British Baseball

Outsiders are attempting to plunder the origins of our national pasttime. British historians have apparently uncovered a diary entry from 1755 that uses the term baseball to describe a game played by British lawyer William Bray and some of his friends. The entry reads:

"Went to Stoke Ch. This morning. After Dinner Went to Miss Jeale's to play at Base Ball with her, the 3 Miss Whiteheads, Miss Billinghurst, Miss Molly Flutter, Mr. Chandler, Mr. Ford & H. Parsons & Jelly. Drank Tea and stayed till 8."

Observation No. 1: Women were playing baseball. Observation No. 2: Who the hell is this Jelly dude, and who did he have to piss off to be known as "Jelly" when everyone else gets a proper salutation of Mr. or Miss before their name? Observation No. 3: There is nothing in the entry that absolutely describes the game "Base Ball" in here, thereby offering no real proof that baseball was first played in England.

Maybe Base Ball was Bray's secret nickname for his attempts to "round the bases" with one of the many Misses on the list. Or maybe with Jelly ...

TV and Tunes

Just got around to watching the premiere of HBO's "True Blood," a new series by Alan Ball, creator of "Six Feet Under." The show is based on an alternative reality (we hope) where vampires have come "out of the coffin" and live openly among humans, feeding themselves on a synthetic blood substitute instead of us ... which is nice of them.

It's a really interesting premise and provides a revolutionary way to discuss preconceptions, prejudices, stereotypes and humanity's dark and light side. Anna Paquin stars as your run of the mill beautiful Louisiana waitress who leads an apparently unexciting life and also has the ability to read minds. (What, you can't?)

Everything's boring and peaceful until she meets her first vampire (Peter Moyer) and her brother accidentally kills a woman after watching Vam-porn. I think I read about that in the New York Post yesterday. Anyway, the show is thoughtful and exciting and I'll definitely be tuned in for the rest of the series.

I'm not sure how I feel about Paquin (and in turn the audience) being able to hear every character's thoughts. On one hand, it's a creative way to explore human prejudices and exposes an otherwise unavailable dimension to some of these characters. On the other hand, now there are no secrets and we will always know what's up someone's sleeve. I guess I'm okay with it, so long as they stay consistent and Paquin always behaves like she knows peoples' thoughts and it doesn't just crop up when it's convenient to the writers.

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Speaking of spooky debuts ... J.J. Abrams' new show "Fringe" aired Tuesday and only nine million or so people tuned it. Ouch. Those are not good numbers for a prime time show on a big network. The Wash Post's Lisa de Moraes takes an amusing look at it here.

The show itself is entertaining, but I didn't get the same feeling of immediate addiction like I did with "Lost" or "House." I like the premise, but the execution seemed a little lacking. The dialogue felt a little thin, the cool fringe-science procedures were glossed over without any detail and I hated the relationship between lead Anna Torv and her FBI partner. I'm also getting a little tired of the immense conspiracies with bottomless pits of money and resources to battle our intrepid heroes.

To its credit, it held my interest for an hour-thirty, but I'm wondering if it will hold me through the season finale. Of course, if more people don't start watching, the latter challenge may become considerably easier.

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Picked up the new Joshua Radin album today. A friend of mine introduced me to his music a few years ago and I later profiled him for "Press Pass." I like his sound, but after 10 tracks of near-whispered vocals and softly strummed chords, I was hoping for more variety on his second album. Fortunately he delivered. Radin turns up the volume of his vocals on this release, Simple Times, and mixes in some poppier arrangements to his coffee-shop singer-songwriter routine. Definitely worth picking up.

A Lambeau-tiful Monday Night

Aaron Rodgers assumed the mantle of Green Bay quarterback last night, ending most doubts about his abilities and the purge of Brett Favre with a 24-19 win over Minnesota on Monday night. I'm very happy for Rodgers, whom the crowd supported throughout the game. Minnesota's defense is among the league's best, but Rodgers handled the Vikings in stride. I wish I could say this puts an end to the "did the Packers make the right move?" question, but I'm certain it will crop up again when Rodgers has his first bad game. There are too many media types in the tank for Favre for it not too.

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Knees seem to be the big losers so far this NFL season: Tom Brady, Osi Umenyiora and Nate Burleson are all out for the season with knee injuries. Shawn Merriman should be out for the season, but he's too bent on winning a Super Bowl to realize his knee needs massive surgery.

Others fitting squarely in the "loser" category this weekend: The Bengals — Maybe they should have worried more about their offensive scheme than whether or not they should let an underperforming, injured wide receiver change the name on his uniform to "Ocho Cinco."

The Rams — That rebuilt pass rush didn't seem to trouble Eagles QB Donovan McNabb too much in the Eagles 38-3 smackdown.

The Lions — If you lose to the Falcons this season, who are you supposed to beat?

Pac-10 officials — The rule says you can't throw the ball "high in the air" in celebration and the Washington QB did so. It's a dumb rule. He threw the ball in the air. He didn't breakdance in the end zone and pretend to moon the opposition. Alas, a rule is a rule ... and it cost the Huskies the game against BYU after their PAT was blocked because it was 15-yards further away.

The Yankees — Say goodnight. Wish I could say they gave the playoffs a good run. But they didn't. Injuries didn't help, but the lineup is too good to be this bad.

The Rays — Those footsteps they're hearing from behind? They're going to feel them any minute now. Especially after dropping four in a row and six of their last 10.

Notre Dame — Yeah. I know they won. Over San Diego State. By only eight points. Over San Diego State. For those who don't know, San Diego State gave up 483 yards of total offense in a season-opening loss to Cal Poly ... a D-IAA school. Touchdown Jesus may want to close his eyes for the next few home games in the Irish can't get themselves straightened out.

And because I don't like ending on sour notes ... a few winners as well.

Donovan McNabb — He still doesn't have a No. 1 receiver. In fact his top two are hurt right now. All he does is dice up the Rams. Sorry, Rush, this guy's pretty good.

East Carolina — Virginia Tech? Beaten. West Virginia? Beaten. Chances that UVA will prevent the Purple Pirates from gaining the Virginia trifecta? Zero.

Brady's BooBoo

Trent Dilfer reported on ESPN News tonight that Tom Brady will be out for the remainder of the year following a knee injury suffered in the Patriots' season opener today. Most other news outlets, including ESPN.com, are mum on his season status for now, but Dilfer broke the story (or the inaccuracy) after speaking on the phone with an anonymous Pats player who told him that Matt Cassel would be New England's quarterback for the remainder of the season.

Tough blow for the Pats if this proves true. It's bad luck for Brady, but it's hard to feel too bad for a guy who will now spend the season being nursed back to health by the most attractive bedside attendant ever -- Gisele Bundchen (shown here). Conventional wisdom says that New England's Super Bowl aspirations are blown with Brady's knee, but Brady himself was an in-season replacement himself ... and all he did was win three rings.

Of course there's still the chance that the report could be erroneous. In two ways actually. Yes, Brady could be healthy and return, though my gut tells me he's done. His injury looked very similar to the same blow that made Bengals QB Carson Palmer miss a year of his career. But there's also the possibility that Cassel will not be the QB for the rest of the season. With that in mind, let me be the first (that I know of) to float this baseless, but logical, rumor. Paging Daunte Culpepper.

Yeah, Culpepper stepped away and "retired" from the game a few days ago, whining all the way home that no one gave him a "fair" opportunity to land a job. But, Culpepper is the only quarterback who has clicked with Randy Moss as well as Tom Brady did last season. He's available, he's experienced and he is dying for a chance to prove himself on a big stage. (He repeatedly turned down offers to be a back up this summer). It could be a match. It could be nothing Bill Belichick would ever consider. At the very least, it's good fodder for water cooler discussion.

More breakdown on Sunday's games and more tomorrow.

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday

It's the first Sunday of pro football in the 2008 season and I'll be working. Sigh. Good thing I have a TV on my desk these days.

I'll be back tonight with some more substantial updates. In the meantime, check out this week's Splinters in the FCNP and Press Pass with Matthew Ryan, one of my favorite songwriters.

And for those in the District, check out Dr. Z's assessment of Jim Zorn's debut as Head Coach. Pretty spot on in my view.