Monday, May 23, 2005
When you get what you want, but not what you need...
Emptying out the cobwebs from the weekend past; previewing the week ahead:
· Ended up, rather randomly, at a karaoke bar on Friday night. This is a phenomenon and a sub-culture that I have been stumbling - literally and figuratively - into over the past month. As my man Kyle has been known to say, "there's comedy; there's high comedy; then there's **fill in the blank**." (he may or may not have stolen that line, but I'm attributing it to K-Stein)
· Music pick for the week: The Shins. Preview a few of their best-known tunes on the Garden State soundtrack. Then proceed directly to "Caring is Creepy" and "Chutes too Narrow." Great driving music. Even better with a few select cocktails. In other music news, Oasis - formerly known as the most important rock band in history - is playing a 26-dollar-a-ticket gig at Great Woods. Wow, don't look back in anger. Ben Folds is playing the Sailing Capital of the Country on July 2 and I took one look at the lineup for the Newport Folk Festival and got excited. Does that mean I'm getting old?
· Props go out to all parties involved with Troy Brown returning to the Two-Time Defending World Champion New England Patriots. This may be the first time that the Pats got a touch on the new site. No subject better than Troy Brown to kick it off. BINGO! I'VE GOT BINGO!
· Went to Fenway on Saturday night. It was, no joke, about 40 degrees and snowing by the 7th inning. Went with my man - and the most faithful reader of the TLBR experience - TP, his future bride, and his future brother-in-law. Good time had by all. Reports of me getting a little profane with my vocal comments re: Kevin Millar and Edgar Renteria have neither been confirmed, nor denied.
Speaking of those two - Red Sox Nation's latest whipping boys - the light was shed on a common urban legend regarding the Olde Towne Team to me this morning.
Kevin Millar came out in defense of the much maligned, error-prone, groundball hitting, multi-million dollar shortstop. Millar, who has taken his share of cuts at the plate and his share of shots in the press, did publicly what some say is his greatest asset to the Sox. He took a bullet for a teammate.
You can criticize Millar for hitting his first home run about a week ago. Well, it was a walkoff. And you can criticize Millar for having a bad glove. Well, using his range factor and zone ratings - both of the "new math" categories that baseball stats guys use and more representative of Millar's skills - then he's 10th in the majors.
But what Millar gets criticized for most - and what he does best - is opening his mouth. It might be the "Cowboy up" thing, or "Yee-haw, Jack Daniels", or whatever... But Kevin Millar was the first player to jump up and defend his teammate - a teammate of his for a very short time, I might add.
"Can you guys give Renteria a break?" Millar told a group of reporters, asking them at one point to "get on me" to take some of the heat off his teammate. "I suck. I'm not a good player. He is." Do you think A-Rod would ever volunteer that sort of thing?
Millar added: "It's my job to speak the way I feel about Edgar Renteria. He's my teammate, he's my family member and I think he's a great player. Don't let eight years of greatness be overshadowed by six weeks of whatever you want to call it."
(a side note: "Curt in the car" called in to WEEI, after a skit busting Millar's rocks, to chime in with his two cents about the media in Boston. Interesting stuff.)
· On the topic of pitchers who use the computer alot, how about the story of the Cubs' Carlos Zambrano? Forget Tommy John, if this keeps up, Carlos is going to need Michael Dell surgery pretty soon.
· If you like the NBA, or even if you don't, read this piece on Dwyane Wade by Yahoo!'s Dan Wetzel: http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=dw-wade052305&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
Until later, enjoy your now.
One.
· Ended up, rather randomly, at a karaoke bar on Friday night. This is a phenomenon and a sub-culture that I have been stumbling - literally and figuratively - into over the past month. As my man Kyle has been known to say, "there's comedy; there's high comedy; then there's **fill in the blank**." (he may or may not have stolen that line, but I'm attributing it to K-Stein)
· Music pick for the week: The Shins. Preview a few of their best-known tunes on the Garden State soundtrack. Then proceed directly to "Caring is Creepy" and "Chutes too Narrow." Great driving music. Even better with a few select cocktails. In other music news, Oasis - formerly known as the most important rock band in history - is playing a 26-dollar-a-ticket gig at Great Woods. Wow, don't look back in anger. Ben Folds is playing the Sailing Capital of the Country on July 2 and I took one look at the lineup for the Newport Folk Festival and got excited. Does that mean I'm getting old?
· Props go out to all parties involved with Troy Brown returning to the Two-Time Defending World Champion New England Patriots. This may be the first time that the Pats got a touch on the new site. No subject better than Troy Brown to kick it off. BINGO! I'VE GOT BINGO!
· Went to Fenway on Saturday night. It was, no joke, about 40 degrees and snowing by the 7th inning. Went with my man - and the most faithful reader of the TLBR experience - TP, his future bride, and his future brother-in-law. Good time had by all. Reports of me getting a little profane with my vocal comments re: Kevin Millar and Edgar Renteria have neither been confirmed, nor denied.
Speaking of those two - Red Sox Nation's latest whipping boys - the light was shed on a common urban legend regarding the Olde Towne Team to me this morning.
Kevin Millar came out in defense of the much maligned, error-prone, groundball hitting, multi-million dollar shortstop. Millar, who has taken his share of cuts at the plate and his share of shots in the press, did publicly what some say is his greatest asset to the Sox. He took a bullet for a teammate.
You can criticize Millar for hitting his first home run about a week ago. Well, it was a walkoff. And you can criticize Millar for having a bad glove. Well, using his range factor and zone ratings - both of the "new math" categories that baseball stats guys use and more representative of Millar's skills - then he's 10th in the majors.
But what Millar gets criticized for most - and what he does best - is opening his mouth. It might be the "Cowboy up" thing, or "Yee-haw, Jack Daniels", or whatever... But Kevin Millar was the first player to jump up and defend his teammate - a teammate of his for a very short time, I might add.
"Can you guys give Renteria a break?" Millar told a group of reporters, asking them at one point to "get on me" to take some of the heat off his teammate. "I suck. I'm not a good player. He is." Do you think A-Rod would ever volunteer that sort of thing?
Millar added: "It's my job to speak the way I feel about Edgar Renteria. He's my teammate, he's my family member and I think he's a great player. Don't let eight years of greatness be overshadowed by six weeks of whatever you want to call it."
(a side note: "Curt in the car" called in to WEEI, after a skit busting Millar's rocks, to chime in with his two cents about the media in Boston. Interesting stuff.)
· On the topic of pitchers who use the computer alot, how about the story of the Cubs' Carlos Zambrano? Forget Tommy John, if this keeps up, Carlos is going to need Michael Dell surgery pretty soon.
· If you like the NBA, or even if you don't, read this piece on Dwyane Wade by Yahoo!'s Dan Wetzel: http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=dw-wade052305&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
Until later, enjoy your now.
One.
