Keith says goodbye:


In honor of Keith, who has officially retired, here's video I shot of him here in NYC in September 2005. After this, he came outside and hung out on the sidewalk, talking with Reb and I, and just generally being a really fan-friendly type of dude. No "rush to the limo" for Foulke.

Even if he hadn't been so nice to us, that wouldn't have changed the fact that I'm eternally grateful to this man for, you know, that other thing. And by other thing I mean greatest comeback in baseball history and all of us finally getting to see the Boston Red Sox win the World Series. (As of this minute, I still haven't woken up to discover it was all a dream, so as far as I know, it really happened!) Thanks, Keith.

Labels: movies

I forgot all about this. Rocket Ismail stomping on some dude's head with both feet, doing more damage to himself than the other guy. And Bob Page was always the ultimate prick. Made me laugh every time, though. Enjoy. (Most of my movies are back up. Check the link at right or click the movies label at the bottom of this post or any other post you come across with a movie in it.)

Update: The basement baseball league video is back up, and now contains some bonus footage. And the "jumping of joy" line has been corrected. Click above for full story, or just watch the video here:

Labels: movies

Not only do Chan and I not have cell phones, we've also got an old school answering machine. But that's not the point. We got this message last week. This actually happens quite a bit: The cold-caller gets the machine, is cued by the beep, and proceeds to start talking to the machine as if it's a live person, asking it questions.

Maybe they don't hear the message. Maybe they use some type of automated system that cues the person to talk when our machine's message and beep have concluded. That would explain the initial interrogation. But why don't they realize, after they're first question is greeted with dead silence, that maybe, just maybe, they're talking to a machine which can't talk back?

I thought this message was particularly funny, though. First of all, about the terminology: Could it be a call from the 50s that hung in telephone space, and just now reached our apartment? And doesn't it seem like she fully believes she's talking to a stubborn person who made the decision to answer the phone but just won't talk, right up 'til the bitter end?

Check it out. The Greenwell has nothing to do with it. Just thought it might be more interesting for you with him in there.

Labels: movies

I was listening to this call in a car last year. Remember that crazy Tavarez dive against the Orioles when time was out? I found the audio of it and added some footage of Joe and Jerry that I shot myself.



I still have never seen the play. This is closest you'll hear these guys dome to "losing it" a la Remy and Orsillo. This will count as my official tribute to Trup. We'll miss you, big guy.

Labels: movies

[This post was from Friday night, but I forgot to publish it for some reason. So here it is now. Update: This article claims this Randy trade talk was started by the man himself. (I like the "lowlight list" at the end.) Also, if you didn't hear, James Brown has climbed into that big hot tub in the sky...]

Was watching Conan, waiting for Nellie McKay to come on, and I noticed the MW7 was playing "Dirty Water" as they went to commercials. Thanks to my vast knowledge of how talk shows work, I realized they'd still be playing the song when they came back from those commercials. So I started recording. I give you, ladies and gentlemen, like, three seconds of "Dirty Water." Oh, and making for a full-on Red Sox theme, you'll see Jeffrey Lyons, movie critic and Sox fan, coincidentally, right before the song.

Labels: movies

This is from my 1987 tape. You may remember the jingle. May have been Tri-State Area only, though. But you really should recognize the dude. Clue: Anti-Dentite. Is he extra-fond of that carpet or what?

Labels: movies

Everybody knows Cookie Puss, but do you remember this weird alternative ice cream that Carvel made? This is from my Channel 11 tape, circa '87. (The same tape that had this other Carvel classic on it.)



In the commercial right before Thinny Thin, is that Nancy Travis, with nostril man?

Labels: movies

Just taped this. I like the deep breath before the pronunciation of Daisuke Matsuzaka's name.

We beat the Knicks on the New York 6:00 news! Oh. That's not saying much, I guess. But still!

Just when I was thinking how at least one person that stalked, I mean, attended the Daisuke plane arrival must have a blog, I found out, through Joy of Sox, that everybody's pal Empy made the trip to Ol' Bedford. Check out her description here.

Labels: movies

Note: video now gone thanks to YT. I'll get it back up eventually.

If you're an American, you've probably already watched the above video and moved on to some porn site. But if you're actually curious as to what's up with it, here's the deal: That clip is from the one-game playoff in '78. At the moment when Goose Gossage is summoned from the bullpen, the ball he's warming up with is thrown back to him--but the Goose has turned away, looking for his jacket. The ball bounces once, and, despite Elston Howard's feeblest of attempts--granted, he's in the middle of jacket-giving duty--goes over the fence, nailing some poor sap square on the melon.

Who was that person? I must know. Are they still alive? If not, did they get to see 2004? Was it a man or a woman? It appears the person is in a little group of three, each with a white/yellow hat on. It almost looks like it could be three older women.

Almost every fan on the screen besides those three are watching the ball. That one dude almost grabs it just before it hits the head of the unlucky one. One guy on the top right is wearing an orange hat and no shirt. One guy appears to have a Pirates hat on.

But I want to know what became of that person that got hit. If that person was a Sox fan, which they almost definitely were, that must've been the worst day of their life. First the Dent homer. Then getting hit on the head. Then the Piniella play, which they watched right in front of them, and then it was all over.

So what became of them? There's gotta be someone out there who, every time someone mentions that game, gets even more pissed than everyone else, and breaks into their story of having to witness the game AND getting knocked on the skull by a ball. Did they even get the ball? It bounces away, but I gotta figure the person who gets it sees the person holding their head and gives up the ball.

Is this someone's grandma? Can anyone help? This person, if alive, is out there somewhere, and at least knows someone with internet access. Let's find this person. Please help.

Now, about the announcers. These are the dudes I grew up with, as I rooted against the Yanks. Phil Rizzuto, aka Scooter, and Bill White. You've heard White's call of the Dent home run. I actually learned from finding this tape and watching some of the game that Scooter was in the press box at the time of Dent's corky bloop. That is so classic. I think it's awesome that he missed out on being involved in that call--and that we don't have to hear him every time it's shown--because he was doing what he always was doing during games: dickin' around. The guy would leave early to "get on the bridge" and get back to Cora. Later in the inning, Scooter's back, telling us how he was in the press box, letting out three of his stolen trademark "holy cow"s amongst the quiet of the Boston reporters. Note that in the above clip, they're babbling like fools, not able to figure out the simple fact that Bailey had indeed been announced. (They go on even more about it after I cut the clip short.)

And a note on retrosheet: As you know, I've had only good things to say about that site. It's possibly my favorite website. But what's with the commentary? In certain games, in their play-by-play, they'll be some boldface type, reminding the reader of an historic or noteworthy moment or performance. But if you look at the '78 game, you'll see this after the BFD homer:

The HR that broke New England's back

I tried to think of another example of when they include bold type, and I remembered that they do it for no-hitters. So I checked Larsen's perfect game and saw this:

But was the last pitch a strike??? Perhaps it was high and outside

What?? I mean, yes, we all know it wasn't a strike, but they really put that in their play-by-play of the game? And the Dent thing, jeez. Come on. Just shut up about it. There's no need for commentary. At least put it in a separate section or something.

Happy birthday to childhood friend Ali, wherever you are. Hey, speaking of finding people, has anyone seen Ali lately?

Labels: movies

Vote for Joy of Sox! Category 13. Last day!

I often use the Willis/Beauty Pageant analogy in situations where someone loses, say, an MVP vote because the guy had a teammate in the running, causing voters to split votes between the teammates and allowing someone from another team to win. (Interesting how even with multiple Twins in this year's race, one still won, so I didn't get to use the analogy.) Recently, I found among my old tapes the footage of the exact moment from Diff'rent Strokes where Willis sums up the whole concept. Now, the analogy doesn't fit into the current Canadian Blog Awards vote, but, hey, I wanted to get this onto the web, and there are five candidates in the race, just like in Willis and Kimberly's pageant. So, here's the classic scene:



It's amazing to me how we in the Joy camp are doing exactly enough to keep the race between Joy and some hockey blog perfectly even, at least for the last ten hours or so. It's kind of like how 90 feet is the perfect distance from home to first. Overall, Joy's holding a 490-439 lead with 24 hours left in the voting. (In my head I envisioned a 51-point midnight lead at around 6:00, and I was dead on. I don't expect you to believe that since it's undocumented, but anyone who knows me knows it's probably true.)

People, it all comes down to Friday. We've fought long and hard. It's been a long haul up this mountain, but we're not at the summit yet. We've battled through rain, sleet, snow and ice. We lost a few along the way, sure. We weren't the favorites in this thing, after all. But we're here--what's left of us, anyway--we're together, and we're as proud a squadron as I have ever come across in all my years. I mean that, people. So I want everybody to get out there, bust your butts, and leave everything out on that polling place floor. And another thing: Don't come back without a trophy in your hand.

Now let's go! Go! Go! Aaaaarrrrrrrr!!!!!

Labels: movies

One of my found holy grails is a tape from my collection that has an entire Sunday afternoon, from 1987, of Channel 11, WPIX on it. Here's a commercial you can't go wrong with. There's no Cookie Puss or Fudgy the Whale in this one. Say hello to Dumpy (Stumpy? Pumpy?) the Pumpkin and Witchy (Wicky?) the Witch.

Vote for Joy of Sox for best Canadian Sports Blog here. (More info here.)

Labels: movies

As you know, SC was a writer for that show. Here he is sharing a joyous moment with Cheri O. during the traditional "last show before the holidays skate-around." This is from December '96. Taped by me as always, edited by me as always.

Labels: movies

I said I'd post this, and many days later, I am fulfilling my promise to you. This is Millar telling some crazy story to Papi. 9/30/06. Can anyone figure out what the hell he's talking about? Click below to watch.

How about this: Write your idea of what he's saying in the comments. I will make an overdubbed version of the best idea. But I reserve the right to go off the board with my own theory. Or just overdub it yourself. Whatever you wanna do.

Labels: movies

In his honor, here are two videos I made using videos I shot of Bill myself, featuring songs I didn't write myself.

Labels: movies

As we celebrate this greatest of days, October 27th, and move into year three of the current blessed era, I think I'll show you some stuff you've never seen.

I was at my parents' house that night--they were on vacation, to which I still say, "terrible scheduling job!" I had my video camera because I wanted to film the (greatest) lunar eclipse (of all time). I set up my camera on a tripod, pointed it at the moon, and let it roll while I watched the game, occasionally moving it slightly when the moon would drift off the screen. Remember, we didn't know the Red Sox would win the World Series that night. I'd planned to go with friends to the Riviera in NYC for a possible Game 5. But on this night, the plan was to go to parents' house, watch Game 4 by myself, and tape the moon.

As the night went on, I knew an historic moment was about to occur, so I turned the camera on myself. I remember walking around, holding it to my face, saying, "this is the last you'll see of the 'old' baseball me..." or something like that, when we were a few outs away. Here's the moment Doug Mientkiewicz jumps up after catching the toss from Foulke.

As you can see, I was down on my knees. What a moment. Much of that series lacked drama on the surface. Over those last few innings, and dare I say games, it was only a matter of time. The world had already changed when we beat the Yanks. In Game 7 of that ALCS, the tables had turned to the point where Yankee fans, for once, knew they'd lose. And even before Game 4 of that World Series, we Sox fans actually knew we'd win for a change. A total protonic reversal. So until that last inning, it was just a waiting game. But to see that last out, man... My mind still has a hard time grasping that that was a moment that did happen. One of the many people I talked to on the phone shortly after that moment was Pat, who said, "Do you believe it?" He really wanted to hear my answer, it wasn't a rhetorical question. I said, "I don't know!" He told me to believe it, because it just happened.

I had to work the next day, and I was an hour away from Danbury, where I worked at the time. So I got up really early. It hadn't been a dream, fortunately. I walked out of the guest bedroom to find myself bathed in light. I walked to the window. Hell hadn't frozen over, but heaven had indeed dawned:

So glad I had the video camera. As I started taping, this bird started flying around. My mom would say it was my Grandpa. My dad might say it was my Nana. Two Red Sox fans who had seen eight Red Sox championships between them, and saw this one from above. Ah, being spiritual when it's convenient--it really is the way to go!

They say every cloud has a silver lining. But a Red Sox World Series cloud has a GOLD lining, that goes on and on forever in both directions...

And closer.

And closer still.

Then it was on to work, before cruising on that same cloud to Boston for the Rolling Rally. As some of you know, I made a movie which featured my footage of that rally, along with some I shot when the team later brought the trophy to the New Haven Green. And, of course, sped-up shots I got of that wonderful, pink, ascending, eclipsing moon, just above and to the left of where the sun would soon rise over a happy Red Sox Nation. Click below to watch the movie.

Labels: movies

Quiz season is underway. The current standings are shown at qwizz.blogspot.com. When you see a quiz, attempt to answer it in the comments section of that post. (Subject of quizzes will vary greatly!) There will be 24 quizzes. The 2 represents the 2 of 2004. The 4 represents the 004. They will be titled using Roman Numerals, in honor of the toppling of the empire in 2004. A total of 5 points will be awarded for each quiz. Partial credit will be given, so if you don't know it, take a guess. If you don't have a guess, tell me what a great guy I am. That one point you get for kissing up might win you the prize in the end.

First prize will be: A Rich Gedman Topps 1982 rookie card and a Rich Gedman 1982 Fleer rookie card AND your choice of an AUTOGRAPHED Marc Sullivan, Dave Stapleton, OR Bruce Hurst baseball card. You know, I gotta admit, the Hurst autograph looks pretty fake, like some kid did it. Just a warning. Also, a DVD of one or more of Jere's movies. (The ones I actually made, not any of the taped-off-TV clips.) Oh, and a special 1st place badge. Oh, and you know what else I just thought of? The banner at the top of my blog, minus the Gedman background. And minus the Halloween thing that's currently digitally there. You get that thing, too. Autographed by the artist.

Second prize will be also a Gedman '82 Topps rookie card. And a movie as mentioned above. And a "not quite good enough" badge. And some other artwork, signed by the artist, that I did for this blog at some point.

Good luck!

The 2006-2007 Quiz Season is brought to you by Coke Blak:

Labels: movies

This is from my tape of SNL from 11/17/90. Another non-classic. This'll never make the "best of" DVDs. But I think Kevin Nealon is hilarious. I think this had the makings of a bona fide recurring character. So what if people didn't get it? Or if it was poorly written? Nealon did what he could with it, and the name "Stan Duffy," Hartman's announcer-voice, and SNL's trademark cheesy jingle make this a Jere-favorite, if not a real classic. Click the box to watch.


I can't explain the show at the beginning of this clip. Sorry.

Watching these Cardinals home games make me think of the 2004 World Series, which is weird since it's a different stadium. The only two parks in which the Red Sox won the World Series that remain are Fenway Park (10/16/1912, 9/11/1918) and Braves Field (10/12/16). And only part of Braves field is actually there, as part of Northeastern's soccer stadium.

Check this out. This actually wasn't written by me.

Mets tie NLCS at 2. The series will go back to New York, regardless of Monday's outcome.

Labels: movies

For the original Matty/Jere/Manny post (from, like, a few hours ago), scroll down, it's directly below this. Or click here. But as an accompanying piece to that, I've created what the scene might have looked like. Click above. Read the post below for background.

Labels: movies

You saw it, right? Jeter, knowing it may very well be the last chance to continue his streak, with a man on second and one out, has a 3-0 pitch, and, thinking not of his team, but only of his beautiful, beautiful self, takes a hack, grounding out. His team would go on to lose by a run. Oh, you're gonna tell me the game meant nothing? So, I can go ahead and call bullshit on all the times you've said "Jeter gives his all no matter what the situation"? The very backbone of his media-invented MVP candidacy?

Eh, some say I'm a little harsh on ol' Jetes.

Moving on, that was some fun shit tonight. Seeing Coco rob the HR in the same spot as Melky's bumbling rob, after which Damon cheered like a six-year old winning the state hopscotch championship, was cool. So was seeing Cora run on Bernie, who proceeded to four-hop one to the plate like a six-year old who just won the state hopscotch championship and was then asked to throw a ball a long distance.

What was with the Yankee fan lady in the crowd clasping her hands together as if it was a life-and-death situation? There were others besides her. My first thought was, "bunch of phonies." Then I realized that my past accusation--Red Sox games are their World Series--is coming to light here. They know they're not going anywhere in the playoffs, and even in the games they do play in October, well, what's the fun in beating, say, Detroit, anyway? These fans want to beat the Red Sox, and this was there last chance. So in a way, it was better for us not to make the postseason this year! How's that for a justification....

Then again, they were mostly gone by the seventh, leaving mainly Sox fans there to cheer loudly as Boston tied it and took the lead. So maybe, like always, they just don't pay attention until their friends tell them it's the playoffs.

Oh those Dunbar fans. Always committing terrible jobs. A world where their whole life revolves around us, where they can only be happy when they beat us, I love it.

2000.

Oh, and you saw how they showed the Jeter blood catch just because a balllanded in the same area? Proving my point that it's not the fact that the catch was made in a key situation, it was what it looked like: the unnecessary dive, the blood, the paralyzing eyes... it's so shitty. My new rule is, any time I see the Jeter catch, I provide for you, the Pokey catch:

Labels: movies

You may know that it is my contention that the "famous" Derek Jeter catch from July 1st, 2004 (one of the best Red Sox or Yankees games played so far this century) was not even the most spectacular catch of that game.

Jeter's catch was, and still is, played over and over, while Pokey Reese's catch is overwhelmingly ignored. Yes announcers, and plenty of other people, acted at the time like it was the difference between the classy Yanks and the disheveled Sox. The "winners" will sacrifice their bodies, the "losers" (meaning Nomar sitting out that game) won't even try. In one of the happiest moments of my life, that theory was proven to be total horse shit. It was Pokey who made the better catch, and our band of "losers" with their abnormal hair and attitude won it all that year, while Jeter and his big phony production number went home. I'd never trade what happened in October of that year to see the Pokey catch be recognized for its greatness. But I'll always argue it was the better catch.

Tonight, the Yanks game was rained out, and that fateful game from 2004 was shown on Yes Network. I was at the ready with my (Chan's) little video-capturing machine. I now ask you to take a look at both catches, so you can judge for yourself. Many people reading right now may even be saying, "What's this other catch you speak of?"

First, Pokey Reese's catch:



What did you see? The guy hit the wall right as he caught the ball. He went head over heels, unconcerned with his own well-being. This is a guy who played second base most of his career, playing shortstop, going full-speed toward and into the stands in a hostile environment. Look, I don't even need to tell you this stuff. It was a better catch regardless of anything else. At the very least, I would think both catches would always be shown together. But I'm just adding the truth to this great travesty.

Can you believe Michael Kay actually suggested Pokey dropped the ball and secretly picked it up? And then Murcer breaks into a story of how he himself once did that very thing?! You can hear, at the moment he admits to cheating, that he can't quite say "put the ball in his glove." He says "next to the glove," before saying that the ump saw the ball "in" the guy's glove. And then they laugh about it like, well, like it's me doing an impression of them. That's not fake. That personification of evil-style laugh is really Michael Kay.

Now get ready to see a not-quite-as-good catch, and get ready to barf up all you've eaten today at the severe ass-kissing you're about to experience:


First let's get it out of the way: Jim Kaat did reply to Kay's "the Yanks don't want to lose," by saying the Red Sox didn't either. There is a good side to Kaat. It dwindles each year, but it does come out on occasion. But, now, about that catch: It came at a later, more important time in the game, but does that make it better? No. He got blood on him. Does that make it better? No. They were both really good catches. Jeter went into the stands that way because it's a really low wall. He actually was trying to save himself from injury. And that's natural. He had time, even if it was only a half-second. Pokey, however, had no time to think about that, as he caught the ball at the moment of impact. Had there been a sharp object down there, he would've been bloodied up, too. He truly gave up his body. The actual Jeter catch was good, but nothing special, it was all about the aftermath. He simply made a similar catch, but with a cooler-looking aftermath. Who knows what Pokey would've done if he'd had a few steps before he hit the wall. He may have done a handspring over it. He had no time to do anything that would add anything to the entire experience of the catch.

I just think MLB is missing out on a great chance to have a catch they can show all the time, which actually was by the team that won it all. "2004: The year of the comeback, and the catch." Instead, they go with Broadway Derek and his blood. Hey, maybe he quickly smacked a ketchup packet against his eye when no one was looking, huh, Kay? Like the way everybody's favorite "class act" Joe Torre accused Schilling's blood of being fake?

You can almost feel the announcers realizing "Hey, we can get a lot out of this. We need to show this and hype it as much as possible." Pokey's catch got one replay, and then two more when they came back to it the next inning so they could accuse him of cheating. Jeter's got five replays in a row. All because of the blood, and Jeter's inability to avoid putting his face into a chair. And what about Sterling at the end there? I actually have to pause it, go barf, and come back to the computer every time I hear him say "winner." And at the end, unfortunately it got cut off, but it gives you a chance to predict what he said. "It's a catch that will be talked about and shown probably for the next..." What do you think he said? For the next few seasons? The next five years? The next decade? Few decades? Nope. "...for the next fifty years"! So that's what I'm in for, I guess. Maybe Pokey's will be shown for the fifty after that.

These clips have everything. Everything I've been sickened by my whole life with these Yankee people, plus a bunch of other stuff that symbolized that era of the rivalry:

Kay making fun of the Red Sox and laughing at us like a mad scientist.
Jeter appearing somehow greater than he actually is.
Murcer's half-wit shenanigans.
Yankee cheating praised or dismissed as a joke while Sox legitimacy passed off as cheating.
A Bellhorn strikeout.
Jeter's parents. (So funny how YouTube put the still frame of them as the cover of the clip. I don't choose that, it's just a random point in the video. Possibly the exact midpoint.)
Sterling acting like he is a better human being than us for being the Yanks' announcer and acting like Jeter and the Yanks are god's gift to humanity.
Kay misleading the audience. (Not only with accusing Pokey of cheating, but, not shown, him saying that Pedro had, in the past, "threatened to throw at Posada," referring to Pedro pointing at his head, which could've meant anything.)

And seeing some other parts of that game again (mainly I watched that Katrina show. Really good, told the whole story from the people's perspective, and was really sad, too. And now watching tonight's Sox game, down one going to ninth...and now it's over, we lose. Again.), all the old memories came back. I forgot about Kay's orgasmic "triple play" call on a double play. As well as all of their constant criticizing of Pedro and the Red Sox, as they were clearly threatened by our style of play, which ended up beating their button-up style when it counted. Oh, and they mentioned Pedro's career under 3 ERA and 10-8 record against the Yanks. (Pedro "just never can beat the Yanks," right?)

I've timed how long each ball was in the air. Pokey's had a little less time to get to the ball, which landed right at the wall, whereas Jeter's was at or to the fair side of the foul line. Again, talking just about the catch, Pokey's was better. But please, judge for yourself.

Labels: movies