Weekly Mail July 16, 2017

Hey:

Man I came in here with the worst case of writers block I've had in a long time. I had nothing to write about. I even thought about dipping my foot in the swamp that is the Trump administration. And how ironic is that? The man who said he's drain the swamp has made it more swampy than ever (is swampy even a word?) I just wish that they would hold hearings on this whole Trump-Russia election thing already so that it gets resolved one way or another. And that's all I have to say about that.


I watched the HR Derby at the All Star Game in Miami the other night and my only real complaint was that they didn't set it up so that Giancarlo Stanton faced off with Aaron Judge in the finals. But that was a small complaint in comparison to what we ended up seeing, which was an awesome display of power by the Judge. They used to say Dan Marino could flick his wrist and throw a football 50 yards. Judge it seems like can flick his wrists and hit a ball 500 feet. There may come a time I get sick of hearing about this guy the way I got sick of hearing about Derek Jeter so much. But like Jeter, I think I'll always respect the man's talent.


Also caught ESPN's 30 for 30 about Mike and the Mad Dog. I had said that once the Sports Reporters went off the air, that ESPN would be virtually unwatchable. And to be honest, besides an occasional baseball game and these 30 for 30's, I rarely watch. But the Mike and the Mad Dog documentary was very well done. My only beef with it was that they kind of gave Francessa and Russo more credit than they deserved for saving WFAN. The one person who saved the station was Imus. When the FAN debuted 30 years ago this month, I ate it up, listening to Greg Gumbel, Jim Lampley and Pete Franklin. But I understand now in hindsight why that didn't work. Lampley moved to Los Angeles a few weeks after FAN went live, and would simulcast his show from out there. He had no idea what was going on in NY. Gumbel wasn't as bad as they made him out to be, but yes, he was more of a national guy than a NY guy. Franklin was a disaster, he would yell at people and not be funny about it. As much of an a$$hole as Francessa can be to his callers, Franklin was 10 times worse.
I remember exactly where I was on September 5, 1989 when Mike and the Mad Dog had their first show together. I was walking home from the dentist on Grand Avenue. I remember the first call they took, Russo went to answer the caller, but because he always had to wind up before he said anything, Mike answered the guys question and went to the next caller. That pretty much went on for the next few weeks. Anybody I talked to said the same thing. 1) They hate each other and 2) This will never last. Somehow they did, for the next 19 years.

Next week, ESPN's 30 for 30 is going to be about George Best, a Belfast born soccer superstar who played for Manchester United. I'm more excited about that documentary than I was about Mike and the Mad Dog.


Oh, here's something that caught my eye this week....

AIRPLANE DEATH: A 57 year old New Zealand woman was killed this week when air blast from a jet taking off blew her down.

How could something like this even happen you ask? Well, so did I, till I saw video of planes landing at Princess Juliana Airport on the Caribbean Island of St. Maarten. The airport is built only yards away from the beach. You can practically touch the plane as it comes in for a landing while you are soaking up some rays.

What kind of urban planning is that?

As a kid I thought it was bad enough having to hear the Concorde flying over the beach and rattling our house. But at least that plane was high in the air. And hey, I love watching planes take off and land, but not while I'm at the beach. I can't believe that this has;t happened more often. I wouldn't mind visiting St. Maarten one of these days, but I'll be laying my blanket down a bit further away than the runway at the airport.

Sorry this was so lame this week. Even Aaron judge strikes out every once in a while

Have a Great Week