Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
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TV and more ...
1) using profanity or any euphemisms for profanity
2) personally attacking other commenters
3) baiting other commenters
4) arguing for the sake of arguing
5) discussing politics
6) using hyperbole when something less will suffice
7) using sarcasm in a way that can be misinterpreted negatively
8) making the same point over and over again
9) typing "no-hitter" or "perfect game" to describe either in progress
10) being annoyed by the existence of this list
11) commenting under the obvious influence
12) claiming your opinion isn't allowed when it's just being disagreed with
For Slate on Thursday, Neal Pollack wrote a funny piece about what it was like to move to the town of his favorite baseball team, the Dodgers, for the first time. Among other amusing and PG-13 tidbits (You talk to your spouse with that mouth?! Oh, you do ... never mind), there was this:
... In addition to the occasional bonus tickets from my friend, I split a 25-game package with a paralegal named Craig who I met on the Dodger Thoughts bulletin board. ...
So I got a little curious and checked the archives. Sure enough ...
34. NPB 2006-03-06 11:01:03
I don't know if this is appropriate or not, but I want to buy one of those 27-game flex-paks, but neither have the time or the income to do the whole thing. Is there a kind stranger on this board who'd be interested in splitting a third of a season-ticket package with a longtime Dodger fan who just moved to town? We'd go 13-13, and then attend opening day together, unless you're afraid or already have Opening Day tickets, in which case I'd pay a slightly higher percentage. Let me know. Thanks.
There was a response about an hour later, though not from "Craig," which I suppose might be an alias. Or, the first responder didn't like Pollack's deodorant.
* * *
Last to first in 10 days? Mercy. It's like that time when I was really depressed, and then 10 days later, I was really happy. How strange to relive that.
From Rob Neyer of ESPN.com:
What if Nomar Garciaparra were healthy enough to play every day, all season? Just wanted to see if you were paying attention, because of course the Dodgers -- like the A's with Frank Thomas -- are lucky to have gotten what they have from Garciaparra considering his salary (small) and his injury history (big). What's more, the Dodgers have been exceptionally fortunate with Russell Martin and Andre Ethier, both of whom are enjoying the seasons of their lives. But the Dodgers also have been unlucky. They have the second-best run differential in the National League -- which makes me feel good about myself, as the Dodgers were my preseason pick for the World Series -- but thanks largely to a 9-15 record in one-run games they're just now establishing themselves as real contenders.
"'Tonight was a lesson I learned,' King said. 'I looked at tape of [Ethier], and he's a kid who's diving the whole time, so I threw a fastball away and he beat me. So from now on, no matter how many more times I face him, he's going to have to beat me on a pitch in.'"
Link: http://tinyurl.com/h9hl3
Any coincidence that the Dodger win streak started right after the Penny v. Lofton dugout incident? I wonder if Plaschke wants to re-write that article ripping Penny right about now.
Which sounds really weird when you read it back.
Man, am I glad I read that on a Friday. Things just roll off of me on a Friday.
Team Record in games not started by Penny & Lowe:
Maddux 2-0
Sele 8-6
Billingsley 6-5
Tomko 7-8
Seo 4-6
Perez 3-5
Hendrickson 2-5
The Dodgers are 3 games under .500 with this group but if they Maddux and Billingsley can hold their own and Grady slips Sele in a couple of times (at Dodger Stadium) for Hendrickson, hopefully they will stablize this deficiency.
Mike's co-host this week in the hereafter will be John Lennon.
The MLB ERA leaders are Webb, Liriano, and Verlander (all three are on one of my fantasy teams). Additionally, J. Weaver (no, the other one) if pitching great in a rookie season. Billingsley, despite his inability or hesitation to throw strikes, has shown he can get ML hitters out. Other pitchers like Garza, Lester, Papelbon, Cain, Adam Miller, Hughes, etc. are breaking down the door or have already arrived.
My question to you all is: when have so many young pitchers made such a big impact at the same time, or are poised to do so? It seems uncanny to me that so much talent would be breaking into the big leagues at once.
"If you fellow East Coasters haven't stayed up late enough to watch rookie outfielder Andre Ethier play, chug some Tab tonight and make a point of tuning into the Dodgers-Giants tilt at 10:40 p.m. ET. He's got one of the sweetest swings in the game, one that will make him a threat to hit .300 every year from here on out. He's the best rookie in the National League, regardless of whether he ends up with the ROY on his mantle."
Link: http://tinyurl.com/grqge
Who buys Tab anymore?
John Lennon - How Do You Sleep?
Eagles - Lyin' Eyes
Flaming Lips - Feeling Yourself Disintegrate
Guided by Voices - Second Spurt of Growth
Minor Threat - I Don't Wanna Hear it (though it would have to be censored)
I'd suggest anything by Cream. Or, possbly, Everclear.
"Diving" refers to leaning over the plate to hit an outside pitch.
A 200% markup!
God bless America!
Even if it's just for 1 day, today, 8/11/2006 (70% of the season), Kenny Lofton (.771) is out OPS'ing Brian Giles (.758).
When King gave up the homer, I pictured a sea of Cardinals fans nodding in disgusted familiarity.
I thought "Second Spurt of Growth" was the most clever song title you could play for Bonds though, especially if you put some pictures of his Pirates days up on Diamondvision.
I donated all the money to a 501(c) authorized group. It was called Bob's Foundation for the Terminally Arcane.
It's starting to reappear in tony grocery stores like Bristol Farms. For women, and for people who think Diet Coke doesn't have enough of a chemical flavor.
Their entire encore at the Hollywood Bowl show was a political statement. They covered "War Pigs" by Black Sabbath and did a great job.
link: http://tinyurl.com/9ztpa
I'm sorry, but that trade should be reason enough for the "Ned is Stoopid" contingent to at least pause before writing it for the 1000th time.
Anyway, someone came in one day (in 1998 or so) and bought about 6 cases of Tab. Sure enough, my manager saw this and said, "you're buying Tab like it's going out of style."
I just about spit my water out. That was hilarious.
I don't think I've ever had regular Tab before.
http://tinyurl.com/rsruj
Anyone with at least a casual love for the flaming lips should check out 'the fearless freaks' documentary. Good movie about the band and its history, but most importantly its a good movie about family. Highly recommended.
I suppose it depends on whether you measure GM acumen based on (1) the info they had at the time of a transaction, or (2) how well the transaction turns out.
I think a lot of folks around here were not pleased that Milton and Perez were being dumped for "character" issues (especially after Mr. Double DUI was signed to a huge contract), and felt like that was too much to give up for a AA prospect most folks had never even heard of. Does the fact that Ethier is off to a great start change any of that? I don't know...
Ned is Stoopid.
Anybody else find it interesting that the article proclaims that a pair of rookies are currently having the seasons of their lives?
Guess it's all downhill from here. Oh well.
:)
http://tinyurl.com/rcazx
Exactly. Name one other GM who could have us 3 games over .500 this late in the season.
That should be Dumpster® diving.
I think you could say it does, to a degree. Somebody told Ned to go get Ethier, and he listened to the people who evaluate talent. They grabbed him, and he's been lights-out.
Could anybody have predicted that he'd be hitting quite this well? Probably not. But that doesn't mean he doesn't deserve credit for getting a good player, one that ostensibly he was told to get. However, if it was more, "hey, Billy, we need at least a credible minor league guy" and Beane thought Ethier was overrated and tossed him into the deal himself, then it's just dumb luck, but I rather doubt this scenario.
67 - Clever.
I'm taking a half day from work in Oakland to drive down to LA with my brother today. We're going to the game tomorrow, but were hoping that we might make it for the 7:40 start tonight. If traffic on the 5 is bad, then we'll forget it (hmm... I said the, it just sounds better), but if it's close to game time and we're close, any suggestions on how to get through the valley and to the ballpark a little quicker? I'm super pumped up for my first (and probably only) trip to Dodger Stadium of the year! Thanks in advance...
I just regaled the office with the history of Coors and how, many years ago, it couldn't be bought back East. That fact even prompted the plot for 1977's second-biggest move: Smokey and the Bandit. According to Bill "Spaceman" Lee, when the Red Sox visited Kansas City, Yaz would buy cases of Coors to bring home.
But now you can get Coors everywhere - which means everyone now knows Coors sucks.
I think Andrew's point in 60 is a good one. The fact that Ned has acquired so many other stiffs makes it difficult to believe that he really "knew what he was doing" when he acquired Ethier. On the contrary, it makes it seem like he just threw enough stuff against the wall and Ethier was just "that which stuck."
We probably would have had an injury plagued Bradley for half the season. We wouldn't have had Ethier. Our outfield would have consisted mostly of Drew, Cruz, Cody Ross and a dabble of Jason Repko with possibly a dash of Chin Fing Chen until Kemp got called up. Of course, we might have thrown 40 million at Giles for 4 years (ouch), or even Nomar in the OF may have happened.
There's no doubt we would have had Saenz/Choi at 1st. There's a good chance we still would have landed Furcal. Otherwise, it's a great possibility Antonio Perez would have been our shortstop. Willy Aybar would have been our everyday 3rd baseman. Could you imagine Lowe pitching with APerez/Aybar on the left side of the infield? With Kent's injuries we probably would be seeing Oscar Robles all season. I imagine Cesar Izturis would have probably been traded but I don't think we would have gotten a Maddux in return. On the other side of the coin, Nomar may have been our 3rd baseman instead of Aybar.
Our rotation would no doubt have consisted of Penny, Lowe, OPerez, Houlton, and possibly Billingsley. We may have been able to land Esteban Loaiza. I figure a full season of Odalis in the rotation would have him looking at 5-12 with a 6.50 ERA. Houlton, who wasn't able to get out AAA hitters, would have been around 2-10. Of course we wouldn't have had Sele and his 7-4 record, or even Tomko's 6-6 record as a starter.
Our bullpen wouldn't have had Baez, but it also wouldn't have had Saito or Beimel either. Sanchez would have made a decent closer. But after Sanchez/Broxton then what? Would Hong Chi Kuo and Franquelis Osoria be a combined 2-15 right now? I guess Steve Schmoll and Edwin Jackson would have been options. I guess Dessens may have been here still. Seeing has how the previous regime put little emphasis on relief pitching I don't think there would have been any other options once Gagne/Brazoban went down.
Bullpen recap: Sanchez, Broxton, Kuo, Dessens, Osoria, Schmoll, Jackson, (Carrara would have eventually been back too)……not a solid bullpen.
From my experience, the traffic on the 5 or the Golden State Freeway shouldn't be that bad since most people will be heading the opposite direction in the evening.
You should be facing a long line of cars going the other direction once you get over the Grapevine.
I would suggest that you stay the course on the freeway. There really won't be any streets that are faster unless there is some sort of bad accident on the freeway.
Then, it's OK to "cut and run" to the surface streets.
From there, you can either stay on the 101 or take the 134 back to the 5.
When I was a kid we would take the 5 south, but right before DS we'd take the 2 west until it dead-ended into southbound Glendale Blvd. We then turned left on Scott avenue and took it all the way to Stadium way. Turning left gets you into the entrance closest to the 5, turning right gets you in the Sunset entrance.
If you take the 101, you can exit at Glendale Blvd and take it North to Scott Avenue. You'll have to turn right on Scott to get to Stadium Way.
You must not have been reading this site back when Scott Erickson was pitching.
When you get past Santa Clarita on the 5, get on the 210 going east (toward Pasadena). Then take the 2 south to where it ends at Glendale Blvd. Left on Scott Ave. Right on Stadium Way. Left on Elysian Park Ave. into the Stadium.
This route will save you, literally, days over taking the 5 all the way in.
I think Jon said it best when the season started, there just isn't a lot of difference between Ned and Paul, both would be loyal to the guys they picked up and gotten rid of players that did not acquire.
I would lean to the advice of a man who knows the Southern California region like the back of his hand.
But I like taking the 5 because it is so delightfully ugly.
Look, it doesn't make all Ned's deals the equivalent of the Ethier deal. But a little perspective seems in order. The Ethier deal is on a par with the Twins' rape of the Giants for Liriano AND Nathan, and the Rays' filching of Kazmir. The Twins trade has revived the whole team. And whatever credibility the Rays have is based on the fact that AL teams have to face Kazmir every five days.
But along those lines, if DePodesta were still GM, Duaner Sanchez would still be a Dodger, and he wouldn't have gotten into that accident in Miami, and therefore the Mets don't trade for Oliver Perez and the Dodgers get him instead.
To borrow from the archives of DodgerMath:
"As Joe Shehann points out in his latest article, Colletti has now traded Johnson, Pimental, Dioner Navarro, Chuck Tiffany, and Edwin Jackson for Dessens, Mark Hendrickson, Danys Baez, Lance Carter, and Toby Hall."
What do you notice about the 'traded-for' group? Then take the hitters he's picked up. Hall is, IMHO, a mistake. But Ethier's been gold. Betemit's a young, power-hitting 3B (Andrew did a great breakdown of the Aybar-Betemit trade). Lugo is relatively unnecessary, but he's having a very good season, and I get the feeling he's injury insurance for Kent and Garciaparra, and can probably find some playing time here and there. I think that's pretty much it (though I could be forgetting somebody).
74 - Just out of curiosity, why do you think the team would have still had Bradley, when it seemed pretty much a foregone conclusion that he would be traded regardless of who was in charge?
So, at the time of the trade, Ethier was considered "next to nothing"...?
I have never seen the Dodger ticket exchange have less than a 100 tickets for a game but for tonight and Sunday, they are both under 75.
Nails it.
Our GM may or may not be culpable in the Twins/Giants deal, as well. Nevertheless, this comment isn't designed to detract from Colletti, but rather to disagree with the idea that the Ethier deal was an all-time steal. Definitely a good trade, though.
I recall hearing Grady the next day on the radio calling from the Dodger Golf Tournament and he had that same aw-shucks attitude that may not work in the life or death fandom in Boston but certainly humors us So Cal types.
If you dont' have tickets just buy them from a scalper. Rarely does a Dodger scalper get face value. They buy them at a huge discount from the season ticket holder and then make up the difference. It is not like going to a Laker game and paying 200.00 per ticket for a 100.00 ticket. Dodger scalpers are at the bottom of the food chain.
92 Because GM's seem to stay loyal to their productive acquisitions and Bradley seems to possess the qualities DePodesta liked.
There's no way to prove it and we'll never know but I feel very strongly this team would not have as many wins today if McCourt hadn't made the change.
It doesn't matter whether or not DePo liked him. Bradley was pretty much done, almost certainly by decree from the ownership. And even if you disagree with that point, you have to at least voice the disagreement with my claim that he would be gone no matter who was in the front office. Saying "but DePo liked Bradley" is meaningless.
"it seemed pretty much a foregone conclusion that [Bradley] would be traded regardless of who was in charge".
You mean the Military Intelligence Memorial Freeway?
Obviously the results have been favorable for us, but I think that's more a function of luck than anything else. Bradley has been fighting injury problems, Ethier has been amazing but lucky if you believe in BABIP, and Antonio Perez had the bad luck of getting off to a bad start in Oakland, and never getting off the bench ahead of the stalwart Marco Scutaro.
Arguing that Ned Coletti's foresight in getting Ethier proves he's not that bad ignores the surplus of other bad moves he has made.
All I'm saying is, even Jim Bowden makes a good deal once in a while. (The Cincinatti one.) A GM must be evaluated with a eye for all of his moves, and his record thus far is not favorable.
Just wondering - would you have made the same statement 10 days ago? Or if Ethier and Martin had come up and struggled like rookies are expected to?
But the position players he's brought in have ranged from unnecessary but not really bad themselves (Hall & Lugo) to a projectible talent (Betemit) to a great steal (Ethier). Maybe he just can't evaluate pitching?
So, Ethier wasn't fair trade value...?
The what-if game is unnecessary and rather pointless. It's a new season. Leave DePo behind and evaluate Colletti on his own merits (see 119).
I will give away one ticket in the reserved for Tuesday's Dodgers game (Aisle 55, Row 5) to the first person to email with the correct answer to the question:
How many drawbridges are there in Los Angeles County?
Possibly. I'd disagree with you that Hall and Lugo are not that bad, though.
I agree also with whoever said acquiring Ethier effectively ended Guzman's Dodger career. Right or wrong, when Ned saw what he had with Ethier and Kemp, Guzman became someone else's headache. He had traded Guzman in his mind long before he did it in fact, which is why he probably sold him at such a discount.
I said this yesterday, and was accused of forbidden hyperbole.
It never really left...
Uh, uh, uh, ba-ba-booey!
It's human nature: You always are in a weaker position in a negotiation if you think what you're selling is crap. Ned didn't have it in him to say to any GM, "Guzman will make you into a champion." He didn't believe it, so he couldn't sell it.
Why would there be a drawbridge in East L.A.? The Los Angeles River doesn't go through East L.A.
Let me make a list, because I'm blanking. Pitchers Ned has brought in, off the top of my head. (Fill in if I leave stuff out or get it wrong.)
Maddux
Tomko
Carter
Saito
Hamulack
Beimel
Hendrickson
Baez
I think that's it.
Apparently I dreamed this. I know I'm right about TI, though.
When you have already traded for Wilson Betemit, who can also play multiple positions, and have Ramon Martinez, why bring Lugo in?
I had to research this once and called up various city and county officials and asked if there were any drawbridges on the Los Angeles River. A guy from County Public Works told me, "We don't get too many ocean going vessels on that river."
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?id=2544250
Maddux - jury's still out a bit, but I think this was a good pickup.
Tomko - $4 million long reliever.
Carter - Do I even need to say it?
Saito - Nearly unqualified success.
Hamulack - He of the 6.5+ ERA?
Beimel - Good. Not great. Good.
Hendrickson - The "Bearded Jesus" has regressed to his career-averages.
Baez - See Carter.
Sele - Sele gave the LADs 2 good months, then remembered he was Aaron Sele. His ERA jumped over a point in the 23 or so innings he pitched in July.
We'll say Maddux is a plus, as is Saito. Beimel and Sele are .5 apiece, that's 3/9 - not a good ratio.
Tonite's a good example. We are going up against a tough lefty so Lugo seems like a good fit in the OF tonite. Let Drew rest another day, especially against a lefty.
149 - That's a terrible pun. I commend you for it.
I think we had enough infield players. Loney came up to cover first, that only leaves one position we would be blank at, second, and Martinez could have filled in fine until the return of Kent.
Just think, if we'd kept ol' Sandy, we could have been #1!
What the heck is sock? Does Hall only wear covering on one foot for good luck during games or something?
With the tanking of OP I would give Sele a 1, also.
I think it's unfortunate these 2 guys aren't appreciated enough for what they've brought to this club at basically no cost.
Another point. Why couldn't we just go with Loney in the lineup every day, with a Kent, Furcal, Betemit/Saenz infield? Wouldn't you prefer that until Garciaparra got back? And if you're worried about the outfield, Loney can play there also.
11IP 0ER 5H 2BB 12K
It's still very early and only the GCL, but the kid could be interesting to watch. He's 6'3" 215lbs.
His college stats aren't the best. He put up a 5.12 ERA in 65 innings last season for VWC, with 56K against 29BB. He had an ERA over 7.00 in the year he pitched for VCU and an ERA over 8 when he was teammates with Verlander at ODU. Interestingly, he was at VCU at the same time as Juston Orenduff.
Because I don't believe he's nearly as good as Miguel Tejada, as his stats from this year would indicate.
He's due to regress, and we are going to be the team that gets that regression.
152 Yep, noted in last thread, as was the revelation, specifically, that the Mets have the #2 bench in part because of the addition of Ricky Ledee. Imagine if we'd kept him - we could have been #2 instead!
Ned's motto
They also predicted the Giants to finish first (hey, it could still happen) and a lot of their team summaries don't even mention players who ended up contributing a lot this year.
If we had kept Sandy and Ricky, would we have the 0th best? ;)
172 - See 159.
And this is the internet. It attracts arguments like honey attracts flies. Super honey. Boosted with special fly-attracting oils. And gigantic signs saying "FLIES COME HERE"
I'll tell you once I get my million dollar check from McCourt
Saito > Sanchez
JoeyB > Kuo
Baez/Carter = Jackson/Schmoll
He who is without sin, take the first hit
Apparently I'm not the only one who took Pollack's article to heart.
Isn't the New Testament less Old Testament enough for you...?
I love Saito, but let's face it, that just isn't true.
JoeyB > Kuo
okay? It's not like Beimel is a huge part of this team. He's a serviceable middle relief player...nothing more.
Baez/Carter = Jackson/Schmoll
Let's see: Carter was DFA'd and we're paying Baez to play for another team because he's so bad. No thanks, I'll take Jackson and Schmoll 100% of the time over those two.
[Crowd stones the Jewish Official to death]
As someone whose family is half Jewish and half "Jew for Jesus," I can tell you, unequivocally, no.
176 Heh. If the Dodgers had kept both Alomar and Ledee they'd definitely be... older. If not 0th.
Speaking of which, haven't checked, how's that AA pitcher we got for Alomar doing?
For one thing, there's a lot more red font in the NT, and a lot less smiting...
\/
\/
\/
Pretty ungodly. Sure, he's old and it's AA, but:
9.67 IP
2 H
1 ER (on a homer)
7 BB
13 K
He's the new, yet old, Greg Miller.
LOL
210 Ah, good, thanks! Maybe Las Vegas is in his near future...
I'm jealous. I'm a lifelong CT resident. I've long imagined what it would be like to have easy access to the Dodgers (in person or via radio/TV).
Anyway, great column.
Go Blue!
He'll get a shot in Pittsburgh, obviously, if nowhere else.
Citizen Kane
Strangers on a Train
Vertigo
NxNW
Apparently there's something about Hitchcock that needs a second viewing.
FWIW, I've seen only one Python movie (Holy Grail), seen it only once, and hated it.
Speaking of Cary Grant, I happened to watch The Philadelphia Story on TCM today. I enjoyed the witty dialogue and you can never go wrong with the trio of Hepburn, Stewart, and Grant, but the ending was just a bit too hokey for modern standards. Even the end of Love, Actually was more believable than TPS.
The first time I saw North by Northwest, I was inspired... I would have a son someday, and I would name him George. Then, when he was seven or eight years old, I would sit him down and we would watch the movie, and I would say, "Now, son, you know what lesson to take from this film: you don't exist."
My mistake was telling my bride about the plan. If I'd just said, "Hey, what about George?," she'd be on board. But I shot my mouth off and now she knows too much. Now she's insisting we name any future firstborn males that might come along after our grandfathers....
C.K. Dexter Haven, you have unsuspected depth!
As far as Mota goes, no thanks...
Eric, I'm going to pretend I didn't see that last line there so I can still like you.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?page=webgems
(They're doing these for every team.)
Big Lebowski - 10/10
Miller's Crossing - 8.5/10
Intolerable Cruelty - 7/10
O Brother, Where Art Thou? - 5/10
Fargo - 2/10
Barton Fink, Blood Simple, and Raising Arizona are others I'd like to see eventually.
Loved Fargo, hated Big Lebowski. Didn't really care much for O Brother, and liked Blood Simple and Raising Arizona.
The Ladykillers 4 out of 10
Intolerable Cruelty 6
The Man Who Wasn't There 7
O Brother, Where Art Thou? 6
The Big Lebowski 9
Fargo 10
The Hudsucker Proxy 4
Barton Fink 8
Miller's Crossing 7
Raising Arizona 3
Blood Simple 9
Speaking of movies - and baseball - Jimmy Stewart's The Stratton Story comes out on DVD next week, and it's one of the movies I remember crying like a baby in when I was a boy. Or crying like a boy when I was a baby...
"Raising Arizona" is to me the consummate Coen Brothers movie -- the one where their style is all of a piece with its subject. Knockabout (though sly) slapstick farce is right in tune with their distinctive style -- their efforts in other genres have often (though not always) been less successful.
Speaking of Jimmy Stewart and crying, the mere thought of the "Dog Named Beau" poem he read on The Tonight Show makes me verklempt.
244
I like the soundtrack better than the movie
Except for Raising Arizona I mostly agree with Eric's 241 ratings, tho I might rate O Brother a bit higher, for the music if nothing else.
http://tinyurl.com/z59wt
This is absolutely, mind-blowingly painful (yet funny). A lawyer showed up in court drunk and the judge slowly but surely discerns the truth. And the whole thing got caught on Court TV.
There are 5 (long) video clips, but I swear... you couldn't make this stuff up if you tried.
"No, not that motherscratcher. Bill PARKER!"
WOW "I'm willing to play hurt" (chuckles)
Its hard for me to not like a Coen Bros movie. Their always trying to do something different. If there's one that didn't really float my boat, it was Man Who Wasn't There. I even liked Hudsucker.
"We're using code names"
"Son, you've got a panty on your head"
"It's not exactly Ozzie and Harriet"
"You've got flies"
"The prison system had nothing left to offer us. We released ourselves on our own recognizance"
etc.
I use "motherscratcher" all the time instead of one of those 7 words you can't say on TV.
Eric's scorecard is about the same as mine except I would take two points away from "Intolerable Cruelty"
Raising Arizona is a classic. I haven't seen it in a long time, but there's a few lines that come up pretty often in my house. Whenever the discussion comes up about having another kid (we have two girls already), I always look at my wife like she has two heads. And then inevitably I come back with a line about stealing a baby instead, and she replies "Hi, get in there and steal me a baby." It will make more sense after you see the movie.
But I am all with you on Fargo. I thought that was one of the most overrated movies of all time right after the Blair Witch Project. I liked the Big Lebowski but don't quite understand the cult following it's developed. As for the other Coen brothers movies, Blood Simple (their first?) and O Brother Where Art Thou? are probably my two favorites.
I myself have probably violated this rule quite a bit, considering I didn't know it was a rule until about a week ago.
I can sit through DePodesta/Colletti debates without batting an eye.
I can sit through a discussion about the relative worth of Julio Lugo and not get excited.
I can have someone come here and tell me that the Giants are the best team in baseball and I'll just say, "Well, you have your opinions."
But if you don't like "Fargo", I've got a wood chipper to introduce you to.
"Not unless you think round is funny."
"Awfully fine cereal flakes ya got, Mrs. McDonough."
"You wanna find an outlaw, you call an outlaw; you wanna find a Dunkin' Donuts, call a cop."
"The doctor explained that her insides were a rocky place, where my seed could find no purchase."
"Well, OKAY then!"
I'm glad I missed whatever motivated Jon to have to resort to these measures.
That would be an offense that would get you one of two punishments:
1) the wood chipper
2) a DVD set of "Becker"
What can I say? I have pretty diverse cinematic tastes - I'm a fan of everything from Monty Python (Life A Brian over The Holy Grail) to Memento to American Beauty to Escape from New York (just to pull a few random, totally disconnected movies out of a hat). I even liked Eyes Wide Shut. But I didn't like Fargo, and I definitely thought it was overrated. Although I forgot about a recent movie that was even more overrated - Sideways. That movie was so dull it made me physically ill.
My hatred of Nick Cage is of the rational variety
1. Fargo
2. Lebowski
3. Miller's Crossing
4. Blood Simple
5. Man who Wasn't There
6. Barton Fink
7. O Brother
8. Hudsucker Proxy
I haven't seen Lady Killers or Intolerable Cruelty, but they can't be as bad as....
Rasing Arizona
Nicolas Cage ruins every movie.
I don't know if the well has run dry for the Coens yet, but they need to get back to doing their own stuff. "Intolerable Cruelty" was written by someone else, and "The Ladykillers" was a remake. I hope they have more of that black humor lurking in them.
By the way, IMO the original "Ladykillers" is far superior to the remake. Alec Guiness is brilliant in the Tom Hanks role, and the whole thing is just funnier.
I have a friend who is an entomologist. He submitted an article to a peer-reviewed science journal in which he described a male wasp mounting a female wasp as "finding purchase". He wanted to see if he could slip it past the editors and hopefully get the phrase into common usage in the entomological world. No luck though. The editors sent back the manuscript accepting the article but asking what in the world "finding purchase" meant and instructed him to edit that part prior to publishing.
Game thread is open up top.
"There's right and there's right and never the t'wain shall meet."
One of the few great slapsticky comedies (with great dialogue) of the last 20 years or so.
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