This Is Getting Absurd

If the Titans run in Omaha was developed into a screenplay, it would seem so far fetched, even the K-Dawg himself � Kevin Costner � would have to pass on it. (Although rumors say the K-Dawg will be in the picture about a killer-robot driving instructor who travels back in time for some reason. Ron Howard has signed on to direct.)

The Titans were down to their final out on Sunday night and the three-run game-winning rally was highlighted by Corey Vanderhook hit a ball that took more twist and turns than your average CSI episode. Fullerton held on to eliminate Georgia Tech. It was an act of redemption for Hook who was the goat in Friday night�s loss to North Carolina.

Tuesday was more of the same. A�s center fielder Mark Kotsay made his name in the College World Series by driving in seven runs as a freshman against Florida State. Current freshman David Cooper conjured up images of Kotsay with a 5-for-5 performance � including a two-run shot and the game-winning hit.

But the biggest story yesterday was closer Ryan Paul who was hampered by the same stomach virus that slowed Lauren Gagnier over the weekend. Paul did not arrive to Rosenblatt with his teammates, instead getting there in the seventh inning. But that enough time to notch the biggest strikeout of the season, fanning Clemson�s dangerous Andy D�Alessio for the first out of the bottom of the ninth. The game was closed out by Wes Roemer. And in keeping with the script, Roemer will be the starter today.

What is in store for today? It�s hard to imagine. At this point, it wouldn�t seem unusual for the Titans season to be saved today by a talking pie � who will play K-Dawg�s buddy in that killer-robot driving instructor picture.

And hey, it�s been a long time since we pimped
The Hater Nation Forums.

Raping the shark

Big, big, big ol' spoilers for last night's "Rescue Me" after the jump (though I'm thinking the subject line is a bit of a hint)....

God, I don't even know where to start. Wait, of course I do. Let's start with Tommy smacking around his ex-wife, forcing her onto the couch and raping her until she gets into it. Seems a notable event, dontcha think?

On the one hand, Tommy and Janet's have had a dysfunctional relationship since the start of the series, one bound up in anger and mutual self-loathing, so in the context of everything the show has done, I can believe that she might start to enjoy it. But the show has such a pattern of misogyny and pathetic characterizations of women -- in one sequence, Tommy took successive phone calls from Janet the shrew, Sheila the doormat, Maggie the alcoholic bitchy skank and Mrs. Turbody the sexual predator -- that I don't care whether it was consistent or not. It made me uncomfortable and unhappy in a way even the most extreme TV and film almost never does.

As I've said in the past, there's a difference between letting your characters have a despicable point of view and letting the show as a whole have it. The men on "The Sopranos" do evil things all the time, but the writers never try to suggest that, say, Paulie was perfectly justified in smothering an old lady to death so he could steal the money under her mattress. But when Tommy marches out of Janet's apartment, having no doubt just produced the Gavin heir he was struggling to create at the sperm bank, the tone of the show was just as triumphant and unrepentant as the look on Tommy's face.

I'm not saying I'm done with the show yet, since I had already accepted it as a brilliant comedy and a deeply flawed drama, but I think I may have to start treating it the way I did "ER" back when I was still watching it. This was a couple of years into the Maura Tierney era, and the writers had turned Abby into such a pill that I would TiVo the show and then fast-forward anytime she appeared on screen. At this stage, I may have to start skipping over any "Rescue Me" scene that isn't all-male.

And even there, it's not always safe. Probie's "I'm not gay but you kind of are" was just embarrassing. When "The Sopranos" did the Gay Vito storyline, it was an obvious attempt to have some fun at a supporting actor's expense, but the show also took it seriously. Vito was gay, he was conflicted about it, he did find some measure of happiness with Johnny Cakes but they also fought, he went into denial about it to get back into his old life, etc. This was just about making Mike Lombardi squirm, and the tone of this week's scene in no way matched last week's closer where Probie and his buddy rested their heads against each other for comfort after a tough day. Plus, the roommate may be an even more pathetic caricature than any of the women on this show. Ugh.

Some other random thoughts:

• The reason I haven't given up on the show yet is for scenes like Lou and the bum arguing over who gets to touch the third rail first -- and the bum realizing that Lou's life is worse than his. Now that's the blend of comedy and pathos that the show does so well, and it worked because Lou is a fully-realized character, and so well played by John Scurti.
• Good opening scene with the bus -- one of the more extended on-the-job scenes we've had in a while -- and if you ever questioned whether Al Sharpton was anything but a publicity hound, his willingness to play himself in a scene that makes his usual shtick seem self-aggrandizing and foolish should put that doubt to rest.
• On the one hand, I'm glad the show hasn't forgotten that Franco doesn't have legal custody of his daughter, since in the real world that would come back to bite him eventually. On the other, I worry that Susan Sarandon's going to be the one doing the biting, just as she's turning out to be the only decent female character on the show.
• This was the first episode of the season that I watched live on FX, including the previews. Do they always seemingly give away so much of the next episode? I feel like I just watched the trailer to a Robert Zemeckis movie and don't need to go buy a ticket.

What did everybody else think?

"Good evening. Tonight on 'It's The Mind'..."

Slow morning. In today's All TV column, I finally got around to that "House" finale-themed mailbag I was talking about last week. The delay was because I was waiting to talk to David Shore, who has some definitive answers on what was and wasn't real as well as some hints about where next season is going.

Since I spent most of last night watching the Yankees lose again, time for another open thread. As I mentioned in a post from back when this blog had, like, two readers, I have this weird deja vu thing happen where, whenever I turn to a particular movie on cable, it's always at the same part: "Karate Kid" is always at the scene where Daniel-san goes to pick up Elisabeth Shue for their Golf 'N Stuff date, or the first "Austin Powers" is always at the bit near the end where Austin and Liz Hurley are impersonating tourists to get into Dr. Evil's lair. I firmly believe that TNT only shows five or six "Law & Order" episodes on a continuous loop -- all of them, oddly enough, from the Carey Lowell years -- because those are the only ones I ever see when I surf past it. And for some reason, my iPod almost always spits out T-Rex's "20th Century Boy" at the same point in my workout, even though I have several hundred songs on shuffle each time.

So, two questions: 1)Does this sort of thing ever happen to any of you, and if so, how? and 2)Any statisticians or probability experts have a theory on this?