Last night, 10/28/09: A Night of Ecstasy and Torture

No, no. It was not S&M night at my apartment. Get your mind out of the gutter. It was instead an emotional rollercoaster of television entertainment that at times engrossed my friends and I, while at other times disgusting us. We'll begin with one of the points of ecstasy.

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS IS BACK!!!



I cannot tell you how excited I was for the season premier of the best show on television, and WEEEEE DAWGY did it not disappoint! **SPOILER ALERT** We pick up where we left off at the end of last season, with Coach Eric Taylor being exiled from West Dillon High School because of some high-powered boosters, and becoming the head coach at the newly-formed East Dillon High, which, suffice it to say, is the school on the wrong side of the tracks. There is a lot of turmoil naturally built into this storyline, with Coach Taylor's wife still being the principal at West Dillon, East Dillon being stuck with all of the terrible football players, and the Dillon Panthers, after being a team we've grown to love, now being a team we're forced to hate because of our allegiances to Eric Taylor. If I didn't love my parents so much, I'd want the Taylors to be my mom and dad, that's how awesome they are.

But Friday Night Lights is more than just a football show. It's a show about small town America, the people that make that small town what it is, and watching how those people grow, evolve, and portray the best and worst that exists in all of us. Matt Saracen and Tim Riggins, two main characters who graduated from Dillon at the end of last year, remain in their hometown for different, yet equally compelling reasons. JD McCoy, the hot-shot freshman quarterback for West Dillon who was likeable and quiet last season, is now public enemy number 1 - a kid who's let success go straight to his head, I'm sure in part thanks to his awful father. People change, the characters change, and with that the show is changing, but it's just as good as ever. If you're lucky enough to have DirecTV, and therefore the ability to see FNL, I suggest you get into it right away, if you haven't already. If you don't have DirecTV, it'll be on NBC later in 2010. Either way, tune in. You won't regret it.

Now on to the torturous part of the evening:

GAME 1 OF THE WORLD SERIES

There isn't much to say about it, other than the Yankees were simply dominated by an elite pitcher, in this case Cliff Lee, who was on top of his game. It's not that the Yanks played bad, it's just that Lee was too good, which reiterates the point that good pitching always beats good hitting. Not much you can do about this one, and I think the Yanks are more than capable of bouncing back. It's only Game 1, it's a long series, anything can happen. No time to panic.

The troubling aspect of Game 1, however, was the continued deterioration of the quality performances by the Yankee bullpen. At the beginning of the playoffs, Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain, and Co. were almost an unhittable bridge to Mariano Rivera. Now though, that invincibility is quickly falling my the wayside. Hughes was once again ineffective last night, and after Damaso Marte got 2 outs in the 8th, David Robertson, who had previously been very good in these playoffs, gave up the hits that gave the Phillies the breathing room they needed. Those tack-on runs quickly changed the dynamic of the game. 2-0 can be overcome, even against an ace like Cliff Lee. But 6-0? No chance. Game over.

But then came the last bit of ecstasy hit me in the face like an anvil of glory:

THE FIRST 24 TRAILER WAS RELEASED!!!

Words cannot accurately describe how this makes me feel inside. Just watch:



I'm peeing myself in excitement. January 17 cannot come soon enough.