The Absent Friends of 2022 - A Final Salute

The time has come when The Grandstander pays one final tribute to those Absent Friends of 2022.  When I began writing this blog thirteen (!!) years ago, who would have thought that one of the more prominent features of it would be obituaries for those that I called "Absent Friends", a term used by the great sportswriter Red Smith when he would eulogize those who had passed to the great beyond.   To me, an Absent Friend could be somebody famous in the world of entertainment, politics, sports, or pop culture.  It could be someone who may be known to very few people outside of a given local area.  Or, it could be someone that I had never heard of but whose news  obituary caught my eye and I found his or her story to be worthy of recognition.

I posted 29 Absent Friends notices in 2022, a light year for me.  Since I began doing this, the total number of folks so recognized has now reached the symmetrical number of 444.  Let us bid these Friends adieu one final time before the calendar turns to a new year.  If you want to see what I had to say about them at the time of their deaths, just type the name in the search box at the top of this page, and that will get you to the original post.

Betty White

Peter Bogdanovich

Sidney Poitier

William Hurt

Sally Kellerman

Bobby Rydell

Dwayne Haskins

Wendy Rieger

Guy Lafleur

Bob Lanier

Ray Liotta

Roger Angell

James Caan

Larry Storch

Tony Sirico

Monty Norman

Dick Schofield

Paul Sorvino

Tony Dow

Bill Russell

Vin Scully

Queen Elizabeth II

David McCullough

Maury Wills

Angela Lansbury

Ron Masak

Jerry Lee Lewis

Franco Harris

Pele

RIP One and All

To Absent Friends - Pele

Pele

1940 - 2022

Even people who don't know a lot about international futbol, like me, all know one fact:  that Pele, born Edson Arantes do Nascimento, of Brazil was the greatest soccer player ever.   He played on three separate World Cup Champion Brazil teams in three different decades, 1958, 1962, and 1970.

I won't go on and on about Pele as a player. I'm not really qualified to do so, but I will highly recommend that you read this obituary that appeared on page A-1 of today's Washington Post, written by Liz Clarke.   It is a great read.

One thing I learned in reading various obits is that no one can explain how or where the name "Pele" came from.  It has no translation in the Portuguese language.  It is a made up word that is totally unique to the person.  A name that is a totally unique word affixed to a person of totally unique talents.  Perhaps that is as it should be.

RIP Pele.

 

To Absent Friends - Franco Harris

Franco Harris

1950 - 2022

On January 1, 1973, twenty-one year old me awoke to the news that Roberto Clemente had been killed in a plane crash.  It took another 49 years, 11 months, and 21 days before any death, including those of family members, came with the shock factor of Clemente's death, but it happened again yesterday when I awoke to the news that Steelers Hall of Fame running back Franco Harris had died suddenly and unexpectedly at the age of 72, four days shy of Christmas and two days prior to the 50th Anniversary, of the play that made him famous and has been voted time and again as the most famous single play in NFL history, The Immaculate Reception.  That Harris and the Steelers were to celebrate this Anniversary at a banquet on Friday, and retire Franco's #32 jersey at the game with the Raiders on Saturday only adds to the surreal nature of Harris' death.

I am not going to recount that famous play here.  If you are a football fan and are reading this, you already know all about it.  However, I cannot make mention of the Immaculate Reception with out making to obligatory statement that I WAS THERE.  Attended the game at Three Rivers Stadium - Section 651, Row J, Seats 5-6-7-8 - and I can still see the play unfold right before my eyes.

In watching the NFL Network yesterday morning, a couple of things struck me. The ex-players serving as talking heads on the morning show all admitted that they knew Harris only by reputation, and watching clips.  They never saw him actually play.  1984, the year Fraanco retired, was a long time ago.  One of those talking heads, however, Jason McCourty, made the excellent point that people need to realize that the Immaculate Reception was no one hit wonder for Franco Harris.  He was NFL Rookie of the Year, a multiple time Pro Bowler, a Super Bowl MVP, eight 1,000 yard rushing seasons, and a Walter Payton Man of the Year.  He was the third all time leading rusher at the time of his retirement, and today, thirty-eight years after he last played a game, he ranks second all time in NFL post-season rushing yardage.  

Franco trounces the Vikings for 158 yards 

and a touchdown in Super Bowl IX

More importantly, Steelers fans know that he was the final piece of the puzzle that Chuck Noll put together (Joe Greene and L.C. Greenwood in 1969, Terry Bradshaw and Mel Blount in 1970, Jack Ham, Dwight White, and Mike Wagner in 1971 among others).  Harris was the first round pick, 13th pick overall, in the 1972 draft, and he became the running back that Noll needed to implement the ball control, run oriented offense that he wanted, and that was necessary in the NFL of that era.  With Harris in place, the Steelers made the playoffs for the first time in their forty year history in 1972, and in 1974, they won the Super Bowl for the first time, the first of four such championships in six seasons.

Football fans know all of that.  What those outside of Pittsburgh may not know is how Harris stayed in Pittsburgh after his playing days ended, and became an astute businessman and a pillar of the community.  No charitable or philanthropic organization ever had Franco Harris say "No" to them when they asked for his assistance or help.   The local media has been filled with stories these last two days of people telling stories of how Harris helped out with this charity or spoke to that youth football program banquet or even how he stopped on the road side to lend a hand when their car broke down.

It seems like everyone had a story about an encounter with Franco Harris, so here is mine.  One night, probably sometime in the 1990's, I was walking through Northway Mall and there walking right towards me was Franco Harris himself.   I said hello, shook his hand, and thanked him for what he gave to us Steelers fans over the years.  He was polite, cordial, and acted like I was the first person, and not the one million and first person, to ever say that to him.  That night, one of the greatest Steelers and NFL players in history was just like me: a guy wandering aimlessly in a shopping mall while their wives were shopping in one of the stores.

Franco became one of the Steelers greatest ambassadors in his retirement years.  He showed up at games and team reunions, and almost always appeared at the NFL Draft to announce one of the Steelers' picks, as he did this past spring when he announced Kenny Pickett at the team's first round pick.

The Steelers may never see his like again.

RIP Franco Harris.
 

Three Movies and A Streaming Series (no spoilers!)

Because so much is being covered today, these critiques will be shorter than usual.  Here goes.....

"The White Lotus"

HBO has given us a second season of this Emmy Award winning series from 2021.  (My thoughts on that season can be found HERE.)  Season Two gives us more of the same: gorgeous scenery, this time in Sicily instead of Hawaii, beautiful, but not real likable people, twisty plot cliffhangers at the end of each of the seven episodes, and dead body at the very beginning, followed immediately by a flashback to "One Week Earlier".  

There are three separate plot lines following (1) two very attractive, very rich young couples;  the guys were college roommates who have both struck it rich in business, but will they remain friends, and will they remain happily married (if they ever were to begin with) as the week unfolds? (2) three generations of men from an Italian-American family (Oscar winner F. Murray Abraham is the grandfather and "The Sopranos" Michael Imperioli is his son) who are in Sicily to find their family roots, (3) Tonya McQuoid, played by the wonderful Jennifer Coolidge, the only recurring character from Season 1, who is at the White Lotus with her new husband, and (4) two beautiful - of course! - young Italian prostitutes who somehow manage to interact with all of them.  Oh, and throw in the story of White Lotus resort manager Valentina, who makes some steps towards self-discovery herself.  Mix it all up, and you have a wonderful melange of high quality soap opera-ish entertainment.

I think that I liked this season more than the first one, if for no other reason than many, but not all, of the characters in this season were people that you actually like and root for.  This is not a spoiler, but when the three De Grasso men do discover their ancestral home and some of their cousins?  Let's just say that the results are not what you would see in a Hallmark Channel movie.

The Grandstander gives this Three and One-half Stars, as he anxiously awaits Season Three in late 2023 or early 2024.

"See How They Run"

In 1953, an unscrupulous Hollywood producer (Ardian Brody) wants to make a movie from Agatha Christie's hit play, "The Mousetrap".  Trouble is,  no film production can be made until the play's run in London ends (SPOILER ALERT:  the play is still running in London, seventy years later), so what can be done to end the play's run? And what about the changes in the plot that Brody wants to make that are infuriating the screenwriter (David Oyelowo)?  A murder takes place, a whodunit unfolds, and the crime gets investigated by a half-assed Scotland Yard detective (Sam Rockwell) and an extremely overeager Women's Police Constable (something new in post-war England) played by the wonderful Saoirse Ronan.  As regular readers know, I love Miss Ronan in anything that she does, and she played this role to comic perfection, and the unraveling of the Whodunit makes for great movie-viewing fun.

Two and One-Half Grandstander Stars.

"Weird: The Weird Al Yankovic Story"

"Weird" is an apt title for this movie.  It is a send up of the kinds of movies we have seen in recent years about artists such a Freddie Mercury and Elton John, and told in the mockumentary style of "This is Spinal Tap".  Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter fame plays the adult Al Yankovic, and he proves to be the exception to the Hollywood tale of child actors not being able to make it as adults and outgrow the childhood roles that made them famous.  This is a fun movie and worth watching for two things alone:  (1) how young Al's father deals with a door-to-door accordion salesman, and (2) the original song that Yankovic himself sings over the closing credits.  If you're a person who leaves the theater or turns off the TV when the eight or nine minutes of credits start to roll, do NOT do so in this case.  It's hilarious.

This movie is available only on the ROKU streaming service, which I just learned is free.  Who knew?  Not me.

Two and One-Half Stars from The Grandstander.

"A Christmas Story Christmas"

Did a sequel to the now classic 1983 film "A Christmas Story" really need to be made?  Well, no it didn't, but that shouldn't stop fans of the first movie from seeing this.  Peter Billingsly, who played the air rifle longing Ralphie back in '83 returns as the now adult Ralph Parker.  The fact that Billingsly, who has spent most of his post-"Christmas Story" career as a producer got involved in this gave me hope that this would not be a cheap knock-off.  Anyway, the story takes place twenty-something years after the original, in 1972,  Ralph is an aspiring novelist with two kids of his own who learns that just before Christmas that his "Old Man" has died.  So, it's back to Indiana to settle affairs, celebrate Christmas, and, not incidentally, write the Old Man's obituary for the local newspaper.

The movie has many of the same characters and tropes from the original, adult Billingsly exhibits the same facial expressions as the kid Billingsly did, and his voice over narration of the story does full justice the the job that author Jean Shepard did in the original.

If you liked "A Christmas Story", and who didn't, I cannot imagine you not liking "A Christmas Story Christmas."

Three Stars from The Grandstander.

Futbol and Football

The 2024 World Cup, oh, excuse me, the 2024 FIFA World Cup came to a thrilling conclusion yesterday when Argentina defeated France on penalty kicks (more on that in a bit) after the teams played to a 3-3 tie after 90 minutes regulation time, plus 30 minutes of overtime.  The backstories here were the final appearance on the World Cup stage by Argentina's Lionel Messi, 35, perhaps the world's best player who lacked only a World Cup championship on his resume, and his heir apparent, 24 year old Kylian Mbappe of France.

Both the match itself, and the two superstars lived up to all of the pre-match hype.  Messi scored twice, Mbappe three times.  France came back from a two goal deficit with less that 12 minutes to play in overtime.  Messi scored what looked to be the winning goal in overtime, only to see Mbappe, unbelievably, tie the game again in the final minutes of OT, which sent the game to penalty kick shootout, won by Argentina.  Not surprisingly, both Messi and Mbappe made their kicks in the shoot-out.

It has been called the greatest World Cup Final in history, and who am I to argue?  As one who finds the lack of shooting in world class soccer a detriment to the Beautiful Game, even I found this game tremendously exciting to watch.  The skill of the players is undeniable, and the efforts to score, the near misses, and the saves by both defenders and keepers were a marvel to behold.  It was as exciting a sporting event as you will see all year.  And all that said, what a shame that an athletic event so epic be decided on penalty kicks.  I get that Soccer demands a full thirty minute overtime, but why not make it sudden death instead, or sudden death after the traditional 30 minute OT period?  When the stakes are the very highest in the sport, it shouldn't end on a gimmicky outcome.  If that's me being an Ugly American, so be it.

I found myself watching more of the World Cup than I anticipated, certainly more than I ever have before, and enjoying it more than anticipated.  First, it was following the USA team, then the other elite national teams as they wended through the knockout rounds, and of course, the build up to the Messi-Mbappe confrontation made the whole thing must viewing.  Weekday games in the mornings and afternoons made for ideal viewing for this retiree, and being able to bet on the games via my FanDuel app only added to the interest levels.

Watching the tournament being staged in a nation such as Qatar, with its horrible human rights record and its blatant attempt to "sports wash" it all away, and knowing the overall corruption of FIFA did make one feel a little queasy at times.  The thrill of the competition and the skill of the athletes can make you forget all of that, but the overall stink of this backstory does stay with you.  This was best summarized by John Feinstein of the Washington Post in this column from today.

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Back here in the USA, the NFL concluded Week 15, so let's take a look at the GPR as it stands today. 

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1. Eagles 13-1
2. Bills 11-3
3. Chiefs 11-3
4. Bengals 10-4

Knocking at the door (alphabetically)....49'ers 10-4, Cowboys 10-4, Dolphins 8-3, Jaguars 6-8, Lions 7-7, Vikings 11-3.

Yes, I have included a 6-8 and a 7-7 team in here.  Sounds crazy, but if your favorite team was in the playoffs, would YOU like to see them playing the Lions right now?  Or Trevor Lawrence?  

The final three weeks will be fun as these playoff scenarios play themselves out.

Reviews: "The Fabelmans" and "The Crown"

Before getting to the normal business of this Blog - sports, movie, TV, and book reviews, and obituaries - I need to acknowledge one very important and very personal event that took place one week ago today, on December 3, 2022:

Yep, Linda and I made it official and got married.  There is great joy in our lives.

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Okay, on to the usual business.  It has been awhile since I've offered any reviews for you, so here are two of them.

No movie of 2022 has received as much acclaim and Oscar buzz than Steven Spielberg's "The Fabelmans".  This is a not-at-all disguised biographical piece based on Spielberg's own life as a young kid growing up in Arizona, and being captivated by the movies and the art of making movies as a pre-pubescent child and teenager.  Great artists, we learn, grow up just like real people do.  They go to school, they deal with bullies in school (virulent anti-semites in young Sam Fabelman's case), they have quirky families, they join the Boy Scouts, experience young love for the first time, and, in Spielberg's case, deal with the trauma of broken families.

Throughout it all we see young Sam's development as a film maker as he makes movies with his neighborhood buddies.  Many of the movies that Sam makes are, in fact, the very same movies that young Steven made in his teenaged years.   We have learned over the course of the last fifty years that no one can tell a story on film better that Steven Spielberg, and he tells his own story in just as wonderful a way as he told stories about war heroes, alien creatures, killer sharks, and Abe Lincoln.

This movie stars Michelle Williams and Paul Dano as Mr. and Mrs. Fableman and young Gabriel LaBelle as Sam.  There is also a small but significant appearance by Judd Hirsch.  Williams, I believe, is a lead pipe lock to secure a Best Actress Oscar nomination for this one.  She is terrific in it.

Three stars from The Grandstander.

Season 5 of Netflix' "The Crown" dropped a few months back, and we finally got around to watching it over the past two weeks.   Season 5 has given us a new cast of older actors playing the  main roles.  We now have Imelda Staunton, Jonathan Pryce, Dominic West, and Elizabeth Debicki playing Liz, Phil, Chuck, and Di, respectively.  This season focuses on the travails of the marriage, separation, and divorce of the Prince and Princess of Wales, so, yes, it is very soap opera-y, but a very high class and stylish soap.

Some observations:

• With the exception of the Queen herself, the Windsors are one batshit crazy family.
• Throughout the series, members of the Royal Family, Charles and Diana especially, are shown getting in their cars and driving all by themselves.  No driver, no security guy in the car with them, and no palace entourage following them.    Could this possibly be true?  Do Will and Kate drive around solo today?  (We know that Harry and Megan do when they need to make a run to the local Target in California.)
• Debicki is an absolute clone of Diana, right down to the doe-eyed upward look while her head is bowed downward.  
• One of the best critiques of the show was of Dominic West. "He's way too handsome to play Prince Charles."
• One episode depicted Princess Margaret rekindling her relationship with the true love of her life, Peter Townsend.  The actor playing Townsend looked familiar, but it wasn't until I saw the credits that I realized that it was one-time double-naught spy, Timothy Dalton.  Bond.  James Bond, himself.
• There was a scene in the last episode where Charles shows up, alone, of course, at Diana's place, where she too is alone, shortly after the finalization of the divorce.   They have one of those where-did-we-go-wrong conversations, she attempts to make him an omelet (must have been the cook's day off), screws it up, makes scrambled eggs instead, and they continue their heart-to-heart until Chuck storms off in huff.  It was an interesting scene, but I can't believe for a single moment that any conversation remotely resembling it ever actually happened.
• This season also depicted a warm grandmother/grandson relationship between Elizabeth and William.  I hope that that is true, but at the same time, I find it hard to imagine.
• History has painted Diana as a sympathetic figure, deservedly so, but if there is any truth at all to her depiction in "The Crown", she was as big a screwball as any of the other Windsors.

One more season remains for "The Crown".  I am wondering how forward into history it will go.  My guess is that Season 6 will end with Diana's death, but will they now include an epilog that will show the recent death of the Queen and Charles finally getting to wear The Crown?   We're going to have to wait until next year to find out.

Three Stars from The Grandstander.

Next up on the streaming circuit: Season Two of "The White Lotus".  We're only one episode in so far.