Southern Bookman

Farewell, Nick Carfardo, Boston Globe baseball writer

I wasn't that familiar with Boston Globe baseball writer Nick Carfardo's work.

Every now and then, I'd rechannel my baseball junkie childhood and download a Sunday Globe just to peruse Carfardo's extensive notes column. Or, I'd read one of his game stories or feature on a Red Sox player.

Carfardo, 62, died this week while doing the job that never got old for him, covering the Red Sox beat for the Globe. He collapsed outside the team's spring training clubhouse, and was rushed to the hospital. His death ended a 40-year newspaper career. Along with his weekly columns, feature stories and game coverage, Carfardo also wrote several books, including one on the New England Patriots from a year he spent covering pro football.

His colleagues like Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy said he never took a day off, and traveled with the Red Sox on every road trip, season after season. Even when traveling, he'd carry out his extensive reporting for his notes column, which covered the entire Major Leagues.

Mentored by Will McDonough, and following in the tradition of notes column originator Pete Gammons, Carfardo remained true to his newspaper calling. Although ink ran in his blood, the notes column generated national online readership. Baseball traditionalists liked that he still talked to scouts, even when their authority had been undermined by the new generation of metrics gurus.

A chorus of tributes from colleagues and baseball insiders had a common theme that Carfardo was a generous, modest man in a field of competitive, ego-driven self-promoters. Competitors from other newspapers recalled their love for him.

Carfardo had escaped another Massachusetts winter to head to spring training in Florida, full of the hope of another new season. But Opening Day will arrive without Nick Carfardo, leaving an emptiness at Fenway Park's press box.

 

Zion Williamson's shoe collapse a story for our times

Duke phenom Zion Williamson's Nike shoe blowout could have been written by Don DeLillo. DeLilllo is known for reimagining in his novels those strange moments of American reality that have a deeper signficance. The young basketball phenomenon's crash to the floor Wednesday night was one of those events.

Many strands of American culture fused into a new 33-second Zapruder film as the 6-7  gazelle Williamson fell to the court at Duke's claustrophobic basketball palace.

Williamson, the"one-and-done" freshman sensation, suffered a sprained knee, Duke coach and Nike client Mike Krzyzewski said after the No. 1 Blue Devils suffered a huge loss to hated ACC rival North Carolina Wednesday night.

It was all there: corporate money and malfeasance. The corruption and glamour of college sports. Superstar coaches who make millions as their players receive no pay and hope for future NBA riches. Excessive ESPN hype. Super Bowl prices for tickets. Former President Barack Obama in the audience. Twitter. You Tube.

After Williamson's injury, the chorus will rise for him to not play anymore this season, and wait for the NBA draft, where he's expected to go No. 1.

That echoes calls for an established NBA star, the New Orleans Pelicans' Anthony Davis, to not play anymore this year as he awaits a trade from the dismal small-market franchise to LA, or New York or Boston. Davis was himself a heralded "one-and-done" phenom, leading Kentucky to a national championship.

Williamson's injury just 33 seconds after tip-off cast an anti-climatic pall on the spectacle. The video of Williamson's collapse went viral on social media: "we will see it until we die," one shoe business executive said. Nike stock plunged.

The young star's soaring dunks promised heightened excitement for March Madness. His absence would be a deflated shoe for the event. But who outside of rabid Duke fans would blame the kid for stepping down?

 

Farewell, Don Newcombe, ace of the Brooklyn Dodgers

Don Newcombe, one of the great black stars of the postwar Brooklyn Dodgers, ravaged his immense talent with alcohol.

The 92-year-old, a 6-4, 240-pound right-handed pitcher who joined Jackie Robinson and Roy Campanella in overcoming racial prejudice to lead the Dodgers to five National League championships and the 1955 World Series title, died Tuesday after a long illness, according to news reports.

Following Satchel Paige into the major leagues, Newcombe was the first black pitcher to win 20 games. He was also the first major league player to win the rookie of the year, most valuable player and Cy Young awards.

In 1956, he won the Cy Young and National League MVP awards with a 27-7 record. His career was interrupted by two years in the Army during the Korean War, and he started out in the Negro Leagues before Robinson broke the major league color barrier for the Dodgers.

A mean and surly drunk, Newcombe achieved peace and redemption in later life after giving up alcohol. Newcombe fell short of the Hall of Fame, although his career statistics are comparable with those of hall members like Dizzy Dean, but gained a larger triumph in overcoming his addiction.

Showing the enduring power of newspaper sportswriting, Los Angeles Times columnist Bill Plaschke in a wonderful tribute to Newcombe tells how he prevailed over bitterness to become a beloved role model and adviser for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

One of the Brooklyn Dodgers' last remaining "Boys of Summer," Newcombe exemplified the game's spirit of grace and renewal.

Spike Lee's "BlacKkKlansman" falls short of Academy Award attention

Spike Lee's "BlacKkKlansman" drifts from chilling racially charged thriller to satire.

The film's statement of black-white conflict is weakened by Lee's straddling the line between art and propaganda.

Sharp acting and writing don't cohere into dramatic unity, hampered by Lee's heavy-handed attempt to tie a 1970s Klan investigation in Colorado Springs, Colo., to the election of Donald Trump and the political power of a disgruntled white minority.

Based on retired black policeman Ron Stallworth's experience as the first black police officer in the Colorado mountain city, the multiple Academy Award-nominated film mixes historic fact and fictional elements. That's standard for Hollywood, but it's still disingenuous for Lee to give the impression that the entire movie gives a true story.

Stallworth, a rookie black policeman recently moved to the police department's intelligence division, on a whim calls a Klan number and sets up a meeting with the white leader of the "organization."

Because Stallworth's black, a white officer, "Flip" Zimmerman, goes to the meeting in his place. It turns out that Zimmerman is fictitous, because the original undercover officer has never disclosed his identity. Also diverting from historical accuracy, the violence that closes out the film comes from a completely separate incident.

John David Washington delivers a strong portrayal of Stallworth, torn between demands of his racial identity and his allegiance to his police officer's duties. The son of Denzel Washington shows signs of his father's screen charisma.

As Stallworth's white alter-ego, Adam Driver is not as convincing, although he received an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor. A Jewish man, Driver's Zimmerman flinches at the Klansmen's anti-semitic insults. Driver's performance in his undercover role is unpersuasive. I found it difficult to accept that the Klansmen would believe that he was one of them.

Along with Topher Grace's accurate portrayal of the suave Klan leader David Duke, Laura Harrier's performance as a young student radical stood out. Her luxurious Afro and lovely face accented her strong sense of black identity and intense political commitment.

"BlacKklansman's" moments of cinematic power give hints of a better movie. But despite receiving more Academy Award recognition that he has before, Lee misses the artistic coherence he's achieved in the past. "BlacKkKlansman's" opens with the promise of high entertainment, but falls to a disappointing finish.

Farewell, Lee Radziwill

The Sunday New York Times' wasteland of unreadable articles yielded one piece that held my attention: a testament to Lee Radziwill's momentous life. The sister of Jackie Kennedy Onassis died Saturday at age 85, according to the Times obituary.

One of the last links to John F. Kennedy's era of glamour and international adventurism, Radziwill led a multi-hued life of celebrity and dilettantism. Reading the Times obituary, I was reminded of Princess Margaret, Queen Elizabeth's sister who enjoyed a similar life of aristocratic swanning among the smart set.

The youngest daughter of swashbuckling financier "Black Jack" Beauvoir and socialite Janet Norton Lee, Radziwill like her famous sister grew up in the privileged atmosphere of elite schools, finely furnished homes and artistic pursuits. Both Caroline Lee and Jacqueline were also given the independence to pursue professional careers. After graduating from college, they traveled together on an old-style international tour.

Lee gave staunch support to her sister after two tragedies that defined her legacy as first lady. When Jackie and JFK lost their infant son Patrick a week after he was born, Lee orchestrated Jackie's two-week retreat from public life abroad Aristotle Onassis' yacht. Lee introduced Jackie to the Greek billionaire who would become Jackie's second husband. The two sisters reportedly had a falling out over the marriage.

Following JFK's assassination soon after the child's death, Lee joined with Robert F. Kennedy in comforting and advising the widowed first lady, whose fortitude entranced the nation.

Along her marriage and divorce to Poland's Prince Stanislaw Radziwill, one of three husbands, Lee pursued careers as an actress, writer, filmmaker, interior designer and entrepreneur. She was a member of an international circle of fame and wealth that included Truman Capote and the Rolling Stones.

Among Radziwill's most memorable accomplishments was the "Grey Gardens" documentary about her eccentric aunt Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale and her daughter,Edith Bouvier Beale, who lived in aristocratic squalor in a rambling, dilapidated home in East Hampton, New York. The scenes of Lee arriving at the Beales' squalid home and their resistance to her rehabilitation efforts make for great comic-tragic cinema.

While living in Jackie Kennedy Onassis' shadow was a tough act, Radziwill carried it out with grace, style and imagination. Like her famous sister, Lee was one of the great ladies of her time.

Amazon's withdrawal from New York City headquarters plan could benefit Atlanta

Atlanta looks to benefit from Amazon's second headquarters search after all.

Jeff Bezos' economic giant announced Thursday it will abandon plans to establish an eastern headquarters in Long Island City, Queens.

Amazon ran into opposition from unions and local politicians, led by the area's media-star congresswoman, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio had joined forces to lavish Amazon with billions in tax incentives. The world's richest man decided to reject that green new deal when the community revolted, fearing soaring housing prices and increased congestion.

Instead of establishing a campus at the struggling Queens office park, and adding 25,000 jobs, Amazon said it will boost employment at hubs across the country. Atlanta is among the satellite cities of the Seattle conglomerate, which began as a bookseller and now is connected to nearly every segment of the U.S. economy.

Amazon will boost employment at its other second headquarters site in Northern Virginia. Nashville, chosen by Amazon as its Southern anchor over Atlanta, will receive more than the 5,000 jobs already promised. But Atlanta should also benefit from the company's spreading the jobs canceled in Long Island.

New York City shouldn't feel abandoned. The company still plans to add jobs in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Staten Island, the announcement said, without any government inducements.

Unlike the National Enquirer, Long Island City made Bezos blink.

 

 

 

 

 

Spring arrives on Valentine's day

On Valentine's morning, birds flocked outside my window.

English poets Geoffrey Chaucer, Michael Drayton and William Shakespeare wrote in their love poems that birds began mating on Valentine's Day. Even in that colder time, when winter seemed to last forever, birds arrived in mid-February, chirping songs of spring.

Now, with climate change, trees bloom several weeks earlier than 20 or 30 years ago. Trees in flower already line Atlanta's streets. Buds have broken out on our tulip tree that once bloomed the first week of March.

Covering the Georgia Legislature a few years ago, I never heard climate change mentioned. The legislators were busy killing a tax exemption for electric cars.

Nor is any climate change action being taken this session. Climate change denial prevails at the gold-plated Georgia Capitol. Savannah and Georgia's barrier islands will sink as seas rise, but not even a study committee has been formed.

Valentine's Day used to give relief from winter. Now, it marks the arrival of spring.

 

 

 

From entertainment to news, the content tides keep churning

Competition grows fierce in the quality TV jungle as the news media landscape shifts.

While more receive information and entertainment through screens, embattled traditional print media still deliver the best guides to the burgeoning universe of choices, the battle for consumers' time.

Showing new Vanity Fair editor Radhika Jones' commitment to extensively reported and well-written long articles as ad revenues and newsstand sales decline, writer Joy Press in the magazine's annual Hollywood issue delves into HBO's efforts to stay atop the TV world as Netflix and Amazon gain strength and Disney, Apple and others enter the streaming world.

Displaying the continued value of old-fashioned business reporting, The Wall Street Journal Wednesday looked into Apple's so far unsuccessful effort to sign publishers like The New York Times and the Washington Post to a news subscription service.

The two articles trace the interconnected lines of the new media world. Along with streaming movies and TV shows, happy couch voyagers can also play video games, engage in virtual reality and listen to music services. Seeking to stay afloat are print magazines, books. movies, traditional TV networks and cable channels and the theater. While ESPN falls, low ratings for the lackluster Super Bowl give warning that mega sports events are no longer guaranteed to draw mass audiences.

While local newspapers die and the online world teems with voices beyond the mainstream, the new TV world gives a fertile market for content producers, once known as writers, playwrights, producers.

Press in her Vanity Fair piece outlines HBO's changing strategy under new owner Time Warner, a cable and media conglomerate seeking to stay ahead of changes such as viewers abandoning their cable boxes.

Credited for launching the "quality TV" era with must-see Sunday-night shows like "The Sopranos," "The Wire" and "Sex and The City," HBO wants to expand its content and move toward the streaming services' watch anytime model. The end of "The Game of Thrones" will leave a void the channel hopes to fill with a prequel related to the fantasy show.

With its much larger content budget, Netflix matched HBO with 23 Emmys. Now Apple, Disney and traditional TV networks are jumping into the streaming world, with HBO also entering the stream.

HBO's established Sunday night model offers advantages. Shows like the recently launched third season of "True Detective" are seen as shared national events, receiving strong media attention. Even high-quality shows can disappear in the Netflix content flood.

As digital models supplant print, Apple's news service would give subscribers a selection of news articles through use of an app, according to the WSJ. Newspapers would share revenue with Apple, based on readership numbers. The New York Times and Washington Post, whose online subscriptions have skyrocketed during the Trump presidency, are reluctant to join, according to the article.

The increasing number of streaming services will make for a chaotic spectrum of choices. From TV dramas and comedies to documentaries and comic specials, consumers can remove themselves from politics, environmental news and international crises. The ability to distinguish between real and fake news will decline. Or perhaps the country's citizens will renew their commitment to keeping informed and remaining involved in civic life.

 

 

Green New Deal stirs conservative opposition

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ed Markey's "Green New Deal" has kicked over the conversatives' hornet nest.

The Wall Street Journal's editorial page Tuesday morning took aim at the Democratic progressives' plan, claiming that it is a pretext for governmental control of the economy. That echoed the loathsome columnist Ross Douthat, whose hold on New York Times op-ed space is a mystery.

New York magazine writer Jonathan Chait was correct in criticizing the plan as too expansive. It was a mistake to tie climate change policy to broader economic aims like universal Medicare. The Democratic Party needs a more targeted plan to battle climate change.

But the conservatives seem to believe that the country and world's carbon dependency can continue. Recent studies have concluded that the world has about 10 years to take action to prevent climate change's worst outcomes. To stop a catastrophic rise in temperatures, the world must make fundamental economic changes, shifting to renewable energy.

Economists like The New York Times' Paul Krugman say that the shift can be done without major economic disruptions, which sounds too optimistic. But the Wall Street Journal and Douthat want the world to keep speeding toward disaster.

Grammys a surprisingly entertaining spectacle

From the NFL to awards shows, the American entertainment machine's series of Sunday night extravaganzas distract us from the sad late days of the American republic.

I generally enjoy all of them. The latest, "The Grammys," unfolded for a mind-numbing nearly four hours Sunday night.

But, augmented by side trips to a PBS special on Princess Margaret and Turner Classic Movies' "The Thin Man" (that young Myrna Loy....), the Grammys came through with rarely flagging entertainment.

Alicia Keys' quirky turn as a host gave the show a mellow spirit. Keys showed off her huge talent with a two-piano evocation of a jazz cafe. The appearances of 1960s grand dames Dolly Parton and Diana Ross showed their undiminished starpower. Ross' appealing young grandson sported an old-school Afro.

I also liked JLo's salute to Motown, which drew the obligatory outrage that every American event must generate these days.

The Twitter moral arbiters were upset because JLo's white, or Latino. The critics cried that only black Motown artists should have been allowed to do the tribute.

Seeing Ross do old Supremes numbers, or Stevie Wonder do some Motown classics, would have been great. Smokey Robinson did appear, in a painfully short rendition of the Temptations' "My Girl."

But JLo was fine, although her song selection was strange; "Dancing in the Street" was the only number I recognized as Motown. Lopez did"Mr. Postman," which I no doubt ignorantly associate with the Beatles.

The ever gallant Smokey defended JLo's performance, pointing out that Motown belongs to everyone. Martha and the Vandellas' "Dancing in the Streets" turned into an anthem for protest against the Vietnam war, and the Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Sammy and Dave, the Miracles and the Temptations were loved by white fans.

I also liked the new generation of performers, especially the young women like H.E.R., Dua Lipa, and Cardi B. Cardi's heart-felt acceptance for her Grammy win, in thick New York accent, was great theater. Her words could have been written by Stephen Adly Guirgis. I also found some value in the rap performances. For years, rap has made me shudder.

The show is one of the few TV events that join different strands of American culture. I would like jazz and bluegrass to receive more prime time recognition, but I liked that hip-hop and country music received the same acknowledgement. The different genres displayed a genuine respect, even love, for each other's music.

After winning several Grammys before the CBS show came on,  "Americana" artist Brandi Carlisle gave what I thought was the night's best performance. Carlisle used her voice as a fine instrument in her interpretation of her song, "The Joke," whose strong lyrics appeared across the screen. While I like Kacey Musgraves, who won the coveted Best Album award to close the show just before midnight, Carlisle appeared the true keeper of country tradition.

H.E.R. and St. Vincent's guitar shredding augured a comeback for the instrument. The rise of hip-hop and rap and the decline of rock had brought an eclipse in the guitar hero motif. The two young women's guitar solos were as showy as those of old guitar gods like Eric Clapton and Duane Allman.

Now, on to the Oscars, which will go on without a host this year. Alicia Keys' work is a message to the Academy Awards that a comedian telling awkward jokes is outmoded, and that a host with spontaneous good vibes does wonders.