Weekly Mail June 23, 2019

Hi!

Thank you all so much for reading and responding to last week's blog post about my dad. I was greatly moved by your responses. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Looking to have another special next week. We'll see how it goes.


Onto the week that was



POLITICS: Middle East Worries.


So I don't know what spooked me more, 1) the Iranians shooting down one of our drones, 2) President Trump ordering military strikes, or 3) then saying Ahh fughetaboutit


To review, early Thursday morning, Iranian forces shot down an unmanned American military drone that it claimed was flying over Iranian airspace. The US claimed the drone was flying over the Strait of Hormuz, considered international waters.

In response, President Trump apparently gave the go-ahead on a retaliatory attack on Iran, only to change his mind, in his words, "10 minutes" before the operation was to take place.


My feelings about Iran have been pretty clear... they have been nothing but trouble for the past 40 years. And while I give President Obama all the props in the world for trying to come up with a plan to contain their nuclear program, I didn't think it went far enough.

Having said that, I felt Trump should have tried to figure out a better way to beef up the agreement than to just unconditionally pull out of it.

But it's this indecisiveness that has me really concerned. You listen to his reasoning, that he figured risking 150 or so lives for the sake of an unmanned drone, and he almost sounds like he's being reasonable. But if he really was 10 minutes away from launching this attack, that means there was a time when he wasn't using his senses.

Maybe the reason I'm concerned is that I'm currently reading Michael Wolff's second book about the Trump Administration called Siege: Trump Under Fire, which has been a bit of a disappointment. Part of it is that with this administration, I'm finding more and more that the truth is stranger than fiction. There's nothing Wolff reveals that you haven't heard before.

But also, while Wolff had a front row seat to the goings on in the White House in his first book, he has no such access in this book, and in fact by his own admission, he is relying way too much on someone who was unceremoniously dumped from the White House nearly two years ago;
Steve Bannon.

Wolff makes no bones that he relied on Sloppy Steve for much of his material, and quotes him extensively on the record. I'm not saying Bannon isn't a player in Washington, underestimating him is one of the reasons we have a Trump administration in the first place. But Wolff makes him out to be more relevant than he truly is. If Bannon was still the force he was in 2016, the House would still be in the hands of the GOP.

I don't have the answer for how to deal with Iran, Problem is, neither does the guy in charge.

Scary


NBA & NHL DRAFTS

Thursday night the NBA held their draft and there were no big surprises. The Knicks, who pretty much tanked this season only to end up with the number 3 pick, chose a guy who 1) Is very good, 2) wants to play in NY, and 3) seems like a hell of a nice kid.

RJ Barrett, a teammate of number one pick Zion Williamson at Duke, is probably the most highly anticipated draft pick for the Knicks since Patrick Ewing.  The crowd went nuts with cheering the other night, which is not the usual reaction from the peanut gallery. I hope he lives up to the hype.

I also hope now that Kevin Durant is going to be out of commission for a while, that the Knicks don't feel the need to spend their cap money on players that wouldn't otherwise be worth a max contract, just for the sake of sating the appetite of the fan base. I'd sign a couple of players for reasonable money, then develop the young players they have. Then go after a superstar when they become available. I'd rather suck again next year, than give max contracts to players that are good but not great, and end up with a 45 wins team that gets bounced out in the first round.

Friday was the first round of the NHL Draft, and once again all the predictions came true. The Devils drafted American Jack Hughes and the Rangers drafted Topo Gigio.. um, I mean Kaapo Kakko from Finland.

I'm not going to lie.. I wanted Hughes. But all reports are saying that Kakko is the real deal as well. I feel as though Hughes is the kind of player that makes the others around him better, while Kakko is just a pure talent. If Kakko can really carry a team, then I'll be happy. I just wish Hughes had ended up somewhere out west, not across the Hudson.

The Rangers have had a hell of an off season though. In addition to Kakko, they also signed Adam Fox and they just traded for Jacob Trouba (sending back to Winnipeg the draft pick they traded Kevin Hayes for). Two solid young defensemen. They may be another year away from contending, but it looks like they are restocking the cupboard.


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

My mom the other day was telling me all about the joy of Uber eats, the ability to order food from your favorite fast food chains and have them deliver to your house. I'm happy for her, but we better not tell her about this story....


CRIME: Would you like extra sauce with that?

An Uber Eats delivery man in Hackensack was caught er "hacking his sack" as it were by a woman he had just delivered food to.

Vinicius Porto had delivered food to a 23 year old woman. The woman noticed that the bag was unstapled. When she went out to talk to the driver who was still parked there, she saw him bopping his baloney. She took out her phone and starting shooting till he took off.

I didn't know if I should keep her from falling or zip up .....So, I zipped up! -George Costanza



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_UYvyRePzo

I mean there us no justification for this kind of behavior, but playing devil's advocate here, if this guy was so, for lack of a better term "inspired" at the very least drive a few blocks away. You know the slogan they are using to prevent texting while driving "It can wait" ? Same principle applies here pal.

Porto was tracked down and given a summons for public lewdness. Hope it was worth it.


Today was my niece/goddaughter Rachel's 5th birthday. I'm biased of course, but she is one of the funniest spunkiest kids I've ever met. Happy Birthday Baby!


Everyone Else

Have a Great Week

Weekly Mail Father's Day Special

   The first person sitting on the left in this photo is my dad, watching Cleon Jones catch the last out of the 1969 World Series





Not all anniversaries are ones we celebrate.

Sure we celebrate birthdays, weddings, and things like that. Other anniversaries are more somber, remembering those we lost.


Last week, my father had an anniversary of sorts, one that I would imagine he didn't want to celebrate per se but one I felt should be acknowledged.


June 10, 1969 was the day my dad was reported to be injured in Vietnam. 50 years ago last Monday.

His injuries were what we would describe now as catastrophic. He was in a coma for two weeks. My grandmother was informed by telegram that he was seriously injured.

He had to relearn to walk, write, throw, anything that required the use of your arm or leg, which is to say, pretty much everything.

Part of me wants to tell you everything he's been through, though even I probably couldn't do that justice. Even if I could, I'm sure he wouldn't want me to. He's a proud man, but he's extremely humble. He wears a Purple Heart pin on his sports jacket, but that's only been the last few years.

He 's never bragged. More impressively-he's never complained.

Not once.

There were more than a few times he would come home from work, with cuts and scrapes on his face and hands. Many times this was on his way IN to work, but he wouldn't come home. He'd still head in to his office.

He once told me his goal was to rehab himself to the point he could leave the hospital and get back to his job when his tour of duty was supposed to be up. That would have been June of 1970. He was back to work that April.

Last week, I had to shake my head when I heard President Trump's answer when he was asked about serving in Vietnam.

"Well I was never a fan of that war. I'll be honest with you. I thought it was a terrible war. I thought it was very far away. Nobody ever -- you're talking about Vietnam at that time and nobody ever heard of the country," 

Big Bill grew up in Woodhaven, about 6 miles away from Jamaica Estates, where Donald Trump grew up. In other words, Vietnam was just as far away for dad as it was for Trump, give or take 6 miles. Dad went. I'm sure it wasn't on his bucket list. I'm sure it wasn't for many of the 2.5 million Americans that went over there. 

On this Father's Day, I just want to remind all of us that we don't always have to look very far if we need to find a hero. Many times, they are as close as our own homes.

Mine definitely was.

Happy Father's Day


_______________________________________________________________________________

Every year around late June/early July, when Sirius/XM 80's channel does their Top 40 Countdown from 1985, a song by British musician/composer Paul Hardcastle comes on called "19". It's basically a dance track with sound bites from a documentary about decorated soldiers home from Vitenam who ended up serving time in jail. The title of the song is based on a fact read by the narrator of the documentary that says the average age of the soliders serving in Vietnam was 19 as opposed to 26 WWII.

I don't know if any of you have ever heard this song, but I'm curious, were they actually playing this in clubs in the 80's? I mean it was on the dance charts. if I was out clubbing and this song came on, it would be quite a buzzkill.

BTW- my dad went to Vietnam in December 1968. Guess how old he was?

Paul Hardcastle 19






NOTES:

*Here are some statistics about the Vietnam War courtesy of a website created by the US Wardogs Association of America. http://www.uswardogs.org/vietnam-statistics/




*** To be fair, neither Bill Clinton or George W. Bush served in Vietnam, in case you think I was picking on Trump exclusively. Clinton defeated two heroes of the Greatest Generation, George HW Bush and Bob Dole, in his two Presidential victories, George W, defeated Al Gore and John Kerry who both served in Vietnam (Gore was a correspondent for Stars and Stripes) and John McCain, who was a POW in Vietnam for 6.5 years lost to Barrack Obama. The military draft had been abolished by the time Obama came of draft age in 1979, and America was not involved in any conflicts while Obama was of draft age (18-26).

Weekly Mail June 9, 2019

Hi:

Friday night, Timmy had his bridging over ceremony with the scouts. He officially went from being a Cub Scout to a Boy Scout. It was one of those real proud parent moments. But for more than just the usual reasons.


I met Tim's den leader, Paul Lehner, through our mutual friend Dan (No Shot) Unverzagt.  I had pictured Tim being at least a two sport athlete and never thought about signing him up for the scouts. But over a few glasses of personality at JPauls, Paul convinced Danny and I to sign our kids up for his den. Also that night at JPaul's another friend of ours was there, Dennis Jenkins, whose daughter had gone to kindergarten with Timmy. When I asked him what he was doing out that night he said, My son is in Paul's den." That sold it for me.

Of course it didn't matter that the den was made up of the kids of my Oceanside drinking buddies* if Timmy didn't like it, I would have told him he didn't have to go. But he loved it. He became real good buddies with the other boys in the den, and he loved the creativity of the projects he worked on.

But most importantly, the scouts came around at a very tough time in Timmy's life....

Timmy started in the scouts just as Tara's dad's cancer had taken a turn for the worse. To say this was a necessary diversion for Tim is an understatement.  Building his boat for the regalia and his car for the Pinewood Derby kept his mind off his Pop's illness. And the fact that Tim's father is all thumbs and considers changing a light bulb do it yourself home repair, made his work all the more special.

It was the scouts that helped Timmy get through losing his Pop, and then again last year when he lost cousin Becky. The first pack meeting was the third Friday of September, and the Boy Scouts were there, showing the youngins how to pitch a tent, and fold an American Flag, and use knives and other tools. Tim was right in there, asking questions, good questions too. Questions that let the older boys know he was serious about this.

I don't know if he will end up becoming an eagle scout like he says he wants to, but I wouldn't bet against him, or any of the other boys in his den. I will always be grateful to Paul and his wife Kelly Ann for all they did for these kids. There were several lights in the dark times we had these past two years. The scouts, and everybody involved were as bright as any.


Remembering D-Day.

I tried to catch as many of the 75th anniversary of D-Day celebrations as I could. It's mind blowing to me, considering how many men we lost that day and how old those men are today the number of heroes that made it to the remembrances. Someone who was 18 that day is 93 now.

There were some guys on the radio the other day talking about how many of us younger people only know about D-Day because of the first 20 minutes of Saving Private Ryan, but I have to admit, it really took that opening scene to drive home for me what a horror that day was.  As a kid, I always knew it was a great military victory for America and it's allies. But my mind could never wrap itself around the cost of that victory.

I mean, to be on a barge coming onto the Normandy shore, hearing the German bullets hitting the steel barge, knowing the odds were as soon as that door opened you were going to get shot? Could you blame any of those guys for saying, "This is a suicide mission, what's the point?"

And not one of them did. If there were 10 men to a barge and eight of them got cut down, the two that made it to the shore were there to take back France from the Nazis. And somehow they did.

I watched the beginning of Saving Private Ryan again the other day, and it still leaves me awestruck. It's the easiest thing in the world to say they don't make men like that anymore, but the fact of the matter is they do. We still have men and now women, who are willing to do that, in Iraq, Afghanistan, taking on al-Qaeda and ISIS.

I just think back them there were more of them. Maybe I'm wrong.

President Trump was asked in an interview with his old buddy Piers Morgan about not serving in Vietnam for amongst other reasons, bone spurs in his feet, Trump's response?

Well I was never a fan of that war. I'll be honest with you. I thought it was a terrible war. I thought it was very far away. Nobody ever -- you're talking about Vietnam at that time and nobody ever heard of the country," 


But, uh, nobody heard of Vietnam and then say well what are we doing. So many people dying. So I was never a fan of -- this isn't like I'm fighting against Nazi Germany. I'm fighting -- we're fighting against Hitler. And I was like a lot of people. Now I wasn't out in the streets marching. I wasn't saying, you know, I'm going to move to Canada, which a lot of people did. But no, I was not a fan of that war. That war was not something that we should have been involved in."

Well thanks for clearing that up Don.

Next week, for a Father's Day Special, I'll tell you about another guy who wasn't a fan of that war either, but went anyway.



EDUCATION:

If you took all my friends and family, and grouped them by occupation, the overwhelming number of them are teachers.  So I don't like to pick on teachers that much.

But there were a couple of stories this week that made me do a double take.

First there was the teacher in Bay County Florida who wrote "WTF is this?" on the top of a students homework.

I had a couple of teachers that dropped F-bombs, but none of them were dumb enough to write them on our homework or tests. That's just asking for trouble. And of course, the kid's mother is demanding apologies and reprimands. and is no doubt consulting with their team of attorneys.
I.m curious to see what the hell work this kid turned in to provoke such potty mouth. But I guess that's besides the point.

Next we head to Gary, Indiana where a teacher gave an 11 year old autistic child a trophy as most annoying male. What's worse, the father, who deserves a trophy himself for Mr. Rogers-like restraint, left the trophy there, the teacher chased after him and said "Wait, you forgot your trophy."

Talk about WTF!

This would be cruel to do to any 11 year old child, much less one with special needs. And again God bless this poor baby's parents.  If they did that to my child, the teacher would have to have said trophy removed from their a$$. And since both Tara and I work at the two closest hospitals to Tim's school, that might pose a problem.

Finally we have the 4 teachers in Akron, Ohio who allegedly were doing jello shots during school hours. This one I can almost forgive. I mean, I hear some of the horror stories these poor teachers have to deal with and I think a three martini lunch should be in order.

But alas, teachers, like almost any other profession, needs to lay off the booze during the day. And jello-shots with a bunch of kids around is just wrong for myriad other reasons too.

School year is almost over my teacher friends. You have all summer to tie one on, swear up and down and make fun of the pains in the a$$. For the love of all things holy, hang in there.

Next week, we’ll have a Father’s Day Special 

Have a Great Week 

Weekly Mail June 2, 2019

Hey:

Tim had his last lacrosse game of the season on Sunday, a 7-5 loss to Lynbrook. The team was much improved this year, 3-4 after going 0-7 last year. What was frustrating was, with all the crappy weather we had this spring, many of is practices were washed out. Still, he had fun and the kids on his team are good guys, so I'm sorry to see it end.


Onto the week that was....


So we had a couple of athletes who died just after our deadline last week. 

Bart Starr: Several years ago, I read the autobiography of Vince Lombardi titled When Pride Still Mattered. The book went into great detail about the kind of discipline Lombardi instilled in the Packers. 

Bart Starr respected Lombardi, maybe more than anyone else in Green Bay, but according to the book, there was no fear. Starr’s father was a Drill Sargent in the Marines, there wasn’t anything Lombardi was going to say that would rattle him. In fact, Starr asked if Lombardi needed to give out to him, that he do it in private, so that he wouldn’t look weak in front of his offense.

Bart Starr was the only player who could get away with a request like that. And he did.

Must have worked too. Under Lombardi with Starr at QB, the Packers won 5 NFL Championships in the 60’s. When the Packers lost to the Eagles in the 1960 NFL Championship game, Lombardi told his team “Gentlemen, THAT will never happen again.” It never did. Bart Starr went 9-0 in theplayoffs, including the first two Super Bowls, both of which he captured the MVP of the game.

He also coached the Packers from 1975-1982, but had little success. It seems like he was overshadowed by guys like Johnny Unitas, but make no mistake he was one of the all time greats. And by all accounts an all time great man too. 

Bill Buckner: Just as foolish as it might be to judge Bart Starr on the basis of his coaching record, that’s how foolish it is to judge Bill Buckner on the basis of the one play he seems to be remembered for. The ground ball through his legs in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series. 

I have always contended two things about that whole thing.....1) I believe Bob Stanley’s wild pitch that allowed Kevin Mitchell to score the tying run was as much if not more costly than was Buckner’s error. Even if Buckner fields that ball cleanly and we head to the 11th inning, whose bullpen do you have more faith in at that point?

2) I still believe that Mookie would have beaten Buckner to the bag in a foot race. Remember, Buckner was on two gimpy ankles, which is why 3) I also believe manager John McNamara ultimately deserves more blame than Buckner and Stanley. 

No matter how you feel about my above $0.02, what’s not in dispute is that Bill Buckner was a hell of a good ball player. I read somewhere he never struck out more than three times in a row. Can you imagine? That’s over  21 year career. That’s amazing. 

He finished with over 2,700 hits. He was the best player on some crappy teams in the late 70’s and early 80’s. 

And the fact that he became good friends with Mookie Wilson and did the Rubber Chicken circuit with him show what class he had. 

Two class acts. Two men who deserved better than what they got, but who also didn’t complain. 

RIP

Also in the RIP column this week.....

95.5 WPLJ

I listened to the final days of WPLJ on Thursday and Friday and it was really kind of heart wrenching. In some ways, I appreciated that the new people coming in let PLJ have their send off. I remember some stations just switched formats in the middle of the day, with no chance for the on air staff to say goodbye. K-Rock did that back in the 90's, WCBS did it in 2005 when they switched to Jack-FM. Legendary DJ's like Pete Fournatale, Cousin Brucie and Bill Brown were unceremoniously dumped. That was just wrong.

But hearing how emotional these people on PLJ were, that was tough too. I didn't realize how long Todd Pettingil had been at PLJ (almost 30 years). That's insane!

I'm not going to lie, I haven't listened to PLJ much these past few years, but I respect what an institution it was, and for what it's worth, up until they switched the format on Friday evening, it was always the first preset on my car radio.

Now, 95.5 is going to be playing Christian Contemporary Music, and while I consider myself a Christian and I respect any artist who wants to express their faith through music, as a practical matter I have to ask, Who is going to listen to this stuff? In New York City? You may as well play Hillbilly Music.

I'm sorry folks, I just don't see the mass audience for that format. The people who took over the frequency are a non-profit group, which is good because I can't see them making any money on this.  I have to imagine keeping PLJ on the air had to make more sense than this, but then what do I know?

Anyway, here's a song I wonder if they'll play on the new 95.5.

If you Don't Love Jesus



I hope I don't come off as unpatriotic, but I really hope the Raptors beat the Warriors in the NBA Finals. And I'm pulling for St.Louis in the Stanley Cup Finals.

The Mets had two real bad losses out west this week, blowing 5 run leads against the Dodgers and DBacks. Is it that they can't win on the road? June is when things went south last year, I hope we don't have a repeat.


That's all folks

have a Great Week