Saturday, December 15

Ambisports global battlestar

+ Cool ambigram (reads the same right-side-up and upside-down) on new Princess Bride release.

+ Bobby Petrino excels Nick Saban in total classlessness and lying, ditching the Falcons for college. Not that I'd advise any coach to touch either of those floundering franchises with a ten-foot pole.

I wonder if we'll start seeing (probably already exists) owners hiring private eyes to keep an eye on their franchise players to make sure nothing obviously wrong is going down (I'm thinking of the Vick case here). If the Falcons had done their due diligence before the new contract, things might be different down there.

+ I'm seeing a lot of reactions to the Mitchell Report that say 'who cares'? Answer: I do. This stuff matters.

Actually, I came out the same as all of the majorities in this SI poll except for the 'how much of a fan are you?' question (wasn't a big one to begin with, even less now) and the last question (I answered 'Somewhere in between').

Is the Mitchell Report sufficient for due process? Obviously not and those players shouldn't be punished (based on it alone). Something further could be pursued against them, if that were desired.

This stuff should matter for the Hall, for guys like Clemens (and McGwire (sp?) before him). Not sure how you run it down, though.

Tom Verducci's writing on MLB is authoritative, and here's his take on the Mitchell Report. To wit:

What's the big deal anyway? Why should we care if players shoot up drugs?

Mitchell wickedly skewered the steroid apologists -- and backed the many disenchanted clean players I've talked to over the years -- with this concise view: "The minority of players who used such substances were wrong. They violated federal law and baseball policy, and they distorted the fairness of competition by trying to gain an unfair advantage over the majority of players who followed the law and the rules."

End of argument.

The not big deal camps have said it's entertainment. But it's entertainment based on performance and competition. And if some people juice...

+ I agree with Dan's opinion of global warming.

+ Finally, for now, I'm getting into Battlestar Galactica. Even joined Netflix to start watching through. Any other BG fans out there?

7 comments:

Aaron said...

We are waiting, waiting, waiting for Season Three. We started out with the mini-series (also on Netflix, since we don't have cable), and we were hooked.

deichmans said...

Sean, I got into the new Battlestar this past season. One word: WOW! As someone who (as a middle schooler) woke up in the morning looking forward to the original series that night, I am very pleased with where they've taken the story. Jason Sigger (Armchair Generalist) is a big fan too -- he's even bought the RAZOR DVD to get the extra scenes.

BTW: Good comment on the Mitchell Report and "due process". Ain't it funny how many Red Sox are on the list compared to how many Yankees? (Did the good Senator recuse himself from his Board duties with the BoSox before taking this job?)

Sean Meade said...

thanks for writing, guys. i'm trying to hook Christine, now. made her watch the pilot last night. we'll see ;-)

i'm actually stoked that they're ending it after this season: wrap it up the way they want and don't just peter out.

S: George Mitchell gets an A+

Brad B. said...

So you like to get 10 conversations going at one eh? ;)

Cool ambigram (reads the same right-side-up and upside-down) on new Princess Bride release.

Saw this at Target the other week and was likewise very impressed by it!

I agree with Dan's opinion of global warming.

A agree with your agreement! Good post by Dan.

Sean Meade said...

BB: re: 10 conversations: nope just too lazy to face a separate post for each idea ;-)

did you recognize the ambigram just by looking it? i don't think i would have...

Brad B. said...

Yeah, I noticed it, but only after a few moments. It caught my eye because half the cover art was upside down. Once I noticed that "20th Anniversary Edition" was writen upside down too, I flipped the packaging mentally and caught it. You likely would have noticed it too. You're a sharp guy! ;)

Sean Meade said...

wow. good job, Brad. not sure i *would* have noticed it (but thanks for the vote of confidence :-)