Tagged: Yankees

The Blob is…A-Live!

Hey!  For those interested, I’m venturing into previously uncharted waters…for me, not for Kimberly Jones…I’m taking a page out of her playbook and doing a live chat tonight after the postgame show (blog entry continued under chat window).

<a href=”http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php?option=com_mobile&task=viewaltcast&altcast_code=f0c1c6bc16&#8243; >Bob Lorenz live chat</a>

So, enjoy the series finale between the Yankees and Braves on YES (preceded by your viewing of the Batting Practice Show and the Tri-State Ford Pregame, of course).  Then, right after I sign off the WB Mason Postgame, I’ll head down to my office and internet guru Kevin Sullivan and I will do the live chat.

Until then, I will be mentally preparing myself for all of your interesting and intriguing questions… and even if they’re not…they’ll still be welcome…but I’m SURE they will be!

Talk to ya later tonight…

New Edition Addition

Let’s see…what shall I do while I’m waiting out this rain delay…on June 18…ridiculous. I could build an ark…I might need one to get home tonight WHENEVER this game is played/ends… I could add pontoons to my SUV…I could go for a quick swim and do some laps (on the street, which is flooded) ….

But you know what? I think I’m going to sign up for an online meteorology course so I can be certified by either the National Weather Assocation and get the seal from the American Meteorological Society…soon to be appearing with his own show on The Weather Channel…ME! I’m quite sure I’ve never done this many radar and weather updates on game days…sheesh.

Candy Karma: The timing of YES promos kingpin John Brueckner could not be any better! I walked into his office today to offer him one of the sugary twists of goodness that are donuts from Coffee An’ Donut…and he returned the favor. JB reached into one of the cabinets in his office and procured two of the following tubes of candy….

JapaneseM&Ms.jpg
John, from what I understand, is a fairly avid Blob reader, and when he recently walked into a store and saw this M&M-type candy from Japan, he said he knew he had to buy it for me to add to the collection of candy on my office coffee table. It’s called Meiji Marble Chocolate… and it will be in the rotation JUST IN TIME for John Flaherty’s return to the studio next Friday and Saturday for the Yankees-Mets Subway Series, Round 2! Oh, Johnny My Boy is gonna be delighted to hear about that, let me tell ya! Last time around, he was not able to keep his hand out of the bowl of M&M’s…now we add some new ones?! Lookout people. Can’t wait to see what happens. Blame it on Brueckner, I say.

Meanwhile, I just saw a Corolla float by my office window….

Pics From Off The Grid  Now, while The Blob is for “musings from the set”, it frequently veers into my office, the control room, the hallways, highways and byways of the YES Network studios…so, I know Blobbers won’t mind me going off the grid to show you a couple pics from Monday night’s Alzheimer’s benefit hosted by Michael Kay and Joe Girardi at the Grand Central Oyster Bar.  Michael and Joe deserve a lot of credit for their heavy involvement in raising funds to fight Alzheimer’s and helping families provide caregivers for their loved ones who are afflicted.  PR guru John Cirillo was kind enough to e-mail the following when Flash, Leiter and me commandeered the podium as auctioneers…please note:  the pic on the left is about the only time you’ll ever see me hold Al & John’s attention at the same time.  And the one on the right proves that, when Flash speaks, everyone listens.

LEITER LAUGHS AT GIRARDI AUCTION.JPGLORENZ IN ACTION AT AUCTION.JPG

Perfecto

OK, so the weather in the Bronx isn’t perfect baseball weather, but maybe A.J. Burnett can channel his inner Boomer and get back on the winning track…doesn’t have to be perfect, just the A.J. of his first couple starts.

wells_blob_051709.jpgBy the way, I hope you got the chance to see our feature on the 11th anniversary of David Wells’ perfect game on the Tri-State Ford Pregame.  Big kudos to segment producer EJ Gentile and editor Joe Calo for putting it together…and web wunderkind Joe Auriemma for doing the interview of Boomer…great stuff that really captured the build-up of what turned out to be one of the great moments in modern Yankees history. And I’d forgotten that David Cone actually spoke to Wells late in the game (albeit briefly)…that took some guts!  That must have been a heckuva celebration that night with Coney and Boomer…as David said on the BP show…it was, what he and Wells remembered about it!

Out to Lunch  Once again, pregame producer Bill Boland comes up with a big hit in the clutch.  Between the 2nd and 3rd segments of the pregame today, I asked him what he was doing for lunch…usually, several people in the control room order out…Bill mentioned they were making a special trip to Panera, and the order was yet to be made…I heard him say the words “Sierra Turkey”, and I was in…I don’t even quite know what it is, but I get the feeling it’s gonna be just what the doctor ordered…I’ll let ya know…

DELIGHTFUL!  That’s me summing up in one word the deliciousness that is the Panera Sierra Turkey sandwich…But to get a bit more in-depth, here’s what Boles added when we were talking about it…”the chipotle mayo makes it great…maybe the onions add a bit to it…or the Asiago cheese bread…all of it together, really.”  The combination danced across my palate, almost whispering in a friendly tone…”Bite me”.  No wait, that’s not right.  Let’s just say Boles and I both enjoyed the Sierra Turkey quite a bit.

Channeling the Scooter

9:05pm  I just got back up to the set, in case there’s a rain delay (no, that’s NOT any sort of jinx!)  and when I told the studio guys that the gum story about Paul was in the Blob, I was reminded that it was Chris Luppe (Looper) who gets credit for a Mo-like save…unable to get to my office for a new piece of gum, Looper was kind enough to dip into his own gum stock and give me a new piece.  Meanwhile, Paulie wandered off to another part of the studio while I continued to berate him about what a bad teammate he is and what a great teammate Looper is…Ah, good times!

By the way, Flash’s comment during the game about me being very familiar with sports bars was very funny, even though Michael painted it as taking a shot at me…Let’s just say Flash has spent enough time around me to know that, if I was in a sports bar, I would not order plain chicken fingers and a tall soda!
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A great Friday night to ya…Because of the potential of a rain delay and a longer night for the crew here in the studio, Italian food was catered in…(thanks to whoever pays the bill at corporate!)…I threw down some Caesar salad, penne, a few chunks o’ sausage and peppers, and a little bit o’ grilled chicken.  But I saved the best for last…a sweet, delicious, lightly dusted cannoli!  When I go back upstairs for the 4th inning cut-in, I’m gonna check to see if there are any left…and if there are, God help anybody whose fingers are anywhere near those things!  Because I will consume those along with anything else that’s in or near the box.

On a related note, I just heard Paul O’Neill say there’s a fight for carrot cake in the media dining area at the Stadium…no match for the cannoli here and the bodily harm I might do if there’s one left and someone else making a run for it!

Now for the Gum Story  Two nights ago, I went up to the set early to pre-tape a segment of the Pregame show…now, this might sound a little weird, but usually I chew some gum prior to doing something like that…freshen the breath, loosen up the ‘ol jaw, I guess…and because I believe in conserving and economizing…I might just pop the gum onto its wrapper (I chew Stride), tape the segment of 4 or 5 minutes, then retrieve the same piece of gum from the wrapper and “re-purpose” it.  It’s still fresh, isn’t it?

Anyway, that night I put the gum way off to the side of the top of the anchor desk so it wouldn’t be seen on the wide shot.  But it could still be seen.  So Paul Ferrigno, the man on Camera 3, hopped over and tossed the gum into the trash.  (INSERT SOUND OF CAR WITH BRAKES SCREECHING AND THEN CRASHING INTO A POLE HERE!)  I looked at Paul and said in mock anger, “Dude!  Why did you throw out that gum?!  You didn’t even ask me!  You just threw it out!”  There was momentary concern and confusion on Paulie’s face…either that, OR he was tuning me out and thinking hard about what to have for dinner that night…but there was a pause and a look of concern.  However, he quickly realized that I was kidding (I, like Will Ferrell, a fellow Trojan, believe that mock anger makes for good comedy).  Anyway, I think the rest of the studio crew got a few good laughs out of me dogging Paulie.  Still, I’m gonna make him buy me, like, a $100 worth of gum.  He just doesn’t know it yet, unless he reads this!

Let’s Go To The Tape  A somewhat kinder, gentler moment came the same night when I walked out to the set and noticed a fresh piece of tape on the set next to the microphones I wear on my lapel.  (I wear one wireless plus another hardwired one as a backup).  The small square of tape, usually about 2 or 3 inches square, is to secretly secure the two mike wires inside my suit jacket so they don’t pop out on camera…that would be unsightly, ungentlemanly and very un-GQ…I asked aloud, in a delighted tone, “Hey, who gave me the new tape?”  It could have been Paul, or Cam 2 operator Chris Luppe, or even lights out light man George Greczylo…or perhaps even prompter operator Terry Drugan, Esq., if he’s feelin’ frisky…But the answer was none of the above…it was audio man Jim Rankowitz.  Good job, Jimmy!  And I was so delighted that, do you know what he did the next night I came in?  There was a fresh piece of tape (like yellow duct tape) on which Jim had written “Fresh Tape”.  That’s a pro…good stuff.  I see a tin and gonic, his favorite…courtesy of the Blob, in his future. 

Grab a Tiger by the Tail

9:35pm  As promised, here is the answer to the new Blob office bowl o’ chocolates pop quiz:  The most popular chocolate among the mini Butterfinger, Baby Ruth and Crunch is….
BABY RUTH!  Running a less than close 2nd place…Crunch.  karinct is absolutely right about the chocolately goodness (or lack thereof) of the Nestles chocolate, especially vs. the Hershey’s chocolate.  And running a very distant 3rd…Butterfinger.  They overwhelmed the half-emptied bowl…and because I didn’t want them to be all by themselves and lonely…I ate about 8 of them…you’ll see them on the WB Mason Postgame tonight…a couple will be in my 3rd chin, and when my top button pops off my jacket, you’ll know where the others went!
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As I sit here preparing to watch the Yankees-Tigers wrap their series in Detroit, with the Yankees potentially leaving town taking two of three, my thoughts are re-directed to grabbing a tiger of my own by the tail …

It never ceases to amaze my how two people can read exactly the same thing and come to completely different conclusions about what was written. I refer to last night’s Blob, Listen To The Man With Lots of Gas. I urge you to read it and then see with which commenter you agree (and, by the way, I appreciate ALL comments … freedom of opinion!)

d.schilero said, “I think you’re missing something here – when you WIN you have fun –
when you lose it is not fun – very simple. Yankee fans want to win!
What I feel is missing is not taking each at bat seriously – that means
going up and THINKING about how they can hit to make something happen.
I realize you are not going to get a homerun every time you bat but so
many times all they needed was a fly ball – make contact. That is what
the old, winning Yankees always did – they knew how to make things
happen. Also what a lot of people are also missing is that the league
has changed and there are other teams that are better than before – it
is not just the Yankees and Red Sox and there is also no guarantee that
there are going to be two teams from the East in the playoffs. So
please don’t minimize things by saying they just have to have fun!”

fran0322 said, “Bob, I agree with you about this team needing to relax and have
fun. But the newspapers and talk radio personalities make every loss
seem like a major crisis and a lot of the fans just buy into it. It is
a long season and people have to realize that teams lose games.
Everyone just needs to calm down.”

Now, here’s the deal. I think if you read that Blob, and the comments, you know I agree with fran0322. d.schilero brings up some great points in the mid-section about having to have better at-bats, making contact, making things happen. I agree. But I in NO WAY minimized their problems by suggesting they have fun, as if that would cure all their ills. It won’t.

Let me see if I can draw a comparison. If you had a job where everybody around you beat you down and yelled at you EVERY DAY and told you how bad you were at your job versus a job where you DIDN’T have to hear that every single day, where those around you didn’t panic and scream, but gave you some latitude to do your job and work things out … which job would YOU prefer? And at which job do you think you’d be more productive and have better results? I think the answer is pretty obvious, no? 

When it’s made a simple as “winning is fun and losing is no fun”… well, of course that’s the case. Who likes to lose? But, no team is going to go 162-0. It’s just reality. So, after some losses where your team is brutal, you kick ’em in the can … when they lose a hard-fought game, you don’t. You don’t hand-wring and yell and point fingers if they give an honest effort.  There are some of those games, too. But, I get the impression that, no matter what kind of loss it is, there are some fans smashing furniture and kickin’ housecats in their misery (figuratively speaking, not literally … I hope).

I really hope this Blob clarifies what I mean. If not, fire away … again, freedom of opinion!

Now, some housekeeping
For those wondering if writer/researcher/web sensation Glenn Giangrande watched “Groundhog Day” in the allotted week’s time I gave him, the answer is a resounding yes. Glenn watched it and said he enjoyed it, although I don’t think it made his top 10 list. Meanwhile, from one of my first Blobs, the studio crew at that time DID watch “Jeepers Creepers,” but as yet has not screened “Jeepers Creepers 2”, although spurred on by this Blob, perhaps they will.

And I added some new chocolates into the rotation on my office coffee table. This past week I filled the bowl previously occupied with Hershey’s Miniatures (Krackel is the favorite) with the delectable trio of mini Butterfinger, Baby Ruth and Nestle Crunch bars. So, once again, pop quiz … which of those three was the favorite? The answer later tonight in Wednesday’s Blob, Part Deux …

Diamond and the Rough

Pregame’s over … time to get Blobbin’. No interesting musings from the set tonight, really … a rather quiet night in the studio, despite the fact that we did a little pre-game overtime because of the opening-game ceremony at the New K in KC. Amazing that the Yankees are involved in four season openers this year…Baltimore, KC, next vs. the Rays at the Trop, and then home to open the new stadium. They are also opening a new car wash and a new laundromat in the Bronx.  Not true … I just made that up (could ya guess?!)

I gotta admit, I’m doing a little back and forth between the 2 TVs in my office. Yankees-Royals on the left, and The Masters on the right. The little tourney in Augusta holds a special place in my heart … take ya back to 1990 … I was covering the Masters for the TV station I worked for in West Palm Beach, Fla. We had a bunch of golfers who lived in the PB area that we followed. Anyway, I work from Tuesday to Sunday, and on that Sunday, I find out that I was one of the lucky few media members to win the lottery and get the chance to play Augusta the next day. So, I called my very pregnant wife, who was still about three weeks away from her due date, and mumbled something about having to play the holy mecca of golf.  She understood and she doesn’t even play golf … very cool. I won’t give you the gory details (seven 3-putts, guess I just did), but I did birdie the 9th, and went bogey, par, bogey through Amen Corner. Got home late Monday night and about 19 hours later, my son, Tyler, was born. Timing is everything. It was a very, very, very good week.

Ron Burgundy I Now Have Even More In Common

Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t Ron Burgundy have numerous trophies & awards on one of the shelves in his office that smells of rich mahogany?  Can’t remember clearly, but on Sunday night, I was fortunate enough to win the Emmy for Best Anchor – Sports at the NY Emmys, one of 13 garnered by the YES Network.  I tell you this not to blow my own horn but to tell you there are 2 huge reasons for my good fortune…The first is that I have the pleasure of working with some great people in the studio that support me and make my job very easy.  Forgive the litany of names this once, but I’d like to give credit where credit is due…Studio producers Bill Boland, Jared Boshnack and Troy Benjamin; Directors Michael Cooney and John Purcell; in the studio with me, cameramen Chris Luppi and Paul Ferrigno;  lighting George Greczylo; prompter Terry Drugan, Esq., and in research & development, Jeff Quagliata, Glenn Giangrande and Brandon Shapiro…and let me just fire off a few more names…Muggsy, Megan, Ryan, Cam, Lee, Ed, Scotty, Rick, Pearl, Fitz, Rebecca, Paul, the other Bob… gosh, if I missed anybody else in or near the control room, let me know and I’ll mention you in a future Blob.  And, of course, I think Michael, Kenny, Flash, David, Al, Paul and Kim are the best on-air partners in the biz…And I think equally of the Nets’ crew, featuring Ian, Michelle, Jim, Marv and Mike.  Thanks to them all. 

Second & Equally Important  The other reason for my good fortune is you, the viewers, and all the new Blobbers out there.  It is not lost on me that, if you were not watching, we would not have jobs…or maybe they’d let us in the studio but we’d be talking to no one and working our hardest for no reason.  All the people I mentioned and more, give it our all every night so that you will continue to tune in, and maybe you’ll tell 2 friends, and they’ll tell 2 friends, and so on and so on and so on…(Remember that shampoo commercial?!)  Anyway, you get my drift…thanks very much.

OK, Now On With The Show!  The curtain rises on a new era Friday night, the exhibition opening of the new Yankee Stadium.  It’s kinda cool that we’re all going to be a part of it.  Think of all the stories we’ve heard from folks who were around when the original stadium opened in 1923.  One day, we’ll all be saying how WE were witness to the opening of the new cathedral.  Hope you’ll join us Friday night for the pregame from the field, and then the Yankees vs. the Cubs after that…and then a postgame…you know the drill.  Until then, keep on Blobbin’…