Hi Folks:
If you live here in the NY area and you were able to get out for a bit this weekend, you got to enjoy some spectacular fall weather. As much as I complain about the fall, what with back to school and shorter days, these crisp clear fall afternoons are really what makes life worth living. Especially in these troubling times. I know it's hard to enjoy if you are walking around with a mask on, but still, it felt really nice to be out and about.
So let's get to it.
News Item: TRUMP TESTS POSITIVE FOR COVID-19
So many conflicted feelings when this story broke. Should we feel bad for him getting sick, or he brought this upon himself, so f-ck him?
Well, let me tell you how I feel and do with it what you will.
1) It's never a good thing when the President of the United States is incapacitated. Love him or loathe him, he's the person in charge, so it behooves us all to hope that he recovers quickly. I believe most right minded people feel this way.
2) That said, it's hard to have any sympathy for him. Without going into how much responsibility one wants to lay on him for not controlling the virus back in the beginning of the pandemic, he had not only refused to mask up himself, but has encouraged those around him not to wear masks either. He openly mocked Joe Biden for wearing masks during that freak show debate on Tuesday (more on that later on) and I recall he made fun of Hillary Clinton when she had pneumonia back in 2016. As John Lennon once sang "Instant Karma's gonna get you." This might not have been instant, but it was Karma for sure.
The Biden's BTW offered good wishes for the President to recover and also pulled all his negative ads.
3) I had a teacher in high school who will go nameless (though my fellow Crusaders will know who I'm talking about right away) who couldn't stand JFK. "I didn't want him to get killed, the teacher told us "I wanted him to live so I could vote him the hell out of office (in 1964)." I thought about that as I watched Trump get on Marine One on his way to Walter Reed Medical Center on Friday.
I was under the impression that if the candidate was unable to continue to run, the VP Candidate would step in, but that's not the case, not for either Trump or Biden.
Especially since there has been early voting, Trump would remain on the ballot. If he passed away and still one, the vote (if I'm understanding this correctly) would go to the Electoral College. Those electors would cast votes for a new President. Could be Mike Pence, could be someone else. And of course, it would most likely get tied up in the courts for who knows how long.
Bottom line: Pray he recovers whether you are going to vote for him or not.
News Item: THE DEBATE DEBACLE
On Wednesday morning on my way into work, I was listening to CNN, and the anchors of the morning show were talking about how shocked they were about what an unmitigated disaster the previous night's Presidential debate was. And all I could think was "Were these people living under a rock for the past 5 years?"
And it wasn't just them either. I heard many people saying they couldn't believe what they saw on Tuesday night. People have short memories.
"How have we come to this? This is supposed to be a campaign for the most powerful office in the land...... I mean this is what they do in banana republics. This is the United States of America. People keep asking me have I've ever seen anything like this and I keep saying no. And I just hope to God, I don't see another campaign like this one. America can do better than what we have seen here tonight. This was just disgraceful. "
Anybody remember this? This was CBS Bob Schiffer after the town hall debate between Trump and Hillary Clinton 4 years ago. Before that, we had Trump and Marco Rubio talking about small hands and what else is small. I mean, this is Trump's M.O.
Chris Wallace took a lot of heat for not being able to get a handle. And again, he had to know what he was getting into and should have been more prepared. That said, I'm not sure anything short of a mute button was going to keep Trump from interrupting Biden. Did Wallace lose control of the debate? He sure did. Could anyone have done better? Lester Holt looked like he had just gone 15 rounds with a prime Mike Tyson after Trump-Hillary last year. But maybe his having done it before might have given him an edge.
And normally, I'd take a candidate to task if they told their opponent to shut up or called him a clown. But I can't blame Biden for doing either.
For most, the big moment in the debate was when Wallace asked Trump to condemn white supremacy
Transcripts courtesy of USA TODAY....
1:04:23 WALLACE
Okay, you have repeatedly criticized the Vice President for not specifically calling out antifa and other left-wing groups. But are you willing, tonight, to condemn white supremacists and militia groups? And to say that they need to stand down and not add to the violence in a number of these cities, as we saw in Kenosha, as we've seen in Portland? Are you prepared specifically to do that?
1:04:46 TRUMP
Sure, I’m prepared to do it. I would say- I would say, almost everything I see is from the left-wing, not from the right wing-
1:05:55 WALLACE
So what do you, what do you say-
1:04:56 TRUMP
I'm willing to do anything I want to see peace.
1:04:57 WALLACE
Then do it, sir.
1:04:59 BIDEN
Say it, do it, say it.
1:05:00 TRUMP
You want to call them -- What do you want to call them? Give me a name, give me --
1:05:04 WALLACE
White supremacists and, white supremacists and right-wing --
1:05:07 BIDEN
The Proud Boys.
1:05:07 TRUMP
Proud Boys, stand back and stand by. But I'll tell you what, I'll tell you what, somebody's got to do something about antifa and the left because this is not a right-wing problem. This is a left-wing problem
Some of the Trumpsters have said that "Sure I'm willing to do that" "I'm willing to do anything. I want to see peace." and even the moneyquote "Proud Boys, stand back and stand by." are all examples where Trump denounced white supremacy. Give me a break. Even if you're going to give him the benefit of the doubt and say "He meant to say Stand Back and Stand Down, instead of Stand By, he still clearly didn't want to piss off anyone who he thought would support him.
And as bad as that was, that wasn't Trump's low point, IMHO.
This was...
BIDEN
And speaking of my son, the way you talk about the military, the way you talk about them be losers and being, and just being suckers. My son was in Iraq. He spent a year there. He got, he got the Bronze Star. He got the Conspicuous Service Medal. He was not a loser. He was a patriot. And the people left behind there were heroes.
1:10:23 TRUMP
Really? You talking about Hunter? Are you talking about Hunter?
1:10:23 BIDEN
and I resent -- I’m talking about my son, Beau Biden. You’re talking about --
1:10:30 TRUMP
I don’t know Beau. I know Hunter. Hunter got thrown out of the military. He was thrown out, dishonorably discharged for cocaine use.
1:10:37 BIDEN
That's not true, he wasn’t dishonorably discharged. None of that is true.
That was the throw the remote at the TV Moment for me. The fact that he attacked Hunter Biden was bad enough. Trump could have 1) told Biden, "Yes you're son Beau was a hero and as a father myself, I'm so sorry he passed away," and 2) He could have used the opportunity to blast the Atlantic Report that Biden was referring to where Trump called our fallen soldiers losers and suckers.
Instead he acted like he had never heard of Beau Biden (which is bullshit) and attacked Hunter's drug issues and brought up the discredited story about Hunter getting money from the mayor of Moscow. And didn't deny the Atlantic story.
Trump's kids are working in the administration, specifically daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner. To me, they are fair game. Hunter Biden's drug issues have nothing to do with Joe Biden's fitness for office. This was as low a blow as you could throw. Biden didn't say anything about Trump's kids.
And Trump had the gall to say Wallace was against him. What a thin skinned wuss he is.
With Trump laid up in the hospital, the status of the next two debates is unclear. Even if they have them, I doubt I’ll watch them. I’ll put something else on, something less offensive, something easier on the senses, something with a little more style and class.
Like a cock fight*.
And speaking of the Proud Boys, according to the Daily Beast, one of the criteria for joining the group is that members are only allowed to masturbate once a month....
In the past, “third degree” Proud Boys were prohibited from masturbating more than once a month. But the new rules, under a section in the bylaws dubbed “No Wanks,” extends that prohibition to all Proud Boys.
“No heterosexual brother of the Fraternity shall masturbate more than one time in any calendar month,” the new rule reads, adding later, “All members shall abstain from pornography.”
I don't mean to make light of these a-holes, but I have to ask, how do they enforce THAT rule? Is it like when you show up for work and they ask if you have any COVID symptoms? Do you have to submit your underwear for inspection? Fill out a form? And what's the purpose? To keep them angry and on edge enough to cause mayhem?
No right minded person would join a bunch of a-holes like that anyway, but maybe they wouldn't be so angry if they made like George Costanza with a copy of Glamour more than once a month.
BASEBALL: Playoff Picture
I was so busy woofing on the Mets last week, that I forgot to discuss the playoffs. So here are a few thoughts on the week that was.
1) I thought that the Yanks-Cleveland series could go either way. What I wasn't expecting was the Bronx Bombers putting up a 7 runs in 4 2/3 against Indians ace Shane Bieber. Bieber the best pitcher in the AL if nor the majors this year. The Yanks took care of business the next night too, outslugging the Tribe 10-9 in a dreadfully long Game 2. They will now take on the Rays in the ALDS.
And BTW... I think this idea that you have to do this bracket style is stupid. They really should have reseeded after this first round. But I believe because brackets are more inviting for those who like to gamble, they do it this way. Now what would have been a great ALCS, will take place in the ALDS.
Stupid.
2) The Marlins who mix in a World Championship around a bunch of 100 loss seasons, are at it again. They don't make the playoffs often, but when they do, they are a difficult out. They have never lost a playoff series in their 28 year existence. Both times they made the playoffs, they won the World Series.
And now they play the Braves who are the opposite: they make the playoffs almost every year, and almost never get to the World Series. I hate to say it, but I think that trend is going to continue here.
3) And speaking of perineal playoff chokers, the Minnesota Twins could have done our fair nation a huge favor and knocked the lying cheating Houston Astros out of the playoffs. But no dice, now a team that finished with a losing record has advanced. (The other team to qualify with a sub .500 record, the Brewers were bounced by the Dodgers)
I'm gonna predict the Yanks and A's to advance to the ALCS and the Marlins and Dodgers to make it to the NLCS. I'm not usually right on these things, and especially in this crazy year it's hard to predict. But that's where we stand.
One more baseball note: Bob Gibson died Friday night at the age of 84. There are two individual records in North American sports that I find mind boggling.. The first in Wayne Gretzky having more assists than any other player has points in the NHL. Put another way, if the NHL decided that Gretzky had to forfeit his 894 goals (also an NHL record BTW), he would still be hockey's all time leading scorer.
The other record is Gibson's 1.12 ERA in 1968. I'm so convinced that record is never going to be broken, that I think the ERA to shoot for is Dwight Gooden's 1985 ERA which was 1.53. It's been 34 years and a couple guys have come close to Gooden, but it still stands.
Gibson's 1.12 ERA is just unfathomable. And the fact that he lost 9 games that year makes that even more remarkable. There's no other way around it, Gibson was a beast on the mound. Shoutout to my man Dr. Steve Butler for sending me this from SI:
Gibson made 34 starts in 1968: He finished 28 of them and was lifted for a pinch hitter in the other six, which means he was never removed from the mound all season. Just as well: Given Gibson's menacing personality, a manager would have had to wear oven mitts to remove him.”
Also worth mentioning, especially in these difficult times, Helen Reddy passed away this week. The I Am Woman, hear me roar singer was 78.
HOCKEY: Farewell to the King:
The Rangers bought out the last year of Henrik Lundqvist's contract this week, ending his 16 year run as Rangers goalie.
Mike Richter was the goalie when they won the Cup in 1994. I saw John Vanbeisbrouck almost single handily backstop the team to the conference finals in 1986. I was too young to have seen it, but I heard the story about how the Garden shook the night Eddie Giacomin came back after he had been picked up by the Red Wings in 1975. All of them great.
Hank was the best.
And there are going to be some yahoos who say he wasn't the greatest because he didn't win a Cup here in NY. It's a stupid arguement. The man got us to the Finals in 2014, and ECF in 2012 and 2015. And nearly 2 more CF's in 2007 and 2017. For 12 of his 16 seasons here in NY, we had a chance. And we had a chance almost entirely because of him.
Hank was the best.
He was the face of this franchise. And win lose or draw I never once questioned his heart or his commitment to winning. I saw him get run by the opposition with little or no retaliation. I saw the refs screw him with non calls. I saw too many games where he kept them in it because they couldn't score to save themselves.
Hank was the best.
I hope he does hook up with another team and get himself a ring. But regardless, is stature as one of NY's great athletes should never be in question.
Somebody wrote this in to Mike Vaccaro at the NY Post...
Pro Football recently returned to Los Angeles. Any guess on when it will return to New York?
Good Question. The Jets and Giants are a combined 0-8. SMH.
Stay Safe,
and Have a Great Week.
*I'm just being facetious here. Weekly Mail does not condone any cruelty towards animals.
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