Movie review: You don't need to be a trekkie nerd to dig the new Star Trek

Director J.J. Abrams continues his solid run of turning out adventure hits, and when he takes on the impossible task of the Star Wars franchise it should be in good hands.

The man knows how to push a button, as evidenced by the new Star Trek Into Darkness. Abrams may be our generation's Steven Spielberg ... maybe.

The story: Capt. James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) does things his own way, and for the 8,434th time in this franchise he crossed the line and has the Starship Enterprise taken away from his command.

But shortly after his demotion a one-man space terrorist goes after Starfleet, and then goes on the run to the one part of the galaxy that is a no-man's land: Klingonville. 

The bad guy? Why it's Khan, of course. Actor Benedict Cumberbatch is solid as the galaxy's worst bad guy, but there is simply no way he can come close to the brilliant and memorable turn that Ricardo Montalban had as the original Khan in the second Star Trek movie.

Kirk has to befriend Khan, who needs his help to save his dead crew, but that goes wrong because there is an additional unsuspecting bad guy and then all hell breaks loose for lots of cool special effects.

The people: Pine has done a nice job of remaking the character made famous by William Shatner; he does not try to do Shatner's over-the-top shtick. The best of the bunch is Zachary Quinto as Spock. He is perfect. Simon Pegg is wonderful as Scotty. This cast has done a nice job of reprising these famous roles.
Khan is good, just try not to compare him to the original Khan.

Action scenes: Plenty. Pretty much from the opening sequence to the end this movie is loaded with space adventure stuff. Lots of explosions, and the new Bad Ship Enterprise that Khan operates can do a lot of damage. Abrams can do a chase/explosion/fight with the best.

Eye candy: Zoe Saldana is back as Lt. Uhura, but the object of everyone's affection is Alice Eve, who plays a new space assistant for the Enterprise.

Homages to the original: The end of this new Star Trek has similar shout out to the end of the second movie. There is the obligatory, "KHAN!" And there is a neat cameo made by Leonard Nimoy, too, who speaks of his original battle with the original Khan.

Look for a Star Wars scene: It's quick, but if you'll look hard enough Kirk pilots a small ship through a narrow space that looks very similar to the Millenium Falcon in Return of the Jedi (My God, I have to get out more).

Should you see it: Yes. It's a giant summer popcorn movie that fans of the original series and sci-fci adventure movie goers will enjoy. It's not Hamlet, but it's a good summer flick.

 

 

 

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Yu + 130 pitches = certain death

ARLINGTON, Texas - Yu Darvish's brilliant start to his Major League Baseball career ended on Thursday, May 16 when he threw 130 pitches. The Texas Rangers cemented themselves as a team that will never win a World Series as a result.

At a minimum, Yu's career will be cut short by two seasons because of his 130-pitch outing against the Detroit Tigers, and the Texas Rangers will not win the 2013 American League West. That is more reasonable.

For the love of God, enough of this pitch-count madness. This has totally gotten out of hand with the panic-attack, number nerds equating Yu's 130 pitches meaning he will suffer the same fate as Mark Prior and Johan Santana, both guys who suffered major arm injuries.

Sometimes guys get hurt. The Washington Nationals treated Stephen Strasburg's arm like an infant and they still couldn't avoid an arm injury. 

Somtimes guys don't get hurt.

There are just some guys for whom the numbers do not apply, and Yu may be one of those in the same category as David Cone, Nolan Ryan, and others who could just go forever.

"Yu is a stud," Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington said after Yu defeated the Tigers.

Yu is only 26, is a big man, and appears to be committed to conditioning. He looks like he is at the top of the food chain. Some guys just don't get hurt no matter how much they throw.

The last time a Rangers pitcher went this long was R.A. Dickey in early 2004 when he threw 131 pitches. Manager Buck Showalter was desperately trying to get Dickey a complete game, and Dickey was not the same after that night.

The reason he wasn't the same after that game wasn't because of a pitch count. It was because he was R.A. Dickey, before he learned the career-saving knuckleball.

The pitch count craze began in earnest in the late '80s and early '90s as a medical device to possibly find a link with arm injuries, or poor production. The clicker counter changed the entire culture of the sport to the point where managers are closely watched for how they watch a pitcher's pitch count.

Washington was knocked for leaving Yu in a game that was well in hand in the eighth inning. Leave the man alone. Yu was fine, and said after the game he had plenty of gas left in the tank and he wanted to stay out.

"I averaged 120 pitches per game in Japan," he said.

It will get to a point where we will follow a pitcher's warmup throws before the game, pitches between innings, times he exerts his pitching arm during the game to activities up to and including flushing the toilet.

Baseball has become a safe harbor for numbers geeks, which is fine. But it’s still a sport, and not an equation.

"Remember, math is about the past," former major league pitcher, Rangers pitching coach and current ESPN analyst Orel Hershisher told me in a phone interview. "There are so many situations and how everything affects those situations can be everything from was the wind blowing out, was the starter still in or was it a specialist, and on and on in how a guy's average is in 'clutch situations'.

"The mathematician will tell you that those situations will balance out. I'm not sure there are enough events in the world to balance it all out."

I asked Orel what he thought of this pitch count craze, whether it's too much, and if you really can't avoid injury.

"Not every pitch is as strenuous as the last pitch or the next pitch," he said. "There are sometimes 130 pitches can be easier than 60. If you throw one or two pitches with bad mechanics and tweak your back, the wear and tear on your next 30 pitches isn't even close. 

"You said, 'If someone is going to get hurt, they are going to get hurt' - there is some validity to that. But all of these things have validity, too. The weather, the inning, the ballpark, the lineup he is facing, mechanics, all of these things have validity but none of them are the reason."

Sounds like a good reason to panic.

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Dez Bryant is THE MAN on Twitter

Not sure what else to say about this other than Dallas Cowboys WR Dez Bryant ain't playin' on the Twitter thing.

 

This Twitter message has since been removed, but much respect to Dez. 

Twitter is stuffed with keyboard cowards, and Dez - or really anyone - doesn't have to put up with this. So what better way then to hand it back to said fan.

Well played, sir.

 

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A Big Gulp of Gloat on Mitch Moreland

ARLINGTON, Texas - Since this happens as frequenty as an Olympics ... told ya. Mitch Moreland can play.

Nobody thought he could do it! It was him against the world. Nothing but haters for poor Mitch.

Back on April 12, I declared the Texas Rangers had to stick with their young first baseman for a full season and he would produce.

At the time he was batting .194 with eight strikeouts and seven hits. He was Mitch the Meek.

"I knew I was hitting it hard and still seeing pitches and told myself to stick it out," Moreland said after Thursday's win against the Detroit Tigers.

Today he is Mitch the ... (rhymes with Mitch).

Moreland is now batting .296 with 11 doubles, nine home runs and 21 RBIs. He hit a pair of doubles in an 10-4 win against the Detoit Tigers on Thursday night, drove in three runs, and made some nice defensive plays at first.

This means he has adjusted to the adjustments that were made on him, and thus his production has a far greater chance of holding.

"We're trying to stay out of his way and let him work," Rangers manager Ron Washington said after the game.

Moreland says the biggest difference is that he no longer fears for his job. That does wonders for a man's confidence to know that every day he comes to work he will play, and can hit his way out of a slump.

"When I walk in and know that my name is going to be in the lineup every day that helps a lot," Moreland said.

Right now Moreland is projected for 33 homers and 83 RBI. That's a likely bit much for this season, but now the Rangers know this is in him and he can do this. 

They have a first baseman.

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Josh Hamilton has a point about the 'Baseball town' thing

ARLINGTON, Texas - Hate to say this, but Josh Hamilton was not so wrong.

That's not true - I don't hate to say this because I never thought Hamilton was incorrect when he said Arlington was not a "baseball town".

It's a football town with a great baseball team and plenty of good baseball fans. There just aren't enough of them.

These two pictures were taken in the second inning of the highly anticipated game between the Texas Rangers and Detroit Tigers on Thursday night at Rangers Ballpark. More to the point, it featured two first-place teams and the two best starting pitchers in the American League, Yu Darvish and Justin Verlander.

If you can't sell this out, or fill it up, you can't be a Baseball Town.

It can't be "Fireworks Night" every game.

You can't blame the weather - it was mild with a slight breeze and limited humidity. School night? OK, that one always works. Maybe it should have been Free Beer Night.

You can't blame the Rangers. The team is good, the park is wonderful, the guys are pros.

The last time the Rangers hosted a regular season game featuring a pitching matchup this big was April 30, 1989 when Nolan Ryan faced Boston's Roger Clemens. 

That was Ryan's first year with the Rangers, and the game matched the hyped. Ryan pitched eight innings and allowed three hits, one run and whiffed 11. Clemens pitched eight innings, allowed six hits and two runs and struckout six but took the loss.

Rafael Palmeiro hit a two-run home run off Clemens in the bottom of the eighth for a 2-1 win in front of an announced crowd of 40,429 at Arlington Stadium.

On Thursday night, the announced crowd was 39,778.

Neither Verlander nor Yu were dominant. Verlander was awful, allowing eight runs on six hits in 2.2 innings. This is how bad Verlander was - he gave up a three-run home run to catcher Geovany Soto, who was hitting about .167 at the time of his at bat.

Yu was better, pitching into the seventh for another win.

Still a great night at the Ballpark, even in a non-baseball town.

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The devil you know - Doug Free

Dallas Cowboys right tackle Doug Free obviously saw the money on the wall, and rather than stick to his principles he wisely chose the bigger check and elected to take a pay cut to remain with the team.

Basically, he has one year to prove he can play.

The Cowboys preferred to keep him around because they saw improvement from Free late in the '12 season, and it is usually better to keep the guy you know than roll the dice on a veteran free agent you don't.

Neither option guaranteed much more than adequate play.

According to NFL savant Mr. Clarence E. Hill Jr., Free is took a new two-year deal worth $7 million. Only half of this contract is guaranteed, which means the Cowboys are already looking to replace him.

At this price, the Cowboys can rotate Free with Jermey Pernell, such as they did at times last season, without feeling like they are burning money.

As bad as Free was at times last season, there was some feeling he improved in December. That he was a pro, and this was not a case of a player who dogged it. The fear is that he simply was not strong enough to play the position, and his footwork is not adequate.

Expect him to start at right tackle, but do not expect the leash to be long.

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Quote of the day

Dr. Christmas Jones: Doctor Jones. Christmas Jones, and don't tell me any jokes, I've heard them all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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With The Nelson leaving Irving does Tiger return?

Now that Byron Nelson and Ben Hogan are no longer with us, Tiger Woods no longer has any reason to come to Texas to fake his way through a couple of tournaments he never wanted to play.

The most celebrated/interesting golfer in the world hasn't played one of the four major PGA tournaments in Texas - San Antonio, Houston, Fort Worth or Irving - since he missed the cut at the EDS Byron Nelson tournament in May of 2005.

Mr. Nelson died in September of 2006, and the tournament that bears his name has not been the same since. The same thing happened to Colonial after Ben Hogan died.

Perhaps Tiger will return to The Nelson now that the tournament has officially announced it will leave for the Trinity Forest Golf Course, beginning in 2019.

(Above is a picture of a lactating-Tiger relaxing on a yacht with his new GF, Linday Vonn.)

By the time Trinity Forest hosts its first PGA event, Tiger will be 43. Maybe his attitude about playing in the great state a Texas will have softened. Maybe. Possibly.

Tiger may behave like a boorish, bullying rear-end, but he does make golf more interesting. He is simply impossible not to watch.

By the time he is 43 he could have just about every major PGA record that ever existed, and more money than he could set fire to, so the the drive to play the Nelson again is a long shot.

But since he is not coming to San Antonio, Houston or Fort Worth, the new location for the Nelson may be Texas' only chance to see Tiger again.

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What do YOU want to ask Orel Hershiser?

Never done this before and it may be a total flop but ...

I am scheduled to talk to former Los Angeles Dodger pitcher and ex-Texas Rangers pitching coach Orel Hershiser on Thursday. He is now working for ESPN and will be in town to help call the Rangers - Detroit Tigers game on Sunday night at Rangers Ballpark.

Hershiser is one of the brighter and more well spoken men in professional sports I have ever come across.

If YOU have a question for Orel, please pass it along in the comment section here, or email me at tengel@star-telegram.com, or the Twitter thing or Facebook. 
I gotta get on MySpace. 

Just please be tasteful.

 

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And it continues: Gary Patterson suspends Devonte Fields for 2 games

In a little more than a year a program that routinely had been devoid of any and all embarrassing situations off the field has now racked up a list that would make the Miami Hurricanes say, "Nice work."

TCU head coach Gary Patterson has suspended Big 12 defensive player of the year Devonte Fields for the first two games of the 2013 season for a violation of university and team policy.

This is another reminder to never, ever boast, "We win the right way". In college football, there is no right way. There is merely doing the best you can and praying your kids don't get stupid. Or get caught.

Whatever Fields did it must have been a real winner to force GP to drop this hammer on the best defensive player in the Big 12. Quarterback Casey Pachall had a pretty impressive list and he was not suspended for a second until the administration had no choice but to take action last fall.

Fields will miss the season opener against LSU at Cowboys Stadium, and the following game against Southeastern Louisiana; TCU, welcome to 1-1.

Devonte Fields is the best player on this team. A sophomore out of Arlington Martin, Fields started all 13 games as a true freshman and was voted the Big 12 defensive freshman of the year, defensive player of the year and defensive newcomer of the year. 

He led the team with 18.5 tackles for a loss and 10 sacks, the fourth most in school history.

Whatever Fields did, this does not look good and it will not play well in the national media.

First it was the arrests of four football players for selling weed in February of '12. All four players were kicked off the team, and in due time the amount of publicity didn't quite measure up to the crime. But selling is selling, and the school had no choice.

Then it was the whole Pachall situation, that was not pretty, and eventually cost his team a shot at nine or 10 wins in 2012.

Now it's Devonte Fields, whose suspension will surely cost his team any shot at defeating a power such as LSU.

The season hasn't even started and already TCU is 0-1.

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