Blogging BLOHARDS

First Luncheon of 2009: May 5

MAY LUNCHEON SCHEDULED FOR MAY 5TH

The BLOHARDS have announced the dates for the 2009 luncheons - May 5th at the Columbia Club (known to Princeton grads as The Princeton Club) and September 25th at the Yale Club.  As always, both events will coincide with visits by the Red Sox to New York to play the free-spending Yankees.  All the information about the first luncheon (celebrate Cinqo de Mayo!) is here.   

WFAN's Ed Randall, jazz guy John Pizzarelli, a Sox player TBD, NESN camera people, trivia master John Quinn, and Ray Duffy (slideshow tour guide) are all in with both feet, especially the Sox player TBD.  Peter Collery is also ready to give a preview of Spring BLOHARDS merchandise, as well as his investing strategy for the BLOHARDS dues payments for 2009 ("leave it in the checking account").  

Chattin' With Cash About Slappy. Sort Of.

BLOHARDS Almost-Interview With Brian Cashman About A-Rod

The Yankees PR Dept. has a long history of not responding to the BLOHARDS' requests for interviews. So, in the spirit of those '70s record spoofs that incorporated bits of songs in response to questions, the BLOHARDS string together questions we wanted to ask Brian Cashman with published quotes from the Yankees' GM.

BLOHARDS: "Young and stupid"....to quote the great Warner Wolf, "Come awn!"
Cashman: I like the fact more when he says he was stupid, not young and naive."
BLOHARDS: Characterize A-Rod's use of steroids.
Cashman: It was a bad decision that may cost him on so many levels."
BLOHARDS: What did you think he left out during the press conference?
Cashman: The one thing he could have said was the fact he chose to do this to make himself better ... at what he does on the baseball field. That's the truth.
BLOHARDS: Rate Alex's general eloquence on a scale from 1 to 10.
Cashman: I don't think Alex is very good at communicating ... whether it's about talking about your game and the impact you had on it after hitting a home run or if he had a tough game at the park, let the team down. Anybody that's been in that clubhouse when he's trying to talk about success or failure on the baseball diamond knows that is something he is not very good at.
BLOHARDS: So where does it go from here? You just signed him to a ten-year extension. Try to use Humpty Dumpty in the answer.
Cashman: We have nine years of Alex remaining and we want it to be nine terrific years. He is a huge investment. This is an asset that's currently in crisis, and we will do everything we can to protect this asset and move forward with this asset. If this is Humpty Dumpty, we have to put him back together again.
BLOHARDS: Who is responsible for the ongoing employment of John Sterling?
Cashman:
BLOHARDS: Thanks, as always.

Knock, Knock, Knockin' On Pulitzer's Door

KNOCK, KNOCK KNOCKIN' ON PULITZER'S DOOR
by Vicente Romo

BOLDFACE NAMES AND FOUR DOTS

Light up that cigar! Just heard that the Looie Tiant documentary has been written into the Tribeca Film Festival’s lineup. There is talk of screenings on April 23rd in the East Village. Next we’ll be hearing that Ray’s slideshow has been accepted at Sundance....Congrats to Nomar Garciaparra, signed by the Oakland A's to spend considerable time on the DL. Came out of contract signing with just the normal wrist stiffness....Seeing that video of the final section (Section 5) of Shea Stadium crashing to the ground makes us wonder - how many innocent rats and mice were sacrificed to the demoliton?....Tampa has named James Shields to start on Opening Day at Fenway, April 6th. Lonborg for the Sox....George M. Steinbrenner High School in Lutz FL opens its doors in August and will have team sports but doesn't yet have a mascot, team name, or team colors. Any suggestions? We saw one for the school motto (preferably translated into Latin): "What the hell did you trade Jay Buhner for?! He had 30 home runs, over 100 RBIs last year! He's got a rocket for an arm. You don't know what the hell you're doing!"....So what did we think about A-Rod rediscovering his hip longstanding injury, just two days after his meeting with MLB? Our guess is that Mr. Selig et. al. would like A-Rod to disappear for a while. Hard enough to sell tickets in this economy without baseball's #1 story being that its best player is (charitble characterization) a lying cheat....Who were the players to become the first black pitcher and first black batter to face one another in an MLB game? (Answer at the end)….Lake Eisinore Storm (California A League, SD affiliate) will be holding an all-you-can-eat promotion called “Fat Tuesday” on April 14th. The first 250 fans in attendance will receive a product sample of SUBTLE BUTT. From the team’s press release – “You can probably deduce that All-You-Can-Eat ballpark food might lead to substantial gas emissions, which is where corporate sponsor, Subtle Butt, enters the picture. Made of activated carbon fabric, each disposable 3.25" square shield is held onto the inside of the underwear with two self-adhesive strips. Subtle Butt effectively filters flatulence, absorbing and neutralizing its odor." ….Fun to see Brian Cashman throwing the Yankees' "baseball people" under the bus for signing A-Rod after the opt-out. Cash looking more and more like the whining weenie portrayed by Torre/Verducci toward the end of the book.... Speaking of books, the publisher moved up the release date of Selena Roberts's A-Rod rip-job to the weekend before opening of new Stadium. Can't wait to see what else she has on the "boli" boy....Scouts are off-the-charts on O's catcher, Matt Wieters. One scout calls him a "once-in-a-generation player." Tampa's David Price not far behind. Lars Anderson is highest-rated Sox prospect by Baseball Prospectus, #17 overall....Vicente says - Don't forget to heckle the steroid users ("Ster-oids, Ster-oids" or "Chea-ter, Chea-ter" will work just fine) at the ballpark this year. Also sends a shot over the bow to jerks using as-yet undetectable stuff.... Heidi Watney’s cousin Nick has been tearing it up this season on the PGA Tour…. BLOHARDS’ resident crooner John Pizzarelli appearing with the Boston Pops in mid-May, right after his appearance at Cinqo de Mayo BLOHARDS luncheon at the Columbia Club….Trivia answer – Don Newcombe (P) of Brooklyn faced Hank Thompson of the Giants in 1949. Newcombe was also the first black pitcher to win the Rookie of the Year Award, to win 20 games, and to win the Cy Young Award (in the first year it was presented).

Thanks Curt

It's not a big surprise, but Curt Schilling called it a career this week with an announcement on his blog. The debate will now begin over whether Schill is a Hall of Famer or not, but today I really don't care about that.

Thanks for all the memories, Curt.

Especially one very special one from October 19, 2004:

Thank you for making my life in New York so much more bearable, Curt, and for the reprise in 2007. If I ever get the chance to meet you, the drinks are on me.

I'll be posting an appreciation of Curt Schilling here at Blogging BLOHARDS in the next few days.

Old Sox Finding New Homes

Over the last few days, a few former Red Sox have finally found new places to call home, and for two, it's the same club. And it was two guys who were traded for each other.

Orlando Cabrera and Nomar Garciaparra both agreed to one-year contracts with the Oakland A's. OC figures to be the A's new shortstop while Nomar will get time at both first and third base. Cabrera found few takers out there as he was a Type-A free agent and will cost the A's a first-round draft pick. His deal is for $4 million.

Nomar's signing will be announced by Oakland later this week. His career has basically gone off the rails since he left Boston in 2004, mostly due to injuries, and he had been considering retirement. It's not known yet what he'll be signing for. Nomar hasn't returned to fenway yet since his departure in July 2004, and a long standing ovation should be awaiting him in his first at-bat.

And now it appears the long national nightmare involving Manny Ramirez is finally coming to an end, as he appears ready to accept the Dodgers two-year, $45 million offer. Naturally, Satan Himself, aka his agent Scott Boras, says no deal has been agreed on yet. That tells me that one is about to happen, since Ramirez is expected in Dodgers camp shortly.

Fabulous Fenway Guide Anew!

Just a few weeks ago, BLOHARD member and author Tim Shea released an updated version of what was already one of the most useful guides to Fenway on the planet. "Fenway! The Ultimate Fan's Guide, 2009 Edition" has been updated with new info and a totally new section that tells you how many rows your seat is from the field regardless of where you're sitting. All of this comes with the schematics that made the original 2006 "Fenway Pole Finder" a must-have, section-by-section guide for navigating the necessary evils of the park - the Grandstand poles that impede views of home plate, the pitcher's mound, or both. 

The book does a great job covering the entire fan experience from buying your ticket to dining in and around Fenway. Also new to this edition is a comprehensive history of all renovations that have taken place since 2002.   

Simply stated, the real value of this book is that it allows you to know two keys facts about any specific seat in the park before you plunk down your hard earned, scalper-inflated cash: 'Where is this Grandstand seat in relation to the poles?' and 'How many rows from the field will I be?'

The guide is 192 pages and packed with 49 photos and 70 diagrams. It's available for $16 from Amazon and/or you can go to www.fenwayfanguide.com for more info on the book and ticket sales.

Chances are good that you'll be able to meet the author in person at the upcoming May 5 luncheon!