Great baseball game on cable’s YES network Tuesday night. Tampa Bay scored a run in the bottom of 11th to beat New York, 2-1.

I couldn’t stick around for the finish — just couldn’t stand the cowbell anymore.
Some knucklehead brought in this annoying noisemaker, and had a seat near the Yankees’ TV booth. For just about the whole game, this goofball either rang or kept hitting the bell like a miniature drum. So it was clang-clang-clang the whole game, even through the television.

When people go to a baseball game, they expect some noise. But I think they’d rather hear clapping, cheers, the roar of the crowd. Why do you need anything extra?
Who were the unlucky fans sitting around this imbecile? If I had to turn off the game at 10:30 — I was getting a headache — what could these poor apples do?
I’ll tell you what they could have done. They could have grabbed an usher, and said this: “There’s a clown with a cowbell sitting right in back of me. He’s been ringing it all night! Can you tell him to knock it off?”

Seems to me ushers should have the option of disarming people who are more interested in making noise than watching the game. Also seems to me stadiums should have rules — anything offensive cannot be brought into the ball parks, and anything deemed offensive will be taken from the fans. Water pistols, bottles of booze and beach balls don’t get in —I don’t know how that guy in Cleveland gets away with the giant drums in center field, night after night.

The guys in the YES booth and control room had to notice, but lead man Kenny Singleton said nothing during the broadcast. At least, I didn’t hear him rant against the ringer. But that’s not really Singleton’s nature.
I generally like to listen to Yankee games on the radio with the great John Sterling, and I’ll bet the stupid bell was driving him crazy, too. I’ll also bet he mentioned the guy on the air; John does not suffer fools gladly.
I hope the dope with the bell isn’t at the game tonight.

CINEMA

Glad to see “Iron Man” is a hit at the cinema.
Marvel Comics’ characters can be gold mines at the box office, but it looks like the “Spider-Man” franchise is beginning to slow down, and the two “Fantastic Four” movies just didn’t capture the cosmic coolness of the comic books.

With Robert Downey Jr. an enthusiastic participant in the “Iron Man” project, it looks like the Golden Avenger has at least two more movies in him.
And I might have to hustle if I want to see “Shellhead” on the big screen. That’s one of my annoyances with the mall super theaters: When “Iron Man” opened at Crossgates on May 2, the film played 24 times. Toss in 10 more shows at Latham Circle; another collective eight at Rotterdam Square and Schenectady’s Bow Tie theaters; six at the East Greenbush Cinema 8 and four more at the Madison in Albany, and you’ve got 52 chances to see “Iron Man” in three counties. Add Saratoga County’s 15, and the total rises to 67. And this is all one day!

Not that long ago, a summer blockbuster stayed in theaters all summer. And guys like me — who prefer seeing movies when the early crowds have faded — could take their time choosing a show. Now, movies are all about big openings and thousands of screens across the country. “Iron Man” will be long gone by Father’s Day.

And speaking of movies, I’m looking forward to the much-anticipated next installment of the “Indiana Jones” series. The new one, “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” opens May 22.
I’m not ranting about the 67 times it will play that first day. I’m hoping movie reviewers and Internet scribes don’t harp on Harrison Ford for his age. Ford will be crowding 66 when the movie starts it run.

It’s like Butch Cassidy told the Sundance Kid all those years ago: “Every day you get older — now that’s a law!” Ford hasn’t turned into a slob during his 19 years away from action hero Jones, and what’s wrong with an older guy taking on a physical part? I’ll bet some people carp about Ford’s years, or how slow he’s moving, and oh, they should have left the whole thing alone.

But while movie icons such as James Bond and Superman have to be played by younger actors — poor Roger Moore was 57 and past his prime as Bond when he played the secret agent for the last time in 1985’s “A View to a Kill” — Ford’s Jones is more of an everyman. If he saves the world, it’s through dumb luck, accident or perseverance. And personality is half the battle in this role.
I can see Ford playing the role one more time — as long as it’s sometime during the next two or three years — before the franchise gets a new start and goes back to the 1930s with a younger actor.

One more note about the movies, from reader D. Ellen Tuft. She was at the new Regal Cinemas in Colonie Center, and had a little trouble with the water:

“It’s hard to go to the movies without drinking the oversized cups of sodas so consequently you have to visit the rest room.
“Long story short: While I was in the cubicle juggling my bags, my belongings, my purse and the T. P., I caught a glimpse of what I thought was something falling yet heard nothing hit the floor. First bad sign. I looked around, didn’t see anything amiss and then I saw my wrist was bare. Second bad sign. My tennis bracelet had fallen off and yes, was in the toilet — the ultimate bad sign!

I rested a moment, shook my head and chuckled as I envisioned the upcoming events (I guessed at this point in my life I’ve had to do much worse at times).
I stood up to brace myself for the “plunge” and SWISH modern technology took over and flushed my diamonds away!!! At that point I had a choice, should I laugh or should I cry?
I made the right choice. I made a call to a friend of mine who I knew has a unique perspective on life’s events. She simply encouraged me to make a mental image of the fattest rat in the sewer system wearing the prettiest “necklace” a rat could ever wish for!!

Sorry about the sad story ... modern technology knows no bounds of privacy!!