The Heeling of Achilles

Two links that I found helpful in my present situation:

http://www.achillestendonblog.com/ -- a fellow Blogger who found himself in the same predicament not too long ago
http://www.achillestendon.com/ -- a summary of injuries, prevention, treatment & recovery

John Marzano (1963-2008)

John Marzano, 1984 Olympian and Red Sox backup catcher 1987-1992 has died, apparently from falling down stairs after a heart attack.

Notes from the Boston Globe.

Obituary on MLB.com (Marzano's current employer).

A marginal player who might have blossomed had he not played behind the likes of Rich Gedman and Tony Pena, he was nonetheless well-liked by his teammates. He was also a member of the 1990 Boston Red Sox, which remains one of my favorite teams of all time. He didn't get to play much behind Tony Pena, but he was with the club almost the entire season. The Red Sox will observe a moment of silence at tonight's game. He was only 45.

Get the Picture

The picture I refer to below appears here -- for some reason blogger wouldn't let me insert it into the applicable post.

Bouncing Back

The highlight of Boston's home opener earlier this week was the Sox' invitation to have Bill Buckner throw out the first pitch. Video is available here.

I was too remote from the 1986 World Series to feel a strong negative impact from games 6 & 7. In the 22 years since I have spoken to several people who were so devestated that they swear they stopped following the team after "Nineteen Eight-Six." From my distant perspective, the '86 Sox were quite the opposite -- the team that revitalized my interest in baseball in general and the Red Sox in particular.

Buckner's fielding miscue that ended Game 6 became the focal point of Boston's painful loss that year, but any serious or semi-serious student of the game will tell you that there was more than enough blame to go around in that game and in that series, most of which this reporter places on the manager in the Boston dugout. While Buckner received the loudest "boos" at Fenway in subsequent years, public opinion started to turn in his favor when (after having been released in 1987) he signed a minor-league deal with the Red Sox in 1990 and made the team out of spring training. He received a standing ovation on opening day of that memorable season, and was applauded warmly at every home at-bat thereafter, one of which resulted in about the most improbable inside-the-park homerun in Boston history.

Hopefully, with the 2008 opener, the rehabilitation of his name is complete, at least as much as possible. He was an excellent hitter and, believe it or not, a good fielding first-baseman whose injuries have kept him out of the Hall of Fame. Nonetheless, there is part of me that wonders what would have happened if Buckner had made that play in game 6 -- the score was tied, and the Mets were out of pitchers. Due to some horrifically poor management by Davey Johnson, they only had the immortals Doug Sisk and Randy Niemann, or would have had to have gone to a starter to retire the Red Sox in the top of the 11th. For that matter, what if Bob Stanley had heard Marty Barrett yelling at him and had turned to pick Ray Knight off second with the score tied? We shall never know.

One other thing -- years ago I saw a picture similar to the one above on display in a memorabilia store in Cooperstown, New York. I wasn't sure if the fact that Buckner had signed it was indicative of his ability to put the mistake behind him, or make a profit off the pain he had caused countless others. I'm still not sure, but it troubles me. I can say that if I ever see an autographed picture of Grady Little on the mound with Pedro Martinez in game 7 of the 2003 ALCS, I may require the services of a criminal defense team.

Larger than Life

Most of the obituaries about Charlton Heston note his starring roles in The Ten Commandments and Ben-Hur, and his political activism, most notably as a leading figure in the NRA.

Perhaps the most egregious omission is that of his civil rights activism in the early 1960's, well before it was "fashionable." He was the first prominent white actor to speak out against racial injustice, both in Hollywood and across the country.

On a more personal note, it's a shame there isn't mention of what I believe to be his best role, in The Greatest Show on Earth. I've seen most of his films, and that one remains my favorite of those in which he starred. IMDB has his complete filmography here. I also enjoyed his role as John the Baptist in The Greatest Story Ever Told, although his part wasn't enough to salvage the overall film.

He also served his country in World War II, leading to one of my favorite interview exchanges. Meeting with Robert Osborne for TCM, he was asked about his military service and noted (to the best of my recollection): "I was stationed in the Aleutian Islands. It was a quiet war. However, our outfit was designated for the invasion of Japan until they dropped the atom bomb. For myself and thousands like me, the atom bomb was a blessing."

Not only was this a succinct rejoinder to the armchair quarterbacks who questioned the decision some fifty-plus years later, but it left the loquacious Osborne speechless for a moment. Charlton Heston was a larger-than-life figure who filled larger-than-life roles both on and off the screen; he will be missed.

Ivan the Great (1931-2008)

Ivan Dixon was a great actor, a pioneer in radio, television and film, a terrific director and, above all, a true gentleman. In 1994 I had the privilege of interviewing Ivan several times for my Hogan's Heroes project (I interviewed all of the surviving cast and contributors with the exception of Richard Dawson and Leon Askin).

Ivan was living in Hawaii at the time, so it took an effort to get ahold of him, but he was very kind to give of his time to help a fledgling, no-name would-be author from Nowhere, Pennsylvania on a project that, despite nearly everyone's best efforts, ended up going nowhere, also.

Of course, he's best known for his portrayal of Sgt. James Kinchloe (mistakenedly referred to as "Ivan" by a guest star in one episode), Col. Hogan's steady sidekick and de facto second-in-command. He also delivers one of my favorite lines of the series:

NEWKIRK: Well, the first thing we must do is not panic.

KINCHLOE: I already have -- what's the second thing?

Ivan went on to have continued success as an actor, a director and the owner / operator of a KONI FM in Hawaii. IMDB has his complete credits here.

His death on 3/16/08 leaves only a handful of survivors from that great show -- by my count, Robert Clary, Richard Dawson, Cynthia Lynn and Kenneth Washington among the regulars and semi-regulars (the latter two having only appeared in one season apiece), along with co-creator Al Ruddy, and directors Bruce Bilson, Robert Butler and Gene Reynolds, all of whom are in their 70's and 80's.

Founding Father (1925-2008)

For my birthday in 1992, my mother-in-law bought me a gift subscription to National Review. The magazines started coming in January 1993, coinciding with the opening days of the Clintonista Administration. They continue today, roughly every two weeks, including the latest, glossy-covered issue as a tribute to their founder, Wm. F. Buckley Jr.

Always reasoned, never shrill, NR was the perfect antidote to an overtly left-leaning media (in the days before the Internet and before Talk Radio became populated beyond Rush Limbaugh), and the unmitigated chaos, vacuity, bean-counting and mendacity of the early Clinton years (not that the later years were much better). On top of that, it played a major role in pulling me out of the four years of left-leaning academic from which I had recently emerged. My only regret is that nobody, including me, thought to begin the subscription four or five years earlier.

Fifteen years later, I still have nearly every issue (a few having perished in various moves along the way), and look forward to my twilight years in the near future when I'm able to peruse them at my leisure. The tributes to Mr. Buckley have been numerous, but his courage in starting a serious journal of conservative thought in the early 1950's had a major impact on my life forty years later, not to mention to millions of people all over the world. Thanks, Bill.

Rocket is Grounded

Forgetting for a moment that George Mitchell, former lapdog of the Clinton Administration, was perhaps the least original thinker ever to serve under the constitution (I'd still like to know what happened to Louis Sullivan's health care proposal in 1991), and left a series of disparities in his report (which, in full disclosure, I have not read), the allegations against Roger Clemens are nonetheless pretty serious.

Dan Shaughnessy writes about it here.

As I've noted previously in this space (not that any of you read it), true Red Sox fans were somewhat disgruntled that Clemens "mailed in" his last four seasons in Boston, then burned up the league in 1997-1998 while with Toronto. I had previously attributed his success there to a combination of Dan Duquette's misjudgement and Clemens' personal motivation to prove he wasn't done yet. His success later in Houston could easily be attributed to pitching in a pitcher-friendly park against National League lineups that run 5- or 6-deep. On top of that, Clemens' teammates through the years have always attested to his intense work ethic and drive to keep himself in shape.

But his Yankee years are somewhat intriging. I hadn't forgotten that Clemens was a little better than ordinary during his first year in New York (1999), before having strong years in 2000 and 2001.

Now, with steroids et al in the mix, one can't help but see a pattern there. Maybe Dan Duquette was right after all. Stay tuned...

"No Dolphins were harmed in the harvesting of this Tuna"

Bill Parcells has taken a job with the hapless Miami Dolphins. This is his last football job. Really. He means it this time. Seriously. As soon as he wins another playoff game...

Aiming at the Jets

The Boston Globe has two articles / columns on Sunday's upcoming clash between the Patriots and the Jets that capture the backlash of "Spygate" as well as the rapid rise and equally rapid immolation of Jets coach Eric Mangini:

Christopher Gasper's Article

Eric Wilbur's Blog (I found this one absolutely hysterical)

Predictions are something I avoid in the NFL ("any given Sunday" and all that), and I don't even believe that the 0-and-whatever Dolphins are a sure thing next week. It's hard to believe that Belichick's boys will struggle against a team they already destroyed once this season on the road, and that was before the added motivation alluded to above. I suspect BB will pull out all the stops on this one, just to make a point. We'll see...

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

The Baltimore Browns, er, Ravens are a very bad team who played a pretty good game Monday night against the undefeated New England Patriots. That being said:

(1) Complaining about the penalties? PUH-LEEZE! The Browns are the second-most penalized team in the NFL. If there were 13 penalties against them, there could have been 40. They are a dirty team that make up for their lack of talent and discipline by breaking the rules. The plays that were flagged weren't even debatable, and that's not counting the ones that were missed.

(2) The Gaffney TD that put the Pats ahead might be open to discussion, but the replays weren't conclusive. However, let's say it was overturned. Then you have double unsportsman-like conduct penalties against the Ravens (Bart Scott, check your voicemail) that would have given the Patriots 1st-and-goal at the 2-yard-line. I somehow think the Brady Bunch would have found a way to score from there.

(3) What exactly possesses Brian Billick to blow kisses at Rodney Harrison? I don't care if Harrison insulted his mother (or his quarterback) -- coaches should be above that kind of stuff, even those that are overpaid and underperforming. That a head coach would act that way with national TV cameras rolling leads one to wonder what other nefarious deeds are taking place on and off the field.

(4) And then there was the Baltimore timeout called on the 4th-and-1 play at the end of the game that saved the Patriots' season.

(5) Finally, I personally thought it was rather tasteless for ESPN to have Don Shula in their broadcast booth for nearly the entire second half. Yeah, I know all about his connection to the original Colts, and of couse that other team in the early 70's that is on the verge of having its record tied, so go ahead and ask him a few questions. But he was in the booth for close to an hour, for crying out loud. Fortunately, I didn't have to listen to him, so I have no idea what he said (and I doubt he said anything too controversial, or we'd be hearing about it today), but the length of the appearance seemed to overstep the lines of objective journalism.

Penalties notwithstanding, I wasn't surprised that the Ravens defense gave the Patriots fits through most of the game. After all, there is some talent there. It was more surprising -- and troubling -- that the Ravens offense was able to move the ball with some consistency, marking the second week in a row that the New England defense has been exposed by a mediocre offense. Perhaps the loss of Roosevelt Colvin is being felt? In any case, it should make for another fun week of practice in Foxboro with the Steelers coming to town on Sunday.

In your spare time...

A few interesting links I discovered between Turkey and leftovers last week:

Story of Snoopy's Christmas Brilliant editing creating animation to accompany an oft-overlooked Christmas Classic

24 in 1994 for you Kiefer Sutherland fans (warning -- mild language)

Eight Letters in Search of a Word Scrabble-like timewaster

Happy Thanksgiving!

Best regards to all six of you who actually read this blog, and a special shout-out to George Soule for hanging tough that first year.

The Day After the Movie Before

Taking a break a few days ago, I caught a few minutes of the broadcast of The Day After Tomorrow. Leaving aside the debatable scientific allegations for a moment, I was struck by two things:

(1) Good grief, the acting was awful. Did anybody actually want to be in this picture? Did they all work for free or something? I know Dennis Quaid isn't exactly Mr. Kinetic Energy, but a little bit of enthusiasm in his role might have been called for.

(2) I wonder if the filmmakers chose the title to intentionally follow 1983's The Day After. After all, the fear of nuclear holocaust in the 1980's has been succeeded by the perceived threat of global climate self-immolation in the 2000's. I saw The Day After in 1983, and saw it again (or at least enough of it) a few years ago to find its premises and prognostications almost laughable. One has to wonder if we'll see The Day After Tomorrow twenty years hence an crack a similarly wry smile when we realize that all this "global warming" nonsense was exactly that. I guess we'll find out one way or another...

Noises

Just some stray thoughts I had on the controversy surrounding the Indianapolis Irsays pumping additional noise into their stadium, specifically during their recent game against the 3-time Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots --

I'm not really a conspiracy theorist, and I find it hard to believe that the Irsays -- even the aforementioned Bill Polian -- would do something so idiotic and, for that matter, unnecessary. Of course, it's also alleged that they pumped up the heat in the RCA Dome during last season's AFC Championship game between the same two teams, so you never know.

I watched the game and noticed the glitch at the beginning of the fourth quarter. It was something I had never heard before on a live network broadcast. The only time I've heard anything like that at all is when a damaged or scratched CD skips in a (usually subpar) CD player.

Later, CBS explained that it was a problem the had "in the truck" -- presumably, some technician was looping through a recording, perhaps endeavoring to find a specific highlight to replay or something.

This makes sense to a point, but thinking about it a little further I still couldn't quite believe it. In order for this to happen --

1. The technician would have to be looking at something that only had crowd noise.

2. He (or she) would have to have left the life sound feed to the broadcast "open," enabling the feedback to be heard over the air.

3. The master recording (or the equipment) would have to damanged in some way in order to facilitate the skipping.

4. All this would have to occur precisely at a time during the game when the crowd noise was rising, the falling after the conclusion of a live play (by the opposing team).

Since I highly doubt CBS uses CD / DVD technology to generate replays or highlights during a live broadcast (rendering #3, above, moot), I have to admit I'm rather skeptical. Again, not to go Oliver Stone on this, but it seems like there's too many coincidences to believe that CBS was responsible -- at least totally responsible -- for this problem. Not to allege any malice on the part of the Irsays necessarily, but I just can't believe CBS's explanation.

That being said, my biggest problem with Super Bowl 41.5 wasn't the Irsays or their fans or any alleged competitive infractions behind the scenes, but the fact that the officiating was absolutely dreadful. The "offensive pass interference" call on Randy Moss was incomprehensively bad. One has to wonder why the NFL assigned a rookie crew to a game of such magnitude.

21st Century World Series Scoreboard

Boston Red Sox 2

New York Yankees 0



Somewhere in the Bronx there's a 7-year-old kid wondering if the Yankees will ever win the World Series in his lifetime...

Where have I been?

Or does anybody really care? Well, it's been a busy couple of months. The licensure requirements for my job are changing next February, so I decided to focus on getting those tests completed before the big rush next year. This included the FINRA (formerly NASD) Series 7 and, just this past week, the Series 66. Preparation for those two monsters consumed what little free time I had, but I was fortunate to pass both on the first attempt. It's also been suggested I take the Series 24, but I haven't decided if I want to take that step or not. Right now, my brain is in recovery mode.

Oh, yeah, and there's been a few sporting events that have provided some diversion (some would say distraction. I'd write more about them but right now I'm distracted by the additional noise Bill Polian is pumping into my house. Stay tuned...

Memorable Quotes

In the 7 minutes it takes me to get from home to office, with the radio tuned to Mike & Mike in the Morning, I heard two memorable quotes:

"The only thing that will make Roger Clemens retire is his age." -- Mike Golic. At this point, what else could it be?

"They won't settle for mediocracy." -- Mike Ditka, referring to Chicago Cubs fans. Kinda like a meritocracy, but governed by those of only average intelligence.

Die Hard

My latest book on tape was the autobiography of Walter Payton, Never Die Easy. It was different than any other recorded book I've read because of the use of a variety of narrators. The format of the book was finalized shortly before Payton died in 1999, and was structured to intersperse Payton's own memories with those of his friends, family and teamates, held together with an overall narration.

While Payton's story is certainly both triumphant and tragic, and while the biography of one of football's all-time greats needs to be told, this project was a disappointment. It is relatively short -- only 7 cassettes, and the first 90 minutes or so is devoted to his final days. Again, a story worth hearing, but not exactly an inspirational way to start. Funnily enough, when I inserted the first cassette I found it was 2/3 of the way through the first side; I wonder if the previous reader gave up.

Undaunted, I slogged through and made my way into his youth and playing career, which covered the next two cassettes, and which was the main point of interest for me getting the book in the first place. The next three cassettes were almost unbearable, as we had to endure endless self-pitying accounts of the trials and travails of his retirement years, most notably his inability to latch onto an NFL expansion team in an ownership / management role. Yeah, Walter, life is hard, and sometimes things don't work out. Too many times I found myself rolling my eyes at the incessant whining of him and others about the 3 or so years he invested in that endeavor, wanting to yell "get over it!" at the tape deck. Only the story's untimate tragic ending kept me from doing so.

The final cassette held some redeeming value, capturing Payton's emphasis on the importance of organ donation, and the comments from his friends and family directly from his private memorial service in 1999. Nonetheless, I was disappointed. By all appearances, this project was rushed to publication too quickly -- some sharp editing would have eliminated the repetition of comments and several factual errors. Beyond that, the overall effect was depressing, not inspiring or uplifting. For a player from a small town in Mississippi that went to a (now) Division I-AA school and went on to set all kinds of records, win a SuperBowl, turn a franchise around and be considered perhaps the most complete player of his generation and perhaps others, I feel that "Sweetness" deserved better than this.

Midsummer Classic

These All-Star Games make me feel old. I not only remember when the National League won the game, but when they would win it every year with regularity.

Like most national broadcasts, it started too late, ran too long, and ran the commercial breaks right up to the windup. Otherwise, a fairly enjoyable game that not only saw Josh Beckett get the win, but Alex Rodriguez make a fool of himself.

Prior to the game, there was a tribute to the great Willie Mays. Richly deserved, to be sure, but I couldn't help but compare it to the thunderous ovation Ted Williams received at the 1999 All-Star Game in Boston. AT&T Park, by contrast, sounded like a cavern, at least from my vantage point in front of the television. Perhaps it was the total lack of buildup by way of introduction given by Fox's Joe Buck -- a brief sentence, nothing more. Compare that to the intro given to the Spinter in 1999, which I almost know by memory --

"Ladies and gentlmen -- he wore the uniform of the Boston Red Sox for 22 seasons. He wore the uniform of the United States Marine Corps for 4-1/2 more. He owned left field at this very ballpark. He hit 521 home runs, including one in his last at-bat. He was the last man to hit .400, and he did so 58 years ago. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome -- the greatest hitter who ever lived -- number 9 -- Hall of Famer -- Baseball Legend -- TED --- WILLIAMS!"

At this point the house on Yawkey Way was literally coming down, as the Kid himself was brought in on a golf cart. That's how you're supposed to introduce a legend, San Francisco.