November 3, 2007

Manny/Leno; Ortiz/Conan

Ortiz is cool, but he's no Manny:
"Are you related to Kevin Youkilis?"
Hilarious.

We are given a description of Manny by the media --and then the man comes out and he is pretty much the opposite -- smart, charismatic, media-savvy, more than articulate in English, relaxed, very sure of himself, just chatting away. And that giddy laugh -- when have we ever heard that laugh?

SoSHer ragecage says it all:
I really, really don't know if I could love Manny any more. Fuck, he rules. Flat out rules.

31 comments:

allan said...

"Yeah, I think I was out."

And the Large Father's advice to the press corps!

Amy said...

Great video clips! Thanks for collecting these two. Isn't it interesting that two of the big late show hosts are from Boston? What were the odds of that?

nixon33 said...

amen.
manny wins media week. hands down.
i like he did the mummy when he came out on stage!!!

papa sime said...

those were awesome.
i was mildly annoyed i missed out watching them but figured they'd be popping up on here.

i thought with conan's help, the ortiz clip was a bit more entertaining overall...

i wish manny did conan, also. that would be classic...conan' is so damn funny and the combination would be hilarity.

thanks for everything homey.

allan said...

I find Conan's repeating of what the guest says and then riffing on highly annoying.

(Does that mean I just backhandedly praised Leno? Oh god.)

laura k said...

Does that mean I just backhandedly praised Leno?

No it does not. Don't worry.

thatdietcokegirl said...

manny was great. so cool.

ortiz was good too, but conan was kind of annoying. usually i love him, i dunno why but he bugged me there lol.

Amy said...

Ditto on Conan. Do these hosts really think we want to hear their jokes rather than the guest? Perhaps so...I always find that Charlie Rose does the same thing....talks over his guests. I have never seen Conan before, and I guess I won't be staying up to watch him again.

Leno was much more tolerable.

laura k said...

I always find that Charlie Rose does the same thing....talks over his guests

Charlie Rose is infamous (and much parodied) for this. First he asks a 5-minute, 400-word question, then he talks all over his guest.

But he does attract fascinating people. Or at least he used to, I don't know if he has the same cache anymore.

Hey Allan, what's the guidelines about off-topic posting in non-gamethreads? :)

mfeige said...

I think one of the reasons that Conan came off a little bit more annoying is because he seemed genuinley nervous to meet Ortiz, being such a big Sox fan and all. The thought actually occured to me when I was watching the NESN clips.

P.S. Manny was looking Fly!

Devine said...

Manny's the man. I hope he stays at least for his last non-option year.

allan said...

I think one of the reasons that Conan came off a little bit more annoying is because he seemed genuinley nervous to meet Ortiz

I'm sure he was excited, but from what I have seen of his show, he is always like that.

Hey Allan, what's the guidelines about off-topic posting in non-gamethreads? :)

No guidelines yet. (shrug) Do I need to put up open, free-for-all threads?

laura k said...

Do I need to put up open, free-for-all threads?

Nope. In my experience, that never works anyway. I was just wondering if you mind the conversation drift. I never do in my own blog.

allan said...

Off-topic!

I hope the Canadian Blog Awards come around again while I have the Blogger boost in readers!

allan said...

Nah, I don't care.

And there is not enough comments to deter people who want to talk about the Red Sox.

Colin said...

That scorpion on the jacket Ortiz was wearing was Bedazzled to the highest extent...too cool for my eyes to see without shades on. The sign of the cross when Halloween was mentioned was also funny, but how dare Conan yell at Flo for trying to do the string bikini dance! Only Yerry tells the Large Father what to do.

"Theo, do it!"

Manny took the cake though with the helmet and questioning if Leno's chin was too much for it. I'm surprised the strap didn't break. Manny also knows his cars and I give him the most props for that.

allan said...

Manny Being Manny During Massachusetts State Driver's License Photo

allan said...


Colorado Rockies: "What The Fuck Just Happened?"

November 1, 2007 | | Onion Sports

DENVER — Days after the Boston Red Sox completed their four-game sweep to win the 2007 World Series, Colorado Rockies players dressed in full uniform were still standing on the field experiencing various degrees of shock. "We ... we ... we were winning lots of games? And then? Then we were losing all these games? Because the Red Sox came and hit and hit and hit and they didn't, they didn't stop..." said Rockies outfielder Ryan Spilborghs, pointing at the left field wall with a shaking and dirty finger before turning, pointing at the right field wall, and repeating the words he has been speaking nonstop since Sunday night. "They hit here, and here, and through the gap there, and they... Oh, God, what happened? What the fuck just happened to us?" Rockies team officials released an erratically worded, hand-scrawled statement today saying they would address any psychological issues just as soon as the World Series is over.

nixon33 said...

i think conan was talking over ortiz, NOT becuase Conan was nervous, but becuase ORTIZ was nervous. and with his low pitched voice and "stunted english" (my father is italian and speaks stunted english) it was hard to understand him (whitebread americans) so conan maybe felt he had to make things clear? i dont know
you could tell ortiz was a bit jittery in the explanations and such. fist time i'v seen him rattled!
good thing theres no pitcher that can do that to him.

laura k said...

Allan, you should send that Onion link to Mason.

He is a friend of ours, born and raised in Denver, family goes back 4 generations there - and he's also been a Red Sox fan all his life. He never dreamed the two would conflict.

Denver roots won out in the end, and he was crushed.

allan said...

Looks like the Manny clip has been pulled.

laura k said...

I watched all three tonight on tape. They were all fun but Manny!! Goddamn he is cool!

Fist-pumping Steve Carel, that was so cute.

And now can it be put to rest that the man can't speak English??

Tiz on Conan was cool, too. I think Conan talking so much took the pressure off Papi. I don't know if anyone remembers Ortiz kind of bombing on Ellen DeGeneres's show? I think those kinds of situations aren't great for him and Conan made it easy.

I did like Ortiz telling Theo to "get it done" (about Mikey).

But major points off Conan for using the uttering the "the curse".

Bot was fun too. I had only seen the dancing entrance before, didn't see the whole sit-down. Snuffer is totally comfy in front of the camera, a natural.

But damn, Manny was awesome!! Like Nix33 said, he wins media week hands down.

Amy said...

Looks like the Manny clip has been pulled.

I was wondering how they could put these clips up without permission.... (copyright law person that I am). Guess they couldn't. Oh, well. Glad we got to see it while we could.

allan said...

Different Manny link in the main post -- it works for now.

MBM said...

Wow, some people may be in love with manny, but man I love big papi. That video of him on Conan made me laugh so hard. I kept thinking, "he's a bedazeller." too. Awesome.

PS I got the manny clip again by just googling.

laura k said...

I think we all love Papi. No need to choose between the two Bad Men!

Zenslinger said...

I momentarily thought that Conan was overdoing it here and there, but I think given that these guys don't do appearances like this all the time and aren't native English speakers makes room for some of that. If you speak a second language, you've probably noticed that your skill level can drop pretty dramatically when you're a) nervous and b) starting a conversation cold.

Someone at The Bar told me yesterday that he knows a Red Sox insider. Source never named, of course, so this is worth what I paid for it, but he says there's concern about Papelbon having an alcohol problem.

One, sounds like backlash at worst, or speculation at the least. Also, lots of people have alcohol problems, so it could be kind of a strategic prediction on someone's part. I ain't concerned about it in particular -- just some bullshit to pass on.

Thanks for providing those links.

laura k said...

I agree with Zenslinger, but I do want to note that I think we all have a tendency to exaggerate the non-native-speaker factor for these guys.

Manny is fully bilingual, and I think Ortiz is, too. Ortiz may not be great in these situations, because it's not his forte, period. He might not be great in the same situation on a Spanish-language talk show.

It's not like they're FOB (fresh off the boat) or that they live primarily in a Spanish-language community. Ortiz's wife is not even Latina.

Just a thought.

Zenslinger said...

I have very little handle on how good their English is. I think it's one thing to be functional and another to be fully fluent. And some people get to a certain level and don't get any further either with their accent or with their actual fluency.

I think Manny might have missed what Jay said about his father's buying that car new in 1956.

This just comes from teaching experience; I have nothing against someone who doesn't speak English perfectly. I will never speak any of the languages I have studied anywhere close to true fluency.

laura k said...

ZS, good point re fluency vs functional.

I knew you (of all people) weren't knocking anyone for not speaking English perfectly.

I wish I were bilingual. I just interviewed a very articulate French Canadian and I wished I could converse with her in both languages. I felt like a dolt.

Amy said...

Sadly, American education does nothing to promote bilingualism. I find it amazing that wherever else in the world I have traveled that people in general, not just highly educated people, speak at least two languages, generally including English as one. I am always envious of their ability to speak and understand another language. Despite seven years of high school and college French, I still sound like a 6 year old if I try and speak French.