I always try to see the credits after movies and many times it pays off with some good information.
Such was the case after “Field of Dreams” aired on TCM yesterday.
The credits revealed that the assistant baseball advisor/coach on the movie was former major league player, Don Buford. Good memories come to mind.
Don is best known as the leadoff hitter on some great Baltimore Orioles’ teams. The O’s won three consecutive pennants and one World Series from (1969-1971).
He lead off the bottom of the first inning in game one of the 1969 World series with a home run.
His former Chicago White Sox teammate, Tommie Agee did the same in game three playing for the New York Mets.
Another former White Sox teammate and 1969 Mets player, Al Weis hit the tying home run in game five.
The Olympics are not for me even if the United States won a non medal round game from Russia in ice hockey.
So instead, more thoughts on football and they are about the Seattle Seahawks.
They were a 1976 expansion team. One of their few outstanding players in their earlier days was Steve Largent. He later became a member of The United States House of Representatives.
Their first coach was Jack Patera now 80 years old. This year’s Seahawks were among the all time great defensive teams. Patera coached the defensive line at Los Angeles with the Rams. It was an all time great unit known as “The Fearsome Foursome.”
Want Olympics? Jack’s younger brother is Ken Patera, now 70 years old, a former Olympics weightlifter and professional wrestler.
Jack Patera
Ken Patera
“Dinner with Friends,” now playing at Laura Pels Theatre (111 West 46th Street), is an extremely well written play by Donald Margulies that explores marriage and friendship in a humorous but forthright, revealing way.
Another measure of the writing in “Dinner With Friends” is that it is a Pulitzer Prize winning play.
The cast of four were all excellent, each one displaying well timed humor and some entry into their character’s inner feelings.
“Gabe,” played by Jeremy Shamos is married to “Karen,” who is played by Marin Hinkle. The latter is best known to television audiences as “Judith” on “Two and a Half Men.”
They are the staple couple, even providing great food at their gatherings with “Tom” played by Darren Pettie and “Beth” played by Heather Burns.
An announcement by Burns’ “Beth” sets the story in motion and takes the audience on a meaningful journey into the vicissitudes of relationships; in this case marriages and friendships.
Jeremy Shamos and Marin Hinkle in “Dinner With Friends”
I truly get involved with the NHL playoffs. There will be many posts as 16 playoff participants will battle for the Stanley Cup.
Regular season hockey, due to the fact 16 teams make the playoffs, does little for me, save going to an occasional game.
With the NHL on an Olympics break, only one team, the Pittsburgh Penguins, has a big lead in its division. They are 16 points ahead.
Both the Anaheim Ducks and Boston Bruins, each a relatively recent Stanley Cup winner, have a 7 point lead in their division.
The other division has a tie at the top with the defending champion Chicago Blackhawks, who have won two of the last four championships, as one of the teams.
The other is the team that has gone the longest without its first NHL championship. That team is the St. Louis Blues, an NHL expansion team in 1967.
There are few NFL teams which had as great a season as the 2013 Seattle Seahawks.
First of all, the performance of their defense, especially the secondary, in this time of pass happy rules and games, was truly astounding.
Their dominance of the Denver Broncos is well documented. Earlier in the playoffs, they struggled to beat an excellent, albeit sans title, San Francisco 49ers team in the conference title game.
Seattle won fairly easily against a very good New Orleans Saints team in the divisional round.
Their regular season was impressive, a (13-3) record which included home routs of the 49ers and Saints.
All three losses were in close games. As stated in our December 10th post, the loss at S.F. showed me how good the Seahawks were.
Despite one of the great seasons, they are not the greatest team ever, not really close at this point. However, potential is there for a great run. Let’s see what transpires.
“Bronx Bombers,” currently playing at the Circle in the Square theater, brought out positive emotions in me that I did not know existed.
As with “not having to be Jewish to like Levy’s rye bread,” one does not have to be a New York Yankees fan to enjoy “Bronx Bombers.”
Peter Scolari as Yogi Berra is brilliant. His timing on the so called “yogisms,” which are generously sprinkled throughout the play, is impeccable.
His real life wife, Tracy Shayne, plays Yogi’s wife, Carmen. They are terrific together.
All the actors contribute and without giving anything away, only the Yankees, among sports teams, can produce the quality and quantity of player legends.
Those legends come to life in a heartwarming way in this very well staged production.
Peter Scolari and Tracy Shayne as Yogi and Carmen
Both the pro and college football championship quarterbacks this year are black and have last names beginning with the letter “W.”
The only other black quarterback to win a Super Bowl also had a last name that started with “W.” That year (1987), the college football champion quarterback’s name also started with W.
He was white and doesn’t white begin with a “W?”
This year’s Super Bowl winning quarterback is Russell Wilson, who went to Wisconsin University. Count the “W’s.”
This year’s college champion’s quarterback is Jameis Winston of Florida State University.
In 1987, the only other time a black quarterback won the Supe, it was Doug Williams of the Washington Redskins.
Both black Super bowl winning quarterbacks played for a “W”ashington team; Wilson representing the state and Williams the nation’s capital.
Steve Walsh, who is white, the 1987 champion college quarterback played at Miami University. An “M” is a “W” turned upside down.
Russell Wilson
Ralph Kiner died yesterday at the age of 91. He was one of the greatest home run hitters in baseball history and a personable, entertaining New York Mets’ broadcaster in all 52 of their seasons to date.
He was one of the three Mets’ broadcasters along with Lindsey Nelson and Bob Murphy from (1962-1978). They were an outstanding trio broadcasting on both radio and television.
Kiner was on radio in the top of the ninth inning of game three of the 1969 NLCS. The Atlanta Braves were down to their last out. The pitcher was Nolan Ryan in relief, the batter Tony Gonzalez.
Kiner intoned “a curve tapped out to third, Garrett(Wayne), has the ball, the throw to first and the Mets are the National League champions!!” A great call and memory!
I met Kiner a few times, the last was a couple of years back when Ralph was approaching his 90th Birthday. His memory at his advanced age was sometimes cloudy at this point. We were siting in the press room at Citi Field when he could not remember which Cardinals’ pitcher surrendered his first hit, and I reminded him it was Johnny Beazley. Helping Ralph to recall such a significant moment in his career made me feel good.
Cue the heavenly broadcast: “This is Lindsey Nelson with Bob Murphy and Ralph Kiner.” Then the signal fades. If only we knew from where it originated. If only we could hear more!
Ralph Kiner and Elizabeth Taylor
Maximilian Schell, who died last week at age 82, was one of the greatest actors in history. Few if any gave performances as great as he did both in film and on the stage.
As “The Man in the Glass Booth,” not only was his performance in the film “relevant,” as his accused war criminal character intoned, but among the best you will ever see.
Schell won the 1961 Academy Award for “Judgment at Nuremberg” and was nominated for his performance in “The Man in the Glass Booth”
Far deeper, brighter and cogent people than me, could not possibly justify, rationalize or even find any understanding regarding the horrors of events in Europe during the 1930’s and 40’s.
Tragically and criminally, people were systematically killed.
In watching Schell in both “Judgment” and “Glass Booth” one can gain insight into the complexities of sick, disturbed evil. He was a refugee from those horrors in real life, yet he was great and convincing in his roles as a war criminal, in “The Man in the Glass Booth,” and a defense attorney for them, in “Judgment at Nuremberg.”
Maybe Mr. Schell in “heaven,” can help create a karma that will trend toward good, or at least far from such horrible evil on this oh so vulnerable planet.
The Seattle Seahawks first Super Bowl victory reduced the number of franchises without a Super Bowl victory to 13.
Only four teams, the Detroit Lions, Houston Texans, Jacksonville Jaguars and Cleveland Browns have never been to a Super bowl.
And the Lions are the only team to have been around for all 48 Super Bowl seasons and never made one. They have only been to one semi-final/conference title game.
The Texans, Jaguars and Browns were expansion teams. The Jaguars have played 19 seasons. The Browns have played 15 seasons while the Texans have played 12 seasons.
Both the Minnesota Vikings and Buffalo Bills are (0-4) in Super Bowls.
The Cincinnati Bengals and Philadelphia Eagles are each (0-2). That leaves five teams with a loss in their only Super Bowl appearance.
Those teams are the Arizona Cardinals, Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, Tennessee Titans and the San Diego Chargers.
