Catching Up On Some Absent Friends

Some notable people have left us over the last few weeks.  Time to catch up....

James Lovell

Astronaut James Lovell died at the age of 92 earlier this month.  Lovell was a veteran of two Gemini space flights when he, Frank Norman, and Bill Anders were tapped for the Apollo 8 mission and became the first human beings to visit the moon when their Apollo craft orbited the moon in December 1968.  If you were around then, how could you ever forget the trio reading from the Book of Genesis while they orbited the moon on Christmas Eve.

Lovell will be most remembered, however, as the Commander of the Apollo 13 mission, the one that went wrong.  When power and oxygen was lost in the command module, the lunar landing mission had to be aborted and Lovell and his crew of Fred Haise and Rusty Swigert, with the assistance of the NASA engineers and scientists on the ground somehow managed, while the world watched with bated breath, to get the craft in working order and back to earth safely with all three crew members surviving.  I can recall my mother saying at the time that "if they get them back to earth safely it will be a bigger miracle than if they had landed on the moon itself."

Of course, the whole sage of that mission was immortalized back in 1995 with the Ron Howard directed movie, "Apollo 13" that starred Tom Hanks as Jim Lovell.  If you've never seen the movie, you should.  It is great movie about an amazing event in our history.  Lovell himself even has a cameo as one of the ship's naval officers who welcomes the crew on board after they splash down in the ocean.

Ron Turcotte

Hall of Fame Jockey Ron Turcotte died last week at the age of 82.  Turcotte won over 3,000 races in his career including two wins apiece in each of the Triple Crown races, and he is most famous for being in the irons on the great Secretariat when that horse won the Triple Crown of racing, the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes in 1973.  Secretariat won each of those races in record times, and those speed records still stand in all three of those races fifty-two years later.  For some reason, 21 year old me was all alone in our Saline Street house on that June afternoon, and I will never forget what I saw on television as Secretariat while "moving like a tremendous machine" won that Belmont Stakes by 31 lengths.  It remains one of the most astonishing events that I have ever witnessed as a sports fan.  (Treat yourself and watch that race HERE).

Five years after that Triple Crown year, Turcotte fell off of a horse during a race and became a paraplegic.  He spent the rest of his life in and around the racing industry, helped raise awareness and funds for injured and retired jockeys, and by all accounts was a positive and terrific person.

The picture above is the famous one of Turcotte looking back at the field in the backstretch of that incredible race at Belmont park in 1973.

Joan Anderson

Joan Anderson

1923-2025

People like Joan Anderson are why I read the news obituaries and write Absent Friends posts.  Anderson died last month at the age of 92, and this was the first paragraph in her obit in the Washington Post:

"On a trip to Sydney in 1956, Joan Anderson was amazed to discover a trend sweeping Australia's beaches and streets. People were 'doing the hoop' - twirling a sturdy circular ring of bamboo around their hips for exercise or just for fun."

Anderson was a native Australian who in 1945 married an American soldier and moved to the United States after WW II.  After her return to the States from that 1956 vacation, she had her mother send her one of those hoops.  Long story short, Anderson met with a guy from the Wham-O toy company, and made a handshake agreement to allow Wham-O to manufacture and market the hoops, now called Hula Hoops, and give the Andersons a penny for each hoop sold.  Well, if your my age, you no doubt had a hula hoop when you were a kid, and all of your neighborhood friends did too.  Four months after the Hula Hoop hit the market in 1958, over 25 million of them were sold, which would have meant 250 thousand 1958 dollars for the Andersons, but guess what?  Wham-O reneged on that handshake deal. The Andersons had to go to court and ended up settling for $6,000 and "tried to cast the hula hoop from their minds" according to the Post obituary. 

In 2018, a documentary film called "Hula Girl" was made about Joan Anderson and this story.  I have tried to find it on several streaming platforms but have not been able to find it as yet.  In it, Joan was quoted as saying, "The world isn't fair, but life goes on" and according to her family, she and her husband did just that.

So now you know about that goofy toy you had back there in the 1958-61 era.  My late sister, Patty, by the way, was a whiz at the hula hoop.

RIP Jim Lovell, Ron Turcotte, and Joan Anderson

In Praise of Etsy

Take  one authentic but now outdated Steelers replica jersey.

Find an expert craftsperson on Etsy, in this case, someone who goes by the name "Patch Planet".

Iron on the new name plate over the old one.

Now, I am ready for some football!!

FYI, the "Rodgers" patch from Patch Planet will cost you twenty-four bucks, plus shipping.  A whole lot less than what a new A-A-Ron jersey would set you back.

Billy Joel - And So It Goes

 

If you are a fan of the music of Billy Joel, and honestly, who isn't, I cannot recommend to you highly enough the documentary film about the singer now showing on HBO Max.  It is presented in two parts, each about two and a half hours long, and it tells everything about Billy Joel, and it tells the story in many different layers, from his growing up in Hicksville, Long Island, NY, and complicated family life, his not graduating from high school, how he kicked it around in various bands as a teenager, his career as a solo performer singer/songwriter, how he got ripped off by his management, his four marriages, his problems with alcohol.  Nothing is left out or  glossed over, but what always comes through is the absolutely amazing talent of the man.

Joel's grandparents escaped Europe as Hitler's genocidal programs were sweeping through Germany and central Europe. His father was a classical pianist who left the family when Billy was 7 years old, an act with which Joel was never quite able to come to terms.  It was only as he was older and successful that he was able to track his father down in Vienna and discover that he had a half-brother.  I am skimming over this spect of the film, but it is remarkable.  (That half-brother is a classical symphony conductor in Austria.  Talk about music being in the genes.)

Joel speaks on camera throughout the movie, and is frank and honest about all aspects of his life.  This is great, of course, but the cast of characters who pop up throughout the movie talking about Joel and his talent and influence is positively eye-popping.  Jackson Brown, Don Henley, Garth Brooks, Sting, Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, and even Itzhak Perlman, for God's sake.  Their testimonies to Billy Joel just makes your jaw drop.  Example:  McCartney tells us this - "People often ask me Is there a song out there that you wish that you would have written, and I tell them 'Just The Way You Are'."

I am constantly amazed at the genius of musical superstars.  Time and again throughout the movie, Joel will tell the story about how an idea came to him while he was driving somewhere, and that by the time he reaches his destination, he can sit at a piano and produce a song that becomes a classic.  How these people can do that  is so far beyond my grasp as to be positively unimaginable.

Best of all, though, beyond everything else the film contains clips of Billy Joel singing and performing all of those songs that have become the music of our lives.  I consider myself fortunate to have seen Billy Joel live twice in my life.  The first time was at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena in 1986 or -87.  The second time was in August 2022 at PNC Park (read The Piano Man In Concert) in what was truly one of the greatest concert experiences that I have ever had.

As I reread what I have just written about this movie, I can tell you that this write up is hardly doing "And So It Goes" justice.  If you don't have HBO Max available to you, find a friend who does and see this documentary film.  You will not be disappointed.

A full Four Stars from The Grandstander.

Pirates vs. Brewers

The Pirates just completed a three game series in Milwaukee where they were swept by the Brewers.  The scores of those three games:

• 7-1
• 14-0
• 12-5

And here's the thing:  None of those games were as close as the scores indicated.  The differences between the two teams were so obvious, and so glaring as to be positively embarrassing for the Pittsburgh Pirates, but, of course we all know by now that Bob Nutting is incapable of being embarrassed.  Milwaukee is so much better, and so far ahead of the Pirates, it's like having the Alabama football team going up against a good WPIAL high school team.

Take a look at the Pirate box score from that 14-0 loss on Tuesday night:

Look  at those 6-7-8 slots - Suwinski/Triolo/Davis - in the line-up.  And Jared Triolo and Jack Suwinski are, it is being reported, guys that the Pirates "want to take a look at" as they prepare for 2026.  Like we don't already know who they are.   As my friend Dan asked me after golf on Monday, "Is there another team in all of MLB who would have Jack Suwinski on there roster?"  Don't think so.

On the bright side, in that 14-0 loss last night, the Bucs played true Sheltie-ball by having a position player, Triolo, pitch in the ninth inning, and tough guy skipper Don "Donnie" Kelly was ejected for the fifth time since he became manager in May.  Yep, Kelly takes no shit!

On another related matter, this screen shot from Pirates Announcer Greg Brown's Twitter feed was posted on Facebook yesterday on a Pirates fans group page:

Presumably, Brownie had a straight face when he posted that. Oh, and for those of you who didn't know the meaning of the word "shill", well, now you know.

They Paved Paradise and Put Up a Parking Lot

 Behold this photo of the White House Rose Garden as it has been since the Kennedy Administration:

This wasn't to the liking of the current occupants, so that beautiful garden and green space has been replaced with this:

Beautiful, isn't it?

Joni Mitchell had it right.

Critical Commentary - Four Movies

In the past five days,  I have busied myself with watching four separate movies, two new, two old.  Here we go, in order of viewing.

Yes, a long term aversion to Adam Sandler didn't stop me from being among the millions of people who set Netflix records by streaming this one.

I think, but cannot absolutely swear to it, that I saw the original "Happy Gilmore", and if I did, I put much of it out of my mind, except for Sandler punching out Bob Barker. Still, we were in the mood for some mindless entertainment, and this one sure qualified as that.

It did have its comedic moments, and I did enjoy all of the cameos that were done by various professional golfers.  Like Jack Nicklaus ordering a half iced tea, half lemonade.  "Arnold Palmer?" the waiter asks.  "No" he replies "I'm Jack Nicklaus, but I get that a lot."  And of the current golfers featured, Xander Schauffele, in my opinion, steals the show in his bit while at the tournament banquet.

You don't grade a movie like this using the same curve that you would say, "Citizen Kane" or the latest Scorsese masterpiece, but considering what it is, The Grandstander gives it Two Stars.

Listening to Ben Mankiewicz on the latest season of The Plot Thickens podcast prompted me to watch this one from 1949.  Ben's uncle Joe Mankiewicz won Oscars for this one for Screenplay and Directing, so it is a classic of sorts.  Three ladies, Jeanne Crain, Ann Southern, and Linda Darnell, are about to embark on a river cruise to a day camp for underprivileged kids when they receive a note from a mutual friend of theirs, Addie Ross, telling them that that evening, she will be running off with one of their husbands.  Unable to communicate with anyone - there were no cell phones in 1949 - they spend the rest of the day wondering if their husband is the one who will be leaving with the hussy Addie.  We then see flashback scenes from each of them that would make them think that they are the one about to be abandoned.

Lots of dated ideas in this one, like "Only the husband should be the breadwinner in a family", but still a pretty good movie, and some of the notions, like marrying for money instead of love, can still prompt debate here in good ol' 2025.

Oh, and Thelma Ritter is in this one.  It is only her second credited movie appearance, and in it she displays the persona that she did in just about every movie she ever made thereafter, and did you know that she was nominated for SIX Academy Awards over the course other career?  I didn't.

The only quibble that Linda and I had with it was that we thought the wrap up to the story seemed rushed and also confusing.  Still, we liked it, and I give it Three Grandstander Stars.

I have written many times on this blog of my fondness for this classic movie from 1950 that was written and directed by Billy Wilder, and starred Gloria Swanson, William Holden, Erich Von Stroheim, and Nancy Olsen.  Just last month I pulled out my DVD copy of this movie and introduced it to Linda who had never seen it. As fate and good fortune would have it, just this weekend, theaters across the country were honoring the 75th anniversary of this movie by showing it on a big screen. 

I am not going to recount the plot line of the movie here, but it is a terrific story of Hollywood, past glories, and cynicism, and seeing it on the big screen for the first time with all those other "wonderful people out there in the dark" made for a whole new and terrific experience.

As always, "Sunset Boulevard" rates a full Four Stars from The Grandstander.

And then there is "The Naked Gun", and I will tell you right off the bat that I just loved this one.  It is a retelling of all of those Naked Gun/Police Squad movies that Leslie Nielsen and George Kennedy made back in the eighties and nineties.  In this one, Liam Neeson abandons his action hero persona, or maybe he just embraces it, as Frank Drebin Jr., Nielsen's son, and he is terrific.  He's great as he deadpans through all of his bits in this one, even as he and the producers make fun of his own reputed physical gifts, if you get my drift.  It's hard to think that this is the same guy who was nominated for an Oscar for "Schindlers List".

I went to a 10:00 AM showing of this one this morning and I was the only person in the theater, which was good, because then I didn't have to stifle myself during all of the time I laughed out loud at throughout this one.  There are some great running gags in this one and one that I liked was Drebin and his partner constantly being handed cardboard cups of coffee.  Sophisticated it's not, like what the bad guy thinks he is seeing through the curtains of Frank's apartment while using infrared binoculars, and the body cam sequences of Drebin in his squad car after eating several chili dogs, but let's face it, going to see a Naked Gun movie isn't like going to a Noel Coward play.

I also give great props to Pamela Anderson in this one.  She plays it for all of its slapstick worth, but there is one scene of her doing some scat singing in a jazz club where she is just terrific.  Oh, and stay for the credits.  All of the credits.  There is a funny scene at the very end, and the movie makers drop some pretty funny fake credits throughout that will make you laugh, and I probably missed a bunch of them.

Like I said earlier, you don't judge a movie like this the same way you would a Spielberg of Scorsese movie, but for what it is, this one is terrific.

Three Stars from The Grandstander.

What The Pirates Did At The Deadline

What, me worry?

Here you go, a summary of the moves all in one convenient spreadsheet that Bucco GM Ben Cherrington made to improve our Pittsburgh Pirates at the 2025 MLB Trade Deadline.

GONE	ACQUIRED
Adam Frazier to Royals	Cam Devanney, 28, INF
Ke’Bryan Hayes to Reds	Taylor Rodgers, 34, P
	Sammy Stafura, 20, INF
	Jeter Martinez, 19, P
Taylor Rodgers to Mariners	Ivan Brethowr, 22, OF
Bailey Falter to Royals	Evan Sisk, 27, P
	Callan Moss, 21, 1B
David Bednar to Yankees	Rafael Flores, 24, C
	Edgleen Perez, 19, C
	Brian Sanchez, 21, OF

My comments:

Taylor Rodgers gets traded the day after they acquire him.  I wonder if he will one day show up and play in the Pirates Alumni Golf Outing?

Perhaps Devanney, who was immediately sent to Indianapolis, will be called up to be a spare infielder now that Hayes is gone, and maybe Sisk will be on the team this year to replace Falter and/or Bednar.  Other than those two nondescript players, not  a single person acquired will help the Pirates this season, but since they are going nowhere anyway, so what?

None of the other players acquired figure to help the Pirates in 2025 (see above comment), and given the ages of guys like Stafura, Martinez, Perez, and Sanchez, they probably won't be in Pittsburgh until 2027 or 2028.  In other words, GMBC has brought in what the Pirates value the most: PROSPECTS, none of whom ever seem to pan out once they get into the Pirates system.

While I realize that there is no hope for 2025, to trade Bednar, perhaps their most effective player and certainly one of their most popular ones, and not get somebody, anybody who can contribute to the major league team now, today is irresponsible and ridiculous.  I mean, throw the fans a goddam bone once in awhile, willya?

But, hey, maybe Jeter Martinez will turn out to pitch like Pedro Martinez, maybe Callan Moss will play first and hit home runs like Jim Thome, and maybe Edgleen Perez will be the next Johnny Bench, well, then those 2030 Pirates will be a force with which to be reckoned in major league baseball.  Of course, if that happens, those guys will soon be plucked away by the Dodgers, Yankees, or Mets anyway.

Oh, and great quote from Mark Madden yesterday (and I can't believe that I am quoting Mark Madden).  People are talking about how the Pirates have "freed up money" in dumping Hayes and his contract to the Reds.  In a league with no salary cap, Double M stated, there is no "freeing up" of money.  The money that would have gone to Hayes goes right back into Bob Nutting's pockets.  He, Nutting, has given us no reason to believe otherwise based upon his track record. 

PIRATES FEVER. CATCH IT!!