Weekly Mail July 24, 2016

Hey Guess What????


According to my blog service, this will be the 50th blog post I'll be making. The 50th Weekly Mail on Facebook. I hope you have enjoyed reading them as much as I enjoy writing them. Some days are harder than others. Some days there is plenty to write about, others not so much. This week for example, we have a lot to discuss. Donald Trump gave his acceptance speech and Hillary Clinton jumped on the Kaine train, One of these days maybe I'll go there and try to provide some pearls of wisdom as to why the world has turned into the OK Corral as of late, but I'm really trying to keep this light. But to start things off, I do have some bad news out of Oceanside.

Remember in our May 1 edition  I told you guys about Phat Daddy's on Long Beach Road? How we had made it our burger joint only to have it catch fire? Well, it has since reopened and last Thursday, we decided to take a stroll down for one of their signature sandwiches. It would be our first trip there since the fire.

Well, we get in there and are warmly greeting by Kathy, the bartender/waitress who tell us that the menu has changed. "No more burgers or chicken" she said.

Saywhatnow?

A second later, an older gentleman gets up from the bar and comes over. He shakes our hands and introduces himself as the new owner. He had a heavy Italian accent. "Please asit down. I makea you dinner. You can hava the chicken parmigiana over pasta, the eggaplant parmigiana over pasta, or the veal parmigiana over pasta."

I was devastated. I am telling you, the Phat Albert and the Phat chick (the burger and chicken sandwich respectively) were the best in Oceanside, if not Southern Nassau. Still as Tara said, it would be rude to walk out (even though we were probably within our rights to do so). So I asked if we could see a menu. The owner smiled and said "Uhh we don't hava de menu yet. They no deliver it yet. We hava  the chicken parmigiana over pasta, the eggaplant parmigiana over pasta, or the veal parmigiana over pasta. I maka it for you."

We decide to order drinks and mull it over. A wine for Tara, a Sprite for Tim-Tim, and water for me. "You want to see if they can make a meatball hero?' Tara asks. So when the guy comes back, I ask if can make us meatball heroes. "I no hava da meatballs" He says, before repeating You can havea the chicken parmigiana over pasta, the eggaplant parmigiana over pasta, or the veal parmigiana over pasta."

I wanted to scream at this guy from the top of my lungs..."What the f-ck kind of Italian place doesn't have meatballs?".... . It reminded me of the famous John Belushi skit from SNL, when the poor guy is trying to order something and Belushi keeps yelling "Cheeseburger!"The irony being that a cheeseburger is exactly what I was there for.

 Ever the diplomat, Tara just orders two chicken parms over ziti, of which we will each share some with Timmy (Who for the record, didn't want to come here in the first place)

I can feel the smoke coming out of my ears. Tara meanwhile is chatting with Kathy. The place was apparently up for sale before the fire, but after they were closed for three weeks post-fire, they sold. The new owner is determined to make this an Italian lounge The old chef who made those awesome burgers and chicken sandwiches, up and quit, and is nowhere to be found. Kathy herself is probably going to skip town soon enough.

There are two things Oceanside doesn't need. One is another bagel store. There are two that are equal walking distance north and south of our house, another one just opened a few blocks away. And there is one near my in-laws on Atlantic Avenue and one near Lincoln Avenue and Long Beach Road (Timmy refers to that one as Ethan's bagel store) And then there is Brower bagel not to far from South Nassau Hospital. Too many.

The other thing we don't need is another Italian restaurant. Again, we have Gigante's, which is right next to one of the bagel stores, DiCocco's across the street from us (which was the only place open for business on October 30, 2012, the day after Sandy) Pizza Iola about a 1/4 mile down LBR. Lia's which is our favorite pizza/pasta place, on Atlantic Avenue, and Bonbino's on Lawson Boulevard.

Look, I understand if I was half as smart as I think I am, that I would have opened my own business years ago and been rolling in money, instead of ranting on about stuff on my blog for nothing. But I just can't see how this place can possibly make a go of it. For one thing, it's the same old bar, with the same old clientele, sitting there watching TV and drinking beer. It's still called Phat Daddy's not Il Grasso Papa. It doesn't look or feel like an Italian place. I realize that its a work in progress, but still. What Oceanside needs is a burger joint that's not a chain, like Burger Fi, and Buffalo Wild Wings.

Phat Daddy's was that place.

It took them a half hour to put some Italian bread in front of us and 40 minutes to serve our dinner. Now, for all my bitching and moaning, I must say that the chicken parm was really good. They even brought Timmy out his own, and he liked it. (Kind of.) The owner kept saying "Itsa fresh, itsa fresh". I freakin hope it was fresh, it took you 45 minutes to make it.

I realize with all the bad stuff going on in the world, that losing your neighborhood's best burger joint shouldn't cause this much heartache. But this was tough to swallow. (No pun intended)

Onto the RNC...


NEWS ITEM: The Republican Convention.

Before I get to the Donald, and his coma inducing speech, I want to take a minute to tip my cap to the cops in Cleveland. What with all the protests going on both pro and anti Donald Trump, they were talking about Cleveland 2016 making Chicago 1968 look like a love in. I was fairly certain that there were going to be riots and fights and all sorts of $h-t going down. Fortunately, not much seemed to happen. Maybe everyone decided to behave themselves, I choose to credit the Cleveland PD and whatever federal law enforcement was on the scene. Bravo!

The convention itself got off to a rough start. A group of states attempted to force a roll call to change the convention rules. I apologize that I don't know enough about the convention rules to explain why this wasn't a good development for Trump, but it wasn't.

Then at the end of the first night, Melania Trump gave what on the surface, seemed to be a solid, non offensive speech extolling the virtues of her husband. But it was later revealed that some lines were lifted from Michelle Obama'a 2008 DNC speech. Look, people lift lines from speeches all the time, but for crissakes, the speech given by the candidate's wife is supposed to be the least controversial of the whole shebang. If you screw that up, it usually doesn't bode well for the rest of the convention.

Tuesday they had the formal roll call, and they did it when only a few of us die-hards were watching. I remember when they did the roll call for Bill Clinton, how cool that was. If I'm not mistaken, they did the roll call for him right before he accepted the nomination. I could be way off on that, but it was 24 years ago, so..

The roll call also reminds me of one of my favorite moments from the Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. You know how they say The great state of New York, the Empire State, the home of the 27 Time Champion Yankees etc.?  Well, I was watching Carson during the 1988 election season, and he handed state signs to people in the audience. An Asian lady was holding the sign for North Dakota. So Johnny says "Madam Secretary we the people of North Dakota, the home of the really bad Chinese Restaurants....." Well, Johnny sat at his desk and laughed his a$$ off for about 5 minutes, and that poor lady was so embarrassed, standing there holding the sign. I can't remember the last time I watched the roll call, but when I do I always think of Johnny Carson.

Tiffany Trump and Donald Jr also gave speeches. Nothing earth shattering, but no plagiarism either.

More controversy ensued on Wednesday, when Lying Ted Cruz gave a speech and didn't endorse Trump. He later admitted this was no accident, that he had no desire to endorse a man who made fun of his wife and suggested his father was involved in the Kennedy assassination. I can't say I blame him, but then stay the hell home. I mean John Kasich is the governor of the state that was holding the convention and he didn't set foot into Quicken Loans Arena.

Thursday came and I stayed up to watch Trump's speech. At least I tried to.

You had to figure, since this has been like no other campaign, that this was going to be like no other speech. Would he try to tone down his rhetoric, or would he go full on Andrew Dice Clay and just diss everybody?

The truth is, he really did neither. He basically rehashed his old campaign promises. He offered nothing substantial and many of the threads I was following chided him for being short on specifics. I didn't expect much detail, I mean, Barack Obama didn't offer any specifics in his 2008 speech either. The difference between Trump and Obama was that Obama kept his speech to a mere 43 minutes or so, Trump rambled on for over an hour. By the end I was passed out on my couch. For a guy who love him or hate him, kept things interesting, this was a total snooze fest.

I realize this post is becoming as long as Trump's speech, so let me wrap it up with a movie review.


MOVIE REVIEW*****MOVIE REVIEW*****MOVIE REVIEW*****MOVIE REVIEW*****

Movie: Ghostbusters
Starring: Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones.
Saw it at AMC Rockville Centre
Saw it With: Tara and Timmy

The long awaited female reboot of the 1984 classic. Dr. Erin Gilbert (Wiig) is up for tenure at Columbia University, when a long ago written book co authored by her and her old friend Abby Yates (McCarthy) pops up on Amazon. When Erin goes to the high school where Abby works to confront her about re releasing the book (correctly fearing it will affect her tenure) she meets Abby and her assistant Jillian Holtzman (McKinnon) who goes simply by Holtzman or Holtz. Abby and Holtz try to show Erin what they are up to but Erin's not buying it till a gentleman comes in and says that a museum is haunted. Abby agress to pull back the book if erin at least comes to check out the museum.
Meanwhile token booth clerk Patty Tolan (Jones) chases a weirdo into the subway tunnel, then comes face to face with a ghost of her own. She contacts the other three and hilarity ensues.

There is no crazy plot twists here, if you saw any of the Bill Murray/Dan Aykroyd  versions, you've seen this one too. I consider Wiig to be the most overrated SNL cast member of all time, but she's been pretty good in the few movies I've seen her in and she was excellent here. Her chemistry with McCarthy is well known and was on full display here. The show stealers though were McKinnon and Jones. McKinnon who does an ever better Hillary than Amy Poehler (which is saying something because Poehler was awesome) was a riot, and Jones had the best lines in the movie. Some folks really panned this movie, and yes it's not really original, but I thought it was really well done.

4 aces.

I also saw The Secret Life of Pets, but I will give you my review of that next week, as I feel like I've taken enough of your time already.

Also next week, we'll break down the DNC in Philadelphia.

Thank you so much everyone!!!

Have a Great Week

Weekly Mail July 17,2016

Hey There:

            It was another tough week in what is becoming a very dangerous summer. Another terrorist attack in France, an attempted coup in Turkey, and the usual shenanigans from Mr. Trump and Mrs. Clinton.  I think this week I'm going to try to keep it light and take a stroll down memory lane.


NEWS ITEM: The (F)Art of the Deal.

US NEWS and World Report, as well as my beloved New York Post, reported this week that a group of disgruntled Bernie Sanders supporters are planning to ply delegates with franks and beans the night that presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton gives her acceptance speech in the hopes that they will all simultaneously cut the cheese during her speech and the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.

       According to the report, boxes and boxes of all variety of beans have arrived in Philly, and are coming in from all over the country. The idea is to stink up the convention center, to match the stink that will no doubt be the pile of bull$h-t Hillary will be serving up in her speech that night.

       I jokingly asked a buddy of mine who was a huge Bernie supporter if he wanted in. I can't speak for him, but I can tell you that I'd be perfect for the job because 1) I detest Hillary and 2) Few people can toss heat quite like I can. And I wouldn't need franks and beans either. I could chow down on a couple of Philly Cheese-steaks and probably get the job done as well.  It's not something I'm necessarily proud of, but talent is talent.

      Now unfortunately, neither one of us are delegates, so we wouldn't get within a mile of the Wells Fargo Center. That's a shame. But thinking about crashing the DNC with a belly full of gas got me to thinking about the one time I did get to go to the Democratic Convention,. It was one of the greatest weeks of my life (at least professionally)

      In 2004, I was chosen to help the Post set up their headquarters outside of the Fleet Center in Boston. I was also given a couple of assignments that didn't amount to anything (and one that did that had nothing to do with politics). So if you don't mind indulging me, here is a review of my week in Boston.


July 24,2004

So, I'm on my way to Boston, in a nice fancy rent a car, with thousands of dollars of office equipment in the trunk and back seat. I had left Woodside early, after having worked all night. I'm just getting into Boston when my phone rang. It was the Post. The editor, the great Bill Gorta, told me to "ditch the car wherever you are and get to Fenway Park. There was just a huge brawl between the Yanks and the Sox.

I turned the radio on and caught the tail end of what was going on. Something had gone down between Yankee third baseman Alex Rodriguez and Boston catcher Jason Varitek.

Now the only other time I've been to Boston was 12 years before, with Karl, Ray and Kevin (Buck) Ludwig. I have no idea how to get anywhere, and I certainly wasn't going to be responsible for losing all this office equipment. So I told Billy I was still a bit away. Luckily I found the hotel, checked in and hopped on the subway and headed to Fenway.

I went to the Cask 'n Flagon (big mistake) where I interviewed Yankee fans who had been tossed out of Fenway.  Then I went outside one of the gates and interviewed more fans as they were being thrown out. To me, that was the big story. Everyone I asked about the fight had the same answers, "I was f-ckin PUMPED MAN!" I mean how many times can you quote that?

But droves of fans were coming out, bitching that they had been ejected from the stadium. For seemingly innocuous reasons. Now I realize that some of these folks probably deserved to get thrown out, but some I really believe were booted out for nothing more than wearing Yankee paraphernalia. The Boston people freaked out because I was with the NY Post, but I was able to convince some of them that I was a Met fan and my team was 10 games out with no shot at the playoffs, so theoretically I had no dog in this fight. One group of Sawx fans invited me to their house for a BBQ, which was awfully nice of them, and in hindsight might have been a good move.

   And then there was the a$$hole hot dog vendor who kept telling me to stay away from his cart. I finally said to him, "I'm nowhere near your cart. What the f-ck is your problem besides the fact that I'm from New York?"
"I don't give a $h-t if your from New York, I just hate the press. They've burned me before!"
"You're a hot dog vendor! Why would the press care about you, much less burn you?"
He was threatening to get the cops, and judging by what went down between Varitek and A-Rod, I had no desire to mess with them, so I moved a bit further down.

The game itself was a classic Yankees-Sox affair. The Yanks struck first in the top of the second and added one in the third before Bronson Arroyo drilled A-Rod with a fastball in the elbow. A-Rod started mouthing off to Arroyo. Varitek said something to A-Rod, A-Rod got in Varitek's face, and Varitek shoved his glove in A-Rod's face and both benches emptied.

When the smoke cleared A-Rod and Varitek was ejected. The Sox tied it up, then took the lead. In the 6th, the Yanks scored 6 times, the Sox 4 times and the score was 9-8 Yanks. At the time I had no idea what the score was because I was interviewing ejected fans and fighting with a hot dog man with delusions of grandeur.

In the bottom of the 9th, with the Yanks up 10-8 and Mariano in to close it out, Bill Mueller hit a walk off home run, sending Fenway into a frenzy. I spoke to about 20 people and probably could have gotten a whole bunch more. I dumped my notes to the editors and headed out to get some dinner and maybe a beer or two.

I overheard some gal on the train say she was headed to Daisy Buchanan's so that's where I went. Wouldn't you know who would walk in about 10 o'clock but Jason Varitek himself? Every few minutes the bartender would open a beer in front of him and someone would yell "Yo, Tek, that's on me man!" Yo Tek, way to kick A-Rod's ass!" I thought about going over to talk to him, but I figured in this crowd, I best be keeping my credentials on the down-low. After all I was here for the convention.

Author:	BILL GALLAGHER Post Correspondent
Date:	Jul 25, 2004
Start Page:	003

BOSTON - Now it's personal.

An A-Rod bean ball once again turned the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry bloody yesterday, setting up a series finale tonight sure to be filled with fireworks.

The third-inning melee, which seemed a distant memory after Boston's 11-9 win on a walk-off home run, lasted only five minutes, but led to two ejections and a pitcher beaten until blood poured from his face.

The stands also began buzzing, with dozens of fights and a slew of ejections. Yankee fans were showered with beer as they dejectedly made their way toward the doors after the loss.

"This was a classic Red Sox-Yankees game," said Tom Magnifico, 19, a Yankee fan who drove up from East Rutherford, N.J.

"After the fight, the mood changed. It was a little more hostile and more passionate."

The brawl began when Boston hurler Bronson Arroyo tattooed Alex Rodriguez in the elbow with the Bombers leading, 3-0. A-Rod chucked his bat and began shouting at the pitcher.

The home plate umpire and Sox catcher Jason Varitek jumped in the middle, and after harsh words were exchanged, the catcher gave a two- handed shove to A-Rod's face. He responded by grabbing Varitek.

In an instant, the benches had erupted, with players and coaches joining the fray. A-Rod and Varitek were booted. The teams square off tonight at 8

July 25, 2004

I wasn't due to meet my boss, Annie Aquilina till 12 noon, but I made sure I was up early anyway. (by early I mean around 10 AM). Dad called me to tell me my Post story was on Page One (in later editions it was moved to page 3)

I met up with Annie and her husband Judge Charles LaTorella and had breakfast with them. Then Annie and I got the car and attempted to drive to our office which was about 3 blocks away from the Fleet Center. I discovered what a pain in the a$$ driving in Boston is. Under normal circumstances it was a nightmare, but with the secret service and the Boston PD blocking everything, it was damn near impossible. I drove back and forth from our office to the hotel a few times and got lost every single time. One time Annie sent me to get snacks for the office, and by the time I got back, she told me just to got back to the hotel and bring the snacks tomorrow.
I was really frustrated with getting lost (This was before every cell phone had a GPS). So I went back to my room, had a burger at the hotel lounge, then headed back to the Cask 'n Flagon to watch the Yanks-Sox game. It was ESPN's Sunday night game of the week.
I watched most of the game with a guy who was a cross between Bob Ryan of ESPN's Sports Reporters (and a columist for the Boston Globe) and Pete McGuiness from Donovan's. At first he had no use for me because I was from NY, but we both loved sports and we both like to drink. So I picked his brain about Boston sports and he really was a treat. One thing I asked him.. Of all the Boston sports stars, who did he consider the most beloved. The week before, I had heard Mike Francessa talk about Boston sports stars, and he said one in particular, if you said anything bad about this guy in Boston, you were going to get beat up. Francessa's never right about anything, but in this case both he and my new buddy said the same name. The one athlete in Boston who everyone reveres to this day.

Bobby Orr.

Meanwhile, there was some chick who every time Kevin Millar was at bat, would get up and yell "Kevin.... MAAALAHHHH, Kevin...MALLLAAAAAHH" At first, everyone was doing it along with her, especially since the Sawx was smacking Jose Contreras around pretty good. But the Yanks started climbing back into the game, and her act stared to grow old. At first everyone was telling her to shut up, then one dude threw something at her. I didn't really understand the hostility. She wasn't bad looking either.

The bad looking gal was the one I ended up splitting a cab with, mainly so I could figure out where my hotel was and she seemed to know her way around town. She was a BU Student originally from the Upper West side. I only mention her because the next girl I met at a bar and took a cab home with, was a girl named Tara Connors, less than a month later. My days of being a chaser (such as they were) were coming to an end.

July 26, 2004

 My main job was to assist the writers and the editors, to be a go-fer. But most of the time, the squad wanted to get their own lunches and the office was running smoothly. So the Post political editor gave me his floor credential and told me "Just walk around and get a feel for the place. I may need to send you there in an emergency."
Holy $h-t!
My first lap around the floor of the Fleet Center, I won't lie, I just pretended to be Larry Bird. My second trip, I went over near the boards and pretended I was Bobby Orr*. My third trip around, I called Ruth at the Post and told her to make sure CNN was on, as I was going to walk by and wave to her as I did. Yes, I was representing my news outlet proudly.
But then I did get down to just looking at where everybody was set up. I came face to face with Peter Jennings and said nothing. I was trying to fit it, not act like a star struck kid. I saw where Fox News was set up, which was way the hell up in the stands (For the same reason our office was blocks away while others were right across the street-Murdoch's empire wasn't exactly considered the home team here). I just generally made sure there was nothing doing.
I got back to the hotel early that night. I was wiped out from the night before and from working all day. Don't get me wrong, the work was fun, but it was a long day. I watched Bill Clinton address the convention on TV and passed out.

July 27,2004

Annie told me when I met up with her that morning that there were two college kids who were interns with the Weekly Standard would be joining me. "You're in charge of them" she told me, "anything you need to do, you can have them do." Well, since I wasn't doing much of anything besides checking out an occasional lead, at least I had someone to do nothing with.

The interns were Brian and Laura. I don't know what happened to Brian, but Laura and I ended up heading to a place called the free speech zone. They had cordoned off a place outside the Fleet Center parking lot where protesters could voice their opinion. One of the columnists in the Boston Herald (I believe it was Howie Carr, but I'm not 100% sure) compared the area to the pen where they held Tony Montana and the rest of the Cuban refugees in the beginning of Scarface, which is EXACTLY what it looked like.

Anyway Laura was freaked out because the group that had the floor while we were there were those scumoftheearth a-holes from the Westboro Baptist Church, protesting against their usual list of undesirables, gays, interracial couples etc. Laura was from Virginia so she had a southern accent, and she was like "These folks are gonna kell us. we're all gonna dahe!" I assured her that these inbreds were all talk, and then she started shouting back at them. "Jesus loves everybody!" At that point it was time for Laura and I to exit stage left.

We then went to the Fleet Center so I could show her around. On the way in, we spotted John Cusack. He was dressed like Johnny Cash, head to toe all in black. "well just don't just stand there, go interview him!" Laura implored me. So I headed in his direction and as soon as he spotted me, he turned around and took off. I just wanted to tell him I loved him in Grosse Point Blank. Jeez.

That night Laura and I headed out to a bar with some interns from other News Corp entities. She mentioned that she wanted to watch the keynote address that night. "He amazing." she told me. I had never heard of the guy before. He had a really weird name. But I swear to you, that when Illinois State Senator Barrack Obama spoke that night, the bar we were at fell silent. I had no idea that 4 years later, he'd be accepting the nomination himself (or even crazier, that I'd be watching him accept it with my wife, who was hours away from giving birth to my son)

July 28,2004

I was nursing a hangover, having spent the previous night boozing with the interns. Interestingly enough, the Weekly Standard interns didn't come back. Maybe I gave Laura the creeps, more likely, there wasn't much for us to do so, she was gone. At least from the Post she was.
I got an assignment that day. I was asked to search the Fleet Center for one Michael Moore.  The flabby filmmaker who brought us Bowling for Columbine and Fahrenheit 9/11. Apparently the day before, former mayor Rudy Giuliani, had said something to the effect of "Michel Moore doesn't know a thing about 9/11, he wasn't there, I was." The editor wanted me to track Moore down and ask him about what Rudy had said. I knew he had been in town, because he had been on the O'Reilly Factor earlier in the week. I figured he'd be hard to miss.

I walked all over the convention site and then camped out at Radio Row for a while, specifically in front of Air America. The Left Wing (sorry Progressive) radio network, with hosts such as Al Franken, Randi Rhodes and Chuck D. from Public Enemy. Franken was on the air while I was there and I was only a few feet away from him as he spoke. When he got up during a commercial break, I couldn't believe how short he was. Holy crap! I will say this for Franken. 1) He was a riot on SNL, and 2) He put his $$ where his mouth was and ran for Senator from Minnesota. He could have just stayed ranting on the radio, but he put himself to the fire. I have to tip my cap to him on that.
But I digress.

There wasn't any 300 pound filmmakers wearing Michigan Spartan hats wandering about the DNC, so I struck out there. Other than that, my other big thrill that day was watching the secret service/Boston PD manually detonate a suspicious package near the train station outside the Fleet Center. It ended up being nothing.

July 29,2004

The last night of the convention was the longest. I started at 10 AM and was at the office till close to midnight. There wasn't much going on during the day. But one thing I remember clearly was that excerpts of John Kerry's acceptance speech were made available, and the columnist that was writing the story about the speech for Friday's paper started to write that it was the worst speech they had ever heard. I thought maybe they should at least wait till he gave the speech before they started tearing it apart. But what do I know?

I spent much of my down time during the convention with our IT guy, Russ. Russ was a lot of fun. One day we spent watching Escape from New York with Kurt Russell as Snake Pilsen. If I hadn't been out watching those morons from Westboro with Laura, I could have gone with Russ and seen Bill O'Reilly spar with Michael Moore on the Factor, (Russ was also helping the FOX guys with their IT). Russ' room was right next to mine. The night I met up with Laura and the interns, my other option for dinner was at the hotel with Russ and Andrea Peyser.

Russ and I were watching Kerry's speech from the office. All the other reporters were in the Fleet Center, Russ and I stayed at the office to monitor phones and stuff. After Kerry's speech was over, the producer of the convention was ordering the stagehands to release the balloons. At one point, he yelled What the fuck are you guys doing up there? I thought I was hearing things, but Russ caught it too. Then I thought maybe we were getting a direct feed that nobody else was getting, but apparently CNN caught it too. That was about the highlight of that day for me. Don't get me wrong, it was the most fun I have ever had at any job, But I was kind of looking forward to getting out of Boston.
The staff had a post Convention party at a bar near the Fleet Center, so I went and hung out for a bit. I knew I had to be up early to break down the office and pack up to head back to NY. I remember driving home from Karl and Trish's wedding in Maine with a hangover and it was awful. So I didn't got too nuts that night. The one thing I remember was that the Mets traded Scott Kazmir do Tampa for Victor Zambrano that night. Talk about "What the f-ck is going on up there?"

July 30, 2004

The night before, I don't know why I did it, but when the crew was saying they were going out for drinks I instinctively asked Annie, Is it OK if I go?

"Who am I your mother? Just be ready by 9 to pack up."

Russ and I actually beat Annie and the judge to breakfast on the 30th. And Annie had decided to ship most of the office back to Manhattan, so I didn't have nearly as much stuff in the car. Of course it took me forever to get out of Boston, but once I got on the interstate, I jetted out of there. I'm damn lucky I didn't get a speeding ticket, because I must have been doing 80-90 MPH once I figured out how to get home. It was unbelivably exciting. But I needed to get out of there. Boston was the most confusing city I have ever driven in. And I'm from Queens!

That convention was relatively tame. The one coming up in Cleveland this week is sure to be a circus act. Part of me wishes I could be there, and another part of me is thankful that I'll be nowhere near it.

I hope you guys enjoyed this retrospective.

I'm fairly convinced that this Pokemon Go is an ISIS plot.  At the very least, it's prime evidence to all those who are convinced that we will do more damage to ourselves than any terrorist would.


That's all from my soapbox. Have a Great Week!!!


*Neither Bird or Orr played in the Fleet Center, both played at the Boston Garden.

Weekly Mail July 10, 2016

Sorry I missed the past two weeks.

     I know what a tough week it has been in our nation. And I promise I will get to discussing that as best I can. .

But I got to do something this past week I haven't done in a while, and I really need to do more often... I went to a baseball game with my dad.

Thursday 5:24 PM- Get on the LIRR in Oceanside on my way into Queens to see my Mets play those a-hole Washington Nationals. There are plenty of fellow blue and orange clad maniacs on the platform with me, which does my heart good to know I live in a community with such great taste.

6;01 PM- I get to Woodside, where I could transfer to another LIRR train and take that to Citi Field, but to me, there is nothing like seeing the stadium come into view from the 7 train. It was weird, going up on that platform where I've been thousands of times and seeing that the last stop in Manhattan is the West Side Rail Yards and not Times Square.

6:10-I get into a hot sticky non air conditioned 7 train car, at least its an express. Two stops, Junction Blvd and then... as we rise over the 111 Street Station, there she is.  I do miss Shea Stadium, but I have to admit this is pretty nice. And it's still the coolest feeling to see Shea/Citi Field from the train. (I get the same feeling coming out of the tunnel on the 4 train approaching Yankee Stadium too-but not as much)

6:25-Get my ticket at the will call and enter the stadium. Because I bought a program and yearbook at the dugout shop, I have to get in the line for bag inspection, which violates one of Wild Bill's cardinal rules of sports attendance (Thou Shalt not Bring a Bag) When I get to the security guy who does the stop and frisk on the way into the stadium, the guys in front of me don't empty their pockets. They don't speak any English, and the security guy is getting aggravated. (As am I) With my bag and my hands full of wallet, cell phone and keys, the security guy says Hey Buddy, and gives me half a pat down. I'm in!

6:30- I figure I better pick something up for Timmy so I head into the team store. I am reminded of two things Karl (The Ace) Ludwig told me about Citi Field. 1) The stadium is nice, but the neighborhood is still a dump and 2) There are plenty of places where the Mets are determined to separate you from your money. There is nothing at the team store I can't get at Modell's for a lot less. Timmy can have my yearbook. Besides there's an ad for The Force Awakens in there that he'll probably enjoy more than any baseball pictures he might come across.

6:45- It is a brutally hot and sticky night in New York, I am just getting over a stomach virus, and oh BTW I am a cardiac event survivor (ya like that?) so maybe trying to get to my dad via 5 flights of stairs wasn't my most brilliant move. But I couldn't find the elevator and apparently there is an escalator but damned if I could find that either. Did I mention I miss Shea Stadium?

7:00- Found my dad and my seat! We are in the upper deck on a metal platform right between third base and home plate. The only thing I wouldn't be able to see is a catch in foul territory in the left field corner. Otherwise the sight lines are awesome.

Top 1- Big Sexy himself, Bartolo Colon is starting for the Mets, the one guy in the majors who is older and fatter than I am. So far, he's having a pretty good year.
But not tonight. Tonight he gives up a leadoff triple to Ben Revere. After getting Jayson Werth to ground out, up steps our hero from last year's playoffs. Daniel Murphy, who is showered with boos. He proceeds to rip and RBI single to right, scoring Revere.  Fortunately, Big Bart gets the next hitter, Bryce Harper (also heavily booed) to ground into a double play.

Bottom 1-Jose Reyes leads off and is cheered wildly.

I'm very mixed about this for a variety of reasons. Not the least of which is that the reason Reyes was made available at a cheap price was the fact that he was coming off a suspension for domestic abuse.
One of the reasons that I've gotten so turned off by the NFL as of late, is that it not only seems like there have been a rise in the cases of domestic abuse amongst NFL players, but also I find there to be such a cavalier attitude towards it. Roger Goodell and the rest of the football hierarchy isn't going to do anything about it, because, well, their only goal is to grow their product, and if the fans aren't bothered by guys smacking around their wives/girlfriends, why should we care?
And that attitude make me sick. At the very least, baseball is making an attempt to do something about it. Reyes, and Yankee relief pitcher Aroldis Chapman were suspended for the beginning of the season by MLB under a new domestic violence policy. Hey, at least its a start.
But for some people, this isn't good enough. For some, the likes of Reyes and Chapman should never be allowed to play again.  I'm not sure this is the answer either. I don't want to come off as someone who takes this situation lightly, I surely don't. I'm just not sure what a suitable punishment really is. Again, I feel at least that baseball is trying to fix the problem, whereas football is doing the least it can.But since Reyes has been cleared, and the Mets have signed him, the question now becomes, can he help? Well, what I'm banking on, is that his subpar performances have come in part because he was playing in cities he wanted no part of. Think about it, when he signed with the Marlins, he figured he'd be the toast of South Beach...him and LeBron.
Less than a year later, he was traded to Toronto. Look, I've been to Toronto, it's a lovely city, but as far as baseball goes, it's may as well be Mars. It gets so quiet between pitches, you feel like you are at a tennis match.
From there, he was dealt to Colorado, one of the few places where it is possibly colder than it is in Toronto. His numbers dropped precipitously when we went west. Maybe coming back to NY, where he really didn't want to leave, will kick start his career.
But to start off, he flies out to center. Curtis Granderson walks, Yoenis Cespedes singles, Neil Walker grounds out, sending Curtis and Cespedes to 2nd and 3rd. James Loney strikes out to end the inning.

Bottom 3: Reyes leads off by popping up a bunt, one of my biggest peeves in baseball. Laying down a bunt should be something every major leaguer should be able to do in their sleep. The Grandy man walked, Cespedes grounded into a fielders choice, Walker singled and Loney made up for leaving two guys on in the first with an RBI single. We're on the board baby!

Top 4- The $h-t hits the fan.

Now my understanding is that Citi Field is a pitchers ballpark. Someone forgot to tell the Nats, first Harper hits one out, two batters later first baseman Clint Robinson goes yard, and right after him, third baseman Anthony Rendon homers. Three home runs in one inning. It's going to be a long night man.

Bottom 4-Or, maybe not...

With one out Met catcher Travis D'Arnaud hits a blast over the center field fence to get us within two. After Colon fouls out, Reyes blasts one out into the upper deck in right. We're within one!  Grandy doubles and then is balked to third by Nats pitcher Lucas Gioloto. Then Cespedes doubles him home and just like that we are tied up. Giolito hits the showers, and in comes (are you kidding me) Oliver Perez. yes THAT Oliver Perez.

Top 5-Easy come easy go....

Two singles to lead off the 5th, including one from Perez (for the love of God) then a force out at 2nd. Up steps Daniel Murphy to a chorus of boos. Murph hits into what looks like an inning ending double play. But manager Dusty Baker challenges the call at first. At home during these stupid interruptions, I can go to the can, I can grab something from the fridge, or I can change the channel. Here I gotta sit and wait. What a pain in the a$$. And of course they overturn it, so Murph has his second RBI and the Nats have the lead. Two more singles and Washington is up two. Bye bye Bart.

Bottom 5- Asdrubal Cabrera and Brandon Nimmo lead off with singles. D'Arnaud strikes out but pinch hitting is Wilmer Flores. One of the drawbacks to signing Reyes is that it cuts into Wilmer's playing time. He's been hot lately, that combined with his status as Met folk hero, has the joint jumping. But not nearly as much as it is seconds later, when he jacks one out to give us the lead.
Again, isn't this supposed to be a pitchers park? I thought the bandbox was in the Bronx?

Bottom 6- Another home run! Solo shot by Cabrera. getting our money's worth tonight.

Top 7- Murphy leads off with a homer. So it's obvious that he will torture us for at least the next three seasons if not many many more. And I spend most of my waking hours convincing myself that had we resigned him, he wouldn't be hitting anywhere close to the .345-15-60 he is hitting right now.

Bottom 7- Reyes walks and proceeds to get picked off. He started to steal second then stopped. What an idiot. A couple more hits and the Mets add an insurance run, which I'm figuring they will definitely need.

Bottom 9-LA FAMILIA! Which in Spanish means-Way to make it interesting. So Jeurys starts off by walking Werth. Not good, being that up next is the man whose been killing us all season. Murph hits a bullet on the ground that looks like its heading to left center, but is scooped on a diving catch by Cabrera. Cabrera flips it to Walker who gets slid into by Werth. Walkers throw is offline to nail Murphy, but under the new Chase Utley rule, Murphy is called out. Another argument, another replay challenge, this time the call stays. Familia then proceeds to strike out Harper, sending the Citi Field into a frenzy and all of us home happy.

On the way out, the fans were chanting Jayson Werthless, and my father said "How much fun is it walking out after a win?" It really was.

We rode the 7 train back to Woodside, where he got on the Q53 to Rockaway and I waiting for my train back to Oceanside. With 40 minutes to wait, I did what I used to do every Thursday night my last couple years in college....headed to Donovan's.

I had an ice cold O'Doul's with Chris Santangelo and then headed off. The train ride home was uneventful, I got in my car at Oceanside train station and put on the radio to hear some more post game show. Unfortunately what I heard instead was horrible news coming out of Dallas.

NEWS ITEM: Massacre in Dallas:

A peaceful protest march in Dallas regarding two police involved shootings earlier in the week was just finishing up, when a sniper opened fire on the police who were monitoring the protest. 12 Dallas cops were injured, 5 of them fatally.

The shooter, Micah Johnson, told cops during the ensuing standoff that he was trying to "kill as many white people as possible especially white officers" in retaliation for the two shootings that took place earlier in the week.

The two shootings he was referring to ..one took place in Louisiana, the other in Minnesota. Both of the men killed were African American.

There was a time in my life when I would have automatically condemned the cops for over aggressive behavior. There was a time in my more recent life where I would have defended the cops unequivocally. As a know it all college kid, I had a lot to say about the Rodney King incident and other alleged cases of police brutality. As an adult, with several friends and family risking their lives to protect mine, I tend to give the police the benefit of the doubt.

On the surface these two cases appear to be cases of overzealous cops. The case in Minnesota seems especially harrowing. It seems as that man was simply retrieving his license and registration from his wallet. I wasn't there. I'm going by what was on the video like everyone else is.

The overwhelming majority of the men and women who serve and protect us are good people with brave hearts. I believe that to my core.

Are than dirty rotten cops out there? Racists? Sure, there are people like that in every profession. They have to be weeded out, especially in law enforcement. Both to protect innocent African Americans, but to protect the cops that are honest and clean.

But what that animal did in Dallas was pure evil.  Domestic terrorism. Those cops didn't deserve that. Those protesters could have been caught in the crossfire. I'm glad that terrorist was taken out.

It's looking like it's going to be a long summer.

Hang in there folks. Have a great week.