Mental In-Box Time! A Little of This, A Little of That

Cleaning out the Mental In-Box on a Saturday morning.....

• I finally caught up with the Tom Cruise movie, "Jack Reacher", on DVD this week.  It's an okay movie, not great, not awful, but of all the movies filmed in the City of Pittsburgh in recent years, this one showcases Pittsburgh like no other.  The opening sequence over the titles alone is spectacular.
• Much ado was made over the selection of Cruise to play Reacher.  Too short, said the multitude of fans of the Lee Child novels.  I say, fuhgeddabout it!  Cruise may be a screwball in his personal life, but he is undeniably a good actor, so I thought he was fine in the role.
• That said, I am not reader of Child's Reacher novels.  I think I read one of them.  Perhaps I'd react the same way if the "wrong" actor was selected to play Lucas Davenport or Alex Delaware.
• Final note on Tom Cruise.  He is starting to look his age (he's 51).  Time to stop being the boyish charmer and look for more character roles.
• Through the magic of Facebook, I was able this week to see and catch up with an old grade school and high school buddy, Bill Tarrant.  I had literally not seen Bill since we graduated from Central over forty years ago, and it was terrific experience catching up. As you can see below, Bill (that's him in the middle) joined Jim Scuilli and me for a mini-reunion of St. Phil's Class of '65 and Central Class of '69.  Later that night, Bill and I took in the Pirates game and then closed the bar at the Priory Hotel on the North Side.  It was pretty cool day.

• Bill is a journalist for Reuters and has lived in Malaysia and Singapore for much of the past thirty or so years.  His is a fascinating story, but it is his story to tell and not mine, so I will leave it at that.  i will say though, that Bill is as up-to-date and current on the Pirates, Steelers, and all around Pittsburgh scene as anyone I know.
• While running through the TV clicker before going to bed last night, I happened upon the last two plus minutes of a football game between Kansas State and North Dakota State and figured, what the hell, I'd watch until the end, in which North Dakota State pulled off the big upset.  More to the point is that these two plus minutes of game time took about twenty-five minutes of real time to play.  During times out, Fox Sports 1 would jam in three or four commercials.  That, my friends, is how college conferences are signing multi-billion dollar TV deals.
• By all accounts, Robert Griffin III seems to be a decent guy, and he is undeniably charismatic.  That said, this little pissing contest he seems to be conducting with Coach Mike Shanahan is really getting tiresome.  One of the many life lessons taught to me by my Dad is that "everybody has a boss", and RG III hasn't seemed to grasp that. Unfortunately, in the world of sports, it is the "boss" that usually loses in these things.
• Not that Mike Shananhan is an exceptionally sympathetic guy, you understand.
• The fact the Tim Tebow might be on the verge of being cut by New England, after failing in New York, makes that Steelers playoff loss to Denver two years ago all the more galling, doesn't it?
• The Pirates. Tied for first place with 28 games left to play.  This is what we have wanted for the last twenty years, right?  Win or lose, these games have been and will continue to be exciting, nerve wracking, heartbreaking, maddening, euphoric.  I wouldn't trade it for anything right about now.
• I have gone on record of declaring a moratorium on the Neal Huntington Bashing for obvious reasons (not the least being the trade he pulled off this week for Marlon Byrd and John Buck), but I did hear him on his radio show last week, and he still can come off as being terribly condescending to the Pirates fan base, also know as his PAYING CUSTOMERS.  Somebody in the Bucco PR office should give him some coaching.
• I took my own recent DVR Alert Advice and watched "The Wild Bunch" yesterday.  This 1969 western by director Sam Peckinpaugh was considered ground breaking when it was released, mainly because of it's amazingly realistic violence, and the stark and unromantic depiction of aging outlaws in the days when the "old west" were pretty much coming to a close.  It was all of that, to be sure, but to be honest, I wasn't all that crazy about the movie.  I wanted to see William Holden as one of the aging outlaw, and he didn't disappoint.  
• Two other observations about actors who were in "The Wild Bunch".  No actor could play "evil" as well as Ernest Borgnine, and no actor could play "loony" quite like Strother Martin.
• The $765 million settlement by the NFL upon the plaintiffs in the class action "concussion lawsuit" was, sadly, a tremendous victory for the NFL owners.  This comes out to little more than $150,000 per plaintiff, and it will be paid out over twenty years.  Pure chump change for the NFL, who will no doubt reward Czar Roger with a huge bonus and/or raise because of it.
• Still, I believe that this suit will continue to have far reaching effects that will change the game of football as we know it.  It may not happen for twenty or thirty years, but I think one day the game will be a fundamentally changed one than the one we know today.
• A lawyer friend of mine has postulated that sooner or later some lawyer is going to win some major lawsuit against a school district over a serious football injury, and when that happens, school districts will be dropping football left and right.
• Still think it can't happen?  Consider that in the middle part of the 20th Century, pretty much in my lifetime, and certainly in my parents' lifetime, perhaps the biggest sport in America, after baseball, was boxing, which is pretty much a niche sport today.
• OK, all that said, call me a hypocrite, but I am looking forward to the start of football, real football and not practice games, this weekend.  Some college games on the menu today, and I will be at Heinz Field on Monday for Pitt's Inaugural Game in the ACC.  Can't wait.
• The NFL starts next week, and I will reveal The Grandstander's thoughts on what lies ahead for the Steelers by mid-week.

Enjoy the Long Weekend, everybody!!

Texas A&M Comes Down On Johnny Football

By now, I am sure you have heard, if you are at all interested in the topic, that Texas A&M, and by extension, I suppose, the NCAA, has come down hard on Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel for his alleged transgressions (he was accused of accepting payments, actual cash money, for selling his autograph on pictures, jerseys, helmets and such memorabilia).

Manziel, of course, has denied the allegations, but that cut no ice with the A&M administration, who has suspended their QB for the first half of the first game of the year. Yep, you read that right, the first half of the first game, which happens to be against cupcake Rice University this Saturday.  What would have been the penalty had the Aggies been opening against, say, Alabama or Georgia?  I'm thinking he would have had to stay in the locker room while the National Anthem was being played.

The best part of University's reasoning was that Manziel was being punished for "trading in on his name and fame".  This is from the University that is no doubt selling plenty of "Manziel" replica jerseys in the campus book stores.  

As for the NCAA, they are so upset about this, I am sure that they are looking for some poor schmuck who plays for Eastern Kentucky or Praireview A&M who allowed a stranger to buy him a Big Mac so they can put that school on probation.  Reminds me of the line that has been attributed to Jerry Tarkanian - "The NCAA was so mad at UCLA for their rules violations that they gave Cleveland State two additional years probation."

A few weeks back I mentioned that Johnny Manziel himself was on my "watch list" to receive a Grandstander H.A. Citation.  Now, Texas A&M and the entire NCAA are on that same watch list.

Talk about something reeking of hypocrisy.

The Voice of the Pirates

Let's talk about Pittsburgh Pirates play-by-play announcers.  Most long time - and by that I mean "old" - Bucco fans are near unanimous as to who is their all-time favorite Pirate broadcaster.

He's a guy who is an unabashed Pirates fan.  He makes no pretense about being objective in his broadcasts.  He wears his heart on his sleeve where the Pirates are concerned, and if you turn on the radio in the middle of a game, you know within 15 seconds as to whether or not the Pirates are winning or losing without being told the score.  He also has a million and one little catchphrases that he sprinkles in throughout his broadcasts, and many of those phrases become part of the everyday vernacular of Pirates fans everywhere.

I'm talking about Bob Prince, right?

Well, no, I am NOT talking about the legendary Gunner, although what I said above certainly can and does apply to him.  Actually, I am talking about the current Voice of the Pirates, Greg Brown.

Think about it.  You may criticize Brown for being a cheerleader in the booth, but is he any more so than was Prince?  And is "trip-trip-triple" that much different from "bloop-and-a-blast"? How about "Clear the deck, cannonball coming" from "kiss it good-bye"? And best of all, "Raise the Jolly Roger" from "we had 'em all the way"?  I don't think so. Near as I see it, the only difference is that Brown doesn't wear garish sport coats.

It mystifies me that people who wax poetic over the glory days of Bob Prince, who has been dead for thirty years now, God rest his soul, can be critical of Greg Brown.

Pirate Chat Night at PNC Park

Readers may recall me mentioning that I belong to a Chat Group on Facebook called Pirate Chat.  Started by friend Jim Haller in the Spring of 2012 with modest expectations, Pirate Chat has grown to over 300 members and many consider it one of the best forums to discuss our favorite team - pros and cons - for twelve months of the year.  Last night, Pirate Chat took another step in its growth and twenty members ventured out from behind the computer screens and mobile devices to PNC Park for what we hope was the First Annual Pirate Chat Night.  Len Martin contributed to the fun of the event by coming up with the idea for t-shirts to celebrate the event as well.  

It was a fun night, and one of the neatest comments came from Pat Connell who said that given the convivial nature of the group, last night would have even been a perfect night for a rain delay!

Here are some scenes of our night out, including the pre-game gathering at Dominic's.....

Okay, to those Pirate Chat members reading this, a few questions.  Call it preliminary market research for Pirate Chat Night 2014.

1. Do we want to do this again in 2014?
2. Should we do this earlier in the season next year, say, prior to the All-Star Break, or should we stick to a mid to late August date?
3. Would you prefer a week end game, or do we keep it on a week night, or does it not matter?  Keep in mind that it is much more difficult to arrange to secure a block of group tickets for Friday and Saturday dates, and I suspect that it may be even more difficult to do so next season.
4. If you were unable to attend this season for whatever reason, would you plan on attending such a group night event in 2014? (Understand that this is not a firm commitment. The ability to attend such a game on any given night is, of course, subject to any number of variables in our own personal schedules.)

We sold 21 tickets for this event last night.  Wouldn't it be great to at least double that number for next season?

To Absent Friends: Ted Post

OK, before I read the paper this morning, the name Ted Post meant nothing to me, either, but, as I have often said, the news obits can be the most interesting part of the newspaper. Turns out that Mr. Post, who passed away recently at the age of 95, was a movie director of some minor note, having directed about a dozen or so feature films, the most noteworthy being Clint Eastwood's "Hang 'em High" and "Magnum Force", but it turns out that he really made his bones in show biz by directing hundreds - yes, I said HUNDREDS - of episodes of series television including such shows as Gunsmoke, Rawhide, Peyton Place, Twilight Zone and many, many more.

So chances are at some point in each of our lives, we had been exposed to the work of Ted Post and were never aware of it.

Don't know about you, but stuff like that fascinates me.

RIP Ted Post.

"The Company You Keep"

I hit the Redbox at Giant Eagle yesterday and rented a pretty damn good movie, "The Company You Keep", that I don't remember getting a whole lot of play when it was released in theaters earlier this year.  

The movie was directed by and stars Robert Redford who plays a single father with a private law practice in Albany, NY.  Turns out, however that he is really  former member of the 1960's radical Weathermen group who has been wanted for bank robbery and murder by the FBI for over thirty years.  A reporter for the Albany paper, played by Shia LeBeouf (and just how did he come up with that name) uncovers Redford's secret past and the manhunt begins.

While this is a fictional story, it does have some basis in truth since you often hear of such folks being discovered or turning themselves in after living 30 and 40 years past the date of their crimes, and those stories always fascinate me, and this movie does as well.

A terrific cast that includes Susan Sarandon, Julie Christie, Sam Elliott, Nick Nolte, and Stanley Tucci make this a movie worth seeing.

Robert Redford, by the way is now 77 years old - and how he happens to have an eleven year old daughter is explained in the movie - and I salute him for not undergoing the ravages of horrifying plastic surgery to which so many of his show biz peers have succumbed, although I do suspect that he does dye his hair.  He can best be described as "craggy", and for that he is to be applauded.

Movie Review: "Blue Jasmine"

In a movie summer filled with post-apocalyptic tales of planet earth, sieges upon the White House, and comic book super heroes, it has been a pleasure to view in recent days two movies for adults (as opposed the "adult movies", which are completely different things).  Last week it was "Lee Daniels' The Butler", which I noted in the paper this morning led all movies in box office receipts for the second week in a row, and this past weekend was the new Woody Allen movie, "Blue Jasmine".

"Blue Jasmine" revolves around the life of Jasmine, a woman who has recently fallen from the top of the financial and social world because her husband, has been sent to jail for shady financial dealings (think Bernie Madoff).  Stripped of her wealth and social standing, Jasmine moves across the country to San Francisco to live with her sister, Ginger.  Ginger is divorced with two children who lives a day to day, paycheck to paycheck existence, thanks in large part to the shady dealings of Jasmine's husband.  How Jasmine "adapts" to her new life is what the movie is all about.

This is a drama from Woody Allen, not a comedy, although there are some laughs in it.  I predict a surefire Best Actress nomination for Cate Blanchett as Jasmine, and she really is terrific in the role.  Sally Hawkins, who plays Ginger, should also receive consideration for Best Supporting Actress as well. Alec Baldwin plays Jasmine's husband and is quite good.  And remember Andrew Dice Clay, the foul mouthed comedian who had fifteen or twenty minutes of fame in the early nineties?  Well, he is in this movie as well, playing Ginger's ex-husband and is surprisingly - to me, anyway - good in the role.  He is particularly effective in a scene he has with Jasmine towards the end of the movie.  

As is often the case in his more recent movies, Allen does not appear in "Blue Jasmine" nor is there a "Woody Allen character" in this one, but as a screenwriter and a director, the 77 year old Woodman has lost nothing off of his fastball.  I hope that Oscar consideration is given him for this movie, even though everyone knows he will not show up on Awards night.

The Post-Gazette gave this four stars in it's review, and I do not disagree.  Very good movie.