To All Loyal Readers.....

Please celebrate responsibly.

See you all here in The Grandstand in 2014!

The Gandy Dancer Saloon and Station Square

Marilyn and I celebrated our wedding anniversary on Friday by observing another tradition of ours - dinner at Station Square - but with a bit of a twist this year.  Instead of dining in the opulent Grand Concourse, we opted for the adjoining Gandy Dancer Saloon.  It is a more limited menu, but the food comes from the same kitchen and for a fraction of the cost.  Wise choice, and we had a great meal and a great time.

After our meal, we did take a stroll through the retail portion of Station Square, and found it to 

be a bit of a depressing experience.  What used to be a bustling retail complex, and a "must see" destination for visitors to Pittsburgh, now approximates a ghost town.  Sad to see.

Movie Review: "American Hustle"

We took in the flick "American Hustle" yesterday afternoon.  It is a flick that is popping up on lots of Best Ten lists and is getting lots of Oscar buzz.  It is loosely based ("Some of these events actually happened" is the on-screen prelude to the movie) on events surrounding the ABSCAM scandals of the late 1970's.    

Hard to classify this movie.  Part drama, part comedy, but entertaining.  Insofar as movies about con artists go, it's not "The Sting", and  it could have been about 15 minutes shorter, but we still liked it a lot.  The acting by all five principals - Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, and Jennifer Lawrence - was really good, and makes for a worthwhile movie going experience.

And you've got to love the '70's music, fashions, and, especially, hair styles.  Not everything was good about the good old days!  Although I've got to say, Amy Adams sure looked great!

In case you are wondering, the Traditional Sproule New Years Eve Movie Date will be to see "Saving Mr. Banks".

Absent Friends 2013

As the year draws to a close, it is time to look back.

In 2013, The Grandstander noted the loss of 33 Absent Friends, those who left us in this year whose mark on history, society, popular culture or just on me personally was such that I felt it noteworthy to comment upon their passing.  

 I cannot do this without giving a shout out the great sportswriter, Red Smith, who always used the term "Absent Friends" when writing about those who had died.  

And now, a final salute to the Absent Friends of 2013:

Earl Weaver
Stan Musial
Patty Andrews
Ed Koch
Ruth Ann Steinhagen
Roger Ebert
Annette Funicello
Jonathan Winters
Pat Summerall
Frank Bank
Richie Havens
Jack Butler
Ken Venturi
Bill Austin
James Gandolfini
Simmie Hill
Terry Lee
Karen Black
Ted Post
David Frost
Dixie Evans
L.C. Greenwood
John Ferguson
Scott Carpenter
Bum Phillips
Bud Adams
Lou Reed
Evan Chambers
Nelson Mandela
Peter O'Toole
Joan Fontaine
Paul Blair
James Ecker

Rest in Peace.

Lucky Socks

In 2005, one of my Christmas gifts, a stocking stuffer, appropriately, was a pair of Timberland socks, very similar to the pair pictured here.

How, you may ask, can I remember the specific year that I received such a relatively small gift? Well, I remember putting them on for the first time the morning that the sixth seeded Pittsburgh Steelers played the Cincinnati Bengals in the opening round of the NFL Playoffs.  The Steelers won that game, so I wore those socks once again a week later when the Steelers took on and defeated the heavily favored Payton Manning-led Indianapolis Colts. You can guess the rest of the story.  I wore those same socks on game days right up to that Super Bowl win over Seattle that year.  They became known as my "lucky socks" and they got the team through another Super Bowl win two years later over Arizona.

The socks are now eight years old and still in great shape.  (Timberland stuff is expensive but you really do get what you pay for.)  I mention this because I pulled out those socks last week and wore them as the Steelers took on the Packers at Lambeau, and, well, you know what happened.  I shall be wearing them tomorrow as the Steelers take on the Browns, where I am pretty sure that they will work their magic once again.  I can only hope that these powerful socks can make the dominoes fall for the Steelers in those other three games that will impact the team's playoff hopes for 2013. 

Hey, as those commercials say, it's only weird if it doesn't work!  And I will cut off any smart alec comments by saying that the socks DO get laundered after each wear.

OK, in the interest of Full Disclosure, I confess that I also wore them in that Super Bowl loss against the Packers, but those socks still have a pretty good record.

To Absent Friends: Paul Blair, James Ecker

As 2013 heads into its final week, let us wish a Melancholy Happy trails to two more Absent Friends, Paul Blair and James Ecker.

Paul Blair enjoyed a seventeen year Major League career.  I was well aware that he played on four pennant winning teams with the Baltimore Orioles, two of which went on to win the World Series.  I had forgotten, and would have been unable to remember if pressed on the matter, that he also played on two World Series winners with the Yankees in 1977 and 1978.  I, of course, have a distinct memory that he played on the losing team in the 1971 World Series.  He was 69 years old.

Pittsburgh criminal defense attorney James Ecker died on Christmas morning at the age of 84.  If you were regular watcher of TV news in Pittsburgh over the years, you are familiar with the sight of Ecker and his distinctive white head of hair as he accompanied one notorious or heinous accused criminal during a perp walk following an arrest or during one highly publicized criminal trial or another.  I suppose it is easy to look down upon a guy who "always" seemed to defend such "obviously guilty" people, but if we value the Constitution and the rights that it bestows upon all of us, we really should value the role that people like Jim Ecker play in our society.  To that end, I would highly recommend that you read Tony Norman's column in this morning's Post-Gazette:

http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/tony-norman/2013/12/27/Tony-Norman-Jim-Ecker-knew-his-job-well-in-spite-of-us/stories/201312270114

As an aside, I found it most interesting that in his spare time, Jim Ecker enjoyed reading John Grisham novels.

RIP Paul Blair and James Ecker.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Best wishes to all Loyal Readers for a Merry and Blessed Christmas.

Let's not forget the real reason for the season.....

....and let's also keep a whimsical spirit as well!