Farewell Roger Angell

You may not be a baseball fan, but if you are a fan of a team in any sport, and/or enjoy writing that is more than just a simple description of who won and how, then Roger Angell was and is someone to read. 

The BBC report of Angell's death quotes from a 1982 interview in which he said:

"I think the real fans are the fans of terrible teams, because they know what good baseball is and they know how far their own players fall short ... The rallying cry that has always struck me as so poignant and beautiful is, 'Come on, you bum!' which means, 'We know you're no good but we want to win.'"

My one true love is, of course, QPR. But I have followed my Yankees for many decades, and have in inkling (enough to translate, for example, 'you bum' into 'you w@nker'). I have greatly enjoyed Angell's work, and wish him eternal peace.

An overview from Wikipedia

A kind of obit over on ESPN

In Memoriam from the New Yorker

Bronxie the Turtle

 

News just in that the NY Yankees end-of-season push for a wild card is not on the back of Stantonian home runs (over the Green Monster and out of the park) or the Kraken kracking one. But Gio Urshela's the most happy fella, (for more John Sterling-isms present and past see here and here) because a sweep of the BoSox at Fenway with just 6 more games to go means that there may be a post-season yet in 2021. And the reason it is all happening, according to Sam Borden at ESPN, is that the players have acquired a pet, one Bronxie the Turtle. For details, the article is here.

The power of mascots & superstition is not to be underestimated in sport. I know on occasion I have doomed my beloved team by wearing the wrong shirt or taking a different route to the stadium or watching them instead of going to synagogue.

Yankees veteran Brett Gardner said before the final game at Fenway, "Lucky charm, whatever you want to call it; I know a lot of guys believe there's a connection here. At the end of it, it would be great if we could go out and get him a little World Series ring."

Let's go Yankees!

Rodent of the Match

It's entirely possible that my beloved R's did not play well enough to win their game today. But what can you say about a referee who stops a game for 5 minutes because of a squirrel on the pitch? Unfortunately, the creature turned out to be our best player.

Radio Silence

So when your oldest bestest friend suggests you start a new blog, and you think that's a great idea, howcome you then write nothing at all for the next 6 weeks? I did try, but everything I wrote seemed so self-conscious. So it's back to bees and football and pandas for a while. And maybe a little tennis today. For Mr Andrew Murray is two sets up against the number one player in the world, although he's down a break in the current set. As a QPR fan, I am well accustomed to the constant dashing of hopes. I have no great desire, however, to demonstrate my resilience this afternoon.

O Akos, My Akos

Buzsaky is back. Here he is celebrating a stunning goal scored against Wigan at the weekend. He looks rather happy. Not as delighted as we were. Much singing of his special song - 'The White Pele'.

One Down and Three to Go

Not it's not American Football but rather it is baseball. The New York Yankees are battling the Texas Rangers for the American League Pennant. Last night the Yanks made an amazing 8th-inning comeback to win 6-5 in the end. Mark Teixeira (above) and I are rather happy about that.

Jo Grant Returns

While Sarah Jane Smith has always been my favourite companion, Jo Grant was my first Doctor Who companion (and with hindsight probably the one I fancied the most). Now the Telegraph reports that Jo will return for a couple of episodes of 'The Sarah Jane Adventures'.

On the one hand, hurrah! On the other hand, how can she possibly live up to the expectation of a 25-year-old memory?

And So It Begins

I am so tempted, but shall take the high road and say no more.

hurrah hurrah for qpr

fickle fate once more affects my weekend. qpr were on live national tv against the top team in the league and we were all hoping for a draw. since, however, i was not only unable to watch the game but also fell asleep around half-time, it was inevitable that we pulled off a shock win. hurrah for martin rowlands. hurrah for formerly desolate qpr fans. it shall be a good weekend after all :-)

red sox 0-1 yanks

i know not everyone is into sport, especially baseball. have i mentioned that the best thing for me about baseball is that there is no time limit to the game? rather, it takes as long as it takes. that makes it very different to all the other popular american sports, where time boundaries create an extra pressure that can crush talent and pervert skill in order to force a result. ok footie is limited to 90 minutes, but at least there are no time-outs, or breaks between plays, and any time wasted is added on at the end.

anyway, living in boston as i do, and with the yankees not having much of a year so far, i must celebrate tonight's win. in the bottom of the 8th inning, when farnsworth came on and the commentators noted his unbroken run of scoreless innings, and the r. sox immediately put runners on first and second base, well, i knew i had to make the ultimate sacrifice again and turn off the television. so i did. and now i see we held on. hurrah. it was worth it! so well done joba. a win at fenway!!

the last goodbye

for my birthday last year, i treated myself to a baseball game at yankee stadium. i decided to pay the same for a seat that i would for a broadway show, and thus for the first time i did not have to climb any stairs to find my place. i may have blogged about this then, so enough already. the point tonight is that they are playing the all-star game at yankee stadium in honour of its upcoming demise. i still do not understand why they had to build another one right across the road, i mean twenty yards or so away. anyway, my contribution to this season of eulogising is the picture above. it is my favourite view of the stadium - between the concrete stands as seen from the elevated subway train as it passes by. the photo was taken after the game, so it is my last view of the house that ruth built. go american league!

yanks take first at fenway

wang pitching for a win
last night here in boston the yankees took the first game of this series against the red sox. i was watching the game on tv - the first time i have looked at anything on television for quite a few months. when the score was 1-1, and the red sox pitcher had wiggled out of a couple of dangerous situations with yankees on base, i decided i had to make the ultimate sacrifice, and turned off the tv. and it worked - we won! have to be careful with the schadenfreude, though, since there are still a couple of games to go over the weekend.

nb just found an excellent name for a player, currently with the mets. he is called angel pagan. really truly he is. look here.

england win a sporting contest

monty panesar celebrates his sixth wicket
england won the test series against new zealand. while monty cleaned up the the last kiwi batters, the man of the match and the man of the series was voted to be our old friend r.j. sidebottom. mazel tov to all, and thank you for not embarrassing us again :-)

wolves 3-3 qpr

dex scores our penalty since rowly went off injured
i would have been extremely happy with a point before today's game up at molineux. however, having led 3 times, and having given away an equaliser in the 95th minute of a 90-minute game, i am not so happy. *sigh* about 6 games left in this season, and we are safe from the relegation that we feared when we were bottom some weeks ago. this is good. i should let go, be glad, and start worrying about the yanks and their pitching in the last season at the house that ruth built!

a rare good defensive moment - delaney tackles

billy crystal signs for the yankees

wow, what an incredible birthday present. billy crystal turns 60 (how can he be 60 already?), and gets to sign for the yanks for 2 days and play in a spring training game. hey, when i turned 40, noam announced it to the world and loftus road on the scoreboard:


but imagine if i had been able to play for them for a few minutes in a pre-season friendly? the fact is, though, that the only way i might get onto the pitch these days would be if i could fit into the playing kit of a 12-year-old and the flying pigs currently coasting past my window suggest that i have more chance of playing for the yankees than that ever happening :-) speaking of which, congrats to mr. crystal and good luck today!

we do not lose again!

gazza flies (literally, it would appear) down the wing as qpr hold preston to a 0-0 draw up at deepdale. lee camp saved a penalty and, although we could not score, again we did not lose, which is a massive improvement. since the boston baseball team are currently crushing the rockies in the first game of the world series, i realise how much of my fan mojo has been invested in qpr since the yankees were eliminated!

joe torre has left and gone away

thank you joe torre for giving me my best years as a yankee fan. i agree that the offer made to you was derisory. unfortunately, to give up my allegiance to the team (NOT the owners) to protest the situation would involve ripping my heart from my breast, and i have a non-refundable ticket to visit my mother in december. i wish you good luck for the future.
sincerely
- ravaj.

a biological moment ...

look at those muscles!
or should that be a physiological moment? i do not know. i do, however, see an awful lot of muscles in the man's leg, many of which i am sure i have never seen before :-)

meanwhile, even though the recent flux of personnel changes at qpr mean i have no idea to whom the leg and those muscles belong, i am happy to report that we did not lose again today. of course we did not win again today either, but maybe some of that mojo will rub off on the rugby? or did i use it all up finding my lost qpr hat? hmmmmm ... hard questions for a shabbat afternoon. nu - just look at those muscles!

yankee ravaj

outside the house that ruth built
a-rod and his mates continue to have the best record in the majors since the all-star break. i have blogged lots of pics of the players. for my birthday, i treated myself to a shirt. i've always preferred the away shirt to the pinstripes. in my haste and exhilaration at finally getting a shirt after wishing for one for 30 years, i think i got one at least 2 sizes too big. nu - now i have a new dressing-gown to wear in the boston suburbs :-)

anyway, here is a total fan pic - me and my shirt @ the stadium after a yankee win. hip hip hurrah!

nb the white collar and blue of the t-shirt peeping out from under the yankee uniform is, of course a qpr shirt.