November 2013
Trophy party marks brilliant end to dazzling season
Premiers new songs, verses in BLOHARD cameo.
Between gigs at a sold-out Carlyle run, John Pizzarelli was able to squeeze in a performance at the BLOHARD trophy party which included some new verses to his Classic Jacoby ELLSbureee (sung to the tune of "Hooray for Hollywood"). To wit:
Jacoby ELLS-Bureee
Hey, pal, I thought that we were family.
Don't tell us you prefer Seattle,
Where each year you'll battle,
Just to finish sixty-nine and ninety-three.
Jacoby ELLS- Bureee
I think you'll want him with a warranty.
Easy to love him when he's not disabled
Or trainer-tabled.
He'll steal all the
bases you want.
But, sports fans, here's the rub -
He's always in the tub.
Jacoby ELLS-Buree...
Pizz also debuted the sure-to-be-a-standard Why'd They Pitch to Papi? ("Isn't it Romantic?")...
Why'd they pitch to Papi?
Change-up down the pipe
With the game damn near complete.
Why'd they pitch to Papi
The next thing Benoit saw
Was Torii Hunter's feet...
Between songs, John also squeezed some new life from a couple of old Carnac bits, namely:
| A: | "The Andromeda Strain" |
| Q: | The only injury that didn't afflict Mark Texiera this year; and |
| . | |
| A: | "Catch 22" |
| Q: | What Will Meyers will do if you hit him 100 fly balls. |
| . | |
| . |
Pizz killing it
The grand finale consisted of a reworked Sweet Caroline, the last verse of which went:
Look at this sight!
People dressed up and happy.
Seems a long time since Bobby V.
Oh, what a night!
With the World Series Trophy.
Since two thousand four, we've now had THREE.
Beards, touching beards
Grow 'em out,
pulling mine, pulling yours!
Sweet Caroline...
Cosgriff, Wertz, Quinn Hit in Giant Part of the Order
Steinberg Closes
Joe Cosgriff kicked off the formal portion of the night's program with an expression of thanks to those who made the evening possible including Red Sox brass; BLOHARDS membership; the Dodgers and their enablers, Time Warner Cable; and Hanrahan and Bailey whose injuries made possible the miracle of Koji.
Expanding on themes he explored at our September lunch, Governor Chris Wertz pronounced the state of Red Sox Nation to be good, notwithstanding a fiscal problem in the form of the enormous debt we all owe to Alex Rodriguez. Wertz was adamant; the man must be allowed to continue doing what he loves, consequences be damned.
Following a John Quinn-moderated set of trivia, Red Sox EVP and Senior Advisor Charles Steinberg took questions from the audience. Spinning tapestries of insight from the merest thread of an inquiry, Dr. Steinberg conducted a lively discourse on such topics as the free agency of Jacoby Ellsbury, the future of Fenway, and his early vision of next year's Opening Day festivities.
Go Figure - Merchandise Moves
No stronger evidence of the giddy euphoria which prevailed can be provided than to note attendees' willingness to purchase heretofore unsaleable BLOHARDS merchandise. In excess of $500 of said merchandise was merchandised, putting the BLOHARDS in position, after considering prior sales accumulated over, oh, the last decade, to remit a check in the amount of $1,000 to the Jimmy Fund, an amount which stands to rise even higher pending a successful liquidation of the Cosgriff Collection (tm) about which, more immediately below.
Ties, Lots of Ties, Priced to Go
The Union League Club having a strict no-tie no-celebrating-your-team's-third-world-championship-in-the-last-decade policy, Joe Cosgriff, BLOHARD Interim VP for Protocol, undertook to provide emergency neckwear for those BLOHARDS not making the sartorial grade. This provision took the form of some fifty-five ties in a glad bag. At evening's end, forty-nine of the ties having gone unneeded, Cosgriff moved to dispose of them, only to be dissuaded by your correspondent who took custody of them and reoffered them for sale on eBay.
They sit there now, as yet unviewed by even a single potential bidder with the vision to imagine checking his or her brother-in-law off the Christmas list for each of the next forty-nine years.
Perhaps you'd care to take a look?
Is it Next Year Already?
Our next luncheon is scheduled for Friday, April 11th. Mark your calendar.
Hot Stove Event
The BLOHARDS will be hosting a gathering for Ben Bradlee, Jr.'s new book, The Kid: The Immortal Life of Ted Williams on January 8th. Stay tuned for more information and venue details. Neither tie nor jacket will be required.
If You Remember Teddy Ballgame...
...we should talk. In advance of our 50th anniversary in 2017, we are soliciting snippets of BLOHARDS' history and stories you might have about luncheons, bus trips, viewing parties, and/or beatings at Yankee Stadium. Either submit them via email or email Joe to make an appointment to have your testimony filmed prior to an upcoming luncheon.
 |
| Flavin Oratin' |
Bring on the magic. Trot out the reward.
The prize for all of those runs that we scored.
It's the Oscar, the Emmy, all rolled into one.
It's Big Papi's earing, the moon, stars and sun.
It's the end o the rainbow, our own pot of gold.
It's three in ten years but it never gets old.
It's the highest of honors. Above all it towers,
It's the World Series Trophy, and by God its ours!
The balance of Flavin's recitiation, consisting of "The Beards of Summer", "Big Papi's Bombs", and "To Be In Love With Baseball" can be found here.
Freeman Gets It All On "Film"
That's a lot of bytes
Photographer Steven Freeman took more than 700 pictures of the event, most of which capture happy attendees with the World Series trophy. These are freely available for download and printing here. Use the password "Fenway" (with a capital F).
Vote Pizz!
Our boy John Pizzarelli is up in a bunch of categories in the latest Jazz Times readers' poll, including Best Guitarist, Best Radio Show, Best Vocalist, and most importantly, co-author of the Best Jazz Book; World on a String. Get out there and stuff that ballot box!
In Other News...
From the Lost & Found Department;
Somebody left a sweet Red Sox beret at the party. If it is/was yours, you should email Julie Killian so she can return it/state her ransom demands.
It's Not Every Day...
That you're happy to have a Sox game cancelled.
Calling All Zapruders...
If you've got any video from the party, can you email Joe? Somebody stole his beret and he's looking for evidence.
No, really. If you've got anything from your phone or camcorder, he'd love a copy. We'll try to enhance and edit what we receive, then put the footage on the website soon.
While we were all at Duke's for game six...
...our new buddy Lea Forant was somewhere else. It doesn't seem she missed us too much.
