Weekly Mail May 21, 2017

Hey Evwybody!


Sorry again about not posting last week. Didn't realize it till I started writing this week's masterpiece. Hopefully we'll get this one out on time.


Let's start with some obituaries...


Chris Cornell- I hate to write an obit about someone I don't know that much about, but the outpouring of sadness after his death was announced was something I couldn't overlook. Sure, I've heard Black Hole Sun a million times just like everybody else, but Audio Slave wasn't exactly front and center in my music library.  It's sad, nobody should die by their own hands, especially someone that young and that talented. It's a scary reminder of how we just never know what is going on behind closed doors, symbolic or otherwise.


Roger Ailes-There was also an outpouring upon the announcement of Ailes death, but admittedly, it wasn't nearly as sentimental as was the reception Cornell's death received. This was in no small part because of the accusations of sexual harassment that were still unresolved at the time of his death, and also because his made a ton of enemies during his rise to the top.
      But what also needs to be acknowledged is the man built a billion dollar cable news network from scratch. And love him or hate him, the numbers don't lie. Fox News has ruled cable news for a long time.
        One afternoon during the 2004 RNC which was right here in New York, I was up at the Post, when I looked out the window and saw about 200 people standing on the sidewalk on 6th Avenue. I went down to see what was going on, and they were all yelling at the building "Shut Up! Shut Up! Shut Up! I found a bunch of my fellow Posties standing near the doors laughing. "I happen to agree with them" one of my colleagues said.
          I thought they were nuts. Who protests a news network? You don't like what they showing, change the f-cking channel! It's like when Timmy goes outside, I don't sit there and complain about SpongeBob, I put something else on, sometimes even Fox News!**
       But that's what Ailes wrought, for better or worse, you either loved him or you hated him, loved or hated his network. And if you hated it, you  couldn't just change the channel, you sat there and swallowed it. Then you went and complained. In some weird way, you have to give him credit for that.

**though now that I think about it, I still listen to Mike Francessa even though he says all this stuff that pisses me off. Still, I wouldn't g outside WFAN and protest. Even when I had time on my hands, I wouldn't think to do that.


NBA- The unLuck of the draw..

Most of the sports written on this blog is lamenting the sorry state of my $hitty teams. Whether it be the Mets and their perpetual injuries, the Jets and their myriad of woes, the just coming up short Rangers, and the sorry state of the Knicks and St. Johns. there is no shortage of misery.

But one of our locals who are not one of my teams had a REAL crappy week last week. And that would be your Brooklyn Nets.

In 2013, they made one of those go for broke trades in which they gave up future draft picks to the Celtics for aging vets Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett. Not only did the Nets record not improve with the deal, it got steadily worse. The past two seasons, they have finished in the bottom of the league standings. This year they were the worst team in the sport.

But because Boston had the rights to their draft pick, if the Nets won the draft lottery, the pick would go to Boston. And wouldn't ya know, that is exactly what happened.

Everyone was up in arms because the Knicks went from 7th to 8th in the draft, but shoot at least they have a pick, the Nets have bupkis. And the Celtics who BTW are still playing (albeit having their a$$es handed to them by LeBron and the Cavaliers). now have the number 1 pick in the draft.

Being a Knick fan sucks, being a Nets fan? I can't even imagine... (well maybe I can).


***BOOK REVIEW ***BOOK REVIEW ***BOOK REVIEW***BOOK REVIEW

BOOK:Letterman; The Last King of Late Night
AUTHOR:Jason Zindman

I was really looking forward to this book. Two of my all time favorite books were The Late Shift and The War for Late Night by Bill Carter. Both of those books put you right in the action with all the shenanigans that went on between Johnny Carson, Jay Leno and David Letterman in 1991-92, and then Conan O'Brien and Jay Leno in 2009.

This book had a few interesting tidbits about David Letterman and his long career, but I found that it dragged at times. Even describing how he came up with some of his classic skits was dull. Usually, when dealing with someone who was so clearly an innovator, it's fascinating to see the thought process that went into creating said skits. This book didn't do that, at least not for me it didn't. Instead it seemed to take great lengths to describe how difficult he was to get along with, which wasn't exactly a news bulletin.  I don't know, maybe I'm being too harsh, you may like it if you were a big fan of Dave, but I found the book quite dull.

Two Auggies.


Think that's all we got from here folks

Have a Great Week