Musings, analysis and perspectives

Well like the dog days of summer so this blogs trudges merrily along. Dan I know has been busy with his new show, Martin is busy with fatherhood and family life (which in the summer includes vacations and such), Josh has been working his tale off at his new job, and as for myself it has been a long summer of some work, a few trips and lots of DeBlasio family get togethers (for good and for bad). Also this blog focuses mainly on sports and July is just a slow time. So slow, the mother ship of sports (ESPN) did some contest of popular athletes called who’s Now, of which I watched religiously but still have yet to figure out what it was measuring. But now sports gets going in full swing, and some of the first punches thrown were here in Columbia South Carolina where the Old Ball Coach came out firing (http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2962823). From here on for the next few months expect plenty of chatter here on the Sherman Ave Block Party. The only thing I would like to say to my readers is we the writers really and truly appreciate comments on what we write, it lets us know that the readers are indeed reading and enjoying what they read, and generally boosts our egos.

For today I am going to be verbose and spit game on a variety of subjects. First we will take a look at The Simpsons Movie and The Bourne Ultimatum. We will also analyze the big NBA trade from last week. And lastly our national pastime has given us a weekend to remember with numbers like 755, 500 and 300 (not the overrated movie).

This summer was one of the most anticipated summers in movie history. Mainly it was because the movie going public is a bunch of robots that go and watch the same movies over and over again. This summer could be known as the sequel summer when you consider the amount of redundant sequels that bombarded the theatres: Spider Man 3, 28 Weeks Later, Shrek the Third, Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End, Ocean's Thirteen, Hostel: Part II, The Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and Rush Hour 3. I can't say I am totally immune, because I saw the Oceans movie and Shrek, plus I was anxiously awaiting the Bourne Ultimatum. And then I usually hate remakes as well but am looking forward to Halloween and 3:10 to Yuma (but both those are classics). And with all this trash the two best movies I have seen this summer are Ratatouille and The Wind that Shakes the Barley. But I digress from the two most recent films I have seen, both of which I have seen twice. First is The Simpsons Movie, one which was way too long in the making. As we know I am a Simpsons freak, but the quality of the show has dipped significantly since Season 14 (2002-03). Let's say the movie was adequately funny. Meaning that it was not like the classic episodes which we fell in love with, but it certainly had its moments. In typical Simpsons fashion Homer has some ridiculous premise that puts his family and the town of Springfield in eminent danger. Of course he then redeems himself and saves the day along with Bart. Basically it was an extended version of any one of a million episodes. Unfortunately the movie fell short in a few cases. The most notably was that The Simpsons for so long has relied on its secondary characters to help add humor and substance to the show. However, in the movie the town of Springfield was just one big mob instead of the brilliant characters we have come to know and love like Ned Flanders, Milhouse, Lenny & Carl, Moe Szylak, Reverend Lovejoy, Principal Skinner, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, Chief Wiggum, C. Montgomery Burns, Grampa, etc. Where were these characters? Instead we had some Government guy who was a rip-off of Hank Scorpio and a random love interest for Lisa that disappeared faster than Chuck Cunningham. The movie also lacked on other Simpsons essential and that was the singing. I have forever wanted to see a Simpsons musical and thought the movie may bring us a few new numbers to hum along with The Monorail Song, Flaming Moe's and The Stonecutters Theme. Alas, the movie had its laughs but certainly lacked the overall quality that the show was known for in its earlier years.

Now I did buy into the sequel craze a little myself, with my anticipation of The Bourne Ultimatum. I am not much of an action/thriller movie guy most of the time, but the Bourne series has caught my fancy, for a few reasons. Most of the action is not over done with super CGI effect, I think the movies have a plot and are well written and I enjoy the acting of Matt Damon. After saying all that, the third installment kind of veers away from the things I liked about the first 2, but for some reason it kicked serious ass. This was a movie that “had me on the edge of my seat.” The action from beginning to end was non-stop. The plot was a little confusing, and Jason Bourne had maybe 15 lines in the entire movie. The reason he spokes so little was he was too busy kicking peoples asses, and I loved every second. This movie was in no way as good as the first one, but it was much better than the second installment in the series. Obviously like most things it sort of leaves an open door for a sequel, but then again so do all of these all of these movies. If you are a fan of the Bourne series go see this film, the very end really did have people cheering and snickering which I usually hate at movies.

I have taken a week or so to truly analyze and mull over the big NBA trade involving Kevin Garnett to the Celtics. I did not want to jump the gun and start planning parades down Yawkey Way in Boston just yet, so like a good meal, I let it settle in my stomach and digest for awhile. Well okay, maybe you can start planning some parades, this team is stacked. Think about it, you have three legit All-Stars on a team, all of whom are known for being a bit unselfish, in this day and age in the NBA. Ray Allen will be the perfect compliment for players like KG and Pierce. While in Seattle and sometimes being the only player on the team worth a darn (sorry Danny Fortson & Reggie Evans) he led the league in 3-pt percentage. Now with two guys who can score on the block and take it to the hole Allen will be left open for more 3’s than he can possibly imagine. Let us not forget that these players are also terrific defenders, all three of them. The one thing this does do is it helps balance out the power in the conferences. If Dwayne Wade comes back healthy and the Cavaliers do anything in the off season to improve their squad this now gives the Eastern Conference 6 teams who can actually compete; Heat, Cavs, Bull, Pistons, and Celtics, with other young teams like Toronto and Orlando knocking on the door. It will be weird to see KG in the Kelly green but it will also be exciting.

“Just when I thought that I was out, they pull me back in.” Baseball always does this. Amidst all the problems in baseball, including Allan H. “Bud” Selig, we have just had a two week stretch that is not soon to be matched in any sport. It really started off with induction weekend a few weeks ago in Cooperstown where two of the all time great players and great people were enshrined in the Hall of Fame. Both Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken set different marks for excellence but did so in the same manner. They were hard working dedicated professional’s who would have been successful insurance salesmen, business entrepreneurs, as well as they were baseball players. As we like to say in sports, they did it “the right way.” On the heels of their inductions we started focusing our sites on three more special ball players and their career achievements.

Tom Glavine has been one of the best pitchers in baseball for the last twenty years, and now he joins a list of all time greats to prove it. Overshadowed sometimes on his own team because of two of his more dynamic pitching mates Glavine shined throughout the 90’s for the Atlanta Braves winning 20 games 5 times between 91-00 (for the record that is 2 more times than Maddux and Smoltz). His signature moment came in the 1995 World Series pitching the Braves to a series clinching game 6 victory. Through it all Glavine has remained the consummate professional and just produced winning season after winning season. In 21 years on the hill his ERA has only been over 4.00 6 times, which is remarkable in this era. I truly believe Glavine will be the last 300 game winner, I don’t see the circumstances where that will change.

A-Rod hit his 500th home run this past weekend, whoopty damn doo. Okay, I like A-Rod but this was just a statistical inevitability. The guy just mashes the ball. By the time we settle the controversy over what to do with the 500th home run ball A-Rod will be streaking past the 600 home run mark. But seriously folks, it is truly amazing what this young man has accomplished. At only the age of 32 he already has a mark that most players can’t even dream of reaching and he has a solid 8-10 years of baseball left in him. In all likelihood he could pass Barry Bonds before Julio Franco retires. We should celebrate this achievement by A-Rod but I know most Yankee fans would like to see this team reach the post season and get something done this year, then we can really celebrate (screw the Mets).

Lastly, Barry Lamar Bonds the greatest player ever to lace up the baseball spikes. He is about to pass in a pantheon of greatness the likes of which we may never see again. I won’t go to long into Barry’s accomplishments because then we will get the boo birds out here with their asterisk and all of their evidence of how Barry crucified the Lord and drowned babies and killed puppies. This I know, Barry has been the best ball player in the game since 1991 and all the haters have done little to slow him down. He is about to pass the great Hank Aaron and I will be front and center leading the applause and the kudos to this great baseball player. Now I will discuss the elephant in the room, steroids. Let us remember that the pitcher who Barry hit his 755th home run off of has tested positive for performance enhancing drugs more than Barry has. Also, as Dan once pointed out why are we so self righteous about what our athletes do, but don’t give a damn what kind of people our politicians are. And lastly, if Bonds were so vilified and nobody wanted to see him break the record why are all his games being shown on TV, everyone talking about his at bats the next day around the water cooler and lastly, why have the Giants, who have the 26th best record in all of baseball, played in front of 27 consecutive sell out crowds, including 16 road games? HINT: The answer is not Pedro Feliz