I have heard nothing about the Braves this offseason, except highly speculative ass-talk about Vladimir Guerrero. I'd love to have Jacque Jones, though. In the upcoming season, pitching should be the focus. As far as Sheffield goes, good riddance. You can have the guy who failed miserably in the playoffs, Steinbrenner. I truly wish the Braves would go after guys who routinely get on base, instead of the HR guys. As far as Javy goes, I think his season, his outlook, for the past season was because of his contract and I wouldn't look for those type of numbers again.

The Cubs getting Derek Lee, well, that's a Cub acquisition all right. He'll give you 20-25 HR, but can he change Dusty Baker's managerial moves in the playoffs?

Movies:

IN AMERICA: I believe this will be a Christmas release, although I'm not entirely sure. It's a wonderful film about an Irish family moving to New York to capture the American dream, a family that has been hit with the death of a son. Jim Sheridan, of IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, directs. Djimon Hounsou, still most notable for AMISTAD, turns in the film's emotional center as one of the family's neighbors and I would consider him for an Oscar. At every moment you think this film might detour into something ugly (and truly, there's never a reason to think it will, but a big studio would turn this into garbage), it always makes a refreshing choice. Surely one of the best of the year.

BUBBA HO-TEP: Bruce Campbell enters the role of Elvis, a man he was born to play, in a movie tailor-made for him. Ossie Davis, the great seasoned black actor from many, many films, plays JFK. Both men are stuck in an assisted living home, as the mummy himself comes to feed on the souls of those around them. Everything about this movie screams "Cult hit!" and I wonder if that in any way reduces its status...because it's TRYING to be one! Filled with great B-movie lines like, "Don't fuck with The King," it's certainly a fun movie to watch. I was slightly reminded of DONNIE DARKO when watching this, not that the two films have much in common except their atmosphere.

THE MISSING: Well, Ron Howard is 0-for-2 in the new century, beginning with the overpraised and certainly to be forgotten (by everyone, even the Academy voters who made it Best Picture) A BEAUTIFUL MIND. In this Western abduction tale, we have Tommy Lee Jones playing another variation of his Gerard character from THE FUGITIVE (counting the sequel, DOUBLE JEOPARDY, and THE HUNTED, that makes at least the 5th time). We have Cate Blanchett, who we hear is a strong woman although we never see her actually DO anything. Even when it comes down to killing her daughter's captor she needs ol' Tommy Lee to come in and save the day. Filled with ludicrous, painful plot points (where IN AMERICA succeeds, this fails), and a complete shipshod handling of who could have been one of the coolest bad guys ever, I was disappointed.

LOVE ACTUALLY: Many, many different stories of love told in a big 2-hour comedy, and it's got something for everyone. Some good lines, and the experience of Hugh Grant and Colin Firth in these types of movies, helps this be an enjoyable film, one you can leave on in the background while you do chores or something. You can pretty much skip the Laura Linney segments, and shave off some of the other parts, and focus on the three stories that matter: Firth, Grant, and this guy Bill Nighy who plays an aged pop star who's lost all tact, and enjoy this.

By the way, I don't think the Titans are going to beat the Colts this week. Not because they lost to the Jets, necessarily, but because the last 3 games have shown some weaknesses, and the Colts will probably be scoring a lot on Sunday.