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  • Thoughts on the new Fall TV season

    I haven't watched all of the new shows this season, but I've watched a few.

    I am grateful that it appears that the glut of reality programming has abated, and now we're only forced to deal with the same old reality shows. The big, controversial season of Survivor lasted 2 weeks, until the race-based teams were broken up. So much for that social experiment. And I quit watching.

    CBS served up a new drama, Smith, about the lives of thieves. I watched the first episode, thought FX's Thief was better, and quit watching. Smith has already been canned.

    ABC, still believing that another mysterious serial drama is the perfect follow up to LOST (see: last season's Invasion), served up The Nine. I was so thoroughly bored after the pilot episode, I haven't gone back.

    NBC, believing that telling behind-the-scenes stories of the now dreadful Saturday Night Live was a good idea, has presented Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, and 30 Rock. I watched the first few episodes of Studio 60, thought it wasn't funny, wasn't dramatic, and had gaping plot holes. I'm done with it. The pilot episode of 30 Rock was somewhat funny, so I'm going to give it a few more chances.

    <>The one new show that has captured my attention is NBC's Heroes. I know it's yet another attempt to capitalize on the superhero phenomena (X-Men, Smallville, Superman Returns, Batman Begins, Entourage's obsession with Aquaman), but I've found this one interesting, and hope it continues to entertain and leave me guessing.

  • Why the Yankees should trade A-Rod

    The Yankees should trade A-Rod while he still has value.<>

    <>Why? Because the Yankees don't need him as much as the potential players they could get for him in a trade.

    All season long, as the Yankees took advantage of the Red Sox' injuries and sub-par performances from off-season acquisitions (Lowell, Crisp, Beckett), all baseball fans heard about was how the Yankees were fielding an all-All-Star lineup that was bashing its way to victory after victory. But we heard little about the Yanks' pitching staff, which is getting older and less effective each year.

    Detroit knocked them out of the playoffs because of the adage, "Good Pitching Beats Good Hitting." So for all that offensive firepower, the Yankees still couldn't beat good pitching, and A-Rod was just one of the Yankee hitters who had a miserable postseason.

    So, the Yankees could have made the postseason even without A-Rod in their lineup, but they might have advanced if their pitching staff was better.

    Trading A-Rod before his career begins to fade could net the Yankees some younger pitching that could, within a few years, give New York the kind of dominant pitching staff necessary to compete for more World Series titles in the near future.