Quick Rant: Sox/Yanks

This will be a quick little rant since I have yet again been neglecting this blog. I have been hoping for my friend to finish my new banner so that I may begin my transition to a new name and site, and officially (I keep saying this, but it is going to happen) join the LAMBs. Then, hopefully, be much more diligent in my blog postings.

Anyway, I currently live in upstate New York - I am talking way upstate. I am pretty much in Canada, or as close to Canada as possible while still paying American taxes. There is no technical rooting franchise in sports in this neck of the woods. We are pretty far from anything that would be considered a pro sports team.

So, we have assembled a rather mixed bowl if you will of rooting interests in this area. I, of course, being born in Pittsburgh and also attending college there have most of my rooting interests in the pros sports team from there. I am, however, more of an Atlanta Braves fan than a Pittsburgh Pirates fan - but I do root for them to win (even if they never do).

That being said, the area in which I live is split pretty well down the middle in terms of Boston Red Sox fans and New York Yankee fans. There are also the occasional New York Mets' fans sprinkled into the bunch as well.

I have stated before that baseball to me is pretty painful to watch. It is probably my least favorite sport of the four majors, although it is just behind hockey - I may rank hockey a little higher due to the fact that Pittsburgh just won the Stanly Cup though.

The baseball season is just so painstakingly long. It was once called the Summer Classic - but it ends in November. How is that possible? And, just when it finishes and other sports can take the stage - pitchers and catchers are reporting for Spring Training.

Look, I am a sports fan, and probably talk about my Steelers or the NBA far too much for some people. But, if you have to go from February through November hearing as much as I do about the Yankees or the Red Sox, you would be going crazy as well.

And, unfortanately, it isn't just where I live. It's also on my television. The Boston/New York rivalry in baseball is totally amped up thanks to its play on all of the major sports shows, radio shows, etc.

So, this past weekend drove me absolutely crazy.

The Red Sox had pretty much owned the Yankees this season, wining all eight of their contests up until this point. But, they were slowly falling in the standings, and the Yankees had actually overtaken them to lead the AL East.

So, everyone in my area and on television, was drooling at the fact that the Yankees could bury the Red Sox after this four-game series. How many games did each team have to win to stay in the race?, etc.

Well, New York ended up sweeping Boston and went up to a 6.5 game lead in the division. So, the Red Sox were done. Pack up their bags and wait until spring training (don't worry, it's way closer than it should be).

Then, the Red Sox win the first game after their Yankees series, and New York loses. So, Boston is now only 5.5 games behind.

This is the problem - the season is not over. But, to dig up drama every game has to matter - especially when they play each other. This is not over in the least, however, there are far too many games left to throw dirt on Boston's grave.

This just drives me crazy. Each loss we have to mourn and each win it's a celebration. For 162 games.

My only glimpse of fresh air? Preseason football started on Sunday.

That noise you hear - those are tears of joy.

Random Movie: Get Over It

I probably could be posting reviews of about 10 films I have watched since I have sort of taken a sabbatical from the blog writing. However, I finally finished my summer classes and have a few weeks before my master's work starts (if my B remains in my class).

Anyway, I thought I would start yet another quick blog about random movies that my wife and I watch and somewhat love. These are movies that I have watched a ton of times and are usually somewhat old. So, I am calling it Random Movie.

This past weekend we were in a flux about what to watch as nothing was on television and our almost three-year old son was still up. So, we had to watch something somewhat enjoyable, yet also meets the standards of a show that if my son gets sucked into watching won't be asking 'what is that guy doing to that lady?' or 'how come that guys arm just got caught off?'

This week, I rummaged through our DVD collection and tossed in Get Over It, a film that I don't think we have seen in many years.

The film came out in 2001 and stars Ben Foster as Berke Landers and Kirsten Dunst as Kelly Woods. This was Foster's first main star film role before he became a more successful star. Dunst, however, was a lot more well known, but this film was sort of her in between stage before she became, in my opinion, too important. This film was just after Dick, Drop Dead Gorgeous and Bring It On, but right before Spider-Man.

Anyway, the film starts off by showing Landers and his one-true love, Allison McCallister (Melissa Sagemiller), whom he has known since he was a child. (Sagemiller is currently starring in Raising the Bar on TNT, a very underrated law drama). In one of the first scenes, Allison dumps Landers as she feels the sparks are no longer there in their relationship and she needs something new.

Here we find out this isn't going to be the normal film, as when Landers leaves then popular pop star Vitamin C breaks out in "Love Will Keep Us Together".

Moving on, Landers does everything possible (while loathing) to figure out how to get Allison back. Meanwhile his two best friends Felix Woods (Colin Hanks) and Dennis Wallace (Sisqo) desperately try to get him out of his duldrums. (This was one of Hanks' first roles before Orange County. Also, remember Sisqo?).

A former boy band member, Bentley Scrumfield (Shane West) also known as 'Striker', transfers into the high school and immediately becomes infatuated with Allison. The two decide to tryout for "A Midsummer Night's Dream" being put on by Desmond Forrest-Oates (Martin Short).

To try and win back Allison, Landers also try's out for the musical, only to land a very small role. However, a stage accident knocks out one of the leads and in an attempt to humiliate the not-so great acting performance of Landers, 'Striker' nominates him to take his place.

Still trying to win back the heart of his one-true love Allison, Landers accepts the role and Kelly, who also holds a large part in the play, agrees to help him get better - while also slowly falling in love with him.

Of course, the film is cliche, because you already know what is going to happen even though I will not tell you the ending - but it is still pretty fun to watch every once in a while.

Ed Begley, Jr. and Swoosie Kurtz play Landers' parents, who are a pair of sex experts on a local television program - and who basically encourage Landers in anything he ends up doing. Te Woods' family is dogsitting their aunt's dog, who also happens to have a humping problem. And a major hottie named Dora Lynn also happens to be the most accident-prone person in the world.

This film also has small performances by some pretty large stars now. Zoe Saldana, who this sumemr played Uhura in Star Trek and is in James Cameron's Avatar, played Allison's best friend Maggie. Mila Kunis (That 70's Show, Forgetting Sarah Marshall) was Kelly's best friend Basin - who was also in a small love story of her own with Dennis in the background. Carmen Electra and Coolio (haha Coolio) also had a couple cameos in the film.

I enjoy this film because it was basically the start for a handful of great actors (Hanks, Foster, West, Kunis), had a few vanished from existence stars (Vitamin C, Coolio, Sisqo), some pretty funny scenes and music (Dunst actually sang her song) and a very cute Dunst before she got a little too large for her own good.

A great film? Not in a million years. But, it's an easy, quick watch that sort of leaves you somewhat satisfied at the conclusion.