Mad World
Eastbound Hits Home
By Mark Madden

New listeners to my radio show often ask, "Do you hate sports?"

My answer is yes, absolutely. A few things still tickle my fancy, like Penguins hockey and Liverpool football. But overall, what's there to like about sports? The exploitation, the saturation, the greed, the jurisprudence, the egos, the dilution, the media "partnerships" - sports are a far cry from what they used to be and should be.

The exception: "Eastbound & Down," the HBO original series starring Danny McBride. It's "Ball Four" on steroids edited by Doug Kenney.

Kenny Powers, the character played by McBride, is modern-day sports in a nutshell: Powers is a has-been (practically a never-was) who enjoyed brief success as a big-league pitcher, then lost everything due to all the usual excesses. Powers returns to his hometown, where he crashes at his brother's place and teaches junior-high gym.

In his private moments, Powers cries himself to sleep. In public, the one thing he hasn't lost is pro-athlete arrogance, not one drop. The more Powers fails, the more he preens. The more he embarrasses himself, the more in-your-face he gets. Despite all Powers' stupidity, people still flock to him because he once threw a baseball 100 mph.

It's John Rocker. It's Rafael Palmeiro pointing his finger while testifying in front of Congress. It's Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens living the lie. But with Powers, all the trappings are stripped away. He's not an athlete, he's a human being, and a ridiculous one at that, a metaphor for what the vast majority of these idiots are underneath.

McBride occasionally takes Powers to the brink of likeability. But just as you're about to root for him, Powers does something even stupider and regrets it even less.

It's about time somebody did this sort of portrayal, and about time somebody correctly identified baseball as the cesspool it is. If you hate the way baseball is romanticized in movies like "Bull Durham," "Eastbound & Down" is the antidote. I'd love to see a Kenny Powers fastball knock Crash Davis' eye out of its socket.

Is "Eastbound & Down" truly great comedy?

No. There's nothing subtle about it. It's always over the top. April - Kenny's love interest - is one of the series' few sane characters. Like Eddie Albert in "Green Acres," she resides in the eye of the hurricane. The principal, Kenny's sycophantic assistant, Will Ferrell portraying Ric Flair portraying a car dealer - everyone else is nuts.

But "Eastbound & Down" is timely. Major-league baseball players are mostly jerks. The last thing we need is Kevin Costner burnishing their false nobility yet again. We need Danny McBride showing these frauds for what they really are.

"Eastbound & Down" has a message for all the phonies, false idols, and self-important twits that populate sports: "YOU'RE ****ING OUT!" It's a message well-delivered.

Mark Madden hosts a radio show 3-6 p.m. weekdays on WXDX-FM (105.9)