HOWARD MEGDAL: While I couldn’t say that I saw Jose Bautista’s 2010 season coming, it seems to me that the more surprising breakout offensively has to be that of Andres Torres over the past two years.
CHRIS PUMMER: Torres’ breakout has been less surprising to me because when his minor league output is taken into consideration, his recent major league success seems like less of an anomaly.
SONIA BRAND-FISHER: The first image we see of Mad Men Season 4 Episode 1 is an unsettling close-up of the contorted, yet deliberately handsome face of Don Draper we know and love (or hate). I don’t know about you, but at the end of Season 3 I could not get the image of his now ex-wife, Betty, sitting confidently on a plane with her baby in her arms like a doe caught in the small overhead-lights on the airplane. I thought of her when Don’s prominent jawline popped onto my screen with the faceless voice of the ad agent asking “Who is Don Draper?” This question is clearly plaguing the mind of not only this walk-on agent, but also Draper himself, as Season 4 kicks off with some noticeable changes in the Draper’s fractured household and the infant corporation of Sterling-Cooper-Draper-Pryce.
HOWARD MEGDAL: I want to focus on a motif that appears to be new to the show in Season 4: Don Draper adapting.
JASON CLINKSCALES: The target on ESPN’s proverbial back has grown with every property the network has acquired over the years. With Comcast hoping to leverage their potential purchase of NBC Universal to ramp up Versus and The Golf Channel and FOX Sports becoming the leading regional sports provider in the country, the new arrangement between Turner Sports and Sports Illustrated is more than another competitor throwing its name in the hat. It’s a symbol of how far Turner Sports has come.
HOWARD MEGDAL: The final point Jason makes is the key one, though I agree with the rest of his take as well: will quality journalism be enough to amass a huge audience to take on ESPN?
That’s a two-part question, really. Can TNT put together an entity that does this kind of journalism, and then, will quality be enough?
AKIE BERMISS: As an ardent jazz fan, I have but one dirty secret: I hate piano duos. I know piano is like the mayonnaise on the sandwich of jazz… and being a piano player, you’d think I’d be all about piano duos. The more pianos the merrier! But the truth is, I’m not usually a big fan of huge piano sounds. Its so easy to over-power all the other instruments with a piano (especially in a recording environment) and sometimes the unambiguous harmonic landscape can be musically frustrating. Sometimes you just want the piano player to lay out and let the other instruments develop a dynamic.
HOWARD MEGDAL: Unlike Akie, I have no objection to the double-piano setup. I tend to think of it as akin to the writing found on Perpetual Post-divergent viewpoints on the same theme or idea. And Double Portrait is a glorious example of the form- a true musical marriage, apparent in every track on the album.
HOWARD MEGDAL: For me, a lifelong Patrick Ewing fan, seeing him become a head coach is about unfinished business. I want Patrick Ewing to win an NBA championship. But hearing that Ewing wants to be a head coach himself-well, who would be a better candidate?
JASON CLINKSCALES: The idea of Patrick Ewing as a future head coach may not be strange to those far removed from his heyday with the New York Knicks. However, but for those who followed his Hall of Fame career up close, it’ll take some eye-rubbing.
AKIE BERMISS: Privacy is not dead! Not by any means — to say so is to cry fire in a crowded theater. You see, the trouble is privacy COULD be dead at any moment. It takes only a few ideal conditions to be met and few of the wrong kinds of people to be at the helm when they do and suddenly: there’s no such thing as privacy. These days its not that privacy is dead, not even that its really become so much of a privilege either (for those who would argue that the wealthy and powerful are the only ones who can afford to maintain privacy) — but rather its become a responsibility. And for us here in America, that’s a new thing.
HOWARD MEGDAL: Don’t get me wrong: as pitchers you can acquire for two-and-a-half months go, Cliff Lee is about the best there is. But the Rangers paid too much for a rental, and saved the Yankees from paying way too much for a rental.
CHRIS PUMMER: Six year’s from now, the Mariners’ side of the ledger might seem lopsided, but unless Lee gets hurt between now and November, it won’t be. Not only will the Rangers have taken their best shot at winning a World Series, but the team should go right back to building more long-term player value, starting by collecting the draft pick compensation they’ll receive should Lee leave for another team.
That’s part of the balancing act that most teams must complete if they’re going to win a title. And it’s why both sides look like winners in this trade.
HOWARD MEGDAL: The New York Times rundown of the Financial Reform bill talks about the political risks associated with the bill, lumping it in with health care reform.
Don’t you believe it. The only ones hurt by this bill are the malefactors of great wealth on Wall Street (note: this is not everyone on Wall Street or close to it, to be clear), and this is a political winner.
JESSICA BADER While I mostly agree with Howard on the political impact of the bill (John Boehner’s call for repeal is the sort of thing that makes political sense only if one defines the GOP’s goal as “making Robert Gibbs look silly for stating that Republicans have a chance of winning the House of Representatives”), what interests me most is where progressives go from here, both on this bill and other elements of the Obama agenda.
HOWARD MEGDAL: There’s something about both soccer and the Internet that encourages people to strongly express a disliking, rather than simply ignoring it.
And I think that colored much of the overall World Cup experience here, which was a very strong one, on balance.
While many will point to the strong U.S. showing, allow me to point to another possible reason: the penetration into the marketplace of HDTV.
JASON CLINKSCALES: Recently, I was in Frankfurt, Germany and London, England as part of a MBA student trip. It provided a tremendous opportunity to not only experience the business culture on the other side of the Atlantic, but an even better opportunity to observe these cities during the World Cup. For nearly two weeks, I was witness to what is considered the globe’s biggest party.
Actually, it was a party in Frankfurt. London was a different story, altogether.
HOWARD MEGDAL: When I first heard about 3D TV, I thought it stood a good chance of appearing at the wrong time. People had just gotten used to their HD TVs, and I wasn’t certain that the technology would be good enough, or that there would be a programming impetus for it.
But I can see now- it is just a matter of time until I break down and get one. The prices are already on par with HD TVs, and the programming that is most enhanced by it- sports- is what I watch a large percentage of the time.
JASON CLINKSCALES: 3D TV may be an absolutely brilliant innovation that will hit all of our homes, bars and offices in the coming years. Yet, we’re still getting a hold on high-definition TV. To make another leap so soon is a lot to ask of the viewing public.