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Oh Say, Can You Sync? Did Beyonce Sing Live or to Track?

Did Beyonce lip-sync the Star Spangled Banner?

It’s the big buzz the last 24 hours or so. Personally, I have no problem with it if she did. It always bugs me when people mess up the National Anthem. I’m not talking about people who can’t sing – I’m talking about people who can sing very well but feel the need to put their own mark on the anthem and screw it up by changing notes, sometimes changing words and generally over-singing. It happens at baseball games all the time. The worst example I can think of was Patti LaBelle at the World Series game in Philadelphia in 2008. Just unlistenable.

Beyonce did nothing like that. She looked great and sounded great. Really killed it. Okay, she did change a couple of notes, but nothing annoying.

So what about the lip-sync business? It has been revealed that the US Marine Band was a recorded track. They admit that. That’s fine. Band instruments don’t always work correctly in cold weather, so they use tracks to make sure it sounds right for the millions watching around the world. It’s also been revealed that Beyonce had no opportunity to rehearse with the US Marine Band. You just know that the Marines are not about to change any notes or do unnecessary extra flourishes when they play the anthem. They are, after all, Marines.

So what about Beyonce? I think she did lip-sync. She does a great job of it (admittedly, for most of the song her mouth is hidden by the mic, and she’s not on camera the whole time anyway), but if you watch carefully…at the very end she sings “the brave” a second time. Watch her mouth (at 2:20 on the video below) and notice that she opens her mouth a nanosecond too late on “brave.” That can only happen if you’re not doing it live.

Who cares? She did a great job on a song that’s very tough to sing.

Pitching, Defense and the 3-Run Homer

Earl Weaver, long-time manager of the Baltimore Orioles, passed away at the age of 82. Anyone who ever lived the Baltimore or Washington area or followed baseball anytime from the late 60’s well into the 80’s knows about the Duke of Earl, who believe the key to winning was “pitching, defense and the 3-run homer.” He was the first big stats guy. At one point he tracked the Orioles won-loss record when they wore orange shirts (not good) and decided to ban them. He was also famous for going nose-to-nose with umpires and frequently getting tossed.

Here’s today’s writeup from Orioles.com.

No one got in

Year one of the ‘Roid era Hall of Fame voting…

And no one got in. There has been much debate about how to handle the likes of Bobby Bonds, Roger Clemens and Sammy Sosa when it comes to Hall of Fame voting. Put them on the same ballot as Jack Morris,

Traffic stops and starts

Why do they say that?

Traffic reports are all over the radio…not just on the 3’s on WBZ…and all over the TV as well. It make sense, because traffic, like weather, affects people directly.

CEO’s who never drive in traffic jams and broadcast consultants who live in another city often don’t get the appeal. One General Manager once told he he was sure that afternoon traffic reports were less important than morning drive traffic reports. I tried to explain that the exact opposite is true.

Suppose you hit an unexpected jam on the way to work and you arrive late. You simply say, “Man, that was a horrible commute this morning!” and someone else will chime in and agree. All you are is late for work, and you’re probably not the only one.

It’s different on the way home. Bad traffic in the way home means you’re late for your kid’s soccer game, late for dinner, late for whatever you do on your own time.

Why can’t they explain it clearly?
Because most traffic reports on radio and TV are generated by Metro Networks, a nationwide service that came into the Boston market in 1982. If you ever wonder why they make some curious or misleading references, here’s why: They have to repeat the same things over and over and come up with rote ways of saying certain things. Example: How many times have you heard someone refer to “the supermarket overpass” on the Pike? (Rick Simonson, the morning traffic anchor on WBZ, has probably said it over 10,000 times.) What’s wrong with that? When they built in Pike extension in the mid-60’s the old Star Market in West Newton was in the path, so Star bought the air rights to build a new supermarket over the highway. Meaning the turnpike passes under the supermarket. So why do reporters call the underpass an overpass? Because someone wrote a format sheet for traffic reports back in 1982 and made a mistake. Years come and go, and new reporters continue to call it an overpass because no one ever updated the format sheet. One other thing…the reason that they sayIt’s back itsay For one thing, the Pike goes under the supermarket in West Newton.

Upon review…

the ruling on the field is overturned.

One of the comments on my last blog about ranking months was that December should be #1. As I’m taking down the lights I threw the red flag and the ranking went under review in the booth.

With all the seasonal lights, the parties, the smiling faces, the decorations and the good will…I’m moving December up to #4. August drops to 7th. April and September stay at #5 and #6.

Unless we’re facing a tough lefty.

My Favorite Months

My friend Robyn Bradley suggested we do a “faveology” list of favorite months. I did this once before on FB but it disappeared. Or I can’t find it. So here it goes again:

#1 July. Love it. Especially on the Cape. The 4th is my favorite day of the year. There is no such thing as a bad 4th of July on Cape Cod. The whole month has the nicest weather of the year. Everyone smiles at you when you say, “hey.”

#2 June. Summer begins, school gets out, weddings happen. Also a great month. Many of the best songs of the year debut in June.

#3 May. How can you not like May? All the leaves are out, there are graduations, the April rain is gone, you sing songs about flowers and Mary.

#4 August. Still summer, still great, but it’s starting to wind down and the lawn and gardens need extra watering.

#5 April. Opening Day, Daylight Saving, buds on trees, croci bloom, you put aluminum sulfate on the hydrangeas so they’ll be a spectacular blue in July. The world wakes up.

#6 September. My birthday. Also my daughter Kara’s. New TV season, new school year, new all sorts of things. The seasonal change gives you a charge.

#7 December. Christmas needs no explanation. I feel like Clark Griswold with the lights but I enjoy it. I also do a decent Santa for the little guys.

#8 October. My wife’s birthday. The World Series is fun (if the Yankees aren’t in it). Foliage looks great, especially in Wellesley. We have a landscape guy come to do the raking.

#9 November. Things start looking stark, but Thanksgiving is always good. It’s a great family time.

#10 February. Cold, but at least it’s short. My daughter Caitlin’s birthday. Also my brother, a couple of nephews, several sisters in law. Just goes to show how good a month May is.

#11 January. You take down all the Christmas stuff and everything looks bleak. Coldest month of the year. It drags on.

#12 March. I’ve never trusted March. Yes, Spring supposedly begins but it really doesn’t. You’re sick of winter but even if it hasn’t snowed yet you can’t be sure. Your car looks like shit all month. There are no holidays. At least not any day-off ones. Yes, Spring Training gets under way, but it’s cold and raw and the snow is filthy.

So there it is. We’re in early #11 right now.

Last-Minute Book Ideas

Here it is, the afternoon of Christmas Eve. Still looking for a last-minute book idea for someone? Here are three completely different suggestions:

Extraordinary Rendition
If you’re a fan of Showtime’s “Homeland” and you’re bummed that Season 2 just ended, try “Extraordinary Rendition” by Paul Batista. No relation to the Detective in “Dexter.” It’s a thriller about a New York City lawyer asked by the ACLU to do a Pro Bono case defending Ali Hussein, who’s been imprisoned as a terrorist for several years without ever being charged or even told what his alleged crime is. I won’t do any plot-spoiling here. I’ll just say that anyone who enjoys “Homeland” will enjoy “Extraordinary Rendition.”

What Happened in Granite Creek
Second on this list is a murder mystery called “What Happened in Granite Creek,” the second novel by Robyn Bradley. Robyn was on this year’s BookBundlz list of best new authors. Robyn tells the story in first person, but from the POV of several different characters and in a back-and-forth timeline. A definite page-turner (or thumb-slider) with an ending you will not expect. Worthy of being made into a mini-series.

The Baseball Hall of Shame
Third on the list is The Best of Blooperstown edition of “The Baseball Hall of Shame” and it’s full of quick but funny stories that any baseball fan will enjoy. In the chapter about Most Pitiful Pitching Performances of All Time we learn about the three Kansas City A’s pitchers who gave up 11 runs in one inning…on only one hit. The hit was followed by three errors, a hit batsman and 8 bases-loaded walks. It almost makes Alfredo Aceves look good by comparison.

“Extraordinary Rendition” and “What Happened in Granite Creek” are both available in print and e-book editions. “The Baseball Hall of Shame” is only in print, but it will fit in a stocking so you’d better hightail it if you want one in time for tomorrow.

One more thing. If you’re reading “The Night Before Christmas” (or correctly titled, “A Visit From St. Nicholas”) out loud tonight, remember that most versions have a typo. Santa’s seventh and eighth reindeers should be Donner and Blitzen, not Donder and Blitzen. Why? Because “donner”(only one d) and “blitzen” are the German words for thunder and lightning. Have a Merry Christmas!

A funny thing on Saturday

On Saturday I was at what is frequently called “The Game”…meaning the 129th playing of the Harvard-Yale game at the oldest football stadium in America.

Did you know that the length and width of a standard football field is based on the dimensions of Harvard Stadium? The actual rules of football were written up by Harvard and Yale back in 1875.

During the 3rd quarter they posted scores of other games on the Jumbotron, including “Western Carolina 49, Alabama 0.” I looked around and could see many faces with a “what???” expression. I could imagine people calling their bookies to put some decent coin on Western Carolina winning the game.

About 5 minutes later the scores were re-posted with the 49 points properly credited to the other Crimson team. I imagined all those folks who had just called their bookie hitting redial to cancel the bet, but not getting a connection because the cell towers were overloaded.

A Boone or two for the election

Thought this was funny. Today, the day before the election, we got a couple of robo calls. One was for Elizabeth Warren, Democratic candidate for the US Senate, the other was for incumbent US Senator Scott Brown. All the polls show it’s a tight race.

Here’s the funny part. The Warren robo call was voiced by Matt Damon. That’s cool. The Brown robo call was voiced by Pat Boone.

Pat Boone? That’s who the Brown campaign believes will knock people off the fence and re-elect Scott? Really? Pat, who is 78, is famous for several pop songs in the late 50’s and early 60’s, like “Love Letters in the Sand” (#1 for 7 straight weeks) and for a squeaky-clean image. I think he did TV spots for milk, and this was way before the “Got Milk?” campaign.

Then I flip on the TV, which I rarely see during the day unless it’s on CNBC, and there’s an ad for Lifestyle Lift, a company that does facelift surgery. The spokesperson is Debby Boone, Pat’s daughter. In the background you hear a snippet of Debby singing.

For those who are too young to know, in the summer of 1977 Debby Boone had her one and only hit, “You Light Up My Life.” It went to the top of the Billboard chart and stayed at #1 for ten straight weeks. When you have a ballad that stays at #1 for that long every station winds up playing it. Over and over. The result was that the American public got so sick of the song that they never ever ever wanted to hear it again. That’s why you never ever hear it today, even on an oldies station.

So in the TV ad for Lifestyle Lift, they play a snippet of “You Light Up My Life” but they don’t use the hook of the song. Made me wonder whether the director was too young to know it wasn’t the hook of the song, or old enough to know that nobody wants to hear that hook ever and decided to use a different three seconds of the song so that the advertiser would be happy but viewers wouldn’t be too turned off.

And there’s another little tidbit to add. While Debby’s song was being pounded on the radio in the summer of ’77 she and her dad Pat did a TV spot for a product called Acne Statin which would miraculously get rid of your acne. Just rub it on and zits disappear. Trouble was, Acne Statin didn’t work, and there was a successful Class Action suit against not just the makers of Acne Statin but against Debby and Pat because they used their celebrity to convince people that they had used the product and it worked when in reality they had not used it and it didn’t work anyway. Acne Statin was never heard from again. Neither were the Boones until this week.

But wait, there’s more. The makers of Lifestyle Lift are currently under investigation by the Florida Attorney General’s office.

Rando thoughts on the World Series

Losing back-to-back-to-back
Only two teams have the distinction of losing the World Series three years in a row. Those two are the Tigers (1907, 1908, 1909) and the Giants (1911, 1912, 1913). The Tigers lost back-to-back series to the Cubs, of all people.

Weighing in
Four of the five fattest ballplayers were in the series this year. This is not to say they’re not good, just that they’re fat.

One is a Giant, Pablo Sandoval. Nickname is Kung Fu Panda.

Three are Tigers: Miguel Cabrera, Delmon Young and Prince Fielder.

The fifth and biggest wide load is CC Sabathia, a Yankee.

Is that a wig beard?
The two craziest beards among active players were both in the series. Prince Fielder of the Tigers and Sergio Romo of the Giants.

Brian Wilson of the Giants has an even crazier one, but he’s recovering from Tommy John surgery and did not play.

I’m calling the beards crazy only because they look like fake beards from a Halloween costume or a Saturday Night Live bit.

The good news
The #1 choice each year is for the Red Sox to win the World Series. The #2 choice is Anybody but the Yankees. Not only did the Yankees not win, they didn’t even get there. So it was a good season.