Last week, the world marked 100 years since the sinking of the Titanic. Today, we mark the centennial of another disaster. On April 20th, 1912, The Boston Red Sox played their first game at Fenway Park.
I’m kidding. Fenway is fine. It’s just the players and fans that are the problem.
If you’re a Yankee fan, you know Marty Appel. He’s one of the franchise’s great historians. So, who better to write an account of the franchise’s long history?
We talk about the monumental task of writing a team history, his personal experiences in Pinstripes and what he likes to watch for on the Yankee Stadium Scoreboard.
Like sand through the hourglass, these are the days of our lives. Which is a nice way of saying, “Damn, we’re getting old.” Here’s the latest proof. In the next few weeks, we’ll mark 20 years since Christian Laettner hit the shot against Kentucky, to lead Duke into the 1992 Final Four.
ESPN’s Gene Wojciechowski has written a new book about the game. “The Last Great Game” dissects both coaches, teams and the circumstances that led up to one of the most iconic moments in NCAA history. We discussed the book, the game’s lasting impact and Gimel Martinez’s hall of fame mustache. He also does a great job of convincing you to buy his book.
Chances are, you haven’t been watching NBA TV lately. It makes sense, since there’s no NBA. In fact, I read somewhere last week that NBA TV had the second lowest ratings of all cable networks, ahead of only Speed Network, which I think is just a bunch of Meth heads doing stuff.
Well, here’s a reason to turn back to NBA TV. They’ve been showing something called “Open Court,” which is just a chat, hosted by Ernie Johnson, between Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, Chris Webber, Kenny Smith, Steve Smith, Reggie Miller and Steve Kerr.
My favorite part, so far, has been when the former players discussed the greatest nemesis of their careers. Reggie Miller identified former Net (and current Justin’s favorite all time player) Drazen Petrovic. Why was Draz so hard to deal with?
Last week marked 60 years since Bobby Thompson hit “the shot heard round the world,” sending the New York Giants to the World Series and sending the Brooklyn Dodgers home for the winter. Ralph Branca is the other half of that equation, having thrown the pitch that Thompson hit out.
In the subsequent 6 decades, Branca’s embraced his role in history with a mix of perspective, good humor and class. Now, he’s written a book, called “A Moment In Time,” which focuses on how that moment shaped his life and how his life helped him deal with that moment.
During our conversation, we also discussed his views on some baseball legends, his quiz show domination and his utter fearlessness in the face of superstition.
Today is the 25th anniversary of Nickelodeon’s greatest game show ever, Double Dare.
Once, SCP commenter BShrek was in the audience at Double Dare. He wore a red sweatshirt. I’ve always told him I saw him, but in reality, I’ve never been sure it was actually him.
I was born on September 7th, 1978. For you calendar fanatics out there, you will notice that that occurred 33 years ago TODAY!
So, what does the upcoming year hold for your old pal, Justin? People my age tend to measure success through things like marriage, children or professional fulfillment. I don’t really have the energy or the personality to accomplish any of those things. Instead, I’m just going to read a lot.
John Belushi, Chris Farley and Jesus all died when they were 33. As far as I can figure, as long as I make it to 34, I will be way more successful than any of them.
