“My Perfect Mind,” part of the 2015 Brits Off Broadway festival, at 59E59 Theaters, is an extraordinary play co- starring two incredible actors, Edward Petherbridge and Paul Hunter, the latter dazzling at a frenetic pace. This was a performance!
The story is autobiographical concerning Mr. Petherbridge, who years back, just beginning rehearsals for his role as King Lear, suffered a stroke. He was not able to move but retained the words of the exalted role as “Lear,” in his mind.
Now at age 78, he moves, paints, deadpans amazing lines (he wrote the script along with Kathryn Hunter and co star Paul Hunter, the latter two related in their brilliance but not by blood) and gets to play King Lear at times, in a great show that touches on and brings out much of the good in the human spirit. Did I also mention it is hilarious?!!
Paul Hunter is also great, playing many roles with energy that amazed, at one point weaving back and forth on his feet and playing two roles as perhaps only a Muhammad Ali, (in a different vain) also known for moving and speaking, could match.
Their achievements are incredible. Petherbridge is a two time Tony Award nominee who also co-founded “The Actor’s Company” with the great Ian McKellen and had walk on parts in, speaking of greatness, Laurence Olivier’s Othello in 1964.
Mr. Hunter (Paul) is co-founder and artistic director of “Told by an Idiot” which brought us this incredible work.
Ms Hunter (Kathryn) also the play’s director, was the first British actress to play King Lear.
There were so many moments of wisdom, references and humor. One involved “Mr. Olivier” in conversation with Mr. Petherbridge lamenting that movies freeze the actors in time.
In some cases that is a good thing, moving me in a great way, beyond words. “My Perfect Mind” certainly did that.
I have not said enough good things about the Golden State Warriors’ (67-15) regular season and their (83-20) record which includes the playoffs), that culminated in their first title in 40 years.
They were truly great going from first round elimination under coach Mark Jackson last year, to a title under first year coach Steve Kerr this year.
The “link” between the two title teams in the winter sports leagues the NHL Chicago Blackhawks and the NBA Warriors is Golden state coach Steve Kerr, who won 5 titles as a player.
He won three of those titles as a Chicago player. The other two were with the San Antonio Spurs.
Also both the Warriors and Blackhawks won games 1 , 4 , 5 , and 6 in the finals. This is just the second time both the NBA and NHL champions won the exact numbered games in the finals series, that went at least six games, in the 68 possible seasons starting in 1947, (there being no NHL season or playoffs in 2005).
The other time was 2008 when the NBA Boston Celtics and NHL Detroit Red wings each won games 1 , 2 , 4 , and 6 to win titles.
Finally this stretch: Certainly it is noteworthy that as coaches and in the case of Pat Riley as a team executive, that Phil Jackson or Pat Riley were part of an incredible 25 of the 33 NBA finals contested from (1982-2014).
Perhaps one can say a Riley, in this case Warriors’ star Stephen Curry’s daughter, was a part of this one. Alas one might also say Pat Riley after being jilted by LeBron James’ move back to Cleveland again had a successful rooting interest in the NBA finals.
Steve Kerr
The Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks truly are a great organization–of course they are with the great Scotty Bowman a part of it. Bowman has now been a part of 14 Stanley Cup winning teams, including the Blackhawks, who have won three Stanley Cup crowns in the past six seasons.
Last year they lost a heartbreaking 7th game of the semi-finals to the eventual champion L.A. Kings, not exactly a bad playoffs showing.
This year’s final series vs the Tampa Bay Lightning followed the same pattern as the Blackhawks six game triumph in the Cup finals vs the Boston Bruins two years ago.
In both cases Chicago won the opening game on a Wednesday, lost games two and three on following Saturday and Monday before winning the last three on the next Wednesday, Saturday and Monday.
Teams winning the opening game of a Blackhawks’ final series have won 12 of the 13 series.
I also believe this was the first time a team winning game three of a (1-1) Stanley Cup final on the road lost the series. 14 previous teams in that scenario won the Stanley Cup before the Lightning failed to do so this season.
Scotty Bowman
One day after the Cleveland Cavaliers were denied in the NBA Finals by the Golden State Warriors extending the nearly 51 year title drought for Cleveland, the Chicago Cubs embarrassed the Cleveland Indians (17-0) in a baseball game in Cleveland.
The Cubs surely know about title droughts as no team has gone longer without a title than the Cubs, who last won the World Series in 1908. The Indians are the baseball team with the next longest drought, last winning the World Series in 1948. It was only one game, but Chicago which is celebrating another Blackhawks Stanley Cup with a parade and rally, has won 11 titles during the current nearly 51 year Cleveland title drought.
I watched none and I mean NONE of the NBA finals but taking my mother’s (so many mothers that it is a bromide) advice, that should I have nothing good to say in my subjective opinion of Disney/ABC/ESPN’s coverage, I will say nothing at all.
However, objectively their factual mistakes abound. In the chart below (from the NBA on ESPN twitter, and also linked on their ESPN site) they use the last title season and not the first year of the title drought. Hence while the numbers concerning the number of seasons between titles are correct, if one used the seasons on the chart, they would not be.
Example: Concerning the current champion Warriors, if the seasons involved were (1975-2014) as shown, the number of seasons between titles would be 40 not 39, the latter being the correct figure. The same applies for the other three teams in the chart.
The Golden State Warriors, whose (67-15) regular season record was one of the best in NBA history, won their first title in 40 years, winning (105-97) in game six at Cleveland, defeating the Cavaliers in 6 games.
Finals Series MVP Andre Iguodala and Stephen Curry each had 25 points in the series clinching game.
It is the 4th title for the Warriors franchise, the first two as the Philadelphia Warriors in 1947 and 1956, and as noted one 40 years ago in 1975, that as the Golden State Warriors.
All four Warriors titles were clinched in their first opportunity to do so, the first two as and in Philadelphia, the last two as Golden State and on the road.
Warriors’ coach Steve Kerr wins a title in his first year as a coach, adding to his winning ways.
Mr.Kerr played on 5 title teams as a player, two with the San Antonio Spurs and three with the Chicago Bulls.
Those Bulls teams had a radio analyst named John “Red” Kerr, a title winning player with the Syracuse Nationals (1955), the franchise that eventually replaced the Warriors in Philadelphia, as the 76ers.
The Chicago Blackhawks won their third Stanley Cup title in six seasons, clinching it with a (2-0) home win vs the Tampa Bay Lightning in game six.
This is the first time that the Blackhawks have clinched the Stanley Cup at home since 1938.
Defenseman Duncan Keith won the Conn Smythe Trophy and joined the great Bobby Orr, who did it twice (in 1970 and 1972), as the only defensemen to win the Smythe Trophy and get the Stanley Cup winning goal in the same playoff year.
Patrick Kane had the primary assist on Keith’s goal and added an insurance goal, taking a great pass from Brad Richards, who had 2 assists. (Just realized the Keith/Richards connection.)
Richards won the Conn Smythe Trophy playing for the Lightning when they won the Stanley Cup in 2004.
Goaltender Corey Crawford stopped all 25 shots by the Lightning on goal, in notching a shutout, as he now has been the goaltender on 2 Blackhawks’ title teams.
Stephen Curry scored 37 points as the Golden State Warriors pulled away in the fourth quarter and defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers (104-91) in game five to take a three games to two lead in the NBA finals.
The Warriors, who had a splendid (67-15) record though playing in the far tougher NBA Western Conference were nearly 10 point favorites in game 5 and are four point plus favorites, as they bid for their first NBA title in 40 years in game six Tuesday night in Cleveland, a city sans a major sports league title for 51 years.
The Cavaliers, though they finished with but a (53-29) record in the far weaker NBA East deserve credit in this series. This is especially true concerning LeBron James, who thrice in the series has scored 40 or more points and once tallied 39.
In six previous Warriors finals and one previous Cavaliers’ final series, only twice (1948 and 1967) was the title not clinched in the first possible opportunity.
The one in 1967 was a sad failure to do so for Wilt Chamberlain and certainly his fans, one of whom was me. Wilt’s Philadelphia 76ers failed to clinch the title in a nationally televised Sunday afternoon game 5, up 3 games to 1 vs the then San Francisco Warriors.
Philadelphia did win the title in game six but as I recall the game was in San Francisco the following Wednesday night, a late start in the eastern United States and was not televised nationally. Thus so many Wilt fans, including me, missed it.
For the record, an organization now defunct, the Baltimore Bullets, clinched the title in its second opportunity in game six vs the then Philadelphia Warriors in 1948.
All three Warriors’ titles, (in and as Philadelphia in 1947 and 1956 and as Golden State in 1975) were clinched in the first opportunity to do so, something the Warriors hope to accomplish again tomorrow night.
Click here to watch a rare video about the 1967 Philadelphia 76ers
Wilt Chamberlain in 1967
The Chicago Blackhawks hope to win their third Stanley Cup in six seasons, playing at home tonight in game six of the finals vs the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Blackhawks have not clinched the Stanley Cup at home since 1938, something they hope to change tonight.
In game five, for the second time in the series, Antoine Vermette had the final goal in a (2-1) Chicago victory in Tampa. it was the third Blackhawks’ (2-1) win in the series.
The Blackhawks won it all in 2010 and 2013, prior to that they lost in 5 straight NHL finals (1962, 1965, 1971, 1973, and 1992).
Twice before in 1934 and 1938 the Blackhawks clinched the Stanley Cup at home. Truly fascinating is that both times they did so with a player on their roster that had previously been on a Grey Cup winner in the Canadian Football League.
In 1934 Les Conacher, who later would serve in the House of Commons in Canada, was on Chicago’s home clinched Stanley Cup winning team, having been on a Grey Cup winner 13 years earlier.
In 1938, Frank Voss was credited with the Stanley Cup winning goal in the Blackhawks’ Stanley Cup home clinching game. 14 years earlier he had been on a Grey Cup champion.
Antoine Vermette
On the last day of the 1967 season the Boston Red Sox led by Carl Yastrzemski (who was brilliant in Boston’s stretch run) and pitcher Jim Lonborg (who that day won his 22nd game of the season), defeated the Minnesota Twins (5-3) and clinched at least a tie for the American League Pennant.
Then after the Detroit Tigers won the first game of a doubleheader vs the California Angels played roughly the same time as the Boston win, the Red Sox sat and listened to the broadcast of the Tigers/Angels second game.
The situation was that if the Angels won, then the Red Sox clinched their first pennant in 21 years. However, if the Angels won, then there would be a one game playoff for the A.L. flag between the Red Sox and Tigers.
The Angels won and the pennant was clinched for Boston when the Tigers’ Dick Mc Auliffe grounded into a double play for the only time all season.
It was quite a memorable race, of course one not possible now with the bogus wild card presence.
Andy B Sports 