[From Tirana, Albania]
Baseball Quiz: Give me the top ten batting average, active, minimum 3,000 plate appearances. Answer below.
Tirana
OK, guys…this is going to be a mess. I brought some notes from after I posted the last one but I’ve been traveling a ton last few days. So call it a free form Bar Chat.
I arrived at 5:30 p.m., Monday, Newark Airport, for my first flight to Paris. It didn’t leave until 9:30 but I’m one of those who likes to get to the airport 3 or 4 days early. This was just four hours, and I headed to my favorite joint in Terminal C, the Jersey Diner, for a good burger and a Coors Light. They also have the best 60s music around…The Shirelles, Leslie Gore, Vito & The Salutations, Rick Nelson…you get the picture.
So my Continental flight to Paree took off on time and I had a window seat next to two very cute French girls. I didn’t have dinner, or anything to drink, according to plan, and it worked. I immediately fell asleep and slept better than I ever have on a 7-hour flight. It helped that the two French girls were on top of me….wait, that didn’t come out right.
So I arrive at Charles de Gaulle Airport (now there’s a man who is underrated among the West. So he was uppity…and not real cooperative during the Cold War…you needed to know how to treat him) and I have six+ hours to kill before flight #2 to Rome, but this is one of the worst airports in the world as far as getting around so the time went fast as I, first, had to get my bags and then go elsewhere to recheck them for Albania.
Now it’s 1:00 p.m., four hours to go, and knowing I’d be in Paris later in this lengthy trip, I decided to get my train tickets into town early. That killed another 20 minutes. Then I saw a little café that said it served crepes…and Kronenbourg…and I’m like, hey, that’s OK.
But this place, attached to the airport Sheraton, had a more expansive menu and breaded veal cutlet…wiener schnitzel… was on it.
Ohh baby! Nothing turns me on like wiener schnitzel. In fact, in all seriousness, I once went to Vienna just for the stuff. [True story. I also had a lot more money then.]
So I’ve gotta tell you, sports fans, but this veal was superb, with fresh green beans [a good French restaurant wouldn’t have it any other way.] I was in Seventh Heaven. And I washed it down with two Kronenbourgs, which made for an interesting breakfast seeing as it was really only 8:00 a.m. New York time. Plus it helped the two waitresses were very cute. I’m heading back later. [For those of you who travel through de Gaulle, it’s above where you get the tickets for the trains.]
OK, next it’s my first Alitalia flight since something like 1968. Just two hours to Rome. On time. Good. Just had water and some crackers. Now I’ve got two hours to kill in Rome before my 9:30 p.m. flight to Tirana.
Rome Airport is OK, except you take lots of buses to get around. And if you ever have to switch planes here, make sure you leave two hours. Stopped in a Ferrari store…very cool, because of the model cars…but didn’t get you anything, Bro. Sorry. I’ll make it up to you.
Next up in this day from hell that could have been far worse, Alitalia flight whoziwhats from Rome to Tirana, Albania. Just a short jaunt across the Adriatic…about 1 hour 20 minutes. It should be like 30 as the plane doesn’t really need to get above 10,000 feet, but there’s something in the regulations about making flights longer than the time it would take a bird to get there.
Alas, I arrive in Albania at around 11:30 p.m., Tuesday. I get my currency, “Lek,” and the bag has arrived safely! [Unlike my last two times in Hong Kong, where it’s been lost for a day.]
Now comes the game of taking a cab. I made the reservations to come here all the way back in November and couldn’t remember if I had asked for a car from the Sheraton to meet me so I looked around and there was no sign that read “The Editor” so it was the old game of telling the first pain in the butt driver, “No!” when approached, “Do you need a taxi?” I have this act down pat after over 30 countries the last 11 years. Look straight ahead, shake your head ‘no’ and go for the number two option.
I’m now outside the entrance and see some normal looking yellow cabs, approach one, a driver gets out, and, no problemo, I’m loaded in. Then he waits to see if he can get someone else going to the Sheraton.
Again, no biggee, except he finds a Belgian couple. After I asked them where they were from, the girl, in the back seat with me (husband up front) tells me and then proceeds to say, “If this is your first time here, be very careful.”
“Have you been here before?” I ask. “No, I just know it’s dangerous.”
“Well I read all the books before coming here. I know it’s not exactly Club Med.”
“Still, don’t go anywhere at night.”
“So what do the two of you do? Why are you here?” I ask. [Meanwhile, the driver, who I know understands some English, is clearly getting a kick out of this.]
“We’re here to deliver an illegal.”
“You mean the guy police escorted off the plane just now?”
“Yes.”
“Oh.” I had all kinds of questions but opted not to ask. I was really just hoping we’d get to the hotel before the bar closed. Alas, we were too late.
So that was my first 36 hours. I proceeded to make sure the Net worked in the hotel room, raided the mini bar and found the local brew, Tirana Beer (1960…Birre Tradicionale Shqiptare… Prodhuar Dhe Ambalazhuar Nga Birra Tirana SH.A….best before 5/10/10…there, now you know what I know). Quite tasty, actually. And as I learned later, doesn’t fill you up.
Now where was I? Or as Admiral Stockdale famously said in the 1992 vice presidential debate, “Who am I, why am I here?”
I slept well Tuesday night, even without the French girls, who I learned after had relatives nearby on the plane, not that this was a Joslyn James movie, but I digress…
After a delicious breakfast buffet at the hotel, complete with chicken nuggets [great touch…McDonald’s should offer this in the morning], I headed out to explore Tirana. I was told the National History museum was a mile down the main road and that it was an easy walk and since it wasn’t raining I went down the hotel driveway and then thought, ‘What the heck am I doing?’ I mean the area in front looked kind of a mess, and the people not much better. But this happens every time I’m in a place like this, or Beirut, and then I realize no one gives a damn about me (a problem I often have back in New Jersey as well, where sometimes I want them to) and I’ve learned a thing or two over the years. Always wear sunglasses so they can’t see that you’re looking all over the place, checking out potential sniper locations.
It was clear that as the hotel guy pointed out, I was on the main street, it was after 10:00 a.m., and crowded with nothing but people like me, sort of. My wallet, emptied of anything important, save about $200 in local currency, was firmly ensconced in the left front pocket.
Heck, the weather was perfect. Not a lot of sun but not raining. It was indeed a mile to the museum so I got there around 10:30 and knew it closed at noon…and didn’t reopen until 5:00…so I had to act fast.
And now…your Cliff Notes version of Albanian history. [I also have a brief outline on my “Hot Spots” link, not that I have anything to do with that one.]
What we now consider Albania was once comprised of the Illyrian states, which then became part of the Roman Empire, 229-169 BC. [This is quick so stay with me.]
The Roman Empire then split apart and Albania became part of the Byzantine Empire.
There are all kinds of maps (good ones) throughout the exhibits and here’s your local language course…free of charge, like everything else on Bar Chat.
Adriatic is…Deti Adriatik…and Ionian is…Deti Jon.
Uh oh…I was scribbling and now I don’t understand, hours and Tirana beers later, what this means.
The agreement between Dhimtir and Raguza…
Dhe sikunder une po betohem per kete dhepo a perforcoj.
Why did I jot this down?
Moving along, you know who was big in Albanian history?
The Kastrioti family, that’s who. The oldest noble family, back in the day.
These guys were real big. The peak of the Kastrioti era (1460ish) was during the time of Gjergj Kastrioti, also known as “Skanderberg.” Remember that name. Every time someone brings it up and you’re drinking a domestic, you need to quaff said ale in one gulp…he’s that big. Of course if his name comes up over here, chances are you’re drinking premium.
As a child, Skanderberg was held hostage by the Ottoman emperor’s court. There, however, he was trained to become an official and he was a great warrior for the Ottomans, gaining the name “Alexander the Great.” Granted, this wasn’t the same Alexander of 1700 years earlier, but Skanderberg was upgraded to the title of ‘beg,’ Skanderbeg, and from 1443-1468 he raised an army that was the biggest of any, save the Ottomans’ army itself.
But he was for Albanian independence and he ended up fighting against the Ottomans. The Lezhe convention, March 2, 1444 (don’t worry, you won’t be quizzed on this part) unified Albania.
Skanderbeg once said of the fight against the Turks and their attempts to convert everyone to Islam:
“I have not brought you liberty. I found it here, among you.”
Goodness gracious. Very profound, Skanderbeg. Wish I had thought of that myself.
Anyway, I’m skipping over a lot but Skanderbeg became the national hero of the place. [He would die of malaria, in case you were wondering, not in battle.] In fact there is a large square in front of the national history museum with a terrific statue of him. A big public works project is going on as I write to glorify the guy almost 600 years later. Plus, in the local paper today, the prime minister, in honoring neighbor Kosovo’s war heroes, cited our guy, Skanderbeg. Now that’s pretty cool.
The rest of Albanian history is dominated by the Ottomans, until 1912, when Albanian patriots declare their independence. Granted, it lasted only a short time because then World War I started, and you all know that the Balkans, of which Albania has always been a prominent member, blew up.
The museum has great photos of this era and it was Ismael Gemali who is father of the independence movement here. The other Balkan states, though, objected and Albanians were forced to emigrate to Turkey (very similar to the situation with the Armenians). Albania then became a battleground for World War I.
Following the ‘war to end all wars,’ that only led to about 55 others, Albania was wracked by extreme poverty.
Enter Ahmet Zogu (1895-1961), who became prime minister, president and then King Zogu (nice trick, if you can pull it off). He led the nation from 1924-1939. A good guy, the people used to say, “He’s Zogood.”
Alas, in 1939, the Italian fascists, seeing that Hitler had taken over Czechoslovakia, decided to cross the Adriatic and invade Albania. They brought terrific pasta and Paul Sorvino sauces with them and soon the Albanian women were slaving away over the stove, while their husbands did what Mob bosses do. Italy’s tinker toy army then passed the time away by eating whatever the Albanian women created.
Ah, but then, Hitler, seeing as how the Italians weren’t doing anything (and, let’s face it, since the de Medicis, the Italians haven’t done a lot, save for skiers Gustavo Thoeni and Alberto Tomba, as well as Sophia Loren), took over Albania, 1943, for himself after first invading Yugoslavia in 1941.
Meanwhile, there was an Albanian resistance movement, a quite good one, kids, with lots of mean looking SOBs from the photos in the museum, as in I wouldn’t be walking down the streets of Tirana with a Hawaiian shirt and a camera draped around my neck had I been deposited in said place back in the day.
So the Albanians fought the Italians from 1939-43 and then the Nazis from 9/43-11/44.
Here’s what’s kind of confusing to the casual observer, however. Part of the resistance was a communist league…but the communists, being communists, didn’t fight with the resistance until the Nazis came in, and, more specifically, until the Nazis invaded the U.S.S.R., which was when the Beatles came up with their hit, “Back in the U.S.S.R.” Or so some would have you believe.
But it was during the war that a magnificent code was developed, and it’s a reason, believe it or not, why I am here. Really, though I’ll explain it more fully in another column I do, the one that I sign.
It’s called “trust” (the promised word). The expression is, “the bowed head can never be beheaded.”
It doesn’t make sense when you first read it, and I’ll explore it more fully as I’ve just gotten here, but to bow your head means you are in supplication. [Bow your heads and pray for God’s blessing.]
But if you are protecting someone, you are defiant. And so it was that after the Italians were replaced by the Nazis, here’s something I never knew. Many Italian soldiers remained behind to fight with the Albanians against the Nazis, and those soldiers and their families were protected by the Albanians! Not one…not a single one…was given up by the Albanian people.
OK, I’ll spill the beans, but if you read that other column, excuse me for repeating this. The Albanians also did not give up a single Jew who sought out Albania for protection. I swear to God it’s true, as Holocaust officials have themselves so stated. It’s really an amazing story.
So Albania’s tale is a complicated one, as is everything else about the region. I’ll have further observations next BC, and also that other column. I’ve hired out a driver for Thursday to take me around and I’m here through Saturday.
—
–I wrote up the last Bar Chat, Sunday night, so didn’t have a chance to peruse all of the columns written on the Masters. Since Bar Chat is all about building archives for future books on the bigger items of the day, even if they are written by others, some final thoughts of golf’s great event.
Mike Lupica / New York Daily News
“Now (Mickelson) has won another Masters, three for him, which means he has one less green jacket in his closet than Woods and one less than the great Palmer. Now Phil Mickelson reminds all the people who think golf doesn’t matter when Tiger Woods isn’t winning that there can actually be a better story, even at this Masters, than Woods. And sometimes the story is still one of the best and oldest in sports.
“Good guys wins.
“The headlines and the back pages had belonged to Woods, making his return to golf, and major golf, as major as you get. It was Woods’ Masters when he came out of the box playing the way he did on Thursday, with a 68 that could have been better and it stayed that way until Mickelson took the spotlight away from him with a stretch of Saturday golf that will be remembered, those three holes where he came within a couple of inches from making three eagles in a row.
“Woods was still there, you bet. Lee Westwood, who comes up short now in majors the way Mickelson used to come up short, was right there, still had the lead going into yesterday’s final round. So it was him and Mickelson in the final pairing, from which the winner always seems to come no matter how much drama and fireworks there are on Sunday afternoon, every time in the last 20 years except one.”
Rick Reilly / ESPN.com
“ ‘This is way beyond golf,’ said caddy Jim ‘Bones’ Mackay, who’s been with Mickelson for 19 years. ‘This is about a guy who loves his wife. This is about a guy who had a really hard year. Twenty years from now, nothing will compare with this. This is his greatest win, by far. Because of Amy, because of his mom, everything. God bless all those women that go through what Amy and Phil’s mom have gone through. Because I’ve seen it and it ain’t easy.’
“ ‘Of all the majors I’ve been involved in,’ said Mickelson’s coach, Butch Harmon, ‘be they with Tiger, Phil, anybody, this is the most emotional by far. This year has been a big, big strain on him. His game has suffered. What he really wanted was to be home with his family.’
“You figured a guy who came into this Masters having played only seven tournaments this year – and never placing better than eighth in any of them – would have a snowball’s chance. But something melted in him when his wife and three kids showed up for the first time in nearly a year on Tuesday.
“ ‘He just had this peace to him that I haven’t seen in awhile,’ said Bones.
“Amy was still hurting, so she wasn’t able to come to the golf course, but it was close enough. Each morning, Mickelson would take his oldest, Sophie, to a local coffee shop and play chess for an hour. At night, the whole brood would watch dumb movies. Mickelson came through that door each night after work like it was Christmas morning. You don’t know how dispiriting it is to come home after a long day to a strange, empty house. Come to think of it, maybe Tiger knows.
“ ‘It’s been tough,’ Mickelson said. ‘The meds that she’s been taking have been very difficult and she didn’t feel well and she doesn’t have energy and she’s not just up for a lot. But to have her here, man…’
“Amy Mickelson is the kind of walking rainbow that could put a smile on a mortician’s face, so when she showed up, everything started looking up. The golf gods started raining favors down on Mickelson’s curly hair. On Saturday, golf balls started going into tiny little cups from great distances. Sunday, it got even better.
“At 9: ball hits tree, bounces back into fairway. Par.
“At 10: ball hits tree, bounces back into playable territory. Par.
“At 11: ball hits fan, bounces into short, happy grass. Par.
“ ‘Got an assist there,’ Mickelson said.
“Did the guy say anthing?
“ ‘Ouch?’ Mickelson guessed.
“The big lefty took it from there.
“At 12: looked into his ‘book of reads’ for the 20-foot putt – the green-studying book that Bones and he spent ‘days and days’ putting together on a trip this year to Augusta – and buried it. Birdie.
“At 13: pulled off the most audacious, swashbuckling shot of his life – from the right woods, off pine straw, through two trees (4 feet apart), over Rae’s Creek, from 207 yards, to 3 feet. Two-putt birdie.
“At 15: smashed an 8-iron from 205 yards – yes, 8-iron to 15 feet for a 2-putt birdie.
“Suddenly, the guy who’d spent a career being eaten alive by Woods had left him 5 shots behind. It was only a matter of lag for par, 10-foot birdie and get the Kleenex ready.
“ ‘I saw Amy just before I putted,’ Mickelson said. ‘That was so great, I mean, I didn’t know if she would be there. To walk off the green and share that with her is just very, very emotional. We’ll remember this the rest of our lives.’
“Contrast that with Woods, who spent the week reverting to form – acerbic answers, sprayed swear words, and curt interviews. He finished fourth, which shows that the golf game is very close. The personality makeover, though, looks like it needs some work.
“Soon enough, though, Woods will win tournaments like this, pass Nicklaus, and order will be restored in the universe. But for this one Sunday in a flower-stuffed pocket of Georgia, the good husband, the good son, the good man actually got rewarded.”
Steve Politi / Star-Ledger
“So a tournament that started with questions about infidelity and mistresses ended with a simple show of affection between loved ones who had been through a much different ordeal.
“The parallels between Tiger Woods and his shattered family will be made, but really, the moment near the 18th green made it easy to forget about that. That was the best part about it.
“TMZ won’t have much interest in this story. Mickelson stepped away from golf to be with his wife during her treatments. He missed tournaments and practice rounds. His game suffered.
“He arrived at Augusta with just one top-10 finish this season, bur for the first time, he had something else. His family. It was the first time everyone had traveled with him to a tournament since the cancer diagnosis last spring.
“They watched movies and played chess. His daughter Amanda fractured her wrist roller skating on Saturday, so on the night before the final round, Mickelson did what fathers do. He stayed up until 1 a.m. waiting for the results of the X-ray.”
–Good to see Jim Nantz comment after the Masters that he was upset at Tiger’s language; actually pissed now as opposed to the past because Tiger said he would change.
–Chris Rock, passing along advice to Tiger if a certain someone comes into play.
“You never know when Alicia Keys might give you that look. What are you going to do? You’re powerless. He’s like, ‘This is worth getting hit with another golf club.’”
–Ben Roethlisberger was, as expected, let off the hook by District Attorney Fred Bright, who admitted he couldn’t ascertain what happened behind the closed bathroom door, though the 20-year-old accuser was bruised and cut. Simply, Bright said, “We don’t prosecute morals. We prosecute crimes.”
The Steelers’ quarterback is far from out of the woods, though, as both Commissioner Roger Goodell (who met with Roethlisberger afterwards) and the Steelers organization are weighing separate penalties.
–I forgot to note last time that my main man, Derrick Coleman, he of “whoopty-damn-do” fame, filed for bankruptcy. He made more than $87 million during his 15-year NBA career, but now owes creditors $4.7 million with but $1 million in assets. So add him to the Antoine Walker Ch. 11 All-Star squad.
–Mark R. said that if the NCAA forces his Notre Dame Fighting Irish to change their name, a la the North Dakota Fighting Sioux, then Mark, will, err….actually, Mark and other ND alum aren’t the least bit afraid this will happen, but it is kind of funny. Can’t wait to get home myself and try on my North Dakota Fighting Siouxwear.
–So there are stray dogs here in Tirana, just like in Bucharest, and it goes without saying that stray dogs are the smartest animals alive. Talk about a survival instinct. I mean these dogs are crossing six lanes of traffic down the main boulevard, looking both ways and such, and no one gets hurt! [At least when I was watching.]
–Tiger is so screwed when he gets to his next event, regardless of where it is. At best, the crowd will largely be silent. At worst, it could get real ugly, especially if he starts flinging clubs around. We will no longer tolerate such behavior.
–I see my Mets continue to suck, now 2-6. Let the record show I told you this would be so.
–China’s GDP rose 11.9% in the first quarter. Oops, that’s for my other column. Sorry.
–Florida’s Jorge Cantu set a new record with a hit and an RBI in each of his first nine games. Very cool. We can now project he will extend this to 144 straight.
–Butler’s Gordon Hayward has opted to head out early for the draft, but, he did not hire an agent so he still has until May 8 to decide otherwise. Stay just one more year, Gordon!
–Lastly, Wake Forest has a new coach, Colorado’s Jeff Bzdelik. Wake Nation is furious, but the key to me is can he keep the recruits…a great class. If he can, who the hell knows. If he can’t…then as Phil W. noted, the question will be who will win more? Wake basketball or the Mets’ Oliver Perez? It could be close.
Top 3 songs for the week 4/14/79: #1 “What A Fool Believes” (The Doobie Brothers) #2 “I Will Survive” (Gloria Gaynor) #3 “Knock On Wood” (Amii Stewart…music getting worse and worse…your editor, a junior at Wake at this point, is going nuts)…and…#4 “Sultans Of Swing” (Dire Straits… has not held up well) #5 “Music Box Dancer” (Frank Mills …just freakin’ shoot me) #6 Tragedy” (Bee Gees…or hang me) #7 “Reunited” (Peaches & Herb…pulling out ’45) #8 “Heart Of Glass” (Blondie….AGHHH!!!!) #9 “Stumblin’ In” (Suzi Quatro & Chris Norman…I’ve moved on…remains have been divvied up among friends and family) #10 “Lady” (Little River Band…but suddenly he stirs…he’s alive!!! Music lives, thanks to these Aussies)
Baseball Quiz Answers: Top ten batting average, active (entering 2010).
1. Albert Pujols .3337
2. Ichiro .3328
3. Todd Helton .3280
4. Vladimir Guerrero .3213
5. Matt Holliday .3182
6. Derek Jeter .3172
7. Manny Ramirez .3132
8. Magglio Ordonez .3120
9. Miguel Cabrera .3112
10. David Wright .30826
11. Chipper Jones .3075
Next Bar Chat, Monday…from Paris (brief stay before I head to Beirut)
