I Dislike Your Favorite Team

400,000 hits for a video of guy getting hit in the head with a baseball, and then catching that baseball with his cap?  That sounds pretty reasonable, actually.  I'd watch that video.  Why Thorpe is unhappy with his newfound notoriety, I'm unsure.  But I'll be following the story very carefully (OK, not at all that carefully).

No word on whether the T.A.P. Room of the Thorpuverse is related to Tapped, or whether it is just college punks making a beer pun.

I do enjoy watching old media finding yet another way to struggle against the Internets and TV in their final moments, like that deputy at the beginning of No Country For Old Men. 

"A worker at Radio Shack was arrested for punching a customer.

According to the police report, 56-year-old Leigh Carey was trying to return something at the Radio Shack on Clairemont Avenue.

Carey told investigators Knol wouldn't let him, so he asked to talk to a manager.

That's when he says Knol started punching him and a witness called 911."

(--via Boing Boing Gadgets)

If that strikes you as a rather surprisingly hip choice, you'd be right.  It has caused no small amount of unhappiness amongst some folks.

Consider, it actually took the governor making it an official order to get it to happen--the legislature decided to vote it down when it was up to them.

One Tulsa Today columnist in particular seems particularly steamed by the whole thing.  Jim Downing (not to be confused with SNL writer Jim Downie, though both write some hilarious shit.) goes absolutely apeshit over it.

First he begs the Governor not to sign the order.   After the Governor did sign it, Downing lets loose again.   The results are predictable--the conconction has about 1/3 bitter unfamous performer (I'm more talented than they are), 1/3 old overly religious reactionary (song titles about drugs and fetuse, oh my!) and about 1/3 pure crank (fans of a band with a 48 year old frontman are "teenyboppers.")

Let's enjoy some great name calling.  I haven't spotted any mention of the groups 6 Grammy nominations or 3 Grammy wins, but that doesn't mean that Jim Downing, in the interest of fair play did not mention them.  They could be in there somewhere.  I'm enjoying the nuttier parts.  Downing should hope that The Flaming Lips are not the litigious kind.

Everything that follows are quotes about the Flaming Lips from Jim Downing:

" [Their name is]  taken either from porn film or it is a pot-smoking reference" 

"One member had his hand amputated due to an infection from shooting heroin."  [later retracted, kind of], with "The drummer’s hand was not amputated.  I left out the word ‘almost’.  It was his arm that was abscessed.  The cover story was that it was a spider bite; probably a Mexican Black Tar or a China White spider."

"The Hanson brothers will have a more lasting musical impact in the fullness of time.  They have far more historical sense and musical ability and they are completely wholesome. "

"The Flaming lips may not be bad people, but they are shallow and thoughtless, and certainly not representative of most Oklahoma values. They don’t even play well."

"[Flaming] Lips makes dense sound collages; that’s easier than learning how to play.  And it’s nothing new – it goes back to I Am The Walrus and Stockhausen."  --emphasis mine.  He just badmouthed the Beatles!

"I understand that the Lips have matured and are not as degenerate as we might think."

In case you were wondering who Jim Downing would have picked to be the artist that had the official Rock and Roll song of the State of Oklahoma--his top three choices are J.J. Cale (reasonable), Leon Russell (also reasonable, though he wasn't exactly a hitmaker in his solo career), and Hoyt Axton, whose finest moment can be seen here:

 

 

So, the Vikings completed their first two rounds of the draft yesterday and if you actually listened to the Twin Cities' local media, which very few do, you'd think the Vikings had drafted Ted Bundy (looks good from the outside, but with a troubled, murderous soul inside.) In fact, they drafted Percy Harvin, a game-changing type player who has had some injury history and a few run-ins with the Man, but who hasn't?

The way Cleveland pitchers have been hurling this year, one expects to get some hits on them.  But any Twins pitcher with any sense of history knows that the Indians hit the crap out of the Twins, too.  Hafner, Garko the Barbarian, Sizemore, etc, etc.  I'm pretty sure every Twins fan in the country was aware of Hafner's power a good two years before the East Coast based media glommed onto him, simply because his bat fucking destroyed the Twins for about 3 years straight.

And so, while it was no shock to put 5 runs on the board on Friday night against Fausto, I was a little surprised that Nick Blackburn scattered 6 hits, giving up only one run in 7 innings of work. 

Cleveland is carrying 13 pitchers, so it was not a big surprise to me that Jason Kubelly Kubel was able to knock 2 pitches out of the park, or that Joe Crede was able to follow Kubel's second homerun with one of his own, inflating poor Masa Kobayashi's ERA by a a few points.  

Considering they only had one pick in the first two rounds, there was a minimum of damage or success The Drunken Savages could be considered to have.  Not chasing a QB was a good way to reduce damage.  Continuing to improve the defensive line was a great way to go after some success.

And it looks like they lucked out in getting Texas defensive end Brian Orakpo.  Or at least, the Drunken Savage management is acting as if they got lucky--is there a team who picks after #10 who doesn't grab a guy who they were shocked to find was still available?  The Washington Post quoted the embodiment of the Peter Principle, Vinny Cerrato as being shocked that Orakpo was still around.  There are some injury issues, which may have scared some teams off, and usually tend to be bullshit.  Aside from concussions, past injuries are no real indicator of future injuries.   

When the Savages picked him, someone in the cast of thousands ESPN deploys to this thing said, (I'm paraphrasing), "Skins fans haven't seen a guy on the outside of the line like this since Charles Mann or Dexter Manley."  

Couple that with the HUNDRED MILLION DOLLAR signing of interior defensive guy Albert Haynesworth, that's a defensive line that has grown by leaps and bounds by getting just two dudes.  One final word on Orakpo.  He's strong.

Tim Couch

Jamarcus Russell

Vince Young

A guaranteed 41.7 million for someone who has never thrown a pass in the NFL.  I think you could have obtained Jay Cutler for less.  He's been to the pro-bowl dip shits.

Sean Jensen of the Pioneer Press, states his belief quite clearly--The Vikings Should Draft An Offensive Player Who Can Help Right Away.  Jensen gives three prospects who could be available at #22, and it should be noted that just about everyone would guarantee that at least 1 of those players will definitely not ever be available at #22.  Possibly 2 of them of them.

Michael Oher?  No way in hell he slides to the Skins at #13, but if he does, they will take him.  Eben Britton, likewise will not be available at #20, much less #23.  Sean Jensen is high if he thinks the Vikings will have to choose between those two.  His third pick, Percy Harvin, is a good deal more likely.  Percy had some Marijuana issues at the combine, and there may be a hesitancy, given the new rules, to draft for kick returners.  Harvin might be available to the Vikings at #23.

But Chad Courrier of the Mankato Free Press has other ideas--he thinks the Vikings should Forget WR, and Draft DB's.   He's not afraid to throw around names like Troy Williamson and Sidney Rice to demonstrate how bad the Vikings have been at drafting Wide Receivers.  He argues for UConn defensive back/kick returner Darius Butler.  I only have one question about that pick--UConn has a football team?  Are we sure about that?

I'll predict this--if the Vikings aren't willing to give up the 2nd round pick and considerations it would take to get Boldin (why wouldn't they?) they will be stuck with a half-assed receiving corps, a half-assed Quarterback (Tavaris or Sage) and an aging secondary.  I'd argue that without some real work on the free agency side of things, the Vikings are not going to be better than Chicago or Green Bay.  

3rd place in a soft Division doesn't usually mean success.  

If you want hockey, I suggest you visit the very cleverly titled I Hate Your Favorite Team (how do these bloggers come up with such clever names?)  Oops--that site hasn't been updated since January.  Instead, I will suggest an actual hockey blog, "Puck Daddy".  Regardless, my point is this--most of us of at IDYFT, including me, know more about 1995 NHL teams than we do this current batch of teams.

Why 1995 for all of us?  Because we all went to college together, and the 1995 version of Sega Hockey for Super Nintendo was one of the best fucking video games of all time.  I have yet to encounter a hockey video game that was more fun.  I've encountered more realistic, to be sure.  But more fun?  I don't think so.

Andrew Wice worked the Devils of New Jersey; he made Stephan Richter the most dangerous man in the entire league, with Billy Guerin a close second, and even Scott Neidermeyer was trouble in Wice's hands.

I loved the Capitals of that era--Joey Juneau (the Ugliest Man in Hockey!), Peter Bondra, Mark Tinordi, Sergei Gonchar (who is still in the league!), and netminders Jim Carrey/Olaf Kolzig.

Barnyard liked the Blackhawks, and even though he never learned how to pronounce his name, Jeremy Roenick starred on his team, along with Christian Ruutu.   A kid named Paddy Buckley used to show up and fuck up people with the Buffalo Sabres, back when they were a franchise.

My point (yes, there is one!) is that I don't follow the Capitals all that closely, or at all, really.  I was aware they had a bad-ass in Ovechkin, and I had assumed they were the favored team going in to the playoffs against the stupid Rangers.  But I saw that they were getting handled, and I put my hopes away for another year.  We are good at doing that in Washington (it's been, what? 10 years?  since any team in any sport made it to the Finals of their sport?  And then it was the Caps getting swept in the Stanley Cup.)

But now, the Caps destroyed the Rangers 4-0 to get the series back to 3-2.  Damn you, you stupid Capitals, for getting my hopes up.  I mean, sure, being down 3-1 means having to win 3 games in a row, including at least one in Madison Square Garden, but the Caps already won the first one, and now it is only 2 games in a row.  And hell, 4-0?  Maybe they've figured out the Rangers.   Of course they will win the next two games.  

And that's how my heart gets broken, with a team and a sport that I don't give two craps about for 9 months of the year.  Goddamnit.

And on Monday, the fourth season starts.  They've messed with the format yet again, and have some great pros (Sean Kemp!  I have they have an Impregnation Contest.) lined up.  Here's the blurb, and a promo video.  Get ready for some hijinks!

I'm tired of this lady finding new ways to embarass my entire state.

"Campbell's second-half drop-off last season concerned the Redskins' front office enough that it has stepped up its pursuit of Sanchez. Campbell also is in a contract year and Washington would have to invest franchise-type money to keep him for 2010 and beyond."

I am, calmly and quietly, going to consider this analysis from nfl.com's Sal Paolontonio. It's the first explanation I've heard of why this meltdown is happening, besides the obvious fact that Dan Snyder is a fool (as I've explained in hilarious fashion here and here: "fucking chickens made me mad").



Rhetorically, I need to address the organization's logic in reverse order.

1) Contract year?

Paying Campbell in 2010 will cost less than paying the #4 pick of the draft in 2009.

2) 2nd half drop-off?

First Half of 2008
record: 6-2____QB rate: 99.5____Sacks: 16____Portis YPG: 118
Second Half of 2008
record: 2-6____QB rate: 72.3____Sacks: 22____Portis YPG: 67

percentage by which things got worse
record: 300%___QB rate: 137%____Sacks: 137%_Portis YPG: 176%

Interesting how Campell's drop in effectiveness is so harmoniously tied to his pass protection's drop in effectiveness. Another year of major injuries devastated the line, especially as the season wore on. Portis's accumulated injuries snapped his MVP bid and took the offense with it.

Campbell didn't have a drop-off, the team did. Unless I'm mistaken, he didn't personally surrender 27 points to the 6-9 49ers in the last game of the season.

Somehow lost in all this garbage is the fact that Campbell improved in every single statistical category from 2007 to 2008, despite being in yet another new offense.

hidden stat:
in 2007, Campbell lost 8 fumbles in 13 games behind a line ranked 12th in sacks allowed.
in 2008, Campbell lost 1 fumble in 16 games behind a line ranked 22nd in sacks allowed.

Don't want to hate on Snyder too much, but he's destroying my favorite team. If I were able to buy the team, I would have a better staff and philosophy. Come on people, buy enough of my books and I can rescue the Washington football team!

HATE THE NFL DRAFT?  Worse yet, hate the 8 hours of pregame coverage on ESPN?  And the pontification?  Michael Wilbon clearly hates America, and is maybe a terrorist.  But that aside, he makes some very good points.  They are good points because I made them myself 24 hours ago, but with more swearing.

Here is my post on the subject.  

Wilbon makes his point (without using the word "fuck" once, which makes it less cool) this way:

Though I do look back fondly on a Dead Pool that Garwood B. Jones put together on a geocities page, Geocities application has not been of much use to me or anyone else of late.  

If you love the Washington Redskins Drunken Savages like I do, you'll do the right thing, and make sure that if Daniel Snyder comes into your place of employ on Saturday night, he leaves with the beginnings of food poisoning.  He can not be in the Draft War Room on Sunday.

Because all these Mark Sanchez rumors have me in a tizzy.  It can not happen.  And we can't really call them rumors.  Not with the Snyder/Cerrato gut-trust, who lack the sophistication to actually bluff anything, talking about how much they love Sanchez.  I bet they are invited to poker game after poker game, despite their awful, awful personalities.

Every team in the league, and a good 99% of the sportwriters in the country, know that the Redskins are looking to trade up for Sanchez, who has played exactly 16 games over the high school level.  Everyone also knows that Seattle, at #4, is going to take Sanchez.  Hey, funny but true axiom for Dan Snyder, that I learned from Civilization 4:  "Everything is worth what its purchaser is willing to pay for it"--Pubilius Syrus.  So, rule 1 should be--hide your interest at least a little bit.  You don't lower your cost when people quote you as "smitten", dammit.  And open yourself to interweb mockery.

Moving up to the 3rd spot (a spot that is expensive in terms of guaranteed money and contract already) increases in two ways--expensive because everyone now knows the Drunken Savages want Sanchez; expensive again because the agent representing Sanchez can say to the Savage Management, "This guy is a franchise quarterback.  He deserves franchise money.  Like $30 million guaranteed.  You know who says he is a franchise quarterback?  You guys did, when you traded away the store just to draft him." 

I blame this on Matt Ryan--a rookie QB who paid immediate dividends.  Snyder always looks for the quick fix, rather than let a potentially good quarterback play under the same offensive scheme for more than 1 year at a time.  

The fact that Jason Campbell has yet to play more than one year under the same offensive coordinator is also Dan Snyder's fault.  Is he a perfect fit for Jim Zorn's offense?  Not exactly, but he was showing signs of getting there.  And let's not forget--it is Dan Snyder's fault that it was Jim Zorn's offense in the first place.  He hired a Defensive Coordinator and Offensive Coordinator before hiring a Head Coach, and when no head coach would accept the terms of having their staff picked for them, Zorn went from Coordinator to Head Coach in a blink of an eye (QB coach for Seattle to Offensive Coordinator not being a big enough jump, apparently).

Snyder is a plumber who fixes a leaky toilet by fixing each piece one by one, instead of diagnosing the fucking leak.  When your plumber can't find the problem after a decade of trying, you start blaming the plumber.  

Dan said, in that the Boston Herald article I linked to above, "I’m always going to be aggressive to try to win. I didn’t buy the team for investment. I bought the team to try to win the Super Bowl, and that’s what I’m trying to do."

Hey, Dan--you are the aggressively unfixable clog in the toilet.  Hire some professionals, and get the fuck out of the way.  At the very least, stop bragging about all the money you will throw into the toilet for an unproven quarterback.  Stop Hugging the Panda.  And hey, whilst I'm getting all philosphical quotical, here's another one from my boy Pubilius Syrus:  "Amid a multitude of projects, no plan is devised"--He was talking about you, Drunken Savages.

Oh, and CHANGE THE GODDAMN NAME ALREADY.

But to be fair, Wisconsin has non-fucked up, wonderful things that are not directly related to the natural beauty of the state.  And, no, Neil Gaiman nerds, I'm not talking about the House on the Rock.  I'm talking about Taliesin, a Frank Lloyd Wright house, near beautiful Spring Green, Wisconsin.

Except (uh-oh-- foreshadowing) today I read a post on BoingBoing (from a fellow Minnesotan) about how this beautiful Frank Lloyd Wright house is where his second "wife" (his first wife wouldn't divorce him) who he had stolen from a client had gotten chopped up along with a few other folks by a very, very upset worker:

Wright was off at work and Borthwick was dining with her two children from her previous marriage and several of the Taliesin staff. As they ate, another staff member named Julian Carleton locked them in, poured kerosene around the house and lit a match. When the diners managed to bust their way out, Carleton hacked them to death with an ax. Of the nine who sat down to eat, only two survived. Borthwick and her children were killed. The whole thing turned into a media sensation. "Murderer of Seven: Sets Fire to Country Home of Frank Lloyd Wright Near Spring Green," declared one newspaper. The Wisconsin State Journal, on the other hand, went for something a bit more Rupert Murdoch-esque (and also inaccurate), with the headline "Insane Negro Kills Five in Frank Lloyd Wright's 'Love Bungalow'".

Ah, Wisconsin!

And some really kick ass writers are contributors:  the aforementioned Jason Aaron (Scalped) , Brian Wood (DMZ, Northlanders), David Lapham (Young Liars (possibly the most fucked up book I've ever read)), G. Willow Wilson (Air) and others.  Between just the few folks mentioned, I'm telling you that's a sick amount of talent to be spending any time blogging--they've got actually, deadline-mandated writing to do.  What they all have in common is that they have books being published on the Vertigo imprint.

I don't think so. It's just a ruse for moving backwards, reducing your standard of living and a slippery slope towards socialism. Every time I see 'GREEN' I see 'RED'!

Deadspin has delivered Joyous News, whilst crapping unnecessarily on the lovely and talented Estella Warren--that's the star of Kangaroo Jack, you dicks!  

I'm putting my money on the team of Lisa Leslie and Dan Cortese.  Dan Cortese is EXTREME.  I predict that I'll be writing about that show more than anyone should.

(did I mention that Terrell Owens is involved?)

Yours in Christ,

Big Blue Monkey

On the last game of the season, he will hit a home run using as a bat the mummified penis of Joe DiMaggio.

I have previously suggested that dinosaurs like Sid Hartman might be the very reason newspapers are dying--he's getting paid money, very large money, after all, whilst guys like Britt are shopping their services to any website that will have him (and apparently, hanging up his own shingle after this year).   

I will say that it wasn't Britt's intention to show up Sid--he simply reported the questions asked at the last Timberwolves press conference of the year.  Sid's questions did the rest of the work.  It is my intention to show up Sid Hartman, who is old enough that he was the sports journalist who introduced Kevin McHale to Viking great Chuck Foreman when McHale was in college.   I'm not ageist--plenty of men and women work effectively into their 70's and 80's and even 90's.  Sid Hartman is not one of those people.  As evidence, I present you with the questions he asked Kevin McHale at his final presser:

Sid Hartman: You would have been a better coach if you had [Al] Jefferson all year.
Sid Hartman: That's a fancy shirt you have on!
Sid Hartman: It looks like the one you wore when you got married.

That's it!  Those are the "questions" Sid Hartman "asked."    Britt even felt the need to state at the top of the post that, "yes, this is not a parody, those really were Sid Hartman's contributions to the event."

But I think I was wrong in sounding the alarm to the degree that I did. I predicted in November that I might have to eat my words from earlier in the year.  K-Love, or "KLOVE" finished the season the right way--Rookie of the Month of March, for the following stat lines, courtesy of NBA.com:   "Love's 9.6 rebounds per game in March led all NBA rookies, while his 15.8 points per game ranked third. The first-year forward started 16 of 17 games, leading the Wolves in rebounding 13 times and in scoring on five occasions. He tallied 10+ points in 14 of the 17 games, topping 20 three times and recording nine double-doubles. On March 17 at San Antonio, Love tallied 17 points and grabbed a career-high 19 rebounds, the second-highest rebounding total by a rookie this season." 

HoopsAddict busts out many strange and unfamiliar stats in showing that Kevin Love is a badass, or in their terms, Efficiency Personified.  Eric Gordon showed some love for K-Love Records.  DraftExpress, whilst still showing some doubt about other pieces of Kevin Love's game, state categorically that "he is already an elite NBA rebounder."

At this point, I'm willing to say that while I wasn't wrong on the Timberwolves needs, I am willing to admit that KLOVE had a better season than I expected him to have.   Shockingly, those needs haven't changed--the Wolves still need a real center, and their guard play needs to improve--though Sebastian Telfair could still be a great point guard, if he's got people to play with.  Right now, with the season over, we've got great bench players for almost every position--Kevin Love will be great in relief of Al Jefferson (at Power Forward, not fucking Center), and could also be a big beefy Small Forward.  Ryan Gomes will be a great small forward sub--he has future 6th man of the year written all over him.  Randy Foye and Sebastian Telfair are a solid, but small backcourt, and they need some talented, taller men to take over their starting roles (though both toy with a fan's heart, in that there are times, there are undeniably times, when they both look like the bee's knees.)  Corey Brewer could still be a great defensive stopper that can play the 2 or 3.   I said almost the exact same thing at about this time last year--only Al Jefferson is a locked in starter, at the 4.  Every other spot is at the very least open for competition, whilst some, like Center, is totally open.  The new GM, whoever he ends up being, has a ton of draft picks and money to play with.  This team isn't a center away from a championship, so they can also take their time.  

We all knew going in that this was going to be a losing season.   Losing, not LOST.  It was a lost season, because of Al Jefferson's injury.  We won't know how bad or good this team is, until we know that Al is back at 100%.   At this point, I think the team name needs to reflect this attitude.  It may be time to change it to the Minnesota Patiently Waiting Timberwolves. 

OH MY GOD.  Thank God for C.J. and her reporting skills, which have yet to confirm or deny the story.  This much we know--Pat Reusse is a fat, stupid son of a bitch.

But people who get paid to watch the game watch the game, and exceptional Twins writer La Velle Neal III summarized Kubel's night as well as anyone could:

He doubled in the first inning, singled in the third and tripled in the sixth. Then in the eighth, when it mattered the most, he clobbered a grand slam off Jason Bulger that brought the house down as the Twins rallied from five runs down to win 11-9.

It should be noted that with Kubel's knee surgeries, the idea of him hitting a triple seems comical.  It did require some help from Bobby Abreu struggling to dig the ball out of the wall for Kubel to huffenpuff into third base.  All the same, it fucking happened.

I'm still unsure what to make of the Twin's start out of the gate.  Their starters look great, until that one inning when it all falls apart.  They aren't hitting the way they did last year.  Obviously, it is still early.  While I'm certainly happy about the way this game turned out, I have a hard time seeing this squad, with their bullpen performing the way it is, winning this series against the Angels.

I've love Kubelly Kubelly, and it is one thing to hit for the cycle--it is another to do it whilst banging 5 RBI's, and a game winning Grand Slam.  That said, he still reminds me of the kid from About a Boy, if Hugh Grant had force fed him corn and baseballs.

Unmentioned by the AP, but mentioned by others is that there is some possible pay-back from Comcast for the NFL refusing to allow Comcast's shitty sports network, Versus, access to NFL broadcast rights.  Versus (and the Golf Network) is owned by Comcast, and is on the basic level package.

(That said, we here at IDYFT don't worry too much about weed or bad test scores.)

George Will wears bow ties, obsesses about baseball, and can't get basic facts about global warming right, and he's questioning my ability to vote?  That doesn't seem fair.

"Denim is the infantile uniform of a nation in which entertainment frequently features childlike adults ("Seinfeld," "Two and a Half Men") and cartoons for adults ("King of the Hill"). Seventy-five percent of American "gamers" -- people who play video games -- are older than 18 and nevertheless are allowed to vote." 

1.  Dick, I think in the 5th or 6th inning, mentioned that everyone was wearing #42 for a reason.  It was because, of course, the annual celebration of Jackie Robinson.  The lads then went into a little bit of well-intentioned specious reasoning--namely, talking about great African-American players who we would not have seen if Jackie Robinson hadn't broken the color barrier.  Famous names were thrown out there--Reggie, Kirby, Ricky, etc.  (Of course, almost all of those guys would have played in the Majors--if it wasn't Jackie, it would have been Larry Doby, or Satchel Paige, or someone else before 1950.)  But their hearts were in the right place.  And then they talked about the inclusion of African-Americans helped open the game to all nationalities--I'm Paraphrasing here:  

Dick:  "Cubans, Venezuelans, all these players from different  people."

Bert:  "A number of great players from many different countries."

Dick:  "There's been some talk about retiring Roberto Clemente's number retired like Robinson's has been."

Bert:  "And don't forget the Dutch!"

Dick:  "That's just you and Jim Kaat."

Bert:  "Jim Kaat was from Holland, New York Michigan."  (corrected via miwacar's recall)

2.  Right about the same time, just before or just after, there was a dugout interview with last night's winner, Glen Perkins.  Bert handled most of that interview, and they hit upon Bert's FAVORITE THING--which is pitching inside.  I'm in total agreement with him on that, but pitching inside is, without doubt, one of Bert's favorite things (right up there with farting).  After some discussion about Perkins' game the previous night, the discussion turned to Baker's rather poor outing tonight.

Bert and Dick both asked questions about how Perkins talks to his fellow pitchers, what he gets from them, what they give to him, etc.  It was mildly humorous work from the Fox Sports director to get shots of Perkins talking about giving his fellow pitchers some space before he talks to them, intercut with shots of fellow pitcher Kevin Slowey practically interrogating Scotty Baker in the dugout.