Some quick hit thoughts (apologies to Peter King) for a Friday morning....With no Pirates game to occupy me, I did watch the final Steelers practice game of the year, and four things stand out:Charlie Batch threw about as pretty a touchdown pass to Emmanuel Sanders as you will see all season, and he will probably end up getting released today. Crazy.Two jaw dropping punt returns for touchdowns by rookie Chris Rainey in the first quarter, both...
Friday, August 31, 2012
Thursday, August 30, 2012
For the past several years, as the Pirates piled one lousy season after another on top of each other, my mantra has been "All I want is to see some meaningful games played in September at PNC Park". Well, September is two days away, and it looks like I'm going to get my wish.The week began with a grim outlook: four straight losses with the Cardinals coming into town....
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
While watching PTI last night, I was saddened to hear Tony and Mike wish a melancholy Happy Trails to Art Heyman, who passed away this past Monday at the age of 71. They went on and on about Heyman's almost legendary career at Duke University, but, of course, Pittsburgh sports fans remember Heyman as one of the key players for the Pittsburgh Pipers in their ABA championship...
Monday, August 27, 2012
I just reread the post I did a week ago today following the Pirates 19 inning win in St. Louis last Sunday. I was bubbling with optimism and talking about what a turning point this game could be. Emphasis on the word "could".Since that game the vanquished Cardinals are 5-1. The Pirates are 1-5. As the headline says, "so much for momentum".OK, time for the first pitch at PNC Park as this huge series begins.Let's Go Bu...
Tonight marks the beginning of what could truly be called the first "critical" series of the 2012 season for the Pirates when the Cardinals arrive at PNC Park for a three game set. Sweep the Cards, and the Bucs regain hold on a Wild Card spot and remain in the post-season mix. Get swept by the Cards, and the season pretty much becomes: Can they Pirates break the 19 year losing seasons streak?The Pirates excellent play throughout June and July...
Sunday, August 26, 2012
I normally confine my fiction reading to mysteries and thrillers, and don't usually read "serious novels", but after reading this 2009 book by Jonathan Tropper, perhaps I should widen my scope a bit.The story is told by Judd Foxman, a guy in his mid-thirties whose marriage has recently fallen apart and he has also lost his job (he caught his wife sleeping with his boss!!)....
Regular readers know that I stay away from politics on both The Grandstander and Facebook, but this is pretty non-partisan, so here goes.News Item: Due to the approach of Hurricane Isaac, the Republicans have canceled the first day of their National Convention, scheduled to begin in Tampa on Monday. This underscores the fact that for the last thirty or so years the National Conventions of both parties have become anachronisms and fairly...
Circumstances prevented me from seeing much of last night's Steelers 38-7 win over the Buff Bills. In fact, I only saw one sequence of plays in that game, but what an enlightening sequence it was.I switched between innings of the Pirates game to the Steelers game, only to see that the score was 7-7, and that the Steelers had just taken possession on their own two yard line with a little over one minute remaining in the first half. Two...
In a rare move, I am turning over The Grandstander for one post only to a Guest Blogger, my friend, fellow SABR member, breakfast companion, occasional golf partner, author, fellow Central alumnus, and the Voice of the Montour High School Marching Band, Dan Bonk. Dan put this post out on the "Pirate Chat" Facebook page yesterday, and I think it is one of the most cogent analysis of the 2012 Pirates season that I have read so far, by either...
One of the best quotes I read yesterday when reading about the death of Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, was "As long as history books are written, Neil Armstrong will be in them."If you were alive in the summer of 1969, you remember the excitement and sense of sheer wonder and amazement that Neil Armstrong and his Apollo 11 crew (Buzz Aldrin and Michael...
Friday, August 24, 2012
So now the debate and the hand-wringing will begin over the Fall of Lance Armstrong. I know that the folks at Sports Illustrated, particularly their former columnist Rick Reilly, will be crushed over this, since their worship and devotion of Armstrong has been apparent for many years. He is already being seen as a martyr by some.In the USA, at least, cycling is a niche sport, so who really cares. It is also a sport that is far dirtier,...
I have to admit that I have loved following the story of the planning and execution by the Pitt Freshman Orientation Committee and their successful attempt to stage the World's Largest Umbrella Dance as a part of Orientation week at Pitt yesterday. In case you missed it, over 3,500 incoming freshman took part in this dance on campus yesterday afternoon, shattering the...
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Another story in the Post-Gazette this morning about how the Steelers have recommitted to the running game under new OC Todd Hailey and at the urging (meddling insistence?) of team Prez Art Rooney II. All kinds of stats cited about how there have been more running plays called in the two practice games so far and blah blah blah. Here's what I think...In Ben Roethlisberger, the Steelers employ one of the Top Five QB's in all of football....
Monday, August 20, 2012
The news has arrived today that the seeming final bastion of male supremacy, The Augusta National Golf Club, has announced that two women, former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and South Carolina businesswoman Darla Moore, have been admitted to full membership in the Club. Depending on your viewpoint, this is either a great day, perhaps made a little less so since...
Everyone knows of the struggles the Pirates have been having of late. You know the numbers, 19-17 since the All-Star break, 4-7 on the last home stand, and on and on, BUT as of this morning, they are still 13 games over .500, in second place in the NL Central, and hold the second wild card spot in the National League, albeit by a slim one game margin. I think that we can almost safely say that the disastrous total collapse that took place...
Saturday, August 18, 2012
We need to note the passing of actor Ron Palillo, age 63, earlier this week. Palillo came to the public's attention by playing Sweathog Arnold Horshack on 1970's sitcom "Welcome Back, Kotter". Palillo became pretty much typecast by this role and spent the rest of his days, near as I can tell, as a one hit wonder, D-list celebrity confined to crummy reality shows...
For the second year in a row, Marilyn and I, along with fellow SABR members Alan Steinberg and Joe Elinich (much to his consternation, Fred and Susan Shugars had a prior commitment and were unable to make it) traveled to Murrysville, PA to watch an exhibition vintage base ball (yes, it is two words) between the Pittsburgh Franklins and the Somerset Frosty Sons of Thunder....
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
By now, if you care about this sort of thing, you are well aware of the skid that the Pirates have hit....16-15 since the All-Star Break, 3-6 on the current home stand, fallen to six games behind the first place Reds, and hold the last wild card spot by the narrowest of margins. There has been no God-awful ten game losing streak as there was last year, but things are, as GM Neal might put it, "trending downward".As the holder of a partial ticket...
Monday, August 13, 2012
While the Summer Olympics were drawing to a conclusion, an equally momentous event took place in Wexford this past Friday: the Third Annual Game Room Olympics (GRO). The GRO are a product of the product of the genius mind of friend John Frissora, and with this third edition, the Games are proving to be a highlight of the sporting year for those lucky enough to receive...
Sunday, August 12, 2012
For all I know, the closing Ceremonies of the London Olympics are no doubt already taking place, but why wait until the torch goes out to clean out the Mental In-Box, Olympics Edition....I actually didn't watch as much of the Games as I anticipated that I would going into it. I blame that on a couple of things, including interest in the Pirates taking precedence, knowing...
The newest resident at Village Drive arrived yesterday, August 11, a 2012 Chevrolet Equinox.....I can't show these pictures without mentioning how well we were treated at Baierl Chevrolet in Wexford. We hate the process of buying a new car, but Sales Rep Ed Haskins and the folks at Baierl made it a very good experience. If you are thinking of getting a new car,...
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Happy 75th Birthday greetings today to one of my all-time favorites, actor Dustin Hoffman. Never the matinee idol type, I'd say Dustin is still looking good at age 75. Hoffman burst on the scene in 1967 in the great "The Graduate". It is a tribute to him as an actor that he never became typecast as a result of that role, as the list of great movie roles to...
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
In recent weeks, I have read some old books. "The Johnstown Flood" by David McCullough (1968). This was McCullough's first book and it won him justifiable acclaim. Now, being a native of Western Pennsylvania, I always knew that there was a famous "Johnstown flood", but I couldn't have told you for sure when it happened (1889) or why and how it happened, but this book sure filled in those gaps. Living in an age where news is...
A belated and melancholy Happy Trails today to Irish novelist Maeve Binchy, who passed away in Ireland last week at the age of 72. I confess to having never read one of Ms. Binchy's books, but she was a great favorite of Marilyn's, so I feel the need to note her passing.And a real shocker came today with the news of the death of composer Marvin Hamlisch this day in Los Angeles at the age of 68. A multiple Oscar/Grammy/Emmy/Tony/Golden...
Sunday, August 5, 2012
On Wednesday night at the SABR Summer Hot Stove, Fred Shugars said that anything except being swept in Cincinnati would be OK, but that a sweep that would drop the Pirates six games back would be almost disastrous. Well, it almost came to that, but the Pirates behind stellar pitching by A.J. Burnett and clutch hitting by Neil Walker and Starling Marte averted total disaster in the Rhineland this afternoon.I am amazed at how so many people were...
If you have opened the newspaper or looked at the Internet today, you know that August 5 is the 50th Anniversary of the death of Marilyn Monroe. If you are a regular reader, you know that I am a fan Miss Monroe, so I won't belabor the topic. However, allow me to share two things.First, the op-ed piece by Sally Kalson in today's Post-Gazette:http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/opinion/sally-kalson/goodbye-norma-jeane-647628/And...
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