Few Random Thoughts

I haven't had the chance to post since Andrew took off for the land down under so I figured I'd post a few random thoughts:

-I managed to catch the premiere of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon last night. All I can say if future shows are anything like last night's show, a lot of us will be choosing to get an extra hour of sleep every night. Fallon looked nervous the whole night and the show was filled is puzzling gags, such as calling audience members down to the stage and paying them 10 dollars to lick randomly chosen objects. His guests, particularly Robert De Niro, did little to make Fallon feel comfortable with his style. However, the show may not be a lost cause. Fallon's house band, The Roots, did a great job providing energizing soundtrack for the show. The show featured two high profile guests last night (De Niro and Justin Timerlake, who may very well have entertained the crowd better than Fallon himself), along with a musical performance from the brilliant Van Morrison. The show will continue to feature such guests, as Jon Bon Jovi, Cameron Diaz, Donald Trump, and Tina Fey are all scheduled to appear this week.

-The WBC teams kick off their exhibition schedule today. Several MLB clubs will be hosting WBC teams for exhibtion matchups, thus creating a situation where certain players will be scheduled to play against their own teams. The New York Yankees will host Team USA, as Derek Jeter takes on his teammates for an afternoon of baseball. While I'm sure some of Jeter's Yankee teammates will get chuckle out of the experience, I can only imagine the disasterous scenarios that must be going through the heads of Yankee executives and coaches. Executives and coaches throughout the league are already concerned that player participation in the WBC creates the risk for unneeded injury to their teams' players who are participating in the event. Could you imagine if a player actually got injured by playing against his own team or vice versa?
While Jeter will face his own MLB club, Albert Pujols has chosen not to partake in today's exhibition matchup, as Team Dominican Republic will face off against Pujols' St. Louis Cardinals. Pujols, the 2008 NL MVP, stated that "It's all about respect. I don't want to play against them. I don't feel comfortable with it, and that's it."