Weekly Mail May 26, 2019

Hey:


So we've made it to Memorial Day Weekend. Summer right around the corner.  I hope all of us have a happy, restful and healthy one. And we'll leave it at that.

Let's do some book reviews. Three books came out about the same time. Two of them about the 69 Mets....


BOOK REVIEW 1

They Said it Couldn't Be Done
By: Wayne Coffey

This book got a lot of excellent reviews from the sports media, but to me was a bit of a disappointment. I mean, it wasn't a bad book, it had a few interesting stories, but not too many that caught me by surprise. I was also led to believe that the book would look at the Mets season in relation to other events like Woodstock and the Moon Landing, but those topics were only touched on. As I said, it's well written and the stories are good, just nothing earth shattering. There are much better books about the 69 Mets out there, like the one we review next.

2.5 Auggies


BOOK REVIEW 2

After the Miracle
By: Art Shamsky and Eric Sherman

Now if you are a fan of the 69 Mets, THIS is the book for you. Shamsky was an outfielder on that 69 team, the only player to bat over .300 if my memory serves correctly. Sherman has written some good Mets books recently, but this is mostly Shamsky. The best part of this book is that Shamsky reviews the 69 season in the context of planning a trip to Northern California to visit Tom Seaver at his Napa Valley vineyards. It's Shamsky and 69 teammates, Buddy Harrelson, Met SS and Seaver's roommate on the road, Jerry Koosman, the second best starter in the Mets rotation that year, Ron Swoboda, who made a game saving catch in Game 4 of the series, and Sherman.

These guys tell some incredible stories. More importantly, the way the authors frame it, makes you feel like you are sitting there, hanging out with them. Really cool!

4.5 Auggies


BOOK REVIEW 3

108 Stitches
By: Ron Darling

This book has garnered some notoriety, due to Darling's claim that Lenny Dykstra hurled a series of racial slurs at Red Sox starter Oil Can Boyd during Game 3 of the World Series in 1986.

In fact Dykstra isn't the only person Darling threw under the proverbial bus in this book. To be honest, and I'm a fan of Darling's, he comes off sounding like a real dick at times in this book.  He even takes shots at guys he claims to like, guys like Frank Thomas and Cal Ripken Jr. I've never heard of anybody complaining about former Met manager and all star Frank Howard, but Darling makes him out to be a real a$$hole. To me, Darling is the a-hole here. I just felt like many of the shots he took were gratuitous.

That's not to say that some of the stories he tells aren't entertaining. Many of them are. And the point of the title is that while there are 108 stitches in a baseball, the game itself is connected by the characters that make up the game. I get what he was trying to do. I'm not thrilled by the way he went about it. It's kind of a modern day Ball Four.

3 Auggies.



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 was going to a wedding in Louisiana, so she hired dog sitter Casey Brengle through the app Wag.com to watch her two dogs Daisy and Penny. Casey Brengle? Brown would have been better off with Casey Stengel.

Brown hired Brengle through the Wag app, telling KGO-TV (San Francisco's ABC affiliate) that Brengle had "210 5 Star Reviews"

They agreed to Brengle working 4-1/2 days with long walks for the dogs for a total of $315.00. Brown also told 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.

No, it's not (appropriate) she said to KGO-TV reporter Dan Noyes.." but she had been acting like a jerk and I agree, that's not appropriate, I was frustrated, not at her, at myself, at other things. I had gotten in a fight with my mom and I agree, it was not appropriate."

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? If it was, I do apologize and promise to now refer to all dogs as Canine-American.

My point is, that Brengle's excuse for walking around commando (It was too hot in the apartment), having her boyfriend over (it's OK she {Brown} believes that {they were banging each other} but it didn't happen) and sitting nekked on the couch (I meant no malice), what bugged her the most was insulting Daisy by calling her a female dog.

This is reason number 4338 why I do not and don't plan on ever owning a pet.


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I noticed this on the train coming into the Post on Saturday. Herman Wouk, the author who wrote The Caine Mutiny, The Winds of War, and War and Remembrance, died on May 17, 10 days shy of his 104th birthday. Amongst the reasons I only out about the death of one of America's greatest novelists over a week after the fact, is that on the same day Wouk passed away, a f-cking cat died.

Yes you read that right....the internet sensation Grumpy Cat died also on May 17. THAT was all over the news. Herman Wouk? Not so much.


I know a lot of you were bummed about the ending of Game of Thrones. If you want to see a great ending to a long running series, catch the finale of  The Big Bang Theory. That was a very satisfying and appropriate ending to a show. The Sopranos and How I Met Your Mother were the two biggest finale disappointments I ever saw.

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Finally on this Memorial Day Weekend....



They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
From For the Fallen by Lawrence Binyon

Enjoy the rest of the weekend, but remember why we have it


and Have a Great Week

Weekly Mail May 19, 2019

Hey Everyone:


So to start, I want to again thank everyone who contributed, encouraged and supported me (specifically) and Running for Rebecca (in general) during last Thursday's Wall Street Run and Heart Walk.

Becky was absolutely smiling down on us Thursday night, as after a week of lousy weather, we had an absolutely perfect evening, not a raindrop to be felt, and a perfect temperature. The turnout was unbelievable, close to 12,000 I heard someone say.

Tim and I trekked in on the LIRR, then took the A train down to Chambers Street. It was I'm almost embarrassed to say, the first time I had been down to the World Trade Center since they opened the 9/11 Memorial. It was the first time I have seen the rebuilt downtown.

The meeting place was Brookfield Plaza down near the Hudson. Coach Kate handed out the shirts and we got to catch up with old friends. Mom and Dad were there to root us on. Everyone was in good spirits.

                                           The Walk/Run Route: Photo Credit: Patch.com/downtown nyc

                                                      Tim and I at the Starting Gate

Kate was the only one of us who was going to run, so the runners went first. The rest of us walkers followed, and even though I've been living in Oceanside the past 10 years, I still consider myself a consummate New Yorker. But during this walk, I saw streets and places I've either never seen before, or haven't seen in a long time. Some of those streets downtown, haven't changed since the Revolutionary War.  There were about 10 bars or so, that were right next to each other that would have been perfect in my pub crawl days.

We walked by the Fraunces Tavern, the Stock Exchange, and had some fantastic views of the Freedom Tower. We also walked by 1 New York Plaza

This building holds some historical significance for us Gallaghers, for it was here that my Mom and Dad met after Dad got home from Vietnam. It's also where my sisters and I spent quite a few Christmas Eve Mornings. One year, my dad ordered breakfast for us from the short order cooks in the lobby. One toasted corn, two of the usual and three brown cows. (TRANSLATION- one toasted corn muffin, two toasted bagels, and three chocolate milks)



The end of the walk/run was right along the Hudson, with a great view of the Statue of Liberty.



The breeze off the water was welcoming, as we (or at least I) had worked up quite a sweat from the walk. We were greeted by Mom and Dad and Kate.

This whole thing could not have gone better. Perfect weather, great company, unbelievable sights and sounds. It was a tragedy that brought us to this night, but a triumph what was accomplished. Just all of us getting together to remember our angel was special in and of itself.

But our team was able to raise (as of this writing) over $7000. (Our goal was $4,000).  On a personal note, thanks to my amazing family and friends, I raised $985 through Facebook and the blog. This is good to know for when I toss my Met cap in the ring to kick off my campaign for the White House in 2020. (easy folks-that's a joke)

Seriously though, from the bottom of my heart, to all of you.

:O) Thank you.

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A wild week in sports around here...

THE GOOD-Rangers bring JD home.

The Rangers hired their former goalie/broadcaster John Davidson to be their new team president, taking over for the retiring Glen Sather. JD had previously been president of the Blues and Blue Jackets, two teams that made the playoffs this year. I miss him working the booth with Sam Rosen, but I'm happy he's running the team. He's a good guy who knows his hockey, and I think he will work well with GM Jeff Gorton.

It's been frustrating the past two seasons with the Rangers, watching them miss the playoffs. But with Sather hanging it up, the Rangers picked the right time to pick a new boss, before the draft and free agency. Unlike one of my other teams..

THE BAD-Jets fire Maccagnan, promote Gase

I nearly fell out of my chair at work the other day when I saw the breaking news that the Jets fired their GM. The shock wasn't that he was fired, rather when he was fired.

I will go on the record here and say again, that I was in favor of keeping Maccagnan as GM. No, he hasn't set the world on fire with his moves, but I also felt like his background in scouting would have served the franchise well. Look, I realize this is NY, I realize we fancy ourselves a championship factory, but the fact of the matter is that is nonsense. Since the century began 19 years ago, our 9 teams have won 6 times. Two for the Yankees, two for the Devils, and two for the Giants. we can be as demanding as we want, but the older I get, the more I feel like a GM needs more than 3 or 4 seasons to build a winner. Especially a team as dysfunctional as the Jets.

But that's just me. Maccagnan's spotty record was probably enough to warrant a change. But that change needed to be made PRIOR to his running the draft and signing free agents. If he was going to fired, that needed to happen when Todd Bowels was let go. Not in the middle of May.

A lot of folks around here will be eating crow if Adam Gase turns into Bill Bellichick and leads the Jets to the Super Bowl. I will be one of them because I think this guy is a disaster. And I feel like a schmuck that I defended Woody/Christoper Johnson when it came to rating the owners of my teams. I'll put my owners (the Johnsons, the Wilpons and the Doalns) up against any three sports owners in terms of overall incompetence. My three of a kind will be yours, day in and day out.

Speaking of the Wilpons...

THE UGLY- Mets swept by Marlins

You know who probably needs to get fired? Mickey Callaway.

I don't know if the Mets losing ways is entirely his fault, but I don't think this team is as bad as they are playing, and is in dire need of a good a$$-kicking. I don't think Mickey Callaway is the man to deliver said a$$-kicking.

I know what you're thinking, "Hold on there Gallagher, you just said you have to have patience with the GM, but you want to fire the manager?"

Yes.

It takes time to build from scratch like the Jets. The Mets are a win now team, and the manager needs to act accordingly. I don't see it here.

Losing these games to the Marlins is inexcusable. The Marlins are barely a major league team. To get 1 hit by them like they did on Saturday is a disgrace. Callaway seems like a good guy and he was an excellent pitching coach. He may actually turn out to be a good manager some day.

But with this pitching staff and some of the bats we have, we can't afford to wait. I hate to say it, but he needs to go. Pronto.



THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY-The Knicks Lose the Lottery (but not that badly)

With everything else going on with my three other teams, I almost completely forgot that what we all thought was going to be the biggest story of the week, was the Knicks NOT winning the draft lottery and the ability to draft Duke superstar Zion Williamson. That's obviously the bad news. The good news is that they could have dropped to 5th in a draft that has 1 potential mega-star and two potential superstars. The ugly news is that they are banking on signing two max free agents. Kevin Durant? If he's healthy and wants to come here, great. Kyrie Irving? Do the Knicks bank on him as a potential franchise saviour? I wouldn't. Anthony Davis? he's not a free agent, and you'd have to trade to get him. Assuming 1) he still wants to be dealt, (his team, the Pelicans won the right to draft Zion) and 2) the Knicks must deal the 3rd pick in the draft, how will they go about building a team around him.

I have no doubt the Knicks are going to screw this up. But lets hope not.



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So the Dope from Park Slope made it official on Good Morning America the other day, announcing he was running for President. Like most other sane New Yorkers, I think this is a pipe dream on his part, but there is one way I can see him actually making a run.

It crossed my mind when President Trump tweeted a video aboard Air Force One, saying ".....the worst mayor in the United States is now running for President."

Great job, genius.

Because all Trump did by making that video was legitimize TDFPS candidacy. THAT is going to be DeBlasio's MO here. "Hey look, Trump hates me. I'm in his head! He's so afraid of me, he had to attack me right away!"

And he's not wrong.

If Trump was smart, he would have said nothing. And if someone asked him about it, he should answer, "Who?"

Now DeBlasio has street cred from his fellow democrats. Will it help? Probably not, but it does give him something to work with.



I have not seen one episode of Game of Thrones/ I hope for those invested, the finale wasn't a let down, as finales tend to be.


Again thank you for helping me keep my niece's memory alive.  I've been looking at pictures from the event, especially with all the kids, and wishing she was there, before realizing that by all of us running and walking in her honor, that she was there.

She was there.



Have a Great Week

Team Rebecca: 2019 Wall Street Run and Heart Walk

Hello Everybody:

Let me start off by saying that I know I have done a lousy job at this. It has been a long time since I have participated in a fund raiser, and it shows. So I apologize in advance.

This coming Thursday, I am going to be participating in the 2019 Wall Street Run and Heart Walk to benefit the American Heart Association in their fight against Heart disease and Stroke. I am looking to raise $250.00. So far thanks to friends who saw my post on Facebook, I am halfway there.

I signed up to do this in honor of my niece Becky. The name of our team is Team Rebecca. And some of us are going to run and the rest of us (including yours truly) are going to walk 3.5 miles downtown.


I have had my own heart woes the the past couple of years, but like I said, my reasons for doing this is so that Becky’s memory shines on. My sisters, Kris and Katie have done an unbelievable job of putting Team Rebecca together.

Again, I realize this is a bit late to be asking for donations, but if you can contribute or pass this on, I would appreciate it.

Here is the link.

http://www2.heart.org/site/TR?pg=personal&fr_id=3955&px=13219095&s_hasSecureSession=true



Thank you all so much for your continued love and support. It means everything.



❤️ Bill

Weekly Mail May 5, 2019

Happy Cinco de Mayo!


Last August, I took Tim to a taping of Wonderama.  They brought Wonderama back in early 2017, and Timmy had told me he'd love to sit in the audience and perhaps play in one of the games they have. Last summer, I saw an ad on Facebook saying they were going to be taping and to send an -e-mail if you were interested in attending. I chose a date and lo and behold they e-mailed me a waiver and a ticket.

They tape the show at Baruch College down on 28th Street. Parents don't get to go into the studio, but the cameras are on all the time so you can watch in the waiting room. Tim said he had a good time, though he didn't get to play Circle of Pies or the Dog game. He got to meet the host, David Osmond (Donnie and Marie's nephew) and it was a fun day for us.

On the first episode of the season, there was a quick shot of Tim in the audience, but it wasn't the show we saw. To be honest, I thought that they may have sent the tape to the scrap heap. But this past Saturday, they aired the entire episode, with multiple appearances by our main man.

If you want to have some fun, get yourself a bottle of Fireball, click on the below link, and take a shot every time the Timster comes on the screen.


Timmy on Wonderama




HOCKEY: Isles be seeing ya

The more I thought about it, the less appealing the idea of the Islanders skating around the Barclay's Center with the Stanley Cup had become. I have watched the Yankees win 5 World Championships since the Mets won in 1986. I have seen the Giants win 4 Super Bowls since the Jets last won 50 years ago. (4 years before I was born) It's bad enough I had to watch the Devils win 3 cups since the Rangers won in 1994, to have the Islanders win....that might be more than my system can handle.

But yeah, despite that, I found myself pulling for them against Carolina. I wish I could say it's because my wife is an Islander fan, but she's also a Yankee fan and I'm sick of the Yankees. Maybe it was because they played the first round at the Coliseum, and that sounded the way the old Garden used to sound. Maybe it is because as a Met and Jet fan, I know the pain the Islander fan knows.

I realize this makes no sense, dreading the thought of the Islanders winning a Cup, while simultaneously rooting for them. I'm thinking as they got further along, and their fans went from grateful to obnoxious, I would have changed my tune.

It's all academic now anyway, as the Fishticks were swept by a Carolina team that quite frankly I thought the Islanders were better than. It was easy for me to be diplomatic too, telling my Islander fan friends that they had a great year, a year that was unexpected after their best player left them in the dust.  I of course would have pitched a shitfit if my team got swept like that.

A bunch of my fellow Ranger fans on some of the Ranger pages I belong to on FB were giving the Isles a lot of guff for getting swept. I held my tongue mainly because having not made the playoffs, I didn't feel like I was in a position to say anything.

But for a team that didn't make the playoffs, the Rangers are having a pretty good off season. They own the number 2 pick in the draft, and the other day they acquired a top defensive prospect named Adam Fox. Of course these picks and prospects have to turn into something, but it's nice to see the direction they are moving in.


HORSE RACING- Now I've seen everything..

When I worked at OTB, every once in a while, there would be an inquiry or an objection, basically the horse racing equivalent of a coaches challenge. Sometimes it would change the outcome of the race, but not too often.

I've never seen it happen in a stakes race.

And I've never seen it happen where a relative favorite ended up surrendering their victory to a complete long shot.

Such was the case on Saturday's 145th running of the Kentucky Derby at soggy Churchill Downs.

Like I did after I thought Auburn had beaten Virginia in the Final Four, I walked away from the TV thinking "That's going to be some Triple." I had no idea just how big that triple was going to be.

Unreal.


POLITICS: Throwing his (dunce) hat in the ring

I had heard the rumours that Mayor DeBlasio was considering entering the 2020 Presidential race. If ever there was fake news, this had to be it right? I mean, I'm still trying to figure out how the Dope from Park Slope won re-election as MONY, (no- I don't think it was voter fraud or any hanky panky like that) I can't imagine anyone outside the city voting for him.

And yes, I never thought we would have the likes of Captain Orange in the Oval Office either, so you want to tell me anything can happen, I'll buy that to an extent. But I'm figuring it's going to be a LONG time before anybody from our state gets elected President again, that goes for Angry Andrew Cuomo and Chuck Schumer too.

Of course in 5 years, the legendary Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will be old enough  to run for the White House. But now I'm getting off the subject. My main point is, if DeBlasio thinks anyone outside New York City would elect him dog-catcher, he's out of his mind.

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There is something about this dude that is racking up all these big wins on Jeopardy that I don't trust. Maybe it's the fact that he lists his profession as Professional Gambler. (The streets of Atlantic City are alive with professional gamblers.  Maybe its just how weird looking he is, I don't know. When Ken Jennings was racking up all those wins, I was impressed and thought nothing amiss.  I realize I have zero proof that this guy is anything but on the level, it's just a weird feeling I have.


And once again with the Mets, when the hit, they don't pitch, when they pitch they don't hit. Seasons change, the story stays the same.

If you get a chance, google up Adam Sandler's tribute to Chris Farley on this past Saturday's SNL. Very funny, and very moving.


Have a Great Week