No So Much Me...

"It's not even so much me as it is Roenick.
He's good."
--Trent, "Swingers"

That's my first movie line intro, something that will no doubt resurface a time or two in place of the song lyrics. In this case it's relevant because the object of Trent's affection (and the cause of Sue's suffering and Gretzky's bleeding head) was on our show as a guest host all week and I got to meet him, which was definitely cool. JR isn't that big of a guy, height-wise, but he's so thick and you can see the toughness (and 15 years of scars) in his face. He got to go to the "Dodgeball" premiere last week (I saw it on the Fox lot yesterday--hilarious) and met Vince Vaughn in the lobby after it was screened. He said it was the greatest moment of his career to be included in that movie and when he thanked Vince for doing it, Vince came back with all sorts of excitement about meeting JR, how big a Chicago fan he was and how much he loved Roenick when he played for the 'Hawks. The mutual love was very apparent as JR relayed his tale, funny stuff.
I also was in on a conversation with him in our control room, where he came to visit between segments. He was talking about the South Bay actually--he's been staying in Hermosa with Steve Lyons all week--and the girls he was meeting down there, crazy stuff. One story he mentioned included two girls and way too much detail--needless to say, the entire control room was captivated. Must be crazy being a professional athlete, even a hockey player, a sport that doesn't rank too high on the recognizability list.
Notes on Dodgeball: Yes, Ben Stiller plays essentially the same character in all his movies, but he's still funny. Vince Vaughn is very funny being himself too, understated and the straight man for a lot of Stiller's stupidity. Christine Taylor doesn't work in anything but her husband's movies and I actually think she's getting a little too thin for her own good. She can throw a dodgeball though (a former softball player, which causes the other players to assume she's a lesbian--that's funny). There are several great cameos (unnamed at the moment to preserve their effect) and a whole lot of people getting hit in the groin by dodgeballs (and assorted other items). Don't underestimate the power of the groin shot in filmmaking (Homer Simspon: "...but 'Football in the Groin' has a football in the groin..."). It's definitely worth seeing and will make you laugh far more than Starsky & Hutch did.
Baseball at Fox today, Yankees @ Dodgers and Red Sox @ Giants, both fun games. Out.