To Absent Friends - Bill Buckner

Bill Buckner

1949 - 2019

Bill Buckner played for 22 seasons in the major leagues.  He amassed over 2,700 hits, over 1,200 RBI, and scored over 1,000 runs.  He had a career batting average of .289 and won a batting title in 1980.  By any standard, Buckner had a career of great distinction, but guess what was in the first paragraph of every wire story and news outlet story of Buckner's death?

Yep, his error in the ninth inning of Game Six of the 1986 World Series that allowed the Mets to tie and then win that game and then win the World Series in Game Seven the next night.  Buckner came to terms with that error, and accepted it  as a sort of "shit happens" moment that can happen to any major league player.  He even teamed up with Mookie Wilson, the Met who hit that ground ball, in later years by selling signed copies of photos of that fateful play at card and memorabilia shows.  For sure he accepted it more readily than the Red Sox fans, who , in a classless manner typical of sports fans everywhere, excoriated him for years for that play.  

I can remember that when the Red Sox finally won a World Series in 2004, someone asked Buckner if he thought that Boston fans would now forgive him for that play in 1986.  I don't have the exact quote but Buckner said, in effect, "Forgive ME?  I never did anything that deserves forgiveness.  That's baseball."  As I said, not an exact quote, but you get the gist.  In the end, Bill Buckner was a classy guy.

Buckner died today at the age of 69, a victim of Lewy Body Dementia.  It scares the hell out of me when someone only two years older than me falls prey to such a terrible illness.

RIP Bill Buckner.

To Absent Friends - Bart Starr

Bart Starr

1934 - 2019

Listen up, kids (being defined in this case as pro football fans under the age of, say, 55 or so).  Before there was Tom Brady and the Patriots, before there was Joe Montana and the 49'ers, before there was Terry Bradshaw and the Steelers, there were the Green Bay Packers of Bart Starr and Head Coach Vince Lombardi, and this fact came home to me with the news of the death of Bart Starr today at the age of 85.   In my own life arc as a fan of pro football, those Packers were the first truly great team of my memory, and Starr was their quarterback, then, as now, the most important position on the field.

Starr came to the Packers in 1956 out of the University of Alabama, and spent his first year backing up at the quarterback position.  In 1959, Vince Lombardi became the Packers head coach, installed Starr as his starting quarterback, and a dynasty was born. 

 The QB and the Coach

In 1960, the Packers lost to the Eagles in the NFL Championship game.  It was Starr's first post-season game, and it would be the only one that he and his teams would ever lose.  There would be nine subsequent post season games for the the Starr/Lombardi Packers (no multiple playoff rounds back then).  The would win the NFL championship in 1961, 1962, and 1965.  They would then win the  "NFL-AFL World Championship" in 1966 and 1967.  That was before that game came to be known as the SUPER BOWL.  Those 1965-66-67 teams became the first, and to this day, the only team to win NFL Championships three seasons in a row.

Remember this play?:

The 1967 NFL title game.  The famous "Ice Bowl Game" in Green Bay on December 31, 1967.  Packers trailing the Cowboys 17-14 with :16 left in the game and no times out remaining, Starr, behind the block of Jerry Kramer, sneaks in for the game winning touchdown.  The Packers win 21-17 and earn a trip to the second NFL-AFL title game, now known as Super Bowl II.  If it is not the most famous play in the history of the NFL, it is surely among the Top Five of such plays.

Starr was a Hall of Fame quarterback on a team that was loaded with Hall of Famers.  He played on five NFL championship teams (only Brady has played on more), was NFL MVP in 1966, was selected to the Pro Bowl four times, was the MVP of both Super Bowls I and II, was the QB on the NFL's All-Decade team for the 1960's, and was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1977, his first year of eligibility.

Starr lived to age 85.  He had a good long run, and has earned his rest after struggling health wise these past few years.  I can only imagine the thoughts and feelings running through the minds of so many fans up in Titletown USA today.

RIP Bart Starr.

Hilton Head Island Sojourn

I will keep this short and sweet, but, if for no other reason than preserving the historical record for my own memory, I do want to mention the six day vacation that Marilyn and I took to Hilton Head Island, SC earlier this month.

Hilton Head is one of our favorite spots anywhere. This was the sixth time that we have visited this wonderful place over the years.  It continues to grow, but at the same time it remains delightfully unchanged, which means that we were able to visit once again some of our favorite places...Harbortown, Scott's Fish Market, Giuseppe's, The Salty Dog Cafe, and of course all of the ubiquitous shops - both high end and schlocky - that populate Hilton Head and other seaside resorts across the land.

I'm not going to give an extensive narrative here, but I will share some photos from what was a great trip at one of the great beach resort towns anywhere.  If you love the beach but have never been to Hilton Head, you need to put it on your Places To Go Bucket List.

The view from our room

Nothing beats the peace and 

quiet of an "adults only" pool!

Our hotel was right on the beach 

Morning walks

Went on a "dolphin watch cruise" 

and, yes, we saw dolphins!

 The pause that refreshes

Harbortown

"Stay Up With Hugo Best"

Hugo Best, age 68, is a late night TV talk show host - think Leno or Letterman - who is retiring (or was he pushed out?) from his TV gig after a twenty-five year run of his  mostly successful television show.

June Bloom, age 29, is a lowly writers' assistant  on the show who now finds herself out of a job.  She is also the first person narrator of the book.

After a party celebrating the end of the show, Hugo impulsively asks June to spend the upcoming Memorial Day weekend at his palatial home in Greenwich, CT. June just as impulsively accepts not knowing why she was invited, what will be expected of her, although she has her suspicions, or what the possible outcome of the visit might mean to her.

This novel was reviewed in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette a few weeks ago, and while it is not the usual type of book that I read, the review intrigued me enough to head on to the library and check it out.  I wish I could say that I loved the book and the story, but, alas, I found it to be a rather annoying story about a bunch of annoying people, and I found that for the last half of the book, I was reading it just so I could be done with it.  I was glad that it was only 265 pages long, although I will say that despite all of the annoying people, I did want to stick with it to see how it ended.

Oh, and speaking of annoying, wasn't it annoying that I used the word "annoying" three times in the last two sentences of the preceding paragraph? (That's a rhetorical question, folks.)  I did that deliberately, in case you were wondering.

In its defense, the book did have a few interesting insights into the character of both a show biz success/legend, Hugo, and that of a struggling barely-making-it-in-show-biz person, June.  But in the end, I found myself not really caring about either one of them.

One and One-Half Stars from The Grandstander.

"Dear Evan Hansen"

When we learned last year that Tony Winner "Dear Evan Hansen" would be a part of this season's Broadway in Pittsburgh series, we began listening to the music from this show and learning as much as we could about it.  The best  summation of it that I came across was this from the 2017 Tony Awards ceremony:  "A letter that was never meant to be seen generates a lie that was never meant to be told and leads to a life that a young man never dreamed he could have."

"Dear Evan Hansen" is about a lot of things.  It is about being teenagers who don't fit in and feel lost all the time.  It is about anxiety that can lead to the worst possible outcomes.  It is about parents who constantly worry about their children and struggle with their own issues, and it is about how families, friends, and acquaintances struggle with death and grief.  From our ten years of volunteering at the Caring Place and working with families who have experienced death and loss, we know that the emotions and experiences seen in this show are presented in very real terms.  It is a powerful and an almost emotionally overwhelming show.

The music and songs are wonderful: "You Will Be Found", "For Forever", "Waving Through A Window", "Words Fail", and "So Big/So Small" are among those that are so haunting and beautiful that they may well stay with you, well, "for forever".

Ben Levi Ross as Evan

It is a small cast, only six actors, that perform this show.  In the touring company, young Ben Levi Ross plays Evan, and he is on stage for almost the entire show.  It is a fabulous role.  Also noteworthy in this cast are Jessica Phillips as Evan's mother, Heidi,  and Christiane Noll as Cynthia Murphy, the mother of Connor, the young man who commits suicide (but still "appears" throughout the show).

Ross and Jessica Phillips

I mentioned earlier how we had been listening to the music from this show for several months, and knowing the music ahead of time certainly adds to the enjoyment of the play, but seeing the full show certainly added to the meaning, impact, and enjoyment of the music as well. 

Much of the audience at Heinz Hall on Tuesday consisted of young people, teen aged boys and girls, who were there with their parents.  You could almost see and feel the emotions that were being felt by those young families around us as they watched "Dear Evan Hansen."

This was not a "musical comedy" in the traditional sense, although there were humorous moments in it.  I would describe it as a "musical drama", if there is such a genre in the American musical theater.  It no doubt deserved its 2017 Tony for Best Musical.  It is a show that is well worth seeing, and I can certainly see why it is so popular with younger audiences.

Four Stars from The Grandstander.

********

This show wrapped up the 2018-19 Broadway in Pittsburgh season.  None of the shows disappointed us, and, indeed, a few of them were very pleasant surprises.  Herewith is a presentation of The Grandstander Theater Rankings (a variation of The Grandstander Power Rankings used during the past NFL season) for the Broadway In Pittsburgh season:

1. HAMILTON
2. COME FROM AWAY
3. DEAR EVAN HANSEN
4. FIDDLER ON THE ROOF
5. THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG
6. ANASTASIA
7. CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY

(If you are interested in what I had to say about each of these shows at the time I saw them, just type the name of the show in the search box that appears in the upper left corner of this screen.)

Any of the first four shows on this list are shows that I would happily and eagerly see again if ever given the opportunity.  We have already renewed out subscription for 2019-20 and are looking forward to seven more terrific nights in the theater next year.

Josh Bell On Fire

Before the baseball season goes any further, The Grandstander just has to stop and pay a brief tribute to Pirates first baseman Josh Bell.  

Here's is how 2019 has started for him:

Games - 43

At Bats - 162

BA - .333

Runs - 30

Home Runs - 14

RBI - 43

OPS - 1.106

It is unfair to say this about any young player, but he has been invoking memories of Willie Stargell this season.

Awesome. Wow!

"The Big Bang Theory" Ends (Contains Spoilers)

This post contains spoilers pertaining to the final episodes of "The Big Bang Theory".  If you recorded the show, but have not yet seen it, you may want to pass on this post and come back to it after you have seen it.

The Final Scene

Once upon a time in television, shows were canceled or ended for various other reasons and that was that.  They just ended. No tying up loose ends, no happily ever after grand finales.  Somewhere along the way, that changed, and producers and networks felt that long running, popular series had to have some sort of Grand Finale, and this has produced decidedly mixed results.

The Mary Tyler Moore Show had an ironic and funny ending, the ending to Bob Newhart's second TV series was an undeniable classic, The Sopranos finale was ambiguous and unsatisfying, The Americans ended on a high note last year, and, of course, the ending to Seinfield was a complete and total disaster.

So it has been with mixed feelings that we have watched the final season of The Big Bang Theory and wondered just what the producers and writers were going to do with this one.

Well, I am happy to say that the two episode finale of TBBT was great, an almost perfect ending to a twelve year run (the longest running sitcom in television network history) of what has been a consistently funny and terrific series.  Sheldon and Amy won their Nobel Prize, Penny and Leonard were pregnant, we finally saw Howard's and Bernadette's kids, and in a scene that was a perfect piece of comic timing, the elevator finally got fixed!!  More importanly, Sheldon realized that he needed to stop being so self-centered and acknowledged that the love and friendships of those around him contributed to his success just as much, if not more, than his own undeniable brilliance.  It was a touching and very moving scene, and, yes, it was still funny.

And I hope that you also watched the episode of "Young Sheldon" that followed Big Bang's final episodes.  The ending of that was also quite touching, and it explained a lot about Sheldon's character that we have followed for the last twelve years and served as an additional emotional touch to the ending of The Big Bang Theory.  If you didn't see that episode try to find it On Demand and check it out, even if you have never watched Young Sheldon.

So ends a great series.  One good thing about it is that we will no doubt be able to see it forever in syndication and reruns.