The OC

You know you're living in Orange County when...

You see someone in public wearing a Rush Limbaugh t-shirt that reads, "Ordinary people doing extraordinary things every day!"
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Top Five Friday: The Second Half

The second half of the season [officially if not technically] begins tonight for the Dodgers as they find themselves in decent position. Because of the pathetic state of the NL West where they've become the Eastern Conference of Major League Baseball, they start the second half in second place and within reach of the playoffs - which of course is all you have to do before anything can happen.

With this burst of optimism and the score tied at 7 in the Top of the 7th, let's take a look at the Top Five Reasons The Dodgers Had A Bad First Half...

5. No power
The Dodgers have no power. Period. When your team leader in HRs has 11 at the break, you know there's a problem. But the real issue is not just the lack of home runs - as Larry Bowa said recently, they're not hitting for extra bases period. Dodger Stadium is notorious for being a doubles park and they're not taking advantage of that. It's hard to put runs on the board when you're going station to station. This is when the coaching staff needs to put more plays on - hit and runs, double steals, squeezes, etc.

4. No timely hitting
I'm far too lazy to look it up but I have to imagine the Dodgers are near the bottom of the heap in average with Runners In Scoring Position [RISP.] So, not only are they only hitting singles but when they do manage to get someone in position to score, they even stop hitting singles.

3. Big money = no reward
Not that this is necessarily anyone's fault but the last two big money free agent signings have been total busts so far. Everyone wants to blame Ned Coletti for it and that's an easy thing to do however I don't think there's a single soul who could have predicted that either Schmidt or Jones would struggle this much so far. Hindsight in this case is serving people far too well, IMO.

2. Patience At The Plate
Joe Torre has been preaching patience at the plate all season - trying to get his players to wait for their pitch, drawing out counts, and wearing down starting pitching to get to the weak part of almost every MLB staff - the bullpen. Torre seems to be very frustrated - and rightfully so - at his inability to get his message sunk into the heads of his players especially the kids. Here's hoping Don Mattingly stepping in as pitching coach will change that. If not, YOU HAVE HALL OF FAMERS AS COACHES - FUCKING LISTEN TO THEM, DICKHOLES! Ahem. Pardon me.

1. Injuries, Injuries, Injuries
In most seasons, losing three starting pitchers, the starting shortstop, the starting third baseman, two starting outfielders, and your closer to injuries for some part of the first half of the season would have you saying "Wait til next year." But in this bizarre season, the Dodgers are still in it - not bad, huh?

So, with all that in mind, the Dodgers are still in reach and there's reason to feel optimistic about the second half of the season. The season is a marathon, not a sprint, right? Considering all the adversity the team has faced so far, there's really just one thing left to do.

Win the whole fucking thing.

No Mo' Nomo

In a bit of sad news to Dodger fans, former National League Rookie Of The Year Hideo Nomo officially retired today. The day's been coming for quite a while now but it's still a shame nonetheless.

I can still remember the buzz surrounding the team with the first MLB import from Japan came to town. Everyone was rooting for a return of Fernandomania and while it never reached that level, it was a very special time to be a Dodger fan. From the crazy controversy surrounding the hesitation delivery to the league having to decide if someone who played professionally in another country was eligible for the ROTY trophy, Nomo seemed to always have a buzz around him.

Nomo's greatest moment as a Dodger came when he threw a no-hitter in Coors Field - a feat that I still find amazing even in the age of the humidor balls. Anyone who can throw a no-no in Denver has some serious shit in their arsenal.

Even after he was gone from the Dodgers, I still rooted for him to keep his career going but it looks like it finally reached the end. Earlier in the season when there was a lot of speculation that he was going to be hanging them up soon, many Dodger fans were hoping the team would re-sign Nomo for a "tribute" start or two. With the team in the middle of a divisional race, I don't expect that to happen but bopefully there will be a tribute night for him so the Dodger fans can let him know what he meant to the team and the community.

Thanks for the memories, Hideo.

Jack Bauer's Tears Cure Cancer

He's back, bitches.

Rough cut of the prequel movie trailer is HERE

Far Too Easy But... RAMPAGE ON A RAMPAGE!

I saw a headline about it pop up in the TMZ section of my Google Reader earlier but I wanted to wait til there was more detail to "report" on. Well, we've got 'em now thanks to Dave Meltzer at the new Wrestling Observer/Figure Four Daily combo site.

Here's the gist of it...

Now-former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson was pulled over and taken in by police in Newport Beach [actually Costa Mesa from the photos, I believe] after a car accident. He was charged with felony hit and run, reckless driving, and felony evading arrest.

From the police statement, he was observed driving with a flat tire and talking on his cell phone [dammit Quinton! BLUETOOTH, BABY!] The cop tried to pull him over to no avail as Quinton just kept on going, ignoring the officer in pursuit. They had gotten another report of his vehicle busting out a hit and run on other VEHICLES [yes, plural] on the 55 Freeway earlier.

Oh, how do they know it was his vehicle?



Yep, his picture was on the side of it. Subtle.

So, a little chase ensued with Quinton weaving in and out of traffic and apparently driving on the wrong side of the road and the sidewalk at one point. While in pursuit, the office saw him hit yet another car. Thankfully, no one appears to have been injured in any of these collisions.

Eventually, the tire blew out and came off the rim. He finally stopped, got out of the car AT GUNPOINT and was taken directly to jail without passing go and without collecting $200.



He's currently being held on $25,000 bail and apparently Dana White is en route to post bond.

Whew. Not the kind of press Dana was hoping for one of his top stars, I'd imagine. And he thought someone kicking out a limo window was bad.

Legends Of Wrestlemania Trailer

With E3 starting today, some cool video game stuff is starting to be announced. This was announced a while ago but check out the awesome trailer they dropped today...

Game Over

While the world waits with baited breath to see if the movie version of Halo gets off the ground...

While yours truly waits to see if Splinter Cell or Metal Gear Solid ever gets made into a movie...

While you sit and ponder what chaos would ensue if someone took a The Shield-like visual approach to a GTA movie or TV show...

While most of us sit and cringe at the memories of the Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter movies...

Some video game movies are closer than you think!

A review of Paul W.S. Anderson's Castlevania script hit the 'net today.


One of the highlights of the review?

Does Anderson have any idea how fucking cool it would be to bring in some of these experts to choreograph all of the stunts and fight scenes with a similar chain whip? Obviously not because he chose to arm Castlevania’s hero with a fucking sword. Idiot.

That oughta give you a clue how the rest of the review goes. Such a shame because that's one of those games that could have some potential in a movie form.

From my front row seat...

Now, maybe I'm just an elitist fuck - it's possible, I'll grant that...

But!

I hate the fucking wave.

Why people insist in jumping up like trained fucking seals in some kind of 25 year old ritual resembling a Nazi propaganda film instead of watching the game they spent good money to see is far beyond my considerable levels of comprehension.

On the other hand, maybe I'm just an elitist fuck.
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