Who’s on First....

Or up to bat for that matter? Last night I subjugated myself to a few innings of the Taco Bell All-Star Legends & Celebrity Softball Game that ran, on delay, last night on ESPN. Instead of getting the opportunity to watch current and soon-to-be Hall of Famers as well as celebrities swing the aluminum around, what I got was the Kenny Mayne show. Drop the act Kenny! It’s just like Saturday Night Live, no longer funny. After one pitch, he calls time and trots in from left field to replace his pitcher (Hall of Fame pitcher and former NY Yankee Goose Gossage).

Further adding to my pain, agony, and suffering was the usually reliable broadcast team of Gary Thorn and Rick Sutclife. It seems like they couldn’t get over themselves and actually took the time to “analyze” Mayne’s managerial prowess and compared it to the managerial tact of his opponent, George Lopez. Yes, the same George Lopez from the ABC show of the same name. I would have preferred it if they could pull themselves away from this deep thoughtful comparison to...oh say...tell me who’s at BAT! Hell I’d even settle for finding out why certain celebrities were there.

When did TV “correspondents” Maria Menounos and AJ Calloway become celebrities? Oh yeah, Calloway works for Extra and Menounos is simply eye candy. Wait....back up. I didn’t know the demographics who will tune into ESPN at 11pm at night on a Monday are the same folks who drool over which celeb is preggers or who has the worst looking butt fat which seem to be Extra’s prime targets. Let’s put it this way....you’re not going to see a lot of crossover on that Venn Diagram.

There were some celebs with New York connections which was important considering the game was held at Yankee Stadium, but Billy Baldwin?! I’m sorry was Ed Koch not available to play centerfield? Also for the record Chris Rock (who has more then enough NY Cred) needs to eat some more....the boy looks like he’s smoking the cracked rock again. Perhaps some better choices were in line here. Could the folks over at Taco Bell put down the chulupas for a few minutes and gotten Mike and the Mad Dog instead of The Two Stooges (Mike and Mike’s Greenberg and Golic) who felt the need to taunt each other using the stadium’s PA system. How about getting Jay-Z, Nas or Rev. Run out to help the game’s “street cred”? They could help a lot more then the hearing impaired demographic that Marlee Matlin attracts. Just saying...not that she can hear me or nothin'.

Was that a little cold?