How Awkward Was It For Joe Buck

to read promos for the chevy malibu during last night's game?

In Appreciation Of The Phillie Phanatic

i am torn about this world series. on one hand, i DO NOT want to see the red sox win because i am sick (read: jealous) of boston and their sports success, but on the other hand, its not the red sox themselves that i hate, its the bostonians i have ire for. i also want to see BOTH the rockies AND their fans suffer as much as possible, so this puts me in a baseball conundrum: who do i root for? i should also add that as much as i hate red sox, and boston fans for that matter, i know that they are good fans...some of the best sports fans in the whole country, and i respect them for that. now i am really confused!

this summer i saw my fist baseball game at fenway park. for any baseball fan, visiting fenway park is like visiting a holy shrine. it was amazing to have seen a game there. it was an eye opening experience, not only into how baseball is played at fenway, but it was a new window into the pathology of the red sox fan. you people are nuts!!! but you are good sports fans, i gotta give you that.

seeing a game at fenway is like seeing a game nowhere else. seeing games at CBP is great. phillies fans are good baseball fans, but we aren't anywhere on the level of a game at fenway. sure, we are unique and have our own philly style which totally rocks and i wouldn't trade it for anything, but boston fans at a game in fenway are like nothing else. BUT, the one thing where we totally kick their ass is:

THE PHILLIE PHANATIC.

the phanatic rules. he is the best. no one can beat him. hell, no one can even touch him. the phillie phanatic is in a league all to his own. and he is ours! no one else may understand him, but we do. the phanatic is our fenway park. he is the totally unique thing you get when you see a philies game. that can't be manufactured (well, granted he is a mascot who was manufactured, but you know what i mean). you can't manufacture fenway and you can't manufacture the phanatic.

my thoughts turned to the phanatic this evening during the world series. somewhere around the 6th or 7th inning, fox cut to the crowd and there was some green blob (i am assuming he was some sort of "green monster") with his hand on some dude's shoulder trying to pump the crowd up. the only problem was, this dude had a look on his face that said "what is this...thing...and what is it doing with its hand on my shoulder?" when i saw that i thought to myself, "what, is this guy nuts? if the phanatic had his hand on MY shoulder at a pivotal part of a world series game, i would be going ape-shit! that would be the greatest honor one could bestow on me in CBP!" this is how much i love the phanatic: i want him at my funeral. i feel we are cut of the same mold, me and the phanatic. we share the same sense of humor me and him. i feel he is my intellectual equal :)

now, this MAY be because i had a phanatic growth chart in my room growing up, or it could just be a coincidence. you decide.

If You Have 30 Minutes Or So To Spare...

...check out the dark star from 8/27/72. there is something about the way this is filmed...i can't quite put my finger on what it is...but the music and the setting and the cinematography all seem to mesh into one. as one youtube commenter put it, "WOW! This is so tranquilo! It is in itself mood altering and the setting and nature are in harmony with the music".

I Thought You Would Be Stronger Than That, New York

so this weekend was the first cool, crisp weekend of fall. i like fall. i find the change in the weather energizing. i like being outside whent here is a little chill to the air. new york, however, does not seem to share my enthusiasm for cooler temperatures.

i was shocked to see some of the outfits i saw this weekend. down coats. ugg (ug!) boots. scarves. gloves. hats (well, i will let the hats slide. i wore wool hat this weekend, but with good reason. i have no hair and my head gets really, really cold. but a wool hat was all i needed. on saturday i went out in a t-shirt, blazer, and wool hat and was plenty warm. yes, i was wearing pants and shoes too.). my point is, if people act like it is overly cold now, when its not, how are they going to act when it actually gets cold? you need to prepare yourself people. cold is a state of mind. enjoy it.

i was also disappointed with the amount of people on the streets this weekend. again, it really wans't that cold. thea was sticking with he hibernation theory, which could explain it. i hope it was just an adjustment weekend. i hope that if it is a little chilly next weekend, people won't overreact, go out, and just take the season in stride. i hope.

i expect this kind of behavior from people in dc. i thought you were tougher than that, new york. maybe this city has lost its edge...

"The Wire" Is Back

HBO recently decided to add "the wire" to its list of shows being shown OnDemand as a way to lead up to its final season, season 5.

anyone who knows me in the slightest should be aware to the degree of admiration i hold for "the wire". i don't just think its the best show on TV, i think it is the best show on TV ever. no other show has even come close. "the sopranos" wishes it could be the wire.

"the wire also seems to have a strange effect on people. i recently read a comment on a blog that said:

The Wire is paradigmatic of a critical darling – few people watch it (at least in the numbers typical of commercial television), but it generates adoration and evangelism by nearly all who do. Television critics have taken it upon themselves to lobby their readers to give the show a chance, asking reluctant viewers to overlook its dark and cynical worldview to see the truth and beauty offered by its searing vision into the bleak heart of the American city. Thankfully for us scattered fans, HBO has allowed the show to continue for five seasons, even without a clear sense that the show’s dedicated fandom leads to overt profitability.

this statement couldn't be more true about "the wire". hardly anyone watches it, yet all who do come in contact with it are deeply effected to the point where we feel the need to evangelize about it to everyone we know. even bill simmons got into the act. he said:

Within 10 minutes, we were hooked. We ended up banging out three episodes the first night and another three the second night. Then our cable system switched to a new provider ... and all the Season 1 episodes disappeared into thin air. Now we were scrambling. None of the video stores around us had Season 1 in stock. I ended up ordering Season 1 online (two-day delivery courtesy of Amazon Prime), but we were so hooked on the show that when someone returned Season 1 to our video store, we rented the last three discs that same night. We banged out the last seven episodes in two nights before the DVD was even delivered. That's how hooked we were.

thats how i was when i discovered "the wire". i couldn't stop watching. and now that it is back OnDemand, i have started watching again, but this time in preparation for season 5. i want to watch it all again.

i watched season 1, episodes 1 & 2 again this week. from the moment we meet mcnulty in the opening scene talking about why boogie-snot was killed you are instantly drawn into the complex world of the bal'more city po-lice, the corner boys, and the game. it is attention to detail that makes "the wire" so spectacular. you notice things like each individual character's cadence and accent, the way they dress, how they act, what their job/role in society is, their moral shortcomings, and their strengths. you meet some truly interesting folk along the way, each character, no matter how small or large of a role they play is infinately complex. names like mcnulty, rawls, bubbles, avon, stringer, omar, kima, bodie, poot, wee-bay, daniels, and herc start to sound like family names. you don't even meet some of the main characters until halfway through sometimes. marlo doesn't come around until season 3. same for bunny colvin and carcetti. omar hasn't shown up yet through 2 episodes of season 1.

there is simply no way to describe the wire, its something you not only have to see, but to experience for yourself. fortunately, HBO is making this all possible. now through the end of the year you can catch up on seasons 1-4 before season 5 debuts. season 1 is showing now through the end of october. take a watch and tell me if you aren't hooked.

Is It Possible For One Man To Be This Wrong?

"I made my arguments and went down in flames. History will prove me right." -- Texas Rangers owner George W. Bush after voting against realignment and a new wild-card system during a Major League Baseball owners meeting in September 1993. Bush was the lone dissenter in a 27-1 vote (from espn.com).

seriously. this is where both al gore and john kerry missed the boat. had either of them run an ad attacking bush for this moronic statement, he would have lost in a landslide, which again raises the point, has bush ever been right about anything? lets not forget he is the guy who traded sammy sosa too.

what a moron.

The Good News?

i don't think the past, present and future MVP's (howard, rollins, and utley) will go a combined 0-11 with 8 strikeouts again.