Scars Tell on Alabama
Congratulations to the people of Alabama, who continue their hold-out against the Enlightenment.In the most ignored news story of the month, a statewide recount last week showed that Alabama narrowly voted to keep language in the state constitution supporting segregation and the poll tax. I guess reasonably educated and compassionate Alabamans can take pride in the fact that the amendment to change failed by only 0.13 percent, and that the language on the books will continue unenforced for the indefinite future.
Also, congratulations to the state's Republican Party, who convinced voters that removing the language could lead to huge, court-ordered tax hikes for public schools. Genius! It's got to be getting hard to come up with new excuses to hold off those uppity Negroes.
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In lighter "pandering" news, Ron Santo and the Cubs continue their effort to get the former thirdbaseman into the Hall of Fame. Santo played the diabetes card for all it was worth during the voting process two years ago, going so far as to say induction was all he had left to live for. Now, Santo has also been nominated for the Ford Frick Award for broadcasters. This is preposterous. He's only been broadcasting for 15 years! (Joe Buck's been doing it for 14, and he's still not old enough to be President.) Today, Santo even became a finalist for the award, thanks to Major League Baseball's stupid decision to let fans participate in the voting. The Cubs only hired him to help him get into the Hall, and now this bumbling, no-talent chucklehead stands in the doorway of immortality.
If you're voting in either the player or broadcaster category, let me offer some alternatives. As a thirdbaseman, KEN BOYER had a career batting average ten points higher than Santo's. Unlike Santo, he achieved a 100 RBI season (two, actually), won an MVP, and played in a World Series- hitting a grand slam in the '64 Classic for good measure.
As for the broadcasters, consider finalist Dizzy Dean, who introduced a generation of fans to baseball on America's first Game of the Week television broadcast. And next time around, you could vote for Mike Shannon- the most colorful character on baseball's best local radio broadcast for the last 32 years. He was in the booth for four pennant winners, and he called Mark McGwire's 61st and 62nd home runs in 1998.
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I will be proud of the title on today's blog until I'm a very old man.
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Yes, that was our "Sideways" that walked off with the L.A. Film Critics Best Picture Award, and a leading seven Golden Globe nominations over the weekend. Actors Paul Giamatti, Virginia Madsen, and Thomas Haden Church all got nods for the Globes, along with director Alexander Payne, the script by Payne and Jim Taylor, Rolfe Kent's score, and the movie for Best Picture. We're going all the way this year, baby! And if we get Oscar's Best Picture, it will be the first winner that deserved it since "The Godfather, Part II" in 1974.
RUN, don't walk, to see this movie!
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I had cause to search on-line for a Seinfeld script this afternoon. You can find any and all at www.stanthecaddy.com
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We had the big family holiday yesterday, two weeks early, due to the folks traveling over Christmas. Great food, fellowship, and gifts. It was truly one of the best Jesus/Sinatra birthday parties ever. Jesus would be 2004 on the 25th. Sinatra, 89, yesterday.
posted by CM @ 8:05 PM
1 Comments:
Sorry to hear about your wallet, Rob.
This thing about Ron Santo really bothers me. This is a guy who has only been broadcasting since 1989. And meanwhile, 38(!) years later, still no Joe Nuxhall in the broadcasting wing of the Hall of Fame? Until retiring this year, the "Old Lefthander" had been with the Cincinnati Reds broadcasting team since 1967 and has never been recognized despite his distinctive style, his calling of Pete Rose's 4192nd hit, Perfect Games by Tom Seaver and Tom Browning, and dozens of Reds playoff and World Series games. And if you're honoring a guy simply for his service to the game, let's acknowledge Nuxhall who spent 60(!!) years in professional baseball.
I caught Ron Santo this summer as a guest on Dennis Miller's ridiculous TV show. He was there with his son promoting a documentary his son produced about his Dad. This film (which oddly never played in my town) looked like an obvious publicity stunt to drum up support for Santo's waning Hall chances. Santo was overrated as a player (he never had a 100 RBI season for God's sake) and he's clumsy as a broadcaster. It would be an embarrassment for the Hall, something they've thankfully avoided so far by not enshrining similarly Superstation-hyped players Andre Dawson and Ryne Sandberg.
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