Sunday, December 29, 2019

Weekly Mail Year in Review Part One




January 2-Mean Gene, Super Dave and the Captain? I mean we’re 2 days in ...

Mean Gene Okerland, Super Dave Osbourne and the Captain from Captain and Tenille all died on the same day. All three were 76. Weird


January 9-Adam Gase? Seriously?


Super Bowl winning coach and QB guru Mike McCarthy was available. Gase was run out of Miami. Yet here we are.


January 22-Thank you hall of fame voters for voting in my wife’s all time favorite player. WTG Mariano Rivera

Should a relief pitcher have been the first player unanimously elected to Cooperstown? Not sure. But if it had to be someone, Mariano was definitely the one it should have been.



January 30-This is going to be awesome!

Academy award winning filmmaker Peter Jackson was given hours of unused footage from the Beatles Let it Be Sessions from 50 years ago. That movie I can't wait to see!



February 


February 5- Does it make me a lousy American that I chose to watch St. John’s-Marquette instead of the State of the Union address?

It was a great game. The speech? Well not so much


February 14-The Hawks must really be lousy

Actually the headline here is it's Valentine's Day and I'm watching the Knicks?


February 17-The Daytona 500 has been nothing but crashes. They just came out of a yellow flag and like a dozen cars just wrecked.

Betacha didn't know I was a NASCAR fan....
Well neither did I 

February 24- Aw hell if I had known they needed one, I’d have gladly hosted the Oscars

I'd have done a good job too. Somewhere between Billy Crystal and David Letterman. 



March

March 7-With this being the 50th anniversary of the 1969 Miracle Mets, the thought of any celebration without Tom Seaver is a sad one. Tough day for us Met fans and baseball fans in general.

I don't know what was worse. If he wasn't there because he had passed, or the fact that he is still alive and not well enough to attend. 


March 12- Am I being p’unked here?

Odell Beckham Jr. traded to the Browns. And we wonder why all our teams suck...(except for the Yankees and Islanders) 


March 21 14-2 today. Probably means tomorrow will be a disaster. ðŸ˜‚ I’ll enjoy it while it lasts.

Does it go without saying that my bracket went straight to hell from there? 


March 22-Thanks for screwing up my bracket Wisconsin!
In less important news, Robert Muller submitted his report to the Attorney General today.

As I was saying.....




April


April 9-I should be happy about this.
Of course I am not....

The Rangers got the second pick in the NHL Draft. I was mad because the Devils got the first pick...Also because I'm a miserable human being. 


April 16- Not surprised Isles won. Must admit I didn’t think they’d sweep the Pens.
CBJ over Tampa? Never saw that coming. That’s the 98 Yanks losing to Texas, the 2007 Patriots losing to Jacksonville, the 96 Bulls losing to the Knicks.
This is a 16 beating a 1.


I had it pointed out to me by my pal Ed Robinson that the Lightning, unlike the aforementioned teams above haven't hoisted a Cup, at least not this incarnation of the Lightning. He's right. But still the margin between TB's record and Columbus' record makes this as huge an upset as any IMHO.


April 19-They should also make the Flyers give back their two Stanley Cups.

This is regarding the Yanks and the Flyers putting poor old dead Kate Smith out of work so to speak  I thought it was worth a shot to try to get the Flyers 1974 Cup to Manhattan, but if they were going to strip the Flyers, that Cup would go to a city that deserves it even less.... Boston. 


April 25-Quinnen Williams? Josh Allen? Ed Oliver? Who the Jets taking?

When your team sucks, the draft is the highlight of the year. BTW the Jets took Williams, who 1) was considered the most talented player in the draft and 2) has done bupkis for the Jets this year. Par for the course. Josh Allen meanwhile looks like he'll be a perennial Pro-Bowler. 



May


May 3-Seriously?

The Dope from Park Slope talking about throwing his dunce cap in the ring for President. 


May 4-Holy Crap, Maximum Security got DQ'd?

I used to say I never thought I'd see a horse win a Triple Crown. I've seen it happen twice this decade. I sure as hell never thought I'd see a Kentucky Derby winner taken off the board. I still can't believe THAT happened! 


May 14 We’ve made our goal!!!!! Thanks to all who contributed. If else wants to donate, that would be awesome. GTB (grateful, thankful and blessed) for all my family and friends

Running for Rebecca was two nights later. A tremendous night of healing for our family. To my friends and family who donated and/or ran/walked, a million thank yous


May 31-WPLJ’s current playlist....

They went from playing Mr. Jones by the Counting Crows to Only Jesus by the the Casting Crowns. Again, I'm not mocking Christian music, I just don't know why they had to put it on one of NY's iconic Top-40 stations. 


June  

June 7: Timmy bridged over to Boy Scouts tonight..

Another proud Dad moment from a kid whose given me more than I ever deserve. 

June 10Good thing we cleared all that cap space......
This was after Kevin Durant tore up his knee in the NBA Finals.
Of course good knee or not, he had no intention of coming to the Knicks. 

June 12: Good News-Boston doesn’t win another championship.
Bad News- Another team ends it’s Stanley Cup drought just short of 54 years.

Had to pick my poison here. In the end, I'll just have to have faith someone will break the Rangers record. (Just hope it's not the Rangers themselves.) Anyway, I couldn't stomach another Boston championship parade, I've seen enough of those lately. 

June 27:Our bullpen is a disaster. How did this bum save 57 games last year? 

I wasted more ink on this bum than I should have this year, It would only get worse...



Next Week: July-December  (and a good chance we'll be returning a week early...) 

Tuesday, December 24, 2019

Weekly Mail 4th Annual Christmas Eve Special


Thank you for tuning in.


So, I really had a hard time coming up with some good material this year. But there was a development that took place last week that fits the Christmas narrative and also satisfies my need to kvetch. I also thought we'd update some of the issues we discussed last Christmas Eve.
We'll start there.


UPDATE 1) THE HOLLAND TUNNEL

So last year there was a big to-do because they put wreaths over the Jersey side sign that says HOLLAND TUNNEL. A wreath over the O, another wreath over the U and a tree over the H. So people thought they saw AOLLAND TONNEL.

Apparently they straightened it out. Somebody decided to put the tree over the A, so it looks more aesthetically pleasing. They still haven't solved the real issue at the Holland Tunnel, or the Lincoln Tunnel and the GWB for that matter, which is hour long traffic delays. As I said last year, eliminate those and you could put anything you want on the sign, people will be too busy flying out of Jersey to care.


UPDATE 2) BABY IT'S COLD OUTSIDE

John Legend to the rescue.

Last year a bunch of folks suggested that the nearly  75 year old Christmas classic was politically incorrect, saying that the guy was holding the girl against her will even going so far as slipping her some Quaaludes to keep her from splitting. (Apparently I can't make any Bill Cosby jokes here-thank you Eddie Murphy)

So John Legend, wrote a new version in which he orders up an Uber/Lyft for his date, and it's HER that decides she'll stay for a few more drinks. And a cigarette. Which I think is disgusting and a poor message to send to kids, but hey it's John Legend and Kelly Clarkson, so who cares right?

I didn't think there was a huge issue with the original song, but if this makes people feel better, than so be it. I know a few gals who wouldn't mind crashing at John Legend's house. (amiright?)

Speaking of music...

Mariah Carey's brain cell melting holiday song "All I Want for Christmas is You", was the number one song on the Billboard Hot 100 last week, 25 years after it was first released. Besides the fact that we know get fed that song at least 10 times a day, what's more distressing for me is that the song puts the Elusive Chanteuse one hit behind my beloved Beatles for most number one songs all time. If the Fab Four can hold Mariah off till June, they will have had the record for 50 years.

And I know that records are made to be broken, but the thought that All I Want for Christmas is You is going to have a hand in that gives me nausea.

Maybe while we are re-releasing songs, we can rerelease my all time favorite Christmas song, Do They Know It's Christmastime. And donate the money to charity again.

Finally tonight, I want to pay tribute to Post sports columnist Mike Vaccaro, who somehow, someway every  year comes up with a bunch of Christmas song spoofs. This year's winner is These Are a Few New York Things That Don't Stink-sung to These Are a Few of My Favorite Things from The Sound of Music. Check them all out here...
Mike Vaccaro


And with that, I yield the remainder of my time back to the distinguished gentleman from the North Pole.



Merry Christmas

Sunday, December 15, 2019

Weekly Mail December 15, 2019


Hello:

We are unbelievably, 10 days away from Christmas. Yesterday was Santa Con in Manhattan, and the combination of unseasonably warm weather, rain, and of course booze made for an interesting commute to and from the big bad city on Saturday. I know I've gotten old because I'm less interested in watching the shenanigans than I am in getting my own seat on the LIRR. But such is the circle of life.

This is going to be our so called Fall Finale. I am trying to come up with ideas for our Christmas Eve Special, but as of right now, I am drawing a blank. I've already started working on the year in review, which I realize is a bit of a snooze-fest.

My co-editor, (Razor) Ray McGarvey has been pitching me to bring back my annual Nerd of the Herd list. That was fun to do when the list was made up of ex-girlfriends of ours, but the combination of the #metoo movement and the fact that I'm coming up on 14 WONDERFUL years of marriage would limit my choices to celebrities, athletes and politicians.

Actually a real good place to start would be the House of Representatives. I could produce a list right from the hearings that went on there last week as the two Articles of Impeachment brought against President Trump were debated and voted on by the House Judiciary Committee. 

I was fortunate (or unfortunate maybe) that some of the hearings went into prime time so I could watch. During the day I can't watch while I'm at work, so I catch some of the highlights at lunch. But because the GOP decided to drag this out. I got to see the $hit$how in real time.

There was Jim (Non)Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin who could only be portrayed properly by the late Chris Farley. There was Ohio Rep Jim Jordan who has managed to make an a$$ out of himself in front of both the intelligence and judicial committees. Louie Gohmert of Texas may have spilled the name of the whistleblower during one of his many rants (Hat Tip to Ed Robinson* for pointing that out to me-as I missed it). Gohmert also asked his nay vote to be repeated, "just to make sure." Aaaaasshooooole

We are fair and balanced here at WM, so I will also criticize California Democrat Zoe Lofgren who suggested that Bill Clinton was impeached because he had an affair. Many of my friends have said to me over the years that Clinton shouldn't have been impeached because he "got a blow job." I simply point out that he was impeached because he lied about said BJ under oath. I understand that regular folks like myself would think he was busted for cheating on his wife. I expect a longtime member of Congress to know the difference. And I'm sure she did. She just wasn't being honest.

But really it was the Republicans whose pants were on fire. And if I had to pick one who really pissed me off, one who went above and beyond, even worse than the aforementioned 3 stooges above, I'd have to go with Florida Rep Matt Gaetz. Amongst his brilliant observations.

He suggested that Democrats "rent and don't buy" in Washington because their pursuit of impeachment will cost them votes. Pretty much admitting that he's covering his ass rather than doing what's right.

He also said that everyone tries to dig up dirt on their opponents, so what difference does it make that Trump did the same thing. He didn't mention that most other people don't ask foreign governments for help in that regard. Details, details.

But perhaps his biggest foot in mouth moment was when he criticized Hunter Biden for his past issues with cocaine. This coming from a guy who himself was busted for DUI.

It reminded me of an episode of MASH when Winchester suggested that Hawkeye was jealous of him. Hawkeye responded, "The only thing I'm jealous of is your chutzpah"

Folks, I really do try to play it down the middle as best as I can. Even when I disagree, I always try to see it from the other side. (The exception being 9/11). I've tried here as well. I've tried to understand how anyone could hear what Trump said to the President of the Ukraine and think there was nothing wrong with that. Could it really be just as simple as they don't care as long as they can hold on to their seats and keep a Republican in the Oval Office. Do they really believe what they are saying?

The only argument that I can kind of/sort of understand is the one where they say that impeaching someone because they don't agree with their policies is a dangerous precedent. I agree. But I don't think that's what's going on here.

They say that in the first 175 years or so of our nation, only one President has been impeached, and that was Andrew Johnson. In the past 45 years, we've had one who resigned before he was impeached, one who was impeached, and one about to be impeached.

Richard Nixon goes without saying, most members of his party knew he had to go. Bill Clinton? I'm not going to lie, even though I know he was impeached for perjury and not for adultery, there was a part of me pissed at his overall arrogance. If he got caught with Gennifer Flowers while he was governor of Arkansas, how the hell did he not think he'd get caught as the leader of the free world? That bugged me. But should that have disqualified him from office? No. Committing perjury? Yes, that's impeachable.

There were some who thought that Bush 43 should have been impeached for lying about WMD's and Obama for lying about the Affordable Care Act. Now THAT would have cheapened the impeachment process. Thankfully smarter heads prevailed there.

To me what's more scary is cheapening the election process. If candidates can solicit help from foreign governments, what does that mean?

The Republicans either don't know or  more likely they don't care.

And there they are folks: Your 2019 Nerds of the Herd.

BTW: It took Hakeem Jefferies of NY to remind those schmucks that President Trump took time out of watching his ass getting impeached to troll Time's Person of the Year, a 16 year old girl named Greta Thunberg. You know, when Kathy Griffin said she was going to go after Barron Trump, I went off on her. Young kids are off limits. You want to say Greta made herself a public figure by challenging the world on climate change? I say debate her points, don't insult her. She's still 16. You're the President and you're picking on a 16 year old?
THAT's the man you guys are defending.



SPORTS: Wrapping Up 2019

So here's where we stand as 2019 comes to a close...

The Jets have handed two teams who were trying to lose their first wins of the year.

The Giants before Sunday's win against the Dolphins, had not won a game since September. In other words, the Mets had won more recently than the Giants had.

The Knicks are the worst team in basketball. The Nets aren't that far ahead of them despite signing two max free agents.

Speaking of the Mets, the highlight of their offseason so far has been news that they may be getting a new owner in 5 years, Otherwise, while the Phillies have hired a winning manager and signed Zack Wheelrs and DiDi Gregorious, the Mets have signed two mediocre pitchers and a no-hit outfielder. n other words a big fat nothing burger.

The Yankees spent over a quarter billion dollars on a pitcher. Garrit Cole may be the man to get them over the hump, for that amount of cabbage, he better be.

The Devils are on their second coach of the season, a big disappointment after drafting Jack Hughes and signing PK Subban and Wayne Simmonds.

The Rangers have gotten better, though they are probably a couple years away from serious Cup contention. If they make the playoffs this year, it will be by the slimmest of margins. More likely, they will be back in the lottery again.

The Islanders have been one of the best teams in the game. They have cooled off a bit as of late, but are still up in the standings.

Not much to hang our hats on here NY. When the Islanders are one of your best hopes to bring home some hardware, you know things aren't good.


Back to the Mets for a minute.... I'd love to get excited about hedge-fund honcho Steve Cohen buying out the Wilpons. People were going bananas comparing it to New Years Eve. And look, I'd love to send those three bozos (Fred, Jeff and Saul Katz) packing. But shoot a LOT can happen in 5 years. The three stooges could change their minds, Cohen could end up in the slammer (apparently his company has been investigated by the Feds) and according to Forbes, there's a chance MLB wouldn't approve the sale, though I find that hard to believe. My point is 5 years is a looong time. Tell me this is the last off-season I have to worry about those idiot Wilpons running the Mets, and then maybe then I'll celebrate. 


JUSTICE: Disorder in the Court

One of my favorite shows growing up was Night Court, with the late Harry Anderson as Judge Harry Stone leading a team of misfits as they heard bizarre cases. This judge in this Kentucky courtroom makes Harry Stone's courtroom look tame.

Judge Dawn Gentry, a family court judge in Kenton County, Kentucky, is facing her own impeachment from the bench.

According to Cincinatti.com, Judge Gentry is being accused of either having sex or trying to have sex with her employees, including her secretary, Laura Aubrey, and a specialist she hired for casework, Pastor Stephen Penrose. Gentry also tried to recruit Katherine Schulz, an attorney who Gentry appointed to a panel, into a threesome with her and Penrose.

She's also accused of punishing people who didn't give to her campaign and other sleazy actions. I'm just having trouble getting past the threesomes in chambers. That sounds like the plot of a real cheap porno. I mean, a courtroom isn't exactly up there on my list of "places to get it on before I die." But, I guess if you are a judge or a lawyer who spends a lot of time in court, it's any port in the storm.



All right folks, that's it. I tried to end on a light note. If anybody has any suggestions for Christmas Eve, you know how to reach me. (Either Facebook or WildWill45@aol.com)  I'll get something out I promise Then we'll do our two end of year specials, and return January 12. Depending on what goes down in the impeachment proceedings, we may be back sooner. We will start analyzing the remaining Democratic Candidates as the Iowa Caucus approaches.

Stay safe and happy.

and Have a Great Week.

*I want to give shoutouts to Ed, and my forever friend James Tubridy. Ed's been providing coverage on FB of much of the goings on during the impeachment proceedings, and the big J has provided me with insights from both sides of the divide with his debate inducing FB posts. And of course to my two co-editors, (Razor) Ray-McGarvey and Karl (the Ace) Ludwig for their contributions. 

Sunday, December 1, 2019

Weekly Mail December 1, 2019


Hey:

So here we are the last month of the year. 2019 for better or worse almost in the books.

We survived Black Friday. From what I read it seems like Syracuse NY was the winner in the city with the most Black Friday trouble for 2019. Who says Syracuse can never win the big one?


FOOTBALL: Turkey Day

There are certain things you can always count on Thanksgiving Day. Good food, good company and lousy football.

I consider myself a traditionalist, so I get it that the NFL insists that the first game on Thanksgiving should be hosted by the Detroit Lions. But the fact of the matter is that the Lions are one of the few football franchises more dysfunctional than by beloved Jets. And more often than not, they are playing out the string come Thanksgiving. And if they happen to be playing a team that is also struggling, it makes for a lousy game. Now for the past few years, I've trekked into the Upper East Side for turkey day, so I was usually looking for parking during the Lions game. This year I stayed out on LI, so I got stuck watching the slopfest against the disappointing Chicago Bears.

If I were a Lion fan and especially if I lived in Detroit, I would beg the Lions to at least make an effort on Thanksgiving. It's like with the Mets, even when I know they are going nowhere, I beg them to at least beat the god forsaken Yankees. But the Lions usually poop the bed on Thanksgiving, and they did again this year. At least I know which way to bet.

Now the second game on Thanksgiving is played in Dallas. And while I'm not usually someone who gives Ivy League graduate athletes/coaches a ton of sympathy, I have found myself sympathizing with Cowboys coach Jason Garrett.

I know that's weird right? I never liked the Cowboys, (well I did for a very short time as a kid-when my uncle bought me a Roger Staubach jersey) and Cowboy fans, are usually front runners. You don't hear much from the ones outside of the greater Dallas area when they are not competing for a championship.

But for some reason, I've always had a soft spot for Jason Garrett. I think it stems from a thanksgiving game about 20-25 years ago or so, when Troy Aikman got knocked out of a game and Garrett came in for him. Pat Summerall and John Madden, for my money the best broadcast combo in history, were really giving Garrett a hard time. Till he started zinging TD passes all over Texas Stadium that day. From that day on, I always rooted for him.

The thing is- he's been  the Cowboys coach now for almost 10 years as hasn't come close to being in a Super Bowl, much less winning one. 2 playoff wins in 10 years, again, even my Jets have done better than that, and we've had three coaches in the same span that the Cowboys have had Garrett in charge.

Jerry Jones is nuts. He fired Jimmy Johnson because he essentially bet some reporter that Barry Switzer could come out of retirement and win a Super Bowl with the team that was assembled. He was right, but then he sent Switzer packing when he couldn't win with the players Jones was drafting. (Johnson ran the drafts that built the three Championships the Cowboys won in the 90's) Remember the Cowboys had one coach for 30 years, then they had 5 or 6 in the next 10. How Jones has stuck with Garrett all these years is somewhat puzzling.

But now that appears to be coming to an end. Jones was fuming after Dallas lost to the Pats last week. (By 4 points-which having watched my team lose by 30 to them, didn't seem so bad) Jones pretty much gave Garrett an ultimatum-only to have the team lay an egg against the Bills on Thanksgiving at home. Some folks thought Garrett was a goner right then and there.

But Jones said that Garrett is safe till the end of the season.

There were reports that Garrett would be a candidate here with the Giants if/when they send Pat Schumur packing. The sampling of Giant fans I've spoken to (namely my in-laws) aren't exactly thrilled by this prospect. But me? I'd root him on here. I don't know what it is, he just seems like a hard guy to dislike. 

All I can say about the Jets is, if you didn't think they were going to lose that game to the previously winless Bengals, you obviously haven't been watching them.





*******************************************************************************
The past couple of years, I have had some guys I used to hang out with in Rockaway pass away too young. Good guys, guys I was friendly with, but maybe not super close. Still when I heard they had died, it stung.

But Billy Dietrich was a different story. This doesn't just sting, this one hurts.

I really can't remember a time in my life when I didn't know the Dietrich family. Rob is a few years older, but Billy and John Thomas (JT), were two years older and two years younger than me respectively. So it was those two I was closest to.

And what times I had with them.

The common theme that came through in all the tributes to Billy I read this week was how he made people happy. He had that big smile and deep laugh. They say happiness is contagious, well if you hung around him enough, you know that was true.

He was a natural comedian, I mean he could do things that if someone else did them, you'd chuckle. He did it and you busted a gut.

One time he and I were sitting on the boardwalk on 112 Street. It was one of those days, not nice enough for the beach, but not raining either. We were sitting there with his radio, he was flipping around the stations trying to find some decent music. At one point he stopped at a station playing classical music.

He put the radio down and found a stick in the shrubs near the nursing home. He broke the stick in half and proceeded to conduct the symphony right there on the boardwalk.

I started laughing, which got him laughing which made me laugh more as he made those faces he used to make, all the while still conducting. We must have been some sight..even the nuts on the boardwalk thought we were nuts!

But every time I thought of him this week, that was the first image that came to my mind. Mr. Bill, with the big smile, waving those sticks on the boardwalk that day.

Years later when Timmy was born, Tara took to calling him Mr. T. She still does.

One day her and Timmy were sitting on the coach when I came home from work. As I came in, Tara said "Look Mr. T it's daddy." Out of nowhere, seeing the two of them together, I belted out "Mr. T and Mrs. T live together, happily!"  Timmy cracked up. The two of us started singing that little tune all the time. "One of these days,  I told Timmy and Tara,  "I'll introduce you to the man who wrote that song." .

But I never got around to it. Billy once showed me a notebook. He had hundreds of those little poems.

I hadn't seen him in a long time, but I shoot the breeze with JT on line every once in a while. I just figured we'd all bump into each other one day and catch up.  If I've learned one thing these past few years, it's that you can't take that for granted.

With everything going on in the world now, with politics as angry as ever, the world could ill afford to lose anyone who can put a smile on people's faces just by being themselves.

The world lost someone this week who could do that as well as anyone I've ever known.

RIP Mr. Bill

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


Thank you everybody

and Have a Great Week

Sunday, November 24, 2019

Weekly Mail November 24, 2019



Hi:

I don’t know if it’s that I’m watching less TV than usual or I’m doing a better job of blocking it all out, but I don’t feel like I’m being as inundated with Black Friday commercials as I have been in other years. I mean they started with Christmas commercials on November 1, while we were still polishing off our kids Halloween candy, and because Thanksgiving is late this year, retailers were bemoaning the fact that there were 6 fewer days of the season. So they were supposedly ramping it up this year.

But I haven’t seen those “We’re dragging our workers in at 4 PM Thanksgiving Day so you heathens can start your Holiday shopping early” commercials. I’m not saying they aren’t there,  like I said I haven’t really seen them.

Either way Thanksgiving is coming up on Thursday. The parade, the turkey, the lousy football games etc. Enjoy it all wherever you are!!

For now, onto the news.



ROYAL FAMILY: You're Fired

So I saw this week that Britain's Prince Andrew was fired by Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles. Which begged the question; fired from what exactly?

I've probably mentioned this before, but one of the reasons that the Royal Family fascinate me so much, is that I really don't know what their purpose is. Queen Elizabeth is not the head of state there, right? The Prime Minister is in charge over there. I once took a class in college about British history and I told the professor the only thing I wanted out of the class was to find out what purpose the Royal Family serves over there. And I still have never gotten a satisfactory answer.

So now we have Prince Andrew, son of the Queen, brother of Prince Charles, ex hubby of Sarah Ferguson, and allegedly all around creep. His "firing" stems from his involvement with billionaire scumbag Jeffery Epstein who may or may not have killed himself while awaiting trial in a Manhattan jail.

And look, I don't mean to make light of what he has been accused of doing... If he really did have relations with an underage girl provided by Epstein, forget about losing his no-show job, he should be thrown in the slammer with the key tossed in the trash.

My point here is that the press, both in England and here win the States all breathlessly reported that he had been fired and kicked out of Buckingham Palace. When I first saw that, I have to admit I was a bit concerned..where was the poor schlep supposed to live, in a Motel 6 (or whatever the British equivalent is)?

Turns out that Prince Andrew’s  office was in Buckingham Palace and now that has been closed down. In addition, he forfeits a $300,000 annual salary. Whoa Nellie, that's a lot of cabbage!

And it got me to thinking....

If they need someone to replace the disgraced prince, well, I'm available. I mean I'd need to put my two weeks in and all that. But I can assure the Queen and whoever else I'd have to interview with that I have never associated or even met Jeffery Epstein, have never been a sexual deviant (as far as I can remember) and have lived a relatively embarrassment free life (at least for the past 15 years or so). Hell, if the monarchy would agree to pay my moving expenses, I'll even work (or not work as it were)  for 1/2 the salary Andrew was getting. I think that's more than fair.

If they let me blog about it, it would real win-win. I'd put the team in the best possible light. If anybody has any connections to the Royal Family, let me know and I will forward my resume and cover letter. I'm always thinking outside the box.


FOOTBALL: Poor Defense

Myles Garrett this week had his indefinite suspension held up after losing his appeal to he NFL. According to various sources, one of Garret's defenses for his attacking Steelers QB Mason Rudolph with his helmet was that Rudolph used a racial slur against Garrett.

The NFL said they found no evidence of that. Most of the talking heads on TV and Radio said they found that defense dubious, but qualifying that by saying, "Well we weren't on the field when it happened, so we can't say for certain.

Well I will. Garrett's full of it.

Because if that was me, and I was so besides myself with rage that I felt the need to bash someones brains in with a football helmet, not only would I say something right away, I'd grab the little microphone that the ref uses to announce penalties and tell all 80,000 people in the stadium. "Hey that dude just said my momma wears combat boots! What was I supposed got do?"

And again, just like in the case of Jussie Smollett, what really burns my a$$ about something like this, is that there is so much legitimate racism in the country that needs to be addressed and resolved. Making up stuff doesn't resolve any of that. It only makes it worse.

Whatever the endgame punishment for Garrett was going to be for what he did, I would add on to it for what he said to try to get himself a more lenient deal.

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

I didn’t get to see too much of the impeachment hearings the past two weeks. But I did catch the closing remarks by ranking member Devin Nunes and committee chairman Adam Schiff. I’m not sure how Nunes can look at himself in the mirror every morning, and Schiff, who gave new meaning to the term passive aggressive, spit fire in his closing remarks, as if he was getting two weeks of abuse off his chest. Nunes, Jim Jordan and Elsie Stefanik made Schiff out to be the boogeymen here. Schiff told them all to go scratch. (Not in so may words) An impeachment trial at the same time of the primaries might be more than most of us can handle, but it sure looks like that's where we are headed.


Again, Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. And while we are giving thanks, a thank you to everyone who reads and or responds. Even when we don't agree, I appreciate you and your friendship. That's one of the things I am thankful for.

and Have a Great Week






Sunday, November 17, 2019

Weekly Mail November 17, 2019


Hey Everyone:

We're halfway through November and getting closer to the real kickoff for the Holiday season. I know stores are already slamming us with Black Friday commercials and Lexus is making us feel like failures for not putting one of their cars in our suburban driveways Christmas morning, but really, with a week and a half to go before Thanksgiving, this will really start to ratchet up. Fasten your seatbelts folks, it's about to go down.



NEWS:

There were two school shooting this past week. One in Santa Clarita, CA and one at a high school football game in Camden, NJ.

The images from the Jersey shooting were jarring, seeing the players running for cover and the refs flat on their stomachs.

The images from Santa Clarita have almost become commonplace, and that's the saddest commentary of all.

I've made my case many times previous, that the only way to come up with a solution to this horror, is for everyone from all sides of the gun debate to come together, put differences aside and realize that we are destroying our most precious resource. But it's the same thing over and over, name calling, finger pointing and nothing gets done.

It's our national shame.


HOCKEY: Cherry Buried

I was too young to remember Don Cherry when he coached the Boston Bruins or even the Colorado Rockies (soon to be New Jersey Devils). But I do remember the first time I saw him on TV.

I was with my parents and sisters at a BBQ at my mom's friends house. I had snuck into their basement because 1) they had cable and 2) the 1991 Canada Cup Final between Canada and the USA was going to be on. But before the game, they showed Don Cherry's Grapevine. His guest that night was Bruins all-star Cam Neely. I can't even call what I saw that night an interview. It was more like something you'd see in one of those pre-Guliani theaters on 42nd Street. A verbal porno.

Neely's qualifications for appearing on the Grapevine were (in order from least to most important) he had talent, he could fight, and he was Canadian.

Indeed European players need not apply to appear on the Grapevine. As he also did on his Coaches Corner segment on Hockey Night in Canada, Cherry railed against European players, starting with Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nillson from Sweden in the late 70's, right up to the Russian 5 in Detroit. And look, I'm all for supporting you fellow countrymen, I'm the last person who should be scolding anyone for that, especially around the Olympics, but I also appreciate the different talents that players from other countries bring. And here's a little known fact....the 1994 Rangers leading point scorer in the regular season was not names Messier, Leetch or Graves. It was Sergei Zubov (as Casey Stengel would say, you can look it up.) So if it wasn't for those pesky Europeans we might be on an 80 year drought as opposed to the 54 year one we had (and the 26 year one were working on now)

But alas, that's not what got Cherry in trouble last week on Coaches Corner. Speaking about Remembrance Day (Canada's version of Veteran's Day) Cherry said the following...

"You people love... that come here whatever it is, you love our way of life, you love out milk and honey at least you could pay a couple of bucks for a poppy or something like that."

If Cherry was speaking to Canadians as a whole, and reminding them to honor their vets, then I don't think there would have been an issue. But "you people come here" was a clear singling out of  immigrants. That couldn't stand.

And here's the thing....

Here in the States, there were plenty of folks, liberal, conservative, pacifist or hawk, that took time out on Monday to salute our vets. Poppies aren't as big here as they are up north, but Facebook was filled with pictures of family members who served, there was a huge turnout for the parade down 5th Avenue and even our knucklehead politicians were able to put their differences aside and not say anything dopey that day.

I'm all for calling people out who don't honor our vets. But I don't think it was necessary. I think the overwhelming majority of people in America, regardless of whether or not they were born here, took some time out to honor those men and women who served. I imagine it was the same in Canada.

I've heard that Don Cherry was Canada's equivalent of Rush Limbaugh. I've also heard Don Cherry referred to as beloved. I always thought that was an oxymoron, as I wouldn't called Limbaugh beloved by any definition of the word. This week as I saw Cherry fired from HNIC, I realized how much he really wasn't loved.


BASEBALL: Houston, We Have a Problem

Oakland A's pitcher Mike Fiers, told the Athletic last week that in 2017, his former team, the Astros used a camera in center field to steal the catcher's signs, and then used a code system to let the hitter know was pitch was coming. The system included banging on the dugout's garbage can to alert the hitter.

Now these alleged shenanigan's have impacted both our local teams. The Yankees are crying foul because all this went down in 2017, when the Bronx Bombers were versing the Astros in the ALCS.

One anonymous Yankee told the Post...

“To actually have somebody hitting a garbage can, pretty much the whole game, that’s pretty much your job, whoever is doing that. It stinks. You wish you could go back in time and figure that out earlier, because we thought we were the better team. We probably were the better team.”


Well I don't know about that, but I don't blame the Yanks or their fans for being pissed off. Shoot, I had that scumbag Bill Bellichick stealing signs from my Jets, and I convinced myself that had they not done that, we would have only lost by 2 touchdowns instead of 3. So if I were a Yankee fan, I'd no doubt be telling everyone who would listen that there should be a 28th banner atop the facade.

As for the Mets, well apparently one of the Astros involved in this caper was none other than our brand new manager (who again I begged the team not to hire) Carlos Beltran.

Right now, this all under investigation by MLB, so we don't know what repercussions if any, Beltran and the Astros will face. For the sake of my fellow Met fans, hopefully any punishments will go to the higher-ups and not the players. The Astros not only lost the World Series, they also were forced to fire a team exec who made offensive comments to female reporters. They have become a very hard team to root for.

In other Mets news, Pete Alonso and Jacob deGrom won NL Rookie of the Year and Cy Young Award respectively. Both were one vote short of winning unanimously. Which of course led to an editorial dilemma here at WM. Do I praise Alonso and the deGrominator? Bash the two idiots who didn't vote for them? Both? Does even mentioning their names lend them credibility that they don't deserve?

Well, here's what I will say....neither of these two dudes were nearly the a$$hole that the guy who didn't vote deGrom for Cy Young last year was. To my knowledge, they didn't punk out on WFAN, or consult Randy Jones on their votes. The guy who voted against Alonso, tried to be funny about it, asking Met fans to to hate him for his vote. Both men actually made solid points about their votes. The ROY voter voted for Braves pitcher Mike Soroka saying that his stats in a year where many felt the ball was juiced was more impressive than hitting a bunch of home runs. The Cy Young voter said that he voted for Dodger pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu  because he only had 4 bad starts in the middle of the season that took his ERA from 1.43 to 2.41. To be honest, it's kind of hard to argue with either case.

And yet, here I go, because I'm THAT obnoxious idiot..


I think Soroka is a stud, and it pains me to think he's going to be in the Mets division for the next several years. The Braves once again are loaded with young talent. and Soroka is going to be a thorn in the Mets side. His numbers were impressive.

But 53 home runs is 53 home runs, especially in a pitcher's ballpark. Met players have had a hard time getting to 40 homers, 50, honestly I didn't think I'd see that in my lifetime. Alonso was unquestionably the best rookie in the game, or at least in the NL. Not voting for him was just plain dumb.

I have to admit, I was getting nervous when I saw Ryu's ERA hovering around the 1.40 mark around the All-Star break. As I've stated previous, Bob Gibson's 1.12 ERA will most likely never be approached, so I'm going to consider Dwight Gooden's 1.53 ERA the torchbearer. And that has only been approached a few times since Doc did it in 1985. Yes, if Ryu hadn't had those 4 bad starts, even if they were halfway decent, he would have had an awesome ERA, and therefore, even I would have to condede him the Cy Young.

But you know who else had a few rough starts this season? Jacob deGrom, Had he not had HIS rough starts, he's be sporting a pretty low ERA. So that argument is bollocks as well.

I can't help but think that if Alonso and deGrom pitched anywhere but NY, they'd have been voted unanimously. I also think these two guys just wanted the attention, which is why I was reluctant to say anything about it, also why I'm not using their names. At the end of the day, nobody's going to remember how many votes they got (or didn't get), 2019 will be a year to remember for two awesome Mets. And that's how it should be.


FOOTBALL: Assault in Cleveland

Woke up Friday to hear all news outlets talking about Thursday night's Browns-Steelers game. Had no idea what the big deal was till I saw Steelers QB Mason Rudolph getting clobbered with his own helmet by Browns DE Myles Garrett.

You've heard me rail on about football these last few years. A league made up of wife beating, gun carrying miscreants. Where the most talked about player is one who hasn't played in 4 years. Whose best coach and arguable best player are both convicted cheaters.

Yet we tune in. Week after week. I'm guilty. I watched the Jet Giant game last weekend. I don't know how people watch 14 straight hours of football (9:30 AM if there's a game in London, all the way till the end of SNF around 11 PM Sunday night.) It's, as Mike Vaccaro wrote a few year's back, our national addiction.

And we're going to watch after this incident too. But even for all we put up with, all we turn a blind eye to, all we've been desensitized to, this was a shock to see.  This was something that made you wince.

The NFL came down hard on Garrett suspending him for the rest of the season, at least. Garrett appeared to be genuinely embarrassed by his behavior (though not enough that he won't file an appeal). But I really don't think there is going to be the type of wholesale change needed till the game gets hit in the wallet.


POLITICS: Decisions, Decisions....

Former NYC Mayor and multi Billionaire Michael Bloomberg, filed papers in two states last week to get on their democratic Presidential primary ballot. He still hasn't formally announced whether or not he will enter the race.

I understand the decision to run for President is not one that should be taken lightly, but I'm wondering if Bloomy is this indecisive about even running, how is he going to be when he has to make Presidential Decisions. I felt the same way about Mario Cuomo back in 1992.

I had my ups and downs with Bloomberg. As mayor he was a classier version of Guliani. he kept crime low and improved the schools. He also improved as he went along, realizing that even though he could navigate the city through a blizzard from his house in Bermuda, didn't mean that he should do that.

I thought his forcing his way to a third term as mayor that he was not legally allowed to do was bush league. I wouldn't have voted for him, but I had moved to the burbs that year, so I didn't get the chance. But overall, At times he was out of touch, but I think he tried.  And overall, I think he cared.

So yes, I would welcome him into the race. Not sure he'd be m first choice as a Democrat, but I wouldn't write him off either. I just wish he'd say one way or another what the hell he's going to do.


I didn't see enough of the hearings this week that I can give you a fair and honest opinion on them. I did happen to catch Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and Jim Jordan (R-OH) woofing on House Intelligence Committee  Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) after the hearings were over. I'm not sure what worries me more... that in 20 years scholars will look back and shake their heads at this or that in 20 years, this will all be considered the political norm.


Sorry I was light on laughs this week. Hopefully next week we can lighten it up some.

Have a Great Week.

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Weekly Mail November 10, 2019


Hello:

I hope everyone enjoyed our 200th edition last week. Lots to catch up on here, so let's get to it!




BASEBALL- The Mets New Manager


So because I dedicated last week's blog to celebrating our 200th edition, I had a whole week to sit and stew over the decision the Mets made regarding their new manager. So now the venting will commence...


Let me start by saying that I believe in my heart that the whole interview process was a sham from the very beginning. I feel like the Mets knew they were going to hire Carlos Beltran from the time they fired Mickey Callaway. I believe the only reason they had Joe Girardi in was for appearances sake. "We'll act as if we are seriously considering Girardi so that when we hire our no experience manager, we can say 'Hey, we had him in for a couple interviews, he just didn't fit our vision."

And what exactly is their vision?

Well from where I'm sitting, it's to have a puppet in the dugout so that GM Brodie Van Wagenen can dictate the lineup. Do you think Joe Girardi would keep trotting 37 year old Robinson Cano out there every night if he's not hitting? Of course not. But since Brodie made that asinine deal, and doesn't feel like explaining to those morons the Wilpon's why they are paying someone $20 million to sit on the bench, he needed someone who would keep playing Cano. Enter Carlos Beltran.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe Beltran will stand up to that empty suit and tell him Cano is washed up and he needs to sit. But, can anyone honestly see that scenario playing out? Because I can't. And that's just one example. Lets not forget the other gift we got from Santa Van Wagenen last winter. Edwin Diaz, the closer who couldn't close games, who had he converted half of the saves he blew, would have gotten us into the playoffs. Guess what team we would have jumped over to get into the playoffs, that's right, your World Champion Washington Nationals!

Now that's my issue with the Mets not hiring Joe Girardi, or reaching out to Buck Showalter. Replacing one inexperienced manager with another was bad enough. If you are going to do that, then give me Derrick Shelton, who was the Twins bench coach, or (as much as I didn't want him) Tim Bogar who had at least some interim manager experience.

No, they had to go and hire a man they knew I couldn't stand. The man who stood there and watched as strike 3 went by him and sent a not so good Cardinal team to the 2006 World Series. Oliver Perez turned out to be a bum, but he pitched his heart out that night. Endy Chavez made a catch that normally would have inspired any other team to the finish line. Instead, we had our highest paid player, striking out looking with the bases loaded.

I've been told countless times by people I truly care about (my father, my father in law {G.R.H.S.}, and my Weekly Mail co-editors,) that my anger towards Beltran is misguided.  "Ted Williams couldn't have hit that pitch! my father in law once yelled. Other people contributed to the loss that night. I'm aware of that. I'm guessing the next announcement is gonna be that Aaron Heilman will be the team's new pitching coach.

And here's the thing... I could have forgiven 2006, if one year later the Mets didn't have the choke of all chokes, and almost the exact same thing a year later. Followed by 6 years of crappy baseball, a fun (but lucky) trip to the World Series, a play in game loss, and two more crappy years of baseball.

Laying all this on Carlos Beltran maybe unfair, but lets face it, the Yankees did the same thing to A-Rod. In 2007 he hit 54 home runs and drove in an ungodly 154 runs. Yet most Yankee fans wanted to run him out of town because he couldn't get them out of the first round of the playoffs. Heavy is the head that wears the crown. Both A-Rod and Beltran were making the big mamoo. It was on them to carry their teams. A-Rod would get the Yanks there in 2009. Beltran never did.

Now everybody is saying "You have to give him a chance." Well I don't have a choice do I? Of course I'm going to give him a chance. And if he delivers? Well, I've eaten crow before. I hope to heaven I'm wrong about this.

But he better deliver. He gets no grace period here. He's already let me down once.


Speaking of poor coaching choices


FOOTBALL: NY's sad situation

I'm going to pull a Mike Francesa here (more on him later) and go on record to say that I knew the Jets were going to lose to Miami last week. Well, no. I predicted that the Jets would lose at least one of their two games to the Dolphins, I didn't specify which one.

The Jets and the Dolphins have been playing each other for over 50 years, and have provided some of football's wackiest games. I remember one Monday night going to bed with the Jets losing 30-7 only to wake up Tuesday morning to hear about the Miracle at the Meadowlands. (Didn't Jumbo Elliot throw the game winning pass for the Jets?) How about Dan Marino's fake spike?  A neighbor of mine said he's run into Wesley Walker around town, I'd love to talk to him about the game in 1986 the Jets won in OT 51-45. (and not the one they lost later on that season 45-3, the first loss of a 5 game losing streak that took them from the best record in the game to barely making the playoffs).

Put that fact together with the fact that Jets coach Adam Gase was pretty much run out of town by the Dolphins last year, and Miami's QB is former Jet Ryan Fitzpatrick, so revenge was on their minds, and you had all the ingredients for a Jet loss. I may have been the only Jet fan in NY who wasn't losing their mind. And I'm usually the first one to do so. (Well me and Joe Beningo). The Dolphins are one of the hottest teams in the NFL now, having beaten the Colts on Sunday. Wonder if they are going nuts in Indianapolis today?

In any event, I'd rather have lost to the Fish last week than have lost to the Giants on Sunday. Now THAT would have caused me to blow my stack. The game was pretty much as advertised. Both teams making mistakes, penalties turnovers. The Jets played slightly less awful and came away with the W. Now its Pat Schurmur's a$$ in the proverbial frying pan. And maybe the calls for Adam Gase's head will slow down a bit,

Look folks, I wanted Gase here as much as I wanted Carlos Beltran here. Like the case with the Mets, there was a more experienced, championship winning, coach that the team passed on. The situations are eerily similar,

But firing Gase at this point? 9 games in?  And again this is coming from someone who didn't want him in the first place. I don't think that's the move here. Give him the season at least.

What I would do, is bench Sam Darnold. Not as a punishment, not as a demotion. Just as a precaution.

Their offensive line is horrible, the worst I've ever seen. (And I saw Kenny O'Brien get sacked 62 times one season). He's also getting over mono. I still believe in this kid. And I see no reason to risk his getting badly injured because he's still weak from a serious illness and playing behind a line that resembles Swiss cheese.  This Giant game was the last one I even remotely cared about this year. Give him some more time to heal, and let someone else get clobbered back there.


POLITICS: Free Met tickets!!!!


I have a serious question here.... Mick Mulvaney was subpoenaed by the House Intelligence Committee and was supposed to testify on Friday. He refused to show up. Can he be jailed for that? If you or I didn't show up in court, we'd be thrown in jail right? Or maybe not. Maybe if Mulvaney changes his mind and shows up, he'll get to see the Nationals raise their World Championship banner in person.

Or at least if the Dope from Park Slope was in charge down there..

According to CBS 2 NY....

State judges will no longer require cash bail for most misdemeanors and non-violent felonies like selling drugs or burglarizing a home, and the state says nearly 900 city residents in jail now will be released starting mid-December.

That's bad enough. I mean I am all for taking drug users out of jail and into treatment. A guy shouldn't spend the night in jail because he took a wizz behind a bush.  But drug dealers need to stay locked up and having had my house broken into as a kid, I don't think we need those skells out either.

But that's not even the worst part...

A law enforcement source told CBS2 a city program will offer those released incentives meant to encourage them to show up in court such as Mets baseball tickets, a subway pass or a Dunkin’ Donuts gift card.

Have you ever heard of anything so ridiculous in your life?

Donald Trump and Bill DeBlasio really are two opposite sides of the spectrum aren't they? Trump thinks all Mexicans are criminals and wants to wall them out of the country. DeBlasio thinks criminals should get orchestra seats to Hamilton. There's no common sense here, no middle ground. It's either lock 'em all up or let 'em all out. And give them big cash/lots of prizes to boot.

The 2020 Election is now less than a year away....



Mike Francesa once again announced he was leaving his afternoon drive spot on WFAN in December, I'm sure it will be two years to the day he left the first time. Sitting Bull (as Phil Mushnick calls him) will not be leaving altogether, as he will stream his show at the Radio.com app. he just won't be arrogant enough to charge people for it. Had he stayed off the air after his farewell tour in 2017, he'd be remembered as the radio legend he was. Instead he's hanging on like Mohammad Ali when he fought Larry Holmes in 1980.  It would be sad, except that he screwed over people at the FAN. Good Riddance.

One of the reasons Francesa gave for leaving (again) is that he wants to spend more time at his winter home in Florida. Donald Trump also announced last week that he's changing his official residence to Florida. (Hopefully he'll be moving there on January 20,2021.) Now if we could just get those guys to take DeBlasio with them.
Hey I'm an idea man!



RANDOM NOTES


I just read that Robert (Bob) Morris, one of the original Marlboro Men, died this week at age 90. According to his family Morris never smoked a day in his life, and gave up working for the company because he didn't want to send a poor message to his kids. I thought that was pretty interesting.


Saturday marked the 30th anniversary of the Berlin Wall coming down. One of the strongest symbols of the cold war came down and a country reunified, and the only thing I remember about it was Dana Carvey's impression of George HW Bush on that week's Saturday Night Live...

"To sum up, Hitler-Bad, (Helmut) Kohl-Good. Dan Quayle-still gaining acceptance. Before Bush-Wall, With Bush-no more wall. Place in history-Secure!."
LOL


Last Monday, in addition to it being my parents 47th anniversary, it was also the 40th anniversary of the start of the Iranian Hostage Crisis.  In 6th grade, we used to get these little magazines called READ, and one of them had an excerpt from a book written by one of the hostages about his experiences while captive. It was harrowing to read as an 11 year old, and I believe I tracked down the actual book. Pieces of the Game by Charles W. Scott. It's coming into the Oceanside Library hopefully on Tuesday.  Can't wait to read the whole book.

And finally on a happy note, Sunday marked the 50th anniversary of the premiere of Sesame Street. Bob, Linda, Gordon, Susan, Maria and Luis are all still alive. (Bob McGrath is 87) Mr. Hooper and David have passed away. As far as I know, all the Muppet's are still alive too. So happy this is still on. One of the perks of Timmy coming along was that I got to enjoy Sesame Street again.


A Happy Veterans Day to all who have served our nation. And from all of us who haven't a million thanks for your service.

Hope all is well with all of you

and Have a Great Week



Sunday, November 3, 2019

Weekly Mail's 200th Blog Post November 3, 2019











Hello Everyone!

This is our 200 blog post to Facebook since we re-launched weekly Mail on September 12, 2015. Like the folks who tried and failed to plan Woodstock 50 this past summer, I had plenty of time to come up with ideas for this special and I drew a big fat blank. 

So I decided to go through some of the old posts and put up some of my favorites lines and stories. 

I avoided the specials and obituaries I wrote, as I want this to be a happy look back. You'll see how I changed my tune politically and you'll see some fearless predictions that I should have feared. It's long, so you may want to read it in a couple of sittings. Plus I kind of ran out of steam and didn't bother going into 2019 too much. As I said, I could have done this much better. Maybe for number 300 in a couple of years, we'll come up with something better.

For now, enjoy the look back over the past 4 years. 



My defense? I never thought he'd win. (Part one)


There are a lot of things that I like about Donald Trump and his run for the Republican Nomination. He's self made, so he's not beholden to special interests to raise money, He's also not beholden to the party line, as his plan to raise taxes on the wealthy have his fellow Repulicans breaking out in hives, and although I realize he has had his share of business failures, he's also had some very huge successes.  (From our relaunch- September 12, 2015.


I still have those moments when I can't believe I'm a married father 

Saturday morning was Timmy's first soccer game of the season. Back in the days when I was whiling away the hours at Donovan's or Shelley's or the Irish Circle, even in those rare moments in which I thought there was a remote chance that I may one day become a father, I never thought I'd be a Long Island Soccer dad.I mean, growing up in Woodside, playing CYO ball, it was strictly baseball and basketball. Soccer in Woodside, was unheard of.

        A soccer dad? Never in a million years. A soccer coach? I'd have laughed you off the bar stool if you laid that one one me those many years ago. As John Lennon once wrote. "Life is what happens to you  while your busy making other plans." Ain't that the truth. (September 19, 2015)



This is regarding some idiot that sued her nephew after he knocked her over while giving her a hug. And you thought stupid shit like this only happened since Trump took over...

 I'm probably a bit raw on this because I am the lucky uncle of three beautiful nieces and one prince of a nephew. The thought of taking them to court would never cross my mind in a million years, I wouldn't give a spit if they knocked me over to give me a hug. Shoot, I'm just happy when they give me a hug without looking like they're about to record a hostage tape. Not to mention that the a$$-whupping I would get from my parents and in-laws would be far worse than any damage I would have sustained at the hands of my nieces and nephew. (October 18, 2015)



The Sunday homily-given by a 7 year old Timmy

"So this guy came up to Jesus and said "What do I have to do?" And Jesus said "You have to get rid of all your toys and all your stuff, or if you want, bring all your stuff to me, and I'll make sure that it goes to the poor. So the guy said he would do it, but he lied. HE LIED TO JESUS, because he didn't give any of his stuff away. I mean, who lies to Jesus? " October 25, 2015




Just as long as he doesn't become Denis Rodman. BTW? He's calmed down quite a bit since then. Damn! 

 So in the "irony is so ironic" department, I was a failure at sports because I was too passive, and my kid had to ride the pine because he's too rough. Maybe I have to get him into basketball. That way he can use his skills as an enforcer to get to the pros. Hey, everyone wants their kids to be Michael Jordan, someone has to be Bill Laimbeer, right? November 8, 2015



Predictions gone Wrong Part One 

 I have come to the conclusion that the Jets will most likely end up with anywhere from,a 7-9 record to a 9-7 record, but you can take THIS to the bank... the games they will lose will be the games I really want them to win. Yes, wins against the Browns, Jags, Redskins, Colts and especially the Dolphins are nice, but so far they have lost to the Eagles (who they have never beaten in the regular season despite playing them every year in the preseason) the Patriots (led by lying lowlifes Bill Belichick and Tom Brady) and now the Bills, so we can all read about how Rex Ryan stuck it to his old team. They play the Giants on December 6th, so get ready to lose that one and hear about how the classy Giants have won 4 Super Bowls since the Jets last won theirs in 1969. November 15, 2015

NOTE-They beat the Giants and went 10-6. They needed to go 11-5 and beat Rex Ryan to make the playoffs. 






You want the bird? Go in the alley and eat the bird. or Anytime I get to quote from Rocky I..

Eujin Jayla Kim, the principal of PS 169 in Sunset Park, banned any mention of Thanksgiving, Christmas or Santa Claus, and worst of all, the Pledge of Allegiance.  Now, you don't want to offend non Christians by not mentioning Christmas or Santa? I don't like it, but I can maybe see that. If you are one of those people who feel bad about what happened to the Indians 500 years ago and you don't want to celebrate Thanksgivng, I think you need to get a life, but I'll kind of sort of (but not really) respect your point of view. As the noted philosopher Rocky Balboa once said, "You call it Thanksgiving, I call it Thursday". November 29, 2015



The Jets-The More Things Change....

The other thing that annoys me about the Jets is that every time they switch regimes, the virtues of the new guy in contrast to the old guy is hyped up. For instance, when Herm Edwards took over for Al Groh, Edwards was praised for running a loose, fun team. When Herm got canned after going 4-12, they brought in Eric Mangini, who was praised for being a disciplinarian. When Man-genius  missed the playoffs a couple of times, in came Rex Ryan and we had fun fun fun till daddy took the T-Bird away. Now Todd Bowles is here and the discipline and class is back and blah blah blah.

I'm sick of it. I don't want to hear it. Win the f-cking Super Bowl, then tell me how great the coach is. Till then spare me. January 10 2016



If Trump had kept at least one of these promises... Also, I never thought he'd get elected

That leaves us with Donald Trump, Marco Rubio and John Kasich. Look, I realize many of you can't stand Trump. Some of you are reading this and wondering why I haven't put him in the above paragraph, weeding out the riff-raff. I've had more than one friend say they'd flee the country if he became President. Well, to be honest, and as I've said before, there are things about him that I like. I like that he wants to strengthen our military and take care of our veterans. I like that he wants to secure our borders and fix immigration. I love that he wants to promote American products and get us back to being the most productive nation on earth. February 1, 2016




Timmy breaks it down

I had one of those proud parent moments today. They had a Mass for Timmy's CCD class today, and the priest had the kids come up for the homily. He asked them about Lent, and some of the kids gave their answers. But then the priest said "Hey this guy here knows his stuff. Here , take the mike and tell us about it." I thought for a minute he was talking to Timmy and sure as $h-t, there he was taking the microphone and said "Jesus met the devil in the desert and said to him I don't have to prove to you that I'm God's son. Go away!" The priest told Timmy he did a great job and his teachers are obviously very good. That led to his CCD teacher giving him a big hug at the post Mass coffee hour.
These are the days that being a parent is awesome. The first thing Tim said to me when we left church was " I got a bit of stage fright." I dont know where he comes up with this stuff folks, but he does. February 8, 2016





Weekly Mail Interactive- Vote on the time I was most furious

1) November 2, 2015- The Mets, leading by one run in the top of the 9th inning with one out and a runner on third, induce the Royals into a ground ball to third that should have ended the game when the Royals tried to score from third. But Lucas Duda, threw the ball away, the Royals scored the tying run, then won the World Series in the 12th. After swearing I wouldn't go bat$h-t crazy if they lost, I went bat$h-t crazy.

2) May 29, 2015- The Rangers, having won the President's trophy as the NHL's best regular season team, are in a  scoreless tie going into the third period of Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals AT HOME against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Henrik Lundqvist did everything but stand on his head, but he lets in 2 measly goals. That's two more measly goals than my allegedly high powered Rangers managed. For the second time in the series, they were shut out AT HOME. The team with the best record in the league, didn't make even make it to the Finals. That one burned me so much, I ended up in the hospital three nights later.


3) February 2, 2015- The Seahawks, trailing the Patriots by 4 with 26 seconds left in Super Bowl XLIX, and the ball on the Patriots 1 yard line, elect to throw a pass, instead of handing the ball off to pro bowl fullback Marshawn Lynch. The pass is picked off and the Patriots win the Super Bowl.
That's not what made me furious.
That took place the next day, when I found out that had Seahawks coach Pete Carroll run the ball into the end zone as any Pop Warner football coach would have done, I would have won the $350.00 Super Bowl pool I was in. Instead I got squat, and the privilege of hearing the Giants fans among me saying that Eli Manning was the only QB capable of beating Tom Brady in a Super Bowl. 
March 13, 2016

Editors Note: Number 1 was the winner. 4 of you voted and 2 voted for number 1 



Classic Headlines 

News Item: We had my eighth birthday at Burger King:
       
One of the cool things about being a parent is seeing all the creative ways one can celebrate a child's birthday. I've been to a bunch of birthdays at Bounce U in Oceanside, (including Timmy's 4th) I've been to bowling parties, (including Timmy's 7th) I've been to more Frozen parties than I care to admit, a couple of movie parties and in a couple of weeks, Timmy's going to a pool party at Saf-T-Rob (er Swim)
      One party I will not be attending with Timmy is one in which a stripper is hired for the festivities. Nor will Tara and I be hiring one for Timmy's next shindig.  Now you may ask, what kind of a moron would do such a dastardly deed?
       Well according to The Daily Star, a woman in Tampa FL, hired a stripper to shake her money maker at her kid's 8th birthday party. Video of the incident was available on line, and showed the kids tossing dollar bills at the dancer and the birthday boy slapping the dancer's bottom. Can you imagine? Even Donald Trump wouldn't be that crass.
          If it was socially acceptable to have strippers perform for kiddies, they could have done it at my grammar school. After all, there was a jiggle joint right around the corner from St. Mary's They could have come over for lunch, and been back in time for their next show. As George Carlin once said, "These are the ideas that kept me from getting in to the really good schools." April 3, 2016



The week previous in Oceanside, a retired cop accidentally shot his friend in the foot (the friend was a podiatrist) and some 70 year old nut threatened cops with a sword because he parked his plane in his driveway. I made the following observation...

Before all this, the biggest story I remember here in Oceanside was that time we had that mutt who was selling hot dogs from a truck, and then flashing her boobs at the customers. She was arrested for indecent exposure. She should have been arrested for ruining two of my favorite things. (hot dogs and boobs-not necessarily in that order)
She would have had to sell me a quart of tequila with my hot dogs for me to want to view her assets. Lawd was she disgusting! may 1 2016





The Big Stink

NEWS ITEM: The (F)Art of the Deal.

US NEWS and World Report, as well as my beloved New York Post, reported this week that a group of disgruntled Bernie Sanders supporters are planning to ply delegates with franks and beans the night that presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton gives her acceptance speech in the hopes that they will all simultaneously cut the cheese during her speech and the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.-July 17, 2016


BTW: This place never became an Italian joint. It went back to being an Irish bar (with no food) then when El Mariachi closed down in RVC, it became lil Mariachi. Now it's once again an Irish bar. 

We decide to order drinks and mull it over. A wine for Tara, a Sprite for Tim-Tim, and water for me. "You want to see if they can make a meatball hero?' Tara asks. So when the guy comes back, I ask if can make us meatball heroes. "I no hava da meatballs" He says, before repeating You can havea the chicken parmigiana over pasta, the eggaplant parmigiana over pasta, or the veal parmigiana over pasta."

I wanted to scream at this guy from the top of my lungs..."What the f-ck kind of Italian place doesn't have meatballs?".... . It reminded me of the famous John Belushi skit from SNL, when the poor guy is trying to order something and Belushi keeps yelling "Cheeseburger!"The irony being that a cheeseburger is exactly what I was there for.

 Ever the diplomat, Tara just orders two chicken parms over ziti, of which we will each share some with Timmy (Who for the record, didn't want to come here in the first place) August 7, 2016


Predictions gone wrong Part 2

I figured that the Mets would have to win 20 of their 29 games in August to secure a playoff spot. After Saturday night's win, their record for August is 4-8. Is it conceivable they could get their injured guys back, and maybe Syndergaard and Matz figure it out and they go on a run. I guess. And of course , that's how I'm going to root. But it's hard to see it happening. As a former Met manager once observed, It's getting late awfully early. August 14, 2016


I apologize if I offended Italians here, but I had it lawyered by an Italian lawyer so...


A mattress store in San Antonio ran an add in which a woman with multiple chins was standing in front of two stacks of mattresses. Two other dicks were behind her as she started in about the store's 9/11 sale. In her excitement over the sale, she knocks to the two guys into the mattress stacks. The yell as they fall and she screams and starts running only to stop and say quietly, Never Forget.

THIS JUST IN- The owner of the store, Mike Bonanno, has announced that the mattress store has closed indefinitely and will take "accountability actions." I don't know about San Antonio, but here in NY, if someone named Bonanno is looking to take "accountability actions", it usually means someone is about to take a dirt nap. September 10, 2016


And to think this guy actually thought he could be President....

Saturday night, Mayor DeBlasio said that while the device that exploded in Chelsea was set intentionally, there was no reason to believe it was terrorism.

Huh?          September 18, 2016


Bob Schiffer summing up the 2nd debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump

"How have we come to this? This is supposed to be a campaign for the most powerful office in the land...... I mean this is what they do in banana republics. This is the United States of America. People keep asking me have I've ever seen anything like this and I keep saying no. And I just hope to God, I don't see another campaign like this one. America can do better than what we have seen here tonight. This was just disgraceful. "October 9, 2016
Hate to tell you Bob, it's going to get a lot worse




You see Ray? I was even saying this 3 years ago. I'm consistent if nothing else. 

I hate the Nationals. I feel bad for the folks in Montreal who lost their team, I resent the fact that a city who couldn't support a team twice before was given a third shot.October 16, 2016



Predictions gone wrong Part 3 -This one was a doooozy

Everyone is freaking out because the overall polls are in a dead heat. Of course that means squat. The bottom line is there are about 11 toss up states and Trump needs to win just about all of them.
He won't. 
Weekly Mail predicts Hillary will waltz to victory. 311-227. November 6, 2016


Who goes there for the food? 

In a week where we all could have used a few glasses of personality, McSorley's Old Ale House, a Greenwich Village Haunt founded in 1854, was shut down by the DOH.  The health concerns that were raised include "Rats, food held at the wrong temperature, and conditions conducive to "vermin and pest activity" Sounds gross.

But in defense of the joint, what do you expect of a place that's been around since before the Civil War started? Now that they gentrified downtown, the rats need a place to go.And who goes there to eat? That place is a pure booze bar, and the idea is to get nice and drunk on those pale and dark beers, then maybe you won't notice the rats and mice. November 13, 2016



WHAT A DRAG IT IS GETTING OLD:

So sang Mick Jagger on the Rolling Stones classic 1966 hit Mother's Little Helper. For most of us, maybe it is, but Jagger, in his own strange way is trying to defy the laws of time.

This week, he became a father for the 8th time. Having 8 kids is unusual enough, but having 8 spread out over 46 years is entire different story all together. And having one at 73 years of age is just plain strange. Maybe it's not politically correct to say so, but it just is.

Bottom line here is that Mick Jagger now has a son who is younger than his great granddaughter. Let that roll around in your head for a little while. December 11, 2016




I had a beef with Mr. Zulu from Star Trek. In my defense, that commercial came on like 20 times 

Oh, and one more thing... I was at my in-laws house watching the pregame show and that Pizza Hut Commercial with George Takei kept coming on. Note to Mr. Takei: I somehow made it through the 70's, 80's and 90's without hearing from you, now you clog up my Facebook feed, in addition to that annoying Pizza Hut commercial. Please boldly go back to where no man has gone before and leave me alone. February 5, 2017



A year later, he ordered a cheeseburger in Sicily 

To complete the Postie experience, I took Tim to Langan's for lunch. This is what we call a work in progress. Our man went to an Irish pub and ordered a pizza. An Irish pub in Manhattan and ordered a pizza. Like I said, we're working on it. March 5, 2017


OUT AND PROUD: Barry Manilow!!! Also the night I confessed I was a fan of his 

      Several news outlets the other day took a few minutes out of their Donald Trump coverage to report that the great Barry Manilow was singing to the world that he's gay and has been in a relationship with his manager Gary Keif for several years. He said that he kept his sexuality a secret all this time because he didn't want to disappoint his fans.

      I don't mean to make light of this, but if even an idiot like me could figure out that Manilow was gay, I'm sure most of the intelligent world had it figured out as well.

       And while I understand that for non famous people, the idea of revealing your sexuality could be difficult depending on your upbringing, the one area of society where nobody truly gives a $h-t who you are sleeping with is show business. I mean, did Barry Manilow really think he was going to lose one single fan because he came out? Sorry folks, I'm not buying it.

        Shoot, I can relate to the time I first came out.....as a Barry Manilow fan! It was dangerous times for me to do so. It was right around this time of year, my senior year of high school. Patti-Ann and Joann were trying to set up friends of theirs with each other. The girl was friends with PA and the guy, was friends with Joann (and with me as well). I don't know how it came up, but Patti-Ann's friend asked if anyone besides her liked Barry Manilow. I said that one of my favorite songs when I was little was Copacabana. Everyone in the car (and there were like 8 of us squeezed into a 5 passenger car) laughed at me. I didn't care. And this was before we all started going out and drinking. Dancing to Copacabana at a bar with half a load on is what makes life worth living.

But I like a lot of his stuff. Daybreak, It's a Miracle, his version of Let's Hang On (originally done by the Four Seasons) hell, even Mandy and I Write the Songs (a song he didn't write BTW) are good.

I'm glad he got this off his chest. I'm sorry he felt he had to wait. I still have no clue as to why this was news. April 9, 2017


I don't usually do teacher sleeps with student stories, but this one was crae crae

A former high school football player testified in a Louisiana courtroom that he not only kicked it to TWO teachers, he had them in a menage-a-trois!

When the now 19 year old student was 16, he began an affair with his English teacher, Shelly Dufresne. After their first roll in the hay, she set up a FB account under the name Madison Mexicano, (which overtakes Carlos Danger as the funniest fake name for sex I've heard) Dufresne chose the name because she thought the kid was Mexican. In fact, he testified that he resented the fact that she called him Mexican because he is in fact half Colombian.

But it didn't bother him enough to end the affair.

In fact they ramped things up by bringing in another English teacher, 26 year old Rachel Respess, for a threesome.

The whole thing began to go south when the dumb a$$ football star took some photos to show off to his teammates. It didn't take long for the word to get to the school's administration and the cops made the arrests in October, 2014.

The defense has tried to get the former student prosecuted for taking pictures of the teachers while they slept and have said that the sex couldn't have taken  place because the teen "couldn't get an erection."

One would think that if that last part was going to be these gal's defense, they'd better be prepared to go up the river. (He was found not guilty). April 30, 2017


Reminiscing about grammar school

On line this week, a few of my St. Mary's classmates were discussing our 5th Grade trip to Philadelphia. Of course as it usually happens many funny stories came up and a few horror stories. As Keri DeAngelo pointed out,

"We went to school under a trestle, a block from a strip club and a no tell-motel/homeless shelter. We never needed street cred!

So you think one of us geniuses would have come up with this idea 35 years or so ago...

Ava Bell, an 11 year old girl from Glasgow, Scotland suggested on a student feedback form that her teacher violated the Geneva Convention by collectively punishing the class for one person's misbehavior. According to the BBC Online....

Asked what her teacher could do better, Ava Bell wrote: "Not use collective punishment as it is not fair on the many people who did nothing and under the 1949 Genva [sic] Conventions it is a war crime."

That's right folks, little Ava essentially called her teacher a war criminal.
St. Mary's was the capital of collective punishment. June 11, 2017


Gettin Jiggy with it

VOYEURISM- Hot Sheets Hotel Downtown

A housing complex on the Lower East Side last week complained that patrons of the new hotel across the street, the Public House, are putting on shows you would normally catch at the local brothel.

Several residents claimed that guests are doing the wild thing in plain view of the outside world. According to DNA Info.com, the hotel has floor to ceiling windows and getting it on in those windows is not only allowed but encouraged by the hotel administrators.

Maybe I'm missing something here, but if I were younger and single, I'd move to that housing complex in a minute. You get to live in the city, for a reasonable price and you don't have to pay for HBO or Skinemax.

It calls to mind when the SkyDome first opened in Toronto, and a couple was caught having sex during a Blue Jays game. Many people suggested that they rename the SkyDome the same name of the previous place the Blue Jays played.

Exhibition Stadium.
August 6, 2017



More Proud Parenting Moments

We got Tim a bike for his birthday. He had one several years ago with training wheels on it that he outgrew. He didn't really express any desire to learn to ride again till recently.

So we got him a fairly large bike with no training wheels. And it was up to me to get him riding. We practiced a bit near Tara's parent's house, but that was a struggle. So I took him last weekend to Oceanside Park, where there was some grassy areas, hoping he'd be less afraid to fall if he had a softer landing. He started to get it, but I noticed that he was pushing hard on the pedals and not gaining much speed in the grass. So I moved him back to the concrete sidewalk in the park. And bam! He was off and riding.He gets the overwhelming majority of the credit, but I'm putting this one in the W column for me too.


And Proud Neighbor Moments

On September 8, a 14 year girl here in Oceanside was hit by a car and was very seriously injured.

She has a long road ahead for recovery, but because we have such awesome people in this town, the road may be somewhat easier.

Looms for Lara, was started by our friends the McNeils. Timmy's friend Vanessa McNeil led a group of kids in making and selling bracelets and lemonade, with all proceeds going to help Lara. If ever the news gets you down, think of kids like these and know our future is in very good hands.


Timmy went bowling with his friends Melanie and Leah while I stayed home and watched the Jets a) lose to the Patriots because they were b) screwed by the refs

When our friends dropped Timmy off after his play date, the dad asked me how the Jets did, I told him not to read my Facebook page with all the F bombs I dropped, he might not let his daughter near Timmy or his psycho father again. October 15, 2017


I've made a lot of screw ups as a dad, this was not one of them

I signed Timmy up for the Cub Scouts.

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.

October 22, 2017

Fun on the airlines 

A 48 year old woman and a 28 year old man were arrested and received citations after they were caught, well, I'm trying to put this in a way that I don't get in trouble.. aw the hell with it, the 48 year old was blowing the 28 year old.

The in flight hummer took place on a Los Angeles to Detroit Delta flight on October 29. Officials say the two were total strangers before the flight. So I guess that's one way to make friends.

November, 2017


First I said this...


For one thing, NBC's coverage is a joke. First of all, I don't get it with Matt Lauer. He's not particularly handsome or funny or much of anything, yet he's like the highest paid person on TV. I literally sit there and say to myself, "I could do what he does, and do it for a lot less money." And trust me, I'm not so arrogant as to think I can do any job on TV better, but his I could definitely do.


And then, this happened....

Someone at NBC must have been listening to me, because just a mere 3 days after I posted the above words, Today show host Matt Lauer was given the boot by the network. The fact that he was not only untalented but also a perverted creep to boot made his ascent to the top of the TV world even more baffling than it already was.



The End of the World ? 

OK, so we don't know when it's going to happen, but after this week, and at the risk of annoying my Lord and Savior, I think we have a pretty good idea of how.  
Hawaii governor David Ige confessed last week that the reason he waited 17 minutes to alert his constituency that the nuclear missile headed towards his state was nonexistent was that he forgot his Twitter password.
According to CNN, Governor Ige knew within two minutes that the alert sent out was a false alarm but he was unable to tweet out the correction.

"I have to confess that I don't know my Twitter account login and passwords... I will be putting that on my phone." Ige told reporters last Monday.

And there it is folks. THAT's how the end of the world is going to happen. Somebody, somewhere is going to forget their password and the end will be upon us. Mark my words and take it to the bank. (Though it will obviously be too late to collect).

January 2018

Predictions gone Wrong Part 4 

Several outlets have reported that the Jets are most interested in Baker Mayfield, which is fine, except I don't really think they needed to move up to get him. Sam Darnold is probably headed to Cleveland, the Giants will probably take the running back, the Colts with Andrew Luck don't need a QB, Cleveland at 4 wouldn't take a second QB, and the Broncos will probably take Allen, since he's a big armed QB like the man who will draft him, John Elway was. So at 6, they would have their choice of Rosen, Mayfield or Jackson. And again, I have absolutely no doubt that the Colts are going to use one of the picks the Jets traded to them to draft a Hall of Famer. Y'all read that here first.

April 2018



Mickey Callaway got fired last month (Part One)

When I was a kid and would be playing baseball (or some variation of it) on the beach in Rockaway, every once in a while someone would try to bat out of order. Someone on the other team would yell out "Hey, no CBO's!"

As I was heading out of my office on Wednesday for lunch, I got an ESPN alert that read:
"Mets bat out of order in the first inning vs Reds to end potential rally."

And I really thought someone was playing a joke on me. I thought "How on earth could that even happen in a Major League baseball game?" I don't even remember that happening while playing CYO, where the only place the lineup was kept was the book. There wasn't a billion dollar scoreboard in center field telling you who was up, what their slash line was and if they preferred David Lee Roth or Sammy Hagar.

It wasn't until I turned the radio on and got the explanation from Howie Rose and Josh Lewin that manager Mickey Calloway had written out two lineup cards and submitted the wrong one that it started to make sense. But even still wrapping my head around this one was tough. May 2018

My Book review of Keith Hernandez autobiography

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)


My $0.02

For the record:

I think they should have served Sarah Sanders at the Red Hen.

I also think they should have baked the cake for those two dudes who were getting married.

I also think Joe Biden should have been able to get cookies at that bakery in Virginia.

I understand that you want to make a statement, but I'm not sure turning people away is the answer.

If I was a business owner, I'd try to avoid serving skinheads, white supremacists, al-Qaeda, ISIS and Bill Bellichick. Everyone else, I figure even if I don't like them, I'm still taking their money.


Useless knowledge

 I nearly drove off the road when I heard Senator Whitehouse ask Brett Kavanaugh what "ralphing" referred to.  I was like Horshack from Welcome Back Kotter on that one..."oooh oooh ooooh, I know!"  That means to throw up.



Strange Election News


And finally the most outside the box voting award goes to the people in Nevada's 36th Assembly district, who voted in Denis Hof, a brothel owner and reality TV star. If that's not far out enough for you, Assemblyman-elect Hof has been dead since October 16.

From Taxi: Season 1 Episode 19. 

Louie DePalma: Um Ben Goretski is the shop steward. Ben? Ben Goretski to the cage.
John Burns: I never heard of him.
Alex Rieger: That's because he's been dead for two years.
Louie: Never mind, Ben.
Bobby Wheeler: Wow, looks like we're going to have to elect a new one.
Elaine Nardo: Oh, I nominate Alex.
Alex: Oh, come on, now, Elaine.
Louie:All right. All those in favor of Alex being our new shop steward say "aye.
ALL: Aye! 
Alex: Wait a minute! Look, I don't want to be the shop steward.
Louie: We can't force him into it.
Tony Banta: Well, why don't we just let Ben Goretski keep doing it? He's been doing a good job.
Louie: All those in favor of keeping Ben Goretski as our shop steward say "aye.
ALL: Aye! 
Louie: The ayes have it. Ben if you can hear me, congratulations.


Christmas Gift Ideas

According to the London Sun, three women in Australia are wanted for stealing $600.00 worth of sex toy merch from an adult store. (as opposed to lets say Walmart)


The owner of the Perth based Libido Adult Super Store, Garry Smith, told the paper that his store loses close to $2.5k every 6 months because of theft. His in store camera managed to capture footage of three women stealing, amongst other things 4 best selling vibrators, and my personal favorite, the Come Hither Rabbit Sex Toy valued at $280.00 (a bargain at any price if you ask me.)




I just liked this headline

 Gase! How low can you go?

Let me start off by saying although I was none to sorry to see the Todd Bowles Era end here in New York, I felt bad that they didn't even let the poor schmuck get on the plane home from Foxborough before they announced he was canned. Used to be they called the Monday after the regular season ended "Black Monday" because they announced all the firings then. Not anymore, now they don't even let the coach take his post game shower.

But it had to be done. More importantly, the replacement had to be a slam dunk. So what do the Jets go out and do?

Hire a guy who himself just got fired after posting a losing record.

The Dolphins weren't quite as eager to run Adam Gase out of Miami as the Jets were to run Bowles out of NY, but it was damn close. And at least the Jets all seem to like Bowles, though you'd be hard pressed to tell with the way they played this year. The Fish all pretty much hated Gase and admitted they quit playing for him.-January 2019


Things that make you go ewww 

What you don't know ........

 Rishab Malhotra of Stockton CA had a milkshake delivered from Cold Stone Creamery via Door Dash. Everything was cool till the next day when Rishab's father checked the video and saw the delivery dope sipping the milkshake.

yyyeeeewww! How gross! I don't believe there is justifiable homicide, but delivery people who drink out of their customer's cups? That might qualify. Especially in California


Just asking....

Tim Williams aka that creepy looking dude from the Trivago commercials, was arrested for DWI in Texas last week. I don't mean to make light of something as serious as DWI, but couldn't he have just ordered himself a hotel room?



ADVENTURES IN DOGSITTING

A San Francisco woman who used the website Wag.com tom hire a dog-sitter ended up with a home made porno for her trouble.


Rosie Brown told Casey Brengle that she had a dog food dispenser/doggie cam on the kitchen counter.

Despite having that information, Brengle...

1) had her boyfriend over and took him into the master bedroom, where Brengle claims they did not have sex. There were multiple scenes of Brengle and her man playing tonsil hockey however.

2) walked around the apartment in her birthday suit. While she didn't do this with her boyfriend around, she did sit her bare a$$ down on the couch. yeesh!

3) had her parents over to the apartment, which if that was the only thing she did wrong, is probably;y not the worst thing in the world. But still is a no-no according to the Wag contract. And why would her parents think going over to a client's apartment was a good idea?

This is my favorite 4) she called Daisy "a bitch" after she saw her playing rough with Penny. And THAT"S what she feels guilty about.

Maybe this is another case of me not getting with the times, but isn't bitch another term for a female dog? Or was that phased out during the #metoo movement?



We don't need no education. At least not from these people


First there was the teacher in Bay County Florida who wrote "WTF is this?" on the top of a students homework.

I had a couple of teachers that dropped F-bombs, but none of them were dumb enough to write them on our homework or tests. That's just asking for trouble. And of course, the kid's mother is demanding apologies and reprimands. and is no doubt consulting with their team of attorneys.
I.m curious to see what the hell work this kid turned in to provoke such potty mouth. But I guess that's besides the point.

Next we head to Gary, Indiana where a teacher gave an 11 year old autistic child a trophy as most annoying male. What's worse, the father, who deserves a trophy himself for Mr. Rogers-like restraint, left the trophy there, the teacher chased after him and said "Wait, you forgot your trophy."

Talk about WTF!

This would be cruel to do to any 11 year old child, much less one with special needs. And again God bless this poor baby's parents.  If they did that to my child, the teacher would have to have said trophy removed from their a$$. And since both Tara and I work at the two closest hospitals to Tim's school, that might pose a problem.

Finally we have the 4 teachers in Akron, Ohio who allegedly were doing jello shots during school hours. This one I can almost forgive. I mean, I hear some of the horror stories these poor teachers have to deal with and I think a three martini lunch should be in order.


OK, if you're still with me here, I thank you. I'm sure I have some stuff I wrote that was amusing, but I'll just leave this here. Again, thank you so much for taking a few minutes each week to read, I hope you enjoy it, even if you don't always agree.  As you can see, I'm not always right and my thinking can evolve. So please feel free to comment, good bad or ugly.




Here's to another 200!