Hi Everyone:
Thursday night we had our 4th Running for Rebecca, our second one at (the park formerly known as) Maurice Park. It was amazing, it rained for a good part of the morning and even into the afternoon it was still overcast. As we were driving into Queens, we were listening to Howie Rose call the Met game, and he was saying "The sun has been trying to break through here at Citi Field today, but so far its still rather dreary and the lights are on."
But wouldn't you know it...as we pull in to park, the sun broke through. And it turned out to be a beautiful night, another gift from above if you will.
We had an awesome turnout as you can see. And thanks to all of you who made a contribution, Running for Rebecca raised a cool $8,384.74. That was over $2,000 more than our goal of $6,300.00. Team Weekly Mail's contribution to that was $1469.53, almost 50% higher than our goal of $1,000.00. A million thanks and all the love to everyone who contributed.
Last week, our niece Rachel made her First Communion. It was a great day and we loved celebrating our girl Rachie. But it's never too far from your mind that someone who is supposed to be there isn't. But she sure was there with us on Thursday, sending us the sun just as we were gathering to remember her. It's always the day it hurts just a bit less, just because on that day she's there.
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TELEVISION REVIEW-Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty.
(SPOILER ALERTS)
So full disclosure before we start.... This 10 part HBO Series was based on the book Showtime about the Magic, Kareem, Pat Riley Lakers of the 1980's. That book is one of my favorites, written by my favorite author, Jeff Pearlman. I read the book again prior to the start of the series, and all I can say is this: It's one thing if you are reading a book for the first time and you can't put it down. When you are reading it for the third time, and you still have a hard time putting it down, that's when you know you have a classic on your hands.
So I figured going in I would enjoy it immensely, and I did. But, well, .... let's start with what I liked about it before we get into the criticism.
First of all, the casting was terrific. I've never seen late Lakers owner Dr. Jerry Buss interviewed, so I don't really have a point of reference, but the way John C. Reilly played him was incredible. I feel like I know him now. I have seen Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Pat Riley a million times, so I can safely say that Quincy Isiah, Solomon Hughes and Adrien Brody respectively were inspired choices to play those roles. As a kid, I always thought Roy (We're going to need a bigger boat) Scheider would be the perfect Pat Riley. Others said Michael Douglas (especially after Wall Street), but now I can't picture anybody else besides Brody playing the former Laker coach. Isiah and Hughes were unknowns, but were amazing here.
It took me a little bit to get used to the idea of breaking the 4th wall (having the characters speak to the tv audience). That doesn't always work.* It worked here. It was mostly used by Buss. And it did enhance the production.
The story that was told was compelling. It helped if you are a basketball fan, but you didn't have to be an NBA fan to enjoy it. This was evidenced by the high ratings the show received and the buzz it generated. That was also because of some controversy the show brought up, which we'll address next.
The controversy mostly came from the fact that the NBA in general and the Lakers in particular did not endorse the series, in fact they were openly hostile to it.
This especially came to light as it pertained to Laker legend Jerry West, who at the time depicted in the show, was in his last days as Lakers head coach. West portrayed by Jason Clarke, either was a raving lunatic or looked like he had taken a bite out of a lemon. The real Jerry West was less than happy with this portrayal for obvious reasons, and threatened to sue everyone involved.
So here's my $0.02 on all of this...
Movies sometimes take what they call poetic license, in other words, they don't let things like facts and the truth get in the way of a good story. This series did that quite a bit. They had the Lakers playing games on dates they weren't playing, against teams they weren't playing against. (for example according to the show, they played the Celtics on Christmas Day 1979. A quick gander a basketball reference.com says no). But it made for a compelling plot line.
And that wasn't in the book.
What else wasn't in the book....
1) Jerry West throwing his MVP Trophy through his office window after the Lakers drafted Magic Johnson.
2) Kareem telling child actor Ross Harris to f-ck off when he asked Kareem for an autograph after shooting their scene together in Airplane**
3) Magic humiliating his future wife's then boyfriend in a pickup game in Michigan. Or Magic getting schooled by Norm Nixon on a basketball court during a party at Jerry Buss house.
4) Paul Westhead being hospitalized for gallstones, and having recently released from the hospital Jack McKinney visiting him to tell him "I picked you as my assistant because I know you can't be a head coach.
Those are four that come to mind, there were a whole bunch more. I could see why the former Lakers would be annoyed. I just wouldn't include the book's author in these complaints, he didn't write any of that. Take it up with the producers of the show.***
But I have to admit I really enjoyed it and was sorry when it ended. Good news is, they are already planning a second season.
3.5 Aces.
HOCKEY PLAYOFFS- Rangers hanging in
In Game 1 of the Rangers series against the Carolina Hurricaines, they pretty much controlled the play for the first 42 minutes of the game. Unfortunately Carolina dominated the last 18 minutes, plus the few minutes of overtime and came away with the 2-1 win. It pissed me off because I felt like that was the game they could steal down there, as Carolina is a notoriously tough team to beat at home.
Game 2 was just a complete disaster as far as I was concerned. It wasn’t even that they got shut out, it was that they never even gave themselves any scoring chances. I’m not taking anything away from the Hurricanes, they’re really good team, but the Rangers are better than what they showed that night.
But on Sunday they were finally able to put together a solid complete game and they came away with a 3-1 win. It’s obvious all these games are going to be tight. Which stands to reason, since these were two of the best defensive teams in the league. Igor Shesterkin was once again lights out, which allowed the offense to take some more chances. They still made me nervous in the 3rd period Sunday, as they went into what the NFL used to call the “prevent” defense. But it all worked out, and onto Game 4 we go on Tuesday.
Incidentally, I was in Stop & Shop on Saturday morning. I had A couple of cases of water in my cart that I hadn’t really stacked correctly. A couple of the bottles came out and I was picking them up and putting them back in the cart and people were having trouble getting around me. One of the people who was trying to get around me said to me you know something? And I figured he was gonna call me a jerk for not knowing how to put water in a cart. Instead he said “It would be nice if Panarin decided to show up.” I forgot I had my Artemi Panarin shirt on.
.
Meanwhile, Game 1 of the Oilers-Flames series was a throwback to those old Smythe Division playoff series from the early 80's, when the Oilers had Gretzky, Messier and Coffey, and the Flames were their biggest geographical rivals. Some of those games were defense optional as well.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW? The Cardboard Fin Kid from Jaws....
You guys remember the scene in Jaws where two kids pretended to be a shark, had the water evacuated and when they came up, they had three boats full of guys pointing guns in their faces? Well, the one who blamed his brother for the idea is now himself the police chief of the town in Martha's Vineyard where the film took place.
Jonathan Earle, now 56, told the Vineyard Gazette "it's something I've been working on my whole career." Both Jonathan and his brother Steven were amongst many young locals who had bit parts in the 1975 blockbuster.
According to IMDB, Jaws was the Searle brothers only acting role. Jonathan became a cop in 1986, following the footsteps of his father, who also served as the town's police chief from 1981 till 1995.
And in the Art Imitates Life department, in 2008, Seale arrested a man who started a hoax about great white sharks being spotted in the water trying to scare off the beach goers.
Here's hoping Chief Seale has a happy, productive and most of all, uneventful term as Chief of Police.
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Saturday was the 47th season finale for Saturday Night Live, and it also marked the departure of Kate McKinnon and Pete Davidson. (Aidy Bryant and Kyle Mooney are also rumored to be leaving). McKinnon is an all-time great, definitely top 10 of all time and could arguably top 5.
Davidson wasn’t the funniest or most talented cast member SNL has ever had, but for as long as I’ve been watching, few have been more fascinating. From his background as the son of a firefighter lost on 9/11, to his headline grabbing relationships with Ariana Grande and Kim Kardashian, to his will he or won’t he show up for work, I can’t remember too may other people in the shows history that created quite the water-cooler buzz that he did.
Summer unofficially starts next week. So glad we made it!
Stay Safe
and Have a Great Week
* There’s a show on Fox called Call me Kat, starring Jeopardy host Mayim Bialik which uses this and I at least find it annoying. My favorite use of it was on an SNL skit years ago with Robert Mitchum, Kevin Nealon and Victoria Jackson called Death be not Deadly. Mitchum turned to the camera and said “this gal was so saturated with booze, the Eleanor Roosevelt clinic wouldn’t take her” causing Nealon to yell “hey that’s my wife you’re talking about”
**Kareem’s quote from his sub stack blog… “I never said “F—k off” to the child actor (Ross Harris) in Airplane!, nor have I ever said that to any child. I realize this was a shorthand way of showing my perceived aloofness during that time, even though I have often spoken about my intense, almost debilitating shyness. Sometimes the attention in public became so overwhelming I shut down to protect my sanity. The filmmakers had access to that information, but truth and insight were not on their agenda. Shocking moments were. There is a victim here, it’s just that it’s not me. My charity the Skyhook Foundation, provides week-long retreats for inner-city school children to study science while staying in the national forest. …. But when people see this show and come away with an impression that I’m verbally abusive to children, they are less likely to support my foundation. That mean fewer kids will be able to partake in the program.”
***Pearlman for his part has emphatically defended the series, has objected to nothing that the series portrayed, and even got into a Twitter skirmish with legendary Boston Globe columnist Bob Ryan, who demanded Pearlman apologize to Jerry West.
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