Greatest Song Evah 12/8/23

Haven’t Got A Clue

Dramarama just barely missed hitting the commercial jackpot. They have a handful of songs that remain in rotation for alternative or more adventurous rock stations, but a true breakthrough just didn’t happen for them. That’s a shame; this week’s selection is just as good as any other rock song that came out in the early 90’s.

One of the things I really like about this track is that it doesn’t sound too beholden to its era. If you had heard this today for the first time and been asked when it was recorded, I’m not certain if there would be an obvious answer. It’s not a huge leap of faith to think that this could have been produced either a decade earlier or a decade later and not sound much different.

One quick note on the video, which prominently features Clem Burke playing drums. This came out in the period in which Blondie was inactive and Burke served in a Have Drum, Will Travel role. He briefly served as Dramarama’s drummer, but he doesn’t actually play on this track. He joined the band and toured with them shortly after the album this track came from was recorded, but he didn’t appear on a Dramarama recording until the followup album. And in an odd twist, the guitarist on the song is Mick Taylor, yet he’s not in the video.

The Countdown Continues

Newcomer #8 - Bartolo Colon. Colon spent 21 seasons in the major leagues, eventually turning himself into one of the biggest fan favorites of his era. His unique physique had a lot to do with that; it made him seem a lot more relatable to the average fan. But even though he had a noticeable gut in his later years, he was in much better shape than he appeared - he often shared videos of his offseason workouts, and the guy was a physical marvel.

He successfully made the transition from a hard thrower early in his career into a master craftsman as the years took their toll. His most notable achievements were a Cy Young Award in 2005 and the record for most career victories by a Latin American pitcher, a distinction likely to last for a long time.

Don’t worry, I won’t overlook the moment for which he will be best remembered. A notoriously poor hitter even by the standards of a typical pitcher, he hit one of the most unexpected home runs imaginable. Everything about this moment is pure joy, from Gary Cohen’s call to the reaction from his teammates. Colon will not make the Hall of Fame, but there are so many HOF players who never created a memory as gleeful as this one. That’s a pretty good legacy.

One final note, which is apropos to Hall discussions. He also has a PED suspension on his record. This is exactly why I don’t act as an armchair detective. People are too quick to scream “j’accuse!” at any player with muscles. Colon never had a cartoonishly muscular build. I prefer concrete evidence before I accuse a player of doing something fishy, looks can be deceiving.

Holdover #8 - Mark Buehrle. I don’t know if you can come up with a better example of a guy who put together an outstanding, highlight-filled career that just doesn’t add up to HOF caliber. More than 200 career victories, 5 All-Star Games, 4 Gold Gloves, 2 no-hitters (including a perfect game) and a World Series championship. He rarely missed a start, and annually ranked among the league leaders in innings pitched. In fact, over the course of his 15 seasons as a starting pitcher, his final year in the majors was the only one in which he did not total more than 200 innings, and even in that year he finished at 198.2. That is some impressive durability, which is even more striking when contrasted with current pitcher usage.

He still falls shy of some necessary markers. He just didn’t cross the line into objective greatness frequently enough. He only received down ballot Cy Young Award votes once, which suggests that he was consistently one of the say, 10 best pitchers in the league, but not top 5. That’s a crucial distinction. His lowest single season ERA was 3.12, and his totals were usually in the high 3’s or low 4’s. That might be an unfair criticism, as he pitched in a high offense era, so ERA+ is a more accurate stat to properly evaluate him. He was generally in the 110 range, only finishing above 130 3 times, making him well above average but rarely elite.

With starting pitcher usage having changed so radically in only one generation, it will be interesting to see how a pitcher such as Buehrle will seem from a different perspective several years down the road. But for HOF purposes a candidate shouldn’t be compared to contemporary players, he should be compared to his peers. That puts him in more of a Jon Lester/John Lackey category; fantastic career but not a HOF one.

If A Winter Meeting Falls In The Forest, Does It Make a Sound?

I think most people anticipated that the amount of activity seen at the winter meetings this year hinged on the pace of Shohei Ohtani’s decision. As expected, he is still listening to sales pitches. This resulted in one of the quietest winter meetings in memory. It seems fitting that the first blockbuster deal of the offseason wasn’t completed until the meetings actually ended & team representatives began to head home.

Ohtani has every right to take as much time as he needs. The issue is that what’s good for him is not necessarily what’s good for those of us constantly hitting “refresh” on our browsers in anticipation of big deals. In addition, several prominent writers complained about the lack of news. I can see both sides of the issue. Yes, the week is much more thrilling when news alerts keep coming out informing us of a new signing. That’s not happening this year because it’s tough for a club to make a major move when there is ambiguity over Ohtani’s next step. But the writers’ complaints seem overly self-serving. Ohtani will eventually sign a huge contract, perhaps as soon as next week. Once that happens, the Jenga tower will collapse and the rest of the “A” list names will begin to reach contract agreements. The feeding frenzy will simply happen a week or two later than it usually does.

As for the one big move that happened, the Yankees/Juan Soto matchup seemed inevitable. As a Mets fan I had been enjoying seeing Hal Steinbrenner’s reluctance to open up the checkbook the last couple of years, but it looks like the Yankees are once again acting like the Yankees. It was a nice run while it lasted. This was a trade they needed to make; it’s shocking how weak their lineup was last season. Even with Soto’s addition are still holes in that lineup. DJ LeMahieu looks done, and this year will tell us how much of Anthony Rizzo’s poor second half was due to his concussion and how much was due to age. On a positive note I can see a big leap forward for Anthony Volpe in his sophomore season. And that Aaron Judge/Juan Soto combo is a tough gauntlet for opposing pitchers to face. I still don’t think enough people fully appreciate just how good Soto is. On the other hand, people are also overestimating how much he’ll benefit from the short right field porch at Yankee Stadium. He’s not a pure pull hitter; he hits to all fields. Statcast has already estimated that last season he would have actually hit fewer homers had he been a Yankee, as some of his opposite field home runs would not have made it out of Yankee Stadium’s deep left field. But if he takes his same approach next year he can rack up a lot of doubles.

Bottom line, it’s still too early in the offseason to make any definitive judgement, but signs point to the Yankees reactivating Evil Empire mode.

The Media Honorees

I know that this is a fight I have no hope of winning, but let me have an “um, actually” moment here. This week the Hall of Fame announced the 2024 recipients of the BBWAA Career Excellence Award & the Ford Frick Award. Neither of the winners are to be full inductees next summer; they make their speeches at a smaller ceremony held the day before the actual induction. And despite the fact that the phrases “writer’s wing” and “broadcaster’s wing” have both long entered the vernacular, such wings do not exist.

With that said, both awards are extremely prestigious; the highest accolades one can receive in either profession. The writer’s award goes to Gerry Fraley of the Dallas Morning News. This one generally receives less attention than the other. Since most writers work for their local newspapers relatively few recipients of the award have much of a national presence. So many people were so happy when Tim Kurkjian won the honor a couple of years ago, but that’s one of the rare exceptions. Sportswriters just don’t generate the same warm fuzzy feelings that broadcasters do.

And the Ford Frick winner is almost always greeted with near universal cheers. The award occasionally goes to a national name, but the majority of the time the honoree is a broadcaster who has been broadcasting a team’s games for decades. The everyday nature of a baseball season creates an atmosphere in which your favorite team’s lead voice almost seems like a part of the family. Such is the case with this year’s winner, Joe Castiglione. He briefly worked in Cleveland & in Milwaukee at the beginning of his career, but he has been the play-by-play guy for the Red Sox since 1983. That means he not only called Carl Yastrzemski games, but he is also the man who had the honor of becoming the first man to sit behind the mic to make the local radio call for a Boston Red Sox World Series victory. (The Sox’ victories in 1918 & earlier predated radio.) I’m not gonna lie, as a Mets fan I was rooting for Gary Cohen. But I know his time will come; you literally could not go wrong with any of this year’s finalists. Castiglione is a beloved figure in New England and richly deserving of the award.

Major congrats to both Fraley & Castiglione. The next step should be to give the writer’s award a new name. For decades it was known as the J.G. Taylor Spink Award in honor of the longtime publisher of The Sporting News and the award’s initial recipient. His name was eventually stripped from the trophy due to the fact that he was one of the leading forces in perpetuating the color line. Why not rename it after Ring Lardner, the second recipient? Or how about calling it the Peter Gammons Award?

The Loss Of a Giant

It’s impossible to overstate Norman Lear’s importance in the TV landscape. He had a major hand in creating and/or producing many of the most vital sitcoms of the 1970’s. Some of them have aged better than others; because of the timeliness of much of his material there are moments when the comedy feels a bit dated. And because he blazed so many trails it’s not always easy to fully appreciate the fact that so many elements of comedy shows that we take for granted nowadays were largely unheard of pre-Lear. But he deserves all of the credit in the world; some of the most memorable images of the era, from Sammy Davis Jr. giving Archie Bunker a peck on the cheek to a grieving Florida Evans slamming the punch bowl to the floor after her husband’s death have his fingerprints all over them.

The top lines of his resume contain the sextet of 1970’s series that were the most groundbreaking (All In the Family, Sanford & Son, Maude, Good Times, One Day At a Time, The Jeffersons.) At his best he dealt with themes and issues that were previously avoided at all costs. It’s also worth noting that as well known as his personal politics were, that did not mean that his shows were personal polemics. Mike Stivic could be annoyingly self righteous; Maude Findlay could often act as the stereotypical limousine liberal. Lear was never afraid to show his characters’ flaws.

He was also incredibly prolific, he made so many other noteworthy series beyond those most famous ones. I fondly recall Hot l Baltimore; I was only 9 years old when it ran, so most of the humor that made it so controversial for its time went right over my head, but I was able to appreciate the sillier aspects of the show. I was too young to be able to stay up late enough to watch Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, but the spin-off Fernwood 2Night ran during the summer so I could catch that one, and Fred Willard absolutely cracked me up.

Norman Lear was also a great citizen; as one of the founders of People For the American Way he was a true advocate for just causes. He remained active up to the very end, still producing television into his second century. Norman Lear left this mortal plane on Wednesday at the age of 101. We use the phrase “a life well lived” a lot, his was absolutely a life well lived. And he pissed off Jerry Falwell, which is always a bonus.

SNL Preview

There is a wide variance of the quality of SNL episodes hosted by Serious Actors. For every Jessica Chastain, who did an outstanding job, there is also the painful memory of the Russell Crowe episode. Adam Driver has been one of the best hosts of recent vintage, proven by the fact that he is invited back so often. He’s been able to smoothly adapt his natural intensity into the contours of the show, giving us everything from Rylo Ken on Undercover Boss to the legendary Abraham Parnassus. This weekend is Driver’s 4th stint as host, & he’s joined by musical guest Olivia Rodrigo continuing her victory lap on 2023. Should be a good one.

Closing Laughs

I’m taking special glee in seeing the reaction to Taylor Swift being named Time Magazine’s Person Of the Year. It’s causing some of the worst people in the world to lose their f***ing minds. In times such as these, she is the anti-hero that we need. Have a great weekend, everyone. See youze on Monday.