I like baseball. I really like the Dodgers, having grown up in SoCal watching them (live and on the tele). I wasn't quite into it when they won it all in 1981, but I remember 1988 vividly. Unlike other teams (some of which have been waiting years and years to even make it to the World Series) the Dodgers have had their share of success.
Since then, it's been frustration after frustration. They seem to be always in it, they make a trade for a "seasoned veteran" who can get them back to the series, they fade away. The "seasoned veteran" ends up being unable to hit his weight, and certainly cannot hit worth his exorbitant contract. They have great pitching and terrible hitting. Hitters come to LA to die.
We're seeing it again this year. They are first in the majors in many major pitching categories. They have one of the three greatest closers in the game today. Their setup men are off the hook. But their batting just sucks it. One regular hitting over .300 (Lo Duca). Their infield has 4 combined HR. It's not that they have a couple of guys in a slump--their team batting average is only matched in (the lack of) quality by the worst team ever and a couple of below-.500 teams (who have better slugging and OBP than the Dodgers). As a team, they have fewer home runs than the top two NL individuals combined. Watching them play is maddening; if their pitching gives even up three runs, they march to their inexorable death by 3-0 or 3-1. If I have to see another groundball to the shortstop with the bases loaded, or a little infield pop-up with runners in scoring position, I don't know what I'll do.
Why don't they just GET hitting? Remember how I mentioned LA is where hitters go to die? Lessee... Fred McGriff, Bobby Bonilla, and Ron Coomer are a few names that come to mind. Each of these guys was brought over to bring some clout, and each ended up hitting forty points or more under their career average. The hitters that DO work out (I'm thinking Gary Sheffield) are viruses in the clubhouse.
The Angels just went up 2-1 in the bottom of the 6th. This is a prime example of what I'm saying; there's almost no reason to hold out any hope that they will be able to come back. You just don't do that with a .246 team average. Now I have to listen to the retarded Angels announcers gloat about the "Woot Dog" and "Sean Rootin' Tootin' Wooten" and other such playground idiocies.
Ah well... when does hockey start again?
It's been a while since I've posted, and reading this you might think it should have been a while longer. But I have an axe to grind.
It all begins with the new Charlie's Angels movie. I hesitate to call it a movie as opposed to a "jigglefest" consisting entirely of scantily-clad women jiggling around as they "solve crimes" and "save humanity". (Not to mention the inane dialog, but let's stay on topic.) It isn't that it offends me... well, it is offensive, but that's not my major beef. It's utterly stupid, mindless, debased, whatever you want to say about it. The only point to it is to get off teenage boys. Any talk about empowering women is complete crap; I can't imagine any father that wants his daughter to dress like a whore and dance in a strip bar to get what they want.
Another area where this is obviously an issue is in the music industry. Many of the female singers start out only moderately slutty (cf. Brittany Spears' first video). Then, they "mature". And by "mature" I mean dressing in walnut shells and dental floss, and simulating sex with every goofy-looking, gold-toothed, grungy, tattooed mental midget out there. (Not that I have anything against goofy-looking, gold-toothed, grungy, or tattooed individuals. Mental midgets are another story...)
Even Shania Twain (yes, I'm watching more CMT these days) is getting into the act: in her latest video, "Always and Forever", she sings a sweet love song about how a couple will be together... always and forever. Beautiful idea, really pretty song, a little formulaic, but nice nonetheless. Yet, for all of the sentimentality and classic love story, Shania comes out wearing a piece of gauze for her sweater-type-thing. She makes sure to stretch out to show every inch of skin she can without actually stripping down. Guess she felt that since the women had the love song, men needed a little something to hold their attention.
Oh well, I'm sure I'm just uptight, I'm sure it's just a matter of living in a broken world, etc.