Hey Everyone:
Thank you to all who read, reacted and/or responded to my coronavirus special on Friday. As I watched the world shut down on Wednesday and Thursday, I knew I couldn't wait till Sunday to express how I think many of us were feeling about this whole thing. I have a hard time explaining to young people (like my kid's age) how scary 9/11 was, I wanted to write something while that feeling of dread was still fresh.
Now that we are coming to grips with the new reality, maybe we can take a few minutes and have a chuckle or two. So I'm posting here some of the things I found amusing during this tough time. Hey, if we don't laugh, we might all go crae-crae.
This one is from my old Baskin-Robbins/Mercy Medical Center co-worker Cindy....
My Aunt Eileen had invited me on Facebook to follow Clones Notice Boards, my uncle is a Clones native, along with former featherweight champion Barry (the Clones Cyclone) McGuigan*. They posted this the other day....
When they suspended the NBA season, I didn't bat an eyelash, the Knicks have been so bad, I thought they were given a favor. Losing the NHL was bad, losing March Madness was worse, but the icing on the cake was when Clones canceled Bingo at St. Joseph's Hall. That's when I said "Well now we're screwed."
This is from my neighbor Christine, I would totally do this....
MORE ON THE CORONAVIRUS:
Asia has Wuhan, China. Europe has Milan. The winner of the city in North America with the highest percentage of coronavirus cases is (drum roll please)
Our very own New Rochelle, NY!!
Governor Cuomo was forced to deploy the National Guard to New Roc this week to set up one mile containment zone. People are allowed to come and go, provided they are not under quarantine, but the Guard will enforce the strict limitations on crowd gathering.
I had some really good times up there, and I hated to see that city dragged through the mud like that. That all happened on Tuesday. By Friday, the virus had shut down most of the civilized world.
Speaking of New Rochelle...
BASKETBALL: The Proof is in the People at Iona...
I didn't think there would be any sports stories to write about this week. But lo and behold we got this whopper on Saturday.
Former Providence, Knicks, Kentucky, Celtics and Louisville coach Rick Pitino agreed to take over as coach of Iona Gaels, replacing the great Tim Cluess, who stepped down due to an undisclosed health issue.
Pitino at one time was considered one of the best coaches in the country. He led Providence to the Final Four in 1987, and then was hired to coach the Knicks at the age of 35. He helped get them turned around too. And now Pitino, who gave new meaning to the term sausage and peppers while coaching at Louisville, returns to the New York area 31 years after he f-cked the Knicks over by leaving them to coach Kentucky. At the time, I didn't understand why you would leave a pro job to coach a college team. That would be like quitting the Yankees to go manage in Columbus**.
I realize now how prestigious the Kentucky coaching job is, notwithstanding the fact that the job has been held by bigots like Adolph Rupp, sleazebags like John Calipari***, and the aforementioned Pitino. But I've spent the last 30 years rooting against the creep anyway. Now I guess I'll have to pull for him. Now offense to my Iona alumni friends, including Patti-Ann, Joann, Mathis and Ellen (amongst many others) but New Rochelle was the last place I thought Ricky P would end up coaching. Despite Cluess success there (6 trips to the NCAA Tournament in his 10 seasons there) Iona isn't a basketball hotbed, but more importantly, why would the Congregation of Christian Brothers hire a guy who knocked somebody up on a restaurant table? Kind of like Evangelicals supporting a twice divorced, porn star banging miscreant for President..
But I digress...
Speaking of politics
2020 ELECTION
Another big night for Joe Biden, as he won Michigan fairly decisively as well as Idaho, Mississippi and Missouri. Bernie Sanders won the North Dakota Caucus. Washington State, the second biggest pie of delegates from Tuesday still hasn't decalred a winner, but the fact that Bernie didn't win that state going away means it's pretty much another one in the W column for Biden.
I'm not ready to declare the race over yet, but it's getting late awfully early for Bernie. Florida and Ohio are the two biggies coming up on St. Patrick's Day. The polls aren't in his favor, but if he can somehow pull off an upset or two, he could get himself back in the race. Losing Michigan last Tuesday was a huge blow. We'll see if he can recover.
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The Diocese of Rockville Centre announced on Friday that us Catholics don't have to go to Mass for the next three weeks due to the virus. This is a prudent rational decision that any Catholic over the age of 35 realizes wouldn't have flown back in the day. I remember schlepping to Mass one Saturday night when there was 2 feet on snow on the ground and my Mom was pregnant. Stay home? Never! You gotta go to Mass and ask Jesus to get rid of the virus. (Believe me, I'm praying as hard as anybody, but I'm doing it from my couch.)
Also, they are talking about doing the Late Night TV shows sans an audience. How the hell is THAT going to work? Poor Jimmy Fallon. At least Carson had Ed McMahon to laugh if nobody else did. Letterman laughed at his own jokes, so he didn't need an audience.
Ok, please everyone stay safe, wash your hands and stay vigilant
and try to Have a Great Week
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*McGuigan got screwed out of his title too. On June 23, 1986. He was supposed to fight a guy named Fernando Sosa, who was hurt in training. Sosa was replaced by Stevie Cruz from Texas. The fight took place at Las Vegas' Caesars Palace in 110 degree heat. An Irishman has no shot against a Texan when it's that hot, and Cruz won the title. I also remember Cruz's wife was 15 years old at the time of the fight, which I thought was weird, being I was 12 years old myself at the time. How I remember this shit I don't know. Thankfully I went to the Sports Illustrated Archives and confirmed my memories.Here is a pic of Stevie Cruz and his 15 year old wife.
**The Yankees Triple A team at the time. Now they are in Scranton/Wilkes Barre.
*** Don't get me wrong, I like John Calipari. he's a great coach and funny as hell, but he's a snake oil salesman if there ever was one. And he doesn't even pretend to have any interest in graduating his players.
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