Yankee Stadium Confession March 31, 2008

Rob Morrison, Anchor

Today marks the final home opener for the fabled “House that Ruth Built.”  TINY viewers know by baseball loyalties lie about 150 miles up Route 95 in Fenway Park.  And I won’t pretend to have any affinity for Yankee Stadium having witnessed more Red Sox losses there than I care to remember.  The ALCS in ’99 was particularly painful for me.

But just like everyone else, I remember the first time I set foot inside, and I remember it as an awesome experience.  It was one of my first days as a TINY reporter nine years ago.  We were doing live shots in the Bronx for some story I’ve long forgotten.  One of the crew-members, Richie “Digits” Traks, mentioned that Yankee Stadium was just around the corner.  I guess he sensed the baseball fan inside of me because he asked if I wanted to take a look.  We drove up to a back gate, he talked his way past the security guard (no game that day) and just like that we were standing on the field.  I felt a reverence for the giants of the game who’d tread that same ground.

Anyway, all it took was a Red Sox loss and merciless taunting for me to lose that loving feeling.  And I generally try to avoid the place if I can.  But that one moment was special.  That’s my own personal Bronx tale.

Opening Morning March 25, 2008

Rob Morrison, Anchor

The 2008 baseball season got underway in a big way in Studio 6B today.  Our technical crew was kind enough to put the Red Sox opener from Japan (6 am EST) up on our massive digital display monitors.  If you don’t immediately recognize the space, it’s the background of Chuck’s set for New York Nightly News.  We’ll switch it back before he gets in this afternoon.

Photo Credit: Darlene Rodriguez

Baseball Karma June 4, 2007

Rob Morrison, Anchor

A sizable chunk of my weekend was dedicated to the Yankees-Red Sox series. Last night’s late game (thanks ESPN) is the reason I’m bleary eyed today. It will be late August when these two rivals meet again, so I didn’t want to miss much.

As expected, the games provided plenty of drama despite Boston’s formidable lead in the standings. I also believe karma was at work as the “baseball gods” watched from on-high. Cases in point:

1. I think it was fitting that Yankees relief pitcher Scott Proctor imploded on Saturday – opening the door for an impressive Sox rally. Of course, it was Proctor who embarrassed his team one day earlier by throwing high and tight to Kevin Youkilis.
2. Although I personally hate it, I think it was fitting that A-Rod hit the game-winning home run last night after a difficult week on and off the field. Sox fans may have taken the heckling a step too far.
3. And I saw a certain parity when now Yankees first baseman and former Red Sox first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz got knocked senseless in Fenway. You’ll remember it was he who held Red Sox Nation hostage by keeping the ball from the 2004 World Series for himself.

Just 85 days and counting until these bitter rivals mix it up again.

To Be King For A Day… April 26, 2007

Bruce Beck, Sports Anchor

To be king for a day…I mean, sportscaster for a day!

This is one of those incredible stretches in sports for the New York-Metropolitan area fan.

Think about it! Tonight, 20-year-old Phil Hughes makes his major league debut for the Yankees at The House That Ruth Built. The Rangers and Devils are both gunning for the coveted Stanley Cup. The Nets are In the NBA Playoffs.

And that’s just part of the story. The Giants and Jets pick 20th and 25th respectively, in this Saturday’s NFL Draft. And the Kentucky Derby, the greatest two minutes in sports, is just around the corner — always contested the first Saturday in May.

The Mets continue to battle their arch-rival, the Braves, for first place in the N-L East.

And speaking of rivalries, the hated Red Sox, (with all due respect to Rob Morrison and Jeffrey Lyons), come to the Bronx this weekend for another duel with the Yankees.

They talk about Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh often as “the confluence.” They are referring to the fact that The Monongahela and The Allegheny form a confluence at The Ohio. Well in sports these days, it’s a confluence of baseball, basketball, hockey, football, horse racing and everything else.

What a weekend coming up — what a stretch — what a privilege to be a sportscaster in this city.

My mother always said there would be “days” like this.

Mets Madness April 11, 2007

Dan Rice, Chopper 4

Over the last 24 hours I have heard from several people question my jump from being a Yankees fan to a Mets fan. Barring the Yankees moving away from New York, there is nothing that would ever make me switch my allegiance. There is a very simple explanation for Mr. Met being on my shoulder yesterday.

During Monday’s traffic whip-around Trish Yodice finished reporting on Queens traffic and she started throw it over to me in Chopper 4.

I tend to talk a bit on the fast side. Sometimes my brain has to catch up with what I am saying. I expected Trish to say something to the effect of “Here is Dan Rice with a big problem on the Van Wyck Expressway, right Dan?” Instead, she said here is Dan Rice, “a big Mets fan, right Dan?” I answered, “That’s right Trish.”

I immediately realized what had happened, laughed, gave her credit for fooling me, and finished the report. I talked to her after the broadcast and we had a good laugh. Once again, my mouth being faster than the brain. I told Trish that if the Mets won on Monday, I would go on the air the next day and praise “our” Mets.

Just my luck, the team from Shea rallied to beat the Phillies. Being a man of my word, I went on air Tuesday and lived up to my end of the bargain by bring a Mr. Met plush toy into Chopper 4 with me for my reports. I hoped it would stop there.

Unfortunately, I have been welcomed with open arms by several Mets fans while being shunned by several Yankee fans. To make matters worse, my 4-year-old son Zach greeted me last night with the question “Don’t we like the Yankees Daddy? Why do you like the Mets?” After explaining to him what happened, he smiled and said “Good! We don’t like the Mets and we hate the Red Sox, right Daddy?” Being the good father that I am, I said “That’s right Zach!”

I’ve always been and I am still a huge Yankees fan. So don’t worry Zachary, Daddy’s not changing teams on you. Not now, not ever.

Pace Picks Up In April April 4, 2007

Rob Morrison, Anchor

April’s just begun and things have already been busy here on TINY.

As you may know, April is Autism Awareness Month. I recently visited an amazing school in Verona, New Jersey called The Children’s Institute. Later this month we’ll feature their educational programs and dedicated staff. We’ll also have Suzanne Wright in the studio at some point to talk about the important work her organization, Autism Speaks, is doing. I urge you to check out both websites.

Photographer Justin Laub and I took a ferry over to Ellis Island yesterday. It was a perfect day to do it (as opposed to this ugly day). They are celebrating a centennial anniversary on April 17 and we are putting something together for that.

And Shonda Schilling, Curt’s wife, tape an interview with us this morning that will air tomorrow. While her husband’s heroics on the baseball field are well known, her story of surviving melanoma is even more inspiring. They founded The Shade Foundation to raise awareness about skin cancer and we thought it was a good time of year to get the word out.

As a Sox fan, I credit her with being a good sport when I brought up Curt’s dismal performance on Opening Day.

Back to Work / Iraq Anniversary March 19, 2007

Rob Morrison, Anchor

It started with minor surgery (I’m fine, but I implore you all to use sunscreen everyday) and ended with a parade. In between there was a bout with the flu, spring baseball (Red Sox vs Yanks) and a white-knuckle flight into a snowstorm. I’d say I got my money’s worth out of this vacation. The best part, always, is coming back to work with Darlene, Chris, Otis and the TINY gang.

I’ve returned to work on a day that brings back many memories…the four year anniversary of the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Back then, I was only recently married and the most important event of my life, the birth of my son, had not yet occurred.

We’d (the NBC Doha Bureau) been holed up in the Doha, Qatar Sheraton for weeks waiting for the war to start. Monitoring developments in Washington from the Middle East meant we kept some pretty odd hours; basically sleeping all day and sitting in front of computer screens and TV monitors all night. Ironically, when the call came to my room informing me of the “Shock and Awe,” it was from my wife in the States.

NBC had already dispatched Kelly O’Donnell to Cent Com for her live reports, but that was a long drive from our hotel. Tom Brokaw was already on the air in a Special Report and wanted a live shot from overseas immediately. I scrambled to the roof (our back-up camera position) armed only with the information my wife had given me and some brief wire copy and did the first overseas live shot for NBC News. For the record, I did it in exactly what I had been wearing in bed about five minutes before…shorts and a t-shirt.

I’ve blogged about my experience in Qatar in this space before (The War Tapes 4/20/06).

It seems like such a long time ago, yet we’re still waiting to see how the story ends. Anyway, it’s good to be back.

Sunny Outlook For Mets February 16, 2007

Otis Livingston, Sports Anchor

Hello from “sunny” Port St. Lucie, Florida. Home of the New York Mets spring training headquarters.

It’s been dreary, overcast, and rainy ever since I touched down at the West Palm Beach International Airport. But given the weather situation back in the metropolitan area, I’m not complaining one bit. Thankfully the Mets season outlook is in sharp contrast to the weather conditions.

One of the keys to this year’s team is the pitching staff. Right now there are about 9 guys vying for 3 spots in the starting rotation. Everyone believes the competition will bring out the best in the pitchers and in the end help the team immensely.

It was nice to see El Duque Orlando Hernandez out running. If you recall his calf injury in the 1st round of the playoffs turned out to be key. When you have a proven playoff winner like El Duque on the hill, the confidence is spread around the whole team. He told me he’s fine and will be ready to step in to the No. 2 starter’s spot behind Tom Glavine. Speaking of Glavine, this should be a huge year for him. He’s just 10 wins shy of sure Hall-of-Fame worthy 300 victories. Wouldn’t it be nice if he reached the milestone in Atlanta against his former team? He told me if he does get that magical number, it would be hard not to retire. I think he’s gonna get it and ride off into the sunset at season’s end.

Met fans are hoping it ends with his second World Series ring.

Mo Vaughn’s New Fan Club January 30, 2007

Meredith Menz, Segment Producer

Former Mets slugger Mo Vaughn visited us this morning on Today in New York, to talk about his homerun for an economically depressed community in Brownsville, Brooklyn. Mo and his housing redevelopment corporation, Omni New York, recently purchased the notoriously crime-ridden apartment complex, Noble Drew Ali Plaza on New Lots Ave. For decades, Noble Drew has been plagued by corruption–from owners who stole 15 million in federal subsidies to landlords who illegally evicted 121 families.

I visited Noble Drew Ali last week with a WNBC crew to shoot exteriors and the interiors of a few apartments to show as broll during our segment this morning. It was a grey day and as I walked up to the complex full of boarded up windows, a group of residents immediately approached me, eager to talk about Mo and their 5-year legal battle to oust a corrupt landlord. Felicia Robinson, Vice President of the Tenants Association, told me the struggle to improve her community was a grassroots effort by her fellow tenants to “bring a light back to the community.” A security guard for the complex added, “a community takes a union, something that sticks together.” He said, “I see how things are changing and improving and things are getting better.” Mimi Rosenberg of the Legal Aid Society and counsel for the Noble Drew Ali Plaza Tenants Association told me about the tenacity of the community remarking, “these tenants hung together.” According to Rosenberg, a number of companies vied for the property, but the residents felt Omni New York was by far the best and that they had a “wonderful, sympathetic, considerate principle in Mo Vaughn who could really relate to the tenants.”

This group took me on a tour of the complex, showing me moldly walls, boarded up windows, and broken glass littering the hallways. In one apartment we visited, the tenants were warming themselves by an oven and stove-top burner because their heat had been shut off. Despite these sad living conditions, the group was excited about the upcoming renovations and what the future would bring.

Vaughn and his partner Eugene Schneur purchased the property for $20 million in January and will put in another $23 million for renovations, including new kitchens, bathrooms and floors in all of the 385 units. Tenants said the renovations will take about 12-18 months and invited all of WNBC to come back for their big celebration next spring.

You can watch our interview with Mo Vaughn from this morning by clicking here.