Burning in the Bronx

Burning hot that is... that's what it was today at Yankee Stadium. And when I got home I discovered I may have gotten myself a nice little sunburn. oops.

Speaking of burning, I continued watching The Bronx is Burning tonight when I got home. I gotta say, I'm not all that enthralled with this miniseries - the book was WAY better, so read it!

More entertaining to watch is Big Brother. And if you have SHO, on Showtime Too every night from minight to 3 AM there is a live feed called Big Brother: After Dark!

burning... part one.

"I'm the straw that stirs the drink."


I finally finished the book I've been reading, Ladies and Gentlemen, The Bronx is Burning, and thus I am moving on to watching the miniseries on ESPN which I've been recording. The book rocked and it'll be interesting to watch it come to life on tv.

The first episode focuses on the Yankees bringing Reggie Jackson to New York for the 1977 season. Played by Danel Sunjata, Reggie's got the big hair, big glasses and tight pants to fit the bill. They somehow managed to enlarge John Turturro's ears to fit the role of Billy Martin and Oliver Platt donned a really terrible hairdo to play the part of George Steinbrenner. Being that those are the three main characters, ESPN has somehow managed to make it impossible to talk these guys seriously, but adds incredible entertainment value to the show.

Aside from the ongoing strife between Steinbrenner and Martin, Martin and Jackson, and Jackson and everyone, the episode is also sprinkled with the Son of Sam's rampage, the Beame administration and Jason Giambi's cameo as a NYC cab driver.

The REAL Reggie Jackson claims that he never made the comment about being the straw that stirs the drink... the media claims otherwise. Will anyone ever know the truth?

Ladies and Gentlemen...

The Bronx is Burning is coming to ESPN! The 8 episode miniseries event starts Monday night at 10PM on ESPN (after the Home Run Derby) and I can't wait! I'm currently reading the book that this is based on (full title: Ladies and Gentlemen, The Bronx is Burning: 1977, Baseball, Politics, and the Battle for the Soul of a City), which is a fabulous portrayal of NYC in the 70's. 1997 was quite a year in New York - the blackout, the Son of Sam, the then-unknown Rupert Murdoch buying the Post, and two big battles between Mario Cuomo and Ed Koch and the Yankees' Manager Bill Martin and Reggie Jackson in his first year a a Yankee.

I will likely be behind in watching this series because I am still reading the book and want to finish that up before watching, but stay tuned a I am SURE I will have an opinion about what I see once I see it.

In the meantime and quite fittingly, today I'm off to Old Timers Day at Yankee Stadium, honoring the 30th anniversary of the '77 Yankees world championship!