I posted a few videos and audios of the legendary basketball coach Gregg Popovich of the San Antonio Spurs who is known for being taciturn in interviews, but has been scathing of Trump. Alas, there is no audio of this new commentary from "Coach Pop," but the words are perhaps more outraged than any.

What happened is that Popovich called up longtime basketball writer Dave Zirin of The Nation.  As Zirin writes here, the coach had heard Trump's comments trying to explain why he still hadn't yet even mentioned the four Green Berets killed in an ambush in Niger, nor yet contacted the soldier's families, and attempted to brush it off by contending that most others presidents didn't make such calls -- which was an out-and-out lie.  And Popovich was incensed by this.  Perhaps, Zirin speculates, it was because of it being a bald-faced lie.  Or perhaps because of Popovich being an Air Force veteran -- and head coach Team USA for the Olympics.  But whatever the resent, Zirin said that the coach clearly had to vent and explained, "I want to say something, and please just let me talk, and please make sure this is on the record.”

What Gregg Popovich said was --

“I’ve been amazed and disappointed by so much of what this president had said, and his approach to running this country, which seems to be one of just a never ending divisiveness. But his comments today about those who have lost loved ones in times of war and his lies that previous presidents Obama and Bush never contacted their families are so beyond the pale, I almost don’t have the words.”

(At this point, Zirin writes that Popovich paused, and the sportswriter thought that maybe Popovich actually meant it, that he didn't actually have the words.  But then he took a breath and continued -- )

“This man in the Oval Office is a soulless coward who thinks that he can only become large by belittling others. This has of course been a common practice of his, but to do it in this manner—and to lie about how previous presidents responded to the deaths of soldiers—is as low as it gets. We have a pathological liar in the White House, unfit intellectually, emotionally, and psychologically to hold this office, and the whole world knows it, especially those around him every day. The people who work with this president should be ashamed, because they know better than anyone just how unfit he is, and yet they choose to do nothing about it. This is their shame most of all.”

And with that, Popovich just said, "Bye, Dave."  And the phone call was over.

Boy, howdy, this is an incredibly eloquent EIGHT MINUTE takedown by former NFL star Shannon Sharpe that covers the full landscape of Trump and the NFL -- not just critical of Trump, but even how the football league has responded to it, including his best friend.  It's a "Take no prisoners" analysis, pointed and in-depth, pulling up facts and details of a range of issues from the past two years.

This comes on a show he co-hosts on Fox Sports 1, Undisputed with Skip Bayless (who I'm not a fan of) and Joy Taylor.  It's not often you see a show let someone go on for eight full minutes.  But I suspect that either everyone in the control booth was so mesmerized by the quiet, focused, growing passion of his words, or the director said, "If anyone touches the board and cuts him off, you're fired."
​

This is another of those baseball videos that even people who hate sports can love.

Last night in St. Louis, the Chicago Cubs were playing the St. Louis Cardinals.  In the second inning, Jedd Gyorko of the Cardinals hit a pop foul that was drifting towards the stands.  The Cubs shortstop Addison Russell raced all the way across the field to the short brick wall and gave up his body, diving into the stands to try and make the catch.  (All the more notable to Cubs fans since he had just come off a six-week stint on the Disabled List with plantar fasciitis in his right foot.)  The ball ended up out of his reach -- though he did come up with something: his arm covered in nachos.  A fan, Andrew Gudermutch, had carefully pulled his tray  out of the way when he saw the Cubs shortstop barreling towards him -- what he didn't count on, though, was Russell leg go flying, after which the nachos did, as well.

At the time, I thought how fun it would be if Russell, after getting back to the dugout between innings, had word sent to the guy that he'd pay for a new order of nachos.  Russell took that idea and ratcheted it up several notches.

The second inning ended, and the Cubs went to the dugout for their turn at bat.  They scored three runs in the top of the inning, and then took the field in the bottoming of the third.  But when all the Cubs ran out on the field to their positions...Addison Russell headed over to the stands, like a waiter -- holding a tray of nachos and cheese sauce, which he delivered to Gudermutch!

While the delivery has gotten all the attention, something else impressed me more.  While you'd think it would be the fan who'd be so pleased that he'd thank the ballplayer first, it's actually Russell himself who took the initiative of reaching out and offering his hand to shake with the guy.  Not shabby.  And when Gudermutch asks to take a selfie with Russell, he happily agrees and poses and waits for the guy to set up the shot with the nachos and his girlfriend in frame -- now that may not seem much, and just a normal, polite thing to do...but remember: there's a baseball game going on, and Russell's team has long been on the field warming up.  So, it struck me as exceedingly thoughtful of Russell to stick around for the shot.

It turns out that the Cardinals management had bought Gudermutch a new order of nachos.  He was, after all, trying to get out of the way.  So, he ended up with a double serving.  The Cardinals' came fully loaded, Russell's with cheese sauce only...

As for the Cubs' delivery, that turns out to have been the team manager Joe Maddon's idea.  Russell later explained why.  "You don't get in front of a man and his nachos," he said. 

What's fun, too, is that announcers for both teams began referring to Andrew Gudermutch as "Nacho Man" through all this.  At one point, the Cubs announcer noted how his girlfriend, "Nacho Woman doesn't seem all that pleased by this."  And clearly, word of all that got back to the guy, because by the time the game was over, he'd already created a new Twitter account for "Nacho Man" and tweeted the photo.

Obviously, Nacho Woman got short shrift in the photo, but it wasn't like they had all that much time to set up the photo or take another one.  Not to worry, she got plenty of face time on TV.

Russell told the Cubs website about the play.  "Initially off the bat, I was thinking I could make the play. I really didn't get a sense of where the fence was. It looked like [outfielder Ben Zobrist] wasn't anywhere close. I didn't see the fence and collided with it and got all nacho'ed up."

As for stopping to have the photo-op with Gudermutch, he added :

"Normally, I don't do that but being the case of me being nacho'ed all over and my cleats even, so I was like, you know what, why not? Once in a lifetime experience."

And now that you're up to speed about all that happened, this is a video of the entire sequence edited together.  It begins with the aftermath of Addison Russell's dive, so you can see the messy result, and then goes into an instant replay that got things there.  Eventually, they add in later the part with Russell making his food delivery appearance.

And best of all, the Cubs won 10-2, clinching at least a tie for the National League Central Division title.
​

I worked with Bob Costas briefly on the movie, BASEketball from David Zucker, that starred Trey Parker and Matt Stone of South Park.  The times I got to talk to Costas -- on the set and at his home over the phone -- were a joy.  He's a very smart, thoughtful, funny guy who's also very devoutly religious, but never wears it on his sleeve, but keeps it largely to himself.  He talked about it a bit on the set, in private, yet never once made an issue of it.  There was some concern how he'd react to some of the outlandish things the filmmakers wanted him to do, some of them a bit crude, but he never flinched.  He was fine with it.  It was all for the joke.  In fact, he only had one small request for something to be cut, and that had absolutely nothing to do with his faith or personal beliefs about anything, but was only because of how it related to a family member of his that he felt uncomfortable doing.  (The filmmakers happily made the cut for him.)  He was a pleasure of a guy to talk with, open and friendly and very smart.

He also endeared himself to me when I had to call his office at his home in St. Louis to get some background material on him before the movie filming began.  I expected to talk to his secretary, but it turned out she was off that day, and Costas didn't get a temporary fill-in and answered the call himself.  We had a very enjoyable talk, and then I asked about him faxing me the information I needed.  He said he'd be happy to get it to me, but wanted to know if I could wait a day.  Sure, not a problem at all.  It turned out that because his secretary was out, he, Bob Costas -- two-time Emmy Award winner, eight-time National Sportscaster of the year, member of the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame, 12-time host of the Olympics -- acknowledged that he was a technical Luddite and didn't know how to use his fax machine.

All of which brings us to his appearance yesterday on CNN, when he was asked to comment about the controversy surrounding Trump's slamming of NFL players as being a "son of a bitch" and calling for them to be fired, for protesting the killing of Blacks.

Costas, being Costas, is profoundly eloquent in his response -- and would be if it had been in a prepared address. That it is an extemporaneous response to a question is remarkable.

Last year, I wrote here about Wayne Messmer, who sings the National Anthem before most Cubs games and at other sports events around Chicago.  It included embedding a terrific featurette on Messmer's story, which in part tells of him being shot in the throat a few years ago, and it was thought he might not walk again (or live), let alone talk -- let alone sing.

The piece also embedded several videos of Messmer singing the Anthem -- magnificently.  His style is very rich, yet straight forward with no self-centric flourishes.  The article also included my favorite version, a video of him singing it along with his wife Kathleen, a duet they perform half a dozen times or so each year at Wrigley Field.  What I love about the rendition is the simplicity but arranged in gorgeous and intricate harmony, with Messmer foregoing his usual lead vocal and taking the background instead.  There's no self-serving flamboyance to their performance, just a simple through-line and modulation, but it's loaded with texture and heart.

Unfortunately, when I originally posted the story I couldn't find a good version that shows off the harmony properly, the sound in the clip is sort of tinny and blended.  But I wrote that I'd keep looking.  And I finally have one!  I subscribe to MLB GameDay and was watching today's Cubs game, when the Messmer duo performed the National Anthem.  Thank goodness for the "rewind" feature.  I simply scrolled-back the video and then recorded it on my phone. And here it is.

(For reasons that are inexplicable, when I converted the video for this site, it reversed the image. So, everything is end-for-end.  Happily, the words came out in proper English.)

​To all those performers who are given the platform to sing "The Star-Spangled Banner" on a public stage and want to show off how great you are -- this is how it's done.

Play ball!​

Okay, this one's for sports fans.  But I can't not post it.

Last night, I was watching the UCLA football game against Texas A&M on national TV.  I went to UCLA for grad school and like watching them, but it was no fun as the game progressed and they were getting crushed.  Indeed, it was 44-10 deep into the third quarter.  By that point, the announcers had pretty given up normal announcing and where just largely talking about the Aggies and how their coach had obviously turned Texas A&M around, and how great they were.  

The only time they spent much opportunity to talk about UCLA was when addressing the question that had been raised recently about whether their top-rated quarterback Josh Rosen actually "loved" playing football.  This arose in large part because of some critical comments he made about how some other schools put too much emphasis on football rather than academics.  (Horrors, what a comment for someone to make...)  To the announcers' credit, they defended Rosen and talked about how he didn't go through all the practices, drills and games, taking all the pounding if he didn't love playing football.

So, anyway, the game was 44-17 in favor of Texas A&M as the teams went into the fourth quarter.  And that's when UCLA continued with its 35 point comeback to win the game!  This was the second-biggest comeback in college football history.

It should be noted that the FIRST biggest comeback came in 2006 when Michigan State overcame a 35 point deficit and defeated...my beloved Northwestern.

Here's Scott Van Pelt on ESPN SportCenter with a recap of the game.  You'll learn a very good life-lesson here at 1-minute mark -- think twice before swaggering and posturing, most especially with silly props, when you think you've beaten your opponent.  It may come back to haunt you.

Also, seemingly Josh Rosen likes playing football just fine.

This above, as noted, is the ESPN highlights.  So, there's no play-play game announcer in real-time.  It's only the in-studio host.  To rectify that and the excitement of the moment, here's the on-air broadcast with the call of two plays -- the one setting up the touchdown with no time-outs left and then the fake "spike" supposedly to stop the clock, but instead throwing the game-winning score.  And hometown crowd going wild.
​

Here's an addendum to my piece the other day about Chicago Cubs All Star first-baseman Anthony Rizzo who donated $3.5 million through his foundation to Lurie Children's Hospital.

As I mentioned, I just think Rizzo is an absolutely great guy, and it's not only that his foundation donated so much money, but he has events throughout the year raise money, regularly visits the hospital, at least once a month during the season, and stays in touch with the people and families.

On one of his hospital visits a couple years ago, he befriend a new patient there, Mike Kasillis, who was older than most, at 22.  But Rizzo felt a particularly close connection to him, since it was around the same age -- a few years older -- than when he himself was diagnosed with Hodgins lymphona.  During on visit, Kasillis figured he'd play a bit of Babe Ruth with the Cubs star, and asked him to hit a home run for him at that night's game.  And that he did, to please make some sort of signal to him so that he could see it on television.  Obviously, hitting a home run on call is not something ballplayers can readily do.  And Rizzo didn't.  No, he hit two home runs that night.  And signaled to the sky after each one.

Love that Rizz.
​

Stick with me on this one.  It's about a baseball player, but not baseball.

It's not that the Chicago Cubs have players good enough to have won their first World Series in 108 years last season, but they have a bunch of really good guys on the team.  When people ask me who my favorite player is, it's really hard not to name reigning MVP and former Rookie-of-the Year Kris Bryant.  Or Javier Baez.  Or Addison Russell.  Terrific players and great guys.  And there are others, as well -- not to mention manager Joe Maddon.

But I also say it's pretty tough to top All-Star first baseman Anthony Rizzo.  I love the guy, and have written about that here in the past.  Well, he just added another reason.  Rizzo has long been a regular visitor to the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, coming by once a month during the season.  And on Tuesday, he gave $3.5 MILLION to them.  It comes through his Anthony Rizzo Family Foundation.
​

Rizzo is himself a cancer survivor.  He was diagnosed with Hodgkins lymphoma when he was in the minor leagues and playing in the Red Sox organization, so his connection to the hospital is clearly personal.  According to the Cubs website, "his foundation has created two endowed funds for patients being treated for cancer and their families. One provides grants on a case-by-case basis for families facing financial hardship due to unexpected needs. The second supports two oncology Child Life specialists, a position funded entirely by philanthropy."

Here's a Chicago Sun-Times video of the ceremony of and Rizzo's emotional speech, talking about remembering what he himself went through, something he generally puts behind him.  "I don't do that much, but today was one of the days when it got to me."  

He added later, "I feel I try to do a really good job of keeping baseball in perspective," he said. "You go out there between the lines and give it your all, give it your best, and that's all you can do. There's so much more to life than baseball. It's a balance -- you have to learn how to balance that. You have to go out there and have a job to do. I put my heart and soul into baseball, and when I leave the field, I try to just be Anthony, not the baseball player."

A couple things to note in this video.  This isn't the first time he has given money to the hospital, or others connected to it.   You'll see in the video one of the mothers, Sue Erickson, talking eloquently about Rizzo and what he's meant to her son Matthew. What the reporter Madeline Kenney doesn't say on camera, though she writers in the Sun-Times article -- "Erickson also said that the Rizzos have helped pay for Matthew’s medical bills and the family’s mortgage when they were struggling to make payments. The Rizzos also sent Erickson and her three kids to Disney World last summer for a family vacation."  (In all, Rizzo has now given over $4 million to the children's hospital.)

Also, reporter Kenney comments in the video how choked up Rizzo got when unveiling a signed jersey.  What isn't mentioned is the reason he was so touched -- the jersey wasn't signed by his teammates, but rather the kids at the hospital.

Okay, this will likely be only of interest to Chicago Cubs fans -- but a) it has nothing to do with baseball, and b) it's fun and only a minute.

As you may know, the Cubs have a tradition for almost 20 years ever since announcer Harry Caray passed away, carrying on his tradition of having a guest celebrity (some major, some local, some minor) lead the crowd in "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," accompanied by organist Gary Pressy.

It's worth noting, too, that the Cubs actually still do have an organist, since so many teams have gone to recorded music to entertain the crowd.  And since Pressy has been doing it for so long, he's a popular, if little-seen fixture at Wrigley Field.

Well, tonight organist Gary Pressy had his own remarkable milestone.  Yes, I know records in baseball are all about the athletes, but even though an organist, it's still a seriously impressive achievement.  This was Gary Pressy's 2,500th consecutive game playing the organ during a Cubs game.  He hasn't missed a ballgame at Wrigley Field in over 30 years!  I don't care if it's just for playing the organ -- not missing a day of work in 30 years is pretty darn good.

In appreciation, the Cubs gave out Gary Pressy bobble-head dolls, and invited him to be the "guest conductor" to lead the crowd in "Take Me Out to the Ball Game."  The big question the announcer's had during the game was "Who would accompany him on the organ?"  Oh, tosh, he accompanied himself.

What I love is that he gave his little introduction as if he was Harry Caray calling out to him to start.

So, in honor of Gary Pressy's 2500th consecutive game -- all rise for the 7th Inning Stretch.

​The guest contestant on the "Not My Job" segment of NPR's quiz show is NFL Hall of Fame receiver Jerry Rice.  The interview is fine, but nothing special -- although there is an ad-libbed quip by host Peter Sagal making a comparison of Rice's career that may be one of his funniest.  But the treat is the theme of the contest.  The twist for all of the "Not My Job" quizzes is to ask questions on a top that has absolutely nothing to do with the guest's area of expertise, yet find some odd overlap.  And it's a very fun one here.