Lee Lowenfish

As readers of my blog know, I love sports quotes that have meaning transcending inspiration for athletes. The title for this post comes from Dick Bosman, once a no-hit pitcher for Cleveland, later an esteemed pitching coach for Orioles-Rangers-Rays and author with Ted Leavengood of the informative DICK BOSMAN ON PITCHING (Rowman and Littlefield, 2018):  "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is mystery, today is a gift - that's why it's called the present."

 

Like most memorable quotes, Dick doesn't know where it came from. Perhaps from that mysterious multicultural androgynous Anon Ymous?  It doesn't matter - it's the thought that counts as in this observation:   "It's amazing how much good can be done if you don't care who gets the credit."

 

With March winds howling and temps changing violently here in the Northeast, this remains an exciting and hopeful time of year with college basketball playoffs nearing and baseball spring training in full flower.  Yesterday (M Mar 3) during an Oriole-Pirate spring training game in Sarasota, reliever Jose Bautista threw a perfect inning with two strikeouts in his first appearance in a game since August 2023 when he left the mound in Camden Yards soon headed for Tommy John surgery. 

 

Oriole manager Brandon Hyde says he will utilize Bautista conservatively, never pitching him for more than an inning and never on back-to-back days.  Nicknamed The Mountain for his imposing stature of 6' 8" 290 lbs, he needed years deep in the minor leagues and overseas before he developed command, control, and a consistent release point.   It's way too early in spring training to make any predictions about how the long season will play out, but it was a heartwarming sight to see The Mountain back on the mound. Tears of joy poured from his teammates, coaches, fans at Ed Smith Stadium and all over the Oriole universe.   

 

In yesterday game, switch-hitting catcher Adley Rutschman hit his first homer of the spring, another hopeful sign. He is more of a line drive hitter than a power bomber, but  in the last half of 2024, Adley endured the first slump of his storybook career.  He was mum about whether a hand injury affected his swing but if he is healthy again, his

presence in the lineup and behind the plate will be a definite asset for the Birds.  Waiting in the wings for perhaps a mid-season callup is the impressive Dominican backstop Samuel Basallo, barely 20 years old.  I saw him in the minors a couple of times and he is a commanding presence who reminds me of a left-handed hitting Orlando Cepeda. 

 

Another pleasant development was the announcement that the Orioles and Washington Nationals have settled their dispute over coverage of the teams on the MASN

stations (Mid-Atlantic Sports Network).  As it should be, the Nats will soon be on their own promoting the team on the air waves.  Previous Oriole owner, the late Peter Angelos, drove a very hard bargain and didn't accept prior arbitration settlements of the dispute.

 

David Rubenstein can now enter his second year as Oriole owner with this contentious dispute settled. He certainly brings to the table a fascinating background not common to ownership in any sport. Prominent as head of the Carlyle Equity fund, he is also a philanthropist with a genuine interest in history. On recent Mondays at the New York Historical Society on Central Park West, I heard him interview first Jeh Johnson, Secretary of Homeland Security during President Obama's second term, and then Ken Burns, the indefatigable documentary filmmaker. (These interviews are available on line.)  Rubenstein is also often heard interviewing people on Bloomberg TV.  He was the chairman of the board of the Kennedy Center in Washington until he and others on the board were fired last month by President Trump.  

 

I won't make spring training myself this year but of course, I'll be following Oriole developments closely.  In this turbulent and perilous time of American history, it will be nice to follow one's team with a sense of hope. Maybe more moves should have be made to replace Anthony Santander, their 44 HR, 100+ RBI man and ace pitcher Corbin Burnes.  Santander is now a Blue Jay and Burnes a Diamondback but O's still have a world of young talent waiting to blossom.  Like young second baseman Jackson Holliday, not ready to shine last year after enormous hoopla.  And Heston Kjerstad, who can now even put more distance from his scary heart ailment of a few years ago. He seems to have a good baseball head on his shoulder.  At U of Arkansas, he said that he always makes his goals for any season extremely high knowing that he cannot achieve them.

 

Turning to college basketball, Columbia's women Lions continue to impress.  They have earned for the first time the top seed in the Ivy League tournament this year to be held at the Pizzitola Center on the Brown U campus in Providence.  Penn will be their likely opponent on Fri Mar 14 at 430P with Harvard and Princeton battling it out in

the second game.  The final will be on Sat Mar 15 at 5P televised by ESPNNews.  Over this past weekend, seniors Kitty Henderson and Cece Collins each had a triple double - Kitty in the win over Brown and Cece in the triumph over Yale.  If I were running the PA system, I would have found a recording of Irving Berlin's "Anything you can do, I can do better" from "Annie Get Your Gun".   

 

Meanwhile down in Greenwich Village at the Paulson Center on Mercer Street, NYU, winners of 56 in a row, will open its defense of the Division III title against Gallaudet from Washington DC F Mar 7 at 730P.  At 430p U Mass-Dartmouth faces Trinity from Hartford CT.  The winners meet at 5P on Sat Mar 8.   The NYU men, losers of only one game all season, play Cortland State in York, PA at 730P after Cleveland's John Carroll plays host York at 430P.  Winners meet on Sa Mar 8 at 5P.  On the Big Boy front, St.John's, now ranked #6 in the country, won the Big East regular season and enter the Big East tourney at MSG with high hopes of another big March Madness run under septugenarian coach Rick Pitino. 

 

My Wisconsin Badgers came up short against Big Ten leader Michigan State this past Sunday but it was a hard-fought game.  If they bounce back at lagging but

gritty Minnesota on W Mar 5 830P on Big Ten Network and on Senior Day against Penn State on Sa Mar 8 1P on Peacock, they should enter Big Ten tournament at Indianapolis with some momentum. 

 

I read earlier today online a very moving story by Greg Stiemsma about how retired Badger athletic trainer Henry Perez-Guerra basically saved his life.  Now an Badger assistant coach with a new title of Director of Player Development, Stiemsma endured a tough period as a young Badger frontcourtman from tiny Randolph, Wisconsin.

He was not doing well in school and felt he wasn't playing well either.  He was close to suicidal when an early AM knock on the door from Perez-Guerra essentially saved his life. A long talk began his hard road to recovery.  Greg went on to a NBA and overseas career and now a prominent role on the Badger coaching staff. Kudos to Greg for being courageous to share his story and to Henry for being there to help. 

 

In conclusion, here are some upcoming TCM movies with sports themes: 

Th Mar 6 245P  "Tennessee Champ" (1954)  Keenan Wynn is boxer battling with crooked manager.  Shelley Winters presumably helps him. 

 

F Mar 7 a lot of movies with horse racing themes:

6A "Sporting Blood" (1931) Robert Florey directs Clark Gable/Madge Evans

730A "Glory" (1956) David Butler directs Margaret O'Brien/Walter Brennan/Charlotte Greenwood

915A "The Story of Seabiscuit" (1949)  Butler directs Barry Fitzgerald with some help from Shirley Temple/Rosemary DeCamp

*6P  "A Day At the Races" (1937) Sam Wood directs a Marx Brothers classic 

 

Tu Mar 11 6A  "Three Ages" (1923) a Buster Keaton classic with Wallace Beery. A caveman baseball scene especially notable.

615P "The Cameraman" (1928) even more notable, Keaton's baseball pantomime at an empty Yankee Stadium

 

(Non-sports films to be noted:  Sa Mar 8 12N "Hard Day's Night" (1964) early Beatles that reminds me of a Marx Bros. film at their best

M Mar 10 545A "The Apartment" (1960) probably Billy Wilder's last great film with Jack Lemmon/Shirley MacLaine/Fred MacMurray.)

 

 

Coming up on Sa Mar 22 10P "Angels in the Outfield" (1951) - the underappreciated original with uncredited James Whitmore as the

unseen but powerfully heard Angel Gabriel.  Paul Douglas in the lead as crusty manaager Guffy McGovern domesticated by Household Hints

journalist Janet Leigh with underappreciated Bruce Bennett as veteran pitcher Saul Hellman.  More in the next blog.

 

For now, always remember:  Stay positive, stay healthy, stay sane, and take it easy but take it. 

 

   

 

   

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

 

   

 

First, here is the continuing good news about my two alma maters.  Columbia men's basketball continues undefeated before Ivy League play begins in early January. [Update: Columbia lost its first game of season at U of Albany, 88-73, after starting season with 8 straight wins. Before Ivy League season begins against Cornell at home on Sa Jan 11 at 2P, the Lions host Fairfield Sa Dec 28 at 4p and then visit Rutgers on M Dec 30 at 5P. It should be far more competitive than a 50-point loss that opened a Lion season a couple of years ago.]  

 

The Columbia women's basketball team is 7-3 playing a tough schedule that included a hard-fought but double-digit loss on Sunday Dec 1 to nationally-ranked Duke at fabled Cameron Indoor Arena. They hosted U of San Francisco at 11AM W Dec 4 in their last home game of 2024.

[Update: The Lions came away with a 81-79 victory before over 2750 fans on Education Day for city area school kids.  A 13-point halftime lead vanished in

less than 4 minutes of the 2nd half, but they regained their poise to come away with the nail-biting win over the never-say-die Dons from the Bay area.]

 

It took 63 years but unheralded Columbia football under rookie head coach Jon Poppe can call itself champions again.   The Lions finished strong with solid victories over Brown and Cornell to share the title with Harvard and Dartmouth.  They were a rare team that enjoyed wins led by three different quarterbacks.  

 

Injury ended Chase Goodwin's season during a Homecoming loss to Dartmouth. Cole Freeman took over for the next few games before first-year Caleb Martinez from the football HS powerhouse of St. John Bosco in southern California was at the helm for the last two victories. He could well be the QB of the future but the 2024 Lions will be remembered as a TEAM that came together at the right time.  14 Lions received recognition in the All-Ivy voting. 

 

The less said about Wisconsin football the better.  For the first time in over 20 years, the Badgers will not be going to a bowl game. After two seasons, head coach Luke Fickell is under fire and deservedly so although his lucrative contract has several more seasons to run. Fickell was always wearing a T.E.A.M. jacket on the sidelines but the obvious symbolism on the jacket was not put into practice in the locker room or on the practice and playing fields. 

 

Wisconsin basketball, on the other hand, both the proud men's program and the resurgent women under former UConn star Marisa Mosely, are exuding hope [and just announced that next year the squad will be augmented by two young Spanish players.]  Athletic director Chirs McIntosh wisely did not blow up the men's program the way he did football. Although the Badgers lost three key players from last year's team to the transfer portal - Connor Essegian to Nebraska, Chucky Hepburn to Louisville and peripatetic A. J. Storr to Kansas (Storr's 7th team in his last 7 years going back to HS!).

 

But veteran coach Greg Gard has utilized a key transfer of his own, John Tonge (pronounced like former MLB reliever Sid Monge) who hails from Hepburn's home area of Omaha, NE.   Holdovers John Blackwell, Steven Crowl, Max Klesmit, and Kamari McGee have provided continuity.  And lo and behold, the Badgers are scoring more than ever while handling the ball well. 

 

We'll find out soon how real the Badgers' improvement has been. In their Big Ten opener last night (Tu Dec 3), the Badgers couldn't hold a six-point halftime lead to one-loss Michigan and fell 67-64 at home. It's been a heady few days for the Wolverines who upset Ohio State in football at Columbus last Saturday, thoroughly shutting down the Buckeye offense in a 13-10 win. 

 

When Michigan players tried to plant a M flag at midfield after the game, the Buckeye gridders ripped it out, leading to quite a skirmish between many players on both teams. The Big Ten has fined each school $100,000, but it say here that the action is only a wrist slap that is unlikely to stop future ruckuses in the aftermath of emotionally draining rivalry games.  Similar incidents occurred after games this past weekend between North Carolina-NC State, Arizona-Arizona State, and Florida-Florida State. Winning and losing with grace is increasingly a lost art. 

 

I hope Wisconsin cagers bounce back soon from the disappointing loss because another three road challenges loom: Sa aft Dec 7 at 130P in an nationally televised afternoon game at fierce local rival Marquette in Milwaukee. Perennial Big Ten power Illinois follows Tu Dec 10 at 9P. Always plucky Butler in Indy comes on Sa Dec 14 at 230P. 

 

Consult your TV listings and beware that many games might be on the extra pay networks like Peacock. For Badger fans in NYC area, on M Jan 6 at 7P, the Badgers will visit Big Ten rival Rutgers which is also off to a promising start. Last season the Badgers were routed in Piscataway but avenged the loss later in the year in Madison. 

 

Led by coach Steve Pikiell and with first year Dylan Harper, another basketball prodigy from the family that produced Ron Harper Sr. and Jr., already drawing raves, Rutgers this month hosts Big Ten rival Penn State on Tu Dec 10 at 7P.  On Sat Dec 14 at 3P longtime Big East rival Seton Hall is the opposition. 

The Winter Village will open three hours before each game outside Jersey Mike's Arena in Piscataway.  (It will always be known to longtime Scarlet Knight fans as the RAC, the Rutgers Athletic Center). 

 

I've found that fandom of pro sports doesn't necessarily spill over into college sports in the NYC area, but this season could be a little different. Our two pro football teams, the Giants and the Jets, are mired in sub-mediocrity, always finding new ways to lose.So there are good reasons to follow the cagers at Columbia, Rutgers and Big East member St. John's which is also off to a promising start under controversial but usually successful head coach Rick Pitino.  The Red Storm will be mourning all season the death of former coach Lou Carnesecca who passed away last weekend at the age of 99. 

 

On the pro basketball scene, the Knicks are likely contenders and the unheralded Nets are staying above water.  It is a testmony though to the long NBA 84-game season that the current NBA Cup games are drawing a lot of attention.  To me, it just shows how ridiculously long the NBA season really is.  But nobdy is seriously talking about shortening it.  And ditto the virtually-as-long NHL hockey season and the twice-as-long MLB season.    

 

There is not much hard news to report on the MLB scene.  By the time you absorb this post, dear readers, there should be news of signings at baseball's winter meetings starting Dec 8 and running through Th Dec 12.  Oriole fans are intrigued at the possibility, howevelr unlikely, that new owner David Rubenstein may shell out big bucks to keep ace righthander Corbin Burnes and slugging switch-hitting right fielder Anthony Santander.

 

It may not mean anything but I don't recall ever seeing a baseball owner having three of his books plugged in a full-page ad as Rubenstein's were in this past Sunday's New York Times Book Review (Dec 1). (Two history books and one financial book befitting a man who won at auction a rare copy of the Magna Carta.) We will find out soon whether Rubenstein's literary and TV celebrity on Bloomberg News leads him towards a place at the high roller table with the Dodgers, Red Sox, Yankees, and perhaps the Blue Jays and the Giants.   

 

There are conflicting reports about when the biggest free agent on the market, Yankee outfielder Juan Soto, makes his decision. Agent Scott Boras loves to draw out the process to get phantom bidders involved.  Gullible owners and equally gullible media people play along with this ploy. So to repeat, we might not hear about Soto's decision for some time about where he wants to "take his talents" - to use LeBron James' phrase after he left Cleveland for the tax-free charms of Miami.    

 

During the winter meetings, a veterans committee will announce its latest selecctions for the Hall of Fame.  It's possible that the recently deceased Luis Tiant gets in as well as Dick Allen.  Speaking of recent passings, Fernando Valenzuela's passing at the age of 63 on Oct 22 was extremely bittersweet happening a little over a week before the Dodgers won the World Series.  Another notable left-handed pitcher, Rudy May, passed away just a few days earlier on Oct 19 at the age of 80. 

 

May pitched for a lot of bad teams but when he played for good teams like the 1980 Yankees he led the AL in ERA.  His overall record was 152-156 but his career ERA of 3.46 was actually slightly lower than Valenzuela's who finished his illustrious career with a 173-153 record and career ERA of 3.54. 

 

On the TCM front, there are not many flms to list with sports themes, but every Thursday in December will be Mickey Rooney day.  

Th Dec 5 at noon "Death on The Diamond" (1934) will be shown with Rooney having a small part in a film about a murderer loose in the St. Louis major league ballpark. Young Robert Young is a star pitcher trying to solve the mystery, Madge Evans is the team secretary who Young has the hots for, and Ted Healy, who once employed Moe, Curly, and Larry before they became the Three Stooges, plays a key supporting role as does Nat Pendleton.  Edward Sedgwick, known for his work in comedy, directs.  And Ernie Orsatti, who later in 1934 will win a World Series ring as the St. Louis Cardinals Gashouse Gang center fielder, has a cameo as a base runner who is shot trying to score between third and home.

 

At 115P "Diamond" is followed by the 15-minute short, "Diamond Demon" (1947). featuring the acrobatic trickery of Johnny Price, a minor league pitcher.

Going backwards to 1030A on Dec 5, there is a boxing-themed film "The Life of Eddie Dolan" (1933) with Douglas Fairbanks in the title role and Loretta Young and Aline MacMahon as the women who support him as he escapes to a rural hideaway to avoid a murder charge.   

 

The high brow highlight on Th Dec 5 comes at 8P: Mickey Rooney returns as Puck in the lavish "Midsummer Night's Dream" (1935) with Joe E Brown as Flute the bellows maker and Dick Powell and Olivia DeHavilland (in her debut year) as the lovers Lysander and Hermia. And many others in this long extravaganza with James Cagney and Victor Jory in featured roles. 

 

Late Th Dec 12/morning Dec 13, 12:15A:  Rooney returns opposite Spencer Tracy as Father Flanagan in "Boys' Town" (1938-39).  

 

Every Sun night in December, Carol Burnett guests, bringing her satirical interpretation of a movie.

On Dec 8 after 8P's airing of the Noir "Born To Be Bad" (1950) Nicholas Ray directing Joan Fontaine, Robert Ryan, Zachary Scott, Carol will introduce and show her satire, "Raised To Be Rotten". 

 

After some lackluster recent Noir Alleys, Eddie Muller hosts a real classic earlier on Su Dec 8 at 12M, repeated at 10A.

Fred Zinnemann directs "Act of Violence" (1948) starring Robert Ryan and Van Heflin as onetime POW's in Germany whose post-war lives go in different

directions and Ryan is out to wreak vengeance upon Heflin.  Janet Leigh and Mary Astor have important supporting roles. 

 

That's all for now.  Next post I'll talk more about my off-season baseball reading which has featured a lot of Ring Lardner's baseball stories as well as reading Ring Lardner Jr.'s family history, THE LARDNERS: MY FAMILY REMEMBERED (1976).  Ring Sr has been too often belittled as a bitter and cynical writer who "only" wrote short stories and never a novel. In truth, there is a lasting quality to his wry humor and his austere personalty among strangers masked a deeply caring heart. "How can you write if you can't cry?" Ring Jr. remembers his father's defense of the writings of Charles Dickens.  

 

In this age of bullying and power running rampant and seemingly unchecked all over the world, I am finding solace in reading the works of great writers of all kinds, using the dead as allies until more hopeful days arise. I recommend finding some riches in our past culture and not allow ourselves to get tortured by the dreck of the daily news cycle. 

 

Stay positive, Test negative, is still my mantra, and always remember: Take it easy but take it!