Lee Lowenfish

For someone dubbed the Prince of Paranoia, things are looking up in my life as a fan who roots ardently for Columbia women's and Wisconsin men's basketball. Over Valentine's Day weekend, Columbia moved into a first-place Ivy League tie with Princeton using a solid second half to thump the Tigers, 70-56.  The next night, oddly by almost an identical score, 69-56, Columbia beat a stubborn Penn team that trailed 30-15 at the half but made life a bit anxious after intermission behind sharp-shooting forward Katie Collins. The lead was secured when the Lions kept their composure against the Quakers press.  Resurgent junior Riley Weiss had a consistent 44 point weekend and co-captain Perri Page, with her father former Pitt star Julius Page and family cheering her on, had a double double against Princeton, including a career-high 25 points. After a foul-plagued first half against Penn, she bounced back with a double-digit scoring second half and all-around play to keep the Quakers from dreaming of another upset like last month's in Philadelphia. Kudos also to the ferocious play of junior guard Fliss Henderson who was in the middle of everything all weekend and a rebounding force. 

 

I love defense and pitching in baseball and defense that creates offense in basketball.  The Lions' recent outstanding play has also been keyed by sophomore guards Mia Broom and Nasi Simmons who I'm beginning to call the Steal Sisters - earlier this season Nasi set a record with 10 steals against Yale.  Sad to say, only one home game is left for the Lions, Sa Mar 7 2P against Harvard always a tough opponent and tied for third with improving Brown who we meet in Providence on Feb 28 also at 2P.  Ahead on Mar 13-14 is the 4-team Ivy League tournament this year at Cornell.  With Penn 3 games behind Harvard and Brown and only 4 games left in regular season, it looks like the 4 tourney teams are set, but seeding is still to be determined.

 

Down in Greenwich Village, the NYU Violets women cagers' Division III winning streak is now up to 84.  They, too, only have a few games left in the regular season: This Fri Feb 20 at 730P against Washington U of St Louis, the school that owned the prior D-3 winning streak early this century. Then Su Feb 22 at noon against U of Chicago followed on Sa Feb 28 at 3P against Brandeis, preceded by a 1045A alumni game.  The Violets are assured of hosting FSa at the Paulson Center on Bleecker Street just north of Mercer the first weekend in March. If they advance, hosting the next round will depend on how far the solid NYU men's team goes in its playoffs. 

 

Here's a shoutout to another local D-3 winning streak, the Montclair State men's team is 24-0 with one regular season game left -  Wed Feb 18 at 7P at College of New Jersey in Ewing, NJ.

Montclair State should host first rounds of playoffs at their gym on the Montclair campus, Feb 25-26. 

 

On the bigtime D-1 side of men's hoops in the NYC area, St. John's is 20-5 and ranked #17 in the latest national poll.  There is no doubt that Rick Pitino knows how to coach but I find his arrogant manner off-putting. After a game this past Sat on the road at Providence that was punctuated by a late first half brawl, Pitino commented to the press, "Curfew 5 AM." Pitino's arch-rival Arkansas coach John Calipari also likes to be flippant in his comments. Complaining about the transfer portal and other legal changes enabling player mobility, Calipari wailed the other day, "I have a player who has two kids and is using his NIL money to pay alimony." 

 

My Wisconsin Badgers are a team that has used the transfer portal effectively to achieve national attention after a mediocre start to the season. Last week they knocked off nationally ranked Big Ten rivals Illinois on the road and Michigan State at home. In addition to home grown junior guard John Blackwell and seven-foot junior Nolan Winter, Wisconsin has plucked the transfer portal for two key veteran components, flashy southpaw guard Nick Boyd from northern New Jersey and key reserve the former Minnesota Golden Gopher (and Tulsa Hurricane) Braelen Carrington, a useful sharpshooter.  Boyd can be stopped if you force him to the right and make him take off-balance shots, but when he is on, his speed and daring are electrifying. 

I didn't have great hopes for this year's edition of the Badgers but if nothing else, their competitiveness should mute the critics of coach Greg Gard who is nearing his 20th year with the Badgers, including more than ten as top assistant to retired Hall of Fame coach Bo Ryan. 

 

I've quoted these coaches many times but it never hurts to repeat some of their adages: 

"WE JUDGE OUR PLAYERS BY WHAT IT TAKES TO DISCOURAGE THEM" - Bo Ryan after Badgers knocked off then-#1 ranked Ohio State in Columbus, 2011.

"IF CONSISTENCY WERE AN ISLAND, IT WOULD BE LIGHTLY POPULATED" - Greg Gard quoting a sports psychologist that addressed his team, earlier this decade

 

The Badgers' schedule until the Big Ten tournament (which is really the Big 18 nowadays) is with all times EST:

Tu Feb 17 830P at Ohio State FS1; Su Feb 22 Iowa 4P FS1; Sa 2/28 at U of Washington FS1 4P; W Mar 4 Maryland 8P FSI; Sa Mar 7 at Purdue 4P CBS

 

     AND NOW TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALLGAME!

Turning to the hope that the return of spring training always brings, the Prince of Paranoia applauds the Orioles for signing former Met RHP Chris Bassitt to bolster a starting pitching staff that doesn't have a real ace but can always use innings-eaters and gritty gamers like Bassitt. He turns 37 on Feb 22 but knock on wood, he has been durable as a reliable starter most recently for the Blue Jays through their World Series run.  The addition of Bassitt certainly tempered the bad news that the usually durable Jackson Holliday will miss all of spring training and some of the

regular season with a hamate bone fracture located in the palm of his hand.  Two other notable players, the Mets' Francisco Lindor and the Diamondbecks Corbin Carroll, recently suffered the same injury.  Each probably was incurred from overdoing batting practice in preparation for the long season.  

 

I will try and I urge most lovers of the game to appreciate good games and remarkable player achievements during the upcoming season because the specter of an owners' lockout of players looms large after the current collective bargaining agreement expires in early December.   I refuse to believe any forthcoming disaster is inevitable including what is happening to our society during the second term of the 47th president. So I prefer to cite some good news concerning Tomas Lopez, a junior RHP for my Columbia Lions baseball team who will pitch for Brazil in the upcoming World Baseball Classic starting on March 4.  Tomas' mother is Brazilian and she is over the moon in delight for her son's opportunity.  Lopez told mlb.com - and why not capitalize this quote too! 

"BASEBALL JUST BRINGS PEOPLE TOGETHER ALL THE TIME. . . . I'M JUST EXCITED [TO FIND OUT] . . .  HOW EVERYONE GOT INTO THE SAME EXACT SITUATION THAT I'LL BE IN." 

 

Regardless of the doom and gloom folks bemoaning the MLB labor situation, I insist that there will always be baseball on lower levels and I always try to honor some of the less-recognized lights.  So here's a shoutout to the latest class of inductees into National College Baseball Hall of Fame that were honored last week - Feb 12 - at the new home of the NCBHF in Overland Park, Kansas, near Kansas City.  Among the honorees were former Mets RHP Kris Benson (who starred at  Clemson) and Hubie Brooks (who starred at Mesa AZ JC and Arizona State U). Also inducted was Jack Coffey, the longtime Fordham baseball coach and administrator.    

 

ERRATA from recent posts:

**The real first name of manager extraordinaire Francona is Terry but everyone calls him "Tito" in honor to his father who had a better MLB career.

**James Cagney's closing line as he gets blown up at the end of "White Heat" is "Made it, Ma. Top of the World!"

 

Speaking of old films, here are some TCM tips:

Th Feb 19 1045P Robert Aldrich's "The Longest Yard" (1974).  Aldrich was a member of the Rockefeller family which included former NY governor and Presidential aspirant Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller but he made it up the chain in Hollywood without using any connections. He directs Burt Reynolds, a former gridiron star now in prison, in a football game between prisoners and guards.  Interestingly, Aldrich's first film as director was "Big Leaguer" (1953), filmed in the New York Giants minor spring training base in Florida.  

 

Earlier on Thursday at 145P is "Jammin' the Blues" - a 9 minute documentary by Djon Mili that explains jazz in the simplest most rhythmic way.  Mili was a photographer from the Netherlands who  a few years earlier for LIFE magazine filmed Bob Feller's fastball comparing it to a roaring locomotive. Feller held his own in the comparison.

Also on Thursday at 1:10P most likely on the main NBC network station  - the gold medal game between the amazing US team against their arch-rival from Canada.

 

Sa Feb 22 8P. "Patton" (1970) directed by Franklin Schaffner with George C. Scott in title role. Also Karl Malden. I mention it because many baseball personages like Yankees owner George Steinbrenner and former Phillies pitcher and manager Dallas Green said they were inspired by the volatile WW II general who reportedly counsled his troops, "Be glad you're in my outfit and not shoveling shit in Louisiana."  

 

That's all for now.  I continue to urge you to Stay Positive Test Negativew and Take It Easy But Take It.  Next time I will tell you something about a new book that I wrote the afterword for:

"KNOW YOUR STRIKE ZONE: THE ULTIMATE BLUEPRINT FOR FINDING YOUR SWEET SPOT IN LIFE AND LEADERSHIP" by Paul D. Miller and Milton O. Thompson. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I can't resist the old joke.  "Why are people tired on April First?"  Answer - Because they have just been through a March of 31 days.  

 

OK, it's pretty bad but please give me some leeway. 

There will be no Columbia baseball for the second year in a row as the Ivy League has called off all spring sports - my Wisconsin Badgers basketball team is collapsing into the nether regions of the tough Big Ten - and although "President Biden" remains a lovely two-word phrase, the problems of governing this divided country remain imposing.

 

I try to find half-filled glasses.  

**The growing number of available vaccinations against Covid are a positive.  Now if people wear masks and keep practicing social distancing, there will be light at end of the tunnel. 

 

**The Orioles' Trey Mancini got a hit in his first Grapefruit League at-bat on Sunday after missing a season recovering from Grade 3 colon cancer.  Rooting for him will be the easiest job of the season.

 

The Orioles seem committed to his playing first base which is a good move. The highest paid, least productive Oriole, Chris Davis, might DH now and then, or just ride the pine as he collects two more years on his enormous contract. 

 

Let's hope the full MLB season is played.  The Triple-A season was supposed to start on April 6 and the Double-A season on May 4. Now because of covid concerns, Triple-A baseball won't start until early May.

 

One of the quirks of the new Double A schedule is that there will be a lot of six-game series with a Monday off.  It reminds of the 192-game schedule of the old Pacific Coast League before the Giants and Dodgers' relocation to SF and LA in 1958 prompted its restructuring.

 

On the basketball scene, there have been no Columbia losses to gripe about because there was no season.  We alums can and do BIRG - bask in reflective glory - about the play of our star point guard Mike Smith's great season as a graduate transfer at the University of Michigan. 

 

The Wolverines now stand as the number two team in the country after throttling contending Iowa last week.  They have lost only one game all season in the very tough Big Ten. 

 

Freshman seven-foot center Hunter Dickinson from DeMatha HS in Hyattsville MD (outside DC) has been a revelation and seems to be improving each game.

 

"March Madness" will be held in only one city this year, Indianapolis, and #1 Gonzaga and Michigan right now look like teams to beat.  Gonzaga has never won the title so it says here that the ghosts of past failures will be a significant hurdle for them to overcome. 

 

On the pro scene, the New York Knicks under new coach Tom Thibodeau are at .500 which is a huge improvement over recent seasons.  Thibodeau has finally got them playing defense and I enjoy his intensity.  

 

He reminds me in some ways of Rodney Dangerfield. I can almost envision him grumbling behind his mask, "We get no respect!" 

 

The Brooklyn Nets under rookie coach Steve Nash certainly have the firepower to contend for a NBA title.  I'm not crazy about the way James Harden manipulated his way to become part of the Big Three of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving but he certainly has played well in his new home.

Unlike the other two, so far he has been very durable.  

 

Meanwhile, as always, TCM movies keep me believing that a culture that produced such thoughtful and vivid movies last century can figure out a way to get us through the pandemic and reach some kind of social understanding.

 

For the baseball fan in March, the TCM films are for the early riser or you can tape them.   

 

Sa March 6 at 630A "Big Leaguer" - 1953, first film directed by Robert Aldrich. Shot at NY Giants minor league camp with Edward G. Robinson as manager trying to save job, Vera-Ellen as niece, Jeff Richards and Richard Jaeckel as competing players and cameo appearances by Giants farm director and Hall of Fame pitcher Carl Hubbell and Al Campanis as a Dodger farmhand manager. 

 

Sa Mar 13 630A  "The Stratton Story" - 1949, based on true story with Jimmy Stewart playing pitcher Monty Stratton trying to make a comeback from a hunting injury. With June Allyson and Jimmy Dykes playing himself. 

 

Tu Mar 16 630A  "The Winning Team" - 1952 with Ronald Reagan as Grover Cleveland Alexander and Doris Day as his wife (Mondays in March are Doris Day days and nights ) 

 

I should have mentioned it last month, but I hope some of you caught John Garfield Tuesdays in February.   I had never seen "Humoresque" and Garfield, playing a gifted violinist, is at the peak of his fame and talent (1946). Clifford Odets' hard-hitting script is gripping. 

 

Maybe Garfield's chemistry with femme fatale Joan Crawford wasn't great, but Oscar Levant was never better as his sidekick whose actual piano playing is heard on the sound track which is filled with top shelf classical music.  

 

Another TCM highlight last month was the restoration of "Native Son," starring author Richard Wright as protagonist Bigger Thomas.  It was shown on Eddie Muller's Noir Alley Feb 21/22.  

 

Wright in his 40s was too old to play a character 20 years younger, and he was not an actor, but he gave a credible performance.  The film was shot in Buenos Aires in the late 1940s but the American version shown in the early 1950s had 50 minutes cut out.  

 

Blessedly, a full 108-minute print was discovered in Buenos Aires not long ago. Kudos to the movie archivists who lovingly brought it back to life. And to the very informative discussion before and after the film by Muller and TCM's talented silent movie host Jacqueline Stewart.     

 

So here is Eddie Muller's Noir Alley schedule for March, Sat at midnight, repeated Su at 10A.

March 6/7 - "Killer's Kiss"  an early film directed by Stanley Kubrick - 1995

March 13/14 "The Night Brings Terror" - 1955

March 20/21  "The Third Man" 1949 a classic Cold War film with Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, and one hour in Orson Welles and haunting zither music. Can't wait to hear Muller's take on it

March 27/28 "Pepe Le Moko" a French Noir classic from 1937

 

Special mention should be made of two showings of "The Mask of Dimitrios" 1944 

Sat Mar 6 12N and Wed Mar 24 8p with post-"Casablanca" Peter Lorre & Sidney Greenstreet

W Mar 24 has three Lorre-Greenstreet films back-to-back.

945P "The Verdict" - 1946

1130P Three Strangers" with Geraldine Fitzgerald

 

Fri Mar 12 6p "East of Eden" 1955 - I saw it last month for first time and glad it is coming up ahead.  James Dean's debut and NYC-born Jo Van Fleet's Oscar.  Set before and during World War I in John Steinbeck's California.  He wasn't pleased with the selections chosen from his book of the same name, but director Elia Kazan created a memorable film.

 

Tu Mar 30 8:15A  Kazan's equally memorable "Splendor in the Grass" 1961 with Warren Beatty and Natalie Wood and Pat Hingle and screenplay by William Inge  

 

Before I close, I want to remember my neighbor Susan Feingold who lived for 60 years in my building on West 104th Street near Riverside Park. She left us in late September 2020 at the age of 95. 

 

Alex Vadukul contributed a moving obituary in the Feb 26 NY Times.  A Holocaust survivor, Susan became a prominent advocate for childhood education. Her work influenced the Head Start program and she was honored by President Obama.

 

Always remember:  "There is no wealth but life" - John Ruskin   

As well as Woody Guthrie's immortal:  "Take it easy but take it!"