I wore #8 in my baseball playing career. 8 was the number on the back of my favorite player growing up. Carl Michael Yastrzemski. Yaz. I loved everything about him. The bat held high. The way he played the Monstah like it was his personal garage wall. I became a Red Sox fan after the Braves left Milwaukee and the Sox became contenders. I think I have told this story before but Mr. Sickler, our sixth grade teacher at Franklin School let us listen to the 1967 World Series in class (yes kids, Series games were played in the daytime back then). And Yaz in 1967 was something to be hold. In a pre-internet, pre 24-7 highlights, pre high def , world you got to see your favorite team once in awhile on the Game Of The Week. Or I could occasionally pull in Red Sox games on my scratchy transistor radio from Cleveland or Detroit or Minneapolis. The potato farmers son from Long Island won the Triple Crown that year and led the Impossible Dream Red Sox to the 7th game of the World Series where they fell to the transcendent Bob Gibson. I bring all this up because if you were watching and listening to the Brewers series over the weekend you heard the name Yastrzemski again. Mike Yastrzemski is the grandson of Yaz and played leftfield for the Giants over the weekend. He had a home run and made a game ending catch on Saturday. After banging around the minors for five years he's getting a chance with San Francisco and giving us a glimpse of his grandpa patrolling the greensward of Fenway park all those years ago. It was cool to hear the name Yastrzemski on the radio again. It took me back to 6th grade, and to junior high and to high school where I wore the #8 on the back of my Lumberjack jersey. Glory days indeed.
They even wrote a cheesy song about him in 1967.
With the trade of Anthony Davis to the Lakers a number of pundits are already penciling in the Lakers for the NBA finals. With Lebron, the Brow and another free agent signing coming it would seem that James has one more super team run coming. Since the Lakers traded much of their future in this deal (and I would have made that deal too) they have to do it in the next couple of years.
The Badgers landed a couple of really good in state hoops recruits. The Davis brothers from La Crosse Central are heading to Madison. Jonathan is a 6'5″ wing and Jordan is a 6'4 shooting guard. I saw them play a couple of years ago when a Kobe King led Central team demolished Wausau East in a sectional final. They were good then, I can only imagine how much better they are now. Great get for Greg Gard and his staff!
Happy Birthday to former SNL alum Joe Piscopo who turns 68 today. He did a great Sinatra back in the the day.
Quotes Of The Day
“”I think God was behind the last election”-Franklin Graham
“Is “God” the code name of Vladimir Putin?”-Ana Navarro-Cardenas
“If 97 percent of the electorate supports universal background check, but one party blocks passage of that law, the public is being ignored. And that's not how our government is supposed to work.”-Shannon Watts
“Its no longer death by a thousand cuts, It's taking a knife to the jugular.”-Union of Concerned Scientists after Trump slashed 1/3 of all advisory committees that provide the government with scientific advice.
“Once again Pelosi tamps down calls for impeachment: “There's nothing more divisive than impeaching a president.” Pelosi has it backwards. There's nothing more divisive than not impeaching the most unlawful president in history who is threatening to collude again in 2020.”-Ryan Knight
“Good riddance Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Now the only one you have to lie to is Jesus.”-Jim Carrey
“At the end of the day, I'd rather be excluded for who I include, than be included for who I exclude.”-sign outside a church
“Equal rights for others doesnt mean less rights for you. It's not pie.”-unkown
Songs Of The Day (“Luck Of The Draw” by Bonnie Raitt was released on this date in 1991. Here are two very different tunes from the LP
