[From Beirut, Lebanon…just arrived]
Baseball Quiz: Give the top ten in career RBI. Answer below.
Well, it’s Sunday morning, and here once again is your editor. Had to do something early because I have no idea what the next 24 hours will bring. I was supposed to go to Rome, then Paris, today, but that’s obviously not happening thanks to Mother Nature spewing her guts out over in Iceland. So I rescheduled to fly to Istanbul and then Beirut on Turkish Air and in a few hours I’ll go to the airport here in Tirana, Albania to see if this is possible. If I could get to Istanbul, I’d at least have some options, including staying there for a few days if necessary. If I get to Beirut, all the better, but I could have major problems getting home next week.
If I get to the airport here in Tirana and nothing’s happening, well, then I’m staying in Albania another few days it would appear. In all seriousness, I’m thinking if the volcano issue doesn’t clear up for awhile, and imagine the backlog when it finally does, I might try and head to Dubai since there are a lot of flights out of there. But then there’s the money issue….
Just saw the baseball scores from Saturday…
So the Rockies’ Ubaldo Jimenez pitched the franchise’s first no-hitter…18 years. Us Mets fans marvel we haven’t had one, ever. 48 years and counting. Some now believe that if we ever do get a no-no, it’s a sign of the Apocalypse. I’ll certainly be getting my papers together in short order should this happen.
Tim Lincecum continues to amaze…now 3-0, 0.90 ERA, and he went 3 for 4 at the plate in his last start with 3 RBI. As Ronald Reagan would have said, ‘Not bad…not bad at all.’
The Mets won in 20 innings, 2-1, at St. Louis as Reyes, Francoeur and Bay all went 0 for 7. But the Cards were 1 for 18 with runners in scoring position. Talk about sucking wind!
The Orioles are off to another great start…1-11. Oakland is
9-4?! Good gawd.
You know who I get a kick out of? Women like Kim Kardashian. Here Reggie Bush dumps her and she’s able to call up Cristiano Ronaldo and hook up with him…just jet off to meet the guy in Madrid. You’ve gotta respect that. Granted, Ronaldo is one of the true jerks on the planet, but as for Kardashian, sorry, girls, close your eyes….Hey, guys…is that a body or what?! [I forgot how much of it is real, though.]
OK…the above was then…this is now…and for starters the baseball stats above are of course out of whack after Sunday’s play, Oakland now being 9-5 and Baltimore 2-11. The Mets also now have just 13 hits in 29 innings as they fall to 4-8. My boys are strong, real strong.
Obviously you can see from the header I made it to Beirut early Monday morning. I was told at the hotel in Tirana nothing was flying out but I thought if Turkish Airlines can make it in, Istanbul has nothing to do with the ash cloud. So I got to the airport and, sure enough, there was a little crowd outside, waiting for the lone flight of the day out of Tirana, my plane.
Yippee! And the staff at Turkish Air gave me an exit row seat. I also learned that going through security at Tirana is a joy, especially if you’re a male, because I mean to tell you, I thought a Miss Universe pageant had broken out. One of the guards would have been crowned, the other, should Miss Universe not be able to perform her duties, would have assumed the role and the world, nay, the Universe, would have been all the better for it.
Next it was to the bar and a local brew, Korca…quite good. Picture the poor staff had no traffic coming through so I tipped them large. [Hell, I tip large regardless. I’m assuming I get some kind of credit when I head out in the evenings in the Afterlife. “Editor, we’ve been waiting for you! No need to tip here. You’re covered!” “That’s good, because they always say you can’t take your money with you, and you know what? They were right.”]
So I get to Istanbul, my bag has been checked through to Beirut, and I have some time to kill. No stories on this segment. Things just worked out. I’ve been to Istanbul for extended stays twice before but not in about six years and I was amazed at the diversity of the crowd in what has become a huge airport. There were a ton of Japanese and Chinese tourists that hadn’t been here in size before. They are funny to observe. They really do stand out as being students of Tourism 101 wherever they are. As for the Brits, you never saw a sloppier group in your life. They always dress like total slobs. [Fun to drink with, though.]
Next it was my late night Turkish Air flight to Beirut. Picture perfect. On time around midnight, my hotel has a desk at arrivals so you don’t have to haggle with cabbies, and this is one place it’s best not to, seeing as you don’t know which of about 40 tribal factions they are a member of. [“You making fun of the Druze?” “No, no…I meant where can I get brews? Brews.”] And upon check-in at the hotel, I was given a spectacular view overlooking the Mediterranean and the new square that memorializes where Rafik Hariri was assassinated five years ago, which was the last time I was in Beirut.
So after a brief night’s sleep I want to pound out some other notes and clear up the Bar Chat file as best I can.
I talked about my adventure in Albania last Thursday for that other column I write but to fill in a few blanks, I hired out an English-speaking driver to take me into the countryside and over to the Adriatic. It turned out to be a long day, but fulfilled my wishes, except it was raining at the beach and so didn’t have a beer there. Elton, the driver, and I talked about everything, from politics to women and everything in between. Cool guy.
For starters, longtime readers may recall when I was in Bulgaria I hired out this guy, Tony, the stud soccer player, who told me about the match-fixing in his country, which was funny because about two years later a scandal erupted across Europe in this regard, mostly at the lower levels of the sport, and in countries like Bulgaria and Romania.
So I mention to Elton that I heard matches in this area were fixed and he couldn’t stop laughing. Another driver later on told me it’s so bad, the top team in Albanian football has won ten straight years (of course I had to then get a shirt…everyone likes a winner!) because it is simply preordained. I told Elton that in the U.S. we’d assume the owner of the top club is “living large.”
In fact, the fixing of the matches is so blatant that everyone still goes to the game even though you basically know the final score ahead of time. “When it gets to 3-0, we leave,” Elton conceded. “We probably should change this system.”
Ah, thus is the Balkans, mafia central, that’s for sure. Italy?
Pshaw. The Mob there is little league compared to the Balkan gangs that I’ve observed. I saw lots of mobsters just at my hotel in Tirana. The crews would hang out in the lobby and then the boss would come down, always with a valet type guy to hold his coat, and the others would go scurrying. It was quite comical. As for the women going up the elevator…I’ll leave that to your imagination. On a serious note, though, you really do feel sorry for the good people who do the right thing and yet will struggle most of their lives. Me hiring a driver out gave that person a good pay day, but they are few and far between.
Pshaw. The Mob there is little league compared to the Balkan gangs that I’ve observed. I saw lots of mobsters just at my hotel in Tirana. The crews would hang out in the lobby and then the boss would come down, always with a valet type guy to hold his coat, and the others would go scurrying. It was quite comical. As for the women going up the elevator…I’ll leave that to your imagination. On a serious note, though, you really do feel sorry for the good people who do the right thing and yet will struggle most of their lives. Me hiring a driver out gave that person a good pay day, but they are few and far between.
Albania is 70% Muslim so it’s conservative, but I heard a funny story. A group of women from the Netherlands came down to the Adriatic and proceeded to do what they do in the rest of Europe…take their tops off. Well the authorities ban such behavior, but the police on the beach really didn’t know how to handle it, and, well, it was kind of fun for all the guys so over the course of their stay, the women became quite the attraction.
The Albanian flag is interesting. The black double-headed eagle on red is the most menacing looking national flag in the world (ever since we disposed of Nazi Germany). But the symbol goes back to at least the days of Skanderbeg in the 1400s, so as Tony Soprano would say, “Whaddya gonna do?” I know what I did. Got me a t-shirt, that’s what I did. Next time I’m walking through a mean looking alley at night, I’ll just put that baby on and part the crowd. “Wohh, stay away from that dude, know what I’m sayin’?”
I forgot to note that there are a lot of mentions of Mother Teresa in Albania. She was an Albanian nun before doing her thing in Calcutta. So while the country is mostly Muslim, it’s Mother Teresa International Airport. And my hotel was next to Mother Teresa Square. The sister be rockin’!
What else…beers were downright cheap in Tirana. $3.00 in the bars outside the hotel and $4.00 in the hotel itself, which these days is a deal.
Hey, Bro. Guess what they do with the speed bumps in the towns of Albania? The locals rip them up as soon as they are laid down. [My brother, managing editor of a local paper back home, has been dealing with this issue. He’s also a Gov. Christie supporter in terms of sacrifice and budget cuts so his editorials aren’t winning him a lot of fans among, say, the teachers union. So it looks like the brothers will have to go out for some adult beverages upon my return to give him a break.]
Of course I don’t go to any new countries without asking about the wildlife. Albania supposedly has lots of wolves, and some bear. No man-eating tigers…and no word on how many fall victim to the wolves. I’m guessing about 98,000 annually.
There was a movie theater as part of a small mall attached to the Sheraton I was staying at and “Clash of the Titans” was playing. I didn’t have time to catch it or any of the others, which included “Blind Side,” but whereas in “Clash of the Titans” you’ve seen the commercials where the god goes “Release the Krakens.” I’m thinking in my version it’s more like ‘Release the Domestic!’
Good lord…just saw that Larry King is ditching his 7th wife after boinking Shawn Southwick’s sister! Release the Krakens on ol’ Larry, don’t you think?
I was in a bar in Tirana and one of the tunes that came over the sound system was the Eagles’ “Desperado.” Can you imagine what a rush it must be to be a recording artist and have someone playing your song, especially in a far, far place? Can’t be anything much better than that.
Just for the archives, I asked about two weeks ago if you thought Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari was having fun after five of his players announced they were leaving early?
Well, I guess he’s feeling just fine, thank you, since he signed Brandon Knight as an incoming freshman and already locked up what could be the best freshman in the land come 2011-2012, New Jersey’s Michael Gilchrist. When you’ve mentored Derrick Rose, Tyreke Evans, and John Wall, it’s pretty easy to get recruits, especially point guards.
Note to Shu, Carolina’s Ed Davis sure is a classic story. Would have been a lottery pick if he went out as a freshman, came back for his sophomore year instead, was very underwhelming, then breaks his wrist and whereas he should stay one more year, is going out anyway. He’ll be an interesting case to follow. Actually, everyone and their mother is coming out.
As for Ben Roethlisberger, this much we know. The alleged assault in Georgia was clearly a downright brutal one, and then we have this second woman that came forward as part of the investigation who claims Roethlisberger didn’t exactly treat her well a week or two earlier at a private party at his off-season home. The fans of Pittsburgh aren’t like a lot of other folks. They tend to have morals. While the Rooneys now seem intent on keeping Big Ben as their QB, after first suspending him for a spell, can you imagine how he’ll be treated if he plays poorly? It will truly get ugly and Roethlisberger could be crying for his mother, as it should be.
That’s all for now, gang. I’ll have a lot more on Thursday. Having been to Beirut before, I know my way around some and while security seems pretty heavy (as it should be), I’m really not concerned. I’ll head into the Bekaa Valley probably Tuesday if I can get a good English-speaking driver. I’m not, however, going back to Baalbek, for those of you who were with me five years ago. But I’ll come up with a different adventure instead. [I’ve also made a contact here I hope to be able to tell you about. Then again, maybe not. He’s been traveling himself and for all I know could be stuck in Europe.]
Top 3 songs for the week 4/19/80: #1 “Call Me” (Blondie… ughh) #2 “Another Brick In The Wall part II” (Pink Floyd… how this tune ever became big I’ll never know…totally sucks) #3 “Ride Like The Wind” (Christopher Cross…story of volcanic ash and its impact on air traffic)…and…#4 “With You I’m Born Again” (Billy Preston & Syreeta) #5 “Special Lady” (Ray, Goodman & Brown) #6 “Lost In Love” (Air Supply) #7 “Fire Lake” (Bob Seger) #8 “I Can’t Tell You Why” (Eagles) #9 “Working My Way Back To You” (Spinners) #10 “Off The Wall” (Michael Jackson…thought this album was superior to ‘Thriller’)
Baseball Quiz Answer: Top ten career RBI
1. Hank Aaron 2297
2. Babe Ruth 2213
3. Cap Anson 2076
4. Barry Bonds 1996…thank god he didn’t surpass first two
5. Lou Gehrig 1995
6. Stan Musial 1951
7. Ty Cobb 1937
8. Jimmie Foxx 1922…liked his ‘domestic’ and hard stuff
9. Eddie Murray 1917
10. Willie Mays 1903
11. Mel Ott 1860
Griffey Jr., 1829; Manny Ramirez, 1788; A-Rod, 1706*
*All entering this season.
Next Bar Chat, Thursday.
