Life Begins at 40

40 points. It has been brewing for a while now. Throughout the month of December, Rodney Stuckey has been scorching the nets at a ridiculous rate. The 2nd year guard has been getting to the hoop at will. His jump shot, at one time considered to be his weak link, has improved dramatically, right in front of our eyes. With his shooting percentage hovering around 60% for the month, an explosion from Stuckey was bound to happen very soon. He just needed to get the shot attempts, and the rest would take care of itself. 40 points later, it was possibly a career changing night for #3.

It was clear early in the game tonight that Rodney Stuckey was simply in no mood to mess around. No more losses to middling teams like the 76ers and Jazz. No more settling for jumpers when this team is obviously built to run and outscore the other club. In the 1st quarter, Stuckey got off to a hot start by driving for layups on 3 of 4 possessions. Timeout, Bulls...Vinnie Del Negro needed to find a solution to stopping the possessed guard from Eastern Washington. A pattern was developing. He tacked on 5 more points the rest of the quarter, culminating in a picturesque three-point play where Stuckey displayed a beautiful left hand while taking the hit from Luol Deng (or whoever that is impersonating Deng this season).

The first 6 minutes of the 2nd quarter represented the only stretch of time all night that the Bulls would not be lit up by Mr. Stuckey. After all, he was on the bench. When he returned, and for the next 3 quarters, it was more of the same. Stuckey driving to the bucket time after time, creating contact and hanging in midair for what seemed like an eternity while controlling his body and nestling the ball in off the glass. When the defender took a step off, daring Stuckey to shoot, he burned 'em.

Vinnie Del Negro is another of the 1st year head coaches that seem so common this year in the NBA. The guy might have a nice career on the sidelines, but he won't forget this night for a long time. Del Negro is the kind of coach that not only seems to live and die with each game, but with each possession. Each time Stuckey dropped in a basket Tuesday, Del Negro slumped his shoulders and turned to his assistants as if to say, "What more can we do?" Not to diminish Stuckey's night in any way, but let's just say Coach Del Negro did not exactly reinvent the wheel with his coaching innovations against the Pistons. When a player gets in a zone like Stuckey was, coaches will often send a double team to force the ball out of his hands. 'Make somebody else beat you,' the saying goes. There were maybe 2-3 times all night that Stuckey was trapped on a pick-and-roll and forced to dish. Otherwise, it was mostly one man preventing him from putting the ball in the hole. And clearly, Stuckey was blistering anybody the Bulls put in front of him.

-Derrick Rose, #1 overall pick, savior of the Bulls franchise...phhhh...I liked you better when they called you Darius Washington, Jr.
-Larry Hughes took a shot at him. After all, he did lead the NBA in steals a few years back. Tonight, the only thing he stole was a paycheck.
-Thabo Sefolosha, the lanky guard from Switzerland known for his defense, proved two things tonight. One, he has no business guarding Rodney Stuckey 1-on-1 unless they are the last 2 guys left on Earth, and even then, he's better off going zone. Two, the only things that should come from Switzerland are watches and tennis players.
-Lindsey Hunter, or as Doug Collins would describe, "The best on-ball defender in the history of this league. Just a great person. If I ever had a son, I would want him to be just like Lind...oh right, I already have a son. Well, you get the point." These things might have been true 10-12 years ago, back when Collins was still representing the boys in Teal. But tonight, Lindsey Hunter was clean shaven, 20 pounds overweight, and helpless in stopping the man he might have thought he was once going to turn out to be...Rodney Stuckey.

In Monday's column, I talked about Michael Curry and his questionable coaching in the Atlanta loss this weekend. In that game, Curry sat Stuckey for almost half of the deciding quarter after he had just torched the Hawks in the 3rd, bringing the Pistons back from a big hole. Tonight, the circumstances took care of themselves. Allen Iverson suffered a minor injury early in the 2nd half, thus removing any chance of Sunday's history repeating itself. Stuckey played the entire 2nd half, looking fresher as everybody else wore down. When the Bulls went on a 12-0 run to start the 3rd to cut the lead to one, momentum seemed to be all on the side of the visitors. Now was the time for Stuckey to unleash his entire arsenal of skills on the now-confident, soon to be stunned once again, Chicago Bulls. Bombs away from downtown, Stuckey's only 3 of the night. Loses his defender and drops in another layup on a nice feed from buddy Arron Afflalo. A minute later, he drove the paint again and scored. The 1 point game was now 11, the crowd was on its feet, and Vinnie Del Negro did the only thing he could all night to stop the unstoppable Stuckey, if only for a few minutes. He called time out.

If there is a bigger picture to this game, it is the Allen Iverson trade and what it means in terms of the development of Rodney Stuckey and the prospects of this year's Pistons. I was never one to be in favor of the trade. Like most Piston fans, I had become attached to Chauncey over the years. The first "big shot," a 3 over Chris Mills to beat Golden State, the near half-courter against New Jersey, the Finals MVP...he was everything you wanted in a Piston. But I could understand if Joe Dumars decided this team needed some kind of shakeup. This current group may have topped out, and almost seemed resigned to lose every year in the Eastern Conference Finals.

My main problem is, with Dumars knowing even better than any of us how good Rodney Stuckey can be if given the opportunity, why deal Chauncey for a guy like Iverson? A guy who has made a career out of making things happen for himself, but not for others. I don't recall him doing much for the careers of young superstars in Jerry Stackhouse and Carmelo Anthony. He is a player that needs a certain number of touches a game to stay happy. Essentially, when you are an Allen Iverson team, you win or lose with the rock in his hands. But if it's in his hands, how can it be in Stuckey's hands as well? Short answer: it can't. Tuesday night, Piston fans got a glimpse of what could be if young Stuckey were given this kind of freedom on a nightly basis. Allen Iverson is still a valued member of this team and his production is needed for them to do anything special this year. But the sooner he understands that he cannot be "The Man" anymore and that he needs to defer to Stuckey on a nightly basis, the better off everyone will be. Essentially, we have an "Old Stuckey" and a "Young Stuckey" on this club...how about we let the young fella do his thing?

When the dust settles on this season, someone might look back on this game as just 1 of 82 on a never-ending NBA schedule. But it could end up meaning a lot more. Ever since Rodney Stuckey was drafted from little known Eastern Washington in 2007, we've been told that he has all of the skills to be one of the greats. In flashes, these skills would be displayed. At some point, all of it would come together, we hoped. The athleticism, the strength, the touch, the aggressiveness, and the will to be the best player on the court at all times. On Tueday night at the Palace, everything came together for the man his teammates simply call "Stuck." Only, on this night, he was anything but.


E-mail me at highsockslegend@gmail.com

Yet Unnamed Monday Weekend Sports Re-Kap

Believe in Never

They say that you learn something new every day. Well, yesterday, I learned the lesson that if you are trying to gain credibility with a relatively new sports blog, predicting a victory for the 2008 Detroit Lions is not the path to go down. I knew things were bad on the car ride over to Ford Field with my boy BK. He is as much a die-hard Lions fan as there is in this city. He still makes noise when the Lions are on defense and is known to shout things such as, "Watch for the Play-Action!" on approximately 78% of the opposing team's plays. And he killed me for going public with the Lions victory prediction on this once-respected site. I thought our defense would be so jacked up that a couple big plays would just fall in their lap for the first time all year. Didn't exactly go down like that.

Very quickly, the game developed the feel of a pre-season contest. Sparse crowd, zero energy in the stadium...only difference was that if it were indeed an exhibition game, the Lions would have come out firing. Instead, they were fired upon...repeatedly. Drew Brees threw for 351 yards, and if he wanted to, it could have been 500+. His ample time in the pocket throughout the game reminded me of an old Detroit Vipers commercial. The Vipers' goalie was just chillin' by his net, sitting in a beach chair, watching some tube and enjoying a beverage. Even though the game was going on, there was no action coming his way, so he was the picture of cool. Same deal with Brees. When he wanted to look for the deep ball, it was there with his receivers a good 15 yards past any Lions "defensive" back. When he wanted to check it down, he found Jeremy Shockey or Billy Miller or a running back and bagged 10-20 yards that way. After seeing the time and comfort afforded him in the pocket by the gracious Lions defense, I'm convinced he could have thrown for Two-Fiddy playing lefthanded.

It was most definitely the nastiest performance of the year by a soon to be historically pathetic football team. It was the perfect storm on Sunday: zero desire, extreme lack of talent, a coaching staff trotting out the same game plan for the 15th game in a row, and a crowd so dead that the only real cheers I heard all day were those reserved for Dashing Donut. The lesson I learned is that if I feel the need to toss out some bold prediction regarding events at a Lions game, I'm better off keeping things simple and just calling out a dominating win by the Donut. After all, the Lions disappoint you week after week. But when's the last time you felt anything but ecstasy after spending some quality time with a 'glazed and sprinkled?' Live and learn.


Most People Really Enjoy Their Sundays

Arthur Spooner, the character perfected by Jerry Stiller on 'The King of Queens,' once uttered the following pearl of wisdom, "Ah, Sunday. You know what I like to call it...Fun Day." Well, I know one NBA team that would vehemently disagree with that statement. The Detroit Pistons hate Sundays. After a setback to the Atlanta Hawks yesterday, their Sunday record on the season sits at a Lions-esque 0-6. Their record every other day of the week: 14-5.

Somehow, the story after this game ended up being the "benching" of Allen Iverson in the 4th quarter by Michael Curry and the possible breach this created between the two. Apparently, Curry felt the big day by Mike Bibby was directly related to Iverson's struggles on the defensive end and sat him down for a few minutes in the 4th quarter. Just hard to understand how this can be looked at as a "benching."

It is true that Iverson was lifted from the game with 4:30 left and the Pistons only down 6. However, he had only managed one bucket in the 2nd half, and was largely ineffective for most of the game. And he was coming out for Rodney Stuckey, the Pistons' best player by far on Sunday and someone who had been curiously sitting for almost half the quarter. The move seemed 100% within the flow of the game to me, and not this controversial punishment that many are making it out to be. This is a little bit of a different team than most in the NBA, with crunch time lineups varying from night to night. With that said, though, Michael Curry has to do a better job of identifying who the best guys are heading into the crucial stretches of the 4th and making sure they are on the floor. Rodney Stuckey had 10 points in the last 5 minutes of the 3rd quarter on Sunday, singlehandedly changing the momentum of the game. In the last quarter, Coach Curry sat Stuckey for 5 minutes while managing to get him one measly shot attempt, a jumper he buried in the last minute with the game no longer in doubt.

Now this is not a bad loss, by any means. The Hawks are quietly turning into one of the East's more formidable foes, especially at Philips Arena. But it tends to sting a little more when you lose the game without really exposing your big guns at the biggest moments. Understandably, Michael Curry is a rookie head coach and is still learning the craft. However, after his late-game clock mismanagement on Friday against Utah and the aforementioned Stuckey problems yesterday, this inexperience is coming through a little too frequently. The only saving grace to all this; the Pistons have next Sunday off.


Couple Other Quick Hitters

-Very impressive win for Michigan State over #5 Texas in Houston. Not the prettiest of games, but a gritty, statement win nonetheless. The Spartans had yet to record a real quality win this season, and this victory should serve as a big confidence booster heading into Big Ten play in a couple of weeks. Excellent job by Tom Izzo and the coaching staff for devising a game plan intent on shutting down the Longhorns' high-powered guard, A.J. Abrams. Travis Walton badgered him relentlessly whenever he was in the game, and the Spartans held Abrams to just 8 points while playing the entire 40 minutes. The two best players for MSU both came off the pine. Goran Suton was in superb form on his way to 18 points, making the squad much more formidable with his presence in the lineup. Durrell Summers hit the biggest shot of the game, a cold-blooded 3 from the right wing with 20 ticks left to grab the lead. Credit Raymar Morgan as well. Despite his odd night statistically (3-3 from the field, 6 turnovers), he was able to penetrate just enough to grab some attention before setting up Summers for the game-winning bomb.

-Am I the only one that feels bad for Evander Holyfield? It sounds as if he was completely robbed in his majority decision loss to giant Nikolay Valuev on Saturday in Switzerland. I know the guy should probably not be fighting, and he is most likely damaging himself for later on in life, but he ought to get the W if he's earned it. Valuev was so passive during the bout that he was described to be "in a coma" for most of the fight, but somehow it was good enough to garner the necessary points from 2 of the 3 judges. I've always been a Holyfield guy. From an early age, I respected his toughness in handling much bigger heavyweights when he was naturally a cruiserweight. Maybe this will be the end of the road for the former champion. I always enjoyed watching him when he was at his best. It is frustrating that this bout will possibly send him out of the ring for the last time with a sour taste in his mouth...he deserves better.


What did you notice this weekend? Drop a comment here or Email your boy at highsockslegend@gmail.com

Believe in NOW

No matter how bad things have gotten for the Lions this season, I never believed they could run the table and go a full regular season without registering one single W. No matter how many injuries, no matter how many horrible calls by referees at the most important junctures of games, it is simply too much for an NFL team to lose all 16 games in a season. Even the Lions. And as Lions fans, we all know there is a 0.00 percent chance that the boys in Honolulu Blue can get a win in Lambeau the last week of the year. The game in 10 hours against the New Orleans Saints is the last chance in 2008 for the Lions to get a victory. And they're going to do it. The last time the Saints won a big game, it was in the 2000 playoffs when they knocked off the defending champion Rams in a home playoff game. They simply are not prepared for the kind of atmosphere that is waiting for them at Ford Field later today. After being eliminated from NFC playoff contention with their loss last week, and slumping in with a 1 and 6 record on the road, all signs point to the Lions shocking the world. Dan Orlovsky will throw a couple touchdowns...Kevin Smith will rumble in for a score...Calvin will be Calvin...and the D will make a few big plays. This Detroit Lions team is most definitely not good...but they are due.

Detroit Lions 31
New Orleans Saints 27

You can call the Lions a lot of things...but after today, "winless" will not be one of them.



1-14 might be a sick record for an NFL team, but for Baron Davis, it's a normal night from the field... E-mail me at highsockslegend@gmail.com

I've Got A Basketball Jones

Anybody that has ever played basketball at any level knows that you will have your share of great days and your share of forgettable ones. Sometimes you head out on the court and the bucket is the size of an ocean; you can't miss. Other days, that rim might as well be covered with an immovable lid because you can't buy a bucket. But what separates me and the other gym rats out there from the men playing in the NBA is that their bad days are much more infrequent. Sure, those guys go cold every now and then. Five games in seven nights...limited rest...even an elite NBA scorer might hit a rough patch. But you can pretty much guarantee that this player will bounce back in a big way soon after. Something like 12 of 17 from the floor, with a few treys, for 34 points. Even a solid ballgame, maybe 7 of 13 from the field, is the norm on a lot of nights for those in the Association. When I look at an NBA box score to see who shot the ball well and who didn't, usually the invisible benchmark is the tried and true 50%. Did you make more than you missed? It's what the game comes down to. Which is what makes the following streak all the more astonishing...and downright embarrassing, especially for a so-called "Superstar" player. Spanning the end of last season and ALL 24 games this season, Baron Davis has yet to shoot over 50% in 43 straight games!! He of the 5 year, $65 million dollar off-season contract with the Los Angeles Clippers. He of the deceiving 18.4 points per game. He of the 7-18 Clippers. The Detroit Lions might be getting all the headlines as the current "loser" of the sports world. But Baron Davis is just as deserving...or undeserving, however you want to look at it.

Just to make sure this "streak" was in a class of its own, I did a little digging. I dug, I dug, and I dug some more. Nobody could match this run of ineptitude on a nightly basis. Of all the players qualifying for the league leaders in scoring this year, meaning on pace to play in 70 games or score 1,400 points, Mr. Baron Davis was the only man yet to sniff the plus-50 mark for a night. To find a guy that is in the same company as Davis this season, you have to go alllll the way down the NBA scoring list (of every player, not just those who qualify) to #273, Desmon Farmer of the Spurs. Only thing is, Farmer has played in just 3 games. Come back to me when you've struggled in 40 more.

How can a player so celebrated and so highly thought of in NBA circles go 43 consecutive games shooting under 50%?? Every self-respecting NBA ballplayer is going to find his stroke in one game and knock down some shots. They are all so talented that it is nearly impossible for any extended cold streak to occur for very long. And we're not asking for a 17-19 performance, or anything out of the stratosphere. Just give me a 6 for 11, a 9 of 17...put the ball in the bucket for one night more than you clang it off the iron. Even Ryan Bowen, the guy my Dad has long considered to be the worst player in the NBA, managed a 2-3 shooting night this season! And there are no excuses for Davis, either. I do not want to hear that he's on a terrible team, forced to take contested shots, has nobody around him. Look at guys like O.J. Mayo in Memphis, Kevin Durant in Oklahoma City. Same situation, but you do not see them getting targeted in this piece. I know Baron Davis is an extremely talented guy. He can get to the bucket most anytime he wants. Has the capability of posting up smaller point guards. Outside shot leaves a lot to be desired, but he can get hot from deep on occasion...or so I thought. It's been 43 games, and it hasn't happened yet.

The signs for Baron's struggles were there a long time ago. I remember a few years back, when Davis was with the Hornets, him letting the media and the rest of the NBA world know that he did not enjoy being called "B-Diddy" as some had begun calling him. He would prefer the more mature "B-Dizzle." Real superstars allow nicknames to find them...not the other way around.

For all I know, this little streak that I've discovered will never get the media's attention. They look at a guy like Baron Davis, and say, "Hey, the guy is averaging 18 and 8 for a terrible team...what more do you want from the guy?" I want ONE NIGHT where he can go home after the game, call up his mom on the phone, and when she asks how he shot the ball that night, reply honestly, "I shot the ball well." A glance at his numbers shows a disturbing trend. Davis is shooting his usual 30% from the 3-point line this year, par for the course for this below average shooter from distance. But why is a guy shooting so badly from deep also jacking up the 3rd most 3's in the NBA? Is it possible that the burly point guard from L.A. is also aware of this streak, and is doing everything in his power to keep it alive? His shot selection has become much more "Air Bud" than "Air Jordan," and that dog never passed the rock.

With each 6 for 23 and 11 for 29, with countless 3-balls going wayward at the basket, it becomes more and more of a possibility that Baron Davis could go the whole year without breaking through that 50% barrier. In all likelihood, however, the dream will end sometime soon, because after all, the man is extremely due. But it's fun while it lasts, and if anything, it gives you another reason to check a Clippers box score besides "I wanted to see how many times Paul Davis got dunked on." In the meantime, I hope Baron's mom isn't waiting by the phone...it might not be ringin' for a long time.


A Night of Basketball

Went to see my cousin Mayer hoop it up for his high school basketball team. Had a "funny" exchange while sitting courtside. The ref came up, and trying to be part official, part comedian, commented that we were like celebrities at an NBA game. So he points to my uncle, "Oh, hello Jack," as in Jack Nicholson. Then moving on to the next guy, but clearly stumped to think of another high-profile NBA fan, says again, "Nice to see ya, Jack!" You can't pay for that kind of quality entertainment, and thankfully, I didn't! Mayer's guys were outsized in a big way, and the final score reflected it. But damn, that game was so physical that it could have taken place at San Quentin and nobody would have batted an eye. I'm talkin NO EASY BASKETS, NO EASY BASKETS!! Very proud of my younger cousin, though. Handled himself extremely well on the court, grabbing an offensive board, drawing some fouls, and delivering a clean, while vicious, body block to an opposing player while the guy was in mid-air that resulted in a turnover and a perfectly ruled no-call on Mayer! Gotta love it.


Watched a good part of the 2nd half of the Suns-Blazers tilt on TNT. Blazers won it late in what was probably the best NBA game I've watched this season. Brandon Roy put on a ridiculous show, pouring in 52 points and receiving numerous "MVP" chants at the line from the Portland faithful in the 2nd Half. (Hmm, little early for that) He was absolutely unstoppable in the 2nd half, culminating in a memorable exchange that led to his go-ahead three in the final minute. Roy was bringing the ball up in a semi fast-break and got it ahead to Steve Blake on the left wing. Blake, without so much as a thought of attacking the basket, dropped it right back to him. Roy, almost insisting that Blake take advantage of the space being given to him, moved it ahead to his point guard a second time. Blake's decision was the exact same. Snaps it right back to Roy, while thinking in his head, "Stop giving me the ball!! You have 47 points and if you haven't forgotten, I am Steve Blake!! SHOOT THE BALL!" Roy did just that, dropping in the long 3 to give him a 50-spot, and sending the Rose Garden crowd into a frenzy. A brilliant performance from one of the league's best players.

Couple other quick thoughts on this excellent game.
-Interesting little coaching staff out there in Phoenix. Like a flashback to all complementary players in the NBA Finals of the early 90's. Terry Porter coaching the squad, Bill Cartwright and Dan Majerle serving as assistants. I bet somewhere, Terry Teagle feels very left out right now.

-Jason Richardson has become a glorified Hubert Davis. He seems content to camp out on the 3-point line with the rest of the Suns, forgoing his old formula of attacking the rim and throwing it down. Not that he can't help the Suns by canning some bombs and providing a few highlights here and there, but he's not the same guy I remember on Golden State and in East Lansing. Maybe it's the injuries he's dealt with, maybe he's finding his way with a new team, but he did not look to have the same bounce as the old J-Rich. Travis Outlaw practically skied over him for an offensive rebound towards the end of the game, preventing the Suns a chance to tie on the other end. Doesn't happen to the Jason Richardson of 3-4 years ago.

-I know the Blazers fans were lauding Brandon Roy with the "MVP" chants throughout the 2nd half...but where were those same chants for my man Joel Pryzbilla? If you haven't noticed, the big fella is quietly shooting an eye-popping, anti Baron Davis, 79% from the field. And do not think he's skating by on like 12 shots this year to attain that percentage. Pryzbilla has attempted 89 field-goals this year...and canned 70 of them! Sure, most of them are because other guys did all the work by penetrating and setting him up under the rim for an easy dunk, but that's insignificant! The man is shooting 79% from the floor, and if there was an MVP ballot in my mailbox tomorrow morning, he would have my vote.

And on that disturbing note...


Let me know how you feel about Joel Pryzbilla at highsockslegend@gmail.com

Got Me Wonderin...

-Is there any bigger dilemma than how to best throw away a cereal box when it's finally empty? It's such a large, obtrusive, object...and it plays mind games with even the most crafty individuals. You could have a brand new garbage bag going in the kitchen. After one empty cereal box gets jammed in there, it appears as if it needs to be taken out again. Do you go through the labor-intensive practice of folding the box together 11 different ways to conserve the space? Some of us aren't strong enough to perform such a procedure. And who's to say it doesn't start unfolding once it's been tossed anyway, unfurling every which way like a peacock spreading its wings. There's also the semi-insane approach of maniacally ripping the box apart into several smaller pieces. This might work, but it comes with a price: your self respect.


-You could be in the best mood of your life. You won the lottery in the morning, got a promotion in the afternoon, discovered the meaning of life at night. One seemingly harmless event could bring you all the way back to zero. You know what I'm talking about. Walking around your kitchen in socks on a winter night when you're blindsided... and you're never the same. You just stepped in a big puddle of water because somebody decided they were "that guy" who doesn't remove the slushy, dripping shoes upon entering the home. You just went from hero to zero, in the blink of an eye. Now your socks are wet, your mood is dampened, and you pretty much want to curl up into a ball and never be seen again. If you started the day with clean socks, it's a double whammy. What do you do with the socks at the moment? Take 'em off right then and there? Now you're barefoot guy in the winter...not a solution. You can go on wearing them for spite, but you're only hurting yourself. You can try to seek out the culprit for destroying your socks, but it's not worth the trouble: nobody has ever come "clean" on this matter. With a long winter ahead in Michigan, all I can say is, "Watch Your Step." You never know when it will be your last dry one.


-I'm the kind of guy who doesn't just kowtow to the conventional way of thinking. I'm here to tell the absolute truths about all matters of national importance, so I'll just say it. Both "Major League II" and "Major League 3: Back to the Minors" were pretty damn good movies. I'll give a little leeway on the third one...some people found it reprehensible, and I understand that.

But "Major League II" was a quality piece of film. Of course you'd like to see all the original actors play the same roles, but Omar Epps stepped in as Willie Mays Hayes just fine. After all, my boy Epps has pretty much played every sport in a movie at one point or another. (Football in 'The Program,' track and field in 'Higher Learning,' basketball in 'Love and Basketball,' boxer in 'Against the Ropes') And who didn't want to see the full-length feature of that movie Willie made in the off-season with Jesse Ventura?? That looked amazing. "Black Hammer...White Lightning!"

Jake Taylor settling in perfectly as manager for the ailing Lou Brown. I left West River Theater that day wanting the Tigers to install Tom Berenger as the new skipper, effective immediately. Lord knows he could have done better than Buddy "Am I or Am I not Buck Showalter" Bell. New catcher Rube Baker might have rubbed some people the wrong way, but the guy was all about team and I respected that. This movie also gets points for giving Bob Uecker's partner, Monte, a little bit more face time. That guy did things with 8-10 lines of dialogue that I'm still in awe of. The one very, very, negative factor throughout this movie is the presence of "superfan" Randy Quaid. It pains me to say it, because I'm a Randy Quaid fan. Loved him in "Kingpin," loved him in "Bye, Bye, Love." (Yea, I said it.) But he is soooo friggggin annoying in this movie. I guess that is the point of his character, to get on people's nerves. But if his scenes make the moviegoers want to leave the cineplex and drive right off a cliff, then I think he took the character a little too far.

Quick thoughts on the 3rd "Major League." You always feel kind of dirty watching it, like you're doing something you're not supposed to. It's a little bit depressing that the movie focused on a minor league team, especially one called the "Buzz." But the scene where Uecker announces the game with perfect accuracy while blindfolded, wearing a hood over his face, is worth the price of admission. And $4.99 for the DVD.



Share your thoughts on these important matters in the comments area, or E-mail your boy at highsockslegend@gmail.com