Weekly Mail July 8, 2018

Hey:

We signed Tim up for a basketball league in Baldwin, along with his friends Ethan and Cyrus. They play in Baldwin Harbor Park, which I have to say is a beautiful place. The basketball courts feature brand new backboards and nets, and the park itself is huge. I didn't even know it was there, to be honest.

Anyway last week was the first practice/game and it was hot as blazes. This week, the weather was perfect. 72 and sunny and no humidity. As for the basketball, well, Tim has some skills, but this week he was more like Dell Curry than Steph Curry. Every time he touched the ball he chucked it towards the hoop. I don't blame him, that's pretty much how the Warriors have won their most recent NBA titles, but still we're going to work on maybe looking to make that extra pass, or maybe drive to the hole.

All in due time.


So let's get to the news of the week


HOCKEY: A Dream Come True?

      Last Saturday night, Islander fans were walking on eggshells, waiting for their franchise player, John Tavares to decide where he was going to play. Midnight was the deadline for Tavares to be able to sign an 8 year contract with the Isles, so if he didn't sign with them by then, the figuring went, he would sign elsewhere.

Sure enough around noon on Sunday, JT announced he was signing with the Maple Leafs, the team he rooted for growing up in Toronto. On the surface, it seems like a nice story, the superstar heading back to his hometown to help end a long championship drought. And as a Ranger fan, this should be no skin off my nose, in fact, I should be over the moon. Not having to deal with him in our division should be something worth celebrating.

But there something here that doesn't pass the smell test with me. A number of my Islander cronies said that Tavares asked the Isles not to deal him at the trade deadline, the inference being that he would at the very least give them a fair shot at re signing him. To turn around and sign with Toronto hours after free agency starts and then declare that this was your childhood dream?

That's balls man. That's balls.

As I've said countless times, athletes and politicians are both lying sacks of $h-t. The difference is we can theoretically at least vote the politicians out. We're stuck with our athletes. It's easy for me to sit there and say, " What do you expect?" But I know if it one was someone on one of my teams, I'd be apoplectic.

The last time I remember someone pulling a stunt like that was when LeBron James announced he was taking his talents to South Beach.

BASKETBALL: LA LA LeBron


Ironic, given that just mere hours after JT announced he was taking his talents to Toronto, LeBron announced he was taking his to Los Angeles. Signing with the Lakers, while not the proverbial kick to the crotch as his signing with Miami 8 years ago was for the people of Cleveland, is more an utter lack of imagination and creativity on the part of LeBron.

I'm not just saying that because he didn't sign here, though, lets face it, he comes here and wins a title, they might rename 7th Avenue after him. In Cleveland he was the big fish in a small pond. In LA, he's a big fish in a vast ocean. So what if he leads the Lakers to a title?  He won't be considered an all time Laker, like Kobe and Shaq, Magic and Kareem, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor (who didn't win a title in LA, but is still considered a great Laker). LeBron will just be looked at as a mercenary.




POLITICS: Not so Great Scott

Scott Pruitt either resigned or was fired by President Trump this week as head of the EPA. Apparently Pruitt was involved in one too many scandals for even Trump's liking, which is saying quite a bit.

Now maybe this is just me, but I would imagine that in order to lead a group like the Environmental Protection Agency, one of the first or second qualifications is that you have to, I don't know, care about the environment?  I'm the first to admit I don't go out and celebrate Earth Day every April, but it seems like all this guy did was roll back regulations protecting the environment.

Watching Pruitt leave this week with his tail between his legs brought me back to Rex Tillerson, and how of all of Trump's cabinet choices, Rex seemed to be one who actually got up in the morning and tried to do the job he was given. Pruitt, didn't even fake like he gave a crap about clean air and water, he was all about 5 star hotels and political favors. I'd say good riddance, but his replacement could be worse.


WORLD CUP: Complaint Department

I don't think I was blogging or e-mailing for the last two World Cups, so it's probably been a while since I aired my grievances with international soccer. So here goes.

1) The Flops- Is there anything more annoying than watching these guys barely get touched and then throwing themselves to the ground as if they were shot by a sniper? There is a rule in hockey that if you try to embellish a penalty, you get two minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct. If they gave a yellow card every time someone did that in soccer, they'd have to pull fans out of the seats to finish the games.

2) Injury time- Years ago, my Uncle Eammon tried, unsuccessfully, to explain injury time to me. Granted this was back in the days where you could only watch the World Cup on Channel 41 in Spanish. I'm sorry, but that's one of the dumbest rules in any sport this side of Pro Wrestling. How can you have it where someone can arbitrarily decide when the game is over?  One might argue that an umpire can do that in baseball, but that would be wrong because there is no clock in baseball. There is one in soccer and the referee can decide to add time onto it. That makes no sense to me.
Many years ago, when I was playing basketball at St. Mary's two guys were arguing whether a particular game was decided by a buzzer beater shot. But the way they kept saying it was "That game didn't end at the buzzer.!" and "Yes it did end at the buzzer." leading the great Les McCurdy to scream at the two idiots that "Every game ENDSATTHEBUZZER!"
Not so in soccer. It ends when the ref feels like it.

3) Offsides- The rule here is that you have to advance the ball past the defender, you can't send someone down the length of the field and kick the ball over the defenders head. That's stupid.
I would make it like hockey, where off-sides is each blue line. Just make a line halfway between the goal and the center of the field. Allowing the defenders to determine the off side line is a recepe for cheating.



All that said, I caught the end of England vs. Columbia, and for all the complaining of low scores, anytime a game goes to penalty kicks, it's must see TV. And the game on Saturday between the Russians and Croatia was another classic. Soccer is never going to be the huge TV sport here that football and baseball are, but these World Cup matches are damn exciting. And watching the countries who win celebrate in their respective streets is always fun. To think a whole country can band together like that is a really cool thought. Yes, our country stops for the Super Bowl, but once the game is over, it's usually one city celebrating, one city rioting, and the rest of the country getting ready for work the next day. Winning a match in the knockout round causes whole countries to party like its 1999.

CRIME:  Sonofabitch!

Anna Mae Blessing, a 92 year old Arizona woman, was arrested on first degree murder charges after she allegedly gunned down her 72 year old son who was attempting to put her in a nursing home.

Blessing argued with her son and his 57 year old girlfriend, and then pulled a handgun out of her bathrobe and shot her son. The girlfriend managed to knock the gun out of her hand, only to have the heat-packing granny pull a second gun out of her bathrobe. Fortunately, the girlfriend got that gun away from her as well. But it was too late for the son, who died from his wounds.

My sister* and I used to tease my mom that since she loved Rockaway so much that when she was old enough, we'd put her in one of the nursing homes on the boardwalk, or if she wanted to be closer to Conolly's the one on 95th Street. I told that story to a former cop I knew and he said (no joke)
"That's why I keep my guns."

Apparently so did Anna Mae Blessing.


I love America with all it's warts and imperfections, and there are enough people criticizing it for me to not jump on the bashing bandwagon, but I have to admit, it speaks to the state of our great nation that competitive eater Joey Chestnut is arguably our greatest athlete.

Enjoy the beautiful weather

and Have a Great Week




*my sister not named Katie.