Yankee Fan Fest 1996

Back by popular demand, I'm going to write more than 1 blog today, but it deals with the Yankees - which isn't a topic that some of my loyal readers like ChosenOne loves. Sorry ChosenOne, I hope you still idolize me. I'll keep it brief. I promise.

In early 1996, I attended the Yankee FanFest with my cousin. The FanFest was held before the season - which turned out to be the Yankees first championship in the 1990s dynasty years - and for a small fee you could stand in line for hours waiting for the signature of your favorite Yankee.

I managed to get some pretty sweet signatures that day, including one: from the new manager - who no one believed in -- Joe Torre; from Jim Leyritz - who had not yet hit the defining Game 3 1996 World Series home run of his career; Andy Pettitte - a young pup at the time; Don Zimmer - who hadn't pissed off George Steinbrenner yet; and Michael Kay - then of WABC Radio broadcaster and long before the YES Network was a twinkle in the Boss's eye.

This story though is about the biggest autograph I got and biggest line I stood in that day. The line wrapped around the FanFest facility where scores of people waited for the signature of an up and coming Yankee Rookie.

I still remember fans saying that day how he was going to become the next Yankee great. The Yankees sure believed it, as they gave the kid #2, a single digit number reserved only for such greats as Ruth, Gehrig, Berra, DiMaggio, etc. News camera crews believed it too. Fox was there and caught a glimpse of a young Paperboy, standing on the long line, who also believed that Derek Jeter was going to be something big.

After a long wait and a cameo on Fox News, I reached the front of the line and Jeter. I looked right at the young Jeter - he who was not yet soiled by Mariah Carey - and will never forget what happened next. ....He was wearing the exact same Aeropostle sweater that I was wearing at the time. I mentioned it to him. He said nonchalantly: "oh yeah, cool." He signed my ball and I went on my merry way.

Eleven Years Later that Derek Jeter autographed ball still sits on the bookshelf in my house. And last night, Derek Jeter hit a single in the 2nd inning for his 2,215th career hit as a Yankee. The hit vaulted him into fifth place on the all-time Yankees hit list in front of the great Joe DiMaggio. Guess Jeter turned out to be a great one, huh?

Lost Season 3 Finale One to Remember

All I can say is Wow! I thought that the 2-hour Season 3 Finale of Lost was PHENOMENAL last night. It might have been one of the best episodes of Lost ever before and could be one of the best season finales of any show that I've ever seen.

I also think that the awesome season finale also definitely made up for an overall season that was fraught with confusing storylines, horrible flashbacks and mediocre character development.

There was just so much action in last night's episode, from Hurley driving in to save the day, to Charlie turning off the jamming signal in the Looking Glass, to the great flashbacks of Jack, to when Jack beat the hell out of Ben.

Short of a baseball or football game, I can't remember the last time, I was actually up on my feet yelling at the screen while watching TV. The scene where Ben ordersthe Others to kill Sayid, Jin and Bernard was so emotionally charged for me that from the second that Jack jumped on top of Ben and started punching him, I was literally yelling out loud, "Kill him. Kill him." I'm usually not a violent person, short of shooting people in Grand Theft Auto and throwing around the remote every so often, but at that moment, I was screaming for Jack to beat Ben to death.

Of course, last night as always, Lost raised more new questions than it answered old ones, like:

1) What the hell happened in the closing scene were a makeup-wearing Kate visits Jack at the airport? I'm assuming that they have gotten off of the island, but the time period really isn't explained.

2) Why was Jack continually referring to his father like he was still alive in the flashbacks? In the last scene we are clearly shown that the flashbacks are actually flashforwards into the future after Jack's dad had died.

3) Who is Naomi and who are the people on her boat that is 80 miles off the island?

4) Why did Ben keep saying that everyone on the island would die if they were rescued?

5) Has the old Internet rumor of the castaways being in purgatory really breathed its last breath?

6) What will happen in Season 4 with the castaways? Will they be rescued? Or they really in purgatory and does Ben's proclamation of everyone "dying" and the Jack flashbacks really occur in Hell where the good Jack is a strung old drug addict who tries to commit suicide.

Even though some many questions were raised during the Season Finale last night, I really didn't care. There was so much action from start to finish that I saved the episode on my DVR and definitely am planning to watch it again. I can't wait for Season 4.

The Jonathan Papelbon Face

Sure, I'm pissed that the Yankees dropped last night's game to the Red Sox making tonight's rubber game at the Sox all that much more important. But I wanted to blog about one thing that particularly pisses me off more than that: Red Sox Closer Jonathan Papelbon's "mean" face when he is staring down batters.

I literally searched the Internet for the past two days looking for that exact picture, but couldn't find it. So, instead of posting it on this blog, I'll explain it in words.

During my search, I heard it called the "Anus Face", but I won't be that mean. In my opinion, the face that Jonathan Papelbon gives an opposing batter prior to each pitch is the same exact "mean" face that 3rd graders give to their teachers when they are told that someone else drank their chocolate milk. Is that a good enough description for you?

I hate that guy.

A Different Yankees Team

It was an excellent team effort by the Yankees last night against the Red Sox. Sure, the Yankees entered last night's game 10 1/2 games behind the Red Sox, a team that had absolutely no pressure whatsoever on them. It just looked like a different Yankee team out there.

For one of the first times all season, the Yankees have their top 3 starters lined up in a row. The return of Roger Clemens is on the horizon. And with last night's 6-2 win against the Red Sox, the Yankees have put together a winning streak. Yes, it's too game, but I'm a glass half full type of guy.

Last night, Johnny Damon had 3 hits and made stuff happen on the basepaths by stealing second in the first inning before Alex Rodriguez deposited a gargantuan shot into the left center stands. Bobby Abreu started to get on base again. The Yankees as a whole were more aggressive than they have at any point in the season on the basepaths. They stole bases. They took an extra base on base hits. They slid hard into bases. They played good defense. A majority of the calls didn't go the Red Sox's way. Chien-Ming Wang got out of tough jams when the Red Sox had runners in scoring position. The worst didn't end up happening.

It was nothing like the Yankees who have played the first 40+ games in a lackadaiscal and stoned fashion. And I loved it. 9 1/2 games back and hopefully the Bombers can pick up another game tonight nad tomorrow against the tobacco chewing, donkey banging Red Sox.

An Underwhelming Season of 24

I can't express how truly disappointed I was with Season Six of 24. For anyone who reads my blog knows, you know that 24 is probably my favorite show on TV. I love Jack Bauer. I own all 5 seasons on DVD and have watched all of them 2 times a piece. That's 240 hours of TV for those of you counting at home.

Needless to say, I was completely excited for Season 6 to start. I blogged about it. I gushed about it. I held my 2nd annual 24 Bad Guy Draft with my buddy and put money on it. The first few hours were decent. Some of the plotlines were interesting. I wondered where the season would go.

But after the 12 hour mark or so of Season 6, I found my "must watch TV" feeling of 24 waning a bit. By the 18th hour, I was truly slogging through episodes, just to keep up with my 24 Bad Guy pool and simply out of my undying love and dedication for the show. Something happened to change that though this season. The plotlines became stale. The cliffhanger commercial breaks too predictable. The characters too shallow.

In past seasons, I'd be on the edge of my seat and a 4 minute commercial break would literally last a hour. Now that I have a Tivo, that 4 minute commercial break has evaporated to something like 1o seconds between the action. That might be the reason, but I really think it's the fact that the producers are working with stale storylines, stale characters and the loss of Elisha Cuthbert - as Jack's smoking hot daughter - which hurt the show more than anyone else could possibly imagine.

Tonight's 2 hour season finale was completely underwhelming right up until the last scene where Jack looks over a cliff and you're wondering is he going to jump? Is he going to blow his brains out? The answers to both were a resounding no. All that Jack did was look out into the distance and look like he was going to cry while the screen faded to black. I could have swore that I saw a jumping shark in the distance.

The Yankee Clippard

Well, NY Daily News went with the headline that I knew they were going to use after last night's strong performance by rookie pitcher Tyler Clippard . If they hadn't, another paper would have and if they didn't, I surely would have used it. For those who don't get the reference, Yankee great Joe DiMaggio was known as the Yankee Clipper back in the 50s. No, I have no idea what a Yankee Clipper means.

Tyler Clippard pitched very well in his major league debut last night against the Mets. Clippard gave up 1 run and 3 hits through 6 innings. He struck out 6 batters and kept the Mets off balance all night. When he left after the 6th inning, he had retired 17 batters in a row. Of course, Joe Torre didn't keep him in though and continued to show a ridiculous belief in our crappy bullpen. Thankfully they didn't blow it for Clippard.

Lost in the fact that the Yankees are 10+ games behind the Red Sox and four games under .500 is the fact that many of our young arms (Karstens, Clippard, Hughes) have pitched really well in pressure situations this season. Hey, ya gotta look on the bright side when your team stinks.

Congrats to my Brother-in-Law

Congrats to my brother-in-law for his graduation from Rutgers University today. Way to go man. My boy raised his GPA from a 1.x in his first semester in college to graduating with honors as a Communications/Sociology double major. Way to go!

Today's graduation, while it was all 5 hours long did have another huge highlight to it. Former Rutgers grad James Gandolfini - otherwise known as the great Tony Soprano - was there and he walked right by me. It was pretty cool. Bada Bing!