Yesterday, a Friday, “we” continued to stray from those Friday nights with “It’s the story of a lovely lady” as Florence Henderson, a truly talented, beautiful, personable performer, best known as “Carol Brady,” on the television show, “The Brady Bunch,” died at age 82.
Later, news came that Fidel Castro, as with Donald Trump and Harry Truman, an upset “winner,” to head a country, had died at age 90.
Linked in history to John F. Kennedy, Mr. Castro adored by some, reviled by others, also died on a Friday.
Unlike the united States President, the Cuban leader died of natural causes, outliving Mr. Kennedy by 44 years.
“Double 4’s” seem operative, as this country, with its relative good, has endured the violent death of 4 Presidents and now for a fourth time a MAN (still never a woman, nor a Jewish person as President) has ascended to the presidency, despite getting LESS votes, than the major opposition candidate.
“We” may not be coming out of the hills in violent revolution vs a standing, albeit corrupt government as Mr. Castro and his supporters did as 1959 dawned, but those double “fours” of negative, do not hold this society as any great beacon of light either.
Cuba is beautiful. no need to call “over the rainbow” to reach Judy Garland, as I know why other things, specifically the way many human beings treat each other, are NOT.
Today, for the first time since 2006, the Ohio State/Michigan game has national title implications for both teams.
Surely if Michigan wins, and likely if Ohio State prevails, they would still be in control of their “destiny,” as far as making the 4 team playoff.
For so many years, (1968-1970) and (1972-1975), the Michigan/Ohio State game had either huge or some “mythical” national title implications, and meant so much to me.
Today, I probably will watch the second half then likely, lonely and empty, watch the extra playoff games on New Year’s Eve.
However, having been “taken in” by better “Kool-Aid” (Rex Kern and Jim Mandich, to name respective Ohio State and Michigan players), I warn those still immune, it has a very bitter aftertaste.
Rex Kern, pictured above, was a brilliant college quarterback, guiding the Buckeyes to the national title in 1968. One loss, each in the final Ohio State game in both 1969 and 1970, cost them a “mythical” national title.
Three time All-Star pitcher, Ralph Branca, who died this week at the age of 90, may not have pitched well in myriad post-season games, but as a direct, strong human being, performed to “rave notices” on and in, some rather important “stages” in life.
Surely the man’s faith famously revitalized by his cousin, a Jesuit Priest, Father Pat Cowley, after Ralph had yielded the 1951 pennant winning home run to the rival New York Giants’ player, Bobby Thomson, an eventual long time friend, and inner strength served him well.
The horrible wild card presence as well as extra tiers of playoffs baseball, makes the most famous moment in Branca’s life, one so rich in drama and emotional diversity, impossible to happen again. His bravery regarding his being on the quite sour part of that diversity, is another reason it going the way of the dinosaurs, is such a great loss.
In 1951 National League baseball, The New York Giants had come from 13 and a half games behind as late as August, in a true, “one of two,” pennant race with their great rivals, the Brooklyn Dodgers, and were in a best of three playoff with them for a spot in the World Series opposite the vaunted, 2 time defending champion, New York Yankees.
The teams split the first two games, Thomson homering off Branca, in a (3-1) Giants’ win in game 1, Brooklyn behind Clem Labine, easing (10-0) in #2.
Brooklyn led (4-2) in the bottom of the ninth inning of the 157th game/deciding third game of the playoff, when with runners at second and third and one out, Branca was summoned from the bullpen to relieve Don Newcombe, whose “iron man” excellent pitching deserves much historical acclaim.
On the second pitch from Branca, Bobby Thomson who died in 2010, hit the ball into “the lower deck of the left field stands” as intoned by the great broadcaster Russ Hodges on WMCA in New York.
It is not so arguably the greatest sports broadcasting “call” in history and it pains me exponentially, that Howie Rose’s behind the play (the Devils’ broadcaster Mike Miller was ahead of Rose) call of the New York Rangers’ winning goal in the second overtime of game 7 of the 1994 Stanley Cup semis, is even mentioned in the same stratosphere.
After the deciding game, Branca lay on his stomach across the steps of the visiting club house at the Polo Grounds, asking why me?!!
Later that day, Father Cowley replied to that very good question saying ” Ralph, God chose you because He knew you’d be strong enough to bear this cross.” Did he ever!
In future posts, I will recall moments of my meetings with Mr. Branca over the years.
I could not quite hear the conversation Ralph Branca, pictured and now ABOVE, was having that day. However, from my “vantage point” I could see Ralph’s mobile phone. The “contacts list” brightly displayed GOD or since Ralph, a devout and great Catholic, probably had a mother born Jewish, “G-d”
The conversation may have gone as below (the last word previous, not one you want to hear regarding God/G-d and the “last word.” (Ralph need not, nor did worry.)
God/G-d: You know I do not know how to use those mobile phones and do not care to learn.”
Ralph: Respectfully, that is what you say, not “how did you get my number.”
God/G-d Surely, you know that you have always “had my number.”
God/G-d continues Ralph, the connection is fading, additionally, these type calls are rare and costly in a “heaven type way” (no money up here as many with it on earth, will one day learn) but did I ever tell you, I “lost” “some heavenly currency” on the ’51 season.
Somehow the connection got stronger and I “thought” I heard God (I made my point writing G-d, as Rabbi Harry Goder, a Dodgers’ fan devastated by their decisive game loss, that first day after Rosh Hashanah in 1951, taught us to write) tell a great story.
God: You know of Goliath. Not surprisingly, he was a Giants’ fan and also knew something about a “lost battle.” As was the case with you and Bobby, (Thomson) he and “rival” David are long time friends, even residing most of the year on the same cloud. (David is above Florida in the winter).
Goliath had been hoping to get a better location on his cloud. (you know as a pitcher and those realtors have something with that “location/location” stuff).
God continues: Anyway with the Dodgers’ lead 8 games or so, Goliath said the Giants would win the pennant. He got me to agree to his gaining a better location on his cloud if they did. I figured the odds were in my favor (what some of you thought I control this stuff. No, as Gary Carter, a truly good man, who thought differently while on earth, found out up here, I do not.)
God: You know the rest and some time in the future, I will introduce you to both David and Goliath and invite Bobby Thomson as well. You are headed here, but as always, be kind and do as much as possible to help others.
From my “vantage point,” and admittedly I could not see all that clearly, Ralph never looked surprised, he was having such a conversation and with whom.
The middle tilt today is the most meaningful, as it involves the (9-1) Dallas Cowboys, the team with the NFL’s best record and the (6-3-1) Washington team (normally their team nickname would be cited, but taking a cue from Blue Jays announcer Jerry Howarth, who does not cite the less offensive nickname of the Cleveland baseball team, on this day which evokes the slaughter of those people here first, I will not cite it either), the one with the second best record of the 6 NFL teams, all game and spread, “set up” winners last week, that are playing today.
Back to numbers, as I lived it/ate it/breathed it (all past tense, but falling asleep during a good play last night, I sadly realized I put too much into this and not enough into other “thats” (i.e. good culture, not the lowest common denominator/reality television type that has now SPAWNED a United States president) as the two teams, Dallas and Washington, have won Supes either 10 or 20 years apart, three times.
Dallas has won 5 Supes (’71, ’77. ’92, ’93 and ’95) while “Wash” triumphed in such tilts first 10 years before ’92 in 1982, next their second Supe win was 10 years after Dallas’ second in 1987.
Washington’s third was in 1991, twenty years after Dallas’ first, a glorious win in 1971, ending so much frustration in bids for the title, far more in a compacted 5 season span (1966-1970), than the much ballyhooed Cubs, with their owner’s family/Trump campaign donor(s), suffered in 108 years, before their 2016 W.S. win.
If you are first to write in with the reason Bill Jurges is pictured above, I will not only cite your name but within reason give you a chance not only to air your views, perhaps much different than mine, in “comments” but also in edited form as a post.
I will reveal why tomorrow or the next day and do so in again, seeking perspective.
Three pro pig games, at least one and a half too many, on a truly excessive, (I will stop there) holiday.
In the first, this one “set up” as the battle for first place in the NFC North, as both the Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions are (6-4), 2 ahead of the disappointing G.B. Packers in that division.
Ah, but the Pack have won 4 Super Bowls, the Vikings are (0-4) in such games, never leading in one, while the Lions are the only one of the NFL teams formed before 1995, never to have made a Super Bowl.
“Minne,” which entered the league in 1961, has never won an “all the way” NFL crown (they won the last NFL title tilt in 1969, but lost the subsequent Supe to the AFL Kansas City Chiefs).
Detroit has won 4 NFL crowns, the last 59 years ago when they scored 59 points, in beating the Cleveland Browns, ending the great Jim Brown’s first season on a sour note.
Only the Sid Luckman led 1940 Chicago Bears in their legendary (73-0) win vs “Wash,” in the 1940 NFL title game, scored more points than the Lions’ 59, some 59 years ago in the 1957 title tilt.
Click below to view Eric Carmen and The Raspberries sing “Go All The Way.”
Raspberries Go All The Way Mike Douglas Show 1974
While I often “rail’ vs football and mean it, the NFL set up and regular season is done correctly and often provides intrigue, as the games remaining dwindle in number.
Thus I will at times, trust me rarely if ever, tune in WFAN, as I did yesterday.
Simply put, “here we go again,” with definitive statements regarding future outcomes, this time by WFAN personalities, Evan Roberts and Joe Boningo.
They declared the Houston Texans will win the AFC South Division. Their assertion was one of certainty.
I know they the Texans are (6-4), the Colts (5-5) and the Titans (5-6). I also know the Colts without Andrew Luck, Turkey Day night, are 9 point home underdogs vs the Steelers.
Additionally, the Texans are one and a half point home underdogs vs the Chargers.
What really tells me how much they have lost perspective, again declaring the favored outcome of a Houston division title a certainty (i.e.-they WILL win their division) is the fact they are only 2 and one quarter to one favorites to win the division. That also is the house line and thus the real probability is at best, two to one.
Put it this way, they are not certain division winners. I do not know Luck’s status for future games but they said it was certain, not even sure Luck would not play Thursday.
It is typical of sports talk radio. I try to have perspective and do, while invariably the talk radio hosts, commentators on games and of course most people, do not.
The two other instances when a team raised its World Series record to (3-8) with a title both manifested after a Dodgers’ win vs the Yankees.
Obviously most times a Dodgers’ win was the exception.
Also how could the Dodgers have raised their World Series record to (3-8) more than once?
In 1963, after the Dodgers swept the Yankees in 4 straight games, (Bill “Moose” Skowron so often a World Series participant and winner with the Yankees, really helped his Dodgers turn the tables), their World Series record was (3-8). They had lost in 1916, 1920, 1941, 1947, 1949, 1952, 1953, and 1956, the last 6 of the losses, to the vaunted Yankees.
After losing again to the Yankees in both the 1977 and 1978 World Series, (Reggie Jackson, as he did with Oakland in 1974 playing a big role in beating the dodgers in the World Series), the Dodgers’ record vs the Yankees in World Series play stood at (2-8).
The victories for the Dodgers were the lone Brooklyn title in 1955 and the aforementioned L.A. Dodgers’ 4 game sweep in 1963.
Thus after L.A. won in 6 vs Reggie and the Yankees in the 1981 World Series which followed a strike marred regular season, their record vs the Yankees in World Series play stood and still stands at (3-8).
Another note on the recent World Series.
For the third time, I am pretty certain in three World Series possibilities a (2-8) World Series record rose to (3-8) with the Cubs, first title in 108 years which denied the Indians first in 68.
The Cubs won the World Series with great teams in 1907 and 1908 part of a great run that manifested in 4 N.L. pennants in 5 seasons (1906-1910).
Two of those pennants, if you paid attention and deduce, 1906 and 1910 were followed by World Series losses.
This also was the case following Cubs’ pennants in 1918, 1929, 1932,1935,1938 and 1945.
Thus they took a (2-8) World Series record into the 2016 version.
“Chi” emerged victorious and raised their World Series mark to (3-8).
The two other W.S. examples (again I believe the only other two) in my next post.
There were four other games yesterday in which the teams scheduled to play this Thursday won and covered the spread.
Surprisingly and due to Nantz getting a normally Fox/Buck Seattle/Philly tilt, “The Emperor”Joe Buck and the officially annoying Troy Aikman (the former quarterback went on and on about a penalty on a defensive linemen late in the tilt. I would have said so what down 6, the crowd roaring, 50 seconds left it was not going to matter), were in “Minne” as the now (6-4) Vikings ended a 4 game loss skein, (minus 2 or so) (30-24) vs the (4-5-1) Arizona Cardinals. Minne is at Detroit in the traditional game Thursday. Of course there are now two other “traditional” games in the overexposed NFL.
Detroit also is (6-4) tied with “Minne” for the NFC North lead after covering late vs (2-8) Jacksonville. Was their 43 yard field goal with 22 seconds remaining that cov’d, necessary?
(5-5) Indy will host Pittsburgh, also (5-5) at night. The Colts of Indy won by 7, as 3 point faves vs Tennessee. Meanwhile Pitts won (24-9), as 8 point favorites vs the (0-10) Browns.
I am truly sorry about the predictions post going up late, not for the (1-1) or (2-3) record, though I was sloppy regarding Seattle/Philadelphia, as the latter had won vs Atlanta, the week before.
It is important you know, I noted the NFL wanting the teams to be playing on “Turkey Day,” to win the week before. Essentially I did so, warning “it does not always work out that way.”
No it does not always work out that way, but boy did it ever yesterday, as all six teams to be involved in Turkey day tilts, won and covered the spread.
For the record, Dallas minus 7, went to (9-1) winning by 10 points vs Baltimore, which is now (5-5).
“Wash” is (6-3-1) after ripping disappointing (4-6) Green Bay, (the Pack the only one of the 13 weekend underdogs to be “KO’d” in its “teaser.”).
Wash minus three won (42-24). For that matter only the day’s big upset, Tampa Bay going to (5-5) plus 7, by 2 at now (7-3) K.C. (Chiefs) produced another game in which a “teaser” was KO’d. Also that was one of only two games in which the underdog won outright, the other was the (5-5) Bills, a scant 2 point “dog” winning at (3-6-1) Cincy, whose coach Marvin Lewis, will finally be fired after the season. It is not all his fault, but you can not fire the team as the old saying goes. (Does the saying travel?).
More results and details in a later post.
Andy B Sports 