The Five For May 16, 2020 – Cheers

1. There may be no baseball, but we do have baseball announcers starring in an all new episode of the iconic show … Cheers.

The idea was the brainchild of former baseball announcer Ken Levine and Jason Benetti, the brilliant TV voice of the White Sox. Levine was an Emmy-award winning writer for Cheers and contributed to several other classic TV programs. Levine partnered on the script with David Isaacs, who also wrote for Cheers.

One core member of the Cheers cast reprises his role in this Zoom production. Given that there’s not much to sports to gamble on currently, here are my odds as to which cast member it is. Let me know if you guess right (honor system)! The winner will receive a prize TBD. In the event of a tie, we will come to an equitable solution that appeases and fairly compensates all participants.

·        5/1 (odds) George Wendt (Norm Peterson)

·        5/1 John Ratzenberger (Cliff Clavin)

·        8/1 Rhea Perlman (Carla Tortelli)

·        10/1 Ted Danson (Sam Malone)

·        25/1 Woody Harrelson (Woody Boyd)

·        25/1 Kelsey Grammer (Frasier Crane)

·        Scratched Kirstie Alley (Rebecca Howe)

·        1,000,000/1 Shelly Long (Diane Chambers)

Now, let's return to the place where everybody knows your name.

2. To the surprise of none of my readers, my track record with geography is only marginally better than my relationship with geometry. With that said, I will always know that Albania borders on the Adriatic.

3. This is the funniest horse race you will ever see. At the very end of the short video, there is some brief but salty language. Hat tip to one of my loyal East Coast readers for emailing me this link and giving me the greenlight to use it. Enjoy.

4. As many people have noted, a staple of TV interviews from home is the strategically placed trophy bookshelf. This articles reminds us it's never too early to get started.

5. The insanely astute and highly versatile writer Shea Serrano on the tiny moments that make Top Gun perfect. The trailer to the sequel has been viewed more than 31 million times. Let’s add to that number and have the trailer play us off.