Another Smattering of Thoughts

A) This whole Roger Clemens charade is both funny and pathetic. And I mean that towards everyone involved. Congress sure doesn't look too good either with them wasting time to grandstand and ask Clemens for autographs and such. The sooner this whole thing goes away the better. I cannot wait to not hear about it anymore.

(How you like me now with that double-negative?!)

B) You know baseball season is right around the corner when Peter Gammons puts out his annual, "Baseball is in Great Shape!" article. He writes pretty much the same thing every year and every year I scan it to see whom I should avoid in my fantasy baseball draft. Inevitably he'll make outlandish claims like the "Bobby Crosby for MVP" call he had back in 2006 and inevitably every player he predicts big things from and raves about ends up getting hurt or sucking. I don't know how he does it or why it happens, but the fact is that it happens every year. In fact, the Crosby for MVP call was so predictable that I predicted Gammons prediction on my old Web site before it even came out. That's the truth too.

This year, I see him going the Grady Sizemore/David Wright route in his MVP predictions. Relatively safe gambles there so I can't even preemptively criticize his predictions.

C) If politics or the upcoming elections are your thing, I have to give a shout out the site of my local newspaper, the Washington Post. Very in depth and Howard Kurtz' "Media Notes" are a daily must-read. (you need to subscribe, but it's free and worth the five seconds it takes to sign up)

D) I've done my share of dabbling in the celebrity gossip scene. I have even been known to thumb through the wife's copy of People and even used to regularly pickup In Touch and US back in the golden 2003-2004 days before Britney and Paris totally took over that scene and the saturation had not quite reached the insane peaks it has today. But these days I more or less stand clear of the round the clock cycle of that stuff. That being said, I must say that if you are going to read anything about celebrity gossip and falls from grace this year, you have to check out Rolling Stone's piece on Britney Spears. Holy crap. Let's just say that because Rolling Stone is Rolling Stone they can get a lot dirtier and deeper into her story than the US' and Peoples of the world and they certainly take full advantage. Sensationalized or not (and the Spears camp has made no effort to refute anything written in there) the piece is riveting and you actually kind of see why she became what she is now. Plus there is a ton of sex and drugs which is always nice. Really, I can't recommend this article enough.

(The full article is not available for linking to unfortunately so I guess you'll just have to go out and buy the magazine if you want to read it. Sorry.)

E) Well it looks like the Writers Strike is about over and shows will be back in about a month. Sweet!! Can't wait to have 30 Rock and The Office back in my life. Don't look now either, but 30 Rock in my opinion has made itself consistently funnier than The Office. It's almost like The Office tries too hard sometimes while 30 Rock may not have highs as high as The Office or a character like Michael, but the ensemble cast is so dynamic and the wit so dry that it can carry even a below average episode. I find myself laughing more consistently at 30 Rock but harder at moments of The Office. One other thing that 30 Rock has going for it is the ensemble. Because there are so many people around they can split the action up and allow Liz, Jenna, Jack, Tracy Jordan, and if we are really lucky Dr. Spaceman to all have their moments. Nobody consistently kills me though like Tracy or Dr. Spaceman. I mean "Fat Bitch" and "Werewolves Bar Mitvah"? Or what about Spaceman giving Jenna shady weightloss drugs? Classic both.

Of course I'd also argue that The Office is partially a victim of it's own success. 30 Rock did not get burdened with stretching their shows out to an hour like The Office and that more than anything was the reason for the sub-standard first few episodes of the season this year. There's a reason comedies are 30 minute programs! It's hard to write for an hour's worth of jokes (or 46 minutes if you want to get technical). Anyway, I don't want to bash The Office by any means, rather I want to steer you in the direction of a show every bit it's equal and possibly - as I'd argue - funnier.

That's it.