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