Don't switch the blade on a guy in shades

Over the weekend I added Corey Hart, a second year outfielder for the Milwaukee Brewers, to my fantasy squad.

Hart offers the kind of five-category consistency that would be an asset to any fantasy baseball team -- which is why I was pleasantly surprised to find him on the waiver wire. Although that is nothing compared to the continuous amusement I gleam from his name: Corey Hart

I'm going to let Mr. and Mrs. Hart of Bowling Green, Kentucky off the hook here by pointing out Corey was born in 1982, a full year before Canadian singer Corey Hart took the world by storm with a brooding ode to nocturnal eye wear titled Sunglasses At Night.

Little did Mr. and Mrs. Hart know the already Corey Hart, by way of his so-cool-the-sun-always- shines-on-me pose, would become so popular he would be offered, despite his lack of acting experience, Michael J. Fox's eventual role as Marty McFly in Back to the Future. (Two casting decisions which remind us for a brief flicker in time Canadians were, stunningly, all the rage.)

"Corey Hart" is hardly the only name to have been rendered amusing by a pop singer. How many Michael Jacksons -- surely once one of the most common first and surname combos in the English speaking world -- became Mike Jackson when the throngs started asking them "where's the white glove?" And the brilliant inclusion of a character named "George Michael" made Arrested Development, a very funny sitcom, that much more funny.

But baseball's Corey Hart is dealing with it at a whole different level. Not only has the other Corey Hart's master work graduated, through unintended absurdity and a catchy "I wear my sunglasses at night" refrain, to a permanent fixture in the cannon of unkillable 80's songs, but young Corey Hart happens to be known for doing one of the few jobs around where wearing or not wearing sunglasses has any relevancy.

Since he's on my fantasy team, I'm going to be pulling hard for Hart to speed and power his way to a 30/30 season. But every time I see him field a fly ball with his sunglasses flipped down I'm going to also have to indulge my inner Chris Berman and wonder if now the center fielder is able to "keep track of the visions in his eyes."

I'll hardly be the only one pondering this silliness, and it's going to take a bunch of 30/30 seasons before poor Corey Hart breaks out of the epic shadow of the other Corey Hart's shades.