I hope you got the chance to learn a little bit about Polly Tompkins today during either Kim’s pregame report or during the game…she’s the first-grade teacher from Candor, NY, who was the honorary bat girl for tonight’s game.  Polly thought she had beaten breast cancer two years ago, but it’s back…stage 4…which as many of you know is not good.  One of her fellow teachers, Kate Handy, wrote an essay about Polly and submitted it as part of a contest sponsored by MLB, Susan G. Komen for the Cure and Louisville Slugger, offering a chance for a woman with a connection to breast cancer to be honorary bat girl for a home game.

Kate made a point of getting the Candor community involved…spread the word through Facebook…and Polly got enough votes to win the honor.  So tonight, she’s on the field pregame, hanging out with all the Yankees, SO thrilled to meet Derek Jeter…and, by the way, had the guts to ask him for his phone number…and telling Kim Jones that, through her illness, she’s seen how family and friends are so important to her, and how she’s been able to be a role model to others.

I like to share stories like this from time to time as a friendly reminder, similar to a Blob I posted a while back, that family, friends, relationships, lifting people up…that’s the important stuff in life.  All of us who are baseball fans should live, breath, smell, feel and enjoy the game with a passion…but we should not let it tear us up inside.  I am constantly amazed when I listen to sports radio and read posts on the internet about fans criticizing and agonizing over the smallest things…Polly’s story, just like the great Bobby Murcer’s story, should always remind us about the truly important elements to life…and that we should enjoy every second that we have on this Earth.

Let me share with you a text exchange I had with John Flaherty today…I jokingly asked him if, in the wake of his M&M binge while in studio last week, he had dropped the poundage he felt he’d gained…His reply?  Well, let’s just say there were a couple unpleasantries about me having candy in my office and his lack of willpower.  Apparently, the candy has had quite a reverse effect on Flash’s workout efforts and, while I don’t think he’s sitting at home eating buckets of fried chicken, mashed taters and whole pies for dessert, I do believe that I created a monster…Final texts?  I asked him whether he was only able to wear elastic-waist pants because they were the only thing that would fit him now, and he replied that he had to go because the TV show The Biggest Loser was calling!  Who knew Flash was a comedy writer?!  He and I are going to have to collaborate on a sitcom.

The Video Wall  A commenter on the Blob asked whether the wall of video monitors in the YES studio control room was actually one huge screen with many monitors or a bunch of different monitors…

It really is a quiet night tonight…maybe because it’s the end of a
series…a Thursday…an increasingly gray and dreary evening…who
knows?  I taped a couple segments for our pregame shows tonight and
Saturday with Forbes National Editor Michael Ozanian, my co-host on
Forbes SportsMoney…It’s amazing how much the dynamic of pro team
ownership has changed with the recession…folks with tons of dough
used to snap up teams just for the ego and cache of it… now, they
really have to look at it very differently…can it be profitable
instead of just a shiny toy that loses money…you’ll a bit more on
that as it relates to the Miami Dolphins on Saturday’s pregame show.

Johnny On The Spot  Since Johnny’s rakin’ right now (and because
it’s a quiet night), I want to share a story about him from spring
training a couple years ago, to illustrate what a great guy he is…A
buddy of mine, Tim, lives in Orlando, and his 2 girls attend the same
high school as Johnny did, Dr. Phillips.  Tim was with me when we
walked up to Johnny and I said, “Hey Johnny, I’ve got a Dr. Phillips
guy here that wants to meet you.”  He and Tim carried on a conversation
for about 10 minutes about how they love the school, the Orlando area,
etc…just 2 regular guys chatting…no pretense at all.  At the end of
the conversation, Johnny says, “Well, I’ve got to go, but Tim, please
tell your daughters that I said Hello and to have a great school
year.”  Now, Johnny’s certainly never met Tim’s girls, but he was
thoughtful enough to extend his greetings and wishes for success that
year.  It’s a small thing but I think it says so much about how down to
Earth and thoughtful Johnny is.  He exemplifies that to a much greater
extent in his work with the Wounded Warrior Project.

And Because It’s a Quiet Night…  How about another couple pictures
from behind the scenes?  These are shots I took a few nights ago from
the control room…how’d you like to have all those TV monitors to look
at?!  Either awesome or dizzying!
 

Hello again…after a few days off…fresh on the heels of my TechnoWizardry this past Saturday in uploading studio pics to the Blob, I spent Sunday and Monday making some home improvements at Casa Blob…specifically, upgrading the master bath.  On Sunday, it was painting, removing old medicine cabinets, installing larger mirrors, then new towel holders.  On Monday, Bob the Plumber showed up (yeah, THIS Bob) and installed new faucets.

I mention this because it’s proof that ANYBODY can do it…see, my brother Tom got all the “do it yourself, home improvement, build a world class entertainment center out of popsicle sticks and glue” genes…I got the “My, you can almost color within the lines, but not really” genes.  Anyway, I think now I’m ready for my own home improvement show…I’ll start a project and then, if I can’t finish it or figure out what to do next, I’ll just call my bro and have him do it.  Then, I’ll be a “project manager”…”Odd Job, Call Bob”…or Blob.  I’ll walk around wearing jeans, a checked flannel shirt and a ridiculously overloaded tool belt, like I LOOK like I know what I’m doing…and I’ll have crazy ideas for homeowners, like instead of putting in a new kitchen faucet, I’ll tell them to install a garden hose, “bringing outdoor chic inside”!…Or tell them to spray paint an entire room, including all its contents, black…”Timeless, elegant, classic”.  Geez, I gotta lay off the latenight DIY-type shows.  Where’s a good episode of Charles in Charge or Facts of Life when you need one?

Alright, enough of that…I’m gonna go take some more pics during the 4th inning cutin and post them to the Blob…as I write this, Tex just ripped his 2nd hit of the night…keep hammerin’, Big Fella.

ChocoUpdate  I should mention that, also during the past couple days, I re-stocked the chocolate for my office…added a new wrinkle to the Hershey’s Miniatures…they make the same ones (Krackel, Mr. Goodbar) in dark chocolate now…so those found their way into a bowl…also, the mini Reeses Peanut Butter Cups go in the blink of an eye…and the white chocolate have become more of a fan favorite than the regular.  Did I Blob about that before?  Not sure, he says, in a chocolate-induced haze…

Pics as Promised  OK, here ya go…first picture is me watching the bottom of the 4th, waiting to do the Dunkin’ Donuts update between the 4th & 5th innings…I have a great seat… in front of a 12-foot video wall.

I took this next picture right after I got done doing the update…Web Wunderkind Joe Auriemma (seated on left) and writer/web sensation Glenn Giangrande (standing on right) prepare to tape Pinstripe Weekly, their exclusive web segment on yesnetwork.com.  In the middle is Jimmy on audio, either hooking up Glenn’s mike and earpiece, or about to wrap an audio cable around Glenn’s neck.  Given the fact that I just saw Glenn in the hallway, I guess Jimmy didn’t do it…but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t thinking it.  Huh?  Wait, not with Glenn…GG’s good people.

This is a test of the non-emergency Blobcast system…

Not much Blobbin’ tonight because I’m trying, for the first time, to
take pictures in and around the studio, and then post them to the
Blob…it’s not like it’s rocket science but I have a few things to
work out….like not uploading a GIGANTIC-sized picture that eats up
hard drive space, which is what I did during my first upload test…then, the 2nd time, I re-sized the picture and it was still humongous!  Here’s hoping the third time’s the charm….

Third time IS the charm!  Pic on the left is what I see when I look at you!  And as you can see, your view of
the set is far better than mine of the studio!

And the pic on the right is a shot of the small TV that’s mounted inside the desktop…you can’t see it but I can!  It’s under the dark plexiglass on the desktop right in front of me.

And now, a final test as I go up in pixel size from 200 to 500…stand by…

It’s been 4 days of wisdom, insight, good times…and piles of plain M&M’s destroyed by one John Flaherty.  His week in studio began Monday…he came in with a dietary vengeance… in laser-like focus…salads, lean chicken, fresh vegetables…all to get lean, mean and physically obscene with summer approaching…

And now, 4 days later…well, he has M&M’s coming out of his ears…and I feel dirty.  Though I put chocolates, candies, etc. on the coffee table in my office for the good of all mankind that walk through these doors…what I saw was the steel resolve of a good man melted down by small, happy, colorful chocolates that melt in your mouth, not in your hand.  I should apologize to him on this, his final night in studio before his imminent return in July, and I will…as soon as he gets all those M&M’s out of his ears so he can hear the apology.  But right now, they’re spilling all over the floor in my office!

Balancing Act  Doing my due diligence, I occasionally scan the message board at yesnetwork.com and other Yankees websites to check the pulse of the tremendous Pinstriped fandom…Let me share the following message from last night with you, because I was trying to find a silver lining from last night’s loss to the Rays on the Postgame:

8:15pm  Ladies and Gentlemen, you are awesome!  Nearly all the comments I read knew that Dexy’s Midnight Runners sang Come on Eileen!….and guess who else knew?  That’s right…right after I Blobbed the question, Flash waltzed into my office and I asked him…he sat down in his customary spot on the long couch to my left (yes, the cushions have molded to him already)  and he said, without hesitation I might add, “Dexy’s Midnight Runners”.  I asked how he knew that right away, and he said it was one of his favorite MTV videos back in the day…runnin’ around in their denim overalls.  Who knew?!

BTW, Flash went with a sliced chicken, tomato and mozzarella salad tonight, drizzled lightly with olive oil…remember, he’s working on his beach body…I bet we see him down at Venice Beach in CA this summer, throwin’ iron around and bodysurfing.  But he tells me he might break down and have a few pieces of chocolate.
——————–

OK, that headline sounds more disgusting than it really is…but let’s be honest, we’ve all been victim of morning breath…or victimized by it. And who could blame any of us who stayed up for the game last night, and then the postgame (Flash and I kinda HAD TO), if we were functioning at a little less than 100 percent, right?  Now, I’m a night owl anyway, but my sleep pattern was disrupted enough that I fell asleep around 3 a.m., then woke up again at 4:45 a.m….drifted off into some psychotic-filled dream state…then got out of bed at 7:05 a.m. to make sure my daughter got the donuts I bought her at 2:15 a.m. … A double chocolate donut and a strawberry iced donut…Breakfast of Champions in the Lorenz household…washed down with a Sunny D and, to stay in the peak of shape, a multi-vitamin. I make sure the kids eat right! It’s all about balance.

Awesome Tune-age!  Now, I would never go for the “woe is Bob” approach to working late, especially since a few of you Blobbers out there, I’m sure, tore it up ’til WAY past my 3:00 a.m. crash…but, driving home at 2:15 a.m., one could conceivably get drowsy. Not me, however…not last night (this morning).  Two reasons…first, while flipping around the radio dial…I came across a little ditty some of you 1980s aficionados know as “Come On Eileen.” (Bonus points for naming the band who sings it!…I’m gonna check your comments for the answer…and don’t Google it!) 

Now, seriously, is there anybody alive when that song comes on that DOESN’T sing along to at least parts of it?  “Come on, Eileen Taloora Aye…come on…” You know the rest because you’re singing it right now!  And then, as I’m about 2/3 of the way home, comes another song to keep me buoyed…and I turn it up a little louder…a classic rock station…yes, it’s him…Joe Cocker, croaking out “I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends”…Beautiful…I can picture the bodily contortions, eyes bulging, as he belches out the chorus line…and then the best part…near the end…when he wails or howls like he just slammed his fingers in a door…song over…I’m pulling into the driveway…Thank you, Joe…and Thank You Band That Will Be Named By One of the Blobbers tonight….

I’ll check in later (I’m gonna see if Flash has any CLUE who sang that song!)

Flash is here in studio…I’m all fired up for 4 days of working together, talkin’ baseball…AND THERE’S NO BASEBALL TO TALK ABOUT!  The weather forecast for the next week is absolutely ridiculous…I keep checking weather.com every 15 minutes or so, hoping magically something will change, but we look like we’re all in for it, don’t we?  Brutal.

I’m working on uploading pictures to The Blob.  If I did so right now, I’d upload the picture of Flash sitting on my couch…reclining, really…well, almost laying down…as we wait out the rain and watch Yankees on Deck.  I guess he’s really worn out by the healthy lean chicken salad dinner he ate!  C’mon, Man!  He’s going through one of his “I’m really watching what I’m eating” phases right now…(Meanwhile, we had rain-delayed Chinese food catered, so I threw down fried rice, broccoli, and several things that looked like chicken)….Flash’s goal is to get trim…no, ripped, he says.  I guess the guys who compete in Mr. America better watch out (if they still have that competition).  I think Flash is concerned because his body fat went up 1%…Wow.  Mine went up 5% in the last 20 minutes!  He is showing great restraint, I might add, walking back and forth past the candy on my office coffee table.  I’m impressed.  But I did ask him, because Blobbers need to know, which candy he WOULD eat if he were so inclined…and it’s the plain chocolate Hershey’s miniature that would have his fingerprints all over it.

KJ Can Hit the Curveball  Top of the show tonight, I asked Flash a couple questions, then tossed it out to Kim Jones at the stadium for her nightly report…First question was SUPPOSED to be about A-Rod, but I went with weather instead.  Unflustered, KJ does the latest weather report.  Meanwhile, I kick myself with a steel-toed boot.  Luckily, I finished just before Kim tossed back to me.  And how about Flash flashing his anchorman abilities?!  He transitions from talking about Phil Hughes to throwing it right back to KJ for her thoughts… there’s a Ron Burgundy in there just waiting to come out.

Hey, I’m a Weatherman!  Hope you got to see the weather update at 8:00pm.  I got to stand in front of the huge video wall on set and reference the latest weather radar, blown up on the screen behind me.  I haven’t done the weather since I went on the interview for my first TV job out of college…it was in Eureka, CA…the news director was Bruce Lang…and after I’d done a couple sports reads on camera as an audition, he told me to go stand in front of the weather board and vamp a fake weather forecast for about a minute and a half.  Just spur of the moment, think on your feet, ad-lib and don’t say something stupid…I just goofed around, made a reference to it being so cold that Nanook wouldn’t want to be in Eureka at that time, as I recall…and I guess it all worked out…I got the job…never to do weather again!  Ah, good times…good times.