Unleashing the Gumbel, and other mid-week tirades
I had to squeeze in time this week to address a couple sore points that have come up in the news this week...First, a note to Bryant Gumbel--- Keep up the good work. If the NFL Network, the longest step to date towards all pay-per-view sporting events on television, is going to be operated as if by the whim of Kim Jung Il, then you didn't want the job anyway.
Despite what we've learned from nearly all other professional football broadcasters in America, these commentators are not intended to be publicists for the league. In no other sport, save for college basketball and football, do the network announcers so shamelessly bow to the authority of the league office.
The NFL will be sending a great message if they can Gumbel: Gene Upshaw is not the commissioner's "personal pet," but we're axing a broadcaster because we couldn't put him on a chain.
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Call me humorless but I don't feel the slightest amount of populist charm emanating from this whole "Snakes on a Plane" phenomenon. Gratefully, the nation's general populace doesn't seem too drawn in by the hype either. There's nothing funny about the pathetic quality of movies coming out of studio and corporate Hollywood, and I, for one, don't plan to reward the particular audacity of this production for its attempt to prove how much utter bullshit we'll pay to watch.
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I respect Joe Lieberman's right to run as an Independent candidate for Senate in Connecticut. After all, it will deliver in even greater anti-war and anti-incumbency message when he goes down in flames a second time, but the corporate Democrats who have hijacked their party need to get it through their thick skulls that GOP Joe is no longer a member of the party. He ceased to be when he announced his contingent candidacy plan. That means: strip him of his committee assignments in the Senate at once. Last week. You know Hillary Clinton is privately hoping that Lieberman wins. That's why she'll only meet with Ned Lamont in her home state. Her gang in Washington is hoping a Lieberman comeback would provide media cover for all the Democrats who tanked it with their war vote, and help wash away much of that anti-incumbency sentiment.
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And finally, on a day he drove in seven runs, word that Albert Pujols has proven himself equal to the Babe-- in the realm of science.
Money quote:
"GQ writer Nate Penn took the (neuropsychology) tests the day before Pujols did. Penn thought that some of the skills he has developed as a writer would give him an edge over the baseball player on certain tasks. He did manage to get the better of Pujols on one test, in which the men had to convert a series of numbers into symbols. But when asked simply to copy the symbols, Pujols left everyone else in the dust. He replicated 133 symbols in a minute. It's a testament to his excellent hand-eye coordination. No one else performs at that level. Literally no one. The test makers don't even list a score that high."
This is an endorsement as well for baseball players as terrific physical and cognizant talents, and the extraordinary gifts necessary to excel. All ballplayers are not David Wells.
posted by CM @ 8:25 PM
1 Comments:
Yeah, but you have to consider the fact that Babe was probably drunk or at least fighting a hangover when he took those tests.
Great pickup by the Cardinals. Of course, Vizcaino blew his wad in his first game. He matched his (and Eckstein's) season HR total by hitting one in his debut. But, at least his 1-for-5 was in line with his .210 average this year.
Be careful, you don't want to pick up too many ex-Cubs. You know the rule that the team with the most ex-Cubs will lose the WS. Of course, maybe I should be providing that warning to the Reds instead of the Cards.
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