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No! No! NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
By Jay Busbee | March 5, 2007
So here’s something sure to spoil the day of many a Braves fan — manager Bobby Cox may be calling it quits after next season. When we read David O’Brien’s column in the AJC this weekend on the subject, we spit our crappy wheat-germ cereal that Mrs. SGS is obsessed with these days (we miss you, Cocoa Puffs) all over ou
r monitor. Then, like Captain James T. Kirk in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, we bellowed our fury to the heavens.
See, around here we’re big fans of Cox. No, wait, that didn’t sound right. We’ve always supported Cox…no, that’s not quite correct either. We’ve endorsed the manager of the Braves for many years now. How’s that? We think he’s a hell of a manager cursed with worse October luck than Earl Hickey in his pre-karma days. (And we may have more to say on that subject in the future.)
In interviews, Cox is also more elusive than the Araber in The Box when it comes to discussing his retirement. We’ve tried it a few times ourselves… “So, how about that bullpen? Liking your outfield lineup? Oh, yeah…when’re you going to retire?” Every time, he’s deflected the question, so to hear him answer it so definitively…well, it kinda scares us.
Best bet for the Braves job is Terry Pendleton; he’s getting groomed for the position already. But when the day comes that Cox and Schuerholz go, a cold wind’s a-gonna blow through Turner Field…
March 5th, 2007 at 4:12 pm
I love the Araber reference. I, too, am a Heee-youge Homicide fan.
March 5th, 2007 at 7:18 pm
Wow! An old Homicide: Life on the street reference! Fan-friggin’-tastic. Thank heavens for complete seasons of TV shows on DVD as I no longer have to miss that show!
As a Braves fan, it too scares me that Cox is talking like it’s the end or near it. With the recent “acquisition” of the club as a tax write-off, I fear too that change is coming and it’s not for the better. How in the hell could 15-seasons of joy and excitement seem to have gone so fast when it’s baseball and so freakin’ slow when it concerned my Cincinnati Bengals?
March 5th, 2007 at 7:37 pm
I still get a giddy little fanboy thrill whenever I see Pembleton in some pissant throwaway role…he was in Poseidon last year, and in the Fantastic Four this summer. Right up to the Luther Mahoney saga, that was some of the best TV ever. One of these days, I’m going to just Netflix every damn episode and watch them all in a row.
I’m assuming y’all watch The Wire…ever catch Brotherhood? Sagged a bit in the middle, and didn’t have the epic reach of The Wire, but still–damn good TV.
March 5th, 2007 at 11:32 pm
The Wire is consistantly my favorite show hands down. It never disappoints even when it is absolutely brutal to a fault. Pretty much anything that has been developed or derived from David Simon (and/or the production of Tom Fontana, Barry Levinson and the like) has been gripping. I mean, how the heck can you make the story of crackheads and lost souls in ‘The Corner’ interesting TV? It was though.
My fanaticism for the show actually led me to Baltimore back in 1996 to see where they filmed in the Fells Point area (I did take in an O’s game too–so not intirely insane right?). I actually have a picture with “Meldrick” actor/director Clark Johnson which I have proudly atop my desk. No one knows who he is, but I do. Good times.
March 5th, 2007 at 11:44 pm
I bought a set of Homicide business cards off ebay–somebody claimed they were from the set, but they were probably just fakes. Anyway, it’s kind of cool having cards from Tim Bayliss, Kay Howard, Frank Pembleton et. al.
I always liked how the Fontana shows would cross over, subtly…Luther Mahoney used to sell his crack in tiny plastic bags with a gold star, and those same bags were there in “The Corner.” And this season in The Wire, there was an offhand reference to the time “Junior Bunk shot up that squadroom”–which happened during one of the last seasons of Homicide.
What makes the Wire so great is that it’s an ensemble cast–but you care about what happens to EVERYBODY. There’s not a scene change that happens where you think, “Aw, crap, get this clown’s story over with so we can get back to the big guns.” Everyone is so well-drawn you want to follow their stories.
How sweet is it they managed to get five seasons? Unbelievable.