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
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.
