Graceland

Two weeks ago in this space I wrote of our trip earlier this month to Tennessee, and I mentioned that some aspects of that trip deserved their own write-up, one of them being our visit to Graceland, the home of Elvis Presley, in Memphis, TN.

When we knew last year that we would be traveling to a wedding in Nashville this November, then tacking on a few extra days to drive to Memphis and see this site was a no-brainer.  This was something that had long been on our Bucket List, and once we got there and toured the place, we can honestly say that it completely exceeded all of our expectations.

When you arrive at Graceland, what you actually arrive at  is the Graceland Visitors Center, which is across the street, the aptly named Elvis Presley Boulevard, from the house itself.  (More on the Visitors Center later.)  It is there that you pick up your tickets (we had purchased ours in advance on line), and board a tour van that drives you across the street and on to the grounds.  One does not just walk through the famous gates and up to the door of Graceland.  You are given an iPad with headphones, and that becomes your "tour guide" to the house and grounds.  Actor John Stamos narrates the video on the iPad that you are seeing which guides you throughout the place.  It is very well done.

While Graceland is a very nice home, the house is actually smaller than you might think.  The decorations that were in place in 1977 are maintained, and let's just say that Elvis' ideas of home decor may not quite agree with yours or mine.

Nice wall and ceiling coverings in the Billiard Room!

The famous Jungle Room.

And some nice portraits on display:

The second floor of the house is closed off to the public, so the Tour takes you only through the first floor.  You then go outside of the house to various additions and out buildings, and these have been turned into a true museum to Elvis.  You also see a child's swing set, circa 1970 or so, that was Lisa Marie's.  It was kind of a touching thing to see, really.

Elvis also had a racquetball court built at Graceland that included this living/seating area:

It was in this room, you are told, that Elvis, on August 16, 1977,after a morning out with friends, came into this room sat at the piano, sang a couple go songs, including "Unchained Melody", and then retired to his room to rest, and it was there that he died.  It was rather moving.

Of course, it is no longer a racquetball court, as the space is now devoted to more of a display of Elvis artifacts and memorabilia.  

The Tour concludes in the Meditation Gardens, where Elvis is buried along with his parents and grandmother.

Again, it may appear to be a bit over the top, but in context, it is a touching and respectful area.

Going into the place, Marilyn and I were expecting a very high degree of Tackiness at Graceland, and I must say that, Elvis' interior decorations aside, we did not see that.  However, when you went through  the Visitor's Center upon your return from Graceland itself, that Tacky Factor manifests itself.  No less than fourteen separate gift shops where you can buy just about anything with the image of Elvis Presley upon it.  Capitalism at work, not to mention the laws of supply and demand, and, yes, in case you are wondering, we dropped a few bucks throughout the place.

Not all of the Visitors Center was tacky, though.  One place was called the Elvis Archives, and it was showcase of the efforts of museum professionals to catalogue, archive, preserve, and display all of the "stuff" accumulated over the life and career of Elvis Presley.  That was fascinating to see.   And everyplace you go throughout the Visitor's Center is playing Elvis Presley music, and this is certainly not a bad thing.

The Visitors Center also has Elvis' two airplanes on display, which were pretty cool to walk through.

There were a lot of people at Graceland on this Thursday morning in November,  but we can't say that it was crowded, which was good for us, because it afforded us a more leisurely tour of the place.  We cannot imagine what it must be like in the Summer at the height of the vacation and tourism season.   Obviously, Graceland is one of the largest tourist attractions in the State of Tennessee and the United States, and we, Marilyn and I, cannot recommend it highly enough.  

Adios, Fidel

TRIVIA ANSWER:  Dwight Eisenhower, Jack Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama.

TRIVIA QUESTION: How many US Presidents were outlasted by Fidel Castro of Cuba? Okay, technically, President Obama has outlasted Castro, but you get the idea.  I was playing golf once when the subject of Fidel Castro came up (don't ask), and my buddy said, "Who was President when he took over in Cuba, Abe Lincoln?"  It only seemed that way.

Yesterday morning when we heard the news that Fidel Castro had gone to that big sugar cane field in the sky, Marilyn said to me "You're surely not going to do an 'Absent Friend' write up on Castro, are you?"  Well, in no way can we consider Castro a Friend, but how can you not recognize the passing of one of the towering figures of the latter half of the twentieth century?  

He triggered one of the seminal events of the last century, the Cuban Missile Crisis.  His legacy still plays a major role in American politics and, most definitely in the state of Florida. In a far less important sense, his policies had a huge effect on Major League Baseball, and the Olympic Games, and his revolution played a key role in "The Godfather Part II". 

Can't say that he will be missed.

If only the Washington Senators would have offered him a contract (probably an apocryphal story) way back when, who knows what might have happened.

76-61

In a Facebook post today, friend Dave Finoli posted that "One of the true joys of attending a sporting event is that you just never know what you might see when you do."  Never has that statement been more true than in reference to yesterday's Pitt -Syracuse football game, won by Pitt by a score of - and you are reading this correctly - 76-61.

So much went on in this game and at such a dizzying pace, that you really can't even remember all of the dazzling plays that unfolded before you on the Heinz Field gridiron yesterday.  Just some highlights.....

• 1,312 yards of total offense between both teams
• Twenty touchdowns
• Seven touchdown plays of 35 yards or more
• A Pitt DB scoring a TD on a thirty yard interception return.  It was the one and only significant defensive play of the entire game by either team.
• A WR for Syracuse catching five TD passes.
• Syracuse's back-up quarterback passed for 440 yards, threw five TD passes and scored two other TD's rushing.
• Kicker Chris Blewitt set a Pitt record by making ten PAT's in the game.  I am guessing that that is a record that will stand for a long, long time.
• On two consecutive offensive plays in the second quarter, Pitt scored on sweeps running around right end.  One went for 66 yards, the other for 77 yards.
• Early in the third quarter, Pitt established a 28 point lead.  They never lost that lead, but Syracuse kept coming back and scoring.  The game was in doubt pretty much until the last minute and half, when the Orange failed, for the third time in the game, to recover an onside kick.
• Pitt, a twenty-four point favorite, scored 76 points and failed to cover the spread.

Purists will no doubt rail about the complete and total crumminess of the defenses of both teams, and they would be correct, but, what the hell, that was one wildly entertaining football game yesterday.

A little piece of advice when you watch whatever Bowl Game Pitt ends up playing:  Do not leave the TV set unless the game is in a commercial break, because you just never know  what that Panther Offense might generate, or what the Pitt Defense might allow, if you turn your head for even a moment.

Thanks to Pat Narduzzi, James Conner, Nate Peterman, Quadree Henderson and the entire Pitt Panther team for giving us an exciting and entertaining season.  I was not shortchanged by a single penny of any of the money spent for my season tickets in 2016.

H2P!

Catching Up On Absent Friends

The Absent Friends are coming fast and furious of late, so several folks will be sharing this post today.

Earlier this week the baseball world lost Ralph Branca (1926-2016) at the age of 90.  Branca had a twelve year career in the motor leagues, most spent with the Brooklyn Dodgers, rolled up a record of 88-68 with a 3.79 ERA.  His best year was in 1947 when he was 21-12 with a 2.67 ERA, and he played in two World Series. None of that, though is how Branca has been and always will be remembered.  Do I really have to tell you WHY he is immortal?  In Game Three of the 1951 tie-breaker playoff to determine the National League pennant winner, it was Branca who served up the bottom of the ninth home run to the Giants' Bobby Thomson.  It was "the shot heard 'round the world", and remains to this day, (sorry Pirates fans) the single most famous home run in baseball history.

Branca didn't take it well, but he came to accept his moment of infamy, and in later years, he joined with Thomson in peddling his autograph, so he did cash in on it to some degree.

That's Branca on the right making the long trek to the Polo Grounds club house as the Giants celebrate.

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Today we learned of the death of Florence Henderson at the age of 82.  A Broadway musical theater actress by trade, Henderson became a television star, and will be forever remembered as Carol Brady in the 1970's sitcom, "The Brady Bunch".  The show ran from 1969 to 1974, and it will no doubt continue to run forever on the "Classic TV" cable stations.  Henderson continued to act in such shows as "Love Boat", "Fantasy Island", talk and variety shows, even "Dancing With the Stars", but she was always Mrs. Brady, and she certainly wore that well.

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I

Ann Rule

1931-2015

It was while reading something else earlier this week, when I learned that true crime author Ann Rule had died in July 2015, and I completely missed i at the time.  However, in my mind, she is an Absent Friend worth noting.  If you are someone who loves to read True Crime books, you are no doubt familiar with Ann Rule.

Her breakthrough book was "The Stranger Beside Me" that was published in 1980, about serial killer Ted Bundy.  She would go on to write dozens of other such books. My own personal favorite was "And Never Let Her Go" (1999).  I also once met Ann Rule at a book signing at the Mystery Lovers Book Store in Oakmont, and she discussed her latest book and did a Q&A session afterward.

All her books are out there, folks.  Go to the library, bookstore, or Amazon if true crime is a genre that interests you.  No one did it better than Ann Rule.

RIP Ralph Branca, Florence Henderson, and Ann Rule.

James Conner

The Pitt football game against Syracuse this coming Saturday will probably be the final regular season game for Pitt running back James Conner.  Conner is a junior with one season of eligibility remaining, but he will no doubt opt to enter the NFL draft in the Spring and begin his pursuit of a professional career.

Chances are, if you are reading this, you already know Conner's story....leading rusher for Pitt as a freshman in 2013....ACC Player of the Year in 2014....season ending injury in opening game of 2015....diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma in November, 2015.....underwent rigorous chemotherapy....returned to play by the season opener in 2016.  So far, he has gained 945 yards on the ground, 254 yards as receiver, and has scored 17 touchdowns in this season.  This past weekend he established an Atlantic Coast Conference record for career rushing TD's and total TD's, and while football in the ACC might not be what football in the Big Ten or SEC is, that league has been playing football for over seventy years, so that is one major accomplishment for Conner.

Yet the football accomplishments are not even half the story for Conner.  His story as a cancer survivor has become an inspirational one for people throughout the country.  And the best part is that James Conner seems to be a genuinely good person and nice kid.  For sure, it has been a pleasure to watch him over the course of his career and, especially, in this, his comeback year.

I pay little attention to and care even less about the Heisman Trophy Award ever since it was co-opted by ESPN and Nissan a decade or so ago.  ESPN decides before the season who the four or five candidates will be for the award and hypes them endlessly and exclusively, so who cares?  However, if the Award wants to really mean what it is supposed to mean, that it should go to a great player who, not incidentally, has great character and is truly inspirational, then James Conner should be awarded that Trophy this year.  Won't happen, but it should, but James Conner won't need a Heisman Trophy to validate what he has meant to Pitt football, and thousands of people across the country who have been inspired by his story.

(And on the subject of Awards, Conner is surely on the short list for Dapper Dan Man of the Year in Pittsburgh this year.)

We will say good-bye to Conner at Heinz field on Saturday.  It will be a bittersweet moment, to be sure.

To Absent Friends - Robert "Keith" Manherz

To most, if not all Pittsburghers, the name of Robert Keith Manherz meant nothing to me, but in reading his obituary in the Post-Gazette this morning, his work is something that is most familiar to generations of Pittsburghers.

Mr. Manherz, who died in Florida earlier this month at the age of 99, was working as an art director for the Pittsburgh Advertising Company, and it was in that position that back in 1953, he designed the large Christmas Tree that adorned the corner of the entire Joseph Horne Department Store at the corner of Penn and Liberty Avenues.

I mean, honestly, what Pittsburgh native is not familiar with this?  When you see something like this, does it even occur to you that SOMEONE had to come up with the idea and design for it?  Well, in this case, that someone was Keith Manherz.

When my employer, Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, purchased the Horne's building and converted it to an office building in the 1990's, one of the first decisions that the Higher Ups made was that they would continue to decorate the side of the building, now called Penn Avenue Place, with that famous Christmas Tree.  I was really proud of the fact that Highmark chose to continue this tradition.  Of course, now it's called the "Unity Tree" (C'mon Man!), but does anyone in in Pittsburgh call it anything but the "Horne's Tree"?

The obituary noted that Mr. Manherz was responsible for any number of large outdoor ads that appeared on the Pittsburgh landscape down through the years, yet his children quoted in the obit paint a picture of pretty humble guy who was just doing his job.  Not many people  will ever achieve such anonymous immortality that is such an ingrained part of a City's culture.

RIP Keith Manherz.

Hanging Up the Spikes

Buried deep in the sports pages earlier this week was the news that Joel Hanrahan, a baseball free agent since March of 2015, had announced that he was formally retiring from baseball.  Hanrahan pitched for parts of seven seasons in the majors, compiling a record of 22-18, 3.85 ERA, and recorded 100 saves.  He earned over $13 million in his career, but if ever a guy defines the concept of going out not with a bang but a whimper, it's Hanrahan.

The best part of his career, of course, was spent with the Pittsburgh Pirates.  Acquired in a trade from Washington in June 2009, Hanrahan pitched out of the Bucs' bullpen through the 2012 season.  While with the Pirates he was a lights out relief pitcher.  He appeared in 238 games, went 10-8 with a 2.59 ERA and recorded 82 saves.  In 2010, on a genuinely terrible team that lost 105 games, Hanrahan went 4-1, 3.62 with 27 saves.   He was a two time All-Star, and he was electrifying to watch, often hitting 99 and even 100 MPH with his pitches.  The "Hammer Time" video that played on the PNC Park jumbotron when he came into a game gave you goosebumps.

He was traded to Boston after the 2012 season, and things went downhill for him soon after.  He pitched in only nine games for the Red Sox, recording four saves, before having to undergo Tommy John surgery.  He never pitched again in the major leagues.  In attempting a comeback with the Tigers in 2014, he had to have Tommy John surgery a second time, and that was pretty much all she wrote.

We are oft times critical of professional athletes.  They're too pampered, make too much money, and have too big a sense of entitlement, but they are also living in a profession that can be fragile and can end in an instant, as it pretty much did with Joel Hanrahan.  For a brief moment in time, though, no player served the Pirates in their tenure with the team as well as Hanrahan did when he was here.  

Here's wishing him a happy post-baseball life.