9.19.2006

Studio 60, MNF, and the passing of a baseball era

Three posts in one. Let's do this. Don't have a lot of time - it's late, and I have more reading to do for class, but some things need to be covered tonight.

First, as promised, is "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," the new show from "The West Wing" masterminds Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme. This. Show. Rocks. That's it. I made a prediction while watching this, based in part on a little bit of history. This duo has never failed to win the Emmy for best drama. They worked together for four years on "The West Wing," and the show won that award all four times. That trend won't end this year. "Grey's Anatomy," "CSI," and the rest be damned, this Emmy belongs to "Studio 60." I've been psyched about this show since I heard about it - I even read the early version of the script that leaked online. You know that guy who can quote lines during the premiere? Yeah, that was me tonight. Brilliantly written, beautifully directed, expertly cast, and perfectly executed. And my understanding is that the second episode is better. Now that we've all established that I have a man-crush on this show, let's move on to topic number two.

Another thing I was excited about this fall was the move of Monday Night Football from ABC to ESPN. I loved the addition of Tony Kornheiser to the booth, even if I wasn't thrilled about ESPN's keeping Joe Theismann. Mike Tirico is money, too. So far, the booth has been feeling itself out, still, trying to find its comfort zone. That's fine. That's not what this paragraph is about. ESPN has taken the lineup introductions to a new plateau. Tonight I saw a new approach to the lineups. Sure, during the first possession each team was on the field, they showed the player pictures on the bottom of the screen. Where ESPN excelled was in the details - it really is a Disney company. Instead of having the commentators read off the lineup, they videotaped one of the players from each side reading it off and adding his own comments. For the Jaguars offense, it was QB Byron Leftwich, who seemed relaxed and cool. For the Steelers D, it was the usually unbearable Joey Porter. Tonight, though, he had me rolling. He decided instead of playing it cool - he is Joey Porter, remember - he was going to channel Dave Chappelle. More specifically, he channeled Dave Chappelle's spoof of Howard Dean. Absolutely amazing. I don't have video of the Joey Porter bit, but the "Chappelle's Show" sketch is at the end of this post. Do enjoy.

While we're on the subject of football, I want to send my thoughts out to David Pollack, the Cincinnati Bengal who literally broke his own neck making a tackle today. Anybody playing that hard deserves some respect, and a speedy recovery.

One last note. The New York Mets clinched the National League East division title today, officially marking the end of what some would call the Atlanta Braves' reign of terror. As a kid, I was a Braves fan - I loved their pitchers and Dave Justice and the rest of the cast - don't blame me, I was young! The Braves were eliminated from contention sometime last week, but today made it official. Here's hoping the bloody Mets don't go on their own 14-year streak.

So, I'm currently fighting with YouTube to make it let me blog videos, but it's not cooperating at the moment. Watch this space.

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