*It’s the middle of August, and kids are already back in school. My birthday is August 25th, and when I was a kid, that usually meant the first day of school. I always felt the summer vacation was fast, anyway, but now the youngsters are back in school before August even gets a chance to get going.

*Why am I a Pittsburgh Pirates fan? I turn 43 years old next week, and I was 25 the last time the Buccos had a winning season. I’ve spend the last 42% of my life rooting for a crummy team. Now THAT’s depressing. They won the World Series when I was 12, and I still love those memories — but that was a long time ago.

*What show am I looking forward to for the new TV season? “Just Desserts” on Bravo, starting in September. Mmmmm.

*I’m angry at Kroger for ruining one of my favorite products. I used to love its “Seasoned Beef Tips in Gravy”, which I used to make my own beef stroganoff. But now Kroger has changed the recipe, lessened the portion, and packaged it with brown rice. Not cool!

*How did Burt Bacharach & Hal David write all those great songs? Amazing.

*I’ve seen way too little live baseball this season: two Minnesota Twins games, one Kansas City Royals game, and one Wichita Wingnuts game. I sure miss having affiliated minor league baseball in Wichita. So many Aeros & Wranglers games over the years — it seems like so long ago. When I get wealthy, I’m traveling the U.S.A., going to minor league games. Speaking of which…

*My priorities once I win the Powerball: (1) endow the return of the Wichita State football program … (2) restore the Orpheum Theatre to opulence … (3) demolish Lawrence-Dumont Stadium, build a new one, and bring affiliated baseball back to Wichita … (4) upgrade my Netflix account from one DVD to two.

*I’m now a huge fan of actress Anna Kendrick. I saw her interview on Craig Ferguson, in which she professed she likes to stay at home and watch old movies, and bake desserts, such as creme brulee. Marry me.

*Really, CBS? Your big new show this fall is “Hawaii 5-0″?? … Jack Lord’s hair is spinning over in its grave.

*The Pirates lost three more games while I was writing this blog.

*My 25th high school reunion is this weekend. I’ll have to somehow make my last quarter-century of mediocre adventures and weight-gain sound intriguing.

Bye now, blog-readers. Teddy loves you.

After “Gridiron”, it’s time for me to get back to bloggin’. Sorry I’ve been AWOL, but let’s face it — for about six weeks, all my creative energy goes into the ”Gridiron” show, so now things are getting back to normal.

Speaking of the show, it went well. It’s always good to share a few laughs about all the craziness of the past year, and I thank everyone who came out for a fun evening; I hope everyone enjoyed it. Frankly, it’ s my favorite time of year, and it’s an endeavor of which I’m proud to be a part. I think my energy usually saps once it’s over, so I think I’m looking for a pick-me-up sometime soon.

I think that usually comes in the form of the baseball season, but for some reason this year, I’m having trouble finding that. This is the first baseball season since 1986 that I haven’t been the public address announcer for a college baseball team. I had a fun 20-year run as p.a. announcer for Wichita State, and before that Notre Dame, but I felt it was time to move on and let someone else handle those duties at WSU.

As for major league baseball, the rigors of being a Pittsburgh Pirates fan are probably taking their toll on me as well; with the Buccos most likely headed for an 18th consecutive losing season, it’s hard for me to get enthused about that either.

And as the years go by, I know fewer and fewer of Wichita’s former affiliated baseball players will be in the majors. It was sad watching the last of the Shocker football players in the NFL, then the last of Wichita’s Triple-A players in the major leagues, and now I’ll keep an eye on the last batch of Double-A players as their careers progress, lamenting another former era of Wichita baseball gone by.

I got up to KC a few afternoons last season for the Royals; got to see Greinke pitch a couple of times in his Cy Young year. I need to energize for a few trips back this season. I’m a fan of the day games — another vestige of old-tyme baseball.

Well, this has been a more melancholy post than I’d hoped. I’ll be back soon with more vigor — I promise.

See you on the radio…

Ted

We got news this week that Warner Bros. has given the green light to production on a “Gilligan’s Island” motion picture. It’s still one of my favorite t.v. shows ever, and I hope 21st-century Hollywood doesn’t sully this ’60s icon of entertainment.

On “Steve and Ted in the Morning” this week on KNSS, our producer Jad challenged me to cast the movie here in 2010. So here are my choices, were I to be the man in charge:

THE SKIPPER … first choice: Philip Seymour Hoffman … (backup: Kevin James)

GILLIGAN … first choice: Andy Samberg … (backup: Tom Cavanagh) … [apparently the Hollywood rumor is running strong for Michael Cera]

THURSTON HOWELL III: first choice: Tom Hanks … (backup: Bruce Willis) … [my sister suggested Fred Willard]

LOVIE HOWELL: first choice: Bonnie Hunt … (backup: Shelley Long)

{you could do couples stunt casting for the Howells: Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie … George Clooney & Julia Roberts … Bruce Willis & Cybill Shepherd … Tom Hanks & Meg Ryan … Ted Danson & Shelley Long, etc.}

THE PROFESSOR: first choice: Thomas Haden Church … (backups: Mark Wahlberg, Bradley Cooper, or Will Arnett)

GINGER: first choice: Debra Messing … (backup: Beyonce)

MARY ANN: overwhelming first choice: Zooey Deschanel … (backup: Jessica Alba)

All right, there’s my take. Any suggestions?

See you on the radio.

Teddy

Greetings out there.

I had dinner at DeFazio’s the other night — very tasty. However, it makes me miss what used to be the best pizza in town: a hamburger pizza pie from Angelo’s. Oh, my.

And my other great taste-bud treat from long ago is a twister from Ketteman’s, which used to be east of Douglas & Grove. Best Doughnuts Ever!!

Other foods no longer available that I want back:

*Chef Boyardee Roller Coasters

*Original Mr. Pibb

*Sun Crest cherry cola

*Whatchamacallit candy bar (circa mid-1980s, before they screwed it up by putting caramel in it)

And as for my dining demands:

Why doesn’t Wichita have an ORIGINAL HOUSE OF PANCAKES restaurant? Last year I ate at one in Pittsburgh, and one in St. Louis. SO GOOD!!! You want to jump start the WaterWalk downtown? Put an ORIGINAL HOUSE OF PANCAKES there; the place will be jumpin’, my friend!

Why doesn’t Wichita have a WHITE CASTLE? It began here, for Pete’s sake!

Why doesn’t Wichita have a RUBY TUESDAY?

All right, enough of the food.

I’m listening right now to Stuff Smith, jazz violinist; such a wonderful sound. He should be more well known. Wouldn’t it have been a trip to see him perform live?

A few movies I watched recently:

*DARLING…I’m a big Julie Christie fan, but I had never seen this 1965 movie, for which she won the Oscar for Best Actress. She beat out Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music, which somewhat amazes me. Julie Andrews had already won an Oscar the previous year for Mary Poppins, so maybe the voters didn’t want to vote for her two years in a row. This was also the same year Julie Christie was in Dr. Zhivago; wow. I think the best female performance in ‘65 was Vivien Leigh in Ship of Fools, but she wasn’t even nominated!

1965 — some real favorites of mine came out that year: The Sound of Music; Dr. Zhivago; Thunderball; The Geat Race; The Flight of the Phoenix; Ship of Fools; Von Ryan’s Express; The Loved One; The Agony and the Ecstasy; Cat Ballou.

*OF MICE AND MEN…from 1939, with Burgess Meredith as George and Lon Chaney, Jr., as Lenny. The story is so melancholy, and when you get good actors in those roles, it is rendering. In that amazing year of ‘39, this was among the nominees for Best Picture. I’m not sure I’d go that far, but Lon Chaney was outstanding in his role; it’s too bad he didn’t get more acting challenges in his career.

*THE LIFE AND DEATH OF COLONEL BLIMP…this is a 1942 movie from Britain, in beautiful color! Some have called it the Citizen Kane of England, telling the story of a major character through flashbacks. Apparently, Winston Churchill didn’t like the movie. I thought it had some nice acting performances, including the lead character played by Roger Livesey, who really impressed me with this role. And 22-year-old Deborah Kerr was super hot!

I’ll try to be more regular with my postings here, gentle people.

See you on the radio.

Teddy

Am I the last person on the planet to begin blogging? I held out as long as I could, but the inevitable cannot be avoided. Maybe it’s because there’s something inside me that wants to lag behind; if I’m ignorant as long as possible, no one can blame me for being hopelessly out of date.

I simply like the fact that there are certain things out there that I haven’t experienced yet, but fully intend to. Maybe it gives me the idea that there are a set of experiences out there that are “on my list” of things to do someday.

Throughout my life, there have always been a handful of movies that for some reason or another I don’t see when they’re wildly popular, but then years later, I get around to it. I suppose the most recent example is that I finally watched the movie “Rocky” for the first time. Yeah, that’s right, I got around to seeing “Rocky” 34 years after it came out. And I’m sure seeing “Rocky” for the first time in 2010 isn’t the same as seeing it in 1976 — but in ‘76 I was too busy waiting in line at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium to see the Freedom Train.

Well, as long as I’m on to movies, here’s my Top 10 movies of the past decade, my favorites from 2000-2009:

1. Castaway (2000) … could Tom Hanks be any better?

2. Nicholas Nickelby (2002) … wonderful story-telling & acting.

3. Borat (2006) … Very nice!

4. High Fidelity (2000) … brilliant script; perfectly cast.

5. The Painted Veil (2006) … cinematography & superb story.

6. A Mighty Wind (2003) … these people are funny.

7. Gladiator (2000) … kicking keyster in ancient Rome!

8. Team America: World Police (2004) … couldn’t stop laughing.

9. Waitress (2007) … How can I resist a movie based on pie?

10. The Importance of Being Earnest (2002) … super witty – and Reese Witherspoon!

Just one man’s opinions. I’ll see you on the radio.

Teddy W.