Weekly Mail Special Report

Kobe Bryant 1978-2020

It was strange.

I would be less than honest if I said that I was Kobe Bryant's biggest fan.

I don't know if it was because he so modeled himself after another NBA legend I spent most of the 90's rooting against, Michael Jordan. I don't know if it was because of some of the less flattering things I heard about him, especially from teammates and coaches. More likely, it was because he was so good while the guys on my NBA team weren't.

But when I looked at my social media feed and saw the first bits of news, and then as the news was breaking on TV, I felt myself getting that same sick pit of your stomach feeling that you get when someone you know dies suddenly. I just kept hoping it was a mistake, even though it almost never is a mistake.

I watched some of the coverage and as former colleagues and media types who had covered him and had a relationship came on to talk about him, it just kept getting sadder and sadder till I had to turn it off. I only found out just before I started to write this, that his 13 year old daughter was also killed, making this a even deeper tragedy.

Roy Halladay died a couple years ago, also in an aerial accident, also in his early 40's, and I felt bad about that. I'm also a bigger baseball fan than I am a basketball fan these days. And yet, this news seemed to hit me much harder.  And I'm having a hard time trying to figure out why.

I can't say I grew up watching him, his rookie year was 1996-97, around the same time I got my first full time job. When you are a kid, these athletes are your heroes, when you are older, they tend to be a bunch of millionaires playing a game. I realize it's not that simple, but my point is that hero worship luster is greatly diminished, if not gone.

And yet, we still go to the games, we still root these guys on, we still go nuts when they win, and in my case even more nuts when they lose. Maybe it's that pull that watching sports makes you feel like you did when you were younger and the world was still full of possibilities.

Kobe to me was the bridge between the two of the titans of basketball in my lifetime, Michael Jordan and LeBron James. I used to try to argue that Magic Johnson and Larry Bird were as good as Jordan, but I usually felt like I came up and the short end of that one. The Magic/Kareem/Worthy Lakers and the Bird/McHale/Parrish Celtics played some of the greatest NBA Final games I have ever seen. Jordan's Bulls dominated the 1990's.

And then Kobe and Shaquille O'Neal kicked off the new millennium by winning three straight titles. Kobe would win two more later on without Shaq. LeBron has dominated the sport almost from the first day he joined the NBA, and he took the torch from Kobe. And for many of those years, Kobe was a close 2nd to King James.

And maybe that's it. The fact that Kobe Bryant was one of the two most dominant forces in is sport in his career is probably why this tragedy is hitting so hard for so many. I was alive when Thurman Munson was killed in a plane crash and I remember being haunted by the next day's Daily News front page for a while after that. But I was just a few days shy of my 6th birthday when that happened and I didn't know many of the facts until years later. I know many people who were older than me at the time who still feel the sadness 40 years later.

I suspect NBA fans especially, but anybody who was alive today will carry that same kind of sadness when they think back to the life and death of Kobe Bryant. A rare talent, a superstar of his sport, gone way too young.

Weekly Mail January 19, 2020

Hey:

Last weekend, it was 63 degrees on Saturday and 68 on Sunday. I went down to Rockaway to see my friends kids play basketball and I felt like I took a trip to Miami.


Saturday it snowed for my whole commute into Manhattan. It was freezing and I nearly wiped out twice walking on Sixth Avenue. At least it felt like January.

OK lets get to the news....



BASEBALL: Houston Asterisks


They'll fire you for losing before they fire you for cheating...
-former college and pro football coach Darryl Rogers


And normally, I'd agree with that, but this week we saw something completely different.

On Monday, commissioner Rob Manfred released his report on the Houston Astros sign stealing, and by Thursday three managers and one GM were all out of work, two of the managers having won two of the last three World Series.

Astros GM Jeff Luhnow and manager AJ Hinch were suspended for one year by Manfred, only to be fired minutes after the suspensions were announced by Astros owner Jim Crane.

Alex Cora was then fired by the Red Sox one day later. Cora was a bench coach for the Astros in 2017, and the Sox manager the last two years. Baseball is still investigating claims that Boston engaged in cheating during their 2018 World Series run.

I've gone back and forth on a reaction to all this, so before I started writing this week, I did what I should have done back on Monday... I actually read the commissioner's report.

So here's where I stand...


1) The first thing that jumps out at me is that this report is really what the job of a sport's commissioner SHOULD be about. I believe that the most important job of the commissioner is to protect the integrity of the sport he or she is in charge of. While that may sound painfully obvious, the fact of the matter is that is no longer the case.

Now you hear things like "The Commissioner's job is to grow the brand" (Mike Francessa was very fond of saying that) And ever since the baseball owners ousted Fay Vincent in 1992 and made Brewers owner Bud Selig the commissioner the job has now evolved in being the owner's chief stooge. Gary Bettman, Roger Goodell and the late David Stern all followed that lead. Hockey has had three major work stoppages, (including one whole season lost) basketball has had two that wiped out about half the season, and football very nearly lost part of the 2011 season. Selig presided over the cancellation of the 1994 World Series.

When baseball appointed Kenesaw Mountain Landis as it's first commissioner, it did so to deal with the 1919 Black Sox scandal. He dealt with that in a way that anybody who even thought about pulling a stunt like that again would know they were risking their entire career. It's why as much as I love Pete Rose and was devastated when he was banned, I don't believe he should ever be allowed back in the game.

My point is that Manfred saw something that cut to the heart of the matter, the integrity of the game, and dealt with it. He did what commissioner's are supposed to do. Not just make rich people richer, protect the integrity of the game. 


2) All that being said, did Manfred overreact?

After all stealing signs has been going on since the game was invented right? I mean if you are not trying to get your team an edge, what's the point?

My answer to that is, it's one thing if you happen to catch someone giving a sign. It's another to have it where you are using hi tech video to steal information.

You're standing on second base, and you see the opposing catcher put down two fingers, and you can somehow let your batter know a curveball is coming? Well that's on the catcher to do a better job of protecting his signs.

But if you have a camera in center field that can zoom in on a catcher and steal signs that way?  That's not acceptable. How does the other team defend themselves against that?


3) The commissioner's report goes out of it's way to state that Astros owner Jim Crane had no knowledge of what was going on and that he was "extraordinarily troubled and upset by the conduct of members of his organization."

My reaction to that was to recall Claude Rains telling Humphrey Bogart that he was shocked, SHOCKED! to find gambling going on in the club in Casablanca.

I don't know how involved Crane is in the day to day operations of the Astros. Maybe he is a hands off owner and had no clue. Maybe he really did fully cooperate with the investigation. Probably, I'm so used to dealing with our scumbag owners here in NY, and am just naturally inclined to think they are all full of $h-t.

And again, being that the commissioner works for the owners, is it beyond the realm of possibility that Manfred is covering for Crane? I'm sorry, but I've seen too much not to be somewhat skeptical.

Which leads me to whether or not the Mets did the right thing letting go of Carlos Beltran, the only player who was named in the report.

You all know that Carlos Beltran wasn't my first choice to manage the Mets, hell he wasn't my 1,000th choice.  And yet, as I waited to see what his fate was, there was a part of me hoping he'd survive the firestorm.

I didn't want him in the first place, but I didn't want to see him go out like this. Does that make any sense?

Again, I had not read the report before Beltran was canned, so I was kind of flying blind, having now read it, I can honestly say he had to go.

What I don't understand is why he was the only player named in the report. It's obvious he was the ringleader, but I don't for one second believe he acted alone. He wasn't the only one benefiting (or trying to benefit) from the cheating system in place. To not only single him out but not to name anyone else in not right.

But, this isn't one of those stories that was going away. In a week where the President of the United States was about to go on trial and tensions in the Middle East were still running high, this story dominated the headlines. The first day of spring training would have been an unbelievable media circus. They had to start fresh.

But to be clear, I'm not happy about it. As much as I didn't want him, it sucks that he got caught up in this, it sucks he's not going to get a shot, and most of all, it sucks that we are less than a month away from Spring Training, and we are looking for another manager.


POLITICS: The Trump Impeachment:

At work during the week, I usually go to lunch around 1 PM.  At noon on Thursday, the Senate officially received the two Articles of Impeachment from the House of Representatives. I watched the managers walk the articles over from the House on Wednesday evening, in my head I had the Imperial March theme from Star Wars playing (not because I thought Nancy Pelosi et al are evil, far from it, but just the impending enormity of what was transpiring). Mitch McConnell and Chuck Grassley, the Majority Leader and president pro tempore of the Senate respectively,  announced they wouldn't formally accept the articles till noon on Thursday. I guess they had a date or something (joking)

I missed the official receiving of the Articles, but I did see Chief Justice John Roberts get sworn in as the presiding judge for the impeachment trial. I also watched as the senators signed the oath book. Extraordinary to watch history unfold.

Now back to Wednesday for a second. One thing Nancy Pelosi has done extremely well in my opinion is mark this whole impeachment process as a solemn, serious proceeding. She has gone out of her way to make sure that her party is not crowing over the fact that the President has been impeached. She has said time and time again that this is the last thing she wants to be doing. One of my main beefs with Trump is that he has treated his job like it's a SNL skit. Pelosi has handled her job with the dignity that her office is supposed to be held.

Which is why it was a bit off-putting to see her having the articles of impeachment signed by commemorative pens. I was listening to CNN after the signing was done and even they thought that was not totally proper. Said Dana Bash....

“We are used to seeing signing ceremonies handing out pens at moments of celebration, But the House Speaker has bent over backward to say publicly and privately this is a somber, this is not a time for celebration.”

“This is history, and the people who are involved want to mark the moment, but I didn’t expect to see that,” Bash said of the pen handout.

Nia-Malika Henderson called Pelosi’s pen distribution  “a little jarring.”

Having said that, for McConnell and the rest of his crew to be bitching about that was rich, with all the shenanigan's they have pulled, including saying he was working with the White House counsel and that he would not be an impartial juror, despite taking an oath that he would be. The gall of these people never ceases to amaze me.

The whole thing gets underway Tuesday at 1 PM EST.


ELECTION 2020: Liz Vs. Bernie

So I caught some of the Iowa Democratic Debate on Wednesday night. I saw the part where Bernie Sanders was asked about Elizabeth Warren's allegation that Sanders told her that a woman couldn't win the election. And I answer the question by denying he said that.

I missed the end of the debate where she wouldn't shake his hand and told him he called her a liar on national television.

Obviously I wasn't there when any of this allegedly went down, but I do have a hard time believing that Bernie would say such a thing. On the other hand, I don't know that Warren would make that up.

What I do know is that while we are in the homestretch leading to the Iowa Caucus, and that all these candidates are vying for the nomination, they have to do a better job of stressing that no matter what, they are committed to getting Trump out in November. This kind of backbiting is not helping matters any. And if Warren is going to get this bent out of shape being called a liar by Bernie, (which he technically didn't)  how is she going to handle getting a called a liar for 90 minutes in a debate with Trump?


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

So it looks like Harry and Meghan were put on waivers for the purpose of their unconditional release from the royal family.

I have a question..what if in a few years little Archie finds out that instead of working at the local McDonald's, he could be living the good life at Buckingham Palace, does he have to re-apply for the job as prince, or will they waive the application process (and fees) because he didn't have a say in this whole Megxit thing?

Curious minds want to know.

Sorry we got this out late

and Have a Great Week

Weekly Mail January 12, 2020

And we're back..


Folks, I apologize for not publishing last week as promised. I had every intention of doing so, but there were some extenuating circumstances.

In brackets is how I planned to start my first new post of 2020:


(To start, we not only rang in a new year, but also a new decade. We've all read about the roaring 20's last century, now we have a chance to create a roaring 20's of our own, and hopefully not one that means that we are constantly roaring at each other, though sadly that looks like where we are headed.

I don't know about you, but for those of us who lived through the turn of the millennium {and being that that event occurred 20 years ago, there might be folks reading this that either weren't there or too young to remember} doesn't the turn of the decade seem a bit anti-climactic? I remember when it went from 2009 to 2010, and people were like "Oh, yeah, BTW it's going to be a new decade" I really believe that having anticipated Y2K and all that stuff, that merely starting a new decade was a letdown. And going from 2019 to 2020 is kind of the same feeling. At least that's how I see it.

And I have tried to resist the temptation of declaring the previous year as a good year or a bad year. First of all, as many of you have pointed out, almost without fail, I have referred to most years as tough years or bad years or hard years. Since Y2K, there have only been 3 years I would classify as good. 2004, 2008 and 2014. In each of those years where it seemed like more good things than bad happened, I still had to watch good friends bury loved ones. So one person's heaven is another person's hell.

But that being said, the 2010's were a nightmare. 2011 my nephew Connor was born, which was the highlight of an otherwise crappy year. 2012 saw Super Storm Sandy and all that wrought. 2013 was still digging out from 2011 and 2012. 2014 my nieces Rachel and Finley were born and I got to take a trip with Tara and Tim.That was far and away the best year.  2015 I got sick. 2016 was the nightmare Presidential Election. We know what happened in 2017 and 2018. 2019?  I felt like that was just trying to deal with everything that happened.

So the easy thing to do is say "Well thank God that's over with." But is it going to get any better? We're all getting older, the country is getting angrier, the world more dangerous than ever.

As tempting as it is to give in though. I know we have to be stronger.

I have to be stronger.

I have to realize that we've been up against it before and we'll be up against it again, but yet we press on. I have to be strong because I want Timmy to live his best life and to take advantage of the gifts he has. I have to be positive so that HE can be positive.)

So, after writing all this last Saturday night, Tara, Timmy and I went to 9:30 Mass at St. Anthony's Sunday morning. When we came out, our driver's side mirror was in pieces on the street.

I couldn't in good conscience publish a blog asking myself and my fellow man to be happy and positive when all I could think of was how much I wanted the strangle the no-good S.O.B. who sideswiped our car and broke the mirror. On the outside I stayed calm, even winning praise from Tara. On the inside I was boiling.

Thankfully, we have an excellent, honest auto body shop right near us who replaced the mirror for a reasonable price. I dropped it off Monday morning and picked it up Monday evening. So that made me feel better. Don't get me wrong, I still want the person responsible to have crashed in a fiery one car wreck, but other than that, it's all good.

In any event...


THE MIDDLE EAST:

There was a time in the not too distant past where I would have celebrated the take down of Qaseem Soleimani, the top military commander in Iran.

Soleimani was clearly one of the bad guys, someone who planned attacks against our troops and our allies. Two weeks ago, an airbase near Kirkuk, Iraq was attacked, killing one American contractor and wounding several others. Airstrikes were conducted in retaliation. Then the US embassy was stormed by protesters.  The attack against the embassy was put down by US Marines with tear gas. Some compared it to Benghazi. To me it was more like another more distant memory.

Iran has been a thorn in our side for the past 40 years. With this past November being the 40th anniversary of the seizure of the American Embassy in Tehran, I read a book called Pieces of the Game by Col. Charles W. Scott, one of the hostages that spent 444 days in captivity.  Reading about what he and the other hostages went through is enough to make your blood boil, all these years later.
Hearing about our embassy in Baghdad being attacked, I thought about what happened to Col. Scott.

Iran has tried to provoke us at every turn. After 9/11, I had no issue whatsoever of President Bush referring to Iran as an Axis of Evil along with Iraq and North Korea.

And yet as I sit here today, I feel more troubled.

Yes I'm happy that a terrorist was put out of business, but now I see thousands of our troops being deployed to the Middle East. By a President who said one of his goals was to draw down US troops in the Middle East, and who chided three of his predecessors for not doing so.

I see something John Kerry often repeated during his run for the White House in 2004: a plan to win the war but no plan to win the peace.  Yes we took out the top commander, what happens now?

I see an already unstable situation becoming more unstable.

Part of me wants to ask, Why now?  Remember when Bill Clinton was facing impeachment and he chose that time to hit Saddam Hussein for kicking out UN Weapons inspectors? Wag the Dog they called it.

The similarities here are hard to ignore.

On the other hand, we can't have our embassy being attacked, or our airbases being bombed. That's not up for debate.

What is up for debate is this.. Was this the best solution?

On Tuesday, the Iranians fired a bunch of missiles at one of our bases that apparently did little to no damage. On Thursday, President Trump addressed the nation. Did anybody catch that? I don't mean to make light of any of this, but I still get the feeling sometimes that Trump doesn't realize he's actually in charge, that he thinks he's playing the President on TV. He had Mike Pence and some of his top military people come in to the room first. Then the doors behind the podium opened up, and for a few seconds, Trump stood there, all you could see was a shadow surrounded by bright light. Then he slowly walked up to the podium. All that was missing was Michael Buffer screaming "Ladies and Gentlemen, President Trump!"

The speech was no laughing matter of course. Trump promised more sanctions against Iran, vowed they would never acquire a nuclear bomb on his watch, but also seemed to suggest that there wouldn't be any more missile attacks for the time being.

Again folks, I have always been a foreign policy hawk, at least since 9/11. I feel that had we taken care of business after the two embassy bombings in 1998, or after the USS Cole was attacked in 2000, maybe 9/11 wouldn't have happened. We can debate that till the cows come home.

If Soleimani was planning more attacks on American interests, then taking him out was the right move. I would just feel a lot better if I had more faith in the guy calling the shots for us.



RIP: Don Imus 1940-2019

I never met Don Imus. He was a 79 year old with all sorts of health issues. A recovering alcoholic and drug addict. And yet I was crushed when I got the news alert that he had died.

I've told you all before about the day he came to WFAN, about how he told Pete Franklin that Pete should handle the electrical equipment since it was raining. How he made me laugh for the next 30 years till he retired in 2018. He took me from sophomore year of high school to 10 years into fatherhood. From the Q45 bus to my 15 minute drive to work in RVC.

I saw him do his show at the World Financial Center as he raised money for the Hackensack Children's Cancer Center. (I was there the day before the first attack on the WTC in February 1993)

He wasn't everyone's cup of tea, I know that. I never felt that he was a racist. One of the things he always said was "I don't hate anyone, but nobody is above being made fun of."  That of course was wrong.

People who can't defend themselves are not to be made fun of. Children are not to be made fun of.

The Rutgers Women's basketball team may not have been children, but they were college kids. They weren't politicians lying to our faces on TV, or millionaire pro athletes complaining about being disrespected. That's why what he said about them was so reprehensible.

I believed him when he said he was sorry, and I didn't think he should have been fired for it. Suspended? Sure. But not fired. Especially when two of his chief interrogators Al Sharpton and Jessie Jackson had issues with race relations themselves. And for WFAN to replace Imus with Craig Carton smacked of hypocrisy.

I'm just going to remember the great lines he had....

Talking about people needing "a checkup from the neck up"

Telling Donald Trump back in the early 90's that he'd support him"till he went from the back of the limo to the front"

Describing ABC News Sam Donaldson as having "Lee Press-On Hair."

 Saying "Gary Carter couldn't throw out Nell Carter trying to steal second base."

Playing songs and telling us "I play these records because I like them. The record companies stopped sending me cocaine and hookers years ago"

When he went after the Clintons (amongst others) at the 1996 White House Correspondent's dinner and was roasted by the media, Mike Lupica asked "Did they think they were getting Bob Hope?" when they asked Imus to appear.

To me that summed it up perfectly. He wasn't for the faint of heart or easily offended. Even his biggest supporters acknowledge what a miserable prick he could be. But they also acknowledge all he did for kids with cancer or kids who lost siblings to S.I.D.S  The millions he raised for charity. I realize there are folks who will only remember him for the Rutgers controversy. Not me. For me, he'll be a guy who kept me engaged in politics, broke down sports when I sometimes take it too seriously, and most of all, made me laugh, even on days where I knew I wouldn't get the opportunity to laugh for the rest of the day.

I knew I could laugh in the morning.


THE ROYAL FAMILY: Help Wanted

Last month right before we went on hiatus, we reported that Prince Andrew was "fired" from royal duties. Apparently two more positions have just opened.

Prince Harry and Princess Meghan Markle announced this week that they will be "stepping back as senior royals and would work to become financially independent"  Man, when Mark Knopfler sang of  Money for Nothing and Chicks for Free all these years, I thought he was talking about being a rock star.

God Bless Prince Harry, with that statement he confirmed what we already knew; being a Royal means getting paid for doing nothing. Now it looks like the two of them are going to go out and earn a living.

For the Duchess, that probably means getting back into show biz, but I'm thinking  maybe that's where Harry's future lies as well. With Daniel Craig about to turn in his 007 credentials, how about Harry Windsor as the next James Bond? Forget Idris Elba or Tom Hiddelson or whoever else they've been talking about. Harry would be a natural. And think of the box office records that would set! I'm telling you this would solve a whole bunch of problems. Even Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles would cool off, and the Brits would love it.

And once again, if they are looking for someone to replace Harry as Duke of Sussex, well my offer stands for that gig as well.  And I haven't run this past Tara yet, but I think we could come as a package deal. Again we'll take half the salary, plus moving expenses.

My teachers were right. I really can come up with good ideas if I put my mind to it.


FOOTBALL: RIP (for now) The Patriots:

As the football season was winding down, I started to hear the squawking about how the 20 year dynasty that is the New England Patriots was finally coming to an end. Problem was, I heard all that crap last year too. Remember? The Pats stumbled a bit towards the end, and everyone was saying the Chiefs were going to the Super Bowl. We all saw what happened, (well I didn't cuz I didn't watch) but there was another happy ending for Robert Kraft (seewhatididthere?)

So naturally I took the predictions of the demise of the Patriots with a grain  of salt. Sure they lost a couple of games at the end of the season, including one to the lowly Dolphins, but surely they would turn it on in January, right?

Well even a broken clock is right twice a day. The Pats lost last week to the Tennessee Titans and finally those who kept saying the Pats were toast had something to crow about. Now these same experts are speculating that Tom Brady is a) retiring b) leaving via free agency or c) moving to England to replace Prince Harry.

Here's what I think is going to happen.. Brady will report to camp for the Patriots at the age of 43 with a chip on his shoulder. I can't see the last pass Tom Brady ever throwing being a pick-6. Don't get me wrong, there would be nobody happier than I if that were the case. But football was invented to make me miserable, and the only way I see Tom Brady going out is with another Super Bowl championship.

And BTW, has the perception of a new coach ever changed as rapidly because of a press conference as it did for new Giants coach Joe Judge? Wow, I mean it went from "who the hell is this guy?" to "How were we lucky enough to get this guy?"

Do you remember when the Giants hired Ben Macadoo as their coach, and he showed up to his presser looking like he hadn't worn a suit since his First Holy Communion? I remember people saying "He's so into football, that he doesn't have time for little things like finding a suit that fits. When the Giants fired him, more than one fan remarked "I knew we were in trouble when he showed up to his press conference in that awful suit."

Sure you did. And if Judge doesn't get the Giants back to respectability, they'll be saying "I knew he was all talk." LOL




Hope you all enjoyed the beautiful weather this weekend. I felt like I was out of town for a few hours on Sunday, it was so warm.

Again, I'm sorry for the false advertising last week. I should have just stuck to my original plan.

In two weeks, we'll preview the Democratic Primaries, as the raucous Iowa Caucus in almost upon us.

Till then Have a Great Week

Weekly Mail 2019 Year in Review Part Two

JULY


July 6- She obviously hasn't met the Wilpons, Johnsons and James Dolan.


According to the Ottawa Citizen, the Minister of Ontario for Tourism, Culture and Sport Lisa MacLeod accosted the owner of the NHL's Ottawa Senators at a Rolling Stones concert and said " I am your minister and you're a f-ck-ng peice of $h-t and you're a f-ck-ng loser."

She was forced to apologize. I say if the shoe fits.... And I don't know if we have a minster of sport here in NY, but I'm all for some government official letting the owners of the Mets, Jets, Rangers and Knicks how much they suck too. 



July 8- Pete Alonso May want to hire a new pitcher for the semifinals

Pete Alonso won the 2019 Home Run Derby, despite the fact that his hand chosen pitcher, his cousin, was missing the plate, then at one point almost hit him. (I'd kill him at Thanksgiving-Keri DeAngelo)
He should have had Edwin Diaz pitch to him. (More on that later)




July 13- The Blackout.

At the Post that Saturday night, there was a flash and for a split second the lights and computers were out. We wondered if there was an issue in the building till someone noticed the sign outside Radio City Music Hall was out. 42 years to the day that most of the East Coast went dark, most of Manhattan was out. I went out and did some investigative reporting, and posted some good blackout tunes on FB. Miami 2017, NY Mining Disaster 1941 and finally when the lights came back on New York New York


July 29-Mets win! Despite their best efforts SMH!

I could look this game up on Baseball Reference.com and tell you what happened. But I won't. From what I gathered from my pal Colin, the Mets had a 5-0 lead and gave it all back only to pull it out at the end. 




AUGUST


August 9- LFGM or if you prefer LGFM- Joe Norris..

For the first time since their 2016 run to the play in game, the Mets were in a game this late in the season that meant something. I had almost forgotten how much fun these could be. Down 6-3 in the bottom of the 9th, Todd Fraiser tied it up with a 3 run homer, and Michael Conforto won it with a long single. Thus the ritual of tearing the jersey off the guy who got the GWRBI was born. 


August 10- BAM! That's two against the Nats with our ace going tomorrow!
LFGM

This was also awesome. Alas, we didn't get the sweep, poor fielding dooming Jacob deGrom the next day. Still, the Mets were in the hunt. 


August 16-I swear if JD Davis hurt himself running out that infield hit, I’m writing an angry letter to Mushnick telling him to lay off players not running balls out.

He ended up being OK. But this was not the last time I'd have a beef with my fellow Postie. 


August 21-As usual my lil sis is right on the money. The rain before the game was Becky saying she wished she was there. The rainbow was letting us know she was.

We usually go to a Met game over the summer, Dad, Katie, Steve, Becky, Timmy and myself. This was the first game we went to together since Becky left us. It poured on the way in, then cleared up. Then the Mets won another walkoff win! As Katie pointed out, it was Michael Conforto number 30 (the jersey Rachel was wearing) scoring in the 10th inning. 




SEPTEMBER

September 3- Jacob deGrom is a saint. How he can put up with this team is beyond me. I’d be begging for a trade. This was the worst.

Mathematically, they were still alive for a couple of weeks. As far as I'm concerned, they were toast on this night. This was the infamous 7 run ninth inning by the Nats that beat the Mets in DC. 



September 15, 2019- Ric Ocasek and Eddie Money within a few days. Sad week for 80’s music fans.

Wouldn't call myself a huge fan of either one of them, but still felt awful hearing they had died. 


September 20- I wonder what gave him THAT idea?

The Dope from Park Slope ended a Presidential run he never should have started by saying "IT wasn't my time."  #yadontsay? 



September 28-There goes da Judge!

As much as the Mets bullpen drove me batspit last season, Pete Alonso made me proud of my team. he set the major league record for most home runs by a rookie. 



OCTOBER

October 3- Look I’m not sorry or surprised to see him go, but why let him twist in the wind for 4 days? The Wilpon’s are as classless as they come.

I had it pointed out to me by a couple of people that the Wilpons didn't fire Mickey Callaway right away because of the Jewish holiday. While I could respect that, I still feel 1) it could have been handled better and 2) the Wilpon's are still lying creeps. 


October 14- But Chicago’s got great deep dish pizza and San Diego has really nice weather.....

I was trying to talk Carlos Beltran into managing the Cubs or Padres. Didn't work.


October 19- Welcome to my world Yankee fans!

Aroldis Chapman, making like Edwin Diaz after the Yankees tied it up in the top of the 9th. Sending Houston to the World Series, where they lost to the Nationals. 

October 24- Great (SMH)

Phillies hire Joe Girardi. The only thing that would make this worse is if the Mets hire Carlos Beltran..



NOVEMBER

November 1- I will always be a Met fan. Some days are harder than others. This is one of those days. 

Guess who the Mets hired to be their manager???


November 10 Jets win the Toilet Bowl!!!

The battle for bragging rights went to Gang Green, but are they really bragging rights if both teams are Gawd Awful? (more on this later)


November 16-I know I've said it before, but there are few things more moving in sports, then watching Navy and Notre Dame's football teams come over to the stands and listen to each other's fight songs.

For all the complaining I do in regards to sports, this is something worth mentioning. There is so much wrong with sports. This is something they always get right. 

November 30- Bye Bye Bama!

Now if we can only send the Patriots packing....


DECEMBER 

December 1- Disgraceful. Not surprising, but still disgraceful

The Jets, with this loss to the previously winless Bengals, became the first team in NFL History to hand two teams who were 0-7 or worse, their first win of the season. Hey, who said the Jets season was a total loss? They made history!


December 11 Cole to Yanks looks like a done deal

On December 11, 1975, 44 years to the day earlier, the Yankees traded Bobby Bonds to the Angels for Mickey Rivers and Ed Figueroa. The same day they traded Doc Medich to the Pirates for Willie Randolph, Ken Brett and Doc Ellis. They played in the next 3 World Series. (For a Met fan, I know a lot about the Yankees #fairandbalanced) Will this signing bring the same success? For $325 Million, they better hope so!

December 18- President Trump has been impeached.

Only the third President to be impeached after Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton. This was after nearly 10 hours of debate. The trial in the Senate should be a real $h-tshow. 


December 27- RIP Don Imus

More on this in the following Weekly Mail.


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And so we made it to 2020. The past two years, this space has been used to remember the two worst days of said years, indeed two of the worst days of my life. Last year I said my one wish for 2019 was that I wasn't writing about another family member who we lost. And thankfully as I celebrated Christmas and New Years, I was safe in the knowledge both of my families were here to celebrate. 

That said, you never really go through a year without having to say goodbye to someone you care about and 2019 was no exception. One of the songs I hear a lot at my office is Memories by Maroon 5. It contains the lines 

Here's to the ones that we got
Cheers to the wish you were here, but you're not
'Cause the drinks bring back all the memories
Of everything we've been through
Toast to the ones here today
Toast to the ones that we lost on the way...

I can't hear that song and not think of Tara's dad or of our niece. 

So I raise a toast to all of you, my family my friends. I hope that 2020 brings you happiness, healing and peace. And that the memories of those you love make you smile more than they make you sad. 

And thank you for everything.


Weekly Mail Returns tomorrow.