Hi Everyone:
Hope all of you are having a fun summer so far. I know the news hasn't been great lately, but I hope that all is well by you and that you are enjoying the good things that summer brings...late sunsets, barbeques, days at the beach or the pool. I'll always get a kick out of seeing the sun still out after 8 PM.
We're going to start off with some obituaries, in no paricular order...
1) James Caan- I mentioned this on FB the other after the news came out that James Caan had passed away in Los Angeles at age 82, that my first and favorite memory of him as an actor was in the TV movie Brian's Song.
I wasn't yet born when that movie first aired on ABC, I first saw it on Channel 9 in January of 1986. When Gayle Sayers and Brian Piccolo played for the Bears, they were not a good team, but at the time I was watching the movie, they were a few weeks away from winning the Super Bowl.
In Brian's Song, Caan played the happy-go-lucky, practical joke playing, one line dropping Brian Piccolo, a full back drafted out of Wake Forest, opposite Billy Dee Williams Gayle Sayers, the quiet, serious all-American out of Kansas. Both drafted in 1965, they both made the team and were assigned to me roommates on the road, according to the movie that was going to be a first-having a white player room with an African-American.
Since I was 12 years old when I saw Brian's Song and I had yet to see The Godfather, The Gambler or Rollerball, I just thought the guy playing Brian Piccolo was a comedic actor, that's how well he played the role. I had no idea that he was the prototypical tough guy.
It turns out that Caan was reluctant to do Brian's Song because he wanted to focus on his film career, but came around and in multiple interviews said it was one of his favorite roles. The fact that he was able to make Brian's Song and then shoot The Godfather soon thereafter just shows how amazing a talent he was.
2) Tony Sirico- A real life mobster turned actor, it really didn't seem like Sirico, as Soprano's Paul (Paulie Walnuts) Guitereri was doing much acting. I especially love watching old clips on YouTube where Paulie tells a joke and then repeats it. One time he was looking at Bobby Baccala and Vito Spatafore* and said "Hey it's like one of those weight loss ads. Before and waaay before" Then he found someone he didn't think heard it the first time and said it again. Maybe David Chase wrote it that way, or maybe Sirico improvised but either way it was hysterical.
I think my all time favorite Paulie Walnuts line was when he and Chris Moltisanti were stranded in the Pine Barrens and Chris said "I knew we should have stopped at Roy Rogers" (to get something to eat) and Paulie told Chris what he would have liked to do with Dale Evans (Roger's wife).
I know actors don't like to be typecast (see James Caan above) but it's really hard to imagine Tony Sirico playing anything besides a mobster. I'm guessing that really didn't bother him much. I was sorry to see that he passed.
3) Larry Storch-Agarn from F-Troop was 99, and if his passing just short of 100 didn't cause the nationwide heartbreak that Betty White's passing did, it still sux to get that close to the century mark and fall short. I loved watching F Troop reruns as a kid.
RIP
BASEBALL: Mets retire number 17
Saturday afternoon the Mets retired number 17 for Keith Hernandez. The ceremony was awesome. My favorite part was when they had the video tribute with different people reciting things about Hernandez life. When they got to the part where they mentioned all the gold gloves he won that part was red by Don Mattingly. Mattingly might’ve been the second greatest fielding first baseman I’ve ever seen. Hernandez was the first.
And despite the best efforts to do otherwise the Mets pulled out a miracle win on Saturday night. I read somewhere that it was the first time they had one on a walk off arrow since game six of the 1986 World Series which I find very hard to believe but nonetheless. It was very appropriate.
I’m sorry this is so short this week. Hope all is well.
Stay Safe
and Have a Great Week
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