To Absent Friends - Sean Connery

 

Sean Connery

1930 - 2020

In what has become a depressingly common theme for the year 2020, another Giant in His Field has left us with the death of Scottish actor Sean Connery at the age of 90.

Connery has had a long and distinguished acting career.  It includes 94 credits on IMDB, and stretches back to 1954.  He received his big break as an actor when he appeared in the title role of Rod Serling's "Requiem For A Heavyweight" in a 1957 BBC television production.  At another point in 1957, he also has a role as a "Porter" on an episode of "The Jack Benny Program!  (That is going to merit a YouTube search later today.)  But of course, his huge international breakout came in 1962 when he played the role of British spy James Bond, 007,  in the movie "Dr. No."  His obituary in the Washington Post tells us that the producers considered better known actors such as Richard Burton and Michael Redgrave for the role of Bond, but they were working with a very limited budget so they went with Connery because, among other attributes, he came cheap.  He was paid $16,500 his first time for the role that made him famous.

"Bond. James Bond."

"A martini. Shaken, not stirred."

Connery would make five James Bond movies from 1962 to 1967 before he quit the franchise.  He didn't want to become typecast, and he said that he would never play the character again.  Well, he DIDN'T become typecast, but he DID reprise the role once again in 1983's "Never Say Never Again."  Clever play on words by the producers for that title, don't you think?

A ton of stuff about Connery and his death has already been written and is available today on the Internet.  Great write-ups that will detail his career and legacy far better than The Grandstander can, so I will simply end this with a list of my own favorite Sean Connery films.  Purely personal opinions here, but any one of these are worth seeking out and watching.

• The Anderson Tapes (1971)
• Murder On The Orient Express (1974)
• The Great Train Robbery (1978)
• The Untouchables (1987)
• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
• Hunt for Red October (1990)
• Finding Forrester (2000)

Connery won his one and only Oscar for his role in "The Untouchables."

RIP Sean Connery

With Dyan Cannon

"The Anderson Tapes"

With Lesley-Anne Down

"The Great Train robbery"

With Harrison Ford

"Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade"

With Andy Garcia, Kevin Costner, 

and Charles Martin Smith

"The Untouchables"

To Absent Friends - Herb Adderly

Herb Adderly

1939 - 2020

Running with one of his 

48 career interceptions

Pro Football Hall of Fame member Herb Adderly died today at the age of 81.   Adderly played for 12 seasons in the NFL, nine of them with one of the more glamorous and important teams in League history, the Lombardi-era Green Bay Packers.   He was member of the first two Super Bowl winning teams (before it was known as the "Super Bowl"), and he played in two more Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys.   In all, Herb Adderly played on three Super Bowl winning teams.

To be honest, when I saw the news of Adderly's death, I pondered as to whether or not to write about it here, but I figured that as a part of Lombardi's Packers, he deserved such recognition.  

So, RIP Herb Adderly.

However, in researching some facts and figures for Adderly, I was led down an Internet rabbit hole.  How many of those Packers are enshrined in the Hall of Fame?  The answer is thirteen, and here they are, alphabetically:

Herb Adderly

Willie Davis

Forrest Gregg

Paul Hornung

Henry Jordan

Jerry Kramer

Vince Lombardi

Ray Nitschke

Jim Ringo

Dave Robinson

Bart Starr

Jim Taylor

Willie Wood

Compiling that list led me down yet another Internet rabbit hole.  How many 1970's Super Steelers-era are in the Hall of Fame?  The answer is also thirteen:

Mel Blount

Terry Bradshaw

Joe Greene

Jack Ham

Franco Harris

Jack Lambert

Chuck Noll

Art Rooney

Dan Rooney

Donnie Shell

John Stallworth

Lynn Swann

Mike Webster

Of course, Art Rooney was in the HOF long before the 1970's, but I'm putting him on the list anyway.  

Interesting stuff.

"Squeeze Me" by Carl Hiaasen

 

Friends and readers know that I have long been a fan of author Carl Hiaasen.  He is a newspaperman in Florida, and has become a full-time novelist, writing over a dozen comic crime novels that take place in the State of Florida.  Beneath the crazy crimes and criminals that he describes, and the comic elements involved with them, Hiaasen has also described the ecological devastation in his home state as a result of over-development and climate change.  He delivers a message in each of his stories that needs to be noted.

His latest newly released novel is "Squeeze Me."  The story revolves around Angie Armstrong, a "critter control" specialist in Palm Beach and West Palm Beach, Florida.  It seems that a non-native Burmese python, has found its way onto the grounds of a swanky estate where a swanky charity ball is being held.  Angie is called in to see that the snake is removed.  But what is that huge lump in the middle of the snake's body,  and is it somehow connected to the disappearance of an elderly, wealthy, and petite dowager, Kiki Pew, who was in attendance at the event?

(The invasion of Burmese pythons, non-native to North America, into the Florida Everglades is a real phenomenon.  Hiaasen explains how this has happened, and the devastation this is causing native Florida species.  The creatures are reproducing at a rate that has far exceeded the abilities of wildlife experts in trying to eliminate them from the region.) 

The crime, if it really was a crime, is described in typical Hiaasen fashion, and if you are a fan like me, you will love it.  Lots of laugh out loud moments.  What the book really is though is Hiaasen's take on West Palm's most famous resident, the Current Occupant of the White House.  In "Squeeze Me", the President and First Lady are never mentioned by name, only by the code names given to them by the Secret Service, Mastodon and Mockingbird.

A passage from pages 53-54:

The President's Secret Service code name was "Mastodon."  He loved it.

"Perfect!" he'd boomed when he was told.  "Fearless, smart, and tough."

And enormous, she'd (the First Lady) said to herself.  Don't forget f**king enormous.

On his second day in the White House, the President had ordered his chief of staff to arrange a trip to the National Zoo for a close-up look at a real mastodon.  The chief of staff wasn't brave enough to tell the President the truth, so he cooked up a story that the Zoo's beloved mastodon herd was on loan to a wildlife park in Christchurch, New Zealand.  The President scowled, muttered something about "those snotty Kiwis," and soon gotten sidetracked by another daft notion.

It goes on from there, and it's quite the portrait of the President.  In fact, it may tell a better story about the guy and his Presidency than many of the weighty historical tomes that are sure to be written in the years to come.  I don't think I need say that if you are a fan and supporter of the COOTWH, you should probably skip reading this one.

"Squeeze Me" has all the elements of a Carl Hiaasen novel, including an appearance by Skink, a character who has not made an appearance in one of these books for awhile now.  If you've read the previous novels, you know the guy I am talking about.

Four Stars from The Grandstander.

Hiaasen dedicates this novel "In memory of my brother Rob."  Rob Hiaasen was a journalist for The Capital Times, the newspaper serving Annapolis, MD.  In 2018, Rob Hiaasen and four other Times journalists were shot and killed when a shooter invaded the offices of the paper and opened fire. The gunman is in custody and awaits trial, two years after the fact.

Dodgers Win, and Will Kevin Cash Ever Live THIS down?

Right off the bat, CONGRATULATIONS to the Los Angeles Dodgers, 2020 World Series Champions.

Also, CONGRATULATIONS to Dodger pitcher Clayton Kershaw, one of the top two or three pitchers of his generation, but whose struggles over the  years in post-season play have been well documented, for shedding that particular monkey off of his back by going 2-0 in this World Series.  He can now call himself a World Series Champion.

And finally, CONGRATULATIONS to Major League Baseball and Commissioner Rob Manfred for pulling off a Major League season, albeit an abbreviated one, an expanded Playoff format, and being able to stage a World Series in this oh-so-weird year of 2020.  Back in June, and as late as early July, I would have bet you a month's mortgage payment that we would never see Major League Baseball in 2020, but they somehow managed to pull it off.

Now, as to the Series itself, and as to the question posed in the headline above, this one is going to be forever remembered as the one where Rays manager Kevin Cash, followed the dictates of the computer nerd data geeks of the Rays front office, and yanked a cruising Blake Snell with a 1-0 lead with one out in the sixth inning of Game Six, an elimination game for his team.  To recount for the record, Snell had been cruising through 5 and 1/3 innings: 73 pitches, 1 hit, no runs, 9 strike outs, including six K's of the Dodgers top three in the order (Mookie Betts, Corey Saeger, and Justin Turner), and only two balls hit out of the infield.  The second batter in the inning hits a soft single, and out pops Cash from the dugout, following the Rays' analytics algorithms, and removes Snell (a former Cy Young Award winner, it should also be noted).  Will Rays' fans (an oxymoron?) ever forget this scene?  I know sure as Hell that Blake Snell and his teammates never will....

What followed was as inevitable as it was predictable....a Betts double, a wild pitch to tie the game, a fielder's choice RBI by Saeger that allowed Betts to score from third that gave LA a 2-1 lead and, essentially, ended the World Series. The last nine outs by Tampa Bay were a mere formality.

What followed also was an interesting conversation by announcers Joe Buck and John Smotlz.  Smoltz made the case that managing by pure analytics over the course of a 162 game season is okay, and probably smart over the long grind of a normal baseball season, but in a short condensed series, which is what post-season baseball is all about, you simply CANNOT be a slave to the numbers, percentages, and probabilities.  You have to judge by seeing what your players are doing right NOW, right in front of you in the moment.  Buck said that managers now seem to be looking for every reason to take a guy OUT of a game, rather than seeing the reasons why a guy should stay IN a game.  They all but called Cash a complete dumb-shit for doing what he did, which he was, and it may very well have cost the Rays the opportunity to be playing in a Game Seven tonight.

Here's how Washington Post columnist Barry Svrluga described in in his column this morning:

This is the part of modern baseball that just, frankly, stinks. It is built on analysis and probability, and there’s nothing wrong with that — until it strips the human beings playing and running the game of the ability to make decisions based on what they feel, what they see. Any casual fan could see what Snell was working with, a pinpoint fastball and an absolute hammer of a curve. The Dodgers were befuddled.

FYI, here is the complete Svrluga column.  It's good reading:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/10/28/blake-snell-kevin-cash-world-series/

So, once again, congratulations to the Dodgers for winning, to the Rays for  winning the American League Pennant and making it an interesting Series, and to MLB for giving us a season in 2020.

Oh, and one final note: huge negative props for that Dodgers owner, whoever he is, for coming on stage to accept the World Series and reading a prepared speech that went about as long as campaign speech from the 45th President and was just about as irritating to sit through.  Nobody wants to hear from the Suits on occasions like this, pal.

Sports, A Movie, and a TV Show

A little bit of a smorgasbord this Monday.....

STEELERS 27 -TITANS 24

The Steelers steamrolled the 5-0 Titans in the first half yesterday and took a 24-7 lead into the locker room.  The Titans, who I once again remind you were also undefeated at the time, stormed back into the game, and only a wide right FG attempt at the end prevented the game from going into overtime.  Of course, the never satisfied members of Steelers Nation can only focus on how "they almost blew it."   People in the national media are not nearly as critical of Rooney U as are the yinzers of Pittsburgh.

The Steelers are 6-0.  They are the only undefeated team remaining in the NFL.  I'm happy.

Elsewhere in the NFL....

• The Buccaneers are now 5-2, and Tom Brady seems to be in his Golden Boy Groove.  Now the Bucs are bringing in the wide receiver whose Name Shall No Longer Be Mentioned.  I can't wait to see how THAT plays out.
• After starting 4-0 and talking Super Bowl possibilities and an MVP candidacy for Josh Allen, the Bills lost two games in a row, and managed to beat the crummy Jets yesterday 18-10 by kicking six field goals. Couldn't manage a TD against the worst team in the league.
• Nobody is more fun to watch than Patrick Mahomes.
• Man, do the Cowboys stink.

THE WORLD SERIES

The world Series currently has the Dodgers ahead of the Rays, 3 games to 2, and by all accounts the Series has been quite compelling.  Somehow, though, I have found myself to be disconnected to this Series.  I have yet to watch any of the games to a conclusion.  Instead, I give up after six innings or so and end up listening to the remainder of the games on the radio while in bed.  I guess that there is enough of the Old Geezer Factor in me that finds listening on the radio to be enjoyable.  And I do admit that after listening to that bizarre ninth inning of game four on the radio, I immediately jumped out of bed and switched on the bedroom television to check it out.

Rooting interest?  Does a ten dollar wager on the Rays at the outset of the Series tell you who I'm rooting for?  And no, even now, I'd be hard pressed to name more than a half-dozen or so the Rays' players.

"ON THE ROCKS"

The previews for Sophia Coppola's "On The Rocks" have been showing all over the place, so we checked it out on Apple TV+ this weekend.  Anything with Bill Murray is intriguing to Marilyn and I, and this one was no exception.  In this one, he plays a divorced, wealthy man about town who goes to the assistance of his daughter, played by Rashida Jones, who suspects that her husband might be straying on her.  Murray suggests that they trail her hubby to get to the bottom of what may or may not be going on.

It was interesting, but I expected more comic elements to it (which is what the trailers led you to believe).  Also, it was dark, not in tone, but dark, as in "not bright."  It was hard to make out some of the images as you were watching.  I spent much of the movie wondering if something was wrong with my TV set.

Bill Murray is always worth watching, but, still, only Two Stars from The Grandstander for this one.

"FARGO"

The fourth season of "Fargo" has aired six episodes thus far.  I have gotten through five episodes, and while I am enjoying it, it does not hold up quite so well when compared to the first three seasons of this FX series.

This one takes place in Kansas City in 1950 as the Italian  mob family that controls the KayCee underworld (after wresting control from the Irish Mob, who had wrested control from the Jewish Mob) struggles with the up and coming gang of African American mobsters.   The best part of this current iteration of the series is Chris Rock who plays Loy Cannon, head of the Black mob.  You're used to seeing Rock being funny, but he does a great turn in this dramatic role.

There are some quirky characters in this one, in the tradition of the Coen Brothers world of "Fargo", but that element seems somewhat forced this time around.  I'll stick with it to the end, though.

Two and One-Half Stars from The Grandstander.

"The Trial Of The Chicago 7"

We have all been denied many of life's simple pleasures as a result of the COVID19 pandemic, and one of the things that I have missed, really missed, has been going to the movies.  You know, sitting in a theater and seeing something made specifically to be seen on a big screen with an audience in a darkened theater.

Well, we still have yet to venture back into the movie theaters, but this morning I had the pleasure of watching an honest-to-God-made-for-theatrical-release movie on Netflix.  What a pleasure, and what a movie!

Names like Jerry Rubin, Abbie Hoffman, Tom Hayden, Bobby Seale, and William Kunstler may have receded into the recesses of history for many of us, and may be completely meaningless for people under, say, 60 years of age.  If so, then you really should watch "The Trial of The Chicago 7", written and directed by Aaron Sorkin.  It serves as a history lesson (insofar as we should construe movies as "history"), and it is also a compelling and entertaining courtroom drama of a movie.

In the summer of 1968, various elements of the counter-couture of the era converged on the City of Chicago to protest the war in Viet Nam during the Democratic National Convention taking place in that city.  Clashes ensued with the Chicago Police and the Illinois National Guard, and even within the ranks of the protesters themselves.  Political motivations of the new Nixon Administration, spearheaded by a vengeful Attorney General John Mitchell, who, in time, would be proven to be a rather unlawful guy himself, resulted in federal conspiracy charges against eight defendants and a trial in federal court in Chicago that can charitably be described as a circus, and that a subsequent federal appeals court ruled to be a sham.  One of those defendants, Black Panther Bobby Seale, was eventually separated from the charges of that particular trial, hence the moniker of Chicago 7.

It is a fabulous cast that includes Sacha Baron Cohen, Eddie Redmayne, and Jeremy Strong as Hoffman, Hayden, and Rubin.  Also great in the cast are Mark Rylance, as Kunstler, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Federal Prosecutor Richard Schultz, Frank Langella as the far from honorable Judge Julius Hoffman, and in a  brief appearance, Michael Keaton as former AG Ramsey Clark.  It is my understanding that "The Trial of the Chicago 7" has already appeared in a movie theater somewhere, which makes it eligible for the Academy Awards this year.  I have heard on some podcasts that there's some buzz to an acting nomination for Cohen and his depiction of Abbie Hoffman, and deservedly so, but, honestly, I could make a case for any number of the actors in this one, especially Redmayne, Langella, Rylance, and even Keaton for his very brief time on camera.   I would also venture that Sorkin is a cinch for a Best Screenplay nomination and maybe even a Best Director nod.

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Seale, Strong as Rubin, 

John Carroll Lynch as David Dellinger, 

Redmayne as Hayden, Cohen as Hoffman, Keaton as Clark

I would like to say that this movie is purely a historical work, but when one sees the operation of the Justice Department in recent years, the movie is, sadly, an all too real example of the old adage that "those who ignore history are condemned to repeat it." 

Go to whatever device you use to steam via the Netflix Machine and watch this movie.  I haven't seen many 2020 movies this year for reasons alluded to above, but "The Trial of The Chicago 7" has jumped to #1 on my list of Favorites for the Year. 

It gets the full Four Stars from The Grandstander.

The World Series Begins Tomorrow, but Before We Get To That....

Yes, what was once the premier event on the American Sports Calendar, the World Series, begins tomorrow, and I will address that, but first.....

How about that 38-7 ass-whipping that the Steelers laid on the CleveBrownies yesterday?

How Baker Mayfield spent most 

of his afternoon at Heinz Field

As you all know, this was highly anticipated match-up between the 4-0 Steelers and the 4-1 Browns, and it seemed that this would be the year when, finally, the Browns would be able to compete against the Steelers at Heinz Field.  However, when Minkah Fitzpatrick intercepted Baker Mayfield's first pass of the day and returned it for a touchdown and a 10-0 Steelers lead, it quickly became apparent that, for one day at least, the "storied rivalry" would be yet another rendition of the Steelers playing hammer to the Browns' nail.

I sure didn't see such a dominant performance by the Steelers coming, not sure anyone did, but Mike Tomlin and his staff sure had the team ready to go and made for a very, very hot "AFC North kitchen" for the Browns.  It was a smackdown of epic proportions, and it called to mind how great it always is to see the Steelers throttle the Browns.  The only negative to the day was the loss of Devin Bush for the season due to a torn ACL.  That's a big loss.

Next up: the 5-0 Steelers against the 5-0 Titans.  That should be fun!!

********

Now, for the World Series.

In a shortened season and a Playoff Jumble that seemed to include every team except the Pirates, MLB somehow managed to end up with a World Series that matches up the two teams that had the best records in their respective leagues, the Tampa Bay Rays and the Los Angeles Dodgers.  

The teams are a study in contrasts.  The Rays are run by smart people who, despite being handcuffed by the 28th lowest payroll in baseball, know how to draft good players, develop them into good to very good major league players, and make smart trades (remember how they stole Neal Huntington's lunch money in the Chris Archer deal?).  By contrast, the Dodgers spend with abandon and have the top payroll in MLB.  There is  no player that they won't go after regardless of the cost (see Mookie Betts).

Both League Championship Series went to seventh games, and they were often times great fun to watch, although teams going through five, six, or seven pitchers by design is a new look for baseball and will take some getting used to, and the games still go on for interminable lengths of time.  Still, there's nothing better in any sport, especially baseball, than Seventh Games, and both deciding games this year were quite entertaining.

This will be the Rays second trip to the Fall Classic in their history, and the Dodgers third trip in the last four seasons, and they haven't won a World Series since 1988.  Logic tells you that the Dodgers should win this, but I'm rooting for the Rays, so, what the Hell, let's call it for the Rays in six games.

It'll be a real kick for us Pirates fans to watch Charlie Morton, Tyler Glasnow, and Austin Meadows hoist that Commissioner's Trophy at the end of the Series.