Met Count

[Guest Edgy DC]

Number 814!

Kind of cool to send Williams out there with the guy who was catching him in New Orleans.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Number 815!

[Guest Edgy DC]

Number 816!

Number 817!

Number 818!

[Willets Point]

This pic actually looks menacing.

[Guest Edgy DC]

I wanted a picutre of him in his castillo. Get it?

The chin fuzz that was once forbidden from the Met clubhouse is now looking like the standard.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Number 819! Jeff Conine!

[Guest Edgy DC]

Boo. I had booted up Collazo.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Number 820! Willie Collazo!

[Elster88]

I have no memory of that muppet. Was it the Countess?

[seawolf17]

Most definitely.

[Willets Point]

Looks like the Count in a wig. I suspect that the Count is gay.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I did once see a purple muppet hand underneath an airport bathroom stall.

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

It's long been suspected that Ernie and Bert were a couple. And I don't think any of us would be surprised if Big Bird stepped out of the closet.

Cookie Monster is way too butch.

[Benjamin Grimm]

What clinches it for me with Ernie and Bert is the matching monogrammed headboards on their beds, an E for Ernie and a B for Bert. Picture the two of them shopping for those headboards together. No heterosexual roommates would ever do that.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

Dick Shot Junior and I have watched a few eps of Sesame Street and I must say, it's gone completely to hell since I was crapping my pampers.

This is mostly due to that irritating Elmo who gets half the show. I'd like to kill him.

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

Yancy Street Gang wrote: What clinches it for me with Ernie and Bert is the matching monogrammed headboards on their beds, an E for Ernie and a B for Bert. Picture the two of them shopping for those headboards together. No heterosexual roommates would ever do that.

OK, this started a whole discussion here in the newsroom, which is what happens when the editors go into the news meeting.

Were Ernie and Bert adults? Were they kids? Brothers? If so, where were their parents? Could it be that they were just a couple metrosexual kids living in an apartment (with monogramed beds) without jobs but enough resources to collect paperclips and rubber ducks and slurp soda at Mr. Hooper's store?

Oscar, we understand.

[Willets Point]

Don't forget Bert's pigeons.

[seawolf17]

We've definitely rediscovered Sesame Street, and we have come to love Elmo as practically a member of the family. There's really a phenomenal amount of research that's gone into the character development (Elmo's three years old, Grover is six, Prairie Dawn is a precocious four-year-old, Baby Bear's lisp, etc.) and relationships (Telly & Baby Bear, Elmo & Zoe, Bert & Ernie, Baby Bear & Curly Bear, Elmo & Grover, etc.). You could do a fascinating PhD thesis on the whole structure; hell, you could write a whole encyclopedia, considering the show's history.

They've structured the show a lot more now than they did when I was a kid; there's a pretty standard sequence of events (opening thematic skit, letter of the day, number of the day, Elmo's World, Trash Gordon), with bits and pieces scattered around. Even Elmo's World follows a very tight script (song, topic intro, musical topic interlude, Mr. Noodle, ask kids, ask a baby, counting, looking in the drawer, one kid's story, talking with a representative of the topic, Dorothy imagining Elmo doing something with the topic, ending song), most likely because kids thrive on routines. The first eight notes of the Elmo's World theme song are practically a national holiday in our house; all other activity immediately ceases. MiniWolf's not at a point yet where he demands his daily Elmo, but I'd bet that if he was older, he'd be confused if it didn't happen.

FWIW, Sesame Street released a three-DVD "Old School" set recently, which is good for a laugh if you can find it at your local library. I don't know that I'd spend money on it, mostly because some of the characters are waaaay different than they are now (different Gordon, Oscar is orange, Big Bird's head is smaller), but also because the stories are dated (the whole story of the first episode is very timely for 1969, but would never happen today), and because, quite frankly, I have better things to do with my time than watch 35-year-old episodes of Sesame Street.

[Willets Point]

Old School Sesame Street. Do they ever show anything this trippy anymore?

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

Hate. Elmo.

Irritating.

[seawolf17]

Give him a chance, JD. I know he's irritating, and he's been so overexposed in the media, but the kids really do dig him.

Barney? Whole 'nother story. He's on right before SS in the morning, and my wife turns it on. THAT drives me nuts.

Willets, they still do trippy stuff, but that specific bit doesn't run any more. Every once in a while, they'll slip in something old school, like the Alligator King and his Seven Sons, if it dovetails with what they're talking about that episode.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I liked Gina the veterinarian. When I saw her on The Sopranos throwing around the f-word I almost signed up for therapy.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

I'm sure I'll wind up watching a lot of Sesame Street in the future. And Elmo is prolly only a little worse that Captian Feathersword when it comes to annoying characters.

That's the other show Jr. watches.

With all the youngins around and coming we should set up some kinda all-purpose parenting thread

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

JD - "With all the youngins around and coming we should set up some kinda all-purpose parenting thread"

Sorry, there is no magic formula for parenting. I recommend offering guidance, encouragement, and love on a regular basis. Beyond that, you will just have to try to figure it out as you go along while doing your best not to screw the little one's up too badly, just like us old timers did.

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

Yancy Street Gang wrote: I liked Gina the veterinarian. When I saw her on The Sopranos throwing around the f-word I almost signed up for therapy.

I confess that when my son was a toddler, we'd watch Sesame Street whether he wanted to or not just because of Gina!

I assume she was an attempt to pull dads into the show, or at least get dads to leave it on.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Have any of you dads discovered The Big Comfy Couch yet? (It may no longer be on; my kids are both now too old for those beginner shows.)

It was a weird show featuring a girl named Lanette dressed in a clown suit. At the end of the show, for some reason, she'd lie on her back on the floor and we'd watch from above as she writhed around assuming various clock positions. It was actually kind of disturbing. I never payed close enough attention to the show to understand what that was all about.

[seawolf17]

Yeah, this dad is definitely a fan of Dr. Gina. And Ms. Noodle (played by the wonderful Kristin Chenoweth) as well.

[soupcan]

The favorites in my house were Barney, Teletubbies and the Wiggles.

Big Comfy Couch and Dragon Tales also got some air time.

I always thought the clown chick on BCC was pretty cute.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Number 821! Carlos Muniz! Congrats to his dad!

[Gwreck]

#822 - Johan Santana
#823 - Brian Schneider
#824 - Angel Pagan

(order might be reversed if we bat around in the first inning).