« a few words about new material (or the lack of it) | Main | barbarians at our (server) gates »
09 April 2003
an uncanny (and excellent) ability
The New York Times recently posted several remembrances of Senator Moynihan, including one from Tim Russert, host of NBC's Meet the Press that makes me smile every time I read it. The Times quoted Russert as saying
Moynihan had ``this uncanny ability to know who to trust about any particular subject,'' said Tim Russert of NBC, for years a Senate aide to Moynihan.Russert recalled preparing the senator to appear on a New York talk show the day the Yankees were to play the sixth game of the 1977 World Series -- a subject the cerebral Moynihan knew nearly nothing about.
On the air, Moynihan predicted with confidence a Yankee championship: "If the Yankees don't do it today, (pitcher) Mike Torrez will do it Tuesday," he declared.
"I fell out of my chair," Russert recalls. "How did you know about Mike Torrez?" he asked afterward.
Moynihan's reply: "I didn't know who it was. I was sitting in the makeup chair and this little kid with a Yankee hat and a ball and glove comes in. ... I said, 'Hey, tiger, the Yanks going to win today?' He said, 'If they don't win today, Torrez will do it Tuesday.'
"If you can't trust a 10-year-old with a Yankee hat, you can't trust anybody."'
The Yankees won the World Series in six games.