Monday, July 28, 2025
"Tricky Business" by Dave Barry (2002)
Saturday, July 26, 2025
Shirt Pocket Notes
Pirates
When last we wrote of the Pittsburgh Pirates, they were just completing a nine game road trip leading up to the All-Star Break, a road trip wherein they complied a scintillating record of 1-8. Rested and refreshed from their four day vacation, they began the nominal second half of the season by losing three straight games at home to the Chicago While Sox, one of the few teams in MLB who just might be worse than they are. Baseball being the funny game that it is, they them swept three games from the Detroit Tigers, a team that at the start of that series had the best record in all of MLB. Go figure. There then followed an off day and then a home game last night against the Diamondbacks where they lost 1-0 in eleven innings while amassing the grand total of one (1) hit over the course of those eleven innings.
Bucco skipper Don "Donnie" Kelly came up with the quote of the year in his post game presser: "You're not going to win many games when you only get one hit."
Yep.
All that awaits the Buccos now is to see who will be traded at the July 31 trade deadline, where the Pirates will definitely be sellers. Adam Frazier has already been traded to the Royals for, are you ready for this?, a 28 year old middle infielder who was immediately assigned to Indianapolis. I can't remember his name and can't be bothered to look it up, because, really, is it ever going to really matter?
My predictions as to who will NOT be on the team after July 31: Mitch Keller and David Bednar for sure. Dennis Santana probably be a 75% chance of getting traded., and 50% chance that Brian Reynolds and Ke'Bryan Hayes will also be gone. Spare parts like Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Tommy Pham, and Andrew Heaney also most likely will be dealt.
The question is, will GMBC be likely to get good or even decent value for quality guys like Keller, Bednar, and Reynolds? His track record for the last six years on this front has been.....not good.
Steelers
The Rodgers signing got all of the press over the off-season but moves acquiring DK Metcalf, Jalen Ramsey, and Jonnu Smith combined with the rookies that were drafted in April would make it seem that this will be an interesting season for the Steelers. My expectations were not high for the 2025 season for Rooney U, but they have ramped up a bit after the Rodgers signing and the Fitzpatrick-for-Ramsey-and-Smith trade. It all hinges on what Rodgers has left in the tank. If he can play at a level of, say, 75% of his prime, I'll sign up for that today.
In other Steelers news, the team announced today the 2025 Inductees into their Hall of Honor: Ben Roethlisberger, Maurice Pouncey, and Joey Porter.
Certainly can't argue with any of those choices.
Jeopardy
It has been a fun three weeks or so watching Scott Riccardi steamroll his way through 16 consecutive wins on Jeopardy and earnings of over $455,000 during his 16 game streak, the tenth longest in Jeopardy history. All of this made it all the more confounding when Riccardi lost last night by answering a relatively easy Final Jeopardy question incorrectly. "Who was William Randolph Hearst?" was the correct response, and Riccardi guessed "Howard Hughes". Unbelievable.
I am thinking that we have not seen the last of Scott Riccardi as Jeopardy rolls out their various "tournaments" involving past champs.
Friday, July 25, 2025
The Absent Friends Quartet
There has been a preponderance of celebrity deaths in recent weeks, and probably none of these deaths on their own would merit the Absent Friends treatment from The Grandstander. However, when they are stacked right on top of each other like so much cordwood, well, as Willie Loman's wife said in Death of a Salesman, "attention must be paid." So, here you go, four shorter the usual Absent Friends tributes.
Was I a fan of former teenie-bopper idol, Tiger Beat cover boy, actor, and bubblegum rocker Bobby Sherman? No, I was not. Inexplicably, my friend Dan was and remains a huge Bobby Sherman fan, so I know that he will be happy with this post.
Sherman died last month at the age of 81, and his obituaries told the story of what happened when the Show Biz lights went out for him. Sherman devoted himself to a career in public safety. I will let this entry from his Wikipedia page tell the story:
In 1974, Sherman guest-starred on an episode of the Jack Webb television series Emergency! ("Fools", season 3, episode 17, aired January 19, 1974), and found a new calling. Eventually, he left the public spotlight and became a paramedic. He volunteered with the Los Angeles Police Department, working with paramedics and giving CPR and first aid classes. He became a technical Reserve Police Officer with the Los Angeles Police Department in the 1990s, a position he still held as of 2017.[8] For more than a decade he served as a medical training officer at the Los Angeles Police Academy, instructing thousands of police officers in first aid and CPR. He was named LAPD's Reserve Officer of the Year in 1999.
Sherman also became a reserve deputy sheriff in 1999 with the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, continuing his CPR and emergency training of new deputy hires. He retired from the sheriff's department in 2010.[8]
Sherman and his wife co-founded the Brigitte & Bobby Sherman Children's (BBSC) Foundation.[17] The foundation's mission is to provide motivated students in Ghana with a high-quality education and music program, and to provide tools to pursue higher education.
Sherman's singing and acting career made him famous and wealthy, but what he did after all of that made him a pretty neat guy.
Tuesday, July 15, 2025
Oneil Cruz, The Home Run Derby, and the Pirates at the All-Star Break
Monday, July 14, 2025
"Superman" and "The Better Sister"
Hey, I just realized that it has been fourteen days since I last posted here. No, I wasn't on vacation, and I wasn't sick. Just not much has struck my fancy over the last two weeks, or did you want me to wax endlessly about how lousy the Pirates have been? (Don't worry. I do plan to write about the Buccos as we settle into the All-Star Break, but that will come later in the week.) For today though, some Critical Commentary.
"Superman"
The movie is also being criticized by those on the right end of the political spectrum as being too "Woke", and the movie certainly can be seen as an allegory for what we see happening in this country today, right down to the concentration camp facilities where "undesirables" are placed. So, if you're a fan of the guy now residing in the White House, you've been warned. And if you're not a fan of Felon47, you might ask "Can't I even go to a comic book movie to get away from what is going on the real world today?"
All that aside, I found the movie to be entertaining enough given that you have to suspend belief a bit and believe that "meta humans" from the planets exist. David Corenswet, a likable enough hunk of beefcake with whom I was not familiar, although he does boast 23 other acting credits in IMDB, is fine as the Man of Steel. Rachel Brosnahan, Mrs. Maisel herself, was quite good as Lois Lane, and she was charming. She also had some of the best comic lines in the movie. Some guy named Nicholas Hoult (again, someone with whom I am not familiar, but he seems to have been in a whole bunch Mad Max and X-Men types of movies, which would explain that) played Lex Luthor, and was totally hateable, so I guess that means he did a good job in the role.
The best character in the movie, though, was Krypto, the CGI dog. He was even more charming that Ms. Brosnahan! Maybe they'll do a feature movie about just him. I'd go see that one.
"Superman" gets Two and Three-Quarters Grandstander Stars.
"The Better Sister"
Monday, June 30, 2025
Two Movies
Two movies upon which to comment today.
I give this movie Three and One-Half Grandstander Stars, and make this observation. The way the British Royal Family is portrayed in movies and television - if only a third of it is actually true, then they are just a bunch of batshit crazy eccentrics. I mean, what was with "Randy Andy" and the stuffed animals on his bed pillows? The man was sixty years old at the time!
Last Sunday afternoon, Linda staged a surprise "Date Afternoon" for me. I had no idea where we were going until we got to the place:
In a 1992 book, "The Making of Casablanca", marking the fiftieth anniversary of the movie, author Aljean Harmetz includes this paragraph in the Preface:
"Cynicism is a necessary protective cost for those who come close to the film industry's seductively hot center, and I have needed a doubly thick coat. I grew up on the outskirts of MGM where my mother worked in the wardrobe department, and I later wrote about Hollywood for the New York Times. But my cynicism dissolves when Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman say goodbye at the airport, and, at least in the dark corner of a movie theater, I am sure that I would be capable of such a sacrifice too."
That is the essence of "Casablanca". It is a perfect movie.
To Absent Friends - Dave Parker
One of the Pittsburgh Pirates All-Time Greats, Dave Parker, died this past weekend at the age of 74. In a sad twist, Parker's death came one month before he was to be officially inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. In poor health for many years, at least Parker knew that he had finally made it to the Hall, even if he never got the chance to see his plaque hang in that Gallery in Cooperstown.
Here are the numbers. In a 19 year career, Parker was a league MVP, a three time Gold Glove winner, two time batting champion, two time World Series champion, and seven time All-Star. He hit .290 lifetime, with 2,712 hits, 339 home runs, and 1,493 RBI (.290/22 HR/98 RBI per 162 games). In his eleven seasons with the Pirates from 1973-83, this numbers were .305, 166 HR and 758 RBI (.305/22 HR/94 RBI per 162 games).
Those are the numbers, but you would have had to have actually seen Dave Parker when he first arrived in the big leagues to truly understand his impact. He was big, 6'5", 230 pounds when ballplayers just weren't that big. He was "Aaron Judge" before Aaron Judge was even born. He was strong and fast. A true five tool player.
He was also brash and colorful, said what was on his mind, and humility was not his strong suit, as exemplified by this famous picture. Oh, and by the way, this t-shirt can still be purchased at select retailers in the Pittsburgh area.
Dave Parker eventually went the free agent route and signed with his hometown Cincinnati Reds, where he stayed for four years, and then spent five more seasons splitting time among the A's, Angels, Brewers, and Blue Jays.
Parker also was a central figure in the "Pittsburgh Baseball Drug Trials" of the mid-1980's, and that further eroded his popularity among the Pittsburgh fan base, However, sometime in the early part of the 21st century, the Pirates welcomed Parker back into the family, and he became a frequent visitor to PNC Park and team reunions and other Pirate Alumni events. This was also at a time when Parker was diagnosed as having Parkinson's Disease, and his demeanor in the face of the disease as well as his efforts to raise funds for research were seen as heroic.
Dave Parker was the best player in baseball for an extended period of time in the late 1970's and early 1980's, and, all due respect to Willie Stargell, he was the best player on the Pirates World Series Champion team of 1979. In the two days since his death, I have pondered the question "Have the Pirates had a better player than Dave Parker since he left the team in 1983?" I suppose that you might be able to make a strong case for Andrew McCutchen, but if you had a choice who would you take for your team: an In-His-Prime-Parker of an In-His-Prime-McCutchen? I love Cutch, but I'll take Dave Parker.
Dave Parker becomes the twelfth member of the 1979 We Are Fam-a-lee Pirates to die. Fourteen members of the 1979 World Series roster remain with us.
1979 | ||
Pitchers | Jim Bibby | |
Bert Blyleven | ||
John Candelaria | ||
Grant Jackson | ||
Bruce Kison | ||
Dave Roberts | ||
Don Robinson | ||
Enrique Romo | ||
Jim Rooker | ||
Kent Tekulve | ||
Catchers | Steve Nicosia | |
Ed Ott | ||
Manny Sanguillen | ||
Infielders | Tim Foli | |
Phil Garner | ||
Bill Madlock | ||
Willie Stargell | ||
Rennie Stennett | ||
Outfielders | Matt Alexander | |
Omar Moreno | ||
Mike Easler | ||
Lee Lacy | ||
John Milner | ||
Dave Parker | ||
Bill Robinson | ||
Manager | Chuck Tanner | |
Deceased | 12 | |
Still With Us | 14 |
Monday, June 23, 2025
The Thunder Rolls
McConnell is a local kid out of Chartiers Valley High School. His father was and is a legendary high school coach at Char Valley. His aunt is Suzie McConnell-Serio, one of the great athletes to ever come out of western PA, and his sister was a star player at Duquesne and is now a rookie in the WNBA. He started his college career at Duquesne before transferring to Arizona. He was undrafted but has fashioned a nice little career as bench player and sixth man. In this series, he came off the bench and was effective in every game he played. Coming into the game last night in place of Haliburton, he kept the Pacers in the game through the first half, before the Thunder just wore them out. He is one of those types of players that are common in sport: one that you love when he plays for YOU team, but one who drives you nuts when he plays for the other guys.