Who is the most lovable George Steinbrenner? The one in ¡°Seinfeld?¡± The one in ESPN¡¯s eight-part mini-series ¡°The Bronx Is Burning?¡± Or the real one?
The real one thinks he is, although the vote here would go to the Seinfeld Boss, his voiceover having been performed by the great Larry David.
Big Stein smells a pennant! Pennant, I tell you!
No matter how hard Steinbrenner, the real one, tries to stay beneath the radar, he just can¡¯t avoid receiving more and more blips on the screen. With his Yankees battling to catch the Boston Red Sox in the American League East, the talk from baseball fans these days doesn¡¯t center on the job status of Yankee manager Joe Torre, but instead Oliver Platt¡¯s portrayal of The Boss in ¡°The Bronx Is Burning.¡±
Steinbrenner has noticed, telling ESPN.com through his spokesman Howard Rubenstein, he doesn¡¯t want to criticize Platt¡¯s acting, but there is a cuddly side to him that the actor and ESPN are missing.
¡°They always show me angry,¡± Steinbrenner said. ¡°They never found a softer, kinder, gentler George.¡±
Neither is the real George too fond of the grooming habits of the George in ¡°The Bronx,¡± apparently forgetting the grooming habits of all males in 1977 were nothing any of us do too much bragging about these days, 30 years later. Although, I remain proud to say, with God as my witness, I never in my life wore a leisure suit.
¡°He doesn¡¯t want to knock the guy¡¯s acting; he wants to knock his clothing and hairdo,¡± Rubenstein told Newsday.
¡°George¡¯s hair is more neatly trimmed,¡± added Rubenstein. ¡°He doesn¡¯t wear a wig; people think that because he¡¯s perfectly barbered. He doesn¡¯t have a hair out of place.¡±
Chaos! Chaos, I tell you!
Rubenstein went on to say ¡°Bronx¡± fails to capture the complex, multifaceted George, who, in the publicist¡¯s words, is always viewed to be ¡°Grumpy George.¡±
Again, I believe Seinfeld¡¯s George always showed us the deep and sensitive George. Just ask Estelle and Frank Costanza who was there for them when it was believed their worthless son George had gone to the great beyond.
Steinbrenner: ¡°Mrs. Costanza?¡±
Estelle: ¡°Yes?¡±
Steinbrenner: ¡°My name is George Steinbrenner, I¡¯m afraid I have some very sad news about your son.¡±
Estelle: (gasps)
(Switch to the Costanza living room)
Estelle: ¡°I can¡¯t believe it. He was so young. How could this have happened?¡±
Steinbrenner: ¡°Well, he¡¯d been logging some pretty heavy hours, first one in the morning, last one to leave at night. That kid was a human dynamo.¡±
Estelle: ¡°Are you sure you¡¯re talking about George?¡±
Steinbrenner: ¡°You are Mr. and Mrs. Costanza?¡±
Frank: ¡°What the hell did you trade Jay Buhner for?! He had 30 home runs and over 100 RBIs last year. He¡¯s got a rocket for an arm. You don¡¯t know what the hell you¡¯re doin¡¯!¡±
Steinbrenner: ¡°Well, Buhner was a good prospect, no question about it. But my baseball people loved Ken Phelps¡¯ bat. They kept saying ¡®Ken Phelps, Ken Phelps.¡¯ ¡±
Now, would Grumpy George have even bothered to visit the Costanza home to relay such horrible news, which, of course, we now know wasn¡¯t true? Of course not. He would have sent Rubenstein to tell the family. And would Grumpy George have taken the Jay Buhner guff from Frank the way the Seinfeld George did? Certainly not. He would have punched him in the mouth the way he said he did those two heckling Dodger fans in that elevator during the 1981 World Series. At least that¡¯s how he explained having a broken hand after walking out of the empty elevator in Dodger Stadium. And wasn¡¯t it funny how those two Dodger fans never turned up to, perhaps, take George to court for beating them up?
Hmmm.
¡°I¡¯ve been with George over 21 years and there is really a good side to him,¡± Rubenstein said in the Newsday story. ¡°They didn¡¯t show his really good, strong side (in ¡°The Bronx Is Burning¡±). He¡¯s multidimensional; he¡¯s not a single-dimension guy.¡±
Personally, I love ¡°The Bronx Is Burning¡± and will miss it once it runs its course. It¡¯s very a compelling tale about a very compelling team and a remarkably compelling time ¡ª even with the leisure suits.
(And speaking of television, I see Gary Thorne is doing the Little League World Series for ABC ... Okay, I¡¯ll take this one. Who more qualified than Thorne to do little league baseball given his gig calling Orioles games all summer?)
John Turturro¡¯s performance as Billy Martin is just off the charts. I would think the Martin family would have a difficult time watching because Turturro makes it appear as though Martin has come back to life. Although I don¡¯t remember Billy¡¯s ears ever being that big. Of course, they say if you remember the ¡¯70s, you weren¡¯t really there.
Daniel Sunjata¡¯s portrayal of Reggie Jackson is also outstanding, as long as he doesn¡¯t have to swing a bat, and, of course, Platt gives a performance of Steinbrenner that has even The Boss talking.
It also seems as though ¡°The Bronx Is Burning¡± is accurate. It must be, because the only person who has questioned its authenticity is one Reginald Martinez Jackson. But you remember what Billy said about Reggie and George, don¡¯t you?
¡°The two of them deserve each other. One¡¯s a born liar. The other¡¯s convicted.¡±
What a team. What a time. What a television show.
Mike Burke is sports editor of the Cumberland Times-News. Write to him at mburke@times-news.com.
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