Careful readers of this blog may remember our last post about Baron Ambrosia, the host of Bronxnet’s show Bronx Flavor, and a YouTube clip showing him playing handball against someone dressed like Divine’s character in Pink Flamingos. The Baron has explained it all in his recently released episode: he’s playing for the Bronx against the evil “Queen of Westchester” to determine the ownership of City Island:
Baron Ambrosia plays handball-click to watch the episode on BronxFlavor.com
The Baron doesn’t provide an embed code for us to plant the show in our blog–and it’s not on YouTube–so click through Web 1.0 style and enjoy the contest! By the way: I’ve seen The Queen of Westchester many a time lurking through the Galleria in White Plains.
Careful readers of this blog may remember an earlier post about Baron Ambrosia, whose brilliant food review TV series Bronx Flavor seems to be an on-again/off-again affair. Well, I found recent signs of life from the elusive Baron on his YouTube Channel… and he’s no longer off-topic for us. The video below depicts The Baron playing handball against what appears to a second coming of Divine from Pink Flamingos, watched by two old-school real handball players.
We have no idea of the context of this video–if it’s just for fun, or part of a past or future Bronx Flavor episode–but it’s great nonetheless. If anyone involved in this video–from the “real” handball guys to Divine’s love child to even The Baron himself–reads this post, please contact us at Streetplay, if just to say hello, or even if you want us to help with any street-game-themed upcoming episodes of Bronx Flavor!
Looks like a trend: as reported in the New York Daily News today, Yankees Alex Rodriguez, Ian Kennedy, Michael Dunn, Ramiro Pena, Damaso Marte, Francisco Cervelli and Alfredo Aceves all visited visited St. Simon Stock, a Catholic grammar school in the Bronx on Monday. Here’s video:
The principal’s statement that the kids “got to see their role models” might be a little cringe-worthy in light of A-Rod’s recent past, but it’s easy to understand getting caught up in the excitement. Let’s give some due credit: the day before, the team clinched first place; many players probably did some celebrating, especially the B-list players just up from AAA ball. They could have cancelled, or worse, shown up looking like bums. But they didn’t just “show up”: it looks like they interacted, and A-Rod gave a nice little speech about respect and teamwork. Nice. Too bad they didn’t close the street outside the school and play some stickball!
Even if this visit was more publicity-driven than what we recently saw on the JR Sport Brief, it’s a nice gesture nonetheless. I grew up about a mile from this school in the 1970s and I assure you: we never saw the likes of Thurman, Catfish, or Reggie outside the ballpark.
The normal sports news gathering apparatus didn’t seem to be anywhere in sight: just JR, a couple of Yankees, and kids. I do wish that they were using actual stickball bats, but I’m sure the kids didn’t mind. Kudos to both players.
Baron Ambrosia at An Beal Bocht in The Bronx, in the episode "Corned Beef Confidential"
In much the same way that Streetplay has documented the real-deal of sports in New York for the past ten years, underground filmmaker Justin Fornal, a.k.a. Baron Ambrosia, is documenting the culinary landscape of The Bronx with his hilarious drama/comedy/restaurant review series, Bronx Flavor. For those like myself not lucky enough to get BronxNet on cable, all the episodes are on The Baron’s site for your viewing pleasure.
According to a story in the NY Times, The Baron grew up in Killingworth, CT. The irony that now he’s in The Bronx and I’m in CT is not lost… still, it’s great to see The Baron go to all corners of the borough and review all the great food you can find. And if you’re a Bronx native, it’s fun to try and figure out exactly where all the locales are!
Like Streetplay, The Baron focuses on the real-deal of urban life: just like you won’t read stickball reports on ESPN.com, you probably won’t find most restaurants he visits in your Zagat Guide.
There’s this game called Maktot. It’s also called Kadima. According to this article in a recent issue of Hadassah Magazine, Maktot, “…Hebrew for rackets, is a bizarre sport: It has practically no rules, no winners and can go on forever, making it in many respects a metaphor for the Middle East conflict.” It’s played like this: “…two players, […]
Floris Koot, inventor of Switchball, has created a detailed, and highly playable description of a truly playful, and playfulness-inspiring re-interpretation of what sports are really for. Fun, of course. He explains: The game is played with 5 to 7 teams at the same time, in a field that is preferably one big circle. The sport is fluid. […]
A message from Lord Peters, Sledge-Hammer-Wielder-in-Chief: Hey kids! Here we are playing Mondo Croquet in San José, the capital of the fine country of Costa Rica! As you may know, our long range goal is to be part of the Summer Olympics, perhaps you’ve heard of it… Here’s a step towards our goal – friends […]
Those people in the picture are trying to see how many inner tubes one person can lift. What this is, is a picture of something else you can do with junk to bring fun where there’s not enough. It’s just one of the Record Breaking activities from Ron Jones wonderful book Shared Victory, a Collection […]
First Round: Game 1 Results: Sugar Hill (5) vs Silver Bullets (12) (Field 1 / 10:00 am) Game 1 was an offense showcase for the Silver Bullets and Sugar Hill. Sugar Hill put up a 5 spot on the scoreboard but the Bullets answered right back. Once the Bullets tied the game, their offense took […]
The top 8 teams make it to playoff Sunday. It is a one game elimination until their is one team standing. Here is a schedule of the games. First Round: Game 1: 3. Sugar Hill vs 6. Silver Bullets (Field 1 / 10:00 am) Game 2: 4. Royals vs 5. Leland Legends (Field 2 / […]
The 2017 NYESL season is coming to an end. The last two weeks have been intense as teams jumped around the standings. 1. Gold: The Gold ended the regular season with a 19-3-1 record. During week 12, the Gold beat Sugar Hill, 7 – 4, and the Emperors, 3 – 2. During week 13 the […]
My apologies for no weekly updates the past two stickball weeks. Due to no weekly updates for week 10 and week 11, I will be updating everyone with what each team has done in those two weeks. Here is a quick look at how each team has done their last four games (Week 10 and […]
Sugar Hill will play the Leland Legends on field 3 at 12:00 pm. The Royals will be umpiring this game. These two teams are meeting for the last time in the season. Leland sits in 2nd place with a 10 – 6 – 2 record, giving them a total of 32 points. Sugar Hill sits […]
