The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Game-changers? More like channel changers
One of my earliest memories is of my grandmother singing to me, as she often did, the opening verse to “(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window.”
And my uncle, on occasion, sings it in Italian at family cookouts, part of a bit he does about Sunday mornings in the old days, when everyone waited for the big bubbling pot of tomato sauce to finish cooking while listening to New Haven’s Italian-language radio station (the disc jockey, if memory serves, was named Angelo Sangiovanni.)
You may know the tune was a big hit for Patti Page in the early 1950s. That’s a bit before my time. But the song popped into my head earlier this week when we stopped by a local pet shop in search of a puppy for the boy. We spotted a very cute one on display. So I wistfully asked the salesperson, ‘How much for that doggie in the window?’
Just a hunch, but I’m guessing that in 1952 the answer to that question wasn’t $2,300 plus tax. If that was the case, Ms. Page may have fainted before the second verse. We’ll keep looking, thank you very much.
• Last week we noted that each Aaron Judge atbat is appointment television. In keeping with that theme, feel free to change the channel anytime these guys step into the batter’s box.
— Kyle Higashioka: Yanks’ rookie backup catcher owns longest “ohfor-the-season” streak at 18 at-bats.
— Jared Saltalamacchia: At .040, sits last in the majors amongst guys who actually have a batting average.
— Greg Bird: Our living, breathing reminder that spring training stats amount to bupkis. After 23 hits in 23 March games (including MLB-best eight homers), has struck out 22 times in 19 regular season games, with a .100 average and more trips to the DL (2) than homers (1).
— Curtis Granderson: Lowest batting average (.143) in baseball amongst everyday starters, with only one homer and seven RBIs. At age 36, the Grandy-man ... can’t.
— Trevor Story: The former New Britain Rock Cat took the majors by storm last season with 27 homers in 97 games before a season-ending injury. This year he’s hitting .155 and on pace to strike out an MLB-worst 243 times.
• Not easy to get excited about the NBA playoffs when a ClevelandGolden State final is almost unavoidable. But it’s always fun to root for the underdog, which is precisely what the Celtics are despite what the seeding says.
• You can’t rationalize beanball wars because they are inherently childish and stupid.
• Decision making is the top job requirement of a baseball manager, but it’s not the strong suit of Boston’s John Farrell.
• The annual airing of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony on HBO is one of my favorite TV nights of the year. Always amazed by the phenomenal instrumental chops of bands I never paid much attention to, like ELO and Yes. Most of those guys are now in their 70s, yet can still blow most every contemporary “rock” act off the stage.
• Journey churned out a few too many ballads for my taste, but I never doubted their musical ability. Neal Schon is a guitar god and Steve Perry is the most gifted lead singer in rock history, hands down. Only wish he took the mic at the ceremony. He declined the opportunity, according to the band. Perry, who set the bar so high, has likely lost a little off his fastball at age 68. Surely there’s some magic left; would’ve loved to hear it.
• The Quinnipiac men’s basketball roster is desperate for experience, so new coach Baker Dunleavy is replenishing with graduate transfers. On Friday he landed Mike Dakich, a recent Michigan graduate who played sparingly due to injuries.
Dakich was contacted by Quinnipiac assistant Tom Pecora on Tuesday; by Thursday he’d visited the school and committed.
Last month, Quinnipiac added Penn State graduate transfer guard Isaiah Washington from Penn State and freshman transfer Travis Atson from Tulsa, who’ll sit this season to play three in Hamden.
• From the New York Daily News comes the story of a man who, for the past eight years, has been honoring his deceased, baseball-loving pal by flushing his cremated remains down the toilet of every MLB park. Apparently, the deceased was a plumber and the friends grew up in Flushing Meadows, New York.
• West Haven’s Keith Dupee was promoted to head coach of the boys’ ice hockey team at New Jersey’s Lawrenceville School. Dupee served as assistant to longtime coach Etienne Bilodeau the past six seasons. He led West Haven to a CIAC state championship in 1994, and played at Rensselaer as well as for the old New Haven Knights of the UHL.
• Our continuing, friendly reminder to Connecticut drivers that a yield sign means you do not have the right of way. It’s doesn’t grant you permission to blindly accelerate into oncoming traffic.
• Favorite “blink and you missed it” moment from the Rock Hall of Fame concert: Joan Baez grooving to the sounds of Tupac. As someone said during the ceremony, live music, like sports, is a gift.