Vida

Among the players from my childhood who I remember, there is Vida Blue.

Looking up his stats, he had one of his best years (other than his 1971 Cy Young/MVP year) with the Giants in 1978.  It was one of this 6 All-Star appearance years, and led the Giants pitching staff in wins with 18.

Later his career brought him to TV and radio, doing pre or post games shows with the Giants, and he was usually paired with Bill Laskey, who was a teammate and close friend of his.  You could see their friendship during TV appearances and  hear it on the air when they did radio together.

I’ve never met the man, but from what I saw and heard of him, and from everyone who did know him, he seemed like a genuine nice guy, always friendly and smiling.

As Marty Lurie said to open his pregame show this morning, “We’ve lost a good one.”

Rest in Peace, Vida Blue.

Roller Coaster

They were right:  this is the best Marvel film since Endgame.

I still like Shang-Chi a little bit more, but I’ll give credit where credit is due.

As my nephew said, the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy is as good as the Captain America trilogy, it holds up as it’s own sub story.

It’s no secret that this subset of the MCU  is my favorite.

This movie was an emotional roller coaster from start to finish, mostly stemming from the story of Rocket.

Just when you think the story is going to throw you into total sadness it comes back to an action or comedy or drama scene, shifting how you feel at that moment.

There were great moments throughout the movie, including the two credits scenes, and even the imagery during the credits themselves.

There’s a couple of great cameos in this one, too.

Highly recommended.  Go see it!