Last night's episode of Showtime’s "The Franchise: A Season With The San Francisco Giants" prominently featured 1B Aubrey Huff, including a scene in which Huff was on the receiving end of a clubhouse practical joke. Huff was told that his credit card had been stolen and someone charged $23,000 in Tijuana. P Brian Wilson told Huff, “I don’t think you can buy drugs on a credit card, so that’s already out.” It was revealed later that Team Travel Coordinator Michael King and RF Cody Ross were playing a joke on Huff. Ross told King to tell Huff “they were trying to buy a bunch of explosives.” Huff said of the stress created by the lack of his offensive production this season, “This team’s definitely taken about 10 years off my life. I’m sure of it.” The Giants' propensity to play close games was also examined, as the narrator said the Giants "lead the major leagues in comeback wins and fittingly, nearly half their wins have been by one run.” Giants Senior VP & GM Brian Sabean: “Last year, if we were a band of misfits, this year we’re a bunch of cockroaches. You can’t kill us off.” After another close game, Giants manager Bruce Bochy said, “Games like this is why they make alcohol” ("The Franchise," Showtime, 7/27).
BASEBALL, REALITY TV NOT A GOOD FIT: In Sacramento, Scott Lebar wrote under the header, "'The Franchise': Time Is Not On Its Side." The reality show format and MLB's "unclocked, season-defined-as-we-go world make for a bad fit." That is not the case with HBO's "Hard Knocks," as the "sharp football reality show" is "finite." "The Franchise" is "hard to follow, meandering because baseball does, its storylines shape-shifting over the long season" (SACRAMENTO BEE, 7/25).
