Five Minutes for Blogging (Dec. 24)
Greetings.
Hope you are all set for Christmas.
And a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone.
I’m going to fiddle with a new format here on the blog. Basically, it will work like this: each day (or many days) I’ll post five quick opinions/comments that will require about five minutes of your reading time.
And then you can respond accordingly. And I will try to mix in some non-sports stuff, too.
I’ll still write longer-form “Extra Points” blogs when needed but wanted to spice things up a bit and have more fun.
Anyway, here are my five for today, and feel free to hit me with a five-minute penalty for blogging.
But keep it clean.
1. NO EXCUSES FOR MIZZOU: I don’t want to hear that the Tigers are young and inexperienced. I don’t want to hear that getting thumped by Illinois will be good for them. The 75-59 loss to Illinois was a terrible performance, and it was another setback to the program’s credibility. Missouri fans had anticipated seeing an improved team, one ranked 25th in the AP poll, one that could stand up and defeat Illinois after an eight-year losing streak. And it seemed that coach Mike Anderson had finally established traction. Maybe he will as the season goes on. But on Tuesday night at Scottrade, we saw much of the same old thing. Poor shot selection. A frantic set offense that had no discernible purpose. And a vulnerable half-court defense that was easily, almost comically, shredded by the Fighting Illini. Sorry, no positive spin here. No free pass. Just an awful night for Mizzou. Period.
2. APOLOGIZE TO BRUCE WEBER: After a transition period, he’s got Illinois headed in the right direction, and Illini fans have to be thrilled by the number of outstanding and heralded recruits that are on the way. Weber and staff have established a terrific recruiting pipeline, so the Illinois fans who turned on Weber because of his allegedly weak recruiting should step up and admit they were wrong. As I am doing right now. Coach: I didn’t think you could recruit like this. I was wrong. My apologies.
3. HERE’S A WORD TO DESCRIBE THE CARDINALS: Cheap. This covers all of the code words and phrases that already have been offered, such as “low-hanging fruit,” and “patient” and “keeping the powder dry.” No, what all of this really means is the Cardinals are cheap until they prove otherwise. No one is asking them to throw money around like those crazy Steinbrenners, but when Khalil Greene is the big offseason acquisition (so far) after the organization promised an “aggressive” approach … well, that’s sad.
4. I WON’T GO ANYWHERE THIS NEW TOM CRUISE FILM, VALKYRIE: Why does Cruise always play himself in movies? Cruise plays a character that’s a German officer , but he speaks the entire time with a perfect English accent as if he’s sitting in the VFW Hall on Big Bend? Huh? Same with Kevin Costner; every film Costner makes he plays the role of … Kevin Costner. It’s old. As for this one … let me see if I get this straight: Cruise hopes to pep his career and warm up his image by doing a film RELEASED ON CHRISTMAS DAY that features a bunch of guys in Nazi uniforms? OK. He must be getting PR advice from Plaxico Burress.
5. WHY DIDN’T THE RAMS SIGN THIS GUY? The Pittsburgh Steelers, who have as good a chance as any AFC team to play in the Super Bowl, just signed a player off the Rams practice squad and put him on their active roster. No one is saying that offensive tackle Jason Capizzi is the next Dan Dierdorf, but if he’s good enough for the Steelers, then why didn’t the Rams keep him around, as part of their 53-man roster, and keep the big fella in play for training camp ‘09? The offensive line is the Rams’ weakest link, remember? Confusing, to say the least.
Thanks for reading.
-Bernie
Right on with regards to Kevin Costner. He is always himself. “Dancing With Wolves” was the same guy as “Field of Dreams” the same as…He rates right up ther with Bill Paxton from the tornado movie (Twister?). I think Paxton was playing Costner in that movie.
As far as the Cardinals being cheap…Thanks for putting that in print. There are quite a few FO apologist that need to read what you wrote.
The current ownership group bought this team for a song. They sold off the parking garages and made back most of their investment. The have very little of their money invested. They can certainly afford to put a good team on the field.
Last season they were unexpectantly in the thick of the pennant race. A trade for some bullpen help could have put the Redbirds in the playoffs. It was cheap not to do anything at that time.
They have had the opportunities to fill the needs this off season and haven’t done much. The pattern of cheapness is now clear to any reasonable thinking person.
I have always wondered about Mike Anderson but thought I would give him a try…my patience is running out. This team was not prepared at all for the Illini.
I just saw Valkyrie. The movie was great and Cruise (who I usually don’t like) was very good in it. Great blog.
Mizzou’s shot selection was the key. When they worked the ball around, under, over and through, they were able to get a decent shot. Unfortunately, they only did this a couple of times. Many coaches control bad shots with bench time. Norm did it, but since him, Quinn and Mike both are reluctant to use this tool. If a player continually takes bad shots, why is he still playing? If a player is continually out of control, why is he still playing? Leo Lyons was a terrible player his first year. He is much better now. Anderson can do it. He needs to work his magic with the others.
Bernie, a couple of points. First, speaking in an American accent is required if the actors do not speak the foreign language. If this were not the case, they would only hire multi-lingual (of which there are few)or foreign actors … not those that put people in the seats. The alternatives is to speak English with a fake German accent (yawn!). It’s the same as musicals when the actors SING THE DIALOG. You see, we REALLY know they don’t do that in REAL LIFE.
The Cardinals are cheap … and except for Busch, they’ve always been cheap. Breadon was the cheapest which led Banch Rickey to create the farm system. If baseball doesn’t have the gonads to have A salary cap, then why the heck don’t we just put all of our salary into GREAT SCOUTS AND COACHES, signing as many good ballpayers out of college, highschool, sandlots, etc. and developing the prototypical CARDINAL PLAYER (Medwick, Slaughter, Musial, Boyer, etc.) That’s how the Cards put together NINE (9)WORLD SERIES in TWENTY (20)YEARS!!!!
1. Did Coach Anderson not see the Illinois and Clemson game? I understand the Tiger’s game is full-court press, but Illinois shredded Clemson’s first half press and had a sizeable lead. When Clemson pulled out of it, and packed it in, Illinois’s high FG % went south fast. When should coach’s ditch their strategy and stick to it?
2. Most Illinois fans are also Cub’s fans, so don’t hold your breath for an apology. They turned quickly on Zook and his boys this year, granted they merited some of the heat. From the corn fields in Central Illinois, I have learned there is a great divide in the way we support our teams in Chicago and St. Louis. And is it Weber landing the guys, or World Wide Wes? Just wondering.
3. How long will we get the discount on Pujols?
4. Tom Cruise played his best role–himself–in Tropic Thunder.
5. Some player are better in other environments.
Take care from the fertile soils.
It is the same story wirh the Missouri basketball game. In the early part of the season they play about 8-10 games at home against very weak teams, a lot of which are not in Division 1. Thus, Mizzou will have a vey impressive win/loss record and some think the team is very good. But then when it plays Illinois and the Big 12 schedule, we find the team at best is average.
To toughen the team, Mizzou should have a harder nonconference schedule and play on the road.
Bernie, how long is the fan base of the Cardinals going to put up with their cheap-ass antic? Waitng for a deal like Lohse to come along and for Carp to get well is getting old.
Bernie…dead on! Mo & the gang are cheap and continue to not live up to their end of the bargain for the 3.4 million who continue to come…I am not sure why some are so optimistic that the Cards will do the right thing and improve the team. Did they do it last season when we were in first place and needed some relief? No, they chose to continue the season on the cheap trying to get more for less…Result. Fourth place finish after leading most of the first half of the season. Same result this year. Life-long fan who has run out of patience with this group.
The Cards are cheap. No pun intended, but you could call them “dirt cheap”.
We need another starting pitcher and a bridge or fill in stopper until the kids get some more experience and are ready next year. The Brew Crew is weaker and the Astros and cutting back with the Reds being the Reds. The Pirates, pleez.
Maybe Fuentes is not the answer, he seems to be playing the Cards to get more $$$ and years from the Halos. What may be really humorous is if they don’t want him! Free agency is a double edged sword. Pull the offer!
Keep up the good work Bernie and maybe the Cards will wake up before the powder gets wet!!!