To Absent Friends: Bill "Moose" Skowron

Bill Skowron passed away this past Friday at the age of 81.  Skowron had a very good, solid major league career that covered 14 seasons, 1954-67. The first nine of those seasons were with the New York Yankees, and all but one of them were spent in the American League.Growing up in a National League city in the pre-cable TV, pre-ESPN era, Skowron was just a player that...

Bryce Harper Arrives

Back in June, 2009, Sports Illustrated  ran this cover story on 16 year old high school baseball player Bryce Harper, proclaiming him baseball's "Chosen One", much as they did with LeBron James a few years before.  I can remember reading the article and thinking, "what an arrogant, insufferable little pr**k this kid is", and, of course, his parents were stereotypical...

Pittsburgh SABR Chapter Meeting Summary

The Pittsburgh/Forbes Field Chapter held its Spring Meeting on Saturday, April 28 at the Heinz HistoryCenter in Pittsburgh.  Thirty-five members and guests attended the meeting and heard the following presentations.Our Guest Speaker was Beaver County Times sports columnist John Mehno.  John talked about his early days as a 19 year old sports writer covering the early 1970’s Pirates of Danny Murtaugh and Joe L. Brown up through the current...

The Draft

As has been breathlessly reported by just about everyone today.....THE STEELERS DRAFTED DAVID DeCASTRO IN THE FIRST ROUND LAST NIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!My, God, have you ever felt such excitement?  On Facebook yesterday, I made the prediction that when the Steelers made their second round pick at some point, whenever ESPN allows the second round to begin, that the team would make an announcement to the effect of "We had him projected as a late...

In Sports Illustrated This Week...

Two articles of interest in this week's SI (the one with RG III on the cover)....A brief essay by Joe Posnanski advocating that the Save should be eliminated as a baseball statistic. It will make for better pitching staffs and more effective bullpens.  Trust me, it is something to think about.A lengthy excerpt from a new book "Over Time, My Life As a Sportswriter" a memoir by Frank DeFord.  The excerpt was about DeFord covering the NBA...

Blog Comments

I have been receiving word that commenting on the Blog Posts has become a bit easier in light of some changes that Google has made behind the scenes in managing these blogs.  I do post my Grandstander entries on Facebook, and get a number of comments there, but it would be a lot more fun to get comments directly on the blog post itself.So, if you've had trouble in the past posting, try it again, and let's see what happens.Than...

Quick Thoughts on Last Night's Pirates Game

Could the Bucco debut of A.J Burnett been any better?Two more hits and two runs scored by Andrew McCutchen, who does not seem to be allowing that huge contract he signed affect him negatively.Will the two singles by Pedro Alvarez, one of them an infield hit, be the impetus he needs to get going?How about those K's in the eighth by Tony Watson and Jason Grilli?Here's hoping that Joel Hanrahan can make it just a little less dramatic in future appe...

To Absent Friends: Charles Colson

Remember the years 1972 to 1974?  Remember the Ervin Hearings?  The Rodino Justice Committee hearings?  If you do, then a distant bell was rung in your mind when you saw the obit for Charles Colson in the news today.  Where you sat politically back in those days and how great a capacity for forgiveness you have will effect your opinion as to how much of a "friend" you might consider Chuck Colson. He was certainly not a "good guy"...

Movie Review: "The Three Stooges"

Yes, I did it.  I went to see the new movie, "The Three Stooges".  Marilyn was meeting a friend for lunch, I was by myself, and needed something to do to keep me out of trouble.  What better than becoming a nine year old boy again and going to see "The Three Stooges"?  Written and directed by the Farelly Brothers ("Dumb and Dumber" among others), this is...

Playing Catch

At the risk of sounding way too corny, I thoroughly enjoyed playing a game of catch this morning with SABR/Facebook buddies Dan Bonk, Len Martin, and Jim Haller this morning.  I cannot remember the last time that I have "had a catch", and I freely admit to feeling like a young kid again while doing it today.  The pain in my shoulder that I will no doubt feel tomorrow...

To Absent Friends: Dick Clark, Levon Helm

By now, everyone knows of the death of Dick Clark earlier this week at the age of 82, and, no doubt, you have perused the news obits that talked of Clark's career...DJ in Philadelphia, American Bandstand, game show developer and host, producer, and (sadly, THIS is how many people below, say, age 40, will remember him), MC in Times Square on New Year's Eve.That Clark was the...

Steelers Throwbacks

The Steelers throwback uniforms that the team will wear twice in 2012, to celebrate the team's 80th season, were introduced yesterday, and the reaction so far seems to be unanimous in its scorn, derision, and utter contempt for the new look.John Mehno has compared them to unis worn by the Three Stooges in an old movie of theirs.  (It's true, too.  You could look...

DVR Alerts for the Coming Week

This week on Turner Classic Movies (TCM).  All times Eastern.Monday at Midnight (or technically, Tuesday morning) an Elvis Triple feature:12:00 "Girl Happy".  Great title tune, and a scene with Elvis in drag!  Best line: "keep your motor running."  Trust me, in context, it's a classic! 2:00 AM "Blue Hawaii"4:00 AM "Clambake"Baseball movies on Wednesday:10:00 AM "Pride of the Yankees".  Gary Cooper as Lou Gehrig.  MGM...

Highmark's Ad, Pirates Thoughts, and a Super Bowl Halftime Suggestion

Cleaning out the Mental In-Box on a Sunday morning....I was both heartened and saddened to see the full page Highmark ad in the Post-Gazette this morning (presumably, it was also in the Trib) that carried a statement by new CEO Bob Baum.  Heartened to see that Highmark, in light if recent events, is re-emphasizing its mission in the community and will be highlighting many of it's employees in future ads for the work that they do and for their...

Last Night at Consol....

Again, I am no hockey guy, but wasn't what happened to the Penguins last night one gigantic choke job?  I mean, losing a playoff game in OT after you had a 3-0 lead is a HUGE choke, right?  It would be like the Pirates having a one run lead in the ninth inning of Game 7 of the LCS and losing, right?  Or like the Steelers having a playoff game against a team with the worst QB in the NFL and getting undressed by that same QB and losing,...

Ben Hogan

I had talked a few days back about Jim Dodson's new book "American Triumvirate" about the golf careers of Sam Snead, Byron Nelson, and Ben Hogan.  While reading this book, I had found that the most interesting of the these three giants of American golf was Ben Hogan.  If you are not a golfer, you don't know about Hogan and could probably care less, which is too bad...

Jumping On The Bandwagon

Those of you who know me well know that I am not a "hockey guy".  Oh, I know what icing the puck is, and I understand the off sides rule, but to follow the game day in and day out, well, that's just not me.  Which doesn't mean that I don't enjoy a game when I choose to watch one, and it certainly doesn't mean that I can't jump on the Penguins Bandwagon now that the...

BUBBA!!

Congratulations to Bubba Watson on winning his first major championship today at the Masters.   I hope you all had a chance to see that remarkable, absolutely amazing shot from out of the woods onto the green on the second sudden death hole.  Absolutely no words to describe that one.  After pulling that rabbit out of his hat, he deserved to win.  Of course,...

Before Round 4 Begins....

Some brief comment on the Masters before the final round begins today.My prediction that an American would win the Masters is not quite rock solid what with guys like Peter Hanson and Louis Oosthuizen crowding the top of the leaderboard.  However, Phil Mickelson sits one shot out of the lead, and I like him to close the deal and bring home his fourth Green Jacket this afternoon.However, if you want to hedge your bet, one guy to watch would be...

Happy Easter to All Loyal Readers

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Who's Going to Win The Masters? A Prediction Like No Other

In my humble estimation, one of the hardest feats in all of professional sports is being one guy beating out a field of 100 or so peers over four days and winning a professional golf tournament.  Any tournament.  Equally difficult, is predicting who that one guy will be in any given tournament.  So I am going to go a slightly different route in making the call...

Whither the Pirates in 2012?

So I know that you are all waiting with bated breath to hear what The Grandstander thinks will happen to the Pirates in 2012.  Oh, you haven't been? Well, I'm gonna tell you anyway.Let's go position by position.Catcher  The team is pinning it's hopes on 36 year old free agent signee Rod Barajas.  Barajas has shown that he can hit for power, and not for average,...

The Baylor Women Hoopsters

So, I watched the Women's NCAA Final game last night.  Congratulations to the Baylor Lady Bears on their championship and their 40-0 season.  It was a most impressive victory over the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame.A couple of observations....Brittney Griner certainly represents the evolution of women basketball players.  What a force she is.  She dominated...

Kentucky Scores for Yours Truly

It was an exciting night at the Village Drive watching Kentucky defeat Kansas for the 2012 NCAA Basketball Championship.  Yes, Moon Township's own John Calipari finally got his national championship.  Yes, it was exciting to see Anthony Davis play.  That kid is really, really good.  An honest-to-God GREAT college basketball player.  And, yes, it's...

DVR Alert: "The Winning Team"

Wednesday night at 11:45 (Eastern) on Turner Classic Movies - "The Winning Team" (1952) starring Doris Day and Ronald Reagan.   It is the story of Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander, and, typical of sports movies of that era, it's not what you would call very hard hitting or even true to Alexander's actual life.  Hey, the fact that Doris Day...

Fish Fries

With the conclusion of the Lenten season fast upon us, I have realized that I have been remiss in reporting on the practice that Marilyn and I have of visiting various Fish Fries during the season.We did continue this practice this year and enjoyed it immensely, and it appears that we are not the only ones since everyone that we attend is always packed.  Here was the line-up this year.Serbian Club, South Side.  While not a Catholic Church,...