For those of us who happen to be of hispanic descent (I'm half spanish, half german), Ricardo Montalban was a true role model to me growing up. My most vivid memories of him were from his car commercials - I'll never forget the phrase "soft Corinthian leather," his television show Fantasy Island, and his role as Khan on Star Trek.
More than anything though, he was a source of inspiration and hope to anyone of hispanic origin. His movie career spanned an amazing seven decades! A devoted husband, he and his wife Georgiana were married for 63 years until her passing late in 2007. He was also a strong man of faith, often stating that his Catholic religion was the "most important thing" in his life.
We didn't just lose another actor today. We lost a great man, a great human being, and a great role model. A true icon who spanned three generations. Rest in peace, Ricardo, and thanks for everything you did for not just minorities, but for humankind in your time here. I'm sure that as he entered the gates of heaven, the words "well done, good and faithful servant" were spoken.
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Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Good Luck D-Lowe!
As a Dodger fan, I knew this day was coming... it wasn't a matter of if, it was when and where. Most of us knew that when he pitched on October 13, 2008 against the eventual World Champion Philadelphia Philles that the guy known as "D-Lowe" had likely made his last pitch as a member of the Blue Crew. As happened so often in his career as a Dodger, Lowe left that game leading only to see the bullpen give it up. In this game (divisional playoff game 4) he left after five innings leading 3-2. The Dodgers would eventually lose that game 7-5.
In four years as a Dodger he was only 54-48 in the won-loss column. To look at his record alone would be very misleading. Twice in those four years, D-Lowe received the worst run support of any NL pitcher. With a better offense behind him, you're talking about a guy who would have won 16-20 games every year rather than only once. Over his four years as a Dodger he posted ERA's of 3.61, 3.63, 3.88 and 3.24. Yes, D-Lowe was a model of consistency - the one steady and reliable force the Dodgers had on their staff. Not as flashy as Chad Billingsley, not as hyped by the media as much as the perhaps more talented Brad Penny, D-Lowe just did his job. He took the mound every fifth day and gave the Dodgers a chance to win just about every time.
After his requisite thrashing at Busch Stadium on August 6th - he just never has pitched well there for some reason (fantasy leaguers take that as a note for the 2009 season), he was almost perfect... In his final 10 regular season starts as a Dodger, Lowe gave up EIGHT runs... yes, EIGHT earned runs allowed ih his final 64 regular season innings - a stellar 1.13 ERA to go with a 6-1 record over that time. The Manny may have gotten all of the credit for the Dodgers championship run last year, but reality is that Derek Lowe played a pretty big role himself.
Today, Derek Lowe signed with the Atlanta Braves - 4 years, $60 million dollars... Yes, that is a whole lot of cash and I must say it's well-deserved. Braves fans, you can rest assured you're getting a good one, ok almost a GREAT one if you want the truth... a money pitcher (he gave up all of two earned runs in each of his three playoff games this year). Our loss is your gain. Good luck, Derek... you'll be missed here, though rest assured, there will ALWAYS be a spot on my fantasy teams for you! Without you, I would have been a pretender and not a contender in a lot of leagues these past few years!
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In four years as a Dodger he was only 54-48 in the won-loss column. To look at his record alone would be very misleading. Twice in those four years, D-Lowe received the worst run support of any NL pitcher. With a better offense behind him, you're talking about a guy who would have won 16-20 games every year rather than only once. Over his four years as a Dodger he posted ERA's of 3.61, 3.63, 3.88 and 3.24. Yes, D-Lowe was a model of consistency - the one steady and reliable force the Dodgers had on their staff. Not as flashy as Chad Billingsley, not as hyped by the media as much as the perhaps more talented Brad Penny, D-Lowe just did his job. He took the mound every fifth day and gave the Dodgers a chance to win just about every time.
After his requisite thrashing at Busch Stadium on August 6th - he just never has pitched well there for some reason (fantasy leaguers take that as a note for the 2009 season), he was almost perfect... In his final 10 regular season starts as a Dodger, Lowe gave up EIGHT runs... yes, EIGHT earned runs allowed ih his final 64 regular season innings - a stellar 1.13 ERA to go with a 6-1 record over that time. The Manny may have gotten all of the credit for the Dodgers championship run last year, but reality is that Derek Lowe played a pretty big role himself.
Today, Derek Lowe signed with the Atlanta Braves - 4 years, $60 million dollars... Yes, that is a whole lot of cash and I must say it's well-deserved. Braves fans, you can rest assured you're getting a good one, ok almost a GREAT one if you want the truth... a money pitcher (he gave up all of two earned runs in each of his three playoff games this year). Our loss is your gain. Good luck, Derek... you'll be missed here, though rest assured, there will ALWAYS be a spot on my fantasy teams for you! Without you, I would have been a pretender and not a contender in a lot of leagues these past few years!
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Monday, January 12, 2009
Jim Rice finally Gets His Due!
We all pretty much knew that all-time stolen base and runs scored leader Rickey Henderson would be a shoo-in to be amongst those announced to be elected to Baseball's Hall of Fame today. Not surprisingly, Henderson garnered nearly 95% of the votes to easily be inducted in his first year of eligibility.
What wasn't so certain was what would happen to former Boston Red Sox superstar slugger Jim Rice. Last year, in his next to last year of eligibility, Rice received just over 72% of the votes - 3% short of the 75% needed for induction. The most feared American League power hitter of the late 1970's and early 1980's, Rice finally got his long overdue nomination today with 76.4% of the votes. Four times in the pre-steroid era, Rice slugged 39 or more homers for the BoSox, including 46 in 1978. Rice also drove in 139 that year, one of four seasons in which he drove in over 120 runs. A career .298 hitter, Rice also tallied 200 hits on four separate occasions, hitting .320 or better three years. Yes, the credentials were always there, it's just nice that he is FINALLY a member of the Hall and will now sit alongside his contemporaries like George Brett and Mike Schmidt. Congratulations, Jim on this long overdue honor!
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What wasn't so certain was what would happen to former Boston Red Sox superstar slugger Jim Rice. Last year, in his next to last year of eligibility, Rice received just over 72% of the votes - 3% short of the 75% needed for induction. The most feared American League power hitter of the late 1970's and early 1980's, Rice finally got his long overdue nomination today with 76.4% of the votes. Four times in the pre-steroid era, Rice slugged 39 or more homers for the BoSox, including 46 in 1978. Rice also drove in 139 that year, one of four seasons in which he drove in over 120 runs. A career .298 hitter, Rice also tallied 200 hits on four separate occasions, hitting .320 or better three years. Yes, the credentials were always there, it's just nice that he is FINALLY a member of the Hall and will now sit alongside his contemporaries like George Brett and Mike Schmidt. Congratulations, Jim on this long overdue honor!
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Thursday, December 25, 2008
Merry Christmas
I hope each and every one of you have a very Merry Christmas!
Personally, I spent Christmas Eve working a half day and then spending the afternoon with my mother, sister & brother-in-law and the family pets... today I spent with mom, sis, brother, sister-in-law and my two nephews - and they had A TON of presents to open! It was also nice to catch the Lakers/Celtics game (well the first half on TV, the 2nd half on the radio) with the Lakers prevaling 92-83! A good day all the way around. God bless you!
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Personally, I spent Christmas Eve working a half day and then spending the afternoon with my mother, sister & brother-in-law and the family pets... today I spent with mom, sis, brother, sister-in-law and my two nephews - and they had A TON of presents to open! It was also nice to catch the Lakers/Celtics game (well the first half on TV, the 2nd half on the radio) with the Lakers prevaling 92-83! A good day all the way around. God bless you!
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Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Yes, it's OK to hate the Yankees!
If you're from Los Angeles or really anywhere nearby (and also of course Boston), you've probably had a stern dislike for the New York Yankees for most of if not your entire life. Well, December 2008 has just made that dislike/hatred/whatever even worse...
Last week, the Yankees signed free agent ace pitcher C.C. Sabathia - the Dodgers were rumored to be the front-runners before they signed him. Today, those Yankees signed hitting star Mark Teixeira. The Angels (whom he played for at the end of last year) and the Red Sox were the front-runners for his services...
So yes, my three favorite baseball teams have all been victimized by the evil empire of the Bronx in the course of a week. I hate the Yankees. Always have, always will!!! Down with the Yankees!
OK, now that I've gotten that off my chest, I do feel a little better!
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Last week, the Yankees signed free agent ace pitcher C.C. Sabathia - the Dodgers were rumored to be the front-runners before they signed him. Today, those Yankees signed hitting star Mark Teixeira. The Angels (whom he played for at the end of last year) and the Red Sox were the front-runners for his services...
So yes, my three favorite baseball teams have all been victimized by the evil empire of the Bronx in the course of a week. I hate the Yankees. Always have, always will!!! Down with the Yankees!
OK, now that I've gotten that off my chest, I do feel a little better!
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Wednesday, December 3, 2008
The Grammys or the Shammys???
Yes, it's that time of year again... time to make fun of the Grammy panel and their often complete lack of touch with what really happening in the music industry.
As I peruse the www.grammy.com site for a list of the finalists for the 51st Grammy Awards, I notice the usual curious selections and even more curious omissions. Let's start with Record Of The Year. While I have no problem with three of the nominees - "Bleeding Love" by Leona Lewis, "Viva La Vida" by Coldplay and as much I hate to admit it, "Paper Planes" by M.I.A., two of the nominees leave me scratching my head. Now there's no doubt that newcomer Adele has written a pretty good song in "Chasing Pavements." It's melodic, it's catchy, and I even bought it myself from iTunes about a month ago. However, at last check the song has only had very modest success - top 20 on the Hot AC chart, and barely cracking the top 100 at pop radio. Now that's tame compared to nominating Robert Plant and the extremely overrated Alison Krauss for a song called "Please Read The Letter." Has anyone that actually listens to music heard of this song? I didn't think so. Much better and more musically relevant selections would have been Sara Bareilles' "Love Song" and Estelle's "American Boy." At least those two were nominated for Song of The Year so it wasn't a complete loss for them.
Of course, in the above category, the most GLARING omission is Kid Rock's huge three format top five smash "All Summer Long." The song was the anthem of the summer and maybe the year at BOTH Pop and Country radio, so how in the world could they leave it out???? Thanks to some marketing genius (not releasing the song for individual sale) the song almost single-handedly sold over TWO MILLION copies of Kid Rock's Rock N Roll Jesus album. I'm no fan of Kid Rock, but honestly leaving that song out of the Record of The Year finalists is a COMPLETE travesty! Even more curious is the fact that "All Summer Long" actually did get a nomination for Kid Rock in Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. Best pop vocal??? lol. Seriously!!! Now there's another category that is a TRAIN WRECK! Ne-Yo's smooth "Closer" (how again did that song stall at #2???) and Jason Mraz's ginormous multi-format smash "I'm Yours" obviously belong... John Mayer's "Say" is marginal, but I'll give it the benefit of the doubt. But did any of you know Paul McCartney or James Taylor released new music this year? Yeah, me neither!
As I continue to glance over the list, the Best New Artist nominees and those missing definitely leave me scratching my head. Jazmine Sullivan? Jazmine who? Jazmine? Can any of you name a Jazmine Sullivan song? An album by her? That nomination will live in Grammy infamy for years to come. Yes, Lady Antebellum and the ubiquitous Jonas Brothers obviously belong there, but how do you justify putting Adele and Duffy in there and not Leona Lewis??? Duffy's song "Mercy," despite having lots of international success, was a HUGE flop here in the U.S as was her Rockferry album!!! Leona Lewis' "Bleeding Love" not only was the most played record here in the U.S. this year, it also sold the most copies of ANY single! It even managed to sneak four weeks in at #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart despite their convoluted formula. Leona's Spirit album is one of the top selling albums of the 2008 year, and even boasted a top 3 follow-up hit in "Better In Time." Leave it to Grammy committee to truly screw up one category beyond reapir! Out of the possible nominations I expected Leona to get, this was the one award which I thought was a shoo-in win for her - and they didn't even nominate her! Crazy... Beyond dumb. I'm truly at a loss for words!
Let's see about my other favorite genre, Country... well, I see they MASSIVELY messed up in the Best Country Song category. "I Saw God Today" by George Strait, "Stay" by Sugarland and "You're Gonna Miss This" by Trace Adkins are without a doubt three of this year's biggest songs and are definitely worthy of their nominations... it's the other two though that have ZERO business being there!!! "In Color" by Jamey Johnson??? Why? I heard other Jamey Johnson songs on the radio this year, but not this song. "Dig Two Graves" by Randy Travis? Once again, why??? Yes, Randy Travis has achieved a lot in Country music, but most of that is in the distant past. Did any of you hear this song on your radio? I didn't think so. Lady Antebellum's "Love Don't Live Here," James Otto's "Just Got Started Loving You," Brooks & Dunn's "God Must Be Busy," Brad Paisley's "Letter To Me," Carrie Underwood's "Last Name" and countless other songs would have been much more worthy of those final two spots. At least those five deserving songs all managed to get nominations in other Country categories. Perhaps the most deserving Country song of all, Darius Rucker's "Don't Think I Don't Think About It" was COMPLETELY SHUT OUT tonight!
Once again, the Grammy committee's lack of respect for the industry and living in the past catches up with them. Is there any hope that someday the award show will actually become relevant? I seriously doubt it. And rest assured, I'll be back in a couple of months to mock all of the wrong selections they made in choosing the actual winners!!!
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As I peruse the www.grammy.com site for a list of the finalists for the 51st Grammy Awards, I notice the usual curious selections and even more curious omissions. Let's start with Record Of The Year. While I have no problem with three of the nominees - "Bleeding Love" by Leona Lewis, "Viva La Vida" by Coldplay and as much I hate to admit it, "Paper Planes" by M.I.A., two of the nominees leave me scratching my head. Now there's no doubt that newcomer Adele has written a pretty good song in "Chasing Pavements." It's melodic, it's catchy, and I even bought it myself from iTunes about a month ago. However, at last check the song has only had very modest success - top 20 on the Hot AC chart, and barely cracking the top 100 at pop radio. Now that's tame compared to nominating Robert Plant and the extremely overrated Alison Krauss for a song called "Please Read The Letter." Has anyone that actually listens to music heard of this song? I didn't think so. Much better and more musically relevant selections would have been Sara Bareilles' "Love Song" and Estelle's "American Boy." At least those two were nominated for Song of The Year so it wasn't a complete loss for them.
Of course, in the above category, the most GLARING omission is Kid Rock's huge three format top five smash "All Summer Long." The song was the anthem of the summer and maybe the year at BOTH Pop and Country radio, so how in the world could they leave it out???? Thanks to some marketing genius (not releasing the song for individual sale) the song almost single-handedly sold over TWO MILLION copies of Kid Rock's Rock N Roll Jesus album. I'm no fan of Kid Rock, but honestly leaving that song out of the Record of The Year finalists is a COMPLETE travesty! Even more curious is the fact that "All Summer Long" actually did get a nomination for Kid Rock in Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. Best pop vocal??? lol. Seriously!!! Now there's another category that is a TRAIN WRECK! Ne-Yo's smooth "Closer" (how again did that song stall at #2???) and Jason Mraz's ginormous multi-format smash "I'm Yours" obviously belong... John Mayer's "Say" is marginal, but I'll give it the benefit of the doubt. But did any of you know Paul McCartney or James Taylor released new music this year? Yeah, me neither!
As I continue to glance over the list, the Best New Artist nominees and those missing definitely leave me scratching my head. Jazmine Sullivan? Jazmine who? Jazmine? Can any of you name a Jazmine Sullivan song? An album by her? That nomination will live in Grammy infamy for years to come. Yes, Lady Antebellum and the ubiquitous Jonas Brothers obviously belong there, but how do you justify putting Adele and Duffy in there and not Leona Lewis??? Duffy's song "Mercy," despite having lots of international success, was a HUGE flop here in the U.S as was her Rockferry album!!! Leona Lewis' "Bleeding Love" not only was the most played record here in the U.S. this year, it also sold the most copies of ANY single! It even managed to sneak four weeks in at #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart despite their convoluted formula. Leona's Spirit album is one of the top selling albums of the 2008 year, and even boasted a top 3 follow-up hit in "Better In Time." Leave it to Grammy committee to truly screw up one category beyond reapir! Out of the possible nominations I expected Leona to get, this was the one award which I thought was a shoo-in win for her - and they didn't even nominate her! Crazy... Beyond dumb. I'm truly at a loss for words!
Let's see about my other favorite genre, Country... well, I see they MASSIVELY messed up in the Best Country Song category. "I Saw God Today" by George Strait, "Stay" by Sugarland and "You're Gonna Miss This" by Trace Adkins are without a doubt three of this year's biggest songs and are definitely worthy of their nominations... it's the other two though that have ZERO business being there!!! "In Color" by Jamey Johnson??? Why? I heard other Jamey Johnson songs on the radio this year, but not this song. "Dig Two Graves" by Randy Travis? Once again, why??? Yes, Randy Travis has achieved a lot in Country music, but most of that is in the distant past. Did any of you hear this song on your radio? I didn't think so. Lady Antebellum's "Love Don't Live Here," James Otto's "Just Got Started Loving You," Brooks & Dunn's "God Must Be Busy," Brad Paisley's "Letter To Me," Carrie Underwood's "Last Name" and countless other songs would have been much more worthy of those final two spots. At least those five deserving songs all managed to get nominations in other Country categories. Perhaps the most deserving Country song of all, Darius Rucker's "Don't Think I Don't Think About It" was COMPLETELY SHUT OUT tonight!
Once again, the Grammy committee's lack of respect for the industry and living in the past catches up with them. Is there any hope that someday the award show will actually become relevant? I seriously doubt it. And rest assured, I'll be back in a couple of months to mock all of the wrong selections they made in choosing the actual winners!!!
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Tuesday, December 2, 2008
2 Out Of 3 Ain't Bad...
... with apologies to Michael Aday (aka: Meat Loaf). I played in nine fantasy football leagues this year, and despite none of my teams having better than an 8-5 record, six of my teams made the playoffs. Three of my playoff teams finished the year at 8-5, three others finished at 7-6 including the "My Name Is Inigo Montoya" team highlighted a couple of weeks ago. In that league I started 3-6! Needless to say, none of my teams is a #1 seed, though I have a couple of #2 seeds including said Montoya team. Ironically, the team of mine which got off to the best start (6-2) managed to miss the playoffs entirely, losing it's final five games to end the season at 6-7. I had one other team finish at 6-7 and one team with some incredibly bad luck managed to end the year at 5-8.
Now if I can just take that Meat Loaf song to heart again during the playoffs, I'd be winning four of my leagues! That's not likely to happen, but then again just two years ago, only four of my teams made the big dance and three of them came out on top when the dust was settled!
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Now if I can just take that Meat Loaf song to heart again during the playoffs, I'd be winning four of my leagues! That's not likely to happen, but then again just two years ago, only four of my teams made the big dance and three of them came out on top when the dust was settled!
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