Sunday, July 28, 2019
Weekly Mail July 28, 2019
Hey Everyone:
Thank you so much for your kind words and messages last week. They helped make a very sad time more bearable.
Last week I wanted to be all about remembering our Becky, so I avoided the news, but there are a couple things I'd like to discuss....
TRUMP VS. "THE SQUAD"
I'm sorry folks, finding someone to root for here is like trying to find someone to root for during the 1999 World Series. Of course I couldn't root for those scumbag Atlanta Braves, but rooting for the Yankees meant I had to ride the 7 train into work with a bunch of people decked in Yankee gear heading once again for the Canyon of Heroes, while my Mets had come so close.
I can't condone the President of the United States speaking to the 4 Congresswomen like he did, even though I can't stand two of them and don't have much use for the other two either.
Here is the tweet in question....
So interesting to see “Progressive” Democrat Congresswomen, who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world (if they even have a functioning government at all), now loudly and viciously telling the people of the United States, the greatest and most powerful Nation on earth, how our government is to be run. Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came. Then come back and show us how....
I don't care if you are the President of the United States or some dude at a bar, you tell someone to go back where you came from, in a country like ours where we all came from somewhere, there's not much room for debate whether or not it's racist.
Let's put aside for a minute that 3 of the 4 members of the squad were born here in the US, including one from the same state and city that Trump was from. The President can't speak to anyone like that, much less members of Congress.
Having said that, I'll never support Ilhan Omar. Not after what she said about 9/11 (some people did something) and what she said about the Black Hawk Down soldiers (claiming they killed thousands of Somalis).
And Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez? I'm trying with her, but like the President she so clearly despises, she's just in your face 24/7. I realize that's not entirely her fault, (but that's for another post)
Both Trump and Omar have said things that I find offensive. And both have said these things too many times for me to call it accidental. You go back to the campaign, with Trump calling Mexican 'rapists" and questioning President Obama's birth certificate, to his quote about very fine people on both sides that included amongst other groups, neo-nazi's and skinheads. As my lifelong friend James Tubridy asked, "Where does the line in the sand get drawn with him?"
You want to tell me Congresswoman Omar was quoted out of context? Sorry folks, I'm not buying it. Again there are just too many instances where she either defends countries who support terrorism or bashes countries who don't. Some of you thought I over reacted to her "Some people did something" quote. I'm sorry I respectfully but strongly disagree.
The problem as I see is is that in years past, we could chalk all this up as Trump and the Squad representing the extreme sides of their respective parties. Thing is, the extreme seems to be where everyone is going. Joe Biden suggests that by dealing with segregationists when he was a young congressman, it shows he can work with people who he disagrees with, and he gets painted as a bigot by Kamala Harris. How the hell can you question the man who served as the VP for the first African American President in our history about his policy on race?
But this is where we are at folks. Elizabeth Warren's got some good ideas. Joe Biden was our Vice President. But they are being overshadowed by the squad. I fear 2020 is going to make 2016 look like a church picnic.
Scary.
THE MUELLER HEARINGS
Former FBI Director Robert Mueller is truly one of our country's great people.
A decorated Vietnam veteran, a former deputy Attorney General, and a successful attorney in the private sector. Mueller has led a life of patriotic service. And to have undertaken the massive job that was the investigation of Russian interference with the 2016 Presidential campaign is something all of us who want free and fair elections should be indebted to him forever.
I want my admiration for Director Mueller made clear. That way I don't come off as overtly cruel when I say that he did not do himself or Congress any favors during his testimony on Capitol Hill the other day.
I watched the replays on You Tube and listened during my lunch break as he was questioned and grilled by the House Judiciary Committee and the House Intelligence Committee.
And IMHO nobody came out ahead on this.
Mueller to me came off as aloof and unprepared, clearly not wanting to be there. In some ways, I can't blame him. Why would anyone want to have to spend any time talking to the likes of Louie Gohmert. At one point Gohmert started ranting against Mueller and I was waiting for someone to say "Dude, is there a question in there?"
But even when Democrats were asking him questions, he had to ask them to be repeated, then in many cases either outright refused to answer or gave answers that weren't clear. It's quite possible that I missed something, but I have to be honest, I didn't come out of that hearing learning much more than I knew coming into it. To me, that kind of defeated the purpose.
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IF YOU BELIEVE, THEY PUT A MAN ON THE MOON....
-R.E.M
It was 50 years ago last week, that America scored one of it's greatest victories, winning the race with the Soviet Union to have someone step foot on the moon. There are many things that happened before I was born that I wish I had gotten to witness live. This one tops that list.
After everything that had taken place in the 60's, all the bad stuff, the Kennedy assassinations, the assassination of Dr. King, Vietnam, race riots, etc, how awesome it must have been to see Neil Armstrong take those first steps. It's one of those rare moments where even those with spotty memories know exactly where they were.
And that leads me to a question that I haven't gotten a satisfactory answer to.... How is it that we could accomplish something like this 50 years ago and if we wanted to do it against tomorrow we couldn't? Think about that for a second. Look at everything we can do now that we couldn't do 50 years ago. We can send an email to someone halfway across the world, we have made advancements in so many things. Medicines, machines, you name it.
But our space program has just stopped. That to me is almost as unbelievable as all the things we have accomplished.
I read somewhere that going back to the moon would be a waste because "there is nothing more to learn up there." Really? The moon is a big place, surely there is more to explore. How about figuring out a way to sustain life up there. I mean Lord knows, the way things are going down here, we all may need to find another place to live.
I remember after the Space Shuttle Colombia exploded in 2003, people knocked George W. Bush for suggesting we head back to the moon and consider going to Mars. And again I got my chops busted for defending him, but why not? And since I'm being a real Pollyanna here, why can't it be a joint effort between countries? OK that might be asking to much, but my point is, why the hell not?
As JFK said, we don't choose to do these things because they are easy but because they are hard. I know this will probably cost a ton of money we don't have, but again I'm sure we are pouring money into things we don't need or want. Let's take some of that money and get our space program up again.
In these times of division. I bet this would unite us. And what could be better than that?
I've been hearing that the Mets are looking to deal Noah Syndergaard as well as Zack Wheeler, Jason Vargas and Todd Frazier. I don't understand why they are so hot to deal Thor. He's still under their control for another couple of seasons, and he still has really good stuff, though he's been inconsistent for most of the year. I'd hate to give up on him, and I can't see them getting anything good in return.
THIS JUST IN: Apparently he Mets have acquired pitcher Marcus Stroman from the Blue Jays in exchange for two prospects. So what's the deal here fellas, are we making a run for it or are we selling off like I keep hearing? The Mets make my hair hurt, they really do.
We'll wrap up the baseball trade deadline next week, unless the Mets really piss me off, then maybe we'll have a special on Wednesday.
Have a Great Week
Saturday, July 20, 2019
July 20
That day plays over in my brain
Like a CD on repeat
The day we said goodbye last year
To our angel oh so sweet
Summer is supposed to be for fun
And not for all this pain
Perhaps it will be so again one day
For now it may as well just rain
The bluest sky feels cloudy.
The warmest days feel cold.
Feeling guilty for laughing
At a funny joke that’s told.
Surrounded by many people
Yet feeling all alone
Needing courage to go be with friends
Or even talking on the phone
A song on the radio or people dancing
Things that are everyday routine
Now choke me up and hurt my heart
It’s like someone acting mean
That’s how life is now
Pressing on but still
Living with an emptiness
That nothing will ever fill
You’re my Mom and Dad’s first grandchild
For me, my very first niece
And as long as I’m alive and beyond
My love for you won’t cease
And just because I’m writing this
On the day you went away
Know that you’re in my heart
my soul
my prayers
Every
Single
Day
Sunday, July 14, 2019
Weekly Mail July 14, 2019
SATURDAY JULY 13, 2019
I'm here in Manhattan during the power outage. These are always fun.
Apparently, a transformer blew on 49th between 11th and 12th, and now most of Midtown and the Upper East and Upper West Side are out.
Here at 48th and 6th the power generators are keeping us on line, and relatively cool. I went outside to get the lay of the land
So far everyone is behaving themselves. This is 42 years to the day of the big blackout of 1977.* This is nothing compared to that one, that one took out most of the eastern seaboard. This isn't even taking all of Manhattan.
But Times Square, Rockefeller Center, Madison Square Garden and Broadway shows are all affected. It's the summer the streets are filled with tourists. There's never a good time for this to happen, but between the heat and the tourists, this is really not a good time. Again it was much hotter in 1977.
Bill DeBlasio was just on TV and said that the city's emergency response units were in place and working. The Dope from park Slope of course is nowhere near the city he is supposed to be running, he is out in Iowa on his Don Quixote like run for President. I mean in fairness, he had no way of knowing this was going to happen. I still feel like he's pissing in the wind, and this isn't helping him any.
J-Lo was playing at the Garden tonight and the power outage caused the concert to end. Thankfully it seems like the concert goers evacuated without any incidents. Also thankful that the Knicks and the Rangers were not playing. Not that they would be playing in July anyway, but lately they haven't made it out of April. And I figured that was once again worth mentioning.
Angry Andrew Cuomo called the fact that the outage happened "Unacceptable" He's right. What he going to do about it besides yelling and screaming is yet to be seen. I always crack up when he and TDFPS get into it.
The lights came back on near me a little before 11 PM. So at least I'll be able to get back home tonight. I was actually never in danger of being stranded because the LIRR didn't stop running.
All in a night's work.
***************************************************************************
Every 4 years we are told that this particular Presidential Election is the most important of our lifetime. You are going to hear it a lot this time around, I'll probably even say it myself more than once. It's important for both those who want to get rid of Captain Orange and those who want him to stay.
The fact of the matter is, anytime you are deciding who the leader of the free world is going to be, it's important. So it stands to reason that the current election cycle is the most important. Of course historians can then decide which of the past elections were truly important, or maybe a better word transformative. The first Presidential election I got to vote in was the 1992 election, and for my money, that was maybe the most important/transformative election. And it leads me to this weeks obituary
OBITUARY: H. Ross Perot
Since that 1992 election was the first I was going to get to cast a vote in**, I followed it like a hawk. I bought USA Today every day to see where the candidates were, I read Time, Newsweek etc., I didn't have cable so no CNN, but I watched as much news as I could. So maybe that's why I remember it so vividly.
But also, the country was 12 years into a Republican held White House, the first 8 of those had George HW Bush as Vice President, the next four he was the Commander in Chief, and going for another 4 years. He had a surprisingly tough time in the early primaries against Conservative commentator Pat Buchanan.
Meanwhile on the Democratic side, Bill Clinton was slugging it out with Massachusetts Senator Paul Tsongas and former (and future) California governor Jerry Brown. The Democrats were initially so uninspired by these choices, they were trying to draft New York Governor Mario Cuomo as a "favorite son" candidate.
Out of all this, a Texas billionaire businessman named Henry Ross Perot began to emerge as a third party candidate. In public he dropped the Henry and went by Ross Perot. He was a funny looking, funny sounding little dude, but nobody could question his self made success.
It became apparent by the spring of 1992 that Bill Clinton was going to emerge as the Democrats candidate. But as spring turned to summer, it was Perot leading the polls. He had bought a bunch of 30 minute infomercials using pie charts and graphs to explain what was wrong with the economy. And at that time the US was two years into a recession.
Right before the Democratic Convention that July, Perot dropped out of the race. His poll numbers had slipped, but were still strong for a third party candidate. Clinton who trailed both Perot and Bush, got a bounce from Perot dropping out and a strong performance at the DNC, and took command of the polls. Bush got a bounce after the RNC, but not enough of one to catch Clinton.
Lo and behold, Perot announced he was re-entering the race at the end of September, right before the debates were to start. His performance in the first debate charmed the pants off the media and much of the electorate. And up came his poll numbers again.
He chose retired Admiral James Stockdale as his running mate, and I'll admit I was one of those people who made fun of Stockdale after his debate performance. It wasn't until a few years later, when I read about what Stockdale did as a POW in Vietnam*** that I deeply regretted that.
In an interview after the debates, Perot said that the reason he dropped out in July was that he had information that the GOP was going to sabotage his daughter's wedding. Even I, who didn't put much past Bush's campaign found that awfully hard to swallow, and once again, Perot poll numbers slipped. As it was, he ended up with nearly 20% of the popular vote, and according to many experts, was the difference between Clinton taking over and Bush getting re-elected.
I never considered voting for him. For one, he was great at describing what was wrong, not so much about how to fix it. When he said "First thing we gotta do is get rid of the national deficit, it sounded like "firstthingwegottadoisgetridofthenationaldeficit" He never said how he would go about doing that. Kind of like a Dr. who tells you your leg is broken, but doesn't tell you that you need to get a cast.
The other thing was that as the race rolled on, I started to realize that the last person who wanted Ross Perot to be President was, well, Ross Perot. Whenever he looked like he was gaining some momentum, he'd either pull out of the race or say something dumb and that would put him back where he wanted to be, a somewhat distant third. I felt Donald Trump tried to do the same thing in 2016, but dumb$$ that he is, he got himself elected.
I know a few people who voted for him. And you know something, as the years have gone on since then, I think they were onto something. Again, I really don't think he really wanted the gig, but he was truly a self made man, he served honorably in the military, he was devoted to his family, and I really believe he loved his country. He was what Republicans try to paint themselves as, with a Democrats sense of justice for all. In other words, I kind of wish he was running next year.
His passing this week at 89 brought back this flood of memories. Maybe 1992 wasn't the most important or transformative or even interesting election is our history.
But for me it always will be. And Ross Perot was a big reason why. RIP.
BASEBALL-RIP The Mets.
So Brodie Van Wagenen all but waved the proverbial white flag on Friday. I give him props for eating crow over his "Come and get us" statement, even if he didn't quite take the blame for the disaster he created. What with his bad trades and even worse free agent signings.
I'm sorry, but I still think this team is better than their record says they are. Like Karl (the Ace) Ludwig said the other night, "you tell me that the Mets would have the league leader in hitting, the league leader in home runs with this pitching staff at the All-Star break? I'd have signed up for that in a heartbeat." So would we all.
Except that besides Jacob deGrom, the rest of the starters have been at best inconsistent, and the bullpen has been a disaster. I still believe a good manager could squeeze a few more wins out of these guys. But that might just be wishful thinking at this point. They probably should just join my other three teams and just go in for a full on rebuild, but I can tell you this..I don't want Brodie or Mickey Calloway as part of that. Let the Wilpons go find someone else to build this team. Not that I trust them anymore than I can throw them. but I don't have a choice there.
Alas there was some good news out of Mets land this week, as rookie sensation Pete Alonso won the home run derby. When your teams sux like the Mets do, you gotta take victories where you can find them and this was without a doubt the highlight of the year for us fans.
There was grumblings in some precincts about how Alonso won. The gripes weren't so much about Alonso himself, rather the rules of the contest. Vlad Guerrero Jr. hit a total of 91 home runs, but because it was set up in tournament fashion, he had to hit so many more home runs to beat the guys he was up against. Joc Pederson also had to hit a ton of home runs to advance. Alonso only needed 14 home runs to get out of the first round and 20 to advance to the finals. Guerrero was so spent by the time he got to the finals, Alonso only had to hit 23 home runs to beat Guerrero Jr.
It kind of reminded me of people who bitch about the Electoral College whenever their candidate loses the election.
You want to change the rules and make it whoever hits the most home runs wins the derby? That's fine with me, though if you are going to do that, I would limit the time. I would say Alonso still might have won except for the fact that his pitcher was awful. I mean at one point Alonso had to jump out of the way of an inside pitch! Who did this guy think he was Don Drysdale? To quote my friend Keri DeAngelo "He asked his cousin to throw for him....I'd kill him at Thanksgiving."
But despite his cousin's best efforts and noise from the peanut gallery, we Met fans have something to hang our blue and orange caps on in 2019.
Stay cool!
and Have a Great Week
*Also the day my grandfather passed away (unrelated to the blackout)
**That is, besides the vote I cast for Independent candidate John Anderson in 1980, in Miss Armstrong's second grade class.
***I forget where I read this, but apparently when Stockdale was being held as a POW, his captors wanted him to go on TV to show that he wasn't being tortured. He proceeded to bang his head against the wall and beat his face with a chair so that he'd have cuts and scars on his face. If you were going to rank VP candidates by guts alone, Stockdale could do what Larry Bird used to do during the 3-point contests and say "Which one of y'all is comin in second."
*Also the day my grandfather passed away (unrelated to the blackout)
**That is, besides the vote I cast for Independent candidate John Anderson in 1980, in Miss Armstrong's second grade class.
***I forget where I read this, but apparently when Stockdale was being held as a POW, his captors wanted him to go on TV to show that he wasn't being tortured. He proceeded to bang his head against the wall and beat his face with a chair so that he'd have cuts and scars on his face. If you were going to rank VP candidates by guts alone, Stockdale could do what Larry Bird used to do during the 3-point contests and say "Which one of y'all is comin in second."
Sunday, July 7, 2019
Weekly Mail July 7, 2019
Hey Everyone:
Sorry we didn't post last week.
Remember for my September 11th special when I talked about a couple of my friends who had kids graduating from high school in June? Well, last Saturday I got to celebrate one of those graduations.
I remember the day Brendan DePuy came home from the hospital a couple days after his birth . That little guy that I got the hold is now 18 and going to college. I got to celebrate with him and his family at Donovan‘s a bar owned by another friend of mine whose girl is graduating and going to college in September.
It was great seeing the crew and all the kids who are now getting so big. Kids I held when they came home from the hospital and now looking down to see me. I feel old, I feel short. HA!
But they are great kids. All of them.
Tim and I then headed to Citi Field for the Mets-Braves game. We stayed at Donovan's for the ceremony honoring the 50th anniversary of the 1969 team. I consider those guys old, to Timmy they are probably biblical, (like Old Testament biblical).
And it was just as well they we missed it, because as soon as we got there, we had to sit through an hour long rain delay. A game that should have ended around 8 PM, went all the way to 10 PM. And as usual, our amazing bullpen blew it. More than one person said we would have been better off suiting up some of the guys from 1969. They sure as hell couldn't have been any worse.
I went to the game the next night with Karl (the Ace) Ludwig, (Razor) Ray McGarvey and Ed (Auggie) DePuy. Miracles of miracles they won that game, but the only drawback was we didn't get our 1969 replica rings because we weren't one of the first 15,000 fans through the gate. I was there early enough, but I was too busy watching Joey Chestnut surrounded by about 25 people in dancing hot dog suits singing "Who Let the Dogs Out?"
And while I'm ranting here, they couldn't produce more than 15,000 of these rings? This is why the Mets are considered such cheapskates. I guess if they weren't paying Bobby Bonilla, Yoenis Cespedis and JD Lowrie millions of bucks to not play, maybe they could have bought more rings.
Onto the news of the (past two) week(s)
BASKETBALL: Knicks strike out.
It was whilst I was on the train heading into Citi Field last Sunday that I saw the Nets had signed Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving to max contracts. The outcry from my fellow Knicks fans was predictable. But lets put some of this into perspective.
Durant ruptured his Achilles tendon during the NBA Finals and will miss the entire 2019-20 season. When he returns, he'll be 32 years old. That's not old, but coming off an injury like that, that's more than a bit of a risk. Kyrie at least from where I'm siting, doesn't come off as a franchise player. But he's getting that kind of money. And remember something else... the last time the Nets brought two big shots in, it was the disastrous Paul Pierce Kevin Garnett deal. I think the Celtics are still drafting with the picks the Nets gave up in that deal.
I know, I know, this is just money, and Pierce and Garnett were on the back nine so to speak, but again, there are no guarantees with this kind of injury that Durant is going to be the player he was. As dysfunctional as the Knicks are, I can't really fault them here. They were smart to sign a few guys for short term contracts, and if they end up in the lottery again, maybe they can get another young stud. The Knicks have been irrelevant since the end of the Clinton administration, at this point whats a few more years?
The thing is, I think when James Dolan heard what happened to the Knicks, he immediately called John (JD) Davidson and said "Go sign somebody"..
HOCKEY: Rangers get the Breadman
Every year there is always a "Big fish" in every sports free agent pool. Kevin Durant was arguably the big fish in basketball (though you will get no argument from me if your choice is former Raptor new Clipper Kawhi Leonard.) Baseball last year had Bryce Harper.
This year in hockey the big fish was Blue Jackets winger Artemi Panarin. The Rangers reeled him in with a huge contract (7 years, $81.5 million. Average Annual Value AAV-11.4 million.) That's a lot of scratch for one player in a salary cap league.
I'm always kind of torn when the Rangers make a big splash like this in free agency. I love the idea that they can get a player with Panarin's talent, but I look at some of the guys they've signed in the past, and it's not a pretty picture. Kevin Shatterkirk has been injury prone. Before that there was Brad Richards, who was bought out. They traded for Rick Nash, but that was pretty much a sign and trade, and while he was a solid player for us, he wasn't the goal scorer we needed him to be. At least not consistently.
Panarin is 27 years old, he's just coming into his prime, and on a line with Mika Zabinajead, he could be s stud. But again, I feel like we sign these big star players, only to buy em out a few years later. Here is hoping the bread man delivers.
And if you thought it was werid that the Nets were able to sign Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, consider that according to multiple sources, the Islanders actually offered Panarin more money. When was the last time you heard the Islanders ponying up more dough than the Rangers?
I'm so fed up with the Mets these days. At least they beat the Yankees last Tuesday. Thank goodness for small favors. That, and Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil.
SOCCER- Women's World Cup
When they beat Thailand 13-0 in their World Cup opening match, my first thought was after two years of watching all my teams miss the playoffs and generally suck, it was nice to finally have a team to root for that dominates their sport.
But I'm not so sure I still feel that way.
Way back during the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, I was watching the third installment of the Men's Basketball Dream Team with a few of my friends at a bar. A couple of those guys told me they were rooting against the US team. My friends didn't like the way the team was acting, running up the score, just being jerks in general.
I could never do that, and I certainly didn't do that here. I'm happy that they beat the Netherlands today.
But I do have to admit, this incarnation of the US Women's Soccer team was a lot harder to root for than the team from four years ago.
The 2015 team was fun. Abby Wombach was one of the easiest people to root for. Hope Solo was a head case off the field but a warrior on it. The rest of the team, with something to prove after losing the 2011 World Cup to Japan, played their hearts out and gave us something to be proud of.
These guys seemed to have a chip on their shoulder.
I know, I know. Some of this has to do with the Big Mouth in the Oval Office, who really one would think would have more important things to worry about, such as Iran building nukes.
Now, he's in a twitter battle with star player Megan Rapinoe.
I want to like Rapinoe, I really do. Right now, she's probably our country's most recognizable athlete* She should be having the time of her life, starring for the best team in the world, dating an amazing woman and athlete in her own right in Sue Bird. You just knew when she was lining up for that penalty kick, that she was going to bang it home. She's as clutch as anyone I've ever seen in any sport. While I disagree with her not standing for the national anthem, I do respect her for trying to call attention to an issue dear to her heart.. LBGT rights.
But the way she carried on during that 13-0 trashing of Thailand? I mean that seemed like something if she saw Donald Trump doing, she'd be the first one to call him out on it. I have no problem with her not wanting to go to the White House. But lets burn that bridge when we get to it shall we?
And now she's complaining that there are two other tournament finals the same day (different times) as the World Cup Final. I'm sorry, I just find this annoying. It's like she's looking for $h-t to complain about.
I didn't have a problem with Alex Morgan pretending to sip tea after scoring against England. (Especially if as she explained it was a inside joke between her and her friend, Game of Thrones actress Sophie Turner) I do have an issue with Morgan complaining that if a guy did that, there wouldn't be any complaining. Mike Vaccarro in his Open Mike column in today's Post pointed out several instances when men acted like that and got called out for it.
I just get the feeling these ladies are creating enemies, controversies and an Us Vs. Them attitude that's not totally necessary. I could be wrong. I never got that feeling 4 years ago. I felt like when they won, they allowed all of us to celebrate their good fortune. No matter what your race, gender or orientation, we were all Americans celebrating one of our teams winning. Here, I feel like this team has a persecution complex.
I'm still glad they won. It just doesn't feel the same.
POLITICS: Democrat Debate.
I couldn't get into the debate a couple weeks ago in Miami. I need the participants to be cut down from a full soccer match to a full court basketball game. 24 candidates is too much. When the Bill DeBlasios, Andrew Yangs, John Hickenloopers and a few others drop out, I'll start watching.
From the research I've done, limited as it has been admittedly,of the 24 or so people running, there are 10 I take seriously.... Biden, Booker, Buttigieg, Gabbard, Gillenbrand, Harris, Klobuchar, O'Rourke, Sanders, and Warren. There are a couple of others I respect, these 10 are the ones I feel have a shot.
I realize that this election is going to be the most important election in our history (I mean they all are, but this one is especially) and that the Iowa Caucus will be here before we know it. But right now there are too many cooks in this kitchen, and some of them need to drop out pronto. There are other ways to draw attention to yourself without muddying up the process.
OBITUARY-Steve Dunleavy
My first day at the Post, November 6, 2003, I was sitting in the area where the copy people sit and my head was spinning. I was trying to learn my job while not getting in anybody's way. At one point towards the end of the day, I saw someone looking over the shoulder of the metro editor. I had heard the term "death warmed over" before, but until I saw Steve Dunleavy for the first time at the Post, I hadn't known what it meant.
I had seen Dunleavy before when he was on A Current Affair back in the early 90's. I hadn't known that he was one of the Post's best reporters back when Rupert Murdoch first bought the paper in 1976. He cracked me up on A Current Affair with his thick Australian accent. I wasn't a big A Current Affair fan, but any time Dunleavy was on I had to watch.
Working with him wasn't always easy, actually it was mostly a pain in the a$$. He would dictate his columns (Usually from his barstool at Langan's) and between his accent and the fact that he was tying one on as his was making his column made taking it down damn near impossible.
Mario Cuomo summed him up this way.. "He's feisty, he's resilient, he's self-made, he stands up for what he believes in-and he even on occasion, be charming. "
I got to see all of that. And it was those times he was charming that I'll remember the most.
One time, he left his wallet at his desk, and he called Ruth the desk assistant and asked her to have one of us bring it down to him at Langans. It was an early Friday evening.
"And Bill, Ruth said to me, "if offers you a drink, you take it."
An hour later, I came back to work. With a beer buzz. At any other job, I'd be getting my resume together. Not here.
We chatted about the paper. He loved the fact that my last name is Gallagher. He talked about how much he won betting on the Yankees. He was a pisser.
There was so much I wanted to ask him. About how he chased the Son of Sam, or where he was the night of the 1977 blackout. (I later found out he was right there in the middle of all the looting in Bushwick) But I didn't ask him anything. I let him do the talking.
As I said, he could be tough to get along with, as are most old time newspaper people. But no matter how much of a dick he could be, I had to give him his props. His columns for the Post in the wake of 9/11, were exactly what the Dr. ordered. Yes, you read them now and you'll probably shake your head when he wrote "that we should turn Afghanistan into the world's biggest parking lot," but as I've said many times before, there are two emotions no man wants anybody to ever see from them. One is fear the other is sadness. I was feeling both. Dunleavy turned that into anger. And for better or worse, that's what got me through.
So another one of the greats is gone. Jimmy Breslin, Murray Kempton. There are those who will say Steve Dunleavy doesn't belong with those men. He sure does. As he once ended one of his columns I typed out for him....
Vaya Con Dios
The year is half over. Lets the make the rest of 2019 a good one.
and Have a Great Week
*well her and the aforementioned Joey Chestnut
Sorry we didn't post last week.
Remember for my September 11th special when I talked about a couple of my friends who had kids graduating from high school in June? Well, last Saturday I got to celebrate one of those graduations.
I remember the day Brendan DePuy came home from the hospital a couple days after his birth . That little guy that I got the hold is now 18 and going to college. I got to celebrate with him and his family at Donovan‘s a bar owned by another friend of mine whose girl is graduating and going to college in September.
It was great seeing the crew and all the kids who are now getting so big. Kids I held when they came home from the hospital and now looking down to see me. I feel old, I feel short. HA!
But they are great kids. All of them.
Tim and I then headed to Citi Field for the Mets-Braves game. We stayed at Donovan's for the ceremony honoring the 50th anniversary of the 1969 team. I consider those guys old, to Timmy they are probably biblical, (like Old Testament biblical).
And it was just as well they we missed it, because as soon as we got there, we had to sit through an hour long rain delay. A game that should have ended around 8 PM, went all the way to 10 PM. And as usual, our amazing bullpen blew it. More than one person said we would have been better off suiting up some of the guys from 1969. They sure as hell couldn't have been any worse.
I went to the game the next night with Karl (the Ace) Ludwig, (Razor) Ray McGarvey and Ed (Auggie) DePuy. Miracles of miracles they won that game, but the only drawback was we didn't get our 1969 replica rings because we weren't one of the first 15,000 fans through the gate. I was there early enough, but I was too busy watching Joey Chestnut surrounded by about 25 people in dancing hot dog suits singing "Who Let the Dogs Out?"
And while I'm ranting here, they couldn't produce more than 15,000 of these rings? This is why the Mets are considered such cheapskates. I guess if they weren't paying Bobby Bonilla, Yoenis Cespedis and JD Lowrie millions of bucks to not play, maybe they could have bought more rings.
Onto the news of the (past two) week(s)
BASKETBALL: Knicks strike out.
It was whilst I was on the train heading into Citi Field last Sunday that I saw the Nets had signed Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving to max contracts. The outcry from my fellow Knicks fans was predictable. But lets put some of this into perspective.
Durant ruptured his Achilles tendon during the NBA Finals and will miss the entire 2019-20 season. When he returns, he'll be 32 years old. That's not old, but coming off an injury like that, that's more than a bit of a risk. Kyrie at least from where I'm siting, doesn't come off as a franchise player. But he's getting that kind of money. And remember something else... the last time the Nets brought two big shots in, it was the disastrous Paul Pierce Kevin Garnett deal. I think the Celtics are still drafting with the picks the Nets gave up in that deal.
I know, I know, this is just money, and Pierce and Garnett were on the back nine so to speak, but again, there are no guarantees with this kind of injury that Durant is going to be the player he was. As dysfunctional as the Knicks are, I can't really fault them here. They were smart to sign a few guys for short term contracts, and if they end up in the lottery again, maybe they can get another young stud. The Knicks have been irrelevant since the end of the Clinton administration, at this point whats a few more years?
The thing is, I think when James Dolan heard what happened to the Knicks, he immediately called John (JD) Davidson and said "Go sign somebody"..
HOCKEY: Rangers get the Breadman
Every year there is always a "Big fish" in every sports free agent pool. Kevin Durant was arguably the big fish in basketball (though you will get no argument from me if your choice is former Raptor new Clipper Kawhi Leonard.) Baseball last year had Bryce Harper.
This year in hockey the big fish was Blue Jackets winger Artemi Panarin. The Rangers reeled him in with a huge contract (7 years, $81.5 million. Average Annual Value AAV-11.4 million.) That's a lot of scratch for one player in a salary cap league.
I'm always kind of torn when the Rangers make a big splash like this in free agency. I love the idea that they can get a player with Panarin's talent, but I look at some of the guys they've signed in the past, and it's not a pretty picture. Kevin Shatterkirk has been injury prone. Before that there was Brad Richards, who was bought out. They traded for Rick Nash, but that was pretty much a sign and trade, and while he was a solid player for us, he wasn't the goal scorer we needed him to be. At least not consistently.
Panarin is 27 years old, he's just coming into his prime, and on a line with Mika Zabinajead, he could be s stud. But again, I feel like we sign these big star players, only to buy em out a few years later. Here is hoping the bread man delivers.
And if you thought it was werid that the Nets were able to sign Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, consider that according to multiple sources, the Islanders actually offered Panarin more money. When was the last time you heard the Islanders ponying up more dough than the Rangers?
I'm so fed up with the Mets these days. At least they beat the Yankees last Tuesday. Thank goodness for small favors. That, and Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil.
SOCCER- Women's World Cup
When they beat Thailand 13-0 in their World Cup opening match, my first thought was after two years of watching all my teams miss the playoffs and generally suck, it was nice to finally have a team to root for that dominates their sport.
But I'm not so sure I still feel that way.
Way back during the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, I was watching the third installment of the Men's Basketball Dream Team with a few of my friends at a bar. A couple of those guys told me they were rooting against the US team. My friends didn't like the way the team was acting, running up the score, just being jerks in general.
I could never do that, and I certainly didn't do that here. I'm happy that they beat the Netherlands today.
But I do have to admit, this incarnation of the US Women's Soccer team was a lot harder to root for than the team from four years ago.
The 2015 team was fun. Abby Wombach was one of the easiest people to root for. Hope Solo was a head case off the field but a warrior on it. The rest of the team, with something to prove after losing the 2011 World Cup to Japan, played their hearts out and gave us something to be proud of.
These guys seemed to have a chip on their shoulder.
I know, I know. Some of this has to do with the Big Mouth in the Oval Office, who really one would think would have more important things to worry about, such as Iran building nukes.
Now, he's in a twitter battle with star player Megan Rapinoe.
I want to like Rapinoe, I really do. Right now, she's probably our country's most recognizable athlete* She should be having the time of her life, starring for the best team in the world, dating an amazing woman and athlete in her own right in Sue Bird. You just knew when she was lining up for that penalty kick, that she was going to bang it home. She's as clutch as anyone I've ever seen in any sport. While I disagree with her not standing for the national anthem, I do respect her for trying to call attention to an issue dear to her heart.. LBGT rights.
But the way she carried on during that 13-0 trashing of Thailand? I mean that seemed like something if she saw Donald Trump doing, she'd be the first one to call him out on it. I have no problem with her not wanting to go to the White House. But lets burn that bridge when we get to it shall we?
And now she's complaining that there are two other tournament finals the same day (different times) as the World Cup Final. I'm sorry, I just find this annoying. It's like she's looking for $h-t to complain about.
I didn't have a problem with Alex Morgan pretending to sip tea after scoring against England. (Especially if as she explained it was a inside joke between her and her friend, Game of Thrones actress Sophie Turner) I do have an issue with Morgan complaining that if a guy did that, there wouldn't be any complaining. Mike Vaccarro in his Open Mike column in today's Post pointed out several instances when men acted like that and got called out for it.
I just get the feeling these ladies are creating enemies, controversies and an Us Vs. Them attitude that's not totally necessary. I could be wrong. I never got that feeling 4 years ago. I felt like when they won, they allowed all of us to celebrate their good fortune. No matter what your race, gender or orientation, we were all Americans celebrating one of our teams winning. Here, I feel like this team has a persecution complex.
I'm still glad they won. It just doesn't feel the same.
POLITICS: Democrat Debate.
I couldn't get into the debate a couple weeks ago in Miami. I need the participants to be cut down from a full soccer match to a full court basketball game. 24 candidates is too much. When the Bill DeBlasios, Andrew Yangs, John Hickenloopers and a few others drop out, I'll start watching.
From the research I've done, limited as it has been admittedly,of the 24 or so people running, there are 10 I take seriously.... Biden, Booker, Buttigieg, Gabbard, Gillenbrand, Harris, Klobuchar, O'Rourke, Sanders, and Warren. There are a couple of others I respect, these 10 are the ones I feel have a shot.
I realize that this election is going to be the most important election in our history (I mean they all are, but this one is especially) and that the Iowa Caucus will be here before we know it. But right now there are too many cooks in this kitchen, and some of them need to drop out pronto. There are other ways to draw attention to yourself without muddying up the process.
OBITUARY-Steve Dunleavy
My first day at the Post, November 6, 2003, I was sitting in the area where the copy people sit and my head was spinning. I was trying to learn my job while not getting in anybody's way. At one point towards the end of the day, I saw someone looking over the shoulder of the metro editor. I had heard the term "death warmed over" before, but until I saw Steve Dunleavy for the first time at the Post, I hadn't known what it meant.
I had seen Dunleavy before when he was on A Current Affair back in the early 90's. I hadn't known that he was one of the Post's best reporters back when Rupert Murdoch first bought the paper in 1976. He cracked me up on A Current Affair with his thick Australian accent. I wasn't a big A Current Affair fan, but any time Dunleavy was on I had to watch.
Working with him wasn't always easy, actually it was mostly a pain in the a$$. He would dictate his columns (Usually from his barstool at Langan's) and between his accent and the fact that he was tying one on as his was making his column made taking it down damn near impossible.
Mario Cuomo summed him up this way.. "He's feisty, he's resilient, he's self-made, he stands up for what he believes in-and he even on occasion, be charming. "
I got to see all of that. And it was those times he was charming that I'll remember the most.
One time, he left his wallet at his desk, and he called Ruth the desk assistant and asked her to have one of us bring it down to him at Langans. It was an early Friday evening.
"And Bill, Ruth said to me, "if offers you a drink, you take it."
An hour later, I came back to work. With a beer buzz. At any other job, I'd be getting my resume together. Not here.
We chatted about the paper. He loved the fact that my last name is Gallagher. He talked about how much he won betting on the Yankees. He was a pisser.
There was so much I wanted to ask him. About how he chased the Son of Sam, or where he was the night of the 1977 blackout. (I later found out he was right there in the middle of all the looting in Bushwick) But I didn't ask him anything. I let him do the talking.
As I said, he could be tough to get along with, as are most old time newspaper people. But no matter how much of a dick he could be, I had to give him his props. His columns for the Post in the wake of 9/11, were exactly what the Dr. ordered. Yes, you read them now and you'll probably shake your head when he wrote "that we should turn Afghanistan into the world's biggest parking lot," but as I've said many times before, there are two emotions no man wants anybody to ever see from them. One is fear the other is sadness. I was feeling both. Dunleavy turned that into anger. And for better or worse, that's what got me through.
So another one of the greats is gone. Jimmy Breslin, Murray Kempton. There are those who will say Steve Dunleavy doesn't belong with those men. He sure does. As he once ended one of his columns I typed out for him....
Vaya Con Dios
The year is half over. Lets the make the rest of 2019 a good one.
and Have a Great Week
*well her and the aforementioned Joey Chestnut
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