Weekly Mail February 3, 2019

Hope you are enjoying the game.

Been catching up on Blue Bloods and Hawaii Five-0

Proud to say I haven't watched one second of coverage today.

And here's why....




FOOTBALL:

On January 4, 2000, Bill Belichick wrote a note on a piece of paper saying "I resign as HC of NYJ." That was 19 years ago last month.

19 years ago.

Since then he has led the New England Patriots to 16 AFC Eastern Division Titles, 13 AFC Title Games, 9 Super Bowls, and 5 Lombardi Trophies, with a 6th possibly coming tonight.

Every time you think they are going away, they come back, like a bad case of eczema, (or as Timmy calls it, eczemir) After what that scumbag pulled on the Jets, weaseling his way out of his Jet contract, I hoped he would fail miserably. Instead he keeps on winning.

With the same quarterback. 

Who is now 41 years old.

Should I marvel at this most amazing athletic accomplishment? Should I accept it as something remarkable, something to tell the grandkids about? Should I finally acknowledge that Belichick is a football genius, the greatest coach of all time? Even better than his mentor Bill Parcells or the great Vince Lombardi?

Or should I continue to do what I've been doing? Chalking it up to the football gods having clearly deciding to punish me for something I did or didn't do. Should I continue my struggle to avoid watching football as much as I can? Tonight's game is the 4th straight one I won't be watching, I'm not even watching Maroon 5 right now. Adam Levine could be dropping his draws as we speak and I won't know about it till tomorrow.

I can never give Belichick and Brady their props, not with all the crap they've pulled these past 19 years. There what's been proven (Spygate, Deflategate) and what I suspect (that TB12 diet is a sham).

There's a lot of things wrong with the NFL, pro wrestling style officiating is the latest issue. But the Patriots domination is right up there. It is just disgusting.

And it's not like the Rams aren't a bunch of lowlifes in their own right either. They've twice ditched cities and fan bases, once leaving LA for St. Louis only to return to LA twenty something years later, leaving St. Louis with an empty football stadium that is still being paid for by the cities taxpayers. I hate teams that move, I loathe teams that move more than once. (See also the Raiders). Obviously I don't want the Pats to win tonight, but the Rams winning won't give me any satisfaction either.


I heard somewhere that the NBA was actually trending more on social media this week than was the NFL, unheard of at this time of year. And for that believe it or not, we can thank our New York Knickerbockers.


BASKETBALL: Kristaps, we hardly knew ye:

A few days after the Knicks drafted Kristaps Porzingis in 2015, my dad and my sister were at the Met game at Citi Field. Porzingis was chosen to throw out the first pitch was roundly booed, pretty much the way he was booed at the Barclay's Center by Knick fans the night he was drafted.

I'm not going to sit here and tell you that I thought he was going to be an All-Star, but I did remember thinking that was kind of harsh treatment for a 20 year old kid.

He ended up making those boo birds look silly by putting up solid numbers. In his third season in the NBA, he was averaging 22 points, 6 rebounds and 2 and a half blocks per game. And he was still only 22 years old.

Problem is he had the injury bug. Last year on February 6, he tore his ACL. ending his season putting this season in doubt. Indeed he hadn't played a minute all year.

So maybe on the surface I shouldn't be that upset that the Knicks sent the future of their franchise packing this week. After all, they were able to pick up two expiring contracts and a solid young point guard, plus a couple of future first round picks, all for a kid who can't seem to stay healthy. They will have cap space for two max contracts. Plus the way they have been sucking all year, they have a better than average chance of ending up with the number 1 pick in the draft, (hello Zion Willamson)

But alas, these are the Knicks. Do we really think this is going to work out for them?

Kevin Durant is going to want to leave Golden State and an almost guaranteed annual ticket to the NBA Finals to come here? It sounds like Kyrie Irving is looking to get out of Boston, but does he really think the Knicks are a better option?

Do we have any faith that anybody at MSG can take this cap space and high draft pick and make something of it?

It's funny, (actually it's the opposite of funny,)  but the Knicks have been bad almost exactly as long as the Patriots have been good. Maybe this is where things start to turn around. Maybe the Pats will lose to the team they beat for their first Super Bowl and that will end that viscous circle. Maybe the Knicks will sign Durant, Irving or maybe get Anthony Davis from New Orleans, and draft a couple of studs.

Maybe I'll hit the lottery and retire to the Bahamas.

Maybe.


Let's head across the pond shall we?


THE ROYAL FAMILY: DWE (Driving While Elderly)

I forgot to put this in last week's post, but did you see where Price Phillip, the 97 year old husband of Queen Elizabeth was involved in a car accident?

When I first heard this, I figured OK, his driver and another driver were involved in an accident.

Nope.

The prince was driving a Land Rover and he collided with a Kia. The two females in the Kia were injured and taken to the hospital. Or as they say in England, to hospital. They were treated and released.

And naturally this begs the question, or two questions from where I'm sitting.

Why is the queen's husband driving himself and more importantly why is he driving at age 97?

Are the royals so hard up for money that they can't afford a driver? I mean, I realize they aren't really in charge of anything over there, but still I'm sure they have the equivalent of our secret service protection. Surely one of them can drive the prince to 7-11 right?

I suppose saying that one shouldn't be allowed to drive at such an advanced age would lead to charges of ageism against my fair publication. But I also think some common sense should prevail here. Maybe if you are 97 and NOT a monarch, you should be able to drive. But it's the opinion of this humble writer that royalty over a certain age should spring for an Uber if not outright hire a driver.

Now we have some good news from the UK.



THE BEATLES: It was 50 years ago....

This past Wednesday marked the 50th anniversary of the Beatles last public performance. Their January 30th 1969 mini concert on the roof of their Apple Records office in London, which would also serve as the ending to their documentary Let it Be.

And so, it was announced on Wednesday that not only will a remastered version of Let it Be going to be re-released , but 55 hours of never before seen footage of the film project have been given to Academy Award winning director Peter Jackson to make another film.

The dates for both project have not been announced, but Let it Be was originally released on May 13, 1970, about a month after they had announced their split. So I would guess we are looking at around a year from this coming May.

Every once in a while, someone posts the entire film on YouTube before the web police take it down, so I've seen it a couple of times. The dialogue is kind of hard to understand, for a number of reasons, their thick Liverpool accents not the least of them, but the music of course is awesome.

I can't wait for this.


Enjoy the rest of the game.

And have a great week