Simon Hunt in "The Bronx is Burning"

© Republican-American – October 17, 2006

Does this man look like Don Gullet to you?  Use your imagination.  Trim back the hair, stick a baseball cap on his head with the interlaced N and Y, and put him in pinstripes.  Now does he look like Don Gullet?  The answer is yes, or at least near enough to land Bethlehem Plowboy’s Simon Hunt a part in the ESPN mini-series "The Bronx is Burning."  Scheduled for release in July 2007 as an ESPN original miniseries, starring John Turturro as Billy Martin, Oliver Platt as George Steinbrenner, and Daniel Sunjata as Reggie Jackson.  The Bronx Is Burning is the story of two epic battles: the fight between Yankee Reggie Jackson and team manager Billy Martin, and the battle between Mario Cuomo and Ed Koch for the city’s mayorship.  Buried beneath these parallel conflicts – one for the soul of baseball, the other for the soul of the city – was the subtext of race.