Monday, May 30, 2011

Memorial Day Weekend at the Hall

It's been an interesting Memorial Day Weekend.  I had it off last year to go to a wedding in Cleveland, but this time it's back to the norm on a holiday, anchoring from Friday through Monday.  If it was a boring weekend I probably wouldn't have been happy about it.  But that wasn't the case this time around, with baseball and softball sectional games all weekend, as well as the opening of a new exhibit on records at the Baseball Hall of Fame.  (And I apologize to the Whitesboro baseball team, because I had to sacrifice shooting your sectional semifinal game to go to Cooperstown.)

What interested me about this event was the opportunity to meet three Hall of Famers, namely Phil Niekro, Joe Morgan, and one of the all-time greats, Cal Ripken Jr.  (Now where's Mike O'Hara and Jimmy Flaherty from the movie Celtic Pride to kidnap him for being in a pennant race with the Red Sox...)  I'm always impressed by the job the Baseball Hall of Fame does with these types of events.  They always plan everything as perfectly as they can.  Memorial Day weekend is always huge for them, because it starts up their summer season, in which their hours are extended and they get ready for their two big events, the Hall of Fame Classic next month in which former players come to Cooperstown and play a seven inning exhibition, and the Induction Ceremony in July.  (This year's class includes second baseman Robby Alomar, pitcher Bert Blyleven and GM Pat Gillick.)

But back to the opening of One for the Books, which is the name of this new exhibit.  It's amazing and quite frankly anyone who's a fan of baseball needs to see it in person.  The displays are cool and I found myself checking them all out. (There's one that shows the average time it takes to drive from Yankee Stadium to Fenway Park, which is less than the time of the longest nine inning game in MLB history, in 2006 between the Yankees and Red Sox.)  The centerpiece is what's called the Top Ten Tower, in which you can not only find the all-time and active leaders in many categories, but also who were those leaders at any point in MLB history.  (Yes I did take a few minutes to check it out and I had to pry myself away from it, because I could have spent an hour there.)

The opening was pretty cool as well, because I got to interview Ripken, Niekro and Morgan.  While I had the honor of being the first to speak with Cal, I didn't monopolize his time, because the media members there all did seperate interviews and had a limited time to speak with him.  The Hall getting Cal to open this exhibit was perfect, given that he owns one of the most prestigious records in MLB history, consecutive games played.  There's a display for it that includes the clip of him breaking Lou Gehrig's record back in 1995, which Cal said brought back the memories of that game.  We also talked about the AL East, which is still the closest race so far in 2011, since he's a Baltimore guy.  Going against character, I didn't tell him I'm a Red Sox fan.  Weird, eh?  I did divulge that to Morgan, though, and we had a few laughs about that.  (I forgot to ask him about the '75 World Series, though.  D'oh!)  Niekro was very cool as well.  It's interesting, because he's been at each of the two previous Hall of Fame Classic games, but I've never spoke with him before.  (Guess there was always a bigger HOFer to grab.  Sorry about that Phil!)  Needless to say I'll be speaking with him again in a month when I go back to the Coop for the Classic.

In any case, I had a great time.  You can check out the link to the feature I did for my Saturday night sportscast here: http://www.wktv.com/sports/Baseball-HOF-kicks-off-season-with-new-exhibit-122788204.html

Looks like I'll be working every night this week covering baseball section finals and that's a'ight with me!!  We've got Ilion, Clinton, Sauquoit Valley, West Canada Valley, Cooperstown, NY Mills and Whitesboro all playing and I'm already missing Ilion-Clinton because it's this morning.  But hopefully we'll get all the rest.  It would've been cool to see VVS make it back to the Class A final against Whitesboro, but Bishop Ludden was the top seed and took care of business.  So hopefully the Warriors will get it done again, in head coach Bill DeCoursey's last season.  We'll find out Wednesday!

Monday, May 23, 2011

In Memory of the Macho Man

It's been a tough weekend for me.  Not because of anything work related, in fact, work was great.  We now have the high school baseball and softball playoffs all set, so that will keep me busy the next few weeks.  But what made it so tough was how I felt all weekend like I lost a piece of my childhood with Friday's shocking news that Randy "Macho Man" Savage died in a car accident.  Although he hasn't made many public appearances in the last decade, the Macho Man was one of my idols growing up, and seeing him pass at 58 years old is tragic.

I haven't watched wrestling on a regular basis since the death of Chris Benoit, but I certainly have a lot of old tapes and DVDs of the classic days when Macho Man was one of sports entertainment's biggest stars.  I remember going over to my best friend's house to see Wrestlemania IV and rooting for Randy to win the WWF title tournament, which he did, beating Butch Reed, Greg Valentine, the One Man Gang and Ted Dibiase along the way.  I remember seeing him at the old Boston Garden, taking on Bad News Brown and dropping that amazing flying elbow to secure the victory.  I remember reconvening with the same friends who saw Wrestlemania IV a year later to see Macho defend the title against Hulk Hogan at Wrestlemania V, and how mad I was when he was forced to give up the title he worked so hard for, so Hogan could keep his pants up with that belt around his waist.

I could go on for hours about all the great matches and moments I'll remember about the Macho Man.  His reunion with Miss Elizabeth at Wrestlemania VII after losing a "career ending" match with the Ultimate Warrior, still one of the most underrated 'Mania matches ever, brings tears to the eyes of most wrestling fans.  His feud with Jake "The Snake" Roberts that started up Macho's wrestling career again, will always be remembered for that cobra nibbling on Randy's arm.  That's still hard to watch, even today.  His series of matches with Ric Flair, specifically at Wrestlemania VIII, as he won his second WWF title.  His numerous commercials for Slim Jim.  His jump to WCW and feud with Diamond Dallas Page.  His cameo as "Bonesaw McGraw" in the first Spiderman movie.  ("Bonesaw's ready!!")  His hilarious rap album, in which he both takes jabs at Hogan ("Be a Man") and also pays tribute to Mr. Perfect ("Perfect Friend").  And finally, his promo for the recent WWE All-Stars game, in which he appears as he died, as a roided up Santa Claus.  (It's a compliment, really!)

Those are far from the only memories I'll remember about the Macho Man, but the rest are just too numerous.  I've been watching a lot of his matches from my video library the last few days, and like many have done, here is a list of my favorites.

1. vs. Ricky Steamboat, Wrestlemania III, 3/29/87 - There just gets no better than this.  It was the greatest match in Wrestlemania history, and maybe of all time.  Savage was the most hated man in the world, even more than Andre the Giant, who faced Hogan that same night in the Silverdome, because of what he had done to Steamboat.  Weeks earlier Macho had used a ring bell to "crush" the throat of his challenger.  Steamboat ended up coming back and taking Macho's Intercontinental title after a series of near falls so amazing, you really just didn't know who would win.  The loss of his title ended up being a blessing for Savage, though, because he became a main event star as a result.

2. vs. Ted Dibiase, Wrestlemania IV, 3/27/88 - These two actually had much better technical matches, but I put this one this high because it was the first time I'd ever seen Macho in the ring and he won the championship.  He did get help from Hogan to win it, but that's wrestling.  The outcomes are predetermined, and it set up the ongoing storyline of friendship and then rivarly between the two biggest stars of the late 80s/early 90s.

3. vs. the Ultimate Warrior, Wrestlemania VII, 3/24/91 - As I already mentioned, it's the most underrated Wrestlemania match ever, with both guys giving their all, probably the last time you could say that about Warrior, and nobody knowing how it would end.  That part of it was probably the weakest, with Savage "knocked out" and Warrior stepping on him for the cover.  And the aftermath was great, with Elizabeth rescuing Savage from a beating by Scary Sherri was classic.  Plus, I don't think I've ever seen Macho give anyone the flying elbow drop as many times as he gave it to Warrior here.

4. vs. Ric Flair, Wrestlemania VIII, 4/5/92 - Just over a year after Savage's career "ended" at the hands of Warrior, he was not only back in the ring, but facing Flair for the title.  Props to the Nature Boy, Mr. Perfect and Bobby Heenan for selling the bad guy angle leading up to this match.  Heenan and Gorilla Monsoon's commentary is classic, especially duirng Flair's intro.  "Bobby: If you want to be fair to Flair, you gotta be fair and say that's a helluva a robe.  And only a man as fair as Flair would show up at Wrestlemania...  Gorilla:  Will you stop!!"  Macho won with a rollup to earn his second world title.  OOH YEAH!!

5. vs. Tito Santana, Boston Garden, 2/8/86 - This is the start of Macho's first title regin, the Intercontinental title, which lasted over a year, in one of my favorite places, the old crappy Boston Garden, home of the Celtics and Bruins.  I love seeing all those banners hanging up in the background.  It's funny because I heard Savage reference this match while doing a radio interview with Eddie Andleman and Dale Arnold of WEEI in Boston when Macho was doing PR for WCW's first ever visit to Boston for Monday Nitro at the Fleetcenter in 1997.  "Dale:  Macho Man Savage has got to be on the list of greatest athletes to win in Boston.  Sure Larry Bird won a championship and Bobby Orr won the Stanley Cup, but did either of them ever bash Tito Santana over the head with a foreign object to win the Intercontinental title?  Randy:  It wasn't a foreign object!  Dale:  Well, what did you hit him with?  Randy:  My 22-inch arms.  Eddie:  Pythons right?  Randy:  No, my rattlesnakes, got to go with another snake, python's not cool."  I still have this recorded on cassette and it was classic, complete with several bashings of Hogan, with whom he was buddies with in the nWo at the time.  But the match with Tito is great, too.  Still don't quite know what that object was Macho hit him with...

6. vs. Jake the Snake, Saturday Night's Main Event, 11/29/86 - Obviously the later feud between the two was great, but at this time both were super heels and Savage was the I-C champ.  In the SNME DVD, Jake says that Dick Ebersol, head of NBC Sports, called the two into his office before the event and said "if the ratings drop commercial to commercial, this will be the last time you'll be on SNME and you'll be back in Poughkeepsie doing TV tapings."  Apparently that didn't happen, because this was a great match between two masters.  The fans actually got behind Jake big time in this match, chanting "DDT," Jake's finishing move.  It was probably because of the match that both were turned face within a few months.  I hadn't yet discovered wrestling when this match actually aired, but I'm guessing it was exciting, and at that time, you never saw a bad guy vs. bad guy or even good guy vs. good guy match, ever!

7. vs. the Honkytonk Man, Saturday Night's Main Event, 10/3/87 - The odds were stacked against Macho, with Jimmy Hart and the Hart Foundation helping out Honky in this match, so what did Elizabeth, Macho's manager, do?  Bring out Hulk Hogan for the first time to help her man.  Everyone in the crowd knew it would happen, but still, it was one of those old school OMG moments that you love to watch again.  Plus, the postmatch interview with the new "Megapowers" team is amazing, when Savage says, "The Mega-yeah, the Mega-yeah, the MEGAPOWERS!!"

8. w/Hogan vs. Akeem and the Big Bossman, The Main Event, 2/3/89 - This match actually sucked, big time.  It had the kind of ending I loathed, with Hogan coming back from a beating he never should have survived, to win.  Looking back, I still don't understand how could anyone have supported Hogan in the storyline.  He did exactly what Savage accused him of, which is stealing his woman/manager and the title from Macho nearly two months later, at Wrestlemania V.  (I didn't put that match on this list because of the horrible ending, but it was a great main event.)  During this match, Akeem throws Savage into Elizabeth (which they had to do twice because Liz moved right before Akeem threw Macho the first time), knocking her out.  With both Randy and Liz down, what does Hogan do?  Picks up Liz and carries her to the back, leaving Macho to the wolves.  Who does that?  They have medical personnel to help Liz!  But it was funny to hear Hogan practically humping Liz's hand in the back.  I love Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura's commentary when Hogan finally came back and Savage slaps the taste out of Hogan's mouth.  "Vince:  Hulk Hogan reaching for the tag, Randy Savage not tagging out.  What's he, OOH what a slap!  Jesse:  Wow!  Vince:  What was that for?  Jesse:  I don't know, but Savage struck Hogan!"  The postmatch drama made it even more hilarious, and obvious that Hogan couldn't improv his way out of a paper bag, and neither could Liz, not to mention Brutus Beefcake coming in too early to save Hogan.  Macho saved what was otherwise would have been the dumbest segment ever.  "If want to come after me man on man for the belt, I will beat you one, two, three, that would be okay with me."

9. vs. Hogan, the Main Event, 2/23/90 - One year later, Hogan was the champ and Savage was the "Macho King," after beating "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan for the "King of the Ring" title.  (Why was Jigsaw Jim given a title?  So he could lose it to Macho Man!!)  This match was basically the same as all Hogan-Savage matches during this time, except that James "Buster" Douglas was the outside ref.  For anyone who doesn't remember, Douglas had surprisingly knocked out Mike Tyson just 12 days prior to that, to become the World Heavyweight Boxing Champ.  Tyson was scheduled to be the ref for this match, but backed out at the last minute.  How the WWF was able to get Douglas on such short notice is still amazing to me, and while he wasn't much of an actor, he played the cheesiness as well as he could.  Yes, he did end up giving Hogan the win on a fast count pin, but it was Macho Man's reaction that was priceless.  He bobbed and weaved around the ring, ready to box Buster, and in the end, Hogan showed how low he really is, by pushing Savage into a knockout punch by Douglas.  Hilarious!

10. Any match vs. DDP.  Savage's time in WCW was, for the most part, a big waste of time.  He did have a great series with Flair, but none of those matches were as good as Wrestlemania VIII.  And every time he fought Hogan he was forced to lose.  It was really ridiculous.  The one guy that seemed to bring the best out of the Macho Man was the up and coming DDP, who was becoming a star, one of the few decent guys that WCW built themselves in the mid to late 90s.  Their match at Spring Stampede 1997 was great, because Savage lost the match while "snapping," specifically at WCW/nWo boss Eric Bischoff.  That summer Savage and Page fought again, with Scott "Razor Ramon" Hall getting involved, and then again that October at Halloween Havoc in a "Las Vegas Sudden Death Match."  Page just seemed to be the only one in WCW that brought the inner fire and that old school intensity out of Randy.

Well, there you have it.  It's been very sad, thinking about the passing of the Macho Man.  I would say that it's a travesty that he's not in the WWE Hall of Fame, but seriously, they're so screwed up it doesn't even matter.  The one good thing they did was produce the Savage DVD Collection, releasing it right around the same time as the Best of Saturday Night's Main Event, which featured many classic Randy moments as well.  Thanks to these clips I will always remember one of my favorite entertainers and how much I will miss him.  OOH YEAH!!

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

May the 4th Be With You

Wow, when I decided to start this blog over seven months ago I never thought it would take me this long to post another entry.  So since last September I've been to Orlando for my buddy Jeff's wedding, back to Boston several times to see the family (including an impromptu vacation in early December, my first in two years!!), to NYC to cover the Syracuse Basketball team in the Big East Tournament (had a much better time this year!), to Glens Falls where the NY Mills boys basketball team won the state championship and of course, to my own personal happiest place on earth, Cooperstown.  (I was just at the Baseball Hall of Fame on Tuesday for Bert Blyleven's tour and media session!)

So life has been crazy, needless to say.  Today was May 4th, Star Wars Day (May The 4th Be With You!!) and I've had a weird week.  I was originally supposed to have Thursday and Friday off, but had to switch around my schedule, first because of the Liberty League women's lacrosse tournament, hosted by Hamilton, then because of all the rain.  (For the second straight week with this!  Seriously, has anyone noticed how awful the weather has become all over the world?  This really doesn't seem normal.)

This past Sunday was the final day for WKTV's outgoing weekend news anchor, Emma Wright, and fittingly enough, she had to wait an hour to start her last show, because of the announcement by President Obama about the death of Osama Bin Laden.  Wow people are getting revved up about someone dying and more importantly angry when someone doesn't get excited about it.  Hey, I'm an American Jew, high on the Taliban hit list, but I'm not jumping for joy.  While I'm happy he's gone, Bin Laden won't be the last face of a terrorist organization determined to bring down the US.  But at least those people who lost loved ones at 9-11 can get some closure, as he was responsible for what happened.  But you know what?  Everyone says that was such a dark day in US history, but I disagree.  I think it showed how Americans can come together, especially the ones who were in that last plane that crashed.  I like to think that those folks overpowered the terrorists and screwed up their plans.  In any case, that's all I'm going to say about that.

So in sports news, the Red Sox started 0-6 and are still under .500, the Celtics swept the Carmelo-led Knicks out of the playoffs and are now down 0-2 to Miami and the Bruins are up 3-0 again on the Flyers in the second round of the playoffs.  Should be interesting from here on out.

Hopefully it won't take me another seven months to post another entry.