To Absent Friends: Steve Sabol, Andy Williams

Time to wish Melancholy Happy Trails.....

A belated Happy trails to Steve Sabol, of NFL Films, who, along with his father, Ed, changed forever the way we watch all sports, and professional football in particular.  They, as much as any player, coach, owner, or commissioner, are responsible for the unparalleled popularity of the NFL in America.  Steve Sabol, who won over 40 Emmys for his work,  succumbed to brain cancer last week at the age of 69.  

Today the news arrived of the death of singer Andy Williams at the age of 84.  He has no doubt now found that rainbow's end, waiting 'round the bend.

RIP Steve Sabol and Andy williams.

The "Hawaii Five-0" Season Premiere

Warning:  This post will include spoilers!

When we last saw "Hawaii Five-0" back in the spring, that goofy bald guy was taking Steve to Japan to meet "Shellburn" and all we saw was an incredulous look on Steve's face, Chin's wife had been shot, Kono was dumped overboard a ship in the middle of the ocean while gagged and handcuffed, Danny was, well, I can't remember what sort of pickle Danny was in at the time, Wo Fat was in prison, and all sorts of evil and hinky doings were being orchestrated by some Third-String Baldwin Brother.

As the third season of the new "H5-0" opened last night...

• "Shellburn" turns out to be Steve's mother, who he thought was killed 20 years ago.  Turns out that before she fell in love with McGarrett, Sr. and decided to become a mother, she was a spy for a "secret intelligence agency", she killed Wo Fat's father, which caused the government to put her deep undercover for the last 20 years.  This led to Wo Fat finding and killing Steve's father, while still looking for "Shellburn".  Now an understandably miffed Steve is bringing his mother back to Hawaii (safe to do since Wo Fat is being transferred to a "super maximum security prison" on the mainland).  He also has to figure out how to break the news to his sister that their mother is still alive.
• You follow all that?  No, well, I didn't either.
• Chin's wife dies, whereupon Chin punches his fist through a wall, stands by her slab in the morgue for two straight days, and actor Daniel Dae Kim proceeds on a course that promises to redefine "bad acting".
• Kono gets rescued by her son-of-the-Japanese-mobster boyfriend, who jumps into the ocean at night and somehow finds her as she is sinking to the bottom.  Like that could possibly happen.
• Danny seems to be involved with yet another custody issue with his ex-wife who wants to move to Las Vegas and take their daughter with her.
• Wo Fat, while being transferred to this super-duper prison on the mainland, get sprung in the a prison break that is so incredulous, they wouldn't even use it in a James Bond movie.  This is orchestrated, by the way, by the Third-String Baldwin Brother.
• The goofy bald guy is no longer around, as he will be starring in some new series this fall, the name of which I cannot remember, and which will probably be canceled by Thanksgiving, which means we will probably see this guy yet again in Hawaii.
• Well, all sorts of pyrotechnics follow, including a shoot out between the Five-0 crew and the gang of the Third-String Baldwin Brother in a Honolulu traffic jam where not a single civilian gets hurt.  Automatic weapons for everyone!  Kono manages to shoot a bad guy in such a manner that had me leaping for the rewind button, Chin shoots and kills Third-String Baldwin Brother in a fashion that was so derivative of Clint Eastwood that I am surprised that he didn't say "Feel lucky, punk? Well, do you?"
• Wo Fat and Steve's mother confront each other with automatic pistols pointed at each other point blank.  The scene shifts to downstairs in the house, shots are heard, Steve runs upstairs to find his mother unharmed, Wo Fat no where to be seen, and Mom saying merely "he got away".  Huh?  (This scene causes both Marilyn and I to say "oh, you've got to be shittin' me", or words to that effect.)
• The show ends with Steve's Mom being put on a plane to go into deep cover once again until Wo Fat is brought to justice.  Only when the plane is in the air do the Five-0 guys learn that the only bullets found in the room where Mom McGarrett and Wo Fat shot it out came from Mom's gun and were fired into the floor, not at Wo Fat.  It seems that Mom let Wo Fat get away.  Zounds!
• Oh, and Steve never did tell his sister that their mother was still alive.

As you can probably pick up from my tone, all of this seriously stretches credulity, and one has to wonder if this version of "Hawaii Five-0" is circling the shark and getting ready to jump it.  For sure, we are in for another season of Steve chasing Wo Fat and wondering just whose side his mother is/was on, of Danny fighting with his ex, of Chin chewing the scenery as he mourns his dead wife, and of Kono looking pretty and doing neat stuff with the computer in the Five-0 headquarters.

Tonight, I look forward to the premiere of the new show "Vegas" starring Dennis Quaid and Michael Chiklis.  Not a lot of the new shows this season look very promising, but this one does.

Happy Birthday, Cheryl Tiegs!

Today marks the 65th Birthday - yes, I said 65!!! - of Super Model and Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue Icon Cheryl Tiegs.  I know that many of you are probably disappointed that I didn't reproduce THAT one special photo, and you know the one I'm talking about, but I try to keep this blog family friendly.  Anyway, the above pic shows Miss Tiegs in her prime, but I think that even a more recent photo will prove that this is one senior citizen that is still gettin' it done.

Happy Birthday, indeed, to Cheryl Tiegs!

Hail To Pitt!

I mentioned on Facebook yesterday that I was looking forward to my first visit to Heinz Field since 2003 yesterday, and I was not disappointed.  I was able to join friends Dan Bonk and Len Martin when one of their "regulars" was unable to use his Pitt ticket yesterday, and I really enjoyed the experience.

I had not been to a Pitt football game in many, many years, and I really have to commend the University for the job that they do in presenting and creating a "college atmosphere" at Heinz Field.  The parking lots, the businesses around Heinz Field, the student section, the Pitt Athletic department, the Pitt Marching Band and the Cheerleaders really make for a fun atmosphere.  Also, the fact that beer is not sold in the Stadium during the game also makes for an enjoyable day.  I noticed that there were lots of families in attendance with very young children, something no responsible parent would do at a beer-soaked Heinz Field Steelers game.

As for the game itself, Pitt did as expected and romped over I-AA Gardner Webb, and the quality of the opponent no doubt contributed to Heinz field being only slightly over half occupied.  I can only imagine that a strong opponent, a meaningful and quality game, and a large near-capacity crowd would only increase the pleasure of the experience.

I am hoping to repeat the experience several times in the future as Pitt becomes a part of the ACC in 2013.

Will close with a view of Len and I soaking up some pre-game atmosphere on General Robinson Street.

The Greatest Generation Visits the Heinz History Center

Yesterday, I had the honor of being one of four docents at the Heinz History Center to conduct a tour for a group of World War II veterans, and I do not use the word "honor" lightly in this case.

This was an annual reunion gathering of a platoon of men that served in the infantry and marched through Europe under George Patton.  It is a reunion whose numbers get smaller each year.  Think about it.  If you were serving in WW II at the age of 18 in 1945, the year the war ended, you would be 85 years old today.  So, of the dozen or so men that arrived yesterday, many were in wheelchairs or using walkers, many were accompanied by their adult children, and some of those folks were older than my 61 years.  They came from all over the country, Iowa, Texas, Utah, California, but they were enjoying the hell out of their time together and their visit to Pittsburgh.  In touring the Heinz History Center and Sports Museum, they wanted to hear all about Pittsburgh's days as the "Smokey City" and the Immaculate Reception and the Western Pennsylvania's role in the Whiskey Rebellion and the Allegheny Arsenal explosion and the invention of the Ferris Wheel, and I could go on and on.

It was when we got to that section of the History Center that dealt with WW II that I turned the tables and asked them to talk to me.  Then I heard stories of marching through France and  Austria and Berchtesgaden and into Germany, and walking through the house that was Hitler's birthplace, and having a platoon of 100 German soldiers surrendering to you while you were holding a machine gun on them, of building pontoon bridges to cross the Ruhr River.  I asked them how old they were when this was happening to them.  19.  22. 18. .21. 25.  You get the idea.

I am seldom at a loss for words when I do these tours at the History Center, but I was yesterday.  I admit to getting choked up and barely being able to say "thank you" to all of them, words that seemed so inadequate in the circumstances.  This was a tour and a group of men that I will never forget.

God Bless them all.

To Absent Friends: Barbara Cloud

Barbara Cloud, 83, former fashion editor and columnist for the Pittsburgh Press and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, passed away last week after a long battle with cancer.  I won't pretend that I was along-time reader of hers, but I did enjoy the column she wrote on Sundays after she retired as a full-time fashion editor at the PG.  She was delightfully old-fashioned in many ways, but her story of becoming a single mother at the age of 40 and raising a son is almost heroic. She also fought a long and, regrettably, losing battle with the City of Pittsburgh over the awful state of litter on Pittsburgh's downtown streets.

Her obituary in Sunday's Post-Gazette did tell the story of a most interesting and well-lived life.

I once remember walking down the Boulevard of the Allies many, many years ago and seeing Barbara Cloud standing and waiting for a bus.  I can truly recall that she looked elegant.  Not what you usually saw at a PAT bus stop.

RIP Barbara Cloud.

More Ocean City, plus Some Sports Thoughts

Catching up after being on vacation for a week....

In my write-up yesterday about our trip to Ocean City, I neglected to mention what was perhaps the highlight of the trip.  After a hotly contested round of miniature golf on the Boardwalk, we approached the 19th hole wherein a hole-in-one would earn you a free round of golf.  If you've played mini-golf in your life, you know that these things are set up so as to be nearly impossible to make, and I, predictably, failed miserably in my attempt.  Marilyn, on the other hand, calmly set her ball down and rammed her putt up the three inch wide ramp and jammed it right into the hole.  Sirens went off and and a ticket for a free round spit out of the machine.   No putt in the Ryder Cup later this month will be as  dramatic. 

I also mentioned how well we ate down at the shore.  A couple of comments on that:

1. A boardwalk pizza joint called 3 Brothers from Italy do the impossible.  They produce a slice of pizza that looks good, smells good, and is absolutely tasteless.  Ended up throwing it away after about four bites.
2. I am at an age where I can no longer eat more than about a third of a funnel cake, which is probably a good thing.  In fact, watching the girl pour the batter into that vat of grease to make my funnel cake, I almost walked away.  Yuck!
3. On the bright side, we did find a terrific pizza joint on the boardwalk called Angelo's II.  See for yourself:

On to other subjects....

• The Steelers now stand at 1-1 after an impressive win over the Jets on Sunday.  The running game was unimpressive.  The passing of Ben Roethlisberger was superb.  After allowing the Jets a touchdown on their opening drive, the defense, playing without Troy Polamalu and James Harrison, completely shut down the Jets.  Ryan Clark was tremendous, and you wonder how the outcome might have been different in Denver last week if Clark were able to play.
• The Pirates.  Wow, don't those back-to-back shutouts of the Cardinals three weeks ago now seem like a million years ago?  At this point, I am going to save any in depth comments until after the season concludes, but suffice to say that I fear for a winning season, and six weeks ago I thought a plus .500 season was in the bag.
• The National Hockey League owners have locked out the players.  Yes, the owners that have been doling out nine-figure contracts, some of them covering ten or more years, are claiming that they are going broke unless they players give back.  Haven't we seen this movie before?