Howdy:
Saturday would have been my grandmother's 110th birthday. She passed away a couple months short of her 96th birthday in 2009. She got to meet two of her great grandkids, and she pretty much lived as full a life as you can.
Walking through the city on Saturday though reminded me of something else.... her birthday was usually one of the hottest, stickiest days of the year. A lot of the time she came to Rockaway for her birthday, which was nice because we could enjoy the ocean breeze, but when we went into where she lived in Woodhaven, well, you felt that heat and humidity. This year was no exception. Another sweaty July 8th.
On the upside, it did bring back good memories.
On that note, I have a book review and a movie review....
BOOK REVIEW- Road to Nowhere-The Early 1990's Collapse and rebuild of New York Baseball
By: Chris Donnelly
I highly recommend this book. To anybody who is a NY baseball fan actually.
But I really recommend this book to a specific reader.. the one who is watching what is going on in the Bronx these days and saying "If George was still in charge....."
Yes, if George was still in charge, Brian Cashman, Aaron Boone and about 30 pitching and hitting coaches would be on the unemployment line. Of that I have no doubt.
But this book not so gently reminds us that kind of manic management is why the Yanks lost 87 games in 1989 and 95 more in 1990. It discusses one of my favorite Yankee memories... Andy Hawkins no-hitter against the White Sox, in which the Yanks lot 4-0. My litmus test if you are a true Yankee fan is if you can tell me which Yankee pitched a no-hitter and lost.
It also goes into how Steinbrenner was kicked out of baseball for giving Howie Spira $40,000 to dig up dirt on Dave Winfield, and how that move paved the way for Gene "Stick" Michael and Buck Showalter to rebuild the Yanks from the laughingstock they were to the dynasty they would become at decade's end. Indeed the book ends with the Yankees wining the 1996 World Series.
It also discusses the fall of the Mets, from losing the 1988 NLCS to the Dodgers, to the firing of Davey Johnson, the failed tenure of fan fave Buddy Harrelson, the worst team money could buy, the 1992-93 Mets, led by Jeff Torborg/Dallas Green, and symbolized by the man still collecting a 1.9 million paycheck every July 1st, as social media gleefully reported again last week, Bobby Bonilla.
Yes, it was at times painful to read as a Met fan, but it did point out that the 1994 strike, which many felt cost the Yanks another World title, as they had the leagues best record at the time, also cost the Mets a shot at a Wild Card, as they had been playing well after a rough start that year.
But again, the big takeaway from the book is how it took George's banishment from baseball to get the Bombers back to prominence. Many of my friends on here who are Yankee fans readily acknowledge this, I recommend this book for those who don't.
3.5 Aces
MOVIE REVIEW-Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
Starring: Harrison Ford, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Mads Mikkelsen, Toby Jones
Saw it at: Regal Lynbrook.
The Regal at Lynbrook is one of those movie theaters that have the huge recliners and a tray attached. A couple of times I saw movies there with Tim and I admit I fell asleep. For the price you pay nowadays for a movie, that's quite an expensive nap. But those chairs are comfortable.
Fortunately, I managed to stay awake for this latest and supposedly final installment of the Indiana Jones franchise. Now, apparently this is movie number 5, I know I never saw number 4, and I can barely remember number 3, (the one with Sean Connery). And I didn't feel the need to catch up either.
So I won't go into the plot too much as not to spoil it for those who haven't seen it. What I will tell you is that it takes place mostly in 1969, with our hero now a professor at Ace's alma mater Hunter College. Professor Jones is finishing up his teaching career the same day the Apollo 11 astronauts are being feted with a parade down the Canyon of Heroes.
I pointed out to Timmy that Hunter on 68th and Lex was nowhere near where NY holds their ticker-tape parades. I also came to realize that would be the least of what you would have to suspend your common sense beliefs for. As several people have pointed out, the premise of the movie was an 80 year old man traversing the world looking for an ancient artifact.
If you are looking for good chase scenes and suspenseful trips into underground/underwater caves, this is the movie for you.
Ford of course is still amazing. I'm not a fan of Waller-Bridge, I've never seen Fleabag, but she hosted SNL once and I thought her monologue was lame and unfunny. But she was pretty good in this movie. Mikkelsen who played the bad guy in Daniel Craig's first Bond movie, Casino Royale, was a daunting bad guy here too. at one point, he tells someone "I am Professor Schmidt from Alabama" and I was the only one in the theater who thought that was funny. Was it because someone with a German accent was claiming to be from Alabama? Not really. My cousin Michelle is a Professor at Alabama-Birmingham and her maiden name is Schmidt. I just thought was quite a coincidence
Small world right?
4.0 Aces.
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The Knicks traded Obi Toppin to the Pacers last week for a couple of second round picks. I believe this trade will bite the Knicks in the ass. I still think Toppin will be a really good player. Unless the Knicks parlay those picks into something useful, this one will haunt them.
The Mets, after winning 6 in a row to get themselves off the mat a little bit, dropped two to the Padres to limp into the All Star Break. Hopefully Pete Alonso wins the home run derby on Monday so we have something to hang our hats on this year.
Stay Cool
Stay Safe
and Have a Great Week
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