Weekly Mail April 28, 2019

Hey:

So I'm finishing up a week off from work. When I was in school, going back after this week off was the easiest of the three weeks we got off from school. Going back after Christmas was always tough, because you had to get through January and also because you were leaving all the cool stuff you got for Christmas behind. Going back after the February break was a bit easier, but still.

But if you got through the Easter break, you knew you were in the homestretch. Especially if it was a late Easter like this one. Of course now its just back to work with no two months off coming my way.

But I'll be happy for Tim when school is over for the year.

Anyway......



MOVIE REVIEW**MOVIE REVIEW**MOVIE REVIEW**MOVIE REVIEW**

Avengers Endgame
Robert Downey Jr., Chris Pratt, Scarlet Johansen
Saw it with: Timmy

So historically speaking, I don't do movie premieres. When I was a kid, I felt like the kids that went to a blockbuster movie premiere were the ones who were spoiled and obnoxious. (You know who you are). Those feelings haven't changed.  The first/last time I went to a movie the day it opened was when I went to see Showgirls-which while pathetic, was also a very accurate definition of the state of my life circa the fall of 1995.

In any event, Tim talked me into going to see the Avengers on Friday afternoon. I wasn't one of those geeks that went at midnight. No we did the blue hair special at 4 PM.

So naturally I don't want to give away on spoilers so I'll keep my review to a few opinions.

1) It's LONG. I'm talking DeMille's The Ten Commandments long. I'm talking two trips to the john long. They could have cut this baby down to 2.5 hours and still gotten the story told.

2)It's CONFUSING- Now, remember when Timmy and I saw Avengers Infinity War last year (WM:June 3, 2018) and I told you I couldn't review it because I didn't understand it? Well, not much has changed. I mean I got the gist of it, but still there was a lot of confusion.

My Post Colleague Kathianne Boniello just informed me that to properly catch up, I would need to watch almost 60 hours worth of film time. I should have just let Tim write the review.

3 Aces.

OBITUARIES: John Havlicek

John Havlicek had the misfortune to die during the NFL Draft. It's the only explanation as to the lack of coverage for what I felt was a pretty big deal.

I have multiple apps on my phone that give me breaking news, sports or otherwise, and not one of them announced Havilcek's passing. All of them told me that Kyler Murray was the first pick in the draft, which was the worst kept secret in sports.

That's a shame.

Havlicek was one of the NBA's 50 greatest players, the all time leading scorer for a franchise that also had the likes of Bird, Russell, and Cousy. I never got to see him play, but anyone I know who did says he could do it all, shoot, pass, rebound and defend. I grew up detesting the Celtics, but the reason for that was because they had great players. I'm not sure John Havlicek was the greatest of them all, but statistically speaking he may have been. RIP.

Now that I got that off my chest.....


THE NFL Draft: (or the Super Bowl for when your team sucks)

The Jets and Giants for the second year in a row had high draft picks. The Jets picked 3rd and the Giants had the 6th and 17th picks in the first round. The Jets pick Quinnen Williams was considered by many to be "the best player in the draft". Following Leonard Williams and Jamal Adams who also if memory serves were tagged with that moniker. Seems like if we keep picking the best players, it stands to reason we should start winning some games. Instead we suck it up and are right back to the draft where we pick "the best player in the draft." And people wonder why I try not to watch too much football on Sunday.

But the Jets draft was a walk in the park compared to what the Giants did on Thursday night. The consensus was that their choice with the 6th pick, QB Daniel Jones, would have still been available at 17. And that there was at least one QB rated higher than Jones who was still available.

The looks on the Giants fans faces when they selected Jones was priceless.

I'm old enough to remember the last time the Giants drafted a QB from Duke. Dave Brown didn't exactly make people forget Simms and Hostetler. The Giants are counting on Jones to take over for Eli Manning.  Maybe we'll all be wrong and this guy will end of being the next Tom Brady. More likely, he'll be the next Dave Brown.





That's all we got this week kids. Back to the Grind


and Have a Great Week

Weekly Mail April 21, 2019

Happy Easter Everyone:

It's time for my annual appeal to the Pope if he could find some way some how to make Easter either the first or second Sunday in April. I can't stand when it's in the end of March, or here at the end of April. This Lent seemed a lot longer than the six weeks that it actually was.

According to the website TimeandDate.com...

Easter falls on the first Sunday after the Full Moon date, based on mathematical calculations, that falls on or after March 21. If the Full Moon is on a Sunday, Easter is celebrated on the following Sunday

• March 21 is the church's date of the March equinox, regardless of the time zone, while the actual date of the equinox varies between March 19 and March 22, and the date depends on the time zone.

Look folks, I'm a traditionalist and that sometimes gets me in trouble (more on that later in this broadcast) but really THIS is how the most important day in Christianity is determined? I mean, they came up with this hare-brained (seewhatididthere?) scheme in 323 AD, about 1500 years or so before electricity. I think it might be time to update this policy as well.

I mean I realize there are few organizations in the world as a$$-backwards as the Catholic Church, but they have at certain points gotten with the times. (Vatican II comes to mind) and they've changed the Order of the Mass from time to time. They let girls be altar servers. Hell, the 11th Commandment is Thou Shalt Not Let Your Cellphone go off during Mass.

This can be done.

And I know some of you might say they have bigger fish to fry, such as fighting sexual abuse in the ranks. No question about that either. But this is something I think wouldn't require a ton of effort and I'm sure would make life easier for myself and my fellow Christians worldwide. I don't think St. Peter's Basilica has a suggestion box, but (and I should have thought of this when I was in Italy last summer) if any of you are headed to Rome anytime soon, let me know and I'll send you with a copy of this e-mail.


POLITICS: The Mueller Report

I wasn't going to comment on this because of the fact that I really haven't read it. I happened to be off from work on Thursday when the report was released, and I watched as several talking heads were putting their $0.02 in just minutes after the thing came out. Either they were super speed readers or they were fudging it. So I may as well do the same thing.

It really is mind boggling how people can look at the exact same thing and come away with two different opinions. I was watching CNN and of course they were like "So they are saying that they can't say Trump obstructed justice, but they're not saying he didn't obstruct justice." Fox News was saying "See, we told you he didn't obstruct justice."

The highlight for Timmy, who otherwise found this whole thing boring, was the part when Trump, upon hearing that a special counsel had been appointed, said "That's the end of my Presidency, I'm f-cked." Of course that line was referenced several times on Thursday and Friday and never failed to get a guffaw or two out of my kid. Just like 20 years ago, when Bill Clinton/Ken Starr introduced a nation of kids to blowjobs and spluge-stained cocktail dresses, Donald Trump/Robert Mueller has introduced our kids to the notion of getting f-cked. (Or fooked as they say in Ireland)

Of course the question is, if Trump didn't do anything wrong, why did he react that way. Why did he try to have Mueller fired? Why did he give Jeff Sessions such a hard time? On the other hand, if Mueller had all this information, why couldn't he make a stronger case?

Maybe I should just suck it up and read the report. But it's like George Carlin once said..... "Some people look at things and ask why. Others look at things that never were and ask why not. The rest of us have to go to work, and don't have time for any of that sh-t. "


RACISM- Kate Smith

For someone who has been dead for 33 years, Kate Smith had a pretty crappy week.

Both the Yankees, and more importantly, the Flyers, have banned the use of Smith's version of God Bless America after the teams had it brought to their attention that Smith sang at least two songs that contained "offensive lyrics."

The first song, her version of a 1931 song called That's Why Darkies Were Born. The other was a jingle called Pickaninny Heaven which contained the words "colored children."

The Yanks have played Smith's version of God Bless America during the 7th inning stretch at the Stadium since the 9/11 attacks.

The Flyers, back in the 70's, played Smith's version of God Bless America before playoff games. Their record at home during the playoffs was something ridiculous. Before Game 6 of the 1974 Stanley Cup Finals against the Bruins, she appeared live and sang it in front of 18,000 raucous Flyers fans at the Spectrum. Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito were so convinced she was the Flyers good luck charm, they went over and shook her hand, hoping some of the luck would rub off. It didn't.

So here are my questions....

1) Who was it that brought these lyrics to the attention of the Yankees?

2) If these songs have been around for 80 years, why are people now getting offended?

3) Is there any other proof that Smith was a racist?

I'm sorry folks, but this is a classic example of overreaction.

First of all, That's Why Darkies Were Born was considered satire according to many music historians. Civil Rights leader Paul Robeson did a version of this song. To me this is like banning Blazing Saddles for it's use of the N-word, even though the point of the movie was how stupid racism is.

But mostly, I think one can enjoy God Bless America and realize that "colored" is a totally unacceptable way to refer to African Americans.

I know people are going to say to me "Put yourself in the position of someone who would be offended. You're not African-American, that's why you don't care."

Bullsh-t.

It was a different time. People spoke different, thought different. We've learned. We've grown. We try to be better. Most of us do anyway. I try to. But trying to erase the past is not the way to go here.

And again, we have real problems today. Terrorism, climate change, REAL racism. That's what we should be focusing on. Yes, we have to keep working of improving race relations, accepting people who are different than we are. That's a fight that must keep going. I'm all for that.

I'm just not for fighting that battle against a woman who died in 1986. 

That's pointless.



You wanna be pissed at someone, I'll give you someone to be pissed at..


THE IDIOT OF THE WEEK GOES TO....

Maureen Walsh, a state senator from Walla Walla, Washington, is getting her chops broken over this asinine statement

“By putting these types of mandates on a critical access hospital that literally serves a handful of individuals, I would submit to you those nurses probably do get breaks. They probably play cards for a considerable amount of the day.” 


She was arguing against a bill working its way through the Washington state legislature that would guarantee uninterrupted meal breaks for nurses.

I can't tell you how many times Tara has come home from work with the lunch she packed because she didn't get a chance to eat it.

And this idiot senator should know better, because she suffered a heart attack in 2017.

I know the doctor saved my life in 2015, I also know he couldn't have done it without the nurses that were in the room that night. And the ones who took care of me as I recovered. I can assure you, they weren't sitting around playing cards.

It reminded me of a funny story from a few years ago.... I was dropping Tara off at LIJ one Saturday morning, and we were telling Timmy that he was going to be playing soccer later on that day. He kind of garbled the message because he said "Mommy you're going to play soccer?"

"No Timmy, I'm going to work. You're going to play soccer. "

After Tara went in, I stopped to get Timmy a roll at the Tulip Avenue Bakery in Floral Park. The ladies behind the counter loved him (Though they insisted on calling him Tommy). " So Tommy, where is Mommy?

"She's at work, he replied. She's playing soccer."

Timmy was 3 at the time. What's this lady's excuse?


There a petition going around to have Walsh shadow a nurse on a 12 hour shift. I'd like to see that happen.


HOCKEY- Big Upsets

The Islanders sending Cindy Crosby and the Penguins packing was considered by some to be an upset. (I didn't-though the sweep was a surprise)

No, the big upsets were completed elsewhere..

First out west, where the number 1 seed Calgary Flames were extinguished (har har) by the 8 seed Colorado Avalanche. I'd be less than honest if I told you I had a lot of details about this series. The Flames finished with 17 more points than the Avs.  On paper, Calgary should have won this series.

But that was nothing compared to what happened here in the East. The Tampa Bay Lightning tied the NHL record for most wins in the regular season with 62. The Columbus Blue Jackets squeaked in, barely holding off Montreal for the last spot in the East. 30 points separated these two teams. It was a David v Goliath match if ever there was one.

And Columbus not only won, they dominated.

8's beating 1's happens in hockey more often than other sports. But even by NHL standards this one was a shocker.

And you know what? The Islanders have a shot here. And as much as it pains me to say that, I'm not sure if I can root for anybody else in the east.

I won't root for the Caps, they're as bad as rooting for the Penguins. The Blue Jackets? John Tortorella winning another Cup not in NY? No thanks. Carolina? The former Hartford Whalers? Nope. Toronto? Can't root for Tavares, besides I want them to lose a few more years so that their drought runs to 55 years. Boston? Hasn't that godforsaken city won enough? Screw Boston, no more titles for them.

So I mean, that leaves the Fishsticks right?  Well if it makes my fellow Ranger fans feel better, teams I root for generally lose. If you want to lay money down, bet the Leafs. Of all the above teams they are the ones I want out the most. Then Boston, then Washington, then CBJ. If the Caines win, I can probably live with that.


I hope everyone had an awesome Easter. Despite my rantings tonight, I really had a good one too. Very blessed to have the family that I do.

Take Care,

and Have a Great Week

Weekly Mail April 14, 2019

Hey:

Hope everyone had a good weekend. We may have a special for next week, an Easter Special. We'll see.

And away we go....


POLITICS: A Little Something/Something

Several years ago, Bill O'Reilly appeared on The View, and the discussion turned to the proposed mosque that was to be built not far from Ground Zero. When O'Reilly said that "Muslims killed us on 9/11", View hosts Joy Behar and Whoppi Goldberg stormed off the stage in protest.

This came to mind this week when Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-MN) in a speech, said that "some people did something" on 9/11.  I wondered if Behar and Whoopi would have been as outraged as they were at O'Reilly?

I mean were both O'Reilly and Omar technically right? Sure. Somebody did something on 9/11. I also did something this morning on the toilet. Did Muslims kill us on 9/11? I always thought so.  A white Christian male from New York named Timothy (whose father's name was Bill)  blew up the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City. I don't think anybody believes Timmy or I to be domestic terrorists by association. Of course not all Muslims are terrorists.

And 9/11 was more than just some people doing something.

It's all about optics here folks. O'Reilly should have (by his own admission) said Muslim extremists. I'm not sure that would have placated those two dopes on the View, but you never know.

Omar has to know that most of us are still angry and hurt by what happened in Manhattan that day. Even the point she was trying to make was technically wrong, that CAIR was founded after 9/11. (It was founded in 1994)

Even Chuck Schumer had the good sense not to try to defend her, unlike Captain Marvel herself Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who tried to run interference for her fellow freshman.

And let me be clear here.... Nobody in this country should be discriminated against on the basis of race, gender or religion. Several Muslims who were just going to work or taking a flight died that day too. I know that.

It doesn't give this woman the right to downplay the events of that day. If she thinks she's helping her cause, she is sadly mistaken.

*********************************************************************************
My first thoughts when I saw them dragging Julian Assange out of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London last week was "I can't believe that dude is only two years older than me."

I mean not that I look good by any definition of the word, but with his bald head and white beard, Assange looked at least 10 years older than 47. I guess that's how you look when you spend 7 years locked in an embassy.

I can't help but wonder, if he would have just been better off in jail. I realize that jail by design is about the worst place you can end up, but Assange couldn't even go outside to get a cup of coffee. The second he stepped outside they were going to haul his a$$ in. As it was, the second the Ecuadorians came to their senses and revoked his diplomatic immunity, they swarmed in and took him away.

I'll reiterate my feelings on Wikileaks again...whether they were leaking classified intel on the Iraqi War, or leaking Hillary's e-mails, they weren't doing our country any favors, so I won't be sorry to see him locked up. (I believe he is also wanted for questioning in a sexual assault case which again should see him locked up if proven guilty).

But even if the only charge against him was of being a skeezy looking dirtbag, he's definitely guilty of that.


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

RON DARLING V. LENNY DYKSTRA

Former Met and current Met broadcaster Ron Darling just had a book published called 108 Stitches (which I have yet to read). One of the excerpts published by the Post, Darling tells a story about Game 3 of the 1986 World Series. According to Darling while me and my fellow St. Mary's classmates were making Confirmation-(and no Keri-Ann Hart I'm still not over that)  Met center fielder Lenny Dykstra was peppering Red Sox starting pitcher Dennis "Oil Can" Boyd with a series of racial epitaphs the likes that would make the KKK blush....


In Game 3 of the 1986 World Series, though, Oil Can was on the receiving end of the ugliest piece of vitriol I’ve ever heard — in a bar, on a baseball diamond … anywhere. It was right up there with one of the worst, most shameful moments I ever experienced in the game, and one of the great shames of the exchange was that I sat there with my teammates and didn’t do a damn thing about it. In fact, it resulted in a momentum shift that probably turned the Series around for us, and like most of the other guys on the bench, I stood and cheered at the positive outcome.


In his masterful book about the 1986 Mets "The Bad Guys Won" Jeff Pearlman says that before Game 3 of the Series, Keith Hernandez was talking to former Met Tom Paciorek who was there as a commentator. He told Hernandez and Wally Backman that Boyd had "Rabbit Ears"-that bench jockeying could get him rattled. Hernandez passed the info onto his teammates and they let him have it.

According to Pearlman, they referred to Boyd as "Sh-t Can", and mostly gave him crap about his pitching. There was nothing about anyone, including Dykstra using any racist taunts.

None of the other African Americans on the 86 Mets remember Dykstra saying anything racist towards Boyd. I don't know why Darling would make this up. I really don't know who or what to believe, but Dykstra has a ton of issues with credibility and Darling not so much. Do with that what you will.

Speaking of Darling, he announced Saturday night that he will be off Met telecasts for a month or so because he is having surgery to remove a mass from his chest. Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

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

I stumbled upon the NHL Draft Lottery on Tuesday night. The Rangers had the 6th worst record in the league, which meant anything higher than the 6th pick should be considered a win.

When I first tuned in places 14-6 were already in place, and the Rangers still hadn't been selected. Two more teams were picked leaving the Rangers, Devils and Blackhawks as the last three (or the first three in the draft order) They went to commercial just to drag it out some more, then when they came back, the Blackhawks were selected, it was down to us and the Devils.

The next selection would be the first pick and when I saw that horned NJ, I flipped out.

Turns out this may have been a premature explosion. Perish the thought.

I wanted Jack Hughes, but according to many, the consensus second pick, a Finnish winger named Kaapo Kakko may be just as good and perhaps more NHL ready than Hughes.  It's just that in a season where all my teams were just awful, it would have been nice to win something. Now I have to wait to see if the Knicks losing all year pays off.

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

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?


Easter is next Sunday, if you gave up anything for Lent, you're in the home stretch.

Have a Great Week

Weekly Mail April 7, 2019

Hey:

Had a nice surprise this week. One of my former St. Mary's classmates had extra tickets to opening day at Citi Field. I was already off from work, so I got Tim to play hooky and we spent Thursday afternoon in Queens.

The place of course was packed. That took some getting used to for Timmy, who is used to sitting in a half empty stadium. The seats we got were incredible about six rows from the field down the left field line. (I told Keri she shouldn't waste seats this good on someone she sees once every 20 years.) It was a perfect days weatherwise.

The game itself was a snooze, the Mets getting themselves shut out by the Nats. But still, Opening Day is Opening Day. I had some of the best days ever with my parents and Katie at Opening Day in the early 2000's. I just hope Timmy has those great memories as well.


Friday night was a classic. Met up with Karl (the Ace) Ludwig and Ed (Auggie) DePuy at Donovan's. We got to hang out in the legends section (Pete McGuiness' Corner) and catch up with Chris and Jimmy. (Fish and Chips for Wild Bill-it was Friday after all)
It was just what the doctor ordered for all of us.


MARCH MADNESS:

I was at the Post Saturday night watching the end of the Virginia-Auburn game. The only slight rooting intertest I had was seeing my sister-in-law's alma mater winning. I honestly didn't want to jinx her, so I was trying not to pay too much attention.

However, the last minute of the game was a see-saw, so I couldn't turn away. That is until Kyle Guy missed that 3 pointer. Figuring I cost another team a chance at glory, I changed the channel immediately to the Ranger game.

For the next hour and a half, I carried on at work assuming Auburn was playing in the national title game on Monday night. It wasn't until one of the sports editors was telling the night news editor that there had been a foul call, and that Guy sank three free throws to give Virginia the win.

It's kind of like my version of the Heidi Game, a 1968 Jets-Raiders game that was cut off at the end with the Jets winning so that NBC could air Heidi at 7 PM EST. Most people watching the game didn't find out the Jets lost till they got the paper the next morning. In this day and age, that is practically impossible. But I avoided my phone and ESPN so I really had no idea.

Just goes to show ya.


CRIME: Carton to the Can for 3.5 years.

Not much has changed from how I felt when this story originally broke. It's hard to feel bad for a guy who made his living calling people names and being overall obnoxious, but I still refuse to call the people he was convicted of stealing from victims. To me they were rich a-holes looking to get richer on the backs of honest hardworking people. Hedge fund big shots turned ticket scalpers.

But I realize the law is the law, and the amount of money Craig Carton stole from these creeps was enormous. There was no chance he wasn't going to get caught.

And if there are innocent victims here, it's Carton's wife and kids. I have to admit I was sad to hear that Carton and his wife Kim were legally separated. As obnoxious as Carton could be, he always spoke lovingly of his wife and kids. That's a heartbreaker.

Prosecutors had recommended a 5-7 year sentence, so I figured he would get 5 years. 3 1/2 might seem light, but losing his family is the worst part. I hope he gets the help he obviously needs while in prison. I hope he comes out of there a different more humble human being.


CORRECTION: Last week, when writing about the start of baseball season, I referred to the Mets and the Tanks. This was a typo and was by no means a shot at the Bronx Bombers or their fans. Hell the Yankees are the one team around here who haven't tanked the past couple of years. If any teams around here should be referred to as the Tanks, it should be the two teams currently occupying Madison Square Garden, whose seasons are coming to a merciful end this week.

Tim's lacrosse team had their season opener on Sunday. They've already won more games than they did all of last year, and Tim got the game ball for a key defensive stop late in the game. At least there's some good sports news to report around here.

Sorry for the delay.

and Have a Great (rest of the) Week