BREAKING NEWS: Goodbye, Golden Girl

This blog is shocked to hear of the passing of a true entertainment icon: Betty White, featured on MARY TYLER MOORE and GOLDEN GIRLS, has left the world, and a legacy of laughter, at only 99 years young. Her incredible career spanned eight decades from radio to television. She was the first woman to produce a sitcom (LIFE WITH ELIZABETH, which led to her being named honorary Mayor of Hollywood in 1955), as well as the First Lady Of Game Shows, having appeared on the most popular entries in the Mark Goodson-Bill Todman stable, especially PASSWORD, which was hosted by her husband Allen Ludden. Her CV also includes THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL, BOSTON LEGAL,SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE,THE CAROL BURNETT SHOW, HOT IN CLEVELAND, THE GOLDEN PALACE, and an all-too-brief movie career ranging from voices in TOY STORY 4, TROUBLE, and THE WILD THRONEBERRYS to BRINGING DOWN THE HOUSE and YOU AGAIN,to the upcoming posthumous release,BETTY WHITE: A BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION, Sadly,she never got the chance to hit the century mark. As of this writing, no cause has been announced, but  an already dark world has been made even darker by her departure. Rest in Peace, Betty. Thank you for being a friend.

AND NOW, FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT

Boy, with the passing of Betty White, John Madden, Hank Aaron, and Ed Asner, omicron spreading to beat the band, and sporting events and shows dropping like flies, you'd think the world was coming to an end! What would happen if it REALLY did? How would politicians and the media handle it? The answers to these and other questions (Why couldn't ARMAGEDDON and DEEP IMPACT be this funny? A little in-joke for all you Electric Company fans out there, if you know, you know.) can be found in the latest effort from erstwhile Will Ferrell writing/producing partner Adam McKay, DON'T LOOK UP!, starring Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio as two scientists who discover a comet the size of South Africa headed on a month-long collision course with Earth and must deal with a President (Meryl Streep) who TRIES to be their friend, her dopey Chief Of Staff son (Jonah Hill), and two FOX-Friendly talk show hosts (Cate Blanchett and Tyler Perry). If this Netflix production doesn't make you laugh or think (or even cry), check your pulse! Rated R for Ridiculously Funny, (and also language, sex and occasional nudity) DON'T LOOK UP is proof that regardless of what people like David Zucker of AIRPLANE! fame think, they STILL make comedy disaster movies the way they used to, maybe even better!

Happy New Year!

Steve      

    

Just To Let You Know...

 ...Despite the shared ownership, FOX Nation does NOT carry ALL MADDEN. Their loss!

Let's Go To The Videotape! All-Madden (FOX Sports in association with NFL Films, 2021, No Rating)

(NOTE: This is a preview of a film review to be presented before the Talking Sports Gather Group at Temple Emanu-El on Tuesday, January 11,2022.)

To say we lost a lot in 2021 is the understatement of a lifetime. In politics we lost Bob Dole and Harry Reid, in entertainment we lost Stephen Sondheim, and in sports, we lost Hank Aaron, Tommy Lasorda,the man who made Wayne Gretzky great, his dad Walter, but most of all, we lost John Earl Madden,born in 1936 in Austin, MN, but recognized around the world as the second winningest coach in NFL history during his eleven-year run with what was then the Oakland Raiders. He never played a full game professionally with the team that picked him in 1958, the Philadelphia Eagles, but he successfully parlayed his college football know-how, as  a player and a coach, into a long and colorful reign as a Head Coach and, an accomplishment nobody, least of all Madden himself, ever expected, a nearly three-decade long career in broadcasting that took him to all four NFL broadcast networks working alongside household names such as Bob Costas, Pat Summerall, Vin Scully, and Dick Stockton. John could never have been mistaken for Walter Cronkite what with his slightly less-than-elegant clothes (He once said a panhandler gave HIM a dollar!) and loud, brash style, but that's what made him a sports broadcasting superstar and awakened an interest in football in people who would rather watch Masterpiece Theater, kids who were pushed by Mom and Dad into Pop Warner Football,and even Mom herself. He turned FOX into a sports power, and became as effective a salesman for Miller Lite, Outback Steakhouse, and his own Madden video game from EA Sports, as he was for the game.

John may have just left us, but his legend lives on (BOOM! DOINK! WHAP!) in the beautiful new documentary ALL MADDEN, available on Hulu and ESPN+ (I'm not sure if it's available on FOX Nation, but if it is, it may be one of the more watchable, maybe the ONLY watchable, program on that service.) Instead of relying on a  single narrator, ALL MADDEN features some of his final on-camera appearances,interviews with family, fellow coaches, players such as Peyton Manning and Troy Aikman, and recollections from the aforementioned commentators as well as Al Michaels and Melissa Stark, his own highlight reel of commercials, his'own rough-and-tumble,smash-mouth all-pro team,and,OF COURSE, the highlight of many a Thanksgiving dinner, the Turducken, which John himself invented.

Although Hollywood has turned out masterful biopics on Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and, recently, Kurt Warner, they fall woefully short when compared to this real-life look at a figurative and literal football giant. ALL MADDEN is all entertainment (And I DO mean all entertainment! They even show his monologue as SNL guest host!) and, on a scale of Strike Out to Home Run, clearly knocks it out of the park. You don't have to be a football fan to enjoy it (But hey! it doesn't hurt!), but that was, and is, and will always be the beauty of John Madden, who turned the spotlight away from Cosell and the more overrated sports broadcasters, and proved himself to be what he wanted, an ordinary guy talking to ordinary guys, but leaving an extraordinary impression on football, sports, and America.

Happy New Year!

Steve

Nick @ Nite

 Since I took over the Gather Sports Fan Group at Congregation Emanu-El, of the City of New York,we've developed quite a following in the sports world:YES Network Yankees sideline reporter Meredith Marakovits, ESPN MLB color analyst and US Olympic  Softball Champion Jessica Mendoza,and now, writer/filmmaker/ Nick Davis,who produced an American Masters documentary for PBS on the Splendid Splinter, Ted Williams and wrote an episode for the ESPN miniseries THE BRONX IS BURNING,but more recently,and more notably, he has written and produced the ESPN 30 For 30 docuseries ONCE UPON A TIME IN QUEENS: AN ORAL HISTORY OF THE 1986 METS, and its companion book, and that, and the fact that he appeared at the Emanu-El Men's Club in support of his book on the Mankiewecz family of CITIZEN KANE fame, to which he is related through his mother, COMPETING WITH IDIOTS, led me to ask him last month if he would like to be the special guest for our December ZOOM meeting on the 14th at 6:50 PM (for the pregame. We usually get things started at 7 PM on the nose.). He said yes, our fearless leader Rabbi Sara Sapadin wished me all the best,and I told my posse, Andy, Brendon, Mark and Mindy that this long-suffering Mets fan who parlayed his love for the team Casey Stengel called "My Amazin's" into a weeklong epic backed by Major League Baseball,Jimmy Kimmel and his Cousin Sal (d/b/a Kimmelot)",and Britain's ITV was going to stop by and talk Mets, reminding them to, as the 1986 theme song, "Let's Go, Mets" encouraged, put on their "Mets gear." As Thanksgiving gave way to Hannukah, I kept reminding my group that Nick was going to be our guest and bringing them up to date on developments from the baseball lockout to the postponement of the Rangers' Thanksgiving Sunday game to St. Paddy's Day to the Staples Center in L.A. changing its (VERY GOOD!) name to (HUH?) Crypto.Com Arena. Since it's in my Jewish DNA to worry, I sent Nick an email to see if he remembered he had this VERY SPECIAL session. He said yes (WHEW!), and I logged onto Zoom, cued up Arthur Fiedler's recording of the "Look Sharp! Feel Sharp! Be Sharp!" theme, put on my Mike Piazza jersey,and waited to introduce everybody to Nick Davis, who produced this movie which is as right for this time as the 86 Mets were for theirs in that they entertained a city scarred by crime,unemployment, and mistrust in its leaders. I WAS getting ready to lay down the ground rules, recite the blessings, play Mets (AND Yanks AND Knicks AND Rangers ) fan John Amirante's (of blessed memory) rendition of our National Anthem,but as 6:50 PM arrived, so did Brendon, Andy, and Nick. All. At. Once. I WAS going to follow the opening ceremonies with the 1962 "Meet the Mets" theme and an impression of Mets PA announcer Marysol Castro ("LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE! NOW STEPPING UP TO THE MIC, AUTHOR AND FILMMAKER NIIIIIIIICK DAY-VIS!")but Nick was raring to go and I didn't want to disappoint him. (I was the only one wearing Mets gear, Mindy was nowhere to be seen, and Mark vanished from the Waiting Room like Mandrake the Magician. Most of me reveled in the joy of landing that big fish, but part of me thought, Oh, boy. I'm up the creek.) Since the Wilpon family that used to own the Mets now owns the UBS Arena at Belmont Park, I warned my audience that if they wanted to see acts that also play Madison Square Garden, Prudential Center (Newark, NJ) or Barclays Center (Brooklyn), they should wait until those acts played their neighborhood arenas, but if they wanted to deal with V-E-R-Y S-L-O-W LIRR trains or slim pickings when it comes to rideshares just to see the Islanders make utter fools of themselves, they can be my guest. From 6:50 to 7:30 we talked about former Yankee skipper Buck Showalter as a possible Mets manager, the  86 Mets' wild nights of drunken debauchery, the moment that ball went through Bill Buckner's legs and the Mets unraveled the Red Sox to win the 1986 World Series, (I was in Scotland and when I ran into my hotel lobby to tell Mom and Gramps the Mets had just won, the management and an Australian rugby team looked at me as if I were from Mars! Nick had similar stories but other fans, but they missed the cut.) When Andrew informed me I had just ten minutes to go, (I had forgotten to set the timer for 100 minutes. YIKES!) I started to read a poem I had written in memory of sports luminaries who had passed in 2021 like Dodger manager Tommy Lasorda, Ranger icon Rod Gilbert, and even Red Sox broadcaster Jerry Remy, my audience protested very vociferously. I immediately apologized, plugged the book (available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, and fine independent booksellers everywhere) and docuseries (on ESPN+ from the ESPN app or on the Disney Bundle along with Hulu+ Live TV and Disney+) and wished everybody Happy Solstice and a Happy New Year before apologizing to the rabbinate. It wasn't anywhere near perfect, as I told the rabbis, but, hey, the 1986 Mets weren't perfect and THEY won the World Series!

I also got thank-yous from my group, BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY FROM NICK, and, whaddya know, a Festivus miracle! I gave it 110% although it wasn't exactly as I envisioned, but I still managed to hit a home run and make everybody (Especially myself!) happy! I'm sure the 1986 Metsies would be happy too!

(And in a related development, the Gather Sports Fan Group's MVP of the Year is Olympic Gymnast Simone Biles for her all-around athleticism and ownership of her mental health issues. In her honor, the Group will donate $100 to the Emanu-El Philanthropic Fund to help end homelessness in New York and repair communities in storm-ravaged areas of Kentucky. Not too shabby, huh?)

In case you were wondering, the rabbis were mad at me...NOT! They were happy that I gave it my best shot and reminded me we're all trying to get the hang of this brave new world. If the Mets could get a happy ending, I'm sure the rest of the world can...and will.

Have a great one!

Steve

Upon Further Review:

 You may recall my confession that I had Phyllis George all wrong by reading about her trials and tribulations in YOU ARE LOOKING LIVE! How THE NFL TODAY Revolutionized Sports Broadcasting.

Well, some time after I asked my friends, including two renowned Rabbis at Temple Emanu-El, if they got my glowing review, I decided to log on to Amazon and order their last like new copy of her autobio: NEVER SAY NEVER:TEN LESSONS TO TURN YOU CAN'T INTO YES I CAN and it was good.

THENNNNNNN she lost me at "Dr. Norman Vincent Peale."

As in the person who was her spiritual guide.

I know, never speak ill of the dead.

Especially at this time, Halloween, when many cultures believe the dead will walk the Earth to gain their revenge.

Although the book DOES boast interviews with people I've always either loved or respected like Larry King, Roger Staubach, Walter Cronkite and Paula Zahn, she DID profess her love for the same guy who inspired PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP.

And we know what we think of HIM, right?

I believe I was right the first time about Phyllis George.

I know you must hate me wherever you are, GEORGE (I still love the way Miss Piggy addressed her on The Muppet Show!), kick a touchdown at me, try to bean me with your Miss America scepter, but I stand by my story.

I rate this sorry excuse for a book OFFENSIVELY FOUL, DELAY OF AFTERNOON,READ A BETTER BOOK.

Oh, and Happy Halloween to those who celebrate.

Steve

OOPS!

 I meant to say I saw AFC games when I saw THE NFL TODAY live on 5th Avenue. Sorry!

PUT IT IN THE BOOKS! Club: YOU ARE LOOKING LIVE! How THE NFL TODAY Revolutionized Sports Broadcasting, by Rich Podolsky, Foreword by Jim Nantz,Lyons Press, Guitford,CTord, CT,2021, Now on Sale at Amazon,

 (The following is a special sneak preview of a review which will be read by Yours Truly at the first Zoom meeting of the Talking Sports Gather Group on November 9.)

During the early part of the New Millennium, my ritual on the last Football Sunday of September, October, November and December was to volunteer at Temple Emanu-El's Sunday Lunch Program and package meals for the homeless before heading over to the former General Motors Building( then changed to Trump International Plaza, now promoted as its building address, 767 Fifth Avenue) and seeing CBS Sports' pioneering pre-game show, THE NFL TODAY, broadcasting live coast-to-coast before every national telecast of the NFL  National Football Conference. When the show made its outdoor debut in 2001 on the set usually reserved for  THE EARLY SHOW (later CBS THIS MORNING ,currently CBS MORNINGS ,subject to change if the Great Gods of Nielsen frown upon it), Jim Nantz, who hosted the show from 1998 when CBS acquired the rights to the American Football Conference from NBC, to 2003 when Greg Gumbel took the reins, presided over an announce team comprised of former New York Jet Boomer Esiason, former Miami Dolphin Dan Marino, former Chicago Bears head coach Mike Ditka, and the multitalented Deion "Primetime" Sanders. I laughed, I cried, I got autographs (from football star Ronde Barber, Dean "Superman" Cain, Heidi Klum, and Dr. Phil, many of whom came by to promote their upcoming CBS programs), I watched out-of-market CBS games as well as the game for the New York market and games from a certain network I will not name, but which acquired, I believe STOLE is a better word, the NFC package...I froze my butt off in late November and December, but above all, I saw the greats of the gridiron and hung with some of the nicest people to either cover or play football or work behind the scenes of a television broadcast. That is what has made THE NFL TODAY work since Bob Wussler took a boring 15-minute pre-taped preview of only one NFL game on CBS, added Brent Musburger, Phyllis George, Irv Cross, Jimmy "The Greek", an exciting, modern look, and 45 additional minutes, and that's what makes YOU ARE LOOKING LIVE! by a guy who was there from the start, Rich Podolsky, the best book on sports and sports TV of the year. Until I read this book, I didn't fully appreciate Phyllis and her dedication to player interviews (Her malapropisms like "He kicked a touchdown!" and "intersession" instead of "interception" drove me crazy, and don't get me started about the time she interviewed a woman and the man she falsely accused of rape and said, "How about a hug?"!) but now I truly understand her, albeit a little too late for reasons you'll find out in this titanic tome about touchdowns and TV. You'll also find out about the real story behind the friendship between Brent and The Greek and how The Greek almost didn't make it on over-the-air broadcast TV, and how Irv blazed new trails as the first African-American on a sports TV program.

Others may try to put on a better show, but whatever they did, THE NFL TODAY did it first, and there's no other team like the team behind it, in the control room or on the field. Whether you read it before, after, or instead of the game, YOU ARE LOOKING LIVE! is worth looking at, and to borrow from another great of the game, it does! Go! All! The! Way! On a scale of Strike Out to Home Run, I rate YOU ARE LOOKING LIVE! a Home Run!

(This is for the benefit of those who can't make it to the Zoom meetings to my Gather Fan Group. It may or may not, be subject to a lot of tweaking, but I believe the Group might like it and weigh in with their own opinions. WATCH THIS SPACE!)

Sports Book Loving Steve