"No Child Wants A Charlie in the Box!"
Life is good, and it's officially Christmas time--Rudolph's on!! Damn those elves and deer for standing in the way of Herby and Rudolph's self-actualization!! And those poor misfit toys. And of course, the most important lesson of all--Bumbles bounce!! The scary thing is I'm really not being sarcastic at all--I do love and have strong feelings about this special, and it's not quite Christmas when I miss it. Now if only I could find Christmas Eve on Sesame Street...

Two Thoughts On Pete Rose
1. Here's the thing that bugs me about the whole Pete Rose Hall of Fame debate--no one even brings up the question of whether Rose belongs in on his merits. OK, the hits number renders that moot for many people. But if you chalk that up to playing at least three years after he was a remotely capable player and look beyond it, you really begin to ask some questions. Here's a guy with the same career batting average as Mike Greenwell, who, oh by the way, finished his career with a 47-point higher OPS than Rose--.831 to .784. And Rose only finished with 160 career home runs. For a player who played mostly at 1B, 3B, and OF, these are by no means Hall of Fame numbers--unless you don't agree with SABRmetricians that counting stats are the least useful kind.
2. OK, this is a Pete Rose/Trent Lott thought. Making no comment or judgement on their individual missteps or indiscretions, I find the talk about apologies in recent days to be fascinating, and in some ways mind-boggling. More than half the people on an ESPN.com poll said that Rose should be forgiven even for betting against his own team if he apologizes. And the Lott controversy seems mostly to revolve not around his remarks but the strenuousness and sincerity of his apology. A third controversy I'd point to is the flap over Garrison Hearst's comments that he wouldn't want a "faggot" for a teammate. Again, the apology became the ultimate issue. Is it actually the case that you can get away with saying (and maybe doing) anything nowadays if you just apologize afterward. I find this troubling. I mean, if you legitimately misspeak I can understand, but for someone to make a comment one day and then retract it the next--are we supposed to just take the apology at face value and pretend the transgression never happened? I find this highly discomfiting, though I can't directly put a finger on why.

Wondering if I could get a job putting stars on Christmas trees, and if I'd have to get all my teeth pulled to get it...