Catching Up On Various Things....

Cleaning out the Mental In-Box.....

• One of the great and hallowed cliches (and you know how I love cliches) of baseball is that "the best trades are the ones that you don't make".  Let us hope that that holds true after all the  strum und drag  that surrounded the Pirates and Andrew McCutchen these last several weeks.  I remind you that the Pirates don't have to trade this guy.  He can stay here for two more seasons, and if they are typical Cutch-like seasons, and he leaves as a free agent after 2018, as a Pirate fan, I'll take that.
• Having said that, what have the Pirates done so far in the off season to get you excited about 2017?  Taking Tyler Webb in the Rule 5 Draft just isn't doing it for me.
• The Cubs lost Aroldis Chapman but traded for Wade Davis.  And the Cardinals signed Dexter Fowler.  The Pirates have lost Sean Rodriguez and Matt Joyce and added, I remind you, Ty Webb (who measures himself against other ballplayers by height).

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• In close to sixty years of following sports in Pittsburgh, I can't remember any new coach/manager of any team being greeted with such hostility among its fan base as the business that Pitt basketball HC Kevin Stallings is getting.  I honestly think that Pitt fans are PO'd when Pitt wins (they are 8-2 thus far, although the ACC schedule has yet to begin), because it tempers down the "bitch-and-moan factor" amongst the Loyalists.
• James Conner has announced that he will be entering the NFL Draft, and that Pitt's Pinstripe Bowl appearance on December 28 will be his final game as a Panther.  What a great career and a great story that Conner has been.  I hope that he has a successful career as a pro.  

• James Conner should win Pittsburgh's Dapper Dan Man of the Year Award for 2016.
• Looking for a good baseball book, maybe as a possible Christmas gift for someone?  Try this one:

• As the title suggests it talks about the preponderance of arm injuries, particularly the preponderance of Tommy John surgeries performed, not only in the major leagues, but throughout amateur baseball, down to the high school level.  Among other aspects of the book, Passan follows two pitchers, Todd Coffey and Daniel Hudson, over three years as they struggle to recover from a second Tommy John surgery.  The book also offers a searing indictment on the machinery youth baseball and showcase events for high school and even pre-teenaged players.  The book sometimes bogs down in medical jargon and technicalities at times, but, overall, it is well worth any baseball fan's time to read.
• Are you watching this CBS sitcom, now in its second season?

• If you are not, you should be.  Might be one of the funniest shows on network television right now.
• Steelers in Buffalo and the Ravens play the Patriots today.  Could be a pivotal day in the AFC North.

To Absent Friends - God Speed, John Glenn

John Glenn

1921-2016

Back in February, 1962, I was in sixth grade when all school activity stopped as all classrooms at St. Philomena School were tuned in to massive black and white television sets to watch the launch and follow the flight of Friendship 7 piloted by astronaut John Glenn.  Glenn would become the third American to fly into outer space and the first American to orbit the earth, which he did three times that day during his five flight before successfully returning to earth.  Few people today under the age of fifty can comprehend what an enormous feat that was at the time, and it all came back to our collective consciousness's this week when John Glenn died at the age of 95.

At the height of the Cold War - the Cuban Missile Crisis was still in the future - when the USA had lost ground to the USSR in the all-important "Space Race", the successful flight (space travel is still not a sure thing in the 21st century, and it most certainly wasn't in 1962) Friendship 7 was a HUGE story in America, and it made John Glenn a hero the likes of which America had not seen in a long time, if ever.  Glenn was so big, that President Kennedy silently ordered that there would be no more space flights for him, since the country could not afford to lose a hero of such magnitude in the event of a space fatality.  This disappointed Glenn, but he made up for it in 1998, when at the age of 77, he became the oldest American to fly in space as a crew member of the space shuttle, Discovery.  

Before all of that, Glenn was an American hero. He flew over 150 missions as fighter pilot in WW II and the Korean War, and he would also go on to serve the country as a four term United States Senator from Ohio.  If anyone ever personified the "right stuff", it was John Glenn.

Glenn was the last surviving member of the original seven Mercury astronauts.  I, and I am sure many of my generation, can still rattle off the names (Shepard, Grissom, Glenn, Carpenter, Cooper, Schirra, and Slayton), even though I am guessing that their names are never even mentioned in history classes in schools today.  Author Tom Wolfe wrote a terrific book about the space program and the Mercury program called "The Right Stuff", and an equally terrific movie of the same name was made based upon it.  As a tribute to John Glenn and his brother space pioneers, do yourself a favor and read the book or see the movie, or both.  It will be time well spent.

RIP, and God speed, John Glenn.

Baseball Hall of Fame News....

In baseball news, Bud "Bud" Selig gets voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame by some committee.  Here is how I summarize the Selig Administration:

1. He presided over the sport when he and his bosses, the owners, looked the other way when steroid and PED usage ran amok among all of major and minor league baseball.
2. He then took credit for ending the "scourge of steroids and PED usage" only when the United States Congress began holding hearings on the matter and threatened to "look into" MLB's anti-trust exemption.
3. Completely over-reacted when an All-Star Game ended in a tie and decreed that, henceforth, home field advantage in the World Series would be given to the team whose league won the All-Star Game. (Honestly, did it really bother anyone when that game ended in a tie?)  Curiously, on the same weekend that Bud's election to the HOF was announced, this particular legacy of his was scuttled by MLB.
4. He presided over a labor stoppage that covered two seasons and led to the cancellation of the World Series in 1994.
5. Presided over an era that saw gross revenues for MLB increase to $9.5 billion (that's with a "B", folks).

In the end, point number five, trumps the preceding four points, so Bud gets a plaque.  And as far as points one and two are concerned, with Bud now in the Hall, there is no way that guys like Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, and other stars of the "PED Era" should be kept out.

To be fair, he also saw MLB expand to thirty teams, and introduced wild cards into the equation of baseball's pennant races.  Some purists will no doubt bemoan this forever, but it has made baseball more exciting theater, and that has also played a big part in producing those billions and billions of dollars for the Lodge Brothers who own those thirty teams.

Hey, I love the Baseball Hall of Fame.  It's one of may favorite places to visit, but Bowie Kuhn and now Bug Selig have plaques in the place, and Marvin Miller does not, and that tarnishes the place a good bit in my mind.

One final comment.   As I usually do when posting The Grandstander, I looked for a picture of Bud to post, and when you go to Google Images, you get an amazing array of pictures of Bud Selig.  I chose the one that you see at the top, but it was a difficult choice from among these other shots of the Commish Emeritus:

I hope that they choose a similar image for the bronze plaque that will hang on the wall in Cooperstown.

Penn State and the CFP

While the Pitt-Syracuse game of two weeks ago may have been the most entertaining football game of the year to watch, the BEST game of he year my well have been the Big Ten Championship game between Penn State and Wisconsin.  Anyone who says they saw a Big Ten Championship after their 2-2 start, which included an 39 point loss to Michigan, is a liar.  Not even the most optimistic bleeds-blue-and-white Penn State fan would have said that.  They were too busy at the time trying to figure out who would replace James Franklin, who would surely be fired at the end of the season.

You know, James Franklin, right?  He's the guy who was just named the Big Ten Coach of the Year.

So the four teams for the College Football Playoff have been set, and has ANY subject been talked to death more that this one was in the days leading up to the announcement?  I'm not going to add to it other than to say this.  All the conversation centered Washington, Penn State, and Michigan as to who would be the fourth team in the CFP.  I have two thoughts: (1) When Michigan lost two of its final three games, they should no longer have been in the discussion.  You simply can't lose two games in November.  (2) Why was the inclusion of Ohio State a fait accompli  all along?  They did not win their conference championship, and their one loss was to the team that DID win the conference championship.

Going forward, please spare us the eyewash about how important it is to win your conference championship because, clearly, it is not.

In spite of all that, however, a trip to the Rose Bowl is a pretty nice consolation prize for Penn State.  The alternative, as U-Dub will soon find out, was the opportunity to get drubbed by Alabama.

"Blue & Lonesome"

A review of this new album popped up my Facebook feed this afternoon, and after just visiting Memphis, Beale Street, and the Sun Records recording studio, I just couldn't resist going to the iTunes store and purchasing this one.

The album is a collection of blues cover tunes by this young up and coming blues cover band from England.  Maybe you've heard of them.

The Rolling Stones

Even casual rock & roll fans probably know that the Rolling Stones, back in their formative days, were heavily influenced by American blues musicians and their music.  This album pays tribute to those roots, and, while it may not be what you're used to hearing from the Stones, it is a listening treat.

I think the promotional blurb that appears on iTunes says it better than I can:

"American blues has long been a part of the Stones' DNA, and Blue & Lonesome  is a greasy, grimy tribute to their blues heroes. Deep cuts by the likes of Jimmy Reed, Howlin' Wolf, Magic Sam and Little Walter are delivered with soulful reverence, showing that even rock n' roll legends are still just music fans at heart."

Couldn't have said it better.  

Four stars from The Grandstander.

The Bluebird Cafe

I promise that this will be the last post that I will write about our recent trip to Tennessee.  I know that most people only want to hear so much about other people's vacations.  However, if you really want to know and hear more, feel free to stop over and we will gladly regale you with more stories and subject you to offer to show you some of the 300 or so pictures that we took.  They all sit on our computer.

Anyway, when we knew that we would be going to Nashville, we contacted our friend David Cicotello, a Nashville area resident, and made arrangements to visit, and he said that he would take us to see some "authentic Nashville", The Bluebird Cafe.

The Bluebird has been featured  in the TV series, "Nashville", which I have never seen, but it has given the place a bit of cachet.  It is not on Nashville's Broadway, amidst the honky-tonk bars, the Ryman Auditorium, and the center of the tourist area.  Rather, it sits unobtrusively, in a tiny strip shopping area, right between a dry cleaner and an hair salon.

The place is tiny, seating no more than a hundred people, and if you aren't lucky enough to snag one of the reservations (we were not), you need to get in line early to be among the twenty or so people who will get in to see the show from the bar seats.  So, we arrived for the 7:00 show at about 3:30 and stood in line.  Not a problem since the weather was nice, and it afforded us ample time to chat and visit with David.  We did get in, and, believe it or not, we were lucky enough, thanks to a last minute cancellation,  to be able to get table seats right next to the stage.

The show consisted of four musicians/singer/songwriters: Madeleine Slate, Dennis Matkosky, Chris Galbuda, and Marc Beeson.  No, I had never heard of any of them, although some of them are responsible for songs that you have heard and know.  They did about five "rounds" consisting of each taking turns singing while the others accompanied them.  Their were also two occasions when one of them spotted someone they knew in thew audience and asked them to come on stage and perform.  Hey, this is Nashville - there are performers everywhere!

I also cannot say enough about how friendly and nice the staff of the Bluebird was.  When a facility is in such high demand, and there is no shortage of customers chomping at the bit to get into the place, it would not have been unexpected if they had copped a "hey, you're lucky to be here" attitude, but they did not.  They could not have been nicer or more accommodating.

It was terrific night of smooth and mellow entertainment, and mucho thanks to David for suggesting it and setting it up.  Like I said, it is not a part of the area of downtown Nashville where all the tourists go, but it was terrific night.  Our trip schedule allowed us to have only one free night in Nashville, and we couldn't have been happier that that night was spent at The Bluebird Cafe.

To Absent Friends - Ron Glass, Al Caiola

A Melancholy Happy Trails to two notables.....

Ron Glass

1945-2016

Actor Ron Glass died of respiratory failure last week.  Glass had a steady career as an actor in television (76 acting credits according to IMDB), but he is most remembered for the role of Detective Ron Harris on one of the great situation comedies ever, "Barney Miller" which ran from 1975 to 1982.  The show depicted the daily doings of the detective squad in the NYPD's 12th Precinct.

It was a show that never jumped the shark. As good in its last season as it was in the first.  At the time when we lived in Cleveland, we had an acquaintance who was detective in the Cleveland PD, and he said that no show depicted the life of a detective squad better than did "Barney Miller."  

Glass continued to work as a guest on a million TV shows, and even had a couple of series after, "Barney Miller", but that is the show that will live forever (you can still see it on those classic TV cable networks), so actors like Ron Glass will always be visible.  Nice.

Al Caiola

1920 - 2016

Guitarist Al Caiola also passed away last month at the age of 96.  Caiola released a number of instrumental recordings in the 1960's that became hits, the themes from "Bonanza" and "The Magnificent Seven" being the most well known.  However, when you read the obituary for Caiola, it is positively jaw-dropping when you see the number of people with whom Caiola recorded.  How does this lineup grab you?  Buddy Holly, Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Johnny Mathis, Simon & Garfunkel, Sarah Vaughn, Glen Campbell, and Rosemary Clooney. He also played in orchestras led by Percy Faith, Morton Gould, and Andre Kostelanetz, and was featured on the radio and television shows of Jackie Gleason, Ed Sullivan, Arthur Godfrey, and Steve Allen. That is some resume!

It was said that he could play whatever was required - classical, jazz, R&B, rock & roll.  He was the classic well rounded musician.

For those of us in Pittsburgh, we heard the sounds of Al Caiola every Saturday night when his recording of Henry Mancini's "Experiment in Terror"  (from the movie of the same name) was used as the theme music for Channel 11's "Chiller Theater".



RIP Ron Glass and Al Caiola.