Buffa's Buffet: Cards outfielders who need to go, the extended movie cut I want, and Netflix's 'Wrestlers'
Also, the extended cut of a movie I want to see, and the new Netflix series to watch.
Welcome to Buffet #90! Summer’s wrath has passed by, and the exasperating afternoons of too much warmth are decreasing by the week. Pre-fall seasons in St. Louis are some of its best-looking moments, even if the mosquitoes reign fire from below. As this princess nurses three fresh bites on his ankle-the tiny bug’s favorite human blood waterfall-let’s get into five things on my mind.
#1: Cardinals Fans: Say goodbye to two more outfielders who fell short
Pack your bags, Dylan Carlson and Tyler O’Neill. Two guys who were once aligned to do great things should play somewhere else next season. Carlson started the season as a fourth outfielder type, less than two years after being a big part of the outfield plans. He will end it with surgery to repair a hurt limb, but his prospects for 2024 aren’t even written in pencil at the moment.
O’Neill’s 2021 season will be his best mark as a Cardinal, the rest spent trying to stay healthy or maintain a consistent threat of power at the plate. He hit the Injured List today for what seems like the 60th time during his few years in town, but it should be the last one, right? If the team is going to sharpen the edges and retool the roster for a playoff pulse next year, spending time with relic potential isn’t healthy.
What was once nice and brand new about both players is now expired. Carlson can’t provide enough bat to go with his DeJong-level glove in the outfield, and O’Neill can’t stay on the field or slug enough. A guy known for power should struggle to assemble a .400 slugging percentage.
They’re not useless players to other teams, especially if there’s a blank slate of outfielders. O’Neill does have pop and multiple Gold Gloves, and Carlson is only 24 years old. But here, their time is finished. You can’t keep wishing they become the players that the front office previously envisioned in their minds.
If next year fields Alec Burleson, Lars Nootbaar and Jordan Walker in the outfield with improved pitching, that’s a modest improvement. There’s still unborn potential in those talents. Dylan and Tyler’s better days will carry a different zip code.
#2: Give me the uncut version of Ben Affleck’s The Town
Affleck’s 2009 crime caper is a true cinematic banger. Masterpiece isn’t a word to throw around lightly, but this one comes close. Jon Hamm’s scenery-chewing is a subdued take on Al Pacino’s ferocious cop in Heat, and Affleck’s career-criminal is a Charlestown spin on Robert De Niro’s master thief. The grenade in the ointment is Jeremy Renner’s Jem, the loose cannon in Fleck’s crew of thieves which garnered the then not-as-well-known star an Oscar nomination.
The co-writer/director/star has spoken about a four-hour cut of the just-over-two-hour movie, and that’s something I’d love to dive into. Flaws be damned, give me all the cops and robbers extra from a very well done film all day and night over someone’s superhero cut fantasy. With no offense to Zack Snyder and David Ayer, the long ass version of The Town should get way more signatures on an imaginary petition.
No promotions required. Just release that shit to the masses while they figure out what dollar amount is suitable to go back to work. Affleck wouldn’t mind. Screen the long take at Fenway like he did the theatrical cut.
#3: The Blues are down a defenseman this month
One of the two overpaid, shiny defender toys that the St. Louis Blues employ will miss all of training camp and preseason. Torey Krug has a right foot ailment that will sideline him for a few weeks. The former Boston Bruin hasn’t exactly lit up the world since joining St. Louis, trying to mimic a game that only a younger version of himself can play.
With Krug, it’s the idea of understanding that you need to take your previously calibrated game of toughness and in-your-face physicality with a more suitable option for an older player. Colton Parayko’s game is in question, specifically how he plays the position and what the team needs. Krug is stuck in a Paul Kariya in St. Louis type predicament. After the injury, one would hope he returns with a mindset to improve and lead this team at the blue line.
Krug denied a trade out of town over the offseason. That’s his right. His job is to be as close to the guy as the one St. Louis traded for back after Alex Pietrangelo left town. Years later, signing Petro still looks like the best option.
#4: Indie wrestling gets a great spotlight on Netflix
The aptly titled Wrestlers, a seven-episode series on the streaming service giant, is essentially an extension of the great Darren Aronofsky movie starring Mickey Rourke. The Wrestler was a gritty story about a longtime wrestler trying to piece a broken life back together, but it also shined a light on the underseen and underappreciated independent wrestling circuit.
Ohio Valley Wrestling, a television weekly wrestling event in Louisville, Kentucky is the center of the Netflix series. Ran by former wrestling star Al Snow and infused with a fresh load of cash from local investors, the show revolves around a summer tour with a group of ragtag wrestlers with the hope of keeping the program running. The sport, especially on regional and non-mainstream levels (not WWE), isn’t as popular as it used to be--so the live events bleed cash and bring back little revenue.
The underdog style of the storytelling in the series fits the overall groove of depicting the brutal yet loyal and dedicated life of a pro wrestler. They give it everything, and take a beating in return… in the body and pocket book. As Snow points out early on, all of the action is real on this level, except for the intent. The blood, slams, and hits aren’t cheap.
It’s a throwback thrill for me. I grew up a diehard wrestling fan, from painting my face like Ultimate Warrior to making Macho Man impersonations at local fast food places. “OH YEAH… give me the double cheeseburger and fries, YEAH!” I wanted to be a character like the ones I watched on television. Those ring personas were merely an extension of that person’s dark personality. Don’t underestimate the weirdness of the human mind; wrestling will show it all.
Also, I am still in the early going of Netflix’s Painkiller television series. It’s a tough watch, especially when each episode opens with a real parent talking about how opioids killed their kid. They’re not lying. These Sackler drug giants created a legit human purge with their greedy pharmaceutical Frankenstein-like creations. Taking MS Contin and turning it into a super drug like OxyContin changed the entire game.
#5: Happy birthday, Vinny
My dude is 12 years old. The funny story about the Buffa boys is that the Cardinals won a World Series in each year we were born, 1982 and 2011. Thinking back to that wild finish and postseason, all the while staring down the reaper with him in the hospital fighting for his life, brings back a surge of emotional memories.
Carpenter’s Philly performance. Freese. The final pitch. Vinny is a miracle baby, and a fine young man in the making. He’s smarter at his age than I could have dreamed at 12, and cares about people. He cares more about animals, which helps our zoo-ish collection of six pets. Being a parent isn’t easy work, but Vinny makes a lot of the stressful parts of this age seem easier by simply doing the right things.
That’s all. Enjoy your Sunday Funday.