Thursday, May 29, 2008

"What? They Were Here a Minute Ago..."

One of the scariest movies ever made was James Cameron’s “Alien”. It was the movie that caused thousands of movie-goers to scream, “YOU IDIOT! DON’T GO DOWN THAT HALLWAY ALONE!” Of course the characters on the screen could not hear the fans screaming and walked down the hallway anyways..alone. Of course the alien creature would either:

1. Run them through with it’s tail
2. Hiss, and then chomp them in the head
3. Make them watch American Idol

While option number three was not really in the movie, it would have made the movie much grosser and creepy. And after the obligatory chomping/stabbing/Idol viewing the remaining characters would look around and say something like “Wait a minute! Where’s so and so? Let’s split up and find him!” How these meatheads ever piloted an interstellar spaceship is beyond me.

I bring up the movie “Alien” because it seems like every time I look around the Sounds clubhouse somebody else has disappeared. The ’08 Sounds have played 47 games as of May 23rd and have had 51 transactions. In the last two weeks alone, Mark DiFelice, Zach Jackson and Tim Dillard have wandered off alone down the dark hallway never to be seen again. The only difference is that they haven’t been turned into toothpicks for the “Alien” monster to pick his teeth with. They have gone up to the big leagues. A much better option, trust me. And, while it seems that something is drooling acid on the Brewers playoff bubble hopes, it is still a great life. As Crash Davis said in “Bull Durham” “You know, you never handle your luggage in the show, somebody else carries your bags. It was great. You hit white balls for batting practice, the ballparks are like cathedrals, the hotels all have room service, and the women all have long legs and brains.” Not to mention you fly charter, you get to stay at Wyndham and Marriot hotels as opposed to “the Sleep Inn” In Memphis (Good Lord, I hate that place more than Karl Rove hates Democrats).

The Sounds have made 59 transactions as of May 29th and that’s a lot of stickers on your suitcase. It has also caused the Sounds to disrupt a number of things that help the flow of a team. The teams that have done well historically have had a fairly stable roster all season, allowing players a chance to play together and learn each others abilities.

Some of the moves have helped. Getting DiFelice from extended, getting Stetter for a bit from the big leagues have all helped and the team may be better off for it once the September call-ups go. The September call-ups, when the major league rosters expand have been pretty hard to adjust to, but with this team on pace for about 130 transactions they may just shrug and say “Whatever. No biggie” the Sounds have had so many transactions I think that even I’ve been placed on the DL, sent to Helena and placed on the Temporary Inactive List…twice. In my case it should be Permanently Inactive since I sit in a chair all game.

Here’s hoping the roster starts to settle down ands the Sounds can continue to try and climb out of the cellar, because sometime soon, they bust the door off the hinges.

Okay, I’ve been listening to a lot of music on the road. A whole lot of White Stripes, some Raconteurs and these two bands. One musician is from Chicago and his album is due out soon, here’s a sneak peek at Eric Howell the brains behind Eric and the Implants. The other band I’ve mentioned before and their new album rocks. Check out “Superstar Parade” from November.