The Previews Preview: This Year's Theme

So I've been watching a bunch of old westerns lately, and as one tends to do in that  pursuit, I inevitably re-watched Sergio Leone's 3 Eastwood films of the Spaghetti Western genre plus Once Upon A Time In The West for the first time (I was pretty blown away by that one...Henry Fonda as a bad guy was genius, Jason Robards was superb, Claudia Cardinale ooh-la-la, and Bronson at his Bronson-esque best).

So, in honor of the Spaghetti Western in general and the 53rd anniversary of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly in particular, this year's pre-season previews will have a Good, Bad and Ugly theme, as follows:

The Good about your team/franchise, as signified by Eastwood's "Blondie". Smart trades, notable development of prospects, top lineups and pitching staffs, etc.

The Bad, as signified by Lee Van Cleef's "Angel Eyes".  The iron-handed shortstop, the reliever with health of 27, the lineup that doesn't work...I'll try to point out flaws that will cost games and playoff spots.

The Ugly, as honored by Eli Wallach's "Tuco".  I'm not sure how the Bad and the Ugly will be different...maybe the Ugly will just be things that are easier to make fun of, which means top will dominate this category.

OK, that's the setup.  Looking forward to knocking this out in the next 3 days, as Thursday I'm making the long trip to Austin for LSU's first trip to Texas since 1954 - should be a great one.