I am a John Wayne fan - there, I said it. Apparently, while John Wayne is still one of the most popular actors in the US, people with my background and political leanings are not supposed to be down with the Duke. But I can still remember being absolutely blown away by two movies - True Grit and The Searchers. I loved how both had incredibly dark tones, and while they adhered to the classic Hollywood style of "happy" endings, it wasn't a neat tied up bow by any means. But John Wayne was it for me - a role model of machismo of sorts, even though politically we would have never seen eye to eye.

So it was with a lot of skepticism that I read the news awhile back that a remake of True Grit was in the works. I have nothing against remakes per se, but what bothers me is the recent spate of them that seems to have an undertone of "we can do it better" - like Oceans Eleven. Visually better, maybe. But please - there is no way it (or any of the crappy sequels it spawned) are better than the original made with Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack on a lark.The first thing we do is kick the crap out of Clooney, Damon, Mac, Pitt, and that pipsqueak Soderbergh

These thoughts aside, when I found out that the Coen Brothers were doing it, I saw hope. Not just because they are great filmmakers, but I also thought that if they did it they would respect the original and simultaneously bring out even more of the darkness in the 1968 novel on which True Grit was originally adapted. The next thing to make me less upset was the casting of Jeff Bridges as Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn. Bridges has long been a favorite of mine since his portrayal of "The Dude" in 1998's The Big Lebowski. But coming off of his Oscar-winning performance in Crazy Heart, and watching him age, I could sort of see it, and post production stills convinced me the Coens got it right, casting-wise at least.


But what truly sold me was when I began seeing the trailers for it, and it warmed the cockles of my heart that, in the trailers at least, they kept the scene where Moon begs Cogburn to help him and Cogburn matter-of-factly tells him "I can't do nothing for you son" But the one that did it was this one:




Now, I'm totally sold and can't wait - I'll be going this weekend.

Rickey Henderson and Hall of Fame caliber morons

Apparently Corky Simpson "forgot." For those unaware, Corky Simpson, formerly of the Tucson Citizen (retired) decided not to vote for Rickey Henderson for the Hall of Fame. Forget about Henderson's 1,406 stolen bases; 3,055 hits; .401 on base percentage; major league-record 2,295 runs scored, or 297 career homeruns, from the lead off spot. What makes Corky's decision ludicrous is the comments he's made. A blogger who runs the site http://www.rickeyhendersoncollectibles.com/ emailed Corky who replied essentially he forgot, but then justified it with this absurd validation:

"Some day some historian will attempt to find out why 11 voters failed to give Babe Ruth unanimity when he was elected to the Hall of Fame. In that same class of '36, Ty Cobb missed unanimity by four votes, Honus Wagner 11, Walter Johnson 37 and Christy Mathewson 23. Why did Willie Mays miss by 23, Mickey Mantle 43, Jackie Robinson 36 and Cal Ripken Jr. by eight?

When I was a kid, there were three giants who walked the earth: Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams and Stan Musial. None made it to the Hall of Fame unanimously. Joe missed by 28 votes, Ted Williams by 20 and Musial 23."

In short, Corky didn't forget, he hewed to a tired line that no one deserves to be a unanimous selection. This morning, in his column on MLB.com, Hal Bodley got it exactly right: "If a Major Leaguer is a Hall of Famer, he's a Hall of Famer. Period." Exactly - period.

If Simpson is to be believed (i.e. we accept that he forgot) then he FORGOT (!) simply the greatest lead-off hitter in baseball history - period. If true, then Corky does not deserve the privilege of being a caretaker of baseball's history. But if it was as his explanation suggests, then what Corky did was far worse than Bill Conlin's omission of Nolan Ryan in 1998. Conlin, you may remember, left Nolan Ryan off of his ballot for inclusion in the class of 2009 because Conlin believed that if he needed a pitcher to win one game, Ryan would not be it. Conlin was roundly, and justifiably, criticized. But at least Conlin's rationale was performance based. Wrong-headed, stubborn, probably not a rationale that anyone else would have used, but at least performance-based.

Corky's reasoning goes "Rickey's a hall of famer; I know it; and I don't care, I'm not voting for him. And that makes Corky Simpson a Hall of Fame-caliber moron.

The regualr season is over - when does training camp start?

Well, the 2008 NFL regular season is now over, and I'm a little disappointed. None of my teams made it to the playoffs - I live in Houston, so I am a Texans fan, but given that I used to live in New Jersey and idolized Joe Namath I'm also a big Jets fan. My Dad is/was a Bengals fan, so I am almost by default a Bengals fan too. Although my teams didn't reach the promised land this year, I had a lot of fun watching this season. In no particular order, my favorite stories of the year.

• Kurt Warner's resurgence as a starter in the league. When preseason started I thought it laughable that Warner was (in his way) complaining about not starting. Of course Matt Leinart did everything he could to throw his career away, and Warner played his ass off in camp. The Cardinals (even though beneficiaries of playing in the weak NFC west) sewed up their division early and Warner is a bonafide MVP candidate, again. Warner threw for 4,583 yards and 30 TDs (with 14 INTs), easily his best year since 2001 (although last year in 11 games he was damned good too). And while history will show Drew Brees threw for more yards, Brees had 37 more attempts (a full game's worth more). since Warner threw for 472 against the Jets, I wouldn't have bet against him getting to 5,000 with as many attempts.
• The Texans season. I know, 8-8 just like last year. But consider that the Texans finished 3rd (that's right, 3rd) in total offense, went 6-2 at home this season, and after that disastrous but incredibly misleading 0-4 start, the Texans were on fire, and the team no one wanted to play. To return to the misleading start, the Texans first two games were against the Steelers and Titans, two teams with first round byes in the playoffs. The next two losses were last minute losses to the Jags (courtesy of the defense) and to the Colts (courtesy of Sage Rosenfels' inability to understand that keeping the clock moving is more important than doing a helicopter impersonation). With Andre Johnson hitting his prime (leading the league in receptions and receiving yards) and Matt Shaub finding his groove (his stats over the course of a full season translated to 4000+yards and 27 TDs) the Texans should undoubtedly be in the playoffs next year.
  
• Aaron Rodgers. I'm sorry let me say it correctly - Aaron Freakin' Rodgers. At the start of the season everyone worried about Rodgers and the pressure - well, I think he answered all of the questions with a resounding "I AM READY NOW." It's too easy to compare his season to Diva Favre, but just for fun:
  Rodgers: 4,038 YDS, 28 TDs, 13 INT, 93.8 rating (4th QB overall)
  Diva: 3,472 yds, 22 TDs, 22 INTs, 81 rating (11th QB overall)
  What's more impressive is that Rodgers' stats represented no dropoff from the Diva's 2007 season (4,155, 28 TDs, 15 INTs, 95.8 rating) and were MILES ahead of Favre's first season as a starter. Maybe the Packers could have handled Diva's departure better (although, I don't know - guy says "I'm retiring" team says "Awesome, let's honor you and your contributions AND RETIRE YOUR NUMBER at the first home game" seems pretty good to me), but what no one can question ever again is Aaron Rodgers, the case is closed.
• The Miami Dolphins season. From the moment the Dolphins hired Bill Parcells one had to know they would improve. But anyone who said they thought the Dolphins would win 11 games and their division is lying (Jamal Anderson, former Atlanta Falcons RB claimed on ESPN's "Mike and Mike" that he predicted a 10-win season, but Jamal also said that even though he doesn't lift the way he did when he played he could still bench press 400 pounds). Parcells, as well as Tony Sparano gutted that team, remade it (getting rid of their own diva) and instilled an attitude. The coup d'gras as far as I'm concerned, was getting Chad Pennington, ignominiously released by the Jets in favor of the Diva. Not only did Chad have a better season (3,653 yds, 19 TDs, 7 INTs, 97.4 rating) but in crunch time, it wasn't Chad slinging the ball all over the place and throwing 3 interceptions - that was the Diva doing that. Thanks a lot Diva - but congrats to Chad.