Baseball Hall of Fame Eligibility Rule Change

A week ago, the Baseball Writer's Association of America (BBWA) announced the list of eligible players for the Baseball Hall of Fame ballot and new rule changes.

Among the changes, after a player retires, after the five year grace period after their retirement, they are eligible to remain on the ballot up to 10 years, compared to the previous allotment of 15 years. Currently three players are beyond the 10 year period (Lee Smith, Don Mattingly, and Alan Trammell), but will be allowed to remain on the list until the 15 years is up, under a grandfather clause.

I am torn by this rule. I am under the belief that if a player is good enough to be voted into the Hall of Fame, that it is the duty of the writers to elect them as soon as they can. Some writers will purposely hold off on players and let them remain on the list for several years, before deciding to vote for them. This is wrong. The only time I think a writer should refrain from voting a player in when they are eligible, is when they believe that over 10 players deserve to legitimately be voted in, but are constricted by the fact that they can only vote up to 10 players. In this case, they must choose who they think are the top 10 players eligible for the Hall of Fame out of the 10 plus players they feel should go. Within a 10 year player, I think if done right, all players eligible who should be in the Hall of Fame, should have been voted in already.

Unfortunately, the writers don't always see things this way. The most recent case being Bert Blyleven. While his stats proved he deserved to be in the Hall of Fame, he could never manage to gather 75 percent of the votes that it took to get in. It wasn't until his 15th and final year of eligibility, before he received enough votes to be inducted. Players such as Bert Blyleven and Jack Morris had to almost campaign like a politician to be voted in by the writers. Morris couldn't garner enough votes by year 15.

This year will be year 15 for "Donnie Baseball" Don Mattingly, who has refused to hit the radio and television sports talk shows to sway the writers in his favor. Mattingly will most likely fall of the ballot, but not without serious consideration. His stats shows a great career and he was one of the few players in baseball history to have the title of "Captain" in a Yankees uniform, but they don't quite show that he was a Hall of Famer. I do believe that after his 21st year of retirement, when he is eligible to appear on the Expansion Era Committee ballot, he should receive some serious consideration.

With the new rule in effect, the player that will be first up against the 10 year cutoff point, will be Mark McGwire. He is currently on his ninth ballot this coming year and if the past elections have been any indicator, he will probably not receive near enough ballots this time around either.

Best Christmas Movies You Should Have Seen

It's that time of year where no matter where you are, especially if you are out shopping, you are surrounded by Christmas music, decorations, lights, and just about everything imaginable. On television, cable stations flood their outgoing feed with Christmas movies that they can only show at this time of the year. Many of these movies are crap, but some are almost requirements to have seen if you call yourself American. In no particular order, I present to you the top ten Christmas movies you should have seen.

1. Miracle On 34th Street: I start with this one because actor Edmund Gwenn, who played Kris Kringle himself, played the part of Santa flawlessly; possibly the best Santa in a movie ever. Recently it also has popped up on some people's Google searches because Susan, the little girl that Santa befriends, is played by Natalie Wood, the focus of the reopened accidental death case involving Robert Wagner and Christopher Walken. In a post World War II (1947) era, this movie solidified the image of a glorified 1940's and 1950's era that many reminesce about.

2. Bad Santa: The opposite of Edmund Gwenn's Santa, Billy Bob Thornton plays a dark and twisted robber who poses as a mall Santa to rob mall anchor stores. It's everything that is wrong with Christmas, but somehow still comes off as humorous. Also this movie features that last filmwork by actor John Ritter. At the end of the movie, the darkened heart of Billy Bob opens up as he risks everything to get the little boy a Christmas present. On a side note, this movie also features one of the best movie lines of all time, "Fuck me Santa! Fuck me Santa! Fuck me Santa," as said by actress Lauren Graham.

3. The Grinch: Speaking of dark hearts cracking open at the end, the Grinch is possibly the best character that Dr. Seuss ever created. Now the Jim Carey version lacked what the animated one did...heart. The animated one is about best Christmas movie to watch with your young ones, but not be bored by some message that will make you want to down a shot of Jack Daniels after they go to bed. The Grinch also has a twentieth century classic Christmas song, You're A Mean One Mr. Grinch.

4. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation: Chevy Chase's Clark Griswold is the everyday dad trying to create the perfect Christmas for his family. From a house massively decorated in lights and annoying his neighbors to a family dinner ruined by the police busting in after Clark kidnaps his boss over a laughable Christmas bonus, Clark feels the pain of a Christmas not going to plan.

5. It's A Wonderful Life: This one speaks well to the current climate of American society...the banker is the evil guy. Featuring an almost suicide by Jimmy Stewart's character until an angel intervenes, this movie actually flopped while it was shown at the theaters. Through television, it survived and became a staple of television stations for over a half a century. This movie also coined the phrase, "Everytime a bell rings, an angel gets his wings."

6. A Christmas Story: The best Christmas movie of the 1980's, this movie features a boy focused on trying to get a Red Ryder BB Gun for Christmas. He deals with a Santa that pushes him down a slide, licking a frozen pole, and a father who receives the sexiest lamp ever. Peter Billingsley's glasses also became an iconic look for the nerdy boy.

7. Scrooged: Bill Murray plays a television exec who has lost his Christmas spirit. A spectacularly funny performance by Carol Kane as the Ghost Of Christmas Present is the perfect match to Billy Murray's Frank Cross. In their pairing, unexpectedly bust Bill's balls...literally.

8. Gremlins: Not very well known as a Christmas movie, Gizmo was possibly the cutest Christmas present a parent could present their son. Unfortunately the three important rules were broken and a small town's Christmas is overun by small, green looking monsters. Despite the troubles, eighties children grew up wanting to own their very own mogwai.

9. Home Alone: Mac's best performance of his career, he was chased by Goodfellas star Joe Pesci and Wonder Years voice Daniel Stern. Forgotten by his departing family on their Christmas vacation, Mac survives on his own and staves off the would be burgulars from robbing his home.

10. A Charlie Brown Christmas: More like a Christmas short movie, I still count this classic because of genuine warm feeling you get when you watch it,. Charlie Brown picks the worst Christmas tree in the lot, which at first couldn't even support one Christmas decoration, but with the help of his friends, has the classic tree any family should have. A b-story of Snoopy decorating his doghouse is also classic.

Honorable Mentions:
The Nightmare Before Christmas (I know many of you are reading this and saying what the hell?! Only honorable mention? Yes, I dislike Disney. Plus unlike some of the other Christmas specials/movies Disney has done in the past, this one is massively commercialized.)

Elf (James Caan is one of the best actors of all time and Will Ferrell is so new to the life experiences he comes across. Zooey Deschanel would also make a big step in this to mainstream her career.)

Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer (A holiday classic, with the best characters being Yukon Cornelius and Bumble the Yeti.)

Die Hard ( Yes, you read that write. Almost making my list, this is probably the most action packed Christmas movie ever. It features a performance by Alan Rickman that is outstanding. He is one of the best villains in movie history.)

Paparazzi Should be a Synonym for Stalker

 

In an age where everyone has a camera on them at all times due to smartphones, photographs of celebrities in their most private moments, flood the internet. Now many of these photographs are on personal social media sites like Facebook and were the result of personal encounters with a celebrity in a public place such as a restaurant, but on many for-profit websites, these photos come from photographers that would in any other scenario, be considered a stalker.

Known to the public as paparazzi, the word is an eponym, dating back to the 1960 film "La Dolce Vita". A character in the movie is named Paparazzo, is a news photographer and director Federico Fellini said in an interview with Time magazine, "Paparazzo...suggests to me a buzzing insect, hovering, darting, stinging." By the late 1960's, the term became a commonly used word for intrusive photographers.

It didn't take long for members of the paparazzi to become a thorn in the sides of celebrities.

The usually well mannered, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, ordered Secret Service agents to destroy the camera of photographer, Ron Galella. The incident in 1972, led to Galella suing Onassis for damage to his property. She counter-sued, claiming harassment of her and her family. In "Galella v. Onassis", Onassis was able to retain a restraining order against Galella.

Most famously, the intrusiveness of the paparazzi led the death of Princess Diana and film producer Dodi Fayed. Paparazzi became so aggressive in following the two, that after a high-speed car chase, their Mercedes-Benz crashed in the Pont de l'Alma road tunnel. Even with Princess Diana struggling for her last breaths, instead of providing her assistance at the scene, paparazzi raced for the best positions to take pictures of the very accident they caused. Police took several of the photographers into custody, but none of them were ever charged.

In some states and countries, paparazzi are restricted by laws and curfews. In California, a bill was passed in 2013, protecting children of celebrities from the harassment of paparazzi. Ironically, it did not include children who were celebrities themselves.

In other cases, organizations such as TMZ and the Globe, won the right to be considered a form of news media protected by the First Amendment. 

Making matters worse, various celebrities have learned how to manipulate the paparazzi to boost their own fame or even make more money. Public relations agencies working for some celebrities, actually will call up paparazzi and inform them of when and where their employers will be. In other situations, some celebrities have even sold the paparazzi photos of themselves or leads to stories such as weddings or pregnancy announcements. 

One example is when Kim Kardashian married NBA player Kris Humphries. Though the couple was only married for 72 days, Kardashian pulled in $15 million from the E! for the rights to film the wedding. Not long afterward, after she divorced Humphries, Kardashian married Kanye West and E! once again shelled out the big bucks ($21 million) for the rights to broadcast their wedding. Kardashian earned $36 million for just saying, "I do."

Just two days ago, singer Katy Perry, had a run-in with the paparazzi while trying to take a moment to relax from her Prismatic World Tour. While walking on the beach of Sydney, paparazzi became aggressive with her to the point, that the normally good-natured singer lashed out on them after they demanded that she strip down to her bikini and let them get some shots of her, in exchange for leaving her alone. She took to Twitter, tweeting pictures of some of the photographers and informing her fans that any pictures they see of her on the beach of Sydney, were taken against her will. A couple of the photographers actually had the audacity to lash out against the pictures Perry had taken, were taken against their will. 

It is one thing for a celebrity to have pictures taken of them at events such as a movie premier or at a public event of some sort, but at the same time celebrities should be given their privacy. It's one thing for a legitimate fan to possibly snag a selfie with a celebrity, but these moments usually don't result in profit opportunities for the fan. The majority of the time, these fans don't make the celebrity fear for their personal safety.

The paparazzi photographers on the other hand, are basically professional stalkers.