Thursday, February 27, 2020

100 Greatest Film Directors - by Moses


Directors

1.     Stanley Kubrick – Dr. Strangelove, 2001, A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, Eyes Wide Shut
       2.      Steven Spielberg – Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T, Saving Private Ryan, Schindler’s List
3.      Martin Scorsese – Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, After Hours, Good Fellas, The Irishman
       4.      Francis Ford Coppola – The Godfather 1 and 11, Apocalypse Now, The Rainmaker
       5.      John Singleton – Boyz in the Hood, Shaft, Rosewood 
       6.      Barry Levinson – The Natural, Diner, Good Morning Vietnam, Bugsy
       7.      John Landis – Animal House, The Blues Brothers, Coming to America, Trading Places, Beverly Hills Part 3, An American Werewolf in London
       8.      George Lucas – American Graffiti, Star Wars 1, 11, 111, 1V, V, V1, V11, V111, 1X
       9.      Quentin Tarantino - Resevoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Jango Unchained
       10.    Ron Howard – Nightshift, Apollo 13, De Vinci Code
       11.    Peter Jackson – Lord of the Rings (Trilogy), King Kong
       12.    Norman Jewison – Fiddler on the Roof, Moonstruck, Rollerball, The Hurricane, The Thomas Crown Affair, In the Heat of the Night
       13.    James Cameron – The Titanic, Aliens, Avatar (Trilogy), Terminator (Trilogy), Rambo (First Blood Part 2)
14.    Oliver Stone – Platoon, Wall Street, JFK, Salvador, Born on the 4rth of July, The Doors
       15.    Tim Burton – Batman, Edward Scissorhands, Beetlegeuse, Nightmare Before Christmas
       16.    Alfred Hitchcock – The Birds, Rear Window, Psycho, Vertigo, North by Northwest, the Man Who Knew Too Much, Rope
       17.    Rob Reiner – The Princess Bride, Sleepless in Seattle, Stand By Me, When Harry Met Sally, This is Spinal Tap, A Few Good Men, Misery
       18.    David Fincher – The Fight Club, Zodiac, Seven, The Social Network
       19.    Richard Attenborough – Gandhi, Greystroke–The Legend of Tarzan, Jurassic Park, The Great Escape, Chaplin
       20.    Spike Lee – Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X, He Got Game, Jungle Fever, Mo Better Blues, Crooklyn, Kobe Doin' Work 
       21.    Tommy Chong – Still Smokin’, Cheech and Chong’s Next Movie, (co-screenwriter for 'Up In Smoke')
       22.    Phil Alden Robinson (writer/director) - Field of Dreams, Freedom Song, The Sum of All Fears
       23.    Alan Parker – The Wall, Midnight Express, Mississippi Burning
       24.    Walter Hill – 48 Hours, The Warriors, Johnny Handsome
       25.    John Huston – Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, Chinatown, Prizzi's Honor, Annie, The Unforgiven (the original), The Hobbit 
       26.    Robert Redford – A River Runs Through it, Ordinary People, The Horse Whisperer
       27.    David Lynch – The Elephant Man, Blue Velvet, Sleep, (directed the T.V show Twin Peaks)
       28.    George Roy Hill – Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting, Slapshot, The World According to Garp
       29.    Brian De Palma - Scarface, Carrie, The Untouchables, Mission Impossible, Wiseguys                        
30.    Ben Affleck  – Gone Baby Gone, Argo, (Good Will Hunting - co-screenwriter alongside Matt Damon)
       31.    Laurence and Andrew Wolchowski (writers/directors) – The Matrix, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolution, 
       32.    Harold Ramis – Caddyshack, Groundhog Day, Analyze This, Analyze That, (co-wrote Ghostbusters and Stripes)
       33.    Peter Weir – Dead Poet Society, The Year of Living Dangerously, Witness, Mosquito Coast, The Truman Show
       34.    Richard Cronenberg - The Fly, Videodrome, Scanners, Shivers, Naked Lunch
       35.    Robert DeNiro (actor/director) - Bronx Tale, The Good Shephard.  (leading roles in; Taxi Driver and The Godfather 2)
       36.    Abel Ferrara - The Bad Lieutenant, King of New York, Body Snatchers
       37.    John Hughes – The Breakfast Club; Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
       38.    Jonathan Demme - Philadelphia, Silence of the Lambs, Innerspace                  
39.    Robert Zemeckis – Back to the Future (Trilogy), Romancing the Stone, Forrest Gump
       40.    Jonathan Lynn – My Cousin Vinny, The Distinguished Gentleman, Clue
       41.    John Carpenter – The Thing, The Fog, Halloween, Christine, Escape From New York
       42.    James L. Brooks – Terms of Endearment, As Good As it Gets, Broadcast News
       43.    Roland Emmerich – Stargate, Independence Day, Godzilla, 2012
       44.    John Glen – For Your Eyes Only, Licence to Kill, The Living Daylights
       45.    Guy Hamilton – The Man With the Golden Gun, Diamonds are Forever, Live and Let Die, Goldfinger
       46.    Barbara Streisand – Yentl, The Way We Were, Nuts
       47.    Adrian Lyne – Fatal Attraction, Jacob’s Ladder, 9 1/2 Weeks, Flashdance, Indecent Proposal
48.   Mary Lambert - Pet Sematary, Pet Sematary 2, The Attic
49.   Ridley Scott - Alien, Bladerunner, Gladiator, Robin Hood, American Gangster
50.   Cecile B. DeMille  – The Ten Commandments (Two versions), Samson and Delilah, Cleopatra, Adam's Rib
51.   Robert Benton - Kramer versus Kramer, (also wrote the screenplays for 'Bonnie and Clyde' and 'Superman')
52.   Arthur Penn - Bonnie and Clyde, Alice's Restaurant
53.   Frank Darabont - The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, (was script doctor of 'Saving Private Ryan')
54.   Michael Cimino - The Deer Hunter, Year of the Dragon, The Sicilian
55.   Clint Eastwood - Unforgiven, Heartbreak Ridge, Sudden Impact, Invictus, J. Edgar
56.   Roland Joffe - The Killing Fields, The Mission, City of Joy, Super Mario Brothers,
57.   Leonard Nimoy - Star Trek 3 (The Search For Spock), Star Trek 4 (The Voyage Home), Three Men and a Baby
58.   Sam Raimi - Spiderman, Spiderman 2, Spiderman 3
59.   Sam Mendez - American Beauty, Skyfall (James Bond) Spectre (James Bond), 1917
60.   Justin Lin - Fast and Furious, Fast Five, Fast and Furious 6, Star Trek Beyond   
       61.   Wolfgang Petersen – Das Boot, Outbreak, NeverEnding Story, Poseidon
       62.   Michael Moore – Roger and Me, Fahrenheit 9/11, Fahrenheit 11/9, Canadian Bacon, Bowling for Columbine
       63.   Tom Hooper – Les Miserables, The King’s Speech, Cats, The Danish Girl
       64.   David Anspaugh – Hoosiers, Rudy, Fresh Horses, Swing Vote
       65.   Jim Sheridan – My Left Foot, In the Name of the Father, The Boxer
       66.   Ivan Reitman – Meatballs, Stripes, Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters 2, Twins
       67.   Mel Gibson – Passion of the Christ, Braveheart, The Man Without a Face
       68.   John G. Avildsen – Rocky, The Karate Kid (Trilogy), Lean on Me
       69.   Sylvester Stallone – Rocky 2, Rocky 3, Rocky 4, Rocky Balboa, Rambo; Last Blood, The Expendables   
       70.   Luis Llosa Urquidi – The Specialist, Anaconda, Sniper
       71.   Steve Gordon – Arthur, (directed T.V shows Chico and the Man, and, Barney Miller)
       72.   Blake Edwards – The Pink Panther (including all sequels), The Party, Victor Victoria, Gunn, Peter Gunn, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, 10
       73.   Bob Fosse – Cabaret, Lenny, All That Jazz, (won countless Tony Awards as a playwright director)
       74.   Gus Van Sant – Drugstore Cowboy, Good Will Hunting, Psycho (remake)
       75.   Sean S. Cunningham – Friday the 13th, A Stranger is Watching, Spring Break
       76.   Ted Kotcheff – The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, First Blood, Joshua Then and Now, Weekend at Birnie’s 
       77.   Steven Soderbergh – Sex, Lies, and Videotape; Erin Brockovich, Ocean’s Eleven, Ocean’s Twelve, Ocean’s Thirteen
       78.   George Seaton – Miracle on 34rth Street, Diamond Horseshoe
       79.   Warren Beatty – Heaven Can Wait, Reds, Dick Tracy, Bulworth
       80.   Robert Aldrich – Sodom and Gomorrah, The Dirty Dozen, The Longest Yard, The Frisco Kid
       81.   Roman Polanski - Rosemary's Baby, Chinatown, Frantic, The Pianist, The Ghost Writer, Oliver Twist
       82.   Elia Kazan – Gentlemen’s Agreement, On the Waterfront, East of Eden, A Streetcar Named Desire, Baby Doll, America America
       83.   James Frawley – The Muppet Movie, (directed many T.V shows including ‘Magnum P.I’, ‘Cagney and Lacey’, ‘Law and Order’, ‘Chicago Hope’, ‘Ally McBeal’)
       84.   John McTiernan Jr. – Predator, Die Hard, The Hunt For Red October, Remakes of; The Thomas Crown Affair, and Rollerball
       85.   Peter Bogdanovich – Mask, To Sir with Love 2
       86.   Mike Nichols – Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, The Graduate, Silkwood
       87.   Jim Sharman – Rocky Horror Picture Show, Shock Treatment
       88.   Sidney Poitier - Stir Crazy, Ghost Dad, (played lead role in 'To Sir, With Love')
       89.   Michael Ritchie – The Bad News Bears, The Candidate
       90.   Penny Marshall – Awakenings, A League of Their Own, Big
       91.   Mark Rydell – On Golden Pond
       92.   Andrew Davis – The Fugitive, Under Siege, Above the Law
       93.   Phillip Noyce – Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger, The Bone Collector
       94.   Richard Donner – Superman, Superman 2, Lethal Weapon (1-1V), Scrooged
       95.   Sydney Pollack – Tootsie, Absence of Malice, Out of Africa, The Fabulous Baker Boys, The Firm, Sabrina
       96.   Carl Reiner – The Jerk, Summer School, Oh God!, All of Me
       97.   John Badham – War Games, Saturday Night Fever
       98.   Joel Schumacher – Cousins, The Lost Boys, Flatliners, The Client, A Time to Kill, Batman Forever, Phantom of the Opera
       99.   Ron Shelton – Bull Durham, White Men Can’t Jump, Cobb
       100. Mel Brooks – The Producers, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, History of the World Part One, Spaceballs    
                                               

Monday, February 24, 2020

Film Directors - by Moses (a.k.a Stacey Marc Goldman)


Directors

         
      1.     Stanley Kubrick – Dr. Strangelove, A Clockwork Orange, 2001, The                   Shining, Full Metal Jacket, Eyes Wide Shut

2.      Steven Spielberg – Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T, Saving Private Ryan, Schindler’s List, Jurassic Park

3.      Martin Scorsese – Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, After Hours, Good Fellas, The Irishman

4.      Francis Ford Coppola – The Godfather 1 and 11, Apocalypse Now

5.      John Singleton – Boyz in the Hood, Shaft, Rosewood

6.      Barry Levinson – The Natural, Diner, Good Morning Vietnam, Tootsie

7.      John Landis – Animal House, The Blues Brothers

8.      George Lucas – American Graffiti, Star Wars 1, 11, 111, 1V, V, V1,V11,V111

9.      Quentin Tarantino - Resevoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Jango Unchained

10.    Ron Howard – Nightshift, Apollo 13, De Vinci Code

11.    Peter Jackson – Lord of the Rings (Trilogy), King Kong

12.    Norman Jewison – Fiddler on the Roof, Moonstruck

13.    James Cameron – The Titanic, Aliens, Avatar (Trilogy), Terminator (Trilogy), Rambo (First Blood Part 2)

14.    Oliver Stone – Platoon, Wall Street, JFK, Salvador, Born on the 4rth of July, the Doors

15.    Tim Burton – Batman, Edward Scissorhands, Beetlegeuse, Nightmare Before Christmas

16.    Alfred Hitchcock – The Birds, Rear Window, Psycho

17.    Rob Reiner – The Princess Bride, Sleepless in Seattle, Stand By Me

18.    David Fincher – The Fight Club, Zodiac Seven, The Social Network

19.    Richard Attenborough – Gandhi, Greystroke–The Legend of Tarzan

20.    Spike Lee – Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X, Jungle Fever, He Got Game, Mo Better Blues 

21.    Tommy Chong – Still Smokin’, and Cheech and Chong’s Next Movie

22.    Phil Alden Robinson (writer/director) - Field of Dreams, Freedom Song, The Sum of All Fears

23.    Alan Parker – The Wall, Midnight Express, Mississippi Burning

24.    Walter Hill – 48 Hours, The Warriors, Johnny Handsome

25.    John Huston – Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon

26.    Robert Redford – A River Runs Through it, Ordinary People, The Horse Whisperer

27.    David Lynch – Blue Velvet, Sleep

28.    George Roy Hill – Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting

29.    Brian De Palma - Scarface, Carrie, The Untouchables, Mission Impossible, Wiseguys

30.    Matt Damon and Ben Affleck (writers and lead actors) – Good Will Hunting

31.    The Wolchowski Brothers  (writers) – The Matrix

32.    Harold Ramis – Stripes, Ghostbusters

33.    Peter Weir – Dead Poet Society, The Year of Living Dangerously, Witness, Mosquito Coast, The Truman Show

34.    Richard Cronenberg - The Fly, Videodrome

35.    Robert DeNiro (actor/director) - Bronx Tale, The Good Shephard.  (Leading roles in; Taxi Driver and The Godfather 2)

36.    Abel Ferrara - The Bad Lieutenant, King of New York, Body Snatchers

37.    John Hughes – The Breakfast Club, Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

38.    Jonathan Demme - Philadelphia, Silence of the Lambs, Innerspace                  

39.    Robert Zemeckis – Back to the Future (Trilogy), Romancing the Stone, Forrest Gump

40.    Jonathan Lynn – My Cousin Vinny, The Distinguished Gentleman, Clue

41.    John Carpenter – The Thing, The Fog, Halloween, Christine, Escape From New York

42.    James L. Brooks – Terms of Endearment, As Good As it Gets, Broadcast News

43.    Roland Emmerich – Stargate, Independence Day, Godzilla, 2012

44.    John Glen – For Your Eyes Only, Licence to Kill, The Living Daylights

45.    Guy Hamilton – The Man With the Golden Gun, Diamonds are Forever, Live and Let Die, Goldfinger

46.    Barbara Streisand – Yentl, The Way We Were, Nuts

47.    Adrian Lyne – Fatal Attraction, Jacob’s Ladder, 9 1/2 Weeks, Flashdance, Indecent Proposal

48.   Mary Lambert - Pet Sematary, Pet Sematary 2, The Attic

49.   Ridley Scott - Alien, Bladerunner, Gladiator, Robin Hood, American Gangster 

50.   Cecile B. DeMille  – The Ten Commandments (Two versions), Samson and Delilah, Cleopatra, Adam's Rib 

51.   Robert Benton - Kramer versus Kramer (also wrote the screenplays for 'Bonnie and Clyde' and 'Superman')

52.   Arthur Penn - Bonnie and Clyde, Alice's Restaurant

53.   Frank Darabont - The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile (was script doctor of 'Saving Private Ryan')

54.   Michael Cimino - The Deer Hunter, Year of the Dragon, The Sicilian

55.   Clint Eastwood - Unforgiven, Heartbreak Ridge, Sudden Impact, Invictus, J. Edgar

56.   Roland Joffe - The Killing Fields, The Mission

57.   Leonard Nimoy - Star Trek 3 (The Search For Spock), Star Trek 4 (The Voyage Home), Three Men and a Baby

58.   Sam Raimi - Spiderman, Spiderman 2, Spiderman 3

59.   Sam Mendez - American Beauty, Skyfall (James Bond) Spectre (James Bond), 1917 

60.    Justin Lin - Fast and Furious, Fast Five, Fast and Furious 6, Star Trek Beyond   

Sunday, February 23, 2020

The 2017 Houston Astros Debacle - by Moses


      It is now known that the 2017 Houston Astros used camera footage to relay signs against the grain of the game of baseball, leading them to a World Series Title in 2017.  In fact, in the A.L Championship Series against the Yankees, Jose Altuve hit the game winning Home-run in Game 7, using the technology of having a wire on him (pulsing to indicate he would see a breaking ball that he took out of the yard), and when he rounded the bases was caught saying 'don't rip off my jersey!!!' to hide the wiretap from the media.

  In baseball circles there is much talk about how Major Leaguers are going to treat the guilty party.  There has been talk of Jose Altuve being targeted for the start of the 2020 campaign.  Personally, I wouldn't exact the infractions with payback, however, many Big Leaguers see the infractions as being offensive to the game of baseball.  This could lead to a few players from that 2017 Astros Team getting drilled by an inside fastball.  At this point I ask a simple question;  What would former Dodger great Don Newcombe say about it?  Would he challenge one of these ballplayers with an inside fastball?  I think so.  Most pitchers in the game will pitch inside on their manager's, catcher's, and their own personal whims, within the etiquette of the game of baseball itself.

  Should the Owner's, and Commissioner of the game of MLB have the right to dole out suspensions on a pitcher's whims to pitch inside, if he misses and drills the player in the head?  An important question to ask if we're supposed to believe in a utopian society where conflict doesn't exist.  When Ray Chapman was killed by a pitch to the head there was no action taken against the pitcher who threw the ball, one Carl Mays.  It was accepted that pitching inside was a part of the game and within the etiquette of the sport.  I don't anticipate a pitcher knowingly trying to drill a batter in the head, and even if he were to state after the game that he did it would be hard pressed to pass guilt on the action of pitching a high and hard one.  Let's have some level of tolerance here people, the reality is that we don't have sports with zero levels of accountability.  It's really just a means' of justifying man made cluster fucks.

U.S.A Health Care Reform - by Moses


     Funding into Health Care versus funding into Television sitcoms. Should the U.S Congress pass Health Care Reform across America, the Federal Communications Commission will essentially be broadcasting Health Issues with greater frequency, as opposed to Family sitcoms in such frequency (as we see today). What is to be said of people that are bi-Polar, Paranoid Szchizophrenic, Obsessive Compulsive, Depressive, Obese, or suffering from Cerebral Pulsy?

Today, in America, Dr. Phil, Dr. Drew, and Oprah Winfrey, are three legitimate sources of F.C.C therapy, as their shows are syndicated and broadcast to the masses. What would be said of another 10 shows, bringing to light the aforementioned Mental and Physical Health Care Issues. This funding would mean that the average American would have a form of Medical Education that could be used in practicality within the home. This would raise the standards as to how to deal with these issues that have become epidemic.
Should 40% of Health Care in the U.S.A be in the Public Sector/domain, the lower class income earners' would be left with viable treatments. Say you weigh 450lbs and have an income of $10,000/year, where are you supposed to go to treat this Health Issue? In Canada, these cases are treated by a 'Special Diet Allowance' and any Family Practitioner can lobby for this privelage. Would the U.S.A benefit from less stigmae towards people with Cerebral Pulsy?
What would a five year old boy think, if they saw a number of people that suffer from Cerebral Pulsy on a Medical Health Show? Wouldn't that end the stigmae that was there before? It wasn't even as far back as 1975 when Geraldo Rivera broke the story of Willowbrook. At that time, children with Cerebral Pulsy were called retards in the Home of Willowbrook Clinic, and also made to eat their own feces when the staff thought they were being 'bad'.
Wouldn't a show of obese clients of the Health Care System within the U.S.A be an excellent educator as to how to lose weight? Sometimes, bringing touchy subjects to air in a bold manner creates therapy that didn't exist before. For example, Robin Williams, Jane Paulie, and Quincy Carter are bi-Polar. A show dedicated to this Mental Health issue would break down barriers that otherwise would have remained, and manifested into greater incidence.
Say, for example, 40% of the U.S.A Health Care System became Public Health Care. How many people would benefit? Would publically funded Naturopathic Medicine benefit the physically obese? What about having a dedicated weekly one hour show of smokers' that quit, on a National spotlight, as opposed to 100 - 30second commercials that air for this purpose? Maybe less infommercials, sitcoms, and daily soaps would be a good thing. These forms of gentrification and commercialization are somewhat obtuse.

Thursday, February 20, 2020

Gestapo Practices Part 9 - by Moses


      In North America today the authorities goal (stemming from high end Government Officials) seems to be in favour of selling out people in the name of safety and policing.  Who does what, when, where, how, and why, when in actual fact people are just living out their days with there being no real threats to society.  The trend seems to be in place to rat people out on grey areas of the law.  How many 5-G buildings are there in Metropolitans across Canada and the U.S.A?  These practices involve high end surveillance to promote peoples' paranoia to keep them in a state of disillusionment.  By doing so, any free thinker is condemned for questioning authoritative practices, when in actual fact is a common place train of thought.  This essentially leads people into a state of mistrust and harbours peoples' resentment of one another and towards peoples' ability to communicate with their neighbours (and thought process for that matter).  

  How many times do we see a person in a courthouse for a simple possession of a controlled substance (now that weed is commonly accepted by law in America the current trend is to flood courthouses with cases of opioids such as percocets and percodons).  How many Doctors are going to be cracked down upon for treating pain issues?  This trend is systematic of a police state where anything 'grey' comes under attack.  We're not talking about cocaine and heroine injections here, rather taking a pharmaceutical product designed for specific treatments.  What do you do about someone who suffers from pain in a palative care centre, deny them pain medication?

  The problem with enforcing laws on grey areas, is that simply demanding compliance to what the authorities would like, is paramount to denying people what is right for the common good.  Obviously there will be cases to be taken to court on narcotics, however, how straight-laced do we want our children to grow to become?  What do you do in special needs cases where a patient has a couple of wisdom teeth taken out and the dentist knows the patient will be in pain for a week?  Deny that person a pain medication based on principle, when in actual fact they would administer a pain medication for themselves?  This hypocrite oath makes for a society of mistrust and deny's a person their innate freedoms.  By doing so people are left with more headaches than they had before levels of tolerance were in place.

  This systematic authoritative body is dictating our neighbourhoods today.  What was wrong with the 1970's (a much more liberal society than today) when people used to leave their doors unlocked in neighbourhoods across Canada and the U.S.A.  Please don't blame this on ethnicity and immigration practices and let's be honest about it, pain treatments do not deserve to be condemned in the name of fighting a war on drugs.  Lets have some trust in our neighbourhoods.

          

Monday, February 17, 2020

Tony Fernandez - by Moses


      Former Baseball great Tony Fernandez has passed on at the age of 57 due to kidney failure.  Starting out in the sandlots in San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic, Fernandez (like many other Dominican kids of the early eighties) literally swung themselves off the island and into the Major Leagues.  Alongside Alfredo Griffin, Julio Franco, Rafael Ramirez, Manuel Lee, and Mariano Duncan, Fernandez led an influx of shortstops that were born in San Pedro de Macoris into the Majors.  In fact most would suffice that they led the way alongside American superstar equivalents Ozzie Smith, Cal Ripken Jr. Alan Trammell, Robin Yount, Barry Larkin, and, at the very least Tony Fernandez and Julio Franco were on par.          

  Tony Fernandez entered the Major Leagues in 1983 as a promising shortstop in the Toronto Blue Jays chain.  The Jays had fellow Dominican defensive guru Alfredo Griffin in place but had no choice but to trade him to accommodate Fernandez' immense talent.  In the off-season leading into 1985, Pat Gillick (the Jays General Manager) dealt Griffin alongside Dave Collins for closer Dave Caudill.  Tony became one of our team leaders in his first full year in the 'bigs, leading our Jays into the playoffs for the first time in team history.  For what many called the centerpiece of the equation, in my estimation it was Fernandez that was the glue of a near dynasty.  It was Alfredo Griffin who was given the Gold Glove Award in that year of 1985, however, many baseball insiders considered Fernandez to be the best defensive shortstop in the American League that year.  A purest mentality of rewarding a talent like that of Griffin (although the torch had been passed).  Fernandez was the best defensive shortstop in baseball from 1985-1989, winning the Gold Glove Award four years in a row from 1986-1989.  In fact he was the best shortstop in baseball over those years even with Ozzie Smith, Alan Trammell, and Cal Ripken Jr. in the equation.  Fernandez was simply dominant defensively, culminated by his campaign of 1989 in which he established the record of .992 Fielding % committing only six errors through the year.  Although Cal Ripken Jr, set the record the following year with a mark of .996, he simply didn't have Fernandez range.  In baseball in the eighties, only Ozzie Smith could rival Fernandez defensively when it came to range.  In fact Fernandez had a better arm than Ozzie and was also a better bat over his career.  Offensively in the eighties and nineties, only Cal Ripken Jr. could provide a higher OPS.  At that, Fernandez was a better basestealer (as evidenced by his 246 lifetime stolen bases) and he struck out less than Ripken (20 times less a year on average)  

  In that year of 1985, alongside Damaso Garcia, George Bell, Jesse Barfield, Lloyd Moseby, Rance Mulliniks, Ernie Whitt, Willie Upshaw, Al Oliver, Dave Stieb, Jimmy Key, Doyle Alexander, Tom Henke, and the rest of a dominating pitching staff, the Jays set their team record for wins in a season with 99.  It was Tony Fernandez' defence that had scouts drooling, and he could hit (evidenced by his 1985 numbers of .289 Batting Average and .730 OPS).  He proved clutch and aside from the heroics of George Brett our Jays would have made the World Series that year.  In 1986 Tony had a whopping 213 base-hits to set the single season record for hits by a shortstop (a mark that stood until 1999, when one Derek Jeter bettered the mark with 219 hits). When Fernandez went down in 1987 alongside Ernie Whitt, the Jays lost their last seven games of the year to lose out to the surging Detroit Tigers.  In 1989 the Jays won the American League East for the second time in their history.  Fernandez was a standout in the Post Season in both the ALCS Series of 1985 and 1989 batting .333 in 1985 and .350 in the 1989 post-seasons.  In fact Tony Fernandez and Fred McGriff were somewhat scapegoated by Pat Gillick and traded to the San Diego Padres for Roberto Alomar and Joe Carter in the 1990-1991 off-season.  With the addition of Devon White the Jays went over the top capturing their first World Series Title in 1992 against the Atlanta Braves with a new nucleus.  The following year of 1993 saw the acquisition of Fernandez and he had his best season of his career neigh 1987, batting .306 in T-Dot that year with an OPS of .803 and a .985 Fielding % again at the shortstop position.  To repeat the Jays entered the post-season as A.L East Champs and met up with the ChiSox.  We won in six with Tony doing his part batting .318 in that series.  In the World Series against Philly Fernandez had success again batting .333 with a gaudy nine RBI's (to set the record for shortstops in a World Series).

  Tony moved to Cincy in 1994 and played a year at third with the Reds.  He made an incredibly low two errors all season at the hot corner posting a record .991 Fielding % over 93 Games (87 games started).  The following year the Yanks came calling and Fernandez moved back to shortstop and helped guide them to the post-season (his post-season batting average of .238 being an anomaly of his usual post-season prowess).  He moved to the Cleveland Indians in 1997 (after sitting out the 1996 season due to injury), and moved to second base having another standout season batting .286 with a .746 OPS (which is almost precisely what Fernandez' career numbers show offensively).  Defensively Fernandez performed admirably at second, posting a fielding % of .980, and in the playoffs that year with the Indians he shone during the ALCS and World Series batting .357 and .471 respectively.  When we look at Tony's post-season numbers we see, with awe, the level at which he competed when he played; posting a .327 batting average with a .787 OPS over eight playoff series.  

  Although Tony Fernandez didn't have an opportunity to play again in the post-season he did have much more success in the 'bigs and returned to T-Dot for a third time in 1998, this time returning to third base and playing some second.  He defied logic and raised his OPS to .846 batting .321 along the way.  The following year of 1999 Fernandez upped both marks to an average of .328 and an OPS of .877 steadying himself at third base.  In fact, Fernandez had a fourth tenure in Toronto in 2001, and after missing the 2000 season he came back to the game with the Milwaukee Brewers.  T-Dot took him back just before the trade deadline to close out a Hall of Fame career in Toronto.  Finishing his career with a lifetime batting average of .288 along with 2276 base-hits, a lifetime OPS of .746, with a World Series Ring, Fernandez deserves to be included in Cooperstown.  Fourteen seasons at shortstop with a Fielding % of .980, two full seasons at third-base with a mark of .962, and one and a half years at second-base with a mark of .979 makes Fernandez the most versatile ballplayer of all-time, neigh one Jackie Robinson (and Babe Ruth if he were to have gotten the start on the hill).  

  When I went to New York City in 1985 my Cousin Brian Kaufman took my family to Yankee Stadium to see the Jays play the Yanks for games two through four of a four game set.  Fernandez was at shortstop and Don Baylor was up for the Yanks, Fernandez went deep in the hole to range behind third base and threw out Baylor (a former 50 basestealer) by half a step.  I maintain to this day that no other shortstop in the history of the game could make that play but Tony Fernandez.  

  It is a sad day in baseball with the loss of Tony.  He was a great spokesman for the game of baseball, hearts saddened in Toronto.  I still remember him signing my autograph book in Spring Training in Dunedin, Florida and his friendly manner.  He was truly a class act.

Rest in peace Antonio Octavio Fernandez

Thursday, February 13, 2020

Our 2019/20 Toronto Raptors - by Moses


      This year's Toronto Raptors are arguably the best team in the NBA right now.  Reeling off a 15 game winning streak (losing last night in Brooklyn) our Raptors showed immense depth in their run.  Primary scoring was shared by four men and secondary and tertiary options proved valuable.  Norman Powell has emerged as the best 6 man in the NBA, Kyle Lowry is a money player, and alongside Spicy P, Serge Ibaka, and Fred VanVleet, provide the Raps with scoring punch.  Powell, Anunoby, Hollis-Jefferson, Terrence Davis, and Marc Gasol make our team nine deep.  

  In the first two rounds of the playoffs we should be able to win based on our primary and secondary scoring.  Against the Bucks we'll have to rely on our 7,8,9 men to provide relief for our big play-makers.  Siakam could be silenced by Giannis Antetokounmpo, and what will be interesting is to see how Terrence Davis, OG Anunoby, and Hollis Jefferson respond in clutch situations towards a Semi-Finals confrontation against the Bucks.  I believe Ibaka, Gasol, Hollis-Jefferson, and Pascal Siakam are big enough to contain the boards should there be a match-up of Toronto/Milwaukee in the Semi-Finals.   


  What is truly impressive in how our Raptors won games during the run with guys on the injured list.  Siakam was injured for a good body of the run and when he was down Powell picked up the team by playing his best game (until going down a few games ago) scoring 23-27 points a game for a good stretch.  Ibaka and Gasol both sustained injuries as well, but healthy were also standout.  Alongside Hollis-Jefferson and Anunoby our big men were dominant in the paint winning the battle of the boards almost every game during our winning streak.  I was pleasantly surprised by Anunoby and Davis, as both had the appearance of emerging superstars of the game during our most recent run.  In fact we could see a dynasty as a result of our depth as a team led by current NBA guru Nick Nurse.  Nurse has this team looking on the cusp of greatness for years' to come.  It does however lead me to feel for guys like Dwayne Casey, Butch Carter, Sam Mitchell, and Lenny Wilkens as each had influence on growth of the franchise in bringing a winning mentality into the mix here in Canada. 

       

Sunday, February 2, 2020

Kobe and Gianna Bryant - by Moses

 
      In a tragic chain of events a helicopter flying Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna alongside the Altobelli family (John and Keri, and daughter Alyssa), Christina Mauser, Sarah Chester and her daughter Payton, and pilot Ara Zobayan crashed over Calabasas, California leaving the aforementioned dead. 

  One has to wonder the impact on America today as a result.  Many of us take our lives for granted so it's hurtful that so many successful people had to die in this catastrophe.  The Basketball Community across America is still in mourning losing a living legend in Kobe Bryant at the age of 41 and his 13 year old daughter Gianna.  So many dreams to be left unfulfilled with the deaths of three children 10-13 years of age.  So many accomplishments still left in Kobe Bryant and John Altobelli that we'll never be able to enjoy in the public eye.  The fact that both men lost their own daughters in this sad affair is truly tragic.  How will America look at these chains' of events with the Super-Bowl being in the limelight today?  Should America look at Kobe Bryant and John Altobelli as martyrs to a higher order?  Personally, the loss of my own life would pale in comparison to the deaths' of my own children.  

  Some will try to pass by this occurrence as a short lived tragedy, I put it forth this way;  Will we ever forget what we were doing when we found out that Kobe Bryant was killed in a helicopter crash?