Weekly Mail May 28, 2018

Hello:

We took last week off to attend Prince Harry and Ms. Meghan Markle's* wedding in London.  Ahh, just kidding, I didn't get up early enough to watch it. I remember watching William and Kate's wedding, because I had an overnight job at the time and it was happening just as I was getting home, but nope, didn't see this one.

We were at a first communion party in Maspeth, followed by 5 o'clock Mass back at the old stomping grounds, St. Mary's. Then just a fun Saturday night with Tara and Timmy.

So what's been happening.


BEACH CLOSING: Rockaway gets screwed again.

City officials announced last week that an 11 block stretch of Rockaway Beach will be closed due to beach erosion. Looking at pictures of the beach on-line, it kind of makes sense. There isn't a ton of room between the boardwalk and the water, so pumping sand in there is probably in everyone's best interests.

Of course it begs the question, Why now? Why couldn't this be worked on sooner than a few days before the start of the season? Or, or or, why not announce the closing a couple months in advance so that the local businesses could adjust accordingly.


It's not like they woke up last week and discovered this was going to be an issue.


Indeed, a report by J. David Goodman in the Times (yes, I'm sourcing the NY Times, will wonders never cease?)  says that officials in the DeBlasio administration have known for over a year that the aforementioned section of beach was in dire need of re-enforcement.

However, as he has done fairly consistently over the 4.5 years of his administration, the Dope from Park Slope has dropped the ball.

Now in his defense, the DFPS wasn't alone in neglecting the issue, and in fact the article goes to some lengths to say that he actually made an effort to get it resolved. It points out that he has visited Rockaway two of the last three years to praise the peninsula's comeback from Superstorm Sandy, that he pushed the Army Corps of Engineers to push up a timetable to begin building new stone groynes and adding even more sand. That project was slated to begin in two years.

So maybe he gave it an effort, but the bottom line is the city waited till the Wednesday before the opening weekend of the season to make this announcement. And I can't help but wonder if he would have waited this long if it was something that was going to affect Manhattan or his beloved Burrough of Brooklyn.

And there is blame to go around too. The Army Corp of Engineers who are dragging their feet, Governor Cuomo, originally a Queens kid himself, who seems to care about Rockaway as much as DeBlasio does. According to Mark C. Healey in the Rockaway Wave, the city hired a firm to study the problem. Santiago Alfageme of engineering firm Moffatt and Nichol reported that "the volume of sand that was added in 2014 and the current shoreline position make the beach areas better off now."

Well there you have it. Open up the beaches and let's party!

But of course, what common everyday Rockaway folks could see clearly, this (I'm sure) highly paid engineering firm couldn't. Or wouldn't.

Calling Martin, Terrence, and Sean Tubridy long time friends, doesn't quite do it justice, as they are more like extended cousins of mine. Well, they had a mock funeral on the beach Friday (bagpiper included) burying the Rockaway economy. While I agree this is going to put a huge damper on things, I know Rockaway will bounce back from this. They came back from Superstorm Sandy, they came back from devastating losses on 9/11, hell, I remember when I worked in Baskin Robbins, watching the protests as 116th Street became flophouse central. They bounced back from all that, and stronger, they'll bounce back from this.

The point is.... they shouldn't have had to.


It's Memorial Day Weekend, the weather's getting hotter. Time to talk hockey!!!


HOCKEY: New local bosses and an amazing Finals Story.


RANGERS- Wasn't quite sure what was taking them so long to find a coach, but this week they tapped David Quinn, late of Boston University to take over the coaching reigns from Alain Vigneault.

Quinn led B.U. to the 2015 NCAA Title game where they fell to Providence, and is being touted as a no nonsense kind of guy, in contrast to the man he's replacing. And isn't that always the way? Tom Renney was a pussycat, John Torterella a hard a$$. AV was laid back and now this guy "Holds players accountable." That happens with the Jets too, right? Al Groh comes in tough, goes out an a-hole. Herm Edwards comes in a players coach, goes out a pushover. Eric Mangini comes in no nonsense, goes out pig headed, Rex Ryan comes in fun loving goes out clueless.
But I digress.

Look, I don't know a thing about this guy, but if he does live up to his attributes, the Rangers should be more focused, more disciplined and hopefully the rebuild won't take as long. I don't have much of a choice, not being in the playoffs was a real f-cking bummer this year.

ISLANDERS- Even though several reports after he left the Maple Leafs said he had no interest in them, Lou Lamoriello was hired as President of Hockey Operations by the Fishsticks last Tuesday.
Now, just getting Garth Snow the hell out of dodge would make this a win for Brooklyn/Nassau, but as of this writing, it's not clear that Lamoriello intends to send Snow packing. And remember something, the only reason Snow became Isles GM in the first place was because then owner Charles Wang decided Neil Smith, the only GM in the last 78 years to win a Stanley Cup on Broadway, wasn't good enough.

There's no questioning Lamoriello's resume though. A three time Cup winner with the Devils, Lamoriello made moves that sometimes left me head scratching, but almost always turned up aces. And I can't believe I didn't realize this, but Lamoriello was also the AD at Providence who hired a dude named Rick Pitino to coach the basketball team. (This was many years prior to Pitino taking to doing the wild thing on Italian Restaurant tables)

Most recently, Lamoriello helped lead the turnaround of one of the NHL signature franchises, the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Leafs are now on year 51 without a Cup, and I'm still hoping they top my Rangers 54 year drought. (after that, I'll root 'em on. As Mike Viccaro points out, a Leafs Stanley Cup win would rival the Cubbies winning the World Series or Cleveland winning a title of any kind in terms of excitement and national interest) But thanks to Lamoriello, they are a lot closer than they have been in a while.

As a Ranger fan, this is a lousy development. As a decent human being, I'm happy for my Islander fan friends and family.**


GOLDEN KNIGHTS- In their first season back in 1962, the Mets, made up of mostly past their prime Dodgers and Giants, lost a still standing record 120 games, finishing a whopping 60.5 games behind the pennant winning Giants (There were no divisions back then) Fast forward 12 years later, in their first season, the Washington Capitals won a measly 8 out of 80 games (67 losses 5 ties), the worst record in the history of the NHL.

And now, those same Washington Capitals are about to face the Vegas Golden Knights in the Stanley Cup Finals. Like the 62 Mets and the 74-75 Caps, the Golden Knights are an expansion team playing in their first season.

Alas, that's about all they have in common. For the Knights have not only advanced to the Cup Finals in their first year, they did so by compiling one of the league's best records. Unheard of.

A ton of credit has to go to Knights GM George McPhee, who obviously uncovered several diamonds in the rough, including goalie Marc-Andre Fluery, who has finally lived up to the promise he never quite showed with the Penguins. Their coach Gerard Gallant should be the unanimous choice for coach of the year.

I don't know if having a first year expansion team advancing to the sports championship round is necessarily a good thing, it seems to disrupt the order of the universe***, but I do know that I don't want the Caps winning the Cup. I believe the Caps and Penguins are Gary Bettman's two favorite teams.  He'd be thrilled to hand the Cup to Alex Ovechkin. I really don't want to see that happen.



         **BOOK REVIEW**BOOK REVIEW**BOOK REVIEW**BOOK REVIEW**

I'm Keith Hernandez A Memoir
By: Keith Hernandez

Was anxiously awaiting this book, figuring he'd have some good stories to tell.
And he did.

He took the reader through his childhood, his minor league days and his first few years with the Cardinals. Then in alternating chapters he comes back to the present to offer his $0.02 about the state of the game today (replay reviews and sabermetrics for example). Whether or not you agree with him, his takes are interesting.

My only real beef with the book is that he gets as far as the 1980 season, which is three years prior to his being traded to the Mets. But the stories he does tell are captivating. I won't give anything away here, but I will offer this bit of friendly advice.. If you are planning on having sex with Mr. Hernandez, I would strongly recommend you bring protection and that your immunizations are up to date. (jus sayin)

3.5 Auggies. (Could have been 4.5 if he talked about his Mets career more)




********************************************************************************
And finally on this Memorial Day Weekend...

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
From For the Fallen by Lawrence Binyon



Have a Great Week











* My 3 year old niece Finley's preschool teacher is Miss Megan Moffitt. I can't help referring to the new Duchess of  Sussex as Miss Meghan Markle. No disrespect intended.

** These include my wife, in-laws, Tim's babysitter Lizzie and ace Post reporter Kathianne Boniello. 

***But this is the NHL, and it's not even the first time an expansion team qualified for the Stanley Cup Final. In 1968, the league expanded from 6 to 12 teams and the 6 new teams were placed in their own conference. The Finals were guaranteed to include an expansion team (I'll take really bad ideas for $500 Alex.) ALSO-I was reminded recently that this was the 30 year anniversary of the time Devils Coach Jim Schoenfeld was suspended for confronting ref Don Koharski (have another donut). And when the Devils got an injunction to let Schoenfeld coach, that night's refs went on strike. The league president was on vacation in Europe and couldn't be reached-during his sport's conference finals!