Weekly Mail February 28, 2021

 Hey:

We'll kick off with some good news first... Katie started up our American Heart Walk team Running for Rebecca again this week. 

Two years ago, we all met downtown near the World Trade Center for the 3.5 mile walk (or run) on what was an absolutely perfect night. Last year due to the pandemic, we did it virtually.... a bunch of folks met up in Maspeth, Katie led a crew down in Rockaway, others walked in the Poconos, and Timmy and I did our 14 laps around Oceanside School 6's track. It was a bummer that we couldn't get together, but the good news was that Team Running for Rebecca was the number 1 Community Team for the entire event. 

It would be awesome if we could pull that off again. 

And now, as long as we continue to follow social distancing, wear our masks, and (if we can) get vaccinated, it looks like we can at least get our team together and do this at Maurice Park in beautiful downtown Maspeth. That's the game plan. Thursday evening May 20. 

Now as far as fundraising goes, the site sets the default goal for you at $250.00. I decided to set it myself at $500.00 and sonofagun, we met that goal within hours. So, we've updated the goal to $1,000.00  As of this writing, we are at $860.00 a mere 140 clams away. 

So if you are able, please do make a donation. We're still fighting this pandemic and times are still very hard, so really only donate if you can. But either way, please spread the word. And come down to Maurice on May 20, at 5:15 PM, and we'll all celebrate Becky's memory.     

Here is the link to my page. If you want to donate, or join the team, there are links to do so here...

https://www2.heart.org/site/TR/HeartWalk/FDA-FoundersAffiliate?px=17407286&pg=personal&fr_id=5680

And from the bottom of my heart..... Thank you 

Onto the week that was.....

AUTO ACCIDENTS.. Tiger Woods

So to start off, I'll say what should go without saying, but you never know in these nasty name calling times: I'm very happy that Tiger Woods survived the crash he was involved in on Tuesday morning in Los Angeles. With all the death that has been going on around us these past 13 months, another star dead before his time would have once against struck at our nation's soul, much the way Kobe Bryant's death last January did. 

Like Kobe, I can't say I'm a big fan of Tiger, indeed I spent most of the little time I spend watching golf, rooting against him. But that's because I naturally pull for the underdog, and when Woods was at his best, no matter who he was playing against, they were the underdog. 

Loyal readers of this blog know that I consider Wayne Gretzky to be the most dominant player of his particular sport. I usually get blowback from those who say it's Michael Jordan and/or LeBron James, or now Tom Brady and his 7 Super Bowl wins. 

Gretzky owns 61 NHL Records and won 4 Stanley Cups. His name is atop the record boards for most goals in a season, most assists in a season, most points in a season and he leads those categories career-wise as well. For good measure, he has more career assists than the next NHL leading scorer, Jaromir Jagr has points. Take Gretzky's 894 goals away, and he still is the NHL leading point scorer. 

The only other athlete I thought might dominate their sport the way Gretzky dominated hockey was Tiger Woods, from 1996 till 2008.*  He was well on his way to catching, and surpassing Jack Nicklaus for most majors won. He was setting records left, right and center. 82 career wins, tying him with Sam Snead, along with 15 majors wins. In 2000, had he won the Masters, he'd have won Golf's Grand Slam. As it is, he's won each major at least 3 times.  

It all went downhill for him in 2008, when he had his first auto accident. That time he was trying to get away from his enraged wife who had just busted him for cheating on her. Turns out he had an entire team of babes on the side. 

That, as well as a slate of back injuries cut short what was to be not a matter of if, just when Woods would own the record book, and how far he would put those records out of reach. 

At 45, the chances of him winning 3 more majors to catch the Golden Bear seemed slim, but not quite impossible. 

Now it's hard to imagine him ever playing again, though in fairness, none of us are really sure what his condition is right now.

Which leads me to the crux of why I'm writing about this.... I'm in no way making light of what happened here, especially since we don't have all the facts.

But what I do want to shed some light on here is the media coverage of this accident. 

I got out of work at 4 PM on Tuesday and I had my phone off. When I powered it back up, it was exploding with breaking news updates about the accident and for a short time between my office and the walk to my car, I wasn't sure if Tiger was dead or alive. One update I saw said they needed the "Jaws of Life" to get Woods out of his car. The last update I got as I was getting into my car was that he was having surgery on his legs. 

I'm not a doctor, but I figured if they weren't doing surgery on his brain, neck or chest, than maybe his life wasn't in immediate danger. 

But as I listened to CNN on the drive home, you wouldn't have thought that. No, they were talking as if Tiger was knock knock knockin on heaven's door. 

I finally cried uncle when Wolf Blitzer had a "medical expert" on to explain the difference between "serious", "critical" and "stable" conditions! What? As a kid, watching Bill Beutel and Roger Grimsby, I knew the difference between critical, serious, stable and grave conditions.  Grave condition meant it was time to get the priest. 

It made me think of the book that Karl (the Ace) Ludwig encouraged me to read over the summer. Hate Inc. by Matt Taibbi. Taibbi a contributing editor for Rolling Stone, is pretty much as liberal a writer as you are going to find. But in one chapter of Hate Inc., he points out so many incorrect stories that CNN and MSNBC put out during the Meuller investigation into Russian collusion, that you would think he was auditioning for a time slot on FNC between Tucker and Hannity. 

His point in that chapter, and in the book as a whole, is that cable news is not about reporting the news, as much as it is all about selling the news as a product. And the only objective they have is keeping your eyes on their screen. So if that means, telling everyone Tiger needed to be rescued by the jaws of life, (which wasn’t true) or that he was having his legs operated on, but maybe it was more than that, or to have someone come on and explain something a 4th grader could explain, than that's what they will do. They are selling, and if you're watching, you're buying. 

And then there was Phil Mushnick's Friday Equal Time Column, which to be honest, he could have taken Friday off and I could have written the column for him. For years, his big beef with Tiger Woods has been how the media fawns over him to ridiculous heights. One of Mushnick's favorite rants is about Earl Woods, Tiger's late father, and how the media acted like Woods losing his father was so much more tragic than anyone else who had to bury a parent. He wasn't wrong about that, or how golf commentators praise Woods for his competitiveness when he acts out on the course, while giving out to others who act like that as ill tempered or unprofessional. Again, Mushnick's not wrong, but we've heard it all before. 

I realize this has turned into a rant against the media, and well, I guess I just needed to get that off my chest. Bottom line is, I hope Tiger Woods at the very least will be able to walk again, if not play competitive golf anymore. Either way, it might be time to hire a chauffer. I'm pretty sure he can afford one. 

HOCKEY: Baking the Bread man..

NY Rangers star forward Artemi Panarin took a leave of absence from the team on Monday, after a report surfaced that as a 20 year old player in Latvia in 2011, he struck an 18 year old girl at a bar after a game. 

Naturally, the first instinct, with all that has come to light in the last few years about sexual misconduct was that Panarin was in big trouble and his career if this was accurate would be in jeopardy, and rightly so. 

But then you realized this was coming from the Russian media, and had to be taken with more than a grain of salt. More digging into the story and you can see why Panarin felt the need to leave the Rangers for a bit.

The story it seems, was leaked by a former coach of Panarin's who right now, is looking to get back into coaching hockey in Russia, and is looking to curry favor with Russia's dictator Vladimir Putin. 

Panarin, has been a frequent critic of Putin and a supporter of Alexi Navalny, the Russian opposition leader, currently a political prisoner in Russia after having survived a poisoning. 

So Panarin's leave of absence is more about protecting his family, perhaps getting whatever relatives he has left over there out and to somewhere safe. What a horrible way to have to live. 

All because of a dictator who will stop at nothing to hold on to his power, no matter how many lives are ended or ruined in it's wake.

Sound familiar? 

And speaking of the Rangers, it sure was nice on Friday night to see actual fans sitting in the seats and not those creepy cardboard cutouts. You know things are getting back to normal when you heard all 1,800 of those Ranger fans chanting "F-ck you Marchand!" at Bruins creep Brad Marchand, one of the dirtiest players in the NHL. It was also nice to see the Rangers reward those fans by kicking the crap out of Boston. 

So if you've read this far down, thank you. I hope I didn't bore you with the Tiger or Breadman stories, those are just my pointless points of view. The important part of this blog is the first item, Running for Rebecca. Anything you can do to help us out will be greatly appreciated. 

Thank you all again

Stay Safe, Wear a Mask

and Have a Great Week 

*Serena Williams, in women's tennis is also in the conversation for dominating her sport, especially if she wins another Grand Slam event, which would tie her with Margaret Court for most GS wins all time. 

Weekly Mail February 21, 2021

 Hey Everyone:

Now that I post this on Facebook, I have to remember that people all over the country, and even a few folks in Europe potentially read this, so I have to keep that in mind when I refer to stuff like the weather. But this week, that's out the window, because I think all of us had to deal with cold weather and or lots of snow. 

Tuesday morning as I was driving into work, the announcer was playing a game. He was naming two cities and trying to guess what city was colder that morning. 

1) Birmingham, Alabama vs Bangor, Maine

2) Houston, Texas vs Boston, Massachusetts 

3) Memphis, Tennessee vs Anchorage, Alaska

4) Little Rock, Arkansas vs Chicago, Illinois

OK, so it was a balmy 27 in Bangor on Tuesday morning, while Birmingham checked in at a chilly 18. 

Boston was above the freezing mark Tuesday, checking in at 34. Houston deep in the heart of Texas, was at a frigid 16.

The frozen tundra of Anchorage, was at 19, which felt like Miami compared to Memphis, which barely registered on the thermometer at 1. 

Little Rock was not much warmer than Memphis at 3, which was 6 degrees colder than Chicago. 

The weather in this country this week was insane. And unfortunately, for some states who really weren't prepared for cold weather, deadly. 

The people of Texas have suffered a great deal. Millions of Texans lost power and had no access to clean water for most of last week. Houston, Austin, and San Antonio were hit particularly hard. 

Part of the issue in Texas is that they are the only state in the contiguous 48 that has it's own power grid. While that helps Texans in terms of keeping energy prices low, it becomes problematic when other states can't help by sending power through their grids. 

The pictures that were coming out of Texas were heartbreaking. Hospitals unable to treat patients because of no power or water. There were horrible stories of people dying in their homes due to hypothermia. One of my co-workers at Mercy summed it all up perfectly, "This was a week that we put a $3 billion camera on Mars at the same time people in Texas were melting snow for drinking water." If that don't sum up 2021 so far, I don't know what does.  (We'll have more on the Mars camera later) 

I heard some people saying that Texas didn't exactly rush to help us out after Super Storm Sandy. Well that wasn't the people of Texas, that was their scumbag politicians. And there is no bigger scumbag than their junior senator Ted Cruz. 

(F)Lying Ted was caught on camera boarding a flight to Cancun while his constituents were freezing and gathering snow for drinking water. Kind of reminded me of the scene in Spaceballs where Mel Brooks' character President Skroob tells Rick Moranis (Dark Helmet) and George Wynter (Col. Sanderz) "It's a beautiful ship, I think you should go down with it."   

Now Cruz tried to backtrack by saying that he was just escorting his daughters down to Cancun, and that he planned to come back that night. 

Maury Povich would say....

According to the NY Times (and a h/t to David K Li for posting this) Cruz's wife Heidi sent out a text message to a few of their friends saying that since their house was "FREEZING" that they were heading to the Ritz Carlton in Cancun till Sunday. The Times doesn't say how they obtained the text messages, but say they confirmed the texts with someone who was on the thread, meaning the Cruz's friends are just as unscrupulous as they are. 

Now some may say what good could Cruz have done staying in Texas? Some will say the trip was nothing more than "bad optics"  Baloney, it was more than that. 

One thing he could have done was help raise money for his people. He's damn good at raising money for his various campaigns, so why not?

Instead, it was our own Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who went out and raised well over $1 million for the people of Texas. 

You all know I'm not an AOC fan, I'm still licking my wounds over her beating my guy Joe Crowley. And she still hasn't met a microphone, camera or tape recorder she hasn't loved, but she came up aces here and she deserves all the credit in the world for it. One of these days, it might be AOC vs Cancun Cruz for the White House and to me it would be a no-brainer.. (No Pun Intended)  

Those of us who lived through Sandy know how bad it can be. Here's hoping and praying Texas gets back on it's feet soon. 

And while we are hoping and praying, let's send a few prayers out that we don't get any more snow around these parts either. We here in NY are prepared for snow, and we have done a good job keeping things going as we've been getting hit with storm after storm. But I think we've gotten our fair share here so let this be the end of it. 

OUTER SPACE: Mission to Mars

Perseverance, an SUV sized robotic rover that was launched on July 30, 2020, landed on Mars Thursday afternoon. NASA believes that depending on what kind of pictures Perseverance sends back, as well as what kind of samples it comes back to earth with, we can get a good idea if we can eventually send human explorers to the Red Planet. 

I often bemoan out lack of progress in terms of space exploration. It's been 51.5 years since we first put a man on the moon, I'm sure those who were alive in 1969 would have thought we'd be a lot closer to putting someone on Mars than we are now. 

So far the mission has gone exceedingly well. NASA officials were calling the rover's decent and landing "7 minutes of terror" I bet. I can't imagine the feeling of watching $3 billion crash and burn. 

I really hope Perseverance finds what these scientists are looking for and that we can make some progress on this front. Like I've said before, success in space might be the last thing that unites us as Americans.

Now I know that I mentioned the rover in relation to what is going on in Texas and let me be clear, making sure Americans have access to electricity and water is obviously more important. But I'd like to think we can walk and chew gum at the same time. 

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This was always the time of year where Mike Francesa complained "There's nothing going on.." That period between the Super Bowl and March Madness. I enjoy this time of year, because we can focus on other things besides football. 

RANGERS- Let me down big time with their no-show playoff loss the night before my birthday. And they've done little to nothing to wash that taste out of my mouth. Their goaltending has gottenbetter of late, but their overall defense has been spotty, their offense has been sputtering, and their power play has been non-existant. Before the pandemic shut down the season, the Rangers were one of the hottest teams in the league, and guys like Mika Zibanejad,  Chris Kreider and Artemi Panarin were playing incredible hockey. Mika has struggled all season, some thinking he still hasn't recovered from COVID, Kreider has been a huge disappointment ever more so since he just signed a huge contract. Panarin has also battled injuries. Would also love to see some more from youngsters Kappo Kaako and Alexis LaFereniere. 

ISLANDERS- Made it all the way to the Conference Finals over the summer, but have been inconsistent this season, though getting better as of late. A loss to the Penguins snapped a three game winning streak last Thursday. They have also battled some injuries. As much as it pains me to admit it, they have the right balance of grit and finesse to make a playoff run. 

The only Devils games I've seen have been the ones against my Rangers. If they played the Rangers every game, they would be hoisting the Stanley Cup.

Onto the NBA

KNICKS- I really haven't watched the Knicks in a long time, but again, after being without sports for so long last year, I'm giving the NBA another chance. Also, I was excited about their draft pick Obi Toppin. Unfortunately, Toppin started the season on the injured list, and then has played sparingly throughout the season. And because us New York sports fans have such world-renowned patience, there are several people wondering aloud if perhaps the Knicks would have been better off drafting Tyrese Haliburton out of Iowa State. 

First of all, you draft a guy named Haliburton, that will remind people of Dick Cheney and we can't have that around here right (That's a joke folks-a lame one-but a joke nonetheless) Secondly, part of the issue with Toppin is that he plays the same position as the Knicks best player, by far, Julius Randle. Randle has been something to watch, he can score from outside as well as drive to the hole. He's had a bunch of triple-doubles, and has been a bona-fide all star for the Knicks this year. 

The Knicks other first round pick Immanuel Quickley, has been something else too. He's exciting to watch, but I urge caution on him. He's a bit like a home run hitter in baseball, fun to watch when they are going over the wall, not so mucgh when you are striking out swinging. Quickley likes to bomb away from downtown. When you're on fire, you look like Steph Curry. When you miss, you look like Dell Curry. Steph Curry is considered one of the top 5 players in the game today. His dad, Dell, they called him one-dimensional. 

In any event the Knicks have been much improved. Coach tom Thibodeau has done a great job.

NETS- On January 13, the Nets traded 4 players, three number one draft picks and what they call draft swaps to Houston (and Cleveland) in exchange for James Harden. 

All I can say is the Nets better win a championship or two in the next couple of years, or this trade will be talked about in sports management college courses for how not to run an NBA team. 

And the kicker of this is, this is the second time the Nets traded away a bunch of picks in the hopes of winning the whole enchilada. The first time was the disastrous Paul Pierce-Kevin Garnett trade. I think the Celtics are still using those draft picks. One of the picks the Celtics got was a number one overall because the Nets were so bad a couple of seasons after. I've seen my teams make some bad deals, but that has to be one of the worst of all time.

Who knows, maybe Harden, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving will turn out to be what LeBron, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh were for the Heat back in the early 2010's. That's the only way this trade works out for Brooklyn. 

One more hockey note: because of the pandemic, the NHL cancelled its annual New Year’s Day outdoor game which was set for Target Field in Minneapolis. Instead they scheduled two games to be played at Lake Tahoe. 

They started the first game at 12 noon PST, between Vegas and Colorado, and while the temperature was cold enough, the strong sun both mushed up the ice, and made it hard for the players to see. So they postponed the rest of the game till 9PM PST, (Midnight here in NY). The Avs won and the game ended at almost 2 AM EST. 

The Flyers and Bruins played Sunday night. Next time they play in that part of Nevada, they should play on the Ponderosa. Especially if they’re showing the game on NBC. I guarantee they won’t have any issues with the ice. 

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

Kim Kardashian is back on the market for those of your who might be interested. I really thought they were in for the long haul. 

All right that’s all we have folks.

Stay Safe, Wear a Mask 

and Have a Great Week

Weekly Mail February 14, 2021

 Happy Valentines Day (Or President’s Day if you are reading this on Monday)

Hope everyone is dealing well with the snow (If you live here in NY) I don’t usually mind snow in February because even the big snow usually goes away after a few days. But this last big storm that we got has been lingering around for over a week. And then they’re predicting more snow this week here. Actually most of the country is been getting pelted with real bad weather. No matter where you are please be careful and stay safe. 

POLITICS: (National) Trump Acquitted

Despite the overwhelming evidence produced by the House Managers, despite the filmsy and at times dishonest evidence produced by the defense, but most of all, despite the fact that this angry mob of domestic terrorists were coming after THEM and THEIR Vice President, 43 Republican senators voted to acquit former President Donald Trump on the charge of incitement of insurrection. 7 Republicans voted to convict along with all 50 Democratic senators. 

Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, whose wife quit the Trump administration over the deadly assault on the US Capitol, voted to acquit, then spoke on the Senate floor. He said basically that yeah, Trump sent a bunch of terrorists to kill me, but I couldn't convict him because it's unconstitutional. 

There's a part of me that would really like to see how many of these Republican senators will say voted to acquit for that reason, and how many will say they voted to acquit because they didn't think that Trump did anything wrong. 

But most of me doesn't want to hear it because as Joe Cabot said in Reservoir Dogs, "What for? It’ll just be more bullsh-t"  Because that's exactly what it is. 

The real reason they all voted to convict is that they are scared. They have no guts. 

They're scared of pissing off Trump, pissing off their bases. That's gotta be a horrible way to live, so scared of someone, that you are willing to overlook the fact that he incited a mob to come try to kill you. 

Shoot, someone tried to have me killed, I don't know what I'd do, but what I sure as hell wouldn't do is let them get another shot at it. 

As House Manager Ted Lieu said:

"You know, I'm not afraid of Donald Trump running again in four years. I'm afraid he's going to run again and lose. Because he can do this again," Lieu said during the third day of Trump's Senate impeachment trial. 

I'm hoping that's not a possibility. I'm hoping that either the state of NY, or someone eklse has the guts to do what these 43 gutless turds wouldn't. Convict him. 

And I'm to the point where I'm not even sure throwing the orange bastard in jail is going to dissuade anyone from doing what he did, but we have to aim for that. I'll say it till I'm blue in the face, the Trump way can't be the roadmap to a political career. 

POLITICS: Local: Cuomo in Trouble 

A top aide to Governor Andrew Cuomo admitted last week that the administration withheld information regarding COVID deaths in nursing homes. 

These allegations have been going on for some time, but as more bombshell revelations keep getting dropped, it’s getting harder to see Cuomo as the good guy here. 

The aide, Melissa DeRosa, was speaking on a conference call with Democratic lawmakers. She told them that : 

“We were in a position where we weren’t sure if what we were going to give to the Department of Justice, or what we give to you guys, and what we start saying, was going to be used against us and we weren’t sure if there was going to be an investigation,” 

Cuomo was already under fire for the bone-headed decision to put COVID positive patients back in nursing homes, amongst older people who were naturally already compromised. 

But as the old saying goes, “It’s not the crime, it’s the cover-up.”  

I’ve defended Cuomo on these pages. I still believe it was his strict crackdowns in the beginning that got NY from being the biggest hotspot in the country for COVID-19 to one of the smallest. 

But he screwed up here, big time. As Jake Tapper said on Sunday at the conclusion of his show State of the Union, “Why do people feel the need to see what the letter is at the end of the person’s name (D or R or I) before deciding if they are right or wrong?” 

Tapper is right. Wrong is wrong. And if an investigation finds Cuomo hid more than this, than he needs to go forthwith. 

All right enough of that. I don't know about you, but I think we need to lighten this up a little...

HAIR CARE: No Clue about Glue

A Louisiana woman made headlines earlier this month when she posted a video pleading for help, as she thought it would be a good idea to use Gorilla Glue in lieu of hairspray to style her hair. 

Tessica Brown's ordeal began in January, when she applied Gorilla Glue instead of her usual hairspray. She took to the interwebs on February 4th, looking for advice on what to do, since as she said "My hair, it don't move." It hadn't moved for a month. 

She checked herself into the local ER last Saturday, still chronicling her misfortune. 

But in a world where so much has gone wrong lately, this story has a happy ending, (which truth be told, is the only reason I'm writing about it)

First, a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon named Michael Obeng performed a 4 hour procdedure to remove the glue. The surgery, which cost $12,500 was performed gratis by Dr. Obeng. 

Then, comedienne and The Real co-host Loni Love donated a wig to Tessica. 

Sure Dr. Obeng and Loni Love are getting themselves some free PR, but mostly, they are doing something to help a fellow human being. I mean, I can’t think of any insurance company that’s going to cover Gorilla Glue surgery. 12.5K is a lot of coin, this Dr. is a hero. 

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

Tonight is Valentines Night. I’m going to be 48 in August, and I have been with Tara for 16 years (15 married) By my math, that means I’ve spent 2/3 of my life either single or not caring about it. 

I have had many wonderful Valentine’s Days with Tara. I also had a few memorable ones single, my favorite being in 1995, when I saw (Razor) Ray McGarvey play for the Cooper Union Pioneers at the Brendan Byrne Arena.  My Valentine’s Day dinner was 4 $1.00 hot dogs washed down with Pepsi. And since Ray, Auggie, Mary and Karl all had dates that night, I spent the rest of Valentines Day with my pal Shahar Harel, first watching the Nets play the Charlotte Hornets, then riding back to Manhattan on the bus from East Rutherford, NJ.

Good times man. Good times.  

If you are in a relationship, by all means go get fly with your honey tonight.

And if you are single, take tonight to celebrate your life, and all the things that make you special, because no matter what, you all have something special within you* Something that’s worth celebrating. We have all the time in the world to beat ourselves up (and Lord knows I’ve done my share of that) but tonight think of the talents, the gifts that you have. Think of all the times you put a smile on someone’s face and make that a reason to celebrate. 

Stay Safe, Wear a Mask

and Have a Great Week

*I’m assuming of course that none of you are Republican Senators. 

Weekly Mail February 8, 2021

So I got my second COVID-19 vaccination shot last Wednesday afternoon. For most of Thursday, I felt like I had been out drinking the night before and somebody punched me in the arm about 50 times.  It was a miserable day. 

But by Friday I was feeling much better. And over the weekend I felt good. I know we have a ways to go yet, but I’m really hoping that we are getting close to the end of this mess. I sound like a broken record, but so much has been lost already.  I think we are all ready for this to be over. 

POLITICS: 🤦‍♂️ 

A couple of years back, the Post took Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) to task because she said of 9/11 “Some people did something.” I backed up my paper, even after (or especially after) the Washington Post’s Richard Cohen referred to us as “journalistically squalid”  (The WM editorial meeting was particularly tense that week)

I never apologized for how I felt after Congresswoman Omar said that and I don’t plan to. Whatever point she was trying to make, that just pissed me off. And no, it has nothing to do with where she was born, I’d be pissed if someone in my own family was that flippant about 9/11. 

Which leads us to this pea brain on the other side of the aisle Majorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) who unlike Omar (who at least acknowledged something happened), suggested that no plane hit the Pentagon. And that’s not even the most offensive thing she said. 

She also claimed that the shootings at Sandy Hook and Parkland were staged, responding “That’s all True” to a Facebook post suggesting that “none of these shootings happened”  

What kind of city or town would want a quackadoodle like that representing them?

And spare me the crap about political disagreements. Right-minded people can debate the Trump Tax Plan vs. the Biden tax plan, or immigration laws, or even whether to send our soldiers off to war. Those are political differences. 

But putting a crackpot like this in the US House of Representatives is just lunacy that should transcend party lines. 

But it didn’t. Yes, 11 GOP representatives voted to strip Greene of her committee assignments, but the rest of them voted to let her stay on the committees. I mean it’s not like this was a vote to kick her out of Congress, just off of a couple committees. And they didn’t even want to do that. 

And this is why I keep saying Trump needs to be prosecuted. So that this behavior isn’t encouraged. I understand why they felt the need to impeach him again, though I don’t know how effective that is going to be. It’s painfully obvious that nowhere near close to 17 republicans are going to convict him.

And no, I don’t think Trump believes Parkland was a left wing conspiracy, but since this nut job is kissing his fanny, he’s not going to dissuade her from spouting her bullshit. 

And my fear that someone is watching the likes of Marjorie Taylor Greene, and saying “That’s the pathway to get elected to the Federal Government”  That’s the kind of thing that should keep us all awake at night. 

BASEBALL: Bauer’s Tower of Bull

Trevor Bauer, the last of the big 3 free agents this off-season, signed with the Dodgers on Friday. I had wanted the Mets to sign him, but by the time he signed with LA, I was relieved. He would have been more trouble than he was worth at half the price. 

But the way he and his agent carried on after the signing burned my a$$. And so did the baseball media covering this whole soap opera. 

Bob Nightengale of USA Today is catching the most heat because he said that Bauer was definitely signing with the Mets. But John Heyman, Ken Rosenthal and others all made similar “Bauer made his decision” announcements only for them to turn out to be not true.  

The quest to get it first overtook the quest to get it right. And us the fans were the ones who lost out. 

Now it didn’t help that Bauer’s camp were sending out mixed messages. And Bauer did take to Twitter to apologize for the confusion and insist he wasn’t trolling the Mets. 

Apology not accepted. He can take it and shove it. 

First of all I hear a lot about how Bauer was looking to “build his brand” What?  Who the hell does he think he is Kim Kardashian? I want someone who wants to win. I’ve never heard Jacob deGrom talk about his brand. His brand is to strike guys out and pitch to a low ERA.

And I realize that players using other teams to drive up their salaries has been going on since the dawn of free agency, but Bauer and his agent Rachel Luba took this to a new level of obnoxious. And Luba’s rub it in our faces tweet after Bauer signed with LA, in my mind, also negates the lame apology he gave on Monday.

They can both kick rocks. If anyone deserves to make $45 million, it’s our guy, the deGrominator.  And with her lack of class and moral bankruptcy, if Rachel Luba can’t get any other clients, she can always run for Congress as a Georgia Republican. 

And the Mets right now as presently constituted, aren’t good enough to win the NL East, never mind the NL Pennant. I’m sure they are not done making moves, but they still have a few glaring holes to fill. We’ll see what happens. 

SUPER BOWL WRAP-UP:

Now, normally I live by the credo that I’d rather get blown out than lose at the buzzer.  Indeed, the TV was off about halfway through the third quarter, and I was dozing off by the time the Bucs were getting the Lombardi Trophy.

But the biggest disappointment for me was the overall non-competitiveness of the game. I believed all the talking heads that this was going to be a game for the ages. Tony Romo said it was going to be the greatest game ever. He wasn’t the only one, even guys the like Post’s Steve Serby, (who unlike Romo had no skin in the game) was saying that Mahomes vs Brady was the most anticipated QB matchup in SB history.

My pal Ed Robinson said before the game that this reminded him of Super Bowl XIX in 1985, Joe Montana vs Dan Marino. On paper that looked like a dream matchup. I had no idea how right Ed was. 

That game turned out to be a dud as well, also a 22 point blowout. 

I’m not sure Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs ever recover from this. They completely came unglued on Sunday. Not having their offensive line in tact didn’t help, but the guys they had in there were awful. Mahomes was constantly on the run. Then there were the boneheaded penalties. At halftime, Boomer Esiason and Nate Burleson were complaining that the refs were calling ticky-tak penalties, but to me they looked legit. There was one pass interference call I thought was a stretch because I don’t think the ball was catchable, but other than that the rest were pretty flagrant. And the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty was inexcusable. 

As much as I hate to do it, I have to give the Bucs credit, they were the ones who looked like they had just played in the big game the year before. I know that Brady and Gronk have won multiple Super Bowl’s but the rest of the Bucs were composed and focused. The Chiefs just looked like a mess**

It might not have been the worst Super Bowl ever, but it was the most disappointing. 

The only way I could ever root for Tom Brady is if he played Bill Belichick and the Patriots. I really can’t stand him. But at this point in my life,  I realize he is just going to play forever and win forever. I had tried to tune out football for the past few years, but after going 4 months without live sports, I had found myself watching more football and more pro basketball. I now remember why I stayed away from football. For me, it’s just a losing proposition. My Jets will probably never win a Super Bowl in my lifetime, and guys like Tom Brady will just keep winning. 

Mike Vaccaro called it our national addiction. I’m going to need to detox. 

I wanted to get this out last night. Sorry for the delay.

Stay Safe, Wear a Mask

and Have a Great Week

**Editors Note: On WFAN Tuesday morning, Esiason was speculating how much of an impact the car accident involving Britt Reid, Chiefs assistant coach and son of head coach Andy Reid, had on the game. 

I have chosen not to go there for two reasons. 1) I don’t believe that all the facts of the case have come out yet, or at least, not it enough to make an informed speculation. But more importantly 2) I really don’t feel comfortable using words like “distraction’ or “disruption” when speaking about this. For the Chiefs, that’s what it might have been, but for the family of the  5 year old girl who is fighting for her life, it is their world destroyed.  The last thing that family is thinking of is a football game. The game took place, and I felt compelled to write about it, but what this family is going through is just unspeakable. I know the term thoughts and prayers is often overused, but sometimes that’s really all you can do. And if Britt Reid really did drink alcohol before he got behind  the wheel, well.... like I said, let’s wait till we know for sure. 

Weekly Mail Halftime Edition

HiYA: 

Well, this has been a f-ing disaster so far hasn’t it?

To me it’s just been pure slop. The Chiefs 14-2 in the regular season, two convincing blowouts in the playoffs, choose today, the Super Bowl, to drop passes, and commit boneheaded penalties. You keep giving Tom Brady chances he’s going to burn you, every single time. And KC’s offensive line looks like the Jets O-line. Patrick Mahomes has been running for his life all night. 

Loved the Paramount commercial with Beavis and Butthead, and the Tide Commercial with Jason Alexander. 

Anyways....

Seeing the snow falling this afternoon reminded me of Super Bowl Sunday 7 years ago, the one they played here at the Meadowlands. 

Super Bowl XLVIII (48) February 2, 2014. Seahawks vs Broncos. 

I hate the snow, but man was I wishing for a blizzard that day. 

The Super Bowl, as you all are aware I’m sure, is usually played in either a warm weather city, or a city with a domed stadium, like Detroit or Minneapolis. The idea to play a Super Bowl in the NY area, despite it not having either warm weather in February or a domed stadium, first came about after the 9/11 attacks. Problem was they had already selected the stadiums up till 2007, not to mention, Giants Stadium was considered by many to be outdated. 

But still they had the idea in their heads, so when they built what is now Met-Life Stadium, it was decided to roll the dice and have the game played there in 2014. 

Obviously I hoped that the two teams playing that day would be the Jets and the Giants. Of course the Jets, cooperative as always, went 4-12 and fired Rex Ryan. The Giants, weren’t much better finishing 6-10. 

So we got Peyton Manning and the Broncos vs Russell Wilson and the Seahawks.  At the time I was grateful that Tom Brady wasn’t going to be around. Instead the story line was Peyton trying to win a Super Bowl in his little brother’s house. 

But I didn’t give a spit about any of that crap.

All I really wanted was for there to be the kind of weather we are having today; cold, wet, heavy snow. 

Now again, normally I wouldn’t wish that for NY. I mean, I wouldn’t want the die-hard Jets and Giants fans sitting out there freezing, or for them to endure the traffic nightmares that would go along with it.

But let’s face it, those aren’t the fans that go to the Super Bowl.

Now it’s the 1%’ers, the corporate bigwigs, the Hollywood types, the big money people, they are the ones that get to go watch the Super Bowl live. The thought of THEM sitting on the frozen tundra of the Meadowlands, with snow falling, after sitting in the back of their limos for eight hours on the New Jersey Turnpike, that warmed the cockles of my heart.

I remember how all the swag bags had hand warmers and seat warmers and a flask of Blackberry Brandy (not positive about the last one) as if these people couldn’t afford gloves and ski pants. They were talking about all these contingency plans if there was a blizzard. Play the game Saturday night, or Monday night, (the one thing they never considered which would have made the most sense, was playing the game in the afternoon) 

But alas the weather that day was almost perfect, not a flake of snow or a drop of rain, temps in the high 40’s, beautiful for February. And unless you were my old friend Brian King, or my cousin in law Jessica the Fish O’Shea, it was a crappy game. The Seahawks won 43-8. I mean talk about two numbers you hardly ever see in a football score.  Coincidentally, I haven’t heard any talk of bringing the big game back to the swamps of New Jersey anytime soon. 

And of course, the next day, when all of us NY’ers had to slog into work, we got 6 inches of snow.

sonofabeach 

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One of the main reasons I didn’t want the Buccaneers to advance to the Super Bowl this year, besides the Brady factor, is that I didn’t want them to be the first team to play the Super Bowl in their own stadium. I don’t know why that would piss me off, but it did. 

That is until someone on Twitter pointed out that in these Pandemic times, the Stanley Cup Finals (Edmonton), the NBA Finals (Disney World) and World Series (Arlington, TX) were all played at neutral sites, so it only stands to reason that the one pro championship that is usually decided at a neutral site be played at the home of one of the participants. If that was going to happen any year, may as well be this one. I can dig that. 

For what it’s worth, although this is the first time a team will be playing on their home field, it’s not the first time a city will be hosting the hometown team. Super Bowl XIV between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Los Angeles Rams, was played at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, just outside of LA. 5 years later, Super Bowl XIX, between the Miami Dolphins and San Francisco 49ers was played in Palo Alto CA, about 30 miles from San Francisco. 

Keep it here for more useless knowledge. 

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You may have decided to hold off on reading this till after the game so that you can watch the Pepsi (you’re welcome Ray McGarvey) Halftime Show Featuring The Weekend. That’s cool too. 

I’m a Weekend fan, I have to admit (despite Phil Mushnick’s attempts to get me to say otherwise in his Sunday NY Post column). I had made a list of my top 25 songs of the 2010’s, and the Weekend’s “I Feel It Coming”  was my number one song of the decade. I decided against posting my list when I realized that my main readership demographic is all over the age of 21, save for one or two readers (Thank you Colin McGarvey).

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Finally tonight after the game, CBS will debut it’s remake of The Equalizer, with Queen Latifah playing the title character. Not sure I’m going to tune in tonight, depends how pissed off  I am after the game, but I will give it a shot. Though you all know where I stand on recycling TV shows. 

Now some of you youngins might be saying, “Wait a sec there Wild Bill, The Equalizer wasn’t a TV show, it was a movie with Denzel Washington” And you’d be partially right. 

But before Denzel took the role by the horns (and was excellent IMHO), it was a CBS Thursday night staple in the mid to late 80’s. And a fave of my dad and I.

The title character, former MI6 agent Robert McCall, was played by British actor Edward Woodward.  His former boss, Control, was played by Robert Lansing. His right hand man, Mickey Kostmayer was played by Keith Szarabajka.  And making occasional appearances as McCall’s whiny, somewhat spoiled, but also a victim of circumstance son Scott, was Cobra Kai’s very own Johnny Lawrence himself, William Zabka*.  (I’m of the opinion that Scott from Austin Powers was loosely based on Scott McCall, but that’s for another blogpost.) 

Anyway, I’m going to give this new edition of the Equalizer a chance. Sometimes these recycled shows work, I loved Hawaii-Five-0 and I enjoy the new MacGyver occasionally. On the other hand, this new Magnum PI is for the birds. It’s a decent show, but I can’t look at Jay Hernandez and say, “There’s Magnum”, the way I could look at Alex O’Laughlin and say “There’s Steve McGarrett.” And making Higgins a hot British lady, I mean, I’m sorry Higgins to me will always be John Hillerman. 

I think Queen Latifah is awesome, but we’ll see if I can buy it. 

OK, so tomorrow we’ll have a regular Weekly Mail, where we will preview Captain Orange’s 2nd annual impeachment trial, take a few shots at Majorie Taylor Greene, and rant on about Trevor Bauer, his obnoxious agent, and all those sportswriters who screwed the pooch on the reporting. All that and a lot less, coming up tomorrow. 

Stay safe

and Enjoy the Rest of the Game

*I’m with Jeff Pearlman on this.. Billy Zabka is a great freakin actor. Incredibly underrated. Can do drama, comedy and action sometimes at the same time. How many other actors can pull that off?