I’ve always been, and still am, a huge fan of Joe Girardi as a person. I just love the way he lives his life. Actually, I put him – again, as a person – in the “type of guy that I hope my son grows up to be someday” or the “type of guy that I hope my daughter marries someday” category. And, I can’t say that about many in baseball.

As far as being a big league manager, to be candid, I had very high expectations for Girardi when he took the Yankees job. And, now that I’ve seen him in that role for two years, I realize that my expectations were a mistake. Don’t get me wrong – Joe does some things very well and he’s won a World Series ring. Plus, he works extremely hard and tries to be prepared. It’s just that I expected him to handle the media better and “control” or “own” a ballgame better than he’s shown. Again, it’s not like he’s terrible in those departments – it’s just that I expected more there.

This all said, for the life of me, I can’t see Girardi being the manager of the Yankees for a very long time. For sure, I don’t see him having this job for 12 years like Joe Torre. It’s entirely a gut feeling thing – totally subjective. Something just tells me that he’ll be gone before the 2014 season – or maybe earlier.

How about you? Think General Joe is the Yankees manager for the next decade? Or, do you also feel that he’s not long for the manager’s chair in Yankeeland?

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Here are the winners – in bold:

Lou Gehrig 97.3%
Dave Righetti 2.7%

Bobby Murcer 43.8%
Reggie Jackson 56.2%

Andy Pettitte 37.0%
Don Mattingly 63.0%

Charlie Keller 1.4%
Derek Jeter 98.6%

Don’t forget that we still have these contests in play:

Greatest/Favorite Yankees Tournament – Div III, Round II
Greatest/Favorite Yankees Tournament – Div IV, Round II

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Today, April 6th, during the 10 pm (ET) hour, I’ll be on The Phil Show – to talk some Yankees baseball.

Check it out, if you get a chance…

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Via Phil Pepe in the Daily News back on January 4, 1973:

The Yankees have been sold to Mike Burke and George Steinbrenner III and 10 owners to be named later.

At a press conference yesterday in Yankee Stadium, Michael Burke presiding, it was announced that the CBS eye has had it. After nine years, the network is bowing out of the baseball business for $10 million, or $3.2 million less than CBS paid for the club.

Burke pointed out, however, that the loss was no loss at all to the network. Because of its corporate structure, tax losses and the like, CBS “substantially recouped its investment” according to Burke.

In making the announcement, Burke, looking affluent in a navy blue, doublebreasted suit (pin-striped, naturally) said: “CBS has agreed to sell the New York Yankees to a group of individuals headed by George Steinbrenner… for $10 million in cash.” Burke added that he will carry on as chief executive of the Yankees and that the Yankee organization will remain intact from top to bottom – including Lee MacPhail as general manager and Ralph Houk as field manager.

Ralph Houk will remain as manager, said the new owners. Burke also said: “The club will remain in the city,” an announcement Mayor Lindsay endorsed in a separate statement of his own and through the present at the press conference of Deputy Mayor Edward Hamilton.

Mike Burke, as we all know, was quickly cast out of Yankeeland a few months later on April 29, 1973.

In any event, 1973 was the first Yankees season in the Steinbrenner Era. And, April 6, 1973 was their first game that year – played 37 years ago from today. It was against the Red Sox at Fenway Park.

How did it go? Click here to find out.

(more…)

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Funny.

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Here are the winners – in bold:

Babe Ruth 96.1%
Rickey Henderson 3.9%

Roger Maris 32.9%
Ron Guidry 67.1%

Sparky Lyle 14.3%
Alex Rodriguez 85.7%

Paul O’Neill 9.1%
Mariano Rivera 90.9%

Don’t forget that we still have these contests in play:

Greatest/Favorite Yankees Tournament – Div III, Round II
Greatest/Favorite Yankees Tournament – Div IV, Round II

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Via Chad Jennings:

Hughes will rejoin the Yankees before tomorrow’s game in Boston. He will then travel with the team to Tampa, where he’ll make another extended spring training start before making his regular season debut on April 15 against the Angels.

Hughes, who is currently in Tampa after having started in an extended spring training game earlier today, will fly to Boston for tomorrow and Thursday’s games, only to fly back to Tampa right after with the team. Aside from the economics (I was half joking with the title of the post, though) I feel like Hughes would almost be better off staying in Tampa, throwing his bullpen session, and resting. There is plenty of time on the road for Hughes in the upcoming months and there’s no need, in my opinion, to have him fly to Boston.

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Via USA Today -

Fourteen of baseball’s 30 teams enter the season with lower payrolls, based on documents obtained by USA TODAY from the Major League Baseball Players Association, clubs and MLB’s central office. In 2009, the same number of teams cut opening-day payroll, however growth of the average annual player salary remained steady at 4% over the previous season. This year’s 1% increase on player salaries — to $3.27 million from $3.26 million — is the smallest since 2004 when they decreased by 4%.

The New York Yankees retain their lead with a payroll of $206.3 million, a 2% increase, while their chief American League East rival, the Boston Red Sox, are second at $162.4 million, a 33% increase. The Yankees, whose payroll is nearly six times that of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ $34.9 million, are led by third baseman Alex Rodriguez’s $33 million salary. New York’s starting infield will earn $85.2M, more than 16 teams.

“We’re struggling to sign (first baseman Prince Fielder),” Milwaukee Brewers owner Mark Attanasio said, “and the Yankees infield is making more than our team.”

For the record, here’s some background on Mark Attanasio from three years ago:

…Attanasio, a life-long New York Yankees fan who grew up in the Bronx and wore his Yankees jersey to Game 7 of the 2001 World Series.

Attanasio, who bought the Brewers for $223 million, lives in a $10 million mansion in Brentwood and has a $6 million summer hangout in Malibu. He and Debbie have a son who’s a freshman at Brown and another son who is a high school freshman.

Attanasio is a baseball junkie who will watch his team on TV, the Internet and Blackberry and bring his satellite radio on plane trips, claiming he can pick up reception by pointing the antennae south. He saw about 40 Brewers games in person his first season, 30 last year and six this year.

Sounds like Attanasio has a bad case of pinstripe envy. Maybe he sould sell the summer house and pick up some starting pitching with the cash?

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Via TSN –

The Oakland A’s might have claimed first place for cutdown surprises late Saturday night when they designated DH Jack Cust for assignment.

Cust has hit 84 home runs over the past three seasons for a power-challenged Oakland team. Balancing those homers, however, were 546 strikeouts and the A’s decided to go a different direction. Longtime third baseman Eric Chavez will be the primary DH.

“I think it’s messed up,” Cust told the San Francisco Chronicle after getting the news. “They’re going to go on 50 at-bats after three years of what I’ve done here? It’s ridiculous. A lot of other guys have had bad springs. This is a joke.

“The fact is, this team has no power and they’ve just released a guy who (averaged 28 homers) the last three years. That’s amazing.”

The A’s have 10 days to trade or release Cust or send him outright to the minor leagues. Cust said he’d consider a demotion to the minors so he can get his full $2.65 million salary. A’s general manager Billy Beane is hopeful Cust will agree to be sent down.

“I’ve got to do what’s best for my family, but I’m not going to let (the A’s) just walk all over me,” Cust said.

“I’ve busted my butt for them for three years, and I played sporadically this spring and they leave it until the day before the regular season to do this, like they didn’t know what was going on before? And with (center fielder) Coco (Crisp) on the DL (broken pinkie) – I’m not good enough to be one of the 25 guys?”

I’m not a big fan of Jack Cust as a baseball player. He’s extremely limited defensively. And, he strikes out at an alarming rate and doesn’t get many hits. Basically, he’s a no-glove, strikeout, walk, or homer player.

But, if the A’s were willing to take Kei Igawa and his remaining salary in exchange for Cust…then Jack could be nice “Nick Johnson” insurance to have down in Triple-A. [Note the stress on could.] Then again, for sure, anything is better than paying Kei Igawa to pitch in Triple-A…

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Here’s a list of Yankees players to hit homeruns on Opening Day in the Steinbrenner Era (meaning since 1973):

.

For some reason, I’ll always remember the Jimmy Wynn homer – and, for the life of me, I cannot remember the one by Mike Blowers. Which ones will you never forget and can’t remember?

[Note:  These are "season opener" homers and not "home opener" homers.  Hence, no Matsui from 2003 - although Godzilla has homered on the "season opener" too - in 2005, 2006 and 2009.]

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Something new this year at WasWatching.com -

At the start of each month, or thereabouts, I’m going to look at the Yankees schedule for the month, and provide a number of wins and losses that we should see for New York (that month). Please keep in mind that this is not a prediction or a forecast. More so, this is me looking at the Yankees schedule, one month at a time, and considering who they play, when they play them, and where they play, and then coming up with what is a reasonable amount of wins a team such as the Yankees should have over that given period of time.

And, then, of course, once the month is over, we can compare the Yankees actual results to what I felt they should have done – given that month’s schedule, their opponents, etc. (And, yes, the formula I’m using is somewhat unscientific, back of the envelope in nature, and very proprietary, so, I won’t be sharing all the details on it.)

For the month of April 2010, the New York Yankees should win 13 games and lose 9 games – all things considered, and being reasonable about it. Now, let’s see how they actually do this month.

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Click here for more on what this is about.

And, click here to make your picks.

Have fun – pick your favorites or pick who you thought was a better Yankee. It’s your choice. And, feel free to use the comments section here to discuss and debate the match-ups and your picks.

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Yesterday, David Laurila did a Prospectus Q&A with Buck Showalter. Therein you can find these interesting snips from Buck:

When Stick (Gene Michael) made the trade for [Paul O'Neill], we knew what his numbers were against left-handed pitching and we knew how good left-handed bats played in Yankee Stadium. We also knew he was an above-average defender with a plus arm. So we knew he was going to negate some runs and he was going to produce some runs. He was as much a run reducer as he was a run producer. We thought he was a perfect fit in right field but it was very important — and this is something that doesn’t show up in a stat sheet — that you get off to a good start when a big trade like that is made.

We felt that with his hitting mechanics, this guy was going to be able to hit left-handed pitching. The sampling wasn’t that big, but he had hit something like .091, or maybe .191, against left-handers. So I told Paul that we were going to start the year with him hitting against right-handed pitching only, and we thought it would evolve into an everyday role. He got ticked off about it, and he was killing it against right-handed pitching, but what came first? Was the reason he was off to such a good start that the fans were getting behind him in New York? It’s not like Kansas City or Toronto; New York is a different animal. You wanted him to get off to a good start, and we also had a real good right-handed hitting part of that platoon in Gerald Williams, who feasted on left-handed pitching, and they were both above-average defenders. If you put their numbers together, you had a heck of a single player.

Regarding what he saw in Bernie Williams that made him feel he could learn to switch-hit…

Well, first of all he could run. He had great hand-eye coordination. We tested his eyes and he had the same level of strength in both eyes. He was also able to slide on both legs. If I put 100 major-league players in front of you, I’ll bet you that you’re going to be lucky to find five of them that slide on both legs. In other words, they’re switch-sliders. Paul O’Neill couldn’t slide, Reggie Jackson couldn’t slide. I’ve had some great players that couldn’t slide at all. But Bernie was one of the few guys that was a switch-slider, so I knew that he could handle both parts of his body with a lot of agility. His foot speed and watching when we were doing sliding drills, he was one of the few guys I’d seen that could slide on both sides of his leg.

There’s a little drill where you’re working on getting your hands up and your butt underneath you. Watch how many guys will have their left foot out and how many will have their right foot out, and then ask them to do it the other way and it looks like a monkey on top of an elephant. For most people it just feels strange.

I think it’s crazy that Buck is working for ESPN and not for some big league team. The guy has some very interesting takes on things – and he just missed cashing in with the Yankees and Diamondbacks. Click here to see Laurila’s whole interview with Showalter.

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…was a break today. If not for the NCAA Hoops Championship tonight, the Donovan McNabb trade this weekend, a Tiger Woods press conference later today, and it being the home Opener for the Mets this afternoon, the sports talk of New York (and Tri-State area) today would be about how terrible Jorge Posada is at catching pitches.

Oh, it’s going to be something to see him work with A.J. Burnett this season…

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You’ve got a 5-2 lead and you’re 12 outs away from a win…but, you blow it and allow Boston to tie the score in the 6th inning.

Then, just like that, you’ve got a 7-5 lead and you’re just 9 outs away from a win…but, you blow that too and allow Boston to take a one-run lead in the 7th inning.

And, in the end, what you’ve got is a 3 hour and 46 minute 9-inning baseball game, against one of your long-rivals and big-time competitors this year, to start this season…ending up as a big, odoriferous, ugly, “L” in the standings.

Sure, it’s only one out of one-sixty-two. And, there’s a whole six months of baseball to be played. Yet, even with that, this one is just about as displeasing a way to open the 2010 season as the Yankees could have possibly managed to spew out there…

In a word: Yuck.

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Happy Easter!  Happy Summer!

No promises that I’ll do this every night, but you can be damn sure I’m doing it on the first night…

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Full disclosure, I’ve never been to Opening Day in the Yankee Stadium.

However, I still get that tingly feeling – what Ray Liota described in “Field of Dreams” as an itch of an old amputated limb when the calendar turns even though its been more than 10 years since my last competitive baseball game and more than five years since my last semi-competitive game (I played in a Roy Hobbs-style men’s league after moving to D.C.).

We don’t get this way about the first NHL or NFL game, its really only baseball’s grand opening – despite the destruction of the 12:30 Cincinnati start tradition – that gets America’s juices flowing.

I’ve been privileged to go to the last three openers here in Washington and tomorrow I’ll be fortunate enough to go again.

It’ll be my second presidential opening day (to go with one vice presidential toss)  as President Obama is slated to do the honors – 100 years after William Howard Taft threw out the first ceremonial first pitch.

Taft’s first toss was in 1910 – and ironically (not in Michael Kay’s understanding of the word, which is to say coincidental, or Alanis Morissette‘s understanding of it, which is to say a string of lousy things) against Philadelphia and Washington – the Athletics and the Senators of the American League respectively.

The pressure will be on Obama to do better than last time he toed the rubber, where he may or may not have bounced it.

Obama also has to live up to America’s greatest president – at least when it comes to ceremonial pitches – George W. Bush.

Say what you want about his policies and politics (and I’ll keep my opinion to myself, so please do the same in the comments), but Dubya threw gas. And not just old man gas – but from my seats in 2008, it looked like he threw a legitimate strike from the mound.

That pitch opened up Nationals Park (and third baseman Ryan Zimmerman closed that game with a walk off homer, cementing my belief that everyone should win their opener and see something great, though I’m not optimistic about tomorrow), and Dubya has some first pitch experience with the Yankees – famously opening up Game Three of the 2001 World Series.

Even Larry Hockett, Durham Bulls pitching coach c. 1988 knows, a major component of Bush’s legacy is his moundsmanship (5:37 mark, though the whole video is good).

So all the pomp and fanfare, presidential or otherwise, is what makes Opening Day great. What makes it an event unlike almost any other on the sporting calendar.

What makes Opening Day special for you, and what do you think about when the calendar strikes baseball?

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One since 1950 and the other since 1960.

Makes you wonder if any of these streaks will end this evening?

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This one is a lot of fun. A huge hat tip to Neil Paine for the link.

Leads to some interesting trivia questions:

1. Who was the Opening Day Third Baseman for the 2009 World Champion New York Yankees?
2. Who was the Opening Day Designated Hitter for the 1981 A.L. Champion New York Yankees?
3. Who was the Opening Day Center Fielder for the 2000 World Champion New York Yankees?
4. Who was the Opening Day Shortstop for the 2001 A.L. Champion New York Yankees?
5. Who was the Opening Day Right Fielder for the 1963 A.L. Champion New York Yankees?
6. Who was the Opening Day Shortstop for the 1956 World Champion New York Yankees?
7. Who were the Yankees Opening Day First Basemen from 1968 through 1974?
8. Who were the Yankees Opening Day Third Basemen from 1967 through 1972?
9. Who were the Yankees Opening Day Left Fielders from 1990 through 1997?
10. Who were the Yankees Opening Day Right Fielders from 1969 through 1976?

If you can answer all ten of these, correctly, without cheating, you are the world’s most knowledgeable Yankees fan.

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Via the Free Press –

Curt Schilling has been hired by ESPN as a baseball analyst. The network said the former pitcher, who won World Series with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Boston Red Sox, will appear on “Baseball Tonight” and ESPN Radio, in addition to contributing to ESPNBoston.com and the company’s main Web site. He will make his debut tonight during ESPN’s pregame coverage of the season opener between Boston and the New York Yankees.

I’ve never been one of those people who believed that ESPN had an anti-Yankees bias. But, with the addition of Schilling, they may have an element of that now.

Don’t get me wrong here…Schilling knows more about baseball than many other people. He’s a true student of the game. But, he’s also a narcissistic grandstanding windbag who’s in love with the sound of his own thoughts/voice. Plus, he’s a Red Sox propaganda artist. So, I’m pretty sure this will lead to some anti-Yankees slant on the coverage that he provides for ESPN.

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Via Ken Rosenthal –

On the eve of the season opener, some in the industry already are wondering how long the Yankees would tolerate sub-par production from outfielders Randy Winn and Marcus Thames.

The Yankees’ starting left fielder, Brett Gardner, is not yet established as a major-league hitter. An injury to center fielder Curtis Granderson or right fielder Nick Swisher would leave the Yankees further exposed.

Neither Winn, a switch-hitter, nor Thames, a right-handed hitter, had a good spring. Winn, 35, had a batting/on-base/slugging line of .224/.255/.265. Thames, 33, was even worse, hitting .135/.182/.269. Both had about 50 at-bats.

The Yankees figure to be more patient with Winn, who is changing leagues. Thames, who owns a career .845 OPS against left-handed pitching, might need to get off to a quicker start.

Either way, the Yankees’ investment in the two amounts to a mere $2 million combined. If one or both struggle, and Gardner also starts slowly, the team could be in the market for outfield help quickly.

Hey, maybe Shelley Duncan and Bubba Crosby are still in playing shape and available if Thames and Winn don’t work out? And, yes, I’m kidding…

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Click here for more on what this is about.

And, click here to make your picks.

Have fun – pick your favorites or pick who you thought was a better Yankee. It’s your choice. And, feel free to use the comments section here to discuss and debate the match-ups and your picks.

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Here they are, below – click on the image to enlarge it:

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Here are the winners – in bold:

Joe DiMaggio 98.8%
Jack Chesbro 1.3%

Vic Raschi 19.2%
Elston Howard 80.8%

Thurman Munson 100.0%
Ryne Duren 0.0%

Bernie Williams 88.5%
David Cone 11.5%

Jorge Posada 77.5%
Willie Randolph 22.5%

Bill Dickey 94.9%
Waite Hoyt 5.1%

Red Ruffing 92.4%
Herb Pennock 7.6%

Whitey Ford 95.0%
Mel Stottlemyre 5.0%

Don’t forget that we still have these contests in play:

Greatest/Favorite Yankees Tournament – Div I, Round II
Greatest/Favorite Yankees Tournament – Div II, Round II

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Via Bob Raissman -

After losing the spring training ratings race to SportsNet New York and the Mets, the Yankees Entertainment & Sports Network and the Bombers undoubtedly will rebound big-time Sunday night with the lid-lifter at Fenway.

But who are the real winners and losers here?

ESPN, through its “Sunday Night Baseball,” has exclusive rights to the game, but agreed to have its telecast blacked out in New York and Boston, allowing YES and NESN to air the opener. As such, Sunday night’s appearances by the Yankees and Red Sox won’t count against their maximum “Sunday Night Baseball” allotment. Teams are allowed a max of five appearances through the course of the season.

So, before a pitch is even thrown, ESPN is a winner. Most of the country will see Yankees-Red Sox on ESPN2, and the network will have the flexibility to air an “extra” Yankees and Red Sox game during the season. YES should do a monster rating Sunday night. It is a winner here, too.

However, the TV circumstances surrounding Sunday night’s matchup could return to haunt the Bombers. They could be the losers here.

But looking ahead at the Yankees sked, and games ESPN could now air on Sunday night, there are some travel issues.

If ESPN decides to televise the June 20 Mets-Yankees game, the Bombers will have to catch a late bird to Arizona for a Monday nighter in the desert. On Sept. 26, ESPN could cherry-pick Red Sox-Yankees, which for the Bombers would be followed by a flight to Toronto for a Monday night date with the Jays.

That September 26th game is no big deal. A flight from Boston to Toronto is not that tough – although you do have to deal with customs. But, for sure, that Sunday game on June 20th against the Mets should never be a night game – if the Yankees are expected to play the next day in Arizona. If baseball and the Yankees let ESPN get away with making that one a night game, that would be a crime.

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Via George King -

Some of the Yankees are so annoyed at not being in Fenway Park today for a workout instead of playing a game against the minor leaguers, they refuse to talk about it in order not to get in trouble with ownership, which scheduled a game against select minor leaguers.

“For the position players, it would have been ideal to get a workout there,” Pettitte said.

The idea to play the “Yankees Future Stars” isn’t going over well in the clubhouse. Many would prefer adapting to Fenway before opening the season there tomorrow night.

As much as I like the concept of playing the “Future Stars,” I have to admit, the big league players have a point. Maybe it made more sense to have the “Future Stars” game a day earlier?

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Remember this one from back in October 2008? Well, he’s got some new acts – and they’re pretty good.

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Via Michael S. Schmidt -

Alex Rodriguez told investigators and lawyers for Major League Baseball on Thursday that he was treated by a Canadian-based doctor now under investigation by federal authorities but that he did not receive performance-enhancing drugs from him, according to two people in baseball with knowledge of the meeting.

In meeting with the Yankees’ Rodriguez for a three-hour interview Thursday night in Florida, baseball officials ended up beating the federal authorities to the punch. The authorities have sought to interview Rodriguez for weeks but have not yet done so. Baseball officials and the federal authorities want to know what interactions Rodriguez had with the doctor, Anthony Galea, who has stated that he treated him in 2009 with anti-inflammatories after Rodriguez’s hip surgery.

Rodriguez was accompanied to the meeting by several personal lawyers — including James Sharp and Jay Reisinger — as well as a lawyer from the players union, the people said.

Investigators from Major League Baseball’s department of investigations and at least one lawyer from the commissioner’s office questioned Rodriguez, the people said. Major League Baseball’s top drug-testing official, Rob Manfred, was not at the meeting.

Major League Baseball officials wanted to meet with Rodriguez before the season and have urged him to meet with federal authorities as soon as possible, said the people with knowledge of the Rodriguez interview. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they did not want to be identified discussing the details of a confidential meeting.

Rodriguez had planned to meet with federal authorities March 26 in Buffalo, where the local United States attorney’s office is leading the investigation into Galea. The inquiry is looking into the possibility that Galea distributed performance enhancers, including human growth hormone, to various athletes. But that meeting was put off after Rodriguez’s lawyers expressed concern that there would be a media spectacle.

Federal authorities had previously tried to interview Rodriguez in Florida last month, but Rodriguez put off that session.

Rodriguez’s relationship with Galea has left Major League Baseball and the Yankees concerned, in part because Rodriguez’s representatives told the team in December that he had never had any interactions with Galea, which now turns out to be inaccurate.

It is also clear that the Yankees are not pleased that Rodriguez, as of Friday afternoon, had yet to meet with federal investigators because he is now poised to create a distraction for the team just as the season is beginning.

A three-hour interview? That seems to be pretty long for what should have been as simple as “What interactions did you have with Anthony Galea?”

I wonder what else was discussed…

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I’m a huge fan of baseball books. And, for me, it started back in 1975.

As I’ve shared in the past, in the summer of ’75, I came down with a bad case of mononucleosis and was housebound. At the time, I was 12-years old and baseball-crazy.

My father, then 39-years old, at that time, was attending night-school in the city. One of his classmates shared my name (Steve) and a passion for the Yankees. This classmate was also a manager for a retail deparment store in Manhattan. (I want to say it was May Department Stores – but, I’m not 100% certain of that now.)

When the other “Steve” heard that I was sick and trapped in the house, he went to the book department of his store and picked out a few baseball books – and gave them to my father to pass along to me as a gift to help kill the time trapped in the house. I still have these books, to this day, 35 years later. Here they are:

Click on thumbnails to enlarge

Granted, none of these baseball books went down in history as “classics.” And, two of them are what many, today, would consider as “puff pieces.” But, I’ve kept them all these years because of their sentimental value to me. And, because they were the start of a baseball library that now contains over 400 books.

Sure, you could say it was a bad break (mono) that led to all this happening for me. But, I like to think of it as the unexpected kindness of someone remotely passing through my life, at the time of that “bad break,” as getting me started – and kindling a love of baseball books.

Related, when the opportunity presents itself, I like to try and pay this forward – by passing along a good baseball book, or the suggestion of a good baseball book, when I hear that some baseball fan is looking for, or is need of, a good read. It’s a pleasure to perform this act. And, I recommend that you try it sometime too. It’s a great feeling and you never know what it may lead to…as I’m sure “Steve” had no idea back in 1975 as well.

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