New Show: The Mentalist

The Mentalist is off to a pretty good start. The set-up is: after a psychic charlatan's wife and child are murdered by a serial killer the charlatan had taunted on TV, Patrick Jane gave up his claim to what may or may not have been true psychic abilities, to use his acute powers of observation to help the California Department of Investigation. Simon Baker plays Jane, and some criminally underused actors like Amanda Righetti, Tim Kang and Robin Tunney fill out a great cast of regulars.

"So," you're saying, "another quirky detective on the loose? Don't we already have House, Monk, Bones and Charlie Crews of Life quirking it up all over the dial?" And I say, "So what?" Great characters have always made great shows and The Mentalist is showing some signs of having those memorable characters we've always been willing to go back to again and again. And this quirky subgenre of the police procedural beats the snot out of reality TV that is also doing whatever it is it does all over the dial.

The Mentalist does have a time conflict with the new show Fringe, but the episodes are also all available at CBS.com and you should really give it a look. Check it out here: http://www.cbs.com/primetime/the_mentalist/

Gunga Din Alert!

And we're back! Thanks for all of your patience for the months we were blocked! The good folks here got around to investigating and clearing the blog! Anyway, Gunga Din is on TCM at 10:30 PST which is 1:30 EST, catch it if you're up. It remains one of the greatest action flicks ever made, and the comaraderie among the three leads has been often aped but never surpassed. Check it out!

Cash Stays King

Newsday is reporting that Brian Cashman has agreed to return as Yankee GM for another 3 year deal. Clearly, making a three year deal instead of a four or five year deal offers some flexibility to the Yanks and Cash. It's was necessary to get this done now, as the Yanks have a lot of decisions to make before the free agency opens. They have to rebuild their rotation, their line-up and their bench. On the major league team, only the bullpen is fine. Further, the Yanks have decisions to keep or offer arbitration to Abreu, Giambi, Mussina, Pettitte, and others. It would be great to come out of those decisions with some picks rather than one more year of defensively useless vets. Then, the Yanks must figure out their free agent and trade targets and what they're willing to give for them. Beyond that, the Yanks need to keep improving the coaching and scouting up and down the system. Within that will come the responsibility to find a new leader and add some new scouts for the Dominican operation. Changes are afoot, but with Cash back and unlimited funds, most of them should be for the better. Go Yanks!

Phew!

It took the Giants 5 quarters, but Eli hit two long, perfect passes under pressure to Plax then Toomer to set up Carney's game winner. 26-23 and we'll take it. The Bengals played their hearts out, while the Giants seemed to have some gameplanning issues. It all worked out in the end, though and the Giants move to 3-0 as they head into their bye. They have a lot of stuff to clean up while they are off. Go Giants!

Miranda, Sanchez and Cervelli Debut!

Juan Miranda was 0-2 with 2 walks, Humberto Sanchez got a K and two ground ball outs in his inning of work, and Francisco Cervelli caught the 8th and 9th without getting an ab as all three made their big league debuts in the Yanks meaningless 9-2 annhilation of the White Sox. It will be sad to say goodbye to the Stadium on Sunday, but beyond that, all that is left for us to do, is see how close some of the kids are. All three kids looked good tonight. Go Farm!

Rangers Open Camp!

Today marks the opening of the first camp of the post-Jagr era for the Rangers. Zherdev, Redden, Naslund and the rest of the new Rangers will start seeing where and how they fit, if indeed they do fit. A new captain will be named. Hank will continue rehabbing his knee and the coaches will hopefully sort out the correct line combos and defensive pairings. It's a big hope. Cherepanov will not be there, but most of the other young kids like Anisimov, Sanguinetti and Del Zotto should be there. Let's hope this works. Go Rangers.

Giants Tuck Up The Rams!

Eli threw for 3 TD's, Bradshaw scored twice, and Justin Tuck had an amazing int that he ran back for a score in the Giants 41-13 dismantling of the Rams. It wasn't even that close. The Rams 13 points came on 2 54 yard fieldgoals and a "touchdown" that would not have stood up to a review had coach Coughlin asked for one. Penalties and route running issues kept the Giants from scoring more. Still, they were physically dominant, really cleaned up their kick and punt coverage since last week, and continued to show improved secondary play. Fast Freddie Robbins added two of the Giants 6 sacks, and Jacobs, Ward and Bradshaw all shined. The Giants took a patient approach and it worked perfectly. Great game all around. Go Giants!

Zach for Darko and Others?

The hot rumor going around is that the Knicks are about to aquire star crossed Euro Center Darko Milicic and others from Memphis for Zach Randolph. Obviously, they will only make the deal if the cap implications are what they are looking for, other than that, the devil will be in the details and extra pieces. From what we know so far, Darko is a better fit for Coach D'Antoni's system, and brings better shotblocking than Randolph or Curry. He'll be in the rotation but probably won't start. He's only 23 so age is on his side. Still, it will depend on what else is in the deal, cause like him or not, Zach's a 20/10 guy, and those are good to collect. Go Knicks!

Just Won, Baby...

The Giants began the defense of their title with a sloppily played 16-7 victory over the Washington Redskins. Early on it looked like the Giants would blow them out, but the O got sort of bogged down and and the Redskins scored a touchdown virtue of poor kick coverage and a really bad call. Otherwise they couldn't really move the ball at all on Tuck and the gang. It was nice to see, but the O was tough. Both Plax and Jacobs had 100+ yards, but we ended up with 1 TD (Eli rush) and 3 FG's. Weird. But a big win, and there will be improvements made as the year rolls along. 1-0! Go Giants!

Plax Gets Paid

Plax did indeed sign his new deal before the regular season began. It's a 5 year deal worth 35M, with 11M guaranteed and all payable this year. This is a reasonable deal for both Plax and the Giants and a symbol to all Giants that if you give it your all you will get paid. Jacobs will probably be next, and then Eli. Go Giants!

Giants Are Back

The Giants kickoff the defense of their title tonight at the Meadowlands. Tonight's opponent is the Washington Redskins. The Skins have a new coach and new coordinators but the Giants owe them a whoopin' and I wouldn't be surprised to see one later. Outside of kicker, the Giants are pretty healthy for this one, knock wood, and I don't see Washington being able to stop them with healthy WR's, RB's and OL's. They'll try to come after Eli, but the Giants love it when you blitz. On defense, Terrell Thomas is out, but everyone else who's not on IR is ready to rock. Year to of Spags' scheme should be even better. We'll see. Enjoy the game!