LOST And Other Final Seasons

So... How about that season finale of LOST? Now I can feel the pain of those feeble-minded fans who stopped watching because everything got so ridiculous, the plots were confusing, and there were more questions being raised than answered. But there's less of an excuse to give up on the show now than there ever was. The only way the writers and producers can get away with what happened in that last episode is by assuring the viewers that next season will be the final season, and all questions will be answered. And I believe them, although anything short of the most spectacular season of any TV show ever would be a disappointment. And I've been disappointed by shows before. I stopped watching Seventh Heaven after a few seasons because, well, the show was just terrible. And then it apparently continued for the better part of another decade. And then there's The O.C. And, let's face it, the final season of that show was probably close to the worst season of any show ever. In fact, it was canceled in the middle of the season, leading to a rushed conclusion and overreaching finale that tied everything up by spanning several years. There was so much promise going into that season too. Marissa was dead, meaning that she was no longer on the show. That was a plus. And Ryan, well, you figured he'd avenge her death and ridiculous shit would go down. But he turned soft and instead ended up dating Taylor, one of the least likable characters on the show. Meanwhile, Marissa's younger sister, her replacement of sorts, proved to be somehow an even worse character than Marissa.
But the bar is much higher for LOST, a show I've already deemed the best ever. But what the hell is going on? Locke is dead, but not really dead, because he comes back to life, but maybe it's not really him who comes back to life because he's actually that guy in the beginning who said he wanted to kill Jacob. And he gets Ben to kill Jacob. This happens while Richard is being shown Locke's lifeless body. So we have dead Locke and then living pseudo-Locke, and we're not given a name for his character, but let's call him Esau for now (see Bible), because that may actually be his name anyway. And now Jacob is dead. And this is happening in 2007. And, oh yeah, we just met Jacob in the season finale, and then he's in almost every scene, and then he dies... WTF?
...Meanwhile, in 1977, Jack leads a mission to blow up the energy pocket on the island in an attempt to stop Oceanic 815 from crashing in the future, perhaps altering everything that had already happened and making it so it didn't happen and the plane landed safely. Or maybe he actually caused it to happen? We don't know, because the episode ends when Juliet successfully ignites the bomb, presumably killing everyone, but maybe not really killing them. Lots of people are surely dead, but we don't really know for sure if they're dead. That's the best way to explain it.
So we have Jacob and Esau (?), Locke, Richard- I mean Ricardo... Suddenly the tiff between Ben and Charles seems like it barely matters. And Desmond will somehow get mixed up in all of this again next season. Oh, and most importantly, Christian Shephard. He didn't have a huge role in this finale, but I still say he'll be back in a big way next season. Did you see how startled Ben was when Sun mentioned his name? I have a feeling he will be some sort of Christian shepherd. Call it a hunch.
Oh, and as a side note, what is Lepidus a candidate for? And does what just happened in 1977 changed what just happened in 2007 at all? And what's the deal with Ricardo? And now that we know what lies beneath the shadow of the statue (the one who will save us all), what happens? Will Locke save them all? Someone else? Will Oceanic 815 have ever happened? And what about flight 316? And who was Jacob referring to when he told Locke/Esau that they were coming? The other members of flight 316? The folks from 1977? Someone else? Richard and the others? ??? It's better to not think about it for eight months... But I'm eagerly anticipating the final season.

Yankee Questions: 2009 edition

So the Yanks have started the season 9-6 despite three horrific performances from former ace Chien-Ming Wang, Xavier Nady's injury, and, oh yeah, A-Rod's injury. Here's a list of 5 questions that the 2009 season may answer, or at least begin to answer (kind of like a season of LOST)... 1 - ARE THE YANKEES BETTER OFF WITHOUT A-ROD? With A-Rod likely out until early-to-mid May, the question must be asked. No A-Rod means less distractions, and possibly a better clubhouse. Is a guy who cheats on his wife, hooks up with women who were hot in the 80s, makes out with himself in the mirror, takes performance enhancing drugs, and puts up offensive numbers that rank him as one of the best- if not the best- offensive player of all time worth having on your team? The Yankees did wonderfully without a guy like him in the late 90s, and they missed the playoffs with him in the lineup last year, but it's hard to argue with putting a bat in the lineup that hits 40+ HRs per season, drives in 120+, hits around .300, and steals around 20 bags... My prediction: Too many x-factors to know for sure. Without him, probably a better atmosphere in the clubhouse, but also missing the biggest bat in the lineup. If he helps the Yankees with a World Series, I will finally accept him as a Yankee. 2 - WHAT'S WRONG WITH WANG? A pitcher with a career ERA around 4, one year removed from consecutive 19-win seasons doesn't suddenly start to suck. Horribly. The guy has an ERA of 34.50 over his first three starts. He looks more like Kei Igawa than a guy who nearly won the Cy Young award a few years ago (Note: this statement does not imply that he looks like Kei Igawa- at least not until he starts doing laps around the Stadium for fun). Hopefully it's a mechanical flaw that's unrelated to any injury. If so, the Yankees have a well-qualified staff to work with him, and he should be back to his old self soon. If not, Phil Hughes will find himself starting in the Majors again very soon. My prediction: Barring injury, Wang will be fine. He's just had bad mechanics and bad luck so far this season. He'll win around 15 games this year and bring down his ERA to a respectable level (likely in the high 4s). 3 - IS C.C. WORTH THE MONEY? I say no. No pitcher- or player really- is worth that kind of money. But you can't judge by April whether or not the Yanks should have signed C.C. He was pretty bad early in the season with the Indians last year, but he was unbelievable late in the season after he was traded to the Brewers, when it counted. He'll probably have a decent season, but he's not the best pitcher in the league. He'll need to have at least a few stellar season, mixed in with a few above average, injury-free seasons, otherwise there's really no way to justify signing him. Hopefully he does not go the way of the morbidly obese Bartolo Colon. A slightly better version of David Wells would be acceptable, though still very overpaid. My prediction: This is really an opinion questions, and my opinion is no, unless he starts putting up stats like Clemens, Ryan, or Maddux in their prime. If he pitches extremely well and helps the Yankees with the World Series, I can justify it at least. But there are several pitchers that I think are better than him and will end up with better stats. 4 - IS NICK SWISHER THE NEXT SCOTT BROSIUS? A-Rod can't fill the shoes of the legendary Brosius, but so far the savvy signing of Swisher is looking similar to the signing of Brosius. Here's a comparison of their stats... Scott Brosius 1997 with OAK - .203 BA 11 HR 41 RBI Nick Swisher 2008 with CWS - .219 BA 24 HR 69 RBI Scott Brosius 1998 with NYY - .300 BA 19 HR 90 RBI Nick Swisher 2009 with NYY - .306 BA 4 HR 12 RBI (through April 22) My prediction: Swisher is probably a very good free agent find, but he's not Brosius. 5 - HOW WILL THE YANKEES PLAY IN THE NEW STADIUM? So far, pretty good, but up-and-down (two blowout losses, but four wins). It seems to be a hitter-friendly ballpark, more so than the old Yankee Stadium for sure. We'll have to see if this trend continues. The Yankees have the best team on paper. My prediction: The Yankees will play well in whatever ballpark they play in, most of all the new Cathedral of Baseball. ...AND THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION... WILL THE YANKEES WIN THE WORLD SERIES IN 2009? My prediction: Yes. Of course. I say that almost every year though, so don't take it from me.

The Greed Depression

So how did we get here, in what's probably the worst recession since the Great Depression? As easy as it is to pin it on the politicians, that doesn't tell the whole story. Blame Clinton. Blame Bush. Blame Obama. Blame Congress. But even more than that, blame GREED. There are the Madoffs out there, the cheats, those who got rich through illegal schemes. And then there are the ones who were just inside the realm of legality. And the CEOs. The bastard CEOs. But underneath it all, there are the common Americans trying to live outside their means and those who gave them loans that had a high probability of default- something fourth grade math could have told you. So I blame everyone. The GREED of everyone.
The salary, benefits, and bonuses for CEOs has long been out of hand. But you can almost justify it when a company is doing well. But when a company declines under your watch, especially when it is losing absurd amounts of money, there is no way to justify multi-million dollar salaries, bonuses, retention payments, golden parachutes, whatever the heck you want to call them. You're in charge of a failing company. People are losing money and jobs because of you. And you should get millions more to buy yourself a new yacht and give your pet spa treatment? No. And AIG is in a league of its own here, getting tens of billions of dollars of bailout money from the government on several occasions and then trying to give over a hundred million dollars in bonuses? After posting the worst quarterly loss ever by any company in history? Seriously? As soon as your company had to be bailed out, any contracts you had with the company- now funded by the taxpayers- became null and void. And why would you want to retain these idiots anyway? A retarded monkey could have done a better job running the company. Probably would have lost less money. Where are the incentive-based contracts anyway? This isn't professional sports. Do you think another company is going to sign the person if the contract isn't laden with an obscene amount of guaranteed money? And would your company then fail because of this? Get real. Upper Executives of big companies (especially the ones losing money now) aren't worth anywhere close to what they're paid. Neither are movie/TV/sports stars, but at least many of them fill seats and make money for the business.
The common taxpayers aren't blameless either. People took out loans, built credit card debt, and bought houses that they knew they probably would never be able to pay back. But they didn't care. Yes, there are those who really thought they would be able to pay it back but then lost their jobs and more when the economy went under. And there are also those who are complete morons and really believed that they could pay back loans that simple math would tell you otherwise. It makes about as much sense as Scientology. But some people are just morons. And the banks and other loaners know this. They gave out bad loans, often tricking people in believing that they could pay them back without a problem. The idea of living within your means went out the window.
Of course, Congress sending Obama bills that spend copious amounts of money does not set a good example for anyone. You shouldn't spend money that you don't have, especially when it's trillions of dollars that you don't have. I'm not saying the government shouldn't do anything, because that's just as bad, but this crushes all of the records of debt set during the Bush administration. It's not even close. And Obama simply signs off, reading through the bills less thorough than a drunk Helen Keller would. Earmarks that we don't need, things we actually need to do, things we may or may not need to do... Whatever. It's all the same. Just spend more money. Add more zeroes to the national debt. We need 4-8 more years of that... Let's see some of that change, Mr. President. You promised to cut the national debt in half. You promised you would go through the spending line by line. I'm sure John McCain is willing to help out since you're busy with other important things too.
It's not all bad I suppose. Gun sales are up. Alcohol sales are up. That's a winning combination. I hope contraceptive sales are up too. We should limit the number of new people we bring into this mess right now.

THE CURSE OF A-ROD

It wasn't long ago that The Curse of the Bambino was common discussion during the baseball season, and especially in October. The Red Sox hadn't won the World Series since they traded Babe Ruth to the Yankees. Before trading Ruth, the Sox had won five World Series, the last of which was in 1918. The Yankees hadn't even been to a World Series. Ruth came to the Yanks in 1920, had his team in the fall classic by 1921, and the first World Series banner was raised in 1923 in the House that Ruth Built. Twenty-Six World Series victories later, and 39 World Series appearances, and the Sox still hadn't won it all since 1918.

The 2003 ALCS was arguably one of the greatest post-season series in the history of the game. It was loaded with drama- intensity, fights, tight ballgames, and a Game 7. The Yankees trailed the Sox late, but came back to tie it. In the Bottom of the Eleventh, 3B Aaron Boone came in as a pinch-hitter and smacked an unbelievable walk-off home run to win it for the Yankees. Sorry Joe Carter, but this is my favorite walk-off home run of all-time. The light-hitting Aaron Boone was an instant legend. Could he be the next Scott Brosius?

The Yankees went on to lose the 2003 World Series to the Florida Marlins, but hopes were high for the 2004 and their beloved third-baseman. For the Red Sox and their fans, it was more of the same. They were used to this. For the last 85 years, it had been the same. The hated Yankees winning, disappointment, losing the World Series even when victory seemed almost certain... The mantra was always “next year,” but “next year” never came.

Then something happened. Aaron Boone got hurt. The Yankees panicked. How do you replace a legend at third base, even if his only claim to fame was that one clutch home run? Well, the Yankees had money. Lots of it. So, naturally, they decided to go out and get the best and highest-paid player in the game and have him play third base. Enter Alex Rodriguez.

The Yankees traded perennial 40/40 threat and rising star Alfonso Soriano to the Texas Rangers in exchange for the overpaid A-Rod. They purchased the best player in baseball, exiling the next Yankee Great to Texas. This is the origin of the Curse of A-Rod. A-Rod had a decent, though unspectacular, 2004 season. Everything was going as planned, and the Yanks found themselves up 3-0 in the ALCS against the Red Sox once again. The inevitable ending was another win for the Yankees and more disappointment for the Sox. It had been that way for 86 years now. Little did anyone know that the Curse of the Bambino had finally been broken by the Curse of A-Rod. And this new curse manifested itself in the greatest playoff collapse in baseball history. The stunned Yankees lost the series four games to three. Game 7 wasn't even close. I called my pastor and asked him if hell had frozen over. Well, I would have, but my pastor was a Red Sox fan. I didn't want to talk to any Red Sox fans for the rest of October. I knew what was coming next. The curse would broken. Of course the Red Sox would win the World Series now. And they did. Two years later they did again. The Yankees haven't been to the World Series since 2003, and they haven't won it since 2000.

It's not because of A-Rod's poor postseason numbers that this has happened to the Yankees. It's because of the Curse of A-Rod. And they had a chance to atone for their sins when A-Rod opted out of his contract then came crawling back, asking to remain a Yankee. But the Yankees just paid him more money instead. Then, in 2008, they missed the postseason for the first time since 1993 (there was no postseason in 1994). A-Rod's questionable morality in his personal life continued, and there was clearly some sort of rift between him and Derek Jeter, though Jeter knows better than to ever admit that. Then the news ultimately came out the A-Rod had used steroids. And now he has a hip injury too. And this is going into a 2009 season in which the Yankees sent an ungodly amount of money on free agents C.C. Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, and Mark Teixiera.

How will the curse of A-Rod be broken? Will it ever be broken as long as he remains on the team? I, for one, will not accept A-Rod as a Yankee until the Yankees win the World Series with him as an active part of the team. Even if he hits .120 in the Series, all would then be forgiven. But unless that happens, A-Rod will never be a Yankee. Even if he hits 900 home runs.

SEVEN MYTHS ABOUT CHRISTIANITY

* CHRISTIANS DON'T BELIEVE IN EVOLUTION. Some do and some don't. Evolution really isn't important to my faith in Jesus though. Unfortunately, some Christians make it important by taking an unrelenting stance on this debate, more often on the side that I disagree with. There are those who say you must choose either evolution or Christianity. For those Christians, I sincerely apologize. They are wrong, and most of them have probably never studied evolution in much depth. They simply take too many things in the Bible completely literally, arriving at the conclusion that evolution could not have taken place. But evolution can coexist with Christianity and God as Creator. I'm a Christian, and I believe in the Bible and science. Certainly, I believe that God created and had a hand in evolution, specifically when the first humans appeared. Really though, whether or not evolution happened is not important to my faith. Problems arise when people dead-set against evolution believe that it is important to their faith.

* CHRISTIANS BELIEVE THE WORLD IS ONLY ABOUT 10,000 YEARS OLD. Again, some do. But that's mostly because of ignorance. The seven days that God took to create everything (well, six days and then rest) probably were not seven 24-hour days. God could have created everything in less than a second if he wanted to. He is not bound by space or time. But seven 24-hour days, followed by only several thousand years up until now make little sense scientifically.

* CHRISTIANS HATE HOMOSEXUALS. Sadly, some who call themselves Christians do hate homosexuals (or, in extreme cases, publicly blame 9/11 on them), but this is not what the Bible calls for. The Bible calls Christians to LOVE. We shouldn't call homosexuals names or treat them like outcasts, lesser human beings, or lepers. The Bible does make it clear that homosexuality is a sin. But, for those who have read the Bible, it's clear that Jesus was loving, rather than hateful. He dined and talked with tax collectors, prostitutes, and other sinners. He showed them a better way, by his words and his deeds. And Christians should follow the example of Christ.

* TELEVANGELISTS SPEAK FOR MOST CHRISTIANS. No. I'm skeptical of most televangelists. Those who say that Katrina or 9/11 was God's punishment on whatever group of people, those who predict exactly when the world will end, those who ask for money and say they can heal you, and even those who say that the Christian life is easy. Televangelists do not speak for me. That's for sure.

* CHRISTIANS HATE A LOT OF PEOPLE REALLY. Again, I apologize for so-called Christians you've run across who are full of hate. Remember the fruits of the spirit. Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control. That's what you should see from Christians. Against such, there is no law.

* CHRISTIANITY IS NO DIFFERENT THAN OTHER RELIGIONS. Come on, this “they're all the same” mentality makes even less sense than saying that your great grandfather had a pet dinosaur (had to put him to sleep when he ate great grandma). ALL RELIGIONS ARE NOT THE SAME! Many of them have shared values and beliefs, but what do you think half the wars in the world are about? They're not all the same! We are not all one faith! Christianity, of course, came from Judaism. Christians and Jews do worship the same God. The main difference there is that Christians believe that Jesus is the Messiah, foretold to the Jews. Christians and Jews share Judeo-Christian values and beliefs, among other things. But, Islam, for example, is quite different than Judaism and Christianity. Much of what is said in the Qur'an directly opposes the Bible. The God of the Bible chooses the Jews as his people (and later, Christians). The God of the Qur'an very clearly does not. There are plenty of other differences. Oh, another thing that makes Christianity stand out is that the founders of all other faiths are DEAD. Muhammad is DEAD. They're all DEAD. Jesus conquered death. He lives.

* CHRISTIANITY MAY BE RIGHT FOR YOU, BUT IT'S WRONG FOR ME. It's either right or wrong. If you're not sure, do some research. Look into it. Read the Bible. Read books about religion. You may come to the conclusion that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, as the Bible says. By believing on Him, accepting Christ and asking Him to take away your sins, which Jesus died on the cross for, we are able to inherit eternal life, rather than eternal separation from God.

Hall of Fame Oddities

For a change of pace, I am going to stop arguing that Pete Rose, Mark McGwire, and other evildoers belong in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Instead, I am going to make a brief and convincing argument for the player who was my favorite player when I started following baseball.

Take a look at the these two players:

Player A (OF)
7244 AB, 1071 R, 2304 H, 207 HR, 1085 RBI, .318 BA, .360 OBP, 1 Batting Title, 2 W.S. Rings.
Player B (1B)
7003 AB, 1007 R, 2153 H, 222 HR, 1099 RBI, .307 BA, .358 OBP, 1 Batting Title, 1 MVP Award.

Player A and Player B have virtually identically statistics in a lot of the major categories, and they played during the same time period. Both were All-Stars many times and won many Gold Gloves at their respective positions. Both had their careers cut short, but would be considered borderline Hall-Of-Famers based on statistics alone. If one made it into the Hall, it would seem that the other would follow. And if one did not make into the Hall, the other probably would not either. In reality, both of these players were superstars whose names were bigger than their statistics show. Here's the real shocker: Player A was a first ballot Hall-of-Famer. Player B has been on the ballot for about a decade and doesn't have anywhere near the percentage of votes needed to punch his ticket to Cooperstown. If you haven't figured it out already, Player A is Kirby Puckett, and Player B is Don Mattingly.
Simply baffling. Donnie Baseball (I believe it was Puckett who gave him that nickname) belongs in Cooperstown.

GET OVER IT!

Welcome to the first edition of GET OVER IT! Here are three things that people need to get over and shut up about.

- Michael Phelps smoked pot. Was it wrong? Yes. Did he deserve the three-month suspension? Yes. But seriously, whoever took that picture of him deserves a punishment too. Douche. I'm not exactly a huge Phelps fan, but it's time for the media and anyone who is "outraged" over this to let it go. Phelps accomplished some amazing things. Considering that marijuana is not exactly a performance-enhancing drug, this does not take away from those accomplishments at all. And, while not condoning reefer, I've been to college. People smoking pot is not the end of the world (unless you're my college roommate, who was convinced he could get high from the smell of pot seeping in from outside the room, unless the windows were wide open. in the middle of winter). I can tolerate it if people are smoking pot. I can even come up with some good reasons why it should be legal (much longer post if I get into detail there). But the minute I see someone pull out some cocaine, I have the sudden urge to go far, far away. So, Phelps smoked pot, like an alarmingly high percentage of people his age have. He never claimed to be a perfect role model. He made a mistake. GET OVER IT!

- Alex Rodriguez did steroids. So did a lot of other baseball superstars over the last few decades. That doesn't make it right, but, sadly, that is the culture. Should that invalidate A-Rod's entire career and disqualify him from the Hall of Fame? Hell no! Maybe he would have had a few less home runs, but the overreaction to this is ridiculous. Crazed fans, Yankee haters, A-Rod haters, and even fellow MLB stars need to stop treating steroid use as if it were rejection of Christ. Why is this suddenly the unpardonable sin? Maybe A-Rod used it for three years. There's not evidence to the contrary. But to say all his stats should be gone? That anything he's done or will do in baseball is meaningless? Come on! Keep testing him for steroids, and if he keeps testing negative, this is a non-story. He will have proven that he can be the greatest in the game without steroids. He made a mistake. So did A LOT of other ballplayers. And I'm not even talking about football here. GET OVER IT!

- The stimulus is anti-Republican. It could have been better, but at least it's something. And really, it's not all that bad. And, at this point, we really needed this thing to get approved. There are times in history when we need to have more liberal economic views (a lot of what FDR and company did was necessary, for example, not socialism). I don't know how well this will work, but let's be honest here, it would be hard for it to work less than the failed policies of the last eight years. Sorry for sounding like an Obama PR machine, but come on... There's your number one reason why the Democrats have such large majorities right now. Or country is in the worst financial crisis since the great depression, and, so far, what Obama has done does not qualify as socialism, so GET OVER IT!