Welcome, Russell Martin

The Pittsburgh Pirates and GM Neal "Smartest Guy in the Room" Huntington have struck quickly in the free agent market and signed catcher Russell Martin to a reported two year, $17 million deal.What do I think about that?  Well, right off the bat, let's stipulate that Martin is not Johnny Bench.  We can also agree that it stinks that the Pirates do not have anyone...

Johnny Evers

Yes, I am talking about that Johnny Evers of "Tinker to Evers to Chance" fame. I have always maintained that it is worth subscribing to Sports Illustrated because about a half dozen or so times a year, they will publish a terrific article, usually a long one that is the last story in the issue, that is so good that it is, as I said, worth the price of a subscription....

Tributes: Cary Grant and George Harrison

November 29 is an unlucky date, apparently, for the world lost two giants in their fields on this date. In 1986, Cary Grant passed away at the age of 86.  Readers know that I am a huge Cary Grant fan.  In my mind, no actor, before or since, has what Cary Grant had, but don't take my word for it.  Check out the TCM Tribute video narrated by Tony Curtis.And on this date in 2001, George Harrison passed away at the age of 58.  While...

"Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House"

At the urging of my friend, Mark Matera, I DVR'd this 1948 movie a few weeks back, and I finally got around to watching it last night.  What a comic gem.The movie stars the incomparable Cary Grant and Myrna Loy as a married couple with two daughters living in a tiny apartment in New York City.  The operative word here is "tiny".  They decide to buy a house in...

To Absent Friends: Marvin Miller

Marvin Miller, the first Executive Director of the Major League Baseball Players Union, died today at the age of 95.  Few men, and certainly no executive, cast a bigger shadow upon Major League Baseball than did Marvin Miller.  That he is not a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame is a supreme injustice, and proof that even decades after his retirement, he continues...

The College Conference Landscape

The collegiate sports landscape underwent yet another huge change with the announcement last week that the University of Maryland and Rutgers University would be leaving the ACC and Big East, respectively, to join the Big Ten.  Reports are surfacing that other schools in the Big East are being coveted by the ACC, while schools in the ACC are being coveted by the Big Ten.  Where is this leading?  Well, I believe, and I am far from original...

Happy Birthday, Tom Seaver

Hall of Fame Pitcher Tom Seaver turns 68 years old today.This picture is how I always think of Tom Seaver.  A fantastic competitor and perhaps the best pitcher of his generation.311-205 career W-L record2.86 career ERAFive time twenty game winner231 complete games61 shut outs3,640 strike outsFive time league leader in strike outsHe played for the Mets at a time when they...

Well Played, Notre Dame...and Other Sunday Morning Thoughts

Big College Football day yesterday.....Congratulations to the University of Notre Dame on their 22-13 win over USC last night.  The win secures an undefeated regular season and a berth in the BCS title game in January.  They thoroughly earned that victory last night, especially with those goal line stands.  Very impressive.  If I am a Notre Dame fan, however,...

To absent Friends: Cleve Duncan

Regular readers know that I like to check out the obituaries to find the passing of perhaps obscure, but nonetheless significant, persons from our Popular Culture.  So it is today that I note the passing of Cleve Duncan at the age of either 77 or 78, depending on what source you check.Cleve Duncan was the lead singer of a 1950's R&B one-hit-wonder group called the Penguins.  Still wondering who he is?  Well, there is no doubt that...

To All Loyal Readers.....

Happy Thanksgiving 20...

Happy Birthday, Goldie Hawn

For those of us old enough to remember Laugh-In, we send Happy 67th Birthday greetings to  Goldie Hawn, who certainly qualifies to high standings in the Aging Babe Division.  I'd say that she's aging gracefully, wouldn't y...

Conspiracy Theory

Two news items from last several days:The Steelers announce that they may sue the Sports and Exhibition Authority over who should pay for the new seats that they, the Steelers, want installed at Heinz Field.  The Steelers feel that they, who will be enriched the most by these 3,000 new seats, should be paid for by someone other than them.Art Rooney II hosts a $1,000 a plate fundraising dinner for the reelection campaign of Boy Mayor Like Ravenstahl. Coincidence?...

"The Racketeer" by John Grisham

I have just finished reading the current #1 on the Fiction Best-Seller list, John Grisham's "The Racketeer".A prisoner in a federal prison camp in Maryland claims to know who shot and killed a Federal judge and his mistress, and he will tell all, if he gets released from prison, has all charges against him dropped, and is allowed to enter the Federal Witness Protection Program....

To Absent Friends: Booth Lusteg

Thanks to a comment made by John Mehno on Facebook earlier this morning, I learned that former Steelers (and Bills, Dolphins, and Packers) placekicker Booth Lusteg passed away in Florida this past July, a victim of cancer at the age of 73.For those who think Steelers history began with Franco's Immaculate Reception in 1972, Lusteg spent a couple of seasons in the late 1960's...

Topsy-Turvy BCS

Two weeks ago, four undefeated teams sat atop the BCS standings: Alabama, Kansas State, Oregon, and Notre Dame.  Maybe, possibly, one of these teams would lose a game, but surely there would be at least one undefeated team left out in the cold when the BCS Title match-up was determined. While football purists would argue about what would be the best match-up against Alabama (because surely they  weren't going to lose; why they were...

Movie Review: "Lincoln"

A week ago I wrote that after all the hype, and considering the high powered talent involved in making this movie, if it was anything less that terrific, it would have to be considered a disappointment.  I am now here to tell you that  no, it is most definitely not a disappointment, and yes, it is terrific.The movie centers on a relatively brief, but tremendously...

Meeting a Legend

One of my favorite events to work as a volunteer at the Heinz History Center is the annual Sportsmanship Summit sponsored by the WPIAL.  Over 600 high school athletes from the WPIAL attend this event.  The main speakers at today's Summit were former Penn State coach Tom Bradley and basketball star Swin Cash, she of McKeesport High School, University of Connecticut,...

Bring Back the Tie

With the 49ers and Rams playing to a tie on Sunday, the first tie game in the NFL since 2008, I wondered if perhaps we might not be better off if regular season games were allowed to end in a tie.  I can recall Myron Cope once talking on this subject and he said that often times, not always, perhaps, but more often than not, a tie is a just result in a football game.  Frustrating perhaps, but just.I didn't watch that 49ers game, so I can't...

Winning Ugly

Some thoughts on last night's Steelers win over the horrid Chiefs.....Late in the telecast Jon Gruden said that even great teams have to win some ugly games over the course of a season, and that one last night was about as ugly as it gets.Still, it IS a win, and at season's end, no one will remember how it was accomplished.What will be remembered most, however, may well be...

This, That, and The Other On a Sunday Morning....

Sunday morning.  Time to clean out the Mental In-Box....If the State of Florida can't figure out how to run an election and count votes, I am glad that the election was decided on, you know, Election Day, rather than four or five days later when Florida finally figured it out.   Glad that nation will not be held hostage to Florida while they figure out how to count.I...

Movie Review: "Skyfall" (Contains No Spoilers)

2012 marks the 50th anniversary of the James Bond movie franchise, "Skyfall" is the 23rd movie in the series, and Daniel Craig is on board for the third time as 007, and this movie is really a wild ride.The "MacGuffin" in this movie is a computer hard drive that contains the names of over fifty MI6 agents who are embedded in the field.  The bad guys threatens to keep...

Veteran's Day

To honor and thank all of our nation's Veterans this year, let me invite you to watch this video by Bob Dvorchak. It's from Veteran's Day 2011, but the message is timeless.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3JJV75A4KkBy the way, Bob has done another Veteran's Day salute for this year, but it is not up on YouTube as yet.  You can find it at post-gazette.com.Special thanks go out to my two brothers and two of my brothers-in-law for their servi...

Please Take 39 Seconds.....

....and watch this video.  Thanks!!!https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7wt51HNd...

Children's Grief Awareness Day - November 15

One week from today, Thursday, November 15, is Children's Grief Awareness Day.  The simplest way to observe this day is to wear blue and to let people know that you are wearing blue to show your support for grieving children.I would also urge you to visit the Caring Place's Children's Grief Awareness Day website to learn more about how you can observe this day.http://www.childrensgriefawarenessday.org/cgad/index.shtmlAlso,...

What's with Florida?

For the second time in the last four Presidential elections, the State of Florida still cannot certify the results of the election as voted by its citizens.  Fortunately, the final determination of this year's election does not hang in the balance of Florida's 29 electoral votes, so the nation is spared the near-constitutional crisis that we had in 2000.  It seems to me that in the second decade of the 21st century, what with these new-fangled...

The Big Announcement from Captain Nuts

It's hard to come up with words for Bob Nutting's (aka, Captain Nuts, Commander of the Ship of Fools) big announcement this week, which, in true Pirates fashion, was made on the same day that America was going about electing a President, no doubt hoping that it would be lost in the shuffle.  Dejan Kovacevic, Bob Simizik, and others have written some great stuff on this, but the best analysis I've seen came in Gene Collier's column this morning,...

On Tino

I have not been a Tino Sunseri basher, nor do I like to bash on college football players in general.  Despite the corruption in college sports, they still are, after all, college kids, and 99% of them will never play football again after they leave college.  That said, I have to agree with the comment that Peter King made in today's Monday Morning Quarterback:Not a fan of Pitt quarterback Tino Sunseri saying after his kicker, Kevin Harper,...

The Johnstown Flood Museum

Regular readers may recall me posting a few months back about reading David McCullough's 1968 book, "The Johnstown Flood" ( http://grandstander.blogspot.com/search?q=johnstown+flood).Well, reading that book prompted me to want to visit the Johnstown Flood Museum in Johnstown.  We planned the trip for last Monday, October 29.  Kind of ironic that we made this...

Happy Birthday, Elke Sommer

Today is the 72nd birthday of German actress Elke Sommer.Back in around 1980, give or take a year or two, and via circumstances I won't bother to recount, I had the opportunity to come face to face with Ms. Sommer at Heinz Hall.  All I can say is that she was the most stunningly beautiful woman I had ever seen up to that point, and no one has come close since.Of course,...

"Judgement at Nuremberg"

Again, taking my own advice, I went to the DVR yesterday and watched this absolutely terrific 1961 movie, Stanley Kramer's "Judgement at Nuremberg".  What a great movie.  Abby Mann won the Oscar in 1961 for his screenplay on this movie and what a piece of writing.  He gave to almost each of his principal actors some fabulous set pieces of dialog to deliver,...

Final Baseball Thoughts for 2012

Some final 2012 baseball thoughts while applying some neetsfoot oil to the glove before putting it away for the winter.....Can you think of a World Series that will be less memorable as time goes on than the Giants just completed sweep of the Tigers?  Unless you are a Giants fan, I'll bet there will be a lot of people who won't even be able to name who played in it once the opening of Spring Training rolls around.This is to take nothing - NOTHING...