Frank McCourt once wrote a piece in The New York Times saying that he never understood baseball until one day he was watching a World Series game in a bar and the camera zoomed in on the pitcher's eyes. He would have loved HD. Last night during the NLDS I saw something I'd never seen before: the catcher looking up at the batter while he gave signals to the pitcher.
Before going to bed last night I turned on the Yankees-Dodgers game mainly to hear Vin Scully, though also to see Yasiel Puig (a double off the wall in deep center field). Over one and a half innings I learned that Derek Jeter and Abner Doubleday were born on the same day, that three of Joe Girardi's siblings are doctors (two MDs and one PhD), and that, back in the 30s, the Yankees would make new uniforms for their players if they won the pennant, which they would then wear for the World Series and the following season. All of this was woven seamlessly into the tireless play-by-play.
It almost made me thankful for inter-league play.
I was disappointed Saturday when I went to the African American Research Center on Sistrunk Boulevard and learned that Earl Monroe, author of a new memoir, had cancelled his appearance because of an illness.
When I was growing up in New Jersey in the late '60s, the New York Knicks were my favorite team. I loved the way they played - smooth, smart, all of one piece - and the intriguing cast of characters that extended far down the bench. They made up one of the greatest basketball teams in history and, as it turned out, one of the most prolific.
In addition to the usual memoirs (Monroe, Walt Frazier, Dave DeBusschere), they have written political books (Bill Bradley), philosophical books (Phil Jackson) and even a book on improving one's memory (Jerry Lucas). Just as they set the standard for teamwork, they've set the standard for authorship,
I was going to write about my trip this week but I've been too mesmerized by Wimbledon. The commentators have rightly pointed out the novelty of an all-Polish men's quarterfinal (Jerzy Janowicz vs. Lukasz Kubot) while failing to mention that the women's semifinal (Agnieszka Radwanska vs. Sabine Lisicki) will also be between two Polish speakers (Lisicki's parents emigrated from Poland to Germany in 1979). For at least one tournament, Polish has replaced Russian as the language of the practice courts. To dobrze.
It was a good weekend for fans of Serena Williams, Svetlana Kuznetsova and David Ferrer, who all won at the French Open on Sunday in fairly routine matches, matches that were shown over and over again on the Tennis Channel long into the night.
Of course, the fan base for those three players - even with the explosive Williams in the mix - pales in comparison to that of Roger Federer, who won an exciting, five-set match over Gilles Simon that included an around the net winner by the Swiss champion.
But this match was shown once, live, on NBC. I assume the network did not give the Tennis Channel rights to replay it. If you didn't see it on NBC, then you missed out on one of the finest matches by possibly the greatest player in the history of the game.
And good luck finding tennis highlights on ESPN.