Heads up - I recently started up another blog, Swan Squawking, as a place for all my non-sports-related musings. Coming soon - my thoughts on the new TV show "Glee," which I just started watching.
You also may remember that Squawker Jon and I are big fans of "The Twilight Zone" and Jon has made "Twilight Zone"-related comparisons this year about Derek Jeter and the Mets' season. So in honor of the show's 50th anniversary, I wrote something for my own amusement about my favorite overlooked episodes.
Everybody remembers "To Serve Man" or "It's a Good Life." Those are two of my favorites, as are "Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?," and "A Stop at Willoughby." But there are also many very good episodes which aren't as well-remembered, but are still worth watching. Check out To serve readers: Ten forgotten "Twilight Zone" episodes you need to see.You can watch some of these episodes online at CBS.com.
Squawker-related note - my late father and show creator Rod Serling both were World War II paratroopers in the 11th Airborne, 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment, in the South Pacific. But they were in separate companies, so they never met.
I've been trying to be a good sport about the Yankees winning the World Series, focusing more on my team winning, rather than the fact that Yankee-haters are so miserable right now. But I have to admit that there is a little (Squawker Jon would say more than a little!) "sports hate" in me, as Bill Simmons would say.
After all, one of my favorite movie quotes is from "Conan the Barbarian." When Conan is asked "what is best in life?" Conan, aka Arnold Schwarzenegger, responds:
"To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women!"
So yeah, even though I have a lot of friends on "the other side," I have to admit to enjoying this edge over the Yankee-haters of the world, particularly those in Red Sox Nation and Metsland. And I'm sure they would feel the same way if the situation were reversed.
But the thing is, at least we're all passionate about our teams. I always say that there are good fans and bad fans in every fanbase, but the East Coast baseball fans have a special breed of intensity.
I wrote earlier in the week about how Bill Simmons' sports hate had faded for A-Rod, Peyton Manning, and Kobe Bryant. Squawker reader/Red Sox fan Joe from Connecticut sharply criticized Simmons:
Simmons has lost his edge from living in So-Cal. You can't keep a good hate going when every day is 75 and sunny. There are no passionate sports fans past Chicago in this country- do you think there's anyone discussing spring training in So-Cal right now? But I can find a dozen bars tonight that I could walk into and start a passionate discussion about who's going to be the #5 starter for the Sox this year or whether Joba should start or be in the pen.
And I'm in Connecticut - if I was in NYC or Boston...fugeddaboutit. East Coast puts the hot in hot stove because we care - Simmons sold out with the move west. Maybe the Belichick boner will bring him back.
Joe's got a point. There really isn't an offseason for baseball in the Northeast. I remember listening to sports radio in Texas in 1996, literally the day after the Yankees won the World Series. And the host said he was done talking about baseball until the spring! Good grief.
Fortunately, in New York, the Yankee talk never stops. On that note, I'm going to the Ziegfeld Theater Monday night to see the red-carpet premiere of the Yankees' World Series movie. (If any of our readers are going, let me know, and maybe we can meet up and say hello.)
Sadly, Squawker Jon isn't attending. I somehow managed to talk him into watching the simulcast of World Series Game 4 at Yankee Stadium, where he had to deal with being around all those happy Yankee fans. He also was with me at the Subway Series at Yankee Stadium this spring, where we saw the Castillo dropped play in person. If Jon went to this movie premiere, I do believe his head would explode.
And Jon also turned down helping me with my latest scheme. I'm still so gleeful over the Yankees beating Philadelphia in the World Series that I wanted to reenact the "Rocky" run up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, while wearing 2009 World Championship gear. And I asked my blogging partner to film me doing this.
Squawker Jon barked at me over the idea the way trainer Mickey barked at Rocky in the movie. So I guess I'm not gonna fly now. Bummer.
Who won the American League Manager of the Year in 2000 and who finished second?
And who did they beat out?
Before I give the answers, Lisa and I had a great time at the trivia contest, which was run by our fellow blogger The Omnipotent Q of the Mighty Quinn Media Machine. The best thing was seeing Lisa trying to keep her cool in a Red Sox bar decorated with various pro-Red Sox and anti-Yankee memorabilia! It was also fun to hear how the three Red Sox players Lisa dislikes the most - Jonathan Papelbon, Kevin Youkilis and Dustin Pedroia - are Q's favorite Bosox.
As for the 2000 AL Manager of the Year race, here are the runners-up:
3. Lou Piniella, Mariners 4. Mike Scioscia, Angels 5. Joe Torre, Yankees
So who beat out this impressive group?
The AL Manager of the Year in 2000 was White Sox skipper Jerry Manuel.
Second place went to A's skipper Art Howe.
In the NL that year, Bobby Valentine finished fourth, behind winner Dusty Baker of the Giants, the Cardinals' Tony LaRussa and the Braves' Bobby Cox.
Squawker Jon and I were out and about in the big city last night. So we thought we'd pay a visit to our blogging friend The Omnipotent Q of the Mighty Quinn Media Machine. You may remember Q is the guy who's appearing in the same movie as Derek Jeter. He's also a Red Sox fan who runs a weekly trivia contest at Professor Thom's in the East Village.
The bar is a Red Sox fan hangout that features all sorts of Boston memorabilia. I felt like I needed to wear a Yankee shirt, just to ward off all that evil Red Sox stuff (like wearing a crucifix and garlic to stop Dracula from going after your neck!) But Squawker Jon said he would deny he knew me if I showed up in Yankee gear. Bummer.
Anyhow, we met our friend Q in person for the first time - he's a great guy, even if he is misguided in his choices of teams - and participated in the trivia extravaganza. Winner gets a gift certificate for Professor Thom's. I had visions of sugarplums dancing in my head - or, more exactly, visions of me winning a prize from a Red Sox bar and crying out, "Count the rings, baby" or something like that.
Unfortunately, it was not to be. After being as close as second place at one point, we tumbled in the last two rounds and lost (check out the questions from the evening.) We still had a lot of fun, though, playing the game and then talking to Q the trivia host afterwards. Two Squawker thumbs up!
Mets pitcher Tom Seaver - aka The Franchise - turned 65 yesterday. I wrote a piece on the Faster Times about him. Although I was too young to remember Seaver's greatest moments as a Met, I do remember what a big deal it was in New York when he got traded. My brothers even wrote a sardonic banner about the trade for the Mets' Banner Day.
In addition, I remember how Seaver's 300th victory was overshadowed by a cow. Read my article for further details.
What do you think? Tell us about it!
I still can't quite believe it. ESPN Sports Guy Bill Simmons, known for his "sports hate" for Alex Rodriguez, Peyton Manning, and Kobe Bryant, praised all three in a recent column, saying that they have all won his respect. Here's what he wrote about A-Rod:
Alex Rodriguez carried the Yankees to the 2009 title. He was their biggest bat, he had the most clutch moments and he finished with one of the better statistical postseasons in a while. If that's not enough, he dumped the Crossover Superstar quest and just concentrated on playing baseball, hanging out with his girlfriend and that's it. Even his teammates seem to like him this year. Damn it all.
Wow! It's always shocking when a sportswriter does such a 180. But for Red Sox fan Simmons to do so is pretty stunning, given all the anti-A-Rod stuff he's written over the years. Simmons even described the Yankees as having "good chemistry"!
That's not all. Nearly three years after Peyton Manning won the Super Bowl with the Indianapolis Colts - and Simmons, who was covering Super Bowl Week for ESPN.com, somehow never got around to writing a post-Super Bowl column about the game - he finally acknowledges that Manning isn't the choker he thought he was:
Peyton Manning is clutch. He's a champion. He's the heart of the Colts, and for all we know he's coaching them, too. You cannot wager against him, especially in night games. He's the most important player in football. Take Manning off the Colts and they disintegrate into dust. If that's not enough, he has proved to be a likable, engaging guy with a sense of humor. Damn it all.
A little - make that a lot - late, but still a huge concession for somebody who wrote a hundred "Peyton Manning Face" columns over the years.
And finally, Simmons praised Kobe Bryant, writing:
Kobe Bryant won a title his way -- by establishing a Kobe and the Kobettes dynamic that actually worked -- becoming one of the ten best NBA players ever and proving he could prevail without Shaq. If that wasn't jarring enough, Shaq's exit from Phoenix marked the fourth time he left a team on bad terms, making everyone re-evaluate the whole "Was Kobe really the bad guy in the Shaqobe Divorce?" saga that had been buried years ago.
I'm still trying to figure out why Simmons made such huge concessions. Is it to get people to buy his new tome The Book of Basketball? Who knows? It's all very strange. Never expected him to write any of this, especially not on A-Rod.
Big news - I've been given the chance to write for the Huffington Post's new sports section. I'm going to write on a variety of topics, not just baseball. Here's my first piece, on Tennessee Titans star Vince Young, and why Bud Adams was right - and Jeff Fisher wrong - about him. Check it out!
Joe Torre may be telling the media how happy he is that the Yankees won the World Series, but he bashed George Steinbrenner - again - in the Los Angeles Times, comparing The Boss to Torre's abusive father.
I thought he went way too far with this. Check out my Faster Times piece on it. While Torre has done admirable work with his Safe at Home foundation to prevent domestic violence, he should know better than to trivialize the issue with such a comparison.
There's been a whole-to do today about how Derek Jeter is playing a (not-very-convincing-looking) homeless man in a new movie called "The Other Guys." I wrote a Faster Times piece on it.
But the best part of the story came after I posted my article on Facebook. Turns out that my fellow Facebook friend The Omnipotent Q of the Mighty Quinn Media Machine blog is also in the movie - he's a background actor in the film. Q, of course, is a die-hard Red Sox fan - he's the Lieutenant Governor of Red Sox Nation-NY. But don't hold that against him - he's a good guy, and you should check out his blog. Here's what he has to say about being in the same film as Jeter:
Can't wait to see how much face time I got in "The Other Guys." I think I got a few seconds worth, but I'll know when the movie is released. And I guess I can tell the grandkids one day that I was in a movie with Derek Jeter. (Not right next to him, of course, but you understand.)
But really, would I want to do that?
Yikes! And people say I'm too tough on the captain!
* * *
In other news, as Mighty Quinn also notes in his blog, today is the 40th anniversary of the day Felix Unger's wife asked him to remove himself from the premises on "The Odd Couple." In honor of this great date, WPIX is running an 11-episode "Odd Couple" marathon starting tonight at 11. Here are the episodes:
11:00 p.m. Password
11:30 p.m. You Saved My Life
12:00 a.m. Sleepwalker
12:30 a.m. The Flying Felix
01:00 a.m. The Odd Monks
01:30 a.m. Felix, The Calypso Singer
02:00 a.m. Let's Make A Deal
02:30 a.m. The Subway Story
03:00 a.m. The New Car
03:30 a.m. A Grave For Felix
04:30 a.m. I Gotta Be Me
Here's my favorite "Odd Couple" moment:
Speaking of odd couples, there is no truth to the rumor that Squawker Jon and I are getting married. Squawker reader Ryan O saw this tidbit in the news about Game 6:
A television blimp circled above the stadium during the entire game, and at one point the electronic lettering on the side beamed "Lisa, will you marry me? Love John."
The blimp circled the stadium again, and on the next round it brought the answer: She said "yes."
Um, no. Not gonna happen. But Jon and I could be roommates in a new version of the "Odd Couple." Can two Subway Squawkers share an apartment without driving each other crazy? Now there's a reality show for you!
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? Who knows? It's all very strange. Never expected him to write any of this, especially not on A-Rod.
