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A Sponsor that Would Embrace A-Rod
2008-07-07 20:03
by Scott Long

About 5 years back, I bought an Alex Rodriguez baseball glove for my soon to be newborn daughter. Now that she is finally old enough to really wear it comfortably, I'm not sure I made the right purchase. Actually, the glove Alex should be pimping out is not made by Rawlings, but by Trojan.

 

 

Untitled

 

Looking at it more closely, his name across this coney island whitefish would fit nicely. I mean, A ROD is pretty fitting, don't you think? Considering I pushed the idea of Trojan being a sponsor on Dick Trickle's NASCAR hood, I'm hoping that this time the perfect synergy between the 2 will actually come together. Well, maybe come together isn't the best description, but I think you get where I'm coming from.

 

 

 

 

 

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I wonder if Madonna will do a cover of this classic tune.

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In my MLB preview, I spotlighted how the biggest key in baseball now is the bullpen. Here is a few comments.

The Indians are the best team in baseball...except that they have decided to stick with Borowski to close out games. Time to move someone up or get someone to take care of that serious flaw.
The Tigers have a bunch of aging hitters coming off big, if not career years, and a pathetic bullpen. Does that scenario remind you of someone? (2007 White Sox). No team has a bigger high/low possibility than Detroit.
Last season the White Sox bullpen was as bad as a gets for about a 3 month stretch. Outside of Jenks, their pen was awful. One more starting pitcher and they could climb back into the Wild Card picture in 2008.
The Twins and A's seem to both be in a transitional phase, but they have enough pitching to be more competitive than expected.

Too many people are out ahead of the D-Rays, as their bullpen will continue to kill them. (Big F-ing oops on that one.)

I picked the Angels to beat the Red Sox because I felt they had the 2 best bullpens. I actually spent more time on this subject the following week after my predictions. Maybe this is a better way of explaining it to you. Coffee is for CLOSERS!

NOTE THAT the clip below IS NOT SAFE FOR WORK. Oh and remember, Always be Closing!

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By the way, if you enjoyed that Mamet epic, check this parody out. It is really inspired.

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While I'm putting up youtube videos, there is no truth that the Juice Blog's Will Carroll was the original instigator in the skirmish shown below, which happened during the Cubs and White Sox series. I believe at the time, Will was at Nobu telling their Maitre D to get him a F#*King Table and make it snappy!

Comments
2008-07-08 06:45:11
1.   chris in illinois
I won't try to argue that having a good bullpen isn't a pretty nice thing to have on a ball team, it just seems to me that a good bullpen is more often than not a sign of a good starting staff. I'd bet that the DEVIL Rays pen has pitched quite a few less innings this year than in 2007.

While Linnebrink and Dotel are certainly upgrades over last year's pen, I wonder what the South-siders pen would look like if Danks, Contreras and Floyd had about 45 less IP (which was a possibility) this year---it probably wouldn't be pretty.

As a long time Brave's fan, I often marveled at Cox/Mazzone's ability to cobble together bullpen after bullpen using discarded Berenguers, assorted Spooneybargers and the odd Hammond. It's starting to look like that the success of those bullpens had as much to do with the heavy inning workload that the starters took on year after year as it did with any magic that was performed on Mike Remlinger's behalf.

Now it's possible for a bullpen to occasionally succeed while pitching lots of innings, but I'd suspect that there is a very strong correlation between bullpen success and a lighter workload.

Bottom line is that I'd attribute more of the the Sox's run prevention success to their incredible starting staff than to their bullpen.

2008-07-08 07:24:27
2.   JasonO
After Hunt for Red October, Baldwin could have been George Clooney, Brad Pitt, he was primed to be a giant star for at least 2 decades...but somehow he fucked it all up, primarily by letting Harrison Ford step in as Jack Ryan.
2008-07-08 07:48:31
3.   Scott Long
I agree that move really hurt his career. (He wanted to do Streetcar Named Desire on Broadway, so Ford stepped in.) Baldwin is a better actor than either of the people you mentioned. He is the greatest host of SNL, even more than Steve Martin. Getting chunky hasn't helped his leading man opportunities.
2008-07-08 07:54:44
4.   Scott Long
The Twins and Angels almost every year do better than their pythagorean result. These same teams generally never lose leads after the 7th inning. I usually follow the sabermetrical approach, but how these teams value bullpens and manufacturing runs at the end of games makes one think we can't be too certain that starting pitching and the 3-run homer are the superior way to build a roster.
2008-07-08 08:05:09
5.   JasonO
Agreed Long, but Pitt had a chance in the 90's: He had 2 strong roles...Seven and 12 Monkeys, which is the most underrated sci-fi/apocalypse movie ever. Terry Gilliam is unique, even though he kind of went off the rails with Fear and Loathing.
2008-07-08 08:09:38
6.   Scott Long
I like Pitt and agree that both movies you mention are the best of his career. I also liked him in Kalifornia, that came out around the same time. He just isn't Baldwin, who is magnetic. He seems to shine more now, as a supporting actor, as The Departed, The Cooler, etc. have shown.
2008-07-08 09:40:52
7.   Will Carroll
What's more impressive is that the Baldwin part was specifically written for Baldwin. It's not in the play.
2008-07-08 11:52:48
8.   Schteeve
Roughly on the topic of Brad Pitt...

Brad Pitt and Don Cheadle should have been Crockett and Tubbs in the movie, and it shouldn't have been as dark and broody as it was.

2008-07-08 12:01:28
9.   Scott Long
Actually Pitt and Johnson have a few things in common. Both were beautiful young men who were hired initially for their looks. They both grew up in Missouri. They both managed to be sex symbols and respected actors at one point in their careers.

Here is where Don Johnson lost it. He made an impossibly cheesy album which took away much of his cool quotient. Bruce Willis survived his Bruno moment, as he had a sense of humor. Outside of the Hot Spot, I can't think of a movie Crockett made that had any artistic integrity to it after Miami Vice. He sold out. It made him rich, but it left him not much more than a glorified Jan Michael Vincent.

Pitt has taken many chances and has stayed mostly away from the blockbuster film. Do I think Pitt is a better actor than Johnson? Not much, but Johnson had terrible instincts when it came to his own career. As soon as put on those fruity vests on Nash Bridges, his career went from being a contender to being Texas Walker Ranger. Choices.

2008-07-08 12:45:29
10.   Will Carroll
Johnson was terrible, but had great musical taste. Stevie Ray Vaughan did the guitar on a couple of the songs on that album.

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