Wednesday Newsletter

Prediction Time?

The announcement of the newest Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame induction class will take place during this Sunday’s episode of American Idol. Makes sense; nothing screams Rock and Roll! quite like American Idol. I kid. Disney+ is the current streaming partner for the induction ceremony, so it’s all about the corporate synergy.

I was attempting to predict who will receive the call, but this is a tough ballot to figure out. When the ballot was first released, a few names jumped out and made me think “___ is obviously going to get in,” but upon further consideration some of those artists could conceivably cancel each other out. I thought that Mariah, Cher, and Ozzy are shoo-ins, but then again last year I felt the same way about Cyndi Lauper. I would still suspect that 2 of the above 3 should make it, but it might be tough for all 3. The one act on the ballot whom I am most confident about is actually Kool & the Gang. They are the nominated act that has the fewest number of similar artists on the ballot; they could very well have the clearest open lane in front of them.

Rather than make predictions I’ll offer my hopes, and I’ll begin with a negative hope. I can’t repeat it often enough; the biggest mistake the Hall has made is the constant induction of second & third tier classic rock artists. They have steered away from that in the past 2 cycles, but an induction for either Foreigner or Peter Frampton would seem like a major step backwards. I would love to see A Tribe Called Quest make it in; it would make a strong statement that voters are looking at hip-hop artists beyond those that became major mainstream stars. I would love to see Oasis make it in; not only were they a great band but the public statements of disdain that either of the Gallagher brothers would make would be worth the price of admission. The artist whom I am rooting for the most and is also the most deserving is an easy one; Mary J. Blige. She should have been an easy first year eligible inductee. That wasn’t to be, but voters can right that wrong and send her in now.

Also to recap my rooting interests for inductions in the side categories: I’m hoping for good news on Carol Kaye, Big Mama Thornton, The Revolution, along with Gram Parsons and/or Emmylou Harris. It’s a good bet that either a Musical Influence or Musical Excellence induction will go to at least one past nominated but never inducted artist: The MC5, The New York Dolls, perhaps Devo. Among the top candidates for the Ertegun award are Rick Rubin, Estelle Axton, and Timbaland. There is also likely to be at least one name called that will make me figuratively smack myself on the forehead and say “Of course! Why didn’t I think of that?”

I’ll obviously have thoughts following the announcement. Fingers crossed that they will be good thoughts.

The Torch Has Been Lit

There are now 2 big milestones on the road to this summer’s Paris Olympics. As of today the opening ceremonies are 100 days away - although to be technical, competitions in a few sports begin before the official ceremonies. And, earlier this week the torch lighting ceremony took place in preparation for the torch relay that will run throughout France beginning next month.

I have mentioned how much I love watching the NCAA tournament each year, but that’s nothing compared to my enthusiasm for the Olympics. I watch A LOT of the competition, probably more than is healthy, but I rationalize it by telling myself it’s only for 2 1/2 weeks every other year. Let me indulge myself for this. Enjoying the Olympics also involves a lot of compartmentalizing; the IOC is the rare organization that is as corrupt as FIFA. But watching the gamut of emotions from the athletes makes it all worthwhile.

I’ll have a lot to say about the buildup to the games as they draw closer - I’ll leave it up to each of you to decide if that’s a promise or a threat. In particular I want to offer a preemptive defense of NBC & its coverage of the Games. Of course the network will make its share of mistakes and/or poor programming decisions, but we need to keep in mind that broadcasting an Olympics is a massive endeavor. NBC deserves an occasional free pass as long as their errors are not too frequent or too egregious.

Fare Thee Well, Uncle Verne

This past weekend was the 40th, and final, Masters tournament for legendary broadcaster Verne Lundquist. As one of the most accomplished sports announcers of all time, it stands to reason that he has been behind the mic for many of the most memorable moments in sports. He consistently rose to the occasion; his calls have enhanced so many historical events.

What was great about his work was the way he let himself be caught in the moment. No unnecessary embellishment, he articulated what most of us were thinking as we were watching, and he did it with a deep hearty voice that contained warm undertones. “Yes sir!” “In your life have you seen anything like that?” Not to mention the simple “wow!” after Christian Laettner’s famous shot. His most heard call actually took place before he joined CBS. He was the Dallas Cowboys radio play by play man, and he was in the booth for Super Bowl XIII. The Jackie Smith drop of what should have been an easy touchdown shows up all the time on NFL Films with Lundquist’s narration. “Oh, bless his heart! He’s got to be the sickest man in America!”

For a few seasons he was paired with Bill Raftery on college basketball and to me that was when he was at his best. Lundquist had a warm throaty laugh that Raftery was always able to easily bring out of him. The two of them sounded like they were having the grandest old time together, which made for a very enjoyable broadcast. Verne has been one of the great ones; he will be missed.

Lundquist’s exit date has been well known for some time; another legendary broadcaster just made a sudden and somewhat shocking retirement. Yankees radio play by play man John Sterling is 85, so it can’t come as that much of a surprise that he’s stepping away. What is surprising is the abruptness of his departure. Doing 162 games a year, plus playoffs, with half of that time away from home, is one hell of a grind. Sterling realized that he just didn’t have it in him anymore, and called it a career.

My Yankee-hating credentials are well established, but I have come to praise Sterling. Due to the day to day rhythm of a baseball season, fans have a special connection to their announcers. The best ones are practically part of the family. As a result, fans are highly tolerant of the quirks and foibles of their guys. Outsiders may - and did - laugh at Sterling’s propensity for prematurely proclaiming “It is high! It is far!” before an infielder catches the ball, or for the terrible puns that make up his home run calls, but that’s precisely why his own fans have loved him so. Plus, some of those signature home run calls, which he individualized for each player, were pretty creative. For every dad joke, there were just as many with literary or historical references that prove he is a well-read, erudite man.

This is the most amazing thing about his career. He didn’t cut back on his schedule until fairly recently. At one point he had an uninterrupted run of more than 30 years in which he did not miss a single game! I know that it’s easy to instinctively think “so what, the guy is getting paid to watch baseball games. Sign me up!” but I don’t think people fully appreciate how tough that is physically. Think of all that travel; think about how he had to answer the bell every day even though he may not be feeling well.

OK, his “thhhhheeeeee Yankees winnnnnn!” grated on my nerves. I still gotta give the guy respect. There is no shortage of broadcasters with helmet hair and interchangeable voices. Sterling has truly been one of a kind.

Some Losses In The Baseball Family

This has been a rough past several days, as some notable baseball figures have passed away, including a member of the Hall of Fame.

Fritz Peterson had a solid run in the late 70’s/early 80’s, winning 20 games once and finishing with a career total of 133 victories with an ERA+ just above 100. But that’s not why he is remembered to this day. In 1973 he and Yankee teammate Mike Kekich famously swapped wives. The 1970’s, man. Peterson was 82.

Ken Holtzman was a member of the starting rotation for the Oakland A’s three-peat dynasty in the 1970’s, slotting in behind Vida Blue & Catfish Hunter. It’s a tribute to how deep that team was that a pitcher that skilled was the #3 man. Because I connect him so closely with Oakland it surprises me that he actually spent more time pitching for the Cubs. He also earned a 4th ring with the 1977 Yankees, although he did not pitch in that postseason. Holtzman was 78.

Carl Erskine was the last surviving key contributor to one of the most beloved teams in the game’s history, the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers. (1955 was Sandy Koufax’s rookie season, but he was only a spare part on the team.) IMHO Roger Kahn’s The Boys Of Summer is the single greatest baseball book ever written, and Erskine’s decency was one of the major reasons why. Beyond his accomplishments on the field, he made a greater contribution to society after retirement. He had a son with Down’s Syndrome, at a time when people with developmental disabilities were usually shunted aside. Erskine had none of that, and became an early supporter of the Special Olympics. He was a good pitcher, but more importantly, he was a good man. Erskine was 97.

We also lost Hall of Fame manager Whitey Herzog. He was the very definition of the term “baseball man,” serving as a player, coach, farm director, general manager, and most successfully, as a field manager. His trademark Whiteyball was tailor made for artificial turf, based on pitching, defense, and speed, speed, speed. He was confident, arrogant, cantankerous, and did not give a s*** whether you liked him or not, as long as he won. And he won a lot, winning 3 consecutive AL West titles in Kansas City, and 2 NL pennants & 1 World Series in St. Louis. It’s a bit ironic that the contentious Mets/Cardinals rivalry in the mid-80’s turned him into one of the all-time Mets villains. In a different reality he would have been a Mets legend. As farm director he helped develop many of the ‘69 Miracle Mets. He was in the organization at the time; one has to wonder how differently team history would have turned out had he been hired as manager following Gil Hodges’s death. What could have been. Herzog was 92.

Pre-Tay, Pre-Tay, Meh

More than a week has passed since the airing of Curb Your Enthusiasm’s series finale, so we have blown past the Spoiler Alert Safety Zone. The episode was as I expected; some stray funny moments but the show passed its expiration date some time ago. It’s an over exaggeration to say that it gasped and wheezed its way to the finish line, but it ranks nowhere close to the list of most memorable finales.

Which is OK. As much as I love the finales that reached pantheon level, a disappointing final chapter shouldn’t ruin what came before it. Take The Sopranos as an example. If its conclusion was a letdown in your eyes, that takes absolutely nothing away from the dozens of outstanding episodes that preceded it. Or to go with an overused phrase, it’s about the journey, not the destination.

So in closing, Curb Your Enthusiasm could have and probably should have easily ended years earlier than it actually did, but I’ll always fondly remember Susie’s ace-level vulgarity, and Krazee-Eyez Killa, and Marty Funkhouser, and Palestinian chicken, and Cheryl’s beloved aunt, and Richard Lewis, and so much more. Especially Richard Lewis.

TV Of the 21st Century - WandaVision

I’ve mentioned in the past that back in the day I was a huge comic book collector. As a result, I was very pleased by the dominance of super hero related movies & TV. At last, the nerds won! But…. I was a DC guy, so I looked at Marvel’s run of success with no shortage of envy. The DC bench of IP is just as deep as Marvel’s is, perhaps even deeper, yet they could never get their act together. And of course, now that the DC universe is in the good hands of James Gunn, it’s happening at the exact moment that super hero fatigue is setting in. Oh well.

If there is any consolation, it’s that as a general rule of thumb DC has done a better job on their TV shows, yet arguably the single greatest super hero TV show in this era is also made from a Marvel property. WandaVision, which ran as a limited series, was wonderfully creative. I’ll acknowledge the standard drawback to the universe building of these series entails the viewer needing to do a bit of homework ahead of time - it’s not a necessity to be fully up to speed with what had gone on in the movies, but it sure helps.

The first few episodes initially appeared to be homages to classic sitcoms, including recreations of both production designs and some of the preposterous situations that were prevalent. Despite the whimsical setting, it came with a foreboding air. Something seemed just a bit off about Wanda. Why did Agnes always seem to show up at the most convenient times? And wait a second, isn’t Vision dead?

Without giving away any spoilers, it becomes ever more clear with each successive episode that things aren’t as they appear in this seemingly idyllic town. In fact, there are some moments of out and out terror. The whole thing is held together so well by Elizabeth Olsen. Wanda largely played second fiddle in her appearances in the MCU, but she proved to be a worthy lead character. There was even a well played tribute to the classic Scarlet Witch costume in a Halloween-centered episode. It’s difficult to properly praise Paul Bettany without becoming too spoilery, so I’ll just say trust me. He does some of the best work of his career here.

Lots of credit must go to the supporting cast as well. One of the most underrated elements of the MCU is how well cast the projects are. There are so many wonderful actors in play here; some carrying over from the movies, others making their Marvel debuts here. Kathryn Hahn and Randall Park are predictably strong, and Kat Dennings is an absolute delight.

Originally aired on & still streaming on: Disney+

Well, No One Can Accuse Him Of Being Woke

So, how did Orange Napoleon’s first day in court on Monday go?

If he only knew a good pillow salesman. At the very least that could make him more comfortable during this time.

Closing Laughs

That is all for today. Thanks once again to all of you for being part of the club. See you again on Friday.