Weekly Mail October 29, 2017

Hey:


I signed Timmy up for the Cub Scouts.

I was in the Cub Scouts for a couple of years as a kid, and it was fun, but I used to run around the St. Mary's cafteria during pack nights, and my dad said if I was going to do all that running around, I might as well do it playing basketball. So after 4th grade or so, no more Cub Scouts.

But the den leader of Timmy's pack is one of my JPaul's drinking buddies, so Timmy said he wanted to give it a shot and so far it's been awesome. This last meeting he used a pocketknife to make a wooden boat that he got to race on Saturday afternoon. He won a couple of races but didn't qualify for the finals. He was bummed (he takes losses only slightly better than I do) but he still had a blast.



SUPERSTORM SANDY: 5 YEARS LATER:

Whenever a major event happens, as a news junkie, I watch all the anniversary retrospectives. 9/11, Oklahoma City, The Challenger explosion etc. The good stuff too, the moon landing, the 1980 Olympic hockey team, I love hearing the stories.

But I remember on October 29, 2013, making a conscious effort not to watch all the Super Storm Sandy 1 year later specials. The wounds were too raw, the memories still fresh.

Now it's 5 years later, and you know what? I still can't.

I realize that earlier this year, I complained about folks who compared unpleasantness in life to 9/11.  3,000 people died that day, hundreds more severely injured. It wouldn't be fair to compare the two.

 But I have to admit, Sandy affected me more adversely.

I was angry and scared after 9/11. but also proud. Proud of my country, proud of my city. 9/11 was perpetrated by an enemy I knew we would go after and take out.

Superstorm Sandy was Mother Nature. Nothing to do but try to dig out and recover.

I remember walking down Long Beach Road about 5:30 the next evening and it looked like a black and white photo. It was so bleak. And I had no way of knowing that things were so much worse in other places, like Rockaway.

It was an awful time.

I try to remember the good. The friends and family who helped out. I remember DiCoCo's across the street from us, had a generator and had their oven working. It was the only place we could get a hot meal. We took their last two baked ziti's and ate by candlelight.

But more often it's the other stuff I remember. The utter incompetency of the Red Cross. The infighting between the politicians. I see houses that were never rebuilt. Stores that never reopened.
It still burns me.

The only Superstorm Sandy special I watched one year after was Bar Rescue. The special they did with Bungalow Bar. Having seen several other episodes of Bar Rescue since then, I can truly appreciate how Jon Taffer and his crew held Dee, Terrance, Martin, Sean and Ryan in such high regard. That show was everything that was right about the recovery effort.

But the rest of it sucked. I pray for many things. Never having to go through that again is on top of my prayer list.


SEXUAL HARRASSMENT: Former Horndog in Chief and America's sweetheart

Now if you read the first part of the above sentence, and your muscle memory directed your brain directly to William Jefferson Clinton, I think you could be forgiven. However I'm referring to Bubba's predecessor, George HW Bush or as I like to call him Bush 41.

Three different women came out this past week and accused Bush of grabbing their a$$es while saying that his favorite magician was David (get ready for this) Cop-a-feel. (get it?)

Bush is 93 years old, wheelchair bound and suffering from Parkinsons. He spokesperson issued an apology on his behalf.

Also this week, daytime talk show host Ellen Degeneres caught some heat because she sent a tweet out for Katy Perry's birthday encouraging the singer to "bring out the big balloons" attached to a picture of Ellen oogling Perry's boobs.

The uproar with that of course is that if oh lets say Jimmy Fallon did that, there would be hell to pay.

I think we need some perspective here.

Bush was wrong to do what he did. He is a former President, who by the way, ran on a "family values" platform. But at 93 and wheelchair bound, I don't consider this sexual assault. Those comparing him to Harvey Weinstein need to take a chill pill. Weinstein used his power to try to get laid, putting up and coming young stars in an awful position. Weinstein should be in jail for what he did.

Bush? He should knock it off, try to find a different way to put people at ease. But I don't think this is harassment or assault.

As far as Ellen goes, yes, there would be more heat if a male posted that, but again lets take Ellen's body of work and her job into consideration here. She's a comedian and sometimes comedians go over the line. She's also someone who doesn't generally go for the lowbrow laugh, or the cheap laugh at the expense of someone's shortcomings. She's one of the good people.

I'm not a woman obviously, so if I come off as insensitive, I'm sorry. I know I can't tell people what should and shouldn't offend them. I just feel like reasonable people can look at these incidents and not lose their minds. That we can separate legitimate evil behavior from simple not appropriate behavior

BASEBALL: HELLO MICKEY AND GOODBYE JOE:

My initial reaction to the news that the Mets hired Indians pitching coach Mickey Calloway to be their new skipper was that he must have come cheap. It was looking like hitting coach Kevin Long had the inside track on the job. Calloway sort of came out nowhere.

But I'm kind of glad the Mets went outside the box on this one. He's done a nice job with the Indians staff. He's come highly recommended from Terry Francona, and he seems like a guy you can get behind. Very positive. Of course if the Mets don't get a few new players, and keep the ones they have healthy, it won't matter whose managing the team. I'm curious to see who they hire as a trainer.

Now what the Yankees did this week has me somewhat baffled. Joe Girardi just led these guys to within a game of the World Series, why fire him now?  Why not the last two years when they didn't even make the playoffs?  They're saying they wanted to wait till his contract ran out. What? Now the Yanks are worried about money? Since when?

Apparently Girardi and GM Brian Cashman weren't seeing eye to eye, and some players, notably Mark Texiera said that Girardi's intensity turned off some of the players.

I don't know. from where I'm sitting, Girardi took a team that was supposed to be a year or two away and led them on a deep playoff run. I'm not saying that the next Yankee manager won't have success, shoot he'd better. I just don't think you mess with a  good thing.

In honor of Joe Girardi, here is some Bar Room BS. http://barroombs.blogspot.com/2017/10/25-years-of-yankee-managers.html


I have a feeling the next coaching change I'm going to be writing about is with the Rangers. Stay tuned.

Stay Dry

and Have a Great Week

Weekly Mail, October 22, 2017

Hey:

Hope everyone enjoyed this beautiful (weatherwise) weekend. For Yankee fans, all I can say is, I feel your pain.

Anyway onto the week that was...



POLITICS: Trump's lack of decorum

When I first heard about President Trump telling a fallen soldier's widow that he "Knew what he signed up for" I was as offended as anybody else. As I thought about it though, I allowed myself to think for a split second that maybe it wasn't all that bad.

After all, what makes the soldier special, or the fireman, or the cop, is that what they sign up for is putting their lives on the line so that the rest of us can be safe. The soldier who defends our nation, the firefighter who goes into a burning building, the police officer who goes after the criminals, they know what they signed up for. And they do it anyway.

I couldn't do it. Some of you could. Some of you do. And as always I thank you for what you do.

But of course this is Donald Trump we are talking about here. The same guy who belittled John McCain's POW status, who told the family of another fallen hero that "he made sacrifices too", who made taking care of our vets usually the second of third item on a list of priorities he campaigned on and yet, I haven't seen one bill, or executive order giving our vets one cent more in compensation, and well, the benefit of the doubt I considered giving him goes out the door.

According to Congresswoman Frederica Wilson (D-FL) Trump didn't even bother to remember the hero's name, referring to Sgt. La David Thompson as "your guy" to his grieving widow.

I could fill these pages with all the lousy stuff the President and his staff has done. I try to avoid it because 1) You can't open a newspaper, magazine or turn on the TV and the radio without it slamming you in the face, and I'd like this to be a place to get away from all that stuff. 2) I have a natural tendency to look at a story from multiple angles, and to try to see where the person was coming from, especially if it is the President of the United States. I did it with Bush 43, I did it with Obama, and yes, as much as I didn't like her, I'd have done it with Hillary too.

But with Trump, it's become almost impossible. Yeah, I still think the media leans left, I'll always think that. But there's leaning left and the fake news that he squawks about and I'm sorry that doesn't exist.

I still want to judge President Trump on a case by case basis, but as these shenanigans keep adding up, how are we supposed to do that?


BASEBALL: The Yankees lose

I was really hoping for a Yankees Dodgers World Series, for some reasons I can't get into now, but also for the pageantry and the history between the two franchises. The Yanks and Dodgers played in 7 World Series when the Dodgers were in Brooklyn, the Yanks winning all but one. They played 4 more times since the Dodgers moved west, the teams winning 2 each.  The 1977, 78, and 81 World Series contained enough drama both on and off the field, to be the stuff of legends.

Since there is nobody on either team with the baggage and dramatics of Reggie, Billy and George, chances are we would have just gotten good old fashioned baseball.

Instead we now have the Astros and the Dodgers, which still to me seems like it should be an NLCS.

After the Yankees swept all three games at the Stadium, I figured they would have a tough time in Houston against Justin Verlander, but I thought they could get some stick against Charlie Morton. I wouldn't have bet on a shutout. Not at all

I suppose the right thing to do is pull for Houston after all they have been through as a city. And Lord knows, I can't stand that mutt Justin Turner, but I'd like to see the Dodgers win it all.

Two years ago, I watched the Mets sweep the Cubs to make it to a World Series nobody in their right mind would have predicted in the beginning of that season. As much as it pained me to see the Yankees having an unexpected great season, while the Mets season went down the crapper early and unexpectedly, I really did enjoy watching them win these playoff games. A couple of years from now, I may be in therapy, asking a shrink what the hell I was thinking pulling for the Yankees when all I want them to do is lose because they are so damn good.

But that's down the road. For now, I'm sorry they didn't make it to the show. I have no interest in Houston vs. LA.

Yankee fans hold your heads high.

And lets hope both the Mets and Yankees are good next year so we can go back to hating each other again.


FOOTBALL: More Grief

I'm still fuming over last week's brainless call in the Jets-Patriots game. Tony Corrente, the moron ref who made the call, said it was obvious.  I still can't believe the NFL is not investigating to see if Corrente is on the take.

But what's done is done.

Where I really got screwed was on Monday night.

I still do my dad's football pool and I allowed myself to get roped into a fantasy league with my sisters and cousins-in-law. In the fantasy league I've won my first three games and dropped the next three. Consistently inconsistent.

On Monday night, one player cost me in both my pool and my fantasy league.

Miracle of miracles, I was in a tie for first in the pool going into Monday night's Colts-Titans game. I had the Colts and the other guy had the Titans.

Meanwhile I had a 10 point lead going into the Monday night game in my fantasy league, despite the fact that my QB Aaron Rodgers had bitten the dust early in the Packers Sunday game with the Vikings, breaking his collarbone, ending his season.

So while the Yankees were beating the Astros, I was keeping an eye on the MNF game, which I haven't watched in years. And for a while I was doing well; the Colts were hanging in there against the Titans, and while my opponent was starting to creep up on me in the other league, I was still leading.

But in the last play of the game, Titans running back Derrick Henry ran for a 72 yard TD. Every 10 yards is a point and a TD is 6 points so my 10 point lead was now a 3 point loss, not to mention icing my loss in the pool.

So I've decided if I lose in my fantasy league this weekend, I'm pulling a Sandy Alderson and having a fire sale. My QB and feature RB are both done for the season, so whatever good players I have left I'm either going to trade or drop. I pulled this stunt once in the fantasy baseball league I was in with Karl (the Ace) Ludwig and Ray, and I received an official reprimand from the league commissioner.*
But I need to get back to enjoying my Sundays with the family and not stewing over football.


Some Bar Room B.S. http://barroombs.blogspot.com/2017/10/if-wildcard-was-around-in-80s.html


That’s all folks

Have a Great Week


*who happened to be the Ace

Weekly Mail October 15,2017

Hey:

OK, so if you read this blog you know that I have tried to stay away from watching NFL football,for a variety of reasons, but mainly because I want to spend more time with Timmy and Tara and not glued to the TV all day Sunday.

Well, Timmy had a playdate and Tara and her mom went out for a bit. so I stayed with my father in law and watched the Jet-Patriots game with him. And 3 hours later, remembered why I hate the NFL so much.

The Jets jumped out to a 14-0 lead that anyone with half a brain knew wasn't going to last against Tom Brady. Sure as hell, it was 14-14 at halftime, with a second half blowout on tap.

But hold the fort..

The Patriots scored an TD and a FG, and after their FG, the Jets drove down the field and scored what was a very apparent TD.

As CBS was coming back from commercial where I assumed the Jets would be kicking the extra point,. I heard the referee saying that after reviewing the play, it was determined that the receiver fumbled the ball out of the end zone, so not only was there no TD, the Patriots were getting the ball at the 20!

What the hell?

The receiver never lost possession of the ball. Ever. He may have bobbled it, but I didn't see that in the replay, nor did any of the commentators. Under no definition of the word was that a fumble. 

I've been watching sports for a long time. That was without a doubt the worst call I have ever seen. The only call that I think was worse happened before I was born, the 1972 Olympic Men's basketball final between the US and the Soviet Union when the refs kept replaying the last three seconds of the game till the Soviets scored to win by a point. That's what this reminded me of. 

I sometimes joke that the officiating is WWE worthy. What happened here looked like corruption. I truly believe someone or some people were on the take here. This could be a Tim Donaghy situation. I really believe that.

BTW: When our friends dropped Timmy off after his play date, the dad asked me how the Jets did, I told him not to read my Facebook page with all the F bombs I dropped, he might not let his daughter near Timmy or his psycho father again. 

Good news was the Yankees won!!!

FLASHBACK: From WM's October 1 edition....

But before my Yankee fans friends get their knickers in a twist, let me also say that I believe the Yankees will win on Tuesday and I wouldn't be shocked if they found their way to the World Series. I think they are better than Boston, and Cleveland is due to falter. Houston has a really good team, but the Yankees played them tough this year. The Yankees had their period of sputtering, but are now playing as well as they have played all year. They could be peaking at the right time.


So all you people who like to break my chops every time I get something wrong better start giving me my props for getting something right.

Of course there are caveats to this whole thing.

1) I'll admit after the disastrous Game 2 in Cleveland, I had a tough time thinking the Yanks would come back. I never thought they'd knock Cory Kluber out of the box once never mind twice.

2) I also wouldn't have bet that the Yankees could have won with Aaron Judge doing his Dave Kingman impression. 14 strikeouts in 5 games is almost as impressive as 52 home runs as a rookie.

3) And let's hear it for CC Sabathia. He dominated the first three innings before he ran out of gas, but he struck out 9 guys in 4 1/3. Gutsy.

The ALCS now matches the Yanks with the Houston Astros who I still can't believe are playing in the American League. (Among my first acts as commissioner of baseball would be to put the Astros in the NL Central, the Brewers in the AL Central and the Royals in the AL West.  but that's for another day.)  Again this is a tall order for the Bronx Bombers, and once again they are down 2-0 after a pair of 2-1 heartbreaks in Houston, but you bet against them at your peril.




SPOILER ALERT -If you are a fan of CBS shows Kevin Can Wait, NCIS Los Angeles, Hawaii Five-O or Blue Bloods, and you haven't seen all the shows this season, please scroll to the stars to skip this story.


TELEVISION- WTF?

In the second to last episode of NCIS Los Angeles last season, agent Sam Hanna's (LL Cool J) wife Michelle (Aunjanue Ellis) was kidnapped in exchange for letting a terrorist out of jail. Michelle was locked in an almost airtight box and the team was unable to get to her before she died.

On the season premiere of Kevin Can Wait, Kevin Gable (Kevin James) opens a letter from the gym where his wife (Erinn Hayes) works out, saying they miss her. Kevin remarks that he misses her too, and we find out she's been dead for "almost a year"

On the season finale of Blue Bloods, members of a drug cartel that Danny Reagan (Donnie Wahlberg) put away got revenge by burning his house to the ground. Thankfully his wife Linda (Amy Carlson) and sons Jack and Sean (I just noticed that technically the Reagans named both of their sons John) survived. In the season premiere, Danny is strongly contemplating retirement, no doubt feeling guilty about the job costing him his house. Only to find out that in the meantime, Linda died in a helicopter crash.!

We seeing a trend here people? Maybe CBS should add a K at the end of it's name, CBSK Cold Blooded Spouse Killings.

The stunt that Blue Bloods pulled seemed to really smack of desperation. It's still a good show, but maybe getting a bit long in the tooth. Frank Reagan (Tom Selleck)  has now been NYC Police commissioner for 9 TV years, that's longer than most administrations. He has buried his wife, one of his sons (killed by a fellow cop nonetheless) and now, a daughter in law.  Nobody who goes through all that stuff, looks as good as he does at 72 years old.

As previously reported here in June, Hawaii Five-O got rid of two main cast members, Chin-Ho Kelly (Daniel Dae Kim) and Kono Kalakaua (Grace Park). They replaced Kono with a hot new female cop Tani Rey*  (Meaghan Rath), and another ex-navy SEAL Junior Reigns (Beulah Koale) to eventually replace Chin. At least they had the common decency not to kill them off. Kono is off fighting human trafficking and Chin is leading a Five-O type task force in San Francisco.


I don't really watch Kevin Can Wait, but killing off Hayes to bring in Lean Remini seemed a bit heartless and short sighted. And also brings up another pet peeve of mine..

What the hell is with bringing back all these old shows? Now I admit, I love Hawaii Five-O (a remake) and McGayver (same), but did we really need to bring back Will and Grace for crissakes? I didn't like that show to begin with. There was a reason Ameircan Idol bit the dust, and it wasn't because people were clamoring to watch it. They brought back Dallas a couple of years ago, so it stood to reason that Dynasty would make a comeback as well.

I realize that part of the issue is that with hundreds of channels on cable, plus Netflix, Hulu and Amazon,there are now more channels than shows to put on them. But it just seems to me like there is a total lack of imagination on TV nowadays.

*****************************END SPOILER ALERT********************************

I know I should be more riled up about Harvey Weinstein than I am, but to me it's just another Hollywood sleazeball doing what Hollywood sleazeballs do.

As mad as I am about the Jets game, there were no hurricanes, mass shootings, or beloved music icons dying, so at least we have that. 

On that note, Have a Great Week






*if you think I'm being sexist referring to her as "hot" please refer to the previous paragraph in regards to Tom Selleck)

Weekly Mail October 8, 2017

Well, what a $hitty week THAT was huh?


I woke up around 4 AM Monday and saw the CNN notification on my phone saying that 50 people had been killed in a mass shooting in Las Vegas. I somehow got back to sleep, most likely because it didn't really register in my half asleep brain. I don't even want to allow for the possibility that I've become desensitized to all of it.

When I woke up for good a couple hours later, I found out that Steve (Pally) McFadden the former owner of the legendary Ryan McFadden's bar on 42nd Street, died. Tara worked at McFadden's back in it's heyday, and it was my overhearing Tara talking about working at McFadden's with mutual friends of ours, that got us talking the night we met. So I consider Pally partially responsible for the past 13 years of my life.

And to wrap Monday up, Tom Petty, one of my favorites died of a heart attack just shy of his 67th birthday. How on earth do you slog through the rest of the week when in starts off like that?



LAS VEGAS MASSACRE:  I hate conspiracy theories.

As a kid I loved them. Even as a young adult I still enjoyed them a bit. But after 9/11, I tried to stay away from them. It burned my a$$, listening to jerks like Charlie Sheen and Rosie O'Donnell talk about 9/11 being an inside job, when millions of people saw those planes fly into the World Trade Center. There's a cottage industry created by people who think JFK was killed any other way besides the way the Warren Commission says he was. It's gotten to a point where people have turned the slaying of a sitting US President into a joke. And I'm not even going to get into discussing a slug like Alex Jones, and his heartless, clueless theories on Sandy Hook.

So, I tend to tread lightly when I feel like the story I'm hearing about a tragedy like the one that took place in Las Vegas last week doesn't quite add up. But that's where I'm at with some of this.

Obviously, my heart breaks for the victims, people who were just having fun at a country music concert. A beautiful early autumn Sunday evening, rocking out to Jason Aldean. And if the President won't say it, I will;  it was terrorism, in it's purest most evil form.

What I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around is how a 64 year old man could lug all that equipment undetected to the 32nd floor, and more to the point, fire off all that firepower, in that short amount of time and cause all that carnage. The sick f-ck had no previous military training, and some experts have said that even a well trained military sniper could have been that accurate.

I realize we are early in the investigation, and at this point we commoners should focus more on what we can do to help and comfort the victims families. I also know the authorities are insisting that only one person carried out this attack. I'm not there and my criminal investigation experience consists of some CSI reruns, But some of the people there in the early hours after the massacre swore that shots were coming from different directions. I realize in the heat of battle that testimony is unreliable, but as much as I hate to go there, I can't help but believe that there is more to this than meets the eye.

Of course this also led to another round of name calling between the anti gun people and the NRA and fans thereof. At the risk of sounding like President Trump saying that some skinheads are not bad guys, there are valid arguments on both sides. Yes guns rights people, you can kill people without guns, cars and airplanes can be weapons too, and banning all guns isn't going to stop mass killings. But why hand the car keys to a drunk, let the guys with knives and masks on the plane?  There is common sense gun regulations, ones proposed by President Obama for example, that no right headed person should have a problem with.

I'm a conservative, I don't think we should mess with the Bill of Rights too much, but I also don't think the 2nd amendment gives you the right to stockpile enough weapons to arm a small nation. Apparently, the NRA and the Republican Party are considering regulations on bump stocks (devices that turn semi automatics into full automatics). It's a very small step. But a step nonetheless. The only way this problem has a chance of being solved is if both sides can find common ground and go from there. The mudslinging isn't going to do anything and this whole mess is going to happen again.

RIP: Tom Petty (1950-2017)

It was bad enough that as we were still coming to grips with the horror in Las Vegas, reports started coming in that rock legend Tom Petty was near the end of the line. He was in cardiac arrest and on life support. Soon thereafter, the first reports that he had died came over, along with tributes and accolades. From the time I left my office at 4:30, till I picked Timmy up from after-school and came home about 5, the reports had changed. CBS News had jumped the gun. They had cited a LAPD report seemingly confirming that Petty had died. But the LAPD was backtracking, saying it couldn't confirm Petty had passed. TMZ also said that Petty was unresponsive and off life support, but couldn't confirm he died.  This was awful, sitting around for a confirmation that he was dead. The waiting was the hardest part.

By the time the 6:30 PM national newscasts began, Petty's death was confirmed by his manager.

Much like Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty was a guy whose deep tracks I'm not that familiar with, but his more popular stuff was good enough for me. Free Fallin I could do without hearing again as I've heard that song 10 billion times, but the rest of Full Moon Fever is fantastic, I Won't Back Down, Runnin Down a Dream, Yer So Bad, all classics. His work with the Travelling Wilbury's speaks for itself, and Learning to Fly and Into the Great Wide Open are two of my favorite all time songs. I haven't even mentioned his early classics with the Heartbreakers and his duet with Stevie Nicks.

Someone tweeted that the reason Petty's death wasn't confirmed right away was because he was standing up at the gates of hell and not backing down. I prefer to think he was knock knock knockin on heaven's door. I realize that last line was Bob Dylan's, but what the heck, I'd like to think it was all for one and one for all in the Wilburys. In either case, his talent will be missed.

PROTESTS: Columbus Day:

I've broached this subject before, but once again it kind of came to light during the Charlottesville mess over the summer.

Many people, including several of my readers, think Christopher Columbus was a real scumbag, and not deserving of a federal holiday. (If it makes these folks feel any better, I haven't had Columbus Day off since I was in college) There has been a movement to take down his statues and some cities have taken to calling the second Monday in October Indigenous People's Day

One of the questions that sent the people who wanted the statues of Robert E. Lee taken down into a tizzy was "Where do you draw the line?"  As I said, with those statues in Charlottesville, taking them down was probably a good idea.

But with Columbus?  Well once again I ask, "Where do you draw the line?"

You want to take his statues down? Fair enough. Indigenous People's Day? I won't call it that. Ever. But if that's what you want to call it, so be it.

But what about the city in Ohio, the one where the Blue Jackets play, the one that gave the world one James (Buster) Douglas? What about that university on the Upper West Side that several of my friends have graduated from? What about that coffee you had this morning? Or the country the beans came from?

What about our nations capital? Named for a slave owner and Christopher Columbus? What do we do about that?

I don't think it makes you heartless or a bad person to say it's time to let some of this stuff go. Maybe Christopher Columbus didn't really discover America and maybe he treated the natives like crap wherever he did end up. But we have somehow survived the 525 years since he crossed the Atlantic, and the 80 years or so since congress made it a Federal holiday. If you are lucky enough to have the day off (which to reiterate I don't) just enjoy it. We have too much other $h-t to worry about.

BASEBALL: Yanks make the playoffs!!

At press time, the Yankees will be taking the field for Game 3 of the ALDS at Yankee Stadium. Had they lost against the Twins on Tuesday night, their season would have been over and it would have been considered a failure. But they took care of business, overcoming a shaky start from Luis Severino to beat the Twins 8-4.

In Game 7 of the 1986 World Series, Sid Fernandez pitched 2-2/3 innings of scoreless relief, enabling the Mets to rebound from a poor Ron Darling start. David Robertson played the role of El Sid the other night, shutting down the Twins as they clawed their way back. Once Aaron Judge hit that 3 run homer to give the Yanks a 7-4 lead, I felt they had it in the bag. I just felt the Twins figured even if they scored, the Yanks would come right back. It had to me demoralizing.

Speaking of demoralizing, aside from Joe Girardi's boneheaded decision not to challenge the HBP call on Lonnie Chisenhall, the Yanks have to feel doubly aggravated to have knocked Indians ace Corey Kluber out of the box like they did, (a seemingly impossible task) only to lose Game 2 anyway. I will give the Yanks all the credit in the world if they can bounce back from that.

In any event, Yankee fans have a lot to be happy about, no matter how this all turns out.

FOOTBALL: The NFL's worst team is the New York....

Ask me to fill in that blank 6 weeks ago, and I would have penciled in my beloved Jets. But after Sunday's games, the Jets are in a 3 way tie for first place in the AFC East, with a showdown with the Patriots on tap. I have little to no doubt that order will be returned to the universe after that game.

But the answer to the above blank is Eli Manning and the Giants, who after losing to the woeful LA Chargers are now 0-5.  To my Giant fan friends I say welcome to my world, a world where your team is expecting big things only to go right down the proverbial crapper. (See-NY Mets 2017)

HOCKEY: The Rangers Return:

I always try to watch opening night for the Rangers, even if I can't really get into hockey till mid November. But I was probably better off not watching the game the other night, as they started right where they left off, aggravating me on home ice, losing to the worst in the league last year Colorado Avalanche 4-2. I am hoping like hell this isn't a harbinger of things to come. Saturday, they fell behind 5-1 to the Leafs, stormed back to tie it up, before losing 8-5. They didn't take my advice in the offseason and can coach Alain Vigneault, so we'll see what happens.


Some Bar Room B.S. to lighten things up... http://barroombs.blogspot.com/2017/10/wfans-10-greatest-moments.html


Let's all hope this week is better than last week. I'd say it can't get any worse, but the scary thing is that's not true.

Have a Great Week

Weekly Mail, October 1, 2017

Hi Folks:

On September 8, a 14 year girl here in Oceanside was hit by a car and was very seriously injured.

She has a long road ahead for recovery, but because we have such awesome people in this town, the road may be somewhat easier.

Looms for Lara, was started by our friends the McNeils. Timmy's friend Vanessa McNeil led a group of kids in making and selling bracelets and lemonade, with all proceeds going to help Lara. If ever the news gets you down, think of kids like these and know our future is in very good hands.


FLASHBACK:

From Weekly Mail September 10, 2016

Many of you already know where I stand on the issue of (Colin Kapernick) not standing for the National Anthem. For those of you who don't, I'll sum it up thusly; I once gave out my loser of the year award (The Nerd of the Herd) to a female college basketball player named Toni Smith,  who turned her back on the flag while the anthem was played before her games. She of course blamed America for all the problems in the world and blah blah blah. I wrote at the time that while she did have the right to do what she was doing, she also had the right to leave if she hated it here so much,

Some people took exception to my choice and others said I had no right to pick on her, but freedom of speech goes both ways. Does Kapernick have the right to sit for the anthem? Did Toni Smith have the right to turn her back on the flag? Sure they do. The Westboro Baptist church has the right to protest outside the funerals of fallen soldiers, like they do all the time. Just because they have the right doesn't mean 1) That its the right thing to do, and 2) Doesn't mean I don't have the right to rag on them for doing it.



So here we are, a little over a year later, and still this issue is festering and dividing us. Maybe I'm getting soft in my old age, maybe my liberal friends have finally worn me down some. Maybe I'm just frustrated with Donald Trump.

But I'm not as angry at Kapernick and the rest of the kneeling protesters as I thought I would have been.

Make no mistake. I will NEVER not stand for our national anthem, our pledge of allegiance, or God Bless America etc. I still despise those who would step on or burn in protest the American Flag. I still believe this country to be for all it's imperfections, the greatest nation on earth. My dad, my father in law, and both my grandfather's defended this nation. For them, and for all the freedoms and opportunities we enjoy, I will always salute.

But I spent enough time in church to know that genuflecting is the ultimate sign of reverence.  On CNN last week, Bob Costas noted that Kapernick's first protest was to sit during the anthem. Costas suggested (and I tend to agree) that by kneeling, Kapernick is still getting his point across while still showing some respect. I can get behind that.

Of course what brought all of this back to the forefront was President Trump deciding that with Houston and Florida still drying out, Puerto Rico destroyed by a Hurricaine, and his party trying (and once again failing ) to repeal Obamacare, that now would be as good a time as any to drop his $0.02 on a subject that was dying out.

I'm a bit upset at myself that I took the bait on this. If we all freakin ignore it, everybody wins. Those who don't like the protest won't fan the flames of it, those who hate Trump will force him to deal with the stuff he SHOULD be dealing with, and Congress will have a tougher time sneaking legislation by a distracted public.

But I see what's going on with fans boycotting teams, burning jerseys and tickets, and I can't help but think this is going to be something else we will have to explain to our bewildered kids and grandkids years from now. If you're going to boycott football, boycott it because their players are smacking women around, or carrying illegal guns, or driving while intoxicated. Boycott it because lying lowlifes like Bill Bellichick and Tom Brady are considered the kings of the sport. Boycott because some cities are blackmailing their taxpayers to fund billion dollars stadiums, used 10 or 12 times a year, while schools are failing.

But to boycott because some guys are taking a knee? Man, I'm as patriotic as anyone, but that just seems a bit silly.

BASEBALL: RIP Mets and Let's Go Yankees! (waitasecond)

First the funeral.... Sunday marked the end of what was the most frustrating baseball season I can remember. The 2007 and 2008 collapses stung more, losing the 2015 World Series was agonizing, but at least we had a couple of months of good baseball in those years.

This was a year in which NOTHING went right if you were a Met fan. A 90+ loss season, tons of injuries, under performance and a resurgent team across town made this a year of much head banging.

And while I believe that almost anytime a manger loses 90 games in a year he should have no expectations of keeping his job, it's very hard to fault Terry Collins for what happened this year. There was a report that several of the Mets lost confidence in Collins, but David Wright and Jacob deGromm seemed to shoot those reports down.  If you lose most of your rotation and half your starting lineup, no manager can win under those circumstances. Collins is going to be 69 years old next season, he doesn't need this $h-t. It's probably good for all parties if he rides off into the sunset, but I don't think he should be canned.

Who should be sent packing is the Mets training and medical staff. I mean, how many pitchers have to have arm injuries before someone realizes maybe the way they train and treat these guys isn't working? They are going to end up renaming Tommy John surgery to Met Pitcher Surgery. I've never seen anything like it.

Anyway, the Mets are done and not a minute too soon.

The Yankees play Tuesday in the play-in game against the Twins. And it bears repeating, that as far as WM is concerned, if the Yanks lose on Tuesday, they will have failed to make the postseason. I said it two years ago when they lost to the Astros and last year when the Mets lost to the Giants. Both teams had nice seasons, but they may as well have finished in second place. Or last.

But before my Yankee fans friends get their knickers in a twist, let me also say that I believe the Yankees will win on Tuesday and I wouldn't be shocked if they found their way to the World Series. I think they are better than Boston, and Cleveland is due to falter. Houston has a really good team, but the Yankees played them tough this year. The Yankees had their period of sputtering, but are now playing as well as they have played all year. They could be peaking at the right time.


RIP: Monty Hall

There are probably a million stories about Monty Hall, who died Saturday at age 96, here is mine...

Back in 2012, I was listening to NHL Radio on Sirius/XM and during that year's finals between the Kings and the Devils, the hosts of the radio show, Scott Laughlin and Hall of Famer Phil Esposito interviewed Monty Hall by phone. I wondered why they would interview a game show host (albeit perhaps the G.O.A.T game show host). Turns out, Mr. Hall's first job in America (he was from Winnipeg) was color commentator for my beloved New York Rangers! Imagine that?

He only held the job for one season (1958-59) before heading to Hollywood, but he told Laughlin and Espo that one of the games he called was the game in which Canadiens goalie Jacques Plante first donned a facemask. Goalies back in the day worse little padding and no mask. Hall recalled that the crowd at the Garden that night was less than understanding, peppering the Habs goalie with all sort of challenges to his manhood.  Hard to believe the Garden would give an opponent such a hard time (LOL)    I thought it was cool that Monty Hall had been a witness to all that.

He went on to tell the guys that at one time he had season tickets to all the pro teams in LA, but gave most of them up. The ones he held onto were the Kings tickets, and he considered himself one of their first fans. The team had invited him to the Finals that year, but he said at 91, he figured he couldn't handle the noise.

Funny thing, he didn't sound like he was 91. He was clear as a bell that day with almost perfect recall. 96 is a real good run, but I'm sad to see him go.



I'd also be remiss if I didn't mention the passing of America's favorite horndog, Hugh Hefner. The Playboy founder died this week at 91, which I normally consider a good run, but I could've easily seen Hef living to be 100. He walked around all day in a bathrobe surrounded by hot women. They say he was still involved with publishing the magazine, but I don't really buy that. I think he just hung around his mansion and collected babes. Some guys collect baseball cards. To each their own.

We made it through September !!

Have a Great Week!