42

That's me in the rotunda of Cit Field a couple of years ago.

42 is revered in baseball (though geeks will also think of life, the universe and everything....)

We all know the story.  How in 1947 the Brooklyn Dodgers integrated baseball. How Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier and became the first National League Rookie of the Year.


We had to see the new movie, "42" .    There are no real surprises in the movie, just solid storytelling.  No sanitizing the story, the ugliness of racism in the 40's is clear and present. It's hard to hear such casual use of the "n" word, but the dialogue is realistic.  And it doesn't attempt to turn Robinson into a superman or an angel -- he reacts to the circumstances as a man.  Harrison Ford turned in an Oscar-caliber performance as Branch Rickey.   Loved Christopher Meloni as Leo Durocher.  Max gail got so old, though, that I hardly recognized him.  Definitely a movie worth seeing.

Dinner...well, we wanted to grab something quick before the movie, so we wound up at T. G. I. Friday's.    Kitschy pop culture on the walls including a full size model of Yoda near a "JFK for President" poster. Spotted a lithograph of Warhol's Marilyn Monroe.  Cute.

The food...well, it's what  you'd expect.  We started with chips and salsa -- the chips were warm, the salsa mild.  Pretzels with a cheese dip -- the pretzels were soft and chewy, the cheese dip was so thick it was more like a spread.  I had very basic chicken fingers and fires, which came with honey mustard.  A little bland, but ok.  He had the Jack Daniels steak, probably one of the best things on the menu. 

Nice, but nothing special.  Good value for the money. Just what you'd expect from a popular chain.