Beginnings...
- Baseball season is in full swing at this point, but most of the players are not. I could be wrong here, but I feel like the number of home runs is down this year. I know it's very early, and it has been freezing cold for half of the games played thus far, but even big time HR hitters are doing nothing right now. I'm talking about guys in their primes - Howard, Ortiz, Manny, Hafner, Teixeira, Pujols, Berkman, etc. etc. - doing next to nothing in the power department. I could go into a rant about steroids here, but I'll spare you...
Instead, I'll move on to the one slugger who is hitting the shit out of the ball right now - Mr. Alex Rodriguez. Anyone see the Post earlier this week when A Rod K'd with the sacks jacked? The headline was something to the effect of "A Rod Sucks in Key Spot," with a small side note about Jeter's two costly errors. I'm to the point that I legitimately feel bad for him. The guy is playing lights out and still can't catch a break with the fans/media. I'd love him to win an MVP and then follow it up with a 2-14 performance in a heartbreaking ALDS loss to the Rangers. The Yanks may have to resort to bringin' back "Bern" to save the day...
- Contrary to what most critics (and regular fans) said about it, I was disappointed with the Sopranos premier Sunday. I understand they were setting up the story, and there are some intriguing questions to be answered (clearly Bobby Boccala left behind DNA and forgot to remove those bullets, which may or may not lead to his murder or Tony's arrest). But I watched every episode in the previous season (I refuse to accept this as the second half of the season - it has been too long in between) and felt the exact same way... pissed off that the writers were setting the plot with nothing really happening in the episodes individually. You didn't have to watch the last season. All you need is to watch the 2-3 minute montage that opened up this season, and you'd be all set. It's especially disheartening when I randomly see a clip from season 1 on A&E and remember how awesome it was back then. My patience is running out with the show. Shit better go down soon...
- Entourage - very good, I thought. Drama had a couple of incredible one-liners, and the plot thickened with lots of interim action... the perfect remedy for another Sopranos let-down.
- Nice W for the Mets after blowing two consecutive leads in a row. The Great White Hype, David Wright, needs to stop reading his press clippings and step the hell up.
That's all I got for now. TROUT WHERE YOU BEEN, KID???
Instead, I'll move on to the one slugger who is hitting the shit out of the ball right now - Mr. Alex Rodriguez. Anyone see the Post earlier this week when A Rod K'd with the sacks jacked? The headline was something to the effect of "A Rod Sucks in Key Spot," with a small side note about Jeter's two costly errors. I'm to the point that I legitimately feel bad for him. The guy is playing lights out and still can't catch a break with the fans/media. I'd love him to win an MVP and then follow it up with a 2-14 performance in a heartbreaking ALDS loss to the Rangers. The Yanks may have to resort to bringin' back "Bern" to save the day...
- Contrary to what most critics (and regular fans) said about it, I was disappointed with the Sopranos premier Sunday. I understand they were setting up the story, and there are some intriguing questions to be answered (clearly Bobby Boccala left behind DNA and forgot to remove those bullets, which may or may not lead to his murder or Tony's arrest). But I watched every episode in the previous season (I refuse to accept this as the second half of the season - it has been too long in between) and felt the exact same way... pissed off that the writers were setting the plot with nothing really happening in the episodes individually. You didn't have to watch the last season. All you need is to watch the 2-3 minute montage that opened up this season, and you'd be all set. It's especially disheartening when I randomly see a clip from season 1 on A&E and remember how awesome it was back then. My patience is running out with the show. Shit better go down soon...
- Entourage - very good, I thought. Drama had a couple of incredible one-liners, and the plot thickened with lots of interim action... the perfect remedy for another Sopranos let-down.
- Nice W for the Mets after blowing two consecutive leads in a row. The Great White Hype, David Wright, needs to stop reading his press clippings and step the hell up.
That's all I got for now. TROUT WHERE YOU BEEN, KID???
posted by Dick Dastardly at
9:47 PM
15 Comments:
-Couldn't agree more on Sopranos. I can't understand why critics are praising the episode. Everything about it sucked. If I want to watch 2 couples in their golden years reminiscing about their younger days on the lake, I'll watch a Meryl Streep movie. The only remotely entertaining part was the Tony-Bobby fight, which in itself wasn't even that great, but was just a nice break from the insane boredom that was the rest of the episode. Let's face it, David Chase has been setting up the final episode since the third season and unless it rocks my socks off (which it actually may), this show will be a 3 season phenomenom that ran on fumes thereafter.
-Entourage. I've been with this show since the first season, and feel a stronger attachment to it than any other. That being said, Sunday's episode was NOT very good. The Ari-Vince "relationship" dialogue felt fake and forced, and wasn't remotely funny. Even the bling-bling party at the end, which usually puts a smile on my face for at least 3 days, didn't do it for me. It felt too unrealistic, even for Hollywood. Drama had one good line that I remember. The big plot twist is the new female agent. While smoking hot, I'm not sure how well she's gonna fit in the show. She's a little too nice and too real for the fantasy that is Entourage. Jury is still out, but on the bright side, she can't be worse than Dom.
The main problem with the show now is the whole "been there done that" vibe. The writers are keeping the characters in a time capsule instead of letting their characters grow and mature. While it may not seem ideal, it's a necessity if they want to keep adding more seasons to the show. Entourage is looking like it's following the Sopranos timeline. Classic first season, great second season, good third season with a noticeable drop-off. Hopefully season 4 will get back on track.
-Baseball. I'd blame the lack of power solely on the weather so far, not too worried. A-Rod still sucks. Look for great years from Bobby Abreu, Jose Reyes, and Jr. (whose move to right field should ensure 130+ games of participation, 600 homers is within grasp). Also I'm expecting a noticeable decline this year from MO Rivera, he's gotta be pushing 40, and it was bound to happen sometime.
Certainly not Entourage's best episode, but still good enough to offset the disappointment from Sopranos. Dom, wow, forgot about him. I don't know a single person that enjoyed his character. The new agent isn't anywhere near Dom levels, plus she's genuinely good looking (as opposed to plastic good looking). The only reason you are questioning her at this point is because you are rooting for Ari. I feel the same way.
As far as Rivera goes, the guy throws one pitch. It's remarkable how unhittable he was for so many years. Teams that have seen him a lot (ie Red Sox) have been hitting him for a few years now. I suspect other long-time AL players will do the same. Even if he declines a bit, he's still a top 10 closer at the absolute worst. If you could trade Rivera for a Huston-Street-type-good-but-not-amazing closer, would you do it?
-Sopranos: VERY good episode, i thought. waaaaaaay better than any episode last season (granted, i didnt see all of them cuz i got bored with it after awhile). Here's a good take on why this episode was kind of the shit: http://blog.nj.com/alltv/2007/04/sopranos_rewind_soprano_home_m.html
-Entourage: Blew. the new chick, while hot, is not good at all. why cant there be nudity on this show more often? fucking Rome had it all the time and even sunday's sopranos got the almost as good tag of BN (brief nudity). by the way, the dom guy is a lot better in the wire even as a similar sort of character.
-mo rivera: is no jon papelbon. tell me you saw that save sunday night. straight up nasty. i mean filthy shit. 15 pitches, 5 outs. goodnight.
also, during that espn televised game, i watched from 8-9 pm and saw both of papi's homers as well as the texas homer. switched over to hbo for an hour and a half, then back to the sox just as papelbon was cleaning up pineiro's (or is it pinata?) and javy lopez's mess. didnt miss a single meaningful event in the game, despite missing 90 mins of it. well played sunday night tv, well played.
also, early in the sopranos one of the guys in the new york mob actually said, "LOOK at this Fuck-king GUY." which pretty much floored me and my roommate (and should have floored Dick), considering our abuse of that line for about a month.
Closers are like thoroughbred race horses. They're studs on the race track, then they're put out to stud. There's no such thing a fading closer. There are 3 types in the majors: the stud, the middle reliever being tested to see if he can become a stud, and the aging starter trying to save his career and re-assert his dominance in a closer role. The position is too crucial to let an aging guy linger around and wait for him to retire. Mo is still the best in the business, but one day he's going to wake up and just start getting completely shelled. Name me one closer who was a total stud in the role, but is now lingering past his prime? You can't. Exactly.
- Trout, you're link didn't work, but it doesn't even matter. There is nothing that could possibly convince me that that episode didn't completely suck. The thing belonged on the Lifetime channel. It is beyond me that David Chase chose to develop Bobby Baccala (one of the weakest and least interesting characters from earlier seasons) into a main character. I don't wanna see a disgustingly obese dude wolfing down hogies and hot dogs when I turn on the Sopranos. Chase should have devoted more time to Christopher and actually developed AJ's character (who looks more like he should be in a show called "The O'Reily's") instead of writing him off as a screw-up son.
How about Todd Jones? Or Tom Gordon? What about Billy Koch? He lingered as a middle reliever for couple of seasons. How about Roberto Hernandez? Now he's a quality set up man. Brad Lidge is the latest example, though he had been getting shelled to start the year, this guy will definitely be a good set up man on the Mets in 6 weeks. Or Armando Benitez (bottom half closer after being top 5), or Antonio Alfonseca (closes for WS-winning Marlins, now sucks), or Mel Rojas (all-star closer who became one of the most hated Mets ever)? What about Jason Isringhausen? My top 10 closers would not include him at this point. How about John Franco, the Hall of Famer with more saves than any other lefty in history? He pitched in middle relief for a few years after being dominate for a decade as the Reds/Mets closer (Tony Gwynn said he was the most difficult pitcher to hit in the entire MLB during those years). All the while, Franco never got bombed, just walked some guys and gave up a few runs. These guys all were all-star level closers at some point in their careers, but "faded" out of elite status toward the middle of the pack. Granted, none of them are Mariano Rivera, but no one in history really has been. Mo, too, will have a down year or two before he hangs 'em up.
amy man-aerobics instructor looks exactly like charlie villanueva...i mean EXACTLY, it's downright freaky. i just thought i'd share that with the typeset
FYI - Ken Griffey, Jr. was just dropped in my keeper league. So far, your boy has been inauspicious to say the least.
calm down - the guy missed all of spring training, he's still getting his timing down. he's always slow in april anyway. circle the date may 10 on your calendar, that's when he'll start surging
in griffeys younger days, he was a fast starter. now hes neither a fast starter or good finisher. you'll get 6 weeks of good griffey baseball at this point in his career. hes washed up, but had an oustanding, steroid-free career.
i know what you're trying to do, and i'm not going to get into with you...just make another posting and lets move on
mike cameron is better than ken griffey jr. so is lew ford
great episodes last night for both sopranos and entourage
Chloe- i saw her in Stuff or Maxim spead the other day. Some mag like that.
Outside of CTU, I'd say she's a compelling 5/10. At some schools in the Ithaca area, she'd a been at a solid 9.
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