What a great weekend for the teams in the greatest city in the world. After losing the opener in Atlanta, the candystripers took games 2 & 3 from the Bravos with Cole the Stylist finding a way to pitch what was a fine game. Not only that, but the Phils bats are alive and well so far this season. So far, the home town boys of summer have taken all three series they have played so far and are on pace to lose 54 games. Do the math - winning two out of three equals 54 losses, and a certain division title. I have not been sipping on red kool-aid, and I haven't yet had my bowl of heavenly hash so my math can not be questioned.
I advise each and every one of you to enjoy this fine play, because it is a long season and, at some point, Superstar will stop hitting, Ibanez will play like the old guy that he is and the Flyin' Hawaiian will hurt himself trying to think. Who knows, maybe Jayson and the Nats will be the team that stops our guys, so stay cool and do not, I repeat, DO NOT drink the kool-aid just yet.
I will, however, be drinking some blue kool-aid now that the A's re-enactors, led by Scott "Balls" Alberts, have clubbed their way to the season's first big win. As part of yesterday's contest in the former slave state of Maryland, the teams had a bet that the losers will have to take the shields from their uniforms for the next time they meet. Our A's will proudly keep theirs on after the big victory today.
Back to the Phillies. The other day I predicted that the Phils would take Atlanta, the way General Sherman did during the Civil War. Just like Sherman, whose troops were stalled at Atlanta before finally burning the "Cracker Capital" down on his march to the sea, the Phils got stalled when the Braves beat Ace Lee in game one. The Phils did burn down Turner Field in games 2 & 3, so history did indeed repeat itself.
This week marks the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War - the shelling of Ft. Sumter. We are fortunate to live but a few hours from several of the most important battle sites, and I urge you to make the trips to both Gettysburg and Antietam/Sharpsburg. "Balls" and I have made the trip several times and we enjoyed the visits greatly.
In other sports news, it looks like the Flyers have won their division. All that remains is to learn the name of the team that will eliminate them in the first round of the playoffs. The Sixers look like they will be the 7th seed in the east, and it appears that they will have to take on the Celtics. Ugh, that series will bring memories of past failures against the guys from Boston, who regularly beat the Sixers in the playoffs. There were those two magical years when Wilt led the '67 team to the promised land, and when Moses took them to the promised land in '83. I see no miracles this time, but the Sixers have become a fun team to watch, so get on board and sip some hoops kool-aid!!
The Penn State football schedules for the next three years have been released, and this long suffering fan is embarrassed by the number of Little Sisters Of The Poor that are on the slate. This season the Nittany Lions open up against Indiana State. That's right, the same Indiana State that Larry Bird took to the NCAA Championship game against Magic Johnson and the Michigan State Spartans. I didn't even know that Bird's alma mater played football, and I think it a disgrace that my favorite team lowers itself by playing such a game. The following week they have to play Alabama, and I'm afraid that the losing streak against the 'Tide will continue.
On a sad note, it looks like my beloved Pirates are starting to fade. After a fast start out of the gate, the team from Pennsylvania's second city have started doing what they have been doing for the past 19 seasons - they are losing. They now stand at .500, but we all know that that will not last. That is why they are this year's beloved team. I can get you a great deal on black & gold frozen kool-aid as sales of the frozen treat have all but halted along the Monongahela River.
In the world of entertainment, R.I.P. to Sidney Lumet, who was born in the greatest city in the world. Lumet moved with his family to NYC as a young child and worked as a child actor in the Yiddish theater.
In reading his obit I was struck by the fact that he directed some of my favorite films of all time, including 12 Angry Men, Serpico, Prince Of The City, and Dog Day Afternoon. A film festival of Lumet's work would take up the better part of a week.
Speaking of films that I love. Yesterday, while waiting to be picked up I was watching Clark Gable, and Burt Lancaster aboard the Nerka in the Bungo Straits. Run Silent Run Deep may be the second best submarine movie made after Das Boot, and I've seen it more times than I can remember. Given the context of my praise for the film, what I must report is sad.
In the film there is a scene in the forward torpedo room showing a desperate attempt to close a hatch which had been blown open by a Japanese depth charge. Sea water was gushing in, and the boat would sink to the bottom if the men could not get the hatch closed(Since the film still had more than a half hour to go - you knew how it would work out). Lo and behold, in the torpedo room, one of the sailors fighting to get the hatch closed was a black man. This struck me as a mistake on the same magnitude as Scorsese using a 1965 Chevy in a Goodfellas scene that was supposed to have taken place in 1963. I am appalled at the departure of what reality was in the second world war.
There were black men serving in the Navy during WWII. They did serve aboard surface ships as porters and as mess personnel. They did not serve as submarine crew members, even as mess personnel, although that role was sometimes filled by Filipinos who served as stewards throughout the fleet.
Later in the film Burt Lancaster, in his role as Executive Officer Bledsoe, is addressing the crew in the enlisted mess room. Sitting at one of the tables was the same black actor who had helped seal the open hatch. This is a severe violation of reality. It wouldn't have happened aboard a USN submarine of that era.
It wouldn't have been possible until Harry Truman issued an executive order in 1947 which ordered the desegregation of the U.S. military - a full two years after the end of WWII. Even then, desegregation of the fleet took years to accomplish.
I will continue to rank Run Silent Run Deep as one of my favorite WWII films, however I must go on record as being as disappointed with this example of sloppiness as I am with the use of the 1965 Chevy in Goodfellas.
For now, I'll say so long and hope that the Phillies make Jayson Worthless wish his mother and father had never met after the upcoming series this week.
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