- Back in the late 1990s, being a Chicago Cubs fan was exciting even if the Cubbies were suffering through another subpar season because Slammin’ Sammy Sosa was belting home runs at a record pace, doing his signature home run hop and blowing kisses to the dugout camera after every long ball. So why does it feel so empty, hollow, meaningless and pointless to see Sosa hitting his 600th career home run here in 2007 for the Texas Rangers, reaching a mark that only four other players (Bar-roid Bonds, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth and Willie Mays) have reached? Oh yeah, it’s because along with those great memories of Sosa, we also have memories of him spraying the contents of a corked bat all over the field a couple years ago against Tampa Bay, of him pretending to forget how to speak English when in a hearing before Congress on the steroid problem in baseball and claiming he would be the first in line to take a steroid test if they were mandated then backing out when Sports Illustrated columnist Rick Reilly challenged him to go and get a test done at a lab. Plus, the fact that back in 2005 Sosa made a total mockery of himself, barely hitting .200 for the Baltimore Orioles, unable to catch up with big league fastballs and a defensive liability in the outfield doesn’t help either. In 2006, all he got in the way of a contract offer from an MLB team was a non-guaranteed deal from the lowly Washington Nationals, which Sosa rejected and then sulked off to supposed retirement. Yet here he is in 2007, making a comeback with the Rangers, putting up better-than-average numbers and getting the 12 homers he needed to join the 600 club. Still, I couldn’t care less because I (like any other baseball fan with a working brain) no longer see Sosa as the happy, bubbly, friendly Dominican hero belting massive home runs; I now see him as a mostly washed-up, aging slugger concerned with little more than reaching personal milestones in the hopes of winning a spot in the Hall of Fame, efforts that most likely have been fueled by performance-enhancing drugs and corked bats. Hit all the home runs you want, Sammy, you’re just not a relevant or captivating figure anymore.
- You all know by now that I’ve become a fast fan of the new ABC drama Traveler. So far it’s made my summer TV watching much better of an experience, so it bums me out that for the first time after watching one of the four episodes so far, I have to admit that last night’s episode was OK, but not all that great in retrospect. Much of the episode centered around the show’s title character, Will Traveler, who we were led to believe was dead from the start of the pilot episode until the end of last week’s show. Will spent the bulk of last night’s show being interrogated by Stephanie Niznik (yes, Nina Feeney from Everwood, woo hoo!), and if that had been done well, it would have made for an awesome episode. Unfortunately, there is minimal physical torture (always a staple of a good interrogation sequence), Will breaks down far too easily and tells the truth far too readily for someone who is supposedly a trained espionage agent and in the end, he kills Niznik’s character after an uber-short, simplistic fight, which is a major buzz kill for the drama they were trying to create. Also, the show’s producers and writers are really starting to overextend this whole “Will hid passports, guns, money and other resources at a whole bunch of places” gig - first the library study carrel at Yale, then the key with his girlfriend, the painting he stole from the Drexler Museum (location undetermined), the money, passports and gun in the storage locker at the library in Boston, the boat in Maine, etc. It’s nice to weave some details and complexity into the plot, but c’mon guys, it still has to be at least mildly plausible. But again, there was the same hectic pace to the show that makes it so fun to watch and enough drama that I wasn’t totally disappointed, so all in all still a halfway decent episode. I’ll be back next week, that’s for sure.
- Making a factual, documentary-style film for distribution into the same theaters where Ocean’s Thirteen and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End is a ballsy, difficult move. You go in knowing that your film isn't going to make tons of money simply because the majority of moviegoers aren't going to the theater to be informed about the deplorable state of the health care system in America, as Michael Moore’s new film Sicko focuses on. That being said, I like what I’ve seen so far from the previews of this movie because it looks to have the same irreverent, give-the-middle-finger-to-the-establishment vibe that all of Moore’s films have. To be truthful, I have a soft spot for M. Moore because he and I share an outright loathing for the worst president in U.S. history, W., but that doesn’t mean that Sicko isn't a good picture. If someone is willing to spend an entire major film budget on the health care crisis in America, then you have to respect their efforts to champion a cause that most people are content to ignore and wouldn’t even spend ten minutes discussing, let alone make a motion picture about it. So maybe after you’ve seen Pirates, Ocean’s Thirteen, Spiderman 3 and Bourne Ultimatum on various dates and with your friends, carve out a few hours to make a solo trip to the theater and see Sicko, it should be worth your effort.
- I’m not/I don’t ___________________, but I _____________________. That sentence pretty much describes the efforts of anyone who attempts to defend racist, sexist or otherwise indefensible behavior. You know, like, “I’m not a racist, but -”, or “I don’t have a problem with women, but -” are words you hear flying out of someone’s pie hole when he or she is about to make a racist of sexist statement. So it’s not a good sign that University of Oklahoma football coach Bob Stoops finds himself using that very rationale to defend his involvement in what authorities are now investigating as a possible pyramid scheme. “I didn’t see this as a money making opportunity…in total, I think I helped five or six other people sign up, all of whom are close personal friends or family members. As far as I know, the business is legitimate and I am not a founder, developer or owner of the company, but simply a person who bought in to have the ability to download music.” Stoops explained. Umm, Bob-O, I think you’re a great football coach and you seem like a good guy, but bro, what you just described sounds exactly like a pyramid scheme. The very central theme of pyramid schemes is that you get pulled in and then you recruit five or ten other people you know to get involved and so on. Your defense that you just wanted to download some tunes and thought there was nothing amiss doesn’t fly. Haven’t you ever heard of iTunes or Napster? Is the concept of setting up an account at the iTunes store using a credit card that far over your head? C’mon Stoops, you make pressure-packed decisions in big-time games with hundreds of thousands of people watching, but you get fooled by a pyramid scheme and then won't admit that it is a pyramid scheme? You can do better than that.
- When retirees move to Florida, generally they hope to lead a relaxing, leisurely life of golf, flea market shopping and hitting the early bird special at Bob’s Big Boy. They do not, however, expect to have “Strangle a Rabid Bobcat” as something on their daily to-do list. Dale Rippy, a 62-year-old Vietnam vet, found himself in this most unique position Tuesday. Rippy was on the front porch at his home in Wesley Chapel, Fla. when a rabid 25-pound bobcat attacked him, scratching and clawing at Rippy and attempting to bite him. Rippy waited until he could get the necessary opening to attack, at which point he seized the crazed animal by the throat and choked it out. “If that cat had attacked a child, it would’ve been really bad,” Rippy said, explaining why he made such an effort to stop the bobcat’s attack. “It wouldn’t quit.” In the end, Rippy was treated for exposure to rabies as well as several bites and cuts, but otherwise he’s doing fine. Heck, I’m so impressed by his actions that I may buy him a couple pairs of those hideously huge wraparound sunglasses that seniors in Florida love so much and buy him an extra side of ribs at the next early bird special.
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