A Weekend of Endings?

Originally published in BostonNow.

There are two sides to The Sopranos. Some episodes are your good old fashioned, off a guy and scatter the appendages throughout New Jersey mob drama. Other episodes are more cerebral. Lots of therapist face time and ho-hum household tension.

It seems like the final season has been a little heavier on the cerebral side which is surprising when you consider there are only two episodes left. It's been like watching a firecracker fuse burn: you know the big boom is coming and the anticipation might just be better than the actual release.

We're about to find out if we've got an M80 or an inch-and-a-halfer, which got me thinking: what's the body count going to look like over these last two episodes? I'm not so sure it will be the shootout everyone thinks it is, but let's break it down:

-- Tony - Popular opinion seems to say that Tony's death is the only logical end and I tend to agree but I'd actually be more interested if the series ended with the Skipper still heavily mouth-breathing. Nevertheless, my money in the Black Hand Stakes is on Carm. After turning a blind eye to Tony's lifestyle the entire series, the revelation that Tony killed Christopher and Adriana will be too much to deal with. The perfect crime and catharsis.

--Phil Leotardo - Did you see the look Tony gave him at the end of the episode last night while Phil was yelling out his window like a little girl? He's gone.

--Paulie - He's just too big of a prick not to meet an ugly and (un?)timely fate. It's actually a miracle he's made it this long. Probably gone before the final episode.

--Silvio - The rock. I think Silvio escapes a dirt nap, but the preview for the penultimate episode led me to believe that he might turn on Tony. If that happens, goodbye Sil.

-- A.J. - The wildcard. The fate of Tony's heir might be the most interesting arc left. His time to die was last night and he escaped so I think he's safe unless things get totally Shakespearean.

Throw in a couple of random goons and I'm setting the body count over/under for the final two episodes of The Sopranos at 8.5.

Morning Walk-thru - The Middle "Jewel"?

Poor Pimlico...I remember reading a story two years ago leading up to the Preakness saying the race might move due to the dire financial situation at Pimlico. Can't say that I was surprised. I've been by the track, although never during a race day, and it looks like most horse tracks. Run down. Shady neighborhood. Starving, basically, and constantly reaching for the mythical, magical teat that is the slot machine.

But if you don't want to take my word for it, just take a look at Preakness.com. I'm no design maven, but I know something from 2002 when I see it. To compare, here's the Kentucky Derby website. It's got so many damn bells and whistles it will likely gum up your computer. Meanwhile the Preakness site is best viewed in Netscape Navigator.

Such is the difference between the two. Kentucky has the mint julep. The Preakness has something called the Black Eyed Susan, which I'm not sure really exists. Conceivably, you could go to a good bar with real bartenders and cocktails and order a mint julep although nobody ever does. But if you try to order a Black Eyed Susan, and you're in a good bar with real bartenders and cocktails, I suspect someone, likely a good bartender, will punch you in the face. It doesn't show up in Mr. Boston and that's to alcohol what the PGA rule book is to golf.

But it's more than just Pimlico, its underpaid web designer and fake signature drink. I'm also having a hard time getting up for the race itself. I have yet to sit down and take a serious look at all the newcomers for the Preakness, but none of them really grab me at a first glance. I'd be much more interested if we just let the three Derby horses, Street Sense, Hard Spun and Curlin, run a three-way match race.

That's how many think the race should end up anyway, why not just cut out all the riff-raff and not afford them the opportunity to bump, grind and otherwise ruin it for the real runners?

No Mo? Could be a problem...I was a wide receiver in high school. We called it a split end, but I wore a bunch of wristbands, had a two-bar face mask and always flashed some fancy shoes so I know what it's like to line-up out wide.

(In case you didn't know, high school football is the perfect metaphor for everything: college football, pro football, thermodynamics, Dr. Mario, etc. Playing high school ball immediately allows you to intricately understand every thing. Just ask someone who did.)

Anyway, after Maurice Purify was arrested, I was a little skeptical as to how much it would hurt the Cornhuskers. Sure he's our best receiver, but he's still a receiver, ultimately dependent on a lot of factors to even have a chance to make plays.

But now I'm not so certain. Jeff at DoubleExtraPoint (who else) has an eye-opening look at Purify's contributions last year. Just look at his third-down performance alone.

Maybe I'm just not used to having game-breaking receivers at Nebraska yet, but that's basically what Mo was last year. I hope he only misses the Nevada game because we might need him down in Winston-Salem.

Somebody is taking this ball and going home...To celebrate the 10-year anniversary of interleague play, MLB has designed a special logo featuring two screaming eagles, one red one blue, fighting to wrest a baseball from the other's talons.

That Seattle-San Diego series this weekend just got a lot more intense. The fate of the West Coast, and that ball, are at stake.

A literal walk-off...For four innings last night it looked like the Cubs were going to be given a game. Of course, they ended up giving it away.

The Northsiders went up 4-0 on the Mets on three balls that could've (should've?) been caught and I was feeling good. So good, in fact, that I made a special note to be thankful next Thanksgiving because this was precisely the sort of thing I'm constantly whining about happening to the Cubs, not for them.

Then the bullpen got involved. I'm seriously considering just calling them the baby-killers for the rest of the season because it's the only thing I can think of that's more distasteful than actually watching them pitch.

The Cubs lost 5-4 when Michael Wuertz walked Carlos Delgado with the bases loaded. Freakin' walked the Big Slump. I don't care if you have to throw it underhand, get the ball over the plate. There's always a chance he'll hit it right at an overachieving Ryan Theriot. But no, Wuertz gave him one at the eyes. Game over.

That marks the tenth loss for the bullpen this season. Say the bullpen won half those games, which seems more than reasonable for a group whose job it is to get outs. The Cubs would be 22-14 and only four games back of the Milwaukee Brewers, currently the greatest team ever assembled, in the NL Central.

What's better is that there's nothing you can do about this right now. You're not trading for anyone. There's nobody down on the farm. You just have to keep trotting the same guys out there.

I love baseball season.