Tagged: William Shatner
Van..coo..ooo..ver
Oh, sorry. I’m still singing that song from the closing ceremonies tonight. I kept thinking there was probably a less repetitive way to have those white snowboarders salute their host city, but I quibble. The truth is I really enjoyed the evening, starting with NBC’s round up show, which was sort of a Cliffs Notes of the Olympics.
I loved seeing the highlights of Bode, Shaun, Evan, Apolo and Lindsey doing their thing – full-blown cultural icons now. And a big hat tip to Sid the Kid (amazing hockey game), Joannie Rochette and Kim Yu-Na. I still need to be convinced that ice dancing is a sport and I could live without one more commercial for Jerry Seinfeld’s “Marriage Ref,” but all in all it was a great event with so many memorable moments. Just one question about this.
When the athletes walk around holding little cameras, video or otherwise, what do they hope to get? How can their images not be blurry, tiny, not worth the trouble? Oh, and who knew William Shatner was Canadian?
So now that the Super Bowl is over and the Olympics are over and the Oscars will be over a week from tonight (the equivalent of the Super Bowl for me), there will be Yankees baseball. In less than two weeks I’ll be in Florida getting my first look at Grandy and the other newbies, not to mention the returning crew. Girardi hasn’t announced the starting pitchers for the games I’ll be going to but it doesn’t matter. Just being there will be a thrill. Before I get to Tampa, I’m speaking at the Blake Library in Stuart (on the east coast of Florida) on Saturday, March 13th. The event is called Baseball @ the Blake, and I’ll be there to talk about the She-Fan book along with Lew Paper, the author of “Perfect: Don Larsen’s Miraculous World Series Game and the Men Who Made It Happen.” Here’s the blurb from the Blake’s online bulletin.
2:30pm Jane Hell er, Confessi ons of a She-Fan
Popular and prolific author Jane Heller
will discuss her first nonfiction book,
Confessions of a She-Fan: The Course
of True Love with the New York
Yankees, a chick-lit look at baseball, love
and marriage. In search of answers and
hoping to inject some excitement into her
marriage, she literally followed the Bronx
Bombers with her husband through the rest of
their challenging 2007 season. Books will be available for
sale and signing following her talk.
If anyone’s in the area on the 13th, I hope you’ll stop by and say hello. I’m supposed to speak for 30 minutes. Any suggested talking points?
After the library gig, it’ll be on to Tampa and spring training. I’d be remiss if I didn’t say farewell (unless nobody picks him up) to Edwar Ramirez, who was DFA-ed to make room for Chan Ho Park. Edwar was….Well, let’s just say he had a good change-up. Best of luck to you, Edwar, and may you put some meat on those bones.
Who ARE These People Anyway?
The Yankees looked so robust, so enthusiastic, so good in spring training. They even looked good as recently as yesterday. And yet, after tonight’s 12-5 loss to the Orioles at Camden Yards, they reminded me of them.
For those too young to remember, there was a 1963 sci-fi movie called “Children of the Damned” about a group of highly talented youngsters who had no ability to control their destiny.
Seriously. Am I supposed to believe that Phil Hughes has any idea how to pitch at the major league level? Was his outing in Detroit a fluke? Is he hurt again? What. Is. Wrong.
I know. The Daily News didn’t capture Phil in a very flattering pose. But he gave up eight runs in less than two innings!
Not that he had much help. Swisher’s throw to the backstop was amusing, but I wasn’t interested in watching a comedy show. Tex couldn’t stab Markakis’ line drive. And Cano didn’t even bend over on Scott’s “single.”
Then came Edwar Ramirez, who gave up homers to Markakis and Montanez. When did he become the change-up-throwing version of this guy?
Whatever. The Yankees might very well have chipped away against Eaton, who was staked to a 9-0 lead and nevertheless walked the first three batters in the fourth and served up back-to-back homers to Damon and Tex in the fifth.
As an aside, doesn’t Dave Trembly…
…have a slight resemblance to him?
Back to the game. For some reason, Girardi waited until the eighth inning to use the Yankees’ new “long man.”
Bombko had a great spring and an equally great stint in Scranton. But he lived up to his nickname when he threw one right down the middle to Jones. I nearly lost it when Jim Palmer (I was forced to listen to MASN, the Orioles’ feed) suggested that Brett might be groomed as our eighth-inning setup man. Over my this.
Oh, well. Tomorrow’s another day, and this one worked out much better than I thought. I woke up to fog and humidity and light winds – perfect conditions for getting the wildfires under control. Even though 8,700 acres have burned since Tuesday and there’s only 30% containment, I didn’t have to evacuate. The warning for my area is still in effect as a precaution and I’m not unpacking just yet, but things are definitely looking up.
I went for a beach walk this afternoon and it felt so good to resume normal activities. There were fire trucks everywhere, which was a little disconcerting, but I waved at each one and gave the guys the thumbs-up and said thanks. God, they’ve worked hard. Here’s a photo from the Santa Barbara News-Press showing them catching a much-deserved nap.
Surveying the damage (80+ residences were destroyed) has to be extremely tough for them.
I can’t imagine what it must be like to evacuate and then come home to this.
For now I don’t have to. To say I feel fortunate is an understatement.
Confessions of a She-Fan 