Off The Bench

It was good to get back to WGCH today, where I visited with anchor Tony Savino and reporter Dima Joseph - both good friends. Also engineer and overworked maniac Bob Small and sales guru and "f'ing lengend" Mark Yusko were in the house. It was good to see everybody, as I begin to get ready to return to the airwaves on 1490 Thursday morning at 6:00. This will be the first time that I've worked at the new digs on Lewis Street.

Since WGCH is a member of the Boston Red Sox Radio Network (yes, there's irony there), we often get giveways...that often don't get into the hands of the Sports Director (for the record, that's my title). But today, I struck gold when I found a copy of the DVD "Impossible to Forget: The Story of the '67 Boston Red Sox." Before you think I've gone crazy, let's recap a few things about me:

1) I'm a BASEBALL fan, and a Yankees fan second (thus those pom poms aren't as prevalent as one might think)
2) I'm a baseball historian.
3) I'm a baseball broadcasting, sports broadcasting, and overall broadcasting historian.

This DVD satisfies all three of the requirements, which is why it interested me when I first heard about it. Among the vignettes, documentaries and so on is the full broadcast of the Sox pennant winner against the Twins on September 30, 1967. I love stuff like this - which is why the initial idea of the Classic Sports Network was so great, before ESPN got their hands on it and figured people were interested in seeing classic poker.

So I snagged a copy, and will eventually get around to watching it. Besides, I have no problem with the BoSox...so long as it doesn't involve the Yankees. I'm an American League guy.

Speaking of the boys in the Bronx, I find that we must reopen the fashion conversation of yesterday, in which I chided a 12-year-old for wearing a t-shirt that essentially school is about hooking up with girls. Now we have Cynthia Rodriguez, wife of A-Rod, wearing a charming little number that says "Fook You" on it. But it didn't say "fook." The saucy white tank top was photographed and splashed on the cover of the New York Post. Normally security doesn't allow such things at the Stadium, but that's a chat for another time.

Bottom line - it was stupid and disrespectful.

I get it - the media has been tough on her husband. But why do it now? He's in the middle of a monster season, and is heading for another ridiculous payday at the end of this year. Why call that kind of attention to yourself.

Come on, C-Rod, think!

Then we get Brian Cashman, Yankees GM, who says that he spoke with the Rodriguez's about Cynthia's attire. Yes, he has every right to voice a concern to Cynthia about the shirt - it looked stupid for her, her husband, and the organization, but to hold A-Rod's feet to the fire was stupid. What, does Cashman think that he has control over his wife. Does any man in 2007 have control over his wife?

I'm going to let you ponder what I'm getting at with that one and move along.

Barry Bonds will be at the All-Star Game next week. Woo-freakin'-hoo.

We could breakdown the starters and bitch about them, but why? It's the fans game, and though it's the best of all of the All-Star farces, it's still a joke. Deserving players get left off the roster, and clueless fans vote for undeserving players. It is what it is.

I can see the Yankees are going to tease us all year. Once in a while, they'll heat up, then they'll crash. It will all lead to the same result - no playoffs, goodbye Torre, goodbye Cashman.

I'm not necessarily in favor of those moves, but they will probably happen.

With the holiday week, that means vacations. On WFAN, Kimberly Jones and Chris Carlin are filling-in for the dopey duo in the midday. Of course a test pattern is more enjoyable than them, but Jones and Carlin have been OK. Kim Jones actually makes Carlin almost likable. Only one other person was capable of doing that, and he'll be back soon...

I just noticed Barry Bonds hit home run number 751 tonight. That leaves him four shy of Hank Aaron for the career record. America collectively yawned.

Wait - don't tell me - you mean there was a connection between the London and Glasgow botched terror attacks? Come on, that can't be.

Glad ol' Scotland Yard let us in on that piece of shocking info.

Scooter Libby got his "Get Out of Jail Card" and we're all supposed to be shocked? You knew it was coming, and the reaction was predictable. The left hated it; the right praised it.

Move along.

At the Stadium, Edwar Ramiriez made his Major League debut by striking out the side. The 26 year-old had all but left baseball before giving it another try by playing for the independent Edinburg Coyotes of the United League. Between Edinburg and Tampa (the Yankees Class-A team) Ramirez strikes out 93 in 56 innings.

That's pretty good, but that's also low-level baseball. Striking out three straight Minnesota Twins is a different story.

Welcome to the bigs, kid.

I don't know when I will get around to posting again, so I will take this opportunity to with you all a Happy Fourth of July. In that spirit, here's a video for you that reminds us of the pride we should all have in our Flag. I'm a defender of free speech and all, but any attempt to burn the American Flag (or any other flag) has always struck me as wrong. So watch this video, and be proud of our great country. Incidentally, the voice you will hear is that of the great Vin Scully. The full story of this incident is here, with more video.
To finish, just in case I don't post on Thursday, happy 57th birthday to Hugh Anthony Cregg, III. Who the heck is that, you ask? Why none other than the one, the only, The Heart of Rock and Roll himself, Huey Lewis, who was born on July 5, 1950. Here's a little video to remind you of the greatness of Sir Huey and the News. Tough to pick though because there are so many hits, and so little time...