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Thursday, September 18, 2008
U Kno Who goes hunting
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Everybody on this blog knows the talents and versatility of a certain “U Kno Who.” That he can pop up in unexpected places and engage us in ways we didn’t expect.
Well, it’s not just blogging, folks. Our friendly neighborhood third baseman has a new hunting video out, and I just happened to get my hands on it.
Now, let me start by saying, it’s not my cup of tea - hunting. Don’t do it, don’t know much about it. I’m more like the girl in Brad Paisley’s song “when you see a deer, you see Bambi.”
But there I was late last night after the game, watching “Buck Commander,” a reality-style show featuring Chipper, Adam LaRoche, Ryan Langerhans, and Mike DeJean (former Rockies reliever) amongst a bunch of shaggy-haired, camou-wearing, face-painted other guys. One of them is the Willie Robertson of Duck Commander, whom some of you might know?
Anyway, it was engaging, I have to say. Set to some hard-charging music, has some laugh-out-loud scenes, you get to follow these guys on hunts, getting to see a different side of them. Crazy, isn’t it? I don’t know what’s the matter with me, but I can get sucked in to a lot of male-oriented reality shows I wouldn’t expect.
Shoot, if you’re going to watch TV around the boyfriend it’s inevitable, I suppose. Whether it’s “Deadliest Catch” or “Dirty Jobs” or “Orange County Choppers,” I have to tell you, I’ve seen them all.
And this was kinda like that, only it was Chipper Jones under all the gear and face paint and jumping around like a little kid celebrating a kill. I don’t know. Is that what they call them?
I had to zone out a little bit when they approached the dead animal (oy, poor Bambi), but hey, it was a chance to see Chipper like you’ve never seen him. And that part was fun. The usually stoic guy in front of cameras at a baseball game is constantly cutting up. It’s obvious how much he loves his second sport.
There was one scene, where there’s a tight shot of Chipper bow-hunting. And he pulls back the bow - OK I don’t know the technical terms - and he basically popped himself in the face with his hand. And in what’s supposed to be the quiet scene - they do a lot of whispering to the camera as they’re scoping the deer - he just lowered his head and lost it. He was laughing as hard as I’ve ever heard him laugh.
Anyway, I got tickled. This is something I know is a lot of fun for Chipper and before it’s over, he’d love to have Buck Commander on a cable channel.
Now, granted, honesty compels me to say I turned it off before I got to the end because a) it was late, and b) I’m still “Not A Guy!” (thanks, Brad). I will also watch “Project Runway” at the drop of a hat. I’d seen enough deer going down for one night. (And funny, they never seemed to miss. Good shots all the time? Or did we only see the good ones?)
But hey, it’s out there if anybody wants to take a peek. They’ve got their own website, a spot on YouTube, etc.
POSTSEASON EXPERTISE: The Braves ain’t going, but John Smoltz is. Our favorite new analyst has got himself a gig with TBS during the playoffs. He’ll be part of the broadcast team that is covering all the Division Series games and the ALCS.
I still need to find out out specifics, but I’m sure it’s a cool opportunity for John, who’s obviously shown he can handle the pressures of the broadcast booth in the few games he filled in for Skip.
Our home boys Chip Caray and Joe Simpson will also be part of the broadcast team again. We would expect nothing less! And of course, there’s Ron Darling, for those of us who got crushes on him during the 1986 World Series. Ahem.
NORTON IN THE ATL: This much we’ve learned about Greg Norton this season - the cat can pinch hit. He got another one last night to raise his average as a pinch hitter to .333 (17-for-51) which is second in the NL to Greg Dobbs (21-for-60, .350) among those with a minimum of 50 pinch hit at-bats. His three pinch hit homers, including Sunday’s game-winner vs. the Mets, leads the league.
He’s a valuable guy off the bench. And while the Braves have much bigger pieces they need to fill next year, they’d be smart to get Norton back, if you ask me. And I was curious if Norton had interest in coming back, or if he was looking for a bigger role on another team.
He gave it a fairly resounding yes, that he’d like to come back. Here’s what he had to say:
“We obviously like the area because my wife and I have discussed buying a house out this way, regardless of what happens,” Norton said. “You can’t play for a better manager than Bobby. And the players that they have in this organization, you can’t ask for any more than that. If they’re interested, I’d definitely want to come back. But we’ll see if they are.”
Norton has rented a house in Alpharetta this summer. He, his wife Jaena and their kids have made their permanent home in Denver for the last five years, but now they’re looking around here.
“We’re both from California, my wife doesn’t like the cold in the winter,” Norton said. “The land that you have with every house that we’ve looked at: it’s an acre, acre-plus, whereas our house in Colorado, I think we have a quarter-acre, so my dog will be a little upset when he gets home on Saturday. The trees. Being out there (in Alphraetta), it’s like you’re out in the country. It’s nice. All I’ve learned is that you have to pick and choose when you’re going to go somewhere with the traffic. But you really don’t have to go downtown for anything.”
And hey, baseball players don’t mind affordability either.
“I like it because it’s a lot cheaper than Colorado and quite a bit cheaper than California,” he said.
No doubt.
OK, that’s all I got. More from the park this afternoon.
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