Weekly Mail June 19, 2016

A belated Happy Father's Day to all my fellow dad's out there:

Saturday was a busy but fun day. We started by meeting Timmy's counselors at his summer camp. Then we headed into Queens for Kevin McGarvey's graduation party. In addition to catching up with Ray, Maureen,Auggie and Mary, we also got to watch our kids play video golf and songs on the jukebox.  A preview of things to come in the future no doubt.

I remember the nights that Kevin and Brendan DePuy came home from the hospital, now they are in high school. Handsome and strapping young men, makes me feel real old.

So later that night, in an attempt to recapture some of my youth, Tara, Tim and I headed to JPaul's on Merrick Road. Tara's co worker's daughter was singing, so we went to cheer her on. We took a cab so that we could have a drink or two.

When Auggie first moved to Woodside, he would occasionally trek back out to Nassau county to hang with his crew, and he'd take Karl, Ray and I with him. Hanging out at JPaul's reminded me of those nights. The beer was good and the music was better. Tara's friend brought her husband and her other three daughters each who took turns playing with Timmy.

We got home and before we turned in, the three of us danced to My House by Flo Rida . Just in case Timmy forgot what geeks his parents are. 

BASKETBALL: Cleveland wins NBA Title

As you know, I had been rooting for the Warriors to win the NBA title and take the crown as the best team of all time. Thing is, it wouldn't have mattered even if they had won Sunday night. As much as I hate the 1996 Bulls, I couldn't in good conscience declare the 2016 Warriors the best ever. The 96 Bulls, the 86 Celtics, and any of the Showtime Lakers teams would have wiped the floor with these Warriors.

I admit I haven't watched the NBA as much these past few years, but I couldn't believe how a team as fundamentally flawed as Golden State  could have such a good record. To me, all they did was hoist three pointers.  I'm old enough to remember Dell Curry, Stephen Curry's father, as a player, and whenever they wrote about him, they referred to him as the one dimensional Dell Curry. It wasn't even that he didn't play any D, it was that he did nothing but bomb away from the outside. His son does almost the same thing. Jordan, Bird, Magic and even Lebron could beat you several different ways. If Curry's shots aren't falling, he's useless,at least what I gathered from watching him.

And speaking of LeBron, when he was being interviewed by Doris Burke,he started talking about "everything I overcame". Say what? The only thing he overcame was his big mouth and poor decisions. He once again showed why he can be so hard to root for.

That said, he cemented himself as far and away the greatest player of his era, but also in the conversation of Greatest of all time. Right up there with Jordan, Bird, Magic, Russell and Chamberlain.

And anyone who watched that ESPN documentary about Cleveland 's long championship drought had to have felt good for that city. Look, even my 4 loser teams have won titles since 1964. For a whole city to go title less for 50 years is just wrong. Enjoy this one Clevelanders, you all deserve a party.

If Cleveland had a glorious week, Orlando's week was a nightmare.

NEWS ITEM: More tragedy in Orlando

Lane Graves, a two year old Nebraska boy on vacation at Disney World's Grand Floridian Resort, was snatched by an alligator while playing along the Seven Seas Lagoon. His body was found 24 hours later.

What makes this episode particularly frightening is the fact that of all the scary things that can happen in a place like Disney World, who would have figured on an alligator attack?

Maybe I'm naïve, but I still can't wrap my head around the idea that a dangerous creature like that could be in a place where kids are supposed to feel safe. In the theme parks, obviously you don't take your eyes off your kids, because Irv the Perv maybe looking to grab him or her up. But the pools and the hotel? Yes, you still have to be on the lookout, but it's still theoretically safe.

And again, it's something that can happen to any of us parents, no matter how diligent we are.

As far as the other tragedy emanating from Orlando, as predicted, both sides of the gun debate spouted off, and surprise surprise, nothing got resolved. I'm just hearing as I'm typing this, that several gun control measures were voted down in the Senate. More of the usual of not getting things done.

And again, I wish i had the answer.

Sorry for the delay.

Have a great week

Weekly Mail June 12, 2016

Hey:



         So, Saturday I officially hung up my whistle and retired as a soccer coach. Our last game was Saturday, and Tim thankfully said he wanted to try other sports. Plus since they are changing the rules, I wouldn't be able to work with the great coach I was working with the last 2 years, so it was a good time to leave. It something I can always say I did, and it gave me some good bonding time with Timmy. I'll miss the kids, and eventually the good memories will outshine the times I wanted to put them all through a wall. I've got a ton of teachers on my reading list, including my sister (well soon to be both my sisters) my brother in law and my cousin. I honestly don't know how the hell you guys do it.

BREAKING NEWS: Tragedy in Orlando

I really don't know what to say. I mean, I wish I had something intelligent or comforting or anything to say about this. Over 50 innocent people, just out having fun on a Saturday night, gunned down. Was it terrorism? Was it homophobia? Both? Does it matter?

The inevitable battle will take place between those who feel the 2nd Amendment means you can own your own military tank, and those who want all guns banned. Common sense gun regulations will not be discussed.

Thoughts and prayers will be offered for the victims, some will be sincere, some will be lip service.

I feel like a dope just writing this. To ignore it would be insensitive, but I have nothing, no answers, no suggestions.

The problem is,neither does anyone we elect to serve us. That's the real tragedy.

2016 ELECTION:

It happened again last week. Somewhere along the line on Monday afternoon, the AP announced that Hillary Clinton had enough delegates to clinch the Democratic Nomination. Just as had happened the week before, when out of the blue, it was announced that Donald Trump had enough delegates to clinch the GOP nomination. There was a whole slate of primaries coming up the next day, which no doubt would have given Hillary the plurality of pledged delegates. But because of all this super delegate crap, they called it for her one day early.

When the inevitable outcry from the Bernie Sanders folks came, some things were pointed out. Namely, that the system was the same in 2008, (and for that matter for the past 30 years,) and that Bernie knew the rules going in and chose to play by them. Which is all well and good except,

1) Yes, the same thing happened in 2008, and guess who complained that the system wasn't fair? That's right, Hillary Clinton.

2) Who stayed in the race in 2008 despite the calls to drop out and back the eventual nominee? Right again,

3) And then there was the reports of ballots not being counted, of people trying to switch from Independents to the Democrats to vote for Bernie only to encounter issues. There was all the controversy surrounding DNC Chairperson Debbie Wasserman-Schultz. And just the general feeling that the skids were being greased in Hillary's favor. I believe in 2008, the DNC may have been looking to get Hillary nominated, but they figured even with Barack Obama, they knew they had the momentum on their side.

          Look, I didn't like the system in 2008, even though I was happy that Obama won. If you recall, I urged Hillary to not drop out and defended her decision to stay in. And not just because I wanted them to slug it out, but because she had the right to stay in until she was mathematically  eliminated.

So did Bernie.
       
         But now that he really has no prayer, he probably should bow out. Unless he really thinks the super delegates will change their mind, he's pretty much pissing into the wind. He should be proud, against amazing odds he hung in there all the way to almost the last of the primaries, when most of the experts figured he would be toast by Super Tuesday. Whether you follow these elections because you care about the issues, or your into it strictly for entertainment value (and I honestly follow it for both) he gave us a really good show.



Gordie Howe (1928-2016)

         Almost exactly one week after America lost one of its greatest sports figures, Canada lost one of theirs.
         Gordie Howe is widely considered one of the greatest hockey players of all time. His 801 career goals are second only to Wayne Gretzky. His original 25 year career was amazing enough, but then he played several more years in the WHA. His WHA team, the Hartford Whalers, were absorbed into the NHL, so he got to play one final NHL season ......at the age of 52!
           Howe was as much of a gentleman off the ice as he was a miserable prick on it, which is probably what endeared him to Canadian fans the most, (not to mention the city of Detroit, where he played his first 25 years). One of the cool things about hockey is that one can achieve a Gordie Howe hat trick -a goal, and assist and a fight. (For a time there, I thought my son may have been the first player to pull that feat off in soccer. But alas he avoided dropping the proverbial gloves)  Howe had a legendary fight in 1959 with Ranger defenseman  Lou Fontinato that resulted in Howe breaking Fontinato's jaw. Years later, Howe and Fontinato and their wives became good friends, and hosted autograph shows together ala Bobby Thompson/Ralph Branca and Mookie Wilson/Bill Buckner.
            Stories have emerged in the past few days that a 15 year old Howe attended a Ranger tryout camp in Winnipeg, but the older kids trying out busted his chops so much, he ended up going home. Can you imagine? A quick look at the NHL top 10 all time leading scorers shows that 5 of them played for the Rangers. (Howe would have been 6) Gretzky, Mark Messier, Jaromir Jagr, Marcel Dionne, and Phil Esposito all played for the Blueshirts at one time. Gretzky, Dionne and Espo were at the very end of their careers, Jagr and Messier were still in their prime, but past their most dominant years. Howe never made it out of a tryout. And that's why we've won one Stanley Cup in 76 years. Can you imagine of Gordie had stuck around?
           Was he really the greatest hockey player of all time? I don't believe so, but he's right up near the top of the list. And the fact that the two greatest hockey players of all time (as far as I'm concerned) Wayne Gretzky and Bobby Orr, think he is the G.O.A.T. has to count for something, doesn't it?

So to end this week, I want to thank all of you who are reading this, and I hope you are enjoying it. I just want to make something clear, especially when it comes to the political part of the blog. There was a time in my life when I would write things hoping to somehow make a difference. Maybe I could convince someone who thought one way to change their mind. I've come to a point in my life where I realize that people are going to think what they think. All of this is my opinion, and it means nothing. And by that I mean, my $0.02 isn't any more valuable than anybody else. So if your reading this and getting all steamed because I'm bashing your candidate (or in the case of the Yankees, your baseball team) or I'm singing the praises of a candidate you can't stand, don't sweat it. Most of the time, I'm just writing what comes to mind. My days of trying to be Woodward and Bernstein are done.
For now.

Have a Great Week

Weekly Mail June 5, 2016

Hi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Remember when I was discussing different kids birthday parties I've attended? Well, I went to a pretty unique on on Saturday.

One of Tim's friends had his birthday at California Pizza Kitchen in Westbury. All the kids got raw personal pizza dough, with a little plastic cup of sauce and some shredded mozzarella cheese. They spread on the sauce, added the cheese and then someone came around and collected the pies and took them to be cooked.  While they were cooking, the kids got a tour of the kitchen and the walk in fridge where they keep all the ingredients. I haven't been in one of those jammies since my Baskin-Robbins days. On the bulletin board near the kitchen's entrance, there was a note from the district manager imploring the staff to get their sales numbers up. Not sure if that was supposed to be part of the tour, but these are the things I find fascinating.

All in all it was pretty cool, but I haven't had pizza at 11 AM since I was in college. Maybe to complete the experience, I should have gone out and tied one on Friday night. Pizza for breakfast with a hangover. Now that was living.

Muhammad Ali  (1942-2016)

           When I was a little kid, Muhammad Ali was one of my favorite celebrities.

Why not? I didn't know anything about sports or politics (some may argue I still don't...but I digress). All I knew was that Muhammad Ali was always on TV, he made a lot of silly faces and said a lot of funny things. He was just a character, like Bugs Bunny or Luke Skywalker.

As I got a little older, I started to understand what he meant to boxing. His upset of Sonny Liston in 1964 gave the sport it's most outgoing champ, much more so than quiet, classy Joe Louis or the brooding menacing Liston. Every sport has it's great athletes. Even fewer of those athletes actually transcend the sport they are in. To me, nobody quite transcended their sport the way Ali did boxing. When ESPN had their list of the greatest athletes of the 20th Century, I felt Ali should have been number 1.* Just because I felt he, of all the athletes was bigger than his sport.

As I got a little older than that, though, I found some things about him bothered me. Forget about whether the US was justified for going to Vietnam, it bugged me that he was considered a hero for not going to fight a war that my father nearly got his legs blown off fighting.  It bugged me that he was a member of the Nation of Islam, an organization that considered white people "the devil" It didn't bother me that he changed his name from Cassius Clay, it did bother me that he referred to Cassius Clay as his "slave name".  It bothered me that he called Joe Frazier an Uncle Tom. I cringed the first time I heard Frazier tell someone that "I did that to him" referring to Ali's Parkinson's disease. After I read some of the things Ali said about Frazier, (especially after I heard some of the things Frazier did for Ali while he was banned from boxing) I couldn't say I blamed him.

But I have to say, I never heard of him turning down an autograph request from a white fan. His friendships with Howard Cosell and other white celebrities was well known. Angelo Dundee was his long time trainer and his cut man the legendary Ferdie Pacheco. He admitted that his trash talk against Frazier was more about selling tickets than any real convictions he had. And even Big Bill didn't hold Ali's refusal to go to Nam against him. **

As with any famous figure, especially one from that turbulent time, he was complex. Perfect? Hardly, but nobody is, athletes especially. But was there a more well known figure, sports or otherwise in the world? I honestly can't think of any. Jordan, the Bambino, Gretzky, Tiger Woods..they dominated their sports. Ali took it to the next level.

Was he larger than life? Yeah, I'd say so.


2016 ELECTION:

Tuesday, for all intents and purposes will be the last day of the primary season of this election cycle. Somewhere along the line, Hillary Clinton will clinch the nomination that day. The only real drama left, is if Bernie Sanders can win California. It won't make a lick of difference in the grand scheme of things, but it would be some sort of moral victory. And it's something nobody would have predicted back when this all started.


SPORTS: The Stanley Cup Finals

There is one thing that is driving me nuts about this Stanley Cup Final, besides the fact that my rangers are not playing in it....  How the hell can the Penguins fit Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel under their salary cap? All I ever hear about the Rangers is that they are up against the salary cap. But the Penguins are always able to land another big gun. I mean we traded Carl Hagelin because we couldn't fit him under our cap....and now he's playing for the Penguins!!! What?

I blame NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman for all this.I can't prove it of course, but I have always felt that he was in cahoots with the Penguins. Mario Lemieux became the teams principal owner, mainly because the Penguins owed him a boatload of cash from his playing days. Bettman wants Lemieux to remain the Pens owner so that the team stays in Pittsburgh. Call me crazy, but that's what I believe.

I think that's all from here peeps.

Have a Great Week!!




*my top 5 were Ali, Babe Ruth, Jim Thorpe, Wayne Gretzky and Michael Jordan. ESPN went with Jordan, Ruth, Ali, Jim Brown and Gretzky. 

**what did piss my dad off about Ali was his fighting style. "He could knock anyone out in the first round if he wanted to, Dad said "But he messed around with that rope-a-dope sh-t." He said this once when we were watching Ali fight Chuck Wepner on Claasic Sports Network. That fight from 1975, inspired Sylvester Stallone to write the script for Rocky.