Weekly Mail Year in Review Part One

JANUARY


January 3- I Have Nobody to Blame but Myself. It's Really My Own Fault.

Crazy thing is, everyone who responded to that post knew exactly what I was talking about. I was referring to my year long vow to avoid the Jets at all costs, only to cave in and watch their win and they're in game against Rex Ryan the Bills. The week before, they had knocked off the Patriots, and a couple of weeks before that, the Giants. I was in Long Beach safely in a movie theater watching The Force Awakens for the Patriot game, and playing with my niece Finley for the Giants game. Instead of doing something fun and constructive with my family, I watched the Jets spit the bit in Buffalo, and miss the playoffs. This season, they've been so bad, that not watching them has been a snap.


January 7-I have a friend who thought he was the Unibomber-RIP Pat Harrington.

The friend in question was Karl (The Ace) Ludwig, Weekly Mail co-editor in chief who was convinced Schnieder from One Day at a Time was the infamous Unabomber, before they captured Ted Kaczinski. Sadly, Harrington's death started a parade of celebrities who died in 2016. David Bowie and Glen Frey also died in January.


January 23-Happy Blizzard 2016

27.5 inches in Central Park broke the old record from 2006, which broke a record that had been in place since 1947. Then three days later, most of the snow was gone. It's getting much harder for even a Bible thumping right winger like myself to deny climate change.




FEBRUARY

February 6- Christie and Rubio are tossing haymakers tonight.

This was the New Hampshire debate right before the New Hampshire primary. NJ Governor Chris Christie and Florida Senator Marco Rubio took turns hammering each other. Unfortunately (for me anyway) Rubio took the worse of it, many claiming that Christie caused irreparable damage. Christie faired worse, dropping out days later. Rubio made it all the way to his home state's Primary, where he was waxed by Donald Trump.



February 7-Everybody knows how much I hate the Patriots, but geez at least they give you a good Super Bowl. This game has been nothing but fumbles, stupid penalties and just real slop. 

The Super Bowl was a snoozefest. Even the commercials were lame. But Peyton Manning got his second ring, so now he's as good as his kid brother. 




February 16-It's only February, but we have a winner for dumbest entertainer of the year.

Rapper Tyga might want to reconsider who he hires for his security detail. Tyga threw an after Grammy party and one of his security guards denied entry to a 73 year old British guy and two of his friends. That would be Paul McCartney, Beck and Taylor Hawkins of the Foo Fighters. 

Tyga for his part, denied he had any knowledge of Macca and friends being dissed outside the party. But shoot, if that happened to you, would you cop to it? 





MARCH

March 6- Who comes up with this stuff? 

Trump and 2012 GOP candidate Mitt Romney had been going at it all week. I was working at the Post on March 5, with a few primaries going on. One of the editors said that they wanted a headline that said something like Kiss My A$$ Mitt Romney. I suggested if Trump won Kentucky, they could say Kiss My Bluegrass. They got a chuckle out of it, but a few hours later, with Trump having hung on to win Kentucky, that's the headline they went with. Sometimes work can be fun.

March 19-Another year, another bracket shot to hell. Once again I picked the Final Four wrong. And John Calipari is the most overrated coach in the NCAA. 

My memory is a bit fuzzy here but I'm guessing Kentucky got knocked out early. 


APRIL

April 3- Nice play Cespides. Now I'm having flashbacks

Same inning, same ballpark same team. Same play. Our $25 million man drops an easy fly ball. 6 months earlier he did it in the World Series. This was opening night. 


April 4- Wow! WTG Nova!

The tournament ended with a classic. North Carolina and their douchebag coach, Roy Williams were 5.3 seconds away from winning the NCAA Tournament, when Villanova's Kris Jenkins hit a 3 pointer at the buzzer to give Nova the title. Good stuff. 




April 19-Whether you vote for this guy today or not, you have to admit this is a great commercial. One of my favorite songs.

This guy=Bernie Sanders. One of my favorite songs=America by Simon and Garfunkel. Here is the commercial. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIZW5trdE5o



April 19-"Laugh about it, shout about it, when you got to choose, anyway you look at it you lose" -Simon and Garfunkel

And it only got worse after April 19. Much worse after April 19. 



April 21-The older I get the more I appreciated his music. RIP Prince.

This was a real blow. When I was a kid, I was embarrassed to admit how much I liked him. As an adult I'm embarrassed that I was embarrassed. One of many terrific talents who left us way too soon in 2016. 


MAY


May 15-Swept by the Rockies. Unbelievable !

The Mets would have issues with the Rockies, Braves and Diamondbacks all year. If they had taken care of business against the $h-tty teams like that, they may have had a shot at the division.. 


May 19- Katie Gal- Not my best picture but tonight I finished my first 5K in the American Heart Association's Wall Street Run & Heart Walk. 
When asked why I ran "my family" was my answer. For my mom, my brother Bill Gallagher, my niece Rebecca and for all those who aren't with me today because of heart disease.
I couldn't have done it without the amazing support of my friends Daisy, Kareen Williams, & Rebecca Zack who crossed the finish line with me. Thank you also to everyone who supported my team: Heart Beats! 
Sometimes even really good writers can't come up with the words to justify their feelings. To say that my sisters are awesome, doesn't come close to doing them justice. What Katie did that day was amazing. How lucky can I get?


May 26-  How does a team who won 73 games this season play such stupid basketball?

The 2016 Golden State Warriors were challenging the 1996 Bulls as the greatest team record wise in NBA history. I hated Jordan and the Bulls because they were so good. I wanted to see Steph Curry and the Warriors break their record. They broke the regular season record, but needed to wi the title to cap it all off. All I saw of the Warriors were a team that played no D, turned the ball over and hoisted 3 pointers like they were going out of style. How they won 73 games in that manner blew my mind. 


May 28- WTF just happened? Please someone tell me Thor didn't just get run for that pitch to Utley?

I love my buddy Dan (No Shot) Unverzagt, but I don't care what he says, Thor shouldn't have been thrown out. 
Background, Mets pitcher Noan Syndergaad was thrown out of the Mets game against the Dodgers for throwing behing Chase Utley. My stance was and still is, if Thor wanted to nail Utley, he would have. 



JUNE



June 4- RIP Muhammad Ali
June 10-RIP Gordie Howe. A sad day in Canada

Though Muhammad Ali and Gordie Howe could not be more opposite of each other in style and personality, it's what they represented that linked them together. Canadians are known for their hard work and fierce determination, as well as their kindness and generosity. Gordie Howe was as rough and tumble on the ice as he was classy and kind off of it. 
Americans can be loud and brash but when we put our minds to something and see it through, we are hard to beat. Ali was loud and brash, and at his best in the ring, he was unbeatable. 
Two of their respective nations most iconic athletes died within a week of each other.


June 12-I'm sorry but I stand by my allegation that the NHL rigged this for the Penguins

Gary Bettman hand delivered Sidney Crosby to Pittsburgh, somehow they are able to fit Evgeni Malkin, Phil Kessel and Carl Hagelin under their salary cap, and NBC never misses a chance to put either the Pens or the Caps on TV. The higher ups at the NHL envision the Penguins becoming the Dallas Cowboys of the NHL. North Americas Team as it were. Bettman is obsessed with small markets teams competing for the Cup, and if everything were to hold serve this season, he will egt his wish. As of this writing, the two best teams in the Eastern and Western Conference respectively are the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Minnesota Wild. Must see TV if there ever was. 


June 19-That sound you hear is an entire city holding its breath.

The city in question was Cleveland. With 10.6 seconds left and the Cavs up by 3, LeBron James was fouled hard driving to the hole. He went down in a heap and stayed down for what seemed like a long time. The city of Cleveland, on the verge of capturing it's first title of any kind since LBJ was President, had to have been dying inside seeing that. Shoot, I can't stand LeBron and was rooting for Golden State, and I felt bad!

and also

Congratulations Cleveland. You deserve it.

 The Warriors went down the way they had stayed up all year: Launching threes from all over God's Green Earth. Much like a baseball team that relies on the three run homer, or the football team that passes for 500 yards a game, that can only get you so far. Even had the Warriors pulled it out, I still don't think they could hold a candle to the 96 Bulls, the 86 Celtics, the Showtime Lakers, or the early 70's Knicks for that matter. And as much as I can't stand LeBron, I was really happy for the people of Cleveland. 



NEXT WEEK: Weekly Mail Year in Review Part 2