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