Daily Archives: September 24, 2004

I’ve got an article on ten rap records that are worth revisiting over at The New Partisan. Check it out if you like that sort of thing.

Also, I’ve been thinking about coming up with a list of the best comedy records of all-time. I listened to comedy records often when I was growing up, my favorite artists being George Carlin, Bill Cosby, Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner, Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy, Woody Allen and later on, Richard Pryor, Albert Brooks and Lenny Bruce. I liked stuff by Nichols and May, Bob Newhart, Monty Python, The Goon Show, Peter Sellers, Derek and Clive, Robin Williams, Franklyn Ajaye, Steven Wright, Lily Tomlin, Bob and Doug McKenzie and Rodney Dangerfield too. I know I’m missing some other good ones, but that’s what I can come up with off-the-top of my head.

If I had to come up with a list of the best records I know of it would look something like this (in no particular order):

Bill Cosby: “Wonderfulness,” “Revenge” and “To Russell, My Brother Whom I Slept With.”

Richard Pryor: “That Nigger’s Crazy,” “Is it Something I Said?” and “Wanted: Live in Concert.”

George Carlin: “AM/FM,” “Class Clown” and “Occupation: Foole.” These three records were compiled into a two-disk set. I highly recommend them.

Steve Martin: “Let’s Get Small,” and “Wild and Crazy Guy.”

Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner: “The 2000 Year Old Man” and “The 2013 Year Old Man.”

Lenny Bruce: His first four albums which are collected on cd on “The Lenny Bruce Originals Vol 1 and 2” and the uncut “Carneige Hall Concert.”

Eddie Murphy: The first one, self-titled, and “Comedian.”

Joel Sherman has an article about the Yankee-Sox rivalry today. He notes that since the start of the 2003 season–and including last year’s playoffs–the Yanks and Sox are 21-21 against each other. In order to catch the Yankees and win the AL East, Boston needs to sweep New York this weekend. Regardless, the bottom line is which team lasts longer in the post-season, right?

The Yankee rookies dressed up like Elvis after the game yesterday. Not bad, but they couldn’t hold a candle to the sight of Pimpzilla last year.

There was a good piece on Alex Rodriguez and clutch hitting by a guy named Darren Everson in the Daily News this past Tuedsay. Don’t know if anyone caught it. But it was on-point. It seems that Reggie Jackson isn’t a huge Rodriguez fan yet:

“Great clutch players don’t get questioned,” Reggie Jackson said before last night’s 6-3 loss to the Blue Jays. “They don’t question (Mariano) Rivera. Or (Bob) Gibson. Or Whitey (Ford). The great clutch players of the past, you saw enough, you viewed enough, you witnessed enough that I don’t need statistics.”

Everson talks about the perception that many of Rodriguez’s dingers come in garbage time:

A closer examination reveals otherwise. It shows, among other things, that 17 of Rodriguez’s homers have either tied a game or put the Yankees ahead – one more than Gary Sheffield. Sheffield, universally regarded as an MVP candidate, has hit 10 home runs in the seventh inning or later this season. A-Rod, the defending AL MVP who has hardly been mentioned in connection with the award this year, has hit nine.

Nice observations by Everson.

One thing I’ve learned about myself since I’ve been writing about baseball is that I don’t have a lot of patience. I like to think that I do, but I don’t. It’s easy to be impatient. The Internet provides almost instant information. How can you be calm, and forgiving in the world of Gameday and Instant Messaging? What’s unnatural about this is that baseball is a game that requires patience. For players and fans alike.

It’s easy to see why young ballplayers lack patience. They hit a snag, start to struggle and they can lose their confidence. In yesterday’s game at the stadium, many of the Devil Rays players looked as if they had a bus to catch. They made careless errors and had horrible at-bats. It’s as if they want the season to end last week. On the other hand, veteran players know how to weather difficult times, mentally and emotionally.

Take Bernie Williams, for example. Williams is clearly in the twilight of his career. He doesn’t hit for average anymore and doesn’t have much power either. But he scored his 100th run of the season yesterday because he still has enough patience to work walks and get on base. Not bad for an old man on his way out, huh? Of course, it helps to play with an impressive offensive team. Look at Mike Piazza. His numbers would look respectable too if he were on a good team.

Anyhow, I know that I appreciate Bernie’s accomplishment. I also stand duly impressed with Greg Maddux winning his 15th game yesterday. He’s now won at least 15 games in 17 straight years. At the begining of the year, I did a rountable preview for the Yankees season and one of the questions was weather or not Mike Mussina would finally win twenty games this season. One thing many of the writers said was that he’d win 15 falling out of bed. Which got me to thinking just how difficult it is to win 15 games on a year-in, year-out basis. Or course, you have to stay healthy, be lucky, and have a good offense, but still, it’s not so easy as Mussina has found out in 2004. Maddux is the man.

The Yankees clinced a playoff spot for the 10th consecutive season yesterday with their 7-3 win over the Rays at the stadium. It was a soporific, late-afternoon affair. Again, Tampa looked as if it would have rather been somewhere else. The Red Sox rallied, but fell short against the Orioles last night. The Yanks head to Boston leading the east by four-and-a-half games.