For those who try to make “legal tender” guessing on pro football results, please consider the accuracy and tremendous skill, never more evident than in last week’s NFL “slots” games.
Incredibly the favored team not only won all four games but the line maker was only off the exact margin by an aggregate 8 points in the four games!
They also were accurate in their over/under perceptions as three of the four were within 6 points.
These “guys” (I am not sexist, in fact a bit of a feminist, but I doubt there are any girls in this process) are borderline genius and again please consider this before wagering or just do not risk it.
“Clever Little Lies” now playing at the Westside Theatre/Upstairs ( 407 West 43rd Street) is uproariously funny and also touches on so many aspects of family and romantic relationships.
The cast is superb! All four performers on stage performed brilliantly in this play by Joe DiPietro.
He wrote so many great lines, the fact we did not call phones, “landlines” in the not too distant past, being a personal highlight.
One can not go wrong starting with Marlo Thomas. How does a graph go off the charts in a positive fashion?
One way, there are few others, is to see someone you adore from her television work, thoughts, charitable endeavors and a personal meeting, and watch her superb comedic timing as evidenced in “Clever Little Lies.” That is the case with the fabulous Ms. Thomas.
Greg Mullavey, who also evokes treasured great performance memories, does so again.
As Marlo’s character “Alice’s” husband “Bill Sr.” Mullavey also gives a tremendous performance, really knocking the humor out of the park.
Playing the younger married couple children of Alice and Bill Sr. both George Merrick as Bill and Kate Wetherhead (Jane) join the humor “hit parade.”
Rarely, have I seen such live performance laughter combined so effectively, with a telling story and perhaps message for all of us.
Clever Little Lies tickets, Off-Broadway, New York, Play Tickets
Click above for ticket information.
Nothing has changed regarding the Cleveland Cavaliers’ situation despite all the hype about their loss to the defending champion Golden State Warriors in a meaningless game on Martin Luther King Day.
Cleveland and its hyped beyond reason star, LeBron James are still in the weak Eastern Conference and while the Warriors likely but not definitely will have to fend off the San Antonio Spurs just to make the finals, Cleveland appears to have no real competition in its way toward a second straight finals appearance.
In last year’s loss to the Warriors in the finals, James gained some “historic” points by playing well with all the injuries to his team.
However a) his team lost and b) he chose his team and his situation opting for the easy East and that is why despite all the hype by ESPN which is James/James/ James, I feel while he is a great player, even an all-time talent, he is not close to being one of the four greatest players ever as he purports to be.
As with Marco Polo, LeBron James has sought the comforts and advantages of the East.
While I am still not a big fan of their coach Mike Tomlin (see his decisions to go for field goals and not first downs or touchdowns in this year’s loss at Seattle vs the Seahawks and in a Supe win vs the Cardinals. Odd that the Steelers and Seahawks each lost in the divisional round on the same day while the Cardinals won in the round the night before.), the Pittsburgh steelers deserve much credit for a fine year and certainly great history.
Despite injuries that sidelined key players including brilliant receiver Antonio Brown, Pittsburgh battled in Denver before losing to the Broncos, a first divisional round loss for the superb Steelers’ quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger.
The Steelers are the leaders with 6 Super Bowl victories and are (15-8) in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs.
Until 1972 when they won a divisional round game on the “Immaculate Reception” Terry Bradshaw off John Fuqua? to Franco Harris, the Steelers had never won a post-season game.
They lost an Eastern Conference unscheduled playoff to the Philadelphia Eagles in 1947 and came close losing a showdown game at Yankee Stadium vs the New York Giants for the Eastern Conference title in 1963.
I listened to the great Marty Glickman calling a Frank Gifford one handed catch in that tilt. A nice memory as I was allowed to go to the hospital lobby taking a break from a visit to my grandmother, a patient there.
Antonio Brown, pictured above, and the Steelers had another good season.
It is bitter cold, Glenn Frey and David Bowie died, while flourishing Mike Francesa lied (see the Francesa altered the truth post).
So why not cheer myself with old baseball thoughts!
Notes from the process follow:
It started thinking about Al Luplow, who played for the New York Mets and Pittsburgh Pirates, but I remember best with the Cleveland Indians.
He once made an incredible catch robbing Red Sox player, and future Red Sox “Impossible Dream season” 1967 Red Sox pennant winning manager and Hall of Famer, Dick Williams of a home run.
Speaking of the Hall of Fame, I found and posted a link (below) to a fine read about this date in Cleveland baseball history, which is richly intertwined with the once great “Hall.”
Today in Tribe History: January 19, 1937
As I once found out the hard way driving a long way to sell what I thought was a fairly valuable Tom Seaver baseball card, the card with the Topps All Star rookie trophy superimposed (as with Al Luplow’s card pictured above) is not the rookie card, making it less valuable.
This will be quick and consider it a “throw my hands to the sky” complaint, as now before I could come close to finding words to express my love for David Bowie, another musical great/my time favorite, “Eagles” co founder, Glenn Frey has died.
The words of his family and fellow Eagles great Don Henley concerning their love and the incredible accomplishments of Glenn Frey are duly noted.
They knew him and it is a searing, terrible loss, all of us know or will know, losing family members or close friends.
After all both Damon Runyan (“life is 6 to 5 against you’) and Woody Allen, (he somehow has not only pondered but also produced words/thoughts/concepts, often humorous, about the ridiculous fact that we live knowing we are going to die), have articulated concerning the inevitable.
My thought here is about how a musical artist of one’s time can elicit a personal soundtrack of memories, that coarse through the bloodstream/brain impulse as bolts of emotion, so powerful, as not to be measured.
Such is the case for me, concerning the magnificent Glenn Frey and the Eagles.
Two of many follow.
“Sports searching” for the new Washington Capitals’ hockey games when I stopped the radio’s fine tuner above my bed, and first truly heard Glenn and the iconic group he co founded.
Sitting at Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada–the world falling apart around me, my father had died, and one he and I had watched run in rare great memories with Dad in tumultuous 1968, O.J. Simpson, was now “running” in a different way, not in a never forgotten way on the football field, but in something called a “White Bronco.”
Yet with their music that Friday night in June 1994, in the incredible, “look closely and there is something bigger” beautiful atmosphere, Glenn and the Eagles eased my pain of loneliness and loss.
He will continue to do so for millions with what he has left behind. Yet why oh why, so early, too soon, is he gone??
As my father often retorted, in a perhaps appropriate sardonic tone to some of my either inane (why did this “schmuck” manager sacrifice and not hit away) or unanswerable questions (why death)— WHY
Eagles – Hotel California Live. At The Capital Centre, 1977.
Glenn wrote it and performs “Hotel” at what was the NHL Washington Capitals home arena. Yes, a coincidence, a sign?
That same year someone else had seen the Eagles perform live. I will never forget his glowing review began with “they opened with “Hotel.” Yet it was me, She asked, if I wanted to play pool upstairs in the campus center. I responded that I did know how. You talk about REGRETS!
I will “shut up.” Click above to view Glenn Frey singing, as the Eagles perform their iconic song, now some significant time ago.
New York Post sports media writer, Phil Mushnick has written and talked about WFAN Radio’s Mike Francesa penchant to alter the truth.
Francesa did it again yesterday when he said that he had predicted the outright winner (not the point spread winner) in all 8 NFL post-season games which have been contested to this point.
He has predicted 7 of the 8 game winners and gone (5-2-1) vs the point spread.
I have detailed his predictions in 4 separate posts the last two weeks.
He predicted Cincinnati (Bengals) a three point underdog to win. They lost by two points giving him a point spread win which when he claimed a (3-1) point spread record for the wild card round was correct.
Repeating his claim of being correct on the winner of all 8 post-season games thus far is incorrect and the question is why he would state it?
The answer is because he can and that is pretty sad!
As far as game winners the above is truth, giving Francesa a “1” for each of his 4 game winner predictions.
However, the week before concerning the wild card round predictions, he does not get to spell “TRUTH” as the second game/u is not there. He picked Cincinnati and they lost to Pittsburgh. He claims the Cincinnati point spread victory and the Pittsburgh outright victory. That is not the truth!
It will be the defending Super Bowl champion, New England Patriots visiting the Denver Broncos in the AFC title game this Sunday.
It seemed very likely New England with a magic number of one and two games remaining for each team (for that matter, the Cincinnati Bengals as well) that if New England won in the division round, which of course they did to raise their record in that round to (10-2) in the Brady/Belichick era, the AFC title tilt would be in New England.
However, that did not happen and thus the Pats, who are (15-3) in home playoff games in the aforementioned great era, must travel to Denver.
The Pats are favored by three plus points at Denver, meaning they would have been huge 8 to 9 point favorites were the game in New England.
As he should, Jim Nantz, (dollars to donuts), will again mention that the Patriots and Broncos met in the first AFL game ever played. That game had some meaning and likely coverage as the first in a neophyte league.
Sunday’s upcoming tilt, with a Super Bowl berth on the line in a league that is a monolith, had to be beyond far fetched even to those with the most incredible imagination those 56 seasons ago.
The Carolina Panthers will be playing in the NFC title game for the fourth time in their 21 year history when they host the Arizona Cardinals in the late title tilt on Sunday.
It will be the first time that the Panthers host the title game.
They are 3 point favorites vs the Cardinals, who are in their second title game, having hosted and won the other one after the 2008 regular season.
The Cards just hosted a divisional round game for the first time.
Carolina lost at Green Bay vs the Packers in the 1996 NFC title game before splitting the next two.
The Panthers prevailed at Philadelphia vs the Eagles, the third straight Eagles’ title game loss (2001-2003), in 2003.
The Seattle Seahawks, whom the Panthers defeated yesterday in the slot 3 divisional round game, won at home vs Carolina after the 2005 season.
Carolina Panthers’ owner Jerry Richardson pictured above with quarterback Cam Newton, caught a touchdown pass from the great John Unitas in the Baltimore Colts’ 1959 title game victory.
Mr. Richardson used the bonus money from that game to help start his beyond successful Hardees franchise.
The Carolina Panthers’ eventual 7 point home win vs the Seattle Seahawks ends a nice four year run for the Seattle team.
They won and then lost in successive Super Bowl appearances in 2013 and 2014.
Today they suffered their second loss in the divisional round, after a wild card game win.
In 2012 they beat the Washington Redskins in a wild card round game and then fought back from a big deficit, to lead, only to lose at Atlanta vs the Falcons in the subsequent division round game.
They covered the point spread in defeat in that game, but did not in today’s game.
Their road record in post-season play fell to (3-10).
Pete Carroll pictured above, and his Seattle Seahawks lost a round later than the Green Bay packers last year. This year they both lose in the same divisional round, Seattle lasting less than 24 hours longer.
Barring injury, the NFC representative in the 50th “Supe” will have both a quarterback and head coach with 6 letters in his last name.
Andy B Sports 