Thoughts on the Cubs

So as I watch the Cubs today, through an appropriate haze of Budweiser, I've come up with a few thoughts. And as this has been a very trying year for the Cubs, thoughts are quite easy to come by.
First some congratulations are in order. Despite the best efforts of Sorianno and Marmol the Cubs beat the White Sux 5-4. Alfonso Sorianno is a very good hitter. However he is a terrible lead-off hitter. Sure he'll hit you the occasional lead-off home run, but he just doesn't do the this than an NL lead-off guy needs to be doing. Walks, OBP, making the pitcher throw lots of pitches, steals, etc. These are the things you need your lead-off hitter to be doing if you're to be consistently successful in the NL. He's also a marginal outfielder. He's never been good, nor is he really expected to be good. But it's amazing at times just how bad he is in the outfield. Take today's little gaff in the 8th inning. Pop fly to shallow left. He clearly doesn't see it. Blanco, the SS, does see it and charges out. As Blanco clearly is calling it and waving his arms Sorianno starts running frantically to try and catch up to it. What happens; Sorianno runs right into Blanco as he's about to catch it; 2 runs score to turn a 5-2 game into a 5-4 game.
Oh yes, but why were there so many runners on base in the bottom of the 8th in a 5-2 game? Mr. Marmol. Marmol and the strike zone are like me and syringes; he'll tolerate it when he absolutely has to, but not a second before. That explains why he's walked 38 guys in 34 1/3 innings. He throws mid-90s with a Bugs Bunny slider and still refuses to throw it in the zone. Incredible. And yet, every time out I'm so sure it'll be the time he just starts throwing strikes.
Based on the way this year is going, I'm wondering if last year was the exception instead of the rule. Previous years the Cubs had suffered from a severe lack of timely hitting. They'd either score 8 runs or 0 runs. Last year was different...before the playoffs. This year is back to untimely hitting and .500 baseball.

1 more quick thing. I was watching Uncle Buck after the Cubs game (the magic of DVR and "media black-out".) and was reminded of a college memory. This night was 1 of 2 reasons I have boycotted Miller Lite Ice. And no, neither of these reasons involve the fact it tastes like shit. More the fact that both times I drank it things took a turn for the worse for Jarod. This particular time involve a girl I was pursuing, another couple, and a night of drinking at her apt. She was in a long-distance relationship that she wasn't so hot about. We had really hit it off in our many group activities but never really talked about if anything was really happening. Anyways...we'd all spent the night hanging out, drinking, and watching a big of college hockey at one point (featuring an ex-Bison named Bubba Berenzweig who would later play in the NHL). At one point the ladies wander away to talk. After a short time I decide that I need to know what they're talking about and creep up to the door. Turns out they were discussing her situation and whether or not she should dump him for me. This then led to a very awkward drunken conversation once the other couple left. One that I ultimately ended up on the wrong side of. Naturally things were rather weird after that and we drifted apart as friends. Damn shame. Obviously I'm glancing over the painful details. But suffice to say it wasn't a great night in the history of Jarod.

And now I'm watching Quentin Tarantino drink whiskey off of Catherine Zeta-Jones' foot. What a strange and wonderful night this is.

Superman Syndrome

There is a well-documented and often mentioned phenomenon with the old-school Superman. It's been covered hundreds of times by bad comedians so I'll be short. In the old black-and-white superman shows he would invariably get in a situation where bullets would be fired at him. And seemingly every time he'd stand there and grin while deflecting said bullets off of his chest. Yet when the bad guy finished his 6 shots and threw the empty gun at Superman he'd duck out of the way of it.
You would think that such faux pas would be gone from today's cinema. And yet, while watching "Matrix Reloaded" Friday night I saw it yet again. Just so fellow film buffs can follow along, it's the fight scene against the Merovingian's goons while Morpheus and Trinity chase down the Key Maker. A dozen or so guys with automatic weapons open up at Neo, naturally in slow motion. All Neo has to do is hold up his hand and he can effortlessly stop all the rounds in mid-air. Nicely done in deed. And yet, when guys come at him with swords and spears he has to duck and dodge every attempt. Where did his magic safety bubble go?! If he can stop a bullet in mid-flight why can't he stop people and other objects? I'm sure I'm not the first person to notice this, so feel free to fill me in with any info.
I'd love to continue my musing from the movie and the various curiosities I noticed, but I'm too tired and a bit too warm to muster the effort. Non-air conditioned Sunday afternoons tend to do that to me.

And just because I remembered all the polls I used to include and wanted to start that up again...