The Stars are Out: May to July 2023

 The thing about doing this series for 8 years is that I've gotta avoid dupes. Which explains why there hasn't been as many Stars Are Out profiles as usual. A lot of people I can take or leave, or people I've already done, throwing out the first pitch these days. The good news is there are occasionally diamonds in the rough, but this is the highlights of two and a half months. That's...less than ideal. But hey, it's better than nothing.

Biggest one first- before getting drafted by the Spurs, clearly a team that needs help getting a title [sarcasm implied, they win every decade or so], Victor Wembanyama, the biggest surefire NBA legend since...well, Zion Williamson, made an appearance at Yankee Stadium to throw out a first pitch. A lot like Giannis a few years ago, there's no regional correlation, he was just in town while being hot shit and he'd make news just throwing one out in the Bronx. Wemby's gonna be huge in the bigs, hopefully he proceeds to have great health and put up nothing against the Sixers.

Not the only NBA guy that made it to a ballpark this stretch. Paul George I remember most from a horrible injury he had about a decade ago, but he rebounded nicely and has remained a big star for the Clippers. George is from the greater San Diego area, hence him throwing one out at a Padres game rather than a Dodgers or Angels game. 

Charles Tillman was a Bears legend that is a rare grown man who's alright being called 'Peanut'. He's a rare defenseman to have his own play named after him, 'the Peanut Punch'. If you get something named after you, either you've done it really right or really wrong. Along with Will Shields, Tillman's the second Stars are Out guy I've done that my dad has worked with in some capacity.

I try to pick only the more interesting ex-MLBers for this series, and Dennis Martinez seemed like one of those to me. A true ageless wonder, Martinez was a star in the 80s for the Orioles, then became a mainstay with the Expos and Indians into his 40s, with a no-hitter on top of it all. A fantastic pitcher, and somebody that Bartolo Colon, Jamie Moyer and Rich Hill owe a lot to. Kinda cool that Martinez is still welcome at Camden Yards, even if in my opinion he accomplished the least there in the long run despite the long tenure on the O's.

I think it's okay to like Chris Tucker again, guys. Wasn't cool for a bit in the 2000s, now everybody's come around, realized that him being annoying in Fifth Element was kinda the point. He talks fast and he's annoying, he's supposed to be. You're not gonna stand here and tell me Rush Hour doesn't work because of him. He's the perfect foil to Jackie Chan. Tucker seemed excited to be at Dodger Stadium for this, hopefully his career uptick post-Silver-Linings-Playbook continues.

Rosario Dawson, meanwhile, has endured a nice renaissance since her role in the Netflix Daredevil series, as her status as a formidable, kickass female lead got her the role of an adult version of Ahsoka Tano in both The Mandalorian and the upcoming Ahsoka Disney+ series. Dawson's a New Yorker at heart, and broke big not only in the NYC indie community in the 90s, but as a true New York pizza worker in the extremely flawed Men in Black 2. Of course she's remained a Mets fan, and of course she still looks good in Mets colors.

We'll end on a cool one. The Atlanta rap scene is so legendary down there that OutKast gets their own promotion night. Because it's apparently commonplace for the venn diagram of Braves fans and OutKast fans to intersect greatly enough for a well-attended OutKast Night. I know, I know, the cultural makeup of the Atlanta general area does make it a bit easier. But it's also cool that, as OutKast has been bronzed into Atlanta legend by this point, we still have both members alive and performing to this day. And that means Big Boi can throw out the first pitch at a Braves game, in a full throwback uniform. So that's pretty damn cool.

I reckon there will be more on the next check-in, but...who knows.