Lee Lowenfish

They tell me that there was a college football game on the night of January 20th.  It was quite a day that happened to coincide with this year's Martin Luther King Jr Birthday and the cruelly ironic inauguration of Donald Trump to a second non-consecutive presidential term.  I hear that Ohio State beat Notre Dame for the first title under the new 12-game college football playoff system.  Bully for them for recovering from an embarrassing home loss to arch-rival Michigan and running the table with four convincing playoff wins. 

 

For me, however, the place to be on the frigid night of M Jan 20 was up at my alma mater's Levien Gym on Broadway/120th Street. Along with over 2200 other passionate fans, we saw the Columbia women's basketball team roar back from a 10-point halftime deficit to beat longtime nemesis Princeton, the co-2024 Ivy League champion with the Lions, 58-50.  Columbia played airtight defense the whole game forcing 24 turnovers and finally capitalizing on them in the second half when they held the Tigers to 6 points in the third period and 20 overall in the half.  

 

Junior forward Susie Rafiu had a career game with 13 points on 6-10 shooting, 3 rebounds, 4 steals, 1 assist, and no turnovers. Reliable veteran senior tri-captain Cece Collins led the scoring with 18 points, her 3 assists and 2 steals overcoming her 4 turnovers. After a scoring drought that lasted until early in second half, sophomore Riley Weiss, the team's leading scorer, hit two big threes to keep the Lions ahead once they gained the lead late in the third quarter.  

 

It was Princeton's first league loss and they will undoubtedly be heard from before the season is over.  Senior center Parker Hill, trying to fill the shoes of the departed all-world Ellie Mitchell, chipped in 12 points and sophomore guard Ashley Chea, trying to fill the equally formidable shoes of departed Kaitlyn Chen (now a graduate player at UConn), had 16 points but commited 6 of the turnovers.

 

The rematch at Princeton will be on Sa Feb 22 at 530P.  You can be assured that the Tigers under coach Carla Berube, who played at perennial power UConn and has rarely lost coaching Princeton, will insist on improvement.  In the meantime, Columbia hosts Penn this Sa Jan 25 at 2P, a rematch of a hard-fought 15-point win earlier this month. 

 

The two games with Harvard, the other likely contender for top Ivy honors, will be Fri Jan 31 at Columbia at 7P and Su Feb 16 at Harvard at noon.

The top four teams will meet in the league post-season tourney at Brown in Providence RI on the weekend of March 14-15. 

 

(In a sad symbol of Columbia basketball teams going in different directions, earlier on Jan 20 the Columbia men blew a 33-15 halftime lead at Princeton and fell in the last seconds, 71-67.  The men under coach Jim Engles, a onetime Columbia assistant who was hired at the same time as women's caoch Megan Griffith, have just not come through in close Ivy League games.  They are now 0-3 in league play after an 11-1 start that is somewhat misleading because it is padded by expected routs over the Merchant Marine Academy and Sarah Lawrence, yes Sarah Lawrence. In prior years in mystifying pre-season scheduling, Bard and SUNY-Delhi have been sacrificial lambs to the Lions.)  

 

The other big women's basketball story in NYC concerns NYU's Division III Violets rolling along at 14-0 as they seek a second straight undefeated season and national championship.  They have been rarely tested so far this season, but there should be better competition on upcoming back-to-back weekends against longtime UAA (University Athletic Association) rivals, the University of Chicago and Washington U of St. Louis.  The games begin on the road in Chicago,

F Jan 31 730P and in St. Louis Su Feb 2 12 Noon.  The teams then return to the Paulson Center west of Broadway just north of Houston Streeet on Mercer Street on F Feb 7 at 730 with U Chicago coming in and Su Feb 9 at 12N the Violets host WUSL.  

 

My other favorite basketball team, the University of Wisconsin-Madison Badgers, has been surprising a lot of people this year.  How I love it when my teams are expected to do nothing because of transfer portal departures and supposedly uninspired coaching and wind up making the best of the situation.  Although the Badgers took a tough 86-84 loss at UCLA on Tu night Jan 21, they are 15-4 overall and 5-3, tied for 5th place (with recent nemesis Illinois that has beat them 9 times in a row), in the now 18-member Big Ten conference.  (The Badgers cannot overlook any game in the moshpit of Big Ten competition but I have Tu Feb 18 marked down when Illinois comes into Madison - 830P EDT nationally televised on Fox Sports !). 

 

Graduate transfer John Tonge (pronounced TAHN-jay, I think I've finally got the pronunciation down) was scoreless in last Sat's convincing win over USC but hit for 24 in the UCLA loss.  Sophomore John Blackwell pitched in with 23 although his second half technical foul was costly in the two-point loss.  But as long as he learns to control his temper and the team still has his back, Wisconsin could make the rest of the year into March Madness interesting. It's always very nice to see a team that seems to like to pass and run and not just shoot and dunk and play indifferent defense (BTW like too many NBA teams!).  

 

LATE JANUARY THOUGHTS ON BASEBALL PAST AND PRESENT:

The 2025 Baseball Hall of Fame class is now complete.  To no one's surprise, Ichiro Suzuki won a virtually unaminous selection. One still unidentified voter was evidently trying to draw attention to himself and didn't vote for the Japanese star.  His numbers are astounding: He amassed 4367 hits, 3,089 coming in the USA most of them with Seattle but some of them with the Yankees. In the USA he hit .311 (compared to .355 in Japan) and slugged .402 and was a sterling defensive player and base runner.

 

The stature of Ichiro is such that he needs only one name for ID.  He also exudes humility and an obvious love for the game.  But don't ignore his fierce competitiveness.  When Korea beat Japan in one international tournament and a rubber match ensued, Ichiro defiantly proclaimed that Japan would beat Korea so soundly they wouldn't dream of another rubber match for a half-century. Japan did win that game. 

 

I can accept the other Hall of Fame awardees although in the case of Billy Wagner I sense he got in mainly because San Diego's star reliever Trevor Hoffman is already enshrined.  Both did not do well in the post-season and for me that could be a reason for non-admittance. Remember that enshrinement should be for the great, not merely the very good. 

 

I think what probably turned the voters in favor of CC Sabathia, who was elected in his first year of eligibility, was his 250 career wins, a nice round number/ He also collected 3093 strikeouts, only the 3rd of 16 pitchers to reach the 3000 level. But I must say that since  the modern game has eliminated the stigma on striking out, I am less impressed with raw strikeout numbers because batters these days rarely cut down on their swings on two strikes. But CC did pitch capably in post-seasons with Milwaukee and the Yankees. He, Ichiro, and Billy W will join veterans committee picks Dick Allen and Dave Parker in the Hall of Fame induction ceremonies at Cooperstown on Sunday July 27.  

 

As for the news from the current free agent "re-entry" market, most Oriole fans expected Anthony Santander to leave for greener (as in $$$$) pastures. In his case, it will be for Toronto for five years in the neighborhood of $90 million.  The Blue Jays need a lot more than Santander to become a true contender again but no real fan begrudges the very likable Santander his new fortune.  I just hope he doesn't feel added pressure to produce because first baseman/DH Vladimir Guerrero Jr. might be headed to free agency after 2025 and the rest of the Toronto lineup doesn't look too imposing. Oriole fans have to hope that Tyler O'Neill, former Cardinal and Red Sox outfielder and son of a renowned Canadian body builder, can fill the void left by the switch-hitting 44 HR 102 RBI man in 2024. 

And maybe lefthanded hitting Hestor Kjerstad, a few years removed from a very serious heart condition, can become a productive hitter.

 

As for the LA Dodgers loading up on the best free agents - pitchers Blake Snell, Tanner Scott, the young Japanese wunderkind Roki Sasaki and re-signing outfielder Teoscar Hernandez - it is hard to see how competitive balance is helped by this spending spree that few franchises outside of the major markets can afford.  But who talks about competitive balance any more?  LAD will be overwhelming favorites in 2025 but they'll still have to do on the field. But I do know that despite LAD management chortling about how the Dodgers will become "Japan's team" now with Shohei Ohtani and pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto already in the fold, even some ardent fans in Japan do feel that enough is enough in bringing in outsiders to a team that used to boast about its farm system from the days in Brooklyn of Branch Rickey and Buzzie Bavasi through their early years in LA.   

 

Here's some good news though for those who need a baseball fix before spring training and the regular season start.

Starting at 450P EST on F Jan 31, MLBTV will be showing the full Caribbean Series with broadcasts in English. For the first time, Japan, the virtually perennial winner of international competition, will be joining the familiar group including the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, and Mexico.  The games will be shown daily through the championship on F Feb 7. 

 

And what would be a LeeLow post without some TCM news.  On Sa Jan 25, TCM will be providing a PopUp program at the 92nd Street Y on Lexington Ave

on New York's Upper East Side.  Eddie Muller will not be there but  other TCMs wil be on the program. Ddoors will open at 1230P and at

1P TCM host Ben Mankiewicz will converse with Martin Scorsese for an hour.  What films or film clips will be shown is not clear and prices begin at $30.

This program is available online as well as in person.  All the other programs are in-person only.

 

330P TCM host Jacqueline Stewart interviews Drew Barrymore, followed by the showing of "Twentieth Century" with her noted forebear John Barrymore and

Carole Lombard one of the most talented and revered actresses of the Golden Age of Hollywood who perished in an airplace accident after completing with

classic Lubitsch film "To Be Or Not To Be".

 

7P Drew B. returns with TCM host Dave Karger and they interview Steven Spielberg and then "E.T." will be shown.

More info at 92stY.org

 

On the TCM channel itself, here are some highlights: 

Sa Jan 25 415P "Jim Thorpe, All-American" with Burt Lancaster in title role and Charles Bickford as coach Pop Warner

    745P an always-whimsical Robert Benchley short, "How To Watch Football"

Sat midnight (repeated Su Jan 26 at 10A)  "Woman on the Run" with Ann Sheridan/Robert Keith/Dennis O'Keefe - some wonderful San Francisco

    photograph and above-average Noir story - the last Noir Alley until March because of the Oscar films shown in Feb prior to Mar 2 Oscar ceremony

 

Sun Jan 26 4:15P "Somebody Up There Likes Me" (1956) boxer Rocky Graziano's life story starring Paul Newman with Sal Mineo/director Robert Wise

  Adapted from the book of same name by author Rowland Barber who a few years later would collaborate on "Harpo Speaks," Harpo Marx's wonderful

  memoir

 

M Jan 27 8P "The Pawnbroker" (1965) with Rod Steiger and the always fascinating Geraldine Fitzgerald

 

Tu Jan 28 the last night of the George Raft "Star of the Month" festival

8P "Johnny Allegro" (1948) with Nina Foch/George Macready

930P "Red Light" (1949) with Virginia Mayo/Gene Lockhart

11P "A Dangerous Profession" (1949) with Ella Raines/Pat O'Brien

 

One last comment:  I have been watching NFL playoffs and the final rounds have been pretty exciting.  I would like to see Buffalo finally win a Super

Bowl.  It is a city of loyal people and real fans and by the way the only city in Branch Rickey's doomed plan for the Continental League in 1959-60 not to get

a MLB franchise.  But there are good reasons for Kansas City to repeat and also for Philadelphia or Washington to wear theSuper Bowl crown.  Just hope the

injuries are few and the games go down to the last minute and even into overtime.  I have no real horse in this race so I can simply enjoy the games.

 

That's all for now.  Always remember:  Take it easy but take it, and stay positive, test negative. 

 

 

 

 

The news during the weekend of December 20 that Rickey Henderson had died just a few days shy of his 66th birthday on Christmas Day hit the baseball

world very hard.  It was another hard blow after the recent loss of near-Hall of Famers Luis Tiant and Fernando Valenzuela and estimable Rocky Colavito and earlier in 2024 the departures of Hall of Fame immortals Willie Mays and Orlando Cepeda. 

 

I never engaged in a one-on-one with Rickey, but when he was with the Mets in 2000 and I was a WNYC sports commentator, I saw him in the clubhouse taking issue with a NY Post reporter who had questioned his hustle on the field. Rickey didn't stoop to the physical threatening of Bobby Bonilla or the bleach-spraying of Bret Saberhagen (both onetime Mets), but he said firmly that nobody should ever question his playing hard or his love of the game. 

 

I have always thought that Rickey's time in New York got off on a wrong note in 1985 when he was on the disabled list for the first weeks of season and he reportedly said to an inquiring reporter, "I ain't got no time for no press." Meanwhile, across town in Queens, another newcomer, Gary Carter, blasted an extra-inning Opening Day walkoff HR against the St. Louis Cardinals, and the next year he was one of the leaders on the 1986 World Champs.  Rickey's NYY teams were always good but never made the then-shorter playoffs and he was traded back to Oakland in mid-1989.    

 

Of course Rickey's statistics were worthy of first ballot Hall of Fame election in 2009. Not only the all-time base stealer but 3,055 career hits, .401 on base percentage and .820 OPS on-base + slugging average. But the outpouring of sympathy comes from the unique character of the man. Check out Rickey's Hall of Fame induction speech in 2009. It is a classic in which he began by noting that if Satchel Paige could start in the majors at age 45, he would play as long as his body held out. His last major league season was 2003, making it 25 in all (not counting his 2004-2005 in independent ball.) 

 

Rickey went on to praise his mother Bobbie who had insisted he give up football although he wanted to play for his adopted home town Oakland Raiders.  "I guess mom knows best," he said, smiling and nodding to her, his wife, and his daughters.  He thanked his Babe Ruth League coach for bribing him with donuts and hot chocolate to get him out of bed and to the ballpark. And his HS guidance counselor for giving him a quarter for every hit, stolen base, and run scored he made in a local game.

 

He thanked Jack "JJ" Guinn, the scout who signed him for the Oakland A's and ignored the nay-sayers who thought a position player couldn't succeed throwing left and batting right. He praised his first minor league manager Tom Trebelhorn, a future Milwaukee Brewers skipper, for teaching him how to slide and take leads from first base. Remembering the day in July 1979 when A's owner Charlie Finley phoned and told him to report to the majors, Rickey chuckled, "Charlie, wherever you at and that donkey, thank you for the opportunity." 

 

RIP Rickey Nelson Henley Henderson - maybe his entertaining originality was preordained when he was born in a family Oldsmobile in Chicago as his mother was being rushed to the hospital and Ricky Nelson music was on the car radio. 

 

HERE'S A COUPLE OF TOUCHING MOMENTS FROM THE END OF THE BASEBALL SEASON: 

**At the end of the Yankees-Royals divisional baseball series, Yankees DH Giancarlo Stanton put a consoling arm around a tearful Bobby Witt Jr. after the Bronx Bombers had eliminated KC. Giancarlo must have been telling the rising superstar shortstop that there will be other chances for him to be on the winning side. 

 

**Isaiah Kiner-Falefa, Pirates (and former Rangers-Yankees) shortstop turned down a $250,000 bonus for playing in a certain number of games so that Pittsburgh rookies just called up from the minors could see some major league action. In this age of blatant greed on all sides, Falefa's gesture deserves a tip of the cap.  Last I looked, Isaiah, who will turn 30 in March, was still a free agent - he is the kind of grinder that every winning team needs.

 

My first post of the New Year will speculate more deeply on off-season maneuvers by MLB teams. I must say now that I don't know what the Cleveland Guardians are doing in trading superior middle infielder Andres Gimenez to the Blue Jays and slugging first baseman Josh Naylor to the Diamondbacks without a seemingly adequate return.  Gimenez's bat has slipped but his defense is world class.  The reverse is true about the burly but productive Naylor who is still only 27.

 

But I must take the time now to list the Sydney Greenstreet films celebrating his 145th birthday that will be on TCM Fri Dec 27 from 845A until 8P.  The day is sentimental for me because it is my half-birthday and also the birthday of my late sister Carol Ann Lowenfish Norton who would have been 86 on Dec 27.  She always knew the game was in my blood although after attending an Orioles game with me in Baltimore, she looked around at the crowd and wrote in a suburban newspaper that the national pastime was not baseball but eating.  

 

845A "That Way With Women" (1947) with Dane Clark and Martha Vickers, Lauren Bacall's precocious little sister in "The Big Sleep" from the year before.

 

*1015A "The Maltese Falcon" (1941) the first Greenstreet-Peter Lorre collaboration.  Starring Humphrey Bogart and Mary Astor. John Huston's first directorial hit and watch for his father Walter Huston making a cameo as the man that brings the falcon to Bogart's office.

 

12N "Background to Danger" (1943) set in Turkey directed by Raoul Walsh with Brenda Marshall and George Raft

 

130P "Conflict" (1945) with Bogart and the underappreciated Alexis Smith years before she became a Broadway musical star

 

3P "Mask of Dimitrios" (1944) with Zachary Scott (just before he treats Joan Crawford and Ann Blyth badly in "Mildred Pierce") and Faye Emerson (several years before she hosts with then-husband bandleader Skitch Henderson "Faye and Skitch", a NYC talk show in the early days of TV  

 

*445P "Three Strangers" (1946) with Geraldine Fitzgerald. Ireland's temporary gift to America (she played a memorable bitchy character in Siodmak's "Strange Affair of Uncle Harry" that I saw last week at the director Robert Siodmak Retrospective) and Peter Lorre.  A wish for the new year is made by three strangers.

 

630P "The Verdict" (1946) based on an Israel Zangwill story about a prosecutor who sentences an innocent man to death. With Lorre & Joan Lorring.

 

Sun Dec 29 has quite a lineup, too, starting at 12:15A with Noir Alley's "Postman Never Rings Twice" (1946) James Cain's classic story directed by

Tay Garnett with John Garfield and Lana Turner as the illicit lovers/Cecil Kellaway as the victimized husband/Leon Ames as the prosecutor. Repeated at 10A

 

12N "Ball of Fire" (1942) the original one directed by Howard Hawks with tough gal Barbara Stanwyck loosening up the linguistic professors including Gary Cooper.  Dana Andrews in a rare comic role as Stanwyck's mob boyfriend.

 

And the day ends back-to-back:

8P "Mildred Pierce" (1945) followed I hope by Carol Burnett bringing along her spoof of the movie

 

1030P "Double Indemnity" (1944) with Fred MacMurray/Stanwyck as the illicit lovers and Edward G Robinson sadly figuring it out - the Noir that started it all although I'd vote for Alan Ladd/Veronica Lake in "This Gun For Hire" (1942) with Robert Preston years before his Harold Hill days in "Music Man". One senses the hand of screenwriter W.R. Burnett all over this movie

 

That's all for now.  Here are the mantras, please follow them in these turbulent years of history that I hope won't engulf us all.  But understanding and appreciating the history of baseball, movies, and music will certainly help if only for consolation. 

So all together now:  Stay positive, test negative, and a new one:  stay healthy and stay sane.

 

And as always, take it easy but take it.   Happy New Year!!