Bits & Pieces

By Kim J. Harmon

Who’s On First? (1)

When the old “Who’s On First?” routine by Bud Abbott and Lou Costello causes my kids (and – by god – my wife) to laugh then I know my world has not been turned upside down.

My wife doesn’t like my favorite funny movies (like Airplane and the Naked Gun series) and my kids laugh more times than they scream at my favorite horror movies, but I popped the Abbott & Costello DVD in this past weekend and – thank heavens – they laughed.

HOOSIERS (1)

Did you catch the ESPN Classic broadcast of the famous 1954 Indiana state high school basketball championship game between Milan and Muncie? This game was the inspiration for the movie Hoosiers, starring Gene Hackman, and the game was almost as thrilling as the movie.

HECKLERS

Whoa – the parents at the Weston-Newtown boys’ basketball game last Saturday really called a good game, didn’t they? Amazing, but they spotted those fouls and those shuffle steps from way up there in the bleachers and let EVERYONE in the gym know it.

TOP 10 PLAYS (1)

I am beginning to understand a lot more about young athletes. Most of the time, it’s not about who wins or who loses; it’s about having a moment, a highlight, something to remember.

My son’s basketball team was locked in a real donnybrook this past weekend and late in the second half he had yet to score (going 0-for-3 from the floor and 0-for-2 from the foul line), but with his team down by two he had the ball and drove down the lane, flipping up a shot just as he got knocked to the floor.

The ref blew the whistle for the foul and even after the echo had died down the ball was still teetering on the edge of the rim.

After what seemed like forever, the ball fell through and the Waterbury YMCA gym went nuts.

He missed the foul shot.

His team lost the game.

But afterwards, the smile was still on his face and the first thing he said to me was, “Did you see that shot?”

A moment.

A highlight.

A little bit of athletic glory.

WHO’S ON FIRST? (2)

I actually had a discussion with my son on Sunday about what baseball team I was going to follow this year now that I had formally given up on the New York Yankees.

Would it be the Red Sox?

Mets?

Braves?

I can’t believe I was having the discussion, believe me. I remember listening to the 1977 playoffs on my transistor radio under the covers of my bed and crying because I had fallen asleep before Sparky Lyle recorded the final out against the Kansas City Royals.

People are more faithful to their baseball teams than their spouses but here I am staying married to my wife and divorcing my baseball team.

Weird.

HOOSIERS (2)

Down 28-26 in the fourth quarter, the plucky Milan team (on which the team, Hickory, is based in Hoosiers) inexplicably stalls the ball for more than four minutes. I know how the game turned out (the movie did not address the infamous stall), but I was still shouting at the television – “You’re down two! You have to shoot!”

The strategy was infuriating … and amazingly brilliant. Muncie had taken the lead in the third and looked poised to run Milan out of the gym, but Milan slowed the pace and took Muncie right out of its game.

‘ROID RAGE (1)

Can you imagine what Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth (who lived on hot dogs and beer) could have done had they been on steroids?

In 1927, Gehrig batted .373 with 52 doubles, 18 triples, and 47 home runs … and he was clean. What more could he have done?

ARE THE ACADEMY AWARDS OVER YET?

To all those critics who said that Million Dollar Baby is the greatest boxing movie ever made, what happened to Rocky or, for that matter, Raging Bull?

TOP PLAYS (2)

I still remember the best touchdown pass I ever threw in a touch football game … the kickoff return for a touchdown I made in a touch football game on Wesley Street in Waterbury … a monster home run I hit over the tree in left field in our old Wiffle© ball stadium …

And strangely enough, in my only organized sports effort, I – a pitcher for a farm league baseball team at Chase Park in Waterbury – will always remember allowing a titanic home run that may still, 30 years later, be flying through the atmosphere.

‘ROID RAGE (2)

When (or if) Barry Bonds breaks Hank Aaron’s home run record, I will be among those who feel cheated and betrayed. I fantasize, though, that Bonds will pass Babe Ruth and reach somewhere into the 730s or 740s before retiring and leaving Aaron’s record intact.

That would be wonderful.