"A Few Good Men"

After a one year absence, Marilyn and I returned to the Pittsburgh Public Theater last night to see their production of Aaron Sorkin's "A Few Good Men."

Before it was a hit movie starring Jack Nicholson, Tom Cruise, and Demi Moore, "A Few Good Men" was a hit Broadway play, and it was the introduction to the world of talented writer Aaron Sorkin. As is almost always the case, the Public's production was an excellent one.

It runs for two more weeks at the O'Reilly Theater in Pittsburgh, and I can't recommend it highly enough.

Four Stars from The Grandstander.

Hurdle Takes the Fall, Bye-bye to Blass, and Who Ya Got in the Series?

The blood-letting began at PNC Park yesterday when the Pirates, in the smarmy personage of General Manager Neal Huntington, fired manager Clint Hurdle, right before the team's final game of the season.  The Pirates can manage to screw up just about anything, even a firing.

Clint Hurdle rides off

into the sunset

Let's face it, a case can certainly be made for Hurdle's dismissal.  He's been on the job for nine seasons, and his message had probably gotten stale with the players and was no doubt falling upon deaf ears.  His fate was probably sealed with that unbelievably horrid twenty-eight game stretch after the All-Star Break when the team went 4-24, and if THAT didn't do it, the tales of a clubhouse completely out of control during the second half of the season surely did.

All of that aside, though, the site of GMNH smugly saying how Clint needs to be "honored" for all he did for the Pirates, and short time after he fired him, is enough to make to make you want to retch.  And how about Bob "Mr. Dithers" Nutting going on and on about how great Clint was, and then telling us that GM Neal and his "excellent leadership team" will remain in place and will no doubt lead the Pirates to greater heights into the future?

As the PG's Paul Zeise said in his online column today, Hurdle's firing can be justified, but it can also be said that he did HIS job with the Pirates one helluva lot better than Neal Huntington and his scouting and development team did theirs.  And if you don't believe that, just take a look at the collection of sub-standard, non-major league quality pitchers that Clint had available to him in the bullpen whenever the underachieving starting staff faltered, which they did almost all of the time.

Clint gets the last laugh.  He is owed $6 million from the Pirates over the next two years, and I hope that he collects every dime of it from this sad sorry-assed organization that the Pirates have become.

********

Until the front office screwed it up with the timing of the Hurdle firing, there was a "feel good" story this weekend, and that was the final series of games being broadcast by retiring announcer Steve Blass, after sixty years serving the Pirates organization.  (Has anyone served the Pirates so well for so long?  I think not.) The fact that Blass' final season turned into a complete shit show was a shame, and the hijacking of his final game by yet another inept front office gaffe was icing on the cake.

As my own tribute to Blass, I will tell my own Steve Blass story.  I've told it before in this space, but, what the hell, here it goes for one more time.  Back in the '00s  when I was chairing the local SABR Chapter, I invited Steve to be a speaker at one of our meetings, and he accepted.   How cool was that to have a genuine, honest-to-God World Series hero come to speak to us free of charge.

Well, he showed up, spoke for an hour, and did a great job of being Steve Blass.  The following week, as was my custom, I sent a thank you note to him for his time and for the job he did at our event.  A few days later, my phone rang at the office - I was still working then - and it was Steve Blass.  He want to thank me for sending him a thank you note.

Who does that?

Here's to a long, happy, and healthy retirement for Steve Blass.

********

The Major League Post-Season begins tomorrow with the first of the Wild Card games, and culminates with the World Series, which might end right around Thanksgiving.  Ten teams are alive for a chance to obtain that World Series gonfalon.  Here is my Grandstander Confidence Ranking (GCR) for the teams still standing, with (1) being "most confident" and (10) being "least confident".

1. Astros
2. Yankees
3. Dodgers
4. Braves
5. Cardinals
6. Twins
7. Brewers
8. Rays
9. Athletics
10. Nationals

Feel free to factor the GCR into your calculations as you make your own World Series predictions, and, as always, watch, but don't bet.

What A Week On The North Shore

Real Life Stuff has kept me away from the keyboard this past week, but before another sports weekend commences, I feel compelled to comment upon the Pittsburgh Sports Week that has just concluded.

The Steelers took a 0-1 record into their home opener against Seattle where they proceeded to serve themselves up as a tasty meal, dessert included, for the Seahawks' Russell Wilson.  More significant to the season than this 28-26 loss, however, was this scene:

Late in the second quarter, Ben Roethlisberger took himself into the Steelers clubhouse to have an injured elbow looked at.  The next day we learned that this was far more than one of the usual run of the mill dings that football players suffer through the course of the season.  The injury would require surgery that will end the season for Big Ben.  

And so the Mason Rudolph Era begins for the Steelers.

Rudolph was drafted in the third round in 2018 as the heir apparent for Roethlisberger.  I'm sure that no one expected or wanted this Era to begin this soon, but here we are.  He acquitted himself fairly well in relief last week (2 TDs and one INT that wasn't his fault), but now he becomes the Steelers starting quarterback.  He set records at Oklahoma State, went toe-to-toe with Baker Mayfield while there, and for two seasons in a row, we in Pittsburgh watched him thoroughly dismantle the Pitt Panthers.  Granted, the Big XII and Pitt aren't the NFL, but the pedigree seems to be there, as do the physical tools.  We'll see what happens.

Rather than bemoaning the loss of their best player and their 0-2 record, the Steelers refused to throw in the towel on the season, and, in fact, doubled down by making a significant trade:  2020's first round draft choice to Miami for second year safety Minkuh Fitzpatrick.  The Steelers addressed what they felt to be a significant need in an effort to get better on defense.  Good for them, and as is the case with their new starting QB, we shall see where it takes them.

We shall also see what this portends for the future of Ben Roethlisberger.  He will be 38 years old when the 2020 season rolls around.  If Rudolph lights it up for the remainder of the year, will Ben automatically be given back his starter's roll?  Will the Steelers even want to do that?  Will future HOF'er Big Ben want to put himself in the position of competing for a job with Rudolph next year?  All the sorts of questions that will guarantee that the popular Pittsburgh soap opera "As The Steelers Turn" will continue into next season.

********

Meanwhile, at the other end of General Robinson Street, the Pirates came home from a series in Chicago where they surrendered 47 runs in three games while losing three straight to the Cubs.  It was an historical humiliation.  Things only got worse on Tuesday with the news of Felipe Vazquez' arrest on the horrific charges of sexual misconduct with a thirteen year old girl.  I'm not going to comment on that, because, honestly, what can you say?

No one on the Pirates or in Pirates management can be faulted for the acts Vazquez has been alleged of committing, but it is just one more awful happening to a season that has been marred by awful play on the field and awful blunders on the part of team management.  As Chuck Noll might have put it, the Pirates' problems are many, and they are great, and I seriously doubt that this team and its current management are capable of even addressing these problems, let alone fixing them.

Since Vazquez' arrest, the Pirates have lost four more straight games.  Yet another seven game losing streak.  I don't know what the record is for seven game losing streaks for a team in a season, but this years' Buccos are surely in the hunt for setting it.

Next weekend the team will be honoring Steve Blass, who will be announcing his final games in the Bucs' broadcasting booth.  However you may feel about Blass as an announcer - and, yes, we have all heard his many stories many, many, and perhaps too many times - he has served the Pirates honorably and well as player, World Series star, broadcaster, and good will ambassador for sixty years.  He sure as hell did not deserve a final season like this one.

********

Coming up this weekend:

• The Pirates begin the last eight games of a season that cannot possibly end soon enough
• The Pitt Panthers, and, yeah, I didn't even address that 17-10 loss to Penn State and HCPN's questionable in game decisions - take on Central Florida at Heinz Field.  It might not be pretty for the home team.
• The Steelers and their second year QB travel the San Francisco to take on the surprisingly 2-0 49er's.  Again, it might not be pretty for Rooney U.

"Downton Abbey"....The Movie

Before I comment on the new movie, "Downton Abbey", allow me to cut-n-paste from my Grandstander post of March 8, 2016, a post that was made right after the final episode to this Masterpiece Theater series aired.....

• I will give no spoilers here, but I will say that the Final Episode of "Downton Abbey" that aired this past Sunday was just about perfect.  Loose ends tied up, happy endings, and just a hint of good things to happen for the various characters.  And did you notice that the final line of spoken dialog belonged to Maggie Smith, the Dowager Countess?  As it was with most of her lines over six seasons, it was perfect.

• Of course, now the inevitable talk of a "Downton Abbey" reunion movie begins.  I suppose that the money will be irresistible to all concerned, and I would be in the theater the first week such a movie opens, but a part of me thinks that it would be best to resist the cash grab. Isn't it an old show biz saying that it's always best to leave the audience wanting more?

Well, as I always like to say, I believe I had that.  The fans demanded a movie follow up, no one was able to resist coming back for what has been, essentially, a big old fashioned money grab, and there we were, sitting in the Tull Theater in Sewickley last night for a sneak preview showing of the movie, "Downton Abbey", one day before its "official" opening.  As my friend Dan like to say, we stared Julian Fellows right in the eye and said "Shut up and take our money."

So how was it?  It was great, and the double date duo of the Sproules and the Bonks loved, loved, loved it!!

The movie takes place in 1927 (no mention was made in the film of what Babe Ruth was doing over in the colonies that particular summer, so what was up with that?), and the Crawleys receive notice that King George V and Queen Mary will be traveling about and will be spending a day and a night with them at Downton Abbey!  Oh, the excitement, and oh the preparations that must take place before this Royal Visit. But, of course, there are going to be complications.  As our friend Bonny put it (she saw it earlier in the week, before we did!), many of the plot points in the movie are contrived beyond belief, but, what the Hell, that all add up to great Downton Abbey-style fun.

In the space of a two hour movie, many of the characters who were developed over the course of a six year series are reduced almost to cameo status (Mr. Bates, for example, and maybe even Robert Crawley, the Earl of Grantham himself), and the filmmakers seemed to try perhaps a bit too much to get everyone involved in a piece the action, so that it seems a bit forced, but, again, so what?  If you were a fan if the series, you are going to love every bit of the soapy silliness of the movie.

Not surprisingly, the best lines throughout the movie were given to Maggie Smith as the Dowager Countess as she traded barbs with with Penelope Wilton's Isobel Merton.   And she also was a part of the most touching scene in the film when she spoke with Lady Mary, played by the beautiful Michelle Dockery.

The movie is also just flat out gorgeous to look at.  Beautiful scenery, beautiful costumes, and beautiful people.  A jolly good show!

I doubt that anyone other than fans of the TV series will see this movie, and that will surely be enough to make this a box office smash.  I only hope that the producers will resist the urge, and the urge will surely be there, to make another  Downton Abbey movie.  Please don't overdo it.  But if they do, The Grandstander will no doubt show up and force Julian Fellows and company to take his money.

Because of some of the aforementioned plot contrivances, I might be tempted to give this one Three and one-half stars, but I'm going to get caught up in the fanboy aura that emanates from "Downton Abbey"  - it gets the full Four Stars from The Grandstander!!!

Announcing An Exciting New Joint Venture

I am pleased to announce that my pal John Frissora - fellow RMU alumnus, former Highmark co-worker, current owner of the fastest growing health care/employee benefits consulting firm on God's Green Earth, high school schoolmate of John Calipari, and proprietor of Frissora Gaming Enterprises (FGE) - is becoming a regular contributor to The Grandstander for this current National Football League season.

As you may recall, last year I introduced my Grandstander Power Rankings (GPR) for the NFL whereby each week I ranked the Top Four NFL teams, and also included teams that were "knocking at the door".  I limited it to four teams so as to mimic the College Football Playoff rankings.  There was nothing fancy or analytical about the GPR.  They reflect my own personal "sniff test" as to who I think the Top Four teams in the NFL are at any given week.

John, on the other hand, does a weekly 1 through 32 ranking that is highly analytical and metrics based using complex tried and true formulae that John has developed over the years.

Beginning after the games of October 10-14, Week Six of the season (I wait that long to let things shake out in the season), I will be making my first GPR announcement.  Each week, John will be sending me his rankings as well.  I will make my list before I open John's weekly email so as to avoid being influenced by his rankings.  At that point, I will post the comparative rankings in The Grandstander and on Facebook.

We both figure that it will be fun to see how the FGE metrics will compare to The Grandstander's gut instincts.  Those of you who know John also know that he has a flair for cutting edge commentary in any of the events that he runs.  If he is willing to make such commentary on his weekly rankings, I will share the best of those with all of you.

Look for the first rankings on or about October 15, and welcome aboard, John Frissora!!

RIP - My Pirates Bet

Born January 13, 2019

Died September 13, 2019

With the Pirates 17-8 (!!!) loss to the Cubs yesterday afternoon, my season long O/U bet on the Pirates, on life support since the All-Star Break, officially died.

In truth, when I placed this bet at Paris in Las Vegas back in January, I felt strongly that UNDER would have been the smart bet to make.  However, I did not want to place myself in a position where, come September, I would be rooting for my favorite baseball team to lose, so I went with the OVER.  I did think at the time that the bet wouldn't be decided until the final week, maybe even the final weekend, of the season, but this train wreck of a Bucco season made sure that my bet would be put to rest with two full weeks left in the season.

Lesson: Never bet with your heart, kids.

(Parenthetically, I need to add this.  In that 17-8 debacle of a game yesterday, the five Pirates pitchers that toiled in the game now have ERA's of 4.89, 7.30, 9.15, 8.74, and 9.92.  And GMNH tells us that he's prepared to move into 2020 with the group that he currently has in place.  What a joke.)

The Steelers Get Humiliated....and Some Pirates News!

A familiar sight - 

Donte Moncrief flat on the ground 

after failing to catch yet another pass 

against New England last night.

There is not much that can be said about that 33-3 humiliation that the New England Patriots laid on the Steelers last night.  Professional sports can be astounding in the sense that a team can point to a single occurrence - in this case, the Steelers season opener against the Pats - prepare for it for months, and then come out so flat and listless that it appears that they had no interest in playing at all, and are never in the game from the opening kick/pitch/tip-off.  This happens a lot in sports, and it always just astounds me when it does.  As one of the oldest cliches in the book says, that's why you play the games.

Rather than reinvent the wheel, I'll just recap some comments that I made on The Facebook last night while watching the game:

• If the Steelers of the Tomlin/Roethlisberger ever played a worse game than last night, I cannot remember it.
• Based on what we saw last night, I would guess  that opposing teams defensive coordinators will game plan against the Steelers as follows:  "Let them throw to Donte Moncrief and Ryan Switzer all game long, and we'll take our chances."
• It was early in the second quarter, and I felt like I was watching  Pirates game.
• I cannot come up with a single solitary positive thought or comment on the Steelers performance last night.
• As a Steelers fan, one of the worst aspects of the ass-kicking they received from New England is that it will lessen the opportunity to gloat about the Browns and the ass-kicking that THEY received at the hands of the Titans yesterday.
• How about old goat Bob Kraft down there on the field pre-game parading that Lombardi Trophy.  The guy has absolutely no sense of shame does he?
• On the bright side, this week's episode of Pittsburgh Dad should be positively epic!

Oh, and speaking of the Pirates, lost amid the wailing and gnashing of teeth over the Steelers debacle, this headline was buried at the bottom of Page 8 of the Post-Gazette sports pages this morning:

FEW CHANGES EXPECTED FOR 2020 SEASON

Some quotes from the story written by Jason Mackey:

"The way general manager Neal Huntington put it Sunday, It doesn't sound as if there will be many changes to the Pirates for next season."

And...

"Huntington's comments painted the picture that, unless something dramatic happens here, the Pirates might be coming back with pretty close to this existing group."

As is the case for last night's Steelers game, I can't quite find the words to respond to THAT either.  Those comments  ought to help sell a lot of season tickets this coming off season.

Sunday Morning Quick Hits.....

Pitt gets into the win column with a (as Myron Cope used to put it) desultory 20-10 win over Ohio University.  A win is a win, and Pitt surely needed one as they figure to be big underdogs the next two weeks.  However, on the entertainment meter, that game yesterday at Heinz Field scored pretty low.

On the plus side, the Ohio University marching band, The Marching 110, was terrific!  Really.

*******

One of the reasons for that could be due to the fact that the Pitt game was totally hijacked by the news, delivered via social media on everybody's cell phones, of the release by the Oakland Raiders of that well known Steelers former WR, Antonio BrowNarcissist. That news completely inundated the crowd at Heinz Field and completely sucked all of the air out of the game being contested between Pitt and OU on the field. 

It was, everyone agreed, a completely remarkable turn of events.

********

But however crazy those turn of events were, they were, incredibly, topped only a few hours later when now free agent BrowNarcissist was signed by none other than the New England Patriots. 

I don't want to go all Oliver Stone here, but it stretches all credulity to think that there WASN'T any tampering and hinky doings going on behind he scenes among BrowNarcissist, his sleazy agent, Drew Rosenhaus, and, of course, the evil empire of Bob "Happy Endings" Kraft and Bill Belichick.  Surely the Commissioner's Office needs to look into the machinations that went into this farce.

And now tomorrow's highly anticipated nationally televised Sunday Night opener between the Steelers and the Patriots will be hijacked by constant close-ups of BrowNarcissist standing on the New England sidelines with all of his new best buds on the Patriots.  It'll be sickening.  

Of course, if the Steelers can only manage to beat the Patriots......well, how sweet would THAT be?

We're Ready for Some Football!

With a baseball season that has been the dumper, Pittsburgh-wise, for over six weeks, and after a weekend that force fed us college football games over a five day weekend and included a turd-in-the-punchbowl performance by the Pitt Panthers, we can all look forward to the debut this week of the lead dog in all of American professional sports (and yes, I am lumping big time college football and basketball as "professional"), the (imagine a Howard Cosellian voice here) National...Football...League.

Or maybe just listen to this....

In any event, the NFL opens its 100th season....

...this coming Thursday night with the Packers and Bears rivalry, and, more importantly from a local standpoint, on Sunday night when the Steelers take on the Patriots in Foxboro.  One can only hope that that game brings us scenes like this....

...which will lead to a sour puss scene like this....

But more on the Steelers in a minute.

This season I will be making weekly posts of the Grandstander Power Rankings (GPR) for the NFL.  This will rank the top four NFL teams in the same fashion that college football ranks its Top Four every week leading up to the College Football Playoffs.   I did this on Facebook last year to an underwhelming reception, so I figure that perhaps doing it in this space will lend it a bit more gravitas.  Who knows?

Anyway, I don't intend to release the initial GPR  until at least four weeks into the NFL season, so you will have to remain on the edge of your seats until then.  However, I  just can't resist giving it a bit of a go right now, so, herewith, The Pre-Season NFL GPR:

1. PATRIOTS. Yep, gotta go with Coach Bill and the Golden Boy until  someone proves to be better or they show some signs of slippage.  However, no matter how the team does on the field, the big question is....Will owner Bob Kraft still be able to manage a Happy Ending for himself every week?
2. CHIEFS. They have Patrick Mahomes.  What more can I say?
3. RAMS.  When last seen, the Rams and especially their young QB Jerrod Goff looked totally outmatched in the Super Bowl by the Patriots, but note this:  They WERE playing in the Super Bowl, and thirty other teams were not, so I still like them going not the season.
4. BEARS.  Strong defense and a dynamic young QB in Mitch Trubisky.  They're as good as any other team to place in here as the season begins.  In all honesty, though, I hope that they do not stay here throughout the season because if they do, Michael Wilbon will be positively insufferable.

Teams knocking on the door to crack the Top Four.....Chargers, Saints, Steelers, and Vikings.

From those eight teams, at least one of the Super Bowl participants will emerge.  You heard it here first.

Now, as to the local squad, I am very optimistic about the Steelers as they head into the season.  The distractions that totally overtook this team last season - and I don't have to mention their names, do I? - are gone.  The coaches and the players seem totally focused on one goal this season, and a real sense of TEAM seems to have permeated the team throughout training camp and the exhibition season.   And to whatever extent you can place your projections on exhibition games, the team, particularly the defense, seems to be better  going into 2019 the they were when they ended 2018.

I'll make no predictions of a Super Bowl win for the Steelers, although did place a $10 bet at 22-1 odds on them to do just that at the Rivers a few weeks ago, but I will predict this:  The Pittsburgh Steelers will win the AFC North Division championship this year.  

You know what that means, right? It means that the Cleveland Browns, the trendy and fashionable pick to win, not only their division, but to go all the way to the Super Bowl, will still finish the season looking up at the Steelers.  I grant that they are no longer the 1-31 team of 2016-17, and that they do have talent, but until I actually see them do it, see them beat teams, and beat the Steelers of Tomlin and Roethlisberger in particular, I am not ready to throw  full belief into them.  Baker Mayfield is an intriguing talent, but he ain't Otto Graham, and maybe not even Brian Sipe, just yet.

And speaking of the Browns, how would you like to be their first year coach Freddie Kitchens?  The hype is so great for them and the expectations are so high, if they don't come out and go 14-2, that goofball owner Jimmy Haslam, not to mention the rabid denizens of the Dawg Pound, will probably want him tarred and feathered and run into Lake Erie on a rail.  Talk about pressure.  I grant you that, unlike in past years, the Steelers can't just pencil in a 2-0 record against the Browns this year, but just how delicious will it be to watch the reaction in Cleveland if the Browns still manage to lose twice to the Steelers this year?

Speaking of wagers, my Maine resident and New England Patriot fan cousin, Jan Spencer and I have renewed our friendly wager on this week's Steelers-Pats game.  Look for a picture late Sunday night or early Monday morning on Facebook when one of us has to pay off on the bet.  Just to begin on a good note, here was Jan shortly after the Steelers 17-10 win over New England last December:

She did have the last laugh when the Super Bowl confetti fell, though.

It all starts on Thursday night, and I can't wait.

#herewegoSteelersherewego