- I had the first fender-bender of my life on Friday night, which was, obviously, a major-league bummer. Thankfully, no damage was done to the truck I rear-ended at 2 mph, and the nice lady driving the truck didn’t even ask for my insurance information. My car, on the other hand, has a nice dent and crumple place right underneath the passenger’s side headlight, which I’m going to refer to as "character marks." But to quote Tony Pena and Allard Baird, "it’s nothing serious." Nobody got hurt either, so I guess that’s the saving grace. Just remember, kids: Never take your foot off the brake when there’s a car right in front of you. Nothing good could possibly come from it.
- I had my car accident en route to see Jim Carrey in Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events. It’s difficult to provide an unbiased review of the movie since I think Carrey’s one of the funniest people ever, so I’ll just say it’s extremely entertaining. Jim’s ability to combine his lines with his own improvisational style is nothing short of genius.
- The Royals decided not to tender a contract to Miguel Asencio, making him a free agent. They’re interested in re-signing him to a minor-league deal, but his elbow just hasn’t healed as quickly as the Royals would like. At this point, it’s believed he won’t be ready to go until August or September at the earliest. He’s had more rehab setbacks than Robert Downey, Jr., and the Royals don’t have any business carrying a lame-duck pitcher on their 40-man roster. People who’re getting really excited about the Royals popping Andy Sisco in last week’s Rule 5 draft should take a look at Asencio’s career with the Royals, because this is what happens to most Rule 5 picks. For every Johan Santana, there are probably 20 guys who are complete failures.
- I’ve decided there’s nothing more fun than getting front-row seats to a college basketball game and screaming your lungs out, especially during a hotly contested contest. The SMS Bears were in such a game yesterday, and eventually beat Miami (OH) 69-63. The win over Wally Szczerbiak U was an important one, because it’ll give SMS some wiggle room next week when they play Oklahoma University at Norman. You never want to say a team can "afford" to lose a game in college basketball, but going into the game at 6-1 certainly helps. The game against the Sooners will wrap up their non-conference schedule, and they can’t be any worse than 6-2 going into conference play.
One funny thing happened during the game when Blake Ahearn (who I’ve given props to before on this blog) intercepted a pass and had a clear lane to the basket for a layup. The only problem? He didn’t quite jump high enough, and got stuffed by the rim. Knowing the guys who play on the team, I think he can expect to find one of those plastic, 3-foot tall Fisher Price basketball goals in his room at some point this week. He’ll be lucky if Anthony Shavies & Co. don’t come up with a picture of the "play" and put copies of it all over his door.
- If any people here in Springfield hadn’t recovered from the Cardinals’ embarrassing no-show in the World Series, they probably will when the team introduces Mark Mulder sometime this week. Walt Jocketty landed Mulder for what was probably the same package he offered the A’s for Tim Hudson, a package that I think made it a heck of a good trade for St. Louis. The real prize in the deal for Oakland is catcher Daric Barton, who’s shown outstanding knowledge of the strike zone at a very young age. I also like Dan Haren’s chances at at least becoming a good relief pitcher, and Kiko Calero’s been one of the most underrated set-up guys in baseball over the past two seasons. Wouldn’t you like to have a guy with a career 2.80 ERA in 83 2/3 innings in your team's bullpen?
Still, it’s going to work out well for the Cards. As long as Mulder’s healthy (his walks took a pretty big-time spike last year), the Cards finally have that stopper they’ve been searching for since Matt Morris’s last really good year. I think we can also put Mulder down in the same category as Scott Rolen, in that he’s a hometown guy who’ll fall in love with the Cardinal fans and sign a long-term deal.
- In the commercial for her new fragrance, Britney Spears is shown rolling around in a bed with some guy. She then poses the question, "Do you dare?" to the viewing audience, which I think is a little bit ironic. And no, Britney, I wouldn’t dare.
This entry was posted
on Monday, December 20, 2004 at 12/20/2004 12:00:00 AM.
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