The Skolney Blog

*SPOILERS ABOUND* There was no way this film could possibly live up to the hype....but it did. It exceeded my hopes by kind of not being quite the film tonally as expected. This movie is TENSE. From literally the first shot (Hell, before the first shot even begins) the stakes are laid out clear. Thanos is not just imposing but scary. The whole film flows from that first 10 minutes. The scenes where the various Avengers are put into peril all work because we know that, at least this time, Marvel is not faking deaths. The best tension/action sequence is definitely the one on Titan when a half dozen of our guys are all going at Thanos at once to get the glove off. And amidst this hellacious action scene, it turns on a character moment. The whole film is sold on spectacle but digs deep cause of great character beats. And it's funny as hell too, and not at the expense of anything (one joke I would remove, because it undercuts a really nice romantic moment between 2 characters). Almo...

Somehow, despite his 10+ year career, largely with Detroit, I had never seen Justin Verlander pitch in person. Until tonight. And he was indeed dominant. Unfortunately. This was my coldest sporting event since the Blair Walsh game, a chilly evening with a brisk wind and too few other bodies in the stands to absorb the brunt. It would have been nice if the Twins had done something to make it worth it. They came close, but the early season struggles by the lineup continued. They had chances the last 3 innings, but in the 7th they squander a 1st and 3rd with none out, in the 8th they leave the bases loaded. And Byron Buxton, who has had no good fortune at all on well hit balls this year, comes a few feet from a game tying 2 run shot in the 9th. Total snake bite. Awful game from Rosario. Both Houston runs scored on misplays by him. A lot more than raindrops were falling on balls hit to left tonight. And he had 2 huge at bats late and achieved nothing. Can't make mistakes like that...

Ecstatic to have meaningful baseball back. Less enthused at being immediately reminded of how MLB has been so thoroughly overtaken by the pitch count Nazis. Jake Odorizzi. 6 shutout innings, 93 pitches. Never even seriously threatened. But (adopts terrified voice) oh no he's close to 100 pitches! His arm is going to spontaneously combust if he goes over 100! Eek! In all the years that pitch counts have become more important to teams than winning, there has never been a shred of evidence that 100 pitches makes someone more susceptible to injury than 110 or 120. They're just numbers, which all need context. It's all connected to the analytics zealots, the WAR mongers, but it drives me insane. It's not to say that leaving Odorizzi in for another inning would have made the difference for the Twins today, but nothing makes a team flailing at the plate perk up more than seeing a pitcher who has been dominating them leave the game. Twins will be fine. This was just a parti...

Twins: 89-73 This club should make a slight improvement over last year. They overachieved last year, and benefited from a woeful crop of AL teams, but instead of just standing pat they actually made some significant improvements. 6 weeks of no Santana and half a season of no Polanco (who was garbage until August last year anyway) will hurt a little, but they should be able to at minimum hang in the wild card race all season. A full season of good Buxton would be huge. Dozier and Mauer are both in contract years, so you know they will both be good. Besides Castro the lineup should be potent. Pair that with a still not stellar but certainly improved pitching staff  and about 37% of your schedule being against the White Sox, Royals and Tigers, and this should be a wild card team. League predictions: AL EAST: 1. Yankees 2. Red Sox 3. Blue Jays 4. Orioles 5. Rays It hurts, but the Yankees are going to probably run away with things. Boston is still loaded enough to get a wild ca...

The reaction to A Wrinkle In Time has been rather amusing. It's received mostly negative reviews, yet many have been furious it didn't receive WORSE ones. It takes very little thought to figure out what type of person would be so invested in tearing down a film famously being the highest priced project ever helmed by a black director, with a black girl lead, and with Oprah so heavily featured in the marketing. But if you actually watch the movie, it's obvious why even the negative reviews have largely cut the film a break. It's a freaking mess, but it is one of the most creative and unique messes in ages. It's sort of ironic too that the whole theme of the movie is antithetical to the entire angry internet troll mentality. That's another way the film stands out. It's really REALLY sincere. You can tell the book was written long before detached cynicism became the 24/7 personality of so many. The film reeks of being severely cut down from a longer original...

Nick Foles carves up Mike Zimmer and Bill Belichick defenses to win a super bowl. A 16 beats a 1. Next?