannot wait to get game two underway. This year is no different.

I have a new favorite website, and if you are a baseball fan that hates some of the same broadcasters I do and the asinine statements they make then I implore you to check it out immediately. It's called FIRE JOE MORGAN. Enough said right there, really. Start by checking out their glossary and then just page through some of their recent posts. It is brilliant baseball stuff and it's also absolutely hilarious. Trying to describe exactly what they do there won't even do it justice, so just go check it out.

AJ

At 6:12 PM on Monday, March 19, 2007, Alexander James McCandless was born. He arrived via c-section almost two weeks early and he checked in at 7 pounds, 1 ounce and 20 inches, which I'm sure comes way under in any over/under wagers. But I am quite confident that he will catch up in no time. Beth and AJ are both home now and doing great. He is amazing.

The baby and the movie

I could be a dad any day now. I had to stop and read that sentence again, as it is still sinking in nearly nine months later. All is going well, and all indications are that the baby could arrive any day now, or he could hold off for a few more weeks. Personally, I think it's the latter, but I'm not really basing that on anything. But the waiting process is getting weird, because there are so few times in life that something happens in which you have absolutely no experience or frame of reference. Usually, anything anyone does is at least similar to something else...but not this. I can't wait.

I'm also directing another movie this spring. Beth has graciously given me the green light to take a few weeks so the Chatham Light Productions boys and I are headed up to Cape Cod to shoot our comedy called "Whiffleball." It's another no-budget, guerilla production and we're really looking forward to it. Right now we're just about 100% locked on the script and we're knee deep in pre-production which, in our case, means trying to take care of any single detail that we can handle without actually being in Chatham to do so...which is pretty tough. We've got several of the major roles cast but we also have a few key parts still up for grabs, with no obvious candidates in the mix. We've also got some locations to secure, wardrobe and props to acquire, and a schedule to make. It's actually been nice to have this to occupy my brain and keep me from wondering when the baby will arrive. But we're now just shy of two months out from when we start shooting and all of the little things need to start falling into place. So if you're going to be around Cape Cod in mid-May, give me a shout. We can use some extras.

The Sox in Spring - What I'm Watching

With pitchers and catchers in camp and the obligatory “where is Manny?” story already settled, I figure it’s time to take a look at 20 things I’ll be watching regarding the 2007 Boston Red Sox. In no particular order:

1. Curt Schilling. I still think that the Sox will get something done with Curt before season’s end if they do want to bring him back for 2008. $13 million for a guy like that is suddenly a bargain in the post-Gil Meche market, but I can also certainly understand why they might want to see him in action before shelling out guaranteed cash for a 40 year old beefy right-hander that has been less than his ace-line self the past two seasons. If Curt has a strong spring and start to the season, I think Theo gets the deal inked, despite the current talk.

2. Will Josh Beckett turn the corner? Last year was an interesting one for him, as he tallied career highs in several key categories despite being pretty inconsistent, surprisingly wild, and susceptible to the long ball. The bottom line is that pitching in the AL East is a far cry from some of the AAAA rosters Beckett got to feast on in Florida. Hoping for a sub-4 ERA just might be too much to ask, but I do think his numbers will be stronger across the board with one year in Boston under his belt. Indications are already good that Beckett looks stellar in camp, spotting his fastball well and lower in the zone. That’s a good sign.

3. Welcome, Daisuke Matsuzaka. Ahh, Dice-K. I really love this guy already. His attitude seems phenomenal and the absurd media coverage doesn’t seem to faze him a bit. I was ecstatic when we got him and I think he’s going to be every bit as good as people hope…and even better. I say that he wins 20+ games and the Cy Young. And he’ll be exciting as hell to watch.

4. Jonathan Papelbon’s transition to the rotation is one of the key moves of the Sox off-season, mainly because it leaves such a glaring hole at the back of the bullpen. The Sox have entered the season without a closer as recently as 2003 and that didn’t exactly work out like anyone hoped it would. I’d love to keep Paps as the closer and I’m sketchy about the medical diagnosis. Is throwing three to four times as many innings really going to be better for his shoulder? I won’t be surprised at all if he ends up back in the pen. I’d welcome the move.

5. Tim Wakefield. Last year was a rare down season for the ageless knuckleballer. Will he revert to his usual form? Granted, he’s about as solid a fifth starter as anybody’s got these days. But if he can just bounce back to his 2005-level stats—33 starts, 225 innings—then the Sox are in really, really good shape.

6. Is Joel Piniero closer material? I honestly have no idea at this point, and this is exactly the kind of storyline that can get blown out of control one way or the other based on what he does in March. If he starts lighting it up and striking out a bunch of AAAA non-prospects, then everyone will get fired up and rave about the brilliance of the signing. But if he gets lit up just a couple of times, Shaughnessy and the other jackals will be crucifying him before the season even starts. Tough spot here. He doesn’t feel like a closer to me, but stranger things have happened.

7. Mike Timlin is the most reliable veteran arm we have in the bullpen but he really took a step backward last season. Most people attribute some of the trouble to his pitching in the WBC, and that could certainly be the case. He’s a warrior and we’re counting on him to have an important role in the pen this year but he’s not getting any younger. If last season’s stat line becomes the status quo or, worse, Timlin continues to slide, it could cause some real problems early in the season.

8. What’s the deal with Craig Hansen? There was so much hype about this guy coming out of St. John’s that my expectations were set way too high, but I’m not the only one. His brief minor league numbers were ridiculously good and insiders made it seem like just a matter of time before Hansen turned into vintage Robb Nen. Right now it seems like he is destined to start the year in Pawtucket but we’re going to need him to contribute, and soon.

9. Manny Delcarmen had a weird year last season, and those who look really closely at the numbers seems to think that he was basically unlucky, with an inordinately high batting average on balls in play number. His other peripherals were great across the board (almost a 3-1 Ks to BB ratio, nearly 1 K/IP, and only 2 HRs allowed all year). I think he makes the team coming out of camp and grabs a key role, probably as a go-to guy in the 7th and 8th innings.

10. Hideki Okajima is often forgotten thanks to all the hype that his fellow countryman is drawing, and that’s probably fine. From the few clips I’ve seen of him on YouTube, it seems like Okaji is going to be a great situational lefty out of the pen, a guy that can really eat up lefties. His curveball looks fantastic. He might be a sleeper candidate for closer, if only because major leaguers haven’t seen him yet, and that worked for the Dodgers and unheralded Takashi Saito last season (6-2, 24 saves, 2.07 ERA, 107 Ks in 78.1 IP).

11. Jon Lester seems like his comeback is right on track, and it’s impossible not to pull for the guy after what he went through last season. He’s another guy probably bound for the Pawtucket-to-Boston-and-back shuttle, but if he is really healthy and all the way back he’ll be the first guy we call on when a starter goes down. And if last year taught us anything, it’s that there is no such thing as too much starting pitching. He’ll be in the rotation for good by this time next season.

12. Kevin Youkilis stepped in to the starting lineup and stayed there, but his production really fell off in the second half (.245 avg. from July on). Reports say that he is in much better shape in order to withstand the rigors of the long season, and that’s good, because he is a key piece of the batting order. He deserves credit for doing whatever Tito asked of him during the Titanicesque 2006 swoon, including playing LF when he was banged up and had no business being on the field. I’d like to see him at leadoff or in the #2 hole because his OBP is so good. If we end up swinging a deal for Todd Helton, then Youks slides over to 3B. If not, then he’ll give us solid production at the right price at 1B. His glove work last year was a nice surprise too.

13. Dustin Pedroia is getting every shot at the starting 2B job this spring and I think he’s going to grab it. Granted, I’m a little biased since he’s an ASU guy, but his attitude is just great…David Eckstein is the comparison most people make, and that guy just won his second ring and a World Series MVP. If Pedroia gets there and he’s our #9 hitter, then our lineup will be in great shape. Pedroia apparently worked out like crazy in the off-season, shedding around 20 pounds. My only concern is that Shaughnessy and the other buzzards will pounce if Pedroia has a slow start. And if anything truly bad happens, we’ve got Cora waiting in the wings.

14. Julio Lugo was one of our big winter free agent signings and steps in at SS. He’s been an underrated player for a long time and he should really flourish at the top of this order. I figure he’ll easily set a career high in runs (his best is 93) no matter where he hits in the lineup. He’ll also knock double-digit homers and swipe a few bags. I’ll miss the A-Gonz defense, but Lugo is a great fit.

15. Mike Lowell just needs to match what he did last season: .284-20-80 with very solid defense. This came as kind of a surprise to some after Lowell’s career-worst 2005 season. If a Helton deal materializes, he’ll almost certainly be a piece of it. If not, he should bat 6th or 7th most nights and be a solid part of this team.

16. I love Manny Ramirez, and I don’t understand why the rabid Boston media continues to try to construct stories where none exist. He is what he is. Everyone knows what to expect: a flaky attitude, a late arrival to camp, a mini-drama in the middle of the season, another one towards the end of the year…oh, and .300-35-120 and a first ballot election to the Hall of Fame. It’s that last part that counts. Initially the phrase “Manny being Manny” was crafted to try to explain his space cadet behavior, but I think at this point it just sums up the whole package. I don’t think there is another right handed outfielder in the league that I’d rather have. Batting fourth, and contending for the MVP…Manny Ramirez.

17. Coco Crisp is my pick for Red Sox comeback player of the year. The finger injury clearly hampered him all year after he came back, but I think people are underestimating what he can mean to this team. I especially like the talk of batting him lower in the order, because taking the pressure off of him leading off could help, plus he’ll get a lot more opportunities to steal bases in the lower third of the order. Sure, his arm in centerfield leaves a little bit to be desired but the same thing can be said about the most recent former resident of that position, and we did alright with that long haired, bearded freak. Coco, we believe. He’ll post a monster line in 2007.

18. Sportswriters love to talk about how JD Drew and Boston just aren’t the right fit, and maybe they’re not. What I do know is that Drew has pure talent and if he can stay on the field he’ll be a big upgrade for us both at the plate and in the field. Playing RF at Fenway is one of the toughest defensive gigs in all of baseball but I think Drew will eventually be up to the challenge. And he’ll certainly be better than Trot Nixon has been recently. I love Trot, but his immobility really started to turn him into a defensive liability at the end. There’s a lot of pressure on Drew to play stellar defense and hit fifth in the order. I think he’s up to the task.

19. I cannot say a bad word about Jason Varitek. I know that we overpaid on his contract, and I know that 35 year old catchers don’t normally produce much. But if there is anyone that can bounce back, it’s Tek. His 2006 stat line was brutal: a career low batting average and basically the worst production across the board since he got hurt in 2001. But honestly, I don’t care. He will be better, and his handling of our pitching staff just doesn’t show up in the box score. Bat him eighth, give him more days off, whatever. He’s The Captain for a reason. Tek will be fine.

20. There really isn’t a lot to say about David Ortiz that hasn’t been said. His clutch performances are outright ridiculous and the guy is just more fun to watch than probably any Red Sox player I’ve ever seen. It also looks like he slimmed down a little in the off season, so maybe he is wise to the Mo Vaughn comparisons, thank god. Papi will hit 60 bombs and win the MVP this year. Book it.

Not-so-Super wrap up

The best thing about that Super Bowl was that I went 5-for-6 on my bets, losing only the first TD scorer wager (which clinched me another bet at the same time). The game was fairly decent for a while but it didn't seem especially memorable in any way. Of course I'm clearly biased now, as any non-Patriots Super Bowl feels that way. But didn't Peyton Manning seem less than enthused when it was all over? Dude, you just won the Super Bowl...enjoy it! Crack a smile, fist pump, yell, scream, show some emotion. That made me like him even less. Whatever. The Pats will be back in the Bowl next season.

Ten days until pitchers and catchers report. I can't wait for the annual Boston media coverage of the truck leaving town with the equipment.

Super Bowl XLI wagers

Thomas Jones OVER 87.5 combined rushing/receiving yards

Thomas Jones to score first TD (6-1)

There will be a defensive or special teams TD (3-2)

Rex Grossman OVER 17.5 completions

First offensive play of game will be more than 28.5 yards from goal line

TEASER: BEARS +14 and game total under 53.5

GO BEARS!

A tale of two teams

What a game for the Patriots on Sunday. I almost felt bad for the Chargers, watching them give the game away in such painful fashion...until they started bitching about it like spoiled little children. Get over it. I love that they tried to accuse the Patriots of lacking class for making fun of a stupid sack dance that is absolutely classless in the first place. Merriman is a cheater and a punk and I'm glad that we got to shove it in his face a little bit. Meanwhile, Landanian Tomlinson is getting a pass on the whole thing because he is "a good guy" and "a class act." But is he really? Ladanian, you got beat. Get over it and get over yourself.

So we've got Pats-Colts again, and obviously the Patriots are going to win this one too. I feel a little bit bad for Peyton Mannning because the national media, and maybe even his own fans, are going to really crush the guy if he loses this week. This one should be another tight game, probably going down to the fourth quarter just like last week. I think that Brady will have a better game, the running game will be a little more successful, and the defense will do enough to contain the Colts offense, which just hasn't been as explosive lately. Pats win by six, sealing the game with an interception late in the fourth quarter.

As for the Super Bowl potential match ups, I'm torn. If the Pats were to lose then I definitely want the Saints to win. But if we do take care of business then I'd almost feel bad about having to beat New Orleans in the Super Bowl. We'd be the clear-cut villains in that scenario and it would be a little weird. So I almost hope that the Bears get in so we can just slap them around.

At the other end of the spectrum is the drama around the Arkansas Razorbacks, who lost their offensive coordinator and their freshman QB this week. It's absurd. Mitch Mustain was the best high school player in the country, a prospect so good that Arkansas wisely hired his old high school coach just to secure the guy. And the coach in question, Gus Malzahn, opened things up and finally gave Razorback fans something to get excited about. Mustain was 8-0 as a starter during the great run the Hogs had...and then somehow it all went wrong. Idiot head coach Houston Nutt benched Mustain and reigned in Malzahn's play-calling duties. WHY? I have no idea. Now Malzahn has bolted to Tulsa of all places, with Mustain probably following him out the door. I'm not really a Hogs fan yet but as somebody who has started to go to games and follow the team, this is simply tragic. Does this mean that 2007 will be a return to the completely predicatable offense that drove fans crazy before? My wife, a diehard Razorback fan, now hopes that everything falls apart next season just so the school will have to fire Nutt. It's a sad state of affairs but that might be the best thing that could happen. What a mess.

Pats-Bolts

The Patriots game on Sunday should be quite a matchup. All things considered, I think I feel as good about it as I possibly could when going on the road to face a #1 seed with a 14-2 record. Obviously the Chargers have a great team, as their roster is littered with Pro Bowl players on both sides of the ball, but the two reasons I think the Pats will pull it out give us a huge advantage: quarterback and coach. Brady's record clearly speaks for itself, while Phillip Rivers will be playing his first ever playoff game. Meanwhile Bill Belichick is the best head coach in the league, whereas Marty Schottenheimer has an all-time playoff record of 5-12 and hasn't won a big game in over a decade. I have faith that Belichick will find a defensive scheme to get the job done and that Brady will lead the offense to a solid win. Pats by 7.

Holiday leftovers

* Dad's famous baked stuffed shrimp for Christmas Eve dinner were maybe the best ever. He made two kinds, including one with some fancy (read: expensive) Italian bread crumbs. I thought they tasted a little better, but then again I doubt I could have told the difference in a blind taste test. Dessert was a ridiculously good peppermint-chocolate trifle that mom made.

* Christmas dinner: prime rib. Awesome.

* Christmas Day: great fun with the whole family.

Except we picked up some terrible head cold from the kids...which seems to happen a lot. It got worse the following weekend, when we went back up to Memphis and then on to Nashville for the Patriots-Titans game. The morning of the game I was so stuffed up that I literally couldn't sleep--a huge rarity for me--and ended up roaming the streets at 6 AM looking for anything that might help. I got some Sudafed and juice at a nearby Courtyard Marriot mini-store. Luckily I actually felt better at the game, which was a blast. We had seats in a very cool handicap accessible section which gave us extra leg room. Our entire row seemed to be Pats fans.

Back in Little Rock, we went to the doctor on Tuesday and Beth and I have been on antibiotics ever since. Usually when I get a bad cold it sucks for 3-4 days and then it's done but this one is just lingering. Today is the last day of the meds but I'm still not all the way healthy yet. More pills next week? Who knows.

I finally got a PS3...or at least I ordered one. I had to get it at Best Buy, thanks to generous family members that loaded me up with gift cards there for both my birthday and Christmas. I still haven't actually seen a 60 gig version in a store but they had them available to order at Best Buy on-line yesterday so mine should be here next week, probably on Tuesday. Game and Blu-Ray reviews to follow.

I think the Pats will handle the Jets well on Sunday. All they need to do is take away the short passing game and they should roll and I have complete confidence that Belichick will find a way to do so. I think Laurence Maroney is going to have a huge game too.

Beth and I powered through the final season of "Alias" on DVD during our joint sick time. She had actually seen them all already but I went in cold, only knowing that it was the final year. I found it odd that the creator of the show, JJ Abrams, seemingly had almost nothing to do with the last year, not even the final episode. I know he was busy off making MI:3, but still...do you think he just sat down and watched the finale on TV? I wonder what he thought? Kind of strange.

Good TV starts back up in January, including 24. This will be the first time that I watch a whole season on TV during its initial run. I don't know if I'll like that. This shows seems perfect for DVD, but I'll see how it goes.

That's about it from here. I hope everyone is doing well in the new year.

Random weird video of the day

This is pretty cool.

Happy Birthday, Larry Legend

Wow, I'm old.

Megablog

I haven't written here much lately so I am going to group together a few topics that have little or no bearing on each other, in no particular order. Here they are:

SOX WIN MATSUZAKA SWEEPSTAKES

I am shocked and ecstatic that this happened. I'm generally an optimist in all things Red Sox, but when a brilliant player comes on the market and literally all that stands between him and a pinstriped uniform is a fat check, then I naturally assume that Big George will open up his ample wallet and write down any amount he pleases. I am absolutely stunned that the Yankees didn't do this. Matsuzaka has been on my radar for a while, thanks to Sons of Sam Horn. The opportunity to acquire a potential top of the rotation starter just entering his prime--he's 26--just doesn't ever come along in major league baseball. Is this a sure thing? Of course not. But for just a sneak peek of what we might be in store for, just go to YouTube and type in "Matsuzaka." His repertoire of pitches is insane. Yes, the Red Sox are throwing a ton of cash out there with their bid amount, but people seem to be missing part or all of the points that matter, aside from the big number:

1. This money doesn't count towards the salary structure or the luxury tax. Almost none of the press coverage has mentioned this, and it is a huge point. In essence, the Sox are using part of their huge finanical resources to buy the ability to get an ace for less than what he is actually worth, cap-wise. This is an enormous benefit to us. I can't stress enough how valuable it is to be able to do this, and I am amazed that more baseball writers aren't catching it.

2. The Red Sox already have grand plans to plant their flag in the Asian market and nothing does that better than this move. The Red Sox-Yankees rivalry now becomes instantly relevant across the Pacific because of the Matsuzaka-Matsui component. I have no doubt that shelling out $50 million will reap much, much more in benefits to the franchise down the road.

3. We get him. The Yankees don't. Simplistic, sure, but that is a gigantic reason why I love the move. The Yankees wanted this guy, and with their withering rotation, they almost need him, and all it took was cash...and it didn't happen. Absolutely mind-boggling.


WEDDING IN CAPE COD

My good buddy Michael Poignand got married in Chatham last weekend and we had a lovely trip there. I actually hadn't been back to the Cape in a few years so it was nice to return. The whole affair was very enjoyable and it's always fun to see the boys from back home. However, I was struck by how different this wedding was in many ways from the several that I have attended with my ASU Loop contingent. To sum up, I'll just put it this way: I don't think we'll ever see a gay man serving as the maid of honor at a Loop wedding.


BABY MAC

We're having a baby. Yeah, I know, I haven't mentioned that here yet, and that is partially by design. In fact, I think that at some point in the future I will branch out with an all-new, baby-only blog in addition to keeping this one. My reasoning behind this is simple: first, it makes sense to just have all of that in one place. I'm sure I'll love being able to look back on it someday. But secondly, not that I have a ton of people that even read this blog, but if they do, some of them probably have no interest in a baby blog. I know I wouldn't. Don't get me wrong--I love all my friends and family and all of their babies, but I don't need to be logging onto the internet for daily dispatches about so-and-so crawling, or crying, or pooping, or whatever it is these baby things do. Which I'm still figuring out.

But anyway...since I don't have that going yet, I will report that it's a HE, a boy, and from the looks of things, a possible future offensive lineman in the NFL. The phrase "wow, that's a big femur!" was one of my favorites during the recent ultrasound, right up there with "yup, it's a boy...definitely a boy!" He is due around the end of March or first of April. We are beyond excited. I am also really, really, really, really, really happy that it's a boy. Yeah. Very happy about that part.


NEW FALL TV SHOWS

I had planned to write a grand blog entry analyzing various new fall TV shows, but instead, I'll just try to list the few new ones that I am enjoying.

1. Studio 60: I love this show. Sure, I get tired of Sorkin's railing against the Christian right, and I really dislike the Harriet character--or the actress playing her; at this point, I'm still not sure which--but I adore the show. NBC recently picked it up for a full season and I hope that it stays on the air much longer than that.

2. Heroes. It's a fun comic book show, and in a way it is the anti-Lost in that they actually please the viewers by doling out crucial and exciting pieces of the story every week...something that Lost has really never done and that continues to drive fans crazy.

3. Dexter. A Showtime series about a Miami forensics department blood spatter expert that also happens to dabble as a serial killer...although, to his credit, he only murders people that deserve it. So you can see why this one is on cable. Very compelling, well acted, and it looks brilliant in HD.

4. Friday Night Lights. This also recently got picked up for the season, which came as a surprise. I like the show but I wish they would lighten up a little bit already. My mom even tried to check this one out and she has deemed it as just an "O.C." type show with football, but it's nowhere near as light hearted or as cheesy. I'll stick with it, hoping that I stay invested in the story. There are also a lot of great young actors that I've never seen anywhere before.

5. Shark. James Woods as an egotistical, pompous, brilliant lawyer. Not exactly a stretch, acting-wise, for him. He makes the show. It's all about him, and I don't know if that's enough to keep me tuning in every week, but so far it has been enjoyable.

CASUALTIES

Justice. Another lawyer show, with Sydney's dad from Alias and the gay guy from Dawson's Creek. It was very slick and entertaining enough, but Fox is already playing timeslot yo-yo with this one so I figure it's done. The young guy was horriby miscast, but the way the show was produced was enough to make it watchable.

Six Degrees. Title kind of says it all. I really wanted to get hooked on this show, if only because it has Tom Brady's girlfriend, and while I enjoyed the couple of episodes I watched, it just didn't draw me in enough. This one quickly reached "several episodes saved on TiVo" status, and once that happens for long enough and I don't watch them, then the show in question is usually in trouble. I think this one is done or dying.

The Nine. See above. The premise seemed cool enough--a hostage situation in a bank--but the show turned out to be just another serialized Lost-esque knockoff with flashbacks, seemingly unrelated people who are actually tied together, etc. Tried it once or twice and bailed, as I think most people will do.

I'm sure I'm forgetting some shows, but at least that will give me something else to write about.

Pats-Colts

I can handle losing, but getting beat like the Patriots did on Sunday night is just painful. First, three of Brady's "interceptions" were on balls that hit receivers in the hands and should have or could have been catches. Secondly, the officiating was downright atrocious. The "taunting" call on Troy Brown was one of the most ridiculous penalties I have ever seen called in any football game, ever, and there were at least 2-3 other huge calls against New England that were just as bad, each of which came at a crucial time to give the Colts a first down. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but if I were I would have a field day with that game.

That being said, Indy really did not impress me at all. They got five turnovers and another five or so gift calls and still only squeaked out a seven point "victory." Let them run the regular season table and get all the accolades the media will undoubtedly shower upon them after this "huge" win, this "statement" game, or whatever they shall call it. Guess what, Indy? For the Patriots, there are no "big wins" in November. Ours come in January and February...something this Colts team has been unable to do. I cannot wait to see the Pats smack the Colts under their own dome in the playoffs.

/end rant

Red

Rest in peace, Red.

video test

I've only recently signed up for a YouTube account. Sure, I've spent some time there, checking out the goofy videos, but I've never posted anything until now. It's nothing earth shattering...in fact, it's almost completely pointless. It's about a one minute long clip of Chewie howling along to a recording of himself (and Pedro) howling at the tornado warning test siren right down the street that goes off every Wednesday at noon.

Anyway...YouTube includes code for embedding videos in other places so this post is solely an attempt to test that out and see how it works, how it looks, how it formats it, etc.

Although if you want to hear a dog howling, then by all means you should check it out.

Dirt for sale

I was just flipping through the channels and the Home Shopping Network was selling some sports memorabilia so I stopped to watch for a while...and then they started selling dirt. Not even very historic dirt, but a "Dirt Collage" featuring dirt taken from the home plate area at Yankee Stadium this year on opening day. There was also a photo (not autographed by anyone) and a reproduction of the lineup card. It was $149.97, plus $14.99 for shipping and handling. I figured that they'd be a lot better off selling A Rod's bat from the playoffs this year. After all, it was barely used and should be in mint condition.

Protege

Okay, it's been over a week since the Protege qualifier and it took me just about that long to get over it. I actually kept a running diary of semi-meaningful hands but it's too painful to rehash the whole thing so instead, you get the short version of how I got knocked out. I know that bad beat poker stories are now officially in the top three in the category of "Most Annoying/Boring Stories That People Always Insist on Telling," right up there with tales about their fantasy teams and "listen to this dream I had last night."

But anyway...

We're at the final table. I'm pretty short stacked and pick up pocket aces in the big blind. My goal here is to eventually get it all in against one person, so that I'll be the favorite no matter what. Blinds are 150-300 and two guys limp in. I raise to 1300, first limper calls, second folds. Perfect. I'm short enough that I'm pushing on the flop no matter what but I feel very confident when it comes 4-6-6. The guy has a decent stack and calls my all in with...wait for it...7-8 off-suit. 7-8? He cold-calls a thousand chip raise with 7-8, then calls on that flop with no pair, no nothing. NATURALLY, like a punch in the face, a five comes on the turn, giving him a miracle gutshot straight. And just like that, my dreams of jet setting around the world on the high stakes circuit with Daniel Negreanu go down in flames. BRUTAL. Absolutely brutal.

Poker update

I haven't written a poker update in a while and I actually have a few (relatively) interesting things to report, so here goes:

A couple of weeks ago, I came in 3rd in a NLHE tourney with 45 players. That is a strange and new field size for me, as usually I'll either play in a big MTT (multi table tourney) with at least a couple hundred people, or a sit and go (SNG) with somewhere from 5-10. This was technically a SNG, meaning it started as soon as 45 people signed up. I don't remember too many specific hands from this one; I just played solid poker throughout and managed to do pretty well.

A day or two later I tried out another new endeavour on the virtual felt: a HORSE tournament. HORSE is a fixed limit form of poker that rotates amongst five different games: Hold 'Em, Omaha High/Low, Razz (lowball), Seven card stud, and Seven card stud high/low, eight or better (Eight being where the "E" comes from). The WSOP added a new HORSE event this year with a $50,000 buy-in and the true pros and poker aficionados consider it the best test of a player's skill because of the variety of games. I've played some HORSE on-line at Full Tilt and I've done well before in some cheap SNGs but this was my first shot at a big field. 198 players signed up and my strategy was simply to play tight and see how things would go. In the past, I've noted that many players in these tourneys are surprisingly bad at several of the games, usually the Stud varieties (note: Razz is simply seven card stud but with the lowest five cards winning). I am by no means a stud expert but I've worked at it enough that I don't consider it too much of a weakness in a tourney like this. I've also gotten pretty decent at Razz after some practice.

Anyway, the tourney went well. I lasted into the money and eventually the final table. The blinds got very high at this point--big enough that players often found themselves all-in when playing any given hand. I managed to keep grinding away and I got to heads-up during a Hold 'Em round. My opponent had a huge cheap lead on me, more than a two-to-one margin, after he knocked out the 3rd and 4th place finishers. I managed to draw nearly even on a lucky suckout, catching a three-outer on the river. After that, I just dominated the guy. The Hold 'Em round soon ended and it only took a few hands of Omaha for me to pull out the victory. This was the first MTT I've won in a while and it felt great, especially pulling one out in my first try at HORSE.

My luck didn't carrry over to my first home game in quite some time. On a weekend trip to Memphis, Dad and Casey put together a small game with a few of their guys up there. We each threw in $10 and played a quick NLHE tourney. I tried to play tight but it's tough to stay too disciplined in such an event. I lost a decent amount of my stack with A-J, then got knocked out when a K-10 caught up to my A-10. It's probably better this way though--at least the Memphis guys won't have me pegged for a ringer and I should be invited back to their game. Despite the loss, it was a lot of fun and I'm eagerly looking forward to the next Memphis game.

The last interesting tourney was this past Saturday night. Daniel Negreanu sponsors an event called "The Protege" in which he tutors one lucky person for a few months and stakes the winner into $40,000 worth of major poker tourneys. The first winner of "The Protege," Brian Fidler, came in 2nd place in just his second event after meeting with Daniel and won over $200,000. Negreanu is now preparing for a second Protege competition and he has a variety of ways that people can win a seat at the Protege Final Table of ten. I am a charter member of his message board at Full Contact Poker and as such I was given some freeroll shots at qualifying tournaments. On Saturday night, I made the top five and advanced to the next leg. To spare the details, the set up is this: on this coming Friday night, I'm in a tournament with 18 people. The winner gets a seat at The Protege Final Table, which just so happens to be taking place in the Bahamas in December. So that would be pretty cool. It will be tough, as all of the players qualified as I did, so they should have some game. But we'll see how it goes.

Rock Star: Supernova

This is a one-shot column that I wrote for the RTVC website after the finale last night. I've had several e-mails from readers; some feel exactly like I do, while others feel that I need "a hearing-ear dog." I'm not sure if Pedro and Chewie would qualify in the eyes of that obvious music snob. Anyway, here it is.

SUPERNOVA DROPS THE BALL

This summer, CBS brought us the second season of Rock Star, in which a group of established musicians use a reality show to select a new singer. I didn’t catch season one, simply because I’m not a big INXS fan and the concept alone wasn’t enough to draw me in. But when I heard the lineup for the season two supergroup, it sounded too good to be true...and I loved it. For people that don’t watch the show, I had a simple way to describe it: “It’s like American Idol, except with good music.” And the quick summer season was perfect for this show. To compare it to sports, it was like a perfectly executed two minute drill in football, with talented performers making outstanding plays as they steadily marched down the field. It was fast, riveting, and thoroughly entertaining.

And then they fumbled at the goal line.

I know that musical taste is subjective, and that point is reinforced by the often odd voting outcomes from this season. But the point is simple: I am, or at least I thought I was, the demographic for this band. I’ve seen the band members live on many occasions and the CDs that they played on are staples of my collection. In short, I grew up listening to these guys rock. But by choosing Lukas, it seems like they are attempting to completely deny their past – it’s as if we’re now supposed to act as if they weren’t members of Motley Crue, Guns ‘N’ Roses, and Metallica.

And for me, that’s a huge problem. Because that’s why I love these guys, and that’s why I watched the show. Sure, they made a point of announcing early on that they weren’t forming a “metal band,” and that’s fine. But to completely deny their musical legacy is disrespectful both to their original bands as well as the diehard fans of said bands…people who, I think it’s safe to assume, made up a large portion of the viewing audience of this season. Am I the only one shocked by the fact that we didn’t hear a single song all season from the bands these guys were in? We got Nirvana nearly every single week but they couldn’t throw us “Enter Sandman” or “Kickstart My Heart” a single time? Considering who these guys are, that’s practically blasphemous. It’s way beyond disappointing.

In week one, I was pleasantly surprised by Lukas’s performance. I didn’t know what to expect when this punk rock leprechaun took to the stage, and then he brought the house down with Billy Idol’s “Rebel Yell.” It was the best performance of the night, and it wasn’t even close. The problem is that Lukas was never that good again. His vocal quality become grating and his stage presence borders on epileptic. He also seems to have no desire to sing the kind of music that the Supernova guys used to play, and sadly that’s probably why they picked him. I was intrigued when he elected to sing a Bon Jovi song just a few episodes ago, but then he chose an arrangement that made an 80s classic completely unrecognizable. In essence, that’s exactly what the band is trying to do as well by choosing him to front them.

Toby Rand was the clear-cut right choice. His original song was by far the best that any performer had to offer – it is catchy as hell and I’d love to hear it live with Gilby, Jason, and Tommy rocking along with it. But now I never will. Earlier today, I was looking at tour dates and considering making the trek to Dallas to catch the show in February, as that’s the closest the tour is coming to me. But now that Supernova has decided that they just want to be another 21st century vanilla modern rock outfit, I doubt I’ll even buy the CD. And I surely won’t shell out big bucks to watch Lukas’s manic stage contortions and listen to his choked-off squeals. The decision for a trio of metal gods to go that route is simply mind-boggling. So long, Supernova. To paraphrase a song that Tommy should know well, I’m not going to go away mad, I’m just going to go away.

Tom Brady is the man

Here is just another in a long list of reasons why I love Tom Brady. On the first play of the game today, he got absolutely blindsided on a blitz because of a blown blocking scheme in which a Buffalo linebacker reached him completely untouched--nobody even made an effort to block him and the guy had the most free and clear shot he'll ever have on a QB. Here's a question from a Globe writer and Tom's answer:

Q. That first play, you were obviously at an open set and they came on a blitz. Was that something you didn't expect or were you surprised?

TB: Well, like I said, we all could have done a better job and I could have done a better job on that play to recognize what they were doing, and I didn't. And it served me right that I got hit in the back of the head and fumbled. And that is no way to start the season. But we recovered and came back and then we put together a nice drive after that. So it would have been nice to start with the second drive of the game, but you know, just better learning on my part and making sure things like that don't happen.

He blames himself on a play that was absolutely blown by someone else. And he really means it. He's the best.

Why The Red Sox Stink

Even before their recent ridiculous parade of injuries that sees a new member of the squad visiting the hospital almost daily, it had become clear that the Boston Red Sox weren’t going anywhere this postseason. To be blunt, we had essentially started to really suck. Many point the finger at GM Theo Epstein, stating that he failed to craft a team commensurate with our payroll. The slide became so frustrating that I decided to look at what I thought was the biggest problem the team has had all season: the bullpen. I’m not a statistician but let’s take a look at some numbers.

The team began the season with veteran relievers Julian Tavarez, Mike Timlin, Rudy Seanez, and Keith Foulke all projected to pitch substantial innings in major roles. Only Foulke had any health concerns, but he was on the opening day roster, and all
four were proven veterans with track records of major league success. So how did they do?

As anyone who watches the Red Sox can tell you, “horribly.” But just how bad have they been? Diehard baseball statistical theorists have done research that shows that predicting the performance of relief pitchers is one of the hardest things to do in baseball. Thus, it appears that Epstein crafted this bullpen with that in mind. He assembled The Veteran Four, as I will call them, with the assumption that at least some of them, to some degree, would meet or exceed their expected value.

Simply put, this didn’t happen.

ERA is generally a good indicator of how well a pitcher is doing. ERA+ is even better, as it factors in a pitcher’s ERA in relation to the rest of his league, with 100 representing average, and numbers above 100 being better. I looked at the previous three seasons of ERA+ for The Veteran Four and the story was pretty good: of the cumulative twelve seasons, only two fell below average: Foulke’s injury-plagued 2005 and Seanez’s injury-marred horrific aberration in 2003. The other ten seasons combined all tallied ERA+ numbers well above the league average, which is more than anyone can hope for when it comes to non-closer members of a bullpen.

So let’s assume that Epstein assembled the bullpen with a worst case scenario mindset. I’m speculating, but let’s just say that he said “these four guys are all veterans, I know what they can do, and given their history it’s pretty safe to assume that they should reach at least 80% of their three year average performance.” Again, I’m pulling this number out of thin air, but it seems like a very conservative assumption. It is well known that the Red Sox had put together their best infield defense in many years, and that this would probably project to help pitchers even more. So assuming that pitchers would regress 20% from their three year average is a fairly pessimistic starting point.

So how did The Veteran Four fare against an 80% floor of their three year averages? They failed miserably. Only Seanez eclipsed the 80% baseline, and that is only because his 2003 season was so bad (ERA of 6.33, ERA+ of 76). I crunched my own numbers to come up with a rough ERA+ for 2006 so far, as of a couple of days ago, by comparing the relievers’ ERA to the current league average. Here’s what I found.

Rudy Seanez – 3 year ERA+ average: 92.8. 2006: 95.2 (note: his ERA+ average in 04-05 was 136).

Julian Tavarez – 3 year avg. 111.2 – 2006: 97.4…12.4% worse

Mike Timlin – 3 year avg. 119.5 – 2006: 111.6…6.62% worse, and seemingly getting worse by the day

Keith Foulke – 3 year avg. 134.7 – 2006: 81.5…39.5% worse

And remember, this is how much worse they have been than assuming they would only be at 80% of their three year averages to begin with…worse than the worst case scenario.

In other words, I think that Epstein put together a veteran bullpen as efficiently and affordably as he could, based on the assumption that at least 2-3 of the four would at least remain somewhere near their average. And it just didn’t happen. Epstein knew that he had young bullpen arms that would factor into the near future for the Red Sox, most notably Jonathan Papelbon, who exceeded all expectations as closer. But Manny Delcarmen and Craig Hansen will be important bullpen arms sooner rather than later. With the way the bullpen was put together, it looks to me as if Theo thought that he could even let one of The Veteran Four completely fail and plug the hole with one of the youngsters. But four voids was just too much for any club to fill.

The self-destruction of The Veteran Four thus, in essence, turned this into a rebuilding season for the Red Sox.

Only two more days!

Ten Random Things That Annoy Me

Ten Random Things That Annoy Me

People away from home who insist on telling you what time it is “their time.” This is especially obnoxious somewhere such as Las Vegas, where time—in any time zone—has almost no meaning. “I need to go to bed. It’s 4 AM my time.” No, it’s 1 AM and you’re in Vegas for god’s sake. Live a little!

ESPN’s coverage of whatever negative sports story du jour they decide to harp on.

Zayra from “Rock Star: Supernova.” Man, is she awful.

People that quantify their effort with some number exceeding 100%. I know that “giving 110%” has become the new cliché that represents actually giving something your all. But now we get people saying they gave “150%.” Really? You tried as hard as you absolutely could at something, plus half as hard as that?

Anderson Cooper.

The chip leader at the WSOP, who says he is considering dumping his chips because he’d rather come in 2nd place because he “doesn’t want to be famous.” How someone with this attitude ever actually amassed such a chip lead is beyond me.

“Treasure Hunters” on NBC. I tried to give this show a chance but I just couldn’t do it. It was awful.

“Don’t Pass” craps players.

Drivers that hang out in the passing lane when you are right behind them and it is clear that if they would just get over, you would quickly pass them, and everyone could just get on with their lives.

Sarah Jessica Parker.

Papi does it again

He is unbelievable.

What are they thinking?

I've noticed that as I get older, more things seem to really annoy me or flat-out piss me off. I've even started keeping a list, so some day in the not-too-distant future I'll probably have an entry simply titled "Random Things That Annoy Me." But today I'm debuting what will probably be a recurring feature...What are they thinking?

Today's target: TV networks. I actually think I could run a TV network and do a better job than the average executive does now. I know that I could program shows. And I also would avoid indefensible moves like the ones I will explore today. First, we have FOX. They have a huge hit show in 24, one that is popluar partially because of its riveting stories told in real time. I was a latecomer to 24 only because I never got hooked during the initial season and I didn't want to come in late. Well, that all changed earlier this year as we powered through the first four seasons on DVD (thanks, Netflix). Alas, season five won't be released on DVD until later this year. But then, FOX made the wonderful decision to replay the season during the summer. Yes!

Or...no. It appeared that they were going to replay the entire season, and that's the really nefarious part. They started with episodes one and two, as they should. But only later did I learn that they weren't going to show all 24. They were going to show some, in order, but skip many of them. Are you kidding me?!? Who thinks this is possibly a good idea?!? The only conceivable motivation would be one with completely evil intentions: to get people hooked on the show, then have them go running to iTunes to download the missing episodes. That's what we did. Sure, we got the benefit of watching the show the way that we like, with bunches of episodes at a time. But if we wanted to watch the entire season we didn't really have a choice, did we? Terrible decision by FOX.

Next up I am forced to take aim at a target that I have ranted about before: baseball coverage on DirecTV. I have done everything I can to guarantee that I get to watch the Boston Red Sox on my dish. We have whatever uber-sports top-tier package there is, and it includes NESN. We also shell out a pretty considerable (for TV) amount of cash for the Extra Innings baseball package. Now, I have come to grips with the fact that FOX (here they are again!) has a national deal for their Saturday afternoon games, and because of that, sometimes I simply am not going to get to watch the Sox. I won't argue this ridiculous logic again aside from saying that they are idiots if they think that Red Sox fans are going to tune into FOX to watch, say, the Cardinals and the Cubs instead. Won't happen. I'll sit at a computer monitor watching the dots move. Somehow, someway, they are losing ratings and money with the current system.

But the newest transgression suffered upon my poor satellite dish is unfathomable. They have started to black out the pre-game and post-game shows on NESN. WHY ON EARTH WOULD THEY POSSIBLY DO THIS? I pay to have NESN. I pay to watch baseball games. WHAT IS THE LOGIC BEHIND THIS? I've already written an angry letter to NESN despite the fact that I think they have nothing to do with it. But I will never understand why the TV networks insist on going out of their way to alienate their customers. I just don't see what good can possibly come from any of these moves.

In other words...what are they thinking?

WSOPC update

Updating my last entry: I think I have missed maybe two questions total over the first two episodes of VH1's World Series of Pop Culture. At least I'm not bitter. Nope, not at all...

VH1's World Series of Pop Culture

Last night, VH1 premiered a new trivia show called The World Series of Pop Culture, featuring sixteen teams of three members each competing in a tournament with some guaranteed big cash prizes. As you probably know, this kind of thing is right up my alley and in this case, I should have been on the show.

But allow me to clarify. I don't mean it in the "wow, it would be cool to be on this," normal kind of way. Instead, I mean "I got hosed and I actually should be on this show."

So here's the story: I had never heard of the thing when they actually did the tryouts for casting. But I ultimately learned about it and found out that they would be filling the final available slot with a team of wild card players chosen through an on-line qualifier. The qualifier in question was an incredibly difficult on-line timed trivia test. I signed up, took it...and hit it out of the park.

After taking the test, I didn't give it another thought, aside from "I think I did pretty well on that." Shortly thereafter we bought the new house and my parents were in town helping out with some small repairs when I received a call on my cell phone while we were out running errands. It was a casting person from the show. Apparently my score was good enough that I had been placed in a pool of 50 people competing for the three wild card spots--still some long odds, but a lot better than before. The casting agent asked if I would be available for a phone interview.

I set the interview up for the following day and didn't do much to prepare, aside from getting a solid block of time free from runs to the tile store, or Home Depot, or anywhere else like that. I called the nice lady and we just chatted for a while--what were my pop culture trivia strengths, my interests, etc. It went very well, and then at the end she sprung a ten question pop quiz on me. Fantastic. I'm pretty sure I got all ten questions right--at most, I might have missed one. Anyway, I can't think of anything more that they would want from a contestant, and she even told me that she was impressed. Clearly, I was a lock. I was in. I was packing my bags and heading to New York for the tournament.

And then I never heard from them again.

There's one possible concern that might have DQed me: the show is sponsored by Alltel, a company that just so happens to employ my wife. But this never came up in my interview and I was never asked about it, so I doubt that was a factor. But now, while I love the show and will be watching, I am dreading the episodes with the wild card team...because unless they are just across-the-board brilliant, watching them is really going to piss me off.

So there you go. I was almost on this show. Yippee.