To Absent Friends - Ted Turner

 

It would not be an exaggeration to say that Ted Turner, who died at the age of 87 earlier this week, was one of the most significant persons of our times over the last forty or so years.  This editorial cartoon that I stumbled upon says it best, I think.

Yep, all of those logos sum up what Ted Turner did in his lifetime.

He took a small UHF television station in Atlanta, put it on cable systems across the country and created television's first "Super Station".

He bought the Atlanta Braves and put it on this Super Station, now called Turner Broadcasting System, or TBS, and in the process created Braves fans throughout all fifty states of the country.

He captained his yacht, Courageous, to victory in the quadrennial America's Cup races, and earned the nickname Captain Outrageous in doing so.

In what may be his most significant accomplishment, he established the first 24 hour cable news network, CNN.  This forever changed the way the country and the world receives the news of the day.

His Turner Broadcasting empire grew to include TNT, Cartoon Network, TruTV, and my personal favorite, TCM - Turner Classic Movies.  

The fact that you can now watch four basketball games simultaneously during the first weekend of March Madness can in large part be attributed to Ted Turner.

Become one of the country's foremost environmentalists and conservationists.

He married Jane Fonda!  If ever there was such a thing as a "Power Couple", that was it.

Obituaries and tributes to Turner abound in the internet.  You should seek them out and read them.  He was a real game changer.

RIP Ted Turner.

"Captain Outrageous"

One of my favorite things!

World Series winner with the Braves in 1995

"He came into my life, a gloriously handsome, deeply romantic, swashbuckling pirate and I've never been the same. He needed me. No one had ever made me feel needed before, and this wasn't your average person needing me, this was the creator of CNN and Turner Classic Movies, who had won the America's Cup as the world's greatest sailor. He had a huge life, a brilliant mind and an incredible sense of humor."

- Jane Fonda

"Telegraph Days" by Larry McMurtry

 

I stumbled across this 2006 Larry McMurtry novel in a used bookstore a few months back, and I finally pulled it off of the shelf and read it last week, and what a delight.

The novel opens grimly in 1876 when our narrator, 22 year old Marie Antoinette "Nellie" Courtright describes the suicide of her father.  The old man was an aristocrat in antebellum Virginia, and he decided to leave there "head west" to start a new plantation on the post Civil War western frontier.  He fails, we are told, and along the way, his wife and all but two of his children die, before he takes his own life.

Like I said, it's a grim note on which to start a story, but "Telegraph Days" is anything but a grim tale. 

Nellie and her 17 year old brother Jackson decide to leave the failed plantation, and head to the dusty little western town of Rita Blanca that consists mainly of a jail house, an abandoned telegraph office, a general store, and a bunch of saloons.  in short order, Nellie arranges for Jackson be named deputy sheriff, and she becomes the telegraph operator.  In even shorter order, Jackson becomes a hero by killing all six members of the notorious Yazee Brothers outlaw gang,  Nellie writes a dime novel about the event, and becomes famous herself.

Like McMurtry's epic Pulitzer Prize winning novel "Lonesome Dove", this story captures what it was like in the fading days of the Old West, only he does it with more humor and in about 300 fewer pages in this one.  Nellie tells her story as she encounters just about everyone that you have ever heard of from those days: George Custer, Billy the Kid, Wild Bill HIckock, The Earp Brothers, Doc Holliday, and, especially, Buffalo Bill Cody.  In fact, Nellie becomes the manager, or "majordomo" for Buffalo Bill as he promotes and stages his Wild West shows and sells them to the people across the country and the world who want to see just what the "old west" was like.  I especially loved this bit of dialog between Nellie and Bill as he was convincing her to come on with him to manage his business affairs.

"It's a harebrained scheme," I said, "pay fighting Indians to pretend to fight?"

"Yep, and to pay sharpshooters to shoot and acrobats to tumble and trick ropers to twirl big loops and cowboys to ride broncos and all the rest of the folderol that goes with a Wild West pageant," he elaborated.

"This is making me dizzy," I admitted. "Nobody in their right mind would pay good money to see a place that looks like Rita Blanca. Even Yankees aren't that dumb."

"Sure they are - as soon as something's ended, people will start flocking to at least get a glimpse of what it was like before it was over," Cody said. "It's human nature."

"I'm a human, and it's not my nature," I assured him, but even as I said it I knew my remark was partly a lie. Why read Walter Scott if not if not to catch a glimpse of what life was like in older times - times that were surely gone forever?

That's some good writing there, and Nellie Courtright is one of the most engaging characters you will ever come across, as she somehow manages to hold her own against scheming reporters, grungy cowboys, drunks, and outlaws proving that you didn't have to be a man to survive on the sometimes perilous old west.   Not that she had anything against men, you understand.  In fact's Nellie's matter of fact need and the sheer joy that she takes in the act of "copulation" is one of the more delightful aspects of her character. 

Nellie lives long enough to see the glory days of the Old West through which she lived be glamorized in the newest art form of the twentieth century - motion pictures, and in fact, she even played a part in the production of those early movies.

"Telegraph Days" is a fun and lively tale, and Nellie Courtright is a terrific tour guide as she tells her story.

Three Stars from The Grandstander.

To Absent Friends - Bob Skinner

 

Bob Skinner

1931 - 2026

One more member of the Pittsburgh Pirates 1960 World Series Championship team left us yesterday when Bob Skinner, the regular left fielder on that team, died at the age of 94.  

Skinner had a 12 year major league career, which included nine seasons with the Pirates.  In that magical 1960 season, Skinner hit .273 with 15 home runs and 86 RBI.  I recall that he was injured early in the World Series and only played two games against the Yankees with one hit in five at bats and an RBI.  Over the course of his twelve year career, he hit .277 and averaged 12 home runs and 62 RBI (prorated over 162 games).  He also was a role player on the Cardinals' 1964 World Series championship team, going 2-for-3 with an RBI against the Yanks in that Series. 

It is always significant when the member of one of Pittsburgh's most memorable and beloved teams leaves us, and Skinner's death is especially significant in that it now leaves only one member of that team still alive, ace pitcher Vernon Law, now 96 years of age.  I made the comment on Facebook yesterday that Law, as the last survivor of that 1960 squad and the last survivor of that theorhetical tontine, now gets to drink from the special bottle of champagne.  It was then pointed out to me that as a devout Mormon, Law would not drink this alcoholic beverage.  I was making a metaphor, of course, but that is somehow fairly ironic, is it not?

These first months of 2026 have been hard on that team as it has seen the passing of three of its vital members, Roy Face, Bill Mazeroski, and now Bob Skinner.

I wonder what Vernon Law is thinking today.

RIP Bob Skinner.

The Steelers Draft Selections, 2026

Before weighing in on the matter of the Steelers Draft, let me begin with a story that I tell every year at this time.

Sometime back in the pre-Chuck Noll era of Steelers Football, and shortly after the NFL Draft of that given year, back when the draft was not a three day nationally televised extravaganza, my dad runs into Steelers DT Ben Magee (ask your parents or grandparents, kids) at some downtown Pittsburgh lunch counter.  "Hey, Ben," Frank asks "what do you think of those guys the Steelers drafted?"

Ben replies "You don't know nothin' about any them until they get into camp."  

True then, true today,  but with that in mind, here are your newest Pittsburgh Steelers. 

Round
1	Max Iheanachor	OL	Arizona St
2	Germie Bernard	WR	Alabama
3a	Drew Allar	QB	Penn State
3b	Daylen Everette	CB	Georgia
3c	Gennings Dunker	OL	Iowa
4	Kaden Wetgen	WR	Iowa
5	Riley Nowakowski	TE/FB	Indiana
6	Gabriel Rubio	DL	Notre Dame
7a	Robert Spears-Jennings	DB	Oklahoma
7b	Eli Heidenreich	RB	Navy

For the third time in four years, the Steelers selected an offensive lineman with their first round pick.  Now we all know that O-linemen are important building blocks of any great team, but let's be honest, selecting an offensive lineman with your first pick is about as un-sexy as it gets.  As one local scribe put it:  It's like getting a US Savings Bond for Christmas.  It's solid gift, one that could achieve long term value for you, but it sure isn't any fun.  As history goes, Alan Faneca and David DeCastro turned out to be terrific first round selections for the Steelers.  Tom Ricketts, not so much, and the jury is still out on Broderick Jones and Troy Fautanu.  Let us all hope that Iheanachor (pronounced "I-hawn-a-chore") turns out to be the next Alan Faneca.  We'll know by the start the 2028 season how this pick turns out.

It's always fun when your team drafts a quarterback, and the selection of Penn State's Drew Allar should prove to be no exception.  It puts him in direct competition with last year's sixth round pick Will Howard, whom many were expecting to be QB#2 this season.  This, of course, assumes that Aaron Rodgers will be back as QB#1.  It also means that Mason Rudolph may be looking for employment come the end of training camp in September.  Who knows, but like I said, it sure is going to provide endless fodder among the gas bag talk show crowd.  The dreaded "Quarterback Controversy" will be sure to rear its ugly head in Steeler Nation in the months ahead.  It will be great fun.

The other pick that packs a lot of emotion with it came with the team's final selection, RB Eli Heidenreich of the Naval Academy.  First off, some Steelers "sources" are saying that he is a Christian McCaffrey-like talent.  That's quite a statement, but if he's half the player that McCaffrey is, the Steelers have struck gold in the seventh round. Secondly, how great was it to see him come on stage waving that Terrible Towel while wearing his Navy uniform, and thirdly, HE'S A LOCAL KID!!!!  A Yinzer!!! A graduate of Mt. Lebanon High School, just like Buccos skipper Don "Donnie" Kelly and Chicago Cubs outfielder Ian Happ!  Who isn't going to be rooting for this kid to make the team? Realistically, he's going to be at the bottom of the depth chart at his position, and special teams may offer him his best chance of making an impact with the Steelers in 2026.  Also, what happens in regard to Heidenreich's commitment to serve in the US Navy?  How does that work around a job in professional football?  Just curious.

Speaking of special teams, the pick of Iowa WR Kaden Wetjen is an intriguing one. Along with second round pick Germi Bernard, Wetjen fills a definite need at the WR position, but I've heard it said that his best contribution could come as kickoff and punt returner, and that REALLY fills a need for the team.  Despite how special teams coach Danny Smith was lauded by the media in recent years, when was the last time you saw a Steeler return a punt for twenty of more yards or advance a kickoff beyond the Steelers forty yard line?  If that happened at all in 2025, I sure don't remember it.  Maybe Wetjen is the guy to do so this coming season.

The other draft pick that is garnering a lot of the attention is this guy, third round selection Gennings Dunker:

That flame red Jaromir Jagr-like mullet has already made him a popular choice among fans.  I can see him letting it grow to Troy Polomalu length that should be seen on ads for some Western PA automobile dealership by October.  He might even get the same Levin Furniture deal that Kenny Pickett got.

Of course, none of these guys has played a single down in pro football, so we should all hold off with grading "how the Steelers (or any team for that matter) did in the draft" at least, as Ben Magee so wisely put it, "until they get into camp" and probably not until the end of the 2026 season.

And I cannot leave the subject of the 2026 without addressing the fact that is was a local event, held right here in Pittsburgh.  The preparation for this event took years, and it did cause some inconveniences as the draft approached in regard to traffic restrictions, but by all accounts, it was smashing success, and a major economic boon for the region, although reports are coming in that some smaller businesses didn't do quite as well as hoped.  It will probably be years before the long range economic impact on the City and region can be accurately measured.  In any event, we are told that 325,000 people jammed the "draft theater" area between Acrisure Stadium and PNC Park on Thursday....

...and that 805,000 people "attended" the Draft and Draft related events over the three day period, although how they measured those figures is a mystery to me.  The whole thing came off without incident.  It was quite the event, and even though Linda and I didn't attend any of it, it sure was fun to experience it.  One special highlight for me was at the opening when all of these guys appeared on stage with Roger Goodell.

Ben Roethlisberger, Mel Blount, TJ Watt, Cam Heyward,

Lynn Swann, Hines Ward, Terry Bradshaw

Lots of Gold Jackets and future Gold Jackets on stage

Good luck to Washington DC in hosting this event in 2027.  As if that city doesn't have enough security issues with which to deal.

 

To Absent Friends - Phil Garner

 

Sad news arrived this past weekend when we learned of the death of former Pirates second baseman Phil "Scrap Iron" Garner at the age of 76.

It was in March of 1977 that Pirates GM Harding Peterson swung a nine player deal with the Charley Finley of the Oakland A's.  The Pirates sent six players of Oakland, including pitchers Dave Guisti and Doc Medich, and received three in return, the most significant of whom was second baseman Garner, and yet another piece was put in place that would lead to a World Series Championship for the Pirates in 1979. Garner played five seasons for the Bucs, made the All-Star team twice, and during that 1979 postseason Garner hit .417 against the Reds in the NLCS and .500 (12 for 24) against the Orioles in the World Series.  In noting Garner's passing on PTI yesterday, Michael Wilson noted that while Willie Stargell and Dave Parker were the stars of that Championship team, perhaps no one epitomized the grit and intensity in which that team played the game than Phil Garner, and in that regard his "Scrap Iron" nickname, bestowed upon him by Stargell, said it all.

 

Garner had a 16 year career as a player, and then went on to manage three different teams, the Brewers, Tigers, and Astros, for a total 15 seasons.  In 2005, he managed the Astros, then the National League, to their first ever pennant.  The following season, the All-Star Game was played in Pittsburgh, and Garner, as Manager of the NL team, named his 1979 Pirates manager Chuck Tanner as his Special Assistant in managing that squad.  It was class move by Garner in tribute to his old manager and the home town fans in Pittsburgh.

"Scrap Iron"

He was a regular at Pirate Alumni events

Garner becomes the twelfth member, including skipper Chuck Tanner, of that World Series team to leave us.  Fourteen members are still alive.  You can see the list at the end of this post.

RIP Phil Garner.

	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

"Four Weddings and a Funeral" (1994)

 

So we decided to watch a movie last night, and we wanted something light and funny, and we selected "Four Weddings and a Funeral", a 1994 British made RomCom that I had recorded off of TCM a few weeks ago.  Linda had never seen it.  I was certain that I had seen it, but as I watched, I realized that this was indeed a first time viewing for me.

We loved it.

The story revolves around a group of friends in Britain who seem to do nothing but attend weddings, while all the time wondering if true love will ever happen for them.  It stars Hugh Grant, a big star now, of course, but relatively unknown then, especially in America.  At the first of these weddings he meets an American woman, played by Andie MacDowell.  Complications, as they say, ensue.

After the third wedding takes place, we do get to that funeral of the title, which causes two of the main characters, Grant's being one of them, to question if love, true love, will ever find them.  During this funeral, one of the characters recites the W.H.Auden poem "Funeral Blues".  I was unfamiliar with this work, but found it quite moving. I have since looked it up and reread it a number of times already.  HERE is a link to it.

I confess to being a big fan of Hugh Grant.  I have always said that no actor, before or since, has ever been the equal of Cary Grant in terms of star power and pure movie star panache, but Hugh Grant comes the closest. "Four Weddings and a Funeral" made Grant a star, with his shaggy hair, goofy glasses, and trademark stumbling, bumbling style of speaking.  The movie is worth seeing for his performance alone.

MacDowell and Grant

Grant with co-star Kirstin Scott Thomas

Loved the hats she wore in this movie!

"Four Weddings and a Funeral was nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award in 1994, along with "Quiz Show", "Pulp Fiction", and "The Shawshank Redemption".  All of them lost out to that year's winner, "Forrest Gump".  "Forrest Gump" was a good movie, but I could make a case that each of the other four would have been a more deserving winner.

Three and One-Half Stars from The Grandstander.

Ramblin' Thoughts On A Saturday Afternoon

 Some Idle thoughts from an idle mind.....

The Pirates have started the 2026 season on a fairly good note.  They are 8-5. The staring pitching of Skenes, Keller, Mlodzinski, Ashcroft, and Chandler had been quite good, if not very good.  New additions Brandon Lowe and Ryan O'Hearn have delivered as hoped; new addition Marcel Ozuna, not so much.  

And 19 year old rookie phee-nom, best prospect in baseball Konnor Griffin has arrived!

After getting an RBI double in his first AB, Griffin has collected only two hits since and is hitting .143, in 21 AB's in seven games.  Way too early to worry, and one thing that Griffin has shown is that he can flash the leather.  It appears that the Pirates have got their short stop for the next decade or so.

Did I say "decade"?  The other big news concerning Griffin is that he and the Pirates signed a nine year, $140 million contract  extension that will tie Griffin to the Bucs through the 2034 season.  This, of course, is completely out of character for Bob Nutting's Pirates, and it certainly is a positive development, but let's not give Nutting the Dapper Dan Award because of this.  As the owner of a professional sports team that purports to be all in on winning and winning championships, this is doing merely what you are supposed to do, something that Nutting has NOT done in his tenure as Pirates CEO.  As comedian Chris Rock says, you don't get special credit for doing WHAT YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO DO.  

As usual, The Grandstander will wait until the thirty game mark of the season before giving a more thorough evaluation of this season's Buccos.

********

We are now halfway through (now speaking in hushed, reverential tones) The Masters, A Tradition Unlike Any Other. I confess to having been glued to the early round coverage of the event on Prime and ESPN for the last two days.  What can I say?

While I have no gripe against Rory McIlroy, he's a likable enough guy, I hate to see what he has done over these last two days.  Through two rounds, he is at twelve under par and has a six shot lead over his nearest competitor.  He has threatened to remove any semblance of drama from this year's tournament.  Like I said, I have no axe to grind with McIlroy, but I hope that he comes back to the field a bit, or that three or four guys surge forward to make it interesting come the fourth round on Sunday.

********

In honor of The Masters I will close with this musical interlude from well known golfer and sometime crooner Bing Crosby.  May all your shots be "straight down the middle".