"People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do, I stare out the window and wait for spring." - Rogers Hornsby

:: Saturday, October 23, 2004 ::

Movie Review: "Stage Beauty"

This British film opened in Chicago yesterday, in only three area theaters, and that's a shame.

First, because the great bulk of the movie-viewing audience won't bother to see a carefully-crafted, well-acted, well-written story like this because it isn't one of the "boobs and bombs" sort of film that seems to be most of what American filmmaking passes for these days (though you do get one peek at Claire Danes' left breast during a scene in which she is sitting for a portrait, and the artist insists that "all the girls do that").

Second, because, well, you ought to see this film, which is based on real people who lived in England around the 1660's, particularly Edward "Ned" Kynaston, who made a good living playing women on stage, which was the fashion in those days, until King Charles II (played way-over-the-top by Rupert Everett) issued a proclamation stating that women should be played by women; in the movie, his mistress, Nell Gwynn, is shown to be responsible for this proclamation, after learning that Maria (Danes), otherwise known as Margaret Hughes, has been secretly playing the same role (Desdemona in Shakespeare's "Othello") that Kenaston is famous for.

In a mostly British cast, the two principal roles are played, and well, by American actors. Kenaston is played by Billy Crudup, who, from his roles in movies such as "Big Fish" and "Almost Famous", would be about the last American actor you'd think would be good in this role, but he's terrific -- hamming it up when he needs to, doing a little gender-bending both on and off-stage, and he and Danes have terrific chemistry.

The settings and the costumes evoke a somewhat seedier era than the Oscar-winning "Shakespeare In Love", which is set about sixty years earlier, and you'll absolutely howl at the way the king and his court are presented. You almost think that John Cleese is going to walk around the corner as the original Minister of Silly Walks.

Finally, this line is priceless. When the king and his ministers are discussing whether or not to grant the right to act on stage to women, one of them points out that the French have allowed such rights for a long while, to which one retorts, "Whenever one is about to do something truly horrible, we always say the French have been doing it for years."

Perfect. This film isn't likely to be in wide release, but it's well worth your time if you can find it in a theater, and if not, rent it when it's out on DVD.

Off to watch the World Series at Mike's. Go Red Sox.

AYRating: *** 1/2

:: posted by Al at 4:26 PM [+] ::
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I Goofed!

OK, math is not my strong point.

1946 to 1967 is 21 years, not 19, as Mike Donohue pointed out to me:

I wouldn’t be picking nits if it weren’t for the fact that your entire observation as based on an inaccuracy, but I am compelled to point out to you that the number of years between the Red Sox’ pennant in 1946 and their next one is twenty-one years, not nineteen. 19 years would put it in ’65, when Koufax’ Dodgers knocked of Zoilo Versalles’ Twins. So it would read 21-8-11-18.

Gosh, I sure hope this doesn't mean the Red Sox have to wait till 2118 to win. Let's look at it this way: the middle two numbers add up to 19. How's that?

:: posted by Al at 1:48 PM [+] ::
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We're Off The Hook!

Forget Bartman.

Forget Alex Gonzalez.

For that matter, forget the last week of this season.

The New York Yankees have replaced the Cubs in the pantheon of baseball history, with the greatest collapse EVER, and no, I'm not throwing that phrase around lightly.

Not only did the Yankees have a three-games-to-none lead... they had a one-run lead WITH THREE OUTS TO GO IN GAME FOUR.

And they had a TWO-RUN lead with SIX OUTS TO GO IN GAME FIVE.

That's a far, far larger collapse than the Cubs had in last year's NLCS, or for that matter, the Red Sox had in last year's ALCS.

Mike e-mailed me yesterday afternoon, in the wake of the umpiring calls that were changed (correctly) in game six:

If Boston wins tonight, it better be a no-brainer, I shudder to think what might happen at that park if the game is decided dramatically at the end against the Yankees.

The Red Sox obliged, beating the Yankees decisively 10-3, with the only bizarre moment being Terry Francona's nearly inexplicable use of Pedro Martinez for an inning, getting the Yankee crowd to chant "Who's Your Daddy" so loud that it for a time drowned out the Fox-TV announcers (not that that's a bad thing), and almost getting New York back into the game at 8-3.

During this series I'd been finishing up the Bill Clinton autobiography I've been slogging through for the last couple of months -- it's 957 pages long, only slightly longer than the ALCS -- and I finished it up while glancing at the first couple of innings, getting excited when Johnny Damon hit the grand slam, and with Derek Lowe nearly unhittable, I figured the game was -- shhh! -- in the bag, and it was.

Oh, incidentally, the Clinton biography? Well, you don't learn all that much about him, other than his early life. Most of the book, once he gets into public life, is a history of the public life.

The Red Sox have sort of been a surrogate for us Cubs fans for many years, sort of our "big brothers" -- the team that does occasionally make it to the World Series, only to lose there as well. All four of the WS that Boston has reached since 1918 have ended in 4-3 losses.

You know what this reminds me of? The Brooklyn Dodgers lost five straight World Series to the Yankees (1941, 1947, 1949, 1952, and 1953) before finally winning a seven-game series -- just as last night, in a seventh game at Yankee Stadium.

Similarly, the Yankees have stopped the Red Sox four other times from reaching the World Series -- in 1949, winning the last game of the regular season, 1978, in the famous Bucky Dent playoff game for the AL East title (the Yankees even dragged Dent out to throw out a ceremonial first pitch last night), and then in 1999 and 2003, defeating them in the ALCS.

But no more. As I wrote yesterday, now baseball history, 138 seven-game series' worth, has been rewritten, and now any team who goes down three-games-to-none can say, as the Red Sox did this year (and yes, they swiped the slogan from last year's Cubs) -- "Why Not Us?"

And, for you numerologists out there, here is a sequence of the number of years in between Red Sox World Series appearances since 1946:

19-8-11-18

Look at the first and last number in that sequence... and when was the last time the Red Sox won it all?

It's time. Go Red Sox.

:: posted by Al at 9:15 AM [+] ::
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If Only...

Mike, Dave and I have discussed this often in 25 years sitting together in the bleachers... that just when you think you know everything about baseball, something happens to show you that you don't.

Last night's pulsating 4-2 Red Sox win over the Yankees was just such a moment.

Twenty-five times in baseball history, teams had gone down 0-3 in a playoff series.

And twenty-five times, they had lost the series, and twenty-five times, the trailing team had won no more than two games.

Until last night, when the Red Sox broke that streak. That's not just twenty-five occurrences, it's nearly 100 years of institutional memory, and for baseball, being steeped in tradition the way it is, this is a moment of sea change.

After last night, when a team goes down 0-3, they don't have to hear the incessant bleatings of the national media that "no team has ever come back".

Now, they can think -- hey, the Red Sox did it, so can we.

It does, of course, remain to be seen whether the Red Sox can come all the way back and win the series tonight, but the momentum is clearly Boston's, particularly after Alex Rodriguez pulled a Fick, swatting the ball out of Bronson Arroyo's glove and correctly being ruled out for interference, just as Atlanta's Robert Fick was last year in game 4 of the Division Series against the Cubs.

The Fox announcers kept comparing this situation to one in the 1999 ALCS, when Jose Offerman was ruled out on a phantom tag by Yankee 2B Chuck Knoblauch -- a play that was voted the worst call of all time by some ESPN.com readers, but last night's play was just like the Fick play, and what was worse was A-Rod's "Who, me?" expression when they caught him in the act. Oh, and get this -- A-Rod's been going to the Moises Alou School of Bitching And Moaning, because afterwards, he was quoted as saying:

I don't want those umpires to meet anymore because every time they meet, it goes against the Yankees.

Yeah, right, A-Rod. That's why the Yankees have only been in 39 World Series.

Despite that whining, it has been a fabulous postseason, and I don't want to give short shrift to the Cardinals/Astros series, which could be closed out today, and if it is, watch for the teams to shake hands on the field, like the Cardinals and Dodgers did after their Division Series, even though MLB "disciplinarian" Bob Watson disapproves.

Frankly, Watson is an idiot if he doesn't like this sort of thing. What's wrong with showing sportsmanship in front of a capacity crowd, and a national TV audience? I'd like to see MORE of this sort of thing in baseball.

A great postseason.

Wish we were there.

:: posted by Al at 12:25 PM [+] ::
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In Memoriam, Simon Shuttlewood

A little over a year ago, I received e-mail from Simon Shuttlewood, a resident of the UK who had become a big baseball -- and Cubs -- fan, through first following American football through satellite TV in the UK, becoming a Chicago Bears fan, and then through watching baseball, transferring his Chicago sports loyalties to the Cubs.

Simon had Motor Neurone Disease, what we in the USA know as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or more commonly, Lou Gehrig's Disease.

I corresponded with Simon after the NLCS loss last year and through the off-season and found him to be witty, articulate and knowledgeable about baseball and the Cubs, even from afar, and even though he had to deal with a disease that progessively robs you of your ability to use your muscles and your body, even while your mind remains sharp.

This morning, I received e-mail from the Rev. Martin Court, an Anglican priest who was a good friend of Simon's, to tell me that Simon had passed away yesterday, aged 45. I post the Rev. Court's e-mail here in its entirety:

A few weeks ago Simon Shuttlewood gave me a list of contacts who he wanted to contacted once his battle with Motor Neurone Disease ended. I'm writing to inform you that Simon died last night at home with his wife and family around him.

He truly valued your friendship over this recent time and wanted to communicate that to you.

I have known Simon and his family for the past six and a half years, first as his parish priest and then as a friend and I have only admiration for the way he and his family have faced up to and dealt with the increasing problems this debilitating disease has brought them. However, the last couple of years in particular have been blessed by Sky Sport TV and Simon's love for baseball. The sporting year seemed to give him new goals to aim for, so this year has been rich for him with the Olympics, the Ryder Cup, the World Series and a great deal more.

I thank you for contributing to the quality of life he maintained until very
recently and hope you will feel able to hold Jane his wife, and Emma, George, Sam and Jack, their children in your thoughts and prayers in the days ahead.

Simon, I know you're smiling on all of us now, and I send through this forum, my condolences and my thoughts to your family.

:: posted by Al at 4:42 PM [+] ::
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