Life's Lyrics 8 via "Eli's Coming" from Sports Night

It wasn't supposed to be a success. And Maybe it didn't become one after only running a few season on network television. However, to me Sports Night is a touchdown and a hole-in-one at the same time. It was consistently funny, intelligent, and emotional all at the same time. Classic Sorkin before The West Wing.

The other day I was searching my brain for a quote. I had a feeling about the world and that things were changing, not for the better. I couldn't remember what show or movie with which the quote came. I obsessed a bit during my drive to LA. Then, a flash. It was the line "Eli's coming". I had remembered how the line made me feel while watching it more than the subject matter. And I sure as hell didn't remember it came from sudo lyrics from a song.

So, since the world seems to be going to hell right now, this was the quote/lyric with which I was desperately searching my brain. I found the scene and have reprinted it here. However, one really must watch the DVD rerun in order to appreciate it. Try to think Sorkinesque.

DAN: Rebecca isn't here, Isaac isn't here, there's a strangeness about this day.

DAVE: 30 seconds live.

DAN: Eli's coming.

CASEY: Eli?

DAN: From the Three Dog Night song.

CASEY: Yes.

DAN: Eli's something bad. A darkness.

CASEY: "Eli's coming, hide your heart girl." Eli's an inveterate womanizer. I think
you're getting the song wrong.

DAVE: In ten--

DAN: I know I'm getting the song wrong, but when I first heard it, that's what I always thought it meant, and things stick with you that way.

DAVE: In three, two--

CASEY: Good afternoon, from New York City I'm Casey McCall alongside Dan Rydell. Lions and Tigers and Bearcats, oh my! We've got expanded coverage of the NC Double-A Men's Basketball Tournament, a/k/a March Madness.

DAN: We'll be taking you to Knoxville, East Rutherford and St. Louis, where the Jayhawks are about to tip off, and we want to bring you up to date on some developments out in Phoenix, so we're gonna take you to the America West Arena right after this. You're watching a special Saturday edition of Sports Night on CSC. We're just getting' started, so stick around.

DAVE: We're out.

KIM: Two minutes back.

DAN: They say it's always calmest before the storm. That's not true. I'm a serious sailor. It isn't calm before the storm. Stuff happens.

Stuff happens, no doubt. On the flip side, though, things can still be light. And I still say The Who sang about a doorman named Milo ... "Let Milo Open the Door"