Lee Lowenfish

Groundhog Day greetings from the polar vortex in New York City that has turned this winter into hoping that your long underwear survives and vigilantly taking short choppy steps to avoid disaster on icy sidrwalks and intersections. One consolation, of course, is that spring training is only 10 days away.  And 10 days ago in what I consider the unofficial opening to the new MLB season, I was delighted to attend the 59th annual dinner of the New York Pro Baseball Scouts Hot Stove League at Leonard's Palazzo restaurant in Great Neck. It was an evening as always filled with great camaraderie in spite of the stark reality that traditional eyes-and-ears scouts are "Baseball's Endangered Species." the title of my 2023 book about the mysterious but essential craft of scouting 

 

I dedicated the book "To Every Scout Who Wrote Down What Players Could Do, Not What They Couldn't Do."  Despite the analytical madness enveloping baseball, the spirit of positivity was in the air at the dinner.  Guest speaker Dave Sims, successor in the Yankee radio booth to John Sterling, spent many years broadcasting Seattle Mariners games (replacing another legend in Dave Niehaus).  Sims knows that he must keep abreast of the latest trend in statistics, but he said, "Grandma listening in Walla Walla is not interested in a hitter's expected batting average" - it's one of the modern stats that drives me crazy, too.  

 

In receiving the Turk Karam Scout of the Year award, Jim Cuthbert, now with the  Kansas City Royals, gave a spirited endorsement of the New York City scout who has to fight very hard to get into the exclusive ranks of the sport's evaluators. Once a backup catcher at St. Johns University in Queens, Cuthbert knew that playing pro ball was not in his future but he was spotted as a potential good scout by Cubs scout Billy Blitzer who has organized the dinner since the legendary Twins scout Herb Stein handed him the reins. Cuthbert used to work for Cleveland and he was lavish in his praise of manager Tito Francona (now skipper of Cincinnati) who treated him as an equal and read seriously his area scout reports.

 

The New York Hot Stove League has always honored local coaches and two of this year's award-winners, both from New Jersey, gave memorable speeches (all speakers tonight BTW came in under five minutes!). Don Bosco Prep coach Mike Rooney remembered the awesome feeling when Ralph DiLullo, another legendary scout, first gave him his card, it feeling like a passport to a future career. And how DiLullo mplored him to take care of his arm and wear his uniform the right way.   Johnny Johnson, winningest coach in the history of Brookdale Community College, urged up-and-coming scouts to always praise players when they made good plays.  "You're touching people's lives!" he said.

 

I couldn't help thinking of a line about scouting from Branch Rickey:  "If he makes a great play, he can do it again."  I am happy that I devoted an early chapter of BASEBALL'S ENDANGERED SPECIES  to Rickey's scouts who learned from and challenged the master.  Speaking of Rickey, one of his great grandnieces, poet and teacher Marjorie Maddox Hafer has just come out for a book for ages over 8, A MAN NAMED BRANCH: THE TRUE STORY OF BASEBALL'S GREAT EXPERIMENT (Loch Ness Books distributed by Sunbury Press, Mechanicsburg, Pa.). It is based on stories that she heard from family members about Rickey's longstanding commitment to racial equality that led to his signing of Jackie Robinson and other players of color. It includes many family photos.

 

As far as what to expect from the upcoming MLB season, I welcome real games starting in spring training before the end of the month and especially during the World Baseball Classic from Mar 6 through 17.  There is SO MUCH false info out there on the internet about trades and coming signings. Let's wait for real news on that front.  Sadly, more and more established sportswriters are writing about the inevitability of another owners' lockout of players when the current Basic Agreement expires in early December.  I refuse to believe in that inevitability, but more speculation about that in future blogs.   I need to read first what the Atlanta Braves balance sheet looks like because they are the only MLB franchise that must release accurate financial figures because it has legal status as a public enterprise.  

  

And now it's time to salute the NYU women's basketball team that won its 80th game in a row yesterday Feb 1, a rare one-point nail biter over Carnegie-Mellon of Pittsburgh. The Violets with only one senior Caroline Peper on its roster have been blowing away most opponents.   NYU goes on the road for the next two weekends including a Sun Feb 8 noon rematch at Carnegie-Mellon. They return on Friday night at 730P against Washington U of St Louis that holds the record for most Division III wins but the streak could be history by Feb 20. That's what I love about sports, the unpredictability. Sunday afternoon Feb 22 at noon, Violets play at home U of Chicago,  Only one regular season game left Sa Feb 28 against Brandeis at 3P, preceded by alumni game at 1045A. First round of post-season tourney will undoubtedly be at home in the Paulson Center on FriSa Mar 6-7.   

 

This remarkable Violets team is finally getting media attention. In an excellent piece the Athletic's Eden Lasse wrote in the Fri Jan 30 print NY Times, head coach Meg Barber, who played for NYU early this century, observed, "Basketball is basketball. Division III does not mean third rate." She added admiringly, "These kids are insanely talented at other things.  But right now, at this moment in time, they see themselves as basketball players."  For more info on NYU basketball where the men's team is also doing very well, check out nyu.edu/athletics

 

Meanwhile in the Ivy League women's race, my Columbia Lions on Fri night Jan 30 briefly rose into a first-place tie with Princeton by beating the Tigers on their home court, 73-67,  for the third time in the last four years. Unfortunately, the next night at Penn they fell to the Quakers, 66-57, and fell back into second place after Princeton beat improved Cornell.  The Lions play in Ithaca this Sat Feb 7 at 2P and will try to avenge their loss to the Big Red that opened the Ivy League season.  The big rematches with Princeton and Penn will be at home at Levien Gym on Fri Feb 13 at 6P - televised on ESPNU - and against the Quakers on Sat Feb 14 at 5P.  The top four teams will qualify for the Ivy League post-season tournament in mid-March held this year at Cornell.     

 

There is not much to report about sports in film on TCM in early Feburary except for one special comedy short.

Th Feb 5 1030P. "Baseball Bugs" (1946) Bugs Benny takes on a whole baseball team! 

For Marx Brothers fans, there is the rarely shown:

Su Feb 9 115P "The Big Store" (1941) with Tony Martin singing "The Tenement Symphony"  

The last Noir Alley for over a month as TCM's 31 Days of Oscars commences on March 13 will be

Su Feb 8 12M repeated at 10A "Vice Squad" (1953) an oddity that might be somewhat interesting with Edward G. Robinson/Paulette Goddard

Su Feb 15 2P Hitchcock's "Strangers On A Train" (1951) with memorable scenes taken at the Forest Hills Tennis Club

and at 8P "White Heat" (1949) James Cagney's memorable turn as gangster Cody Jarrett, Virginia Mayo as his moll, and a memorable late cry, "Top of the world, Ma!"

 

That's all for now.  Stay Positive, Test Negative, and Take It Easy But Take It!

 

In this tumultuous time of history that fate has consigned us to, following sports seems more than ever a refuge from the torments of the world. I am not a huge football fan - the grisly regularity of that hospital bed on wheels, taking injured warriors from the field to the locker room always jars me. I've always loved the defense of football as "good clean violence", but it's the excess that now seems uncontrollable.

 

Yet I have started the new year watching a lot of college and some pro football playoff action.  Ole Miss captured my attention by their unexpected run to the post-season after their peripatetic coach Lane Kiffin bolted the team to accept more money and ostensibly more talented players at LSU.  He took a lot of his assistants with him, but several stayed including interim head coach Pete Golding who remained as defensive coordinator. 

 

In a quarter-final against perennial contender Georgia, Mississippi won one of the most thrilling games I ever watched, coming from behind in a topsy-turvy fourth quarter to oust the Bulldogs. The Ole Miss Rebels were led by Division II transfer quarterback Trinidad Chambliss and Western Kentucky transfer field goal kicker Lucas Carniero. But in the semis against the U of Miami Hurricanes, Ole Miss fell in another exciting game. Miami will now face unbeaten Indiana in the title game on Mon Jan 19 after 730P.

 

It has been a dream season for the Hoosiers under third-year coach Pittsburgh native Curt Cignetti who went to school at U of West Virginia and one of his prior coaching stops was at Indiana U- Pennsylvania (home town of actor Jimmy Stewart where I hope the museum in his honor is still open). At 64, Cignetti has turned around what has traditionally been a basketball school into a footbal powerhouse through judicious use of the transfer portal and well-organized player development.

 

As you know, dear readers, I bleed the Wisconsin red and white (as well as Columbia light blue and white), and there is a Wisconsin presence on both sides for the upcoming battle.

Riley Nowakowski played at Wisconsin as a rarely used running back before starring as a tight end at Indiana.  Miami first-year defensive back Xavier Lucas was supposed to play at Wisconsin but he transferred to Miami despite signing with the Badgers.  He dropped out of school in Madison and enrolled in Miami. Wisconsin is still pursuing litigation against him, but in the meantime Lucas has become a key defender for his hometown team. 

 

The transfer portal can indeed be chaotic, but I for one am glad that players can get a chance to play at other programs without sitting out a season which the NCAA had mandated under the old system. The NCAA stubbornly refused to make any adjustments to their controls over "student-athletes," a concept that the Supreme Court even in this polarized country rejected by a 9-0 vote. 

The days of NCAA standing for Never Compromise Anything Anytime are over, and I hope that some kind of sensible system allowing for players rights as well as team privileges can be negotiated.   

Although Wisconsin football has been unsuccessful the last three seasons with both transfer portal, especially at quarterback, and with player development, the news is better for Badger basketball. After a couple of blowout losses to Brigham Young and Nebraska that put Wisconsin out of the picture for any bid to March Madness, Wisconsin has won three in a row, the last two particularly memorable. On the road at Michigan on Sat Jan 10, they toppled the Wolverines from the undefeated ranks.  Down by 14 in the first half, they cut the lead to one by halftime and then went on a 3-point scoring binge to take control early in second half. 

 

In sports, there are very few verities, but in basketball nothing quite beats this one:

THE LAST FEW MINUTES OF THE FIRST HALF AND THE FIRST FEW MINUTES OF THE SECOND HALF ARE MOST IMPORTANT - the first tests your fitness near the end of a physically demanding 20 minute half and the second tests how you can recreate intensity after cooling off during a 15 minute intermission.

 

The Badgers' second win was at Minnesota a few days later on Tu Jan 13. Junior star captain John Blackwell hit a three pointer at the buzzer to win a hard-fought battle after poor foul shooting allowed the Gophers to tie the game on Cade Tyson's three-pointer with less than 5 seconds left.  After Blackwell hit the game-winner, he started leading a race with his teammates around the court with his teammates following him. They went at least two laps!  Better the players show their exuberance with a buzzer beater than fans running on the court.  A moot point is whether the Badger fans would have stormed the courts if it had been a home game.

 

Another great human interest Wisconsin story is the play of Nick Boyd, a graduate transfer guard from San Diego State who previously played college ball at Florida Atlantic and was a key member of the team that made the Final Four under coach Dusty May.   May now helms the Wolverines and so Boyd last week was able to beat his former coach. Another fascinating tidbit about Nick Boyd is that he is the nephew of legendary New Jersey baseball legend Fred Hill Sr who among his coaching stops have been both Rutgers and Montclair State.  Hill always encouraged Boyd to follow his dream that has led to his multiple stops that started in New Jersey at Don Bosco Prep and St. Mary's in Rutherford.  With Wisconsin's women basketball finally on the rise and both hockey teams high in national rankings, things are looking up for winter sports in Badger land.

 

I think Wisconsin is still on the bubble for March Madness, but its recent play on defense and offense has revived hope in the heart of this fan/alum/analyst. As for my other basketball passion,

the Columbia women's basketball team, they play two home games within three days:  Sa Jan 17 at 2P against Yale and M Jan 19 at 2P on Martin Luther King Day against improving Brown.

The amazing NYU Violets women's team extended its winning streak to 75 with a 75-54 win over U of Rochester on F Jan 16.

They take on Emory Su Jan 18 at Noon at the Paulson Center on Bleecker Street just a little west of Mercer Street in Greenwich Village.

More info on Columbia sports including the top-notch tennis team already playing home games in a bubble at gocolumbialions.com. 

More info on NYU at nyu.edu/athletics

 

And while I have no emotional involvement in the NFL's march to the Super Bowl, it would be nice for the Buffalo Bills and QB Josh Allen get to and win a Super Bowl.  I like the way Allen's parents

nurtured their son.  He played other sports in high school and didn't just focus on advanced training in football. He went to the University of Wyoming, not a football power to be sure, but he has risen to the highest echelons of his sport now.  Just hope he is healthy enough to make it all the way. Beating Denver in Denver will be a tall order.  In a wide-open race with no clearly dominant teams, I might like to see Bills play the Rams with their great helmet logo. 

 

And here are some TCM tips:

For the avid lover of all things New York:

W Jan 21 830P "The Taking of Pelham One-Two-Three" (1974) about a subway heist with Walter Matthau/Martin Balsam/Robert Shaw

Followed at 11p "Mean Streets" (1973) Martin Scorsese's classic about surviving in a rugged neighborhod with Robert DeNiro, Harvey Keitel

 

Th Jan 22 3A "The American Friend" (1977) Win Wenders' grim portrait of underworld characters with Bruno Ganz/Dennis Hopper/Nicholas Ray in an eyepatch in a cameo on decaying West Side Highway.  I don't usually list early AM films and don't think there is an iota of sports in this film.  But I list here because I saw this film during Game 1 of the 1977 World Series between Yankees and LA Dodgers.  I was so fed up with yet another Yankee-Dodger World Series that spoiled my youth as a New York Giant fan.  I vowed not to watch this damned remake again, but every time I saw

Bruno Ganz, he reminded me of Thurman Munson.  So I said, "What the hell? I'm obsessed with baseball," so I did watch most of the rest of the Series.                                 

 

F Jan 23 8P "A Letter to Three Wives" (1949). Inspired by a story by Stefan Zweig, Joe Mankiewicz directs a superb cast.  Probably the only film in which Kirk Douglas and Paul Douglas, unrelated, appeared together, Jeffrey Lynn is the third husband and the wives are Ann Sothern, Linda Darnell, Jeanne Crain. BTW, this is not the first film from the post World War 2-years in which a reference to baseball on the radio is made.  Just heard one the other night from bored Barbara Stanwyck early on in "Double Indemnity" and even from Joan Crawford in "Sudden Fear". 

 

And finally here's my Noir Alley closing section:

Su Jan 18 12M, repeated 10A, The classic French noir from 1954 "Diabolique" with Simone Signoret

Su Jan 25 1230A "Shield for Murder" (1954) with.the underrated Edmond O'Brien

Su Feb 1 12M "Talk About A Stranger" (1952) get this cast:  George Murphy, Nancy Reagan, Billy Gray (around this time also Robert Young's son Bud in TV's "Father Knows Best")

And last but not least!

Sa Jan 31 8p at 92nd St Y on Lexington Ave NYC - Eddie Muller and Rosie Perez LIVE discuss "Sweet Smell of Success" before the classic with Burt Lancaster/Tony Curtis is shown.

Tickets from $35 - info at 92NY.org

 

That's all for now.  Next time, I return to baseball talk with a plea - which likely won't do any good - to cease the gloom and doom about the Inevitable Baseball Lockout of 2027.

Talk about a "self-fulfilling prophecy".  Not here in these pages even if some kind of shutdown after this season is possible.  Season too long anyway.

 

Stay positive, test negative, and Take It Easy But Take It!