P62013: Week 9 Isn't Complaining

Games watched: Tues, some Louisiana Lafeyette-Western Ky (yes I know I need help); Fri, some Boise-BYU. Sat: Wake-Miami (end); Iowa-just Northwestern (2nd half); Nebby-Minny (2nd TV); Duke-Va. Tech (end); Michigan State-Illinois (end); ND-Air Force (parts); South Carolina-Missouri (most); UCLA-Oregon; Stanford-Oregon St (til asleep).

Let's start with this: the week started with attending a funeral in my hometown on Monday. The week ended with: Iowa won, Notre Dame won, Ohio won. Hell, even Drake won. Iowa State lost and Michigan didn't win (they had a bye). I can't complain.



Looking at the AP Poll: Co-host "QBKatt" points out that this week's poll has four Tigers in a row: #8 Auburn, #9 Clemson, #10 Missouri, #11 Lousiana State. That is awesome. Newcomers: Michigan State, who lost to Notre Dame, and Arizona State, who lost to Notre Dame. NOT in the Top 25: Notre Dame. Who by the way beat Sparty and Sparky. Also not in the Top 25: Nebraska, who inexplicably lost to an awful Minnesota team that might be the worst bowl eligble team right now, and Virginia Tech, who lost to Duke at home. If Pat Haden were VT's AD, he would probably drive Frank Beamer to an airport, just to fire him there.

Undefeated watch: Here's what happened to last week's list of 10:
ACC: Florida State and Miami. They play this Saturday night in the featured ABC game.
Big Ten: Ohio State.
Big XII: Texas Tech (lost to Oklahoma) and Baylor.
Mountain West: Fresno State.
Mid-American: Northern Illinois.
SEC: Missouri (lost at home to South Carolina) and Alabama.
Pac 12: Oregon.

So we are down to eight total, and seven conferences that can still produce an undefeated team.

Ups and downs: South Carolina had the best week, knocking off a previously undefeated Missouri squad in Columbia. Yeah no kidding! It frustrated me all week when I heard radio announcers say "Missouri plays South Carolina in Columbia." They are BOTH in Columbia! We wouldn't have this problem if Missouri would have just stayed in the Big XII where they belong. Anyway, the game was at Mizzou, and Sakerlina moved a little closer to where they were two weeks ago before losing to Tennessee.

Worst week was Va Tech (losing to Duke will do that to you, even if Duke is better these days), -10 and out, and UCLA -5, for getting blown out by Oregon just like everyone else this year. Mizzou also down -5.

Best week: It helped to have South Carolina, and perhaps one of those schools that lost to Notre Dame. So congrats to "Liars, Gastropods, Normads, D-bags, Enablers, and Jimbo Fisher" for a +11 week, moving into sixth place.

Enough jibber jabber, who's winning? Ninth verse, same as the first:

"Dirty Diapers" maintains that strangehold on the lead. Wife "No F'n Clue" still in second. "QBKatt" retakes the household lead with 67 points, but I'm lurking at 64 points. I really need Miami to beat FSU on Saturday, but that's a tall order. The Clemson-South Carolina game is lurking on the horizon too.

Top child: "Lightning McQueen" in 7th place (tied). Top kitty: Tigger, in 10th. Top dog: "Quarter Dog" in 15th.

Los linques:

P62013 Scoreboard
Points for each team
AP Top 25 Poll

Next week: Big game is Florida State vs. Miami in a top ten matchup. Okie State plays Texas Tech. Florida and Georgia are unranked, facing off in the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party. Closer to home, it's the battle of the mitten when Mitten faces Mitten State. I think a great T-shrt for this rivalry would say "The Gloves Are Off (And The Mittens Are On)."

The Voice of Baseball

I was 14 years old when I first met Ernie Harwell. It was a day that would ultimately shape my future – a strange statement considering he was a hall-of fame baseball broadcaster and I was a skinny junior high kid from rural Ohio.

The event was a book signing at a Toledo department store. I was awed by Ernie. He was so genuine, you just wanted to pull up a chair and listen to him talk. His voice was intoxicating. Even at 14 I sensed that Ernie was something special. There seemed to be an aura about him, I can’t explain it but it made you want to be a better person.

Michael John and Tina With Ernie Harwell, circa 1991.

Like many Detroit fans, I grew up listening to Ernie call Tiger baseball. The "Voice of Summer" they dubbed him, he of the faint southern drawl and whimsical storytelling. I loved closing my eyes and listening to Ernie as I fell asleep. "He stood there like a house by the side of the road and watched that one go by", he used to say. I loved how a homerun was "loooooong gone" whether it was in the first row or the last.

Ernie always had an interesting story to share… but it never disrupted the flow of the game. He’d talk about Lulu (his wife) or of days gone by. Sometimes he’d tell a story you’d heard a million times, yet you were at the edge of your seat waiting to see how it ended.

But if you ask me, one of the best things about Ernie was how well he knew baseball. Between all the stories, all the laughter, he always managed to tell you the score, or the pitch count, or who was on deck right when you needed to know. Ernie loved baseball unconditionally, and it is one of the many reasons why I loved him.

My first face to face encounter with Ernie was around the time when the Tigers fired him. It was a tumultuous time for Tiger fans and baseball in general. Oddly enough I had recently written a paper for a junior high English class about the fate of Ernie. I took a copy with me to the book signing and gave it to him. A few weeks later I received a handwritten letter in the mail. He thanked me for my support and wished me luck in school. I still have that letter.

The next summer I wrote an essay about Ernie in response to a contest in the USA Today publication Baseball Weekly. They wanted kids to tell them who their favorite baseball announcer was and why. Now in the 8th grade, I had firmly set my sights on a journalism degree (assuming I made it through high school) and told the editors of Baseball Weekly all about my first meeting with Ernie and how I wanted to follow in his footsteps.

Baseball Weekly liked my story. Before I could comprehend what was happening, a reporter called to interview me for a feature article. We talked about Ernie, about my ambitions and about the possibility of the Tigers building a new stadium (I was against it). The article was published along with a photo of my brother, Ernie and I at the book signing.

Now, back in those days you were able to walk up behind the press box at Tiger Stadium nearly all the way to the broadcast booth. So the next time we were in Detroit, I took a copy of the Baseball Weekly article with the intention of giving it to the security guard to give to Ernie.

Mom and I trekked up to the stairs to the press box and, after chatting with guard, showed him the article. I asked the guard if he would mind giving it to Ernie. The guard looked at the article and asked us to wait a moment. He went into the booth and then came back out and said "would you like to give it to Ernie yourself?"

And then he escorted us inside.

It was a surreal moment. We were in the famous Tiger Stadium broadcast booth. It was so close to the field you could feel the game (and it was only batting practice). We stood in shocked silence as Ernie cheerfully came in to say hello.

He was, as you can imagine, very gracious. So gracious in fact he tried to find something to give us as a thank you for listening. Eventually he came up with a copy of a cassette tape documenting his "greatest hits". It was just another example of how classy Ernie was.

Time went on. I graduated high school and went on to study journalism at Ohio University. As a freshman I entered the broadcast news program with every intention of someday fulfilling my dream of becoming the next Ernie Harwell. I soon learned, however, that radio and I didn’t mix. I missed writing and, quite frankly, was better at it. So I switched to magazine writing and eventually earned a Bachelor of Science in Journalism.

I last spoke to Ernie during my senior year of college. Dad and I went to Florida over spring break to catch some Tiger spring training games. Once again I made my way up to the broadcast booth. This time I came empty handed, no essays or newspaper articles, but I wanted to tell Ernie thank you. It seemed the journey I was about to complete was just as much his doing as it was mine.

As always Ernie was a class act. I’m sure he had no idea who I was, but when I re-introduced myself he was very pleased to see me and honestly interested in what I was doing. Always the gentleman, Ernie also introduced me to his handpicked successor in the Tiger broadcast booth. It was a neat moment and probably not unlike that of many other Detroit Tiger fans.

With Ernie at spring training, 2000.

Ernie passed away this week after a long battle with cancer. He was 92 years young. His death wasn’t unexpected (he famously said goodbye to Tiger fans last year) and he hasn’t been in the booth full time in several years… yet it’s unimaginable to think of Tiger baseball without Ernie Harwell.

His kindness touched the lives of many, and I don't think it's a stretch to say that Ernie was a great baseball broadcaster but an even better man.

You may be long gone Mr. Harwell, but you will not be long forgotten.

101

I don't give the Chicago Tribune much credit ... mostly because they don't deserve any. But I can make the distinction between the idiots at the top and the grunt journalists trying to put out good work each day.

And besides, like TM said, this has been a long slog of a year. So to the 2009 Cubs, I say, good riddance. Let's count 'em down. (click for a larger image)

Scenes from Wrigleyville

There was so much hope in Wrigleyville last week.


The mood was happy. Confident. There was a swagger to Northsiders steps.


We all knew it wouldn't last. But for one blissful moment there was hope.


It was nice while it lasted.

Tune in tomorrow for scenes from Game 2.

This is Hardly Fair

I wrote this earlier today and I thought I would share it with you on the blog.


Does Lin Brehmer know what’s going on in my life?

I took Mom and Dad and TM to O’Hare this morning. It was obviously mixed emotions, but trying to let “happy for them” win out over “sad and lonely.” I got in the car, drove out of the airport onto I-190. The song playing was the new Counting Crows, “You Can’t Count On Me.” Lin Brehmer informs me that this is 93XRT, he’s Lin Brehmer and it is great to be alive, all of which I already knew (especially on Fridays). And then I hear a line I’ve heard a million times in my life: “I am a golden god!” It is of course Russell Hammond, guitarist for Stillwater, on a rooftop of some kid’s house* in Topeka, Kansas.

For some reason, I immediately think of a story Cameron Crowe once told about watching a screening with the members of Led Zeppelin. He was understandably a little nervous, since his time observing them (and Black Sabbath, and the Allman Brothers) was fodder for creating William Miller’s adventures.

And (if I remember the story) they get to the scene where the band gets the draft version of William’s article for Rolling Stone. They are standing around outside the tour bus, the bassist sprawled on a bench, as they absorb the story. Russell shakes his head and says, “I never said ‘I am a golden god!’” And in the audience, Robert Plant blurts out: “Yeah, but I did!!”

But that anecdote didn’t have a lot of time to bounce around in my head, cause then I hear: the opening of “Tiny Dancer.” Aaargh. I’ve been through a real rollercoaster the past couple weeks. First there was Pablo’s wife. Then I found out that Sheryl Govedarica, a woman I knew from Crain’s and later at St. Alphonsus, had died of a brain aneurysm in 2006 (after I left Chicago, while I was living in NYC). And there is uncertainty at work, and watching TM get ready for her trip. And last night, making (and then listening to) a mix tape I made for her**. And taking everyone and their stuff to the airport. And saying goodbye. And driving home, and now hearing “Tiny Dancer.”

So I cranked it and listened. And as I often do, I started singing only when the bass player comes in at “handing tickets out for God.” I’ve always liked that he starts it, the quiet guy, the steady rhythm guy, starts the singing. As Russell and Jeff Bebe fight to be the leader of the band, it’s the bass player who leads them in song. Bebe shoots the bassist a sideways glance that says, “That was a great idea—I wish I’d thought of it.” (Also, I always enjoyed taking that vocal lead during our many singalongs and viewings at 3614.)

So I sing the line, and I think I hear a third voice besides me and Elton John. So I drop out and listen and on “turning back, she just laughs,” I hear more voices and I think, Holy Shit, this is the version with the “Almost Famous” lines mixed in. And sure enough, I hear the audio from the movie .... the bus whirring and shifting gears. Instead of going into the pre-chorus (“oh how it feels so real…”) the song launches into the big chorus with the whole bus. And then:

Bus: Hold me closer, tiny dancer!
William: I have to go home.
Bus: Count the headlights on the highway…
Penny (waves her hand in front of his face): You Are Home.

And the song resumes the rest of its length, with the swells of strings, and the pre-chorus (2nd time normally, first in this version) and the outro.

Lin Brehmer’s voice comes back on and tells me that was XRT’s special “Almost Famous” remix. I did not know that is what it was called. If I wasn’t so numb this morning, I probably would have gotten weepy. Even so I’m a little heavy-eyed feeling writing this now.

Gaah. This is why I love XRT. I don’t think any other radio station in the world could’ve done that for me (or to me) at that very moment.

--MPF 5/23/08, Chgo.

You can watch this cool trailer, with clips that didn't make it into the final edit.

---

* Aaron.
** If you have a loved one going on a trip without you, l will give you a copy. It’s good.

Sadness

Say a prayer for my friend and classmate Pablo, whose wife Julieta died on Wednesday. They have two kids, age 6 and 3.

Carrie, who sent out the email to everyone, wrote:

"Julie suffered from an aggressive brain tumor which she fought for the last 18 months with surgeries, chemo and experimental treatments. She was brave and beautiful and strong. And she was so sharp - she actually decided to go for her MBA after Pablo graduated and had already started classes in fall of ‘06 when she was diagnosed."

You can read the newspaper obituary here.

When words fail, I turn to music. Click here and here to download or listen to two songs by Alejandro Escovedo, whose family came to the US from Mexico (like Pablo and Julie).

We'll be at the funeral Monday. Please keep Pablo, Paula and Mateo in your thoughts.