Weekly Mail January 27, 2019

Hey:

So for the first time in about 12 years or so, I went to the St. Sebastian's (week before the) Super Bowl dance. What I always loved about this night was that it makes Woodside feel like a small town, and I mean that in a good way. People who moved away would come back for this night and party hearty then hit one of the many bars on Roosevelt Avenue. Saturday night, I was one of those people.

I really just wanted to be there with my sisters and Steve, and I got a bonus because my cousin Deirdre and her husband Chris came out as well. For old times sake, I even took a cab from Roosevelt home to see Mom and Dad, then walked over the the Parish Center. Just to recapture the glory.

I like where I live now, but I do miss Woodside. It's still an awesome place. Saturday night was a reminder of that.

Onto the news...


OK, so let's get the serious stuff out of the way first.


PROTESTS: Covington Catholic Controversy


Wasn't going to touch this one because it's one of those instances in America where you are never really going to get to the bottom of it. I wasn't there, if you're reading this, you probably weren't there either. We are all going by a series of videos that if you put them all together, were longer than the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

And you saw what you wanted to see.

The liberals among you saw a kid, wearing a red MAGA hat in Washington DC to for the Right to Life march. That alone gave him two strikes against him before a pitch was even thrown. You saw that smirk on his face and wanted to wipe it off because he was using it to try to intimidate a Native American.

The right wingers saw a young man not sure what to make of an older man beating a drum and chanting just inches away from the kids face. They say the older man approached the kid, not the other way around.

The truth is most likely somewhere in between.

But here are my thoughts....

1) I heard some people say that the red MAGA hats are equivalent to what white sheets and pillowcases were back in the 60's. I'm sorry folks, I'm not quite there yet. But I can tell you that I wouldn't let my kid wear one of those. Shoot, in my Catholic high school, we weren't allowed to wear any hats. I had a Rangers hat that I used to wear that I took off before I even got to the block where my school was on. But I digress. My point is, while I don't believe that everyone who dons a MAGA hat is a racist, I do admit I'd be uncomfortable in the presence of someone wearing one.

2) Every Saturday as I walk from Penn Station up to the Post, there are a group of fellas on the corner of 34th and 7th who sound an awful lot like the Black Israelites that were down in DC. I don't usually stick around to hear what they are saying, but you can't miss some of the signs they are holding up. I can honestly tell you, they have never tried to block my path or accost me in any way, and I don't stop to chat with them.

It sounds like the group that went to DC were calling people out. Regardless, if the Covington Catholic school kids felt they were being harassed, it was up to the teachers and chaperones to figure out how to get the kids away from them. If I was responsible for a group of young men like that, (which as the father of a pre teen I'm sure I will be in that position some day) I'd find another place to gather, away from where a confrontation could take place. Maybe it's my New York City sensibility.

3) and again, we will probably never know whether Nathan Phillips, the Native American protester either confronted or was confronted by the kids from Covington Catholic. To me, the left is going to blame the kids and the right is going to blame Mr. Phillips and/or the Black Isrealites and all of us have something else to be pissed off about, something we all need like we need a hole in our heads.

But there might be some good to come out of this after all... On Tuesday a group of Native Americans were protesting outside the Basilica that housed the diocese of Covington, Kentucky.  A man wearing a MAGA hat came up to one of the protestors and said "I'd really like to hear what you have to say. Do you want to get coffee or maybe something to eat and we can talk?" Don Wegman was the man in the hat. Guy Jones is the Native American protester he spoke to. They were supposed to have lunch this Friday.

Let's hope more people follow their lead.


THE LEGAL SYSTEM:

Denis Leary upon learning that parents of heavy metal fans who committed suicide after buying their records were suing said bands, wondered aloud if he could sue Dan Fogelberg for turning him into a (wimp) in the 70's. Leary reasoned that Fogelberg and James Taylor's music is what caused his lack of success with the ladies in his teens and twenties.

I thought about that as I read about the two fans in New Orleans that are suing the NFL because of that awful non-call in the Saints-Rams game last Sunday.

According to the New Orleans Advocate and Yahoo Sports...Saints season ticket holders Tommy Badeaux and Candis Lambert hired a local personal injury lawyer to file a lawsuit against the NFL and Goodell on their behalf, and on behalf of the entire “Who Dat Nation.” The suit claims that Saints fans suffered incredible damages from the missed call, including mental anguish, emotional trauma, loss of enjoyment of life, and more — including a loss of faith in the NFL. Here’s a snippet of the damages section of the suit, via the Advocate:

“As a direct result of the said incident, plaintiffs herein have been left bereft and with no faith in the National Football league for fairness despite the league’s own rules to correct such errors, along with emotional anguish, monetary loss for ticket holders, who purchases tickets with the presumption of integrity and fairness.”

Man, think of the possibilities THIS opens up.

Do I get to sue Gary Bettman for the refs not calling a penalty on Dwight King as he lay atop Henrik Lundqvist in Game 2 of the 2014 Stanley Cup Finals? Kind of hard to make a save when someone is literally laying on top of you as the puck goes in the net.

Can I sue Chubb Fenney, the president of the National League in 1986, for not even looking at the baseballs Mike Scott was scuffing with sandpaper? Making his split fingered fastball unhittable?

Can I sue Pete Carroll for not handing the ball off to Marshawn Lynch at the end of Super Bowl XLIX? I can actually put monetary value on that one, $350.00 that I didn't win in the pool I was in. (Plus legal fees and pain and suffering)

Or here's a real good one.... How about we sue Denis Potvin for breaking Ulf Nillson's ankle in 1979, costing my Rangers their second best scorer and a shot at beating the Canadiens in the 79 Finals. That tacked on 15 more years to an already 39 year Stanley Cup drought.  Of course Potvin can turn right around and countersue us for yelling "Potvin Sucks" for the past 40 years.

I think this is a can of worms better left unopened.


BASEBALL- Enter (Cooperstown) Sandman

It was July 10, 1999. A Saturday afternoon at Shea Stadium.

I went to the Met-Yankee game with Razor Ray McGarvey, his cousin in law Matt, and several of Ray's frat bothers from Cooper Union.

It was a wild game. 6 Yankees went yard that day, and being that we were in the nosebleed seats down the right field line, we had a pretty good view of all of them.

The Mets were down 8-7 going into the bottom of the ninth and facing a man on his way to being the best closer of all time.

Mariano Rivera.

Mariano got the first out, then walked Rickey Henderson, gave up a double to Edgardo Alfonzo, putting runners on second and third. He got John Olerud to ground out to Tino Martinez leaving Rickey and Fonzie on base with two out. He intentionally walked Mike Piazza to load the bases, then gave up a base hit to pinch hitter Matt Franco. The Mets won the game 9-8.

Why bring this game up? To piss of Yankee fans?

Nope.

Because it would be 15 long years before the Mets ever laid another glove on Mariano Rivera.

15 years.

My point is I know first hand how great Mariano Rivera was. He absolutely is a first ballot Hall of Famer, and only a baseball moron wouldn't include him on their ballot.

And yet.

The first player in the history of the sport to be unanimously elected to the Hall of Fame, is a closer?

I'm not sure how I feel about that.

Babe Ruth, Henry Aaron, Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, Cy Young, Sandy Koufax. What idiot decided not to cast a ballot for these guys?

Should Mariano be punished because some idiot in 1936 didn't vote for Babe Ruth? Probably not.

But I don't know. Maybe because I'm not a fan of the idea of the one inning closer.  It just kind of bugs me.

Now for years, Tom Seaver had the highest percentage of votes for anyone voted into the Hall. As a Met fan I thought that was cool. I also thought it was a tad absurd. Great as Seaver was (and he might have won 50 more games over his career had he pitched on a team that scored runs), the question was, did he deserve to get more Hall of Fame votes than any of the above mentioned players?

The most convincing argument I have heard as to why Mariano should have been the first to be unanimously elected was because he was the best ever at his position. Fair enough. But that position was one that played for one inning per game.

Let me be clear on this, if I were a baseball writer with a Hall of Fame ballot, Mariano Rivera would have been at the top of mine. No question. I would vote for deserving players, ones who didn't cheat. I don't begrudge Mariano Rivera being unanimously elected to Cooperstown.

I just wish someone else had been elected unanimously before him.




Next week, Week Mail will come out around halftime of the Super Bowl. Since I won't be watching the game, this might not be an exact science. Let's figure on around 8:30 EST or so.


Have a Great Week

Weekly Mail January 20,2019

Hey:

Ok so despite my best efforts to avoid it, we published late because we made the mistake of watching the end of the AFC Championship Game.

I had just bragged to my mom on the phone that I had avoided watching both games. Missing the NFC game was smart because it looked like a shitty non call in the 4th quarter screwed the Saints out of a trip to Atlanta.

So one would think that I'd be able to avoid watching my least favorite team of all time, right? Especially since all the updates said the Patriots were winning.

But when I saw the Chiefs had taken the lead, I tuned in. Once again crappy officiating was the culprit here. A BS roughing the passing call on Tom Brady, plus reversing the fumble call on Julian Edelman.  Unreal.

The last Super Bowl I watched was the Seahawks-Patriots disaster back in 2015. I have refused to watch the past 3.

Well, make that 4. Rams-Patriots. A pox on both their houses!

TELIVISON: You Go Girl!!!


Since I work full time, I don't watch The View (nor do I watch it when I'm off BTW) and I certainly don't find myself agreeing with Whoppi Goldberg on most matters. But these past two weeks I have found myself in lockstep with the star of Jumpin Jack Flash.

Last week, she called out Mayor DeBlasio for his dimwitted decision to put bike lanes on many streets. Her beef with the Dope from Park Slope was 10th Avenue, mine is with my hometown of Woodside's Skillman Avenue. They take away much needed parking spaces, they clog up traffic, and I don't think they make biking any safer to be honest.

But what was even more surprising was that Goldberg dared to take on America's sweetheart Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

“You just got there, and I know you have lots of good ideas,” said Goldberg “but I would encourage you to sit still for a minute and learn the job. Because there are people in that party who have been working their tails off for that country and you can learn some stuff from them.”

“You don’t have to be born into it. You don’t have to know it from the start. But before you start pooping on people and what they’ve done, you gotta do something, too,” Goldberg continued. “There is absolutely room for new energy but you can’t poop on what was when you’re coming in on the shoulders of quite a few giants.”

This was all in response to Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez contention to Anderson Cooper that "the Democratic Party has compromised too much and lost sight of who we are."

Someone recently asked me how I felt about President Obama, and I responded that I grew to respect him more as his administration went on. To expand on that, I always felt what he was doing was in his mind, in the best interests of America, whether or not I agreed with the actual decision or not.

But also, I felt that in the beginning of his first term, that sometimes he acted as if the sheer force of his personality was enough to make the change he promised on the campaign trail.  Especially in foreign policy. But also in some of his domestic decisions too. I felt that as time wore on, and he saw that it was going to be more difficult than giving a great speech, that he rose to the challenges and became a solid, arguably a great President.


I think that's what Whoppi was trying to say to AOC.

I've made no bones about the fact that I'm not a fan of our nation's youngest congresswoman. As an American who loves this country, I also realize that I need to give her a chance. She's entitled to that. And I'm willing to give her a chance to make our country better.

But that starts with realizing that campaigning for office is different from doing the job you were campaigning for. It's a lesson the current President hasn't learned (and I'm afraid he's not going to), it's a lesson I think President Obama learned well.

And now Congresswoman Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez needs to learn it. Don't take my word for it. Listen to a liberal host of the View.

ADVERTISING: The Best a Man Can Get?


Browsing Facebook this past week, I came across a couple of my liberal friends posting memes about conservatives being up in arms over a Gillette commercial regarding "toxic masculinity." Being a conservative myself, I figured I Youtube up said commercial to see if it would grind my gears.

I watched it and I can see both sides of it.


There's a scene where two boys about Timmy's age beating the $h-t out each other while a bunch of dads stand behind a grill chanting "Boys will be Boys".  And if that's what Gillette thinks of American men, then that's a shame. I've been to many barbecues and I've never seen anyone sit back and watch while two kids clobber each other like Ali-Frazier in Manila and do nothing about it. It usually gets broken up quickly.

But I don't think that's what Gillette was trying to say.

In 1969 John Lennon and Yoko Ono held a Bed In For Peace at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal. At one point, Al Capp, the cartoonist who created Lil Abner, came in to the room to grill John and Yoko on several topics. Capp, who had he lived would have his own show on Fox News, asked John about the lyric in The Ballad of John and Yoko where he sings, "They're gonna crucify me."

Capp: Ok, but in the lyric, you did say they were going to crucify you. 

John: Well, yeah if you take it literally.

Capp: well what did you want it to mean?

John: They're going to crucify you and me and everyone else.

Capp: Well I never said they were going to crucify me

John: Well I have. 

The spirit of the commercial, I think is that we all need to be nicer to each other. That they are approaching it from the male point of view is what has folks up in arms but, I believe it applies to everyone.

I don't have a problem with it. Maybe because I know that my son is being taught how to treat people correctly. I know that my friends are teaching their kids proper respect too. I don't need a commercial to tell me that either.

Most likely Gillette felt this commercial needed to be made because of the #metoo movement, which is marked by protest marches on this third weekend in January, the third anniversary of Captain Orange's inauguration. Which leads me too..

FAST FOOD NATION-Clemson's White House Party.

When David Souter was confirmed by Congress to the Supreme Court, Jay Leno, then filling in for Johnny Carson on the Tonight Show, joked in his opening monologue that "President (HW) Bush had him to the White House for lunch, but with the economy in bad shape, he had to buy him a Happy Meal."

Fast forward 28 years later. The government is shut down, so President Trump decided to celebrate with the Clemson's National Championship with fast food served on fancy dinnerware. Big Mac's, Whoppers, Wendy's on fine china.

I thought 25 years ago, when Bill Clinton took over, that we had our first white trash President. Indeed Don Imus wondered aloud how long it would be before "the White House lawn would have broken down cars sitting on it." Alas, we were a generation early on that one.


The weather forecasters covered their asses this weekend. They predicted between a dusting to three feet of snow. They got this ice cold weather right on the money though.

Stay Warm

and Have a Great Week

Weekly Mail January 13, 2019

And we're back..


2019 wasn't even a week old when we lost 3, well for lack of a better term, celebrities. Mean Gene Okerland, who was one of wrestling's most beloved characters, Bob Einstein, who I knew more as Super Dave Osborne, and Daryl Dragon, the Captain from Captain and Tennille, all died January 2, all at the age of 76. Kind of a creepy coincidence if you ask me.

One thing about pro wrestling, whether you love it or hate it, you have to admit that the guys who did the announcing were extremely talented. I guess they had to be, because it was up to them to sell it to the public. I always thought Vince McMahon, as crazy as he is, was great when he was the straight blow by blow man for the WWF. Mean Gene was more the sideline reporter/interviewer. But with his voice, he easily could have worked the NFL sidelines or between the hockey benches. (His son Todd, played briefly for the Islanders at one time). It's tempting to say he could have used his talents on a real sport, but he was perfect where he was, as I said, he was able to sell a show as genuine sport.

Of the three 76 year olds that died January 2, he's the one I remember the most. Regardless, may they all RIP.


Onto the news...


FOOTBALL: 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.

I'm not saying the players all have to love you, shoot, Mike Keenan won a Stanley Cup here in NY with a roster full of Rangers who thought he was the biggest a-hole on two wheels, but to have them hate you to the point they don't play for you? That's a guy I tend to stay away from.

But the kicker of all this to me is that there was a guy available who 1) Won a Super Bowl as a head coach 2) wanted to come here and 3) had experience working with two potential Hall of Fame Quarterbacks.

Mike McCarthy may not be Vince Lombardi, or even Mike Holmgren, the two other Packers coaches who won Super Bowls. But his resume is still pretty impressive. A Super Bowl champ who coached both Brett Favre and Aaron Rogers, he's someone I wouldn't mind mentoring Sam Darnold.

He's got to be better than Adam Gase.

I'm writing this on Saturday... exactly 50 years to the days the Jets won their one and only Super Bowl. In 4 more years, they will beat the Rangers record for longest time between championships. I hope to God I'm wrong, that this guy is the one to finally get the Jets another Lombardi Trophy. I'm just not feeling it dawg. I think's it's decisions like these (and maybe Joe Namath making a deal with the devil) that has kept the Jets from the promised land for half a century.


Bar Room BS


POLITICS: Government Shutdown.

Twenty some odd years ago, (Razor) Ray McGarvey invited me and his sister Mary (also one of my dearest friends) to come on Cooper Union's annual ski trip the second week of January. The two years I was lucky enough to go, I didn't shave for the whole week. So the past couple of years, to remember the good times, I have either grown out a goatee or just abandoned shaving altogether for the week. Tara asked me when I was going to shave and I told her when the government shut down ended.

At this rate, I'm going to end up looking like I'm auditioning for ZZ Top.

I realize there is enough blame to go around here, but President Trump proudly told Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi that he would gladly shut the government down if they didn't fund his border wall, so he pretty much answered the question himself.

The sad truth of the matter is that the only people who are getting screwed here are the hard working federal employees who are either not working or working for no pay. Trump, Pelosi and Schumer aren't struggling to feed their families or keep roofs over their heads, neither is Mitch McConnell or Mike Pence. They all suck as far as I'm concerned.


SPLITSVILLE: Jeff and Mackenzie Bezos

I don't like to write about marriages that flop, don't even like reading about them. Divorce is one of the saddest things that can happen to people and I hate making light of it. I understand that because Amazon boss Jeff Bezos is worth a zillion dollars, this split is going to make news.

What I didn't need to hear about were the text messages Bezos was sending to his mistress, news anchor Lauren Sanchez. Unfortunately, my paper the Post was all over that.  Far be it for me to bite the hand that pays me, but this was too much man. At Mass on Sunday, I said a small prayer that no dicpics surface, cuz lets face it, that's the next logical step right?


I hope you all enjoyed your holidays. Here's to a great 2019, Lord knows we need it.


Have a Great Week

Weekly Mail 2018 Year in Review Part Two

July


This is the worst Mets team I have ever seen. And I’ve seen some really bad ones.

July 3- I caught a lot of flak for this one. At the time, they were coming off the worst month in their history. I stand by the fact that this was as bad as I had ever seen them play. 


Great News!!

July 10- Twelve young boys and their soccer coach were rescued after being trapped in a cave for 18 days. I feel like this was the last of the good news I'd hear for a while.  


Ok. It's 25-1 and Jose Reyes is pitching. 
We've out-metsed ourselves.

July 31-(Keri Ann Hart)- Final score Nats 25-Mets 4. 



August

August 17- E-mail to Family

FRANKFURT- Phase one is complete. 

We landed in Germany and it felt like we walked about 3 miles to get to our gate. But we made it and now we are awaiting our flight to Palermo. Next flight takes off 7:05 AM German time 1:05 in NYC. 

Will write more in Italy 

August 18-E-mail to family

PALERMO- We made it!

The plane ride from Frankfurt to Palermo was more cramped than the first flight, but we are here. Now it’s a two hour drive to Cefalu. 

It’s a bright hot day here. Maybe in Cefalu there is no humidity, but there is plenty of it here.  I’m ready to take a dip in the pool. 

Will write more later on. Love to all

August 20-E-mail to Weekly Mail co-editors

CEFALU, SICILY - From a country and town I never thought I’d be in a million years.....

About a block away from Donovan’s, there is a block that is so narrow, that they only let you park on one side of it. You can barely get your car down that block. It’s like a bowling alley. 

Well in this beachfront town in Sicily, every freakin block is like that. Not only that, but the hills in this town make San Francisco look like the Great Plains. I didn’t think it was humanly possible to build anything on a hill like this. 

You want to know why the Andretti’s and Emerson Fittapaldi are such great race car drivers? Cuz if you can drive on these streets you can drive anywhere! 

And they are all two way streets! There are no one way streets here. They ALL should be one way, but somehow these guys get through. I’d scrape the hell out of my car. Crazy!

Brian and I took Timmy and Connor to the beach on Sunday, and while there were some nice looking bikinis there, there were also plenty of dudes walking around in Speedos, and to be honest, to this day I still haven’t heard any woman say “that guy looks good in a Speedo” Why anybody would walk around in one of those things is beyond my comprehension. 

We are here for a wedding, and Sunday night was the rehearsal dinner. I’ve been to weddings that weren’t as fancy as this dinner was. When we got there, the groom, Antonio, introduced me to his Dad who gave me the double peck on the cheek. This horrified Antonio, who yelled “No father! In America...” and proceeded I assume,  to say that dudes don’t do that in the States. But hey I’m in his country and I didn’t mind. Besides as I explained to him, since he was paying for dinner, he could do whatever he wanted with me. 

The dinner was nice, apps, pasta and dessert, but it went on forever. The wedding is probably going to be as long as The Jerry Lewis Telethon. But I plan to do some serious boozing. 

It’s frickin hot here, BTW. Humid too. Sunday night there was a thunderstorm that even freaked me out. Because I’m up on a mountain the lightning seemed even brighter. I’m sure we get storms like this in NY, but this lightning was something else. 

This is the first trip I’ve taken where I haven’t perused the local newspaper for the obvious reason that I don’t read Italian. But I did find some English speaking news channels on the tube. And the big story over here as it pertains to our President is his war of words with the Prime Minister of Turkey. I guess cuz Turkey is relatively close to Italy. Back home that doesn’t even crack the top 10 of people he’s pissed off. CNN and the NFL are one and two on that list. But you can’t get away from Captain Orange. He’s like dog$h-t, he’s everywhere!

OK that’s all I got for now. Take Care.

From Italy,

Wild Bill 

August 23- E-mail to WM editors

PALERMO- the two days that followed Monday’s festivities were a blast. Tuesday, Tim and I went to Carlo’s barber shop for genuine Italian haircuts. I got a wash cut and shave and Tim got a wash and cut. We like our guy in Oceanside, but this guy was awesome! Tara and Joan asked him if he did ladies hair (he doesn’t) and we asked him to come to NY. (He probably won’t)

We had lunch next store and it was off the charts as you might imagine. Timmy got a cheeseburger, which I found curious, but even that was good. Tara and I had a caprice Pizza, which was awesome. 

Most of the shops and stores here close between 1:30 and 4, which I find funny. We’re lucky if we get an hour for lunch. 

Wednesday we headed back to the beach. The beach isn’t that big, and they pack em in like sardines. It’s 100 times worse than B116 Street. And my lasting image of the beaches of Cefalù isn’t going to be a Victoria Secret model in a bikini. No, it’s going to be a 65 year old dude in a banana hammocks, smoking a butt.

Yes, everyone smokes here in Italy, it’s a giant f-cking ashtray. I haven’t put away this much second hand smoke since Shelley’s closed down. It’s gross. 

But I have to say, the water? Magnificent! 

We rented a paddle boat and went out about 300 yards. It was Timmy, Brian, my nephew Connor and myself. We were in a part of the Mediterranean Sea. The water was clear and the temperature was perfect. No waves since it wasn’t the ocean, but still really nice. 

I have more to report just not enough time. Plane is starting to board. This airport sucks, just an FYI. Very unorganized. I usually think every airport is better than JFK or LaGuardia, but not this one. To borrow from Captain Orange, it’s a $hithole. 

From Italy,

Wild B. 

September 


I don’t know if he’s going to win the Cy Young award, but you’ll have a hard time convincing me he’s not the best pitcher in the game right now. WTG Jacob deGrom!

September 26- His last start- 8 scoreless innings against the NL East Champion Braves. 


Farewell David Wright

September 29- He went through months of strenuous painful rehab to come back for one game to say goodbye to the fans at Citi Field. One game. That should go down as one of the great moments in NY sports history.  

October 

I’m predicting the Senate will deadlock 50-50 tomorrow and VP Pence will put Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court. 
On a related note, my predictions are usually incorrect, so there’s that..

October 5- So was this prediction. It ended up 50-48, with one vote against withdrawn and one vote for not counted (Senator was absent) Ending one of the most bitter nomination processes in Supreme Court history.   

David Price is a joke

October 6- And of course no sooner had I finished typing the above statement that Price turned into captain clutch, helping pitch the BoSox to yet another World Series title. I miss the days where they couldn't win the big one. 

This just proves my theory that the multi state lotteries are a scam.

October 24- One winning ticket sold. That's like almost statistically impossible. Unless of course the game is rigged.... 

November

Idiot

November 2- This refers to Alec Baldwin, the incredibly well off adored by the left award winning actor who got himself arrested fighting over a parking space in Manhattan. The man never ceases to amaze me. 

Just voted-Hope my votes do better than my football picks.

November 6-They didn't. The House will be controlled by the Democrats and the Senate will stay with the Republicans.  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez replaces the great Joe Crowley in the House. 

WTG Jacob deGrom!

November 14- One moron in San Diego voted for Max Scherzer, everyone else did the right thing and gave their first place vote to the DeGromminator for the 2018 NL Cy Young Award, despite his only winning 10 games.  


December

WTF is going on with Jason Myers today? He can kick a 65 yard FG but not an extra point?

December 15- It's a sad state of affairs when your team's MVP is the placekicker. Against the Texans he botched two extra points. Not that it really mattered...


Come on ND, at least make the game interesting!

December 29- The Fighting Irish by default are my favorite college football team, and the only one of my teams to contend for a title, but even that turned out to be a mirage as they got their asses handed to them by Clemson. Now I get to listen to all the haters talk about how overrated they are and I can't even defend them. Oh well. 




                                                July 20, 2018

And this was the day that everything I had written or posted before or since became irrelevant.

Last year I ended our year in review paying tribute to my father in law. This year, of course, I'm ending this by remembering my niece. Last year I wrote that you feel like the world should stop when someone you love passes, but we know that it doesn't. But this?  Everything that has happened in the world since then, be it in sports, politics or entertainment, everything I usually enjoy writing about,
as far as I'm concerned is just noise.

It's almost 6 months later, and the words still escape me.

Legendary ABC Sportscaster Jim McKay was on the air for 15 straight hours the day terrorists took members of the Israeli team hostage during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. When a rescue attempt failed and the hostages were all killed, McKay said that as a kid he remembered his father saying that "our greatest hopes and worst fears are seldom realized. Our worst fears were realized tonight."  That's as close as I can come to describing this loss.

Every year on New Year's Day we get together at my parent's house for dinner, and my brother in law hosts a Jeopardy! game with trivia from the previous year. Last year, I looked around the house and wished that everyone who was there would be here one year later, I never thought that.....

I can't even finish the sentence.

We always talk about New Year's Resolutions, what our hopes and dreams and goals are for the coming year. I just have one. One goal, one hope, one dream.

And that is that I don't have to end my 2019 year in review by remembering someone in our family that we lost.


Thank you all for you support, prayers and love this year. From my family to yours.




Weekly Mail returns next week