I am currently reading “Delta Lady” a memoir by the great singer, beautiful and nice Rita Coolidge with author, Michael Walker.
Reading about half, I must tell you and go get this revealing, honest and interesting book about Rita’s life.
There is so much music history to devour, interesting personal stories to be read all one gets the feeling from Ms. Coolidge’s heart. Music greats such as Eric Clapton, Joe Cocker and others fill the pages but most of all there is Rita Coolidge and she did and continues to do so much in the world of music.
She is classy in telling the story, which does not surprise me.
I had the good fortune to meet Rita some time back and she took ample time to engage in conversation and take photos with her fans and friends.
Click below to read a previous post about the spectacular Rita Coolidge
From time to time, I will cite a baseball game during the long but not as important baseball regular season.
Surely the games on a broad level are not that important but even their limited importance is diminished with the presence of wild card teams.
Yesterday the defending NBA champion, Golden State Warriors, in an exponentially more important game entered the final quarter trailing at Oklahoma City vs the Thunder by 8 points, a tough situation.
However, again in a game so much less important, that situation paled in comparison to the Warriors’ baseball champion, counterparts, the Kansas City Royals’ situation, earlier in the day.
K.C. trailed (7-1) entering the bottom of the ninth inning but rallied for 7 runs to win (8-7). Among other manifestations, the games yesterday resulted in the Cleveland Indians, sans a World Series win since 1948, into first place in the A.L. Central.
Klay Thompson, the son of Mychal Thompson who played on 2 straight Los Angeles Lakers’ title teams (1987 and 1988), scored 41 points, hitting a playoffs record 11 three point shots, as the Warriors kept their hopes alive for a second straight NBA title, winning by 7–(koing “OKC” (minus 3 and a half) ten point “weasers”), in game 6, at Oklahoma City, vs the Thunder.
Steph Curry scored 31 points hitting key shots, as the Warriors forced a deciding game on Monday night, which will conflict, if you will, with game 1 of the NHL finals, also involving a Northern California team, the San Jose Sharks, though that tilt will be in Pittsburgh.
Golden State hopes this series and for that matter the finals, resembles 1975, not 1976.
In 1975, an upstart Warriors’ team led by Rick Barry and a rookie then known as Keith Wilkes soon after, Jamaal Wilkes, won at Chicago vs the Bulls in game 6 and then at home in a late night CBS telecast in game 7.
They went on to shock the favored Washington Bullets in 4 straight games in the finals, a truly great feat, albeit one aided by the unusual finals home/away configuration, which enabled the underdog Warriors to play games 2 and 3 at home, in that case a former home was used, the legendary Cow Palace.
However, as big semi-final series favorites vs the Phoenix Suns and with the best record in the regular season, they lost at home in a game 7 “dark match” (a professional wrestling term for something/an exhibition not seen or at least televised), think about that, on a Sunday afternoon, no less!
Golden State is a seven and a half point favorite in game 7 and while I offer no prediction, (pretty sure the game will be reasonably close), the game will be televised on TNT and the great play by play announcer, Marv Albert will be there.
One other certainty, this one unfortunate, two former players, the great Reggie Miller and very good Chris Webber, though neither ever titled in the pros nor college, (Webber was part of the vastly over rated, so called “Fab 5,” at Michigan University, a team that lost 2 straight NCAA finals, no real shame, but considering their hype, perhaps more than that result normally yields. The second loss was considerably aided by Webber calling a timeout his team did not have, resulting in a technical foul), will talk non stop and take away much of the joy in hearing Albert’s last broadcast of this season.
That is because Mike Breen, at best a serviceable announcer, will be on the NBA finals for the 11th straight season and though his being “drowned out” is no big loss, what manifests–two more “never a title, non stop talkers,” Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson almost never being silent, mean(s) no sound for me!
Klay Thompson, pictured above.
Sorry Mets’ fans and I need not apologize on this celebration day THERE of the 1986 Mets and their title, as that post-season I “willed,” in the last year before their bad associations, but it was Chase Utley’s incredibly clutch game tying extra base hit that stands out most, save the final result, concerning last night’s Mets’ win vs the L.A. Dodgers.
A distinguished Mets’ affiliate, their long time broadcaster, Ralph Kiner talked often of the tying hit being more important than the winning hit.
In fairness, Utley’s team lost, as they did after all the catcalls on him in last year’s division series.
Yet “loose” and tied and at home, I do not do cartwheels over Curtis Granderson’s home run, though it won the game.
That type hit is not unusual (break out the Tom Jones and condolences to him on the loss of his wife) but for a player to produce a 3 run extra base hit, even forgetting the “extra cirriculars,” on the road, that to me is the greater story and feat.
Tom Jones, pictured above.
The hit last night by Chase Utley, in that situation, was unusual.
Click below to view Tom Jones sing “It’s Not Unusual.”
Tom Jones – “It’s Not Unusual” on The Ed Sullivan Show
Tonight, perhaps surprisingly, the Oklahoma City Thunder have been bet from 2 to 3 point favorites vs the 73 win, defending NBA champion, Golden State Warriors, as they hope to earn a spot vs the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals which will begin next Thursday, June 2nd.
Huge underdogs when the series began, the Thunder were slight underdogs in their two easy home wins vs the Warriors in games 3 and 4.
There is much one can say about this game, the odds, such machinations about the insidious subculture of gambling but more than anything as one who once loved sports and as with too many people in this society fell victim to the title means all or way too much attitude, it is the glaring difference in the road to the finals Cleveland took and the Thunder/Warriors winner will have taken when the NBA finals begin—that truly irks and consumes me.
The Warriors won 73 games and have to deal with a team as good as the Thunder, the alternative was a 67 win San Antonio Spurs team.
“OKC” (which won 55 games in the mighty West two less than the Cavaliers managed in the woeful NBA East thus Cleveland, in a bid for the city’s first title since a true great Jim Brown and the Cleveland Browns won it all in 1964, would have home advantage vs the Thunder) had to beat the Spurs and still need one more win against the record setting Warriors to reach the finals.
Meanwhile the Cavaliers started their season knowing a finals berth was theirs. James, as stated here before, a magnificent player one hyped far too much both good and bad in his ballyhooed career, knew the East was weak and the Cavaliers a team he left years back were a good choice for him.
They were a blue chip stock, virtual certainty to win the NBA East and for the second straight season the Cleveland Cavaliers did so, finishing off the Toronto Raptors with a resounding win at Toronto, in game 6 last night.
All four Cleveland wins in the series were by huge margins, and the oddsmakers and even the know it all, often wrong, on air commentators were correct, in giving the Raptors virtually no chance to win the series.
LeBron James, a truly great basketball player, led the Cavs with 33 points, in the clinching win, that sends James to his 6th straight NBA Finals series, the first four with the Miami Heat.
Kyrie Irving had 30 points while Kevin Love added 20 points and 12 rebounds.
The city of Toronto has now lost in all 5 of its semi-finals appearances since the baseball Blue Jays won its “semi”/ALCS vs the Chicago White Sox en route to a second straight World Series win in 1993.
LeBron James
It is great to watch such shows as “What’s My Line” and “To Tell the Truth” and on Buzzer T.V.
“To Tell the Truth,” is not only interesting as to the accomplished, but not all that known person, but the so called impostors, often truly accomplished people as well.
Jimmy Carter was on “To Tell the Truth,” as the governor of Georgia, not long before becoming United States president.
The other day I saw the accomplished, classy panel show mainstay, Arlene Francis methodically guess Pearl Bailey as the mystery guest on “What’s My Line.”
This was really great television and it is great that is has been preserved and airs on Buzzer T.V.
The great Arlene Francis, pictured above.
I doubt “The DiMaggio greatness,” no matter the “form,” at this point, was worried about a fine young Boston Red Sox player Jackie Bradley Jr., whose hitting streak was snapped at 29 games yesterday, breaking Joe DiMaggio’s record 56 game hitting streak.
However, the Boston Red Sox team record of hitting in 34 straight games by Dominic DiMaggio, was in jeapordy.
Nothing against Jackie Bradley Jr, but I am glad Dom’s record still stands, as he was not only a tremendous player, (not on the level of his brother, almost nobody is) but also an understated, classy individual.
Dom forged lifetime friendships with glorious Red Sox teammates such as Bobby Doerr, Johnny Pesky and Ted Williams.
Dominic DiMaggio on the left, Joe DiMaggio on the right, pictured above.
The Pittsburgh Penguins advanced to their 5th Stanley Cup Final, first since 2009 and ended a 5 game home, game 7 losing streak in the “Steel City,” as perhaps appropriately named, Bryan RUST, led the way, scoring both goals in a (2-1) victory vs the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Matt Murray stopped 16 shots, while Pittsburgh a victor in a home game 7 for the first time since the 1991 preliminary round vs the New Jersey Devils en route to their first title, (they are 3-1 in previous Stanley Cup finals) peppered Lightning goaltender, Andrei Vasilevskiy, who was outstanding in defeat, with 37 shots.
By the way, that prelim was Jaromir Jagr’s first playoff series. He had an overtime goal in game 2 of that series and incredibly, played in another preliminary round playoff series, albeit a losing one, 25 years later, about a month ago for the Florida Panthers.
As for the other Florida NHL team, the Tampa Bay Lightning, this time the failure to wrap up their semi-final series at home in game 6, proved costly, as they could not duplicate last year’s game 7 semi-finals road win at New York vs the Rangers. They are (2-2) in semis, all 7 game affairs.
Meanwhile, the Penguins move on to the Stanley Cup Finals vs the San Jose Sharks. Pittsburgh will be a series favorite with the action to begin Monday night in the “Steel” or should I say “Rust” city.
It was quite a performance by Bryan Rust in game 7, evoking memories of Maxime Talbot’s 2 goal brilliance, in an even bigger Penguins’ (2-1) game 7 win, in the 2009 Stanley Cup Final, won by the Penguins.
So what really changed after the two much hyped series between the N.L. East leaders, the New York Mets and Washington Nationals?!
In New York, the Nationals won two of three games, before the Mets won two of three in the just completed series in Washington D.C.
Going into play tonight, (Washington hosts the St. Louis Cardinals while the Mets are idle), the Nationals have a half game lead.
I will say this, that as with another Washington hopeful, Hillary Clinton, the Nationals could have and perhaps should have a bigger lead.
Andy B Sports 