R.I.P. Shooter

Bad news for Giants fans as my personal all-time favorite Giants closer, the amazing Rod Beck was found dead in his home today. He was only 38. While I don't have a specific Rod Beck memory, I just remember him bringing a smile to my face when he came into games. He was fat, had a mullet and that burly 'stache and as he looked in for the sign, he'd always dangle his arm and swing it back and forth. Sure, it was all an act and no one knew that better than Beck. And then he'd strike your ass out.

As of now, there's no details on what his cause of death was, but I'm sure it'll turn out to be something shitty. Apparently he had gone to rehab for substance abuse in 2004. Plus he smoked like a chimney and apparently drank like a champ. Man, what a drag.

Read an excellent article abour Beck by the outstanding sports writer Henry Schulman HERE.

Home is where the nap is...

I made it back from Boston and I'm beat! I have friends who travel all the time, sometimes from city to city and hotel to hotel for months in a row. I don't know how they do it. Flying knocks me out and my nightbird lifestyle certainly doesn't help. I've also recently discovered the secret and joy of sleeping entirely through the night (hint: prescription drugs) and it's made me increasingly lazy. Or increasingly restful. Whereas I used to wake up every hour on the hour for five hours prior to when I needed to be up, now I'm out like a light. It's great but sometimes I just go back to sleep...like a normal person.

Anyway...Boston was incredible! I am now a Red Sox fan. I think everyone besides Yankee and A's fans kind of have a soft spot for the Red Sox, but being in that atmosphere was an incredible experience. I LOVE baseball and being in a stadium full of people who love their team (and aren't showing off for clients, yakking on their cell phones or reading the paper) was refreshing. People stood and cheered for every second strike, hoping for the K. Plus, the Red Sox not only have a great team, they're balanced in every sense of the word. Sluggers & superstars (Papi and Ramirez), working class players (Youklis), local heroes (Papelbon, Pedroia)....strikeout pitchers (Dice-K, Schilling the prick), a knuckleballer (Wakefield), a CLOSER (remember what those look like feloow Giants fans?) and some goats (Julio Lugo and JD Drew...although Drew seems to be coming on).

The worst part of the trip: THE GIANTS. Seriously, watching my team stink to high heaven with absolutely no hope of winning shit this year was the worst part.

But I'm back now and my job becomes the real deal (as in, 8 hours a day) for the next 2-3 months. I also have a new doc me and John are shooting and I'm going to attempt to write a short film and then, at summers end, get started on a feature script. Or maybe an outline that I want to shoot with some improv actors. I dunno. I'm ready to get back to work! Work on movie stuff that is.

Boston...Day 1

We got into Boston around 3:00 yesterday and after dropping off our stuff at the hotel, we headed over to Fenway to take a look around. I didn't realize they were playing the Rockies...but I didn't want to pop my Fenway cherry on them. We walked around the outside of the park and took it all in. I love the way there's a whole ballpark culture here, unlike the half-assed one in San Francisco.

Here, everyone has on their Sox gear and they just...hang out. There's all kinds of yummy smelling food being cooked and lots of classic Bostonian accents baring out "Scorecaaaads!" Or..."Get your Yoooook joysey herahh." You get the idea.

After checking out the scene, we headed over to the Baseball Tavern to get some food. The place was about 1/2 a block from Fenway and was packed with Sox fans chugging down cheaper beers and jawing about the team. It felt like a small town bar, everyone was hanging out, chatting, laughing. About 15 minutes before game time, it was like someone hit a switch. Beer bottles tipped up and the place emptied en masse. After some good grub we decided to hang out and watch the game at the Tavern.

My mom took off after about an hour but never one to leave a bar, I watched the whole game and took in the vibe. I gotta say, eveyone was super friendly. I talked to a bunch of people and no one gave me crap for being a Giants fan. I figured I'd get some questions regarding my sexuality or Bonds...but I didn't. One guy asked if I liked Bonds and I said "yeah" and then I quickly added "with Schilling, JD Drew and Manny on your team, you know what it's like to have talent that's a little nutty."

The Red Sox were getting stomped and slowly the bar began to fill back up. After they pulled Josh Beckett, the bar really got packed. Lots of cute girls wearing their Boston hats and shirts. I saw a TON of Ortiz shirts and jersies as well as a bunch of Papelbon, Varitek and Youklis gear, but hardly any Manny stuff and NO Schilling stuff. I thought that was odd. I hung out for a while, watched the end of the boring ass NBA finals and headed home.

Today, we go to the game. I hope Zito steps up and quits letting the AL own him. And, I hope Barry goes yaaaaahd.