Things You Didn't Know About...The Montreal Expos

Expos great Andre Dawson changed his first name from Bobby to trick fans into thinking he was French

Played on ice in the Montreal Forum for 2 seasons in the early 70s

Rusty Staub insisted on eating crepes between innings during every game of the 1970 season

Low attendance partially due to team name: in French, "Expos" means "Canadian baseball sucks"

Although they moved on to other cities, Montreal developed superstars Larry Walker, Pedro Martinez, Vladimir Guerrero and William Shatner

Classic Expos logo is neither an M or the initials "E-L-B." It is, in fact, an abstract drawing of manager Gene Mauch

Canadiens' Hall-of-fame superstar Guy Lafleur played third base for 74 games in 1978

Had record crowd in 1985 for "Tim Raines Beret Night" promotion

Haiku time!

New York pounds Pedro
he calls the Yankees "daddy"
who is his mommy?

Bonds keeps on walking
he has over two hundred
MVP again

Kevin Brown hits wall
Red Sox hit Kevin harder
this guy is a tool

Johan Santana
Twin will be some real trouble
face him twice? No thanks.

Comedy Albums I Have Known

Alex Belth has started a great conversation about classic comedy albums at his excellent Bronx Banter site. Take a look and chime in.

The Yankees and Red Sox begin their final 3 game set of the season tonight in Boston. Anything less than a sweep for Boston will give the Yankees a very tight hold on the AL East crown. Mussina vs. Pedro tonight...always a good one.

The Cheese Stands Alone!

Just when you thought there was nothing but bad, dreary news here in the good ol' US of A, here comes a report that Americans are eating more cheese than ever before! And not just greater quantities of cheese, but better and more varieties of cheese, too. Okay, my initial reaction when I saw the story was to think "Feh! Stupid newsmedia! The world is a shambles, the Presidential candidates are sleazy boobs and they're reporting about CHEESE? Fie, I say!" Then I remembered something: I love cheese!

I would imagine that the new breed of labrynthine humongo-uber-markets that now dot the American landscape are somewhat responsible. It seems every suburban and some rural areas now have one of these insanely huge barns of foodstuffs, offering a dizzying variety of foods heretofore unkown in the hinterlands. Yes, folks, even Ma & Pa Kettle are eating Manchego and Stilton now. Bye-bye, Cracker Barrel and Velveeta! It's better living through groceries, and I like it.

I love this line from the article: "America's hunger for cheese was dampened a bit when consumers traveled and ate out less following the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks." I don't know about you, but while I was alternately surfing cable newschannels and breaking into spontaneous panic and sobbing attacks in the days just after 9/11, I still had a powerful desire for quality cheeses. No terrorist scumbag is going to mess with my cheese.

And yes, I realize I said "sleazy boobs," and yes, I'm a little turned on now.

Shatner gets an Emmy and now this?

Cool DVD news...I guess it's not really news at this point, but what the hell, it's still cool. For months I have been bitching that the original Star Trek series has been badly represented on DVD. They existed, but as single discs with two episodes per at a list price of about $19.95. Now who the hell is gonna collect all 79 episodes at that rate? Where were the season-by-season box sets? It made zero sense to me; you've got a classic TV show which boasts a truly looney, devoted fan-base, from the curious folk who attend conventions and dress like Klingons to plain ol' TV connoiseurs like me, and you give 'em the shaft on the DVDs? What gives?
Well, someone was either tapping my phone or thinking similarly, because the first season of the original Star Trek is finally out as a groovy-looking box set. Presumably, seasons two and three will follow shortly. Okay, it ain't cheap, but it's reasonable, all things considered, and the replay value is immense. Those of us who grew up in the New York area in the 70s and 80s grew up on Channel 11's incessant Star Trek airings (along with liberal doses of The Honeymooners, The Odd Couple and The Twilight Zone), and I miss it, badly. It was a great show to watch as a kid, and even better as a caffeine-and-booze-addled college kid, downing horrific late night snacks trying to catch a showing in the wee hours of a Sunday night. Yeah, there are plenty of folks who will only watch the later series, but those never grabbed me. There's just something about the 60s-ness of it, and of course the classic Shatner-Nimoy-Kelley chemistry.
I'm craving cheap beer and a falafel sandwich just thinking about it.

In other cool classic TV on DVD news, the first season of Columbo is out in a box set too. Another show that lives forever in reruns, for the simple reason that it's flat-out brilliant and entertaining. No one in the US or the UK has ever produced a better TV detective.

Now where the hell is Kojak?

The Name of My Current Favorite CD is...

I keep forgetting to mention that one of the all-time great live albums The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads was finally released on CD a couple weeks ago. This is a must-own for anyone who really digs Talking Heads and even for someone who just wants to see what all the fuss was about, beyond the hits. Some of the hits are here, of course (Psycho Killer, Once In A Lifetime), but this vastly expanded live set shows just what a great band this was, top to bottom. The first disc (like the old LPs) is made up of live material from 1977 and 1979 (with new bonus cuts from 1978), with the bare bones Byrne/Frantz/Weymouth/Harrison lineup flexing their chops. The second disc was recorded during the 1980-81 Remain In Light tour, with an expanded ten-piece lineup including heavy hitters like Adrian Belew and Bernie Worrell. The 70s stuff is quirky, angular, and guitar heavy while sounding unlike any guitar band you've ever heard before. The early 80s material contains some of that 70s sound, augmented by some seriously deep funk. Sure, a lot of bands have followed in their intellectual, artsy, quirky wake, but none of 'em seem to be able to make you dance and think. What a band, what a reissue. Chris Frantz is the shit.

Shadow Divers

Has anyone else read it? If you have, please comment...curious as to what others thought.

Blankman's Bookshelf

I recently finished reading Robert Kurson's Shadow Divers, which I can't recommend highly enough. It's the true story of wreck divers who found a previously unknown U-Boat wreck off the coast of New Jersey in the early 1990s. I had read an article Kurson had excerpted in Esquire a few months back, and when I finished it, I had to run out that night to buy the book. The book is a must for anyone interested in deep-sea diving and/or World War II history, but even if you've never had a passing interest in either, chances are you'll find this book riveting and fascinating. I didn't know diddley about wreck diving, its perils and rewards, and I couldn't put the book down. It's been on the NY Times bestseller list for about 8 weeks now, and it really deserves to be the sort of must-read non-fiction hit that The Perfect Storm and Into Thin Air were.
The two divers who found the wreck and solved the riddle of its identity, John Chatterton and Richie Kohler, prove to be as interesting as the story itself. Kurson's prose is taut and lean and exciting and the story is just flat-out fascinating. I wouldn't be at all surprised if Hollywood already has its hands on this one. It's a real life thriller and not to be missed.

7 Second DeLay

Oh my God - they finally found Tom DeLay! No, he's nowhere near a podium, he's talking to David Gregory on MSNBC...and you immediately realize why they're muzzling his crazy ass during this convention.

On another note, I would like to see more politicians challenge TV pundits to duels, ala Loony Zell Miller.

and General Tommy Franks as...

I'm watching General Franks address the Republican Convention and, no disrespect intended, it occurs to me that out of uniform, he looks like Don Knotts' bigger, tougher brother.
"Andy, my brother's a real big shot in the Army."
"Yeah, Barney?"
"Oh yeah, he's got at least five or six stars."

Summer Television

I'll say this for the Summer Olympics and national political conventions: they keep away the stench that is summer television. Most summers, I rely on baseball games for this, but this year, its been the Olympics and the Dems and Repubs. I mean, Arnold Schwarzenegger giving a speech or another episode of Fear Factor? Even when the speeches are dullsville, like most usually are at either convention, they make great conversation pieces. You can play political Mystery Science Theater at home with your family and friends. I'm glad they do these things in the summer.