Weekly Mail March 25, 2018

Sorry this came out late.

Saturday people around the country participated in The March for Our Lives, a protest march against gun violence. There were several poignant moments during the day, including the speeches given by the survivors of the Parkland shooting. Also here in NY, Paul McCartney, marching by the Dakota and remarking that one of his best friends was a victim of gun violence right around here.

I really hope these mass gathering continue, well, no. I hope they continue until something changes for the better. It's heartbreaking that these things are necessary, but since they are, I hope they continue with the passion and commitment to change that we've seen. Because that is how you get things done around here.


I did some marching myself on Saturday, but mine was at the Rockville Centre St. Patrick's Day parade. Along with Tara, Tim and our nephew Connor. It has become a nice family tradition. Plus we had a beautiful day.



TELEVISION REVIEW: American Crime Story: The assassination of Gianni Versace.
Starring: Darren Criss, Edgar Ramirez, Ricky Martin, Penelope Cruz.

I was a big fan of the FX miniseries American Crime Story: "The People versus OJ Simpson.

So I was very curious when they announced the second installment of the series was going to be about the murder of fashion designer Gianni Versace. I wondered as to how they were going to get nine or ten episodes out of a story that I thought it was fairly open and shut.

From what I could remember, Versace was gunned down by some maniac outside his mansion in Miami.  The cops knew who did it; they had a name and picture and everything. Yet somehow the suspect, Andrew Cunanan managed to avoid the cops and the feds for an entire week until they surrounded him and he killed himself.

 For couple weeks in July 1997 it was the biggest story going. It would come back later on that summer after Princess Diana’s death when it was pointed out that the last time Elton John and Diana were seen together was at Versace’s funeral in Milan.

So yeah, I tuned in and once again American Crime Story knocked it out of the park.

First of all  the casting was again superb. When I was watching The People vs. O.J. Simpson,  I really felt like I was once again watching Marcia Clark, Chris Darden, and Johnnie Cochran,  even though I was actually watching Sarah Paulson, Sterling K Brown and Courtney B.Vance.

This time it was Darren Criss who is totally believable as serial killer Andrew Cunanan. Criss just made himself a household name with this performance. Penelope Cruz was a fairly convincing Donatella Versace, (though just for S's and G's, I'd have cast Maya Rudolph.)  Even though the title was the assassination of Gianni Versace, This miniseries was almost entirely about Cunanan.

The miniseries actually started with Cunanan’s murder of Versace and worked its way back. In some ways that was confusing, you wouldn't understand his rationale for killing one person till you turned in the next week and realized what his relationship was with his victim. But there was a certain, well,  I don't know if you would call it a satisfaction, when you put the pieces together.

By the time they flashed forward at the end of the series, to when Cunanan was on the run, you had the whole story. And Criss' brilliant acting, showing both Cunanan's psychotic and vulnerable sides, really sold it.

Supposedly the next two American Crime Stories are going to be about Monica Lewinsky and Hurricane Katrina. They should both be must view miniseries.


RADIO: End of an Era

It was October 7, 1988. WFAN was going to be switching frequncies moving from 1050 to 660. In the Shea Stadium parking lot, prior to that night's Mets Dodgers NLCS Game 3, WFAN afternoon host Pete Franklin was talking to Don Imus, who by virtue of WFAN's taking over the 660 frequency, would become the FAN's new morning host. There was a switch there that would move the FAN down the dial and Franklin who had been bad-mouthing Imus ever since the take over had been announced, asked him who should throw the switch.

"Well Pete, being that it is raining, the station decided that you should handle all the electrical equipment." Imus deadpanned.

I was hooked.

For the next 30 years, from my walkman on the Q45 to high school, to driving to college, to the 7 train into the city, to once again driving to work, he has been my morning man. He's gotten me through 8 Presidential elections, two wars in the Persian Gulf, 9/11, OJ Simpson and countless other huge news stories of the day. His edge and sense of humor, are as much a part of what I try to do here every week. Often lately I've held back, but there was a time, when I really wanted this to be a written version of what he delivers on the radio.

On Thursday, he hangs up his microphone for good, after 50 years in the biz, the better part of the last 48 of those here in NY.

You can't mention the good stuff in his career without mentioning his lowest moment; the comments he made about the Rutger's Women's Basketball team. At the time it happened, I felt he had gone too far because he made fun of college kids. But I also remember he had said and done far worse. He apologized profusely and to this day is remorseful. I know I'm gonna catch flak for this but I still don't think he should have been fired for it. To fire him and then replace him with the likes of Craig Carton? Hypocrisy in it's purest form.

And his new show on WABC was different. It still had its moments, but it really was never the same. And since he's announced his retirement, it as been a skeleton of what it once was.

But still, what you saw is what you got from him. After he roasted the Clinton's at the White House Correspondents dinner in 1996, and was catching flak for it, it was Mike Lupica who wondered aloud, "Did they think they were getting Bob Hope?"

They don't make them like this anymore folks. Maybe some would say that's a good thing, but not me. I'm going to miss the old cowboy. Between him and Francessa leaving within months of each other, my radio listening has taken a huge hit.


I didn't watch the 60 Minutes interview with Stormy Daniels, but I will leave it to Imus in the Morning to offer my opinion on the whole thing. One of the characters he has on the show is a guy who impersonates Carl from Sling Blade. His take? "It all comes down to who you believe...the fake blond with the big boobs? ..............Or Stormy Daniels?"


Sorry again for the delay on this. Probably won't publish next week on Easter.

Have a Happy Easter and a Great rest of the Week

Weekly Mail March 18, 2018

Hey There:

So I hope everyone had a nice and safe St. Patrick's Day weekend, and I hope you all enjoyed the Weekly Mail Special last night.



POLITICS: REXit, Stage Left:

I am fully aware that the main reason Rex Tillerson was nominated as Secretary of State was that he was a buddy of Donald Trump, and probably someone Trump could count on to do his bidding. I didn't think Barack Obama should have made Hillary Clinton his secretary of state, but she was head and shoulders above Tillerson in both brains and experience. I'm not saying Tillerson was a dope, you don't get to run one of the largest oil companies in the world if you are, but nothing he did in that job could have prepared him to be our nation's top diplomat. This was pure patronage, plain and simple.

And while many of the Trump haters are probably happy to see Tillerson go, I have to admit that part of me is kind of disappointed.

I'm not saying he was any good, but you know, at least I felt like he was trying to be a good secretary of state.

I could be way off on this. People who follow this stuff better than me might laugh at this. Others will say you can't try to be a good secretary of state, you either do a good job or you don't.

But I'm sorry. I think most of the time, his heart was in the right place. Trump obviously wants to be surrounded by yes men, and Tillerson wasn't willing to do that.

He could have just been a bobblehead doll, kind of like education secretary Betsey DeVos who has been nothing but a stooge. She has lived down to her expectations as Education Secretary. I don't know anybody especially any educators, who think she's been any good.

But I feel like Rex tried to be a diplomat. I feel like he tried to put America's best foot forward. He told Trump things he didn't want to hear. He tried to make this a better place. I know it's a low bar, but he could have taken the job just to tell his pals he held a cabinet position.

I don't think he did that.

I understand that one of the jobs Trump gave him, and one he tried to implement, was to cut the budget at Foggy Bottom. That probably wasn't smart.

But Tillerson advised Trump not to rush to meet with Kim Jong Un. He supposedly urged Trump not to reneg on President Obama's nuclear deal with Iran (full disclosure-I'm not a huge fan of this agreement either-but at this point it could use some tweaks not a blowtorch). Tillerson also supposedly called Trump "a f-cking moron" after Trump's speech to the Boy Scouts last year. That would be hard to argue with.

Again when we rank America's Secreties of State, I have no doubt Rex Tillerson will be somewhere near the bottom. But I give him an A, well maybe a C+ for effort.


BASKETBALL: March Sadness:

Lord knows I have shot myself in the foot by proclaiming things that would never happen in sports. No Met no-hitters. No more Triple Crown winners in Horse racing etc. One prediction I can honestly tell you I never made was that no 16 seed would ever beat a one seed in the NCAA tournament. Some people did, I never did.


It has come so close so many times.

The most famous was when Princeton nearly knocked off Georgetown in 1989. But there have been others. This was something that was bound to happen. And happen it finally did Friday night, to Virginia.

Yes I had Virginia going all the way. But that's not what burns my a$$ about this.

Where I lose my $h-t is that I ask why this couldn't happen to a team I can't stand. Like North Carolina.  All the years Dean Smith and Roy Williams had number one seeds, how cool would that have been? To see their obnoxious fans get so pissed off? (The Tar Heels got knocked out by Texas A&M on Sunday, by they were a 2 seed and they won their first game on Friday)

Or Duke? Those scumbags? Everyone hates Duke, wouldn't that have done our society a favor?

How about UCLA? Not that I hate them so much, as I just think their history could support it. I broke Yankee fans balls pretty bad when the Red Sox came back from 0-3 down in 2004. But the Yankees still had 26 rings to fall back on. Yes, the Sawx coming back is part of their history, but so are the now 27 titles. UCLA won 10 NCAA championships in 12 years. They could afford this.

Kentucky? John Calipari and his one and done wonders? Why not them?

No, it had to be Virginia. A school I have some family ties to. They had to be the ones to break that unfortunate glass ceiling, the punchline to the joke, the answer to the trivia question.

It never ends folks. It never ends.


BTW: The Daily News ranked the 5 biggest upsets in modern sports history on Saturday. Their top 5? Giants over Patriots in Super Bowl 42, Jets over Colts in Super Bowl 3, USA-Miracle on Ice 1980, Villanova over Georgetown 1985 NCAA Final, and Buster Douglas over Mike Tyson.

OK, the Miracle on Ice is the biggest upset in sports history. That is not even up for debate.

Anyone who saw Tyson fight in his prime never would have predicted Buster Douglas could have gone the distance, much less knock Tyson out. I'd put that at number 2. I wasn't around for Jets-Colts, but I believe Joe Namath made a deal with the devil that day. I was around for Nova-G'Town and that was possibly the greatest college basketball game I've ever seen. And yes, Giants Pats was a huge upset, but the Giants had given the Pats a game just a month before. So while I was thrilled the Pats didn't get to 19-0,  I put that upset at number 5.


FOOTBALL: How 'bout them Jets?

For some reason, this off-season Kirk Cousins has been elevated to Tom Brady/Peyton Manning status. If ever the term right palce right time applied, this was it.

Many so called experts were imploring the Jets to take a run at Cousins, and it appears that they did, apparently offering him the best contract in terms of money. But Cousins took less $$$ and worse weather to sign with the Vikings. I for one think that goes into the best deal being the one you don't make department. Because the last time the Jets threw a bucket of money at a free agent QB who happened to be on the market was Neil O'Donnell 22 years ago. We all know how that turned out, Bill Parcells couldn't get him out of town fast enough.

Instead Jet GM Mike Maccagnan pulled off a doozy of a deal on Saturday, trading up for the third pick in the draft. That should land them either Josh Rosen from UCLA, or Sam Darnold of USC.

Of course if we are using more recent history as a guide, the last time the Jets traded up in the first round was in 2009, when they also drafted a QB, also from USC named Mark Sanchez. And yes, I thought he was the man, especially when the Jets went to 2 straight AFC title games with him. We know how that turned out.

So as this is the Jets we are dealing with here, I'm probably out of my mind to praise this deal they made with the Colts. They gave up three high end draft picks this year and most likely one next year to move up. I have no doubt the Colts will use one of those picks to select someone who will no doubt be enshrined in Canton 20 years from now. Still I can't help it. I'm kind of/sort of looking forward to the draft now.

I really need to have my head examined.


This weeks Nor'Easter is scheduled for Tuesday night. At this point, people don't really care
anymore. As John Kerry used to say, Bring....It.....On.

Take Care Everyone

and Have A Great Week

Weekly Mail St.Patrick's Day Edition

Erin Go Braugh! 



I was going to publish this at our usual time, but there is so much going on that I decided to make this a special for St. Patrick's Day.

                   Waiting to line up for the parade on 44th and Madison (Shawn O'Shea) 



I'm going to be 45 years old this coming August, and while I've come into the city to watch the St. Patrick's Day parade a handful of times, this year Tara and I decided we would march with the Kingdom of Kerry. Tara has marched before as a kid, but me? Never. 

So we met up with Tara's Uncle Shawn and his grandson Colin and headed in on the LIRR. While we were waiting for the train, they kept announcing that alcoholic beverages would not be permitted on the train. They don't announce this all the other Saturday's I take the train to the city. Whatup with that? #stereotyping #profiling

I'll admit I was apprehensive. I'm proud of my Irish heritage, more on that later, but I'm not in any special Irish societies or clubs. Shoot, this August will also mark the 20th anniversary of my one and only trip to Ireland, August 17, 1998 (aka the night Bill Clinton finally admitted he had sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky-but I digress). In other words, I'm not sure my spot in the parade wouldn't have been better served by someone else. 

But I have to tell you, I'm glad I did it. 

The walk up 5th Avenue is magnificent, even on a day where the wind tore through you like a knife. As I'm sitting here writing this my face is on fire. But the crowds and the spirit are something to behold. 

As we marched over here, I wondered aloud if the big guy was home for the weekend, or if he was wolfing down his daily cheeseburger at Mar A Lago. I was just thankful we didn't have to divert around to Madison Ave to avoid the golden palace. 



We marched past St. Patrick's Cathedral, the Plaza Hotel, and Central Park, amongst other places. As we were passing the park, we saw what looked like the stand where WNBC was broadcasting the parade. Timmy had said he wanted to get on TV, so we started heading that way. I wasn't sure that we had made it on the air, till Tara and I started getting messages that we had indeed been spotted on TV. 

                       Top: Tara and Timmy say hello to NY
            Bottom: No, they didn't start entering floats in the parade this year 
                          (Ray McGarvey)

I'd like to tell you that we made it all the way to 79th Street, but we dropped off at 66th, went for a snack at Dunkin Donuts and called it a day. Like I said, the wind was something fierce. But after Tara and Timmy and Tara's uncles headed back to LI, I walked back to 47th and 6th and the sun was really strong. It had really warmed up. 

It was a great day to be in the city, a great day for NY. 

A great day to be Irish. 

********************************************************************************

SURVEY Says WHAT?

A website called Wallethub.com ranked the top cities in the US for their St. Patrick's Day celebrations. The top 5 were

1) Chicago
2) Boston
3) Philadelphia
4) Buffalo
5) New York

They explained the rating system they used was based on factors such as affordability, number of bars, length of traditions and weather, amongst other things.

OK, I think dyeing the Chicago River green is cool, so you want to put Chicago up there, that's fine. Boston? I mean, I know they have a huge Irish population up there, so I can kind of/sort of accept that. But Philly? Come on, I've never heard of any big Irish traditions in Philadelphia. Buffalo? Just the weather alone should disqualify Buffalo from anything, and besides, I've never heard of anyone planning a trip to Buffalo to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. (Come to think of it, I've never heard of anyone planning a trip to Buffalo period. Ace and I stopped there on our way to Toronto for wings, and we ended up in a bar-----owned by a guy originally from Uniondale!)

I realize I'm biased, but NY has got to be the number one place to go for St. Patrick's Day. I realize it's expensive here, but I'm sure Chicago and Boston aren't that much cheaper. The Wallethub study says NYC has the most Irish pubs per capita in the US, and also the fewest DUI related fatalities.

A few more tidbits about this list...

Savannah, GA came in 58th, and I cry foul on that almost as much as NY being in 5th. Savannah by many accounts, has the best St. Patrick's Day in the South.

El Paso, TX came in 75th.- I'd have to consult my cousins in law Kevin and Jessica O'Shea on this one. I was at their wedding in El Paso, and I didn't think, "Wow, I'd really love to spend St. Patrick's Day here. And the closest thing to an Irish bar I saw in El Paso was the makeshift one Tara's cousins put together at the hotel.  (We should have called it O'Shea's Poolside Bar and Grill)

Anyway here's the website https://wallethub.com/edu/best-worst-cities-for-st-patricks-day-celebrations/19603/#methodology



Some Music to Enjoy... 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4OlM0lPqcE- Give Ireland Back to the Irish by Paul McCartney and Wings

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihCmhlVnRDU- The Luck of the Irish by John Lennon 

OK, gotta pick it up here a bit, this is a happy day..https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_4KboYi40I

Wild Rover 


FINALLY:

A few of my friends have decided to take do-it-yourself DNA tests to see if they have any other roots besides the ones they have grown up believing they had. This is the kind of thing Sen. Elizabeth Warren did to discover her Native American roots (to the delight of President Trump). I've had folks who thought they were mostly one ethnicity find out they are actually something else altogether. 

So count me as someone who won't be spittin' in a cup anytime soon.

Because I don't care what any DNA test tells me, as far as I'm concerned I'm Irish. I love being Irish, I'm proud that the people who came before me overcame the struggles that they did to give us a better life. I love the music (well not ALL the music), the history.  The people. 

I'm proud to be an American, that's what I am first. Sometimes admittedly obnoxiously so. But I am damn proud of my Irish heritage as well.

And no offense to anybody, but I wouldn't want to be anything else. 


Happy St. Patrick's Day 

Weekly Mail March 11, 2018

Hey:

So the clocks went ahead one hour Sunday morning, which means we'll all be a bit groggy in the morning, but we have daylight at 7 PM, which is really nice.

Of course it will be hard to appreciate the extended daylight if we keep having to deal with these freakin storms....


WEATHER Stick that Nor'easter in your keister...

I forget which of my teachers at St.Mary's first taught us the phrase, but I know that is where I first heard "March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb.."  It remains to be seen if the latter part of that statement will be true, but the former part has been spot on.

Two weeks ago, we had rain and wind on a Friday night that was something fierce. Wednesday, most of Long Island closed their schools, and many of my co-workers bailed out early as a second Nor'easter struck our area. This one contained "thunder snow" another term I had never heard of before. And now that are saying that a third big storm may be hitting us on Monday.

WTF?

Now there are some benefits to getting socked with snow in March believe it or not. For one thing, it usually warms up quick, so the snow melts faster. For another, if you have made it through January and February with little trouble like we did this year, the snow plows and street cleaners are more than ready to go. I don't know about the city, but the roads near me we perfectly drive-able for the Thursday morning commute. The plows got out there in a hurry and the hard part was just chiseling the ice off the car.

Having said all that, I like to be done with all this $h-t by the time the kids go back to school after the February winter break. I like the weather to start warming up around the middle of March. The older I get the more I detest the snow, but I live in NY and have no intention of moving south, so I can't really complain. But I'm done with this for 2018. Hopefully this storm they are talking about doesn't materialize and we can start looking forward to good times ahead.



SPORTS: March Madness:

I have tried these past couple of years to get back into college basketball, especially since pro football has been such a mess these past few years. There are so many games on TV during the year, it's just a complete over saturation. And there aren't any teams I can really get into that are any good. St. John's had a really nice couple of weeks, where they knocked off Duke and Villanova, but were basically awful the rest of the time. Dayton, my other favorite team, lost their coach after last season, and won't make it to the dance.

So the brackets came out tonight, Virginia is the number one team in the country. That's my sister-in-law's alma mater, so I can get behind them. Nova is number 2, but they got taken to OT by Providence in the Big East Tournament final on Saturday night, not to mention they almost always screw me in the tournament. Xavier is number 3, but just got knocked out of the Big East tournament so who knows? Kansas is the 4th top seed in the bracket. Duke and North Carolina both of whom I despise, are number 2 seeds in their respective regions. Along with Cincinnati and Purdue.

So once again I'll be flying blind as I fill out my bracket. In honor of my sister in law, I'm guessing I'll have UVA going at least to the Final 4 if not winning the whole thing. I'm sure my bracket will be in tatters by the Sweet 16, but hopefully the games will be fun to watch.


POLITICS: Saturday Night with Trump

It seems like every so often, President Trump holds some sort of rally on a Saturday night. He did so the other night in Pennsylvania. Now I'm usually working at the Post on Saturday night, so I don't really have a choice wether or not I choose to listen to his rantings.

But somehow he either packs these people in, or the few he gets in there are really loud because he gets the crowd he has cheering wildly. I don't know, maybe it's because I'm missing my family on Saturday night, but I feel like there are better things to do on a Saturday night then listen to this nut recap Election Night 2016 for the millionth time. President Obama bragged about his two wins a couple of times, and that bugged me. But that's nothing compared to what Trump does at all these Saturday night rallies. I've really never seen anything like it.  I mean, he talks about all this stuff he's accomplished, but the only thing he ever really brags about is winning the election. All he's really doing is proving Michael Wolff correct in his book.


OK peeps, that all I got for ya.

Have a Great Week

Weekly Mail March 4, 2018

Yo!

So last week I said that since we were pretty much done with February, the worst of the bad weather was over. Of course, Friday we ended up with a windstorm that gave some of us flashbacks to Superstorm Sandy. There was some snow, but nothing sticking, at least not around my neck of the woods. I got a little nervous Friday morning when I turned on CBS This Morning and saw they had a reporter in Freeport. When a national newscast is doing a weather story two towns over from your house, that's a cause for concern.

So this week I'm going to predict the Mets won't win the World Series this year and I won't hit the lottery either. We'll see how that goes.




EDUCATION: 2 Live School

Mayor DeBlasio ended up with egg on his face this week when Miami school superintendent Alberto Carvalho went back on his agreement to replace NYC School Chancellor Carmen Farina.

The Dope from Park Slope announced on Wednesday night that Carvalho had agreed to take over for the retiring Farina effective April 1.

However during an emergency meeting of the Miami school board on Thursday, Carvalho announced he had changed his mind and decided to stay in Miami rather than freeze his a$$ off here in NY.

Apparently, Carvalho change of heart occurred after several Miami residents begged him to reconsider, including (and this is my favorite part of this story) former 2 Live Crew leader and rap legend Luther Campbell.

Uncle Luke attended the emergency meeting in Miami and implored the board to keep Carvalho down in South Beach...


“This man here brought dignity back to that seat … He brought respect to this. Whatever is going on in this system that is pushing this man out — y'all need to straighten it out,”


I don't often feel bad for the DFPS, as I believe he creates most of his own problems, but on this I have to give the devil his due. He thought he had a deal with this idiot, and then to have it reneged on because the guy who sang Me So Horny and F-ck Martinez got him to change his mind? That's hard to swallow.

Having said that, there has to be someone here in the city who is qualified to run the city schools, no? I mean do we really have to find someone in a city people go to to get away from NY? I know we've had some real doozies running the city schools in the past, Cathy Black, Joe Fernandez and Rudy Crew come to mind. But there are some really fine educators here, some of them are family and friends of mine. We don't need some out of towner running our schools do we?


TV REVIEW Waco- Miniseries on Paramount Network.

My first impression was that whatever book this miniseries was based on was extremely sympathetic to the Branch Davidians. If I knew nothing else about this story and based it solely on this movie, I'd say that the BD's were all innocent and the government should have left them alone. The movie turned David Koresh out to be a sympathetic figure, practically ignoring his multiple wives and accusations of child molestation.  I'm not suggesting he deserved to get killed over that, but I felt the movie was giving him a slap on the wrist.

You know how in baseball they always say "Tie goes to the runner?" Well anything that was in dispute went to the BD's. Who started shooting first? Movie says the ATF.  Was the tear gas flammable (like the BD's said) or did they set themselves on fire? Movie says the former.  Did Koresh have kids who disobeyed him beaten? Government said yes, movie said no.

Now, I'm not suggesting for a second here that the ATF and the FBI didn't royally screw this whole thing up. I remember back in the day when all this went down that there was ample oppurtunity to question or even detain Koresh. He often went into Waco's city proper for supplies. The townsfolk didn't seem to have an issue with him. Was a battalion of sharpshooters really necessary to serve a search warrant? If a couple of agents had simply served the warrant, could all this bloodshed been avoided? I can't help but think it could have, and even though I felt at the time it happened that the first shots came from inside the compound and that Koresh and his people committed mass suicide.

The truth is we'll probably never really know what really happened during those 51 days 25 years ago. The bottom line was that it was a tragic loss of human life. Who was ultimately to blame? I guess like most things, it's in the eye of the beholder.

As for the series itself, it was pretty well acted and wonderfully filmed. The last episode was an absolute heartbreaker, no matter whose side you were on.

STATISTICS:

According to a US News & World Report survey, New Jersey ranked as the 49th state in quality of life, only California finished worse. North Dakota came in first. According to USA Today..


The report, released Tuesday, ranks states based on a healthy environment and a sense of community. It takes into account each state's urban air quality, pollution and voter participation, among other measures.

I don't know man, lets say it's January 25, and you have a choice of sitting on Laguna Beach or hanging out in Fargo, North Dakota where it's probably 30 degrees below zero with a foot and a half of snow. I'm not sure urban air quality pollution or voter participation would be on the top of my priority list.  "I can't feel my face, hands or feet, but by golly everyone got out to vote so let's stay here in North Dakota.

New Jersey, on the other hand, well, as George Carlin once noted, "The Garden State? Sure, if you're growing smoke stacks!"  I have friends and family that live there, but for the life of me, I don't know why. It's got the lousy weather we have here in NY without the charm.

A couple of last minute obituaries:

David Odgen Stiers: With his death from stomach cancer at age 75, by my count only Hawkeye, BJ, Klinger, Radar and Margaret are left from MASH.  It's a shame, I really wish somewhere along the line they could have had a MASH reunion show. One where they were all in character, meeting up somewhere in the States in the 70s. Stiers, besides his portrayal of Charles E. Winchester III, was a prolific screen and voice actor.

Sir Roger Bannister: back in 1989 on the 35th anniversary of his having broken the 4 minute mile, Sports Illustrated ran a lengthy piece about what was considered one of the great athletic accomplishments of the 20th century.  This was one of those records that were thought to be impossible. But as Bannister and Australian runner John Landy began to get closer, the anticipation became great. Bannister broke the barrier on May 6, 1954, and became a household name all over the world. Then almost as quickly, retired from competitive running to focus on his medical career in neurology.  Can you imagine someone doing something like that today? Me neither. RIP.


I have no interest in tonight's Oscars. Hopefully no one f_cks up like last year. If you are watching, enjoy.

And Have a Great Week