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