And this week has the potential of being totally emotionally draining. Because, coming up on Saturday, it's my 10-year high school reunion. Honestly, I don't know what the thing with me and age is, but I don't like the fact that I'm getting old(er). Next weekend I celebrate my 28th birthday, another glaring reminder that 30 is right around the corner. But, I'm sure I'll have some great stories next Monday coming out of my reunion. There's always the incredibly gorgeous popular girl who has hit hard times, the nerdy guy who all the women want to cling to (which would be me, but I was never the nerdy guy... just the guy all the women wanted to cling to), and there's going to be a band!
Thank You, Lou!
My first topic for today's post was going to be an open-letter to Devil Rays manager Lou Piniella, appealing him to say something in public that would rally support around him and the team against Rays management. Lou is really the only one in the entire organization that has any pull with the public, as the general public probably has no clue who many players on the roster even are and has utter disdain for current general partner Vince Naimoli.
Lou came to Tampa, his hometown, to lead this team under false pretenses. He was told when he took the helm that the purse-pinching attitude that the D-Rays have followed after their failed "Hit Show" experiment (when they signed big name veterans to contracts, just to finish in last). And it wasn't even that Lou was promised that the Rays would go from last in the league in payroll to dropping $100-200 million like the Sox and Yankees. It was just moderate progress over the term of tenure, possibly moving from the high $20s to maybe the low $40s. This would put them in the league of big spending clubs like THE ROYALS! But no, the Rays continued to strip payroll with their constant promise of great young players developing down in the minors. Always the one thing that I hate about baseball and hockey... If your team stinks, they'll always claim that there's promise in their prospects in the minors. Always giving you hope that there's a bright future right around the corner (and yes, I was a Cubs fan prior to moving here, so I've been through this for years).
The Rays are coming off a horrible three-week road trip where they won only two games. They scored 55 runs in the twelve games outside of the Trop (4.5/game), and they gave up 103 (8.6/game). Not to mention the blown opportunities, such as yesterday where they give up a game-tying home run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth (but they took the game in 13 innings). And then there's poor Lou after every game trying to rationalize yet another loss.
So, as I was thinking of arguments to write on behalf of Lou, he goes out yesterday prior to their game against the Pirates and blasts the current ownership. The fact of the matter is that Lou is done at the end of this season, so it's a matter of if he goes on his own terms or if he's pushed aside. George Steinbrenner's up in New York salivating over the opportunity to put in a tempestuous personality which he believes could perk up his stagnant Yankees, so it's not like Sweet Lou is going to fall on hard times if he's no longer the D-Rays manager. And while I think his quote kind of throws his own players under the bus, he firmly points the fingers at the current ownership. The miserly Vince Naimoli (who is the managing partner while owning only 15% of the team), and the seemingly disinterested majority shareholder Stu Steinberg. The Bay Area totally knows about bad ownership, as they had to deal with fifteen years of Hugh Culverhouse over the Bucs. But see what a change can do. These people don't change... Just look at The Bidwells, owners of the Arizona Cardinals, and Donald Sterling of the LA Clippers. No matter how bad they are, no matter the lack of fan support, they're not going to put any resources into their clubs because it's like a business to them. Hopefully, this will galvanize the team and the community around Lou but, as there's an article in today's St. Petersburg Times which pretty much states that the only recourse that the team has is to fire Lou now, stating that he's been picking at management in an attempt to get himself fired. I think that if Lou wanted out that badly, he'd step aside knowing full well that the baseball community would understand. No, I think that he's doing this intentionally to shame ownership into making some changes. Will it work?! Well, it's doubtful but I applaud Lou for putting himself out on the line like that.
Movie Review
Mr. & Mrs. Smith (Three Owls Out of Five)
OK, I didn't buy into the Brad and Angelina hype around this movie. If Brad dumped cutie Jennifer Anniston for Angelina Jolie, that's his business and means that Jennifer Anniston's back on the market. But the movie actually looked, from the previews, that it would be fun and the critics were drooling all over themselves in their reviews. So, I thought I would check it out... Seems like the critics bought into the hype or maybe were watching a different movie, because I sure didn't see it.
I think this sometimes happens with critics. They either get caught up in the hype, or give make-up reviews (kind of like in sports you'll hear someone comment that the referees gave a make-up call, where they're making up for something they missed earlier). Most say that the on-screen chemistry between Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie was electric; to me it was about as magnetic as Arnold and Jamie Lee in True Lies. One said that the final car chase is one of the best sequences in recent memory, so when the credits popped up at the end of the movie I thought I might have missed it (the one they must have been referring to wasn't that great). In other words, I just don't get what the critics saw so I'll tell you what I saw. The movie progresses very slowly, there's often big gaps in the action, the plotline is mumbled, and really the only good thing in there is Vince Vaughn's character (who's barely in the movie). Admittedly, I don't see what the big deal is with Angelina Jolie. She's all right, but I remember seeing her in Tomb Raider wondering why the producers couldn't find someone hotter to play Lara Croft. Both her and Brad Pitt had their funny moments, but all in all, this is getting way too much hype because of the alleged off-screen romance between them which just doesn't match what this movie has to offer.
Speaking of too much hype, it makes me weary of the whole Tom Cruise/Katie Holmes thing. I'd almost tune out of their films if they weren't Batman and Steven Spielberg adapting War of the Worlds (one of the trailers before Mr. & Mrs. Smith that looked really good).
Random Thoughts
- Well, I got to check out some new music over the last week. First, I got the new White Stripes CD, Get Behind Me Satan, as an early birthday present from my friend. Really good, but it kind of strays from their last two mainstream albums. While current hit Blue Orchid is more along the lines of White Blood Cells, most of the album follows the more folk sound of the latter tracks on Elephant. My favorite album, after briefly referencing it last week, was Paul Anka's Rock Swings. I mean, he totally turns tracks that I love, like "Blackhole Sun" and "Smells Like Teen Spirit" around to make me love them more, and can even make songs like Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger" tolerable. Definitely a pick up for anyone who can appreciate a mixture of different music genres. I also have gotten to hear most, but not all, of Coldplay's newest X&Y. Again, a great album and totally Coldplay. I just love the current mainstream music scene at the moment as it "seems" more artistic and less corporate (like the boy band and bubblegum pop era of a couple years ago).
- This week, I'm going back to the world of broadcast journalism for my "Woman I'd Stalk If I Weren't So Lazy". This week, the "honor" goes to yummy CNN anchor Veronica De La Cruz. I honestly had never seen her until her stint on CNN Headline News last night, and she was that cute (I don't really like her hair in their picture, as she has grown it out). I don't have much to add for her since I only saw her for the first time last night, other than that Atlanta's not that far Veronica, so if you'd like to stalk me feel free to contact me, in care of AOwL.com.
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