"Inherit the Wind"

Well, I took my own advice and watched "Inherit the Wind" on Monday night and am not sorry that I did.  What a terrific movie.  At the risk of giving in to Old Fogeyism, I will say that Hollywood just doesn't make 'em like Spencer Tracy and Fredric March any more.  Both of them turned in terrific performances, and I just can't imagine any contemporary actors...

Congratulations, Giants!

Congratulations to the San Francisco Giants for winning the 2012 World Series in a sweep over the Detroit Tigers.Despite a back-and-forth, fairly exciting extra innings Game Four, and Pablo Sandoval's three round trippers in Game One, I will maintain that unless you are a fan of both the Giants and Tigers, this World Series will go down as one of the most unmemorable Series,...

Steelers Overpower RG3, Redskins

Some quick thoughts immediately after Steelers 27 - Redskins 13....I think we can all agree that today was the best game the Steelers have put together this season on both sides of the ball, as the coaches say, or if you will as Mike Tomlin would say.I think Ben Roethlisberger was making a point as to exactly who the best quarterback at Heinz Field was today.I think the Steelers...

DVR Alert for Monday, October 29

Another in the Highly Popular series of DVR Alerts.Monday, October 29 on Turner Classic Movies, two courtroom dramas both starring Spencer Tracy and directed by Stanley Kramer:8:00 PM - "Inherit the Wind" (1960) Based on the famous Scopes "monkey trial". Also starring Fredric March and Gene Kelly in a non-singing, non-dancing dramatic role, and featuring Dick York. I never knew he did anything but "Bewitched".10:15 PM - "Judgement at Nuremberg" (1961)...

SABR Meeting Summary, Fall 2012

Thirty-three members and guests attended the Fall Meeting of the Pittsburgh/ Forbes Field Chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) on Saturday, October 27, 2012 at the HeinzHistory Centerin Pittsburgh.Our Special Guest Speaker was Alex Richert of KDKA-FM, 93-7 The Fan Radio.  Alex serves as the producer of the Pirates radio broadcasts, as well as a producer for many of The Fan’s talk shows.  Alex told us all about what...

Saturday's America *

* Title of this blog post shamelessly stolen from a terrific book about college football written by the great Dan Jenkins back in the early 1970's.Some observations on a most interesting College Football Saturday......Pitt needed a win yesterday and they got a most convincing one over Temple yesterday, 47-17.  Paul Chryst's Panthers are now at  .500.  Temple is better than it used to be, but, still, a win over Temple doesn't exactly...

Big Football Weekend Ahead

I am looking forward to a couple of big football games this weekend:First, the so-called "Sanctions Bowl" between Penn State and Ohio State on Saturday.  We all know the story behind why THIS GAME is the biggest one of the season for both teams (well, maybe the Michigan game is bigger for OSU), so why rehash them.  Clearly, the job that Bill O'Brien and the Players...

Old Movie Review: "Five Graves to Cairo"

In my quest to see as many Billy Wilder movies as I can, yesterday I watched "Five Graves to Cairo" (1943).  The movie starred Franchot Tone, Anne Baxter, and Erich von Stroheim.  Wilder wrote the screenplay with his frequent writing partner Charles Brackett, and it was only the second movie that he directed.This is a World War II movie, but it takes place in a small...

Let's Talk About Neal - Part 3

Late last night Dejan Kovacevic posted his column that appeared in today's Pittsburgh Tribune.  I shared it among my Facebook friends, and also posted it to Pirate Chat, and it began to receive hits immediately.  For those of you who either are not on Facebook, do not get the Trib, or are out of town, I won't even try to restate what DK has written, but I urge you...

The World Series (and LCS) Thoughts

Well, my prediction of a Cardinals-Tigers World Series was only half right, so I will need to readjust my World Series prediction.  I am going to call for the Tigers to win, and I base that on the fact of their superior starting pitching, and by that I really mean, I base it on Justin Verlander.  He is pitching in another world right now, and I think that that gives Detroit the edge here.  Let's call it a six game series.Both League...

Book Review: "Mad River" by John Sandford

John Sandford has delivered to us another book featuring Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) Virgil Flowers, and, as always, Sandford has hit another solid extra base hit to his loyal readers.In this book, three young rural Minnesota kids, two guys and girl, begin a spree of murder and robbery in rural Minnesota that has the press dubbing them a modern day Bonnie...

To Absent Friends: George McGovern

1972 Presidential candidate George McGovern died yesterday at the age of 90.  McGovern was the man for whom I cast my first presidential vote back in 1972.  Sadly, this fact will no doubt elicit raised eyebrows and "tsk, tsks" from many of my friends and family, but I make no apologies for it, nor do I wish to make a political statement over McGovern's passing.  I...

Children's Grief Awareness Day

Before they graduate from high school, one in twenty children in America will experience the death of a parent.  This number becomes even higher when you consider those children who will also experience the loss of brother or sister, close grandparent, aunt or uncle.  Such children can feel this loss forever.  They go back to school, they might resume their...

Bradshaw vs. Roethlisberger

As Steelers fans are no doubt aware, in last week's game against the Titans, Ben Roethlisberger surpassed Terry Bradshaw's Steeler team record for career passing yards.  The number is over 27,000 yards.This made for lots of fun debate on the talk shows and in the papers as to who is/was the better quarterback, Terry or Ben.  As you might expect, much of this broke...

No More Geezer Rock at the Super Bowl

The news hit today that Beyonce Knowles, best known by the single name of Beyonce, will be the halftime show at this year's Super Bowl.  This represents a major step for the NFL as they have chosen a performer whose entire career has taken place in only the 21st century.  And at age 31, Beyonce is less than half the age of everyone else who has appeared at the Super...

Movie Review: "Argo"

Today we went to see the new Ben Affleck movie, "Argo", and all we both can say is...."Wow!!"Tremendous movie about the involvement of the CIA in extracting six American embassy workers from Iran during the Hostage Crisis in 1980.  Affleck, who directed the movie, stars as CIA agent Tony Mendez, who comes up with the idea to get these people out of Iran by....well, I'm...

Burning the Midnight Oil

The Playoff baseball games this past week, culminating in the Cards-Nats game on Friday and the Tigers-Yankees game last night, have been nothing short of fantastic.  I am dying to go to bed each night, but simply cannot tear myself away form the TV set until the games end.As for the Derek Jeter injury...an awful thing to have happen to anyone, let alone one of the Good...

The Cardinals Do It AGAIN!!!...and Some Predictions

Okay, before I give my LCS and World Series predictions, and word or two on that Cardinals-Nationals game last night:Unbelievable.....Are you kidding me?....Daniel Descalso and Pete Kozma????.....Wow!If you care enough to be reading this, you already know what happened, so I won't recount the sequence of events, but I ask you, is there anything in sports better than October...

Central vs. North Allegheny

Tonight is the football game between North Allegheny and Central Catholic. Marilyn (NA '70) and I (CC '69) will have our traditional $10,000 bet on the outcome. Over the years, I think that she is about $30,000 up on me. We have agreed that we will not settle up on this bet until our 50th wedding anniversary. It could, however, become a HUGE bone of contention if we ever decide to get divorced. Yet another good reason to stay married ...

To Absent Friends: Beano Cook

How can you even begin to write a remembrance of the great Beano Cook, who died today at the age of 81?People across the country know him as ESPN's resident expert on college football, and he certainly was that.  Pittsburghers knew of Beano long before the rest of the country did when he served as Sports Information Director at Pitt.  One of the great stories from...

Do You Feel Sorry for Either Party Here?

Interesting story in the Post-Gazette this morning about the Steelers' planned addition of 3,000 seats to Heinz Field for the 2013 season.  My own feeling on this is that adding these seats will take away the one design feature of Heinz Field that makes it unique - the open ended south end of the Stadium that gives one a view of the riverfront and the city.  The Steelers say that that will not be lost in the redesign. We'll see.Anyway,...

Saluting Miggy

I do not want to let the regular season recede too far in the rear view mirror without noting the  positively fantastic season of Detroit's Miguel Cabrera, who won the Triple Crown in the American League this year.  (I don't have to explain what that means, do I?)  This feat has been accomplished in the modern era of major league baseball only 13 times before...

Let's Talk About Neal - Part 2

We all know that perhaps the main goal of the NHR (Neal Huntington Regime) was to build a "strong farm system" that would allow for "sustained success" on the major league level.  One of the things that would accomplish would be to give GM Neal the ability to deal for strength and be able to make trades with all the surplus talent that the NHR would be developing.Last...

If I Was Bob Nutting....

....here is the VERY FIRST question that I would ask Frank, Neal, and Clint as I begin my "investigation" into the second half collapse of 2012 that not only duplicated, but eclipsed the second half collapse of 2011."Well, FrankNealClint," I would begin, "you know how we are always bragging about how we have built up the farm system, how we have established that baseball academy...

I Discover a New Author

I am always happy to "find" an author whom I have never read before, happier when I enjoy the book, and happier still when I realize that this author has a whole series of books that are there for my future reading pleasure.Such was the case a few weeks back when I found the book you see above, "I Dreamed I Married Perry Mason" by Susan Kandel while scanning the Northland...

A Football Weekend, with Some Baseball on the Side

Well, the last few evenings were nights for which the TV remote was invented.  Friday featured two Wild Card Playoff baseball games and Pitt-Syracuse football, and last night was incredible: two playoff baseball games, WVU-Texas, Notre Dame-Miami, Ohio-Nebraska, Georgia-South Carolina all on at the same time.  Unbelievable, though, that at any given time during all of those games, at least four of the five events would be in a commercial...

Different Ways To Run a Railroad

News items:After a strong start to their season, the Cleveland Indians collapse in the final months of the season, fire their manager, and then waste no time in hiring two time World Series winning manager Terry Francona.After a disaster of a season wherein the lost over 90 games, the Boston Red Sox acknowledge their mistake and fire manager Bobby Valentine.The Pirates, after collapsing in the final two months of the season for the second season...

The OGWCP Games

Something new begins today in Major League Baseball - the One Game Wild Card Playoff games.  OGWCP for short.Purists will no doubt decry these while they long for the days of train travel, Ebbets Field, no DH, and no teams west of the Mississippi, but I think it's a great idea, and have said so from the start (http://www.grandstander.blogspot.com/2011/11/big-changes-in-major-league-baseball.html). I am very much looking forward to the O's -...

Let's Talk About Neal - Part 1

As you can tell from the title, I expect to be writing a lot about GM Neal in the next several days and weeks, and have even coined a new bit of shorthand, NHR (Neal Huntington Regime) when discussing Neal and his Minions.  It is a most fertile field, but let's start by taking a slightly different tack by listing five names:Andrew Heaney, LHPDavid Dahl, OFAddison Russell,...

Book Review: "Game Over" by Bill Moushey and Bob Dvorchak

I just finished reading this very excellent book by former Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporters Bill Moushey and Bob Dvorchak.  This was the first of what will no doubt be many, many books to be written about the Jerry Sandusky scandal at Penn State its aftermath.  Moushey and Dvorchak began work on this book almost as soon as Sandusky was arrested, and it was published...

Thursday Night Television

Thursday night television is big in our house.  Last week, season two of "Person of Interest" came back.  Mr. Finch has been abducted, Mr. Reese is looking for him with a single-minded determination that is frightening, it is still unbelievably violent, and Jim Caviezel is still so good looking as to be almost illegal, at least according to Mrs. Grandstander.  The...

2012 Pirates Postmortem

Early in September, I was playing golf with a former co-worker whom I hadn't seen all summer, and he asked what my thoughts were about the Pirates thus far in the season.  At the time the question was asked, the Pirates had just taken two of three from the Astros, and were ready to open what was to be a disastrous three game series with the Cubs, a series that the Cubs would sweep and, effectively, end all post-season and +.500 season hopes...