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Andy Pollin
Contact Andy

In the end, the game comes down to one thing: man against man. May the best man win.

~ Sam Huff

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Luckiest Man

Jul 02, 2009 -- 10:51am

Saturday marks 70 years since Lou Gehrig delivered what has become known as the "Luckiest Man" speech at Yankee Stadium between games of a doubleheader against the Washington Senators. It has been referred to as baseball's Gettysburg address. Dying of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclrerosis (ALS), better known now as Lou Gehrig's disease, one of the greatest players in the history of the game delivered unscripted remarks that seven decades later make the hair on the back of your neck stand up.

To honor the anniversary of the event on Saturday, the seventh-inning stretch of every major league home game will include a reading of the speech. Also players will wear special uniform patches and first base will be specially marked. Commissioner Bud Selig calls Gehrig's speech "one of the defining moments in baseball history." There is no question about it.

It's interesting though to look back on that sweltering day in 1939 and what's remembered about it. Among those covering the event was, if not the greatest, certainly one of the greatest ever; "Washington Post" columnist Shirley Povich. His lead was, "I saw strong men weep this afternoon, expressionless umpires swallow hard, and emotion pump the hearts and glaze the eyes of 61,000 baseball fans in Yankee Stadium." It's a lead that certainly captures the mood of the moment, but in the 14 paragraphs that follow, there is no mention of the line that has stood the test of time. Believe it or not, the great Povich never included, "Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this Earth." Povich does refer to Gehrig calling himself "a lucky guy," but the legendary line never made it in to the legendary columnist's work.

Perhaps even more interesting is the speech almost never happend. According to a story written by Anthony McCarron in the "New York Daily News", Gehrig intially refused to speak after collecting gifts and trophies and listening to speeches made about him. Finally after being coaxed by Yankees manager Joe McCarthy, he shuffled to the microphone and delivered the famous words.

As he walked off the field, Gehrig was overheard saying to a teammate, "did my speech sound silly? Did it?"

Railings

What I thought would be a three of four hour project turned in to a full day of work with parts of three others. It was a nightmare, but the work is done. Check last week's blog for details on how the whole mess got started.

But just to bring you up to date, last Friday was unbelievably aggrivating. Trying to fit railings designed to be horizontal on descending steps is work better suited for famed TV carpenter Norm Abrams than radio Andy. Without the help of my mechanically-inclined 80-year-old father, I would have had to turn it over to a carpenter at a steep cost.

With some cutting, filing, scraping and carping at each other, Pollin and son produced railings. Next time you grab a railing to go up the steps, realize what had to be done to make that available to you.

Vacation

No blogging next week. I'm headed off to Portland, Oregon for the Pollin family reunion. There is a bit of a local sports tie in for you on this one.

It's being held at the Airport Sheraton, which is owned by Abe Pollin's brother Harold. You may recall what helped to widen the gulf between Abe and Michael Jordan was MJ's refusal to stay at that hotel with his Wizards teammates when he played here from 2001-2003. It apparently wasn't good enough for him and he even went so far as to pay for the entire traveling party, including broadcasters, to stay at another hotel. With MJ gone, the Wizards continue to stay there when they play the Trail Blazers.

Hey, if it's good enough for Gilbert Arenas, it's good enough for me. Happy July 4th.

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Modern Dealing

Jun 24, 2009 -- 12:46pm

Thirty seven years ago this week, the Wizards (then the Baltimore Bullets) made the best trade in franchise history and one of the great steals in the history of the NBA. Solid forward Jack Marin was sent along with future considerations to the Houston Rockets for superstar Elvin Hayes. The "Big E" would go on to team with Wes Unseld and lead the Bullets to three appearances in the NBA finals including a championship in 1978. Marin's productivity declined and he would be out of the league within five years. Why in the heck would the Rockets make such a deal?

You have to understand that these were the days before free agency and the salary cap. It wasn't like Houston feared Hayes would leave or even that his contract was too big. The reason the deal happened was that Elvin was tired of losing and had made it clear he didn't want to be there anymore. Marin was coming off his best season (22.3 ppg) and figured to be in his prime at the age of 28. And although it wasn't something that could be said publicly, the fact that Marin is white didn't hurt in selling the deal to the Rockets' southern fan base. Still, it was basketball robbery and it helped to make the Bullets a yearly contender for nearly a decade as they transitioned from Baltimore to Washington, moving here at the start of the 73-74 season.

Now another June deal nearly four decades later in a completely different NBA. With free agency and a salary cap, trying to understand the scope of trades becomes more difficult, but it's possible what Ernie Grunfeld pulled off in this deal with Minnesota may lay the groundwork for a serious run at the title. Yes they've given up the fifth pick of the draft, but they get two potential starters in Randy Foye and Mike Miller and unload three expensive mistakes in Etan Thomas, Darius Songaila and Oleksiy Pecherov. Dealing and getting expensive expiring contracts is a big part of this trading game, but please don't ask me to explain how it all works. Suffice to say the Wizards are a better team with this deal. Plus they didn't have to touch the foundation of Gilbert Arenas, Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison.

Writes John Hollinger of ESPN.com, "They're on the 2007 Boston Celtics model and they're going for it."

Wow! Hollinger may be getting carried away, but off a 19-win season, those are words about the local pro basketball team that we haven't heard in a long time.

Suspension, Sheshmension

I seem to be in the minority getting worked up about Manny Ramirez playing for the Dodgers' minor league team while his major league suspension still has more than a week to go. If you're kicked out, shouldn't you be kicked out for the duration of the suspension? Apparently that's not the way it works.

And beyond Manny being allowed to play, where's the shame? The fans in Albuquerque, some wearing Manny wigs, filled the park and cheered the cheater like he's a hero. Manny isn't rehabbing an injury, he was and still is kicked out of the majors for cheating. Plus the media coverage was nauseating. ESPN dispatched Colleen Dominguez to Albuquerque and the four letters broadcast his at-bats live.

What happens when he's eligible to return to the Dodgers? A parade? Here's a guy who cheated, let down his teamates and fans and now is treated like a conquering hero. I just don't get it.

Railing on railings

I guess my patio construction made me a bit overconfident in the home improvement department. So foolishly I decided to tackle new front railings on my house. WARNING! What looks simple, isn't.

My house was built in 1992 with wood railings on the front steps. The lumber wasn't pressure treated and sure enough it rotted out. Several of my neihbors have replaced theirs with plastic (actually called pvc for polyvinyl chrloride). One guy did it himself, so I figured why not go for it.

I had to put in a special order at Home Depot to get the matierial and wait two weeks for arrival. Last weekend I picked up the stuff and expected to spend a couple of hours putting it in on Sunday morning. Ha!

I'm off on Friday and will be spending my third day on this project. My mechanically-inclined father has assisted me while constantly scolding me for my lack of patience. I will somehow get this done while hopefully learing the three most important words in home improvement, "write the check."

Hopefully next week a report on how it was finished, or not.

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Twisting in the Wind

Jun 17, 2009 -- 11:49am

As these words are typed, it has been four days since Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports reported that Nats manager Manny Acta is on his way out. Since then the Nats have lost all three of their games in much the same way they've dropped the other 43 - errors and bad bullpen work. In fact the headline on today's Nats' game story in the "Washington Post" reads, "Young Pitcher Impresses, But Bullpen Falters Again." If you're a faithful reader of Nats game stories, you might feel like you're Bill Murray in "Groundhog Day." Almost every loss seems to follow the same script. Last night it starred starter Sharion Martis, who left with a 3-2 lead after six and (stop me if you've heard this one before) watched reliever Ron Villone blow it by giving up two in the seventh.

Is this nightly horror show Acta's fault? Not entirely. Guys like Thom Loverro of the "Washington Times", who goes to games and covers the team says they're still playing hard. They haven't quit on Manny. And the bullpen is what it is. He doesn't have Mariano Rivera to close the door. But for me, it's hard to reconcile their major-league leading 61 errors in 62 games. Manny has to take some of the heat for that. His players just don't seem to have their heads in the game.

The Nats are due back in town on Friday to play Toronto. It's seems likely Acta will get the boot after the Thursday afternoon game in New York and Jim Riggleman, who went to Richard Montgomery High School right up the street from where I sit, will make his Nats managerial debut against the Blue Jays. It won't make the Nats competitive and probably won't solve many of their problems, but at least it will pump a little bit of life in to what is becomming a joke of the season. Plus no matter how much you may like Manny and as good a manager he may become (remember Joe Torre had several failures before taking the Yankees job), it's hard to make the cas that things will improve if he stays. The tragic number is 120, the number of losses accumulated by the 1962 Mets. Realize with 100 games to play, the Nats are only 74 away. Oy.

Fifteen Years Ago Today

The Knicks and Rockets were playing in the NBA finals. Patrick Ewing and Hakeem Olajuwan, still in their primes, playing for an NBA title a decade after meeting for the NCAA championship. And what a night it was to watch them play June 17, 1994. Except nobody was watching them - even some who were at the game.

The O.J. Simpson white Bronco chase had begun before tipoff and the nation had its eyes fixed on the live helicopter shots of Al Cowlings driving the Los Angeles freeways followed by about a dozen police cars with an armed O.J. lying down in the back. Every broadcast and cable network had picked up the coverage.

NBC had the NBA and knowing that no one would stay with the coverage, they went to a split screen. Most sports fans watched, but few can tell you anything that happened in the game. The chase made for riveting television.

If you'll recall it finally ended with Cowlings driving the Bronco back to O.J.'s house where he was arrested. If you would have asked me then where O.J. would be in 15 years, I'd have said "jail." In fact, 15 years later that's where he is. But what a long strange trip it's been.

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Coffee Is For Closers

Jun 10, 2009 -- 11:20am

In the world of sportsradio, we always feel compelled to ask the question, "Is the latest the greatest?" Even though eras are tough to compare, it does make sports watching more interesting and creates compelling conversation.

I never thought I'd see a basketball player better than Julius Erving until I saw Magic Johnson. Then I never thought I'd see a player better than Magic until I watched Michael Jordan. And with Jordan now more than a decade removed from his playing days (I'm not counting the Wizards years), I still don't think I've seen anyone better.

Yes it's become popular to suggest that Kobe Bryant or Lebron James has surpassed Jordan. Jerry West, one of the greatest players and maybe the best talent evaulator of all time, has thrown gasoline on the fire by suggesting that Lebron has a chance to become the greatest of all time. But Lebron has never won a game in the finals and is spending this June at home.

As for Kobe, after 13 years in the NBA, it may be time to remove him from consideration for best of all time. Taking nothing away from leading what is so-so talent around him to the finals two years in a row, he has yet to show me the "Jordanesque" ability to put the lid on a game that would put a choke hold on a series.

The last minute of the Tuesday night loss in Orlando will forever stick with me whenever Kobe's name comes up in the best-ever discussion. Bad enough he missed his first free throw, his fifth of the night. His reaction was worse. Throwing his head back and then pounding his head on the bench. Jordan never let them see him sweat. But the real defining moment was in the last 30 seconds, Lakers down two, when Kobe tried to dribble through Mickael Pietrus and Dwight Howard. Jordan never would have tried a move like that. Even though Pau Gasol could have saved him by calling time out when he was on the floor with the ball in his hands, Kobe still takes the blame for the foolish finish attempt.

I still believe the Lakers will win the series in six and Kobe will get the credit he so desires for being "the man" who took them to a title. But it remains a show me situation for Mr. Bryant.

The Clock is Ticking

Set your watch, we're just over two months away from D-day for what could be D.C.'s next Walter Johnson. Now that the Nationals have drafted Stephen Strasburg with the number one pick, signing him is a no-brainer. After blowing it last year with first-rounder Aaron Crow, you absolutely have to do it no matter what it costs.

Will they? Well it's impossible to say impossible for an organization that found impossible ways to embarass itself from everything from signing a 23-year-old who they thought was 16 to losing the only kosher hot dog vendor at Nationals Park. But no matter the risk (and there are plenty when it comes to pitching phenoms), Strasburg has to be under a Nats hat at a news conference by the end of the third week in August. The owners and team president Stan Kasten have to realize that. Otherwise they wouldn't have taken San Diego State fireballer.

Now while Strasburg is technically the first number one overall pick by a Washington baseball team (the draft didn't start until 1965 and there was no baseball here from 1972 to 2005), he's not the first pitcher that a team with a curly W took with the first pick of the draft.

The Senators in their last year here in 1971 took 6'3" righthander Pete Broberg number one overall in what was the secondary phase of the draft. The regular phase was held in January in those days and the secondary phase came in June. Broberg played at Dartmouth so they must have figured he had the smarts to be a great pitcher.

He made his major-league debut June 20, 1971 at RFK against Boston and didn't figure in the 4-3 Senators loss. I was there with my Dad thinking we were seeing the future. We weren't. Broberg wound up 5-9 as a rookie. The Senators left town at the end of the year and Broberg was out of baseball by the end of the decade. Let's hope it works out better for Steven Strasburg. And hopefully it works out here.

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Rooting for History

Jun 04, 2009 -- 11:27am

It came up on the air in the best way - unplanned. Randy Johnson's name was mentioned and Czabe brought up a question that a friend had asked him. If you're a Nats fan, is it okay to root for Johnson to beat them for his 300th career win?

I instantly said "Yes." It's not just that the Nats are terrible and another loss won't mean anything. But for me anyway, being a witness to history is something I cherish. Over the years I've been there for things like Nolan Ryan's record-setting fifth no-hitter, Chris Webber's stupid timeout, the Villanova upset of Georgetown and the Patriots upset of the Rams in the Super Bowl at New Orleans in 2002. Only Ryan's performance was record-setting, but I hold all of them as cherished possessions.

Now you can argue, as Czabe did, that you don't want your team to be victimized by history. It's already happened to the Nats in their brief history as Washington's team. Barry Bonds hit number 756 (and you can argue all you want about how kosher that was) against Mike Bacsik two years ago, but that was in San Francisco. I remember having to sell my son on staying to watch the Red Wings hoist the Stanley Cup at what was then MCI Center when the Caps were swept in the finals in 1998. He wasn't interested in seeing the team that beat his team celebrate on his team's home ice. But for me it was a chance to witness something that I may never see again.

Should there be a parade for the Unit if he wins number 300 in D.C.? No. But how often to you get to see history?

Graduation

I am officially out of the world of free education. Jeremy Pollin now owns a high school diploma from Wootton High School. The only thing that dampened the graduation ceremony at Constitution Hall was the downpour that dampened (actually drenched) us as we left. Otherwise it was a wonderful ending to 17 years (including my daughter Samantha's public schooling) of some of the best available public education in the country.

Funny thing about being 50. Sometimes in your own mind you don't think you're that far removed from high school, even though it's been decades. Now you're not even a high school parent anymore. I look at Jeremy and wonder how I would feel in his shoes as he moves on to what could be the best four years of life at the University of Indiana. Of course I look at it knowing what I know now. But I guess that's why they call it a learning experience.

Anyway, back to the graduation ceremony. There were four guest speakers (thankfully limited to four minutes apiece). Three were brothers, two of which are Naval officers, the third is a Marine. All four were Wootton graduates. All were excellent. The best was Chris Lu, President Obama's cabinet secretary. They were classmates at Harvard law school. Mr. Lu graduated in 1984 and told the kids no matter how embarassed they may be by we as parents, we have passed to them the most important thing in the world. A great education. He quoted his immigrant father, who english was heavily accented. The late Mr. Lu said, "your inheritance is your education."

I thank the many owners and bosses I've had over my 17 years here at what is now ESPN980 for keeping me employed and living in Montgomery County, allowing my kids to inherit education better than I could have ever wished for.

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No Way to Play Replay

May 27, 2009 -- 1:20pm

The late afternoon rain on Memorial Day meant an early exit from the holliday party on my sister's block that we always freeload at. It put me back in front of my big screen tv in time to see the Gary Sheffield homer that shouldn't have been a homer off John Lannan at the Mets' new ballpark.

In case you missed it, the Mets were up 2-1 in the 6th, with two on. Sheffield hit a shot to left field that the umpire ruled hit the orange stripe at the top of the wall, making it a 3-run homer. But Manny Acta immediately protested, saying a fan had leaned out of the stands and hit the ball when it was still in play. And in fact, that's what the MASN replay showed. And this wasn't the Jeffrey Maier slight of hand from years ago in the Orioles-Yankees playoff game. The fan in the black t-shirt clearly leaned over the wall and deflected the ball that Adam Dunn might have actually had a chance to catch at the wall. Okay...maybe not Dunn, but at least he might have kept Sheffield to a double. But the umps did agree to check it on replay.

Off the field the umps went. MASN announcer Bob Carpenter, preparing to fill time in the first replay in Nats history, said when the replay system was announced last August we were told the umpires should be able to get a decision in 90 seconds. Analyst Rob Dibble instantly scoffed, reminding Carpenter that it took eight minutes in a game at Milwaukee last week.

Sure enough, the minutes dragged by as the MASN crew showed the play over and over with a special zoom in on the ball as it touched the fan. It was clear, fan interference. Both Carpenter and Dibble predicted the call on the field would be overturned. Finally after eight minutes, the umpires emerged and signaled home run. A camera pointed at the Mets dugout showed a smiling Sheffield who seemed to know he'd gotten away with one.

Why did the umps blow it? Credit Mark Zuckerman of the "Washington Times" for some solid reporting. He not only found out that the umpires reviewed the play from the SNY feed (the Mets broadcast) and not the MASN feed which clearly showed the play, they were also apparently neglegent. A call to the Major League Baseball offices told Zuckeman that the umps should have access to both feeds and should have checked both.

Is it the crime of the century? No. The Nats probably would have lost the game anyway. But the debate about instant replay, which has been raging in the NFL for years has now hit baseball. Czabe hates replay in all forms. His beef is they never get it completely right, so why bother. I tend to agree to an extent, but want to reserve the right to hang on to it. Sooner or later a team will wind up getting cheated out of a chance to play in a Super Bowl if you don't at least have the ability to use it. I keep going back to the AFC championship game in 1996 with Indianapolis at Pittsburgh. That was a year when instant replay was not in use.

On the last play of the game, Colts quarterback Jim Harbaugh threw a Hail Mary pass that for an instant appeared to be caught for the winning score. The ruling on the field was incomplete. And on replay it turned out to be the correct call. But what if the ref had blown it? If the technology is there, at least have the option to use it.

Emptying the Nest

My days of free education are rapidly coming to an end. Jeremy's last day of high school is tommorow, the prom is Friday and graduation is next Wednesday. It won't be long before I drive him to college at Indiana. Samantha will be a senior at Wisconsin and looking to attend law school. Wow. That was quick.

I think back of all the hours spent watching them play sports. Soccer for both, just about everything else for Jeremy. I've told friends having babies to be prepared to spend a significant portion of the next decade and a half on the sidelines. I've said it in a way to let them know your free time is a thing of a past. But now that it's over, I wonder what I'll do with myself. I know I'll miss it.

Many thanks to all the great coaches the kids had over the years. I hope the experience was as good for them as it was for me.

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