Big Lead Sports Bar

6/10/2008

TEN POINTS

1. Nice to see a sign of life out of the Pirates yesterday. The 5-3 win was nice, but standing up to Randy Johnson? That was impressive. What, was Doug Mientkiewicz angling to make the next Robin Ventura-Nolan Ryan moment?

2. By the way, I totally forgot that Mientkiewicz was the high school teammate of one Alex Rodriguez in both baseball and football. Rodriguez was the quarterback and Mientkiewicz a tight end at Westminster High in Miami. And no, A-Rod didn't win the championship with that team, either.
3. Junior Griffey hit home run #600 last night in, of all places, Florida, one of the worst home crowds in baseball history. It was the quietest 600th home run of all time, due totally to the dilution of the number by the steroid era. But Griffey has never been associated with any performance-enhancing drugs, which is exactly why his performance has been in decline.
In a way, he's like the Mario Lemieux of baseball. You can only wonder, if healthy, how many home runs (or in Mario's case, goals) he would've accumulated in his career.
4. The Dwight White passing came as things were winding down last week, and it didn't get the proper coverage that it deserved. Another look at his obituary in the PG paints the picture of a talented, personable, extremely intelligent man whose post-football career rivaled what he accomplished on the gridiron. And that's saying something.

5. You have to read this story about retired Mississippi State baseball coach Ron Polk, who's so upset about the naming of his successor that he's vowed to take his name off of the stadium. Of athletic director Greg Byrne, Polk said the following: "I'm going to do everything I can to make his life miserable."
That's a nice example you're setting for the young men whose lives you're shaping.
6. Have any of you seen Will Ferrell's Semi-Pro? Saw it last night, and it's becoming the same tired Will Ferrell plot: he's on top of the world, he bottoms out, he re-conquers the world in the end. Have you seen Anchorman, Talladega Nights, or Blades of Glory? Then there's no need to bother renting this. And that's coming from a Will Ferrell fan.

7. On the other hand, The Strangers (in theaters now) gets two thumbs up.

8. I'm not one for watching televised golf, but I have to admit: that Tiger Woods-Phil Mickelson pairing at the U.S. Open is pretty intriguing. And it gives me the excuse to run this exquisite photo of the duo.

9. Is Pittsburgh fully prepared for the upcoming Pamela Anderson invasion? I doubt it.
10. Pierogis N'at did a nice recap of the recent Billy Gardell/Mike Wysocki/Gene Collier standup troika. That's a lot of Pittsburgh humor for one man to handle.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Griffey is a classy guy. I would have loved for him to break Aaron's mark as would most of the country. He fell victim to Mickey Mantle syndrome of injuries taking the place of talent as the story of his career.

I have a great story about Randy Johnson. The summer I graduated from high school, I worked as a grounds crew worker at Diamond Run Golf Club in Sewickley. Arizona was in town to play the Pirates and Johnson played some golf one day. We were doing some work around the green when one of the guys got hit in the back with a ball. We didn't notice anyone was on the fairway and nobody yelled "fore". The grounds worker got really pissed off and started screaming stuff at the tall, lanky, greasy golfer with a mullet - obviously out of place at a Sewickley meets Wexford private course.

To make a long story short, when the golf carts pull up to the green, the short bald grounds crew worker ran up to the cart and started screaming at the player. The golfer that hit him got out of the cart and stood up, now towering easily a foot over the worker. I realized who hit him. Johnson's reply to the grounds worker? "Fuck off. Eat my ass." I'll never forget it.

ManBearPig said...

Hey Siskel & Ebert,

I went to see "The Strangers" and I thought it totally sucked! Gee, let's beat on a guy's house...now that's scary!

Raul, why don't you stick to what you really know and let the truly knowledgable people like me decide what's a good movie?

Also, I didn't see your review on the latest Indiana Jones movie. What, was their budget too low for you? How can you review "The Strangers" and not review the fourth movie in one of the most successful movie franchises of all time?

To put it in simple sports terms (which you'll obviously be able to relate to) it would be like going to see a midget football game while the Superbowl is being played. You don't do that dude!

Even "whatshisnameismygrandmamashomeboy" would agree with that!

Anonymous said...

All I think about when I hear the name Randy Johnson is his shoving of a reporter on his first day in NY followed by, "Welcome to New York, Randy."

(Putz...)

As for the Will Ferrell film sucking, I for one am shocked - SHOCKED - that a former SNL'er ran a beat concept into the ground over the course of 3-4 films and faded from existence.