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And I thought I had technical difficulties (which I did). After tuning in to the midnight edition of “SportsNet Central” on Comcast SportsNet, I didn’t feel quite so bad. After all, being unable to access my own web site was a pain. How would I create a fantastic Friday post? Or even a mediocre one? The problem (how long it had existed, I’m not sure) was solved with some assistance from the folks who oversee the site. Deep breath. Sign of relief.
There always is room around here for a photo of Victoria’s Secret model Adriana Lima (also video of her, if you scroll down),
The anxiety that that outage caused had to be nothing compared to what happened to CSN. While Kelly Crull was talking about something, the screen went to black about 12:15 a.m. (Chicago time). At least it did on my cable provider. Nothing but a black screen. No test pattern. No message to viewers. No nothing. Well, lots of nothing. No picture or sound.
It made for compelling viewing. Actually, non-viewing, but you get the picture. Or didn’t get the picture.
Finally about 12:22, the video and audio returned — with Bruce Levine on the screen. Talk about a bad trade: Bruce for Kelly? Say it ain’t so.
Anyway, Bruce was commenting on the Cubs naming Rick Renteria their manager to replace Dale Sveum.
The rest of the show went on with Crull signing off without making mention of any outage. So maybe the problem was with my cable system and not with CSN.
What there is a problem with, of course, is the Cubs. Bruce spoke highly of the former San Diego Padres coach and how one of his strengths is developing players. A perfect fit for a rebuilding team, right? Definitely — provided that he is managing at Class AA or AAA.
A major-league manager’s job is to win games. His players are supposed to be of big-league caliber. If he can provide some incremental improvement, great. But somebody — generally the general manager (in this case, Jed Hoyer, although president of baseball operations Theo Epstein likely will have fingerprints as well) — needs to provide players.
With the Cubs quite likely to launch their own cable channel after their contract with CSN is up in 2019, the team will have to have players worthy tuning in to watch. The chances of Renteria still being Cubs manager by then? If I were a betting man, I wouldn’t bet on it.
Renteria was introduced to media via a conference call because he is recuperating from hip surgery. He can only hope his tenure as Cubs manager — however long that may be — is less painful.
Thank you to Playboy Playmate Gemma Lee Farrell (Miss November) and former Green Bay Packers star Willie Davis for appearing on the Nov. 7 edition of “Sports & Torts” with co-hosts David Spada and Elliott Harris on Talkzone.com.
The highly acclaimed (certainly in the Spada and Harris households and — rumor has it — elsewhere) interview show airs on Thursdays at noon Central time on Talkzone.com. For those who were unable to tune in for the program (and/or those who might like to enjoy an encore performance), there’s good news: The program is is available via podcast on Talkzone.com. You can access the show by clicking here.
Speaking of podcasts, it behooves us to remind you wonderful folks out there in cyberspace that “Sports & Torts” is involved in a competition at Podcastawards.com. “Sports & Torts” is among 10 finalists for best sports podcast. Voting remains open for your favorite sports podcast. OK, my favorite sports podcast. And David’s, too. Hopefully, yours as well.
Thank you to Playboy Playmate Gemma Lee Farrell for being on “Sports & Torts.”
And even if it isn’t your favorite, we are asking for your support. All you have to do is go to podcastawards.com and vote. After you vote, you will receive an email confirming your vote. Your vote will not count unless you respond to the email. If you don’t see the voting verification email, check out your spam or junk email folder (that’s where mine continue to go — but at least I’m doing better at remember to look there).
Thank you in advance for your vote or votes. As with any election involving anything Chicago-related, you are encouraged to vote early and often. The main difference between this and an actual Chicago election is multiple votes from a person (presumably still living) is permitted for the Podcast Awards. You are allowed to vote once a day. To vote, click here. Among our competition are sites from ESPN and CBS, so we need to battle the behemoths. We feel good about doing so — especially with your assistance. Stay tuned. Voting continues through Nov. 15. And thank you once again.
Here is where to go for a daily dose of non-gratuitous video (thanks to the endless efforts of the editorial and video departments at elliottharris.com and their apparent fixation on females in bikinis, etc.):
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