BCB After Dark: Closing Time again

It’s the final night of the week for BCB After Dark: the swingin’ spot for night owls, early-risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. We’re getting ready for the weekend around here, but we’ve still planned a nice show for tonight. Come in and make yourself at home. There are still a few good tables available. Bring your own beverage.

BCB After Dark is the place for you to talk baseball, music, movies, or anything else you need to get off your chest, as long as it is within the rules of the site. The late-nighters are encouraged to get the party started, but everyone else is invited to join in as you wake up the next morning and into the afternoon.

Last night, I asked you who you thought would get the most games at third base for the Cubs in 2022. By a vote of 53 percent to 43 percent, you picked incumbent Patrick Wisdom over newcomer Jonathan Villar. The rest of you said “someone else.”

Here’s the place where I talk about jazz and movies. You’re free to skip ahead to the end if you want. You won’t hurt my feelings.

Tonight I’ve got a live, in-studio performance from trumpeter Roy Hargrove and the Roy Hargrove Quintet for Seattle Public Radio in 2017. This is just a year before Hargrove died at the all-too-young age of 49 after battling kidney disease for over a decade.

Hargrove was one of the new traditionalists (I don’t know if that’s a real jazz term, but it should be) of the 1990s, although he was never dogmatic in his approach to music. He played the old stuff in the old style, but he never limited himself to it. But here he really channels the spirit of Bird, Diz and early Miles with a modern twist to bebop.

So with Justin Robinson on alto sax, Tadataka Unno on piano, Ameen Saleem on bass and Quincy Phillips on drums, here’s the Roy Hargrove Quintet with “Top of My Head.”

I don’t normally do a full movie essay on Wednesday night/Thursday morning, but I do generally try to throw something out for discussion. Also a head’s up. I promised when Peter Bogdanovich died back in January that I’d feature one of his films soon, so next week I’m planning on writing about the 1972 screwball comedy What’s Up, Doc? starring Barbra Streisand and Ryan O’Neal. So if you want to watch that one over the weekend to have something to say, you’ve got time. It’s on HBO Max right now.

The Academy Awards are this weekend and honestly, it’s not something that I care a whole ton about. I haven’t watched them in at least twenty years. I’ve always found that awards like the Oscars tell us a lot more about the voters than they tell us about the movies, so that is something I do find at least somewhat interesting. The Academy Awards do tell us something about what nine-thousand odd professionals working in the film industry are collectively thinking at any one point in time. But I don’t think they’re any great judge of how one film or one performance is better than another one.

But since the Awards are on Sunday, I thought I’d offer up this spot for you to give us your opinion. The Oscars are often called the Super Bowl for non-sports fans, but there’s no reason that sports fans can’t care about both.

So give us your picks for Sunday’s ceremony. If you want a list of the nominees, Wikipedia has you covered. Or if you’d rather, you can do what I did and tell you what you think about the Oscars. Are you still upset that Dances With Wolves beat Goodfellas for Best Picture in 1991? Tell us about it! Or any other miscarriage of justice in your eyes over the years. Everyone has at least one Oscar winner that makes you just roll your eyes—even me and I claim to not really care.

Welcome back to everyone who skips the jazz and movies.

Back in February when I was looking for topics to poll you on during the lockout, I decided to ask you who you thought would get the most saves for the Cubs in 2022. Winning that vote, with 39 percent, was Codi Heuer.

It looks like I cursed Heuer because about a month later, he underwent Tommy John surgery and is out for the season. So at the risk of cursing yet another Cubs reliever, I thought I’d give you another chance to answer the question. Especially since the Cubs have signed several relievers since then.

Al wrote an article earlier this week where he tries to guess who will be in the Opening Day bullpen. But I’m going to ask you who you think will lead the team in saves for 2022. Who’s going to be the closer?

Rowan Wick finished second in that vote in February, and he’s still in the mix today. As far as I know, he hasn’t had major arm surgery lately. But the Cubs also signed Mychal Givens and David Robertson, both of whom have had experience closing games in years past. And I’m not ruling out some of the other guys in the pen like Scott Effross, Daniel Norris or Chris Martin.

If you don’t like any of my choices, vote “someone else” and tell us about him in the comments.

So once again, who will lead the Cubs in saves in 2022?

Thank you again so much for stopping by. The joint is better for having you around. Have a wonderful weekend. Be sure you tip your waitstaff. Get home safely. And join us again next week for another edition of BCB After Dark.