Saturday, June 30, 2012

On perfection, the nba finals and draft , and other things

I want to mention the recent perfect game thrown by the Giants Matt Cain. This was the first perfect game in the long history of the first New York and now San Francisco Giants. I had the privilege of following 2 no-hitters in the sixties, one by Juan Marichal and the other by Gaylord Perry. There were a couple thrown in the seventies during a period when I was in Japan a lot and not following the team. Recently in 2009 then Giant Jonathan Sanchez threw one. That was particularly memorable for me because I had followed so many almosts over the years and then to finally get to listen(radio and John Miller) to the  final inning of one. The recent perfect game I found out about after dinner with Lou Bermingham and Frank Silvey senseis. On the way to the restaurant I listened to the game and heard that no hits were allowed through the 5th inning. I immediately turned the broadcast off because I thought I would jinx it. After the game I listened to the post game and all I heard initially was about the Giant offense scoring many runs. Then finally they (the announcers) mentioned the perfect game. And that game has spring boarded the Giants to a very good stretch..........So congratulations to Matt Cain and the team. After all, if someone makes an error, it might be a no-hitter, but not an el perfecto.........In the sixties I heard broadcasts of Sandy Koufax no-hitting the Giants(painful) and throwing a perfect game against the Cubs, I believe. In both games the last batter he faced was Harvey Kuenn, first as a Giant and then as a Cub. Kuenn was an American League batting champion before he moved to the National League. I was glad Cain tied Koufax for the most strikeouts in a perfect game with fourteen.........

I enjoyed the NBA finals quite a bit even though it was 5 games and rather brief. I was rooting for OKC but had to hand it to the Heat. It was a pleasure to watch Lebron James win his first title. And to see his maturity begin to match his talent was nice........The Warriors I believe had a decent to good draft. Harrison Barnes was a no-brainer. Like many people I was hoping they would do something dramatic with the 7th pick. But I suppose there is a time when you just take what you're given when it's outstanding. I still have a feeling they may get more value from their other picks, Festus Ezeli and Dramond Green. But we'll see. It's funny but I was tracking Perry Jones III from Baylor for some reason. I was hoping he might fall to the Warriors with the 30th and last pick of the first round..He lasted till number 28 and was gobbled up by OKC. Rats..........My special thanks to Andrea Mallis who did his chart as a favor to me......

This video is of my and Vladi on a walk/run at a beach in Pt. Reyes. The background is me doing a solo(no background) of Jobim's Portrait of Black and White when I was learning the song. Hope you enjoy both the music and the video. It is very brief.........