In all of our lives, there is a long and winding road and thus The Beatles’ iconic hit song of the same name resonates, often exponentially, enhancing our memories both good and bad.
There was a great one for me, two nights back when as his lovely and talented wife Karon Kate Blackwell was singing “The Long and Winding Road” as part of a great show at Metropolitan Room in New York City, I looked in the “wings” (there is a Beatles, at least a Paul McCartney association there) and waiting to come back on stage, was the incredibly funny, comedic legend Marty Allen.
He is 94 years old and still able to dance a bit, tell a great joke and collaborate with Karon his wife of 32 years, to put on a great show at a great venue, Metropolitan Room in New York City.
Nostalgia was in the air and on the screen, as a priceless video of Mr. Allen with Martha Raye from the television show, “The Hollywood Palace” had the crowd laughing continually for the approximate 5 minute duration.
There were stories about legendary singers Sarah Vaughan and Nat King Cole, the latter the man who introduced Allen (and vice versa), to his superb partner, Steve Rossi.
I felt so good watching this incredible couple and was floored by Karon’s voice, range and song selections, including one in which her niece Molly, joined her on stage.
There were great “still” pictures showcasing Marty’s great career and one more video, resulting in Marty telling a great story about Dean Martin’s reaction to what happened in said video.
Marty met the Beatles, “cracking up” John Lennon, telling him they looked alike. Karon brought it close to full circle, with a Beatles’ medley.
That is where we came in, “the long and winding road,” that included Marty’s beyond brave efforts in global conflict, for which he was awarded The Soldier’s Medal, honoring extreme bravery.
Both Caron and Marty greeted the patrons warmly, posing for pictures and signing autographs. I asked Marty, who was born in Pittsburgh, if he perhaps recalled the Pirates and Paul Waner. He said Steelers and told of how when he was honored at his high school, someone wanted to meet him. It was the great Steelers’ player Franco Harris.
That great story capped an incredible evening.
Click below for information on events at Metropolitan Room
Metropolitan Room Manhattan, NYC, music, jazz, jazz club ..
Click below to view a performance by the fabulous team of Marty Allen and Steve Rossi
Both Karon Kate Blackwell and Marty Allen are warm, friendly people in addition to being very talented performers.
Somehow the coin we used found a clear place on his football card, maybe because he was such a fine receiver with the Detroit Lions.
On a day I thought of the one and only Michael Santasieri Jr. for other reasons, word came that Gail Cogdill, a star with the Lions and the absolute best at our coin/football card game (we had imagination and no video games to deter us) had died at the age of 79.
I certainly have distant recall of the Lions’ upset win vs the eventual 1962 NFL champion Green Bay Packers, in fact the only loss dealt the “Pack” that season.
Mr. Cogdill had a great game, catching two touchdown passes from Milt Plum. It seems he made a great finger tip catch in that tilt, as though the coin were coming to his card.
Whether in the reality of the NFL games, or in “our” coin-football card games, Gail Cogdill excelled.
Now after his death, and speaking to a harsh reality of football, Mr. Cogdill’s brain and brain stem will be examined, as part of a concussion study at Boston University.
I just realized that when Cogdill is asked by God how “he” kept making those catches, of all those coins for touchdowns in a great activity, he will not know to which God is referring.
Click below for more about Gail Cogdill.
Gail Cogdill, one of the all-time great Detroit Lions WRs, dies at 79
It was a card like, but not the one above, that somehow, defied the odds, as far too often for me vs Mr. Santasieri, the coin landed completely within the boundaries of Mr. Cogdill’s card for a touchdown.
I would not trade those memories for a football card or even much more.
Additionally I have good memories of Gail Cogdill in the NFL.
There will be a link below that actually represents something good posted on ESPN.com. Maybe the sun is out and I hear birds singing. Alas, let’s not get carried away but do enjoy the great Pete Rose talking about hitting with Alex Rodriguez and Frank Thomas.
In the video, Mr. Rose will reference a 5 hit performance, he achieved vs Hall of Fame pitcher Gaylord Perry on September 28, 1968.
Of course it is true, Rose has almost total recall of his career, another reason to admire him as he lived, ate and breathed baseball, as I once did.
His effort to achieve, the example he set, the belief in craft Mr.Rose exemplified, makes what non players, nowhere near perfect, “judge and jury,” purveyors of “absolute power,” which as Lord Acton famously said “corrupts absolutely,” entities like Bart Giamatti, Fay Vincent Bud Selig and Rob Manfred have done, in keeping Pete out of the Baseball Hall of Fame, ever more shameful.
Getting back into the “birds are singing” mode, if possible, in a future post I will talk about the five Hall of Fame players in that 9/28/1968 game, but alas, must also “descend” into the bad, but worthy anger regarding two associated with the game (obviously Pete is one, can you determine the other?), who are not in the no longer sacrosanct, Baseball Hall.
Click below
Did Pete Rose really go 5-for-5 off Gaylord Perry? es.pn/2ee0scA
John Dalberg-Acton, better known as Lord Acton and his timeless quotation pictured and cited above.
An early prediction for tomorrow’s Alabama vs Texas A&M game will follow.
It (18 points) just seems like to many points to be giving in a battle of (7-0) teams.
18 was the famous point spread when the New York Jets upset the Baltimore Colts, in the third Super Bowl, causing a “bridge jumper” to fall down.
Alas in that parlance, “give them a game.”
18 point favorite, Alabama 39 Texas A&M 27, in another CBS “over” and out.
The Robot “asked” me, why do I keep picking vs the great Alabama Crimson Tide?!
In a sensational game that capped a great 20th WNBA season, the second seed Los Angeles Sparks won their first title since 2002, with a (77-76) win at Minnesota, vs the defending champion and top seeded Lynx in the decisive 5th game of their WNBA finals series.
A basket by regular season MVP, Nneka Ogwumike with three seconds left were the last points of the WNBA season. Candace Parker scored 28 points and was named the MVP of the finals series.
The L.A. WNBA title came on the exact 28 year anniversary of the last Dodgers’ World Series win on October 20, 1988, also coming on a night the Cubs pivotal game 5 victory at L.A. made it unlikely, far from impossible that the Dodgers will end their title drought this season.
A word about the Lynx. They are a truly tremendous team that has three straight “odd year” titles and came so close to another one this season.
As was the case in 2003, the Chicago Cubs return home with a three games to two lead in the NLCS in a bid to end a long pennant drought.
In 2003, after losing game 5 at Florida vs the Marlins, the Cubs led (3-0) in the top of the 8th inning of game 6 in a bid to win their first pennant in 58 years. They failed to do so.
Now in 2016, the Cubs led by shortstop Addison Russell, who hit key home runs in both games four and five at L.A. vs the Dodgers, have the (3-2) series leads after winning a pair of seemingly interminable, essentially boring games, in numbers 4 and 5.
Game 6 is Saturday night in Wrigley Field.
He certainly bothers me less than he once did, as he does offer criticism, however, the unchanged allowance of Christopher Russo sprouting off factual mistakes, is starting to bring back the harsh reality that the need to be accurate, has taken a back seat to just saying anything, perceived mildly entertaining.
Russo and certainly the staff at MLB Network on the show “High Heat,” which really should not be cited, deserve criticism and then some, for lack of preparation.
Believe me, Russo makes many more factual errors as he rants on sans “fact checking,” but here are two from today.
Orel Hershiser, who had started in game 3 the day before, did NOT pitch 3 innings in game 4 of the 1988 NLCS as Russo said he did. He faced one batter, getting the Mets’ Kevin McReynolds to fly out to an oncoming John Shelby, to end the game.
The score of the Indians’ win in game 1 of the just completed ALCS was NOT (2-1), it was TWO to NOTHING.
Yesterday four Cleveland pitchers (none named Grover or Reggie) combined on a 6 hit shutout, at Toronto, vs the Blue Jays, in a (3-0) win, manifesting in the team’s 6th pennant.
(2-3) in previous World Series, the Cleveland team will open a World Series at home for the first time in history, a scant 11 days after opening a series as late as an LCS, at home, for the first time.
Truly amazing, is that on the night of the World Series opener, the basketball Cleveland Cavaliers will open defense of their NBA title. They ended a nearly 52 year title drought in Cleveland, and will receive honors the same night, a bit over a third of a year later.
Simultaneously, Cleveland will begin a best of seven World Series, hoping to end a drought that has lasted 68 years and included 3 World Series losses, since last winning it all in 1948.
Tonight in Minnesota, for the second straight season the WNBA title will be determined in a decisive game there. Last year, the Lynx prevailed to win a third straight “odd year” WNBA crown (2011, 2013 ,2015).
The Minnesota Lynx are 6 point favorites vs the Los Angeles Sparks as they bid for their fourth title in six seasons. the Sparks have not “titled” since ex Lakers’ great Michael Cooper coached them to consecutive WNBA crowns in 2001 and 2002.
Minneapolis was once the home of the Lakers, a team that won 5 NBA titles in 6 seasons (1949, 1950, and (1952-1954). In Los Angeles, the Lakers have won 11 NBA crowns.
There have been 8 previous “winner take all” WNBA finals games with the home team winning seven.
Speaking of 7, the Minnesota area has played in 5 “winner take all” game 7’s, all at home winning four.
The Lakers won such games in the 1952 and 1954 NBA Finals. Meanwhile the baseball Twins (11-1) in 12 World Series home games, won the title in a home game 7 in both 1987 and 1991. The only loss in a home World Series game for the Twins (0-9 as the Twins in World Series road games), was game 7 in 1965 when Sandy Koufax pitched the Dodgers to a (2-0) win and the ’65 title.
Now approximately 51 years and a week later also on a Thursday it is L.A. at Minnesota for a league crown and do not tell anyone but the Dodgers play a pivotal game 5 of a “semi-final” series at home tonight, as well.
All this while the NLCS stands 2 games to 1 in favor of the L.A. Dodgers vs the 103 win, top seed Cubs, here are some more notes about (3-0) baseball postseason series.
The win by the Jays broke a 9 game streak in which a series with a team up (3-0) ended in 4 games. That streak included 4 World Series (2004, 2005, 2007 and 2012), 3 ALCS (2006, 2012 and 2014) and two NLCS (2007 and 2015).
The 2004 ALCS when the Boston Red Sox overcame a (3-0) deficit and won the series was the last time a team down (3-0) won game four.
Before that, the last two times a team down (3-0) won the 5th game were in the only two series in which a team also won game 5 before bowing out in game six.
Those occurred in back to back years, each NLCS ending in Atlanta. In 1999, the San Diego Padres had a (3-0) NLCS lead but lost games 4 and 5 at home. However, they prevailed in game 6 at Atlanta to win the series.
The next year the Braves had a (3-0) NLCS lead before losing games 4 and 5 at Shea stadium vs the New York Mets. However, Atlanta prevailed in an extra inning thriller to take the series and N.L. pennant in game 6.
Both the Padres and Braves were swept in 4 straight games in the subsequent World Series by the New York Yankees.
There have been 3 World Series in which a team led (3-0) and won in 5 games. The first was in 1910 with the Philadelphia A’s beating the Cubs. Next was 1937 with the Yankees “5 ing” the New York Giants.
The other one was in 1970, the Brooks Robinson led Baltimore Orioles 5 game triumph vs the Cincinnati Reds. Then in game 5, the O’s leading (3-1) in games, beat a pitcher named Merritt, (Jim), though he was staked to a (3-0) 1st inning lead on the road.
In moments, the Indians hope to end a once (3-0) series in 5 games, this time with a Merritt (Ryan) the starting pitcher for the winning, road team.
Who but me, would cite these facts?!
The great Brooks Robinson, pictured above.
