Blog Archives

Yanks are in the Motor City, start of a four-game set against the Tigers. The wicked one, Justin Verlander goes for the home team; Bartolo Colon starts for the Yanks.

Cliff has the preview.

Why mince words? Let’s Go Yank-ees!

[Picture by Herve Bertand]

Robbie Cano is not in the line up tonight.

Over at Low Hud Brian Heyman’s got Kevin Long talking Jeter, Posada and Gardner.

[Photograph by Hellen van Meene]

[Picture by Patricio Suarez]

Let’s get the Led out, shall we?

Ham and cheese, made to order for the wife. That’s three slices of black forest ham and six slices of jarlsberg cheese, red leaf lettuce (dressed with olive oil, champagne vinegar and maldon salt), dijon mustard and thinly-sliced cornichons on rye. That’s how she likes it, that’s how she gets it.

Hey…it’s good to be the queen.

Yesterday afternoon I thought about the neighbor in my building who died last year of ALS. She was in her fifties, married to a professor. They have a teenage daughter. When I thought of her it was the kind of fleeting thing that doesn’t even register until later on. But it came back when the daughter called last night. Emily and I were in bed listening to the Mets game on the radio. It was after 10 and we hadn’t heard from the daughter in a good while. She asked if we were available to take part in an ALS walk in a few weeks.

The conversation didn’t last long and when I got off the phone, Em said, “I think it was a year ago that she died.” We talked about it for a few minutes. It made me uncomfortable so I put the game back on.

Then I got an e-mail from the husband. It said that today, Monday, marks the anniversary of when his beloved wife was “sprung,” a term he likes better than “dying” or “passed away.”

“I hope to mark the occasion by finding an unmanned police car and setting it on fire,” he continued. “I think she’d appreciate that. When we started dating more than 30 years ago, back in her ACORN days, I noticed a sticker on one of her notebooks that read ‘Let a Burning Cop Car Light Up Your Night.'”

I don’t know about burning any cars but I will be thinking of her today, as well as her husband and their daughter. I am relieved for all of them that they have been sprung.

[Picture by Patricio Suarez]

Check out this great new site, Sportsfeat.com where vintage sports writing is celebrated. Dig this piece from Sport Magazine on Earl Monroe by the Wood Man:

I didn’t follow basketball until 1967. Baseball, boxing, and the theater provided most of my entertainment. The theater has since become boring and there are no plays approaching the pleasure given by a good sporting event. Even a game against a last-place team holds the possibility of thrills, whereas in the theater all seems relatively predictable. Baseball remains a joy for me, but basketball has emerged as the most beautiful of sports. In basketball, more than in virtually any other sport, personal style shines brightest. It allows for eccentric, individual play.

Give the basketball to such diverse talents as Julius Erving, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Walt Frazier, Rick Barry, George McGinnis, Dave Bing, or Bob McAdoo, to name a tiny fraction, and you get dramatically distinctive styles of dribbling, passing, shooting, and defensive play. There is great room in basketball for demonstrable physical artistry that often can be compared to serious dance.

So there I was in 1967 leafing through the sports section of a newspaper one day (I still read that section first) when I came across the name Earl Monroe. I had never heard of Monroe, knew nothing of his daily rookie brilliance nor ever heard of his astounding feats at Winston-Salem. I just liked the name, free-floating, three syllables, and euphonious to me. Earl Monroe. The name worked. (Years later, when I did a film called Sleeper, I named myself Miles Monroe. On me it was kind of a funny name.) I came across Monroe’s name again every few days as I glanced over the basketball box scores in a casual, disinterested way and noticed that he invariably led the scoring column.

Papers on the subway this morning…

Ivan Nova threw a fine game on Sunday and Curtis Granderson’s three run homer was the difference as the Yanks beat the Jays, 5-2 to take the weekend series in the Bronx.

Here’s Mark Teixeira hitting a dinger in the first inning:

Robinson Cano bruised his hand and is day-to-day; Alex Rodriguez is in a slump. Nick Swisher hasn’t hit. Jorge Posada–who did have a double today–and Derek Jeter have been awful. But again, Nova pitched well, and the bullpen didn’t allow a run. Mariano got his 10th save and the Yanks are in first place.

Look who is in the garden.

Never mind the produce: Let’s Go Yank-ees!

[Picture by Herve Bertrand]

The Good Reverend Welcomes Us to May…

We want big, fat, juicy runs, and a lot of them. We also want quick and easy outs from AJ by the handful.

Time for the Score Truck to make a showing.

That is what we want. What we need is to root-root-root for the home team.

Let’s Go Yank-ees!

[Picture by Florian Bayer]

I’ve mentioned this in passing before but now a new Banter design is near. Looks like we’ll be launching the new look Tuesday morning if everything goes according to plan. I’m excited about it, thrilled really, but also anxious because it’s different–more of a website than the traditional blog. It will take a minute for all us to get used to it but I think it’s going to help bring out the best in the Banter. We’re going one step beyond!

Just wanted to give you a heads up, which I’ll do again tomorrow and then Monday so you are prepared. Change is near, and it’s gunna be good.

Beep, Beep, Beep, Beep…Yeah!

Mmmmmornin’!

…like that rally that wasn’t there?

At least not on Friday night at the Stadium. Down 3-2 the Yanks had the bases loaded in the fifth–on a gift, really, as a near triple play for the Jays turned into bases juiced nobody out–Mark Teixeira popped out to short and then Alex Rodriguez grounded into a 6-4-3 double play. In the eighth, Yanks down 5-3, they had the bases full again, but Derek Jeter whiffed–on a pitch out of the strike zone–and Nick Swisher tapped a harmless ground ball to first.

Freddy Garcia labored through five and David Robertson had a tough inning in the sixth; he gave up two runs and made a critical error. Robinson Cano hit two line drive home runs, absolute seeds, like pow!

But the Yanks couldn’t get a rally going and lost 5-3.

Nertz.

Yanks and Jays: Cliff has the preview, Yogi drinks the Yoo Hoo. Francisco Cervelli returns.

We cheer: Let’s Go Yank-ees!

[Photo Credit: Cuba Gallery]

Great Comic Book Covers Week, brought to you by 1979 Semi-Finalist concludes with…

Dig Jim Carrey and J Lo in the background…