Stand up comedy, Bass fishing, and Betemee

I was going about my day yesterday at work, killing time by looking at CNN.com. There were the usual top headlines, "More people dead in the Middle East as the world stands by and does nothing" and the like, when something caught my eye: Lance Bass is gay. This news hit me like a ton of bricks and threw me off the rest of the day. My favorite part (it's so hard to pick just one) is when he just happens to be making a TV pilot with Joey Fatone (!!!!) based on "The Odd Couple" with one character being gay. Hmmm, how convenient. Former boy band member, failed astronaut, wannabe actor fake coming out of the closet to get some pub. for his pilot. Lance Bass, ladies and gentlemen! Keep it up, I can't get enough of this story.

Other Ramblings....

* Last Comic Standing - This is a decent summer reality show, and it's hosted by that guy who was in Boston Commons and now on a soul-sucking CBS sitcom. I like the premise of LCS and find stand-up comedy fascinating, but the mandatory standing ovations need to go. Is it to make the contestants (down to the final 4 now) look better? It's too much of an overreaction to give these people a standing O unless they really tear the roof off that motha.

Another case of overreaction is the Cerebral Palsy Guy (CPG). Okay, I get it, he's handicapped, overcoming obstacles, blah blah blah. But to paraphrase Kathy Griffin, he might be playing up the palsy. He's obviously talented, but is he really better than the other guy with crazy hair?

* Wilson Betemit - It all started innocently enough last Sunday during the ESPN telecast of the Braves-Phillies game when Jon Miller started pronouncing Wilson Betemit's name "Betemee'", the apparently correct way to say Betemit's name (Okay, the correct way. We've been ignoring the correct Spanish pronounciation of "i" this whole time.). Jon Miller is usually a stickler with pronouncing the Hispanic players' names correctly, so this is of no surprise. HOWEVA (thanks Stephan A.), Betemit's been with the Braves his entire career, and no one has ever said his name Betemee. Thanks for confusing the hell out of everyone. I can't even read "Betemit" anymore without trying to figuring out how it's supposed to be said. Remember, Wilson, on the first day of class, you're supposed to let the teacher know how to say your name.

On a side note, if you read this John Schuerholz, don't trade Betemee to the Yankees unless we can get A-Rod. Make it happen, John, and I'll forget that your bullpen strategy of not spending any money has finally caught up with you.