Saturday, February 16, 2013

The Knuckler: Episode 2

Watched episode two of The Knuckler. David Greene got plenty of air time, highlighting his college and pro career, and showing him at home playing with his kids. He wore an Atlanta Country Club golf shirt. Of the five quarterbacks, David seems to be the best speaker/communicator, even better than TV commentator Doug Flutie. Made me Google the firm he works for, located on Piedmont Road in Buckhead, north of Peachtree. I was concerned Greene would be voted off, especially when Perrilloux won the immunity challenge (catching the most Wakefield knuckleballs). Greene came in second.

There was also a long segment on Perrilloux's career, showing him working with kids in Anniston Alabama. The QB's (and co-host Kevin Millar) took turns trying to hit a 15 year-old girl's knuckleball. She had been taught the knuckler years ago by her travel ball coach, Joe Niekro, and had thrown two perfect games. Greene went first and did the best, fairing better than ex-Red Sox Millar. After that embarrassment, Perriloux stepped in against Flutie to see if he could hit any over the fence. Greene shagged, and ex-Marlin Booty commented how Perrilloux looked like he ought to be playing centerfield in the minors. Later Wakefield had the QB's go through fielding drills. Covering first and fielding bunts was easy (though Perrilloux threw wildly to first), but catching high popups was tougher.

Jarrod Saltalamacchia made an appearance, helping critique each QB's knuckler. As Wakefield's catcher with the Sox, Salty would often go out to the mound if he saw something amiss with Wakefield's delivery. Interesting to see how seriously Wakefield listened to what Salty had to say about each QB. All the QB's had nice, new, big baseball gloves…except Flutie, whose glove was old and worn. After he retired from football he joined a men's baseball league with his brothers. He had expected to play middle infield, but mentioned that anyone who could throw it across the plate had to pitch. He showed up at Dodgertown (where The Knuckler was filmed) in his black 1979 Pontiac Trans Am…just like the Smokey and the Bandit car.

Greene spoke to his wife before the elimination challenge. In the locker room Flutie mentioned that his wife was ready for him to come home. Booty said he was single, and was happy to be here. Perrilloux seems to "need" to win this contest more than the others. The QB's had 15 pitches to break six panes of glass, set in a strike zone frame. Perrilloux was immune, and only broke one pane. Booty broke four, then Greene busted three. Flutie's first four pitches went through the same square, low and away. He only broke one other pane, and thus was eliminated.

Episode three airs Wednesday night at ten.

Valentines: We had gone out twice this past weekend, so I wasn't planning to eat out. Around noon Ceil called while walking Barney in the park, wondering what I wanted for dinner. On the way home I picked up a dozen roses, and had one wrapped separately for Anna. I got Ceil her favorite candy bar and some ice cream, a large package of M&M's and brownie mix for Anna, and a bottle of Arnold Palmer tea for Matthew. Ceil baked me an apple pie.

I received a text from Moes about a special they were running, so I offered to take everyone there. Ceil had pizza on the brain, so Anna drove up to get the special at Dominos.

Potato salad is one of my weaknesses. I tried to look for the GT game on TV, but never found it.

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