Former Socialist, Former Republican, Former Contributor to The American Spectator, Former Resident of Canada, Back in Boston Area After Stints in New York City & Atlanta, Current Mustache Wearer & Aficionado of Baseball, Bowling in All Its Forms, Cats, Music & Healthy Living
First, there are a critical number of Jewish voters who are as anti-Israel as Mamdani.
Second, there are also a significant number of Jewish voters who don't care about the threat of anti-Semitism or simply don't believe Mamdani represents a threat to them.
Unfortunately, should Jews back Mamdani they are going to learn the hard way.
If you think anti-Semitism is bad now wait until Mamdani takes office. It will be open season on Jews and Mamdani will be leading the local intifada.
Suffice it to say, I am glad I am no longer living in New York. Alas, Dad is still there. He can handle himself about as well as an 84-year-old man can. Still, I fear for his safety if Mamdani is elected in November.
Correa, who turns 31 in September, was a number draft pick in the nation by the Astros in 2012 and would win AL Rookie of the Year in 2015. Playing shortstop, Correa would earn a World Series with the now maligned 2017 Astros. Despite the controversy, Correa was considered among the elite players in the game. In 2021, Correa led the AL in WAR, finished 5th in AL MVP balloting and earned his lone Gold Glove while hitting .279 with a career high 26 HR along with 92 RBI.
It's probably just as well. The Twins aren't going anywhere this year. They enter tonight 12 games back of the Tigers in the AL Central. They were big sellers during today's trade deadline essentially trading away their bullpen along with outfielder Harrison Bader going to the Philadelphia Phillies with first baseman Ty France going to the Toronto Blue Jays.
Perhaps going back to Houston will be a shot in the arm for Correa. With Jeremy Pena ensconced at short, Correa will play third due to a season-ending hamstring injury to Isaac Paredes. The Astros, of course, are a different team than when Correa left it. The only members of the 2017 World Series championship team left are Jose Altuve and Lance McCullers, Jr. At the same time, the Astros are in a familiar place - atop the AL West with a 5-game lead over both the Seattle Mariners and Texas Rangers.
The Astros begin a long road trip tomorrow which goes through Boston, Miami and onto Yankee Stadium before returning to Houston on August 11th where they will face the Red Sox. Correa will get a very welcome standing ovation.
When French President Emmanuel Macron announced that he would call for the establishment of a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in New York, I knew the U.K. and Canada would soon follow suit:
Macron is rewarding Hamas actions on October 7th and is giving them license to continue to negotiate in bad faith on the release of the 50 remaining hostages both living and dead. Unfortunately, I suspect that the rest of the EU, the U.K. and Canada will eventually go along with this dubious scheme.
Yes, I know Starmer stated U.K. recognition of a Palestinian state would be withheld if a ceasefire were forthcoming. But I'm not buying it. Starmer will join Macron and Carney in endorsing a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly even if Hamas were to publicly execute every last living hostage.
Now, it's one thing to make a declaration, it's quite another to make it so. Unless the Arab League is prepared to expend political and military capital to gain the release the hostages, have Hamas disarm and leave Gaza, then it is yet another empty statement. But if it were to come to pass between now and September then Israel would be under enormous pressure to go along including from the Trump Administration.
Of course, the devil is in the details. The Arab League resolution calls for the Palestinian right of return. I cannot see Israel agreeing to such a thing because it would guarantee Israel would cease to exist as surely as an Iranian nuclear weapon. Perhaps the Arab League put that provision in there knowing Israel would reject it and when they do to cast blame upon Israel for rejecting peace.
But what if Hamas were to leave? Who fills in the void? Presumably the Palestinian Authority but they would need to be propped up. Mahmoud Abbas, who is in the 20th year of his four-year term, remains PA President only months away from his 90th birthday. Even with Arab League support, their grasp in Gaza and the West Bank would be tenuous leaving room for another Hamas-like entity to fill the void be it Palestinian Islamic Jihad, ISIS, al Qaeda or a new entity altogether.
Of course, for the aforementioned questions to be answered, the Arab League would have to be serious about chloroforming Hamas, and it remains to be seen if they will go beyond mere words while the West continues to delegitimize Israel with each passing day.
Georgia Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene accused Israel of committing genocide in a post on X which primarily went after newly elected Florida GOP Congressman Randy Fine. The post read in part:
It’s the most truthful and easiest thing to say that Oct 7th in Israel was horrific and all hostages must be returned, but so is the genocide, humanitarian crisis, and starvation happening in Gaza.
But a Jewish U.S. Representative calling for the continued starvation of innocent people and children is disgraceful.
His awful statement will actually cause more antisemitism.
Greene disdainfully refers to fine as "a Jewish U.S. Representative calling for the continued starvation of innocent people and children". I'm surprised Greene didn't accuse Fine of drinking the blood of Palestinian children.
Fine did not call for anyone to be starved and Greene knows it. What Fine did was challenge the premise that Israel is deliberately starving Palestinians noting, "It amazes me that the media continues to regurgitate Muslim terror propaganda."
It would seem that Greene accepts the words of Hamas at face value. In this respect, she is no different than Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib or Zohran Mamdani. I would dare say that Marjorie Taylor Greene is a socialist at heart albeit a national one. Alas, anti-Semitism is flourishing on both the far left and the far right with the middle too afraid to take a stand in word and in deed.
Greene concludes her statement by essentially saying Jews are the cause of anti-Semitism as a means of rationalizing her own hatred. She is not the first to make such a claim (i.e. Elon Musk) and she won't be the last. Indeed, it won't be the last time we hear anti-Semitism from the mouth of Marjorie Taylor Greene.
I did not think Dad would be in the vicinity of the shooting, but I sent him a text just in case. It turns out he had no idea what had happened. This reminded me of when Mom found out about the Boston Marathon Bombing before I did.
The shooting took me back to the time I lived in NYC between September 2018 and September 2020. For much of the time I lived there (prior to the pandemic), I would walk to and from work between where I lived with Dad near Lincoln Center on the Upper West Side to the Chrysler Building. I tried to vary my route going by the first green light available to me. For the most part, Park Avenue seldom took up much of my commute above 45th Street but it is quite possible I might have passed 345 Park Avenue a time or two.
The shooting also took me back to my business trip to New York this past April which was spent at the New York Times Building across the street from the Port Authority. While this time I was in Midtown West instead of Midtown East, such an incident could have taken place anywhere.
According to accounts, the gunman drove all the way from Las Vegas to commit this heinous act. It isn't clear if there was a specific target at 345 Park Avenue or if he sought to carry it out in New York and the target was an afterthought.
If it turns out to have been the latter, then the gunman could have literally chosen any office building in NYC. He just happened to be in Midtown East instead of Midtown West or the Financial District in Lower Manhattan. In which case, the four people he killed were truly in the wrong place at the wrong time. But for the Grace of G-d.....
A native of Spokane, Washington, Sandberg was a 20th round draft pick by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 1978 MLB draft straight out of high school. Sandberg would make his big-league debut with the Phillies late in the 1981 season.
That off-season, the Phillies and Cubs exchanged shortstops. The Phillies sent Larry Bowa to the Cubs in exchange for Ivan DeJesus. Sandberg was a throw in.
At first, the trade went OK for the Phillies as the team would win the NL pennant in 1983 with DeJesus at short. While Sandberg finished sixth in NL Rookie of the Year balloting in 1982 and would earn a Gold Glove for his work at second base in 1983, few were expecting much from Sandberg.
Then came 1984 when Sandberg would win the NL MVP as the Cubs would make the post-season for the first time since winning the NL pennant in 1945. Sandberg hit .314 with 19 HR and 84 RBI collecting 200 hits and leading the league in runs scored (114) and triples (19).
Between 1984 and 1993, Sandberg was selected to 10 consecutive NL All-Star Teams and would win an additional 8 Gold Gloves at second base. Following a decline in production in 1994, Sandberg retired but would come back in 1996 playing two more seasons with the Cubs. In 2164 career games over 16 seasons, Sandberg collected 2386 hits for a lifetime batting average of .285 with 282 HR and 1061 RBI along with 344 stolen bases. Aside from 10 NL All-Star Team selections and 9 Gold Gloves, Sandberg won 7 Silver Sluggers, led the NL in runs scored thrice and HRs once with 40 in 1990. Sandberg was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his third year of eligibility in 2005 with 76.2% of the vote.
Sandberg managed in the Cubs minor league system from 2007 thru 2010 with the goal of managing at Wrigley Field. This, however, did not come to pass and he rejoined the Phillies in 2011 as a minor league manager. He would be promoted to the team's third base coach at the big-league level in 2012. In the middle of the 2013 season, Sandberg replaced Charlie Manuel who had guided the team to a World Series title in 2008 as manager. However, the Phillies were in a rebuilding phase and Sandberg would resign mid-season in 2015.
Sandberg returned to the Cubs fold in 2016 as a goodwill ambassador and was in this position at the time of his passing.
Ryne Sandberg might be gone forever but in a Cub uniform he will be forever young. R.I.P.
It is the latter incident on which I shall center my focus.
From The Telegraph:
Philip Simon was barred from the Banshee Labyrinth pub because of alleged "rhetoric and symbology" linked to Israel.
One reason cited by the venue for cancelling his show, Share I Compere Thee in a Funny Ways?, was his attendance at a vigil for people killed in the 2023 Hamas terror attacks.
In a message to Simon, Banshee Labyrinth said: "Our management had a duty of care to our customers and staff members to review the political statements and opinions expressed by the performer.
"We feel it is inappropriate for us to provide a platform for performers whose views and actions align with the rhetoric and symbology of groups associated with humanitarian violations."
Simon said the only opinion he had expressed on the Gaza conflict was a desire for peace and to see the hostages freed.
So, in the view of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (or one of its vendors) attending a vigil for those who are being held hostage and those who were killed by Hamas on October 7th "align with the rhetoric and symbology of groups associated with humanitarian violations."
In which case, it would seem that in the view of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival the actions of Hamas on October 7th do not constitute "humanitarian violations."
The bottom line is that Jews are not welcome to visit Greece, Jewish children are not welcome to sing in Hebrew in Spain and Jewish comedians in the U.K. are not welcome to perform. It is an ugly pattern which will only get uglier and as mainstream acceptance of anti-Semitism spreads.
My first memory of watching Holy Grail was while I was in high school. I'm not sure if it was on VHS or happened to be on TV, what I do remember that not only I found it funny, but Mom was in absolute hysterics. I have watched it many times since including on the big screen probably around 20 years ago at the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline. I also get joy from seeing YouTube reactors view it for the very first time. But there's nothing like sharing the experience inside a full theatre.
There are so many silly things from which to find joy. The opening credits with the mock Swedish subtitles and the repeated sacking of those responsible for those subtitles, the banging of coconuts to represent horses, the air speed velocity of European and African swallows, peasants who belong to an anarcho-syndicalist commune, the loony Black Knight being comically dismembered, being taunted by the French, the Knights Who Say Ni, Tim the Enchanter, the three questions to gain access to the Bridge of Death and, of course, killer rabbits. England in 932 A.D. was a very silly place indeed.
I can take comfort that the creative genius of Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Michael Palin, Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam will live on for 50 more years and possibly centuries.
The A's of Sacramento might be in last place in the AL West, but you wouldn't have known last night following their 15-3 drubbing of the first place Houston Astros.
Macron has been moving Heaven and Earth to delegitimize, stigmatize and ostracize Israel. It was only a matter of time before he would see fit to endorse a Palestinian state.
Loathe as I am to agree with the Trump Administration on anything, Secretary of State Marco Rubio is correct to say that this "serves Hamas propaganda" and "is a slap in the face to the victims of October 7th." Indeed, I would go further than that. Macron is rewarding Hamas actions on October 7th and is giving them license to continue to negotiate in bad faith on the release of the 50 remaining hostages both living and dead. Unfortunately, I suspect that the rest of the EU, the U.K. and Canada will eventually go along with this dubious scheme.
In making this declaration, Macron will alienate French Jews to the point where they might very well turn to Marine Le Pen and the National Rally en masse. Not that Macron particularly cares as he is ineligible to run for a third consecutive term in 2027. While Le Pen is prohibited from running for office in 2027 due to pending criminal charges, it isn't stopping her from trying to win over French Jews. Le Pen wrote on X:
To recognize a Palestinian state today is to recognize a Hamas state, and therefore a terrorist state.....While hope has always led us toward a two-state solution, this decision legitimizes the October 7th massacre and the trail of suffering it caused, even as hostages remain in captivity.
The first was his match with The Rock at Wrestlemania XVIII in Toronto in March 2002. Although a heel aligned with the NWO at the time, Hogan was wildly cheered by the Canadian crowd while simultaneously chanting "Rocky Sucks!!!" towards the supposed babyface. In his late 40s at the time, Hogan was at his best even if he ended up on the losing end of the match. Hulkamania had been reborn.
The second was from January 2025 - just over six months ago. In what proved to be his final WWE appearance when RAW debuted on Netflix, Hogan was booed out of the building. It wasn't the sort of heat he got when he turned heel in the mid-1990s with the NWO. This was go-away heat. The fans never wanted to see him again and now they got their wish.
In light of his passing this morning no doubt some of those who jeered him in January will acknowledge that Hogan brought professional wrestling into the mainstream more than anyone else in the industry. Hogan will get his 10-bell salute and a moment of silence. Inside the squared circle, Hulk Hogan will be remembered as a hero to millions. Outside of it, he will be remembered for qualities other than heroism. R.I.P.
When my colleague at work mentioned Chuck Mangione's name, I knew that he had passed, and my heart sunk.
Although best remembered for his 1977 hit "Feels So Good" and his appearances on the animated TV series, King of the Hill, I will forever associate him with the year my family spent in Victoria, B.C. while Dad was on sabbatical.
Dad had an 8-track cassette of Mangione's 1978 soundtrack to Hall Bartlett film Children of Sanchez (which I have never seen to this very day) which he played in his 1972 Buick LeSabre. Children of Sanchez painted a vivid picture all on its own. Along with The Guess Who's Share the Land, that 8-track was the soundtrack of my year on the West Coast. When I think of the Pacific Ocean, Children of Sanchez comes at me in waves.
I had the chance to tell this to Mangione in person before he played at Scullers' Jazz Club which overlooks the Charles River between Boston and Cambridge. When I told him this, Mangione was having a drink at the bar, and I don't think he appreciated the interruption. But I think he understood I was being sincere especially when I mentioned "Bellavia" was my favorite of his compositions. It might have warmed him up a smidge because he wrote "Bellavia" for his mother.
Chuck Mangione and Children of Sanchez will always hold a special place in my heart. R.I.P.
Mahmoud Khalil, the former Columbia University student who rose to national prominence after being detained by ICE earlier this year for his pro-Hamas activism, cannot bring himself (surprise, surprise) to condemn Hamas.
During an interview with CNN yesterday, Khalil told Pamela Brown and Wolf Blitzer, “But it’s disingenuous to ask about condemning Hamas while Palestinians are the ones being starved now by Israel.
It is also a moot point because the fact remains that Hamas wantonly murdered civilians, Jew and non-Jew alike, while taking 251 people as hostage. As of this writing, 50 hostages, living and dead, remain in Hamas clutches. If Khalil cannot bring himself to explicitly condemn such acts, it is because he supports Hamas and the things they do up to and including kidnap, rape and murder.
Yet whatever legitimate claims Khalil may have before the court, it does not make him a good person. Good people condemn Hamas without hesitation. Those who refuse to condemn Hamas without hesitation are bad people.
Hill pitched parts of the four seasons for the Cubs before he was sold to the Baltimore Orioles where he pitched during the 2009 season. In 2010, Hill pitched for his hometown Boston Red Sox for the first of four stints. After parts of three seasons at Fenway working exclusively out of the bullpen, Hill spent the 2013 season with the Cleveland Indians. In 2014, Hill split team between the Los Angeles Angels and the New York Yankees before rejoining the Red Sox for his second stint in 2015 and with it a return as a starting pitcher.
Hill would win a career high 12 games in 2016 splitting the season with the Oakland A's and the Los Angeles Dodgers. This proved to be the most productive phase of Hill's career as he would enjoy three more seasons in a Dodgers uniform with another 12-win campaign in 2017 followed by 11 wins in 2018. That year, Hill would start Game 4 of the 2018 World Series against his hometown Red Sox. Unfortunately for Hill, the Dodgers bullpen would blow it for him.
During the COVID shortened 2020 season, Hill would pitch for the Minnesota Twins before splitting the 2021 season between the Tampa Bay Rays and the New York Mets. In 2022, Hill rejoined the Red Sox for a third time. Hill split 2023 between the Pittsburgh Pirates and San Diego Padres before briefly returning to the Red Sox for a fourth time late in the 2024 season after starting the year coaching his son's little league team.
Hill has now entered his 21st MLB season. In 16 of those seasons including this year, Hill spent time in the minor leagues. He was also briefly with the St. Louis Cardinals and Washington Nationals organizations in 2010 and 2015, without getting to pitch at the big-league level with either club. Yet Hill has rode the peaks and valleys. Then again, when a father loses a newborn son, pitching in the minor leagues is little cause for complaint.
Hill now has a career record of 90-75 with a 4.00 ERA. We'll see how Hill sticks around in Kansas City. Who knows? Before the season is over, Hill might end up with an MLB record breaking 15th club.
On Saturday night, I went to the Somerville Theatre to attend a screening of Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now starring Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando and Robert Duvall.
We were being treated to a screening of the original 70 mm print which did not have any credits. As was the case when the film was originally released in 1979, we were provided with a reprint of a booklet which included all of the credits and a short essay from Coppola.
There was a very large, young crowd who attended - many of whom who had never viewed Apocalypse Now. After an extraordinarily long introduction to the film by the projectionist who ran the same print nearly half a century ago, the film began. For the next 2 hours and 27 minutes, there was complete silence. I think some people had difficulty processing the film. This does not come as a surprise because it was loosely adapted from Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness which I read in high school. Conrad's prose was so dense that our English teacher had to take us through the book page by page to convey its meaning.
I have seen bits and pieces of Apocalypse Now on TV over the years but had never seen the film from start to finish let alone on a big screen. When you see it on the big screen you get the full impact of the cinematography making it evident why Vittorio Storaro earned an Oscar.
Set during the Vietnam War, Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) is sent on a mission to by Lt General Forman (G.D. Spradlin) and Colonel Lucas (played by a pre-Star Wars Harrison Ford) to kill Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando). They are the two most stoic yet sinister characters in the entire movie. Everyone else around them is volatile and waiting to explode at any moment be Willard's crew as portrayed by Albert Hall, Frederic Forrest, Sam Bottoms and a teenaged Laurence Fishburne (credited as Larry Fishburne) as well as Dennis Hopper, who portrays a photojournalist who becomes a disciple of Colonel Kurtz.
I would remiss if I didn't mention Robert Duvall's portrayal of Lt. Col Bill Kilgore who utters the movie's most famous, "I love the smell of napalm in the morning....it smells like victory." He too has a manic intensity but is unaffected by chaos and explosions going on around him. Duvall would earn an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance.
For all of Captain Willard's descent into madness as he goes up the river in pursuit of Colonel Kurtz, when Willard finally kills Kurtz, he lays down his sword in front of Kurtz's devotees who follow suit and Willard leaves. Where he goes is anyone's guess.
Apocalypse Now is one of those movies which does not lend itself to multiple viewings as reflected by Colonel Kurtz's last words, "The horror! The horror!" There are other movies from this era which I would give the same characterization such as Deliverance and A Woman Under the Influence. Yet neither of those movies has the body count of Apocalypse Now. It's not so much because of graphic violence although that is there in abundance. The most horrific aspect of the movie is all of the bodies which Captain Willard finds on Colonel Kurtz's territory - some mutilated, others beheaded with one man hung naked from the waist down. We don't see the violence, but we feel its impact just the same.
Outside of the first two Godfather films, Apocalypse Now is Francis Ford Coppola's most significant work although The Conversation is in the conversation. Although Coppola has had some successful films over the years such as The Outsiders,Peggy Sue Got Married, Bram Stoker's Dracula and The Rainmaker, he has had more misses than hits (i.e. One from the Heart, The Cotton Club, Youth Without Youth and, most recently, Megalopolis). Above all else none of the aforementioned hit movies measure up to his peak from the 1970's. Alas, Apocalypse Now is truly the last great film directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The horror, the horror.
It would be very unfortunate that our embassy would have to publicly announce throughout the United States that the State of Israel is no longer welcoming Christian organizations and their representatives and is instead engaging in harassment and negative treatment toward organizations with long-standing relationships and positive involvement toward Zionism and friendship to the Jewish people and the State of Israel.
What chutzpah!!! Huckabee has already falsely stated Israel is no longer welcoming Christian organizations and, for bad measure, is threatening reciprocal actions against Israelis seeking to visit the U.S.
Would such restrictions apply to former hostages held by Hamas?
For all intents and purposes, Huckabee is taking a page from the Palestinians and threatening to boycott, divest and sanction Israel. In short, Huckabee is embracing BDS and threatening to implement as U.S. government policy.
But why?
Is this a personal agenda for Huckabee to ensure that Evangelical Christian organizations can come to Israel in the hope of converting Jews?
It might be part of the reason, but Huckabee is presumably acting on behalf of the Trump Administration. Given their mercurial nature, it could be about anything though chances are it revolves around money and wanting more of it. Or maybe they think Israel hasn't been thankful enough. Complicating matters further, there's also the optics of doing this in such a public manner rather than behind closed doors.
Whatever their reasoning, this only reinforces my lack of trust in the Trump Administration (and Republicans at large) where it concerns Israel.
There is really no other reason for CBS to pull the plug on Colbert. It is a ratings juggernaut. But the merger is a higher priority. Giving $16 million to the Trump Presidential Library (an oxymoron if there ever was one) is but a drop in the bucket. Trump is going to want a lot more. He wants a scalp and Stephen Colbert's will do just nicely given he is a persistent thorn in the President's side. Although I'm sure Trump would be happier still if CBS were to also cancel 60 Minutes and I'm sure he will make such a demand in the not-too-distant future.
Of course, this represents an end to more than 30 years of late-night programming on CBS which began when David Letterman came to the network in September 1993 where he remained for more than two decades before Colbert took the reins in May 2015 after his successful Comedy Central show.
Would Colbert return to Comedy Central much like Jon Stewart? Or are networks going to shy away from someone like Colbert so as not to arouse Trump's ire?
What CBS will do after the late local news is anyone's guess although I would not be shocked if someone in the MAGAverse like Charlie Kirk got a time slot.
That he never utters the phrase in public again isn't the same thing as condemning it - something he has repeatedly refused to do. Indeed, Mamdani also told those assembled that he would not discourage the ideas behind "globalize the intifada".
This could have been an absolutely fascinating 2025 MLB All-Star Game at Truist Park north of Atlanta.
The NL had a commanding 6-0 lead at the end of six innings. Arizona Diamondbacks second baseman Ketel Marte hit a two-run double in the first inning to give the NL a 2-0 lead. The NL then added four runs in the bottom of the sixth on a 3-run HR by New York Mets slugger Pete Alonso and a solo HR from D'Backs outfielder Corbin Carroll.
However, the AL came roaring back with four runs of their own in the top of the 7th inning via a 3-run HR from Brent Rooker of the Athletics followed by a RBI groundout by Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt, Jr.
In the top of the 9th, Witt made his presence felt with a RBI double to make it a 6-5 game. Down to their final out, Cleveland Guardians outfielder Steven Kwan stroked a single of Mets closer Edwin Diaz to tie the game at 6-6. The NL was unable to score in the bottom of the 9th.
But instead of going to extra innings in the All-Star Game for the first time since 2018, MLB took the easy way out and decided the game by way of HR Derby. Each squad selected three batters who got three swings apiece. The league with the most HR won the game which ended up being the NL on the strength of Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Kyle Schwarber getting 3 HR on three swings. For this he was bestowed with the All-Star Game MVP.
Of course, this was bound to happen as MLB formally dispensed with extra innings in the All-Star Game in 2022. Now that it has happened, it reminds me of why I don't like watching the game anymore. In deploying this gimmick, we have now witnessed the first ever MLB game with no winning pitcher or losing pitcher. Like the ghost runner, implementing a HR derby to determine the outcome of the game cheapens and dumbs down the baseball.
In watching that game, I remember why I loved baseball back then. The AL and NL were separate universes which only met during the All-Star Game and the World Series. Starters regularly threw complete games even if they were on the losing end. The game was played until there was a winner no matter how many innings it took.
In watching that game, I am also reminded of why I don't love baseball anymore. Of course, tonight's event didn't help matters much.
At the time, with Mamdani's defeat of former NY Governor Andrew Cuomo, I operated on the assumption that Mamdani would face incumbent Mayor Eric Adams mano-a-mano. However, yesterday, Cuomo formally launched a third-party bid. As long as both Adams and Cuomo are in the race, it won't be enough to overcome Mamdani's momentum.
I am bracing myself for the possibility that New Yorkers will elect Mamdani. Should this come to pass, the steady stream of anti-Semitism in the United States since October 7, 2023, will turn into a flood. That I no longer live in New York City isn't enough. If Jews are unsafe in New York, then we are unsafe in all of America.
The Toronto Blue Jays shared the sad news that former MLB pitcher Jim Clancy, who spent 12 of his 15 big league seasons north of the border, passed away today at the age of 69.
Born in Chicago, Clancy was drafted out of high school by the Texas Rangers in the fourth round of the 1974 MLB Draft. Clancy's relationship with the Blue Jays began when he was the third player selected by the club in the 1976 Expansion Draft. His MLB debut with the Jays came following the All-Star Break during the expansion season of 1977.
Despite some lean years, Clancy would become a mainstay of the starting rotation along with Dave Stieb. In 1978, Clancy led the team in wins with 10. He would lead the club in wins again in 1980 with 13 despite walking a league leading 128 batters. Clancy would be selected to his only AL All-Star Team in 1982 when he won a career high 16 games while leading the Junior Circuit with 40 starts. The only other pitcher who has started 40 games in a season since Clancy was knuckleballer Charlie Hough with the Texas Rangers in 1987. Clancy would lead the AL in starts with 36 in 1984 although he would lead the league in surrendering 125 earned runs.
After 12 seasons in a Blue Jays uniform, Clancy signed a 3-year contract with the Houston Astros worth $3.45 million following the 1988 season. Alas, Clancy was ineffective in an Astros uniform and would eventually be sent to the bullpen. Late in the 1991 season, the Astros traded Clancy to the Atlanta Braves. Clancy continued to struggle but would pitch in his only World Series earning a win in relief against the Minnesota Twins in Game 3. It would prove to be his final win in a big-league uniform. He tried to hook on his hometown Chicago Cubs in 1992 but ended up retiring during spring training.
In 15 MLB seasons, Clancy made 472 appearances (381 starts) finishing with a record of 140-167 with an ERA of 4.23 striking out 1422 batters in 2517.1 innings pitched. Clancy's pitching totals with the Blue Jays remain among the best in franchise history. During his tenure in Toronto, Clancy went 128-140 with a 4.10 ERA striking out 1237 batters in 2204.2 innings pitched. Those 2200 plus innings remain the second most in franchise history along with 345 career starts and 73 complete games with only Dave Stieb posting better numbers. Clancy's 128 wins are third most in franchise history behind Stieb and the late Roy Halladay. It is a shame that Clancy was never honored by the Blue Jays in the team's Level of Excellence.
Clancy was certainly among the most durable pitchers of the 1980s. His 317 starts during the decade were third only to Stieb (331 starts) and Jack Morris (332 starts). Clancy's 2017.2 innings pitched were the 8th most during the decade. Yes, it is true that Clancy lost more games than any other pitcher in the 1980s with 126. But it is also true that Clancy more often than not went deep into games completing 61 games which was 7th most in the 1980s. Jim Clancy might not have always prevailed, but he was a competitor who kept his team in the game. He left it all out on the pitcher's mound. R.I.P.
When I wrote last night of the futility of the Colorado Rockies this year , I mentioned in passing that the Rockies latest loss came against the Cincinnati Reds resulting in Terry Francona's 2,000th win as a big-league manager.
This achievement certainly warrants more discussion on my part. After all, I remember Tito when he had a full head of hair as a young outfielder with the Montreal Expos in the early 1980s. Of course, he was at the helm of the Boston Red Sox when they won their first World Series in 86 years back in 2004 and would earn a repeat triumph in 2007. He came within a heartbeat of ending the Cleveland Indians (now Guardians) drought in 2016, but it was the Chicago Cubs' turn to end their drought first.
Tito is currently 13th on the all-time MLB managerial wins list and needs only 9 more victories to surpass Leo Durocher. If the Reds manage to win 91 games this season, then Francona will pass Dodgers Hall of Fame manager Walter Alston. It isn't a question of if Terry Francona will go to Cooperstown, it's when. However, at the moment, Francona is focusing on getting the Reds their first World Series title in 35 years.
The loss gives Rockies a record of 22-74. On their current pace, they would finish with a record of 37-125 which would supplant the futility of the 2024 Chicago White Sox who finished with a record of 41-121. The Chisox eclipsed the 1962 New York Mets with the most losses in a single season in modern MLB history. The Rockies could relieve the White Sox of their infamy.
Currently, the Rockies have a winning percentage of .229. This is actually worse than the .235 winning percentage posted by the 1916 Philadelphia Athletics who went 36-117 finishing 54½ games back of the eventual World Series champion Boston Red Sox in the AL. To put this number into perspective, the 2024 Chisox had a winning percentage of .253 while the 1962 Mets had a winning percentage of .250.
Despite how bad things have been in the Mile High City, is the worst still to come for the 2025 Colorado Rockies?
The reason I ask is because for all of their poor play, the Rockies have not had a losing streak reach double digits. The Rockies have had four separate 8 game losing streaks this season (April 11-20, April 22-29, May 2-10 & May 24-June 1). By contrast, the 2024 Chicago White Sox had three double digit losing streaks. They lost 14 in a row from May 22-June 6, 21 in a row between July 10-August 6 (tying an AL record set by the 1988 Baltimore Orioles to start the season) and 12 in a row between August 23-September 3. The Chisox went 15-50 after the All-Star Break.
If there is a silver lining for the Rockies is that after a 9-49 start, the team is 13-25 since June 1st. Don't get me wrong. Losing two out of every three games is bad. But if the Rockies somehow maintain the pace they've had since the beginning of June, their second half record would be 22-44. In which case, they would finish the season 44-118 and be spared the indignity of surpassing both the 2024 Chicago White Sox, 1962 New York Mets for losses in a single season and, for that matter, the 1916 Philadelphia Athletics for worst winning percentage.
On the other hand, the dog days of summer are coming, and baseball becomes a grind in August and September. The first half of September, the Rockies are going to play a lot of baseball against their own division namely the defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants. All three teams could make the 2025 post-season and do so at the expense of the Rockies.
The Red Sox have earned sweeps against the Washington Nationals, Colorado Rockies and now the Rays. Much of their success has come at the expense of the Rays. Over this same period, the Rays from being 1½ out of first to 6 games back although they are only 1½ games back of the Seattle Mariners for the third AL Wild Card spot. Still, having gone 4-11 since June 27th, the Rays are not where they would like to be.
President Trump is taking credit for the Red Sox success claiming the team hasn't lost since several members visited the White House when they were in D.C. on Fourth of July weekend. In reality, it is likes of Crochet, Bello, Chapman, Rafaela, Trevor Story, Wilyer Abreu and rookie Roman Anthony who are responsible for the team's recent success. If they sustain that success, then perhaps they can save manager Alex Cora's job. A little over a month ago, prior to the Devers trade, Cora was on the proverbial hot seat.
Still, there is a lot of baseball to be played with 64 games remaining on the schedule. The start of their second half will be a challenge as they face a trio of first place teams in the NL. They begin at Wrigley Field for a three-game series against the NL Central leading Chicago Cubs and then travel to Philadelphia to play the Phillies who are currently in a tie for first place in the NL East with the New York Mets. Then they return to Fenway to play the defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers.
It was a last-minute decision to see Superman. I've seen all of the Superman reboots so I figured I would see this one as well. There was also the natural desire to get out of the house on a Saturday night.
A bit of background is in order. The very first movie I ever truly remember seeing in a movie theatre was when I saw the original Superman: The Movie when I lived in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada in 1978 when I was 6-year-old. My Dad was on sabbatical that year and spent that year on the West Coast before returning to Thunder Bay the following year.
Seeing Superman: The Movie was a transformative experience for my senses in both sight and sound. Christopher Reeve's portrayal of Superman/Clark Kent along with that of Margot Kidder and Gene Hackman as Lois Lane and Lex Luthor, respectively, made a deep and lasting impression. The special effects did not get in the way of the story. Whatever charm and humor Hackman brought to Luthor, the demarcation of good and evil was clear and unambiguous.
The part of Superman which has stayed with me for nearly half a century is when Superman has to stop two nuclear missiles and finds Lois Lane dead in her automobile. His grief starts slowly and softly but then grows into a crescendo of unbridled rage as he screams into the stratosphere. Superman is momentarily stopped by Jor-El (as played Marlon Brando) forbidding him to interfere with the course of humanity. But he also hears the voice of his Earth father Jonathan Kent (as played by Glenn Ford) telling him he was put on Earth for a purpose. Superman then turns back time and finds Lois alive, well and in a typically bitchy mood and could not be happier about it.
Superman: The Movie set a very high bar. It is remarkable there have been three reboots of Superman in less than 20 years. I saw both Superman Returns and Man of Steel in 2006 and in 2013, respectively. Both Brandon Routh and Henry Cavill acquitted themselves well in the titular role though their portrayals were derivative of Christopher Reeve. Of the two films, I preferred Man of Steel. Kate Bosworth left me cold as Lois Lane and Kevin Spacey's performance of Lex Luthor made me think of Dr. Evil from the Austin Powers franchise. Amy Adams was a much better Lois Lane in Man of Steel and her interactions with Jor-El (as played by Russell Crowe) were interesting. Chris Meloni also had a small role as an Army colonel who comes to realize that Superman is not our enemy.
While neither Superman Returns nor Man of Steel measured up to Superman: The Movie, they had their merits. I cannot say the same of James Gunn's interpretation in 2025. Christopher Reeve's interpretation of Superman was a better version of ourselves and someone to whom we could look up. David Corenswet's interpretation renders Superman into a far lesser figure. Indeed, in the final line of the movie, Superman says, "Sometimes I'm a real jerk."
There's really nothing super about Corenswet's Superman. For the majority of the film, he is made to look immature, weak, whiny and pathetic. Lois Lane and even Jimmy Olsen (played by Rachel Brosnahan and Skyler Gisondo, respectively) are presented as stronger characters. Nicholas Hoult's portrayal of Lex Luthor is generic and paint-by-numbers. Most of the film's fight scenes look like a glorified video game.
Worse of all, Superman descends into anti-Semitic caricature as the plot is centered around the backlash against Superman stopping the nation of Boravia invading Jarhanpur. It becomes clear that Boravia is meant to represent Israel while Jarhanpur is meant to represent the Palestinians. The leader of Boravia, Vasil Ghurkos (as played by Zlatko Buric) is a one-dimensional madman intent on eliminating the people of Jarhanpur and appears intended to represent Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. They did everything but put a hook nose on Ghurkos and eat the blood of children.
I would hate to think that a 6-year-old child would see this version of Superman and view as their introduction to movies on the big screen and be etched into their memory for decades to come.
Of course, there will continue to be Superman movies because there is always money to be made. While Superman will make money, it shall not age well as it is will become a relic of the immaturity of Millennials and Gen Z and their preoccupation with social media to the exclusion of the real world. Whereas Superman: The Movie will endure for generations to come.
Elia began his managerial career in the Philadelphia Phillies before being promoted to the major league coaching staff under Dallas Green in 1980. This proved to be fortuitous as the Phillies would win their first ever World Series title. The Phillies would make the post-season the following year but would be stopped by the Montreal Expos in the NLDS.
When Green took over as general manager of the Chicago Cubs in 1982, he brought Elia along with him to become the team's new manager. Elia would last less than two seasons on the job. More on that later.
Elia returned to the Phillies in 1984 and would get another chance at managing during the 1987 season and manage the team through the 1988 season. In 1989, Elia would reunite with Green when he was hired to manage the New York Yankees. On three separate occasions, Elia was part of the Seattle Mariners coaching staff. Elia also served as a coach with the Toronto Blue Jays, Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Baltimore Orioles before ending his professional career in the front office of the Atlanta Braves in the early 2010s.
Fuck those fuckin’ fans who come out here and say they’re Cub fans that are supposed to be behind you rippin’ every fuckin’ thing you do. I’ll tell you one fuckin’ thing, I hope we get fuckin’ hotter than shit, just to stuff it up them 3,000 fuckin’ people that show up every fuckin’ day, because if they’re the real Chicago fuckin’ fans, they can kiss my fuckin’ ass right downtown and PRINT IT.
How could they? It was the beginning of the end for Elia in Chicago, and he would be fired that August replaced by Charlie Fox. Of course, the Cubs would win the NL East in 1984 under Jim Frey playing October baseball for the first team in 39 years. In parts of four seasons, Elia's managerial record was 238-300.
If there hadn't been a recording of the incident would anyone have remembered Lee Elia's lengthy baseball service? R.I.P.
All the surviving members expressed gratitude that they were able to have another chance to play music and to have it resonate across generations culminating in their induction into the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame in 2019. In this respect, they were not hung up on a dream. They got to live it.
Sadly, all things do come to an end. After the film was completed in 2023, Rod Argent was forced to retire from touring after suffering a stroke last summer. Despite this setback, Argent and company give the sense they are content with their lot in life. For this reason, I was able to leave the theatre with a smile.
On Friday night, I would leave the Somerville Theatre with an even bigger smile. Not only did I see another screening of Hung Up on a Dream: The Zombies Documentary but I got to see and hear Zombies lead singer Colin Blunstone perform a short set with the indie band Rooney. Following the performance, Blunstone participated in a Q&A session with Hung Up on a Dream director and Rooney founder Robert Schwartzman (who as it happens is the son of actress Talia Shire and nephew of Francis Ford Coppola) who were interviewed by music journalist Jim Sullivan.
Whether he is singing or in conversation, Blunstone, who turned 80 last month, conveys the sense of someone who enjoys his lot in life and does so with enormous geniality and warmth. During the interview, Schwartzman said in his capacity as a filmmaker he tried to seek out internal conflict and found virtually none. Most of the conflict were from external forces which engaged in dishonest business practices rendering them living a hand to mouth existence despite their enormous success during the 1960's.
The closest thing Schwartzman found regarding internal conflict was Blunstone and drummer Hugh Grundy wondering aloud in Abbey Road Studios what life might have been like had the Zombies not parted ways in 1969. When they did so, keyboardist Rod Argent and bass player Chris White (who were also the two principal songwriters in The Zombies) said the band had to go its separate ways with the departure of lead guitarist Paul Atchison and Argent and White's collaboration with Argent. However, they did not dwell on the subject. Schwartzman was struck by how amiable Blunstone, Argent, Grundy and White were with one another after all these decades considering how many musical acts cannot stand to be in the same room together. This was something Schwartzman considered uplifting.
For his part, Blunstone said it was so much easier to go through life with people with whom you get along than with people you don't. It seems such an obvious statement to make. Yet there are many people who see fit to stay in situations which make them miserable. Granted it isn't always easy to leave such circumstances. Nevertheless, Blunstone's outlook does help explain his youthful attitude of wonder. It also doesn't hurt that Blunstone's voice remains in fine form and can still hit the high notes he sung six decades ago.
The one question I wanted to ask was how Rod Argent is doing. Fortunately, Sullivan posed the question. While the stroke ended Argent's career as a touring musician and with it The Zombies, Blunstone made a point of saying that Argent is "fine" and was emailing him while he was backstage. Blunstone added that Argent is writing and recording new material and will lay down vocals on a newly written song returns to the U.K. after this leg of the Hung Up on a Dream tour concludes later this month. This is most welcome news.
