After a week off from SSI's (happy holidays by the way), we're back and better than ever. As opposed to the reader-suggested SSI's we've been rolling with lately, I thought this one up all on my own (aren't you proud, Ma?!) and I think it's pretty darn good. You be the judge.

You're looking at former Sox backup backstop Kevin Cash and actor Michael Pena. Cash pulled a Johnny Damon and skipped town to go play for the Yankees, although the loss of Wakefield's now ex-battery-mate is a little easier to stomach than Damon's defection was. (On a loosely related note, do you remember those "Johnny Demon" t-shirts everyone came out with after he left? How weak were those things?) Cash could only muster a minor league deal from a team that's throwing around millions like it's going out of style, so I say good riddance if he wasn't willing to come back to the Sox for the same offer (although it's entirely likely the Sox didn't even want him back).

Pena starred opposite Marky Mark Wahlberg in a shitty movie I saw recently called Shooter. If you haven't seen it, don't bother; if you have seen it and were actually able to sit through the entire thing, I share in your misery. Wahlberg has this disgusting, patchy goatee at the beginning of the film that he thankfully ditches about 20 or so minutes in, and Danny Glover has the most ridiculous lisp I've ever been forced to listen to. Not to mention it appears that our beloved Roger Murtaugh (yeah, that's a Lethal Weapon reference for your asses, you're welcome) decided to get braces in the ever-popular, growing "My life is more than halfway over but it's never too late to straighten that smile!" trend.

Bottom line of this post: Shooter sucked, but at least Kate Mara and Rhona Mitra made it a bit more palatable. For that, I'll forgive Pena and Wahlberg (not Glover... the lisp really was unbearable) and give them a shot to impress me in the future. But they should know that they're skating on thin ice, unlike the Bruins, who moved into first place in the entire NHL with a win against Pittsburgh last night... (See what I did there?)