Lee Lowenfish

NYC has been blessed with spring-like and even summery weather since late August.  It has made the the end of Daylight Saving Time less somber. I've made it a point to be outside as much as possible in the waning daylight - walking and reading on park benches often up to dusk.

 

Yet drought is now becoming a problem around here. Fires have raged this weekend in area parks, probably caused by a toxic combination of heat and dry leaves. Nothing is ever simple in life, is it? 

 

The election results on Nov 5 were not to my liking, in the understatement of the year, but it didn't really surprise me.  Kamala Harris turned out to be a better candidate and a more appealing personality than I expected, but hers was a hasty entry into the race after President Biden succumbed to pressure and withdrew from the race after a disastrous June 27 TV debate against Donald Trump.

 

It happened on my 82nd birthday and I was eating a great Cuban meal at Amor Cubano on 3rd Avenue and 111th Street. I wasn't gonna be bothered with the kind of TV situation that Trump knew how to manipulate. I sensed too that incumbent administrations would always take the blame for what happens on their watch.  (I don't think the government of any country where there was some kind of legitimate election since the pandemic has survived.)    

 

The role of television, and now even more perniciously the instant streaming services readily available online, is more insidious than ever. I picked a good movie to watch on TCM the Friday before the election, Hal Ashby's "Being There" (1979). 

 

It really holds up well with Peter Sellers as the illiterate gardener whose emotions are entirely dictated by what he sees on TV.  In one particularly memorable scene, Sellers reacts to Shirley MacLaine's amorous advances only when he sees a couple kissing on TV. Sellers delivers a bravura performance with some fine work by Melvyn Douglas as the dying chairman of a big corporation, MacLaine as his wife, and Jack Warden as the befuddled President of the United States. 

 

Speaking of TCM, on Tues Nov 12 there is quite a lineup of sports-themed films beginning early in the morning with:

6A "Crazylegs" (1954) starring football star Elroy "Crazylegs" Hirsch playing himself.  For those of you moaning and groaning about the new freedoms for college football players, I'm glad I learned that the great Wisconsin Badger All-American also played for U of Michigan when he was stationed nearby during WW2 

 

730A "Viva Knievel" (1977) - remember him? the crazy motorcycle rider specializing in stunts

 

*930A  "Speedy" (1928) Harold Lloyd's memorable silent film that includes Babe Ruth suffering thru a cab ride to Yankee Stadium by adoring Lloyd 

 

11A  "The Jackie Robinson Story" (1950) with JR playing himself and young Ruby Dee as his wife Rachel

 

1230P "The Greatest" (1977) a dramatization of Muhammad Ali's fight against his refusal to fight in Vietnam - starring Ernest Borgnine  

 

(*430P  "A Hard Day's Night" (1964)  Not a sports film but the Beatles' first film under Richard Lester's artful direction of a more hopeful age)

 

8P "Strangers On A Train" (1951) a Hitchcock classic with some wonderful photography at the Forest Hills tennis center; Part of Ruth Roman Tuesday

nights in November with Farley Granger as the tennis pro trying to avoid Robert Walker's eerie stranger 

 

On the college basketball scene, I am happy to report good news in the early going for Columbia basketball, both women's and men's teams.They are undefeated in the early going. There will be plenty of home action this month, esp. for the men, at the Levien Gym on Broadway just east of SE of 120th Street.

 

The women, expected to contend for another Ivy League title, routed Stony Brook in the home opener and won an overtime thriller at Providence, their 9th win over a Big East team in the last 10 tries.  Next home games are :

M Nov 11 7P against powerhouse Florida Gulf Coast U.

W Nov 20 7P against Pacific of Stockton, CA where Eddie LeBaron played QB and Janet Leigh attended

And mark down Sa Jan 20 2P for Princeton's visit to Levien.  

 

The Columbia Lions men upset Villanova last week on the road.  They are an experienced team with no defections for transfer portals and the like.

Tu Nov 12 7P Lehigh

Sa Nov 16 Mercyhurst 12N

W Nov 20 at LIU Brooklyn 7P

Sa Nov 23 7P Stony Brook

M Nov 25 New Hampshire 7P 

 

Down at the NYU gym at Mercer and Bleecker Sts, the defending Division III champion women Violets play:

Fri Nov 15 6P Kean of NJ

Su Nov 24 2P Colby from Maine

 

The men's home opener won't be until Dec 3.   

 

Wisconsin, my graduate alma mater, is also off to undefeated start against middling competition.  They were hit hard by losses in the transfer portal, but

they have enough veterans back and newcomers to perhaps make life interesting this season.  

 

On the other hand, the second season of football coach Luke Fickell has hit major bumps in the road.  At 5-4, with Oregon coming up this Sat Nov 16, they

are not assured of even a minor bowl appearance.  Tearing down a good but not great program under Wisconsin native coach Paul Chryst doesn't look like

a good decision right now.  I'm glad they have kept for the time being at least another local basketball stalwart, longtime coach Greg Gard.    

 

Next time there may be news of baseball free agent signings though it looks like super-agent Scott Boras will string out his clients into the holiday season.

It didn't work out well for many of his players last off-season but we'll see.  I don't like the incessant talk of money so won't go into it here.

 

Instead, I will be relying on the saving grace of humor in the four years ahead - while keeping alive my love of good sports and finding where I can fascinating connections about people. 

 

Eg. Just found out ago moments ago from reading a Guardian.com post, that Susie Wiles, 67, Trump's campaign manager who will be his White House chief of staff, is the daughter of Pat Summerrall, former New York Giant place-kicker in their glory days and later the understated effective sidekick to John Madden on NFL broadcasts.

 

For now, always remember:  Take it easy but take it, and Stay Positive, Test Negative.  

 

 

 

 

It's been a while since I posted to you dear readers and I have to say it has been a rather eventful few weeks in both baseball and American history.

On July 20th, the day after I finished my stimulating class on baseball culture at Chautauqua, former president Trump narrowly missed assassination. 

 

A few days after that, President Biden wisely decided to give up his re-election campaign, and surprisingly with little of the Democratic Party's typical awkward chaos, current Veep Kamala Harris has picked up the mantle of a presentable Presidential candidate. 

 

At least in the early going she has clearly galvanized the Democratic base. Since I believe that most Americans don't take or should take an election seriously until after Labor Day, no more word on politics from me until then. (Or to be more accurate, until the end of this blog.)

 

As I post before the first games of the first full weekend in August, the Orioles and Yankees are in a flat-footed tie for AL East supremacy with the Red Sox still in the hunt only 5 games behind and the Rays only 3 games behind Boston. 

 

The Oriole injury bug is very serious with infielders Jordan Westburg and Jorge Mateo out until late September at the earliest. The closer situation is very unsettled with aging Craig Kimbrel in his second "reset" of the season.  The offense remains inconsistent.

 

If I felt truly comfortable playing the role of the Prince of Paranoia, I would have entitled this post, "Where Is Aaron Hicks Now That We Really Need Him?"  The scapegoat for Yankee failures in recent seasons really helped the Birds last summer with big hits, good defense, and veteran presence, but after being cut by the woeful Angels in late April this season, he has not resurfaced in the majors.

  

I will try to take the long view that the Orioles are still a young team and because of the infield injuries, they now have promising but raw rookie Coby Mayo getting a chance at third base and the ballyhooed still only 20-year-old Jackson Holliday getting another chance at second base. 

 

What I cannot abide though are the continuing injuries to pitchers.  It's an epidemic that affects every organization, including the best ones. 

Satire may be the only way to deal with it. 

 

Dan Bern, the gifted and prolific folk-rock singer/guitarist/composer, has given me permission to quote from two of his trenchant songs about the situation. 

 

"27 Pitchers Gettin One Out Each" begins: 

"I ran into Dave Roberts

The Dodgers manager

He had a faraway look in his eyes

I tell you sir

He said I'm lookin forward to my winter

On the beach

Dreaming of 27 pitchers getting 1 out each 

27 pitchers getting 1 out each" 

 

 A later verse laments:

"The pitcher's mound used to be an all-day chore

But now it's lookin more like a revolving door

Sandy Koufax used to throw all nine or more

That kind of ball has gone out with the dinosaur"

 

A few years ago, Bern penned "Tommy John Surgery" with this acerbic verse:

"Get your kid's tommy john surgery whee 

Before they know their abc's

Jump-start the process do it for your kid

You will not be sorry you did."

(You can hear more of the music and lyrics of Dan Bern, a native of Iowa with a national and international following, on Spotify and other

platforms listed at danbern.com) 

 

The sports world suffered a tremendous loss on July 17th with the passing of Pat Williams at 84 in Orlando, Florida, where he made one of his basketball successes as the founding general manager of the NBA's Orlando Magic.  He brought Shaquille O'Neal and Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway to Orlando where they made two championship finals before Shaq moved to the golden riches of LA. 

 

Earlier, Williams made a success with the pre-Michael Jordan Chicago Bulls but he had a a great love of baseball, too.  Scouts still talk reverently about his success at building a fan base for the Carolina League Spartanburg Phillies, a job that brought Pat the 1967 Sporting News Minor League Executive of the Year award.

 

At the time of his death, Pat was trying to put together a group to either bring the Tampa Bay Rays to Orlando or create an expansion franchise. 

His energy, vision, and genuine support for those like myself outside the loop of the entrenched power structure in sports will be sorely missed.

 

My closing thoughts come from Richael Greenberg's 2003 Tony award-winning play "Take Me Out" that recently enjoyed a NYC revival.  The speech near the end of the first act delivered by Mason, the player-agent who is falling in love with both baseball and the baseball player Darren who is preparing to come out as gay (thus the title of the play), reads in part: 

"Baseball is better than democracy - at least democracy as it is practiced in this country - because, unlike democracy, baseball acknowledges loss.  While conservatives tell you, 'Leave things alone and no one will lose,' and liberals tell you, 'Interfere a lot and no one will lose,' baseball says,

'Someone will lose.' Not only says it, insists upon it."   

 

Next time you are subjected to a screamer on talk radio going ballistic, think about this speech and the essence of our great game. 

 

Thanks all for now.  My mantras remain:  Stay Positive Test Negative and Take It Easy But Take It.