"Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"

When it was announced last year that the Pittsburgh Public Theater would be performing Edward Albee's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?". I knew that I wanted to see it.   I had never seen the play performed, nor had I seen the 1966 film version, but I knew vaguely what it was about, and figured when you get the chance to see a classic American play performed, you grab on to it, so there we were last night in front row seats at the O'Reilly Theater.

The Plot: and older married couple, George and Martha, following a college faculty party (George teaches there, Martha's father is the college president), invite a younger couple, Nick (he's a new faculty member) and Honey, to there home for some post party cocktails and conversation.   It is two o'clock in the morning. What follows is a three hour drunken descent into the living Hell that is the marriage of George and Martha.  

If you want to go to the theater for an uplifting and "feel good" experience, this ain't the play for you.  However, at some point in my formal education, either in high school or college, I recall some teacher saying that good drama is supposed to challenge you to think about what it is you are seeing, and it might even make you uncomfortable on several levels.  Using that criteria, "WAOVW?" hits it out of the park.  Twelve or so hours after seeing it, I'm still not sure what it I that I am supposed to take away from it.  And I know that I will spend time over the next several days researching some critical commentary on the play and pondering its message.

What the play also is is an opportunity for good actors to sink their teeth into some very meaty roles  and deliver bravura performances.  Such was the case in this production starring Daniel Jenkins (George), Tasha Lawrence (Martha), Dylan Marquis Meyers (Nick), and Claire Sabatine (Honey).  They were great in roles that have to be very demanding for an actor.

Seeing the play is also prompting us to seek out and watch the 1966 film version that starred Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, George Segal, and Sandy Dennis, and that was directed by the great Mike Nichols.  Taylor and Dennis won Oscars for their performances and Burton, Segal, Nichols, and the movie itself were also Oscar nominated.  Yep, that's a movie that I want to see, but I think that I'll wait awhile after just seeing the play.

A funny aside.  During one of the intermissions (there are two them over the course of the three hour play), we were chatting about what we were seeing with a young late 20's/early 30's couple sitting next to us.  Had you seen the movie, we asked.  No, they said, and who played the leading roles in the movie, they asked.  When we said "Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton", we could immediately tell that they had absolutely no idea who Taylor and Burton were, never mind George Segal and Sandy Dennis.  Time marches on and fame is fleeting.

Three Stars from The Grandstander for this performance at the PPT, and I will once again say that there is no better venue to see a play anywhere than the O'Reilly Theater.

Taking a Break

 

For various and sundry reasons, I have decided to take a break from Facebook.  We all know that social media can be a really good thing.  It can reconnect you with friends and family, talk about your vacations, share wedding photos and baby pictures, relive fond memories.

It can also be a pain in the ass.  Need I list all of the ways? I have also found that I am spending an inordinate amount of my leisure time here when I could be reading a book, watching television, or having cocktails and conversations with my wife. So I've just decided to take a break for a bit.  If nothing else, I can already feel my tension levels lowering because I won't be seeing the latest atrocities emanating from the Executive Branch of the Federal Government.

I have not deleted my account, and I may still post my Grandstander Blog posts there so that they can find a wider audience.  (You can also go the www.grandstander.blogspot.com and choose to "Follow" the blog.)

I am going to try a variation of the "one day at a time" school of thought on this.  My initial goal is to just stay away from reading and posting (other that the aforementioned Grandstander posts) through the month of April, at which time I'll reevaluate the whole thing.

See you on the other side and please stay in touch in other ways. It is possible, you know.

Bob, aka, The Grandstander

To Absent Friends - George Foreman

 

George Foreman, two time Heavyweight Champion of the World and at a time when that title still meant something in the sporting world, died last week at the age of 76, and what an amazing life story he had. Born in the rough part of Houston, Texas, Foreman, like many such youths, took to amateur boxing, and this is where that led him.

• He was the Golf Medalist in the heavyweight class for the USA in the 1968 Olympics
• Turned professional after the Olympics and in 1973, he defeated Joe Frazier for the Heavyweight Championship
• Lost the championship in 1974 to Muhammed Ali in the famous "Rumble in the Jungle
• Retired from boxing and became a Born Again ordained non-denominational Christian minister serving, mainly, at-risk youths in his native Texas
• After ten years of retirement, he returned to the ring - he needed the money to support his ministry - and, improbably, won the Heavyweight title again at the age of 46, the oldest man to ever win the title.
• Soon after one of boxing's alphabet soup governing bodies stripped him of his title, he retired again and began endorsing a line of indoor electric grills, and here is where a whole new life began for Foreman

The George Foreman Grill, the "Lean, Mean, Fat Burning Machine" took off like a rocket, and made Foreman wealthy beyond anything that boxing ever delivered unto him.  Raise your hands out there if you have never at one time in your life owned a George Foreman Grill.  Nobody?  Didn't think so.  

So it was that Foreman, a once brooding, foreboding, and not very likable prizefighter turned into one of America's jolliest and most lovable commercial pitchmen.  In the late 1990's he sold the commercials rights to his grills for $138 million, and it is estimated that over the course of his life, he made over $200 million from the grills.  No wonder he said "It's so good, I put my name on it."

There was time when boxing mattered in the world of sports, and for one brief era, it was dominated by three seminal figures: Muhammed Ali, Joe Frazier, and George Foreman.  Ironically, there are no doubt thousands, if not millions, of owners of George Foreman Grills who have no idea just exactly who George Foreman actually was. Another irony pointed out by Tony Kornheiser in his comments on him, that as great as Foreman was (he was only defeated five times), he is probably most remembered for a fight that he lost, to Ali that 1974 night in Zaire.

One more Fun Fact:  George Foreman married five times in his life and fathered twelve children, five of them sons, each of whom is named George.

RIP George Foreman. It was quite a life, and here are some pictorial highlights.

Olympic Champion

Mexico City

1968

"Down goes Frazier. Down goes Frazier"

A New Champion - 1973

Losing to Ali

The Rumble in the Jungle

Zaire - 1974

When giants walked the earth.

Frazier, Foreman, Ali

"It's so good I put my name on it."

RIP Champ

Sporting Thoughts on a Monday Morning

 

Like many of you, no doubt, I have just come off of a four day weekend spent in large part most part watching the first and second rounds of the NCAA Men's and Women's Basketball Tournaments.  These four days every March offer a truly unique bacchanalia of sports viewing pleasure.

This applies to me, but the highlight of the weekend was the terrific showing that Robert Morris put up against second seeded Alabama in the opening round on Friday, losing 90-81, a score that didn't reflect the close nature of the game overall, as shown in this screenshot from late in the second half:

Yes, the Colonials actually led Alabama for a (very) brief moment in the second half.

It was great showing by the team, and one in which everyone connected with the University can take pride, as reflected by this photo released by the school in its social platforms later that evening:

Under circumstances that used to exist in college athletics, the future would look very bright for the RMU hoopsters, but in this age of NIL and the transfer portal, who knows?  Foremost question:  the team's two best players, Alvaro Folguieras and Amarion Dickerson have eligibility remaining, but after seeing how they performed over the course of the season and post-season, they are prime candidates to be poached by bigger programs.  Good for them, but tough on the fans, but that's life in a mid-major conference.

Otherwise, the tourney offered no real Cinderella Stories, other than a #10 seed Arkansas knocking out #2 seed St. John's, but can you really label any team coached by John Calipari a "Cinderella"? Of the sixteen teams remaining twelve of them were seeded 1 through 4 in their regions.  All four #1's remain, along with three #2's, two #3's, three #4's, one #5, two #6's, and the aforementioned #10 Arkansas Calaparis.

Watching all of the various conference tournaments prior to the main event, I thought Florida was the best team that I saw, but watching Duke dismantle Baylor yesterday, I think that I am changing  my mind.  They are scarey good, and it's not just because of Cooper Flagg.  At this point, I will call for a Duke win over Florida for the championship come April 7.

Speaking of Florida, I took great delight in seeing them beat Connecticut in a terrific second round game yesterday, if only because it has knocked Danny Hurley out of the tournament.  His profane sore loser comments afterward only cemented my great dislike for him.

And the last game that I saw before heading to bed last night was the Colorado State-Maryland game.  In case you missed, Colorado State snatched victory away from Maryland when Jalen Lake hit a three pointer to take a 71-70 lead with :06.1 remaining, only to see Maryland snatch said victory away from them when Derik Queen hit a floater with time expiring to win it for the terms 72-71.  In the space of six seconds of game time, BOTH teams experienced the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.  If you missed it, HERE is how it played out.

Best line I saw on social media this morning was that Derik Queen will soon be signing a huge NIL deal with Travelers Insurance.  Wish that I'd have thought of that one!

Eight games today from the NCAA Women to fill out the Sweet 16 of the women's bracket, and then the bacchanalia begins again on Thursday.

.

To Absent Friends - John Feinstein

"Junior"

1955-2025

The news of the death of author/sportwriter John Feinstein last week at the age of 69 was certainly a shock.  Feinstein was a longtime reporter and was still a contributing sports columnist (he filed his last column of the Post the day before he died) for the Washington Post, but he is perhaps best known as the author of over fifty books and novels.

His most renowned  book was 1985's "A Season On the Brink" which describes that season for the Indiana University men's basketball team, and which vividly described the profane and volatile temperament and coaching methods of its head coach, Bobby Knight.  It topped the best seller lists for over four months, and opened the door for Feinstein to write many other books on such varied topics as professional golf, pro tennis, the history of Army-Navy football game, minor league baseball, and the basketball program's of the NCAA's Patriot League.  He also authored a series of sports themed mystery novels for young adult readers, one of which won an Edgar Award.

For years I would hear Feinstein on an almost weekly basis as a guest on Tony Kornheiser's old radio show, but he stopped appearing once Kornheiser went to an exclusive podcast format.  I had assumed that the two had had a falling out of some sort, and I wasn't far from wrong, as I learned in reading about him after his death.  It seems that John "Junior" Feinstein was not an easy guy to get along with.  He could be abrasive and he always had to be right and to dominate every conversation in which he was involved.  In eulogizing Junior on his podcast on Monday with guest Michael Wilbon, both men praised him for being a great writer and reporter, but as a friend, there were times when you just had to step away from the friendship.  Sometimes you stepped away for few days or weeks, sometimes for a few months, and sometimes for a few years.  When he asked the Post sports editor for a six month leave of absence to write the Knight book, sports editor George Solomon said sure with the thought of "let him bother Knight for six months instead of bothering me."

About that nickname Junior.  I always thought that it was just a thing with Kornheiser, but I learned in his obit that the name was bestowed upon him by consensus in the Washington Post's sports department because Feinstein's comportment was similar to that of volatile and abrasive tennis star John McEnroe, Junior.

I have read a number of Feinstein's books, probably five or six of them, and found each of them to be very, very good.  Strangely enough, I never read "A Season on the Brink", mainly because of my great dislike of Bobby Knight, so perhaps I should do that soon.  My friend Fred says that it is a great book, although it will probably make me detest Knight even more that I already do.

RIP John Feinstein.

Book Review: "The Accidental Critic" by Arch Campbell

Editor's Note (courtesy of Mr. Campbell himself.)  Arch was not working on the day of the JFK assassination; he was still in high school at the time, but he came to know and work with many of those in Dallas who did cover that event.  He joined the Dallas newsroom in 1971, and volunteered to be the movie critic in 1973.

Before getting into this book, a little background.  I first heard of Arch Campbell when he was a frequent guest of Tony Kornheiser's on TK's old radio show.  Campbell was a golf partner of Kornheiser's at their Washington DC country club, but he was also a long time Washington television personality who reviewed movies and the DC arts scene and also served as the "resident zany" on the local NBC station's newscasts.  During those guest appearances, I loved hearing Arch's deep voice and booming laugh as he talked about current movies which often included this summary: "Didn't see it, don't want to see it."

Anyway, Campbell moved on from working after over 40 years at two different DC television stations and now does a movie themed podcast, which I highly recommend to any movie buffs out there.

He has now published a memoir of his life in television news, and I highly recommend it.  Now you might ask "Why should I read a book about local television newspeople from a city where I do not live and whom I have never seen?"  Good question, but one thing that I have learned from listening to the Kornheiser radio show and subsequent podcast, and Campbell's podcast is that every community, every city has a cast of characters in local broadcasting, newspaper, and the arts that become interwoven into the fabric of community that they serve.  They almost become a part of the family and when something happens to them, they move to another city, they retire, they pass away, you feel the loss on a personal level.

In this book, you will learn about a TV news team consisting of news anchors Jim Vance and Doreen Gentzler, sports anchor George Michael, weatherman Bob Ryan, and resident zany Arch Campbell who dominated the local television news scene in the nation's capital for over thirty years.   For those of us in the greater Pittsburgh area, I am guessing that similar stories could be told about people such as Bill Burns, Paul Long, Adam Lynch, Ray Tannehill, Marie Torre, Sally Wiggin, Sam Nover, and, well, you get the idea.  My point is, don't let the fact this book may be "local" to Washington DC keep you away from it.

Campbell tells his story from his days growing up in San Antonio, Texas where he started as a broadcaster at San Antonio College and the University of Texas, which led to position in radio and TV newsrooms in Dallas - he was working at a Dallas TV station on November 22, 1963 -  and on to his move to Washington where he worked for forty-three years and where he remains to this day.

That is the bare bones of the book, but Arch fills the narrative of the stories, both on screen and behind the scenes , that are hilarious and poignant, but mainly hilarious.  For example, one day in the newsroom in Dallas, the news director charged in and in desperation yelled "I need someone to review a movie."  After a brief silence, Arch raised his hand and said "I'll do it."  Thus, both a career and a book title were born.  There are stories about how the sausage gets made in delivering the nightly news into you living rooms, and tales of the days when most local TV did live programming You will see names of people you will know who's paths crossed with Arch's over the years (Willard Scott, Katie Couric. Savannah Guthrie, Howard Stern, Nancy Reagan, and I could go on and on).  And did I say funny?  A story is told about a trained monkey making an appearance on a live children's show called Claire and Coco that had me shrieking with laughter and had tears rolling down my cheeks. I won't begin to tell it here, but all Pittsburghers of a certain age, try to imagine the same thing happening on the Ricki and Copper Show.

You'll also read about how Arch once raised a pet pig for a feature story, and about how he had a monkey randomly pick stocks for investments and how it fared against noted economists, a wonderful story about Arch revisiting his home town of San Antonio (for which h won an Emmy Award), and movies.  Lots and lots off stuff about the movies.

You can get the book by ordering it online through the DC bookstore Politics and Prose.  That's how I did it.  You should also check out The Arch Campbell Podcast if you enjoy the world of movies and entertainment, available wherever you get your podcasts.

This one gets the full Four Stars from The Grandstander.

The Man himself.

Hail to The RMU Colonials

The Robert Morris Colonials are Champions of the Horizon League!

If you have talked with me lately, or have been seeing my Facebook posts, you know that I have been caught up this winter following the fortunes of the men's basketball team of my Alma Mater, Robert Morris University.  At some point in mid-January, after starting with an 8-4 non-conference record and a blah 2-4 record in Horizon League play, the Colonials clicked as a team and caught fire.  They then proceeded to win 13 of their final 14 games, win the regular season Horizon League championship with a 15-1 record.  They concluded the regular season with an overall record of 23-8 and on a streak where they won seven straight games and thirteen of their final fourteen games.

We were able to see their HL Quarter-final game over Wright State 83-62 as part of a sellout crowd at the RMU Events Center last week. The atmosphere on campus that night was electric, and the game was as an exciting a sporting event as I have ever attended. Through the magic of ESPN, we then saw them defeat Oakland 79-76 in overtime in their semi-final game, and last night they put the cherry atop the sundae with an 89-78 win over Youngstown State.

It was the culmination of a season that saw Coach Andy Toole, and players Alvaro Folgueiras and Amarion Dickerson be named, respectively, Horizon League Coach, Player, and Defensive Player of the Year.

Before going any further, let me take you back five years, to March 10, 2020.  This was the night that RMU defeated St. Francis to win the Northeast conference Championship and secure a trip to the NCAA tournament. In THIS POST I said that that game that night was one of the reasons why you follow sports.  Later that same week, sports, the nation, and the world shut down due to the COVID pandemic, and the NCAA tournament was canceled.  Andy Toole has since said that this team being denied the chance to see their name on Selection Sunday and not being able to compete in the big Tournament, was the hardest thing he has had to experience as a coach.

That 2019-20 season was also RMU's last year in the NEC.  They began competing in the Horizon League the following year, and it has been hard sledding for the Colonials the first four years, but it all came together, unexpectedly so (they were picked to finish ninth at the beginning of the season), for the Colonials this year.  And it all culminated last night with the team cutting down the nets in Indianapolis. 

Winning the championship tournament in a mid-major conference is what schools like Robert Morris play for.  They will probably draw a seed in the area of 12th to 14th, and will probably play a power five school in Round One and will no doubt be a double digit underdog, but no matter.  They will have achieved the goal that every team sets for themselves at the beginning of the season: Win their conference and go to the Big Dance.  Whomever they play in that first round, will not be getting a cupcake.

In the universe that is college basketball in Pittsburgh, Robert Morris will always be the ignored little brother to Pitt and Duquesne, we all get that, but in a year where Pitt finished below .500 and got knocked out in the first round of the ACC Tourney, and where the Dukes haven't been able to follow up on the A-10 successes of last year, it was the Colonials who were the story, even if it did take the local sports media awhile to figure that out.  Also, as the Steelers suffered a flameout in round one of the NFL playoffs and currently don't know who their quarterback will be this coming season, where the Penguins are in the beginning stages of a rebuild and are in last place in their division, and where the Pirates are, well, the Pirates, you can definitively state, I believe, that the RMU Colonials Men's Basketball team has been the best Pittsburgh sports story so far in calendar year 2025.

#proudtobeaColonial #letsgoBobbyMo

POY Alvaro Folgueiras hoists the 

HL Championship Trophy