Lee Lowenfish

 

About a week ago I ran across on espn.com Alex Scarborough's moving piece about the late sport psychologist Trevor Moawad.  

 

Born in Lakeville, Washington, Moawad packed a lot into his 48 years on this earth, a time shortened by cancer that he succumbed to this past September. He kept it secret from his friends and colleagues. 

 

He became a go-to guy for top football coaches Alabama's Nick Saban and Georgia's Kirby Smart, Saban's one-time assistant.

 

Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson spent nearly a month at Moawad's home 

after throwing the goal line interception that cost Seattle a Super Bowl title over the Patriots.

 

Marcus Stroman, the former Blue Jays and Mets pitcher (now with the Cubs), was another believer in "Limitless Minds," Moawad's company. 

 

A lot of sports psychology maxims are fairly obvious. I think Moawad's were definitely a cut above.  Like my title today:  "Starve your distractions, Feed your focus."

 

Here's one that can help in constructing a team as well as in personal development:

"When you're green, you grow.  When you're ripe, you rot."  

 

Moawad's last book was called "It Takes What It Takes".  I say that whatever gets us through the next year(s) with some hope and abiding faith is fine with me. 

 

Who really likes wearing a mask except The Lone Ranger?  And his mouth wasn't even

covered so his mask never got fogged up.  But we have to do what we have to do in the immediate future.

 

When even our beloved, consoling sports calendars are thrown into disarray, we know

that we are in unchartered waters.  Here's hoping that a grain of normalcy returns in the

warmer weather.   

 

I am disappointed that I won't be able to see live and in person the start of my Columbia's women's basketball Ivy League season.  But I'll be following on whatever TV or streaming

outlets show their first three big games against Yale (Su Jan 2 at 1P), Princeton (F Jan 7 at 7P) and Penn (Su Jan 8 at 5P).

 

In the meantime here are some TCM tips for the first weeks in January.

Tu January 4: 345P "Johnny Belinda" (1948)  Jane Wyman's Oscar as a deaf-mute brought to sentient life by Lew Ayres. Set in Nova Scotia.  

Max Steiner's soulful music is truly a supporting actor. So are Charles Bickford, Jan Sterling, and Stephen McNally playing a truly awful character.

 

Later that night at 8P "This is Spinal Tap" (1984) - the hilarious rock-a-mentary  

 

Th Jan 6  730A Joe E Brown as Capn Andy in "Show Boat" (1951)

 "   "        415P Brown in his early Hollywood days gets involved in a yacht race in "Top Speed" (1930)  

 

And if you like murderous people, try this trifecta later on Jan 6:

8P Alfred Hitchcock's "Rope" (1948) inspired by the Leopold-Loeb story

 

930P Arthur Penn's "Bonnie and Clyde" (1967) with Warren Beatty/Faye Dunaway and

in important roles Gene Hackman and Estelle Parsons

 

1130P Terence Malick's "Badlands" (1973) inspired by Charles Starkweather

 

Fri Jan 7 8P Howard Hawks's "Red River" (1948) - Montgomery Clift rebels against

John Wayne with Joanne Dru who returns at 1030P in the Noir "711 Ocean Drive" (1950)

with Edmond O'Brien and Otto Kruger

 

Speaking of Noir, Eddie Muller starts new year on Su Jan 2 12M, 10A

"Repeat Performance" (1947) Joan Leslie tries to relive a night of murder with a happier

ending.

 

Su Jan 9 12M 10A  "Nightmare Alley" (1947) the original without the glitz of today's remake

 

Su Jan 16 1230A, also 10A - "The Mob" (1951) with Broderick Crawford and Richard Kiley

who before he became "Man of La Mancha" had many roles in Noir films

 

Su Jan 23 12M, also 10A  "Over-Exposed" (1956)  very little known about this film even on TCM website. I immediately thought it would star Jayne Mansfield but no, it is Isobel Elsom.  

 

That's all for now.   Be healthy and not without faith.

 

I sign off listening to the serenely beautiful strains of the slow movement in Mozart's Clarinet Concerto K. 622 and remembering hearing the other day the caressing of the oboe and clarinet in Rachmaninov's slow movement of his Second Symphony.  Now it's Mahler.

 

I'm reminded of another great adage - "without music life would be a mistake."

So once again take it easy but take it. 

 

 

 

The undefeated Wisconsin Badgers football team went down on Saturday night Dec 3 to an inspired Ohio State Buckeyes team, 27-21. It marked the third time in four years that the Badgers had lost the Big Ten championship game.

The odds-makers who favored the Buckeyes by 6 or 6.5 points had it right. Wisconsin had not played any team as tough and swift as Ohio State all season. The Buckeyes scored three touchdowns on plays over 50 yards in the first half, tying the number of big plays the vaunted Wisconsin defense had allowed in their 12 previous games.

Though the 21-10 halftime deficit proved too much to overcome, the second half was thrilling and almost classic - if only Wisconsin had mounted a serious threat late in the game to save their unblemished season.

But all game the stout Ohio State defense throttled Jonathan Taylor, Wisconsin’s sensational freshman running back, holding him to just 41 yards in 15 carries, far below his season average. Ohio State's freshman star running back J.K.Dobbins was much more productive and was voted game MVP.

Badger sophomore southpaw quarterback Alex Hornibrook played nobly but didn’t have the arm strength or enough game-breaking receivers to pull off the comeback. His counterpart J.T. Barrett, one week removed from arthroscopic knee surgery, played a savvy game and did just enough with his arm and his challenged legs to lead his team to victory - despite two interceptions including a pick-6 by Badger linebacker Andrew van Ginkel that kept Wisconsin in the game during the first half..

Kudos to the outstanding punting on both sides. I’m a great believer in field position in football and Drue Chrisman of Ohio State boomed his punts deep into Badger territory and kept them high enough to prevent any return yardage. The Badgers' Anthony Lotti for Wisconsin also punted very effectively.

Despite the Buckeyes' victory to claim the Big Ten championship, it was left out of football's Final Four. One-loss Alabama got the fourth seed and will have a rematch with defending champion Clemson in the Sugar Bowl semi-final on New Year's Day. Oklahoma will meet Georgia in the Rose Bowl in the second semi-final.

Ohio State will meet USC in Dallas' Cotton Bowl and Wisconsin plays in Miami's Orange Bowl for the first time on Dec 30 against home team Miami which slumped badly at the end of the year after being undefeated.

Ohio State's 31-point loss to Iowa on the road was held against the Buckeyes and their 16-point loss at home to Oklahoma early in the season didn't help. But the bruising Big Ten plays nine conference games whereas Alabama's vaunted SEC only play eight and pad their schedule with cupcakes like Mercer.

(Alabama didn't even play for the SEC championship losing to Auburn on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. So they are a very dubious selection to the Final Four despite coach Nick Saban's protestations of their excellence.)

To add to the bad Saturday for the Badgers, earlier in the day the Big Ten opened its basketball season with Ohio State trouncing Wisconsin on the Badgers’ home court, 78-53. The Buckeyes led by 23 at the half and opened up a 35-point lead at one point in the second half. Wisconsin falls to 3-5 overall. The loss of four starters from last year's solid tournament team looks more and more ominous.

As if there weren’t enough sadness for an ardent fan of his alma maters, Columbia blew a 10-point lead in the second half and lost at Albany 86-82. The Lions fall to 1-6 on the season, all road games. They finally open their home season against Quinnipiac from New Haven CT this Monday Dec 4. Maybe home cooking will make the difference.

A final shout-out in 2017 is in order for Columbia’s football team that finished with its best record in 21 years, 8-2 overall and 5-2 in the Ivy League good for a second place tie with Dartmouth. Except for its 23-6 loss to eventual champion Yale in New Haven - the Elis’ first outright title since 1980 - the Lions proved they could play with anybody.

Great kudos to the 32 seniors who stuck it out after their winless freshman season under ousted coach Pete Mangurian. The arrival of proven Ivy League winner Al Bagnoli from Penn has made a great difference. Now as Bagnoli has said so wisely, the key will be to stay up there as a perennial contender every year.

Graduation losses will be significant - quarterback Anders Hill, running back Jim Schroer, and punter Parker Thome among them. (Thome BTW is a distant cousin of baseball's possible next Hall of Famer Jim Thome).

But Bagnoli and his recruiting staff seem to building what Earl Weaver and Yogi Berra used to call "deep depth." The prior punters for the Lions are taking advantage of a fourth year of eligibility by punting for top Division I schools - Cameron Nizialek's leg will be on display when Georgia plays Oklahoma and Matthew Nanton will be kicking for Kentucky in the Music City Bowl against Northwestern.

That’s all for now, dear blog readers. Next time there will be real Hot Stove League baseball news and hopefully more informed speculation to write about as baseball’s annual winter meetings convene in Orlando FLA in mid-December. Until then always remember: “Take it easy but take it!”
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