- Televising poker, spelling bees and dog shows used to be the indisputably worst ideas for programming that ESPN had. They still are, but there’s another competitor in the race for the network’s worst show: ESPN’s coverage of the 2007 Major League Baseball Draft. This is the first year that ESPN has televised the MLB Draft and the decision was based at least in part on the unbridled success the network has every year for the NFL Draft. Problem is, the NFL Draft and the MLB Draft are two very different entities. The NFL Draft is stocked with hundreds of college players who fans know well based on the fact that college football is one of the biggest sports in this country. Additionally, the players drafted by NFL teams are immediately a member of that team and on its roster, meaning many of them will be on the field and making an impact the very next season. By contrast, MLB draftees are all headed off to the minors where they will have to work their way through four levels (Rookie, Single-A, Double-A, Triple-A) and won't be heard from for at least 2-3 years at a bare minimum. Also, college baseball is one of the most completely obscure sports in America, receiving virtually no attention for sports fans at all. That means college baseball players are unknowns to even dedicated baseball fans, so no one cares when they’re drafted. Oh, and did I mention that the NFL Draft is seven rounds, whereas the MLB Draft has more than 70 rounds? Yeah, let me know how many of you are interested in something that monstrously long. ESPN isn't televising the entire MLB Draft, but televising even one hour of it is a waste of time.
- It would be much easier to side with NASA employees who are protesting new security checks that require them to submit to extensive background checks if I didn’t have the image of a certain NASA employee driving halfway across the country wearing an adult diaper to attempt a kidnapping of another astronaut in a love triangle gone bad plot. Employees at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and other NASA centers are now being made to undergo background checks in order to gain access to buildings and computers, a mandate that has caused dissatisfaction with many longtime NASA employees who wonder why all of a sudden they are subjected to this kind of scrutiny. The new measures are the result of an executive order signed by W. a couple of years ago that requires government agencies and contractors to beef up security. Federal workers and contractors must fill out an online security form, with the depth of the information required varying based on the sensitivity and rank of their job. There’s no bigger opponent of The Man sticking his nose in where it doesn’t belong and intruding on the lives of average citizens, but I don’t think NASA employees have much of an argument here. Again, you all did have one of your own, Lisa Marie Nowak, go bonkers and strap on an adult diaper, pack a lead pipe, mace spray and a knife and drive from Houston to Orlando in an attempted kidnapping/murder plot of a fellow astronaut, so you all should be thankful that you’re not being forced to undergo detailed, thorough psychological examinations in addition to background checks. So shut your mouths and be grateful that this is all you’re being made to do.
- In the immigration business, it’s all about striking a balance. You screw some people over, you help others. You piss off some groups, others you make happy through the laws and guidelines you enact. So while many conservative members of Congress are pissed at the W. administration’s newly-agreed-upon policy to send illegal immigrants back to Mexico with a $5,000 fine and the prospect of being able to apply for citizenship a year later, this development should salve some of those wounds. Visas for 22 Costa Rican officials have been canceled by the United States amidst allegations that the officials have been selling visa stamps to Costa Rican citizens so they could stay in the U.S. longer than they were supposed to without getting caught. The officials in question worked as inspectors in the international airport in Costa Rica’s capital city of San Jose. So yes, the new bill relating to Mexican immigrants may be seen as extending a hand to illegal immigrants who break the law and sneak into our country, but on the flip side we are administering a swift kick in the ass to other illegals in the country, so it’s not all bad news on the immigration front.
- Another episode of the ABC series Traveler aired last night, the third in the show’s first season. Overall it was a good episode, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out a couple of things about the show that need fixed if it’s going to be successful in the long run. Again, I like the show and I think its fast, frenetic pace keeps things interesting, as do two main characters (played by Matthew Bomer and Logan Marshall-Green) that you care about. However, in its short run to this point, Traveler has shown a bad tendency to have its protagonists come face to face with the police and FBI agents chasing them, yet escape through remarkably fortuitous circumstances. Put simply, there are only so many close-call escapes you can see characters make from trained law enforcement professionals before those escapes stop becoming plausible. Also, if you keep setting up these impossible situations that your main characters escape from every week, the audience is going to become desensitized to them quickly. A smaller, less important quibble with the show is the weird distorted-graphics, blending colors transitions that signal the end of a segment and an oncoming commercial break. That’s just an awkward and disorienting way to enter every commercial break. But on the whole, the show’s creators and writers are doing a good job of slowly and steadily revealing clues and twists, building your interest in the plot but still keeping you thinking and guessing as to what will happen next. Also (SPOILER ALERT) at the end of Episode Three, we got a shocking revelation, that Will Traveler, the character assumed dead and believed to be framing the other two main characters for the terrorist attack at a museum in New York City that set up the whole premise for the series. So far, Traveler continues to be the one worthwhile new series on TV this summer, so I’m going to continue to encourage you to tune in Wednesday nights at 10 p.m.
- As a staunchly anti-Iraq war individual, I tend to sympathize with likeminded individuals when they voice their dissent for the debacle that our idiotic leader W. has made over in the Middle East. However, I never have and never will be able to get with people who don’t support the individuals in our military and use their deaths and injuries as a means to advance an agenda. I may think our troops should be nowhere near Iraq and that every death or injury they sustain there is totally unnecessary and tragic, but I still hope and pray that each of our soldiers comes home safely. I most definitely don’t engage in activities like a Kansas group that has been protesting the war at soldiers’ funerals and one of whose members, Shirley Phelps-Roper, 49, has been arrested for allowing her 10-year-old son stomp on the American flag at a demonstration in Omaha, Neb. The protesting at soldiers’ funerals is far more offensive than the flag stomping, to be honest, but exactly what does it show your 10-year-old son to have him stomp on the American flag? Do you think your son gets out of that experience, Shirley? Do you honestly believe he grasps the true nature of the war and the politics thereof? I really doubt it, and if you can't understand that kind of thing, you shouldn’t be stomping on the flag to protest the war. Now if you’re an adult who is informed and understands the situation and wants to stomp the flag to protest the war, then I’ll listen to your argument. Best of all, though, is that Phelps-Roper openly identifies herself as a member of Westboro Baptist Church in Omaha. Yes, it’s clear she knows her Bible well and is following God’s commands to love others, support those in positions of authority and show kindness even to those who treat her poorly. Way to show the world what being a Christian is all about, Shirl!
- I’ve made it a point to avoid going to the symphony in my lifetime, mostly because I’m not a big fan of classical music or of the stuffy, formal atmosphere that pervades events like orchestral concerts. However, if I could be guaranteed that something like the following incident were to happen at a concert, I would change my stance and be a regular attendee of my local orchestra’s performances. At last month’s season-opening Boston Pops concerts, two men in the audience began brawling over the same thing that usually starts fights at concerts, movies, etc. - someone telling someone else to be quiet. Michael Hallam, 44, and Matthew Ellinger, 27, threw down when Ellinger tapped Hallam on the shoulder and told him to be quiet. They sniped back and forth before Hallam punched Ellinger, leading to a brawl in the balcony that: 1) was definitely more exciting than what was going on in the concert itself, and 2) got them ejected from the event. However, neither man will be facing criminal charges for the fight after both agreed to withdraw assault and battery claims against each other in a closed-door hearing earlier this week. I’m glad to see this result, because the last thing we need is to punish people who take decisive steps to add much-needed excitement and entertainment to a drab, stodgy, boring event like an orchestra concert. Good work guys, hope that you’re in the crowd if I’m ever forced to attend an orchestra concert or a ballet recital..............
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