February 3, 1959 - The Day the Music Died

I will add my voice to many commemorating the death 54 years ago today of Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, J.P. "Big Bopper" Richardson and others in the Clear Lake Iowa plane crash.

Here is a beautiful ballad that Holly wrote.  He recorded it a little over three months before he died, and it was not released until over a year after his death.

Kordell and Kaepernick

That was a most interesting story in the PG this morning by Ed Bouchette comparing Kordell Stewart and Colin Kaepernick (and other running QB's currently in the NFL like Robert Griffin, Russell Wilson, and Cam Newton).

In case you missed it, Bouchette's thrust was that Stewart came into the NFL in the late '90s and was every bit the talent that Kaepernick, Griffin and the others are today, but he came in at a time when pro coaches didn't know what to do with him.  The story of Stewart being reamed out by neanderthal offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride for not staying in the pocket after he ran for a 45 yard touchdown is a classic.  I believe that Gilbride is still actually working as an OC in the NFL.  What a world.

Believe it or not, I thought of Stewart and his career with the Steelers at one point during these playoffs while watching Kaepernick and Wilson play.  Stewart is pretty much looked upon as a failure as a Steelers QB, largely because of a couple of losses in AFC Championship games (never mind that Stewart was the QB who got them to that point in those seasons).  Too bad, because I think Stewart, along with Neil O'Donnell,  was probably the best Steelers QB in the bridge between the Bradshaw and Roethlisberger Eras.  It's too bad that his coaches did not try to utilize him in a way that best suited his talents.  As Bouchette stated, perhaps he was just born too early.

The Great 2013 Hamburger Quest - Part 5 - The Rochester Inn

Lunch today at The Rochester Inn Hardwood Grill, the very popular North Hills tavern in Ross.  This is a true neighborhood establishment, as it sits a little more than a mile down the road from The Grandstander's home, and is a place that we frequently patronize, but today it was on the clock for the Rochester Inn formally became a part of the Great 2013 Hamburger Quest.  Perhaps I am guilty of pre-judging, for I was well aware that one could get a quality burger at the Rochester Inn.

I was not disappointed as the cheeseburger I had seriously challenged Tessaro's for the #1 spot on the list.  The half-pound burger is cooked to order over a hardwood fired grill and is excellent.  I have ranked it #2 on the list, but it is a razor thin margin that separates the Tessaro and Rochester Inn burger.  In fact, I rank Tessaro's ahead of it only because the bun at Tessaro's was better.  Can't get much closer than that.  I'm almost tempted to rank them 1 and 1-A, but that would be a bit of a cop out.

I have to point out that I  cannot recall ever being disappointed at anything I've ever ordered at the Rochester Inn.  Pizza, wings, various sandwiches (Marilyn had a Reuben today that she said was excellent), and their fish sandwich is among the very best in the City  Hey, finding "Best Fish Sandwich" could be the subject of another Quest.

You can learn more at www.therochesterinn.com

The Rankings:

1. Tessaro's (Bloomfield)
2. The Rochester Inn Hardwood Grill (Ross)
3. Bella Ria's (West View)
4. The Tilted Kilt (North Shore)

Unranked:

• BZ Bar and Grill (North Shore)

My Super Bowl Pick

I currently hold a 4-6 record with my NFL post-season predictions, so I am guaranteed, for the first time in three years of doing this, a losing record in this prognostication department, but I'm going to give you my thoughts anyway.

First off, I am looking forward to the game.  I think it is a match-up that has the potential to be a very entertaining football game.  The opposing quarterbacks, Colin Kaepernick and Joe Flacco, have easily been the most dominant players in this playoff season. and they have certainly earned the right to be on this big stage.  I am somewhat surprised to hear so many people here in Pittsburgh, some of them close friends, who profess to be football fans, say that they have no interest in the game, and probably will watch very little, if any, of the game.  I don't get it.  If you are a pro football fan, why wouldn't you want to watch the Super Bowl, especially one that appears too offer an exciting and competitive match-up?

As to the game itself, I will be rooting for the Forty-Niners.  I really couldn't care less that this will mean that they will tie the Steelers with six Super Bowl wins.  Hey, all you Steelers Nation folks, that doesn't lesson the Steelers accomplishments, and it doesn't really affect YOUR life one way or the other.  I like Jim Harbaugh, despite his tendency to go berserk on the sidelines, Kaepernick is a very exciting player to watch, and I will show my own Black & Gold Bias here by not wanting to see the Steelers most bitter rival, the Ravens, win the big one.

That said, my call for the winner of the big game?

I'm calling for a Ravens win because of the play of Joe Flacco.  He has certainly made a believer out of me, not only for his play in these playoffs, which has been stellar, but for his body of work over the last few years.  Need I remind anyone that he is 3-1 against the Steelers over the past two seasons?  And like it or not, I think there is something about this "Let's Win It for Ray Lewis" fever that seems to be enveloping the Ravens.  Yeah, it's way over the top, but so was the Jerome Bettis Fever that gripped the Steelers on their Super Bowl run in 2005.  It's hokey, corny, and hard to take for the non-fans, but sometimes, it is meaningful for the team involved.

(By the way, the closest thing that I have to an NFL Insider tells me that Lewis is a "good guy." Respectful to the game, a class act and a true leader on the field, and that the "praise-the-Lord" bit of his is genuine and not something he just turns on for the TV cameras.  This doesn't make me do a 180 and become a big fan of Lewis, but it does temper my opinions somewhat.)

So there it is: RAVENS over the Forty-Niners come Sunday in Super Bowl Whatever the Roman Numeral Is.

To Absent Friends: Ed Koch

Ed Koch, the former Mayor of New York City, died today at the age of 88.

It is often said that the second most important elected official in the country, after the President of the United States, is the Mayor of New York City.  Mostly, this is said by people from New York City, but the claim is not without merit, and no one served that role with more panache, at least in my lifetime, than Ed Koch.

I have two distinct memories of Ed Koch.  I saw him once on the Larry King show during football season when a caller asked if he was excited about the possibility of the Giants and Jets meeting in the Super Bowl.  Koch scowled and said that those two teams play in New Jersey, and he couldn't care less about them.  Loved it.

The other memory comes whenever I see the movie "The Taking of Pelham One-Two-Three." The movie - and if you've never seen it, you should - stars Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw and it is about the hijacking of a NYC subway car and the demand for ransom from the City of New York.  The Mayor of New York in the movie is played by an actor named Lee Wallace, and is a dead ringer for Koch.  Watching the movie it is very obvious that the role was modeled after Koch.  Funny thing, though, in looking up the timeline this morning, I see that the movie was made in 1974, and Koch didn't become mayor until 1977.  So maybe Ed Koch modeled himself after the guy in the movie!

Anyway, they don't seem to make politicians like this anymore, so RIP Ed Koch.

The Great 2013 Hamburger Quest - Part 4: Bella Ria's

One of the neat side effects of me writing about my Hamburger Quest has been the suggestions that I have been receiving from people, and today's visit was a result of one such suggestion.  The suggestion came from one of my former Blue Cross colleagues, Jerry Bergman (The Official Head Linesman of The Grandstander), and the place is Bella Ria's Restaurant in West View.

Bella Ria's is located on Perry Highway and overlooks North Hills High School's Martorelli Stadium, and it is more of a diner than a restaurant, and it is exactly the type of place I am looking for in this quest - small, local, and independently owned and operated.  The kind of place where, as the song says, everybody knows your name.  It is also a place that I have driven past probably hundreds of times over the years and never stopped.  My mistake.

I met Jerry there for lunch today, and, of course, I ordered the bacon cheeseburger - an 8 ounce hand made burger cooked to order, and only $5.99, if you can believe that.  My only criticism is that my burger was more on the well done side than the "medium" that I ordered, but what the hell, it was delicious.  So was the chicken dumpling soup that I had that was perfect on a 16 degree afternoon.

There is nothing fancy about Bella Ria's.  If it's fancy atmosphere and plush surroundings you want, try somewhere else, but the "ordinary-ness" of the place gives it a local neighborhood charm all of it's own.  According to Jerry, they also serve great salads, and a pretty mean breakfast.  You can learn more about the place by visiting www.bellarias.com

The Rankings:

1. Tessaro's (Bloomfield)
2. Bella Ria's (West View)
3. The Tilted Kilt (North Shore)

Unranked:

• BZ Bar and Grill (North Shore)

To Absent Friends: Patty Andrews

I am going to skew really old here by noting the death this week of singer Patty Andrews at the age of 94.  Before the great "girls groups" of the 1950's and 1960's like the Shirelles, Marvellettes, and the Supremes, there was the Andrews Sisters, and in the middle part of the 20th century, especially during the WW II years, there was no bigger musical act than the Andrews Sisters, Patty, Maxine, and LaVerne.  It is estimated that they sold over 75 million records during their career.

Modern day artists like Bette Midler revered the Andrews Sisters, and if you search YouTube you can find a clip of the Andrews Sisters and The Supremes performing each others hits together on some long forgotten TV show..

Here is one of their most famous ones which had a revival in the 1970's thanks to Bette Midler.




RIP Patty Andrews.