Outfield Chatter

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Attending sporting events is quickly becoming a thing of the past. Why leave your big screen HD TV to pay $15 or more for a ticket and equally as much for food? You can cozy up on your couch, watch the game, eat pizza, and stare at your fantasy team as it goes 0-24 on your laptop. 


Well last night I was reminded just how great attending a baseball game can be. Sometimes I'm hesitant to pay for the trouble of attending Cardinal games. After all, baseball can be a mixed bag of excitement, or lets be honest, plain boredom at times. Its tempting for me to stay home and yell at Jason Heyward for going 0-4 ... again. I don't have that temptation during hockey season. To me, hockey is all action all the time (besides those pesky 17 minute intermissions). When you attend a hockey game, you're so caught up in the gameplay, sometimes you forget that you actually came with friends. Baseball on the other hand is basically a social gathering. Talking with people can be most of the fun; oh and baseball is being played in the background. 


Tuesday night sitting in the outfield bleacher seats at Busch Stadium proved to be great not only cause of a 4-0 victory, but because of some great conversations. They eventually led to many questions, most of which you've probably asked yourself before, but they still need answers.

For the Love of Castro!



I found the semi-recent Ozzie Guillen/Fidel Castro storyline quite laughable. Some pundits said the MLB's suspension may have violated Ozzie Guillen's First Amendment rights. Others sports' experts thought he wasn't punished harshly enough. Personally, my thoughts gravitated towards Guillen's complete (and in my opinion humorous) obliviousness towards his situation.

He didn't realize he was managing in a city with a huge population of Cuban immigrants, who generally hate Castro? That his words would be published and dissected by every sports writer, broadcaster, and talk show host in the country? That using the words 'love' and any dictator's name in the same sentence is generally frowned upon in "Amuricah"?

Eventually, I began to wonder at what point in his verbal quagmire would Guillen have avoided suspension? If he had said he loved apple pie? Chevrolet? Baseball? Then I just thought of stuff that Ozzie should have replaced Castro with within the sentence "I love Castro". Then my mind further wandered to things that would have gotten ole Ozzie in to further trouble.

Rapid Fire: 5 Easy Bullets of Yesterday's Happenings

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/

Sleep through yesterday? That's weird. Here's what you missed:

• Devil's beat the Rangers 4-1 thanks to Zach Parise's 2 goal and an assist performance. The soon to be UFA helped tie the series 2-2. 
• Rupp was rude. 
• Pete DeBoer isn't the media. Meaning, John Tortorella said more than one word to him when things got nasty between benches.
• Pete DeBoer looks like Kevin Spacey in Se7en. 
• The Thunder eliminated the Lakers in 5, despite 42 pts from Kobe.
• Kobe's running out of time to catch Michael. 
• Russell Westbrook did this. Cool bro. 
• My friends and I are of the opinion Russell Westbrook looks like a frog.
• The Celtic's beat the 76ers 101-85, and are up 3-2 in the series. 
• Think they have a shot to beat the Heat (assuming they advance)? 
• Someone lit a fire under Brandon's Bass. He had a team high 27 pts.
• Rondo had 14 assists, he's a crazy good passer. 
• Kevin Garnett looks (and acts) like Venom to me.  

• Stan Van Gundy was finally fired. Magic GM Otis Smith got the axe as well.
• Coaching Dwight Howard and the Magic these past years must have felt like purgatory for Stan. I imagine he's not too upset to be gone. 
• I know nothing about Otis Smith, except for that I heard a halftime interview with him once. He's pretty charismatic, and wears cool glasses. I can only assume they're from Malaysia. 
• I had to google Stan Van Gundy look-a-likes. This is what I got. Don't judge me. 
• The Dodgers and Red Sox have each won 8 of their last 10. 
• Yet the Dodgers are first in their division, while the Red Sox are tied for last in theirs. 
• The Dodgers look like a playoff contender. They do have arguably the best pitcher, and hitter in the game. 
•  The Red Sox look like they're paying $173 million for a lot of disappointment. Again. 

Your Guide to ESPN Personalities

yardbarker.com

Summer is here, yo. I don’t know how many people who read this are actually employed, be it a full-time job or a few hours/week just to make mom and pop happy; but if you’re like me, summer equals unceasing unproductiveness. (Not to suggest I’m an assembly line of productivity during the school year). A few things usually occur during this elongated period of procrastination: I tempt the carpal tunnel gods with extensive nhl/fifa play, consume enough Qdoba to fund the national chain, and watch a heck of a lot of ESPN.

Naturally, watching ESPN so much you begin to gravitate towards certain personalities and look forward to particular analysts. (If you’re a hockey fan waiting for Barry Melrose, this is probably you more often than not). 

However with the good comes the bad. Before you begin your ESPN summer binge, here’s your guide of ESPN personalities to avoid:

Top Ten... Ish Movies of 2011

Really personal opinion and there were still a few a movies I wanted to see (My Week with Marylin, Albert Nobbs, A Separation, just to name a few) but I did see around 30 movies that came out this year and I think that's pretty good.

11. The Rise of the Planet of the Apes - I was intrigued. Serkis deserves some sort of honorary Oscar or something. The work he does is borderline brilliance. Franco was bland at times, but I didn't think it hurt the film. And the story line was really accessible to current day with the Alzheimer's storyline. I know that science fiction isn't a very artsy genre but the work done in this movie deserves recognition. While the main actor was a CGI ape, I never lost interest. That has to mean some sort of good work was done, right?

2012 Oscars Picks and Predictions

Greetings one and all. I've been to the movies more this past year than in any other year in my life. Why? I'm not entirely sure. I've always loved movies but strongly disliked going to the movies. Strange? Yes. Anyways, basically I've seen my fair share of films from the past year and have enjoyed many good films. However, I didn't LOVE anything. I thought the year was full of some very solid films but nothing really blew my mind. I wanted to preface my analysis and picks with that thought because I definitely don't have a "cause" that I am rooting for this year (like I did with Inception last year).

Without further ado, picks and commentary on the categories I can actual speak about without embarrassing myself.

World Series Game 2 Diary: St. Louis Cardinals vs. Texas Rangers

6:27 - Put a cheeseburger pizza in the oven. It's gonna be a good night. The girlfriend is also in attendance on the basement couch for tonight's game. Hopefully, this doesn't throw off the loner karma that worked so well for the Cards in Game 1.

World Series Game 1 Diary: St. Louis Cardinals vs. Texas Rangers

6:45 - The story has been repeated over and over. Improbable September comeback. Improbable post season wins, etc, etc. This diary will be heavily biased in favor of the Cardinals, just as a head's up. A. I can't believe I'm here, watching the World Series with my favor team in the world about to play. B. My initial reactions to playing Texas in the Series were definitely very middle of the road. I didn't think we'd kill them and I didn't think they'd kill us. I guess we'll see...

The Agony That Will Belong to the Aggies

Before I start this rant, let us establish a few statements first.

1. Every movement by a college to another conference in the last couple years is entirely motivated by football. This is because every Division I school that has a football team receives more revenue from said football team than any other sport.

2. Just because a school is moving to another conference, doesn't mean that school is any more or less important than it was before said move.

3. There are only about ten or so schools who really matter when it comes to football. I would say some of those are (in no particular order)Texas, Notre Dame, USC, Oklahoma, Ohio State, Penn State, Florida, and Michigan. (You may or may not agree with this entirely, but a part of it is true. Don't get hung up on this point too much.)

I set these points up so I can bash Texas A & M.

A Cinematic Top Ten... Er Seven: Christopher Nolan Edition

I have found in my cinematic travels through Middle Earth, Oz, and beyond that I thoroughly enjoy movies with ambiguity amongst the protagonists and antagonists. At times, this confusion bleeds into moral ambiguity. I prefer the former over the ladder, because discussions of morality get too intense and off the point. I like when traditional "bad" or "good" characters are not necessarily as they seem.

The example I most often use to illustrate this point is one of my top, if not favorite, characters in film history: Hannibal Lector. He is obviously a deplorable human being full of violence, cannibalism, and severe psychological problems. But in the Silence of the Lambs, he acts as a guide for the protagonist, though with heavy pseudo-sexual overtones that not only confuses Clarice Starling, but the audience as well. While he is disgusting and horrific, he is still an essential piece in finding and killing Buffalo Bill, a serial killer on the loose. Hence the protagonist/antagonist line blur.