Alaska and The "Wonder"

The time has come to sit down and write about our recent cruise vacation to Alaska with our friends, Dan and Susan Bonk.  The problem with this is no words that I can write will capture the majesty and beauty of Alaska, nor will they possibly capture the excitement, joy, and pure fun of the trip. Similarly, no photograph that we took can possibly do justice to the mountains, the glaciers, and the sheer scenic beauty that we experienced.  I am not that good a writer or photographer, but what the heck, I'll give it a shot.

This trip will always be special because even though it had been booked and in the planning stages for well over six months, it almost didn't happen at all.  Many of you know the reasonS for that, and I will not restate them here, but we were able to make the trip, and it was the experience of a life time.

For me, this was my very first cruise experience, and I wasn't sure what to expect.  I was pretty sure that I was going to like it, but you can never be sure, and the opinions of some that you might feel "trapped" or "confined" aboard a cruise ship proved completely unfounded.  The experience aboard our ship, the Disney Wonder, was 100% positive.  

If you've ever enjoyed a vacation provided by the people at Disney, you know what I am talking about.  First class service all the way in terms of room accommodations, service, food, and entertainment.  We honestly could not find a thing about which to complain.

Rather than give a lengthy narrative, I am going to take up much of the space here with some photos for he trip.  That's what you all really want to see anyway with some commentary.

This photo was taken in Ketchikan, our third port of call, and the sixth day of the cruise.  I put it early in the narrative, because I think it was the best picture taken of all four of us together during our entire trip.

Part of any Disney Experience is the entertainment:

A "Welcome Aboard" show as we pulled out of Vancouver.

"Frozen".  Yes, they actually made it snow on board.

Singer Kelly Jarrard.  

We heard her on several different occasions on the cruise, and actually met and talked with her as well.

Leslie, the Bingo Lady. Yes, we played played Bingo on four separate occasions, and Leslie and her team made it super entertaining.

Dan, Susan, and Marilyn with Darren McBurney, our Cruise Director.  Darren and his assistant, Anthony, did a morning TV show that ran on a continuous loop every morning, and they were terrific.  Darren was also a really neat guy to talk to.  Because of him, I will never say "Good morning" or pronounce the word "azure" ever again without putting his particular stamp on it.

Lito and Vicky, our dining service team throughout the cruise.  You rotated dining rooms each night and your team followed with you.  They were great.

Ariel, The Little Mermaid, gets a kiss from the handsome Prince.

Okay, enough of the cruise ship, you're saying, how about some scenes of Alaska?  Here you go....

An evening sunset.  It was 10:09 PM when this was taken.

Taking a morning stroll on the top deck.

Sailing on Endicott Arm to view the Dawes Glacier:

No picture can capture seeing this.  We also saw the glacier calve several time while were were there.  The noise that this makes is indescribable.  And the ice is so blue when it is first exposed to the air.  Beautiful.

I decided to get out of the cold and view Dawes Glacier in a more relaxed mode.

Downtown Skagway.  

The population quadruples whenever a cruise ship comes to port.

Dan and I attempt to negotiate a deal with a local small business person.

Anna, our tour bus driver in Skagway.  She had quite a back story.

Scenes from aboard  the White Pass-Yukon Railroad.

Two photos from the ship of Juneau Harbor.  See what I mean about the scenery.

The Mendenhall Glacier.  Again, no photo can possibly capture this.  Photos in the visitor's center document how rapidly this glacier has receded over the years.  Very sad.

Our hands on a piece of ice from the Mendenhall Glacier.  Hard to comprehend that this ice is tens of thousands of years old.

Sea lions and a bald eagle in Juneau.  We also saw whales, but those babies are hard to photograph.

Downtown Ketchican.

Every tourist town has a Christmas shop.

Again, Dan and I checking out local small businesses.

Creek Street in Ketchikan.  Once a notorious red light district.  

Strolling in Ketchikan.

That's me selecting a new yard decoration for Village Drive.  Should be delivered by the 4th of July.

Our final dinner on board the Wonder.

 From the cast and crew of the Wonder.... 

"Now it's time to say good-bye...We'll see you real soon."

I will stop here, but I could go on and on and on about this trip.  There are of course MANY more pictures that we will be happy to share with you at the drop of a hat.  Really.  Just ask us. And I will no doubt be making many more references to this wonderful adventure for weeks and months into the future.  I will just conclude by saying that Alaska is a one of a kind place, nobody treats you better than the folks at Disney, and in Susan and Dan, we had just about the best travel companions imaginable.

As the Disney people will always tell you, it was MAGICAL.

The Beatles on XM

Subscribers to Sirius XM Radio have been bombarded in recent weeks with the news that they would be launching a Beatles Channel this month.  I, for one, was quite excited and welcomed it to my XM stable when it debuted last week.

The channel features not only the music of The Beatles, but also the music of Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and Starr as solo artists, as well as music of the Beatles as covered by other artists, so be prepared for Joe Cocker getting by with a little help from his friends.

All of this is fine, but it reinforces one self-evident axiom where The Beatles are concerned.  Each of the four band members were and are talented singers, songwriters, and musicians, and each has produced excellent work on their own as solo artists.  However, nothing - and I do mean NOTHING - that they ever did as individuals was better than the work that that did as one band, as The Beatles.

Listen to that new XM Channel and you'll agree with me.

Pens Win! And Other Quickies....

They say that there is nothing in sports like a Game Seven.  How about a Game Seven that goes into overtime?  How about a Game Seven that goes into double overtime?  That is what the Penguins and Ottawa Senators treated us to last night.  Did I say "treated"?  That game was more like emotional torture than a treat.  Excitement and tension were off the charts throughout the series, and especially in last night's finale. I can't recall being more exhausted and wrung out from watching a sporting event.  

So now it is on to the Stanley Cup Finals against the Nashville Predators starting Monday Night.  Bring it on and LET'S GO PENS!!!!

PREDICTION: Penguins in five games. #letsgoPens

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The NFL patted itself on the back and announced this week that, in the interest of player safety, they would be reducing sudden death overtime periods from 15 minutes to 10 minutes.  What a crock of b.s. that is!  If the NFL Poobahs were really interested in player safety, they would shit-can the idea of overtime entirely.  Of course, this would mean that more games would end in a tie, but so what?  As the late great Myron Cope once said, while ties can be frustrating, often times a tie is a just result in a given football game, and I agree.  It'll never happen though. 

Do you believe that the NFL also plays OT when an exhibition game ends in a tie?  That is really ludicrous and flies in the face of any claim of concern that the NFL has for player safety.

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The National Basketball Association played an 82 game regular season, conducted fourteen perfunctory rounds of playoffs, and has produced for the third year in a row an NBA Finals match-up of the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors.  Surprise!!  The two teams bring a combined Playoffs record of 24-1 into the Finals.  It is the series that everyone predicted and has wanted to see since the season began, and it is hoped that it will produce a series of games that, unlike those fourteen playoffs rounds that have proceeded it, some exciting, dramatic, and memorable basketball.

PREDICTION: LeBron James will be the best player on the court throughout the series, but the addition of Kevin Durant to the Warriors will make the difference.  Warriors in seven games.

Broadcast News - Sports Division, Pittsburgh Sub-division

It was announced this week that the contract of Pittsburgh Penguins long time television play-by-play guy Paul Steigerwald, 62, was not being renewed by Root Sports, and that he would be replaced next season by NHL Network broadcaster Steve Mears, 37.  While this is not seen as a Bob Prince-type firing by the Penguins (older readers will get the reference), the Pens clearly had no objection to the move.  Steigerwald himself wrote a gracious "thank you" column that appeared in the Post-Gazette, and Mario Lemieux has found some cushy landing spot for Steigy in the Pens' front office PR machine, so everyone is happy, and we all wish Mears well in his new gig, although we all know how tough the Pittsburgh audience can be on a new play-by-play guy, regardless of the sport.

I think that the Penguins and Root Sports should be given  credit for this move as it represents some forward thinking on their part, and this is especially true when you look at the other sports broadcasting spots in Pittsburgh.  The Penguins are one of the five major sports "franchises" on the Pittsburgh sports scene, the other four being the Pirates, Steelers, Pitt Football, and Pitt Basketball.  The main play-by-play guy for three of those franchises is Bill Hillgrove, who will turn 77 this coming November.  Hillgrove has been doing Steelers games since 1994, Pitt football since 1974, and Pitt basketball since 1969.  It is not my intention to make this particular post a hatchet job on any one individual, but let's face it, if you've listened to any of Hillgrove's broadcasts for any one of those three teams in the last ten years or so, it is obvious that he is, well, let's just say way past his prime, and leave it at that.

It has surprised me that neither the Steelers nor Pitt have made any move to replace Hillgrove as The Voice of their franchises.  You would think that they would want to bring in a younger, fresher voice, someone who would not say things like "he's tackled by a guy in the Bengals backfield".  For his part, why would Hillgrove want to keep doing this at the age of 77?  In recent years, Pitt seems like they are grooming Larry Richert to succeed Hillgrove, and he, Richert, is 57 years old, and could be well into his sixties before Hillgrove's hands get pried off of the microphone. If Richert really wants that gig, he must feel like Prince Charles waiting for the Queen to die.

This goes on.  Dick Groat, Hillgrove's color analyst on Pitt basketball, will be 87 in November.  Pirates color analyst Steve Blass is 75, but at least he doesn't do road games any more.  Mike Lange, the Pens radio broadcaster, is 69 and has held that job since 1976.  Ray Goss has been doing Duquesne basketball on the radio longer than any of these guys and he is pushing 80 years of age.

These guys seem to have a stronger hold on their jobs that Supreme Court justices or the Pope.  It has to be very discouraging for a young guy trying to make it as a play-by-play guy in Pittsburgh. 

As I said at the outset, the Penguins are to be given credit for their forward thinking approach here, and I think that the Steelers, Pitt, and, to a lesser extent, the Pirates, need to be taking a similar view at their broadcasting talent.

Memorabilia in the News

Pirates Hall of Famers Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell have been in the news of late, or, rather, their "stuff" has been in the news when their respective widows, and in Clemente's case, his children, announced that the late Pirates stars' memorabilia will be put up for action later this summer in two separate auctions.  Gold Gloves, MVP Awards, World Series and Hall of Fame Rings and lots and lots of other neat stuff will be available for folks to bid on and take home.

This might surprise some people that families would do such a thing.  On a recent Pirates telecast, Steve Blass seemed horrified at the thought of Clemente's World Series rings being sold.  Blass flashed his 1971 Series ring to the camera and said some to the effect that "this baby will NEVER leave my possession."  

I get Blass' sentiment, but I also get the Clemente and Stargell families' motivation.  This is all, after all, just "stuff" and what are they, the families, going to do with it as they get older?  Also, we have no idea as to the financial situations of the Clementes and Mrs. Stargell, so who are we to judge?

However, I do get a kick out of the disingenuous statements released by both families.  It went something to the effect of  "We know that Roberto/Willie have many thousands of devoted fans out there, and we thought that now was the time that these mementos and artifacts be shared among them."

So, I said to Mrs. Grandstander "You know, one of those Gold Gloves of Clemente's would look nice on a shelf in our office.  Maybe Vera and the boys will 'share' one of them with me, as I was and remain to this day a devoted fan of Roberto."  Well, I suppose that there are many definitions of the word "Share", and in this case, the relevant definition is "it's yours if you are the high bidder, preferably something in the high five figures."

I seem to remember that when Bill Mazeroski did something similar with all of his stuff a few years back, he pretty much came out and said that he'd like to have the money for himself in his later years and for his children and grandchildren after he's gone.  No b.s. about sharing with the fans from Maz, nosiree!

Like I said, I have no problem with what these two families are doing, and I hope that they get what they feel they need for whatever their reasons may be, but they can spare us the song and dance about sharing with the fans.

So, How 'Bout Them Buccos?

Assuming that there will be no postponed games this week, on Thursday the Pirates will have officially played 25% of the 2017 season.  Time to take a look at how things are going and answer the question posed in the headline above.

The good news is that the Pirates are right behind the defending World Series Champion Cubs in the standings.    You'd have settled for that on Opening Day, right? The bad news is that the Cubs are one game below .500 and in fourth place, which means that our Pittsburgh Pirates are in last place, six games below .500 (16-22), 3.5 games behind the aforementioned Cubs, and six games behind the first place Cardinals.

More good news - the Pirates are on a two game winning streak.  More bad news - this comes on the heels of a six game losing streak.

The State of the Bucco Union is bleak these days.  Let us count the ways....

• Power hitting third baseman Jung Ho Kang remains in Korea appealing his third DUI conviction and trying to get a visa to enter the USA.  My betting money says that Kang never plays another game for the Pirates, and if by some remote chance he does, it won't be in 2017.
• Starling Marte, perhaps the team's best all around player in 2016 is currently sitting out an 80 game PED suspension.
• The much ballyhooed new outfield alignment of Polanco-Marte-McCutchen has been blown up largely due to Marte's idiocy and now consists of WhoeverTheyCanGetToPlayLeftfield - McCutchen - Polanco.
• Tyler Glasnow: 1-3, 7.98 ERA, 21 BB, 2.08 WHIP, 29.1 IP.  Do I have to say any more?
• Andrew McCutchen, the former MVP and the guy who has been the face of the franchise for the last ten years, leads the team in RBI with (only) 17 and does have 6 home runs, but he is hitting only .242 and has an OPS of only .689.  His below average season of 2016 appears to be continuing.  It is a surprisingly early erosion of skills as Cutch is only 31 years old.  More to the point, his body language and the look on his face seems to be screaming "get me out of here".  I am guessing that he will get that wish when July 31 rolls around.  It will be a sad end to the wonderful story that was Cutch's time as a Pirate.
• How about free agent acquisition Daniel Hudson, who figured to be a solid eighth inning set-up guy? 0-2, 7.80 ERA, 22 H, 15 BB in 15 IP.  That is beyond awful.
• Trips to the DL for Adam Frazier and David Freese, the guys who had been their best hitters early in the season.
• I won't even talk about the bench.  It ain't worth mentioning.

And, of course, there is the news that pitcher Jameson Taillon had to leave the team and have surgery for testicular cancer.  That, of course, goes beyond baseball and is a truly sad and terrible human story for a young man only 25 years old.  It is hoped that he recovers fully from this (the outlook in such cases caught early enough is good), but it speaks to what appears to be shaping up as a star-crossed season for the Pirates.

I know what you're asking...say something good about the Pirates for crissakes, willya!  So, I will.

Felipe Rivero.

Acquired from the Nationals for Mark Melancon last year at the deadline, Rivera has put up the following line so far this year:

1-1, 0.87 ERA, 20.2 IP, 22 K, 4 BB, 0.82 WHIP, .176 BA Against

Plus, he seems to hit 99 or 100 MPH with every pitch.  He has been perhaps the most effective player on the team.

I will close out by mentioning a subject that it has been much discussed in a couple of Facebook groups that I am in, and that is Clint Hurdle's future as Pirate manager.  I will start out by saying that I like Hurdle as a manager.  He has done a terrific job resurrecting the dead that was the Pirate team he inherited from the moribund John Russell in 2011.  Yes, I can bitch and moan about this line-up card or that strategical maneuver, but you can do that about any manager, but overall, I consider him a Good to Very Good manager.  

That said, I think that this will be Clint's final year as Pirate skipper.  The fact that the front office has not extended him through 2018, making him a quasi-lame duck, says a lot.  I also think that Hurdle himself may just see how that same front office failed to capitalize on that 98 win 2015 season, and say to himself, "screw it, I've had enough of this".  As it is with McCutchen, Hurdle's body language seems to be saying that this is his swan song.  Whether he will be fired or allowed to "retire" makes little difference in the end, I suppose.  Current bench coach Tom Prince seems to be the heir apparent.  Frankly, that excites me not one bit, but he will come cheap, and we all know that that excites Bob Nutting a great deal.

So, the remaining 75% of the Bucco season doesn't appear to hold a lot of promise insofar as competing for a post-season berth is concerned.  The real question may be Can they finish with a winning record?  To do that, they will need to turn the ship around pretty soon, or a full scale fire sale is sure to take place when that July 31 trade deadline comes around.

Life Lessons From The Twilight Zone

Mark Dawidziak is the television critic for the Cleveland Plain Dealer,  and is a serious scholar on Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, and Rod Serling, and, as such, he is an unabashed devotee of Serling's landmark television series, The Twilight Zone.

He has converted that knowledge into this interesting book of life lessons, as delivered from that place between shadow and substance, the fifth dimensional land whose boundaries are the limits of the imagination - The Twilight Zone.

Here are just some of the fifty life lessons that Dawidziak tells us about:

• Follow your passion
• Nobody said life was fair
• Don't live in the past
• When nobody else believes in you, keep believing in yourself
• You're only truly old when you decide you're old
• Make the most of the time you've got
• Remember the people who got you where you are
• The grass is always greener...or so you think
• The universe does not revolve around you
• Angels are all around you

I could go on, but you get the idea.  Dawidziak then uses classic episodes from The Twilight Zone to illustrate each of these fifty life lessons.  Many episodes illustrate more than just one of these lessons.

This book is not an episode-by-episode compendium of all of the series' episodes. There are the books like that out there if that is what you want.  However, you will be reminded on many, many classic TZ episodes such as Walking Distance, Time Enough to Last, The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street, Eye of the Beholder, The After Hours, Terror at 20,000 Feet and over one hundred of the 154 total episodes that were produced.

So maybe these life lessons are not necessarily new or especially profound, but it never hurts to be reminded of them, and this book, submitted for your approval, illustrates them in a new and different way.  Reading the book may remind you that perhaps you have forgotten some of these lessons in your journey through life, and you will welcome the refresher course.  It may also cause you to go to that DVD Box Set of The Twilight Zone you own and rewatch some of these great stories - never a bad thing - and view them in a new and different way.

Four stars from The Grandstander for this book.